B3yond the Report Gaming News Report 04.01.08

Posted by Mark Salmela on 04.01.2008

This ain’t no April Fool’s joke, the SIXAXIS Report has been officially renamed “B3yond the Report”. This week I’ve got huge news on Grand Theft Auto 4, Metal Gear Solid 4, WarHawk Operation Broken Mirror, Killzone 2, SOCOM: Confrontation, PS3 release dates, and a whole lot more in this jam packed first edition of B3yond the Report!




Well what do you know, it's April fool's day. I actually forgot it was today. I launch my new column on April fool's day. If that isn't a bad sign I don't know what is. But considering most people in the real world don't even celebrate April fool's day anymore I'm not going to let it affect me. I hope you enjoy all of these little changes; I spent a lot of time in MS Paint trying to make these little banners. Be sure to let me know what you think of the changes, I'm more than willing to listen to your opinion. I do have one submission of fan art I'd like to insert, submitted by Eric. If you guys like this banner better I'll squeeze it down and make it the official banner, or at least make sure I work it into the column somewhere.



Thanks Eric. Now I've got to stop putzing around and get back to doing what I do best. Turning boring news stories into slightly less boring news stories! Let's get to it…



B3yond the News of the Week~!

Release dates of your favorite PlayStation 3 games



Last week Sony Europe announced the release dates for some of the most anticipated upcoming PS3 titles. According to them Little Big Planet, Killzone 2, and SOCCOM: Confrontation will all be released this September on the PlayStation 3. Now Guerilla has said they still don't know when Killzone 2 will be launching, but the other titles seem to have been confirmed though. September will be a key month that Sony will have to win if they want to take this holiday season. It looks as if September will see Little Big Planet and SOCCOM for the PS3 while the 360 has Fable 2 if everything stays on its current course. Meanwhile October will have Tekken 6 as well as inFamous for the PS3 while the 360 has Banjo Kazooie 3. November will be an interesting month as the PS3 will have Resistance 2 while the 360 will have Gears of War 2. Now also be aware the PS3 has Killzone 2, Uncharted 2 *or whatever Naughty Dog makes next*, and Motorstorm 2 coming this holiday season as well, so it looks as if Sony is on a great path to getting all of it's big titles out this year. Then 2009 will feature games like Final Fantasy 13, Final Fantasy Versus 13, God of War 3, and Gran Turismo 5. With the PS3 outselling the 360 for the first 2 months and the recent announcement of all these big PS3 titles coming this holiday season Sony looks to finally be making their big comeback into the console wars.

Credit: Videogamer


News and updates on Metal Gear Solid



I've got a bunch of little bits and pieces of information for MGS4 and MGO. First, the whole "Blu-Ray isn't big enough to fit MGS4". Apparently that was said because originally Konami was going to put MGS4 on a 25 GB single layer Blu-Ray disc, and they even considered shipping the game on 2 discs until Sony offered to let them be the first to use a dual-layer 50 GB Blu-Ray disc. It appears that the game still will have region specific voice-overs, but Konami isn't actually restricting gameplay items due to size.

Next will be Metal Gear Online. As I've reported on before the Metal Gear Online starter pack will be included with Metal Gear Solid 4 when the game launches on June 12. Metal Gear Online will be very similar to the stealth online included in MGS3, which was one of the best PS2 online multiplayer games. MGO will feature 16 players online, and will feature a ranking system similar to COD4 according to Konami. Metal Gear Online will feature heavy customization with equippable abilities that players will be able to level up. Like CoD4's, you'll have the option to move faster or improve your accuracy by utilizing abilities that improve over time. It all sounds cool to me. I like the ranking up system in COD4 and I can't wait to get my hands on some 16 player MGO when the beta pre-order package comes next month for MGS4.

Finally, the Metal Gear Solid movie is still in the works. The script is reportedly almost done and will be keeping in line with the story in the MGS video games. But beyond *pun* that there is little information that can be revealed at this time. Look for more news later in the year as to when they'll actually be filming and what not.




You're mine on June 12.

Credit: Kojima Productions


Looking to bring criminals together, it's Rockstar Social Club!



