News from Play Asia

The newest Pokemon action starts this Saturday. To celebrate the release of Black and White, Pikachu, Reshiram and Zekrom are going to bring you accessories to decorate your Nintendo DS™ consoles. They also know how difficult it is for you to tear yourself from them once you start your adventures, so they transform themselves into gashapon and plush dolls to accompany you in the real world.

Just as with past Pokemon releases, we will not get all of our delivery at once. To ensure that the majority of our customers will get their Pokemon Black and White in a timely manner, we will do an extra Saturday shift. However, please bear in mind that we might not be able to ship all orders on that Saturday and some of them will be shipped early next week, please let us apologize here, in advance, for the brief delay. As always we will ship in sequence of the order date.

Please be reminded that the games support enhanced DSi™ features, such as live video and chats and possibly will be region-locked, therefore it may not run on non-Japanese Nintendo DSi™ and XL™ consoles.

The region-lock doesn't apply to the older Nintendo DS™ and DS Lite™ consoles.

The Japanese versions are released this Saturday (18th September), the US versions will come in March 2011.

Japanese versions
Pokemon Black [DSi Enhanced] JPN US$ 64.79
Pokemon White [DSi Enhanced] JPN US$ 64.79

US versions
Pokemon Black [DSi Enhanced] US US$ 44.90
Pokemon White [DSi Enhanced] US US$ 44.90

Here come the accessories that will aid your Pokemon experience. We have Reshiram and Zekrom Silicon Nintendo™ DSi cases to protect your console from scratches, and a cute Pikachu charger stand. This statue works for both Nintendo DSi and DSi LL consoles, just slip it into the arms of Pikachu and the electric mouse will charge it for you.

Pikachu charger is scheduled to come this Saturday and the silicon cases will come on 14th October:

Pikachu Charge Stand DSi & DSi LL JPN US$ 39.99
Silicon Cover DSi (Pokemon Black/White Reshiram) JPN US$ 14.90
Silicon Cover DSi (Pokemon Black/White Zekrom) JPN US$ 14.90
Liquid Crystal Protection Filter DSi LL/XL (Pokemon White/Black Edition) JPN US$ 9.99
Liquid Crystal Protection Filter DSi (Pokemon White/Black Edition) JPN US$ 8.99

There will be times when you have to leave your Pokemon in the game world to deal with real world matters. To make your temporary separation as easy as possible, the Pokemon cast brings you CDs and toys.

The Original Soundtrack contains 4 CDs and hours of digitally remastered tracks, you can immerse in the music as you finish your homework or even play them as a lullabies.

Get the Reshiram and Zekrom plush dolls, they are perfect as ornaments and as cuddle partners. They stand at around 35 cm and will keep you warm during the winter months. If you want to catch'em all, collect the gashapons, this series features the new and existing Pokemon, from Pokabu to Pikachu.

The soundtrack comes this October and the toys will come this December:

Music
Pocket Monster Black White Super Music Collection JPN US$ 27.49

Toys
Pokemon Black & White Plush Doll: Reshiram JPN US$ 29.90
Pokemon Black & White Plush Doll: Zekrom JPN US$ 29.90
Pokemon Black & White Pre-Painted Gashapon JPN US$ 1.60

http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-...-2ko-84-n.html ...

Europe will receive yellow, green and blue DSi XL models on October 8, the latest colors in DS fashion (previously released in Japan). With uncertainty swirling over the launch date of the 3DS, it may be worth tapping the brakes just a little before splurging on one of the XL's latest colors.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/14/ne...ope-october-8/ ...

Palm first started telling us webOS 1.4.5 was coming "soon" back in May, but after an interminable wait it looks like Pre Pluses on Verizon and AT&T are starting to get an OTA update. The release notes page on Palm's site is currently down, but we're looking for better PDK support, some GPS fixes, and improved gaming action. We'll let you know as soon as we find out anything definite -- but for now, let us know how it's going on comments.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/14/w...inally-arrive/ ...

Sony's motion controller Move can offer a more accessible entry point for developers looking to make an impact on the crowded and expensive console market.

