Apr 08

Nielsen report ranks gaming usage for Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 consoles

Posted in: gaming, Microsoft, nintendo, nintendo wii, NintendoWii, ps3, sony, Today's Chili, wii, xbox 360, Xbox360

Nielsen’s just released their anxiously awaited “State of the Video Gamer” report, and while it’s a real page-turner, there aren’t exactly any surprises in store for readers. Conducted in December of 2008, Nielsen investigated use of the three major consoles — the Nintendo Wii, the Xbox 360, and the PS3. The study found that of those three, owners of the Xbox 360 got the most use out of their console — an average of 11.4 percent of the time for the duration of the poll, while the PS3 came in a close second at 10.6 percent. The original Xbox followed directly behind that with 10.2 percent, while Wii owners gamed a sad 6.8 percent of the time… far less than that of even PS2 owners. The Wii also came in last place in terms of total days used during the poll, with an average of 5 days (PS3 and Xbox 360 users averaged 6.8 and 7.1, respectively). Hit the read link for the full, breathtaking study and see how you measure up! [Warning: read link is a PDF]

Update: As tangocat (and maveric101) point out in comments, we misread the chart the first time out, mistaking the Xbox stats for the Xbox 360 numbers. We’ve cleared that up — good looking out!

[Via Joystiq]

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Nielsen report ranks gaming usage for Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 consoles originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 07

PlayStation 3 overtakes Wii in Japan, now about twice in a blue moon

Posted in: game, Games, gaming, nintendo, nintendo wii, NintendoWii, playstation, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, sony, Today's Chili, video games, VideoGames, wii

With all the doom and gloom stories we’ve seen about PlayStation 3 getting beat by Nintendo Wii, it’s refreshing to have some good news for a change. For the first time in 16 months, Sony’s console managed to best its motion-controlled competitor, 146,948 to 99,335 this past March in Japan, according to gaming research group / Famitsu publisher Enterbrain. The sales are undoubtedly helped by PS3 heavy-hitters Yakuza 3 and Resident Evil 5 debuting last month, and at this point we don’t expect the trend to continue, but for now Sony, enjoy your victory and bask in the knowledge that you’re still totally kicking Xbox 360’s rear in your home country.

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PlayStation 3 overtakes Wii in Japan, now about twice in a blue moon originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 06:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 05

Sony’s Aibo Making A Comeback with Playstation 3?

Posted in: Gadgets, ps3, Today's Chili

This article was written on December 10, 2007 by CyberNet.

Back in August, popular gaming site Kotaku interviewed Sony game designer Masay Matsuura who mentioned that the engineers behind the Aibo (remember the robotic pet dog?) were now working on the PS3 and that they were talking about making a new Aibo. This was significant simply because the Aibo was discontinued by Sony back in March of 2006. Now the story gets  even more interesting with rumors that a new one is in the works and it will be completely controllable through a PSP or the Playstation 3. I’ll stress that this is just a rumor, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Sony tried to revive the AIBO with the help of the Playstation 3 and visa versa.

Stuff magazine originally wrote about this rumor and gave it a 53% probability rating. Below is an image from the magazine that speculates how in security mode, the AIBOS PS would awaken if it heard a sound or sensed motion. At that point it would ping an email via Wi-Fi and then the owner could access it via their PSP. Using the device, they would be able to see what the dog was seeing.

Aibo PS

 

While it sounds cool, I’m just wondering if there’d really be a market for this.  The Playstation 3 has had a hard enough time getting off the ground, so it makes me wonder if people who own the PS3 would be willing and interested to purchase an Aibo.  Sony would have to drop the price if they wanted it to sell because few would be willing to pay $1500 for one as they cost the last time around.

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Apr 01

PS3 2.70 firmware adds in-game text chat, video backup

Posted in: firmware, playstation, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, sony, Today's Chili

Sony’s just released the details for its upcoming PlayStation 3 2.70 firmware update, and while it’s nothing that’ll knock your socks off, they are some goodies here to look forward to. Additions include text chat for letting you make the best of that new Wireless Keypad — or some other physical / on-screen keyboard — with up to fifteen online friends and / or three chat rooms, in-game or out. Speaking of online friends, those can now be sorted by online status to see who most recently logged on, and the file attachment size cap has been upped from 1MB to 3MB. Additionally, you can now back up your PS Store video purchases to an external drive and restore later for playback, and similarly your PSP video purchases can now be transferred to PS3 for a larger-screen experience. No word on the release date for now, but in the meantime, check out video demonstration after the break.

