DVDGuy’s Blog @ Digital Digest

I’ve played GTA IV for a week now, and while I think it’s a great game, it does have some flaws. I think people got too excited handing out the 10/10 scores, and as with the Net media these days, one site does it and then everybody does it. It’s a great game no doubt, but perfect? Or even the best game in the last year? For a sandbox game fan and GTA maniac like myself, perhaps it is the best game of last year, but I’m sure there are games that are up there with it. It’s old, it’s cheap and it doesn’t have a storyline, but Crackdown on the 360 is an awesome game … makes GTA IV feel 2D by comparison (although I agree that giving Niko Bellic Spider-Man like abilities is a bit too much). I’m also not a big fan of the judder in the game, which some say is normal, but it’s something I can’t stand.

Despite my time wasting in Liberty City this week (I’m now awesome at GTA darts, BTW), there was actually quite a bit of news, and only half of it was GTA related.

In copyright news, the news of the week has been a good one for the MPAA. They won a judgement awarding them $110 million in damages to be paid by the owners of TorrentSpy. That got them all fired up and now their next target is The Pirate Bay, having asked for several million from them too. It’s unlikely the TorrentSpy people will not appeal this decision, and even more unlikely that they will have to pay anything, but neither compares to the impossibility of the MPAA getting their hands on TPB, or stopping torrent based piracy on the Net. Their other lawsuit involving IsoHunt is still going on, and both sides are awaiting a ruling which will finally decide if having .torrent files is the same as hosting pirated content.

While the MPAA might be enjoying the victory, the news has been less good for the RIAA. After their humiliation in court last week over what constitutes piracy, they have also suffered from the public backlash against DRM. But the RIAA is standing firm and claiming that DRM will make a comeback soon. Yeah right.

New York’s AG recently proposed new anti-piracy laws. In case you’re wondering why so many new anti-piracy laws are being passed, then look closely at the lobby groups spending huge amounts of money getting their issues to be heard. Something fishy going on behind the scenes, perhaps happening in New York? And it’s not just New York, the US House of Congress also introduced a new crack down on copyright violations. Studios are spending huge money to get laws passed in their favour, but are they really that concerned about piracy or is it more about having more control over users and having laws that allow consumer rights to be stripped away bit by bit. We’ll report, you decide.

Microsoft, at the brunt of DRM related controversy last week, has once more angered anti-DRM activists by suggesting a new update that will force copyright control on their Zune players. Did you hear that? That was the sound of the Zune dying a horrible death and the iPod taking full control of the portable player market. What is it with companies doing things that will hurt them more than it helps? Electronics Arts will introduce a new type of DRM on its new PC game releases, including the widely acclaimed Mass Effects. The new DRM will require an Internet connection that will dial back every week to ensure the serial used isn’t a pirated one. No Internet connection? No play! The public outrage was swift and vicious, and EA backed down by toning down the Net-based authentication required, which again raises the question of why introducing it in the first place if only to back down in a week and causing a lot of negative publicity in the process? Will companies ever learn?

In HD news, not much going on in the world of Blu-ray this week. Some “doom and gloom” articles are still being spun thanks to the sales figures from January to March, which recorded a huge drop and was reported on earlier here as mainly due to seasonal variations. Blu-ray is definitely not doing as well as it should, compared to DVDs at the same stage and now that it has no competitor. But it’s far from over yet, and without a competitor, time is no longer an enemy. Still, the latest Nielsen VideoScan results (for the week ending 4th May) aren’t looking too rosy, with Blu-ray vs DVD sales down 1% for Blu-ray to 5% vs 95%, with Blu-ray sales dropping 23% compared to the previous week (which was 7% down compared to the week before). But again, this is far from doom and gloom as Blu-ray sales are still up quite a bit compared to the same time last year, and that Blu-ray sales, unlike DVD sales (which was also down 5% compared to last week) are much more dependent on new releases, and no new major releases in that week meant worse sales. But Sony’s claim that they will raise the 5% to 50% in the next 7 months seems quite ridiculous now. Lies, damned lies, and statistics indeed.

Perhaps 3D movies will help Blu-ray. Samsung is set to release a new 3D TV that will aim to bring IMAX style 3D movies to your home, and I’m sure they will look great on HD as well. Perhaps it’s a gimmick like this that will drive Blu-ray sales, especially if the 3D components can be somehow integrated into Blu-ray players (HD DVD players supported mandatory USB connectors for just this sort of thing, but USB is not required on Blu-ray).

