PS3's Browser Use Is Higher Than Wii

Sony's PS3 is more popular among gamers for accessing the internet than Nintendo's Wii, despite the Wii user base being almost double that of the PS3. However, to put this in proportion, the PS3's browser has a 0.04 share of the 'internet market' globally compared with the PC's 88.7 per cent majority, according to business research group Market Share. Nintendo Wii's Opera browser has a minuscule 0.01 per cent of the global internet market. Both Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii can access mainstream online entertainment services such as the BBC iPlayer and YouTube. Current estimates put the Wii's global user base at around 44 million, over twice the estimated 19 million PS3s that have been sold around the world to date.

( www.techradar.com )

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PlayStation 3 Console Sales Lag Behind The Competition

It looks like the third wheel this time around is Sony. Going back several console generations, there have always been one or two successful systems, and then one or more also-rans. When the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo were battling for supremacy in the early 1990s, the TurboGrafx-16 settled for table scraps. In the next generation, Sony's original PlayStation and the Nintendo 64 took first and second place, while Sega's Saturn barely even made it out of the starting gate. Sega again took it on the chin when its initially promising Dreamcast was trounced by the PS2, and Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube dueled for second. Now the Nintendo Wii is lapping the field, while the Xbox 360 has carved out a solid following that's growing again with the recent price cuts. But the PS3 is turning into a punching bag. In November, sales of Sony's console actually fell from a year ago, while the Wii and Xbox 360 numbers grew. What's the problem? Price.

While the PS3 has a handful of good exclusive games, there's enough overlap between the games on the PS3 and the Xbox 360 that the average gamer is going to decide which system to get based largely on the price. And the PS3 sells for $399, while the cheapest Xbox 360 model goes for $199. That decision basically makes itself for most gamers. ( www.tmcnet.com )

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EA And 2K Add PhysX

NVidia has something to celebrate at last. Top game makers Electronic Arts and 2K Games have announced they will use Nvidia's PhysX technology. PhysX will appear in EA's Mirror's Edge, in which a courier has to outrun armed troops under the command of an oppressive government. Quite why a Postman Pat style game needs PhysX is not clear, particularly when his cat is black and white anyway. The game has come out on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles and will be released in January for PCs. Those who have seen the PhysX version say it shows improved image processing, in which shattering windows spray glass shards, banners flutter, fabric tears and bullets hit walls more realistically. We guess the post van looks better too. An Nvidia GeForce spokesman said that everything was fully destructible, and he was not just talking about chips for a change. ( www.theinquirer.net )

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PS3 Leads Consoles In User-Generated Content

Sony PS3 owners can certainly boast about their console being better than Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360 in one area – that old Web 2.0 favourite, user-generated content (UGC). Sony's Michael Denny recently heralded the success of online titles on the PS3 such as LittleBigPlanet, Buzz and SingStar. Sony claims that LittleBigPlanet users have created nearly 180,000 levels to date, playing them over 22.4 million times online, while Buzz quiz fans have created over 100,000 quizzes for the game, played over seven million times. "I think if you look at Worldwide Studios heritage in Europe, we always - whether it's internally or externally - work on innovative new products," Denny told gamesindustry.biz. ( www.techradar.com )

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Star Trek MMO Heads To PlayStation 3

MMO developer Cryptic Studios is bringing its Star Trek MMO to Sony's PlayStation 3 console, according to latest reports based on job ads from the well-respected studio. An official confirmation of a PS3 version is still to be made, but Kotaku noticed a job ad on Craigslist that pretty much confirms what we already suspected. The Federation-themed MMO Star Trek online will be truly multi-format, appearing on Microsoft's Xbox 360 as well as Sony's PS3 and the good ol' PC.

( www.techradar.com )

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PS3 2.50 Firmware Adds Flash 9 Support

PlayStation 3's upcoming 2.50 firmware includes support for Flash 9 via the console's web browser alongside various changes announced yesterday. ( www.eurogamer.net )

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PS3 Exclusive Demon's Soul

Kombo : "We have recently seen Microsoft steal away several traditional Sony exclusives such as Final Fantasy XIII. It looks like Sony has a few trick up their sleeves as well, with the announcement of the PlayStation 3 Exclusive RPG, Demon's Soul. According to the recent press coverage, you can look forward to getting your hands on this dungeon trudging hack-n-slash late next year. Here is a little taste of what is to come". ( ps3.kombo.com )

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