Sometimes good things…
Well it’s been fun blogging for the past couple years, but sometimes good things have to come to an end. Be sure to follow me on Twitter to stay up to date as to what’s going on with me!
TGC 2010 Panel: The Future of the Shooter
Panel from Triangle Game Conference 2010
Panelists:
- Jeff McGann
- Juan Benito
- Shaun McCabe
- Patrick Sebring
Moderated by: John Farnsworth from Epic Games Read the rest of this entry »
Game-On! Triangle Game Conference v2.0
Triangle Games Conference – Raleigh, North Carolina April 7th-8th
http://www.trianglegameconference.com/
For those of you not in the know, Triangle Games Conference is in its second year and is bigger and better than ever! It has expanded more than 50% since its inaugural year last year. The Research Triangle area of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Durham) is the third largest video game development cluster area in the United States. (right behind the Bay area, CA and Los Angeles) However, the big draw for this convention and this area is the fact that it is the World’s largest region for video game engines. That is mainly because of the incredible success and the legs that Unreal Engine 3 has in the gaming industry.
Main companies in the area: Epic Games, Insomniac Games, Red Storm, and EA even has a presence here.
Sidenote: The governor of NC, Beverly Purdue, is going to be making an appearance at the conference today to show her support of the industry and the business is brings to the region.
Expect more coverage from me about this event in the next day or so, including a liveblog of panel speakers!
New Technology: Full-Scale Digital Distribution Now Possible
Digital distribution has always seemed like a pipedream to me. This is mainly because there are several substantial roadblocks that are hindering it from coming into the market in a full-scale way. Obviously the main one, at least in the US, is the bandwidth caps imposed by the various ISP companies: Time Warner, Cox, etc. The truth of the matter is, not only do these companies not want to support a higher bandwidth model, but also the US’s technological infrastructure is antiquated and doesn’t have the capacity to support this kind of traffic, especially in rural areas. Secondly, and probably more importantly, digital distribution will disrupt that standard retail model that has been in place since the industry was birthed. This would cut out the retailers from the equation completely and ultimately lower the price of the product to the consumer, but we can’t have that now, could we?
Grab Newly Released PS3 Games at a Hefty Discount
Has your wallet been running light recently because of all of the AAA games that were released in Q1 of this calendar year? Fear not, because Amazon.com is here to save you! If you missed the second installation of 2k Games’ adventures in Rapture, Bioshock 2, then now is that time to correct that grave error!
Not only are they running a sale on the stand alone game of $10 off the normal $60 MSRP, but they are also running a 27% off sale on the Collector’s Edition!
Currently, Amazon is running sales on other PS3 titles as well, including $20 off the enormously popular Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and a whopping $30 off the newly released Assassins Creed 2. Take advantage of these sales while they last, and also enjoy the newly restocked 120gb PS3 Slim system while it in on Amazon’s Digital store shelves!
Sony E3 2010: Year of the MMO
Console MMO’s? There is a ton a skepticism surrounding this genre, especially since there truly hasn’t been a successful one yet, barring Final Fantasy XI. However with the continued explosive adoption of highspeed internet worldwide, and with current generation console sales eclipsing 33 million for Sony’s PS3 (VGCharz.com), now seems like the perfect time to test the waters once again. And Sony looks to be planning to do this in a big way!
PS3 Shortage Coming to an End?
Despite the recent worldwide PS3 shortage, Sony’s third iteration console has still managed to put up respectable numbers on the sales reports. But the question on everyone’s mind is, if there wasn’t a shortage, would the PS3 sell more units? Because of this shortage, many websites have been price-gauging to take advantage of the high demand and low supply in the current market. The worst part about this shortage is simply the timing of it: right after the two major first party exclusive releases of God of War III and Heavy Rain. Both of these games have been hailed as AAA games by the vast majority of the gaming media and have sold well, but this is only to current PS3 owners, as it is almost impossible to find and purchase a PS3 currently. God of War III specifically was expected to be a major reason for people to come over to Sony’s side and purchase a PS3, and now it’s seeming like a missed opportunity in many aspects.
But, is there light at the end of the tunnel? Finally after over a month of being out of stock, Amazon.com has 120gb PS3 slims back on the “digital shelves”. They don’t have the 250gb models yet, so there is no telling whether this is a short term fix or beginning of the long term solution everyone’s been waiting for. Hopefully there will be a word from Sony on this matter in the next couple of days.
