Metareview: 300
Filed under: Metareview, 300
It’s the game we so wanted to be good. Too bad you were right, readers: the critics are absolutely bashing this game. Hopefully, the movie will be able to hold up better than this critically blasted game:
- Gamepro (45/100) hates that nostalgic feeling: “It’s essentially a throwback to the days when movie-licensed games were always awful.”
- IGN (57/100) at least enjoyed the cutscenes: “The stylish cinematics are better than any single moment of gameplay and serve as the only reason to bother playing 300: March to Glory to its conclusion.”
- Game Informer (63/100) didn’t find the game too bad, as long as you turn off your brain: “It’s interesting that they called this 300, because that is about how many times you jam on the X button in the first minute and a half. Then again, there is something mindlessly appealing about beating up endless waves of dudes.”
The poor reviews for the game won’t hinder me from watching the upcoming movie. I mean, can they really mess that one up? I hope not.
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Metareview: 300 originally appeared on Joystiq [PlayStation] on Tue, 06 Mar 2007 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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BusinessWeek: Apple may soon be "a Mobile Gaming Force"
Be afraid, be very afraid. That’s BusinessWeek talking to Sony and Nintendo. The business publication just boldly predicted that Apple, through its iPhone and Touch, will soon be “a mobile gaming force.”
The report looks at how Apple’s gadgets can directly compete with the same market of the PSP and DS considering the availability of games and pricing.
According to BusinessWeek, although the iPhone is primarily a… erm… phone, it being a gaming platform is not so hard to imagine. The iTunes’ participation in the whole thing makes it more easier, seeing as there are more games on it than those lined up for both the DS and PSP combined.
Currently, it’s looking like the iTunes App Store already hosts about 1,500 games, and no, they’re not just all Solitaires in many variations. Meanwhile, the PSP has got about 300 titles, while the DS has 600.
Apart from that, Apple is projected to easily sell more or less 40 million devices every year that accommodates games. If we are to look at Nintendo’s numbers, selling 42 million in the last 18 months, then we can see how Apple can easily outrun Ninty if they be inclined to do so.
True that the gaming function of Apple’s gadgets is a secondary one. But that’s just it, imagine what more it can do were it to focus on gaming as its primary function.
All in all, the BusinessWeek report is saying that both Nintendo and Sony shouldn’t be resting on their laurels in the handheld market. There’s a new guy in town and he’s bound to ruffle some feathers.
So to Sony and Nintendo, stop saying you’re not worried about iPhone. Because if BW is right, then it seems like you have every reason to be. Now that the holidays are coming, that would be a good time to see how close the numbers really are.
For the full report, click on the source link below.
Related Articles:
- Steve Jobs: iPod Touch is the best portable gaming device
- E3 2008: Koller says DS, not PSP, should be worrying about iPhone
- Eternity’s Child creator: DS, iPhone can coexist; PSP’s days may be numbered
- Iwata: DSi not after iPhone and PSP marketshare
Europe PS Store Update: LittleBigPlanet add-ons, Alone in the Dark demo, more
Europe gets a hefty serving of DLC this week. This batch of updates see the arrival of the LittleBigPlanet add-ons, including the Spaceman and MotorStorm costumes.
They’re offering the LittleBigPlanet Rare T-shirt at EUR 4.99 - that’s 7 bucks US. Don’t know how rare that T-shirt is, but I’d say the Spaceman Costume is cuter - and free too.
