The SIXAXIS Report 02.26.08

Posted by Mark Salmela on 02.26.2008

The fallout from the 2008 Game Developers Conference. Also, I show everyone how to change out their PS3 hard drive, cover the resignation of Sony President Phil Harrison, report the news on games like Motorstorm 2, Haze, Patapon, Street Fighter IV, Home, Metal Gear Solid 4, WarHawk, Prototype, the awesomeness that is Tank War, and more in the SIXAXIS Report.




Well I must say everyone, I have to apologize. I had this week all planned to be a big week in news, as I expected Sony to completely dominate the news from the Game Developers Conference 2008 which was held last week. After all Home, Little Big Planet, and Singstar PS3 were all announced at GDC 2007, and GDC 2006 was also a big showing for the PS3. Needless to say I was very disappointed and surprised to see that Sony basically did next to nothing for GDC 2008. While Microsoft had big blow outs like announcing Gears of War 2, Sony had very little to show at GDC. But the show must go on, so I'm going to do my best to scramble a bunch of tiny news stories together for you guys. Just because Sony disappointed at GDC 2008 doesn't mean I have to! Let's get to it guys!


Critically acclaimed by its peers at GDC, it's Sony News of the Week

Big update: Phil Harrison resigns from Sony



Boy was I not expecting this. I was all set to send in the SIXAXIS Report for the week and BAM! Big news! Phil Harrison, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, has announced his resignation from the company. Phil Harrison was the one who basically bridged communications by Sony America, Sony Europe, and Sony Japan. Phil was a driving force right along the launch of every PlayStation product, and has had a huge say in what has gone on with the PlayStation 3 and PSP.

At the Game Developers Conference 2008 Phil Harrison publicly expressed frustrations with the company, claiming he aimed at getting the more casual audience for the PS3 with more family friendly products. Sony Japan however disagreed and did not initially take that route, a route that Nintendo has capitalized very well with the Wii. Since then Sony has added franchises like Buzz to its library to boost their appeal to the casual audience but it's almost a "too little, too late" situation.

While Sony publicly seems to be taking this release very well, on the inside I bet they're pissed. Phil was put into his position of power as head of SCEWWS after only 15 years with the company and now he's leaving. Rumor has it Phil is going to go work for Atari, but nothing's been confirmed. While I think this will be a bigger loss for Sony than when Ken Kutaragi left Sony, I think in the end this won't be that big of a loss. Jack Tretton and Kaz Hirai *who will be Phil's replacement* are both still with Sony and will do a fine job taking over for him. I guess Phil must not have enjoyed playing Little Big Planet after all. I doubt there'll be any drastic changes on the horizon for the PlayStation brand, and I'll be sure to keep you updated on any big changes.

Credit: Sony


Stop the presses, this is awesome!



I must say despite Sony disappointing at GDC, they did hide a couple of gems on the show room floor. The first of which is a game called Tank War. Now the game is very simple, but at the same time totally genius. The core of the game is just your basic Tank War game where you point a gun at a tank and shoot it. But what makes it awesome is you make your own vehicle. Using the PlayStation Eye, anything you draw *as long as it's a closed shape* will become an actual weapon on screen. I know everyone here has at least once in their life made a couple of doodles on some scratch paper at school, and now this game actually let's you upload it as a weapon. It's a very simple concept, but it's so genius I can't believe no one's done this before. I've included a demonstration video below in the Video B3yond section; you owe it to yourself to check this game out. I don't have any news regarding a price or release date, so you're going to have to keep checking back here for updates.

Credit: Kotaku


WarHawk updates galore!



Well I don't think I have to restate my opinion on WarHawk, as I've said many times that it's probably my favorite PS3 online game. Well at GDC 2008, Incognito's Jobe Dylan announced a bunch of new features coming to WarHawk in the near future. In addition to the 1.3 update I discussed last week adding in the bio-shield generator and the wrench *repairs and damages vehicles*, there will be new game modes as well as another booster pack coming soon. The new booster pack has been dubbed Operation Broken Mirror and will carry both a new map and a new vehicle. The vehicle, named the APC, will double as a moving spawn point for both players and weapons. Not much is known about the new map, but Omega Factory was a solid addition from the first map pack and I can't wait for the next map.

