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Custom-built headset in the pipeline; Drive Club team already working with tech

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/420136/sony-to-reveal-ps4-virtual-reality-headset-at-tgs/

Being able to host competitive multiplayer on actual separate screens is a new development in console gaming.

Not entirely. The Ultimate List: Cube Connection - Get more out of your Game Boy Advance by linking it to the GameCube. (February 26, 2004)

With specially written software, game developers can make the Game Boy Advance and GameCube talk to each other. Some games require a specific GBA game inserted and booted in the handheld, while others utilize the GBA's ability to store programs into its internal memory. Using the GBA's 256K of system RAM, programmers can create miniature programs and games that can be executed on the handheld without the need for a cartridge in the slot.

But you're right, it hasn't been done on a scale where it's HD graphics and a standard part of the system. Too bad Nintendo isn't really doing it, either (5th Mar 2013):

So far, Wii U games only use a single GamePad, and only one GamePad is supplied with the console with no option to by a second one separately at retail - presumably due to the expense of a controller containing a touch screen and its many other innards (Note: multiplayer games are achieved using Wii U Pro Controllers and/or Wii Remotes). Because of this, Miyamoto plays down the viability of dual-GamePad support being a system that's fully utilised any time soon.

"In the future, perhaps when we get closer to something that, an environment where everybody or a large majority of people would have two GamePads, that might be a time where we look at how we can leverage a system of that nature."

This is, in my opinion, one of the Wii U's largest faults: giving a potentially amazing input device, and then limiting it to one. And even if they were to start supporting multi-Gamepad games, "multiple" in this case means "two". No grand four-player RPG adventure, where they take turns controlling movement in the larger area and have their own screens for battle, not to mention giving each player conversation response options and the majority wins. No massive 2-on-2 Pokemon tournament where the GamePads are used to check stats, use items, and give commands.

Asymmetric gameplay may have a lot of potential, but so far it hasn't been in big ways (the asymmetric gameplay in NSMBU is akin to using the second controller in Mario Galaxy as an assist, so even that isn't anything new.) Nintendo did pretty much everything wrong with this console, so this isn't surprising.

For one thing, everything has to be rewritten line-by-line in C#. For another, only ten countries can buy XNA games. Finally, a letter to MVPs implies that XNA is likely to go unsupported soon.

I'm not sure that's right...where are you getting that from?

You can believe me or not, I don't care. You don't back your claims, in reality it's PS3 games that run in "640p" compared to 720p on 360 (see here and here) or with missing post-processing. Games I worked on had features cut on PS3 compared to 360 as well, but I won't damage the franchise by stating what it was. It is enough for me that Sony realized their mistake and is trying hard to make up for it with PS4.

"Revolutionary it is not."

I think you have a very short memory. Or are extremely jaded. The Wiimote was and is a revolutionary controller. Swinging the controller for golf, tennis, baseball, frisbee, sword fighting, etc. was revolutionary.

You need to read this. Sony and Microsoft were offered the technology that powers the Wiimote. They turned it down. Nintendo now controls the patent on the technology. So yes, it is a niche. But not because it is a gimmick - because Nintendo owns it, and uses it as a competitive differentiator.

- Jasen.

He's not an idiot. Sounds like he was considering an MMO before WOW and EVE existed.

"I was very wary that we would be trailblazing and one of the ways we were planning to do it was to put a piece of hardware in every single phone exchange, so it was a much wider plan to achieve the very short ping times that you need to play the game we wanted to do. So we put that essentially on indefinite hold at that point because I knew it wasn't going to work well. And I'd rather not do it, than do something that didn't work well."

Would you like to back that up? According to Nintendo, Sony's PS3 is the best seller in Europe. The UK has some love for the 360 but not mainland Europe.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/345512/ps3-leading-european-hardware-sales-in-2012/

So you can imply asians are being racist but in my mind it looks like it's just Americans (and the UK) that are hating on things that don't revolve around white anglo people.

The 3DS hasn't been a success? You do realize that it's out-paced the original DS as far as sales figures when you compare their first years after release date and has already sold 19 million units worldwide as of July?

http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=169581

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/359705/3ds-sales-hit-19-million-ahead-of-3ds-xl-launch/

Notes on the Video:

Featured:
- Gears of War footage
- Ouya Menu Screen contains (I guess it's just filler but to stick it in consumer promotional material is misleading):
* Samurai Vengeance II
* Shadowgun
* Dead Trigger
* Madden NFL 2012
* Minecraft (They were busted lying about this, in reference to their statement "Minecraft is going to be on it")
* TripleTown
* Racing Live
* Canabalt

Other Features:
- Julie Uhrman, OUYA Founder
- Testimonial: Brian Fargo, Founder inXile
- Statement: Alex Schwartz, Chief Scientist, Owlchemy Labs
* AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! (Force = Mass x Acceleration) footage
- Statement: Yves Behar, Product Designer (fuseproject)
- Canabalt (Made by Kittehface Software)
- http://www.twitch.tv/ ouya.tv domain created at Jun 20 2012 and uses dreamhost.com who-is protection.

