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November 11th, 2006, 22:20 Posted By: wraggster
Article from IGN
The PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable are like two peas in a pod, sharing and sharing alike all the way down to the common XMB menu -- these two were made for each other. We connected up our PSP to the final retail PS3 (updated to version x1.10) to see how well the duo worked together.
Remote Play
The highly-unexpected PS3-to-PSP Remote Play feature is unfortunately not yet active at this time -- the feature is listed on the PS3 menu and is functional, but because the PSP will not be updated to the necessary v3.0 until later this month, the PSP cannot reciprocate the feature. We did notice a few things about the feature, however. For one, the set-up seems to have some manual functionality to it, as the PS3 asks for the PSP's SSID (which should be displayed on the PSP once it's updated to v3.0 -- we don't know yet how long this SSID will be.) The menu will not let us get past that, but assumedly, from here the PS3 and PSP would begin auto-searching for each other and then it'd go from there. On the Remote Play feature set, we were able to test the mode and were a little surprised (and somewhat disappointed) that the PS3 actually has to kick out of HD mode to 480p when it switches to Remote Play -- it'll take 1080p video and stream it to your PSP, but the PS3 has to take time resetting itself (and your monitor) for the mode.
Media Playback
The PlayStation 3 will mount just about any time of USB drive and, so long as it has the proper directory structure, will take its media from that system. PSP mounts as a USB Memory Stick device -- nothing special, but since PSP folders are the same as PS3 folders, your PSP Memory Stick should be pre-formatted out of the box.
One of the first things you'll notice is that the PSP itself is recognized as a PSP -- the menu will say PSP, will list a PSP icon, and will even pull the name of your PSP as the media device you are using (for example, our Japanese Ceramic White PSP showed up as "Gandalf", as we had cleverly named it Gandalf the White way back when we bought the system.) Your media will show up in its proper place from the PSP, with Music, Video and Photos loading from the PSP to PS3 easy enough. In a nice extra feature, you can tap triangle and browse a full media structure on your PSP Memory Stick -- you actually see what folders files are stored in and can see not only the currently-chosen media type but also whatever media type is available to check out.
File loading is as fast as your Memory Stick allows, and in our tests, there was no delay at all loading tunes and videos off a connected PSP -- it all runs about as fast as a PlayStation Portable does. You also have the option of copying media from here, either from the PSP to PS3 or the other way around. (This same option is available for all USB connections.)
One of the disappointments so far with PS3 media playback: no thumbnails of most media types unless it's on the HDD. Pictures, it does fine with -- it loads thumbnails of your pictures right away. Video, however, will neither load the standard bitmap thumbnail (in the old MP_ROOT folder) or auto-generate a running thumbnail from the video itself. (In an aside, it seems that Sony was incorrect in stating video thumbnails were "realtime" on the menu when running from the hard disc -- instead, the PS3 generates and stores a thumbnail video for the file, similar to how the PSP used a THM file for its thumbnails.) And most surprising of all, Music folders did not display their album thumbnail, a common feature on media players -- it works on PSP, but it doesn't work yet on PS3. (Note that this may simply be a feature to be added later, as even CDs ripped and auto-labeled for Album/Artist/Song do not include album art.)
On a final couple of notes, the PS3 does not have the ability to modify or browse PSP saves -- game saves and PSP applications do not appear anywhere on the PS3 front-end when reading from a PSP unit (or loading a Memory Stick). You also cannot use the built-in Memory Stick formatter to format a stick on PSP -- you must take out the Memory Stick and plug it into either the Memory Stick slot (with adapter for the smaller Memory Stick Duo format) or USB Memory Stick device. Signs also appears to point to a lack of the PS3 to play downloaded games off of anything but PS3's internal hard disc -- when we formatted our Memory Stick for PS3, it did not have a GAMES folder as on PSP, although it did create a PS3 root folder and an "Updates" folder for downloading PS3 updates from the web and loading them onto PS3 (if you can't connect your PS3 up to a network connection.) One bit of good news is that the PS3 can offload game saves -- PS3, PS2, or PS1 -- to the PSP's Memory Stick, making saves perfectly portable (so long as they're not locked saves, as a few PS3 saves will be.)
Gameplay Cross-Play
There is not yet a PS3 game out yet that uses the PSP for any purpose -- the first should be Formula One (although we haven't heard much about that "Wing Mirror" feature since last E3, so we're assuming it's still in at this point), and we do not yet have a test version of that game. However, PS2 games that cross-link to the PSP work fine, as this is a simple matter of connecting the PSP up as a USB device.
