SEGA ADVISES IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DREAMCAST.COM

A few days ago we reported that Sega was apparently up to something for the Dreamcast's 10th anniversary via http://www.Dreamcast.com. Before running that story, we had followed several articles around the 'net and checked the site's domain registration information to make sure that it was registered to Sega, and all seemed on the up and up.

While I can't read Japanese, according to Kotaku, Sega is reporting that they have nothing to do with what's going on over at Dreamcast.com. Thankfully, the site's link has been down since we reported on it, so I'm not feeling uber-guilty about it (ah, the benefits of updating a day late and a dollar short), but as the Kotaku article mentions, if you did manage to sign up before the site went under, you may want to both change the password on the e-mail account you used and prepare for the potential deluge of spam/phishing e-mails.

Once again, SEGA SAYS THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE DREAMCAST.COM SITE – DON'T BOTHER SIGNING UP OR RESPONDING TO ANY E-MAIL FROM DREAMCAST.COM – all you'll probably get for your troubles is spam and phishing e-mails.

I understand some people were also given an "e-mail address" from the site after signing up. If you even remotely used a password similar to any other ones you use when setting it up, be sure to change those passwords as well. As usual,we'll keep you posted should more information become available.

• Phishing: Sega Didn't Ask About Your Dreamcast, Some Dirty Rotten Scoundrel Did – Kotaku

WII GUITAR HERO III DISC REPLACEMENT REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

Those of you who purchased the Wii version of Guitar Hero III are probably well aware by now that Activision accidentally recorded your discs in mono sound instead of Dolby stereo. You're probably also aware that Activision promised to ship out replacement discs early in the new year.

Well, according to ArsTechnica, Activision has now opened pre-registration for those replacement discs. Apparently you'll have the option of either calling to get on the list or being notified via e-mail.

"Pre-registration for the remastered disc is fairly simple: owners looking for an updated copy need only call (866) 780-8286 from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM EST, Monday through Friday, to get their names on the list. Alternatively, the help entry on Activision's customer support knowledge base has a handy "update me by email" function. No date has been given for when the discs will actually be sent out." – ArsTechnica

You know, while I applaud Activision for making good on their mistake, if I had bought the Wii version of the game, I'd be seriously pissed right now. It really shouldn't take this long to get what you paid for. I certainly hope Activision plans on giving those affected something else for their troubles too – even if just a free song.

• Wii Guitar Hero III replacement disc pre-registration begins – ArsTechnica

XBOX 360 WIRELESS RACING WHEEL REQUIRES RETROFIT

Yes gang, another piece of Microsoft hardware is being labeled as faulty. Microsoft has announced that due to a possible flaw in one of the components of the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel that could result in overheating, smoking and an implied potential fire hazard, they are requesting that all owners stop using the powered functions of the wheel until they can get a retrofit kit from Microsoft to correct the problem.

The wheel itself can be used in the meantime with no risk if not plugged in, however that does eliminate all force feedback functionality.

“As a precautionary measure, Microsoft Corporation is voluntarily providing its customers with a free retrofit to the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel. The Wheels were manufactured during 2006 – 2007. A component in the Wheel chassis may in rare cases overheat and release smoke when the AC-DC power supply is used to energize the Wheel.

There have been no reported incidences of fire, personal injury or property damage due to the Wheel malfunction. Despite no known safety incidents, we are advising our customers about this because of our strong commitment to ensuring that our products are safe and perform to our design specifications.” – Xbox.com

Now I’m not sure what exactly this retrofit kit includes, but whatever it is, it’s apparently a simple enough installation that Microsoft feels you can make the change yourself – because that’s what you’re going to have to do. Owners of the Wireless Racing Wheel should either contact Xbox support by phone at 1-800-4MY-XBOX or use the form located at this link to have the kit sent out to them. Once mine arrives, I’ll be sure to at least post what you can expect to find in the kit and what is involved in making the required repair.

Racing wheel requires retrofit kit – say that ten times fast. Microsoft, I love my Xbox 360, but you guys have GOT to get your act together on the hardware reliability front. Seriously.

• Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel – Xbox.com
• Free Retrofit for Wireless Racing Wheel – Xbox.com
• Wireless Racing Wheel retrofit kit request form – Xbox.com

NORTH AMERICAN 60GB PLAYSTATION 3 TO BE DISCONTINUED?

