Thursday, October 18, 2007

The Simpsons Game: GamerSyde Diaries


Here is a new GamerSyde diary about The Simpsons Game. And, as the people at GamerSyde are truly nice and fluffy, they even give you some real interview chunks in the video. Enjoy!

[Via GamerSyde]

PLAYSTATION 3: Sales Skyrocket on Amazon

With the price slash on the 80GB version of the PLAYSTATION 3, Sony's sales on Amazon have skyrocketed.

Consumers have quickly responded to the new, lower price. The price cut for the holiday season has so far been well recieved, and sales have jumped over 800%.

[Via Amazon]

Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD: Shaky Cam Gameplay


The first footage of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD in action, a game for the PLAYSTATION Network and Xbox Live Arcade in development by Capcom.

[Via GameTrailers]

Ratchet & Clank: Week Early Release Confirmed by Greg Phillips



Earlier today, it was confirmed by Sony that Ratchet & Clank is coming at it's original release date. To make it more official, Greg Phillips, Line Producer for SCEA posted on the official PlayStation.Blog.
"As frequent Playstation.Blog readers will remember, about two weeks back we announced Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction had gone gold and would ship to stores Oct 30th. Well, due to some unexpected quickness at the factory, a vast majority of retailers have already received the game. With that, some retailers are choosing to release the game next week instead of waiting until the 30th, which we are all too happy to allow :).

Official launch date remains October 30, but for those who can’t wait to use your trigger fingers on the Tornado Launcher (or any other weapon in Ratchet’s arsenal), check with your local game retailer next week. "
Street dates broken much? I'll make sure I get my copy.

[Via PS.Blog]

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty: The Score Featurette HD


A behind the scenes look at creating the music for this epic action game known as Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, in development by Codemasters and Spark Unlimited.

[Via GameTrailers]

Turok: Vignette #2 - Dino Luring HD


Use the dinosaurs to your advantage as you lure them to attack your enemies or distract them as you go in for the kill.

[Via GameTrailers]

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune: Animation Technology Feature


Jeremy Yates gives us the insight of the Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Animation Technology Feature. Enjoy the watch.

[Via IGN]

KILLZONE 2: Custom Action Figures

The KILLZONE series has lacked one thing, action figures, so when we see one like this, it draws a lot of attention.

Egar, a user over at the official PLAYSTATION Boards, found a link to a website selling all sorts of custom KILLZONE action figures. Give it a visit at the link below.

[Visit: Jin Saotome's Dangerous Toys!]

Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD: First Screenshot



Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD is a high definition remake of Street Fighter 2 made by Capcom. Above we have the first image, sure it's not an actual screenshot, more of a screenshot of a screenshot. Either way, it's big and you can see it. The game will feature redrawn graphics at 1080p HD resolution and online play, and will be released on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in 2008.

[Via GamePlanets]

PLAYSTATION Store Demos: Promise Vanishing?

This has happened with a few demos recently. We were promised a demo, but then, upon the arrival date we were supposed to receive the demo, we did not receive it.

What game demos am I talking about? Remember the whole SKATE demo situation? Now it seems to be happening with two other demos we were promised. One being WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 for the US Store and the other being Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 for the EU Store.

The WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 demo was promised and we have a link for proof. The Pro Evolution 2008 demo has been in Sony's hands for quite some time now, just as it was with SKATE.

So, what gives?

Jericho: Capt. Xavier Jones


Xavier Jones' incredible powers of astral projection and possession give him a definite edge on the battlefield.

[Via GameTrailers]

Assassin's Creed: Jade Raymond - Frag Dolls Interview HD


The original girls of gaming go one-on-one with Assassin's Creed Producer, Jade Raymond.

[Via GameTrailers]

Yakuza 3: Japanese Battle Trailer


A new Japanese trailer for the upcoming Yakuza 3. Walk softly and carry a big sword. Enjoy.

