Are you still playing DJ Hero? No? Well a third music downloadable pack is about to both Xbox Live and PSN, so maybe you’ll dust off your plastic turntable. The pack will feature three mashups of six different songs by both Jay-Z and Eminem, which are:
“Shake That” by Eminem mixed with “Show Me What You Got” by Jay-Z
“Without Me” by Eminem mixed with “Encore” by Jay-Z
“Can I Get A…” by Jay-Z mixed with “Lose Yourself” by Eminem
If you care to buy them, the price for all three mashups will be 640 Microsoft Points or $7.99 on PSN. They will be available on March 25th.
Sony has whipped out a new TV spot with “Sony’s” Kevin Butler, which advertises God of War III. It’s pretty much a fair warning to all the girlfriends/boyfriends’ of the world, whose significant other is about to play the third installment, in just a few days.
Also while you watch, check out the names and titles of both people in the video — it might make you chuckle.
Even though Harmonix is well underway developing Green Day: Rock Band, the studio has just announced that they are also hard at work creating Rock Band 3, which should be released THIS holiday season. The news was just revealed on the official Facebook fan-page for Rock Band.
According to the simple status update on the social networking site, we should expect something new and fresh:
“Harmonix is developing Rock Band 3 for worldwide release this holiday season! The game, which will be published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts, will innovate and revolutionise the music genre once again, just as Harmonix did with the original Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band. Stay tuned for more details!”
I really hope Harmonix has something exciting up their sleeve because if they don’t, I think many gamers will be hesitant on buying the next installment of the famed music series. The music genre as a whole is really starting to take it’s course because the market was flooded with rhythm games. Sadly, I wouldn’t even blame Harmonix for the amount of titles in stores that require gamers to press colored buttons on plastic instruments. A lot of it has to do with Activision and milking their Guitar Hero franchise.
Since the first Rock Band was released in 2007, we have seen a total of three games on the home consoles with the name. However, in the same span Activision has shipped a total of NINE games under the “Hero” name.
Hopefully Activision hasn’t ruined the fun for both EA Harmonix, but again it really is up to them on bringing something new to the table. And then in a year, their competitor can steal the idea.
According to a source over at VG247, Sony is set to hand out a press release regarding their anticipated motion controller tomorrow. Heavily rumored to be called Arc, the unit is expected to be ship with two separate components, much like how the Wiimote has the Nunchuck attachment; however, nothing has been considered solid evidence to prove this.
When the peripheral was first announced last June during E3, it was shown off as one unit. But now it seems as though Sony took the Nintendo route and believing it’s a necessity to have two units in order to play most games. Hopefully if all goes to plan, we should know everything about the peripheral this Tuesday night, around 5PM Pacific Time.
After the jump, check out my thoughts about the peripheral. (more…)
UPDATE: Many users on various forums are reporting the “bug” has fixed itself; however we recommend that you wait until Sony gives the ‘okay’ to turn on the system.
Right now, Sony is warning PlayStation 3 owners worldwide not to turn on their system because of a serious bug that is paralyzing the popular console. According to numerous gamers from around the web, when they decided to turn on their console earlier, an error message appeared numbered ‘8001050F‘, which would disbar owners from playing a game offline, online and even crippling trophy support.
From what it sounds like, the bug’s roots started with the PlayStation 3’s internal clocks. The PS3 has two separate clocks — a system clock and a OS clock. The system clock is always running, even if the system is shut off, thanks to an internal battery. Once the PS3 boots up, the system clock communicates with the OS clock, to tell what the day and time is. However, where the problem lies.
For some reason, the system clock was programed to think there is a February 29th, 2010; however, the OS clock was never programed that way, and once the system clock tells the OS clock that it’s 2/29, it flips out and reverses itself to 1999. And in the end bricks a bunch-of-systems.
Not all of the systems have been affected, and in fact, it seems as though the PS3 Slim line if safe, said Sony in a statement:
“We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system…We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.”
Before the statement was released, it sounded like someone at Sony might have originally thought the error stemmed from the PlayStation Network and not actually a glitch inside the system. We talked to a Gamestop Manager who did receive an email from his corporate office early in the morning today, regarding the “bug.” According to him, the retail company received an explanation from the hardware manufacture, addressing what they felt at the time was a PlayStation Network-only problem and not from the system itself.
“We are aware that many customers are experiencing issues when attempting to connect to the PSN. Customers with the slim PlayStation 3s appears to be unaffected. PSN engineers are currently working to resolve the issue, and apologize for any inconvenience this causes your customers. Please reiterate to your customers that this is NOT a hardware issue, it is an issue with the PSN.”
It doesn’t seem like every ‘fat’ PS3 model has been infected with the ‘clock-bug,’ and it looks more like a first-generation problem. If you tally up the people reporting the issue and which system they have, you can narrow it down to which serial numbers have been crashing. So far it looks like CECHA01, CECHE01, CECHG01, CECHH01, CECHK01, CECHL01 and CECHP01, have been coming up with this new dreaded error message. However, if you own a fat PS3 and and a serial isn’t listed, I still recommend you DO NOT turn on the system and test it to see if it works.
