There must be something really hard about making those Blu-ray players that no one seems to have anticipated. First Sony had to announce twice that its BDP-S1 was going to be delayed until December 2006 due to software bugs. Now Pioneer has been delayed too, for unspecified failure to meet "quality control requirements," which may or may not be related to the other assorted blue laser shortages. The BDP-HD1, which was due to come out this month (after having been delayed from its previous May launch), won't ship now until December as well. The price, however, has dropped since we last eyed it at CES -- it's now down to $1500. We're still not sure which is bluer, us consumers, who have been trying to get one of these Blu-ray players until we go blue in the face, or Pioneer, who is singin' the blues. (This entry has been brought to you by the color "blue.")
Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (also known as Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007) has sold the most in a game's first week in the UK since Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas debuted two years ago. Those sales see it slip comfortably into the number one slot on the UK all-formats game chart.
FIFA 07's Xbox 360 version joins the game's seven other formats to help keep the title at number two, with sales up 96 percent on last week.
Rockstar Games' Canis Canem Edit (known as Bully outside of the UK) was the second-highest new entry at number five. Bully and PES6 are among seven other newbies this week, including Guild Wars: Nightfall at 15, Singstar Legends at 24, and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon at 27.
There are five titles heading upward, including Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, up one place to eight; Buzz! The Big Quiz, up four to 14; and Destroy All Humans 2, which went up two places to 19.
The biggest loser of the week is Kingdom Hearts 2, falling a massive 16 places to 32, with The Godfather down 14 to 37, and The Sims 2: Glamour Life Stuff almost out of the charts completely, down 13 to 39.
Next Friday (if UK retailers can manage to stick to the release dates) will see the release of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War expansion pack Dark Crusade, Neverwinter Nights 2, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, Need for Speed Carbon, and Desperate Housewives: The Game.
After a death-defying jump across a broken bridge, a tight squeeze between two juggernauts and a speedy drive through a collapsing building, the first Stuntman 2 shots have made their debut appearance and you can see them now by clicking the images tab above.
While no solid gameplay details have been released, the shots show a variety of vehicles (dune buggies - yay!) and dusty looking desert and city street locations, so expect to prove your wheelman skills in a diverse range of motorised machines and movie scenarios.
We were fans of the original but, with load times that were as painful to endure as a bumper-to-bumper jam on the M25 and some sadistically tight objective time limits, it was just too fist-clenchingly frustrating to be a classic.
If the game's new developer, Paradigm Studios, can avoid these pitfalls then Stuntman 2 for PS3 and Xbox 360 should be an exploding barrel-roll of petrol-flavoured fun. And if it finds room to improve on the make-your-own-mayhem stunt arena then we'll be very happy stunt bunnies indeed.
Echoing the concerns of other investors, Fortune Magazine examines the much needed PS3 home run for Sony if the company wishes to stay competitive in the consumer electronics world. The piece calls the PS3 launch "one of the most closely watched new-product rollouts of all time." Given its recent PR beats, portable music spanking at the hand of Apple, and mass battery recalls, Sony is hoping its ad agency, TBWA, can in part save the company. That's a tall order for the Los Angeles-based firm with its $150 million Sony account.
More interesting, however, is what TBWA (which has done all US ads since the first PlayStation in 1995) has to accomplish: Not only do their ads need to encourage prospective gamers to buy Sony's third-generation console, the ads must convince said consumers to wait for the PS3 due to extremely limited launch availability.
From the article: "The agency's job is to persuade those who leave the store empty-handed to wait - to not buy Xbox or Wii - even if it means holding off until after Christmas before Sony can ramp up its manufacturing enough to satisfy the demand. So the bar is high indeed. If the Los Angeles office doesn't clear it with the PS3 launch, Sony may not be the only client that heads for the exit."
Sony has issued a warning against websites attempting to take advantage of PlayStation 3 pre-orders.
The company issued a statement stating that websites offering discounted or bulk shipments of the new home console have not been arranged with any cooperation from Sony or its partners.
"Such offers are not done with any cooperation from SCEA or its parent company," reads the statement.
"SCEA strongly recommends against consumers pursuing such offers, as their legitimacy cannot be confimed. We recommend consumers purchase PlayStation products only from authorised SCEA retailers and resellers," it said.
The move comes as the firm prepares to launch it next-gen console in the US and Japan later this month.
Sony's Phil Harrison says the company is already working with developers on "about 40" exclusive titles that fit into its e-Distribution Initiative (EDI) - the PlayStation 3 equivalent of Xbox Live Arcade.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz' Rob Fahey as part of an interview being serialised on semi-official Sony blog Three Speech, Harrison said that EDI had been "a call to action to the development community to encourage them to create games specifically for us, that we would fund, that we would publish, in the online sense of the word, and distribute online".
"We're developing about 40 products that fit that strategy right now," he added. Sony presented one of these titles - flOw - for the first time at the Tokyo Game Show, with others like Calling All Cars (David Jaffe's title, formerly known as Criminal Crackdown) also generating a lot of interest.
"My strategy was to encourage developers to push the machine technically, creatively, artistically - to innovate in lots of different ways. But don't be restricted by ghettoising games into a particular genre, or a particular display mechanic, because what we've seen on other systems tend to be retro 2D games, and we're pushing the 3D capabilities of the PlayStation 3. Plus, the fact that every PS3 has a hard disk drive means that we're not restricted by the size of the download, and that has a huge impact on the kind of game design that you can do," he continued.
"We're seeing an emerging strength in developers creating games specifically for downloadable content. We're seeing that as a really interesting way of stimulating creativity, experimentation... And it makes me feel as excited as about the games that we saw at the beginning of PS1, when there was a lot of really interesting innovation happening in the marketplace. I think we'll see that on PlayStation 3 as well."
The pick of the PS3 launch line-up is Namco's Ridge Racer 7, after receiving four nine ratings in highly influential Japanese mag, Famitsu.
As you'll know if you've ever skimmed over the mag, Famitsu puts games to a panel of four reviewers and in this case they all gave the PS3 Ridge Racer a nine rating, resulting in an overall score of 36 out of 40.
RR7 topped the PS3 titles reviewed in the latest issue, apparently receiving praise for its online modes and refined drifting mechanic.
Meanwhile, Resistance: Fall of Man got one nine and three eights, and giant-crab game Genji: Days of the Blade bartered three sevens and an eight.
