After E3: Xbox 360 vs. PS3 Price Fight

Now that Microsoft's played part (if not all) of its hand and rolled out a smaller, cooler, quieter Xbox 360, how do things stack up against the competition?

Our latest build-it-yourself chart  won't tell you what to buy, since that depends what you're after, but it will give you a sense for who's overcharging (though I will say--sneak preview--that after years of high upgrade prices, Microsoft's finally carried its fully-loaded Xbox 360 down from the mountain).

Not listed here: Microsoft's confirmed $199 Xbox 360 budget-class model, coming this fall, probably without wireless and a smaller hard drive (or no hard drive at all).

Note that prices for systems and components were grabbed from Best Buy, accessed June 22, 2010.

Hard Drive: The PS3 hard drive can be user-swapped for any 2.5-inch SATA drive (e.g. a 500GB drive retails for $70 to $90) while the Xbox 360 remains proprietary, capped at 250GB, and Microsoft-locked. 

Wireless: As noted in the chart, the PS3 employs internal 802.11g wireless, while the Xbox 360 now also includes internal wireless more or less gratis (the external USB dongle cost $100) and at the hypothetically faster 802.11n spec.

Controller: The PS3 controllers charge internally, while the Xbox 360 comes with a pair of standard AA batteries. Microsoft's "Play & Charge" kit, which includes the charger cable and NiMH battery pack, costs $20.

Video: The PS3's HDMI connection adheres to the 1.3a spec, which yields higher data transfer speeds, a new expanded color format called "Deep Color," automatic audio syncing (lip syncing), and Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio support. The Xbox 360 supports the older HDMI spec 1.2. In practice, the only functional difference given current TV and broadcast limitations would be the Dolby/DTS-HD spec, and then only in relation to lossless, uncompressed audio situations, such as Blu-ray video playback. For more on this, see here.

Online: The new Xbox 360 comes with Microsoft's Xbox LIVE Silver membership, which essentially allows you to create a Gamertag and message friends. If you want Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, and online multiplayer support, you'll have to upgrade to Xbox LIVE Gold, which costs $50 a year, e.g. $250 for five years. The PS3 currently offers online services including competitive multiplayer at no additional cost, though a premium service dubbed "PlayStation Plus" is in the offing.

Acronyms: RJ45 is shorthand for Ethernet. CVBS stands for "Composite Video, Blanking, and Sync" (the lowest quality video cable, only a step above coaxial RF). YPbPr is shorthand for Component Video, and refers to the discrete green, blue, and red video plugs (component is the second-highest quality video cable, next to HDMI). For some reason Microsoft only includes the CVBS cable in the new Xbox 360, where it used to include both HDMI and YPbPr.

Disclaimer: I've said it before, I'll say it again: Remember that the above chart doesn't gauge the "soft" value of features like Xbox LIVE or PlayStation Home, or how having a network of friends clustered on a given system influences purchases.

Summary: The playing field for all-in system purchases from a component-driven standpoint just leveled out dramatically.




source:pcworld.com

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Behind the Scenes with Sony's Killzone 2 (PS3)

AMSTERDAM--Guerrilla Games, acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in December 2005, resides in a cavernous, five-story historic bank in downtown Amsterdam. There's even a safe in the basement where the servers are kept cool. But the developer behind the Killzone franchise, gave a small contingent of game editors carte blanche access to their upcoming game, and first PlayStation 3 title -- Killzone 2.

Listening to some of the taglines for the new game like "Our war, their planet," which sets up the large-scale planetary invasion of Helghast for the single-player campaign, and it becomes obvious that Hollywood has had a major influence on the team. During a presentation, Hermen Hulst, managing director of Guerrilla Games talked about the "journey through a hostile world where he wants gamers to feel unwelcome, and be part of big set pieces, dramatic events, and engage in a Hollywood-size experience."

Mathijs de Jonge, creative director, showed off the evolution of the Killzone game engine that powers the new game. He said the goal was to bring to life great special effects like those seen in films like Saving Private Ryan.

"One of the big things about our engine is the lighting system," said de Jonge. "We're able to apply lights post-process and it allows us to use an infinite number of lights, where most engines stop at three sources of light. This allows for a level of detail not seen before in any Killzone game."

A separate team worked on the artificial intelligence that powers the assorted Helghast enemies as well as the buddies who help the player through the journey. Rob Heald, AI designer, said the PS3 offers each AI a much wider range of on-the-fly options.

"The advanced processing power results in more intelligent AI across the board," said Helad. "As a result, players will see a greater range of animations. Each individual enemy is able to do things like jump over objects, use doors and ladders and have intelligent reactions to dynamic things that happen on the battlefield."

