Mattrick still not sold on Blu-ray as the definitive high-def solution either

Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division senior VP Don A. Mattrick already made headlines last week when he boasted that the Xbox 360 would best Sony's PlayStation 3 in global console sales "this generation" during its E3 conference. Mattrick's confidence didn't let up one bit in an post-E3 interview with Eurogamer, believing his company will also overtake Sony in the console software race with a telling lead over the course of the next three or four years. Yep, he's still got the global console market in mind too.

Part of Mattrick's confidence stems from the established Xbox 360 userbase, and he deemed the average 360 user to be "the most sophisticated media consumer on the planet". The 18-26 year-old crowd likely has their own income, and more importantly they potentially have better influence on the gaming habits for both their younger and older family members.

We know that our third-party partners have a tremendous well of content coming to our platform so there's support. We know that we're driving the majority of their revenue and profit growth. We know that in prior generations, whoever creates that ecosystem where people can scale, can be profitable, can grow, that they tend to win.

The other thing we know is Sony's given guidance and said their goal is to create ten million units this coming year. Needless to say, our aspiration is to do more. We also know we have a volume lead both in Europe and North America, and with that volume lead in the aggregate, when you add in Japan, is larger than Sony's.

Mattrick conceded they had to pull Bungie's upcoming game from their conference, as part of a number of changes made quite simply to keep things under ninety minutes. On the bright side, he did hint at a possible "well-attended" Halo-only event where Bungie's as-of-yet unrevealed title could make an ever bigger impact "in a more intimate setting than the E3 briefing".

The commentary keeps up in a response to how Microsoft should feel about Blu-ray emerging triumphant over HD-DVD as the next-gen optical disc format of choice. The Xbox 360 previously backed HD-DVD over Blu-ray, before Toshiba pulled the plug on its internal HD-DVD development. Mattrick was certainly not about to imply that the Xbox 360 could potentially support Blu-ray as a result, and instead explains that if high-definition content is what the consumer wants, the Xbox 360 already has them covered with digital downloads.

I think that what people want is digital high-def content, I think that's what our box provides, and we've announced several movie partners - and one in particular, Netflix, for the streaming technology. People love being able to download and interact instantaneously with high-def content. I don't have to go somewhere, I don't have to buy a disc, I don't have to pay a 12-14 dollar or 6-7 pound premium to do that. I don't have to have my face be two feet in front of my TV to see the difference.

Agreement secured

SplitFish AG, the "world's premiere designer of PlayStation 3 first-person-shooter (FPS) console controllers" announced today a deal with Living Picture AG which will effectively see the devices (pictures at bottom) distributed worldwide. Living Picture, then, will provide the required financial and other sales resources in order to increase production capacity.

Called the "FragFX", the controller currently has a backlog of orders in Europe and North America.

"The rapid growth of SPLITFISH has made it necessary to increase our management personel and build on our sales infrastructure," says SPLITFISH CEO, Francisco Shipperheijn. "LIVING PICTURE is a perfect fit to bridge this gap and SPLITFISH will benefit from LP's experience in distribution channels, logistics and methods of stringent quality control."

This doesn't seem to be old piece of junk either - according to the press release anyway, it's received rave reviews from media and consumers alike.

The FragFX is a patent- pending two-piece combination motion stick and mouse, that provides gamers with pinpoint accuracy and unmatched control in action games, The FragFX controller received one of the highest review scores (9.1) to date from IGN Gear who called the FragFX "the best controller we have tested on the PS3". SplitFish game team members later substantiated the FragFX superior performance abilities by gaining the #1 spot in the global leaderboards of the popular Playstation 3 game "Call of Duty 4".

Doesn't say when it'll be released, but presumably as soon as they can get shipping.

blah blah blah

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello stands ready to defend his company's performance and priorities in an interview with VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi. Aside from getting all huffy over some tough investor-related related questions (e.g. "I don’t think the investors give a sh!t about our quality. They care about our earnings per share."), Riccitiello reiterates EA's commitment to all current generation platforms.

"There are three strong players in the sector. They have all got their respective demographics and geographies. Blu-ray on the PS trumps DVD on the Xbox 360. Xbox Live trumps the PlayStation Network. The wand controller trumps the traditional controller. They’ve all got their rock, paper, scissors competition going. The $249 Wii price trumps $349 Xbox 360 price. We are playing all three. We’re not trying to avoid your question. Nintendo is pretty happy with its market position."

However, Riccitiello does note that there is now a bigger window of opportunity to nab a meatier portion of marketshare on Nintendo platforms, traditionally dominated by Nintendo itself. Indeed, Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian muses that longtime Nintendo supporters EA and Ubisoft are the most committed to benefiting as third party Wii developers. This is especially true now that Nintendo remains mum over its first-party offerings, which are still under development.