Slightly lower down the rating scale, Famitsu gave Sega Golf Club four sevens but Gundam: Target In Sight conjured up four eights - but we know how the Japanese love their mechs.
Frighteningly, there's only ten days left until the console reaches Japanese stores on November 11, and a few more until the November 17 launch in the US.
Apparently, there was a huge war in the 14th century - back when people couldn't go on killing sprees on PS2 so they did it in real life instead - over who would be the successor to the French throne.
And that's the battle that Bladestorm: The Hundred Years War brings to life. The tactical war sim, set in Medieval Europe, will have players command armies in brutal battles in huge open environments.
You control a rogue commander and his army in clashes with the British and French forces with infantry, archers, and cavalry at your disposal. As well as winning battles, you have to build up your reputation as a successful commander in order to attract better troops to your squad.
If it's as epic as Koei promises, this could be one neat strategy game. Our only curiosity is why the in-game screens look like it's running on PS2. Check them out below.
Bladestorm: The Hundred Years War is due to release on PS3 in Q1 2007.
David Jaffe's forthcoming PlayStation 3 downloadable game, Criminal Crackdown, isn't called that any more. Instead, it'll go by "Calling All Cars".
But why? Well, according to his blog, the idea was to give it an identity far removed from existing game names - something that they couldn't guarantee in the rush to get things sorted ahead of the game's unveiling last month.
"We were in a mad rush to reveal the game at GAMER'S DAY a few weeks back and all the legal checks had not yet come down giving us permission to use that name," Jaffe explains.
"Unlike some other companies that seem to have no problem giving their games titles that SOUND pretty darn close to other games, Sony likes to give us as much room as possible between our game names and other game names. Which is nice. But challenging as well because there have been A LOT of video games made over the last 30-35 years so it makes it tough to find a name that is fresh and appropriate and fun, while at the same time being something that will not get you thrown into a court room."
It's happened to him before, it turns out - the name-changing, that is. Apparently Twisted Metal was going to be called Urban Assault, then Cars And Rockets, then High Octane before eventually settling, while "God of War went by the name Dark Odyssey for at least two years".
"So with ALL that said, Criminal Crackdown is dead. I assume it's because MS has a very sweet looking game called CRACKDOWN coming out and the titles were just too close for comfort... but I am just guessing," he adds.
"I wonder if we'll also have to change the title of GOD OF WAR 2 to something else since GOD OF WAR 2 sounds a bit too much like GEARS OF WAR? We'll see," he then says, perhaps explaining what he was on about earlier in the post. Fight! Anyway, "Calling All Cars" is quite good.
And the game, which Jaffe recently billed as "cops and robbers meets basketball", hopefully will be too. It's one of the titles due out through Sony's e-Distribution Initiative (think Xbox Live Arcade on PlayStation 3) - something Jaffe said recently that he's very much enjoying developing for.
Play Asia posted this list of whats new this week at their shop:
Xbox360™:
Cars ASIA US$ 39.90
Everyparty (Platinum Collection) JPN US$ 34.90
FIFA Soccer 07 ASIA US$ 39.90
Need For Speed: Carbon (Collector's Edition) ASIA US$ 39.90
Need for Speed Most Wanted (Platinum Collection) JPN US$ 34.90
Ninety-Nine Nights (Platinum Collection) JPN US$ 34.90
Project Gotham Racing 3 (Platinum Collection) JPN US$ 34.90
Rumble Roses XX (Konami the Best) JPN US$ 34.90
The Outfit JPN US$ 64.90
Xbox 360 Core System Sale Commemoration Pack JPN US$ 299.90
Xbox 360 Dead or Alive 4 Holiday Bundle [Limited Edition] ASIA US$ 449.90
Xbox 360 Hard Drive (20 GB) JPN US$ 99.90
Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote JPN US$ 32.90
Xbox 360 Wireless Headset JPN US$ 59.90
Xbox Live Vision JPN US$ 39.90
Most Japanese Xbox360™ accessories are expected to be in stock tomorrow.
PlayStation2™:
.hack//G.U. vol. 1//Rebirth US N/A
Devil May Cry Greatest Hits Set US US$ 39.90
FIFA Soccer 07 ASIA US$ 39.90
Final Fantasy XII US US$ 59.90
Gallop Racer Inbreed JPN US$ 48.90
LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy JPN US$ 64.90
NBA Live 07 ASIA US$ 39.90
Phantasy Star Universe US US$ 59.90
Slotter Up Core 9 JPN US$ 34.90
Tsukiyo ni Saraba (Taito Best) JPN US$ 34.90
Xbox™:
Need For Speed: Carbon ASIA US$ 39.90
Sony PSP™:
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception KOR US$ 49.90
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception US US$ 49.90
Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded US US$ 39.90
Chotto Shot (w/ Camera) JPN US$ 49.90
Dynasty Warriors 2 US US$ 39.90
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance US US$ 39.90
Need For Speed: Carbon Own the City ASIA US$ 42.90
Silicone Cover Portable (black) US$ 9.90
Silicone Cover Portable (white) US$ 9.90
The Da Vinci Code JPN US$ 37.90
Nintendo DS™:
Children of Mana US US$ 39.90
Emoto Honami no Shiawase Kitchen JPN US$ 48.90
Hoshi no Kirby Sanjyo! JPN US$ 48.90
LEGO Star Wars II JPN US$ 48.90
Love Hamster JPN US$ 48.90
Nintendo DS Lite (Winning Eleven DS Jet Black Special Edition) - 110V JPN US$ 289.90
Pokemon Ranger: The Road to Diamond and Pearl US US$ 39.90
Wallet Pouch DS Lite (black) US$ 18.90
Wallet Pouch DS Lite (blue) US$ 18.90
Wallet Pouch DS Lite (white) US$ 18.90
Winning Eleven DS JPN US$ 39.90
PC Games:
Blitzkrieg II: Fall of the Reich ASIA US$ 29.90
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic ASIA US$ 37.90
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic [Collector's Edition] ASIA US$ 49.90
Gothic 3 ASIA US$ 32.90
LMA Manager 2007 ASIA US$ 32.90
Sid Meier's Railroads! ASIA US$ 37.90
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War Anthology ASIA US$ 49.90
Toys, Books, Magazines & Misc:
Arcadia Magazine [December 2006] JPN US$ 12.90
Comic Calendar 2007: Bleach JPN US$ 29.90
Comic Calendar 2007: D.Gray-man JPN N/A
Comic Calendar 2007: Death Note JPN N/A
Comic Calendar 2007: Gintama JPN US$ 29.90
Comic Calendar 2007: Naruto JPN US$ 24.90
Comic Calendar 2007: One Piece JPN US$ 29.90
Famitsu Wave DVD [December 2006] JPN US$ 16.50
Gyakuten Saiban Official Fan Book Vol.2 JPN US$ 14.90
Ichigo Mashimaro Pre-Painted Figure: Miu Matsuoka (Stewardess) US$ 44.90
Jingai Makyo 1/7 Scale Painted PVC Figure: Ignis US$ 59.90
Moeart Collection 1/6 Scale Pre-painted PVC Figure - Rec: Aka Onda US$ 64.90
Nintendo Super Mario Bros. Phone Strap Gashapon US$ 1.99
Queen's Blade 1/8 Scale Pre-painted PVC Figure - Mori no Bannin Nowa Figure US$ 49.90
Video Game related Soundtracks:
Break Out (Super Robot Taisen Original Generation Intro Theme) JPN US$ 11.90
Ee'Mall & ee'Mall 2nd avenue Original Soundtrack JPN US$ 34.90
Koibana Educator - Full House Kiss Single Collection Vol.14 JPN US$ 15.90
Pop'n Music 14 Fever & ee'MALL Original Soundtrack Set JPN US$ 74.90
Pop'n Music 14 Fever Original Soundtrack JPN US$ 42.90
Red Rocket Rising JPN US$ 9.90
Red Rocket Rising [CD+DVD] JPN US$ 17.90
Seishun Aftermath - Full House Kiss Single Collection Vol.13 JPN US$ 15.90
Tsuyokisu -Mighty Heart- Original Song Series Vol.3 JPN US$ 15.90
Tsuyokisu -Mighty Heart- Original Song Series Vol.4 JPN US$ 15.90
Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack has said he believes the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are on the same level when it comes to performance.
