Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
Ever thought your PS3 was a bit ... bland? A bit boring? We're talking about the aesthetic quality of the box itself, not its functions or features. Frankly, we don't find ourselves staring at the machine long enough to really notice, but if you do then there are many ways that you can remedy the situation.
Gamestop is, from November 1st, offering a new Assassin's Creed skin. For a few weeks this will allow you to almost imagine that you have the game. "I have Assassin's Creed on PS3" you'll be able to say, without technically lying. The skin includes stickers which attach to the top and bottom of the PS3, so if you have your console sitting horizontally (as you should, really) then half of this skin just became moot. We're hoping that the stickers don't stay on permanently so that once the Assassin's Creed hype dies down you aren't stuck looking like you're stuck in the past.
Posted Oct 16th 2007 3:30PM by Andrew Yoon Filed under: News
The PlayStation Holiday event in Canada featured a number of third party publishers, such as Rockstar. Although they were focused primarily on Manhunt 2, inquiring members of the press had to find out something new about Grand Theft Auto IV. Well, it appears that Gaming Excellence succeeded. The development team is considering having an open world from the very start of the game, breaking the long-running tradition of restricting player's freedom at first. Considering how massive the world of GTA IV will be, would that immediate openness become too daunting?
More excitingly, however, is the addition of 16 player online multiplayer. Fans of the PSP Grand Theft Auto games know that GTA multiplayer can be quite fun, due to its variety of weapons and vehicles. More than simple deathmatch is planned, and that has us quite excited.
Posted Oct 16th 2007 2:45PM by Andrew Yoon Filed under: News
Take this as even further confirmation that the 40GB PS3 is coming. Scheduled to be in stock on 10/28, the new PS3 is ringing up at a nice $399.99. Add a Spider-man 3 Blu-ray disc, remove PS2 support, and you have one of the least surprising price drops ever. Sony won't "officially" announce this yet, of course -- there's just too many 60GB systems lying around.
The PlayStation Eye is almost here. The Eye of Judgment will be available in Europe and America next week - make sure you check back later this week for our pre-release impressions - and the Eye will be available in the box. If, however, you don't fancy the potentially excellent collectible card video game then the PlayStation Eye will be available on its lonesome on November the 7th. For £24.99 you get the camera itself along with a disc containing EyeCreate (Eye of Judgment purchasers will be able to download EyeCreate for free from the PSN Store).
More content for the PlayStation Eye is also being made available this month, with Operation Creature Feature, Trials of Topoq and Aqua Vita being made available sometime within the next two weeks. Add in the ability to video chat with other PS3 users, that's a ridiculously low price for an already decent amount of content.
While it may be common knowledge to some, it still appears that a problem arises every now and then about utilizing surge protectors and what that does to the warranty of your electronics. Some electronics do, in fact, void their warranty if you admit to using a surge protector. User Danjak over at the PlayStation Forums found that out the hard way, even though he or she still managed to get by Sony's inquisitive staff and retain coverage.
See, surge protectors generally come with very large amounts of coverage for your electronics, because if something happens to them, blame will probably be placed on the surge protector (just bear with us, this seems logical). That's why surge protectors have such large warranty coverages -- because they generally have to deal with replacing electronics that go bad whilst plugged into them. So, ladies and gentlemen, in case you didn't know, either don't use a surge protector for your PS3 or bother the makers of the surge protector if something goes awry. Or lie, whichever is easiest for you. We'd prefer you choose one of the first two options.
The line that separates the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 continues to grow thinner. Just recently, rumors sprouted that Microsoft has plans for a Home-style service, similar to that of the PS3's. And now, it seems, Sony is preparing to launch video and music distribution, which has been present on the 360 for a while now.
"We are building a software infrastructure to distribute video and music, more particularly video, through the PlayStation Network," Sony chief executive Howard Stringer recently said. While he gave no confirmation when we should expect such a service, he did say Sony plans to incorporate the PSP into the fray, as well.
"That is a Japanese and American combined effort to build a platform around a common software architecture to distribute video via the PlayStation network into the [PSP handhelds] and beyond," he said."We are trying to get our devices to talk to each other efficiently. PlayStation Network should migrate from gadget to gadget." If Sony can successfully make a no-hassle transfer of downloaded movies from the PS3 to the PSP, it definitely has the potential to be more compelling than its rival.
