One day, many years ago, a programmer playing Halo: Combat Evolved became frustrated by his lack of skill.
He died over and over again, so rather than practice until he could hold his own, he - as many programmers do - asked himself how could automate the experience. And thus, the infamous AimBot was born.
AimBots have been a thorn in the sides of many noble gamers for almost a decade. Talentless players have used them to bring misery upon their innocent foes; foes primarily out to have a good time themselves.
Unfortunately for the honest among us, AimBots are the least of our worries now. A plague of modded controllers have now entered circulation among gamers. These controllers are used to center on a target’s head, pull the trigger, and move on.
Others are used to make the buttons easier and faster to push, or are modified with a rapid-fire button (like an old SNES controlle... More »
There's general agreement that Sony stumbled out of the gate with the PlayStation 3. Months of intense hype were followed by a late launch (fully a year after the Xbox 360) and a staggering $600 price tag for the deluxe model.
Even worse, the PS3 didn't initially have any real must-have exclusive titles, and despite the power of its vaunted Cell processor, multiplatform games from third-party developers didn't look appreciably better than the respective titles on the Xbox 360.
Since then, the company's been modifying the PlayStation product line to better fit the competitive market landscape. As of August 2008, a new "bargain" PS3 is available with a larger, 80GB hard drive, and a "deluxe" model is due in November, doubling the capacity to 160GB.
Both, however, lack backward compatibility with PS2 games and do not come with flash card readers. If those features are a must, it might be best to pick up the 80GB "Metal Gear" bundle version on eBay w... More »
Today Sony Music Entertainment Japan has unveiled a new Blu-spec CD format that promises higher quality audio by using Blu-ray technologies.
Sony will release 60 Blu-spec music CD's (mostly Classical and Jazz albums) on December 24, 2008. Sony also state they are hoping to encourage rival studios like EMI & Universal to support the format.
To quote: Blu-spec uses the blue lasers that would normally master Blu-ray movies to cut CDs more accurately than would be possible with red lasers.
In tandem with the use of polymer plastic for the discs themselves, the format should improve the quality of audio CDs while remaining compatible with existing CD players; the latter has been a weakness of Super Audio CD and other defunct sound formats.
The first Blu-spec discs are due to reach Japan on Christmas Eve and will focus mostly on classical and jazz music, including Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Miles Davis' Kind of Blue; 60 titles in all... More »
Sony and Universal Pictures have joined forces to deliver the PoP Entertainment vending machine. The new vending machines will hold PS3 games, Blu-ray discs, DVDs and allow for digital downloads... and at least 150 movie titles should be in the vending machines at its launch.
A video of the PoP Entertainment Vending Machine is available HERE.
To quote: The PoP “entertainment vending machine” is a brand new venture between Universal Pictures and Sony entertainment to allow punters to grab their favourite DVDs, Blu-ray discs, PS3 games and downloads 24/7.
So you’ll be able to sate any midnight movie cravings or post-pub PS3 needs, and the touchscreen vendo will also let you browse trailers before you buy.
What’s more, you’ll also be able to instantly feed your multimedia whims by downloading music and movies direct to most MP3 or MP4 players or SD cards... More »
Pediatric patients at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children (RMHC) in Denver today received new Xbox 360(TM) kiosks to play with, thanks to a collaboration between Microsoft Corp. and the Companions in Courage Foundation. RMHC is the only Colorado children's hospital to receive the custom-built game units from the program.
The Companions in Courage Foundation, started by hockey great Pat LaFontaine, established the Lion's Den Kiosk program with Microsoft Corp. Microsoft delivers the mobile game units to select children's hospitals to provide interactive, fun entertainment as a respite for children battling life-threatening illness.
"Microsoft is committed to keeping kids entertained in a variety of ways within a safe gaming environment, so partnering with Companions in Courage to offer children in hospitals a way to connect through something as universal as games, is a natural fit for the work we do," said Microsoft President, Entertainment and Devices Division... More »
The UK is set to get its own Qore-style weekly digital magazine available exclusively through the PlayStation Network. Packed with High Definition video content, the digital magazine will include news, reviews, features and downloadable content on games, movies and more.
The pioneering weekly product will be available to UK PlayStation 3 owners in early 2009, and is expected to subsequently roll-out to other European territories.
Press Release: Future and Sony to launch UK's first on-console digital magazine
Pioneering interactive high definition magazine to launch on PlayStation Network
Future, the special-interest media group, today announces that it has signed an agreement with Sony Computer Entertainment UK (“SCE UK”) to create an on-console, weekly digital magazine available exclusively through the PlayStation®Network.
The digital magazine will enable gamers in the UK to download interactive, high definition ed... More »
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe today announced a collaboration with ABBA to bring the band’s best loved tracks to SingStar for both PlayStation®2 and PLAYSTATION®3. Owners of either system will now be able to sing along with some of the most iconic pop tracks of all time including ‘Mamma Mia’, ‘Gimme Gimme Gimme’, ‘Waterloo’ and ‘Dancing Queen’.
Press Release: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, ABBA and Universal Music Announce Collaboration on SingStar® SingStar® ABBA Available For This Christmas, Exclusively on PlayStation®
SingStar ABBA is being developed in full collaboration with ABBA and Universal Music Group in Sweden, which manages the rights to the ABBA brand. The terms of the agreement include a window of exclusivity for disc-based PlayStation titles until December 2009.
ABBA’s recordings have sold an estimated 370 million units worldwide. Their 1992 album, “Gold,” is one of the most popular albums of al... More »
Dark_AleX has released an update to his Despertar del Cementerio “Universal Unbricker,” adding the ability to fully regenerate the IDStorage. Meaning if the IDStorage on your PSP has been fully wiped out or contains corrupt keys you will be able to recover it.
Apart from this major addition in functionality, a format flash function has been added to the DC7 menu. As with previous releases, the unbricker can be used in conjunction with a Pandora battery to restore and install custom firmware 4.01 M33-2 on the PSP. Note that newer PSP models housing a TA-088 v3 motherboard are still unsupported.
If you already have a previous version of DC installed on your memory stick it is only necessary to copy the DC7 folder to PSP/GAME and launch the application from within the Game menu.
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