Activision: No Problems Developing for PLAYSTATION 3

Activision stated today that it has no problem developing on the PLAYSTATION 3 as other companies like Electronic Arts claim.

Michael J. Griffith, president and CEO of Activision's Publishing Unit, said during a conference call today:

“What you are seeing with many publishers is they are unable to simultaneously develop and launch on the PS3 and the Xbox 360. Instead, they develop and release one SKU at a time or they simply don’t release a PS3 SKU at all. Call of Duty 4 represents the best-in-class next-generation development, making it the number one selling title of all time on the PS3.

“Over the past year, our central technology group has created a proprietary set of tools for next-gen development that has enabled our developers to address the challenging PS3 architecture in efficient ways. Our tools allow us to identify performance bottlenecks in the PS3 and focus our effort in a targeted way to improve performance that would otherwise without these tools simply be a trial-and-error approach.”

During the call, Activision also lined up games like Guitar Hero IV and Call of Duty 5 for their fiscal 2009.

[Activision: PS3 Development Not a Problem]

PS3 Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Will Not Be an Xbox 360 Port

Good news for Rainbow Six Vegas fans. The upcoming sequel, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, will not be a port from the Xbox 360 version.

Philippe Therien, a designer on the title, said that the team is "working really hard right now to put them on par graphics wise" but admitted that there will be "slight differences" each version, including lighting.

He went on: "They're (the PS3 and Xbox 360) very different. PS3 and Xbox 360, it's not the same at all. When we were working it's not like there's a 360 version and it's being ported on PS3, that doesn't really work. So what we did is we split the team in three, we got people working on Xbox, people playing PlayStation and people working on PC. These three teams are working together but in parallel to make sure everything gets to the same point. That's not to say that one console is better than the other, they're just different. We just want people to choose the platform of their choice to play Vegas the way we want them to."

Well, maybe this time around (with multiplatform games), we won't get the short end of the stick. We will wait and find out.

[PS3 Rainbow Six Vegas 2 will not be a 360 port]

Grand Theft Auto IV: Site Opening Screenshots, Videos

Rockstar Games has officially opened the site for their upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV, and it's closer than ever. The site features a bunch of new screenshots and videos, which you can view and enjoy right here. Enough talk, lets take a look. Enjoy!

Now, we present to you the new videos featured on the site. They include character profiles, advertisements (really funny advertisements), and much more. Enjoy!

Wardevil: New Tidbits of Information

Some new information on Wardevil was released today. The developers really seem to be making use of the PLAYSTATION 3's technology.

- They are not finished with the game yet, still adding improvements both gameplay wise and graphically.

- They are making good use of the SPU's and streaming off of the Blu-ray disc.

- Their goal is to get the Blu-Ray film & game to look as identical as possible... so there is no transition between game/cinematic.

- They are taking development in a new direction different from everyone else.

- They will not be at GDC.

Sure it doesn't reveal much about the game, but at least we know it's going along smoothly.

[Wardevil and the PS3...]

Blu-Ray Exclusivity: Filmax Movies

It shouldn't even be news anymore when a film company goes Blu-Ray exclusive. It just happens to often.

Filmax, a Spanish film distributor revealed today that they are only going to release high definition titles on Blu-Ray disc. These movies include Resident Evil, Flyboys, and Million Dollar Baby.

No release date was given for any of these movies however. At least there is another company in the bag.

[Filmax Now Exclusively Blu-ray Too]

Afro Samurai Appears at DICE 2008

Samuel L. Jackson's upcoming Afro Samurai from Namco Banda made an appearance at DICE 2008 today.

During Roger Hector's presentation, the VP of Development at Namco Bandai showed off the first trailer for the game.

The video is at the link, due to it not being embeddable. If you ask me, this Afro Samurai reminds me a lot of Huey from The Boondocks.

[Afro Samurai Trailer]

Official Grand Theft Auto IV Site Launching Tomorrow

The Official Grand Theft Auto IV site will be launching tomorrow. The launch will feature new screenshots, videos, and information on the game.

Once it's launched, we will have you covered.

[Grand Theft Auto IV official website launching tomorrow]

Following the Devil: Hot Shots Golf 5 Requires 5GB Installation

In a new hands-on with Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds, it was revealed that the game, just like Devil May Cry 4, will require a 5GB installation upon first entering the disc.

I don't know about you, but I don't think 5GB game installations will become much of a fad if they continue. With most PLAYSTATION 3 users using the HDDs that came with the console, they are going to want space for their games.

Let's hope this doesn't continue in the future.

[PS3 Fanboy hands-on: Hot Shots Golf Out of Bounds]

flOw Officially Announced for the PSP

SuperVillan Studios updated us today on the PlayStation.Blog that they will be releasing flOw on the PLAYSTATION Store for PC. They want to ensure that the sights, sounds, and feel of the game met the highest of standards for the platform.

No word on release. Enjoy the video.

