1P Start

Engadget had some interesting news this morning. Apparently Sony has revealed today that stock of the 60gig PS3 model have been finally been exhausted now that the 80gig has hit shelves.

What exactly does that mean for you? Well, basically, once your local retailers run out of the $499 Playstation 3 systems, that’s all she wrote. The Sony warehouses have been completely drained, and are now only stocking the 80gig models for retailers’ supplies.

If you are one of those people who have been on the fence about getting a PS3 for this holiday season, you might want to strike while the iron is hot, and grab yourself one of the less bank-account-killing models before they go the way of the dodo. According to Sony, there is still an “ample supply” of 60gigs at various retailers, but it’s better safe than sorry, as they say.

While Sony has been up front since the beginning of the 80gig announcement about the eventual phasing out of the 60gig SKU, what is slightly more surprising is how quickly their supplies have dwindled. The 80gig PS3 has been available for less than a month now, and Sony is already saying they are out of the 60gig model. The main question I have at this point is, were there just not that many 60gigs in the warehouses to begin with, or is Sony actually starting to move the consoles at a quicker pace? I kind of have a feeling that its a little of both since the PS3 game line up has started to slowly pick up steam, but I also think that they probably didn’t actually have that much stock of the 60gigs in their warehouses anyways. Only Sony knows for sure.

Playstation 3, PS3, Sony, 60gig, 80gig

Black Market skateboards has decided to create a non-licensed Nintendo Skateboard. Though it doesn’t say “Wii” on it, the exact clone of the design of the Wii Remote may anger Nintendo a tad bit, and force them to legally take on the hardcore skater industry. Skate off, anyone?

Besides, the only Tony Hawks game for the Wii sucks to the max. I didn’t even know that skateboarders played the Wii. I kid I kid. Warning: After many board slides, it is possible that the speaker in the center may not work anymore, but that’s ok, right? It doesn’t sound that good anyway.

[Thanks, Kotaku.]

Class based, futuristic, military combat game, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars for the PC, has received the gold treatment today after a long and winding 4ish year development.

Beginning development on the heels of the release of Splash Damage’s amazingly successful, and free to play, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars aims to improve upon the successful formula of excellent class based combat and unique objective based gameplay. Featuring 12 maps spanning locations across the globe, ET:QW is one of the biggest shooters scheduled for release this year. With the announcement of the game being put into mass production earlier today, this all but solidifies the October 2nd release date for the United States and September 28 for Europe and Australia.

Its been a long time coming, but the Quake Wars are about to begin!

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Gold, id software, Activision, Splash Damage, October 2, PC, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory

GamesIndustry.biz is reporting today, that acclaimed technology peripheral manufacture, Logitech, has decided to move into the ever popular Wii market.

In an exclusive interview with GamesIndustry, Logitech’s country manager for the UK and Ireland, Chris Spearing, revealed hopes that the first of Logitech’s Wii accessories will hit the market before the end of the year. Spearing praised Nintendo for their unique business model with both the Wii and DS platforms, but emphasizes that although the current devices from Nintendo are functional and innovative, there is always room for expanding the possibilities.

Regarding Logitech’s ever expanding line of accessories for video games, computers, home theater systems, and more, Spearing noted, “If you couldn’t improve on it, we wouldn’t be in business, and that’s the same for all products.”

No exact details have been revealed concerning Logitech’s first entry into Nintendo’s territory, however knowing Logitech, and the consistent quality of their products (I have only ever used Logitech keyboards and mice for the past 9 years), there is no doubt in my mind that whatever it is will be great.

Via: GamesIndustry.biz

Logitech, Wii, Nintendo, GamesIndustry.biz, Wii Accessories

Many believe that wearing a turtle-neck’d sweater in public is the nerdiest thing you can do, but now, those believers will be shunned incorrect due to the mega-nerdiness of the new Space Invaders Sweater. This sweater is hand-knitted, and customized to fulfill any gamer’s satisfaction. Though for $60 a pop, I’d recommend buying Bioshock instead. That game keeps you warm in a different way.

However, if you are the one that creates these and have some extra yarn laying around, I would LOVE one.

[Via Etsy]

The title just about sums it up. Today Microsoft confirmed that Halo 3 has officially gone gold, and released to manufacturing plants to produce the ridiculous amount of copies that will sell upon minutes on September 25th. We already know that Halo 3 is one of the fastest pre-selling game ever, and that we are going to see a mass majority of the world attempting to wear the Spartan Helmets included with the Legendary Edition of the game. It’s just a little bit longer my fellow gamers, it will be worth the wait.

Earlier in the week we noticed some lucky players playing Halo 3 in their gamertag summaries. The game is done, and we can almost taste the four player co-op glory. Thank you Bungie, thank you.

Halo 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft

California State Senator Leland Yee, one of the video game industry’s harshest critics, is pitching a fit today because of the recent announcement that Rockstar’s Manhunt 2 is finally receiving an M rating, setting it up for release in the United States on October 31st.

Upon hearing of the re-rating of Manhunt 2, Yee demanded that the ESRB reveal the specifics of why the game received the re-rating. Surprisingly enough, the ESRB seems to have finally decided to take a stand against government bullies, by refusing to reveal any information to the perturbed Senator.

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This morning, Electronic Arts revealed plans to release the single player demo for the much anticipated PC shooter, Crysis, on September 25th. The demo is reported to include the entire first level of the “epic single player campaign,” stated an EA press release. The demo will also feature a “huge” surprise from Crytek, but it seems we will have to wait until the 25th before the secret is revealed.

