PS3 and Wii shortages reviewed

BOTH SONY AND Nintendo have had problems with supply and demand for both the Playstation 3 and Wii respectively.

Wii is still incredibly difficult to purchase in-store, and although Sony is claiming Playstation production is being ramped up, plenty of consoles left on store shelves has produced many comic reactions.

PS3/PSP
It's been another awful month for Sony public relations.

Ironically coming shortly after an interview with Newsweek, where in Phil Harrison, the company's president of worldwide studios, spoke about Sony being more open, Sony launched a blackballing of the popular gaming site Kotaku.

Fortunately, Sony quickly realised the error and both parties made-up.

This action comes quickly after the European launch announcement debacle from last week, where Sony announced the removal of the hardware-based backwards compatibility from the PS3. Later the company has admitted that the purpose behind this feature reduction was to reduce overall costs.

The company is now promising that at least 1000 games will be backwards compatible on launch. We'll see.

In the same interview, Harrison commented on the possibility of DVD upscaling in the PS3, something it currently can't cope with.

Maybe Sony should concentrate on getting background downloading fixed first.

It seems the 20GB version of the PS3 is already being phased out, as Sony apparently lose more money on the budget model.

Better news comes from the settlement of the long-running controller-rumble patent argument with Immersion. We may now see rumble in future PS3 pads.

The amount of Playstation 3 units gathering dust on stores throughout the US is due to the strength of Sony's manufacturing and supply chain, according to SCEA chief executive Jack Tretton.

"It's a testament to the fact that we've been able to manufacture and ship units on a greater pace than any previous console," Tretton said in an interview with Reuters.

"Our goal is to fill shelves across the United States. Our goal is not to have empty shelves, it's to have full shelves" - as opposed to Sony not being able to sell through more units.

Despite there being many available units, Tretton stated "April or May is when we feel like we're going to catch up to demand and have product fully in stock across North America and stay there.".

If you can't afford a PS3, don't worry. Some units are now being offered at a paltry $10. Or maybe a Slim PS2 that plays SNES games...

We end today's Sony coverage with a song. The PS3 song.

Wii/DS
Sony should take note of this article. Next-gen.biz takes a look at the secret of Nintendo's continued success - and a look at the company's increasing revenue.

GamePro has investigated continued soft demand for PS3s months after its release. More interesting from the article, however, is an allegation by one anonymous retailer concerning Nintendo's poor supply of Wii: "I'm not going to deny that there's an amazing demand, but Nintendo's supply chain could be a little better," says the unnamed manager.

Though demand is high, and supply is low, analysts are now predicting Nintendo will be the games console leader and out sell rivals by 2008.

Datel has released the ' Games n Music Homebrew' cart for the DS.

This mass market device features a 128Mb Micro SD card and comes with a 25 game CD of the best of DS homebrew games. Interesting stuff.

Despite this best of homebrew product being allowed, moaning devs have been quick to state that Nintendo aren't allowing Mii access to third parties, something they've been quick to ask for.

News that Simcity DS is coming to territories outside Japan has met with relief by this hack. We can't wait for this one.

Joystiq reader Zach has spent countless hours, by combining a NES with a portable DVD player. The end result is a swanky DVD player that even has a controller hooked up to it via USB to serve as the remote. It also plays nice with his Playstation Portable, making this a bizarre mix of Sony and Nintendo, similar to the Slim PS2 above.

Fancy using a SNES pad on a Wii? Check out the official project page at Raphnet. Nice work guys, but some people will still want a Famicom shaped guitar first.

Tab fans, don't miss this method of tabbed browsing on the Wii, from Wiiminder.

According to Christian anti-porn website theporntalk.com, Wii is a porn portal.

Apparently this is due to its in-built browser, despite the DS, PSP and PS3 all having internet capabilities, including browsers, they seem to believe a focus on the Wii is essential. We're not so sure.

PC
The next stage in the Command & Conquer Universe has begun - the demo of Command & Conquer 3 has been released and thousands of C&C fans around the world are already getting into the action.

Grab the demo from the links here.

Fortunately the ability to play as the Brotherhood of Nod, which appeared not to exist in the demo, has been made to work. Check out 1up for the details.

Xbox 360
For those of you searching for Xbox 360 news, which was in short supply this week, don't miss the news concerning a new 360 hack which was published by the INQ last week.

Also, check out the instant availibility of homebrew apps using the hack, at Xbox-scene. ?

See also
Wii DVD playback enabled by chip
Signs of an Xbox 360 price-drop spotted
Find a PS3 and receive $1200 from Sony
Not many PS3s heading for Europe