Speaking to Dean Takahashi of the Mercury News, Dyack said, "Maybe the PS3 has more processing power. The 360 has more available memory. It's pretty much a net, net.
"The public perception of the PS3 was that it was much more powerful. To developers, they look even."
Dyack did go on to say that their could potentially be more power in the PlayStation 3 - but that it's harder to harness. "You have to get the timing right," he said, referring to the challenge of keeping all the Cell's sub-processors running.
Dyack is also less than sold on the platform holders' favourite resolution, 1080p, arguing that the difference between it and 720p is "questionable".
"All of our games are likely to be 720p because of the faster refresh rates," he told Takahashi. "There are all kinds of trade-offs. It takes a lot more RAM to do 1080p. You'll reserve RAM for the textures. 720p is just less pixels. [But] There is definitely a huge difference from 720p and analog."
Silicon Knights is currently at work on the first game in the Too Human trilogy for Xbox 360, which is being built using Unreal Engine 3. The studio has yet to consider making games for the Nintendo Wii, with Dyack stating that it remains to be seen whether the "controller stands the test of time".
On the question of who will win the next-gen console battle he said, "It's a tough one. Microsoft is looking really good. Everyone is looking pretty good. At the beginning, everyone thought Sony would walk away with it. We won't know for sure for two years."
Just days after news emerged that Sony has cut its shipment target for the Japanese launch of PS3, it's been announced that the console will hit Hong Kong and Taiwan on November 17.
According to an article on Digitimes.com, the announcement was made by Tetsuhiko Yasuda, managing director for Sony Computer Entertainment Asia.
He said the 60GB model will be priced at TW$17,980 (EUR 425) in Taiwan, while the 20GB version, which won't go on sale until December, will cost TW$14,980 (EUR 355).
Although Yasuda did not offer any shipment projections for Hong Kong and Taiwan, he did say that SCE intends to sell 1 million PS3 units in the territories.
Insomniac has revealed that it's full steam ahead on a Ratchet & Clank game for PlayStation 3 at the studio.
Reportedly dishing the dirt in a fan newsletter and saying the game is in "full production", the developer refused to spill further beans but did hint that more on the sequel will be unveiled soon.
Insomniac, of course, is also behind PS3 game Resistance: Fall of Man, an alternate reality-themed FPS.
After at least five hundred versions of the Dynasty Warriors Japanese army slashers on PS2, its developer is turning its attention to Europe for PS3's Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War.
Instead of playing a legendary general leading his armies to glorious victory, you'll be mucking in as a mercenary company, fighting for either the French or English as you choose (although, to be fair, we can't see too many of you picking the French without an incentive). It's possible to switch sides throughout the war, with performance on the battlefield more important than loyalty.
While Dynasty Warriors veterans should be at home with the button-hammering, combo-building combat, there'll be a little more strategy involved in using the right units in the right situations - and we're hoping for some PS3-flexing destructible castle walls in the sieges.
Currently looking a little ropey compared with the majesty of Medieval 2 on PC, Bladestorm still has plenty of time before its mid-2007 release to flick all the 'look hot' filters on. But Dynasty Warriors was never a looker - it's all about the action.
We'd known Resident Evil 5 was a fair way off, with developer and publisher Capcom deciding not to show any of the next-gen zombie-blaster at this year's Tokyo Game Show, but a recent interview with the producer of Capcom's Xbox 360 stormer Lost Planet suggests we might be lucky to see it on shelves next year.
Speaking to French gaming website Xbox Gazette, producer Jun Takeuchi explained his game's engine was being shared among several Capcom titles: "Dead Rising, Devil May Cry 4 and maybe Resident Evil 5 will be using the same engine."
That doesn't mean that you can squint at Lost Planet, imagine those are zombies running around under the Mediterranean sun, and know what to expect, though, as Takeuchi clarifies: "As for Resident Evil 5, we do plan to use the same engine but will be making a number of changes - you could say we will be tuning it to run like a GT car."
Don't be too alarmed, though, as even if Resi 5 doesn't have an engine yet, its team is likely still elbow-deep in work on it - prototyping its new features before slotting them into what will become the finished game. We'll still be itching like T-virus victims while they polish it to better-than-Resi-4 standards (is that even possible?) but we know it'll be worth the wait.
