CO-OP Episode 105: The All Indie One!

Tiberium Debut Trailer

LittleBigPlanet CES "Create" Trailer

Burnout Paradise PS3 and XBOX 360 Demos. It's SO GOOD!

What is up on XBOX LIVE and Playstation Network are two identical demos that allow the player to get a feel for Burnout Paradise. Both games look exactly the same on each console. There don't seem to be any performance or graphical issues with either system. I currently have a lot more friends on XBOX LIVE so I will probably buy the XBOX 360 version. But that's just me, there is NO REASON to be console conscious when thinking of buying this game.

The game allows you to drive freely through an open city and take on Burnout style challenges like Burning route, Race, or Road Rage. Of what is in the demo they are very challenging. But these aren't the reason to buy the game. The reason is the online multiplayer. It's like playing a Burnout MMO or a REALLY good version of Test Drive Unlimited. The game should have allowed for MANY MORE players online at once but perhaps this will be in Burnout Paradise 2. I want to be online from the moment I turn on the game and play with ANYONE on the server. Like 16-30 people. Not just 4... It's just not fun playing alone! I REALLY LOVE the game. But playing with people, doing takedowns, near misses, and crazy tricks makes this game worth any price for admission. I can only hope there will be tons of DLC to keep this game going until Criterion can make Burnout Paradise 2. It will probably be the bestselling racing game of the year and probably the BEST RACING GAME OF THE YEAR of 2008. Get your copy on Jan 22nd!

No matter your taste in games, Burnout Paradise will make you happy. Head down to Paradise City this January, ir won't let you down....

Mod Tools not yet out for PS3 version of UT3.

"December 12, 2007 - If you've already purchased a copy of Epic's Unreal Tournament 3, you may have noticed you can't yet load in mods. Before users can actually start making mods work for PS3, Epic apparently needs to release special PS3 tools, which Epic producer Jeff Morris assures us will be available soon.

"By far the superior method of explaining this is that mod creators should begin creating mods," said Morris in an email. "Once the tools come out (they will be available soon) players can port them to the PS3, but since they'll work the same way on the PC as the PS3, creators should get busy! Additionally, there is always a delay between a UT game and when mods start to appear. PS3 is no different."

Jeff went on to explain, step-by-step, the process for transferring the mods from your PC to your PS3.

• Save the PS3 folder (per mod) to your SD card (or USB drive).
  
• Run UT3 on PS3
  
• Insert SD card into PS3
  
• Go to My Community User Content
  
• Select Import Content
  
• Import from the SD card"IGN...

• 
  

This is all very understandable but the lack of advertising and the problems with PS3 game development on the whole makes this just another slap in the face to Sony. Also, Epic needs to get going on something for this game. There seems to be this general lack of interest and it was relatively hard to get the information above. Some people think that the PS3 game WON'T except mods ever. Which is wrong but the total silence out there just doesn't seem to be helping anyone.

Guns N' Roses Paradise City Trailer! I knew this was coming....

Fatal Inertia delayed for PS3? Cool!

"Oh, Fatal Inertia. Once announced as a PlayStation 3 exclusive launch title by Koei, the Unreal Engine 3-powered racer eventually went multi-platform and released on Xbox 360 first, while the company struggled to get the PS3 version up to speed. The recent completion of Unreal Tournament III on PS3 means studios should have an easier time developing on Sony's hardware with Epic Games' engine, but that doesn't help the dozens and dozens of companies who have been attempting to make it work now.

Koei recently issues an updated release schedule to the media, with Fatal Inertia conspicuously absent from the list. When asked, the publisher said there was no formal release date for the futuristic racer, but they expected the PS3 version to arrive sometime in Spring 2008. There's no word on if the PS3 version will include additional content, but given the delays have been technical issues, we wouldn't rule it out.

You can get a taste of the game right now, however, by logging into Xbox Live and downloading the demo."1UP...

OK folks, I'm not being a party poop here. I just want everyone to realize that Fatal Inertia for the XBOX 360 was all most DOA. The game is just really in need of some major tweaking and maybe even some control changes. The longer the developers have with the game, the better. I hope the game comes out next summer completely overhauled and 180 degrees better.

Check out this HDCGAMER Podcast for Thanksgiving! Episode 5!

Head over and listen to our Turkey Day podcast. The podcast has a review of Super Mario Galaxy and some news stuff. Look for Newsstand feature next week as I didn't get all the magazines in time for this podcast. This one is short and sweet so enjoy.

Rock Band DLC first Wave Revealed!

Head over to XBOX 360 Fanboy for the article. The question here is why are there so many multi-packs when supposedly the game was supposed to be like Itunes and you could pick and choose the songs you want. Also isn't this whole prepackaged thing the whole problem with Guitar Hero that everyone has been complaining about?

Sony's got an Ad Campaign that might help Business. Or not!

