Microsoft Slams PlayStation 3 Grand Theft Auto IV 5-Minute Install Time

A new e-mail from the Microsoft PR group has slammed the PlayStation 3 version of Grand Theft Auto IV for the five-minute install time.

With the OXM review hitting streets today, and your own preview impressions which are looking great, hopefully you’ll all be a bit wiser as to the ins and outs of Grand Theft Auto IV now.

I’m sure you’ve all seen the chatter from the 1UP GTA IV Preview on the PS3 install time….just a few thoughts on what you could do in this time if you were actually playing the 360 version from the moment you insert the disc….

· Steal your first dozen or so cars and test out the improved vehicle handling?

· Check out the cool features on your mobile phone?

· Rack up a 5 Star Wanted Rating?

· Have a blast of your first MP game on Xbox LIVE?

· Ditch the tracksuit chic and buy some new clothes?

· Unlock your first GTA IV Achievement and boost your Gamerscore?

….Or just start downloading a film from Xbox LIVE Video Store to watch later – check out the latest batch of arrivals this weekend!

You know, as much as I'd hate to admit, I agree with Microsoft on this one. You could be doing all these things in them five minutes. Only thing is, I don't mind the install time, I mind the space token up on my hard-drive. It must suck for 40GB owners.

[Microsoft slams GTA IV PS3 install time in PR mail]

PlayStation 3 Outsells Everything in Europe this Week

The latest weekly sales report from VGChartz shows a nice growth in sales for the PlayStation 3 this week. With the recent release of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue in Europe, the PlayStation 3 has sold more than the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, DS, PSP, and PS2 this week, topping the charts with 150,420 sales.

[VGChartz]

How Do You Feel About There Being No GTA IV Episodic Content for PS3?

We want to know, how do you feel about the PlayStation 3 version of Grand Theft Auto IV not receiving the downloadable content that the Xbox 360 will be receiving. Microsoft previously mentioned the two downloadable episodic content they payed Rockstar $50 million to receive will equal the size of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and San Andreas.

A recent preview in the latest issue (April 2008) of PlayStation: The Official Magazine stated that Rockstar's Jeronimo Barrera said the PlayStation 3 will most likely receive it's own form of downloadable content as well. However, a new Take-Two release states that the Xbox 360 will be receiving it's downloadable content in 2008, and they plan on issuing more content for (most likely) both consoles in 2009. That means the PlayStation 3 will never see those San Andreas and Vice City sized pieces of episodic content.

If you would like to know how I feel, I'll tell you. I'm not just a blogger, I'm a proud PlayStation 3 owner as well, and will be picking up Grand Theft Auto IV for PlayStation 3 no matter what. Seeing as how San Andreas and Vice City went to Xbox, I see that it's only right Rockstar does the same with these two new pieces of episodic content (possibly Bully as well). So I guess as we near the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, you can take it that I'm pretty upset.

Too bad this isn't Russia back in World War I, where we can just threaten to revolt if the government (meaning Rockstar) doesn't listen to the people (meaning PlayStation 3 owners). How do you feel about this? Go ahead, tell it all.

In other news, I may be picking up San Andreas for PC. I hear that the multiplayer modification for the game is pretty fun. And why wouldn't it be. I mean killing random people online. That's enough to buy me.

PLAYSTATION 3 Outsells Xbox 360, Almost Ties Wii In January 2008

Well, the first month of 2008 is already proving to be "Sony's 2008" as the PLAYSTATION 3 beat the Xbox 360 in sales, and almost matched the Nintendo Wii. The sales list below.

- NintendoWii: 274K
- PLAYSTATION 3: 269K
- PS2: 264K
- Nintendo DS Lite: 251K
- Xbox 360: 230K
- PSP: 230K

Jack Tretton had a little something to say about the great sales the PLAYSTATION 3 is experiencing.

"Coming off a great holiday sales season we see strong momentum behind PS3 in 2008, and feel confident about the year ahead. We have an exceptionally diverse lineup of exclusive games, from Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resistance 2 to more mainstream games such as LittleBigPlanet and SingStar. Beyond that, we have Blu-ray emerging as the de facto high def standard, the developer community is hitting their stride, consumers are recognizing the tremendous value and innovative services such as PlayStation Home are all in the works, so this is definitely shaping up to be a breakthrough year for us." - Jack Tretton, CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment America

[NPD: PS3 nearly matches Wii, outsells 360 in January]

EA “Not Quite” Over PLAYSTATION 3 Problems

During a conference today, Electronic Arts' CEO John Riccitiello said that the PLAYSTATION 3 development has not quite caught up with that of the Xbox 360.

Riccitiello stated when asked “Not quite. There’s no doubt that Electronic Arts, along with many other publishers, had some challenges essentially meeting the technical specifications effectively on the PlayStation 3.

