The SIXAXIS Report 10.09.07
Posted by Mark Salmela on 10.09.2007
Capcom to focus more on the PS3? Plus, news on Unreal Tournament 3, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, MGS4, the worst PS3 game, and why the DelayStation 3 can’t win the console wars.
Hello again, my furry friends, it's time show some Sony love! It has been another relatively slow PS3 news week, as Halo 3 is still dominating the news and sales charts. Hopefully things are on their way to calming down, but the only game I see coming this week that will have any chance against Halo 3 is The Orange Box, which got delayed on the PS3 until the end of the year. That really sucks too, as up until that announcement I was going to own at the PS3 version, but now I'm settling for the 360 version. Hey, if Gordon Freeman sat around waiting, do you think he'd stand any sort of chance against those damn alien oppressors? No, he took action, and so will I *that's got to be one of the worst puns I've ever done*. Just ignore that last paragraph and get The Orange Box already. Half-Life 2, HL2 Episodes One and Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2, it's one of the best packages you could get this year for $60.
Also, I just read IGN's review of Folklore, and maybe I'm missing something, but there's no way that game is a 9/10 when both WarHawk and Motorstorm couldn't get higher than the upper 8's. At least judging from the demo I played with my friends, we all agreed it was pretty bad. I'll have to give the final copy a look sometime.
Any who!
She can sing! She can dance! After all, miss, this is SONY NEWS~!
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune near completion, demo coming soon!
Naughty Dog, makers of games like the original Crash Bandicoot games on the PS1, as well as the Jak and Daxter games, have just announced they have almost finished their next game for the PS3, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. The game will be coming November 20, 2007 exclusively for the PS3 in the US. Look for a demo of the game to come up on the PSN sometime in late October. The game looks to be another surefire hit, Naughty Dog is easily one of the best developers on the Sony bandwagon and I expect another great hit this holiday season. As for the rest of the world, expect Uncharted sometime around the middle of December.
Credit: Naughty Dog
Capcom to show more Sony love?
According to Japanese Capcom President, Haruhiro Tsujimoto, Capcom plans to focus more software development to the PS3. He mentioned they won't be abandoning the other consoles, as Capcom will remain multiplatform *don't worry, Devil May Cry 4 and Resident Evil 5 are still coming to 360*, but with the recent favoring of Microsoft games such as Dead Rising and Lost Planet, it's good to see Capcom will be focusing more of their time on the PS3.
A nice set of updates on the PSN this week, as demos for both The Simpson's game, and Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War, have gone live. Also, in addition to those two demos, there's a bunch of new videos up, as well as Go! Sports Ski. A budget title for $2.99 by Yukes.
Honestly, I'm not afraid to say, this is the WORST game on the PSN. Holy crap is this game bad, I played this game with my friends and it was unanimous, the only good part of the game is the text messages when you play online. You see, this game doesn't support voice chat, or even full text, all you can do is send about 20 different horribly translated messages, ranging from "Good evening" to "I ran out of the energy". That's right, this game is so bad, they didn't even take the time to properly translate this abomination of a game. Not to mention I've played N64 games that play better than this. There's no way you can control your character, and at times you character will just stop skiing *literally* and do whatever the hell he wants. It's not those stupid power up things that don't do shit either, the game simply doesn't respond, it's just bad programming. Also, this game only has 2 levels, 2! Save yourself $3 and buy a lottery ticket, it'll be three times as fun as this game.
Credit: Sony
Unreal Tournament 3 not delayed?
Well there's been a lot of back and forth news regarding whether or not Unreal Tournament 3 for the PS3 has been delayed or not, as now Epic Game's own Mark Rein has commented on the matter. According to Rein, the so called "delay" for the PS3 version of UT 3 was just a warning to its shareholders that the possibility of a delay until 2008 is there, but that "they are doing everything in their power" to get the game released this year. In a positive twist for PS3 users, Rein commented that the reason the PS3 version is now taking longer than expected is because they are now adding more to the game, as before the PS3 version was expected to be inferior to the PC version, leaving out a few maps and such. This is no longer the case, as according to Rein, the PS3 version will have all the same features as the PC version will, and it still might make a 2007 release. The PC version will still make a November 2007 release no matter what.
I really think it's great Epic is trying to get the PS3 version equal to the PC version, but honestly, they could just release the maps a month or two later via the PSN if a couple of maps is all that's holding back the PS3 version from making it's 2007 release. Because trust me, the PS3 needs more AAA games now!
Metal Gear Solid 4 interview clarifies more features
According to Kojima Productions Assistant Producer, Ryan Payton, Metal Gear Solid 4 will not be leaving any loose ends for a possible MGS5, as he says MGS4 will definitely tie up the story. He also clarifies; MGS4 will have the classic top-down view previous MGS games have had, in addition to a first person mode as well as an over-the-shoulder view like in games such as Resident Evil 4. There will also be a setting for an auto lock-on for those who are bad at aiming, used by pressing the square button to lock-on, but can be turned off for typical shooting.
