The red rings of death issue simply refuses to go away for Microsoft, and no matter how much it reduces the cost and extends the warranty one simple question remains: will the Xbox 360 ever be fit for purpose?
I guess that the headline should have read 'Will my Xbox 360 survive past Christmas?' given that I intend to use my own experience of Xbox 360 ownership to highlight that, no matter how hard Microsoft tries to convince the public differently, it just cannot seem to fix the hardware problems users of the Xbox 360 face.
Are you sitting comfortably? Great, then I will begin. My story starts almost exactly a year ago in October 2007, with a badgered father giving in to the requests of his son to buy an Xbox 360.
After doing some research, the newly released Xbox 360 Elite seemed to be the perfect choice as it was meant to have fixed the dreaded red rings of death problem. It was also black, and I like black gadgets when it comes to audio-visua... More »
Krome, developers of the upcoming Star Wars The Clone Wars game for the Wii, have revealed that Nintendo warned them about Wii MotionPlus before E3.
Back in August, we heard rumblings that LucasArts weren't very happy with Nintendo's shock Wii MotionPlus announcement prior to their E3 conference in July.
It appeared that Nintendo had chosen not to inform anyone else about their new peripheral before the convention, with games such as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels too late into their development cycles to implement MotionPlus functionality.
In the latest issue of NGamer, producer Ken Fox from Krome, who has been working on Lightsaber Duels for the Wii, had something a little different to say...
"Yes, Nintendo did give us a heads-up about MotionPlus. As far as I know, MotionPlus won't be available until 2009, so it won't be in our game since it launches in November 2008. We feel th... More »
It’s just something that I have noticed occurring behind the scenes over the last year that I think is worthy of bringing up, as it indicates a growing faith in the PlayStation 3 console from developers and publishers across the globe. It does not mean that the Xbox 360 is any less important, just that the PS3 is definitely starting to get equal-footing on multi-format games.
Go back six months and more, almost every game that was multi-format was given to journalists on Xbox 360. Code came in for Xbox 360 debuggers (the devices on which we play unfinished games), promo copies were for the Xbox 360 and almost always games were demoed to us on Microsoft’s console when out at junkets across the world. It’s just the way it was.
Obviously being a multi-format publication, we actively chased PS3 versions of these games but they were rarely forthcoming, and if they did make it in, it could be months later. I sit alongside both the editor of Australian 360 Mag... More »
Following word in July that EA's Command & Conquer-based squad shooter, Tiberium was getting shifted back to 2010, comes word that the game has been officially killed and some staff let go, the publisher confirmed with Kotaku today.
Kotaku obtained a copy of the internal memo sent to staff earlier today outlining the reasons why the game was axed. In the memo Mike Verdu, of EA LA, says that the game would not be able to get up to snuff given the amount of time and resources left in the production cycle.
The memo goes on to state that several people on the team had to be released.
" We will make every effort to place affected individuals on projects within the studio – and where that isn't possible, to connect them with opportunities in other teams at EA."
More interesting is the fact that Verdu calls for this decision to serve as a warning for future projects.
"The quality bar has been raised. Now we need to step... More »
According to a report from Japan's Nikkei business daily via Reuters, Nintendo is planning to launch an updated Nintendo DS model by the end of 2008. Among other options, the new model is expected to feature a built-in camera along with support for the playback of music files.
To quote: Japanese video game maker Nintendo Co Ltd plans to launch a new model of its DS handheld machine that can take pictures and play music by the end of the year, the Nikkei business daily said on Sunday.
The move would pit the top-selling portable game gear with Apple Inc iPod and camera-embedded cellphones in general.
The price for the new machine, which will also be equipped with advanced wireless communications functions, is expected to be below 20,000 yen ($189) in Japan, compared with 16,800 yen for the current model, the Nikkei said.
The Wii game console and DS have been Nintendo's twin growth engines, helping its share price to grow more than thr... More »
A new Killzone 2 BETA Gameplay video is now available via YouTube courtesy of ps3teamfyre.
In related news, there several people are reporting that invites to the Killzone 2 closed BETA test went out today to a very limited number of European PlayStation 3 owners.
While there were no 'official' sign-ups being made for the Killzone 2 BETA, chances are SCEE is likely selecting users who applied for their BETA test initiative last July.
Needless to say, all details pertaining to the game are under NDA, and those selected are being asked to restrict sharing gameplay impressions only on Sony's European private BETA boards for the time being.
Fans of massively multiplayer games who were looking forward to Warhammer Online were understandably shaken this summer when it was announced that some major features were being pulled from the game.
However, those worried fans can now take heart. Speaking to 1UP earlier today about this week's public launch of their new game, Mythic Entertainment general manager Mark Jacobs assured us that the cut content that does find its way back into Warhammer Online will be reintroduced free of charge -- not as part of a paid expansion.
"Are we going to put [the pulled content] in a paid expansion? No," Jacobs explained. "What I've told the users point blank is that we want to give it to you as part of subscription content. We don't have a schedule penciled in for when that will be coming, but we're going to release it without any additional charge to players."
The cuts, announced in July to help keep the game on track for a fall release as well as... More »
Here’s the response from Sony regarding PlayStation sales for August.
PS3 continued to generate impressive sales in August 2008, with 185,353 hardware units sold. From January to August 2008, more than 2 million PS3s have been sold in the U.S., representing a year-to-date hardware sales growth of more than 92%. Software sales were also strong for PS3, with 1.6 million units sold, representing a year-over-year growth of 92%
• Electronic Arts Sports’ Madden NFL 09 proved to be a hot seller on PlayStation platforms in August, with more than 1.1 million copies purchased by PlayStation customers, not including the Madden NFL 09 ® (PlayStation® Portable) Entertainment Pack. 643,000 units of the popular sports title were sold for PS3 alone, a 33% higher attach rate than Xbox 360 and representing an increase of 90% year-over-year when compared to Madden NFL 08 sales for PS3 in August 2007.
• Following its launch on July 29, more than 263K copie... More »
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