Bare Knuckles: Just horsing around? An inflatable saddle for Nintendo's Wii
All kinds of weird press releases, news feeds, and readers' tips fill my inbox almost daily. So I usually don't do many double takes these days.
Contact Bare Knuckles at knuckles@phillynews.com.
Earlier this week, however, I did some rare head scratchin'.
It seems Nintendo's emphasis on new ways to play games has hit an all-time high as it has filed a patent in Europe for - wait for it - the Wii Horseback Riding Saddle.
Um, yeah.
According to Siliconera.com, the inflatable seat will measure the bounce of the user and apply it to the natural up-and-down of riding a horse - or a camel, bull, elephant, or dolphin - all of which the company mentions as possibilities in its patent.
I am not making this up.
The Wii remote and nunchaku conceivably would be used for reins.
I am not sure what to make of this, but the jokes that keep seeping out of the corners of my mind are unfit to print here.
Netflix for some
Among the slew of Xbox dashboard updates this week (new avatar clothing and accessories, more downloadable games, etc.), one of the biggest is new ways to utilize the online streaming movie service from Netflix. Xbox Live Gold subscribers can invite six friends to watch the same movie, at the same time.Unfortunately for those owning only a PlayStation 3 or Wii, the movie-on-demand service is now an exclusive feature of the 360.
While Sony owns enough movies to make its own movie service quite robust (and has enough clout to prevent many of the titles from ever being available to Microsoft Xbox 360 owners), it's a shame that everyone can't share in this resource. Netflix has really raised the bar for a seamless integration into a video-game online structure.
It shouldn't be denied to any gamers, regardless of which console they own.
Info leaks
The World of Warcraft fan blog, WoW.com, has revealed the supposed name of the new expansion pack as well as the two additional races to be playable.The rumored "Cataclysm" expansion will feature the Worgen race for the Alliance and the Horde will naturally get a race of Goblins.
While this site has been pretty accurate with information in the past, those who wish to remain cautious should get confirmation of the new WoW contents when the annual BlizzCon convention kicks off next Friday.
Contact Bare Knuckles at knuckles@phillynews.com.