So much for a long term price cut… GamesIndustry.Biz (by way of Kotaku) is reporting that in an interview with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president David Reeves, Reeves answered the question of why Europe was not seeing a price cut by announcing that once Sony expends all it’s existing stock of the 60GB PlayStation 3 in the United States, the company will only supply 80GB models to the region;

"GamesIndustry.Biz: How concerned are you about possible criticisms that you should have given European consumers what SCEA has given US consumers, i.e. the option to pay a lower price?

David Reeves: Well, they’re not really are they, because what the US are offering from the 1st of August is a USD 599 version with one game. All they’re doing is taking their stock in trade that they’ve got at the moment of the 60GB model, marking the price down and it will all be gone by the end of July.

GamesIndustry.Biz: So once the 60GB is gone, that will be the end of the 60GB then?

David Reeves: In America, yes." – GamesIndustry.Biz interview with David Reeves

Now, either Reeves is just trying to cover for the lack of a European price drop or Sony really does plan on shooting itself in the foot yet again. What a public relations nightmare this one is going to be. Leave it to Sony to take the one positive piece of press they’ve gotten recently and totally screw it in a matter of days.

• E3: David Reeves Talks PS3 – GamesIndustry.Biz
• 60GB PS3 Being Taken Out To Pasture – Kotaku

MICROSOFT EXTENDS 360 WARRANTY TO 3 YEARS FOR RED RING ISSUES

Microsoft has announced that due to the ongoing issues with the Xbox 360’s dreaded Red Ring of Death system failures, the company will be extending the system’s factory warranty to cover the defects that cause the issue to 3 years from the date of purchase.

I can’t begin to mention just how huge of an announcement this is. Microsoft has basically admitted that the failure rate on the Xbox 360 is far higher than they would like and have taken action to make sure that their customer base is treated fairly. To give you an idea of the scale of the problem, Microsoft will be taking a 1.15 billion dollar pre-tax charge to their earnings for the quarter ending June 30th to cover the cost of the extension. (If you’re wondering, this means that the cost of supporting the warranty will not be included in fiscal year 2008, meaning that Robbie Bach’s prediction that the Xbox line would be in the black by 2008 is still a reasonable possibility.)

In an open letter to their customers, Microsoft’s Peter Moore apologized to Xbox 360 owners for any inconveniences they may have experienced due to system failures and promised that the company would be retroactively reimbursing any fees paid by 360 owners for repairs due to the issue.

“As of today, all Xbox 360 consoles are covered by an enhanced warranty program to address specifically the general hardware failures indicated by the three flashing red lights on the console. This applies to new and previously-sold consoles. While we will still have a general one year console warranty (two years in some countries), we are announcing today a three-year warranty that covers any console that displays a three flashing red lights error message. If a customer has an issue indicated by the three flashing red lights, Microsoft will repair the console free of charge—including shipping—for three years from the console’s purchase date. We will also retroactively reimburse any of you who paid for repairs related to problems indicated by this error message in the past. In doing so, Microsoft stands behind its products and takes responsibility to ensure that every Xbox 360 console owner continues to have a fantastic gaming experience.

If we have let any of you down in the experience you have had with your Xbox 360, we sincerely apologize. We are taking responsibility and are making these changes to ensure that every Xbox 360 owner continues to have a great experience.” – Peter Moore

It should be noted that the extension (years 2 and 3) only cover issues related to the three red ring failures and does not cover the rest of the system. To clear up any confusion, Microsoft has made a FAQ available that covers many of the questions Xbox 360 owners may have about the updated warranty and have advised that they will continue to update the FAQ over the next few days.

One question that wasn’t covered in the aforementioned FAQ was what affect this would have on the warranty status of those who purchased the Xbox 360’s 2 year extended warranty directly from Microsoft. To get an answer to that issue, I called Microsoft’s customer support help line at 1-800-4MY-XBOX, and after waiting on hold for 1 hour and 15 minutes was advised that the extended warranty will begin once the 3 year warranty period has expired and that all services would be covered during that time.

I found that answer a little strange as one would assume that only the coverage for the Red Ring failures would continue into the 4th and 5th year of the warranty period, but the representative I spoke with assured me that this was indeed the case. While I’m taking that part of the answer with a grain of salt, I am at least confident in believing that those who purchased the extended warranty via Microsoft will have protection from general system failures (Red Ring of Death failures) for 5 years from the date of purchase.

