Australian 360 Core Has Always Been the Price of a Wii

Damned Americans reporting on the 'news' without even fully understanding. No wonder their foreign policy sucks so much. The Xbox 360 core has always been for $399, the same price for a Wii in fact. Miyamoto lied to us Aussies when he said it would be cheaper than the Core 360, he tricked us! We pay about $327USD per Wii and 360. It has always been this way.

Why is it that engagdet reports this as news when it's wrong? Gah, damn you Americans, even your respected media outlets can't report the basics of foreign pricing yet you trust them with stuff about terrorists and war. Whatever happened to fact checking? Check your facts, you could have at least popped in one of our local Dick Smith Electronic stores.

Show some respect for our culture and sympathy for our over priced Wii's. Sheesh.

Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker Running @ 1600x1200, 8x AA, 16x AS

Lets not wait for the Wii's successor which will 'only' be able to upscale to 1080p (at best). Gekko, an up and coming GameCube emulator, is already going in game with some classic GC games and outputting crisp graphics while it's at it.

More can be found at Gekko's insider forums (Twilight Princess included).

Earlier Gekko media released (months ago, from when Gekko did not support high resolution graphics):



(The framerate is slightly lower than what you would encounter in real life given there is a recording overhead)

A Look Into Team Fortress 2's Graphics Shaders

Why this art style? How is it achieved? How does it work? Learn from the best!



It looks like more and more developers are looking into the real worlds artistic history, rather than just trying to imitate it. The reception both Bioshock and Team Fortress 2 are getting for their distinct art styles may be a sign of things to come. Maybe it will may even be the new World War 2... maybeee not.

Triple LCD Screen Setup Got You All Wet? Check This Out

While people are cheering and jeering over three LCD screen setups with Forza 2, some folks have decided to take it one step further with a Playstation 3 built right into a BMW M3 chassis for a vehicle simulator (of all things).

Yes the car moves left and right, the whole thing is built around the simulator itself, the only thing the chassis won't do is jump up in the air when the car is airborne or provide the G effects you would expect from driving around a higher performance vehicle.

Bioshock, Blending Elements From Half-Life and Deus Ex (Review Included)

If Bioshock is 'genetically enhanced' it's been enhanced with a fusion of Half-Life and Deus Ex genes. The developers aren't even hiding it, the intro sequence even mirrors that of the original Half-Life as you descend into Rapture. Though this game takes it one step further, not just above Half-Life and Deus Ex but for gaming in general by presenting choices that aren't necessarily dictated by point making but by emotions.



How are the water effects? Absoloutely stunning, just short of real-time water physics but more than likely as advanced as it's going to get this gen.

New Killzone 2 Footage + Details

A nice developer walkthrough showcasing the graphics, presentation with developer commentary about 'making the best first person shooter', from the BBC no less.

Epic Wants Silicon Knights to Pay "in excess of $650,000"

All out assault from Epic here, they believe Silicon Knights is simply trying to get a quick cash back and even perhaps planning to license off its so-called 'UE3-Derived' 'Silicon Knights Engine'.

In a counter claim Epic says that Silicon Knights case carries 'no factual merit' and that the license Silicon Knights had bought was given at a 'substantial discount' since Silicon Knights had agreed to use UE3 in all their upcoming Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC titles (not the time to get into future Silicon Knights games).

It gets even messier, Epic stated that,

"This lawsuit is a cynical effort by SK to unlawfully enrich itself at the expense of Epic Games... After having exploited Epic's intellectual property to its advantage, SK now seeks to renege on its payment obligations under the License Agreement. It is SK, not Epic, that has engaged in deceit, infringement of Epic's intellectual property rights, breach of contract and unfair business practices."

Despite not fully understanding the legalities of the situation it is quite easy to see that Epic makes a very good point when saying that sabotaging Silicon Knights games would be counter productive to Epic because part of the license agreement includes royalties for the number of titles Silicon Knights sells,

"Moreover, SK's criticism of Epic makes no sense on its face. SK contends that Epic sabotaged SK's ability to develop video games with Epic's software engine. Epic's incentive, however, is for SK to develop as many successful games as possible with Epic's software engine... The more successful SK is, the more Epic receives... In short, SK's lawsuit is a pretense... The court should not countenance SK's conduct and should dismiss the complaint."

Silicon Knights laywer Chris Holland responded to Epics claims by essentially saying 'Epics claims have no merit'. In fact that was his only counter to questions of whether or not Silicon Knights was using UE3 code (essentially stealing it) for their own gain. Not too reassuring given the fact Silicon Knights has had full access to the UE3 engine code, something that has taken Epic games many years to create that Silicon Knights seems to have managed to have done in a fraction of the time.

It is kind of difficult drawing anything with substance besides opinions from Hollands statements,

"We believe strongly that our claims in our complaint will prevail and the damages Silicon Knights has suffered in connection with its original complaint are vastly more, millions of dollars more than what Epic claims its damages are in its counterclaim. They've set forth $650,000 and our claims will dwarf that substantially."

Right now Holland seems to be just throwing light jabs at Epic, well for Silicon Knights sake otherwise they might need a new lawyer...

VIA GameDaily