Here we go again! This time around we've got the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reporting that Pegatron (an OEM subsidiary of Asus that handles "motherboard and component OEM manufacturing") has been tapped to assemble "Xbox 360 consoles equipped with a Blu-ray Disc ROM drive." The admittedly unreliable language indicates an internal drive as opposed to another external attachment but, with shipments expected to begin in Q3 of this year, we'll now soon enough: internal or external; true or false.

[Via Engadget]

Engadget scored a CES hands-on look at the Asus XG Station, an external GPU capable of converting your aging laptop into a capable gaming rig. The demo featured two identical laptops with internal Intel GMA 945 processors. Asus reps attached the XG Station to one and left the other bare -- and struggling. The test seemed to prove that the XG Station, which also simulates 5.1 surround sound, is an adequate option for underpowered-laptop owners who enjoy the occasional peek at what's good in PC gaming.

According to Chinese-language outlets Apple Daily and Commercial Times, Taiwanese manufacturer Asustek Computer began shipping PlayStation 3 consoles in "small volume" in early July. The papers report Asustek recieved 200,000 component sets in June, inferring Asus could have produced as many as 200,000 consoles. As production ramps up, additional manufacturers (FoxConn) will be added to receive the more than one million component sets suppliers hope to deliver per month in September and October.

Sony plans to deliver 2mln PS3 consoles during the "launch window," 4mln by the end of 2006, and 6mln by March '07. In comparison, Microsoft had hoped to sell 10mln Xbox 360 consoles within the first 12 to 16 months giving them a 2.5x larger install base by the beginning of next year. Sony's numbers are looking good if they can meet the torrent of demand this holiday.

[Thanks to everyone for the tips; via X-bit Labs]

PC World's list of top 100 tech products of the year praised our sister blog Engadget and gave Apple lots of love but the categorical winner of the list is undoubtedly gaming. The following products aren't all directly gaming related (you could use some of them to run spreadsheets) although there's a quite clear video gaming subtext underlying many of the choices. Lets just say that they're as close to being gaming technology as Uri Geller is to being locked up in an asylum.

1. Core Duo - the first chip to enable desktop level performance in games on laptop computers.
2. Athlon 64 X2 - for that ultimate gaming rig you always wanted (but couldn't, and still can't, afford).
10. Boot Camp - Apple's Mac gaming solution.
16. GeForce 7600GT - hits that price/performance sweet spot.
19. Guitar Hero - we think that this is some kind of video game.
55. Raptor X - 10,000RPM Hard Drives were invented for gaming.
58. X1900 XTX - ATI's biggest, baddest GPU. Stupid name though.
63. A8N32 mobo - it's all about the SLI, baby.
89. Xbox 360 - we've heard of this! Isn't it designed to hold your lunch?
92. GeForce 7900 GTX - nVIDIA's biggest, baddest GPU. Stupid name though.

I personally own several products identical or similar to products on this list (a MacBook with a Core Duo CPU running Windows via Boot Camp is being used to write this post - I'm off for some Eve Online in a sec). Do you agree with these choices? What's missing?

P.S. If anyone from PC World is reading this, I apologize for desecrating your logo.

[Update: "top tech," not "top ten tech". Thanks Ahms!]