Playstation 3 Preps for 3D Today! April 23, 2010
Posted by Maniac in Game News.add a comment
Sony has released Playstation firmware version 3.30 this morning in the US to all model PS3s. The required update offers some enhanced trophy and add on organization options, but the big news is that the update also includes the code for native 3D support, something that will be released alongside the new Sony 3D Bravia TVs.
Effectivelly the PS3 has done it again with being a forward-reaching Blu-Ray Disc player, and is still supporting new features that earlier players just can’t.
3D Blu-Ray support has still not officially started yet. You will likely still need a 3D HDTV and a compatable HDMI cable, as well as a 3D capable disc and the required glasses to have full 3D support. Sounds like a lot huh?
Bungie Releases New Halo Reach ViDoc! April 22, 2010
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Bungie has released a new multiplayer behind the scenes ViDoc to YouTube, probably in anticipation for the Halo Reach MP Beta, which is coming out May 3rd, and gameXcess will be reporting on. Currently it’s strictly on their YouTube channel, but you can be sure it’ll probably be uploaded to Xbox Live in HD pretty soon if it hasn’t already been.
Alan Wake to Recieve an Xbox Live Mini-Series April 22, 2010
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In a post from the completely awesome department, Kotaku is reporting that Xbox Live is preparing to release a six episode live action mini-series that will serve as a prequel to Alan Wake.
The series will be released weekly, every Sunday (starting with this one) for Xbox Live Gold members and the day after for Xbox Live Silver members. The episodes will then appear on brightfalls.net the following day. Two episodes will kick off this Sunday, with one episode released weekly. It will lead up to the final two episodes being released on May 17th, the day before the release of the game.
This is without a doubt the most awesome news I’ve read in a long time. I have been waiting five years for the release of Alan Wake, and this is a definate sign that the hype machine for the game is starting.
I can remember only a few times a live action prequel miniseries has been released to promote a game. F.E.A.R. had a miniseries which was only concluded in the Collector’s Edition. Halo 3, since they weren’t getting a Halo movie made, had a live action miniseries (but was only three parts) directed by what would become the team that made District 9.
Halo Reach Coming in 3 Editions (2 Special) April 22, 2010
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Bungie.net officially announced today that their newest game, Halo Reach, will have not one, but two special editions.
Following in the footsteps of Halo 3, Halo Reach will feature a Collector’s Edition and a Legendary Edition. The CE will cost 80 dollars US, and feature a special case, downloadable exclusive elite armor, and a box of behind the scenes material. The LE will cost 150 dollars US and feature everything the CE has, as well as downloadable Spartan armor and a 10 pound diaorama of the entire Noble Team as done by McFarlane toys.
I can still remember thinking that Halo 3’s Legendary Edition at it’s 130 dollar price point, was going to sell out immediatly. Months later the retailers were trying their best to offload the giant packages and I saw prices for it as low as 30 dollars. I do think that Bungie is repeating a mistake here, what made the Legendary Edition good was not the helmet, but the exclusive third DVD with the extra documentaries and paticularly the Halo 1 and 2 commentary. It doesn’t look like any DVDs will ship with these editions, begging the question as to why bother picking them up. I am curious however what is in the box of behind the scenes material.
The History of Remedy Part 1 April 21, 2010
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Machinima.com, famous for posting user’s movies rendered by game engines, is doing a multi part series on the history of Remedy Entertainment, better known as the fathers of Max Payne and Alan Wake.
I am a student of the history of video games, since G4TV no longer has their Icons show I’ve been missing these kinds of documentaries tremendously.
Trust me, since this is machinima.com’s video, make sure to turn off annotations when watching it, or you won’t be able to see more than 30 percent of the screen.
More parts coming soon!
Substance TV, Ten Years Later April 20, 2010
Posted by Maniac in Histories.3 comments
Ten years ago, a company called Gathering of Developers (GOD) had everything, just about everything. Max Payne, Serious Sam, and Grand Theft Auto 3, were all set to be published by them. They truly had a golden ticket, and unfortunately they had to sell it. The company was completely in the red, deeply in debt and needed to sell or fold.
Probably seeing no other options, GOD sold the rights to publishing for all of their games to Take 2 Interactive, which with the release of Grand Theft Auto 3, immediately turned it into a powerhouse publisher. The leaders of GOD took the money from the sale of the properties and put it into a whole new venture that nobody but me seems to remember, Substance TV.
DVD was taking off. It had surpassed the install rate of VHS in its heyday and offered twice the picture quality of VHS, and looked better than cable and broadcast TV. This was the best technology for displaying an image in standard definition seen to that point, and unlike laserdisc it was becoming more and more affordable to consumers every day. However, it was only being used as a platform for movie display. But with the install base growing, an opportunity for a whole new format, the DVD magazine, was widening, and these developers could smell it.
