Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), a proud sponsor of ESPN's 12th annual Winter X Games, will enable attendees to experience their own extreme gaming experience at the world's premier action sporting event. While waiting for favorites of more than that 250 of the world's best athletes to compete in skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobile sports, fans can warm up with hot, new pulse-pounding games on PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) and PSP® (PlayStation® Portable) in PlayStation® tents.

Athletes and attendees will have the opportunity to play the latest PS3 and PSP titles at this year's X Games at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen/ Snowmass, Colorado on January 24-27. In addition, PlayStation will be hosting a hands-on game competition featuring last year's Winter X Games champions such as Aspen local, Gretchen Bleiler (2007 Winter X Games Gold and Olympic Silver medalist for snowboarding); Simon Dumont (2007 X Games Silver medalist for skiing); and Tucker Hibber (2007 X Games Gold Medalist for snowmobiling). Consumers and fans will have the opportunity to play Gran Turismo™5 Prologue, complete with 1080p graphics and authentic car physics, against some of their favorite X Games athletes.

The following PS3 software titles will be featured on-site:

• Gran Turismo™5 Prologue is a the latest iteration of the best-selling Gran Turismo™ racing franchise and is one of the most anticipated PS3 titles for 2008. GT5 Prologue continues to blur the line between simulation and reality and sets the bar to unprecedented heights of realism, quality of design and physics technology.

The following PSP software titles will be featured on-site:

• Pursuit Force™: Extreme Justice is the second chapter in this pulse-pounding adventure and driving franchise. This chapter increases the thrills with new multiplayer capabilities and promises to bring all of the excitement of a Hollywood blockbuster film.

• wipEout® PULSE is the next title from the multi-million selling wipEout franchise, offering fans fast-paced, futuristic, anti-gravity racing. Developed by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's (SCEE) award-winning Liverpool Studios, the iconic PlayStation racing franchise is racing back to the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system with a full tank of innovation, including new racetracks, ships, teams, game modes and new music tracks.

In the PlayStation VIP and athlete lounge, third party titles will also be making an appearance in including Burnout with the PLAYSTATION®Eye and the critically acclaimed EA Sports NFL Tour titles. Also, PSP's onsite will feature the new Internet Radio via AOL's SHOUTCast service, where users can choose from more than 20,000 stations of all musical genres.

SCEA is proud to support talented individuals who live life to the extreme within the sporting arena and contribute to the promotion of an active lifestyle.

http://uk.psp.ign.com/articles/847/847194p1.html ...

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), a proud sponsor of ESPN's 12th annual Winter X Games, will enable attendees to experience their own extreme gaming experience at the world's premier action sporting event. While waiting for favorites of more than that 250 of the world's best athletes to compete in skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobile sports, fans can warm up with hot, new pulse-pounding games on PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) and PSP® (PlayStation® Portable) in PlayStation® tents.

Athletes and attendees will have the opportunity to play the latest PS3 and PSP titles at this year's X Games at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen/ Snowmass, Colorado on January 24-27. In addition, PlayStation will be hosting a hands-on game competition featuring last year's Winter X Games champions such as Aspen local, Gretchen Bleiler (2007 Winter X Games Gold and Olympic Silver medalist for snowboarding); Simon Dumont (2007 X Games Silver medalist for skiing); and Tucker Hibber (2007 X Games Gold Medalist for snowmobiling). Consumers and fans will have the opportunity to play Gran Turismo™5 Prologue, complete with 1080p graphics and authentic car physics, against some of their favorite X Games athletes.

The following PS3 software titles will be featured on-site:

• Gran Turismo™5 Prologue is a the latest iteration of the best-selling Gran Turismo™ racing franchise and is one of the most anticipated PS3 titles for 2008. GT5 Prologue continues to blur the line between simulation and reality and sets the bar to unprecedented heights of realism, quality of design and physics technology.

