PlayStation 3

Several news outlets are reporting the NDP sales figures for January. Wii took first place by a considerable margin with 436,000 units sold. Xbox 360 came in second with 294,000 sold. PS3 came in third with 244,000 sold. The figures have not yet been verified by NDP.

Besides selling more consoles than anyone else, Nintendo is also continuing to enjoy remarkable sales performance with DS, which sold 239,000 units last month.

Microsoft aims to increase their cumulative sales to 12 million by the end of June.

[January: Wii Triumphs; 360 Up; PS3rd @ Next Generation]

Here is a new video of the PS3 version of Flow, a game originally created in Flash as testbed for a USC student's thesis on Embedded Difficulty Adjustment. The game is designed to be accessible by a large audience. Flow is coming to PS3 as a downloadable game with 1080p HD graphics and SIXAXIS controller support.

[Clip: PS3's Flow @ Kotaku]

The specifics about the PS3 launch in Europe and the UK will be released at midnight according to "semi official" Sony blog Three Speech. Sony will most likely confirm the expected March 23 launch date. The 60GB model is expected to sell for GBP 425 in the UK and EUR 599 throughout much of Europe. The 20GB model is not supposed to be available immediately.

[PlayStation 3 launch details to be released at midnight @ gamesindustry.biz]

Bethesda plans to release an Oblivion expansion pack called The Shivering Isles this spring, according to GameSpot. The expansion will include more than 30 hours of gameplay in the form of new territories to explore, enemies to conquer, and quests to complete. An entirely new region, called The Isles, will be added to the game. The Isles will be accessible from Cyrodiil using a door that appears in the Niben Bay.

In November, Bethesda released a addon questline called The Knights of the Nine as retail package for PC's and Xbox Live Marketplace download. Although nothing has been confirmed, I don't see anything to stop The Shivering Isles from becoming an Marketplace download as well.

Soon after the rush of holiday shopping subsided, a number of people reported seeing untouched stacks of PS3's sitting in stores. The average price of the PS3 on eBay has plummeted from more than $2000 to the retail price $600. That doesn't seem like a shortage to me. Has the public really lost interest in a product that caused a shooting a little more than a month ago? Is there really a shortage? ABC's report concludes that isolated cases of oversupply have occurred, but they do not represent what's happening throughout the rest of the supply chain.

While the PS3 may be available in a store here or there, if you want one you're still likely to resort to paying more than the retail price in an online auction house.

But, again, the prices on those online auctions houses have fallen. Scalpers have even returned their consoles to the store to avoid the hassle of selling them on eBay for a reasonable price. Sony's ultimate goal should be to get every console into the hands of a gamer. Gamers buy games, and game sales = money. Right now, PS3's seem to be gathering in opportunists' basements and Best Buy stores.

Ubisoft announced that Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is in development and on schedule for a Spring 2007 release. The original GRAW was a gem on the Xbox 360, the result of a challenging single player campaign and an excellent Xbox Live component. The sequel will include improved AI, an updated cross-com system, and enhanced visuals through the use of physics and particles. GRAW 2 will also introduce new types of support such as air strikes and multifunctional utility/logistics and equipment (MULE) vehicles. We're still not sure if the streets will be populated by civilians this time. More screens after the jump.

We've heard of people hacking consoles to allow them to rip their games, but it looks like the PS3 comes standard with that option. All you need is some Linux experience and the right software.

When Sony decided to give PlayStation 3 owners the option of installing Linux on their consoles, they failed to foresee the potential for a huge security problem. There's a command for Linux that allows you to dump images from game disks onto the built-in hard drive. With the right software, it would be possible to use the images as "backup copies." At this point that software has not been developed, but the discovery of this vulnerability is a start.

A 7GB dump of Madden 07 shows that disk images of PS3 games are similar to those of PSP games.

