CES: Adamo, awesome lappy from DELL

Dell got things rolling this morning with an announcement on the software distribution side. Where Dell.com recently began offering music and movies, there will now be downloadable software as well. Next up was a subsidized netbook partnership with AT&T similar to the one the company announced with Vodafone in September. The next announcement was where things began to pick up steam. Adding to Dell’s Mini line of netbooks, the company unveiled the Atom Z530-powered Inspiron Mini 10 this morning. Their “perfect 10″ netbook offers a 16:9 720p HD display, a full edge-to-edge keyboard, a built-in TV tuner, built-in mobile broadband connectivity, GPS, 802.11n, a multi-touch and gesture touchpad, and design studio customizability.

Aesthetics was an important theme in today’s Dell gathering, with the hallways lined by artists’ design studio laptop shell creations, and Kidrobot artist Tristan Eaton putting his trademark designs on Dell products in the background. Dell is drawing a sharp line between performance and design in its product line, the company’s peak performers fall under the Alienware line, and the peak examples of design will come under the new Adamo line. The product which had various accessory leaks happen several months ago has caused a great deal of speculation among fans of the company. Today, a production model of Adamo was shown off, ever so briefly, ever so distantly, and with no information regarding specs. We do know that there is both a black model and a white model.

Source: Betanews, AP

Google Is Generous To Its Employees....check this out

While the G1 is a nice handset - and a free one isn't to be sniffed at - you can't help but think that any Google employee that wanted one would already own a unit.

With the credit crunch still making things tough for companies the world over, many corporations are looking to cut back on traditional Xmas bonuses – and Google thinks it's on to a cost-reducing winner.

According to CNet, the company has ditched the traditional holiday bonus payments in favour of giving staffers a free Android-based G1 smartphone. While the handset is a developer version – i.e. unlocked and not tied to a particular network – there are rules attached to the gift.

Gizmodo has got its hands on a list of questions and answers the company is including with the free G1 announcement, and it's interesting to see the number of limitations on the 'free' handset. One such question, which asks “what happens to my holiday bonus [if] I already have an Android phone” is answered with a strict warning that the handsets are “a personal gift [...] please do not resell them as this is against Google policy.” Which – you'll notice – doesn't actually answer the question: the answer being, of course, “you don't get a holiday bonus, bucko.”

The handsets will be provided to around 85 percent of the company's staff worldwide, with employees in nations unable to receive the G1 getting a more traditional cash gift instead.

While the move is clearly an effort to reduce costs at a difficult time, communications from Google to recipients explain that it also represents an opportunity to “dogfood a product” - in other words, to get all staff using the handsets in order to increase consumer awareness and encourage suggestions and improvements from employees. Whether the suggestions will take the form of “give us the cash instead” remains to be seen.

Recession Hit Gaming World Too!!!

The current economic climate has apparently delayed the relaunch of the Gizmondo.

The relaunch of the Gizmondo handheld gaming platform has been delayed by company head Carl Freer because of adverse economic conditions apparently.

The Gizmondo originally launched back in 2005 but the company was forced to bankruptcy by poor sales and an association with organised crime through certain members of the company. After the release of Stefan Ericksson from jail in early 2008 though the company was rapidly relaunched.

The credit crunch however has impacted on that relaunch and prevented the Gizmondo from hitting a Q4 2008 launch deadline.

"Unfortunately, we've had to reschedule the launch of Gizmondo. It's due to the economic climate in the US, as well as in the rest of the world. It has affected us in our ability to fund and get funded in regards to the manufacturing of components," Carl Freer told The Nordic Link.

"We've had some very, very touch and go moments here for three months. It has affected everyone. I was at one point thinking of abandoning the whole project, because I didn't see a way out of it; a way to fund it.

"I don't have half a billion dollars or 300 million dollars. You can only try and do your best," he said.

The company apparently ran into problems with manufacturers too, prompting Freer to rethink the entire design. The Gizmondo will now apparently relaunch as an open platformed, 3D enabled smartphone - but we'll believe it when we see it.

Hackers already exploiting Sony’s PlayStation Home

Already suffering through complaints of user boredom, disappointing content and outdated presentation, the PlayStation 3’s much-delayed virtual world Home has now fallen into the cross hairs of the online hacker community. More pointedly, exploits uncovered within Home’s software coding have enabled opportunistic hackers to customise the apparently bland virtual world so that it includes interactive elements not officially included by creator Sony Computer Entertainment. Specifically, one such hack allows users to watch their own movies on display screens located within the expansive three-dimensional world. It also allows for the implementation of text and music-based changes to fit the user’s personal taste, reports The Telegraph.