Article on PS3 campaign is basically about them bringing back the cool white room campaign. But they are trying to turn it into something mass market and that is scary. Not the good kind of scary that they had going last year, a bad kind of scary. Like clowns and large annoying teachers who want you to write three papers in one week scary.
They are going to be highlighting their system selling games: Uncharted Drake's Fortune, Heavenly Sword, Ratchet and Clank Future Tools of Destruction. These are more or less ALL their games coming out this fall other than Haze and all their multiplatform games. Which, of course, they can't count on any of these coming out except for the ones listed above. So that is probably why they are focusing on them.

Gran Turismo 5: Flirting with Online?

Amazing how just when everything seemed perfect with Gran Turismo everything begins looking odd.

"We wanted to keep those experiments to a rather smaller compact designed game and be able to experiment on a base that is small rather than having a humongous base to start with and for us to be for the first time bringing the online elements to the franchise with the scale of a huge mothership so to say."PS3fanboy...

What the heck is wrong with these guys? The way you deal with this type of thing is to study other games and you see how they do it. But Polyphonic doesn't do that. While I assumed this meant that they more or less knew what they were doing. But as it turns out...
From the demo on PSN, I really wasn't impressed with the graphics or the handling of the cars. If Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is an experiment, then why are we paying for it?
I'm sure the final product, Gran Turismo 5. Will be great, they all ways manage to be. But why are we paying for what amounts to an extended demo?

Playstation Blog Updates us with Warhawk 1.1 patch info!

Click here folks for the full run down. All of this is great and this really does show that developers are really committed to their online properties on the PSN. I'm hoping that this trend continues because the next big game coming to PSN is Unreal Tournament 3 and developer participation there will be a requirement.

Sony's Rat Race: Trailer!

Unreal Tournament 3 to out Halo 3, Halo 3!

The demo for Unreal Tournament 3 for the PC just went up today. I downloaded it on the slow and crazy Fileplanet severs and was playing around the time that the demo went active at 3 PM EST. I was probably playing by 3:30. I have an old PC, not in the biblical sense but in the technological sense. It is a single core 2.4 Ghz machine with 512 MB of RAM and a ATI card with 128 MB. I looked it up once a few weeks ago and the PC is worth around $300. The demo runs so smoothly and so quickly that all the reservations I had about buying this game are gone! When I get a new PC I can turn everything up and really enjoy the graphics. But all of the effects are on and a lot of the textures are on. The game runs SO FAST it's like I'm playing the Unreal Tournament 2 on this machine. I just pre-ordered the collector's edition so I can make maps for the PS3 game that is coming out early next year. If this game looks as good as it does on a high end PC and runs as fast as it does on my PC on the PS3. This will be my Game of the Year for 2008 for the PS3. I don't care what else comes out, nothing is going to trump this title.
I was so happy with the gameplay and the speed of the title that really nothing else mattered. The game looks good on my PC but nothing extraordinary. But what is extraordinary is how seamless it runs. There is no slowdown, no screen tearing, it all most runs better than Resistance on the PS3. It is amazing! I forgot how awesome the Unreal Engine 3 is. A game that can scale as much as this does, should be put in some kind of Hall of Fame. I had a tremendous time playing this game. I played both maps offered in my favorite single player Deathmatch. The weapons are awesome and have been tweaked to make them all work and make them all fun.
This will be the first game I've ever bought on the PC and the console. It will be the best $120.00 I've ever spent! If Epic and Midway need more time to get the PS3 version right; I say give them all the time they need. It will be worth it.
Oh yes, I was going to talk about Halo 3 wasn't I? Halo 3 is a great game. I believe I gave it an 8.5/10. The graphics are great and the multiplayer gameplay is one of the best ever. But if Unreal Tournament 3 came out on the PS3 this holiday season with the proper hype it would beat the living stuffing out of Halo 3. Fortunately for Microsoft and Bungie they have been given a reprieve. If there was a game that would be system seller for the PS3, this is the game to do it.
I've seen plenty of footage from the game's modes and the extensive multiplayer that absolutely nothing Halo 3 can offer to compete with it. There is a tool set that comes with Unreal Tournament 3 that will allow the player to create everything from new maps to new GAMES ALL TOGETHER! All of this certainly pales in comparison to the features that Halo 3 has. If the reviewers thought that Halo 3 was a great value. they haven't seen anything yet. The biggest question is what features will the XBOX 360 version of Unreal Tournament 3 have? Will it be stripped out version because of the closed network that is XBOX LIVE?
Just as I thought, though the game is probably doomed because Epic and Midway don't usually sink the money necessary to hype a game the way that Microsoft did. Obviously Sony isn't helping them very much either. This should be the flagship title for the PS3 and Sony doesn't seem to worried about the fact that it isn't coming out this holiday season. They have Haze after all... I'm sure Haze will do about as well as Blacksite Area 51. OK, but nothing special.
Unreal Tournament 3 should be bigger than Killzone 2. But the hype just hasn't been there. If Midway would put some money behind this title and get some commercials and maybe a hardcore gaming tournament, featuring Unreal Tournament 3 it might really help sales. Instead of assuming everyone knows how great UT3 is, maybe Midway, Sony, and Epic need to be sure people can't miss it.
Halo might be big, but Unreal was big before the XBOX even existed. With it's latest installment it could be the BIGGEST of all. XBOX 360 is the shooter platorm, Midway needs to push this game on to the 360 as soon as they can after the PS3. With the higher install base and the interests of that install base it is necessary. Whatever they need to do to fix everything so that games can be uploaded on to the 360 needs to be done. Whatever network sharing, hyperthreading, whatever needs to be done. It will be good practice for when new content comes out for the Orange Box later next year.
Microsoft needs to get a grip on this whole closed network thing and figure out how they can have a secure environment and a place for players and developers to share software and information. You know. the way they did with EA.
Until then, Halo 3 might be KING but the REVOLUTION IS COMING!

