Today on the PlayStation Store, European games have a little surprise waiting for them. A WipEout HD dynamic XMB theme is available to download for free due to SCEE’s delay in releasing dynamic themes last week. You can also purchase the LittleBigPlanet and MotorStorm dynamic themes from the PlayStation Store. Finally, everyone who’s updated to Firmware 3.00 can enjoy the dynamic theme for free.
Earlier this month we reported on 3D support coming to the PlayStation 3 in 2010 along with Sony’s new 3D range of Bravia TVs. Sony has now created a commercial showing off what’s to come in 2010. The commercial shows WipEout HD playing in 3D, though the actors are wearing 3D glasses. Our earlier report stated that the new Bravia TVs would be autostereoscopic, for which you do not need 3D glasses.
The VidZone team have scored another exclusive video. This time its Editors’ new single ‘Papillon’, which is exclusive to Europe from 3:00PM BST today. ‘Papillon’ is the lead single from Editors’ forthcoming album, ‘In This Light And On This Evening’, which sees the band pushing their sound into a wholly new territory. The video was created by award winning film director Andrew Douglas, part of The Douglas Brothers who work at the threshold of art and commercial photography.
The new PSP and Gran Turismo are out in less than a month. Sony has revealed two special versions of Gran Turismo for hard-core fans: the Gran Turismo PSP Collector’s Edition and the Gran Turismo Edition PlayStation Portable console, both of which will launch on 1st October alongside the standard edition. The Collector’s Edition game features an extra vehicle that hopefully needs no introduction to the petrol heads amongst you – the 2009 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 in black.
As we revealed last week, Firmware 6.00 for the PSP is now available to download. Although the version number indicates a major update to the system software, only a few changes have been made. New features include the ability to group games into folders based on their expiry date and new XMB colours have been added to [Theme Settings].
Vivid founder and co-chairman, Steven Hirsch, is keen for Sony to boost adult entertainment industry by making HD movies available worldwide via the PlayStation Network. Hirsch, told MCV that he believed the distribution of porn films on PS3 had “real potential” for the adult entertainment industry. Japanese firm DDM.tv last month revealed that it had launched an HD porn download service for owners of the PS3 – but it is only available in its home territory for the time being.
With the release of Firmware 3.00, the BBC iPlayer was also updated by the BBC. The new version offers improved video quality and an enhanced user interface. The first version of BBC iPlayer for the PS3 was released last December and didn’t support full screen mode or H.264 playback. Anthony Rose, head of digital media technology for the BBC, has heaped praise on Sony’s efforts in improving Flash playback on the PS3.
EA SPORTS today announced that the Live Season premium service has been expanded into a new game mode for FIFA 10. “Every Wednesday is Live Season day where dynamic real-world data and analytics will be updated in FIFA 10 to match the weekly rhythm of real-world football and subscribers will have the chance to rewrite their clubs’ history,” said David Rutter, producer of FIFA 10.
MAG is due for release on January 26th 2010 if you live in North America. If you pre-order your copy now, Sony and Zipper Interactive are willing to throw in something extra. Depending on where you pre-order your copy of the game (Amazon, GameCrazy, GameStop etc.), you can get access to the public beta, exclusive PlayStation Home Space or a exclusive in-game character. See below for all the details and where you can pre-order from.
The PS3 3.00 Firmware update added several new features and removed some. If you are stuck or need some help with using the new firmware, Sony have posted a list of questions and answers they received from users. The answers from SCEE include details on how to get the BBC iPlayer icon on the XMB, and progress on the Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune freezing issue.
