Console numbers released: Xbox 360 tops 10M US sales, 9.2M PS3s sold worldwide last year

Thursday, May 15th, 2008 | News with No Comments »

Microsoft is making some noise today about the Xbox 360’s sales numbers — it’s the first of this generation of consoles to top 10M sales in the US. That’s well ahead of the Wii, which stands at 8.8M, and the PS3, which has under half the 360’s installed base at 4.1M units sold. Worldwide, the 360 is also doing quite well: Microsoft says it’s moved 19M consoles total, and that 12 million people are signed up for Xbox Live. That’s behind the Wii’s global sales of 25M units, but Microsoft isn’t exactly content with second place — it’s making a point to say that the 360 has the ” largest global install base of any current gen, high definition gaming console.” Take that, Mario. Meanwhile, the PS3s doing quite nicely for itself as well: in addition to outselling the 360 in both the US and Europe, Sony says worldwide sales were up an astounding 156 percent last year with a total of 9.2M units coming off shelves, and that it expects to sell another 10M consoles by March 2009. Looks like the console race is hitting the next level — any bets on how things will shake out in a year?

[Via Joystiq]

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Wii homebrew channel video released

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 | News with No Comments »

We’ve already seen some rudimentary Wii homebrew channel support, but this latest video released by homebrew developer Bushing steps things up considerably, with it turning what was once a curiosity into something that quite a few non-homebrew dabbling folks will likely be eager to get their hands on. As you can see after the break, the channel looks to be about as straightforward as can be, and it apparently includes built-in support for loading ELF and DOL homebrew executables via USBGecko and TCP/IP, in addition to support for loading ‘em off SD cards. Sadly, there’s no word on a release just yet, but we can’t imagine it being kept under wraps for too much longer.

[Via DCEmu, thanks Craig]

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Planex DigiJuke NAS snags YouTube and BitTorrent video — jams it down the Wii, Xbox 360, iPod… and throat of MPAA

Monday, April 28th, 2008 | News with No Comments »

Here it is copyright bandits, the single biggest reason (besides silicone) to make a Hollywood studio notice you: the MZK-NAS02SG1T network attached storage device from Planex. The main selling point behind the ¥54,799 (about $524) 1TB Gigabit Ethernet block is the claim to “universal access” for all your devices. That little trick comes courtesy of its DigiJuke browser for searching and tagging the BitTorrent and YouTube content you want downloaded in the appropriate PSP and iPod (MPEG-4), Wii (FLV), or TV (MPEG-2) format for in-home or on-the-go viewing. The NAS also streams audio and video to your iTunes laptops or desktops, DLNA TV, Xbox 360, or other compliant device in the home. A front-facing USB 2.0 jack offers one-touch dubbing of USB sticks while a second around back offers ready storage expansion. It ships with a pair of 3.5-inch 500GB drive which you can swap out for higher capacity spinners at a later date. That is if the studios don’t shut you down first.

Joystiq goes all out with Mario Kart Wii controller comparison

Saturday, April 26th, 2008 | News with No Comments »

As we’re all too well aware, Mario Kart can be serious business for some folks, and Mario Kart Wii will certainly be no exception, which makes the right choice of controller all the more important. Thankfully, our pals at Joystiq have now come through with a meticulous comparison of all five driving options at your disposal. That includes the Wiimote on its own, the Wiimote with Wii Wheel, the Wiimote / nunchuck combo, the Classic Controller, and the tried and true GameCube controller. Somewhat surprisingly, while the GameCube Controller and Classic Controller each helped to put in some solid times, Joystiq actually found the Wiimote / nunchuck combo to the best all around option, with it faring particularly well when using a bike. Lagging far behind, however, was the solo Wiimote (which they recommend to avoid at all costs), although the addition of the Wii Wheel did apparently did help to make things a bit more manageable. Hit up the link below for the full rundown.