via Games Industry


Former Xbox boss and current EA Sports president Peter Moore took a swipe at an old sparring partner this week, expressing dismay at the ongoing delay of Sony's Home service for the PlayStation 3.

The EA Sports president's comments came less than 24 hours after Sony Computer Entertainment boss Kaz Hirai apologised for the latest delay to Sony's ambitious online social networking project.

Our sister site Eurogamer.net asked Moore whether he was interested in working with Home now that he was no longer a direct rival.


Home will allow PS3 users to create their own virtual avatar and living space, encouraging interaction with Sony's online community. It is now scheduled for an autumn release.

"We've been testing Home for some time and I simply feel that as great as Home currently is, it needs a little bit more time before it's ready for the wider public - something we firmly believe we can provide in the autumn," Hirai said as he explained the delay at an event in London earlier this week. ...

via Eurogamer


SCEE boss David Reeves has said there is not enough incentive for developers to work on multiple language translations during development - explaining that's why us Europeans get games after the US.

Reeves told Eurogamer he would "love to go day and date with some titles" in the two continents, but said that was only really feasible in the UK. And he thinks you might call him bias if he did that.

"Well some developers would say they can do [translations during initial development]. Talk to Ted Price at Insomniac and he builds it in at the beginning. We're trying to educate all our developers to do that but it's something that's going to take a while," Reeves told Eurogamer.

"But even if you talk to Guerrilla, Namco, Square Enix, they all do it in English to begin with and then think about localisation later. You're absolutely right, we should do it at the beginning. But they look at it like, 'How much can I get for a Dutch version of the game?'

"With PlayStation Store we could probably go in the UK almost day and date. But then what are the Germans and the French going to say to me? That I'm Anglo-centric," added Reeves.

Yes and they may use other words, too. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Rockstar has released a patch that plugs the crash-causing holes in the PS3 version of GTA IV, and has issued a statement to "apologise for the inconvenience".

The patch, now available to download directly from the internet (your PS3 will need to be connected, obviously) fixes issues related to Gamespy's servers.

According to Rockstar, it "prevents Gamespy's servers from being overloaded and therefore reduces the impact on those servers that were causing the game to stutter and lock up."

So, as well as stopping the freezing, you should also actually be able to get a game online.

Rockstar says it'll be keeping a close eye on things from here. "We continue to monitor the performance of the game both on and offline and will provide further updates as necessary," it told CVG.

"We want to assure everyone that, together with our hardware partners, we continue to strive to give our fans the best possible interactive entertainment experiences possible. This update will ensure that everyone will experience Grand Theft Auto IV the way it was intended.

"We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused."

We forgive you. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Majesco, infamous casual publisher of the Cooking Mama series, is set to bring the DS series Zoo Hospital to Wii later this year.

Players take control over a recent Veterinary College graduate who must help his Aunt Lucy heal a zoo full of sick animals and save the decaying hospital from being bulldozed down.

Just a thought here - if all the animals are sick and the place is falling apart, maybe ripping it down isn't such a bad idea?

Zoo Hospital allows players to use the Wii Remote to conduct surgical procedures to eliminate parasitic pests, perform dentistry, X-ray organs and remove foreign bodies like gallstones.

Apparently, there's 48 animals struck down with illnesses. Forget about sending in a vet, we say. That shit is worse that foot and mouth. Get the goddamn army in there.

The game features a multi-player mode and continuing play will unlock new animals, medical mini-games and enclosures. It's scheduled for release before Christmas.


Screenshots ...

via Computer and Video Games


With The Guardian's sudden acceptance of video games, we thought we could soon be out of a job. Thank god for The Daily Mail, which continues to publish biased games editorials.

In an article entitled "Ninten-Don't... How I watched my children turn into monsters the minute I bought them a computer game," columnist Rosie Millard documents her "selfish desire to be Mother of the Year" by buying a DS for her four kids to share. One each would have been a good start.

After importing it straight in from Hong-Kong and "crammed with a 'bundle' of 20 games including Brain Trainer, Fifa 08, and Nintendogs" (*cough* flashcart * cough), she found that leaving four children unsupervised led to arguments about who would use it next.

"It was eight in the morning," she writes. "No one had eaten breakfast. The curtains had not been opened. The beds had not been made. The dog had not been walked. Our habitual regime of a ten-minute morning music practice had been abandoned."

Never mind the problems with the DS; call the NSPCC. That's not a happy home - it sounds more like a workhouse.

"Gabriel", she adds, "became obsessed with playing the football game Fifa 08: over meals, on the loo, in bed at midnight." Whilst we realise that anyone whose parents had named them Gabriel would resort to escapism, we can't help but wonder how the little angel was able to do all this. Surely Millard realised that she might need to use some control over when the DS could be played?

Apparently not. According to her, it's all Nintendo's fault. "Our Nintendo had taken the guise of a small but toxic drug which, little by little, was poisoning my children."

