Archive for July, 2009
The Weekly Recap (July 19-25)
Posted by Jay in Weekly Recap on July 26th, 2009
Well, this week seemed a little slow with the news, netting in 28 submissions. Nothing truly spectacular surfaced this week, so it’s just a little dry. We did manage to find a few things though! Without further ado, here’s what we had going on this week:
PSP Go development issues.
Trev – July 19th
Indie Game Challenge
Tosh – July 20th
Reverse Gaming w/ Retro/Grade
JimmyMagnum – July 20th
Lemmings to get a Trophy Patch
Eddie – July 21st
PS3 games MIA.
fleakitten – July 21st
Wand is “two generations” ahead?
Trev – July 21st
Uncharted 2 Release Date Oct. 13th!
Eddie – July 21st
Metalocalypse: Dethgame Announced
JimmyMagnum – July 21st
Street Fighter IV Championship 2009.
Trev – July 21st
Shatter – Retro Brick Breaking Awesomeness
Eddie – July 22nd
Dissidia Final Fantasy Demo Tomorrow on PSN!
Eddie – July 22nd
The ten year life plan, and competition.
Thepreppymonk – July 27th
LittleBigPlanet Reaches Over 1 Million Levels!
JimmyMagnum – July 22nd
John Carmack of id Discusses Blu-Ray Advantage
JimmyMagnum – July 22nd
When It Comes to Cool Collectibles…
JimmyMagnum – July 22nd
No Splinter Cell planned for PS3.
Trev – July 22nd
Castle Crashers Announced for PS3
Eddie – July 23rd
Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time Comic-Con Edition
Eddie – July 23rd
New Borderland’s Screens and Interview
Eddie – July 23rd
Comic-Con news: New playable character revealed in Uncharted 2
fleakitten – July 23rd
Konami ID’s Going Away
Tosh – July 23rd
Pixel Junk Shooter – GIANT ENEMY CRABS!!!
Eddie – July 23rd
TGS Sony Keynote Details
Eddie – July 24th
Are Music Games a Passing Fad?
Darrin – July 24th
PS3 to pick up famed 360 exclusive? :Updated info:
fleakitten – July 24th
FIFA 10 + PES 2010 new features detailed.
Trev – July 25th
HD era not ready yet?
Trev – July 25th
Uncharted 2’s new Gold Rush mode.
Trev – July 25th
As you can see, for the most part, nothing truly amazing. We’ll probably be in this dry news spell until maybe TGS (I hope earlier than that, though, because that’s a ways away).
Also, no surprise here, Eddie has gotten ‘Contributor of the Week’ with 9 entries. Maybe I should start doing ‘Everyone but Eddie Contributor of the Week’ haha! In which case, Trev would win that with 7 submissions. I don’t have a Comment of the Week this week because I hadn’t had the time to look through all the responses and pick one. Haven’t been feeling too hot this week either…
Uncharted 2′s new Gold Rush mode.
Posted by Trev in PS3, PS3 software, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves on July 25th, 2009
A video of the new mode previously mentioned in Fleakitten’s post.
HD era not ready yet?
Posted by Trev in PS3, PS3 software, Soapbox, Talk on July 25th, 2009
Mark Rein of Epic Games was interviewed by Eurogamer and dropped this interesting fact;
Over half the users who played Gears of War 2 so far do not have HDTVs.
Ok now i know this is an Xbox game, but its a good indication that PS3 owners are mostly in the same boat and with the size of the install base, that makes millions of gamers are not playing in high def. Digital Foundry has put together an intriguing analysis to compare the performance in game between high and standard definition and revealed some intriguing facts about the PS3, that the standard definitions have some serious issues. SD owners worldwide though should take note of this quote;
A US PS3 owner who buys a cheap game in the UK and takes it back to the US could well find it completely unplayable if he only has an SDTV. Two of the games I tested (GTAIV and Far Cry 2) wouldn’t work, whereas Killzone 2 and Call of Duty: World at War would. Euro PS3 owners buying games from the NTSC territories could be similarly inconvenienced.
To sum up, if you plan on importing games and you own a SD TV then don’t bother as you will encounter some serious performance issues but if you’re fortunate enough to own a HD TV then you should be fine.
But what about the readers here, how many of you own an HDTV?
FIFA 10 + PES 2010 new features detailed.
Posted by Trev in Pro Evolution Soccer 2010, PS3, PS3 software on July 25th, 2009
PES 2010
Every year Konami’s PES goes head-to-head with EA’s FIFA to be the number 1 football game in the world. This year though the competition between them is more intense than ever with them both releasing details about this year’s titles months earlier than in pervious years.
PES is heavily focusing on the graphics engine this year which is heavily improved over PES 2009, click here to see a comparison gallery and Konami is also implementing a new player cards system;
In short, a Card represents a move for a player. Different from traditional skills, these cards can be assigned to any players as you wish. You are almost a coach here. However it doesn’t mean the player ability suddenly increases when Cards assigned.
Click here for more information on the Cards.
As mentioned before Konami IDs are no more which should make online play playable and the Master League mode has also undergone a heavy update.
FIFA 10
The major changes in FIFA 10 is that players can now move in 360˚ which has never been possible in previous football titles and may well revolutionize the genre. FIFA 10 also features a custom set piece mode where you can create plays and control where your players are positioned for free kicks, see below;
The changes being made to both titles is certainly making my choice of which to buy this year harder than ever.