Another cool feature is the flashback, which during cut scenes allows you to flashback to previous MGS games and view related clips to what they're talking about in MGS4. So, for instance, if someone is talking about Metal Gear Rex, you can press a button and be sent to a cut scene from MGS2 when Metal Gear Rex was introduced. I think this is another very cool feature to what looks to be an incredible game, coming exclusively to the PS3 in spring 2008. I know a lot of people, including myself, who have a tough time following the story in MGS games, so it'll be really cool to have flashbacks and watch cut scenes from the previous games and go "oh yeah, I remember that".
The full interview is included below in the "Video B3yond" section.
Credit: Ryan Payton
Quick News:
Rumor had started up that a big announcement was coming from Sony on October 12, announcing either a price drop or the 40 GB PS3. Sony has gone on record now saying they are not making any such announcement at this time, but with so much info coming up proving the existence of the 40 GB, it's almost a guarantee it'll come any day now.
Speaking of the 40 GB, it is official for Europe now, as well as Australia, leaving the US/Canada the only place to not officially have a 40 GB PS3.
BlackSite: Area 51 has been delayed for the PS3, citing problems getting the Unreal engine up and running as the cause, adding to the list of Stranglehold and possibly Unreal Tournament 3 as games delayed only on the PS3 because of troubles with the Unreal engine.
For everyone thinking we're going to see Halo on PS3 anytime soon or any Bungie games on PS3. It looks like even though Bungie officially left Microsoft, they will stay a Microsoft partner and produce games under Microsoft. So basically Bungie will become a second party developer for Microsoft like Naughty Dog *makers of Jak and Uncharted* being a second party developer for Sony.
Anyone looking to experiment with replacing their hard drives on their PS3 should be aware now that using a 7200 RPM hard drive, as opposed to the normal 5400 RPM drive, will wield slightly faster performance. The drive does make the PS3 slightly hotter, reportedly 5 degrees hotter, but it did load demos 10 - 30 seconds faster on average. So it's a bit of a risk, but it looks like if you can't stand the loading times off the hard drive you should look for a 7200 RPM hard drive.
Anyone looking forward to the E for All Expo, coming October 18 – October 24 will be disappointed, as it looks as if both Microsoft and Sony have declined to have a major presence at the upcoming public expo. Basically E for All will be a glorified games convention, and I doubt we will see any major news from it. It's sad to say that the Expo probably won't have any major announcements, but there have been so many major announcements from TGS and E3, there's not much left to announce.
According to Game Informer, the next Harvest Moon game will feature online play. Screw MGS4, Harvest Moon will have online play! Harvest Moon fans rejoice, for the rest of us, we'll keep on laughing.
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune will support 1080i in addition to 720p due to high demand. I still recommend anyone who can run both go 720p, progressive looks a lot better then interlaced for games, despite 1080i having a higher pixel count. Progressive just provides a much cleaner picture with a better black ratio.
The PlayStation 3 exclusive racer Toy Home, previously announced in July, will be coming to Japan only as of this writing. We were previously under the impression this living room racer would be coming to the US, but that has since been proven false. The game will be made by Game Republic, makers of games such as Folklore and Genji: Days of the Blade. On the plus side, the game will use rumble controls, yippee!
Video B3yond!
Some gameplay footage of Uncharted, taken from a beta version. There are a few minor gripes I saw from that demo, but mostly because the guy who was playing it sucked at aiming. Naughty Dog has yet to make a bad game so I have faith Uncharted will be awesome, and I'll definitely have my hands on impressions once the demo goes public at the end of the month.
Metal Gear Solid 4 interview, and I just can't say enough positive stuff about MGS4.
More Burnout: Paradise stuff, the game could turn out to be really awesome, if they can avoid the slowdown issues plaguing a lot of next generation racers with destructible environments, it really takes away from the experience.
The One Man Water Cooler~!
Well my children, today I'd like to talk about a little something that's been bothering me as of late, and by bothering, I mean pissing me the hell off!
You see, Sony announced the successor to its PlayStation 2 in May of 2005, to be called *what else*, the PlayStation 3. Now, no official launch date was given, but heavy rumor was they were planning on a release in March of 2006 *the month the PSP had launched a year before*, with the slight chance that it may launch at the end of 2005 to compete with the XBOX 360. But then, we got a delay, as Sony officially announced it was pushing back the launch of the PS3 until November of 2006, and this, my friends, was the first delay for the PlayStation 3. It wouldn't be the last, we're a long time from seeing the last delay on the PlayStation 3, and if things keep going the way they are, we may NEVER see the end to this madness of delaying title after title for the PS3.
This week I would like to talk about the real reason Sony is losing the next generation console wars. Now sure, bad marketing and bad publicity *not to mention the original price point shock* started the PS3 on the wrong foot, but with 110 million PS2 users, there was almost no way Sony could mess it up with a slightly higher price point, but they did...
