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PSP News is a News and downloads site for the PSP, PSVita, PS4, PS3, PS2 and PSOne, We have all the latest emulators, hack and custom firmwares, homebrew and all the downloads on this site, we also cover commercial gaming and console news., the latest homebrew and releases, Part of the
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January 19th, 2007, 17:32 Posted By: wraggster
News/release from Evilseph
Team tOc (The Oblivious Coders) is proud to present our first release, a Flash1 Formatter!
Flash1 Formatter
v1 by Team tOc
Members of Team tOc are:EvilSeph, Moca, TUW, Ahadiel and kando
Flash1 Formatter is a program for the PSP that allows you to recover from a corrupted flash1.
NOTE:
THIS PROGRAM ONLY WORKS THROUGH RECOVERY.
BE SURE TO READ THE README.
Download Via Comments
via evilseph
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January 19th, 2007, 17:14 Posted By: wraggster
Via IGN
There are two kinds of people in the world - Beatles fans and Elvis fans. Wait. Actually, there are two kinds of gamers in the world - graphics fans and gameplay fans. You can be a graphics fan and still value gameplay, or be a gameplay fan who appreciates graphics, but really, either visuals matter to you or they don't.
There's no questioning that the current generation of consoles, Xbox 360, PS3 and to a lesser extent, Wii, are all capable of gorgeous, eye-melting visuals. Alright, the Wii is definitely a solid generation behind. But, like it or not, the fact is that for many gamers, publishers and developers, a huge component of next-gen gaming are its next-gen visuals. Herein lies our discussion point for this piece, and we've sought opinions from the chaps in the know during a couple of recent meetings with Pandemic staff.
Back in December we caught up with Kirk Gibbons, Art Director at Pandemic LA and Adam Myhill, Senior Technical Artist at Pandemic Brisbane, at the Australian Game Developer's Conference. On our more recent trip to Pandemic, we sat down with John Passfield, Creative Director and Morgan Jaffit, Lead Designer.
Although interviewed in separate sessions, both parties shared very interesting correlations on the importance of strong design. However, they also admit that technology and tools are a major factor in the retail success of a title in the eyes of the consumer.
Full article
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January 19th, 2007, 17:00 Posted By: wraggster
via kotaku
Ah, New Zealand. Kiwi fruit, Peter Jackson and, above, rugby. Pencil in "Sony-lovers" for another thing the island nation is famous for. Last November and December, Sony moved 21,800 PS2s units, which accounts for 70 percent of the consoles sold. Says Sony Computer Entertainment New Zealand's Warwick Light (killer name!):
It is no surprise to us that PlayStation 2 was the number one selling gaming platform for Christmas. As the PlayStation 2 offering goes from strength to strength, more consumers are buying into the value proposition of the hardware and the unrivalled range of software on offer. Consumers obviously saw exceptional value in PlayStation 2.
Okay. That's not such a big deal. The PS2 is and has been a big seller. But what is interesting is that the PSP sold 9,560 units and captured 73 percent of the handheld market during November and December 2006. Wow, what the DS is to Japan, the PSP is to New Zealand.
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January 19th, 2007, 16:52 Posted By: wraggster
via gibiz
GamesIndustry.biz has learned that Sony Computer Entertainment has chosen HMV as the official retail partner for the UK launch of PlayStation 3.
Sony is due to announce full details of the European PS3 launch and price point next week - but sources have previously told GI.biz that the 60GB model will hit the shops on March 23, priced at GBP 425.
Now a source has revealed that HMV will be Sony's official launch partner, with a special midnight event set to take place at the retailer's flagship Oxford Street store.
Neither Sony nor HMV would confirm the deal, with HMV games boss Tim Ellis telling GI.biz, "There are no confirmed plans just yet with Sony regarding the launch of PS3."
However, he added, "We are currently discussing a range of possible options. I can't say right now whether this will include an official launch event, as such, but it's certainly the case that more and more publishers and games companies are approaching HMV following the success of a number of major launches over the last few years."
Most recently, HMV hosted the launch event for World of Warcraft expansion pack The Burning Crusade, which took place on Monday night. According to Ellis, "The midnight launch attracted a staggering 1500 fans, making it by far the biggest event of its kind ever staged by our Oxford Circus store."