We'll have more on PSP and PS3 cross-compatibility in the near future as more abilities are added to both systems.
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November 11th, 2006, 22:19 Posted By: wraggster
We know that the PS3 can surf the Net thanks to the included browser on the Cross Media Bar, but just how fully featured is the web application? We took our retail PS3s out for a spin on the Web to see if there were any hiccups that users might run into with their new systems.
One thing that we discovered is that while the PS3 can open up and display multiple browser windows, you can easily run out of memory if you access pages that are media or plug-in heavy. At one point, we tried loading up the IGN homepage, followed by Ifilm and ESPN, and promptly received a message stating that the console was out of memory for the browser application. This forced us to close a window so we could continue our web surfing. We did find that connecting a USB keyboard and mouse was infinitely easier to use than the standard keypad that was brought up by the browser, so if you're planning on doing a lot of web surfing with your system, you may want to look at disconnecting these two peripherals, which work as soon as you plug them in.
We also discovered that while the PS3 has extremely limited plug-in support. While the homepage of the console is set to Playstation.com, Flash rotations on that site runs much slower than that on a normal computer. We're guessing that's because the PS3 has an outdated version of Flash included in the system software; sites that use the latest Flash plug-ins, like Ifilm to help deliver trailers and movies, were rejected during browser use. What's more, we didn't find Quicktime or Windows Media plug-in support, so watching trailers on the Quicktime site or clips off our own site from the PS3 didn't work as well as we'd hoped.
Finally, we also discovered that there's a limited amount of support for downloading content from the Web to your PS3 via the browser. We weren't able to transfer a file from a website to the hard drive on the PS3 -- in this case, our footage of Motorstorm's intro; instead, we were prompted to select a location to save a file to on an external storage media, like a portable hard drive or thumb drive. What's more, if you want your PS3 to recognize this file, the folder it's placed in has to be in the same directory structure that the PSP or PS3 acknowledges or it will remain unknown to the system. What's more, the same limits on the Cross Media Bar for the PSP exist for the PS3: it only goes one level deep, so don't expect to lay files in a multiple folder-deep directory tree.
Via IGN
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November 11th, 2006, 22:17 Posted By: wraggster
Via IGN
Although it was never confirmed, rumors of a semi-active Sleep Mode to be included in PlayStation 3 surrounded the days leading up to launch. It made sense, of course, since the PlayStation Portable uses the same menu as PS3 and has a Sleep Mode, and also the PS3's network features require it (or at least recommend for it) to be plugged in and active all the time. Unfortunately, the final retail PS3 units do not seem to have anything more complex than the PlayStation 2's own Standby Mode.
Standby Mode is your basic PlayStation shutdown sequence -- like PS2, the system shuts down and the lights turn red, and it's off (it just takes a lot longer on this system than PS2 did.) There is also a switch in the back of the system, but as with PS2, you're supposed to leave it in Standby mode rather than switch it off completely -- remember too that you can also start the system up with a push of a button on the controller this time. There is not a nifty Sleep Mode like on PSP, however, which was designed for the portable but could have been very nice on a console as well. Sleep Mode on PSP allows you to flip a switch and turn the system somewhat off -- the screen is black and the disc stops spinning, but the RAM stays loaded so that the system can quickly be turned back on even after you've had it in Sleep for days, picking up exactly where you left off in your game or video playback. On PSP, this is of course a necessary feature to make the system pocket-friendly, and it also helps save batteries. It's not as necessary on PS3, but we would have liked to have seen it on the system -- it'd make those few minutes waiting for the initial load of huge, streaming games like GTA rarely a problem since you could slip the system into Sleep rather than left on in Pause mode when you finally feel the need to take that hour-long dump you've been holding off for the past three straight, sleepless days while playing.
We haven't been able to test yet to see if the PS3 does anything in its Standby Mode other than await being turned on (it will charge a PS3 controller if it's connected to USB, that's about all we know so far), but at the moment, Standby Mode isn't all that thrilling. There doesn't seem to be any always-on feature like the Wii's Connect 24, and SCE had already confirmed that it has no plans for the kinds of Push Content that will will do (where the system will find media and automatically download it to your machine -- a somewhat intrusive imposition on your storage space that is more than paid off for by the "Christmas Morning" feeling of switching on your system and finding something new installed to it.) The PlayStation Network is still not yet fully operational, so we haven't tested to see if there is any kind of feature built into Standby with the new online system (maybe it can download files and then shut itself down so you can shop before going to bed?), but we doubt there'll be any surprises there. We are curious to see if the PS3 is at all receptive to PSP commands for the new Remote Player feature, as it would be a bummer to have to leave your PS3 on all day long every day if you wanted to access it remotely to show a friend a video or listen to your music rips while out in the yard. It would be interesting to know if there's any possibility of adding Sleep in future versions of the PS3 system software.
