Tag Archive

NPD: Xbox 360 wins US sales war in a downbeat February

The cosmos must clearly have approved of Microsoft’s actions over this past month, as today we’re hearing the Xbox 360 broke out of its competitive sales funk to claim the title of “month’s best-selling console” … for the first time in two years. Redmond’s own Aaron Greenberg describes it as the best February in the console’s history, with 422,000 units sold outshining the consistently popular Wii (397,900) and the resurgent PS3 (360,100 consoles shifted, which was a 30 percent improvement year-on-year). In spite of the happy campers in Redmond and Tokyo, the overall numbers for the games industry were down 15 percent on 2009’s revenues, indicating our collective gaming appetite is starting to dry up. Good thing we’ve got all those motion-sensing accessories coming up to reignite our fire.

NPD: Xbox 360 wins US sales war in a downbeat February originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dolby issues Axon SDK to bring surround sound to online console / Mac gamers

Dolby’s Axon surround sound technology isn’t exactly new (it’s already used on a number of PC titles), but to date, it has yet to make a stand in the online console and Mac gaming sectors. All that changes today at GDC, with the aural company introducing an Axon software development kit that will make it possible for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and OS X titles to integrate the technology. According to the company, this here solution provides improved audio chain processing (noise suppression and echo suppression), surround sound voice chat over stereo headsets, 5.1 playback and support for any stereo headset. We’re told that the ports should be available for devs starting in April, though only time will tell how long it takes for your Xbox Live experience to go from haunting to all-encompassing.

Continue reading Dolby issues Axon SDK to bring surround sound to online console / Mac gamers

Dolby issues Axon SDK to bring surround sound to online console / Mac gamers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Neo SNES / SFC Myth Flash cart brings emulation magic to your aged console

Oh, sure — the Wii’s Virtual Console may put you in direct contact with some of the best titles from yesteryear, but for the purists in attendance, it just feels like cheating. If you’ve been hanging onto that Super Nintendo (or Super Famicom, as it were) and you’ve recently been dealing with the emulation itch, Neoflash just might have the remedy. The Neo SNES / SFC Myth cart is pretty much the most magical cart you could ever slap into your classic console, offering up ROM support for “99.5 percent” of SNES games. Better still, titles can be offloaded from your PC and onto the cart via USB, making the entire transfer process a cinch. Of course, the $169 price tag will likely offend all but the most dedicated of retro gamers, but hey, at least you’ll be staying true to those “roots” you value so highly.

Neo SNES / SFC Myth Flash cart brings emulation magic to your aged console originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony wants to patent ‘feature erosion’ in game demos, illustrates the idea vividly

Want more evidence of the patent degradation of modern society? Well, here’s Sony with its latest idea for selling games. The feature-eroding demo concept gives the user the full game to start off with, but then grows increasingly more limited the more you play it. In racing games, that means the number of tracks you can race on gradually dwindles, whereas in classically themed smack-em-ups like God of War your sword, erm… well, it also dwindles. We’re kind of on the fence about this — on the one hand, it’s hilariously insulting to the user as it perpetually nags him about what a cheapskate he is for not purchasing the entire game, and yet on the other it does at least let you taste the full breadth of the game, albeit for a limited time. However you may feel, this is still at the application stage, but given the patent office’s recent track record, there’s no reason why Sony should be denied the rights over this supposed innovation.

Sony wants to patent ‘feature erosion’ in game demos, illustrates the idea vividly originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s PlayStation 2 celebrates 10 years as a fallen, bygone generation of consoles looks on in envy

Dreamcast? GameCube? Xbox? They’re cute and endearing to look back on now, because they really never stood a chance. Sony practically redefined what it meant to be dominant in a console generation with the PlayStation 2, which was launched on March 4, 2000 in Japan (the US got it that October), went on to sell over 140 million units, and is still going strong. It’s strange to think that for what many people was their first DVD player turned out to be powerful enough to bring us the cinematic experiences of Shadow of the Colossus, God of War II and Final Fantasy XII, and enough of a kicker to make it into the latest round of Madden releases. Of course, its foray into online gaming took a second fiddle to Microsoft’s Xbox, and many of Sony’s high-minded, living room-invasion promises of the console (remember that FireWire port? The hard drive slot?) never really panned out. Still, we’d say it’s been a pretty good 10 years for this thing. Feeling extra-nostalgic? Check out Sony’s own timeline of PlayStation it pumped out for the 15 year anniversary of the brand last year. Brings a tear to our eye every time.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Sony’s PlayStation 2 celebrates 10 years as a fallen, bygone generation of consoles looks on in envy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The apocalyPS3 ends in global resurrection, ARM chip at fault

The early belief that the PSN was spreading a brickitis infection to PS3s around the world has turned out to be not quite accurate. Yes, PSN was inaccessible over that extremely stressful day (for PS3 owners, the rest of us have been quite fine, thank you), but we’re hearing from Eurogamer that the villain in this story was an ARM chip inside the console — the very same one, in fact, that led to a few Zunes losing their minds back in 2008. The big problem here was simply a bit of hardware that couldn’t get its bearings straight after expecting 2010 to be a leap year, and the arrival of March 1 “fixed” everything for all eight affected PS3 SKUs (of a total of eleven). That leaves Sony with four years to make sure this problem isn’t heard from again, and if it doesn’t, we’ll be placing blame for the real 2012 apocalypse firmly on Howard Stringer’s shoulders.

