Breaking Windows

The Metal Gear Online beta starts on the 21st. And I am ready. But man the process to get here was a bitch! Konami sure could have made the process a little easier. First you must obtain a beta key. Then you need to go into Account Management to enter and download the 700+ MB beta.

Launch the beta and you find out that a 1.01 update is required, this is about 600 MB more. This is an update before we have started the beta, mind you. It begs the question: why not make the 1.3 GB beta downloadable from the PS Store? The download of 1.01 was slow slow I left it go overnight to finish.

Now a KONAMI ID is required. You get this at the id.konami.net site. Good luck using it. It took me no less than six hrs. to successfully create my KONAMI ID. It would either time out the web browser, or it would fail with an error stating that the page had expired due to inactivity (even though I had just clicked NEXT to get to the next registration screen). I understand sites like this get busy but this is unreal.

Now for your KONAMI ID, you need to create two names, and two passwords. Think of it like a login name and pin. This is a little much for a bleeping beta.

Back in the beta you enter your Game ID (that would be the second name attached to your KONAMI ID) and your Game ID password. Now we wait for April 21.

For those casually looking to check out the beta, like my friend Juganawt, these rediculous hoops will not be jumped through. Bad move Konami. Bad move. 

Andy and I have talked about this at length. I guess we know which console system got hacked first. Sadly this news does not surprise me in the least. Strait from Sony:

We have found out that there has been a possibility of unauthorized access to personal information on the PLAYSTATION®Store through PCs, a content download service of the PLAYSTATION®Network. Although unlikely, it is possible that the passwords of a small percentage of PLAYSTATION Network users may have been changed through unauthorized access, making it possible to view users' personal information and/or use the Wallet for the PLAYSTATION Store. PLAYSTATION Network accounts do not display entire credit card numbers, so any unauthorized access to your PLAYSTATION Network account is very unlikely to compromise your credit card number.

We have taken immediate measures to rectify this issue and system security is restored.

We have investigated the extent of unauthorized access and possible alteration of passwords that could have occurred before corrective measures were taken, and are directly contacting customers who may have been affected by this incident. In order to verify that your account is intact, we strongly suggest that PLAYSTATION Network users sign in to the service. If you can successfully sign in with your pre-set password, your account is not affected by this incident.

Please follow Sony's advice and see if you can login to your PSN account. And once you are there, for god's sake, change your password.

It is about time that the PS3 gets a demo of PixelJunk Monsters. If you are not familiar with the game, think Tower Defense with a pretty nice looking art style. Why don't we have demos of PSN games like we have demos of XBLA games? I mean really

You might have remembered me blog about YDL 6 already. It was, on Feb. 5, only out for ydl.net Enhanced users. It is now out for all, an can be bought on DVD, or even pre-installed on a 80 GB PS3.

Why would you buy Linux? For the support from the great YDL community, of course. It also will not be available to download on public mirrors until March 3.

Don't forget to download "Dream On" now through 11:59pm (Pacific Time) Monday, February 18th. After that it is not free, though I cannot find how much it will cost.

The most notable item here however is the fact that Sony can in fact put DLC on their PSN Store on a day that is not Thursday. This is a concept that Sony should embrace more regularly. You know, like on Tuesdays when Rock Band has new songs.

First game for 2008 that I have beat is DMC4. And a PS3 game to boot! I don't get to finish too many games these days, and this one is surely worth finishing.

Full review on BC soon.

Hey I think this calls for a celebration! Why? I just got my first PS3 "Accomplishment." I guess that is better than their original name, "Entitlement."

So my first Achievement, err, I mean Accomplishment, on the PS3: River of Red has been unlocked!. What is it for you say? Yea, so do I. What the hell does it mean?

There is no description. It is also on a lame XMB looking black screen. I had to consult someone who has the 360 version of DMC4. Which is lame, Sony. River of Red is for "acquired 10,000 red orbs."

How can they copy something so utterly engrossing about the 360 experience and make it un-fun?

I also got Rookie Devil Hunter, though I have no clue what the meaning of it is. Really, Sony, the point of getting Achievements/Accomplishments is that you feel as though you have accomplished something. And this is not feeling as though I have accomplished anything.

Ah, I found it, again thanks to the 360 version of DMC4: Rookie Devil Hunter (10 points): Defeat a total of 100 enemies. Well, except for the 10 points thing.

