The Game Console provides a concise reference on the history of console video games from Magnavox's 1972 Odyssey all the way up to the recently launched Wii. Though not complete, photos of the hardware, retail boxes, controllers and game media do accompany the profiled systems. How can we know where we're going, if we don't know where we've been? Your 10,000 word essays are due Friday by 5pm EST.
The Homebrew and Emulation Scene has seen some great Emulators over the years, Snes9X, Zsnes, Mame (in all its versions), Bleem, Ultrahle, Project64, Chankast.
Those Emulators have brought many thousands to the Homebrew and Emulation Arena, since those emulators have come and gone we havent had the buzz of a killer emulator since then.
That is until the last few months, the might of Sony and Nintendo have jumped into the Emulation Scene with their own emulators for the PSP and Nintendo Wii.
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Sonys PS1 Emulator
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Sony who using bullyboy tactics killed of Bleem and VGS have released what is the best emulator easily of the last year. The Playstation Emulator works at full speed with sound and decent controls in a widescreen on the Playstation Portable. The Emulator is being released in a single game format with PSX Games on the PS Network Shop. Luckily for the Homebrew Scene, Dark Alex released a custom firmware that opened up the emulator and now thousands of PSP Homebrew fans are enjoying all their favourite PSOne games in both NTSC and PAL format. Just about every game is perfect.
So well done Sony, for a company who hates emulators you have made the best one so far.
Nintendo`s Emulators for Wii
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The Nintendo Wii is an amazing console, not as powerful as the PS3 and Xbox360 but so unique it is gathering fans from all over the globe.
The Virtual Console is an awesome way to buy your favourite classic games and relive the best years of gaming.
For this Nintendo has written some excellent emulators for the Wii, So far we have Snes, Nes, PC Engine, Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64 and within the next few months NeoGeo and MSX.
Nintendo have done what most homebrew coders take years to do and thats get fullspeed emulators for the consoles mentioned above and with that in mind have dealt the homebrew community a major blow. Most Homebrewers love Emulators and with Nintendo covering most of the best systems already the need to write emulators for the Wii lessens.
Conclusion
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It feels strange as a fan of Homebrew and Emulators for over 12 years to be thanking Sony and Nintendo. But this year they deserve all the thanks from all corners of the emulation scene for the best emulators released in the last year.
Thanks Again Sony and Nintendo
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Nintendo DS™:
Asonde Igo ga Tsuyoku naru!! Ginsei Igo DS JPN US$ 48.90
Asonde Shogi ga Tsuyoku Naru !! Ginsei Shogi DS JPN US$ 48.90
Bakegyamon: Ayakashi Fighting JPN US$ 48.90
Super Robot Taisen W JPN US$ 58.90
Unou no Tatsujin: Soukai! Machigai Museum JPN US$ 39.90
Magazines, Toys & Misc:
Animal Crossing Character Bottle Phone Strap Gashapon (Theater Version) JPN US$ 2.49
Animal Crossing Houses, Figures or Accessories Gashapon (Theater Version) JPN US$ 3.99
Arcadia Magazine [April 2007] JPN US$ 12.90
Dragon Quest Monster Mascot Collection 2 - Minisize Mobile Mascot US$ 3.49
FA4 Fate/Hollow Ataraxia Collection Figure US$ 6.99
Fairy Musketeers Konami Figure Collection Vol.2 JPN US$ 4.49
Famitsu Wave DVD [April 2007] JPN US$ 16.50
Fate/Hollow Ataraxia 1/7 Scale Pre-painted PVC Figure - Saber With Beach Ball (Bikini Version) US$ 47.90
Final Fantasy XII Play Arts Action Figure - Ashe US$ 38.90
Final Fantasy XII Play Arts Action Figure - Balthier N/A
Final Fantasy XII Play Arts Action Figure - Judge Maser Gabranth N/A
Final Fantasy XII Play Arts Action Figure - Vaan US$ 38.90
Neon Genesis Evangelion Pre-painted PVC Metamo Figure: Soryu Asuka Langley US$ 36.90
New Super Mario Bros. Pouch JPN US$ 2.99
Pia Carrot G.O. Pre-painted PVC Figure: Ayano Kunugi (Swimsuit Ver.) JPN US$ 46.90
Premium Heroines SNK Beach Volley JPN US$ 7.99
Zero no Tsukaima 1/8 Scale Pre-painted PVC Figure - Louise US$ 49.90
Video Game related Soundtracks:
Neo Angelique - Romantic Gift - JPN US$ 36.90
Reijo Tantei -Office Love Jikenbo- Original Soundtrack JPN US$ 27.90
Spica - Kokoro ga Tsumugu Okurimono - Ar tonelico hymmnos musical JPN US$ 29.90
Super Eurobeat Presents Initial D Fourth Stage Non-Stop Mega Mix With Battle Digest [2CD+DVD] JPN US$ 34.90
Not sure if any of you entered it but the prizes were very decent and even i had to enter it.
Heres the latest update:
The Lucky Lunar New Year Sale has officially ended. Winners of the draw will be announced during next week (between March 5th to March 11th). We thank all customers for the big support brought forward during this sale.
In a surprising turn of events, the PSP has beaten off the Wii and PS3, selling more than both consoles in Japan last week.
The latest weekly sales figures for Japan reveal that Sony's portable placed second in the hardware sales chart for the week ending 25 February, with unit sales of 96,750.
This falls short only of the still storming DS, which sold 146,250 units according to figures on vgcharts.org.
However the PSP beat even the might DS in the software sales chart in the same period, selling 808,750 games compared with 618,250 for the DS.
The surge could be put down to the recent release of Capcom's Monster Hunter Freedom 2, a co-op-enabled monster catching/battling game, which topped the software charts with a colossal 755,500 copies sold. Second down was Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri, with 90,500 sales.
Rockstar's previously announced episodic content for Grand Theft Auto IV will begin in 2008, it's stated in a recent Take-Two financial report.
Take-Two's report reaffirms that GTA IV is due to release simultaneously on PS3 and Xbox 360 this October.