The new game modes will come in a separate update than the new booster pack, which hopefully means they will be free. Dylan also expressed interest in creating a sequel to WarHawk in the future, which hopefully would add some sort of single player into the mix. I love WarHawk, but I also think the original WarHawk was a pretty good game, and I was hoping they'd expand upon that story. Any who it's great to see that WarHawk updates are coming; I can't wait to try out some of the new weapons.





Credit: Game Developers Conference 2008


2 new Pixel Junk games on the way



As I've already stated many times before, Pixel Junk Monsters has quickly become one of my favorite PSN games, right up there with Calling All Cars and Super Star Dust HD. Well today Q-Games have announced the next two games in the Pixel Junk line, Pixel Junk Eden and Pixel Junk Dungeons. While not much is known about Pixel Junk Dungeons, Pixel Junk Eden is a rather simple physics based game, where you launch a blob around stems of flowers eating pollen. It's interesting to see a game based around flowers, considering the makers of FlOw are working on a game called Flower also coming to the PSN in the near future. Any who I included a video below showing off Pixel Junk Eden, which looks like it could be pretty fun. I wasn't a fan of Pixel Junk Racers but loved Pixel Junk Monsters, so hopefully Pixel Junk Eden can make Q-Games 2 for 3.

Credit: Gamasutra

PlayStation Store update for the week of February 21



Well the PlayStation Store update was rather small this week, which as you all know doesn't make this writer a happy camper. We did manage to get a Pixel Junk Monsters update, so if for whatever reason you haven't already bought the game you can now try it before you buy it. In addition we also got Jet Moto 3 for the PS1, which is infinitely better than Jet Moto 2. Mountain Dew Jet Ski for life! We also got some new characters and an expansion pack for Pain, so Pain users can go download a cool looking Ninja character.

In addition to those updates we also got a bunch of worthless video downloads, as well as a couple more wallpaper and PS3 themes for download. On the PC store we got a God of War demo for PSP, which is actually pretty good. I know I haven't been using my PSP for games lately, but there are some real hits on the way. I recently went hands-on with Patapon, and holy crap is that game fun. It's kind of got that same Loco-Roco style, but the game is done infinitely better. Add in more Final Fantasy games as well as Secret Agent Clank and the PSP actually is getting some solid support. Too bad the DS absolutely crushed the PSP in sales, and it's too late for the PSP to make a comeback. But that's beside the point, PSP owners go try out God of War and Patapon, while PS3 owners better get their ass on Pixel Junk Monsters now.




Pata-Pata-Pata-Pon!

Credit: Sony



Sony Quick News!

Motorstorm 2 is finally confirmed to be in development. While the game has been rumored to be in the making for a while now, it was just finally confirmed. The game will be released around Christmas 2008, and will reportedly finally feature 4 player split screen multiplayer. I must admit that my one big problem with Motorstorm was the lack of local multiplayer, and I am really pumped to play Motorstorm with my friends. Motorstorm 1 is still awesome, but I hate playing it online *maybe it's because I always try to run people off the road only to end up getting burned myself*.

Free Radical has given an update on PS3's Haze. The developers claim to have made some substantial changes to the game, and promise that they were for the better. They claim to be nearly done with the game, and expect to make a release sometime in the month of March. The last time I saw Haze I wasn't too impressed, so hopefully these past couple of months have allowed Free Radical to make some major improvements to Haze.

Boy was I ever wrong. After speculating that we'd get a release date for Home at GDC 2008 last week, Sony didn't say anything about a Home release date at GDC. As a matter of fact, Sony will be updating the closed-beta to version 0.8.3, which goes against the rumor that the closed-beta would be closing in the near future in favor of an open beta. Just when we think Home is finally coming out, Sony managed to disappoint us again. We're right back to square one of not knowing anything about a Home release date.

It was recently rumored that the latest edition of Famitsu contained an advertisement showing off the release date of Metal Gear Solid 4. Well for anyone wondering the alleged release date was June 12, 2008 although the advertisement is a confirmed fake. So if anyone tells you there's a confirmed release date for MGS4, it's a fake. The only thing we know is that the game is "promised" to be released in Q2 2008 which is somewhere around April – June.

Lair has finally been confirmed to be getting a patch in the near future to allow for analog control. I discussed in a previous edition of the SIXIAXIS Report that I've managed to trick the game into letting me use analog stick controls before, and it made the game ten times better *though at times I couldn't advance without switching back to SIXAXIS control*. So here's hoping the patch comes soon, it should have been there from the beginning.

