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.
More »
To quote: Firstly, to avoid misunderstanding: This program is NOT for psp 3000. It is for psp1000/2000, but it allows the decryption of psp 3000 prx's for researching purposes.
Modules specifically of psp 3000 usually end with 03g. From the files, it seems that umdcache is handled differently in psp 3000, and that psp 3000 comes with a new wireless chip.
P.D: better looked now, it seems that wlanfirm_02g and wlanfirm_03g prx are equal. Same happens with umdcache_02g.prx and 03g. It seems that Sony enjoys making redundant data to make update eboots bigger... 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 »
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 »
At the same BMO Capital Markets' conference last week in New York where he gave an update on upcoming GTAIV DLC and Chinatown Wars, Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick offered a glimpse further down the road. In his "Negative Approach" blog for cnet, Dave Rosenberg related these remarks from Zelnick:
The Holy Grail is taking a business, already a very large and successful business that's focused on packaged goods... and turning that into a subscription business or a semi subscription business where we have an ongoing relationship with consumers, giving them products that they want. Who's better positioned to do that than the company that has the top franchises?
It isn't much of a stretch here to start connecting the dots. The Grand Theft series definitely fits the bill as a "successful business that's focused on packaged goods," and it's also the top of their franchise properties. And though delayed, the DLC plan for GTAIV offers an ideal test run for a "semi... More »
Having not ever been an owner of a PS3 or PSP, I wasn’t aware of the bias that retailers are showing towards the PlayStation 3 console.
One of the guys that I work with is a huge PlayStation fan. Not a fanboy, mind you, but a normal person who happens to like the PS3 over the 360.
I’ve heard him talk about it before, but I’ve always passed it off as simple bad customer service or people just being overly hyped about a 360 game over the PlayStation ones, but after “Emergence Day 2″, I was shocked and appalled at the level of anti-PS3 sentiment he had to deal with.
It all started with him telling me that every time he went to his local game store, a small “mom and pop” type store where he has shopped for quite a while, they constantly bugged him to show up to the midnight release of Gears of War 2. On every visit, it seemed, he had to remind the shop owner that he did not have a 360 and had no intention of buying one.
Rod Fergesson, the Senior Producer from Gears of War 2 has outlined on the official forums (linked above) the problems with their online matchmaking service and acknowledges that and patch will be released in the near future to counter the issues.
To quote: We're aware that some folks are experiencing longer-than-ideal wait times while using the skill-based Public matchmaking in Gears 2 multiplayer.
We're working on some solutions but it's a complicated issue as there isn't any one problem; it's a combination of factors. Clearly, scale is one of them as we've had millions of successful matches played online so far, however a small percentage of players are having issues, which is unacceptable.
We're working closely with Microsoft to address the matchmaking issues, I promise you that it is our #1 priority, and we hope to have an update soon.
In the meantime, I would like to suggest some workarounds:
Engadget (linked above) writes: Hey, pal - remember that 160GB PS3 Drake's Fortune bundle we told you about back in August?
Well thanks to the totally awesome skills of one intrepid reader, we now know that they're available for purchasing pleasure at your local Best Buy (and other spots, we like to imagine).
From what we can tell based on that extremely blurry photo you see, the package will sell for a holiday-destroying $499.99, so you'd better hope grandma drops a big check on you this season.
(6) 