Posted Oct 16th 2007 8:45AM by Andrew Yoon Filed under: News
And the price drop is the cause. Since releasing the 40GB model and reducing the price of the 60GB one, sales have skyrocketed, besting even the Xbox 360. However, the PS3 was unable to trounce upon the sales leaders, Wii and DS.
With the recent surge in popularity of the PS3, games like Resistance have been climbing up the all formats chart. Insomniac's year-old FPS is now the eight best selling game in the territory.
Soccer is awesome and its console gaming equivalent, Pro Evolution Soccer, can be touted as equally awesome for the football (if you're anything but American) enthusiast . So, how did development go with this title? IGN asks Shingo Takatsuka, known as Seabass, just that.
While claiming this year's PES the best yet, Seabass already has new ideas to work out for next year's game. In essence, this should make every year to come the best PES yet.
As for weak points in the development process/team, Seabass says that "the way we create the game is almost the same as when we made the SNES games. We've been creating games in the same manner for many years and in that sense it's good for upgrading AI and so on. However, if we want to dramatically improve the graphics and add hundreds of new stadiums and so on the SNES way of making a game cannot be applied." He also implies next year's game will be different from this approach, so think what you will.
The workload has been difficult across all platforms, not just programming for the PS3. It's refreshing to see a developer not jumping at the chance to claim the PS3 is hard to work with.
The PS3 and 360 games are going to be exactly the same, though Seabass admits he isn't sure why the PS3 version experiences some slowdown when the 360 does not. His guess is as good as ours, but we doubt it's the console.
You can dive in the game now, although it's not a do-or-die skill to learn, it will help you out if you master the timing.
It's more technical than anything else, but it seems that aside from a bit of slowdown, PS3 fans have something to get excited for, as long as soccer is their cup of tea. If you don't have a PS3, the game is going to continue to get released on the PS2 for a while, so no worries. Sports games are probably going to be the last titles to truly jump into next-gen development, because we all know they love releasing on every platform known to man.
You might remember the muscular, grapplin' hook armed badass from the old NES game of the same name, but Bionic Commando is finally making a return to consoles with a new PS3 and 360 version, as part of Capcom's big series of explosive announcements. Instead of searching for "Super Joe" and destroying Hitler with a rocket launcher, you'll play a more recognizable role with a deceptively familiar premise. You are Nathan Spencer, framed for a number of crimes by your superiors after doggedly fighting for their cause in a conflict against the Imperials. On your day of execution, the city is obliterated and your superiors reluctantly turn to you for help, because as luck would have it, that bionic grappling hook arm of yours is exactly what they need.
The game will sport mechanics similar to those found in the critically panned Dawn of Mana, that is, you use your grappling hook like the whip in the aforementioned game, grabbing onto things, swinging them around, or whatever, in addition to propelling yourself across levels. The project itself is being touted as an international affair, sporting the minds of a Japanese creative advisor, American producer, and the Swedish studio GRIN will all be involved. We look forward to more information to the return of this classic franchise, but if this wasn't Capcom's big announcement, what will be?
Remember early 2006? The PS3 was still in development, and people were curious about all the new things PS3 would bring to the gaming community. People were excited for the XMB navigation system, where they'd have access to all the features of the PS3 in one easy-to-understand menu.
Fast forward a few months and now we see restless fans waiting for in-game XMB access. People want to access the XMB's features without having to quit a game -- but wait! We're watching this IGN video from 2006 ... and it clearly shows the XMB being accessed! (Watch at around 2:30 in the video.)
What happened Sony? In-game XMB was the plan all along, but nearly a year after the console's launch, why is this feature still missing?
Students from UC Irvine and Dartmouth college have netted themselves the $10,000 prize at IBM's Cell Broadband Engine Professor University Challenge on September 24. By connecting three PlayStation 3s together the team have emulated functions of the human brain - specifically, visual recognition algorithms. While other gaming platforms had substantial lag when performing visual recognition tasks, the PS3 lowered that to only a second of thinking time in order to recognise an object.