And as expected, Microsoft once again denied rumours of a Blu-ray enabled Xbox 360. This must be the third time this year already. You have to wonder who is coming out with these rumours, if they are indeed false? Perhaps someone who wants to create some positive news for Blu-ray, and at the same time, highlight the major difference between the PS3 and Xbox 360? Gee, I wonder who that could be. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, I’m highly skeptical that the 360 will ever have a Blu-ray drive. The next Xbox console maybe, but I just can’t see it in the 360. One, because the drive would only be used for movies, not games like on the PS3, so it’s kind of a pointless addition to anyone who doesn’t use the noisy 360 to play movies. Two, by including a Blu-ray drive, that’s Microsoft basically admitting the PS3 is superior and it wants to copy it. The Xbox 360 will never be as good a Blu-ray player as the PS3, so why make the comparison when you don’t have to? The Wii doesn’t even play DVDs, and nobody is saying it needs that capabilty to compete with the 360/PS3, so why does the 360 need Blu-ray to compete with the PS3? I will say this though, that there are a lot of people who are quite bitter at the moment because the PS3 isn’t doing very well in the format war, not because it’s losing badly, but because it’s not winning handsomely as they had expected.  And everyone knows the delay to the release of the console due to delays to Blu-ray was what caused it (or rather, the earlier release of the 360 allowed it to gain crucial market share to win over consumer and developer confidence). The same people are the ones trying to suggest Blu-ray will help the PS3 win the console war, but in actual fact, it was the other way around (PS3 helping Blu-ray to win the format war). If the 360 gets a Blu-ray add-on or a built in drive, then it would represent the ultimate victory for these people. Which is why I don’t see it happening.

(cue Microsoft announcing next week Blu-ray is coming to the 360)

In gaming news, as expected, GTA IV broke all sales records. This was always going to be the title that bought the “next-gen” into “this-gen” (and this will be the last time I use the term “next-gen”, unless I’m talking about the PS4 or Xbox 720 or WiiII or something). Microsoft was quick to point that that is has won the GTA IV war, having sold more copies and having seen hardware sales jump as a result too. Some will say that one shouldn’t believe MS’s claims, and I would normally agree, but there’s a lack of any noise from the usually spin-tastic Sony PR department about GTA IV, which leads me to believe that MS is telling the truth. Microsoft was also quick to point out that the only console you can play GTA IV in full 720p glory is the Xbox 360. This, plus the freezing issue which a patch is now available for but apparently doesn’t fix the problem, at least not all occurrences of it, means that GTA IV’s release could definitely have gone a lot smoother for Sony. And then there’s the issue of exclusive downloadable content for the Xbox 360, but Sony is trying to muddy the waters by suggesting they will get DLC too. These two possible facts actually don’t conflict with each other … nobody has ever said that all DLC is exclusive to the Xbox 360, just two episodes worth. But if Sony is suggesting future DLC will be PS3 exclusive, then that’s just misleading because there’s no evidence of it and I’m sure Rockstar’s contract with Microsoft won’t allow it.

So while Sony PR can’t talk much about GTA IV without getting attacked for having a lower res, broken and exclusive lacking version, then they will have to talk about something else. The PS3 has done well in Europe, and total sales have exceeded the Xbox 360 figures even though the PS3 was released much later. No spin there, just facts. What could be considered spin is Sony saying they will overtake all others, including the Xbox 360 and Wii, both of which are miles ahead of the PS3 in the US. I always find it funny to hear Sony talk about their 10 year plan and that the PS3 hasn’t reached its full potential yet. It is true that there is more to come from the PS3, but three years ago, nobody could have predicted the rise of the Wii, so even if the PS3 can squeeze out more in the next 5 years or so, will it still be an attractive console by that time? For one, they can’t predict what Microsoft and Nintendo have up their sleeves, so if Sony are going to rest on their laurels and rely solely on developers getting more out of the PS3, then I think that’s a disaster waiting to happen.

And speaking of what’s up Microsoft’s sleeves, a new Xbox 360 build could be here by August with a new GPU chip codenamed Jasper. It promises lower heat production, and hence, lower noise and more reliability. Microsoft will probably introduce the Wii like controller for the 360 at the same time as well. A cooler, more reliable and quieter Xbox 360 is exactly what Microsoft needs right now to compete with the PS3, and not a Blu-ray drive in sight! The GTA IV related victory has given Microsoft a lot of confidence, and some analysts have already concluded that the 360 will win the “current-gen” console war, mainly due to a superior games library and multiplayer community. I’m not so sure about that, but you can’t argue with the 360’s games choice and Xbox Live, and not letting Sony maintain 80% of the market is a victory of sorts already.

