Archive for January, 2007
PS3 Steering Wheel Force Feedback Works!
I just got Need for Speed: Carbon for the PS3. I put in the disc, booted up the game, selected “Quick Race”, and started playing with my Driving Force Pro. What did I notice?
Force Feedback!
Both the jarring rumble when you crash and the more subtle pulls on the wheel when you start to lose traction with the road. This is with a plain US PS3 and a plain US copy of NFS: Carbon. No special tricks or settings are required for this at all. And this isn’t me quoting someone else, or reading into something. I felt this with my own two hands.
Remember, earlier this month, when waves of web sites reported that the PS3 was uncapable of doing force feedback, even with third party steering wheels? Apparently, testing this out wasn’t hard at all, and this rumor is completely, 100%, categorically untrue.
Of course, none of those sites posted updates or tried to correct this error. Even today, you can Google “ps3 steering wheel force feedback” (no quotes in actual query string) and get links like this, all claiming that this is impossible and even officially confirmed as such by Sony themselves:
Ars Technica
Playfeed
Kotaku
1UP.com
Gizmodo
Joystiq
Destructoid
Netscape Games
Embarrassingly, even this blog reported on this story:
PS3Blog.net – PS3 doesn’t support force feedback
However, we did update this rather quickly.
UPDATE: Many people say Ridge Racer 7 also supports force feedback (I couldn’t test myself). The free GT:HD doesn’t support force feedback.
Other very minor changes.
Global PS3 Prices
Posted by Blackstaffer in PS3 on January 30th, 2007
Just out of curiosity, I decided to convert what the 60GB PS3 goes for in several territories into a baseline currency – the USD. So here it goes:
US: $599
Canada: $556
Europe: $776 (including VAT)
UK: $834 (including VAT)
Japan: $515 (based on 62790Yen)
So it’s obvious from the list above why Best Buy and Future Shop (Future Shop is owned by Best Buy) have raised the price of the console to $699Cdn ($592US). Us Canadians were getting a break on PS3 pricing, and some people decided they could make more money.
It’s also obvious that Sony’s really milking Europeans for every dollar and dime they can get. What is it about Europe anyway? Microsoft has high prices there for their Xbox 360 console there as well. ($517US for the Premium model in Europe, $549US in the UK.) If I were Gary and Tom, I’d be really ticked…
[Edited to say "including VAT" and to add Japanese price.]
GRAW 2 Dev Diary
Posted by Blackstaffer in G, PS3 software on January 30th, 2007
Here’s something cool. The GRAW 2 folks are making video developer diaries about the game, and the first one (link below) is pretty good. Although it was pretty funny to hear the translator talk about “motor” instead of [graphics] “engine”. 
This first developer diary is quite interesting, and talks a lot about the graphical capabilities of the game.
One thing it talks about is ambient occlusion. Though the example they give isn’t very good at all, the fact that they’re putting ambient occlusion into games is pretty cool. Ambient occlusion creates very realistic lighting and shadows.
They also show off some of the cool smoke effects in the game. They look really nice.
And the last thing that really impressed me is light passing through objects, like leaves or cloth. It looks really cool, and will make a big difference in the game.
I’m looking forward to this game a lot, and I hope that it doesn’t get delayed any more than it already has.
More Lair Details
Posted by T0SH in L, PS3 software, ZGame Profiles on January 29th, 2007
GameFront has revealed some new details about Factor 5′s PS3 title Lair. The basic story is the knight seen in the trailers is participating in a war that spans the whole continent. And the dragons are bred for one reason only, to fight.
The dragon that you ride can burn or eat other soldiers. You can also swat away smaller opponents with it’s tail or it’s wings. Most fights will be close combat. And you can also “hijack” other hostile dragons. Lair will feature mission based arenas up to 32 square kilometers.
DMC4 Website Now in English!
Posted by Gary in D, PS3 software on January 29th, 2007
I’ve dreamt of this day since the official Devil May Cry 4 website went live last year. You can now choose between English and Japanese languages when you visit the website. Great news for everybody who doesn’t understand Japanese!
Nothing new has been added since I last wrote about the previous update here.
I will leave you with the English version of the Story section:
The castle town of Fortuna, situated on the coast, plays host to a distinctive culture centered around a unique religion. It is home to the Order of the Sword, a religious organization that worships the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, a demon that rejected his lineage and fought against his own kind on behalf of humanity. Like Sparda, the Order of the Sword has decreed it’s desire to eliminate all demon kind and established a special brigade of Holy Knights to carry out this cause.
However, the Devil Hunter Dante had other plans for the group – suddenly appearing and executing it’s members…
Fools!! They obviously plan to kill Dante as he has demon blood running through his veins, despite him following in his father’s footsteps. Who’s willing to bet that Nero turns out to be Vergil’s son? 
Let’s see what the Order of the Sword thinks about that!! 
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