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 »
A new Firmware update for the Nintendo Wii has been released, specifically System Menu version 3.4. In the update, the following changes have been made:
- Enhanced parental controls
- USB Keyboard support for Mii channel added
- System functions improvement (Improved SD card read/write speed, Improved disc reading)
- Twilight Hack version 0.1 BETA1 cannot be copied to the console.
Sadly, the update also removes any illegal saves (i.e. Twilight Hack) and any other homebrew channels you may have on your Nintendo Wii.
To quote: It's recommended that you do not update your Wii through Nintendo, as it disables some homebrew (DVDx, PatchMii, Twilight Hack). Recent reports suggest System Menu 3.4 removes all custom channels.
It is suggested that you disable your Wii from the Internet as their network service privacy policy has been updated so that they now have the right to auto-update your system without notification.
... More »
As mcdevitt1985 has reported (linked above) along with some users from our own XBox 360 Forum HERE, it appears Microsoft is on another XBox Live ban rampage.
According to reports, today they have issued a new wave of bans against XBox 360 consoles with modified DVD firmware. That being said, it's recommended to stay off XBL for the time being if you have a modified system until further details are available.
To quote: Dunno if its a massive wave or not, but my console was literally just banned from live within the hour.
If anyone else gets banned let me know please. iXtreme 1.4 and all games were burned right and stealthed.
Many people have been wondering exactly what the differences are between Development and Retail PlayStation 3 Systems, and we figured now would be a great time to clarify these along with reporting some new findings.
Aside from the different hardware revisions of the PS3's motherboard, the systems are virtually the same as mentioned in previous posts. We have examined multiple PS3 TEST's, Retail PS3's, Demo Unit PS3's, and even Factory Mode PS3's, and found that there are no hardware differences between them at all.
Mind you, there are differences, but they are due to the hardware revision, not due to the systems themselves. To make that more clear, the units are identical to their counterparts of the same hardware revision.
So, the question is- what's the difference? Software!
We all know the difference is in the software, and after examining countless dumps from these systems, on top of flash dumps given to us by you, our loyal re... More »
Today Andy_maN has updated FuSa for the PlayStation Portable, which is a Custom Firmware Plug-In allowing users to play PSP games on televisions regardless of input cable type.
Per Eric Lempel (Director, PlayStation Network Operations) of the PS Blog today:
Hi, everyone, I wanted to give you a heads up about an upcoming PS3 Firmware Update (v2.52). This minor update is coming soon and includes the following:
- The playback quality of some PS3 format software has been improved.
- A text entry issue that occurs when using the on-screen keyboard, USB keyboard or Bluetooth keyboard with some PS3 format software has been addressed.
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