Update: Well that was fast. Firmware’s available now, let us know what you think.

Continue reading PS3 2.70 firmware adds in-game text chat, video backup

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PS3 2.70 firmware adds in-game text chat, video backup originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 01

Get 15 Free Blu-Ray Movies with PS3 Purchase at Wal-Mart?

Posted in: blu-ray, General, Movies, ps3, Today's Chili

This article was written on November 19, 2007 by CyberNet.

blu-ray logo This rumor by no means has been confirmed, but we’re telling you about it so that you can keep your eye out for it. If it’s true, it’s an awesome deal. Rumor has it that starting on November 24th at 8 AM and running through November 25th at 11:59 PM, Wal-Mart is having another “secret” sale. They’ll be selling the 80GB PS3 system for $499 (its usual price) but buyers will be able to choose 10 Blu-Ray titles under $30 for free. Add those 10 to the 5 you already get by mail through Sony’s program, and you’ll have 15 Blu-ray movies worth over $400.

The user who reported this deal at Blu-ray.com says he works at a Wal-Mart in the electronics department which leads me to believe he does actually know what he’s talking about . He said stores were just notified on Saturday and that a link for it won’t be available until about Wednesday. According to what he knows, Wal-Mart is stocking up big for this! He says “For those stores that carry BD already, additional titles are being sent in for the sale.  For those that do not have BD in their store (a small minority), product will be sent to each store specifically for this sale.“

Here we thought Wal-Mart was supporting the HD DVD camp after they sold that Toshiba player for under 100 bucks! Turns out they’re not taking sides, and they’re supporting both pretty equally. Anybody considering buying a Playstation 3 to get 15 free movies if this rumor turns out to be true?

Source: Neowin

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Mar 30

Sony: ‘no plans’ for a PS3 price cut

Posted in: playstation, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, sony, Today's Chili

That PlayStation 3 price drop rumored to be coming tomorrow? Not happening, according to Sony. In a statement given to Joystiq, SCEA public relations manager Al De Leon says, “we do not have plans for a PS3 price drop, and any rumors to that effect are false and are the result of speculation.” Although we wouldn’t put it past the company to deny it up until the second before an official announcement, we seriously doubt Sony would announce any sort of price cut on the day it’s most likely to get drowned out by fake PSP2 mockups. No word on that speculated $100 PS2, but we wouldn’t get our hopes up here, either.

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Sony: ‘no plans’ for a PS3 price cut originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 30

Global Sony announcement rumored for tomorrow, unicorns practically a lock

Posted in: playstation 3, Playstation3, price, pricing, ps3, rumor, sony, Today's Chili

Take it for what it’s worth, but Smarthouse has it on authority that Sony Computer Entertainment is gearing up to make a worldwide announcement tomorrow, and believe it or not, it could involve the PlayStation 3. Analysts (and patient consumers) have been anticipating a PS3 price drop ever since, oh, December 26th of last year, but we’ve seen absolutely zero evidence to make us believe that one is coming within the next 24 hours. And as Joystiq points out, each Sony region sets its own PS3 price independently. At any rate, we reckon a joint PS2 / PS3 price slashing could be on the table, but we’d highly recommend not getting your hopes up too high. Who knows — we could be getting all worked up over a new firmware that unlocks HD DVD support.

[Via Joystiq]

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Global Sony announcement rumored for tomorrow, unicorns practically a lock originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 12

Video: Fun with a microwave and PS3

Posted in: ps3, Today's Chili

While the image above may be disturbing to the PS3 faithful, the path taken to its artistic destruction is oddly intoxicating. It’s the latest console mod / art piece by the microwave Intertainer going by the alias d0vetastic. The video is long, real long at 12 and half minutes — no sound track, no voice over, just you and your computer holed-up with a coagulating 60GB PS3 console and controller. So pull up a chair, set the video to full-screen and prepare to feel the darker side of your emotional response system. Anyone can microwave popcorn — only an artist can microwave his gaming console. Heh.

Continue reading Video: Fun with a microwave and PS3

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Video: Fun with a microwave and PS3 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Mar 2009 04:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 08

Aliens PS3 case mod is staggeringly ugly to non-fans

Posted in: case, diy, hack, mod, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, sony, Today's Chili

Adding even more credibility to the whole “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” mantra is this… masterpiece / abomination. Inspired by the iconic Aliens films, this completely over the top PlayStation 3 case mod is about as ridiculous as it gets. We’re not really told how the modder went about crafting this lovely interpretation, but we are given a few more snapshots to gawk at in the read link — which you won’t visit unless you too are an Aliens freak, but hey, that’s cool.

