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Movies, games and a discussion about Sony just not ‘getting it’ with HOME and PSP GO! are among the things we wax lyrical about in our latest show.

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A few days ago the internet gaming community was buzzing with the news that on Tuesday, 31st March Sony would be making some kind of big announcement.  We at TGP even speculated as to what the company could be announcing.  Would it be improvements to Home? Were they going to provide details on Team Ico’s new title? Or would they announce a (much needed) price cut for the Playstation 3?

The answer left us feeling deflated. Sony’s big announcement was that the PS2 would be available for 99 euros in Europe and 99 dollars in the states. The Uk however, would not be getting a price cut. We can already get the machine for £80 and that’s good enough for us brits in Sony’s eye.

Price Cut for PS3?

However, the feeling within the gaming community is that PS3 must be reduced in price soon. It’s in last place overall in the console war yet it remains more expensive than both the Xbox 360 and Wii. The previous attacks on the 360 that Sony have launched stating that with all of the add-ons the 360 ‘needs’ to be comparable to the PS3, the PS3 is actually the better machine doesn’t really hold much weight in the current economic situation the country finds itself in. Bottom line, £189.99  will allow me to play Resident Evil 5 on the Xbox 360, whilst £289.99 is what I’d need to shell out for the a PS3 and  then an extra £39.99 on top of that for a copy of the game, giving a grand total of almost £330.

Whilst you could argue that the PS3 has a 20gb bigger hard drive than the 360 and you’re getting a blu-ray player, this was not what I was shopping for (and indeed not what parents will be looking at when their children are asking for a console for their birthday or Christmas presents). I was simply looking for the cheapest way to play next-generation games like Resident Evil 5.

Sony, please don’t get Nintendowned

Sony are making the exact same mistakes now that Nintendo made before, during and after the launch of the Nintendo 64. They were seen as arrogant because the NES and SNES had dominated the console scene for so long and when upstarts Sony came along with their newly announced Playstation machine Nintendo never even blinked.

They were Nintendo, you didn’t play videogames, you played Nintendo. Yeah, that worked out great didn’t it? The Playstation One would take gaming to a whole new level whilst the N64 was late to release, overpriced and had poor ports of multi-platform titles that often cost more than the original format they were ported from. Any of this sounding familiar?

They seemed oblivious to the fact that their machine just wasn’t selling as many units as their rivals and carried on month after month ignoring it. When it was time for their next machine to launch a few years later Nintendo was left trailing in last place with Gamecube.

Development costs are now a lot higher than they were back in the N64 and Playstation One days and the tough economic situation the world finds itself in means people don’t have as much to spend. If your sales falter now the effects could be far more serious. With Sony announcing its first net loss in 14 years and the freezing of salaries how much longer can they afford to let one of their most important brands; Playstation, slip further and further behind?

E3 – its time for a change

So E3 is heading our way in a few short months. Will this be the time that Sony finally announces a price cut for their flagship console? Who knows? I hope for their sake they do though, I love Playstation and competition in the marketplace is healthy and necessary.

No-one wants a one horse race. But also no-one wants to back a loser.

Technorati Tags: E3, Gamecube, Microsoft, N64, Nintendo, PS3, Sony, Xbox 360

Released last week at the hefty price of 1600 MS points, Watchmen: The End Is Nigh hit me a little bit out of the blue. I’d seen the posts about it on other sites, but never really taken notice of them. I’d heard people talking about the upcoming and now released Watchmen movie yet still I wasn’t tempted. However, a fear of getting left behind in the recent spate of demos that have come onto the the 360’s Marketplace saw me downloading everything and anything I could this past weekend. One of which was said Watchmen title.

Now I must admit, at this point I still haven’t got round to playing all of the demos I downloaded, but Watchmen is one of the few I have played. In fact I’ve played it on PS3 as well as 360 and you know what. I really like it. I know – weird isn’t it?

I’m not a comic fan really and don’t even know who the two characters are that you play in the game but I’ve now played it through 3 times and am seriously considering getting the full game.

So what type of game is it then? It’s basically a 3d take on the old 2d scrolling beat-em-ups that fuelled my gaming passions when I was a younger player in the 80s and 90s. The controls are very simple, you have a light attack, a heavy attack and a throw button and as you progress through the demo you will learn new combos and skills by collecting little grey disc symbol thingies (which I assume is some sort of logo the Watchmen use).

Whilst the graphics are a lot better than most XBLA titles, they’re still average compared to other games you could get for the same reduced price at retail. The sound is pretty good, and there’s some suitably cheesy voice acting to boot. All of this adds up to what should be a very over priced average game. Yet it still appeals. And it appeals enough to make me want to buy it.

The only thing I can put it down to is the nostalgic feelings it revives in me, taking me back to my high school and college days when gaming was a much more simple affair (and far less expensive).

