B3yond the Report 06.17.08

Posted by Mark Salmela on 06.17.2008

This week I discuss the exclusivity of The Last Remnant and Star Ocean: The Last Hope by Square Enix. Also, news on the possibilities of a Sony motion controller, the PS3 outselling the 360, Resistance 2, Metal Gear Solid 4, Haze, Fatal Inertia EX, BioShock PS3, Mega Man 9, and more when you go B3yond the Report!




Greetings and salutations, my Sony friends. It's been a terrific week, capped off by the release of Metal Gear Solid 4 for the PS3. Hopefully you've checked out either my final installment of B3yond the Special where I gave a non-spoiler look at MGS4 the day before it's release *it can be found here* or my review of MGS4, which just went live yesterday *it can be found here*. Hopefully I justified my score of MGS4 enough, as I can't recommend it highly enough. Also, if you want a funny read check out my review of NovaStrike, which I will say right now sucked. Any who enough pimping my other stuff *boy I've been busy around here*, time to get to what I do best…



Also receiving an editor's choice award, it's B3yond the News of the Week~!

PlayStation 3 outsells Xbox 360 for the month of May



In the most surprising news I've heard in a long while, the PlayStation 3 actually managed to outsell the 360 in the month of May *In North America* *that means we won! Party time!*. If you guys remember I predicted that Sony would outsell the 360 in North America for January – March, before being beaten in April and May. While the PS3 did outsell the 360 in January and February, it barely lost in March and April, and has now beaten the 360 by a solid margin in May. I figured that with the release of GTA4 that a ton of 360's would have sold with the game, especially since GTA4 on the 360 outsold the PS3 version 2 to 1 *which I actually consider a positive for Sony, since they sold more copies per console than Microsoft which is a very telling sign to publishers*.

One thing that I have been hearing a lot now is debate over whether or not MGS4 will help sell PS3's, since GTA4 apparently didn't help sell either console. Well judging from early opinions, this debate can hopefully be put to rest, since it appears that the MGS4 PS3 bundle has sold out virtually all over the country, with many other 40 GB PS3's being sold in anticipation of MGS4 as well. I've said it before and I'll say it again, MGS4 is a console mover. Hell, when I picked up my copy of MGS4 the guy in front of me was buying a PS3 MGS4 bundle, and the Gamestop employees who usually bash the PS3 non-stop were actually talking about how good MGS4 is, something I wasn't expecting. I don't want to say it's over and Sony is about to reclaim their crown from Microsoft *because they've still got a battle ahead of them*, but the fact that the PS3 outsold the 360 in May *208,700 to 186,000* is a great start. And not to mention that I predict that the PS3 will consistently outsell the 360 by a good amount all summer long and things are actually looking up for Sony.


Which is your favorite?

Credit: The SimExchange


New details on Resistance 2



Well there were some interesting new details revealed about Resistance 2 this past week. As most of us already knew Resistance 2 is taking place in America, as the Chimera move their attack over to the Western hemisphere. The first level of the game actually takes place in Iceland, before making the move over to America *Resistance 2 takes place 2 years after Resistance 1*. Nathan Hale returns as the star of Resistance 2, but due to the Chimera virus he only has 16 hours left to live. The narrative will be told entirely in Hale's perspective. Two of the known levels include Chicago and San Francisco. Also, one of the boss' is over 300 feet tall, which should be quite a site to behold. In the Gametrailers TV special there was a giant Godzilla like creator walking in the background, so that might be the boss they're talking about.

As for the gameplay Insomniac already has 60 player online matches up and running, so I think I can safely say any online problems should be fixed by the time Resistance 2 is released *they say fall 2008 but I still say November 2008*. Also, there will be no vehicle support in the multiplayer, which I think is a bit of a let down. Also, as I've said before the 60 player online mode will feature teams split up into groups of 8 and they will be given objectives to complete, so it's not just one huge massive frag fest. Also, the 8 player co-op mode will have players choosing from a class system *so for example a medic, soldier, ect* and it will be a separate storyline than Hale's. The multiplayer maps will also be brand new maps, not just ones ripped right from the single player. Also, while no Chimera have been seen in multiplayer, rest assured that they'll still be there. Look for Resistance 2 later this year.


Medic!