Not so playfully inoffensive in its delivery, another hack sees users able to download private files from the PlayStation Home servers, which includes having access to the profiles and in-world avatar representations of other users. Beyond the potentially harmless content applications associated with the security crack, the unexpected intrusion is being seen as somewhat of a worry in that it enables those ‘in-the-know’ to upload files to the Home server and also delete any files held therein. Industry concerns are now suggesting the PlayStation Home vulnerability could be utilised by cyber criminals to execute malware attacks that capable of culminating in the virtual world being forced offline completely.

Source: Tech Herald

Microsoft releases emergency fix for IE7

Microsoft is planning to release an out-of-band patch for Internet Explorer on Wednesday to address a critical security vulnerability that is being actively exploited.The company on Saturday warned that 1 in 500 Internet Explorer users worldwide may have been exposed to malware hosted at both legitimate Web sites and porn sites that exploit an unpatched vulnerability. Microsoft confirmed finding exploit code on a search engine in Taiwan and on a Web site in Hong Kong that serves adult entertainment content.”Based on our stats, since the vulnerability has gone public, roughly 0.2% of users worldwide may have been exposed to websites containing exploits of this latest vulnerability,” Microsoft Security Response Center researchers Ziv Mador and Tareq Saade said in a blog post. “That percentage may seem low, however it still means that a significant number of users have been affected. The trend for now is going upwards: We saw an increase of over 50% in the number of reports today compared to yesterday.”

Microsoft’s estimate works out to as many as 1.4 million potential victims, assuming there are a billion active Internet users (estimates range from 800 million to 1.5 billion), about 70% of whom are using Internet Explorer. The number of potential victims would drop to 940,000 if only Internet Explorer 7 users (47% browser market share) were affected. And those numbers represent only potential victims: Not all those exposed would be necessarily become infected. Since last Tuesday, Microsoft has updated its advisory four times. It expanded the list of potentially affected versions of Internet Explorer to include not only IE 7, but also IE 5.01 SP4, IE 6, IE 6 SP1, and IE 8 Beta 2. It also added several workaround options that involve disabling certain features.

Source: InternetWeek

Opera 10 Alpha 1 now available

Opera has long been the pioneer of the browser world; many of the features that we take for granted in Firefox, IE and Safari actually began life in Opera. The browser also tends to have the best web standards support around, and the latest alpha preview of Opera 10 is no exception. Although the new Opera 10 is an alpha preview, and not recommended for anything more than testing, its noteworthy for being the first release to grab a perfect score on the ACID 3 browser stress test. The ACID tests are designed to push a browser’s limits when it comes to rendering web pages. The idea is that if browsers can render the ACID test pages, then they should be able to handle just about anything on the web.

Although the ACID 3 test has been around for some time, Opera 10 is the first release to pass it. Apple’s Safari browser, which was the first to pass the ACID 2 test, also passes ACID 3, but only using the developer nightly builds. Of course cutting edge web standards support isn’t the only thing coming in Opera 10. The first alpha also packs in revamped and much faster rendering engine, on-the-fly spell checking for text fields, support for HTML messages in Opera Mail, and an auto-update feature to force browser updates. We don’t recommend rushing out and downloading Opera 10 in its current alpha state, but the preview release is good news for Opera fans. So far Opera has not announced a time line for the final release of Opera 10.

Source: Wired

Russian hackers infiltrated into Pentagon systems

Computer hackers suspected of working from Russia successfully penetrated Pentagon computer systems in one of the most severe cyber attacks on US military networks. The electronic attack was so serious that Adm Michael Mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, briefed President George W Bush and Robert Gates, the defence secretary. Defence officials told the Los Angeles Times that the attack struck computers within the US Central Command, which oversees Iraq and Afghanistan, and involved malicious software - known as “malware” - that permeates a network. “This one was significant, this one got our attention,” said an official, speaking anonymously.

Officials did not disclose the extent of the damage and would not elaborate on the reasons for believing the assault originated in Russia. The Pentagon and other US government departments face repeated cyber attacks, especially from Russia and China, either from individuals or indirectly from those countries’ governments. Within the past 18 months Russia has been accused of orchestrating major electronic attacks on neighbours Estonia and Georgia.

