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That’s right folk, Microsoft is now offering the once costly emulator for game developers to test out HD-DVD via a USB connection of an external drive or networked PC.

The once costly emulator which Microsoft was selling for $2999 is now being offered for FREE!!!

Now that Toshiba has all but given up support for the HD-DVD format, I’m guessing Microsoft is offering the emulator free as it’s still a good program for testing out programs for the Xbox 360.

For those developers that have purchased the emulator, they are in luck, Microsoft will refund the purchase of the program.

For more details, check out A Dullard’s Guide.

Several sites are raving about God of War: Chains of Olympus coming to the PSP and how they are dusting off the old PSP systems to get ready to play this popular game.

The PSP version will be released March 7, 2008 and is rated M for Mature content.

The game is about a human Godslayer that must now once again heed the commands of the gods to go to the underworld to fight the most feared creatures of Greek mythology. Will he choose redemption or save the world?

What I’m hoping for is a newer version of “God of War” or any other games for the PS3 that will let me play the game, live, on my PSP as well as allowing for the PSP to download portions of the PS3 game to be played, away from the PS3 and it’s WiFi connection with the capabilities to re-sync with the PS3 when you are back within connection range to upload your stats and download newer content or play directly back from the PS3, etc…

One can dream…

The update for Warhawk is out and you will want to get the V1.3 patch!

The updates will give you five cool upgrades! The first two are a must for any Warhawk fans.

1. You won’t need any elbow grease to use this monkey wrench! The Mechanic’s Field Wrench is a welcome addition and it allows for you can use as a weapon with a one-hit kill against an enemy but it does much more! Oh yes, it’ll also fix your broken down vehicles real fast as well as sabotaging an enemy’s vehicles damaging it!

2. Heal your wounds with the Bio-Field Generator! This cool item will heal your wounds as well as an allies. You can stick this the Bio-Field Generator anywhere and as long as an ally is standing within the generator field, it’ll regenerate their health! The cooler news is that the generator will also damage an enemy that is within the Bio-Field Generator! The Bio-Field Generators will also be color coded.

3. Launch your own Warhawk Server! You can set up games for your friends and allow your friends to view or make it public for anyone to see your games.

4. You gotta chat with your friends and what better way to play Warhawk then to be able to communicate with your team? The new upgrade will allow for VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocal) so start yapping away.

5. Decorate your Nemesis and Warhawk with pretty colors, paint schemes, & insignias; secretly you’ve been wanting to custom decorate them in that Cadillac Pink with pretty flower decorations, now’s your chance to submit them in the contest!

Get your patch from Playstation.

Reports have some people smashing their TV sets while playing with their Wii remotes. The tendency to have the wiimotes fly out of the player hands have been noted by Panasonic and they have created a new screen for their screens that can withstand up to 4 joules of kinetic energy due to a special coating sprayed onto the TV screens.

Alright it’s Wii time!

What would be the chance that Xbox 360 will give up on the HD-Dvd format and start offering the Blu-Ray player for connection to the Xbox 360 system

The chance is highly likely to happen in the next 3 months, according to the Australian website, Smarthouse.

Smarthouse reports on their website that insiders at Microsoft has told them that a stand alone Blu-Ray player has been connected to an Xbox 360 system and based on Marketing approval, a release of the system could be available in the next 3 months.

I think the next update will actually be the Xbox 360 with built in Blu-ray player built in. That does not mean owners of the older Xbox systems will have to purchase a new system, I don’t think Microsoft wants to alienate Xbox users. They should have an add-on accessory to play Blu-ray based discs soon.

A great question was asked about the Hard Drive speed and storage size limit on Product-Review.

With the capabilities of the PS3 to accept external hard drives via the USB port, is speed a factor to consider or mobility?

The other great question asked was whether the PS3 needs a firmware update to support NTFS instead of the FAT file structure so that the PS3 can support file sizes larger than 4GBs.

Both great questions as speed might effect the playback of High Definition quality video and larger files sizes that would be required to play back HD movies that are larger than 4GB could be an issue.

In an announcement made by Kotaku Australia; the site, in partnership with Koei/THQ will be holding a contest until Feb. 20 (Australian Time), where they will give away a slim PSP and the PS2 remake of the game Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness for PSP.

The contest is very, very simple; just take a picture of something you made that is anime or manga based. Kotaku Australia says that extra props will be given for a Disgaea themed submission.

Check out Kotaku for the rules and announcement: Kotaku Contest

PSP_A, originally uploaded by BluezPS.

This is truly a nice looking PSP design created by a fan.

The image was uploaded onto Flickr and seems to have hit the mainstream.

BluezPS is the username the game artist uses on Flickr.

Another user of Flickr mentions the similarities of the iRiver G10.

Check out the article and image of the G10 on joystiq.

BluezPS also seems to be one of the character designers of “Animal Kingdom” for the Unreal 2003 mod game. You can download the 30MB mod from the site and try it out or take a look at some of the artwork: Tyrant.

With fans like Philip and Joanne Ortiz, a husband and wife that loves to play games on their Xbox system, Microsoft will build up a great following for their Xbox gaming consoles.

Philip and Joanne have a blog called Third World Gamer that has officially been recognized by Xbox.com.

The husband and wife team are great fans of the Xbox system and are hoping that with their blog added as an official communities recognized, that their campaigning for PinoyXbox.com will be recognized and also to get the Philippines added as a supported country, which the country is not at this time.

I have to give them mad props, they have done a great job with their articles and love of Xbox.

Go check their blogs out, its a great read!

Sony has announced a launch of a “Satin Silver” version of the PS3 with matching DualShock 3 controller for the Japanese market.

The Satin Silver model follows suit after the launch of the Ceramic White PS3 in Japan and now confirmed launch of the Ceramic White version for launch in the US. I’m sure the Satin Silver will follow it’s White version to the US as well.

The 40GB Satin Silver will not have any extras included in the launch or any special features. The PS3 is the same as any of the other PS3 40GB versions.

No announcements have been made for the UK for any special colored versions of the PS3 except the standard Black color.

The cost of the Satin Silver PS3 will be 39,000 Yen.