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While Sony has taken steps to ensure that the PlayStation 3 will be the longest-lived of current- gen machines, some developers can’t wait to get their hands on the next slab of hardware.
Speaking at the Game Convention Asia event, Crytek President and CEO Cevat Yerli has declared that the PlayStation 4’s specifications will shape all subsequent Crytek projects. Those specifications have to be announced first, obviously - anybody care to predict a shipping date?
"Frankly, we are linking ourself to what the PS4 will take up as [its hardware] position," Yerli told IGN. "That is the console makeup that will drive all our research, so we cannot wait to know what the [machine] will be about. That’s probably the most important missing information we have right now in our company."
Crytek tends to ask rather a lot of its hardware, with the formidable Crysis virtually unplayable on maximum settings whatever your PC setup. Small wonder then that they’re eager to get their hands on the latest tech. [PSU]

I missed out on the cushy, well-received home activation process enjoyed by pretty much every first gen iPhone user. Instead, I waited in line for my iPhone 3G, waited some more, and then waited some more as the AT&T store employees told us about a hundred times that iTunes was kaput. Eventually, I was sent home to wait until the system was ready. On that note, here’s some good news for future iPhone 3G buyers: The critically acclaimed home activation process could be returning soon.

AppleInsider cites Apple Store employees as the source of the rumor. Apparently, a new "Home" option (currently inactive) appears in their EasyPay system when they make an iPhone 3G sale. As the 8GB model runs dry on store shelves, there’s also indications a 32GB model could appear fairly soon to replace it, and match the iPod Touch. [AppleInsider via Gizmodo]

PS3Life is a website with a lot of inside contacts. Today they reported that an anonymous source linked to the Sony camp told PS3Life that Sony wants to release Home and  LittleBigPlanet simultaneously.

A source linked to the Sony camp, that was anonymous, today said that they know that Sony intends Home and LittleBigPlanet to launch simultaneously. So they want Home, which predominates hype is a bit over the top is going, as well as possible out of the starting blocks to shoot.
Naturally, the two releases mutual links. Home LittleBigPlanet example, a cream containing advanced level building where you can find out tips on LittleBigPlanet level editor.

[PS3Life via Google Translate]

Tom Crago, the CEO of Tantalus and the president of the Game Developers’ Association of Australia, yesterday gave an overview of the Australian game development industry at GC Asia 2008, and IGN was there to nab a few little tidbits on L.A. Noire, the Rockstar-published game being developed out of Team Bondi in Sydney. No one has heard anything on the title for some time, but Crago confirmed that "it’s got - I’d suggest - another year or so to go". He also mentioned that it "could be the biggest budget videogame in development anywhere in the world. It would certainly… in terms of console titles, be in the top ten… LA Noire is a massive massive project."
And last, but by no means least, he mentioned that the game is coming to PS3 and 360 - up until now the title has only been confirmed for PS3. We’ll let you know as soon as we can get independent confirmation from either Team Bondi or Rockstar.
Mr Crago also spoke of L.A. Noire’s importance to the Australian development industry, saying that: "It’s one that we hold huge hopes for. It has been said about Australia that we’ve not been that successful putting out a title that really has set the world on fire; a big budget title that’s sold multiple million copies and that has really put us on the map as a hub for videogame development. There are plenty of people who are hoping that L.A. Noire will be that title." [IGN]

One Day Early – and Then Some
Because of today’s Bungie.net release, we’re releasing the Weekly Update a day early.
Title Update Zwei
Title Update 2 will download when you log in to Halo 3 on September 23rd. Smart alecky types guessed it would be either today (the 18th) or the 23rd as we make a habit of doing our updates on pretty particular days. If you poke around you’ll see that some stuff has changed here on Bungie.net, some of that stuff will flick on when TU2 turns on next week, and some of it is Live now.
When TU2 goes live next week we fully expect a crazy period in Matchmaking. See, there will be a period after TU2 goes live where not everyone will have the Title Update for a number of weird reasons like: You left your box on and the TU came out so folks who turn their boxes on are getting the new patch and you’re playing the previous version of the game; Your Xbox doesn’t recognize a new patch (clear your boxes’ cache - Go to the System blade and select Memory. Press Y on the HD symbol and then press X, X, LB, RB, X, X. If you did this properly a message will appear saying: Do you want to perform maintenance on your Xbox 360 storage device. Selet the "yes" equivalent and then boot up Halo 3) or any number of other weird issues like the host has TU2 and the client doesn’t or the client has TU2 and the host is on TU1, it’s going to be a bit like the end of Ghostbusters, but we promise, that even though it seems like Matchmaking has fallen into the gaping maw of cement cracks - it will climb out.
We expect all of these issues to resolve within four or five hours of TU2 going live. We will be watching it closely. [Bungie]

With weeks of hardware shortages behind it, a lower price point, a new hardware package, and a major Square Enix release, the Xbox 360 surged to the top of the console race for the week covering September 8 through September 14.