The following PSP software titles will be featured on-site:

• Pursuit Force™: Extreme Justice is the second chapter in this pulse-pounding adventure and driving franchise. This chapter increases the thrills with new multiplayer capabilities and promises to bring all of the excitement of a Hollywood blockbuster film.

• wipEout® PULSE is the next title from the multi-million selling wipEout franchise, offering fans fast-paced, futuristic, anti-gravity racing. Developed by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's (SCEE) award-winning Liverpool Studios, the iconic PlayStation racing franchise is racing back to the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system with a full tank of innovation, including new racetracks, ships, teams, game modes and new music tracks.

In the PlayStation VIP and athlete lounge, third party titles will also be making an appearance in including Burnout with the PLAYSTATION®Eye and the critically acclaimed EA Sports NFL Tour titles. Also, PSP's onsite will feature the new Internet Radio via AOL's SHOUTCast service, where users can choose from more than 20,000 stations of all musical genres.

SCEA is proud to support talented individuals who live life to the extreme within the sporting arena and contribute to the promotion of an active lifestyle.

http://uk.psp.ign.com/articles/847/847194p1.html ...

please, sign this petition, and lets get as many votes as we can so we can hopefully change Warner's mind to return to being format neutral, or go HD-DVD exclusive. This would also show the remaining HD-DVD exclusive studios, Universal & Paramount, that HD-DVD still has supporters, thus they shouldn't switch to Blu-Ray. We have a chance to save a superior format from collapsing under the weight of the greedy Sony corporation and its inferior Blu-Ray format, let's do it!

http://www.petitiononline.com/SAVEHDD/petition.html ...

I have a quick little note about something that very few outside of Redmond knew about and that is Xbox 360 Project "Helium". It was a concept to combine a high-end gaming Windows PC with a Xbox 360 motherboard as a daughterboard. It never was even remotely implemented and moved off the drawing boards but the idea was for a third party manufacturer to license and include a daughter board made by Microsoft that would be housed in a desktop PC to add an Xbox 360 functionality to the PC. Instead they went with Games For Windows LIVE.

The concept was not unlike a videogame PC hybrid like the Amstrad Mega PC and IBM Sega Teradrive PC that combined a 16-bit Sega Genesis/Megadrive with a PC or the Creative 3DO Blaster card that added 3DO functionality to a PC. Crazier ideas for game system hybrids have been made such as the MegaDrive Aiwa CSD-G1M combination Sega MegaDrive CD and portable boombox.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/d...asp?source=rss ...

News from Play Asia

Welcome to this week's Games & Toys update, our weekly summary featuring all new product arrivals from the last seven days.

After a relatively calm period of about three weeks, we've finally received the first 2008 gaming hits. EA's Burnout: Paradise (PlayStation3™ / Xbox360™) and an English/Chinese language edition of Mistwalker's RPG hit Lost Odyssey have been the most popular next gen console sellers.

Popular PlayStation2™ release has been the anime based girl advanture game Lucky * Star (also available as DX Pack).

Excellent handheld gaming refill has also arrived with Nintendo's Advance Wars: Days of Ruin and Konami's The Prince of Tennis: Driving Smash! Side King for Nintendo DS™ as well as Winning Eleven Ubiquitous Evolution 2008 (Japanese / Asia) and Yggdra Union for PSP™.

It's also been a fantastic week for toy statues collectors with arrival of First4Figures' long-awaited Metroid Prime Samus - Varia Suit Statue and The Legend of Zelda - Skull Kid Collectible Statue as well as Gaya's Virtual Legends Resident Evil - The Umbrella Chronicles Pre-Painted 1/6 Scale Statue: Tyrant.

Last but not least some interesting gaming soundtracks have arrived this week, including Lost Odyssey Original Soundtrack, No More Heros Original Soundtrack and Naruto Shippuuden: Narutimate Accel Best Sound [CD+DVD Limited Release].

As usually, here's a summary of all new releases from this week, followed by a quick preview of what is expected to be hot next week.