Source: Telegraph

HP Touchsmart tx2: first multi-touch tablet

Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday introduced its first consumer-oriented multi-touch tablet PC. The TouchSmart tx2 tightly integrates hardware and software to offer an interface that lets people use their fingers or a stylus for on-screen manipulation of digital entertainment. The software foundation of the tx2’s multi-touch capabilities is HP’s MediaSmart 2.0, which makes it possible to use a variety of gestures, including swipes, pinches, double-taps, and finger rotations, to manipulate content in a way that’s similar to Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch. In addition, HP has entered into a partnership with MTV Networks to bring video in from MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon. The content is organized and automatically updated in MediaSmart.

The tx2 has a standard keyboard and a 12.1-inch screen that can be placed upright for use like a typical notebook. In addition, the screen, which has a resolution of 1,200 by 800 pixels, swivels and can be laid flat. Besides the multi-touch capabilities, the system’s stylus can be used to write or draw on the screen. The PC weighs 4.5 pounds and is available with either an Athlon X2 or Turion X2 dual-core processor from Advanced Micro Devices. The system is also available with an ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics processor, up to 8 GB of memory and a 500 GB hard drive. Other features include Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless technology, an integrated camera and a DVD burner. The tx2 is available for pre-order from HP and is scheduled to start shipping at the end of the month. Pricing starts at $1,149.

Source: InfoWeek

ExtremeFFS: SanDisk’s 100x faster SSD drives

The future of storage is heading away from the spinning magnetic disks inside most of our computers and towards solid state drives. Besides the advantage of being much more reliable and durable, solid state drives (SSD) also have the advantage of being quicker to deliver data. SanDisk detailed today a new technology that it hopes to cement SSD as the performance choice, coupling it with new metrics. SanDisk explained its new file system technology for SSDs, which it calls the ExtremeFFS, at WinHEC 2008 in Los Angeles and boasts that it could boost random write speeds by up to 100 times over existing systems. The “FFS” in the brand stands for Flash File System (not the other use of the acronym) and the Extreme, of course, relates to SanDisk’s brand of premium flash products.

SanDisk appears to have geared its technology towards the needs of Windows Vista. ExtremeFFS operates on a page-based algorithm, which means there is no fixed coupling between physical and logical location. SanDisk explains that when a sector of data is written, ExtremeFFS puts it on the SSD where it is most convenient and efficient. This should result in an improvement in random write performance by up to 100 times in best case scenarios. SanDisk products with ExtremeFFS are expected to ship in 2009.

Source: Tom’s Hardware

Hackers misuse Obama’s victory with malware

President-elect Barack Obama is already targeted as the subject of a malicious malware campaign designed to steal information from infected computers. Following Obama’s presidential victory Tuesday, malware authors were quick to create a Trojan exploiting the high volumes of Web traffic surrounding Obama, security experts said. And so far, researchers say that spam capitalizing on Obama’s victory has experienced a sharp upward spike, comprising about 60 percent of all spam messages in what has become a globalized attack. “The hackers are taking advantage of Obama-mania,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for SophosLabs. “So many people have been excited or interested in (the election), that they might be susceptible to it.”

Specifically, malware authors are exploiting users’ post-election curiosity with an e-mail purporting to offer news of Obama’s victory. The legitimate-looking message then offers the viewer a link, allegedly of a video featuring Obama’s acceptance speech. However, in order to view the clip, users are advised to click on a link that will allegedly download the latest version of Adobe Flash player. Once users open the link, a Web site actually links to a file called adobe_flash_exe, a malicious Trojan downloader designed to distribute information-stealing software on unsuspecting victims’ computers. Upon execution, the compromised machine receives a RootKit that sends the user’s personal data to numerous command and control centers. Researchers at Web security company Websense said in a blog that they have seen at least 25,000 e-mails through the systems using that particular technique, which, in addition to distributing data-stealing malware, also incorporates the victim’s computer into a botnet, a network of computers programmed to perpetuate spam campaigns.

Source: CRN

Netflix will stop selling DVDs

The days of unlimited data transfers may be dwindling. AT&T is now testing the idea of a monthly data cap for its broadband Internet users, the company has confirmed, and could move toward a more widespread rollout in the future. Users in Reno, Nev. will be the first to see the limits pop up, spokesman Michael Coe indicates, though a secondary test market may soon be added. Beginning this month, AT&T will restrict new customers in the affected areas based on their Internet plans. Users with the slowest speed DSL service will be limited to 20GB of bandwidth per month, while users of the fastest plan will receive a cap of 150GB a month. Any data transferred above the limit will be billed at a rate of $1 per gigabyte following a one-month grace period.

