Todays & Tomorrows Technology

Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer has struck back at Activision chief Bobby Kotick, claiming his calls to cut PS3 prices are “a lot of noise” and that there’s no “logic” in discounting the console. Speaking to Reuters, Stringer suggested that “I (would) lose money on every PlayStation I make – how’s that for logic.”

The rebuff comes in response to Kotick’s well-publicized threats back in June that Activision might consider dropping PS3 and PSP game development if Sony failed to reduce the entry-price to their flagship console. Kotick, who is in charge of the biggest independent games developer in the world, suggested that Sony’s reluctance to cut the PS3’s cost meant that studios saw fewer games being bought for the console versus its Xbox 360 and Wii rivals.

Sony, meanwhile, are tipped to announce a new version of the PS3, with a slimmed-down casing, that would use cheaper components and, it’s suggested, allow the company to reduce prices without losing money. Rumors suggest the new console will be announced in August or September, allowing retailers to clear stocks of the existing model.

Created by Paul Fryer last year, this “Chess Set for Tesla” takes 32 working vacuum tubes and turns them into chess pieces. Each tube slots into a port on the custom board, lighting up to show their identity via a glowing icon on the top.

The pieces range in size from 10cm to 15cm, while the board itself measures 48 by 50 cm and is 17cm deep. There’s what looks to be a lid, which will hopefully prevent your cat from jumping up, knocking over the pieces and bending all the pins.

Seven copies of the set were produced, and presumably went on sale, but we doubt there are any left for purchase. Even if there had been, this beautiful game is unlikely to have been cheap.

Rumors regarding a PSP phone have circulated for almost as long as the gaming handheld itself has been available, and despite Sony’s best efforts they refuse to die down. According to the Nikkei business daily this weekend, Sony is looking to set up a department that would explore gaming/phone hybrid devices; the team could be established as early as July, suggests the report.
While the Nikkei’s sources are unspecified, the Sony project is tipped to bring together their own gaming-device experience and the cellular functionality of Sony Ericsson handsets. That implies that the project may not be a Sony Ericsson device but solely bear Sony’s branding; previous rumors have suggested strong internal disagreement over Sony Ericsson handsets using the PlayStation name.

Sony themselves have declined to comment on the report, which does at least make a change from the usual “we have no plans” we tend to hear from them. Their most recent handheld, the PSP Go, has WiFi but no 3G connectivity; however as it relies on digital distribution for its gaming titles and content, it would be a likely candidate for the sort of anywhere-downloads integrated WWAN would permit.

It’s perhaps saying a lot about our opinion of big businesses like Sony when admitting you purposefully milk early-adopters wins you kudos for honesty. SCEE’s Andrew House, current president and former chief marketing officer, has done just that, telling MCV that the PSP Go’s high price is partly the result of “a certain premium” associated with a new device.

“When you introduce a new piece of hardware you have the opportunity to say there is a certain premium that is associated with it, and we took that into account” Andrew House, president, SCEE

MCV asked House whether the PSP Go’s $249 price was a result of new R&D costs as well as being an attempt to make up for lost retailer markup thanks to the new digital delivery system. House, though, denied that was the case.

Sony has been criticized before regarding accessory prices for the PSP Go. The handheld uses a new connector, meaning that mini-USB accessories purchased for the full-size PSP will not work with the new version.

We’re not entirely convinced by the name 22Moo, but now that iPhone OS 3.0 supports third-party peripherals we’re sure we could find some bag-space for their GameBone Pro controller. Intended to be used with an iPhone or iPod touch, the GameBone Pro hooks up via Bluetooth or Apple’s dock-connector, and has an 8-way D-pad plus six buttons.

There’s also a 2,000mAh Li-Ion battery, which not only powers the GameBone Pro’s functionality but – if you use the wired connection – can recharge your iPhone or iPod touch, too. A row of LEDs shows charge status.

The controller also has integrated speakers, a microphone, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It’s set to hit shelves in mid-September, but we don’t know price yet; 22Moo are asking potential customers to suggest what they’d pay for the GameBone Pro, which seems like an obvious way to find your shiny new peripheral now costs fifty cents.