It appears that with the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto 4 that Rockstar is trying to build a website that will bring gamers from both consoles together to compare stats with and all that other good stuff. The Rockstar Social Club will be a website detailing all of the achievements and stats for the upcoming GTA4, and it will also show things such as the most dangerous parts of town, the most commonly used weapons, where users are in the game, who has the most kills, and many other really cool stats. I believe GTA4 will be one of those games where people will skip school and call into work on its release so they can play GTA4. People will be rushing to beat the storyline and get 100% and it will be cool to see as the first people beat the game 100% and get pimped on the Rockstar Social Club. Sites like this have worked well for games like Halo so it will probably do wonders as the criminals of Liberty City are all brought together in one hub to see who really is the Tony Montana of this generation. Starting April 15 both PSN and XBLA users will be able to sign up for the Rockstar Social Club, I'm sure more details will be following soon.

Credit: Rockstar


PlayStation Store update for the week of March 27


A picture from the upcoming WarHawk Operation Broken Mirror Expansion pack.

Mediocre. It defines the current state of the PlayStation Store. It's the perfect word to use each and every week when Sony does their weekly updates. This week saw a bundle of flOw and its expansion pack put up for $9 as well as WarHawk put up for the discounted price of $30 instead of $40. I do recommend anyone who hasn't yet bought WarHawk take advantage of this deal, as the online community is growing everyday and the developers are constantly making updates to the game. For $30 WarHawk is an absolute steal. The new v1.3 patch will be coming to WarHawk as well as the second expansion, so you should pick up the discounted WarHawk while you still can.

In addition to those two we also saw updates to Rock Band, Unreal Tournament 3, Turok, and Karaoke Revolution. Trailers for WarHawk, GT5 Prologue, and GTA4 went up in addition to some other minor goodies. In a positive note the Unreal Tournament 3 expansion includes 3 free maps, which is pretty rare in today's world.

Credit: Sony



B3yond the tabloids!

SOCOM: Confrontation will officially be released on the PlayStation 3 via download and disc on September 16. The game will be multiplayer only like WarHawk and will feature 32 players online. This is the official release date which is a couple months later than the rumored July release date.

WipEout HD will be released on the PSN at the end of May. The game will run in 1080p, run at 60 fps, and will feature up to 8 player races online. I can't wait to get my hands on it, as WipEout has been awesome with the last two releases on the PSP.

Pixel Junk Monsters will be releasing an expansion pack in the next couple of weeks. You will know when it's released because I will explode all over the place *don't look into that*.

Sony, trying to cover their asses, went public saying GTA4 was big enough and does not need episodic content. This is obviously in response to Microsoft's planned push of the exclusive 360 GTA4 content coming later this year. It will be interesting to see whether or not the 360 or PS3 version sells better. I think the easy choice is picking the 360, but this isn't like Devil May Cry and there is the possibility of an upset on the PS3 side especially if the rumored PS3 GTA4 bundle turns out to be true.

The European PlayStation Store has an advertisement up promoting the fact that the PSN will soon be going through major changes and redesigns. So for those who doubted the PSN remake, it's officially happening. Whether or not it'll stand up to the XBL marketplace is to be determined.

Speaking of which the European PlayStation Store was hacked this past week. While Sony has fixed the issue everyone is recommended to make sure their passwords haven't been changed. It you're set to automatic log-in you should check to make sure it hasn't been changed otherwise hackers may have gotten into your account.

Despite recent rumors, Capcom will not be making a PS3/360 version of Resident Evil 4.

The actual Gran Turismo 5 will not be released until 2009, so gamers better get used to only having Gran Turismo 5 Prologue *which is a very good game*.

EA has given Take 2 one more week to decide on whether or not they want to accept EA's current acquisition for $26 a share. I really don't want EA and Take 2 to merge, but at this point it's becoming more and more of an inevitability.

It is rumored that the DualShock 3 will be released in Europe on May 2, only a few weeks after the April 15 launch of the American DualShock 3. I've got a Satin Silver and a white DualShock 3 controller *both colors exclusive to Japan*, and they're totally awesome. High recommendation for the DualShock 3 controller.

Ubisoft has announced that Jade Raymond is working on a new project. Jade became popular for being a female in the video game industry. The funny thing is that Jade isn't a very good developer and her last game Assassin's Creed, was a huge letdown *although I guess it still sold well, though that doesn't make her good*.