HMV was also Nintendo's official partner for the launch of the Wii in December, and was previously chosen by Sony as its partner for the PSP launch in September 2005.
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January 19th, 2007, 16:41 Posted By: wraggster
via cvg
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has shot down alleged 'leaked' information on a PSP2, saying flatly "There is no PSP2".
Reports hitting the internet yesterday featured a supposed image of a new version of the handheld, saying the codename for the machine is Cobalt.
Reports said it featured the likes of dual analogue thumbsticks, an improved display, an 8Gb flash drive, wifi and Bluetooth support and an in-built camera that lets users stream live video to PS3 over wifi. But it's all just wishful thinking, it seems.
Who's been having fun with Photoshop in their bedroom then?
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January 19th, 2007, 16:39 Posted By: wraggster
via cvg
The recently unveiled Xbox 360 and PC Oblivion expansion, The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles, will also hit PS3 this year, Bethesda has said.
According to the developer Shivering Isles (due this spring for PC and 360) is about one quarter the size Cyrodiil, where Oblivion takes place. There'll be plenty to see and do but it's not just another gate to Oblivion: "Oblivion is made of lots of planes, one for each Daedric Prince. Oblivion featured the fiery realm of Mehrunes Dagon. The Shivering Isles is the realm of Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness. It's a place unlike anything you've seen in Oblivion," says the developer.
The good news is that Bethesda plans on a PS3 launch but whether it'll come bundled with the original, currently due for PS3's launch, remains to be seen. "It is our intention to make it available for PlayStation this year, but no release date has been set."
Expect to get around 30 hours of gameplay out of Shivering Isles. And before you ask, yes you can back and forth between Oblivion and Shivering Isles with your character whenever you like.
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January 19th, 2007, 05:13 Posted By: ICE
For a while it seemed like the PSP would never get a library of first-person shooters. Coded Arms delivered a decent romp in virtual space, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex had some good ideas, but neither games made good use of the PSP. After these two shipped, Sony's little system got Medal of Honor Heroes, a game that finally showed what a really good FPS would be like on the handheld.
Soon afterward, Ubisoft and Activision announced their own FPS titles, Brothers in Arms D-Day and Call of Duty: Roads to Victory. The former shipped a little bit ago, though it sadly fails to elevate the FPS genre on the PSP. At this point gamers don't even care to have a revolutionary shooter on the PSP - they just want one that works well. And that's the problem with D-Day. Even with an adequate representation of elements seen in the PC versions, D-Day simply needs more to succeed as a portable FPS. It has clunky controls and muddy visuals, and the AI could use some sharpening.
D-Day takes place during the Normandy invasion and chronicles the harrowing account of two soldiers, Sergeants Baker and Hartsock. Sergeant Baker starred in the first PC game, titled Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 while Sergeant Hartsock appeared in the sequel, Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood. D-Day doesn't just borrow characters from the first two games; it takes entire missions and scenarios. Players will essentially get a "best of" collection with D-Day, as opposed to a new game. Not a bad thing in itself, but anyone expecting some fresh content may want to look elsewhere. Also, there are the aforementioned problems to worry about, as well.
First, the squad-based action of the original games simply doesn't translate well to the PSP - or at least not in D-Day. This has less to do with thinking through a tactical situation and everything to do with how players control themselves and their squad. Since there's only one analog stick on the system, it's difficult to keep an eye on surroundings while engaging enemies in heated gunfights. The game does include the situational awareness view, which offers a birds-eye view of the action, but this only helps coordinate tactics. Surviving can get pretty difficult when actually running around the battlefield while struggling with squad commands and a funky control scheme. D-Day offers two different schemes, but neither works all that well.
As such, all but the most experience players will die constantly. But thanks to a handy-dandy checkpoint system, that's never really an issue. Brothers in Arms is a challenging series to master, both on PC and PSP. Fortunately, the save system lets a player beat sections of a stage without too heavy a penalty when death does occur. But the secret to not dying is understanding that D-Day is not Medal of Honor Heroes - running into the heat of battle will only result in premature death. That's where D-Day's cover mechanic comes into play. It actually makes for interesting firefights because the game makes it almost impossible for a player to take the Rambo route - it's necessary to think ahead.