The Xbox 360 and the Wii are both right around 11 million units sold, I call that a drop in the bucket of the potential buyers of this next generation of the console wars. I still think the race is far from over, anyone can win, but at the rate we are heading the only thing I can guarantee is that the DelayStation 3 WILL NOT win the war.
The PS3 was originally supposed to launch with around 40 games, and guess what it launched with? I don't have the official numbers, but if my mind serves me right, it couldn't have been more then 10 or 12. That means that 75% of the initial games set for the PS3 launch in November 2006 were delayed, 75%! Now some will say, "But Mark! It was the PS3 launch, give them a break, they needed more time to work with the hardware!" To that, I say, you're right. I can not place a lot of blame on the launch titles, or even the titles in the first couple of months that got delayed; they simply didn't have time to work with the console. But that time has passed, the PS3 is approaching 1 calendar year on the market and still, almost every major blockbuster game from Sony has been met with a delay.
Halo 3 is an amazing game, and definitely sold more then a few 360's, but it didn't move as many units as predicted, it wasn't the "end all" of video games, and nor will Super Mario Galaxy or Super Smash Bros Brawl. Sony really could have cleaned house this holiday season, a price cut is nice, but software moves the hardware, and that is a cold, hard fact. There's no question about it, at $500, or even $600, the PS3 could have cleaned house this year. But it is due to delays of games such as Killzone 2, Metal Gear Solid 4, Home, Devil May Cry 4, and many other blockbuster games, that Sony is bound to get last place this holiday season.
Just look at some of the recent delays for the PS3, and this is just off the top of my head: BlackSite: Area 51, Stranglehold, The Orange Box, Uncharted, Unreal Tournament 3 *though not 100% official it's very likely*, Oblivion: Game of the Year Edition, DiRT, Devil May Cry 4, Turok, Mercinaries 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, Metal Gear Solid 4, and there's many, many more.
Now sure, some of those games are multiplatform and got delayed for other consoles too, but for the most part, those are Sony only delays. Some will say they have no say over whether or not they get delayed, and I say that is a bunch of crap, Sony goes and works specifically with developers hands on, and they are working with their own technology for games they have been working on for *in most cases* years. There's no reason games like Killzone 2 are getting delayed over a year past its initial launch date *Christmas 2006, now coming spring 2008*. Some say Sony will lose the console wars because they lost too many exclusives, I say they will lose because people like me are fed up with waiting for all of these triple A titles Sony promised all of us back in May of 2005.
There's a reason Sony doesn't even announce launch dates of its PSN games, as after Calling All Cars was set to be released every week for over an entire month, people got fed up with waiting for Calling All Cars, and sales were severely hurt. Sony has lost almost all of its exclusive games this holiday season to delays with the exception of Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune *which Uncharted still got delayed 3 weeks in the US*.
The price point is fine; the number of exclusives is acceptable, the only real reason I see for which Sony will get a distant third place this holiday season and fall even further behind in the console wars is because they failed the consumer. They failed me, they failed their fan base, they failed you, they failed all of us. Sony Computer Entertainment failed to deliver its promise of great video games for this holiday season, and for that, they will fail, miserably.
I said earlier the console wars are far from over, which they still are, but Sony, this is from me to you, you are on your last straw. I don't care how awesome your first quarter of 2008 looks, if you delay your games any longer, the fans will turn on you. It is now time for the PS2 fan base to look for a next generation console to buy, there will be no more waiting around, and they are just about fed up with waiting for you. Both Microsoft and Nintendo are releasing triple A awesome games RIGHT NOW and they aren't going to wait around for you guys to play catch up any longer. I bought my PS3 at launch from a reserve ticket; I denied selling my PS3 on e-bay because I had faith in you guys, but that faith is wearing thin. Sony, your company has fallen severely into debt with how much money you guys have lost recently in your other production departments, but yet you put billions of dollars into the PlayStation 3, and it is one of your last hopes to make up this huge defecate. People may not believe me, but you could potentially bankrupt your company if you don't save your PlayStation brand and make back that money, and soon... Let's hope you know what you are doing and listen to what I have told you today. Stop delaying your games and get them onto the market, now!
My Entourage~!
The Full Circle by Mike Minotti, and I got to find a better way to insult this man! Nintendophiles by Theo Fraser The Select and Start News by Vincent Chiucchi, who keeps trying to steal my thunder on the 40 GB PS3! This reminds me, we need to get all the 411mania games writers together for a battle royal, because it would be comedy gold watching internet writers smack each other around. You know this generation's console wars are going to come down to whether or not I can take Mike and Theo in a fight to the death.
Signing Off, hope you enjoyed The Report!
Well, it was a pretty busy week for me, so pardon the lack of real news *there wasn't much anyways*. This next week might be a little busy as well, but I don't work 20 hours next weekend, so I'll have more time to write about… ohhh I don't know, why The Office is overrated? Nah, too easy; just look for more Sony news, and eventually within the next week or two my first review, DiRT for the PS3!
