30 Days with PlayStation 3 After long delays, even longer lines and shortages that have only recently begun to subside, Sony's next generation console is finally here. [H] Console spent 30 days with the PlayStation 3 and we share our thoughts on this month long journey. 
Xbox 360 Custom Case InstallationWe have always felt that the Xbox 360, while it is a wonderful console, is a bit too plain for our tastes. The solution? Complete case replacement for that out of warranty Xbox 360, the resulting look is truly impressive. 
Rainbow Six VegasIn Rainbow Six Vegas, Rainbow operatives take to the chaotic streets of Las Vegas as an escalating terrorist siege in Sin City threatens to take world terrorism to new, uncontrollable heights.
Nintendo WiiNintendo is back with a vengeance and is going toe to toe with the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. Can the Wiimote nunchaku continue to successfully fend off the competition or is it just a whole lot of flailing?Growing up in the 90's, the Super Nintendo holds a special place in my memory as far as gaming consoles go. From the hours wasted trying to get every Yoshi Coin and exit in Super Mario World to the amazement of the "advanced graphics" of Starfox, to the fun I had playing Mario Kart. Many fun times were had. That is why I was so interested when I saw this mod. Check the link for more pictures.
Capcom, Konami, Sierra, Namco and Activision E3 Coverage @ Shacknews
Condemned 2 Demo Impressions @ Kotaku
ESRB Talks About NIMF Recommendations @ GamePolitics
Sony Lashes Out At Microsoft @ Gamasutra
SCEE president David Reeves says that the $100 price cut on the PS3 only applies to the 60GB model and, after existing stock is sold, it will no longer be offered (in the U.S.). The only PS3 left in retail after that is the $599 80GB bundle.
"All they're doing is taking their stock in trade that they've got at the moment of the 60GB model, marking the price down and it will all be gone by the end of July." When asked to clarify if this will mean the end of the 60GB model, Reeves answered, "In America, yes."
*As noted in our comment section, Sony now says the 60GB PS3 will continue to sell into the “foreseeable future.” Like last week's price cut denials two days before the actual price cut announcement, it is impossible to know whether or not this price point will be permanent or they are simply selling the remaining stock at $499 until they are all gone.
Capcom Says Sony Likely To Cut Prices Again @ Reuters
E3 07: Ubisoft Press Conference @ Shacknews
Movies on Xbox Live: The End for DVDs? @ NewsFactor
Team Fortress 2 Impressions @ Kotaku
In the latest round of “HD press release” wars, the HD DVD camp says that its stand alone players are outselling Blu-ray in Europe by a 3 to 1 margin. The study was for stand alone players only and did not count consoles.
The European HD DVD Promotional Group claimed it had 74 percent market share in Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland for stand-alone players, citing sales figures it commissioned from market research group GfK.
E3 2007 Coverage @ GameSpot
E3 2007 Coverage @ Joystiq
E3 2007 Coverage @ Shacknews
Halo 3 Limited Edition 360 Photos @ C|Net
No Xbox 360 Price Cuts For Now @ Reuters
WoW Patch Plans @ WoW UK Forums
Some guy in Florida is seeking $5 million in damages from Microsoft because his Xbox 360 scratched two games. While everyone knows that tipping your 360 from upright into the horizontal position will cause this, the guy claims that the he did not tip his and the 360 is simply "negligently designed and manufactured."
Brouwer said his Xbox 360 scratched two games, "Gears of War" and "Madden NFL 07," and that Microsoft offered to replace them for a $20 fee. He is seeking more than $5 million in damages, according to the court filing.
EA CEO Calls Videogames “Boring” @ MSNBC
Haze Developer Dairy 2 (video) @ Kotaku
PlayStation Network Outages @ Joystiq
Project Gotham Racing Gets Motorcycles @ Official Site
Wedbush Morgan Securities expects Microsoft to drop the Xbox 360 price tonight at its E3 press conference. Prices cuts are expected to be $479 to $399 for the Elite, the Premium from $399 to $349 and the Core from $299 to $249.
Other analysts are also expecting a price drop on one or more SKUs, between $50 and $100. According to Pachter, Microsoft will be announcing the price drop at their Tuesday night E3 press conference. Shacknews will be covering the event live.
Army Ambushed Over Gears of War @ GamePolitics
Games Depreciate 60% In First 8 Months @ Kotaku
Oblivion GOTY Edition Coming @ Shacknews
WoW On The iPhone @ Everything Digital
Sony Computer Entertainment America, contradicting statements made by the company president on Friday, just confirmed the $100 price drop on the 60GB model. Sony also announced a new 80GB version for $599 that comes with a free copy of Motorstorm.
In an AP story, Sony spokesperson David Karraker touched on the company's goal for this week's E3 event. The company's focus during the show will be on "ways to increase the number of consumers who own PS3s and other products such as the PlayStation Portable handheld system, and expanding the system's library of available games," according to the report.
11.5 Million Xbox 360s Shipped @ Eurogamer
Medal Of Honor: Airborne for PS3 Delayed @ Gamespot
Kotaku Responds To Washington Post Article @ Kotaku
Virtua Fighter 5 To Have Online Play on Xbox 360 @ Shacknews
Those of you holding out for a price break on the PS3 will be saddened to hear that Sony President Ryoji Chubachi says the company has no plans to cut prices.
Sony Corp. has no plans to cut the price of its PlayStation 3 (PS3) at present to pep up demand and counter surging sales of Nintendo's rival game console Wii, Sony's president said on Friday.
