If you have not heard already, be sure to not operate your ‘fat’ Playstation 3 until advised that it is ok by Sony.

Last night a new bug manifested itself  that renders the old style PS3’s for the most part inoperable.

Sony expects to have a fix soon, and advises that it is best to avoid using the older PS3’s until the fix is available.

The newer slim Playstation 3 units are not affected.

Good news for fans of high quality 3D presentations – the Blu-ray Disc Association has announced that they have finalized the specification for titles in 3D on the Blu-ray format.

The specification requires 3D video to employ the Multiview Video Coding (MVC) codec, which is essentially an extension of the H.264/AVC codec.

MPEG4-MVC compresses both left and right eye images with roughly a 50% overhead compared to equivalent 2D content.

The best part is that it can provide full 1080p resolution backward compatibility with current Blu-ray Disc players.

It is also expected that the Playstation 3 console will be capable of decoding the new format in 3D, enabling may to have access to 3D without the need for a new player.

It will certainly be interesting to see how many current Blu-ray titles see a fresh release in 3D…!

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced that the Blu-ray release for District 9 due December 29th will additionally feature a playable demo for the eagerly anticipated God of War III game for the Playstation 3.

The release will be the first movie/game demo hybrid Blu-ray in the US.

After successfully completion of the game demo, the consumer will be able to unlock an exclusive making-of featurette about the game.

“Blu-ray functionality has long been a differentiator that separates the PS3 from other home entertainment systems,” said Peter Dille, Senior Vice President, Marketing and PlayStation Network, SCEA. “Through this collaboration with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment we’re able to create a unique experience only available on the PS3 system that blends two of the most popular entertainment options available, watching District 9 and playing God of War III off the same disc.”

Have a Playstation 3 and a PSP? Sony has a new feature coming that you might like.

Starting with the release of Godzilla on Blu-ray Disc, Sony will include the PSP version of the movie right there on the Blu-ray.

Folks with a PS3 and PSP will be able to transfer the digital copy without the need for a computer or DVD-ROM disc.

This makes a lot of sense to me, and while Sony is saying it will be available for select releases, I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes a fairly standard option as it would have to be the most cost effective way to have a digital copy available.

That said I am looking forward to the time when PC Blu-ray drives are common enough that iTunes Digital Copy can also be included on the Blu-ray and as such could be available on each and any disc that is released.

Today’s Amazon Gold box special is the  80GB Playstation 3 for $50 off the regular price.

You don’t see these discounted very often, so not a bad day for in impulse buy!

Additionally, until 10am you can get the twin pack of Alien vs. Predator and AVPR: Aliens vs Predator – Requiem for only $25.45.

No doubt there will be further interesting bargains throughout the day.

I was somewhat surprised to read today that CBS is already planning special Blu-ray BD Live features for the Star Trek: The Original Series – Season 1 release.

Owners of the set who have a BD Live enabled player (or Playstation 3) will have access to videos of the highlights at FEDCON, Europe’s largest Star Trek convention.

CBS Home Entertainment will have teams at FEDCON shooting behind-the-scenes footage, talent interviews, etc. which will then be made available daily via BD Live portal.

CBS has also set up a website dedicated to BD Live where users can post pictures and comments.

I see this as excellent news – this is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping to see out of BD Live back when it was announced!

This weekend I spent quite a bit of time playing around with BD Live technologies from Disney and Universal, and I must admit the experienced was mixed.

The first test was a community screening with chat – we ended up doing a Disney title since we didn’t have any Universal titles in common that allowed this.

So we decided on Wall-E and set about arranging a screening.

On the disc side, the PlayStation 3 felt that it needed to download an update for the disc for the BD Live functionality. Secondly, as noted on Format War Central, there is a huge End User License Agreement that naturally I ignored and agreed to without knowing what I agreed to.

On the website side, the first thing I noticed is that my screen name still has not been approved, so I am still known as Inmate 15946 – err I mean Guest 15946.

I first did an invite exchange with my friend so that we were both friends – however apparently this is not good enough for Disney to allow us to partake in a Movie Chat session – we had to become True Friends.

(more…)

Looks like today is a good day for people looking for a good deal on the PlayStation 3 80GB Video Game Console.

Right now the PlayStation 3 is marked down to $349.99, a saving of $50 or roughly 13%.

While this might not seem like much, we don’t often see these marked down at all so get it while it is hot!

I know a lot of Blu-ray fans are also Playstation 3 owners, so you might want to hear that the Amazon Gold Box page today is dedicated to Playstation 3.

The deal of the day is Motorstorm Pacific Rift for $39.98, and there are of course a number of Lightening Deals that change throughout the day.

Another day, another Amazon promotion. Today’s deal is pretty nice actually.

Buy the Playstation 3 80GB model and get a free Dark Knight Blu-ray and Resistance 2 Collector’s Edition.

Both of these are hot items, making this a great deal. Just add the three items to your cart and use the code PSKNIGHT when you check out.

The PS3 is a great console and remains the one of the best Blu-ray players out there, especially with respect to BD Java and BD Live applications.