I'm going to let you guys in on a secret that I snuck out of the Sony marketing playbook. Shh, don't tell anybody, OK? Here it is: people are stupid, and if you lie to their faces they will believe it. If you're in the middle of a disaster, tell people your company has never been better. If the biggest product launch in your company's history is tanking, tell people it's selling like hotcakes. If you say it enough times, it'll become the truth!
You don't have to look far for an example of this type of Dubyaesque behavior in action. Here, let me lay a nice quote down on you, courtesy of Jack Tretton, the CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, shouting some horseshit:"April or May is when we feel like we're going to catch up to demand and have product fully in stock across North America and stay there."Wait a second, are you trying to claim that there are shortages of PS3s out there? That somewhere in this vast country there is a kid who really wants to drop $600 on a PS3, i...

We know you had a blast (from the past) when we ran a feature about turning classic 80s cartoons into next-gen videogames, so we thought "why not do a 180 and focus on what lies ahead this time?" So this time we'll try to go crazy (in the process, be as absurd as possible) and try to peek into the kind of videogames our grand, grand, grandchildren would play in the far future.

We know that videogaming evolves depending on the kind of technology the current generation has. Whether it's a top of the line cell, motion-sensing technology, or an uber rich gameplay, current crop of consoles and games will try to equip themselves with the most technologically advanced weapons (yeah, kinda like "real" wars).

Since our list is supposed to be played during the future, don't be surprised with its absurdity. Even Edison and Einstein were laughed at by their peers during their time. We can't play videogames without platforms, so we've pulled out some out of this world ...

It seems that people either really love Nyko products or really, really hate them. (Just look at the comments people make on the Nyko Intercooler for the Xbox 360!) Chris Arbogast, the marketing manager for Nyko, spoke with Gaming Nexus about public reaction to Nyko products and what the future has in store.

FrontMan wireless guitar for Guitar Hero 2 for the PS2. Nyko has not announced any plans to make one for the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero 2 which will be released on March 23, 2007, in Europe and April 3, 2007, in North America.

The often-maligned Xbox 360 Intercooler. This product has polarized a segment of the online community: some people bash it while some people defend it. Arbogast pointed out one thing:

With the Intercooler consistently being the number 1 selling third-party accessory for the Xbox 360 every month, it is pretty clear that the majority of users prefer the Intercooler and recognize its benefits.

Zero controller (PS3 and 360...

A couple of days ago, we shared with you a trick regarding how to view the PlayStation Store on your PC? Immediately, our minds are filled with the tremendous amount of possibilities this development brings.

Anyway, we know you liked that so here's a little follow-up: PS3 Proxy. The application was created by 3r1c and is designed to allow installation of downloadable PlayStation Store games as well as demos via your PC.

A couple of its features include:
No need to reconfigure your PC's IP address.No installation. Just run the supplied executable.No need to download PKG files to the PC. PS3 Proxy will redirect the download to the correct URL entered.No need to download 1 and then cancel. PS3 Proxy will intercept the download automatically.Well, that sounds simple enough and will take no rocket scientist to figure out. Enjoy!

Download: PS3 Proxy

Not exactly news for the gamers, but news for the guys making them. Sony has recently announced that it has put together together a new dev tools set for studios licensed to develop games for its console.

The tools, dubbed the PlayStation 3 Edge, has been described as "a set of cutting edge technologies. Rather than an overarching engine, these teams have chosen to create specialized systems that demonstrate best practices of SPU and RSX utilization."

The groups in question include the WWS Europe Advanced Technology Group, the WWS America ICE, and the WWS America Tools and Technology group. All three are first-party technology teams within Sony, ICE being part of the Naughty Dog developer group. Full details for this new PS3 dev kit will be revealed at the upcoming GDC event. Expect Mark Cerny, Jon Olick, and Vince Diesi to host the unveiling session.

Given how a game turns out (even for ports) depends heavily on the tools developers receive from console man...

Just a small heads up that N’Gai Croal has parts 2 and 3 of his Phil Harrison interview up. They’re great reads for any PS3 fan. Loot: The Phil Harrison Interview, Part II Loot: The Phil Harrison Interview, Part III Tags: Sony, PS3, PlayStation 3

My favourite PS3 game has to be CoD3. I’m a big fan of CoD2 on the PC (the only PC game I play, really), and so it was natural for me to gravitate to CoD3 on my PS3. I’ve even gotten over the whole lack of chat functionality by using Skype with a friend to [...]

I went threw the menus and nothing seemed different to me. But I did notice that the web browser is faster than it was before. Since the US Playstation site has no info about this update I checked out the Japanese site. Looks like the main thing that was updated is the AV-Chat now has [...]

Japanese gamers are online most of the time, it would seem. In a survey that polled the online habits of gamers in Japan, 3 out of  4 gamers have their consoles online 24/7; during the survey, even, only 4 percent said that they weren't online.

Almost 9 out of every 10 gamers use the networking feature of their console. 26 percent of them use their networking feature on Nintendo DS, followed closely by the Wii, with almost 20 percent players networking with this console. Other consoles that are  used with the networking feature are: Sony PSP 18 percent, with the Playstation 2 and the Playstation 3 tied at 13 percent.

Most Japanese gamers use their consoles' networking feature for online gaming (22 percent), with the other services used as follows: demos at 16 percent, both bonuses for games and game news at 15 percent, no gaming related content at 14.9 percent, internet at 12 percent and the remaining 4 percent use their networking feature for e-mail.
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The long awaited sale of the Playstation 3 in Europe will finally happen this March 23, but a week before that, Microsoft will also launch its Xbox 360 Platinum Hits. Hard decisions must be made by gamers all across Europe, but we guess that the differences in these products' price tags: the equivalent of US 790  for a Playstation 3 console, and US 39 for Microsoft's Platinum Hits Range, will at least make choices easier to face.

The Playstation 3 was actually planned to be released in Europe earlier, but this initial date was postponed after encountering problems of mass producing the parts for the console's  Blu-ray disc drive. Sony said that 1 million consoles will be available at launch in Europe, with a fourth of this to be sold in the UK alone.

Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 Platinum Hits has been making rounds in the US since October. Titles included in this range are: Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Burnout Revenge, Fight Night Round 3 and Top Spin 2.
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