So far the only uses for the Cell Chip technology has been for research, and the PS3. However, at CES 08. Toshiba demoed the laptop on a modified Qosmio G45 laptop with a standard Intel Core 2 Duo, in addition to the cell chip with four 1.5GHz synergistic processing elements (SPE). They had four demos running, all were multi-tasking beasts. One was scanning movie files and using face recognition to detect all the faces within the movie file. It then created a thumbnails of each of them. You could then click on the faces, and watch all the clips that included that face.

We’re barely getting the 45nm Quad Core  generation into full swing and they’re already using the cellchip in consumer computers.

As of now, the police haven’t disclosed the console used, but an 18 year old boy has been hauled off to jail for attempting, and nearly succeeding,  to strangle his father over a dispute with managing play time. According to the police report the teenager was warned multiple times by his Dad to turn the game off. Eventually the man walked into his sons room and after being ignored, pulled the plug on the console ending his game and erasing his progress. The teen became so angry that he lept off his couch and managed to nearly kill his Dad over the video game.

Luckily, the wife heard the dispute and managed to help her husband out of the struggle and saved his life. Soon after EMT’s arrived and rushed the father off to the hospital. The police located and cuffed the teen a few blocks away from home and hauled his hiney off to jail. He’ll be tried in front of a judge for attempted homicide and possibly faces prison time.

Sony recently made the decision to no longer sell the 20GB and 60GB model Playstation 3’s in Japan due to unsuccessful sales. Instead, they will be focusing on the 40GB model and try to boost sales with new marketing strategies.

Sony also said that the 40GB will not ultimately be the only model available, but instead they’re releasing newer models that will better suit the end user demands and needs in the console. Currently, the 40GB model (launched in November) sells for  ~$364 USD (39,980 Yen), which is less than the 20GB model.

The 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was pretty fun this year, although most of the hype was around different displays from short throw projectors to the 150-Inch Plasma T.V., and even Alienware’s huge Curved Monitor. There was a lot of other stuff that we enjoyed quite a bit that sometimes got buried by the hype, so here’s our list of the top 5 favorite things and their pictures from C.E.S. 2008.

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We all knew when the console/format wars began that only one format would make it to the top. Paramount is poised to jump on the wagon and ditch HD-DVD, closely following Warner Brothers’ decision to do the same. All this crazy love and war brought about single-console and format topics, such as the “Adam vs. Adam” spot on G4 that basically rants to the public about having all developers and console makers to band together and create one ultimate console, eliminating the need for exclusive games and exclusive format rights. Of course, that leaves us vulnerable to a costly monopolistic situation, not so good.

More and more companies are backing Blu-ray which will ultimately end in a bias on the two head to head console, the Xbox 360 and the Sony PS3. Examining the moment now, with the X360’s red ring problem, and the death of HD-DVD, the PS3 seems to be looking more and more attractive to a lot of consumers.

Microsoft’s Xbox Live’s downtime is creating quite a ruckus amongst the gamer community. Microsoft reported that the downtime was the mark of the biggest influx of users they’ve ever recorded. It was a record breaking day. So what? We’re still paying $xx per month to use a service that’s not even available? And besides, when I play games online, the multi-player is hosted right here, locally. So what am I paying for? Microsoft to manage my friends list. Woo… And when it goes down, Microsoft wants to give it’s users a crappy Arcade Game that they would normally probably never even sell in the first place. Thanks MS.

It’s no surprise to me that all of these class action lawsuits are springing up everywhere against Microsoft’s rip-off service. Well I hope everyone enjoys their free arcade game, I’ll be investing in a PS3 for my gaming needs.

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Hans Olsen, 12 year old Norwegian boy, saved his sister during a Moose attack (very common these days…) with skills learned from playing the ever so popular World of Warcraft. When him and his sister wandered into the forbidden territory of one of these creatures, they suddenly were on the defensive side of an attack from the Moose. Hans knew exactly what to do! Use Taunt, a skill he learned in the game where he made himself the target by shouting at the animal, allowing his sister to run free to the safety of home.

Hans on the other hand had to think quick. The noble 12 year old thought of another skill his Hunter learned at level 30: Feign Death. As Hans laid there, pretending to be dead, the Moose simply lost interest and wondered along without a care in the world. Once Hans was safely alone, he was able to scamper off to home to tell his tale. Well done Hans.

We all know the hardcore gamer: sit around and just play all day, only getting up when nature calls and the snack bowl is empty. Well, deep down inside we all feel that guilt have leading the sedentary life, right? Well, guilt no more because that’s all about to change with these two products from Gamercize. Burn calories while playing your video games on either the PS2 or Xbox. The fun part is, if you stop exercising, the game will quit working! The ultimate motivation.

You can get either the power stepper version, or the bike version. On both you can burn more than 600 calories in just an hour. It works by detecting how hard your pushing yourself to exercise, and if you start to slack off, it cuts the connection of your controller, interrupting your game play. The PS2 versions are readily available, $79.99 for the power stepper and $99.99 for the bike version. In order to get the Xbox version you have to contact the sellers via e-mail. Found via TG. Prices are at “closeout” so get yours while supplies last, would make a perfect Christmas gift!

An outraged reader from Consumerist reported to the gaming community the other day that his PS3, though was eligable for coverage, was denied by Sony for repairs. Why? Because is was simply “too dusty.”

As the story goes, the consumer called Sony and was told for hours, rep after rep, that because his product was a gift and didn’t have the receipt that he was not eligable for service. After many-a-reps later, one finally said that it was company policy to not require a receipt and that the serial number was all that he needed. He received a shipping box from Sony, and sent his beloved console in.

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Sony Japan has announced yet another release of it’s seven year old console, the PS2, in Japan. The new model will weigh only a mere 1.2 pounds and comes with the power adapter built right into the system. Sony says it will allow gamers to be more portable with the machine. It will go on sale in Japan on November 22 for about $140 (16,000 yen), unchanged from the price of the previous model. Sony says overseas shipment will occur, but the time frame for this even is yet to be decided.

The PS2 is far from dead, and will be for as long as the PS3 stays at such a high price for general gamers (nearly 3 times the price of the PS2). Worldwide, Sony has shipped a total of over 120 Million units thus far, and plans to sell another 12 million by March, while in the same time period plans on selling around 11 million PS3 units.