Credit: Game Trailers


Rumor: PS3 to unveil a motion controller?



Well it seems as if the rumors about a Microsoft or Sony motion controller being unveiled at E3 this year will never end. I've stated many times that Sony, after the failure of SIXAXIS, wouldn't be dumb enough to try their own motion controller. If anyone it's going to be Microsoft, since they've clearly stated they want to take the Wii head-on. But lately all of the rumors are back pointing at Sony being ready to unveil their own motion controller, so I figured I better comment on it.

Basically according to the rumor reports Sony is looking to unveil a motion controller that will be able to break apart into two separate controllers, with each one having its own accelerometer that will allow for motion controls *much like the Wiimote and nun chuck*. But lately, an anonymous source at Kotaku reported that the controller will actually be able to attach to your body, such as your chest or feet, for total body motion control.

So you guys can take what you want from this story. But I HIGHLY doubt that any of these stories will become true. Sony already has the PSEye to read body motion, as well as the SIXAXIS to sense controller motion, so I can't see them putting out another product. Anyways E3 is less than a month away, so we won't have to wait too much longer.


They grow up so fast…

Credit: Gamesindustry


PlayStation Store update for the week of June 12



Well I must admit I'm surprised that there was a PlayStation Store update at all this week, as I had honestly thought that with the release of MGS4 that Sony was going to skip on the update all together. Well thankfully I was wrong, as there were a couple of goodies put up on the PlayStation Store this week. The main addition to the store was the PS1 classic Syphon Filter 3, which at $6 is a pretty good deal. While I have a friend that is upset that Sony skipped Syphon Filter 2 and went straight to 3, I think 3 will do everyone else just fine. Syphon Filter is a solid franchise that I recommend people check out if they never played the PS1 originals.

As for the rest of the update, there was a demo for Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, which sucks. Besides that, there was the typical Rock Band update *terrible songs*, and a bunch of random videos. I do recommend checking out the new MGS4 PS3 theme put up last week however, since it's totally awesome. The PC Store also put up Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror up for download, but for $15 I don't know if I can recommend it, I'd almost rather download Syphon Filter 1 and 3 for $12 instead.

Credit: Sony



B3yond the tabloids!

The list of titled confirmed to be at this year's E3 has been revealed. Feel free to check out the whole list here. To be honest I think the list is kind of small, but then again companies always hold off on a few surprises or announcements until the big show. If you're wondering Sony plans to show Killzone 2, Little Big Planet, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, Pixel Junk Eden, Resistance 2, SOCOM Confrontation, and Siren: Blood Curse Episode 1. Throw in a few surprise appearances like maybe Final Fantasy 13, Home, God of War 3, or Afrika and we're in store for a good E3.

Ryan Payton recently hinted in a podcast that the highly anticipated PlayStation 3 2.40 firmware update might add HDD support for the iPod in MGS4. What that means is anything users put in their music folder on the cross-media bar for the PS3 could be played in MGS4 via the iPod. Man, with all of the news and rumors circulating the 2.40 firmware update you might as well start a rumor saying the 2.40 firmware update will include a free Xbox 360 emulator so Sony can end the console wars with one update.

It appears as if the release date for BioShock on the PS3 is once again up in the air. While 2K originally stated that it would be released in October 2008 rumors now state that the game will be released on November 4. While I would hope to see BioShock make an October release *November is already to full*, as long as BioShock makes it out this year I'll be happy.

Mega Man 9 may actually be on the way. Capcom has apparently submitted Mega Man 9 for rating with Australia's Classification Board and Classification Review Board. It's basically the Australian version of the ESRB. Maybe one of Capcom's E3 announcements has slipped a little early? This would be the first official Mega Man title since Mega Man 8 on the PS1 and Saturn 11 years ago. While no official platforms have been announced my guess would be the PSN and XBLA, since Capcom has been going crazy with downloadable games *Commando 3, 1942, Street Fighter 2, ect*.

For the millions of Haze fans out there, UbiSoft just released a new patch for Haze that fixes the online co-op problems some users were experiencing. It's too bad Haze was such a let down, as I really wanted to like the game. I think it might be the only 4-player co-op game on the PS3 *or maybe just 4 player co-op FPS*.

