Any day now, Gamestop and EB Games will start accepting preorders on the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii, both of which are due to hit just before Thanksgiving. Supplies of both systems will be limited, with the PS3 being in particularly short supply, as Sony currently plans to ship only 400,000 units to North America. There will be plenty of press along with the usual midnight launch events that feature a couple of guys at the front of the line who've camped out for two days on the street to secure their spots. And CNET will probably have to fight to get review units in time to have reviews posted on the day each system hits stores.

That's all a given. But so, too, is the ugly fact there's a reasonable chance that some of the early units may not be glitch-free or, more probably, could end up with shorter life expectancy rates than, well, expected.


Early Xbox 360 models had a high failure rate. Take the Xbox 360. Just in the last couple of months, I've spoken to several people who were among the first to purchase the 360 and have now had to send their units back to Microsoft for repair. Because it was outside the warranty, and they hadn't bothered to purchase an extended service agreement, the cost for the fix was $150--until Microsoft recently agreed to make repairs for free on any units manufactured before January 1, 2006. (If you shelled out money for a fix, you can, in theory, get a refund.) As Tor Thorsen writes in his news piece for Gamespot, "Microsoft has now apparently admitted that the initial shipments of Xbox 360s were failing at a greater than normal rate."

No one's releasing any hard numbers, but in my little informal poll, three out of the six people I know who got an early Xbox 360 have had their systems fail. That's not good. Sony, too, faced some negative publicity when it had problems with dead pixels on the screens of its early PSP units. And there was also an issue with the button response on some systems. On a personal level, my early PSP unit, while it does have three dead pixels, is still working fine. But I use it only a few hours a week.

These type of first-gen kinks are de rigueur across the electronics industry. Toshiba's first-gen HD-DVD players are notoriously slow and have gone through multiple firmware upgrades to rid them of certain bugs. Samsung's BD-P1000 Blu-ray player is still awaiting a promised firmware upgrade to correct a chip flaw that delivers overly soft image quality. Sony, meanwhile, offered a service solution for owners of early KDS-60A2000 HDTVs that shipped with settings that didn't maximize the set's native 1080p resolution. And Apple began bundling its first-generation iPod Nanos with a cheap but effective slip case, but only after several weeks of mounting complaints that the player was overly prone to scratching.

Ideally, companies should try to isolate software issues from the hardware. It's hard to expect a major manufacturer such as Toshiba or Sony to say, essentially, "hey, you're buying a beta product today, but we're going to be regularly improving it with software upgrades." While Philips doesn't advertise it, the internal firmware of its new generation of flat-panels TVs can be upgraded with a USB thumbdrive. And we've seen manufacturers such as Slingbox, TiVo, and Sonos offer subtle to dramatic improvements over time with software updates.

One problem, of course, is that the average consumer isn't necessarily prepared--or is intimidated by the idea of having to upgrade a product with a file he or she needs to find on the Internet and either burn to a DVD or CD or download to some sort of flash memory. The best possible scenario is for products to have more transparent Internet connections and update themselves without any assistance from their owners. This is essentially what happens with devices that are always online. Cable and satellite companies, for instance, are always pushing new software updates to their set-top boxes and DVRs. The same is true for the Xbox 360, via its Xbox Live service. It's also what will happen with the PS3 and the Wii, both of which are touting more robust online connectivity than previous Sony and Nintendo consoles. And that's yet another reason to consider both of them to be beta products when they launch in November.

The bigger problem is that, if the hardware itself is flawed, as is the case with the early Xbox 360 units and their overheating problems (it remains to be seen whether later units will also fail at alarmingly high rates). I'm not suggesting it's a sure bet that Sony's going to have issues with the PS3, but I'd feel comfortable wagering a small amount of money that, with a product this advanced that's crammed into a small box that also features a new chip, you may have a few too many lemons in its early crop. In other words, I'm in no hurry to buy a PS3, even if I could somehow make sure I was near the top of the preorder list.


To make a high-tech omelette, you're bound to break a few eggs. Yeah, ...

AN INSURANCE COMPANY acting on behalf of Melvin Young has sued Microsoft because his house suffered an extensive fire because an Xbox malfunctioned on January 5th last year.
Allstate Insurance had an insurance policy in Young's name, and alleges the Xbox was "unreasonably dangerous" and was, defective, malfunctioned and caused smoke and fire damage in his house.

Allstate alleges Microsoft is responsible for all loss, damage and injury and was negligent in proving an Xbox with defects.

Allstate is demanding Microsoft shell out $250,000 to cover the insurance costs on the house. The case was filed in a circuit court for Prince George's County. An earlier case, linked below, was settled between the Weatherfords and Microsoft last year. ...

New commercial release for the PSP, heres the details:



features
Play as Boog and Elliott and relive the movie adventure!
Interact with Beth, Shaw, and all your animal favorites from the Open Season film!
Throw skunk bombs, hurl rabbits, use acorn-firing squirrels, and pull outrageous woodland pranks to scare the pants off the hunters!
Roll in a giant snowball, ride the rapids on a floating outhouse, zip through tunnels in a crazy mine cart ride, and take on more madcap adventures as Boog discovers how to get wild, animal-style!
Challenge your friends in hilarious four-player mini-games!

description
Take a Walk on the Wild Side!