The rumor -- PlayStation 3 pre-orders sold on eBay will be cancelled by EB-Gamestop -- was a stretch when it first surfaced two days ago, and now EB-Gamestop's director of public & media relations Chris Olivera has officially debunked it. "Are we canceling pre-orders that appear on eBay? The answer to that is no," Olivera confirmed.
eBay will continue to moderate PlayStation 3 (and Wii) pre-order auctions using these guidelines:
Only one of each console can be listed per eBay account prior to the launch of the console
The seller must only accept payment through PayPal, and have at least 50 feedback with a 98% or greater positive rating so that they qualify for PayPal Buyer Protection
The pre-sale item must be listed in the 3, 5, 7 or 10-day formats, and cannot use Buy It Now
The listing must include a photo of your pre-order receipt in the description
We've obviously been having some fun with our PlayStation 3 since it turned up last week, and we thought we'd snap a few screenshots of the games we've been playing so you can join in.
First up is the MotorStorm gallery, where you can see how the game's incredibly destructible cars fall apart at high speed and how the screen gets all blurry when you're going really fast across those bumpy tracks.
Second is Ridge Racer 7, looking mighty shiny. Just look at those glistening rocks. It's sort of like racing through an angry upside down glacier.
Then of course there's Insomniac's Resistance: Fall of Man, with its alien (or is it mutant?) packed English towns that need cleansing. We're particularly proud of the man-standing-on-his-head picture.
Obviously all the code we have is preview builds and not necessarily representative of the final games yadda yadda. Watch out for more on each of the games, and some others Sony's been nice enough to give us, in the near future.
As part of its earnings announcement today, megapublisher Electronic Arts revealed the release window of two of its highest-profile games. Crysis, Crytek's hotly anticipated PC shooter, and Army of Two, the co-op actioner for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, will now both arrive after the end of EA's current fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2007.
"We have made some adjustments to our SKU plan that will move a couple of titles into fiscal 2008, specifically Army of Two and Crisis," EA chief financial officer Warren Jenson told analysts during a postearnings conference call.
During the same call, Jenson also confirmed that several sequels to EA's most important franchises are in the works. "Yes, there's a Sims 3 in development and it's likely to be a fiscal '09 title," said Jenson, meaning the game would hit stores before April 2009. The executive also confirmed that the Sims franchises will also be coming to two next-generation platforms--the Wii and the PlayStation 3.
"There is a Sims title that is being specifically developed for the Wii platform," said Jenson. "The Sims II holiday edition on PS3" is also coming, said the executive, indicating the game will arrive either in the 2006 or 2007 holiday season.
Several other new titles were unveiled during the call. "There will be another Lord of the Rings [game]... There's a new SimCity game in the pipeline and the next-generation version of Black. Those things alone are all new, relative to fiscal '07," said Jenson. It was unclear whether Jenson meant the games would arrive before the end of EA's 2007 fiscal year, or were just new to the company's financial plan for the 12-month period.
We've been sent some nice visual diagrams and a bit of blurb this morning on Virtua Tennis 3's freshly announced employment of the PS3 controller's tilt action.
You can use the tilt action to move your player (tilt the controller forward to move a sports star forward, left to move them left etc.) and also to perform a variety shots and serves - in a similar way to a tennis racquet, and without using the buttons or analogue sticks, explains Sega.
Will it be as good as Wii Sports? Let the debate begin!
EA may have dropped enough hints in its investor conference call this week to cater to every taste - from the Sims and SimCity to Road Rash, Rings and Black - but in the more immediate future the news was less positive, with both Crysis and Army of Two experiencing delays.
Crytek's first-person shooter Crysis - one of the most hotly tipped PC titles of the next 12 months - will now be released in the 12 months following the end of the present fiscal year. In other words, sometime from April onwards.
PS3 and 360 co-op curiosity Army of Two - in development at EA's Montreal studio - has also been moved back to the fiscal year beginning April 2007, although since it was always down for release in 2007 anyway it's probably not fair to describe it as a delay. Oh well. Call it karma.
Electronic Arts CFO Warren Jenson has warned that PlayStation 3 units will be hard to get hold of in the US this Christmas following the console's launch on November 17.
In a conference call Jenson said, "We're thinking that with PlayStation 3 in North America, the [shipment] range is probably 500,000 to 800,000." Sony has previously stated it plans to ship 2 million consoles to the US and Japan by the end of the year.
Jenson observed that the middle of EA's predicted range is "approximately what Microsoft sold last year on the Xbox 360" - adding, "I think from a consumer standpoint, it’s probably going to be as challenging to find a PlayStation 3 this year as it was to find an Xbox 360 last year."
EA also predicted that between 900,000 and 1.4 million Nintendo Wii units will have shipped in North America by the end of 2006. The publishing giant put the figure for Europe at between 200,000 and 900,000 units.
The bad news just keeps on coming for Blu-ray. First, Sony halved its U.S./Japanese launch shipments of its Blu-ray powered PlayStation 3, blaming a shortage of blue lasers. Then, in the last two weeks, both Sony and Pioneer delayed the releases of their new Blu-ray players, refusing to cite reasons. And this week, at Blu-ray backer LG's annual dealer show, a previously announced LG Blu-ray player was nowhere to be found. LG product development director Tim Alessi had this to say: 'we will provide an announcement when the time is right
In what is a hell of a turnaround even by Sony's standards, the beleaguered Tokyo giant has announced that it really is going to bestow the PlayStation 3 upon the peoples of Hong Kong and Taiwan on November 17 after all. It had previously stated that those countries would have to bide their time alongside our European brethren until March 2007.
The increasingly confused Alzheimer's sufferer went on to mumble something about letting the rest of Asia have their PS3 fun a week after its pals in Japan, yet still on the same day US nerds get to stand in lines for hours. Shortly after, Ken Kutaragi was seeing looking for his reading glasses underneath the cat.
You know, it's not everyday that you can knock $100 off of the US retail price on one of the hottest gaming systems in the world. But if you find yourself in Hong Kong on November 17th, you'll be able to legally acquire a PS3 (60GB) for HK$3,780 ($486), or if you prefer to wait until December, you can get a 20GB model for HK$3,180 ($408). Now US MSRPs will be in the neighborhood of $600 and $500, respectively -- so Hong Kong's getting a substantial savings, for sure.
IGN posted several photos of PlayStation 3 game cases today on their website. While as thick as both PS2 and PSP disc containers, new PS3 cases are actually shorter than the aforementioned by a good inch. But what's up with the cloudy plastic box top? Its molded void takes away from the cover design.
A Wal-Mart employee sent Joystiq what they say is the Wal-Mart playbook for the Wii and PS3 launch. Saying they received the info from the "Wal-Mart Wire" and even printed out the information to send us proof. Sadly, the tipsters email address didn't work when we went to double check the info; however, after NeoGaf's Wal-Mart ad find, we'll run with what we've got, but emphasize that it is still a rumor.
