Sony Showstoppers At E3 2009

Continuing with Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) thoughts from last week, Sony had a basketful of goodies to share with the world. The main highlights were some PlayStation 3 (PS3) exclusives: God of War III, Unchartered 2 and a new concept called MAG (Massive Action Game). On top of that, a new PSP (PSPgo) was announced.

The most anticipated game at E3 this year was the action-adventure, single-player God of War III. This is the final installment to the hugely popular God of War series, and you again play as Kratos, the angry ex-Spartan warrior seeking his revenge against Zeus and the gods of Mt. Olympus. The graphics are spectacular and the action is nonstop. You can now ride some of the mythological creatures to transport you around, and new weapons such as the Cestus allow Kratos to learn new ruthless techniques. The game’s trademark detailed gore and violence are enhanced on the PS3 - definitely not for the keiki. God of War III comes out in March 2010 (Rating: RP for Rating Pending).

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is the fresh single-player, action-adventure shooter follow-up to last year’s hit - Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. You are Nathan Drake, a fortune hunter with a shady reputation and an even shadier past who is lured back into the treacherous world of thieves and mercenary treasure-seekers. The game’s backdrop keeps it varied with locations ranging from lush green swamps to dense urban environments to ice and snow of the Himalayas.

he added unrestricted combat allows you to take an aggressive or stealthy approach to combat with traversal gunplay, free-climbing mechanics and variety of enemy types with advanced AI routines. The launch date is slated for late this year (Rating: RP).

MAG is a first-person shooter game that is played exclusively online, and the next evolution in gaming. It lets you experience battles with up to 256 real people across a global battlefield. MAG is able to manage a large amount of players by breaking them into squads of eight. You climb your way up the chain of command to take control of your eight-person squad, then 32-person platoon and ultimately your 128-person army.

The game takes place in a dark future 2025 where food shortages spark riots, currencies plummet, fuel reserves are dwindling and oil-producing nations ration what remains. A MAG beta is available to download, but the official release will be late this year (Rating: RP).

Last but not least, the PSPgo is for those who prefer to not carry around the typical PSP disc-based content. The PSPgo replaced the UMD drive with 16GB of flash memory to download and store a variety of digital entertainment content using the PlayStation Store. It’s a flip-style system that will come in white or black, and features Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and a smaller lightweight design that will fit into your purse or pocket. The regular PSP will continue to be sold alongside the PSPgo, which will retail for $249 starting Nov. 1.

Want Konami's PS3-Exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4 for $30?

Lop half off the original $60 price tag of Konami's PS3-Exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and you've got its newer, friendlier "Greatest Hits" sales pitch. That's right, $30 now gets you my pick for best PS3 game of 2008, and easily one of my top two or three overall.
Not that you need to take my word for it. Designer Hideo Kojima's uber-crypto-sneaker launched around this time last year to nearly universal critical acclaim (not that universal acclaim can explain my allergy to the new Star Trek movie). To be fair, it torqued off a few contrarians, who then undermined their own polemic by trying to sound smart dissing the pseudo-philosophy before half-heartedly ripping the gameplay to shreds.

Did you give it a pass when the game came out? Or maybe you just picked up a PS3? Now's a great time to remedy the gaping hole in your "gi-normous gaming milestones" collection, and yes, that's an "I will pimp for MGS4" sign hanging around my neck. I loved it. I wasn't dolling out scores when I spot-reviewed it last year, but had I been, it would've clocked an easy one-double-aught.

I'll admit that's as much due to my appreciation for the story, directing, and editing, as the sneak-and-cover gameplay itself, but that's how I've always rolled. If I want pure gameplay, I'll play Tetris, or Tic-Tac-Toe (though even those games contain ineluctable narratives). The least interesting moments in BioShock for me involved tinkering with the plasmids and hunting Little Sisters and playing peekaboo with the easily snookered artificial intelligence. I kept playing that game because I wanted to know how the generally well written story ended, not because I cared about flinging extra-super-powerful lightning bolts at the pathetically executed endgame villain.

