PS3: Sony Lying About PS3 Sales?

After 1UP reported that PS3 sales were 'phenomenal' for October following a price cut and introduction of the 40Gb PS3 at $399, Sony CEO Howard Stringer said that the new $399 PlayStation 3, combined with the 80GB price cut, helped to sell over 100,000 consoles in America in the week ending November 11.

"It's the breakthrough we've been anticipating," he said. "We've been holding our breath."

The company reported that the PS3 has been selling about 35,000 consoles per week. Following the 80GB price cut, the company reported its sales rose to 75,000 in a week while the new 40GB model pushed it up to 100,000.

Now we have Bloomberg saying that the figure of 100,000 sales is actually the total number of Sony consoles sold for the week including the PS2. DOh. Way to go Sony. (Ed. Way to go 1UP!)

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PS3: Haze Delayed Until 2008, Ubisoft Congratulates

While Ubisoft are busy high-fiving themselves and fattening their expense accounts with news of a 52% boost in sales over 2007, the rest of us PS3 gamers will have to wait another 3 months or so before we see the light of day for Haze. Billed as the biggest (only?) first-person shooter PS3 exclusive since Resistance, the game has been pushed back from its December, 2007 release till 'sometime before March 31st, 2008'. Boo, fucking hiss. :( (Ed. who wouldn't get excited about a game involving big heavy machine guns, snipers and a drug-fucked protagonist loaded on 'nectar'? Thats another boo for you, Ubisoft.)

Via GamesIndustry.biz

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EDGE Scores Mass Effect 7/10 In December Issue

Coming from the notoriously finicky gaming magazine EDGE, a 7/10 score is actually quite decent. But when we are talking about one of Microsoft's biggest blockbusters for the Xbox 360, things start to look a little shaky. EDGE has only ever given out five 10/10 scores in just over nine years, but in the last three months Halo 3, The Orange Box, and now Super Mario Galaxy have all been made recipients. I'm a big fan of EDGE normally and have more respect for them than any other gaming publication. Still, I was very surprised to see the 10 given to Halo 3. Anyway, here are the rest of the scores:

Super Mario Galaxy - 10
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune - 8
Assassin’s Creed - 7
Crysis - 9
Mass Effect - 7
Call of Duty 4 - 9
Kane and Lynch - 6
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground - 6
The Simpson’s Game - 5
Zack and Wiki - 8
The Witcher - 5
Bladestorm - 8
Castlevania Dracular X - 7
Silent Hill Origins - 7
Hellgate: London - 6
Timeshift - 6
Mutant Storm Empire - 8
Guitar Hero III - 6
Beowulf - 5
Need for Speed: Pro Street - 6

And here is the rest of it

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Blacksite: Area 51 Review (360 / PS3 / PC)

Been playing the PC version as thats all that got shipped to me - and I have to say, I'm underwhelmed. The storyline sounded cool; Iraq followed by Starship Troopers-meets-War-of-the-Worlds aliens in smalltown Hicksville. The squad tactics also sounded cool too - although a little too simplistic compared to what they were touting. Visuals are nice, but thats it - nice. Physics and character movement are a total letdown and just feel stale, and not very well thought out. It all plays out very much like an FPS I would have expected from 3-4 years ago (albeit with prettier graphics) than a 'next-gen' FPS. I've yet to get even halfway through, but to be honest - like Medal of Honor: Airborne, I've completely lost any desire to carry on. Its destined to be one of those games I'll go back to next June when there's a complete drought of games out. Simply put, up against the likes of Crysis and COD4, the bar has been raised....and Area 51 doesn't even come close to clearing it.

6/10

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360 / PS3: Was Assassin's Creed Rushed To Market Too Soon?

A lot of gamers who got their hands on the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Ubisoft's latest game, Assassin's Creed, are reporting numerous graphical glitches, invisible walls and framerate slowdowns that exist throughout the game. Having viewed several videos, I am of the opinion; Yes, its a shabby piece of work. Ubisoft, why the rush for a mid-November launch when the run-up to Christmas is just weeks away? More after the jump.

