Games and Gear
PlayStation Network to add subscriptions
Sony is to add a paid premium level to its PlayStation Network. Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai announced that a two-tier model will see users paying a subscription fee for extra content, but confirmed -- to the relief of PS3 owners everywhere -- that online gaming will remain free. Continue reading...
Is the Xbox 360 getting any more reliable?
The Xbox 360 is less reliable than other games consoles, according to our reliability survey published last week. But the big question is whether consoles bought today can be expected to be any more reliable than the ones bought years ago. We broke out the office scientific calculator and took another look at the data we gathered in our survey to find out.
The bad news is that if you buy a new Xbox 360 now, it's still worrying likely to go wrong in the first year you own it. The good news is, if you manage to get that far without a problem, you're probably going to be fine.
In theory, Xbox 360s bought from 2008 onwards should break down less often, after Microsoft fiddled with the innards to increase the reliability. But whatever Microsoft changed here doesn't seem to have eradicated all the problems with the console. Continue reading...
Wii iPlayer vs PS3 iPlayer test: which is best for free BBC TV?
Nintendo's Wii may have stormed the console hardware charts, but it's always been rather lacklustre on the heavy-duty multimedia front. Nowhere has that been more apparent than in its support for the BBC's free catch-up TV service, iPlayer.
The only way you've been able to watch iPlayer via the Wii until now is by using the clunky Web browser, and the picture quality is awful. Now, however, Nintendo and the Beeb have launched a dedicated iPlayer channel accessible directly through the Wii home screen, which promises to be much easier to use and significantly improve video quality. So, how good is it, and how does it fare against the other games console to support the iPlayer, the PlayStation 3? Continue reading...
Firefox coming to PlayStation 3?
"Firefox? In my PS Triple? Sacre bleu!"
That's what you should be saying right about now. Tipsters have been fingering keyboards towards the PlayStation Insider blog, which we'd never heard of until Engadget linked to it, and apparently "sources very close to Sony" say Mozilla might be porting the Firefox Web browser to the PS3. Continue reading...
PlayStation Network movie downloads hit PS3 today
Sony's PlayStation Network video service goes live today. PS3 owners in the UK, France, Germany and Spain can now download more than 800 movies to their PlayStation 3 console and PSP.
Films start at £2.49 to rent or £6.99 to buy. Rented movies, including some high-definition films, can be kept for 14 days, but must be watched within 48 hours of hitting play. Movies are stored on the PS3 hard drive, and can be transferred to the PSP. Continue reading...
Modern Warfare 2 headshots entertainment industry records
Holy recessions, Batman. Yesterday, Activision Blizzard, which publishes Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, said it estimates the game has made entertainment industry history by raking in over half a billion dollars in just five days.
Activision thinks the 18-rated game beat all previous movie, music, video game and book records across the board. It predicts Modern Warfare 2 pulled in more moolah in its first five days than the latest Harry Potter movie did, which holds the record as the highest-grossing worldwide cinema release in a five-day opening period. Continue reading...
Best iPhone games: Sony PSP rivals
Apple's desire to pitch the iPhone and the iPod touch as handheld games consoles that make the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP look old hat might be written off as hot air by fanboys of the traditional gaming giants. But there is substance to the claim.
We've looked at five iPhone games that are posing a headache for Nintendo and its DS, but what about Sony's PlayStation Portable? The emphasis in this battle is on PSP's strengths of rich graphics and long-lasting gameplay, as opposed to the pitting the iPhone against the DS' innovation and creativity. Continue reading...
CNET UK's games console reliability survey: 60 per cent of Xbox 360s have broken
Sixty per cent of Xbox 360s have kicked the red-ringed bucket, compared to 16 per cent of PS3s and just 6 per cent of Wiis, according to our survey on the reliability of games consoles in the UK.
CNET UK commissioned the survey last month -- and the results don't reflect well on the Microsoft console. Some 1,128 UK-based console owners responded, of whom 562 owned Xbox 360s, 473 owned PS3s and 591 had Wiis (some owned more than one). Continue reading...
Best iPhone games: Nintendo DS rivals
One of the most fascinating tech battles that's been brewing this year is between Apple and the established giants of handheld gaming: Sony and Nintendo.
Apple execs have been increasingly loud in their boasts that iPhone (and even more so the iPod touch) make the PSP and DS look distinctly old hat. For the most part, the Japanese giants have avoided a public war of words with Cupertino, although their introduction of digital stores and courting of iPhone developers show they're taking the threat seriously.
But it all comes down to the games. The App Store is clearly excellent value -- compare the prices below with the £20+ price tags on most DS games. But can Apple's devices really hold their own with the handheld establishment in terms of quality? Here are five games that are having a crack at the DS. Continue reading...
Top ten video game podcasts
Podcasts might seem a bit old-hat nowadays -- people seem to prefer 140-character micro-blogging rather than settling down to listen to an hour-long radio-style show. But there's still a thriving podcast scene, particularly for gaming.
Why? It might be because podcasts don't compete for gaming time -- you can have them on in the background while playing, or while you're walking to work or school. Or it might just be because there are some talented journalists and gamers creating podcasts about the hobby they love. Continue reading...
