Sony has updated PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable with new firmware.

PS3 gets the bump to version 3.1, introducing a little bit of Facebook integration, changes to photo viewing and friends list tweaks. We wrote some more about that the other day, and now the European PlayStation blog has pictures and stuff.

PSP, meanwhile, is up to version 6.2, again detailed by the Euro blog, and the principal additions are options to transfer video and photo playlists to the portable either from PC (using Media Go 1.3) or PS3.

The latest PSP firmware also introduces the Digital Comics reader, but the store to go with it doesn't launch until December, so there's not much you can do with it. When it does go live, it will do so first in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, with other regions to follow.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ps...t-new-firmware ...

Microsoft's recent actions against Xbox Live users with modded consoles has led to an unexpected surge in second-hand sales of the Xbox 360.

Online sites such as Craigslist and eBay show dozens of listings for consoles variously described as "banned", "not modded" or "100% working offline". The average cost for a banned standalone console has settled at around GBP 50 (compared to a retail price of GBP 160 for a new Xbox 360 Arcade).

Earlier in the month Microsoft began a large scale attempt to ban modded consoles, many of which could be used to play pirated software, from Xbox Live. The bans remove the console's ability to go online but leave it still able to function offline.

Although Microsoft categorised the number of bans as a "small percentage" of the 20 million strong Xbox Live community, unconfirmed reports have placed the numbers as high as 600,000 or even 1 million users.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...xes-flood-ebay ...

October saw the highest month of revenues on record for the PlayStation Store, with downloads up 60 per cent on the previous year, according to new information released on the official PlayStation Blog.

As part of celebrations of the PlayStation 3's third birthday in the US, SCEA revealed that to date more than 650 million pieces of content have been downloaded worldwide from the PlayStation Store, from more than 31 million registered PlayStation Network accounts.

Sony also trumpeted US hardware sales growth of almost 70 per cent over the last year, claiming the PS3 as the only console to experience "significant growth" year on year.

Sales of the PS3 have been boosted considerably since the launch of the cheaper PS3 slim and a new marketing campaign, although last month's NPD results for the US show that the Wii still outsold the PS3 by 506,900 units to 320,600.

Sony remains upbeat at the console's turnaround though, highlighting the fact that the company had a total of 17 nominations at the 2009 Spike Video Game Nominations - more than any other publisher.

"Many believe a console race is a 100-meter dash, but it’s really a marathon," said Jesse Divnich, director of analyst services at EEDAR.

"The PS3’s ten-year lifecycle is clear testament of Sony’s commitment to providing entertainment value to consumers, PS3’s growth in recent months is a perfect example of how a new low price along with upcoming innovative, exclusive titles such as MAG, Gran Turismo 5 and God of War III, will act as large catalysts for driving the PS3’s install base even higher," he added.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...s-break-record ...

The censored version of Left 4 Dead 2 released in Australia after the country's ratings board refused it classification has been slated by users.

According to a review by IGN, the game has been "butchered" in order to remove elements such as wound detail, decapitations and dead bodies.

The resulting game is a "hollow shell of a game," according to the review, that "isn't worth the plastic the disc is printed on."

Developer Valve endured a lengthy process of submissions to get the game released in Australia, but its appeal was refused last month by the Classification Review Board.

"It was the Review Board’s opinion that there was insufficient delineation between the depiction of general zombie figures and the human figures, as opposed to the clearly fictional ‘infected’ characters," it concluded.

In Australia, the maximum age rating for a game is 15+ and games that don't meet that criteria are refused classification.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ian-censorship ...

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president and CEO Andrew House has told GamesIndustry.biz that the newly-launched PlayStation Video Delivery Service - which encompasses around 2000 films across Europe, including about 800 for the UK - will grow its offering at a rate of about 50 movies every week.

Speaking in an industry-exclusive interview ahead of the launch of the service, House explained that SCEE would be following the template set out by the US, which has increased its offering "something like 700 per cent" since its launch 15 months ago.

"It'll be a little bit more complex, because we're trying to maintain that mix between Hollywood content as well as local studio content, and also I think we'll see short form and television become part of that play as well," he said.

"But I think we're in a good spot - I think we have something like 2000 movies available at launch, which is a pretty substantial library. Break that down to a per-country basis and there's around 800 films available for the UK, for example.

"So we're starting out with a really strong offering - there's plenty there to choose from, a tremendous number of current hits - and then I think we'll grow it somewhere in the region I hope of about an additional 50 movies per week. So that'll encourage return traffic, people coming back, something new for them there to check out - we're feeling fairly comfortable about the content line-up we've got, and that's led us again to this being the right time to launch."

He also indicated that, following the launch of the PS3 Slim a couple of months ago - which along with a new, lower price point has prompted a 300 per cent increase in the platform's sales numbers - now was the right time to release the service to the market, although there were other considerations as well.