“Games where we led development on the PS3 platform, like Burnout, which is doing very well on the market today, we had no issue at all.

“But in circumstances where we either led with the Xbox 360 or ran parallel production, for the most part, we’re still experiencing some delay on the PS3. It’s a little bit more of a challenging development environment for us.

“It’s probably only a third of a problem for us as it was [nine months ago]. But there still remains some catching up to do on the engineering side for the PS3.”

Here is an idea, if using the PLAYSTATION 3 version as lead equals no problem, then do that, kind of stating the obvious here. Let's just hope Madden 09 looks just as good, or possibly better than the Xbox 360 version.

[EA “Not Quite” Over PS3 Hurdles]

2007: PLAYSTATION 3 Sells 8.83 Million Consoles, Xbox 360 Sells 7.3 Million

Sony Computer Entertainment released the Q3 figures today displaying the sales of 4.90 million PLAYSTATION 3 units sold worldwide (in the third quarter of 2007). Adding that to the rest of the consoles sold in 2007 makes 8.83 million units, taken straight from Sony's numbers.

The PLAYSTATION 3 is starting to rise off it's feet as it did receive negative press in 2007. So you'd think the Xbox 360 would sell more that year, no? Wrong. The Xbox 360 sold 7.3 million last year, with the PLAYSTATION 3 beating it by 1.5 million units.

[2007 - Sony PS3 sells 8.83 million, XBOX 360 sells 7.3 million]

PLAYSTATION 3 Virtua Fighter 5 Gathers Dust: Patch for Xbox 360

It gets sad when you see one of the best fighters being abandoned one one console it was originally exclusive to to be supported more on it's later released port.

SEGA has recently patched the Xbox 360 version of Virtua Fighter 5 Online while leaving the PLAYSTATION 3 Virtua Fighter 5 still sitting in the dust, with no online patch even released yet. I currently own the game, and would love to take it online. If only SEGA would patch it.

[Via Kotaku]

PLAYSTATION 3 Overtakes Sales of Xbox 360 Since Launch

For all those that said the PLAYSTATION 3 was going to fail, lets do a comparison. The PLAYSTATION 3 has done better from it's launch in a year and two months then the Xbox 360 did from it's launch and a year and two months.

The Wii currently over takes them all, sadly. The PLAYSTATION 3 is generally approaching nine million units sold.

[Via Ruliweb]

PLAYSTATION 3 Reaches Xbox 360 Sales in France, Wii Still Leads

ZDNet of France has released the official sales figures of gaming consoles in France as of December 31, 2007. The results? Wii tops a million, and the PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox 360 both sell an equal 500,000 systems.

PLAYSTATION 3: 500k
Xbox 360: 500k
Nintendo Wii: 1m
PlayStation 2: 5.5m
Nintendo DS: 4.2m
PlayStation Portable : 600k

As you can tell by this and the last sales report we've had, the PLAYSTATION 3 is starting to begin it's reign.

[Via ZDNet]

PLAYSTATION 3 Outsells 360 For Week Ending December 29, 2007

The weekly sales for the consoles have just came in via VGChartz. Finally, the PLAYSTATION 3 outsells the Xbox 360. Yes, the PLAYSTATION 3 sold 448,491 units while the Xbox 360 sold 337,322 units.

Then of course, the Wii topped them both by selling 962,683. Guess we can't all be winners.

[Via VGChartz]

Wal-Mart Goes Stupid: SIXAXIS Controllers for the Xbox 360

The guys over at Sarcastic Gamer were at their local Wal-Mart the other night to pick up some medicine when they passed by a display that caught their attention.

Yeah, thats right, what your seeing in that picture is an Xbox 360 display with SIXAXIS controllers in the slots. It's bound to happen that some misguided parent is going to pop by looking for Xbox 360 controllers and pick up a SIXAXIS instead. At least the controllers will sell though.

Today's lesson: don't ask Wal-Mart employees about anything video game related.

[Via Sarcastic Gamer]

Petitions: Mass Effect for the PLAYSTATION 3

Another day, another petition. Today, we have a petition to BioWare to bring Mass Effect to the PLAYSTATION 3. They state:

"Since Mass Effect has caught the attention of many people, we think it would be for the best if it was released on Playstation 3 as well. The reason to this is the fact that Playstation 3 is a large market, of which majority of owners don't have an Xbox 360, because they don't want it for many respective reasons."

If you agree with their statements, head over to the link below and give it a sign. We know we will.

[View: Mass Effect PS3 Petition]

Sales Charts For Week Ending December 22, 2007: PS3 Outsells 360

The sales charts for the week ending in December 22, 2007 have came in from Europe. Once again, the Wii dominates the charts. Other than that though, the PLAYSTATION 3 has outsold the Xbox 360 again in Europe. The numbers below.