Fatal Inertia EX, a game that was originally supposed to be a PS3 launch title and was released on the 360 last year, will finally be coming to the PS3 this week. And somehow it looks like I'll be stuck doing a review of it *how do I get myself into these situations, first NovaStrike and now this?!*.

2K Sports has announced that Top Spin 3 *for like every platform* has finished development and gone gold. While I am usually a fan of Tennis games Top Spin hasn't been my favorite. I was only so-so on Top Spin 2 and I much prefer the Virtua Tennis and arcade Tennis games. If there's a demo of Top Spin 3 I will give it a shot, but sadly there appears to be no Tennis game for people like me this year.

The PSP will receive its version 4.0 update sometime this week, which will add a Google tool bar search engine into the cross media bar *in-game XMB*. Since this is 4.0 hopefully there will be even more to the update than just this, since honestly it's not that hard to open the PSP internet browser and go to google.com. Then again what do I know? I barely play my PSP anymore...

This is another rumor, but according to Kotaku, the next Marvel Ultimate Alliance title might take place during the Civil War. There's a current Marvel comic book storyline where Iron Man is having dreams about the Civil War, which if rumors are true will be the setting of Ultimate Alliance 2. The rumor also says that over 20 different Marvel heroes and villains will be playable, and that the game is coming to PS3, 360, Wii, DS, PSP, and PS2.

In the ultimate "my dick is bigger than yours" news of the week, the PlayStation 3 cell chip has been used once again to make the world's fastest super computer. Codenamed the Roadrunner, the Department of Energy's National Nuclear has built the Roadrunner using 6,948 dual-core AMD Opteron chips and 12,960 Cell engines. The Roadrunner can make one quadrillion calculations per second, or one thousand trillion calculations per second. To put that in perspective, you'd need over 100,000 of the fastest laptops on the market right now to match the Roadrunner. The best part, the Roadrunner won't be able to get the 3 red lights. Sony wins again!

While this isn't really news, God of War and Twisted Metal creator David Jaffe posted a blog containing shelved names for his games. For example God of War could have been called "Dark Odyssey" or "Omega". Calling All Cars could have been named "Damage!" or "Criminal Crackdown". Twisted Metal could have been called "Urban Assault" or "Cars and Rockets". To be honest I really like the name of Cars and Rockets, it's kind of like Snakes on a Plane. It's simple and gets the point across.



B3yond the Cinema!



Here's a video of David Hayter's appearance in MGS4. It's not really spoilers, he's just in one of the weird videos featured in MGS4.



Here's a video of the upcoming Incredible Hulk video game. While I'm not a fan of Hulk games some people seemed to like Ultimate Destruction *the Ultimate Destruction team is currently working on ProtoType*.



Here's a video explaining CQC *Close Quarters Combat* for n00bs.



The One Man Water Cooler~!



Well after spending most of my time writing reviews on games such as NovaStrike and Metal Gear Solid 4 last week, I pretty much completely forgot about the Water Cooler. I have managed to find a news story that I didn't talk about however, so I'm going to blurb about it here.

Last week Microsoft had a press event detailing some of the new RPG's coming to the 360. First off Infinite Undiscovery from Square Enix will be coming to the 360 first, and will be released worldwide later this year *some people say as early as September, others say Christmas*. The Last Remnant is a another Square Enix developed RPG for the next generation consoles that will be coming to the 360 first *they say 2009, but since RPG's take forever to develop I might even say 2010*. The Xbox 360 will also get the temporary exclusive of Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Star Ocean was a former Sony exclusive franchise, so fanboys are currently up in arms about the situation. While I think I've made it clear that I'm not an RPG fan, any lost exclusive angers me.

To me there are two reasons why Square Enix did this. The first is obviously the endless pocket books of Microsoft, as I've written several times that Microsoft has the right strategy going with buying exclusives for the 360 instead of Sony offering to work hands-on with developers and relying on good relations between companies. Sony cannot sit around and hope for exclusives to fall into their laps, they need to go out and buy their own and be aggressive like they used to back in the PS1 days. Square Enix didn't just abandon Nintendo overnight back in the N64 days, Sony had to aggressively convince Square that the PS1 was the superior console. It's the same thing Microsoft is doing to Sony now.

