[PS3 Game] Virtual Tennis 3 (more screenshot)

Wii to be region-free?

What we heard: Gamers hoping to flail about while playing the latest Japanese-only games on their US Wiis take note: Nintendo's next-gen console appears to be region-free.

The question of whether or not gamers will be able to play imported games on the upcoming console has been looming for quite some time now, with Nintendo neither confirming nor denying the feature. The company embraced region-free gaming with the Nintendo DS but has been evasive when asked if the Wii would follow suit.

However, today among the heavy stream of Wii news, Wired News said Nintendo of America VP of marketing and corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan had finally confirmed that the console will indeed be region-free--in theory.

"Will the Wii be region-free? Yes. Like the Nintendo DS, the Wii will be able to play games from other regions, such as Japan, without any restriction. Kaplan implied there might be a region lock that publishers would be able to flip on, but it doesn't sound like the first-party titles from Nintendo will be restricted."

Nintendo still has yet to make a wide, media-friendly announcement on the subject. Hyping a feature such as region-free gaming would seem to be a no-brainer, so the company's coy stance raised concerns. Even the article's author seemed a bit skeptical with a careful choice of words: "Kaplan implied there might be a region lock that publishers would be able to flip on, but it doesn't sound like the first-party titles from Nintendo will be restricted."

The official story: Getting answers from Nintendo proved difficult during one of the company's busiest days of the year. However, after a lengthy exchange of cryptic e-mails, a rep finally confirmed that Kaplan's words regarding regionless first-party titles and potentially regionless third-party titles were indeed correct: "[The] Wii will be region-free."

GameStop requiring trade-ins for Wii, PS3 pre-orders?

What we heard: Even on their best days, most gaming message boards are not known as level-headed venues where different ways of thinking are welcome or accepted. So when Cheap Ass Gamer forum-goer "Hack" posted a picture of a GameStop flier over the weekend that said the retailer was requiring the $50 deposit on Wii and PlayStation 3 pre-orders to be paid in game trade-ins (cash or credit not accepted!), there was naturally much ado.

Gamers took the news and ran with it, spreading it around various message boards and getting a bit of coverage from news aggregators as well. However, as the news spread, it seemed certain nuances were lost. The original poster, Hack, updated his post to clarify things as he understood them after a call back to the store where he picked up the flier.

"I will repeat that I never said this was official, or meant this to be an official nationwide announcement," Hack wrote in an update to his post. "As the beginning of this post has always stated (or rather, used to state), I'm not aware if this is a nationwide trend or not (and we have learned that it currently IS NOT). I do live in Hawaii, and therefore this could only be in my region. This is basically a small scale test of this new pre-ordering method. That means that if this test succeeds in Hawaii, it could possibly take effect nationwide."

It seems the GameStop employee who filled Hack in had the facts straight. A spokesman for the retailer told us today that the pre-order stipulation is real, but stressed that it is only a test, and one that the company is conducting only in Hawaii. He also said the test began and ended today, and that the company doesn't have an official nationwide program for pre-orders yet. It's unknown if Hawaiian customers will get another crack at pre-orders in the nationwide program, whatever form it may take.

The test is over, and it will be a little while before we see whether or not GameStop decides to embrace that strategy on a nationwide basis. However, it seems likely that GameStop, and possibly other retailers as well, would do something to improve their bottom line on console launches.

Whereas the profit on new game hardware is traditionally very small, the profit on selling used games is considerably higher. Requiring trade-ins to cover the deposit would be one way for retailers to better their bottom lines without requiring the bundled purchases that have become common from online retailers, including GameStop's own Web store.

Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus that the plan is nationwide. Not bogus that GameStop was using Hawaii to test consumer reaction to the idea.

尽管PlayStation 3与Wii之间差价巨大，玩家们的价值观却无法用金钱来衡良——美国已经有不少PS3用户开始在网上交易平台发帖，希望能够用自己的PS3与Wii拥有者交换。

仅在craigslist.org上，就可以找到72个想要将手中PS3交换成Wii的游戏玩家：Austin六人，纽约18人，旧金山48人。

业内人士认为，玩家这种行并不难理解：有的人在PS3首发时囤积了数台PS3，此刻想要用其中一台交换Wii和一点现金十分自然，另外，eBay上PS3 价格正在不断走跌，圣诞节前Wii销量却有增无减，因此PS3的需求已经开始渐渐低于Wii——当然，还有一个最大的原因：买了PS3，却发现Wii才是 自己的最爱。

Wii已经开始通过非正规渠道进入国内市场，上海地区日版价格在2500RMB左右（无游戏），美版则高达3300RMB（含两款游戏）——很明显，节日期间购买Wii不是个高性价比的选择。

GamePro Expo is E for All

New gaming convention from IDG renamed "E for All Expo"; open-to-public exposition christened through contest.

