Code Retard

Logitech makes a lot of cool stuff, ranging from products like the acclaimed THX certified Z-5500 speaker system, the G25 racing simulation wheel with 6-speed shifter and clutch pedal, and universal Harmony remotes. We are proud owners of all three products (yes, yes reviews have long been pending) so it’s hard to imagine that Logitech would design their universal Harmony remotes with one large flaw: the incapability to operate the PS3.

The PS3, like the Nintendo Wii, uses Bluetooth technology between the wireless controllers, the benefit being that no line of sight is required for control. The PS3 remote control works the same way, though it is alkaline battery powered like normal remotes. Perhaps as an initial oversight on Logitech’s part to accommodate Bluetooth technology in their Harmony remotes when the PS3 first launched was a valid excuse, but after three years it’s now just inexcusable.

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If you own Rock Band 2, you may be keenly interested knowing how to import Rock Band songs into Rock Band 2 so that you can effectively double the number of songs to play. We personally find the original Rock Band songs a little more “accessible,” meaning there are more songs in the original that are familiar than in the sequel so if you just jumped straight into Rock Band 2, so do yourself a favor and import the original game songs. The trick is having a Rock Band 1 game disc available and buying something called an export key from the PSN (PlayStation Network) store. The process isn’t clearly documented anywhere, and game forums telling you “just get the export key” are vague and mysterious so we’re documenting the step by step instructions for PS3 with screenshots on how to import Rock Band songs into Rock Band 2.

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Think this is impressive? Want to play StarCraft on your PS3 as well? It’s definitely possible. The requirements? You need to take advantage of your PS3’s little known capability to run Linux. Linux you ask? Yes, because that’s the only way to run Windows. Since StarCraft came out way back in the day when Windows 95 was king, that’s all you need to install on top of Linux through an emulation layer. Fortunately, the PS3 has enough horsepower to run Windows 95, even via software emulation, so StarCraft is actually playable. Just imagine it, playing StarCraft on your big screen TV! Read more »

Guerrilla striked a deal with gamespot that gave them exclusive Killzone 2 demos to give out to those who preordered the game.  The rest of the people who did not preorder the game will have to wait until release date (2/26).  The only way for those in the America to play the demo early is to make a PSN account that belongs to a  different region.  Simply go to the UK PSN page and make an UK account.  Log into your UK account on the PS3, and the Killzone 2 demo should be on the download list.  Enjoy!

With the advent of YouTube for Television, the beta TV streaming service just starting to be offered by YouTube, Internet-capable consoles like your Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii can display fullscreen YouTube videos simply by visiting: www.youtube.com/tv. This is a big step in the direction of easy YouTube accessibility on your television, unless you have an Xbox 360. It won’t work for you guys, sorry. Neither will it work if you point your regular browser over there too. So don’t delay, fire up the PS3 or Wii and start enjoying fullscreen YouTube videos on your television today.

TVersity is a powerful free media server software that supports a huge variety of video streaming platforms like the Sony PS3. However, with some MPEG-4 videos, the PS3 outputs a "The data type is not supported" error and refuses the play the video file. The reason for this is because for PS3, TVersity is configured to let its target platform to natively try to play the MPEG4 video file. But not all MPEG4 files are the same, as the MPEG-4 Part 2 files will not play natively on the PS3 and will cause the data type not supported error to appear. As a workaround that will not affect other MPEG-4 formats that can be played natively, you can make this simple modification to your TVersity configuration so that only MPEG-4 Part 2 files will be transcoded by TVersity and not affect other video formats.

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The Nyko Frontman wireless guitar is an excellent affordable alternative piece of hardware to first party Guitar Hero and Rock Band wireless guitars, which cost a lot more. For budget shoppers though, you just can’t get a better feature set and play experience than the Nyko guitar for the money. Available in black or white for $20 a pop, it’s over $30 cheaper than either Guitar Hero or Rock Band guitars. This hardware review is for the PS3 platform, but Xbox 360 and Wii versions are expected to be similar. Below is a shot of the back of the box:

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The Frontman wireless guitar from Nyko is a great alternative hardware (check out our review) that is compatible with both Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero 3 games on the PS3 up to firmware 2.52. If you are running on PS3 firmware 2.52 and later, you’ll discover that your Nyko Front Man wireless guitar will no longer work with Rock Band 2 since, according to Nyko, the "latest firmware may be causing the input mechanism of the Frontman guitar to malfunction." Symptoms include no response from key presses. Instead the effects pedal wireless receiver sends its own ghost key presses to the PS3 which causes Rock Band 2 to go crazy, even when the guitar isn’t on.

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Microsoft has announced the official numbers for Xbox 360 sales during the recent Black Friday weekend and says the sales were so high they broke previous records.

"Record Black Friday sales in the US, coupled with our existing global install base of 25 million and an online community of more than 14 million Xbox Live members, have laid the groundwork for continued global sales momentum in 2009."