Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 outsold Sony's PlayStation 3 in Japan in September, beating the rival machine in monthly unit sales for the first time in Sony's home market, a game magazine publisher said.
Strong sales growth came after Microsoft cut prices for its game console last month.
Microsoft sold 53,547 units of the Xbox 360 in the four weeks to September 28, compared with 33,071 units of the PS3, data from Enterbrain showed on Friday.
Nintendo Co Ltd safely maintained its leading position in the Japanese console market, having sold 109,548 units of the Wii during the month.
Although popular in the United States, the Xbox 360 has been struggling to compete with the PS3 and the Wii in Japan, home to both Sony and Nintendo.
In a bid to lift sales, Microsoft on September 11 cut the price of the Xbox 360 Arcade, which comes without a hard disk drive, by 8,000 yen ($76) to 19,800 yen. It also lowered the price of the high-en... More »
PushingPlay.com (linked above) has shared 7 things consumers should take note of while comparing the new DSi to the 'old' DS Lite. To quote:
Camera - While 2 cameras have been added, only one is visible while playing your games (the other is on the backside). This camera subscribes to the apple webcam mentality that you should ALWAYS have a lens pointed at you.
Finish - The DS Lite had a slightly shiny glossed finish, while the new one seems to be a bit more matte. Maybe this will mean less greasy fingerprints!
Power button - The DS Phat had the power button on the face. The Lite went with the power slider on the side of the system. It looks like the new DS is bringing it back to the old school and putting a power button on the face of the unit. It looks like it doesn’t stick out at all so it is probably pretty hard to hit accidentally.
Screen - Although it’s tough tell in pictures because the systems aren’t to scale, the new DS... More »
Here are Yahoo's picks for the Top 20 games of fall, 2008:
Lego Batman Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP, DS
Genre: Action
Release Date: September 23
The caped crusader gets an angular makeover in Lego Batman. Protect Gotham as Batman and sidekick Robin from a rash of criminals, including nefarious villains like The Penguin, Two-Face, The Riddler and Mr. Freeze. Utilize a wealth of Bat-gadgets to survive over 30 levels in another comical Lego adventure.
Why It's Hot:
It's Lego. It's Batman. If you can't suss out why this is hot, we're not sure we can help you. Go sit in the corner and put on your Bat-dunce cap.
Why It's Not:
We stand by these Lego games because they are that very rare breed of video game that appeals equally to parents and kids. Still, they're all sort of the same game. If you've played Lego Star Wars and Lego Indy, don't expect a huge change in gameplay with the blocky D... More »
Xbox Pure was meant to be the name of an upcoming Xbox 360, perhaps a slimline version or a new 360 successor, but has turned out to be a fake blog posting to see which games sites would run with it. With so many rumours online, was this a fair test of a gamer site’s fact-checking skills?
Games Web site “Cheap Ass Gamer” (CAG) had listed a blog posting by “desz”, claiming to potentially have the details of the Xbox’s “new name”.
The posting says: “I'm not completely positive how true this is, but most of the things GilZ sends my way are true. He was correct about the new price drops, new HDMI models, new Elites, and now a picture sent to us with clearly visible text, in what appears to be either the 360's new name or the next xbox's final name. "XBOXPure" is what looks to be the final choice in this document. Take a look!”
Windows 7, the next version of Windows, is closer than you might think, with early copies already in the hands of OEMs and trusted partners. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer demonstrated an early version of its user interface at the D6: All Things Digital conference in May but Steven Sinofsky – who took over Windows 7 after his success getting Office out of the door on time, time after time – is well known for keeping things close to his chest.
There's been very little solid information about just what's going to go into Microsoft's flagship OS, just plenty of speculation and rumour. So what can you expect from Windows 7? Here's what we predict...
1. Windows 7 won't be a from-the-ground up rewrite of Windows. Instead it'll be an evolution of the NT kernel as updated in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, according to Windows Product Manager Chris Flores. This will mean that applications should run without needing significant cha... More »
When looking at an alternative phone to the iPhone or 3G versions, you may want to take a look at the Sony Ericsson Experia X1 because it does sport from advantages.
We are still waiting for the Experia X1 to have a price and carrier announced, this would likely be AT&T or T-Mobile later this year.
What we like about the Experia X1 is the option of both a high-resolution touch-screen and hardware QWERTY keyboard as navigation options.
The keyboard slides from under the display and will appeal to those that love real buttons to press, although the touch screen will give the phone the benefits of more keys if they update the software in the future or add 3rd party add-ons.
Some people might find this a better option than just having a touch screen like on the Apple iPhone but there are problems with this, you should be aware that the hardware keyboard makes the Experia X1 about a quarter-inch thicker than other touch-screen phones.
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From Pete today: Oh well, that’s graduation all done and I’m now back at work full time. Surprisingly though, because I’m not both studying and working, I’ve got a little more free time in the evenings!
After working so much with Quake, I felt quite fed up of looking at its code. I needed to work on something else.
So I’ve been beavering away on a PS3 Linux version of Cave Story and I’m happy to say it’s nearly done. This is a fresh port based on Pixel’s source code, instead of the earlier SDL/GP2X/x86 Linux port by Simon Parzer and I. There were a few things which I wanted to do a little differently in the code to make it more portable to systems which didn’t have SDL, such as the iPhone or WiiWare.
Those ports sadly fell through, but because Pixel gave Simon and I permission to port to Linux, I thought it would be a nice idea to port to this particular flavour of Linux that a few folks may have in their living rooms.
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