On the Wii side of things, Riccitiello believes there will be merit to the recently announced MotionPlus peripheral for the Wiimote. Early impressions of the Wii MotionPlus-enhanced Wiimote already appear quite positive (at least with Wii Sports Resort), hailing the newfound control bestowed upon the once gesture-oriented gameplay mechanics.

"The Wii MotionPlus is going to be good. If I had to pick one thing we suffered from, it was imprecise control on the Wii. That meant certain genres were never going to perform as well on the Wii. There are a couple of franchises in our booth. Go look at Dead Space and imagine playing that game with a wand and a Nunchuk. If they improve the precision, then you could have a good experience. There is no doubt that Wii Speak will appeal to a certain group of people. I thought what was nice is that they created an opportunity for third parties to be more successful."

Third parties have some breathing room now that Nintendo's first party stuff is still under wraps

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello stands ready to defend his company's performance and priorities in an interview with VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi. Aside from getting all huffy over some tough investor-related related questions (e.g. "I don’t think the investors give a sh!t about our quality. They care about our earnings per share."), Riccitiello reiterates EA's commitment to all current generation platforms.

"There are three strong players in the sector. They have all got their respective demographics and geographies. Blu-ray on the PS trumps DVD on the Xbox 360. Xbox Live trumps the PlayStation Network. The wand controller trumps the traditional controller. They’ve all got their rock, paper, scissors competition going. The $249 Wii price trumps $349 Xbox 360 price. We are playing all three. We’re not trying to avoid your question. Nintendo is pretty happy with its market position."

However, Riccitiello does note that there is now a bigger window of opportunity to nab a meatier portion of marketshare on Nintendo platforms, traditionally dominated by Nintendo itself. Indeed, Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian muses that longtime Nintendo supporters EA and Ubisoft are the most committed to benefiting as third party Wii developers. This is especially true now that Nintendo remains mum over its first-party offerings, which are still under development.

On the Wii side of things, Riccitiello believes there will be merit to the recently announced MotionPlus peripheral for the Wiimote. Early impressions of the Wii MotionPlus-enhanced Wiimote already appear quite positive (at least with Wii Sports Resort), hailing the newfound control bestowed upon the once gesture-oriented gameplay mechanics.

"The Wii MotionPlus is going to be good. If I had to pick one thing we suffered from, it was imprecise control on the Wii. That meant certain genres were never going to perform as well on the Wii. There are a couple of franchises in our booth. Go look at Dead Space and imagine playing that game with a wand and a Nunchuk. If they improve the precision, then you could have a good experience. There is no doubt that Wii Speak will appeal to a certain group of people. I thought what was nice is that they created an opportunity for third parties to be more successful."

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello

Hirai touches several bases in interview

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Kazuo Hirai, President and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, made some rather telling comments in response to the questions posed to him.  Most of it reads like Sony patting themselves on the back, of course, because big corporations certainly aren't going to reveal their insecurities.  But GamesIndustry did make sure to address the much anticipated Home, PSN's community-based service.

Having been in development since 2005, Home has drawn its share of skeptics as well as irritated fans who are simply running out of patience.  Three years and many delays later, Hirai assures PlayStation fans to hang tight because Home will be well worth the wait.

In this excerpt of the interview with GamesIndustry, Hirai dismisses the idea that gamers may be tired of the unfullfilled release dates:

Q: What's happening with PlayStation Home? We didn't see much more in the press conference, and some people are asking questions about how it will be received - are you concerned that when the product does come out that it will end up being an anticlimax?

Kaz Hirai: Well I would put it the other way around - because we got so much buzz, had we launched it before we thought it was the right time and the right features and functionality to launch it - with the high anticipation, people would go there in droves the first time around, they would check it out and say, "This isn't fun at all, so I'm not coming back again."

The other scenario, at least if I had a choice, that I'd like to go down - which is the path we're doing - okay, we've been dinged, I've been personally dinged many times, but if I know we're doing it for the right reasons and that once we launch the service this Fall it's going to be something that the consumers once they go there see that it's actually going to be a fun service, that to me is a lot better than doing it the other way around.

I've said this on many occasions, and right now we're aiming for a Fall open beta programme, but no beta should be opened before its time, and it's important enough of an initiative for the platform and for SCE, that we don't want to prematurely launch it and then be dinged for having a bad service.

So if Home winds up having bad service, you can always "ding" Kazuo Hirai again.  It seems that Sony is preparing for the long haul with their ten year (console) life cycle, which they are confident the PlayStation 3 will achieve. 

When asked who he thinks is winning this generation, Hirai replied:

I think that 'winning' and 'won' are two different things. Where I stand, we look at it in the context of a ten year life cycle as we've done with PSOne and PS2, which is certainly on its way.

So it's really a matter of looking back after ten years minimum and asking what you've actually accomplished in terms of the installed base, in terms of the business that you generated for the internal first party studios, in terms of the business you've generated for the third party studios, in terms of the business you've generated for the retailers…

And that's when you actually look back and say, "Yes, this platform was successful, it wasn't successful, it was so-so," - whatever the case may be. So we're still only two years into the PS3, and I think the true test is really like the situation we find ourselves with PS2, where nine years later and 130 million units later we can look back and say, "Yeah - it's been a pretty successful platform."

