According to Amazon.co.uk, the 20GB PS3 could finally hit Europe Oct 30th. We won’t know how well the PS3 has sold for a little while yet but for various reasons, it hasn’t been a complete sell out. I would’ve liked the 20GB model to be available at launch with maybe a 60/40 split between 60GB and 20GB models.

Sales could’ve been compared between the two models and if the 20GB out sold the 60GB, it would’ve gave Sony a clear message that £425 is way too high. Unfortunatley, they said the demand wasn’t there for the 20GB PS3 after speaking to retailers but I think that’s a load of rubbish. It wasn’t as if Sony had a low number of units available either.

I don’t know if I would’ve took the plunge and got the 20GB model if it was available at around £350 but I know I don’t need the WiFi or SD/MemoryStick/Compact Flash that are not in the 20GB version. If I needed a bigger hard drive I could’ve easily bought a cheap external one to plug in via USB.

I won’t be surprised if Sony does release the 20GB version around Oct as it would look as if the PS3 has dropped in price to the casual observer, especially in the lead up to Christmas.

I will definitely get a PS3 before the end of Oct at the latest no matter what, as there are too many games that I want scheduled for release leading up to that time. DMC4, Mercs 2, GTA IV, Heavenly Sword, PES 7 etc should all be out around that time or just before, so my hand would be forced. That’s if i don’t crack and get it before then.

It also looks as if Genji: Days of the Blade is heading for the bargain bin as it’s available at Play.com for just £20! It can’t be that bad surely? It’s my kind of game aswell.

Europeans get an updated version of GT:HD, that adds force feedback support to Logitech steering wheel controllers (specifically Driving Force Pro, GT Force, Driving Force, and Driving Force EX).

While we’ve already seen force feedback in Need For Speed and Ridge Racer 7, it’s great to see this is coming to Sony published titles, such as Gran Turismo, as well.

It’s fairly clear that they can add force feedback now that the legal issues behind the technology have been resolved.

I can’t wait until this updated version reaches North America.

IGN Article

Here’s a link to a free PDF PS3 magazine. Lots of fluff, but worth a look.

Free Playstation 3 Magazine: Games Previews, Reviews and Interviews

Congratulations to all you Europeans and Australians out there who can finally purchase a PS3! It’s an exciting day and I’m sure that lots of you have already been to the store and back and have stories to tell.

This is the place to tell them!

Please recount us with your PS3 purchase experience. We’d love to hear about it.

There’s just hours to go before eager European gamers can get there hands on the PS3 and Eurogamer has compiled a list of the various accessories and games you (European PS3 owners) may be interested in getting, if you have any spare cash left over after breaking the bank to get a PS3 of course.

If you check out Amazon.co.uk you can find a lot of accessories cheaper than the RRP. Amazon is just an example though but it pays to shop around.

I was never planning on pre-ordering a PS3 anyway and I haven’t but I’m torn as to whether I should get a PS3 tomorrow or follow my plan of waiting until my birthday (August), and use my birthday money to go towards the PS3. With just hours to go I’m getting way too tempted to try and get a PS3 tomorrow after I finish work.

There are a couple of things preventing me from going with my heart and rushing out to get the PS3. Firstly, I don’t have an HDTV. I only have a 32″ CRT SDTV and I don’t really know how the PS3 looks on a SDTV. I don’t want to spend £425 and find out the games look poor because of my TV.

There’s also the lack of games right now. Only two that I want are initially available tomorrow (MotorStorm and Resistance) and Oblivion has been delayed until the end of April. I’m currently head over heels with FFXII at the minute, plus God of War 2 is released shortly, so there isn’t a lack of games on the PS2 to force my hand.

There’s also the price. £425 is a lot of money no matter how you look at it, regardless of the potential and what you’re getting with it. I know it’s worth every penny but it’s still a hefty price tag and that’s before I’ve even bought any games. Waiting until August will mean I will have spent less of my hard earned money so I will feel less guilty.

I’m truly torn and the major obstacle in my way is the lack of an HDTV. I guess I’ll have to see how I cope tomorrow but I don’t know if I’ll be able to resist the urge.

This Sunday night, March 25, all PS3 users who want to help a good cause will turn on their systems and run the folding@home program. Anytime during Sunday is fine. But it would be best to turn it on before you go to bed and let it run all night.

The reason behind this you ask? To let Sony & Stanford University know that there project is being appreciated and that the PS3 community is willing to help out. Folding@Home attempts to understand diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and many forms of cancer among others. Folding@Home is a optional feature released with the next firmware update from sony.

So are you going to help out? I am

PS3 community launches Sunday Night Foldathon

[Update]

The PS3Blog.Net Team Number is 55054
Click Here for our PS3Blog.Net Folding@Home website
And check out our forum for more info.

