PS3 Fanboy

Environmental activist group Greenpeace released a video today to emphasize the need for greener manufacturing of today's game consoles. The three console manufacturers were found guilty of using various hazardous chemicals and materials, such aspolyvinyl chloride (PVC), phthalates, beryllium and bromine indicative ofbrominated flame retardants (BFRs).

According to Greenpeace, "e-waste" is the fastest growing type of waste in the world, and game consoles contribute a significant portion to this problem. The organization emphasized that both the Xbox 360 and PS3 contain high levels of phthalates, one of which "is known to interfere with sexual development in mammals: including humans and, especially, males." Yikes!

Things can get better, of course. PS3 uses "bromine-free" circuit boards. However, there are many steps for the console manufacturers to take before they can be classified as "green."

So confused. It's only been a number of hours since we told you that there will be no gunmetal Metal Gear Solid 4 hardware bundle in the UK. Imagine our surprise, then, when one of our commenters linked us to a pre-order page on Play.com for exactly that. There's no written info on the page and the only thing that's for certain is that the PS3 will have a 40GB hard drive and that it's exclusive to Play.com. That's if it exists at all.

We're not sure whether to believe Konami PR (via Gamespot) or Play.com. If you're in the market for a kick-ass looking PS3 + MGS4 for a pretty decent price (£329), then get your pre-order in. The worst that can happen is that Play.com send out a few "whoops!" emails. Worth a try though, right?

[Thanks Scott]

Siren: Blood Curse looks set to terrify PlayStation 3 owners when it launches this Summer in the US and Europe. Tsubasa Inaba, Senior Producer for the game, has posted a new trailer up on the PlayStation Blog for all of you phobophiles out there. This video is different from the one on the European PSN Store but is easily as, if not more, scary. We hope to hearing more about this episodic scare-a-thon on the PlayStation Blog soon, including the release date for the first episode. We're hoping soon.

Many PS3 gamers are excited for Haze, the PS3 "exclusive" FPS from Free Radical. Since the launch of the playable demo, opinions have been mixed: some loved the instant-action multiplayer offerings, while others were underwhelmed by the core gameplay mechanics of the game. While these initial reviews aren't necessarily representative of the critical mass, they do point towards a less-than-favorable outcome for this anticipated game.

• IGN (45/100) - "While their previous work was quite excellent, Haze is anything but, coming across as a middling, generic first-person shooter with bland visuals, a weak plot and laughable characters."
• GamersHell (65/100) - "Haze is still sitting in the wake of Call of Duty 4, and falls into that category of being just another FPS. The game tries to include different content with Nectar abilities and rebel dynamics, but a confused story, lacking gameplay elements and technical bugs bog the game down from being a stellar PS3 exclusive."
• The A.V. Club (C+) - "More narratively cohesive than the Halo trilogy, but less inventive and compelling than Resistance: Fall Of Man ... too bad it's paired with one of the more pedestrian FPS games to come along in recent years."

[Thanks, blank!]

This won't come as a huge shock, we're sure. Metal Gear Solid 4 is out in just over three weeks and we hadn't heard word one about a limited edition gunmetal PS3 bundle for UK. So it comes as no surprise to hear, definitively, that they won't be made available for the region. A Konami UK PR Rep confirmed it with Gamespot yesterday. We're assuming the same will be true for the rest of Europe, but don't quote us on that.

The only MGS4 hardware bundle available comes from SCEE and contains a 40GB black PS3, a copy of the game and a black SIXAXIS controller. Considering Konami UK has been so good to us with other aspects of the MGS4 launch (extra action figure in the LE version and open Metal Gear Online beta for the region) it's a shame they couldn't make it a hat trick and bring the gunmetal PS3 over to Europe.

Commenting on the "replica Uncharted gun," that we posted about yesterday, Sony has told Gamesindustry.biz that it is not officially endorsed and they certainly don't condone it. The gun is supposed to be a replica of Drake's weapon from the 2007 gem, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Without official licensing from Sony, however, selling it as such is just a sneaky attempt at cashing in on the game's success.

Sony has said that they are "investigating the source of this product and will proceed with the most appropriate action." Appropriate action, in this case, probably means letting loose their pack of half-starved, feral lawyers. So don't expect it to be around for too much longer.

There was an earthquake in Sichuan recently -- a pretty bad one. Corporations and individual people have been taking care of donations, including Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong. They have put together some eBay auctions for autographed PlayStation paraphernalia. All proceeds go to World Vision Hong Kong.

