The year 2008 was called the year of Play Station 3 by the media and Sony is finally giving some credibility to this by releasing a system update of PS3. The updated 2.40 version is said to boost the sytem stability with some new features added. It will now have a feature of trophies which we earlier saw in XBox 360 under the guise of achievements.

The most touted development in version 2.40 is the accessibility of XrossMediaBar (XMB) in-game. The users will now be able to send messages to their friends and see whether they are online without being interrupted in their serious game play. The music stored on the hard disk can now also be played on while playing a game.

PLAYSTATION 3 Firmware v.2.40 Walkthrough Part 1: the XMB

PLAYSTATION 3 Firmware 2.40 Part 2 - Trophies

Earlier users had to quit the game to do this, so it must be a welcome update for many PS3 lovers. Sony told media that in-game XMB was the single most requested feature in PS3 last year. Although I wouldn’t rush out to get the update, as the new features only work in few games. All the game makers still have to release patches to allow the in-game music and to add trophies.

The company claims that many online games will now have a feature of gold, silver and bronze trophies while there would be a platinum trophy who wins all of the three.

Few games which are being said to include trophies are Super Stardust HD, LittleBigPlanet, MotorStorm, Pacific Rift, NBA 09, Resistance 2 and Warhawk.

Sony Ericsson has released a mobile phone handset for gamers which uses motion-sensing technology. The Sony Ericsson F305 allows users to control games on the phone by imitating the required movement in the game, much like the motion controller used by Nintendo’s Wii or Wiimote.

The handset also has a joypad-style controller which allows games on the phone to be played as if using the controller from a conventional console, i.e. horizontally using both hands rather than vertically and one-handed.

This phone also has a media player with stereo speakers and 2-mega pixel camera. It can also make and receive phone calls.

Sony’s next-generation PlayStation 3 console is a part of Guinness World Records, it has been recognized as the world’s most powerful distributed computing network. This is the outcome of Stanford University’s Folding@home project.

The record was made on 16 September 2007 as Folding@home surpassed one petaflop, a computing milestone that had never been reached before by a distributed computing network. More than 670,000 unique PS3 users are currently registered to the Folding@home network, bringing the overall computing power of the programme to more than a petaflop.

“To have Folding@home recognised by Guinness World Records is a reflection of the extraordinary participation by gamers and consumers around the world, and for that we are very grateful,” said Vijay Pande, associate professor of chemistry at Stanford and Folding@home project lead.

As reported on vnunet, PS3 joined the initiative on 15 March 2007 since when more than 670,000 unique PS3 users have registered to the Folding@home network, bringing the overall computing power of the programme to more than a petaflop.

Microsoft is making efforts to expand the Xbox 360 feature set by announcing new instant messaging functions for users of the popular gaming device.

With expanded HD video content and a new HDMI-enabled Xbox 360 Elite, the Microsoft now provides the ability to run Windows Live Messenger on Xbox 360, allowing them to easily connect and chat directly from their television with a network of more than 260 million active users.

This facility is expected to be available beginning the week of May 2007, the Xbox 360 Spring Update will add the ability to text chat in addition to video and voice chat functions with up to six people on a user’s contact list at one time while playing games, listening to music or watching movies.

In-Fusio is suing Microsoft for allegedly backing out of a contract to develop a mobile version of the popular Halo game. In-Fusio, which signed a $2 million contract with Microsoft, has been withholding a $500,000 payment after Microsoft rejected the design work the company did. Microsoft responded by ending the contract, citing refusal of payment as a reason.

“Indeed, in the last 11 months, Microsoft has approved no fully developed In-Fusio game designs; ignoring and then refusing to accept In-Fusio’s game design concepts with little or no explanation and leaving In-Fusio little basis to revise its concepts to obtain Microsoft’s approval,” reads the suit.

“Under the agreement, In-Fusio’s Halo programming designs are subject to Microsoft’s approval, which cannot be unreasonably withheld,” the suit says.

It adds: “Microsoft has thwarted In-Fusio’s efforts to develop Halo under the agreement. Indeed, in the last 11 months, Microsoft has approved no fully developed In-Fusio Halo game designs; ignoring and then refusing to accept In-Fusio’s game design concepts with little or no explanation and leaving In-Fusio little basis to revise its concepts to obtain Microsoft’s approval.”

