Sony PlayStation 3

[BillCable]

Thanks Bill for the link. I'm trying to get either one of these systems in a budget for a home theater system as a media extender to my home server. The PS3 takes away the need to buy a blu-ray but the 360 seems to work as a more complete media extender. However, I can easily change out the HDD on the PS3 for extra homebrew software.

I haven't played with it, but there's a "Media Server" option under both Music and Video.  I assume if you have a media server, you can detect it with the PS3 and stream whatever's on there...

OK, here's what you need:  http://reviews.digitaltrends.com/guide/130/playstation-3-media-server-setup

By the way, I wonder what kind of homebrew games and emulators I can get for the ps3. I know I can program the 360 with the toolkits I have here at work. With my Dreamcast, I could emulate anything.

You can run Linux on the PS3, so your emulation capabilities will be pretty extensive.

[Phrubruh]

The Dreamcast was very easy to program. There are a couple of sites that talk about how to burn Dreamcast CDs and have the emulators for it. I was able to emulate almost every system up to the original playstation. It was great to play Super Mario World or Donkey Kong Country again without having to hook up a SNES.

I'll post the sites when I get home.

[Phrubruh]

Do you know of any homebrew Atari 2600 or SNES emulators for the PS3? I remember a demo or something where the ps2 or 3 was running a number of older system emulators on each side of a cube.

[iFett]

The Dreamcast was very easy to program. There are a couple of sites that talk about how to burn Dreamcast CDs and have the emulators for it. I was able to emulate almost every system up to the original playstation. It was great to play Super Mario World or Donkey Kong Country again without having to hook up a SNES.

I'll post the sites when I get home.

SWEET!  I'd love to know more about this   

[Phrubruh]

Ok, DC Factory is a program that makes iso boot images for home brew dreamcast games.
DC Factory

IMR Technology has a bunch of emulators that run on the Dreamcast

A little site on programming the Dreamcast

Dreamcast homebrew

Now I've got to find some sites like these for the PS3. Maybe I can run a Dreamcast emulator on the PS3? Then I can run an Atari emulator on the Dreamcast emulator on the PS3. Run an emulator on a emulator!!!

[BillCable]

LittleBigPlanet reaches ONE MILLION user-created levels

You could conceivably play nothing but LittleBigPlanet for the rest of your life and never play the same level twice.  Crazy stuff!

[BrentS]

LittleBigPlanet reaches ONE MILLION user-created levels

You could conceivably play nothing but LittleBigPlanet for the rest of your life and never play the same level twice.  Crazy stuff!

So my son (10yro) loves LBP.  However, I'm not sure he was aware of user-created levels that you can access.  I'm sure I could google this and get the answer quickly, but is it easy to access these created levels?  Obviously, you have to be connected to the internet but is there anything specific that has to be configured to get to them?  Is there anything that should worry a parent trying to protect a child?  I'm always guarded when it comes to letting him access the internet (through whatever means we have).

[BillCable]

They're very easy to access.  Once you've beaten the first group of levels, you'll be able to access community levels from the menu below the center planet.  There are a bunch of search features now that I haven't played with much.  But my daughter plays constantly.  She's 7.  There are some levels that are bloody/scary, but they're pretty uncommon.  LBP allows you to report obscene levels, so you really don't stumble across them often.  Other than a couple bloody levels, I haven't come across anything I'd keep her from playing.

You can choose to play any community level by yourself, or online with whoever might be trying to play the level at the time.  I haven't run into any trolls or profane people online, but if that's a concern you can always have him play on his own (or with you!).

[BrentS]

Thanks Bill.  I'm going to look into.  I know how much he loves playing it with his friends.

You can choose to play any community level by yourself, or online with whoever might be trying to play the level at the time.  I haven't run into any trolls or profane people online, but if that's a concern you can always have him play on his own (or with you!).

They don't let me play because I suck so bad, I keep slowing them down 

[BillCable]

PS3 Price Drop

Also it's widely expected that Sony will announce a new PS3 model - the PS3 Slim - at a GamesCom in Germany on Tuesday.  It's anticipated the price will be $299 with a 120GB hard drive.

[Phrubruh]

Why would the old version be $299 for an 80gb while the new slim version be $299 for an 120gb?

[BillCable]

The $299 80-Gig is to clear out inventory before the Slim becomes available in September.  There hasn't been any official word, but they're probably going to phase out the original PS3 completely.

[iFett]

About frikkin time already.

[Phrubruh]

It looks like there is only about a $10 difference in price between 80gb retail HDD and 120gb HDDs.

This news also makes the PS3 $100 less than the Xbox 360 elite. I wonder if Microsoft will reduce the price.

[BillCable]

Supposedly the 360 will be dropping price as well... actually the Arcade will still be $199 and the only other model will be the Elite for $299.