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If you insist on lugging around a PlayStation 3 as if it's a PSP with a glandular problem, the least you can do is get some protection for it against the elements. Messiah Entertainment feels that pain, which is why it's created its "Hardwear Console Armor" for the PS3, according to I4U News.

The silver shield may add a stylish touch but looks as if it might scratch even more easily than the original finish. Still, such risks are the price one must pay for the sake of looking good under fire. And if you tend … Read more

There's good news for those who can't bear to part with their PlayStation 3. (Or perhaps not so good, depending on one's social life or lack thereof.) Clearvision is releasing a 7-inch display and a pair of speakers that can be attached to Sony's console, according to Engadget.

The Wii was outfitted with a similar screen last year, presumably because the PSP and DS just don't cut it for hard-core gamers when on the road or walking to the corner grocery for a six-pack of Red Bull. But regradless of what you think of the … Read more

Update: This story has been changed to reflect the email from Sony touting its PlayStation 3 March performance.

With the release today of its March video game industry sales report, NPD has provided fodder for just about anyone who wants to read the numbers the way they want. Or trumpet them.

For example, in an e-mail from Nintendo, I learned that, according to NPD, "In March, Nintendo again defined industry momentum in both home and portable video game sales."

In other words, Nintendo's sales of 720,000 Wiis topped console sales. And Nintendo also dug around in … Read more

Sony wasn't kidding when it said the next PS3 system update was coming in mid-April. Just in time to take the edge off tax day, the version 2.30 of the PlayStation 3 system software is now available for download. As revealed last week, the software update adds DTS Master Audio decoding (to deliver the best audio from compatible Blu-ray movies), as well as a major overhaul of the interface for the PlayStation Store (as explained in the Sony video walkthrough shown above).

The question is: what do you think? Does the DTS upgrade make the PS3 an even … Read more

Sony has announced the details on the next PS3 firmware update--version 2.30, coming mid-April--and the big news for home theater fans is that the PS3 is getting onboard DTS-HD High Resolution and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding for Blu-ray movies. Home theater fans have long lamented that the PS3 could not decode the new DTS soundtracks at their highest resolution, especially since movie studios like Fox have opted for DTS-HD Master Audio on many Blu-ray releases. Without getting too technical, DTS-HD Master Audio offers 7-channels of lossless audio at 96K sampling frequency and 24-bit depths--which means that the sound sent … Read more

My RSS reader is packed with food, gadget, and shopping blogs, and whenever I see something that might be worth sharing here I try to bookmark it for when I have time to write it up. Cruising through my bookmarks earlier today I started to notice a trend: I've been marking lots of products that are explicitly designed for playing with food. Apparently my inner child thrills at the thought of a mechanically assisted way to launch her broccoli across the room. So for her sake and yours, here are four tools for merging meal time and play time.

Air Fork One lends some credibility to the whole "here comes the plane into the hangar" story you try to sell to your toddler every night. So far, it's a design concept only, but creative types can probably cobble together a reasonable facsimile on their own.

Apartment Therapy's gadget blog recently featured these Icetris ice cube trays. Use your freezer… Read more

Toys are an important part of being a child. When we get older they become shinier and more expensive, but for many, they're fun to play with for a short time and we lose interest.

To help curb the potential costs and storage required, there's BabyPlays, a service that approaches toy enjoyment in a similar fashion to Netflix. BabyPlays is a subscription service that lets you pick what toys you want delivered to your house each month. Each of the plans lets you receive a different amount of toys. There are no late fees, and when you want … Read more

The PlayStation 3 is the first Blu-ray player to support BD-Live functionality, thanks to a firmware update available today. Officially announced just last week, the update (version 2.20) was released right on schedule, and is now available as a free download to PS3 owners directly through the console's onscreen interface. Once installed, it allows the PS3's to access Internet-connected BD-Live content available on some discs. The list of compatible discs is currently minimal--just War and Saw IV available now, plus The Sixth Day and Walk Hard following on April 8--and the first round of BD-Live content doesn't seem to be very diverting. But as the list of supporting titles grows--and, ideally, the BD-Live content becomes more compelling--look for players that don't support Profile 2.0 compatibility to be confined to the clearance shelves. The PS3 remains the best bet for Blu-ray shoppers, even if they have no interest in using its gaming capabilities. … Read more

Update: This story now reflects NPD data showing improved PlayStation 3 performance in the first two months of the year.

For many people, Sony's oft-maligned PlayStation 3 video game console had one no-doubt-about-it selling point: when it launched, it was by far the cheapest Blu-ray player on the market.

That's no longer true, what with plenty of low-cost players flooding the market now that Blu-ray has effectively vanquished HD DVD as the next-generation playback standard.

But with its announcement of a forthcoming PS3 firmware upgrade, Sony has once again given consumers a reason to buy the console for … Read more