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For fans wanting even more ways to stay connected and in the know on PlayStation news and updates, we launched a new original program, PULSE presented by PlayStation Network available on PlayStation.com.

PULSE, a part of our continuous push to provide original video programming, is a video showcase about what’s happening in the world of PlayStation. The program features new Blu-ray disc and PlayStation Network releases from the PlayStation Store, including games, demos, movies and television series available for your PS3 and PSP.

Check out PULSE at work, at home, or on the go with the PSP, appearing every other week on PlayStation.com.

We hope you enjoy the show.

www.vgchartz.com

In a Interview to Edge Online, Shigeru Miyamoto shares his ideas about the controllers for the Wii Successor.

Basically he would keep the Wii-Remote Scheme but more intuitive and adding new features.

“One of the challenges we’ve seen with the videogame industry is that we’ve come so far with what is now considered the classic videogame controller, when you’re so used to using the same thing over and over again over many years, as a creator you run into creative blocks where it’s hard to break out of that mould and come up with new ideas,” he told Edge Online .

“Of course, if I were to say that we were going to change the interface right away in the next generation, the people who have been learning to work with these controllers would be upset. But I would think that somewhere down the road you might find a way to make an even more intuitive type of interface that might make it even easier for people to interact with videogames,” he added, intriguingly.

The upcoming Wii MotionPlus expansion, he went on to say, is “a good example of how we make improvements on what has become the standard controller and we’ll see that evolve and, again, we’ll likely come to a point where people might run into those creative blocks after they’ve explored all of the opportunities for that controller.

“And then we’ll move on to another new and different type of controller.”

By Tai Saint Louis

Even members of the Diggin’ In The Crates Crew, with whom South Bronx rapper Party Arty rose to prominence, were shocked today (December 5) to learn of the underground artist’s untimely death.

Arty, born Arthur Sheridan, passed away early yesterday afternoon (December 4) of unspecified health complications.

Both Fat Joe and legendary MC/producer Diamond D told AllHipHop.com that they were unaware of any illness from which the rapper, also known as P-80, may have suffered.

They both learned of his passing, as fans did, after a post from producer DJ Premier, who shared his condolences yesterday via his blog.

“I haven’t had a chance to speak to his family yet,” D.I.T.C. co-founder Diamond D told AllHipHop.com exclusively. “I’m going up [to New York] tomorrow. I didn’t know he was sick. I was shocked. To me, Arty definitely had that ruff gruffness about him. His rhymes was always on point. He was definitely one of the up-and-coming shining stars out of the South Bronx.”

As one half of the group Ghetto Dwellas alongside his partner D-Flow, Arty was strongly influenced by D.I.T.C.’s A.G, appearing on several of Show & A.G.’s albums in the mid to late 90s, including features on seven cuts on A.G.’s solo debut The Dirty Version in 1999.

He also collaborated with several member of the extended D.I.T.C. family including Fat Joe and the late Big L.

“I seen him at the Rock Steady Anniversary over the summer,” Fat Joe told AllHipHop.com. “We had a great time, he was in good spirits. He’s an underground king, a great rapper, and most of all one of the best people I’ve ever known. He was a great spirit, always had a happy vibe to him. He will be missed for sure.”

Party Arty saw a resurgence in popularity over the last couple of years, following a battle with Murda Mook captured by S.M.A.C.K. DVD, and promoted to legendary status via YouTube and the blogosphere.

His buzz even captured the attention of 50 Cent who, about a year ago, expressed interest in adding Arty to the G-Unit roster.

He made what would be his final appearance on a major release last month, contributing to D.I.T.C.’s latest offering The Movement.

So it wasn’t a high-speed freeway chase in a white Bronco, but O.J. Simpson’s day in court certainly delivered on the drama.

The big news is that Simpson is going to prison for kidnapping and armed robbery and could serve as much as 33 years in prison. But equally interesting is what happened before the hefty sentence came down.

Today was the first time many of us actually heard O.J. Simpson say “I’m sorry” in a courtroom. His voice seemed to break and it looked like he was fighting back tears as he read a surprise statement to the judge. He explained: “I didn’t want to hurt anybody. I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong … I stand before you somewhat confused.” Simpson continued for about five minutes, sometimes rambling, as he talked about how he was merely trying to recover property that had been stolen from his family.

And while this case had nothing to do with the circus-like “trial of the century” that consumed the country back in 1995, some familiar faces in today’s courtroom wouldn’t let us forget the drama of those days.

Sydney Simpson, O.J.’s twenty-three year-old daughter who is old enough to remember the last trial, was there to see her father receive a sentence that will put him into prison for at least nine years. Emotions also ran high for the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, who made the trip to Las Vegas to watch the sentencing.

Ron’s father, Fred Goldman, continues to believe O.J. Simpson murdered his son and wasn’t moved by the apology. Goldman told reporters: “He committed a crime. He’s gonna be where he belongs, with others of his kind, and he can complain there.” Denise Brown, Nicole’s sister, said she is saddened about how the prison time will affect Sydney and her brother Justin.

And the drama may not be over. As AP pointed out, many attorneys who have watched this case from the beginning are still sorting out the complex series of consecutive and concurrent sentences to determine how much time Simpson got and how much he will actually serve. USA Today’s newsblog shows top newspapers from around the country are just as confused. None of them agree on how much time Simpson actually got. Is it 9 years like the New York Times reports? 15 according to the Washington Post? 16 as reported by the Los Angeles Times? Or is the Wall Street Journal the one to trust with a report of 33 years?

