1P Start

Homer: Howdy, gents, I’m here to collect my free *Lou and Eddie handcuff him* Ow! Oh, my boating arm! What’s going on?

Chief Wiggum: You’re under arrest, slimebag. What’s this punk in for, Lou?

Lou: 235 unpaid parking tickets, totaling $175.

Chief Wiggum: I hope you brought your checkbook, wiseguy.

Homer: You lousy cops. Lucky for you, I’m double-parked, or I’d *slams pen* There. Now, could I please have my motorboat?

This exact scene has come to life, take out free motorboat and replace with free Xbox 360, and you have yourself what has went down in Colorado during November 5th - 9th. Just like Homer, Snake, and others in the Simpsons were lead to believe they had won some sort of prize, one after the other people showed up right in cops hands thinking they were going to get a free Xbox. All persons arrested had outstanding warrants for either violent crimes, illegal entry charges, and drug charges. 115 people arrested should watch the Simpsons more often (or to a lesser extent, not commit crimes). I can’t say I necessarily agree with how this went down, but I will be damned if it isn’t funny.

[El Paso Times via Maxconsole]

Enterbrain, one of the world’s largest video game magazine publishers, is reporting that for the four week period leading up until November 25th, the PlayStation 3 outsold the Wii in Japan.

That’s right. The PS3 outsold the Wii. In Japan. In fact, the PlayStation 3 (183,217 units) outsold the Wii (159,193) by 24,024 units.

While this is hardly indicitive of a possible trend shift in Sony’s favor, you almost have to look at this as a good sign for the big black box. While I would expect the numbers to fall off for the Christmas season due to a lack of software, this could be a good sign going into 2008.

Either way, congrats to Sony for knocking Nintendo off the top of Mt. Fuji. For the moment, as it is.

[Techtree]

Sony, PlayStation 3, Nintendo, Wii, Japan

The PSP, which will soon be getting a new battery that will improve its battery life by some 80% in newer models, is getting another little upgrade in the form of the 3.73 Firmware update.This newest update addresses some random occurences of the PSP failing to load data from the UMD. If you’ve never had this problem, then don’t sweat it.

To apply the update, simply go to your Network Update option in your Settings menu. If you’re not able to get online with your PSP (then odds are you aren’t reading this) simply go to the PSP System Update page and download the firmware update to your PC, and transfer to your PSP via the handy dandy USB cord.

Sony, PSP

Burnout Paradise producer Nick Channon has come out in support of the PlayStation 3, saying that it ultimately benefited the end product to have the lead version of the game be developed on the PS3 and not the Xbox 360.

“We’ve always led on the Sony platforms.” Channon said. “Historically at Criterion we’ve always done that and we didn’t want this year to be any different. We’ve always loved Sony machines and we’ve loved PS3 from the start, we think it’s a fantastic machine. We felt very strongly about that.”

It’s no secret that many developers don’t like the PlayStation 3 as a developer tool. When Grand Theft Auto IV was delayed, many thought it was because of stalled development on the PS3 (note that others say it was because it was chugging on the 360). To see a developer, especially one as big as Criterion, come out and say the PS3 is tops is surely a plus for Sony.

[PS3 Center]

Sony, PlayStation 3, Criterion, Burnout Paradise

According to MTV’s head of digital entertainment Mika Salmi, Harmonix’s attempt to slay the beast they birthed (Guitar Hero) with Rock Band has been “flying off the shelves”.

“It’s fantastic.” Salmi said, “Downloads are going great, rockband.com is on and downloading stuff from there. It’s got a lot of legs, we’re in it for the long term.”

It shouldn’t come as any great surprise that Rock Band is doing so well. After all, Guitar Hero III sold twenty quadrillion dollars last week, not to mention Rock Band was developed by the same crew who worked on the past Guitar Hero titles, and with the addition of the drums and microphone it has turned into the ultimate party game. Just imagine how it’d do if it got AC/DC or The Zep.

It is interesting to note that while MTV is saying Rock Band is a great success, no sales figures have yet to be released. Sure, it’s only been a week but you would think they would wait until the numbers were out before claiming success.

[dBTechno]

MTV, Rock Band

A new study from the University of Michigan has found that people who watch violence in video games and television are more susceptible to increased amounts of aggression, affecting both adults and children.

According to Professor L. Rowell Huseman, the effect of “mass violence on aggression” from video games television and video games is on par with that of cigarette smoking and lung cancer.

(more…)

Sony has answered the prayers of PSP Slim owners worldwide, announcing today a new battery pack that will add upwards of 80% more battery life for the PSP Slim. Not to be left in the dark, the original PSP will gain a cool 20% extended battery life.

Unfortunately the battery will still bulge out a little on the Slim, but not to fear. Sony is including a new battery cover that will make sure the new battery fits. Unfortunately, if you are one of those who own the Star Wars white PSPs… well, first you’re a tool. Secondly, you’re SOL as Sony will only be releasing black and silver backplates.

You can get your hands on this new battery sometime in December, for $44.99.

[PSP Fanboy]

Sony, PSP

Gamespy has posted up a preview of The Orange Box that is set to be released on PS3 in just a couple of weeks. Yes, all you 360 and PC owners have no only known the cake is a lie, but are past it (okay, I still am in love with the “Still Alive” song). However, I know there are you out there who have the big black box and have been patiently waiting to see what EA has done with Valve’s beautifully packaged game set, and I honestly hate to be the bringer of bad news, but problems with it are on the horizon.

Framerate drops are noticed in Portal and seem to be frequent in Episode 2 of Half Life 2. As far as Team Fortress 2 is concerned with lag issue that were found within the 360 is yet to be seen, as the servers EA will be hosting are not up yet. No rumble is to be found, however that is something I think they could fix with a patch, the framerate issues though, I am not sure about that.

