Viva Piñata may not be out here until 1st December, but the game's launch in the US has prompted the game's first downloadable content.

Available now (we checked) for 90 Microsoft points, the Viva Piñata accessory pack consists of the Vela Wig and Juno Helmet, which apparently fit most piñata. You'll be able to obtain them from Paper Pets in the village.

If you ask us, this sort of thing is only likely to reawaken the debate about whether day-one downloads that probably could've been bundled on the disc are ethical - but we'll leave that bit up to you.

The comfort, I suppose, is that you can do as Peter Moore suggested and "vote with your A button" rather easily on this one, since the only people who have it are the ones who imported it. ...

Rumours that Nintendo Wii launch title ExciteTruck allows for custom soundtracks have turned out to be true, with US review copies revealing the option.

All you have to do is insert is put some MP3 files onto an SD Card and then pop the card into the Wii's SD slot before you start up the game.

Then, before a race begins, press the plus-sign on the Wii remote and you're taken to the Sound Options screen, where you can select SD Card and then browse through the first 100 songs stored on the card.

It's possible to choose a specific song, to randomise all shown songs, or, if you can't be bothered, to highlight "Default" to listen to the game's built-in music.

The news that some Wii games will incorporate custom soundtrack options is quite pleasing, and follows on from the practice instigated by Microsoft with Xbox.

We'll let you know if we find out about any others. ...

Rumours that Nintendo Wii launch title ExciteTruck allows for custom soundtracks have turned out to be true, with US review copies revealing the option.

All you have to do is insert is put some MP3 files onto an SD Card and then pop the card into the Wii's SD slot before you start up the game.

Then, before a race begins, press the plus-sign on the Wii remote and you're taken to the Sound Options screen, where you can select SD Card and then browse through the first 100 songs stored on the card.

It's possible to choose a specific song, to randomise all shown songs, or, if you can't be bothered, to highlight "Default" to listen to the game's built-in music.

The news that some Wii games will incorporate custom soundtrack options is quite pleasing, and follows on from the practice instigated by Microsoft with Xbox.

We'll let you know if we find out about any others. ...

Rumours that Nintendo Wii launch title ExciteTruck allows for custom soundtracks have turned out to be true, with US review copies revealing the option.

All you have to do is insert is put some MP3 files onto an SD Card and then pop the card into the Wii's SD slot before you start up the game.

Then, before a race begins, press the plus-sign on the Wii remote and you're taken to the Sound Options screen, where you can select SD Card and then browse through the first 100 songs stored on the card.

It's possible to choose a specific song, to randomise all shown songs, or, if you can't be bothered, to highlight "Default" to listen to the game's built-in music.

The news that some Wii games will incorporate custom soundtrack options is quite pleasing, and follows on from the practice instigated by Microsoft with Xbox.

We'll let you know if we find out about any others. ...

News from Play Asia:



No doubt, every new video game console launch is a fascinating event for all gamers. More than six years after the PlayStation2™ launch in Japan, it's finally been time for Sony's next generation console to hit the market. The PlayStation3™ has officially been launched in Japan today, Saturday November 11th, 2006.

Highly praised by its makers, the PlayStation3™ now finally has to prove its true power and acceptance in the market. Despite its relatively high price compared to the Xbox360™ and yet to be launched Nintendo™ Wii, there has been a big rush on the console in Japan. With only 80,000 consoles expected to be available in the market today, thousands of video game enthusiasts have been lined up hours before stores were expected to open this morning at 7am local time.

We have compiled an overview of today's PlayStation3™ launch lineup, along with further information, including shipping schedule details, region compatibilities, image galleries and more.

Launch Lineup - 5 Japanese PlayStation3™ games in stock today

Today's launch date line up includes the two console models (20G/60G), two first party, a number of Hori/Logitech licensed accessories and finally five game releases.

PlayStation3 Console (HDD 60GB Model) JPN US$ 999.00
PlayStation3 Console (HDD 20GB Model) JPN US$ 899.00
PS3 Wireless Controller (SIXAXIS) JPN US$ 49.90
PS3 Memory Card Adapter JPN US$ 19.90

Genji: Kamui Souran / Genji: Days of the Blade JPN US$ 59.90
Miyasato Miyoshi Kyoudai Naizou: Sega Golf Club JPN US$ 64.90
Mobile Suit Gundam: Target in Sight JPN US$ 64.90
Resistance: Fall of Man JPN US$ 59.90
Ridge Racer 7 JPN US$ 64.90
GT Force RX JPN US$ 109.90
Monaural AV Cable JPN US$ 8.90
S Terminal Cable JPN US$ 14.90
SD Memory Card 1GB JPN US$ 49.90
SD Memory Card 256MB JPN US$ 27.90
SD Memory Card 512MB JPN US$ 34.90
Stereo AV Cable JPN US$ 9.90
Wireless Keyboard 2.4GHz US$ 69.90


The PlayStation3™ uses the same Multi AV out as the PS One™ and PlayStation2™, which makes PlayStation2™ compatible Component, S-Video and other leads compatible with the PS3™ as well. Check out our full range of PlayStation3™ compatible cables.