Xbox360™:
Burnout: Paradise ASIA US$ 44.90
Lost Odyssey (English language Version) ASIA US$ 49.90

PlayStation3™:
Burnout: Paradise ASIA US$ 49.90
Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights JPN US$ 64.90
Shin Sangoku Musou 5 KOR US$ 79.90

Nintendo Wii™:
CSI: Hard Evidence US US$ 44.90
Furu Furu Park US US$ 24.90
Indianapolis 500 Legends US US$ 44.90
Nitrobike US US$ 49.90

PlayStation2™:
Lucky * Star JPN US$ 64.90
Lucky * Star [DX Pack] JPN US$ 89.90
TOCA Race Driver 3: Ultimate Racing Simulator JPN US$ 64.90

Nintendo DS™:
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin US US$ 39.90
Daikoukai Jidai IV: Rota Nova (Koei the Best) JPN US$ 29.90
Hijouguchi: Exit DS JPN US$ 48.90
Kawaii Koneko DS JPN US$ 48.90
Mahjong Taikai (Koei the Best) JPN US$ 28.90
Miami Nights: Singles in the City US US$ 34.90
SuperLite 2500 Brickdown JPN US$ 25.90
SuperLite 2500 Joshikousei Nigeru! Shinrei Puzzle Gakuen JPN US$ 25.90
Takahashi Shoten Kanshuu: Saihinshutsu! SPI Perfect Mondaishuu JPN US$ 29.90
The Prince of Tennis: Driving Smash! Side King JPN US$ 48.90
The Prince of Tennis: Driving Smash! Side King [Konamistyle Part.12 Special Edition] JPN US$ 139.90
The Sims 2: Castaway JPN US$ 48.90

Sony PSP™:
Clear Case Portable (Crystal) JPN US$ 9.90
Clear Case Portable (Graphite) JPN US$ 9.90
Lumines II (The Best Collection) JPN US$ 29.90
Winning Eleven Ubiquitous Evolution 2008 ASIA US$ 46.90
Winning Eleven Ubiquitous Evolution 2008 JPN US$ 48.90
Yggdra Union JPN US$ 48.90

Toys & More:
Amaha Collection No.3 1/6 Scale Pre-Painted PVC Figure: Wild Cat Anna (Limited Edition) JPN N/A
Another Days To Heart 2 1/8 Scale Pre-Painted PVC Figure: Yamada Michiru JPN US$ 39.90
Another Days To Heart 2 1/8 Scale Pre-Painted PVC Figure: Yuzuhara Konomi (Maid Version) JPN US$ 44.90
Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 1/6 Scale Pre-Painted PVC Figure: Lei Fang on the beach JPN US$ 64.90
Doubutu Nechan Series Tandem Twin Animal Girl 1/6 Scale Pre-Pianted PVC Figure: Panther MOMO JPN US$ 69.90
Dr. Slump Collection Pre-Painted PVC Mini Figure: Gacchan JPN US$ 6.90
El Cazador Scale 1/8 Pre-Painted PVC Figure: Nadie JPN N/A
Fate/Zero 1/8 Scale Pre-painted PVC Figure: Emiya Kiritsugu JPN US$ 59.90
Final Fantasy VIII Play Arts Pre-Painted Action Figure: Squall Leonhart JPN US$ 38.90
Fist of the North Star 200 X 1/8 Scale Pre-Painted PVC Figure: Kenshiro and Kokuoh JPN US$ 189.90
Guilty Gear XX 1/7 Scale Pre-Painted PVC Figure: I-No JPN N/A
Gun x Sword 1/8 Scale Pre-Painted Figure: Wendy Garret (Removable Cloth Vers.) JPN US$ 54.99
Jingai Makyo Chaos Gate Non Scale Pre-Painted PVC Figure: Makimoto Misae Fantastica Version JPN US$ 49.90
Metroid Prime Samus - Varia Suit Statue US$ 79.90
Naruto Shippuuden Phone Strap Gashapon Vol.2 JPN US$ 2.49
Nohohon Dancing (Green) US$ 9.90
Nohohon Dancing (Orange) US$ 9.90
Nohohon Dancing (Pink) US$ 9.90
Nohohon Dancing (Yellow) US$ 9.90
Original Generation Super Robot Taisen: Super Robot Wars 1/144 Scale Pre-Painted Model Kit: Real Personal Trooper R-1 (Re-Run) JPN US$ 34.90
Original Generation Super Robot Wars Non Scale Pre-Painted Model Kit: DGG-XAM1 Dygenguar (Re-Run) JPN US$ 34.90
The Legend of Zelda - Skull Kid Collectible Statue US$ 79.90
Togainu's Blood - PS2 Soft Sale commemoration Non Scale Pre-Painted PVC Figure: Shiki JPN US$ 29.90
Treasure Figure Collection Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu 1/10 Scale Pre-Painted PVC Figure Set: Tsuruya-san & Kyon's sister JPN US$ 49.90
Ultimate Transformers Pre-Painted PVC Figure: Bumblebee JPN N/A ...