Occasionally someone tries to foist the notion that games aren't (or shouldn't be) narratives on players. It's a wrongheaded notion, as well as a naive one. Games can be many things. Not-narratives will never be one of them. Metal Gear Solid 4 is an interactive story, and, as it happens, one of the most trenchant ever created. With its dark science-fantasy allegory of warlord-like private military contractors and chess-piece WMDs and wars fought by proxy groups without ideological liabilities to manipulate world economies, it took bigger political risks than its peers...because it took measured aim at much more than just a fantasy world.

Xbox 360's "Assassin's Creed" tops the Rogers Video game rental list

TORONTO - The most popular game rentals (all platforms) according to Rogers Video for the period ending Dec. 16.

1 Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360)

2 Mass Effect (Xbox 360)

3 Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo Wii)

4 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360)

5 Kane and Lynch: Dead Men (Xbox 360)

6 Mario and Sonic at the Olympics (Nintendo Wii)

7 Assassin's Creed (PlayStation 3)

8 Unchartered: Drakes Fortune (PlayStation 3)

9 Kane and Lynch: Dead Men (PlayStation 3)

10 Halo 3 (Xbox 360)

In UK, Wii Surpasses Xbox 360 Install Base

Wii has surpassed the installed base numbers of Xbox 360 in the United Kingdom as of this week, reports MCV. The UK trade magazine bases this on numbers from UK data tracking organization Chart Track.

This is significant as, to the best of my knowledge, the UK is the only major territory in which Wii has actually overtaken the Xbox 360. Except of course for Japan. Wii is ahead in the worldwide numbers mostly because the 360 failed so hard in Japan, but sometime in 2008, Wii is very likely to overtake Xbox 360 in every market, including America, eradicating Microsoft's year-long lead.

It should be an interesting year for sales junkies to watch.

DS Smashes UK Hardware Record [MCV]

SEGA Rally demo on Xbox LIVE Marketplace

Single-player demo gives Xbox 360 owners a sample of the off-road action.

SEGA Rally is shaping up very nicely, and looks back on track to its glory days following a less than spectacular effort on the PlayStation 2.

Thanks to the power of the current crop of consoles the rally stages will now change over time, with tire tracks appearing as mud is churned up beneath each rally car. This not only looks great but also affects the way cars move around the circuits.

The single-player demo weighs in at 691MB and should be available right now on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. The final game is set for release on September 28 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP and PC.

Wii Zapper Training Kids to be Killers?

In a recent post over at Wii Fanboy, a ruckus of sorts is being made by some over protective parents against Nintendo’s upcoming Wii Zapper. Apparently these wacky would-be parental figures think having a Wii controller resembling anything remotely like a gun is reckless and irresponsible on Nintendo’s part.

The New Jersey Star-Ledger’s Parental Guidance blog’s most recent Question of the Week centered around the attachment, and it seems to have some folks alarmed. One commenter said, “I think it’s irresponsible for Wii to come out with a controller that looks like a gun so kids can play games simulating shooting. What kind of message are we sending as parents when we buy these things for our kids?”

Oh, yes. The original NES Zapper included with my game cartridge of Duck Hunt certainly made me want to go out and shoot my dear old dog when I was 10 years old. I certainly turned out to be the homicidal maniac my parents always feared.

Give me a break. What’s next? A nation-wide ban on Super Soakers? Talk about missing out on your childhood.

Project Gotham Racing Goes Gold

Microsoft Game Studios and Bizarre Creations have announced that 'Project Gotham Racing 4' has gone gold.

To celebrate the game being released to manufacturing, Bizarre has also announced that the 'PGR4' website has also gone live.

It can be found at www.pgrnations.com.

The site contains a full vehicles list, information on the car and motorcycle manufacturers, and the official Achievements list.