Also don't forget, the PlayStation3™ plays Blu-Ray movies. We are carrying a variety of Japanese Version Blu-Ray Movies.


Play-Asia.com Shipping Schedule - FREE PS2™ Games with every PS3™ Console

Almost every customer with a confirmed PlayStation3™ console preorder is expected to receive a shipping confirmation e-mail today, remaining orders will ship on Monday. We further have limited supply of the 20GB Model in stock to ship within 24 hours. Supply on the more demanded 60GB Model is tighter and new orders for this model are currently estimated to be processed within 1-5 working days.

If you want a PS3™ console so be shipped right away, we recommend you to order the smaller 20GB model.

The PS3 Memory Card Adapter has not come in yet due to insufficient supply in the market. We hope to receive a shipment next week, along with more PS3 Wireless Controllers, which are also sold out at the moment. All as of now confirmed PS3™ console orders that contain either of these two accessories will be split shipped to avoid delays.

There's no shortage on PlayStation3™ software for the time being, all five launch titles are stocked at Play-Asia.com to be shipped within usually 24 hours.

Last but not least, for a limited period of time and as long as supplies last, Play-Asia.com will include two FREE Asia/Japanese version PlayStation2™ games of our choice with every PlayStation3™ console purchase (20GB/60GB Model).


PlayStation3™ Region Compatibility

Each PlayStation3™ Console has been designed to play back PlayStation3™, PlayStation2™ and PlayStation™ software as well as Blu-Ray and DVD Movie discs. Territorial lockout exists on most of these formats. Based on our information gathered so far, every PlayStation3™ game released so far appears to be region free. However we will try to reconfirm this during next week when the first US PS3™ consoles and games are available.

Japanese PlayStation3™ Console Region Encoding:

PlayStation3™ Software to be confirmed
PlayStation2™ Software NTSC/J only
PlayStation™ Software NTSC/J only
Blu-Ray Movies Region A (Japan/USA/Asia)
DVD Movies Region 2 (Japan/Europe)

More details HERE ...

Sony have seemingly dropped a bombshell already with news on one of their sites that reads:


Discussion Here

Is homebrew from the start a reality, well we all hope so, keep your eyes focused on PS3 Evolution for any breaking details regarding homebrew on the PS3. ...

In our first look at the PlayStation 3's media playback features, we initially the system to be limited by its directory structure design -- unless media was stored in the proper folder, it would not be read by the PS3. But surprise! With a tap of the Triangle button, the PS3 becomes a fully-formed directory searcher, and can indeed find and play music, photos, videos or playlists from anywhere on most any media device.

The PS3 itself is designed to browse only the folders it is designed to browse -- the root-level VIDEO, MUSIC, and PHOTO folders (as well as the standard MP_ROOT and DCIM folders shared across many media devices.) It will load media directly from the system and load them onto the PS3 menu in the proper media setting, so if you choose Photo on the PS3 menu, it will show the images in your PSP or Memory Stick or Compact Flash or SD card or USB keychain folder. More importantly, it will not show media not in those proper folders -- unlike on a PC, it does not have a "media search" function to find multimedia elsewhere on your external device.

But never fear, because there is also a "Display All" feature when selecting your Memory Stick or other USB-connected device that allows you to browse the entire directory structure, and thus load whatever's on the drive that the system recognizes. This indeed works for any media type. We were able to run music from an iPod and pull video from a random spot on our USB mini-drive. It's a hidden option that some may not notice at first, and sorting through folders isn't exactly easy (an iPod is full of all kinds of dummy files that are not music, for instance, and the folders are not named after the albums or songs stored in them -- if you can sort your media for proper playback on PS3, you're going to want to), but at least the option is there. Thank the Lloyd!

And how does connecting a media device work with PS3? We tried a number of devices. The first was an iRiver unit -- the iRiver H10 player. This unit is notorious for difficulty in driver functionality and mounting on PC and Mac systems -- the unit requires custom drivers instead of mounting as a standard USB device. As expected, the unit did not mount and was not able to offer music playback. This was one of the few cases we've had where the PS3 just could do nothing with the device, as usually, there's a way around the problem.

