PlayStation3 outsells Wii in Japan

Sony’s PlayStation 3 has outsold Nintendo’s Wii console in Japan for the first time in 16 months.

Last month, Sony shifted 146,948 units of the PS3 compared to 99,335 Wiis, reported publishing firm Enterbrain.

While some suggest it could signal the end of Nintendo’s dominance, others think it is unlikely that the PS3 will threaten the Wii’s popularity globally.

Meanwhile, Nintendo’s revamped DSi console sold 92,000 units in the UK during its first weekend of sales.

It makes it the fourth biggest ever console launch.

Wii success

Experts see the dominance of the PS3 during March as a temporary blip rather than a sign of Nintendo’s decline.

Microsoft however only shifted 43,172 units of its Xbox 360 during the same period.

Games such as Resident Evil 5 and the latest version of action adventure Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 are credited with driving demand for the PS3 in Japan.

But Wii sales remain extremely buoyant.

During March global sales of Nintendo’s Wii console passed 50 million, making the Wii the fastest-selling games console in history, surpassing the PlayStation 2.

“PS3 hardware sales picked up due to brisk-selling software. But I don’t see any drastic change in the industry landscape,” Okasan Securities analyst Masashi Morita told the AFP news agency.

Sony Ericsson releases S312, W205 Walkman phone

Don’t worry: these won’t come out here. The S312 is a 2-megapixel camera phone with dedicated “camera” button for taking impromtu snaps of your friends and relations. It should be available in Q3 2009.

The W205 (shown here) has a 1.3-megapixel camera and FM tuner and supports up to an amazing 2 gigabytes of Memory Stick Micro storage. It should be available in Q3 as well.

How far the mighty have fallen.

Sony’s TG5V camcorder is small, light, and expensive as hell

If you’re looking for a portable video solution, but don’t want to go the cheapie route (Zx1 or Flip MinoHD), these tiny camcorders are a good bet. That is, if you’re prepared to drop a Cleveland on it. “Around $1000″ is the asking price for this sexy little piece of kit, and to be honest I’m not sure it can possibly merit that. But let’s see what it has to offer.

It’s got a nice Zeiss 10x zoom, although when you’d need that much zoom in a video is beyond me — wobble and aperture would limit its usefulness. And you sure can’t fault its form factor. The pistol-grip style has worked will in the past, and its extremely slim and foldy design (with 2.7″ screen) makes it excellent for travel as well. The 1920×1080 video will be as good as it can be given the small sensor and AVCHD compression, which is certainly good enough for any TV you’ve got.

Interestingly, it’s got a built-in GPS unit, so it’ll geotag your stuff. Might be cheaper to write where you are on a napkin, but hey it’s your money. It records to Memory Stick Pro Duo, which of course I’m sure you’ve got lying around the house in various capacities. Oh wait, I’m thinking of every other format. That’s right, I went there.

It’ll be available in May, so better start saving up.

Sony Ericsson launches new Clamshell T707

Sony Ericsson has announced its latest mobile phone with tennis star Maria Sharapova.

“The T707 is my ultimate new accessory,” said Maria. “I am always on the go and I need a phone that is easy to use, and of course chic as well! I never miss a call with the eye-catching light effects and personalised pulsation settings and I love the fact that I can just wave my hand to mute a call using the gesture control. I can also use my practical and stylish Bluetooth Headset HBH-PV715 to take my calls, check my emails and blog to my website from the phone. It’s great to have a phone that looks good but also lets me keep up-to-date with everything I need.”

The T707 features a 3.2 megapixel camera, a 2.2-inch screen, FM radio and Bluetooth audio streaming.

The T707 lights up when a call is received and users can personalise the light settings. Users can also end a call with a wave of their hand over the screen.

Other features include:

1. Media player

2. TrackID

3. Access NetFront Web browser

4. Web shortcut search key

5. Web feeds

6. Geo tagging of photos

7. Google Maps

8. Phone memory: Up to 100MB

9. Memory card support: Memory Stick Micro

10. Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 10 hrs

11. Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 400 hrs

12. Video call time: Up to 2 hrs

The T707 will be available in select markets from Q2 in Mysterious Black, Spring Rose and Lucid Blue.

Sony calls it quits, basically burying the technology as a whole

It seems that FED (field emission display) technology is not going to be the successor of LCD and plasma. Toshiba gave up on FED and SED, respectively, as early as January 2007. The company stopped a joint venture with Canon, which also seems to have more or less stopped development in that area (at least there were no FED or SED-related news from Canon in the last couple of months).

Now FED gets the Sony axe, too.

Sony said last summer it wanted to buy a plasma TV factory from Pioneer in Japan. The factory was supposed to be rebuilt into a FED display factory, but Sony has abandoned the plan now. In addition, the company will close FED Inc., a spin-off entity entirely focused on FED production. FED Inc. was founded late 2006 for $26 million.

Sony began experimenting with FED technology as early as 1998 and showcased a 13-inch prototype TV at SID 2001. But even though Sony said it plans to boost FED production last July, FED was never commercialized. And it’s doubtful that any other company will dare to mass-produce large-size FED displays now.

Sony launches new PS3 Reference Tool and SDK

Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) today announced a new version of its debugging Reference Tool for the PlayStation 3 and a new SDK for developers.

The DECR-1400A looks like a normal PlayStation 3 but allows access deep inside the console’s hardware and firmware, and can play early code rather just finished discs.

Sony says that the DECR-1400A allows advanced game programming and more efficient computer graphics rendering than the previous Reference Tool – and at a lower cost of ‘just’ Euros 1700 (£1600).

Speeding up game development

Sony hopes that the lower price will appeal to a broader range of developers and publishers, helping to provide a more streamlined game development environment and accelerating game development for PS3.

SCE is also upgrading its PhyreEngine graphics rendering engine first introduced last year. The new version includes a new foliage rendering system that provides tools and technology to render ultra-realistic trees and plants to be easily integrated into games

Apparently, this will “help game developers to express their creativity more freely on the PS3 system.” Or at the very least design games with kick-ass beeches and photo-realistic oaks.