A 250GB PS3 Slim package for the UK has been confirmed by Sony and will be availableas part of four bundle deals headed our way in October.

We bright you rumours of a 250GB PS3 Slim bundle with Unchartered 2 earlier in the week, and Sony has confirmed that the new console will ship with the game on 16 October for £285. If you can’t possibly wait that long, you can also choose two Platinum titles, or a copy of Infamous from 1 October.

But that’s not all – to remind punters of the console’s HD smarts, a special Blu-ray bundle will be available from 19 October, packing X-Men: Origins, Wolverine, The Dark Knight and a Blu-ray remote control.

What do you think? Are you going to shell out for one of these bundles? And if so, which one? Have your say below…

It’s been rumoured, and now sources have apparently confirmed that the Nintendo Wii is definitely set to get a price cut, as well as some extra goodies in the box.

MCV is reporting it has had it confirmed that the trade price for the popular Nintendo console will drop back to an RRP of £179.99, the original price of the console before its rather annoying price increase to £199.99 earlier this year.Many retailers had still opted to keep the lower price after the increase, but here’s hoping the drop in RRP could see the shelf price go down even further.

Price cut aside, probably the most exciting news is that UK gamers are set to get a few new extras in the box to the basic hardware bundle we’ve been used to.

From 2 October, you’ll not only get the Wii console, the two controllers and the Wii Sports game, you’ll also get the MotionPlus peripheral and a copy of Wii Sports Resort as well.

Released just in time for the Christmas rush, if this year is to be anything like the others before it, you’ll want to get your pre-order in early once the new Wii bundle hits the shelves in just over a week’s time.

When the PSP Go was announced at E3 earlier this year, we also found out that the PSP’s smaller sibling wouldn’t be compatible with any of our current PSP accessories. A bit annoying to say the least. Thankfully Sony has come up with a solution in the Converter Cable Adaptor. Unfortunately it makes the slimline PSP Go a pretty chunky customer.

Announced today and the Tokyo Game Show, Sony said: “With the new Converter Cable Adaptor, PSPgo users will be able to utilize the existing peripherals for PSP.”

PSP Go users will now be able to use peripherals such as the GPS Receiver and the PSP camera, but it will be at the sacrifice of a bit of portability.

What do you think – would you buy the Converter Cable Adapter? Let us know below

Sony has slammed a report on the BBC’s consumer show, Watchdog, which claimed the PS3 is dogged by technical failures. 

It denied that the Sony PS3 suffers from a technical fault known as the “yellow light of death” (clearly a cousin of the Xbox 360’s red ring of death). 
In an episode screened on Thursday night, Watchdog interviewed Playstation  repair companies who claimed the console displayed a high number of faults due to faulty soldering.
Sony said of the item: “It is unfair to suggest that from an installed base of 2.5m that the numbers [Watchdog] mentions somehow are evidence of a ‘manufacturing defect.” 

Ray Maguire, senior vice president and managing director of Sony UK, said the ‘yellow light of death’ refers to a non-specific fault indicator that can be activated for a range of reasons. 

The BBC is standing by the report, stating that it was produced as a result of more than 150 viewers contacting Watchdog to complain about Sony PS3 problems. 

Watchdog broadcast Sony’s response and claims that a further 265 PS3 owners contacted the show after the report was shown. 

On the Watchdog blog, the programme team attacked Sony’s statement saying: “Sony adds that the yellow light could indicate a problem caused by any one of a ‘range of issues that may inevitably affect any complex item of consumer electronics’. 

So if there isn’t one single thing that’s causing thousands of machines to stop working, why does it appear that one single repair appears to get them working again?”

What do you think? Are Sony right to say that Watchdog was unfairly harsh on the PS3? Or have you experience the ‘yellow light of death’? Let us know in the comments.

Having your browser, iTunes, IM, TweetDeck, Word, Skype, Photoshop, video editing tools, folders, and more open at the same time…well, it just takes up a lot of screen real estate. On a 15.4? laptop, you can only fit so much before your screen is piled with program after program.

gScreen, an Alaska-based notebook designer and manufacturer, aims to solve that problem, no matter where you are, with what can only be described as the PC version of a two-headed hydra: the dual-screen laptop.

Here are a few pictures that Gizmodo got its hands on:

Each monitor slides, so that you can move the gScreen around compactly. Now that is awesome.