It's recently been speculated that the sequel will use the euphoria engine, technology that lends a dynamic and life-like element to in-game characters.
God of War is absolutely going to be given a PS3 debut at some point in the future, that's a given. But it looks like Sony's internal studio will be taking its time.
Speaking to GameDaily, GoW II's director Corey Barlog explained, "All the people who bought the first game were PS2 owners, so we wanted to stay with that especially because... I want to make the PS3 version of this game, absolutely, but I don't want to make it quickly. I don't want to quickly rush it out the door and be like, 'Oh my gosh, we need to get this out!' because we probably would have pushed ourselves to make it around the launch window and I think we would have sacrificed something by trying to take what we had and shoving it in there as quickly as possible."
Wise words we feel, as GoW II is looking like the last great PS2 game of its generation. We all know GDC is just around the corner, and Sony is quietly talking up PS3 ahead of the event. It's wishful thinking, but wouldn't it be awesome if GoW III made a surprise appearance...?
We fired up EA's new Battlefield: Bad Company trailer expecting the typical frantic gun fights, cinematic camera angles and dramatic lines.
And that's how it is to start with but then it changes, and becomes one of the most innovative trailers we've seen in a while - maybe ever. Funny too.
The way it demonstrates the intense atmosphere and new, fully destructible scenery is brilliant.
Battlefield: Bad Company, a single-player iteration of EA's brilliant online multiplayer war sim, is due to release on PS3 and Xbox 360 later this year.
Sony's Phil Harrison has told European gamers that they can expect over 1000 PS2 titles to be backwards compatible from March 23.
Speaking to semi-official blog Three Speech, Harrison said, "The situation is changing every day, but on March 23, we expect the list to include over 1,000 PS2 titles." Not bad, eh? "We can't give any information about specific titles but, clearly, that would be our policy."
Losing a chip from PS3 will obviously save Sony some cash in making the machine but when will that affect the RRP of PS3? "Price reductions are something that we wouldn't comment on specifically. But you know the business model very well - we strive to get the cost of manufacturing down as soon as possible, and as soon as we can pass cost savings onto the consumers, we will."
And how important is this whole backwards compatibility issue anyway? "I think the reasons why people buy PS3s are the new games that it offers, and the HD content experiences provided by games and movies, the opportunity to access the PlayStation Network, and titles like MotorStorm and Resistance: Fall of Man - leading-edge examples of what next-generation games are all about."
Phil Harrison's got a big announcement up his giant sleeve for next week's Game Developer Conference in San Francisco, according to Sony, which will be outlined in his keynote speech on Wednesday, 7th March, at 18:30 GMT.
"All I can say is we've said there's going to be a big announcement at GDC, and Phil's Keynote speech will form the basis of that," a spokesperson for Sony told Eurogamer this afternoon.
His talk will revolve around developing and creating games for the third age of videogames, delving into the meaning of "always on", and the opportunities presented by connected communities of players and developers.
Given that, we'd expect the "big announcement" will have something to do with the company's online strategy. However, we're open to suggestions; maybe the PSP will stick onto the PS3 and create a unique media-hub window, or perhaps there's a giraffe in the blu-ray disc drive. We're just not sure.
Gamers from England have the most capacity for evil of all the world's videogame enthusiasts, according to Lionhead's Peter Molyneux, quoting statistics from a study of people who played his Xbox RPG, Fable.
The research also showed that most American gamers found it difficult to make evil choices during the game's freeform adventure, with roughly 90% of gamers in the US roleplaying as good characters.
"There was a disappointing number of people that tended towards good," Molyneux told US mag GamePro, "but it is also very interesting that the percentage of good players versus evil players varies very strongly by nationality".
For example, "the English are probably the most evil of all," but Molyneux reckons that 70% of the Americans researched played good characters, while 20% "didn't have the moral fibre to keep going down the evil path" and eventually turned to good.
Molyneux also revealed that in Fable 2 the divide between good and evil will be far bigger than before, explaining that gamers who wish to be either pure good or pure evil will be forced to make some sacrifices - and not just the bloody kind.
Although Molyneux has focused so hard on evil actions that, during a recent meeting at Lionhead, one staffer exploded that he would "never play a game" that had all the nasty things in it that Molyneux had suggested. We would, mind.
Japanese game site Eg has the the country's software sales data (via Media Crate) for the week of February 19th to February 25th. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd did better than originally thought. Way better.
1.) Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (PSP) Capcom — 705281 (Last Week) 705281 (Total)
2). Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (PS2) Alchemist — 80002 (Last Week) 80002 (Total)
3). Fire Emblem: Akatsuki no Megami (Wii) Nintendo — 75359 (Last Week) 75359 (Total)
4). Sim City DS (NDS) Electronic Arts — 50826 (Last Week) 50826 (Total)
5. Professor Layton and the Mysterious Town (NDS) Level 5 — 49979 (Last Week) 186716 (Total)
6). Wii Sports (Wii) Nintendo — 47053 (Last Week) 1090736 (Total)
7). Naruto Shippuden: Gekitou Ninja Taisen EX (Wii) Takara Tomy — 45792 (Last Week) 45792 (Total)
8). Dragon Quest Monsters Joker (NDS) Square-Enix — 40507 (Last Week) 1174576 (Total)
9). Hajimete no Wii Pack (Wii) Nintendo — 35811 (Last Week) 944586 (Total)
10). Picross DS (NDS) Nintendo — 26693 (Last Week) 183357 (Total)
Hoping to take great ideas from the both the Xbox 360 and the Wii, Sony's planning to introduce a new PS3 feature called PlayStation Home. This new app/feature is rumored to be a blend of Microsoft's achievements and Nintendo's Miis. How does it work?
Well, the PlayStation Home is a little virtual home in which the avatar you make (your Pii?) will live. When you complete a game, it'll award you with a little trophy or toy to place in your home that your avatar can interact with. Not only that, they're planning to make your avatar social—like MySpace—and have it interact with other people's avatars.
All of this is rumored still, but Sony seems to be doing something big next week at GDC. We're willing to bet that this is it.
