The community service beta gets pushed back to 3rd Qtr.

SCEA reports that the participants looking forward to beta testing their virtual community service known as HOME will have to wait till this Fall.  "We understand that we are asking PS3 and prospective PS3 users to wait a bit longer, but we have come to the conclusion that we need more time to refine the service to ensure a more focused gaming entertainment experience than what it is today," said Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

"Our overarching objective is to provide users with new gaming experiences that are available only on PLAYSTATION Home. Spending more time on the development and on the Closed Beta testing reaffirms our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation(R) tradition."

The HOME project has been a very ambitious project created to give the PS3 some added appeal that's been lacking since the console's debut. Once available, gamers can look forward to a rich, fun interactive community environment that will incorporate social networking, gamer achievements, leaderboards and more. Details of the Closed Beta testing features, registration for the test and the service will be announced as they become available.

Backbone's Producer discusses how the game stacks up so far. 

No, I am not here to announce an official launch date, though I imagine it's gotta be before summer's end with Evo 08 fast approaching. Actually this post exists only to get a few of you over to the latest blog presented by the talented David Sirlin diligently working on Super SF2 Turbo HD Remix. (Jeez, that's quite a mouthful to say in casual conversation.) In his latest update, Sirlin provides a solid summary of the cast's current list of changes and minor modifications (where applicable). Overall, I have to say that I am really impressed with how the game is turning out and the art direction has shown a lot of promise. (Cammy's new look though, eh - not loving that so much).

Now if only this digital gem would be released already. I am getting antsy. Click over here for the whole scoop.

Freedom is a lot more addicting than I thought.

You have to understand that it isn't my fault that I have largely shunned "open" games. I was after all raised on console and arcade games that made me this way. They gave me each piece in the puzzle and even the directions to assemble it. I didn't need to worry about the fact that what the game was asking me to do was a blatant waste of time. Talk to the town baker, who will give you the golden pancake batter that you will then grill up to a nice golden brown to appease the ogre that is blocking the entrance to the cave that holds some pointless object that you need to impress the king so he will give you a key that you can then use to gain entrance to the vaults where an all powerful sword resides that you can use to free the princess from the clutches of evil. Nevermind the fact that the king is the one who wants you to free his daughter. He still makes you do all that crap. And we did it. And I've doing it ever since, for more than 20 years. And I probably will do it until the day I die. Because for some sick reason, I keep coming back.

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Now you can shake, rattle and roll. 

With so many triple A titles like Gran Turismo 5 and MGS4 slated for release this quarter, Sony has decided to spice things up for players by releasing a new version of the PS3 SIXAXIS wireless controller by incorporating rumble feature. Oh and it's got a new label too: the Dualshock 3. When this controller hit my doorstep earlier this morning, I initially thought someone made a shipping error by sending me an extra controller. Of course, it all made sense after I took time to actually read the enclosed press release statement that was included in the box.

For those of you who've come to cherish the rumble feature which to date has been in every PlayStation console release should feel right at home with the DualShock 3. Upcoming games like the aforementioned titles above will be among the first new batch to make use of the new gameplay enhancement.

Existing title may require a software update and users will be prompted to download any updates upon playing specific games like PAIN, Burnout Paradise, Uncharte, MLB 08: The Show and several others. A complete list will be made available at the PlayStation website.

I don't really care about all these hoops you seem intent on making me jump through.

Yay, the R-Type Command demo is up on the Sony store!  This makes me happy, because I've been looking forward to playing it for a while now.  So off I go to power up the PS3 and get downloading.

First off, though, it's time for a required update before I can access the Sony store.  Rolling my eyes at yet another one of these endless time-wasters, I start it up and do something else for ten minutes.  Once that's out of the way it's theoretically time for some R-Type Command.  A quick download and it's on the PS3's hard drive, and a bit of transferring over to the PSP and I'm almost good to go.

The last game I got for the PSP was Patapon, back in early March the week after it came out.  Apparently in the intervening three weeks a new update hit the PSP and now I need to take care of that.  So I set up my PSP with my home network (should have done it earlier, that one's my fault for being lazy) and get to downloading firmware upgrade 3.93.  Once that's done I plug my PSP into my PC's USB cable for a shot of power to make the update run smooth and am promptly told that's just not good enough.  The battery is "low" at 2/3 power and the juice from the USB AC hookup just isn't cutting it.  I drag my PSP into the other room where I've got the AC adaptor plugged into the wall and, finally, decide I've had enough of this.  The PSP goes back into its case and I go do something else.

This is how this story should have gone-  The R-Type Command demo was up on the Sony store and I downloaded it.  One quick transfer to the PSP later and I was playing the game.   That didn't happen, and now I just don't feel like dealing with this silly crap. 

Seriously, Sony, all I wanted to do was play a game.