In addition to creating proprietary technology to power Killzone 2, the team made sure to take in other game experiences and keep an open eye to other sources like films, books and architecture.

"When you're working on something like Killzone 2, which takes a lot of long hours, you don't get to play many games through to the end any more," said Hulst. "What we do here every Friday night is put the directors in the exterior house (an isolated home behind the bank equipped with plasma TVs and PlayStation 3s) and have FragFest at 5 pm. We have some beers and watch movies like Apocalypse Now or play the newest games like Resistance 2. We get to play together with the guys and break down the new game with the technology guys. We look at the effects and the gameplay. Gaming is as much a profession today as it is a hobby."

That same exterior house was loaded with single-player campaign levels -- all 10 scenarios from the Killzone 2 were playable for the first time. Highlights include a level on a moving train in which the wind affects the player's ability to target enemies. Another challenge that gamers will need to overcome are the Elite Shock Troopers, the best of the best in the formative Helghast army. These soldiers do more than just toss back grenades; they'll come at you with a knife as a last resort.

Hulst promises that the final challenge in Killzone 2 will be "more intense than anything you've seen before, more enemies than ever before," and while details are currently under NDA, the action towards the end of the game has been elevated to a new level.

Inside the main studio building, Guerrilla set up eight PS3s for online multiplayer action. The new game supports up to 32 players and will ship with eight maps. What separates Killzone 2 multiplayer from other games is five different mission types that players can change on-the-fly within a single match, which completely changes the strategy of a game. Angie Smets, senior producer in charge of multiplayer, said that the online game will not only change from round to round, but within each round.

"In the Create Game screen, players can select a preset like Warzone, which is everything on (all five mission types and eight maps), or he can go to a Customize Game screen and just play team deathmatch," said Eric Boltjes, senior online game designer. "We go even deeper and allow the player to just have medics in a match or turn off scouts completely. We allow players to create sniper rifle only games. You can turn off friendly fire. You can even add bots if you don't have enough friends to play. After tweaking this, you can save the preset so you can jump back into that game type at any time."

Smets said that Assassination mode is quite popular with the team. This mode chooses a single opposing player as the target that everyone on your team has to kill and everyone on the other team has to protect. The target has 30 seconds to set up defenses and then you're told where he is and that you have to kill him.

"There's also something scary about seeing you as the assassination target. It's a real adrenaline rush."

"People set up turrets and mines around the player to make sure he doesn't die," said Smets. "There's also something scary about seeing you as the assassination target. It's a real adrenaline rush."

Smets is overseeing the extensive community site, Killzone.com, which will host leaderboards, tournaments and enough statistics to satisfy the most diehard of gamers. In addition, the site offers developer stories, blogs and a place where players can create their own page and link with friends. Like Insomniac Games' recent Resistance 2, community will remain a major focus for Guerilla once the final game is completed.

Guerrilla Games will support clans from the outset with the ability to participate in clan tournaments for up to 256 clans. Like a game of poker, each clan player will have to wager some clan valor into the pot and the winner will divide the spoils. These points can be used as currency within the game universe.

"Every aspect of Killzone 2 has to be just right," said Smets. "We began testing multiplayer two years ago. It's that extra level of polish that will separate this game from other titles."

SOURCE:PCWORLD.COM

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Chart Toppers: Fallout 3 Sets the World on Fire (XB360)

Bethesda's reinvention of the classic Fallout IP took the game industry by storm in October with well over 600K sold in the U.S. alone. Fallout 3 is blowing things up in a good way.

by David Radd on Wednesday, December 03, 2008

The success of certain games cannot simply be measured by their sales level – a good example being the Fallout franchise. The series, which under Interplay had two official incarnations and two spin-offs, was acclaimed for its unique setting, mature dialog, and yes, genuine ROLE-PLAYING that allowed for a wide variety of choices and moral outcomes. Years after the games' release, players still tracked down copies of Fallout 1 and 2 to get a taste of the post-apocalyptic RPGs. The devotion the games inspired made the general fandom reluctant to accept the canon validity of the side-story Fallout Tactics, while Fallout: Brotherhood of the Steel was met with downright hostility by many.

So with that in mind, some were openly skeptical when Bethsoft acquired the IP rights to the Fallout franchise from Interplay. While the developer has an acclaimed background in RPGs with the Elder Scrolls franchise, none of the principle developers of the old Fallout titles would work on Fallout 3, and retro-future America is about as far from the fantasy realm of Tamriel as can be imagined. Still, the game hit store shelves in October and was quickly accepted, if not by the fandom, then certainly by the gaming public at large. We take a closer look at the game's early success.