Anecdotal evidence from US brick-and-mortar retail outlets suggests that the 20GB version of the PlayStation 3 is heading for extinction, but Sony tells Next-Gen that's not the case--at least for the time being.
"The type of model found in stores is completely up to what the retailer orders, so if they don't see a big demand for a particular SKU, they simply don't order it from us," explained Sony Computer Entertainment America PR head David Karraker. "We continue to manufacture both."
"At this time there are no plans to change our US model offerings," Karraker stated.
This is classified as a rumor, but we really hope it's as RumorReporter says and consider it more of on the Report end, rather than the Rumor. We've kicked the whole "replacing hardware backwards compatibility with software" story to death (and we've got one more post to go on it, actually), so you know all about that. But now, an "anonymous industry insider" (who else gives us these rumors?) tells us that Sony is toying around with something else, beyond the 1.60 firmware update coming up soon.
HD upscaling of specific PS2 and PS-One titles is rumored to be in the works for, possibly, summer. We're not talking about 480p support -- the internal PS3 upscaler will move these games into 1080i/720p! Just think how some of your favorite games would look if they're supported by the PlayStation 3 into 1080i/720p... it's almost legendary in awesomeness. Let's hope we get more official word on this closer to summer.
That's right -- the complaints about the PS3 dev-kits and all being really limited and tough to work with must have been grounded in some kind of fact, or else Sony wouldn't have released an all new set of tools for developers working on PS3 titles. This new kid, called PlayStation 3 Edge has "been put together by three first-party technology teams within Sony, the WWS Europe Advanced Technology Group, WWS America ICE team (a technology group based at Naughty Dog that specialises in graphics systems and tools for the PlayStation 3), and WWS America Tools and Technology group."
This new thingie is described by Sony: "rather than an overarching engine, these teams have chosen to create specialized systems that demonstrate best practices of SPU and RSX utilization." So, is this a step in the right direction for PS3 software development? We submit that it certainly is. With better technology and tools made available to developers, not only will their game development costs decrease, but games will begin to look better and better, do more and more at once. Maybe next-gen titles will drop to $50 as a standard in a year or so. Oh, wait... the Wii already has them at that price. Well, those'll drop to $40 and below at that point. Pricing wars are fun.
Sony Computer Entertainment announced that it will update the PlayStation Store today with Namco's Tekken: Dark Resurrection for download. The game is a PlayStation 3 translation of the PSP title and features full 1080p support. Tekken: Dark Resurrection will retail for $19.99. We'll have our full review of the game soon, so keep an eye open for that.
SCEA also announced that it will post a new MotorStorm video featuring a behind-the-scenes look at the game's development. The video features footage from Evolution Studios' shoot in Utah's Monument Valley and includes interviews will the designer and producers. MotorStorm is set to launch on March 6th in stores nationwide.
A new trailer for a Warner Bros. film will also make its way to the store, though Sony didn't mention which movie it will be for.
It's a whole new ballgame! Major League Baseball 2K7 redefines the pure baseball video game experience with true, Next-Gen details, all-new throwing mechanics and a revolutionary presentation system. Featuring stunning, lifelike player models, Signature Style animations, Inside Edge data and more, Major League Baseball 2K7 delivers the most authentic baseball action to date.
Originally announced back in 2005 as Shrek 3, the now renamed Shrek the Third is a totally new quest with a plot running parallel to that of the movie.
As you work through the comedy fairytale, you will get to play as Shrek, Donkey, Puss-in-Boots, Fiona, Arthur and Sleeping Beauty.
All the usual stuff will feature - various collectibles, boss battles and a number of multiplayer mini games.
Shrek the Third will launch for... *deep breath*... Wii, Xbox 360, PS2, PC, PSP, DS and GBA in May.
Alright, so just days after trashing rumble as a "last generation feature," it appears that Sony cut a deal with Immersion (AKA the company which owns the patents on force-feed back stuff for controllers) paving the way for them to potentially add this "last generation feature" to their next generation console. Looks like Sony more or less caved here. They're paying Immersion the full sum awarded to them by a Federal District Cour, plus interest, and the two companies have agreed to enter into a "a new business agreement to explore the inclusion of Immersion technology in PlayStation® format products." So when do we finally see rumble in the PS3?
Bloody violence and torso-slicing is rife in a new gameplay trailer from Dark Sector, Digital Extremes' stealth-action game that flings you into a near future where bio-weapons have unleashed hell and havoc.
In the game, you play Hayden Tenno, a character with the ability to morph into different combat forms whose signature weapon is a massive damage Frisbee. Can it slice opponents in half? Yep. And dispatch enemies in other gruesome and imaginative ways? Oh yes. Nice. View the trailer for the full-on gore.
It looks a bit Splinter Cell mixed with Resident Evil, in our mind. We'll be bringing you more details on the game in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, enjoy the footage.
We're currently expecting Dark Sector to release at the end of the year.
Rockstar will release the very first trailer from Grand Theft Auto IV on March 29.
A little teaser page with a countdown timer has been set up on the company's website. Go ahead and watch those seconds, minutes, hours and days tick down.
What will the trailer reveal? We're on tenterhooks...
Earlier in the week speculation broke out that the sequel is to use the euphoria engine featuring in LucasArts' Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and it's also been revealed that Rockstar will begin releasing episodic content for GTA IV in 2008.
So, the first glimpse of all that GTA IV goodness on March 29, with the full game releasing on PS3 and Xbox 360 simultaneously around October 17 this year.
The industry is currently gearing up in preparation of the Game Developers Conference 2007, to be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, March 5 - 9.
The event kicks off on Monday, with a focus on mobile entertainment and a keynote from industry veteran Trip Hawkins, who will be discussing Making Mobile Phones the Ultimate Game Platform.
Other mobile focused highlights include founding chairman of GDC Mobile Robert Tercek's keynote on The First Decade of Mobile Games, highlighting the key titles, turning points and pitfalls of the industry so far.
Also sure to cause a buzz in the mobile sector will be Nokia's unveiling of the new N-Gage platform, with numerous speaker session covering the SDK, publishing partners, software and hardware specifications.
