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Staff Profile :: Artis Oracle» artisoracle@d-padnetwork.com |
Staff Profile :: Artis Oracle» artisoracle@d-padnetwork.com |
Many gamers, myself included, would never have even imagined a day like this in a thousand years. The man who crusaded against the infamous Hot Coffee mod in 2005, who blamed Virgina Tech on video games, and who was vocal about Manhunt 2, has defended Mass Effect in an email conversation with a reporter from Kotaku. Perhaps he has more pressing matters to worry about? I’m not sure, but either way, this is quite stunning from someone who is so bent on getting rid of any scrap of violence found in video games. The conversation can be seen by clicking on the link.
http://kotaku.com/349423/jack-thompson-defends-mass-effect
It’s been a rough year for Sony’s prized console. From initial like to rabid bandwagon-style dislike, the console has been plagued with negative press and a lack of quality games for it. However, sales of the console have recently begun to elevate thanks to the addition of the less-costly 20 GB SKU, which retails for $399 USD.
Since it’s release, the PlayStation 3 has managed to sell 5.6 million consoles worldwide, with 2 million of those landing in North America. 23 parties are responsible for creating content on the console, and 160 new games are due by the end of this fiscal year. In addition, games are now beginning to be developed on the PlayStation 3 console and then ported to other consoles, previously done in reverse (Xbox 360 games were developed then ported to the PS3). Finally, it is worth noting that Blu-Ray continues to enjoy success in sales and numbers of movies available over HD-DVD, thus making the PS3 a valuable platform for high-definition movie watching.
The rumors that have been plaguing the Internets for the past few weeks have come true. All Xbox 360s will now ship with copies of Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Both games are a $90 USD value. This is apparently a “Holiday Bundle” so act quickly to take advantage of the deal before it expires.
It’s been a long time since speculation began of the Xbox 360 getting a 65nm processor, which means a cooler and quieter 360. That may have finally come true as there have been Xbox 360s shipped that seem to have the new processor, the first being a set of Halo 3 Edition Consoles.
Microsoft confirmed earlier today that Xbox 360 Pro consoles will now ship with an HDMI out port. A Microsoft employee said that this will not affect the change over to the 65nm process, as the internal parts of the 360 are constantly being tweaked. Back on topic, the addition of the HDMI port seems to be on Xbox 360s manufactured in and after this past July - the picture in the source post has a manufacture date of July 4th on it. It will still retail for the recently-lowered price of $349.99 US. I guess we should have gathered some sort of conclusion that an HDMI port would be added on to the non-Elite 360 at some point given the recent special consoles - Halo 3 and Simpson’s Movie consoles - both are pro Xbox 360s with HDMI ports.
An HDMI port on a 360 console was previously unavailable until last April when Microsoft released a third Xbox 360 SKU, the Xbox 360 Elite. The Elite is an Xbox 360 with a 120 GB HDD and an HDMI out port with a black matte finish, as opposed to the other two SKU’s white finishes. HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface, and is a type of connector that transmits digital signals (both audio and video in one cable) providing the highest quality picture possible on modern televisions.
In addition to a price cut on the 60 GB model, Sony has announced a new SKU of the PS3 for the US (previously only available in Korea): an 80 GB model for the $599 price. The price of the 60 GB model will go down to $499. In order to oust complaints that $100 for 20 GB is too much, Sony will bundle MotorStorm with the 80 GB model. MotorStorm usually retails for $59.99.
This is a move that shows Sony is trying to expand its marketshare in the United States. According to Gamespot, the PS3 only sold 82,000 units in May compared to Xbox 360’s 155,000 units and Wii’s 338,000 units.
Recently, Newsweek spoke with Reginald “Reggie” Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America present. He has revealed to them that tomorrow Nintendo will officially announce its plans for WiiWare, downloadable games for the popular Wii console. This is different from VirtualConsole in that these games would be completely built to be Wii games and not just legacy (NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, etc.) titles found in VC. These games will be available in the Shop Channel and will be sold by the means of Wii Points. This makes the new WiiWare akin to downloadable games and demos for Xbox 360’s Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network.
One of the post potent criticisms facing Nintendo and its Wii this generation is its “little to no” online support. Nintendo is finally beginning to hear the needs of fans by expanding upon online features, unlike back in the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 1 era where Nintendo stuck to the cartridge format over CDs and ended up losing sales because of that. Nintendo is expressing greater flexibility this time around. Perhaps the most interesting fact of this WiiWare is that Nintendo is seeking indie developers - small teams of game designers with shorter games with big ideas. Nintendo is said to determine the price of each individual game, while each game is responsible for getting an appropriate rating from the ESRB - AO titles are not allowed. WiiWare should be available sometime next year.
Microsoft has been a bit shaky in its decision to further gaming on the PC. The company wants games to remain strong in the gaming department, but at the same time, they are failing to realize that there are those who do not want to change their OS to play certain games. The cracking group Razor 1911 has fought back against Microsoft’s Vista-only policy by releasing cracks for games such as Halo 2 and Shadowrun allowing them to run under Windows XP.
However, the cracks are not 100% effective. The patch notes that came with the crack for Shadowrun state that the crack only allows for single-player bot matches and LAN-multiplayer. Because the game is validated over Windows LIVE, it would not be hard to understand that online multiplayer is out of the question.
These patches exist because there is obviously a rift developing in the game market between consumers and Microsoft. Gamers are not adopting Vista as Microsoft has planned. Microsoft continues to use the argument that backporting DirectX 10 to XP would be challenging, but neither Shadowrun nor Halo 2 use the DirectX 10. The only reason these games are Vista-exclusives is because Microsoft is trying to get widespread adoption of Vista, which so far is moving at a very slow pace. We are still a while out from games really requiring DirectX 10 and a DirectX 10-compatible video graphics card.
A recent entry on Engadget has revealed Blockbuster’s feelings towards HD-DVDs. Blockbuster will now stock mostly Blu-ray titles while some HD-DVD titles will still be offered in about 250 stores as well as online. Blockbuster’s Vice President Matthew Smith says that the reason for going with Blu-ray was due to customer preference - over 70% of the HD discs sold were Blu-ray discs in test markets. The reason for this may be due to the titles available on Blu-ray, not the cost. Some Blu-ray exclusive hits include Spiderman and Pirates of the Caribbean. This does not signal the end of the high-definition format war, but it sure does give Sony an advantage in the Blu-ray department.
IGN UK has reported that a Wii action title under the alias of Project H.A.M.M.E.R. seems to have been canceled. (more…)