My guess is that since Microsoft also stated that they believe they’ve found a way to fix the problem that this move may essentially be a long-term recall. If the problem is such that they know that most Xbox 360’s will fail within 3 years, this would allow them to repair the problems without the massive negative publicity a true recall would bring. The move should also allow Microsoft some breathing room at E3 in regard to the failure rate, so while it’s certainly a great move for the consumer, I wouldn’t go sending mushy love notes to the company just yet. Still, I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling all warm and fuzzy at the moment. Between the rumors of the PlayStation 3 price drop and Microsoft’s warranty extension, it’s been a pretty good day for gamers. For more information on the announcement, warranty procedures and what it all means to you, check out the below links.

• Microsoft Expands Xbox 360 Warranty Coverage – Official press release
• Xbox 360 Expands Warranty – Gamerscore Blog
• Open Letter From Peter Moore – Xbox.com
• Expanded Xbox 360 Warranty Coverage FAQ – Xbox.com

SONY THREATENS TO BLACKLIST KOTAKU, BACKS OFF

Before you think I’m having a Sony love-in today, it’s time to prove that Sony can never have a good day without stepping in it at the same time. Here’s the short version of today’s Public Relations nightmare;

It apparently began when Kotaku’s Brian Crecente contacted Sony regarding a story they were looking to break. The story was in reference to a service Sony will apparently be introducing at next week’s Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) which will be a mix of Microsoft’s Achievement point system and Nintendo’s Mii avatars. Rather than just giving the usual "We don’t comment on rumors" line, Dave Karraker, Sony’s senior director of corporate communications, contacted Crecente and basically advised them not to run the story under threat of harming Kotaku’s relationship with Sony.

Thankfully, Crecente decided his loyalty was to his readers and games journalism, not Sony. As such, he politely responded to Sony that they would be running the story anyway… and then it got ugly. Karraker responded to Crecente’s e-mail by advising them that he "can’t defend outlets that can’t work cooperatively with us." and notifying Crecente that effective immediately, Sony would be cutting off Kotaku from any official communications with Sony. They cancelled all interviews scheduled with Kotaku staffers during the GDC and revoked the site’s invitation to their media event next week. Pretty grim, eh?

What Sony didn’t realize at the time, and probably still don’t fully understand, is something that I’ve touched on here a few times before. This isn’t 1995. Simply put, the days when print magazines had to kiss ass because the only place to get news about a console was directly from the manufacturer are long gone. Truth be told, Sony probably needs Kotaku more than Kotaku needs Sony.

Regardless of whether you agree with that last point, what happened next was pretty amazing. The story was picked up by multiple game sites and within a few short hours, the sheer amount of negative press made Sony rethink their position. Karraker contacted Crecente one last time, and both decided that while they would agree to disagree on the issue at hand, it was in the best interests of both Sony and Kotaku to renew their relationship.

First off, let me give a huge salute to Brian Crecente and the folks over at Kotaku who kept their heads during the few hours all hell must have been breaking loose around them. There’s a reason why Kotaku is my number one stop for gaming news, and that’s because since I started reading their site, I’ve grown to trust them to be honest about what they think and feel. As a reader, knowing that someone can’t buy or bully Kotaku into saying something other than what they really believe is a huge selling point.

Secondly, let me say that it really is time someone at Sony wakes the hell up and smells the internet. If you want positive press, earn it – no one worth reading is going to just give it to you just because you say so. No one is going to just accept the company line without questioning the stupid things you may say. Accept it, Deal with it and adapt to the new world. Thank you.

• Rumor: Sony To Unveil PlayStation Home – Kotaku (the story that started it all)
• Sony Blackballs Kotaku – Kotaku
• Sony and Kotaku Make-Up – Kotaku

DOES THE DS-LITE HAVE A CRACK PROBLEM?

It seems there’s a crack in the armor of Nintendo’s handheld juggernaut. Reports are coming in from all over the web that the hinges on the DS-Lite are prone to cracking. The story began with a few posts over at MaxConsole and quickly spread to other sites as they picked up the news and started hearing about their own readers crack problems.

In a poll over at Kotaku, nearly 14 percent of the respondents that owned a DS-Lite reported some type of crack around the hinges. Nintendo has not officially commented on the crack epidemic it’s latest handheld is facing at this time, but I somehow doubt they’re going to give it the same loving attention they recently gave a man who claimed his dog ate his DS-Lite.