OnLive have already woken up interest in cloud-gaming, using a system of remote server processing and rendering that means local computers can be little more than viewing devices, but now that system has been shrunk down to cellphone size. OTOY use the same sort of server-side rendering system as OnLive, but promise that it’s usable even through the web browser on a cellphone. To demonstrate it, they’ve released a video showing an Xbox 360 controller being used to control a FPS on a Samsung Omnia.

According to OTOY, just about any mobile device – whether Palm Pre, iPhone, iPod touch or Android-based smartphone – will be able to access the service. They’re currently working on control methods, which will range from accelerometer control, on-screen joypads and even external peripherals.

While it works best over WiFi, it’s still supposedly playable with a 3G connection; we’re not sure how they’ve got past control lag, though, nor instability in the phone’s connection, especially when mobile. Still, HD-quality gaming without a huge, overpowered mobile console is nothing to be sniffed at, so we’ll be watching with great interest to see when OTOY will be coming to market.

This enthusiastic man is holding what could, with a little more R&D and a big marketing budget, be the next big peripheral in first-person shooters. The handiwork of “The Redneck Techie“, the Game Gun is a modified keyboard, stuffed into a gun peripheral, with motion-sensitive tracking and an LCD display mounted on top.


That means you can look around and move through the game by twisting the gun around, seeing exactly what’s happening on the integrated display. A Gyration motion-sensitive mouse is used to track movement, and the latest prototype is wireless thanks to a tethered battery pack.

The next prototype, meanwhile, promises to be even more impressive. Rather than use the compact LCD display, three pico-projectors will be mounted on the end of the gun, allowing for a super-widescreen picture on your nearest wall. Best of all, since this is all built with off-the-shelf parts, there are no game-specific drivers needed; any FPS will happily play with the Game Gun.

Game developer Activision have set their sights on bringing Sony down a peg or two, threatening to cease development for the PS3 and PSP consoles if the company does not reduce royalty fees. CEO Bobby Kotick has accused Sony of “losing a bit of momentum” and complained that the company does not “make it easy for me to support the [PlayStation 3] platform”. Kotick is now asking for a PS3 hardware price-cut.

According to the outspoken CEO, Activision – which is the biggest independent computer game developer in the world, with a market value of $16bn and operating profits of $179m in Q1 2009 – paid $500m to Sony in royalties and “other goods” in 2008. “It’s expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better” he suggests, ”Games generate a better return on invested capital on the Xbox than on the PlayStation.”

Sony has maintained that they have no plans to discount the PS3; however, analysts have tipped a $100 reduction in mid-August, timed with the back-to-school shopping season. The company are yet to release a statement regarding Kotick’s comments.

Maingear have announced a new PC that can’t decide quite whether it’s for gamers or HTPC enthusiasts. The Maingear Axess HD Gamer has its sights on your living room, and uses a low-profile aluminum case; however inside there’s an Intel Core i7 processor, up to 12GB of DDR3 memory and dual NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT graphics cards in SLI configuration. The Axess HD Gamer is also the first system to come with the Phantom Lapboard.
Other specifications include a Blu-ray drive, 8-channel audio with pre-amp, S/PDIF digital audio output and Vista Home Premium with its media center UI. Storage is courtesy of two 3.5-inch SATA drives, offering up to 2TB of space, or alternatively twin SSDs.

Up front there’s an OLED display for status information – including song or artist for music, or alternatively movie title – plus a multi-format memory card reader. Connectivity includes DVI-D, VGA, HDMI and component out, plus dual gigabit ethernet, eight USB 2.0 ports, two 6-pin FireWire ports and eSATA.

Unsurprisingly, none of this comes cheap. The Maingear Axess HD Gamer range starts from $1,799, but expect to pay far more than that for the kind of maxed-out system the company are talking about here.

Logitech have announced their latest Guitar Hero peripheral, a wireless controller for the Xbox 360. Like the company’s existing guitar controller for PS2 and PS3, the new Xbox 360 version has a wood neck, rosewood fingerboard and metal frets.