Wii:
Software and accessories are not street dated, stores can put those out upon receipt
Price is $249.24 (75 cents cheaper and matches NeoGaf poster price)
11/16, Wii product will arrive direct to Wal-Mart stores. Same day, the accessories for Wii will be set out
11/18, at 10PM, tickets will be passed out for midnight sales
Start selling Wii on 11/19 at 12:01AM
Our tipster said he had 50 Wii tickets, but the actual amount of units arriving is unknown.
PS3:
Software and accessories are not street dated, stores can put those out upon receipt
11/9, PS3 peripherals will start shipping to stores
11/11, PS3 interactives (kiosks) will be in final install stages at stores
11/14, PS3 software will start to ship
11/16, PS3 arrives in stores
At 10PM or earlier on 11/18 [sic] (we are guessing he meant to write 11/16) employees will pass out tickets for midnight sales. There are 50 tickets for PS3, but actual units arriving is unknown.
Even though we're basically on the eve of Sony's big launch of the PlayStation 3, we still had a few outstanding questions about some of the minutiae of the console. Yeah, we're dorky sticklers for detail like that. So here are a few interesting facts about the PlayStation 3 you may (or may not) be interested in knowing:
After plenty of gameplay the console is cool -- or at worst warm -- to the touch on every surface. In a side by side test with the Xbox 360, the console is comparably virtually silent, and the Blu-ray drive is significantly quieter than the 360's DVD drive.
USB keyboards and mice will be plug-n-play, no fuss at all. Who really wants to browse the web with a PlayStation controller anyway?
Bluetooth mice and keyboards will not work with the system at launch.
Any (A2DP) Bluetooth headset should theoretically work with the system, though Sony will have a recommended hardware list.
The EyeToy is the only USB webcam that will work with the system. The original PS2 EyeToy should still work with the PS3.
There are currently no plans for VGA out on the PlayStation3.
The system will not support more than seven controllers.
There are currently no plans for a cheaper, wired version of the SIXAXIS.
With its media playback software one can have in-game custom soundtracks, as with the Xbox 360, Wii, etc.
Despite rumor, Sony insists the US is still officially targeted for a 400k unit launch; Japan is still set for a mere 80k. Sony execs are actually expecting an upturn in unit production before launch, so those numbers may actually go up.
Some titles have an option to install some amount of game data (in addition to saved data) to the drive. Genji can install 4GB worth of data to decrease load times (quoted to drop from 12-15 seconds down to 3-4); this game data can be removed at any time without affecting your saved games.
The drive can be upgraded, although not on any official basis (read: YMMV, do so at your own risk, you may void warranty, etc.).
You cannot leave voice or picture messages for other users on the PlayStation Network, only text.
Sony has been on the backend of a lot of criticism surrounding the impending launch of the long-awaited PlayStation 3. From the less than impressive number of consoles going to retail on day one (only 400,000 in the USA on recent estimates) to the alleged 'Betamax 2.0' Blu-ray format, many are predicting that the PS3 will be the banana skin that will cause Sony to slip up after dominating the games industry for the last ten years.
However, in an interview with our friends over at Next-Gen.biz, Jack Tretton (executive VP in charge of making the US PS3 launch as smooth as possible) candidly reveals that he too is as concerned with the slow production of the all-important Blu-ray laser diode, the potential Achilles' heel of the PS3. "I'm like everybody else. I'm saying 'come on! Just build 'em, man! What's so complicated?' But think about what that blue laser diode has to do. It has to read audio CDs, standard DVDs, Blu-ray DVDs, PlayStation 1 games, PlayStation 2 games, and PlayStation 3 games. Six completely different formats that have nothing to do with each other and you're going to have one device that's going to read all those".
So should we be cutting Sony some slack? Tretton thinks so, stating that "We've had three very successful platform launches. We've dominated for well over a decade. It's a fair question to ask 'can Sony do it again?' but I'd love to get a little bit more benefit of the doubt". Unsurprisingly he denies that the Japanese giant will fall from grace with consumers. "Obvious!" we hear you cry, but the facts are hard to ignore: even now the PS2 is outselling the Xbox 360, five years after it was outselling its predecessor.
Next-Gen conclude the interview by cheekily asking when does Tretton think the PlayStation 3 will overtake the Xbox 360 in North America.
"The honest answer is we can't overtake them until we ship more units than they've sold. But we will ultimately accomplish our goals. Our goals aren't necessarily about overtaking Xbox 360 or overtaking Wii. It's our goal to maintain our leadership position. If there are 125 million television households in North America, we'd like to be in all of them. Right now we've made it into about one out of three so there's two out of three households that we're not in".
November 17 is crunch time for Sony: sales figures for the Holiday season will give an early indication of whether Tretton's optimism is justified or whether Sony will have to resign itself to third place behind Nintendo and Microsoft. Let battle commence!
Sony's worldwide studios boss Phil Harrison has gone on the record about his views of the PlayStation 3, concluding that the inclusion of Blu-ray may be stretching Sony too far.
In an interview with semi-official blog ThreeSpeech.com, Big Phil revealed what we've all been thinking: that Sony may have bitten off more than it can chew with the Blu-ray format. He stated "we have overreached in production of the blu-ray component - I can't deny that. But that's the price you pay for adopting brand new, leading-edge technologies that will be future proof. We will resolve those issues - we are already catching up. We will continue to catch up on the production, and as you know, we haven't changed our full-year forecast of six million units, so we're only talking about a ramp-up issue."
Harrison also addressed the last-minute inclusion of HDMI on the 20GB version of the PS3. He admitted that "the reason for the change was in reaction to a market trend, which is that much more displays are being sold with HDMI, earlier, than had been previously forecast."
He even had an answer for those of you wondering how such a change to the machine specifications can be made so close to launch time. "The criticial question," he says, "is not 'when do you start manufacturing', but 'when do you start assembly'. The HDMI port - whether it's enabled or not on the machine is an assembly issue, not a manufacturing issue. The parts have been procured, clearly, in anticipation of this announcement. It's not like we're going to make a decision of that magnitude and then call up our suppliers and say, 'oh, can we have a few more HDMI ports?' Clearly this had been well planned."
