JimmyMagnum

This Generation Paving the Way for PS4?

February 9th, 2010 | 2 Comments   


*Article is an opinion of the writer and should not be seen as fuel for the “console war”, even though that will probably be it’s fate*

This generation of gaming consoles has proven a lot of things since the XBox 360 launched. Remember the days when the PlayStation 3 was stumbling down a steep hill, with sales numbers faltering up until the price drop and the release of the Slim model? Out of the big three, Sony is, indeed, in 3rd place in total number of consoles sold, lagging behind the 360 by 5 – 6 million units (Wii is at around a ridiculous 67 million).

Because of this, people claim that Sony has lost the console war; jumping to an invalid conclusion. Keep in mind, the 360 was released in November of 2005, a year earlier than the release of the PlayStation 3. A lot of people couldn’t wait to get into the “next gen” world, and this, in turn, caused a wave of people buying the console because friends owned it. With total 360 sales nearing 38 million, and Sony closing in on 32 million (according to VGChartz, which isn’t an entirely reliable source, but the numbers are close enough for a relative sales figure within the realm of reality).

That being said, the 360 has been out for about 50 or so months, with the PS3 being out for about 38. Doing the math, that would mean the PS3 sells about 840,000 units a month (remember, the console was a staggering $600 at one point, too), with the 360 selling 760,000 per month (keep in mind, this is just total number of consoles sold over the number of months since release, there are slow months and there are big months (last calendar quarter of last year, the PS3 sold over 6.5 million consoles alone)). At this rate, within the next calendar year’s months (going by this number, and counting between March and December, being 9 months), the PS3 could potentially sell 7.56 million consoles, with the 360 selling 6.84 million.

Read the rest of this entry »

Unlike
oly1kenobi

Little Big Planet DLC for this Week

February 8th, 2010 | 1 Comment   

LBP for PSP has two new packs being released in the PSN Store this Thursday, February 11.

First up is the Free Lurve Costume which contains a heart mask , a cloud gown, and some heart bling.
LBP Heart Costume

Read the rest of this entry »

1 person likes this post.
Unlike
Darrin

Competitive Shooter Rundown (MW2, BF:BC2, KZ2, MAG)

February 8th, 2010 | 5 Comments   

Modern Warfare 2

  • Best polish, attention to detail, and perfection of many finer points.
  • Deepest character progression system and load out configuration. This really rewards long term play.
  • Lots of gameplay variety in terms of different game modes and options.
  • Kill Cam: It’s a small feature, but it’s really helpful to see exactly how you got killed.
  • Spawn Trapping: Lots of matches devolve into one side blocking the other side from leaving their spawn points. The helicopter/attack planes can really make these spawn traps impossible to break out of.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (based on demo)

  • Best vehicles. Most vehicle variety, well integrated into play, and very fun.
  • Highly polished and detailed core mechanics. Excellent tech, play balance, and strategy.
  • Environment destruction.
  • Have only played the demo (obviously). Does this game hold player interest with extended play?
  • Battlefield 2 (on PC) had similar pros, but the game was unusually buggy, and I found the DLC fragmented the community and was too frequent and overpriced. Will this have similar problems?

Killzone 2

  • Rotating missions/objectives within a single match delivers a lot of variety.
  • Most stylized visuals. Coolest particle effects, wild environments, and helghast soldiers look the best.
  • Most unique character progression + load out options
  • One you reach general rank, you feel like you have pretty much seen everything.

MAG

  • Best human chain of command squad/platoon system.
  • Unique sense of being part of a larger coordinated conflict. There are other games that support large player counts and squad management systems, but this game does it the best.
  • Control points, secondary abilities, and support actions are well done and add a lot of strategic replayability.
  • The visuals are very good by most standards and are more than adequate for this type of gameplay, but they are way behind the competition.
  • Lack of variety. There is really one main game mode (domination) that you will spend almost all of your time playing.
  • Least amount of overall polish + detail.
  • Unbalanced factions.

Others

I left out plenty from this list. Rainbow Six, Metal Gear Online, SOCOM, Resistance 2, Uncharted 2, and many others all have respectable competitive modes that I just haven’t put enough time into to really comment on.

Overall

If there is one genre of game that the current crop of game developers have really nailed with exceptional quality, variety, and polish, it is the competitive shooter. The range of choices and the level of quality is amazing.

3 people like this post.
Unlike
Luke

BioShock 2: Q&A Part 2

February 8th, 2010 | 2 Comments   

Here is the final interview that Chris Morell the Senior Specalist for Social Media at the Offical PS3 Blog had with Senior Producer Melissa Miller and Lead Environment Artist Hogarth de la Plante this past Monday.  This part of the interview focuses more on the multiplayer aspect of the game. The game footage in this video is provided by Chris Morell while playing the single player campagin this past Friday.

