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 »
Movie pirates are distributing fake Blu-ray movie titles in China, which are essentially ordinary DVDs passed off as Blu-rays.
According to a WSJ report, the counterfeit Blu-ray discs are ordinary DVDs that hold the same movie content as the original Blu-ray but it is encoded in the AVCHD format. AVCHD is based on the MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) video format, enabling recording of high-definition 1080i and 720p video onto cheap DVD discs.
"We are concerned and are assigning priority to this issue," said Mike Ellis, the Asia-Pacific managing director for the MPA.
The issue came into the surface last month when authorities raided a big stash of the new pirated discs in China, which is often at the leading edge of piracy trends.
The MPA estimates that within the next six months the high-definition discs could account for 10% of $224 million that its m... More »
Recently requiem4d has posted on GBATemp.net (linked above) news of a new Nintendo Wii "SoftChip" Backup Loader.
From the official Project Page:
Softchip is designed to allow booting of 1:1 backup discs on your Wii.
Goals:
• Allow booting of 1:1 Wii Disc backups Region/Video patching to allow booting of imported discs and backups of imports
• As close to 100% compatibility as possible
• Compatibility with consoles of all drive types
• Allow booting of non-standard ISO9660 Homebrew Wii discs
• Store configuration to SD or USB drive to allow configurable autoboot
Wishlist:
• Ability to use Ocarina-style codes
• Compatibility with Waninkoko's decrypted disc format
• Runtime patching of the System Menu & Starlet to use the Disc Channel to load discs
• Remove the need for any cIOS
•... More »
Today Sony Music Entertainment Japan has unveiled a new Blu-spec CD format that promises higher quality audio by using Blu-ray technologies.
Sony will release 60 Blu-spec music CD's (mostly Classical and Jazz albums) on December 24, 2008. Sony also state they are hoping to encourage rival studios like EMI & Universal to support the format.
To quote: Blu-spec uses the blue lasers that would normally master Blu-ray movies to cut CDs more accurately than would be possible with red lasers.
In tandem with the use of polymer plastic for the discs themselves, the format should improve the quality of audio CDs while remaining compatible with existing CD players; the latter has been a weakness of Super Audio CD and other defunct sound formats.
The first Blu-spec discs are due to reach Japan on Christmas Eve and will focus mostly on classical and jazz music, including Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Miles Davis' Kind of Blue; 60 titles in all... More »
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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 »
DreamStream to employ military-grade encryption to secure Royal Digital Media's new optical media format, which exceeds Blu-ray's HD capabilities.
Press Release: Los Angeles (PRWEB) - DreamStream has signed on to encrypt Royal Digital Media's new optical media format. The agreement will allow RDM to employ DreamStream's military-strength encryption in the copyright protection of their high-definition discs.
The deal marks the first time a military-grade encryption has been implemented in the copyright protection of commercial motion picture discs.
"DreamStream and RDM's technologies align perfectly, as they both rest exponentially beyond the standards currently being employed," said DreamStream's Chief Development Officer Ulf Diebel, in a statement issued at the signing in Paris.
DreamStream is the first company to implement a 2,048-bit encryption in consumer media. AES encryption, used in Sony's Blu-ray discs, relies on only a 128... More »
Courtesy of HMV.com (linked above) comes the first picture of the new PlayStation 3 160GB console's box.
As you can see, it comes with Ratchet & Clank: Quest of Booty, Last Guy, Gran Torismo 5: Prologue and Super Stardust HD.
How's that for £340?
Details from their site:
PlayStation 3 Console
* £339.99
* free uk delivery
* availability: pre order now
Release date: 31-10-2008
Format: GAME
Number of Discs: 1
Catalogue Number: PRERELHC
Label: SONY
ExtremeTech has found that replacing the PS3's hard drive with Intel's new X-25 solid-state 80GB drive can reduce a games load times by up to 40%.
However, the drive does not greatly improve install times as the read performance of the Blu-ray drive holds it back. If anyone is considering this upgrade, it will set you back $600.
To quote: We've already raved about the stellar performance of Intel's new X-25 solid-state drive, which just happens to come in an 80GB capacity and 2.5-inch SATA form factor. Perfect for a PS3!
So after a quick FAT32 format, we dropped the drive in the PS3 unit we keep in the HDTV lab here (an original 60GB unit) to see what kind of impact it has on install times, game start times, and load times.
We took four games notorious for long installs or load times and timed them both with the original 60GB hard drive and the Intel SSD. The results may surprise you—but at $600, it's certainly not a cheap upgrad... More »
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