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PS3 Evolution is a News site for the PS3 console, we will have all the latest emulators for this consoles and all the downloads on this site, we also cover commercial gaming and console news. Part of the DCEmu Homebrew & Gaming Network
PS3 Consoles from HK imported WorldWide SuccessHK are selling the 40GB
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have Worldwide compatible power supplys and are totally region free
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PS3 Games cheaper than any online store.
Most of my weekend will be spent playing a little real-life Tetris, as I attempt to find open slots for all the boxes, furniture and knickknacks still in boxes from the relocation endeavor.
First thing I'll be playing in the virtual world this weekend is the iPhone version of Doom: Resurrection, in anticipation of an upcoming review. Probably should update the firmware on that thing so I'm up to speed on all my iPhone needs. I'll also be giving BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger another crack, once the TV, Xbox 360 and all necessary audio-visual equipment is hooked up.
This weekend, I'll also more than likely be picking some games to sell off and give away. There are a half-dozen Sega Saturn games—Shining Force III, Guardian Heroes, Burning Rangers—that will get more use at someone else's house.
What will you be playing this American holiday weekend?
features
aka. BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
Experience the beauty of high-resoluti on, hand-drawn sprites on 3D backgrounds, all in glorious high-definition
Get ready to take the action online and battle the best players from all over the world!
BlazBlue features the following console-only modes: Arcade, Vs, Practice, and a completely fleshed-out Story Mode that tells the tales of each character
Choose a character that represents your own fighting style, like the lightning-fast Taokaka or the wickedly powerful Tager
Use the unique “Drive Attacks” specific to each character to decimate your opponent. Depending on the character, control the elements like wind and ice, or even absorb the life force from your opponents
Take advantage of Barriers, Counter Assaults, Rapid Cancels, and Distortion Drives to turn the tide of battle!
description
In the 13th hierarchical city, Kagutsuchi, the Librarium regulates the amazing power of “Armagus”, a fusion of magic and technology. Currently they are after a wanted criminal named Ragna The Bloodedge, also known as “Death”, who wants to destroy the Librarium. Due to Ragna possessing a powerful form of Armagus known as the Azure Grimoire, people far and wide are after not only his bounty, but his grimoire as well. This is where our story begins…
Newly released and on worldwide import from Divineo China
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood transports players from a ravaged Civil War-era Georgia to the Aztec ruins of Mexico. In the wildest West ever depicted, players can embody both McCall brothers in an intense Wild West storyline full of greed, lust and lawlessness that takes place during a legendary period of American history.
Newly released and on worldwide import from Divineo China
The Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs video game reunites fans with Scrat, Sid, Manny and Diego in an all-new quest based on the upcoming film from Twentieth Century Fox. As the unlikely herd travels across the tundra and beyond, they stumble upon another world - a lush Dinosaur World teeming with jungles, mysterious plants, fierce dinosaurs, wild new adventures and several new friends. Taking on the role of more than six playable characters, including everyone's favorite Ice Age friends and newly introduced characters, players master their unique skills and abilities across more than 15 action-packed levels.
In addition to the expanded features of the single-player gameplay, for the first time in an Ice Age game, players can team up with friends and family in eight competitive multiplayer mini-games.
Newly released and on worldwide import from Divineo China
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort's defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas. And Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, only she hadn't counted on Romilda Vane’s chocolates! And then there's Hermione, simmering with jealously but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.
In the game, players will return to Hogwarts to help Harry survive a fraught sixth year. They will also have a chance to engage in exciting wizard duels, mix and brew magical ingredients in Potions class and take to the air to lead the Gryffindor Quidditch team to victory. Players may even get sidetracked by Ron’s romantic entanglements as they journey towards a dramatic climax and discover the identity of the Half-Blood Prince.
On most TVs and projectors movies and games are too dark or missing detail in dark scenes. GammaX fixes this by adding a Gamma Boost without washing out the picture.
Simply plug the GammaX directly into the HDfury2, HDfury, HDfury Gamer Edition, or any device with RGB output and enjoy a more vibrant picture with perfect shadow details!
Using the original HDfury or HDfury Gamer Edition? The GammaX also includes a cable driver which lets you use monitor cables or long RGB projector cables (any length) without having to plug the HDfury or HDfury Gamer Edition directly into your TV!
The included power supply is not needed when the GammaX is used with the HDfury2, simplifying the cables and connections. (The power supply is needed for HDfury, HDfury Gamer Edition, or other RGB source users).
Many projectors and displays only work with either positive or negative sync RGB signals. The GammaX provides a user selectable positive or negative sync switch for displays that only accept negative sync such as the following projectors: Barco 800-801-808-1208, Dwin 500-700, and so on.
