Well, to some extend this due to a changed market environment which changed a lot since the launch of the PSP. Just think about the launch of the iPhone and the associated AppStore. With several years lead time, Sony wasn't able to implement the Playstation equivalent until recently. But not only the store front was missing, there are also no many snack type games, the majority of games you find in Apples AppStore. Funny enough, you can find even more of those games on PS3 than on PSP.

Sony made a few mistakes during the lifecycle of the PSP and it's up to be seen if this is going to change. In the beginning, the PSP had a lot of multiplatform titles which came out in parallel on PS2, which is kind of stupid as most of the PSP owners a most likely PS2 customers as well. Why would someone buy the same game on two platforms? Next mistake was the hugh price for UMD videos which finally lead to a dropping support by the various studios as customers were not willing to spend the same on UMD videos as they would pay for a DVD. Mistake number three was the slow hardware evolution that lead to three hardware revisions that almost looked the same. Finally, during the last 2 years, Sony's focus was almost 100% on the PS3 launch, which left the PSP aside. 

Now it looks like that Sony finally found its forgotten child again, as they obviously realised that the PSP has still some market potential. It might be too late though as both Nintendo as well as Apple are wedging Sony from both sides.

We congratulate Sony and Guerilla Games for their efforts with Killzone 2, however this is only the beginning of a new wave. The current technology employed for certain unannounced Xbox 360 exclusives far surpasses what gamers have seen in any game so far. Gears of War was the beginning of this technological benchmark when released on the 360 and this lineage will be carried forward in the following months with exclusives that shall stand for a new definition of gaming experience and provide stiff competition for the opposition.

Well, not knowing what games this undisclosed Microsoft spokesman just refered to, but I am pretty confident that Sonys pipeline is equally if not  better equipped. This is actually a very interesting time as developers are more and more getting to know what's being possible on a hardware and what's not.

It was one of those moments then when Guerrilla played the first Killzone 2 trailer that was breathtaking at that time and was hard to believe an actual game footage. Now, almost 4 years later we all know that this was actually not the case and seriously, it couldn't have been as at that time Guerrilla just started with the development of the game. What the trailer actually was suppose to be was an idea of what the final game should look like - a target render as developers use to call this.

Finally holding the game in my hands, it's time to check if Guerrilla / Sony were actually cheating at this press conference 4 years ago or not. This is not suppose to be a review, so please don't mind if I am not going down to the smallest detail here. Anyway, what becomes clear as soon as you start the game is the fact that Guerrilla delivered a master piece of a game that does almost everything right. No need to complain about missing coop modes or minor things like the additional weapon slot.

Killzone 2 is so close to a perfect game as a game can be at a time. The whole presentation, the gameplay, the sound, the visuals, just perfect. Talking about the visuals it it simply amazing what Guerrilla achieved during the last couple of years. Is the game matching the target render from E305? It's not just matching, it's even better than this if you look at some of the visual qualities. What the game achieves in terms of the lighting has not yet been seen in any console game and not being a PC gamer myself I don't think that there are equivalent PC games out there.

One could argue that the game doesn't offer to much variety sure, but I rather like to play a game that focuses on what it can do best instead of a game that tries to do everything but not succeeding in any way. There are more than enough examples of that.

On the technical side Guerrilla showed all of those screwed up developers what it looks like to develop a high quality game on the PS3 platform. Not enough memory? A too slow Bluray drive? Endless installation? Forget about it. Those things simply do not exist for Guerrilla and I hope that what the studio has achieved (together with other Sony studios) will be beneficial for other games still being developed.

The issue is very well known already: at some point in time during the PS3 life time the user turns on the PS3 which shortly shows the green LED which instantly turns to yellow (therefor the name) and switches off after another second. From that point on there is no other solution than calling the Sony help desk and filing an repair request.

What makes this even more frustrating is the fact that this seems to be an 60 GB model only issue, the console that still has the PS2 compatibility mode and is therefor for many owners the preferred PS3 edition.

