PS3 HDMI Controversy Clarified and the History of HDCP July 13, 2011
Posted by Maniac in Game News, Histories.1 comment so far
Recently the internet has been in a bit of an uproar when an internal memo from GameStop leaked that they needed to start training their people to inform customers that a new hardware revision of the PS3 would only allow HD playback of any kind if you had an HDMI equipped HDTV. Anyone using a legacy HDTV without HDMI support (like those who would use component cables) would have to buy a new TV or be forced to play their games and watch their movies in standard definition (considered by many online a fate worse than death).
When I first read the news I dismissed it, because I already KNEW this was coming, and GameStop had made a small error in the memo. Today GameStop did in fact announce that they were misinformed or at least misunderstood what the new specifications for the PS3 would be and have corrected their mistake and clarified what would be going on with the Playstation 3’s HD output. The internet is still in an uproar of course, but it’s a little late to the party since this has been something the movie studios have wanted for years now, and it was announced at the beginning of this year that this would finally be happening in 2013 if we liked it or not.
When Blu-Ray and its dead rival HD-DVD were announced, the movie industry was more overzealous than ever to protect their movies from people copying them as much as possible. Whearas DVD’s copy protection standards were broken quickly and could not be changed, with the advent of upgradable player firmware, they could simply change the encryption codes as new discs were being released. Of course home owners would need to be informed to plug their players into a dedicated high-speed internet connection and to continually check their players for updates, but they so far haven’t done a good job of that. That’s why there’s a leaflet in pretty much every Paramount disc saying, “Update your player’s firmware for this to work,” instead of a chapter listing insert.
The protection in question is called HDCP and it’s been bad news since pretty much the start of the HD format war. This is also why all your HDMI equipped HDTVs, Receivers, Computer Monitors, and cables have the HDCP certified sticker on them, because if they didn’t, they’re pretty much worthless. Now, HDCP equipped HDMI equipment has been standard since pretty much the format was introduced, so don’t worry if you’ve bought some cables or a HDTV recently if your movies will eventually stop playing.
The problem is the copy protection does NOT work using component cables! Anyone who accesses an HD stream using those analog cables is getting a completely unprotected video output, and that has terrified every movie studio for the past five years because it can be copied. When they found out about this back when HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Disc launched in 2006, the movie studios actually demanded the disc manufacturers to not allow any HDTV output of the discs through component, and only provide HD output through HDMI. At the time, this was universally considered the dumbest idea ever.
HDTVs had a 20% install base at the time of the format launch, and HDMI was only then becoming a standard port in new TVs. HDMI equipped HDTVs were rare at the time and extremely expensive, and the HDTVs people did have, while they did not support HDMI, worked just fine and displayed picture with negligible quality difference. Five years ago people were still just as cheap as they are today (sarcasm) and just didn’t want to buy new TVs. Since these people were ALSO the immediate customers of the new HD formats, and since a war was going to be going on to get at that 20%, when the formats launched the studios did a rare sane thing and did not restrict the component HD stream of the movies.
But the day has come where this status quo will cease to be. Starting in 2013 all new Blu-Ray players will not be made with any component connections in them at all. Current players will be just fine and continue to run, although a new firmware update might be coming for them. Current discs will not be modified and their HD streams will continue to play through component, but after that time the future discs are going to not allow HD playback in component. However, the discs with this restriction will be marked on the package. If you don’t have an HDMI equipped HDTV and you want to enjoy new Blu-Ray movies in HD, you’re going to need to buy one.
Now this brings me back to the PS3, which I’ve kinda neglected during this history lesson. As a Blu-Ray player as well as a gaming console, the PS3 is just as susceptible to this controversy as the dedicated players, and what GameStop was informing their staff of is literally what I just said in the previous paragraph. This was the decision of the big movie studios and not of Sony or the Playstation teams, and if it was left to them it would have been made sooner. It’s an unfortnate predicament, but for those who have followed the format for some time, an expected one.
You’ll still be able to play all your PS3 games in HD if your HDTV supports the resolutions through component, but future Blu-Ray Discs will require HDMI playback for full HD support. Look for the label to know for sure, and if you don’t have an HDMI equipped HDTV, I recommend you start your shopping for a new HDTV.
Bungie Leaves Halo to Microsoft July 10, 2011
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After twelve years and five games over two console generations, Bungie has started the transition process to leave the Halo franchise that they created behind to focus on new projects. This is a major changing of the guard, as all of the major Halo online stat servers have been hosted on Bungie’s official website for the past seven years. Those servers are going to be moving to Microsoft, where they will be maintained by a separate team.
As a PC user, I think a lot of people’s first exposure to Halo came when this video came out, back when Halo was expected to launch on the PC.
This video is likely what made Microsoft decide to buy the company and have Bungie retool the game to run on their then unannounced first gaming console, the Xbox.
Make no mistake about it, the launch of Halo defined the Xbox and made a new console by a new manufacturer hold its own against the power of Sony better than Nintendo could in the last console generation.