In short, players need to use their squad to suppress enemies. This opens the door to various flanking maneuvers the player can then carry out while the enemy is confused and huddled under cover. It's easy to see when an enemy is suppressed thanks to a red circle floating above their heads - a nice touch given many of the game's environments get rather dark.
The only problem with this 'suppress and flank' dynamic is that it tends to get a little old after a while. Players can get through many of the game's encounters by doing the same thing in exactly the same way. Maybe this would be fine if the game in general progressed smoothly, but it doesn't. Where players could execute finely tuned strategies and engage in dynamic firefights in the PC original, the PSP version offers an experience far less refined. It still works on a fundamental level, but it's simply not as fun as it used to be. Players will struggle with the controls and camera every bit as much as with the Nazis they're trying to kill.
The game also has a few AI problems, too. Most of the enemies in D-Day seem content to get shot in the face and not do too much about it. It's strange to say a game with poor AI can actually be difficult, but that's the case here. But that's beside the point. It would have been nice to see enemies react appropriately to adverse situations like they did in the PC games, but that really doesn't happen all that often. And finally, the game's visuals are very mixed bag. The game can look downright pretty at times, and at others, muddy and unimpressive. There's a good amount of detail on the soldiers and in some of the environments, but overall, D-Day could have used a little more flair.
Closing Comments
Brothers in Arms D-Day could have been a rewarding stint on the battlefield. Unfortunately, sloppy controls and a few AI issues sabotage much of the fun. That aside, a little spit and polish would have gone a very long way. The multiplayer modes, while lending the package some longevity, still suffer from the same problems. Finally, it would have been nice to see more original content appear in the single-player campaign.
IGN Ratings for Brothers in Arms D-Day (PSP)
6.5 Presentation
Includes all the right pieces, but they don't come together well.
6.5 Graphics
A mixture of impressive vistas and muddy textures. Characters benefit from nice detail, though.
7.0 Sound
Sounds like WW II. Nice tunes and voicework.
6.0 Gameplay
While retaining sopme of the depth of the PC originals, D-Day suffers from sloppy execution.
6.5 Lasting Appeal
It's a relatively short game, but the simple multiplayer options should keep things going for a little while.
6.4
Passable OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)
via:IGN
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January 19th, 2007, 01:30 Posted By: wraggster
News/release by Aythamie
Custom xmbIcon Packager v0.3.1
Fixed fw3.0x Icons and Names by Aythamie
I don't take credit for the making or the translation of this program, I've just fixed some the Icons and Names (by Aythamie)
Changes v0.3.1: (by Aythamie)
- Fixed German names for new icons.
- Fixed Spanish names for new icons.
- Fixed French names for new icons.
- Fixed Italian names for new icons.
- Fixed Portuguese names for new icons.
Changes v0.3: (by Aythamie)
- Fixed the fw 3.03 icons: RSS Channel Settings, Camera, Certificate Utility, Remote Play and Online Instruction Manuals.
- Fixed the English names for the new icons.
- Fixed the Dutch names for the new Icons.
- Added some more Icon Sets. (30 Icon sets totally now)
Changes v0.1 & v0.2: (respectively by kgsws & califrag)
- Hexed bmp2mig.exe and join.exe: Translated to English.
- Renamed bmp2mig.exe to bmp2psp.exe: .mig file extension is misleading.
- Renamed zac.dat and kon.dat to hdr.dat and ftr.dat respectively.
- Support for multiple firmwares with one batch file.
- Added advanced error handling procedures to the batch file.
Read the Readme file!!
Download here:
- http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NCK797S2
- http://www.sendspace.com/file/rhq0zf
Download at Links Above
via aythamie
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January 19th, 2007, 01:30 Posted By: gunntims0103
new release via Aythamie
Custom xmbIcon Packager v0.3.1
Fixed fw3.0x Icons and Names by Aythamie
I don't take credit for the making or the translation of this program, I've just fixed some the Icons and Names (by Aythamie)
Changes v0.3.1: (by Aythamie)
- Fixed German names for new icons.
