stations

Criterion Collection's reference Blu-ray player is a PS3

It goes without saying that the folks who work at Criterion Collection are film buffs. And anyone who has watched one of the company's lovingly remastered DVDs can attest to the fact the company really cares about making films look as good as they can. That's why we took notice when a poster at AVS Forum pointed out an interesting tidbit in Sound & Vision's recent profile of Criterion Collection's new high-def home theater--Criterion's reference Blu-ray player is a PS3.

We're not exactly surprised. We've been using the PS3 as our reference Blu-ray player at CNET since it was released, and you'll notice that it tops our best Blu-ray players list by quite a margin. Furthermore, it's worth noting that video quality expert Joe Kane help set up Criterion's new home theater room. When we checked out Joe Kane's demo of the truly awesome SP-A800B at CES, we specifically asked what Blu-ray player he thought had the best image quality, he immediately said the PS3. So if you're worried about the image quality of a "game console" versus a high-end standalone Blu-ray player, it's worth rechecking your assumptions when CNET, Criterion and Joe Kane all vouch for the PS3's excellent performance.

Another interesting piece of gear we noted from the S&V article is… Read more

'GTA IV' making its way onto PCs this fall

Over at our sister site, Gamespot, Wednesday, the eagle-eyed Guy Cocker noticed that Rockstar Games has officially announced its mega-hit, Grand Theft Auto IV, is coming to the PC.

Originally available for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the game, which had sold more than 8.5 million copies through early June, will be available on PCs--though not Macs, apparently--on November 18 in North America and on November 21 in Europe.

This is a big move for Rockstar Games because it opens up GTA IV to an even bigger audience than could already play it. And that likely means many more … Read more

Mophie juice pack 3G promises to extend the iPhone 3G's battery life

Thanks to the iPhone 3G's purportedly sorry battery life, we think the must-have accessories for the iPhone 3G are arguably (1) an extra charging cable, and (2) a battery extender. We've mentioned the Kensington Mini Battery Extender before, but I personally find it adds a little too much length to the iPhone 3G.

MStation, which released the Mophie juice pack battery extender for the first-generation iPhone last December, has just announced its second version of the Mophie just for the iPhone 3G.

Dubbed the Mophie juice pack 3G, this portable charging dock even comes "precharged" right … Read more

How is the PlayStation 2 doing after all these years?

When Sony argues, as it frequently does these days, that its video game consoles have a 10-year life cycle, critics often assume the company is just trying to make the point that its PlayStation 3 has many years left in which to become the dominant machine of the current generation.

There may be some truth to that interpretation, but at the same time, Sony does indeed have a point, as evidenced by the continued strong performance of its PlayStation 2, a console it has sold more than 140 million units of since launching it in 2000.

Even now, the PS2 … Read more

Video game company to put gamers' DNA in space

If you've every wanted to live forever, legendary game designer Richard Garriott--also known in the video game community as "Lord British"--may give you the chance.

That's because Garriott, who has paid well into eight figures for the chance to go to space, is planning to take the DNA of several of his games' players with him for eternal stellar posterity.

The mission, known as "Operation Immortality," will launch this October when Garriott will fly aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station, taking with him a time capsule that will include … Read more

First batch of PS3 'Greatest Hits' now available

Following in the same tradition of every generation of video games, Sony has released the first batch of "Greatest Hits" titles for the PlayStation 3. Originally announced at the company's E3 press conference, the 10 select games will feature a retail price of $29.99 and come in a special red game case.

The first three games to be released by Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) in the "Greatest Hits" collection are Resistance: Fall of Man, Warhawk, and Motorstorm.

Other titles from non-first-party developers packaged as "Greatest Hits" include Call of Duty 3, … Read more

Sony sees big slump in income

The spring quarter was not a good one for Sony.

The consumer electronics giant on Tuesday reported that for the three months ended June 30, its net income was 35 billion yen ($330 million), or just more than half of the 66.5 billion recorded in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue for this year's second calendar quarter (the first quarter of Sony's April-to-March fiscal year) was 1.979 trillion yen, a slight gain from last year's 1.977 trillion yen.

There was at least one bright spot amid the gloom. Sony said its game unit … Read more

Music, co-op games the dominant trends at E3

As planes packed with video game industry people start heading out of Los Angeles in droves after this week's E3 convention, the question is, What really transpired during the confab?

If one thing was clear, it was that the industry largely played it safe this week. Sure, there were a few big announcements--perhaps led by Microsoft's announcement of its planned revamping of the Xbox Live architecture--but for the most part, this was a pretty uneventful E3, an unsurprising reality given that we're a couple of years into the "next-generation" of consoles already and the … Read more

Nintendo: Wii grabs top spot in next-gen console wars

On Monday morning in Los Angeles, attendees at Microsoft's E3 press conference heard Xbox head Don Mattrick "declare" that that video game console would win the so-called next-generation console war.

But if the latest sales data put out by NPD mean anything, Microsoft's road to victory could be a little harder. That's because, according to Nintendo, the Wii in June surpassed the Xbox 360 to become the best-selling next-generation console in the United States.

According to Nintendo, NPD's numbers show that during June, the Wii hit 10.9 million units sold in the U.… Read more

Sony E3 2008 press conference wrap-up

Sony on Tuesday afternoon concluded the trio of press conferences kicking off E3 2008. Here are some of the highlights:

We first got a glimpse of the highly anticipated sequel Resistance 2, set to ship in the fall. The gameplay looked gorgeous and featured a battle with a 300-foot monster. Next up was some time with LittleBigPlanet, shipping in October 2008, a game that will allow users to design, create, and share their own custom levels over the PlayStation Network. MotorStorm: Pacific Drift and SOCOM Confrontation were also briefly shown.

Other PlayStation 3 games were just teased as we saw … Read more