Yesterday I posted a thread in the PlayStation 3 Chat Forum on behalf of the resident PS3 Devs who have been working steadily towards the ultimate goal of unlocking the PS3's full potential. Up until now, much of what they have been doing has been quite technical and didn't require much end-user assistance.
Over the last 2-3 days they have made significant progress in multiple areas of the PS3 (which will be detailed in the Site News), however, they are now asking the PS3 community to "get out of your armchair" (see video below- the ball symbolizes the PS3, the goal is unsigned code, and the community are in the chairs). How can you help? Check the Forums daily: [PS3 Dev Request]: Have a PSP and familiar with .RCO files?
Not only is Gizmondo coming back, Carl Freer says you can expect to see a new version of the handheld console by the end of the year—this time without the whole defrauding investors and crashing Ferraris schtick, supposedly.
In an interview in the Gizmondo forums, Freer claimed that, "There is still incredible value in the Gizmondo. And with the enhancements we're adding... we feel it's only the beginning of where we can go with the product."
Gizmondo version 2.0 will include a new graphics chip, Windows CE 6.0 (which comes with "a lot of 'new' goodies," Freer says), and a bunch of original content to be downloaded off the gizmondo.com website. It'll be ready by Winter 2008, and the developer community can expect more announcements soon.
Left unanswered by the interview was why Freer thinks anybody is going to trust him with anything a second time around. Maybe he hasn't heard the adage: "Fool me once, your CEO gets sent to jail for three... More »
In a press release sent out today announcing a partnership between Marvelous Entertainment and XSEED Games, Valhalla Knights 2 was officially announced and scheduled for a fall 2008 release. This is the first title that will be published and distributed by the newly formed partnership.
Valhalla Knights 2 is the sequel to the original Valhalla Knights for Sony's portable system. Valhalla Knights 2 will, according to the press release, add new job classes, races, weapons, spells and other items for RPG enthusiasts. Gamers will be able to experience six-on-six tactical battles during gameplay and the title will also feature two-player ad-hoc support.
"Valhalla Knights 2 will carry on the legacy its predecessor established as a beloved game in any RPG player's library," says Ken Berry, marketing and sales at XSEED.
"We appreciate this game being the first in our co-publishing partnership with Marvelous Entertainment as it will help to set the quality... More »
Competition becomes even more vital in an industry that is technology driven. It's quite amazing that Moore's law, which states that computing power doubles every 18 months, still holds true.
This rapid evolution is primarily driven by competition. People are constantly trying to outdo each other. Consoles typically have a shelf life of about five to six years. What would happen without competition?
Where did the Genesis go? What happened with the PlayStation 2? Having nightmares yet?
In other words, we would potentially skip a whole generation of hardware. So what would make this such a likely scenario? Because when no competition exists, then you have a situation where a company's bottom line is less aligned with consumer needs.
As an example, Nintendo was once clearly dominating the market with the NES. While the Sega Master system was on the market, it had less than 5% marketshare. Nintendo was so comfortable in their positio... More »
Bioware's highly acclaimed and formerly XBox 360 exclusive RPG Mass Effect is fast approaching its release on the PC. Most PC gamers were undoubtedly pleased to hear about enhanced graphics, faster load times, and a re-designed menu system; but it's likely that fewer were happy to hear about the evil digital rights management that will be unscrupulously bundled with the game.
Like an increasing number of PC games nowadays, Mass Effect will require an online activation when it is installed. This has been common practice ever since Half-Life 2. But Mass Effect will also "phone home" every 10 days to make sure the key is valid, and it will carry a three-install limit. This has set many message boards afire with rants about "draconian" DRM and people threatening to pirate the game precisely because of the DRM.
It's times like this that I wonder why people are so adamantly opposed to DRM. It's worth noting that piracy came first; if people didn't steal their game... More »
Now in her eighth year of gaming writing, and already a respected name in the computer and console game industry, gaming doyenne Vanessa Morgan has taken up the coveted role of Editor of one of the biggest and most popular gaming magazines in Australia and New Zealand, Official PlayStation® Magazine.
We had a chat to Vanessa about what it's like to be the first female Editor of Official PlayStation® Magazine, what the coolest part of her job is, what her favourite games are and where she sees the future of PLAYSTATION®3.
Read on for the full story from Miss PlayStation herself...
1. How long have you been in the games industry for? How did you get into it?
Eight years. That's way, way, way too many years of playing all the average games that none of the guys wanted to touch for mags like Hyper, PCPP, PSW, Total Gamer, etc. Followed by getting a few breaks with overseas trips to see what was SquareSoft then Nintendo and E3.... More »
The eagerly awaited Gears of War 2 footage was released last night to the delight of fans and gamers. What we saw was some great looking action with far more happening on screen than Gears 1.
I was floored when I saw the down sampled video. Upon further inspection of the 720p feed though, it appears that Epic isn’t rendering on screen what we might think. Check out these full 720p direct feed game captures. Jpgs are not compressed.
It appears that Epic has applied a strong smear filter to the engine. This smear effect is also similar to the median blur in Photoshop. Why is it there? Is it there for effect? Perhaps. But does it make the game look better? Maybe if you’re using lower res textures and lower poly models. View the images and decide for yourself.
More screenshots can be seen at the link up top of this article.
A Wii port of SDLMAME was publically released last night. To quote from the page linked above: Here I bring another distribution of wii-linux to play in our Wii, only if you have installed the Twilight Hack.
This time I bring you SDLMAME 0.125 (it's still hot =D) ported to the wii, which will let us play those old games from the years 80-90. I don't recommend using it with the Homebrew Channel, since there are hanging problems with wii-linux.
Furthermore, if you want to use this MAME version, you will have to be patient, since the loading times are big enough compared to PC. Even so, once you have gone through the phase of ROM loading, you can enjoy the games at a decent speed.
With GTA IV smashing entertainment records to hit six million sales in its first week, it’s little surprise that the title has taken the top spot in all formats charts in Spain, Germany and Sweden.
According to Next-gen.Biz, the PS3 version took the No. 1 spot in Spain and Germany for the nine day period ended May 7th, whilst the Xbox 360 version ruled the roost in Sweden.
The full charts read:
Spain
01. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3)
02. Wii Fit (Wii)
03. Grand Theft Auto IV (360)
04. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
05. Brain Training (DS)
06. More Brain Training (DS)
07. Wii Play (Wii)
08. Grand Theft Auto IV Special Edition (PS3)
09. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (PSP)
10. Grand Theft Auto IV Special Edition (360)
Germany
01. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3)
02. Grand Theft Auto IV (360)
03. Wii Fit (Wii)
04. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
<... More »