Now I haven’t played with a DS-Lite yet, so I don’t know how sturdy the plastic it’s made out of is, but if it’s anything like the hinges on the GBA:SP or the fatty DS, I’d have to assume there’s something more to it… like people “snapping” the screen open, pressing down on it/over-extending it or the like. Why? Because if my GBA:SP can still be intact despite the things that have happened to it, I can’t see the crack just forming from normal wear and tear.

Click here for the MaxConsole forum post, here for the Kotaku DS-Lite crack poll and here just because I can’t come up with something witty to write here despite the billions of possibilities the term crack allows for.

PSM REPORTS ON SONY CONTROLLER TECH

In a recent podcast, PSM’s Randy Nelson took a look at Warhawk using a Sony system and a controller with tilt technology. The kicker here is that the game was the first Warhawk for the original Playstation and the controller was a third party controller made by Pelican that was available for the PS1 back in 1999.

One thing that is very interesting to note is that not only does the Pelican controller incorporate tilt sensing, but it also used vibration motors. Guess it really isn’t that hard to mix the two technologies, eh Sony? Looks like the hunch most had about the lack of vibration in the Playstation 3 controllers being more due to the legal issues with Immersion rather than any technological hurdle get another round of ammunition for their argument.

Anyway, below you’ll find the aforementioned video, so check it out for yourself and be amazed at the revolutionary new 7 year old technology Sony is bringing us in the PS3.

UBISOFT REDESIGNING RED STEEL CONTROLS

The Game Feed is reporting that following criticism of their E3 build of upcoming Nintendo Wii title Red Steel, Ubisoft is taking the game’s controls and heading back to the drawing board… or at least the tweaking table;

“Ubisoft has recently told the French press that there will be significant changes to the gameplay of their Wii launch title before the game hits store shelves later this year. Although specific examples of the improvements have not been announced, Ubisoft briefly commented on the difficulty of refining the sword-fighting of Red Steel.” -The Game Feed

Those who watched any E3 footage of the game may have noticed the difficulty with both the aiming and swordplay aspects of the title, and it seems Ubisoft isn’t deaf to the complaints those problems have generated.

We’ll keep you updated on any new information regarding the changes being made to the game as it develops. Until then, check out The Game Feed’s article here and keep building up your arm muscles in anticipation of all the swinging you’ll be doing when the Wii is released later this year.

EARTH TO KUTARAGI: JUST SHUT UP ALREADY

In his latest attempts to remove any shred of sanity the Sony public relations department has left, SCE President Ken Kutaragi took the company line that the Playstation 3 is a computer one step further. GamerNode is reporting that in another interview with Japanese newspaper Nikkei BP Kutaragi expanded his thoughts on the subject and raised the spectre of required upgrades;

“As the PlayStation 3 is a computer, we might even offer it on a built-to-order basis, customized to the needs of each and every user,” the hardware components have been designed in a modularized format with this possibility in mind.”– Ken “Nutty as a Snickers Bar” Kutaragi

Now don’t get me wrong, but even after you consider the fact that most people who would be interested in the Playstation 3 have a computer already, there are still other major flaws in this line of thinking. The most glaring one is the fact that most people who play consoles will tell you that the one feature consoles have that PC’s can never beat is that a game console never requires you to upgrade it to play the latest releases. Needless to say, the idea of a fully upgradeable Playstation 3 is going to rankle a few, even if Kutaragi is just talking out of his ass. Hopefully all this talk is just to bolster Sony’s claim that the PS3 is really a computer, thereby allowing them to avoid paying certain entertainment taxes in Europe.

You know, the sad part is that I was originally interested in the Playstation 3. I wasn’t sure if I’d buy one due to the price, but they at least had my attention. Now, every time Kutaragi opens his mouth I find my desire to own a PS3 diminished just a bit more. You can check out the GamerNode article here.

The Sony Playstation 3 – It’s a Blu-Ray player, it’s a personal computer and it’s a home entertainment center. Too bad it isn’t a game console, I really like those.

DS-LITE: IS THERE A PROBLEM, OFFICER?

