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We've spent the last hour on the phone calling up random Target stores around the continental United States to nail this story down. What we can say at this point is that certain Target stores do currently have the $499 price on the PS3 (Item# 207230001). Beyond confirmation at these stores, in one case we even have a copy of a person's receipt, dated today, for a PS3 at $499.99. We've even asked while going through the price check process if there is a pattern to the Target computers and why we would be getting different prices at different stores -- there was no adequate answer.
At this point we don't know if this indicates that the price drop may begin this week, or if somebody flipped a switch at the wrong time. We've received reports that certain Circuit City stores have also started selling the PS3 at the $499 price, before their alleged sale next week, but we currently can't confirm that. Even if Sony doesn't announce a PS3 price drop at next week's press conference, it looks like the retailers are moving ahead with one anyway.
This morning we reported that Sony had "unreservedly" apologized for the whole Resistance: Fall of Man kerfuffle for the second time. Well, the Church of England has rejected the apology -- again. This morning in our post we glanced over the "sacred digital guidelines" the Church was proposing because we had no idea what that was all about, but The Times has the details. The "Sacred Digital Guidelines" the Church is proposing entail:
Respect our sacred spaces as places of prayer, worship, peace, learning and heritage.
Do not assume that sacred space interiors are copyright free.
Get permission from the faith leaders who are responsible for the building interiors you want to clone.
Support the work of those engaged in resisting the culture of gun crime and those involved in promoting the work of conflict resolution.
The Church of England's lawyers are still "in conversation" with Sony and continue to demand Resistance be pulled from store shelves. Oh, and just in case you're wondering, "cathedral clergy are also demanding a response from Sony to their request for a donation to their work with young people and the victims of gun crime." The Very Rev Rogers Govender asks the not only Sony, but all game publishers, agree to the new "sacred digital guidelines."
In development by Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment (DICE), the upcoming PS3, Xbox 360, and PC title Mirror's Edge hopes to bank on the success of the Prince's acrobatic abilities in Prince of Persia in a first-person 3D environment. You play the role of Faith who climbs, sprints, and leaps around a utopian metropolis fighting the corrupt authoritarians in power.
The main character's moves were inspired by parkour and have been kept deliberately simple. Mirror's Edge aims to give players a better sense of being in a body, forcing you to pay attention to things like acceleration and the way your head moves as you walk or come to an abrupt stop.
While the game will be packed with action, don't expect shooting to be the central focus, as realistic physics play a huge role in the gameplay. Ever try bouncing off a wall holding a heavy assault rifle?Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Nailing down a Rock Bandperipheral price has been almost as difficult as explaining how Keith Richards is still alive. An employee of Game Crazy sent us a print out of the pricing list which they received on July 3. The only thing that really jumps out is the Xbox 360 guitar price being $20 more than the PS3 (more on this in a second). Much of the information is still in line with the GameStop pricing reported months ago. Officially a Harmonix representative says, "We have not released any pricing details regarding Rock Band as of yet, but stay tuned."
The price discrepancy could go back to the issue from last year regarding Red Octane and their attempt to get a wireless guitar on the Xbox 360. Turns out to license Microsoft's proprietary wireless technology would have increased the cost of the wireless guitar and the company decided not to do it. Could $20 be the magic number being tacked on for the consumer? This would also assume, if the pricing is correct, that neither the drum set nor the microphone would be wireless given the lack of a price difference between the two systems. Although, we do have a statement regarding the price discrepancy as well. We were told by the Harmonix rep, "I am not aware of a price discrepancy." It looks like it's going to be a while before the actual, solid, final price of the peripherals gets nailed down. Right now, it's still all rumor and speculation -- officially.
Much like what Microsoft has been doing with the Bringing It Home campaign since last E3 (and again with this one), Sony has unveiled its initiative to provide coverage of next week's E3 summit to PlayStation 3 owners via the PlayStation Network.
