Well known console hacker Timbinc has detailed his ability to hack the Nintendo Wii in order to allow him to boot up custom code. His article titled 'Wii hacked it' will go over the heads of most, but if you're really into the technical aspect of things then it's definitely worth a read over at debugmo.de. Just remember to get your reading glasses on!

An inside source at Arstechnica who in the past has been correct on many forthcoming console revisions has revealed that Sony is definitely phasing the 80GB PS3 from the market and is set to introduce a 120/160GB PS3 pack complete with a Dual Shock 3 controller. The latter edition will be an integral part of Sony's two tier hardware platform in conjunction with the lower spec'd 40GB SKU.

I repeated the information we reported on Friday: Sony is sticking to a two-model approach at retail, but the company won't comment on whether or not the other model would be the 80GB system. The 40GB system seems safe. I asked the mole what information he had.

"Sony is, in fact, phasing out the 80GB PS3. Sony is going to stay with the two-SKU approach though, and the prices look to stay the same," the mole told me. I heard sirens in the background, and the mole seemed nervous. "The Spiderman 3 pack-in will disappear as well once the 80GB unit is gone. In order to maintain a similar value proposition to the 80GB/Spiderman 3 bundle, I expect to see a storage increase to 120 or 160GB at the same price point, plus the new Dual-Shock 3 controller... what are you trying to accomplish with this story?"

Microsoft may have coughed up huge amounts of cash to secure exclusive DLC for GTA IV but online rumors indicate that besides the two long chapters which will be exclusive to the Xbox 360, the rest of the downloadable content will be heading to the PS3 as it is on the Xbox 360 system.

Microsoft Corp. may have stumped up an alleged $50 million USD to secure exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content for its Xbox 360 console – much to the chagrin of PlayStation 3 fans everywhere – but it would appear that the deal doesn’t really leave Sony’s machine too far behind in the DLC stakes.

Specifically, current online chatter suggests that Redmond-based Microsoft’s big-dollar edition of Rockstar Games’ upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV will be bolstered by the inclusion of two longevity-friendly downloadable game chapters, which will arrive exclusively on the Xbox 360 platform via the Xbox Live Marketplace.

However, those chapters – while no-doubt tantalising - will supposedly be the sum total of the exclusive content secured by Microsoft’s bank-busting deal, with all other downloadable content related to the eagerly anticipated title equally as available for the PlayStation 3 as it is for the Xbox 360.

An official document released by Insomniac concerning the development of Resistance: Fall of Man reveals that the title used just 10-20 percent of PS3's SPU, so there is plenty of un-tapped power left for Resistance 2 to perform even better! You can read the complete development document at insomniacgames.com in PDF format.

Jeff Bell, VP of Global Marketing for Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Division, has said "never say never" on the possibility of releasing a Blu-ray drive if that became the consumers choice. He said they have had a long history of partnership with Sony and says they have a 'coopetition', which is a word he learned at MS.

1UP: Microsoft's seen some good success with the release of the HD-DVD add-on for Xbox 360. With Warner Bros. recent announcement to go Blu-ray exclusive, clearly it's not a knock-out punch -- but a blow to the format. How do you see that changing Microsoft's perspective on the ongoing format war?

Bell: First of all, let me say Warner Bros. is a great partner. They are the number one partner in terms of downloadable content with TV shows to own and movies to rent on Xbox Live Marketplace. We were disappointed with the announcement. It has a consequence. I will tell you that we are committed to HD-DVD and still have some great partners -- Universal, Paramount, DreamWorks -- these are great participants in the format. We have sold very well the HD-DVD accessory.

We did make a specific choice; we did not impose technology upon our consumers. We would like choice to be our guiding principle, and it has worked for us. We're not demanding that people choose a format, but rather, we're with DVD in the Xbox 360. Satisfaction with DVDs, by the way, is like 96%, at least in the States. So, we continue to give the alternative in HD-DVD, we have downloadable movies and television shows on Xbox Live Marketplace, Media Center Extender is available and as we just announced, IPTV will be brought onto the Xbox 360, first with British Telecomm in 2008 for consumers. So, there's more than one choice to watch movies and TV shows.

1UP: In the event that HD-DVD no longer becomes a viable alternative in the retail space, how do you think Microsoft will respond to that? Peter Moore had at once said, before you released the add-on, that he was open to the possibility of releasing a Blu-ray drive if that became the consumer choice. Is that something that's still on the table for you guys?

Bell: You know, interestingly, we have a long history of partnership with Sony. Obviously, they run our software on their personal computers and other devices, so we have a 'coopetition' -- a word I learned at Microsoft when I joined. We've been talking to Blu-ray all along because we have the best piece of software in the business, called HDi. It is the backbone that powers interactivity in HD-DVD and we have that available to potentially partner with others.

