The demos are out and the early winner in this year’s football battle appears to be…..well, as ever, opinions are divided, it truly is a game of two halves!

Both look stunning on my  free PS3 Slim!

What has perhaps surprised me talking to friends online is that some of the PES fanboys are talking about changing camps.  One even went as far as saying, “I may have to buy FIFA 10 for the first time in 15 years, Konami have just stagnated with PES and its been below par since they made 2008.”

FIFA 10 has 360 movable players, its smooth and passing is precise, with some great subtle changes; even the referee moves out of the way of the ball and players stick a leg out to block.

Skilled dribbling is also another incredible advancement in FIFA 10. As another of my online friends, a FIFA fanboy said, “I can’t wait to use the arena once the game is out, the players are balanced speed wise and now you can build up play. The AI is better at defending and finally use skill moves as well as jockey.

•    Messi is amazing.
•    Chelsea has a brutish team.
•    Xavi’s pass range is spectacular
•    Klose and Toni are top dogs in the air.
•    Lampard is finally always in and around the box.

FIFA 10 BABY!”

I can’t argue with any of that but personally thought that the new PES 2010 looked much better than the last one and just “felt slicker” than FIFA 10.

The jury is out but I will take a lot of convincing, PES forever!

Earlier in the year, the guys at Gizmodo put together a fantastic guide to get your PS3 running Ubuntu.  With the release of the new Slim model and inevitable rush to dust off our old consoles, it is a good time to revisit the article.  In the words of John Mahoney….

It still kind of surprises me (in a good way) that Sony was, from the start, very OK with PS3 owners tinkering with Linux on their PS3s. A modified release of Yellow Dog Linux is available and some very handy hard drive partitioning and dual-boot utilities are baked right into the PS3′s XMB;

There is a flipside to this coin, however. Since the PS3′s Cell Processor is PowerPC based, you won’t be able to use any Linux software that’s compiled for x86, which is, unfortunately, most of it. However, Ubuntu has always had a PPC distro, and most of the basic stuff will work just fine. You can even load up a PPC-compiled Super Nintendo Emulator, SNES9X, and play some classic games pretty easily on your Sixaxis controller paired via Bluetooth. Also, doing web browsing and other basic computing is a lot more natural and elegant on Ubuntu running on your TV than in the PS3′s somewhat gimped browser.

Another downside is performance—the PS3 obviously has a lot of hardware muscle, but there are no Linux drivers to take full advantage of the Cell processor’s multi-core architecture, or the PS3′s hardware graphics acceleration. Plus, Ubuntu can only see and use 221.7 MB of the PS3′s 512MB of RAM for some reason. So it won’t be a speed demon (and you won’t be able to play HD videos or anything), but it’s definitely functional for the basics.

And, even over two years into the PS3′s life, doing all of this still requires a fair amount of Linux geek forum sifting, which I have humbly take upon myself to do so you don’t have to. And believe me, you don’t.

To get started, read the full article at Gizmodo

Hold on before you run out to buy a new TV! You may have seen the report on Engadget stating that, according to a Sony rep, all PS3 games will run in 3-D with a software update next year.

“…a software update for the PS3 sometime in 2010 will enable it to provide a 3D viewing experience to “all” existing games on the system. We’re sure there will be some exceptions, but it sounds very promising. The console itself pumps out a quite regular signal over HDMI, which the TV syncs up with your 3D glasses. A 200Hz TV, for instance, alternates 1080p frames, with 100Hz for each eye. Of course, you’ll need a brand new TV, but at least it won’t be restricted to just Sony televisions. Start saving those pennies!”

It seems like Joystiq have contacted Sony to find out more more about what sounded like a major megaton to let slip at a trade show. Sony told them that the company is “conducting a technological investigation” of whether it’s even possible to do that. As for specifics: “there is no plan for the market launch of this at this time.”

If you’re dying to look at a 3-D game right now, Engadget also captured a video of Wipeout HD being played in 3-D. For some reason, the 3-D effect doesn’t come through when viewed in an embedded video recording — even with the glasses in front of the lens. Sony really needs to work on that.

I’d still go out and get a PS3 Slim though.  It’s smaller, lighter, uses less electricity, and does not have an on of switch on the back like its fat brother. The only major niggle/downside is that the PS3 Slim is not backward compatible. This means that you should old on to your old PS2, if it still works.

And best of all, you can get one for nothing. Find out how to get your free PS3 Slim!

Sources:  Joystiq & Engadget