Analysis of Firmware 3.21

Firmware update 3.21 for the PS3 is coming out tomorrow, and its not adding anything new. For people wondering what this is all about, it removed the other os feature from the fat PS3’s, which in short means no more Linux.

Why is Sony doing this?

Sony is simply doing it to prevent the possibility of Piracy in the future. Hackers have proven that through Linux on the PS3 it is possible that custom firmware could be created, opening up piracy on the PS3. Removing this feature is the only Fail-safe.

Why not just patch it?

The problem with patching something like this would require a hardware fix, which is not possible over the internet. The hack is done by literally tweaking and poking the PS3 hardware to be done, so the only fix would be to remove Linux.

What this means for the Gamer:

This update feels pointless, but almost all the people that use their PS3 as a game platform will opt in to do it simply for access to PSN. A large majority of the people who own a PS3 do not use this feature and those who do rarely use the operating system as its slow and clunky and hard to setup. Once it gets going its ok, but the time and effort it takes to get linux on the PS3 is too much for the average user.

What this means for the few who use Linux on their PS3:

Those that use Linux on heir ps3 have a touch choice, to keep Linux and not update, or to update, losing their Linux partition, and gaining back PSN. This group is going to be the most effected by this update, however it is sch a small user base of the PS3 that Sony would rather do the update and prevent piracy and save money in the long run.

What this means for the PS3 Data Farms:

There are a few companies using several PS3’s connected together to calculate data, such as the Air force. This update means very little to those people as they dont need PSN features as their PS3’s boot directly into Linux.

Could this open up to the removal of more features?:

This does not mean that Sony will remove more features from the PS3 in the future, it only proves they can if they want too. It is highly unlikely that Sony would remove any more features from the PS3 as this is the only feature with a major security hole. Sony is a very smart company, and they don’t want a record of removing features on their name, so this is probably the last time you will see something like this.

What about April Fools?

A April fools joke at this scale is highly unlikely, however is still possible. I wouldn’t say it cant happen, but it probably wont.

One week later:

One week from now we will all forget about this and stop complaining and go back to playing the best game console ever created.

-Jidery

Tech Hall is looking for writers! If you are interested please visit: https://techhall.wordpress.com/write-for-us/

Update: For those saying that Sony keeps taking away features, such as Backwards Compatibly,  and SACD, you need to realize how much sony has added to the PS3.

Features added to the PS3 after launch:

-Trophies

-DivX

-3D themes

-Home

-Flash Support

-In game XMB

-new playstation store

-Custom avatars

-Photo gallery

-VidZone

-Faster XMB

-Facebook integration

-Cross game invite support

-In game soundtrack support

-And many more.

Features taken away from the PS3 after launch.

-Linux

-SACD

-Backwards compatibility

-Card reader and USB slots

The Problem with Kids and Gaming

I’m going to start this and flat out say it, children under the age of 14 should not be playing Rated M games. Now that I got that off my back, I can start my little rant. I have meet several kids in my gaming experience, and almost every time they were the worst people to play with. Teenagers are better than children with parents that don’t care.

90% of the children on M rated games are foul, disgusting, perverted, vulgar little know-nothing assholes who think they are the greatest person to ever play that game. If you do anything wrong they curse at you with their little high pitched voices and on top of that, when you do win, they’re really, really sore losers.

Now Stick and Stones MAY break my bones.. but, word can never harm me. I am not easily offended. They can be the foulest mouthed things in the world… It’s just words. I could care less… let them sling bigotry and hatred. What does it really do?

It doesn’t really do much to me. But still, having some snot-nosed little punk whose testicles haven’t even dropped scream obscenities and racial/homophobic slurs at me isn’t exactly my ideal way to spend an evening. I wear headphones when I game because of this because I dont want my family to hear this while I try to enjoy the game working as a team with my teammates. PC gaming tends to draw an older crowd, and what kids are there are mostly more respectful. I have 2 friends on my Psn friend list that are kids and are cool, and I have at least 10 on World of Warcraft.

