From kotaku.com:
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I know the Gran Turismo demo isn't supposed to hit until tomorrow, but early this morning there were several reports of people being able to download it.

And it looks like word has spread, as of about 8 a.m. the network has been knocked-out. According to the Playstation 3 forums, the help center is telling people that the network was knocked out because it got too busy.
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Read More: kotaku.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From kotaku.com:
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I thought I had wasted time taking Sony's most recent Playstation 3 survey. It seemed mostly about trying to see what PS3 owners thought of the console. They asked about the gaming experience, online experience, yada, yada, yada. But then, on the last page, they asked which peripheral I was most excited about. Among the list of things I was totally disinterested in was the Eye Toy (Digital HD Camera). A high-def Eye Toy?
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Read More: kotaku.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From gamasutra.com:
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So who, at the end of the day, will be the also-ran in this generation of consoles? On the global scale, I'd say it could well be neither the PS3 or the Wii, but the Xbox 360. The PS3 will win over the hardcore gamers who have to have the fastest, most amazing machine available. The Wii will skim off the younger players and those who don't have as much money to spend.

Both have the advantage of being made in Japan, so they'll crowd the Xbox right out of that market. In the US and Europe, it's harder to say, but I see the Xbox's early start as more of a liability than a benefit. They've racked up several million sales, but they can no longer claim to be the latest, greatest thing - especially as the PS3 plays Blu-Ray disks out of the box, but HD-DVD is only available for the Xbox as an add-on. The Dreamcast got an early start too, and look how that ended.
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Read More: gamasutra.com (2 pages)
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From RedKawa
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PS3 Media Center X is a free multimedia server developed by Red Kawa. It allows you to stream certain types of pictures, music, videos and files from your computer (where the server running) to your Sony PlayStation 3. It runs on most major operating systems including Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Features
* Videos - PS3 Media Center X lets you stream and watch videos in the Flash video format (FLV) on your PS3. You can download flash videos from many places on the internet or create your own using PS3 Video 9.
* Music - PS3 Media Center X lets you playback MP3s on your PS3 without the need of any copying or downloading.
* Pictures - Red Kawa Media Center lets you view pictures on your PS3 without the need of any copying or downloading.
* Files - PS3 Media Center X lets you browse and copy files located on your server to your PS3.
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Official Website: www.redkawa.com
Download: here
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From gamasutra.com:
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Sony Computer Entertainment America has announced today the North American release of Gran Turismo HD Concept, as a free download on the PS3's PlayStation Network starting December 24th.

Originally planned as a full network release that would ship without cars or tracks, which could be later bought individually through microtransactions, those plans were scrapped in the beginning of December.

An online message from designer Kazunori Yamauchi indicated at the time that instead the Gran Turismo HD: Classic element of the game will be made available free for download, for a limited time, on Christmas Eve. The game includes ten cars and one track.
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Read More: gamasutra.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

With the usual delay (blame Sony again) ... here's the official changelog for the v1.32 PS3 System Software update.

What's new/fixed (since v1.31):
* The online gaming functionality of the system software has been updated.

Yep, that's all we get.

Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

The new M-Create numbers are in for the week of December 11-17. The Sony PS3 sold 70942 units (50171 last week).
The first PS3 title in the TOP50 software list is MotorStorm on the 35th place followed by Ridge Racer 7 on the 49th place.

The Xbox 360 sold 17168 units (35343 last week - the Blue Dragon launch week), the Nintendo Wii sold 108237 units (85439 last week) and the PS2 sold 37730 units sold (30460 last week).
If my calculations are right this bring the installment base of the PS3 to ~308.8k, Xbox 360 to ~230k and Wii to ~521.2k in Japan.

On a WorldWide scale it's much harder to get numbers. However the nexgenwars estimates have proven to be not far from the truth usually, just keep in mind these are no official numbers.
Worldwide installment base for the next-gen consoles:
PS3: 503,254
Xbox 360: 8,874,211
Wii: 1,877,329

Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From kotaku.com:
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We've been getting reports that the Blu-Ray Remote (aka the PLAYSTATION 3 Blu-ray Disc (BD) Remote Control) is now showing up in stores ($24.99), which means less leaning forward to pick up your charging SIXAXIS controller, less confusion about what the triangle button does during MP3 playback, and one more remote to confound your wife or girlfriend.
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Read More: kotaku.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

Dragon Electronics launched a new product for the PlayStation3:
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Those silicon caps fit snugly on the 2 analog sticks from your Six Axis official Playstation 3 controller (and most compatible controllers), and improve your grip and gameplay. 5 models are available in each set, that allow you to find the perfect design for YOU! Available in multiple color, it also customizes your PS3 look.