B3yond the tabloids! APRIL FOOL'S EDITION~!

With the recent success of HD-DVD, Sega has finalized a deal with the HD-DVD camp to make HD-DVD the official format for the Deamcast 2. Sega already has an all-star line-up prepared, including the long-awaited Sonic Xtreme project. If you thought Kameo and Perfect Dark went through multiple console cycles, imagine what this game went through. Rumor has it Sega is planning to launch the Dreamcast 2 in a couple of weeks despite no other developer knowing about the system for $400. EA is said to be ecstatic at the said news.

Konami has finally caved in and Metal Gear Solid 4 will officially be coming to the Xbox 360. Microsoft paid upwards of 250 billion dollars to bring the game to the 360, and will be bundling future 360's with MGS4. Whether or not exclusive downloadable content is part of that deal is unknown at the time of this writing. Included below is a picture of the 360 version.



David Jaffe has already left his new EAT SLEEP PLAY company. Jaffe cited that with the recent success of Twisted Metal: Head On: Extra Twisted Edition and the upcoming PS3 version of Twisted Metal that he wanted to start fresh on a new company again. Jaffe's new company will be called BINGE NAP TOUCH and they will be signing an exclusive 3 game contract to EAT SLEEP PLAY who is under an exclusivity deal to Sony whom Jaffe left in the first place. Look for a video blog update by Jaffe himself in the near future.

Fable 2 will meet every expectation and DOG will be the most advanced AI ever!

Team ICO recently issued an open letter to Nintendo claiming that their franchise "The Legend of Zelda" ripped off their game "Ico" on the PS2. Team Ico is looking into their legal options. Insomniac could not be reached for comment.

Sonic Unleashed won't suck!

Look for Activision's newest game, "Guitar Hero: Winger" on the DS, Intellivision, PS2, and N-Gage this summer. This will round out Activision's newest line of Guitar Hero games, including "Guitar Hero: Blink 182", "Guitar Hero: Slayer", and "Guitar Hero: The Fray". It looks like the N-Gage really is making a comeback.

Duke Nukem Forever will be released. Rumor has it will be the same day as Guns-n-Roses new CD: Chinese Democracy.

It was recently announced that there will be a new 50 Cent game that will feature 50 killing terrorists and trying to get back a skull that was stolen from him. Oh wait….



B3yond the Cinema!

From Crackle: Warhawk Operation Broken Mirror trailer

Here is the trailer for the WarHawk: Operation Broken Mirror expansion pack coming to PSN on April 17 for $8. I love WarHawk and can't recommend it highly enough to PS3 owners. The new map looks sweet.



Here is the final GTA4 trailer called "Everyone's a rat". I actually found this trailer to be lame but it's not going to stop me from buying it on release.



Finally, here's a video demonstration of some of the new feature in the PS3 2.20 firmware that came out this week. It's got some cool features for Blu-Ray watchers, but otherwise there's not a whole lot else.



The One Man Water Cooler~!



Now if only I could get a water cooler like that in real life.

Any who, I just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents about some of the latest online download discussions that have been going on lately. If anyone disagrees or wants to throw in their 2 cents at the bottom go for it, I do read every comment/email I get.

The first thing I'd like to discuss is Xbox Live and the digital rights management for XBLA games. I know people are going to be pissed I'm insulting the 360 again but this is becoming more and more of a problem every day. If your 360 ever breaks or for whatever reason you replace your 360, you basically lose access to everything you bought on that 360 unless you paid for it. If I buy Defender on XBLA I expect to be able to play Defender whenever I want. We all know the internet and XBL aren't perfect and we can't always connect to the internet. Well guess what? If you aren't on your original 360 and you want to play something you bought on it and you can't connect to XBL you're screwed. I find that totally unacceptable. If I buy something I expect to use it when I want to, and because of Microsoft's DRM bullshit I can't. It also seems no one in America is actively fighting Microsoft on the issue of DRM. According to what I've heard all of the progress being made about DRM management is because of lawsuits coming out of Germany. Why is it that Europe is standing up for their rights as a consumer yet Americans are dragging their feet? Sony, despite their poor set-up right now allows users to re-download games no matter what. If I buy Pixel Junk Monsters I can go over to a friend's house and download it there and play it as long as I sign into my profile. Why is it that Sony has this right and Microsoft doesn't?