Look for further tests of the PS3's least thrilling features as we play with the hardware more.
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November 11th, 2006, 17:23 Posted By: wraggster
New preorder for PS3 from SuccessHK
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas is the fifth title in the Rainbow Six series, and pits players against terrorists who have taken the city of Vegas hostage.
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November 11th, 2006, 17:20 Posted By: wraggster
New preorder for PS3 from SuccessHK
Price:USD 57.74
Blazing Angels: Squadrons Of WWII lets you experience WWII's most epic and action-packed air battles. You and your squadron Blazing Angels will do your best to turn the tide of the war. Whether it's the Battle of Britain, the attack of Pearl Harbor or the fierce fighting for the deserts of North Africa, you'll be there -- fighting for freedom in realistic air combat.
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November 11th, 2006, 17:16 Posted By: wraggster
New preorder for PS3 from SuccessHK
Price:USD 58.74
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 takes golf gaming to new level of realism. Experience the next generation of technology as Tiger Woods comes to life -- you'll see and feel each emotion in detail, as it's displayed onscreen in the faces and movements of the golfers. Play under pressure just like pros, and go further in your game with the enhanced career mode. Featuring 15 of the world's top players, including Tiger Woods, John Daly, Vijay Singh, Ian Poulter, Michael Campbell, and Annika Sorenstam, the most decorated golfer on the LPGA Tour New Gameface tool with deeper modifications, more apparel, equipment licenses, and specialty items Challenge up to three players in five new game modes, or play in online tournaments complete with money lists, full stat tracking, league leaders, and more Work on your game or take on a friend in Match Play, Battle Golf, 21, OneBall, and more
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November 11th, 2006, 17:12 Posted By: wraggster
New preorder for PS3 from SuccessHK
Price:USD 57.74
Call of Duty 3 delivers the intensity of World War II combat closer than ever. In this next-generation game, you'll experience the Normandy Breakout -- the historic campaign that made the liberation of Paris possible and brought the Allies a step closer to Berlin. Travel with four ordinary Allied soldiers -- American, British, Canadian and Polish -- as they're thrust onto an authentic, living battlefield for unprecedented combat, with advanced High-Definition graphics, detailed Character animations and explosive on-screen action. Call Of Duty 3 delivers the most immersive and cinematically intense war experience ever. Play as an infantryman, or commandeer multiple-occupancy vehicles like tanks, jeeps & motorcycles
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November 11th, 2006, 16:50 Posted By: wraggster
Via IGN
If you plan on picking up a PlayStation 3 anytime soon and are worried about the dent that the system and its peripherals will put in your wallet, you may want to consider picking up some USB adapters for the PS2's Dual Shock 2 controller. These relatively cheap adapters are made for using a Dual Shock 2 on a PC, but they seem to work quite well with every PlayStation 3 game that we've tried. You need to switch on the analog button when you plug them in and they're missing the PlayStation button that brings up the Cross Media Bar, but other than that they seem perfectly functional.
With that, we assumed that Guitar Hero and its sequel would work perfectly well on the PlayStation 3. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. When you pop in a PS2 or PSone game, you're prompted to tap the PlayStation button on the controller. For what reason, we're not sure, but as Guitar Hero's SG controller doesn't have this button, you can't actually activate it. You also can't quick-swap from one controller to another as the second part of the problem lies in that you need to turn on analog control, but again, the SG guitar doesn't have an on/off button for analog play.
Yes, this sucks. Yes, we really hope someone releases an adapter sometime soon.
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November 11th, 2006, 16:45 Posted By: wraggster
Via Gamespot
Getting a preorder for the PlayStation 3 has been nothing but hardship for many gamers in Japan, since it was expected that trying to buy a unit without one would be next to impossible. However, it may turn out that lining up to buy on launch day isn't going to be as difficult as it once seemed.
Around the time of the 2006 Tokyo Game Show, Sony announced that its day-one shipment of PS3s in Japan on November 11 will only be 100,000 units. In 2004, the company shipped double that number of PlayStation Portables, which sold out in a matter of minutes. To make things worse, recent industry reports have been saying that the actual shipment could be as low as 80,000 units.
