Game Connection Europe 2012 Wants You!

After the runaway success of the more than 50 professional conferences and master classes at Game Connection Europe 2011, the 2012 event will feature an extended program offering even more invaluable insight and expertise across the breadth of the industry. In addition to the existing development, services and business streams, this year Game Connection is further enhancing the program with brand new marketing content.

Pokémon episode arrive on Nintendo Zone on Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo 3DS owners are getting access to a wealth of fun entertainment and information that they can access on the go. Starting Feb. 6, Nintendo Zone will offer a variety of new content, including playable demos of select Nintendo 3DS video games and a dedicated Pokémon section that will feature full-length episodes of the Pokémon TV series. All of this exciting new content is only available when owners are wirelessly connected to a Nintendo Zone location.

OnLive: cloud gaming - video game access demo - console Mobile TV

Sony Games Warehouse In London Destroyed By Fire

The Japanese electronics giant's 20,000 square metre, three-storey warehouse was ablaze into the early hours of the morning, with a Sony spokeswoman telling reporters 'there will likely be some impact on deliveries'.

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/music/871819-london-riots-sony-distribution-centre-fire-leads-to-fears-for-british-indie-labels#ixzz1UXgwMge4

Nintendo 3DS sales fall short of company prediction - 3DS

Nintendo sold just over 3.5 million 3DS consoles up to April 2011 that's half a million short of their expected 4 million unit sales prediction.

Sales of games consoles drop 42% in Japan - PS3 Wii DS all dropping

Tough times ahead for video game console makers in Japan as sales of hardware drop to almost 50%.

2010 best selling console in Japan - and the winner is Sony's PSP!

Yes, the only console showing sales growth over 2009 figures was Sony's PSP handheld. Over 2.5 million were sold in 2010 - over 60,000 more than 2009.

Nintendo boss hints at sub £200 price for 3DS handheld

Nintendo UK marketing boss James Honeywell has hinted to Electricpig that 3DS will be sold for under £200 in the UK.

Nintendo 3DS new pictures of the handheld console

CVG managed to get their hands on the new Nintendo 3DS console and they've published some pictures on their website here.

$149.99 the official Microsoft price of Xbox 360 Kinect - out this November

Microsoft have listed Kinect on their Microsoft website at $149.99 in the US. Kinect is also available with the new Xbox 360 slim for $300 for both! Kinect goes on sale this November and comes with a free video game.

Preview of Hulu Plus on PlayStation 3 offer from Sony

A preview of the premium video service for the PlayStation 3 has been launched by Sony if you have a plus subscription. Sony plan to roll this out to all PlayStation 3 user in the months ahead.

New Xbox 360 revamped console arrives on Friday...

The revamped Xbox 360 console from Microsoft is arriving on Friday. A sleek and edgy glossy black redesign packed with built in Wi-fi, a large 250GB HD, extra USB ports plus dedicated Kinect port to power the upcoming control system. New machine is the ultimate Xbox 360.

US Air force build super computer from over 1,000 PlayStation 3 consoles

When Sony issued a recent PlayStation 3 (PS3) firmware update removing the device's ability to install alternate operating systems like Linux, it did so to protect copyright content—but several research projects suffered.

The US Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, New York picked up 336 PS3 systems in 2009 and built itself a 53 teraFLOP processing cluster. Once completed as a proof of concept, Air Force researchers then scaled up by a factor of six and went in search of 2,200 more consoles (later scaled back to 1,700). The $663,000 contract was awarded on January 6, 2010, to a small company called Fixstars that could provide 1,700 160GB PS3 systems to the government.

As Sony stop Linux on PS3 hacker vows to bring it back

Sony have disabled the 'Other OS' option on PlayStation 3 to stop users exploiting the option to hack the console. So, no more Linux on the PS3? not according to George Hotz who wrote on his blog...

Nintendo DSi XL portable gaming with extra large screens coming to the US

From bank balances to IQ scores, there are many things people would love to see increase by 93 percent. Nintendo, for its part, is determined to significantly boost the social fun of portable gaming. Launching March 28, the new, extra-large Nintendo DSi XL hand-held system makes it easier for everyone to gather around and have a good time.

PlayStation Network Service Restored - Sony say sorry! It's not a leap year!

From the official Sony website...

We are aware that the internal clock functionality in the PS3 units other than the slim model, recognized the year 2010 as a leap year. Having the internal clock date change from February 29 to March 1 (both GMT), we have verified that the symptoms are now resolved and that users are able to use their PS3 normally.

If the time displayed on the XMB is still incorrect, users are able to adjust time settings manually or via the internet.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Sony ask [PS3] PlayStation 3 owners to stop gaming - or risk trashing their console

As reported here this morning, Sony are have a lot of problems with PlayStation network - so mush so they are asking users of older PlayStation 3 console NOT to use them!

PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720 concepts revealed

Over at core 77 they have published some Tai Chiem console concepts for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720...

Take a look here...

ESA top five P2P game piracy countries - Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Poland - 45 milllion notices issued

The Entertainment Software Association has released this year's fiscal report, putting out their numbers to level the finger at new targets.

Following up on last year's published report, this one has a whole bunch of new numbers to ponder.

The top five P2P game piracy countries this year are: Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and Poland. The ESA's anti-piracy program notes, 'Chief among this year's actions were five separate law enforcement raids against game pirates in California, resulting in the seizure of several thousand games and dozens of modded consoles, and the arrests of five individuals.'

But don't worry, they've expanded to other countries. 'The ESA sent takedown notices to ISPs covering more than 45 million instances of infringement of member company games in more than 100 countries worldwide.'

Source: Slashdot - read full post here...

Will PSPgo games be cheaper than iPhone games? Sony say yes...

Sony is planning to set the price of PSPgo games at a similar level to Apple iPhone titles - at 1, 2 and 5 euros.

That's according to a report by Pocket Gamer, suggesting that the low pricing could provide consumers with an incentive to buy the new 249euro hardware, which has been derided by some industry watchers as too expensive.

It would also lower the entry barrier for developers, allowing smaller studios scope for releasing games onto the Sony console.

Indeed, the site also reports Sony has been actively encouraging iPhone developers to port their existing titles to PSN, although it will still be imposing formal requirements as well as a two week QA testing period on games submitted before they are allowed for release.

These stringent checks would fit with comments previously made by SCEA director of PSN operations, Eric Lempel who recently spoke out to say that PSN wouldn't be going down the same route as the App Store.

"I want to make sure we uphold the quality of games on PSN; that doesn't mean they can't be shorter or quirky but we don't want to see a bunch of little things that don't quite make sense or provide a good experience," he stated, saying that users would expect a higher quality experience on a games focused device like PSPgo than they do on something that is primarily a mobile phone.

Sony will actively control the release schedule for games too, said the report - an involvement that should prevent the network flooding with too many titles.

Over 50 developers have so far been signed up to produce content for digital distribution via PSN ahead of the new PSPgo's launch on October 1, said the site.

Source: GamesIndustry