Widgx » Gaming

Dell Offers Xbox 360 For $350

T Evans — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 00:21:15 +0000

You’d think that after weeks of speculation regarding Xbox 360 price drops (which ended up being nothing more than wishful thinking), we would have lost all hope. Now Dell has stepped in and is selling the Xbox 360 for $350 (well, $359, but if you use code C99$273GQ1L4W8, an additional $10 get knocked off making it roughly £190). Of course, that’s $350 for the premium edition of the console, not that wolf in sheep’s clothing core edition.

PS3 to ship with PS2 hardware

T Evans — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 01:39:30 +0000

Japanese Magazine Ultra One today told us that Sony is going to be including PS2 hardware in PS3s in order to provide complete (or close to complete) backward compatibility with previous generation games. Something which Sony believes is key to the success of the PS3. Interestingly it seems this extra hardware is only required because Sony hasn’t cracked the emulation software they planed to use to provide these capabilities. Sony insist that this hardware is a temporary measure for the initial launch of the console until they have the emulation software finalised – at which point this extra hardware will be removed. In the mean time Sony is going to have to swallow all the extra costs associated with the inclusion of this extra hardware. Although at Widgx we have an idea – since every single person in the world (almost) owns a PS2 then why not just forget about the backward compatibility all together – and then slash a chunk off the ridiculous asking price of the PS3? Sony are you listening!

Undiluted Platinum – PSP Modchip

K Saleh — Mon, 29 May 2006 13:51:04 +0000

Well here are official photos of the first PSP Mod chip which is supposedly going to make homebrew much easier. It is supposed to be a complete flash / firmware replacement solution. But there were a lot of unanswered questions when we first found out about it a few days ago, but thanks to MaxConsole, we’ve got some answers. The 32MB flash storage area is booted to by default when installed in your PSP (shown above — default PSP firmware can be accessed by holding L1 when booting), and can be written and modified freely with its own USB connector, which is routed through the battery compartment, making it completely enclosed, isolated, and independent. So much so, in fact, you can supposedly restore a bricked PSP with this thing. Expect a $90 US MSRP.

UK to pay about the same for Wii as US, Japan

T Evans — Fri, 26 May 2006 15:15:57 +0000

Well it’s been a bad old few weeks for Sony – first they announced their $600 price tag for the PS3 stateside, they then ruffled a few european feathers by announcing they would have to pay 499/599euros and then they positively took a dump on us here in the UK and told us we would have to pay £425 ($800!!). Not surprisingly UK PS3 fans have not been overly thrilled with the news. And now sony’s good chums microsoft and nintendo have decided to rub some salt into the wounds. First Microsoft releases major updates to it’s XBOX (see bellow) making it look darn good value for money when compared to the PS3, and now nintendo have announced that not only will their console be a mere $250 but they are not going to be charging us extra over here in good ol’ blightey – meaning we at Widgx will be bringing home a shiney new Wii for £150 as soon as they are released!

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Microsoft announces major 360 Dashboard update

T Evans — Fri, 26 May 2006 15:05:56 +0000

Well thanks to the good people at Joystiq details and pics of the forthcoming Xbox 360 Dashboard update are now available. The biggest news, as widely expected, is background downloading, which includes a six slot queue system. Downloads will pause while you play online to minimize lag, but otherwise will run in the background while you go about your Dashboard business. Other improvements include a boot to Dashboard function, improved media playback and controls, full USB keyboard support, and an improved Marketplace layout. The update will be available to Xbox Live users “in about a week,” and will be eventually be available bundled with retail game discs for those without an Internet enabled 360. If you ask us it is always great to see a manufacturer offering continued development and improvements to existing customers – sony are you listening?

Sony PS3 – First Interface Shots

T Evans — Mon, 15 May 2006 02:45:51 +0000

Well thanks to a few sneaky snappers at E3 the first shots of the user interface on the forthcoming PS3 can be seen. Not a great deal to comment on other than the obvious – it shares more than a slight resemblance to the PSP interface. One of the new options is to enable switching between different user profiles much in the same way as XP has different user accounts.

