via Games Industry



Microsoft has reignited its war of words with arch rival Sony following the launch of PlayStation 3 in Europe, with UK boss Neil Thompson attacking the system’s price tag and Blu-ray functionality.

Speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz, Thompson dismissed suggestions that the PlayStation 3's in-built Blu-ray drive gives the machine a tactical advantage over Xbox 360.

"Do I want to make people pay £200 extra for a machine with discs that have storage space I don’t need? My answer's no, I don't need to do that today," Thompson said. "And I don't think I'm going to need to do that for quite a while."

Thompson argued that the flexibility of 360, which allows users to upgrade their experiences over time, will be key to the console's success. "I’m not sure the market has moved to high definition [movies] yet," he said.

"And if and when it does, then the way that we’ve constructed the offering we’ve made means we’ll be able to go whichever way we want."

The inclusion of a Blu-ray drive in every PlayStation 3 unit has been cited as one of the reasons for the system's hefty GBP425 price tag. The premium Xbox 360 unit carries a lower RRP of GBP 279.99, but does not allow users to play next-gen DVD movies out of the box. A separate HD-DVD drive must be purchased at a cost of GBP 129.99.

Sony executives have been at pains to argue that the additional storage Blu-ray offers is also essential for games, as it means developers are freed from memory restrictions they may encounter on other platforms.

But according to Thompson, Microsoft’s "nimble" hardware could adapt to anything the Sony console has in its arsenal. He cited the 360's latent ability to output in native 1080p - a feature previously only available on PS3.

"I’d be really surprised if technologically, and we’re a software company, we couldn’t get to a situation where we can deliver whatever content we need to," he offered - adding that improved compression techniques and the ability to deliver content via Xbox Live would negate any disc storage issues in the future.

"This is about the architecture of the hardware. With the PS3 you’ve got a big, heavy truck that requires a big, heavy engine.

With Xbox you’ve got a much more nimble box that uses software in the architecture of the box in a much more nimble way."
Thompson concluded, "That’s the difference between us and PlayStation - we didn’t have a need to develop a really complicated engine to get Blu-ray players into the market. We wanted to deliver HD gaming. Judge us on what we’ve done."


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via Games Industry


High street retailer HMV has described Sony's decision to offer free Bravia televisions to the first PS3 buyers as "unnecessary", warning that it could be seen as a last-minute bid for positive PR.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz a spokesperson for the high street retailer said, "The stunt of giving away over £200,000 worth HDTVs, though great for the fans that managed to get one, struck me as being slightly unnecessary in the greater scheme of things - especially as it may have encouraged some of the more cynical media to think of it as a last-minute attempt to bolster queues and PR coverage."

The official UK launch event for PlayStation 3 took place at the Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street last Thursday night. With just 20 minutes to go before the console went on sale, Sony UK boss Ray Maguire announced that the first 125 people in the queue would each be receiving a 46" high-definition television worth around GBP 2000.

"If Sony had that kind of money to spend I'm surprised they didn't just invest it in a truly memorable and fantastic launch event, full of theatre and special effects, like the one we saw for Nintendo Wii - which to my mind remains the benchmark for such launches," the spokesperson continued.

Sources told GamesIndustry.biz that HMV was originally lined up to host the PS3 launch event, just as it held midnight openings for the PSP and Wii. However, Virgin Megastores was eventually chosen as Sony's official retail partner.

HMV Oxford Street opted to host a special 'breakfast launch' at 7.30am on Friday, offering free copies of Virtua Tennis 3 to the first 150 customers buying a PS3 console, while other branches around the country did open at midnight.

"We've been very happy with the overall launch so far and with the response to our midnight and breakfast openings, including our Sega promotion," said the spokesperson.

Demand for the PS3 had been building steadily over the past few weeks, but it's really taken off these last few days as the media have become more interested."

zHowever, queues for the late night and early morning PS3 launches were much smaller than those seen for Xbox 360 and Wii - with many retailers, including HMV, attributing this to healthy stock supplies and the time of year.

"Obviously there's been relatively strong supply of the console compared to other platform launches, which enjoyed a major advantage coming out just before Christmas to become 'must have' gift items. So we're in the nice position of actually having some units for customers to buy off-the-shelf for a change rather than having to apologise for being out of stock."

According to the spokesperson, HMV is expecting to sell through its remaining PlayStation 3 stock "quite quickly, if this level of interest continues".

"Sony have a great track record in achieving huge household penetration over the course of a campaign, and there's every prospect we'll see the same for PS3," he added.

"Sales of the console can only grow - especially as more titles are released."


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via Games Industry


The latest stats for the Folding@home project reveal that more than 30,000 PlayStation 3 owners have now signed up to take part in the project.

The project, which kicked off earlier this month, is being conducted by Stanford University and uses the power of the PS3's Cell chip to calculate data. By utilising the Cells of thousands of consoles world wide, researchers hope to find out more about the causes of diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis and cancer.

