Sony and Capcom are teaming up for the release of Devil May Cry 4 by announcing two limited edition PlayStation 3 bundles for Japan. Available in both black and ceramic white, the 40GB PlayStation 3 will come with a copy of the game and extra content on a separate Blu-ray disc. The bundle will retail for JPY 47,800 ($422) when it's released on January 21.

Sony has updated the Folding@Home client for the PS3 to version 1.3. The improvements offered by this version are the ability to play music from the hard drive whilst folding and the option to turn-off the console after a specified amount of time or after the current work unit has been completed. Sony has also tweaked the code a little to allow it to handle more complex protein simulations. Version 1.3 requires you to install the recently released 2.10 firmware on your PS3.

If you are unfamiliar with the Folding@Home project, it is run by Stanford University and simulates protein folding in an attempt to find cures for diseases and illnesses including Alzheimer's, BSE, CJD, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease and a number of cancers. You do not need a PS3 to participate in the project; any computer connected to the internet is capable of running a Folding@Home client. For more information you may wish to look at the Folding@Home website and techPowerUp!'s Folding@Home team.

It looks like Sony is being quite optimistic about its PS3 sales up until the end of next March, saying that it expects to have sold 11 million PS3s by 31st March next year - and that's sales to end users, not just shipments to retailers. Jack Tretton, who is the chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America said:

We expect to sell 33 million pieces of hardware across the three platforms. And that breaks out to 12 million PS2s, 11 million PS3s, and 10 million PlayStation Portables, and then we don't break out software, but our forecast is 250 million units of software across those three platforms.

Sony had sold 7.47 million PS3s worldwide by the end of November, so that works out at needing to sell almost 900,000 units a month until the end of March. Given that it sold less than 500,000 PS3 consoles during November, and that was largely helped by Black Friday and the holiday season, Sony must be banking on incredible sales during December in order to reach this projection.

Firmware Update v2.10 for Sony PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) is now live. This new system update enhances media playback on the PLAYSTATION 3 by introducing the much-requested video playback format update: DivX and VC-1 (WMV) videos are now playable in the Video section of the XMB. This update also brings the PS3's Blu-ray drive up to Profile 1.1. "Picture in Picture" and other enhancements become available on Profile 1.1 compatible Blu-ray discs. A voice changer feature is added, enabling you to change the tone of your voice during voice or video chat. Sony also released PSP firmware v3.80. PSP owners will be able to access thousands of stations in a wide range of diverse genres with the addition of Internet Radio in firmware update 3.80.

Sony has inadvertently revealed that it is planning a new firmware update for the PS3 tomorrow after a page was accidently uploaded to Sony's UK website discussing the 2.10 update which "was released on December 18". The most interesting new features to be included with this update are support for DivX and Blu-ray Disk Profile 1.1, although copy protected DivX files and movies encoded using DivX 3.11 cannot be played. Other updates include the voice changer feature being added to voice/video chat and the option of a new music bitmapping process that has been developed specifically for the PS3 to enhance audio playback. Sony has since withdrawn the page, but you can still read all of the information by visiting the source link.

Nintendo managed the most successful sales figures in the USA for November, a month which saw console sales rocket thanks to Black Friday and the holiday season. Top of the pile was the Nintendo DS, which shipped 1.53 million units, followed by the Wii on 981,000 units. Microsoft's Xbox 360 came a reasonably close third, selling 770,000 units. Meanwhile Sony's three consoles came last despite improved sales, with 567,000 PSPs, 496,000 PS2 consoles and 466,000 PS3s being sold.

It has been one year since all the next-generation (or now, current-generation) consoles have been available to consumers. At this point, it would seem as though the Xbox360 and Wii are neck-and-neck, temporary sales leads based on game releases. While Sony may be trailing along, they certainly aren't very far behind. Sony was planning for the long haul when they made the PS3. They've used this tactic several times before, and it's played out fine just about every time (PS2 sales are very high seven years after the console was originally released). Things for the PS3 are looking up, as price cuts have put the PS3 ahead of the Wii in Japan, sales-wise. When asked about current console sales, Sony Corporate Entertainment America president Jack Tretton has this to say:

The first year is important, but it's the first inning of a nine-inning baseball game. You're not going to win many baseball games if you panic when you're down 1-0 in the first inning.

