My Tech World

A Fight At The Park-Stop Motion

2009-06-06T02:51:00.001+05:30

Please watch people

8 days to inFamous!

2009-05-19T10:51:00.002+05:30

Sucker Punch has created a 4 part comic that chronicles the unfateful event which changed Cole's life forever...

Hit the link to see part 1 of the chronicles(Playstation.Blog's flickr stream)

YouTube's new Channel's BETA!

2009-04-20T14:03:00.003+05:30

YouTube has been working on fixing a lot of bugs currently, and by a lot, I mean a lot! Which is why they now have a new design for the Channel still in Beta. Hit the link and transform your YouTube channel to the new slick looking one!

LittleBigPlanet, MotorStorm and Assassin's Creed coming to PSP!

2009-02-25T08:29:00.006+05:30

A press release at SCEA's annual Destination PlayStation conference stated that:

New PSP bundles will be coming in 2009, including Assassin's Creed PSP Entertainment Pack and a Hannah Montana PSP Entertainment Pack(includes a Lilac PSP).
Best selling games such as LittleBigPlanet, MotorStorm Acrtic Edge and the Petz series will be released for the PSP(MotorStorm will also be coming for the PS2)
Warhawk Command Center launches in PlayStation Home this week.

Hit the link for an in-depth article: http://blog.us.playstation.com/

Also, check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MgJ8zZTYhI

Dirt 2 "pushing the boundaries" of PS3, 360

2009-02-21T16:01:00.002+05:30

Codemasters has told CVG that Colin McRae: Dirt 2 is "pushing the boundaries of what is possible" on PS3 and 360, running on a much-improved version of the Ego engine that powered the first game and Grid.

"DiRT 2 is actually running on the third iteration of Codemasters' EGO Engine proprietary technology, whereas DiRT was the first generation. As a result, there are many improvements that have been made to DiRT 2 over DiRT," said the game's senior executive producer, Gavin Raeburn.

"The development team have learnt a lot from the development of GRID, and have strengthened massively in their ability to get the most out of the hardware, notably pushing SPU usage on PS3, improving multi-core performance on Xbox 360 and adding PC specific features and technology."

He went on to add: "Overall these changes mean we are pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the hardware as much as possible, and we're confident in our ability to lift the quality bar again."

PS3 is 'future-proof' according to Sony

2009-02-09T19:12:00.002+05:30

Sony representatives say that the PS3 can far outlast the PS2 sales curve.

You might be surprised to hear that, and I might be too, that the PS2 is still hanging on waging a battle against a the recent gaming consoles... Sony should be proud of such a quality console!

Speaking with T3, Sony representatives said, "PS2 was still going strong after eight years, and with the power the Cell processor provides, not to mention the fact that PS3 is inherently future-proof, we see the PS3 sales curve far outlasting that of PS2."

Although analysts say that the nex-gen consoles woll be hitting the markets around 2011 or 2012, it would be wonderful to see whether the devs can tap the true potential of the PS3, and unleash a whole new world of content that takes gaming to the next level.

2.60 Update for PS3!

2009-01-21T11:28:00.005+05:30

Over at the PlayStation.Blog, there's a vid showing the new features of the PS3's latest update. What are the features, you ask? Well, here they are

You can now visit the PlayStation Store as a guest(who needed that anyways!).
DivX 3.11 support.
A new 'Photo Gallery' feature by which you can view photos, and it is awesome! It is an optional download just over a 100MB. Sweet!

That's pretty much it!

Here are the things Sony should condsider doing in my opinion; how about a legal driver with which we can all hook up our DS3/SIXAXIS to our PCs/Macs(I know, I know, there is a hack for that, but how about a driver straight from Sony)? Wouldn't that be cool?

Uncharted 2 set in Tibet

2009-01-02T16:33:00.002+05:30

A few more details surfaced about Uncharted 2, and the latest is that the sequel will take place in Tibet! Following clues left by Marco Polo, you'll be in search of the famous city Shangri-La.

Also, "stealth mechanics" will be a new feature in Uncharted 2 which is being developed by Naughty Dog. Now, not many games have been successful in pulling off the "stealth" part, and hence flopped...but let's hope that Uncharted 2 isn't plagued by the problem! Naughty Dog is an incredibly talented dev you know, and, they aren't only technically brilliant, but artistically too!

Here's hoping that Naughty Dog is able to work the same magic that made Uncharted: Drake's Fortune a huge success!

Pre-order Killzone 2, and get a free PlayStation Home costume...

2008-12-31T09:25:00.002+05:30

...that is exactly what Amazon has been doing in a move to attract customers to buy the next-big-game for the PS3- Killzone 2.

After splasing out a few dollars on pre-ordering the game, you'll be able to decorate your Home avatar with "With costume pieces for your head, torso, legs, hands and feet; you can customize your Home avatar to look like an ISA Soldier, a Helghast Assault Trooper, or something in between."

Cool, huh?

COD series sells 35 million copies

2008-12-31T09:21:00.003+05:30

For those of you who don't know what COD stands for, it is Call of Duty...

Reuters has stated that the COD series has shifted a massive number of copies, 35 million approximately! Although COD isn't as popular as Halo, Mario or God of War, it is has been gaining a large fan-following lately. Great story, gorgeous graphics and and awesome multiplayre mode is what has been luring gamers now a days...

PS3 now costs less to make, but still a burden for Sony

2008-12-31T09:13:00.002+05:30

A teardown analysis by iSupply has found out that the second-generation PS3 now only costs $448.73 to make, which is really less compared to $690.23 when it was initially released(the cost DOES NOT include royalties, bix contents, software etc.).

As many of you know, the PS3 sells for around $399 in the U.S.A, which makes it a loss for Sony everytime a PS3 is sold! Andrew Rassweiler, iSupply analyst, said on Monday that Sony has no doubt come close to breaking even, although they haven't hit the mark.

Sony is facing a financial crisis, due to poor television&camera sales, and due to recession...which has led to Sony laying off thousands of workers. Only time will tell whether Sony can really pull it off...

Killzone 2 box-art revealed!

2008-12-25T15:16:00.003+05:30

Over at the PlayStation Blog, TJ(works in the Killzone 2 marketing team) unveiled the much-anticipated PS3 exclusive-Killzone 2! Here's a pic!

Warner music videos disappering from YouTube

2008-12-21T19:38:00.003+05:30

Warner Music Group's music videos on YouTube were pulled down, due to the casualty of a contract impasse between the Music giant and the Video-sharing giant-which is owned by Google.

People familiar with the discssions who weren't authorised to speak publicly said that negotiations broke down last week itself over licensing fees for the Music giant's videos.

PSP2 may be developed by Sony

2008-12-18T16:56:00.003+05:30

According to a news report at Eurogamer, Sony will be launching a successor to the PSP and an upgrade dubed the PSP-4000. No light has been thrown on the new hardware pieces, but apparently, development has already begun.

Surprised? Well, I ain't! The PSP-2000 which succeeded the PSP-1000 was noticibly light, and the control system was slightly changed...and then came the PSP-3000. The latest version of the PSP had an inbuilt micorphone also! It made it all the more easier to chat via Skype! So, if and when Sony does release PSP-4000 or a successor to the PSP, it shouldn't come as a surprise to fans!

Google Chrome goes LIVE

2008-12-12T20:08:00.004+05:30

And by LIVE I mean it is out of Beta! Google recently launched the slick Chrome browser for Windows. It is astonishing that the Search Giant pulled the browser out of Beta in merely 3 1/2 months! They might have just set a record by doing this!

And mind you, Gmail is still in Beta, for literally 3 1/2 years or more! The development team have been working on fixing many bugs and glitches...and they have for sure brought to the stands an impressive browser! Chrome is not only fast; be it loading the webpages or booting, but it is also visually appealing with a slick interface, and this is what that makes Chrome a rock-solid browser! Hats-off to Google for this one!

PlayStation Home Open Beta launches tomorrow!

2008-12-10T21:31:00.003+05:30

Yeah! You heard that right! The day you've all been waiting for will arrive-TOMORROW! Wondering why I didn't mention that it was the day I've been waiting for too? Because I'm already in the Closed Beta! Cool, huh?

The PlayStation Bluetooth headset or one of those cool PlayStation Keypads, you'll surely be having a great time chatting with all! It's really fun! The Central Plaza has been redesigned and a new game has also been developed! Many companies like Activision, Eidos, Lucas Arts, Electronic Arts et cetera et cetera have already been regularly participating in Home, like in Game Rooms and et cetera!

Home Beta v.1.01 impressess

2008-11-30T20:50:00.003+05:30

As one of the lucky gamers to receive the code to test out PlayStation Home Beta, I really had a wonderful time! Home is a 3D social space for the PS3-similar to SecondLife for the PC. The graphics is top-notch, everything is perfect! Although there were a few glitches, like some squatting gamers were floating mid-air! everything else was fine!

I was able to check out the 'Central Plaza'-the central hub of Home, my own apartment(it was rather empty) and the Home Theater-a theater where game trailers and stuff are showcased. When I visited the Home Theater-there was a game trailer of SOCOM:Confrontation being played, and since I have a really dead slow connection, it took like 20 mins to load the video!

At first; you start off in your apartment(known as 'HomeSpace')...customising your character. Afterwards you can explore your HomeSpace...but there isn't much in it at first, so you would rather be wise to head out elsewhere. I decided to immediately visit the Central Plaza, and so I had to download a 30MB odd file which was the Central Plaza scene. Then I just walked right through the door...and I am at Central Plaza!

Overall the expereince was really fun, and I had a really great time! I was also able to interact with some gamers, listen to some songs, boo some gamers, and dance! It was awesome!

Ubisoft is working on a sequel-syas Ubisoft

2008-11-30T09:04:00.002+05:30

Assassin's Creed was a wonderful game-technically and gameplay-wise. So, it wouldn't much of a surprise to hear that Ubisoft is working on a sequel. The game which had an abrupt ending left many gamers dissatisfied, and Ubisoft isn't going to make any mistakes with the sequel. Who knows, the game may be even more technically brilliant than the original! It may be released between the timeframe of April 2009 to April 2010. Only time will tell.

