Welcome to archive 1. This archive is here to allow you to see previous sgwade.co.uk reports. It is also to free up more space on the homepage.
PS3 Speculation Mad!
Pastime of the week for this particular part of the summer silly season - at least, among those who are quite finished scrambling to come to terms with the fact that E3 has gone to the great convention centre in the sky - seems to be coming up with new and interesting ways to cast doubt upon Sony's prospects in the next generation console race. Fanboy arguments supported by misconception and exaggeration abound - and that's just in the mainstream media and among analysts. What's going on on Internet forums makes even less sense.
Sony only has itself to blame for this, of course, and we can't say that our hearts are bleeding with sympathy for the Japanese giant. The arrogance displayed by SCE boss Ken Kutaragi and his US right hand man Kaz Hirai every time they open their mouths on the topic of the PS3 can be explained by their success in dominating the last generation with PS2, but that certainly doesn't justify it - and the genial manner of the firm's studio boss Phil Harrison can only go so far in terms of repairing the damage done to the firm's image by his overbearing bosses.
However, even if Sony is failing to endear itself to the media, to analysts or to gamers at the moment, that's no reason for the reality of the next generation console battle to be ignored. Judging from reports in the past fortnight, it would be easy for an outside observer to assume that it's all over already; the media paints a picture of Microsoft being victorious before the first shot is even fired, with Sony's overloaded battlecruiser set to sink before it even leaves port.
The fact is that there's little evidence to support that assertion. Even if Microsoft reaches its 10 million unit target by the end of the year - which does look likely - that's still not a lead that guarantees dominance in a market where the top-selling console last time (the PlayStation 2) sold over 100 million units. Both Sony and Nintendo are planning to ship their new consoles at such a rate that they could, in theory, have caught up or passed out Microsoft by the end of 2007; a scenario which is not exactly likely, admittedly, but certainly not impossible either.
Equally certain is that Sony's price point will dissuade some consumers - but a host of factors could conspire to outweigh that price point. If Sony has software with massive appeal to the mass market - something which Microsoft will still lack even coming into 2007, with the resolutely hardcore Gears of War being its key title for Christmas - or better again, if Blu-Ray really does prove to be as popular with consumers as movie bosses seem to believe, then the price point could prove inconsequential, at least for the first ten million units to pass through the channel.
This is quite an optimistic way of viewing Sony's chances, of course - but it's worth balancing out some of the pessimism which has been doing the rounds so often that it almost seems to be accepted as fact in some quarters. Much of this, it's clear, is influenced heavily by the American dominance of English-language media. Microsoft is so hugely successful in America relative to other territories that it can skew the global perspective; whereas the Xbox 360 has sold 3.3 million units in North America, it has sold only 1.3 million in Europe and just 400,000 elsewhere, making it fair to say that North America is still the only territory where the Xbox 360 has seen major success.
However, to listen to the media you would think that the success of the console has been replicated everywhere - which is simply not the case. North America is unquestionably a very important market, but Europe is expected to overtake it in size terms in the coming years, and despite the waning importance of Japan, it is still a key market - and other Asian territories are growing in importance. Microsoft is, in a sense, picking up the easiest consumers first. It is converting Xbox customers into Xbox 360 customers, and playing to a highly receptive home crowd - which suggests that the second ten million will be a lot more difficult than the first, because it will have to expand its reach not only demographically, but internationally.
That's where Sony already has the advantage; the PlayStation brand is synonymous with gaming around the world and across a huge demographic, not just in North America and with a narrow range of players. When reading the various reports which seem to imply that Sony has already failed or that victory is in the bag for Microsoft, it's important to remember that. Microsoft's use of first mover advantage has certainly been more impressive than many observers expected, but come November, the firm will still only have its home crowd in the bag. 2006, and even 2007, are only a warm-up - the battle for hearts and minds among casual gamers, international markets and wider demographics hasn't even begun yet.
report by: gameindustry.biz
ENGLAND ARE OUT!
STAGE 3 - Quater Final
England 0 - Portugal 0 at Full Time at Extra Time 0-0 at PSO: 1-3
STAGE 2
England 1 - Ecuador 0 at Full Time
STAGE 1
England 2 - Sweden 2 at Full Time
England 2 - Trinidad and Tobago 0 at Full Time
England 1 - Paraguay 0 at Full Time
England had 7 points going into the second round of the world cup at the top of their group!
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Aside From All This Footie Madness, Nintendo HAVE Released Their New Handheld Version of DS the DS Lite! AND WE'VE GOT ONE!!!
The offical launch day is Friday 23rd of June but were getting one in early so we can have a review up on the site by the end of the day hopefully. This will help you in deciding whether you want one or not! Plus we still have the orginal DS so we will be doing our own comparisons when we get it. So here it is, the review:
Nintendo DS Lite launches in Europe
23rd June sees the release of the Nintendo DS Lite in Europe. The Lite is basically a premium redesign of the hugely successful DS system which was released last year.
The Japanese launch of the Nintendo DS Lite was so successful that stocks were depleted within hours of the shops opening. Nintendo were even forced to pull the plug on a Japanese TV ad campaign so as to stem the tide of demand.
Design
The functionality is pretty much the same and it still has Game Boy Advance compatibility. The main difference is that the Lite is 42% smaller in volume and 21% lighter than the original. The display has also been improved, with the Lite offering users 4 levels of brightness. Even the lowest setting is brighter than the standard DS.
The layout has also been altered to give it a more ergonomic feel. The start/select button has been moved below the lettered keys and the on-off switch has been re-located to the side, safely away from the D-pad.
The dual screen clamshell design may seem quite novel to younger readers, but the older ones may remember Nintendo's Game and Watch handheld games from the early 80's, which included Mario's first gaming outing in 'Donkey Kong'.
The look and colour scheme has been altered to sync in with the forthcoming Revolution console, though the apple freaks from ilounge were quite quick to point out similarities with the ipod.
As with the standard DS, the Lite has a built-in microphone, and supports wireless 802.11b (Wifi) standards, allowing players to interact with each other within a range of up to 100 ft, or over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service.
Nintendo want the DS to appeal to more than just gamers and add-ons are being created to widen its functionality. An extension card featuring an Opera web browser has already been released and there are plans to create TV Tuner and GPS Navigation extensions.
Games
Of course a console would be nothing without games and there are plenty of titles already on the shelves like Nintendogs, Animal Crossing and Super Mario Karts. There are also plenty of new games in the offing: Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol, Custom Robo Arena, DK: King of Swing DS, combat flight simulator DS Air, graphic adventure Hotel Dusk: Room 215, a new Kirby platformer, basketball sim Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (developed by Square Enix) and Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2.
New third party games include Square Enix's all-new 3D Final Fantasy III remake and Secret of Mana follow-up, Children of Mana. Capcom revealed Mega Man ZX and a new Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, while Konami had Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin and Atlus the quirky new role-playing game Contact.
However, whilst there’s certainly no shortage of games for the new DS Lite, laying your hands on the system itself could be a different matter if sales in Japan are anything to go by.
NEW PHOTOS OF THE LAST EVER OFFICAL SIXTH FORM DAY + Hannah's 18th Birthday Party ARE ON THE NAV BAR ABOVE! CHECK THEM OUT!!!
Just enter the user name and correct password to view them!
Nintendo Have Named It's Revolution:
Introducing… Wii.
As in "we."
While the code-name "Revolution" expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer.
Wii will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else.
Wii will put people more in touch with their games… and each other. But you’re probably asking: What does the name mean?
Wii sounds like "we," which emphasises this console is for everyone.
Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.
Wii has a distinctive "ii" spelling that symbolizes both the unique controllers and the image of people gathering to play.
And Wii, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of video games that sets it apart from the crowd.
So that’s Wii. But now Nintendo needs you.