They've been getting away with it for a while. Check out the situation with Dual Shock on the PS3.

Immersion decides to patent troll the gaming industry over rumble force feedback, claiming they have the patents on it even though as a corporation they eschewed simple "rumble".

So MS settles with Immersion, giving Immersion money with the requirement that they continue to press their case against Sony and that MS will get a cut of any monies from those suits if there is a settlement.

We find out about it when MS discovers the risk of deal with an extortionist with low morals after Immersion takes the money from Sony and runs.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/196042/microsoft-lands-force-feedback-payout/

Or MMORPGs and WoW for example.

WoW has been losing subscribers steadily for a while now.

I get the point you're making, but nothing lasts forever. If you really sit back and think about the internet as it was for us a decade ago it's mindblowing how far we've come. I mean, Myspace is a joke now, but 10 years ago they didn't even exist. How long has it been since Myspace has been relevant? 4 years? 5? From nothing to the juggernaut they became in the mid-00's to nothing again. Facebook is going to suffer the same fate, and I'm betting it's not going to be nearly as far off as we think. If you told someone in 2005 that Myspace was going to end up the shadow of it's formal self it is today, most people probably would have thought you were out of your mind, yet just 3 years later everyone and their sister was on that newfangled Facebook, their Myspace pages abandoned long before. For all we know, Facebook could be just as irrelevant in 2015.

It's funny, but as we keep hearing these stories about how large Facebook is becoming, in my own personal life, I know more and more people that are eschewing it completely because it's become just as cluttered up with bullshit and fake "friends" as their Myspace pages were before they just stopped logging in. It's funny, but rather than unfriending people, they just abandon their accounts completely. I actually know people that are on their 2nd or 3rd account, having abandoned the old ones so they could create new ones and friend the people they actually want to be social with without worrying about the hurt feelings of dozens of "friends". Or so I'm told, anyway...I abandoned my own Facebook account long ago.

I'm really curious as to how many unique, regular users (regular meaning people that log in at least every couple days) they actually have. Obviously nobody on the outside would ever know, but I wouldn't be surprised if 1/3 of their 'users' are inactive accounts that haven't been touched in ages...

According to this, he will be half English, half Native American.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/08/12/id-not-licensing-id-tech-5/

Bethesda is starting to depress me between this, the state of Brink and Rage, and they aren't really targeting pc anymore either.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/298610/skyrim-looks-the-same-when-playing-on-pc-and-console-bethesda/

No extra love for the people that made them what they are. (And with them buying id, well you can put it all together...) Though one could argue mods, though they claim mods will work for consoles I seriously doubt it will work correctly.

Sort of depressing. I've been playing since Arena. I suffered through the quest-items-stuck-in-walls Daggerfall, the interesting openness and towns of Morrowind, to the bland homogeneity of Oblivion. It's a shame there are not many PC purist companies left. Things are starting to get a little too cookie cutter and the bugs just get worse and worse. Meanwhile one of the omega developers of an entire genre got sucked into a company that's losing touch with it's roots. Sad, sad times...

Over at CVG.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/306087/news/wii-u-console-and-controller-wont-be-sold-separately/ Sounds like only one uber controller per Wii U.

The 3DS has the option for region locking and is no different to the Xbox 360 where the publisher gets to decide. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/283940/news/nintendo-3ds-region-lock-a-possibility-for-some-software/

Of course Nintendo's home systems were region locked like all others up until this generation. Sony opted not to do it as an advantage and the MS changed their policy to keep up with Sony. Nintendo is doing the same thing. So again I'm not entirely sure how Nintendo is being so bad in comparison for doing the same thing as MS in regards to region locking while at the same time offering much more open internet options and uses standard storage where as MS uses over priced proprietary storage. To me it sounds like MS has the 'paternalist, authoritarian' approach.

I believe internet isn't an issue to come up because aside from one console they all give you internet access. It's a non-issue for the majority of gamers. I would totally agree that the Wii and DS' multiplayer options are dreadful at best. It's much more improved on the 3DS and more control is given to publishers so like, for example, I can get online and play anyone with SFIV and I don't have to dick around with stupid friend codes.

It is a shame that with region locking it will almost certainly crop up more often at least for the time being but it will be more of a decision that the publisher has taken rather than Nintendo forcing it on people. I do think it will be very common though considering the rampant piracy on the DS. I think publishers will take any option they can to help hinder people from pirating games even if the region locking won't stop the persistent.

Any time you claim that "consumers don't understand..." or "consumers need to be educated about..." you Have A Problem.

When I read that I immediately thought of the ps3 being probably too cheap.

Frankly, I'm going to suggest that the 3DS falls into option #1. The public understands "3D" perfectly well(in specialized theaters we've had some degree of it for what, 50 years?); but has also learned by experience that 90% of "3D" is gimmicky crap that costs more and frequently delivers less.