Kids on E and T games are usually fine, but bring them into an M game, and they become the biggest assholes ever born, and don’t even get my started about Xbox Live…

-Jidery

Macbook Vs Inspiron 13

Apple’s Macbook (2.26) Vs Dell’s Inspiron 13

The Apple Macbook Prices out at a smooth $1000, but what does it come with? It delivers a 2.26Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR3 Ram, 250Gb HD, Nvidia Integrated 9400 and a 7 hour battery life. The port configuration is Power, GB ethernet, Display Port, 2 USB and a single port Sound input and output. All housed in a White polycarbonate unibody structure. Single button mouse with Multi Touch.

The Dell Inspirion runs a $924 price tag. Equipped with a 2.1Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR2 Ram, 250GB HD, Intel’s own Integrated X3100 series graphics card, Bluetooth 2.1, Intel Integrated Wireless N wifi, Windows Home Premium, and an unknown battery life. Port config is Power, VGA, Ethernet (Unknown Cap) 1 USB and 1 Firewire on the left side. The right side has another USB port and an Express 34 card slot. The front offers a SD card slot and an Audio input and an Audio output port.

For processor comparison, the Macbook only comes in 1 configuration, 2.26 or nothing. The closest Dell came with was a 2.1 or a 2.4. The 2.4 upgrade cost an extra $50. If that was applied, the price would be $974. With the upgrade, the Dell wins, but without, the Macbook wins, its a draw.

Memory: The Macbook wins hands down. While the Dell’s DDR2 isn’t shabby, the difference between DDR2 and DD3 is very noticeable. Apple is the winner.

Graphics Card. Apple’s Macbook is the winner. With programs moving torward GPU acceleration, the graphics card is becoming more and more important. The Nvidia 9400 blows away the X3100 in all benchmarks.

Ports: Both have 2 USB ports, an Ethernet Jack and that ends the similarity. The Magsafe adaptor is a win for Apple. As well as there integration of display port. While it requires a separate adaptor, it allows you to run a 2560 x 1600 display, unlike Dell’s VGA interface. Dell’s integration of a SD card slot, Firewire, Express 34 is a win for Dell. I’m personally torn for the audio jack. While its good Dell put them on 2 separate ports, they put them in front of the computer, making lap working much more difficult. I Have to say Apple wins for the Audio jack, but its a personal preference. Dell wins this category though because it have more features then the Macbook.

Overall: Its a Tie. If you like Ports and a slightly better processor, the Dell is for you. If you prefer having better overall performance, the Macbook is for you. $924 (or $974 for the 2.4Ghz Upgrade) Vs the $1000 Macbook. No Apple Tax here.

-Fourkill

Lack of Juggernaut kills the balance of MW2

This is going to be a simple and straightforward blog post. Simply put, removing juggernaut from the game kills the balance of the red perk slot, because everyone has stopping power now, as it has no counter.

You see, when juggernaut was in the game it basically worked as the anti-perk to stopping power, canceling it out, that made it to where more people used that perk slot for Slight of Hand, Double Tap, and Overkill. The current situation leaves stopping power at the top, and almost everyone uses it.

I have always disagreed with the perk Stopping Power since the 4th game, now that Juggernaut is not there to counter it, it’s even worse. A simple fix would to be to add juggernaut back into the game. Knowing Infinity Ward, they wont fix this problem.

-Jidery

PS3 has larger Install Base than 360

Install base is a measure of the number of units of a particular type of system (usually a computing platform) actually in use, as opposed to market share, which only reflects sales over a particular period. Because install base includes machines that may have been in use for many years, it is usually a higher figure than market share. Many people see it as a more reliable indicator of a platform’s popularity.

We all know the PS3 is behind Microsoft in terms of sales by a few million. This difference is mostly due to the head start Microsoft had, and they have managed to continue to lead in terms of sales. However, when you take many factors into play, it actually turns out that the Playstation 3 has the larger community of both consoles.

The PS3 currently sits at roughly 33.5 million consoles sold, and the Xbox at 38.5 million. Now using simple math, you can calculate the average failure rate into both consoles. With the PS3’s failure rate you have 97.5% of the PS3’s on the market still working, equating to about 1,000,000 PS3’s currently not operational since launch.