Killzone wont feature pre-game installations

2008-11-28T11:20:00.002+05:30

Run out of hard drive space on your PS3? Like Killzone2 but scared that the game will feature gigantic pre-installation files that will consume your PS3's remaining hard drive space altogether? Then rest assured my friend, for at PlayStation Official Forums, Seb Downie, Guerilla's testing manager reported that the game will NOT feature installation-optional or otherwise! So, Rest.In.Peace until then!

Google adds colour to Gmail...

2008-11-20T14:46:00.003+05:30

Gmail users rejoice, as Google in a recent move to popularise Gmail, has added a new 'Themes' feature. The feature enables all users to select a theme from a choice of many, which will then be applied to your account! There are some pretty cool themes like 'Bubblegum', 'Cold shower', 'Pebbles', 'candy','Desk','Ninja' and many more! There's also a picture attached. Now checking emails has become more fun and colourful!

PS3 turned two!

2008-11-18T11:10:00.004+05:30

Yesterday, on the 17 of November 2006, Sony's stronghold PS3 turned two years old! Sony did celebrate, by posting a PlayStation.Blog! And so did I! Although I got my PS3 on the 14 of July 2007, it's a feat that Sony has achieved for which all PS3 users ought to celebrate! The mean, shiny PS3-powered by a Cell Processor has a large install base, an install base which helped Sony make it to the Guinness World Records-for Folding@Home's achievement! The PS3 is sure going strong!

THREE CHEERS FOR SONY AND THE PS3! HIP-HIP-HURRAY! HIP-HIP-HURRAY! HIP-HIP-HURRAY!

The PlayStation Experience...

2008-11-15T19:22:00.008+05:30

The experience at PlayStation Experience was really wonderful! It was houseful! The event started at around 11:45AM and went on till around 7:30PM. There were a lot of games on display including Killzone2! Among others were FIFA09, Mirror's Edge, Resistance2, MotorStorm Pacific Rift and many more including Buzz! and SingStar.

I got a hands-on experience with Killzone2 and I must say I was really satisfied! The textures were just amazingly detailed, and the physics was very well indeed! Although there was a glitch with the shadows, the player moved very realistically and fluidly! The lighting and the environment was just perfect!

Although I couldn't try out Resistance2 due to the swarming crowd waiting to play the game, just by watching it, it sure looks like a next-gen FPS! Especially, since the first instalment sold pretty well, I believe this one will be welcomed by all PS3 gamers. Insomniac has yet again come out with a attractive for the PS3 gamers!

LittleBigPlanet took the spotlight, with people in numbers more than you could imagine waiting to play the game! Anyways, I could play the game for nearly 2 hours! Although the graphics isn't state of the art, the physics and the soothing background music was the most enriching element in the game! I played offline multiplayer with my Brother, and we had loads of fun! Although my Brother isn't a regular gamer at all, he took little less than 10 minutes to learn the controls! The 'Pop-It' element was good as expected! Being able to flip, scale and rotate stickers we had lots of fun decorating the level by oursleves!

I also got to try out Mirror's Edge-the game which took the gaming industry by storm! I was satisfied with the graphics particularly, as there were jagged edges everywhere-and that too the display was a Sony 46-inch Full HD TV! Yet, Faith's hand was amazingly detailed, with even the finger-nails looking realistic! Due to the controls being a bit clumsy, I couldn't even do a proper jump! Alwasy jumping off the towers only to fall with a thud on the road way below, and re-spawning again, I personally didn't like the game-although the 2-D flash version was ridiculously good!

MotorStom Pacific Rift was nothing like what the original MotorStorm was! The gameplay was a little choppy, and the environment was that richly detailed or textured unlike Uncharted:Drake's Fortune.

Sony India announced that LittleBigPlanet would be launching soon in India, and so will a 80GB version of the PS3 which is selling like hot-cakes in the U.S.!

There was also a PSP section where gamers pit themselves against others in multiplayer modes in a variety of games. LocoRoco2 is to be launched soon , said Sony.

In the PS2 section, there was Cricket, and WWE fo course! Cricket was confusing, but WWE was good!

I was too sad to leave the stadium, expecially after being mesmerized by LittleBigPlanet...

PlayStation Expo to be held by Sony India during November

2008-11-13T16:34:00.003+05:30

If you're living in the West, then you really are lucky-as gamers in the West can attend the never-ending mid-night launches of games and other Expos. But rarely has an Expo been held in India. Sony looked after that by holding India's first 'PlayStation Experience' last year. Although the Expo at Delhi and Mumbai are long gone, Bangalore still remains.

And this year is no exception! Sony India will be holding an Expo known as 'PlayStation Experience' in all the major cities of India-Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi. On the 15&16 of November, PlayStaton Experience wil be held in Bangalore at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium. Be sure to check it out, there will surely be loads to see!

AMD to refresh its Opteron processor line with new 'Shanghai'

2008-11-13T16:24:00.002+05:30

AMD-rival to leading Intel-will release the long-awaited, next-gen processor version of Opteron known as 'Shanghai'. This might send AMD into taking the lead over rival Intel.

Shanghai-using the technogically advanced 45nm fabrication- will put AMD on par with Intel which has been manufacturing 45nm fabricated processor for nearly a year.

The first Shanghai models will be available for x86 sockets. The chips officially named as Opteron 8000 and 2000 series will be clocked at around 2.3GHz to 2.7GHz...consuming 75 watts of power. AMD also plans to release a low-power-consuming processor which consumes only 55 watts and also a powerful, faster chip consuming 105 watts of power by the first quarter of the coming year. Also, a code-named 'Deneb'-for desktops- will be released before the end of this year.

Full-length TV shows to be broadcasted on YouTube

2008-11-10T16:40:00.002+05:30

YouTube- the world's largest video sharing website in the world- stated that it would show full -length television shows and films from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's archive in a bid to boost advertising and increase revenue. YouTube, owned by Search giant-Google- will make the announcement on Monday.

MGM will set everything rolling by broadcasting its decade-old extravaganzas like:

American Gladiators
Bulletproof Monk
Legally Blonde
The Magnificent Seven

Until now, everybody has known YouTube as a video-sharing website among others like Metacafe which allows users to upload home videos and enjoy and online audience...but that can change now-YouTube is taking a giant step towards becoming the world's most popular video-sharing website...and in the process eradicating all the others. In a few years time, I don't think there will be anyone who wouldn't heard of the word 'YouTube' or even 'YouTube channel'.

Two new demos! One of them includes MGS4!

2008-11-07T20:37:00.003+05:30

Yup, you heard that right! Hideo Kojima's latest MetalGearSolid 4 or simply MGS4 is up at PSN in a new form-a demo! All of those who couldn't ge their hands on one of the best games of the millenium(or should I say, the best game of this millenia!) can simply head over to PSN and download the demo version! Once again the PlayStation Network is proving it's worth!

Fallout 3 tops UK charts!

2008-11-05T20:33:00.004+05:30

Good news eh? Well, not if you're a PS3 fanboy! Surprisingly, Fallout 3 has sold more on the box(360) than on the PS3! The 360 accounts for 55% of the sales while the PS3 accounts for only a meagre 28%!

I guess this was inevitable since many top reviewers like IGN have stated that the PS3 version has 'jagged edges' and 'washed out lighting'. So, obviously people would have a bought the game for the 360 which costs around half the price of the PS3 but has better graphics!

Well, it seems Bethesda hasn't yet figured out the Cell processor's architecture and it's true potential!

Spark Unlimited's Legendary does not appeal

2008-11-02T16:20:00.002+05:30

Legendary from Spark Unlimited, has, this time released in the UK first and yet to release in the U.S. Now, let's get to the point; it has NOT managed to create hype and stir up gamers... and in fact, has received an average score of 50 from Metacritic.

Here's the deal: you play as a jewel thief who accidentally unlocks demonic creatures during a burglary (ridiculously silly) and is tasked with cleaning aforementioned demonic mess up. To help you, you'll get an assortment of firearms as well as use of mystical powers that allow you to absorb magic power from defeated bad guys.

Sony recalls 100,000 laptop batteries

2008-11-02T14:28:00.004+05:30

The Japanese Electronics giant-Sony-on Friday said that it was cooperating in a recall of 2.15Ah lithium-ion cell batteries made in Japan and sold around the world in laptops made by HP(Hewlett Packard), Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo and Acer . There have been 40 reports of overheating, in some cases involving smoke or flames, according to a company statement.

Sony-world's second largest Lithium-ion battery manufacturer after Sanyo- two years ago in a similar incident recalled nearly 9 million high-capacity batteries. The result? It affected the economy of all global competing PC manufacturers, and cost Sony close to $400 million! So, why hasn't Sony learned from its previous experiences? Beats me! That's the big question!

Sony stated that the faulty batteries were from the same subsidiary that made the batteries recalled two years ago, Sony Energy Devices in Tochigi, Japan. Sony said efforts to make manufacturing lines there more efficient appeared to have backfired, leading to substandard cells. A possible flaw in the metal foil for electrodes could also have led to overheating, the company said.

Dell and HP have taken immediate measures- HP has a website for its owners to check whether their batteries are defected, and Dell too has a similar website. This is definitely not good news for Sony.

Firmware 2.50 for the PS3 is OUT!!!!

2008-10-16T16:22:00.006+05:30

Well, what are you waiting for? Go get it! Oh, so first want to know what are the features so that you don't waste time downloading an update that does nothing-like the previous one. Well then, lets get down to business!