Most retailers have kept their expected PS3 inventories secret, but a few places disclosed figures that brought a chill to gamers without preorders. Laox announced that they would be receiving only 10 to 20 units for each of their stores in Nakano, Toyosu, and Atsugi, though it kept its Akihabara branch figures undisclosed. Best Denki's Shinjuku branch and GEO's Ishikawa branch revealed that they will be getting only five units each, despite both of them being nationwide chains.
Finding a PS3 preorder on the Internet seemed equally unlikely. Amazon Japan closed its preorder offer just 20 minutes after it opened last month. The online shop for national chain Tsutaya overloaded, closing down in just five minutes. Gamers praying that Sony would offer a massive number of preorders at its official shopping site were also disappointed. Two weeks ago, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan announced that it won't sell the console at all online.
Many national chain stores announced weeks ago that they wouldn't be taking preorders at launch due to a lack of units. Established chains including Sofmap, Kojima Electronics (no relation to the Metal Gear Solid producer), and most Bic Camera stores opted to hold raffles on launch day and sell units to the lucky winners.
The last resort for getting a PS3 console at launch was going to be stores that were going to sell the units on a first-come, first-served basis. And as it turns out, it pays off to never give up.
Lucky PlayStation 3 happy magic ticket!
GameSpot made the rounds through the stores of Tokyo around midnight. To our surprise, when we reached Akihabara's Yodobashi Camera, Tokyo's biggest electronics store, at 1:30 a.m., the huge line of over 600 people had disappeared, with only a small row of about 70 or so people milling about the store's entrance.
Looks, however, can be deceiving. The line had actually grown to a size of nearly 1,500 customers, and Yodobashi employees decided to move everyone into the store's basement-level parking lot. All the customers that were moved were given numbered tickets that guaranteed them a PS3, although some people in the back were told that they may not be able to choose between the 20GB and 60GB PS3 models. The 70-odd people outside weren't guaranteed a PS3, but they decided to continue lining up with hopes that there may be some leftovers or cancellations.
Inside the parking lot, most of the people seemed lively, probably because they knew they were going to get a PS3. They might have also been happy that they didn't have to wait for days outside. The man in the very front of the line had only arrived at 10 p.m. the previous night, while the last customers, who had tickets numbered in the mid-1400's, hadn't shown up until midnight.
Another store, the Laox Asobit City, also had a large number of people lining up for the PS3, although nowhere as many as the Akihabara Yodobashi Camera. As mentioned above, Laox has been one of the few chains that revealed the number of PS3s it will sell in most of its stores, so we expected the Akihabara line to be about 30 people by midnight, at most. But by 1:30 a.m., the line stood 250 strong, and an employee was shooing people away from its end, saying the store had no more units to sell.
At the Shinjuku Yodobashi Camera, there were a total of approximately 780 people waiting to buy a PS3. Similarly to the Akihabara branch, the people in line were given numbered tickets that guaranteed them a unit. And at the line's end, there was a sign that read "sold out." According to one of the customers in the rear, he was able to get a ticket despite showing up as late as 10:30 p.m.
So what happened when the clock struck midnight? In a word, nothing. Unlike in the US, Japanese retailers don't begin selling their consoles once the date changes, forcing gamers to hold out until morning.
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November 11th, 2006, 16:43 Posted By: wraggster
Via Gamespot
For the hearty souls willing to brave the chill of a November night in Tokyo, it didn't take more than a few minutes past midnight to know if a PlayStation 3 would be theirs--those lucky gamers were handed a numbered ticket which guaranteed them a unit. Then, it was just a matter of waiting out the hours until the stores of Shinjuku and Akihabara opened their shutters.
But for the general masses that woke up at more reasonable hours Saturday, the best they could do was to secure a raffle ticket and hope that lady luck was on their side when they returned to the store when the raffle was being held.
Counting down the hours.
While there may have been enough PS3s for the hardcore gamers who wanted them badly, there was no denying that Sony's Japan allocation way too slim to match the demand.
As the countdown to the PlayStation 3 launch in Japan ticked down to its last minutes, GameSpot editors headed to Shinjuku's Yodobashi Camera, where SCEI president Ken Kutaragi made an appearance during the PSP launch back in 2004.
Prepping for the first sales.
SCE head of worldwide studios Phil Harrison was spotted for a short moment just before the scheduled launch time, at 7AM, but most eyes were peeled for Kutaragi, who was expected to show up and reprise his leading the PSP launch in '04.