Phil Harrison's keynote will be the must-attend event of Wednesday, with the worldwide studios boss expected to reveal the next stage in Sony's intention to dominate the digital home.
Also scheduled for Wednesday is Katie Perez's session on how to develop and pitch a successful Xbox Live game submission, and Warren Spector's speech on The Future of Next-Generation Game Development.
Thursday again kicks off with a heavyweight keynote, this time from legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto, who will be revealing how a singular creative vision guides his work.
Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux is also due to reveal more about his RPG sequel in Innovations in Fable 2 on Thursday, while Rare's Michael Boulton will take attendees on a detailed tour of the look and style of Viva Pinata.
One of Friday's highlights is likely to be id Software's Todd Hollenshead's frank session on The Videogame Piracy Problem, with insight from his experiences battling piracy over the past ten years. Also scheduled for Friday is Scott Kirkland's session looking at the physics of stand-out PlayStation 3 title Motorstorm.
It's is well-established that the science supporting a connection between video game violence and real-world violence is tenuous. A new article at Ars Technica examines why society finds a gaming-violence connection so comforting. From the article: 'Sternheimer suggests that gaming is simply the latest in a long series of media influences to take the blame. "Over the past century, politicians have complained that cars, radio, movies, rock music, and even comic books caused youth immorality and crime, calling for control and sometimes censorship." She terms the targets of such efforts folk devils, items branded dangerous and immoral that serve to focus blame and fear
Earlier today, gaming blog Kotaku reported on a rumored PlayStation 3 feature, set to be unveiled during next week's Game Developer's Conference. The key word, of course, is "rumored," a word which has since gotten the blog into hot water with Sony. The original article, which boasted one anonymous source, a smattering of founded speculation and repeated use of the aforementioned keyword, detailed "PlayStation Home," a visual mixture of the Xbox 360's achievement system and the Wii's customizable avatars.
Though most rumors come and go with little input from publishers ("no comment" has become de rigueur), this one became notable as soon as Kotaku was asked to take it down. In a calm and straightforward follow-up article, Kotaku's Brian Crecente reveals that the blog's failure to comply has led to a complete dismissal and excommunication from Sony. It seems clear that such a response lends the rumor more veracity, but the response itself is far more interesting in what it means for the rest of the blogosphere.
What did Kotaku do wrong? In contacting Sony for comment on the initial story, Crecente was informed that publishing the report could harm the business relationship between the two entities. Unresponsive to thinly-veiled threats, Crecente published the story, citing concern with informing readers and not with maintaining a corporation's announcement schedule. In an e-mail to Crecente, David Karakker, senior director of Sony's corporate communications, stated that, "I am very disappointed that after trying to work with you as closely as possible and provide you and your team with access and information, you chose to report on this rumor.... I can't defend outlets that can't work cooperatively with us."
This doesn't appear to be an issue of cooperation at all. It's an issue of control. A major corporation is lashing out at a news platform where it is unable to pull all the strings and directly exert influence. In the ideal world of public relations, journalists would regurgitate press releases verbatim with nary a thought spared to truth or timing. All this comes just a week before GDC and Sony's promised meeting with bloggers -- the opening of a dialogue between "us" and "them."
By doing our job and informing readers, have we become the enemy?
[Update: Sony and Kotaku have settled their differences and reopened communications. As Brian Crecente puts it, "We were doing our job and Sony was doing theirs and now we can both continue to do so." Thanks AssemblyLineHuman.]
features
Two New Characters, El Blaze and Eileen, round out the cast of 17 dynamic characters. El Blaze is a Mexican wrestling champion that uses the Lucha Libre fighting style, and Eileen, originally from China, uses a “Kou Ken” (Monkey style Kung Fu fighting style).
Stunning, Highly-Detailed 3-D Fighting Environments inspired by locales around the world where players can challenge their opponents in unique types of arenas.
Offensive Move lets players to easily move around their opponent from the side and back allowing players to be more strategic with their battles.
Customize your character with the enhanced attachment system and customization engine giving players more flexibility than ever before when creating their characters.
Next Gen Presentation includes HD resolution widescreen and 5.1-channel Dolby Digital surround.
description
This new installment in the critically-acclaimed Virtua Fighter series packs a serious punch fueled by the power of the PLAYSTATION®3. Virtua Fighter 5 will have an all-star cast of 17 fighters, including characters from the previous iterations along with two new characters named El Blaze and Eileen. El Blaze is a Mexican fighting champion that defeats unsuspecting opponents with his lightning-quick Lucha Libre fighting style and Eileen uses a Monkey Kung Fu fighting style which she learned from her grandfather, a former Kung Fu master. Choose from an array of costumes and attachable items and then step into the ring and prove that you're the best.
features
Pages: 192
BradyGames' Virtua Fighter 5 Official Strategy Guide features complete coverage on all 17 fighters, including the two new characters to the series.
Detailed information on character customization.
Expert tips on character match-ups, strengths and weaknesses.
Strategies for each mode of gameplay.
More than a third of young drivers are more likely to go faster on the roads after playing on-screen driving games, a survey suggests.
And 27% of motorists aged 16 to 24 admitted more risk-taking on the road after a gaming session.
A thousand drivers were questioned on behalf of driving school BSM.
BSM's road safety consultant Robin Cummins said the results showed an 'indisputable' link between gaming and dangerous driving.
A quarter of drivers even said they imagine they are in a driving simulation game while driving for real - men are the worst offenders for this.
The poll also found that 34% of the 1,000 young drivers questioned think computer games can improve real-life driving ability, with two in five reckoning the games can help their reflexes.
The guy in front, the music on the stereo...those are the things that make you speed up
David Perry
The survey revealed that just over half of frequent game-players pass their driving test first time, compared with only 45% of those who only play games infrequently.
Mr Cummins said: "With more than 200 young people killed each year due to speeding alone, it's crucial that they learn to 'keep it real' on the road."
But the survey's findings have been rejected by the US-based games designer David Perry.
The multi-millionaire from Belfast, who is currently designing a driving video game, said behaviour was affected by how drivers felt while behind the wheel, not before they got in their car.