[Coming to PSP: Go with the flOw]

TNA iMPACT!: Midway Reveals Six New Screenshots

Today Midway released six new screens for TNA iMPACT!, the highly anticipated wrestler based off the professional wrestling brand, TNA iMPACT!.

To date Midway has announced the involvement of the following wrestlers from the TNA stable: Abyss, Kurt Angle, Christian Cage, Jeff Jarrett, Booker T, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Rhino, Scott Steiner and Sting. A complete roster will be available closer to the game's launch.

Tony Hawk 10 To Be Different

Some Activision represenatives explained today that the next Tony Hawk game is going to change. When EA's skate was released, it outsold Tony Hawk 2:1 with many players converting to the new IP.

"We need to step up innovation," stated one Activision executive. The innovation for skate was the joysticks and the new way of playing the game. What will Tony Hawk 10's be?

[Tony Hawk 10 to Change]

Saints Row 2: New 1UP Screenshots

The lucky writers of 1UP were able to get some new and exclusive images of Saints Row 2 from Volition and THQ.

As you can tell, this new title has a darker feel than the first game (if you played it). You can go from cars to boats to planes in this new title. We are really looking forward to it.

[SR2 Screenshots]

US PLAYSTATION Store Update: February 7, 2008

Thursday means yet another PLAYSTATION Store update. We long for the day we will be able to bring you updates by the day rather than the week. Lets see what we have here.

PSone Classics

• Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped ($5.99)

Games

• Go! Sports Skydiving ($4.99)
  

Demos

• Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Demo (free)

Add-Ons

• Rock Band Song Add-Ons
• "Calling Dr. Love" by Kiss ($1.99)
• "Roam" by B-52s ($1.99)
• "We Care a Lot" by Faith No More ($1.99)
• Motorstorm Chinese New Year Skin (free)

Game Videos

• MLB 08: The Show First Look (free)
• Uncharted "Final" Trailer (free)
• Burnout Paradise Dev Diary (free)
• Burnout Paradise Launch Trailer 1 (free)
• Burnout Paradise Launch Trailer 2 (free)
• Conflict: Denied Ops Diary 1 (free)

Theatrical Trailers

• WALL-E Trailer 2 (free)

Blu-Ray Disc Trailers

• 30 Days of Night Trailer (free)

There is the update, enjoy!

PLAYSTATION Store Worldwide

• JP PLAYSTATION Store Update: February 7, 2008
  

Legendary Coming to the PLAYSTATION 3 Summer 2008

What was once Legendary: The Box is now simply Legendary (game title, of course). Gamecock has announced that this mythical shooter will be released in Summer 2008.

“I’m happy to report that the team on Legendary is well on target for a simultaneous multi-platform launch this summer,” said Rick Stults, Console Chief for Gamecock Media Group. “It’s no easy feat to pull this off on a game of this caliber, but Spark Unlimited is a talented group.”

“This is the project we want to be working on and it’s shaping up to be something amazing,” said Craig Allen, CEO of Spark Unlimited. “Legendary is the type of game we want every gamer, regardless of system allegiance, to get the chance to play. We’re taking our time to ensure optimum performance, regardless of platform.”

We will see how much trouble Pandora's box causes when it arrives. For now, enjoy the screenshots.

Lost Planet Demo Hitting US PLAYSTATION Store Today

Yeah, the Japanese store isn't getting all the love today. Capcom will be releasing a Lost Planet: Extreme Condition demo on the US PLAYSTATION Store today.

This multiplayer demo features a single multiplayer map – Pirate Fortress – and support for only 8 players (the full game will support up to 16 players). This demo sports two of the four multiplayer modes, Elimination (standard deathmatch mode) and Team Elimination.

Look forward to it when the update goes live.

Street Fighter IV: New Character Screenshots

Thanks to Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, we have some new screenshots of Capcom's upcoming Street Fighter IV.

The new screenshots show some of the new characters fighting such as Chun-Li and Blanka. Due to a massive overload of images, you can view them at the link below.

[SF4 Images]

Jaffe: Twisted Metal PS3 Is His Next Project

Looks like Extra Twisted Edition was right. Brian Crecente of Kotaku was able to contact Jaffe who is at DICE this week. Jaffe seemed disappointed his "Twisted Metal is coming on PSThree" code was cracked so early (read linked post).

He confirmed it's coming but left no comment on whether it will be on a Blu-Ray disc or a downloadable title.

[Jaffe: PS3 Twisted Metal Next Project]

Twisted Metal IS Coming to the PLAYSTATION 3

David Jaffe did mention that their latest title would be hidden on Twisted Metal: Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition, and the guys over at GameFAQs were able to crack the code.

In the Dark Past video featured on the game disc, random numbers display throughout the video such as "19 23 9 18". If you put all these numbers together in alphabetical cousins, it spells "Twisted Metal is coming on PSThree".

Jaffe, you sly dog. Did you think the gaming community couldn't figure it out? Well, pretty clever. We'll have more on this when we find out.

[Twisted Metal Coming to the PSThree!!!]