So I know some people have been talking about who will be number one in this generation, and what have you, but before we get into that question, what about the life cycle management? If we want to compare apples to apples, let's see a ten year life cycle, because I don't see that anywhere else.

If somebody wants to say that they're going to have a larger installed base, we should compare notes after ten years, because otherwise we're not talking about the same thing.

And we certainly don't do the consumer the disservice of basically saying that the consoles have gone by the wayside because we have a new one. Right now, a prime example? PS2 is nine years into it. Where's the Xbox? Where's the GameCube?

It always comes back to the competition, doesn't it?  In nine years, where will the PS3 be, I wonder.

If you have a creative mind, you may be able to receive income for it!

Stage building modes have been featured on games for a while, spanning over many different genres. Whether it is a skate park, a stage for brawling, or a large map to battle it out on, it has always been fun to create levels and play them. If you are in this boat, then you may enjoy what Sony UK's David Reeves has led us all to believe with comments he told PS3 Fanboy:

"What we're trying to do with LittleBigPlanet is almost iTunes meets eBay in the sense that once an individual or a developer has qualified by producing certain levels or certain add-ons, they will then be able in the future to exchange these and make money out of them"

However, just because you've created a stage doesn't mean it will automatically be put up as downloadable content that other users have to pay for. It has been suggested that the the top tier of stage builders could be put in a special group that have the privilege of uploading their levels, so that they may reap the benefits later. Mr. Reeves also had this to say about the costs of the levels, and how well your level is depends on how much you will make:

"Even if you charge less than one Euro, it doesn't take many downloads if you've got a really strong LittleBigPlanet level for people to be able to make money. It's a great way for people to show others what they can do"

LittleBigPlanet, set to be released in October of this year, is an action game, but promotes having more than one player playing. You create a little doll (this will act as an avatar) that is very small compared to the large worlds that will be explored. The idea is play, create, share. By playing through these worlds, you will earn achievements. Then these achievements unlock certain parts that you can use to create a level. Once you've created the level, you can share it with friends.

Even though all of these details concerning the possibility of players receiving a profit from DLC have yet to be confirmed, it sure looks like it will be interesting to see what cool and creative levels actually will make it as purchasable DLC.

Will the PS3 ever match its predecessor?

Will it ever get below $200? That seems crazy to me. The PS2 is $100-130 still, eight years after its release. But I think $300 would be a good, fair price to aim for over the next few years. Heck, the 80 GB model is already dropping to $399; I'd say Sony is on its way.

But Wii and DS still lead the console hardware pack (surprise!)

It's that time of the month again where the NPD Group makes its monthly console gaming industry sales figures public, and we're treated to their teardown for June. Compared to May, June's industry sales increased greatly thanks to stronger software and hardware sales across the board.

June 2008 US Games Industry Summary

Total sales - $1.69 billion USD
Console software - $872.6 million USD
Console hardware - $615.1 million USD
Console accessories - $202 million USD

June 2008 US Hardware Sales

Nearly all consoles enjoyed a healthy boost in sales, particularly the PS3 numbers which practically doubled thanks in no small part to Metal Gear Solid 4's release. The PS2 makes its return to the NPD charts after its mysterious disappearing act in May, and surprisingly it had a pretty good run last month, just over 30,000 units short of the Xbox 360.

Somebody is clearly happy with their console sales thus far, as Nintendo is quick to boast that their lifetime-to-date sales for the Wii have since surpassed those the Xbox 360. Microsoft's console launched ahead of its rivals, and company reps at first company to reach in sales ought to be crowned this generation's console race victor. Perhaps realizing just how quickly Nintendo managed to gain ground with the Wii in a short period of time, they now maintain that the first to 100 million will be the victor.

June 2008 US Game Software Sales

The big winner on the software sales wars last month was easily Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4. Old Snake's old spice was just too irresistable for those who really wanted to finish the tactical espionage fight. Unfortunately, MGS4 didn't manage to break over one million units in sales during its first month, unlike GTAIV and Mario Kart Wii.

As with May, only one Guitar Hero game made the charts in June, but this time it's the new DS release which launched with a bang. Indeed, Activision already noted Guitar Hero On Tour was its finest DS launch yet, and the publisher (naturally) is already gunning for a DS sequel. That Guitar Hero DS peripheral sure proved to be less of a turn-off than the naysayers expected.