I would much rather play Devil May Cry 4 on the Xbox 360, but considering the series has been a Sony exclusive in the past, I guess it is fitting that Capcom sent the PS3 version of DMC4.

Capcom always sends great stuff with their review material, and this is no exception. The Art of Devil May Cry 4 is a pocket sized hard-bound art book, about 50 pages.

Also included is the Tome of Knowledge, a reviewer's guide also with some nice artwork in it. This game has the most elaborate embargo I have ever seen; I mean it, it has a multi-tiered flow chart! Luckily we are past that embargo by now.

I can't wait for the reported 20-minute load time for the initial install.

Just the really important details.

Yellow Dog Linux v6.0 supports:
- Sony PS3.
- Apple PowerPC G4, G5.
- IBM System p (JS2x, 510, 520, 540).
- 802.11b Airport auto-configuration; Extreme with configuration.
- Audio on all tested machines.
- Sony PS3 Sixaxis game controller.
- Cell phone internet connections with configuration.

Yellow Dog Linux v6.0 key features:
- E17 & Gnome installed by default, KDE included.
- Gnash, the Flash work-alike.
- Ekiga VoIP, Pidgin IM/IRC, and Fluendo codec installer.
- kernel v2.6.23, gcc v4.1.1, gblic v2.5, and Eclipse v3.2.2.
- The only Linux distribution to include by default Cell SDK v3.0.
- IBM iRT (interactive raytrace) demo available via YDL.net Enhanced.

I am downloading the ISO right now. Once I have time to play, I will have a full report.

You have got to see this shmup. No, go back and watch the video. GameTrailers has it too, if you don't like WMV.

The game is out for PC right now, but the press release states that it is coming for the PS3 as a PSN game. I can't wait.

Yes, it looks like a mini-flood. And I am quite happy to see it. Check out three more maps and one mutator.

The latest from Epic, from Mark Rein himself, is that they are "waiting on some paperwork from Sony that will allow us to release an editor update so mod creators can do this cook process for themselves."

With the release of these maps and mutator, and a new game type that is still being tested, it looks like Epic is taking it upon themselves to bring this user-generated content to the PS3 community, at least until they can provide the Unreal Editor update. This is not surprising either, as Epic is always user-centric in all the games they create.

I will have to install the new stuff. This is really great news.

Unreal Tournament III on the PS3 is a watershed moment for console games. There have been level editors in console games before (Far Cry Instincts Predator, Halo 3) but user created content has been confined to the walls of the console.

Good for Epic and good for Sony to truly bring user created content to the console space. It is just a shame J Allard was all talk a couple years ago.

FilePlanet has the first bit of PS3 UT3 mod goodness, a Deathmatch map called Shrine. And its not bad at all. I was expecting the worst though.

My biggest problem, and its been a week or more since the release of the game on PS3, is that normal human beings still cannot "cook" mods for the PS3. This Shrine map came courtesy of Epic, because they have yet released the update to the Unreal Editor for PC to be able to package content for the PS3 yet.

How many mods is Epic going to cook for us until they release the software that should have been out on Day One of the PS3 release of the game? I appreciate finally being able to use the feature, but don't you think it would be a neat idea of the user could produce the user-generated content (from start to finish).

A handy alert message popped up on my PS3 today. I have less than 500 MB left on my PS3. Wha? This is a 60 GB hard drive. Granted, I have a 10 GB Linux partition, but still.

It seems I am running into similar problems I had on my Xbox 360. Arcade games, PS1 games, demos, and movies are killing my drive. It does not help of course when games such as High Velocity Bowling are 514 MB (Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection Online is 603 MB, Warhawk 789 MB, Gran Turismo HD Concept 632 MB -- you get the idea).

And now is where I give the Xbox 360 a big fat F for expandability. And that F is for WTF! The 120 GB hard drive for the 360 costs $180.

For my PS3, I can get a Seagate 160 GB hard drive for about $120 and install it in minutes. I have even found cheaper prices, so YMMV.

Anyways, its nice that the PS3 has the handy alert, or I would have never known. I will need to make that upgrade soon.

So here is the deal: You can login to forign PSN stores, as you can do login to forign Xbox Live Accounts. You can purchase and download things. Sometimes snafus come up. Here is one of them.

The PAL PlayStation Store, while being a baron wasteland, has PS1 games that the U.S. store doesn't have. Games like G-Police, Kula World, Crash Team Racing, Syphon Filter 3.