You never say never. I think we'd like to see how things evolve. Our commitment, however, to HD-DVD is profound and consistent, and we have done very, very well in term of our accessory sales. We have 400 HD-DVD movies from great studios available. It's a long time between now and June.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata and Masahiro Sakurai (the creative force behind both the Kirby and the Super Smash Bros. series) agreed that if all their games mirror games like Wii Sports or Wii Fit, Wii gamers would soon grow bored. Iwata believes games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit were a step in the right direction breaking from the old "more contents and more depth" philosophy and brining more variety.

Iwata
Without a doubt, the rapid speed at which consumers make purchases and then grow tired of them is an area of game development in which the balance has been thoroughly upset. Some time ago we were able to say "if we invest this much effort to make this type of product, gamers should get this much fun play time out of it." Now, however, these odds are changing and there is a feeling that the product won’t hold the gamers attention unless you continually design more game contents and add more depth.

Sakurai
That’s why I think games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit were a step in the right direction. I’m not saying that these games lack depth, but these games proposed an unprecedented line of thinking and broke from the old "more contents and more depth" philosophy.

Iwata
Right, but that absolutely doesn’t mean that we did this because we thought development would be easy. An astounding amount of effort was actually put into the fundamental development process of these titles. We’re investing our efforts in other areas besides graphics and data capacity. However, as I mentioned earlier, if all our games mirror games like Wii Sports or Wii Fit, our gamers would soon grow bored. It’s truly a division of duties.

Sakurai
I agree.

A Japanese game retailer is reporting that there is going to be severe shortage of Smash Bros. Brawl for its Japan release. Apparently Nintendo have only initially shipped 300,000-400,000 units, nowhere near the millions that it will most likely sell. Also a console importer has said that vendors in Japan have also waned of a shortage so have stopped pre orders.

Canned Dogs has more details:

"Lepton has tried to buy the games at full price from other sources just so they can fill the preorders, but nobody as any stock. They have then managed to secure an additional 100 copies of the game at 7350 yen each, which is at a price that is even higher than the selling price of the game which is 6800 yen (they’ll be losing money with each sale).

They still do not have enough copies of the game to fill preorders."

Import retailer NCSX mentioned something similar in their Monday stock update:

"Last night, vendors in Japan warned us that there might be a shortage of [SSBB] so we're closing preorders today. If the information turns out to be erroneous, we'll accept new preorders again."

The NPD group has spoken out and said that articles which posted figures of Blu-ray trouncing HD-DVD did not take into account several intriguing variables. Firstly both Blu-ray disc players and software were being given away for free with the purchase of 1080p TVs. Second instant rebate promotions that reduced Toshiba's players' MSRPs to $199 and $249 had actually ended sending the price up to $299 and $399 in the same week. They go onto to hint that Toshiba's retail price drop on Jan. 13th to $149 / $199, is working well for Toshiba. NPD concluded "Toshiba's HD DVD players represent a significant value to the consumer and the marketing campaign that just began is proving effective."

The NPD Group attempted to quiet the storm of online scuttlebutt with the following statement:

"As you may have seen, there are attempts being made to portray NPD's weekly sales tracking figures for next generation DVD as a trend. We want to remind you and make clear that it is not accurate to make long term assumptions based on one week of sales -- a cautionary point that NPD has made as well.

"The facts are that during the week that is being singled out, both Blu-ray disc players and software were being given away for free with the purchase of 1080p TVs. It is also important to note that the instant rebate promotions that had previously netted Toshiba's players' MSRPs to $199 and $249 had actually ended on Jan. 5th -- causing an increase in HD DVD's MSRP back to $299 and $399 during that same week. Since Toshiba's retail price move on Jan. 13th to $149 / $199 -- Toshiba is seeing very positive sales trends at retail. This reinforces the fact that price is a significant driver of sales.

"Toshiba's HD DVD players represent a significant value to the consumer and the marketing campaign that just began is proving effective."

Sony have developed the world's smallest Blu-ray reader/writer module, which will allow slimmer drive bays. The new unit is only 3mm thick and Sony say it should end up in 9.5mm laptop drives sometime this year. Cost savings have come from a simpler manufacturing process that will yield dividends in mass production.

Developed jointly with Nichia of Japan, the new laser unit is just 3mm thick and should help manufacturers miniaturise the hardware in their Blu-ray drives. Sony says it imagines the device ending up in 9.5mm laptop drives sometime this year.

Cost savings come from a simpler manufacturing process that will yield dividends in mass production, while other features include the ability to handle dual-layer BDs and disks with organic dye in the recording layers. Organic disks can be churned out from existing DVD production lines, so it's a win-win situation here.