[Via GameTrailers]

US PLAYSTATION Store Update: October 18, 2007


The latest update for the US PLAYSTATION Store has been posted, to go live later today. Here is what we get this week.
Demos
  • Folklore™ PlayStation® Underground™ Demo
  • Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights Demo
Games
  • Calling All Cars! - $4.99 until October 25, 2007
Game Videos
  • Uncharted Tech Dive Video (free)
  • Burnout™ Paradise Steel Wheels Trailer (free)
  • Turok Dino Luring Trailer (free)
  • Devil May Cry 4 TGS Short Trailer (free)
Movie and Blu-ray Disc Trailers
  • Incubus — Alive at Red Rocks BD Trailer (free)
  • Underworld BD Trailer (free)
Wallpaper
  • Eye of Judgement Wallpapers (2) (free)
An alright update, was expecting a WWE! SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 demo though.

[Via PS.Blog]

PLAYSTATION Store Worldwide

Devil May Cry 4: New Scans



The latest print of Famitsu magazine dedicates two pages to Devil May Cry 4 for PC, PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox 360. The bestiary from this balls to the wall action video game is shown a little bit more through impressive knight and grim reaper designs. Devil May Cry 4 is set for release sometime in 2008.

[Via GamerSyde]

Commando 3: Coming to the PLAYSTATION Network & Xbox Live Arcade



Capcom today announced Commando 3 for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

Developed by Backbone Emeryville, the game will be priced at 800 Microsoft points on the Xbox Live Arcade and USD $9.99 on PLAYSTATION Network when it pitches up this winter.

According to Capcom's press meeting, Commando 3 is indeed a follow-up to the '80s shoot-'em-up originals, and allows up to three players to partake in a bit of blasting.

You'll get to take on the varied roles of the game's diverse playable characters - Animal, a former marine, Smoke, a female covert-op, and Boomer, an explosive-loving grump - and deploy power-ups like "deadly M-Crash superbombs", with controllable co-op vehicles to master and an adjustable difficulty level in case you're pants.

Expect online leaderboards.

[Via EuroGamer]

SEGA Serving SEGA Superstars Tennis



Out of nowhere, SEGA has revealed that it's releasing SEGA Superstars Tennis for Xbox 360, PS2, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii and DS early next year. The tennis game features classic characters such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Ulala from Space Channel 5. They also mention "some of the most unusual courts and outrageous settings ever imagined".

SEGA Superstars Tennis is being developed by Sumo Digital, the team behind the enjoyable Virtua Tennis 3. This new game has 15 playable characters (and a bunch of SEGA icons cheering on from courtside), each with their own over-the-top tennis skills. Courts are SEGA-themed too, with Green Hill Zone and Samba de Amigo's Carnival Park currently revealed. Alongside exhibition and tournament modes, Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 editions are confirmed to feature online play.

"SEGA Superstars Tennis has the potential to be one of the most fun and accessible sports games ever", said Gary Knight, European marketing director. "The fantastic Sumo Digital team has had access to a wealth of SEGA IP and you'll be surprised at the gaming icons that will be making an appearance!"

[Via IGN]

Jack Tretton: 40GB PLAYSTATION 3 Coming to US November 2, 2007



Jack Tretton has just confirmed that the new $399 PS3 model will be coming to North America on November 2nd, making that particular configuration available worldwide. In North America, the 40GB PS3 comes bundled with the block-buster movie Spider-Man 3 on Blu-ray. Also, effective today, Sony has lowered lowered the purchase price of the 80GB model by $100 to $499.

Tretton writes:

This move has been part of our longer term business strategy for PS3 since early on and we believe this lower priced model, combined with our broad line-up of content will appeal to a great many of you who want a lower entry price without sacrificing any of the core components of PS3. With today’s news, we’re strengthening our position approaching this holiday season and beyond with the intent to provide you with a choice and an excellent entry point into HD games and movies.