"First and foremost, clearly - if you're going to launch a sufficiently robust video delivery service in Europe then that requires full support from all the Hollywood studios, but another critical component is making sure we have the right mix of local content as well," he explained.

"That takes somewhat longer in terms of the range of partners that are involved, making sure those business deals are put to bed - so I think in some part we didn't want to launch the service until we had all of those components in place, and that's come together now.

"Also, we felt that we were launching at a time - as it turns out, fairly correctly predicting - that with the launch of the PS3 Slim and the new price point that there would be a significant shift in momentum in the market place. It's a good time to have a more... let's say 'family-friendly' price point, to be able to start to introduce services which probably have a broader appeal to the mass market than just pure videogame focus.

"So I think it was a culmination of those factors that made this feel it was the right time to move ahead."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ll-grow-weekly ...

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president and CEO Andrew House has told GamesIndustry.biz that the newly-launched PlayStation Video Delivery Service - which encompasses around 2000 films across Europe, including about 800 for the UK - will grow its offering at a rate of about 50 movies every week.

Speaking in an industry-exclusive interview ahead of the launch of the service, House explained that SCEE would be following the template set out by the US, which has increased its offering "something like 700 per cent" since its launch 15 months ago.

"It'll be a little bit more complex, because we're trying to maintain that mix between Hollywood content as well as local studio content, and also I think we'll see short form and television become part of that play as well," he said.

"But I think we're in a good spot - I think we have something like 2000 movies available at launch, which is a pretty substantial library. Break that down to a per-country basis and there's around 800 films available for the UK, for example.

"So we're starting out with a really strong offering - there's plenty there to choose from, a tremendous number of current hits - and then I think we'll grow it somewhere in the region I hope of about an additional 50 movies per week. So that'll encourage return traffic, people coming back, something new for them there to check out - we're feeling fairly comfortable about the content line-up we've got, and that's led us again to this being the right time to launch."

He also indicated that, following the launch of the PS3 Slim a couple of months ago - which along with a new, lower price point has prompted a 300 per cent increase in the platform's sales numbers - now was the right time to release the service to the market, although there were other considerations as well.

"First and foremost, clearly - if you're going to launch a sufficiently robust video delivery service in Europe then that requires full support from all the Hollywood studios, but another critical component is making sure we have the right mix of local content as well," he explained.

"That takes somewhat longer in terms of the range of partners that are involved, making sure those business deals are put to bed - so I think in some part we didn't want to launch the service until we had all of those components in place, and that's come together now.

"Also, we felt that we were launching at a time - as it turns out, fairly correctly predicting - that with the launch of the PS3 Slim and the new price point that there would be a significant shift in momentum in the market place. It's a good time to have a more... let's say 'family-friendly' price point, to be able to start to introduce services which probably have a broader appeal to the mass market than just pure videogame focus.

"So I think it was a culmination of those factors that made this feel it was the right time to move ahead."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ll-grow-weekly ...

Used DS Lite White Mario Limited Edition (Refurbished)

Based on original used DS lite, nintendo DS lite refurbished just makes a few adjustments (motherboard is not included), such as the screen, axis of rotation and shell. But the refurbished ones have the same functions and appearances as the original ones.
Notice: We gurantee the quality of the products we sell on ishopvideogame. Every Used DS lite is retested by our quality supervision department before sending.
Product Details

Used or Refurbished DS Lite has the same features as the original console:
1. Original motherboard and chips
2. Same size and appearance
3. Nothing different from the original one when using
4. Available editions: White Mario
5. Weight: 0.45kg
6. Based on original DS lite US Edition
Please feel free to contact us within 7 days if there is any questions of the console from the date of receiving.
Quick Qo


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Used DS Lite White Gundam (Refurbished)

Based on original used DS lite, nintendo DS lite refurbished just makes a few adjustments(motherboard is not included), such as the screen, axis of rotation and shell. But the refurbished ones have the same functions and appearances as the original ones.
Notice: We gurantee the quality of the products we sell on ishopvideogame. Every Used DS lite is retested by our quality supervision department before sending.
Product Details

Used or Refurbished DS Lite has the same features as the original console:
1. Original motherboard and chips
2. Same size and appearance
3. Nothing different from the original one when using
4. Available editions: white Gundam
5. Weight: 0.45kg
6. Based on original DS lite US Edition
Please feel free to contact us within 7 days if there is any questions of the console from the date of receiving.
Quick Qo


More... ...

So you've managed to destroy your DSi and have picked up a replacement; how do you move your digital purchases over from the old console to the new one? Nintendo's User Agreement makes it seem like you're out of luck, but a little investigation shows that it's not an entirely hopeless scenario.

full info --> http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2...m-nintendo.ars ...