Data provided by Enterbrain via Famitsu.com has the 360 at 28,681 units for the week. This was a major leap over the previous week, during which the system had managed just 843 units.

The tracking period covers the September 11 release of a new 60 gigabyte 360 package. In addition to replacing the 20 gigabyte model, this new package drops the price down 5,000 yen to 29,800 yen. Microsoft simultaneously dropped the price of the Arcade and Elite systems to, respectively, 19,800 and 39,800 yen, and heavily promoted Square Enix’s Infinite Undiscovery, released the same day.

Coinciding with the 360’s surge, the Wii took somewhat of a downward turn, ending up with 27,057 units for the week. PS3 managed 8,050 units. All this worked to make the 360 the lead console platform for the first time since its launch.

Total domestic system sales for the 360 have crossed the 717,275 unit mark, Entebrain also reported.

The firm also reported first week sales of 86,708 units for Infinite Undiscovery. While not as high as first week sales of Tales of Vesperia, this is in the upper ranks of 360 software. [Andriasang]

Well as we all know the recent price drop on the XBOX 360 basically makes it the cheapest next-gen console on the market, even cheaper than the Wii (the arcade version). This means that the PS3 is the most expensive console right now on the market and what does that mean for Sony? It means a disaster. People do not want to pay for expensive things, especial gaming systems. Yes, the PS3 may be more than a gaming system, but the consumers don’t want to pay a premium for something that will be cheaper latter on in its life span. So what can Sony do to get them out of this hole that they are in for the holiday season? Well its not as simple as cutting the price tag to something cheaper. Sony has already said that they will not be lowering the price any more this year, so that is out of the question. Well what else can they do beside bring out quality games that they hope that will push the system out the retailers doors? Well they will have to do a couple of things to get to that point where the consumer will take the PS3 home.

Read the rest of this entry »

The US PlayStation Blog has just confirmed that WipEout HD will be headed to the North American PSN store on September 25, priced at the previously announced USD 19.99.
With only 10 days to go until the US launch, we’re still yet to hear anything official for other territories, although hopefully those announcements will follow in the next few days.
In the meantime, have a nice list of confirmed features to look forward to:
- Full HD (1080p) Visuals
- 5 Game Modes - Single Race, Tournament, Time Trial, Speed Lap and Zone Mode
- Online play that supports up to 8 racers competing on a track at a time
- 2-player split screen (horizontally and vertically) offline
- 8 reversible tracks and 12 teams
- Optional use of SIXAXIS motion controls to steer your ship
- Dolby 5.1 soundtrack, custom playlists
- Trophy support [PSU]

Tucked away in Gametrailers TV’s latest episode: The announcement that Duke Nukem 3D hits  Xbox Live Arcade on Sept. 24. This isn’t an official Microsoft announcement — 3D Realms reminds you to watch Major Nelson’s blog for the official confirmation — so there’s a chance that date may move. No word on how many points it will cost; 3D says that has to come from Microsoft itself. [Kotaku]

Duke Nukem 3D to Arrive Sept. 24 [3D Realms via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Mozilla is set to become the latest company to add an optional “privacy browsing” feature its web browser.
The company said that it would be including a privacy mode in the upcoming version of the Firefox browser. Nicknamed “porn mode” the feature prevents the browser from downloading cookies or writing to the browser’s cache or web history.
The privacy mode option is already available in Apple’s Safari browser as well as Google’s Chrome. Microsoft plans to implement it in the upcoming version of Internet Explorer.
Aside from hiding one’s less-savory browsing habits, the feature is also of particular use for those who on public computers which may be shared with strangers, as it can prevent others from seeing such things as bank sites visited or other potentially sensitive information.
The privacy browsing mode is set to debut in the beta versions of Firefox 3.1 scheduled for its first release some time next month.
View: The full story @ vnunet