Iris scans are old hat . The future of biometric identification is in registering and identifying a person’s unique hand pressure profile – at least, that’s what someone at Microsoft believes. The megalithic multimedia mogul has been granted a patent for “personalization using a hand-pressure signature,” specifically in conjunction with game console controllers

According to vg247.com the next Xbox, reportedly codenamed Durango, will have a Blu-ray drive and require a constant internet connection. This measure is thought to be an anti-piracy measure, but it could also be used to combat the used-games market. The site claims that “multiple sources” have confirmed that the console will contain two GPUS, with one saying, “It’s like two PCs taped together.” The graphics cards are rumoured to be equivalent to AMD’s 7000 series GPUs, but are “not CrossFire or SLI”.

Our fellow bloggers at Engadget have gotten their hands on the Blade laptop from Razer (the very first commercial fruits of that “Switchblade” concept seeded so long ago), and the unit gets some high marks, despite some significant flaws. The worst issue with the laptop seems to be the audio (the built-in speakers are so bad that Engadget suspected their unit was broken somehow), but in general the problem with the Blade seems that it’s tuned for a mix of portability and performance, which means neither gets to be perfect. Yes, the Blade is sleek and super thin for a PC laptop, but it trades on that build by being a “gaming” unit that doesn’t play StarCraft 2 on its highest settings perfectly (see update)

Sales of the Xbox 360 of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) have reportedly been impressive despite a recent overall decline in the sales of game devices. The gaming console of Microsoft was considered as the best-selling gaming device in the United States for the month of January for the 13th time in a row.

Beat Hazard Ultra , the procedurally generated twin-stick shooter by 1-man indie powerhouse Cold Beam Games, is now available as a Universal App for iOS devices. As with the PSN, XBLA and Steam versions, Beat Hazard Ultra uses music stored on your device to generate its levels. The game can also use streaming radio apps as its musical muse, a feature which is unique to this version

Sony may have been caught in the same handheld wavelengths as Nintendo in 2010. A patent uncovered by Games Beat shows Sony considering a handheld, touchscreen device that would function similarly to Nintendo’s Wii U. Titled the “Position-dependent gaming, 3-D controller, and handheld as a remote,” the device would track its own location as “input to a video game” and render “an avatar on a mobile device such that it appears to overlay a competing user in the real world.” Sony’s Vita can share saves and transfer data with the PS3, and even has the capability to be used as a controller for compatible PS3 games, meaning this patent could simply be a tale of what might have been.