This trouble with machine production has been a constant source of Sony-bashing, with Harrison admitting that "there's no denying that we've had some very public challenges. Today, it looks like a very difficult situation - but in the weeks, months and years to come, this will pale into zero."
Bold words from Mr. Harrison, but time will tell whether Sony's bold new console will rise out of the quagmire of criticism that it has found itself in recently.
Sony's new PR boss Dave Karakker has been talking about his challenges handling publicity for the PlayStation 3, explaining how Sony will be switching things up: 'We were allowing media to drive the message for us, and interpret it for us. So allowing someone like Peter Moore, who's a good friend of mine, to stand up there and say negative things about Sony, there wasn't anybody refuting that. People just took that for face value. Now we're very aggressively defending our turf.' He also defend the lack of universal achievements on PS3: 'Frankly, how I view it is I don't care if you're great at Madden if I'm playing you in Resistance. Because that doesn't tell me you're that much better in Resistance. An overall score doesn't really tell me much, it tells me you've spent a lot of time online, it tells me you spend a lot of time playing games, but it doesn't tell me how good you are at a particular game.
The Goat Store is well known to Dreamcast Fans and the Dreamcast Community as they are supporters of Dreamcast Homebrew and have published Homebrew games as Commercial releases.
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Check out The Goat Store, emulation is good but playing on the real thing cant be beaten.
In the aftermath of the Lik Sang Closing scandal and now Play Asia also stopping PS3 Preorders/selling to Europe there must be hundreds of us who had preorders cancelled.
I had my Wii preorder cancelled and im now unsure if i should get a US or UK Wii.
Have any of you preordered with anyone else since the cancellation ?
Sony's Phil Harrison has admitted that the company "overreached" with its decision to include a Blu-ray drive in PlayStation 3.
Referring to the shortages of blue diodes that forced Sony to postpone the console's European launch until March, Harrison told GamesIndustry.biz's Rob Fahey, "we have overreached in production of the Blu-Ray component - I can't deny that".
"But that's the price you pay for adopting brand new, leading-edge technologies that will be future proof. We will resolve those issues - we are already catching up."
"We will continue to catch up on the production, and as you know, we haven't changed our full-year forecast of six million units [by March 2007], so we're only talking about a ramp-up issue. We're not talking about the fundamental design of the product itself," he added.
"There's no denying that we’ve had some very public challenges," he had said. "Today, it looks like a very difficult situation - but in the weeks, months and years to come, this will pale into zero."
Speaking as part of an interview being serialised on Sony's semi-official Three Speech blog, Harrison also addressed the issue of HDMI's late inclusion in the lower-end PlayStation 3, the 20GB model.
"The reason for the change was in reaction to a market trend, which is that much more displays are being sold with HDMI, earlier, than had been previously forecast. Not just Sony, but all the other TV manufacturers," he said.
"Although we didn't say it at E3, I think that the unspoken assumption was that we would always merge everything into HDMI eventually. We just made that decision earlier."
Electronic Arts' racing franchise Need for Speed once again debuts at the top of the UK All Formats Charts, with latest offering Carbon claiming pole position with a lead over its nearest rival of just over 1000 units.
Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 6, last week's number one, sits behind at number two in the charts, with FIFA 07 and The Sims 2: Pets at number three and four, respectively.
Rockstar's Canis Canem Edit fails to climb the charts, staying at number five, while the publisher's PSP title Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories makes its debut at number six.
Falling down the charts are Sega's Football Manager 2007 at number seven and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent at eight.
The only other new entry in the top ten is THQ's expansion pack Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade at number nine, which sits ahead of VU Games' Scarface: The World is Yours at ten.
The other new entries in the top forty are Atari's Neverwinter Nights 2 at number 14, Activision's multi-format Marvel Ultimate Alliance at number 24 and Atari's Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenaichi at number 29.
Sony has criticised Microsoft's just-announced TV and movie download action for Xbox Live Marketplace for requiring a hard drive to take advantage of the service - or in other words, it's not a feature that's available to owners of an Xbox 360 Core system unless they fork out for an HDD.
"PlayStation 3's content is designed for everyone to enjoy right out of the box, no matter which configuration you purchase. We would never segregate or shut out any of our consumers from our entertainment experience because they didn't buy the top of the line system. Both PlayStation 3 versions available on November 17 include hard drives for downloading content," a Sony spokesperson said in a statement appearing on Next-Gen.biz.
We've contacted Microsoft for an official response to this but so far have had nothing back. If we do hear anything, we'll let you know right here.
Here's a quick blast to let you know that PS3films.com has been updated with a new video focusing on the high definition aspects of Sony's next-gen console.
We could waffle on for a little bit longer about the video, which shows the likes of an exploding house interior quickly followed by tranquillity - zebras eating grass and a giraffe chewing leaves - but we'll just shut up and let you watch it for yourself.
The PlayStation 3 may be a few months off yet in Europe, but the third-party elements of the launch line-up are starting to take shape.
According to reports, Activision has confirmed that Call of Duty 3, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and Tony Hawk's Project 8 will all be around for the European launch in March, just as they are in the US.
Other publishers have previously said to expect their launch line-ups to translate to Europe too, with Ubisoft in particular noting that Blazing Angels and Rainbow Six: Vegas will be released here whenever the PS3 materialises. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which Ubisoft co-publishes, will also appear then.
Other third-party titles on the cards for the US launch include Fight Night Round 3, Madden, Need For Speed Carbon and Tiger Woods from EA, Full Auto 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog from SEGA, NBA 2K7 and NHL 2K7 from 2K Sports, and Ridge Racer 7 from Namco Bandai, although the latter is more likely to be published by Sony in Europe.
Gamers this weekend were quick to react when forums lit up with news that Best Buy's online store was accepting preorders for Sony's PlayStation 3 game console, due to go on sale November 17.
Unfortunately, those who completed the online preorder form this weekend discovered today that their actions were for naught. The retailer sent those consumers notice that their preorders were being "cancelled."
"Thank you for your recent visit to BestBuy.com," today's e-mail began. "Unfortunately, your preorder for the PlayStation 3 gaming system will be cancelled."
Stating that its online store system "was not intended to take preorders on the PlayStation 3 gaming system," the company said any gamer who managed to preorder a console would not be charged.
Accept Bank T.T. or Paypal payment only.
