Sony's moved to clear up confusion surrounding claims that new PS3s will require HDMI cables to output HD images.

The earlier report, which stemmed from a letter to retailers stating that new PS3 models will no longer be able to transmit high definition images via component cables, is incorrect, a Sony spokesperson told Ars Technica.

"The new CECH-3000 series PS3 requires HDMI only for BD movie output in HD, in compliance with AACS standards," the company explained. "PS3 continues to support component output for HD gaming and streaming content."

As Sony points out, the change is in relation to the Advanced Access Content System, a standard for DRM which states that full HD video resolutions must be limited to HDMI and DVI cables, which support HDCP.

Starting in 2014, all new Blu-ray players won't be able to include component ports at all in order to be in compliance with AACS.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...3-feature-cut/ ...

Newly released at Chinavision



The Onyx Dragon 3.6 Inch Android 2.2 Smartphone will impress and overwhelm you, with amazing features for an awesome bargain.

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Price - £81.16 ...

It's a quiet week for the PlayStation Store. Sony's Welcome Back offer has ended and the company has now caught up with the backlog left by the PSN downtime.

There are no new PS3 or PSP games to download, but a few decent dollops of DLC.

A day after its launch on Xbox 360, PS3 owners can now investigate Rockstar's final L.A. Noire episode. The Reefer Madness vice case pits Cole Phelps against a city-wide dope ring and is free for those who own the Rockstar Pass.

Want some freebies for MotorStorm Apocalypse? The Rock Livery Pack provides some new car decals, while the Dynamo: Queen of Hearts Event Pack adds six new challenges.

Elsewhere, gamers can nab a free trial of colourful bullet blaster PixelJunk Shooter 2. Meanwhile, top-down co-operative zombie slayer Dead Nation becomes available as a trial and unlock demo.

There's also a wardrobe of Final Fantasy outfits for LittleBigPlanet 2, if your Sackboy is the cosplaying type. Fan favourites Cloud, Tifa, Sephiroth and Aerith feature.

And that's about it. We can only look in envy at this week's US PlayStation Store update. Over the pond, players get a summer sale with Back to the Future, Pac-Man and Dead Space DLC discounted. US gamers also get a demo of Catherine (on the US Xbox 360 marketplace now too), although the current lack of a European publisher rules out a similar demo here.

Here's the full European list, courtesy of the European PlayStation Blog

PS3 Demos

Dead Nation - Trial & Unlock (£9.99/€12.99)
PixelJunk Shooter 2 (free)
L.A. Noire's Reefer Madness DLC.
PlayStation minis

Arcade Pool & Snooker (£3.49/€3.99)
Awesome Summer Minis Bundle (£4.99/€5.99) This bundle includes the following games: A Space Shooter for 2 Bucks!, Young Thor, Widget Odyssey 1 and 2, Zombie Tycoon
Gamocracy One : Legend Of Robot (£4.15/€5.19)
PS3 Add-ons

DanceDanceRevolution: New Moves - DDR Supernova 2 Greatest Hits (£2.99/€3.59)
DIRT 3 - Mud And Guts Car Pack (£4.39/€5.49) (contains the following content also available separately): Citroen C4 Rallycross (£1.25/€1.59), Ford Mustang Gt (£1.25/€1.59), Lancia Stratos (£1.25/€1.59), Peugeot 205 T16 Evo 2 (£1.25/€1.59), Saturn Sky (£1.25/€1.59)
Hyperdimension Neptunia - Red Events (£3.19/€3.99), 5Pb Events (£3.19/€3.99),
LA Noire - Reefer Madness" Vice Case (£3.19/€3.99, or Free via Rockstar Pass)
LittleBigPlanet 2 - Final Fantasy Costume Pack (£4.79/€5.99) (contains the following content also available separately): Sephiroth Costume (£1.59/€1.99), Cloud Costume (£1.59/€1.99), Tifa Costume (£1.59/€1.99), Aerith Costume (£1.59/€1.99)
Michael Jackson: The Experience - Another Part Of Me (£2.39/€2.99)
ModNation Racers - Gladiator Props Pack (£3.99/€4.99)
MotorStorm Apocalpyse - The Rock Livery Pack (free), Dynamo: Queen of Hearts Event Pack (free)
Rockband & Yoostar:

Rock Band 2 - Andromeda - Bluefusion (£0.59/€0.79), Another Step - Andromeda (£0.99/€1.49), Country Song - Seether (£0.99/€1.49), Queen Bee - Tina Guo (£0.99/€1.49), The Final Episode (Let'S Change The Channel) - Asking Alexandra (£0.99/€1.49)
Rock Band 3 - A Little Respect - Erasure (£0.99/€1.49), Boom - P.O.D. (£0.99/€1.49), Relax (Come Fighting) - Frankie Goes to Hollywood (£0.99/€1.49), Youth Of The Nation - P.O.D. (£0.99/€1.49)
Yoostar 2 - Vegas Happens Fast (free), Reverse Bear Trap (£1.39/€1.75), Three Stooges (£4.39/€5.49), My Response Would Be 'Go To Hell' (£1.39/€1.75), Terminators: Part Man, Part Machine (£1.39/€1.75), Bombs Don't Unscrew (£1.39/€1.75)

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...date-13th-july ...

