Tag Archive
Modern Warfare 2 DLC map pack coming to PC March 30, Xbox and PS3 shortly after
We featured a so-called leaked video showing MW2’s upcoming map pack last week but had no idea when players will get access to the new maps. Activision finally came clean, though, and announced that the DLC will hit PCs first on March 30, with consoles getting it sometime afterwards. Oh, and yeah, it will be named Stimulus Package just like the rumor stated, which is a kind of appropriate name, actually.
Sony signs up all six major studios for HD movies on PlayStation Network
Sony signs up all six major studios for HD movies on PlayStation Network originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Steve Ballmer teases new Xbox 360 form factors, price points and options
Turns out Steve Ballmer’s talk up at the University of Washington delivered even more saucy info than we were initially led to believe. In a transcript of the subsequent Q&A session, Steve is shown to have delivered the following statement on the topic of large-screen televisions and Microsoft’s related hardware strategy:
For that big screen device … there’s no diversity. You get exactly the Xboxes that we build for you. We may have more form factors in the future that are designed for various price points and options, but we think it’s going to [be] important.
It’s safe to assume new form factors point to a smaller rather than larger 360 chassis, though the price points and further options he mentions are wide open for speculation. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to forecast Microsoft pushing out its own slimmed-down console to match up with Sony’s PS3 Slim, but we also shouldn’t discount the idea of an Xbox 360 with Project Natal hardware integrated into its shell. In other words, we really don’t know what Steve has going on under that shiny dome of his, we just hope it’s as exciting as he makes it sound.
Steve Ballmer teases new Xbox 360 form factors, price points and options originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Mar 2010 05:21:00 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.
Permalink Kotaku, Siliconera | USPTO | Email this | Comments
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.
Netgear makes home theater experience delectable
Netgear intends to reinvigorate the home theater experience with a new range of Wi-Fi devices which supports Internet-enabled set-top boxes, TVs, Blu-ray players as well as gaming consoles. Dubbed the High-Performance Wireless-N HD Home Theater Kit (WNHDB3004), this carrier-grade, tested and proven solution is capable of playing multiple jitter-free 1080p HD video and audio streams sans wires in virtually every room within the house (of reasonable size, of course), while the Universal WiFi Internet Adapter for Home Theater Devices and Gaming Consoles (WNCE2001) offers Wireless-N performance of up to 300Mbps (in theory) via the Ethernet port of various compatible consumer electronic (CE) devices. Expect to see these being on parade at CeBIT which starts from tomorrow onwards. Expect to fork out $79 for the Universal WiFi Internet Adapter for Home Theater Devices and Gaming Consoles as it hits the market this May, while the High-Performance Wireless-N HD Home Theater Kit will only be released in Q3 this year for a yet undisclosed price. [Press Release]
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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.
Permalink Gaming Target | YouTube, Business Journal | Email this | Comments
No new Wii ‘any time soon’ says Nintendo
Don’t expect new console hardware from Nintendo in the near future. When asked “When do you think it’ll be time for new hardware?” in a recent interview with Gamespot, Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway replied, “I don’t think it’ll be any time soon because even though our installed base is, at this point, 5 million households larger than the PS2 installed base was at the same point in its lifecycle, it still has a lot of room to grow.”
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 patent application reveals universal, LCD-based game controller
[Thanks, Anand]
Sony patent application reveals universal, LCD-based game controller originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The Playstation Move: Everything old is new again, if you ask Sony
AMD to finally take on netbook space with new Fusion chip… next year
Sony shows off the Alpha concept camera menus and screenshots