While you can purchase them, download and install them, you cannot play them on a U.S. PS3. You get this warning:

You cannot play this game at the current video output setting. (80028F10)

Which, oddly enough, is an error message people are getting for different reasons, even on retail Blu-ray games! So no, that error does not mean what you think it does.

While PS3 games are not region locked, PS1, PS2 and movie discs are. So it comes as little surprise that PS1 digital games are region locked too.

There is, however, a workaround. Slap the games on your Memory Stick and enjoy the fact that the bone heads at Sony made a very wise decision to not gimp the PSP. You can play any region game on the PSP, and this remains true with digital PS1 downloads, too.

Of course the question remains: Why don't we have games such as G-Police and Syphon Filter 3 on the U.S. PlayStation Store?

One final note: once custom firmware hits for the PS3, you can be sure this limitation will not exist anymore.

Time Crisis 4 shipped on November 19, 2007. Does anyone want to hedge a bet that the GunCon 3 will not be sold seperatly for another six months or so? I hope I am wrong, but the official company line is no seperate GunCon 3.

I just plunked down the change to get a second GunCon 3, simply because co-op in arcade light gun games is so much fun -- and because I had some store credit.

They packaged Time Crisis 3 with two guns. Did the guy who came up with that brilliant idea get fired or something?

Seriosly: Offer a couple different SKUs. Veriety is the spice of life, after all.

Now, I usually do not question what others write in their reviews. I know I am far from the best person to review games, products, etc. But when I look at the broad range of reviews, and then I start reading them, I can tell who has most likely never stepped foot into an arcade, or has no interest or knowledge of arcade games, or just choses to ignore the history of the genre.

I am all for bucking the trend of beeing a sheep and giving the game the same score as everyone else -- if it makes sense -- but I expect there to be substance to back up claims. I also fully understand that writers do not agree, even remotely, on game merits. Believe me, you would not want to hear some of the arguments myself, Matt, and Njiska have had over Xbox Live over games such as Shadow of the Collosus or Dead or Alive 4, to name just a couple. But this Game Informer review is just an odd one out. Some excerpts:

I wish I had good news for you, but judging from this game’s merits, the rail shooting gun genre should be shot and put in the ground.

Okay, now tell me why you think that...

Once the game starts, players will be astounded to realize that no-reticle is the standard default approach to gameplay. In fact, only some of the levels even offer you the option to turn it back on.

Please tell me, what is the point of a light gun shooter with an on-screen reticle?

The strangely designed cover system has you popping up and down like a hyperactive rabbit, so you never really get a full view of the action.

Yes, and of course Gears of War (insert any other modern game that uses a similar cover system) is completely different in that regard.

Is it just me or are you scratching your head too? Njiska posted this on Digg, I wonder if it will get any comments.

What do I think of Time Crisis 4? I am so glad you asked.

Beats came out today. It is a music/rythem game for the PSP. I have a a small complaint.

1) You cannot purchase this and download it on the PS3 PlayStation store, though you can purchase and transfer PSOne games to a PSP from the PS3. You are forced to use the PC PlayStation store.

2) Once you purchase Beats, you only really download a 4k file from the web site. You must install a "PLAYSTATION®Network Downloader" to actually transfer the game to your PSP. This software does not work on a Mac.

3) Nowhere that I can find on the web site does it tell you that you can actually download it onto your PS3 once you have purchased it on the PC Store (the two stores share the same account). If I can download it on my PS3 once I purchased it on the PC Store, why not also offer it on the PS3 PlayStation Store.

4) Just for the hell of it, why not have a PSP PlayStation Store? You know, because these are PSP games we are downloading.

Before I even get to the question of "Why isn't this client application available for the Mac?" I have other, more important questions, such as:

What is the need of an inbetween application to transfer a game from a PC to my PSP? When I download a PSOne game on my PS3, I plug in a USB cable, and transfer it right to my PSP, with no extra step needed.

I already know the answer to the Mac question. Sony doesn't make any PSP related software for the Mac, why would they make this application work on the Mac? I mean, no one uses Macs anymore, right?

The PC PlayStation Store gets most everything right. It uses the same account and digital wallet you may have already setup on your PS3. Your download list is also linked between PS3 and PC PlayStation stores.

