Sony has announced the June release of a new 80GB PlayStation 3 bundle for North America. The box includes an 80GB PS3, the long-awaited Metal Gear Solid 4 and a DualShock 3 controller. It’ll set you back $499.99.
Update Those that can’t get enough of cardboard box mock-ups best check after the jump.
An IGN blogger by the name of DugBuzz claims to have played a new version of Lair at GDC 2008, which featured the ability to control the dragon with the analog sticks. I was willing to chalk this one up as inevitable, but the lack of an official confirmation from Factor 5 seems odd - especially given what it would do for sales.
GDC 2008 Crazy Crap Report #1 [DugBuzz via QJ]
Midway has finally announced a European release date for the PS3 port of Unreal Tournament 3 - February 22, 2008. The game has already sold over 1.2 million copies, and we suspect it’ll move a few more once it hits the PAL territories. No word on an Australian release date.
Apologies to anyone who got their hopes up after reading our recent post regarding a patch for Rock Band on the PS3 adding GHIII Les Paul support. As you’re already no doubt aware, it’s not here yet.
According to Destructoid, a “trusted source” has informed them that the reason for the delay is a concerted effort by Activision to prevent the release of the patch, including legal action. I’ll be watching this one closely, as my imported copy of Rock Band arrives on Monday - so stay tuned for more news as it happens.
Harmonix employee Sean Baptiste has announced a patch for the PlayStation 3 version of Rock Band in a post on the Rock Band forums.
While the post only mentions “guitar controller compatibility,” Shacknews has confirmed with EA that the patch will add support for the Guitar Hero III Les Paul controller. Expect it to hit very shortly.
Mike from our sister site Gizmag just sent me a few happy snaps from the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue booth at the Tokyo Motor Show. If he worked for a gaming blog he’d know that a majority of you only read show coverage for photos of booth girls, but you’ve got to admit - those racing cockpits are pretty cute…
More after the jump.
Sony has signed a deal with the BBC that will allow players to download episodes of Top Gear through Gran Turismo TV. GT TV is a channel on the PlayStation Network that will provide the latest news and content from the motoring world. In addition to being able to watch Top Gear, Gran Turismo 5 will feature the Top Gear Test Track to test your times on, and maybe beat the Stig’s personal best. Polyphony Digital president Kazunori Yamauchi had this to say about the partnership:
“We at Polyphony are great fans of the world’s best motoring programme, Top Gear, so we’re delighted to be collaborating with BBC Worldwide to deliver Top Gear content via Gran Turismo. We’re sure that players will be as thrilled as we are when they get the chance to put their own driving skills to the test on the Top Gear Test Track in GT5, as well as enjoying classic episodes of Top Gear via GT TV.”
GT TV is expected to launch in 2008, and the BBC will be providing 40 episodes of Top Gear for download.
While the PS3 often takes a beating on the internet, such talk seems to have had little effect on sales figures. When graphed against Xbox 360 sales, the graph is almost exactly the same from the time of launch. What is decidedly unknown is if the figures will undergo the same jump as the 360’s when we wind up to the holiday season.
Via PS3 Fanboy
Capcom have revealed a new Bionic Commando game, currently under development for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Of course, the grappling hook that played a key role in the original game is back - although with such a Wiimote-friendly gameplay mechanic, it’s unclear why the choice was made to ignore the Wii this time around.
via GameSpot
Three UC Irvine students have teamed up with two students from Dartmouth College to win IBM’s Cell Broadband Engine Professor University Challenge, using three PlayStation 3 consoles to recreate the visual processing area of the brain.
Prior attempts of solving the problem with standard CPUs have been hindered by insufficient processing power, however the UCI/Dartmouth team’s solution of three PS3 consoles and a PC is capable of recognizing an object in just one second.
According to Jayram Moorkanikara from the UC Irvine team, their work has several applications, and is just getting started:
We have just started looking into the exciting area of hardware realization of brain algorithms. More such algorithms and applications will be developed and used in smart, self-guided cars, computers and robots,
