210w ago - Here we go again.. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter stated in a recent episode of Bonus Round that Sony's newly announced PSP Go console is priced too high.

To quote: Pachter matter of factly states, "$249 is too much. Period." He goes on to say that while the handheld is priced to compete with Apple's $229 8GB iPod Touch, it doesn't deliver the iTunes App Store or downloadable music from iTunes (as conveniently, at least, as the iPod Touch).

Furthermore, he posits the $250 price of the PSP Go is vastly overinflated considering its contents, claiming it costs Sony less to build and ship the PSP Go than the PSP-3000 model, "The $169 PSP-3000 is a profitable device - the disc assembly, for a UMD, costs more than 16 gigs of flash does. So this new device doesn't cost them as much as the PSP-3000 and they jack the price up $80?"

When Keighley presses Pachter as to whether Sony is "ripping off" the consumer or not, he answers, "They're rippin' off the consumer ... they're making a lot more money on the PSP Go than the PSP-3000."

215w ago - Hardware requirements are always a concern among PC consumers since manufacturers scrounge to put the lowest possible hardware specs while still promising all the bells and whistles on them.

Something tells us this might not be the case with Windows 7 though.

To quote: Back in January, Windows 7 Beta came out with the first preliminary hardware specifications. Based on feedback given by the owners of various systems, Microsoft firmed hardware requirements with the recently shipped RC version.

According to Microsoft, minimum hardware specs for running Windows 7 are as follows: 1GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB of disc space for 32-bit version, 20GB for 64-bit version and a DirectX9-compliant graphics card.

This means almost every PC manufactured after September 2002 should run Windows 7 - something that we haven't seen in the past. If this is true, owners of older computers can delay the purchase of their machine until they are able to save up for the DirectX11-compliant, multi-core computer.

The much praised and criticized "XPM" (e.g. virtual WinXP on Win7) minimum memory requirement is set at 2GB, additional 15GB of disc space, and of course - a processor with hardware support for virtualization.

225w ago - The following is a training video from GameStop which tries to encourage employees to sell to female consumers.

Courtesy of darknotevil123 via YouTube, the video's caption reads as follows:

This is something they actually wanted us to watch and "learn" for Gamestop's latest retarded promotion, "Sharpen the mind; shape the body." I think it's cool how it's both sexist and derogatory to...

This is something they actually wanted us to watch and "learn" for Gamestop's latest retarded promotion, "Sharpen the mind; shape the body." I think it's cool how it's both sexist and derogatory to men and women alike.

259w ago - Sony's Patrick Seybold (Director, Corporate Communications & Social Media) has issued an official response to reports that they've taken Firmware v2.40 offline.

They confirm that they have indeed removed the Firmware due to a 'limited number of calls from consumers' and reassure us all they are working dilligently to sort the problem 'for those few consumers' and find a solution before putting the Firmware back up.

To quote: As has been reported on many gaming blogs and Web sites, we have temporarily taken Firmware v2.40 offline. We've received a limited number of calls from consumers experiencing an issue with installing the system software update on their PS3. While our consumer services department has seen a low volume of calls on this topic, we are committed to providing the PS3 community with XMB access features delivered in the v2.40 update.

We are working diligently to isolate the problem for those few consumers and to identify a solution before we put the firmware back up. We'll provide further information as necessary here on the Blog.