- Fixed Spanish names for new icons.
- Fixed French names for new icons.
- Fixed Italian names for new icons.
- Fixed Portuguese names for new icons.
Changes v0.3: (by Aythamie)
- Fixed the fw 3.03 icons: RSS Channel Settings, Camera, Certificate Utility, Remote Play and Online Instruction Manuals.
- Fixed the English names for the new icons.
- Fixed the Dutch names for the new Icons.
- Added some more Icon Sets. (30 Icon sets totally now)
califrag: "I take no credit for this release as this is mostly a translation."
Changes v0.1 & v0.2: (respectively by kgsws & califrag)
- Hexed bmp2mig.exe and join.exe: Translated to English.
- Renamed bmp2mig.exe to bmp2psp.exe: .mig file extension is misleading.
- Renamed zac.dat and kon.dat to hdr.dat and ftr.dat respectively.
- Support for multiple firmwares with one batch file.
- Added advanced error handling procedures to the batch file.
Read the Readme file!!
download and give feedback via comment
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January 19th, 2007, 01:28 Posted By: wraggster
via pspfanboy
We've already told you that the upcoming Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War for PSP would have additional movies, upgrades and new job classes. Well, it appears one of those job classes has been revealed thanks to Jeaux France. Dark Knight will be joining FFT as a playable class. Now that we've seen some of the new movies and a new job class I can't wait to hear what some of the upgrades to the game will be!
What new addition would you like to see most in the upcoming Final Fantasy Tactics game?
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January 19th, 2007, 01:22 Posted By: wraggster
Via IGN
"Music is the weapon."
Kudo Tsunoda proudly proclaimed this statement at EA's Winter Preview today. However, it wasn't a remixed version of Revolution X that we were watching; instead, we were checking out the latest build of Def Jam: Icon, the upcoming brawler from EA Chicago. We've covered some of the basics of the fighting system in previous coverage, mentioning the invisible DJ, but we finally got a deeper grasp of just how music will influence every fight.
At the start of a battle, players choose a specific song that will represent their fighter. Choosing a song that you know well is important, because the downbeat of certain songs can trigger environmental hazards that can damage yourself or your opponent. For instance, one level that we saw had an electrical hazard that released arcing bolts of juice streaking from a malfunctioning power box. While there are some hazards that will constantly be around from the start of a fight, Kudo informed us that as time goes on during a battle, more hazards will be uncovered, making the stage much more dangerous to the combatants. So if your bass is truly banging, you can completely alter the landscape.
Jumping on the virtual ones and twos.
But you aren't limited to waiting for a beat before the environment blows up. Players can literally scratch the beat forward or backwards at any time to trigger hazards. In effect, the fighter becomes a DJ on invisible turntables, mixing up the rhythm of the stage to help him out. The left analog stick represents the left turntable and the right analog stick takes the right turntable. Scratch well enough, and you can use the music to cut through your opponent's defenses, flinging them from one hazard to another. However, your opponent has access to this move as well, meaning that skilled players can engage in scratch battles just like DJs do: the best player on the ones and twos can gain the upper hand.
But how do you defend against these momentum changing attacks? Well, first of all, players have the ability to do scratch stomps to squash a beat, so if your enemy is tearing up the digital vinyl, you can crush their groove. Secondly, if you're knocked down, you can do a quick scratch on the turntables to get back up. You also have the opportunity to try to flip the record to your own song, especially if your adversary has been playing their song for most of the battle. This gives you the chance to pump your fighter up and take your skills out on him. Finally, you have the ability to taunt your foes by hijacking their beats when they're knocked down. We noticed a number of times today where The Game would jump all over Big Boi's preferred song, laying down taunts while the member of Outkast was on the ground. The lyrics of that song would be slightly muted as the insults were hurled, just to make sure that you heard what your rival was saying. Sure, it might increase your beef with that rapper, but it's definitely a good way to flip the script on someone who's got a lot of momentum on their side.
Lay down some taunts while the environment crashes and burns.
