At the risk of sounding like a forum troll, I have to say, I'm not too impressed with the implementation of Netflix on Xbox 360. The service, which is available to Xbox Live and Netflix -subscribers, allows you to stream movies to your TV via your Xbox 360, and on paper, it sounds ingenious. Indeed, that's why I -- along with many others -- was so excited when Microsoft announced this forthcoming feature way back at E3 in July. Unfortunately, Netflix for Xbox Live users is now here, and it's not all it was cracked up to be.
For starters, the selection of streamable movies is lackluster. Netflix users who have used the service's "Instantly Watch" section know that there aren't an incredible variety of movies to pick from. There are few new releases available. Instead, the selection is composed mainly of films like Mission to Mars, The Abyss, Superman: The Movie, Batman Forever and Scarface. There's nothing necessarily wrong with these movies. Some of them are actually grea... More »
In attendance at the Sony Computer Entertainment Staff Annual Briefing held yesterday in London, an anonymous source going by the alias of ‘Legends’ has just tipped us off on all manner of huge PlayStation news. We must make it clear that D+PAD weren’t in attendance, but we have no reason to doubt the validity of Legends’ claims.
Price cuts coming in March, PS3 performing better in Europe than 360
Our source tells us that SCEE President David Reeves took to the stage to discuss the current economic climate and how it shouldn’t affect PlayStation business, though was quick to mention that SCEE will be getting more competitive on price from March 2009 onwards. Our guess is that we’ll be seeing price cuts to PS3 around Easter to tie in with the release of Killzone 2…
Reeves then went on to say that the PS3 has a bigger install base than the 360 in PAL territories, and that the install base gap will significantly increase ... More »
Another weekend is upon us, and as such PlayStation Store Senior Manager Grace Chen shared the following video PSN updates today:
Hi again! The weekend’s here – time for your weekly update of new movie & TV shows on the PlayStation Network.
This week we’ve added new video content from the following television series:
• American Dad, Season 4
• Ax Men, Season 1
• Bones, Season 4
• Chuck, Season 2
• Fringe, Season 1
• Ice Road Truckers, Season 2
• Prison Break, Season 4
• Rumbling Hearts, Season 1
• Sons of Anarchy, Season 1
• Xam’d: Lost Memories, Season 2
We’ve also added the following feature films:
• A Christmas Story
• A Knight’s Tale
• A Very Long Engagement
• Analyze That
• Bad Company
• Ballad of Cable Hogue
• Batman: Gotham Knight
• Bill and Ted’s ... More »
Sony's director of hardware marketing, John Koller, has stated that they working on further PSOne additions to the US PlayStation Store and they should be arriving shortly.
To quote: There are many classic PS One games available to download through PlayStation Network in Japan, but we’ve seen barely any here in the United States (does anyone want to play “2 Xtreme,” anyway?)
I didn’t ask John Koller, the head of hardware marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment America, whether this was changing when we spoke earlier this week. My bad, readers.
But he did follow-up over e-mail last night.
“Yes, we are working on further PSone additions to the PS Store and should see those launch shortly,” he said.
Today Ubisoft announced it will be releasing exciting new downloadable content (DLC) for Far Cry 2 by the end of November.
The Fortune's Pack DLC will bring new vehicles and new weapons to both the single-player game and the multiplayer game, giving gamers even more diverse means of destruction.
Press Release: UBISOFT ANNOUNCES NEW DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT FOR FAR CRY® 2 COMING SOON IN NOVEMBER - THE FORTUNE'S PACK BRINGS YOU EVEN MORE TOOLS OF MAYHEM
November 21, 2008 - Be the silent stalker armed with your crossbow or jump on your new quad and blast through the dunes of Africa. The Fortune's Pack DLC for Far Cry 2 will be available for download from Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft for 800 Microsoft Points and from PlayStation®Network for $9.99.
The Fortune's Pack DLC for Far Cry 2 will include:
Single-Player Mode
Three brand-new weapons
- Silen... More »
IGN (linked above) has posted its review of the official Sony wireless keypad for the PlayStation 3, and seems to have a problem with its general design more than anything.
They note that the biggest issue is the top mounted nature of it, but essentially QWERTY keypads for game controllers don't really work that well and its probably best to pick up a microphone and talk.
To quote: But regardless of the poor touch support and ill-advised key design, the biggest issue I had with the Wireless Keypad is that Sony opted to design it as a top mounted add-on. I don't want to seem partial one way or another, but I definitely think Microsoft had it right when they made their keypad attachable between the handles of the Xbox 360 remote.
The keys seem much easier to view and access when they are located just below your thumbs on the thumbsticks. To be fair, the choice in top versus bottom attachment may have been out of Sony's hands. It's possible that Mi... More »
If you're one of the lucky ones, in your inbox you should receive a PlayStation Home BETA invite to the much-anticipated PS3 Home BETA. This chap has recieved an e-mail as of 5:46 EST, and some should be receiving their invites as we speak, good luck!!!
To quote SCEE community team manager TedTheDog's announcement on the official PlayStation boards:
Last night v1.0 went live in the beta and our existing testers are now up and running with it.
Today, Friday 21st, over a hundred thousand invitations will be sent across the SCEE region and next Thursday the 27th another larger batch of invitations will be sent.
If you are lucky enough to get an invitation then please note there will be load test event on each of the two evenings.
For everyone else Open Beta will not be far behind.