I don’t know about you, but I have this weird feeling that there was something else happening on September 25th that gamers all over the world were looking forward to as well. Oh yes, I remember now, it’s the premier of season 4 of House M.D. on Fox. Make sure you all take a break from playing Crysis for that, it’s gonna be a good one!

Although, I still have this feeling like I am missing something else. What could it be? Hey wait, doesn’t that Halo 3 thing come out on the 25th as well? Yeah that might have been it, but I’m sure no one really cares about that, right?

Seriously EA, what were you thinking? I’m guessing that on the 25th there will be a grand total of about 4 downloads of the Crysis demo; me, and my 3 friends who don’t have Xbox 360s. Everyone else in the world, however, will be too busy playing Halo 3 to bother with a Crysis demo. Not to mention the fact that Internet speeds across the globe will plummet as millions of players simultaneously scream “pwn,” “n00b,” or a multitude of other 4 letter words into their Xbox mics.

Crysis is a big game, to be sure, but big enough to turn people away from Halo 3 on launch day? I think not.

Crysis, Crytek, EA, PC, September 25, Demo, Halo 3

Ensemble Studios, creator of Age of Empires III and some of the other best RTSs ever to hit the market, has very high hopes for their newest creation, Halo Wars. Taking the Halo FPS franchise and turning it into a different genre is a hard task, but perhaps the only way for Halo to live on once we “finish the fight.” With a recent interview with GameSpot and Playtm, Ensemble executive producer, Harter Ryan, revealed that we will be playing the RTS Halo Wars demo within a “few days.” Are you pumped? Yeah, me neither, but I am very curious to see how they took the Halo name and turned it into something completely different.

Look for the Halo Wars demo on the Xbox Live Marketplace within the “next few days.”

[Via Gamers-Creed]

Halo, Halo Wars, Ensemble, RTS, Xbox 360

GameSpot has just released a new gameplay video from Sony’s possible upcoming blockbuster, LittleBigPlanet. It basically shows you how to create some very funny looking cardboard fighters, and make them kick the crap out of each other while you watch. Sandbox games are always fun, especially the non-limiting ones. LittleBigPlanet looks very promising in this sense, and looks to be the next “Garry’s Mod” of platformers. I can’t wait.

[Via PS3Fanboy]

LittleBigPlanet, PS3, Sony, Video, Preview

DISCLAIMER: If you don’t like controversial and opinionated articles, then perhaps this one isn’t the one for you. However, I am sure many of you quality gamers out there will agree with me on this one, and feel the same way about the topic of ESRB’s censoring of Manhunt 2.

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Hey, did you see that white and blue blur that just went flying by? That was Nintendo shooting past Microsoft as the number one home video game console on the market right now. That’s right kids, the Nintendo Wii has, in the last few days, surpassed the Xbox 360 in total unit sales, putting Nintendo in first place in the home console race.

While the news isn’t exactly official in any manner, sales tracking site Video Game Chartz reported 2 days ago of the passing of the torch. Nintendo should be extremely happy with the reception that the Wii has garnered over the past 9 months. The amazing thing about this story is the fact that in a mere 9 months, Nintendo’s console was able to surpass total sales of the Xbox 360 which has been out almost 2 full years now.

This announcement truly is a testament to the power of the casual gamer, as sales of the Wii have been highest from groups of people not traditionally associated with purchasing or playing video games. Congratulations Nintendo, it looks like your plan for capturing the attention of “non-gamers” has worked out beautifully.

Sales chart courtesy VGChartz.com

Nintendo, Wii, Microsoft, Xbox 360, sales, marketshare, home console

In keeping with my obsession with the FANTASTIC new shooter, BioShock, this post might help some of you if you happened to pick up the PC version and were having some issues, or have heard and are curious about the widescreen debate currently raging about the game.

The Cult of Rapture, BioShock’s official website, made a lengthy post about the various issues people are having with the new game. First of all comes word of new SecuROM changes allowing PC users to install the game on more computers as well as allow users to reinstall the game on the same computer more times.

Next on the list was that apparently the activation server 2K Games had set up to authorize PC copies of the game had gone down for a few hours the other night, and is now back online so users can finally finish installing their game.

Lastly, and this is a little more relevant for 360 players as well, is word that a widescreen patch is in the works for the PC version, and 2K Boston is currently looking into a 360 patch for the same thing. Hopefully the widescreen patch for the 360 will come out pretty soon because I do notice the smaller field of view in the game, however it is not enough to bother me that much.

And with that, its time for me to head back down to Rapture to unlock more of the mysteries of this fantastic city.

If you haven’t already, would you kindly go pick up BioShock? You won’t regret it; I promise.

BioShock, 2K Boston, 2K Australia, 2K Games, widescreen, patch, SecuROM

Wonderful news source Super Smash Bros. DOJO!! has just reported that the newest installment of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii is going to include Diddy Kong. This is particularly awesome because he is getting the Jet Pack and Nutshell dual-wielding Pop Guns! Donkey Kong 64, anyone?

Super Smash Bros. Brawl seems to have the ultimate list of characters to pwn or be pwnd with. The only character that NEEDS to be revealed is Sonic, and we all know that that is going to happen.

[Via]

Super Smash Bros., Diddy Kong, Wii

Here at 1pStart, we were recently given the opportunity to interview two of the developers of the new mobile phone game God of War: Betrayal. Although the interview was not exclusive to 1pStart, we were one of 6 sites lucky enough to have this opportunity. Upon responding to our questions, I have finally been able to compile a list of the questions we asked that were answered, as well as a few we didn’t ask, that we felt our readers would be interested in as well.

1pStart would like to sincerely thank Phil Cohen and Brad Spahr for taking the time to answer our questions, and wish them success with this game, and all of their future projects.

To view the interview, click here, or click on the banner at the top.