After that, we plugged in a standard 20GB full-size Video iPod. The PS3 recognized the iPod just fine, even displaying on the screen that the unit was in fact an iPod. However, the directory structure Apple chose for iPod is not something that PS3 recognizes (or at least does not recognize in the latest update, v1.10.) The iPod will mount, but no video, audio or photo tracks can be found on the standard XMB menu. Jump into "Display All", however, and it's a totally different story -- you can see the Calendar and music directories, and can browse as deep as you need to in order to find the files. As we mentioned, finding music on an iPod is difficult sometimes because iTunes makes a number of Apple-needed files (images and encryption notes and things like that) in the folder, and also avoids common folder names. However, it works fine in a pinch, and it may be possible that Sony could add iPod folder browsing to the PS3's abilities in a later update.

Finally, we plugged in a PSP (and also an offloaded PSP Memory Stick). As expected, the PSP is recognized as a PSP and is mounted as a USB device, and the music plays back from the PSP-mounted unit or any given Memory Stick just fine, so long as the folders are set properly. The PS3 recognizes both the PSP/MUSIC folder structure as well as the new MUSIC root folder added in PSP v2.80 (and now a common folder for Memory Stick formatting), and you can do anything in the PS3's music feature set with a PSP (including playback, file transfer to and from PS3's HDD, file naming, etc.) A quick note, however: the PS3 will not recognize nested folders (folders inside other folders) unless you use "Display All", which shouldn't be a problem for most Memory Stick users since the PSP has the same limit, but it is frustrating in some ways since neither device natively lets you put your music with albums inside artist folders, as many do on their home PCs.

The "Display All" thankfully fixes some issues we had with the PSP's version of the XMB menu seen on PS3, and hopefully Sony will add some more support functions to PS3 in the future.

Via IGN ...

When you pop a CD into the PlayStation 3, it will of course wind up under the Music heading of the Cross Media Bar. After you've agreed to the privacy policy agreement for nabbing track info online, the system will name your CD and its individual tracks. As you scroll through the tracks, you'll see its name, the artist and album its from and its track length.

Pressing Triangle, you're able to play a track, import it or view more information. By choosing Information, you'll see not only the track, album and artist info, but its genre and how large the file size will be if you import it. Import settings are located under Settings->Music Settings in the XMB, and you can choose to rip tracks as an AAC, MP3 or ATRAC file. For each of these, you have a number of bitrate options. MP3 will hit 320kbps at its highest rate.

We imported Dredg's Live at the Fillmore disc. It runs over 76 minutes in length, essentially maxing out a CD's capacity. The ripping process took somewhere around six minutes.

The storage process looks to be the same as the PSP where the albums are stored at the root, rather than going Artist->Album->Song. You are able to change the sorting type, be it by artist, album or so forth, but everything is only divided on one level. Playback controls are much like you'd see on the PS2, with rewind, fast-forward, pause, play, etc.

Update: By pressing the PlayStation button, you'll bring up the Cross Media Bar again, allowing you to multi-task while your music still plays. If you being a movie or start playing a game, playback will stop, but at least you're able to listen to music while browsing the web or manipulating data.

Via IGN ...

Via IGN

For those frustrated with the Xbox 360's limited video playback features (and for those of you angry at PS3 for not upscaling DVDs), here's something to smile about: video playback on Sony's new system seems to have no restrictions of any kind. Barring a lack of support for your chosen format (which of course will never make anybody happy since there are 5 zillion media formats out there and no media player can play back everything), the PS3 will play back videos without issue, even at full HD quality.

This is good news after the PlayStation Portable unfortunately delivered less-than-ideal video playback maxing out in consumer releases at 320x240 anamorphic instead of full 480x272 (although this PSP fault is likely due to support of outdated Memory Stick Video Format restrictions, some blame this on Sony's fear that UMD would not sell if users were allowed to make full-resolution video ... indeed, Sony's own Japanese P.TV site offers encrypted videos at full-res, but consumer compression applications can only make small-resolution PSP videos.) Here with PS3, we were able to play videos at 720p and even 1080p off of a Memory Stick after first compressing them to the AVC format. (Our tests used Sorensen Squeeze, but any AVC compressor should be able to do the job.)

We also tested PSP-sized AVC and MP4 files, which played back just fine. Some of these videos were odd-sized videos, and they also played back without issue. We have not yet been able to put the system through a stress-test to see if the PS3 is able to play videos that do not conform to standard broadcast or PSP-supported q-pel formats, but we will be testing this soon -- so far, this seems to not be an issue.

In addition to AVC, PS3 will also be able to play MPEG1, MPEG2, and standard-profile MP4 videos, all common formats and all formats easily found in consumer-level (and freeware/shareware) video compression applications. We were able to test MPEG2 and MP4-SP, and both formats worked just as any other video format on PS3, without issue. You cannot, however, reformat videos -- you can copy them from device to device, but unlike with music files, you can't re-encode them under a more preferred or tighter codec. We also loaded an AVI file into the PS3, and while it recognized that a file was loaded, it showed the AVI file as Corrupted Data, just as on PSP. ...