Ripten Rant: PS3 Users Don’t Need an In-Game XMB

Just like you don’t need this burger, Fatty, you don’t need an in-game XMB

Today is the start of a new Ripten mid-week feature, where I, the resident Brit, get to rant about an issue in the gaming industry. This weeks rant concerns the much wanted In-Game XMB for the Playstation 3.

There was some fuss over the last PS3 firmware update before it even hit. 2.0 was rumoured to contain a number of much wanted things – such as being able to play your own music during games, or bring up the cross-media bar (XMB) during gameplay. This final feature is perhaps the most wanted by Playstation owners, but I’m here to say they don’t need it.

To me this is obvious, and it may also be to you and I’m sorry if I’m about to patronise you with subtleties, but somehow I think that what I’m about to say might be a revolution to those muppets at Sony.

Read the whole article @ RipTen

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Metal Gear Solid 4 Must Sell 1 Million Day One To Justify Cost

Payton said the new “Metal Gear Solid” needs to sell over a million copies on the first day it goes on sale due to its costly production, but that may be a tough mark to hit given sluggish PS3 sales.

For this to happen Sony would need a miracle as high profile first part titles are hardly selling right now. To see this all you have to do is look at the sales data for Uncharted and Ratchet & Clank Future, which are Sony’s big holiday exclusives. According to VGChartz both have only sold 0.13m and 0.22m respectively after several weeks of release. Either the PS3 install base has to increase by huge leaps and bounds by MGS4’s Spring 2008 release or they need to go multiplatform.

Read the whole article @ Gemaga

Get a Free Playstation 3! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of waiting in long lineups for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free PS3!

Japan: PS3 Outsells Wii in November

Sony’s PlayStation 3 has outsold Nintendo’s Wii in Japan over a four week period for the first time since the systems launched last year.

According to figures from publisher Enterbrain, Sony shifted 183,217 PS3s during the four weeks ended November 25, in comparison to 159,193 Wiis, reports Reuters.

Having dominated the gaming hardware market during the previous generation, Sony has struggled to establish its next-gen console amidst fierce competition from Microsoft’s Xbox 360 (in the US and Europe), which launched a year prior to the PS3, and Nintendo’s family-friendly Wii, both of which have built up far larger user bases.

A lack of AAA software and a high price point have often been cited as reasons for slower-than-expected consumer uptake of the PS3, although a growing software library and recent price cut, as well as the introduction of an entry-level 40GB unit, have clearly aided sales.

While the news that Sony trumped its rivals during November in Japan will be welcomed by the Japanese platform holder, KBC Securities analyst Hiroshi Kamide questioned whether the PS3 sales momentum could be sustained.

"It's nice to see the system selling much better than six months ago. But is it a sustainable trend? Is it going to really escalate from here? I'm not so sure."

Read the whole article @ Next-Gen

Get a Free Playstation 3! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of waiting in long lineups for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free PS3!

Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 coming to PS3, after all

Despite rumours to the contrary, it seems that Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 will be coming to the PS3 next year.

According to the latest list of PAL release dates distributed by the French publisher (and published on Gamefront.de), Rainbow Six Vegas 2 has been listed as being down for release during Q1 2008, the same as the Xbox 360 version.

Rumours that the PS3 version had been delayed or even dropped started circulating last month after only the PC and 360 were mentioned on the game’s product page on the Ubisoft website.

While the product page remains unaltered, given that Ubisoft has mentioned the PS3 version of its release schedule, it seems that PS3 fans haven’t been forgotten after all.

Indeed, PS3 owners can now seemingly look forward to getting the game at the same time as their 360 counterparts, which sounds rather nice and fair if you ask us.

Read the whole article @ Gamer.tm

Get a Free Playstation 3! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of waiting in long lineups for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free PS3!

Hacker Uses Sony PlayStation 3 to Crack Passwords

Using a PS3, a senior security consultant has come up with a way to drastically increase the processing capability of cracking passwords.

Nick Breese, a senior security consultant at Auckland-based Security-assessment.com, has come up with a way to drastically increase the processing capability of cracking passwords, using a PS3.

By implementing common ciphers and hash functions using vector computing, Breese has pushed the current upper limit of 10--15 million cycles per second -- in Intel-based architecture -- up to 1.4 billion cycles per second.

Breese, who has been working on the project, called "Crackstation", for the past six months, used the Sony PlayStation 3 gaming console for his break-through research. PS3's Cell Broadband Engine technology was created by IBM, Toshiba and Sony. The companies collaborated to create the CBE, commonly known as Cell, processor, which consists of one scalar processor and eight vector processors.

By design, PS3 is very suitable for cryptography, says Breese. Intel processors are designed to do all kinds of complex calculations, whereas the PS3 is good at doing simple things very quickly. "And believe it or not, cryptography really is simple," he says. "Lots of simple operations being done one at the time."

Read the whole article @ PC World

Get a Free Playstation 3! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of waiting in long lineups for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free PS3!