New Assassin's Creed Makes Me Want It MORE!

I will be buying this game the day it comes out, like the huddled masses will. You're probably playing Halo 3, I'll be waiting for Assassin's Creed

-Stephen Out!

Everything's better on the PS3 (atleast DiRT is)

Chances are if you're A) a 360 owner and B) a racing gamer fan you have DiRT. The latest game in the Colin McRae (R.I.P.) series of racing games has been doing great since it's release. By reinventing the way racing games look and feel, DiRT is turning heads and making gamers who had not previously enjoyed racing games pick up a racing wheel. PS3 owners have had Motorstorm since the release of the system and now they too can enjoy DiRT - even more than 360 owners! (and no, I don't own a PS3. In fact, it hurts a little to even type this).

With the recent release of DiRT on PS3 the head-to-head comparisons have proven that PS3 does in fact one up the 360 as far as graphics and performance go. Gamespot's Alex Navarro had this to say about the PS3 version of DiRT:

"One of the big complaints about DiRT on the 360 and PC was that it simply didn't perform very well. The PC version looked choppy on a near-constant basis, and the 360 version had a tendency to tank pretty badly during multicar races. On the other hand, the PlayStation 3 version is nearly flawless in this regard. The game maintains a steady 30-frames-per-second rate for the vast bulk of the game, and the few scattered dips in performance are very brief and hardly noticeable. The extra time between releases seems to have benefited this version a great deal."

So there you have it. Now go and get your gloating over with.

Dualshock 3 Coming SOON!

For most of us a rumble controller for PS3 would be king. So we've been all waiting for the answer to are calling.

And I've got some good news for you :

In the latest 1UP podcast, they reveal the following info:

* Burnout: Paradise - looking better on PS3. Better AA and motion blur. According to the developer the PS3 handles these things at 60fps better whereas the 360 struggles. Garnett says rhetorically: "Is this the first multiplatform game where PS3 shows is technological superiority?"

* MGS4 Playable at TGS + New "Spoiler Filled" Trailer - Changed some stuff from Leipzig based on feedback (camera etc)

* New FFXIII and FFVersusXIII Trailers in enclosed theater. Not being released to public?

* Eternal Sonata coming to PS3 early next year - Two new playable characters + Dressing up costume system.

* Ace Combat 6 coming to PS3 next year.

* Steamboat Chronicles sequel for PS3 and PSP

* Persona 4 for PS3 - Exclusive.

* Star Ocean 4 is PS3 exclusive.

* Yakuza 3 - PS3 exclusive

* Yakuza 2 coming to US soon. Sub titles only, not dubbed.

* Silent Hill 5 Exclusive to PS3 in JAPAN, on PS3/360 in West.

* GT5 Prologue playable.

* White Knight Story playable at TGS (White Knight Chronicle in West?)

* Team ICO working on two projects. 1 retail + 1 PSN

* Dualshock 3 will be at TGS.

* Kingdom Hearts Zero to... PSP. More KH games coming to other platforms... Wii most likely due to EGM "rumour"

* More games to come in FFVII compilation - Shane thinks FFVII remake will come near end of PS3s life when install base is higher.

New iPod Nano not PS3 Compatible

According to the large amounts of the PS3 owners and the slim amount of the new iPod Nano, they are both not compatible with each other. You're wondering how so? When plugged into the PS3 the system freezes and you are forced to reset the system.

I will keep you posted if any solutions come up.

-Stephen Out!

Mass Effect Looking as "Next Gen" as Possible.

New Mass Effect video out. If you haven't heard of Mass Effect yet no worries, you still have time before it comes out to do your homework. Check out the video first and see for yourself what's in store.




If you liked that then head over to: http://masseffect.bioware.com/ and see the sci-fi RPG action for yourself.

Sixaxis Controlled Helicopter

I've seen some pretty cool creations controlled by the Sixaxis controller, but this one takes my PoG Cake, How about a Remote Controlled Helicopter controlled by a PS3 Sixaxis Controller, don't believe me? Here's the video to prove it



I'm so interested in this, I might even try to make this myself. The boys at pabr.org/sixlinux show us that it's possible. There is a step by step guide to show how this is done, so if some of you like me are interested in making this, go peep it out, and post a response if you have done it!

-Stephen Out

Katamaries for the Masses!!1!!1!

Ahhhhhh yes, Katamari Damacy, the game that started it all on ps2. How much time it took from peoples lives, just rolling and rolling. So nice and addicting. Well now Namco is rolling out the 4th game in this series. I have played the demo personally and can say that it is as good, if not WAY better than the previous ones on the ps2, and one on PSP. There are sure to be many bright vibrant colors and random sounds and object in this version as well.