In October, In-Fusio and Verizon Wireless announced a portal for “Halo” wallpapers and ringtones on mobile phones.

OCZ the gaming-oriented memory producer has announced the release of its first video card. Dubbed simply the OCZ 8800 GTX, the board will use NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800 GTX chipset at its standard 575MHz core and 1.8GHz memory speeds.

Each unit will be hand-picked for its ability to overclock: only the most easily enhanced chips will be chosen from each batch, OCZ claims.

The 8800 GTX from the company will be tied to a lifetime warranty, though the company has not revealed whether or not overclocking will affect support. Cards will begin shipping almost immediately after the launch and are expected to list near the official $649 price NVIDIA has set for its chipset.

iNES for S60 3rd Edition is the latest emulator from Marat Fayzullin, and emulates the NES and Famicom games consoles from Nintendo.

Fayzullin is also the author of several other S60 3rd Edition emulators of the Sega Master System, Game Gear, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Nintendo Game Boy and ColecoVision. A demo of iNES can be downloaded from the official site, and the full version can be purchased by clicking here.

Once you’ve installed it, either by hand or using the PC Suite’s application installer, you place the game files you want to run in the directory /Others/iNES/ on your phone’s memory card.

When you run iNES it will automatically present a menu of all the games in the directory, and you just click on the game you want to play. If you want to change games while in the emulator, you can do so from the options screen by pressing the green Dial/Send key and selecting Load New Program.

Some of the features are as follows:

- A FFWD button which speeds the current game up while the button is held down, very handy for fast forwarding through long cut-scenes or other boring moments.

- Freeze Game and Restore game, which let you save or restore a particular point in a particular game. If a save file already exists for a game, it will automatically load it when you next run that game, which makes any game into a pick-up-and-play one. You can also reset the console from the options menu if you want to start a game from the beginning.

- Gamegenie emulation, for entering cheat codes.

- Famicom keyboard emulation, for entering BASIC programs (I didn’t have the chance to test this however).

- Autofire for either or both game buttons. You can also swap the positions of the buttons on your keypad.

- Audio volume and mute.

Interlink, is a Los Angeles-based company that specializes into remote controls and electronic-signature technologies, they have filed a suit in a federal district court in Delaware on December 4, claiming that Nintendo’s Wii Remote violates its “Trigger Operated Electronic Device” patent (U.S. patent No. 6,850, 221).

The company Interlink is claiming that Nintendo’s sale of the device, nicknamed the Wiimote, has caused the company to lose profits and royalties.

The Nintendo’s Wii console, which was released with pomp n show on November 17 2006, is valued a lot its unique Wii Remote. The controller is believed to enable players to physically interact with the game for example, swinging it like a bat in a baseball game or holding it like a gun in a shooting game.

There was speculations over Wiimote, people built controversies on its chances on smashing into things. But now that this latest lawsuit has been filed, problems for Nintendo have rised.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 have jumped to nearly $4,000 on eBay listings after the gaming console was launched in the US this week.

As soon as the devices went on sale, eBay reported that close to 800 PlayStation 3 systems had sold at an average price of $2,716.

Sony is launching two models of its next-generation gaming console, a 20GB version at $500 and a 60GB version at $600. Games go for $60 each.

The company started selling the console at midnight on Thursday, five days after the launch in Japan.

Sony made 100,000 systems available in Japan, while the 400,000 units available for the US are expected to sell out within days.

The scarcity of the system caused long queues outside shops, with some eager buyers camping out for days to guarantee one of the coveted systems.

A frenzied midnight rush on shelves caused authorities to close a Wal-Mart store in California, and caused injuries at a store in Wisconsin, according to an Associated Press report.

Limited supply and the spike in demand gave rise to a flourishing market on eBay. By Friday morning in the US the consoles were selling for more than $2,500.

Sellers offering free overnight shipping and bundled games in some cases saw bids of more than $3,850.

Numerous sellers asked up to $15,000 for their consoles, but failed to attract any bids.

After years of super hype and speculations, the latest round of video game console wars is finally about to begin.The sleek PlayStation 3 by Sony Corp. is the priciest system, crammed with the very latest in cutting-edge technology. The Xbox 360 from Microsoft Corp., meanwhile, has had a yearlong head start to build a fan base.By touting intuitive controls over fancy graphics, Nintendo Co. has billed its Wii as a simpler, cheaper alternative to Microsoft’s and Sony’s offerings.