First of all, the way you create a PlayStation Network account has been redesigned. And believe me, it looks good! I would rather say, more appealing and simple for casual gamers. Then again, only hardcore gamers buy the beloved PS3 right?
You can also turn off your PlayStation 3 after a background download or an installation has completed!
Various names have been changed: like 'BD/DVD Settings' has been changed to 'Video Settings'. A feature worthy to be noted, 'Sequential Playback' has been added under the renamed 'Video Settings'.
If your electricity bills are unusually high, you know who the culprit is-your PS3! Thankfully, Sony has added 'Power Save Settings'-a feature Xbox360 owners have long been used to! It means, you can turn-off your Sixaxis/DualShock3 after a period of inactivity! Cool, huh?
The method of reconnecting Bluetooth devices has been changed! And, you can select 'HP' as an option under 'Printers' if you want to print your favourite pictures!
You can use 'Mosquito Noise Reduction', support for Adobe Flash 9 has been added! There's much more! Click this link to get to know all the features!

You know what, I think you've heard enough! GO DOWNLOAD IT IMMEDIATELY!

LBP Beta levels will make their way in to the retail version!

2008-10-12T10:31:00.005+05:30

All you lucky ones who got to work on the Beta levels of the much anticipated LittleBigPlanet! It has been confirmed that the Beta levels created by gamers will eventually make their way into the full version of the game, that is, as long as you remembered to 'publish' the levels!

This must make it easier to market the tough concept of the one-of-a-kind game. Although there will be loads of default levels, custom Beta levels will only add spice to the game and also prove how dynamic the level creation system is! Only 9 more days to go for the American release and only 12 more days to go for the European release! I can't wait!

New, revamped Xbox360 interface slated for release on November 19

2008-10-10T10:05:00.003+05:30

At the Tokyo Game Show, Microsoft revealed an improved interface for Xbox Live and Marketplace- and it is called the 'New Xbox Experience'. It will be available on November 19 and will be available in 26 countries in 19 localized languages!

The redesigned Marketplace interface will feature a new "back of the box game details". The blade interface has been removed, and now users will be able to see info about games on the web, even when they are not using Live.

A lot of features have been added and the new interface certainly looks glamorous! Read more at Daily Tech.

Tekken 6 is a multiformat release...

2008-10-10T09:56:00.003+05:30

Namco Bandai, the makers of Tekken franchise, have stated that Tekken 6 will be released in Autumn 09. And, oh, it's also for the infmaous 360! Well, nothing else!

No more price cuts, and a no is a no!

2008-10-09T11:03:00.003+05:30

Sony while talking to Edge stated that there will be no price cuts for the PS3 during Christmas. Although the PS3 hasn't yet had any 'ambassador' titles unlike its counterpart, titles like LittleBigPlanet might become system seller...or maybe not (I know it will!). If doesn't, the reason will be that many gamers do not understand the core of the game, and its simple yet vast game experience. It may look kiddish, but it isn't.

Whereas Resistance2 will mostly be a success-because of the appealing content to many gamers. You have to make note that many gamers now a days are atlease 15 years old, and so to them, only such games will seem fun! Yet, this holiday season, the stream of games to be released are multi-platform, and the 360 costing less than even half the PS3's price!...who knows what will happen.

XP reborn

2008-10-07T17:10:00.002+05:30

Microsoft has once again extended it's best-selling OS-XP's deadline from 31 January 2009 to 30 June 2009. Guess Microsoft did realize that 'old is gold'. Many PC manufacturers still offer XP as a OS variant apart from Vista- which did not appeal to many, although the 31 January will apply to small PC vendors. Microsoft claims that they are extending XP's 'kill date' to a new date just because many users are taking time to shift to Vista- who knows if this is true!

Nero's new LiquidTV can turn your PC into a T.V.

2008-09-29T21:22:00.003+05:30

Reminds you about TiVo right? Well, in all aspects it is...except that it has some more new features, like:

Ability to export recorded media to portable devices(PSP too may be)
Formats supported are: '.tivo', MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AVI, WMV and you have the ability to burn-to-DVD

Retailing for $119.99 in the U.S/Canada, you also get a one year subscription to TiVo. You will need a dual-core processor, which goes without saying- that is, if you are an enthusiasist. For any normal consumer, who doen't prefer HD signals...any modern processor would do. As for hard disk space, you will at the least want a minimum 40 gigabytes of storage.

Nintendo DS to be reborn

2008-09-29T09:51:00.004+05:30

The Nintendo DS is going to be given a new life...this time with the sense of sight and hearing! Yes, the new DS is going to double up as a music player and a camera! Nintendo has stated thatthe new DS will be released before the end of this year although the giant hasn't hinted anything about the new DS's release in othe regions. Reports offer a convincing a hint that the new DS will have larger screen and will more easy to connect with the Wii-the gaming console counterpart. After since, there haven't any more rumours about the larger screens. Nintendo fans will be sure hoping that this is true.

Mirror's Edge will sell 3 million copies: DICE

2008-09-27T16:06:00.002+05:30

Marketing director for DICE Martin Frainis projecting sales of around 3 million for upcoming releaseMirror's Edge. He thinks thatMirror's Edge is an example of how an IP can appear out of nowhere and grab the public imagination "just by being different." Mirror's Edge is a parkour centric first-person game that features you playing a futuristic data courier. You're tasked with getting across rooftops and through buildings using your impressive array of acrobatic skills.

I very much hope that Mirror's Edge turns out to be a game that fulfills its potential. The FPSgenre is stuck in a bit of a rut on next-gen consoles at the moment. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare probably epitomised this- incredibly well balanced shooter action, but not a game that felt remarkably different in gameplay terms. Adding a more physical element to the first-person title could indeed be the shot in the arm the genre needs.

Limited edition LEGO Batman Bundle PS2 on shelves NOW!

2008-09-24T15:51:00.001+05:30

LEGO Batman: The Videogame PS2 bundle is now available at retail. You can find it at all major retailers for $149.99 . This is a bundle that is perfect for families and comic enthusiasts alike.

The bundle includes:

The Black PS2 system
DUALSHOCK 2 Controller(DS2)
LEGO Batman: The Video Game - The fun of LEGO, the drama of Batman and the uniqueness of the combination make for a comical and exciting adventure to save Gotham City. Fight the mayhem as super-heroes Batman and Robin, or spread anarchy as one of the city’s many super-villains…all in LEGO form.
Justice League: The New Frontier - Based on Darwyn Cooke’s award-winning graphic novel, this thrilling adventure reveals the origin of the Justice League.

Limited supply, mind you!

I'm going Home next month! No, wait; Home is coming next month!

2008-09-23T07:43:00.002+05:30

Yes, you heard that right my friend- the much awaited Home is coming next month! Well that's how it looks. Posting on the Home beta message boards in response to a bug , Home Manager "TedtheDog" wrote that the bug should get fixed with the next system software update.

"2.5 is what we're waiting for and 'October' is what I've heard, later October is my guess." According to the post, Home 1.00 would come bundled with the firmware update, and it sounds like there's a good chance that Home 1.00 will be the first full release.

Home is a next-gen virtual world where gamers from different regions of the world can meet, share media and stuff. It's similar to Second-Life from Linden Labs except for the part that Home hosts next-gen graphics and that it is exclusively for our beloved PlayStation 3!!! I can't wait for it to release! Every user gets his/her own apartment which can spruced up by decorating it with some basic furniture available for free or pay and download new exquisite furniture! Well, I'll go for the stripped down version anyways... So, lets cross our fingers and just hope that it does release in October. Til then, tata!

Intel to officially ship dual-core Atom

2008-09-22T20:14:00.005+05:30

Intel is dominating the world of the netbook with its Atom processor(single core). The processor running at 1.6GHz speed powers the vast majority of netbooks that are available to purchase right now. The tiny chip is absolutely perfect for the netbook market thanks to its low cost and low power requirements.

It's no secret that Intel is bringing new Atom processors to market for the low-cost computer segment. Intel announced that its dual-core Atom processor is now shipping. The part is known as the Intel Atom Processor 330. The dual-core processor cores run at 1.6GHz and have 1MB of L2 cache.

The processor has an 8W TDP and supports DDR2 667 RAM. Intel says that the new Atom is available as an integrated package and has been validated with the Intel 945GC Express chipset. The chipset features integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 950 and Intel High Definition Audio.

DailyTech reported in mid-August that Intel was going to be releasing its dual-core Atom precessor and Intel sure did; just a few days before September end. Intel is still having shortages of its single-core Atom processors in the channel.

Mercenaries2 on PSN this Thursday

2008-09-16T14:11:00.002+05:30

Mercenaries 2 has been garnering quite some attention...and mixed reviews too! Scores of the game run from a highly respectable B+ from 1UP and a slightly less respectable 5/10 from Eurogamer. If sandbox destruction and explosions are your thing, then you might be interested to know that you'll get the chance to try for yourself, with a demo scheduled to appear on the PSN on Thursday.

Despite its mixed reception, Mercenaries2 has done pretty well at retail in the UK and topped charts last week. The original as definitely a solid little title, featuring a welcome spin on the open-world model. Being able to blow up almost anything in sight was an undeniable draw. Given what seems to be a solid retail debut, a third part is looking increasingly likely.

A new nex-gen speaker from Sony!

2008-09-11T18:55:00.005+05:30

Sony has developed next-generation prototype speakers that hang from a ceiling or come with an entire home audio system built-into the base, utilizing the same technology in its distinctiveSountina .

The two working prototypes were unveiled Wednesday at a Sony event in Tokyo held for electronics retailers and its dealers. Like the Sountina, they emit sound from long, glass tubes, saidNobukazu Suzuki, an acoustic system engineer in Sony's audio business group and developer of the speakers.

Also like the recently-launched Sountina, the glass tube in the prototypes is energized by small drive devices that couple with the tube and vibrate vertically. Waves travel up through the tube and are dispersed in a 360 degree spread horizontally from the tube. What all this means is that sound spreads out from the tube in a uniform manner and can be heard equally well from any position around it.

The hanging speaker, dubbed "Hibiki," looks like a stylish light and is envisaged as something that could be positioned over a table or in a room where it could hang without looking like a speaker, said Suzuki.

The second prototype, named "Kanade," is an upright speaker not dissimilar to the Sountina only smaller and not as imposing. Just under the speaker a digital audio player is integrated into the device so the unit can function as an all-in-one audio system with nothing but a power cable required.

