PS3 Officially Launches in Malaysia, on Sept 20th. September 12, 2008
Posted by stvchang in blu-ray, blu-ray discs, blu-ray movies, business, console, console games, gadgets, games, gaming news, movies, news, PS3, PS3 games, PSN, PSN games, Sony, tech news, tech stuff.add a comment
Its finally here, Sony Malaysia have announced that PS3 will be officially sold in Malaysia. It will be launched 10am on Sept 20th at 1U at Ground Floor Highstreet New Wing (that’s a popular mall in PJ, locals will know how to get there) and there is even a 24hours Soul Calibur IV tournament before the launch day.
For the launch, Sony Malaysia will be selling a special launch bundle:
80GB PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) Bundle Early Birds Promotion
1 x 80GB PS3™ (CECHK06)
1 x DUALSHOCK 3® Wireless Controller
1 x Soul Calibur IV™ game
1 x Selected PS3™ game (Resistance, Ratchet and Clank Future, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Assassin’s Creed)
1 x Custom made PS3™ Tote bag
1 x Soul Calibur IV™ CD holder
Price: RM 1,799
To sweeten the bundle further, Sony Malaysia have generously added special gifts for the first 120 buyers of the PS3 Malaysian bundle, as detailed below:-
1st – 3rd customer – RM 1,000 Sony Cash Voucher
4th – 21st customer – RM 500 Sony Cash Voucher
22nd – 50th customer – RM 300 Sony Cash Voucher
51st – 120th customer – RM 100 Sony Cash Voucher
To facilate for those who wants to be 1st in line, the queue line will be opened at 8am, so plan your day/night well.
And not forgetting those of you who don’t ever leave the house, Sony Malaysia have generously made the same PS3 Malaysian bundle available as an online pre-order purchase. The first 20 online buyers will get a bonus Blu-ray movie thrown in. However, details on the online purchase, delivery method and the free Blu-ray movie are not included.
All these details (except for the online pre-order deal) are available from here (http://corp.sony.com.my/3/main.asp).
What this means is that Malaysia will join HK, Singapore and Taiwan as the 4th country to officially have the PS3 (Japan is a whole region as far as PS3 distribution, and its not Asian region). All these while, the PS3s in MY stores are simply parallel imports (usually from Singapore) and the warranty is from the country of origin only. With the launch, Malaysian PS3s can be repaired by Sony service centres in Malaysia itself.
Hopefully, this will lead Sony Malaysia to bring in PS3 games directly as well as any PS3 peripherals and accessories, and that the prices will be cheaper than the parallel imports.
US Xbox 360 price cuts now official. September 4, 2008
Posted by stvchang in business, console, console games, games, gaming news, Microsoft, Xbox360, Xbox360 games.add a comment
With the rumors and leaked info being rampant over the past month all pointing to Xbox360′s imminent price cut, Microsoft have finally made it official.
With effect from September 5, Xbox360 Arcade is priced at US$199 (RM650), lesser by US$80. The standard 60GB Xbox360 is now cheaper by US$50 to US$299 (RM1000) and the 120GB Xbox Elite gets the highest price cut, from US$449 to US$399 (RM 1300), a cut of US$150.
Microsoft’s latest move is seen as it’s effort to boost stagnant sales especially with Xmas season coming soon. This effectively makes Xbox Arcade as the cheapest next gen console in the market.Will Sony and Nintendo follow suit? With Wii‘s leader position and sales not seemingly letting up, its highly doubtful, but hey…. anything is possible.
Also, be mindful that prices in Malaysia may not come down so soon as prices in Asia have not been announced and due to existing stock levels.
Major security vulnerability on PLAYSTATION Network discovered, rectified. March 27, 2008
Posted by stvchang in business, gadgets, games, gaming news, PS3, PS3 games, Sony, tech news, tech stuff.add a comment
Following a SCE Japan alert, SCEA US Site have released a consumer alert, reproduced in its entirety as following:-
“Notice to PLAYSTATION®Network Users:
We have found out that there has been a possibility of unauthorized access to personal information on the PLAYSTATION®Store through PCs, a content download service of the PLAYSTATION®Network. Although unlikely, it is possible that the passwords of a small percentage of PLAYSTATION Network users may have been changed through unauthorized access, making it possible to view users’ personal information and/or use the Wallet for the PLAYSTATION Store. PLAYSTATION Network accounts do not display entire credit card numbers, so any unauthorized access to your PLAYSTATION Network account is very unlikely to compromise your credit card number.