The next potential frustration ist the fact that Sony does not really repair those consoles but rather replaces them with refurbished models with a new case. What seems to be nice policy turns out to be a big issue as all your downloaded content is linked with this hardware and their are only 5 parallel hardware profiles possible. In other words, after 5 hardware replacements you are no longer able to re-download any of the purchased content. The solution to this problem is to deactivate a console to unlink this specific hardware from the account, but guess what, if you are facing a technical issue with your PS3 you don't have the possibility to do that on your broken console.

So what is the actual problem with those consoles? Hard to say as there is no official statement from Sony saying that this is an issue at all. What it looks like right now, this is somehow connected with power supply which obviously seem to break mainly on the 60 GB models.

At this point it's hard to say how many consoles are impacted by this issue but based on the coverage in the various boards and blogs, this is far beyond the normal failure rate and very consistent across all cases. Personally I have two 60 GB consoles and actually got my second console just because of such an issue. Fingers crossed I hope that I am not experiencing this ever.

Any feedback?

This is where the PS3 Media Server jumps in providing advanced real-time media encoding for all of the non-supported formats and direct support for all native formats. And as a quick tip if your server is not finding your PS3 right away, check the "Force networking on interface" and try the various values there. The server will sure find your PS3 after 2 or 3 seconds.

Personally I am still using a NAS based media server which is no longer supported and has been replaced by a desktop media manager by now. Unfortunately, this product is not supporting any real time encoding due to the limitations of the used NAS which makes it difficult to view some of the media. That's why I am still interested into other products.

PS3 Media Server at code.google.com

0.5 PS3 

Definitely one of the most promising news is about the potential downsizing of the PS3 due to the forthcoming 45nm version of the Cell. Here is what David Reeves said in a guardian.co.uk interview:

We took our cuts in 07 and 08, we restructured and streamlined and we're as lean, as mean as we can be. I have seen no plans to cut jobs and it wouldn't be productive to do so. We're always looking at ways to reduce costs, replacing the current 65 nanometre Cell chip with a 45 nanometre one probably in middle of year. But will it be anything as off-strategy as releasing a PS3 with a DVD rather than a Blu-ray drive? I doubt it.

As much as i like the idea of the 45 nm version what was driving Reeves to speculate about a DVD equipped PS3? What type of nonsense would this be? Whatever, this new hardware revision gives Sony the flexibility to react during those days of finanical crisis with an adequate price reduction, which will come for sure this year.

Turn the lights on

If you are a loyal follower of this blog you should know by now that I am a big, big supporter of Philips Ambilight technology. Mounted on a white wall Ambilight creates a compelling atmosphere that no other HD TV can create these days. The good thing about the Ambilight technology is that it works with all video inputs. amBX on the other side is a Philips spin-off that uses the same kind of technology plus further effects like ventilators and shacking hand rests to even make this experience more realistic. Mainly focused on PC gamers with keyboards and usual monitors, amBX is now supporting the PS3. As much as I support the Ambilight technology I am not sure if this is going to take off as a new technology. Both hand rests and fans will not work in the typical living room environment and only the LED based lights would somehow work in such a context. But those lights just don't simply attach to a usual TV which makes it kind of difficult to use them. So, in case you are interested in this technology I would really suggest to take a look at the Philips Ambilight products as they will work with all games and movies and don't need special support.

Demos, demos, demos

As a PS3 fan I was waiting for those demos for month now and finally I wasn't even at home to start the downloads. Two critically acclaimed game demos have been released last week, Killzone 2 as well as Resident Evil 5. This weekend I finally found the time to at least take a look and check the quality of the games. After I downloaded the Killzone 2 demo I was a little bit disappointed to find out that it is basically a cut down version of the GC 2008 demo I already played last August. Too bad. I guess I have to wait for the final game. Resident Evil 5 on the other side was a very positive surprise to me. The game really picks up all the good things from the last chapter and comes with very good graphics that justify the long wait for the game. I can't wait to play both of those game in a couple of weeks.