The wireless technology is promised to be plug-and-play with the Xbox 360, while its range is quoted at up to 30 feet. The strum-bar and fret buttons are “virtually silent”, using the same technology as on Logitech’s keyboard range, and there’s a touch-sensitive slider on the neck.

Logitech’s Wireless Guitar Controller for Xbox 360 will launch in August in both the US and Europe, with an MRSP of $199.99. It’s licensed for use with all the Guitar Hero titles, including the World Tour version.

If you’ve been looking for a gaming notebook that captures the power of a desktop computer, you might just be in luck. CyberPower just announced their Xplorer X7-Xtreme S1 gaming laptop and this thing packs a punch.

Featuring an Intel Core i7 processor, a 17-inch LCD display with a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution and up to 6GB of DDR3 Tri Channel Memory, this is no ordinary laptop model, that’s for certain.

Other features include an Intel X58 chipset, a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M video card and a 320GB hard drive. This laptop comes with a Blu-ray player, Windows Vista Home Premium and a 3.1-megapixel webcam to boot. However, all of these specs can be fully customized, if you wish. The base price for the CyberPower Xplorer X7-Xtreme S1 is $2,335.

Video game hating ex-attorney Jack Thompson has finally made himself useful, with a copy of his book “Out of Harm’s Way” providing the donor housing for a rather nifty PS2 case-mod. Mattigus of the Halflife2.net forums is the modder in question, who bought a copy of Thompson’s book on eBay and stuffed his working PS2 inside.

The book actually came from a library sale on the online auction site, and the library card inside suggests that nobody actually checked it out. Happily it also means that Thompson didn’t receive another royalty check for the sale, though going by the wealth of one star reviews on Amazon – “Jack Thompson writes as if English were a second language to him” – there are plenty of people who actually paid for the book who would like a refund.

A row of pennies stuck to the underside of the front cover provides it with enough weight to keep it closed. Mattigus’ first act on completing the mod was, ironically, playing Grand Theft Auto III.

We’re hearing that Nintendo’s Wii MotionPlus accessory is beginning to ship from Amazon, with preorder customers receiving emails telling them their Wiimote add-on is on its way. The MotionPlus dongle, which clips onto the base of the Wii’s controller, went up for preorder back at the start of May, priced at $19.99; it brings with it greater motion recognition accuracy.

That extra accuracy will mean that upcoming titles supporting the MotionPlus will be far better at tracking gamer movement. At launch, said-titles will include Virtua Tennis 2009, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, Grand Slam Tennis and Wii Sports Resort. All are sold separately, though Nintendo will be offering a bundle of Sports Resort and the MotionPlus for $50.

However, the hackers who have already found the Wiimote to be a useful motion-controller for their own projects will also likely find some use from the MotionPlus. Long-time SlashGear tipster Robert Oschler points us to the WiiLi modding community, who are looking to develop a low-cost telemetry suit (where you move, and the robot moves with you; as opposed to in the video below, where movements are triggered by gesture recognition). Currently telemetry suits are expensive and specialist; the MotionPlus could be the first step in turning that around.

Sony’s PSP Go! might be a masterpiece of miniaturization, but it’ll bring with it a shrinking feeling in your wallet, too. Set to land in the US on October 1st, the all-digital companion to the existing PSP-3000 will not only cost nigh-on twice as much as its bigger sibling, but require all new accessories thanks to a sneaky change of port type.


Rather than using a mini USB port, as the PSP-3000 does, the PSP Go! has a new, multifunction socket on the bottom of the handheld. That keeps down space, of course, but it also means that accessories existing PSP owners already have won’t work with the new console.

Sony, unsurprisingly, are lining up a range of PSP Go! accessories - including AV cables, USB cables, AC adapters, wrist-straps and screen protectors - that will play happily with their new gadget, but that’s no use to the people who have already spent significant amounts of money on PSP-3000 add-ons. The company’s own GPS module and chat keyboards won’t work, and neither will hundreds of third-party accessories.