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.

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.

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.

Tech-5 Video Walkthrough

Tech 5 is showing off some amazing 3D graphics, up there with the likes of UE3 powered games and Crysis. But whats most surprising is that iD is even planning on hitting the 60fps sweetspot with their latest game, 'RAGE', on both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360!

For those counting down the doom of the Xbox 360 with the new fangled texture streaming, well, if having two DVDs is much worse than one Blu-Ray disc then you have a small victory.

Direct Links:

Engine Exploration
Walk Through Part 1
Walk Through Part 2

Engine Exploration:



Walk Through:

360 Games Montage

Sony might be getting back on its feet but it's hardly over for the Xbox 360. 2007 is going to be a very big year indeed, from Halo 3 to Eternel Sonata the Xbox 360 has some quality titles coming up.


360_07_montage_final.avi

Bully Heading to Xbox 360 and Wii

Rockstar is porting its infamous 'Bully Simulator' to the Xbox 360 and somewhat surprisingly to the Wii. The game is still a port however it will have new content and will be renamed Bully: Scholarship Edition.

Both the Wii and Xbox 360 versions will retain the wit and deep gameplay of the previously released PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system title and will boast additional new content. Bully: Scholarship Edition takes place in the fictional New England boarding school of Bullworth Academy, and tells the story of 15-year-old Jimmy Hopkins as he experiences the highs and lows of adjusting to a new school. Capturing the hilarity and awkwardness of adolescence perfectly, Bully: Scholarship Edition pulls the player into its cinematic and engrossing world. Universally acclaimed upon first release, Bully: Scholarship Edition is a genre-crossing action game with a warmth and pathos that is unrivaled.

The original Bully was Playstation 2 exclusive and was well recieved by critics. There is the potential downside to the 360 having to deal with a last generation game though the Wii may not suffer as much from this predicament as many of its titles are last generation ports.

Rockstar seems to be continuing its love affair with the Wii, other titles it has already ported or is set to port are Grand Theft Auto: San Andrenas, Rockstar Presents Table Tennis and Manhunt. This is in sharp contrast to last generation where there were no Rockstar titles released on the GameCube. One can't help but wonder what sort of deal Nintendo has struck up with Rockstar to justify all the attention.

Press Release

A Game That Really Mysteriously Did Not Show At E3

It was supposed to feature on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC AND Mac, the big next-gen engine iD has been working on after Doom 3, it could have been the game of show but no one seems to have missed it. Whats surprising is this missing game is actually a mystery, John Carmack said it would be at E3, E3 came and went, no news about it.



This isn't Final Fantasy where TGS is round the corner, this isn't Price of Persia where the developers are working on another title, this isn't GTA IV or Spore where it was announced beforehand it wouldn't show, this isn't Rainbow Six where the last game in the series was only just released, this isn't God of War 3 that is being kept under very tight wraps (to the point it is supposedly 'not in development'), this is iDs big next gen debut, the one John Carmack promised to show us at E3 running on all the high profile platforms, WHERE IS IT!?

Where the hell are you!?

Ah well, Quake Con it is, don't leave us out in the cold Mr. Carmack!

Related Post: John Carmack Shows off New Game Engine - At An Apple Conference!

Destroy All Humans: Path of the Furon

The game that poked fun at the 50's got a sequel that poked fun at the 60's now has a sequel poking fun at what else but the 70's. Destroy all Humans will capitalize on 70's stereotypes and an overly zealous alien to deliver on the humor and will be a completely open ended game.

The games protagonist, Krypto (or clone 137) will be retaining most of his abilities from previous games (body snatching, mind reading etc) but will also have new skills. One of the more intersting new moves Krypto will be pulling off is the Temporal Fist technique that will allow him to stop time.

Weapons are all fully upgradable and imaginative as always (Venus Fly Trap anyone?), the game will also support downloadable content. It will be released on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

Xbox Live vs PSN

Aaron Greenberg, group manager of Xbox Live gives his insights into what makes Xbox Live so much different and so much better than the PSN during an interivew on 'Bonus Round'. User genereted content or lack thereof (fake E3 2006 promises anyone?) is also discussed as well as future developments for XNA that gives people the ability to create games without writing a single line of code.

