What’s interesting about this generation’s consoles is how polar opposite they are. One will get something perfectly right while the other makes an outrageous blunder. Everyone can whole heartedly agree that the Xbox 360’s “elite” hard drive, offering 120GB of space for $180, is a text book example of screwing the consumer.

By comparison, in Playstation 3 world $180 bucks can get you 320GB of space to fill.

Just a little something to think about if you feel the need to upgrade. Or if you haven’t picked up a PS3 yet and don’t care about backwards compatibility, 400 + 180 = $580 will get you your own custom built 320GB SKU, which will surely make your neighbors envious.

And if you don’t know how to swap hard drives, here’s a little vid showing you how stupid easy it is:

Not bad for a console that cares less about security than its competitors.

Bonus: Enter promo code EMCACCCBB for a quick $20 saving, making final price $159. The code *should* still work.

Recorded mid GDC week, right after Microsoft’s big keynote address, Chiahippo and Thrillhouse discuss GDC, what they’ve seen/heard, and what they’d like to see from the big three.

• Assassin’s Creed complaints
• Microsoft GDC over discussed
• Sony/Nintendo thrown together
• Indi Game of the Week: N

Direct download here

 

 PSHRadio Episode 11: Microsoft Is At GDC, Where Are You? [49:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The gents over at the Critical Strike podcast were kind enough to let Chiahippo (of PSHRadio fame) on their 17th show. Swing on over to www.critical-strike.org and give them a listen.

This episode we were joined by Mr Chiahippo, one of the co-hosts from PSH Radio, and we missed our very own Keith Harbourt. Here are some of the things we discussed:

• What we’ve been up to
• Mandatory Playstation 3 game installs
• 16% failure rate on the Xbox 360
• Video game music challenge
• GDC predictions and what we REALLY want to see

Direct Download

Looks like Play-Asia is taking pre-orders for a satin silver Dual shock 3 (Japan version).

If interested, it’ll run you 60 bucks (plus shipping). While this isn’t exactly newsworthy, Sony’s released different colors before, the ship date might be: March 6th. Could this be the official US release date? Japan has had the DS3 for some time now, and Sony hasn’t announced when other territories might get rumble, saying simply “spring”.

Well, it’s practically spring. And would be nice to have this piece of “last gen tech” available for purchase.

If you’re thinking of getting a DS3, I highly recommend it. The bit of added weight and vibration make it an incredibly solid controller.

Who’s happy? I’m happy.

How excited am I about this? Incredibly. Twisted Metal 1 and 2 consumed hours of my life. Twisted Metal 3 and 4 were…pretty damn bad. Twisted Metal Black was a return to form for the franchise.

While no details were announced about what features this new Twisted Metal will include, or when it will be released, a very important detail was included: David Jaffe will be taking the wheel. So it’ll be great.

My wish list:

• 16 player (at least) online play.
• Every character from Twisted Metal 1 and 2 included.
• 4 player (at least) online co-op, with a satisfying co-op ending (none of this Twisted Metal 2 no co-op ending crap).
• Dedicated servers (which may be a reality, given Sony’s track record), with extensive stat tracking.
• Include redone maps from Twisted Metal 2, especially Paris and Rooftops.
• More civilians to run over, with plenty of blood.

I can’t wait for this. If I’d have to guess it’ll be 2009.

How wrong can Thrillhouse be? Very. Chia and Thrill rip Burnout Paradise apart, subjecting it to “The List” (could this become a recurring segment?). Is No More Heroes simply Killer 8? And Untangle kicks off a new PC segment. All this, and more, on the internet’s least reliable podcast.

• Burnout Paradise
• No More Heroes
• Untangle can be found here.
  

Direct download for maximum pleasure.

 

 PSHRadio Episode 10: Thrillhouse est très erroné. [44:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Thrillhouse17 from PSHRadio.com sits down with Platform Nation to give us a video review for Rez HD

This podcast is brought to you by Sony Computer Entertainment: Where the games you play are as fun as s#!t.

Recorded a week (or two) ago, Chiahippo and Thrillhouse catch up, discuss CES, and probably spend more time bitching about Xbox Live outages than they should have. Luckily news has been slow, so it’s still slightly relevant.

• Chia and his Christmas Miracle.
• Why Dr. Phil’s show is sensationalist trash.
• How Thrill singlehandedly ended the format war.
• CES PSP BLU RAY
• Xbox Live: Being charged for services you get free everywhere else.

Right click to get the show!

 

 Number Nine: Slightly Aged, Yet Mildly Entertaining [51:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Sometimes life has a nasty habit of getting in the way, and keeping you from the things that really matter. Like updating the site, and putting out another show, of course. The good news is that we’ll have another show for you tomorrow. The bad news is that it’s one we recorded a bit ago, so some of the info might be a bit dated at this point. But don’t despare! We’ll have another one soon after, and more to come on a regular schedule.

Until then, how about you sit back, relax, and test your skills at Untangle.

This incredibly addictive, challenging puzzle game offers 17 stages that test your skills and patience. The objective is to “untangle” the picture by dragging the dots, and positioning them so that no lines overlap. Simple, yet complicated. Enjoy.

Purchased a PS3 at launch? Then you own Resistance: FOM (a.k.a. The game that carried the PS3 during the barren spring months). Lucky for owners, it was a pretty damn good game, and had a rock solid online multiplayer as well. Now, in 2008, Insomniac looks to bring us its latest installment in the Resistance franchise.

Gamestop’s favorite magazine, Gameinformer, brings exclusive details on Insomniac’s Resistance 2. Hold onto your butts:

• Nathan Hale’s campaign continues against the Chimera (hopefully with a good ending this time).
• A separate co-op campaign that can be played either 2 players offline, or 8 players online. (Basically a second campaign? Nice.)
• Online multiplayer featuring up to 60 players online (with totally kick ass, lag free even-if-you’re-in-Italy-and-playing-with-people-back-home-4000-miles-away-in-the-USA dedicated servers).
• Newly implemented class system (heavy, special ops, medic) in online play.
• Partially randomized geometry in certain level spots (We’ll see how this works out. Has the potential to be either great or horrible.)
• Stat tracking on MyResistance.net (I’m assuming what Bungie does.).

Are you excited yet? Well, if you liked the original Resistance, and still play it online from time to time, you should be. 60 players online at the same time? That is insane. The maps must be gigantic. Is that a record for a console game? I think so. And are they basically including 2 different campaigns, one single player focused and the other for up to 8 people at the same time? Potentially awesome, just hope that they don’t feel like the GRAW co-op missions (tacked on and mildly fun).

Wow, all these great features, I wonder what Sony will charge us monthly to play this game online, since they’re giving us dedicated servers? (Psst, here’s a hint: nothing.)

Insomniac might be my new favorite developer.