Because, it’s really not about you or me.
It’s about Wii.
And together, Wii will change everything.
To view a short introduction video of Wii click Here.
That was an offical statement taken directly from nintendo's uk website. The name does seem a bit strange at first, but after a while it does begin to grow on you. Nintendo is certainly right about the name be a bit of a revolution in its self. Its different from the other unorginal names of PS3 and Xbox 360 (only created because Xbox 2 would sound behind the PS3, HOW LAME MICROSOFT!), which does make it stand out. But imagine going to buy one as a gaming adult at a counter, "Could i have a Wii please". Not too sure it would go down well so I'll be ording mine over the internet. Do let us know what you think of this name by visiting our forum, link is at the top!
Things Are Looking Good for the Big N!
Red Steel to make use of 'freestyle' controller
Ubisoft has confirmed that its first title for the Nintendo Revolution will be Red Steel, an action game which will work with the console's unique 'freestyle' remote controller. Red Steel is set in present day Japan, and will see players taking on Yakuza mobsters using both guns and katanas. The game is in development at Ubisoft Paris, and is being worked on by team members whose previous credits include Prince of Persia, Far Cry, Instincts and Ghost Recon.
Ubisoft's chief creative officer, Serge Hascoet, said that he believes Red Steel - which will launch alongside the new console - will be a "must-have" title. "We have been working closely with Nintendo to take full advantage of the innovative controller to create a thrilling experience that can only exist on the Revolution," Hascoet added.
Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime said: "Nintendo is excited to have Ubisoft bring Red Steel to the Revolution launch lineup. From what we have seen from Red Steel, it is going to be a standout exclusive title." Red Steel is set to go on show at E3 next month.
DS IS DOING WELL:
Both hardware and software selling well
A new report has confirmed that the Nintendo DS dominated the Japanese games market during the 2005 financial year, with more than 4 million units sold and four of the five top-selling games identified as DS titles. According to the Famitsu magazine report, which was partially translated by Gamasutra, Japanese consumers purchased 4.32 million Nintendo DS units in total - more than double the figure for the Sony PSP of 2.07 million units. The PlayStation 2 is still going strong in Japan and ranked in third place, with 1.77 million consoles sold last year. The Xbox 360, which was launched in the territory last December, has failed to set the market alight - sales figures stand at 120,000 units.
Animal Crossing: Wild World was the best-selling game of the year, with 2.34 million units shifted. PS2 title Final Fantasy XII, which sold 2.05 million units, was in second place, followed by brain exercise games Nou o Kitaeru Otona DS Training and Motto Nou o Kitaeru Otona DS Training - selling 1.85 million and 1.7 million units respectively. And finally, Mario Kart DS sold 1.21 million copies, placing it in fifth position.
It comes as no surprise that the Nintendo DS has performed so well - it's widely known that the handheld was a hit with Japanese consumers from day one, and the redesigned DS Lite, which launched on March 2nd, has also proved to be hugely popular.
However, it seems likely that some of the DS's thunder will be stolen later this year with the release of the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Revolution. Microsoft will have a tough fight on its hands, since the original Xbox performed extremely poorly in Japan - and Xbox 360 sales have been disappointing so far. A recent report claimed MS plans to relaunch the console this June in a bid to boost sales and secure a stronger foothold in the market before the rival machines launch.
report provided by: gamesindustry.biz
New Biology Presentation Downloads in the downloads section. Click Here for a direct link to them.
PS3 DELAYED!!! - But Global Launch Planned:
Kutaragi commits to aggressive worldwide simultaneous launch schedule:
The PlayStation 3 is set to launch in North America, Asia and Europe in early November this year, Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi has announced, with the firm committed to shipping six million units by the end of March 2007.
Kutaragi was speaking at the PlayStation business briefing in Tokyo, where the firm is outlining its plans for the videogames business over the coming year to an audience of media, analysts and third-party publishing partners.
He told the briefing that the PS3 will be launched in early November in all three major global territories, confounding industry and analyst expectations of a staggered release schedule which would see the European launch delayed to 2007.
From launch onwards, Sony plans to ship a million units a month of the PlayStation 3 - with six million units to be on the market by the end of its financial year in March 2007, indicating that the company plans to have up to two million units ready for day one, we'll see!
It's an ambitious plan, but the firm certainly has time on its side - having moved its launch target from "spring 2006" to November, and with reports indicating that manufacturing of the console could begin as soon as June, Sony has plenty of time to ramp up the manufacture process and build up stock of the system pre-launch.
Sony also today confirmed that the final development hardware for PlayStation 3 will roll out in June, which tends to support the claim that manufacturing will also start then, as final development hardware requires almost all of the components of the final consumer hardware to be completed.
However, the November target is likely to be the subject of some speculation for months to come - especially given Sony's track record with such ambitious worldwide launch targets in the form of the PlayStation Portable, which was originally due to launch globally at the end of 2004, but ended up not arriving in America until the second quarter of 2005, and didn't launch in Europe until nine months later, at the beginning of September 2005.
Report assisted by: gamesindustry.biz
Another Mighty Arsenal In Nintendo's Portable Empire, The DS Lite!
They've sold well over 13 million of them - and now they'd like you all to buy another one! 42% SMALLER!!!
Looked at from one point of view that's certainly how you could categorise Nintendo's decision to launch a new version of the Nintendo DS handheld in Japan less than a year after the first iteration arrived in Europe. Look through any internet forum and you'll doubtless find plenty of criticism of the firm's decision to redesign the handheld so early in its life. This will be water off a duck's back to the company's executives, of course. They've been here before - with the GBA SP, most notably, which fixed glaring flaws with the original GBA that many users felt should have been picked up before the first piece of hardware ever hit the market. Nonetheless, it sold like hot cakes right from its launch through to the present day, when even the arrival of the DS on the market has not extinguished the success of its predecessor.
As long as these products continue to be commercially successful, Nintendo feels no need to answer its critics - and quite rightly so. In recent years, the firm has developed a knack for creating hardware that consumers want despite already owning a system that plays the same games - one has to wonder if the hardware team in Kyoto has been taking their lessons from the creators of the iPod in Cupertino. They've got a long way to go in design terms, as the perfectly functional but clunky original DS proved, but their concepts are sound.
After all, Nintendo is in business to make money, and despite their projection of an image as a company that loves innovation and often panders to the child-like sense of fun in all of us, the firm knows how to be hard-nosed and unapologetic when it comes to the bottom line. They're good at it, too; this year they'll rake in over half a billion Euro in net profits, which tends to suggest that their business model isn't exactly unsuccessful.
Making products that consumers want is good business, even if it annoys those consumers who already bought an iteration of that product. It's important to remember that Nintendo isn't doing anything underhanded - like somehow disabling existing DS consoles to force users to upgrade, which is the highly questionable practice being used by certain videogames companies who wish to turn off the online support for their old games to make people buy new ones.
More importantly from a publisher point of view, launching the DS Lite will expand the demographic reach of the console even further than its already impressive base - partially because the more attractive model will appeal to customers who found the original ugly, but mostly because of what will happen to the millions of existing DS consoles that will be replaced. Still perfectly functional, they won't disappear from the market - they'll be passed on to younger siblings, or perhaps to parents enthralled by Brain Training or Nintendogs, or to casual gamers who can't justify the purchase of a new console to themselves.
We'd already confidently predicted that 2006 would be a great year for the Nintendo DS. Ignore the rumblings of discontent from the vocal minority - DS Lite, with its Revolution-esque styling and diminutive form factor, is a fat layer of tasty icing on a cake which was already looking very good indeed.
A little more detailed information about the new machine:
42 per cent smaller, 21 per cent lighter, a little more expensive, out in around a month. Nintendo has officially announced the widely anticipated redesigned version of the Nintendo DS handheld console, with a more compact version of the hardware, dubbed "DS Lite", set to arrive in Japan on March 2nd.