"Anything that affects your emotions will affect how you drive. The guy in front, the music on the stereo...those are the things that make you speed up, not a game you played an hour ago."
In the fourth and final part of N'Gai Croal's epic and quite informative interview with Phil Harrison, the Sony head of worldwide studios discusses his company's cultural approach to marketing in Japan. Mr. Harrison explains that in order to engender trust in Japanese consumers, Sony should start divulging more information and features earlier, even if they aren't quite "perfect" yet. His example? "You know, we're not sure when it's coming, but we're going to have DVD upscaling on Playstation 3." He follows up with, "There you go. There's a scoop for you."
Though it's up in the air as to when a PS3 firmware update will enable a feature found in standalone Blu-ray players, it should work as a sufficient stop-gap to those still waiting for Blu-ray versions of Bloodrayne and American Ninja 4: The Annihilation. DVD upscaling might not boast the "wow" factor of pure HD content, but the Algebra of Wows dictates that it should be worth several thousand anti-mehs. At least!
Sony today kicks off its GBP6m campaign ahead of PS3's UK launch on March 23rd.
With pre-orders at a record high, Sony Computer Entertainment rolls out its ‘This is Living’ creatives in cinemas today, with TV commercials to follow from Friday March 16th and a pivotal online push all part of the marketing blitz.
The team behind the launch are looking to evolve the PlayStation brand from its gaming roots to more of an ‘entertainment supercomputer’, according to SCE UK marketing director Alan Duncan. “We want to review the emotional relationship between consumers and the PlayStation brand,” he told MCV. “The ‘This is Living’ campaign is designed to promote a rational role for the PS3 in people’s lives.”
Alongside ambitious in-store plans for retail, Sony’s marketing ethos revolves around getting consumers to form their own view of the much-hyped next-gen machine.
“My role in life is to make consumers re-appraise what PlayStation means and what role it has in their lives,” said Duncan. “It’s an entertainment supercomputer for the home. Until you spend time with PS3 you won’t have that ‘penny drop’ moment.”
And the platform holder is looking for success in the long term, not just within the initial launch window. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint. We will of course have a big splash at launch but the way in which we have bought our media allows us to sustain that momentum and the ‘This is Living’ proposition well into the months after launch.
Hinting at the provocative nature of the campaign, he added: “Our ads will never, ever be passive. We want to get people involved.”
Campaign highlights include:
* A total cross-media spend of £6m
* TV ads to hit 44m individuals by the end of May. First ad set for March 16th
* Cinema campaign to target 12m admissions. First ads hit today
* Online promotions to total 40m impacts
We announced the PS3 Hyperdrive project a few weeks ago and listened to a lot of criticism regarding the design. So we looked at it again.
We had to ask ourselves what was the main purpose of this product.
1. To be able to add any SATA or IDE Hard Drive externally to the PS3 - so there was no need for any expensive 2.5" Sata Hard Drive upgrades if the need for a very large hard drive was required in the near future.
2. To make the adapter a clean design and pleasing to the eye.
3. To be simple and cheap.
So we went back to the drawing board and after a couple of weeks of tweaking we have finished the design and have already gone into production of the PS3 HDXT.
It's simple, clean, cheap and it works.
The Xecuter PS3 HDXT is a caddy type frame that plugs into the PS3 internally where the 2.5" Sata drive would normally slot. You then clip on the matching faceplate and bingo you now have a clean external Sata connection. No frills and no fuss. You can now add any hard drive you wish and connect it any way you wish. We have also designed a simple but cost effective Sata to IDE convertor.
By Crom! For years now, companies have tried to capture the spirit and the essence of the classic Robert E. Howard 1932 fiction novel that presented the Cimmerian warrior in Hyborian times. Regardless of the various comic books or films of the legendary barbarian, very few representations have accurately presented the fighter in his natural surroundings. Throwing over the stylized film versions in favor of the novels, THQ and Nihilistic are now taking up the mantle of the anti-hero character in Conan the Barbarian. We managed to get a look at a pre-alpha build of the game, which is expected to hit shelves in early winter of 2008.
The team over at Nihilistic really wanted to make the player feel like they were stepping into the boots of Conan. That means capturing the gore of the battle sequences. As a result, they established a basic guideline of trying to stay true to the initial Howard fiction while incorporating new elements of the interpreted game world. For example, Conan will wind up facing off against twenty or more enemies at a time, slicing and dicing his way through opponents that dare to get in his path. Influenced by elements of Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry, Conan the Barbarian allows players to exploit more than twenty weapons and over 100 unique combat moves, including finishing strikes, to eliminate enemies. Many of these include slicing enemies in half, stealing weapons out of opponent's hands, and kneeing an opponent in, well, sensitive areas.
Most of these moves will be discovered across the six different locations of Hyboria that Conan will explore. Initially, he'll start off with 25 to 30 separate attacks, including finishing moves, that he'll be able to trigger at any point in time. However, he'll need to vary his attacks, utilizing parries, blocks and disarming strikes to effectively dispatch his foes because the enemy A.I. will quickly notice if players are using the same attacks and devise ways around these maneuvers. After every successful attack, Conan will potentially gain health, experience boosts, special ability charges (which power up his most important strikes) or momentum gains, which strengthen the power and speed of his attacks.
In fact, players will need to constantly weigh their moves when it comes to unleashing special attacks, such as Conan's Song of Death, which slows down time and allows the barbarian to target and eviscerate his foes. However, just because Conan uses these special moves doesn't make him invincible to his opponents. We noticed during our demo that players will literally have to pluck arrows from Conan's body before he loses significant amounts of health and bleeds to death. Conan will also have the flexibility to utilize the environment in numerous ways, tossing enemies onto spikes and other hazards around levels to quickly lessen the odds against him. Similarly, the Cimmerian will need to break down objects in the environment to solve various platforming puzzles that are arranged in his way. Since just about every item in the environment can be used as a weapon, expect to use barrels, enemies and other objects as a tool to bludgeon opponents.