Slider for PS Move is an Ode to the Retro
Right now this is the only ‘announced’ game being developed for PS Move from SCEJ. That doesn’t mean that this is the only game in development by that studio, just that this is the only one that the public is made aware of. And it is VERY Japanese, but in all of the good ways!
Just to recap, here is the basic premise of the game: It’s set in Hong Kong and you are a business owner who has run behind in his debts to the Yakuza and thus has to flee. You choose to either play as the business owner or his (rather attractive) secretary.
Now to the gameplay: (which has been updated since the original videos have been released) there are a couple different gameplay types available:
- Two different tutorials
- Two different actual playable levels in the demo.
Granted this was only a ‘demo’ and is most likely still in the pre-alpha phase of development like all of the other PS Move titles that have been announced so far. Now let me explain to you what makes this game so special. It seems like a hybrid of three different games that everyone has experienced:
- Crazy Taxi – It has borrowed the time limits and destination/objective based levels with points and ways of extending the time limit.
- Tony Hawk – Sure you may be riding a desk chair downhill, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t use it to grind on rails, jump, and spin kick Yakuza thugs. Just FYI, when you’re grinding on rails, the Move is used to keep your balance from side to side, and it is indeed challenging.
- PAIN! – The physics engine seems to have taken quite a few notes from PAIN! (the PSN exclusive downloadable game): mainly the ragdoll physics animations and slow-mo crash sequences.
Most importantly though, this game is incredibly fun to get your hands on, but not easy to put down! Look for this game to make big waves when it is released as a launch title with the PS Move this fall.
Kevin Butler: GoW3 Commercial Being Unveiled Today
The beloved Kevin Butler, VP of Information Teasers, revealed the following via twitter. Source
TheKevinButler: I’m not allowed to tell u to watch the PS blog tomorrow. So don’t. (Meaning do) RT @Dann954: You need to do a GoW3 commercial badd (3/8/2010)
This will coincide nicely with the God of War 3 event going on for GDC (Game Developers Conference) that the PS Blog has scheduled for Wednesday this week. Let’s just recap really quickly all of the momentum that is running up towards the release next week of this third and final installment in the Kratos saga:
- Monday – Media embargo lifted from God of War 3 and the first reviews were allowed to be published.
- Tuesday – The official PS tv commercial for GoW3 is going to unveiled via the PS Blog
- Wednesday – The PS Blog God of War 3 meetup event at GDC
- Thursday – More GDC awesomeness will showcase the scale and depth of this title.
All leading up to… Next week’s release!
Stop Bitching about the PS3 Glitch
This is getting truly out of hand. The PSN has been glitching for less than 24 hours and people are saying that this is comparable to the RROD devastation that afflicted early chipsets of the Xbox 360s. How fickle are people that they can’t remember history and what has happened not even a year and half ago now.
*Flashback to December 31st, 2008.*
All was well as children around the world were preparing to watch the new year’s eve celebration as the clock struck midnight. However, fate had a different sort of new years resolution for little Jimmy and the 12 other people around the planet that bought 30gb Microsoft Zunes. Because as the clock stuck midnight, every single 30gb Zune on the entire planet bricked simultaneously. Consequently the tech community freaked out, dubbing the event as the ‘Red Ring of Zune’. It turned out that this was only an internal clock issue and after 24 hours all of the Zunes (all 13 of them worldwide) returned to normal.
Now back to present day. How is this so dissimilar from what is occurring right now with the ‘fat’ PS3s? We’re lucky that our systems didn’t brick. They’re still playable for non-trophy games: ie Valkyria Chronicles, Metal Gear Solid 4, Resistance: Fall of Man, Heavenly Sword. This is the perfect opportunity to go back and play those games. Or better yet, use your system as a blu-ray player, since it is arguably the best one of those on the market. Moral of the story is that people are overreacting about this entirely situation which will more than likely auto-correct itself within a matter of hours.
What’s your take on this ‘ApocalyPS3’ (it pains me to even type that phrase). Is it just fuel for the trolls to go to town on? That’s my own personal opinion. What’s yours? Comment below.
Sony’s official advice on the situation.
UPDATE!
The PS3 is now working again. There are no patches, just turn on your PS3 and it works!