So I guess the moral of this story is: If you do not own a PC, you had better own a PS3 to transfer your PSP games bought from the PlayStation Store to your PSP.

Is it too much to ask to have a user friendly way of getting the games we want to play?

Sony really has a big problem. You see, if your TV does not support 720p -- say it supports 1080i -- you will be playing Heavenly Sword in wonderful EDTV, otherwise known as 480p.

What. The. Hell.

This was a problem with many launch games, but this system is almost a year old. I feel sorry for those early adopters that do not have TVs that support 720p.

In other news, the game is quite good. Although Gamespot said it took six hours to complete, I have read of people taking upwards of eight or nine hours. Is the game "short" or are people never satisfied with anything?

I pick option number two.

AfterTouch, which allows you to control the flight of projectiles such as arrows and cannon balls, its just loads of fun.

The game has a strong story and highly paid voice and motion capture actors. They do the trick, the dialog and animation is well done.

I stopped playing, as it is 3 AM, at the beginning of Chapter 2, which is where the really short demo was taken from.

I envision a few playthroughs to unlock everything. There are advanced combo moves to unlock, as well as an entire unlock shop (special features) with concept art, movies, etc.

Is it a purchase? It is likely a rental for most, but I do not rent games. Is it a game I will play months down the road? Likely.

It could be worse, it could have bricked my PS3. Firmware 1.93 (strikingly close to 1.92) is trying to download on my PS3. It has failed four times now. Knock on wood, this time it will finish, because with no update means absolutely no online gaming on the PS3.

You must download the updated firmware to go online. I see the need for this, but when the Sony server cannot deliver the update to my PS3, I see this is a wrench in their system.

From visiting a few forums, official or otherwise, I am not the only one with the download problems. And what exactly does 1.93 do? Lets hope it fixes all those connection issues people were having with Warhawk.

Blast Factor, with the Multiplayer add-on, and the Advanced Research add-on, comes to a whopping 398 MB.

The Advanced Research add-on was $4.99 and doubles the games levels, from seven to 14, which includes new enemies and new bosses as well.

Thats a pretty good value for your money, but i guess you pay for 1080p visuals in a 400 MB arcade game.

I honestly figured that Sony would charge for the two Heavenly Sword desktop pictures they put up on the PS Store. I mean, after all, Microsoft sees fit to rape our wallets for themes and gamer pictures.

Thank you Sony, for being reasonable. Now lets get a sizable library of game related desktop backgrounds on the PS Store. Chop chop!

Shortest demo in the history of video games? Yes.

Short but sweet. The game has all types of great combos. Button mashing will get you somewhere. But you won't be able to pull off cool close-up finishing moves, and deadly reversal moves.

You have a speed and power stance, these are mapped to L1 and R1. You hold these down and they become the modifiers to the two attack buttons, Sqaure and Triangle. Once you build up a Superstyle gauge, but performing combos, counters, and aerial combos, you can unleash a Syperstyle move with Circle.

Here is the demo, taking five minutes even with the intro cinematic: Jump on ropes, go through Quick Timer Element scene; fight bunch of bad guys; another QTE; fight another bunch of bad guys; doors slam open and three huge bad dudes come out; fade to black, see ya in two months.

Yea, it was fun, and the combo system and controls feel solid. To put it bluntly, it feels like God of War (but with beat-em-up combo moves). She even has a whip-like weapon not unlike Kratos. Game looks quite good, and I can't wait to play the full game. The best part of the demo is the music, very thick and atmospheric.

It would have been nice to have a bit more demo in the demo, though.

Sony has had a lot of firmware updates to get to 1.90, but this one is impressive. It is impressive because it takes care of three major annoyances I have had, and adds some other nice features to the PS3:

1) I can finally set my XMB wallpaper... because I have been able to do that for some time now on my PSP.

2) I am not required to plug my controller in via USB to run the update. Whoever made that part of the update process deserves to be shot in the kneecap. I mean, seriously, connect controller via USB cable to continue update? Thank you Sony for taking this irritating step out of the firmware update process.

3) You can no sort the GAME portion of the XMB by Type, this is really helpful when you have five or six PS1 games, three or so demos, and about 11 other PSN games. This is a very welcome addition to the XMB interface.

The update does offer some other impressive items, one of which is a nice overlay that shows in the lower right-hand corner for a couple seconds that tell you which buttons to push to bring up various functions. This is usually the Triangle button, but its a nice touch and gives the XMB that much more polish.