SiliconEra has put together a listing for the items and some of them are still without bids! The only problem is you have to be physically present in Hong Kong to claim these prizes. So if you want some pre-paid PlayStation Network cards signed by some pretty famous Sony folk, or a model, a singer, or an actress, go for it. It's for a good cause, but since it forces you to be in Hong Kong, it's a bit difficult to be the good Samaritan.

Here's another insight into the world of Resistance 2 -- the community relations manager, James Stevenson, covers all the aspects of Insomniac's upcoming shooter as far as multiplayer is concerned. A lot of the interview is focused on clearing up what is meant by "squad-based" play. That is, groups of squads in a match tackling separate objectives, while still working together. It's a lot less confusing if you listen -- that is, if you aren't mesmerized by the gameplay in the background.

While the new Prince of Persia is still a little ways off, we have a few pieces of artwork and some old-ish screenshots for you to look at thanks to Game Informer Online. What we'd really like to see is this game in motion -- taking on the Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter art style is a big risk, especially for an established franchise. Still, it looks pretty nice on its own and the artwork shows off some potential areas to explore as well as the new main character's blade. Enjoy!

This is one of the strange, most unique promos we've seen for any video game -- and we love it. Haze Multiplayer Date is a Hazethemed dating show. Yes, strange, no? We don't know who greenlit this promo, but we have to give props to Ubisoft and Free Radical to do something we haven't seen on the internet. And boy, we've seen a lot of stuff on the internet.

For Quarter one of 2008, that is. It's a small victory for our sleek black box; however, it surely is an interesting victory considering that the PS3 is a very pricey machine down under. According to Sony managing director Michael Ephraim who spoke with PALGN, the PS3 outsold the 360 by 45% in Q1 2008. Ephraim believes that, "it's a matter of time before [the PS3] surpass the install base [of the Xbox 360 in Australia]."

It looks like this far away PAL continent is starting to follow the footsteps of their European friends. Could Australia become the next Sony stronghold? Ephraim thinks so, "[Microsoft] were very weak in Continental Europe, so they have done fairly well here, but with the rate we're going we will definitely surpass the install base, we're just guessing somewhere around the end of the year, if not sooner if the trend keeps going the way it is."

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]

Sega has a pretty big list of games in production. Their espionage title, Alpha Protocol, was recently slapped with a February 2009 release date. That means it's going up against Killzone 2. Their other high-profile title, Valkyria Chronicles, got a release date of November 2008. This is a little easier to stomach since most of the big PS3 titles are hitting very soon, in September, or October. The spacing is beneficial to gamers, as we can probably get more games one at a time than a single massive purchase.

Of course Konami would be reluctant to end the Metal Gear series; it's one of their biggest franchises. While Kojima has insisted that Solid Snake must meet his end in the upcoming MGS4, it doesn't necessarily mean that the franchise will be over. Ryan Payton told MTV Multiplayer that "I think there's been some misconceptions that this is the last 'Metal Gear ... This is really just the last chapter of the saga of the Solid Snake story."

The franchise has many other directions it can go, but until we play through Snake's latest saga, we won't really know where. Perhaps we'll play as someone completely new, or go back in time once again (a la Metal Gear Solid 3). There are tons of possibilities.

[Via Joystiq]

Warhawk isn't the only PS3 exclusive to get its own official tournament. Thanks to a partnership between GGL and Ubisoft, Haze will be getting the same treatment. The 4v4 tournament will start properly on June 4th, prior to which a practice ladder will be running for people to get to grips with the game. Again, if you need help finding team mates, a forum has been set up on the GGL website for just that purpose.

The top 64 squads on the ladder when it closes on July 13th will be put forward to the elimination bracket and will compete to win the $5000 Grand Prize. If you fancy signing up, or finding out more, check out the GGL website.

It appears that many games this generation aren't meeting the 1080p HD standard that Sony set on PS3. Heck, many games aren't meeting the standard 720p HD resolution, either. For example, Grand Theft Auto IV runs at 640p on PS3. While these kind of shortcomings don't impact the overall visual fidelity, many gamers are still up in arms about these missing pixels.

Haze is the next game to fall under the careful watch of videophiles. The recently released demo, when scrutinized, is shown to be running at 576p. Free Radical's Derek Littlewood confirmed to Ripten that the final game also runs in a lower resolution. "That's where we ended up with for Haze ... but I don't understand why people care whether there's 20 pixels, 50 pixels, or 100 pixels more."

Other games, like Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 on Xbox 360, have used lower resolutions to improve overall visual effects. It should be up to every gamer to decide, with their own eyes, whether or not the lowered resolution has created a diminished visual experience for Haze.

[Via Digg]