Your fighters have a number of attacks that they can launch against their opponents, such as punches, kicks and grabs. Players can vary these attacks by throwing different directional modifiers in with these strikes, so players can knock an enemy to either the left, right or backwards along with just pounding them into the ground. Of course, depending on how you string these moves together, you can create different combos. But here's where the music comes in. Your music will play louder and stronger depending on how well you've been fighting, and that will boost the strength of your attacks, letting you knock enemies around much farther. This means that as time goes on and opponents get weaker, you'll be able to fling them halfway across the screen as you get an adrenaline rush from your song.
Don't know any of the licensed tracks that have been included in the game? Don't worry, because you'll be able to import your favorite songs into the game and use them to beat down your enemies. That means that any song on your system can potentially be a dangerous weapon in the game. Kudo told us about a fellow team member that likes to play with Sade's "Smooth Operator" to throw off his opponents. Others like using 80's tracks, prog rock, or speed metal. It doesn't take an active imagination to see that just about any musical preference can potentially be used against the computer or your friends. You'll also be able to use this to help you create your character, because your fighting style will be based on the kind of beats that you like to listen to.
To check out this system in action, Kudo showed off two new levels that we hadn't seen before. The neighborhood level evoked images of the Dirty South, with a double shotgun style house that had guys sitting on the porch watching the battle. A car pealed its tires on the asphalt and could be used to whip opponents, while fire hydrants sprayed massive jets of water into the air. Another car had a downed power transformer on its trunk that exploded in time with the music. The other level was a rooftop stage with a helicopter that hovered precariously overhead. Beats would drive the tail rotor into the roof for a vicious whip effect. Other areas on the stage featured the aforementioned power box hazard, as well as buildings whose lights were transformed into a virtual equalizer in tune with the rhythm of the songs.
If music is the weapon, then play on, playa, play on.
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January 19th, 2007, 01:17 Posted By: wraggster
via ps3fanboy
We nearly had an ice storm in Athens. It got very cold, very fast. In fact, some of us living here have windows that aren't built right, so they don't close all the way... making their room incredibly frigid and they're having trouble typing posts with fingers that are as pliable as a crowbar. That aside, no snow. Which is sad, but completely irrelevant to the news at hand.
Yeah, we've also been waiting around the PS-Store, looking for flOw, since we were told it was coming out. Seems we didn't get the memo that the game was delayed another month. Yep, the game is now due out at the end of February. Sony representatives said this about the release: "We'll be posting a trailer at the end of this month [January] / beginning of next. As for the game itself, we'll be releasing near the end of February." So, that's like, what, February 30th? Teehee, teehee... if you thought I was serious, come on. Come. On.
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January 19th, 2007, 01:15 Posted By: wraggster
via gwn
Speaking with EGM, a paper magazine, Bethesda Software's Todd Howard commented on the upcoming PS3 version of Oblivion:
"Drive speed matters more to me [than capacity], and Blu-ray is slower."
The developer is apparently duplicating critical data on the Blu-ray disc in order to fill up all the unused space, which improves load times for the game. Tests have shown that load times on the PS3 could be slightly slower than those on the Xbox 360, which has lead the developer to using data duplication techniques to improve the PS3's performance.
As soon as Oblivion launches, we'll report back with exact load time statistics for comparison with the Xbox 360 version. This will give us the first real comparison between the Xbox 360 and PS3 load times. Of course, it could be argued that the PS3 version contains more data, and thus will load slower regardless.
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January 18th, 2007, 23:08 Posted By: wraggster
via gigagamez
The PS3 hasn’t performed as well as expected. In fact, since E3 last year, not much has actually gone Sony’s way. There was the removal of features, loss of exclusives, extreme price and severe supply constraint… and that’s just leading up to the launch. Once November 17th rolled around, there were people camping outside of Best Buy to get PS3s so that they could scalp them on eBay for extreme prices, and that worked for a while. Then buyers got sick of paying for a system with one semi-desirable game, a blu-ray player with questionable usefulness and a really bad PS2 emulator. They’re not the only one. Gabe Newell, Co-founder and Managing Director of Valve Software, had this to say about the PS3:
“The PS3 is a total disaster on so many levels. I think it’s really clear that Sony lost track of what customers wanted and what developers wanted. I’d say, even at this late date, they should cancel it and do a ‘do over.’ Just say, ‘This was a horrible disaster and we’re sorry and we’re going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it.’”