The system was quietly unveiled on Nintendo's Japanese website last night, with just one mock-up image of the console available, revealing a slightly sleeker and more streamlined version of the existing flip-top DS design.
DS Lite will come in at 133mm wide, 73.9mm high and 21.5mm deep, as compared to the proportions of the original DS which was 148.7mm wide, 84.7mm high and 28.9mm deep - which in real terms, means that it's 42 per cent smaller than the original DS. The weight of the console has also been reduced, from 275g in the original model down to 215g in the new DS Lite, representing a drop of almost 21 per cent. Despite the smaller size of the unit, it's not thought that the screens themselves have dropped in size, although Nintendo doesn't appear to have made any official comment on this. Aside from the smaller size and weight and the redesigned shell, the DS Lite has few functionality changes, confounding earlier reports from some commentators which suggested that it would add voice communication capabilities and even IP telephony. The main new feature is an adjustable brightness setting for the screen, similar to the one offered by Sony's Playstation Portable, which will allow users to flick between four different levels of brightness. Some components have moved around on the new unit; the power button is not visible on the face of the machine and may have been moved to the side, while the microphone has moved to the hinge between the two screens.
Nintendo will launch the new system in Japan on March 2nd, priced at 16,800 Yen (118 Euro); which is marginally higher than the general retail price of the existing DS console at present (well, perhaps not at present - the stock shortages of the DS over New Year saw prices pushed to silly levels even on second hand units at some retailers). Despite the widespread rumours of a redesign, the company has been remarkably secretive about the DS Lite so far - even with its own staff, with Nintendo UK boss David Yarnton telling a games website earlier this week that "we haven't got any plans at the moment - nothing I know of" when pressed on the question of a DS redesign.
Not that it matters, as this new design should attract more consumers into buying one and allow the industry and Nintendo to grow. SGWADE.CO.UK will be getting our hands on one the day before its due for release, so expect a review on the day of release.
Report Assisted by: gamesindustry.biz
Xbox 360 Is Still Not Meeting Demand, And Frustrated Customers Could Turn Away!
GameStop yet to fulfil launch date pre-orders and many more!
Despite continued reassurances of a steady retail supply from Microsoft, US retailers continue to suffer shortages, with GameStop yet to fulfil approximately 30 per cent of its launch day pre-orders for the Xbox 360 console.
According to videogames website Gamespot, an internal memo from GameStop informed retail staff that almost 70 per cent of pre-orders for the next-generation console had now been completed. The company expects to complete all remaining pre-orders during February, furthering the disappointment of hundreds of eager games fans who had hoped to receive their console at the time of launch in November, 2005.
We took a survay today (18.01.06) of all the major retailers in the UK to see if we could find anyone with an Xbox 360 in stock. You can see the results below:
Well Game actually don't seem to have a Xbox 360 console page, so we can safely assume they don't have any!
Result: 
Result: 
Basically WELL over 14 days, the hunt continues:
Result: 
Usually hay? We somehow think NOT. Amazon only seem to be offering the core package at the moment.
Our last hope is:
Result: 
And what is intresting to note is that the "email me when more stock arrives" feature, which John Lewis has on all of its other products, is not available. Which suggests that their not expecting stock of either console anytime in the near future. Which means there is only one place left to go. If your soo despriate for one, then this is virtually your only hope of getting one its:
Search Result: 
So basically, 2 months on from its launch, the Xbox 360 is still worth twice its retail value and is still under stocked at all the major retail vendors. Which means only one thing, a CRAP launch plan with a pointless result.
According to the source at GameStop, an increasing number of the lower-priced Core System units (shipped with a wired controller and lacking a hard drive) have begun to appear on store shelves for immediate purchase, though the majority of customers appear to be holding out for the more comprehensive package, which includes a number of additional peripherals for USD 399 (£280).
The pre-order completion estimates do not take account of online orders, or those coming from Electronics Boutique, which recently merged with GameStop.
Stock shortages have plagued the Xbox 360's market debut, partly due to Microsoft's ambitious tri-continent launch strategy, releasing the first next-generation console in three global territories within a matter of weeks.
The company recently stated that plans to sell 3 million units in the first three months remain on track in spite of the wide-spread shortages, and Microsoft has repeatedly promised a continued supply of units to retail in each territory - its manufacturing plants operating on a 24-hour basis in an effort to meet consumer demand.
Report assisted by: gamesindustry.biz
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The DS Makes 2005 A Worth While Gaming Year!
When the Nintendo DS was shown to the public for the first time, both vocal fanboys and many media correspondents who should have known better were quick to dismiss it as large, clunky, ugly and most of all, a gimmick. It was viewed by many as a rushed and desperate attempt by Nintendo to claw back some attention from Sony's PSP; at best, a stopgap Virtual Boy style curiosity that would fill in the gap before the arrival of a "proper" new handheld platform, unofficially dubbed Game Boy Advance 2.
Right up to the launch of the device, analysts were down on its prospects, swayed - as they assumed consumers would be - by the power and shiny design of the PlayStation Portable. Even though journalists and analysts alike hedged their bets to some extent, the tone of their comments on the DS made it clear that they expected the PSP to do to the DS what the PlayStation had done to the N64.
Today, the final figures from the first year of the life of the Nintendo DS came in, and it would appear that a staggering 13 million people around the globe have disagreed with that assessment. In Japan, well over a million people bought a DS in December alone, and over a million units of the newly released Animal Crossing: Wild World flew off shelves in a fortnight. Here in Europe, where 3.5 million units of the console have been sold, Mario Kart DS has sold 800,000 copies since it was launched in November.
Even looking past the sales figures to simple critical reception, for many people compiling a list of their favourite games of the year, DS titles have flooded the top ten. Speaking from a personal perspective for a moment, this year would have been a far poorer one in gaming terms without the likes of Mario Kart DS, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Castlevania: Dawn of Souls and Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan to brighten up every journey - be it to the other side of the planet or simply to the bathroom.
Put simply, 2005 has been the year of the Nintendo DS - and while in 2006 the handheld market is likely to be overshadowed in the headlines by the arrival of PlayStation 3 and Revolution, the software release schedule suggests that the best is yet to come for the DS.
Animal Crossing hasn't even been launched in Europe yet, and nor have either of Nintendo's "brain training" games, which have sold over a million units each in Japan. For the immense casual gaming market which Nintendo has cornered with the DS, there are more brain training games on the way, a range of travel phrasebooks which will speak selected phrases in foreign languages for you, and there's even talk of "Nintencats". For the more hardcore gamers, the likes of Metroid, Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda and a new 2D Mario platformer are DS-bound.
All of this praise for the DS has a point; two, in fact. The first is that the DS provides perfect evidence for the argument that more innovation in videogaming will bring in new audiences. The second, perhaps more relevant, point is that the success of the DS needs to be put in context alongside the incredibly tough environment experienced by other platforms at retail last year. At a time when almost everything else was in decline, Nintendo's star rose - doing much to save the bottom lines of some retailers and perhaps even publishers in the process. It may be doing its utmost not to compete directly with Sony and Microsoft, but we cannot forget that Nintendo remains a potent force in the industry - and 2005 is perfect proof of that fact.
report provided by: gamesindustry.biz
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A Pre-War Report For Nintendo's Next Gen Console the Revolution:
One of our first reactions upon emerging from Nintendo's conference in Hollywood just prior to E3 this year, where the Revolution console was unveiled for the first time, was that the company had effectively just conceded the next-generation battle to Sony and Microsoft. It was the most triumphant, optimistic concession we'd ever seen, but reading between the lines, it was a concession nonetheless. Nintendo had just told the world that it didn't want to play with the bigger boys any more. The specification battle, the endless bickering over media functionality and parallel processing and teraflops and supercomputing, were of no interest to the Kyoto-based company that had played such a vital role in defining what videogames mean in our culture. Nintendo wanted out.