While it's proving increasingly difficult to enter a triple-A market already dominated by big budget franchises, Michael Denny, head of Sony's Worldwide Studios in Europe, said that Move, like the PlayStation Network and the PSP, offer developers the opportunity to reach console audiences otherwise out of reach to those that don't have a budget in the tens of millions.

"Depending on the type of game we're looking at, the budgets are lower," Denny said in an interview published today. However, he insisted that budgetary issues come second to innovation and creativity, with the developer's passion for the product the first step in green-lighting a project.

"When we're talking to developers it's really about them installing in us the belief and passion that they have to make something that's creative and innovative."

Ubisoft's Alain Corre recently said that there is no room for mid-budget games in the console market anymore, making it increasingly difficult to launch new product on the home systems.

However, Denny said that internally it's not a cost issue that determines new products at Sony.

"The budgetary exercise comes second to that, we have to look at it and believe it's a sensible proposition. But first and foremost it's about us being sold a vision of a creative, innovative game that can be delivered to a high quality," said Denny.

Addressing concerns from hardcore games consumers and developers such as Quantic Dreams' David Cage that Move might just be used for casual and family experiences, Denny said that Move will grow to support the hardcore crowd just as much as other Sony platforms and services.

"I don't think there's any shortage of software on the PlayStation 3 that's aimed at the core audience, and far from it - this year more than ever we've got some great games coming through," he offered. "In terms of Move, the whole purpose of our system with position-based gameplay is that it's not just a system where you just stand up and have to move around in a party sense.

"There are games being developed where you sit down and use the controller in different ways. Games like Heavy Rain are making interesting use of it, Killzone Move is very interesting. It's a different experience for the core gamers as well, and we will have more games coming for the core."

Move is released this Friday in the UK, priced £29.99 - £49.99

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...console-market ...

Sony's answer to the problem of PS2 backwards compatibility for PS3 appears to be a case of repackaging the vast majority of the original hardware and supplying it as an all-new add-on.

The recently unearthed patent application, first revealed in the West by Siliconera and currently being dissected on Japanese gaming forums, describes how a "removable adaptor" is connected to a "next generation games machine". The not-so subtle codenames ("200" and "300") are clearly supposed to represent PS2 and PS3, though the patent could apply to any games machines going forward.

English-translated versions of the diagrams show us how Sony intends to make it work. The "200" box appears to be an almost entirely complete rendition of the original hardware: CPU, memory, graphics chip and RAM are in there, along with a bespoke module for DVD emulation (note that there is no actual optical drive). Inputs and outputs are routed through a hub that connects both to the "300" unit and a router.

The real challenge here is bandwidth. The PS3's USB ports are capable of transferring around 35 megabytes per second at their maximum throughput level - no way is this fast enough to host an entire console. The fact that the hub appears to be handling Ethernet traffic suggests that Sony's solution to the bandwidth issue is to use the gigabit network port on the rear of the unit.

This offers a 125 megabyte per second connection between the host console and the "removable adaptor". The theory is that the PS2 game disc is inserted into the PS3 with data from the drive combined with input from the controller(s) being beamed over the LAN port. The adaptor then decodes the data and processes it exactly as a PS2 would. The output data is then transmitted back to the PS3.

Quite what form that data takes remains unknown, but an educated guess would be uncompressed video and audio which is then displayed (and perhaps upscaled) by the PS3: a 480p video signal at 24-bit RGB running at 60Hz would probably entail around 72MB of bandwidth with a minimal amount of overhead for audio. That's way beyond USB 2.0, but should be manageable via the gigabit Ethernet port.

It's possible that the encoder mentioned at point 212 could be compressing the image using something like MJPEG (as used by the PlayStation Eye's 60Hz throughput) and this would work over USB 2.0. However, any form of additional compression and decompression will badly impact image quality and it would not explain why the "removable adaptor" would require its own connection to the router at all. Logically speaking, the only reason it is there is because the PS3's own LAN port will be occupied by the adaptor itself, and the PS3 still needs support for a wired internet connection.

All told, it's a bit of a crazy scheme. This notion of effectively cramming an entire PS2 into a box you attach to your PlayStation 3 might seem like rampant overkill. However, we live in a world where electronics are radically shrinking year on year. If Microsoft can shrink its CPU and GPU onto a single, relatively low-power chip, then the notion of combining an entire PS2 into a single package isn't particularly far-fetched at all.

