As most of you know, someone at the CheapAssGamer forums posted what is possibly the best deal that you can find if you're a Madden fan. When you buy Madden: 2008 at Toys R Us, and get a second full price game for 50% off.

Well, looking at the eligible games on the Toy's R Us website, you'll notice a certain upcoming game that's on the list...



Yep, if you buy Madden at Toys R US, you can pre-purchase Bioshock for 30 bucks!

Bioshock for 30 bucks... not a bad deal if you're into Madden.

Last month, I decided that I had way too much money on my hands, and decided to rectify that by purchasing a PlayStation 3! Well, three weeks later, I still can't bring myself to actually shell out 60 dollars for any PS3 game that's currently available. I was thinking about buying Motorstorm, but that game isn't worth 60 bucks IMO. I almost bought Ninja Gaiden -- until I remembered that I already played the game three years ago on the original Xbox.

So, with a PlayStation 3 sitting on my shelf with no games to play, I decided that I needed to make my shiny new console useful. So what did I decide to do? I turned my PlayStation 3 into a full-fledged computer!



Yep, that screenshot above you shows Linux (Ubuntu) running on my PlayStation 3. So, how did I turn my 600 dollar game console into a computer? Well here's a quick run-down on how you can get some use out of your 600 dollar game system!

First of all, you need to reformat your PS3 Hard Drive, so unless you have a USB Hard Drive to back-up your data, or you just bought a new PS3, then you'll probably want to skip this mini-tutorial.

When reformatting your Hard Drive, you'll be given the option to use 10 GB for the "Other OS" and use the other 50 GB for the PS3 console, or vice-versa. Unfortunately, you can't select any other option, and unless you want to limit you PS3 game console to 10 GB of data, your Linux partition will only have 10 GB of space. I guess you can theoretically buy another Hard Drive and switch them out whenever you want to either use your PS3 or Linux, but that's not really a practical option.

Once you decide to properly reformat your PS3's Hard Drive, you'll need to download a PS3 compatible version of Linux -- in my case, I downloaded the Ubuntu version -- and burn the ISO to a CD-Rom disk. Once finished, pop the disk into the PS3, and chose "Install Other OS." Once it's done installing, plug in a USB Keyboard and Mouse then select " Settings > System Settings > Default System, and select Other OS." Select yes and reboot the system.

Once it's rebooted, press enter at the prompt screen to boot off the Live CD. After a few minutes, you'll be at the Ubuntu desktop screen (since it's running off of the Live CD, the desktop will be excruciatingly slow). From the Live CD, click on the Install Icon and follow the on-screen instructions.

Note: There are a couple of quirks that you should know about: First of all, if you're installing Ubuntu from the regular PS3 install CD, then you'll need to do this before clicking on the install icon...

1) Open System > Administration > Services and uncheck (disable) everything but: CPU frequency manager, GDM, and System communication bus.

2) System > Administration > System Monitor, selected the "Processes" tab, and killed any process that is would let me with: right click > kill process.

Also, you'll notice that the resolution is a bit "off". Basically, you'll need to hold down the Alt key and scroll the screen in order to see all your options to installing the OS. Once you manage to install the OS and reboot, click Applications > Accessories > Terminal and type: sudo gedit /etc/kboot.conf , you will then be prompted for your password so enter it and hit enter. Once the file loads look for an entry like this "linux='/dev/hda1 ...etc. at the end of that line before the " ' " add "video=ps3fb:mode:#" where "#" is the correct number from the table at this site.

So, how well does Linux run on the PS3? Well... surprisingly well, considering that the OS only detects half of the system RAM (256 meg). Right now, I haven't had too much time to delve deep into the OS, but I did get a chance to install IRC chat, some codecs for video playback, and a NES emulator (lol!)




Right now, most of the programs run pretty well, with the exception of video playback, which is a little choppy. One thing that pisses me off is the fact that the RSX -- the PS3's GPU -- is inaccessible, thus rendering any 3D acceleration useless. While this doesn't affect any run of the mill programs like an Internet browser, the lack of access to the RSX does prevent you from playing 3D games and running other 3D apps like Beryl. Now obviously, the reason why Sony won't allow access to the GPU has to do with Blu-Ray copyright protection and the prevention of playing pirated games, but still, it would be nice to have access to the RSX.

As for the Cell processor, it seems to detect three out of the seven available SPE's, judging by the screenshots, but I'm not totally sure (keep in mind that Ubuntu wasn't designed for the PS3 in mind). One thing I would like to see is how well the Cell CPU is at encoding video in Linux -- but that will probably have to wait until someone makes a dedicated app that takes advantage of the Cell processor.




I'm going to play around with this a little more over the weekend to see what other interesting bits I can figure out about running Linux on the PS3. Honestly though, with less than 10 gigs of Hard Drive space to play around with, not to mention having less than 200 megs of ram and lack of access to the GPU; running Linux on the PS3 is more of an odd curiosity than a real useful application. Sure, this will make a great "Back-Up OS" if my regular PC was to blow up, but for now, it's not worth going thru the hassle unless you like tinkering with your new gadgets.