The E3 Stampede

K Saleh — Sat, 13 May 2006 14:45:20 +0000

We just thought you’d like to see the excitement people get at E3. As the doors opened, the stampede of gamers like cattle or a tidal wave poured in. It did leave the question, “where do you think they’re all running to?”. If it was myself, I would be at the Wii booth.

Video From Kotaku

Sandisk show RapidGX 1GB MemStick Duo

K Saleh — Wed, 10 May 2006 17:11:00 +0000

If you want something done right, you’d better do it yourself. That’s SanDisk’s thinking anyways, with their new RapidGX Memory Stick PRO Duo cards they’re showing at E3. The cards do the usual Memory Stick PRO Duo thing, namely providing music, movies and other content for PSP owners, but they include a bit of SanDisk special sauce performance enhancements to speed file transfers up to 15MB per second, double the normal rates for PRO Duo cards. Seems like they just got tired of Sony’s limitations in the Memory Stick tech, and figured a way to improve it themselves. The 1GB card is all that’s available right now, and it retails for $85. The price — for a limited time only — includes for free SanDisk’s new MicroMate high-speed card reader to help the RapidGX hit its maximum speeds, and also includes PSP loader software to maximize space and convert files. Source

Nintendo Revolution Renamed Wii

T Evans — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 20:24:06 +0000

No we haven’t made a typo, you have not misread the title and correct April the 1st has past. Nintendo announced today that the official name of their upcoming console that we’ve all been calling the Revolution is going to be Wii, and yes it is pronounced ‘we’. Wii’re (sorry couldn’t help it) not sure wii can learn to like it, but Nintendo being Nintendo they have a wonderfully thought-out explanation behind the name change:

“Introducing… Wii. As in “we.” While the code-name “Revolution” expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer. Wii will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else. Wii will put people more in touch with their games… and each other. But you’re probably asking: What does the name mean? Wii sounds like “we,” which emphasizes this console is for everyone. Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii. Wii has a distinctive “ii” spelling that symbolizes both the unique controllers and the image of people gathering to play. And Wii, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of video games that sets it apart from the crowd. So that’s Wii. But now Nintendo needs you. Because, it’s really not about you or me. It’s about Wii. And together, Wii will change everything.”

Can you imagine Sony or Microsoft putting that much thought into a product name? No? We can’t either. To be honest, as much as the name change rankles, the truth is we don’t care what the thing is called—we just want to play it already! E3 can’t come soon enough. And you never know maybe Sony will unveil the PSP ‘pu’ at the same time!

Sony cuts price of PlayStation 2

T Evans — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 11:23:47 +0000

Sony has cut the price of its best-selling PlayStation 2 (PS2) by $20 in the US. The price drop was widely expected, coming ahead of the planned November launch of Sony’s new PlayStation 3. The PS2 will now sell in the US for around $130 (£73). However Sony has told us it has no plans to trim the current UK price of £104.99.

“While we continue to innovate and design groundbreaking new products, we remain dedicated to our long-term vision for the PlayStation 2 platform,” said Kaz Hirai, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America in a statement.

Sales boostThe PS2 dominates the world of video game consoles. Since its appearance in 2000, Sony has manufactured more than 101 million units globally. The company is gearing up to unleash its successor, the PlayStation 3, with a planned worldwide launch in November.

But Sony is hoping to keep sales of the current console buoyant by trimming the price by $20.

A spokesman for Sony UK said the company had no plans to follow suit in the UK.

He told the BBC News website that the PS2 was “very competitively priced” and Sony preferred to rely on bundles to attract consumers.

To us this seems like yet another ’snub’ to the UK market with gamers constantly being charged higher prices and having to wait longer to get their hands on the latest games and hardware.