When Xbox Live launched, Halo 2 defined online play for that platform and was widely successful. In fact, I still remember Halo 2’s launch quite fondly.
And for those of you who might be interested, I consider Halo 2’s Limited Collector’s Edition the definition of a REQUIRED CE purchase.
But Bungie wouldn’t be staying as a part of Microsoft’s main studios forever. After finishing Halo 2, while working on their first unannounced Xbox 360 exclusive game, Bungie got a whole new building to develop in.
I just want to know where all those belts came from. Of course that game they couldn’t show us in that video of course turned out to be the highly rated Halo 3.
With the release of Halo 3 many felt the Halo series had come to a wrap. It ended on a cliffhanger but the main story was complete. Having made them millions upon millions of dollars, Microsoft gave Bungie back their independence and the ability to develop whatever they’d like, but they would be keeping Halo. It could’ve easily ended there, but Bungie had some more surprises up their sleeves and Halo 3 ODST was coming.
But this wouldn’t be their final Halo game. As announced in E3 2009 right after the stage demo of Halo 3 ODST, Bungie’s final Halo game would bring the series full circle back to the beginning, set back before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, their final Halo game would be Halo Reach.
Bungie hasn’t posted up their final ViDoc yet, but for Bungie Day two years ago, they released this video showing the evolution of Halo over the years, and since they are wrapping up Halo, I thought it was quite fitting to show here.
Take care, Bungie, and good luck in all your future endeavors.
Duke Nukem Forever First Access Club Members Selecting DLC Platform July 9, 2011
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Gearbox Software has sent out a mass email some time ago to the Duke Nukem Forever First Access Club members. This group includes people who preordered the game at GameStop or bought the Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition.
First Access Club members were originally given the first access to Duke Nukem Forever news, and exclusive access (for a time) of the Duke Nukem Forever demo before the game was released. Before the demo came out, an email was sent out to all members requesting that they update their member status to reflect what their platform of choice was so they could sent a proper download code for the demo when it was released.
Now they’re doing it again, but this time its for the first Duke Nukem Forever DLC. All First Acccess Club members are being encouaged to sign in at the official website and update what their platform of choice is (just in case they decided to buy the game for a different platform they played the demo on) up until July 11th. No word what’s going to happen after July 11th, if that means the DLC is coming out that day, or what will happen to FAC members who don’t select a platform (in the case of the demo, anyone who didn’t select a platform defaulted to getting the PC version).
This hopefully means that the first DLC is coming soon.
Bioshock Infinite E3 2011 Gameplay Premere July 8, 2011
Posted by Maniac in Game News.1 comment so far
Well, Ken Levine made good on his promise and has released the entire Bioshock Infinite E3 demo, all fifteen minutes of it, to the web. In it, we get to see the whole new environment, and get introduced very quickly to the new main characters and supporting characters.
So, what the heck did we just see? This is not Rapture, but we already knew that was going to happen. I’ll let Ken Levine set the stage.
You can also watch the entire episode this footage premered on along with interviews with Ken Levine on GTTV.com.
Bioshock Infinite is coming to PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
Saints Row The Third E3 2011 Gameplay Demonstration July 3, 2011
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If there was one game that was being advertised at full force at this years E3, it would probably be Saints Row the Third. They were nice enough to save me a few dollars in parking and give my rental car a nice wash, but unfortunatly I was not able to get a gameplay video of what they were showing at this years E3. Fortunatly, the game’s developers at Volition and THQ have seen fit to upload their gameplay presentation, with full commentary, to the web for all to see, and it looks like a lot of fun.
Saints Row the Third is coming November, 2011 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
Bioshock Infinite Gameplay Teaser July 2, 2011
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Irrational Games and Ken Levine have listened to the people who cried out to see Bioshock Infinite’s E3 presentation (which is something that I haven’t even seen, I didn’t even see a Bioshock theater and I was at the 2K Booth several times!)
Right now, you’ll have to make do with the first two minutes of the video with an introduction by Ken Levine. They promise that the rest of the presentation will be shown uncut on GameTrailers TV (which airs on Thursday at 1AM on Spike TV channel) and the rest of the video will be put online after it airs.
Arkham City Gameplay Video July 2, 2011
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The guys at Rocksteady have seen fit to include a 12 minute gameplay video of Batman: Arkham City. In it, you get a sense of what the game will play like, and you get to see a playble segment of the Catwoman in action.
Now I must stress that this video is NOT what I saw previewed at E3 last month. In fact if memory serves I remember this scene has been shown to the press exclusively some time ago, as I have read previews which covered this part of the game. The only difference being that the previews I read did not include Catwoman’s playable section which is at the beginning of the video. Enjoy.
Batman: Arkham City is coming October, 2011 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
Xbox 360 Exclusive Trailers I Missed From E3 June 30, 2011
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Well, to continue with the series I got going on, here’s a smattering of some of the most noteworthy Xbox 360 exclusive games which released trailers during E3 which I was not able to upload or link while I was in Los Angeles.
