Hmmm vapor ware anyone? Okay we know they have a console so we will at least give them that. According to an email we recieved today "The move was made at the behest of the company's "marketing and retail partners", who say the original 18 November launch date won't favor the products." So NOT releasing your console in time for Christmas is a good move? Guess we will wait and see where the boys over at Infinium are heading with this one.

Haha. I bet that got your attention. As It has been reported several places on the Net, the new Star Wars Trilogy DVD set, when inserted in your Xbox, will update your M$ dashboard without your permission. This is not a problem for the majority of Xbox owners. But for those of you with Modified Xbox's this can be a real nightmare. Often overwriting important settings and maybe even getting you banned of Xbox Live.

The preview demo of the new 'Star Wars Battlefront' Xbox game is the culprit, so make sure you watch what you are doing.

Only 4 people on the Net know exactly where our wearhouse is and what it looks like (dank with occasional monitor glow), but wouldn't that be funny if the outside looked like that? Well it doesn't. That's the Tokyo Game Show. There's a ton of people attending including some friends of ours from the Austin Game Conference. Stay tuned for more console news from this show.

Thanks to EA press conference prior to the opening of the Tokyo Game Show, we now know that Tiger Woods PGA Tour R and Need for Speed Underground Rivals will be launch titles for both Japan and North America. The North American launch will also see NBA Street, NFL Street, and two unannounced titles as well.

Some places are reporting that the Tiger Woods and NFS games won't just be launch titles, they'll be bundled with the system itself. This is unconfirmed. But we still have our hopes up.

Okay so we like to pick on $ony and M$ but really I must admit this slimmed down PS2 is looking pretty nice. Also for you PAL gamers out there from what we hear, David Reeves, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, said that Sony was hoping that the price cut and redesign would increase PS2 sales worldwide by 15% by March 2005.

He said Sony was flying in more than four million new PS2s into the PAL territories straight from the manufacturing plant in Shanghai to meet expected demand. The conspiracy in all this? No room for the PS2 HD and the power covertor is now external. Looks can be decieving.

One of the editors at Portagame (way to go dmgice!) got the official scoop on the Nintendo DS launch. We will be seeing it on shelves on November 21st and will only have to pay $149.99! The Japanese launch will occur 11 days later on December 2nd. The DS will come with Pictochat, a graphical chat application, embedded within the system.

Have many of you even heard of the PSX? It's Sony's step child that no one really cares for. Having been launched in Japan its a PVR/PS2 device with one sporting a 250GB ($863) hard drive, the other a 160GB ($672) unit.

A little birdie sent us an email this morning letting us know that stores in Japan are slashing their prices on the units. Citing unconfirmed third-party reports, a variety of Japanese retail outlets have cut those prices to 52,900 ($480) and 39,800 ($361).

If the cuts have not been sanctioned by Sony - their 50% size suggests these are not manufacturer-led reductions - it will surely come as something of a disappointment for the consumer electronics giant. Launched last year just before Christmas, sales were so far below Sony's forecasts that it was forced to suspend production during the Spring in an attempt to clear out channel inventories. Ouch. Looks like even sony has the occasional failure. Just like the PSP. Whoops did we say that?

That's right kids. Get to clicking. The Register is offering a cool little review of the Tapwave Zodiac. Go check it out and let us know what you think. The part I found interesting was that they go on to say

"Maybe Tapwave hopes that the cash-rich early adopters it's pursuing won't prove so fussy or have a nostalgic hankering for the games of their youth. But if it's to make it in the mainstream, Zodiac needs more modern titles. The Zodiac is a better mobile gaming machine than, say, Nokia's N-Gage QD, but the latter has an impressive list of top-of-the-line, up-to-the-minute titles. Maybe Nokia paid developers to port them, maybe not. Whatever the reason, N-Gage has lots of games people want to play. Zodiac doesn't."

Will lack of killer games once again kill off a promising system? Only time will tell.

According to this story from our crumpets munching pals at the Register, the chip that will powers the PS3 is almost ready to go.