The July 11 press conference will be available for download as well as unspecified "trailers, videos, and other editorial content," according to a GamesIndustry.biz report. Additionally, the official PlayStation blog will reportedly be updated alongside the show.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
We'll be honest, we're going back and forth on BlackSite: Area 51. Sometimes we'll get excited, then something like the recent demo will come along and we'll be convinced that the game is excruciatingly pedestrian. Then, a trailer like the above one gets posted, and we get re-convinced that the thing might be pretty good, if not as Duchovony-rich as its predecessor.
Inevitably, these internal tete-a-tetes end with us remembering what other game is being released in September. Then we decide our feelings on the game are probably moot.Permalink | Email this | Comments
Sony has apologized again, this time "unreservedly," to the people of Manchester and the Church of England for the depiction of Manchester Cathedral in Resistance: Fall of Man. In response, the cathedral has created a set of "sacred digital guidelines" and the Very Rev Rogers Govender said, "We still fear that the next buildings to be cloned for virtual desecration could be a mosque, synagogue, temple or other church."
There is no word if money changed hands, but according to the Manchester Evening News Sony did admit to "using the images" of the cathedral without permission. Sony also placed an apology advertisement in the newspaper to the people of Manchester. The newspaper then shows its gratitude by calling Resistance a "bloodthirsty game." Dr. David Reeves, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, said, "We have offended some of the congregation by using the cathedral in our science fiction game. It was never our intention to offend anyone in the making of this game, and we would like to apologize unreservedly to them for causing that offense, and to all parts of the community who we might also have offended." So, does this mean the Church of England is over wanting money, or was that just done under the table?
We're not calling Sony President Ryoji Chubachi a liar when he says there are no current plans to lower the PlayStation 3 price. It's only fair we don't, as we're still calling Sony's PS3 price drop a "rumor." A rumor that we're starting to get so much anecdotal information, off-the-record and anonymous sources that it feels like a garden-variety Red Ring of Death story -- and we all know how that one ends.
According to Bloomberg in an interview today Chubachi, in regards to the PS3 price cut, said, "We have no immediate plans of now." Then he deferred to Sony's PlayStation division. Bloomberg even goes on to report that a Tokyo-based analyst for Goldman Sachs said in a report dated yesterday that MS and Nintendo may announce price cuts as well. It's all gonna hit the fan in less than a week.
An "employee of Circuit City" dropped this clip in our tip box about an alleged sale for the PlayStation 3. The flyer shows that Circuit City is dropping the price of the PS3 by $100 for the week of July 15. We contacted Sony to ask how they felt about the price drop and they told us, "Circuit City hasn't announced any price drop on PS3, so we have no comment." To be clear, despite the collective game consciousness' longing for a PS3 price drop and its possible announcement at next week's Min-E3 ... this is merely a clip of an alleged flyer which shows a week long sale at Circuit City for the PlayStation 3.
Now, if somebody happened to get their hands on the whole flyer, we'd have something to go back to Sony with. Don't get us wrong, this plot is thick like cheddar soup. Have we seen the price drop of a console, or even a sale, without it being officially sanctioned by the console manufacturer? Nope. Can we verify the validity of this flyer? Nope. Could Circuit City be desperate enough to sell the PS3 console at a loss to themselves just to move product and software? Well, that's the real question, isn't it?
Update: GameDaily reports an anonymous source who is the "merchandising manager at one of the world's biggest retailers" confirmed the price drop is retail-wide and begins July 12. The first wave of flyers are July 15. There's also an ongoing thread regarding the price drop at Cheap Ass Gamer.Permalink | Email this | Comments
The August edition of the Official Xbox Magazine ships with its usual disc of goodies and this month it includes a mini-documentary of the future frag king, Unreal Tournament 3. We'd link the issue here, but their site is currently under construction. As BeyondUnreal reports, UT3 -- which is decidedly not for wimps -- will be shipping with "three to four dozen multiplayer maps." This is consistent with what they told CVG back in February.