Team up with a cast of crazy critters, unleashing your animal instincts in Open Season™, the game - a riotous romp in the great outdoors where the rowdy brood of forest animals turns the tables on a bunch of unsuspecting hunters.

When a domesticated grizzly named Boog gets lured into leaving the creature comforts of home by a fast-talking mule deer named Elliot, he finds himself lost in the woods just three days before hunting season. Forced to "rough it" in the great outdoors, Boog goes native, rallying all the forest animals to take back their home and send the hunters packing.

More info /buy here --> http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-...j-70-1m6n.html ...

A dystopian Mario surveys his savage mushroom kingdom, resting the hand of a conqueror upon the pink hotpants of his waspy, Fran-Dreischer like bride. It's Evil Mario, a painting by Norante, who really ought to do more video game themed work.

Check it out Via Comments ...

Next Generation is reporting on comments from Ubisoft, indicating that they are heavily relying on the Wii to fend off advances from business adversary Electronic Arts. From the article:
"Ubisoft vowed to stay independent [after EA made inroads to a buyout], and it plans to keep it that way. 'Our goal is not to sell to EA but to beat EA,' said Laurent Detoc , president of Ubisoft North America in a Reuters interview this week. He hopes that an early adoption of the Wii platform will help push Ubisoft up from the fifth largest independent publisher in North America to the fourth. Worldwide, the company is ranked fourth, although that excludes Japan." ...

Microsoft continues its pre-Christmas retail drive as it teams up with specialist retailer Gamestation to kit out an entire floor dedicated to Xbox 360 and PC gaming.

Launching today at the flagship store in Birmingham, the Microsoft Underground X-perience offers wall-mounted HDTVs with 12 Xbox 360 units for multiplayer gaming instore, as well as connections to Xbox Live and an open and lively atmosphere to cultivate social gaming.

Although this is the first store of its kind in Europe, Gamestation MD Mike Logue confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that, "we would like to see this type of experience in several more cities," as the retailer comes out fighting after recent reinvestment from parent company Blockbuster, with the intention of opening another 80 stores in the next twelve months.

"We want to take games retail to the next level," said Logue.

"Consoles are an expensive product but we believe the 360 is value for money because of the technology and what it offers, the quality of the games. So come and try it. We're happy with consumers coming to spend an hour here and seeing what they can get out of the Xbox 360."

"In the major cities, I'd spend hours as a kid going to record shops and soaking up the atmosphere - it was cool to be seen there. That's what we're trying to do with Gamestation and gaming retail," he added.

As Microsoft continues its marketing push for the Xbox 360 in anticipation of a busy Christmas, the decision to back a company with 230 plus stores strengthens its commitment to the retail sector.

"At Microsoft we are always looking for new ways for our customers to interact with our products," said Jonathan Grimes, director of sales at Microsoft.

"Gamestation's flagship store in Birmingham is the ideal venue for Microsoft to showcase the amazing range of products we have to offer consumers."

"Together with Gamestation, Microsoft has created a truly unique interactive retail environment that allows us to communicate directly with gamers and provide them with an exciting space to enjoy the best we have to offer," he added. ...

The premier Soccer game sees a new release:



FIFA 07 delivers complete authenticity with licenses for all the world's top leagues, including MLS and Mexican 1st Division in North America, and 26 others from over 20 nations. This year, you have the power to shape your club's destiny in the EA Sports Interactive Leagues, a new online mode that enables you to pit your club against supporters of your real-world opponents. The online interactive leagues feature the F.A. Premier League, Bundesliga, French League and the Mexican 1st Division.

Buy here --> http://www.yesasia.com/?/info.php?pro...9&lsaid=219793 ...

Crytek's lead artist, Michael Khaimzon, has revealed that the developer could confidently port highly-anticipated PC title Crysis to PS3 and Xbox 360 - although there are no current plans to do so.

Speaking to our sister site GamesIndustry.biz, Khaimzon said, "I don’t think there would be any problem to convert anything we work on to the next-gen consoles if we decided to.

"We have enough power here, with programmers and artists, to be able to do such a thing. It's just a matter of making the decision."

Khaimzon's comments will only fan the flames of rumour which surround Crysis - a first-person shooter already wowing consumers and critics alike - that publisher Electronic Arts may bring the game to home consoles after release on PC early next year.

Discussing whether the team at Crytek would be interested in working on the next-generation of home consoles, Khaimzon added: "I'm pretty sure it would be interesting for us to do stuff on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.

"We would just have to see how much of a sacrifice to the game we'd have to make. Or whether there would be a sacrifice at all, maybe we could find a way to make the game look exactly the same as it does on PC on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3."

When asked directly whether there was a possibility that Crysis would appear on home consoles, Khaimzon replied: "There might be, the decision isn't mine to make. I don’t know of any official plans to do so, but I know there are rumours and talk, but I couldn't say anything concrete." ...

Star Wars: Lethal Alliance immerses players in an adventure that takes place between Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV A New Hope. Gamers will engage in collaborative gameplay as they embody both Twi'lek Rianna Saren and her security droid Zeeo. Hired by the Rebel Alliance, this deadly duo must work together to infiltrate Imperial planets and fight legions of evil fiends. Our heroes' ultimate goal: Uncover the Empire's most deadly secret -- the Death Star.

Tons of screens via comments ...