Geek In Me

by Ludwig Kietzmann via joystiq.com

With game installations, downloadable content and digitally distributed titles cluttering up our PlayStation 3’s brain, it comes as little surprise to see Sony announcing yet another SKU with increased storage capacity. The word from its 2008 Games Convention press conference is that a 160 gigglebyte model — which is otherwise identical to others units — will be hitting Europe on October 31st, complete with €70 worth of downloadable game content. But is the €449 price tag a trick or a treat?





by Donald Melanson via engadget.com

We can’t in good conscience recommend trying this one at home for sake of your own sanity, but one enterprising PS3 enthusiast has thankfully gone the extra mile and installed Windows Vista on the console so you don’t have to. As you might have guessed, however, it’s not a pretty sight, with the OS running under emulation and requiring nearly 25 minutes to fully boot up. You can also add an extra five minutes and thirty seconds on top of that to load the start menu, and about twelve minutes to load up that most demanding of applications: Notepad.

via ps3fanboy.com

The console wars continue raging on. May’s NPD figures are out, and PS3 has pushed out another victory this month, beating Xbox 360 by 22k units. The PS3 sold over 208k units this month, an increase of 155% over last year’s May figures. Grand Theft Auto IV undoubtedly helped PS3 sales, with over 442k units of the game sold for PS3 in May alone. According to Sony, more than 32% of US PS3 owners now own a copy of Rockstar’s latest (that’s a 6% higher attach rate than Xbox 360). The exclusive releases of SingStar and Haze may have also helped sales.

Sony is undoubtedly pleased by this month’s results, but imagine how ecstatic they’ll be next month. PS3 sales are sure to spike in June, thanks to the release of the Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle.

by Nilay Patel via engadget.com

Considering how little attention the PS3’s motion-sensing functionality currently receives, we’re not inclined to think that Sony’s making an even deeper push into the Wii’s territory, but a site called Playstation Lifestyle says that Sony conducted focus-group testing on a controller similar to the Wiimote earlier this year. Apparently the device was mounted on a foot-tall mini-tripod, and was demoed with tennis, fencing, and paintball mini-games, as well as used to play Quake on a laptop. That’s not to say that Sony’s ever going to bring this stuff to market, but it would certainly be interesting if it did — and coupled with those persistent Xbox 360 remote rumors, the gaming landscape could suddenly be overrun with people miming tennis.