We just came across this weird PS3 controller, which looks to be a wii mote clone, PS3 controller and virtual hand gun all in one. Its located at Justplaygroup.com and \’can be easily dismantled to use as PS3 wireless controller.\’ Interesting to say the least…
1UP has got to grips with KillZone 2 as part of an exclusive preview. They claim it is one of the most impressive showcases to date and they were surprised that the game felt so accessible and engaging as they say in their own words.
Well this is a whole lot better than a 6GB+ install for Soul Calibur IV. The following magazine confirms that the install size is 2.85GB and a 2MB save.
Roy has mailed in to let us know that ps3-sense.nl has new and exclusive screenshots of the Playstation Home SummerHouse.
Leading Japanese publication has confirmed that Patapon 2 is in the works. The same issue also has a full page spread with details on the upcoming Loco Roco 2 and it seems as if Pyaramid is working on both titles which is the same company responsible for the Loco Roco series.
Someone has gone and scanned in the latest issue of Famitsu which includes shots and information on Patapon 2, check out the rest at PSBeyond.
Che Chou, Turn 10 Community Manager indicates that Turn 10\’s architects are now lean and mean fighting machines and have figured out ways to push the 360 in ways \”I didn\’t think were possible in terms of both visuals and performance.\” Sounds good for Forza 3! Read the full scoop at Forzamotorsport.net.
Analyst Todd Greenwald has backed recent rumors that MS will cut the price of the Xbox 360 by $50 and that they may have a motion enabled controller up their sleeve in order to combat the \’significant\’ momentum that both the Wii and PS3 are gaining over it especially in Europe.
A new GearHeads Podcast reveals some interesting features on Gears of War 2. The team discuss various aspects including how new grenades work, what GoW 2 is like compared to the original version and how the locus shield can decapitate opponents. Grab the podcast in MP3 format from Filefront.com.
MS has told gaming journalists that there is no truth in an earlier comment in which Ken Lobb remarked you twist the controller around in Banjo Koozie which had people believing that this was in reference to an Xbox 360 motion sensing controller. MS said his comment was in reference to rotating the left anlog stick while hitting the X button to move different things in the game.
Xbox.com has now updated its Soul Calibur IV listing for the Xbox 360 and have removed the tab which said a HDD was required!
PvP_LostKnight has produly displayed his latest hardware modification - the Microvision 360 - a HDTV LCD with an Xbox 360 integrated into it. Looks as if Samsung and all the others were beaten to the punch by this savvy modder.
Check out this movie detailing the defensive stick controls in NHL 09.
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Whether you’re a fleet-skating center, a brick wall goalie, or a search-and-destroy defenseman, EA Sports’ upcoming NHL 09 aims to let you play hockey your way. The follow-up to NHL 08–one of the more universally applauded sports games in recent years–is coming with high expectations from puck fans looking for this year’s game to one-up the previous effort. It’s a good thing, then, that NHL 09 looks to have plenty of new tricks up its sleeves as we found while playing the game for the first time at EA Sports’ recent pre-E3 press event.
The new Be a Pro mode, first seen in last year’s FIFA 08 and this year’s UEFA Champions League 2008, will next be seen in NHL 09. So far, it’s bringing an entirely new dimension to 6-on-6 hockey. As with the soccer games, in Be a Pro mode, you create a player from scratch (or step into the skates of bona fide pro) and then take on the career of a future star in the NHL. Unlike in the main game modes, you play your position in Be a Pro mode–and only that position.
Last year’s NHL game saw the evolution of the offensive skill stick. With NHL 09, the defensive stick gets its turn.
Any spot on the ice is open to your player–you’ll start in the AHL before eventually making it to the National Hockey League. And while every position on the ice looks to offer its own experience, our goal was to check out the defensive position. After all, playing a forward, it seems, won’t be terribly different from playing a normal game of NHL–always looking to push the puck up ice, spreading the puck around with passes, and looking for scoring opportunities every chance you get. On the other hand, on defense, you have a chance to try all of those things while focusing on playing solid defensive hockey.
It’s not exactly easy to do, but that’s not necessarily meant to sound like a criticism. Like in the EA Sports soccer games, playing NHL 09’s Be a Pro mode in a defensive position forces you to go against your instincts. Instead of always rushing into your opponent’s offensive zone at the first opportunity, you’re forced to hang back and try to break up breakaways or look for ways to intercept passes (which seems more effective than ever this year). Then, when you aren’t crunching guys into the boards and causing chaos for the opposing offense, you can trail across the blue line, call for a pass (by pressing the right trigger on the Xbox 360 controller), and take a big slap shot from the line.
For those new to hockey and the demands of the different on-ice positions, NHL 09 will provide you with some handy clues. First and foremost, there is a positional arrow that will tell you when you’re really far out of position and where you need to go to get back in the right spot. In addition, loose pucks will sometimes be illuminated with a colored circle, indicating when it’s wise to go after the puck (as opposed to merely smashing the guy with the different colored jersey next to you).
