By Eli Green
September 22, 2006 - 15:30
Happy
New Year from The Comic Book Bin!
A
big hello and happy new year to all of our Jewish readers out there.
We hope you enjoy your apples and honey, bread and honey, and
whatever else you can think of dipping in honey. For those readers
that were unaware, tomorrow and Sunday are the Jewish new year and
day of judgement. The next Monday, Oct. 2nd, is Yom
Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. So enjoy your new year's meals
and also, have a good fast.
20GB
Playstation 3 to have HDMI V1.3, in Japan
Yes,
you read correctly. The 20GB version of the Playstation 3 will come
with HDMI, standard. Sony has given into the demand from consumers
and protesters alike, changing the PS3's specs from the original E3
announcement, adding in the HDMI compatibility with HDMI “Ver
1.3/supporting Deep Color”. Japanese consumers will also be happy
to know that the price of the 20GB PS3 has also been significantly
dropped from the original price
of 62,790
yen. The new official price of the Japanese PS3 will be 49,980 yen
(tax included). Can you say 12,810 yen discount?
Rather unfortunately, all of this news is Japan specific, which means that the announcement is not official for North America yet. While it's probable that the HDMI upgrade will be announced for North America, we can't be sure if the price drop will accompany it. To put things in perspective, the new price of the Japanese PS3 when converted to American Dollars is $427.22, so if that's any indication, we are assuming a price drop for North America too.
Disney's
Little Einsteins for GBA in Stores
Buena
Vista Games, The Walt Disney Company's interactive entertainment
branch, has begun shipping Disney's Little Einsteins for the Game Boy
Advance. The game is based on the Disney television show and,
straight from the words of Disney, is “a game that lets kids
and parents embark on new adventures with their favorite characters
from the show.” The game is meant to introduce children to
classical music, art and nature by taking them on musical missions.
There are six different playable
modes in the game, including matching pieces of music, dancing over
flower buds and steering Rocket to avoid obstacles. The game also has
seven multi-level missions and twenty-one games with classic pieces
of art and music. Disney's Little Einsteins is available in stores,
today, for $19.99 USD and is rated E for Everyone. Canadian pricing
is not yet available.
Activision
shoots for retail stores
Activision's
Cabela's Alaskan Adventures is now available for purchase in stores
across North America. The new hunting and fishing game, for Xbox 360
and Playstation 2, is meant to immerse players in Alaska's outback
and allows them to track trophy game, fish, hunt birds, ride a dog
sled and compete in various outdoor-themed contests. There are
thirty-eight hunting and and fishing adventures to be played, across
twelve different Alaskan regions, from the North Slope to Ketchikan.
There are also thousands of gear options to choose from, including
rifles, shotguns, bows and arrows, fishing tackle and cloths, plus a
number of vehicles to use for getting around the terrain. Cabela's
Alaskan Adventures is available in stores for $39.99 USD/$49.99 CAD
for the Xbox 360 version and $29.99 USD/$39.99 CAD for the
Playstation 2 version. The game is rated T for Teen.
Dolby
Digital 5.1 and 7.1 to Playstation 3
Dolby
Labs announced today that the PS3 will have full Dolby Digital
Support. Today's press release confirmed that not only will the PS3
have full Dolby Digital 5.1 support for games and movies, but it will
also support Dolby TrueHD decoding for up to 7.1 channels for Blu-ray
movies. I bet that sounds sweet for gamers with 7.1 systems, pun
intended.
That's all for News Pop! this week. You can check out this week's News Pop! articles by clicking the links below.
09/18/06 09/19/06 09/20/06 09/21/06