One of the big features of the PlayStation 3 was the user-replaceable hard drive. Many gamers replaced their PS3s with higher volume drives to take advantage of the media applications. Now with Solid State Drives beginning to trickle into the market, is the upgrade worth the money?
Movies, Music, PSP, Playstation 3, Sony
Sony continues to push the PSP via the newly released PSP-3000. With the new PS button and better LCD screen, the PSP is slowly moving into more of a portable entertainment device. Unfortunately, there is one feature that is overlooked and hardly mentioned: Remote Play.
My setup: I’m using the 40 gig PS3 (upgraded to 160 gig) and a PSP-1000. That’s right, a damn 1000 series model. I got it launch day and skipped out of work to play. You may think using the PSP-1000 model is archaic (it is, I agree) but it’s still a good test. And you can assume how much better the new PSP models will do. I have a wireless-N router, but since the PSP only runs a Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b) that doesn’t really matter.
For those few PlayStation 3 owners who don’t have Xbox 360s or PCs and have somehow been able to avoid the mountains of spoilers for over a year, boy, are you in for a treat: BioShock is finally coming to your system of choice, as of tomorrow (NA–it’s been out in EU and AU since Friday). This multiple award-winning game places you in Rapture, a 1960s-era underwater city designed to allow its citizens respite from the restrictions of the above-sea-level world, “where the great would not be constrained by the small.” Of course, staying true to the lessons of most science fiction tales, these lofty aspirations have crumbled into a nightmarish realm without rules, where harvesting children and gene manipulation are necessary for survival. Yet the question on every PS3 owners’ mind is most likely, “What additions have they made to the game that I can hold over my Xbox-owning friends’ heads?”
Gamer Culture, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Okay, so here’s the deal: when you read this, I want you to grab a beer, or whatever (I’m having some Beam on the rocks) and recline for a minute. I want to have what St. Louis radio commentator, Dave Glover, calls an honest, 3 beer discussion… about gaming console fanboyism. I think there needs to be a hippie-like conciliatory discourse with less patchouli. No, it’s not the most pressing issue of our time, but it is one that rears its ugly head all too often on social websites and the comment sections on Kotaku, etcetera. Most often, these arguments center around sales numbers, but I don’t think that the bandwagon argument is the most meaningful in quality debates… especially about video games.
Pop quiz: Name a successful video game company (and their flagship, late-blooming, overcomplicated black monolith of a console) whose leading luminaries can’t seem to pull their ideas together for a unified vision of their company. Pencils down… or rather keys up. Partial credit if you answered “Atari,” but this is Current Events, not Ancient Video Game History. Of course, they say those who don’t know the past are doomed to… something.
Sony just announced the release of a new firmware update that promises increased interactivity through the use of the more interactive BD-LIVE format, which enables users to download trailers, ring tones and other media content.
The much touted BD-LIVE format already has several compatible titles on shelves now, including War and Saw IV, with Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and The 6th Day slated for release in early April. Disney has also committed to future releases with BD-LIVE functionality.
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