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Japanese Stores Slashing 20GB Prices
PS3 sales in Japan haven't cooled off, they've frozen. Consoles sit on shelves as gamers wait it out: Waiting for actual games to appear or prices to drop. Retailers, on the other hand, are an impatient lot. Retailers are also buying "used" PS3s at much lower prices than previously, paying well under the original sticker price. Just look at how the Don Quijote in Akihabara is slicing 20 percent off the 20GB PLAYSTATION 3. Nice 20-20 irony.For that much you can buy a larger HDD and a memory card reader, and still have some to spare.
The only functionality a Japanese consumer would loose is some storage space and PSP transfers. At a discount of like $170.
We're Sending Two to the Tokyo Game Show
What. A. Contest. You want to go to Japan? With a friend? And not *just* Japan, but the Tokyo Game Show. Here's the deal: Today, we're kicking off a contest that will run through the end of March. We're going to run three (count 'em) trivia questions over this period in the form of sponsored polls. Today's is brought to you by Old Spice thank-you-very-much.Man, that is one of the easiest questions i've ever seen. And yes, I want to go to Japan.
Msoft: We Dominated December
The thing about numbers is that there are tons of ways to look at them. Take for instance The NPD Group's official numbers for video game console sales in the U.S. You could say that Microsoft is winning, you could say Nintendo is winning, or you could say Sony is winning.@ BlindsidesDork
Have you ever worked in retail? Companies don't just start manufacturing a product and send it to stores as soon as it comes off the line. Do you think that's howit works? They (Nintendo and Sony) have been manufacturing consoles for months, stress testing, and performing several other tasks. Companies generally do wait until they have a stockpile and either ship them early with "do not sell until" labels or horde them until release. The only difference here is Sony had manufacturing problems. Otherwise they woulf have launched in NA with a million consoles.
Also, with over 5 billion people on the planet, surely there's room for a few hundred million game consoles from all makers..
Apple iPhone Not Developer Friendly
Despite all of the noise about the amazing potential that a touchscreen pocket computer with all sorts of fancy sensors could have as a gaming device, the truth of the matter is that like everything Apple, the iPhone is likely not going to be very game friendly. That is because Apple wants to keep tight control over everything that goes on to their platform. Shocker!"Some other company filed for the name iPhone, and Cisco received the name through an acquisition. There was no product until 30 days ago when Cisco slapped the name on a half-ass VOIP product knowing Apple was about to introduce this product. Not sure what's going to happen with the lawsuit - but it smells of squatting. If you don't enforce a trademark, you lose it. We'll see."
Umm, no. There is no reason why the product has to be called iPhone. It could be iMobile or something, and no matter what you "think" the reasoning is, it doesn't just allo Apple to do as they wish. They are only allowed to use the Apple name because of Paul McCartney anyway. They know this game, and they should follow the rules. I'm not one for all of these questionable pattents and copywrights anyway, but what does a portable music player have to do with the name "iPod" anyway?
Sony to Include Portable Movie Files on Blu-Ray DVDs
Wow. In a move that runs against what has always seemed to be a deep-seeded paranoia about piracy, Sony told Bloomberg today that they plan to start including portable files on Blu-ray disc to let users copy movies to laptops and other portable electronics.I think this news is because of slower than expected sales of Blu-Ray, PS3s and PSPs. What better way to market all three products. You'd need the 60GB PS3 to transfer the files to the PSP via wi-fi, and then they would only be on Blu-Ray discs released by Sony owned companies. They would make money all the way around and try to actually make a profit.
And Ashcraft's Xbox 360 Doesn't Croak...
Right after I got off the phone with Xbox Japan's Support Center, I got the infamous red ring of death, which actually is kinda pretty. In a sick way. Brian Ashcraft Eds Note: As some of our commenters pointed out, this 360 isn't dead. Freezing up, but not dead. Good to know.@ Ashcraft
If you keep your system in a dust area, you might want to get a can of compressed air and spray it about 3 - 6 inches from the console. It may be dusty and overheating.
Just a suggestion.
Halo 3 Beta Via Crackdown Not For Core Owners
Sorry, Core Pack Xbox 360 owners, but you really should have known better. Those of you sporting an Xbox 360 sans hard drive are going to be, unsurprisingly, shut out of the Halo 3 beta if you purchase your copy of Crackdown hoping to secure a spot. We're basing that on the new boxart for the North American release of Crackdown, courtesy of this week's Bungie update.@ Everyone who calls teh core system a 'tard pack..
If you have no access to high speed internet and don't play original xbox games, why exactly do you need the premium system? You can't download anything from the marketplace, and unless you have lots of LAN parties you don't need the headset. If you don't have a hi-def TV it's not a bad purchase, and unlike the PS3 can be upgraded (tell the people with the 20 gig system to get PSP games from the PS store).
Disclosure: I "DO" own a premium system.
Rumor: Xbox 360 CES Announcements Leaked
Citing a non-existent Dean Takahashi story, the always reliable Team Xbox is reporting what Bill Gates and Robbie Bach will announce this Sunday at the company's pre-CES speech. Microsoft, according to the story, will be announcing that Microsoft has sold more than 10.4 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide since launch.@ ebrake
What's the difference between feature changes and price drops?
And don't get me startd on the GBA/GBA SP, or jillion permutations of newer, smaller gameboys (Gameboy pocket, etc).
I also think Sony removed the mini firewire port on the PS2 when it canged to the PSTWO. The Genesis revisions actualy removed the headphone jack and volume control. The Dreamcast removed the mil CD function on newer systems to combat piracy. I'm pretty sure other changes have been made to other systems, but the 360 still plays games, and outputs at the resolutions displayed on the box when you purchased it.