The GammaX is 100% Plug-and-play. No configuration or extra steps required. GammaX works at all resolutions, including 1080p and beyond.
Note: GammaX does not support component signals, only RGB. This includes the HDfury2 set to component (YUV) output mode. If you wish to add Gamma Boost to a component-only capable display, use the Box1020 instead.
- Input: RGBHV HD-15 D-Sub (VGA) Female Connector (direct connection to HDfury1 or HDfury2)
- Output: RGBHV HD-15 D-Sub (VGA) Male Connector (direct connection to TV)
- Cable driver built in allowing you to use an analog output cable of any length. Useful for using the original HDfury or HDfury Gamer Edition with monitor cables or long RGB projector cables. No need to plug the HDfury or HDfury Gamer Edition directly into your TV!
- Power supply included for use with HDfury, HDfury Gamer Edition, or other RGB sources
- Power supply not needed if used with the HDfury2, the HDfury2 supplies the power
- Plug-and-play, no extra steps required
- Adjustable Gamma Boost for restoring lost shadow details
- Slide potentiometer for easy Gamma Boost adjustment
- Compatible with all RGB sources
- Supports all standard HD formats and SD formats: 1080p-1080i-720p-etc. in NTSC-PAL-SECAM
- Supports all PC resolutions including extremely high resolutions such as 1600x1200-100Hz and 1920x1440-60Hz
- 450Mhz large signal (-3dB) bandwidth for virtually lossless video processing
- Full dynamic range for maximum picture detail at all resolutions
- User selectable positive or negative sync output for displays that only accept negative sync (ex: Barco 800-801-808-1208, Dwin, etc.)
- Precise black levels - no black crush or missing details or washed-out whites
Spy role-playing game Alpha Protocol will be hitting the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on Oct. 6, according to Sega.
I took the game for a spin during the lead up to E3 and was quite impressed with how well the game blended the best elements of shooter, action and adventure. I'm hoping my time playing the final game will live up to my new, heightened expectations.
Telltale has been churning out some fantastic adventure games as of late. The team responsible for Sam & Max, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People and Wallace & Gromit has found its games on both WiiWare and Xbox Live Arcade. But why no love for the PlayStation Network? It's "easy," explains Dave Grossman to The Guardian. "Our engine doesn't run on the PlayStation yet."
We'd like to think that the developers are working on making the engine that powers these games fully multi-platform. We don't see why Telltale couldn't handle the PS3, especially considering the success found by the folks behind Penny Arcade Adventures.
Frozenbyte has told Eurogamer that Trine as a project is "a big mess", and that the disparity between prices and the platforms the game is released for are issues the studio will be better prepared to handle next time around.
Developer spokesperson Joel Kinnunen was reacting to fans who are frustrated that Trine will cost twice as much on PC (USD 40 / GBP 20) as on PS3, where the game will be around 20 dollars - Kinnunen didn't want to guess at a GBP or EUR price.
"We are happy with this price point, and we don't think anyone will be disappointed by the PC version or its value for money," he said.
"We would love to have the game sold at the same price point across all platforms and methods, but these things are sometimes unbelievably complex when there's so many partners involved. The same goes for the EUR/USD disparity, it's just out of our hands.
"We never had the same problems in this scale with our Shadowgrounds games so this whole situation caught us by surprise. We'll be better prepared in the future," admitted Kinnunen.
Trine is a side-scrolling platformer based around three heroes with unique skills that must be interchanged to overcome puzzles and scenarios.
"As for the PSN release date, I think your guess is as good as mine," he offered. "It's in the process of going through all the checks and such, so right now I'm not sure how long it's going to take or if we have to do some final fixes. If it gets through OK, then I'm sure the release date will be announced shortly."
There's been confusion over an Xbox Live Arcade version of Trine recently, too. US publisher Atlus confirmed it at E3, but this was later dubbed "speculation" by Frozenbyte. Is it or isn't it coming to XBLA?
"Well do you think we want to do things the easy way? Hah," quipped Kinnunen. "Seriously, we want Trine to be on XBLA but it, too, is out of our hands. We're working with Atlus to make it happen but it depends on so many things again."
"You know, at one point Trine was a PC-only game. That's how it started. We're really happy that it's coming to PSN and if we get it to XBLA, then we're even happier. The problem is that this is not really the optimal way to do a game (or a game launch).
"Trine as a project is a big mess," he rued, "as opposed to Trine as a game, which is pretty sweet. Ultimately it's the game part that really matters and helps us sleep at night, though."
Trine is released on PC next Friday, 10th July, in Europe. And it's very good, as our freshly minted Trine review points out.