Technology development of both devices is complete, so the biggest hurdle standing between them and the store shelf is a marketing decision. That's something that Sony hasn't yet taken so there's no word on when or if they might ever become products.

Sony's NSA-PF1 Sountina, which was unveiled in May, went on sale in Japan in June at the premium price of ¥1 million (US$9,295)(Rs 422113). It's also becoming available in major markets around the world.

Blu-ray's demise around the corner: Samsung

2008-09-05T16:38:00.003+05:30

In a recent interview, the director of consumer electronics at Samsung UK, Andy Griffiths, has put a 5 year limit on the next-gen media format war victor. That's not even as long as the PS3's anticipated shelf life and puts a gloomy future on the thriving format.

"I think it [Blu-ray] has 5 years left, I certainly wouldn't give it 10," Griffiths said. Great, now Samsung is now on Toshiba's side!

Being a seller of stand alone Blu-ray players by itself, I don't think they will make mcuh profit by shooing away their customers.

On the upside, 2008 is going to be a good year for the format, Griffiths reckons[I hope he one day becomes a forcaster!], citing rental services like LoveFilm which have adopted the disc format and are offering a clear path for Blu-ray adoption.

SCEE to release a PSN tri game pack in 1 UMD for PSP

2008-09-05T16:24:00.003+05:30

SCEE has announced plans to release a pack of three PSN titles on UMD under the name 'PlayStation Network Collection - Power Pack'.

The Power Pack will contain Beats, Syphon Filter: Combat Ops and flOw. It will be available in October when the new re-maked PSP will be launched. It will be joined by 'PlayStation Network - Puzzle Pack' which includes Lemings, Go! Sudoku and Go! Puzzle. More are in the works, and will be revealed just as Sony can come up with a few more alliterations.

Official headset for PS3

2008-09-04T16:27:00.004+05:30

Over at the PS Blog, Anand Agarwal-Product Manager for PlayStation Peripheralsinformed us that the headset will be offered in one retail version of SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals Confrontation(this October). The headset was unvieled during the SOCOM Media Day. There are a host of features which interested me. Here they are...nah, just forget it...head over towww.blog.us.playstation.com for a list of all the features. Just too tired to post them here.

LittleBigPlanet Beta opening this month!

2008-09-03T21:46:00.003+05:30

LittleBigPlanet developer, Media Molecule, is opening an "all but complete" version of the game to beta testing later this month, a post on PlayStation forum revealed. Although the game is not due for full release until October 24th, some lucky people will soon be getting early access to as I mentioned before, an "all but complete" version. Sadly, spaces are going to be few and far between but they'll be looking at "the sharing, uploading, downloading and multiplayer server side of the game before it launches to ensure that under a large number of users it does everything it is supposed to."

You'll be able to spot the former beta testers come launch day as they'll be the ones whipping up lifelike representations of the Mona Lisa propelled by hundreds of independently controlled tentacle arms and laser-eyes within ten minutes of the servers going online.

Mirror's Edge exclusive downloadable content on PS3

2008-09-03T21:41:00.003+05:30

Sony has revealed that EA and DICE's free-running FPS, Mirror's Edge, will be getting an exclusive set of DLC on PSN. "PlayStation has an exclusive marketing agreement with EA regarding the title. Exclusive downloadable content will be offered on the PlayStation Network."-EuroGamer.

Rumours of PS3 getting a timed-exclusive of the full game were rubbished, paving the way for a simultaneous PS3, PC and Xbox 360 release in... well, we don't know when yet. Suffice to say it probably won't be this year.

Oddly though, now that this agreement is in place, I'm not sure I want it. Mirror's Edge doesn't strike me as a game that will really benefit from DLC. You can bet also that if EA were prepared to sign away exclusivity to PSN, it probably won't be a selection of purchasable add-on episodes as GTA IV does. It alo isn't entirely clear whether the other platforms will simply be getting their own downloadable content too.

Either way, there just doesn't seem to be any decent reason why playing exclusivity off against different sets of gamers is particularly beneficial to the players. It is appealing if you're getting paid $50m for it though, I suppose.

A new contender for the Browser throne!-Google Chrome

2008-09-03T09:29:00.004+05:30

Sounds kind of rhyming doesn't it? Well, that's Google's Chrome! The new light weight browser with a hoard of new features which will blow you away-features that have never been thought of before!

Features:

The 'Omnibar': The 'Omnibar' is nothing but a simple address bar right? Well, think again my friend! You can use this box to search the web, search your history and use it as an address bar as well as get suggestions as you type! Pretty neat,huh?
The revamped 'Tab' page: Similar to the one seen in Opera, every time you open a new tab(untitled) you can see your recent bookmarks on the right, and you recently visited websites(a thumbnail of the website shows up) which takes the center stage!
Application Shortcuts: This feature blew me away! You can create shortcuts to your favourite sites on your desktop, which when double-clicked takes you to that website! Pretty nicely thought out, I would say!
Dynamic tabs: You can rearrange the tabs by dragging them, group similar tabs into a new window and so on. All this-quickly and easily.
Crash control: Every tab you're using is run independently in the browser, so if one app crashes it won't take anything else down!
Incognito mode: When in this mode, which ever sites you visit do not show up in the History. Any under cover agent out there?
Enhanced security: Google Chrome constanly downloads two lists; the first list for 'Phishing' and the second list for 'Malware'. Son if you unexpectedly stumble upon any malware site or so, Chrome wil lwarn you!
Instant bookmarking: To bookmark a web page all you have to do is click on the star button on the top-left of the 'Omnibar'- and you're done!
Importing settings: You can import all your settings(not only your bookmarks) from your previous browser!
Download manager free downloads: Everytime you download something, you don't have to chech the download manager for the status of your downloads, instead they just show up at the bottom of the current window!

A host of good features,eh?

Life With P(de)laystation

2008-09-02T07:53:00.002+05:30

Have you heard of Life With PlayStation? Well, I haven't. Wait, a sec; isn't it an application that's supposed to be Wii News Channel knock-off? I thought it released in July. It didn't? It hasn't yet? Oh man! that's a bummer!

Yes that's right, Life With PlayStation is delayed again! I don't even know why Sony is pushing this product so much, nobody is interested in this sorta thing. I have observed in the comments in many websites, that many have not even heard about it! Seriously, if Sony wants this concept to be a hit, it has reach out to the gamers around the world and not just sit around.

PS3 never to be successful-Howard Stringer

2008-08-29T20:53:00.002+05:30

Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer had a light-hearted chat with German news source Welt Online. He revealed that the $3 billion spent on developing the PS3 probably won't be recovered; well, "Not for as long as I live" .

You've got to wonder at the enormous amount of money Sony spent on its console, even though we're now pretty happy with the end result. I'm not sure Sir Howard is not playing a hand close to his chest here. Sure, that $3billion is never going to earned from hardware sales of the PS3 - or at least not until it reaches PS2 levels of sales. Even though Sony won the latest high-definition format war(although Blu-ray hasn't pentrated the Media the way DVD did) it succeeded in the same way as DVD. The PS3 was absolutely fundamental to that victory and the revenue that it will generate for Sony in the long term can only be guessed at.

PSP 3001 has its own tricks up its sleeve

2008-08-29T20:42:00.003+05:30

According to a source inside Best Buy, the new PSP-3000 model - recently announced and due in October - doesn't just offer good and improvised screen with better brightness and contrast and all-but also the feature to be compatible with PS3's controllers....the SIXAXIS and the DualShock3! Sorry, its not the PS3's controllers,..wait a sec, IT IS!

How would the chance to play your PSP games using a DualShock 3 or Sixaxis controller be? The new PSP is apparently going to be compatible with PS3 controllers. Sony is very innovative nowadays these days, don't you think? So obviously, that must mean that the new PSP has Bluetooth! This piece of news-that the new PSP is having Bluetooth has itself been vaguely rumoured before.

But wait - how would you hold the screen up so you could actually see it ? Not a problem - it's also going to output video via composite cable in 480i resolution.

I don't know, it sort of sounds plausible. Maybe. Certainly it's one way of overcoming the problem Sony has of everyone in Europe and the US thinking it's a bit over priced for a handheld with a not overwhelming brilliant games catalogue. So... turning it into a games console of its own is not a bad idea. Any officially confirmed statements will be posted. Stay tuned folks.

Resistance 2 BD case shot!

2008-08-28T17:10:00.002+05:30

What's up with the 'Threespeech.com' ad you say?

Screen grab may be coming in a new PS3 update!

2008-08-28T17:04:00.003+05:30

CVG a sneaky inside source that is spilling the beans that the next PS3 firmware (version 2.50), will grant the new ability to grab screen shots.!

This is something that PC users have enjoyed for many a year, and with gaming communities growing ever larger and more people wanting to share their gaming achievements with the world, this new idea is a going to be hit with all PS3 fans.

With a bit of luck, stage two will be full blown video recording so you can save up all your favourite online kills. Meanwhile I have to wonder again how long it will be before PS3 gets something resembling a full blown photo editing suite.

PSP sells 10 million + in Japan, top 5 games revealed

2008-08-28T16:56:00.002+05:30

Sony's handheld has just sold its 10 millionth unit in Japan(alone). Who cares how much the DS sold.

You might want to know which games has pushed the neat (portable) black box over the 10m milestone. People who aren't fans of endlessly milked franchises should look away now:

Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom)
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom)
Core - Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix)
Hunter Portable (Capcom)
Star Portable (SEGA)

This isn't the anywhere near the end of the PSP either - there's a new SKU coming out in October which will rejenuvate the shiny (portable) black box.

Little Big PLanet to feature "Copyright"

2008-08-26T21:47:00.003+05:30

In an interesting interview over at Eurogamer with Media Molecule co-founder Alex Evans, it came into light that a "Copyright" system(what devs refer o it as) will be incorporated in the game so that creative users can "protect" their creative in-game content.

