PlayStation 3 $100 Price Drop Confirmed, Sorta
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: PlayStation 3, Rumors,
As was first reported by Cheap Ass Gamer, it looks like the PlayStation 3 will be seeing a $100 price drop to $499.99 beginning July 12. Initially, it looked like this might simply be a promotion for the week of the 15th, but GameDaily BIZ has confirmed this with a merchandising manager at one of the world’s biggest retailers who wished to remain anonymous.
While the price drop is scheduled across retail to take place on July 12 (which is a Thursday), the first wave of ads won’t be seen until July 15. SCEA declined to comment when contacted, but this was bound to happen at one point or another – and with the PS3 losing more and more ground to both the Xbox 360 and Wii each month, something needed to be done.
Assuming this pans out, this puts quite a bit of pressure on Microsoft; the Xbox 360 Elite is still $479.99 and lacks many of the features the PS3 has, such as a Blu-ray player (the Elite doesn’t even have an HD-DVD player) and built-in Wi-Fi.
Well, I’m certainly glad I haven’t plopped down the $600 just yet. And only about five hours ago I was contemplating gathering the cash to pick one up. This price drop leads me to wonder, though – will the 20GB SKU see a return, meaning that there would be a $399.99 PS3? Or will Sony launch a new SKU with a larger hard drive? We’ll know next week when Sony holds its press conference at E3.
Read More 
| GameDaily BIZ
Gallery: PlayStation 3 $100 Price Drop Confirmed, Sorta
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GamerAndy Live! Episode 83: A Sucker for Game Bling
Posted by Edie Sellers Categories: Action, Adventure, Announcements, Corporate News, Electronic Arts, Fighting, Microsoft, PC, PlayStation 3, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Reviews, Sports, Xbox, Xbox 360, GamerAndy,
Finally a return to gaming news! So much for Andy, Hawkes and Edie to talk about, including Sony’s “major announcement,” the 80Gig Europe hate, Blu-Ray price drops, and (gasp!) Andy’s discovery of a great PS3 title! But that’s not all! We’ve got conversation about EA and ID going to the Mac, the PSP “slim, Shadowrun and Forza 2.
But wait! There’s more! Winners of last week’s contest are annouced.
Order now and you’ll recieve GamerAndy’s TV corner, where we discuss the end of the Sopranos and the return of Jherico.
Don’t walk… RUN to the download!
Gallery: GamerAndy Live! Episode 83: A Sucker for Game Bling
PlayStation Network 6/7: Nothing But Trailers
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: PlayStation 3, Trailers,
Each Monday, Wii owners get a few games added to the Virtual Console. Sure, they’re not always the greatest games, but occasionally you’ll find a gem in there and maybe something that holds some nostalgic value. Each Wednesday, Xbox 360 owners typically get at least one Live Arcade game – which, as of late, have been pretty damn good. But PlayStation 3 owners aren’t quite as lucky; this week they don’t even get a demo. Instead, all they have to look forward to when connecting to the PSN are four trailers.
- Heavenly Sword “Gamer’s Day 2007” Trailer (free): Emotionally charged, stunningly beautiful, and delivering unprecedented dramatic character performance, Heavenly Sword showcases the PS3 system’s power. Check out the new trailer for this much anticipated title, straight from Sony Computer Entertainment America’s recent Gamer’s Day media event.
- MLB 07 The Show (PS3) Video (free): The best-selling baseball franchise is now available for PS3! This season we’re proud to introduce a slew of new features including: Road To The Show, Adaptive Pitching Intelligence, Online League Play, Pitch Command System and unique Umpire Personalities. This week, take a look at a tutorial video of the game’s online feature set.
- Stranglehold Trailer (free): Continue the story of John Woo’s influential action film, Hard Boiled, starring Chow Yun-Fat. Engage your enemies in intense cinematic gun battles and cause extensive environmental damage using a full arsenal of deadly weapons. Hard Boiled will also be included in its entirety on the Blu-ray disc.
- Movie Trailers (free): Download new trailers for the upcoming blockbuster film, Transformers, and the upcoming Blu-ray release, Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band: Live in Dublin.
Gallery: PlayStation Network 6/7: Nothing But Trailers
Wal-Mart to Sell $250 HD-DVD Player, Will Customers Notice?
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Accessories, Hardware, PlayStation 3, Rumors, Xbox 360,
With all this talk of PS3s, 360s, and Wiis going around, it’s easy to forget that there’s also a next-gen video format war going on - one which will likely have severe repercussions for either Sony or M$. Well, the latest shot in the High-def disc format war has been fired, and this time it’s mega-retailer Wal-Mart that may help tip the scales in HD-DVD’s favor (or at least give Blu-Ray something to worry about).
This week, Wal-Mart announced that they would be producing and distributing an HD-DVD player that well be the cheapest available, coming in at around $199-$299. I haven’t spent much time in Wal-Marts (I find them noisy, messy, and crowded when compare to other retailers… oh, and generally evil). So I’ve got to ask… is Wal-Mart really a place where you want to pick up your next piece of high-end (or at least, moderate-end) electronics? My impression was that most of the folks who shop there probably aren’t too tuned-in to the next-gen DVD formats, and may not even own an HDTV set to take advantage of such hardware. Still, perhaps the lure of a ridiculously cheap HD player will pull a few bargain-hunting techno-fiends towards their blue glow. And hey wait, while we’re on the topic shouldn’t Target be the one promoting HD-DVD (think: slick red cases!), and Wal-Mart be the one promoting Blu-Ray? That would make much more chromatic sense, at least.
