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VNUnet: Sony has slashed the fees it charges software developers in a bid to get them to develop more games for its PlayStation 3 console.

The company has reportedly halved the cost of its software development kit in an effort to stave off the advance of arch-rival Nintendo.

Nintendo’s Wii console is growing in terms of user numbers and games titles, and has outsold the PS3 by a margin of more than two to one.

Nintendo had sold 13.2 million Wii units worldwide by October of this year, compared to 5.6 million PS3 consoles over the same period.

The cost of the Sony development kit for the PS3 has been halved to $10,250 in the US and to €7,500 in Europe. Sony has also promised to enhance technical support to independent developers.

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PSXextreme: Blu-Ray, despite being the most advanced video format on the market, still has a ways to go. According to Play Three, the PS3 will soon get a firmware update that will enable the system to play Blu-Ray profile 1.1 movies a whole lot sooner than initially expected.

Sony plans to release “Resident Evil: Extinction” on January 2, 2008, and it will be the first Blu-Ray movie in existence to use profile 1.1. Therefore, “Extinction” has the distinction of being the most technologically advanced home movie ever; it will boast true picture-in-picture and “Blu-Wizard 2,” which lets the PS3 “remember” viewing preferences for each movie you play. That means if you get the settings exactly the way you like them, watch the movie, eject it, and put it in months later, the PS3 will recall your settings for that one particular disc.

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Electronista: Rumors of an Xbox 360 console with HD DVD built in remain a possibility, Toshiba has allowed. The primary backer of the HD DVD format is said to be collaborating with Microsoft, hoping to provide an alternative to Sony’s PlayStation 3, which has Blu-Ray built-in and is thus one of the cheapest means of acquiring an HD movie player.

Stuff recently reported however that Toshiba was denying the rumor, saying in fact that “It’s got nothing to do with us. But we know Microsoft doesn’t want to include the HD DVD drive so as not to limit the user’s experience.”

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Slashgear: Some people will say that having a choice is a beautiful thing. Sometimes there are so many choices that one has no idea which one to choose.

Take game consoles, between the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, there are nearly a dozen choices. If you’re looking at a PS3, here’s a good Venn diagram that should help you in your decision.

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The Daily Yomiuri: New versions of familiar video game products were a major if unofficial theme of the Tokyo Game Show 2007, which boasted a total attendance of 193,000 over four days (Sept. 20-23) at Makuhari Messe in Chiba.

The most prominent example of this theme was Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. President Kazuo Hirai’s unveiling of the Dualshock 3 game controller during his keynote speech at the opening of the annual trade show.

Set to go on sale in Japan in November and designed for use with Sony’s Playstation 3 (PS3) game platform, the new controller combines two previously separate functions. One is motion-sensing six-axis control, which allows players to tilt or turn the controller in real space to direct the onscreen action. The other is the motion-creating Dualshock feature, which causes the controller to vibrate in the player’s hands in sync with onscreen events such as crashes and explosions.

“At the beginning we thought it would be very difficult technologically (to combine the two functions),” Hirai said, but a large number of customer requests made the effort necessary.

Hirai also announced that the Playstation Portable (PSP) handheld game device, which can be used as a mobile extension of the PS3, is now capable of receiving “one-seg” TV broadcasts using a small tuner attachment that went on sale the same day. One-seg programs can already be viewed on some mobile phones, but the PSP has the advantage of a larger screen.

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Slashgear: The Logitech Cordless Vantage Headset has works natively with the PS3 for easy setup and a reliable link. On top of that it’s an ambidextrous headset allowing you to switch which side the microphone is on.

The Cordless Vantage has a rechargeable battery that should last your for at least 12 hours. There is noise filtering for the headphone and sound-canceling for the microphone.

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Absolute Gadget: Thrustmaster have launched a pad that will work for your PS3, PS2 and your PC. The Dual Trigger 3 in 1 controller features all the usual buttons you would expect from a Playstation pad, including mini-sticks and the home button for PS3 owners.  

Just like the official PS3 pad it also features 6 axes. A switch on the underside of the pad allows you to switch between PC and console without having to change any settings on the pad itself.There is also a mapping function allowing gamers to save their own control configurations thanks to the pad’s internal memory. This will no doubt come in useful when your annoying friend who changes the whole button layout to play Tekken visits. 

A preset button will allow said chum to switch to their preferred configuration at the touch of a button.

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Product Reviews Net: PSM France has revealed some new news regarding the PS3 SIXAXIS rumble controller. One of the rumors that surround this much needed controller for the Playstation 3 is that it could contain Touch Sense. This is a much more sophisticated vibration system than the old PS2 controller, as it meant that the vibrations do not come just from the handles but from various areas of the lever.

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TWICE: Nielsen, the media tracking agency, and Sony said yesterday they will collaborate on the development of a measurement system for video game network advertising that will help make gaming software a more competitive advertising platform.

Under the arrangement, Sony will share with Nielsen game network traffic and other data from its PlayStation3 (PS3) systems and PlayStationNetwork, including PlayStation Home.

Nielsen will then analyze and benchmark the data to create new measurements for calculating the reach, frequency and effectiveness of game network advertising.

Usage data provided by SCEA to Nielsen will include enabled first- and third-party software titles accessed through PS3s and PlayStation Network, the companies said. The initial rollout will begin in the North American market.

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PS3Center.net: Microsoft’s Xavier Bringue has put rumors to rest stating that Microsoft has no plans to put a Blu-ray drive in the Xbox 360 similar to how it is in the Sony PlayStation 3.

The co-president of the HD-DVD promotional group stated that the medium is still in the mix and far from down and out like many believe.

He continued by stating that the Blockbuster move to make Blu-ray exclusive may be a a factor but the most important thing to the next-gen media format war is the price and with HD-DVD being cheaper, it still stands a chance.

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PS³: Sony Chairman and CEO Sir Howard Stringer has said that Sony is studying how much it can lower the price of the PS3, while speaking on a video interview with the Financial Times.

He also praised Nintendo’s pricing for the Wii, stating that “Nintendo Wii has been a successful enterprise, and a very good business model, compared with ours . . . because it’s cheaper.”

When asked how much Sony could afford to bring down the price of the PS3, he replied “That is what we are studying at the moment. That’s what we are trying to refine.”

He also admitted that there was “no question” that consumers want the price of the PS3 lower.

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Gizmodo: With all that spare capacity, PS3 game makers are looking to boost sales by adding high-def movies to their Blu-ray games discs.

Midway has announced plans to release a special edition of Stranglehold, complete with a HD version of John Woo’s classic slow-mo actioner, Hard Boiled.

The Stanglehold game – also directed by John Woo – allows players to don the persona of Chow Yun Fat’s Inspector Tequila and fill those baddies with lead from those famous double handguns.

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