It's not confirmed, but it's more than likely that we'll see Red Sonja, Valeria and other classic Conan characters cross the Cimmerian's path during the massive adventure, which should pit him against human and monster mini-bosses and bosses alike. We noticed everything from two handed sword wielding captains to massive squids that turned shipmates into ink zombies. Knowing that Conan was packing a massive sword however, we knew there was nothing to fear, and found that it was easy to slice our way through jungle levels, areas infested with snake cultists, and even stages inspired by Kush, or the lands of Northern Africa.
THQ showed off a bevy of titles at their Gamer's Day event last night, one of which was Juiced 2. Those unfamiliar with Juiced only really need to know that it was a underground street racing game where players could customize their cars and bet both the cars and their earned cash against computer AI in a career mode that had players climbing up the ranks of bad ass racers. Juiced 2 basically follows the same frame or existence. The game will begin with you creating a character, purchasing a car, and begin racing up through various levels of circuits. Along the way you can bet against other racers, for other racers, for themselves, and on AI races.
One of the biggest differences between Juiced 1 and 2 is that THQ has secured the Hot Imports Nights license, which will allow for a bigger and better style to the game that hints at much more professional racing than just underground for pink slips. The tracks we saw in this version of Juiced were both set-up to look like very professional races. Both of the tracks, one a full race, and the other a drift course, were in London and looked pretty damn nice. There will also be tracks racing through other fun cities around the globe such as San Francisco and Rome where players will drive right through the coliseum.
The level of customization for characters and cars alike is pretty extensive. While the player avatar probably won't matter quite as much to most racers, the options are still there for gender, looks, and clothing. The fact that the avatar will show up online when racing in multiplayer adds a bit more weight behind the creation. Either way, it's really the car customization that will grab most players and Juice Games is placing a lot of energy into making sure players have a ton of options for parts and decals. With around 90 cars to choose from and 600 body kits, it should be hard to complain. These tweaks also include items that aren't immediately apparent such as the interiors (seats, steering wheels, etc..). Painting and sticking decals on the car also looks to have a great level of customization. Decals can be slected and moved anywhere on the car and can be rotated, tilted, increased in size, and more. Along with a nice array of base colors and pearlescent tones, there should be a wide variety of cars for the multiplayer portion of the game.
Considering Juice Games has removed the need to repair cars in between races (there is still a damage model in the races), which put a serious damper on making any real money, you should have a good amount of cash to spend on improving cars both in their looks and their tuning. Eventually you will want to take these cars online and race against other players for game cash or pink slips. Betting was one of the cool things about the original Juiced that made races that much more important. Bringing that to multiplayer is a pretty good idea. One of the interesting things is that other players that aren't involved in the race will also be able to jump in and bet. So if you get a couple of well known drivers battling in a race, you could get a pretty good sum of folks wagering on the match. Odds will change as the race progresses so there's also a chance that you could make several bets on one race.
Juice Games is also making sure that those who do participate online in pink slip races won't ruin the fun by "accidentally" dumping out in the middle of a race that's going badly. Once a pink slip race has been initiated, the server will automatically remove the cars from the players inventory and save the game. That means any player who loses connection in the middle of a high stakes race like this will also lose their car. It's a real incentive not to cheat. It also means that anyone who really does accidentally disconnect will also lose their car. That is, of course, sad, but probably worth the risk when dealing with a bunch of online idiots that like to ruin games for the rest of us.
We would have loved to have a chance to play the game ourselves, but this was a first-look only opportunity. It's hard to comment on how well the game's controls perform without the hands-on time, but what we saw looked pretty smooth. Both the race and the drifting seemed to control pretty well for the developers playing the game. There were none of the usual spin-outs in the short demonstration at least though one AI did go careening into the wall after the demo driver followed for long enough to drive the spook meter up far enough that the AI driver freaked out and crashed.
Juiced 2 is due out for basically every system aside from the original Xbox and GameCube. The 360 version was shown at the event and looked very decent. We'll have to wait for another time to see each of the other versions, but both PC and PS3 should be identical to the 360 version and others will only suffer from a lower graphics level without losing too many of the features.
Look for more info on Juiced 2 as Juiced Games and THQ continue development.
A Heisman Trophy winner, a national champion and a household name.
These would have been the easy picks to front NCAA Football 08, the next installment in Electronic Arts' vaunted franchise, slated to hit the Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 this summer. Look back at past covers and that's what you see: Heisman winners, national champs and marketable household names. That's what college football fans expect.
But doing what everyone expects has gotten EA Sports into trouble as of late. Its library of next-generation sports titles have received lukewarm reception from fans for being feature-light and a tad, well, boring. At the same time, interest in current-generation games is waning as they seem to have reached an innovation plateau. So, EA decided it's time to do the unexpected.
Breathe a sigh of relief. As you can see from the list of games below, publishers are beginning to feel the warmth of spring approaching and are keen to hit stores with stock prior to the frenzy that will be PlayStation 3. Ket game releases listed right here.
It certainly beats last week's release schedule which was about as tempting as a meal in an Indian restaurant while you're sat next to Jade Goody.
Of particular note are two excellent DS releases in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin and Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis. There's also relief to be had on Xbox 360 with the intriguing Bullet Witch and the solid Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2.
Sure, it's not a week that will go down in the annals of videogaming history but if you have a spare £40 (and it was pay day this week) there are definitely a few quality titles to encourage the money out of your purse.
The complete list of games released in the UK this coming Friday (09/03/07):
Bullet Witch, 360, Atari
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, DS, Konami
CSI 3 Dimension of Murder, PS2, Ubisoft
Garfield's Nightmare, DS, The Game Factory
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2, 360, Ubisoft
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, PS2, Rockstar
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, PS2/PSP, EA
Lionel Trains, DS, Zoo Digital
M.A.C.H., PSP, Vivendi
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, DS, Nintendo
If you have ever attempted any repair or improvement of any kind, you know that the right tools can make the difference between a good experience and a bad one. The Access Pro Toolkit by Zoozen has everything you need to get into your console and accessories. It is the only toolkit that includes tools for every console and handheld on the market today. And it includes unique and custom tools that are only available from Zoozen.
