5w ago - CCP Games Praetorian Creative Director Atli Mar Sveinsson announced today that Dust 514: Uprising arrives on May 6th, and has detailed the skill system upgrade below as follows:

With the help of our players, we at CCP have learned a great deal throughout last year of DUST 514's beta period, especially with regard to the system at the core of your character's advancement and progression: the skill system.

Most importantly, we've gained an understanding of how you are using the items to advance through the game. This is all thanks to the terrific amount of player feedback we've received during the beta period.

As we started work on re-aligning the progression tree for the new Uprising build of DUST 514, set for release on May 6th, we realized that trying to map the new skills, bonuses and requirements to your existing items was not only complicated on the technical side, but also likely unfair to you.

You may have committed to a certain play style, and with an overhauled layout and collection of skills, you may find yourself regretting some of your prior choices. We have thus decided that it is far better to re-spec not only the skills but items as well.

In short, you will get your skill points (SP) back and the ISK and AUR (in-game currencies) value of any...

135w ago - Normally we don't cover MAC stuff, however, today Marcello from PensieriDigitali.com (lupin4 on our site) let us know he has made available a guide detailing how to upgrade PS3Break firmware via MAC OSX (AT90USB162) for PS3 JailBreak users.

To quote: This procedure has been tested only with PS3Break 1.0 key (atmel chip) and do not guarantee that work with other key (in theory just change some parameters).

How to flash a PS3Break 1.0 with MAC OSX:

New method (thanks to ScotthishCpt) with this procedure you do not install anything because ScotthishCpt built a self-contained SDK, and when you're done, just unmount the disk image without trace or driver in the system.

1) Download from HERE the modified version of Avr8_sdk.
2) Double click on (AVR8_SDK.dmg) and mount the volume (avr8_sdk).
3) Browse to Applications directory in the volume.
4) Launch SDK TERMINAL.
5) At this time insert the PS3Break key in the usb port in DFU mode (click the upgrade button immediately after it's inserted).
6) If the key is correctly in DFU mode the green light should be off, you can...

147w ago - Today Examiner.com (linked above) reports that numerous users who opted to upgrade the PS3 HDD are now experiencing issues with the recently released PS3 Firmware 3.41 update.

It is not yet determined if these issues are related to the PS3 Firmware Patches Sony instituted beginning with PlayStation 3 Firmware update version 3.41, however, there is currently a lengthy thread on Sony's official board covering the issues.

To summarize, quoting from Examiner.com: "The problems being reported are the following: PS3 owners are unable to update their system to firmware 3.41, HDD upgrades aren't being allowed, systems are crashing, and after installing a new HDD the system isn't fully downloading the file and then prompts users with a message stating 'no applicable data found'."

160w ago - Today Andriasang.com (linked above) reports that Sony has started a 250GB PS3 HDD upgrade service in Japan for those who are seeking to swap their current PlayStation 3 hard disk drive for a fee.

For the price of ¥18,000 (~$184), Japanese gamers can to send their PS3 directly to Sony who will upgrade the system's hard drive to a 250GB model, and move all the content of the previous drive across. They'll then send your system (and old PS3 hard drive) back to you.

To quote: "For ¥18,000 (~$184), Sony will upgrade your current PS3 to a 250 gigabyte hard drive. The cost includes the hard drive and all labor for swapping the drives and moving over your system software and all content from your current hard drive. Sony will even return the current hard drive to you.

The program works with the following PS3 models:

• CECHA00 (60GB)
• CECHB00 (20GB)
• CECHH00 (40GB)
• CECHL00 (80GB)
• CECHQ00 (160GB)
• CECH-2000A (120GB)

For further details, including a step-by-step guide to placing an order and shipping out your PS3, see Sony's hard drive swap service page."

206w ago - A few months ago SCEE confirmed news that Andrew House would be replacing David Reeves as president.

That being said, it appears the new president of SCEE isn't wasting any time taking over the reins from David Reeves and causing a stir.

After having been in his new office for only a little over a month, House is already making daring statements, telling Edge-Online in an interview that he believes Wii owners will eventually 'upgrade' to PS3, and that the PS3's lifecycle could "significantly" exceed ten years.

To quote: "If you look back at previous lifecycles, like PS2 versus N64 [sic], we have lots of data that suggests that lots of people bought into N64 as their entry level gaming device, and were happy to upgrade to a more powerful machine later in the lifecycle when the price point was right for them."

"I think we're going to see this later on PS3, and the fact that it's a Blu-ray player as well and that there's a [greater] wealth of network based experiences than are perhaps available on the device they already have will add to the proposition. I think that will...