The other day when I was at a local department store, I decided to take note of prices and what was in stock. Here is what I saw from each of the three main console companies:
First is Sony. There were plenty of slim PS2’s in stock for the price of around $130. The games had a price of about $20-$30 on average. The PSP’s price was around $180. The games were selling from $20-$40. Finally, the PS3. The store seemed to be overflowing with them, and it’s no wonder with the price of the console at $600 and games selling for upwards of $60.
Next is Nintendo. There was the DS that was selling for about $80 and the game for around $30. There wasn’t anything really special to comment on for the DS but I saw something that was pretty rare. There was a Wii in stock (Though it’s probably gone now) and it was selling for $250 with games selling for $40. And for the Gamecube, I happened to overhear an employee telling another customer that they were trying to get rid of all Gamecube games except for Zelda: Twilight Princess. The console was selling for its usual price of $100 and the games were selling for about $20-$30.
Last but certainly not least is Microsoft. Their XBox 360 appeared to be doing very as there were only a few in stock and I saw a couple people buy a 360. They had both varieties, the $400 and $300 and the games were selling for $50 mainly, though there were plenty of $40 games a few $30 and $60 games.
So in conclusion, PS3s weren’t moving but 360s and Wiis were going off of shelves with the PS2 still attracting a few buyers, and in the handheld side of things PSP and DS had been going at a fairly healthy rate.
Comments are encouraged.
-Unstable
NOTE: All prices are USD.
Sony has confirmed to Gamesindustry.biz that the PSP price has been cut.
The core PSP pack retailed for $199.99(US) however it has been cut $30US down to $169.99US. When Gameindustry.biz asked if there were any plans for a price cut in Europe they were told that, “We have no announcements to make about the PSP in the European market at this time.”
This price cut brings the PSP just $40US over the price of the DS in the US.
BBC reports on the entire hacking scene behind the PSP. I was personally rather impressed with this article. It took a very unbiased look into the bigger groups behind PSP hacking such as Nooz, Team C+D and Dark Alex and his crew.
You can read about their “behind the scenes” look by clicking here.
There is also an MP3 of an interview BBC World Service ran with Fanjita, one of the PSP hackers. You can download and listen to the stream by clicking here
(more…)
After the success of the SEGA Mega Drive, SEGA releases the Mega Drive Collection (for the PS2 & PSP) on 2nd Febuary ‘07 (Europe).
This game is great value, it offers over 30 titles, and a big chunk of the 80s and 90s gaming era. It’s packed with great unlockable arcade games and interviews with SEGA developers.
There isn’t a great difference between the different version (PS2 & PSP). The PS2 includes impressive scan-display, while the PSP offers different types of displays to chose from.The PSP offers Wi Fi, while the PS2 doesnt. However the most noticable difference is the unlockable bonus games.
The collection will include Sonic The Hedgehog, Phantasy Star series, Shinobi II and Golden Axe.
This really is a essential game for SEGA lovers. It is one of the most up to date, but yet satisfying classic game to date. Even if you have only played a few SEGA games in the past, this is the time to play a few more.
“Turn the Tide” is the main idea behind the latest installment in the NCAA Football series by EA Sports. This shows how much momentum has to do with college football.
Gameplay: 8/10
The gameplay in NCAA Football 07 is very nice on the 360, which I have it on. It seems like a lot of issues with the gameplay have been resolved compared to the XBox version of 07, like much smoother in-game play and some pretty entertaining mini-games; Bowling, where you try to go 10 yards to the endzone in 1 play to get a “strike” or in 2 for the “spare” and Tug of War where the first team to get either a safety or touchdown wins and this game works by elternating offense and defense every other play.
Graphics: 9/10
The graphics are excellent and detailed, much like its NFL counterpart Madden NFL 07. Every detail is visible. Even the field looks realistic towards the forth quarter by showing where the players had been treading and by making it even look wet when it rains.
Audio: 8/10
The audio is good and the voices are clear. The crowds sound realistic and so do the referees when they have to call a penalty. Not much else to talk about here though.
Overall: 8.5/10
Overall, this is a pretty good game that deserves to be picked up by anyone who is even slightly into college football, whether you’re a mild mannered KU Jayhawks fan or an enthusiastic USC Trojan fanatic.
Comments encouraged.
