Wikipad Gaming Tablet Coming October 31

Last we heard, the Wikipad gaming tablet had just announced its technical specs, with a launch timeline vaguely projected for later this year. Now it's official: the Wikipad will be released on Halloween this year, and starting tomorrow you can pre-order it from Gamestop for $499.

Here's a quick run-down of the tablet between those snap-on game pads: The Wikipad runs on a 1.4 GHz Tegra 3 T30 with 1GB of RAM. It's only got 8GB of flash storage, but it's microSD compatible so that's not a huge problem. A 10.1-inch HD (1200 x 800) display isn't really pushing the envelope, but it looks clean and crisp and the tablet will run the latest version of Android right out of the gate.

But what about games? The Wikipad will of course play just about everything developed for Android - and when the Ouya ships next march that library could begin growing in earnest. Wikipad's partnership with Gaikai is still on, and the device is Playstation Certified, which means at some point it should get Playstation Mobile games. Before the business restructuring, we heard Onlive support was a sure thing, but for now we'll just have to wait and see. Pre-orders from Gamestop will reportedly include "exclusive free, full-length game titles."

That's all good news; but up against handhelds like the Playstation Vita and the Nintendo 3DS, and tablets like The Nexus 7, the Archos GamePad and the Kindle Fire HD - all of which will be priced below $250 - the Wikipad will have its work cut out to earn that $499 price tag.

Does the Wikipad seem worth the price to you? Let us know in the comments.

Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN. 

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Amazon Could Put LCD and E-Ink Displays on the Same Tablet

When Google released the $199 Nexus Seven, buying a Kindle Fire became a mistake. Good thing Amazon is updating its tablet offering next week; as of today, new Fire tablets are no longer available from the retailer.

In order to even tread water in the soon-to-be flooded tablet market Amazon will have to do something their competition isn't. And just about everyone seems to want the same thing: a solid Android tablet that can switch between backlit LCD and reflective E-Ink displays.

A patent application Amazon filed this week seems to indicate they're trying to do just that - by building displays into both sides of a tablet. They're probably a few years away from the technology for a single display that will switch back and forth, but that doesn't mean they can't incorporate both technologies; just look at all that wasted surface space on the back of the iPad and Nexus 7!

The device described in the patent would probably work something like this: you browse the web on the LCD side, and when you come across text you're interested in reading (on, say, IGN) you flip the Kindle over and read it on the e-ink side; when you reach an embedded video, flip back to LCD to view it.

Amazon could announce a Kindle device based on this principle at its press event next week, though more realistically the technology is probably a year or two away.

Would you buy a dual-display tablet? Let us know in the comments.

Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com