FFXII holds off Crackdown

Two format exclusives have gone head to head in this week's charts - with the ageing PS2 beating the next-gen Xbox 360 to the number one spot. Square Enix's PlayStation 2 exclusive Final Fantasy XII becomes the fastest-selling title in the series, moving 90,000 units and accounting for 53.5 per cent of all full price PS2 sales in the past week. Realtime Worlds' Xbox 360 action title Crackdown makes an impressive debut at number two in the All Formats charts, just ahead of EA's ever-present FIFA 07 at three and Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 6 at four more...

Wii takes the console crown

Sony and Microsoft’s gaming bullies aren’t winning the next-gen war it seems – according to new figures, the Wii is outselling them two to one. You should always watch the quiet ones with the nunchuck controllers, they say. And the mysterious ‘they’ are right: while Microsoft and Sony’s next-gen consoles were distracted by their processing arms race, Nintendo’s Wii has sneaked in and outsold them both more...

Wi-Fi checks in at Thistle Hotels

Thistle Hotels has signed an agreement with BT Openzone to offer high-speed Wi-Fi access in all rooms and all areas of its Thistle and Guoman Hotels. The deal will make it the largest full service hotel chain in the UK to provide BT Openzone wireless broadband connectivity more...

Burgers paid for by mobile phone

Visitors to fast food outlets in Japan will soon be able to pay for their burgers with their mobile phones. Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo is teaming up with McDonalds to offer electronic payments and special promotions for mobile users more...

IT professionals show environmental concern

Ninety-eight per cent of senior IT professionals are worried about the negative impact their company has on the environment, according to new research. A survey of a 100 senior IT professionals conducted by document management software company Version One found 56 per cent admitted to being very concerned more...

Apple TV to be 'a few weeks' late

Computer and consumer electronics maker Apple has delayed the release of its TV set-top box.
Initially the company said the £199 ($299) device would ship in February, but now expects it to go in mid-March more...

Gamer builds 'auto-play machine'

When US gamer David Harr got frustrated being 60 points short of completing a title he decided to take radical action - he built a machine to do it for him. Car mechanic David Harr, from Seattle, realised he needed to devote 40 hours of playing just to earn the final reward points for Perfect Dark Zero more...

'Broadband blues' hit net users

Broadband roll-out is being driven by ever more providers but people are much less happy with customer service and more ready to switch, says a survey. When research firm Point Topic carried out its Broadband Consumer Survey a year ago, 92% of customers were very or fairly satisfied with their provider more...

Amnesty introduces mobile phone donation system

Amnesty International UK is implementing a payment system to handle donations up to £800 over mobile phones. The mobile payment system, called LUUP, is being supplied by Norwegian company Contopronto and will enable the charity receives more of the proceeds of donations thantraditional premium-rated text messages (PSMS) where extra charges are often added to user’s mobile phone bills more...

BitTorrent download portal debuts

The creators of the BitTorrent file-sharing network have opened the doors on a legal download service. The BitTorrent Entertainment Network launched on 26 February and gives subscribers access to a large catalogue of movies, music and videos more...

Aberdeen schools switch to VoIP

Aberdeen City Council has installed a voice-over IP system to save costs and improve communication. The system, installed by BT on an existing broadband infrastructure, enables free calls between schools over a virtual private network more...

Wireless users 'do more online'

People who use wireless internet "show deeper engagement with cyberspace," according to an American study. While 54% of internet users check e-mail "on the typical day," 72% of wireless users check daily more...

Game profitability 'under threat'

Rising development costs and small user bases mean games developers are unlikely to make a profit on new titles until 2008, according to a report. The report by media analysts Screen Digest said that the complexity of next generation games made it hard for publishers to cover production costs more...

Mobile talk moves to Web 2.0

With a growing demand for a better browsing experience on our mobiles, there is, according to the industry, demand for Web 2.0 on the go. While text blogging on a mobile is still seen as a minority sport, the explosion of camera and videophones now allows us to upload pictures and videos to our homepages. It is something that is already extremely popular on the successful South Korean social network Cyworld more...

School children get better access to technology

Glasgow City Council has signed a £15.5m contract for computer equipment and support services for the city’s primary and nursery schools. The contract includes hardware and support services to the city’s 170 primary schools and 122 nurseries, as well as notebook computers for every full-time equivalent teacher more...

US virus writer pleads guilty

A man from Washington has pleaded guilty to writing and distributing a Trojan horse designed to steal private information from online gamers. Richard C. Honour, 31, was charged with causing harm to computers systems across the country, including one in the Eastern District of Missouri, where his case was handled. He appeared before US District Judge Donald J. Stohr more...

Euro PS3 to play fewer old games

The European version of Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) console will not play as many old games as American and Japanese models, Sony has announced. Gamers who already own PlayStation 2 (PS2) and PlayStation (PS) games may find they will not work on the long-awaited, new console more...

Google locked in legal rumbles over Gmail in Europe

Google this week lost an initial attempt to gain sole control over the Gmail trademark in Switzerland, but the search giant said the ruling would not force it to rename its e-mail service there more...

Orange will offer broadband television service

Mobile phone operator and internet service provider Orange is planning to launch a broadband television service in Britain later this year. It will eventually allow users to access and transfer content between their television, mobile phone and computer more...

New specification for satellite services to portable devices

A new specification has been approved for the satellite and terrestrial delivery of mobile television and multimedia services to handheld devices. The DVB-SH specification was approved by the steering board of the DVB Project, an industry consortium which sets standards for digital television and data services more...

One-third of U.S. Net surfers have gone wireless

One-third of U.S. Internet users have connected to the Web using a wireless network to send e-mails, check the latest news or read other things, according to a survey released on Sunday by the Pew Internet Project more...