Monkey Business

After the first rumors turned out to be true I had close to zero confidence that we eveer gonna see TimeSplitters 4, now that Free Radical seemed to be history. Well, it might not actually be the case now that we had to learn that Crytek, the company behind Far Cry and Crysis bought what was left of the company. Well, there is no confirmation yet, but I guess that part of the deal are all the company owned IPs, which would of course include TimeSplitters. If those Crytek guys feel at least a little sense of responsibility they will of course continue with the game after they have successfully brought those guys on board. The new name of the company is Crytek UK. Not very unique if you ask me.

Source

This is where Yahoo Pipes comes to the rescue. One of the most amazing Web 2.0 tools based on the simple concept that any kind of data can be converted in an RSS data set and transformed through various operators and aggregators to meet your specific requirements. Literally a RSS mixer. Based on the data that's out there on the net just waiting for someone to grab it and use it, there is hardly anything Nabaztag couldn't inform you about. Can you imagine to get informed about certain auctions on ebay that meet your specific requirements. Pipes can do that and let Nabaztag tell you about. We definitely need more apps and services that generate RSS as result sets.

If you want to see RFID and the Internet at work, Nabaztag is the device for you. Upps, I forgot, we are talking about a toy here ;-)

P.S. Still looking for a PS3 related application ... but wait, what about an RSS feed that lists you all of your PSN contacts being online? Soooonyyyy

Now first rumors are poping up directly coming from the developers refering to all new Sly game which features overhauled graphics and gameplay that will be more varied and focused this time around.

Add to that the fact that we are getting a PSP and PS3 game around the same time in 2009 and I can hardly wait for the game to be finally released. Could it be that this game will be released even before InFAMOUS? Btw, the first game of the series is still my favorite even though it had the most limited gameplay of all Sly games.

It's been a little quiet around here lately, which is only to some extend due to the fact that that I am back at work. Part of it is caused by my new toy I guess, a Nabaztag:tag which is the second first wireless rabbit.

Well, Nabaztag is basically another device WIFI enabled device that connects to the Internet and allows you to interact with various, configurable services in an very unconventional way.

Nabaztag has a couple of in and output devices that can be read and controlled by the Nabaztag server. There are 4 multi-colored LEDs that can be turned on, 2 moveable ears that can be either moved or read, a microphone that understands defined voice commands, a speaker to listen to Nabaztag and finally the most versatile thing I have seen on a consumer electronics lately, an RFID reader.

What makes Nabaztag so powerful is the fact that Violet, the company behind Nabaztag, offers a configurable service on the Internet that allows you to connect various applications with you little rabbit.

How about reading RSS feeds through a high quality text-to-speech system? Or how about listening to your favorite web radio? Or are you looking for tomorrows weather forecast? Or maybe you just wanna send a text or audio message to your Nabaztag. The possibility are almost endless and due to the fact that there is even an open API you can to some extenddevelop your own applications that interact with Nabaztag.

But that's just the start. Using custom RFID tags, so-called ztamp:s, you can now for the first time make your daily objects kind of intelligent. Attach a ztamp to an object, like your keys, and everytime you let Nabaztag sniff the tag with its nose you can for instance read you current messages. Similar to the applications you attach to Nabaztag itself, you can attach all kinds of apps to those ztamp:s as well.

The fascinating thing about this platform is the flexibility and the personalization that's possible. And if you eventually reach a current limit, just write your own service and let Nabaztag or one of your ztamps call it with custom parameters. You can even customize those requests by reading out the rabbits ear positions. How cool is that?

I'll keep you updated on this little projects progress as I am about to find out how I can eventually revolutionize my daily life. Why can't the PS3 have an RFID reader?

P.S. The Mood status that's shown at the top of the page is actually reflecting the position of my right Nabaztag ear ;-)

But what really surprises me is the specific distribution across all consoles. Focusing on the next gen consoles, the Wii achieved a 16% share of the total software sales given a hardware base of 2,20 million units. But guess you comes right after? PS3 with 12,5% and a hardware base of 850.000 units and finally the 360 with 7,9% leveraging a hardware base of 790.000 units. Surprised?