Following its unveiling of a new EyeToy-compatible motion controller at this year's E3, Sony has patented more motion control related technology which lets users dynamically map everyday items for use in a game.
The patent details a system where a camera can map in any real world item, reports Siliconera. Examples given include a coffee mug, drinking glass, books and bottles, however the mapping system is expected to be able to identify any three dimension object.
Sony uses a U-shaped block to show how the technology will work, explaining the player must show the object to the camera, rotate it and save it to a file. The system can then analyse movements and transfer them into in-game actions.
During Sony's E3 press conference, the publisher demoed its new motion controller being used to control a range of in-game items, including a sword, a torch and a fan. While the player holds the new PlayStation 3 'wand', in the game the wand is transformed into a different object.
This new item-scanning patent could easily be planned to tie-in with what Sony has already announced, although comparisons to Microsoft's Project Natal are bound to be made.
Sony has confirmed its new PlayStation 3 motion controller will be released in spring 2010.
The number one game in the Japanese chart comes as no surprise following news earlier in the week that Wii Sports Resort shifted over 350,000 copies during its first four days on sale.
The Nintendo title, bundled with the new MotionPlus add-on, tops the all-format software chart for the week ended June 28 with a total sales of 359,690, outselling the second biggest selling title - Tomodachi Collection - more than five times over.
Its success may have impacted slightly on the Japanese hardware chart for the week too as sales of the Wii were up slightly from 19,386 last week to 21,790.
The console's DS stablemate delivered a near identical performance to the week prior with 45,480 units sold (39,995 DSi and the remaining for the DS Lite) compared to 45,995, and PSP sales remained solid at 26,789 units.
PS3 continued to take steps in the right direction with 11,310 sales, up from 10,359 the week previous. The software chart delivered similarly good news for the system, with three new PS3 releases - Atelier Rorona: Alchemist of Arland, BlazBlue and Agarest Senki Zero - debuting in the top ten.
The Xbox 360 and PS2 systems sold 5,766 and 3,578 units respectively.
The full hardware charts from Media Create follow:
Nintendo DS - 45,480
PlayStation Portable - 26,789
Nintendo Wii - 21,790
PlayStation 3 - 11,310
Xbox 360 - 5,766
PlayStation 2 - 3,578
The top ten best-selling games in Japan follow:
01 Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo) - 359,690
02 Tomodachi Collection (Friend Collection) (Nintendo) - 71,692
03 Atelier Rorona: Alchemist of Arland (Gust) - 43,243
04 Ken to Mahou to Gakuen Mono. 2 (Sword & Magic & School 2) (Acquire) - 38,614
05 BlazBlue (Arc System Works) - 33,768
06 BlazBlue (Arc System Works) - 24,812
07 Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (Square Enix) - 22,114
08 Agarest Senki Zero (Compile Heart) - 14,466
09 Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (Capcom) - 12,985
10 Sloane and MacHale's Mysterious Story (Level 5) - 12,537
David Amor of Buzz developer Relentless believes that the unexplored casual genre will deliver radical new IP that will sell tens of millions.
Speaking to Develop in an interview published today, Amor drew on the phenomenal success of certain casual IPs, adding that the winning formula is not likely to go away.
“I think that casual games remain an untapped genre; I’ve worked in more traditional genres for years and years before saying “right, let’s make games for other people”, and I don’t think we’re anywhere near discovering how many games can be made to satisfy that audience,” he said.
“Guitar Hero did well, Buzz did well, SingStar did well, Wii Fit did well; this isn’t the end of that.”
“There are games, currently un-thought of in the casual genre, that will sell tens of millions. I’d rather have a business in that category rather than more established ones to be honest with you.”
CEO of the newly-formed publisher Tecmo Koei, Kenji Matsubara, has said he "would welcome a price cut for PS3", and has made his request known to Sony in past meetings.
"Whenever I discuss this with Sony reps I always ask them: 'Please cut the price', but I don't have a clear view on Sony's situation," Matsubara told CVG during an interview.
"Yes, from a publisher's point of view we would welcome a price cut for PS3, and we are waiting, definitely," he added.
"It's definitely a way of boosting the PS3 market, but it's Sony's strategy and I don't know their cost structure. Sony introduced cutting-edge technology in the PS3, that's why people in the industry accept that the PS3 cost is so high, but we'd welcome a price cut."
Price drop to YEN 3,990 scheduled for August 27th
Rockstar’s next-gen opus Grand Theft Auto IV is getting the budget treatment in Japan with news that the Capcom published title is to be ushered in to the PlayStation Best discount range.
Kotaku reports that that the new version will be released on August 27th and will cost YEN 3,900 – around £24.
The GTA series, which alongside titles such as Halo is in many ways the very essence of Western gaming, has never traditionally performed well in the East.