Another new entry into the charts was Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden II for the Xbox 360. The latest game in Team Ninja's punishing action game series has nothing to be ashamed of by jumping straight to third place in its first month of release. Sadly, the game's release was shadowed by the resignation of Team Ninja's outspoken head producer Tomonobu Itagaki, and his subsequent lawsuit against his former parent company for unpaid bonuses.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl has all but fallen off the face of the charts in June, as did both the new Pokemon games. On the flip side, Wii Play is still hogging a spot in the top ten months after its initial release. Wii Fit also remains on the chart after launching in May, but its sales figures have dropped quite a bit by over 300,000 units.

Meanwhile, three different versions of Lego Indiana Jones occupy the bottom part of the NPD software sales chart. No doubt the game was basking in the warm glow of the recent motion picture release.

It's on! Well, just about.

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced the first details of its Metal Gear Online World Championship 2008 tournament. The competition is set to begin with regional heats this summer worldwide, with the grand final taking place at the Tokyo Game Show event in October.

Open to the best Metal Gear Online players from Europe, the US, Japan, and Greater Asia, individual territories will host regional championships; winning teams will receive all expenses paid trips to Japan. The first one of these will take places in the US at ComiCon in San Diego; full details for the Euro dates will be announced via the official site (listed below) in coming weeks.

Background

Metal Gear Online is a dedicated online title included in Metal Gear Solid® 4: Guns of the Patriots, an exclusive title for PLAYSTATION®3, which took the market by storm on its release in June. Featuring unique characters, a wide range of weaponry as well as many levels taken from and inspired by the Metal Gear Solid Series, Metal Gear Online is the ultimate team based online tactical shooter which allows up to 16 people to play simultaneously. Retaining the highly renowned stealth combat gameplay of the Metal Gear series, players can immerse themselves in this whole new multiplayer online experience as they are dropped into a series of war zones where a host challenges await them.

40GB PS3 to be phased out, with 80GB model to be the one PS3 to rule them all

Like its bitter rival Microsoft, Sony Computer Entertainment makes known its intentions to introduce another console SKU into the market, whilst retiring another.  At its E3 press conference, SCEA confirms a new 80GB PlayStation 3 "Core Pack" scheduled for launch this September.  Priced at $399 USD, it's actually $100 USD cheaper than the current 80GB models which now come bundled with Metal Gear Solid 4.

SCEA's senior marketing VP Peter Dille notes that the upcoming 80GB PS3 will replace the currently available 40GB model, introduced last October.  With nearly all the previous PS3 configurations being phased out, SCE will at some point make the upcoming 80GB model its sole PS3 console for North America.  However, no price cut appears to be on the horizon for the 40GB PS3.

Outside of the larger built-in hard drive storage, the 80GB PS3 is pretty much the same console as the outgoing 40GB edition.  Unfortunately, that it will continue to lack backwards compatibility with PS2 games thanks to its lack of the PS2-based "Graphics Synthesizer" GPU, in addition to skimping out on the built-in card reader seen in the earlier PS3 models.

Playing as Darth Vader, the Secret Apprentice, and Yoda

Siliconera was lucky enough to get their hands on a Soul Calibur IV demo and try out the Star Wars characters in the game, and so what follows is a brief rundown of the main "features" and moves of each character.

Several features, however, are shared amongst all three characters. For one, the second meter underneath the character's life bar is linked to their force powers (Force Meter, perhaps?). Two, despite the armor breaking system, the SW characters take "battle damage", but don't have any dramatic effects or scars like the other characters (i.e. you can cut parts of their clothes off), meaning you can't knock off Vader's helmet, for example. But hey, who really wants to see that feeble crusty old white mug, anyway?
 

Darth Vader
 
Moves: choke, powerful unblockable burning force punch (VADER PAUNNCH!!)

Note: Using either of these moves without an adequate amount of force power will result in you being stunned.

Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice

Moves: force levitation, fast lightsaber strikes

Yoda

Moves: Force Cancel (a temporary glowing green shield that stuns enemies when they attack, kind of like Blanka's electrical discharge), jump attacks

Sadly, custom made Jedi Knights aren't available in the creation system, and the 'classes' from it are gone; created characters have 'cloned' fighting styles, from the already available characters. Bonus characters like Angol Fear (pictured below) are clones too (many clones).

A demo for the game is planned, but not until after it's released. Some smart marketing, there.

For gamers on the dole

Yet another E3 announcement (well, two really): Sony is launching a Greatest Hits line for the PlayStation 3, as they did years previous with the PS2 to the delight of gamers and soccer moms alike. But probably even more exciting, a list of cheap and exclusive new titles are planned for the PlayStation Store/Network this year. This all seems to be in keeping with Sony's "2008 is the year of the PS3" mantra:

"The PlayStation family of products is unsurpassed in 2008 with a lineup of exclusive content for all platforms developed by the best and brightest development teams in the world," said Scott A. Steinberg, vice president of product marketing, Sony Computer Entertainment America. "We are dedicated to driving the industry forward leveraging our technology and development resources to offer consumers a wide variety of innovative titles, from casual games to hardcore games."