PSN Update NA edition!

• Everyday Shooter full game ($9.99)
• Ratchet and Clank demo (free)
• Conan demo (free)
• NHL 2K8 demo (free)
• Uncharted behind the scenes video (free)
• Folklore trailer (free)
  
• Fallout 3 trailer (free)
• Ratchet and Clank wallpaper (free)
• Everyday Shooter wallpaper (free)
• The Assassination of Jesse James movie trailer (free)
• Spiderwick Chronicles movie trailer (free)
• Walk Hard movie trailer (free)

Now that's what I call an update! I think Sony is finally figuring out that people want to download lots of content rather than just using their internet connection to play Resistance and Warhawk. Now if they could just get these PSN updates to be a little more regular. You know, like everyday or every other day. What is the big deal about Thrusday night anyway?

More Sony News than you can shake a SIXAXIS AT!

It was just announced that Sony is coming out with a 40 GB PS3 SKU for Europe on October 10th and the US on Nov. 2(the US date is only rumored). The
40GB PS3 Story comes from PS3Fanboy. This comes after the 80GB SKU with Motorstorm was released back in August which only complicated the 60GB launch model. There was even a 20GB model back when the system launched. The main difference between all of these models is obviously the hard drive size but features or lack there of are also a part of this deal. With the newest SKU, Sony is dropping support for backwards compatibility. This feature was sp essential to the system's success that many game journalists said before the system was confirmed that the lack of backwards compatibility would be a ridiculous move and the rumor of such had to be a complete fabrication. But in a story from Slashdot among others on October 5th confirmed the fact that the 40GB PS3 would have no backwards compatibility. this fact was explained by the lack of the semi conductors necessary to achieve the PS2 backwards compatibility.
When asked about the prices and the reaction of the early adopters Ray Mcguire told PS3Fanboy,

"As products evolve the offerings change because they have to adapt to the needs of the consumers but I don't think it's been particularly confusing in six months to go from stand alone, to a bundled proposition into a low price entry level model ... We also have to remember that consumers don't search around the world for different configurations. We are a global company but we have to act locally as well."G.I. Biz....

The real answer is, if we knew that charging that much for the system would be such a financial disaster we wouldn't have done it in the first place. But the systems are so different and so divergent that it seems like an identity crisis and a financial disaster rather than an evolving product line. They are certainly following the disastrous XBOX 360 model where they come out with a new system every couple of months. At least they are mostly making additions and no gross subtractions like the PS3 is doing.
Sony just posted that they need advertising folks working for them to keep Home free. This was expected considering it's a free online service. What is more interesting is the fact that the service hasn't launched yet and this content ravenous service better not be populated solely by advertising rather than real content about and for games.
With the Sony's focus on advertising and hardware it appears that Sony is in good shape with everything except where they really need help, SOFTWARE!

Sony's 40GB Hardware SKU, a different take!

Sony has confirmed their 40GB harddrive model for only 399 Euros. Read all about it here.
All of this stuff has made a lot of waves in the news lately and it seems like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are still trying to perpetuate their launch year excitement by continuously announcing new SKUs and special editions of old SKUs with minor tweaks. The real problem with Sony especially doing this; is that it seems as though they STILL haven't figured out why their console isn't selling. The fact that the PSP was selling at $249 and it had practically nothing good running on it was testament to the fact that as long as a system has a descent number of games; people will buy it.
Oh yeah, I said it, "A DESCENT NUMBER OF GAMES!" I didn't say good games did I? No, I didn't. Sony needs to stop worrying about hardware on the retail side and send all their hardware monkeys out to developers to ensure that their third and first party developers make their release dates and use the full power of the system.
If that isn't enough to keep them busy, perhaps pushing HOME through it's paces and getting all the promised content from two years ago going on the service. Better still perhaps making the Playstation Network Store a descent place, rather than something that looks like it was designed and put up on the same day.
Doing all these expensive refits for new SKUs only confuses potential consumers and generally makes people who were early adopters angry. I know there are only about 1,000(joking) of them so maybe Sony doesn't care too much but...
With all the Halo news and hype lately; Sony would do well to get going on it's own marketing campaign for whatever it thinks will be out this holiday season. Since so many big titles are getting pushed back; they should probably start hyping Folklore and Ratchet and Clank: Future Tools of Destruction. Not on late night cable, but on primetime. Like during Chuck, Heroes, or CSI?
Sony doesn't need new hardware, what they need is some new software!

MGS 4 Online Full Match Part 3

MGS 4 Online Full Match Part 2

MGS 4 Online Full Match Part1