Existing AT&T customers will not yet be affected but will be added into the test later this year. All existing users will automatically receive the highest cap of 150GB a month, Coe notes. AT&T believes the caps are more than sufficient for average users, pointing out that a small subset of its customers — about 5 percent — uses a full 50 percent of the network’s bandwidth, slowing things down for the remaining majority. AT&T isn’t the first provider to move toward bandwidth caps, but as America’s largest ISP, it’s certainly the one with the heaviest impact. Comcast started enforcing bandwidth limits of 250GB per month — a slightly larger number than the maximum cap being tested by AT&T right now — at the beginning of October.

Source: PC World

Alienware unleashes M17 gaming notebook

Alienware’s new M17 features a Core 2 Extreme processor, ATI CrossFireX graphics, dual hard drives…and prices starting at $1,399. Dell subsidiary Alienware has announced its new M17 gaming notebook, marking the first time an Alienware notebook has offered ATI CrossFireX technology, offering dual ATI mobility Radeon HD 3870 graphics controllers to push those pixels around. The system also sports a Intel Core 2 Duo or Intel Core 2 Extreme QX93000 processors, DDR memory, and a 17-inch 1,920 by 1,200 pixel display. The M17 is available in a wide range configurations to satisfy gamer cravings, but the highlights are either Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Extreme quad-core processors, up to 4 GB of DDR3 memory, single and dual-graphics options using ATi Mobility Radeon HD 3870 controllers, single and dual hard drive options, ATSC TV in with an optional TV tuner, HDMI and VGA video output.

There’s also support for 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth wireless networking, gigabit Ethernet, and a 17-inch display sporting either a 1,920 by 1,200-pixel resolution, or 1,440 by 900 pixels. The M17 features Alienware’s stealth black matte finish, along with Alienware’s Skullcap case design. The unit is available with a dual layer DVD burner (with or without LightScribe), or a burner that can also read Blu-ray media. Prices for the M17 start at $1,399, although, of course, prices go up as you add components. Still, a Core 2 Extreme config with 3 GB of RAM, CrossFireX, and that 1,920 by 1,200-pixel screen is (barely) under $2,000.

Source: Digital Trends

Netflix application for Mac in public beta

Netflix has opened the doors for Mac users who want to try their “Watch Instantly” feature — you can now sign up to be part of a public beta program to test the service before its general roll-out. Netflix announced in late October that it had begun the rollout of its long-awaited media player for the Macintosh. The player enables Netflix subscribers to “watch instantly” thousands of the movie and television show titles Netflix also offers for home delivery on DVD as part of its subscription-based service. Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” capability is dependent on Microsoft Silverlight, Microsoft’s multimedia delivery system that’s positioned as a competitor to Adobe Flash.

Mac users who visit the opt-in link above are required to install the latest version of Silverlight before they can proceed. The videos are copy-protected via Silverlight’s built-in digital rights management (DRM) technology, and Netflix claims there are presently about 12,000 videos that can be viewed using the service. Unlike Apple’s iTunes Store, which enables users to download videos and transfer them to an iPhone or iPod or view them on a television using Apple TV, Netflix’s service streams content to a Mac only — there’s no way to transfer the video to another device.

Source: Macworld

Sony PS3 browser faster than IE7 !!! lol

Sony has just updated the official PlayStation 3 firmware to include a faster browser and Flash 9 support.

Sony has just updated the official PlayStation 3 firmware to include a faster browser and Flash 9 support.
Sony has just updated the official PlayStation 3 firmware to include a faster browser and Flash 9 support and is now boasting that the console's internet browser is now faster than Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7, despite only have being in development for a short time.

Sony apparently began work on the new version of the PlayStation 3 browser last year and had to re-code many features in order to get Flash 9 support included, but it is adamant the work has paid off.

Discussing the new 2.5 firmware update with IGN, Sony claimed that the system is now faster than Internet Explorer 7 - though still not as fast as Google's new kid, Chrome.

The new browser update apparently also improves Javascript support, more than doubling the speed that Javascript can run at on the PlayStation 3.