Kutaragi did eventually appear at the store as we had expected, but unfortunately, it was well over an hour after the opening hour and drama of the launch activities. He had picked the Bic Camera main branch outlet in Yurakucho to hand out the first console--to a young eager customer from China we were told.
We have a winner.
At Shinjuku's Yodobashi camera, the first person on line was a 22-year-old student who had been waiting in line since 6pm on Friday. While he looked tired and worn from the long wait, he shined a grin as he walked away with PS3 and Mobile Suit Gundam game.
Similar scenes were taking place in other locations throughout Tokyo, most selling PS3s without preorders or raffle tickets. The Ikebukuro Bic Camera had over 1,200 customers with numbered tickets, while the Shibuya Tsutaya, the official launch location for Microsoft's Xbox and Xbox 360, had about 300 units to sell.
For others, the rain continues--as does the wait.
While hardcore gamers returned home happily with their PS3, it was another story with the general public who weren't aware that the PS3 would be supplied in only limited numbers.
From around 8am on, we saw dozens of people approaching stores only to see Sold Out signs in front. It was pretty apparent what was going to happen next.
To see how things were going at stores giving away the raffle tickets, we went to the Shinjuku Bic Camera to see if there was a line. To our surprise, over 400 people had formed a line by around 9am--when the store was scheduled to hand out raffle tickets. But soon, a staffer came out and held up a Sold Out sign at the end of the line, telling the unlucky stragglers they no chance at all at buying a unit.
A similar scene was happening at Sakuraya, which only had about 20 units each of the 20GB and 60GB models. There was still a line of about 200 people even after the scheduled closing time of the raffle ticket distribution.
In Akihabara, Sofmap's main branch had about 300 people lined up to get raffle tickets, with everyone holding umbrellas to cope with the heavy rain. Similar to the line at Shinjuku Bic Camera, a staffer eventually came up and held up a Sold Out sign, turning away any additional people trying to line up after 9:30am when the store was to hand out its tickets.
Generally, those waiting in line to get raffle tickets were a very different group from the customers who waited overnight. The crowds we saw in the overnight lines consisted of hardcore gamers, foreigners, and homeless people hired by scalpers. They were mostly male, and many of them wore heavy clothing to survive the cold, additionally prepared with portable chairs and handheld gaming machines.
On the other hand, the lines that formed at raffle locations this morning consisted of more casually dressed people with a good number of female customers, parents with children, and a few elderly folks lining up to buy a PS3 for their grandchildren perhaps.
Sony seemed to have anticipated there might not be enough PS3s for the casual consumers at launch, which would explain why the company seemed to have been holding back on its mass market ad campaign. While Sony had posted numerous billboards at train stations and had run a flight of TV ads in prime time, the company didn't begin its push until just a week ago. In comparison, Nintendo has been running Wii ads on TV for nearly a month, even through the console isn't due until December.
Given the high demand of the PS3, the console is already selling at inflated prices on auction sites. The 60GB model, which sold for an average price of 59,800 yen ($508) at retailers is selling now for around 90,000 yen ($765) on Yahoo Japan's Auction site. The 20GB model, which retails for 49,980 yen ($425), is going for 70,000 yen ($595).
Sony expects to ship 100 thousand units every week after today's launch, which should give it total sales of about 400,000 units by the time the Wii is released in December. Coincidently, Nintendo expects 400,000 units to be available Day 1 of its launch in Japan.
Then the console race in Japan begins in earnest.
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November 11th, 2006, 16:41 Posted By: wraggster
The Japanese launch of the PlayStation 3 has shed some more light on the contents of the day-one firmware update, 1.10, which had previously been billed as a patch to enable PlayStation Network access.
Well, translations of the Sony Japan update page, and early sightings of the equivalent firmware data from Sony America, suggest that it does a bit more than that - tweaking a bunch of multimedia settings, allowing for downloads in the Internet browser and PS3 Store among other things.
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November 11th, 2006, 16:39 Posted By: wraggster
A pamphlet included in the US retail PlayStation 3 hardware bundle has shed some light on the release dates for a few of the next-gen system's upcoming exclusives.
According to IGN, the pamphlet reveals that despite MotorStorm enjoying a December release in Japan, where the PS3 goes on sale today, it won't be released in the US until February.
Meanwhile, Factor 5's dragon-'em-up Lair (which smacks a bit of Dynasty Warriors in our early build) is down as March, along with Heavenly Sword from UK-based Ninja Theory.
The good news, we suppose, being that those games could all wind up as European launch titles - if they stick to the proposed dates. Ha.
