Having not ever been an owner of a PS3 or PSP, I wasn’t aware of the bias that retailers are showing towards the PlayStation 3 console.
One of the guys that I work with is a huge PlayStation fan. Not a fanboy, mind you, but a normal person who happens to like the PS3 over the 360.
I’ve heard him talk about it before, but I’ve always passed it off as simple bad customer service or people just being overly hyped about a 360 game over the PlayStation ones, but after “Emergence Day 2″, I was shocked and appalled at the level of anti-PS3 sentiment he had to deal with.
It all started with him telling me that every time he went to his local game store, a small “mom and pop” type store where he has shopped for quite a while, they constantly bugged him to show up to the midnight release of Gears of War 2. On every visit, it seemed, he had to remind the shop owner that he did not have a 360 and had no intention of buying one.
I don't know about anyone else, but I've been holding onto two copies of Persona 3 for quite some time now. The original came in this nice box with an art book, and then FES came out and I just couldn't bring myself to give up to original. So there you go.
Will the same thing happen? Atlus says no.
"We are today able to announce that at no point in the future will we announce the release of a "FES" version of Persona 4," said Tim Pivnicny, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "The very finest, most definitive version of Persona 4 will be the one released on December 9, 2008."
Now if only we could convince them to quit letting places like amazon release awesome pre-order junk, I will be extremely happy. I want my tele-teddy darn it!
Press Release: Atlus Announces That There Will Only Be One (Very Awesome) Version of Persona 4
Unprecedented announcement-of-no-announcement shocks industry
Courtesy of Criterion Games, here’s this week’s big announcement! To quote:
We’re talking Burnout Paradise Legendary Cars.
This year, we’ve introduced some of the most incredible vehicles yet seen in a Burnout game. Our FREE Cagney pack brought you the crazy Steel Oval Racer and the Hippie Wagon, and the FREE Bikes Pack brought motorcycles to Paradise City for the first time ever.
In 2009, we’re taking Burnout vehicles to the next level with some truly unbelievable new vehicles. First up – The Jansen 88 Special.
This classic 1980’s styled silver sports car is based on the fan-favourite Jansen P12, but we’ve made a few interesting modifications.
Fill the gauge and hit boost to trigger burning flame trails from your back wheels. The 88 Special’s fast, manoeuvrable and great in the air.
In fact, if you want to take off, this is just the car for you. Hit L3 to switch to hover mode – the w... More »
SEGA of America's Associate Producer Christopher Kaminski shared the following via PS Blog today:
Hello everyone. It’s Christopher Kaminski, US Producer of Valkyria Chronicles, here again with a very exciting announcement!!
First I want to remind everyone who is eligible to go out and vote today! Once you’re done with that, I hope you’re going to settle in and play a little Valkyria Chronicles. The buzz surrounding the game is growing all crazy like bamboo. People are saying Valkyria isn’t just the best tactics game around but it’s one of the best games on the PS3. Period. I’d have to agree.
Haven’t gotten the game yet? Then check out some of the new trailers we’ve released this month! We focused on the characters that make up Squad 7. You can see Alicia, Ros... More »
Pinnacle Software and developer Doublesix are excited to announce the upcoming release of what will surely prove to be one of the most addictive and charismatic arcade shooters of 2009 - Burn Zombie Burn, available on PlayStation®Network early Q1.
Press Release: GUILDFORD, ENGLAND, October 24th 2008 – You play Bruce – an average every-day Joe who was looking forward to some ‘quality time’ with his girlfriend Daisy. In true B-movie style their Saturday night is ruined by an invasion of zombies.
Set across six classic American horror movie inspired levels, Burn Zombie Burn is a third-person shoot-em-up in the classic coin-op tradition featuring next-gen game play mechanics, and possessing that ‘one-more-go’ addictiveness which define all of the great shooters.
The aim of the game couldn’t be simpler; shoot, burn and blow up as many brain munching zombies as possible using a variety of classic zombie killing weapons before they overwh... More »
Evolution Studios has returned to the dirt and mud with MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, but this time the studio also brings fire, water and foliage in tow.
The game improves on most all of the major issues that I had with the first title, and proves that the MotorStorm franchise is no one trick pony.
The first game relied heavily on its dirt and mud deformation technology. As vehicles cut through the mud, it would leave tracks in the soil that other competitors would have to deal with, and this hook worked pretty well. Whereas the first title was situated out in the desert, Pacific Rift takes place on an island, and focuses on other elements rather than just the dirty stuff.
Firstly, there's plenty of water present this time around, which has two effects. Driving through it will slow you down a great deal, which is obviously a bad thing, but it will also quickly cool down your engine. If you lay off the boost button while in the water, your engine can... More »
Man, things are tough all over. This week's Media Create sales charts show that Japanese gamers basically took the week off from buying hardware. It's possible they were simply concerned about the volatility of the global market, as the softer side of sales failed to blow our socks off, too.
More surprising is the stagnation of PlayStation 3 hardware, which is actually selling some games (Aquanaut's Holiday, Eternal Sonata) but places well behind the Xbox 360. Crazy, crazy days.
• Nintendo DS - 31,914
• PSP - 23,901
• Wii - 22,877
• Xbox 360 - 7,763
• PlayStation 2 - 6,982
• PlayStation 3 - 5,734
ExtremeTech has found that replacing the PS3's hard drive with Intel's new X-25 solid-state 80GB drive can reduce a games load times by up to 40%.
However, the drive does not greatly improve install times as the read performance of the Blu-ray drive holds it back. If anyone is considering this upgrade, it will set you back $600.
To quote: We've already raved about the stellar performance of Intel's new X-25 solid-state drive, which just happens to come in an 80GB capacity and 2.5-inch SATA form factor. Perfect for a PS3!
So after a quick FAT32 format, we dropped the drive in the PS3 unit we keep in the HDTV lab here (an original 60GB unit) to see what kind of impact it has on install times, game start times, and load times.
We took four games notorious for long installs or load times and timed them both with the original 60GB hard drive and the Intel SSD. The results may surprise you—but at $600, it's certainly not a cheap upgrad... More »
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