QuickJump QuickPeek 68: Of the coolest Fever ever, losing physical media, warranties, compatibilities, and that break in the glass ceiling |
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It's a hectic one, am warning you now. Introductions will be short cos the rest that goes on beyond this borderline is all jam PACKED.
See for yourself (told ya it's gonna be short).
A terribly exciting week for the PSP (and by terrible, I mean GREAT!), with more promised games for the neglected handheld to come our way soon. And do take note that when these games arrive, they won't necessarily be arriving with UMDs. Just ask them Patapons.In as much as it was exciting, it was also... weird and shocking. Last week, we had news of Ecstasy drugs poppin' up (pardon the pun) within a GTA manual. This week, it's porn and guns with the PSP. Ohmy...
Link: PSP Weekend Warrior
The party does not end with the gaming side of PSP. Things are definitely looking up, and guess who's laughing now. It's all thanks to a breakthrough in the PSP homebrew dev front via the Laughing Man TIFF exploit. PSP-3000, let's see how tough a nut to crack you are now.
Link: PSP Homebrew Weekend Warrior
Third-party exclusives are dead. It's all first-party now. Oh, and no, they don't have to go whipping out their cheque books to get good title exclusives.Meow! That was Sony giving a little piece of their mind in the still-ongoing console war with Microsoft. Oh, but these two make our lives just a tad bit more eventful, yes?
More game (installment) news here, from parts two, to threes, all the way to thirteens. And what's this? Somebody's painting the town silver...
Link: PS3 Weekend Warrior
Microsoft took on the role of the responsible mega-corporation this week as it promised to give out an extension for all those affected by the E74 error on their Xbox 360 console.But that doesn't mean they don't have any fighting words to spare, though, as they take yet another swipe at their beloved Sony, saying that there's no more console war in the U.S. "That is soooooo over... By the way, our next stop is Europe."
Link: Xbox 360 Weekend Warrior
The old: the music may be decades old but the most successful band in
history charges into the gaming world, showing us its box art and its
bundle. As for the new, Nintendo's fancy new controller is not looking back - you're gonna have to get the new games if you want to make full use of Wii MotionPlus since Nintendo won't add support for older games. Meanwhile, Nintendo is looking forward to coming months, where they expect the hardware sales that they've enjoyed for a long time.
Link: WiiDS Weekend Warrior
The new beta for the iPhone OS 3.0 is now out and about, along with a multitude other emulators and homebrew stuff that you can enjoy.Link: iPhone Weekend Warrior
Industry News:
It was a week of data and figures, with corpo heads munching on their fingernails in nervous anticipation of their grades the past month. But of course they have to keep their poker face on, and if need be, be ready to refute any data that might otherwise go against their preferred standing. Yes, even if that data is conclusive.
Early on in the week, this Sales Data race kicked off with a prediction from -- who else -- Michael Pachter. EEDAR also chipped in their forecast, calling out a surge in PS3 sales, which will result in figures that catch up to that of the Xbox 360s. The Wii, on the other hand, seems to have recovered from its saturation of the market, and is now said to be "balancing out".
Link: Pachter, EEDAR predict March console sales: PS3 catching up to 360, Wii balancing out
As the week progressed, the numbers finally rolled out. NPD released their figures for both the March hardware and software sales, and revealed that there is a universal dip of sales across the board. Because the numbers were pretty... dismal in the hardware section, Sony and Nintendo (as they are all wont to do) chose to focus instead on the software sales, eagerly bannering their exclusive titles perched on the top list.
Link: NPD US March 2009 hardware sales show dips across the board
Link: NPD announces US software sales for March 2009, Sony and Nintendo respond
And the numbers aren't over yet, no siree. Media Create later on released the sales figures for Japanese hardware and software, with surprising results. The PSP outsells the DSi for the week of April 6th! That's definitely a cause for a celebration, wouldn't you say?
Link: Media Create Japanese hardware and software sales for 04/06 to 04/12: console sales plummet, PSP outsells DSi
And Sony is not the only one celebrating this week: ESA sent out a press release proclaiming their joy over the guilty verdict on the Pirate Bay case. Pirates beware. Argh!
Link: ESA does the happy dance for Pirate Bay guilty verdict
In the meantime, we've got more legislation proposals with the aim of curbing the influence of video games on the children. This week's brilliant idea includes a California proposal that will limit the kids' gaming time in the day care facilities. Oh, and it would be preferred if the games would be those that would motivate the children to move about and get fit. Wii Fit sales are expected to soar if this gets passed, I reckon.
Link: California state rep wants limited gaming time in day care facilities
QJ Front Page:
It was a really hectic week for us, and unfortunately, we had to move back the date of the launch of our Frag'em Up contest due to -- you guessed it! -- technical difficulties. Damn, now I know better than to diss companies who push their games back. Karma's a b****.
Link: NOTICE: QJ's Frag'em Up contest date changed
And with Frag'em Up yet to go live, we introduced another contest, this time for the beta keys of Free Realms. Folks have started receiving their keys from us here. Did you get yours already? Did you even ask for one? This beta is sure to be wicked.
Link: Giveaway: Get yer Free Realms beta keys here!
Link: Giveaway update: Free Realms beta keys start rolling out today!
As for our weekly features, we put a wrap up of our Apple coverage with a QuickGuide on the Cydia app for iPhone. Did you know that Cydia is literally the worm in the apple? Yeah, cool, huh? More stuff can be learned at our issue #10, so head on right over there.
As for How-To #10, we focused our sights on ZodTTD and the wonderful world of homebrew emulators for both the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Learn more by visiting our 10th ish.
Link: QuickGuide #10 - Cydia, the worm in the Apple
Link: How-To #10: ZodTTD and the world of homebrew emulators on iPhone and Touch
Whew, that was sure jampacked, wasn't it? Now, before we say adieu, allow me to wax sentimental first on a trend that is inevitable: digital media.When word first started circulating that Sony will be going the way of digital media and getting rid of the UMD format, reactions were mixed, with some pledging undying love and allegiance to the UMD, while some welcomed it as a necessary and expected evolution of the industry.
But now that it's actually upon us, with the one-eyed warriors of Patapon 2 leading the way, we'd have to ask: are we really ready now to let go of physical media for pure downloadables? Actually, it's not just for the games industry. This is also an issue that is pervading the territorial bubbles of music and film/TV industries (although this would probably be the last to get affected).
I don't know about you, but there is something comforting with having a physical media to hold on to. I liked vinyl records for the sheer vintageness of it. I like CDs, I liked my GameBoy cartridges, I like seeing rows and rows on shelves upon shelves of DVD collections... I like seeing what is there.
I guess I prefer it to files because the tangibility of these items make it seem more... real, more actual. But again, that's just me, waxing sentimental. You're free to defend your own preferred medium -- not that there's a contest to begin with.
But fans, let me just say this: hang on to your UMDs -- looks like they're gonna be "vintageware" soon.
Thanks for keeping it here with us on QuickJump QuickPeek. There'll be more next week -- need I say more?
44 Jumps PSP homebrew - PSP live TV v0.3
33 Jumps PSP homebrew - PSP Live TV v0.4
18 Jumps PSP homebrew - QMixer v1.0
17 Jumps Buy two, get one free at Best Buy
13 Jumps Atlus now mass-recruiting debuggers
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