This tool kit includes the tools you need for the:
* Microsoft products, including: Original Xbox, Xbox 360 and accessories like the Xbox 360 wired controller, and the Xbox 360 wireless controller. Special tools: the OneSnap, the only one-piece Xbox 360 case separator, and a special long neck tamper resistant Torx bit.
* Nintendo products, including: the Nintendo Wii, GameCube, GBA, DS, DS Lite, and most accessories like Nintendo Cartridges, Gamecube controllers, and power supplies. Special Tools: Triwing bits in two sizes and two sizes of rare Linehead Nut Setters in hardened steel. Also has the correct tools for most of the retired Nintendo game machines (those not currently for sale in the marketplace).
* Sony Products, including: PS3, PS2, PStwo, and PSP and many accessories (for example: Sony controllers).
* The Access Pro Tool Kit also has the correct tools to open most third party products.
The tools are all housed in a convenient plastic case that keeps all the parts just where they belong. And, duplicates of most bits are provided, just in case you drop a bit behind your desk during a critical procedure.
After peeling myself away from reading Homer's The Odyssey and completing a research paper in a Marketing course (the subject was Electronic Gaming Monthly, actually), I recalled that I had yet to announce all the new goodies available on the PlayStation Network. Many of you may know this by now, but we're going to tell you nonetheless.
First up, that long-awaited PSP-gone-PS3 title, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection is up and waiting for your $19.99... and you know what? It's games like these that really show the power of the PlayStation Network -- downloading a full game, with tons of little extras, and load times that make the PSP cry. Seriously, battles are nigh instantaneous. Also available now is a behind the scenes look at MotorStorm. Not really sure why you'd go for that, but if you just can't get enough of motors or of storms, it's probably extremely interesting to see how it all came together. Personally, I'll have to pass. Excited for MotorStorm, but not that excited. There's also a Ridge Racer 7 demo and a trailer for the Nancy Drew movie. Well, hope you guys are enjoying your PS3's! I've noticed a lot more people online a lot more often the past week. Glad to see it!
In March, there will come a few new multiplayer modes of play for the PS3 launch title Resistance: Fall of Man. Soon after, in May, there will come a few new maps. This is exciting news for anyone who has learned the layout of every map and is pretty much bored of the same running route or always playing capture the flag... or whatever. Anyway, the two new gameplay modes are "Team Conversion" and "Assault".
Team Conversion: like Conversion, but with a team. Neat?
Assault: essentially, both teams have a base they need to defend and they also have a set of defense nodes and satellite nodes that, if destroyed, weaken the "defenses" of their main base. We guess that means the "health bar" for the main base would decrease. Overtaken satellite nodes become neutral -- a spawning point for both teams. Dangerous!
Other fixes have been made for the March patch. Spectators can join custom games and use a player's eyes as his own, along with a free-roaming camera so you can see that sniper in the bushes even if the player doesn't. All glitches and collision holes have been fixed. Matchmaking is quicker and more reliable. Weapons tweaked; the old radar has been added as an option if you want it.
What's in store for May? Well, how does worldwide play sound to you? A nice addition, indeed. Also, the map pack will be made available for purchase and download within the game. Both maps are set in England: one in Westmorland, one in Camborn. The former is snowy and very open, the latter has both above ground and subterranean combat. These aren't rehashed maps, either -- they've brand new and specifically designed for multiplayer.
Via Neoseeker comes leaked details of Phil Harrisons GDC Speech:
Details from Phil Harrison- Sony Computer Worldwide Studios
Keynote at GDC March 7th 2007:
Anouncements:
Firmware update available on the 8th for North America/Japan and Asia. European PS3's will be preloaded with this latest update.
Features of this latest firmware include:
More refined PS Store frontend
Playstation Network integrity enhanced
Wallpapers from pictures
Ability to change background colours
Sony Connect Store for music and movies added to the PS Store. Hundreds of trailers/full films/song videos and mps3's available for download.
Playstation Card option in PS Store enabled.
Playstation Lifestyle- Similar to my space/youtube. User generated content and experiences are the key.
+ more.
Removal of Emotion Engine chips in PS3's in NA and Japan to follow in April. Reason for this is to reduce costs and focus on enhanced opportunities via software. Benefits include the ability to upscale selected PSone/PS2 games to 1080i/720p.
Lots of development talk.
Release dates for key games. Warhawk in June/July 2007. Heavenly Sword delayed. Killzone and MGS4 in late 2007.
New content on PS Store available on the 8th:
Tekken 6 trailer
Lair demo & trailer
Rainbow Six Vegas demo
EA: Skate trailer
Battlefield Bad Company trailer
Warhawk demo
Virtua Fighter 5 demo
Virtua Tennis 3 demo & trailer
GRAW 2: trailer
Mortal Kombat 2 game
Killzone trailer
The PlayStation 3 flight combat game Warhawk has been cut in size and will be released as a download through PlayStation Network.
Rumours hit the web in January saying that the game had hit troubled times but speaking to CVG, Sony said that they were "not aware of any problems" with Warhawk's development. We said that, "we'll report back once we get any futher updates", and here it is.
Developer Incognito Entertainment has confirmed reports via an IGN video. The game has had its single-player game cut, due to it not being as good as multiplayer apparently. Incognito has spent the last few months concentrating on the online experience. "Single-player just really wasn't up to par," said Warhawk director Dylan Jobe.
The production problems which lead to the delay of the PS3's European release, and much of the console's huge price tag, has been greatly put down to the inclusion of the Blu-Ray drive. However, Sony big cheese Phil Harrison deems it a feature that will allow PS3 to last 10 years.
"The blue laser diode, as you well know, had a blip short-term ramp up issue, which is now past; that's now behind us. That did cause us some challenges in being able to supply the launch worldwide, but that's all resolved," assures Harrison in an interview with Game Daily.
"We needed to have Blu-ray disc from a game design point of view, the chipsets in PS3 chew through data at such a rate that in order to build variety and detail and quality into the games, we need more than nine gigabytes."
Harrison goes on to back up the PS3's price, saying: "The fact that we could also adopt the pre-eminent next-generation movie format into PS3 was an added bonus, not an added cost," later adding, "Those are the decisions that are going to propel PlayStation 3 to be a platform that lasts for ten years, like we've seen with PS1 and PS2."