Specifications:
* Safe silicon material
* Improves grip and control
* 5 models in each set to find the perfect fit for you or for different types of games
* Easy to set up and fits snugly
* Available in 8 colors: ICE WHITE, CLEAR CHERRY PINK, CLEAR GRAPE VIOLET, SEA BLUE, SUN YELLOW, APPLE GREEN, SHINE SILVER, COPPER GOLD, CHARCOAL BLACK

Sony released a new update for the PS3 system software.
As usual ... no English changelog yet, once it's out we'll let you know.
However we got information that one of the changes will improve the network performance of the system software.

Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From the press release:
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SplitFish GameWare Inc today announced GameStop is the first to receive the EdgeFX Controller for the Sony Playstation 2. The EdgeFX controller is expected in their retail stores next week.

From pcworld.com:
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#8 PlayStation 3: Late, Expensive, and Incompatible
When it was announced in spring 2005, the Sony PlayStation 3 was going to be the greatest thing to hit home gaming since a hedgehog named Sonic. Then came the delays. By the time the PS3 arrived, it was six months late, and Nintendo's cheaper and more innovative Wii had stolen much of its thunder. At $599 for the 60GB model, the PS3 is twice the price of the original PlayStation 2, yet research firm iSupply--which describes the PS3 as having supercomputer qualities--estimates that Sony still loses more than $200 per unit.

Thanks to manufacturing delays, Sony shipped an estimated 150,000 units for the North American launch, or less than half the number it had originally planned. And the PS3 was incompatible with more than 200 PlayStation and PS2 games, though Sony is addressing that problem through online updates.

The good news? Game-crazed youth are buying up PS3s and reselling them on eBay for double the asking price. And unlike, say, Sony batteries, they don't catch fire--at least, not yet.

Big Mistake: Trying to turn a supercomputer into a gaming device.

Bigger Mistake: Failing to drive a stake through the heart of Nintendo when the opportunity offered.
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Read More: pcworld.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From engadget.com:
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According to an interview conducted by Japan's Impress, Sony's Ken Kutaragi has gone on record with a "promise" for what he's calling an AV-centric PS3. In other words, audio and video capabilities first, gaming second (if at all), in a device built around the Cell-processor platform. Ken says that the device would certainly be more expensive, reflecting the prices and margins expected on high-end consumer electronic devices such as TVs, Blu-ray personal video recorders, etc. -- not the relatively cheap, but powerful gaming rigs sold at a loss under Sony's Computer Entertainment division. Impress speculates that the device could cost as much as ¥300,000 or about $2,500. The new Sony-branded living room box would, in Ken's (translated) words, "be a standard AV component sized box with a more powerful, power supply unit, anti-shake insulator, twice the main memory, and 2x HDMI to split sound and video output."
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Read More: engadget.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From next-gen.biz:
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A service called NotifyWire.com, which tracks product stock levels among online retailers says it has been surprised at the amount of availability of PS3 online.

Ian Drake, the head of NotifyWire said, "I wasn't expecting this much volume before Christmas. I think we're already at the point where many people won't pay a premium for the console or be forced into buying bundles."
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Read More: next-gen.biz
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From ps3.ign.com:
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Sony is delivering the ultimate Christmas gift to Japan this year: a free demo of Gran Turismo 5, set for download starting December 24 exclusively via the PlayStation Store. Thanks to Famitsu, we were able to relive our childhoods and get a sneak peak at the gift in advance.

According to the latest issue of the magazine, the demo, titled Gran Turismo HD Concept, will ship with one course and ten cars. The course is the all new Eiger Nordwand, and you'll be able to race it normal and reverse.

