Ever since the PS3 slim announcement last week.. I’ve been fascinated by Sony’s decision to remove 3rd party OS support from the system. On one hand it makes sense since it doesn’t promote game sales but then again why include it in the first place? I’m guessing is has to do with the Hypervisor, but what could it be? A little sleuthing around revealed the following nuggets (see bottom links for sources):

I’m sorry that you are frustrated by the lack of comment specifically regarding the withdrawal of support for OtherOS on the new PS3 slim.

The reasons are simple: The PS3 Slim is a major cost reduction involving many changes to hardware components in the PS3 design. In order to offer the OtherOS install, SCE would need to continue to maintain the OtherOS hypervisor drivers for any significant hardware changes – this costs SCE. One of our key objectives with the new model is to pass on cost savings to the consumer with a lower retail price. Unfortunately in this case the cost of OtherOS install did not fit with the wider objective to offer a lower cost PS3.

This makes perfect sense for Sony. Most people are aware by now that linux support on the PS3 was not so much a way for end users to run alternative applications, but for programmers wanting to experiment with the radical design of the Cell Broadband Processor. Anyone following Sony’s history with Linux knows they have internal personalities fighting for control with their on-again, off-again support. Perhaps Sony can collaborate with open-source developers to do the work?

Many view this news as evidence that support for OtherOS on ‘phat’ PS3s will be dropped when a new software update is installed. However, another Sony representative had this to say to quell everyone’s concerns:

Please be assured that SCE is committed to continue
the support for previously sold models that have the
“Install Other OS” feature and that this feature will
not be disabled in future firmware releases.

-Geoff

So there you have it. 3rd party OS support will continue for ‘phat’ PS3s, but Slims are left in the hands of the hackers.

Some observed the amount of static RAM has steadily declined with each iteration of PS3 hardware; Beginning with 256MB for the original 60GB model and now only 64MB in the slim. Could this contribute to the limited OS support? I’ll wait for ArsTechnica.com’s excellent analysis since they always have the skinny on hardware.

I’m still holding high hopes that Backwards Compatibility will be announced for a future update on all PS3 Slim models. Keeping my fingers crossed since the PS3 is by far the best PS2 ever made. It’s one of the things the PS3 does best with its graphical smoothing, 1080 scaling and memory card management. In fact, the most excited I ever was owning a PS3 was when a rumor circulated that you could install PS2 games to the hard drive. What can I say, I love them classic PS2 games!

The good news for wannabe Cell Broadband Engine programmers; All the PS3s after the 60GB model but before the Slim ought to be had at bargain prices. The next few months is the opportune time to snag these up as development machines.

Sony Rep 1, Sony Rep 2

With the latest Gran Turismo news coming from GamesCom in Germany, here’s a sweet video of GT5 Prologue to get your blood flowing:

What’s announced so far:

Cars

• 1,000 vehicles
• 170 Premium new models (full interior modeling, the interior corresponds to vehicle damage)
• 830 kinds of standard model (some are from Gran Turismo 4 that have been carried over to GT5)

Tracks

• 60 courses confirmed with 20 or more to be revealed

Physics

• Physics system simulation is brand new
• Represented is full fall in vehicles
• Damage representation (reproduced in full by real-time collision deformation)

That’s a whole lot of racing goodness for the price of one game. Combined with Sony’s announcement today of the long awaited price cut and new PS3 Slim, this game is going to move millions of systems.

Read the full translation or in Sony’s own words if you read Japanese.

The NeoGAF forums are buzzing with sightings of PS3 price drops and deep discounts on PS3 games. It’s seemingly bargains galore in the UK, Belgium & Netherlands.

The picture above shows the PS3 + bluray movie 300 + extra bluray remote for 299£.

With no official word from Sony, we can only speculate on what all this means.. so here are some more first hand accounts from the forums:

Amazon in the UK lists new PS3s bundled with Little Big Planet for £279.99.

Game.co.uk bundles the PS3 with Little Big Planet + Motorstorm 2 + Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty for £298.49.

Media Markt in Poland has the PS3 + Motorstorm 2 or PS3 + Resistance 2 for 1299pln (316euro).

399€ packs include a PS3 + 2 DS3 controllers + bluray remote + bluray movie + Little Big Planet + MotorStorm 2 + Resistance 2 at Game Plaza in Belgium and Bart Smit stores in the Netherlands and Belgium

Gamestop in Italy has the PS3 + Little Big Planet for 299€ when trading in your old PS2 + memory card & 5 PS2 games.

Here are the game deals at Amazon.co.uk:

€17 LittleBigPlanet
€20 Far Cry 2
€20 Tomb Raider Underworld
€20 Midnight Club Los Angeles
€25 MotorStorm Pacific Rift
€25 BioShock
€25 Mirror’s Edge
€25 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

And at ShopTo.net:

€15 The Orange Box
€18 Tom Clancy’s EndWar
€20 Resistance 2
€20 MotorStorm Pacific Rift
€20 LittleBigPlanet
€20 FIFA 09
€23 WWE Smackdown vs RAW 2009
€25 Fallout 3
€25 Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe

For those in the US curious about the conversion rate in US dollars, 15 euros is roughly equivalent to $21. Original rumor published on N4G.

