Tag: Playstation

The guys over at Destructoid dug up this $10 beauty. It’s a cheap gaming system which looks NOTHING like Sony’s PlayStation 3, but has the audacity to package itself as a “SONY PS3.” The system actually appears to be one of those shoddy “Famiclone” systems designed to play old games from the Nintendo Entertainment System (aka “Famicom” in Japan.)

Sony has revealed that its PlayStation 3 consoles to be released in UK, Europe, Australia and other countries this Spring will no longer have the Emotion Engine chip on board. This reduces the cost to produce the console, and also will kill much of the PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility found in US and Japanese systems.

The preview footage below pretty much speaks for itself. Atari’s upcoming horror game Alone in the Dark 5 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC is looking really, really good. While the YouTube clip below doesn’t really do justice to the visuals, you can get a pretty good idea of how immersive the graphics look in this highly anticipated horror/thriller game.

The hardware geeks over at hardCOREware recently ran a battery of tests to determine which of the current generation of video game systems uses the most power. Unsurprisingly, the Nintendo Wii consumes significantly less power than the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and a typical gaming PC. I was surprised, though that the Wii consumes about 1/10th the power of other modern console while playing games.

Don’t care for the clean design of the PS3’s SIXAXIS controller? Why not make it super fugly with these analog joystick covers from Japan. These oddly textured silicon caps attach to the top of the PlayStation 3’s analog sticks, supposedly protecting the thumbsticks and providing grip, all while making your controller the ugliest one on the block.

[UPDATE 2/13/07: IGN has since updated their original review, now stating that SCEA has confirmed that the title will only run in 480p. Bummer.] I was already psyched for the impending release of God of War II for the Sony PlayStation 2, but now there’s even more reason to rejoice.

While the Sony PlayStation 3 certainly hasn’t yet lived up to original expectations, there are still several million of us who did buy the console, and would like it to become part of our regular gaming regimen.

One thing sorely lacking from Sony’s SIXAXIS controller for the PS3 is the rumble sensation that’s present in pretty much all of the other major gaming systems out there. Sony claimed they left it out due because it interfered with the systems motion sensors, but conventional wisdom tells us that a legal dispute between Sony and Immersion kept the controllers rumble-free. That all said, it’s us gamers who really lost out, and there are certainly some games where rumble feedback is sorely missed.

Since the Sony PlayStation 3 hit shelves back in November, it’s been racked with complaints about a huge bug with PS2 backwards compatibilty. Specifically, the PS3 would screw up the graphics on non-progressive scan PS2 titles (of which there are many), by creating odd artifacts on every other vertical line of images.

Rather than solving such important challenges as delivering quality games, fixing the awful PlayStation Network interface, or working out the nasty bugs in the system’s PS2 backwards compatibility, Sony has announced that they’ll be releasing an exciting new add-on for the PlayStation 3 console… drum-roll please…. The Edy reader connects via USB and will provide Japanese PS3 owners with a way to pay for stuff on the PlayStation Network using Edy “e-money” stored on their cell phones, or in smart cards found in vending machines.

Despite rumors to the contrary, it sounds like the Sony Playstation 3 console is still slated for release in the United Kingdom this March. GamesIndustry.biz is reporting a March 23, 2006 U.K. launch date after speaking with several reputable sources. Sony’s UK advertising agency, TWBA, told the publication that their advertising campaign would begin in late March.

One happy side-effect of the relatively poor showing of Sony’s Playstation 3 so far is that it means good deals for consumers. While the PS3 isn’t cheap at $499 to $599, there’s now a way to pick one up for $100 off at your local EBGames/Gamestop stores. Simply bring in your old PS2 system and they’ll give you a $100 discount on your shiny new Playstation 3 console.

Just in time for Christmas, Playstation 3 owners are getting a small glimmer of happiness in the midst of all of the lumps of coal that Sony has dealt us so far. On December 24, they’ll be offering the Gran Turismo HD Concept game as a free download on the Playstation Store. Gran Turismo HD Concept is more of a technology demo for the upcoming Gran Turismo 5 than a full-fledged game.

While it’s way to early in the game to call the Sony Playstation 3 down and out, there continues to be compelling evidence that the system does not have the graphical prowess of the more mature Xbox 360. Gamespot recently conducted a side-by-side comparison of the graphics in several launch titles running on both the 360 and PS3.

While it’s way too soon to know what kind of post-launch issues Playstation 3 users will encounter, a video has surfaced of a new PS3 console which has died a tragic death. Apparently these guys were playing Tony Hawk’s Project 8 for about 3 hours when the console died.

With the very first U.S. Playstation 3 consoles going on sale in less than 15 minutes, we’d like to hear from anyone who stood in line, got a console, or didn’t and what your experiences have been, good, bad or ugly. Please post your experiences in the comment section below.