For a group whose expertise was in games, they really knew a lot about alternative culture. The spirit of Generation X was alive and well in these people. Alternative music, films, and underground culture was slowly gaining a momentum of interest among people. Previously unknown events like Burning Man were being openly discussed by people who had never been there. Independently run record stores were slowly being driven out of business by conglomerates and lack of music interest, and were being held up strictly by their loyal customers.
The field was set for something truly groundbreaking to be done. A DVD magazine, released monthly, with differing documentaries on a variety of alternative topics. For five dollars, you could pick up a DVD at your local GameStop in a paper sleeve, or pay thirty a year for a ten issue subscription.
The world was also changing. Issue 01 was released following the events of September 11th, giving them one hell of a charged topic to kick their magazine off. They also had a fantastic documentary, entitled “The Last Record Store” as the first issue’s featured item chronicling Bill’s Records in Dallas, TX and the people in it.
Unfortunately the system was far too ahead of its time. Being a close follower of GOD, I was aware of the Substance DVD before release, but not many others were. When the first issue was on sale at my local GameStop, I’m pretty certain I was the only person who actually bought a copy. When I inquired later on about it, the clerks openly admitted to tossing out the issues they couldn’t sell. I specifically do not remember them selling later issues, although I read on their site that the magazine was changing retailers to Suncoast. By changing retailers, having a regular purchase base, something essential for the continued support of the platform, was very difficult. Only dedicated subscribers, which I was not one of, were certain to get their monthly issues.
The company announced it’s shut down in December 2002. Only seven issues were ever released. According to the farewell message I pulled from Google’s cache, the economic downturn caused by the Sept 11 attacks greatly impacted sales, and people did not have the disposable income to buy monthly DVDs. One of the heads of the business, Mike Wilson, later went on to repeatedly run for President of the ESA, something he has not gotten. Mike, if you ever check out this site, and you have some back issues of the DVD hanging around, please send them to me.
We live in a world where digital magazines are available to PS3 owners, with no physical content at all. Sony hailed it as completely ground breaking, but they were eight years late to the party. Substance TV did it first, they had amazing content, but unfortunately, it just didn’t work out.
Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 Firmware Update Idea April 17, 2010
Posted by Maniac in Site Videos.2 comments
Playing older games from the PS1, PS2 or Xbox on a new widescreen HDTV sucks pretty bad, as the style at the time was to display all cutscenes in non-anamorphic widescreen. It worked for 4:3 tvs, but serves to do nothing but make even less image visible on a modern HDTV. Here’s the problem, and my possible solution. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, please hear my pleas.
A firmware update where the unit will automatically zoom into a frame to the edge of the image when it detects black bars on the top and bottom of the screen would be more than adaquate for HDTV owners.
Splinter Cell Conviction USB Content Released! April 16, 2010
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For all of you who bought the defective Splinter Cell Conviction Collector’s Editions (IE, all of you who bought the Splinter Cell Conviction Collector’s Edition), the meat and potatos of the CE, the USB content, has been officially released on their website.
I’d like to directly link it, but I couldn’t get the direct link to the content. However, here’s the link to the page where you can directly get the content. A selection of wallpapers, the comic, some concept art, and the making of documentary should be in there, and it’s all nicely wrapped up in a quaint little zip file, gosh does anyone remember zip? Kind of retro.
I’m Number 1 In South Korea! April 15, 2010
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I don’t usually get awards for anything, but I wanted to share this with the readers. The last video I did for the site, the Splinter Cell Conviction Collector’s Edition Unboxing, won some accolades. Yesterday, I was ranked in the top ten in Gaming videos in South Korea. I was ranked in the top hundred in general videos in South Korea. My YouTube account has seen an incredible influx of hits, comments, and subscriptions.
For those of you checking out the site because of my YouTube video, welcome, it’s safer here.
Final Day for Live on Xbox 1 April 14, 2010
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Today is April 14th, and today is the last day of live on all Xbox 1s. Anyone who has not upgraded to the Xbox 360 will find their accounts are not going to renew, and any Xbox 1 games with Live support on the Xbox 360 will cease to be playable in multiplayer. All downloaded content will no longer be avalible to download (that was stopped months ago).
I got my first Xbox one week before the release of Halo 2. I was always a PC gamer, and considered the Xbox to be nothing more than an obsolite PC with nothing interesting in it’s catalog. Then Halo 2 was released. I had already played Halo on the PC and thought it was fantastic, and the second game looked even better after what I had seen personally at E3 2003. My Xbox Live account has been active for 5 years. I upgraded to the 360 in April of 2006, and sold my original Xbox with all it’s accesories a year or so later for a pretty good price. I regret the decision because Microsoft really had failed to bring the majority of their Xbox 1 games to backwards compatability as we had previously assumed, but all the ones that I already owned were supported.
Please raise your glasses to the end of an era. If you still have a copy of Halo 2, Bungie will be playing it tonight in honor of the service being shut down.
Because of the discontinued support, it is likely that Live will increase user friend lists from their current maximum of 100 users for those who use Xbox 360s.
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