As much as we’d love to report our experience with the New Xbox Experience (NXE), our 360 RRoDeathed when starting up after trying it out for the first time. So off to the Microsoft repair shop it went. This is our third – the previous two also RRoDied.

While the semi-official failure rate is only 16%. Any impromptu poll on Xbox Live reveals nearly everyone in the room citing at least one failure. My stance has always been: As long as they replace them on Microsoft’s dime, I’m willing to put up with the replacement process since the games are so great.

However, this time, I was told the system will only be covered under warranty for 90 days after receiving the repaired system. Excuse me?!

My confidence in the new replacement lasting over one year is 0%. They are simply not engineered to last. The 360 never moves from its cool airy spot. I clean its air vents periodically. It plays games sometimes and then fails. There’s nothing 360 owners can do to prevent it from happening.. it’s seemingly designed to (mal) function this way. The PS3 continues working after 2 years, and trusty PS2 phat still runs like a champ after 6 years so it seems clearly a 360 problem and not its environment.

Microsoft addressed the issue with a new revision of the hardware designed to run cooler and solve the disastrous failure rate. Great for the new buyers, but what about the rest of us who’s 360s will surely fail after the 90 day warranty expires?

Will you pay to have it ‘fixed?’ Will you take it like a gay man and pony up for a new system? Or will you switch to the PS3?

This is the question millions of 360 owners will soon have to answer for themselves over the next two years as Microsoft refuses to fix their dead 360s under warranty. What will you do?

Here’s some additional reading on the issue.

The latest character in the upcoming Street Fighter IV, launching Feb. 3rd, 2009.

Ever since the DSi was revealed last week there’s been a steady stream of detractors lamenting the loss of the GBA port for games such as Guitar Hero, My Weight Loss Coach, Arkanoid, etc.. Questioning the usefulness of its new features declaring that there’s just not enough there for them to upgrade their DS Lites. That Nintendo can stuff their evil plot for all us Lite lovin’ owners to hand-them-down to little sis or sweet Uncle Jim so we can buy ever slimmer DSis for ourselves. About the only group genuinely excited may be the stubborn DS Phat owners who finally see a good value for their upgrade dollar.

Well if Nintendo’s CEO Satoru Iwata were here right now, he might say to them that if you only focus on where you want to go but ignore where you are now, you might overlook something wiiimportant along the way.

DS Ware Lays Down the Foundation

Upon encountering a large patch of grass where people had worn a path across, a wise man gave me the following gem of advice: “There are two types of engineers in this world; Those who would put up a fence, and those who would create a walkway.” The meaning is clear: Always study the root causes of a problem to reveal the deeper solutions within.

This is exactly what Nintendo has done with their new DSi design. They paved a road deep into the world of piracy and provided a path most gamers will happily tread instead of roughing it through the seedy alternatives.

A Road Deep into the Heart of Piracy

If you’ve ever seen a pirate gaming directory it’s quite staggering the sheer quantity of games. Not just the ones you’ve seen and read about but literally hundreds you never even knew existed. It’s like swallowing the Red Pill and having your eyes opened for the first time. Why should this be limited to pirates?

DS Ware could provide the same experience for everyone! No longer are you limited to the shelf space and availability at your local retailer but hundreds of games, all at your fingertips, ready to buy at a moments notice.

DS Ware also makes it easy to download demos directly to your memory card bringing gamers everywhere the opportunity to try out larger variety of games which leads to increased sales.

I’d like to see them emulate the piracy model even further by allowing all games to be downloaded but limit them to only 10 minutes per day, or something along those lines. This enables game companies to provide demos for all their games without having to create a specific version just for the demo. It completely guts the advantage pirates have today of trying out all games before they buy, if ever.

Analyst Matthew Fassler of Goldman Sachs recently sounded the early warning detection alarm that:

Nintendo’s newest gaming platform is a “tangible early threat” to physical portable game systems, which rely on cartridge-type slots to load games.

That could spell trouble for Best Buy and other retailers, like Circuit City Stores Inc. and GameStop Corp., which sell video games in their own stores.

The DS: A Victim of its Own Success

The greatest thing about the DS is its extraordinary variety of games, many at budget prices. Pretty soon you own a big ‘ole pile of games and are forced to play “Predict What You’ll Want To Play Today” every time you leave the house. First you buy some cases that hold four games, then ones that hold 36. But the fundamental problem remains: You don’t want to be lugging around your entire collection everywhere you go and fumbling around with the cartridges- especially for a portable device. Never again!

Flashcarts & the New DSi

One of the most compelling reasons to own a flashcart is transferring all your games onto one memory card. No more choosing which games to take with you. No more trying to find that cartridge you left in a shirt pocket last week. No more missing out when that urge to play Spelling Challenge finally strikes.

The DSi provides this exact functionality! With encryption and removable storage it should be possible to carry around your entire game collection in one or only a few memory cards. Think of how nice it will be to scroll through your list and pick out that perfect game you’re in the mood to play, where you want to play it. This feature alone will deter most people from reaching for flashcarts in the first place. This ladies and gentlemen is a Home Run for Nintendo.

