Sony has been at or close to the forefront of TV technology ever since the good old Trinitron. Today the company went even further by introducing the first ever 240Hz LCD TV and the world’s thinnest TV.
Hold your breath until December (in the US), because that’s when Sony’s 240Hz LCD TVs will be available to the public. Currently LCD TVs are topping out at 120Hz for consumers, and that’s already a significant improvement in speed over the standard 50-60Hz of normal (for want of a better term) LCD TVs.
The new 240Hz technology promises to provide the smoothest, most lifelike, movement ever from an LCD TV and will be great for gamers using next-gen consoles especially. We’re still a little concerned about 240Hz with movies though. As it is 120Hz makes TV and movies look a little fake.
The 240Hz technology will be available in the KDL-46W1 and KDL-40W1 that boasts full-HD, 3,000:1 contrast ratio, BRAVIA Engine 2 and 24p support.
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A new PlayStation 3 Firmware has hit Network Update, namely version 2.42.
According to PlayStation Network director Eric Lempel via the PS Blog, PS3 Firmware 2.42 improves the playback quality of some PLAYSTATION 3 and PlayStation format software.
As usual, a direct link to the PS3 Firmware download is provided below in case you wish to install the update manually.
Per Kim Nguyen (Marketing Manager, PLAYSTATION 3) today:
As announced at our E3 press conference, some of our top PLAYSTATION 3 titles will be re-launched as Greatest Hits. Starting today, you can now get these blockbuster titles for only $29.99.
Yep, you read it right, $29.99. So for all you PS3 owners out there who have been holding off on any of these games, now is your chance to expand your videogame collection. Not a PS3 owner? No more excuses.
Check out the list of Greatest Hits:
- Warhawk, Motorstorm and Resistance: Fall of Man, SCEA.
- Call of Duty 3, Activision
- EA Sports Fight Night Round 3, Need for Speed: Carbon, Electronic Arts
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas and Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Bethesda Softworks
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A new PlayStation 3 console was approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission last week, according to the agency's online filings database.
No information on the new model, number CECHL01, is available at present from the filing because Sony was granted short-term confidentiality on the papers but it is likely the 80G-byte version announced earlier this month during the E3 games show in Los Angeles. The console is due on sale in the next couple of months and will replace the current 40G-byte model.
Sony's filing to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission was made because the FCC is the radio regulator in the U.S. and as such all new products that use radio must be submitted to the organization for approval before they can be sold.
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 cyc... More »
Today you will hear about what Final Fantasy 13 will and won't do for the Xbox 360. So sit back, grab a beer or your respective drink, and get ready to read!
4. Final Fantasy WON'T be the saving grace in Japan for the Xbox 360
Final Fantasy does not need to be released in Japan for the sole reason that Xbox 360 in Japan is pretty much the equivalent of finding a VII gaming system in America. In Japan, they don’t want much to do with the Xbox 360. They support their countries products and have no need for a American console with more shoot’em ups that you can shake a stick at. Just take a look at July’s numbers of in Japan.
1. PSP- 56,998
2. Nintendo DS- 48,540
3. Wii- 41,798
4. PS3- 12,458
5. PS2- 10,405
6. Xbox 360- 3,807
If I were in charge of Microsoft, I would have stopped trying to beat that dead horse many days ago.
TGR was lucky enough to have an interview with CEO of Silicon Knights Denis Dyack to talk about upcoming Xbox 360 exclusive Too Human. Since this is Silicon Knights first game for Xbox 360, we thought it would be good to ask Dyack how the experience has been and his overall thoughts on the console:
“I really like the 360. I think it’s a great console: it’s really well balanced, it’s very straight-forward, and its very powerful. The video card and the hardware itself, I think, is great. I think the online compatibilities of Live are fantastic, so yeah, I like it a lot.”
With Too Human’s release edging closer and closer, all eyes are on it to see if this has lived up to the expectations. We loved the Too Human demo, although it took a while to get use to it.
In a recent interview with the BBC's Click program, Hideo Kojima, creator of the acclaimed Metal Gear franchise, has revealed that the first few years of development on MGS4 were "trial and error".
"We started to work on Metal Gear Solid 4 four years ago, after finishing Metal Gear Solid 3," said Kojima-san. "At that time we really didn't know what the PS3 was going to be like, so the first two years was all about experimenting, developing and trial and error."
"In the last two years, we've known what the PS3 is capable of, the specifications of it and how we can utilise it," he continued. "PS3 is a monster machine. That's why it took so much time to create Metal Gear Solid 4."
Kojima-san also acknowledged the early access to the PS3 that Sony allowed them because of the importance of the Metal Gear Solid series for the PlayStation brand.
With Final Fantasy XIII coming to the Xbox 360, is Sony concerned that it lost a major exclusive? Nope. Speaking in a recent interview, SCEA senior vice president Peter Dille shared his thoughts on the announcement, comparing it to Grand Theft Auto IV.
He believes that since FFXIII is now a cross-platform title, it will not move consoles in the same way that exclusive titles do, like Metal Gear Solid 4 for instance.
To quote: What you have with “Final Fantasy XIII” is a lot like what they’ve paid for with “GTA.” It’s not an exclusive on their platform. It’s now a cross-platform game. And I think if you look at how “GTA” behaved in the marketplace and how it drove — or didn’t drive — either console, that’s what I’m talking about. Consumers responded to “GTA” on the PS3 just as they did on the 360.
He’s probably right. After seeing the effect of GTA IV on both consoles, many are expecting a very similar situ... More »
Product Reviews writes: On our recent post about the new PlayTV, one of our readers asked if the new announced 80gb Sony PS3 will have rear USB slots as the current 40gb model doesn't have any at the rear.
They did not want the PlayTV sticking out at the front of the Playstation 3, after a little research we cannot confirm if they will be back or front, but it does not look good from what we read on Stuff.
The 80GB will come with the same feature set as the pared down model. So limited USB connectivity and no backwards compatibility with PS2 games. If that's true then we could expect nearly everything to be the same, including the USB ports. This will affect buyer's decisions when looking at the PlayTV.
The new 80GB PS3 will be coming to the UK on August 27th and it’s a good deal at £299, the same price as the 40GB model. Looks like things will pretty much be the same, apart from the extra 40GB.
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