This week, our first really solid look at the hardware that developers are working on for Revolution proved that our assumption about the company's intentions was correct. Nintendo is building a system somewhere between two and three times as powerful as GameCube - no parallel processing, no troublesome cutting-edge chips with their inherent manufacturing problems, no next-generation storage devices, no high definition output. It's got a bit more memory, some internal Flash RAM storage, an attractive, slimline case and built in wireless networking. Back of the envelope calculations suggest that it could launch for as little as $150.
Is this next-generation gaming? Not the way that Microsoft and Sony see it, no. Where's the HD Era? The Zen of Gaming? The Blu-Ray? The Cell? The gigaflops, the teraflops? All of the watchwords which Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have made into core parts of their next-generation offering are missing from Nintendo's vocabulary. Fed up of the headlong rush towards huge, expensive, loss-leading systems that pack more punch than supercomputers did a few years ago, the firm that managed to make a fat plumber with dubious dress sense and a Ron Jeremy moustache into an icon for a generation of style-conscious children has stopped the car in the middle of the freeway, Falling Down-style, and gone off for a walk far off the beaten track.
Instead of dazzling graphics and massive processing power, Nintendo is offering innovation that's more in the realm of gadgets than pure computing. Their console is loaded with clever features, from the unobvious - the clever way that the company has built a slot-loading DVD drive that accepts both full-size DVDs and the micro-size discs from the GameCube - to the glaringly apparent - an amazing control mechanism that feels genuinely, radically different to any other method of controlling a videogame. For developers, the challenge is creative, not technical - how to get to grips with these unique features, not to work out how to multi-thread their game code or build assets for games on super-powered consoles using PCs which can't yet hope to match their performance.
All very laudable, but at the end of the day, Nintendo is still offering a system which will fall far behind its rivals in terms of raw power. There will be no direct ports to Revolution as there were to GameCube; there will be no talk of the system boasting the most technically accomplished games of the next-generation, as there was with the Cube and Resident Evil 4. Whatever about the debate that still rages about the relative merits of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 hardware, there's no doubt which console will be in third place in terms of performance.
Is Nintendo mad? That depends on whether you consider it insane for a company to launch a product with low manufacturing costs, easy software development, high margins and strong brands and franchises backing it, at a price significantly lower than its rivals can compete with. If that's considered to be mad, then how do you describe the business of launching a vastly expensive, cutting-edge box, after the investment of billions of dollars in research and development and developer acquisitions, each hardware unit subsidised to the hilt in the hope of clawing back your investment on future software licences? In our insane industry, Nintendo may even be a pillar of sanity.
After all, the last time anyone called Nintendo insane was when the DS was unveiled. Now it's been outselling the PlayStation Portable every week for around nine months in Japan, and you can't buy one for love nor money in the UK, one of Sony's strongest global markets. The most expensive packages on eBay? Pink DS units with copies of Nintendogs. In hindsight, if you can make teenagers think a fat plumber is cool, getting girls to demand games consoles for Christmas probably isn't that tough, but nobody would have believed you if you'd told them this time last year that Nintendo consoles would be facing supply shortages because the female market was tearing them off the shelves faster than they could resupply, leaving the boys scrounging for the odd well-hidden silver unit on which to play the year's top online console game, Mario Kart.
Can Nintendo win the next-generation war without even taking part? Instinct says no, but that is just instinct. The hardcore will still gravitate to the powerful consoles, and the PlayStation brand - in no small part due to Sony's incredible work on expanding its appeal in recent years - is as strong as it's ever been. However, can Nintendo make billions of dollars, sell tens of millions of low-priced consoles, hundreds of millions of games, and reinvigorate the entire industry with an influx of new customers? They can, and they just might.
The Worlds Largest TV, All 102 Inchs of IT!!!
Samsung demonstrates the world's largest Plasma TV with 102inch diameter. The new Samsung record Plasma Panel has high brightness with 1,000 candela per square meter and high contrast with 2000:1. The Resolution is 1920x1080. Samsung are putting serious effort into become recognised as a leader in TV screens of all technologies. The 102" PDP TV and the 82" TFT-LCD TV are a perfect combination of screen size and picture resolution," said Shin Sang-Heung, vice president of the Visual Display Division at Samsung Electronics. "Both televisions are the epitome of design and performance - a must-have for any serious home theater buff.
We will never be able to pluck up the cash for this screen but its nice to know whats out there if you ever win the lottery. This screen is not due to be released in the UK until late next year (07). Not that many will be sold but there you go.
10MB IS FINIALY HERE!
Ntl has just announced that can purchase 10mb broadband TODAY! If your currently subscribed to their old 3mb package then you will be automatically updated over the next few weeks. However if you wish, you can subscribe to the new package for £37.99 a month and a HUGE 75GB download limit. Which is yet to be enforced. This really is the next generation of broadband and over the next year NTL intend to upgrade all their packages to this huge speed however they will have different download limits. And in the near future they intend to make 30 and 50mb bandwidths possible. Which really will be super fast access to the information super highway!
End of the line for Special Reserve
End Of The Line For Special Reserve
Games retail veteran Special Reserve has gone into liquidation after almost 20 years in the industry.
It means that the company’s eight stores, Internet business and mail order service has been closed with immediate effect, leaving 45 staff at its Sawbridgeworth head office redundant.
Cliff Rainbird, former buyer and son of founder Tony Rainbird, told a business website: “We’ve tried to sell it on, and we did have an offer. But it fell through at the last minute, so we had no other option but to close.”
Rainbird explained that the business, which has been running since the late ‘80s, is another casualty of the super-competitive retail climate: “The margins have been taken out of games, and the Internet is so competitive it has been very difficult over the last few years. It doesn’t help that the supermarkets have come in selling new releases at £29.99 either.”
If you have recently purchased anything from the website on or just before the 15th November you will need to visit their website at: http://www.specialreserve.com. Most of our team have purchased from this website in the past and have found their service to be brilliant and their service record has been fantastic. The members of this site will miss their services, cheap product offers and wish the company luck in getting out of liquidation ASAP.
TODAY You Can't By An Xbox 360!
Wondering about the title? Well its simple really. Microsoft have rushed the release of the new next-gen console and are now going to pay for it. By not having enough stock to provide for consumer demand. If you haven't already pre-ordered your Xbox 360 (say about 2 months ago at least!) then the chances of you being able to get your hands on one on launch day (which is Friday 2nd December 2005) are about 1 in a million! So don't bother turning up at a launch day party unless you have those priceless pre-order tickets!
Not too long ago the same thing happened to the Sony PSP. Sony new full well it would sell out yet still allowed for it to be released too early and now there are plenty of PSP's about, but nobody wants one, consumers have simply lost interest! This could and will happen quite easily with the Xbox 360. It will all be over by Christmas and only a few 100000 people in the UK will have one. All because Microsoft are unable to correctly produce the required number of products. Not surprising really, there simply following Sony's footsteps. Lets hope Nintendo can turn the trend around by releasing their console at the right time with the right amount of product to suit the consumers needs!!!
Never the less, sgwade.co.uk will be getting our hands on one on the relase date (02.12.05) and a full review will be written up within the next week after launch day. So keep checking back!!!
Sony Is Getting TOO Over Protective, Say Consumers
It's always hard to tell how things are actually being decided at high levels within major companies like Sony and Microsoft, but to an outside observer, right now it looks like Sony is a company which is waging a battle with itself. The outcome of this battle will have a major impact on the future not only of the videogames industry, but of the digital media industry as a whole - and may determine the survival, or otherwise, of a firm which has led the market for consumer electronics for decades.
