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January 20th, 2010

PS3 3.10 Firmware Kills Blu-ray Drives

PlayStation 3 has been giving tough times to owners lately and we hope you recollect the issues faced after updating to 3.00 firmware. Now, a discussion thread about the firmware 3.10 crashing Blu-ray drives of PS3 consoles is catching everybody’s attention.

PlayStation 3 official forum members have cited the firmware 3.10 update bearing PS3 freezes while playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Many other members have reported similar freezing issues with other games too. Basically, the game disc on the Blu-ray drives gets affected. For some PS3 owners, the optical drive won’t read disc after freeze occurs.

Just like the firmware 3.00 update, the PlayStation 3 owners suffer game freezes yet again. Yeh sure, Xbox 360 owners who were Red Ring of Death victims can now smirk on these PS3 freezing victims. Apparently, the issue has something to do with the firmware update or the Blu-ray drive itself.

January 20th, 2010

PS3 gamer ‘sexually assaulted’ online

A PlayStation 3 gamer has apparently abandoned the game for ever, after her avatar was repeatedly hassled in Sony’s PlayStation Home virtual world.

Some nasty man kept getting behind her, it seems, and crouching down.

Her roommate, Whoef, was outraged on her behalf, and pleads eloquently in a web post for drastic measures.

While the perpetrator is punished, he says, the victim should be given a free personal space which includes a mini-game. “The game consists of the harasser being placed in a very small courtyard and the victim, using an automatic tomato gun, shoots tomatoes at their harassers,” he suggests.

“Home should create the Home Jail, then the harassers can harass each other, since that seems to be their only purpose for being on Home. Put them where they belong. There is no reason Home can’t make money on future rapists,” he continues.

“After losing all their items, like a real jail, Home can sell them orange jumpsuits, flip-flops and they can decorate their jail cells with a few items such as bunk bed, toilet and a bed roll.”

He really ought to start his own site – the guy’s inspired.

January 20th, 2010

Heavy Rain PS3 Bundle Revealed

As the release draws closer for a title that will bring unique, interactive gameplay on the PlayStation 3 like no other, France has a new PS3 bundle in it’s forecast. Seeing that Quantic Dream is based in Paris, France, it would make sense for them to make all of France dripping wet with a new Heavy Rain PS3 bundle.

A new PS3 bundle has been unveiled for France, a Heavy Rain bundle will be released on February 24. The PlayStation 3 bundle will include a 250 GB PS3 Slim and a standard Heavy Rain copy, all for 349 Euros ($498/£304). Check out the bundle below:

Amazon.fr also has listings for MAG and God of War III PS3 bundles, but neither of them are accompanied by a pack shot like the Heavy Rain box above. If a retail box for either title is revealed or if any of these bundles make their way outside of France, we’ll be sure to keep you updated.

January 20th, 2010

PlayStation 3′s motion controller delayed until this fall

Sony will launch worldwide a motion controller for its PlayStation 3 in the fall of this year alongside an “extensive” line-up of compatible software titles, it said Wednesday.

Sony had originally been planning to launch the controller in the spring of 2010 so the revised launch date represents a six-month delay from its original plans.

Its launch will come about four years after Nintendo revolutionized gaming with its Wii console and motion-sensitive controllers, and shortly before Microsoft is expected to introduce a similar system for the Xbox 360.

Sony’s controller, a prototype of which has already been demonstrated, has a glowing ball mounted on its end that is tracked by the PlayStation Eye camera, which will be a requirement for the system. Few other details are known about the device at present and it’s only been shown a few times since its debut at last year’s E3 gaming convention.

Motion-sensitive gaming proved to be key to the success of Nintendo’s Wii with casual gamers and both Sony and Microsoft are hoping their new systems will be equally successful.

The Wii controller can be swung like a bat or jabbed like a punch and the movements are copied on-screen. This unique way of gaming proved to be more attractive to some than the flashy, high-definition graphics on offer from the PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

Microsoft’s system, called Project Natal, seems more advanced than both the Sony and Nintendo systems because it does away with the controller completely. The gamer’s actual body movements are detected and mimicked inside the games so punches, kicks and jumps are translated immediately into movements. Microsoft plans to launch Natal in time for the end-of-year holiday sales period.

Sony offered little other details of its launch plans and didn’t name any of the games that will be compatible with the Motion Controller.