-Unstable
Lara Croft is back and celebrating her 10th anniversary. The game is out on most platforms including PlayStation 2, PC and Playstation Portable.
Many gamers were disappointed with Legend on PS2, complaining because the game looked like a re-vamp of the original game.
Crystal Dynamics reps mentioned they are taking a more thorough approach to the new version. The game will be more simple and include the same storyline as the original. That was, however, quite confusing, so Crystal Dynamics says the new one will explain itself better.
But as Legend’s gameplay was quite bad, many people have been put off of buying this game as it will play like Legend.
Lara can now shimmy along at various speeds. There is no reason to have to stand in the correct place to jump since when she jumps she can latch on to surfaces.
Lara can now also flip and turn gracefully around her enimies.
We are pretty curious to see her in action!
 
The PSP GPS Reciever is out in Japan now. (Enough acronyms eh?)
The reciever simply attaches onto the PSP as shown in pictures. Not very pocket friendly when it’s attached there but it look rather small sothat shouldn’t be a problem. Just take it off 
However not only will people with the GPS reciever never get lost again but they’ll be able to play games with it! Hot Shots Golf can get all the data you need on a real Japanese golf course like how far your are from the hole and Homestar: 21st Century Navigator will use the GPS reciever in gameplay as well.
Oh, if you want one of these you can grab one for about $59 US.
This is indeed a dark time for the PSP homebrew age. (pun totally intended) Dark_Alex has poured a lifes worth of work into hacking the PSP for homebrewers however now Dark_Alex is considering resigning. For real.
First of all there’s the imposter sites. A person, by the online nick of dark-alex.com has set up a site at dark-alex.com. He claimed to be Dark_Alex and as people rushed onto the site they were faced with a site that looked exactly the same as his real site. They downloaded programs onto their PSP’s to find their PSP’s bricked. It was a total imposter and that SOB has made Dark_Alex feel insecure.
“don’t feel secure anymore in the net. I don’t feel my computer secure.
Because of this, I’m considering to stop any psp development.”
Dark_Alex has other problems to deal with too in his life and this is just putting the nail in the coffin.
Here’s the entire quote from Alex’s site:
I don’t feel secure anymore in the net. I don’t feel my computer secure.
Because of this, I’m considering to stop any psp development.
Booster is a name commonly associated with DevHook. With the exciting release of a dumper/decrypter for 3.0 and 3.01 we have more exciting news.
Booster is back! Well, maybe. No one can quite confirm this. However on the MaxConsole forums a member claims that Booster is back with the PSP, which is where I say he belongs.
Here’s the message that was given on the forums:
“Just for the people not to worry, Booster has now resumed his work on the psp (especially devhook) after several months of inactivity due to beeing working on another console’s scene (I am not sure I can name it so I wont).
I am sorry, for now I cannot give any ETA current devhook betas, still be sure to know serious improvements were done.”
There’s no confirmation to absolutely render this rumour true however it seems promising to me. Let’s all hope DevHook and Booster will be back.
For now, let’s sit on the hints we’ve heard from Dark_Alex on the 2.80 DevHook Beta. If this isn’t just a rumour, then we have a miracle on our hands.
 When version 3.0 came out on the PSP it meant another question for PSP homebrewers. Is there anything in this upgrade worth me giving up homebrew for?
Well, it’s possible that in time that question may not have to be asked anymore. Soon after the release of version 3.0 rumours began flying around the internet about a release of version 3.01. Why make a update as little as this? Well, because there’s something to fix, a bug. Soon after 3.01 was released, confirming the rumours. Now, the only thing packaged with 3.01 was the well recognized “strengthen security” patch. We all know what that means…another bug fixed from a previous version making the new version immune to homebrew until that version is hacked.
Well, then why release version 3.01? Because there must have been a loophole. Someway for the hackers and homebrews to get some homebrew on that PSP and run it. Well, it turns out they must have found something! A firmware dumper/decrypter has been released for both versions 3.0 and 3.01 (Looks like 3.01 didn’t tighten the security noose enough)
How long until a version of devhook supporting 3.0/3.01 is released do you think? I can’t wait. However I’m not upgrading until I see homebrew on those PSP’s. I’ll just wait and watch from a distance.
Download the Dumper/Decrypter Here
We are not responsible for the content of the site behind the above link. Please use their programs and software at your own risk.
(5 votes, average: 4.2 out of 5)
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