The essence of this struggle is that while some elements of Sony understand the need to embrace open standards, coexist with competing systems and give consumers some degree of freedom in terms of how they use the products they have paid for, there are clearly factions at the corporation who don't grasp how crucial that approach is, and wish for a more tightly locked down, proprietary future. It's a clash of opposing viewpoints which is only to be expected in a company whose roots may be in the creation of hardware to view media, but much of whose current success lies in the creation of the media itself, via Sony Pictures, Sony Music and Sony Computer Entertainment.
This week, it was exemplified by two astonishing moves from Sony. First came the revelation that Sony Music has been placing software on its CDs which borrows much of its behaviour from malicious virii, and may well have opened major security holes on the computers of any users who placed the CDs in their drives. The firm has pulled back from this reprehensible action, which was taken in the name of copy protection, but the damage is done - both in the form of two million "infected" CDs, and a nasty black mark on Sony's name that goes far beyond the geek community and right out to mainstream users.
The second peculiar move was the patenting of a technique which would lock a piece of software - be it a game, a video or a music disc - to the first piece of hardware it's inserted into. This kind of draconian protection immediately raised the hackles of the consumers who spotted it, and Sony was quick to quash rumours that it might be used on PlayStation 3 - but ultimately, the firm obviously contemplated using it in some context, and while we can all breathe a sigh of relief about the fact that it's not going to be on PS3, it's still worrying that Sony is thinking about this kind of technology at all.
This isn't new thinking for Sony. This, after all, is the company which managed to slaughter its own chances of competing with Apple's iPod portable music players by not supporting the incredibly popular MP3 music format with its own players for years - thinking believed to have been informed by the fact that MP3 was widely used to distribute music illegally on peer to peer networks. It's also the company behind the Blu-Ray disc format, which Microsoft refuses to support for what are, surprisingly in ways, all the right reasons - namely the fact that Blu-Ray won't allow users to rip content onto their consoles or media centres in a secure fashion, with Sony preferring to keep the content locked away on annoyingly fragile optical discs.
© Copyright Too Far!
In ways, it's easy to sympathise with the reluctance of Sony executives to properly embrace open media standards and fair use systems. The business case for allowing users to do as they please with media is a non-obvious and in ways frightening one for people who've just watched the music industry take repeated gut-punches from users doing just that - in this instance, ripping and sharing their music with each other online.
However, this may well be the difference between life and death for Sony, because users are no longer happy with the idea of being locked into what they can and can't do with media they've acquired. Sony's competitors understand that, at least to a certain degree. They understand that the music business wasn't damaged by evil pirates sitting around plotting their downfall, it was destroyed by the failure of the music industry to offer a legal, sensible alternative to an entire generation of people who wanted their music on their PCs, streamed over their networks and loaded onto their miniscule flash memory players - and for whom the only route to that desired result ended up being peer to peer networks. They understand, at least partially, that if you lock down what a legitimate user can do with media so tightly that he can't acquire it, watch it, play it or listen to it where he wants and when he wants, he'll become frustrated and may well turn to the pirate version - which carries none of the restrictions that you unfairly impose on your paying customers. They understand that if you treat customers like criminals, you'll turn them into criminals.
Some parts of Sony understand that too. You can play MP3s on the PSP or rip your DVDs to watch them on the handheld console, and all of the firm's new digital music players support open standards. Some other parts of Sony clearly don't, and are furiously working on barricades to prevent the onset of the digital future. Which of those sides holds the upper hand - and at the moment, we suspect it's the former - is going to be a factor that has an impact on Sony, and the digital media market at large, for years to come.
Report Provided by: Gamesindustry.biz
British Man Beats HIV!
A British man has allegedly become the first person in the world to beat HIV.
A number of newspapers reported that Andrew Stimpson, 25, was diagnosed with the virus in 2002. He later tested negative in 2003. Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust, which carried out the tests, now want him to undergo more before it can be established how he apparently beat the disease. Mr Stimpson said he did not take any medication for HIV. A spokeswoman said: "These tests were accurate and they were his, but what we don't know at the moment is why that has happened, and we want him to come back in for more tests. It is potentially a fantastic thing."
Stimpson was tested three times in August 2002 at the Victoria clinic for sexual health in central London. The results showed he was producing HIV antibodies to fight the killer disease.
He took vitamins and other dietary supplements in the hopes that this might prevent full-blown Aids from developing. After impressing doctors with his good health, Stimpson was offered a new test in 2003. It came back negative, and further tests in December 2003 and March 2004 also proved negative.
He told a newspaper: "It was the last thing I expected. I was astonished. I was baffled too. "I couldn't understand how anyone could cure themselves of HIV . . . I thought it had to be wrong because no one can recover from HIV, it just doesn't happen."
The tests were re-checked by the Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust and they confirmed all the tests had been accurate. The case has baffled medical experts and they want to study Mr Stimpson in the hope that they can learn more about beating HIV.
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Nintendo Announces Wi-Fi For UK!
More than 7500 hotspots to be active in UK alone from launch on November 25
Nintendo has announced that more than 15,000 Wi-Fi Connection hotspots will be active in time for the European launch of the service - a figure which is set to almost double by the end of the year.
Speaking to a games website, senior director of marketing Jim Merrick said: "We've been on the sidelines of online gaming for a long time, because we just didn't see the right combination of value for the consumer and technology and gameplay."."Now I think the time is right. We talked about the promise of Wi-Fi when we first introduced the DS, and now we can show you what Nintendo's vision of online gaming is."
More than half of the hotspots will be in the UK alone, thanks to deals with BT Openzone and The Cloud. Piggybacking their infrastructure, Wi-Fi Connection will allow gamers to play Wi-Fi-enabled multiplayer games like Tony Hawk's American Sk8land (Nov 18) and Mario Kart DS (Nov 25) from a vast number of locations. These will include branches of McDonald's and Coffee Republic, Hilton and Ramada Jarvis hotels, Road Chef and Welcome Break service stations, First Great Western railway stations, more than 25 student unions, city centre BT payphones, airports, football stadiums, the British Library and Canary Wharf.
Nintendo will be launching a new website, http://www.nintendowifi.co.uk, where visitors can input a postcode to find the location of their nearest hotspot. The site will also give gamers the chance to see how their high scores compare with other players, and will offer technical support - those with wireless networks at home will be able to search a database of more than 200 routers for advice on configuration. Those who don't have a home wireless network will be able to purchase the Wi-Fi USB Connector dongle, which attaches to a PC, to get their DS online. It will retail for around GBP 30.
Nintendo is keen to stress that there are no fees or subscription costs for playing, and no risk of harassment as players do not directly communicate with each other. Instead of entering a name and password, each DS owner has a unique identifier number entered into the DS's memory. Users can swap numbers offline to build up a friends list, or play anonymously against gamers from all around the world.
Wi-Fi Connection will launch in Europe on November 25. Nintendo has confirmed that its next-generation console, codenamed Revolution, will also make use of the service.
THE MOVIE
(due for release on 02.12.05)
Today I have been looking around for some decent new movies which are soon to be released and I came across this beauty. Not for all people (as you can tell by the title) however for those of you who loved the games, this is defiantly a must see in December. Not much has been released about the plot as yet but if you look at the trailer below you will soon see that the plot seems to follow that of Doom 3. Enjoy!
Please click the play button to start
The film is due to be released on Friday 2nd December 2005. WBS1999 will be writing a full review on this film so watch this space!
For now just look at the image below, bring back a few memories??? (picture contains gore)
We Wish You A Merry Xmas OR NOT SAY SONY AND MICROSOFT!!!
