Per Microsoft's Major Nelson (linked above): Xbox.com and the Xbox forums will be offline for maintenance on Tuesday, November 18th from 12:01am PT until 4:00am PT to prepare for the New Xbox Experience launch on Wednesday the 19th.
This does NOT affect Xbox LIVE, which will remain available during this time.
Additionally, similar as was done for the PlayStation 3 recently, Microsoft will give Capcom its own “branded destination experience” tomorrow, to coincide with the launch of New Xbox Experience.
The hub will serve as a sort of one-stop shop for all things Street Fighter. Related add-ons and content, as well information on upcoming releases, will be accessible from one single destination.
Press Release: CAPCOM® PARTNERS WITH MICROSOFT® TO PROVIDE A BRANDED EXPERIENCE WITH SUPER STREET FIGHTER® II TURBO HD R... More »
PlayStation Portable developer AhMan released PSP iR Shell 4.7 last week, and today he has updated it once again to revision 4.8.
Those interested can find it below, along with the updated changelog.
Download: PSP iR Shell 4.8 / PSP iR Shell 4.8 [Mirror]
Changelog:
This is mainly a maintenance release with a few bug fixes. It also adds a new feature to support homebrew to use extra slim memory.
New Features for PSP Slim:
- Added support to homebrews that are built with the option PSP_LARGE_MEMORY, that is, to use the extra slim memory. When running these homebrews under iR Shell, they will have access to another 26MB slim RAM. Pls note 2MB of slim RAM is reserved for iR Shell.
- Enhance th... More »
Update: The PSN is now back online.
According to Patrick Seybold, the Director of Corporate Communications & Social Media at PS Blog today:
As some of you may have noticed, we’ve temporarily taken down some functions of PlayStation Network - specifically access to the PlayStation Store, account management and registration.
Online gameplay will remain uninterrupted.
We thank you for your patience and will report back here as soon as the Store and registration functions are back online.
So at least it's confirmed, eh? Still meh though!
Per Grace Chen (Senior Manager, PLAYSTATION Store) today:
Hi everyone, as Eric mentioned in his post yesterday, we wanted to give you a live demo of the PSP’s direct access to PlayStation Store, which will be coming with the 5.00 firmware update.
Now whenever your PSP is connected to the Internet over WiFi, you’ll be able to download and enjoy the latest games, demos and trailers on the go without needing to sync up to your PS3 or PC. Here’s a brief walk-through of what you’ll experience.
On a related note, the PS3 firmware update (2.50) will add Flash Player 9 support to the PS3 Web browser, so you’ll be able to actually watch this video (and all of our blog videos) on your PS3 once the firmware goes live!
In addition, I want to point out that the PlayStation Network is scheduled to be ... More »
According to Community Team Leader Elixor's announcement on the French Official PlayStation Community (linked above), the Playstation Network has maintenance scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday 14 October 2008).
It will be down from Tuesday October 14 at 21:00 to Wednesday October 15 at 02:00.
To quote: Hello all,
A maintenance PLAYSTATION Network is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday 14 October 2008).
Start: Tuesday October 14 at 21:00
End: Wednesday October 15 at 02:00
During this maintenance you can not connect to PLAYSTATION Network.
If you are connected before you should be able to play online without problem.
Thank you for your understanding.
We whetted your appetite with 10 Xbox 360 tricks Microsoft won't tell you, now here are seven more handy tips to help you get the best out of your console.
1. System updates by disc
Not got your console online yet, or having trouble downloading the latest dashboard update? Try downloading it from a web-connected PC or Mac instead and burning it to a CD. Grab the latest (well, latest-ish - hopefully Microsoft will update the page soon) update from the XBox 360 System Updates page, burn it to disc, then pop that disc into the 360 and turn it on. You'll be prompted automatically as to whether you want to run the update.
2. The towel trick
Bit of a controversial one this, at least as long as you count "possibly burning your house down" as controversial. What it is is a short-term fix for the infamous red rings of death, the mournful LEDs that announce your 360 is deaded. There are various theories about why it works, but the... More »
We may have got a bit ahead of ourselves yesterday, with the PSN having maintenance. Speculation immediately spread leading to the Home Beta. It never arrived though, and yes we where disappointed, even though it was the slightest chance.
So this is where the maintenance was really going on, the Metal Gear Servers.
Maintenance completed on the 26/08/2008
The following changes were made during the maintenance:
1) Players will gain 5 reward points when they have finished a round in the automatching lobbies “SNAKE:EX”, “LIQUID:EX” and “SOLIDUS:EX”.
*The lobbies “SNAKE:EX”, “LIQUID:EX” and “SOLIDUS:EX” are only available for users who have bought the “MGO GENE EXPANSION”.
2) A new Survival Lobby “MK2″ has been added.
This should have made sense to us from the beginning. If it was being reported by Konami in the first place, then it must have been to do with them.
More »
The PSN is currently down. We have just got word that on 08.26.08 (tomorrow) between 8:00-13:00 PDT the PlayStation Network will be down.
We are skeptical, but this “Scheduled Maintenance” may be pertaining to the Home Extended Beta, or possibly even Life with PlayStation. This latest rumor would add up with the rumor we have previously reported. Only time can tell what is to come.
Also, the Metal Gear Online site has posted an update stating:
PSN Maintenance 26.08.2008
Maintenance will be undertaken on the “PLAYSTATION(R) NETWORK” between August 26th 16:00-21:00 (BST). During these times, customers may be momentarily unable to connect to the PLAYSTATION(R) Network. Please try after some time should this happen.
More information on the way as it comes in!