Let’s get the big one out of the way first, this is Halo 4.
For a teaser, the fact that it’s pre-rendered doesn’t really bother me at all, and even though it was pre-rendered, you can tell just where they’re going with for this story. They’re continuing to tell the story of SPARTAN-117, the Master Chief, and just what happened to him and Cortana following the cliffhanger events of Halo 3.
The tidbits I’ve heard about this game so far is that this will be the start of a new Halo Trilogy (yes that means there’s going to be a Halo 5 and Halo 6). Also, there was a reference to just what was going on between Cortana and the Master Chief while he was in stasis if you watched the Halo Legends video. The segments that detailed the history of the Halo Universe were told from Cortana’s perspective while the Chief was frozen, and she was starting to show signs of rampancy, which is common among AIs which have gone past their seven year life span. Don’t know if they’re going to go deeper into that factor in the final game, but it is something to think about. It’s coming in Holiday 2012.
And since we’re in a Halo mood, how about this Halo Anniversary Edition trailer?
People have been mulling for a few months now that this game would be coming and that has all been confirmed with this E3 reveal. The game will have all the geometry and features of the original Halo game, retweaked with the technology that powered the Halo Reach engine. You will be able to swap back and forth between the original look of the game, as well as the newer updated look.
I’m just glad that they’re finally bringing this game in some form to a widescreen format, which is something I’ve been demanding from the Microsoft developers to do to the original game for some time now (if you remember my video about widescreen problems with older games on a modern HDTV, Halo 1 was a game I featured). The game will also have updated multiplayer maps, full Xbox Live support, as well as co-op through Xbox Live.
This is coming in November.
I know a lot of people were kind of hoping that I’d include a Gears of War 3 trailer in here, but I already posted that trailer up when it came out, and I also wrote an entire preview of the game while I was in Los Angeles, so no reason to retouch it, although if you are new to the site and did miss it, feel free to check those out.
Cross Platform Trailers I Missed From E3 June 28, 2011
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Now you guys know I traveled to E3 this year and got to see a lot of what was being shown over the course of the three day show. The problem was my ability to modify and control the site remotely was extremely limited, and I tried my best to update it as much as I could while there and while operating alone, but one thing I was not able to do was to post up the E3 trailers released during the show. I already took a look at the top games that will be Playstation 3 exclusives, now I wanted to show you some of my favorite trailers for games that will be cross platform.
First up, we have the E3 2011 trailer for Saints Row: The Third. The only previous trailer released for this game was comprised of one single nut shot, this is…a step up, stylistically.
Although it is entirely prerendered with no actual gameplay, the trailer serves more to set the stage for the look and feel of the game instead of show you how it’s going to play. Since this is only the second trailer released for the game, and the game isn’t going to be out until November, I’m going to let it slide this time.
The style looks fantastic. You can see some of the new Saints in the game, and some of the new gangs they’ll be quarrelling with in the game. You also see just what the Saints have become since the second game, wheras they had to build themselves up from nothing in the previous two games, this game looks like they’re on top of the world already and other gangs want a piece of that. Also, who is flying those jets at the end of the trailer is not explained. Could be Ultor, could be another gang, or could be government.
Next up, a game which I got to see demoed at E3 and had a pretty positive experience with. Batman: Arkham City, the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum.
You’ve heard it here, and I got to see it, I can confirm this game will have playable Catwoman levels, but more than that, she will be playable in the main story, wheras in the PS3 version of Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Joker was playable, it was only in challenge modes. In the game, you will be able to swap out characters during gameplay, simply by finding a few kitties hanging out on a rooftop you’ll be able to select if you want to play as her while the in the campaign (and they show a switch happen in the trailer).
You can see here how she controls differently than Batman, with her own move setlist. She also has one unique gameplay mechanic Batman does not, which is the ability to climb across ceilings (I guess her kitty claws keep her up there), which is perfect for being stealthy.
Not pictured in the trailer but something I can gurantee is in the game is the inclusion of the Penguin. His voice actor sounded recognisable, but I don’t know for sure who it is. I also think Two-Face looks great, kind of a mixture of his depiction in The Dark Knight and the comics, and for a guy half disfigured he looks great.
I do plan to look at some Xbox 360 exclusive trailers soon. More multiplatform game trailers may be checked out as well.
Duke Nukem Forever Coming to Mac in August June 27, 2011
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The official 2K Games Twitter feed has confirmed that Duke Nukem Forever will get a Mac release in August with all the features and interactivity the game is known for. Aspyr is handling the port, and they have plenty of experience in porting popular PC games to the Mac.
Right now they’re offering 10% off preorders and free shipping via the USPS.
No word if Mac vs PC multiplayer is possible. There was no announcement the Mac version will ship with Steamworks integration, but that information would bring the answer. If the Mac version uses Steam, it will be PC compatible. If there’s no Steamworks support it can’t since Steam is integrated into the PC version.
Duke Nukem Forever is coming to Mac in August, 2011.
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