There are a lot of reports coming in from around the ‘net about fresh out of the box DS-Lites with dead pixels on screen. Whether this is a case of a widespread problem or just the fact that those who wind up with dead pixels are going to gripe while those with perfect units remain silent remains to be seen, but it certainly casts a slight pall over the DS-Lite launch. The good news is from most of the sites I read about people trying to return their DS-Lite’s for a replacement, no one seems to be giving consumers a hard time yet. However, I’m sure as the available supply of DS-Lite’s gets lower, that could change pretty fast.

My advice? If you wound up with a less than perfect DS-Lite, and feel the problem is bad enough that you want a replacement, do it as soon as possible, otherwise you may run into hassles. If you’ve got a story about your return experience at a particular retailer, be it good or bad, please feel free to share it in the comments section – I’m sure people would like to hear about it.

Nintendo hasn’t made any official comment on the situation as of yet, but if you read this article over at Kotaku, it appears that retailers aren’t exactly thrilled with the situation.

PLAYSTATION 3 HARDWARE SLOW? – STORY UPDATED

Kotaku is now reporting that the techies over at Slashdot are currently debating the story and what exactly the specs mean. As I stated earlier, I’m not a master programmer, nor am I an engineer, so take anything I say here with a grain of salt, but the gist of the debate seems to be whether the specs are in fact horrible, if it’s just a bad benchmark or if the problem is moot because the Cell Processor doesn’t have to read information coming from the problem area anyway. Of course, the argument has also broken down into a fanboy argument in some areas, so expect plenty of mindless stupidity to interrupt what seems to be a very technical argument. I think I’m going to take the advice of Kotaku’s Florian Eckhardt and just wait for the games to determine whether or not the PS3 is slow.

PS3 COULD FAIL OVER BAD PR?

5:00am… Before my blanket leaps up, grabs me and drags me off to my waiting pillow, I want to mention this interesting article over at Curmudgeon Gamer where an excellent point is made about the way gamers get their information now as compared to the last console generation launch cycle and the overall affect it’s having on the industry.

“I think more importantly we have all changed and Sony’s playing catch-up. Six years ago most of us probably got our information and opinion from the big videogame media sites. Magazines were more important for breaking news stories. And as a result, I think people were a little too caught up in the Emotion Engine hype.

Now I almost never see news stories through GameSpot or IGN. Rather, I see them linked to by a blog, and along with that link comes some nugget of commentary. Actually, not just one blog, but dozens of blogs. The result of this filter is that I’m less likely to get the company line first and more likely to hear news with an instant shot of opinion.” -Curmudgeon Gamer

You know, I’ve got to agree with the guy. Back when the 4th generation started, I remember checking sites like IGN, Gamespy and Gamespot religiously, as well as relying on print gaming magazines for all my news. Over time, there’s been that subtle shift to where I find myself reading more and more of the news from the outskirts, where there isn’t as much apparent corporate interference and writers can feel free to give you their own, fully biased opinion just the same as your buddy next to you can. Hell, it’s part of the whole concept behind this site. Either way, the Curmudgeon article is a pretty good read, and if what I said sounds interesting to you, you can check it out here. As for me, I’m going to bed.

PLAYSTATION 3 HARDWARE SLOW?

The Inquirer has an interesting article up currently where they reveal what appears to be a massive dent in the Playstation 3’s armor. According to the article, it would appear the Cell Processor has a massively slow read speed, which bogs down the performance of the console and makes code checking very difficult. Allow me to let the Inquirer explain it a lot better than I can right now… (It’s almost 5am here now! *Double Yawn*)

“For local memory, the measured vs theoretical bandwidth is missing, I wonder why? RSX is at a solid 22.4GBps for both read and write, good job there green team. Then comes the blue team with Cell. Local memory write is about 4GBps, 40% of the next slowest bandwidth there. Then comes the bomb from hell, the Cell local memory read bandwidth is a stunning 16MBps, note that is a capital M to connote Mega vs a capital G to connote Giga. This is a three order of magnitude oopsie, and it is an oopsie, as Sony put it “(no, this isn’t a typo…)”.