The apocalyPS3 ends in global resurrection, ARM chip at fault originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you throw away your console, the terrorists have won

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/playstation/If_you_throw_away_your_console_the_terrorists_have_won’;
In one of those fun, yet uncomfortable, instances where real life and video games interact, Fox News has uncovered a dusty (and old, very old) PlayStation controller during a raid of an Afghanistani farmhouse, which doubled up as a munitions depository. Lying there, in among rockets, grenades, plastic explosives and tank shells, was this humble blue-hued PlayStation appendage, which we’re told can be rewired to act as a remote detonator. Should you question just how seriously the US government is taking this growing tide of console-aided terrorism, below you’ll find a press release (seriously, a state-issued press release) detailing the detainment of four men in connection with the illegal transportation of digital cameras and PlayStation 2s to a “terrorist entity” in Paraguay. If convicted of the most egregious charge, they face 20 years in prison… for contraband consoles. Face, meet palm.

Continue reading If you throw away your console, the terrorists have won

If you throw away your console, the terrorists have won originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 04:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Wonder Boy v. Adventure Island

Wow. This young lady is amazingly excited about Wonder Boy and Adventure Island, two crazy games for the Sega Master System and the NES. While I don’t think I’ve ever played Adventure Island or Wonder Boy, I did enjoy Wonder Boys and suspect that Lucky Wander Boy was based on the SMS version. So there’s [...]

Project Natal coming in October, says Jonathan Ross (video)

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/microsoft/Project_Natal_coming_in_October_says_Jonathan_Ross’; As unexpected sources of tech news go, UK television presenter Jonathan Ross is pretty high up there. But lo and behold, the man’s had a chance to spend some quality time with Microsoft’s Project Natal setup and while he’s not altogether impressed with the current state of it, his note on when it’s coming out is the one thing nobody has known for sure yet. “Got until October” may mean an October release, or it may imply they can work on it through October in time for an early November release (something we heard earlier), but altogether we find this both credible and logical considering the natural urge to try and get the latest gaming tech in well before the holidays. Need more convincing? Skip past the break to see the Wossmeister having a whale of a time with that balloon-blocking game that’s embarrassed many a journalist already.

Continue reading Project Natal coming in October, says Jonathan Ross (video)

Project Natal coming in October, says Jonathan Ross (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony slips two new PS3 Slim models through the FCC

Our favorite pseudonym company out there, Sand Dollar Enterprise, is back with a pair of new filings with the FCC pointing to a refresh of the PlayStation 3 Slim hardware. We don’t know specifically what has been overhauled inside, though the two new SKUs, CECH-2101A and CECH-2101B, mimic the coding scheme of the current hardware, which is CECH-2001A and B. The alphabetical differentiation relates to different hard drive sizes inside, with 120GB and 250GB options available today and likely to be replicated in the forthcoming consoles. Looking at the FCC’s radio testing, we find the same 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR transceivers as are in the current Slim, leading us to believe the changes are elsewhere or, as PS3 News suggests, maybe Sony has just found new manufacturers for the same chips and had to run them through the validation committee again. It’s just that the latter is far less exciting than the idea of Sony starting up an upgrades war with some tasty springtime spec bump.

Sony slips two new PS3 Slim models through the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s mysterious universal video game controller patent portends PS3 Virtual Console (or maybe it doesn’t, who knows?)

This is more interesting than I had originally thought. Sony filed a patent last year (it was only unearthed today or yesterday) describing a universal video game controller. You know how there’s universal remote controls, smart devices that can control a TV, cable box, DVD player, etc.? It’s the same principle here: a single device that’s about to function as a video game controller for all sorts of consoles.

Riiflex Wiimote dumbbells cease being a joke, now on sale

You know, we were surprised these Wii Remote appendages actually made it to the pre-order stage way back in April of last year, a feeling which slowly dissipated as they failed to make it out to real retail. Until now. The 2lb / 1kg Riiflex sleeves for your Nintendo-approved wand are ready to purchase, starting at a cent under $30, though the 5lb variety promised earlier is yet to make an appearance — perhaps it’s become yet another victim of the harsh, cutthroat economics of the Wii peripheral business. Anyhow, if you wanna take your Wii Fitness to the next level, the source link will get the set of two to your door with free delivery, though it might be a bit late in helping you shape up for V day.

Riiflex Wiimote dumbbells cease being a joke, now on sale originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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