DiggingTheWeb has a little mini-rant here about Assassin's Creed

The "Ladder Dance"



Double Assassin Glitch


The Horny Guard


The Wall Blunder


Glitches & Freezes


Potential fix for PS3 owners: disable the Information Board (press Triangle) and do not log in to PSN. Also, update to v2.01 as soon as its out.

Shameful isn't it? Makes you wonder just how much advertising space Ubisoft pays for on all those review sites that gave Assassin's Creed 9/10 - folks, you should be reviewing the game "as is" and "out of the box" - not according to whose paying you to have that second mortgage you just took out...

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PC: AMD Launches Phenom Processor

As much as I love the underdog, in this fight with Intel, AMD really needs to start pulling out some bigger hits than this. Continually delayed, under-performing and most definitely late to the party, comes AMD's newest line of CPU processors. The reviews are in, and they're not pretty...

Anandtech

PC Perspective

Hardware Canucks

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Think That Game Is Running In Full High-Def?

Think again.

Remember all those Microsoft and Sony adverts decreeing the death of standard-definition gaming? How the buzz words 720p and 1080p got hurled around like confetti at a fat, overpaid groom's wedding? How Samsung, LG, and Sharp, amongst others, made us think we needed Full HD LCD TV sets? Here's the truth for all you gaming-graphics-whores: Most games don't even render at 720p, let alone 1080p.

That LCD you splurged $3,000 for? Hardly being used. That $599 PS3 you shelled out for? Forget the whole HDMI-1080p hype. Click below to find out just how many games actually use the full HD spec...and then weep.

Here are two of the very latest games to be advertised as Full HD:

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360) 1024×600p 2xAA
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3) 1024×600p 2xAA
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3) 960×1080 in 1080p

Neither Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare or Uncharted run in the actual resolutions that are stated on the back of the box.

The reason most developers do this is to allow for more visual effects to be rendered on-screen without slowing the game down. Trying to code and develop a game with "next-gen" visuals, full-screen anti-aliasing, post-processing, and anisotropic filtering in full 1080p resolution is an incredibly difficult and time-consuming process. Even Sony's much-fabled Killzone 2 slated for release in 2008 won't be running at 1080p, but rather 720p.

Most gamers won't really notice the difference (did you before I posted this? No, didn't think so) but its still an interesting, if not contentious point to note, and one to definitely take on board next time you see gimmicky buzz words being bandied about. More from the pixel counter at Beyond3D.

Def Jam: Icon (PS3) 1152×648
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (PS3) 1920×1080 FullHD
Transformers (PS3) 960×1080
Pirates of the Caribbean (PS3 720p): 960×720
Pirates of the Caribbean (PS3 1080p): 780×1080
Oblivion (360): 1024×600 (PS3 version is full 720p)
ICO (PS2): 512×224p (less than Tekken on PS1 at 512×240)
VF5 (PS3 720p): 1024×1024 (same as 360)
VF5 (PS3 1080p): 1024×768

Some older games from the same thread:

Full Auto 2: 1920×1080 AA 4x, bad framerate - PS3
NBA Street: 1920×1080 AA 4x (30-60fps) - 360
LocoRoco Cocoreccho 1920×1080 MSAA 2x -PS3
Tony Hawk Project 8: 1040×584 AA - 360
Tony Hawk Project 8: 1280×720 - PS3
Virtua Tennis 3: 1920×1080 AA 2x - PS3, 360
XMB: 1920×1080p - PS3
Dashboard: 1280×720p - 360
Perfect Dark Zero: 1138×640p - 360
Halo 3: 1152×640p - 360
Call of Duty 3: 1120×630p 360
Ninja Gaiden Sigma: 1280×720p PS3
Project Gotham Racing 3: 1024×600 360
Tomb Raider: 1024×600 360
Ridge Racer 7:
NBA 07: 1920×1080 - PS3
NBA 08: 1920×1080 - PS3
Tony Hawk Proving Ground: 600p - PS3
Tony Hawk Proving Ground: 720p - 360
GRAW2: 720p - PS3
GRAW2: 720p AA 2x - 360
Super Rub a Dub: 1600×1080 - PS3
GTHD: 1440×1080 - PS3
Super Stardust HD: 1280×1080 - PS3
Skate: 1536×864 - PS3
Skate: 1280×720 AA - 360
Bioshock: 1280×720 - 360
Harry Potter: 1280×720 MSAA 2x PS3 ?
Pixel Junk Racers: 1920×1080 PS3
Heavenly Sword: 1280×720 AA 4x PS3
Blast Factor Demo: 1920×1080 PS3
The Darkness Demo: 1024×576 PS3

There you have it. Sucks doesn't it?