However, GTAIV was the title that seemed to reverse that trend. Upon its release last October it managed to outpace rival debutant LittleBigPlanet, with sales bettering Sony’s title by a ratio of 3:1.
Motion control mania continues as a new patent from Sony shows the firm's experiments with a scanning system that lets players use everyday objects to control their games (quiet at the back).
According to the recently published patent, a camera (presumably the PS Eye) scans an object in by having the user rotate it to essentially show it to the PS3 from different angles. This is then mapped into the game and its movements tracked by the camera.
Illustrations show a user holding a U-shaped object, but it explains that this could otherwise be any everyday object including, but not limited to, a mug, books or bottles. Other pictures show a person using baseball bats, a golf club and other objects. Good luck to ornaments and pets if Sony launches this.
Siliconera has the pictures.
Also, we notice in the pictures that the camera appears to be wireless - new PS Eyes, anyone?
Sony at E3 showed off new motion controllers that use the PS Eye to accurately track illuminated orbs on the end of the baton-like units.
Activision's passed laong us internet folk two new DJ Hero videos, showing oldschool mix man Grandmaster Flash at the decks.
The publisher's also responded to retail rumours that the music effort will carry a rather large RRP of £108.
"We don't comment on our product pricing strategies, however, we believe that DJ Hero will provide tremendous value for our consumers by delivering an all-new interactive music experience with over 100 individual songs that are highlighted in over 80 unique mixes, a wide variety of music from some of the biggest artists including Jay-Z, Eminem, Benny Benassi, Gwen Stefani and Black Eyed Peas among others," a spokesperson told CVG.
A partial track list for the music effort emerged yesterday. Take a look, it's got Beastie Boys, Dizzee Rascal and all sorts.
Today Ubisoft announced it will be publishing Heroes Over Europe, a flight combat game designed for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, and Windows-based PC. The sequel to Heroes of the Pacific, the World War II flight combat game, Heroes Over Europe builds on the game's impressive legacy with intense dogfights, a highly detailed realistic visual presentation and even more online options.
"We are pleased to be bringing Heroes Over Europe to retailers worldwide," said Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing, Ubisoft. "The action-packed gameplay and realistic imagery in Heroes Over Europe will help bring some of history's most exciting air battles to life for an experience that gamers will enjoy."
Developed by Transmission Games in Melbourne, Australia, and powered by an all-new engine, Heroes Over Europe is set to raise the bar for flight combat games with the all new "Ace Kill" close combat action, four online modes supporting up to 16 players and fully customizable aircrafts with localized damage. Visually, the game takes no prisoners with meticulously rendered environments including faithful recreations of London, Berlin and the French Alps, and ultra-realistic iconic warplanes of the era, all presented in stunning high definition graphics.
Heroes Over Europe is scheduled for worldwide release in September 2009. For more information about Heroes Over Europe, please visit: http://www.heroesovereurope.com
Atari's slow collapse continues with the loss of the company's most lucrative franchise. No, not Ghostbusters -- it's Dragon Ball, which has produced approximately a billion video games so far. The franchise will now go back to Namco Bandai, the original Japanese publisher of the series. According to a statement by Namco Bandai, the agreement will run for five years beginning in January 2010 and will supersede any existing publishing rights. In addition, Namco Bandai will publish the upcoming Dragon Ball: Raging Blast game for Xbox 360 and PS3, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo for Wii, and Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans for DS all this year.
The loss of the Dragon Ball franchise is perhaps the greatest evidence of the financial challenges that face Atari. Earlier this year, the company pulled out of E3, sold its European publishing division, and even sold exclusivity rights for Ghostbusters, all presumably for a small cash influx. With Phil Harrison recently stepping down from his position at the company, it's clear that Atari will see even more troubled times ahead
Marvelous Entertainment backed the Wii in a big way with new series like Little King’s Story, No More Heroes, Arc Rise Fantasia, and Muramasa: The Demon Blade. However, sales of these games in Japan (Little King’s Story excluded, of course, since it’s only out in Europe) haven’t been stellar.
In a financial presentation Marvelous has a new plan for their rich library of properties. First, is moving into multi-platform PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 development. I can confirm that Rainy Woods, Marvelous’ first title specifically made for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, is still in development. Their other strategy is porting some of their Wii titles to the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Arc Rise Fantasia aren’t heavy on motion control so I imagine these would be prime candidates to port. I’d welcome ports of either of these games too since more people would get to play them.
Enough about me. Which Marvelous games would you like to see on high definition consoles? I’ll start counting the votes for No More Heroes and No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle…
The days of people whining "where are my old-timey games on the PSN?" appear well and truly over. You've got Final Fantasy VII, you've got Metal Gear Solid, and soon you'll be getting a ton of Capcom classics as well.
