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 infamous Xbox 360 "red ring of death" (indicating a failed unit) has caused Microsoft - and its customers - untold pain in the three years since the console's launch in 2005, and cost it $1.15bn (£738m) last year.
Microsoft has never said publicly why the console was plagued with faults: it seems that poor production quality was at the heart of the failures - an all-round problem with no single cause except impatience on the company's part as it tried to become the leader in videogame consoles.
It was an ambitious attack. Microsoft's engineers started working on the Xbox 360 at least a year after Sony's engineers began work on the PlayStation 3, yet wound up shipping a year earlier. With the first Xbox, the company lost $3.7bn (£2.3bn) over four years, mostly because costs of the box - particularly its hard drive - were too high.
Bill Gates didn't really care about the losses; that was simply the ante for getting into an exciting ne... More »
I’ve said it time and time again, video game storylines suck. But that doesn’t mean that the character’s in those horrible storylines can’t come up with pearls of wisdom (Or is it just comic gold?) when they open up their mouths.
Below are, in my opinion, the ten greatest phrases to ever come out of a video game character’s mouth. I’m sure I’m missing a few here, but that’s what comment boards are for. So here they are, the top ten phrases ever.
See if you can close your eyes and remember just how they sounded the first time you first heard them. Just don’t do it while you’re driving or operating heavy machinery. You should usually keep your eyes open for stuff like that.
10. “Waka Waka Waka, etc.” —Pac-man
Fauzy from the Muppet Babies, is that you? Nope, it’s just everybody’s favorite yellow one-third-of-a-pizza chomping down on pellets while avoiding ghosts, or Klan members, or whatever, Inky, Blinky... More »
PCWorld reports today that security researchers have developed a way to partially crack the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption standard used to protect data on many wireless networks.
However, the attack does not however work with the WPA2 standard states Dragos Ruiu, the PacSec conference's organizer who will be discussing it next week in Tokyo.
To quote: "Everybody has been saying, 'Go to WPA because WEP is broken,'" Ruiu said. "This is a break in WPA."
If WPA is significantly compromised, it would be a big blow for enterprise customers who have been increasingly adopting it, said Sri Sundaralingam, vice president of product management with wireless network security vendor AirTight Networks.
Although customers can adopt Wi-Fi technology such as WPA2 or virtual private network software that will protect them from this attack, there are still may devices that connect to the network using WPA,... More »
Tracklists for both upcoming SingStar titles on PS3 have now been revealed thanks to the semi-official European blog ThreeSpeech.
There's also word that more song packs will be appearing on the store in the form of "Essentials" collections. The first of which, "Pop Classics," will be made available tomorrow on the SingStore.
There's no price for the "Essentials Songpacks," but the first one will contain Duran Duran's "Rio," Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It?", A-Ha's "Take On Me," Blondie's "Heart Of Glass" and Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon."
The other packs you can expect to see this year are detailed below, along with the ABBA and Volume 3 tracklists.
Upcoming "Essential Songpacks"
• Pop Classics 30th October
• Party Starters 13th November
• Rock Anthems 11th December
• ... More »
Per Grace Chen (Senior Manager, PlayStation Store) today:
Hey, everyone. It’s time again for the PlayStation Store weekly update.
Downloadable Games Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One ($14.99)
The first installment in the RPG-adventure game series based on the web comic Penny Arcade. Create your character in the classic comic style, and join Gabe and Tycho in the alternate 1920s universe of New Arcadia, where you’ll combat savage enemies, solve mysteries, meet bizarre new characters, and discover their distinctive adult humor for a 100% authentic Penny Arcade experience!
ESRB Rated M
File size: 215 MB
Prince of Persia Classic ($9.99)
The original action adventure game comes to the PlayStation Network! Rescue the Princess from the clutches of the evil Jaffar in a redux of the original 1989 action-adventure that redefined the platform genre. All set for the HD... More »
The more complex consoles become, the more weirdy-beardy secret functions are squirreled away inside of them, and Nintendo's latest is no exception.
While most of the Wii's Easter Eggs are specific to certain games - there's a whole trove of 'em in Wii Sports alone - here's seven of the best for the console itself.
1. Email a chum's Wii
You'll need to have a record of those damnably unmemorable friend codes for anyone you want to mail, but once you do it's simple: just drop a message to w[friendcode]@wii.com. For instance, w1234567891011@wii.com.
2. Add a smooth, constant blue glow to your Wii
The blue lighting around the disc slot normally only glows when the Wii's got some sort of announcement for you, and disappears once you've read it. However, you can lend your lounge a sci-fi feel by making that tastefull glow permanent. Just email your own Wii - using the system in the tip above - but never read the ... More »
Call of Duty: World at War is joining the ever-expanding list of titles that will come packed with Trophies for PlayStation 3 owners to unlock.
Most of these Trophies are attained only through the offline mode of play, and often call for you to play at the hardest difficulty setting. Some of these do contain spoilers, so beware. List is below:
Bronze Trophies
- Get Your Hands Dirty - Complete 'Semper Fi' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
- Bloody Peleliu - Complete 'Little Resistance' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
- The Sword Is Broken - Complete 'Hard Landing' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
- Architect - Complete 'Vendetta' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
- The Hammer Strikes - Complete 'Their Land, Their Blood' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
- Scorched Earth - Complete 'Burn 'em Out' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
- Fearless Complete - 'Relentless' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo onl... More »
(3) 