Originally slated for a September release, 'Project Gotham 4' will hit European shelves on October 12 for the Xbox 360 for a recommended retail price of £44.99.

George Harrison, Nintendo US Marketing Chief, Steps Down

The Nintendo Marketing Chief, George Harrison, announced in an telephone interview with Reuters that he is leaving the company.

In June there were rumors that some Nintendo officials will leave the company, following Nintendo’s decision to relocate its sales and marketing staff from Redmond, Washington to San Francisco and New York, but Nintendo denied the reports.

Still it seems that the rumors were true and George Harisson is one of those who have chosen to not move to California. "I have confirmed to all employees that I will be leaving at the end of December and not making the move to California," Harrison told Reuters by telephone.

George Harisson joined Nintendo 15 years ago as Director of Advertising and Promotions and in 2001 he moved up to Senior Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Communications.

Harrison’s departure occurs while Nintendo has hit an all time high with its Wii console.

According to the latest data released by NPD Group in August Nintendo Wii has achieved again the first place in terms of sales with 403,600 units. This mean that until now Nintendo sold only in US 4.0 million consoles. During the same month the company managed also to sell 383,300 Nintendo DSs.

So far he Wii-makers said that in the April-June quarter the company sold 3.43 million Wii machines worldwide, which means that the total number of the units sold is 9.27 million units.

From these 3.81 million were sold in the Americas, 2.95 million in Japan and another 2.51 million in other territories.

According to VGChartz.com, Wii has already surpassed Xbox 360 as the next gen console with the largest install base, having sold 10.57 million units in less than a year, compared to 10.51 million units Microsoft’s gaming rig managed to sell in almost two years on the market.

Earlier this year George Harrison said that Nintendo expects to sell as many as 35 million Wii consoles in the United States and approach the record 38.2 million PlayStation 2s sold by Sony. Harrison indicated also the year in which Nintendo hopes to achieve its goal: 2012.

40GB PS3 set to ruin Halo 3 launch

THIS WEEK'S gaming news has been dominated by Halo 3. Let's hope it settles down once the game is finally released.

The game is expected to propel 360 console sales, which are already reaching new highs.

While the Nintendo Wii was the best-selling console in North America last month, the Xbox 360 outsold the Playstation 3 by more than 2 to 1.

According to analysts the NPD Group, via Eurogamer, 403,600 Wii units were shifted during August while DS sales stood at 383,300. Falling up in third place was Xbox 360 after a $50 price cut boosted sales to 276,700. Sony sold 151,200 PSPs and 130,600 PS3s.

Xbox 360
Microsoft's proprietary wireless feature of the 360 is becoming the bane of many developers due to the licensing fees - causing the Rock Band bundle from Harmonix to come with a wired guitar for the Xbox and a wireless version for the PS3, explains OXM.

The bundle is already set at a staggering $199.

There's always the odd pointless disassembly that gets coverage on the interwibble, but this one has to take the biscuit - the internals of the the Xbox 360 messaging pad.

Here's a more sensible unboxing.

Lets hope the pad will also arrive in the new controller colours announced by Microsoft - black, blue and pink.

Microsoft and Bungie have reportedly banned a Halo 3 fan from Xbox Live for more than 7,000 years after he got his hands on the Halo 3 Epsilon test build.

The gamer who goes by the name of 'Scar' says he won't appeal the ban.

We suspect that people purchasing early released copies of Halo 3 on Ebay may also receive similar bans.

In his latest research note to investors, Wedbush Morgan's Pachter said, "The top September release is expected to be Microsoft’s Halo 3 (360), which we expect to sell over 3 million U.S. units in its first 12 days."

"We expect the game to be a driver of console sales, and believe that Microsoft’s unit sales for the 360 could exceed 400,000 in September, the highest figure for a non-holiday month since launch."

Pachter also believes Sony could attempt to spoil the party.