With Capcom no longer making any PS3 exclusives and AceCombat coming to the 360 release as well, there aren’t that many third party exclusives left on the PS3 right now. Final Fantasy and MGS 4 are the last two big ones. And while it’s not impossible that they stay exclusive, it’s clearly questionable at this point.

The only games that are guaranteed to be PS3 exclusive are first and second party content. Just to clarify:

• First Party The development studio is completely owned by Sony. For example, Polyphony Digital or Team Ico.
• Second Party The development studio is completely independently owned but works on Sony funded and Sony owned PS3 projects. For example, Rathchet & Clank or Motorstorm.

Here’s a list of the upcoming announced first and second party content. I omitted retro ports (such as Gauntlet II), junk (Wheel of Fortune), and titles that are likely very early in development and a long way off (like sequels to Resistance or God of War) .

Anyone have any particular favorites?

I can’t wait to hear more about the Espionage MMO. That concept sounds like it has huge potential. I wonder if the PlanetSide developers from SOE are involved with this.

UPDATE: Added White Knight Story. Thanks WKS and ehandlr

With all this talk of firmware updates, I thought I’d write up a list of the top five things that I most want the PS3 to support. Here they are.

1. Universal chat support. All games should support chat, and I should be able to chat with friends even when not in a game.
2. XMB access during a game so that I can text/voice chat with friends and arrange things without leaving a game.
3. Games should be able to use music on my HDD. MotorStorm is great and all, but I dislike most of the music.
4. I want my PS3 to see network devices and be able to stream content directly from them, without the need for special software. A network share should be sufficient. Frankly I don’t want to store all my music, photos, and videos on my PS3. I want to store my stuff on a central server for access by any number of devices.
5. I want to set my own OnlineID icon.

I don’t really care that the 360 does these things already (except for #4, at least not exactly), and that Sony might be accused of copying Microsoft. Who cares. I want these features for me and my PS3 enjoyment, and I don’t care where the ideas came from. (Small warning: any posts that are of the 360-fanboy type bragging about how the 360 already has this stuff will be deleted.)

Feel free to post your own list, even if it shares a lot of mine or is just a rearrangement of order.

Yay! We didn’t know this before, but Sony has confirmed it. The 1.60 PS3 firmware update will include Bluetooth keyboard and mouse support. This was mentioned in the BC press release. Here is the relevant portion:

Firmware Version 1.60 also delivers a more convenient process for downloading content to the PS3 from the PLAYSTATION Store. Up to 6 pieces of content from the PlayStation store can be queued up for download while the user enjoys other functions of the PS3 system, including playing games, browsing the web, using media functions including photo browsing, video and music playback. Progress of downloads can be easily tracked under a new Download Management menu under the XMB’s Network icon(2).

Firmware 1.60 also provides support for keyboards and mice enabled with Bluetooth wireless technology. Text entry is further expanded with the option to use a full QWERTY on-screen keyboard, in addition to the existing single tap keyboard. PS3’s built-in Web browser is also enhanced with the ability to zoom in to the optimal viewing size for the selected area of a Web page at the press of a button, as well as an optional tool for reducing flicker when the PS3 system is using interlaced video out (480i or 1080i).

Cool stuff!

Sony launches the PS3 backwards-compatibility site today, and it is supposedly up, though I can’t access it. Here’s the press release.

London, 20 March 2007 – Sony Computer Entertainment Europe today launched the web site that will allow prospective PLAYSTATION®3 owners to see which of their PlayStation®2 titles are playable on the new European PS 3 hardware model.

The web site at http://faq.eu.playstation.com/bc lists those titles from the portfolio of PS2 titles available in the SCEE PAL territories that are playable on PS3.

“Our engineers have been working overtime, and have succeeded in delivering a significant number of playable PS2 titles for the European launch”, said David Reeves, President of SCEE. “We will be adding additional titles to this list in future firmware upgrades, but as we have made clear before, in the future our resources will be increasingly focused on developing new services and entertainment features exclusively for PS3, rather than on delivering PS2 backwards compatibility.” Read the rest of this entry »

Capcom has now scheduled Devil May Cry as a simultaneous release for the 360 and the PS3 with a PC version to follow.

Capcom now has zero PS3 exclusives and several recent 360 exclusives such as Dead Rising and Lost Planet. I sure hope they got a large sum of money from Microsoft.

This is disappointing news for PS3 fans. PS3 owners will of course still get to play this title, but it’s still disappointing for obvious reasons.

The only big name titles that are still scheduled to be PS3 exclusives that are not owned by Sony are:

• Metal Gear Solid
• Final Fantasy

Am I missing any? Of course, there are still plenty of third party PS3 exclusives, but they mostly involve IP or publishing deals owned by Sony such as Ratchet & Clank and L.A. Noire. Are there any big name 360 exclusives that aren’t owned or published by Microsoft? Bioshock? Am I missing any others?

Capcom’s Announcement