Here are the specs for this beast, listed on the gScreen website:

- 2 LED backlit display screens
- Windows VISTA/ WIN XP PRO (optional)
- Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26-GHz
- 4 GB of RAM (2GB DDR2 SO-DIMM x 2)
- 320GB 7200-rpm HD
- NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800M GT with 512MB dedicated memory (or)
- NVIDIA® Quadro FX 1700M Graphics with 512MB dedicated memory
- 9-cell battery
- IEEE 1394 1 Graphics Card Output (15-pin, D-Sub) X 1, HDMI X 1 Mic-in X 1, Line-in x 1, Headphone X 1 PCI Express Card X 1 AC Power Adaptor Output: 19V DC, 90W Input: 100~240V AC, 50/60Hz universal Battery Pack Li-ion 9 cells

This laptop is clearly meant for professional designers, programmers, filmmakers, and others that regularly need two monitors to get work done. Two-screen set-ups just allow you to get more done (thus why I use a two-screen set-up). There are disadvantages though, like the power drain two screens will cause and the sheer weight, estimated at 12+ pounds. And, of course, the price may be a deal-breaker: around $3000.

Still, this thing could do wonders for the productivity of digital professionals everywhere. And you may not have to wait long to get your hands on one; the company hopes to have the gScreen on the market by Christmas.

What do you think? Would you buy one of these two-headed beasts? Let us know in the comments.

It has been a move expected by the gaming fraternity, and now an advert dug out by Kotaku in the States shows what appears to be an Xbox 360 Elite price cut from $399 to $299 set to hit on 30 August.
This would bring the price of Microsoft’s console in line with Sony’s forthcoming PS3 Slim, and considering they now both offer a 120GB hard drive and HDMI ports, it seems like a smart move from Microsoft.

However before you start getting excited, it’s probably unlikely we’ll see such such a price cut here, as the Xbox 360 sells for around £230, £20 less than the Sony PS3 Slim is set to hit the shelves for.

As well as all this price cutting business, analysts are also expecting a slimmed down re-design from the Microsoft camp – although this may not be until 2010.

Will it be a tie in with the highly-anticipated Project Natal? Let us know your thoughts on a skinny Xbox 360 below.

Asus India launched two new graphics cards in the market, apparently inspired by the design of Formula 1 cars – the Formula EAH4770 with 512MB DDR5 and the Formula EAH4890 with 1GB DDR5 memory.

It’s a bit of a marketing gimmick, but it looks good and it improves performance, so we aren’t complaining. ATI’s 4890 line of cards had been seeing some heating issues anyway, so if this solves the problem, well and good!

“The ASUS Formula Series graphics cards are a perfect amalgamation of aesthetics and performance. Conceptualised and designed to give you that extra design exclusivity along with the performance to keep up with it, the Formula Series Graphics cards are for users who want their graphics cards to look the part they play – super cool and super fast. These graphics cards provide much better cooling than reference designed cards and run up to 33 per cent cooler which is a dramatic improvement over existing standards,” said Mr. Vinay Shetty, Country Head – Components Business, ASUS (India).

ASUS Formula EAH4770

The ASUS Formula Series graphics cards come with built-in double cooling solutions to cope up with the demands of high performance gaming. They increase overall heat dissipation efficiency by up to a whopping 33% in comparison to reference design cards. On top of this unprecedented cooling capacity, Formula Series cards are also up to 12.4dB quieter than cards with generically designed fan-sinks—a 30 per cent improvement—rendering them perfect for users who require maximum cooling without excessive fan rotation noise.

Taking its inspiration from the pinnacle of motor sports, the Formula Series incorporates design elements from the streamlined body of a Formula One racing car, relying on aerodynamic principles to increase airflow volume by 7 per cent and to draw heat away from the GPU and other components. A heat-sink boasting ASUS’ proprietary Micro Surface Treatment improves heat dissipation by up to 14 per cent, while a fan sporting a unique dust-proof design provides cooling for up to 10,000 hours longer than conventional fans. The cumulative effect is an improvement in heat dissipation efficiency by up to 33 per cent as compared to reference design cards – propelling ASUS to the pole position in the graphics card cooling race.

ASUS Formula EAH4890

Sony’s super-thin, super-light PS3 Slim is coming to the UK in September. Here’s the five things you really need to know about this gamine gaming machine. 

1 It really is seriously slim

Sony has form for sending its consoles to weight watchers. The PS3’s older brother, the quaint looking PS2 was followed by its own less portly version the PS2 Slimline. But the Sony PS3 Slim has really shed the pounds and been shrunk in the gadget hot-wash.

It’s 3.5% shorter – dropping from 98mm to 65mm. 10.77% narrower – from 325mm to 290mm – and has dropped 26mm in depth. Weight wise, the Sony PS3 Slim swaggers in at 1.8kg lighter than the current PS3.  