God of War III won’t require a HDD install, like a lot of other games published by Sony. The news comes straight from Christer Ericson who is the head of technology at Sony’s Santa Monica Studios, the developers behind the anticipated third installment. Mr Ericson tweeted the confirmation a little while ago:
“God of War 3 does NOT do a HD install. The 5MB listed on box back is for save game only.”
This news comes after the revealing that the game will fill over 35GB of data on one single Blu-Ray disc. I’m actually happy that the team figured out a way of fitting the full game on one single disc. Between owning a bunch of titles for the PlayStation 3 and having a first generation system, I only have limited space on my hard-drive, and each blockbuster game that is released, I see less and less room available for extra goodies like Demos and movies.
So, kudos to Santa Monica Studios for working diligently on making the game work on just the disc, without the need of an install.
Summer is universally known as a slow time for gamers. Most of the anticipated titles skip the warm season and generally come out when the weather gets colder, just in time for the holidays. However this year, Electronic Arts has decided to change up the theory “when games should be released.”
Barring no major setbacks or delays, EA is set to release both the reboot of the Medal of Honor game, which is set in modern times and Realtime World’s ambitious title APB (All Points Bulletin) will be released this summer. The publisher expects to release both games between July through September; however no exact date was announced.
The company also announced vague dates for a couple other important games as well. From October to December, Crysis 2, Criterion’s (Burnout) first take on Need for Speed and EA’s MMA game will all be launched. Following December and ending in March, Dead Space 2, a sequel to Dragon Age, an unnamed Epic Games shooter, along with a unannounced action title, are all scheduled to ship.
It has been three years since we last saw a Ghost Recon title. However, that’s about to change thanks to a Ubisoft announcement. The publisher has confirmed that their studio Ubisoft Paris, the same team who developed the Advanced Warfare series, is underway working on Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
The company is promising the title will include “cutting-edge technology, prototype high-tech weaponry, and state-of-the-art single-player and multiplayer modes,” which isn’t hard to believe since pretty much every Ghost Recon has been considered a “Grade A” series.” And honestly, it was the Modern Warfare before Modern Warfare and not only that, the older Recon’s are STILL some of the most realistic shooters of-all-time.
The game sounds like it will launch sometime this holiday season; however, if you own an Xbox 360 you’ll get a chance to experience a tease beforehand. Included with Splinter Cell: Conviction will be a Ghost Recon: Future Soldier beta key. Exactly what that will entail is unknown, but we’re pretty sure multiplayer will be the focus.
Yikes! Sony as just announced that the anticipated, yet super innovative title Heavy Rain, is going to require a 4.2GB install, when the game is first put inside PlayStation 3s. That obviously means gamers who purchase the game will have to wait an extensive amount of time before they even can experience the universe that Quantic Dream has developed.
Unlike most games that require the dreaded install, the guys behind the game will try and keep gamers entertained for however long it will take. It has been confirmed once the install screen appears, players will be able to create a swanorigami. Sure, it’s nothing special and I’m sure most gamers would rather play the psychological-thriller right when they pop the game inside their PS3, it’s better then having to wait and watch a loading screen appear for what seems like an eternity.
Heavy Rain is shipping into stores on February 23rd and 24th in both North America and Europe, receptively. A demo is also expected to hit the PlayStation Network on February 11th.
Gregor Collienne is a photographer from Germany. However, he doesn’t take pictures that catches his eye, or tries to capture the perfect setting to inspire people. Instead, for the most part, he takes humorous snap shots of people doing an everyday activity and pairs them up with another group, who are doing something completely different. When you check out his work, you not only chuckle, but they make you think — it almost feels like an optical illusion.
Up top is one picture of his work. While it’s unlike a lot of his photos — it made me laugh nonetheless. I’m assuming the picture is asking all of us, what if we could control our girlfriends or all women for that matter, with a single PlayStation controller? Like, how awesome would that be? No more would we hear the excuse: “I have a headache.” Can some smart scientist make this happen? Please!
If you want to check out Collienne’s work, click here.
The creator of the original Resident Evil, Shinji Mikami, has been directing his next project titled Vanquish and last night the first trailer premiered on GameTrailers TV, which I have embedded up top. Apparently, Mikami has been working with the talented Japanese studio Platinum Games, who was the team behind the newly released Bayonetta game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Much like a lot of debut trailers, this one doesn’t show any gameplay; however it does something a tad different and doesn’t follow the exact same unwritten rule of a first trailer. The clip mixes CG, along with real human actors, and is getting some flap for doing it. Some people are quickly to comment that maybe Platinum Games doesn’t have enough faith in their own CG and have decided to use ‘real life characters,’ in hopes to disguise what they can’t do. This is just ridiculous to assume.
