For TGS 09 Capcom has released what I can only think of as a ‘crap ton’ of assets on all of us. There’s a fact sheet, screenshots, and trailers galore. After reading about it, and looking at all of it I’m a bit confused by what Dead Rising 2 is actually about. Judging from the fact sheet it looks like the game will be told differently depending on whether or not you’re playing single player or multiplayer.
The main story follows Chuck Greene who is trying to protect his daughter from the zombie onslaught. On the flip side with multiplayer it looks like you’ll be competing in a reality/game show called Terror is Reality. It reminds me a bit of the movie Running Man, only the contestants look outfitted in Motorcross gear. Enjoy all the wonderful goodies below. (more…)
There hasn’t been any price drop news or Slim news for that matter on this site as it’s all been hearsay up til now. But it is official folks, PS3 Slim has been announced at the GamesCom show and is going to hit at $299 with a 120 GB hard drive capacity. All of this will be comin’ at you in September with the 299 pricetag across the board for both new slim and fat versions.
I’m kind of jealous of this new tidy slim version, as my current fatty PS3 bloats my energy bill and turns into a toaster oven if my entertainment cabinet door is closed. Oh well at least I’m rocking some backwards compatibility…
Ok, the PS3 keynote from E3 just ended. There were some amazing announcements, along with some slower moments. That’s the case with any keynote, and PS3’s news was definitely more good than bad. Figured, I would share some of the major updates that occurred during PS3’s keynote.
- The first big announcement was the gameplay showing of MAG. The game was announced at last year’s E3, and it looked to be well underway. There is a release date of Nov. 24th 2009 as of right now.
- The next bit of news was hardware related, and was the “official” announcement of PSP Go. I was really skeptical when first hearing the news that PSP Go wouldn’t offer UMD capabilities. However, the way Sony explained it is that PSP Go will be a partner to the PSP-3000. All the games will be exactly the same, only with PSP Go you can only download them.
- After that was the first showing of Assassin’s Creed 2. The game will take place in renaissance Italy. You’ll be playing as a new character, and a more ‘open’ experience. The major game change that was shown was the flying machine that has you soaring across the city. Leonardo Da Vinci will be making an appearance as a partner character.
- If you’re a PSP owner, then a new Metal Gear Solid game called Metal Gear Solid: Peacewalkers was announced. Along with GT: PSP.
- Next was the ‘huge’ surprise of PS3’s keynote, and it was Final Fantasy XIV. It was announced as a PS3 exclusive, and will be an online based game. There was only a trailer shown off, so not much is known at this point. A trailer was shown off for FFXIII, and the spring 2010 release date still stands.
- A new trailer for Gran Turismo 5 was shown. To be honest though, this really isn’t news. I honestly think a Gran Turismo 5 trailer has been shown at ever E3 that’s been around since the PS3 has been alive.
- If you were a fan of ICO, or Shadow of Colossus then the third game from the heralded developer is The Last Guardian. It looks to be in the spirit as the prior two. The trailer that was shown off didn’t provide a story, but did show some amazing visuals. It looks as though you’ll be playing as a small boy who has a massive guardian watching over him. The guardian looks like a cross between a Possum and a rooster. Much cooler than it sounds.
- The final piece of the E3 keynote for PS3 was the demo for God of War 3. This game looks very beautiful. The short demo showed off a war savaged city that Kratos is running through as he tears up some bad guys. There’s a huge monster that reminds me of a titan that is just laying waste to the city. If my jaw could physically hit the floor, it would have for the demo.
If you’ve been keeping up with Batman: Arkham Asylum then you’re undoubtedly excited about its release like I am. Ever since I watched the first trailer, hearing Kevin Conroy and Mark Hammill’s voices return I’ve been eagerly anticipating the game’s release. There’s been a couple of major updates to occur the past couple of days; a trailer and some bad news.
Are you a good news first kind of person?…
Hopefully you are because there’s a brand spanking new trailer to show off. This shows off a slew of combat moves that Batman will pull off in-game. I’ve never seen Batman as epically brutal as he does in this trailer, and that’s a good thing. The criminally insane asylumites wont know what hit em’. Enjoy.
Unfortunately there’s bad news to report as well. It’s still a rumor, but it’s one that has merit behind it as well. Game Informer is reporting that a credible source has claimed that Batman: Arkham Asylum will be pushed back to Q4 of this year. Not surprisingly, Eidos and Warner Bros. Interactive had no comment about the rumor.
Press releases are generally boring, full of fluff and not worth the time to read. Luckily, we have quirky corporate presidents that can make them worthwhile. In Emmanuel Olivier’s press release he accuses Sony of charging exorbinant royalty fees and censoring Microïds’ games for NA release.
I expect we’ll see a rebuttal from Sony in the near future.
Paris, April 17, 2009 - Following the countless messages and questions from fans which followed our announcement on April 1st regarding the launch of Syberia 3, Emmanuel Olivier, President of Microïds, gives more details on that announcement.
“Syberia 3 is not an April Fool’s joke. The game is highly expected by the community of fans of adventure games and fans of Kate Walker and it will be launched, it is one of our most strategic projects at Microïds and we have been anticipating it for a long time.