The bad news though is that the PSP platform probably won't be benefiting from these advances in the future as Sony isn't sure that the PSP's limited resources will be able to run Flash 9 at all - apparently it was a stretch even getting the full screen keyboard to work.

The latest PSP update, version 5.0 of the firmware, has definitely added in some decent features though. PSP users on the move can now directly download the latest demos, trailers and games from the online PlayStation store.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10 Info And Price

Lenovo S10 — The Best Netbook We've Seen All Year

Never one to let a trend pass it by - even a year or so after it's hit prime time - Lenovo is finally getting into the low-cost netbook game with the IdeaPad S10.

And again Lenovo proves that by sitting back and learning from the mistakes of others it can put together a solid, classic product that ranks among the best in its class.

There are no huge surprises to be found in the IdeaPad S10, but the machine impresses at every turn. It's pint-sized, light (2.7 pounds), and bereft of big power, featuring the now-standard 1.6-GHz Atom CPU and 1 GB of RAM. But dig deeper and you'll find a series of impressive upgrades over the competition: The most visible is a 10.2-inch LCD vs. the 8.9-inch screen that's become the norm on mini-notes. Another modest upgrade puts a 160-GB hard drive at your disposal, the largest among all netbooks we've seen. And you get Windows XP, not yet another Linux of the Month flavor that you'll have to learn from scratch (and thankfully not Vista, which runs like molasses on these machines). Performance isn't great, but compared to the category, it's at the top. At the very least, it's one of the few machines that were able to actually complete our benchmark routine.

Others (like HP) have tried to take netbooks upmarket, ending up with machines that cost $700 and up. Lenovo's last big surprise in store for you is its price: A mere $470, which is on par with many 8.9-inch netbooks and far, far cheaper than most 10.2-inch models and even a little cheaper than Asus's spec-comparable Eee PC 1000H.

We'll take two, thanks!

WIRED Amazing combination of price and performance. Sophisticated, decidedly non-toy-like styling. Touch-typing is as easy as it gets in this category.

TIRED White laptop, white power brick, black power cable: Epic design fail! Some trouble getting USB hard drives recognized. Sub-two-hour battery life and slightly dim screen are letdowns on an otherwise near-perfect device.

• RAM Size: 1 GB (goes up to 1.5 GB)
• Clock Rate: 1.6 GHz
• Hard Drive Size: 160 GB
• Screen Size: 10.2 inches

• Style: Ultraportable
• Operating System: MS XP
• Screen Type: Widescreen
• Processor Manufacturer: Intel
• Optical Drive: No Optical Drive
• Manufacturer: Lenovo
• Price: $470

T-Mobile sold first cells with Google Android

Christopher Laddise of San Francisco on Tuesday became the very first private owner of a T-Mobile G1, unwrapping the first smartphone running Google’s open-source Android software platform to wild applause at a special pre-launch event in the City by the Bay.T-Mobile, headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., will officially launch the G1 at its retail stores in 95 cities across the United States Wednesday, many of which will open early at 8 a.m. for the release of the $179 handset, and as many as 1.5 million existing T-Mobile customers have reportedly pre-ordered the devices. But for one night only, a couple hundred customers who lined up outside the telecom provider’s store at Market and 3rd streets in downtown San Francisco had the 3G-enabled smartphone all to themselves.

The T-Mobile G1 is available with a two-year voice and data agreement. Support for Web-based services from Mountain View, Calif.-based Google includes popular apps like Gmail and Google Maps, and the G1’s full HTML Web browser is already winning rave reviews. In addition to T-Mobile’s 3G network, the G1 has built-in support for the telecom’s Edge network, as well as WiFi and GPS. The new smartphone, 4.6 inches by 0.6 inches and weighing 5.6 ounces, has a 3.2-inch HVGA touchscreen but also sports a QWERTY keyboard, unlike the iPhone. It featurs a 3.2 megapixel camera and a microSD card slot.

Source: CRN

custom made Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 an eBay offer

Konami and Sony’s limited edition Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 may have been enough to satisfy a few fans of the game willing to pay a premium for their console of choice but, for sheer excess, it has nothing on this custom-made system built by the folks at Morpheon Mods, which is now up for auction on eBay. Among the many details adorning this shiny creation is a laser-cut, stainless steel MGS4 marquee, a laser-etched image of Solid Snake, a carbon fiber Fox Hound logo on the rear, and 14 white micro LEDs to light everything up just right.