Even after all that, it’s still possible for the PS3 to turn it all around. With that in mind, I decided to try and figure out a way for the PS3 to make a solid recovery, so I started sending emails and making calls. I talked to N’Gai Croal of Newsweek, Chris Baker of Wired and several others in my quest to see what could change and bring Sony back from this black hole of negative buzz. Here’s what we came up with.
Cut Off the Head
It’s absolutely true that Sony has had better PR moments than what we’ve seen recently. What could be the root cause of all this bad PR? “Sony’s PS3 problems stem not from production issues or even pricing - though both are significant problems, both can be overcome with time and effort,” said Jakub Wojnarowicz, Games Editor-in-Chief of Firing Squad. ” What cannot be overcome without Sony’s active involvement is the rooting out of the cause of these problems: Ken Kutaragi.”
Kutaragi, the father of the Playstation, has made Sony quite a bit of money over the years, so it seems that they aren’t too keen to get rid of him. However, Kutaragi was recently “promoted” out of his job of President of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEI) and given the position of Chairman of SCEI. Though this “promotion” isn’t attributed to bad PS3 press, it surely couldn’t have helped.
At Least the PS2 Was A DVD Player
No matter what could have happened up to the point when the console launched, as soon as the first really great game comes out, all is forgiven. However, that hasn’t happened yet and it doesn’t really look like it’s going to any time soon. “Nothing in the launch lineup is going to convince people that the PS3 does anything that the XBox 360 can’t, and the killer app exclusives are still several months away,” said Wired Associate Editor, Chris Baker. “The Gran Turismo giveaway was a very smart move—Sony needs to flood the pipeline with more free (or at least very cheap) exclusives like that. The faster they can fill the pipeline with free demo levels of Motorstorm, Heavenly Sword, Warhawk and etc., the better.”
Chris isn’t alone is his assessment of the launch lineup situation. Tom Chick, freelance journalist and editor, agreed with Chris’ viewpoint. “I think their biggest problem is the launch line-up,” said Chick. “They really needed a powerful franchise as a hook, and Ridge Racer ain’t it. The PS3 launch was the absolute worst time to have a developer like Insomniac try to launch a derivative concept like Resistance, which is Half-Life meets Call of Duty. Instead, they should have had a new Ratchet & Clank ready. There should have been a GTA or a Final Fantasy.”
Well, that’s one problem that’s basically out of Sony’s hands, other than pressuring companies to produce faster, or even making their own successful game. However, that may not be very easy considering the tools that most developers currently have.
Better Development Tools and Support
Sony, historically, hasn’t had the easiest-to-develop-for consoles, and this one doesn’t seem to be an exception. Though the PS3 isn’t as notoriously hard to program for as the PS2, it has that stigma hanging around it. Sony has tried to counter-act that bit of unpleasantness by purchasing SN Systems, a software tool development company, but it just isn’t quite there yet.
Erick Schonfeld with Business 2.0 said, “They need game developers to come out with unbelievable games that you can’t get on the XBox or anywhere else. This should be possible given the capabilities of the Cell processor powering the PS3, but programming for the Cell is not something that most developers can do easily right out of the gate.”
Is All This Negative Buzz Just Us?
The one question that keeps nagging at me is, “Why are you being so hard on the PS3?” You know, it’s certainly early in this cycle and no one has lost yet, so why are we all judging? Our friend N’Gai Croal, a Newsweek columnist, had this to say about the subject:
“What you’re seeing is a supply problem. According to Sony, they shipped a million units in North America. I spoke to Jack Tretton, CEO of Playstation America, and he said that they’re not sitting in a factory in China, they’re in the US and on store shelfs or moving through the chain. We don’t have any visibility of what’s going on in Japan, but anecdotally, there are supposedly units on the shelves. If that’s so, then we may have turned the corner on the supply issues and that’s what they’ve said publicly. If that’s the case then we have to see what the demand is, and that’s 45 to 50 days after the launch. It’s a little early too tell. What you’re talking about is the negative buzz that popped up around the PS3 this last year after E3. If they launch in Europe in March, that would suggest that they’ve worked out their supply problems.”