Tomorrow, for example, Capcom will be releasing the "Capcom Classics Collection: Remixed", which includes:
• 1941: Counter Attack
• Avengers
• Bionic Commando
• Black Tiger
• Block Block
• Captain Commando
• Final Fight
• Forgotten Worlds
• Last Duel
• Legendary Wings
• Magic Sword
• Mega Twins
• Quiz and Dragons
• Section Z
• Side Arms: Hyper Dyne
• The Speed Rumbler
• Street Fighter
• Strider
• Three Wonders
• Varth
Then later in the year, there'll be this mix of PS1 and PSP re-releases:
• Mega Man Powered Up
• Dino Crisis
• Power Stone Collection
• Mega Man Maverick Hunter X
• Resident Evil 2
• Darkstalkers
• Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max
• Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
• Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded
Sony is testing the water on various ideas for PlayStation Home, in a survey that asks, among other things, whether you would like to see stand-up comedy as a type of streaming media for the theatre area.
There's talk of the PlayStation Home space within PlayStation Home and what should be there, which hurts our brain, plus priority ratings for content like video sharing, music sharing and viewable Trophy collections - features PS Home was built around.
A full roundup of features can be found on Triplechat (pointed out by Joystiq)
Some of the more interesting ideas are game-launching and full-length feature films, as well as collectable statues and figurines.
Voice-activated exercise specialist VPT Technologies has been spotted trademarking the names Fitness Hero and Workout Hero.
Siliconera laid eyes on the patent, which mentions "a web-based videogame system to connect all users in a safe and secure global network".
Phrases like "align the various markets" and "synergistic" are thrown in almost for fun.
Activision has had immense success with Guitar Hero, which has lead to spin-offs of Hero-related rhythm titles. DJ Hero arrives on its wave of marketing-powered excitement this autumn.
Gearbox appears to want a piece of the Hero pie as well, having recently trademarked a quartet of familiar sounding names: War Hero, World War II Hero, Modern War Hero and Brothers In Arms War Hero.
A couple of days ago, I noted on the Digital Foundry Twitter feed that enterprising coders had found a way to make the PlayStation 3 significantly outperform the Blu-ray spec by enabling video playback of 1080p material at 60 frames per second. The average Blu-ray movie runs at 24FPS while the system's 1080i conformity gives it a notional top-end of 30FPS. But PlayStation 3 goes way beyond that, seemingly without breaking a sweat. The story kicks off with the release of the Sanyo HD2000 camera. Capable of recording 1080p60 video directly into MP4 files, enterprising souls on the Doom9 video forum set about getting clips from this camera to play on standalone BD players, despite the fact there was little hope of it actually working. However, for a while now hackers have been working on reverse-engineering the AVCHD format – the consumer-level sibling to full Blu-ray used by a multitude of HD video cameras. Coder "DeanK", author of the MultiAVCHD authoring tool found that with some effort, clips from the Sanyo camera would work within his tool when played back on PS3. Seeing as my company creates a 1080p60 capable capture system, this proved to be intriguing for me, especially seeing as we can produce this exquisite level of video, but have no consumer-level platform on which to play it! The PS3 XMB held some promise, but despite some efforts at 1080p60 encodes to promote WipEout HD, actual picture quality was distinctly mediocre and higher-end encoding would cause plenty of hiccups. Using DeanK's tools, I found that the PS3's Blu-ray/AVCHD decoder had a clear performance edge over the XMB, allowing for smoother playback of more ambitious files.
The encoding required is somewhat specialist and I had to get it done out of house, but regardless, there's now a downloadable demo you can try for yourself – assuming you have a 1080p screen of course. So, if you have 857MB of bandwidth to spare, go here, download, unzip and copy to a USB flash drive (burning to optical disc won't work without patching some files) making sure that the AVCHD folder is on the root of the drive. Put the drive into the PS3, click on the AVCHD icon on the XMB in the video section, sit back and watch Capcom's excellent Devil May Cry 4 intro play out at native 1080p running at 60 frames per second. The video itself was captured by our TrueHD system hooked up to an i7 PC with a top-of-the-line NVIDIA GTX295, allowing us to run the game effortlessly with all settings maxed out. For content producers eyeing up PS3 for further Blu-ray defying tasks, it has to be stated that there are limitations. Some of the key techniques h264 implements to exact maximum quality use way too much processing power to be effective running at 60FPS in this extreme resolution. At the same time, the AVCHD and Blu-ray standards have inherent limitations in themselves compared to the full unfettered power of the core compression technology. Bottom line: you need to throw a lot more bandwidth at the problem to maintain picture quality, and in the case of pristine game video, you need a ton more compared to the average "real life" camera shot. Even the download here could do with a fair bit more bandwidth to match the original capture. Regardless though, it remains the case that for PS3 to be able to do this at all is an excellent achievement, and brings home a hugely important factor about the console's long term future. In the fullness of a time, a smaller, slimmer PS3 will be one hell of a powerful – and hopefully cheap – media player, also capable of playing some damn good games too. With DivX adopting the Matroska (MKV) file format for its HD files, realistically it's only a matter of time before PS3 offers native support, making the console invaluable for playing just about any kind of media thrown its way.
