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1UP previews The Orange Box for the PS3 – “This version of The Box has issues “

“In an interview earlier this year, Valve Software founder Gabe Newell referred to PlayStation 3 as “a waste of everybody’s time.” This attitude shows in the development structure of The Orange Box. While the PC and Xbox 360 versions were handled by Valve, the PS3 port was handed off to an internal team at EA. Originally scheduled to be released day and date with the PC and 360 versions, the PS3 Orange Box has been delayed until December. PS3 owners, forced to watch from the sidelines as their gaming kindred inundates them with tales of Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2 and Portal, continue to wait patiently for their chance to take a stroll through Valve’s universe.”

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Unreal Tournament III for PS3 has gone gold + Shipping dates

Mark Rein announces in the official Epic Games forum that Unreal Tournament for PS3 has been approved by Sony and gone gold in North America.

Rein says the formal announcement should come early next week, and the game should ship to retailers in North American on Monday, December 10th, and show up in stores as early as December 11th.

For PAL territories, specifically UK and Europe, Epic is still working on localization. Rein estimates the game will ship over there early next year in January or February.

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Xbox 360 Returned to Store with Some Bits Missing

Someone returned an xbox to a store and supposedly nobody had approved of it. But when the employees opened it it was discovered to be completly gutted.

More after the jump

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Is Sony finally getting its PlayStation 3 act together?

Will last month’s PS3 price cuts and this week’s set of additional announcements help Sony’s Playstation gaming platform to hold its own against Microsoft’s Xbox and Nintendo’s Wii? The verdicts from analysts are mixed.

Parks Associates analyst Michael Cai disagrees wholeheartedly Enderle Associates principal analyst Rob Enderle about PS3’s future.

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UK PS Store is hiding a PSP secret

Sony is being very good to PSP owners right before the Thanksgiving holiday. Not only did the PlayStation Store launch yesterday to allow access from your PC, but the company also decided to plant an easter egg for those curious enough to browse the store. This easter egg came in the form of a new trailer for a game called “Beats” that was hidden by Sony within the PSP game trailers section.

Shortly after releasing the trailer, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe launched the downloadable game “Beats” through the UK PlayStation Store with a price tag of GBP 4.99. The game is great for music fans that have their music collection on their PSP. Beats is based almost completely on the playback of your personal music collection, taking any song and turning it into gameplay.

The game is similar to DDR and DJ Max Portable as it uses beat tracking technology to create button-press sequences for each song in your personal music collection. The trailer provides details on two different modes labeled “Jamming” and “Challenge”. It also appears that the game will allow a wide array of customization options so that you are able to change your background and visual style.

Multiplayer is available locally for 1-4 players and details on the Official UK page state that the title allows for game sharing (players sharing the game with other PSP users who do not currently own the game). An online ranking system is said to be available (one can assume there will be online playability) but there is no official word yet regarding online play.

As of right now, the game is only available through the UK PlayStation Store with no official release date announced for a US version, but due to the sudden release of the game in the UK, North America & Europe can hope it will only be some time before it is released there.