mikeszekely

PSP Updates reports the 10th (I was off by two days, must still be thinking of Heavenly Sword) for the core and bundle, and October 9th for the Vader one. And their source is a CNet interview with Sony's senior product manager, so I'd say that's pretty official.

September 12th for the core pack and the Daxter Pack. October 9th for the Darth Vader one.

I liked all of Zahn's books except Outbound Flight. Zahn's the one of only two writers that I felt were trying to carry the Star Wars universe into the future and not just tricking someone into publishing their crappy fanfiction. The other is Drew Karpyshyn. He's worked for both Wizards of the Coast and BioWare. He wrote all the scenarios and dialog for the first Knights of the Old Republic game, as well as Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, the only EU novel I enjoyed that wasn't written by Zahn.

If you don't think 80GB is enough, you know you're supposed to watch the shows you recorded, then delete them and buy the DVD sets later, right? I kid, I kid. Seriously, the PS3's HDD is a standard 2.5" notebook-style internal hard drive with a SATA connector. Instructions for replacing/upgrading are in the PS3 quick reference book, or on the online manual. Newegg has then up to 250GB.

I double-checked how to do it, and it's pretty easy. First apply the theme you want. Then, open the guide, choose Personal Settings, then Themes, then Customize. You have two options, Dashboard Trim and Guide Background. Dashboard Trim is the edges of the Dashboard blades where their name tabs are. You have default, Carbon (a much darker gray), and Glass (silver with a touch of blue). Guide Background, lo and behold, changes the color of the Guide background. You have a lot more options there, and Microsoft was even kind enough to include a preview square so you can see what it looks like. Hope that helps not just David, but anyone who was afraid to apply an awesome theme just because it had a lousy guide color. Oh, and David, if you get a friend invite from Pharaohman, don't be alarmed, it's just me.

Not in my area. Target's flooded with those exclusive Cybertron scout repaints, Wal-Mart's down to the Real Gears, and Toys R' Us actually has some deluxes... Swindle, and the Protoforms.

Actually, after you apply a theme, you can change the guide background. I don't remember the steps off hand at the moment, but I remember I did it when I had Penny Arcade theme. And I honestly don't mind the purple guide for the G1 Decepticon theme, although the red for the G1 Autobot theme kinda looks like someone smeared a hooker's lipstick all over it.

You don't have to wait that long. According to Kotaku, Heavenly Sword hits on September 12th.

I got War Within Prime and that GI Joe Megatron when Titaniums first came out... and they were about the worst toys I've EVER owned. The only other one I ever bought was RID Prime, and that's only because I'm really obsessive when it comes to collecting Primes. It was, admittedly, much better, but on the whole, I really preferred the Classics line. FYI, I saw Toys R Us has some exclusive WW Prime and WW Megatron two-pack. I wonder if they retroactively applied any of the improvements from later Titaniums to that Prime, or if he'll still suck. Speaking of Classics, though, I hear Hasbro is bringing Classics back under the Universe banner in 2008. And we're getting Sideswipe and Sunstreaker!

Oh, I know about the digital signal thing. And that $35 is for a low-end Philips at my local Wal-Mart. But, I'd never thought to buy something like cables at Amazon. Thanks for the tip!

Yeah, but the HD-DVD is one of those ones that has the regular DVD on the flip side of the disc. If I had an HD-DVD player, that'd sell it for me every time. Too bad, all I got is a PS3. I'll rent the Blu-Ray, but I'm holding off on any purchases for now.

So, it worked after you went VGA? Okay, now let me ask, after you reseated the HDD, did you try connecting back to the receiver? Because I'll tell you right now, I have a launch day 360, connected to a Sony receiver via component video & optical audio, and from the receiver to a 52" DLP TV via component. And I haven't had a lick of trouble from my 360. And since I'm more or less out of HDMI inputs, don't own the HD-DVD attachment, and my TV only goes up to 1080i, I couldn't really justify upgrading to the Elite. Seriously? Where do you shop? For AV equipment in general, the cheapest HDMI cable I found was $35 for 6', compared to $15 for a 9' component cable. And for the 360 specifically, even if an HDMI cable was $4.99, the system already comes with a perfectly capable component cable.

That's pretty much the way it should be... Nintendo's a software company as much as a hardware company. Besides, I think EVERY game for the Wii should be an exclusive. Developers should make unique games that take advantage of the Wii's unique interface, instead of getting PS2 and uglier next-gen ports with a Wii control scheme tacked on. Meanwhile, Sony and Microsoft can take pot shots at each other over who's console is superior, but the fact is games are looking nearly identical on both. Microsoft and Sony will have a few 1st and 2nd party exclusives, maybe buy a few 3rd party exclusives, but for publishers looking to maximize their audience, and therefore their profit, multiplatform's the next-gen way to go.

Dunno if anyone cares or not, but Gamestop/EB Games is giving away for free (they don't even bug for reserves or anything!) a pack of posters... one is for Ace Combat 6.