“People like you and me, other game journalist, bloggers and people who post on forums may be typical of the hardcore, but are atypical of the entire population. Absent some sort of real market research, while there is buzz among the console intelligencia, I don’t know how that buzz is reflected in the population of PS3 owners.“
You know, maybe he’s right. They’re Sony after all, and it’s very early. The Playstation name and some price-dropping could turn this thing around quickly. I could look back on this article in a year and think, “How could I have been so silly?” I really think that Mr. Chick summed it up best:
“However, it’s important to remember that stumbling out of the gate isn’t a measure of anything but the first stretch of the race. I’d say Sony has a year to do things differently before things get really dire.“
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January 18th, 2007, 23:05 Posted By: wraggster
Heres whats in the latest content pack for PSP:
Ghost Rider - Screenshots
January 2007 Wallpaper
Ratchet & Clank®: Size Matters - 8 Min Behind the Scenes Video
Ratchet & Clank®: Size Matters - Trailer
SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2 - Trailer 2
Star Wars Lethal Alliance - Trailer 2
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January 18th, 2007, 22:52 Posted By: wraggster
via joystiq
Get this: a 9-year-old kid steals his neighbor's car, gets spotted by police on the interstate, guns it, and a 90 mph chase ensues. Kid tries to take an exit ramp, engine blows, car hits a curb, coasts into a tree, and he's captured. It's the third vehicle the 4th grader's stolen. And guess what? Mom believes "PlayStation" taught him to drive. Oy!
And that's just the beginning! The real story is that the boy most recently evaded airport security, managing to hop a Southwest Airlines flight from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to San Antonio, Texas. He was eventually apprehended while attempting to catch another flight to Dallas, where he had hoped to reunite with his grandfather.
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January 18th, 2007, 22:50 Posted By: wraggster
via joystiq
From the same creators of the custom white PS3 (the gents over at the PS3 Center), we bring you their homemade silver edition shortly after its planned archetype. It's a thing of beauty. And we swear it looks fresh off Sony's official production line, though the controller appears to have gained a few pounds over the holidays. Tubby.
Now all we need is a yellow ochre version.
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January 18th, 2007, 22:42 Posted By: wraggster
via kotaku
Square Enix has announced plans for a playable demo of Final Fantasy XIII to be released sometime this year. In the latest issue of Dengeki, representatives from the Squeenix dev talk about the demo's planned release. "'We are hoping to have a playable demo ready for E3 in 2007." This could be great news for the PlayStation 3, as something truly wonderful on the Final Fantasy front could spark a wave of renewed excitement for the system.
I would sure love to get my hands on a playable version of the game myself, though with E3 invites now being handled by gaming companies themselves I'll have to hold out hope that there is a company out there I haven't offended egregiously yet, and it isn't looking too good. Besides that, there is no guarantee that it will be ready in time for the event. We might end up having to rely on Ashcraft on the winners of our TGS contest for impressions.
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January 18th, 2007, 22:32 Posted By: wraggster
High Definition Content Protection is supposed to make sure you're not playing pirated content, but sometimes your devices screw up the HDCP 'handshake' (over an HDMI cable) and nothing works. This happens with some regularity with the PS3, and Popular Mechanics investigated and found a quick and dirty workaround. From the article: 'We then checked with Leslie Chard, president of HDMI Licensing, which owns the rights to the standard, who told us that HDCP is one component of HDMI that has been plagued with interoperability issues. HDCP (high-bandwidth digital content protection) is designed to prevent the interception of data — specifically copyrighted Hollywood movies — between an output component and a display. As Steve Balough, the president of Digital Content Protection, the licensing company for HDCP explains, the two pieces of hardware must exchange a key, a sort of certificate of authenticity unique to each individual device, to verify a secure connection.' The problem isn't limited to the PS3 — many HDTV cable boxes and have the same problem. The fix there? Unplugging the power cable.
via /.
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