Of course, the real winner could be the Wii. While everyone is talking about GTA IV, Nintendo has been quietly selling loads of Mario Kart and Wii Fit, making Wii Fit the best selling exercise equipment of all time. What, even more popular than the Thighmaster I hear you ask. Yes, more popular than that and Jane Fonda exercise videos … COMBINED!!

Ok, that’s that for this week. I’ll have more for you next week. More of what? I don’t know. Will it be interesting? Probably not. But there will be more …

Welcome to hopefully the last post ever about this movie. I have finally received my replacement disc. The turnaround time was a bit long, basically a month and a bit, but most of the waiting had to do with the inefficient US and Australian postal systems, rather than any delays on DVD Pacific’s part.

The replacement disc arrived in a padded envelope, and the discs was placed in a slim DVD-video case to further protect it.

The disc I received was in perfect condition as expected and a quick play on the good old Toshiba XE1 worked flawlessly (excellent picture quality, BTW).

So that’s that then. Hopefully when I do have the time to watch the entire movie, there won’t be any more problems.

Finally got my copy of Grand Theft Auto IV from gamehubs.com (quick delivery, at a great price … good customer service too, well recommended). It is certainly very impressive, but since this is the first GTA game I’ve not played on a PC, I’m still getting used to the controls and playing it on a big screen TV (which to be honest, is making me quite nauseous). The city feels much more real and alive compared to previous GTA games, although I’m a bit tired of being thrown through the windshield all the time while driving (don’t they have seat belts in Liberty City?). Anyway, a lot more play time is needed before I can truly say that it is my favourite game of all time. As expected, news this week has been dominated by GTA IV.

In copyright news, and while on the subject of GTA IV, pirated Xbox 360 copies of the game are already available on several torrent sites. I understand that some people only downloaded those so they can play prior to the release date, but it’s a shame that people are not paying for a game which has reportedly cost over 100 million dollars to make and received great reviews. If you like the game, buy it!

On the other end of the scale, there’s the RIAA claiming that making music files available in “shared folders” constitutes piracy. Fortunately, a judge has ruled that this act alone does not mean piracy, and many other steps afterwards (such as other people actually downloading the shared music files) must happen before piracy can be declared. There was another ruling which said that the burden of proof must be on the RIAA’s side (you mean innocent until *proven* guilty? What a novel concept!), and that third party anti-piracy agents must first download the pirated file from the defendant’s hard-drive before they can accuse anyone of piracy. Some common sense at last!

Now that RIAA’s “everyone should use DRM” crusade is at an end (with DRM being defeated quite comprehensively), only now are some of the bad side effects of DRM are beginning to show. The MSN music store, which made way for the Zune Marketplace, sold many DRM’d files and with the closing of the store and the DRM validation servers, these files no longer play because it cannot connect to the store to authenticate the license. That’s the trouble with DRM, especially those that from time to time require online validation … the content owners at any time could decide not to give you rights to play the file, or even make you pay for them again if you want to “re-activate” your license. Thank goodness that DRM is dead, for music files at least.

In HD news, Paramount, the last studio not to announce their Blu-ray plans, has finally done so with big titles such as Bee Movie and Cloverfield, as well as the Oscar nominated There Will Be Blood, all making their ways onto Blu-ray by the end of May. Universal has also announced that they will use the lossless DTS-HD MA format for their releases (Paramount wants to use Dolby TrueHD, also lossless). This should help Blu-ray, although reports suggest that the only company it will really help, more than any other at least, is Sony. The in-fighting amongst the other Blu-ray backers could actually hurt the format, since the BDA is far from a united front and consists of companies that have conflicting interests (as opposed to the HD DVD people, which really didn’t have that many supporters and only one major one in each field). Another problem identified is that Blu-ray is too dependent on the PS3, and not all PS3 users are movie fans that are willing to buy lots of Blu-ray movies, even though Blu-ray usage on the PS3 has increased. And the expected surge after HD DVD’s demise has not happened, and sales even dropped 40% from January to February. Of course, seasonal variations means that February (and March) are always slow months, but the victory certainly hasn’t been a catalyst for mass acceptance of Blu-ray … that will take another year or two at least. And to further prove this, the latest Nielsen VideoScan data (which is now updated weekly on our forum) shows that with only 6% of the market compared to DVDs for top 20 titles by volume on both formats, Blu-ray still has a long way to go. In fact, the 6% is actually generous, because a large percentage of DVD sales occur outside the top 20 titles, whereas Blu-ray sales are much more concentrated in the top 20 – I don’t have exact figures, but Blu-ray probably only accounts for 2 to 3% of all sales at best).

