232w ago - From TedTheDog, PlayStation Home Community Manager today:

* Technical updates are progressing and as you have probably seen the 1.03 patch is available for existing users already but the service remains unavailable whilst work is carried out

* Service should be back up everywhere early PM UK time although theres no specific time as theres a long list of actions being worked through in Europe, America, Asia and Japan

* New comers to the service will find the Home icon on their XMB once we activate it. You wont have to look for it, it will be easy to spot and will appear under PlayStation®Network. However, if you are online on your PS3 when we activate it you will need to restart your PS3 for it to appear. Watch these forums for news on when that is. It will work like Folding@Home in that the icon will be there and you'll download the service when you first select it.

Edit 3pm: Still progressing nicely, now on the testing stage. No eta still as I wouldnt want to guess how long it will take for each region to verify its elements are working but we're getting there.

Edit 3:15pm: Not there yet, the testing is still going on, but I wanted to mention a couple of other things that need clarification.

The Far Cry2 and Uncharted spaces will not be...

237w ago - Whether victims of excessive hype or consumer stinginess, these would-be sizzlers are likely to fizzle this holiday season.

T-Mobile G1 - Price: $179 (with two-year contract)

Google's hotly anticipated push into operating systems for mobile phones was a media sensation, but HTC's version of its Android-powered device is falling short of the hype. Critics say the "Google phone," which went on sale Oct. 22, is a little clunky with design flaws like no earphone jack and an oddly jutting chin. Close, but no iPhone killer.

Zune video MP3 player - Price: $230

Microsoft's latest answer to the iPod, with 120 gigabytes of storage and a 3.2-inch high-resolution color screen, is a vast improvement over the original Zune, which debuted in 2006. But the new Zune faces the same problem as the iPod: Smartphones and other Web-enabled devices chock full of features (think iPhone) threaten to render these one-trick players obsolete.

MacBook Air - Price: $1,800

Apple's not known for its fashion victims. But the MacBook's ultraslim design, introduced in January, starved the sleek laptop of fattening conveniences like a DVD drive and an Ethernet port. After a booming reception, the Air's popularity flagged as consumers opted for more fully-featured notebooks....

252w ago - Guardian writes: You can't knock the PS3 as a piece of a kit - it still works fine for me while I'm on my fourth 360 now - but you have to wonder if features like Remote Play - fiddly to setup, geekily impressive when it works - are symptomatic of a console that almost tries to do too much.

UK Playstation boss Ray Maguire has admitted what we already knew, namely that the PS3's slow start was due to the high RRP.

"The gamble that Ken Kutaragi took with the PlayStation 3 was to put in a high level of technology, so it has been a bit slow to market in some respects, but we're now seeing how people are starting to understand how the technology works. Historically, the installed base of any hardware platform has been proportional to its great gameplay, but also very attached to the RRP.

That was the second part of Kutaragi-san's gamble, as that hardware made the machine more expensive. But now we're in the second part of the PS3's cycle, and since the price came down, there has clearly been an uplift."

Clearly there has been a sales uplift but are people really "starting to understand how the technology works"? And more importantly do they actually care? Does your average Wii owner feel they are missing out not having Blu-ray? I doubt it.

You can't knock...

253w ago - PCGH: What will be the base technology of Call of Duty: World at War? Do you as a new developer write a brand new engine from scratch of do you reuse many parts of the technology of Call of Duty 4? Why do you decide program a new engine/modify the existing technology?

Cesar Stastny: Treyarch has worked on various games during the last decade so we had our own engines, including the one on which all the Spiderman games were built. For Call of Duty: World at War, we chose the original Infinity Ward Call of Duty4: Modern Warfare engine as the base technology. Call of Duty 4 is widely considered the best cross platform game to date (Xbox 360/PS3/PC), so it is logical to consider its engine as the best next generation cross platform as well.

We chose it for its excellent lighting and game scripting. We enhanced the existing Call of Duty 4 engine with visual improvements, new effects, cooperative multiplayer, as well as using Activision's proprietary DemonWare technology for online, lobbies, matchmaking on PC and PS3 platforms which do not come with the equivalent of Xbox Live.

PCGH: Call of Duty 4 was developed cross platform and there were no major differences between the console and the PC version as far as visuals and other technical aspects is concerned. Will this be the case for Call of Duty:...

258w ago - Sony declares "game on" as Adam Turner discovers the PS3's menu system is now built into Bravia televisions.

The user interface seems to be an afterthought on many consumer electronic devices, but Sony has obviously had its UI boffins working overtime (playing games consoles - nice work if you can get it).

They've decided that the XMB (Xross Media Bar) menu system used by the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable is more friendly that the menus used by Sony's big-arse Bravia LCD televisions, so the new generation of Bravias will utilise the PS3's menu system.

The old Bravias were designed around a standard tree-like menu system, with options opening up to the right as you scroll down through the categories. The Bravia's Xross Media Bar menus are built around a similar concept, the menus are sightly more animated but it still requires you to scroll down through categories as your options pop up on the right.

The Xross Media Bar actually has a similar look and feel to the Vista Media Centre interface and even the changes in Windows Mobile 6.1.

The Bravia's move to Xross Media Bar is more cosmetic than functional, yet I can't deny that I prefer it over the old Bravia menus. Smooth and responsive menus reduce the feeling that you're fighting with a device....