So, behold, a list of budget titles to look forward to:

• Siren: Blood Curse (July 24, $9.99)
• Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty (Q3)
• Pixeljunk Eden
• flOwer
• Fat Princess
• Crash Commando

Regarding the Greatest Hits lineup, starting July 28, SCEA will offer ten titles at first for the reduced price of $29.99, but of course, more will be added regularly. A list:

• Warhawk
• Motorstorm
• Resistance: Fall of Man
• Call of Duty 3
• Need for Speed: Carbon
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
• Ninja Gaiden Sigma
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas
• Assassin’s Creed

Solid Snake's VA lands another job..but no voice-overs here

Looks like 2K Games aren't the only ones investing in the movie industry: Capcom has announced it'll be putting its weight behind a Lost Planet film.

Announced at an E3 press conference, the film will be penned by David Hayter, known to some as the voice of Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid series. Hayter has also worked as a writer on the first two X-Men films, The Scorpion King, Lost in Oz, and is currently in pre-production for the film Watchmen.

No release date has been set as of now.

Capcom president and chief operating officer Kenzo Tsujimoto also said the company intends to create many more game-to-film franchises in the future. Capcom, of course, is known for starting the trend with series' films like Street Fighter and Resident Evil..but hopefully this one turns out to be of higher caliber.

Lost Planet has sold over two million units worldwide.

Background:

On a lost planet fight for survival, hunt for revenge... Your memory lies in pieces, like shattered glass... Green Eye... your father... lying dead on the ground. These memories continue to haunt your steps. But now is not the time for quiet contemplation. The Akrid are attacking! It's time to put it all on the line, avenge your father and save the tattered remnants of humanity. Find Thermal Energy, destroy the Akrid menace. On a lost planet, your destiny will unfold...

Log into the PlayStation Store and rack up sales and rental fees for digital video from major studios

Sony's E3 press conference at last opens the curtains on its video content delivery service for the North American PlayStation Network, making digital sales and rentals from a selection of almost 300 motion pictures and over 1200 television episodes live on the PlayStation Store.  The whole video catalogue includes offerings from studios like 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate Entertainment, MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros. Entertainment, and Walt Disney Studios.  Video content will be available in both standard and high definition formats, though HD video appears to limited to only rentals at the moment.

Rental rates will range $2.99 - 5.99 USD, while movies available for purchase are priced from $9.99 - 14.99 USD.  Movie rentals from the PlayStation Store have a grace period of of 14 days, but viewers will have 24 hours to finish watching a video after first beginning playback.  According to hands-on reports, file sizes for SD video downloads range from 1.5 - 2GB, and HD content is expected to occupy 5 - 8GB of hard drive space on the PlayStation 3.

Sony has leveraged tech from Marlin Digital Rights Management for protecting and managing digital content.  As expected, users will be able to transfer video downloads between the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles.  This is nice, because you will not be able to view video downloaded from the new service using Remote Play.  Users can also browse the PSN video store via PC, but any video content purchased/rented this way will be for use with the PSP.

The PSN video store will be available for Europe and Japan later this Fall.

(Image Source: PlayStation.Blog)

The Duke coming to handhelds

Deep Silver and Apogee Software announced today an agreement to co-publish a Duke Nukem Trilogy for the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. Apogee, who developed the original Duke Nukem and its sequel, say this holy trinity of new episodes (Critical Mass, Chain Reaction, and Proving Grounds) will be released sequentially beginning in the summer of 2009. This publishing deal brought to in part by...an exclusive license agreement with 3D Realms Entertainment (Apogee's software publishing division) and MachineWorks Northwest LLC.

The announcement also marks the return of Apogee to the game industry, who haven't really been up to anything (unless you include Duke Nukem Forever) since making the first two Duke games in '91 and '93, or Realms of Chaos in '95.

"We were seeking a strong global publishing partner to herald the eagerly-anticipated return of Duke Nukem," said Terry Nagy, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Apogee. "We have indeed found that partner in Deep Silver."

"Since we launched the Deep Silver label, we've aggressively pursued the best properties to bring to market," said Dr. Klemens Kundratitz, CEO of Koch Media. "Apogee has produced some of the greatest franchises in the history of gaming, none of them more popular than Duke Nukem."

Deep Silver is exhibiting at E3 currently; whether or not we'll see anything from the trilogy remains to be seen. Update: A trailer can be found here.

Nintendo vs. Microsoft vs. Sony in FPS tourney of the century

I say let's cut the shenanigans, the figures, the posturing, the "well yes my company did this but we're still the best ever if you look at it this way", and just pit the console makers/developers against each other in three-way firefights (and melee fights) this E3 (which starts July 15). What a way to resolve differences, eh? Let's just get it all out in the open, folks. So here's a semi-random list of games coming to the plate this year that, in this writer's opinion, would make for some good old-fashioned trash talking times, and why:

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Who wouldn't just love to see Bill Gates (I know he's not really in charge of the games thing, but still) go head to head with Shigeru Miyamoto in a multiplayer lightsaber duel? Or Heck, Gates vs. Lucas, just for the kicks?

