Just under two weeks ago, word broke on Nintendo's Wii Speak stating the Wii Speak Channel is only for Wii Speak purchasers and not to buy it used.
The reason for this was that the peripheral's manual stated the code needed to download the Wii Speak Channel "cannot be replaced by Nintendo or your retailer if it is lost or stolen." This would have meant that those who bought it used would not have been able to download the Wii Speak Channel.
Since then, Nintendo seems to have had a change of heart and has stated: "Nintendo can confirm that when consumers purchase the Wii Speak accessory, they are provided with a Wii Download Ticket with a unique number. The ticket, which can be redeemed via the Wii Shop Channel, will enable the user to download the Wii Speak Channel free of charge to a single Wii console," the representative stated.
Movie pirates are distributing fake Blu-ray movie titles in China, which are essentially ordinary DVDs passed off as Blu-rays.
According to a WSJ report, the counterfeit Blu-ray discs are ordinary DVDs that hold the same movie content as the original Blu-ray but it is encoded in the AVCHD format. AVCHD is based on the MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) video format, enabling recording of high-definition 1080i and 720p video onto cheap DVD discs.
"We are concerned and are assigning priority to this issue," said Mike Ellis, the Asia-Pacific managing director for the MPA.
The issue came into the surface last month when authorities raided a big stash of the new pirated discs in China, which is often at the leading edge of piracy trends.
The MPA estimates that within the next six months the high-definition discs could account for 10% of $224 million that its m... More »
With all the attention being paid to the vaunted New Xbox Experience interface that will launch later this month for the Xbox 360, Microsoft quietly updated the Games for Windows - Live client today.
The update doesn't introduce any new functionality, that is planned later on with the release of a desktop client as well as the Games for Windows - Live Marketplace. However, the update does give the GFW - Live client a whole new look that's better suited for PCs.
The previous GFW - Live client didn't make much use of the bigger displays and higher resolutions that many PCs sport. It focused much of the interface in narrow boxes centered in the middle of the screen. The new client stretches across the top of the screen, and it presents more information much more cleanly than before.
Also gone are the Xbox 360 "jelly bean" buttons, the big colored buttons that referred to the buttons on the Xbox 360 controller. Those will appear if you plug an Xbox... More »
Many people have been wondering exactly what the differences are between Development and Retail PlayStation 3 Systems, and we figured now would be a great time to clarify these along with reporting some new findings.
Aside from the different hardware revisions of the PS3's motherboard, the systems are virtually the same as mentioned in previous posts. We have examined multiple PS3 TEST's, Retail PS3's, Demo Unit PS3's, and even Factory Mode PS3's, and found that there are no hardware differences between them at all.
Mind you, there are differences, but they are due to the hardware revision, not due to the systems themselves. To make that more clear, the units are identical to their counterparts of the same hardware revision.
So, the question is- what's the difference? Software!
We all know the difference is in the software, and after examining countless dumps from these systems, on top of flash dumps given to us by you, our loyal re... More »
We know some of you put off playing Grand Theft Auto IV when it launched earlier this year on "video game consoles" – instead, preferring to wait for the inevitable PC port.
After all, if there was any chance of some hidden hot coffee action, the PC would be platform of discovery. So you waited. And waited. And finally word came through the tubes that GTA IV would see a PC release on November 18th of this year.
Now, if listings on popular online video game retailers like Amazon and GameStop are any indication, we're hoping you circled that date on your Friends of GTA charity calendar in pencil because you may be in for a two-week delay.
We put a request out to Rockstar early this morning and have yet to hear back, leading us to believe this del... More »
Per Hiroshi Matsuyama (CyberConnect2) via PS Blog today:
Hello, PlayStation.Blog readers, I’m Hiroshi Matsuyama from CyberConnect2, the developer of NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja STORM. I’m very excited to have this opportunity to speak with you all about the game. Since this is my first post, I’ll cover the basics today.
I’m sure some of you that have seen our trailers for the game have thought “I bet this is just a pre-rendered movie” – but it’s not! Everything from all of our trailers is 100% real-time footage from the game running on PLAYSTATION 3 hardware that you will all be able to experience when the game is released next week.
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm features two main game modes for players to enjoy – “Free Battle Mode” and “Ultimate Mission Mode.” In Free Battle Mode, you can play as one of 25 characters from the animated serie... More »
The musician behind the song that caused the highly anticipated PlayStation 3 game “Little Big Planet” to get recalled just days before its release has defended his song in a statement issued to MTV Multiplayer.
Perhaps even more significantly, singer Toumani Diabate has explained what the song is about and why its inclusion of verses from the Qur’an is his “way to attract and inspire people toward Islam.”
Multiplayer received the statement late yesterday, following conversations with two Muslim experts who helped illuminate the reasons why Diabate’s song might trouble some Muslims and just how similar — or different — this situation is from the publication of the Danish cartoons that inspired deadly riots across the world.
They note the complication that there is no explicit rule in Islam prohibiting a song like Diabate’s.
Diabate’s song first was initially flagged on the official PS3 message boards by a M... More »
It’s just something that I have noticed occurring behind the scenes over the last year that I think is worthy of bringing up, as it indicates a growing faith in the PlayStation 3 console from developers and publishers across the globe. It does not mean that the Xbox 360 is any less important, just that the PS3 is definitely starting to get equal-footing on multi-format games.
Go back six months and more, almost every game that was multi-format was given to journalists on Xbox 360. Code came in for Xbox 360 debuggers (the devices on which we play unfinished games), promo copies were for the Xbox 360 and almost always games were demoed to us on Microsoft’s console when out at junkets across the world. It’s just the way it was.
Obviously being a multi-format publication, we actively chased PS3 versions of these games but they were rarely forthcoming, and if they did make it in, it could be months later. I sit alongside both the editor of Australian 360 Mag... More »
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