End of the Line for the DS?

Timing is everything and Nintendo has timed the DSi launch perfectly with the end in site for the DS generation. We have perhaps one to two years left before we see its successor- let’s call it the DS2- scream out of the starting gates ready to accept the baton from its deliriously successful sibling. This means DS Ware and its DRM software can almost be considered beta testing for the real deal when sales finally slow down enough for the big N to unleash the DS2. It provides them the freedom to experiment, try different business models and collect usage data, all which will greatly contribute to a positive DS2 experience. Contrast their position to that of Sony’s who had a heavy burden of expectations placed upon PSN with little testing before the launch of the PS3. It also gives a heads up to developers of DS2 software to get used to the cameras, which will surely be part of the DS2.

Say Cheese

We older folks with our snazzy iPhones look down upon the DSi’s dual integrated cameras, meager media capabilities and shrug our shoulders and say “so what?” If you are among them then I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you but you need new glasses my friend since you are clearly short-sighted. The DSi is not trying to be an iPhone and those digital cameras are about to be put to use like we’ve never seen before. Remember a big slice of DS users spend a good chunk of their lives in classrooms, and where you have classrooms you have students, and where you have students you have endless uses for cameras that can talk to each other. What is the price of a picture of your hated enemy in a compromising position plus a cartoon editor? Priceless! What is the value of spontaneous video conferencing broadcasting picture-in-picture video commentary? We may even need to invent a new name for interviews captured with DSis.

You can’t play games all the time and many adults need something for their DSs to do throughout the day while they’re out earning money for more games. With the improved networking capabilities the DSi makes for great portable security cameras that can send what they see back to where you are via. the internet. Why not check up on Fluffy to see what she’s up to all day while you’re at work, or your rowdy teenage sons after school? If millions paid for Nintendogs, they will surely pay to watch their own pets and children while they’re away at work, or on vacation, or watching their vacation home. Last time I checked DSiSpy.com is still available. Please send the royalty checks c/o GamesILike, thank you.

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Best GBA Ever?

Gameboy Advance games may be on the verge of staging a comeback. With its upgraded internal RAM the DSi should be capable of playing GBA games downloaded directly from DSi Shop. If you think GBA games are old news, think again: Many GBA titles stand up perfectly fine to their DS brethren like Metal Gear, Astro Boy, the Metroid games, Castlevania, Fire Emblem, and plenty of others. If the price is right the DSi could be the best GBA eva!

In Conclusion

Hopefully it’s clear why the DSi is a strong addition to the Nintendo family and how it lays the groundwork for their future strategy with the roll-out of DS Ware. They’ve made deep inroads into the world of piracy and learned many valuable lessons and then applied them to their new DS Ware service. Nintendo not only countered piracy itself but removed most of the fundamental advantages to pirating in the first place, all while dramatically improving the gaming experience for legitimate gamers. They created a beautiful path right through where everyone was cutting across.

If you haven’t played the amazing Bangai-O Spirits game by legendary developer Treasure, do yourself a favor and read the many, many excellent reviews, then hurry out snatch your own copy today. Bangai-O Spirits (BOS) breaks all the rules by combining the puzzle solving genre with old fashioned shoot-em-ups (shumps) then unlocking all 160 levels right from the get-go, leaving the motivation to keep playing squarely on the shoulders of the gameplay and level designs.

Luckily this isn’t a problem for BOS since you can create, play and share your own levels with the fantastic level designer included in right in the game. You can even use it to enter contests… if you’re a world famous game designer that is.

The latest contest by D3Publisher invited the worlds top game designers to put their talents to the test and compete to see who is the Master BOS Level Creator. Winner gets $10,000 donated in their name to the graduate fellowship at The Guildhall at SMU, the premier graduate video game education program in the US.

The best part is you can play all the levels right now, for free. Turns out we are the judges! To participate, first download all the levels and give them a play through. Woo Hoo!! After playing testing each one, be sure to vote for your favorites!

Original store reported by DSFanboy.. one of the top DS sites.

LevelHead is an amazing new game you control by manipulating ordinary blocks while your webcam observes and translates what you do into what you see here:

levelHead v1.0, 3 cube speed-run (spoiler!) from Julian Oliver on Vimeo.

The story is reported by Jon over at SlashGamer.com. Read more about it from Julian Oliver, the game’s creator.

Sony announced plans to expand their beta program for the much anticipated PSN property: Home. To become eligible, you must log into the PSN network and download the latest Theme: Home Beta Test. Once downloaded go to your Theme Settings and enable it. That’s all you need to do to submit your account for inclusion in the next round of Home Beta Testing. Read more details from Sony’s Blog.

Just when you thought every possible variation of bouncing ball games had been invented, here’s another free online game that’s just a little trickier than it looks: Brain Bashers.

The idea is simple: blue balls on the left, red on the right. The games sluggish controls makes it challenging as the little gap follows your mouse around. Just when you’ve got the last one lined up.. another bugger escapes from the opposite side – this forces you to keep all of them and their motions in mind at the same time – especially in the first few moments if you want a good time. 32 seconds is the best I can do. How about you?