Archive for November, 2008
Worldwide PS3 releases for the week of November 30th
Filed under: New Releases, News
This week marks the end of the brutal end-of-year release period. We’re ending on a high note with Prince of Persia’s worldwide release. We’ve been looking forward to this one for quite some time, so hopefully it’ll live up to expectations. Europeans are advised to preorder from Play.com for a bunch of free extras (as seen above). More details available on the website. US gamers can also get a free LE upgrade. Here’s the full release list:
US Games
- SingStar ABBA
- Prince of Persia - Get a free Limited Edition upgrade
EU Games
Asian Games
PS3 games are region free, so go ahead and import any games you fancy. Try to keep in mind, however, that DLC is always region locked. So your US game will only read content downloaded from the US PSN Store. Prince of Persia has been confirmed to have DLC coming in the future. Release dates are constantly subject to change, so check with your local retailer if you have any worries.
Worldwide PS3 releases for the week of November 30th originally appeared on PS3 Fanboy on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Wanted - New Trailer - Wanted - Trailer 1
 The Wanted video game will feature intense third-person action, taking combat to a new level.
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Batman: Arkham Asylum - New Trailer - Batman: Arkham Asylum - Teaser
 A dark, action packed videogame adventure.
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GTA IV - New Trailer - GTA IV - Trailer 2
 Welcome to Liberty City. Where the American Dream goes to die.
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David Jaffe Sees God of War 3, Spouts Expletives
a- HOLY HOLY HOLY FUCKING HELL!!!!
b- I thought GEARS OF WARS 2 looked about as good as a next-gen game could look….and that game is currently- and will probably remain- my game of the year. And hell, I think I actually get to vote on that kind of stuff in some circlesAnd unless I get blown away by POP or something else I missed, GEARS 2 is the SHIT….this year. Dudes and dudettes, fucking WAIT till you see the amazing graphics…just fucking wait.
So, yeah, evidently God of War 3 looks all right.
But wait, did he just name Gears of War 2 his game of the year over the PS3-exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4? Yes, he did, and in an update to his original post Jaffe explains his position. He says, “LOVE MGS4…have yet to finish it but I LOVE it. I just think as an overall game- for ME- Gears was able to achieve its goals better and thus, the overall game experience- for me- was better.” He does at least tag them both as classics. And who knows, maybe it’s just a case of affinity for the acronym.
Jaffe also snuck in a little update on what’s going on with Eat, Sleep, Play. He says, “We have not gone multiplatform. We are 100% exclusive to Sony and we are proud of and grateful for that affiliation.” Sorry Xbox 360 fans (or as Jaffe calls them, “Xbots”), but it doesn’t look like you’ll be seeing anything from them on Live anytime in the near future. He leaves a glimmer of hope, adding, “Doesn’t mean we will ALWAYS be single platform, but right now we see no reason not to be and are- again- very, very happy with the situation and would love to think Sony will always want us to be exclusive to them.” Don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty definitive from here.
Harmonix Responds to Rock Band Drum Pedal Lawsuit
It’s been an especially litigious weekend for rhythm game developer Harmonix, who are currently at the center of a class action lawsuit over faulty drum pedals included with the first Rock Band. Brought to court by a Kansas resident by the name of Monte Morgan, the plaintiff accuses the drum kit’s manufacturers of purposely shipped last year’s game with flimsy pedals in order to encourage upgrades to Rock Band 2’s improved drum kit.
A spokesperson from the Cambridge-based developer finally responded to these claims in an email to 1UP this afternoon. Understandably, they are less than pleased with the Morgan’s allegations:
“Harmonix and MTV Games are dedicated to consumers having an outstanding experience with our products. When used as directed, our drum pedals are designed to provide years of enjoyment. In addition, at the launch of Rock Band we offered consumers an extended opportunity return defective or broken hardware for any reason whatsoever — no questions asked. This litigation is opportunistic and baseless.”
We’ve used the old kits around the office “as directed” and still ran into a few problems here and there. Either way, we have to give props to Harmonix and MTV for extending the warranty as long as they did. They certainly could’ve just pocketed drummers’ money and charged full price for repairs instead of doing it for free for almost a year after release. We’ll let the courts decide if that’s deliberately cheating consumers, as Morgan alleges, but the safe bet is on “Nope.”
Prince of Persia - New Trailer - Prince of Persia - Trailer 4
 A new chapter in the legendary franchise to debut towards the end of 2008. |
‘Real Gordon Freeman’ Saves CERN from Headcrab Invasion
GENEVA, Switzerland (Wire News Service) - Fears concerning the potential of the Large Hadron Collider to end the Earth — once dismissed as naive — were nearly made manifest earlier this month, when a crowbar-wielding hero was forced to repel an alien invasion brought through a temporal vortex that was accidentally opened by the mammoth doomsday machine.
Okay, that didn’t actually happen. But in the picture above (and the ones below), we can see the next best thing. You may recall that back in September, an anonymous CERN researcher working on the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator gained a small amount of Internet infamy when it was pointed out that he bared a striking resemblance to Half-Life hero Gordon Freeman. Since there was some concern at the time about the potential of the Large Hadron Collider to explode the world, the bloggers at Reddit took the necessary precautions by sending this researcher a few safety tools: a crowbar, a headcrab hat, and a Half-Life strategy guide. Not only did he receive this survival package, but it seems he put it to fantastic use.
As you can see, the folks at CERN took the opportunity to hold a small photo shoot with their newly received goodies, acting out the Half-Life fantasies we all prayed wouldn’t become reality (via Shacknews). You can see a few more photos in the full gallery, and there are even some videos you can download.
Midway Served Delisting Notice by NYSE
Midway has been having a great deal of financial troubles recently, and now it seems it’s catching up with them. GameSpot reports that the struggling developer has been served a delisting notice by the New York Stock Exchange, due to failing to reach an average closing price of $1 per share for the last 30 days of trading.
Now, in order to avoid “further delisting actions” (presumably, actually being delisted), Midway must raise their shares within the next six months. Midway responded by saying it “plans to notify the NYSE that it will seek to cure the deficiency.” (”Cure the deficiency” — now there’s some euphemistic language).
For Midway, much now depends on how well Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is received, as it’s their only big holiday game this year other than Blitz: The League 2. The developer said it also hopes to recover some losses through continued sales of older titles like TNA Impact!, Mortal Kombat Kollection, and the Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament 3.
Robot Tackles Guitar Hero Song on Expert, Succeeds
If there is one certainty in life, it’s this: Anything humans can do, a robot can be built to do it better. Now humanity takes another dangerous step closer to obsolescence, as Cyth Systems has built what they call the “Cythbot,” a robot that can automatically play Guitar Hero — and play it well.
In the video above, you can see a tech demo of Cythbot making its way through Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality” on Expert difficulty, a song that’s not exactly a breeze. Behold as Cythbot makes (gulp) mincemeat out of it.
As Wired reports (via Joystiq), the robot works by bringing together various components to tackle the different challenges of playing Guitar Hero. A camera hooked up to a “Configurable Signal Conditioning Enclosure (CA-1000)” views and analyzes the notes streaming down the screen, using the light intensity of the pixels rather than differentiating the notes by color. This system then interprets notes and sends signals to pneumatic “fingers” hovering over the guitar controller, which is held in place in an aluminum box frame. These signals tell the fingers when to activate, compressing onto the fret buttons and flicking the strum bar.