Other notable additions include:

Emoticons in messages; new display options that will allow you to adjust your display while playing PlayStation, PlayStation2 and Blu-ray movies; The ability to eject a disc via the Triangle menu; play AVCHD videos saved on a Memory Stick or digital video camera; ability to upscale audio CD output from your PS3.

Best of all, the update came early. We were only today it would be available "soon" even though Japan got their 1.90 update already.

Nice job Sony, especially for the three items I listed at the top.

There are seven videos hidden on the PSN Store right now.

Why on God's green Earth would you do that, Sony?

This was not some mishap bad categorising my the Sony webmonkeys, as it has been this way for days.

Why Sony, why?

We like new content on the PSN Store. We really like new content that is easy to find.

Sony put Nucleus online today, and for a change, included the demo day and date to the full game. You see, they have not done this with many games. If the demo goes up at all, it is many times days later.

This is in stark contrast to how XBLA works, where you can always play the demo before you purchase a game.

Kudos to Sony on this one. Please keep this practive up. We like demos.

Is the acronym YADAS used yet? It should be, this is Yet Another Dual Analog Shooter. It also has the cell type theme that Blast Factor has.

This demo has three levels, a good amount of variety to guage if it is a purchase or not. Your goal is to collect eight power ups in 90 seconds in one level; another level is a survival level where you must clear X amount of points. You can "push" cells together before you shoot them, so that they release more protien, and of course give you a higher score. You can also use cells as a blockade, which is neat.

The game says it has over 40 levels, it does have a two player mode, and it has some nice creapy techno music. Now that I think about it, the music (at least in this demo) has a very Metroid sound to it. Think of the menu music from Metroid Prime on the GameCube and you would be very close to this. The visuals are nice, it has a simple hud, also nice, but in the end, it is YADAS.

But with the darth of PS3 software right now, I will likely pick it up.

Well the MotorStorm update is finally here. Just a bit shy of their original (or even revised) goal. But at least it is here. Bug fixes and Time Attack Mode, these are very welcome.

But if you are not careful, you will not be able to play MotorStorm at all. You must download the 1.2 update (via the game's Online mode) and THEN download the Time Attack Mode (via the PlayStation Store, naturally).

If you didn't see the instructions on how to do this in the Time Attack update on the PSN, (there were none) you must delete the 1.1 update file, then download the 1.2 update FIRST, then you can download Time Attack Mode.

And while I am at it. Why the hell can't PS3 title updates automatically reboot the game once the update is installed; you know, like the Xbox 360 does?

But back to the issue at hand. Wouldn't it be useful for the PSN Store to be able to check the version of MotorStorm before it downloads, and screws you over?

The 1.2 update file is 33 MB, the Time Attack Mode was 100 KB. Am I the only one here that is asking the question of why? Why not just put Time Attack in the 1.2 update?

Why on earth make me have to download two separate files, in two entirely different places, and make me explicitly download them in the correct order?

Food for thought, Sony.

More from GamePolitics. Matt also wrote on this subject. Hit the jump if you would like to read my commentary.

Hey look! It got delayed for 27th time. First it was May, then June 7, then June 11, now when is it? Will the June 14 Time Attack update still happen? I seriously doubt it. While we are on the subject of delayed updates, Resistance should get an update any day now too...

“We know you have all been looking forward to the release of the MotorStorm 1.2 update. Due to technical issues we have decided to make a number of small changes to this important release schedule. As a result the update, which includes all the fixes and improvements previously announced, will have a small delay in release. The highly anticipated new game mode, ‘Time attack’ will be available for download through the PLAYSTATION Store on June 14th. Online updates and fixes as part up update 1.2 will be made available as of June 11th. I am sure you all understand the need for us to ensure we deliver to you content of the highest possible quality and that small delays are sometime unavoidable.”

They have been promising this, oh, since the game came out. Yesterday, they delivered, in spades. On the PlayStation Store are 25 new races, 14 new decal sets, and 20 new BMG music tracks. The races and decal sets are free. The music costs $0.99 for each, or $14.99 for all 20.

I don't even have to explain how much I love the PS Store fore using real money values. When DLC came out for Ridge Racer 6 on the 360, you didn't have nice tidy prices like $0.99. Of course if my 360 worked, I could check and see how much those BMG tracks cost for RR 6.

