PS3 Fanboy

You may or may not have heard about the controversy surrounding GameTrailers' GRID console comparison video which has been floating around the net for the last few days. For those of you who have no idea what we're talking about, here are the cliffs notes: GameTrailers released a comparison video showcasing the difference between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. Strangely the video only showed PS3 footage and, as a result, people made a lot of noise about GameTrailers being biased towards the 360.

Shane Satterfield has participated in an interview with Joystiq to set things straight. He states that the video showing PS3 footage as Xbox 360 footage was "a mistake" and that "some of the footage of the PlayStation 3 version of the game was incorrectly placed in the bin for the Xbox 360 footage." Satterfield states that there is no bias and that they haven't had any advertising from Microsoft for two years. Check out the full interview for more details.

Gametrailers.com has teamed up with Ubisoft for a new Haze contest. Starting today, Haze fans can download footage from the game and Korn and create new "mash-up" videos for prizes. This supposedly annual challenge is "a special project close to the heart of our CGO (chief gaming officer) Geoff Keighley." Seriously. The winning entry will be shown on GameTrailers TV.

The first place winner will win a 46" Sony HDTV, a PS3 system, customized guitar signed by Korn, and $1,000. To enter, visit GameTrailers.

As many of you know, Gametrailers recently came under quite a bit of scrutiny when it was learned that the PS3 and Xbox 360 comparison videos they've been posting were used at the PS3's default video settings and using component cables. To silence its critics, Gametrailers posted a video comparing Uncharted: Drake's Fortune using standard component cables like they have in the past and what many PS3 owners have wanted – HDMI, full RGB and with adjusted ultra white levels.

After watching the video several times, we have to say, it's kinda hard to tell a difference. In the end, this whole controversy might have been a bit overblown, but we think it'd probably be smart on Gametrailer's part to just use the HDMI settings in any future comparison videos. It just might save you guys a lot of hate mail.

We don't normally like to get into the game of pointing fingers, but we were alerted to an interesting tip regarding the infamous "comparison videos" used by website GameTrailers. They're a good site and we respect them. They put up new video content promptly, and [insert more compliments here]. However. A lot of debate is going on currently over their comparison videos which are being touted as heavily biased against the PS3.

Straight from GameTrailer's mouth regarding the videos: "We don't create these videos for the fanboys. That's not the point. We create them so that people who own both systems can be a little more informed on which version to buy. It's the fanboys that turn the comments section for these videos into a debacle. As for using RGB or adjusting the white levels on the PS3, that completely defeats the point of these videos. We play both systems on default settings with the same cabling. If we were to adjust the settings on the PS3 to make it look better then we'd be sacrificing the integrity of the video. It's not the other way around."

So what they're saying is that they aren't taking advantage of the PS3's full-HD capabilities. It's built for that. But they aren't using it that way in their videos. Either crank both up to their maximum potential or get out, we say. Feel free to leave your thoughts as well.

[Thanks, Christian!]

[Update 1: Took out an uninformed sentence regarding Xbox video output. We apologize for the inaccuracy.]
[Update 2: Gametrailers offers another explanation here.]

We have to admit we weren't really excited at the last Call of Duty reiteration, Call of Duty 3. A fine game, to be sure, but we couldn't overcome the been-there done-that feeling. Then the announcement and subsequent first peek at Call of Duty 4 in action, which did more than generate a frenzy of renewed interest. We had long since grown tired of WWII shooters and now, the leader of WWII shooters was going all modern. We took a peek at the latest trailer and literally, were blown away. The lighting on your fellow solders, the smoke entrails from heat-seeking rockets, the spinning and exploding helicopter: jack the sound up as you watch and you may find yourself sharing similar "OMFG" sentiments. Call of Duty 4 is reported to be on track for an Xbox 360, PS3 and PC release, sometime this fall and it's definitely on our "must buy" list now. How about yours?