More than a week ago, GamingConfidential reported that a Microsoft customer service representative foresaw an outbreak of the Red Ring of Death (RROD) issue once the New Xbox Experience becomes available.
While most scoffed at the idea, the prediction held true and MS service lines are white hot with calls from angry customers.
"I hate what the company did this year," says the rep. "They released the New Xbox Experience a few days after the extended warranty period ended for most users and it's tough to explain that to raging callers. How do you say that MS just screwed them all?"
He adds "our bosses really fed us to the lions this time. We're getting everything from crying kids to death threats from angry adults. It's an orgy, I tell ya."
The rep ended the short chat by lamenting how Xbox 360 owners are blaming the update for even the most far-fetched issues. An example, he says, is a call from a 32-year old man claiming that his ho... More »
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 »
Konami announced today that the Meme expansion should be available for download next week. November 25th to be exact, which places the release on a Tuesday. I would have expected it on a Thursday, but I suppose most be too busy with the Thanksgiving holiday.
The Meme expansion of course adds three new maps to Metal Gear Online, along with two new characters; Revolver Ocelot and the lovely Mei Ling, who has the means to transfix enemies by strutting her stuff.
Press Release: Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH reveals new MEME EXPANSION for Metal Gear Online
Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced that the latest downloadable content for its Metal Gear Online title for PLAYSTATION®3 will be released on November 25th. Entitled MEME EXPANSION, the download adds new characters and gameplay elements to Hideo Kojima’s hugely popular online epic.
The MEME EXPANSION unveils two new special characters, which are playable for the firs... More »
Changelog:
This is mainly a maintenance release with a few bug fixes. It also adds a new feature to support homebrew to use extra slim memory.
New Features for PSP Slim:
- Added support to homebrews that are built with the option PSP_LARGE_MEMORY, that is, to use the extra slim memory. When running these homebrews under iR Shell, they will have access to another 26MB slim RAM. Pls note 2MB of slim RAM is reserved for iR Shell.
- Enhance th... More »
Sony is introducing a new accessory for the PS3 controller, first announced a few months ago at Leipzig.
Soon, gamers will be able to snap on a wireless keypad that supports typing on the Playstation 3, including texting in the new Home environment and games like LittleBigPlanet.
In addition to the QWERTY keyboard, there are a couple of shortcut buttons – a Message Box button and a Communication button. But what’s most interesting from a interaction standpoint is the new Touch Pad feature.
The Touch Pad button allows PS3 users to use the entire surface of the keypad as a touch pad, allowing them to easily maneuver the pointer while web browsing, simply by sliding their finger on the keypad surface.
That’s pretty clever. Rather than cramming in a trackball or trackpad (making it heavier and larger), Sony extended the keyboa... More »
In parallel with the development of Windows 7, Microsoft is also taking Windows Vista to the next level. The Vista evolution is synonymous with the jump from SP1 to SP2, and Microsoft is already offering a taste of the second service pack for the operating system.
In mid-October, the Redmond company delivered the first pre-beta bits of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 to a selected pool of testers.
Subsequently, just as Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President, Windows Product Management announced on October 29, the pre-beta Vista SP2 testing program was extended to a small group of Technology Adoption Program customers.
Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) Build 16497 is available for download here.
“Windows Vista SP2 adds Windows Search 4.0 for faster and improved relevancy in searches,” Nash stated at the time. “Windows Vista SP2 ... More »
Earliery today Namco Bandai announced DLC for Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm.
Now, IGN has made available a video review of it as follows:
Ultimate Ninja Storm is a, as I like to call it, "casual" fighting game that follows the first plot arcs of the anime series and gives players the chance to fight classic Naruto battles, play mini-games and roam the quaint streets of the Hidden Leaf Village.
The most obvious thing you'll notice about Ultimate Ninja Storm is the game's phenomenal visuals. While the environments are on the simpler side, the character animations are unreal.
The fluidity, attention to detail and even camera angles are executed with such expertise and palpable, Naruto-passion that you can't help but fall in love with how the characters move and fight. I would almost go so far as to say... More »
Although still labeled as System Menu 3.3, this Nintendo Wii update officially includes the renaming of Wii Points to Nintendo Points and cosmetic changes to some of the menu icons.
Unofficially, the update is said to block the Wii Homebrew Channel and more as follows:
- This blocks new installations of anything fakesigned, that is, Homebrew Channel (both new installs and updates), wads (legal and illegal), Starfall, cIOS, anything that installs IOSes secretly like AnyRegion Changer or AnyTitle Deleter, xyzzy and DVDX (used for apps which have DVD support). This list is not exhaustive, but please add to it if you think of anything else.
- This also blocks access to /dev/flash. This means raw nand dumping utilities no longer work.
- If something is already installed then it isn't affected, like Homebrew Channel, etc.
- The homebrew developers are already planning how to work around this update.
- You currently need this update to acc... More »
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