According to the latest statistics, nearly 40,000 PS3 CPUs are linked with the project - and more than 30,000 have been actively performing calculations in the last 50 days.

That figure stood at just under 15,000 on Friday, and has likely been boosted by new sales of PlayStation 3 following the console's European launch.

To sign up for Folding@home, which runs while PS3 consoles are idle, users must select the relevant icon in the Xross Media Bar.


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via PS3 Fanboy


We're going write about this because it's really quite humorous. In a post we slapped up a few days ago, we mentioned how activists are trying to enlist the help of U2 frontman Bono to pull Mercenaries 2 from shelves. Someone in the comments sections said something like this:

"RatBoy: Ohhh, ohhh, I got an Idea... Why don't we boycott GRAW 2 because it's set in Mexico. I know that after playing it I develop an intense urge to write my congressperson and ask them to break sanction millitary action in Mexico City."

Well, you've got a gift, my friend. The governer of Mexican state Chihuahua (we wonder if it's very small and frail, shakes a lot?) has ordered the seizure of all copies of GRAW2. The mayor calls the game "a crime against the intellectual capacity of Juarez residents" and offered a similar condemnation of video games as a whole: "Violent video games instill values which are upside down, and these actions are despicable because they attempt to divide the good will of the residents of American and Mexican cities."

Hmm, well RatBoy, do you think England is going to boycott the alternate timeline in Resistance next? You seem to be on top of these things! ...

via PS3 Fanboy


Well, this can really apply to all of us, but Sony isn't the best at getting everyone the same content at the same time. So we're just going to list what's coming for Europe and assume that it's either already here in North America and/or Japan, or it's on its way. Let's go!


- Demos for: Resistance: Fall of Man, MotorStorm, Ridge Racer 7, Genji: Days of the Blade, Formula One Championship Edition, Lemmings and Blast Factor
- Added content for: Ridge Racer 7, Genji: Days of the Blade
- More content soon for: Resistance: Fall of Man, Motorstorm

There's supposed to be a lot of extra crap coming out for Ridge Racer 7, actually. There are supposed to be over 25 race events added as well as a plethora of decal sets (tailored to specific games like Pac-Man or Katamari Damacy). Along with this extra content is the lack of mention of prices. We're going to say that demos are free, but the extra stuff shouldn't extend beyond anything reasonable. ...

via Kotaku




1999: Midway releases Micro Machines 64 Turbo for N64 in the US. I wanted to do a whole fast talking John Moschitta Jr. shtick here, but I alas, the print medium is failing me. Please pretend that every word written on Kotaku for the remainder of the day should be read at breakneck speed, without pausing for breaths.

2000: Castlevania Resurrection for Dreamcast is officially cancelled. While the Dreamcast was not fairing well, some speculated that the game was headed in the wrong direction. Apparently it just wasn't 2d Castlevania sidescroller enough. ...

via Xbox 360 Fanboy


Bungie has posted an article explaining all the detailed planning that went into the production of the $130 Legendary edition of Halo 3. Planning for the Legendary edition has been underway since June of 2005, when discussions were first held concerning what sort of molding method to use to form the helmet. In the end Microsoft chose injection molding and gave the project to one of its largest keyboard manufacturers in China. That's right, your fancy schmancy helmet is coming from a keyboard factory. According to the article, once peak capacity is reached at the factory, a new helmet will be produced every 12 seconds! Most of the article centers on the planning of the Legendary edition, but there are several photos of the manufacturing process sprinkled throughout as well.


More information here. Leave feedback via comments. ...

via Xbox 360 Fanboy




A recent retail rumor roundup on GameSpot sees a listing for Square Enix's Project Sylpheed on GameStop. While that in itself isn't terribly shocking, the publisher and developer listed is intriguing. According to the GameStop listing, Microsoft Game Studios is the publisher and developer of the US version of Project Sylpheed (although the GameStop listing spells the title Silpheed). The game is listed for a July release with a bargain price of $39.99. Granted, product listings should never be taken as fact, but it would be significant if Microsoft reached a publishing deal with Square-Enix, especially in light of recent events.

Could Square really be cozying up to Microsoft? ...

via Xbox 360 Fanboy




We've said it before, but we love the concept of Overlord. As its name implies, you play the Overlord, controlling your minions in order to wreak havoc and create general mayhem. We don't know much more than that honestly, but what more do you need? The graphics are clean and remind us more than a little bit of Fable's somewhat campy style (with a hint of The Horde thrown in for good measure). The minions we've seen so far remind us of Gremlins, snickering and generally causing a ruckus.

Haven't you ever wanted to loose your minion army onto some unsuspecting schlub's pumpkin patch? Hells yes, we say! Head over to Xboxygen for some fresh screens. You can find out more about the game at the official website.


The video can be seen here. Leave feedback via comments. ...