Sony confirms its recently announced network numbers include accounts from both the PlayStation 3 and PSP, but no duplicates; analyst estimates 50 percent of PS3s have gone online.
On Tuesday, Sony made a stir when it announced that its free PlayStation Network had attained 14 million "active users."
The number, revealed to celebrate the PlayStation 3's second birthday, was remarkable, as it appeared to match the 14-million-strong subscriber base for the pay-to-play Xbox Live. Microsoft's online service launched in 2002 and has been a central pillar of its strategy since the Xbox 360 launched in 2005, one year before the PS3.
Three days later, Sony has now clarified what exactly it counts as an active PlayStation Network user. "Seeing as PlayStation Portable does include PlayStation Network services (i.e. games store natively on PSP), yes those numbers do include all PlayStation Network registrations," said a Sony representative.
Video game consoles left running round-the-clock can send your annual electricity bill soaring. That's probably no surprise for most gamers. But the Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York-based conservation group, has conducted a study of gaming machine energy use to raise awareness among gamers and pressure manufacturers into making more energy-efficient machines.
The NRDC's study found that Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii machines in the U.S. use about as much electricity in a year as every home in San Diego combined. Much of the energy comes from machines that are left on, but not in use, the NRDC said.
Of the three consoles, Sony's PS3 was the biggest energy hog, followed by Microsoft's Xbox 360. Nintendo's Wii is by far the most energy efficient-and even uses less electricity than its predecessor, GameCube.
To quote: With more efficient devices and by utilizing existing power-saving features, consumers ... More »
Per Grace Chen (Senior Manager, PlayStation Store) today:
Hey, everyone. It’s time again for the PlayStation Store weekly update.
Add-on Game Content
LittleBigPlanet Sack in the Box Costume (free)
A community costume for SackBoy!
File size: 1.04 MB
LittleBigPlanet LocoRoco Costumes ($2.99)
A costume kit for SackBoy! Contains 5 different costumes.
File size: 1.04 MB
BioShock PS3 Challenge Rooms ($9.99)
Experience the intense, terrifying world of Rapture like never before with the all-new PLAYSTATION 3 exclusive Add-On Game Content featuring three unique Challenge Rooms and some very cool extras. In “A Shocking Turn of Events,” rescue a trapped Little Sister in a disturbing carnival in Rapture. In “The I in Team”, defeat a Big Daddy using only your wits. In “Worlds of Hurt” plow through eight rooms filled with the worst Rapture has to offer.
File size: 402 MB... 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 »
Ready for a bunch of new PlayStation 3 games to be unleashed upon the world? This week sees the release of Need For Speed: Undercover, Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe and Tomb Raider Underworld. Plus a bunch of other titles.. the full PS3 release list is below:
US Games • Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe ("Kollector's" edition)
• Shaun White Snowboarding
• NPPL Championship Paintball 2009
• Tomb Raider Underworld
• Disney's Bolt
• Karaoke Revolution: American Idol
• Alone In The Dark: Inferno
European Games • Tomb Raider Underworld
• Need For Speed: Undercover
• Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe (Collector's Edition)
• The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
• Rise of the Argonauts
• Rapala Fishing Frenzy 2009
• World Championship Off Road Racing
Asian Games • Aquanaut's Holiday (English/Chinese version)
... More »
The DS and PSP are last gen platforms – and the only true next-gen portable platform is the iPod Touch.
That was the message from Apple this week, as the company finally revealed its intentions to snaffle market share in the traditional gaming space – after years of fervent speculation about its plans.
Speaking exclusively to MCV, the company confessed that its new marketing campaign encourages consumers to buy iPod purely “to play our games” – and even marked the device out as a real threat to Nintendo and Sony’s handheld efforts.
Greg Joswiak, head of iPod and iPhone marketing told us: “It’s not just the screens that are superior to DS – it’s the graphics capability, the computing power and the App Store distribution model.
“I had an analyst tell me in September – and he was right – that the DS is the past of gaming devices, and iPod Touch is the future of gaming devices. It certainly has our competi... More »
If you subscribe to EGM, and you can look outside and see the mailman approaching your house, there’s probably no need to read this story.
However, if you’re one of the unlucky folks who hasn’t got their hands on the new Watchmen issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, this story may interest you.
A few days ago, we got the first scoop from 1up about the latest batch of rumors from EGM’s mysterious Quartermann. Well those rumors are repeated in the magazine, but there is also a couple new, juicy ones that you can sink your teeth into; the biggest one is, obviously, that the Q-Mann heard from a source that on top of the release of new DLC, the Little Big Planet universe will be further expanded with a new PSP version. In the magazine, he says:
"The LBP universe will also continue to evolve next year with the release of the PSP version: Q-Mann hears it’s fantastically ambitious and will further flesh out the PS3 LBP experience."
More »
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