DRBIG Corner of the net

Samsung SDI said today that it will be spending over $500 million USD to boost production of next-generation OLED displays to six times its current level by mid-2009.

This latest move comes as panel makers try to get bigger shares of the growing market for OLED displays, which offer better contrast ratio, slimmer designs and better energy efficiency than current LCD or plasma displays.

Currently, however, production costs are still high, too high to make OLED TVs available to the masses.

Samsung currently produces small-sized AM-OLED screens used in watches and other handheld devices and there was no word on whether this large new investment will be to increase production of small OLED screens or for all OLED production including TVs.

Using 2-inch screens as a basis, the new investment should raise capacity from 1.5 million units a month to over 9 million by mid-2009.

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Sony Europe has confirmed that the PlayStation 3 DualShock 3 controller will finally hit Europe on July 4th, months after it was launched in Japan and North America.

The controller adds “rumble” vibration technology to the PS3, a feature that many gamers missed when the Sixaxis controller was released with the console.

“We are delighted to confirm that DualShock 3 will be released in SCEE territories in early July. We hope this will add to the intense gaming experience for our fans, as we continue to evolve PS3, its software and its peripherals,” added David Reeves, president of SCEE.

The DS3 will cost GBP 39.99 and is usable for games such as Resistance: Fall of Man, Gran Turismo 5 and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune as long as you have firmware 1.94 or higher.

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Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli is in the news again for talking about how PC game piracy has affected his company and sales of its blockbuster hit Crysis. Last month, Yerli said the company would no longer be PC exclusive because of piracy and would bring future titles to multiple platforms.

In this most recent interview, Yerli was asked what he felt were the reasons behind Crysis’ “lacluster” sales and he responded with putting most of the blame on PC piracy.

“The PC industry is really, at the moment, I would say the most intensely pirated market ever. It’s crazy how the ratio between sales to piracy is probably 1 to 15 to 1 to 20 right now,” Yerli said.



“For one sale there are 15 to 20 pirates and pirate versions, and that’s a big shame for the PC industry. I hope with Warhead I hope we improve the situation, but at the same time it may have an impact on [our] PC exclusivity in the future.”

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