Microsoft Claims Xbox 360 Outsold PS3 2:1 on Black Friday Week; Sony Denies Claim

According to Microsoft, Microsoft sold roughly 310,000 Xbox 360's during Black Friday week. If true, these figures would make Black Friday week nearly as successful as the Halo 3 launch week, as far as console sales go. While Microsoft did not bother to contest the Nintendo Wii sale supremacy (about 350,000 units), they proudly boasted to Next-Gen that they had outsold the PS3 2-1, citing unknown retail estimates. Sony was very quick to respond to the sales figures Microsoft boasted. While the sales figures were not unreasonable (Microsoft claimed Sony sold 155,000 PS3's during Black Friday week, and Sony confirmed selling 121,000 PS3's during the month of October), Sony alleged that the Black Friday figures were falsified and/or exaggerated. In fact, the Sony representative claimed that any sales figures are premature: the NPD does not release sales figures for November until December 13th. Sony does not dispute that the Xbox 360 outsold the PS3 on Black Friday week, however.

For the past couple weeks, we've been hearing that the PlayStation3 has been beating the Nintendo Wii in sheer sales week-by-week. While hardcore Nintendo and Microsoft fans will be happy to hear that this streak has ended (on the week ending 11/25, Nintendo sold 54,362 Wiis and Sony sold 50,564 PS3s), massive PS3 sales the other three weeks certainly helped Sony out. According to the latest sales figures, 183,217 PS3s were sold in November, as opposed to 159,193 Wiis. The Xbox 360 did not sell anywhere near that well in Japan, with total sales at roughly 26,000 units in November.

Thanks to a price cut and Black Friday, the Sony PlayStation3 is finally doing quite well for itself. During week of the famous American spending-spree day known as "Black Friday", PlayStation3 sales increased by 245%, and the previously mentioned factors bumped up the PS3 sales to the total figures of 298%. During Black Friday, the rest of Sony's consoles got their own time in the spotlight: PSP sales increased 136%, and PS2 sales were up by 287%. Gamespot estimates that Sony sold nearly 321,000 PS3s on Black Friday alone. If these figures are accurate, November may be Sony's most successful month this year.

When we found out that the PS3 was more popular than the Wii in Japan as far as sales went a couple weeks ago, most people scoffed. After all, Sony had just released the PS3 40GB, you can almost expect better sales. But it seems as though there's something more to it, as PS3 sales are strong for the second week in a row. Here are the overall Japanese sales figures for the week ending November 18th.

• DS Lite - 76,069
• PSP - 65,609
• PS3 - 39,178
• Wii - 36,230
• PS2 - 8,855
• Xbox 360 - 6,525
• GBA SP - 153
• GBM - 109
• GC - 38
• DS - 15

A project that harnesses the spare processing power of Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) to help understand the cause of diseases has entered the record books. Guinness World Records has recognised folding@home (FAH) as the world's most powerful distributed computing network. More than 700,000 PS3 owners have enrolled their consoles in the Folding@Home project to examine how the shape of proteins affect diseases such as Alzheimer and BSE. The addition of all the PS3 Cell processors has taken the computing power of the network to more than one petaflop. By comparison BlueGene L, which tops the list of most powerful supercomputers, has a top speed of just 280.6 teraflops.

It is clear that none of this would be even remotely possible without the power of PS3, it has increased our research capabilities by leaps and bounds

said Professor Vijay Pande of Stanford University and a leader of the FAH project.