2 people like this post.
Unlike
Tosh

Blu-ray Releases for the Week of 2.8.10

February 8th, 2010 | 2 Comments   



Some new movie releases, a anime about the game Dante’s Inferno. Then a old Schwarzenegger movie. Not much going on this week. Anything for you this time?

Here are the Blu-ray titles for this week. Highlights are: A Serious Man, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic, Running Man (1987), Couples Retreat, The Phantom, Stargate SG-U: 1.0, Hard Rain.

Unlike
Tosh

Poll: Will you buy Heavy Rain? | Plus another way to earn points!

February 8th, 2010 | 10 Comments   

It’s time for a new poll, sorry for the delay. As usual vote in the sidebar. If you have any ideas for polls please respond to this forum topic, so we can change it up more often.

Now another way to earn points! I will award 200 points if I use your poll idea! So if you have a poll idea be sure to reply to the forum topic listed above. I’ve given points to those that have contributed poll ideas in the past on that forum topic.

Just a reminder we are giving away a copy of Heavy Rain on PS3Blog.net See this post for more details, you have until Feb. 21st, 2010 at 7 p.m. Mountain Time to get your entries in.

Here are the results of the last poll.

Which makes a game more enjoyable?

  • A good story – 70 Votes 54% of all votes
  • Intuitive and responsive controls – 25 Votes 19% of all votes
  • Great graphics – 14 Votes 11% of all votes
  • A multiplayer component – 13 Votes 10% of all votes
  • The skill level – 4 Votes 3% of all votes
  • Exceptional voicework – 3 Votes 2% of all votes

Total Votes: 129
Started: January 17, 2010

3 people like this post.
Unlike
fleakitten

Sony Takes Heavy Rain To The Streets

February 7th, 2010 | 4 Comments   

Move over CNN Express Bus. The Heavy Rain Bus is coming to town…

…a town in Germany that is.

That’s right. The ‘Heavy Rain bus’ can only be seen down the streets of Germany right now.  Not a bad way to advertise a game but will Sony expand this form of advertising to the rest of the world?

4 people like this post.
Unlike
JimmyMagnum

The Weekly Recap (January 31st – February 6th)

February 7th, 2010 | No Comments   


This Week
Kind of a slow week. We did get couple reviews in though; one for MAG and one for the Heroes skin pack for Uncharted 2. A lot of news revolved around Heavy Rain and AVP this week, with, most notably, Heavy Rain early demo access becoming available. I also wrote up an impressions post after I had tried the game out.

There were a few announcements in the gaming world as well. 6.5 million PS3s had been sold between October and December of 2009 alone, with Sony as a whole posting a $1.6 profit, with $0.88 going to shareholders. That’s quite a bit, and as fleakitten pointed out, “it’s only a matter of time before the PS3 overtakes the 360.”

Other than that, the newly announced Sonic the Hedgehog 4 has a lot of retro gamers excited, bringing the 2D Sonic we loved from the Genesis days. A formerly Wii-exclusive has also gone multiplatform as well, with the Grinder, which will be released Halloween of 2011. Besides that, there are a few trailers and Q&A videos, as well as a few random news.



Community News

This week in the community, there is some awesome news for Community members. First off, we’re working on ways to use the points registered members have gained. We also have our first contest running (well, one that uses the points). So if you want to enter the contest, for a free copy of Heavy Rain, be sure to read the link on what you need to do to enter. HINT: Only registered members will be able to accumulate points.

And our friendly neighborhood point whore, oly1kenobi, is asking for 150 points for 5 people who want access to the God of War 3 demo (he’ll be having account information available in order to use it). :P . I’ll just wait myself haha. I believe currently, there are two spots left.

As for individual news, it’s good to see fleakitten being more active this week! We were the only two who submitted QuickNews as well. Also, since QuickNews is often overlooked, I’m considering adding them to the Contributor Count, but I’m not sure. Maybe a separate award? I’ll try that one first. Don’t know what the point value for that will be. Anyway, out of 21 regular articles and 7 QuickNews pieces, here’s the week’s recognitions:

Contributor of the Week

  • Trev – 8 Entries

QuickNews Contributor of the Week

  • JimmyMagnum – 5 Entries

Most Liked

Most Comments

Gaming News

Aliens vs Predator Survivor Mode – 4 Player Co-op
Tosh – January 31st

FIFA 24 Hour World Record
Trev – February 1st

Uncharted 2’s Hero Skins Pack Review
fleakitten – February 1st

When MAG Gets A Bit Hectic…
Trev – February 1st

The Last Guardian Website Is Live
Trev – February 2nd

Dante’s Inferno Trailer Uncut
Trev – February 2nd

RPG Spotlight: White Knight Chronicles International Edition
fleakitten – February 2nd

