The PS3 Hits

In Japan, that is. You can see to the left here what you get in the box, and IGN has a number of articles that should answer your wildest questions regarding the launch of this behemoth. IGN does have a retail unit, but I believe it's another week before you can get one yourself, and if you manage to get one then you'll find a Blu-Ray copy of Talladega Nights inside. It has actually already sold out in Japan, but I think it would be wrong to claim that this implies a successful launch. Low yields on the Cell processor is restricting their supply (just 100,000 units in Japan), and the Japanese gamers are looking forward to the franchises they know will be on the PS3, which is why they're flocking to get one (plus, it's cheaper there than here). Also, their launch title line-up is very Japanese-centric, and it looks like American gamers will only have Call of Duty 3 and Rainbow Six: Vegas to look forward to for now. I'm sure that it'll sell out here from low supply, as well, but I think that you'll have to compare the absolute figures over a few months with the first months of the Xbox 360 and the Wii to get a good idea of people's interest. I, personally, could care less about this launch and was more delighted to see the Nintendo Wii start-up sequence. I love that the controller vibrates when you hover over buttons (see, Sony, we actually like vibration in our controllers). Game sales have been going south more recently though, so let's hope that the next-generation picks up the pace drop-off from the current one.

There's strong speculation that the iTunes music store may soon credit your individual track purchases towards the whole albums they correspond to so that you don't end up paying for the same track multiple times. Now that is a pretty brilliant idea, and would make iTunes even more popular if they pulled it off. Google Checkout has unveiled a couple of neat features: coupon creation and e-mail invoices. Plus, they're waiving transaction fees through the end of the year. I like where they're going with this service, and I'm glad that they're figuring out how to do what PayPal has done wrong (including customer service). A company called BlackArrow has sprung up basing itself around a fantastic idea: showing ads despite DVR forwarding and it looks like they're also aiming to improve the advertising model online. It's not near completion yet, of course, but I'd be real interested to see how people react to seeing ads like that. Lastly, this site is a really fascinating effort to find the most beautiful images in the world by randomly pairing them and having you vote on which you like better. It's fun to play around with if you're bored, and pictures like this are what's always inspired to keep taking pictures regularly. Here's one of my favorites:



I was a little surprised to find Borat at the top of the box office this weekend with $29 million, not only because it's an increase from last weekend (which is extremely rare), but it also doubled the grosses of Will Ferrell's Stranger Than Fiction, which had opened this past weekend. Also, Babel only weighed in at #6, though I suppose there wasn't a whole lot of publicity for it. Anyway, don't expect to see Borat at the top after this coming weekend's release of Casino Royale. The only other movie thing today is the trailer for Fanboys, which I thought was pretty funny. I love all the random Star Wars quotes and scenarios they decided to pepper throughout it. Not a whole lot of Natalie Portman in that trailer though, I'm afraid.

Now for some Unconscious Mutterings:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Nick :: Fury


2. Focus :: Eye


3. Police :: Man


4. Miles :: Away


5. Earn :: Cash


6. Twice :: a Lady


7. Razor :: Mach 3


8. Personality :: Disorder


9. Dumped :: Girls


10. Reliable :: Car