That kind of instantaneous feedback is helpful, but you’ll also be getting feedback from your coaches after every shift and at each intermission. When you’re on the bench, a couple of things will happen. First, you’ll get a brief summary of your last shift, including letter grades that indicate how you did in terms of position, team play, and so on, as well as some specialized feedback. Your coach might say something positive about the hit you put on the opposing center or chastise you for missing an open shot at the point. Simultaneously, you’ll be regaining your stamina back while you’re on the bench; a small meter in the lower right-hand corner will indicate how much stamina you are regaining, and you can call to go back in the game at any point, even if your stamina is not fully regained.
For every defensive move, there’s an offensive counter.
When you call to reenter the game, it will be executed as an actual line change, with your teammates coming to the bench before you can hit the ice, which means you’ll want to be mindful of position and not call a bad line change at the wrong time or else you’ll risk giving up a goal. NHL 09 producers were quick to point out that, in addition to playing the “realistic” way and playing in shifts, the game will let you play continuously with your created player (not taking shifts) or let you take control of another player while your Be a Pro character rests on the bench.
On the ice, some new improvements to gameplay are apparent both in Be a Pro mode and the normal hockey modes too. One of the biggest gameplay additions is the ability to lift the stick of an opposing player when on defense. It’s surprising how quickly this becomes part of your regular defensive repertoire once you acclimate to it. Lifting the stick is as simple as pressing the A button, and it’s a great way to break up one-timers, break up passes, or otherwise disrupt plays when you can’t really lay someone out. Another important defensive feature will let you swipe your stick across the ice using the skill stick, which is a great way to break up passes.
Of course, for every new defensive trick, there are some counter moves on offense. One new feature we hadn’t seen before is the ability to protect the puck when it’s in your possession by simply pressing the A button. Here, the player will intentionally put the puck out of reach of a defender and, better yet, position his body in between the puck and the defenseman, making it that much harder to break up the play. Another fun addition is the ability to push the puck in front of you while skating up-ice with a hard-charging skate. By freeing the puck momentarily (by pressing the right button), you can give your skater a slight burst of speed he might need to get around a pursuing defender. Producers were loathe to call it a “boost” or “turbo,” instead choosing to point out the authenticity of the move–players can skate faster without the puck than with it–but essentially that’s what it is and it seems to work pretty well, without being overpowered.
Be a Pro will let you strap on the skates and take control of your NHL career.
Beyond new controls, the team is hard at work looking to improve the differentiation between players in the game. Third and fourth line players don’t have the same abilities as your top-line starters, and in NHL 09, that disparity should be larger than ever. As a result, you’ll need to change your strategy depending on who’s on the ice. If you put your third or fourth liners in, for example, it’s “dump and chase” time.
NHL 09 doesn’t seem to be resting on the laurels of last year’s game, with bigger and badder hits, as well as a fighting system that can end on-ice scraps in a punch or two. There are also the new controls on the offensive and defensive sides of the ice. Plus, there’s the matter of that brand new online feature, which EA Sports is keeping under tight wraps until later this year. Rest assured, we’ll be all over whatever announcements the publisher has for NHL 09 in the coming months, and we look forward to bringing you more hockey throughout the summer.
-If Its Games
In early June, Square Enix held an event in Tokyo, and sticking to what it knows, dished details on a number of its epic role-playing games that are headed to Microsoft’s console. The Xbox 360 games augment the publisher’s extensive lineup of RPGs for other platforms, including the PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii and DS, PlayStation Portable, and even iPod. With the E3 Media & Business Summit rolling into the Los Angeles Convention Center next week, the publisher announced today exactly which of its wares gamers can expect to see at the show.
For Sony and Microsoft’s high-powered consoles, Square Enix will be showing off The Last Remnant. A timed exclusive for the Xbox 360, The Last Remnant is slated to appear this winter, with the PS3 edition following on an unannounced date sometime thereafter. The Xbox 360-exclusive Infinite Undiscovery and the Tri-Ace-developed Star Ocean: The Last Hope will also be on show next week. Final Fantasy fans hoping for an update on the next installment in the popular franchise for the PS3 might be out of luck, given that the publisher made no mention of FFXIII or FF Versus XIII in today’s announcement.
Following on from announcements that Square Enix would be remastering a number of its classic games for the Nintendo DS, the publisher said that Final Fantasy IV, Dragon Quest IV, and Chrono Trigger would all be on display. For the PSP, Square Enix will be showing Star Ocean: First Departure and Star Ocean: Second Evolution, which are revamped versions of the first two games in the series. The publisher will also be showing off its new iPod effort, Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes.
Square Enix’s show space will also feature two portable games from its subsidiary Taito Corporation. Released initially for the PSP and then followed by an Xbox 360 edition, Exit is now making its way to the Nintendo DS. Taito will also be showing off Legend of Kage 2, a DS follow-up to the developer’s arcade action original.
UK REVIEW–The Buzz series has been a steady fixture in Europe for many years, with seven different editions of the main game and four versions of the Junior spin-off. Like many other Sony Europe games, the series took its time getting across the Atlantic, but Buzz! The Mega Quiz finally hit North American PlayStation 2s last year. Now, the inevitable PlayStation 3 version has arrived in Europe, and Buzz! Quiz TV uses the console’s increased functionality to offer custom question sets, online play, and wireless buzzers for the first time.