Take-Two and Rockstar are expected to release two brand new downloadable episodes for Grand Theft Auto IV in fiscal 2010, and release GTA V the following financial year.
That's according to analyst Todd Mitchell, who told GamesIndustry.biz that following the release of Xbox 360 exclusives The Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, two all-new episodes are due – possibly across both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms.
"I would expect that there would be two more pieces of downloadable content for GTA IV, that's what has been indicated to me, although formats are unsure. It's been indicated to me to me that would be the case," said Mitchell, of Kaufman Bros. Equity Research.
Mitchell also stated that he's expecting Grand Theft Auto V to be released in the 2011 financial year, and there's also the possibility of a new GTA title for the PlayStation 2 next year.
"Coming out of E3 there was no commitment to a new Grand Theft Auto, and I think that's because of Rockstar's track record with delivering on time," said Mitchell.
"Of the three, I'm least confident in saying for sure there will be a new GTA for PlayStation 2, but the track record shows that PSP titles have been repositioned [on PS2]," he said, referring to the recent announcement of GTA: Chinatown Wars for the PSP.
Despite all the talk of Rockstar's biggest franchise, Kaufman Bros. has upgraded Take-Two to a 'buy' rating because the publisher is demonstrating that it no longer needs to rely on GTA to score blockbuster hits.
Newly announced Rockstar title Agent will be released in 2010, said the company, along with an as-yet unannounced title from 2K Games
"We believe Take-Two has a solid line-up for fiscal 2010 even without a GTA V release," noted Kaufman Bros.
"Our outlook includes expected strong sell-through of Bioshock 2, and the release of two 'AAA' titles, each from Rockstar (Red Dead Redemption and Agent) and 2K Games (Mafia II and TBD), reiterations of 2K Sports and 2K Play's annual line-ups, an expected GTA title for the PS2, expected strong sell-through of GTA: Chinatown Wars for the PSP, and new GTA DLC for the Xbox 360 and PS3.
"We now look for the release of GTA V in fiscal 2011, and believe IP introduced in fiscal 2010 can be turned into iterative franchises that will improve Take-Two's long-term earnings profile by lessening its dependence on GTA," said the firm.
Mitchell added: "What we're saying is Take-Two is now becoming a proper company rather than a one hit wonder. After GTA V in 2011, they can come back with more franchises and not be forced to rely on that every other year," he said.
Kaufman Bros. expects fiscal 2010 revenue for Take-Two to hit USD 1.3 billion, and USD 1.6 billion in 2011 with a GTA V release.
"Now that this shoe has dropped, and a case can be made for solid profitability in fiscal 2010 without GTA V, and the follow-on of higher earnings in fiscal 2011 with a GTA V release, we believe the investment case for Take-Two has improved and investors can begin to get more constructive with the name."
The current generation of games consoles could struggle to deliver the types of game experiences the majority of gamers want and end up as niche products within a couple of years, according to Playfish chief executive Kristian Segerstrale.
As the demand for social games distributed via Facebook and other social networking sites grows, he predicts that incompatible, prohibitively expensive games consoles could fail to compete with the more accessible and connected experiences online services can deliver.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Segerstrale said: "I think that games consoles - while they might be an important part of the industry now - might become niche in the next couple of years. It's not at all clear if it even makes sense to deliver this type of gaming on a home console."
While Microsoft's move to market the Xbox 360 as a social entertainment experience is a step in the right direction, ultimately the platform cannot compete with PC and other internet connected portable devices, he predicts.
"The challenge is, no matter how social you try to make a console not everybody has one. Not all your real world friends will have the same console as you do. No matter how social you make it you will only reach, if you like, vertically. You will only reach your friends who have an Xbox 360."
Going on to discuss EA's entry into the social gaming market, Segerstrale was positive about the publisher's involvement, saying a big presence in the market by them will lead to higher quality experiences for users.
"They clearly believe, much as we believe, that games are becoming services and that retail distribution for games will decline quite rapidly from here onwards. And I think that the most important thing for social games is to ensure the quality of the end user experience."
