Random Bits

I recommend this CD! Atsuko lends her voice for the new R2 Nadesico Boxset. Her version of YOU GET TO BURNING is great. ^_^ But I do prefer Ruri’s (Omi Minami) version of Dearest from Hoshino Ruri at Vocal (Denshi no Yousei).

On another topic, check out this “Omega” XBox 360 bundle from GameStop. Two thousand USD for the Premium Xbox 360 and a bunch of games and accessories. Wow. With that money you can get a Althon 64 FX-57 with a SLI-enabled motherboard and probably two 7800 GTXs (at least. But probably something even better by the time November comes) and play those games that are probably going to come out for PC anyway. Or you can buy a bunch of non-bundled Xbox 360s and set up a computing grid. :/

A recent rumour that’s been going around this week is that the PS3’s Blu-ray drive will cost Sony about 100 USD per unit. This could translate to a higher-than-expected launch price, or Sony might just eat the cost and make a larger loss per unit. Blu-ray drives are barely available anywhere right now and the production cost should be quite high for some time. People have been speculating about whether Sony is bluffing about PS3’s high costs to make Microsoft set its prices too high before, maybe it’s all part of their great plan… Meanwhile, Blu-ray is getting some bad rep due to its proposed built-in ability to set players modified illegally (such as removal of region protection) to self-destruct. Of course such a system will never work (the protection itself will just become the first target for illegal mods), but the mobs are getting worked up over it nevertheless, some even threatening to call their mothers. Hopefully PS3 will be come without such lameness. Meanwhile, Xbox 360 and NR are sticking with normal DVD drives that cost probably $5 each during mass production. On the other hand, a game developer recently complained about the lack of disc space when developing for Xbox 360 due to the constraints of the DVD format…

Finally, WAB and PSP-Dev released a video that supposedly shows a 1.52 PSP firmware being downgraded to 1.5. They claim that the downgrader also works for the 2.0 firmware, which would be great if it does indeed work. It supposedly downgrades the firmware features too (meaningly no more browser and AVC playback if you downgrade), unlike previous version changers that merely tricks games into thinking that the PSP is running a different version. The earlier firmwares 1.0 and 1.5 are able to run homebrew applications and play pirated games off memory sticks.