Friday, December 21, 2007
European PS Store Update
11:00PM Luke Plunkett | The latest European PlayStation Store update brings both wonderment and dismay. The wonderment? Toy Home’s available, which is a surprise. The dismay? Still no Everyday Shooter. Ungh. In the middle, somewhere between indifference and curiosity, is the PS1’s Populous, a Timeshift demo and the Guitar Hero III “Boss Battle” pack. Complementing the interactive content are a bunch of trailers for stuff like Kane & Lynch, MGS4, Sega Rally and GTAIV. More »
News
Canadian Rock Band Launch Is A Right Balls-Up
10:00PM Luke Plunkett | Canada doesn’t have Rock Band, and Canada is pissed. The game was supposed to launch yesterday, but hasn’t, and with EA unable to provide either a reason or an explanation as to what’s gone wrong, both retailers and Christmas shoppers are fed up. Here’s an example. This is a statement from an EA rep on Wednesday, the day before the game’s “launch”: Demand has been incredibly strong in the U.S. and Canada and we’re shipping Rock Band to retailers as quickly as we can make them, but we suggest lining up early if you want to get one in time for the holidays. So people lined up! Early! And when the vast majority of stores opened, Rock Band wasn’t there. More »
N-Gage Now Delayed Til 2008
9:00PM Luke Plunkett | Christmas isn’t always a time for cheer. It can be a time for crushing disappointment, too. So don’t take the news too hard that Nokia’s new N-Gage platform, which was due to rollout right about now, has run into unforeseen difficulties and won’t be out until the new year. No explanation was given, but even if it had, would that make a Christmas spent staring blankly at a participating Nokia handset any less bleak? No, no it would not. New Update for N-Gage First Access [N-Gage] [Image] More »
Windows Media Player Helps WoW Load Faster?
8:00PM Luke Plunkett | File this under “life’s inane curiosities”. Word is spreading that if you want to improve your load times in World of Warcraft, you should turn on Windows Media Player. That’s it! Just turn it on, leave it on, and somehow your game of WoW will load quicker, especially in busy, high-traffic sections of the game. I’d test it, but, you know, don’t play WoW, so any of you lot fancy giving it a try? Let us know how you go, and feel free to throw in a hypothesis or two, because we’ve not a clue how this all works. Media Player boosts WoW performance [WoW Insider] More »
Paradise City Is Larger Than Expected
7:55PM Luke Plunkett | Here’s a map of Paradise City for the upcoming Burnout Paradise. If you’ve played the demo, you’ll recognize that tiny portion near the beach. It’s the demo area. You’ll also now realise that the final map is enormous. If you haven’t played the demo, the same basic point applies: this map is freakin’ huge. [click for larger version] More »
News
Pitching Original Games Is Not Exactly Easy
7:00PM Luke Plunkett | Making a game is hard. But pitching one? Loads harder. Harder still when you’re pitching some kind of new/bold/novel idea for a game, which isn’t based on WWII, space marines or street racing. Or, worst of all, when it’s not based on another game on the market. It’s somewhere Will Wright’s been before. David Jaffe, too. And Lorne Lanning, and Ron Gilbert, and Keita Takahashi. Gamespot have a great roundup of each of those developer’s experiences getting original games approved, along with comments from guys like SCEA talent scout Rusty Buchert. More »
News
Gearbox Want To Copy Portal
6:56PM Luke Plunkett | Gearbox Studios boss Randy Pitchford looks at Portal, and sees a game he’d like to copy. HACK, I hear you cry. And you’re wrong. It’s not the warpy holes and psycho AI he likes, it’s Portal’s potential as a business model for gameplay innovations: What I like most about Portal was that it’s a quick sample of a game. To me what that suggests is, that can be a business. That we can invest in creating these kinds of things, include them in bigger products, and there are people that will love those in their own right, even if it’s only a two-hour experience. Nazi art-stealing pack-in included with next Brothers in Arms title? So confirmed. Eurogamer TV [Eurogamer, via Bit-Tech] More »
5:30PM Logan Booker | In case you missed it yesterday, Sony is giving away PS3s between today and January 28 with every purchase of a Sony Bravia HD LCD TV. You don’t even have to buy the TV from Sony – you can walk into any consumer electronics store and you’ll be provided details on how you can get your shiny new console. It’s by redemption, if you were wondering. All the details at the link below.
Sony Bravia & Free PS3 Deal Confirmed, Now With Details
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