And just before moving onto gaming, the rumour that never seems to die resurfaced again, with an OEM partner of Microsoft claiming that a Blu-ray enabled Xbox 360 is on the way. I’m fairly certain we will see a new Xbox 360 model by the end of the year, with new GPU and possibly CPU parts to aid cooling and noise reduction. Will this model, codenamed Jasper I think, include Blu-ray playback? I’m 100% certain there won’t be Blu-ray games on the 360, so is including the drive and thus increasing the cost a sensible thing to do for Microsoft? Time will tell …

In gaming news, or more precisely, GTA IV news, the first set of sales figures from the UK have been released, and the Xbox 360 version is holding the lead. Somewhat surprising because, while the 360 has sold more overall, it is the PS3 has been selling more than the 360 for month to month figures for quite a while now. Microsoft themselves have announced that, for US sales, GTA IV on the 360 is outselling the PS3 version by 2-to-1, no doubt helped by stores like Amazon offering GTA IV/360  bundle deals of their own in absence of an official one from Microsoft. Sony countered by saying that GTA IV has helped to sell loads of PS3s, as expected. Neither of these statements conflict with each other of course, and so with Sony not arguing against Microsoft’s claims, then 2-to-1 is not bad for a series that has been synonymous with the success of the PlayStation brand. Sales of the PS3 version has not been helped with reports of freezing problems (and while the 360 versions has had a few freezing reports, it is not as bad as on certain older models of the PS3). It was also revealed that the PS3 version is only 630p, while the Xbox 360 versions runs at a higher resolution. Some of the shadow effects are extremely harsh on the higher resolution 360 version, which probably explains why the slightly more blurrier PS3 version looks better according to most reviews. If you want to see a video comparison of the two versions for yourself, then Gametrailers.com has the HD version up.

Meanwhile, Mario Kart is probably selling loads on the Wii, but nobody cares (well I do, since I might buy a copy).

That’s all folks for this week. I think shall spend the next week in between doing some work and a lot of time spent playing researching GTA IV.

Just received my copy of GTA IV Special Edition through the courier. As you can see from the picture below, it’s quite nice. The metal box is especially sturdy with “Grand Theft Auto IV” embossed into the case, and comes with metal keys and a Rockstar key-chain. The book has some nice pictures, nothing too special, and then there’s the Rockstar duffel bag and the soundtrack CD. I’m not quite sure what the standard version of the game is like, but the actual game’s cover has embossed lettering as well (although I believe the standard edition also has that … haven’t really checked if there are any other differences).

I actually have the standard version on order since I was able to get a good price on it, so I might actually sell this version on eBay (the collector’s items are nice, but it just means more stuff that I will have to find room to store). I’m an eBay newbie, so I’m sure I will have plenty to learn.

As for the game itself, I’m sure you’ve all read the glowing reviews. It has received pretty much near perfect scores from all the usual review sites/magazines, which is quite rare these days when you have so many review sites and people are usually over critical.

As for which version is superior, the PS3 or the Xbox 360 version … most reviews have said that the PS3 version has the graphical edge, in that it has less pop-ins and slightly sharper looking picture. The Xbox 360 version is said to have better colours, although this may be related to the PS3 and its default HDMI output settings. The PS3 version has a mandatory HDD install, which is why it looks and runs slightly better. The Xbox 360 version doesn’t have HDD install, although you can never rule out an update enabling this option in the future. But as all the reviews have mentioned, the edge is so minor (for example, a few seconds shaved off loading time in the PS3 version) that you may not even notice unless you do a side by side comparison.

What may be more important though is your preference for the controller. If you like the optional PS3 Dual Shock 3 controller (rumble is supported in the game), or if you prefer the Xbox 360 controller, might determine which version you get. Then there is multiplayer, and usually people prefer Xbox Live over the PSN. And you should also note which version your friends are buying, as multiplayer is an important part of the game.

