Release This: Soulcalibur IV, Rhythm Tengoku Gold Debut Worldwide
Gamasutra Columns :: Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Gamasutra’s latest “Release This!” explores a week that brings the worldwide debut of Namco Bandai fighter Soulcalibur IV and the Japanese portable premieres of DS music game Rhythm Tengoku Gold and Sega’s PSP action/RPG Phantasy Star Portable.
Microsoft ‘wasn’t in the right place’ to acquire Bizzare
Xbox Scene :: Wednesday, August 06, 2008
From gamesindustry.biz : <BR><I> Sarah Chudley, Bizarre Creations’ commercial director, has explained that Microsoft “wasn’t in the right place” to acquire her company. Speaking to Videogaming247, Chudley said that Bizzare Creations, which was acquired by Activision last year, wasn’t bought by Microsoft due to the company’s “internal structure” and single platform focus. “Obviously as the publisher they had to know what was going on, but their internal structure probably wasn’t in the right place to buy things at the time,” she said. “And they’re a single format. OK, Xbox is doing fantastically, but who knows what’s going to happen in the future?” </I><BR><BR> Full Story: gamesindustry.biz
Rare dev: ‘I don’t think 360 has reached its limit’
Xbox Scene :: Wednesday, August 06, 2008
From videogamer.com : <BR><I> Speaking to VideoGamer.com at the Develop conference in Brighton last week, Nick Burton, a senior software engineer at Rare, has assured Xbox 360 gamers that there’s plenty more to come from the console. “You never can push them as far as they can go. The reality of the peak performance of the console is yes, you could look to a generation beyond where we are now and think, yeah, I could use that power. But the reality is in 360 and the PS3 and the latest generation PC graphics, the amount of power in the GPUs is such that you’re more bound by your creativity and the aesthetic you’re going for than you’re really bound by polygon pushing power,” said Burton. “You’re probably actually more bound maybe by art authoring and the amount of data throughput that, just the amount of memory you’d need, but I don’t think 360 has reached its limit.” </I><BR><BR> Full Story: videogamer.com
Microsoft: We Want More Exclusives
Xbox Scene :: Wednesday, August 06, 2008
From edge-online.com : <BR><I> Microsoft, which has been able to capture some important (timed) third-party exclusives such as Rock Band 2 and BioShock, continues to chase more exclusive deals to differentiate Xbox 360 from competitors. Asked about Xbox 360’s weaknesses, Microsoft interactive entertainment boss Don Mattrick replied, “We’d love to have more exclusive hits on our box, absolutely. Are we investing in that? Yes we are. Does that take a lot of time? Yes it does.” Microsoft’s exclusive deals go beyond the boxed product. Grand Theft Auto IV and Fallout 3 will both offer exclusive downloadable content for the Xbox 360 versions. PS3 players wanting an extended experience for those games are out of luck. </I><BR><BR> Full Story: edge-online.com
uxrip360 0.3
Xbox Scene :: Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Klewan released a new version of uxrip360 – a Linux based Xbox 360 game dumper. What’s new/fixed: * xtract-stealth also extracts now default.xex (required for a full stealth check) * check-stealthfiles checks a set of SS/DMI/PFI and default.xex against all implemented stealth checks +needed to verify those marked-as-bad-stealth-by-schtrom bourne files (thx @stacker69) * extraction of default.xex added * full stealth check even before game partition dump starts :) * XEX-ID code clean up, reorganisation * Game name is now goin to get looked up :) +the XEX Media ID is used to match against a CSV file (see below in additional notes) +gives you the game name on verifing a iso +gives the name on rip-a-rip’s +gives the name right a few seconds after a rip has started * colors can be turned of with “-C” flag * more colorful output * autodiscover now trys to find the kreon drive with a disc inside, if you have more than one :) * verified the VAD6038 drive with benq0800 FW * a few compile warnings on Kubuntu fixed * non-cmdline progressbar improved (watch out for a GUI on its way) * a .dvd file is created after rip for those who use cloneCD or whoever needs it :) Official Site: n/a (IRC: #uxrip360 on EFNET) Download: n/a Full NFO/Readme: xbins.org
Critical Reception: Namco Bandai’s Soulcalibur IV
Gamasutra Columns :: Wednesday, August 06, 2008
This week’s edition of Critical Reception examines online reaction to this week’s debuting fighter sequel Soulcalibur IV, which initial reviews claim is “unquestionably [Namco Bandai’s] best fighting game to date.”