The Xbox has about 38.5 million consoles sold on the market and has a failure rate of about 33%, when doing the math you get about 12,540,000 consoles that have been repaired by Microsoft and replaced.

By now your probably saying, but Xbox still has more consoles! Because people just send in those broken ones and get it back! Lets do some more math to clear this problem up.

At Launch in 2005, the Xbox had a 1 year warranty, which in 2007 was extended to 3 years. There was a 1 year gap in which the Xbox 360 was not covered from the RROD problem, so roughly 20% of the failed consoles was not covered by Microsoft at the launch. With each year after that, 20% of the consoles headed out of warranty. This adds to about 1.5 million consoles per year, which brings it to about 7.6 million consoles were replaced and not in warranty.

This means that currently there ware about 32.5 million working PS3’s and 31.1 million working Xbox’s on the market right now. The PS3 has a larger install base than the Xbox by about 1.4 million consoles.

In general, both consoles have managed to sell a lot, and both have large communities to play with. This article is intended to show people that the Xbox and PS3’s communities are very close to each other in terms of size, and the amount of people on the consoles as we speak.

Update: For those wondering, Yes the Xbox has more sales, Yes Microsoft has made more money off the console, the point of this article is to show that there are more active PS3’s on the market right now!

Update 2: This math is assuming both consoles maintained a consistent failure rate, and the number of units sold was distributed evenly each year. The numbers may be off by + or – 1,000,000

Update 3: To those in the comment section, we STRONGLY moderate our comments against racial and fanboy comments, all comments posted with content like that will get your account banned from out blog, no exceptions!

We all know the PS3 is behind Microsoft in terms of sales by a few million. This difference is mostly due to the head start Microsoft had, and they have managed to continue to lead in terms of sales. However, when you take many factors into play, it actually turns out that the Playstation 3 has the larger community of both consoles.

The PS3 currently sits at roughly 33.5 million consoles sold, and the Xbox at 38.5 million. Now using simple math, you can calculate the average failure rate into both consoles. With the PS3’s failure rate you have 97.5% of the PS3’s on the market still working, equating to about 1,000,000 PS3’s currently not operational since launch.

The Xbox has about 38.5 million consoles sold on the market and has a failure rate of about 33%, when doing the math you get about 12,540,000 consoles that have been repaired by Microsoft and replaced.

By now your probably saying, but Xbox still has more consoles! Because people just send in those broken ones and get it back! Lets do some more math to clear this problem up.

At Launch in 2005, the Xbox had a 1 year warranty, which in 2007 was extended to 3 years. There was a 1 year gap in which the Xbox 360 was not covered from the RROD problem, so roughly 20% of the failed consoles was not covered by Microsoft at the launch. With each year after that, 20% of the consoles headed out of warranty. This adds to about 1.5 million consoles per year, which brings it to about 7.6 million consoles were replaced and not in warranty.

This means that currently there ware about 32.5 million working PS3’s and 31.1 million working Xbox’s on the market right now. The PS3 has a larger install base than the Xbox by about 1.4 million consoles.

In general, both consoles have managed to sell a lot, and both have large communities to play with. This article is intended to show people that the Xbox and PS3’s communities are very close to each other in terms of size, and the amount of people on the consoles as we speak.

Update: For those wondering, Yes the Xbox has more sales, Yes Microsoft has made more money off the console, the point of this article is to show that there are more active PS3’s on the market right now!
Update 2: Install base is a measure of the number of units of a particular type of system (usually a computing platform) actually in use, as opposed to market share, which only reflects sales over a particular period. Because installed base includes machines that may have been in use for many years, it is usually a higher figure than market share. Many people see it as a more reliable indicator of a platform’s popularity.

No one wins the Console War

Everywhere, on the internet, on the streets, with your friends, people argue about gaming consoles, and frequently the argument PS3 vs. 360 comes to mind. People can argue about it all they want and will typically never get anywhere.

With a true competition a winner is determined in the end; the same goes for everything, even Politics, where once a winner was determined these arguments died off, becoming very rare, and in most cases pointless.