In a cool update, the PlayStation Network now has over 2.8 million users in North America alone. While it's not even half of the number of XBL users, Sony's reached this number much faster than XBL did. I assume being free definitely helps.

Infinity Ward has announced that new map packs will be coming for Call of Duty 4. The map packs will allegedly be indoors and be very open. I wouldn't mind more indoor maps, as it seems all of the current maps are all set outside in pretty closed quarters. I just hope they don't charge too much for these maps, since I highly doubt they'll be free.

Anyone waiting for a PS3 price cut before picking one up should be aware that Sony's not planning on a price cut anytime soon. According to SCEA VP Scott Steinberg Sony is very happy with the recent PS3 sales and doesn't plan on cutting the price anytime soon. While the PS3 is still the most expensive unit out there, picking up a PS3 for $400 does look a lot more appealing than the $600 price point of the original 60 GB PS3.

In one of my favorite announcements from the Game Developers Conference 2008, Portal 2 was more or less announced by Valve. While some people don't want a Portal 2, I definitely want me some more of GLaDOS. Speaking of which, the Portal song "still alive" will be coming to Rock Band pretty soon, which is pretty damn cool.

If it isn't already burned into your skull, Insomniac yet again released a press statement reconfirming a fall 2008 release date for Resistance 2. They claim to be way ahead of schedule on the game, and will have no problems getting it out in 2008. That's pretty impressive, considering pretty much every other PS3 game under the sun has gone through delays.

In sad news, Valve has announced that Left 4 Dead is still a PC and 360 exclusive. If you haven't seen Left 4 Dead I recommend Google searching it. Basically the game is a zombie shooter, but the zombies are really F'N fast. Add in 4 player co-op and the game looks awesome, too bad for PS3 owners.

With Toshiba dropping HDDVD support and basically ending HDDVD, Universal has announced it will be switching support to Blu-Ray. This leaves Paramount as the last remaining HDDVD supporter, who will probably announce something in the near future about dropping HDDVD. Sorry Microsoft, you lose! I feel bad for anyone who bought that 360 HDDVD add-on.



Video B3yond!



Tank War, which was one of my favorite games from GDC 2008. Tank War could turn out to be really awesome, and I can't wait to get my hands on it.



Here is Pixel Junk Eden, which could be kind of fun for a little while. I loved Pixel Junk Monsters, but wasn't too big on Pixel Junk Racers. Hopefully they can stay on a hot streak, we'll find out when Pixel Junk Eden is released later this year.



From the Game Developers Conference 2008, here's a nice showing of Prototype, which looks to be pretty kick ass. Look for a demo later this year on the PSN and XBL.



Here's the Street Fighter IV trailer from the Amusement Expo 2008. The game is shaping up to be pretty good, though at this point in the game I don't know if Street Fighter will have the same impact on the fighting genera that it used to.


The One Man Water Cooler~!

Well just like I promised kids, this week I'm going to show all of you how to upgrade your PS3 hard drive. I have successfully done this process by myself and can confirm that any of my fellow readers out there are more than qualified to handle the process *that means you*. While it's not as painfully simple as pop-off and pop-on like the 360's hard drive, it's also not a $180 rip off like the 360's. Now that being said obviously you're responsible for anything you do to your PS3, and while it doesn't void the warranty to change the hard drive you screwing something up on your hard drive probably isn't covered by Sony *how you'd screw it up I don't know*. Just covering my ass boys, just covering my ass…

Now that said I was prepared to write a big and in-depth guide myself on how to do it including neat photos by my handy-dandy PlayStation Eye, but I've found there are guides more than capable of doing the job. But first let's go over some little clarifications.

The PS3 can use any 2.5 inch Serial ATA *otherwise known as SATA* internal hard drive *commonly referred to as a 2.5 inch SATA notebook drive*. The PS3 also runs at 5400 RPM *it's basically the speed* so do not go less than 5400 RPM. It is possible to use 7200 RPM or something greater than 7200 RPM but than you run the risk of heating up the PS3 beyond normal temperatures so it's something you do at your own risk. I stuck with 5400 RPM myself *and the new hard actually makes my PS3 cooler than the old hard drive*. Seagate is the company that makes all current PS3 hard drives but you do not have to use a hard drive made by Seagate. I am using a Western Digital hard drive myself and have no problems.