If you turn on "Copyright" other players can come into your level, collect your item and use it in their own levels. However, because it is "Copyrighted", they won't be able to change it, edit it, or share it around themselves.

If you leave "Copyright" off, then anyone can come in, collect the object, play with it, adjust it to their tastes and share it to anyone they please. This means that your awesome creation can also go around the LBP community and finnaly become utterly ridiculous! All this depends on whether the "LBP community" will be a success(duh!)

MotorStorm Pacific Rift in early September!

2008-08-26T21:39:00.004+05:30

Sony has announced they will be releasing a Motorstorm: Pacific Rift demo as part of QORE, their online "magazine"(subscription) for the PlayStation Network. Those who download the upcoming episode - QORE: Episode 4 - will get access to the demo, and get to play it “a month before anyone else.”

Here's some bad news for those not subscribing to QORE, they will have to endure a month long wait till the demo will then go live on PSN as a free download, and be available for all to grab about a week before the games retail release on October 7th.

Sony has somehow found a way to manage it's "free" online service; by releasing a subscription based magazine! Not pretty much "free" is it? QORE is a pay service (costing $2.99 an episode), and is currently only available in the US it will be very hard for Europeans to get their hands on the demo as QORE is not yet released in the PAL regions. Although the release date hasn't been confirmed, new episodes of QORE usually go up the first Thursday of every month. Because of this a September 4th release in likely in my opinion.

PS3 controller add-on; Wireless QWERTY keypad!

2008-08-22T21:41:00.003+05:30

You thought the public statement Sony made yesterday regarding a new 160 GB SKU was all? Well, think again my friend. Pictured is the new Wireless Keypad. As you can see, it's very reminiscent of Xbox 360's Messenger kit, as they are both QWERTY keypads that cleverly buckle onto their respective controllers. In this instance though, the pad aligns to the top of the controller, rather than the bottom - a design choice that we fear could make the pads heavy front heavy, especially the featherweight Sixaxis.

Even so, the keypad is pretty much ideal if you need to fire off a quick message to someone on your friends list, and now that Sony has got the in-game messaging system sorted via Firmware 2.40, these accessories are pretty well timed. It should also be good for web browsing too, although Sony may have somewhat reduced its own market share by being so generous with Bluetooth keyboard compatibility.

Other features include a 'Touch pad mode', which is apparently something like a mouse trackpad, although even scrutinizing the product pics sheds no light on how it works.

The Wireless Keypad is out in November in the US, and will be with the rest of us sometime before the end of the year. Perfectly in time for Christmas! There's little chance of Sony missing out on extra sales during the Christmas hardware rush, so I'm guessing late November is a possibility. Prices are still being decided.

NO more PS3 price drops for this year

2008-08-22T21:27:00.006+05:30

SCEE president David Reeves, when quizzed by VG247, clearly stated "No," and added "We're not going to drop the price this year."

Is Reeves a liar? Maybe.. "No" really means "We aren't talking about it yet". Last year, Sony, having failed to drum up sufficient consumer enthusiasm from a semi-reduced bundle pack offering announced at E3 (a bit like this year's 80GB announcement for Europe), turned the PS3's ailing fortunes around in an instant by suddenly slashing prices with the 40GB model, announced in early October.

However, with PS3 roaring ahead at full speed, there's a lot less need for a dramatic, desperate price cut, so we're compelled to believe Reeves for now. This is a quiet time of year though - once the big three makers start playing their aces in the run up to Christmas, things might seem a lot different.

Killzone 2 Leipzeig trailer!

2008-08-21T21:11:00.000+05:30

October to see the wake of PSP-3000!

2008-08-21T21:01:00.002+05:30

Sony has again proved to everyone that it is not be believed, as it recently confirmed that our beloved tiny PSP would be given an image make over! The PSP-3000 is a slight but significant tweak to the Slim and Light model. The new hardware now includes an integrated microphone and an improved LCD screen. They will be available in the usual black, silver or white.

David Reeves, head of Sony Europe, was keen to hype the latest model as more communications orientated. The addition of Skype and Go!Messenger in the past year have demonstrated the PSP's communications potential, but forcing users to buy additional headsets and mics has presumably not gone down so well. With a mic on board though, there should be better uptake of the services. It may also serve as incentive for developers to include more VoIP features in their games too.

The LCD screen is where the biggest single improvement is this time. Sony claims the screen quality has been enhanced to offer not just a wider colour gamut for better looking graphics, but also a sharper contrast and an anti-reflective coating to make it easier to see in natural light. One of main gripes has been the struggle to see the screen in sunlight - something the DS Lite manages - so this is a serious lure for me and a good incentive to upgrade from my old 1000 model.

The 3000 model is due out in October. For 199 Euros you'll get a PSP 3000 and either the Go!Communications software package, or Buzz!: Master Quiz, FIFA '09 or Harry Potter. UK price has been confirmed as 149.99 Pounds.

160GB PS3 model for Europe in October!

2008-08-21T20:52:00.004+05:30

Games Convention in Leipzig is exciting in its own way as Sony has unveiled yet another PS3 model. It is essentially the same as the 80GB and its predecessor, the 40GB, but has doubled the hard drive capacity again, taking it to 160GB.

It is due to launch on October 31st across Europe and is set to cost 449 Euros.The fact that Sony has generously made it so simple to replace PS3 hard drives up to any capacity you like makes it seem ridiculous to launch new models with larger HDDs, so to even it out, the 160GB will also come with 70 Euros worth of additional downloadable content. There's no indication as to what that is - it seems unlikely to be PSN games though. We'll be finding out somewhere closer to the October launch. UK may be lucky, with prices seem to be around 399.99 Pounds.

PlayStation Home to have Adult-only sections?

2008-08-21T15:06:00.003+05:30

Speaking to Three Speech at the recent Edinburgh Interactive Festival, Peter Edward, director of the PlayStation Home Platform Group revealed that in the long-term there could be a number of 18 rated areas "cropping up".

Before you get too excited, that probably doesn't mean in-Home topless bars or cyber-brothels, but probably something more like an online casino. Or - and we're really rolling the depravity here - theatres showing mature rated video game trailers.

In an interesting aside, Jamie McDonald, VP of Sony Worldwide Studios, revealed that PlayStation Home had been in production long before Second Life - the closest conceptual equivalent to Home, which has been around for a fair few years now.

Toshiba propels DVD quality to near HD

2008-08-19T20:01:00.003+05:30

Toshiba, which lost out to Sony in the battle for the next-generation DVD format, has announced a new technology that could help extend the life of current DVD libraries.

The technology, called XDE (eXtended Detail Enhancement), upgrades DVD picture quality to a higher definition of up to 1080p, according to Toshiba. The company was quick to point out that XDE does not give true HD, but it said the improved picture quality comes close to it.

A player already on sale from Toshiba will boost picture quality to 720p, 1080i or 1080p, depending on a TV's resolution.

Standard DVD picture quality is 480i/p. Toshiba is offering XDE DVD players for US$149.99.

This could tempt users who are opting to switch over to the new High-Def format to be tempted to continue using the DVD. Toshiba is finally avenging its loss to Sony.

Europe to join the 80GB PS3 league soon!

2008-08-19T19:35:00.003+05:30

Britishers who are waiting to buy the new 80GB Ps3 which has hit the U.S. many days ago, can now heave a sigh of relief as the long wait for the 80GB PS3 model is about to end and surprisingly sooner than expected. Various online retailers are saying that the first shipments of the updated console will begin this Friday which will be a bit of a relief for anyone who has been holding out for the new hardware.

It costs the exact same as the current 40GB models - although it's not to unreasonable to expect to find some decent deals as older 40GB stock is shed to make way for the more spacious version.

Sony has made it very clear that it won't be slicing any more of the price either. Some people were hoping the manufacturer might be using the Leipzig Games Convention, which begins tomorrow, to announce a price drop to make it more competitive with its cheaper rivals. However a spokesmen said "It's not going to happen", adding "If you're coming for that you'll be disappointed".

Maggie Q debuts in latest Need For Speed instalment...!

2008-08-18T17:11:00.005+05:30

"Need for Speed Undercover features a deep and engaging story of spectacular Hollywood-style live-action that will transport players into the fictional world of the Tri-City Bay Area," said exec producer, Bill Harrison. "Working with talent the caliber of Maggie Q allows us to deliver an unparalleled level of storytelling that will keep players engaged in between 180-mile an hour races."

EA is now yelling at everybody that international movie star Maggie Q will lead the live-action sequences in the latest Need For Speed instalment 'Undercover' which is yet to release.

She plays as Federal Agent Chase Linh, "a seductive handler who recruits and guides players as they go undercover. Players will take on dangerous jobs and compete in races in order to infiltrate and takedown a ruthless international crime syndicate," says EA. The latest racing franchise instalment will hit stores on November 18 in the U.S.

EA CEO John Riccitiello said that the new game which has already started garnering attention will resemble 2005's Most Wanted; with car chases, underground racing and highway battles!

Well, nowadays EA is falling for hot Hollywood actresses I guess!

Dad! Mummy is better on Blu-Ray than on Cinema! Dad, are you listening?

2008-08-14T20:01:00.004+05:30

Mummy 3 Director reckons that the movie experience is considerably better on Blu-Ray than in theatres! This is huge complement I guess? In what way does it matter to you? It means Blu-Ray kicks HD DVD's arse!
This is apparent since when Blu-Ray won over the official Blu-Ray-HD DVD war and until Toshiba withdrew support from manufacturing HD DVD goods.

"Things that are dimensional, like the dragon lunging at the camera, in Blu-Ray really knock your head off because you are seeing all the details we put in it that are even a little better defined," said Rob Cohen, director of the third CGI -heavy Mummy cinematic debacle. "The dark/light values are better so you can be darker and still see all the detail."

PlayStation Store learns alphabets!

2008-08-14T19:55:00.003+05:30

Sony apparently did not like wasting time doing nothing; so it instead is adding a new A-Z search function to the PlayStation Store! The A-Z function will be under the All Games category. The search will filter all games. At least this must put the European PlayStation Store on par with the U.S. PlayStation Store. I don't think a full-fledged update will be needed, or does it?