It will be released on PC for sure, however, on PS3, this could actually turn into an April Fool’s joke because SONY is the only decision-maker on this point, as strange as it may seem to some people.
Benoît Sokal, the author of Syberia and Syberia 2, has mentioned several times in the press that he would only participate in a sequel to his masterpiece if he had enough financial means to design and develop an exceptional title. Today Microïds is ready to invest in this ambitious production. But everyone knows that to amortize the development costs of a major video game with that level of quality, it is essential to develop it for multiple platforms, PC and consoles.
However Sony Computer Entertainment has already censured Microïds in 2003 by denying that Syberia was released on PS2 in the United States though it had previously been released in Europe on that console. The same refusal happened for a dozen other Microïds titles for the U.S.
Beyond this censorship of the authors and their producers who believe in their creations and who take the financial risks when building up productions for the console without knowing whether they will be approved or denied by SONY in the last minute, the exorbitant royalties demanded by SONY to manufacture the games on its consoles seriously hamper the financing ability of independent producers. Microïds has paid more than 15 million Euros of royalties to SONY for its entire catalog, which represents 55% of the Microïds turnover for this platform. April Fools? Well no! It is unfortunately the “rule of the game” imposed by SONY.
The revenue shortfalls due to the PS2 games we were not able to sell in the United States, a highly significant territory, coupled with the excessive royalties paid to SONY for the European territories, have so far prevented Microïds from having the ability to reinvest in an ambitious sequel to the Syberia series.
So today we launch an SOS to all fans of the Syberia series: let us rally to support the independent creation and convince Sony to change its rules. Send all your messages of support to: supporToSyberia3PS3@microids.com
SYBERIA 3 on PS3, an April Fool’s? It’s up to SONY!”
We now live in this crazy world of ‘micro-transactions’, where money spent doesn’t seem like so much. Keep a track record of how much you spend, and you’ll be surprised how fast it can add up. It’s becoming the preffered model for MMORPGs. You can play for free but if you want the +1000 virgin slaying bastard sword, it’s going to cost you $15. It’s easy to get suckered into buying things we don’t need. How about the always classic: Armor for your horse that’s useless, but costs you $1.99 (Elder Scrolls: Oblivion). Hey, it’s just two bucks though…right?
Atleast the horse armor can say something that the recent Resident Evil 5 DLC can’t. It’s actual content that is ‘downloaded’, and not unlocked. Oh, Capcom is the mighty value dollar worth that much? That you would risk losing trust from your fanbase.
Ok, I should probably elaborate on the situation a bit.
A few days ago, Capcom released the first DLC for Resident Evil 5. It included two competitive multiplayer modes aptly named, Slayer’s Rule and Survivor’s Rule. The prior being a challenge to see which character can kill the most Majinis (zombie like folk), and the latter pitting you against each other. These two modes set you back $3.99, which isn’t too bad right?
It wouldn’t be bad if the content wasn’t already on your disk. That’s right, when you pay that extra $3.99 you’re actually just downloading a small piece of code to complete the VS. mode code. So, that you can play it. *Sigh*
Capcom has responded to the criticisms of their decision, stating that the VS. mode was an element added in towards the end of developent. Meaning, that it wasn’t originally part of the game. Yet, they worked on it enough to put most of the code on the disk. It seems like someone in the company would have been smart enough to suggest just leaving the entire code off the disk. Foresight is something to look for in employees.
There’s a ton of gamers out there boycotting the pseudo-DLC, and raising pitchforks against Capcom. I’m not going to go that far, and I say if you want the content then just get it. It’s only $3.99 right……doh!
Looks like PS3 is starting off with a bang with it’s ‘09 line up. Here’s a taste of what you can wet your whistle on the first quarter of of this year. No brainers for me are Capcom’s offerings of Street Fighter 4 and Resident Evil 5.
So the wait is finally over and players are logging onto PSHome in droves to wait in lines and perform acts of social desperatation. I briefly loaded it up to see the avatar creation and while impressed with the graphical quality, I just couldn’t get into it. I applaud the effort, especially considering it is a free service. But I couldn’t help but overhear the collective groan of PS Homies playing the waiting-in-line game. Apparently there’s bowling and game machines that are playable where you actually have to sit in line to play.
You might as well design a PS Home roller coaster that you actually have to wait 2 hours to get on. At the very least you can dry hump the female avatars you encounter.
With the PlayStation Network becoming more and more user friendly, players are becoming more involved in the online capabilities of the PS3. Some games even have a bluetooth package available to gain access to voice chat and some simply use their choice of headset for communication on PSN. Well Sony has finally released an image of their long overdue brand of bluetooth headset. This may finally give me an excuse to stop putting that particular purchase off.
So Kotaku published an article last week displaying the sales chart of PS3 losing to Xbox in sales. In Japan! The video game psychos of the universe are choosing the 360 over their domestic brand Sony! This is by no means a reaction of panic assuming the demise of the Playstation 3, but their lack of a competitive price point is starting to show.
