Playboy.com aims to make the iPhone even sexier

By Caroline McCarthy
The iPhone hype has either reached a high point or totally jumped the shark, depending on your personal opinion. Playboy.com just announced that it has launched its official iPhone effort, which it calls "iPlayboy."

We'll just say that it sure gives "touch screen" a whole new meaning.

Playboy's virtual goodie bag for the iPhone consists of 12 "sexy non-nude wallpapers" for the sleek Apple handset, a special photo album with another dozen photos of Playmates, an episode of Playboy's Sirius Satellite Radio show, and a video customized for the iPhone's interface. It's free, and available on the main Playboy Web site.

Now that the adult entertainment world has officially penetrated the iPhone hype machine, the next step is obvious: naughty toy add-ons!

Photos: Gamers compete at Playboy Mansion

When you picked your team on Halo, was there a scantily-clad model present? When you entered your guild on Warcraft, did a Playboy Bunny frolic in the corner? No? Then you must not be among the Championship Gaming Series inaugural draftees. Too bad for you!

To soothe your sorry situation, we suggest you click on the image at left to experience the vicarious thrill of the Carolina, Chicago and San Francisco gamers who convened at Hugh Hefner's infamous Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills this week. Do you think the draft picks will play better knowing the Bunnies are behind them? A little skimpy moral support never hurt.

A racing simulator with 3 LCDs? Sign us up

Of all the over-the-top racing simulators out there, this one is probably our favorite so far. But then again, we're suckers for anything that sports three LCD TVs. These aren't just any flat screens either, but 37-inch Sharp Aquos displays in full 1080p clarity. And that's just the beginning.

VRX's "Triple Screen Limited Edition 001" is a behemoth that includes "four Xbox 360 Elites, four copies of Forza Motorsport 2, an Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on player, camera/wireless headset, a Zune, force feedback wheel," according to Engadget. The system is built with a polished aluminum frame that will complement the industrial decor of your office or living room. That, at least, is what you'll have to tell your spouse or significant other.

The price is available only by contacting the company, but how bad can it be? Nothing, after all, can top the $300,000 price tag for FAO Schwarz's "Morphis ESP." We hope, anyway.

Intel wants fair and balanced online gaming

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--There's always one guy who seems a little too good at mowing down players in a Quake 3 session. Intel thinks future PC gamers might be interested in technology that helps level the playing field.

The company showed off a research project into "anti-cheat technology" during its Research@Intel Day at Intel headquarters. The idea is that Intel and the PC gaming industry would build technology into gaming rigs that could detect when common cheats--such as "aimbots" that handle targeting while the player just holds down the trigger--are used in an online gaming session, said Travis Schluessler, a researcher at Intel.

Cheats such as aimbots or "wall hacks" that expose players lying in wait send data to online gaming servers in unnatural patterns that could be detected by other PCs connected to the same server, Schluessler said. PCs equipped with this technology would notify a server that someone in the game is using a cheat, and then the game administrator could set a policy of kicking the cheat offline or some high-tech method of saying "nyeh, nyeh, cheater cheater," shaming the cheater and warning other gamers not to enter into sessions with that particular player.

Intel is still working out the details; don't expect to find this in a high-end gaming PC anytime soon. This also being Intel, there's more practical business-related implications for the technology as well, such as click-fraud detection. But with the amount of money that serious PC gamers spend on their rigs and software, there could be a market among those who don't want to see their investments ruined by cheaters.

Choose your side in the Transformers DS games and fight on the web

OK, movie tie-in games tend to suck. It's a sad rule with few exceptions, but most movie games feel phoned in and generic.

Hope springs eternal, though, and the allure of giant transforming robots is keeping me at least a little bit hopeful for the Transformers games. Yesterday we received copies of Transformers for the Nintendo DS. I can't really give it anything beyond my first impressions yet (keep an eye on Gamespot for the inevitable review, though), but it seems like a fun game. The graphics are extremely blocky, thanks to the DS' relatively low power, and it doesn't have the destructible environments promised in the Xbox 360 and PS3 Transformers games, but it's still an entertaining shooter/driver/brawler.

The DS game comes in two flavors: Transformers: Autobots and Transformers: Decepticons. This isn't the first time we've seen two versions of a game come out (Pokemon Diamond and Pearl come to mind), but this is the first time we've seen significant differences between two game versions. The basic gameplay for both versions remain generally the same: you're a Transformer on Earth, and you have to run, drive, shoot, and fight the opposing faction. You can scan over 30 vehicles to decide your vehicle form and combat abilities, from a station wagon to a utility truck. Depending on the version you get, you get a different interface, different missions, and even different characters to play besides your own Transformer (you can play Bumblebee and Optimus Prime only in Transformers: Autobots, while evil robots like Brawl and Blackout are exclusive to Transformers: Decepticons).

Still, these are all pretty superficial differences. The big draw to the two versions is the game's online component, Battle for the Allspark. Both DS Transformers games can use Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection to go online and participate in the battle for the mythical Allspark. Every day, you can go online and download a mission, like destroying a certain number of enemy drones, or doing as much property damage as possible. After you do those missions, you can go back online and upload your progress, which is then updated on the Spark Wars Web page. Depending on your version of the game, it adds points to either the Autobot or Decepticon side. At the end of each day, a winner is declared and that side gets a piece of the Allspark. Better yet, your participation gets you online tokens that can be used to unlock new, special forms in the games.

Okay, it's not a perfect system. You can't actually go online and fight other Transformers through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection; it's only for Spark Wars missions. It's still a fun detail that adds a little bit of immersion to the game. I would have preferred online combat, but this sort of Web-based interaction with stat-tracking and competition between factions is a pretty welcome change. It isn't perfect, but it's pretty creative.

Check out CNET's iPhone App Directory

By Rafe Needleman
The iPhone is hardware for Webware. But there are way too many new iPhone "apps" (sites, really) for Webware.com. It'd be overwhelming, especially for those of us who aren't gonna stand in line to get a rev 1 version of this thing (although, frankly, I'm tempted).

So we've launched a new blog, the iPhone Approll. Check it out. Subscribe to the RSS feed. We'll cross-post the most interesting and innovative iPhone sites to Webware, but the Approll is where you'll find the full feed.

Bookmark this link to stay up to date.

See also: CNET's iPhone Central.

GetMobio: Twitter, Digg, and more on your mobile phone

By Josh Lowensohn
Mobio has just added a handful of new services to their GetMobio phone app including Digg, Twitter, Kaboodle, and an RSS reader. Users download the small app on their AT&T or Sprint handset and get access to 11 different Web service widgets. It's reminiscent of uLocate's Where widget offerings, although there's no GPS support or monthly charges.

The Digg implementation is a little underfeatured, as there's no way to actually Digg a story from your phone. You can still browse through popular stories on the front page, as well as user's profiles. The company is also working on a way to share stories found on Digg with other GetMobio users without leaving the app. If you're looking for a better mobile Digg solution, there's always Digg River, a lightweight version of Digg that lets you sign in and Digg stories.

The Twitter widget, on the other hand, is as full-featured as the service's official mobile portal. Users can browse Tweets from the public or their friends, as well as write one right in the app, saving some SMS usage in place of data.

Mobio originally launched the GetMobio service at the Demo conference in early January.