In a stunning turn of events, Sony snatched the sales crown from Nintendo last week. The release of the 40GB PS3 increased PS3 sales by 38%, as Nintendo Wii sales fell by 10%. Unfortunately for Sony, these are not the overall sales figures, these are only sales figures for the week ending November 11. Here are where the other consoles placed last week...

• Nintendo DS: 78,884 units
• PSP: 58,964 units
• PS3: 55,924 units
• Wii: 34,456 units
• PS2: 9043 units
• Xbox 360: 5817 units

Sony has slashed the price of the PLAYSTATION 3 development kit by almost half, promising to further reduce costs as more studios adopt the console technology. The PLAYSTATION 3 Reference Tool will now be available for JPY 950,000 in Japan, USD 10,250 in North America and EUR 7500 in Europe. "As more and more new titles are developed for the PS3 format, SCEI will significantly reduce the price of the Reference Tool in order to contribute to the cost saving measures of the development community," said the company. The console giant has also begun to integrate new programming tools into the PS3 Software Development Kit from SN Systems, including ProDG, SN Distributed Build System, SN Linker and SN Compiler. As well as new tools, Sony has also added programming functions to the PS3 Debugging Station allowing it to be used alongside the Reference Tool, rather than being used as just a quality assurance system for games in development.

Security vendor Trend Micro Inc. has launched software which aims to block malicious web pages dealing in sex, drugs, and violence. The company says that this software is the first of its kind for a gaming console and it would make PlayStation 3 users feel safer and more secure while browsing the Internet on their console. The anti-virus was released earlier this month as a PlayStation 3 upgrade and will be free until April.

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) yesterday celebrated the first birthday of its PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) computer entertainment system. Launched one year ago in North America, PS3 has revolutionized the industry with its Cell Broadband Engine and RSX technology which gives the system tremendous computational power; Blu-ray Disc capabilities which provides state-of-the art graphics and unrivaled storage capacity; and free access to PLAYSTATION Network where PS3 users can experience online gaming, connect with other PS3 users as well as download games, movies and other content from the PLAYSTATION Store. In its first year, more than 200 software titles have been released for PS3 and more than 60 million pieces of content have been downloaded from PLAYSTATION Network worldwide. SCEA recently introduced new PS3 hardware models and pricing and the company is already seeing strong sales momentum as a result - PS3 sales have increased by 192 percent at the top 10 retailers in North America.

Sony's introduction of the new, cheaper 40GB version of the PS3, along with a fall in the price of the 80GB version, has helped to give a huge boost to the console's sales, doubling the number sold in the week immediately after its release, and tripling sales the next. Prior to the release of the 40GB model, the PS3 was selling between 30,000 and 40,000 consoles per months. This figure rose to 75,000 in the first week, and 100,000 in the second week, with Sony's CEO Howard Stringer saying the following:

Obviously, we've taken so much heat over the year on PS3. Finally, the turning point has been passed.

He also commented that he feels the surge in PS3 sales is unrelated to Nintendo struggling to cope with demand for the Wii, commenting that it is 'fortuitous' that the Wii is running out of hardware.

Do you know that dust can void your PS3 warranty? Probably no, so let's start from the beginning:

I have kept my 60gb PS3 in Its entertainment center since its purchase. It is known within the PS3 community that the thing is a HUGE dust magnet. I took good care of it...One day I turn it on and put in a disc and it doesn't show up, then it wont eject, finally I get it to eject and I try a blu-ray, nothing, CDs, nothing.

said the customer of this poor PS3. After some minor obstacles with the warranty he was able to RMA his console. 5 days later, Sony calls the guy saying that it has taken pictures inside of his PS3 and it was too dirty to be eligible for replacement, so no warranty. The next day he got a call from the same guy, telling him that there is no way Sony could replace the console unless he pay 150$ out-of-warranty replacement fee? Sorry I'm limited on the front page, you'll need to click here or on the source link and continue reading what happens after.