Work on the processor, which will form the basis for PlayStation 3, was formally announced in March 2001, but probably started some time before that.
The PS3 is slated to be formally launched during Q1 2005, but Cell will appear in software development workstations later this year, IBM and Sony promised in May 2004. Sounds cool. Now we know what Sony and M$ are up to as far as processors but what about the Big N?

A german site announced that ATI has completed the graphics chip for the XBox2 and plans to deliver it soon. The site goes on to say that Nintendo also wants to license the technology for its next console, a comment which ATI says isn't out of the realm of possibility.

ATIs CFO Terry Nickerson stated they "have found that with Nintendo, historically that's been around USD 25 million a year" (referring to earnings from Nintendo paid to ATI for its technology).

Gee I don't know, do you think ATI will sell to Nintendo as well?

Xbox 2 design pics leaked? - Engadget - www.engadget.com

Looks like maybe?

More from the Austin Game Conference. As I sheepishly wore my Xbox Lanyard (it's all they offered) I got to sit in on the Keynote speech from Scott Henson of M$. According to his speech M$ has more than 1 million Xbox Live users which is a phenomenal user growth rate. Actually topping the number of people that TiVo has. There are also more than 150 Xbox Live games on the market today (is that correct?) with closer to 200 expected by Christmas this year. Also the average Xbox Live user in the USA plays an avg 24 hours a month.

They are also working on getting the XNA syestem out to developers sooner so more and more PC games can easily be ported to the Xbox system. All in all it looks like Xbox is coming up roses. However next time Scott skip the all the Gilligan's island refrences would you?

Well today at the Austin Game Conference Sony kept up the tease act it's been doing since early 2004. Promising us a demo of the first full game at the Tokyo Game Show, as well as some solid benchmarking numbers, they did reveal some more information about the Hardware and Software side of the PSP.

Hardware
- The PSP will be a modern game console with capabilites matching or beating the PS2
- The PSP will hook up directly to your PC with a USB 2.0 Connection
- It will feature 10 Digital buttons including a anolog Joystick
- Features a color 480X272 24 bit screen with NO video out
- 1800 MhaLion (Battery which can be replaced by the user)
- Launch accessories should be Camera, GPS, and Keyboard
- 802.11B LAN (can play with others via P2P or traditional Client/TCP servers
- Only one memory stick (up to 1GB, 1.8 Mbps Transfer)
- They joked it wil have No Dolby Digital out, just stero
- The UMD will go in the back of the PSP from the Top.

Continue reading »

Well we've done it. The Console Conspiracy has sent me down to wonderfull Austin, TX USA to attend the Austin Game Conference. Starting tommorow morning I will be getting my dirty little hands on some cool console stuff and attending such cool things as Programming the PSP and where Console Multiplayer Gaming is going. Which is being led by Sony and M$ reps. Should be cool stuff. I will posting updates live here and at portagaming. As well as letting gadgetmadness pick up our stuff if they want. Wish me luck!

I know we are all about consoles, but I couldn't resist posting this. It tugs at my hear strings...

The Past Meets the Present with 'ATARI ANTHOLOGY'; 85 Classic Atari Games Made Available for the First Time for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox

File this one under unexpected, even by your favorite conspiracy crew members. Nintendo is seeking to create a free Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) for Nintendo DS users. This means that you can use your Nintendo DS to place "phone calls" without paying long distance. The Nintendo DS just needs a wireless 802.11b WiFi signal to be around it when using the VOIP software.

But in a blow to our pals over at Nokia, it will come with headphones and a mic so there will be no need for sidetalkin tom-foolery.

Reports out today that Acclaim, the game manufacturer recently let go 600 employees with no warning.

They are also expected to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection this week.

The company reported a net loss of $56 million for its fiscal year ended March 31. Its stock is currently trading around 5 cents a share.

Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Acclaim will likely ask the bankruptcy court to discharge most debts it currently carries, with creditors given a priority ranking by the administrative court and money distributed according to a court-ordered plan.