So the Xbox is going to offer a significant price cut and the PS3 is well…not. Sony’s excuse/defense is that they’re “Confident that consumers are making choices driven by value.” and thus will not be competitive in response to 360’s price drop to the $200 arena. I’ve been reading reports on the gamer blogosphere of this statement and no one seems to be calling them out on this very elusive and diplomatic response to the very basic question:
“Why isn’t the PS3 going to make the price cut?”
Well in my opinion, they can’t afford to. Sony should have just said that.
I think Sony still has to make a lot of their money back. It’s no secret that the PS3 had a rough start selling units due to the whopping $600 introductory cost. Because of their blu-ray player, their monster machine came with a monster price tag. They may have won the blu-ray battle but hopefully not at the cost of the console war. If I didn’t have a current-gen system by this holiday season, despite its hardware issues, a $200 Xbox 360 would look mighty attractive.
I’m not even arguing that the PS3 isn’t worth the 4 to 500 dollar price tag. I just find it a bit insulting that the reason they’re not making a competitive move is because “the PS3 offers the value…” I far prefer the PS3 over any competitor but by that logic, the 360 actually offers more value, especially considering that the 360 price cut would actually better correlate the very nature of the word “value”. But to be fair, $200 is what they should be charging for defective hardware anyway.
Always been a huge Resident Evil fan and I repeatedly punish myself for still not having gone through Resident Evil 4. But if you haven’t caught one of the more recent trailers it pretty much has it all: bike chases, shotguns, long legs, a walking monster made completely of tentacles, and of course a metric asston of zombies!
Resident Evil 5 comes to us finally in current generation graphics and according to buzz on the internet, co-op playability, which is what this series has been needing for years, and will absolutely guarantee my purchase come first quarter ‘09.
So word on the street is that Firmware 2.5 will enable a print screen ability that will allow screen captures of your favorite gaming moments. This may not seem like a big deal, but many might be surprised at the frequency that they would use this function. How cool would it be to make the ultimate online slaughter you performed on your unsuspecting victim serve as your PS3 wallpaper for all to marvel as you boot up your system? Yeah, pretty cool.
BatBuzz is all over the Net and it seems appropriate that Midway announced this weekend at Comic-Con that the Joker will be a playable character in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Since fatalities have been announced, it will interesting to see how the Joker plans on getting the last laugh.
The confirmed characters in the game so far include:
Batman
Superman
Flash
Green Lantern
Captain Marvel
Joker
Catwoman
Scorpion
Sub Zero
Liu Kang
Sonya
Kitana
Jax
Shang Tsung
Here is a bonus pic of another Bat-character, Catwoman
Finally a Street Fighter game in the third dimension with dynamic camera angles and over-the-top action that the long standing series deserves. Capcom releases their E3 video for their true sequel to the franchise showcasing the fighters “focus moves” that are pretty much their super specials that seem to pause the screen, and zoom in for a facial expression before they release their fatal fury on their opponent.
With the advent of the new XMB and PlayStation Home, an improved PlayStation Network rivaling that of XBox Live has had me worried how long this continually improving service would remain free. Eric Lempel, the PlayStation Network Director of Operations, informs Next-Gen and all of us Sony faithful that PSN intends to, in fact, remain free of charge. In the article Lempel states:
I think being free is always an advantage. The fact that it’s free is nice for consumers who want to try out the online experience, those who may be new to it and may not be ready to commit to spending dollars, and that’s a really good message for us. Being free also gives them the opportunity to spend the money that they may have spent on a subscription on online items or online games instead.”
This is comforting news to PS3 owners as PSN becomes more and more relavant.
The buzz is all over the internet, PlayStation comrades. Firmware 2.40 is on the way and it looks like it’s going to be an update worth being proactive about. I usually shrug at my firmware downloads and update whenever I so happen to play a game that connects to the internet, but this is the one that we’ve been waiting for.
The new XMB (Cross Media Bar) will be fully accessible in-game which was a huge advantage for the 360 making the X-Box more user-friendly. But with this download, you’ll be able to toggle between your game and the XMB at the press of a button.
Other features that have been buzzed about are download management, friends, messaging, and a Trophy System. (Read X-Box Achievements.) Granted, the PlayStation Network is taking a lot of cues from X-Box Live, but doing so will make the PSN all the better in conjunction with PS Home that is on the horizon.
With all this, one can’t seem to help but create parallels to X-Box Live, but the most notable aspect of all this is that if the PlayStation Network service continues to be free as well as delivering a competitive product in terms of quality, I think we’ve got a surefire winner on our hands.
If you’ve been keeping tabs on any Soul Calibur news be prepared to see an influx of Soul Calibur IV goodies here at PS3pub. Here’s an excellent video hyping the upcoming title that knows all too well what leads to anger, hate and suffering…
Grand Theft Auto IV trumps Pirates of the Caribbean 3 as the most successful entertainment launch of all time with a whopping $500 million gross in its first week of sale. Half of the discs pressed were sold on the first day. This isn’t just a huge victory for Rockstar Games, but for the gaming industry as a whole.
For the politicians that plead so fervently for their own votes while simultaneously holding contempt towards the gaming industry, people have voted with their dollar in support of the franchise that’s been such an easy target for the political figures to exploit.
In addition, GTA4 is a victory for quality, mature-rated products as well. The reason video games aren’t “Just for Kids”, is because the 20-30 some year old work force are the same little boys and girls that played their 8-bit Nintendo in the ’80’s. They wake up and go to work, pay mortgages, watch rated-R movies, and use disposable income to make a mature-rated video game the most lucrative entertainment launch in the history of entertainment.
When I heard that Mortal Kombatants were going to be pitched against the DC Universe I about had a cardiac. Even more shocking than the official news was the amount of internet backlash towards the idea of Mortal Kombat vs. DC. I kept reading, “It doesn’t make sense”, “Midway’s out of ideas”, “Superman would beat everyone”. So much fanboy hate with 100% unsubstantiated claims and opinions.
Since fighting games became a viable genre there’s always been Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter 2. Midway and Capcom ushered in a new era of video gaming and allowed the likes of Virtua Fighter, Tekken and Soul Calibur to become a worldwide phenomenon. Capcom integrated many other properties for their Vs. titles that all started with X-Men vs. Street Fighter, which pitted characters from the Marvel Comics universe with Capcom’s. If you look at it analogously, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe makes not just good sense, but perfect sense, since it faces rival fighting game property against rival comic book property. Midway’s not out of ideas, they’re just fulfilling a fighting game imperative over ten years in the making.
How could Superman be defeated in a fighting game? A quick Superman 101 class would educate that Superman’s powers are solar based drawn from our yellow sun and his weakness, as everyone knows, is kryptonite rock emitting a radioactive energy from his home world: Very scientific powers and weaknesses. DC Comics continue to publish stories where Supes is vulnerable to a significant number of magic-based attacks, attacks where science claims no dominion and thus render Superman attackable and yes, able to be beaten. Outworld is a completely mystical war realm engulfed in dark magic, so it’s not a stretch to believe its inhabitants and their powers couldn’t stand toe to toe with DC’s finest.
Admittedly I know more about Mortal Kombat and DC comic book lore than any one person probably should, but facts are facts. Haters can keep hatin’ but unbiased, objective true fighter fans will be on PS3 and 360 this Fall experiencing the most righteous thing to happen to Mortal Kombat to date.