They even got Hideo Kojima himself to autograph the console and, perhaps best of all, they wrapped everything around a fully backwards compatible 60GB PS3. Just don’t expect any of that to come cheap, as bidding is already topping the $1,500 mark with six days left, though you do also get pretty impressive collection of Metal Gear swag with it, and 15% of the proceeds will go to help the Child’s Play charity.

Source: Engadget

Study: Hi-Technology Keeps Families Together

Technology is helping families stay in touch like never before, says a report. Instead of driving people apart, mobile phones and the net are helping them maintain social ties, says the Pew Internet report. Families are also among the keenest users of technology, the survey of 2,252 Americans revealed. It found that using the net was often a social activity within families, with 51% of parents saying they browsed the web with their children. The research looked at the differences in technology use between families with children and single adults, couples without children and adults who share a home but are not related. It found that traditional so-called “nuclear” families were more likely to have more hi-tech gadgetry in their home than almost any other group it measured.

Multiple mobile phones were found in 89% of nuclear families and 66% had a high-speed net connection. The US national average for broadband is 52%. It also found that 58% of this type of family were likely to have more than two computers in the home. Many people use their mobile phone to keep in touch and maintain social ties with parents, siblings and children. Seventy percent of couples who both own a mobile use it every day to chat or say hello. In addition, it found, 42% of parents contact their children via their mobile every day. This led to 53% of those questioned saying that new technologies had increased the quality of their contact with distant family members, while 47% said it improved interaction with those they live with.

Source: BBC

Wii, Xbox 360 SMOKES PS3 behind

Microsoft Nintendo hardware sales benefitted once more from successful game titles in September. The best selling title for the month was Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (610,000 units), which helped lift Xbox 360 sales by more than 75% from 195,200 in August to 347,200 units in September, according to NPD. The Wii climbed from a weak 453,000 units in August to 687,000 units on strong sales of its Wii Fit game and accessory, which sold 518,000 times during the month.

Slowly but surely, Sony may be concerned about its PS3. In comparison to its rivals, sales have been weakening over the past three months. In September, the PS3 saw the smallest sales increase, from 185,400 units in August to 232,400 in September. The most successful game for the PS3 came in at the #5 spot: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed sold 325,000 units. The PS3 had only one top 10 game in September, while the Xbox 360 had five and the Wii had four.

Let’s look at the current market shares in the game console market:

Nintendo has solidified its market share of more than 50% and stood at 54.2% in September. Microsoft increased its share to 27.4%, while Sony dropped to 18.3%.

In September 2007, the Xbox 360 led the market with 46.0% share, followed by the Wii with 43.6% and the PS3 with 10.4%.

US gaming industry in September: 7% drop

Final summer month’s $1.27 billion haul falls just short to Halo 3-boosted ‘07 sales. During September 2008, the game industry didn’t deliver quite the same punch as during the same period a year ago, bringing in $1.27 billion for the month. On the hardware front, Nintendo took home the gold and silver yet again, with the Wii placing first with 687,000 units sold and the DS second with 536,800 units sold. However, Microsoft’s dramatic price reduction of the Xbox 360–the cheapest model is now just $199–paid off in the form of a 78 percent jump in sales volume. The console sold 347,200 units during September, up from just 195,000 in August. That was enough to put it past the PlayStation 3 (234,000 units) and its smaller sibling, the PSP (238,100 units).

Top selling games in October 2008:

1 ) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360) / LucasArts / 610,000
2 ) Wii Fit w/ Balance Board (WII) / Nintendo / 518,000
3 ) Rock Band 2 (Xbox 360) / MTV Games/Electronic Arts / 363,000
4 ) Mario Kart Wii w/ Wheel (WII) / Nintendo / 353,000
5 ) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS3) / LucasArts / 325,000
6 ) Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (Xbox 360) / Electronic Arts / 297,000
7 ) Wii Play w/ Remote (WII) / Nintendo / 243,000
8 ) Madden NFL 09 (Xbox 360) / Electronic Arts / 224,000
9 ) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (WII) / LucasArts / 223,000
10 ) Madden NFL 09 (PS2) / Electronic Arts / 158,000

As expected, the big software hit of the month was LucasArts’ Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Three versions of the mildly praised game made it into the top 10, with a total of 1.16 million units. The only other top 10 newcomer was the 360 edition of Electronic Arts’ Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, which came in sixth place with 297,000 copies sold. The rest of the September top 10 game chart belonged entirely to Nintendo.

Source: Gamespot