The supposed insider who has worked on the Xbox 360 project and revealed a wealth of information behind the Red Ring of Death failures has responded to critics. He says MS knows who he is, so it would be pointless identifying himself and that fanboys would end up harassing his family and hacking his PC. He says Microsoft are worried about him revealing their problems and that he has contacted every single attorney who has filed a lawsuit against MS offering to help with some accepting his offer. He says he has always been in a position to stand up for the customer but MS stopped him from doing so and now they must pay the price.

Hi everyone. I understand the questions you all have. I hope you understand that it's a bit overwhelming to try and answer everything in real time. After tonight, I'm going to ask Jake (or Jacob?) to field your questions and funnel them to me for answers. Then we can do that in an organized way. But for now, I'm going to try and answer some that I thought were most important.
First, why the secrecy?
MS knows who I am. That's why I'm not concerned about self identifying to them in these postings with details only they would know, as some here have pointed out. The people who founded Xbox hw number 10. 1 left to go be the VP of manufacturing at Qualcomm, 1 left to go be the GM of engineering at Zune, 1 left after only 2 months in '99 due to conflicts with toddhol. He works on Surface now. The rest still work on Xbox. I am the only one who left the company entirely.
I am not concerned about MS knowing who I am. They are worried about me revealing their problems. Not the other way around. Plus, I have contacted every single attorney who has filed a lawsuit against MS and offered to help. Some have accepted, and that work is in progress. We'll talk about that in another post. It's very interesting, I just don't want a bunch of fan boys trying to hack my home PC (that I use for work). Harass my kids, call my house, etc.
Second, why now?
Well, it's not just now. I've been reaching out since before the product went into manufacturing. I left before launch. But many employees continued to contact me about the problems with the product and its launch. I did my best to help them figure out how to mitigate the problems caused my bad management decisions, and test the boxes right. Sometimes my ideas worked, sometimes they didn't. I then started to contact reporters. Sometimes it went no where. Sometimes, it resulted in a spectacular thing, like the ambush interview with toddhol just before MS admitted guilt. But still, it happened too slowly for me. That's one reason I'm doing this now.
When those articles were posted last July, I chimed in as a commentator. That's when Jake invited me for an interview. But I didn't see it then. It was only recently when I goog'ed "xboxfounder" on a whim that I found that old invite. So I contacted him to see if he was still interested. I sent him a current resume from my current work email account, and he believed me. If you guys don't, then tell me what you need to see as proof. And I will provide that.
Last: My motivation.
I have always been in a position to stand up for the customer. MS stopped me from doing that. They need to pay the price now. If you guys won't get together and make that happen, you have no hope for the future with them. It's not my fight, but I am here fighting. You decide what you want to do. And then do it!

It would seem as if Sony is preparing to release a new white colored version of its 40GB PS3 unit in America relatively soon as new photos at the FCC indicate. The new photos display a white system from a range of angles and it only has two USB ports with no memory card reader ports. Check out the filing at fcc.gov.

Last year, UK trade publication MCV stated that Rockstar is planning to release Grand Theft Auto IV on April 25th and further evidence has come forward to support these claims. A UK gaming website states that a third party source has confirmed an April 25th release date which is the last day of Take 2's fiscal fourth quarter. Elsewhere, GAME lists the PS3 version for release on April 25th with Amazon putting a an April 30th tag on the game.

Late last year MCV broke the news that Rockstar is planning to release possibly the biggest next-gen game to date, Grand Theft Auto IV, on April 25th – and now further evidence has emerged to back the claims.

UK consumer site Spong highlights information on US stock website Tradingmarkets that again claims that the game will not arrive in March as has been previously claimed, and will indeed be shipped the following month.

The website also goes on to claim that a further third-party source has confirmed April 25th as the release date – which, uncoincidentally, is the final day of Take 2’s fiscal fourth quarter.

Online retailer listings still provide mixed information at present. GAME lists the PS3 version for release on April 25th, but claims the Xbox 360 version will arrive at the beginning of the month. Elsewhere, Amazon.com claims the game will arrive on April 30th.

Agreeing with comments made by MS executives previously, Suda 51 indicates that third party titles for the Wii aren't selling in Japan and Nintendo are the only ones who really profit from the Wii. Speaking specifically about No More Heroes, Suda commented that sales weren't as high as he'd hoped and Nintendo titles are doing well but this pattern expands beyond Japan too.

Goichi Suda, otherwise known as Suda 51, claims that third-party titles for the Wii aren't selling in Japan and that only Nintendo is really profiting from its success.

