PS3 Fanboy

An article published by Bloomberg today concludes that the PS3 "is gaining ground" on the Xbox 360. The article cites the PS3's ability as a Blu-ray player and software exclusives such as Metal Gear Solid 4 and LittleBigPlanet as reasons why it will "hold onto its lead" after outselling the 360 in the first five months of 2008. According to the NPD Group, the PS3 sold 1.2 million units while the 360 sold 1.12 million units. Of course, Microsoft isn't about to give up so easily. When asked about the PS3's dominance over the 360 so far this year, Microsoft spokesperson David Dennis claims the race is "far from over and we are confident that we have a winning strategy."

Speaking to Destructoid, Aaron Greenberg, Director of Product Management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, added fuel to the red-hot fanboy fire when discussing PS3's upcoming lineup for 2008. Greenberg's statement is certainly going to inspire some truly extraordinary comments from PS3 and Xbox 360 fans alike. While he is a Microsoft spokesperson, we wonder: do his complaints have merit? Read on:

"I know a lot of folks enjoy watching the console wars and we would never underestimate our competition. But answer to your question specifically, didn't Sony promise all of this last year including Home as well? We have been fighting Sony's promises from the day we entered the market and if you remember at that time it was all about PS2 being an online cybercity with partner announcements from the likes of RealNetworks and AOL. Then three years ago at E3 they showed what PS3 games would supposedly look like with the Killzone 2 video, that we are now learning will ship four years later. That means that we will have shipped Gears of War and Gears of War 2 before they can even get Killzone out the door," he said. "Think back to GDC 2007 when Sony promised to leap ahead in online with the Sony Home unveil. Here we are two years later and multiple delays for a product that appears to have little to no buzz. Where are the achievements? The friends list integration across all games? Where is the long-promised video store? Where are all the other products using and networking with their CELL chip? How come Blu-ray did not result in better games? What happened with Sixaxis and rumble? Where is the complete 1080p game library we were promised? If Blu-ray as they said would be such a catalyst to PS3 console sales, then why have PS3 sales over the past couple months not seen any lift since the format victory?"

Certainly, being a Playstation devotee has been frustrating. The system has been plagued by a slow start, and a number of key delays. Home and in-game XMB continue to be promises that have failed to materialize. This is a "ten year life cycle" on Sony's part -- but should that mean we should wait so long for the good stuff?

[Via GameDaily]

Is Aaron Greenberg right? Has Sony failed to keep its promises?
	Yes - Sony needs to keep its game up
	No - he's just a Microsoft shill

Microsoft execs have been quick to point out that the Xbox will not be integrating Blu-ray into their console any time soon. Microsoft's European boss, Chris Lewis, is committed to bringing digital downloads to consumers, and believes that's where the future is. "Going forwards, digital downloads is really where it's at," Lewis told GamesIndustry.biz. Xbox Live Video Marketplace currently supplies downloadable HD rentals of movies and television shows. Sony's PS3 does not currently feature a similar service.

"Before very long we will look back wistfully at shiny discs as something that was somewhat a historic phenomenon in a way that we kind of think about vinyl or VCRs today," Lewis stated. While the Microsoft-backed HD DVD format has "died" in the next generation format wars, Lewis believes that Blu-ray will follow the same fate. When will digital distribution take dominance? "I think that's going to be the case in the next 12-18 months."

Digital distribution would be great if the movie selection and video quality could match the offerings of a disc-based medium. Blu-ray discs offer 1080p video, uncompressed video and special features. Without the proper infrastructure and bandwidth to support such large files, we think digital distribution of HD video will take much longer to truly proliferate. Ultimately, only time will tell.

[Via Joystiq]

Every company has to put some spin on the monthly NPD numbers. But this month, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg is taking a preemptive strike. NPD numbers will come out later this today, and already Microsoft is trash-talking the PS3. "Our expectation is that because of our shortages at retail during February, we will sell less than PS3," he told Next Gen. "That's not a surprise to us. I don't know what Sony's reaction will be to that, but it will definitely be a bit of a hollow victory. The competition sure didn't show up [in February]."

However, it looks like MS is also conceding March figures as well, saying that their so-called supply issues will be rectified in April. "By April, we will be in a very healthy inventory situation," he told Reuters. This is a crucial month for both console manufacturers, as the release of Grand Theft Auto IV will certainly stir up the charts. Will Xbox 360's exclusive DLC make an impact on console sales?

Greenberg then further puts the PS3 in doubt, and its use of Blu-ray. "I can tell you that we're not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray disc association regarding integrating Blu-ray to the Xbox 360 experience," Greenberg says. "And we don't know what will happen to Blu-ray. Is it the next DVD, or the next UMD? Your guess is as good as ours ... we don't expect [Blu-ray's win] to give a boost to PS3 sales, and we don't expect it to impact our sales. Frankly, we think it's the games that sell the consoles."

Of course, Microsoft are being coy about this entire thing, stating that they have "made no such announcement. Games are what are driving consumers to purchase game consoles and we remain focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available." Nothing new there, then. Nothing's confirmed yet, but we're intrigued to see where (if anywhere) these talks will lead.