Lastly, but perhaps most important of all, the Xbox 360 has exclusive downloadable content (DLC) in the form of two episodes. There has been a lot of rumours on what these new episodes bring, but given that Microsoft forked over quite a bit of money ($50m to be exact), and that the rumours have generally said that these episodes will be *huge*, this might help sway your opinion towards the 360 version.

So basically to find out which version you should buy, you should consider the PS3’s slight graphical edge, the 360’s exclusive DLC, 360’s Achivements system, which controller you prefer and finally, which version your friends are buying. At the end of the day, and as the reviews will confirm, both versions are near perfect and you should be more than happy with either one.

Personally, as you would have found out if you read the first section of this blog, I went with the 360 version (mainly because I don’t have a Dual Shock 3 controller yet, plus I love Achievements and the 360 version was cheaper).

Update: Apparently the PS3 version is only 630p, while the Xbox 360 version runs at the higher 720p resolution. In fact, the PS3 version might not even have AA, while the 360 versions as 2xAA. You would think this would give the 360 a huge advantage, but apparently this means nothing, and in fact, the PS3 seems to look better according to most reviews. There are sharper looking detail on the 360 version, but whatever the PS3 does differently, the PS3 still looks slightly better. But again I want to stress how minor these differences are (as in if you were asked which version was running just by looking at the TV, you wouldn’t be able to tell), as Rockstar have spent a lot of effort to ensure both versions looks great. Things like controllers (your personal preference) and multiplayer (which version your friends have) are far far more important. Also in my original comparison I forgot to mention Achievements, which is a great feature on the 360 that almost makes you want to play the game twice (I basically did it for Dead Rising). For those that say Achievements and Gamerscores are nothing more than the modern day “High Score”, well many pennies were spent in the olden days by people trying to best previous high scores, and as long as it adds to the longevity of the game, then it’s a good thing to have.

I’m very excited. Next week, hopefully, I will get to play GTA IV. This is why I’m excited. Okay, I understand that this game has been hyped to death, but there might be just a small chance that it will not only live up to the hype, and also exceed it. And yes, I realise GTA is not everyone’s cup of tea, but even if you don’t appreciate the violence, you can still appreciate the attempt by Rockstar to basically make a city simulator (albeit with a lot of black comedy and cynicism thrown in). And if you still don’t like it, then there’s always Mario Kart.

In copyright news, it looks like bad news for proponents of digital fair use, as the Managed Copy provisions in the AACS specifications (AACS is the copy protection used on Blu-ray discs) seems to be fading into obscurity. MC basically allows users to make legal copies of movies to enable backup and multi-location home usage, while with enough security precautions to prevent mass piracy. A little bit of a history lesson: MC was something that the IT companies were demanding to be added to AACS, which at that time was used for both Blu-ray and HD DVD. The HD DVD people liked MC, while the Blu-ray people didn’t. I don’t know the exact reason why the IT companies were so insistent on having this feature (HP even dropped support for Blu-ray due to it, and Microsoft cited this as one reason to choose HD DVD over Blu-ray), but they were quite forceful and it was eventually made a mandatory part of the AACS specifications, and hence, mandatory on both Blu-ray and HD DVD. But now that HD DVD, and the MC loving crowd, have lost, MC looks to be on the way out as well. The problem with MC might be that it was too consumer friendly, and studios perhaps want to do their own versions of MC that are a bit more restrictive. I certainly hope MC doesn’t go away, as without a proper legal framework for making backups and copies, people will just use “illegal” means to do so, which is exactly what the studios are trying to prevent.

Another part of the studio’s prevention policy is to shut down torrent trackers. Unfortunately, not all torrent trackers are illegal, and some only hosts things like royalty free documentaries and other educational resources. This didn’t stop one such tracker being wrongly shut down for copyright infringement, which just goes to show that in the area of digital copyright enforcement, you are guilty until proven innocent. To further prove this point, music label EMI says online file storage, even private storage for backup purposes, is illegal. Sometimes I wonder what these music and movie studios really hate? Piracy or just actual backup. Piracy provides content to people who usually never spend any money anyway, while preventing backup might make your paying customers re-purchase content in case it was lost or damaged. Only one of these scenarios actually make studios more money. Think of all the cases where a simple hardware change disables usage of all your DRM infected files … is this really an anti-piracy measure, or is it an anti-backup measure? Alright, enough conspiracy theories for today.