During an interview Aaron Greenberg mentioned the three best things that Sony was doing with the PSN were,

1. Actually doing it.
2. Their store is good, not better than Xbox Live MarketPlace, just 'different'.
3. Original Playstation 1 games

Interesting he didn't mention anywhere that it was free, this was to him, Aaron replied it's 'not important' and that he didn't think it was 'free vs paid' because of Xbox Live silver users being very active on the network.

When pushed hard about the price for multiplayer Aaron said that the consumer satisfaction rate was high and most people thought it was great value. Looks like Xbox Live owners are just too happy to pay the $50 a year. He also went on to imply that Xbox Live multiplayer provides a more consistant feel throughout all games through a universal friends list and voice support in all games, unlike the PSN.

On the point of 'Games for Windows' Aaron says that they're trying to bring Xbox Live to the PC and that all developer resentment that may be aimed towards 'Games for Windows' is because of the standards being set to qualify such as fast loading and quick installs.

User genereted content is 'getting there', Aaron says that integrating Torque-X into XNA makes it very easy to create games and made a promise that as someone who has 'never written a line of code' that he was going to make a game on XNA.

Furthermore he adds that it is 'definitely possible' to have a scenario where a person makes a map for Halo 3 on the PC, submits it for consideration and if it is approved is ptu online to be shared.

The Most Under Appreciated Game of This Generation

It is a bald statement, to claim something for an entire generation of consoles and hardware before the generation is even over. Though I feel safe in my claim for never in the history of gaming has such a quality title completely slipped under the radar.

Why Kameo? Not that difficult to understand once you look into the circumstances under which it was released. The main complaint behind the Xbox 360 launch line up was that there were no 'real' next-gen games. I guess since Kameo is supposedly targetted at a younger audience next generetion graphics, unique gameplay, epic story and an incredibly immersive world just isn't enough.

Whats interesting is that RARE obviously loved Kameo, the graphics engine was built for it, the same one looked just plain bad on Perfect Dark Zero but for Kameo? Simply breath taking, the water effects were truly masterful. Bungies Frankie keeps boasting about the water in Halo 3 though everything he is so proud of has already been done in Kameo.


Each elementel warrior in Kameo is lovingly detailed and definitely unique, so are the different worlds and the many variations of enemies you take on. There are real time day/night cycles that take place as you play and fantastic lighting to boot. Kameos world oozes detail, the ooze probably made from the love and sweat RARE has poured into it.


Yet, after all that, everyone was interested in seeing if Perfect Dark Zero would be the new Halo of Microsoft. A thousand curses upon the damned Xbox, it has been type cast to FPS titles!

Whats funny is that most will say the most under appreciated game for the Xbox 360 thusfar is Viva Pinata, yet given the number of people who say it is under appreciated it surely couldn't be THAT unloved. Kameo was the best game in the Xbox 360 launch line up but it was over looked, the Xbox 360 isn't targetted at a general audience, it's sad but true, both RAREs major games for the Xbox 360 haven't sold well, and all for the wrong reasons.

Shadow Run Machinima

Creators of Red vs Blue tackle Shadow Run in their new Machinima, '1-800-MAGIC'.

Battle of the Upscalers - Playstation 3 VS Xbox 360

It seems like even upscaling is subject to qualitative differences, the Xbox 360 is clearly cleaning up images wherein the Playstation 3 seems to be bluring out the jagged edges.









Halo 2:





Final Fantasy 12:

Here they are 'stitched together',



Big thanks to Kamalot for this one (see comments).

Bad Habits in Halo 3 - The Top Ten List

Frankie, the dude who wouldn't shuttup about the water, has spoken of his dislike of various acts and activities people have been partaking in while playing the Halo 3 multiplayer beta, he particularly dislikes the fact people 'tea bag' other peoples kills. What sort of pathetic lowness does it take that one should start 'tea bagging' kills one didn't commit?

10. Scavenging other people’s kills – if you didn’t kill him, you have no business crouching on him.

9. Vetoing casually – Think twice before vetoing a game you only half dislike. Murphy’s Law states that the next choice will be worse.

