EA have coughed up a little more info on their new Command & Conquer shooter Tiberium, issuing a press release and single screenshot. Seems the game will be a hybrid FPS/squad shooter, with players taking control of Forward Battle Commander Ricardo Vega, who aside from being the most powerful unit on the battlefield can also control other infantry, armour and air units, which must be where the squad tactics part comes into it. Tiberium’s due in Autumn 2008 for PS3, 360 and PC, with a (sadly) Kari Wuhrer-free presser after the jump.
Via former Kotaku Guest Editor (and current beard-owner) Ian Bogost comes news of a study performed by the Georgia Institute of Technology, aimed at studying “2D vs 3D game preference in boys and girls ages 13 and 14″. Subjects were given a choice of games on an N64 emulator screen: 70% of girls tested preferred 2D games, while 70% of boys opted for 3D games. Why? Results indicate that 2D electronic games are easier than 3D electronic games for both females and males, and the majority of females would rather play games that are “easy” while the majority of males would rather play games that are “challenging”. Females tended not to like the confusion in the 3D video games, whether it was unclear directions, objectives, camera perspectives, or not knowing how to control the character. Females may also prefer games that have dreamlike graphics to games with realistic graphics. Results also point toward a steeper learning curve for females when playing a 3D game than a 2D game.
Ladies, if you can’t control your man, don’t blame the camera perspectives.
Do Girls Prefer 2D Games? [Water Cooler Games][Image: Vineus]
Anyone who bought Rock Band only to have their guitar crap out moments after taking it out of the box deserved a little something. Like a free game. Yet when EA announced they were sending out free games to those affected by crummy guitars, there wasn’t exactly dancing in the streets. Surely they’d just send you an outdated EA Sports game, or some Sims expansion, right? No! The list of free games you can choose from has been revealed, and is surprisingly decent, with pretty much every single one on it released within the past 12 months, including all their major sports titles. The highlight: there’s never been a better time to get yourself a copy of the criminally under-appreciated Skate. Full list is after the jump, but be warned, you’ve got to have your picks in by January 11 or you’ll get NOTHING.
Sony’s PSP Media Manager is a decent enough piece of software. You click, you drag, you browse, it gets the job done. Only problem is, for some ridiculous reason, you have to pay for it. Stupid! Stupid in the West, at least: Sony have announced that Japanese consumers can now download the software free of charge from their PlayStation Store. Sucky news for us, right? Not even close. Fumble your way through the Japanese install and you’ll find the program itself runs in English. Perfect, legible, sweet English. I just installed it, used it, tested it, it all works. You can download it from the link below.
Media Manager For PSP [Japanese PlayStation Store]
Those new PlayStation Store cards sure would have come in handy at Christmas time. Would have been the perfect stocking stuffer for that special PlayStation 3 owner in your life. And we know, December 25 draws closer by the minute, but there was still a chance Sony could have slipped these into stores before Christmas, right? Nope. That would have been too obvious. Instead, they won’t be hitting stores until early 2008.
PLAYSTATION Network Cards Update [PlayStation.Blog][Image]
What a great list this is. Not for its content, necessarily (though the choices are fairly sensible), just for the fact that this one’s not about games. Instead, these are Gamasutra’s picks for the year’s top five developers. Note the following observations, which will save you precious seconds between realising yourself and commenting angrily: Nintendo are not on the list, and every developer who is released their games on the 360.
5) BioWare 4) Bungie 3) 2K Boston/2K Australia 2) Harmonix 1) Valve
Gamasutra’s Best Of 2007: Top 5 Developers [Gamasutra][Image]
What did we all learn from the Crisis Core PSP bundle? That’s right. You release a limited-edition PSP based on a popular Japanese IP and it’ll just sell sell sell. Bearing this in mind, and not wanting to miss out on the bundling action while there’s still room on the bandwagon, Namco Bandai have announced a Gundam/PSP Slim pack for Japan. Launching on February 7, and retailing for ¥25,890 ($US 228), it’ll contain a copy of the new Mobile Suit Gundam handheld title, as well as the above black/red PSP. バンダイナムコゲームス、「ギレンの野望」シリーズ最新作がPSPに登場![Game Watch]
Sony have gone firmware MAD. Not only did we get new digs for our PS3s today, but the PSP’s 3.80 firmware is now also live, and adds internet radio functionality to the handheld. More info, including instructions on how to use the radio, can be found at the PlayStation blog.
With Wiis hard to come by this Christmas, many stores that do have them in-stock are getting funny with their pricing. While the console costs $US 250 on its own, it’s not hard to find retailers both on and offline who are throwing games, peripherals and accessories into the mix in an effort to jack up prices and raise their profits. We don’t think it’s cool, you don’t think it’s cool, Reggie doesn’t think it’s cool: Retailers have already been given feedback that we are not big fans of that. We think it masks some of the price advantage we have versus our competition and, frankly, the consumer should decide what they want.
Asked by Reuters if that meant Nintendo would take action against retailers caught force-bundling, he says: We don’t have to remind retailers of the strength we have right now. We are simply making an observation and that reinforces our point quite nicely with retailers.
Little creepy, that! And proof that even innocent little game companies can walk softly and carry a big, Wii-shaped stick. Nintendo sees strong DS sales, frowns on Wii bundles [Reuters]
The sharp-eyed folks over at BeyondUnreal have spotted Gears of War 2 available for pre-order on Amazon. All yours for $US 59.99, as long as you can wait until November 15, 2008.
We were confident Epic had a sequel in the works, but this is the first time we’ve had a store back the fact up.
Did Amazon make a mistake, or is it an employee’s idea of a joke? We don’t know at the moment. Whatever the motivation, they’ll undoubtedly get a nasty letter from Mark Rein asking them to kindly remove the pre-order.
Gears of War 2 … Announced? [BeyondUnreal]