Also this week, the Alone in the Dark: Inferno demo goes live. Here’s the full list of updates:
PS3 Store
Game
- Theme Park - 3.99/ 4.99
- Spin Jam - 3.99/ 4.99
Demos
- Alone in the Dark - FREE
- METAL GEAR SOLID 4 DEMO - FREE
- Tom Clancy s End War - FREE
- Mirror s Edge Demo - FREE
Packs
- Rock Band
- The Presidents Of USA Pack 01 - 2.49/ 3.99
- Dune Buggy - 0.99/ 1.49
- Feather Pluckin - 0.99/ 1.49
- Ladybug - 0.99/ 1.49
- I Don t Care - sale price - 0.59/ 0.79
- Use Me - sale price - 0.59/ 0.79
- Guitar Hero World Tour
- CLASSIC ROCK TRACK PACK - 4.79/ 5.99
- HOT BLOODED BY FOREIGNER - 1.59/ 1.99
- JESSIE S GIRL BY RICK SPRINGFIELD - 1.59/ 1.99
- NO RAIN BY BLIND MELON - 1.59/ 1.99
- ROCK AND ROLL BAND BY BOSTON - 1.59/ 1.99
- NEVERSOFT TRACK PACK - FREE
- GUITAR DUEL TRACK PACK - FREE
- Dead space Obsidian suit - FREE
- Dead Space Scorpion Suit - 2.99
- Firstwar Enlistment Pack - FREE
- LittleBigPlanet Rare T-shirt - 3.99/ 4.99
- LittleBigPlanet MotorStorm Costume - 1.59/ 1.99
- LittleBigPlanet Spaceman Costume- FREE
- LittleBigPlanet Halloween Mask- FREE
- NARUTO: ULTIMATE NINJA - Storm Pack 1 - FREE
Video
- PSP Trailer (PSN )- Launching the PSP-3000 series - FREE
- BIOSHOCK LAUNCH TRAILER - FREE
- Tomb Raider - BENEATH THE SURFACE 2 - FREE
- Tom Clancy - MISSION OBJECTIVES VIDEO BRIEFING - FREE
- NEED FOR SPEED UNDERCOVER GAMEPLAY TRAILER - FREE
- NEED FOR SPEED UNDERCOVER TEASER - FREE
- PURE INSPIRATION TRAILER - FREE
- Resistance 2 E3 2008 Trailer - FREE
- Resistance 2 Twisted History Movie - FREE
- Bayonetta TGS 2008 Trailer - FREE
Wallpapers
- Soulcalibur Wallpaper 05 - FREE
- Soulcalibur Wallpaper 06 - FREE
Themes
- Bioshock - SPECIAL BIOSHOCK PS3 THEME - 0.79/ 0.99
PSP Store
Game
- Theme Park - 3.99/ 4.99
- Spin Jam - 3.99/ 4.99
Video
- PSP 3000 Trailer - Launching the PSP-3000 series - FREE
Media Manager Store
- PSP 3000 Trailer
- LocoRoco 2 Trailer
Dissidia: Final Fantasy scan reveals FF6 duo (again), game install options, more summons
If last week, we saw Shonen Jump feature Square Enix’s FF6 duo, this week it’s Famitsu’s turn to bring Terra Branford and Kefka Palazzo into the Dissidia: Final Fantasy spotlight. There are a lot of things revealed in today’s scans, so we’ll take it blow-by-blow.
Esper-chick vs. Freaky Angel-Clown of Death. The first two magazine spreads show Terra and Kefka - some story cutscenes explaining their conflict between each other and what not. I find it strange to see that FF6 (original FF6, mind you) screenshot of the opera scene. From what I remember, it was Celes who preformed the opera, not Terra. A bit of a “hmm?” moment there.
Power-up! In the other scans, we see both their EX modes: Terra’s morph ability and Kefka’s final boss form (the magicite-imbued supreme being). I believe what we see in one of Kefka’s screens is his trademarked Forsaken attack as well as the Light of Judgment. They were annoying back then (since you were at the receiving end), but to get to use them now in Dissidia sounds like a very cool idea.
What’s on the menu? See the game menus explained in the bottom-middle part of the second scan? It’s the one with the silhouettes of Cosmos’ army. From what I could tell, from left to right, that’d be Tidus, Squall, Terra, Cecil (Dark Knight form), Firion, Warrior of Light, Onion Knight, Bartz, Cloud (finally!), and Zidane. Anyways, back to the main menu… Here, we see the Story Mode, Quick Battle, and Communication mode. Those are the top three options. Below that, we have PP Catalog, Museum, Player Data, and Option.
Bits and pieces. The bottom-right of the third scan explains the Game Install option. Players can choose to install either 528MB, 373MB, or 245MB of data packets for easier loading times in the game.
It’s a Summon nation. We previously saw only three summons confirmed for the game: Ifrit, Carbuncle, and Cactuar. Now we see three more: Leviathan, Bomb, and Barbariccia (Garland’s Archifiend of Wind in FF4).