If you compare the trio to automobiles, said Bruno Bonnell, chairman and chief creative officer at publishing giant Atari Inc., the PS3 “is a kind of prototype Formula 1. The Wii is definitely a fun car, a Mini Cooper or a Beetle, something that everybody can enjoy riding. The 360 fulfills so much of the demand of the standard player, it’s one of the Toyotas or standard GM cars.”

The Wii and the PS3 go on sale in the United States within two days of each other this month, but getting one in time for Christmas could be a daunting task.

“November is going to be the most exciting month for video games for probably the next five or six years,” said Tom Russo, editorial director at the G4 Games cable television network. “But everyone’s going to sell out this season.”

Sony, which has already delayed the PS3 launch twice, expects to have only 400,000 PS3s available for its Nov. 17 U.S. launch. Already, bidders on eBay have staked their claim on pre-ordered systems for more than $2,300 — almost four times higher than the system’s top retail price.

-

-

Nintendo expects to have 4 million Wiis ready worldwide when the console hits store shelves Nov. 19, with the bulk of those going to North America.

Microsoft, burned by supply shortfalls during the Xbox 360’s launch last Christmas, expects to sell more than 10 million systems by the end of 2006.

Worldwide, Sony expects to ship only 2 million units by year’s end instead of an original projection of 4 million, but a company executive shrugged off long-term supply concerns and expressed confidence that manufacturing problems will soon be fixed.

“Regardless of what the number is, we’re going to take knocks,” said Jack Tretton, executive vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment America. “It really has no bearing on what we’re ultimately going to sell.”

All three devices are taking the video game industry in new directions and promise to serve as centerpieces for an era of digital entertainment where games, movies and music coexist in a single, Internet-enabled box. But games will continue to be the main draw.

The Wii, pronounced “We,” will be available for $250. Instead of sheer computing power, the Wii’s primary attraction is a wireless controller that tracks movements to mimic a football pass or the swing of a golf club.

The Wii can’t display high-definition video, and the system’s storage and processing power are limited compared to the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

Perrin Kaplan, vice president for marketing at Nintendo’s U.S. headquarters in Redmond, Wash., said the Wii is about attracting newcomers to video games, so cutting-edge technology isn’t needed.

“We’re not launching rocket ships,” she said. “Everyone is going to bigger, badder machines. We have taken a complete right turn. It either fails or succeeds, and we’re not afraid of that.”

Two flavors of Sony’s sleek black or silver PS3 will debut: a $600 version with a 60-gigabyte hard drive, built-in wireless and a Blu-ray player for high-def video. A version costing $100 less has a 20-gigabyte drive and fewer features.

Returning with a few tweaks from last year, the Xbox 360 comes in two models costing $300 and $400, depending on options. An attachment to play high-def movies in the HD DVD format, chief rival to the PS3’s Blu-ray standard, is expected this month for an additional $200.

The new consoles come at a critical time for the video game business, which has grown in fits and starts from the simple days of “Pong” in the 1970s to an entertainment industry worth roughly $10 billion in the United States. That exceeds the $9 billion Hollywood grossed last year on domestic ticket sales, according to analyst estimates and the Motion Picture Association of America.

Software companies, in particular, have reason to rejoice after languishing in a sales vacuum created by shoppers who stopped buying games for older systems in anticipation of the new consoles.

Now analysts are predicting solid growth, with Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital Markets expecting the games business to expand at a healthy 15 to 20 percent for at least the next two years.

Sony dominated the previous generation with 70 percent of the global market, including 35 million PlayStation 2 consoles in the United States. The original Xbox was second with nearly 15 million sold, followed by 11 million Nintendo GameCubes.

In the newest round, Sebastian predicts Sony will grab about half of the market, with Microsoft and Nintendo splitting the difference. That would mean Sony loses share, while Nintendo makes some gains.

All three devices will succeed in the short term because of pent-up demand and the lack of supply, said David Cole, president of market research firm DFC Intelligence.

“We’ll have to wait, I think until holiday 2007 and even into 2008, before we start making really definitive judgments about what consumers are saying about these systems,” Cole said.

Source: AP