Life With PlayStation

2008-08-01T15:48:00.004+05:30

Aren't you excited to hear that Life With PlayStation is landing this month!?? Well I am not!(I may change my mind!) Because it's nothing but a silly app copied from Nintendo Wii. By doing such silly Sony will surely lose it's status of supreme novelty! I don't think anybody would be so base to forget the day when Jack Tretton announced the concept of Life With PlayStation.

For those of you who don't know what Life With PlayStation is listen up; it's an app that brings news from around the world o your shiny black PS3.

New Snake? Or zombie Snake?

2008-08-01T15:31:00.004+05:30

I don't think that anyone would be so base to recollect the day when Kojima said that Snake's era is coming to an end. Kojima was very cunning at that time.....and now too! Kojima is hinting at a new Snake! Who knows whether zombie or not! May be his spirit still lives on!

"I would like you to think that this good-bye to Snake is a good-bye to this era and represents closure to your old self," Kojima told The Cut Scene. "If there ever were to be a new Snake (might have a different name), he will be a Snake for a new era."

New update?!! Oh my God!

2008-07-31T19:01:00.002+05:30

Oh is it true? A new update has been released for the PS3? What does it do? Can we atleast now stream Netflix movies? Can we?

Well the answer is no!!!!! OK; heres the catch; the update does;

NOTHING!!!!!!!!!

Disappointing isn't it?

EA riding the PS3 profit ride!

2008-07-31T18:57:00.003+05:30

In the recently released financial details, it is clearly seen that the PS3 is making all the profit for EA!! And mind you, neither the Wii nor the Xbox360 is even close to the figures stated...that ought to be some good news.

Well there isn't anything else apart from that..so the post ends here!

Loads of trophies for Uncharted!

2008-07-31T18:47:00.003+05:30

48 to be precise! Yes that's a 50 minus 2! It seems one of the best games for the PS3 is recieiving some trophy kick start! Check this; once you have all trophies you will get another one for having collected all! You will be given trophies for headshots, finding treasures, beating people to death and finishing the game and so on....come on you Naughty Dog!

All too good eh? Here's the sad part; thr trophies are NOT RETROSPECTIVE!

2008-07-27T20:19:00.003+05:30

Google unveiled it's new knowledge website called 'Knol' which is obviously short for knowledge- the brainchild of Udi Manber of Google. The new system is a potential threat to Wikipedia. Knol pages are "meant to be the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read", according to Manber.

Anybody think 'Knol' has the capacity and potential to overtake the slick Wikipedia? Do send me your inputs at sravan953@gmail.com. Google nowadays wants to get into and lead almost every kind/platform of the Internet!

Little Big Planet release date leaked!!!

2008-07-24T08:35:00.003+05:30

A supposedly uber excited US retailer has leaked the launch date of one of the most(I really mean most) anticipated games of 2007-08. Heres the pic:

The reservation card shows the alleged release date of the game- October 21. No its not October 21 2009 but October 21 2008!! This year!!

Damn you(I mean the retailer)!!! You had to spoil the suspense and excitement atmosphere Sony had created. It may hit UK and other places(like India) maybe a week or two later. Or maybe earlier!! Who knows?

PS3 is a monster machine according to Hideo Kojima

2008-07-23T17:15:00.005+05:30

Kojima states that the PS3 is a "monster machine". Maybe this opinion is the reason why MGS4 took such a long time to arrive.

Although the PS3 is performance rig and cannot be matched by any of today's "current-gen" PCs in terms of processing or graphical performance; Kojima's statement can be taken as an insult rather than a complement. Attributing to the fact that the game MGS4 took nearly four years to complete; and still came out a little late- the statement is surely an insult alright. Yes it is. Kojima also expressed his love for the joystick, keyboard, mouse and Wii controllers and expressed doubts about any new tech coming along to steal their place.

Now at least lets hope that the developers at Konami and Kojima himself have realized that drinking either Bournvita or Horlicks might boost their dev-intelligence.

EA as good at developing on the PS3 as it is on the Xbox360!

2008-07-23T17:06:00.002+05:30

EA reports that developer skills are so awesome that it is "at least as good" as the Xbox360 ones!! This may be all due to the gallons of Bournvita(or Horlicks) EA has been drinking recently!!!(just kidding; no offense)

Immortal PS3

2008-07-22T16:45:00.002+05:30

Long live the PS3!!!!

Even though the life of the PS3 is doubtful(although the PS3 is in its infant stage-literally), SCE president Kaz Hirai expects to hit a sales target of 150 million over the ten year course of the PS3's lifetime.

Sales facts:

PS One: 102 million
PS2: 140 million

The PS3 got off with a jerky start alright; but it is here to stay no matter what! All the developer dumb-heads(pun intended) have not tapped the full potential of our PS3s- even after more than one year after its launch!

Play Little Big Planet; Earn Money

2008-07-22T16:36:00.004+05:30

Any talented artists out there? If you are one of them, or at least consider yourself to be; then for you Little Big Planet is a must have!

"What we're trying to do with Little Big Planet is almost iTunes meets eBay in the sense that once an individual or a developer has qualified by producing certain levels or certain add-ons, they will then be able in the future to exchange these and make money out of them," said president of SCEE David Reeves. "Even if you charge less than one euro, it doesn't take many downloads if you've got a really strong Little Big Planet level for people to be able to make money. It's a great way for people to show others what they can do."

You also be able to tweak as to how much you can charge!

For the dense ones, let me put it this way: you create Little Big Planet game levels and then charge users to play your level. But to be able to prosper in this business, you have to obviously be pretty talented!

Is this an innovative system which allows gamers to make money? Or is this another one of those sly means by which Sony is trying to make history and garner attention. You decide!

180 million Vista licenses? Are you kidding Microsoft?

2008-07-19T14:55:00.005+05:30

Even though this is a little financial, I find it overwhelming. Over the past 12 months, Microsoft has had sales of $60.42 billion and a profit of $17.68 billion. You just know that the company is ready to expand further; Microsoft’s treasure chest currently holds more than $23 billion.

Windows Vista sales were said to have been particularly strong. Vista OEM revenue increased $420 million or 13%, driven by 22% growth in OEM license units. Revenue from commercial and retail licensing of Windows operating systems increased $138 million or 22%, primarily from Enterprise Agreements and anti-piracy efforts in emerging markets. OEM premium mix was 72% for the three months ended June 30, 2008. According to Microsoft, total worldwide PC shipments from all sources grew approximately 12% to 14%, driven by demand in both emerging and mature markets.

Microsoft said that 180 million Vista licenses have been sold since the operating system’s launch in late January 2007, which is a huge number by any measure. But given the criticism the software lately has received we were wondering whether demand for Vista in fact is increasing or whether it is stable or perhaps even decreasing.

Microsoft said that it sold 20 million copies of Vista in its first month, 40 million copies in its first 100 days and 60 million in six months. We have to be a bit careful with these numbers as they actually include Express Upgrade sales – a program that was available since October 26, 2006 and allowed the company to take advantage of the Christmas season and sell Vista while it actually had no product available.

This current number of 180 million units is not directly comparable as it includes all Vista sales, including licenses via various volume-licensing deals. There was only one number we could find that more directly compares to this new information: In late October of 2007, or just after the 1-year sales anniversary of Vista, Microsoft said that it had sold 88 million copies plus an additional 40 million+ licenses, which adds up to about 128 million units total! Divided by 12, this gave Vista a sales pace of about 10.6 million units per month. Nine months later, Microsoft apparently has sold an additional 52 million units total, indicating a pace of just 5.8 million copies and licenses per month since October 2007.

Isn't it confusing?

New Wii Remote

2008-07-19T14:37:00.004+05:30

Have you played a Nintendo Wii? If you have, you might have discovered that in many games(almost all, or maybe all) no matter how swing the remote there isn't much difference! Well, this is going to change. Even though Nintendo hasn't come up with a new Wii Remote 2 to fix that problem, at E3 Nintendo announced the Wii Motion Plus; which fixes that problem by increasing the accuracy of the motion of the remote. This tiny add-on is going to be shipped next Spring.

The Wii Motion Plus is designed for a new generation of games; which means that existing titles will not be rewritten to take advantage of the technology, said the company’s president, Reggie Fils-Aime. But it looks to be another smart enhancement that should continue the Wii addiction.

Sony Play TV-Insight

2008-07-18T17:28:00.003+05:30

Sony recently came up with it's long time no see product- the Play TV for the PS3. Apparently, the Sony geniuses have overcome a tricky technical problem. Forget that, listen to this- David Reeves announced at E3 that now the Play TV will record live TV while we play games! Wait a second, did I hear- 'while'? That's right folks, it's 'while' we play games! Here the pricey part- it costs 99 Euros and is touted to be released on September 10! Isn't that a tad costly? Naughty Sony, trying to make money big time!

80GB PS3 model on it's way to Europe!!

2008-07-17T17:37:00.004+05:30

Have you bought a PS3 already?- obviously YES....wait a minute....you haven't have you? Well then buckle up and be ready for August 27 because that's the day when the 80GB PS3 will finally hit Europe-really really hard.

The price you'll pay for an 80GB model is £299, or 399 euros(for the ones who are poor at currency conversion). On the other end of the table...if you are pondering what you would do if that 40GB extra hard disk space..oh! wait a second! you can download videos from the PlayStation Video Store!!! Right? Well, not really...here's some bad news for you- Sony has confirmed that the Video Store won't be available for PAL regions any soon....however Howard Stringer has made the commitment that it will come to all regions in "due course". Blimey!

PS3 80GB prices are being cut after all

2008-07-17T17:28:00.003+05:30

After Microsoft cut Xbox360's price up to nearly $50, Sony notoriously lied that it would not follow suit..but here's the update- prices are being after all. Obviously Sony wanted to surprise and all...but this isn't actually a price cut- since both the 40GB and the 80GB models have no backward compatibility- it's just a matter of ramping up the hard disk space..that's all...nothing to hype about.

