Xbox 360 Core goes Arcade

AFTER PROBLEMS with our Xbox 360 last week, whilst playing Halo 3, we've finally had time to sift through this weeks gaming news to bring you this round-up.

PS3/PSP
Whilst the 40GB PS3 has been announced for Europe, the US are still waiting on an official announcement.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, SCEA "will unveil a $399 40GB PlayStation 3 on US shores," and moreover, sources were quoting November 2nd as a likely launch date.

After the announcement of this new, cheaper PS3 40GB SKU, many analysts have questioned whether the new unit will actually make a difference.

Next-Gen spoke with six games industry analysts who discussed potential impact of the rumored $399 40GB US Playstation 3.

The six analysts that the site spoke with all agreed that the rumored $399 40GB PS3 for the US would facilitate an up-tick in PS3 sales this holiday, but to varying degrees.

However, Jesse Divnich, an analyst at prediction market simExchange, believes the rumored $399 40GB PS3 will have little impact on the sales of Xbox 360.

It has also been announced that the 60GB version of the Playstation 3 will be phased out of European stores, once stock has been depleted.

However, according to Nick Sharples, director of corporate communications for Sony in Europe, "anyone who wants to buy a 60GB PS3 for Christmas is not going to have a problem," so those desperately needing an extra bit of HDD space, or backwards compatibility for PS2 titles, should be alright through the end of the year.

More news on the new Playstation Eye - it'll be coming bundled with the Eye of Judgement card game, and you'll be able to buy it solo for $39 on October 23 as well. It's also got a four-microphone array to let you do AV chat.

In an interview with Edge Magazine (via Gamesindustry.biz), Valve's Gabe Newell became a bit hot headed and didn't mince words when it came to his dislike of the PS3.

"I think [the PS3 is] a waste of everybody's time," he said. "Investing in the Cell, investing in the SPE gives you no long-term benefits."

"There's nothing there that you're going to apply to anything else. You're not going to gain anything except a hatred of the architecture they've created. I don't think they're going to make money off their box. I don't think it's a good solution," he continued.

Maybe he should check out this method of water cooling his PS3, it might cool him off a little.

Wii/DS
Despite Sony and Microsoft cutting the costs of their respective consoles, Nintendo don't have any similar plans.

According to George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of Sales and Marketing, the Wii will not receive a price drop this year.

"We'll stay at (USD) $249 for the foreseeable future," said Harrison in an interview with Reuters. "We are still selling everything we can make."

Thanks to a unique game controller, low price and massive installed base, the Nintendo Wii will see more new game titles released in Q4 than Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 combined. The situation reflects massive sales of Wii across the world and means that game developers have changed their development priorities, reports X-bit labs.

Joystiq has the full list, for both the Wii and DS, and it looks immensely impressive.

If that isn't enough, it's reported that over 100 Wii Ware proposals have been submitted to Nintendo in preparation for its upcoming online Wii Ware service.

Soon you won't need to buy your DS games in the shops either - Nintendo is planning to make the Wii serve up DS games for consumption by its companion handheld.

Engadget previously reported on the Chinese take on the Wii - the Vii - back here in September, but now has some bigger, better shots of the 'console', along with shots caught in the wild. You can check out games screens here.

We suspect it won't dent the sales of the Wii too much.

Xbox 360
More substantiated news of the Xbox 360 Arcade SKU this week - with one picture of the unit appearing here and another here.

You'd think they'd announce it before delivering it to customers.

According to Dean Takahashi of the Mercury News, Microsoft is developing a new motherboard codenamed "Jasper."

The upgrade promises to shrink the ATI graphics chip to 65nm and reduce the size of the memory chips as well.

If true, this could reduce build costs and the heat problems that have plagued the 360 - although Takahashi notes that Microsoft believes they already have the heat situation under control.

The upgrade is expected in August of 2008. µ