Early on this game was announced to be released in the future on all the next-gen consoles (PS3, 360, and Wii), but as time went on developers dropped the PS3 one due to stalled PS3 sales and port issues with the game. Namco has been very edgy about whether or not they are releasing it on the Wii. They have gone back and forth on their decision, and have yet to give the public a solid answer. But as the box cover shows it does have that "Only for XBOX 360" "stamped" onto the cover, and yet their website still says that it shall be released for all 3, but i doubt they are going to do that.

All in all this game is bound to bring to the people hours of collecting of umbrellas, newspapers, tabby cats, the fat "American Guy", and etc. Also this game bring to it flawless transitions of size and eliminates those waiting screens with the flying head of the King of all cosmos. And introducing online multiplayer!!!!! Now you can roll all sorts of stuff with friends, family, or random ass strangers! The release date for this game is set to be in mid October (October 16th in NA and October 18th in JA says Wikipedia), but we cant fullllllly trust what Wikipedia says.

So keep an eye out for this one to eat away all that time you sit there staring at your tv.

Here is the URL to the Japanese site (Uber laughs) http://namco-ch.net/beautiful_katamari/index.php

And the American one with an EPIC video on it. http://www.namcobandaigames.com/games/beautifulkatamari/

-Kevin

*Note- the American website does say October 16, 2007 as the release date and for only XBOX 360.

More Wii's for the Holiday Season!

Ten months into its lifespan, the Wii continues to evade many consumers at retail. With the holiday season fast approaching, no doubt many shoppers will be out trying to get their hands on Nintendo's motion-sensing wonder.

Good news: in an interview with Reggie Fils-Aime, President of Nintendo of America, reassures us that Wii manufacturing is being ramped up in preparation for the holiday buying frenzy.

"The good news is that we're flowing more and more product into the marketplace and the amount of Wii hardware [that] will be in North American stores will be unprecedented -- substantially more than the launch, substantially more than has been seen to date," Fils-Aime said.

But Reggie is so bolstered by the success of the Wii, he warns that no matter how many units Nintendo manages to produce, it will still remain elusive.

"The bad news is that given the level of demand, and given the fact that the more we put in the more we sell, it is still going to be difficult to get [your] hands on the Wii... All major retailers will have regular supply, and so as consumers you need to regularly check out your Wal-Mart, Target, GameStop, Best Buy, Circuit City, Toys 'R Us -- all of those key retailers. Talk to the manager and find out when they get their regular shipments, and try to get there when the product comes in. It's going to be flowing in every week, but the fact is that currently demand outstrips supply on a worldwide basis."

To be perfectly honest guys, if you are seriously trying that hard and haven't gotten a Wii yet, sum up the courage and find yourself 100 extra dollars, and buy yourself a flipping Xbox 360! You're seriously going to have more fun. But everyone has there type of fun.

So game on!

-Stephen Out

Halo 3 Predicted to Sell 3 Million, What is Sony Going to Do?

Halo 3 which is expected to sell over 3 million units in its first 12 days is going to be released on 9/25/07 which is about 10 days away. If your like some of us (myself) that don't give a shit about Halo and probably are looking forward to far greater games (*Cough Killzone 2 Cough*), you wonder what is Sony probably going to do with this Microsoft heavy day.

Well I have a slight idea!

Sony has been rumored to : A surprise should Sony unveil a new PS2 price cut to $99 at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show, and in that case, sales of PS2 could again rebound to the 250,000 monthly level.

But you're probably thinking, well Halo is still going to sell a lot more.

How about another Price-Cut for PS3? It's possible. Very possible.

So keep your eyes open.

For those of us not playing Halo 3, I'll be enjoying my Warhawk

-Stephen Out!

THPG vs. skate. - Who skates supreme?

So tomorrow EA's skate. hits store shelves (pushed back from Tuesday of this week) and if you're like myself, you're excited. On the other hand, there's still plenty of Tony Hawk fans out there who choose to stay loyal and wait for Tony Hawk's Proving Ground. Luckily for console owners with the birth of the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii we can now all enjoy the benefits of having the internet on our TV's (to some extent) and therefore readily available demos. If you're a 360 owner you've had access to the skate. demo for a few weeks now and, just recently, the THPG demo as well. So before skate. hits store shelves tomorrow let's sit down with both game demos and get a glimpse at which game might come out on top.

