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 PlayStation Experience 2008, it was time for Round 3 of GamingIndians vs Atindriya Bose, Country Manager of Sony Computer Entertainment India.
This time around, he sheds some light on the new 80GB PlayStation 3 set to hit stores in December, the post warranty situation for the PS3, the long-awaited PSN launch, and news of Activision moving its PS2 game manufacturing to India.
To quote: GamingIndians: Can you tell me a bit about Sony’s policy towards post-warranty PlayStation 3s?
Atindriya Bose: Currently, we are giving you a new console at 50 per cent discount in case something goes wrong with your console after warranty has expired.
GamingIndians: Won’t there be a service facility?
Atindriya Bose: Not on an immediate basis. I think currently we are just touching figures of 20,000 with the PS3. Both the PS3 and PSP have quite complex service requirements, but at the moment, the PSP numbers allow us to go ah... More »
Nintendo has confirmed to MCV (linked above) today that flash cards such as the R4 will not with the Nintendo DSi.
This news does not come as a shock to most, and was suspected by many Nintendo DSi owners who reported on it last week.
To quote: Nintendo has confirmed to MCV that today's reports claiming that SD-card based piracy hardware the R4 will not work with the upcoming DSi are correct.
The platform holder was not able to confirm whether this is a deliberate feature of the newly redesigned handheld. However, judging by recent history it’s not unreasonable to presume this is the case.
Sony and Universal Pictures have joined forces to deliver the PoP Entertainment vending machine. The new vending machines will hold PS3 games, Blu-ray discs, DVDs and allow for digital downloads... and at least 150 movie titles should be in the vending machines at its launch.
A video of the PoP Entertainment Vending Machine is available HERE.
To quote: The PoP “entertainment vending machine” is a brand new venture between Universal Pictures and Sony entertainment to allow punters to grab their favourite DVDs, Blu-ray discs, PS3 games and downloads 24/7.
So you’ll be able to sate any midnight movie cravings or post-pub PS3 needs, and the touchscreen vendo will also let you browse trailers before you buy.
What’s more, you’ll also be able to instantly feed your multimedia whims by downloading music and movies direct to most MP3 or MP4 players or SD cards... More »
Nintendo has done what we all expected and blocked the Nintendo DSi from running what seems to be nearly every single flash card on the market.
If you have a CycloDS, G6 DS Real, M3 DS Real, Supercard DS One, iTouch DS, FCard, NCard, M3 DS Simply, U2DS, R4 DS and EZ Flash V don’t expect any of them to work.
It seems the DSi blocks both auto boot cards and ones that boot from the menu. If it’s auto boot it crashes and while the others show up in the menu, but once selected come up with an error.
Bad news for pirates, good news for Nintendo and bad news for legitimate homebrew. But how long till they bypass it?
Blizzard’s going large for the launch of Wrath of the Lich King, with its central UK event to take place at midnight on November 12 at HMV on London’s Oxford Street.
“We’ve been looking forward to these launch events all year,” said Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime.
“This is one of the few opportunities we get to meet with players in person, and we can’t wait to celebrate the release of Wrath of the Lich King with them.”
Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase the standard edition of the game as well as the limited Collector’s Edition, which contains The Art of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King hardback book; Frosty, an exclusive in-game frost wyrm pet; a behind-the-scenes DVD; the official soundtrack containing 21 tracks; an exclusive mouse pad displaying a map of the newly opened continent of Northrend; and two World of Warcraft Trading Card Game starter decks with two exclusive cards available only in the Col... More »
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