PS3 first-person shooter Resistance: Fall of Man is to see its multiplayer component beefed up later this month.
An update - which is only confirmed for North America so far - releasing on March 23 includes new online multiplayer modes Team Conversion and Assault mode and a spectator camera that obviously allows you to observe battles.
"Team Conversion mode is the same gameplay mechanic as the existing Conversion mode except that gamers will play a team and both teams will start off as human and have one life on each side. The Assault mode is based around the concept of attrition where the objective is to wear down an opponent's defenses before destroying their base", SCEA has explained.
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Seeing as the update is out on PS3 European launch day, we thought that would mean the new content features in PAL versions of Resistance out-the-box. However, that's not the case Sony's UK arm informed us earlier, adding a PAL-specific announcement about this update is due shortly.
Update: Sony UK has confirmed with us that this content will be released on these shores. Details on release date and pricing will be announced shortly.
The March update will be followed in May by a map pack update "that will enable worldwide gameplay and allow players to purchase and download new multiplayer maps in-game." In addition, players will be able to get hands on two new maps Resistance developer Insomniac has created - it sounds as though these are single-player offerings.
Expanding on the worldwide gameplay aspect of the update, Sony's said it'll allow "players globally the choice to challenge one another. Players from around the world now will be able to hop online with one another and establish new friends and potential opponents.
"Leaderboards on www.myresistance.net will be filterable by region, and each territory will retain the ability to make announcements and hold events that are targeted to their players."
Due to this update enabling "worldwide gameplay" we imagine it'll be released for North America and the UK and Europe simultaneously.
We'll bring you confirmed word on UK and European update happenings as soon as we get it.
Concerns regarding accuracy issues with motion control continue as an EA producer told CVG they're "messy".
Jay Balmer, associate producer for EA's new skateboarding sim entitled Skate, told CVG: "If you're well-behaved with the controller, the motion control will be super cool. It won't just be steering [in Skate]; we're going to put a lot more into the motion controls than just steering," speaking of the inclusion of motion control in the PS3 version of Skate.
"But it's very messy," he goes on to say, referring to motion control as an interface. "All of the sensors are active and all reporting information at the time, so we really have to find a way to filter what comes through on the motion controls so that everyone can have fun with them.
"Like I said if you're well behaved with the controls they work great but if you're jerky or jumping around the signal becomes very messy," as Wii owners will probably have frustratingly found when toying with their new console. We know we have.
"It's the reality for the Wii, as it is for the PS3," says Balmer.
Does that mean motion control is a rubbish idea? Balmer doesn't think so: "I think they still pay off. I think it's a great feeling to be using motion controls. It's just difficult because you don't always get what you expect."
Getting motion controllers to function properly is a challenge for developers, and as we delve deeper into the Wii/PS3 generation, we're bound to see some developers get it right while others get it disastrously wrong.
Sony has released a few details on what Phil Harrison's GDC keynote speech will touch on.
Phil Harrison's keynote speech will focus on Game 3.0, which the company describes as community, user-generated content,
collaboration and commerce. Harrison will showcase these through live demonstrations of previously un-announced PS3 services and games.
"This is a very exciting time to be part of the game development
community. Advancements in technology combined with new consumer trends mean the industry has a great opportunity to create engaging new entertainment experiences for the world," Phil Harrison said. "I believe we're at the threshold of a new era in creative game development that's destined to drive our industry growth through the next decade or more."
You'd have to be a drunken blind man to miss SCE's dominating presence at this year's GDC, with PlayStation ads and banners adorning almost every surface of the San Francisco Moscone Center.
One ad slogan in particular though has caught our attention: "Live in your world. Create new ones in ours", which could be an early hint from Sony at the soon-to-be-announced PlayStation Home (the PS3's own blend of achievements and Miis).
I might well turn out to be wishful thinking over an advert aimed at developers, but thankfully we haven't got long until the answer is revealed. Sony Worldwide Studios boss Phil Harrison will be taking the podium this Wednesday, when he is expected to make a number of service and game announcements for the PlayStation 3.
Take a culture institution like Gundam and sprinkle the hugely popular Dynasty Warriors. What do you get? Over a 100,000 copies of Gundam Musou sold. That makes the game the first PS3 title to sell over 100k on its first day according to the Game Tsutaya Blog. What's more, Japanese blog Shinobi no Enmachou reports that the game sold about 70 percent of its 170,000-180,000 launch day shipments, making it the 3rd ranked PS3 in overall sales — Ridge Racer 7 is number one at 130,000 total sales and Gundam: Target In Sight is close behind at 120,000. Word has it that this title was not enough to create a significant bump in PS3 sales as most copies were sold individually and not with consoles.
Mmmm. Where to begin. What you are about to see (if you haven't already) is one of the weirdest PS3 trailers commercials you will ever see. It features no screenshots, no image of the product its trying to sell, and ends up looking more like a promo for a new Quentin Tarantino film than anything else. It has it all: hookers, jock straps, a Baxter-like little dog, and exploding cash. Don't get us wrong; the creative side of our brains like the result (especially the music and mini suspense act), but there is no way in Hades this thing could help move PS3s in Europe (where the ad was made for).
A weekend Wall Street Journal article claims Ken Kutaragi -- the father of the PlayStation -- went over budget on the PS3 without informing Sony knighted CEO Sir Howard Stringer until it was too late, forcing the company to reduce the launch price of the 20GB PS3 in Japan by 20%.
The Journal examines Stringer's controversial and tricky two year run as global CEO while balancing the differing Western and Japanese business cultures and calls Kutaragi a rogue executive "notorious" for being at odds with Sony corp and its various divisions. But it's not just Sony management at odds with Kutaragi. The father of "stupid things said by executives" has been offending gamers for the past year, i.e. you must be affluent (like fine-wine) or work two jobs to buy a PS3
As a medium, video games have been blamed for a whole host of society's ills. Violence, obesity, and educational underachievement are just some of the high profile problems that have been laid on gaming's doorstep at one time or anot