However it is different gaming, in this so called “console war” no winner is ever determined, no console will be the one at the top, no console will be the “champion of consoles.” So what are we really fighting for?

That is a question that comes to mind frequently, are we fighting for sales? Are we trying to prove that the system we use is better? Is there a reason we should fight and argue which one is better?

In contests we are fighting over that vote, we are fighting to show that our side is better so that side can win and be the ones with the trophie, be the one in command. But when it comes to consoles people fight, just to fight.

Commonly people say that Xbox 360 is winning, but what is the criteria to determine that? Who said Xbox live has better features, and who’s to say Playstation exclusives are better than 360 exclusives, this is all opinion, and there are no hard facts.

In this generation you either like the PS3 and hate the 360 or visa-versa. I personally love all three consoles and think they are all great systems, but the second I say I prefer Gran Turismo 5 over Forza 3 I get called a PS3 fanboy. A few days ago I wrote three articles on the cons of each system, and in both the PS3 and Xbox 360 articles, I got called a PS3 or Xbox fanboy. It seems being neutral in this generation just isn’t allowed.

I could go on about this all day but seeing people didn’t come here to read a 1000 word write up ill stop at this; No matter how much you fight, no matter how many people you cuss at online, there will never be a winner, because in my opinion, all consoles this generation have successfully funded their company’s, making them all winners.

-Jidery

The Xbox 360 is more expensive than the PS3

Not too long ago you had to shell out $700-$800 for a PS3, and I was one of those who did it, seeing it as a great value and totally worth the price. 4 years later, the PS3 is now on par with the other consoles in terms of price, at $299 for the base model. While the PS3 has the highest price tag out of all the consoles, it is still a much better value for your cash than the Xbox 360, and will save you much more money in the long run.

Wi-fi: For those with Wi-fi in their homes, which is just about anyone with a laptop will know how much more convenient it is than cables, and with Wi-fi speeds being more than enough for gaming, there is no reason not to use it. Wi-fi is standard on all PS3 models, where as for the Xbox 360, it is going to cost you roughly $100.

Hard drive: In terms of price per gig, the ps3 dominated with the ability of have any 2.5inch laptop hard drive, where as microsoft forces you to buy their own. Microsoft wants $130 for a 120gb hard drive, which is roughly $1.08 per gig. Where as you can get a 500gb hard drive for your PS3, for only $70. That also equated to roughly 14 cents per gig.

Headset: The Xbox’s cheapest Headset, for $20 gets you a wired headset with a mic, and you can get the wireless for $60. The PS3’s wireless headset is $50, and you can use any old Blue-tooth headset from your phone with it. Blue-tooth headsets start at $10, and are also wireless.

Power usage: The Xbox 360 uses 186 wats while playing games, and the PS3 slim uses roughly 120 wats of power, while in the long run this make a difference, it may not be noticable, but the PS3 is still uses much less power, thus costing less money.

Network: This is a very easy place to cover, as PSN is free, and Xbox Live costs $50 per year.

In conclusion, with a PS3 you pay $299 for almost everything the console can do, then you pay $10 for a blue-tooth headset, and upgrade the hard drive to 500gb and you get a console priced at $379.

For the Xbox 360 you pay $299 for a console, add $100 for the Wi-fi, added. Pay $20 for a headset, or $50 for a wireless headset, then pay $50 a year for life. The Xbox ends up costing you $469 (With out wireless headset) or $509 (With wireless headset) and $50 a year you own the console.

The PS3 is over $100 cheaper than the Xbox, and also saves you the need to buy a blue-ray player (Which I chose not to factor in).

8001050F to affect PS3 BFBC2 Sales

I know its been a long time since I posted something on my personal blog, but I wanted everyone to know this as I have not seen anyone else report on this major problem. Almost every owner of a PS3 that came out before the slim, are experiencing a major error “8001050F” that prevents the PS3 from accessing PSN and playing games offline. Most people are speculating that this is caused by a glitch in the system clock.