Judging from their work on Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004, we're willing to bet that a good chunk of these maps -- these "pain sanctuaries," if you will -- are remixed versions of UT classics. Our cup still runneth over as it's good to know that Epic isn't slacking off in a day and age where somefolks think it's cool to ship with a map count in the single digits.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced (via Pro-G) that more than 180,000 Blu-ray titles have been sold across Europe following a sales increase of over 1000% since the PlayStation 3's launch in March of this year. Sony is convinced that the surge in success for the high-definition format can be closely linked to the arrival of its all-singing, all-HD Console Royale.
"The launch of the PS3 had a tremendous impact on Blu-ray software sales across the board," notes Matt Brown, VP International of Sony Pictures, who goes on to confirm that the PS3 is indeed an entertainment device. "Recent sales figures are a clear indication that the PS3 is seen as an entertainment device." Expect these figures to be cited in the shouting match between Blu-ray and algebraically-proven HD-DVD, shortly before old-fashioned DVD threatens to turn the car around.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Honestly, the first thing we thought when we looked at Rock Band was, "Hey! Guitar Hero!" Although right after that we thought "Guitar Hero! Plus drums and a microphone!" Because that's literally what it is. Thankfully, it also rocks. That's due in no small part to the fact that it's been developed by Harmonix, who trailblazed the way into our rocking hearts with the original Guitar Hero I and II.
Almost everyone who played Guitar Hero instantly thought "Hey, why don't they add drums, a microphone, a keyboard, and cowbell to this thing?" It seemed like a no-brainer that eventually a game would come out featuring a full band, but we just didn't expect it to be that quick. Especially since Guitar Hero II was still burning up the charts and had just come out on the 360.
The Kojima Report podcast -- one of our favorite 'casts by the by -- has confirmed the not terribly surprising news that a new Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer will debut during the Sony and Konami E3 keynotes next week. Since Sony's keynote is chronologically first -- next Wednesday at 2:30pm Pacific -- we'll just count down the minutes until then. About 7-1/2 minutes in, host Ryan Payton starts talking about the "brand-new" trailer which will, for the first time, be available in English.
Of course, Konami also showed off new trailers for Snake's latest adventure at last year's E3 and TGS expos (both conveniently embedded after the break) so we're not entirely shocked. We suppose the lack of a Microsoft conference screening shouldn't come as a surprise either ... but we're still not convinced.
The first family of cartoon comedy will finally meet their maker after 18 years. Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, and who's life is certainly not hell, will appear in the upcoming The Simpsons Game. Groening tells Eurogamer, "They did a send-up of video games. It's a video game about video games; and I'm in the video game. I'm a boss that you have to fight at the end of the game."
So according to Groening he'll be the final boss in the Simpson video game. Sounds like the perfect final boss. If this were 19th century literature we'd have been forced to read it in high school due to the subtext of one man fighting his creation, which he'll inevitably succumb to. Groening says he had a good time recording for the game, "It was really fun recording a million ways of dying, going 'UGGH, ARGGH, EUURGH!'" The SimpsonsGame will be out this fall, now can we finally get The Simpsons arcade game on XBLA or PSN?.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
A demo for Heavenly Sword is just around the corner, according to comments made by producer Mat Hart (as NinjaMat) in the comment section on the Ninja Theory developer blog. "Keep an eye out for this in the very near future...and i mean very near future!" he said.
Also discussed was the use of blood ("fairly elegant"), game length (12 to 15 hours), and the lack of a Special Edition for the game. "Instead," he said, "we would cram the retail release with as many extras as we could fit onto a [Blu-ray disc]." Expect to see behind-the-scenes features as well as the first two episodes of an animated series that explores the "history of the Heavenly Sword prior to the start of the game."
Heavenly Sword is reportedly due out this September.
Anyone who has turned on a TV in the last few years has probably heard some of Michael Giacchino's compositions. Check the credits on Lost or Alias and you'll see his name, and stick around after The Incredibles and Ratatouille to find him there as well. Now Giacchino has added a videogame to his growing body of work. EA announced today that the award-winning composer scored the music for Medal of Honor Airborne, set for release in late August. This comes just after he was announced as the composer for Turning Point: Fall of Liberty.
