PS3 sales double in Japan
According to data from Media Create, the Sony PlayStation 3 doubled its previous week sales, selling a solid 35,000 units in Japan for the week ended November 30th.
Japan continues to be dominated by Nintendo consoles however, which saw the DSi sell 87,000 units and the Wii sell 50,000 units, a 30 percent increase from the previous week.
The Sony handheld PSP sold 55,000 units. The DSi’s predecessor, the DS Lite sold 26,000 units.
Bringing up the rear after a month of strong sales was the Xbox 360 with 11,000 units sold.
Chart:
* NDS (DSi + Lite) - 114 036
* PSP - 55 090
* Wii - 49 848
* PS3 - 34 978
* Xbox 360 - 11 423
* PS2 - 5 628
Blu-ray DVR coming from Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi has released a new Blu-ray DVR, dubbed the DVR-BF2000 that comes with a 500GB HDD and the simple ability to burn Blu-ray discs.
User can also record two program simultaneously, one to disc and one to the HDD. Users can also record one program while watching another, thanks to the dual digital tuners set to support Japan’s BS/110CS digital and analog broadcast systems.
AVC recording and DVD writing is supported as well. Making the DVR even more special is the fact that you can cut commercials out of recordings automatically and watch video and photos from an SD card.
The DVR is only available in Japan for now, priced at $1940 USD and there was no word on whether it would hit EU or NA anytime soon.
Sharp introduces HDTVs with Blu-ray built-in
Sharp has introduced two new LCD HDTVs to the North American market, each of which has built-in Blu-ray burners and a second slot for playback of CDs and DVDs.
Sharp Electronics Marketing Company of America president, Mike Troett added that the “32-inch set features 720p resolution and a 7,000:1 contrast ratio, while the 42-inch set has a 120Hz panel with 1080p resolution and 15,000:1 contrast ratio. The new AQUOS DX-series HDTVs are meant to appeal to people who want or need a clutter-free appearance, minimizing the amount of hardware, or want a clean-looking, wall-mount installation.”
The Japanese models of the TVs, which were released in October, have built-in dual digital HD tuners which allow users to watch a program in HD while recording a second program to Blu-ray.
Sharp added that using H.264 encoding with high bitrate would allow for 21 hours of TV to be recorded to a dual layer BD-50.
Prices have not been announced but it is estimated the larger model will retail for $1899 USD
Next Metal Gear headed to Xbox 360, Wii?
Thanks to a new cryptic splash screen posted on the Konami website, the Internet is abuzz with rumors that the blockbuster smash hit game Metal Gear Solid is headed to the Xbox 360 or possibly even the Wii.
The splash screen shows off green symbols and a seemingly cryptic math equation. (A screenshot is posted after the article)
Although it is clear that a new project is in the works, it remains a curiosity as to whether the new project will be headed to a new console or whether MGS 4 will get its much hoped-for Xbox 360 debut. The game is a PlayStation 3 exclusive currently.
Another promising argument is that the game could be headed to the iPod Touch or the Nintendo DSi.
It would be inappropriate at this time to make any guarantees as to what the message means but it is very interesting to say the least. We will keep you updated.
Opera 10 Alpha released
Opera Software has released Alpha 1 version of their new Opera 10 browser. The company claims that the version 10 browser with the new Presto 2.2 rendering engine is 30 percent faster that its predecessor. If you don’t mind the bugs that you might - and probably will - encounter you can download it from the AfterDawn.com Downloads section right away.
According to Opera the new Presto 2.2 is not only faster than the 2.1 version - which was released last summer - but renders pages more accurately as well. The new Presto is said to get full 100 points in the Acid3 test, which is the industry standard for testing html, javascript and css rendering. In comparison Firefox 3 gets 71 and Google Chrome 79 points out of 100.
Denon introduces ‘Universal’ Blu-ray player
Denon Electronics has announced that they will be introducing the world’s first “universal” Blu-ray player.
The BD-Live capable DVD-A1UCDI will retail for $3800 USD when it ships in two months and will support DVD Audio, SACD along with standard DVDs and CDs.
Users
can use an SDHC memory card to play files in popular formats such as WMA, MP3 audio, DiVX 6 video and JPEG images. A “built-in audio-restorer function improves the quality of compressed music.”
The 4th-generation Link port means the player will integrate with any Denon amplifier.
As for inputs, there are a pair of HDMI 1.3 inputs, component video, S-video, composite video, optical and coaxial digital audio, balanced two-channel stereo analog audio and an Ethernet port.
The player also notably supports Dolby TrueHD decoding and DTS-HD Master Audio, each with full analog 7.1-channel audio.
MPA wants London a ‘Fake-Free Zone’ before Olympics
Expected to be the largest anti-piracy campaign ever, the MPA and other anti-piracy groups have vowed to make London a “a fake-free zone” by the beginning of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The clearly impossible goal to completely eradicate DVD piracy was initiated by Intellectual Property Minister David Lammy.
The groups involved are The Motion Picture Association, U.K. Film Council, UK Intellectual Property Office, Federation Against Copyright Theft, London Councils, Trading Standards and the Police.
Lammy added, “Legislation alone will not combat counterfeiting and piracy. Good law is great but enforced law is better.” He noted that the campaign should send a strong message to citizens that piracy is a huge problem and will be tackled.
YouTube to restrict sexually suggestive content
Although it has already banned any type of sexually explicit content, YouTube is planning to restrict “sexually suggestive” content even more.
The new rules will make sexually themed content only available to adults and the content will be banned from the site’s more popular pages if you are a guest without an account.
“We’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to make the collective YouTube experience even better, particularly on our most visited pages,” says the official blog. “Our goal is to help ensure that you’re viewing content that’s relevant to you, and not inadvertently coming across content that isn’t.”
The new rules will be reference to content that is “intended or designed to arouse viewers.”
The new rules will however run into the same problems as all other YouTube rules in that the staff of the site rely on users to “flag” inappropriate videos. There are millions of videos available at any given time though, meaning there will always be some videos that slip through.
$99 4GB iPhone coming to Wal-Mart?
Although unconfirmed by both Apple and Wal-Mart, BoyGeniusReport is saying that they have received a tip that Apple will make a 4GB model of the popular iPhone 3G available at the giant retailer for only $99 USD with 2-year contract.
Having the phone priced so low would make it readily available to most consumers, especially those that don’t care so much about having tons of music or movies on their phone and also want to be able to go out and say “I have an iPhone!”
Apple initially sold a 4GB model of the 1st generation iPhone but dropped it from its lineup when it introduced a 16GB model. The 4GB models’ price back then? $399 USD.
Should this prove to be true, Apple has a chance to really move the iPhone into a whole new level of sales.
‘Dark Knight’ becomes best selling movie of 2008, on iTunes
Apple has noted that despite not even being released yet, the Warner Bros. smash hit The Dark Knight has already become the best selling movie download of the year on iTunes.
According to figures from BoxOfficeMojo, “The Dark Knight” is $4 million USD away from making $1 billion in theaters and analysts expect DVD, Blu-ray and digital sales to break records as well.
“The Dark Knight” just beat out the Pixar smash hit WALL-E as the top selling download, a more impressive fact because The Dark Knight is running on only pre-orders. Numbers 3-5 in the top selling movies of the year are “Kung Fu Panda,” “Iron Man” and “National Treasure: Book of Secrets.”