That is not the major problem that Sony has to worry about, the real issue is a major multi-platform title is coming out tonight. Battlefield Bad Co. 2 will be releasing at midnight, and many people are possibly going to chose to get the Xbox version, or not buy it at all because their PS3’s dont work at the moment.

This is a major issue for both Dice and Sony, as it will hurt the sales of BFBC2 on the PS3 version. While many people who own both consoles will get the Xbox version, PS3 only users may chose to skip it all together. Sony has to worry about this problem because there is many PS3 users expected to buy it, however those massive numbers may not be nearly what they were expecting thanks to this error. As it stands now, it does not look like the PS3 will be fixed tomorrow, and we are going to have to wait for an emergency firmware update.

The top games of the decade

2000-2009 has been quite possibly the biggest decade of gaming ever in history. Games have evolved much faster than they used to, and year 2000 games cant even compare to the graphics and capability of 2009 games. The following list is my personal top 10 games of this decade.

This list is purely opinion, for each game I have included my own “Mini review chart” of some basic info on it. It looks like this:

(Out of 10 points)

Overall Score:

Gameplay:

Story:

Graphics:

Replay value:

This is in order, 1 being my personal favorite.

10. Command and Conquer generals

My favorite multiplayer RTS

Overall Score: 8/10

Gameplay: 9/10

Story: 6/10

Graphics: 7/10

Replay value: 10/10

9.  Borderlands

This game should be a MMO.

Overall Score: 8/10

Gameplay: 9/10

Story: 8/10

Graphics: 7/10

Replay value: 10/10

8. Portal

Short, but addicting, beat this thing 9 times.

Overall Score: 9/10

Gameplay: 10/10

Story: 4/10

Graphics: 9/10

Replay value: 9/10

7. Burnout Paradise

The only game that I bought DLC for, 2 years after release

Overall Score: 8/10

Gameplay: 9/10

Story: N/A

Graphics: 8/10

Replay value: 9/10

6. LittleBigPlanet

The best side scrolling platformer ever.

Overall Score: 9/10

Gameplay: 9/10

Story: 7/10

Graphics: 9/10

Replay value: 10/10

As I get into the top 5, I start to get more in-depth on my reviews.

5. Uncharted 2

It would be impossible for me not to have this game in the top 5

Overall Score: 9/10

Gameplay: 8.5/10: This game was my second third person shooter that I loved, with the other being Gears of war. I am not a major fan of third person shooters, but this one I loved. It did everything right, with a perfect cover system, and great multiplayer and single player Gameplay.

Story: 10/10: The best story I have ever played in a video game, Period.

Graphics: 9/10: not as good as Killzone 2, but easily one of the best.

Replay value: 8.5/10: With a story that you should beat a minimum of two times, and addicting multiplayer, you will play this game for a long time.

4. Killzone 2

The best graphics, the best multiplayer on the PS3 to date.

Overall Score: 9.5/10

Gameplay: 9/10: This may be just another FPS, but this is an FPS that does everything right.  The movement feels real, the weapons eel weighty, and your character reacts to every bullet. The multiplayer has only one game mode, that consists of the most popular game modes combined into one.

Story: 7/10: This is the weak point of the game. It is decent, but the ending is far from satisfying.

Graphics: 10/10: This game is currently the best looking game on the PS3. It has the most realistic lighting to date, and some of the best shadows and effects I have ever seen. This game is close to Crysis, and in some areas better.

Replay value: 10/10: The multiplayer is insanely addicting, and the visuals and gameplay will keep people playing for a long time.

3. Gran Turismo 4

This is currently the best racing simulator on the market, and it’s a PS2 game.

Overall Score: 9.5/10

Gameplay: 9/10: As a major racing fan, I picked up this game knowing I would like it. The most realistic racing game on the market today. It may seem like the whole game is just driving around a track, like most racing games, but it is much more. This is one of my favorite split screen games.

Story: N/A

Graphics: 10/10: Yes I just gave this game a 10 for graphics, why? Because it was a PS2 game that competed with photorealism. The game was so beautiful that they even let you take pictures of it.

Replay value: 9/10: The career mode is long enough for you to put at least 300 hours into, it also has split screen which is also very addicting.

