This is one of the biggest weeks for videogame nuts, the annual Electronics Entertainment Expo in L.A. And Sony used the opening day to drop some big news about its new PlayStation 3 unit, due Nov. 17 in the U.S.
The unit will come with either a 60-gig hard drive ($549) or a 20-gig drive ($499) and Sony expects to ship two million PS3s in the first month of launch and four million by the end of the year.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 is available now with a 20-gig drive for $399.
Electronic Arts CEO was at Sony's presser Monday and demonstrated the power of the new system. He showed a PS3 player model and a Ps2 model using the EA Sports "NBA Live" franchise.
On PS3, the NBA player actually had to pick up his feet to move. On Ps2, as gamers know, players just kind of slide around.
NOTES
- Toshiba’s has introduced the Qosmio G35-AV650, the first notebook PC shipping in the U.S. to incorporate an HD DVD-ROM drive. The system is backwards-compatible with current DVD formts and includes a bright screen display, HDMI support and Dolby Digital sound.
- Super Computer International creating a customized gaming client that incorporates AOL's popular AIM service to optimize the instant messaging (IM) experience for online gamers. Called PlayLinc, it'll give online gamers server browsing, friend tracking, player invitations, collaborative game launching across a variety of gaming platforms, team management, VoIP, on-game controls and information.
- Sales of digital televisions grew more than 100 percent during the first quarter of 2006, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. According to the CEA, the industry sold 3.4 million DTV units during the first quarter of 2006, equaling a 101 percent increase in unit sales over the same time last year, and $3.6 billion in dollar sales. Unit sales of flat panel displays 201 percent.
- NewSoft has released key technology features in version 1.06 of the Presto! Digital Converter. It's an all-inclusive solution for direct to DVD conversion of analog video and audio to digital. The new version adds MPEG-2 support and the MPEG-4 format support for the Apple iPod and Sony PSP.
- Sega will release a new Sonic title for Nintendos' Wii console early in 2007. Sonic's new adventure unfolds from a storybook of the classic tale, Arabian Nights, the last several pages from the book have gone missing, and it's up to Sonic to re-create the story.
1 comment:
BTW, the low-end PS3 (the $499 model) does NOT include HDMI ports (which means NO hi-def Blu-Ray playback), has no built-in wi-fi, and has no card readers. If you want all the good stuff, you have to buy the $599 model. (In other words, the low-end PS3 is similar to the Xbox 360 Core package... with the exception that the Core package can be upgraded to Premium level by simply buying the Xbox 360 hard drive. There is no similar upgrade path for the PS3.)
Sony's announcement yesterday was very disappointing... they ditched the futuristic "boomerang" controller, they dropped dual-display support, and the pricing level they've set will all but ensure that only hard-core gamers (who buy for themselves) and folks with a lot of money will buy PS3s. Xbox 360 and the Wii both came out winners on the PS3 announcement. (Especially considering how well-received the Microsoft announcements were today.)
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