One of the nifty built-in features on the PS3 is its unabashed support for installing an operating system on it, namely Linux. We recommend that you to at least upgrade the hard drive just so you have enough room for the OS and your game and media data. The PS3 is pretty much nearly a computer and having Linux installed on top of it really reaffirms this. Because it’s so powerful yet so cheap with Linux installed, it’s actually become somewhat of a favored research tool in academia. Hopefully you’re excited now as you’re going to need that enthusiasm to carry yourself through these very involved steps. Above all else, have patience. Read more »

The latest sales numbers are in, and Nintendo reported Wii sales of 171,851 units in Japan for the month of July. While the PSP continues to ride a wave of strong sales in Japan, the Wii-rival PS3 only sold 54,823 units last month, allowing the Nintendo Wii to outsell it by 3-to-1 according to game magazine Enterbrain. But all is not lost for Sony as the PSP remains the king of sales in Japan, hustling 256,765 units out the door compared to the Nintendo DS’s 217,639, certainly not too shabby in its own right and not very far behind. The PSP’s newfound usefulness as not just a gaming platform but also a handy media and mobile device as launched its sales over recent months as more and more gamers snap them up. Read more »

PS3 Update 2.42 addresses the quality in the playback for some PlayStation 3 format software. (Including Call of Duty 4) There are no new features added to this release and the XMB bascailly looks unchanged. A few updates ago, Sony released 2.40 which ended up breaking thousands of video game consoles, and now are only releasing minimal changes.

Some users are waiting a few days to make sure no one is having issues with the newest fixes.

Most of the early reports are that the Update is fine and have actually helped with their game play:

Hi, I have just downloaded it and I can’t see a difference expect in when I’m playing call of duty, it doesn’t say downloading game settings a lot only for a few seconds. I am also more connected and not getting games quit because I am disconnecting from the access point. This update has really helped me now I can finish matches without counting them as a loss with a few seconds to go

“Xbox 360 will sell more consoles worldwide this generation than PlayStation 3,” Don Mattrick, a senior vice president at Microsoft’s Xbox division boasted to kick off E3 earlier this week. Well let’s see how that works out Mr. Mattrick. As it stands today, the Xbox 360 has sold over 19.7 million units worldwide, 5.5 million units more than Sony’s 14.2 million units. The graph above indicates cumulative worldwide sales for the three major consoles over the past two years. The red PS3 curve comes into the picture after the two-year period snapshot starts while the green Xbox 360 curve has had a head start on the market. Read more »

Sony announced during E3 that it would be releasing its larger 80GB capacity PS3s this fall at the current 40GB PS3 price point of $399. No news on what will happen to the 40GB PS3, if could also get a price cut or simply get replaced by the 80GB altogether. What is know is the 80GB will have no new functionality over the current 40GB. That probably means it’s still only got 2 USB ports and it probably won’t get any new hardware to support PS2 backwards compatibility. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is really up for interpretation. If you think Sony’s just dropping the PS2 support altogether, this seems like a plausible explanation. However, if you believe the German Sony supplier, it also makes sense that there is no hardware change as the rumor is a firmware update coming in October could unlock PS2 backwards compatibility for current 40GB and future 80GB PS3 owners.

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I know, I know, it’s been like over a week since the PS3 2.41 firmware update came out, but it’s news to me and it might still be for some of you. Plus we’ve been neglecting the PS3 with all our iPhone coverage lately so I felt it deserved some time in the limelight. So if you haven’t fired up that PS3 lately, you’ll have the option to upgrade to the stable 2.41 version (remember 2.40 got pulled by Sony for bricking PS3s) and start enjoying the new shameless-Xbox-Achievements-ripoff Trophies feature.

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If you downloaded the 2.40 firmware update for your PS3 before Sony pulled it off their servers and found that your PS3 was bricked, there’s some good news for you. According to Sony,

“Our Consumer Services department is working directly with any impacted PS3 users, and, if it’s determined that they were affected solely by the 2.40 issue, then their units will be repaired or exchanged at no cost. SCEA stands behind its products and always works to ensure the best possible consumer experience.”

If this is the unfortunate case for you, you can head on over to PlayStation Consumer Services and let them know.

On July 2nd, Sony released the long anticipated 2.40 firmware update for its PlayStation 3 console. A few users however, were met with bricked consoles or otherwise had freezing glitches and other software failure.

Sony then removed the update from its site, and users trying to update through their PS3 were told firmware 2.36 was the latest available.

According to new reports however, the firmware update will be back, this time as version 2.41 and will be released sometime this week, most likely on Wednesday, one week after it was originally launched.

Hopefully the new update will fix all of 2.40’s issues and all users who were not able to get the update when it was available will get in-game XMB access and trophies.

Sony is rolling out the newest update for the PS3 tomorrow, firmware version 2.40, which will support in-game XMB (Xross Media Bar) and a gaming accomplishment system like Microsoft’s Xbox Achievements called Trophies. Currently, only a few games will be supporting Trophies, including:

• Super Stardust HD
• BUZZ! Quiz TV
• LittleBigPlanet
• MotorStorm Pacific Rift
• NBA 09 - PS3
• PAIN
• PixelJunk Eden
• Resistance 2
• SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation
• Warhawk

Read more »

An oft forgotten and little known feature of your Sony PS3 is its media server capabilities which allows it to stream videos off your computer and display it on your TV. Too bad, because those who’ve overlooked this feature are missing out on, in my opinion, one of the best features about the PS3 besides its Blu-Ray playing and awesome DVD upscaling capabilities. What prevents people from using their PS3s as media servers is not anything to do with the PS3 itself, but rather they don’t know that they need their PCs involvement to act as the media server and they don’t know how to turn it into one to begin with.

Let’s rewire your preconceptions a bit before proceeding. Read more »