Over ten years after the Nintendo 64 debut of Turok, Propaganda Games is getting ready to roll out a PS3 and Xbox 360 update to the dinosaur-hunting FPS. Set on a mysterious planet in the future, Turok and a squad of elite soldiers are tasked with apprehending his former mentor, Roland Kane. Unfortunately things don't go quite as planned and Turok and crew find themselves stuck in the middle of a dense dinosaur-filled jungle.
IGN's recent hands-on with the Xbox 360 version of Turok shows that some of the technology and options in the game are "beyond sweet". For example, Turok really lets you get the gore on with creative ways of disposing of dinosaur foes. Sticky grenades on a raptor's back sounds pretty sweet to us. Combine that with an intelligent, living environment, and teammates that do more than serve as ammunition shields and "beyond sweet" sounds like a fitting phrase. Turok will be ready to storm out the gate in Q1 2008.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
First PSM reported that the Sixaxis would be recreated with rumble this year, and now their French colleaugues at PSM France report (by way of Maxconsole) that the pad will not only rumble but will feature touch sensitivity as well. The "Touchsense" functionality will enable a more nuanced rumble that's not only felt through the Sixaxis' handles but through the "levers" as well (analog sticks?).
Sounds great, but what's all this fancy new rumble going to cost us? Despite being more powerful, this rumor claims that the "engine" is cheaper to build than previous rumble mechanisms and should therefore add little to the cost of the controller, welcome news for owners of the rumble-free Sixaxis. And great news for your PS2 titles: the mag also claims that a new PS3 firmware update should enable rumble for your backcompat titles. If the rumors about a new Sixaxis are true, we hope to hear more at E3 next week.
Perhaps now would be a good time to start? In an interview published within the latest issue of PSM, Sony Computer Entertainment America president, Jack Tretton, responds to the magazine's observation that there are fewer exclusive titles bound for (and to) the PlayStation 3 than there possibly could be. Mr. Tretton explains that Sony's approach to the acquisition of exclusives is different than those of competitors, perhaps in the sense that it's far more noble and devoid of unspeakable acts of bribery. Or perhaps in the sense that there isn't much of an approach at all.
"Yeah, 'fewer exclusives' is a term, and I don't know what makes an exclusive," says Tretton. "We have a very different approach to exclusives than some of our competitors. We don't buy exclusivity. We don't fund development. We don't, for the lack of a better term, bribe somebody to only do a game on our platform." That's correct, generating reasons for consumers to purchase and enjoy your console over others became a dubious, underhanded maneuver when you weren't looking. Since the publisher (of third-party titles such as Heavenly Sword and Lair) isn't willing to stoop that low, it would much rather "earn" exclusives. "We earn it by saying 'you can build a better game on our platform. If you focus your development on our platform, you will ultimately be more successful. We can try to partner up with you from a technological standpoint. We can try to partner up with you from a marketing standpoint. But just economically and technologically, this is the system that makes the most sense for you.'"
With money apparently not changing hands for that exclusive status, how do you suppose the system's comparatively small install base makes "the most sense" economically? No answer is obtained from Tretton, who then rightly notes that as a first-party, Sony has a very strong ability to provide plenty of exclusive titles. However, he warns that relying too much on first-party endeavors as Nintendo does might not make for a "healthy environment" and that conversely, Microsoft is "too dependent on the third-party community."
Grab a copy of his month's PSM to read the full interview.
The latest title announced by independent publisher Gamecock is futuristic first-person shooter Section 8 by TimeGate Studios. The studio previously worked on the Kohan series and did the F.E.A.R. expansion for PC, Extraction Point. Section 8 is an elite unit of powered armor infantry fighting on war-torn fringe planets on the frontier colonies. The soldiers will have on-demand vehicles and the teaser trailer can be found after the break.
The whole project sounds incredibly ambitious, as do many of Gamecock's titles, and FPS' typically have a very high bar to hit nowadays; however, the game isn't expected until 2009 so there is some time. We have very little background as to why the group is called Section 8, as Section 8 has a very specific connotation in the US. Section 8 is a subsidy program to assist the fiscally challenged with housing. Then again, they couldn't call it Section 9 because then all the Ghost in the Shell fanboys would freak. Is Section 7 taken? Oh well, we'll talk to the developers next week at Min-E3 and get an answer to the meaning behind Section 8.
