Crispy Gamer News

Last Thursday, we reported on Sony adding a new patch to its Home service, which added facial hair to the avatar options while disabling the service’s voice chat capabilities. Apparently, a weekend of silence was more than enough though, as Sony has released a brand new patch to the Home beta, giving users back their collective voice … with a few conditions.

Ostensibly, the voice feature was originally dropped due to the strain the feature was putting of the service. Of course, the decision to yank the feature was probably helped by the fact that much of the chatter going on in Home was of the juvenile smack talk/pickup line variety. Now that the voice chat feature has been re-established, players will be able to go back to hitting on each other, but only in the comforts of their personal spaces and clubhouses. So, you’ll have to actually convince someone to come back to your place before you can try to talk them into “coming to your place”.

By clicking on their PlayStation Home icon on the PlayStation Network column of XMB, Home users will be automatically prompted to update to 1.05. Users who are online with PlayStation Home will need to log-off and click on PlayStation Home icon for the update to register.

It’s that time of year again. No, I’m not talking about the holidays, Santa, riots in shopping malls, or anything of that sort. I’m talking about time for PlayStation 3 owners to, yet again, turn on their consoles and grab another firmware update for the system. This time around, we’re moving on up to version 2.53, which adds a gaggle of tweaks to the system, including full screen Flash support, DivX Video On Demand support, video noise reduction, and some playback improvements for certain PS3 software.

Want to see the complete list of improvements? Keep reading after the jump.
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It’s Super Tuesday today, and while most of the country is content to sit back and just watch electoral vote roll in on the tube, the folks at Sony have been keeping busy making sure our PS3 systems are ready and polished for our next
President of the United States … whoever that may be.

According to a post on the official PlayStation blog, Sony is releasing a minor update to the PS3 firmware, taking it up to version 2.52. For those thinking this update could be something major to compete with Microsoft’s upcoming New Xbox Experience, don’t get your hopes up.

The new PS3 firmware update addresses a couple of issues, tweaking the overall performance. The first change will improve the playback quality of certain PS3 format software (no specific titles were mentioned). The second issue fixes a text entry issue that occurs when using the on-screen keyboard, USB keyboard, or Bluetooth keyboard with some PS3 format software has been addressed.

NCsoft today releases Episode 6, The Lastavard – Inevitable Destiny and Episode U for its admittedly dated MMO, Lineage, in North America. This new update “represents a revitalization of NCsoft’s flagship MMO in North America, according to the company. Certainly, those that are still playing this game will appreciate all the new content and features this double update provides.

Episode 6 focuses on Girtas, the ruler of the otherworld, who has escaped and is terrorizing the land of Aden. Players can fight their way through the the Lastavard dungeon before facing off against the evil sorcerer Dantes, and then, Girtas himself. The release of Episode 6 and Episode U adds a bunch of new encounters, such as battling Varlok in Desire Cavern, confronting hordes of pirates from the Ship Graveyard, and exploring the new Haunted House and the rebuilt town of Gludin. Players may also spend time learning to cook or fish, or may choose to enter their pets in organized fighting matches.

More at www.lineage.com.

Early this morning, Sony Computer Entertainment America clued gamers in on the details of the next firmware updates to the PS3 and PSP systems, adding new features to both. The PS3 firmware update (v. 2.50) will add advanced voice chat features for the PS3 Bluetooth headset, the ability to capture screenshots in-game with supporting titles in the future, and changes to the PlayStation Trophy system. The PSP firmware update (v. 5.00) will add direct access to PlayStation Store on the PSP, allowing PSP owners to browse the store and download games whenever they’re at a Wi-Fi hotspot. Both system software updates will be released later this month.

Sony’s details of the firmware updates after the jump:
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We’ve seen it demoed at E3. We’ve dealt with downtime as Xbox LIVE got ready for it. And now, finally, the folks over at Microsoft have given us a date for it. I’m talking, of course, about the “New Xbox Experience”, Microsoft’s updated dashboard interface. At the Tokyo Game Show yesterday, Microsoft announced that the new dashboard, along with all of its included features, will officially go live worldwide on November 19th.

The New Xbox Experience will allow Xbox 360 owners to create animated avatars, jump into a “LIVE Party” with up to seven friends, compete in new community games, share pictures and music, and even set up a virtual movie night, courtesy of new Netflix integration. The new dashboard will also dump the blade system of the current Xbox 360 dashboard in favor of a new design overhaul meant to make things easier to navigate.

“Our industry is defining the future of entertainment,” said John Schappert, corporate vice president of Interactive Entertainment LIVE, Software and Studios, while at the Tokyo Game Show 2008. “When the New Xbox Experience launches in just six weeks, we will be inviting the whole world to play.”

Yesterday KOEI announced the release of Warriors Orochi 2 for the PS2 and Xbox 360 - and shortly thereafter announced that an update to the game was on the way. The company found out after the game had shipped that - under certain conditions - unusual slow-down may occur during battle scenes in the Xbox 360 version of the game. A release date for the patch will revealed shortly, according to KOEI. Full statement after the jump.

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