Adding to the appeal of the new retail pricing is the great PS3 lineup that will help further drive our momentum this holiday, including Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, THE EYE OF JUDGMENT, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Heavenly Sword, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Assassin’s Creed, Haze and Rock Band. And that’s just the beginning: This holiday lineup will be followed in 2008 by highly-anticipated Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Grand Theft Auto IV, Killzone 2, LittleBigPlanet and, of course, PlayStation Home.

Our goal this holiday season is to make PS3 even more affordable and to offer you greater choice to suit your gaming and entertainment needs. Again, I want to thank all of you for your continued support throughout this past year and I look forward to the months and years ahead.

That sounds like a plan to me.... *checks wallet*.... damn.

[Via PS.Blog]

EU PLAYSTATION Store Update: October 18, 2007

The latest PLAYSTATION Store update for Europe is now up and available, and here are the store's new content:

PSOne Games
  • CTR: Crash Team Racing
  • Everybody's Golf 2
  • Syphon Filter 3
Demos
  • Dynasty Warriors: Gundam demo
Game Videos
  • Uncharted - The Inspiration
Movie Trailers
  • Alien Versus Predator Blu-Ray Movie Trailer
Wallpapers
  • Lair Good Dragon
  • Lair Bad Dragon
I know I know, I'd be pretty mad too, but hey, at least Europe got some new PSone games.

[Via PS EU Community]

Ratchet & Clank Future: Shipping Before It's Future Release

Gaming-Age has just confirmed with SCEA that Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction will be shipping early.

Originally scheduled for an October 23rd date, the game was recently pushed back to October 30th. But after seeing a few retail outlets with newly updated October 23rd release dates we contacted our friendly SCEA rep. And it is indeed true, the game is shipping to most retailers early and will be available next week.

[Via Gaming-Age]

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune: First Hour in Four Minutes

The first hour of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, which Games Radar have crammed into just 240 seconds, is full of set pieces and incredible environments which, if they continue, will make this the PS3 game of the year.

Check out the video above and see what you can expect in the first 60 minutes of this epic tale.

Warning: Although Games Radar tried their best, this video may contain spoilers.

[Via Games Radar]

Metal Gear 4: No PLAYSTATION Store Demo



I guess we've been lied to. In the latest Kojima Productions podcast, they state that there are no plans to bring a demo of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots to the PLAYSTATION Store prior to the game's launch.

Host Ryan Payton stated: "I can tell you, as of right now, we don't have any plans of uploading this demo on the PlayStation Store." And definitely, he added, no plans of "uploading [on PSN] next week." His statements were echoed by Konami's new flak master, Michael Shelling, adding "[E for All] is going to be your one chance to actually play it prior to it launching next year."

[Via JoyStiq]

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue: Demo Cars and Tracks



More breaking information from the world of PlayStation 3 and Polyphony Digital. It appears that Sony is trying to steal the show. And with this week's big GT-R blunder it might just be possible. Sony is doing a better job of keeping its info under wraps, but we have learned that Sony has bigger plans at the 40th Tokyo Motor Show Gran Turismo Prologue than just a regular unveiling. The big news is that Sony will have a big program and preview for Gran Turismo TV at Tokyo Motor Show. But you don't have to wait until then for some of what we can expect to see.

As we mentioned earlier, Sony will offer a free demo available as a download through the PlayStation Store. Obviously the download will only be available on the PS3. But here's the kicker the free Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Demo will be available only from October 20th until November 11th. Approximately three weeks, just in time for the release of the full version of Prologue. So you best note waste anytime if you're a Gran Turismo completist.

We also learned exactly what vehicles will be playable in the demo. We incorrectly reported earlier that the demo will feature 16 cars and three tracks. This report was based on information we received from the Tokyo Game Show build. For the Tokyo Motor Show and the download demo, a total of seven vehicles will be featured in the Prologue demo. These vehicles are the 2008 Lexus IS-F, 2009 Nissan GT-R, 2008 Mazda Atenza, 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STi, 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR, 2008 Daihatsu OFC-1 and 2009 BMW 135i coupe. It's a pretty awesome selection especially when you remember that this is just a free download, but we're not really certain why the hell the Daihatsu is in the mix or how it got in there. Maybe it snuck in when no one was looking.