2. Kingdom Hearts 2

I love this game, and it is the only PS2 game that I have beat 3 times, twice on the PS2 and once on the PS3. This game is addicting, with an amazing story, and amazing Gameplay that keeps me wanting the third game to hurry up. (Please be PS3 exclusive!)

Overall Score: 9.5/10

Gameplay: 9/10: I have to say, this is the only RPG I played nonstop from start to finish (Same goes for the first game) The long story, that was roughly 20 hours long felt short, but was very rewarding. The Gameplay is unmatched, with unique and challenging boss fights, and some battles with over 100 enemies on the screen at once. Character customization was lacking, but still a great system.

Story: 8/10 This game has great character development, so good that you get attached to the characters. The story keeps you entertained throughout the game, however it is easy to get lost.

Graphics: 9.5/10: This game is in my opinion still one of the best looking PS2 games ever released. It maintains good frame rate with over 100 enemies on the screen at once, and the art style works perfectly for the characters and environments.

Replay value: 10/10: I still play it, simply for the boss fights. This game has over 50 bosses, all unique in style and strategy. The Gameplay keeps you wanting to play, with so much to do.

1. World of Warcraft

This is a game that is electronic crack, with addictive game play that keeps you wanting t play. Debatably the largest, most feature packed game ever released, with more content on the way.

Overall Score: 10/10

Gameplay: 10/10: This game keeps you entertained all the way through, as long as you can get passed the first few levels, you will instantly be hooked. The game features hundreds of weapons, armor, and unlimited character customization possibility’s. It also features hours PVE (Player vs Environment) and PVP game play. Not to mention that this game is currently serving 13 million players. (That’s more than Call of Duty and Halo combined)

Graphics: 8/10: For a game that is 5 years old, it still competes with modern games, the art style is top notch, and constant graphical upgrades keep even the best computers on its toes. The game reaches out to almost everyone, being able to run on computers as old as 5 years old and maintain good frame rates, as long as your willing to reduce graphics quality.

Story: 7/10: This game is not very good at story telling, but once you know the story, you easily get interested.

Replay value: 10/10: As a person who has put almost 200 days (Yes days, this is not a typo) worth of game time into I can say that if you start, you want stop for a long time. You can get to the max level with about 120 hours of Gameplay, however once your there you have so much to do, its crazy. Also the game is constantly getting content, allowing you even more things to do.

ModNation Racers Beta Impressions

When I first started I was greeted with the terms of use, and then a loading screen. Then I saw the logos of the creators, then another loading screen, shortly after it moved onto a rather cool cut scene, which opens some of the basics on what the story mode will be like, basically you’re a rookie racer who is trying to make it into some tournament. After the video I was faced with a very long loading screen, about 1 min, before I was put into the game.

The menu system is not even menus, it is much like LBP, except your in this town with a bunch of other players. The things such as Quick race, and online race were all under garaged, which you went up to to select them. Your basically driving around selecting game modes etc.

Creating my character, or Mod as the game calls them also had a lot of options, even though about 90% of the things were locked, there was still a ton of customization. Also with creating the car, a ton of customization was available, even with limited beta tools.

Now where this game truly shines is the track editor. I so far have only made one track, and I am very happy with it. The editor is very easy to use, and there is a lot of options for you to chose from. However, it felt very limiting when compared to LittleBigPlanet, but that is to be expected.

This game also looks very good, with hiqh quality lighting, textures, and effects, much higher than you would expect with the fully customizable tracks. It has a very cartoony look to it, but its style does the game justice.

So far this game is great with concept, but the execution is not top notch. The track editor is amazing, but still limiting, and takes a little to get used to. There is a ton of loading screens, and loading takes a long time. When in game there is a lot of pop-in textures and objects, especially on the custom tracks that have a lot of it. Also there is a bit of frame rate drop when you first get into the game, and first get out of a loading screen.

I love this game, and will be buying it day one. I hope they fix some of the performance issues somewhere along in the beta, and possibly add more tools for us, but so far it is a great start, to what possible could be an amazing game.

-Jidery