PS3/PSP
Pachter notes that should whisperings about a Playstation 2 price cut to $99 and the release of a new $399 40GB PS3 turn out to be more than just rumors, the Tokyo Game Show would be an ideal venue for Sony to make such announcements.

“We think that both of these ideas have merit, and note that Sony Computer Entertainment president Kaz Hirai is the keynote speaker at next week’s Tokyo Game Show. If the rumors are true, we cannot think of a better forum for making such an announcement, given that the event is less than a week before the launch of arch-rival Microsofts Halo 3."

The analyst also stated in the past that he believes that the $599 80GB PS3 will be available for $499 once the 60GB version is out of stock. But he now expects another PS3 price cut 'no later than April' of 2008 to $399 for the 80GB version. This could possibly spell doom for the 40GB version, or an even lower price point for the entry level PS3.

Sony released another small firmware update for the Playstation 3 this week, bringing it to version1.92. The addition apparently only updates the PS3’s backwards compatibility.

The PSP firmware has also been updated to version 3.70 in Japan, with US and European updates to follow soon.

Version 3.70 which works on the new PSP Slim & Lite as well as the older model, although some features are specific to one or other model.

New features include the ability to set custom themes, while videos can now be searched through and played sequentially. You can also listen to music while browsing photos now.

An SCEE spokesperson has confirmed to Next-Gen.biz that Lair is the first Playstation 3 Blu-ray title playable on PSP via Remote Play.

Remote Play is a feature that lets gamers share content between their PlayStation 3 and PSP, locally using the devices' in-built wireless features or remotely via an access point.

While the in-built Remote Play functionality was previously restricted to accessing media content such as music and videos from the PS3's hard drive, Sony has stated that is no longer the case.

Just five days after the official European release of the PSP Slim & Lite, 'Team M33' has released their custom PSP firmware v3.6, which operates on both the PSP and newer slimmer PSP. This release also confirms that the previously announced "Pandora's Battery" will be fully compatible with the new PSP Slim & Lite. More at Maxconsole.

Wii/DS
Some excellent hardware hackers have been able to produce some homebrew software that enables to Nintendo DS to place VoIP calls via the internal WiFi and built-in microphone. You even get to dial on the DS' touchpad.

Nintendo has properly announced the new Wii Zapper peripheral, which integrates both the Wii Remote and Nunchuck into a gun accessory, and has stated that it will be available at retailers starting November 19th for $19.99.

"The Wii Zapper combines our remarkable controllers into one housing with a classic style reminiscent of arcade-style games," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "Both veteran and first-time players will find it brings a whole new dimension to games where targeting is key and provides even more exciting game-play experiences."

In addition to the accessory, a Link's Crossbow Training game, based off the Legend of Zelda series, will come packaged with every Wii Zapper.

Brando's 2-in-1 combined light gun will go into direct competition with the Zapper and has a leg up on rivals in its ability to be used as a pistol-like remote holder or a bazooka-style combination for the remote and Nunchuck together. More over at Joystiq.

Nintendo's success with the Wii is a benefit to the gaming industry according to Microsoft.

In an interview with canada.com (via Xbox-scene.com) at this year's X07, Xbox Marketing VP Jeff Bell said that there was room in the marketplace for three consoles.

"I'd like to see the industry grow and be robust" said Bell. "In many ways, I'm thankful the Wii has been as successful as it has."

As if the name 'Wii' wasn't bad enough, some entrepreneurial Japanese businessman have released the Chinese made 'Wee'.

The Wee is a mini DVD player, and probably performs similar to its name.

As usual, here's the Eurogamer Wii Virtual Console review round-up. µ

Nintendo dates Wii Zapper, Link's Crossbow for Nov. 19

As rumored earlier today, the Wii Zapper will included a Zelda mini-game, Link's Crossbow Training, to demonstrate potential uses for the add-on peripheral.