8. Taking off in the Hog alone – You may as well drive around in a huge magnetic target.

7. Talking trash to teammates – Yelling at strangers is bad enough, but do you think yelling at your compatriots will make them play better? Drink some chocolate milk and shut your cretinous noisehole.

6. Blasting your music at us – Yes, you’re hardcore. You love mad rhymes and phat beats. We don’t care. Turn it off. We already muted you, you spaz.

5. Insulting the room before the teams are chosen – Now I don’t want to cooperate with you.

4. Shooting me specifically, with the Needler – Stop it. I hate you.

3. Racism, abuse, foul language – We muted you already. So now you’re just a sad idiot yelling into a vacuum. Actually, go right ahead. Maybe a relative will smack you or get you the help you need.

2. Insulting Gamertags – Obviously Live can’t automatically detect every idiotic Gamertag you come up with, especially with your L337 combos, so how about this: Just quit being a moron.

1. Going to the bathroom while playing – this gem was found on a Halo 3 post in another forum. Names have been hidden to protect the guilty:

I never quit, but sometimes I have to poop, so I take the controller into the toilet with me. I move the sticks and press buttons, but I can't be held responsible for my actions during these brownouts.

Luke's been playing this game a lot, but he swears it's for a purpose.


VIA Bungie Frankie

Microsoft and 'Live 3.0'

Sony is promising to deliver better than Xbox Live for free, though if it can just get as good as Xbox Live free it would be more than enough. Sony on top of free online is pushing the concept of 'Game 3.0', so far the reaction to it has been extremely possitive giving an 'empire strikes back' vibe to the console wars.

Microsoft is still back at its Xbox 1 days, charging for what is essentially the same service, making free the ability to purchase things or download what is usually free. It's time for Microsoft to get back into focusing on community interaction. Just how?

At the 2006 E3 Petere Moore made that damning quote "Some people do rubber ducks, some people do tattoos", could we extend this and expect this E3 Petere Moore to get up on stage and proclaim "Some people do rag dolls, some people do Spartans"? No, I'm not looking for a platformer in which you play a customizable Master Chief and go around creating levels to jump around in, I'm talking about a full featured map editor.

Give developers the ability to integrate map editors and other such goodies into their games as part of the XNA, make it so someone can create a map for Halo 3 on his/her PC and release it via Xbox Live as a free download.

The whole 'Game 3.0' concept Sony has come up with is entirely coincedential, Playstation Home was originally as part of the lobby for a Playstation 2 game and perhaps the only reason LittleBigPlanet is an exclusive for the Playstation 3 is because Sony has bought the Ageia PhysX license for all developers on the Playstation 3. If Sony's Game 3.0 concept goes unmatched then the PSN will definitely surpass Xbox Live in every way.

Halo 3 - New Screenshots?

Terrible quality (I know...).

Star Wars: Forces Unleashed - Behind the Scenes Video

A six minute behind the scenes look at the origins of the ideas and concepts behind 'Forces Unleashed'.

New Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway Trailer

After not showing anything Brothers in Arms related Ubisoft has been depriving many from media of its much anticipated title but you can't keep a good game hidden and here’s the latest direct feed trailer to prove it.



For those who are lov'n the YouTube:

Xbox 360 Slowing Down GTA IV Development?

Rockstar's creative VP Dan Houser said in an interview with the official Playstation magazine (UK) that lack of Blu-Ray/HD-DVD and built-in HDD was hindering the development of GTA IV on the Xbox 360.

Well if this holds true then umm... yikes, the 360's life is going to be short indeed. It is interesting though, since the only ever seen playable demo of the game was actually running on an Xbox 360, this could well be a PR move to reassure the Playstation 3 owners that their beloved console still has its advantages.

Then again, could be the beginning of the end for the 360, perhaps 'future proofing' the Playstation 3 was a smart move after all.


VIA IGN

Burnout 5 - 'Burnout Paradise' Officially Announced!

Head over to Criterion games and find this loverly press release, a trailer and a bunch of screenshots have also been released.

Bioshock Water

Bioshock's water effects have not only met peoples expectations but have left behind any game that would like to claim to have the best looking water in the dust.







It makes Half-Life 2's water look like pre-Quake 2 era.