Well, this result seems to backup Sonys strategy in terms of focusing on software sales vs. hardware sales. 12,5% for the PS3 vs. 16% for the Wii is even more impressive as the Wii has such a hugh lead compared to PS3. If I am doing the math right, PS3 users are spending more money on software per unit (EUR100) than any other console owner (EUR70 on Xbox360 and EUR50 on Wii).

Nevertheless, those figures still show some opportunities as this basically means, that PS3 owners bought on average 2 games last year, while 360 and Wii owners had just one game on average. Not much if you ask me. Would be interesting to see figures for other markets. And no idea how the PS2 is doing these days.

Source: media-control.de

Let me give you, the most loyal readers, a quick overview of what PD is raw numbers.

The Top 10 Articles

1. The Beauty and the Beast (4560 pv)
2. 40GB model already featuring the 65nm Cell? (3713 pv)
3. PLAYSTATION 3 - The Review (1897 pv)
4. Looks almost like a "going-out-of-business-sale" (1501 pv)
5. Three new PSN titles (1270 pv)
6. PLAYSTATION 3 Completely Unwrapped ;-) (1134 pv)
7. What's this CXD2972GB anyway? (854 pv)
8. And yet another hardware revision (814 pv)
9. PSP-enhanced DVDs out now (782 pv)
10. DIY - PS3 Universal Remote (710 pv)

and course the index page which counts for roughly 60000 page views.

Alltogether we had about 200.000 page views in total generated by nearly 106.000 visitors which accessed the site from more than 160 countries, US, UK and Germany being the top 3 (60%) closely followed by Canada, Denmark (!), Spain, France, Sweden, Netherlands and Italy. Wowww, what a small world.

On the browser front it is funny to see that after Firefox (43%), IE (37%) and Safari (7%) the PS3 is already in 4th position (5%).

When it comes to site referrals here is the top 10 list

1. google.com
2. threespeech.com
3. n4g.com
4. images.google.com
5. ps3fanboy.com
6. forum.beyond3d.com
7. dvdplaza.fi 
8. ps3vault.com
9. thesixthaxis.com
10. dreisechzig.net

And finally, this project has been close to 100% pure, unadulterated fun ;-)

Looks like Sony has at least a kind of solution for those movies now, as from March on Sony Pictures will provide double-sided covers that feature one side with the age rating whereas the other side has a clean print. Shouldn't that be possible for games as well?

Source: bluray-disc.de

Just look at the last three apps that have been released on PS3, Life on Playstation, PlayTV and now the Photo Gallery. All three have completely different controls, menus and overall UI concept what makes it kind of difficult to use them. For instance, I always find myself pressing the go back button on PlayTV even though I want to press the menu button. There are numerous examples where the same function is implemented differently in all of those three apps and I am missing the XMB consistency I like so much about the PS3.

So, here is my suggestion: give us more of those apps but make sure you guys use the same style guide. Keep in mind, that this is not a computer but a simple consumer device. What do you think?

P.S. Before I forget, once again no Flickr integration. I don't manage my pics on PS3 but on the net. And yes, there is an API that could be used.

The interesting twist here is the theory that customers aren't treasuring this enough compared to the crappy competition. Well, I agree that there might be customers that care more or less about those things, but the idea that a good to use UI like the XMB is prohibitive in terms of sales is really a bold theory. Industry designers of the world forget what you have learned, people want crappy, inconsistent, flashy UIs which don't give you the impression that someone thought about it longer than a minute.

I am just waiting for someone to suggest Sony to introduce a PS3 Walmart edition: ugly, unusable, only able to play multi-platform games, but just 199. 

I am not a big fan of Peter Moyneux or better the type of games he and his Lionhead studio have created so far at all, but his latest nomination of LittleBigPlanet as the most creative innovation 2008 is not in question for me. But wait a second. Aren't those Media Molecule folks not former Lionhead guys? Well, I guess this doesn't matter in this case. What are they saying, honor whom honor is due.