The dragons look pretty, but I still have zero interest in this game. 300's release on Blu-ray this week may very well be the only thing to have justified my purchase of a PS3 so far. Here's hoping White Knight Story still wows me when it comes out...

It was only $30 at my local Target. At that price, the lack of real gameplay isn't as much of an issue, and then buying not just swimsuits, but matching hats and shoes for Kasumi becomes a guilty pleasure. Ironically, I really don't have too much interest in either of this falls big guns, Halo 3 and GTAIV. What I do want is Dynasty Warriors Gundam, Ace Combat 6, Mass Effect, and Rock Band.

Ah, 1991... it was a good year for 3ft tall robots that fight with hockey sticks and bubble gum. Seriously, though... it's like they took awesome giant robots, and said, "Now how can we make this show as crappy as possible? I know, let's shrink them, add cheesy cliched characters, and have them use the now-shrunk robots use the lamest weapons possible to fight other, more retarded robots and their robot chicken that lays eggs that hatches more robots that belong on the short bus!"

Yeah, you can add me if you want. Pharaohman = mikeszekely, but be warned, I'm probably going to shell out the cash and have it changed so mikeszekely = mikeszekely. Oh, and David... I think this one's for you... Ayane statue with removable clothing.

It's definitely a good deal... unless you already bought in on XBLA. And even then, as great as the game is, I think I played it one too many times. As far as playing it on the PSP goes, I think I can wait until Dracula X comes out on PSP.

Am I the only one who's a little bored with Symphony? I mean, I must have played it a dozen times on the PSone, a handful of times on the PS3, then I bought it from the Xbox Live Arcade. By then, I was just going through the motions... I'm not saying it's a bad game, mind you. In fact, I think it's one of the best games ever made. I've just played it a bit too much.

Ooh, I saw that at Action-HQ... I really want to order it, but I don't want to preorder, since I might be moving and the address I have now might not be the address I have in August.

Yeah, I too want to see games that really make the most of the Wii's unique interface, and I'm glad it's not tanking like the Gamecube. I'm glad that non-gamers are enjoying it, too. But as I said, it's just a million shy of 1st place, and to maximize profits, developers want to go for the biggest installed base. While I don't want the Wii to fail, I fear its success because in a world where the Wii is number one, I'm afraid you're going to see a glut of second-rate Wii Sports knock offs, mini-game collections, and more traditional games with Wii controls haphazardly tacked on.

I got my Pepsi Optimus Prime in the mail today. I think maybe I should have spent a little more to get the Takara Pepsi Convoy, but on the other hand, I'm just giddy to have him. I never had a G1 Prime before, but I had Ultra Magnus... with his trailer/armor on, he was kind of a crappy toy, but I loved turning the cab into "White Optimus." Pepsi Prime brings back all those sweet memories... I seriously think I'm going to have to get the next G1 Prime/Convoy they release.

Radd... I'm not really writing Wii Fit off. If it turns out to be a solid game, I'm sure I'll check it out. What I am saying is that I don't want to see/play a glut of those sorts titles just because Nintendo is playing to a different audience, while more traditional games have Wiimote controls tacked on instead of allowing us to use the classic controller. And, let's be honest... I have a 52" HDTV and a 1000w Sony 5.1 channel receiver. If a game comes out on both the Wii and the 360, even if if does use the classic controller, I'm going to get the 360 version. As for the Wii not being on par with the original Xbox, while their CPU and GPUs have similar clock speeds, the Xbox supported higher resolutions. While they weren't necessarily very common, there were games that supported 720p, and an extreme handful, like Enter the Matrix, even supported 1080i. The Wii only goes up to 480p. The Xbox also supported Dolby Digital, and the Wii only does Pro Logic II. The bottom line isn't that I'm unhappy with my Wii. I very much appreciate the Wii for the unique experiences it can bring to the table. All I'm saying is that the more tradition gaming experiences brought by the 360 are much more likely to be the bulk of my gaming, and I like it that way.

Your arguments are all very good, but I still can't shake the feeling that the Wii is becoming kind of a fad. I mean, the price helps, and I really do think that $300 is still the sweet spot for a console, but a lot of people, especially less traditional gamers, are buying into the gimmick. And like I said, that works great for some games... I really love Wii Sports Tennis and Bowling... but it's also leading to stuff like Wii Fit, or having the waggle tacked onto games like Marvel Ultimate Alliance. And going for an inexpensive console is still no reason to give us a console who's graphics aren't even quite up to the original Xbox's level. Like I said, I don't really have anything against the Wii. I love it for what it does well, and I'm looking forward to Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Mario Galaxy, and Metroid Prime 3 as much as the next guy. Heck, I even have a PS3, although I've used it more for Blu-ray and Linux than as a game console, there's still stuff like Heavenly Sword I want. But between now and Christmas, the vast majority of the games I want happen to be 360 exclusive, or multi-platform. And when a game is multi-platform, Xbox Live will have me getting the 360 version 99% of the time.