Via Eurogamer
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November 11th, 2006, 10:36 Posted By: wraggster
News from Play Asia:
No doubt, every new video game console launch is a fascinating event for all gamers. More than six years after the PlayStation2™ launch in Japan, it's finally been time for Sony's next generation console to hit the market. The PlayStation3™ has officially been launched in Japan today, Saturday November 11th, 2006.
Highly praised by its makers, the PlayStation3™ now finally has to prove its true power and acceptance in the market. Despite its relatively high price compared to the Xbox360™ and yet to be launched Nintendo™ Wii, there has been a big rush on the console in Japan. With only 80,000 consoles expected to be available in the market today, thousands of video game enthusiasts have been lined up hours before stores were expected to open this morning at 7am local time.
We have compiled an overview of today's PlayStation3™ launch lineup, along with further information, including shipping schedule details, region compatibilities, image galleries and more.
Launch Lineup - 5 Japanese PlayStation3™ games in stock today
Today's launch date line up includes the two console models (20G/60G), two first party, a number of Hori/Logitech licensed accessories and finally five game releases.
PlayStation3 Console (HDD 60GB Model) JPN US$ 999.00
PlayStation3 Console (HDD 20GB Model) JPN US$ 899.00
PS3 Wireless Controller (SIXAXIS) JPN US$ 49.90
PS3 Memory Card Adapter JPN US$ 19.90
Genji: Kamui Souran / Genji: Days of the Blade JPN US$ 59.90
Miyasato Miyoshi Kyoudai Naizou: Sega Golf Club JPN US$ 64.90
Mobile Suit Gundam: Target in Sight JPN US$ 64.90
Resistance: Fall of Man JPN US$ 59.90
Ridge Racer 7 JPN US$ 64.90
GT Force RX JPN US$ 109.90
Monaural AV Cable JPN US$ 8.90
S Terminal Cable JPN US$ 14.90
SD Memory Card 1GB JPN US$ 49.90
SD Memory Card 256MB JPN US$ 27.90
SD Memory Card 512MB JPN US$ 34.90
Stereo AV Cable JPN US$ 9.90
Wireless Keyboard 2.4GHz US$ 69.90
The PlayStation3™ uses the same Multi AV out as the PS One™ and PlayStation2™, which makes PlayStation2™ compatible Component, S-Video and other leads compatible with the PS3™ as well. Check out our full range of PlayStation3™ compatible cables.
Also don't forget, the PlayStation3™ plays Blu-Ray movies. We are carrying a variety of Japanese Version Blu-Ray Movies.
Play-Asia.com Shipping Schedule - FREE PS2™ Games with every PS3™ Console
Almost every customer with a confirmed PlayStation3™ console preorder is expected to receive a shipping confirmation e-mail today, remaining orders will ship on Monday. We further have limited supply of the 20GB Model in stock to ship within 24 hours. Supply on the more demanded 60GB Model is tighter and new orders for this model are currently estimated to be processed within 1-5 working days.
If you want a PS3™ console so be shipped right away, we recommend you to order the smaller 20GB model.
The PS3 Memory Card Adapter has not come in yet due to insufficient supply in the market. We hope to receive a shipment next week, along with more PS3 Wireless Controllers, which are also sold out at the moment. All as of now confirmed PS3™ console orders that contain either of these two accessories will be split shipped to avoid delays.
There's no shortage on PlayStation3™ software for the time being, all five launch titles are stocked at Play-Asia.com to be shipped within usually 24 hours.
Last but not least, for a limited period of time and as long as supplies last, Play-Asia.com will include two FREE Asia/Japanese version PlayStation2™ games of our choice with every PlayStation3™ console purchase (20GB/60GB Model).
PlayStation3™ Region Compatibility
Each PlayStation3™ Console has been designed to play back PlayStation3™, PlayStation2™ and PlayStation™ software as well as Blu-Ray and DVD Movie discs. Territorial lockout exists on most of these formats. Based on our information gathered so far, every PlayStation3™ game released so far appears to be region free. However we will try to reconfirm this during next week when the first US PS3™ consoles and games are available.
Japanese PlayStation3™ Console Region Encoding:
PlayStation3™ Software to be confirmed
PlayStation2™ Software NTSC/J only
PlayStation™ Software NTSC/J only
Blu-Ray Movies Region A (Japan/USA/Asia)
DVD Movies Region 2 (Japan/Europe)
More details HERE
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November 11th, 2006, 08:11 Posted By: wraggster
In our first look at the PlayStation 3's media playback features, we initially the system to be limited by its directory structure design -- unless media was stored in the proper folder, it would not be read by the PS3. But surprise! With a tap of the Triangle button, the PS3 becomes a fully-formed directory searcher, and can indeed find and play music, photos, videos or playlists from anywhere on most any media device.