We have taken immediate measures to rectify this issue and system security is restored. We have investigated the extent of unauthorized access and possible alteration of passwords that could have occurred before corrective measures were taken, and are directly contacting customers who may have been affected by this incident. In order to verify that your account is intact, we strongly suggest that PLAYSTATION Network users sign in to the service. If you can successfully sign in with your pre-set password, your account is not affected by this incident.
For additional information and immediate 24 hour online support, click here for the PlayStation Knowledge Center.”
What this mean is someone have hacked and accessed into some member’s PLAYSTATION Network accounts, capturing their ID, password and wallet. Sony have rectified the security issue and is in the process of investigating the damages.
Meanwhile, if you want to know if you are affected, login to your account with your password. If you can’t get in, chances are you have been affected and should contact your nearest Sony service center.
SCEH (Asia) Network Top-up promotion starts in April 2008. March 27, 2008
Posted by stvchang in business, games, games demo, gaming news, PS3, PS3 games, Sony.add a comment
For the whole month of April 2008 (thats from 1st to 30th… in case you are wondering), Sony Computer Entertainment HK Limited (covering the Asian regions of HK, Singapore and Taiwan) will run a promotion on encourage members to spend more on credits.
During the entire month of April 2008, for any single wallet top-up of SGD30/ HK$150 or above with a credit card or prepaid code in PLAYSTATION®Store or PLAYSTATION®Store (PC version), members of PLAYSTATION®Network will get an extra SGD 3/ HK$15 top-up to their wallet.
That’s a 10% worth of credits value SCEH is giving you for the effort. The catch? These additional credits will be only given to your online wallet AFTER the promotional period.
Anyhow, it’s a good deal, especially now as GT5: Prologue and echochrome (full version) is available for purchase and download via PLAYSTATION Store.
Blu-Ray wins the High Def video format, blu-ray in Xbox360 soon? March 11, 2008
Posted by stvchang in Apple, blu-ray, blu-ray discs, blu-ray movies, business, DVD, gadgets, games, gaming news, hd-dvd, Microsoft, movies, Rumors, Sony, tech news, tech stuff, Xbox360, Xbox360 games.add a comment
The 1080P High Definition Video format war is over. When HD-DVD exclusive Warner Bros studios switched to support the Blu-Ray format exclusively, the winner was effectively decided. Shortly thereafter, Toshiba (the main player in the HD-DVD format) too announced that they will cease to produce new HD-DVD players and withdrawing from the format war.
Now, its reported that Sony is talking to Microsoft about adopting the Blu-Ray format to its systems. While Sony have approached Apple for the same talks too (Microsoft and Apple are supporters of HD-DVD format), there are now strong rumors that Xbox360 may feature Blu-Ray as standard drive format.
While these are rumors at this point of time, it is not impossible for Xbox360 to adopt the Blu-Ray as the format due to the larger storage capabilities and as games becomes bigger (Lost Oddessey will fit in one dual layer Blu-Ray disc instead of four dual layer DVD dics). Alternatively, Microsoft could come up with a Blu-Ray add-on drive, as they have done with the HD-DVD add-on drive.
This will be interesting to keep watch, to see how Microsoft will react.
Yahoo! board rejects Microsoft’s bid, saying its too little. February 12, 2008
Posted by stvchang in business, Microsoft, tech news, yahoo.add a comment
Well, that was fast. Shortly after Microsoft announced a USD 44.6billion offer for Yahoo! to the Yahoo! board, Yahoo! have officially announced that they are not interested in the deal, citing that the offer was too low for Yahoo!’s potential.
In the press release, “the Yahoo! Board of Directors has carefully reviewed Microsoft’s unsolicited proposal with Yahoo!’s management team and financial and legal advisors and has unanimously concluded that the proposal is not in the best interests of Yahoo! and our stockholders.”
“After careful evaluation, the Board believes that Microsoft’s proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo! including our global brand, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects, free cash flow and earnings potential, as well as our substantial unconsolidated investments.”, it adds.
Microsoft have since then said that they are still very keen on pursuing this merger/buy-out. Lets see how this unfolds.
Games and Gadgets: How I see them. 