PlayStation 3 Slim / Firmware 3.0 Announced

Today Sony announced the PS3 Slim. So whats different? The price for starters. The PS3 slim is now $299 (down from $399), has a 120GB hard drive, a matte finish, and actual power/eject buttons. What I am most excited about, however is the reduced power consumption. My current PS3 (a 40GB) uses 380W, the new Slim uses 250W. Quite a big drop, which gives me hope that I’ll be able to play games while the AC and gaming computer are on, ya know, without blowing a fuse. It’s good to see Sony finally getting into the game as far as price is concerned. I’d like to upgrade if I can get a decent trade in price for my current PS3… gotta remember to put the 40GB hard drive back in there. The slim is available for pre-order and will be released “The first week of September” shortly after firmware 3.0.

Firmware 3.0 was also announced today. The bulk of the update is to the UI. There are some additional features added to the themes menu including animated themes. I’d really love to see a theme of Old Snake smoking like the loading screen for MGS4. They finally fixed the clock/charge level overlay. They’ve also changed the layout of the friend’s list and replaced the Information Board with a “Whats New” which seems more useful.

by Kyle on August 18, 2009 at 10:07 pm | Tagged: Playstation 3, Slim

Playstation Photo Gallery – Some Thoughts

I feel that I must preface this writeup by first saying that I’ve never really gotten why people would want to look at photographs on their TV. Having slide-show functionality and ability to organize photos on a computer is something that has always been possible so having that functionality elsewhere isn’t really that exciting for me.

That being said, for those who do want something like this the Photoshop Photo Gallery seems like it would be a good choice. It gives you the ability to organize photos by date and time, what camera was used to take the photo, colors within the photo, number of subjects, ages, and even facial expressions. Some of these are admittedly pretty cool. Once organized you can create playlists to be used for slideshow purposes.

The program itself is well put together, looks cool, and uses some pretty interesting effects for page transitions and stuff. It seems responsive and quick to load as well. I havent tested if it can display Raw images but I doubt it. If you are at all interested in displaying photos on your PS3 its worth the 104MB download in addition to the 2.6 firmware update to check it out.

by Kyle on January 23, 2009 at 7:26 am | Tagged: Playstation 3, software

PSN store update 6/05/2008

This week’s PSN update is up. It went up later than normal and contains a bunch of good stuff including their new service Qore. Qore is pretty cool. I subscribed to the year subscription and got Calling all Cars for free. After watching the first episode, I like it and look forward to more. The only problem I have is that every time you go into a section there is like a 30 second ad. Annoying for something you’re paying for. Anyway, the video features are pretty great for people like me who love documentaries and interviews.

Hit the jump for more »

by Kyle on June 6, 2008 at 8:25 pm | Tagged: Playstation 3, PSN

PSN store update 5/22/2008

This week’s playstation store is live. With it, there are some PSP demos,  some trailers, and most notably, the Pixel Junk Monsters OST. Hit the jump for a full breakdown.

Hit the jump for more »

by Kyle on May 22, 2008 at 10:38 pm | Tagged: Playstation 3, PSN

PSN store update 5/12/2008

This Week’s Playstation Store update is live, and this week its not bad. Not great! but not bad! At the top of the list is probably the Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit  demo. Not a huge fan of DBZ anymore, but hell, I’ll give it a shot.  Hit the jump for the full list. Hit the jump for more »

by Kyle on May 15, 2008 at 6:56 pm | Tagged: Playstation 3, PSN

PSN Update 05/08/2008

Games and Demos
Haze demo
The Bourne Conspiracy demo
GRID demo
SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 2 demo for PSP

Add-ons and Expansions
PixelJunk Monsters Encore expansion ($5.99)
Guitar Hero III “Muse Track Pack” ($6.25) – “Exo-Politics”, “Stockholm Syndrome” and “Supermassive Black Hole” by Muse
Rock Band tracks ($1.99 each) – “Date with the Night” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “It Hurts” by Angels & Airwaves and “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race” by Fall Out Boy
Rock Band “Scene Pack” ($5.49)

Game Videos
WipEout HD trailer
Mirror’s Edge trailer
Mercenaries 2 “Payback” trailer
Overlord: Raising Hell trailer
The Wheelman trailer
TNA Impact! “Gamer’s Day” trailer
PlayStation 3 “What You Need” video

Movie and Television Trailers
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull teaser trailer
The Love Guru trailer
Iron Man trailer

Wallpapers and Themes
PixelJunk Monsters wallpapers
PixelJunk Monsters theme
Sports theme

by Kyle on May 8, 2008 at 8:33 pm | Tagged: Playstation 3, PSN

Killzone 2 looks great!

Hope you still think so in 2009! Thats right. Killzone 2 has been pushed back till 2009.

On the upside here is a few new screens!

Hit the jump for more »

by Kyle on May 7, 2008 at 6:23 pm | Tagged: Killzone 2, Playstation 3

PSN store update 2/24/2008

This week’s Playstation Store update is pretty gigantic. Hit the jump for the expansive list of glory. Highlights for me are the Iron Man demo and the GT5 Wallpaper.

Hit the jump for more »

by Kyle on April 24, 2008 at 8:36 pm | Tagged: Playstation 3, PSN, Update

PSN Store Update 4/17/2008

After this week’s store redesign people were expecting lots of stuff for the PSN update this week. Well god damn, people were right! Hit the jump for the full list of stuff.

Hit the jump for more »

by Kyle on April 17, 2008 at 7:14 pm | Tagged: Playstation 3, PSN