My only complaint is having to download each of the 25 races and 14 decal sets individually. These are so small, why not package them together?

It is great to get new content for RR 7, and has put that game back in my PS3. It is a nice compliment to playing Calling All Cars online ;)

Kudos to Namco for giving us a bunch of free DLC for RR 7.

That 1.7 firmware upgrade that proclaimed that PSOne games would work on the PS3 was not a funny joke. Nice one Sony. Next time don't use the word "now" when you mean "the first week in May."

So anyways, the PS3's emulation of PS1 games is just as crappy with the downloadable versions than it is with real PS1 discs. That crappyness comes by the fact that your screen it dropped to 480i and you are staring at a stretched PS1 game. You have to change your TV to 4:3 yourself.

In patented form, IGN hates Super Rub-a-Dub like it hates all downloadable games on the PS3 or 360. I really don't know that they have up their ass to give this game a 2.9 out of 10.

You get 60 levels in three difficulty settings, all for $6.99. You, being a rubber ducky, have to save all the baby rubber duckies on the stage and bring them back to the drain. Every stage has a different maze you have to move through, flowing water that is always a hazard, and sharks. Everything is done with the SIXAXIS controller and no buttons.

You tilt the tub and can jump by flicking the controller. This puzzle game is totally worth the money. It isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread, but its a solid puzzler and keeps my interest far longer than most of the rest of the PS3 library.

These downloadable games never seem to get the credit they deserve. This one is no different. The demo gives you five levels to try, so at least download it and give it a whirl.

Yellow Dog Linux v5.0.1 for the Sony Computer Entertainment PLAYSTATION(R)3 adds greater than 500 package updates to v5.0 and now includes support for built-in wireless!

Yellow Dog Linux v5.0.1 offers:
- Support for the Sony PS3.
- More than 500 updated packages.
- Built-in Wi-Fi now supported.
- USB printers fixed.
- The bootloader is now included on the DVD.

Learn how to update your v5.0 installation to support PS3 Wi-Fi

Learn how to configure PS3 Wi-Fi

To learn more about Yellow Dog Linux

Wow, this debacle may be over, but this is another black eye for SCEA PR. How can they think they can do that to Kotaku, who was only doing their job as journalists?

I am just dumbfounded that Sony would threaten to take away press privileges if Kotaku does their job.

Kudos to Brian for going ahead with the RUMOR and kudos for Sony for *quickly* coming to their senses on this one.

For those know need a refresher: Kotaku ran an article on the rumor of the PlayStation Home. Sony threatened that if they ran the article (they did) that all press privileges, such as a debug unit, meetings at GDC, and other press events, would be revoked. Then Sony finally came to their senses.

How can Sony tell a journalist not to do their job?

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Sony Corp. is on track to ship 2 million PlayStation 3s to North American stores by the end of March, and expects shortages of the video game console to have completely eased by May, a top executive said on Tuesday.

"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," said Jack Tretton, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America.

Please excuse me.

AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA *snort* HA HA HA HA HA

But really. Even Meijer has them. I think someone at Sony didn't get the memo. This is the same man who said in an EGM interview he would pay anyone $1200 (in January) if they could find a PS3 on a store shelf for more than five minutes.

That would have been the easiest million I have ever made. For those not keeping score, the PS3 has been widely available since late December, early January.

This always happens when we get a new console. The first batch of games come with some rather plastic looking textures. Dead or Alive 4 had this same issue on the Xbox 360 in December 2005.

There is no question this game is an achievement in graphics. The stages are just breathtaking. Granted, you do not interact with them like in DOA4, but they have been kicked up a notch in VF5.

The plastic skin textures on Akira, El Blaze, and Wolf really stick out because the rest of the game, and the overall presentation, is just perfect.

Anyways, I will have a full review soon.

You know, when people don't use real names in interviews, it looks rather dumb. Of course I would not have posted this on the IGN blog either, but I guess they are trying to look "hip" and have some "street cred" -- whatever. But thats just my opinion.

Check out this informative interview on the upcoming PS3 game.

Kellee: We have only tapped about a fiftieth of the potential of the CELL for flOw. It’s definitely a different way of developing. The main processor isn’t as beefy as a modern PC’s processor, but the CELL has 7 SPUs! So, coming from PC development, you have to plan for the CELL very well in pre-production. You want to have an idea of the systems you’ll be running, and how best to split them up, so you are fully utilizing the PS3.