If you can write at 250x the read speed, it makes Cell local memory just about useless. That means you do all your work out of main memory, and the whole point of local is, well, pointless. This can lead to contention issues for the main memory bus, and all sorts of nightmarish to debug performance problems. Basically, if this Sony presentation to PS3 devs shown to us is correct, it looks like PS3 will be hobbled in a serious way.” -The Inquirer

Now I’ll be the first to admit that my knowledge of game programming is pretty much limited making simple Macromedia Flash based games and time spent as a kid changing around the text files in games to be a bit more… amusing, but if the above is true and not coated with some anti-Sony slant that’s hiding some way this does work out, that seems like a screw-up of monumental proportions. If anyone has some further insight into this, feel free to comment on this article at the appropriate link below.

Check out the full Inquirer article here to read about all the gory details.

UPDATE 1: 9:15am 6/06/06 –Kotaku is now reporting that the techies over at Slashdot are currently debating the story and what exactly the specs mean. As I stated earlier, I’m not a master programmer, nor am I an engineer, so take anything I say here with a grain of salt, but the gist of the debate seems to be whether the specs are in fact horrible, if it’s just a bad benchmark or if the problem is moot because the Cell Processor doesn’t have to read information coming from the problem area anyway. Of course, the argument has also broken down into a fanboy argument in some areas, so expect plenty of mindless stupidity to interrupt what seems to be a very technical argument. I think I’m going to take the advice of Kotaku’s Florian Eckhardt and just wait for the games to determine whether or not the PS3 is slow.

SONY PREPARING FOR THE WORST?

Kikizio Games is reporting on an interview trade magazine MCV had with Sony Europe’s David Reeves in which Reeves not only claims that Sony had been working on the tilt technology they premiered at E3 for “around two and a half years” but quite interestingly stated that Sony is not concerned with market share with the upcoming Playstation 3;

“The name of the game is not market share, it’s how fast we can grow the industry – our ambition is to grow 15 percent a year on hardware and software if we can, we want to try and double digital entertainment in the next five to six years. Whether we have 40, 50, or 60 per cent market share is not that important.” -David Reeves

This is a pretty surprising admission coming from the industry market share leader for the last two console generations. It makes you wonder if Sony is preparing for the possibility that they could lose the top slot this time around. The interesting part of the quote however is that with Sony’s current dominance in the industry, you would assume that the only way they could grow 15 percent a year would be by retaining that lead or expanding it.

One is left to wonder if Sony expects the video game market to increase in terms of installed base, software sales and advertising sales to such an extent that it would be possible for them to expand their earnings while losing the battle for the top slot or if they’re simply blowing smoke to try and cover the possibility of losing to either Microsoft or Nintendo.

No matter how you look at the statement, it would at the very least seem that Sony is preparing for the possibility of losing some dominance this time around, and with the current missteps with the Playstation 3 and how it’s being perceived, that’s not overly surprising. As for the question of how long Sony had been working on that tilt technology, no matter what they may say about wanting to hide it for fear it would have been stopped by some patent maneuvering by the competition, you would think two and a half years of work would have looked a bit better in action. Click here to check out the Kikizo Games article.

WAS THE PS3 CONTROLLER A SURPRISE TO EVERYONE – INCLUDING DEVELOPERS?

Gamespot has an interesting article that references a NY Times E3 blog which states that the development team for Warhawk, the game with which Sony demonstrated the motion sensor in the PS3 controller, didn’t even get their hands on the new controller until 2 weeks before the show. *sniff* Could that be the smell of desperation coming from Sony? It certainly would explain the overall impression that demonstration gave. Click here for the Gamespot article, and here for the NY Times blog.

SONY RETHINKING PSP STRATEGY?

Sony sent a survey out to many Playstation Underground members asking a wide range of questions regarding the PSP. From the gist of the questions asked, it seems Sony is interested in how they can drum up interest in the system and determine what people think of the advertising campaigns they’ve run. If you ask me, the problem with the PSP is that there just aren’t enough good, unique games on the system. Most of the games just seem to be handheld versions of existing PS2 games, and in that situation, I’d rather play the PS2 version any day – especially considering the cost of a PSP and the required accessories. Dropping the price of the system and games would probably help quite a bit too.

Is it just a little bit of market research, or is Sony finally thinking of getting serious about the PSP. Only time will tell.

COMMENT SYSTEM BUG

It appears there’s a bug in the comment system that prevents you from logging into/properly seeing the forum content. I’ve changed all the comment links to open a new browser window when clicked, and it appears to have fixed the problem. I apologize for any inconvenience in this matter. If you’re using a pop-up blocker, be sure to select "Open Link in new window" from your browsers right click menu to avoid the window being blocked.