It's a common complaint in the UK, and probably in most of the rest of the world - Christmas seems to begin earlier and earlier every year. The decorations appeared in some shop windows before Halloween was upon us, you can already buy mince pies and Christmas cake slices in Starbucks, and stores and catalogues have been urging us to consider gift ideas for months. This year, another traditional sign of British Christmas arrived early - namely retail shortages of a Sony console.
It's only the beginning of November, and already it's looking grim for anyone who wants a PlayStation Portable for Christmas. A trawl through London's high street stores will prove fruitless unless you're extremely lucky indeed; a trawl through central London's top retailers last week revealed that not a single unit of the PSP was available. "They come in and go straight back out again," we were told in more than one store. Online, the story is not much better; Amazon cites four to six weeks as its delivery estimate for orders made at the moment.
We can already imagine the outraged headlines as we get closer to Christmas and the mainstream press discover that this year's must-have toy is nowhere to be found - and, of course, when the inevitable ridiculously priced auctions are found on eBay. Even now, almost two months from Christmas, some enterprising - or gouging, depending on how you look at it - London retailers will happily sell you PSP hardware for around twice the standard retail price.
A little shortage, of course, never hurt Sony too badly. Grabbing the headlines and making your product into the most desirable and sought-after toy for Christmas is no bad thing. What every retailer must cross their fingers and pray for, however, is that this year genuinely does see a little shortage, and now the huge shortages which crippled videogame sales last December, as a critical lack of slimline PS2 consoles lopped 2004's traditional winter sales spike off near the root.
One thing is clear; Sony's projection of a worldwide launch for the PSP last Christmas was not merely a bit wide of the mark, but was hugely, vastly inaccurate. Twelve months after the PSP hit retail in Japan and was originally projected to hit retail worldwide, Sony still can't supply ongoing demand for the console, despite the eventual vastly staggered launch.
There's a school of thought which says that as long as the device is selling, in the long run, it doesn't matter - but looking at this Christmas, the potential for frustrated retailers to be sending even more frustrated consumers away empty-handed is worrying. Xbox 360 will also be thin on the ground, and if consumers can't get their hands on either of the hot consoles this Christmas, the money that would have been spent on videogames won't burn a hole in their pockets through to early 20006 - it'll go instead on other desirable products. Expect a lot of new iPods to take the place of PlayStation Portables under Christmas trees this year; revenue that will be permanently lost to the games business.
Besides the immediate worry over Christmas, there's also a wider concern about Sony's overall ability to deliver on its hardware commitments. If the can could miss its targets for the PSP by such a huge margin, what message can the industry take away about the prospects for the launch of the PlayStation 3? Already, many commentators expect the PS3 launch to be a painful process; Sony could do with delivering a little reassurance to its long-suffering partners that it's actually going to improve its performance on launch date and unit targets this time around.
Report Provided By: Gamesindustry.biz
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New to This Site; BLOGGING!!!
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Who's to be the Next James Bond Girl???
The suave British spy has worked his way through a bevy of beauties. Before Pussy Galore, there was Solitaire, Mary Goodnight and Honey Ryder. Now he’s set to add another name to his bulging black book – Russian double agent Vesper Lynd.
Daniel Craig may be the first-ever blond Bond and now it looks like he’s to team up with a brunette beauty in the shape of Angelina Jolie.
The talented actress is being courted by producers to play the role of Bond’s love interest Lynd in the forthcoming movie Casino Royale.
A source told The Sun: 'Angelina is simply perfect for the part of the ultimate Bond girl. On-screen chemistry will be nothing new to the pair who previously worked together on Tomb Raider.
Others who have been name-checked to star opposite new 007 Daniel Craig include Kelly Brook and Jessica Alba. A casting decision may not be made until January 2006. In the meantime, a list of celebs have come forward with their pleas to become Bond’s babe.
Former S Club singer Rachel Stevens, who has just made her big screen debut in ‘Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo’ alongside Rob Schneider, has even expressed an interest. She told The Sun: 'I would love to be Daniel Craig's Bond girl. I'll think he'll be great in Casino Royale. It would be my dream job... totally fabulous and so glamorous.'
Meanwhile, reality TV star Jasmine Lennard – who appeared in Make Me a Supermodel and Trust Me, I’m A Holiday Rep – is reported to have been confirmed for a part in Casino Royale.
Report Provided by: ntlworld.com
Nintendo May NEVER Officially Release Their Revolution Specifications
Comparisons between Nintendo and the "mainstream" console vendors - Sony and Microsoft - seem to become more meaningless by the day. Not content with happily classing itself as a creator of toys when the other players in the market are determined to be seen as media and technology companies, or with unashamedly favouring a family and non-gamer market over the hardcore fans who make up the core of Microsoft's audience and a fair chunk of Sony's, Nintendo dropped yet another bombshell this week - the fact that it may never officially release the specifications for the Revolution next-generation console.
This doesn't mean that we'll never know what's in the box. Developers will find out, developers will tell the media, and eventually the information will be there for anyone who wants to know. But there will probably be no fanfare, no graphs showing how much more powerful than your Xbox 360, your PS3, your GameCube, your toaster or your flush toilet the Revolution is. Why not? Because as far as Nintendo is concerned, it isn't important, and you shouldn't care.
Naturally, the instant response of many people is to assume that this means the Revolution will be underpowered compared to its rivals, and that's probably true. Nintendo wants to make an inexpensive, accessible box with a unique control system and a compelling line-up of games which will attract gamers and non-gamers alike; its rivals want to make incredibly powerful gaming and multimedia systems which will be supremely desirable to hardcore gamers and gadget fans.
Does this sound familiar? Of course - it's exactly the same as the situation with the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP, and it's worth noting that the DS is more than holding its own against Sony's move into the handheld market. It can't hope to rival the incredible graphical quality of games on the PSP, but cleverly designed and incredibly accessible and fun software has easily compensated for that problem.
That's no guarantee that Nintendo will repeat this success in the home console market, but the decision not to discuss the specifications makes it even more apparent how many lessons the firm has learned in the last ten years, which have seen it go from the top of the business to being a distant joint-second to Sony's PlayStation behemoth. If Nintendo doesn't want to talk about specs, it's less because they're afraid of being compared to their rivals, and more because they know that their audience neither understands nor cares about the figures.
Ultimately, that's also something Sony and Microsoft could learn from. Cell and RSX, PowerPC and Xenos, none of these things will matter down the line to anyone other than fanboys arguing on forums. Consoles sell because they have compelling content, and Sony has successfully dominated the market for two generations despite having the least powerful console on both occasions.
What will matter in the next generation is getting the content to satisfy the hardcore gaming population, and more importantly, working out how to engage the countless people who would play games but aren't engaged by anything our industry produces at present. Here's a hint - they're unlikely to be wooed by the awesome size of your throbbing graphics chipset, but they might just be interested in stroking a puppy, singing a song or dancing a dance. The next generation battle will only be fought for a short time over the hearts and minds of the 100 million people who buy consoles right now. The real battle will be for the hundreds of millions of people who don't, and the challenge in that market is not to win the meaningless specification war, it's to innovate and evolve - or face becoming irrelevant.
X-Box 360 will lose Microsoft Millions!
The latest financial report from software giant Microsoft shows that the firm's overall profits continue to soar, although major losses are expected from the Xbox 360 in the coming months, and Xbox revenues are declining sharply.The Home and Entertainment Division, which houses the Xbox as well as the firm's PC games business and other media related businesses, saw its September quarter sales fall to $525 million from $634 million last year, and racked up a loss of $141 million - up marginally from $138 million last year.Revenue from the Xbox is plummeting in anticipation of the launch of Xbox 360, it seems; the Xbox actually saw a drop of $132 million in revenue, while the PC games business drove a $23 million rise in revenues across the rest of the division.Financially at least, the division is in for a tough time going forward as well, with the Xbox 360 set to inflict heavy losses in the early stages of its life, as would be expected from any such console.