“We will continue to work to have a comprehensive portfolio of attractive and innovative games for the Motion Controller, not only from Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios but also from the third-party developers and publishers, whom we have been working closely with,” Kazuo Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment, said in a statement. “We look forward to soon unveiling the exciting software line-up that further expands and defines the PS3 platform as the ultimate entertainment system for the home.”

The year is shaping up to be an important one for PlayStation 3 owners.

Sony is aggressively promoting 3D entertainment and the PlayStation console will play an important part in the push. The company has already promised to add 3D capability to all PS3 consoles through a firmware, and several companies are working on 3D games. It will, however, be necessary to buy a compatible television to enjoy games with the additional dimension.

Sales of the console have recently enjoyed an uptick after Sony launched a revised model that’s smaller and cheaper than the original PlayStation 3. The console saw record sales in the last five weeks of 2009 with 3.8 million units sold worldwide, a 76 percent jump on 2008, Sony said earlier this month.

January 5th, 2010

Dark Void Demo Coming This Week to Xbox 360, PS3

Capcom has announced the first playable demo for their new IP Dark Void is coming this week to Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

The Xbox 360 demo will be available first Wednesday, January 6 (tomorrow!) via Xbox Live Marketplace. Playstation 3 owners will have to wait an additional day to download their demo Thursday, January 7 from the Playstation Network.

The demo promises to strap on a jet pack and let you experience “aerial dog-fighting, unique vertical cover action and on-foot combat.” Dark Void’s unique world is so highly regarded that a deal for a movie is already in place.

Dark Void ships January 19 on Xbox 360, PS3, PC and Nintendo DS.

January 5th, 2010

MAG PS3 sales increase post demo debut

Advanced sales for Sony Corp.’s MAG for the Playstation 3 increased at retailer Amazon.com post release of the beta demo to the Playstation Network.
On Tues., MAG held a 47 percent sales increase to rank at No. 200 in Amazon’s Video Games division.

Sony on Jan. 4 released the MAG Beta demo to PSN. The demo includes the 64-player Sabotage and 256-player Domination mode. Developed by Zipper Interactive, MAG is a 256-player massive online multiplayer shooter.

The title will include online teams and three distinct PMCs to choose from.

Amazon is offering a $10 Video Games Credit and pre-order bonus with each advanced purchase.

The title holds a sale price of $56.99.

December 28th, 2009

Analyst: Expect A "Teaser" For New GTA At E3

So many major franchises will see new installments in 2010 and while one of them won’t be Grand Theft Auto, we should certainly expect to see early details at some point.

EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich believes we could see this info and media at E3 in June. In speaking to Game Informer, Divnich says he expects to hear about the latest and greatest from Rockstar and Take-Two in about six months, which means you can certainly expect a lot of build-up to that event if this is true. However, he doesn’t think we’ll see “any playable stuff” and that essentially, we should just expect a “teaser” of some sort, but for GTA fans, that’s plenty good enough. Divnich agrees with other analysts in saying this new GTA will certainly release in 2011 and adds an interesting bit of commentary regarding potential exclusivity deals:

“I don’t foresee Microsoft or Sony attempting to obtain any type of exclusivity with the next Grand Theft Auto. Microsoft paid a lot of money for exclusivity on the downloadable content for GTA IV, which unfortunately did little to move consoles for Microsoft. Back in 2004, Grand Theft Auto was a huge brand, but only relative to the other brands that existed at the time. While the GTA brand is certainly bigger now than it was five years ago, others have emerged to reach similar levels of success, such as Call of Duty or Guitar Hero. In other words, if Sony gets an exclusive deal on GTA V, it would do little to disrupt Microsoft’s ability to move hardware, and vice versa.”

Yeah, it seems exceedingly unlikely that after the multiplatform GTAIV, Take-Two would suddenly decide to go exclusive with GTAV. Even a timed exclusive deal could only hurt sales for them and besides, with the PS3 and Xbox 360 user bases so similar these days, it makes almost no sense for third-parties to go exclusive. Well, it might if the designer believes he can only create his vision on the PS3 because the 360 can’t quite handle it…

December 28th, 2009

Analyst: Expect A “Teaser” For New GTA At E3

So many major franchises will see new installments in 2010 and while one of them won’t be Grand Theft Auto, we should certainly expect to see early details at some point.

EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich believes we could see this info and media at E3 in June. In speaking to Game Informer, Divnich says he expects to hear about the latest and greatest from Rockstar and Take-Two in about six months, which means you can certainly expect a lot of build-up to that event if this is true. However, he doesn’t think we’ll see “any playable stuff” and that essentially, we should just expect a “teaser” of some sort, but for GTA fans, that’s plenty good enough. Divnich agrees with other analysts in saying this new GTA will certainly release in 2011 and adds an interesting bit of commentary regarding potential exclusivity deals:

“I don’t foresee Microsoft or Sony attempting to obtain any type of exclusivity with the next Grand Theft Auto. Microsoft paid a lot of money for exclusivity on the downloadable content for GTA IV, which unfortunately did little to move consoles for Microsoft. Back in 2004, Grand Theft Auto was a huge brand, but only relative to the other brands that existed at the time. While the GTA brand is certainly bigger now than it was five years ago, others have emerged to reach similar levels of success, such as Call of Duty or Guitar Hero. In other words, if Sony gets an exclusive deal on GTA V, it would do little to disrupt Microsoft’s ability to move hardware, and vice versa.”

Yeah, it seems exceedingly unlikely that after the multiplatform GTAIV, Take-Two would suddenly decide to go exclusive with GTAV. Even a timed exclusive deal could only hurt sales for them and besides, with the PS3 and Xbox 360 user bases so similar these days, it makes almost no sense for third-parties to go exclusive. Well, it might if the designer believes he can only create his vision on the PS3 because the 360 can’t quite handle it…

December 28th, 2009

Batman Delay Effective, Publishers "Backed It 100%"

Game delays are not normally seen as a good thing, especially as far as the publishers are concerned. The latter group will purposely push a title if they don’t believe the estimated release window is optimal, but if the designer falls behind schedule, that’s when the relationship gets shaky.

But it certainly helps to have a publisher who is utterly and completely confident in the developer, so when the developer says, “hey, we need more time,” the intended distributors just say, “sure, you got it.” This apparently happened when Rocksteady Studios asked for three more months before launching Batman: Arkham Asylum. Warner Bros. and Eidos didn’t balk at the question at all and they freely granted the extra time. In speaking to Kotaku, Batman game director Sefton Hill said the publishers were “100% behind” the idea:

“We discussed it with Warner Brothers and Eidos and said, ‘Look, we believe we have a really good game here.’ What we all agreed to do at the outset was put the time in and make sure we deliver a game worthy of Batman. … [We] said what we really need to do here is spend this additional three months to make sure we tidy the game and deliver the game that we all set out to do. To give Eidos and Warner a lot of credit, they backed that 100%.”

The delay only turned out to be two months in length and gamers ended up with one of the best experiences of 2009. The idea that they pushed the game in order to rake in extra sales is untrue; they were “still working on it like crazy,” according to Hill. They were trying to finalize certain aspects of the project, like the game’s fluidity; you never see any loading screens when playing, do you? They also worked hard to make sure the frame rate was solid, too. Now, you can bet this bit of polish is likely what vaulted the game into the generation’s elite – and sales were excellent, too – so perhaps this little story will allow publishers to be more lenient with devs in the future.

December 28th, 2009

Batman Delay Effective, Publishers “Backed It 100%”

Game delays are not normally seen as a good thing, especially as far as the publishers are concerned. The latter group will purposely push a title if they don’t believe the estimated release window is optimal, but if the designer falls behind schedule, that’s when the relationship gets shaky.

But it certainly helps to have a publisher who is utterly and completely confident in the developer, so when the developer says, “hey, we need more time,” the intended distributors just say, “sure, you got it.” This apparently happened when Rocksteady Studios asked for three more months before launching Batman: Arkham Asylum. Warner Bros. and Eidos didn’t balk at the question at all and they freely granted the extra time. In speaking to Kotaku, Batman game director Sefton Hill said the publishers were “100% behind” the idea:

“We discussed it with Warner Brothers and Eidos and said, ‘Look, we believe we have a really good game here.’ What we all agreed to do at the outset was put the time in and make sure we deliver a game worthy of Batman. … [We] said what we really need to do here is spend this additional three months to make sure we tidy the game and deliver the game that we all set out to do. To give Eidos and Warner a lot of credit, they backed that 100%.”

The delay only turned out to be two months in length and gamers ended up with one of the best experiences of 2009. The idea that they pushed the game in order to rake in extra sales is untrue; they were “still working on it like crazy,” according to Hill. They were trying to finalize certain aspects of the project, like the game’s fluidity; you never see any loading screens when playing, do you? They also worked hard to make sure the frame rate was solid, too. Now, you can bet this bit of polish is likely what vaulted the game into the generation’s elite – and sales were excellent, too – so perhaps this little story will allow publishers to be more lenient with devs in the future.