Though Bethesda has been exclusively linked to Fallout 3 as of late, the developer had also been working with Zombie Studios on a tactical shooter based on Dick Marcinko's Rogue Warrior book series. Now that we've jogged your memory, you should know that the game will not be on display at this year's E3 summit.
Speaking to FiringSquad, Bethesda's Vice President of PR and marketing Pete Hines said, "We aren't talking about RW until we're ready to show what we've been up to." Rogue Warrior, powered by the Unreal Engine 3, was originally scheduled for release this year on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
We've spent the last hour on the phone calling up random Target stores around the continental United States to nail this story down. What we can say at this point is that certain Target stores do currently have the $499 price on the PS3 (Item# 207230001). Beyond confirmation at these stores, in one case we even have a copy of a person's receipt, dated today, for a PS3 at $499.99. We've even asked while going through the price check process if there is a pattern to the Target computers and why we would be getting different prices at different stores -- there was no adequate answer.
This morning we reported that Sony had "unreservedly" apologized for the whole Resistance: Fall of Man kerfuffle for the second time. Well, the Church of England has rejected the apology -- again. This morning in our post we glanced over the "sacred digital guidelines" the Church was proposing because we had no idea what that was all about, but The Times has the details. The "Sacred Digital Guidelines" the Church is proposing entail:
In development by Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment (DICE), the upcoming PS3, Xbox 360, and PC title Mirror's Edge hopes to bank on the success of the Prince's acrobatic abilities in Prince of Persia in a first-person 3D environment. You play the role of Faith who climbs, sprints, and leaps around a utopian metropolis fighting the corrupt authoritarians in power. 
We're not calling Sony President Ryoji Chubachi a liar when he says there are no current plans to lower the PlayStation 3 price. It's only fair we don't, as we're still calling Sony's PS3 price drop a "rumor." A rumor that we're starting to get so much anecdotal information, off-the-record and anonymous sources that it feels like a garden-variety Red Ring of Death story -- and we all know how that one ends.
The August edition of the Official Xbox Magazine ships with its usual disc of goodies and this month it includes a mini-documentary of the future frag king, Unreal Tournament 3. We'd link the issue here, but their site is currently under construction. As BeyondUnreal reports, UT3 -- which is decidedly not for wimps -- will be shipping with "three to four dozen multiplayer maps." This is consistent with what they told CVG back in February. 
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced (via Pro-G) that more than 180,000 Blu-ray titles have been sold across Europe following a sales increase of over 1000% since the PlayStation 3's launch in March of this year. Sony is convinced that the surge in success for the high-definition format can be closely linked to the arrival of its all-singing, all-HD Console Royale. 
The first family of cartoon comedy will finally meet their maker after 18 years. Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, and who's life is certainly not hell, will appear in the upcoming The Simpsons Game. Groening tells Eurogamer, "They did a send-up of video games. It's a video game about video games; and I'm in the video game. I'm a boss that you have to fight at the end of the game."
Anyone who has turned on a TV in the last few years has probably heard some of Michael Giacchino's compositions. Check the credits on Lost or Alias and you'll see his name, and stick around after The Incredibles and Ratatouille to find him there as well. Now Giacchino has added a videogame to his growing body of work. EA announced today that the award-winning composer scored the music for Medal of Honor Airborne, set for release in late August. This comes just after he was announced as the composer for Turning Point: Fall of Liberty.
Perhaps now would be a good time to start? In an interview published within the latest issue of PSM, Sony Computer Entertainment America president, Jack Tretton, responds to the magazine's observation that there are fewer exclusive titles bound for (and to) the PlayStation 3 than there possibly could be. Mr. Tretton explains that Sony's approach to the acquisition of exclusives is different than those of competitors, perhaps in the sense that it's far more noble and devoid of unspeakable acts of bribery. Or perhaps in the sense that there isn't much of an approach at all.