Nintendo does it right as well for the most part. On the Wii if you exchange your Wii you can still re-download your Virtual Console purchases and play them at any time. The Wii, despite all of its friend code bullshit and all sorts of lag problems got this simple feature right that Microsoft hasn't. Now the Wii itself has a huge problem in that there's no hard drive or way to load off the SD card. For those that don't know the Wii's version of XBLA/PSN called WiiWare is launching in May and there's still this huge problem of storage space. Guess what? If you bought every WiiWare game when it launched in Japan last week you just filled up the entire Wii hard drive. If you have any other purchases you're going to have to put them on an SD card and can't use them unless you delete something off the hard drive and copy a file from the SD card to Wii hard drive. That's complete bullshit. How do they expect me to buy titles online when I've been out of disk space for over a year now?! I'm not going to be constantly moving and deleting and copying shit because Nintendo is too stubborn to make a hard drive.

It seems that downloadable video games are the future. Retail chains all across America are going to fight tooth and nail to stop it but I feel in about 12 years it will become the norm. As for right now it's not going to happen because we aren't ready for it. We don't have anywhere near fast enough download speeds *try downloading a large file on the PSN, it's not fun* to support such a feature. Not to mention this will never take over until we remove all of this DRM bullshit. I will refuse to buy large triple A titles if I don't have the freedom to play it when I want to and where I want to. It just won't happen and I'm not the only one who believes that. WarHawk is really the only game with any sort of protection on it and I hear no problems about PSN titles being pirated so why are companies like Microsoft so afraid of it? We should be ready for mainstream downloadable content but it will never work until companies like Microsoft stop dragging their feet. Hell, Nintendo was dragged kicking and screaming into the online universe and now they're paying for it with pissed off Smash Bros. fans and poor online service. Sony is no god by any means but at least they seem to be the most willing to try.

With the recent announcement that Microsoft will be taking more royalties from titles on XBLA it seems that everyone just wants to slow down progress with downloadable content. Developers are already having a hard time making profits off of XBLA titles and now they're going to be taking even more money? What the hell? I mean I should be happy since more people are likely to make PSN titles instead of XBLA titles but I'm still upset since I do own a 360 and I love to play classic arcade titles on all of my consoles. I don't want to see Sony do well because Microsoft fucked up. I could keep going on here but I feel I've covered all of the basics. Microsoft is too busy trying to protect themselves from piracy that they're screwing everyone over with DRM and eventually it's going to come back to bite them in the ass. Nintendo is too damn stubborn to put on a hard drive that eventually their online system is going to collapse if everyone runs out of hard drive space. I know I ran out a long time ago and despite me having a 2 GB SD card I'm not going to store information on it because I can't load off of it so it's useless. Meanwhile Sony seems to be taking forever on improving the look and design of their PlayStation Store and isn't actively recruiting new PSN games fast enough or else they would be on pace to kick XBLA's ass in a year or so. Like I said feel free to drop me a comment or your opinion on the matter. I meant to get more into retail chains trying to stop downloadable games but I just ran out of time.



The 411mania Empire~!



The Full Circle by Joe Roche. Why do none of the other 411 writers want to start an epic, blood-filled feud with me?
Nintendophiles by Theo Fraser.
The PC Centric Extravaganza by Chris Evans. I don't know whether to link his article from last Tuesday or the one you can find on the homepage right now considering we both go up on the same day.
The Select and Start News by Vincent Chiucchi.
The Negative Edge by Tommy Coloma.



Signing Off!



I'd just like to take the time to thank everyone who has helped out with all of these changes. I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from readers via e-mail, comments, and even the PlayStation Network. For the sake of privacy I won't list any names but they know who they are and I'd just like to send them a special thanks in addition to the rest of you guys. None of this would be possible without your constant support and it means a lot to me. You guys are the greatest and thanks for sticking with me through these changes, I plan to keep changing the column on a regular basis to make it even better. This is no April fool's joke, you guys are the greatest.

- Mark Salmela
B3yond the Report



Thanks again Eric. You did Snake proud. It's going to be hard to choose an official banner...