Aliens vs Predator Multiplayer Demo Tomorrow
JimmyMagnum – February 3rd

Video Replays On PSP At Sports Events
Trev – February 3rd

BioShock 2: Q&A Part 1
Luke – February 4th

MAG Review
Trev – February 4th

Aliens vs Predator: Q&A Video
Tosh – February 4th

3D Dot Game Heroes – “Natural Sword Enhancement”
JimmyMagnum – February 4th

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 – Sega Gets it Right
JimmyMagnum – February 4th

6.5 million PS3s Sold in Q3 2009
fleakitten – February 4th

Former Wii-Exclusive ‘The Grinder’ Goes Multi-Platform
JimmyMagnum – February 4th

Fallout: New Vegas Teaser Trailer
Trev – February 4th

God of War III Ultimate Trilogy Edition
Trev – February 5th

Snag the Heavy Rain Demo Early!
Tosh – February 5th

AvP: Tosh vs Sinlock
Sinlock – February 5th

Heavy Rain Demo Impressions
JimmyMagnum – February 6th

QuickNews

God of War III and NASCAR Collaboration
JimmyMagnum – January 31st

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Demo Tomorrow
JimmyMagnum – February 3rd

Bandai Namco Cutting 630 Jobs
fleakitten – February 3rd

Qore Subscribers to Get God of War III Demo
JimmyMagnum – February 4th

“Arc” Semi-Confirmed
JimmyMagnum – February 4th

SE: “FFVII Remake Too Hard To Translate on PS3″
fleakitten – February 5th

Heavy Rain Box Art Back Cover Revealed
JimmyMagnum – February 6th

Play With Us

We’re currently in the process of getting folks together who are interested in playing a game of Aliens vs Predator. Having 8 people would be great, considering it takes about a day and a half to find a game (just kidding, but not entirely!). At east with 8 folks in a group, we have a better chance of starting a new game, faster. If you’re interested, let us know via the Community Forums or in the Live Chat.

Poll Results

No results yet, but I imagine we will have a new poll by the end of this week!

Thank You
Thanks again for taking your time and reading this, I greatly appreciate it! Let me know if the QuickNews recognition is a good idea. I don’t know, but it might inspire more people to use it, because right now, it’s really just me, Tosh and flea who use it more frequently. Can’t think of anything else to say except, if you haven’t tried the Heavy Rain demo yet, it will be on the PS Store this Thursday.

I will also consider adding a few sections to the PlayStation Store update as well, including comic store update and video store update, run it through a trial of sorts first and see what folks think. Again, thanks for reading!

2 people like this post.
Unlike
JimmyMagnum

Heavy Rain Demo Impressions

February 6th, 2010 | 15 Comments   

For those of us who were able to get a hold of the demo early, I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have. Well, you just read my impression, so you’re free to leave now!. To begin, the demo itself is approximately 1700MBs (the codes were specific to EU/UK regions, so you’ll need a European account to download it, so the size may be the result of localization). Keep in mind, this Impressions post contains spoilers, so read at your own discretion!

When you enter the demo, you may want to change the gamma settings in the options menu, though, but you may also want to keep it a little darker than the recommended “until you can barely see the origami” settings for better atmosphere. The production screens, etc at the beginning also have surround sound encoded with rain drops, so it does a decent job of immersing you into the game before the menu even comes up. As for the menu itself, I don’t know what the “Tutorial” is, since I’ve went to “Start New Demo” and assumed that it would be included (it might be the beginning part of the Scott Shelby chapter “Sleazy Place”). The loading screens are pretty cool as well. They depict a close up of the face of the character you will be controlling, in great detail, too. Anyway, onto the most important part of the game, the gameplay.

Read the rest of this entry »

13 people like this post.
Unlike
Sinlock

AvP: Tosh vs Sinlock

February 5th, 2010 | 8 Comments   

Well folks after many months of trash talking, Tosh and I had our first AvP showdown in the Mulitplayer Demo.

After 10 mins of waiting in the lobby for a room to open up our first match started with Tosh as a Marine and I as the Predator. After wandering around a bit I found Tosh after he tested newly found flamethrower. I was able to land the first kill of a battle that landed up going 1 for 1 until the last few seconds of the match with the game ending 3-3.

The second round (after more waiting in the Lobby) had Tosh as his beloved Predator and I as the very nimble Alien. This round went in Tosh’s favor with a few Ranged and Melee kills with that round ending 4-1.

It’s safe to say that there will be a rematch.

2 people like this post.
Unlike