Dec
17
Note: This trailer is rated PEGI 18+
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Archive for the ‘E3 2009’ Category
It’s been revealed that even Sony themselves are a little surprised that gamers are buying virtual chairs and other things for their digital apartments in Playstation Home. In the words of marketing directing John Keller;
We recently showed astonishment that people buy virtual goods for their Playstation Home avatar with real currency. “It’s amazing to me that someone would buy a 50 cent chair for their PlayStation Home apartment with real money, but the revenue that comes from that is significant,†he said at iHollywood’s Digital Living Room conference in Santa Clara, according to The Register. Koller said Home is a profit maker due to the advertising revenue and, of course, the things people buy for their virtual selves. Koller didn’t provide figures, but at E3, Sony noted that branded virtual goods for Street Fighter IV and Resident Evil 5 sold 200,000 units over two months.
Update:
The term ‘Gem’ was apparently an early code name for the product according to Sony Computer Entertainment Of America director of communications Patrick Seybold. “We have not announced the final name at this point” he said  when speaking to Kotaku earlier today.
Although this does not necessarily rule out ‘Gem’ as Sony’s chosen name it seems they are still at this point not willing to commit to any name, this is after another incident which some of you may remember when Ubisoft CEO Tves Guillemot this fall dubbed the controller ‘MoCon’ which later turned out to be an abbreviation of the term Motion Controller.
Electronic Arts Chief Executive John Riccitiello has reportedly let slip today that Sony’s motion sensitive magic wand like Natal beating behemoth will in fact be called ‘Gem’.
Speaking at the 37th Annual UBS Global Media Conference today, the EA boss appeared to name the as of yet unnamed motion sensitive device during a talk about console innovation at the conference, reports IGN.com.
“In the coming year, both Sony and Microsoft have announced new controllers,” he said. “Motion sensor controls, Natal and Gem, these are likely to bring new consumers into the marketplace.”
As of yet we have no further explanation or have been supplied with one in reference to Riccitiello’s comments, however something to bare in mind is he could in fact just be refering to the glowing light at the end of the device or it could even be some sort of codename we just don’t know.
However when questioned a Sony spokesperson was quick to dismiss the comments adding that: “No official name for the PlayStation motion controller has been announced.”
With quite a dismissive comment from Sony it leads us to believe this might be true, however at this point it’s all rumour and speculation.  Stay tuned to VGTribune.com
Oct
15
The Community manager at Microsoft has recently tweeted the following about Sky TV on the Xbox 360. “October 27 – that’s the date when you’ll be able to watch TV from Sky on your Xbox360. Channel line-up and pricing to come at launch”. Now personally I am rather interested in how this is going it work and I think it could be cool but still kind of pointless if you already have Sky TV.
Nintendo innovated the handheld gaming space with touch screens and the home console scene with motion controls and since then the gaming public has wondered what they would do next. Mind control? 3D? Both technologies are years into the future, so Nintendo would return to it’s most recent innovations and refresh them. The Wii was refreshed with Wii Motion Plus and the DS with the DSi.
What’s the DSi have? A camera. A camera isn’t that revolutionary, especially by Nintendo’s standards; gamers have been using them as early as the Game Boy Camera. So where could the next DS innovation come from? Built in motion sensing? Maybe. But the closest place for DS innovation is hiding in plain sight. If you play a DS, you hold it in your hand and use it for input. Yes, the stylus. Cue Performance Designed Product’s (PDP) Smart Stlyus. Nintendo “missed the boat” on this innovation.
If you weren’t able to make the trip to E3 this year and get some hands on time with the PSP Go, thanks to C-net you now have the second best thing. Video of a hands on with the PSP Go. Let us know what you think of the PSP Go in the comments!
You might find this article interesting as well if you’re a PSP enthusiast: State of The PSP For Those Who Don’t Own One
Over the past few weeks and after visiting E3 we’ve become surprised at how many high quality free-to-play MMOs are just coming out. The one above, Ether Saga Online, is one we just dioscovered. Although it looks a bit cartoonish, it looks not only like it has a lot of depth, but a lot of polish as well, which many free-to-play MMOs can’t say about themselves. We bet this and other free-to-play MMOs will have Runescape players bidding the land of Gielinor farewell.
We’ll have a full write up of all the free-to-play MMOs of E3 that caught our attention soon!
Tucked away in an unvisited and under-advertised corner of Nintendo’s E3 booth I found a quirky arena battle game titled “Line Attack Heroes.” While it may not be the sleeper hit of the show, it was a fun, simple, and interesting arena title that shares creative mojo with the famous Secret of Mana series.
Sure, dragons are cool and Dragon Age Origin’s developers know how to make a great trailer, but that’s not enough to make a great game.
After sitting down with the developers of Dragon Age: Origins I was able to get some hands on time with it for a few minutes. As I began the demo I assumed control of three characters wandering around a cave. By hitting the left shoulder button of the Xbox 360 controller I could swap between which character I controlled and the remaining two would follow me.
Miyamoto made an appearance at the Developer’s Roundtable during E3 and took the opportunity to praise the Wii’s processing power. Miyamoto mentioned that New Super Mario Bros Wii’s multiplayer is only possible thanks to the Wii’s processing power. Miyamoto San, we love you, but what year are you living in? Did you forget the two Gamecubes taped together schtick? Ok Miyamoto San, we can see where you’re coming from. You’re using all of the Wii’s processing power for four person multiplayer (none of which is online). We’re here to tell you that’s not something to brag about. Have you seen a PS3 or Xbox 360 game lately? No? Come on now, we know you did.
[Source]