Madworld

Probably the bloodiest game that's ever surfaced on the Wii, so naturally it'd be cool to see someone with Nintendo in on the action, perhaps its president Satoru Iwata? Second would creator Platinum Games. I don't believe this one has multiplayer, but it's a nice thought, hey?

Resistance 2/Call of Duty: World at War/Killzone 2/The Conduit/Gears of War 2

I hate to lump them all together, but hey, it just makes sense for the purposes of this piece. Resistance 2 because it's big and freaking loaded with enemies, Call of Duty because..it's Call of Duty (probably equally good for pitting companies against each other as pairing them together in co-op), Killzone 2 because it looks pretty awesome, The Conduit because it's a good looking FPS on the Wii, and Gears for co-op mode. Oh, and actually, let's get journalists into the mix a bit too: how about Gears dev Cliffy B up against Softpedia's Silviu Stahie? There's a score waiting to be settled.

Soul Calibur IV

Because it's freaking Soul Calibur IV! And for a similar reason to The Force Unleashed, what with all the Star Wars characters in it and whatnot, this one would be good to pit folks like George Lucas and (sometimes) casual game makers like Nintendo against each other with. But mostly, it's freaking Soul Calibur IV.

I'm sure I've left out some good ones, so as always, feel free to add your own suggestions.

Who would win in these epic battles? I'm betting on Microsoft for the FPS matches, Sony for fighting, and Nintendo for the lightsaber duels (they made the Wiimote, after all). Although, maybe Nintendo has a hidden dark side and have been looking to pound someone for a good long time now. Never know!

That means you

Sony's looking for members of the PlayStation community who'd like to take part in beta tests for upcoming PS3 titles. According to the company, "you do not need to technically minded"; they're looking for a variety of people with differing amounts of technical expertise to help them test the games. That..kind of sounds like you need to be technically minded. But anyway, they do require flexibility. No, contorting yourself into a pretzel will not help you with this, they simply mean you'll have to give up some evenings to help out with certain "Test Nights" and general testing.

Here are the remaining requirements:

• Be 18 years of age or older
• Be able to read and give feedback in English
• Be a European or US resident
• Have a PLAYSTATION®3 with a broadband internet connection and a PLAYSTATION®Network master account.
  

Ain't the Internet wonderful sometimes?

Sony reminds you there are a limited number of places for Beta Testing and can't guarantee everyone who signs up will be able to participate.

To sign up, visit the source!

Gamers invited to compete for prizes

GameRecruiter is the 'premier' recruitment agency for the interactive entertainment industry, and today they've announced something they'll be putting off at Austin's Game Developer Conference this year, September 17: the "Level Up Charity Games competition.

A $20 per competitor entry fee (paid at the door) hopes to see gamers of all kinds entering to compete for prizes (cash, video games, t-shirts and more) whilst playing the likes of Guitar Hero, Madden, FIFA08 and I-play Bowling. This is in part to celebrate the 20th anniversary of GameRecruiter as well as to benefit the ESA Foundation Scholarship Program which provides tuition assistance to women and minority students who plan to continue their education in fields such as game development and computer science.

"The ESA Foundation is honored to have been chosen to participate in this event," says Jenny Lai, Founder and Executive Director of the ESA Foundation. "The scholarship program is an important part of our programming and we hope to be able to expand it in the near future."

The Level Up Charity Games are scheduled from 6 pm to 10 pm on Wednesday, September 17, taking place in the ballroom at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Austin. The Four Seasons is located at 98 San Jacinto Boulevard, directly across the street from the Austin Convention Center, the site of the Austin GDC.

Co-sponsors for the event include McDonald's, Southwest Airlines, 1Up Network and Monkeysphere Games, with game competition elements sponsored by Midnight Gaming Championships. If interested, you can learn more with the link below.

Carrying "new epics and fan favourites" in tow

E3 should prove to be an exciting year for Squenix fans; the company has a varied blend of remastered classics, all-new titles, and much-wanted sequels, one out of the bunch of which is multiplatform. So here's the exhaustive list:

Multiplatform

THE LAST REMNANT
Platform: Microsoft Xbox 360® / PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system
Genre: RPG
PAL Release Date: (Xbox 360) This Winter / (PLAYSTATION 3 system) TBA

iPod

SONG SUMMONER: The Unsung Heroes
Platforms: iPod nano with video, iPod classic and fifth generation iPod
Genre: Role-Playing
Now Available (EU, JP, NA)

Nintendo DS

CHRONO TRIGGER
Genre: RPG
PAL Release: TBC

DRAGON QUEST: Chapters of the Chosen
Genre: RPG
PAL Release Date: September 2008

FINAL FANTASY IV
Genre: RPG
PAL Release Date: TBA

PSP

STAR OCEAN: FIRST DEPARTURE
Genre: RPG
PAL Release: TBC

STAR OCEAN: SECOND EVOLUTION
Genre: RPG
PAL Release: TBC

Xbox 360

INFINITE UNDISCOVERY (Xbox 360 Exclusive)
Genre: RPG
PAL Release Date: September 5, 2008

STAR OCEAN: THE LAST HOPE
Genre: RPG
Release Date: 2009

The one that really sticks out here of course is Song Summoner, apparently the first full-out RPG for the iPod. The game lets you transform songs from your player into "Tune Troopers" which you take into combat. Their attributes and abilities are based on the characteristics of the songs you select, and each time you listen to them outside the game, the character is powered up a bit more. A freaking cool idea, really.