The PS3 itself is designed to browse only the folders it is designed to browse -- the root-level VIDEO, MUSIC, and PHOTO folders (as well as the standard MP_ROOT and DCIM folders shared across many media devices.) It will load media directly from the system and load them onto the PS3 menu in the proper media setting, so if you choose Photo on the PS3 menu, it will show the images in your PSP or Memory Stick or Compact Flash or SD card or USB keychain folder. More importantly, it will not show media not in those proper folders -- unlike on a PC, it does not have a "media search" function to find multimedia elsewhere on your external device.
But never fear, because there is also a "Display All" feature when selecting your Memory Stick or other USB-connected device that allows you to browse the entire directory structure, and thus load whatever's on the drive that the system recognizes. This indeed works for any media type. We were able to run music from an iPod and pull video from a random spot on our USB mini-drive. It's a hidden option that some may not notice at first, and sorting through folders isn't exactly easy (an iPod is full of all kinds of dummy files that are not music, for instance, and the folders are not named after the albums or songs stored in them -- if you can sort your media for proper playback on PS3, you're going to want to), but at least the option is there. Thank the Lloyd!
And how does connecting a media device work with PS3? We tried a number of devices. The first was an iRiver unit -- the iRiver H10 player. This unit is notorious for difficulty in driver functionality and mounting on PC and Mac systems -- the unit requires custom drivers instead of mounting as a standard USB device. As expected, the unit did not mount and was not able to offer music playback. This was one of the few cases we've had where the PS3 just could do nothing with the device, as usually, there's a way around the problem.
After that, we plugged in a standard 20GB full-size Video iPod. The PS3 recognized the iPod just fine, even displaying on the screen that the unit was in fact an iPod. However, the directory structure Apple chose for iPod is not something that PS3 recognizes (or at least does not recognize in the latest update, v1.10.) The iPod will mount, but no video, audio or photo tracks can be found on the standard XMB menu. Jump into "Display All", however, and it's a totally different story -- you can see the Calendar and music directories, and can browse as deep as you need to in order to find the files. As we mentioned, finding music on an iPod is difficult sometimes because iTunes makes a number of Apple-needed files (images and encryption notes and things like that) in the folder, and also avoids common folder names. However, it works fine in a pinch, and it may be possible that Sony could add iPod folder browsing to the PS3's abilities in a later update.
Finally, we plugged in a PSP (and also an offloaded PSP Memory Stick). As expected, the PSP is recognized as a PSP and is mounted as a USB device, and the music plays back from the PSP-mounted unit or any given Memory Stick just fine, so long as the folders are set properly. The PS3 recognizes both the PSP/MUSIC folder structure as well as the new MUSIC root folder added in PSP v2.80 (and now a common folder for Memory Stick formatting), and you can do anything in the PS3's music feature set with a PSP (including playback, file transfer to and from PS3's HDD, file naming, etc.) A quick note, however: the PS3 will not recognize nested folders (folders inside other folders) unless you use "Display All", which shouldn't be a problem for most Memory Stick users since the PSP has the same limit, but it is frustrating in some ways since neither device natively lets you put your music with albums inside artist folders, as many do on their home PCs.
The "Display All" thankfully fixes some issues we had with the PSP's version of the XMB menu seen on PS3, and hopefully Sony will add some more support functions to PS3 in the future.
Via IGN
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November 11th, 2006, 08:10 Posted By: wraggster
When you pop a CD into the PlayStation 3, it will of course wind up under the Music heading of the Cross Media Bar. After you've agreed to the privacy policy agreement for nabbing track info online, the system will name your CD and its individual tracks. As you scroll through the tracks, you'll see its name, the artist and album its from and its track length.
Pressing Triangle, you're able to play a track, import it or view more information. By choosing Information, you'll see not only the track, album and artist info, but its genre and how large the file size will be if you import it. Import settings are located under Settings->Music Settings in the XMB, and you can choose to rip tracks as an AAC, MP3 or ATRAC file. For each of these, you have a number of bitrate options. MP3 will hit 320kbps at its highest rate.
We imported Dredg's Live at the Fillmore disc. It runs over 76 minutes in length, essentially maxing out a CD's capacity. The ripping process took somewhere around six minutes.
