At the risk of sounding like a forum troll, I have to say, I'm not too impressed with the implementation of Netflix on Xbox 360. The service, which is available to Xbox Live and Netflix -subscribers, allows you to stream movies to your TV via your Xbox 360, and on paper, it sounds ingenious. Indeed, that's why I -- along with many others -- was so excited when Microsoft announced this forthcoming feature way back at E3 in July. Unfortunately, Netflix for Xbox Live users is now here, and it's not all it was cracked up to be.
For starters, the selection of streamable movies is lackluster. Netflix users who have used the service's "Instantly Watch" section know that there aren't an incredible variety of movies to pick from. There are few new releases available. Instead, the selection is composed mainly of films like Mission to Mars, The Abyss, Superman: The Movie, Batman Forever and Scarface. There's nothing necessarily wrong with these movies. Some of them are actually grea... More »
Today, 7-Eleven announced that they will start carrying certain video game titles for sale, including Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, Call of Duty: World at War and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.
Additionally, they will make several prepaid game cards available for companies (and games) like Nexon, Habbo, Gaia, Guild Wars, Runescape, Aeria, City of Heroes, ijji and Neopets.
Press Release: Gamers never die; they just grow up … and continue to play ... and play ... and play. Today, the average gamer is not in his teens, but in his early 30s and, not surprisingly, most likely male. They play at home, at social gatherings, at work (shhhh) and online.
That’s good news for 7-Eleven, Inc. whose customer base skews heavily male between the ages of 18 and 34. The world’s leading convenience retailer is ready to take the proverbial plunge into video game sales after dabbling in it over the past years with successful Slurpee® beverage promotio... More »
Mythic and The Black Library, a division of Games Workshop, today announced Dark Storm Gathering, an original novel based on the critically acclaimed MMORPG, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR).
The second in a series of novels based on the hit massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Dark Storm Gathering will be available in all major bookstores and on the Black Library website in Spring 2009.
Dark Storm Gathering, by noted Black Library author Chris Wraight, provides a colorful and gripping account of the Realm vs. Realm battles that rage throughout WAR. In the novel, human and Elf adventurers are forced to form an uneasy alliance with the armies of the Empire to repel the forces of Chaos. Across the lands, the grim march of Tchar’zanek, dread Champion of the fell powers of Chaos, is underway.
Throughout the Empire of Man, the toll from plague and mutation continues to grow, and hope begins to fade. Only the intervention of the H... More »
A couple days ago we reported on a few holiday adverts that are part of a “bigger campaign”.
Today Sony's Senior Vice President of Marketing & PlayStation Network Peter Dille detailed their PlayStation: Entertainment Unleashed ad campaign officially via PS Blog as follows:
This is one of the fun parts of my job, when we get to unveil our TV commercials and give you, our loyal fans, a preview of our spots before they hit the airwaves. This year’s campaign is dubbed “Entertainment Unleashed” and for good reason.
The campaign actually began quietly a few weeks back with three fifteen second “tease” executions. Hopefully, you’ve seen these by now. These initial ads depicted various people catching glimpses and reflections of beautiful PS3 game footage magically appearing ... More »
At a 10-year anniversary event, Polyphony Digital presented two technological trials for the next generation.
Both of the presentations were founded on the philosophy of “achieving the highest possible quality” held over the years by Gran Turismo... showing it off that at 2160p.
It was all part of a time trial showcasing Sony's latest SRX-S110 projector technology, which can support resolutions of 4096 x 2160 pixels.
To quote: One of these, was a time trial competition using Sony’s newest digital cinema projector, the “SRX-S110”. Gran Turismo 5 prologue is already in Full HD resolution at 1920 x 1080 pixels, providing the highest resolution possible in today’s TV content.
However in this time trial, the Full HD image was increased to twice the resolution both vertically and horizontally (4x the surface area), enabling game play at an ultra high resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels.
There's general agreement that Sony stumbled out of the gate with the PlayStation 3. Months of intense hype were followed by a late launch (fully a year after the Xbox 360) and a staggering $600 price tag for the deluxe model.
Even worse, the PS3 didn't initially have any real must-have exclusive titles, and despite the power of its vaunted Cell processor, multiplatform games from third-party developers didn't look appreciably better than the respective titles on the Xbox 360.
Since then, the company's been modifying the PlayStation product line to better fit the competitive market landscape. As of August 2008, a new "bargain" PS3 is available with a larger, 80GB hard drive, and a "deluxe" model is due in November, doubling the capacity to 160GB.
Both, however, lack backward compatibility with PS2 games and do not come with flash card readers. If those features are a must, it might be best to pick up the 80GB "Metal Gear" bundle version on eBay w... More »
What happens when people are reluctant to spend money? Well, they're reluctant to buy a $400 games machine, that's what.
Blu-ray predictions are down due to the struggling economy. PS3 sales should also be affected, an obvious conclusion made by analyst Piers Harding-Rolls.
"At the top end, the PS3 with its high price is arguably more likely to be impacted by a recession than the other platforms. This may prompt consumers to consider other consoles or wait for the PS3 price to drop."
But, sluggish sales of the PS3 won't be the only outcome of a recession economy. Credit has dried up in many areas, meaning developers of games may be forced to cancel or stall projects, before funds become more readily available.
"Where I do see an impact is with regards to access to credit for publishers that look to borrow to invest in content production... More »
Per Microsoft's Major Nelson (linked above): Xbox.com and the Xbox forums will be offline for maintenance on Tuesday, November 18th from 12:01am PT until 4:00am PT to prepare for the New Xbox Experience launch on Wednesday the 19th.
This does NOT affect Xbox LIVE, which will remain available during this time.
Additionally, similar as was done for the PlayStation 3 recently, Microsoft will give Capcom its own “branded destination experience” tomorrow, to coincide with the launch of New Xbox Experience.
The hub will serve as a sort of one-stop shop for all things Street Fighter. Related add-ons and content, as well information on upcoming releases, will be accessible from one single destination.
Press Release: CAPCOM® PARTNERS WITH MICROSOFT® TO PROVIDE A BRANDED EXPERIENCE WITH SUPER STREET FIGHTER® II TURBO HD R... More »
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