Per Hiroshi Matsuyama (CyberConnect2) via the official PS Blog today:
My name is Hiroshi Matsuyama from CyberConnect2, the developer of NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja STORM.
Last time I spoke with you, I covered some of our basic game features. Today, as promised, I’d like to share some of our development secrets with you so that you can learn about how we made this incredible game.
We began work on the game in January 2006, while most of our company was still working on the .hack//G.U. series for PlayStation 2. We hand-picked a team of our 10 most obsessive developers which constantly grew in number as the project progressed.
The team expanded from 10 to 20, 30 and eventually 65 people, which were all working on the game for the last 9 months of development. Our basic concept for the game was to eliminate the lines between traditional animation and video games. This is a pretty serious goal! We knew that to meet this goal, we wou... More »
Japanese site Watch Impress has recently got their hands on a brand new Nintendo DSi, and decided to take it apart to reveal a peek at the inside contents.
As previously mentioned, differences include slightly larger LCD screens, refined stereo speakers and the DSi CPU, which includes the 'TWL' revision stamped on it with a 2007 date.
The original Ninwtendo DS/DS Lite CPU was dated as 2004, with revision stamps 'NTR' and 'NTR B' respectively.
Those interested can check out all the dissection photos on their site linked above. Enjoy!
The copy protection police have struck again. The new HD Netflix streaming service on the Xbox 360 requires an HDCP compatible display device. If you try play a movie while not connected to an HDCP compatible display, you will get the “Secure HDCP Link Not Found” error.
For all the people that have a non-HDCP LCD monitors hooked up via DVI to their Xbox 360, you are SOL. What is not clear is whether your resolution be limited to 480p if you have an older Xbox 360 with only component outputs.
This situation kind of mirrors the DVD upscaling issue with the Xbox 360, with the work around being use the VGA adapter in order to get DVD upscaling via analog outputs.
What is Netflix worried about? Who in their right mind would waste their time capturing HD Netflix movies via HDMI? Answer, Nobody!
Sony is in deep trouble. The company has been forced to slash its earnings forecast by 57 percent amid deteriorating economic conditions and its inability to compete more effectively in markets throughout the world.
Of course, Sony will still post a profit--most analysts claim that it'll be about $500 million--but the downturn speaks to Sony's issues and the fact that this once-dominant company has been downgraded to an also-ran in the industry.
Remember the days of Sony dominance? It was a time when the Walkman was on the minds of tech lovers around the world and the PlayStation moniker was held in the highest regard. Sony TVs were everywhere, and the company's ability to capitalize on any market was truly astounding.
But since then, Sony has lost its way. It's no longer a company that can rely on its name to beat other companies to a pulp, and with more competitors realizing how to beat Sony, it has quickly become irrelevant in many markets.
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Just a few days back we reported on several users experiencing PSP-3000 Screen issues, including scanlines interlacing issues in games.
Today, Engadget has a brief official update to this concern as follows:
"Update: A Japanese Sony Computer Entertainment representative has informed us that the interlacing-like lines are just "features" of the new LCD, and currently, there are no plans to fix it with a future software update since it is in the hardware."
So there you have it, at least for now sadly. Below is a comparison picture for those who missed it in our previous news post.
Tokyo Game Show is all about Sony... or at least it was. The annual event is in full swing now and that table has turned. Microsoft is usually as quiet as a mouse wearing slippers while the Japanese based Sony enjoys the love-in, but to date it has been Microsoft dropping bombs. Let us elaborate...
Back in the good ol’ days (or not so good ol’ days, depending on which side of the line you’re on) at the Tokyo Game Show, Sony would come in first, Nintendo second, and Microsoft would be a distant afterthought.
Indeed prior to this year’s TGS, the Japanese convention was dominated by Sony, plain and simple. Their booth was the size of a football field, they gave interview access to everyone who was anyone and, best yet, they delivered top notch treatment to game journalists.
Such was Sony’s dominance of TGS that they would fly upwards of 10 Aussie journos to Japan and put them up in the most pimping of pimped out hotel suites to ensure cove... More »
Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 outsold Sony's PlayStation 3 in Japan in September, beating the rival machine in monthly unit sales for the first time in Sony's home market, a game magazine publisher said.
Strong sales growth came after Microsoft cut prices for its game console last month.
Microsoft sold 53,547 units of the Xbox 360 in the four weeks to September 28, compared with 33,071 units of the PS3, data from Enterbrain showed on Friday.
Nintendo Co Ltd safely maintained its leading position in the Japanese console market, having sold 109,548 units of the Wii during the month.
Although popular in the United States, the Xbox 360 has been struggling to compete with the PS3 and the Wii in Japan, home to both Sony and Nintendo.
In a bid to lift sales, Microsoft on September 11 cut the price of the Xbox 360 Arcade, which comes without a hard disk drive, by 8,000 yen ($76) to 19,800 yen. It also lowered the price of the high-en... More »
Yesterday we reported on the upcoming Nintendo DS, and today some photos of the new Nintendo DS console's upgraded screens have been spotted on the Chinese site Yukawanet, linked above.
In the picture below, the revised screen is the one on the right side... which has a slightly larger width of 3.25 inches, in comparison to just 3 inches for the one on the left.
According to their watermarks, the origin of these 'spotted' photos is another Chinese Web site, namely TGBus.com.
More details as they are available, and check out the link above for additional photos!