Aside from that, I guess this means Star Ocean fans better grab hold of a PSP soon if they don't already have one, and the same goes for Dragon Quest fans and the DS (aside from Chapters of the Chosen, a string of other titles in the series will be released in the relatively near future). Looking good, Square.

Trophies, in-game XMB return in (hopefully) bug-free update

Last week's release of the version 2.40 firmware update for PlayStation 3 consoles was met with short-lived fanfare, as Sony Computer Entertainment would soon pull it from general distribution due to various technical issues it caused across a spread of PS3 models.  The v2.40 update promised both in-game XMB (XrossMediaBar) access as well as the new Trophy reward system for supporting PS3 software in one fell swoop.

Looking to address technical issues which included freezing of consoles during boot-up, Sony is set to release the new firmware v2.41 update for North America quite soon.  The in-game XMB access and Trophy features have not been removed in v2.41, so gamers who skipped out on v2.40 can get back on track with the goodies.

Third parties are embracing multiplatform development these days...

Sony's newly appointed Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida (who replaces Phil Harrison, now at Atari) understands it's becoming a tougher market for third party developers, as games development goes bigger and beefier with the current generation of consoles. Yoshida astutely surmises that multiplatform games development for major titles will become increasingly attractive for third parties, in order to maximize profitability of their IPs.

This being the case, Yoshida stresses the increasing importance of first-party exclusives for Sony's console platforms in order to make them stand out. Speaking in an interview with Sony's "semi-official" Three Speech blog:

"My role is to run first-party development, and we are always exclusive. Because, in this generation, it costs much more to develop one product, it’s just natural for third-party publishers trying to recoup the investment from multiple platforms. I think that’s pure economic pressure, pushing most of the third parties to move from some exclusive titles to more multi-platform titles. Because we know that is the trend, we, as a company, can invest in our first-party studios; in terms of exclusive titles, our role becomes more important.

"As far as I can see, with major publishers like Activision and EA, their major titles will be day-and-date with the Xbox 360 and their quality will be really good. And some of the titles, I expect, will have something extra because of the PS3’s abilities and the space on the Blu-ray format."

The comment about publishers making sure they at least make the announced Xbox 360 street dates is interesting, akin to an acknowledgement of the continuing competition provided by Microsoft's console in the mainstream market.

Yoshida points towards LittleBigPlanet as a key example of a headline exclusive, and he's definitely pumped for PlayStation Home. He also believes gameplay will finally start to see some of the next-gen refinement currently being prioritized towards high-def graphics, though the promise isn't more specific than something "unique and interesting".

DS and Wii regain their positions as runner-ups after strong recent weeks for the PS3

Japanese console gaming market analyst firm Media Create releases its sales chart for the week ending June 30th. Though the DS and Wii still enjoy signifigant lifetime-to-date sales numbers globally, the weekly race for pole position in recent memory has seen Sony's PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 consoles rise to the occasion thanks to major, exclusive software offerings like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G. For the better part of June's final week, it's the PSP which reclaimed its throne at top of the Japanese console hardware sales charts.

Japanese Console Hardware Sales 2008/06/23 - 2008/06/29

The DS and Wii platforms meanwhile continue to be backed by strong software sales, as indicated in Media Create's latest software sales figures where nearly all of the top ten game titles last week were for Nintendo platforms. The top five games are all new releases, including the Tales of Symphonia sequel which is still awaiting launch in North America.

Japanese Console Software Sales 2008/06/23 - 2008/06/29

'Movement' to promote European tunes

Sony has announced a music show called 'Movement' for PSP and PS3 users alike via the PlayStation Network/PC PlayStation Store, the first episode of which is available for download today. It's free, by the way.

The show will be seeking out the 'most diverse sounds' from Europe, stuff from all over the map, figuratively and geographically. The premise is as such: two "passionate music fans" drive a camper van across Europe, stopping in five major European cities and checking out four bands from each location. At the end, a band chosen as "the best" will "win the chance to make a professional music video". What? They win "the chance"? As in, they might go through all that trouble and the powers that be may decide "nah, you know what, we're going to invest our money somewhere else, okay"? Bizarre.

Eight new videos from the series will be available each week, which will include interviews, performances and various other footage.
 