In November, trade show producers IDG World Expo announced that it would be holding a contest to name its upcoming gaming convention, originally dubbed GamePro Expo. The group received more than 3,000 submissions from contestants, all vying for the grand prize of winning a trip to the show.

Less than two months later, we have a winner.

California resident Dante Padre submitted the winning entry, "Entertainment for All Expo," and will win a trip to Los Angeles to attend the show, which runs October 18-20. As the Electronic Entertainment Expo was typically shortened to E3, the Entertainment for All Expo will be known as E for All Expo.

"This show seems to be about inviting everyone to participate; they even asked gamers to create the name," said Padre on his winning entry.

The consumer event will be open to the public and held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. IDG is currently working on the show's program, which it expects to include tournaments, a job fair, "family-friendly offerings," and the Video Games Live concert. For more information, visit the show's official Web site.

由于E3转型为只允许专业人士参加的小型展会，2007年游戏迷们迫切需要一个新的大众性游戏展来释放我们的热情。IDG集团之前曾经宣布过保持原E3特 性的新展会“GamePro Expo”，并为此展开了一次征名活动。最终，从3000个入选名称中，他们选择了“Entertainment for All Expo”（全民娱乐博览会），恐怕我们今后都会经常听到它的简称：“E For All”。

“E For All”展会将会与今年10月18到20号在原E3的举办地，洛杉矶会展中心举行。今年的场地除了会展中心，Staples中心之外，还将增加毗邻的新 LA Live area。“E For All”的名称充分体现了该展会的信条，欢迎所有人来参加。1月中下旬的时间也正好迎接一年当中游戏销售最火爆的圣诞购物季。主办方还称，在“E For All”展会中，许多游戏产品都可以直接在展场上购买。

据悉，“E For All”的名称已经得到了管理方美国娱乐软件协会ESA的许可。

Sixaxis scores Emmy

National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences bestows tech honor on the PlayStation 3's motion-sensitive controller.

After being the subject of some slings and arrows from the media, the PlayStation 3 has racked up one of the media's highest honors. Tonight at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will give Sony a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for the PS3's Sixaxis controller. Like the Wii remote, the Sixaxis can sense motion, allowing players to control onscreen action by moving the controller.

Sony was understandably pleased by the announcement. "The critical acclaim for PS3 is a testament of the platform's strength and the industry's desire for a true next-generation entertainment system," said recently installed Sony Computer Entertainment president CEO Jack Tretton. Tretton assumed his new post in mid-December, shortly before Time magazine labeled the PS3 launch "a bust." Sony has since announced the console shipped 1 million units in North America in 2006, nearly double the number of Xbox 360s sold in 2005. Both consoles went on sale in mid-November of their respective launch years.

Besides the Emmy, CES will see the PlayStation 3 receive several other honors, including the 2007 CES Best of Innovations Award, PC World's 20 Most Innovative Products Award, Sound & Vision's Editor's Choice Award, and Digital Entertainment Group's Emiel N. Petrone Digital Innovation Award.

PS3 sales higher than towers??

Haha, Maybe few years later this could happen. Before sony get PS3 developed nicely, better don't dream too much ...haha

GameStop exec says PS3 in stock

Game retailer's COO says Sony's new console is now in abundant supply--while the Wii remains hard to come by.

For first-party game companies, 2006's holiday season was a critical point in the next-generation console war. Industry trackers have kept a keen eye on the sales performance of the Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, but official numbers aren't expected out of NPD until later this month.

However, at CES yesterday, Sony confirmed that it had shipped out more than 1 million PS3s to North America, and expects 6 million to be available worldwide by March. Now it appears that Sony has overcome its supply issues.

Daniel A. DeMatteo, vice chairman and COO of GameStop, late last week said PS3s are available at "hundreds of the company's 3,700 outlets," according to the New York Times. The Wii, on the other hand, is still hard to come by.

"We got some [Wiis] in yesterday in really limited supply, and they virtually disappeared," DeMatteo said, according to the NYT.

The $250 Wii and $499/$599 PlayStation 3 were very difficult to purchase after their November launches, as gamers lined up outside stores at times days in advance to buy the systems. DeMatteo says this is the first time that PS3 stock has remained unsold in his stores.

Over the weekend, GameSpot editors visited a local EB Games, which is owned by GameStop, and found PS3s available for purchase. As for the Wii, one clerk told GameSpot, "We got some in earlier this week and they were gone in five minutes."

The availability of PS3s can be spun good or bad, depending on which side of the next-gen war one is on. Pro-Sony gamers will note that more PS3s in stores simply means more PS3s that will be sold. On the other hand, doomsayers will simply see ample stock as evidence that consumers aren't buying the system.

已经有报告显示，尽管全球供货依旧紧缺，在部分地区，Sony新一代游戏主机PlayStation 3已经出现积货现象。

在日本市场，部分游戏店主表示PS3销售并不如预期那般火热，在欧美部分供货充足的地区，PS3甚至出现短期的供货积压现象。