No mentioning on when Europe will receive the new slashed model...

Happy Birthday MY PS3!!!

2008-07-15T16:38:00.005+05:30

Good news to all...at least myself...because my PS3 turned one year old yesterday- the 14 of July!!! My good ol' PS3...as I stood in solitude for a minute to recollect the experiences of the memorable day I got my PS3, tears literally rolled down my cheeks( just kidding!)...How happy I am; I cannot tell you...I am forever in debt to my Uncle for buying me a PS3!!!! All PS3 fans.....my PSN ID is sravan953....please feel free to add{ actually hungry for friends on my PSN Friends list :) }.

All readers, please do spend a moment in solitude praying to Him that my PS3 shall live long...

THANKYOU

Microsoft Xbox takes the Community road

2008-07-15T15:32:00.003+05:30

At the E3 gaming summit in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced that it would 're-design' its online Xbox feature- the Xbox Live to focus more on building communities. Microsoft's Don Mattrick said the aim was to put the Xbox 360 "at the heart of the living room".

Also Mr.Mattrick predicted the Xbox 360 would outsell the PlayStation 3 worldwide in coming years. According to him the gaming industry is larger than the film industry and the music industry combined! He said: "We knew...someday our industry would be the biggest form of all entertainment. That day has arrived. Today our industry belongs to everyone. Games are now the leading driver of all industry spending, outselling music and outstripping box office revenue." You are absolutely right my friend, the gaming industry is going to poised to become a massive industry- you said it..!!

Microsoft according to many, is trying to emulate Nintendo Wii's success by targeting the casual gamers. Individual avatars- similar to the Wii's Mii is said to be added to the refreshed version of Xbox Live. The company also announced a social karaoke game, called Lips, which looks to capitalise on the success of Singstar on the PlayStation franchise.

Now, some of you might think Microsoft- apparently choice less- with no other option; is trying to copy it's rivals, but that is not so. According to Shane Kim, head of strategy and business development for Xbox, denied that the firm was copying its rivals- instead said "We're not claiming to invent music games, or avatars. But we're innovating by bringing something new to these games, and taking them to the next level." Microsoft also unveiled Xbox Live Prime Time, a new service which will introduce online quiz games made in conjunction with the TV giant Endemol. "This is a new category of games for the whole family," said John Schappert, head of Xbox Live. The press conference in Los Angeles was dominated by news of releases of some of the console's biggest franchises.

British developer Peter Molyneux announced that role playing game Fable II had finished development and would be released in October. Gears of War 2, from US developer Epic, is due for release in November while the latest incarnation of the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy XIII, will hit the Xbox 360 for the first time along with rival platform PlayStation 3.

Howard Stringer considers the Wii as a niche product..?

2008-07-14T15:16:00.003+05:30

"I've played a Nintendo Wii," Stringer said last week at a conference in Idaho. "I don't see it as a competitor. It's more of an expensive niche game device. We're selling a lot of PlayStation3s now and it's still the best way to buy a Blu-ray player."

Stringer claimed that the Wii is not at all a rival to the PS3 it neither has Blu-Ray player nor Internet access. Good ol' Stringer, he's so excited about the E3 that he wants to start a fight already.

This might one of the first E3 conflicts between the three giant console makers.

World's fist 1.5 TB HDD...from Seagate

2008-07-11T17:14:00.004+05:30

Seagate introduced the world's first 1.5 TB hard drive. What this means is that Seagate is currently leading the pack(Hitachi and Western Digital) in terms of storage capacity.

According to Seagate, "The debut of the Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB, 3.5-inches hard drive, the eleventh generation of Seagate's flagship drive for desktop PCs, marks the single largest capacity hard drive jump in the more than half-century history of hard drives -- a half terabyte increase from the previous highest capacity of 1TB, thanks to the capacity-boosting power of perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology."

The 7200.11 will start shipping this August, and supports 1.5TB on four platters, claiming a Serial ATA transfer rate of 3GB per second.

Along with the 7200.11, Seagate has also introduced two 2.5-inches half terabyte hard drives; the Momentus 5400.6 and Momentus 7200.4. Meant for the mobile platform, these drives come with sensor technology to prevent drive damage in case the laptop is dropped. The technology works by detecting changes in acceleration equal to the force of gravity, and parks heads off the disc to prevent contact with the platter in a free fall of as little as 8-inches and within 3/10ths of a second.

$299 Xbox360 confirmed

2008-07-11T16:55:00.003+05:30

After weeks of rumors, it is officially confirmed- that the Xbox360 Pro's(or Premium) price is going to slashed by $50. Wall Street Journal states that Microsoft will cut the price as soon as Sunday- the 13 of July-which may be to kick-off it's coming day's(July 14) presentation at E3 Media & Business Summit.

The cut in price could also attributed to the fact that the Xbox360 is lagging behind in console race. Yet everyone knows that the Xbox360(and the Wii) whacked the PS3's butt in 2007 in terms of sales. Whereas this year, thanks to the launch of the highly anticipated tactical espionage shooter- MGS4(and also due to Blu-ray's victory over HD-DVD) the tables are turned- Sony is way above the 360 in terms of sales(OK, I might be a little exaggerating) ...This is the second Microsoft has slashed the Xbox360's price since it's release in 2005.

However the WSJ did not mention whether the other models(namely the Elite and the Arcade) would receive similar price cuts.

London launch of new iPhone buged with software problems

2008-07-11T16:47:00.004+05:30

Software compatibility problems marred the launch of the iPhone 3G at Apple's flagship store in London, where customers had difficulty activating their new phones.

Apple has an exclusive deal with network operator O2 in the UK -- but O2's web-based activation system requires the use of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser to register a new phone- meaning it won't work with the Safari browser bundled in Apple's Mac OS X. In its Regent Street store, Apple had installed VMware Fusion desktop virtualization software on some of its Macintosh computers, allowing them to run Internet Explorer on Windows, but the activation process was still not working.

"It just goes dead," said would-be customer Mark Phipps, who left the store frustrated and without an iPhone 3G. "They wouldn't reserve us one, which is a real kick in the teeth," he said. Phipps is one of at least three customers that left the store disappointed by the delays. Another, Josh Young, said the activation process was completely broken. He planned to return later.

The short line that had formed outside the store by the time it opened at 8 a.m. quickly moved inside, but two hours later the line had lengthened and extended out onto the street again. Further details were hard to come by: Store staff would not allow journalists inside the building.

The launch went more smoothly in Japan, where the iPhone went on sale for the first time. The first new iPhone owner emerged from the store of Apple's local partner, Softbank, within 20 minutes of the launch.

A brand new PS3 model in August?.....may be

2008-07-10T16:58:00.003+05:30

A peek at a Wal-Mart gaming spreadsheet may just have spoiled Sony's big surprise for E3. According to this little list, the 40GB PS3 is to be replaced by a brand new model come August.

Now, on the one hand, maybe this is a sign that Sony have seen sense and decided to hand back our 'Backwards compatibility', and perhaps a heftier hard-drive....or, the much more likely theory, is that the 'new version' of the console will include the DualShock 3 rather than the Sixaxis. A bit dull yes, but thinking about things logically, it certainly seems the most likely option...or, apparently this new model is a 150GB PS3, complete with two DualShock 3 controllers, Home, and a demo of Killzone 2.

Xbox360 price cut coming July 13

2008-07-09T16:50:00.002+05:30

If you would have noticed, there was a lot of hype during the previous weeks regarding an Xbox360 price cut- and this all true.The price would drop to $299.99 on Sunday, July 13. Not coincidentally, E3 kicks off the next day with--you guessed it--Microsoft's press conference.

As Sony's PlayStation 3 has come on strong in recent months, sales of the Xbox 360 have been flat, so a price drop seemed likely. The success of MGS4 continues to give the PS3 a boost, but chances are Sony, too, will have to trim the price of its console before the holiday buying season.All that said, the big question remains whether Microsoft will announce any new configurations of the Xbox 360. Rumor has it, the company is just using the price drop to clear out inventory of the 20GB Premium before it brings out a new 60GB version. There's no word on whether the Xbox360 Elite or the Arcade (no hard drive) will also get $50 snips or whether a flagship model with a built-in Blu-ray drive is really in the works.

Personally, I'd like to see Microsoft get rid of the useless Arcade and reduce the number of Xbox 360 choices down to two to avoid confusing consumers.

Update 2.41 released

2008-07-09T08:17:00.005+05:30

Sony announced today that it released the firmware 2.41 upgrade that was supposed to fix the bugs of the firmware 2.40 that was released last week. The announcement came via the official Sony PlayStation blog. Yesterday, the PS3 customer service announced that the upgrade will be released sometime until Wednesday and most people were waiting for a Sony official announcement regarding this thing, so the actual release of the new version is a pleasant surprise.

Firmware 2.41 is supposed to upgrade the PlayStation 3 consoles with two new features. While firmware 2.40 was initially set to do the same thing, Sony had to withdraw it, since it seemed to damage some users’ consoles. Sony considers that the version it released today will take care of that problems and allow gamers to enjoy the much awaited features.So starting today, people who want to upgrade their consoles are able to download the software on their PS3s and enjoy the new XMB in-game menu, and the trophy system Sony has prepared for them. As far as the trophy system is concerned, Sony makes available four types of trophies: bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Gamers are awarded the trophies according to the merits they had during their games. The trophies can then be shown online to friends, as a measure of a player’s skills in a game.

It’s high time for things to go a little bit better for PS3, who has proved to be one of Sony’s most unsuccessful products until now, causing the company to lose a lot of money because of the risky marketing strategy it adopted.

