Sonilex is slimmer than the PS3 and like, totally plays Tekken

Hey there, budget-conscious gamers: the Vii didn’t quite pan out the way we’d all hoped, but we just want you to know you still don’t have to spend $500 or wait for a PS3 Slim to hit the shelves to have a gaming experience worthy of 2008. Just pick Sonilex — it’s a fraction of the size of the PS3, and at around 32 bucks even the most stingy gamer can splurge for it. Word is 41 “NES games” have been released for Sonilex this year alone (probably piled into that odd-looking cart on the left there), including, incredibly but really, the unauthorized NES port of “Tekken.” After all, the game cart says “2008″ on it so you know you’re getting the absolute cutting edge of NES games — like, ones that were never even released until just now, okay? No word on Blu-ray though. That’s a deal-breaker if you ask us.

Next Blu-ray stop: 100GB disks, 12x burning

Sanyo’s powerful blue laser makes quad layers possible

100GB Blu-ray disks that make the current generation look decidedly anaemic will be on the market within about two years if a breakthrough from Sanyo gains acceptance.

The Japanese firm has come up with a more powerful blue laser diode that can burn through BDs far enough to accurately write four 25GB layers per disk.

Current Blu-ray disks top out at two layers and a maximum of 50GB for storing video and data.

Fast too

Best of all, the new 450mW laser is fast too – it can burn disks at 12x, which means it would take just 10 minutes to fill an entire 100GB BD. That’s twice the burning speed of the best BD drives today.

As for the timescale, Toshiba says it can start mass production whenever hardware makers are ready to use it in their Blu-ray decks, which could be as soon as two years from now.