IGN (linked above) has posted its review of the official Sony wireless keypad for the PlayStation 3, and seems to have a problem with its general design more than anything.
They note that the biggest issue is the top mounted nature of it, but essentially QWERTY keypads for game controllers don't really work that well and its probably best to pick up a microphone and talk.
To quote: But regardless of the poor touch support and ill-advised key design, the biggest issue I had with the Wireless Keypad is that Sony opted to design it as a top mounted add-on. I don't want to seem partial one way or another, but I definitely think Microsoft had it right when they made their keypad attachable between the handles of the Xbox 360 remote.
The keys seem much easier to view and access when they are located just below your thumbs on the thumbsticks. To be fair, the choice in top versus bottom attachment may have been out of Sony's hands. It's possible that Mi... More »
Today, 7-Eleven announced that they will start carrying certain video game titles for sale, including Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, Call of Duty: World at War and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.
Additionally, they will make several prepaid game cards available for companies (and games) like Nexon, Habbo, Gaia, Guild Wars, Runescape, Aeria, City of Heroes, ijji and Neopets.
Press Release: Gamers never die; they just grow up … and continue to play ... and play ... and play. Today, the average gamer is not in his teens, but in his early 30s and, not surprisingly, most likely male. They play at home, at social gatherings, at work (shhhh) and online.
That’s good news for 7-Eleven, Inc. whose customer base skews heavily male between the ages of 18 and 34. The world’s leading convenience retailer is ready to take the proverbial plunge into video game sales after dabbling in it over the past years with successful Slurpee® beverage promotio... More »
The new version of YDL was released. I think the most important new feature is that you can now use the memory of the RSX-GPU as a swap partition.
You should notice a great increase of speed while using linux.
The free version can be downloaded in four weeks. For now only owners of YDL.net Enhanced Accounts can access YDL 6.1.
Press Release: AUSTIN, Texas - 19 November 2008 - From the show floor of SuperComputing 2008, booth #1915, Fixstars today released Yellow Dog Linux v6.1 for Apple G4/G5, Sony PLAYSTATION3, PowerStation, and IBM Power Systems. Built upon the CentOS foundation, a derivative of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, YDL v6.1 offers several end-user and development tool improvements over the previous v6.0.
"This marks the final release of Yellow Dog Linux by Terra Soft and the first by Fixstars," states Owen Stampflee, Fixstars Solutions' Director of Engineering, "In my five years with Terra Soft we have made incremental impro... More »
To quote via PlayStation Underground: Tomorrow, we are releasing a new version of PlayStation Home called PlayStation Home 1.0. This version will add some exciting new features and fix several known bugs, preparing us for launch into Open Beta. You can find the full list of new features below.
Highlights include new emotes and dance moves for avatars, new arcade games, new ways to launch into games from PlayStation Home, a new game rewards system, and much, much more! We think you’ll enjoy these many changes and improvements.
Home will be down for a period of time tomorrow to prepare for the launch of Version 1.0. I will let you know in the forums when it is back up.
We will be inviting a tremendous number of new beta testers soon, and conducting a massive load test this Friday night, November 21st. We will have an event to celebrate the moment. Stay tuned for further information as your assistance with this event is greatly appreciated.
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There's general agreement that Sony stumbled out of the gate with the PlayStation 3. Months of intense hype were followed by a late launch (fully a year after the Xbox 360) and a staggering $600 price tag for the deluxe model.
Even worse, the PS3 didn't initially have any real must-have exclusive titles, and despite the power of its vaunted Cell processor, multiplatform games from third-party developers didn't look appreciably better than the respective titles on the Xbox 360.
Since then, the company's been modifying the PlayStation product line to better fit the competitive market landscape. As of August 2008, a new "bargain" PS3 is available with a larger, 80GB hard drive, and a "deluxe" model is due in November, doubling the capacity to 160GB.
Both, however, lack backward compatibility with PS2 games and do not come with flash card readers. If those features are a must, it might be best to pick up the 80GB "Metal Gear" bundle version on eBay w... More »
The New Xbox Experience, a.k.a. the new Xbox 360 Dashboard, hits today. If you've got an Xbox 360 that's connected to the Internet, you're going to be prompted to update your console as soon as you turn it on.
No exceptions; this is what your machine will look like until either it dies, you die, or Microsoft decides to make ANOTHER Xbox Experience.
Unfortunately, unlike Batman, you didn't have time to prepare. Here are the ten things you should know about the new Xbox experience so you can be set for today.
1) Installation is quick. Owners with hard drives that aren't 100% full will be able to update with no problem, but Xbox 360 Arcade fans that rely on memory cards can get in on the free 512MB card deal from Microsoft. We'd recommend you go for the 20GB hard drive for $20 if anything.
The update won't be as fast as the 10-second patches you're used to for standard Xbox Dashboard upgrades, but clocking in at somewhere between five... More »
What happens when people are reluctant to spend money? Well, they're reluctant to buy a $400 games machine, that's what.
Blu-ray predictions are down due to the struggling economy. PS3 sales should also be affected, an obvious conclusion made by analyst Piers Harding-Rolls.
"At the top end, the PS3 with its high price is arguably more likely to be impacted by a recession than the other platforms. This may prompt consumers to consider other consoles or wait for the PS3 price to drop."
But, sluggish sales of the PS3 won't be the only outcome of a recession economy. Credit has dried up in many areas, meaning developers of games may be forced to cancel or stall projects, before funds become more readily available.
"Where I do see an impact is with regards to access to credit for publishers that look to borrow to invest in content production... More »
Per Microsoft's Major Nelson (linked above): Xbox.com and the Xbox forums will be offline for maintenance on Tuesday, November 18th from 12:01am PT until 4:00am PT to prepare for the New Xbox Experience launch on Wednesday the 19th.
This does NOT affect Xbox LIVE, which will remain available during this time.
Additionally, similar as was done for the PlayStation 3 recently, Microsoft will give Capcom its own “branded destination experience” tomorrow, to coincide with the launch of New Xbox Experience.
The hub will serve as a sort of one-stop shop for all things Street Fighter. Related add-ons and content, as well information on upcoming releases, will be accessible from one single destination.
Press Release: CAPCOM® PARTNERS WITH MICROSOFT® TO PROVIDE A BRANDED EXPERIENCE WITH SUPER STREET FIGHTER® II TURBO HD R... More »
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