PS3 to pick up famed 360 exclusive? :Updated info:
Last week I posted an unconfirmed rumor from thesixthaxis about a yet to be revealed 360 title making it’s debut on the PS3. Since then new info has come to light. From TheSixthAxis:
The announcement of Castle Crashers has sparked a whole new round of wild rumour and speculation which we feel we have to stand up and quash before it all gets even further out of hand. The exclusive we got was not in reference to any of the Microsoft-published games we’ve seen suggested, it was not Halo, Gears, Left4Dead, Splinter Cell or Mass Effect. If you want those titles then we would suggest you go and buy an Xbox360, they’re really rather good. The title we were teasing about is a niche title which we are quite looking forward to and we think some of our readers will be interested in. We are not telling you what it was because we have an agreement with the publisher and at TheSixthAxis we don’t leak but rest assured that it is not any of those huge AAA games that have been suggested. That would be ridiculous.
Now that we can rule out all the major Microsoft published titles and AAA exclusives, like Halo or L4D, and it can be catergerized as a ‘niche’ title, I’m going to say it’s an rpg. I’d rather see DOA though.
Are Music Games a Passing Fad?
Posted by Darrin in Guitar Hero World Tour, Rock Band on July 24th, 2009
Guitar Hero 1 started the phenomenon back in 2005 on the PS2. Between that and Rock Band in 2007, gamers saw a steady stream of improvements. The concept was fleshed out, they added drums and mics, tons of game modes and options, way more music and a-la-carte DLC, online functionality, better training features, HD graphics, and polish.
But since Rock Band 1, the improvements have been fairly obscure or niche. Mostly, we’ve seen new music tracks and various branded track packs. As much as I may love The Beatles or Metallica, I’m really not excited about hearing it in a colored-button music game. The game is still the same game I got my fill of two years ago.
Not surprisingly, U.S. revenue for Guitar Hero and Rock Band is down 49% year over year.
So, was the music genre just a fad that’s ended? Is it going to take a while for a new killer-idea to reignite interest in the genre?
Personally, I’m still waiting for a full-production game controllable by a full MIDI keyboard.
TGS Sony Keynote Details
It seems that Sony is going to break their keynote for TGS into 2 parts.
The first part is a keynote from Kaz Hirai titles “Sony Computer Entertainment New Tactics 2009″. With a title like this…you can’t but think there will be some big announcments. One wouldn’t title a keynote this and release a few PSN games.
The second part is going to be a panel discussion titled “Visions and strategies of the top publishers in the golbal era” featuring SCE (Yoshida and Kaz), Square Enix’s President, Capcoms President & CEO as well as Namco’s President.
This will take place on September 24th from 10:30-12:30am (not sure what time zone, probably Japan)
PlayStation Store Update 7.23.09
Posted by Tosh in PlayStation Store Global Update on July 23rd, 2009
Great update this week! I actually have a demo back log. This is only going to add to it, lol. From now on I’ll be using a new category for PlayStation Store Updates. This way you can just use this link to check for updates. So anything for you?
United States
DEMOS
► Call of Duty: World at War (858 MB)
PSP
► Dissidia: Final Fantasy (79 MB)
GAMES
► Shatter ($7.99)
PSone
► Spec Ops: Covert Assault ($5.99)
► Wild Arms 2 ($5.99)
PSP
► Tomb Raider Legend ($12.99)
► Tomb Raider Anniversary ($12.99)
ADD-ONS
► Cross Edge
○ Fluffy Synth Pack (free)
○ Chicken Prediction Pack (free)
○ Fickle Woman Pack (free)
○ No Sense of Direction Pack (free)
► Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires
○ Additional Music Set 2(free)
► Guitar Hero World Tour
○ Vagrant Records Track Pack ($5.49 | $1.99)
♪ “All the World is Mad” – Thrice
♪ “Young Cardinals” – Alexisonfire
♪ “The Martyr” – Senses Fail
► Killzone 2
○ Napalm & Cordite ($5.99)
○ Map Pack Bundle ($11.99)
(Steel & Titanium, Flash & Thunder + Napalm & Cordite)
► Overlord II
○ Battle Rock Nemesis ($4.99)
► Rock Band
♪ Lush – “Sweetness & Light” ($1.99)
○ Kings of Leon Pack ($5.49 | $1.99)
♪ “Crawl”
♪ “Molly’s Chambers”
♪ “Sex on Fire”
○ Rancid Pack ($5.49 | $1.99)
♪ “Last One to Die”
♪ “Ruby Soho”
♪ “Time Bomb”
○ Rise Against Pack ($5.49 | $1.99)
♪ “Prayer of the Refugee”
♪ “Re-Education (Through Labor)”
♪ “Savior”
► Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10
○ The Predator ($7.50)
► WipEout HD
○ Fury ($9.99)
PSP
► Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce
○ Download Pack 3 (free)
► Rock Band Unplugged
♪ Grateful Dead – “Casey Jones” ($1.99)
♪ Thin Lizzy – “The Boys Are Back In Town (Live)” ($1.99)
VIDEOS
► Alpha Protocol
○ CG Trailer
○ Dev Diary #4
► Battlefield 1943
○ Launch Trailer
► Digger
○ Trailer
► Killzone 2
○ Boltgun 4400 Trailer
○ Napalm & Cordite Pack Trailer
► The King of Fighters XII
○ Trailer 3
PSP
► Gran Turismo
○ Trailer
THEMES & WALLPAPERS
► Overlord II – themes
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