First of all let's look at skate. (because afterall the demo's been out longer). The first thing you'll probably notice when you start up the demo is the camera angle (and the sexy graphics). If you've played any Tony Hawk game in the past you're used to the slightly-overhead-follow camera angle but in skate. the camera is set lower to the ground and moves a little loosely giving the effect of someone following you around with a camera. From the get-go skate. rewires the way you're used to playing skateboarding games by throwing you the curve ball of having to actually "flick" the right joystick to perform an ollie. It's sort of tricky to get used to but once you do you'll find it makes the game that much more fun. So after you go through a short little 2-3 minute tutorial you get free range of a skate park for 30 mins (that's how long the demo lasts) and I found myself really enjoying the whole atmosphere of the park. Unlike THPG there's not a lot of "clutter" and it feels like you're in an actual skate park. Also unlike previous Tony Hawk games, skate. doesn't fill your area with people to give you challenges or tasks to complete. If you want to just skate around and try some new things you're completely free to do so. As you skate around you can see that the physics of the game are finely tuned to be more realistic (sorry kids, no 15 foot ollies from stand-still) and the way you perform tricks is pretty fluid for the most part. One of my favorite features is the way you grind. Unlike Tony Hawk games where you'd press a button combination to perform certain grinds, in skate. you simply ollie to land on the rail and while in air you twist your character/board then however you land dictates what grind you will perform. It's pretty cool and simplifies the whole "grind system".

Another little feature I like about skate. is the fact that there seems to actually be a cameraman following you around (didn't wanna give it away earlier). As you skate near people you'll hear some voice shout out random "Hey's" and such and before you assume that that's you, it's not. In skate. the narrator is really a friend (or stalker) who follows you around filming your "career" and showing you the ins and outs of skateboarding. Another little thing I like in skate. is the pro-skater intro videos. In THPG the intro videos are actual footage (which you may or may not like) but in in skate. you get rendered videos of the pros showing off their talent and periodically the video will freeze, zoom-in on a part of their board and flash what company and part that particular pro is using.

The cons? Well, not being able to get off your board is annoying at times especially when you don't time an ollie just right and miss getting up a set of stairs so you have to go back 20 feet, get speed and try again (1 or 10 more times). Also there are instances when you can manipulate the tricks to make some pretty BS combos up (my favorite is the front flip to mid-air coffin and landing laying down on my board). Despite these drawbacks skate. is still very enjoyable and I highly recommend it.

After the demo ends you can see that the character customization is there and something like 40+ actual brands are featured in the game all for you to pick and choose from to perfect your board according to preference. Also there's a function (that EA is still working out the kinks on) for uploading video footage of yourself called skate.Reel (which you have free range on editing - angles, speed, color effects, etc.) for all to view. Just another cool thing to make you drool.

Now, onto Tony Hawk's Proving Ground....

I'll be rather brief here (if you couldn't tell from the picture above this Tony Hawk doesn't manage to change much). The graphics honestly look worse than Project 8 and the game play seems even farther from realistic. I know it's a demo, but this is an early look at the final outcome and you want people to want to play your game.

The first thing you're shown is the three types of skater you can choose to be in the game. I'll admit this is kind of cool giving people a choice instead of "forcing" them to go pro. The three choices range from a "locals only", bad ass sort of skater to the underground, "hey let's make that broken counter into a ramp"-skater and of course the "hey look at me, I'm a better skater than you"pro-skater. Once the intro video is done you're immediately told what to do and it doesn't take long to notice that the old Tony Hawk game clutter is back. Small streets and ramps everywhere make for a very unbelievable city from the get-go and the controls don't help the realism factor ("Hit the A button to ollie!.......and tap it to push off!"). So after ollie-pushing my way to the closest challenge I get a video of Mike Vallelly then a rendered "cinematic" of my character (who has a voice and a terrible haircut) missing a gap. But don't fear, I don't die or break anything. In fact I magically float upward and pull myself up only to have Mike V. hop over me and show me how to do what, but push myself HARDER on my board. So now I'm in a 7 second timed challenge push-ollie-"agro pushing" my way around the same street and then told to jump a 50 foot street by jumping off a ramp given 20 feet of run way. :| <--notice the face.

Despite all the old things that made me dislike the earlier Tony Hawk games I do like the fact that you can still customize your character and you have to work your way up to reach your goal. The three paths to different skater types is pretty cool too (I can see the underground type skater being pretty cool in the sense of making your own stuff by using random garbage). Overall if THPG had better graphics, an updated control scheme and some better environments it could easily be a winner.

Long story short I found the pros to cons "ratio" in THPG to be rather con-heavy.

The verdict: download THPG. Play it. Delete it. Buy skate. Period.