Release Date: 11-11-06
Japan, 20Gb Version
3 Games included:
Ridge Racer 7 Jap ver, Genji Days of the Blade Jap ver, Gundam Target in Sight Jap ver
Release Date: 11-11-06
Japan, 60Gb HDD Version
3 Games included:
Ridge Racer 7 Jap ver, Genji Days of the Blade Jap ver, Gundam Target in Sight Jap ver
An advert has been put up in a central London train station boldly proclaiming "PlayStation 3--Order now for Christmas" with a phone number in red underneath beginning with the prefix 0906, the equivalent of a 1-900 in the states. Above the number is a photo of the console and controller, against a background of seasonal snowflakes...and some fine print at the bottom reading, "Calls cost £1.50 per minute."
Brits desperate enough to get their hands on the next-gen console ahead of its official European release date in March will find themselves with an approximately £7.50 (around $14) phone charge for the four-and-a-half-minute call.
The recorded message starts by telling callers that the order line is owned and run by a sole proprietor company called Mastercash. Under British law, sole proprietor companies do not have to officially register their information with Companies House, whereas limited companies do. The address given for the company is in Merseyside, and GameSpot traced it to a self-catering apartment building, which describes itself as "luxury short break, holiday and corporate accommodation on the Liverpool waterfront."
The female voice on the recording goes on to inform potential customers that this phone line service will give British consumers possibly their only chance to get their hands on a PS3 for Christmas--and explains the situation to anyone who doesn't already know. "The official release date for the PS3 is November 17, 2006," the recording says. "But the official release date in the UK has for some reason been pushed back to March 2007. With the PS3 being so popular, the supplies the shops do get are expected to have been preordered and sold out on the same day."
The voice then explains that because of this, the PS3 Mastercash will be delivering will therefore be either a Japanese or an American console, but will come with a UK power supply and all other relevant cables. This aspect of the deal seems particularly dodgy, as Sony has previously made its intentions to sue any companies "grey importing" the new PS3 console very clear indeed.
The caller is then asked to leave his or her details, including a contact phone number and a mailing address so that the company can them call back, "to make you aware of the package content and options of additional games and accessories, along with all pricing info." The voice then adds that a caller's order is in no way binding, and that Mastercash reserves the right to cancel any or all orders "at any time it sees fit to do so." Naturally, all orders are also subject to availability.
0906 numbers are premium numbers in the UK and can be bought for prices beginning at £49. Companies can then choose from a variety of different tariffs, ranging from 10p (the owner gets .25p) a minute, through to the most expensive charge offered, £1.50 a minute, of which the owner will pocket £1.03 directly.
GameSpot contacted Sony for comment and a spokesperson said that the company would be looking into the ads.
This summer Sony created a training website for Canadian Wal Mart employees. The access codes got leaked when a store visitor saw a manager put up internal documents around the store.
After logging in, Sony marketing spin quotes can be found while employees read, learn & test their PS3 knowledge. Here’s the real gem:
“Welcome to your PS3 Retail Online Training. We trust that you will find the following information valuable and assist you in understanding and explaining PS3 Technology to your customers and staff. … The Cell Processor is essentially as powerful as 3 Xbox 360 CPU’s or 35 PlayStation® 2 CPU’s”
PS3 is going to be a revolutionary system in many ways and as of late, most have been focusing on the SIXAXIS, the Cell, and the incredible graphics. Well you might want to watch out for the Eyetoy and what comes with it because you'll be amazed as to what it can do. Here's a little preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L17O43X39cg
Next-gen shots of the mech action shooter for PS3 and Xbox 360
Check these screens out - if the game looks anything like this when it finally launches in spring next year, we'll be impressed.
Armored Core 4 (yes, Armored without the 'u') is the latest in the series of mech-based shooters developed by FromSoftware - the guys responsible for ChromeHounds on Xbox 360.
From the looks of it, the game will let players battle their spectacularly large fighting robots in an icy arctic-like setting, a futuristic city full of skyscrapers, and even over the open sea.
ChromeHounds looked nice, but its slow-moving robots lacked excitement. Hopefully, these jet-powered mechs in AC4 will provide more of a thrill.
Every game on the PlayStation 3 will use the same universal sign-in and the same online ID, Sony has confirmed - even titles which do not use the central buddy list and messaging systems offered by the console.
Speaking to our sister site this morning, the UK producer on launch title Resistance, Dan Brooke, said that he "wishes to be clear that Resistance uses the PlayStation online ID to sign into the game. There is no separate login for Resistance and the online ID you create will be the same you use for all titles."
The clarification comes after Ted Price, head of Resistance developer Insomniac Games, revealed last week that despite having extensive online functionality, the game will not be using the central buddy list offered by the PS3; instead, players will build an in-game buddy list unique to the game.
Resistance is also set to offer advanced community features such as clan support, party support, match-making and ranking. At present the PlayStation 3 operating system does not offer centralised support for these features.
However, contrary to some reports which have appeared in recent weeks, gamers will not be expected to sign up new accounts for each game they play, as the PS3 will handle a single sign-in ID for this purpose.
This system is similar to how online games worked on the PlayStation 2, where users had a single Central Station ID which identified them in every game on the system - although unlike the PS2, the PS3's network adapter is built in and configures itself automatically in most network environments, and the system boasts persistent internal storage for network and sign-in details, as well as for downloaded content.
However, the PS3's service still falls significantly short of Microsoft's highly regarded Xbox Live system, whose voice chat, messaging, buddy lists and so on are not only a core part of the service, but are utilised by all online titles on the console.
Atari founder Nolan Bushnell points out that PS and PS2 got lucky with their release, 'It wasn't anything brilliant that they did. With the PS and PS2 it was timing. They had the right pricing at the right time [and were] almost the accidental winner.' But he seeing things this time around different 'It would not surprise me if a year from now they'll be struggling to sell 1 million units.
New Wireless keyboard that works on PS3 and Xbox 360 has been released, heres the details:
features
RF wireless keyboard
Japanese keyboard style
2 meter operating distance
Officially licensed accessory
Ideal for online gaming, such as Final Fantasy XI and others
"Devoted reader Jonathan "I'm not the lead singer of Korn" Davis risked life and limb to get us this shot. Three of the hardest of the hardcore (or least sane of the hardcore, you decide) already have their mushy butts in line at a Burbank, California Best Buy, prepared to be the first through the doors when the PlayStation 3 goes on sale next Friday. Nine days from now. Looks like the rest of you can skip this location.
Still, if you're going to be in line for over nine days, you had better have the right supplies. Plastic penguin? Check. Lawn chairs? Yup. Toilets? Those potted plants will do.