[Thanks, Jeremiah]

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Aliens PS3 case mod is staggeringly ugly to non-fans originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Mar 2009 22:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 27

Mad Catz Street Fighter IV FightSticks Review

Posted in: playstation 3, ps3, review, Today's Chili, top, xbox, xbox 360

Just a few months ago, Mad Catz was known for making generic, mediocre console accessories to undercut companies like Sony and Nintendo. Then they announced their Street Fighter sticks and the gaming world went nuts.

While Matt Buchanan already reviewed Mad Catz’ SFIV FightPad, the company’s two arcade sticks for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, coinciding with the release of SFIV, have had more buzz than any gaming accessory in recent memory.

Street Fighter IV FightStick ($70)Mad Catz‘ SFIV FightStick was meant to “recreate” the arcade experience, but also offer programmable turbo along with two extra move-assignable buttons. It’s essentially a joystick that’s designed with the Street Fighter button layout and fancy artwork.

Street Fighter IV FightStick Tournament Edition ($150)
The Tournament Edition stick’s claim to fame is simple. It uses the exact Sanwa joystick and 30mm buttons found in the SFIV arcade cabinet, not a “recreation” like we see in the standard FightStick. The experience is promised to be 1:1 between home and arcades—though it also includes the turbo and assignable button add-on.

So could I tell a difference between the two? In one word, yes.

Honestly, I’m not skilled enough at Street Fighter to argue that a controller is getting in my way of beating Matt Buchanan. But blindfolded, I could discern the difference between the two controllers…beyond the Tournament Edition’s obvious heftier size.
The TE stick has an ever so slightly shorter range of motion than the SE stick (for pulling off quick maneuvers), but it’s also far smoother. Being picky, I noticed more mechanical scraping in the SE stick that wasn’t present in the TE, which rotated with with ease.

The SE’s buttons, while superficially similar, felt far more like plastic, with a hollow, high clicking that wasn’t as soft on the fingers. Whether or not you have ever heard of semi-legendary Sanwa components doesn’t really matter. You’ll feel the difference.

I can’t say I played any better on the $80 more expensive TE stick, but I did find myself preferring it during testing and unconsciously choosing it for casual play. Then again, if I’d never tasted the caviar-esque Tournament stick, I’d probably be fine with the decent steak-esque standard FightStick. Either stick is immeasurably superior to trying to play with the Xbox 360 controller’s gimpled D-pad.
But that doesn’t mean I’m completely happy with either controller because they both share the same ridiculous flaw—they are both horrid for chatting.

In order to fit an Xbox 360 headset into the FightSticks, you need to utilize a little cord/adapter that’s pretty identical to Rock Band’s guitar chatting solution.
Now I’m pretty good with plugging things in—it’s sort of a job requirement—but I had all sorts of chatting issues on both FightSticks with multiple 360 headsets and two different adapter cables. Sometimes people couldn’t hear me and sometimes I couldn’t hear them.

When we’re talking about a $150 joystick—a peripheral that approaches the cost of a full Xbox 360—I want my headset to connect perfectly every time. Even if Madcatz’ solution worked perfectly, which it doesn’t, it lacks any level of elegance. And it’s absurd considering that the FightStick TE is the size of a small child.

One other important caveat is that many FightStick SE ($70) buyers have complained of joysticks that stick and buttons that crack. I had no issues with my testing, but the problems are out there.

So what’s the point of this review? Both FightSticks have already been a wild success for Mad Catz, and hats off to them for filling a niche that has generally been left to scrounging for Japanese imports.

I guess that it comes down to this: as a gamer and a Street Fighter fan, I’m pleased with both FightSticks. But as a guy who’s seen what $150 can buy you in electronics today, I think we can do better. And wireless connectivity would be nice, too.


The $70 FightStick will satiate most players who want a simple 360/PS3 joystick

The $150 Tournament Edition really is a step up in feel and quality, just like an arcade

If you’re interested, both cases can be opened to swap/upgrade components

Both of these sticks are huge, so it’s a commitment

The poor headset connection option can be extremely annoying

At these prices, I really want something wireless

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