Seven cars, but only one course will be playable, Suzuka Circuit. See the shot above for the Suzuka map. A total of sixteen cars will be on-track simultaneously, but there's no online in the demo.

Back to the Motorshow, Sony has some plans for Gran Turismo between the 23rd and 25th at which the company will unveil a new car, we're not really sure that it is. Sony will also be showing how the free news service works for motorsports and other automotive related goodies. Online News Service, Gran Turismo TV and News won't be available offline.

More to come next week. We're getting on a plane tomorrow morning to head to the land of Gran Turismo. We can't wait.

OPM Dutch: Ratchet & Clank, Pro Evolution Soccer Reviews



The latest reviews for the Official PlayStation Magazine Dutch are in, and here are their scores:
Aqua Vita (PSN): 41%
Conan: 81%
Half Life 2: The Orange Box: 93%
Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights: 69%
Operation Creature Feature (PSN): 48%
Pro Evolution Soccer 2008: 88%
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction: 89%
Snakeball (PSN): 66%
The Eye of Judgement: 80%
The Simpsons Game: 79%
Trials of Topoq (PSN): 52%
[Via PS3Only]

Kai Heavenly Sword & G1Jockey 4 2007 Demos on Japanese PLAYSTATION Store

Two new demos have appeared today on the Japanese PLAYSTATION Store.

The first demo is a Heavenly Sword demo, but not the regular one that we've all played, it's a Kai demo, letting you play as Nariko's sister in the short version of the game.

The second demo is a G1 Jockey 4 2007, a horse racing game. Race your horses to get to the finish.

[Via JP PS]

Soldier of Fortune: Pay Back Banned in AU

Another one bites the dust - this time, the bloodthirsty Soldier of Fortune: Pay Back, part of Activision's early 2008 line up, has been refused classification by the OFLC. This comes off the back of an initial delay for the game to separate it from the impending release of Call of Duty 4 in Australia. We contacted Activision on the classification refusal. They refused to comment on the classification itself, but reiterated that the initial delay had nothing to do with the OFLC's refusal.

They offered this explanation for the now-moot delay:

"We decided to move Soldier of Fortune: Payback to early 2008, in order to give the title a more opportunistic launch window. We're currently working at 110% in getting our Q4 titles to market with the likes of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock, and therefore moving Soldier of Fortune: Payback puts it in a less cluttered launch window and allows the Activision Australia marketing team to focus the attention to it that it deserves for a successful launch. We apologise to Australian gamers for the delay."

Again, Activision declined to comment directly on the classification refusal.

[Via IGN]

Night Note: Transform & Roll Out!

To: onAXIS Readers
From: onAXIS Administrator

It's a great day when you pick up two things that have relevance with each other that you absolutely love. Thats what I did.

I picked up Transformers on special 2-disc edition DVD today and after watching it for the ninth time, I'm still not tired of it. It's also quite entertaining messing with the transformable Optimus Prime DVD case. I was also able to pick up Transformers: The Game on the PLAYSTATION 3 for a mere $15. How did I get it so cheap? Some guy was selling it at GameStop and they would only give him $14, so I anted up.

Playing the game, I realized it's not really as bad as the scores it's getting. I won't go too in-depth, because I'm going to write a review up for it sooner or later.

If you guys noticed, I redesigned the site quite a bit, mainly font changes, and such. I think it looks better like this. I removed the shoutbox as well and added a much better IRC chat. It will probably always be empty, but at least its there.

I've been thinking about moving onAXIS soon to a hosted blog with my own money, but am still trying to gather a few things before I do this. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it yet, so expect about a month wait if anything is going to happen.

Anyway, thats all for tonight, I'm about to catch some z's, so I can get up a minute earlier than usual.

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