Hi everyone. We’ve been listening to all of your feedback about the PS3 and PSP, and with these next firmware updates (coming soon), we’ve added a number of new features and improved some existing functionality to make your PS3/PSP experience even better.
PSP (v5.00) update
Let’s start with the v5.00 update for PSP. In this version, you’ll notice the addition of the PlayStation Network icon on the XMB. You can now sign up for PlayStation Network, manage your account and access PlayStation Store directly from your PSP - meaning you can download games directly to your PSP while connected via Wi-Fi. Getting games, demos and trailers while on-the-go has never been easier! Check out the screen below.
The current PlayStation Store on the PC will be down in the interim as we take some time to revamp. Don’t worry, it will re-launch soon after we’ve made some tweaks. Please keep in mind, if you already have a PlayStation Network account, simply sign i... More »
The Financial Times is reporting that Kazuo Hirai "has ruled out cutting the price of the PlayStation 3 console before Christmas, insisting that the PS3 is better value than rivals half its price."
To quote: Mr Hirai argues that the basic Xbox has no hard disk drive while the PS3 plays high-definition Blu-Ray movies as standard. “When you really compare apples to apples, then I think we have a very good value proposition,” he said.
“The answer is yes, if you’re asking, ‘Are these the prices we’re going with this Christmas?’” said Kazuo Hirai, president and group chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment, in an interview with the Financial Times.
Courtesy of marcan42, this The very first working test of BootMii. BootMii takes over the boot process of the Wii and lets you run almost anything (even security code, a backup/restore utility, you name it) from an SD card, before most of the system even starts booting.
To quote: It is a huge step towards "brickproofing" a Wii, as it will still work even if you thoroughly screw up your filesystem. You could even format it entirely and it would still work.
Here I'm testing it with a small program that modifies the boot code (boot2) to boot into the Homebrew Channel instead of the normal system menu. Pop the SD card in, the Wii boots to HBC. Take it out, it reverts to normal boot. Real handy for coders.
To those that claimed that System Menu channels were more convenient (read: saved you a click or two) compared to running homebrew off of HBC: take that! :-)
Home should not be shown at trade shows. Absolutely not. Not under any circumstances. Why? Because it is boring. Home is not a game. It's not even a user interface. It's a... thing.
Once Sony get around to deciding what that actually is will probably be the time they decide to release it, but until then - and especially in the state it was in for my TGS demonstration - it should be kept as far from prying eyes (and hands) as possible.
TGS is a games show. It's for games. Loud, exciting, playable things. But Home? So not a game. The build I was treated to yesterday went a little like this: I log on as "Ricky". Who was a girl, but hey, who am I to question someone else's naming conventions. Then I move around a bit. And I find, about three seconds into the experience, that I'm running around a near-perfect recreation of Sony's TGS booth.
Great! I think. Yeah, I'm already at TGS, and can play all these demos, but wouldn't it be awesome if people at ... More »
I like getting my video games cheaper. Especially when I don’t have to wait for three months till everyone else doesn’t care about the game.
It looks like ToysRUs is trying to get an upper hand on pre-orders this year with Gears of War 2. The limited edition is listed on the site for $59.99 instead of the regular $69.99 found at many other retailers.
If you do add the shipping costs to the order, and the possibility of the retailer receiving the game late then you may have a problem, but considering the site is selling it for 59.99 I don’t see why they wouldn’t sell it for 10 dollars less at their stores which would eliminate the shipping problem.
On the other hand, Amazon Canada has been slashing off $5-6 price tags on many upcoming games such as LittleBigPlanet, Dead Space|ht... More »
A new version of the multiplayer browser Battle.Net will debut with Starcraft II. How will it be superior to the previous version? Well, it'll be able to hit you up for money.
During a BlizzCon '08 panel discussion, Diablo 3 director Jay Wilson said, "We are looking to monetize Battle.Net so that we get to keep making these games and updating features. We kind of have to.” Blizzard wants to avoid putting in a subscription but yes, some as-yet-unknown features will cost money.
Apparently Activision really likes the word "monetize". They've been using it a lot lately, first with Guitar Hero: World Tour, then with Call of Duty: World At War, and now Battle.Net. Guess they've settled on a strategy for their top franchises from here on out.
Quite possible the paid content for Battle.Net is something superfluous, like custom avatars for the browser. If they tried to sell special items or some such, an angry mob with pitchforks would gather. ... More »
The console kids both announced Second Life-style virtual environments at the Tokyo Game Show today. Both games show striking similarities to Linden Lab's creation.
Players are represented by avatars which live a virtual life - engaging in relationships, going about day-to-day business. These can be personalised to look as similar (or different) to how the user looks in real life.
Sony's "Home" virtual world for the Playstation 3 will be released on November 19th, after its delay twice already. It will go up against Microsoft's Xbox 360 "New Xbox Experience".
Ryoji Akagawa of Sony said that around 24 game design companies would provide the content needed for Home - but didn't give much else away.
Game expert, Hirokazu Hamamura head of Japanese publisher Enterbrain told Associated Press, "You still can't tell what (Home)'s all about."
Microsoft's John Schappert said, "Our goal is to make the Xbox experience more visual... More »
(0) 
