PS3 Fanboy

The NeoGAF forums exploded in a fury of wild emotions at IGN UK's recent review of the much anticipated Heavenly Sword. The critics at IGN UK have much to praise about the game's visual presentation, noting its stellar graphics: "Everything from the beautifully designed, slickly animated characters to those magnificent, omnipresent sweeping vistas is a glory to behold."

But the review goes downhill from there. The combat system is called "tiresome and, to be blunt, incredibly boring." The story goes through a "hopelessly hackneyed, melodramatic script."

IGN UK is known for its highly critical reviews. However, PS3 fans must feel like Nariko (above) when one of the first reviews of such a heavily promoted game gets bashed so strongly. Hopefully, future reviews will show the game in a more favorable light, considering how crucial having a AAA title in the PS3 library is.

When asked whether Rock Band would feature strong single player gameplay for each instrument Rigopulos responded, saying "I can't speak to what Activision has planned for future versions of Guitar Hero, but what I can say is that Rock Band's guitar game alone will be more substantial than any of the prior Guitar Hero releases." He then goes on to remind us that there will be a singing section, a drum section and a co-operative band section on top of the guitar portion of the game. If each of these four game modes are as big as he is indicating then Rock Band is going to be truly immense. I can already hear RedOctane quaking in their boots.

As for those potentially bank-breaking controllers, Rigopulos says that making a game like Rock Band requires good quality peripherals to enhance the gameplay experience. As a development team full of musicians, Harmonix is determined to make the controllers for Rock Band feel more authentic than any instrument peripheral we've seen before. As a drummer himself, Rigopulos has seen to it that the new drum controller is "a real piece of hardware."

Read the rest of the interview for more info. Also, don't forget to suggest which songs you'd like to see in the game on the official website. Our excitement for Rock Band is peaked (until Harmonix throws some gameplay info our way, at least), how about you?

With the release of The Darkness less than a month away IGN have seen fit to interview a certain Mr. Paul Jenkins about his role in the development of the game. British-born (and therefore automatically cool) Jenkins worked on the comic of The Darkness for Top Cow and is now working on the script for the game. Other game credentials include the God of War series and the Legacy of Kain series, the latter of which happens to be a particular favourite of mine. With games like these under his belt we can be sure to get something great out of the story of The Darkness.

The interview discusses his experiences in the industry -- both comics and video games -- as well as what it has been like writing for The Darkness and developing the game with Starbreeze. It's an interesting read, by all accounts, though there's little information on the game itself except a wee bit of regarding implementation of 'invisible' loading screens. Be sure to check it out, regardless. If you find yourself hungry for more The Darkness goodies then keep in mind that we should be seeing a demo on the PSN within the next few weeks. We can't wait, can you?

Kotaku isn't exactly the best source of information and there's a pretty decent counterpoint to their new "mole" who claims that there are no more PS3 dev-kits. Let's first toss up the mole's quote.

"Sony has run out of PS3 test kits to give to developers. Since the announcement of the European launch being delayed, nobody has any idea what's going to happen with the PS3 port of F.E.A.R... specially since we only have the one PS3. And it's a devkit. In case you haven't seen those things, they sound like giant vacuum cleaners. They're reportedly ridiculously complicated to use, specially when upgrading the firmware. It has just the one controller, and it's not even the proper PS3 one even! It doesn't have those "innovative" changes from the PS3 controller, it's just a Dual Shock 2 with a USB Mini port."

All right, first off, we feel IGN is a much more reliable source of information as well as a named "mole" -- namely, Sega. A long while back we talked about Sega's and IGN's reaction to the dev kit. Let's dissect Kotaku's mole now (ignoring the F.E.A.R. comment, which has already been confirmed it's coming to PS3). The dev-kits run quietly, not like vacuum cleaners. Easy to program for and understand, not complicated, not "specially" when upgrading firmware. The controller comment is false, as IGN's comments about how the wireless controllers could detect what machine and port they were plugged into directly imply a wireless setup. Now, if Sony gets bad press, we won't dance around the truth too much. But don't make up stuff to kick them when they're down. The end.

This is a pretty neat video to watch. Not for the narration or the visuals, but to just picture yourself browsing through the deep blue... XMB (cross media bar). IGN got permission to show off the PS3 menu system and you know what? It's kind of bland. Bland does not mean bad, however. It is extremely user friendly and incredibly simple to navigate (both in game and out). Near the end of the video, we're told we can customize our wallpaper and whatnot. Give the thing a little more flavor. It's good, though. Some of us don't like big, flashy bubbly menus and worthless accessories in our interface. It's a man's interface! Right? Maybe not.

Don't be fooled by the video -- the resolution (at least from this laptop) was pretty bad, so most of the icons seemed very pixelated. The final version we get to play with will be a lot sharper, unless you cross your eyes. Basically, ignore the visual aspect of the video and focus on the ease of navigation, which isn't necessarily hampered by the poor video quality (at least, from this laptop). Watch the video, share your thoughts, but again, it is boring visually because you haven't had the chance to spice it up and personalize it.

Ken Kutaragi recently revealed that the process for making the Cell chip will go from a 90nm process down to 65nm. This will help cut the costs of manufacturing. The chip is currently being manufactured at IBM's Fishkill and Sony's Nagasaki factories. With the decrease in cost, it's possible that devices utilizing the chip could also see a lower price point when arriving to retail, to which Kutaragi hinted at devices other than the company's next-gen console as possible recipients. However in the case of the PS3, this drop in cost is unlikely to be seen.

[Via IGN]

IGN has posted the E3 video of the 10-minute Rainbow Six: Vegas trailer that ran periodically during E3. What's different this time around, however, is that the video is in HD and you don't have to listen to thousands of people while trying to watch it. Instead, you only have to listen to a few folks providing solid commentary on the trailer. The page for the video can be accessed here.