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Sony cuts PS3 dev kit price in half
In an attempt to further diversify the Playstation 3's library of games, Sony has announced a dramatic price cut for the console's software development kit. The Playstation 3 Reference Tool will now be made available to new developers for $10,250 USD, or €7,500 EUR. This is nearly half of what the SDK has previously cost developers.Sony has also announced plans to further cut the cost of the development kit once more studios have adopted the format. On the surface, it's clear that Sony's struggling to earn new developers for their console, and hopes that incentives like a reduced entry fee for development will bring new blood to the system. On the other hand, decreased developer costs are good for everyone, so we'll eagerly wait to see where this takes the PS3 in the coming months.
The game that almost was: Project H.A.M.M.E.R.
Oh, Project H.A.M.M.E.R. You were a go, then you weren't, then you were, and now? Officially, the last we heard was that the hammer-wielding hero's adventure was on "indefinite hold," but the word in the backchannels is that the game is no more. It is dead. It is an ex-game. And frankly, we are sad ... especially now that, thanks to NeoGAF poster Shiggy, we're seeing a little more from the probably-defunct title.In these screens (and the video after the break) from the devkit, the game looks to have had a very distinctive feel, similar in a sense to No More Heroes (or perhaps more like Killer 7) ... or any number of stylized comic books we've seen over the years. In a word, it could have been gorgeous, and as a bonus, we could have been beating things with a hammer.
VIA offers a cheapo gPC "dev kit" motherboard
Been dying to cobble together some code for one of those high-falutin', big-ticket Everex gPCs, but just couldn't scrape together the $199? Well friends, fear not -- your spot in the poor house won't keep you from writing that killer app, thanks to VIA's generous offering of the $60 "dev board." What can you expect from this package? Well first off, it's not a package, it's a mediocre motherboard with a "bundled" CD of the gOS. The Linux-based gOS addition isn't really too impressive, considering it's open source, free, and available for download from Everex's site... but hey, who's keeping score? Slap on a case, power supply, hard drive, optical drive, memory, keyboard, and mouse, and you've got yourself a real honey of a system. If you can do it for less than $200 -- you've made out like a bandit.[Via LinuxDevices]
PAX 07: Pink Godzilla vs. our money
Retailer Pink Godzilla's presence at PAX was one of the more drool-worthy booths at the show. In addition to piles and piles of Dev Kit kits, PG t-shirts and stickers, the booth was rife was classic and import games and consoles. If you were looking for a copy of Face Training or Doki Doki Majo Shinpan or even Yume Penguin Monogatari at PAX, this was the destination. I personally had a PC Engine Coregrafx in my hand at least twice, desperately battling over whether or not to buy. I totally would have if stuff didn't cost money.The most impressive (and expensive) items were on display in a glass case, and included things like Toilet Kids, Dracula X and even a sealed Super Metroid ($300). I ran off with a Twin Famicom took a bunch of pictures of the booth, when I wasn't getting trampled.%Gallery-6425%
OpenMoko Neo 1973 developer kits available July 9
End users still have a while to wait for a final, finished product -- October's the current estimate -- but developers looking to get cracking on OpenMoko's open-source handset need only wait a few more days. July 9 is the chosen date for pushing Neo 1973 dev kits out the door in two configurations: Neo Base for $300 and Neo Advanced for $450. Neo Base will include the first-gen handset plus garden variety accessories you'd expect to find in a retail package (headset, stylus, pouch, USB cable, and the like), while the Advanced package adds in some additional hardware for really ripping the phone to shreds and tricking it out. The goal is to make sure devs have a healthy catalog of apps ready by the time Joe Consumer gets his hands on one in a few months, at which point the hardware will be even better with the addition WiFi, 256MB of onboard Flash, two onboard accelerometers, and a faster core. We're countin' on ya, code heads![Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Inside the PSP dev kit
Ever wanted to know what a PSP development kit looks like on the inside? Now you can! A Japanese blogger has dismantled a prototype to show its innards. Of course, all computer guts look the same to me: maybe one of our more technically savvy readers can explain what's so unique about these parts?[Via PSP-Vault]
GDC 07: Wii dev training to take place at this week [update 1]
In case you live under a rock, GDC is kicking off this week (that stands for Game Developer's Conference) and it turns out Nintendo enthusiasts have something besides Miyamoto's keynote to look forward to. This week during the event, attendees will be able to get some schooling on how to create titles for Nintendo's new Wii console. To quote the AFP article: "Among its (GDC's) features will be lessons in designing games for Nintendo's popular new Wii video game console with motion-sensitive controllers."The piece then takes a hard left turn into casual games territory, talking of the importance of that market. Still though, it should be interesting to see what kind of demonstrations those who attend the lessons on Wii development receive. How hard could it be to develop with a motion-sensitive control scheme?Update: Changed headline to reflect organization of this year's GDC event on our end.