Related articles:
Alek: a closer look at Datel’s Action Replay
Alek, Dark AleX’s webmaster, has come upon some information about Datel’s Action Replay for the PSP that you might want to know. Suffice it to say that you’re really better off with CWCheat.
According to Alek, Action Replay uses code from other developers, interferes with Custom Firmware code, and compared to CWCheat, takes up a lot more memory and has a pretty small database:
- Datel‘ Action Replay does uses code that isn’t from itself, code that isn’t distributed to be used the way they use it anyway. The code involving this terms is, for first instance, the Pandora forged IPL block, and on second place but of course not less important, Booster’s IPL SDK.
- It has been confirmed that Datel’ Action replay does interfere on the Custom Firmware code
- They use a bigger memory footprint due to the graphics involved in it, and it’s interesting also to mention that they had a pretty small database, that being compared it to cwcheat one, this first one isn’t even a database tbh.
Dark AleX himself confirmed these. Looks like the guys who chose to stick with CWCheat were right on the money. On precisely US 39.99 worth of money, which is what Action Replay is going for. It seemed pricey before, but now it feels like you’re just paying for packaging.
Thanks to CJ for sending in the tip!
DJ Max Fever release delayed
The fever will have to wait as PM Studios announce the delay of DJ Max Fever. The developer says that this is a necessary step “to give the American consumers the best product they most truly deserve.”
By “what they truly deserve,” they mean new gear and upgrades, PSP-3000 compatibility, and more hidden content. They’re also perfecting a brand new game engine that is tentatively titled “BS”. Off the top of my head I could think of a couple of probable definitions of that “BS”, but most likely none of which are what the developers meant.
We’ll have to wait just a bit more until the first quarter of 2009, when the game is expected to finally come out. In the meantime, keep it locked here for more news on QJ.
Related articles:
- Video: DJ Max Fever Trailer
- DJ Max Fever hits US retail on November 11, new artist added to track list
Violent video games make you aggressive
GTA anyone? According to a study conducted in the United States and Japan, violent games make you aggressive. If you’ve been itching to pound your roomies for squeezing the toothpaste the wrong way, the you should probably lay off Gears of War.
The study used three samples of students with varying age ranges: 9-12 years; 12- 15; and 13-18. All groups have mixed genders. It was found that those who played violent video games showed signs of increased aggression while the others remained in control. It was even found that the results of the study were consistent between different cultures.
So if you’re sitting there disagreeing with everything that the study says and swearing you’ll square off to prove who’s right, then you might want to read up it again. Who knows? Maybe skipping those excess hours of blood and gore may actually help your social life.
The full report of the study is published on the November 5, 2008 issue of Pediatrics Journal. You can check it out via the source link below.
Related articles:
- California to revive violent video game law in federal appeals court
- The California video game law is back and may even go to the Supreme Court
PS Blog hosts Gaming Costume Contest, cool Sony prizes to be won
Halloween’s upon us, boys and girls! And to get you even more into the spirit of this season, the PlayStation Blog has announced a costume contest.That’s right, you get to play dress up and win some awesome prizes.
The rules are simple: just dress up as your favorite Sony Computer Entertainment characters (BUZZ! games host, Sackboy, Kratos, Sly Cooper, Jaxk, Daxter, etc.), pose with a PlayStation branded controller or PSP system (hold it up for all to see!), take a picture and send it to this email address: pspbloghalloween@gmail.com.
Deadline is on November 3, 2008 at 5:00 PM PST, so you might wanna get your creative bulbs working quick.
Jeff Rubenstein, Sony’s resident Social Media Manager, will pick the top five photo submissions based on the following category: 50 originality of costume and 50 likeness of character. And then, on November 5 (Wednesday), all five finalists will be posted on the blog on or about 9:00 AM PST for you guys to vote on your fave pick. The top three with the most votes will then be hailed as the winners.
How do you vote? Just click on the radio button that corresponds with your chosen one. Voting ends at 5:00 PM PST, November 7 (Friday), while the winners will be announced on the Blog on November 10, Monday.
Your efforts will be well-rewarded with with a PlayStation 3 80GB system if you win first prize, while the second and third placers will each bag a PSP 3000 system and a PlayStation Network vouchers (worth US 50) respectively.
