PS3 Fanboy

We know some of our readers here are from Canada, so we're tossing this Canadian-only promotion out to you. Best Buy has a pretty sweet deal on $25 DualShock 3's -- that's a savings of more than 50 percent off. There is one catch though; you can only get the discounted price if you purchase a copy of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. The total for the game and the controller would come out to about (we really mean aboot) $65, so that's roughly the same as any regular game without a controller. Definitely worth it if you've yet to own either Prologue or rumble for this gen.

[Thanks farfisa!]

For those of you racing fans who've been looking around the world of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue for your favorite tracks and walking away depressed, it seems a new dowloadable expansion may coming (it isn't said to be an expansion, but releasing another full demo/game seems silly). The expansion seems to be labeled as SPEC II and will have the race track "Nurburgring" for download. It sounds as difficult as it looks. Lots of small, tight turns to master. PS3Forums has a few off-screen shots as well as several different links lending credibility to the claim. Keeps your eyes and ears open for more info -- we'll keep ours ready as well.

North American sales for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue pale in comparison to Europe's numbers; however, SCEA is still very much pleased with the results. NPD numbers showed that 224,000 copies have sold at US retailers, making the game the sixth best selling game overall and the second best selling PS3 title for April.

Considering that GT5 Prologue marked the first time for a pre-full game Prologue title to hit North America, the game actually sold well. Also, the statistics have yet to take into account sales from the PSN version, so the numbers could possibly be exponentially higher. For those of you who just can't get enough number crunching, here are some other interesting stats: Polyphony Digital's website reports that Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has shipped 550,000 units in North America, 300,000 in Asia/Japan, and a massive 1,380,000 in Europe.

Sony also expects that Gran Turismo 5 will do even better. "I don't think that these NPD sales fully represent the true anticipation for Gran Turismo 5," said Stephanie Yoshimoto, a SCEA senior product marketing manager. "GT5 will have a much larger overall scope that will inherently attract a larger, mass market audience."

Editor's Note: This review was published earlier, before the reviewer completed all the license tests. We pulled the review, acknowledging it was an inaccurate representation of the game. The reviewer has completed all the license tests and has provided a new, edited review.

Before gamers ever really got to play it, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue was already slapped in the face with accusations of being nothing more than a glorified demo. Branded with such a stigma, many gamers had turned away from Prologue and decided to wait out until next year when the "real" GT5 races out. Are these people vindicated in their racing abstinence? Or are they missing out?

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue does continue the tradition of maintaining the most realistic driving sim out on the market. It does this with stunningly gorgeous visuals while at the same time playing like a charm. A rigid online mode does drag the title down a bit, but overall, Prologue will leave you well satisfied. This is one PS3 exclusive that'll definitely make you proud to be a PS3 owner.

If you're one of the people who wanted to get the Blu-ray version of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, we've got a special deal for you today, courtesy of Wal*Mart. Not only can you get the game, but you can get it bundled with the Logitech Driving Force Pro steering wheel thingamajig for a little under $100. Very little under $100. Still, taking the two separately and then comparing this bundle, it's a good deal and necessary for those racing game enthusiasts. Get on it!

Those who are rushing to play Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will have to shift gears when launching the game today. After yet another lengthy install, we found ourselves stopped by a required update. The patch is rather heavy, weighing in at around approximately 300-400MB. Do what you did with Devil May Cry 4: grab a sandwich.

There are tweaks throughout almost every aspect of the game, from online play, to rankings, to the single player events. The game does warn you that some of your save data may be affected by the update -- thankfully, for US players, this will be a rather moot point.

For a list of all the updates, check after the cut. Also, check out new images from our updated gallery.

At 4PM PST (7PM EST), the US producers of Gran Tursimo will be available to chat with on the PlayStation Boards. You will need an account with PlayStation in order to participate. You'll be able to ask hard-hitting questions like "how awesome is your game?" and "boxers or briefs?"

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will be available at retail stores tomorrow, and on the PLAYSTATION Store this Thursday.

Even with a million pre-orders sold, Gran Tursimo 5 Prologue continues to light up the European sales charts. In both Spain and Germany, the PS3 exclusive rests as the top selling game, beating out strong competition from a variety of Wii, DS and PSP titles. In Sweden, GT5P was only beat out by the PS2 version of Guitar Hero III.

It goes to show how different each territory is when it comes to gaming preferences. The US version of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue comes out this week on Blu-ray and on the PSN. Will it match the insatiable European demand for Polyphony's racer? We'll have to wait and see.