"The only threat that I see to the industry is that in the search for early profit and maximising early results for companies, companies will act overly aggressively in how they try to monetise users, which is not good for anybody," he added.
Actual real life DJ hero, Grandmaster Flash, has told Rolling Stone that DJ Hero will be the "most popular thing to do in gaming on the planet."
The old skool DJ has been involved with the game for over a year now and has contributed in all areas from mixes, voiceovers to type of language to use. We hope it's in English.
The confirmed track list has also grown:
David Bowie - "Lets Dance" vs. KRS-1 - "Jack Of Spades"
Nirvana - "All Apologies" vs. Rick James - "Give It To Me"
Zombies - "Time Of The Season" vs. Chuck Brown - "Bustin Loose"
Grandmaster Flash - "Here Comes My DJ" vs. Gary Numan - "Cars"
Herbie Hancock - "Rockit" vs. N.E.R.D. - "Lapdance"
Jay Z - "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" vs. Eminem - "My Name Is"
Marvin Gaye - "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" vs. Gorillaz - "Feel Good Inc"
Dizzee Rascal - "Fix Up, Look Sharp' vs. Justice - "Genesis"
Gwen Stefani - "Hollaback Girl' vs. Rick James - "Give It To Me"
Jurassic 5 - "Jayou" vs. Herbie Hancock - "Rockit"
Tears for Fears - "Shout' vs. Eric Prydz - "Pjanoo (Radio Edit)"
Black Eyed Peas - "Boom Boom Pow' vs. Benni Benassi - "Satisfaction"
Beastie Boys - "Sabotage" vs. Foo Fighters - "Monkey Wrench"
If you're mad about Grandmaster Flash, then you might like to throw OXM a few questions as they'll be interviewing him soon.
The current-gen UK console install base has hit 24.2 million units, according to data released by Chart-Track.
Wii comfortably leads the way in the UK with 5.4 million units sold as of June 27, 2009. Xbox 360 sales are currently at 3.9 million while PS3 sales sit at 2.2 million, says Chart-Track.
On the handheld front DS sales are approaching ten million units and in comparison PSP has shipped 3.3 million units so far.
Nintendo's still winning then. Full data follows:
DS - 9.4 million (including 300,000 DSi sales)
Wii - 5.4 million
Xbox 360 - 3.9 million
PSP - 3.3 million
PS3 - 2.2 million
Universal Music has pledged its back catalogue to a new karaoke game set to challenge SingStar. CasualGaming.biz's sister site MCV has revealed that French label Mindscape will publish U-Sing in time for Christmas across the UK and Europe.
The firm has previously signed distribution deals with UK publishers for releases in the territory – such as its deal with Koch for Deal Or No Deal and Golden Balls games, plus the upcoming Coronation Street title.
However, MCV reveals that U-Sing will be independently published by Mindscape following the deal with Universal.
A Mindscape spokesperson told MCV: “U-Sing will offer the whole family the chance to sing the hits of Universal Music – from the biggest known classics through to the latest trendy tunes.
“Each country will have its own list of most popular local and international artists.”
The U-Sing brand will become a full series in future, with each game offering different game modes and Voxler voice recognition technology.
They will be marketed in France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Benelux and Australia and will eventually become available on all platforms.
Artists such as Amy Winehouse, Black Eyed Peas, Girls Aloud, Paul Weller and Lady GaGa are on Universal’s books – but U-Sing’s song line-up is yet to be confirmed.
The title appears to fit with Universal’s ‘U’ re-branding. Its UK website was last year renamed to Umusic.co.uk.
A few days after blocking PlayStation 3 users, Hulu has yet to respond to questions concerning the change which has only helped to fuel rumors it is related to the Microsoft ad campaign currently featured on the site, but that seems less likely now that we've confirmed it also began blocking the Flash-enabled Skyfire browser on Windows Mobile devices at the same time. Whatever the cause is, if you prefer a homegrown hack over something like PlayOn or TVersity, Eric over at ypass.net has put together a simple enough walkthrough for creating an "unblockable" workaround by setting up a locally connected PC running Linux or Windows with the freely available Squid proxy server software that will make your PS3 look like appear as a PC running a Firefox (or whatever you prefer) browser to any website that asks. Of course, just like the other solutions your computer will need to stay running to keep you connected, but we figure it's a small price to pay for enjoying relatively low res Flash video running on an HDTV.
features
For the first time ever, play as 6 of your favorite characters from the Ice Age movies
Explore the all-new Dinosaur World!
Compete with your friends and family in fun multiplayer mini-games!
description
Join Ice Age's unlikely herd of prehistoric pals for their most exciting adventure yet!