Source

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PC: Budget Builder's Guide (Anandtech)

In recognition for all my hard work and hours of Force 10 geekness, comes my first bona-fide article for tech-site-to-the-gurus Anandtech. (Nothing to do with whoring myself bountifully forum-wide, I promise you.)

Regardless of reason, if you're into building your own all-in-one entry-level office system for roughly $600, or are wondering how to build your own kick-ass gaming system for $1000 - including an LCD and all peripherals, look no further than the November Budget Builder's Guide. And yes, Dell, HP, Sony, etc - all rip you off. You can do it all so much better, and by yourself...

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PS3: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Massive Attack Trailer

I have to say, its looking pretty cool. Coming on November 19th. Enjoy...

And here is the rest of it

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Writing a Game Review

Writing anything that resembles a professional game review isn’t something that can be done in 10 minutes and forgotten right after. It takes time and dedication. This is a small guide to help anyone who wants to create a game review. Note that I am in no way a professional game critic, nor did I receive any extra education on the subject. I would just like to share some of my techniques and advice and hope that it’s helpful in any way.

1) Don’t be redundant. If you wrote something that is pretty self-explanatory then there is no need for further explanation. For example, “Supreme Commander is an RTS or Real-Time Strategy game where you take control of a set amount of units on the battlefield and wage war against the enemy by using strategy”. That’s completely unnecessary information, especially if it’s for a hardcore gaming website. “Supreme Commander is an RTS”, and then you add specific information about the game and not the genre.

It’s important that you make your review coherent and to the point. You don’t want to bore your readers. Instead of saying “Your character is easy to control by moving your mouse and hitting the WASD keys to move your character” you can just simply say “Enemy Territory’s control scheme is simple to grasp”. That’s much more pleasing to read and much more to the point.

Don’t write overly fluff material, such as descriptions on all the weapons and vehicles found in the game or an entire strategy guide. Just write about the weapons or vehicles that stand out from the rest that are noteworthy.

2) Don’t be vague. If you write “Command & Conquer is fun” then write about what makes it fun. If you write “I hate Lair’s control scheme” then explain yourself a bit more by adding “I hate Lair’s control scheme because it relies on the Sixaxis’ inaccurate motion sensors” or something like that.

3) Focus on the aspects of the game that stand out, whether it is for good or for bad. Don’t go off focusing on meaningless things and things that are taken for granted, such as “In multiplayer you can hit a key and a chat box opens up”. That’s nothing special. However, “In multiplayer, you can’t type to other players”, that’s noteworthy information because it’s an important standard feature that wasn’t included.

4) Use spelling and grammar checkers. It is important that your review can be read and understood. Don’t write like a 3rd grader and use complete sentences.

5) Read your review aloud. If you read it in your mind you can accidentally skip over important mistakes, whereas if you read it aloud those mistakes can be identified by your ears. Make sure you read multiple times. If you have a feeling that something isn’t right then something isn’t right. Sometimes it’s best if you just tear down the entire paragraph and start from scratch. Be sure to let others proof-read so that they may contribute any important input that you may not have thought of. Don’t rush your review.

6) Vary your choice of words. Don’t be monotonous and basic. You want your review to catch a person’s attention and be entertaining at the same time. You can do this by being witty or funny, or write the review in alternate ways. Don’t make your review “Doom is an FPS. Doom is fun. Doom has 17 levels. Doom is scary”, write it like “Every second of the 17 levels contained in Doom is a heart-pounding shooter-fest where enemies may lurk in any corner, ready to scare your pants off…”

7) Try to put yourself in the shoes of a person who has never played the game but is interested in it. What do they want to read? What information is important to them?

This is just some advice from an amateur reviewer who has a lot to learn herself. I hope it helps a little.

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