143w ago - SCEE Contributing Editor Roland Fauster has shared an interview today with Technology Director Mark Williams on Hustle Kings for PS3.

To quote: Programming is maths and, in Hustle Kings, you've had to calculate friction, respect natural laws of spin and momentum, and have all these balls clashing with each other in chaotic order.

Who explained the physics and to you, Stephen Hawking?

Haha, well yes, you are right: programming is maths. Unfortunately, they don't teach you the equations for moving balls around a pool table in school. However, for most things a bit of imagination and intuition can help to combine several basic rules of maths and physics to do things that actually look quite clever.

For the really difficult stuff, we have to rely on other people's work and, luckily for us, one guy by the name of Wayland Marlow spent years researching exactly how billiard balls react with one another and with the table. We use his research extensively in Hustle Kings to get the motion of the balls as close to real life as possible.

Are you aiming to simulate reality or to gain the most entertaining gaming experience?

I think it's always very important to concentrate on the gaming experience first and foremost. There is no...

171w ago - Straight from GDC 2010, rumor has it Sony is set to release LittleBigPlanet 2 (LBP2) for PS3 this year.

To quote from VG247.com (linked above): "Whether the LittleBigPlanet product's disc-based or a download is unknown as yet, but our source was cast iron on a 2010 ship.

Sony's holding a press conference in GDC's locality this week, but we have no idea if anything from Media Molecule's to be included.

A second game in the series would signal a major change in tack."

It was announced last week that Sony has fully bought the studio.

LittleBigPlanet is a platform game featuring a little sack character and a suite of user-used development tools. It was released in 2008.

It was confirmed in November last year that more than 1.3 million gamer-generated levels had been created for LBP, and last week that more than 2 million have been made to date.

199w ago - MediaMall is on the verge of announcing their Wii PlayOn beta, which has been in quiet testing for a while now.

What this means to you: For about $40, you'll be able to stream Hulu and Netflix to your Wii!

To quote: PlayOn's been around on the Xbox and PS3 since last year, as well as on all kinds of DLNA-compliant TVs--it's essentially a super-compatible Web interface for video services that don't work on certain platforms--and we knew it was headed Wii-ward from the start.

This is a step, and a sign that the service will actually materialize sometime soon, but it probably won't include a specific, formal release date.

• PlayOn support for Nintendo's Wii in Beta.
• This is the first time PlayOn is able to control the user interface (and we spent significant time designing it)
• It is available for a free 14-day full-featured trial at www.playon.tv; after that it is a one-time $39.99 fee to purchase a license
• It is the same software that supports the PS3 and XBOX360, so if you already have a license or active trial, it will work on your Wii as well
• PlayOn uses the "Internet Channel" on the Wii
• How it works: You can find the PlayOn Media Server(s) by opening the "Internet Channel"...

204w ago - Recently it was reported the Xbox division of Microsoft suffered a loss of $130 million in Q4 and how Microsoft is still operating at a loss.

Many have heard, read, and experienced the devastating reports and effects of the RROD, which are still taking place with the Microsoft Xbox 360 console.

Let me be clear, the Red Ring Of Death is not occurring at the alarming rate as it was at launch, but as stated it's not a resolved issue... a design flaw.

In fairness to Microsoft, Sony is not doing too well at the moment either. They will be reporting a massive loss of 2.9 billion, the first operating loss Sony has had in 14 years, but it does not state how the games division account for this shortfall.

The difference I see in the two consoles is not the games, because that is a personal preference to each individual game. No one can be better than the other in that category, so I tend to look at what either system is selling me as a consumer.

On one end you have Kaz Hirai of Sony. I personally find him very cocky: "The next generation doesn't start until we say it does" -Kaz Hirai, Sony.

Then you have the...

204w ago - There seems to be a new controller rumored to be designed for the Modern Warfare 2 game. If this is going to be included in the preorder, it's going to be awesome!!!

To quote: Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling jumped on his Twitter account earlier today, asking for help. Help with the design for a Modern Warfare 2 control pad.

The message reads: In a design meeting for a #MW2 controller. Need your advice - Concave or Convex grips for the Analog sticks? Whats your preference and why?

Bowling later confirmed that this controller won't be coming from Activision or Infinity Ward, so it's most likely something similar to Mad Catz's Street Fighter IV pads, which seemed to go down pretty well.