"Historically, Xbox consoles have negative gross margins," the report says. In fact, all console manufacturers barring Nintendo traditionally rack up negative gross margins early in the lifespan of the hardware, although the systems are generally sold at break-even or better by the end of the lifespan - a milestone which the Xbox never reached due to using off the shelf components from Intel and NVIDIA."In fiscal year 2006, we expect Xbox console unit volumes and revenue to increase from fiscal year 2005 due to the launch of the Xbox 360," the report explained. "We expect operating expenses and operating loss to continue to increase as we near the launch of Xbox 360 as a result of launch-related activities and higher initial Xbox 360 console costs."
Speaking to Reuters after the results were announced, Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell also sounded a note of caution about initial shipment numbers of the console - saying that analysts are "expecting more of a launch spike than we were," which seems to suggest that the roll-out of the console may be even slower than previously anticipated.
Looking at the bigger picture, Microsoft had revenue of $9.74 billion for the quarter (up 6 per cent on last year), and racked up profits of $3.14 billion, up an impressive 24 per cent year on year; so while the Xbox may yet have to prove itself financially, the company can certainly afford to bankroll it for a while yet.
Apple have had a Law Suit against them Due to their "Easily Scratched" iPod Nano
Earlier this month we reported on how one consumer had set up a website about this re-occurring problem with the new iPod Nano. Which you can see in the Archive. But now it seems that one customer is going that one step further and has decided to sue Apple.
Even as the iPod Nano flies off shelves, consumer complaints over Apple's wafer-thin music player continue to mount. Weeks after some Nano users griped about cracked or defective screens, a group of disgruntled buyers has filed a lawsuit against Apple Computer Inc. over claims that the device's screen can "scratch excessively during normal usage," rendering it unreadable. According to a Reuters report, the suit alleges that Apple pushed ahead with the Nano's release on September 6 despite evidence that it was defective. Filed in San Jose, California, the lawsuit is seeking class-action status based on claims that one of the Nano's problems is the thin film of plastic resin that covers the screen. The suit contends that previous iPod versions were coated with a stronger, thicker resin that was more scratch resistant.
See the archive for earlier report
"Rather than admit the design flaw when consumers began to express widespread complaints ... Apple concealed the defect and advised class members that they would need to purchase additional equipment to prevent the screen from scratching excessively," according to the complaint.
Shortly after the Nano's hyped release, complaints began to mount that the screens on the device were easily cracked
. Apple blamed the defect on a particular batch from a specific vendor that, according to the company, affected less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the Nanos that had been sold at that point. At the time, a disgruntled user launched the site www.flawedmusicplayer.com as a means of complaining about the screens, which led to Apple's admission to the manufacturing problem and an offer to replace the defective devices. But the company said the Nano's screen was no more susceptible to scratching that previous versions and recommended users buy protective cases.
"A few vocal customers are saying that their iPod Nano is more susceptible to scratching than prior iPods. We have received very few calls from customers reporting this problem, and do not believe this is a widespread issue," the company said at the time.
The plaintiff named in the suit, Jason Tomczak, bought his Nano in September. He said the screen quickly became so scratched that he could not view it. He claims in the suit that the screen was so easily scratched that even rubbing a paper towel across it left significant marks. The suit also claims that putting the Nano in your pocket with items such as car keys, coins, a credit card or the device's headphones can render the screen hard to read. Apple has reportedly sold more than 1 million Nanos since the device's introduction.
Apple replaced Tomczak's Nano because of a battery issue, but the replacement also became so scratched that Tomczak reportedly decided to return it as well. Because Tomczak and other complainants had to a pay a $25 fee to return their Nanos, the proposed class-action suit requests the return of those fees along with the original cost of the device and a share of Apple's "unlawful or illegal" profits from the sales of iPods. The firm handling the case claims that Apple deleted postings on its Web site related to the scratching problem.
SGWADE.co.uk will be keeping you up-to-date with the latest news on this topic as it comes.
Within 5 Weeks of Releasing the iPod Nano Apple Have Announced a Brand New iPod, The iPod Video!!!
Yes its now offical, Apple have produced their first ever video playback iPod. Which is now avilable in the shops for a heavy £220-£300! However you do get a lot for your money. Apart from the unbeatable looks you get between 30GB-60GB of memory thats around 75-150 hours of video playback!
There also going to offer the new iPod in both white and black due to popular demand for the black iPod Nano. Apple have also launched a new version of its ever expanding iTunes music store. V5 was only released 5 weeks ago but Today you can download for free at apple.com V6 of the iTunes Music AND video store. Yep, you can chose from 2000 music videos on iTunes along with a few short films from Pixar Studios. Just like the music, you can preview ALL of the music videos and short films to make sure you get the one you want! They cost between £1.50-£2.00 so not that much considering your getting a video and the song in one! Also, by popular demand, the new store will have a feature so you can gift a song or video to someone by simply emailing it to them using the gifting feature. However on BIG feature to come to the new iTunes store, in the near future, will be the ability to download TV shows at around £1.50 each. This is being trialed at the moment in the USA but you can bet you will see it arrive in the UK iTunes store before Christmas. Offereing shows like LOST and Desperate House Wives. This is a huge leap for Apple in the space of 1 day. But it is something that Sony should seriously take into account should Apple decide to expand its iPods in the future to allow games to be played on them. WBS1999 will be getting our hands on one in November so we will do a full review on the new iPod then. So keep checking back!!!
Mc Donalds to offer FREE Wi-Fi for Nintendo DS owners!!!
Nintendo of America has signed a deal with McDonald's to put Wi-Fi hotspots in more than 7000 restaurants across the US, giving DS owners free access to the new Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service.
McDonald's already offers wireless Internet access to laptop owners in restaurants around the country, but charges a fee. The access points are supplied by Texan firm Wayport, which will receive an undisclosed sum from Nintendo for providing wireless access for the DS.
"This agreement with Wayport will bring countless people together to play games in a single, simultaneous wireless community," said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's executive VP of sales and marketing.
"Beginning with free access at participating McDonald's, we have removed one of the major barriers that have kept people from going online to play games."
Wayport CEO Dave Vucina commented: "By enabling Nintendo DS customers to access Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection via our Wi-Fi World network and business model at McDonald's, we are continuing to drive more customers to the restaurants we serve and increase the relevancy of Wi-Fi to a broader customer base."
"Nintendo is a pioneer in providing a new way for their customers to play the games they want to while away from home or the office, and McDonald's is the perfect venue based on their ubiquity and accessibility."
The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service will launch in the US on November 14, with a European launch to follow on November 25 - the same day as Mario Kart DS, complete with online mode, hits shop shelves. Other forthcoming Wi-Fi titles include Metroid Prime Hunters, Animal Crossing: Wild World and Tony Hawk's American SK8Land. Nintendo was unavailable to comment on whether European McDonald's restaurants will also offer free access to the service.
However, it has been confirmed that "Nintendo DS is just the first Nintendo system to connect via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection," according to an official statement.
"The same service will be incorporated into Nintendo's next-generation home video game console, codenamed Revolution, which is set for release in 2006."
Report Provided by: gamesindustry.biz
UPDATE
Nano's are on the Move to the UK!!!
Apple have now managed to provide all the current iPod providers with a new influx of stock. Most electronic retail outlets now have the iPod Nano in all its forms in stock right now!
"The New Ipod Nano is Easily Cracked", say some Consumers:
People who have brought the new Ipod Nano have started to complain about how easily the screen seems to crack. You can see above, pictures of Ipod Nano's which have had their screens cracked. A website had been set up by a Nano owner to allow people to share their comments about this situation which he now says, "is resolved". This "situation is now under control" say Apple. They are now replacing some Nano's with cracked screens under the warrenty terms and conditions!
