PS3 preorder gone in sixty seconds

PlayStation 3 pre-order reservations quietly went on sale at Canadian EB Games outlets at the beginning of this week, and the small launch day allotment promised to each store sold out literally in minutes.

If you absolutely must have a PS3 in your mitts when the console lands in North America on Nov. 17, your options are limited. You can try an online retailer offering pre-orders (buyer beware), line up outside a store like Best Buy or Wal-Mart (neither traditionally accepts pre-orders), or go with one of the legion of salivating scalpers that will be infesting eBay.

Or you can come over and play mine. Rates start at $10/hour.

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Speaking of the PS3, one of the must-have launch titles for the ebony monster will surely be Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the epic role-playing game that's sold like gangbusters on the Xbox 360 and PC platforms.

Fans of the series probably know that the PS3 version will include new quests revolving around a faction known of Knights of the Nine, but Xbox 360 and PC owners needn't fret -- the new quests will be available for download for their chosen machines on Nov. 21, through Xbox Live Marketplace and OblivionDownoads.com.

No word yet on what the download will cost, but expect it to be a few bucks. A separate retail product for PC gamers will also be in stores on the 21st, wrapping the Knights of the Nine quests together with all the previous downloadable content offered so far. Yes, including the horse armour. Neiiiigh!

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The cacophonous orgy of sight, sound and sweat that was the Electronic Entertainment Expo now has a new name, date and (hopefully sweat-free) location.

The newly renamed E3 Media and Business Summit will be held July 11 to 13 at a conference facility in sunny Santa Monica, Calif., though there are sure to be other demonstration venues scattered around Los Angeles. The big game console makers and publishers are still expected to be there, holding press conferences and showing off their wares.

The key difference is that E3 07 will be an invite-only affair, far more intimate and sedate that the carnival of sensory overload that has been the hallmark of E3s gone by. The bad old days won't be missed.

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X06 Canada went off this week right here in T-dot, and we were able to go hands on with upcoming Xbox 360 titles like Rainbow Six Vegas, Dead Or Alive Xtreme 2 and Crackdown. The Gears Of War multiplayer stations were a big draw (yours truly owned most comers, thanks to several hours of previous practice at Epic Games HQ in North Carolina), and Eidos's gritty shooter Kane & Lynch made its Canadian debut at the event, with demo levels reminiscent of the lobby gun battle in The Matrix and the nightclub shootout in Collateral.

It'll be interesting to see how the fall slate of Xbox 360 offerings fares in the face of what the PS3 and Nintendo's Wii will bring to the holidays, though. It's going to be a November like no other. Start saving your pennies now.


http://winnipegsun.com/SundayFocus/2006/10/22/2095636-sun.html