Embark on a rescue mission across melting snow to the mysterious Dinosaur World - an all new, fur-raising jungle of carnivorous plants, lush foliage and fierce dinosaurs!
EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 is truly the Return of the Champ. Building off EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 3, one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed games to come out at the onset of the Playstation 3 hardware launches, EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 promises to be equally as ground-breaking and revolutionary. With an all new gameplay engine, truly unique and differentiated boxer styles, and the most impressive boxer roster ever including the return of the legendary Iron Mike Tyson, EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 takes video game boxing and fighting to an entirely new level.
In "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was.
Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching.
Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts.
He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.
See Harry and friends in action before the movie hits the cinema. The Half Blood Prince is available on multiple platforms:
Xbox360™
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince US US$ 64.90
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince ASIA US$ 49.90
PlayStation3™
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince US US$ 64.90
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince ASIA US$ 49.90
Nintendo™ Wii
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince US US$ 54.90
PlayStation2™
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince US US$ 44.90
Nintendo DS™
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince JPN US$ 48.90
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince US US$ 34.90
Sony PSP™
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince US US$ 44.90
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince ASIA US$ 42.90
PC Game
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince (DVD-ROM) US US$ 34.90
features
Harness a variety of weapons from various pistols to heavy-caliber cannons and machine guns. Every accurate shot increases your concentration, which allows you to unleash deadly shooting modes when outnumbered and even deadlier ones when the brothers work together
Choose to embody Ray or Thomas, each with a distinctive gameplay style (close or long range), specific abilities (lasso, dynamite, etc.) and arsenal of deadly weapons (dual guns, long-range carbine, etc.). Take advantage of each of their strengths and join in the fiercest fights imaginable
The McCall brothers face a renegade Apache Chief, a greedy Mexican bandit, and a vindictive Colonel, all driven by greed with moral disregard. Enjoy a wide variety of situations, using horses, canoes and wagons to explore the open natural landscapes of the mythical Wild West and its legendary period
Gunslingers, bandits and marshals struggle online for the bounty. Multiple characters are unlocked for team-based objective modes or the straightforward team deathmatch. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood introduces a Bounty system, which sees players increase the bounty on their head with more kills. Get rid of the deadliest among you to increase your bank roll!
description
Call of Juarez™: Bound in Blood, is the prequel to the Wild West action shooter Call of Juarez. As the McCall brothers, players enter a doomed quest for the legendary Gold of Juarez leading them from a ravaged Georgia during the Civil War to the Aztec ruins of Mexico. They make their lawless trail into the wildest West ever depicted, using their gunslinging skills and killing all of those that stand before them. But when the brothers face lust, their bond of blood feels thinner than ever…
Although Wedbush Morgan analyst, Michael Pachter, predicts PS2 will become somewhat irrelevant in 2009, he doesn't discount the combined strength of the PlayStation brand. He remains optimistic for the entire PlayStation family as he expects "software sales for Sony consoles to account for 31% of all game software sold worldwide."
Pachter indicated in Wedbush's annual Interactive Industry Report that, while the numbers have been dwindling for PS2, overall worldwide software sales for PS3 titles have more than doubled within the last year. In 2008, 62.4 million units of PS3 software titles have been sold -- a huge step up from the 29.6 million units sold in 2007. The momentum of this growth will carry into 2009, according to Pachter, who believes PS3 and PSP titles (the latter of which only saw a 15% increase in worldwide sales last year) will pick up PS2's slack.
PS3 titles will be the top sellers, despite the fact that Pachter predicts Sony won't "secure significant third party exclusivity" as it continues "to focus its internal development efforts on blockbuster games." It's interesting to note, in light of another report, this strategy hasn't really worked out for Sony.
Chunsoft’s is porting their critically acclaimed sound novel 428: Fusasareta Shibuya de to the PlayStation 3 and PSP. In 428 players are locked in Shibuya and switch characters to solve a mystery behind a kidnapping.
Famitsu broke the news about the port, which is scheduled to come out in Japan this September. 428 was first released on the Wii in December 2008. This isn’t the first sound novel port from Chunsoft. Last year, the PlayStation 3 game Imabikisou and its creepy eye was ported to the Wii.
The most interesting detail about the port is Sega isn’t handling it. Sega published Imabikisou and the Wii version of 428 in Japan. Spike, notable for the Way of the Samurai games and handling 2K Sports titles in Japan, will publish 428 on PlayStation platforms.
Since Sega isn’t involved there’s a small very small chance 428 could get localized as a downloadable PSP or PlayStation 3 game. Capcom, UFO Interactive, and Atlus are some of the publishers that localized Spike’s games for North America. Atlus also has a relationship with Chunsoft from Shiren the Wanderer.
