Archive for February, 2009

The making of Killzone 2 – Part 2

Posted by Tosh in Killzone 2 on February 23rd, 2009

I don’t want to watch this yet, to keep myself as spoiler free as possible. But I’ve heard there are some spoilers in this video.

The making of Killzone 2 – Enemy Planet…

2 Comments

PS3/360/Wii Gamerbase

Posted by Tosh in Hardware, Nintendo Wii, PS3, Xbox 360 on February 23rd, 2009

Nielsen Media Research did some research on the age groups of the people that own gaming consoles. This is how it breaks down:

  • PS3 has the oldest gamerbase, with the highest usage from the 18-24 age group.

    • Gamers who owned one or both of these consoles in their youth may have ‘graduated’ to the PS3 in their assumed adulthood.

  • Xbox 360 attracts a slightly younger base, with more male gamers falling in the 12-17 age group.
  • Wii is popular in boys age 6-11, and women age 25-34.

Does that seem correct to you? The PS3 age group seems accurate with the people that I know that have them. The 360 about right, but I do know some older people that have 360′s. The Wii is mixed as well. But most of the people I know that have Wii’s fit into that group. But my wife hates the idea the Wii, lol.

More details in the link below.

Report: PS3 has oldest gamers, Wii has youngest

7 Comments

Is Gaming Undergoing a Renaissance?

Posted by Darrin in Uncategorized on February 22nd, 2009

From thatgamecompany’s cofounder, Jenova Chen:

I think right now — in the future, when people look back, I think it’s the renaissance of video games.”

davinci

Entertainment will always evolve. Painting, sculpture, music, novels, and movies have always evolved and will continue to do so, but you can usually look at the history of a particular medium and notice a distinct time period of unusual explosive growth and change and formation.

Each medium had their own time period, and there is a convincing argument that that time for video games is now.

Agree? Disagree?

5 Comments

The making of Killzone 2

Posted by Tosh in Killzone 2 on February 22nd, 2009

Good video, check it out. There is another video from threespeech.com coming Monday . T-Minus 5 days until release!

Exclusive Killzone 2 video coming at 5pm!

1 Comment

Noby Noby Boy First Impressions

Posted by Darrin in Uncategorized on February 20th, 2009

nobynoby1

Early Summary

If you like artsy-type games at all or if you liked the style of Katamari Damacy (same creator), this is a must buy. If you don’t have patience for the more arty stuff, you probably won’t like this.

Bullet points

(for easy skim reading)

  • There is no clear purpose or direction or point to the game at all. On the surface, you are just fooling around with this long noodle thing, wrapping around stuff, eating things, and growing your length, however, from what I’ve played so far, the more you play, the more pieces of the game there are to discover. The gameplay truely is very exploratory and non-linear and non-guided.
  • I’m only a few hours in, so I really have to see how much more there is to this. At this point I’m both charmed by the surreal exploratory whimsy and the daring design and worried about the potentially limited lifespan of the core noodling play mechanic. However, there may be much more to discover and unlock…
  • There is a shared online community aspect to the game. You upload progress from your own play, and when the global player community reaches a certain point, new worlds are unlocked.
  • The integrated instruction manual is fully playable with a 2D Noby Boy type creature. Even the loading screen is interactive.
  • While the genuine exploratory nature of the game will be fascinating to many, it will frustrate others. Mainstream-types won’t have the patience or curiosity for this abstract stuff.
  • Similarities to Katamari Damacy (same creator): The art style, the surrealism, the zany characters and objects, the progression of growing your character, progression of starting really small and growing to planet size.
  • Differences from Katamari Damacy: Katamari had wildly abstract art and narrative, but the game had very clear and conventional objectives, levels, and progression. Noby Noby Boy is less of a “game” and more of a toy; it offers absolute exploratory gameplay and provides a more thoroughly abstract experience.

    • nobynoby2

    One Gripe: Screenshot feature. When I do something cool in the game, I want to be able to freeze the game, adjust the camera to get the perfect viewpoint, and snap my picture. As it is, the user has to hit the PS button, and while game is still running and the desired cool scene is unfolding, navigate the XMB as fast select the screenshot feature.

    Thoughts?

    5 Comments

    Killzone 2 Webgame – Join Us! [Update]

    Posted by Tosh in Killzone 2 on February 20th, 2009

    k2webgame

    Killzone 2 Webgame Launch Video here. After you install the plugin, the Helghast will appear as your browsing the internet. Help us eliminate them! I created a clan for us called “PS3BLOG.NET”. Just enter that where it says “Join Exsisting Squad”. I just had a battle and it was pretty fun :) You can disable the plugin at the top if your tired of battle. But I’ve had it installed for about 30 minutes so far and they only attacked once. So I’m not sure how often they show up.

    There is a countdown that appears at the top, you must click “Join Battle” to start the game. Otherwise it won’t start. So it won’t just interrupt what your doing. Give it a try :)

    If your concerned about installing the plugin at work, you can just disable it when “needed” ;) I recommend using Firefox.

    Check out our Squad Stats here.

    In Battle controls

    * Click “engage enemy” and its battle time
    * Your cursor’s the crosshair and your browser is the battleground
    * Click to fire your weapon
    * Move the crosshair to the edge of the browser window to reload
    * Get extra points – make the most of multipliers, head shots and hidden explosive devices to score extra points. Go get ‘em

    Squad Play

    * Each squad has its own unique ID
    * Invite friends to join your squad by giving them your ID (squads can contain a maximum of 4 players). They will need this when registering
    * Engage the Helghast and the game will invite your squad mates to join you (their browser must be open and toolbar enabled)
    * Squad members that accept will be transported straight to your battle
    * The more players that join, the more each player scores
    * Squad members can heal fallen comrades. Just click and hold on the cross symbol next to their name. Top left in your HUD

    [Update]

    Boost your encounters:

    Some sites trigger more encounters, try these:

    - Flickr – I got attacked a LOT at this site.
    - Facebook
    - ThreeSpeech
    - TheSixthAxis
    - Youtube
    - BuyKillzone (The link on the official Killzone webgame site)

    Some other tips

    9 Comments

    Europe Killzone 2 Full Length Ad

    Posted by Tosh in Killzone 2, QuickNews on February 20th, 2009

    Check out the new Europe Killzone 2 Ad here, I like how it says “Actual Gameplay Footage” in the ad.

    No Comments

    PS3 still the best console for Tekken 6

    Posted by Tosh in Tekken 6 on February 20th, 2009

    tekken6ps3

    Tekken has been with PlayStation since the beginning. I even played Tekken 1 at the arcades. So I’m a die hard Tekken fan. I was a little saddened to see Tekken 6 being released on the 360, but not really surprised either. But I’m happy to see that the PlayStation 3 is still the lead platform.

    “The game was programmed on PS3 architecture and specifically designed to make full use of the Cell’s SPU. So it’s going to be a big challenge to bring the game to the Xbox 360,” Harada said. Tekken 6 capitalizes on the PS3′s power, and by capitalize, I mean running on 60fps.

    “After releasing Tekken 6 in the arcades, we developed an updated version called Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion. When we developed the update, we overhauled the graphic engine and created new shaders,” he said.

    I’ve talked to a couple friends that have played Tekken 6 at the arcades and they are both amazed by it. Graphically and gameplay. The arcades in my state are horrible, we don’t even have Tekken 5 DR anymore!

    There are also rumors of Sony trying to snag exclusive DLC for Tekken 6. I hope that’s true. Tekken owes it’s success to the PlayStation brand. No word on what the DLC might be.

    12 Comments