Responding to criticism over increased hardware failure rates, Microsoft says they are now extending the warranty of the Xbox 360 to three years. Microsoft recently added better GPU cooling to the newer 360s to help with overheating problems. The new three year warranty should make even the harshest of critics happy.
"We don't think we've been getting the job done," said Robbie Bach, president of the division. "In the past few months, we have been having to make Xbox 360 console repairs at a rate too high for our liking."
Blacksite: Area 51 E3 2007 Trailer @ Kotaku
Blue Dragon Demo Dated? @ Shacknews
Overlord Patches Released @ FileShack
Japanese Get The Xbox 360 Elite In Oct. @ Joystiq
Microsoft is buying a 28-acre parcel of land in Seattle owned by Nintendo. Microsoft will keep the land in reserve for possible development in the future and use it to help alleviate the company's current parking shortage.
Nintendo Co. said Tuesday that it reached a deal to sell Microsoft a vacant 28-acre parcel across from Nintendo's North American headquarters. The agreement confirms widespread assumptions that Microsoft would buy the land.
Atari's Losses Growing @ Shacknews
Bungie Substituting AI With Human Intelligence (satire) @ BBSpot
Dark Sector Hands On Preview @ Shacknews
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Impressions @ Kotaku
Jack Thompson To Take Psych Test @ Game Politics
A new study has determined that playing video games takes away from homework time but does NOT interfere with time spent with family, friends or sports / outdoor activities. The study also found that gamers may actually be more effective in completing homework assignments, and as a result, they spend less time doing homework.
"Gamers did spend less time reading and doing homework. But they didn't spend less time interacting with their parents or their friends, nor did they spend less time in sports or active leisure activities," said Hope Cummings of the University of Michigan, whose study appears in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Here’s a cool bit of tech / Independence Day news…the Federal Trade Commission has set cable TV subscribers free from having to rent set top boxes from their local cable companies. Nice!
July 1 is the real Independence Day for 65 million cable TV subscribers in the U.S. As of that date, says the Federal Communications Commission, they are free of the tyranny of being forced to rent miserable set-top boxes from their cable companies. Eventually, this declaration of independence could bring dramatic change to the way we get and watch television programming.
There is a new virus out there making the rounds and it is using a Grand Theft Auto mod video to dupe viewers into infecting themselves. The video itself isn’t the problem, it is a website link displayed at the end of the video that leads to the malicious program disguised as a mod.
Someone is using a Grand Theft Auto mod video as a way to trick viewers into infecting themselves. Although YouTube videos remain safe to view, that hasn't stopped criminals from finding new ways to entice YouTube viewers to get infected with the latest Trojan horse.
According to Shacknews, the media ratings firm The Nielsen Company and Sony Computer Entertainment America have announced a plan to create a measurement system for in-game advertising on Sony systems.
Under the arrangement, user traffic data from Sony PlayStation 3 consoles--including the PlayStation Network and its upcoming virtual world Home--will be analyzed and benchmarked by Nielsen, with the goal of calculating the reach, frequency, and effectiveness of game network advertising.
In-Game Advertising Blows Up @ Shacknews
Missle Command Coming To XBL @ Kotaku
Vancouver Police Turn to Second Life Recruitment @ Game Politics
WoW Affair Lands Woman In Jail @ News.com.au
Reggie Fils-Aime sat down for an interview with Newsweek where he discussed such topics as yesterday's Wii-Ware announcement, as well as the recent Manhunt 2 controversy that we have been covering since the beginning.
Was a game like Manhunt 2 ultimately not in keeping with the family-friendly image of the Wii? "This is not an image issue," said Fils-Aime. "Wii welcomes games rated E, T and M. We haven't approved AO-rated games. I doubt we ever will. What Rockstar has right now is a game rated outside our spectrum, outside any manufacturer's spectrum."
Overlord (Xbox 360) @ TrustedReviews
Metal Slug Anthology @ Strategy Informer
Nintendo takes wraps off of WiiWare @ Joystiq
All of you Linux folks can rejoice at the fact that Quake Wars will be coming to an O/S near you, just not with the initial retail launch. It is however a very high priority.
However, he did ensure that a Linux client is coming, and that it will be of top quality when it's released. "Once these things wind down (in the upcoming weeks) I will start working specifically on the client," he wrote. "But fear not, ATI and Nvidia have expressed interest in getting a Linux client early, so they can review how it performs and get their drivers adjusted. When we release, we'll release a high-quality product, just like we do on Windows."
A man was arrested and charged with 10 felony counts for the alleged sales of mod chips and counterfeit games.
”Brown had allegedly built up a thriving business selling counterfeit games and installing mod chips, having advertised his services on Craigslist and other web sites. He allegedly sold pirated games from his Vista, CA, residence as well, including both discs and hard drives preloaded with games that he would install into customers' Xboxes and Xbox 360s”
SplitFish FragFX PS3 @ IGN
The Darkness on Xbox 360 @ bit-tech
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (NintendoDS) @ 1UP
Word is circulating today that the supposed Vista only titles have been successfully cracked and can be played on an XP machine.
Microsoft’s plans to lure gamers onto Vista by making certain games work only on that operating system seems to have suffered a blow. Shadowrun and Halo 2 have both already been cracked by hacking and warez groups.
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer Xbox 360 @ TweakTown
Colin McRae: DiRT @ DriverHeaven
Nintendo Enters Top Ten Most Valuable Japanese Companies @ Gamesindustry
Citing the need for further research, the medical community is shying away from classifying video game addiction as a mental illness at this time.
"There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders, and it doesn't get to have the word addiction attached to it," said Dr. Stuart Gitlow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York.