Newly released today



features
Features 6 character phone straps from the Naruto anime
1 out of 6 different figures (randomly - no choice available)
Limited availability

http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-...j-70-2jqj.html ...

Newly released today:



features
Official Licensed by Nintendo
Edition size: 2,500 worldwide
Artist: Par 'Pelle' Tringstorm
Height: approx. 17cm without base
Hand cast and hand painted
Individually numbered and comes with an Authenticity Card

description
With the instantly recognizable bulky round orange shoulder pieces, Samus Aran’s Varia Suit has served the interstellar bounty huntress well. Her Varia suit, with the ability to resist even the most extreme of temperatures, has helped Samus on her quest of aiding the Galactic Federation in defeating the Space Pirates and eradication of the deadly Metroids.

First 4 Figures is extremely proud to present Samus Aran’s Varia Suit, the first collectible statue in First 4 Figures’ highly anticipated suit series based on Retro Studios’ Metroid Prime game trilogy.

First 4 Figures has used the official game files in order to create an extremely accurate recreation of the Varia suit, with pose inspiration taken from official Metroid Prime Varia Suit artwork.

The suit series will include, but not limited to, Samus Aran’s Light Suit, Dark Suit and Phazon suit.

Cast in high quality poly-stone, the statue is hand finished and hand painted with metallic paints to give an authentic representation of the suits.

Comes packed in a foam interior full colored box with a card of authenticity.

http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-...j-70-1ogu.html ...

Newly released today:



features
Official Licensed by Nintendo
Edition size: 2,500 worldwide
Artist: Par 'Pelle' Tringstorm
Height: approx. 17cm without base
Hand cast and hand painted
Individually numbered and comes with an Authenticity Card

description
With the instantly recognizable bulky round orange shoulder pieces, Samus Aran’s Varia Suit has served the interstellar bounty huntress well. Her Varia suit, with the ability to resist even the most extreme of temperatures, has helped Samus on her quest of aiding the Galactic Federation in defeating the Space Pirates and eradication of the deadly Metroids.

First 4 Figures is extremely proud to present Samus Aran’s Varia Suit, the first collectible statue in First 4 Figures’ highly anticipated suit series based on Retro Studios’ Metroid Prime game trilogy.

First 4 Figures has used the official game files in order to create an extremely accurate recreation of the Varia suit, with pose inspiration taken from official Metroid Prime Varia Suit artwork.

The suit series will include, but not limited to, Samus Aran’s Light Suit, Dark Suit and Phazon suit.

Cast in high quality poly-stone, the statue is hand finished and hand painted with metallic paints to give an authentic representation of the suits.

Comes packed in a foam interior full colored box with a card of authenticity.

http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-...j-70-1ogu.html ...