NTL are going to offer customers mega speed broadband (50MB) soon!!!
NTL unveils strategy for next generation broadband
• 10Mb to become the standard cable broadband speed for NTL customers
• All NTL Broadband customers eligible for 10Mb upgrade at no extra monthly cost
• Current 3Mb customers will be the first to receive the new service
At the moment current speeds offered by the company are 1mb with a 3GB download limit, 2mb with a 30GB download limit and a huge 3mb connection with also a 30GB download limit (currently download limits are not enforced). However from next year ALL customers will be upgraded to a massive 10mb connection with different download limits but NTL enforce that this will be the standard connection for all residential customers. This means that you will pay more for a higher download limit rather than a higher bandwidth connection.
However this isn't all. NTL’s fibre-rich network means that broadband speeds of between 30Mb and 50Mb are possible through DOCSIS 3.0 (cable) or ADSL 2+ (copper). NTL has the flexibility in its dual local network to offer this type of connection in the future.
Check out the new Movies in the Movies section!
Nintendo are to Start a Revolution, or are they?
Nintendo have officially released pictures of their brand new idea in terms of a brand new (very original) controller design for their next generation console, the Revolution. Due to be released next year, the console will have this controller as standard and an extra analogue controller which you can see below. (Thanks to IGN.com)
The whole idea for this brand new design is to get people who would normally look at a games controller and go "that’s not for me" see the Revolution controller and go "is that something for me to use?". We are all very familiar to the remote controller so it could work. The controller has sensors on it which can detect the movement of the controller and where it is located in the room. This means games can finally become fully interactive. You can do a spot of fishing with it and play a bit of squash. What ever you fancy, these are just two ideas shown off at the Nintendo Revolution Tokyo games convention. If you would like to see the full video for this controller just CLICK HERE.
There is one thing for certain though, Nintendo will get a lot of attention over this new controller and I (this reviewer) can't wait to get my hands on one! It is defiantly the most intriguing console I have ever seen. One other amazing feature about this new beauty is that you will be able to download a full Nintendo back catalogue! (Not for free of course) However this means you can buy those games you never got round to buying and replay some of the best games ever made like Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. The only real down side to this console is that it may not have some of the better FPS (first person shooters) like Perfect Dark Zero, which is due to be released on the Xbox 360 on December 2nd this year. But I think that if the games are good for this console, then the other two won't matter. It will be so different that it will be hard to compare it to the Xbox 360 and the PS3. If you would like to read a lot more about the Revolution CLICK HERE.
NEW from google, a brand new messenger service. Its a little basic at the moment and you do need a gmail account to use it but apart from that its a fresh new service. Give it a try.
If you would like a gmail account please email the team at: gmail@wbs1999.co.uk. Our team will consider your request. If you would like to download it click HERE.
Microsoft to release Windows Vista early next year!
Microsoft have officially announced the next generation of its ongoing Windows operating system. Originally called "Windows Longhorn", Vista has improved security and has been completely re designed in terms of its coding and operation. There are much more controls in this new version, now administrators/parents will be able to stop and control what is installed on their computers and what is even played on them and when! The new improved internet explorer 7 boasts features known to firebox and mozella to make it the ultimate in internet explorers. The new system will happy run on 64 bit systems and offer the best in user performance and efficiency in the wake to dual processor motherboards.
Don't be fooled by Vista's appearance. It is an entirely new system and will be (at last) a good competitor to apple's Mac OS. Microsoft has released a beta edition of Vista to MSDN subscribers but they hopefully will release it to the general technical market soon. If you would like to watch some American guy attempt to show you all the new features please click HERE. Warning, this video is 39 MB.
Also Microsoft have unvalled there latest edition to Office, to go with the new operating system. Office 12 is ment to be aimed at people who find most of the features in Office useless at the moment. Its designed to be much more user friendly in trying to anticipate the users needs. Click HERE for more. Below is a screen shot of Powerpoint 12:
(click on the picture to view full size)
Let us know what you think of the new Windows and Office systems on our Forum!
New Look!!!
As you may have noticed, the new look. Its to help celebrate the start of a new year and the name change of the title of the website. Let me know if you like it or hate it at: newlook@wbs1999.co.uk HOPE YOU LIKE IT!!! There are also some new pictures on the picture page!
In case you don't know yet
ENGLAND HAVE WON AND REGAINED THE ASHES!!!
Tens of thousands of cricket fans have packed the streets of central London to celebrate the England cricket team's Ashes triumph.
"men of the hours in the tests"
Michael Vaughan and his team-mates drove in an open-topped bus through the City of London, and were cheered to the rafters at a special presentation ceremony in Trafalgar Square.
The triumphant heroes will head three miles north to Lord's, the home of cricket, where they will present the tiny trophy to the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) for safe keeping.
The great and the good have been queuing up to congratulate the team since they finally overcame Australia yesterday in one of the tightest and most dramatic Test series in living memory.
The Queen, who is patron of the MCC, hailed their "magnificent achievement" in securing the Ashes after 18 years of frustration and defeat.
She watched the thrilling game unfold while on her annual holiday at Balmoral and declared: "My warmest congratulations to you, the England cricket team and all in the squad for the magnificent achievement of regaining the Ashes."
"This has been a truly memorable series and both sides can take credit for giving us all such a wonderfully exciting and entertaining summer of cricket at its best."
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has been closely tracking progress during his visit to the Far East, wrote in a letter to Vaughan: "By bringing the Ashes back after so long you have given cricket a huge boost and lit up the whole summer."
WBS1999 also wishes the boys and girls many congratulations on their amazing achievements over the summer. This summer will most definitely be remembered for years to come in English cricket as the best summer and test match EVER! WELL DONE!!!
Charity TREK, 89 MILES!!!
Andrew Williams, Gassan Suliman, Yash Naik, Qing Chen, Robin Woolcombe, all 17 year old students at the West Bridgford School Post Sixteen Collage have completed there trek of 89 miles from Ruddington to Skegness purely for charity!!! In a remarkable effort to help Cancer Research UK.
Qing Chen (left) Andrew Williams (right) Robin Woolcombe
Gassan Suliman Yash Naik
Gassan has also asked me to make sure that it is aware that he will doing this walk for Amnesty International.
The walk took place on Monday 25th July 05 and finished on Friday 29th July 05.
In an interview with WBS1999, before the walk, Andrew said, "I and my friends decided earlier on in the year that we wanted to do something for charity after our AS-Level exams. I came up with the idea of a walk as we do often go out camping and trekking in the woods." In addition he told us that, "I am doing it all for charity and I have managed to get sponsors from my school and family. I am doing this to help those thousands of people who die of cancer every day. That is how I decided which charity to go for."
The trek took Andrew and his friends 5 days with 4 nights camping and no time to stop in between! We are helping to promote Andrew as much as we can and we would love to here from you. If you would like to get more information about the walk or would like to sponsor Andrew then please email this address at:
sponsor@wbs1999.co.uk
(just thought I'd let you know that we have had NO sponsors from the website as of yet! Please email the above address to help sponsor cancer research UK)
All donations welcome, if you under the age of 16 please ask your parents/guardians permission first.
Thank you - "every little helps!"
Visit their website at: http://www.teamkickass.tk (remember this is an external link, WBS1999 cannot be held responsible for the content of ANY external link [website] off this site!)
WBS1999 will no longer be updating you on the london bid due to legal restrictions. If you have problems with this please go this site to find out more details:
http://www.london2012.com/en/olympic_marks.htm
If you wish to contact the site about legal issues please email this addres:
legal@wbs1999.co.uk
Thank you
WBS1999 Webmasters and its visitors give our thoughts to those families and people involved in the London attacks of 7/7/05. Check the link below for the latest news on this terrible tragedy:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2005/london_explosions/default.