It wasn't too long ago when a Microsoft executive was trash-talking Sony. Nay, going so far as to make a bet against their rival gaming manufacturer. Case in point: J. Allard made predicted that Sony's PSP would downright flop. He was wrong, and to honor a bet with Newsweek's N'Gai Croal, he donned dreads and updated his Microsoft company profile page, admitting "N'Gai had it right," and that the PSP was not a failure.

Looks like Microsoft is up to the same antics again. This time, Xbox director of technical strategy and attack blogger Andre "Ozymandias" Vrignaud, is the one to take a bet with N'Gai. He states that "My prediction is that you're going to see the creation of a new, low-end SKU this holiday. It'll likely remove integrated WiFi, memory card reader, and most controversially, all backward compatibility. (Remember, there's still some back-compat hardware in even the new "software only" back compat SKUs; removing the remaining CPU is a significant cost savings.) You'll see a new WiFi dongle made available. And finally, this low-end SKU will likely come with a smaller 40 GB hard drive. The low-end price will be set at $399, with the higher-end 80 GB SKU dropping to $499."

An interesting concept, to say the least. Ozymandias expects it to arrive by Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year in the US. N'Gai accepted Microsoft's bet ... only this time, the loser will have to buy a steak dinner instead of alter their hair styles (which will simply not be as fun to write about).

[Thanks, Copa!]

For those not in the know, parkour is essentially the running around a city and using buildings as stepping stones. The art of movement? Freerunning? Hmm, it's a bit complicated to sum up, so perhaps a video of it would explain it better. Or a fantastic movie. Regardless of our inability to describe the street acrobatics of parkour, know that it's awesome and DICE's upcoming FPS, Mirror's Edge, wants to capture the feeling of the human body doing such stunts. It's essentially moving Prince of Persia into first-person and we can dig that.

The game wants to pay attention to the body like no other FPS, taking note of acceleration and deceleration, head movements whilst running, and motion while you climb or jump. To pull off the parkour-inspired moves, you've got to set in a sequence of button-presses, utilizing some sort of "reaction time" slow motion feature. The game, you can infer, isn't about shooting people so much as it is about knowing your way around the huge levels and being able to pull off these escape stunts. Gunning someone down is the ultimate goal, but in multiplayer at least, chase sequences are going to be the fun part. We're excited to see how this one turns out!

In addition to the nifty trailer we've embedded for you, we've got some more information regarding the Square Enix title Romancing SaGa Tactics The Last Remnant. No, we're not going to blab about the characters or basic plot (other than the kidnapping of your younger sister Irena). What we've learned is that there is only one main playable character, Rush Sykes, not two as previously rumored.

Even so, expect large-scale battles with numerous personalities instead of faceless infantry. If you played any of the old Ogre Battle games (which had subtitles named after many Queen songs -- March of the Black Queen, for example), imagine that. What we mean is a "main" character surrounded by some faceless infantry. With that, you'll imagine a fairly turn-based battle system with some more cinematic "realistic" experiences, such as the morale bar and some actions to take in the middle of something else (during a fight sequence, you may get some button cues to unleash a flurry of extra moves, increasing said morale bar). That's all we're going to say for now. Enjoy the trailer and we'll keep you up to date!

LucasArts is making a game called Fracture. We've covered it once or twice before. We're really excited about it. Taking that into consideration, when we read a new preview of the title, our excitement grew even more because the terrain deformation mechanic is starting to make more sense to us. We'll explain how it works without going into all the back story -- read that if you want. What we will tell you is the visuals look sharper and resolutions higher than 720p are being considered.

You can carry two weapons at a time, along with four types of grenades. Each weapon has a primary (shooting) feature and a secondary. The secondary features primarily (get it?) deal with terrain deformation -- the machine gun will chip away at the ground, making a staircase on a steep cliff. The shotgun bullets bounce off walls and the rocket launcher creates a subterranean torpedo. Another weapon serves as a type of vacuum, sucking up dirt and debris into a gigantic ball, then rolling it into enemies for an eventual explosion. The grenades serve different purposes as well, mostly for terrain deformation. They're really cool sounding, but that's for you to read up on. Look for the game in early 2008 as well as more coverage over E3!

It's nice to see Turok come back from the horrible spiral it started to take after the first games. IGN got to test ride the dino-hunter title recently and their verdict is what we wanted to hear: "beyond sweet." Let's explain. The jungle you're stuck in on some foreign world is alive with options. Two soldiers approach your hiding place. Shoot them? They'll sound the alarm and waves of enemies will come, not to mention dinosaurs who grow hungry and like loud noises. Bow and arrow them? Yeah, but that's boring. Sneak around and knife 'em? Nah! How about you stick a silencer on your gun, aim carefully and shoot the nearby dinosaur egg nest, and watch the mother run out and feast on the intruders walking by? Now that sounds fun!