The second reason is because of the development times. Both Star Ocean and The Last Remnant have probably been in development since sometime in 2006 or 2007, back when everyone kept talking so negatively about the PS3. Back in 2007 especially, Microsoft was outselling the PS3 by wide margins, and that is exactly the time when Square would have made the decision as to which console gets these games as exclusive. Square probably looked at which console they thought would reach the most customers back at that point, decided it was the 360, and made the decision to make those two games on the 360. This would also explain why Square is so wishy-washy as to whether or not these two titles are coming to the PS3, since at first they probably didn't want to port those titles over to the PS3, but now that the PS3 is on an upswing they are probably doing everything they can to make sure a PS3 port does come at some point.

A lot of fanboys are upset over these two current timed exclusives, since most of the RPG players are on Sony's side. Whether or not 360 fanboys want to admit it, the 360 got crushed in Japan and the number of American 360 RPG player's is extremely small *though to counteract my statement there hasn't really been any PS3 RPG's at all in the US*. I have yet to hear of a really successful 360 RPG, and I believe that people just associate RPG's with Sony. Especially considering Star Ocean has always been a Sony exclusive franchise, and I believe that if the next Star Ocean is to be really successful *then again it'll probably never be on the same level as Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy* than it'll need a PS3 port. Imagine how many people would flip out if Final Fantasy 13 and Versus 13 weren't locked Sony exclusives?

Any who I am really short on time this week, so pardon if I left out a couple points or came off too fanboyish. I had to get that MGS4 review done you know. I'll be back next week.



B3yond the Mail!



To calem (Guest) : Sorry, I don't have any control over the comments at 411mania, not even for my own column. If you're upset over people trying to spoil MGS4 *which you have every right to* you're going to have to take that up with the higher-ups here. There's not much I can do about it.

To Jim (Guest): Nice job on the Afrika to Endless Ocean reference, I completely forgot about Endless Ocean. I did play it, but it sucked so I forgot all about it. Maybe it's just me but I don't think anyone's ever really nailed swimming in a video game. I'm still pumped for Afrika though.

To David Redkey (Registered): Seriously, how do you not still write for 411mania? You draw the most attention out of any writer in the games section. I'm serious if you wrote a weekly column you'd be absolute money. I think I have an idea for you Dave, look for an email in the next few days…

To Toddo (Won't stay signed in) (Guest): Honestly, if you think Lucas Arts is going to put any major plot points at all from the Force Unleashed into Soul Calibur 4, you're crazy. I think it's cool that the Apprentice will be in both versions of SC4, but just like Snake in Brawl, you're not going to find any info on upcoming games.

To Dave (Guest): I do have to disagree with you about your statements regarding Qore. You said that it's ok for Qore to include advertisements because it is technically a "magazine", well I have to strongly disagree. Besides the fact that these ads are mandatory compared to ads that I can ignore in a real magazine, the fact that it's an online magazine that I pay for means that it should have changes, and that includes forcing me to watch ads. If Qore were to have things like the Coke symbol in the background of a movie or something that's different, but forcing me to watch 15 seconds clips about the Hulk pisses me off.


As I said before I always read what you guys send me and I appreciate the comments, even if they're sometimes filled with hate. If you wanted a response to your comment and I didn't respond I apologize.



The 411mania Empire~!



The Full Circle by Joe Roche, who's an angry, angry man for missing out on MGS4. Hey, at least you're getting Banjo!
Nintendophiles by Theo Fraser, and I'm pretty sure the Wii could handle MGS4. Look for the port this Christmas.
The PC Centric Extravaganza by Chris Evans.
The Select and Start News by Vincent Chiucchi. Did you know Vince hates good games?
The 10th Hour by Mike Minotti, in his first actual piece of writing for 411 in forever now. I wish I could take a 3 month sabbatical…



Signing Off!



Well I hope everyone enjoyed this week's edition of B3yond the Report. I've been super busy with reviews of and MGS4 and NovaStrike, and the B3yond the Special *which can be found here*. I think I've definitely deserved some rest of my own, so unless I manage to get SingStar or Fatal Inertia EX for review I'll be pretty inactive around here until next Tuesday. So with that said, enjoy the summer and MGS4, I'll cya in 7 *woohoo less than 10 pages typed in Microsoft Word once again, I'm on a roll now*!