"The Wii Zapper combines our remarkable controllers into one housing with a classic style reminiscent of arcade-style games," said Nintendo vice president George Harrison in a statement. "Both veteran and first-time players will find it brings a whole new dimension to games where targeting is key."

Link's Crossbow Training is said to resemble Twilight Princess. Players progress through a series of tests while perfecting Link's crossbow chops.

Nintendo also announced additional titles to support the accessory housing including EA's Medal of Honor Heroes 2 which supports 32-person multiplayer, Capcom's Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, and Sega's Ghost Squad.

Sony to release $399 PS3 (40GB) this holiday

According to Ars Technica, an insider source has confirmed that Sony will drop the price of the 80 GB PS3 from $599 to $499 this holiday as expected. Additionally, the company will launch a new 40GB PS3 model for $399 complete with a Spider Man 3 movie bundle.

The report claims that Sony will make official the rumor at this year's Tokyo Game Show later this month in addition to dropping the price of the PS2 to $99.

Sony declined comment when contacted by GamePro.

Sony originally offered a 20GB PS3 for $499 alongside the former 60GB model. The company has since discontinued both models in favor of the current 80GB model which excludes full compatibility with PS1 and PS2 games, a move that is believed to save Sony an estimated $40 on every unit sold.

Call of Duty 4 Limited Collector's Editions Confirmed

TeamXbox.com has discovered that both the Xbox 360 and Windows PC versions of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will get a Limited Collector’s Edition. Activision plans to make the formal announcement tomorrow, but tonight we can confirm that both editions will include a hardcover art book featuring exclusive concepts, never-before-seen imagery and artwork.

Additionally, the Xbox 360 edition will also include a bonus DVD with more than four hours of material that explores the S.A.S. from WWII to the present, and a series of “making of” vignettes highlighting Infinity Ward’s research, technology and story development for the game.

Sonic 2 on Xbox Live Arcade

Bad news everyone; Microsoft wants its points back, and its raking them in on Wednesday with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on Xbox Live Arcade. We dare you not to buy it.

Arguably (as in we'll fight you in the pub over it) the best in the series, Sonic's second caper is coming in with the usual "enhanced" graphics (i.e. they've made the pixels blurry), online races and leaderboards.

Unfortunately the rankings are still based on points rather than speed, but maybe that's a problem Sega will fix with the inevitable release of Sonic 3 on XBLA.

It's out on Wednesday for 400 points (£3.40). Read all about it on Xbox.com.

Rock Band 360 bundle wired

Harmonix co-founder Alex Rigopulos has revealed that the Xbox 360 retail bundles of Rock Band will all come with wired guitars, while PS3 packs will be wireless.

It's all because it costs more to license wireless technology on Microsoft's console, apparently, which would mean the overall price-tag would end up being too high - although there's still no word on what that figure will be.

"The cost of wireless technology on the Microsoft side is higher, and to be able to offer those bundles at a price point that would be reasonable for consumers it was necessary," said Rigopulos in an OXM podcast.

So, if you want an axe to grind without strings attached, you'll have to stump-up a little more of your hard earned money for a separate guitar or two.

The microphone and drum kit will be wired on all versions, though, so the 360 bundle will come with a USB hub so they can all be plugged in at once.

Xbox Live down all morning

As predicted last week, Xbox Live is down this morning and will remain so until 1pm GMT (or 2pm GMT, if that makes more sense). The down-time is all about scheduled maintenance sadly, so there won't be anything thrilling and new available from this afternoon.

In fact, Microsoft are at pains to point out the routine and mundane nature of the maintenance, Major Nelson speaking on his blog to assure "There will not be a dashboard update waiting for you. This is scheduled maintenance only. After all, we need to get ready for [Halo 3], right?"

We'll keep you posted on all the latest Xbox news, with our all-seeing eye on the look out for word on the 360's Autumn update, which could usher in some changes for us to really sink our teeth into. More soon.