Like I was saying before, the great part about developing for a console in general versus PC is that it’s a stable platform. The difficult part is that each system has its own quirks. So you go through a period of figuring them out before you are really able to cook with gas.

My thoughts on this game: You can play it for free. This would not sell on Xbox Live Arcade, even with achievement points. Nintendo already did this, it is called Electroplankton. The only reason it will sell well on the PS3 Network is because of the utter lack of any software for the entire PS3 platform. If they try and shove this down our thoughts for $9.99 they are insane (well, okay, so they are already).

I have seen many PC ads using Mac laptops before. Sometimes it is a mistake. Sometimes someone did it on purpose.

But this one is too good not to post.

Sony using a PGR3 render to advertise GT: HD? That has got to be one of the boneheaded moves I have seen in recent history.

But this is par for the course, I mean Sony has been making a lot of bad decisions surrounding the PS3.

Image Credit: Oobgarm at Digital Press

What a well written, insightful piece on local sales of the Playstation 3. The author has a keen sense of the English language too. Sure wish I could be him...

GripShift is now available on the PS Store. It is another $9.99 game for the PS3's "Arcade."

Priced to move (fast) this is well worth your $10. It has a ton of single-player modes, plus full online multiplayer. The game is just a lot of fun, be in in challenge mode or race mode.

And at this price, it is even better than the PSP version. Chalk this up as another solid title for Sony's download service.

The Install of YDL 5 on my PS3 went smooth as silk.

I backed up my HDD data with the backup utility (thanks Sony!), partitioned 10 GB for YDL, installed the bootloader (thanks Sony!) then rebooted to go through a pain-free install of YDL 5.

I then rebooted into the GameOS, which you do at the kboot screen, and restored my GameOS data to its original form.

Not one problem to report. All my downloaded games and demos work, very nice process all around.

In all, I would say the install of YDL 5 took a little over an hour. Backup and Restore took a half hr. each, for a paltry 11 GB of data!

More to come from my full write up for Blogcritics but I wanted to put something down on paper.

I am setting up my Pelican System Selector Pro (pictures soon!) and have a tip.

If you previously had your PS3 hooked up via HDMI and hook it up via Component, you must do a system reset, or the system will not output a signal!

Of course this means whenever you switch from the AV Multi Out to the HDMI or back again, you must do the hardware reset.

What is a hardware reset on a PS3? Hold Power for five seconds or so, you get a beep.

It defaults to 480i though - and let me tell you, that looks great on my Samsung LCD!

Glad I didn't need to call tech. support on that one. It worked on a hunch.

I tell ya, being Gaming Editor sure comes in handy a lot. I called up Terra Soft the other day asking for their PR department, and ended up talking to the CEO.

Unless you want to wait until January to download the ISO of Yellow Dog Linux 5 for PS3 (and exclusively for PS3 right now, they haven't even compiled it for Mac yet) you need to sign up for an Enhanced account on ydl.net. That costs $70, for an OS under GPL (Basic Enhanced cost $40 if you already have a basic ydl.net account).

Some may have issues with paying for a free OS, but you do get six months of support with the purchase, and that is really what you are paying for.

I have used YDL 4 before, on my PowerBook, so it will be nice to see this new version.

In short, I will be writing a feature on YDL 5 on PS3 for Blogcritics. I just was given my Enhanced account today, and downloaded the ISO.

As part of the 1.30 firmware upgrade on the PS3, there is now a wonderful Backup Utility. This means no re-entering friends lists, and all that other fun stuff.

I plan on installing YDL tomorrow. This is Linux, so I foresee a bumpy ride.

1UP ran one of these earlier, and now GameSpot has its own feature. Be sure and check it out.

I am working on a feature/review of all the cross-platform PS3 launch titles, this should be online by Monday.

In short, the PS3 games are "lighter" and "foggier" when directly compared to the same game on Xbox 360. The worst case offender right now is in Tony Hawk's Project 8, the 360 version has gorgeous HDR, and the PS3 version has rather harsh, nasty, HDR.

Today I recorded a segment for next week's BCRadio Podcast. I talk about the PS3 and the exclusive games. Be sure and check it out when it goes live (usually Monday or Tuesday).

Sony only moved 197,000 units at launch of the PS3. In contrast, Microsoft sold 326,000 units in November 2005, when that console launched.