Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Grand Theft Auto IV: GameStop Pre-Order Promo Video


A new 57 second long video between GameStop and Rockstar as a promotion to promote Grand Theft Auto IV shows Jeremy St. Ives introducing us the Liberty City. The video is pretty awesome and shows us some of the sights we will be seeing when we pick it up.

[GameStop pre-order video promo]

PlayStation Store Revamp: What We Hope to See

The new PlayStation Store is coming in two weeks, and Jeff Rubeinstein says a video of it in use is coming soon, hopefully sometime this week.

Now is the part of the day where we tell you what we want to see in this new PlayStation Store. Lets get this started.

TV Shows, Movies, Adverts
Since speculation began on the new store, two rumors have appeared on this. The first came from the Destination PlayStation conference, just as the store revamp rumor did. It is highley likely that Sony will be including movies, TV shows, and such due to the fact that they own Sony Pictures, meaning they can put up many movies immediately, and they own great shows like The Boondocks, and such. Plus, the main concept here is to be just as good or better than the competitor, no?

Daily Updates, Simultaneous Content Release
Lets face it, Thursday updates just bring weeping and moaning for a better update. If something is in preparation, and is not out by one week, you need to wait seven more days to receive it, while Xbox Live already has it. I'm pretty sure that Sony is going to be tossing out these demos much quicker rather than having to wait. They seem to be taking the store pretty seriously now.

Wallet to Point Conversion
This one probably won't happen. But when you buy an item on the PlayStation Store, you need to pay tax. If you go back and buy another, you'll need to pay tax again. With points, you can just buy the points, paying tax for the points, then just purchase everything with the points, not having to pay tax for each item. Just my opinion, may not be the best.

Surprises in 2.30 Update
This has nothing to do with the store, but the store is coming in the 2.30 update. Hopefully Sony will toss in another surprise such as more PlayStaiton Network functionality like Game Invites, 100+ friendlist, more or custom avatars, or an enhanced profile.

Saints Row 2: Two New Screenshots


Volition and THQ released two new screenshots of their upcoming sequel, Saints Row 2. These come along with the new trailer released yesterday (that doesn't really tell us anything). The new screenshots are looking sharp. Enjoy!

Solving the Case Behind Mandatory Blu-Ray Installs on PlayStation 3

We all hate mandatory installations, not just because it takes up time, but it takes up valuable space on our PlayStation 3's.

Devil May Cry 4 was released with a mandatory 5GB 20-minute installation and fans were pissed. Christian Svennsson told MTVGamer that Capcom didn’t realize the issue would “blow up.” He says the company will take the response into account for future releases.

Turns out, after quizzing several developers, that the reason is Blu-Ray. It's Blu-Rays "fault" because it's different technology than a DVD, not that it's slow. The issue comes from the reading differences of DVD and Blu-Ray. DVD Drives read data at differing speeds while Blu-ray reads at one speed. That means if you add more data onto the disc, the loading times will be longer. Thats when installations were thought of.

Hopefully, this will be gone in the future.

[The Mystery Behind PlayStation 3’s Sometimes Mandatory Installations]

Prototype: Seven New Screenshots


Sierra Entertainment and Radical Entertainment released seven new screenshots today for their upcoming sandbox action game, Prototype. The new screnshots display plenty of blood along with booming explosions. Enjoy!


Midnight Club: Los Angeles: NY International Auto Show Footage


The New York International Auto Show that took place on Thursday March 27, 2008 contained a booth with a playable version of Rockstar's upcoming Midnight Club: Los Angeles. So, the guys at PSN@Home gave it a spin, and took some footage. It's looking good.

[PSN@Home gets exclusive footage of Midnight Club Los Angeles]

Paramount Unofficially Announces Cloverfield Game?


It appears that Paramount unofficially confirmed an upcoming Cloverfield game today. Paramounts lawyers asked the owner of CloverfieldGame.com for the domain, and that is pretty much it.

The former owner was working on a fan game of his own, but now his game can be found at GrayShotGame.com. He stated Paramount's lawyers were "very courteous" and that he considers it a huge honor to give them the domain for their game with no money paid.

[Paramount Planning Cloverfield Game?]

HAZE: Thirteen New Screenshots


Free Radical's website was updated with thirteen new screenshots of HAZE. The screenshot sure does show the impressive visuals the game is sporting, and hopefully all that extra time they took working on the game improved the gameplay as well. Enjoy!

Metal Gear Solid 4 and Assassin's Creed Collide: New Gameplay


Well, here is a nice April Fools video. Two of the most popular stealth games, one released (Assassin's Creed), and one we are still anxiously waiting for (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots), combined in one. The video starts with Jade Raymond, leading into some Snake-Altair-ish thing, and a special guest appears at the end. Enjoy!