Much like plenty of other FPS titles out there, every weapon comes with a secondary fire option and each of these can be used appropriately in a multitude of situations. We hope Tek Arrows come back. Those were nifty. In addition to secondary fire on your weaponry, you'll have context-sensitive commands if you want to, er, "stealth kill" a dino, or if a dino is trying to eat your face. Sounds good, but might be a bit time consuming in those 16-player online matches complete with dinosaurs to kill everyone.

We're cautiously optimistic. The game sounds glorious, looks fantastic and from the hands-on, we get the idea the game has a lot going for it. What could ruin it? Not poor A.I., as it's being touted as something to be reckoned with. Length of the game? Nope, the online mode sounds unique and fun, too. We're not sure, but we think that this new Turok game will indeed bring the series to a new beginning and it will rock.

You know that feeling you get when your gut just tells you something is going to be good? It's usually wrong in the end, but until you know for sure it's just a great means to power the hype train? We've got that feeling about Alone in the Dark. Because they scrapped using a subtitle or a numerical indicator, it tells us they've re-imagined the franchise and will take the game down a new, hopefully scary, path. An interview with producer Noir Polloni explains more, after the jump.

Shooters! They're everywhere, like a hail of bullets aimed straight for your wallet. Most of them suffer from the "well, we're best on PC" virus, so getting word of a new shooter that has its crosshairs exclusively locked onto consoles is always fantastic news. Developers of the Battlefield titles, Digital Illusions, revealed a console-only (PS3 and 360) FPS titled Mirror's Edge that is supposedly going to shake up the genre.

Supposedly, it's going to have a cyberpunk design to it. In anime terms, think Lain except replace all philosophical and existential mumbo jumbo with explosions. If that doesn't do it for you, then maybe the anime Texhnolyze would be a better comparison. There aren't many cyberpunk movies out there besides the Matrix. So, from Digital Illusions, we'll have Battlefield: Bad Company and the futuristic Mirror's Edge to choose from. Pick your poison, or bullet.

Read the title again, then think about Blu-ray. The small fraction of people taking advantage of a console's video playback function? We're almost certain most of that market is centered on the PS3 crowd. We're driving the Blu-ray format home. The Diffusion Group, however, isn't looking at the PS3 alone, but the three next-gen consoles together. How much do people use video playback on those? Apparently, "80 percent of console owners have the option, only 30 percent realized it was part of its feature set, and only 13 percent actually utilize it." Chances are we are the bulk of that 13 percent.

We know that many parents who may buy game systems for their children are largely uneducated to the video game industry and all the functions available not only to their kids, but to themselves as well. Thus why people still have parts of their homes dubbed "dens" or "game rooms". The PS3 deserves front-and-center attention to a family's media center and these results reflect that many are not even aware of the awesomeness of Blu-ray movies. Or nobody watches DVDs on the 360 or the Wii ... well, the 360. Wii owners don't exactly have a choice.

In one of the weirder twists in the Sony/Immersion saga, Microsoft has sued Immersion, claiming breach of contract over their settlement with Sony. According to the lawsuit, Microsoft is owed a certain amount of the money that Sony paid Immersion earlier this year to settle the long running force-feedback lawsuit. And not a small amount of money either, as explained by Immersion in their rebuttal to Microsoft's claims:

"Immersion is obligated to pay Microsoft a minimum of $15.0 million for any amounts received from Sony up to $100.0 million, plus 25% of any amounts over $100.0 million up to $150.0 million, and 17.5% of any amounts over $150.0 million."

In addition, Microsoft also wants Immersion to pay a variety of other fees including damages and attorney fees. Immersion feels rather strongly that they shouldn't have to pay though and say they are willing to fight it, so it looks like they're going back to court. And considering it took them four years to finish the lawsuit with Sony, it doesn't bode well that this will be a quick trial. What's next? Nintendo sues Microsoft for suing Immersion over suing Sony?

Paying for a subscription would certainly seem to be a possibility, especially as the long-rumored feature upgrades come filing into the PlayStation Network. When speaking with Geoff Keighley on the latest edition of Gametrailers' Bonus Round, Eric Lempel spoke about the PlayStation Network's current free service and that, "in time, anything can change." Comparing the PlayStation Network to Microsoft's Xbox Live service, Lempel, Sony's director of Network Operations reconfirmed "we're working on an achievements system," describing its inclusion as "an important feature." Voice-chat across all games is also something (thankfully) that Mr. Lempel touched base on, saying "talking across games ... definitely builds momentum for games and actually migrate(s) users to other games and keeps you in touch with your gaming community." We couldn't agree more.

Exactly when these implementations will make it to a PS3 near you, via firmware upgrade, is uncertain. "It's not in the next firmware update but it's something we're working on," says Mr. Lempel. We certainly hope so, though we are catching wind of the potential trade-off here. What do you think? Would you pay a subscription fee (similar to Xbox Live) for a plan that allows cross-game invites, built-in voice chat for all multiplayer games and a similar achievement points implementation? Or would you rather say the heck with all that, and voice to keep the PlayStation Network free for all, setting it apart from Microsoft's Xbox Live service?

[Via Next-Gen]