2. It’s coming in a 120GB version but a 250GB monster could be on the way

Sony’s presentation failed to mention any spec changes for the Sony PS3 Slim so it’s safe to assume the smaller console will come packing a 120GB hard drive and Blu-ray player.

However, mere moments after the announcement of the PS3 Slim, the blogs were ringing with rumours of a 250GB version prompted by details in an American petent filing. PS3 News predicts this larger capacity PS3 Slim will pop up some time next year and come at a premium price. 

3. The PS3 Slim might be super-slight but the price isn’t 

Like Microsoft, which is rumoured to be considering a price rise for the Xbox 360, Sony is suffering from a poor Euros to pounds exchange rate. The Sony PS3 Slim will also make your wallet light. 

UK pricing was curiously absent from Sony’s presentation but the Euro price gives some idea of how much it’ll set you back. In Europe, the PS3 Slim will go for €299 Today’s currency catastrophes mean that’ll probably be around £255 in the UK. 

On the plus side, the launch of the Sony PS3 Slim means a drop in the price of the original flavour Playstation 3. Expect good deals on the bulky old thing.

4 It’ll be much quieter. Finally watch Blu-ray films unbothered by the fan.

Engadget’s hands-on with the Sony PS3 Slim reveals that the new slighter machine is quieter than its predecessor. 

When playing games the PS3 chunters along at around 53 decibels when playing games (compared to the original PS3’s 57 decibels). 

Showing Blu-ray movies, the PS3 Slim makes around 60 decibels of distraction compared to the PS3’s decidedly noisier 70 decibels. 

5 It runs new firmware but Linux lovers won’t be happy

The PS3 Slim will arrive with the new Playstation 3 3.00 firmware. The upgrade makes some changes to the user interface. 

The changes also come with a downside – the PS3 Slim won’t allow you to install other operating systems like Linux. Most people will be fine but the hardcore homebrew and hacker fans of the PS3 will be sad.

The firmware update adds support for new themes to tart your PS3 Slim’s backgrounds and interface up with. You’ll now be able to opt for fully animaed backgrounds and set themes to change according to time of day. 

It also adds a new option to PlayStation Network menu called “What’s New” which will highlight new downloadable content and forthcoming titlle . 

Avatars also get an update with a new set of icons and the ability to purchase premium avatars from the PlayStation store. 

Original PS3 needn’t feel too jealous, the updated firmware is coming to your living rooms too.

Let us know what you think of the PS3 Slim below. Is the weight loss worth the wait?

We may all have been looking out for the PS3 Slim announcement at Sony’s Gamescom press conference, but the PSP has certainly not been left out of the loop, with a digital reader, mini games and new colours to look forward to before the end of the year.
The first thing PSP owners will see from the announcements is the whole host of new games called “Minis on PSP”, launching on 1 October.Aimed at developers who haven’t made games for the PSP before, they will be – as the name suggests – ”smaller, downloadable games at low prices”. With a size limit of 100MB, Sony announced there would be at least 15 games available at launch, with 50 games downloadable by the end of the year.

Next up is a digital reader for PSP, coming in December. Capable of reading many types of media, the reader will launch with hundreds of digital comics up for grabs, and will have autoflow for easy reading.

Comic-book fans will be pleased to hear that PSP and Marvel are closely linked on the project, meaning we’ll see classics like Spider-Man, X-Men and The Incredible Hulk from the Marvel catalogue, as well as plenty of other graphic novels from different publishers – both big and small.

Now if you’re yet to jump on the PSP wagon, there was news for you too, as PSP-3000 has three new colours coming out in turquoise green, blossom pink and lilac purple.

For those preferring to pick up the PSPGo, it was announced that new owners registering their console between the 1-10 October will get a free download of the full Gran Turismo PSP game. Don’t mind if we do.

Considering the PS3 Slim wasn’t exactly the best-kept secret, it’s nice to get a few PSP-shaped surprises from the conference. Be sure to let us know what you think to Sony’s announcements below.

It may have been one of the worst kept tech secrets this year, but Sony has now officially confirmed the PS3 Slim will be on our shelves in just a few weeks.

At 32 per cent smaller, 36 per cent lighter and consuming 34 per cent less power than the original PS3, we’ll see the Slim on shelves across the world in the first week of September as expected. There were no mention of any spec changes, so expect the Slim to come packing a 120GB hard drive and Blu-ray drive as standard.

As expected, there will be a price cut to 299 Euros and $299, but annoyingly no UK price was confirmed. 