Numerous PLAYSTATION 3 owners claim that their consoles have stopped functioning correctly, if at all, since installing the latest PS3 firmware update. Users report, via the official PlayStation forums, running into numerous hardware problems since updating the PS3's firmware to the recently released version 2.0. The complaints include a slowdown in console functionality, the loss of content, and even consoles being unable to read discs or ceasing to function at all. Follow this link for more information.

DivX team today announced that DivX video technology will be integrated into PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) from Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). The popular computer entertainment system will be added to the list of devices that currently support DivX video playback. To date, over 100 million DivX Certified products have been shipped into the market, and it is anticipated PS3 will significantly expand that number.

We are excited to work with Sony Computer Entertainment to bring DivX to PS3,

Our technology will expand the multimedia functionality of PS3 by enabling users to enjoy access to the broad library of content in the DivX digital media format.

said Kevin Hell, CEO of DivX, Inc. Current PS3 end users will be able to add DivX functionality to their systems via a separate system software update at a forthcoming date. PS3 game title developers will be able to utilize DivX's decoder technology by updating the system software of PS3's Software Development Kit to version 2.00, which was released by SCE on November 2nd.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 has seen a massive sales boost in Japan, with the system managing to outsell Sony's PlayStation 3, according to data from Media Create. The Microsoft console sold 17,673 units compared to only 3718 the previous week, fuelled by the uptake of Namco Bandai's Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, which debuted in the Japanese charts at number two this week. Sony's PlayStation 3 sold 17,434 units, a drop in performance compared to last week's 18,785 units. Sales of the PlayStation 2 also dropped, with 10,209 units sold. However, the latest handhelds are still the best-selling consoles in the region with the DS shifting 78,597 units and the PSP 59,714 units during the same period. And Nintendo continues to outperform both Sony and Microsoft by racking up another 37,617 sales of the Wii during the past week, helped in part by the release of first-party title Super Mario Galaxy.

None of the console manufacturers have really been very open in regards to their CPU micro architecture. However, when rumors went around that Sony was filling the 40GB PS3s with 90nm processors as if it was a bad thing, Sony was very prompt in dispelling such rumors. They announced in an interview that the Cell processor in the 40GB PS3 was indeed on 65nm technology, dropping power consumption by an impressive 100W. The NVIDIA RSX chip, though, still is on a 90nm processor, which is why people assumed the entire 40GB PS3 was still on a 90nm process.

The fabled 40GB PS3 recently found a way into PAL territories, and will soon come to America. However, this release hasn't been without critique. Some rumors claim that the 40GB PS3 is the proud owner of a 40% failure rate, even higher than the previous Xbox 360 rumored failure rate of 33%. Once Sony heard these rumors, they were very quick to dispel them. Here's the word from Sony Corporate Entertainment Europe's president, David Reeves.

We are very proud of the quality and reliability of PlayStation 3 and are disappointed that such extremely sloppy journalism has resulted in this totally inaccurate story.

Since launching the 40GB PS3, we have experienced a fantastic jump in sales and the failure rates have remained at the very low level that we not only strive for, but have been achieving since the launch of PS3.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has refreshed the PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) system software. Version 2.00 features the ability to turn a PS3 system on and off remotely, using a PSP (PlayStation Portable) system via the Remote Play function, as well as a host of other enhancements:

• Information Board: An RSS feed to PlayStation news that users can activate and use
• New Themes: Users will be able to not only change the backgrounds on their PS3 but also will be allowed to download and use full out themes that change the everything from icons to font.
• Playlists for photos and music have been added
• New PlayStation Netowork Logo and section added to the XMB

Unfortunately, reports that Sony had started to use a 65nm version of the Cell processor in its 40GB PlayStation 3 consoles have turned out to be false, with a Sony spokesperson saying that the new version of the PS3 continues to use 90nm chips. However, it's not all bad news because the new 40GB PS3 has been updated so that it uses less power - the original model would use 180W to 200W, compared to the updated model which uses just 120W to 140W. Sony has said it is still planning to release a 65nm version of the Cell, but for the time being it looks like gamers will have to stick with 90nm PS3s.