In the end, it might not matter. O.J. Simpson’s lawyer plans to appeal by arguing that a fair trial was nearly impossible after Simpson’s 1995 acquittal.

Tech2.in.com

We were invited over to Milestone Interactive’s office yesterday to try out a build of Sony’s proverbial carrot on a stick – Killzone 2 – and what a fine, juicy carrot it is! Almost every PS3 owner’s been looking forward to the game since the console’s launch, but the game’s been delayed time and time again leaving us yearning for an FPS of this quality on the PS3. From what we’ve seen yesterday, other than a few small issues, the game finally seems to be coming together quite well and seems like it should make it for the scheduled Feb 27th, 2009 release.

The preview build we played came without the intro cut scenes – we were thrown into combat on a beach landing straight away. Right off the bat, the most impressive feature of the game shone through was its lighting. The game features what may be the best lighting engine out there – dynamic and soft shadows of the highest quality, high dynamic range lighting that creates perfect shaded and lit regions and finally some really high resolution textures. Metallic textures looked the most gorgeous on this engine, which I guess Sony realized, since they’ve slapped it onto almost every object in the game. But, I’m not complaining, it gives the game a completely futuristic grungy look that fits it like a glove.

To add icing to the cake, as you might have seen in the many videos the game has a few extra visual features such as high resolution blood splatters on the screen that look really nice, and some incredible selective blurring. In fact the depth of field effect is actually done better than both Call of Duty 4 and Crysis, with different layers of the gun as well as the surrounding environment getting blurred out realistically when you focus on objects on different focal plains.

Before I get too carried away with the technicalities, let me tell you about the gameplay. First off, the game features a rather extensive cover system, which is really rare for first person shooters. So unlike most FPS’ where you’ve got to crouch behind objects manually every time you face enemy fire, the game allowed me to stick my back to walls and other objects to take cover. To do this, you have to press L2 after approaching any object that can provide sufficient cover.

Better, brighter, faster games–and perhaps more profits–are in Nintendo’s future

Hardcore gamers may still scoff at Nintendo’s Wii for catering to casual gamers. But hidden behind its Clark Kent facade are some impressive financial muscles.

Nintendo rocked the gaming world when it brought out the Wii gaming console three years ago by turning an entirely new demographic of users on to gaming. Middle-aged and senior citizens stood in line to buy Wiis on the strength of games like Wii Fit, which audiences found more fun than workout DVDs.

In Pictures: 10 Cool Wii Games

To date, Nintendo has sold nearly 35 million Wiis, including 12.6 million in the U.S., Nintendo’s biggest market. That’s lower than Sony’s PlayStation 2, which has sold 43 million units since 2000. But it’s still pretty high for a console that, at launch, was technologically a generation behind its chief competitors, Sony’s PlayStation 3, with 13 million units in users’ living rooms, and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, with 23 million units. This year, the Wii is expected to sell more than the best-selling PS2 sold in its best year, 2003.

Just as interesting as how Nintendo has changed the gaming world, however, has been its business approach. Nintendo sells games along the time-honored razor-razor blade model, namely pushing out the console and then enticing users to buy more games.

“More casual players aren’t as likely to be attracted by hardware features, so it’s all about delivering a fun, easy-to-use and addicting game experience,” says Anita Frazier, toy and video game analyst at NPD Group.

Another factor in enticing those casual users is keeping its console cheap. “The key thing about Nintendo is they want their things to be at price points that anyone can respond to,” says Hiroshi Kamide, director of research at KBC Securities Japan. Nintendo’s strategy is to buy inexpensive components instead of making them in-house, allowing the Wii to sell for $260 while the PS3 costs $300.

But here’s the winning point: Unlike its competitors, Nintendo has figured out how to make money from its console sales. Sony loses money on each Playstation sold. Microsoft might just break even. But every Wii brings in $6 of operating profit for Nintendo, says David Gibson, an analyst at Macquarie Securities.

Nintendo also sells 60% of Wii games itself, compared with 30% for Microsoft and 15% for Sony. Wii users are expected to buy the most games this year, 220 million, compared with 120 million PS3 games and 125 million for the Xbox 360.

The top three Wii games–”Wii Play,” “Super Smash Brothers Brawl” and “Super Mario Galaxy”–are all Nintendo’s own titles, but the top three for PS3–”Grand Theft Auto IV,” “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” and “Assassin’s Creed”–are all from outside developers, not from Sony.

By making most of its games itself, Nintendo risks sacrificing the chance to earn licensing fees from as many third-party developers as its competitors. It also prices games cheaper–at $50 versus $60 for the other two consoles. But so far the gambit has paid off: Wii locks in fans because many of its most popular games appear exclusively on the Wii. And Nintendo has a higher gross margin on game software than the others at 65%, compared with between 50% and 60%.

Those only-available-here games sell better than games that have been ported to other consoles because the Wii’s unique features–the motion-sensor remote, for instance–make it hard to translate into other systems. PS3 and Xbox 360 games can be ported between those two systems fairly easily, but developers that want to make a game for all three consoles need a dedicated Wii team to write the Nintendo version.

Ubisoft’s new “Shaun White Snowboarding” game, which shipped in late November, uses the Wii Fit motion board to simulate full-motion snowboarding; its Xbox and PS versions push online virtual snowboarding with friends.