When NEC and Sega introduced their CD-Rom technologies in the early 90's, there was a promise that the video game industry would be lead into the new age of 'Multimedia'. Gamers would be able to interact using video footage (as opposed to the traditional 2D cartoon sprites), which would be voiced by professional actors.

Of course, what we really got were: 1) The same 2D games that we were already playing on cheaper consoles, with generic red-book music throw in; 2) Low budget 'interactive' FMV games that were about as interactive (and fun) as changing the channel on your remote. Not the type of 'Next-Generation' experience that gamers were expecting when they paid 300-400 dollars to purchase a CD-Rom add-on for their respective systems.

One thing that all CD-Rom games from the early 90's had in common though, were the fact that the 'actors' that ere involved in these games, sounded more like they were professional waiters/waitresses who were training in their eventual career into Porn than real actors who had a viable shot into anything mainstream.

Which leads into this week's article - The Dark Side to Classic Gaming: Voice Acting Gone Horribly Wrong!.


Spider-man



Many people who have played the past three-or-so Spiderman games have complained about Toby Maguire's acting. Sounding more like he was delivering the lines by phone, Toby Maguire seemed like he was playing the part of the Borg in a Star Trek movie.

While the acting in those games were pretty bad, the actors in the Spiderman game for the Sega CD sounded like a bunch of rejected 70's porn stars who were one missing paycheck away from living in a box on Sunset Ave. Either that, or Sega -- in a move to cut development costs -- had Bob the Janitor deliver the lines off all the characters in the game.


Vay



When you think of Working Designs, you usually think of Lunar and Popful Mail. But right after releasing the original Lunar for the Sega CD, the released another Japanese RPG called Vay. Though unlike Lunar, Vay had your run of the mill plot-line -- save the princess, rescue the kingdom, blah, blah, blah -- and was generally an all-around forgettable game.

One thing that wasn't forgettable was the laughable voice acting, which was surprising considering that Working Designs was a company known for pretty decent voice acting -- even back in the 90's. While not as bad most of the other games in this list, the minute you hear Prince Vandor scream "Ellllllleeeeeaaaannnnn!!!!!!!", you have no other recourse than to go, "ugh!"


Sewer Shark



Sewer Shark was -- along with Night Trap -- originally a show-case for the Sega CD's launch in 1992. Because after all, what else do you need to convince people to buy a 300 dollar add-on than a game where you shoot rats in a grainy sewer.

While not being in awe of the fact that game consoles can now play video at a resolution suiting a mole, you'll also be amazed by the wonder casting of such characters as Ghost: The greatest asshole to ever travel the sewers; Falco: An actress with the talent to sound like a 40 year old man, and a flying garbage can who's name I can't be bothered to remember.


Keio Flying Squadron



What do you get when you combine the talents of an underage Playboy Bunny riding a dragon, a scriptwriter who was obviously on drugs, and some of the worst actors to ever be recorded onto a silver disk? You have Keio Flying Squadron. While the game itself is pretty unremarkable(a 2D shooter) it does have the distinction of having what is quite possible, gaming's most fucked up storyline this side of Blaster Master.

I could make a valiant attempt to explain the complexities of this games plot; but that would require me to ingest vast amounts of cocaine in order for me to comprehend this games fucked-up storyline. Unfortunately, while I won't subject my body to horrors of crack addiction in order to understand the storyline of a 15 year old game, I'll gladly share with you a video clip of the game so we can all laugh together at the games atrocious acting.


Last Alert



Last Alert was an obscure Turbo-Grafx CD-Rom game that who's only real contribution, is to show the Turbo's incredible ability to suck-ass. Believe it or not, the Turbo-Grafx's Japanese counterpart, the PC-Engine, was home to some of the greatest games to ever grace a console.

Unfortunately, instead of bringing great games like Dracula X, Snatcher, and many of the RPG's that called the system home. Instead we were treated to such wonderful gems like 'Yo-Bro', and 'Vegas Tactical...Whatever that shitty game was called'.

The games they did eventually bring over, like Last Alert, were given the old "Hey, let's ask Bob the janitor if he can act" treatment. It's sad really; if only NEC had put in the extra effort in bringing some of the good CD-Rom games from Japan, maybe the Turbo-Grafx would have been remembered for much more than Bonk, and unintentionally funny voice acting.

So, what do you think? You guys want to see more videos? If you do, then give me a shout-out.

Yep, I bought a Playstation 3. I thought I'd buy one before the 60 gig models were gone -- and before they take out the hardware backwards compatibility chip -- so I guessed now was the time to buy one.

Since the PS3 cost me 550 bucks, I didn't have any money left over for any games (I'll get Ninja Gaiden next week), but I did buy a cheap Blu-Ray movie -- The 5th Element.

Right now, I'm installing updates and downloading demos, but I'll give you my impressions of the system later tomorrow.

Along with being a woefully inaccurate state tracking site; the Nextgenwars site has also been designated by Google as a Malware site. Needless to say, I wouldn't go there if I were you.

Google Warning about nextgenwars

Thanks to ConsFEARacy for the original info. I tried embedding the YouTube video in the comments, but I failed the Internets.