[Metal Gear Solid + Assassin's Creed: the video]

April Fools Watch: Getaway 3 Preview with Impressions

Play3-Live, a french PlayStation 3 gaming site claims to have gotten an exclusive visit down to England to visit SCEE Studios London for a preview of the upcoming Getaway 3. Here is their breakdown.

  • Immediately, the quality of the graphics in teh game is superb and 'dazzling'. The enviromets are superb, but it`s mostly the effects of lights that leave us open-mouthed!
  • The Cars (still under license) are superbly modeled, a bit lesser than those of Gran Turismo, but just about the level comparable to a Colin McRae DiRT Racing car model.
  • A slight blur effect has been added to give an impression of greater speed which clearly fits well during driving!
  • Car damage has been improved and we would often compare the game to Codemasters Rally simulation.
  • The Getaway 3 will have no online modes, because according to the development team, it has no place in a game of this sort.
  • About 40 hours of gameplay in total, not counting side missions and special vehicles to locate in the various large cities or towns, as the scenario of The Getaway is taking place in London but also in Amsterdam.
  • Other information include, the team expects to link up the 3 games story wise (The Getaway, The Getaway Black Monday and Gangs of London) since the adventure takes place a few years before the first Game.
  • Over 3 years in development have been necessary for such graphics rendering.The game has been in development since late 2004 & beginning of 2005.
  • The music will be more varied than before. The game will also be more mature than it`s predecessors, and 18 + will be recommended.
  • There will be (for each playable character) your own small home where you can store weapons, cars, and bank notes in a small trunk. No planes or helicopters are playable, but boats yes!
  • The game is taking place (around the end of the story) in the winter, meaning snow!
  • Also, if you are caught, it will be Game Over, and it will resume from the last checkpoint.
  • Finally, your atrocities will be identified (taken into notice) and if you are too violent, you will see your face on posters or TV (meaning you are wanted). In other words, must refine your crimes and avoid leaving traces.
They say they will soon have some new images and videos. Like we said, take it with a grain of salt. April Fools Watch, also known as Crapload of Lies Day watch.

[Getaway 3 Preview]

PlayStation Store Currently Down for Maintenance

It seems the PlayStation Store is currently down for maintenance. Sony may be implementing some behind the scenes work in preparation for the new store. Remember though, the store isn't coming until about two weeks, so don't get your hopes up. That is unless your PlayStation 3 tells you that you require firmware update v2.30.

[PlayStation Store currently “down for maintenance”]

Nascar 09 Debut Trailer



Electronic Arts has debuted the first trailer for this years Nascar game, Nascar 09. The new trailer shows some gameplay along with some swift driving. Enjoy!

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Hits Number 1 on the UK Charts

Kazunori Yamauchi's newest edition in the Gran Turismo series is selling like hot cakes in the UK, storming in at number one on the UK charts for the sales week ending March 29, 2008.

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue came on top out of games like Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, and Guitar Hero III. You can view the top ten sales below.

  1. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue
  2. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2
  3. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
  4. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
  5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
  6. Sega Superstars Tennis
  7. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
  8. Viking: Battle for Asgard
  9. FIFA 08
  10. Brain Training
[Gran Turismo 5 storms UK chart number 1]

onAXIS Blows Up!

Yes, that is right. Our small brains could not hatch a good April Fools joke, so we are going to throw out a pointless one and tell you that onAXIS blew up, although it is technically not possible.

Yeah, so, take that April Fools day awareness. Instead of us thinking of a good joke that will make a bunch of people pissed, we thought of a dumb one with absolutely no meaning.

We are cool. If you don't know by now, we didn't really blow up.

April Fools Watch: Final Fantasy XIII Demo With Last Remnant, FFVII for PS3 Confirmed

Ah, the day of jokes has arrived, yes people it is April Fools Day. We have the first piece of obvious jokery on the internet.

This one states that a Final Fantasy Versus XIII demo will be available with Square Enix's upcoming The Last Remnant, just as they do for many other of their major games. The demo would have been from after 20 something hours in the game, showing how far along in production they are. It also mentions that an hint in The Last Remnant confirms the RPG fan dream of a Final Fantasy VII remake. If only it were true.

[FFXIII Playable Demo, FFVII PS3 Remake CONFIRMED]

Tom Clancy's EndWar Not Being Treated Like Crap on PlayStation 3

Ubiosft came out today on their EndWar IGN blog to discuss the PlayStation 3 version of the game. Guillaume Brunier, Producer for the PlayStation 3 version of EndWar talked about the port.

He stated that the teams intention is not to deliver a poor PlayStation 3 experience and that the game will have everything the Xbox 360 version does. The game will also have a few handy SIXAXIS controls as well. There you have it.

[EndWar - Ports]