Despite the issues, Gamespy still claims that the game is worth the wait as is not unplayable, but after reading their preview, I would strongly suggest either renting the title, or even going by our local PS3 aficionado Tommy Tseng who recently said, “The Orange Box, who plays that on the PS3 anyway.” I know I won’t be, when Half Life 2 was able to run on the Xbox 1 with the same Source engine, I would hope that the PS3 could handle it, but as my title asks, is this Valve, or EA’s fault? At the moment, my bet is on Valve for letting EA touch their game.
—

PS3, Playstation 3, EA, Port, The Orange Box, Valve, Still Alive

Gaming forums NeoGAF have started up their gaming themed motivational posters for this year. Using a script on bighugelabs.com, users (and yourself too!) can create a motivational poster and post them in this thread. Keep an eye on the thread for more updates as users make them (and if you are not a member of NeoGAF, feel free to make one and leave it in the comments here, I love these things). For now, check after the break to see some of my favorite pics so far just off the first few pages:

(more…)

Nintendo Entertainment System 1986, $199

Activision CEO, Robert Kotick, has made public his thoughts on the business side of our current consoles, as well as some thoughts on the games. Within the next two years the consoles must fall in the $199 price range if mass market appeal is to be obtained. I am not sure if I completely agree with this, as to me it seems gaming is pretty damn prevalent in every household I know of, kids or no kids. Sales of Guitar Hero 3 and Call of Duty 4 have helped Activision profits big time, and I guess has given Mr Kotick a big head enough to speak on how he feels gaming is and should be (or at least given the impression to Reuters that his thoughts need to be covered).

I understand at one time the key number was $199, however I believe that time has past, over time people have learned to save money. “Back in the day” a kid would have to save up lunch money to get a walkman, now for almost the same price as a Wii, they get an mp3 player, somehow it happens.
(more…)

Greenpeace (yes, Greenpeace) has released their latest rankings of top electronics companies. Nintendo brings up the rear of this list of 18 electronics manufacturers, with a mind boggling 0 out of 10 score. 0 out of 10? That’s got to be worse than simply not trying to go green. Nintendo must actively be trying to kill people. Maybe someone caught Shigeru Miyamoto pouring arsenic in the water supply, or something.

Microsoft was marked down on Greenpeace’s list for only pledging to eliminate toxins until 2011, and for not having any sort of voluntary takeback program.

Sony Ericsson and Samsung topped the list, each scoring a 7.7 out of 10.

[Associated Press]

Nintendo, Microsoft, Xbox 360, Wii, Greenpeace

Radcliff, KY police have arrested a sticky-fingered teenager for allegedly stealing a Xbox 360 earlier this month.

According to police, who arrested Darrius R. Chandler this past Sunday, the teen was spotted on Wal-Mart security cameras walking out of the store with the console, which according to the news report, is valued at “more than $300″. This means he did not steal an Arcade console.

As Christmas draws near odds are we’ll hear more and more about shoppers and even some employees walking off with a five-finger discounted video game console. If you are one of these sorry sods, remember one thing: You will get caught. And when you get caught, you will be mocked and ridiculed on websites like this one. If you want to steal, go big. Remember, kiddies: Theft is bad. Grand theft? A-okay!

Good day to you.

UPDATO MAGNIFICO:
This is a question I’m posing to you, the reader. Considering that most Xbox 360s are behind a locked glass case that requires an employee to open, how exactly did this punk steal a 360? My guess is he was an employee, however the story doesn’t mention anything about it.

[News-Enterprise Online]

Xbox 360, Radcliff, Kentucky, Wal-Mart

For 20+ years Nintendo fans have been wanting a true handheld NES. Sure, the Game Boy was a great system with many NES-like games, but it wasn’t a truly handheld iteration of the console. Well, thanks to CYBER Gadget, you can now play your classic NES games on your Nintendo DS Lite with the “CYBER Lite”.

It’s a fairly simple contraption. It attaches to the bottom of your DS Lite and plugging in through your Lite’s GBA port. That’s about it.

Now, as we tend to do here at 1PStart, we throw out the news then attach our opinions here at the end. This is no different, so here goes — who needs this? Honestly? I love the NES. I have the entire NES library… on my flash drive. As is the case with most people. Don’t get me wrong, while I love the concept, it’s just a little too late in my eyes.

[CYBER Gadgets]

Nintendo, DS, NES, emulation

OhmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmyGOD! Deus Ex is one of my all-time favorite shooters, and Deus Ex 2 is considered (by me) to be highly underrated. When I heard that there was going to be a Deus Ex 3, I just about wet myself.

After seeing this teaser, I finished the job.

Excuse me.

Deus Ex 3

If you own Assassin’s Creed on the PlayStation 3, you may have noticed some rather odd glitches. As I don’t own a PS3 yet, I can’t really tell you from first hand experience about these glitches, but some of them include game freezes and random lock-ups after downloading the 2.0 firmware update.

“Following our recent statement regarding the freeze issues that some consumers are facing with Assassin’s Creed on PlayStation 3, we can confirm that we are actively working on a game update,” said Ubisoft Community Manager, the ever-mysterios UbiRazz, “This update will help improve the stability of the game and will be released as soon as possible. In the meantime thank you for your ongoing feedback and patience.”

Keep in mind that Assassin’s Creed is one of Ubisoft’s biggest games for 2007. Unlike most developers who turn a blind eye to the community when they complain, Ubisoft realizes what’s at stake here and has assured us that they are working on a patch to fix these issues.

[Ubisoft Forums]

Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed, PlayStation 3