Data Circle

Despite announcing a cut in the price of the PlayStation 3 in the US, Sony has decided not to deliver a similar price cut in Europe. Instead gamers are being offered a ‘starter pack’, which will include two games and two controllers. So European consumers, who are already been charged a price which does not reflect the exchange rate between the dollar and the pound, will continue to be ripped off by console makers.

At the time of writing, a poll on the BBC News website indicates that, after 6078 votes had been cast, 84% of respondents would prefer to have a cheaper PS3 rather than ‘free’ games and controllers. Whether Sony will listen to gamers and change their policy has yet to be seen, but personally I think they need to do something if they want the PlayStation to remain the king of consoles and not be kicked off its pedestal by the Wii or the XBox.

Further reading

• Sony cuts Playstation price in US
• No price cut for Euro PS3 console

Edge magazine has released its list of the top 100 video games of all time today, covering more than ten years of gaming. Top of the list is ‘Legend of Zelda: Ocarina’, closely followed by Resident Evil 4 and Super Mario 64.

I’m a bit disappointed with the fact that only one PC game, Half Life 2, made it into the top 10. However, I suspect that ‘video game’ does not mean the same as ‘computer game’ in this context, even though they are often used interchangeably. This seems to be more about games which you would expect to see on the console, rather than real time strategy or turn-based games such as Civilization II (which should definitely be near the top, if only because of the amount of my life which has been taken up by that most addictive of games). In fact I have never played any of the games on the top 10 list, with the exception of Tetris and earlier versions of Resident Evil and Half Life.

The special edition of Edge magazine covering the top 100 list is available in newsagents today, priced £10. I feel that’s a little bit steep, but perhaps it will be of interest to serious gaming fans and possibly even become a collectors item in years to come.

Further information

• Zelda game named ‘greatest ever’
• The 100 Best Videogames

Man buys PS3, smashes it with sledgehammer

I honestly can’t believe that someone would do this as a publicity stunt, although I suppose forking out a few hundred dollars for a few days of world wide infamy on the Internet is probably worth it in some ways. I can imagine a lot of people who had queued up for several hours being rather annoyed though watching someone in front of them smashing up what was otherwise a perfectly good games console.

You can watch the full video on YouTube.