Didn’t Gaving just do #10 not too long ago? This guy is on a roll!

- Sony to take on Xbox Live
- 45 PS3 titles scheduled for this year
- Developer losed job over PS3 comments
- Hideo Kojima Production Report in English
- Question of the Week: What features would you like to see in Sony’s online service?

PS3 Countdown - Podcast #11

IBM will be selling a Cell powered blade server for non-general purpose uses.

At a demonstration Wednesday in New York, IBM showed off Cell’s processing power with a geology application that would have been right at home in a video game. A computer rendering of Mount Rainier, created using satellite photos and geological maps, allowed an operator to make a simulated flight over and next to the mountain.

IBM hopes this summer’s release of the Cell-based servers kick-starts work by third-party programmers. Eventually IBM is likely to deploy Cell in other kinds of hardware, from supercomputers to data storage systems.

In turn, that could inspire other customers to follow Mercury’s lead and try to tweak Cell for their own specialized purposes.

For example, defense contractor Raytheon Co. is exploring whether it can use Cell to dramatically improve the performance of sensor networks. Raytheon’s chief technology officer, Peter Pao, called Cell “a very exciting technology” with “a lot of promise,” but said Raytheon is still evaluating how to rewrite software and redesign systems to work with Cell.

The Cell seems to be tailored for video game type applications. It’s no wonder that this will not be for general purpose use.

Disclaimer: I now work for IBM.

Yahoo! - IBM Adopts High-Performance ‘Cell’ Chip

Those looking forward to the PS3 are swimming in an ether. An ether that does not exist for Nintendo fans. At least they know that they won’t be getting any more Revolution news until E3:

Speaking to US magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly, Fils-Aime said: “Come [May], we’ll disclose a lot more. After, we’ll disclose even more, and right about the time of the launch, we’ll disclose even more… I’m talking beyond the controller, the virtual console; all the different elements we’ll be sharing all the way up to launch.”

It would be nice if Sony could throw us a bone like this.

GamesIndustry.biz - Revolution won’t be revealed until E3, says Fils-Aime

Rob over at PS3 Week dropped me a line to tell me about his new interview with Josh Robinson, that Sony PS3 artist dude who got fired over some comments that he thought were rather harmless.

Two things stuck out when I read the interview.

First, Mr. Robinson talked to several people at Sony about what he was going to say before posting his comments. None of them thought that he was doing anything wrong. Which is kinda weird, because he was dissing the company he works for in a public forum. Nobody thought that was weird?

Second, what I thought was weird was that Mr. Robinson spoke so well of Sony, even after being fired. Is this guy looking for his old job back or something? From the sound of the interview, the answer to that is no. So why’s he being so nice?

Hmmm.

PS3 Week - Interview: Josh Robinson

Lately there have been lots of reports about rumoured PS3 capabilities. Or wait. Maybe I should say one report, and lots of references to that report. Either way, there’s lots of buzz about the PS3 making it’s way around the table. Let’s take a look at several of them, shall we? A reader of mine gave me the first link - thanks!

• iTunes/iPod integration. - I covered iPod and iTunes already in a post last week.
• PS3 will be a DVR. This is an old rumour, but somehow I doubt this one. It means that Sony will have to include both a HDD and TV tuner into the PS3. They have already strongly hinted that the PS3 would not contain an HDD. And adding a tuner would only add to the expense of the system. Plus, it’s hard to get a DVR to work well. I’ve had an SA8300HD for ages and they still haven’t worked out all the kinks.
• PSP Connection. This is nothing new, but it is cool. Because I just got a PSP.
• Extended media center capabilities. That’s rather vague, isn’t it? But we knew the PS3 would have something like this, so nothing new here, move along.
• PS3 and Location Free. It’s also not new that the PS3 will be able to act as a Location Free player for the PSP, but I took note of it again just because I just got a PSP.
• Misc. Other miscellaneous stuff that I didn’t bother commenting on. Should I have?

PS Forums - Sony Declares full out war on Xbox Live (EVEN MORE STUFF NOW)
ars technica - PlayStation 3 to have DVR capabilities?

Easy enough - what colour PS3 would you prefer? White, black, or silver? A pretty inane poll, I know. But frankly, I’m curious.

I know it’s not PS3 related, but my wife gave me a PSP for my Birthday. So now I have to figure out all the good games for the platform. I knew Luminares was good, but unfortunately WalMart didn’t have it. I got Star Wars Battlefront 2 instead, and it’s been fun so far. Controls are a little hard to get used to. Now I need to figure out how to check my e-mail…

One of the reasons some analysts (yeah I know) say that Sony might be in trouble this time around in their war against Microsoft is that Microsoft has gajillions of dollars in the bank and Sony is bleeding red ink all over the carpet. This makes it a lot harder for Sony to spend the money it needs to in order to create, market, and distribute a great gaming console.

Recently, however, Sony announced 17.5% increase in profit for their latest quarter:

Marking a step toward a turnaround, Sony Corp. reported a 17.5 percent rise in profit for the October-December quarter and said it would stay in the black for the full fiscal year, reversing an earlier projection for a loss.

Of course, Sony has a long way to go, but this is encouraging nonetheless. Of course you want the company whose console you buy to be actually making a profit instead of losing money. Gives you warm fuzzy feelings. Like a furby!

Forbes.com - Sony Sees Profit As It Attempts Turnaround

Factor 5 is the development house who made games like Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike and Rogue Leader. They are currently advertising the need for PS3 developers, which they already have some of thanks to their work on Lair. CVG thinks that this means they’re making another game:

Factor 5 is already working on an original and platform-exclusive game for PlayStation 3 called Lair which is an intriguing dragon-themed game, featuring lots of cool looking winged reptiles. However, with a bunch of openings available for experienced devs, including a senior game programmer, it looks like Factor 5 has something else big in the works.

Of course, we’d love to be able to tell you that it was a PS3 version of the splendid Rogue series, but that would be utter speculation; and since the dev mentions in its advert that it’s “now developing original properties for the next generation of console systems”, that would appear to rule out a further Star Wars title.

A Star Wars title would have been nice…

C&VG - FACTOR 5 RAMPS UP PS3 DEVELOPMENT