Bad news for indie devs, and maybe for us
Despite a promise to support independent developers and help them get games out for the Wii, some are reporting problems with getting their hands on devkits. The Independent Developer Program was supposed to be kicked off last month, with kits going out to indie studios, but now it seems the program has been delayed until at least the end of this month. Ian Bogost of Persuasive Games warns that this delays means we may not see any original games until at least 2008.
eBay features PSP devkit for sale
PS3s aren't the only thing ending up on eBay. It appears that someone posted a PSP devkit on eBay (pictured above). These plain looking gray boxes are used to develop and test PSP games, and in the wrong hands, could possibly compromise PSP security quite swimmingly. The bids got up to $329 before the auction was closed, most likely by an angered Sony lawyer. According to PSP3D, these kits are contractually licensed to developers, meaning some developer somewhere is probably going to be in a whole world of legal pain very soon.[Via digg]
More Wii devkit photos
Over at IGN, they have several shots of the Wii devkit with all kinds of different peripherals jacked into it, as well as some nice high-res shots of the devkits at all different kinds of angles. Odd though, is the lack of direct shot of the console's back, which given the chance we'd put at the top of our list of things to take a picture of. Regardless, IGN does manage to include a shot of the plug attached to the sensor bar. They also slap the Wavebird receiver into the GC ports on the top of the Wii to reassure all that they fit nice and snug, without cause for worry.
Wii devkit shared
A flickr user by the name of *PeSa* recently received a Wii devkit and decided that he'd like to throw it in all of our faces share with the internet. Over at his flickr account, you can see several different shots of the devkit, as well as the Wiimote. We've included some of his pictures into the post, after the break.[Thanks Artr!]
Wii devkits photographed
The folks over at Engadget have a long history of kicking ass across these interwebs and whenever we meet their steely gaze in the office between meetings, we always duck into the men's room as quick as we can so as to avoid said kicking of posteriors. Our posterior is quite sensitive and cannot endure such abuse if we ever hope to realize our dream of modelling swimwear for K-mart (it could happen!).Yet, regardless of our fear, we popped over there in the dead of night and "borrowed" some submitted shots of finalized Wii devkits for you, fine reader. With an entry and exit time that would make even the Hamburglar jealous, we managed to live and bring you back multiple shots of Wii devkits, which are securely nestled in our collective bosom after the break.[Via Engadget]
Wii developer kit pics, Link wants his green tunic back
A friendly anonymous tipster dropped a manila envelope containing five snapshots of what we imagine is the final Wii developer kit into Engadget's welcoming tips box today. It looks just like a Wii, but the bright white has been replaced by a sharp-looking green faceplate. We'd even go so far as to say that it's a particularly Hylian shade of green ... but one thing it most definitely is not is black. It's also not the enormous Wii alpha devkit we've seen before, although enormous is a relative term here. After all, the PS3 devkit is ginormous, and Microsoft was using the towering PowerMac G5 towers for their early devkits.Head on over to Engadget to catch some more shots of the little guy in various stages of undress.