As the most expensive game on XBLA (costing the same as GTA: Lost and the Damned) and £12.99 on PSN this game will not satisfy everyone, but for me, well I think I’ll keep my eye on the Watchmen

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, PS3 Watchmen, PSN, Sony, Warner Bros., XBLA, Xbox 360, Xbox Live

So Dead Rising is coming out on Wii and recently Capcom confirmed that Dead Rising 2 is coming to other consoles, I’m going to attempt to play the  original game on 360 once again.

I’ve tried it twice before and just became frustrated with it, this time however, I’m fully prepared to complete a good portion of the game, then quit and start from the beginning with my levelled up character.

On a side note, I’ve also got Resident Evil 5 coming for 360 this week and I’m a little apprehensive about that too.  Really didn’t like the demo when I played it, but after seeing this awesome trailer for it and hearing numerous reports that people shouldn’t be put off by the demo, I gave in and pre-ordered.

These games SHOULD appeal to me, perseverance is the key I believe. Must….kill….zombies.

Technorati Tags: Capcom, Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2, PS3, Resident Evil 5, Trailer, Xbox 360

Ok everyone, just in case you missed it GTA 4 is out.

Word!

Posted by Ian

Ok, so everyone knows that TNA wrestling is miles better than WWE and it looks like this pattern is set to continue in the wrestling videogame battles too. Gametrailers.com has the world exclusive new video of TNA Impact the videogame from Midway on their site and we’d like to share that with you on our site.

TNA is coming to consoles this summer and it definitely will be a title I’ll be keeping an eye on.

Word!

Posted by Ian 

Criterion have announced another update coming to their free-roaming speedfest Burnout Paradise.  The update, codenamed “Bogart” will be released at the end of this month and features a huge number of bug fixes and general improvements to the game on both 360 and PS3 (see below).

10 ten problems reported by users that have now been fixed 

• PS3 game can crash when a player is taken down and the player that has performed the Takedown leaves the game.
• The game indefinitely displays “Connecting to Paradise City Servers” if it’s having problems communicating with the rebroadcast server.
• Disconnecting the controller before a race begins can mean that race timings can be manipulated with players who didn’t cross the line first being awarded the win.
• Repeatedly joining and leaving a game with 8 players can cause the game to hang.
• Hammering the A (360) or X (PS3) after unlocking a car can cause the game to hang.
• East Crawford and Watt St achievements cannot be achieved if the player goes online and sets road rules before attempting them.
• Audio distortion when using 5.1 / DTS and looking back at the car.
• Enhanced 360 streaming performance stops instances where the game seems to pause for a second or so.
• Total time driven in player stats would stick at 145 hours.
• VoIP connection problems with 8 player games. This is now live on the Paradise City servers.

The following enhancements will also be added say Criterion

• We fixed Head-on Takedowns as these seemed generally unfair and unrealistic. Unfair low speed Takedowns have now been eradicated.
• Increase online race timer timeout so players have a greater chance of finishing the race.
• Fix drifting bug when drifting and boosting. There wasn’t any real control on the brake so players would grind around the walls of the corners. Giving you all better control of the car.
• Stabbing the boost has too much of a jerky behaviour in the car handling, when in Stunt Run.
• Surround sound fix – Centre speaker was 4dB louder, ruining the mix. The speech has now been positioned correctly.
• Increase the # of search results returned for online games.
• Increase Picture Paradise timer so it doesn’t kick in so quickly.
• Post event ticker commentary is not now displayed for disconnected players.
• Show player the number of Complete Challenges easily by listing X/50 in the Challenges menu.

Other issues that have been fixed

• Instances where Barrel rolls were not registering correctly in Stunt Run.
• Takedowns online were not counting towards the Total Takedowns.
• Some instances where Revenge Rivalries desync & don’t get fixed until players are updated online.
• Some instance where the Host couldn’t change the game access if the game was created through an invite.
• Online challenge issues where the challenge couldn’t be completed if it was started at the exact time that a player left the game.
• Incorrect rivalry updates when European players played against English or Japanese players. Online connection issues.
• Rich presence on 360 didn’t change correctly when there is a change in the game parameters.
• Instances where Friends were not being displayed on the mini map.
• Some online race start points face the players in the wrong direction.

How’s that for a patch eh? Keep your eyes peeled for the update on Xbox Live and PSN.

Word!

Posted by Ian

Gametrailers.com will have the exclusive first video of Resistance 2 on their show this Friday (April 11th).

Along with this they’ll also be showing Darth Vader and Yoda in the upcoming Soul Calibur IV and Star Wars Force Unleashed.

This is good ya?

Posted by Ian

We’ve all heard about how much fun Rock Band is from our American cousins who’ve been playing the game for months now. We brits have had to wait paitently on the sidelines and make-do with Guitar Hero. Well no more! (well, for 360 owners anyway).