Pioneer claims to have created the world's first 400GB disc

2008-07-08T18:47:00.003+05:30

A new generation of high-capacity optical discs in the making as Pioneer, a electronic giant; claims to have made the world's first disc(400GB 16-layeredread-only). The technology employs 25GB storage space on each layer, and the disc being 16-layered; this sums up to a massive 400GB disc space. Pioneer trying to be very secretive; did not even mention technology employed- Blue laser or Red laser. However, Pioneer stated that the 16-layer discs would be “compatible” with current BD discs.

In a press release, Pioneer stated that “this development has bolstered Pioneer's confidence in the feasibility of a large-capacity optical disc, which is expected to become necessary in the near future.” For now, the company has only succeeded in creating a 16-layer read-only optical disc, but the company believes that it can transfer the technology to recordable discs as well.

Sony previously noted that Blu-ray could be scalable to up to eight to ten layers or 200 to 250 GB. However, multiple layers weaken signals from each recording layer and the industry has found it to be increasingly difficult to receive clear signals in a stable manner within multi-layer discs due to crosstalk from adjacent layers and transmission loss. Pioneer claims it has solved this problem using a disc structure that can reduce crosstalk from adjacent layers as well as a wide-range spherical aberration compensator and light-receiving element that can read out weak signals at a high signal-to-noise ratio in the optical pick-up mechanism.

Pioneer said it will provide more details of its 16-layer technology on July 13 at the International Symposium on Optical Memory and Optical Data Storage 2008 in Hawaii.

Update 2.41 out on Wednesday(most likely)

2008-07-07T20:51:00.004+05:30

Since many users complained on many websites and even uploaded videos(in Youtube) regarding the problematic 2.40 update- which reportedly "bricked" or killed many PS3s, Sony immediately pulled down the update from their server. Therefore it is said that Sony will release a new update 2.41 "mid-week", although Sony hasn't officially announced anything on the subject. Update 2.41 corrects the problem yet retaining all the features of the 2.40 update- namely the "Trophy system" and "In-game XMB" access .

Toshiba Qosmio X305-Insight

2008-07-06T20:35:00.004+05:30

What's Qosmio you ask? An extraordinary family of laptops with a―well, far-from-ordinary name. Pronounced “KOZ-me-o,” these amazing machines are designed to be an exciting epicenter for all the entertainment you love, from non-stop gaming action to feature films, home movies, photos, and your favorite songs.The bottom line is that these machines are simply; the ultimate portable gaming machine with massive graphics memory, storage and processing power with new eye–popping designs.

Some Qosmio models include:

Not two but four(4) high-fidelity Harmon/Kardon speakers with one Sub-Woofer so you'll just be blown away by the crisp, loud sound
4GB of DDR3 RAM (the best kind) will allow to enjoy full-throttle action without a single glitch.
A 17" Diagonal True-Brite display will also allow you to enjoy all the in-your-face realism of today’s hottest 3D games at a full 1680 x 1050 (WSXGA+) resolution. The brightness, contrast, color saturation and overall image quality of this screen is hard to believe—till you see it for yourself.
The Qosmio X305 laptop comes with up to 400GB of storage on dual 200GB 7200 RPM high-speed hard drive.

This ought to fire up your desire to get one Qosmio for yourself.

Release date for Midnight Club:Los Angeles changed again

2008-07-05T08:26:00.003+05:30

In March this year, Rockstar Games, a subsidiary of Take Two, moved the released date of Midnight Club: Los Angeles for PS3 and Xbox 360 for this September, but it seems like the developer is once more unable to deliver, and we could expect, if nothing should go wrong, an October 7 release.

The delay is also available for the PSP spin-off Midnight Club: LA Remix, which is expected to be released around the same date. North America will be the first to witness the LA racer experience on October 7, while Europe will have to wait a few more days for the launch.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles is part of a racing game series, and was first unveiled by Rockstar in May 2007. The action takes place in the city of LosAngeles, and the game will feature day/night cycles as well as a dynamic weather system which is said to change the game experience.The game offers the most accurate version of Los Angeles to date, and is expected to deliver an experience as close to reality as it gets, by including some key elements that “define” LA, such as different traffic levels.

The Remix version for the PSP was announced on April 21 2008, but details about this version still remain in the blur.

Take Two is not at its first delay experience. Even the record-breaking Grand Theft Auto IV was delayed indefinitely at some point, as well as Manhunt2 for Wii, PSP and PS2.

Q&A with Sony's Stan Glasgow talks TVs and Blu-ray

2008-07-04T21:17:00.005+05:30

Q: You have an 11-inch OLED and said you'd be putting $200-plus million into the next stage of investment. How big are we talking here in terms of screen sizes?

Glasgow: In the short term, which is a couple of years--I'm not going to be more definitive than that--we have targeted a 27-inch. We've showed it as CES, we've targeted the initial investment, and that's what we're looking at in the short term. Certainly in the longer term we'd like them to be the same size as LCD. We'd like them to be 52 inch, 46 inch, 36 inch...it's just a matter of time.

What about affordability? How long until these are affordable for the mainstream consumer?
Glasgow: It's going to be years and years until price points come down to where they're anywhere close to LCD. In the not-too-distant future, you'll have a choice in LCD at this size, or you can buy an OLED at the same size at a premium. I almost see it as a potential--and I don't know this, nobody knows the answer--I almost see this as the upper end of flat-panel television.

We can continue to make it thinner. It's 3 millimeters now, but it can get thinner. Eventually it's printable on a plastic substrate that can bend. But I don't think it's going to take many years to get to that level.

What about applications in other devices? I know Samsung's talking about monitors next year.
Glasgow: We are focused on TVs. Our interest is strictly television at this moment. I'm not saying that will never change, but at this moment that is the most complex area to go after. The bigger you make these, the more complicated they are. They're much simpler to make smaller. So it'd be easier to jump into cell phones, and other types of products, but that's not what we're interested in doing. We're interested in television as our major focus. Our engineering is focused there, and our investment is focused there.

What about non-Sony content?
Glasgow: It's possible in the future. I'm not going to rule that out; I don't think anyone at Sony would rule that out. (But) we think it's a good first step.

Besides interactive menus feature on Blu-ray, is anyone doing anything that's a really creative use of the medium that we don't know about yet?
Glasgow: There's so much I have no idea about, because we're going to have to open this up as a social network--not just contributions of Sony and other Blu-ray partners. There are going to be contributions from actual customers.

If we had a dream (for) Blu-ray, it would be much more interactive than it is today: No. 1, where you could interface and change things as you want to see them on the screen. No. 2, you could socially interact with other people, it's connected through the Internet...but theoretically you and your friend could watch the same movie, and you could change themes, change endings, all sorts of strange things in the future. Some type of social interaction in the future....And yes, we'll have a lot more (Blu-ray) product out in the next couple of months.

Looking ahead, you're only just getting into Blu-ray. How do you see the future penetration of the format compared with DVD?
Glasgow: That's a good question. DVD took 10 years to really penetrate. We're now in the second year of Blu-ray. My guess is it will probably happen a little quicker in terms of penetration. The pricing is already coming down more quickly than DVD came down. I don't think it will take as long as 10 years, but I don't think it will penetrate to the same percentage because there's a couple of conflicting forces. Certainly, people that want the best picture are going to want it, without a doubt. People that are OK with upconverting DVD players, which is somewhere close to 600, 650, maybe 700 (lines of resolution)--that's not a bad picture either. So a lot of people may be happy with an upconverting DVD player. And (Blu-ray) may not turn over, it may not penetrate to the same extent, because (DVD) was such a big medium change from tape.

But I see it being the major format. It's won the war, that's done. Now it's a matter of: Can we provide an exceptional experience? Can we provide a social part? And can we involve the overall community in, let's say, designing applets and coming up with new things that we can't even think of today?

How critical is the PS3 to your overall electronics strategy here in the U.S.?
Glasgow: I think that there's strength in Sony...it's about having a gaming division and an electronics division, a pictures division, a music division--we've never worked together like we have now. We're going to promote the heck out of it through our electronic retailers. The gaming division is working on it at the same time. (The) music (division) is involved. We're operating as a very balanced group. So what I can say is, without the gaming, we wouldn't be as strong and as balanced as we are today. It adds a great deal.

But what do you think? Do we need fewer devices? Or more?
Glasgow: I'm not the normal consumer obviously. I do an awful lot of e-mail, I connect a lot. I'm not happy with the (BlackBerry-type devices), like this Sony Ericsson I carry around. I find it hard reading, I'm getting older, and it's getting too small. But I don't want to carry my notebook around because it takes awhile to start up. So something in between would be very cool, and it wouldn't bother me to have an extra PC around.

That's sort of what we're thinking in this country. I think the emerging countries are different...But in terms of the US, we have a lot of homework to do.

Now, last month there was a report that Quanta was making a mini-notebook for you guys. Is there any truth to that?
Glasgow: I can't say yes or no. I love all the rumors, though.

New PS2 model to hit Europe and India this year

2008-07-04T07:54:00.003+05:30

Sony is planning to release a fourth version of the PlayStation 2 later in the year. It will arrive simultaneously in Europe and India and it will be even sleeker, slimmer and "more suave" than ever before.

You might think that with the PS3 out and gaining momentum, Sony might be just starting to think about retiring its aging predecessor.

SCE India Community Manager Atindriya Bose said "We feel PS2 has the potential to penetrate further into the Indian and Russian markets. Console gaming is in its nascent stage in India. These are untapped markets and are new to the gaming world, hence we have no plans to phase out PS2 anytime soon".

At the same time the PlayStation Network is expanding forth into India and should be launching by the end of this fiscal year.

Mozilla sets world record!!!

2008-07-03T20:26:00.003+05:30

Mozilla has gotten the results back from the Guinness World Records and the official number that will be set as the record is 8,002,530 downloads. The day started out a little rough for them with server troubles during the initial launch, but once they got everything going, they were able to transfer 62,419,734 MB in 24 hours. You can get more information including a break down of how many downloads each country did from around the world by visiting spreadfirefox.com. Congratulations Mozilla on the new record!

If you had pledged at the official Mozilla site that you download the Mozilla browser on the speculated date, then you will receive an e-mail from where you can download a certificate which thanks you.