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Going in to my time with Star Wars The Force Unleashed, I figured the best the game could do was recapture the fun of playing Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II on a console.

While The Force Unleashed pushes the graphics and, to some degree, the AI, forward, the experience of playing Unleashed was, as I had hoped, fairly similar to the hours of time I sank into Dark Forces II.

The game was enjoyable, at times a blast to play, but nothing that is going to shake the rock solid formula crafted by Dark Forces II.

I started my hands-on with the Xbox 360 version of the game (the PS3 version is said to be identical) playing as Darth Vader. I suspect this first introductory level is one of the only chances you get to play as the Sith mouth-breather.

The developers nailed Vader's walk, though I went from awe struck to annoyed a few minutes into the game when I realized I couldn't force Vader to sprint through the level. Instead you have t... More »  


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Games like Call of Duty 4 run at a framerate of 60 frames per second on both systems. But Call of Duty 4 is a game that experienced technical problems with various bottlenecks due to the varying levels of action that occur on the screen. The game was originally designed to run at 60 frames per second at 720p, but it caused drops in the framerate.

The proof of this is the fact that Call of Duty 4 runs at a resolution of only 640p on both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. This may be “equal” in terms of what is displayed on the screen, but the FACT is that Call of Duty 4 is putting a much larger burden on the PS3 than it is the Xbox 360.

Confirmation of this can be seen in the large number of games that “run smoothly at 60 frames per second on the Xbox 360, but struggle to run at 30 frames per second on the Playstation 3.” That was a quote from Gamespot.

It’s simple math: The Xbox 360 can display approximately 500,000,000 polygons per second... More »  


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First off, we would like to wish all of our American visitors a very Happy 4th of July 2008 today!

But for more explosive news (who doesn't love a pun?) we recently received two special PS3 PUP files from a VERY nice guy. As pictured below, they are PS3 Debug 1.00 (65.5 MB (68,765,224 bytes)) and PS3 Debug 1.50 (72.2 MB (75,762,080 bytes)).

These PUPs, which are the special downgrade PUPs, allow a user to downgrade their PS3 TEST from any version down to it. For example, with the 1.00 SPECIAL Downgrade PUP a user can be on 2.40, install it, and after a reboot be on 1.00!

1.00, which lacks just about every feature but ON/OFF functionality, will then let us upgrade to any DEV firmware above it.

Which brings us to 1.50... Through examining numerous Sony documentation recently, we have read that in the 1.60 Firmware the PS3's kernel memory and user memory are separated, leading us to believe that the kernel m... More »  


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This week's price cuts are too little too late to save the Xbox 360, says Nathan Taylor. The 360 glory days may be over, with only Fable 2 up its sleeve and Blu-Ray scoring wins for the PS3.

Microsoft has a lot to worry about these days. It’s frustrated by it’s inability to crack Google, or buy anybody else who might; people are hating Vista, and the life of Windows XP keeps getting extended; it’s actually having to compete with Linux on the desktop, and now on the mobile as well; and it’s console, once the market leader, seems to be slowly fading away.

Its latest announcement is clearly designed to stave off the latter. It may be too little too late, but Microsoft just announced a new round of price cuts for the Xbox 360, making the cheapest version of the console, the hard disk-less Arcade, $50 cheaper than the Wii.

It’s now just $349, half the price of the PlayStation 3, and some retailers are selling it for considerably les... More »  


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A lot has gone on, and nothing has gone on lately. Let's start with the nothing part first since it's shorter... we really have no monumental progress to report at the moment. Why? Simple, everything the resident PS3 Devs are working on is still a work-in-progress... when there is news we will post it.

So what is the "a lot" part that has gone on lately? Mostly stuff that may eventually lead to newsworthy progress. I myself have recently acquired nearly 1GB of new Sony goodies to play with, and I have been spending much of my freetime examining a lot of the included documentation.

One interesting thing we recently found out is that Sony has released a NEW model PS3 TEST. It is the DECHJ00J/DECHJ00A. It is supported in SDK version 2.17 and later, and features a 40GB Hard Disk Drive, and two USB ports. Like its retail counterpart, it also lacks PS2 hardware, so it can not play PS2 games.

I've also been working with another PS3 Dev on getting Pr... More »  


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Any console that can play the upcoming Ferrari Challenge, take one step forward. Not so fast Xbox 360! At least if System 3 CEO, Mark Cale is to be believed when he says, “The PS3 offers the most powerful opportunity in the global marketplace.”

Barring some phantom super-console lurking in the E3 rafters, we suppose that’s fair. Though, the fact that Sony’s better established throughout Europe, and that continent’s insatiable appetite for racing titles probably shouldn’t be counted out either.

“1080p resolution is a better solution than just HD,” boasts Cale while taking a light jab at the 720p Forza 2. Certainly, no one’s clamoring for less “p”, so news of this nature will surely do its part as red meat for forum trolls who absolutely obsess over tech specs.

Although, the very same people, those combing over every progressive pixel, may also take issue with the game running at 30 frames a second. Cale claims that yo... More »  


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The initial shock and awe of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has come and gone, and it's now time to reflect on Hideo Kojima's recently released opus. Though MGS4 is no doubt a stunning game and many would argue evidence for videogames being treated as art, it's by no means perfect.

Having just completed the game and spent some time in Metal Gear Online, I'm here to share my gripes about the game. Being a long-time fan of the MGS series, it's frustrating to see MGS4 turn out the way that it did, but I suppose it is what it is.

Be warned, I don't have any criticisms of the story, but I do discuss the gameplay in each Act of the game, so if you don't want anything spoiled, best to just move on.

1. No reason to be on the Playstation 3

Why is this game on the PS3 again, besides Sony likely throwing a ton of money at Konami to keep it exclusive? It doesn't utilize the Playstation 3's strengths at all. The previously sho... More »  


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It's been a long time coming, but 06/12 is finally here. For months, I've held a secret, something that may have the shear potential to ultimately unlock the PS3. A few select, knew of my work, and my prospects for this project, and a few select others were told "06/12 is the day."

Explanation: So on this day I give to you a PS3 Tri-Fold Attack Potential release (and Update 1.0 Files, NOT NEEDED- but for those who want to examine the file verification system), all stemming from one game that has a very grave security flaw.

Call of Duty 3: Many games prior to discovering this one, had great potential to write files to the PS3 HDD, such as Resistance: FoM, Motorstorm, and Warhawk. Warhawk was a particularly good one at that cause at the time we managed to overwrite other game param.sfo's.

ru6onG... More »  


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