Btw, the reason why I think LBP is ground breaking is many fold: first, the UI of both the game and even more of the creative part are so different to what we've seen in the past and second, the realistic non-realistic (did you get my point) style is so unique that it easily makes up a good definition of HD gaming. And finally, the multi-player aspect of the game melts so nicely with the normal game that it is actually difficult to really talk about two different game modes. From which other game in the past can you say something similar?

Unfortunately, it's kind of rare that such games show up within the industry and even though this is great I can already see 10 copies eventually showing up over the next couple of years which basically try to replicate what LBP does, just worse. Anyway, I guess the LBP has left a mark that many other games will eventually pick up in a totally different way and this is what moves the industry forward. So let's see what LBPs descendants are. I am not talking about the copies, of course. 

Just to give you a rough idea what you could eventually answer to that, here is for example what Aaron Greenberg said:

I think what we'll see is, as a result of how 2008 shaped up - the fact that we had our biggest year in history and we're now expanding our lead over the PS3 in a global basis - we went into 2008 with a solid lead over PS3 in North America, but Europe was a much closer race. Now, we're really expanding our lead there. We've become, by far, the lead global platform for third parties. I think you'll see us getting some benefits from that.

Uh, wait, let's just stop here for a moment. So, they had their biggest year in history and they are now expanding their lead - ups - gobal lead over PS3. Hmmm, well, looks to me like the two products are in a different phase of their life. While the 360 already passed the hard core phase in their product life cycle (meaning only the typical hard core gamers are spending the the money to by the product) the PS3 is still in an early adopter phase, when only people willing to spend those 599 - 499 and now 399 for a product. Even though this is the case, the PS3 has a considerable market share of 21,1% vs. 29,6% for the Xbox. By all respect, I wouldn't say that this is a solid lead. Ok, let's continue ... 

Historically, third parties would give us great support and lead developed on our platform, but they would say "In Europe, we have to still support the PS3" but now that that has switched, I think you'll see us get some benefits from that.

So, in other words, publishers are not going to support the PS3 or what? Yeah, because they don't wanna sell those additional million units of their game? I see. And because the PS3 is not going to grow any longer, this is not a good market to invest in. Obviously, I must have missed my economy classes. Ok, but there is some more ...

I also think we'll have our first full year at mass market price points. We saw a lot of success this holiday as a result of that. I think this is a year where the masses really come into the industry. We know that the PlayStation 2 sold 75% of their systems below $200. The vast majority of those consumers still have not upgraded yet. So I think it's the year where those consumers go into the store and start making purchases. We think that will benefit us tremendously in 2009. Us having the largest community of core gamers is going to drive blockbuster and core games as well.

Well, this is absolutely correct and has been proven by the PS2 as he said. The only question here is: who is gonna get those other PS2 owners that are going to upgrade their system in the near future. Let's hypothetically assume that all of those 24 million last generation Xbox users already bought a 360. So, Microsoft got already 4 million users owning a different console or even no console before. It's very likely that some of those 45 million Wii users might have been former PS2 users or even own already a different next gen console. In any case, there are still about 100 millions or even more PS2 owners out there, not willing to jump on a different platform and those consumers are the once that everybody is focusing to. The only question is: who has the best chances to do so and how brand loyal are those users? No matter how you look at it, there is one thing clear: this console war is by far not yet over and Microsoft would be a fool to think it is. Anyway, we all know Greenberg is not believing in what he says. Anyway, it was nice talking about .

In order to display a Cinemascope movie full screen you actually need a 21:9 format display which based on a 1080p vertical resolution has then a 2560 pixel horizontal resolution. In order to display normal 16:9 footage fullscreen, the TV can actually stretch the 16:9 image to 21:9 by leaving the middle of the screen almost intact while streching the outer left and right parts of the image.

I actually see another possible usage: how cool would it be to actually do a split-screen race on such a screen? A Motorstorm 2-player match side by side. I just don't think that even though there is a good reason for such a format, we'll never gonna see broad support for such a format in its native resolution. Remember how long it took to adopt 16:9 in the end. Nevertheless an amazing piece of technology and maybe even a successful product in its own litle market.

For further details check out the CINEMA 21:9 website