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Owners of various PS3 peripherals, including (but not limited to) the Yobo PS3 Joybox, the XCM Cross Battle Plus Adapter and the SplitFish FragFX, are reporting compatibility issues after the release of PS3 firmware 3.50. Some conspiracy theorists believe the rampant failure of these devices is linked to Sony's ongoing battle to circumvent further use of the PS3 jailbreak, which requires a USB tool to activate.
1UP suggests that this issue may be a side effect of Sony's discovery (and subsequent disabling) of "counterfeit" PS3 controllers. A recent consumer alert on Sony's official website states that "SCEA does not support continued functionality of counterfeit or unlicensed controllers in system software updates and these devices may cease to function in the future because of system software updates."
The 1UP report adds that "no third-party controllers that are officially licensed by Sony" have been disabled in the latest update. Considering the affected devices haven't been officially licensed, it's unlikely that a fix will be offered. A SCEA representative told us that "SCE does not support continued functionality of unlicensed controllers."
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The 25-year-old company filed for bankruptcy yesterday in New York after losing sales to Netflix Inc.’s Web and mail-order movie service and Coinstar Inc.’s Redbox DVD rental kiosks. Revenue dropped 20 percent to $4.06 billion last year, when Dallas-based Blockbuster reported a $558.2 million net loss.
As of Aug. 29, Blockbuster had about 5,600 stores worldwide, including 3,300 in the U.S., according to court papers. Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles, said the company may have to cut U.S. locations to about 2,000 to increase annual sales per store to at least $1 million. In 2002, that figure stood at $1.1 million, he said.
“No one can predict what the market will look like for them going forward as Netflix and Redbox continue to take market share, so they are shooting in the dark,” Pachter said. The company will also face pressure to cut stores from “a new class of shareholder wanting to see cash increasing in a hurry,” he said.
In the past two years, Blockbuster has closed 1,061 U.S. company-operated stores, according to a court document. All its U.S. operations, including stores, DVD vending kiosks, mail and digital, will continue to operate normally, the company said.
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Under the new arrangement, "hundreds" of "Saturday Night Live" episodes from the past 35 years, as well as "day-after broadcast" of the show's next three seasons, will be available on Netflix Instant Streaming. NBC is also offering every previous-season episode of "30 Rock," "The Office," and "Law & Order: SVU." Earlier seasons of those shows already on Netflix will still be available. All episodes of the venerable SyFy series "Battlestar Galactica" will also be available on the service. NBC Universal and Netflix said that "Monk" and "Friday Night Lights," among many other shows, will also be included in the expanded relationship between the companies.
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We played FlingSmash in February of this year and quite enjoyed it, as our First Impressions show, but its projected release date of Summer 2010 has been and gone without the game hitting shelves. Now retailer Gamestop has released boxart of the game showing the game is set to be bundled with a Remote, seemingly containing MotionPlus built-in.
Titled "Wii Remote Plus", the controller itself looks only slightly different, with a slight curve below the four lights the only alteration visible at this resolution. As FlingSmash requires MotionPlus this is obviously a new controller containing the add-on, but could the game's delay have been caused by the newly developed Remote?