Rage and id’s Love/Hate Relationship with the PS3
Xbox Scene :: Wednesday, August 06, 2008
From kotaku.com : <BR><I> Last night John Carmack took to the stage at QuakeCon and inadvertently ignited a fanboy flamewar. Id’s upcoming open-world shooter Rage, he told the assembled gamers, will look worse on the Xbox 360 [than PS3 or PC] because of storage issues. “We have concerns (about the 360 version of Rage) because of the economics of the platform in terms of what it costs to go to multiple discs,” Hollenshead said. “There is disc space issue on the 360, and if we cant find a clever way or compromise with Microsoft to address that issue… even though we feel the 360 has superior hardware, the size limitations may mean that we may not have as much texture density or resolution on the 360 version. “Let me be clear, this is an open question, we have these tech issues and we are working with Microsoft to solve them.” And the issue isn’t just about the game being too big, Hollenshead says that developers lose upwards of 2 gigs of space per a disc because of information Microsoft requires developers to put on the discs. While allowing the game to be installed on the Xbox 360’s harddrive may help, it actually wouldn’t solve that problem, Hollenshead added. </I><BR><BR> Full Story: kotaku.com
Bethesda: Why we prefer the Xbox
Xbox Scene :: Wednesday, August 06, 2008
From techradar.com : <BR><I> Bethesda’s Peter Hines has explained why the software giants behind Oblivion and the forthcoming Fallout 3 use the Xbox 360, rather than PC or PlayStation as their main development platform. “If you have the PC as your lead machine you have the problem of not knowing what configurations people have, how many gigs of RAM or what graphics card they have,” explained Hines. “Obviously we are more familiar with the Xbox because we are familiar and the other thing is that the Xbox is much easier to take to tech shows. “We can just pop the hard-drive off the Xbox and put it on any machine which is an advantage. Taking the PC or PS3 to these things just isn’t convenient.” </I><BR><BR> Full Story: techradar.com
THQ Declares Traditional Hardware Cycles Dead
Xbox Scene :: Wednesday, August 06, 2008
From multiplayerblog.mtv.com : <BR><I> It’s time to throw out the old playbook, says THQ president and CEO Brian Ferrell, because the the industry’s traditional hardware cycles no longer exist. “We used to always think of this industry as ‘the cycle.'” said Ferrell. “I think the reality now is there are several sub-cycles.” THQ’s leader sees at least three separate sub-cycles: 1) the handheld market, 2) what Nintendo’s done with Wii and 3) the continued competition between Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. There’s even an emerging sub-cycle in the online world, he said. “It’s hard now to talk about ‘the cycle’ — I think we have to talk about all of the cycles,” he said. “The way we think about it at THQ is we plan our business around each of those platforms, not around ‘the cycle.'” </I><BR><BR> Full Story: multiplayerblog.mtv.com
Xbox 360 Avatars Restricted to Non-violent Games
Xbox Scene :: Wednesday, August 06, 2008
From shacknews.com : <BR><I> Speaking at Microsoft’s GameFest event in Seattle, Xbox Live general manager Eric Kilgore explained that while the Avatars–Microsoft’s answer to Nintendo’s Miis–are currently planned only to be allowed for use in titles rated E10+ and lower, that restriction may change in the future. “We are still developing the final policies,” Kilgore stated, as reported by Develop. “The final guide we have this year is to think of them in an ‘E10’ context. That doesn’t mean it won’t change–but this Fall they won’t be able to blow each other’s heads off.” </I><BR><BR> Full Story: shacknews.com
QuakeCon 2008 – Paint, Glue & Sponge Bob
Tweak Town :: Tuesday, August 05, 2008
QuakeCon is many things to many people. For the pro gamer it is a place to show your skills; challenging the best of the best and competing against the world’s top teams in everything from Guitar Hero to different variations of Quake. Gamers old and new travel to Dallas, Texas every year, trying to compete for their piece of the prize money.
Computer enthusiasts who do not compete on the professional level also attend QuakeCon. Many are there to participate in LAN gaming in what is known as the BYOC, or Bring Your Own Computer. This area features some of the world’s top enthusiasts, some flying in from places like Sweden, Germany and even Asia. The computers they bring are often one off, custom enclosures that take up to several months to fabricate.”
How the Wii is Beating the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3
Digital Trends :: Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Nintendo has gotten family and friends involved with their system without the multimedia sharing capabilities that the other systems offer.