[Dump PS3 Blu-Ray images to ISO structure via Linux install @ Maxconsole]

Two men were arrested today for shooting twenty-one year old Michael Penkala, who was waiting to buy the PlayStation 3 at a Connecticut Wal-mart. William J. Robertson, 20, and Andrew Patnaude, 17, are being charged with robbery and attempted murder according to the Associated Press.

After spending eight days in the hospital, Penkala went home with four new consoles, three of which he bought. The forth was a gift from Wal-mart for being shot at one of their stores. Penkela says he has no regrets about the incident.

While we enjoyed a peaceful PS3 launch last night, some weren't so lucky. One man was shot in front of a Connecticut Wal-Mart last night after trying to resist a robbery. The man is in stable condition, but the two gunman are still at large. Five PS3's were stolen from an Ohio EB Games during an armed robbery. Several were hospitalized after a Circuit City store decided to have their crowd lineup and dash for the door. Police used pepper balls to calm a small riot at another Circuit City in Tyson's Corner (that's not too far from us).

[via Engadget PS3 crime spree, part II: Fall of man]

We're back from Circuit City and the PS3 midnight launch went off without any problems. There was some crazy competition for T-shirts and mini footballs, but no one was trampled or injured (darn). Here is the video we took.

Now I'm going get some sleep. The Nintendo Wii launch isn't that far off.

[Edit: I forgot to thank our cameraman, Kellen Quigley. That guy is awesome.]

We're a little more than 24 hours away from the PS3 launch and about 3 days away from the Wii launch. I thought I should let you know what I'm planning to do for each event. Tomorrow night I'll be heading to a Circuit City in Rockville, MD along with a friend. That store is on the list of midnight launch locations. I'm not sure what we'll find there (hopefully a ravaging mob), but we'll take some video, do some interviews, and resist the temptation to drop $600+ on a PS3.

On Saturday, I'll leave for Manhattan where the Toy 'R Us in Times Square is hosting a launch party complete with live music, special guests, and a final countdown to midnight. Expect more video and news late that night (early Sunday morning).

Here's a hint: it's PS3 buyers. This video was taken at the front lines of the PS3 launch in Japan. The scene looks more like some sort of demonstration (complete with a guy with a megaphone) than a product launch. The video, along with a detailed first-hand account, is courtesy of a brave Kotaku reader.

The November 2006 issue of Official PlayStation Magazine provided some exclusive details about a new quest line that will be included in the PlayStation 3 version of Oblivion. The article didn't to mention that the quest line, called the Knights of the Nine, would be available to PC and Xbox 360 owners as an expansion. The expansion, which will be available on November 21 for about $10, charges you with the task of conquering an evil Ayleid Sorcerer-King known as Umaril. To complete this task, you must locate the lost relics of the Divine Crusader and rebirth the Knights of the Nine, an ancient faction of holy crusaders once known for their honor. The expansion promises to include new items, dungeons, and characters.

The expansion pack will be available for download from the Xbox Live Marketplace and the Oblivion Downloads site on November 21.

Multiple sources are reporting that heat was affecting the performance of the PlayStation 3 demo units on display at the Tokyo Game Show last month. Game publishers and attendees were frustrated when they experienced erratic behavior and freeze-ups that often required the console to be reset. According to the AP, Sony's stock fell 2.75 percent as a result of the technical difficulties. With news like this coming so close to the PS3's U.S. launch date on November 17, shareholders probably have a good reason to be concerned.

Elders Scrolls IV: Oblivion was supposed to be a launch title for the Xbox 360, but its release was delayed for several months. Bethesda confirmed today that Oblivion will be available for the PlayStation 3 this November when the console launches. Bethesda also announced that The Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion for the PSP handheld is slated for a Spring 2007 release.

Details about the graphics and gameplay of both games will be inside the November issue of the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. According to Bethesda, the OPM article states, "If any game is worth the price of the PS3, Oblivion is it." That's not exactly good. But the PSP version might be cool. I'd be able to take my secret addiction into public.