That's worth a lot of caps
According to The NPD Group, Fallout 3 was the third and fourteenth best selling title overall for the month of October. This made the game the third best selling PS3 SKU and second best selling Xbox 360 title. It was also the best selling PC title overall during the same period. Fallout 3 sold a total of 610,000 copies during October, and 375,000 of those copies were on the Xbox 360.

Sales for the game have been good intentionally as well, with Chart Track reporting that Fallout 3 debuted at number one in the U.K.. These sales results put the game above the first month results of Bethsoft's last big release, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblvion, which sold a little over a half million units its first month. If early reports are to be believed, Fallout 3 has already outsold all previous incarnations of the franchise combined.

No doubt driving some of these sales were the extensive offerings for consumers. Bethesda went all out with a Collector's Edition that featured a bonus "making of" DVD, a concept art book, and a five-inch Vault Boy Bobblehead in a "Vault-Tec" lunchbox and a Survival Edition that also includes a model of the PIP-Boy 3000 that functions as a digital clock. The U.K. also got a Limited Edition that had a Brotherhood of Steel Power Armor figurine.



SOURCE:gamedaily.com


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Gaming 'Addiction' Can Be Blamed on Parents, Society, says Clinic Founder

Video game addiction may not be a true addiction after all, according to Keith Bakker, the founder and head of Europe's first and only clinic to treat gaming addicts. Video game "addiction" is certainly not unique to Europe. In fact, there have been many cases in Asia of MMO gamers getting ill or even dying because of compulsive and continuous playing of online games in Internet cafes.

Nevertheless, Bakker, who has treated hundreds of young gamers at The Smith & Jones Centre in Amsterdam since it opened in 2006, has told the BBC that he believes gaming "addiction" is really more a social problem than it is a psychological one.

Although abstinence-based treatment models have had very high success rates for people at the clinic who also exhibit other addictive behaviors such as drinking and taking drugs, Bakker thinks that this kind of cross-addiction affects only 10 percent of gamers. For the rest of the "gaming addicts," who spend four hours a day or more playing games, Bakker doesn't see addiction counseling as the solution.

"These kids come in showing some kind of symptoms that are similar to other addictions and chemical dependencies," Bakker noted. "But the more we work with these kids the less I believe we can call this addiction. What many of these kids need is their parents and their school teachers - this is a social problem."

"This gaming problem is a result of the society we live in today," he added. "Eighty per cent of the young people we see have been bullied at school and feel isolated. Many of the symptoms they have can be solved by going back to good old fashioned communication."

Indeed, one 18-year-old gamer being treated at the clinic in Amsterdam said he was spending at least 10 hours a day playing Call of Duty 4 because he never got the help he needed from his parents or his teachers at school.

"Call of Duty was somewhere I felt accepted for the first time in my life," he said. "I was never helped by my parents or my school. At the clinic I also feel accepted and have come out of myself. I liked gaming because people couldn't see me, they accepted me as my online character - I could be good at something and feel part of a group. I was aware that I played too much but I didn't know what to do. But it helped me because I could be aggressive and get my anger and frustration out online."

In light of Bakker's realization, the clinic has changed its treatment program to focus more on developing activity-based social and communications skills to help gamers rejoin society, the BBC said. "If I continue to call gaming an addiction it takes away the element of choice these people have," Bakker pointed out. "It's a complete shift in my thinking and also a shift in the thinking of my clinic and the way it treats these people."

source:gamedaily.com


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NEED FOR SPEED: UNDERCOVER™

Features

You never thought it would turn out like this—an all-out chase where you're the hunted. And the hunter. Now you must get behind the wheel and risk everything to infiltrate a ruthless international crime syndicate and take them down in Need for Speed Undercover. The man you're after is a maniac behind the wheel, and he's driving like his life depends on escape, which maybe it does. He's the one with all the answers you need, and you will track him down. Needless to say, that fleet of police cruisers in your rearview mirror won't make things any easier. It will take all of your experience—and every ounce of skill—to outrun the law, take down the enemy, and unlock the truth that puts an end to this chase once and for all.

* Deep undercover: Race into an action-packed story of pursuit and betrayal. Take on jobs and compete in races to prove yourself as you infiltrate and take down an international crime syndicate.
* Highway battle: Fight off the cops and others as you take down your prey in high-speed, high stake multi-car chases. New and vastly improved A.I. mechanics mean more aggressive and intelligent cops are focused on taking you out fast and by any means necessary.
* Open world: Tear across the massive highway system and discover the open world of the Gulf Coast Tri-Cities area, with three unique cities connected by an extensive highway system.
* Heroic driving engine: An all-new game engine lets you pull off amazing moves for the ultimate driving edge.