In HD news, the jubilation over Blu-ray’s victory has finally settled down, and analysts are predicting doom and gloom again. It seems that while Blu-ray has helped studios recoup lost income due to lower DVD profits, it is not enough to stem the tide. I think studios have to realise that lower DVD profits occurs because people are not willing to pay as much for movies as they have before. Plus, people have better ways to spend money like on video games, which can give you at least 20 or 30 hours of interactive fun for not much more money (and the Wii is helping gaming gain new users whom never would have considered gaming as a source of entertainment before). Another problem for Blu-ray, according to analysts again, is that the uptake of Blu-ray hardware is too dependent on the PS3. As an owner of a PS3 that uses it only for Blu-ray playback, and having recommended it to everybody as the Blu-ray player of choice, I kind of agree. But people like me and people that I recommend to are not the problem, it’s the people that bought the PS3 as a game console that’s the problem: they’re simply not buying enough movies. The BDA has used the PS3 to say how successful it has been compared to HD DVD, but in reality, a lot of these figures are “fuzzy maths”. To compare DVDs with Blu-ray, at the same stage of development, more DVD hardware had been sold and each player had 30 movies attached to it. For Blu-ray, which has sold less hardware even with the PS3 thrown in, the attach rate is down to 3 … only a tenth of DVD! The same analysts are saying that Blu-ray ownership won’t reach 25% of US households until 2011, by which time I wonder if a disc format will still be the most preferred method of digital distribution. So it looks like the format war was a case where HD DVD wasn’t as bad and Blu-ray was as good as the BDA had claimed, and neither (even combined) are as good as good old DVD. This is what happens when PR triumphs over fact.

And to help the matter along, Netflix will raise Blu-ray rental costs as they have threatened to do for quite a while now. Whatever the format war produced, it was costly, and it produced a format which costs more to produce, and add on top of all of that there is the cost of introducing any new format, and you start to wonder who will be paying for all of this. Netflix’s answer is obvious that the consumers should be the ones to bear the burden. The consumer’s response may be a collective “meh” as they choose to their money on essentials such as food, gas, home loans and video games.

Onto gaming now, the next week shall now be known as GTA week. Expect everything and everyone to be talking about the latest game from Rockstar, that’s if they’re not calling in sick and spending the whole day playing the game. The first reviews are out and basically the game has received perfect marks in everything. Reviewers getting a bit too excited, or is it geunine excitement generated by an excellent and genre defining game? We’ll find out soon enough. For us analysts, it’s all about sales figures and whether the PS3 or the Xbox 360 version will sell more. The IGN reviews says that the PS3 has the edge over the Xbox 360 version, but only minor things such as texture pop-ins, looks a little sharper and has slightly faster loading due to the use of HDD storage. The 360 version has better colours, and of course exclusive downloadable content (DLC) in the form of two episodes, that rumours suggest will be new cities that are as big as San Andreas or Vice City (London anyone?). So which version should you get? I know people with both consoles that are getting the 360 version for the DLC and getting the PS3 version of general play (since the PS3 is quieter). An often given advice is to check which version your friends will be getting and then get that version for multi-player fun.

But if you own one console, simply get it on that format and you won’t be disappointed – I don’t think the differences are worth getting a new console for, certainly not for pop-ins and load time, but not worth if for the DLC until there are more concrete details on it. If the reviews are correct, this is one hell of a game and the difference are so trivial it’s just as silly as comparing the different plastic packagings used to package the games. I also visited a few online stores to see how well the game is selling, and it’s doing extremely well as expected. Also as expected, especially if you’ve read my March 2008 NPD video games sales figure analysis, is that the 360 version seems to be outselling the PS3 version on all the online stores (Amazon US/UK/Canada, Ebgames, HMV UK, GAME UK …), well at least the online stores that had top 10 seller lists. Make of that what you will.

Meanwhile, the PS3’s “Home” service is still not ready, and it looks like late 2008 or early 2009 is the likely release date, as the beta period has been extended to autumn/fall of 2008. One thing the 360 has over the PS3 at the moment is the greater community and online multi-player support, which will help it sell. I would also like to see a PS3 version of the 360 achivements system, which is nothing but a high score function for the 21st century, but a very nice feature indeed (I look very much forward to completing 100% of GTA IV like I have for past GTA games, and getting all those sweet achievement points … juvenile, I know).

Okay, that it for this week. Next week’s WNR might be a bit delayed if I manage to get my copy of GTA IV in time. In fact, everything next week might be a bit delayed. Blame Rockstar if you must, as they get blamed for everything that’s wrong in the world already anyway.