Yes fans, EA have finally announced the official European release date for Rock Band as May 23rd. However, they’ve also announced that this is only for the Xbox 360 version of the game and that PS3 and Wii owners are going to have to wait a couple more months to get their freak on as the title is a timed exclusive on the 360.

The game will launch with 67 songs included on the disc, including 9 exclusive to the European version. The DLC that has filled up the US Marketplace will then be made available for download here and EA have promised that future DLC releases will be simulataneous for both the US and European markets.

The full track listing for the game is listed below for your rocking pleasure:

Exclusive tracks

• Blur “Beattlebum” (English)
• Oasis “Rock ‘n’ roll star” (English)
• Tokyo Hotel “Through the Monsoon” (English)
• Muse “Hysteria” (English)
• Les Wamaps “Manu Chao” (French)
• Indochine “L’Aventurier” (French)
• Playmo “New Wave” (French)
• Die Toten Hosen “Hier Kommt Alex” (German)
• Juli “Perfekte Welle” (German)
• H-Block X “Countdown to Insanity” (German)

Non-exclusive tracks

1960’s:

• Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter”

1970’s:

• Aerosmith “Train Kept a Rollin”*
• The Who “Won’t Get Fooled Again”
• Boston “Foreplay/Long Time”
• Mountain “Mississippi Queen”*
• The Police “Next To You”
• David Bowie “Suffragette City”
• Black Sabbath “Paranoid”*
• Blue Oyster Cult “Don’t Fear The Reaper”
• The Ramones “Blitzkreig Bop”
• Deep Purple “Highway Star”
• KISS “Detroit Rock City”
• Molly Hatchet “Flirtin With Disaster”
• The Outlaws “Green Grass & High Tides”*
• Sweet “Ballroom Blitz”

1980’s:

• Rush “Tom Sawyer”*
• Bon Jovi “Wanted Dead or Alive”
• The Clash “Should I stay or Should I Go”
• Faith No More “Epic”
• Pixies “Wave of Mutilation”
• R.E.M “Orange Crush”
• Iron Maiden “Run To The Hills”

1990’s:

• Foo Fighters “Learn To Fly”
• Metallica “Enter Sandman”
• Nirvana “In Bloom”
• Stone Temple Pilots “Vasoline”
• Weezer “Say It Aint So”
• Smashing Punpkins “Cherub Rock”
• Radiohead “Creep”
• Beastie Boys “Sabotage”
• Hole “Celebrity Skin”
• Garbage “I Think I’m Paranoid”
• Soundgarden “Black Hole Sun”

2000’s:

• The Hives “Main Offender”
• Queens Of The Stone Age “Go With the Flow”
• The Strokes “Reptilia”
• Jet “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”
• OK Go “Here it Goes Again”
• Nine Inch Nails “The hand That Feeds”
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Maps”
• Red Hot Chilli Peppers “Dani California”
• Coheed & Cambria “Welcome Home”
• Fallout Boy “Dead on Arrival”
• The Killers “When You Were Young”
• New Pornographers “Electric Version”
• Unlockable Tracks:
• Anarchy “Blood Doll”
• Bang Camaro “Pleasure (Pleasure)”
• Crooked X “Nightmare”
• Death of the Cool “Can’t Let Go”
• Flyleaf “I’m So Sick”
• Freezepop “brainpower”
• Honest Bob and The Factory-to-Dealer Incentives “I Get By”
• The Acro-bats “Day Late, Dollar Short”
• The Konks “29 Fingers”
• The Mother Hips “Time We Had”
• Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld “Timmy and the lords of the Underworld”
• Tribe “outside”
• Vagiant “seven”

Track listing originally posted on CVG.com

Posted by Ian

In a totally surprising move, Sony have attacked the 360 and put over their own machine the Playstation 3.

This latest verble bashing given by the Japanese giant sees them proclaiming that MS may have ‘punched themselves out of the fight’ by releasing all the big titles for the 360 in the first 2 years of the console’s life. Meanwhile, Sony themselves say that the recent momentum in sales for them coupled with titles like MGS4, GT5 Prologue and various new IPs they have lined up provide both a good base for existing users of PS3 whilst demonstrating that they still have a lot left to offer that we know about (Home, Little Big Planet, Motorstorm 2) and lots of new things we don’t yet know about.

Whilst I believe that the PS3 still has a lot of untapped power I wouldn’t say the 360 has shown us everything it can do yet either – not by a long shot. The recent demo of the new features in Unreal Engine 3 prove that it’s software that will be making the biggest changes to gaming this gen, not hardware. The majority of multiplatform titles look almost identical on both consoles, including titles like Burnout Paradise that was developed first on the PS3, then ported to the 360.

In the end, the conclusion I reach is that both consoles are great and we should all just enjoy gaming (unless you’re Anne Diamond, or her sons).

Word!