If there's any disadvantage to this idea, it'll almost certainly be the case that the games will be laggier than playing them on original hardware: all this traffic across LAN ports, perhaps combined with upscaling on the PS3 end must surely be adding latency you wouldn't get on the original PS2 itself.

However, it is worth remembering that this is merely a patent application, a method of protecting an idea and not necessarily any indication of any kind of final end product. However, it does provide a fascinating insight into the thoughts and processes going on at Sony Computer Entertainment.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/di...ent-blog-entry ...

Sony Japan is trying to patent an invention that would solve backwards compatibility problems on PS3.

The device - a new generation to previous generation console adapter - is external and has its own processor, DVD encoder/emulator, sound chip and graphics chip. It connects to what appears to be a PS3 (memory cards, joypads and discs are all shown beside it) via a cable.

Eurogamer's Digital Foundry blog is investigating further.

But don't get your hopes up, as this is only an application for a patent - nobody's actually said yes, as as Siliconera pointed out.

Sony Europe gave Eurogamer a flat "no comment."

Perhaps this invention may be intended for use with the new PSP2.

The 60GB launch PS3 was natively backwards compatible and could play PS2 games - a feature Sony eradicated from future models. The company has instead favoured Blu-ray conversions of the console's most popular titles: God of War, Sly and maybe ICO and Shadow of the Colossus - that's the word around the proverbial water-cooler.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-compat-device ...

EA Sports president Peter Moore doubts Microsoft and Sony will invest in new consoles for at least three years.

The ex-Microsoft and SEGA executive described the launch of Kinect and PlayStation Move as "tantamount to new platform launches", and insisted "we're nowhere near mass market pricing".

"If you look at the history of the pricing, we're in mid-cycle," Moore told Eurogamer in a new interview published today.

"Chronologically, this is the last few years of previous cycles, but when you look at pricing, we're mid-cycle.

"Over the years, $199 and below has been where 75 to 80 per cent of business is done. With the exception of 360 and the Wii, PlayStation 3, which seems to have a lot of momentum, is not even close to that.

"So we're still to reach a price point across all three consoles where historically 75 to 80 per cent of business is done. Yeah, I think we're in mid-cycle."

Microsoft has said Kinect, which allows gamers to play games without a controller, will extend the life of the Xbox 360 by five years.

And Sony has repeated its belief that this generation will last significantly longer than previous ones.

Moore said the current pricing of the consoles, in particular the PlayStation 3, suggests it'll be years before we see new hardware hit store shelves.

"When you've got things like Move and Kinect, these are tantamount to new platform launches for both Sony and Microsoft respectively.

"I don't think they are going to be investing in new hardware 12 months, 24 months, 36 months after investing I'm sure a considerable amount of money in getting both of these platforms out.

"I'm sure if you ask them is this a tactic and a strategy to extend the current life cycle, they'll say absolutely. You add Kinect to the average price of an Xbox 360, you're back up to that $400 again. That's not the end of the cycle. We're nowhere near mass market pricing. Maybe with the Wii – and you've seen a little bit of a downturn in that business. But they've sold a considerable amount of consoles."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...les-years-away ...

What this payload does is makes use of the /app_home/PS3_GAME menu on the XMB. You can place an application on a USB drive under the PS3_GAME folder and run it without installing a package. However, extracting a .pkg file onto a USB drive is not sufficient to run the program. You will need to modify the EBOOT.BIN in order for it to work properly. Once homebrew files start to roll out, we may not need to install them but can simply run them from the USB drive themselves.


Source: AerialX Github / AerialX Twitter ...

What this payload does is makes use of the /app_home/PS3_GAME menu on the XMB. You can place an application on a USB drive under the PS3_GAME folder and run it without installing a package. However, extracting a .pkg file onto a USB drive is not sufficient to run the program. You will need to modify the EBOOT.BIN in order for it to work properly. Once homebrew files start to roll out, we may not need to install them but can simply run them from the USB drive themselves.


Source: AerialX Github / AerialX Twitter ...