New Footage : Playstation Home

With Home's launch less than month away, most of us PS3 Users are clearly excited and now you can see why!

You want a iPhone Without the Phone?

Well I got one for you,

I opened up my email today and saw "The new iPod touch is here." So I thought that's such a weird name for the new iPod Nano they have been showing. So out of curiosity, I clicked my email and found this :



Good Job Apple, to make a iPhone without a phone, so the lower end of the financial market can have the wanna-be iPhone, To bad to myself If I didn't sport a Helio Ocean, I'd probably sporting a iPhone myself. But to think iPod had to find another way to skeem to get more money, to make the iPod identical to the iPhone, I'm sorry to say I really don't care about touch to a extent. I would rather say "Play Kicking Your Crosses Down by Circa Survive" and they iPod could select that song and artist and begin playing it. There has been a big fuss about this iPod but it's just a cheap remake of the iPhone.

GG Apple.

-Stephen Out!

Sony Announces Playstation Phone To Own All!

Sony Ericsson is considering tapping into Sony's PlayStation and Bravia television brands to create new ranges of high-end handsets.

A PlayStation phone was also a possibility, said Mr Flint, although he stressed the technology behind such a device was still some way from being perfected.

“We need to make sure that it is a credible phone, and be sure we are justified in putting that identity on it,” said Mr Flint, who will step down as president in November.

Sony Ericsson has successfully used Sony’s Walkman music brand and CyberShot camera brand to create handsets, favoured by young, aspirational consumers.

So expect a awesome next generation phone, if It's what I think, it will absolutely destroy the Iphone.

Today is National Video Games Day!

National Video Games Day - always on September 12th

Video Games Day celebrates popular video games that stormed onto the market, and changed the way your kids play games. From Atari to Nintendo to Xbox, video games provide all too many hours of playing time on your television set.

In grandma and grandpa's day, they had stick horses for toys and playtime. Todays kids (big kids and little kids) have an enormous array of video games to play. Before you get tired of one game, another one hits the market.

Celebrate National Video Games Day by playing video games. If you are off from school (or if you are a big kid off from work), make this a marathon day for video games. Better still, invite a few friends and hold a competition. Just make certain that you have enough controllers.

Happy Video Games Day to all, sit down grab a controller of your favorite system (mine is PS3, and I'll be playing Warhawk Gamertag - Stephenlikewhoa) And enjoy playing by yourself or with a friend.

More PS3/PSP Updates This Week.

Earlier today we had a PSP Update that was regarding :

This version 3.70 update includes the following new features:

CUSTOM THEME SETTINGS

You can now set a custom theme under [Theme Settings]. The Home Menu colour background or icon design can be changed, based on the theme that is selected.

Note: You can create your own themes and use them on your PSP system. Instructions for creating a custom theme will be available on this site soon.

SCENE SEARCH

You can now search for a scene when playing a movie that is saved on a Memory Stick Duo media. You can select and play the scene you want to see from a thumbnail image. This is convenient when you want to quickly play only a specific scene.


VIEWING A SLIDESHOW WHILE LISTENING TO MUSIC

Simultaneous playback of content under Music and Photo is now supported.

You can enjoy viewing a slideshow of your favorite photographs while listening to music.

Other new or revised features in version 3.70

NETWORK

[Assign Buttons] has been added to the [Remote Play] menu.

VIDEO

Sequential playback of videos that are saved on the Memory Stick Duo media is now supported.

Also this was posted earlier today

Taking into account customer feedback and some internal testing, we will be making available in the next few days a firmware update for the PS3 (1.93) that fixes the network disconnect issue that some of you have experienced as a result of downloading Firmware 1.92. In addition, we are adding a new firmware update for PSP (3.71) as well, which adds many features that readers of this blog have requested.

The main feature we’ve added with the recent updates for PSP is the ability to set themes on your PSP. Over time we will be providing themes on PlayStation.com, our official PSP site and through PLAYSTATION Store. You can download themes based on some of our popular titles. Be sure to download the files into the following location on your memory stick:

psp memory stick

Once you have downloaded a theme, under settings, go to theme settings, select theme and then custom theme to choose the one you want to display.

You can also now play music while viewing photos or a slideshow. First begin playing a track saved on your memory stick, press the HOME or SELECT button, then navigate to your photos under the Photo icon and begin viewing.

We’ve added several other features including scene search for movies.

And the website is up!

The new generation of video gaming news. We will bring all the announcements and upcoming news about all the systems that are currently out.

Keep your eyes open on us, cause we will sure deliver.