If anyone remembers the very first Resident Evil for the original PlayStation back in 1996, they should recollect a lot of the scenes used real-life actors. To me, it looks like Shinji Mikami is once again going back to his roots and doing something similar with actual actors, rather than CG in Vanquish — which is fine by me. However, that doesn’t excuse my hatred for a publisher, Sega in this case, releasing a debut trailer and not showing us gameplay whatsoever. I would rather them give us something rather than some fancy cut-scenes, so we would have more to talk about the next day.
Anyway, when you watch the trailer, America is being heavily attacked by either an alien race, terrorists, or another country. Unfortunately for us Americans, especially for the ones who live in San Francisco, it’s up to an albino Master Chief clone to save the richest country in the world. I say “unfortunately’ because most albinos have poor vision or are legally blind, which — in my opinion — doesn’t bold to well in a devastating war.
When Grand Theft Auto IV was announced a couple years ago, it was proceeded by the shocking news how the Xbox 360 version would get dibs on the downloadable content, which saw two different episodes in a span of a year. Today, Rockstar Games has just revealed that the same content, both called The Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, will be available for the PlayStation 3 starting March 30th. Each game will be sold separately for $19.99 on the PlayStation Network or gamers can buy a Blu-ray disc which includes both titles and can be purchased for $39.99.
PC owners can also get on the action and buy the two expansions for the same price, but also get some extra goodies. According to the company, not only can players use the exclusive “advanced video editor,” but also have multiplayer matches with 32-online players.
While it sounds cool, I’m not sure how great this is. Grand Theft Auto is a two-year old game, and if you head to your local GamStop and check out the used section, you find stacks of Grand Theft Auto IV games, meaning gamers didn’t keep the title. At the same time, you have to wonder if Microsoft paying $50 million to make sure Rockstar would make the content exclusive, was worth it. Apparently, it was just a time-exclusive deal, and as of now, I have a hard time believing enough Xbox 360s were moved to warrant the price paid.
BioWare has created some of the most sought-after games of this generation. FromMass Effect to Dragon Age, the studio has redefined RPGs for the home console. The company has been so successful that they announced last year that they are opening up a whole new studio in Montreal, Quebec, which means more original games will come out from the studio.
While having a live chat with Eurogamer earlier today, the CEO of BioWare Ray Muzyka confirmed with viewers that BioWare is developing titles for the PlayStation 3. When asked if some games, not necessarily for the PS3, will be unveiled at this year’s E3, he responded with the simple answer of “yes!”
Sadly, he didn’t reveal if we should expect completely new titles or sequels to already successful franchises. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see something about Mass Effect 3, even if it’s a tease. Muzyka has confirmed the third installment of the space RPG is already in the early development stages.
Santa Monica Studios’John Hight, has been making the Internet rounds, talking to various sites about the companies anticipated upcoming third installment of God of War. While speaking with MTV about how long the game will be in terms of length, he promised God of War III will be “considerably longer” than the previous entries. He even joked a ten-hour game wouldn’t be that long, when compared to the other two.
John Hight: “We’ve done a lot of play testing on it. We know, for a really hardcore player, it’ll take them longer than it took them to play either of the previous “God of War” games.”
MTV: “Longer than seven hours?”
Hight: “Oh yeah.”
MTV: “Considerably longer than seven hours?”
Hight: “I think so.”
MTV: “Is ten…um…longer? [This is me trying to be sneaky]”
Hight: “Ten is longer, but ten might not be considerably longer! [laughs] It’s more than 10 hours.”
While I would love to take his word for it, I’ve been burned so many times by developers promising a certain game would be “x-amount” of time to play through it; and later, only to find out it wasn’t anywhere near the estimation. However, I do have to admit, it’s exciting to read what he feels the length will be, but I’m trying so hard not to get my hopes up.
Eidos has announced that gamers who buy the PlayStation 3 version of Just Cause 2, will be able to record a 30-second clip from their own game and upload it onto Youtube. If you’re unsure why this could be a neat feature for the game, than chances are, you have no clue what the sequel to the 2006 sandbox game is about.
The story follows Rico Rodriguez, a CIA black ops agent, whose main purpose in the first game was to overthrow a evil dictator who controls a fictional island inspired by Panama. While the landscape inside “San Esperito” is realistic looking, the action is way over-the-top; however, that is not necessarily a horrible thing either.
Rodriguez is once again sent out to another island, this time it’s geographically inspired by both New Zealand and Hawaii. From some of the footage we’ve seen, Rodriguez was see doing crazy acrobatic stuff like, jumping onto a flying plane or skydiving off a mountain. Sure, it’s totally unreal, but you can see how it could be fun in a videogame. And having the ability to upload some of your more crazy stunts onto Youtube — you can easily see how that could be a fun feature.
To be honest, I don’t know why more videogame companies haven’t taken an initiative to allow a similar feature. It also doesn’t make a lot of sense why they haven’t done this, especially considering many of the home consoles out there are hooked up to the Internet one way or another. Hopefully this is the beginning of more to come.