The dream of scoring a PS3 at retail seems less and less like reality as the days pass. Thanks again, Jonathan"
3 guys are already camping, and the console only gets released in 9 DAYS!
I wonder if one of them is Video_freak, he is also from Bay Area
Genji: Days of the Blade get a 6.4 and Tony Hawk's Project 8 gets 7.3, not great scores. But the interesting thing is the Xbox 360 version of Tony Hawk's Project 8 gets 7.9!
......frame-rate problems hit the PlayStation 3 version of the game significantly harder than the Xbox 360. Other than the choppy frame rate and slightly sharper graphics on the PlayStation 3, some of which is only noticeable when using an HDMI cable on a high-end HDTV, the games look roughly the same. But there are other, more significant differences between the two versions. The Xbox 360 version has online support for up to eight players, including a new game mode called walls, which gives your skater a tall trail behind him that behaves sort of like the light cycles in Tron--if you hit another player's wall, you're out. The Xbox 360 version also uses its online support to present a lot of different online leaderboards. Much like Amped 3, many of the different goals in the game have their own individual leaderboard, which adds some competition to the single-player game and gives you a reason to keep on playing the same goals again and again. Without this, the PS3 version feels sort of flat by comparison.
The PlayStation 3 version of the game distinguishes itself by offering complete support for the Sixaxis controller's motion-sensing abilities. You can set it to just control functions like balancing, if you like, or you can move and execute tricks with it, as well. It works, but it lacks the precision offered by the D pad, so it's a neat experiment that's pretty good at showing off what the Sixaxis is capable of, but you probably wouldn't want to play through the game this way. The PlayStation 3 version also installs a 264MB cache file onto the system's hard drive when you first put the game in your system. Presumably, this is done to help speed up loading, but the load times don't seem much better than the Xbox 360 version of the game. If you're in a position where you have to choose between the two versions of the game, the Xbox 360 version offers a more complete package.....
Early days of course, but still a nice early battle win for Xbox360, in the next gen war.
Electronic Arts has decided not to pursue its plan to port NBA Live 07 to PlayStation 3, deciding instead to focus on the upcoming next-generation version of NBA Street.
That's according to EA Canada PR Manager David Tinson, who told IGN that the developer is "concentrating [its] efforts on creating a spectacular NBA Street: Homecourt". That title is due out on PS3 and 360 "early next year", he added.
In other words, basketball fans will have to wait until the release of NBA Live 08 before the series takes its PS3 bow.
That comes as a bit of a surprise, not least because Sony actually had EA demonstrate the game during its E3 2006 press conference, where Live was one of the few games shown off in playable demo form.
Not that the PS3 will suffer from a dearth of EA titles at launch, with Fight Night Round 3, Need For Speed Carbon, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 and of course Madden NFL 07 down for release in the US on 17th November.
With just over a week to go before the PlayStation 3 launches in North America, SCEA boss Kaz Hirai has confirmed that there will be no change to the price point of the system - despite the cut announced to the Japanese price in September.
"We are very comfortable with the pricing we have announced," Hirai told news agency Reuters this week, going on to claim that Sony has had "tremendous support" from retailers regarding the price point.
That means that when the PS3 appears in North America on November 17th - six days after the Japanese launch this weekend - it will be priced at $499 for the 20GB model, and $599 for the 60GB model.
There has been an undercurrent of speculation over the pricing of the 20GB model ever since PlayStation boss Ken Kutaragi announced a significant price cut to the Japanese 20GB model at the Tokyo Game Show in September. In Japan, that version will now retail for 49,980 Yen - around $425.
However, the other change to the 20GB model which was announced by Kutaragi at TGS will benefit US consumers, as the HDMI video connector - which had originally been for the 60GB PS3 only - will be included on the 20GB version of the console in all territories.
The US is also getting a better deal than Japan in terms of availability of the system, with 400,000 units of the PS3 due to ship to US retailers for November 17th, while Japan will see only 80,000 units in stores this Saturday.
Reuters has some last minute discussion on the high price of the PS3, as well as their plans for shipping 2 million units by December. From the article:
"'We are very comfortable with the pricing we have announced and have gotten tremendous support from retailers for that price point,' Hirai said on the sidelines of the Dow Jones VentureWire Consumer Technology Conference. 'So it is full steam ahead with the pricing of $499 and $599.'"
Just as the long-awaited PlayStation 3 games consoles go on sale in Japan this Saturday, Sony will also be offering the first software update. The firmware update, offered as a free download, adds support for the PlayStation Network online service."
From the article:
"In late November the company also plans to offer a firmware update for its PlayStation Portable (PSP) games device. The update will bump the firmware to version 3.0 and add PlayStation Network support. With the new firmware in both devices the PSP will be able to access contents stored on the PlayStation 3 via a wireless LAN connection using a system Sony has dubbed 'Remote Play.' It will also make it possible to purchase and download PSP games content."
PlayStation2™:
Area 51 JPN US$ 64.90
I's Pure JPN US$ 64.90
Mai-Kinoto Hime JPN US$ 64.90
Mai-Kinoto Hime [Limited Edition] JPN N/A
New Jinsei Game (PlayStation2 the Best) JPN US$ 39.90
Okami (English language Version) KOR US$ 59.90
Okami (Japanese language Version) KOR US$ 59.90
SSX On Tour (EA Best Hits) JPN US$ 34.90
Simple 2000 Series Ultimate Vol. 33: Ururun Quest JPN US$ 25.90
Simple 2000 Series Ultimate Vol. 34: Sakigake!! Otokojuku JPN US$ 25.90
More supply of the Mai-Kinoto Hime [Limited Edition] is confirmed to arrive on or before Monday.
Nintendo DS™:
Black Jack: Hi no Tori Hen JPN US$ 48.90
Elite Beat Agents US US$ 39.90
Konductra US US$ 39.90
Me de Unou wo Kitaeru: DS Sokudoku Jutsu JPN US$ 29.90
Mezase! Shoujo Manga Ka! Chao Manga School JPN US$ 48.90
Scurge: Hive US US$ 39.90
Touch Detective US US$ 39.90
Zaidan Houjin Nippon Kanji Nouryoku Kentei Kyoukai Koushiki Soft: 200 Mannin no KanKen: Tokoton Kanji Nou JPN US$ 39.90
Sony PSP™:
BattleZone US US$ 39.90
Death Jr. II: Root of Evil US US$ 39.90
Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony US