The story does have a happy ending, though. At least for Millard. "At the same time that all the children started crying and yelling before breakfast, I spotted Phoebe's cello and I realised that she had not got it out of its case all week."

Shock-horror! A child has enjoyed something not imposed upon them? Call the police!

"Yet she had notched up probably around eight hours on the Nintendo. There and then, I made my mind up. The Nintendo had to go." ...

via Games Industry


Sony has told GamesIndustry.biz that it expects forthcoming title LittleBigPlanet to achieve higher sales figures than Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Edition.

GT 5 Prologue was released last March at retail and online and became the fastest-selling PlayStation 3 game, while also boosting sales of PS3 hardware by 14 per cent.

"We're hoping sales will be higher than GT5 Prologue," revealed David Reeves, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

Analysts are backing the game as a system seller, suggesting it will manage to appeal to a family audience not currently catered for by either Nintendo or Microsoft.

The game, developed by Media Molecule, is due for release this October. The platformer will allow users to create their own levels and share them online with other PS3 users.

LittleBigPlanet was first announced at GDC 2007 and remains one of Sony's key titles. It has taken centre stage at multiple press events, and is being used to push Sony's PS3 online message along with social community Home and party favourite SingStar.

"These are genre-defining titles, something we're very proud of, and just one facet of the rapidly growing world of PlayStation," said Kaz Hirai, president of SCEA, during Sony's PlayStation Day in London yesterday.

"[LittleBigPlanet] will completely revolutionise the way gamers interact with their games, especially through the community functions and the ability to interact with LittleBigPlanet lovers around the globe," he added. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Nintendo has released its Nintendo Channel in America this morning, a special Wii service that brings a number of game demos, trailers and a game database system that sounds quite sweet.

According to posters on NeoGaf, DS demos can be downloaded to the console directly, while trailers and developer interviews are streamed directly to consoles.

More interestingly is the 'Find Titles for You' section. It's essentially a front end to a database containing information about every game available on all Nintendo consoles, but users can add their own thoughts to the data pile.

That means for every game you've played for more than an hour, you can rate it via a questionnaire and submit the information to get your opinion counted.

Not only does this info show up when people search for the game using the channel's search feature, but it records your preferences and will recommend titles based on your feedback.

Virtual Console and Wii Software titles can also be downloaded directly when searched for, so you no longer have to trawl through the cumbersome and slow shopping channel to find the game you want to buy.

It sounds promising. European Wii owners will have to wait until May 30 to find out if it's as good as it appears to be. ...

via Joystiq


It's been a long time coming, but Ubisoft's Free Radical-developed shooter, Haze, has finally been given the demo treatment, with the publisher sending word that a single and multiplayer-flavored demo is now available over PSN in Europe and that the same hors d'oeuvre will make the rounds in the U.S. starting May 8.

As if offering apology for Haze's numerous delays, the demo will include both a sampling of the game's single player campaign called "Salva Region," as well as "drop-in drop-out" co-op multiplayer for up to four players online or over a LAN, or with two players via split-screen. We're sure that there is some "coming out of the haze" joke to be made here, but honestly, after months of waiting we're simply all joked out. ...

via Games Industry


Speaking at the PlayStation Day yesterday, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Kaz Hirai apologised for teething problems during the first year of the PlayStation 3 and the disappointment of delaying social networking application Home.

He acknowledged that the the software line-up was underwhelming for some consumers, and that competitors enjoyed a more successful year during the first 12 months of release for the company's luxury console.

"It's fair to say that the first year of PlayStation 3 was somewhat a difficult one," offered Hirai. "There were some teething problems, success from our competitors, and our customers were a little underwhelmed by the range of titles that were available."

"This was something that we were very much aware of, and something that we were confident we could over come," he said.

Last month Sony made the decision to delay Home, the PS3 social networking and online gaming space, but Hirai reiterated that it would not be released until he was personally happy with it.

"I realise this announcement was disappointing to many people, from TGS where we were aiming for a spring launch, so please accept my apologies for this delay.

"But as I said at Tokyo Game Show, I would not open up Home until I was completely happy with it, and I still stand by that statement.

"We've been testing Home for some time and I simply feel that as great as Home currently is, it needs a little bit more time before it's ready for the wider public - something we firmly believe we can provide in the autumn," he added.

Earlier at the PlayStation event, David Reeves, president of SCEE revealed the PlayStation 3 has now sold more units in Europe than the Xbox 360, and Hirai noted that 2008 has been a good year for the company so far, even with only two key titles – GT5 Prologue and Grand Theft Auto IV – on release.

"Things have improved since the Christmas season and 2008 has gotten off to a fantastic start. What fills me with even greater pleasure is that our year so far has only seen the launch of two of our key titles," he commented.

Some of the titles on display during the London event included Home, Little Big Planet and Motorstorm Pacific Rift. ...