Going at current conversion rates that’d be somewhere between £180-£255, but we’d bet you can expect our price tag will be towards the upper end.

It was also mentioned that this price cut will also apply to the regular PS3 from tomorrow.

So there you have it folks – will you be picking up a PS3 Slim in September? Let us know below.

Unless you’ve been hiding under some tech reflecting rock recently, you’ll probably know that PS3 Slim rumours have been knocking around for some time, and today it’s thought we’ll finally get the announcement we’ve all been expecting.

Sony is set to hold its press conference at 5pm GMT at Gamescom in Cologne, where it’s thought the new PS3 Slim will be uncovered.

We’ve already seen leaked ads, heard word from loose-lipped retailers and seen blurry box art, but last minute rumours have it all but tied up that we’re in for a skinnier console announcement later this evening.First off, Joystiq has found that the PlayStation Store will be conveniently down from 5-7pm GMT – the exact time the press conference begins, and a move seemingly borrowed from Apple’s taking down of its online store before every big announcement.

There’s also been an ad spotted by Kotaku on American site Kmart.comstating quite simply: “The rumors are reality. New low price and a new exciting PlayStation 3″. It doesn’t get much clearer than that really.

If you needed anymore evidence, back on home turf Asda has reduced the price of the current 80GB PS3 to £250 with a bundle of games included. A spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz that the offer would continue until stock ran out, as Sony was set to discontinue the model.

All very interesting stuff indeed, and leaves us with little doubt we’re in for big news from Sony tonight. We’ll be keeping you posted on all the announcements from Gamescom as it happens.

Update:-

While we’re waiting for Sony to announce a cheaper, slimmer PS3 during a press conference later today, K-Mart has this announcement on their front page…now. It looks like we get a new model and price drops on old PS3s. K-Mart now has a pre-order page up as well for a $299 Slim (the same pricing we’ve seen leaked before…by K-Mart. Either they’re the biggest screw-ups in retailer history, or Sony doesn’t mind (and has even encouraged) the leaks.

It’s fair to say that the Sony PSP, which debuted way back in September 2005, has been well overdue a facelift. In 2007 it received only minor liposuction with the Slim & Lite, while last year the PSP-3000 brought underwhelming tweaks like a new screen and microphone.

But at long last, Sony has taken a scalpel to the PSP’s oversized chassis and brought it up to date by jettisoning the UMD slot in favour of 16GB internal storage. The PSPgo is certainly a major overhaul – but can it top the Nintendo DSi and fend off Apple’s iPod Touch?

Vibrant screen
At first glance the 3.8in display appears more boxy than previous PSP screens, but in fact it retains the 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. It’s lost half an inch across the diagonal but is just as vibrant as ever and even a touch brighter. As always, the 480×272 resolution is fine for games and movies but it gets caught short when trying to display web sites – expect lots of sideways scrolling.

This isn’t helped by the built-in web browser, which is seriously creaky. Rendering of pages is often messy and navigation is cumbersome. Text entry is a nightmare and there’s no Flash, which means no YouTube. Frankly it’s just not up to the job.

Awkward controls
With no disc slot, games are all downloaded from the PlayStation Store, where you’ll find new releases, existing PSP games and re-released PSone classics.

A flick of the thumb reveals the controls that once flanked the display. The D-pad and main buttons have been flattened to save space and now have very little travel. 

They’re marginally smaller than before, but the nubbin has shrunk considerably in all directions. Worse, it’s now almost central, making some games incredibly awkward to play. All of the controls (apart from the shoulder buttons) are all too close to the bottom edge of the unit to be comfortable. 

Out of ports
These hardware changes also mean the PSP’s Go!Explore sat-nav and Go!Cam snapper are incompatible. The only peripherals available at launch will be a cradle for charging and viewing, and a video lead pack for connection to a TV.

Power and USB are now combined in a custom connection. The mic input has gone but the external mic remains, as does the 3.5mm headphone output. 

Inside there’s that healthy dollop of 16MB of onboard flash memory, while removable storage is now in the form of M2 cards, the smaller of Sony’s own Memory Stick formats. Also new is Bluetooth, which makes an appearance for wireless headset hook-ups.

Windows-only software
You can think of the bundled Media Go software as iTunes for PSP. It allow games and other content to be downloaded from the PlayStation Store to a PC and then transferred as you like, and also rips CDs and manages audio, video and picture content. 

The bad news for Mac users is that it’s Windows only, which is a shame as video playback is what it does best. The display is brighter and a better viewing angle compensates for the loss of width, while motion handling is solid and the speakers do a fair job. It now plays a much more useful spread of formats than its predecessor too. 