Oh, and there’s another thing! If you dress up as the BUZZ! game show host and is picked as the favorite (Jeff will be selecting as well here, with the same criteria as above), you will get a PlayStation Network voucher for the horror quiz pack, along with a BUZZ! Quiz TV bundle.
Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you this weekend, guys. This could turn out to be your grandest trick or treat yet, so get working on those costumes!
For the official rules and more details on the mechanics of the contest, just head on to our source link below.
Here’s your proof: PSP-3000 interlacing scanline features are really hardware-based
[Cue plumber's voice] “See naow, thuurs yer prawblem!”
The guys at French site Logic-Sunrise wanted to investigate the PSP-3000’s “scanline feature” and, quite literally, put it under a microscope. As seen in the pics above (they’re 40x magnified under the microscope), the LCD pixels on the PSP’s screen, prove two things:
- the PSP-3000’s blue pixels are darker than the Slim’s; since they’re darker, the dark scanlines are more prominent
- the PSP-3000’s pixels are arranged horizontally (hence the horizontal scanlines) as opposed to the Slim’s pixels, which are arranged vertically
And what’s their conclusion after this finding? Quite simply, that the “feature” is 100 hardware-based (because that’s how the LCD screen was really built), just like the SCEJ rep previously said.
Hmm, if Sony’s decided to cease PSP Slim production, they might be in for rough times.
Related articles:
- PSP-3000 interlacing issues are “features”, won’t be fixed
- Cease fire: PSP-3000 pre-orders at Amazon cancelled
- Fishy, fishy: PSP-3000 pulled out from PlayStation site, silent recall imminent?
- PSP-3000 battery life shorter; PSP Slim to cease production
PSN EU Oct 30: Mirror’s Edge demo jumps into the fray, Coolboarders 2 back for winter sports
Europeans get first dibs on the Mirror’s Edge demo this week (it should be going live on the PSN US store later on though - if not already, by the time you’re reading this - and tomorrow on XBL), as part of today’s Thursday PSN update. Other downloadable content include PS1 snowboarder Coolboarders 2 for the PSP, as well as more Rock Band songs and SoulCal4 DLCs.
Games:
- Cool Boarders 2 full PS1 game ( 3.99/ 4.99)
- Mirror’s Edge demo
- Tom Clancy’s EndWar demo
- Warhawk demo
Add-on Content:
- 17x Soul Calibur IV music packs ( 0.79/ 0.99 each)
- Soul Calibur IV music pack complete set ( 11.99/ 14.99)
- 2x Soul Calibur IV weapons packs ( 2.39/ 2.99 each)
- Civilization Revolution “Wonders & Artifacts: The Mythic” pack ( 0.79/ 0.99)
- Civilization Revolution “Wonders & Artifacts: The Eternal” pack ( 2.39/ 2.99)
- Civilization Revolution “Wonders & Artifacts: The Iconic” pack ( 2.39/ 2.99)
- Rock Band DLC
- Siouxsie and the Banshees Pack ( 2.49/ 3.99)
- “Hong Kong Garden” ( 0.99/ 1.49)
- “The Killing Jar” ( 0.99/ 1.49)
- “Kiss Them for Me” ( 0.99/ 1.49)
- Individual songs:
- “Dammit” - Blink-182 ( 0.99/ 1.49)
- “Pretty in Pink” - The Psychedelic Furs ( 0.99/ 1.49)
- “Melatonin” - Silversun Pickups ( 0.99/ 1.49)
- “Well Thought Out Twinkles” - Silversun Pickups ( 0.99/ 1.49)
Videos:
- Mirror’s Edge Story Trailer
- MotorStorm Pacific Rift “Earth Zone” trailer
- PAIN “Movie Studio” trailer
- PAIN “Yeony, Tati & Kenneth” trailer
- Vampire Rain trailer
Themes and Wallpapers:
- 5x Mega Man 9 themes ( 1.59/ 1.99 each)
- PAIN “Kenneth Superstar” wallpaper
- PAIN “Yeoni Superstar” wallpaper
Related articles:
- Mirror’s Edge demo announced for PSN and XBL
- Europe PSN Store gets first dibs on Prince of Persia Classic, more
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