THQ boss Brian Farrell expects the next hardware generation - "if there are consoles" - to be less centred on raw power and more focused on accessible services and user interfaces.

Speaking at GamesBeat 2011, the exec also said he thinks Apple and Google will be in the mix competing with established platform holders Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.

"We believe Apple is going to be there, Google is going to be there," he said, according to VentureBeat. "Our view is that the next generation of consoles, if there are consoles, are going to be less about technology and more about service orientation of the gamer."

Farrell suggested last October that the best strategic move for the industry is to extend the current hardware cycle with Move and Kinect. You look at the games coming out on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 now and they look stunning," he said at the time. "Frankly, the last thing I think the industry needs now is new hardware."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...vice-oriented/ ...

EA founder Trip Hawkins thinks developers need to focus on open platforms like the web browser if the industry is to emerge from what he describes as the "dark age".

Hawkins, now CEO of social gaming company Digital Chocolate, believes developers are too reliant on platform holders who "lure [them] in with false promises of freedom" and assume ownership of "the land that they are tilling".

Speaking at GamesBeat 2011 (via Gamasutra and VentureBeat), he said: "I think we actually had our golden age when game development was using floppy disks and it was an open free platform when we could all make games like we wanted to make. Nintendo came along and software licensing came in and we've been in a dark age since then.

"How many great companies have been built on the world-wide web, which is an open platform," he added. "The list just goes on and on, and Nintendo's been doing things this way for 25 years and there are no great companies that have been built on the back of Nintendo.

"There is no question that there is a war going to win the hearts and minds of the developers. They will decide which feudal lord wins or loses. The days of floating your boat on one platform are over. The question is, do you as a developer, own the dirt?"

Last year, Hawkins predicted the death of the traditional games console's dominance, forecasting that all future gaming will be cloud-based.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...the-dark-ages/ ...

Titles impacted by the move include Need for Speed Most Wanted for PC and Xbox 360, Skate for PS3 and 360, Madden NFL 10 for PS3 and 360, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 for PS3, 360, Wii and PSP. The full list can be found below.

"The decisions to retire older EA games are never easy," EA said in a statement. "But as games get replaced with newer titles, the number of players still enjoying the older games dwindles below a point - fewer than 1% of all peak online players across all EA titles - where it's feasible to continue the behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping these games up and running.

"We would rather our hard-working engineering and IT staff focus on keeping a positive experience for the other 99% of customers playing our more popular games."

August 11, 2011 Online Service Shutdown
Army of Two for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Army of Two Demo for Xbox 360
Battlefield 2142 Demo for PC
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for Xbox 360
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat Demo for Xbox 360
Medal of Honor Airborne for PlayStation Portable
Medal of Honor Heroes 2 for PlayStation Portable and Wii
NASCAR 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (North America)
NCAA Basketball 10 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NCAA Football 10 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Need for Speed Most Wanted for PC and Xbox 360
Need for Speed Undercover for PlayStation Portable;
Skate for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 for PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 Demo for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
October 1, 2011 Online Service Shutdown
Madden NFL 10 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NHL 10 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...ultiple-games/ ...

Signs are pointing to a change to future versions of the PS3 console that will mean it is unable to display much of its key content over a component cable.

Until now PS3s have shipped with a component cable instead of the more standard HDMI connection.

However, Kotaku reports that new machines carrying the new ‘K’ type hardware chassis will prevent the output of both HD games and Blu-ray movies on anything other than HDMI.

Presumably, the machines will ship with the required connection.

It is speculated that the change is a result of alterations to the AACS content protection system, which governs many things including copy protection systems on Blu-ray discs.

The latest AACS amendments restrict component signals to a maximum output of 480i/576i. Some content will be blocked altogether on analogue outputs.

Older machines will not be affected by the change.

UPDATE: The cable that comes with a PS3 is in fact a composite, not a component cable.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ps3-d...blu-ray/082254 ...

We've previously discussed a few projects by game system hacker Ben Heck, including his PS3 laptop and Xbox 360 laptop. Now, GameSetWatch points out two videos produced by Ben showing and explaining new projects. First, he designs and builds a disc-changer for an Xbox 360, and then he turns an old Sega CDX system into a portable console

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2011/07/watch_ben_heck.php ...

If you haven't spent all your money on charity gaming marathons yet, another opportunity for you to throw money at human suffering is coming up -- and this time, it's a test of both endurance and gluttony.

Starting on July 15, Pro3Studios will embark on a 72-hour marathon, in which it will attempt to catch all the Pokémon species in Pokémon FireRed, Emerald, Diamond, Pearl, HeartGold, SoulSilver, Black, and White -- simultaneously. The gameplay will be streamed on a 3x3 grid, allowing you to watch it all happen in real time.

As this is going on, the group will accept donations through PayPal for the Children's Miracle Network. Those donations will allow viewers the privilege of naming some Pokémon and specifying a song for one of the players to sing on air -- and also, you know, help children.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/07/11/po...the-same-time/ ...