Previous PSPs were too big to be taken seriously as portable music players, but the PSPgo is different. Sound quality from the 3.5mm jack is respectable: there’s plenty of bass, although top-end detail gets lost in a fiesta of fizz.

But how does the PSPgo fare against the Nintendo DSi? Well, Nintendo’s portable feels better in the hand and benefits from a touchscreen and built-in camera. It also wins on games despite valiant efforts from Locvo Roco 2 and Final Fantasy VII, and pips it on browsing.

But if movies and music are your favourite condiments to mobile gaming, the PSPgo remains, despite occasionally frustrating controls, the better choice.

• Pros Brighter screen. Internal flash storage. Good movie and music experience.
• Cons Poor web browser. Uncomfortable controls. Software Windows-only

Techplore says:- Smaller and snappier with admirable multimedia ambitions, but the PSPgo’s compromised layout makes gaming hit-and-miss

The  Sony PS3 Slim rumour mill has gone into overdrive over the past few days, and now a French website reckons we could see the slimmed down console announced as soon as August 18.

Amidst rumours that Sony is planning to discontinue the 80GB Sony PS3 in Japan on 10 August, French website RTL has said it’s had word Sony will out the PS3 Slim during its press conference at Gamescom in Cologne.Combine all these whispers with talk that Sony has doubled its order of Sony  PS3 parts for Q3 this year compared to the past three months, and it certainly seems the PS3 Slim could be just around the corner.

It’s also worth noting that Amazon, whose German outlet briefly listed a “PlayStation 3 Konsole Slim” just yesterday, has also cut the price of the PS3 160GB bundle by $50 for its US customers. 

Can this all really be coincidence? There isn’t too much longer to wait, but be sure to let us know whether you think we’ll be seeing a PS3 Slim in two weeks below.

Via: Electricpig and Gamesindustry.biz

Update:- While we’re waiting for Sony to announce a cheaper, slimmer PS3 during a press conference later today, K-Mart has this announcement on their front page…now. It looks like we get a new model and price drops on old PS3s. K-Mart now has a pre-order page up as well for a $299 Slim (the same pricing we’ve seen leaked before…by K-Mart. Either they’re the biggest screw-ups in retailer history, or Sony doesn’t mind (and has even encouraged) the leaks

That Nintendo DSi update announced at E3 that’ll bring Facebook to your handheld has finally arrived in Japan – but it also comes packing some anti-piracy software to render bootlegged games useless.

The R4-type device, based on the R4 cart developed for the original DS, allows you to play downloaded, pirated games on the DS for free.However the new update is set to now make this impossible, and the DSTTi, Hyper R4i, ak2i, R4 Ui, R4i Gold and EZ Vi cartridges will all be useless if the DSi is updated to the latest version.

It certainly seems Nintendo is determined to put the reign of the R4 devices to bed – last year it joined forces with 53 other companies to take legal action against the R4 manufacturers, and now it seems Nintendo is attacking DSi cartridges by making shady gamers choose between Facebook on their handheld or pirated games. 

Luckily, UK gamers won’t have to make such a choice just yet as the update isn’t expected on these shores until sometime in the autumn.

Is Facebook a big enough draw to make gamers give up their cartridges, and will you be updating? Let us know below.

University of Delaware students say they have hacked the Nintendo Wii video game controller and the Wii Fit’s Wii Balance Board to be used with applications for disabled people.

Dubbed WiiAssist, the project adapts the infrared sensors in the Wii controller, which detects a Wii game player’s motion and position, so that it can be attached to someone’s head. The sensor is then used to track head movements, which can control a mouse in a computer application.The project is the work of students Rob Rehrig, Josh Marks and Larry Aiello. Their aim is to make computers easier to use for disabled people. With the Nintendo Wii Balance Board, which is used to enhance game control in the Wii Fit exercise game, the students added capability such as using your feet to control a mouse and scroll up and down a screen.

This is one of those science projects at Defcon, the hacking conference in Las Vegas where all sorts of hacking tips are exchanged.A sister conference toBlack Hat in Las Vegas, Defcon is a wild and woolly conference, full of zany presentations in addition to serious security talks. The subjects range from hacking the air traffic control system to World of Warcraft. While Black Hat appeals to law enforcement and corporate security professionals, Defcon is open to the wider hacking community.

The demo wasn’t particularly astouncing. But it shows the thirst for better user interfaces for living room game machines and computers. Once we get 3-D gesture tracking with future game systems such as Microsoft’s Project Natal, it could open up new horizons for disabled people.