This marks only the beginning of the group's research into utilising artificial brain algorithms for use in robots, cars and other machines. Recreating the human brain, curing cancer - what can't the PS3 do? Maybe one day it'll even have some games to play. We kid, we kid ...
In an interview with Gamasutra, Ryan Payton of Kojima Productions gives some information about the development process of Metal Gear Solid 4. Extraordinarily, over two hundred people are currently on the development team for the game, making it one of the largest single teams working in one place on a single gaming project. This bodes well for the game but, if so many people really are working on it, then why did it get delayed until 2008?
Nevermind - all that is water under the bridge now. We're just glad to see that the game is getting the developmental attention it deserves. Payton also hints at some DualShock 3 innovations being used in the game that "people are going to really dig." This is no surprise - Kojima has always been a big fan of using rumble imaginatively, ever since Metal Gear Solid 1.
Some of you may have heard rumblings about this obscure Killzone 2 title -- we're not sure, it hasn't really gotten much attention from the press, but apparently it's being touted as one step ahead of all other console games in terms of next-gen technology. From an excerpt in the Official PlayStation Magazine UK: " ... the fact that Helghan is such an inhospitable hole, should mean that the game looks drab. The fact it doesn't is down to an array of visual tricks, the most important of which is deferred rendering, which involves blending the effect of light sources on an object... it makes the city look incredibly dynamic with light and shadow changing constantly as a result of muzzle flashes, burning wreckage and jags of lighting."
In addition to those fancy bits of techno-babble, the firefights and ferocity of the situation the gamer is placed in seem to really draw a from a different well inside of our minds, causing the whole FPS experience to seem fresh and exciting. Those are our words, but they get the idea across rather well. In conclusion, OPM states that Killzone 2 "is genuinely a notch ahead of anything being done on consoles right now." We're glad to hear these glowing impressions, but we'd like to get our grubby mitts on it before every other game coming out on consoles catches up with this one in terms of technical prowess.
Signs are pointing to a November 2nd launch of the price (and feature) reduced 40GB PS3. However, where is the buzz? Why is there no official confirmation from SCEA? "These rolling announcements suggest to me that Sony has an inventory control problem, with too many unsold 60GB units out there, and they don't want to have to cut the price to clear them," Wedbush Morgan securities analyst Michael Pachter told GI.biz.
Certainly, it appears that 60GB machines are still in ample supply in spite of Sony's proclamation that the system is no longer being manufactured. Are the systems selling at an even slower rate than anticipated? Seemingly. However, what will happen when November 2nd rolls along, and 60GB systems are still in stock? Sony will have to "accept reality and bundle [the 60GB with] a game and an extra controller for USD 499.99, giving consumers some value for their money." However, in spite of a price drop, it appears that Pachter is not confident that a price drop will significantly increase sales for Sony's system. What price must the PS3 reach for it to appeal to the masses?
The incredible power of PS3 can be used to bring some of Earth's most beautiful environments and creatures to your home. For example, the mysterious upcoming title Afrika looks to be quite the visual feast (HD trailer, after the cut). We don't know much about the game, or how it plays. However, we know the game will help us learn more about this unique environment. With it, we may be able to understand even more why so many people are working to try and save this ecosystem, and the animals in it.
We know almost nothing about the upcoming Aquavita as well -- but we do know this much: it's going to be an Eye-enabled title. With the camera, the PS3 can become a virtual aquarium. Once again, it looks stunning, almost real. But it's not meant to be a replacement for the real thing. Once again, this environment faces real threats on a daily basis, and it's up to activist organizations to help protect the various aquatic ecosystems.
As beautiful as both Afrika and Aquavita are shaping up to be, let's hope it serves as a reminder as to how precious our Earth is. A simple screening of Planet Earth on Blu-ray will turn anyone into an environmentalist. Yeah, the Earth looks great in 1080p -- but imagine how good it looks in real life. PS3 owners have tons of ways of appreciating the environment -- but will they take action to help protect it?
Signs are pointing to a November 2nd launch of the price (and feature) reduced 40GB PS3. However, where is the buzz? Why is there no official confirmation from SCEA? "These rolling announcements suggest to me that Sony has an inventory control problem, with too many unsold 60GB units out there, and they don't want to have to cut the price to clear them," Wedbush Morgan securities analyst Michael Pachter told 