Final PlayStation 3 dev kit has arrived
Although the first PlayStation3 dev kits were nothing short of gigantic (similar to those PSP dev kits), it looks like Sony has released a "final" version -- one which doesn't exhale winds kin to a tropical storm and whine like a jet engine -- that's been tracked down and posterized. As expected, the juicy details here are few and far between, but at first glance it does seem to sport the obligatory optical Blu-ray drive, and on-hand reports stated that an alpha build of Full Auto 2 was among the data housed on the 80GB hard drive. Initial reactions were relatively positive, garnering praise for its sleek menus and "lag-free" play while connected to the PlayStation Network. The lucky few who wound up handling the not-yet-finalized controller dug the lightweight feel (thanks to the omission of a rumble feature), and noted that switching from wired to wireless modes was much snappier than the versions at (the final) E3. Unfortunately, no new information was leaked about titles in development, and no substantial secrets were unearthed, but hopefully that'll change pretty soon once these start making the rounds.[Via Game Informer]
PS3 dev kits given the official thumbs-up [Update 1]
The fellows at IGN took it upon themselves to give a review of the PS3 dev kits that were delivered to, well, developers. Not surprisingly, they gave an overwhelmingly positive review of the things (although they didn't comment on the physical attractiveness of them). Let's look at a brief overview of the positive points spoken of: They ran quietly and did not let off a lot of heat, contrary to rumor. They were extremely easy to program for (Pseudo dropped in the wireless support program in two days prior to the review). The controllers were light and easily switched between wired and wireless play. The controllers were also smart, able to discern what system they were connected to and which player they were associated with. As for LAN play, eight PS3's were connected over the PlayStation Network in real time and lag was nonexistant. The PS3 menu was easy to manage and was similar to the one on the PSP, but cleaner and sharper. Basically, a lot of good news and nothing bad. This bodes well for the PS3, especially if it runs as smoothly and heat-free as the dev kit counterparts. We all know how annoying a system that runs like a jet engine and has overheating issues can be...[Update: After recovering from a case of dyslexia, changed the second bullet from "tilt sensitivity" to "wireless support"... sorry for the confusion!]
PS3 developers share same XMB as PSP owners
Last E3, we saw how the PS3 would share the same XMB (menu system) as the PSP. You'd be able to look at photos, listen to music, watch videos, surf the internet, and I guess you could play games too. Well, thanks to a video from 1UP, it looks like the final PS3 devkits share the same interface. The menu isn't as fancy as what PS3 players will experience, but I guess it gets the job done.[Via Joystiq]
GC vs. Wii: Devkits compared [Update]
What we have here is a GC devkit (bottom) next to a Wii devkit. Look similar, right? Well of course they would, considering the Wii is just an extension of the GC hardware, but notice how the Wii devkit has the same 2 slots for memory cards? Could the Wii allow for you to use GC memory cards? Of course, we've known for quite some time that would be the case for the GC games, but could we perhaps use them to store Wii save data?Come on they have to! It's not like they're Microsoft or something...[Update: Weak. We overlooked the fact that it was well-known information that GC memory cards will work on the Wii. We apologize for overlooking such an old fact and have updated the post.]
First Wii development kit photo
There you have it folks, the first picture of a Wii developer's kit. What's odd is how this is going against the current statements where developers are calling the Wii developer's kits extensions of GameCube hardware, even in looks. Could those developers have not received the finalized developer's kit and this is in fact the real deal? [Via Digital Battle; Thanks Erick G!]
MS to offer cheap 360 dev kits?
The lastest rumor at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose claims that Microsoft will announce a developers kit Wednesday costing about $100. Theoretically, this would open the door to the more Mom & Pop-type development shops and offer intriguing possibilities for low-cost online games and the XBL Arcade. Overall, it could just mean more games for the 360. Plus it makes Sony look overly corporate and out of touch with the little guy, no small feat when you're Microsoft.MS isn't talking, but this could have cool implications. We'll see if it pans out over the next 24 hours.[Thanks DJphatjive]
