Filed under: PlayStation Store, News

The Japanese PSN store has been graced with two new demos. GI Jockey 4 2007 and Heavenly Sword have both had playable nuggets placed online for download. For those of you still interested in Heavenly Sword but not ready to actually pay money for it, this new demo may be for you. Featuring Kai, instead of Nariko, the second demo allows you to play through one of her arrow shooting missions - also allowing you a taste of using aftertouch to guide her arrows.

As for GI Jockey, we’re fairly certain that if you’re not into horse racing then this demo won’t change your mind. Keep your eye out for the Gran Turismo Prologue demo - due to drop on the Japanese PSN Store later today.

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Filed under: Videos and Screenshots, e-Distribution Games

Rat Race, the newly revealed episodic game exclusive for the PSN, certainly has some potential. The trailer above, however, doesn’t exactly fill us with confidence. Whilst watching it we had vague flashbacks to The Sims 2. Despite that, we’re excited about episodic gaming coming to the PSN. That’s real episodic gaming, by the way. Not Valve-style episodic.

As far as we know, no gameplay details for Rat Race have really been divulged. Until we learn more we’re going to reserve judgment. How about you?

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Filed under: Peripherals

Nope, nobody modded a Sixaxis and a lava lamp so you can control the direction of the weird globby stuff inside the lamp. We do have information about the next best thing: a PS3 controller that glows, akin to a lava lamp, minus the unparalleled heat.

The Lava Glow PS3 Wireless controller is filled with glowing liquid, but maintains all functionality of a regular PS3 controller, sporting the latest 2.4 GHz technology. They come in blue and red, so you can make sure you’ve got a color for whatever team you end up on in Warhawk or whatever. Kinda cute. Check it out, see what you think.

[Thanks, Microdot!]

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Filed under: News

What’s strange about this image? If you’re Canadian, you may have noticed that you’re paying the same as your American brethren. Sony is the first of the major three console makers to release a system in the territory that matches the American price. Traditionally, the US dollar has been much stronger than the Canadian. Thus, console manufacturers usually inflated the cost of Canadian consoles accordingly.

However, the Canadian dollar is now stronger than the US dollar. Shouldn’t the inflation stop? Unfortunately, other console manufacturers haven’t responded quite yet. The Nintendo Wii retails for $289 in Canada, $30 more than in the US. The Xbox 360 Elite retails for $499, $50 more than in the US.

Thanks to Sony for recognizing the changing global economy. They slashed the Canadian PS3 by $160 to account for the currency conversion. Now, Canadians — go buy yourself a PS3.

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Filed under: Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Starbucks (SBUX), Initial public offerings

Over the years, Ernst & Young has developed some useful resources on the Initial Public Offering (IPO) process.

And this week the firm has released some more material: a study that tries to isolate the success factors of IPOs. Can we find the next Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), or Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX)?

However, the study is somewhat limited (covering the offerings from the start of 2006 to the mid-point of 2007, which includes 110 companies). Also, the criteria is kind of vague.

Despite all this, let’s take a look.

First of all, companies need to be seasoned. For example, the median age of a successful offering is about 8 or 9 years.

Other keys include: having global operations; strong institutional support (hopefully more than 80 of such investors); and a well-educated and highly compensated CEO.

What’s more, it also helps if a company does an M&A deal soon after the offering. After all, with a hefty valuation, why not buy companies at a cheap price?

But, I still think there’s another factor: a company must have a compelling value proposition. Yet, this is something you really cannot capture in a statistical study

Oh, and it helps if the equities markets are in the bull phase, which is the case now. So, if you want to check out some of the recent IPO activity, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

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Filed under: Computers

Even the police are getting pretty good at Photoshop. Which is becoming something of a problem.

The Metropolitan Police in the United Kingdom have been accused of manipulating a photo of Jean Charles de Menezes — who was shot dead after being falsely identified as one of the men who targeted London’s underground tube train — so it could be more easily likened to one of the actual plotters.

Prosecutors are saying the image had been “stretched and sized” to form a composite image of de Menezes (who is Brazilian) and and one of the bombers, Hussain Osman. The Metropolitan Police denies any wrongdoing, saying the composite picture was created to illustrate the difficulties officers would have had in differentiating between the two men.

The 27 year-old de Menezes was shot seven times in the head on a train at London’s Stockwell Tube station, in July of 2005.

From the BBC

Related Links:

• Worst Airbrushed Celebs of 2007
• ATA Tries to Arrest Passenger for Using iPhone in Airplane Mode

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The Chrono_Shredder is a device that makes past time tangible. It is a hybrid between calendar, clock and waste producing automaton. It has no on/off-button, thus it is unstoppable, just like time. It features the 365 days of the year represented on a paper-roll. The paper-roll is led through a hacked paper-shredder, which is programmed to use exactly 24 hours to shred one “day”.

Designed by Susanna Hertrich the Chrono Shredder invents a near-future scenario, in which people have embraced human hibernation as common practice and efficient method to delay their natural ageing. The chrono_shredder is one product from a fictional series of products, which are developed under the umbrella of “memento vivere” (remember that you also have to live your life). Those products target at people with hibernation obsession.

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Filed under: Newspapers, On the Blogs

If you are one of those foodies who entertains fantasies of going on a vacation of no holds barred eating, then you must check out this article, detailing the trip that Adam Goldman took with two buddies through Spain. They ate for two weeks straight, spending more than $17,000 (for someone whose current car cost but $2,000 that amount seems heart-stopping) on food, wine and booze and gaining nearly 25 between them.

They centered the trip around three Spanish Michelin-starred restaurants, Arzak, Mugaritz and Can Fabes, that are known for their outstanding eats and unique approaches to food. The descriptions of what they ate are fairly quick, but at the end of the article I still felt a little dizzy with all they managed to squeeze in. Sounds like a food-trip of a lifetime.

Via Serious Eats

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Filed under: News

The PS3 80GB Motorstorm Pack was ranked 105 on the amazon sales charts. Now, it’s at number 18. This means sales or the 80GB model have jumped 483%. A pretty impressive jump — and we expect sales to grow. Sony’s $100 price drop is making the system that much more attractive to consumers. How will they respond to the $399 40GB system when it releases in a few weeks?

Note: amazon.com sales charts are updated hourly.

[Thanks, Random1448!]

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