Read More | IGN.com
Gallery: Wal-Mart to Sell $250 HD-DVD Player, Will Customers Notice?
Warhawk On Blu-Ray… And PlayStation Network?
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Internet, PlayStation 3,
The nature of the Warhawk release for the PlayStation 3 has been elusive, to say the least. 1up was one of the first sites to report that the game would be heading to the PlayStation Network, and would not be a retail disc. Now, according to information they received from Sony Computer Entertainment America, the game is actually going to be heading to both Blu-Ray and the PlayStation Network. No clarification was given, but 1up speculates that there will be content differences between the formats, with the possibility of additional downloadable content to even out the releases. Even with this, though, it would see that either way would result in a less than satisfactory experience for each format. Either the Blu-Ray disc ends up being vastly underutilized, or the end user finds himself downloading tons and tons of content to keep up with their physical media brethren. It will be interesting to see how Sony handles this, if the rumors are true.
Read More | 1up
Gallery: Warhawk On Blu-Ray… And PlayStation Network?
Oblivion Developer: Blu-Ray is Slower
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, PlayStation 3, Rumors, Xbox 360,
The latest shot in the HD-DVD / Blu-Ray battle has been fired, this time coming from Oblivion developer Bethesda Software. According to the developers of the game, the Blu-Ray drive data rates are slower than those on, for instance, the Xbox-360’s DVD drive. Says Todd Howard at Bethesda:
“Drive speed matters more to me [than capacity], and Blu-ray is slower.”
What does this mean? Well, in general, longer load times and more cacheing to the harddrive. In fact, in order to get Oblivion to load on the PS3 as fast as it does on the Xbox-360, Bethesda duplicated key data from the game, storing it on multiple places in the disc to lower access times. There’s no word on how much of the code was duplicated, but it still seems to go against Sony’s message that developers need 50GB of storage space. It sounds like, if the drive were faster, the HD-DVD standard of ~30GB / disc could be adequate.
Read More | Gameworld Network
Gallery: Oblivion Developer: Blu-Ray is Slower
NPD: Xbox 360 HD DVD Sells 92K In US
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Accessories, Hardware, Xbox 360,
NPD continues to report on holiday sales data; this time the research firm tells Next Generation that the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive has sold 92,000 units since launch. The numbers break down into 42,000 in November and 50,000 in December, or roughly 2 percent of the Xbox 360 install base. With Microsoft claiming that the HD-DVD drive is selling out at retail, this would suggest either that Microsoft is having a hard time producing units or that they are limiting drive production for some other reason. While the HD-DVD drive competes with Sony’s Blu-Ray format, the Xbox 360 add-on might also be seeing competition from the Xbox Live Video Marketplace. Even though users can only rent HD movies via the service, owners of the Xbox 360 premium system don’t have to pay out for additional hardware. Every PS3 comes with a Blu-Ray drive, so total sales for that format look good, but one will have to look at movie sales rates to get a true indication of the relative popularity of the competing formats.
Read More | Next Generation
Gallery: NPD: Xbox 360 HD DVD Sells 92K In US
Some Blu-Ray Movies Will ONLY Play on PS3
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Culture, PlayStation 3, Rumors,
We all knew that Sony hoped the PS3 would be the Trojan Horse to get Blu-Ray into homes across the world. But I don’t think anyone could’ve expected that we’d be forced to play some Blu-Ray discs on the PS3 only. the good folks over at PSXExtreme have noted that the Blu-Ray movie “The Descent”, currently plays only on the PS3 - those of you with your $1,000+ Sony or Pioneer Blu-Ray movie players are out of luck.
According to Sony, the problem is based on the fact that the production company for the disc, Lion’s Gate, decided to include some Java-based special features on the disc, which only works on the PS3 console. However, this is apparently preventing non-PS3 Blu-Ray player owners from viewing any part of the disc, which seems like a rather strange problem.
Sony is working on a fix for this issue, though at this time we’re not sure whether that would be a replacement Blu-Ray disc that, you know, actually plays on Blu-Ray players, or a firmware upgrade for their players. Either way, it’s not a good piece of news for the format.
Read More | PSX Extreme
Gallery: Some Blu-Ray Movies Will ONLY Play on PS3
PS3 Bluetooth Remote Ships
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Accessories, Hardware, PlayStation 3,
The Playstation 3 Bluetooth remote is starting to appear in retail stores, according to online reports. A member of the NeoGAF forums was apparently able to purchase the remote from an EBGames in Richmond, VA. The remote retails for $24.99. Physically, the device looks fairly slim. Those consumers that play a Blu-Ray movies often will welcome the dedicated buttons on the remote. Given that the Playstation 3 relies on Bluetooth for its controllers, this may be the only dedicated remote available for a while. There are a couple of larger pictures available in the forum post.
Read More | NeoGAF
Gallery: PS3 Bluetooth Remote Ships
“Higher Definition” Video Hits PlayB3yond.com
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: PlayStation 3, Trailers,
Sony just updated the PlayB3yond website with a new video, “Higher Definition” that touts the console’s support for 1080P resolutions and Blu-Ray for additional storage. While 1080p has been hotly debated across the Internet, and some have doubted whether the 50 GB offered by Blu-Ray will make an impact in this generation of video games, Sony’s marketing really knows how to make a compelling advertisement for both.
Read More | PlayB3yond
Gallery: “Higher Definition” Video Hits PlayB3yond.com
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