Best Buy Mole: No PS3 Replacement Plan, No Employee Discount

A mole deep inside the belly of the blue beast that is Best Buy sends word that even employees must shell out full price. For shits and giggles, he/she/it entered the PS3 SKU, and the new console came up as "PS3 Hardware Pro" for US $599.99 plus tax. Our mole continues:

I noticed that there is no Replacement Plan offered on the PS3. Either the PS3 is too expensive, or they haven't gotten it yet. I say both of these because we actually had to create a new SKU for the Replacement Plan for the Premium 360 ($50 plan; never existed before). So they probably have to create a new Replacement Plan SKU for the "Core" and "Premium" PS3 packages.

And the kicker? The mole added his/her/its employee discount and turned up nothing. "Not even a penny," the mole adds.

Kotaku

Back of the Wii box sparks speculation

The good people at Wiixors snagged some decent shots of the back of the Wii box at an EB Games and, besides making us want one of our very own, it has caused a few rumors to pop up -- namely, what is the Wii Startup Disc?

The rumors seem to be split into several camps: One says it's nothing more than the Wii Sports disc; others say it's an OS disc; other still say it's the Wii Opera browser, some sort of tutorial, or something far more insidious ... like a firmware update. It's a mystery.

If it's just the Wii Sports disc, why wouldn't the box say that? There's already a huge notice on the front of the box proclaiming the Wii Sports disc to be inside, so what else could it be? What do you want it to be?

Joystiq

Xbox HD DVD drive to connect to PCs via USB

While we've got our eye on that new Xbox HD DVD drive that's about to drop next month, one thing we didn't know is that it'll be able to connect to your regular ol' PC via USB -- so that basically means you can get a sweet external HD DVD drive for $200. But here's the catch, Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom isn't including a Windows HD DVD driver so that your PC can actually play those next-gen discs that you're lusting after. But of course, given that its HD DVD player is manufactured by Toshiba, it would appear there's a good chance some enterprising fellow (or software company) will figure out how to make it work pretty quickly. That said, even if someone does get a driver working, there's still that irksome issue of HDCP to get around, assuming your disc requires it for digital output. But maybe now that these devices are getting cheaper and eventually more widespread, that theoretical HDCP hack we heard about earlier this year may become reality.

Engadget

IGN: The Ultimate Face Plate

Tecmo will release a special Xbox 360 faceplate to coincide with the 11/22 Japanese release of DOAX2. The faceplate, which features Kasumi in a two-piece, will retail for 3,000 yen and will be sold through the Tecmo Online Shop and videogame outlets throughout Japan.

IGN: The Ultimate Face Plate

XBox Live Maintenance complete? Not quite.

While some people have been able to sign in to XBox Live - and even download Lumines - others are still having a rash of issues. Fun new features include errors when browing the marketplace, console crashes, and disconnects during online play.

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Pictures of the Wii Box

Includes list of contents. it has caused a few rumors to pop up -- namely, what is the Wii Startup Disc?

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PS3's Arcade Service To Raise Bar of Quality

Hidden in a boring article about Burger King games, "Sony is going to put much bigger memory limits and footprints on its downloads. It is not going to go the retro route - in fact Sony says it wants its games to be around the same price, but to be higher quality" Sony may very well be picking up the ball Microsoft has fumbled.

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