Nintendo DS: 821,575
Nintendo Wii: 448,127
PLAYSTATION 3: 338,006
PLAYSTATION Portable: 271,056
Xbox 360: 218,636

[Via VGChartz]

Xbox 360 Gets Sony BMG Videos. Wait, What?

In a world where corruption occurs, one console seems to be the source. But seriously now. It seems that the latest Xbox 360 console update brought some new music videos to it's video store.

What kind of music videos are in the store? Sony BMG Music Entertainment music videos, as in Alicia Keys, Chris Brown, Foo Fighters, Incubus, and R. Kelly.

I'm not sure if it's just me, but isn't it odd that Sony BMG allows Microsoft to sell downloads (160 points a video) for them but doesn't even allow the PLAYSTATION 3 to?

[Via Kotaku]

The New York Times Doesn't Know It's Console Facts

Today's technology section in the New York times mentions video game consoles. Those consoles include the PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii.

The article clearly describes the Wii as it is, but makes some major mistakes on the PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox 360. Here is the excerpt.

“Those who have spent the day trading carbon credits have another opportunity to save the planet, this time from aliens in Halo 3, the third edition of the Xbox 360 game. The PlayStation 3 game Gran Turismo 5, a hyper-realistic, high-speed journey, is one of the best sellers for that Sony console, which starts at $299. Microsoft’s Xbox starts at $280. Both are built around the multicore Cell processor, which allows numerous tasks to be done simultaneously.”

Now, can you tell me where the errors are? No, well, take a look at the "answer key" below.

1. Gran Turismo 5 is not “one of the best sellers” for the PLAYSTATION 3, considering it's not even out yet.

2. The PLAYSTATION 3 does not cost $299. Nope, lowest price is actually $399.

3. Both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 aren't “built around the multicore Cell processor.” Thats only the PLAYSTATION 3 buddy.

[Via Nex-Gen.Biz]

EA Makes More Money On Mobile Than the PSP & PLAYSTATION 3

Electronic Arts managed to make a hefty US$ 640 million in revenue. However, there is something strange in the breakdown of EA's sales. Take a look for yourself below.

- Xbox 360 - US$ 218 million
- PlayStation 2 - US4 73 million
- Nintendo Wii - US$ 59 million
- Nintendo DS - US$ 47 million
- Mobile - US$ 37 million
- PSP - US$ 21 million
- PLAYSTATION 3 - US$ 17 million

If you cannot see it, the PLAYSTATION 3 only made US $17 million and the PSP US $21 million. Although, the mobile device made US $37 million, US $2 million less than both Sony systems added together.

Electronic Arts have been putting together some crappy PLAYSTATION 3 ports lately, and thats why you see the low numbers. We're usually not one to criticize anything other than the PLAYSTATION Network, but we're trying to figure out whether Electronic Arts plain doesn't like the console, or if there is some inside deal.

Who knows.

[Via QJ.NET]

SEGA Beleives PLAYSTATION 3 Will Surpass Xbox 360

In a new interview with SEGA's Noah Musler, he talks about the PLAYSTATION 3. He says the console still needs "a little bit of time to grow. But all of our projections... I think that most analysts would agree that PS3 is going to catch up to the 360, if not surpass it, as more and more big titles come out".

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune may be the start of these big titles, as it's the only one so far to get mostly positive reviews instead of mixed reviews such as LAIR and Heavenly Sword.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Unreal Tournament III PS3 Graphics Better Than Gears of War 360 Graphics

According to Mark Rein, the Epic Games Vice President, Unreal Tournament III on the PLAYSTATION 3 has better graphics than Gears of War on the Xbox 360.

In an interview, Rein stated that he was "really proud" of the PLAYSTATION 3 game, which he hopes to be out by this year's end. He remained skeptical about a release for Europe this year:

"People are going to be pleasantly surprised. It's a really high end experience that pushes the graphics bar up even higher than Gears of War. There's more polygons, there's more stuff going on, there's more explosions and there's more things happening, so we're just really pleased with the way the game runs on the PS3."

Rein said that there is "something special" about playing Unreal Tournament III on the PLAYSTATION 3, and that while the speed of the game has been reduced by about 20%, "it feels just right to be playing it with a controller".

He states that:

"The goal in taking the game to PS3 is to make the best PS3 game we can possibly make", he said. "And to do that we had to take into account that most people are playing with the controller. There are certainly differences in some of the parameters of the PS3 version. Maybe the weapon speed is a little different, the turning speed is different, but we have to accommodate and make it a great game. Our goal is to make UT3 the best possible game it could be on every platform it's on. I think we've done a really good job of making it feel just right on the console and that's exciting to us."

