Video Game News:

Madden Smash!

If Electronic Arts' estimation of the sales success of Madden NFL 07 is accurate, this year's game could be headed to the Hall of Fame in no time. The publisher believes that more than 2 million copies of the game have been sold across all platforms in just its first week of release.

This year's first-week sales are up 12 percent over Madden NFL 06's 1.8 million units sold over the same period last year, says EA. Though the franchise has always performed well in retail during its 17-year career, EA's estimation makes Madden NFL 07 the best-selling game in the franchise's history of first-week performance.

Earlier today, Microsoft claimed that the Xbox 360 version had logged more than 2 million hours of online play over Xbox Live--the equivalent of 228 years in just one week.

Cure Cancer with your PS3...if you don't play it.

By K.C. Jones

TechWeb Mon Aug 28, 1:13 PM ET

Researchers at Stanford University have a new use for the Sony Playstation: cancer, Alzheimer's Disease and other illnesses.

They plan to use the cell processor power of Playstation3 to perform calculations for the Folding@Home project, which simulates protein behavior to give scientists clues about the disease process. The molecular simulation project allows researchers to study Alzheimer's Disease, Huntington's Disease and some cancers.

Sony demonstrated their Folding@Home client for the PS3 in Germany last week. Researchers described the development as a major advance in capabilities that were once possible only with supercomputers. While the cell microprocessor helps perform calculations to simulate protein folding, the graphic chip of the Playstation 3 system will show the protein folding process in real-time, using new image technologies, according to researchers.

Gary's Take: Well, PCs have been doing this for a while, and if I can't also help find aliens...meh. Plus Moms everywhere can now tell little Timmy to stop playing or he's helping the terrorists give us cancer.

Live Lives.

50 million pieces of downloads to date, 2 billion Microsoft Points sold, and the fastest downloaded item in Texas Hold 'Em...

Posted: 18:02 on 31 Aug 2006

By: Jon Wilcox

Microsoft has today announced a series of stats surrounding the success of Xbox Live, which include a large number of zeros after every figure.

Since its launch in November 2002, Xbox Live gamers have logged over two billion hours on the network, and since the Xbox 360 launched, the stats become even more overwhelming.

Gamers have spent two billion Microsoft Points since the next-gen system launched at the end of 2005, and over 1.3 million messages sent every single day. Over 60% of Xbox 360 gamers are connected to the service, and over 65% of those have downloaded from Xbox Live Arcade.

Staying on the theme of Xbox Live Arcade, Microsoft has announced that Texas Hold 'Em now has the one-day record for being the fastest downloaded item on Xbox Live - though the fact that it was free for the first 48 hours probably helped matters.

Electronic Arts' Madden NFL 07 has always hit the ground running, with North American gamers unlocking 600,000 Achievement Points and registering two million hours of Xbox Live game time in the first week. Microsoft helpfully converted two million hours into a ore palatable time period...of 228 years.

It seems that Microsoft has unlocked the key to online success in the latest iteration of Xbox Live...

Gary's Take: Although I agree with the assessment that MS found a magic sweet spot, it's still micrtransactions driving this forward. Stringent and prudent guidelines need to be enforced to make sure that developers and MS themselves don't fleece the consumer for things that should ship with the game itself.

New PSP?

PSM unveils two-thumbstick, 8GB PSP?

Source: Posts on Joystiq and Evil Avatar citing an article in the October issue of PSM.

The official story: Sony had not responded to requests for comment as of press time.

What we heard: This week's big rumor comes courtesy of a series of blogs, such as Evil Avatar and Joystiq. Both sites reported that the latest edition of PSM--which touts itself as America's only "independent" PlayStation Magazine--had rock-solid news of a PlayStation Portable redesign.

According to both sites, the October issue of PSM contained an article announcing that a new PSP will ship in March 2007, have eight gigs of built-in flash memory, sport a slimmer form factor, include a built-in camera, and have two--count 'em--two thumbsticks!

Though news of such developments sounded like the answer to many frustrated PSP owners' prayers, it turns out it was premature. GameSpot's supersecret investigative unit took extreme measures and went out and actually bought a copy of PSM.

On page 34 (pictured) of the magazine is the article, titled "The Next PSP Comes Together," that many sites cited as gospel. However, the piece is actually largely speculative. It says that a new, camera-equipped PSP is "expected" next March, but doesn't give a source. It mentions "numerous reports in the semiconductor press" regarding Sony buying large amounts of 8GB flash-memory units--presumably the same reports mentioned in Rumor Control back in February. Nowhere does it say that the new PSP will have 8GB of memory, only that such a move is "likely." The addition of two thumbsticks is mentioned in a clearly marked "if we retooled the PSP" subsection listing changes the PSM editors would like to see in a PSP 2.0. However, the article itself says such an addition is unlikely.

The PSM article does cite "PSP developers who have been briefed on Sony's plans" as saying that the handheld will have "a high degree of connectivity" with the PlayStation 3--something Sony has stated publicly on numerous occasions. Also, "sources familiar with its development" confirmed the new PSP would be "thinner and lighter" than the current model. However, that’s all the article said was set in stone, and PSM is upfront about the rest being speculative--not that such distinctions make a difference in the blogosphere.

Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus.

Gary's take: Damn.

New DS Lite colors.

Onyx Black and Coral Pink DS lites to hit North America from September 13th...

Posted: 16:17 on 28 Aug 2006

By: Chris Leyton

Nintendo has today announced that North American gamers will be able to purchase the DS lite in two new colours from September 13th, Onyx Black and Coral Pink.

What I've been playing:

Dead Rising

Oblivion--new content out soon.

Brain Age

Convention Corner:

Dragon*Con this weekend. First year that we're not going, but VideoVGN will get us footage.

Screamfest--listen to win tickets on O-Rock.