Need for Speed Goes Undercover:REVIEW

At A Glance

• We get behind the wheel and put the thrilling racer Need for Speed Undercover through its paces.

Electronic Arts' white-knuckle Need for Speed racing franchise rockets its way back onto Xbox 360® in Need for Speed™ Undercover, a refined amalgam of many of the series' best features, race modes, and presentation styles.

Put your foot on the pedal and go!

You play an anonymous undercover operative working in concert with the FBI to infiltrate an elite smuggling ring by proving your driving skills in daring races and hot police pursuits. Cause enough havoc and earn enough notoriety to earn your place in the smuggler's ring, and work your way to the top to bring the whole illicit syndicate crashing down.

The races, chases, and evasions take every opportunity to heighten the moment with the kind of outrageous action normally reserved for blockbuster movies.

Fast and Loose
Need for Speed Undercover is sweet arcade-style racing. Other than the licensed cars (such as an Audi 08 R8, Dodge Viper SRT10, McLaren '94 F1) and the modern cityscape, there is little to tie Undercover to reality, and that's a good thing.

You'll plow through police barricades largely unhindered, fly hundreds of feet through the air courtesy of a nitrous boost and conveniently placed ramps, slide effortlessly around sharp corners at suicidal speeds, and a great deal more besides. Undercover is all about the thrill. The races, chases, and evasions take every opportunity to heighten the moment with the kind of outrageous action normally reserved for blockbuster movies.

Go get 'em!

Heroic Driving
Of course, in order to pull off spectacular stunts and maneuvers, you need the proper tools, such as the game's Speedbreaker and Heroic Driving Engine. Speedbreaker allows you to tap X to slow down time, and increase your car's maneuverability. Bob and weave amid tight traffic and slip easily between cruisers in a barricade with Speedbreaker activated.

The Heroic Driving Engine helps you understand and easily execute moves like nitrous drifts, perfect cornering, 360-degree burnouts to confuse the cops, J-turns to evade them, and double-tap reverses to instantly send yourself hurtling backward in order to, say, get out of the way of a police cruiser trying to pin you against a wall.

Open Simplicity
Like many of the series' recent games, Undercover employs an open-ended system for joining events, allowing you to pick among your favorite race types to earn enough Wheelman Rep to unlock the next story-based mission.

That doesn't mean you need to spend a lot of empty time navigating the city streets. Instead, you can fast travel to any currently available event. Press down on the D-pad to load the closest available race, or bring up your GPS map and hand-select your next event to travel there in seconds.

User-Created Pursuit
You might not have to spend time cruising Tri-Cities if you don't want to, but it does give you the opportunity to start up a thrilling impromptu police pursuit. Cause mayhem on the streets by speeding, wrecking, and demolishing city property, and police dispatch will take notice of you, sending cruisers and even choppers to put a stop to your antics.

Once you're sighted, the pursuit is on. You must successfully evade capture with an eye-popping combination of heroic driving maneuvers, shortcuts, snaking through barricades, sliding around spike traps, and even triggering environmental traps to take out your pursuers. For example, knocking out the supports holding up a load of massive concrete pipes will send them scattering across the road, disabling any nearby cruisers.

A double-tap reverse may be in order.

Race Types
While the police pursuits are both exhilarating and a welcome return to classic Need for Speed action, Undercover really earns its stripes with its variety of race types. And we're not talking just the classic Sprint (point A to B) and Circuit (lap-based) races.

Highway Battles are high-speed affairs made all the more visceral by displaying the action from a first-person-camera on the hood of your car for some serious rim-rattling action. These battles require you to overtake your competitor and either put 1,000 feet of distance between you and them, or simply maintain your lead when the timer expires.

Cost to State races put your destructive skills to the test as you are given a set dollar amount of destruction to achieve by crashing through anything and everything, disabling police cruisers, setting off environmental traps, and wrecking other cars.

Then there's the Xbox LIVE® multiplayer modes like Cops N' Robbers which puts players in control of the pursuing cops as well as the fleeing robbers who are racing to deliver a package before they're caught.

Live Action Story
Undercover also brings back live-action cinematics to the franchise with real actors in real settings to give the crime drama proceedings a realistic feel. Plus, who wouldn't rather look at the real Maggie Q and Christina Milian in action instead of their virtual models?

Need for Speed Undercover for Xbox 360 brings arcade racing back to the fore in such streamlined fashion that you'll never find yourself more than a few seconds away from the action you crave. Get your lead foot ready. You'll need it.

Article by Ryan Treit

SOURCE:XBOX.COM

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