How soon is "soon"? Well, sooner than we expected. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will be getting a vehicular damage model, according to a new interview with IGN. This long-awaited feature will be made available as a download and could be available as early as this fall. Polyphony's Yamauchi said that, "maybe by Fall we'll be able to implement it."

[Via Digg, Image from FlatOut]

The European gaming community really, really loves Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. After a platinum pre-order and a stellar launch, the PS3 has been gaining quite a bit of traction. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Chart-Track's Dorian Bloch said: "PlayStation 3 sales went up by 14 per cent for week 13, after going up 73 per cent the week before."

We're certain that we can expect a similar sales boom after the release of Metal Gear Solid 4 as well. In comparison, Chart-Track noted that "Xbox 360 sales were down by 11 per cent." The effects of Microsoft's price drop were strong, but looks like the power of GT overshadowed the efforts of Microsoft's bargain pricing.

For those in love with sales and numbers, this generation of consoles is proving rather interesting. It'll be fascinating to see the effect GT has on the American market, when it launches in a few weeks time.

When you hear the word "soon" from Polyphony Digital, you have to interpret it as "in a year, or our next game" at the very least. Anyway, Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi said they've been in talks with automobile manufacturers who initially "hated the idea of deformation, now they're slowly coming around to it ... We've still got a few to convince, but we will. Expect deformation in the very near future: very, very soon." Sounds almost too good to be true!

Yamauchi also talks briefly about Prologue, but it's nothing particularly new. He apologizes to fans for not being able to shovel out a full game all in one go, but we're fine with this set-up -- we want Polyphony to get the game to where they want it before releasing it.

The official Gran Turismo 5 Prologue soundtrack features a nice blend of indie dance rock, electronica, classic rock and brand new remixes from artists, such as Weezer, Mars Volta and DJ Shadow, and more. A brand new exclusive remix of Weezer's "Automatic" headlines the game's diverse soundtrack.

"The Gran Turismo 5 Prologue soundtrack gives fans the perfect audio accompaniment to high-octane racing from Daytona to Eiger Nordwand," said Jeff Reese, director, software marketing, SCEA in a recent press release. "The edgy variety of music complements the pure adrenaline rush fans experience as they eclipse 200 miles-per-hour in the most authentic driving simulator around."

See the complete soundtrack, after the cut.

Will you download Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, or will you buy the Blu-ray disc? Well, you may want to go to your local retail store and pick up the physical disc version. "Beyond the Apex" is a video documentary that's exclusively available on the Blu-ray disc. This trailer is but a small taste of this behind-the-scenes feature, which talks to various folks involved with, and inspired by, the legendary driving simulation game.

We've been driving around with a near-final version of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and we have to admit, we're impressed. One of the new features not found in the Japanese version of Prologue is split-screen multiplayer. We had to give it a spin.

The multiplayer mode lets you race on any of the game's six tracks, backwards or forwards. The cars you can race with are the ones you've unlocked in the campaign mode. Just like previous GT titles, earning new cars can take quite some time, so both of us were forced to race with the same car. Each player can adjust his or her settings, such as Automatic/Manual transmission, amount of steering assist, and type of physics (Standard versus Professional).

We were shocked to see that there was no apparent loss of detail in the split screen mode. The framerate was incredibly smooth, even with such incredibly detailed visuals being rendered. Unfortunately, there are no AI opponents in this two player mode: it's just you and your opponent. There's no rubberbanding, so the better racer can gain a significant lead.

After a few races, we easily concluded that split-screen multiplayer is a fantastic addition for the English language versions of Prologue. Not only does it capture the same visual fidelity of the single player mode, it does so with a silky smooth framerate that fans will appreciate. We can't wait to race PS Fanboy readers on the online circuit when the game releases in the next few weeks.

In the comments section of his most recent post on the PlayStation.Blog, SCEA producer Takau Imasaki mentioned that in-game voice chat and a private race setting will be available for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue in later updates. Now this news comes in as semi-official as it was not part of the original post, but was made in response to a reader's question. Imasaki wrote, "Private races with buddies and in-game chat are all in the works... but will not be ready from day one. Will keep you posted on the progress!"

We're hoping Mr. Imasaki makes sure that promise is kept. While we won't be seeing these additions by the time Prologue drives its way home with us, we're still anxiously awaiting to hit the GT racing circuit nonetheless. These new features are definitely great, but we can live without them for just a bit longer.

[Via CVG]