So for one last time your PS3 hard drive has to be a 2.5 inch form factor hard drive, it has to be a Serial ATA drive, and I recommend you stick to 5400 RPM just to be safe. If you find a hard drive that meet these 3 qualifications it's more than likely compatible. Now then I've found a nice written guide with pictures *that I used while installing my hard drive* as well as a nice video guide that does a great job showing how to do it.

A guide to installing a PS3 hard drive by Gamers Reports



If for some reason the link ever dies off or anything just Google search "installing a PS3 hard drive" and you'll find a million links.

Now that you have a guide to show you how to do it and you know what qualifications you need for a hard drive to be compatible, let me tell you what you need. A mini-Phillips head screw driver. If you're not sure if you have a screw driver small enough just pop off that HDD tab on the side of the PS3 and you can see for yourself. Now while I recommend you stick with the guide and get 2 screw drivers just to be safe I only had one screw driver *not a flat head* and I'll admit I actually stripped the non-flat head screw. So if any of you are worried about stripping the blue screw be aware I did strip it and I turned out fine. Be aware the blue screw is very tight and would not budge for me, but it did come off eventually *probably because I didn't have a very good screw driver* and after that the other 4 screws came off easy. Otherwise just follow the guide and trust me changing your PS3 hard drive is easy.

With all that said I bought a 250 GB Western Digital Scorpio from newegg.com for $135 with free 3-day shipping. Here is a link to the page where I bought my hard drive from, and I recommend newegg.com as the best source for getting a PS3 hard drive. My 250 GB hard drive is great and I definitely recommend it as a great deal *especially considering the 360 is $180 for 120 GB*. Just make sure it meets the 2.5 inch Serial SATA form with 5400 RPM and you'll be all set for a PS3 hard drive.

As for a final passage you will need to format the hard drive no matter what once it is in. So when you turn on the PS3 and it wants to format itself don't panic. The formatting only takes about 2 minutes and after that you are pretty much set. Although as a tip readers I recommend going back into "Settings" > "system settings" > "Format Utility" and doing a custom format and "allow 10 GB for other OS" as you have to do that if you ever want to install Linux onto your PS3. Yellow Dog Linux 6.0 becomes free to PS3 users in a couple of weeks and I'll have a guide on how to put Linux onto your PS3 as well. Also once the PS3 hard drive is all formatted you will lose 20 or so GB, that's normal and it's just system info the PS3 puts on the hard drive so it runs properly. I only had about 220 GB out of 250 GB once my PS3 was all formatted.

Also once you install a new hard drive all of your saves and downloaded games are not carried over to the new hard drive *they're gone!*, so I recommend putting in a PSP, i-pod, flash drive, memory stick, or some sort of external hard drive to back up your save files so you don't lose them *basically copying all of your save files onto your new hard drive so you don't lose them*. As for all of your game and video downloads go to download list in the PlayStation store and you can re-download all of your media once you have your new hard drive. All of your system settings like your friends list and account information are saved onto the system memory so you won't lose any of that stuff by changing your PS3 hard drive.

With all of that said I definitely recommend everyone go change their PS3 hard drive to something bigger, it's really easy. Not to mention once things like Sony's Play TV DVR tuner for the PS3 come out your hard drives will fill up really fast. Think for the future people, upgrade your hard drives. Any further questions or requests for help can be left in the comment section or sent to my email, thanks.


Where was the 411mania Empire~?!

Notice how Mike Minotti has been conspicuously absent from 411mania ever since I tried to reach him for comment in last week's article about Sony crushing Microsoft in PS3 vs. 360 sales for January. It's no coincidence people.
Nintendophiles by Theo Fraser.
The Select and Start News by Vincent Chiucchi.



Signing Off

Well that's it for me folks. I've got my PS3 back up and running with a smooth 250 GB's to do whatever I want to with. A friend and I are currently doing Pixel Junk Monsters co-op, so hopefully we can beat the game within the next week. I still can't recommend Pixel Junk Monsters enough, you guys really deserve to at least try out the demo. I'll be back with more news next week, and pretty soon I'll have a review up of Twisted Metal: Head On: Extra Twisted Edition for the PS2 as well as a guide on how to put Linux on your PS3. So stick around, you'll be seeing more of me in the next couple of weeks. Cya back here for the SIXAXIS Report in 7!