The car list has mostly Japanese vehicles, but there are some high profile foreign models in the bunch. Here's the full list:
# Suzuki Cappuccino '95
# Mazda Eunos Roadster '89
# Honda Integra Type R'04
# Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV GSR'96
# Infinity G35 Coupe
# Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GSR'05
# Lotus Elise 111R'04
# Nissan Sky Liner GT-R V Spec II '94
# Toyota Celica GT-FOUR Rally Car '95
# Ferrari 599'06
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Read More: ps3.ign.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From arstechnica.com:
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In an interview with MTV, Sony executive Phil Harrison talked about the PlayStation 3 and where his company was planning on taking their latest game console.

Harrison saved his most interesting comment for last. In discussing the future of the PS3, he stressed that developers are not currently using the machine to its full capacity. In fact, he stated that the current crop of games are using "less than half" of the machine's power, and that "nobody will ever use 100 percent of its capability." Of course, it is common at the beginning of a new console's life for games to not make full use of the power of the hardware: it takes some time for developers to learn the best tricks and techniques for squeezing every last bit of calculating power from any new platform. But to claim that nobody could ever make full use of the system's power, ever, seems a bit hyperbolic. Some developers, at least, will be wanting to tap the full power of the Cell, such as IBM's high-end customers in the HPC market. Some of this knowledge is bound to leak over to the game development world.

The major reason Harrison wants to hype up the "unlimited" potential of the PS3's architecture is to downplay comparisons between games running on Sony's console and Microsoft's Xbox 360.
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Read More: arstechnica.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From engadget.com:
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It's well past August but we're finally seeing the release of BenQ's Blu-ray Disc recorder for PCs. Well, in Japan anyway where this much heralded, dual-layer (50GB) SATA player/recorder built by Philips is set to hit before the month is up. Your ¥89,900 (about $760) -- reduced from the $1000 originally quoted -- buys you a trio of tricks: read/write BD, DVD, and CD media at speeds up to 2x BD-R/RE, 1x dual-layer BD-R/RE, 12x DVD+/-R, and 32x CD-R -- and that's just a smattering of media supported.
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Read More: engadget.com and benq.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From gamesindustry.biz:
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A Sony spokesperson has told GamesIndustry.biz that the latest rumours to emerge regarding a definitive PS3 release date, firmware updates and day one add-ons are "pure speculation".

As reported on Sony's "semi-official" blog, Threespeech.com, the Internet has been rife with rumours that PS3 will launch in Europe in the first or second week of March - with some claiming that Sony is aiming for a release on the third day of the third month.
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Read More: gamesindustry.biz
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From next-gen.biz:
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Sony Computer Entertainment World Wide Studios head Phil Harrison said in an interview that games need to transcend the narrow idea of "fun," provoke deeper emotions and convey situations such as death and peril.

Talking to MTV News' Stephen Totilo, Harrison said, "I fervently believe that the biggest challenge we face is that our industry is referred to as 'video games,' and games are supposed to be fun..." He continued, saying that more adult-oriented areas should be explored in games. "Games should deal with fear, should deal with comedy and with death. They should deal with peril, with drug offenses."
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Read More: next-gen.biz and mtv.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From spong.com:
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Speaking to Aussie website, PALGN, David McLean, Microsoft's Regional Director, Australia and New Zealand, Entertainment and Devices Division claims that the PS3s no-show has not, "...affected our strategy or plans for Xbox 360 this year."

Moving further into Corpro-Speak, McLean took ‘bullish' to new and deeply disingenuous levels by saying, "In fact, to be honest, we're disappointed that consumers won't be able to compare the two consoles side-by-side this Christmas and then make their purchasing decision a position from which we believe we win."
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Read More: spong.com and palgn.com.au
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From next-gen.biz:
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TIME Magazine has deemed the PlayStation 3 as one of 2006's five phenomena that didn't live up to the hype.

And then there's the entry for the PS3: "The big story in computer games this year was HOW TO BLOW A HUGE LEAD, by Sony [emphasis TIME's]. Its PlayStation 2 was the champ in the last round of the console wars. This time Sony bet on a chip called the Cell and a disc format called Blu-ray. They're probably awesome, but how would anybody know? The PS3 is hideously expensive--it goes for up to $600--and Sony manufactured only a piddling few hundred thousand for the U.S., fewer for Japan. Plus it's hard to write games for; the launch titles were lame. You know you're in trouble when you get beat by something called a Wii."
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Read More: next-gen.biz and time.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com