Speaking about Japanese sales of his game, No More Heroes, he says, "Whilst the sales weren't as high as I hoped, other titles for Wii aren't selling so well either. Only Nintendo titles are doing well. This isn't just because of the current situation in Japan, as this is happening outside Japan."

He also expressed surprise over the casual audience that has been the primary adopters of the Wii. "Actually I was very surprised about the reality about Wii, because before I was making this game, I wasn't expecting that Wii would be a console targeted only for non-gamers. I expected more games for hardcore gamers. The reality is different to what I expected."

MTV managed to have a chat with the lawyer who is suing Microsoft based on their lengthy Xbox Live outages. The lawyer stated that MS knew what was going to happen with the Xbox Live overload and if they didn't then they wouldn't have put out so many Xbox 360 unit's to start with thus proving MS's priorities were out of order. Moreover, he went on to comment they take money for subscriptions but don't make sure the service will be there and in the process put the cart before the horse.

At least some gamers' hopes lie with Gibson, a consumer-fraud attorney who claims he's never lost a trial and who has recently been working on a case against coin dealers who allegedly suckered elderly collectors into bad deals (one of the alternate URLs for Gibson's law firm is coinfraud.com).

"When you have one person who is mad and they can't get a response, and they can't get their complaints addressed by a company like Microsoft, the only way to get their attention is in numbers," Gibson said. He said the company had to have known what was going to happen with the Xbox Live overload. "If they had not anticipated the sales, then they would not have put out that many units of the Xbox to begin with." Last week, Microsoft announced that Live had reached 10 million subscribers and claimed record-setting revenue for consoles sold in 2007, covering strong sales through the holiday season. Gibson said that proves Microsoft's priorities were out of order.

"They take the money for the subscriptions, but they don't make sure that the service is going to be there," Gibson said. "They kind of put the cart before the horse. To me, you make sure the service is going to be there. Make sure the product is going to be there. And then feel good about taking money for the service and the product."

Dennis said Microsoft could not comment on the lawsuit because the company has yet to be served. Gibson is in the process of doing so, after which Microsoft will have 20 days to respond to the suit.

Asked if any alleviation of the Xbox Live issues would nix the suit, Gibson said the damage has already been done and that he would proceed. He said he has received more than 500 e-mails from gamers, 10 percent of them mocking or questioning the lawsuit but the rest expressing solidarity. He said that more than 50 more plaintiffs have joined Kay, Smith and Perez in the suit.

"What they would like to see is Microsoft fix the problem," Gibson said. "They'd like to be reimbursed for the money they spent when they haven't received the service, and hopefully it will make Microsoft do the right thing in the future."

Sony has confirmed that the GPS and Camera accessories will be released in North America by the end of the year. Secondly, SCEA reps revealed that Sony is working on a first party keyboard for the PSP that is set to be released in the middle of 2009.

Over a year ago, the PlayStation Portable's camera and GPS receiver went on sale in Japan. The photo-snapping add-on also hit the market in Europe in 2006, and its global-positioning cousin has been confirmed to arrive in the territory later this year.

However, to the frustration of North American gamers, neither the GPS nor the camera have been dated for the region--until now, anyway. Today at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, Sony Computer Entertainment America reps confirmed to GameSpot that both peripherals will be available on this continent by the end of the year. Unfortunately, they could not give a more specific time frame.

SCEA reps also revealed today a welcome surprise for PSP owners weary of its cell-phone-like text entry system. They confirmed that Sony is working on a first-party keyboard for the handheld gaming system for release in mid-2009. When asked if said keyboard will resemble the mock-up that was shown off at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo, the reps demurred. "We're looking at several designs, but can't tell you anything more specific," a rep said.

Sony have confirmed that the reason Skype will only work on the PSP Slim & Light is due to memory constraints. The original PSP (PSP-1000) has 32MB of memory, whereas the newer Slim & Light model (PSP-2000) has 64MB. Sony did study the possibility of supporting Skype with PSP-1000, however they had to give it up due to the smaller 32MB of memory.

Sony announced at CES today that Skype will be made available for the PSP Slim & Light. By adding the Skype logo to the XMB via a firmware update, users will be able to access full Skype voice functionality including the use of Skype Out / Skype In, as well as access to the account admin functions.

Before you ask, the reason Skype will only work on the PSP Slim & Light (and not the original model) is due to memory constraints. The original PSP (PSP-1000) has 32MB of memory, whereas the newer Slim & Light model (PSP-2000) has 64MB. Nick Sharples had the following to say.

“Although PSP-1000 and PSP-2000 are identical in basic functions, there are differences in hardware specifications to some extent and, for that reason, PSP-2000 may differ in features from PSP-1000. We had studied the possibility of supporting Skype with PSP-1000 but had to give it up because of the smaller size of main memory on PSP-1000 series.”