Archive for category G

If the 3rd trailer is anything like the previous two, we should be in for a treat. Nice box art aswell.

GTA IV Boxart and new trailer dated

I’ve been criticized every so often for being down on Sony and the PS3. So I thought I’d change things up a bit and talk about Activision instead. And I won’t even state my opinion. I’ll just state some facts.

Activision released Call of Duty 3 as a launch game for the PS3. It did not have headset support (unlike the 360 version), a vital component for playing team-based games. It also had a lot of problems with connecting to games. And it did not receive any downloadable content, also unlike the 360 version of the game.

Activision did not release Guitar Hero II as a PS3 launch game, even though they probably could have.

Activision gave Guitar Hero I, II, and 80′s owners no reliable way to play those games on the PS3 with the guitar controller.

Now they release Guitar Hero III. There was no demo (there could have been if they had a solution for PS2 guitars on the PS3). The PS3 guitar has an ugly dongle. Guitar Hero III does not support the Rock Band guitar. (Even though Rock Band supports the Guitar Hero guitar.) The PS3 guitar does not support PS2 GH games played on a PS3! And worst of all, according to this IGN review of Guitar Hero III: “The PS3 version doesn’t have any option to invite a friend into a game, so if you go with that version you’ll probably wind up playing with more strangers than anything else.”

What the heck?

[Edit: Now comes word that 360 owners will be getting a patch to enable offline co-op quickplay. No word on a similar patch for PS3 or Wii owners.]

Here’s a press release I got about Top Gear coming to GT5. Follow this GT5 Top Gear press release link for the whole press release plus images.

Top Gear to provide content for download via GT TV™

Tokyo, October 24 2007 – Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) and Polyphony Digital, Inc., the creators of the best-selling racing franchise, Gran Turismo®, today announced a collaboration with BBC Worldwide that will allow BBC’s Top Gear programme to be downloaded through Gran Turismo TV (GT TV™) on PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™).

GT TV, a dedicated online channel packed with the latest news and content from the motoring world, will launch worldwide on PLAYSTATION®Network in 2008. BBC Worldwide will provide 40 episodes of Top Gear, the award-winning BBC television series about motoring for download.

In addition, the Top Gear Test Track – the track featured each week on the show, where host Jeremy Clarkson and the Top Gear team test the latest cars – will be replicated in Gran Turismo 5 (GT5) on PS3. For the first time in a racing game, players will be able to burn rubber and experience every white knuckle, hairpin turn on the Top Gear Test Track for themselves.

“We at Polyphony are great fans of the world’s best motoring programme, Top Gear, so we’re delighted to be collaborating with BBC Worldwide to deliver Top Gear content via Gran Turismo,” said Kazunori Yamauchi, President, Polyphony Digital, “We’re sure that players will be as thrilled as we are when they get the chance to put their own driving skills to the test on the Top Gear Test Track in GT5, as well as enjoying classic episodes of Top Gear via GT TV.”

Simon Danker, Director, Digital Media, BBC Worldwide commented, “BBC Top Gear is the world’s number one motoring media brand and we’re thrilled to make it accessible to Gran Turismo gamers. We continue to explore different avenues to share our content with an expanding audience, and are delighted to participate with Polyphony Digital in the launch of this exciting new opportunity.”

So I was just looking around Amazon.com on my lunch hour, and noticed that pre-sales of GHIII are doing pretty good for the Wii and 360 (18th and 20th on this list). The PS2 version is at 45th, but the PS3 version isn’t even in the top 100!

Are PS3 owners that musically uninclined?

You’ll also note that the PS3 version costs $10 more. Could that make the difference? (What a rip, BTW.) Also, the Wii and 360 product pages contain a video about the game. No video on the PS3 product page for Guitar Hero III. I’m starting to realize that Activision’s hate for the PS3 runs deep. It all started back with Call of Duty 3…

GHII PS3 at Amazon
GHII 360 at Amazon
GHII Wii at Amazon

[Edit: and while I'm on the topic of Guitar Hero III, I have to admit that the new GHIII Portal looks like it's going to be pretty neato.]

Are you looking forward to Guitar Hero III next month? So am I. If you’d like get get some first impressions of the 360 version of the game from Eurogamer, follow the link below. I don’t think the PS3 experience will be much different.

It looks like Activision’s new Guitar Hero development team, Neversoft, is aquitting itself well. Considering that Harmonix had several music/rhythm games under its belt before tackling the original Guitar Hero, that’s quite an accomplishment.

I’ll probably pick up Guitar Hero III pretty soon after launch. And then I can use the GH3 guitar with Rock Band once that is released.

That’s my plan, anyway. Any other Guitar Hero fans around here?

First Impressions – Guitar Hero III