The storage process looks to be the same as the PSP where the albums are stored at the root, rather than going Artist->Album->Song. You are able to change the sorting type, be it by artist, album or so forth, but everything is only divided on one level. Playback controls are much like you'd see on the PS2, with rewind, fast-forward, pause, play, etc.
Update: By pressing the PlayStation button, you'll bring up the Cross Media Bar again, allowing you to multi-task while your music still plays. If you being a movie or start playing a game, playback will stop, but at least you're able to listen to music while browsing the web or manipulating data.
Via IGN
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November 11th, 2006, 08:09 Posted By: wraggster
Via IGN
For those frustrated with the Xbox 360's limited video playback features (and for those of you angry at PS3 for not upscaling DVDs), here's something to smile about: video playback on Sony's new system seems to have no restrictions of any kind. Barring a lack of support for your chosen format (which of course will never make anybody happy since there are 5 zillion media formats out there and no media player can play back everything), the PS3 will play back videos without issue, even at full HD quality.
This is good news after the PlayStation Portable unfortunately delivered less-than-ideal video playback maxing out in consumer releases at 320x240 anamorphic instead of full 480x272 (although this PSP fault is likely due to support of outdated Memory Stick Video Format restrictions, some blame this on Sony's fear that UMD would not sell if users were allowed to make full-resolution video ... indeed, Sony's own Japanese P.TV site offers encrypted videos at full-res, but consumer compression applications can only make small-resolution PSP videos.) Here with PS3, we were able to play videos at 720p and even 1080p off of a Memory Stick after first compressing them to the AVC format. (Our tests used Sorensen Squeeze, but any AVC compressor should be able to do the job.)
We also tested PSP-sized AVC and MP4 files, which played back just fine. Some of these videos were odd-sized videos, and they also played back without issue. We have not yet been able to put the system through a stress-test to see if the PS3 is able to play videos that do not conform to standard broadcast or PSP-supported q-pel formats, but we will be testing this soon -- so far, this seems to not be an issue.
In addition to AVC, PS3 will also be able to play MPEG1, MPEG2, and standard-profile MP4 videos, all common formats and all formats easily found in consumer-level (and freeware/shareware) video compression applications. We were able to test MPEG2 and MP4-SP, and both formats worked just as any other video format on PS3, without issue. You cannot, however, reformat videos -- you can copy them from device to device, but unlike with music files, you can't re-encode them under a more preferred or tighter codec. We also loaded an AVI file into the PS3, and while it recognized that a file was loaded, it showed the AVI file as Corrupted Data, just as on PSP.
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November 11th, 2006, 08:07 Posted By: wraggster
The Japanese arm of analyst and financial firm Merrill Lynch has revised down Sony's forecast and cut its target share price, in anticipation of the launch of the company's PlayStation 3 next-gen console.
Japanese news service FISCO has reported that the company's target share prices of Sony has fallen from ¥4,700 to ¥4,000 (from $40.05 down to $34.09). In addition, Merrill Lynch is estimating a multi-billion dollar operating loss for Sony based on its PlayStation 3 launch.
The group has said it expects Sony to lose a total of ¥738.9 billion ($6.3 billion) over the next 5 years based on manufacturing and sales costs of the PlayStation 3, which includes complex elements in both its CPU and optical drive arenas.
It was Merrill Lynch estimates that earlier this year described the console as an “expensive and difficult-to-manufacture product” based on the “problem points” of the the Cell processor and Blu-ray disc drive, and put manufacturing costs of the console at around $800 at launch, falling to $320 over the following three years.
That followed more estimates from the company that suggested the PlayStation 3 would not be launched until late 2006 in Japan and early 2007 in North America. Sony refuted the comments at the time, as it was still aiming for a spring 2006 launch. Though both of these regions will be seeing the launch of the console over the coming week, the European PS3 launch has been delayed into early 2007.
Via Gamasutra
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November 11th, 2006, 05:06 Posted By: rdetagle
News/release from be2003:
I was very bored and decided to make a simple module that would be used on the 2.71 se-b" firmware...
It's called VSHUSB because it is used in the VSH and puts the PSP into USB mode and can be used while doing other activities in the VSH...
simple controls are in the README
the RAR is prepackaged with UMF by Coldbird so all you have to do is put the INSTALL folder in the root of the memory stick and the UMF folder in /PSP/GAME150/ and run.
Tried this myself, works pretty good.
Nice work be2003! 
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November 11th, 2006, 04:29 Posted By: DPyro
Check it out. Sony has recently put online their user guide for PS3. Find out more about Photos, Video, Internet and Remote Play on the PS3!
Link
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