It's exciting to us as well Mark, and I'm sure the whole community is very amped for the title.

[Via Pro-G]

PLAYSTATION 3: The Advertising & Third-Party Plan

Another subject to expand on.

E-Mail Advertising

Is anybody here subscribed to PLAYSTATION Underground's weekly subscription e-mails? If so, tell me what you see. What? Not subscribed? No problem. Take a look for yourself below.

What do you see here? A normal e-mail sent to Sony viewers, yes, but what type of games do you see being advertised? First party games. Now lets compare an e-mail from Xbox with this one.

What do you see in these e-mails? Sure, the bigger highlights are first party titles as well, but there is much mention of the third party titles. The difference between Sony and Microsoft is that Microsoft knows how to get in touch with third parties, therefore bringing it more content on Live such as demos, videos, and what not.

TV Commercials

Lets take this a step further, lets look at TV Commercials, multiplatform commercials. The list below:

• Madden NFL 08
  
  
  
• SEGA Rally Revo
  
  
  
• SKATE
  
  
  
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2008
  
  
  
• Stanglehold
  
  

Alright, lets stop as you probably get the point. None of these videos mention anything about a PLAYSTATION 3 version of the game, because Microsoft funds the money needed to air the commercial, which Sony doesn't.

GameStop Advertising

Let me ask you something else now. Ever visit GameStop? Have you ever seen their posters on the wall? GameStop makes those posters. The boxart for most of the multiplatform posters showcase the Xbox 360 box, not the PLAYSTATION 3 box, probably because of the same reason of the commercials.

Now if I had pictures of these posters, I'd show you, but sadly I do not. Just give them a visit, you'll see my point. Take a browse through their reserve book, look at the pictures, it will be 360 everything unless it's Wii.

Seen their demos they give out? As of now they are giving out free Tony Hawk's Proving Ground demos and are soon going to give out free Turok demos with Xbox 360 pre-orders.

Been to GameStop lately? Seen the Guitar Hero III display, what system is it displayed on? Xbox 360.

Younger Audiences

Another thing to mention is, the Xbox 360 is getting games like Looney Toons: Acme Arensal, Bee Movie The Game, and even though we may not be much attracted to that category of games, it will attract a younger audience, bringing more console sales.

Developer Troubles

Another thing to look upon, developer troubles. Ever notice the extremely long delays for PLAYSTATION 3 games? Stranglehold has been out on the Xbox 360 since September 5,2007. The Orange Box was released on the Xbox 360 early this month, and the PLAYSTATION 3 version was delayed till December 11, 2007. Army of Two was just delayed because of trouble on the PLAYSTATION 3 version.

Developer Crap

You'd think by now, Sony would step in and help them out.

Another thing is even developers who probably have no trouble at all with the console, like Electronic Arts are treating the console basically like crap. You heard the NFL Tour situation? Apparently, the Xbox 360 version runs at 60fps and the PLAYSTATION 3's version runs at 30fps, even after Peter Moore said "starting with NBA Live 08, all PLAYSTATION 3 games are running at 60fps". NBA Live 08 released, 30fps.

It's third party relations people.

We like to expand on our topics, and this issue was brought up in the "Thoughts on the Network" article, expect to see more expanding.

onAXIS: Console Wars, Childish?

Go to any gaming forum, go to say the PLAYSTATION 3 section of the forum, check the first page. Do you see anything not so ordinary? Maybe like a topic about the Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii? Open the topic. Do you see something like:

"PSTREE GRAFX SUX 360 PWNS FOR LIFE, I BOUGHT A PSTREE N TRADED THAT SHIT IN FRsT DaY DATS HOW MUCH IT SUKED!"

Now, you see, thats not the only thing that is childish. Whats even more childish is what the users of this PLAYSTATION 3 forum answer back, do you see anything like:

"go stick that 360 controller up your *doink* and let it vibrate you newb, the ps3 is much better any day any time"

What I really don't understand is, did you get insulted personally when you read those comments in the first place?

Sure, it's fine to like one console and not like the other, but why go around and talk trash about it? Just to annoy other people? Sure it's fun to do that, but in real life, with random people on the streets.

At onAXIS, were not just fond of the PLAYSTAION 3, but fond of the other consoles as well. When we have versus posts, we are not having them battle, we are comparing the features of the two so hopefully those consoles can learn off eachother and apply the missing features.

There are people out there, like the people above, there called fanboys. Some people hate them, some people are them, some people like to ignore them. There is no problem with fanboys at all, but when they act like the ones above, then thats when it becomes a problem.

If we had magical powers and could make all these bad fanboys act like nice little minions, we would. But it seems that big guns upstairs limited our powers to at the highest, do stage magic. But do yourself a favor, next time you see a post like that of above, don't respond, let it sink.