The basic formula for Quiz TV is exactly the same as previous Buzz games. The show is hosted by a character named Buzz (with Australian soap star Jason Donovan reprising the voice), and it still includes around 5,000 questions. The buzzers have received an upgrade and the game comes bundled with four of the new wireless controllers. They work incredibly well, and you’ll probably wonder how you put up with those tangle-prone tethered remotes in the past. The only downside is that the wireless remotes require two AA batteries each, but you can use the original PlayStation 2 buzzers with the new game if you prefer. As a bonus, the new wireless buzzers also work with all of the old games.
Quiz TV lets you create your own quizzes and play ones created by others with MyBuzz.
Quiz TV has three main modes: a solo mode that pits you against the clock, a local multiplayer mode you can play with up to seven friends, and an online mode that pits you against players from around the world. Sadly, though, only one person per console can play the game online at any given time. Single-player mode is a rather dull experience, a bit like playing a board game by yourself. You can’t play against AI opponents, so instead you compete against yourself and the clock to get the highest score possible within a limited time. Buzz is designed to be a party game, and it’s a lot more fun when you have a few companions to play with you.
The questions are divided into five channels: The Music Channel, The Movies and TV Channel, The Knowledge Channel, The Sports Channel, and The Lifestyle Channel. You can choose a particular category, or choose Channel Hopper to get an assortment of questions from all of the channels. Quiz TV also includes MyBuzz, a channel based on user-generated questions.
The preset questions in Quiz TV aren’t generally difficult, but there are certain questions that will stump all but the most ardent trivia buffs. Unlike previous titles, Quiz TV doesn’t allow you to choose between easy and hard questions before a game, with only one difficulty setting on offer. Games typically start out easy at the beginning and get slightly more difficult as you progress. Given that the person with the lowest score at the end of each round chooses the topic for the following round, there’s a bit of a rubber-band effect that lets people catch up, assuming that they know their chosen subject. Quiz TV also keeps tab of answered questions to ensure that frequent players don’t have an unfair advantage through the memorisation of repeated questions. To date, we don’t recall seeing any single question asked more than once.
You can head over to mybuzzquiz.com and create quizzes using your PlayStation Network ID. You’re able to set the privacy options on your quizzes so that everyone may play them, or limit them so that only you or your PS3 friends are able to see them. Quizzes can be tagged as mature, and sorted into one of the predefined question categories such as lifestyle, as well as subcategories such as video games. Each set requires eight questions, and once entered, they’re scanned for offensive language and submitted to the system. It takes only a matter of minutes for them to be available to play in the game. Popular topics include movies and TV, sports, general knowledge, and even Chuck Norris. Once you’ve played a set, you can then rate it and report offensive quizzes if any questionable material makes it through. MyBuzz is one of the most compelling parts of the package, and there’s already a burgeoning community around the game.
Although you can tailor questions to a specific subject, there’s no option to play only the types of rounds that you want (for example, Fastest Finger, Pie Fight, Point Builder, or Pass the Bomb) or to set the total amount of questions or rounds in MyBuzz, or in regular single or multiplayer games–it’s all up to the game. All of this results in the experience becoming a bit repetitive after playing through a few times.
Quiz TV includes a wide range of interesting questions and characters.
Quiz TV supports downloadable content, and a number of question packs are already available on the PlayStation Network. For £3.49, you can buy 500-question packs on themes such as science fiction, rock legends, UK culture, and Australian culture.
Buzz is bright, clean, and fun, and looks just like a gameshow should. While they won’t win any awards, the visuals are pleasing and developer Relentless Software has stepped up the overall quality of the game since the PlayStation 2 versions. Technically, Quiz TV holds a steady frame rate even with eight contestants on the screen at a time, and despite a few jaggies in some of the background objects, is generally drawn without any visual deformities.
The contestants themselves are particularly well drawn and incorporate some of the same stereotypes from previous Buzz games. Some of the choices in Quiz TV include a cheerleader, a mime, a rocker, an Elvis impersonator, a superhero, a Darth Vader-esque villain, and even a Japanese schoolgirl who bears a close resemblance to Chun-Li, complete with giggling, celebratory jumps. Quiz TV’s sound effects, background music, and dialogue are all spot-on, despite being corny, cheesy, and repetitive at times, and Buzz himself still has a certain cringe-worthy charm. The lines delivered by the illustrious host are more polished this time around, and he comes across almost as smooth, smarmy, and schmaltzy as any real-life daytime TV host.
Trivia gurus may still find Buzz! Quiz TV a walk in the park, but it nevertheless serves up an interesting array of questions for the party crowd. At its core it’s just more of the same, but the series’ PS3 debut offers a few unique, new peripheral features that make it worth the upgrade. If you didn’t like previous iterations, it’s unlikely that you’ll enjoy Quiz TV, but if you’ve yet to pick up a copy of Buzz, this version is the best yet.