This all sounds disturbingly like the "Bodog Battle" of last year. In some ways I like the idea on principle, but firstly, this idea is not original. Second, it seems as though the moment you get a camera crew involved in this kind of thing people start acting unlike themselves and just come off as complete phonies. You know the scene: two 'krrrazy' hosts talking either in the highest pitched or most animal-like voices their employer can get them to muster, all about stuff you know they don't actually care about. Where's the genuity? Third, I'm strongly opposed to art as a competition. That's when the art becomes kind of mangled and turned into more of a sport than anything. If I want sports I'll play a sports game, or watch sports on television or online. If I want music, I won't watch the latest "reality" show depicting the lives of supposed "musicians", or music competition shows. Quite simply, I just want to listen to music, preferably created by musicians as frustrated or bewildered by the concept of music as an industry as I am. But that's me, and maybe I'm being overly pessmisstic and this will be a pretty great show for what it is. In either case I'd love to see more perspectives on this subject, because mine is just one.

Retroactive trophy support for already released PS3 games also under question

Sony's well-anticipated firmware update version 2.40 for the PlayStation 3 went live for download yesterday, bringing with it in-game XrossMediaBar (XMB) access and Trophies for supporting PS3 game titles. Unfortunately, the update process did not appear to be as silky smooth as it was for previous firmware releases, and technical issues soon reared their ugly heads.

The firmware update can cause different PS3 hardware configurations to suffer problems which range from controller failure, performance issues to even prevent proper system booting once applied.  Sadly, the issues did not appear to be limited to any one PS3 model, as the higher storage capacity consoles (40/60/80GB) all had a chance of being hit with various gremlins thanks to the version 2.40 firmware. Some users have found success in remedying the most serious problems by swapping the removable hard drive, which suggests the firmware update is corrupting hard drive data.  While Sony would certainly not have the public think the issues are spreading like wildfire, they are certainly enough that the company has since pulled the version 2.40 firmware update from general distribution in order to pinpoint the exact issue with it:

As has been reported on many gaming blogs and websites, we have temporarily taken Firmware v2.40 offline. We’ve received a limited number of calls from consumers experiencing an issue with installing the system software update on their PS3. While our consumer services department has seen a low volume of calls on this topic, we are committed to providing the PS3 community with XMB access features delivered in the v2.40 update. We are working diligently to isolate the problem for those few consumers and to identify a solution before we put the firmware back up.

In the meantime, Sony took the time to clarify a few tidbits regarding Trophies for PS3 games. It is up to the developers themselves to create Trophies players can earn in their PS3 titles, so it won't be a mandatory feature. Additionally, developers will decide for themselves whether or not to retroactively implement Trophies for PS3 game titles which are already released (and don't already include them).

Trophies will be attached to users' PSN ID. Trophy data needs to be synchronized to the online account on PSN to be transferred to the new PS3 system.

No, Trophies aren't retroactive.

One behind Dark Sector and..Extreme Pinball?

The PlayStation 3 version of BioShock is shaping up to be quite a beast: a grand total of four developers are working on the port. Aside from 2K Boston and 2K Australia (the two teams who originally produced and released the game on the Xbox 360 and PC last summer) 2K Marin and an external studio, Digital Extremes have also signed on. It's worth nothing the need for four studios (that's got to set a record, maybe two with it being a port) could be due to the fact each of them are believed to be working on other projects at the moment.

2K Marin was formed late last year and is allegedly made up of several ex-Bioshock staffers. This is the same team set to create the next BioShock game. Variety is the spice of a franchise, I guess? Digital Extremes (DE) is behind such titles as Dark Sector ("[the main character becomes] altered by an infection that has granted him inhuman abilities and he must learn to evolve along with his powers, to survive.." - sound familiar?), Unreal Championship, Unreal Tournament 2004, and..Extreme Pinball (we don't have a page for it, I guess it wasn't that extreme)? Well, that was 1995. Times were different! (DE to 2K: "I've changed, I swear!")

It's not exactly clear what the extra studios will be doing, though 2K has alluded to "optimization":

"By partnering with Digital Extremes, 2K Games is delivering a fully optimized experience that takes advantage of the PLAYSTATION 3 system hardware," said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. "Bringing Digital Extremes on board allows us to continue to deliver the best experience possible to our fans."

"When 2K approached us to assist with development on BioShock for the PLAYSTATION 3 system, it was a no-brainer," said James Schmalz, CEO and founder of Digital Extremes. "You really can't ask for a more exciting, technically impressive world to work in than Rapture, and the incredible knowledge and talent between the 2K studios and our team at Digital Extremes is unprecedented. The collaboration on this project will make the PLAYSTATION 3 system sing with Big Daddy goodness and Little Sister 'thank you's'."

BioShock is expected for the PS3 this October with new features and content, none of which are known yet. The sequel is set for the same time next year. Should be an extra terrifying couple of Halloweens.