No Blu-ray for Xbox 360
Console round-up PS3 homebrew hack found
UK SALES OF THE Playstation 3 were up 73 per cent during Easter week and the Xbox 360 shot up 78 pert cent. According to industry tracking Charttrack (via TGDaily) the console war between the 360 and PS3 is in a virtual deadlock for 2008.
In an interview with game publication MCV, industry follower Charttrack said the surge in sales was due to the Easter holiday. With the PS3 edging out against the Xbox 360 up to this point, the higher sales increase for the 360 helped to bridge that gap.
The "PS3 and Xbox 360 are pretty much neck and neck at the moment, with PS3 slightly ahead," said Charttrack director Dorian Bloch.
Xbox 360 Earlier in the week, Digitimes reported that Lite-On was building Blu-ray drives for the Xbox 360. Some believe this to be an April fool's joke, especially when the INQ picked up on the story and stated 'Xbox 361'. Actually, Digitimes was being sincere.
Engadget believes an Xbox 360 with Blu-ray drive would spark a price war, based on this additional story from Digitimes.
Gameplayer.com.au has a story on what it believes should be the next 360 SKU - and it includes the said Blu-ray drive. We suspect the majority of other wants will simply fall on deaf ears.
Maybe the new SKU could come completely covered in shiny chrome.
Unfortunately Microsoft insisted that the stories weren't true and issued a denial: "Lite-On is not manufacturing Blu-ray drives for Xbox 360. As we have stated, games are what are driving consumers to purchase game consoles and we remain focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster game available."
The Xbox 360 is on course to record 2 million sales in the UK next week, according to Chart-Track.
PS3/PSP
A PSP hacker Dragula96, said he found an exploit on the PS3 that let him fiddle
with thing. He won't say how he did it. Video 'proof'
here.
SCEE has indicated that there will be no new content updates for the next two weeks while its Playstation Store for the European territories is overhauled.
The new look of the site - coming in response to a user survey taken last year - promises a "hugely improved" navigation system, a dynamic new user interface and much greater scope for categorisation.
Engadget has pictures of the upcoming revamp. We quite liked the old version too.
In a week that saw Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G sell 880,000 units in Japan, Sony sold more PSP handhelds than all of the competition combined.
According to sales statistics from Famitsu (via Gamesindustry.biz), 139,000 PSP units were sold during the week of March 24 - 30. That's almost two and half times the next highest-selling system - the Nintendo DS - which sold 57,000 units during the same period.
It looks like the Dual Shock 3 controller is nearly here - after the Sixaxis was discontinued.
Wii/DS
Despite the battle between the 360 and PS3 going neck-to-neck in the UK,
Nintendo
reigns
supreme in Japanese hardware and software sales - for the 12 months prior to
March 30, 2008.
Famitsu reports the Nintendo DS and Wii had 6.3 and 3.7 million in sales respectively, while Wii Fit topped the software list selling 1.76 million units.
In a new edition of the contrived Iwata Asks, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto and product development guy, Kenichiro Ashida, sit down with president Satoru Iwata to talk about the Wii Wheel shipping with Mario Kart Wii.
While almost certainly a clerical error, Joystiq points out the possibility of GTA IV on the DS. We wouldn't put money on it.
T3 has the low-down on wireless Nunchuck adapter for your Wiimote - and it's available in the UK. µ
Comments
Xbox 361
So no Blu-ray for the 360, then. This official denial leads me to conclude a new MS games console with Blu-ray is in the pipe-line.Sure, MS might want all digital content via the interweb but interweb download speeds are not generally high enough for the typical consumer at this time or in the near future.
An MS media centre without Blu-ray? Not a good marketing strategy in my book.
fake :(
The PS3 "Hello world" thing is a fake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWy0hNQQCP0Keep up, inq :)
Small HD
One of the things that work against their model is the fact that they've tiered they're systems on the size of the hard drive. While the hard drives are dirt cheap for them to buy, they charge users an arm and a leg for the extra space. So now they have a large user base with 20GB hard drives, which is not nearly enough hd space to sustain the model they are going after.No Brainer
Why buy a machine that can't play any HD material from the only commercially available source.. Blu-Ray?The choice between a PS3 and XBox is now a no brainer.
No brain(er)
Of course, why buy a video game console simply because it has vastly better games?games console
"Why buy a machine that can't play any HD material from the only commercially available source.. Blu-Ray?The choice between a PS3 and XBox is now a no brainer."
I buy my games console to play games not to specifically watch movies, tho it is a good feature. There are no good games on ps3.
Also look at the Wii as a good example of what games consoles should be about.
"No brainer" LOL
...Possibly a no brainer for anyone who wants a console for anything other than playing less than a cat's handful of good games.Cats don't bloody even have hands with which to hold games!
No brainer - Buy a stand alone player
How about you buy your games console based on the games you want to play and a stand alone player on the HD content you want.Believe it or not but the built in capabilities of the PS3 arent so hot compared to a stand alone blu ray player and which do you think is going to keep dropping in price until you can pick up a deal of the week for 50 squid with your weekly shopping?
I suspect a USB BR in 360's Future
I really don't think M$ has much of a choice in the matter, either they or some other company will (to save face for M$) come out with a BR player for Xbox360.Currently the PS3 is the "king" as far as a media player is concerned, and I just can't see Microsoft letting that continue forever. Since the "best" of the multiplatform games (CoD4 for example) look as good on either PS3 or Xbox360, if M$ wants to keep it's lead it has to at least allow for options that keep it competitive media player wise.
As far as the Xbox360 + a BR standalone option goes... Unless you own an extremely high end audio system, the PS3 is a far better choice for a BR player. The real problem for MS at the moment, is a standalone BR player is the same price as a PS3 (at the low end of standalones), so if you can live with the current smaller game selection, a PS3 ends up as a great buy.