The public understands that the 3DS causes headaches. They are simply not going to adopt that. Time to build a bridge and get over the mofo. Guess what, the Virtual Boy failed too. Nintendo is amazing for their ability to fail in precisely the same way on multiple occasions.

I hope they move faster on http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=277546 XNA support for Kinect. This will not only let indie devs create kinect games using nothing more than a pc and an xbox on a lan, but will also let people deploy kinect games for both xbox and pc simultaneously with support for the kinect and windows kinect respectively.

Before you start saying that these consoles are essentially tapped out, keep in mind that the PS3 isn't near its full potential yet.

PS3 still not maxed out - Andrew House (SCEE President)
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=248275

PS3 hard to develop for on purpose - Kazuo Hirai (SCEE Chairman)
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=248275

Now, when you've finally "tapped out this rock", then come back and complain. Until then, blame yourselves for your inability to develop good games that take full advantage of these platforms.

Before you start saying that these consoles are essentially tapped out, keep in mind that the PS3 isn't near its full potential yet.

PS3 still not maxed out - Andrew House (SCEE President)
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=248275

PS3 hard to develop for on purpose - Kazuo Hirai (SCEE Chairman)
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=248275

Now, when you've finally "tapped out this rock", then come back and complain. Until then, blame yourselves for your inability to develop good games that take full advantage of these platforms.

A 100% software emulator to run PS2 software on the PS3 is entirely possible. The Xbox 1 is a much more powerful system than the PS2, and the Xbox 360 (which is inferior to the PS3) can emulate it perfectly, all in software. So it's only a matter of time before a PS2 emulator appears on the PS3.

The funny thing about this is Sony has recently patented a hardware PS2 addon for the PS3.. if/when the homebrew scene releases a PS2 emulator, Sony is going to look very stupid....and greedy to almost every PS3 owner in the world!

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=264597

A jailbreak for the iPhone 4 has been engineered and released by hackers, meaning that dodgy users can gain access to all kinds of unofficial content.

YA RLY

http://www.develop-online.net/news/34341/Tories-come-clean-Well-offer-tax-cuts-in-first-budget

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=244938

It seems this is just a matter of time.
The question is to know which kind of time scale we talking about...

Yeah, Activision sounds just lovely. I just keep wondering why Vivendi doesn't put them in shape, but probably it brings money in now. I just hope Activision dies quickly. At least EA has started to bring some innovation again.

And that's the rub. By focusing on time-tested franchises that are basically guaranteed to be profitable, rather than new properties, they increase revenues and reduce risk. Both are good from a corporate standpoint, in general. Unfortunately, creativity doesn't always pay the bills. It just drives home that Activision is a production company that happens to specialize in games, rather than a game publisher.

That said, Kotick obviously understands the downsides of this approach. He even stated he regretted not buying (Rockband Developer) Harmonix when he had the chance. At some point he needs to expand his franchises, and by being too conservative he ended up passing up one of the best opportunities to come his way. I was expecting that would mean a more balanced approach to Activision's strategy going forward, but this IW shake-up makes me question that prediction...

They did a video game called Donald Duck: Quack Attack and when he gets mad he does a Quack Attack on his enemies. It is not quite Hulking out but it is Donald Duck losing his temper.

Bio-Shock needed a patch on launch day. There is no excuse for that. Yes, people make mistakes. That's what Quality Control and Testing are there to take care of. There is no reason to ever have a launch day patch for such obvious bugs.

I used to read PCZone magazine, until my subscription ran out last year, and I never renewed it.
Why?
While PCZone was an excellent magazine, it was both fun and fair, they were not afraid to admit when their hype machine was wrong (Path of Neo was a case in point) - As indicated by that link, I can get all the reviews I want online. No subscription needed.

PCGamer - atleast in the UK - was and is aimed at the teenage market. Plastered with semi-naked models holding various computing peripherals. Last time I bought PC Gamer I was at a hospital and needed something to read while I was waiting. Utter Trash

[Rebuilding the database on the player is] not a bad idea if it weren't for the access time/data rate and slow processor.

Seriously? I thought iPod touch was more powerful than a Wii. I don't think it would take "hours" to scan the ID3 tags in 6 GB of MP3s.

Oops: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=165699

EA Sports Cricket is very real.

And you know, football hooligans might even get me to play a Sims game.

50 million sold with software sales of 200 million is hardly a failure

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=208211%3Fcid&skip=yes

If you're interested in some fiction that's not quite so fanboy specific, you might want to check out http://eve.klaki.net/fiction/ which is a collection of stories written by Istvaan Shogaatsu set in the Eve universe. You might remember Istvaan better as the perpetrator of the Eve Heist that was covered in PCGamer as well as here on Slashdot. ( http://eve.klaki.net/heist/ )

Istvaan is also Tom Czerniawski, who has had several stories published in the Eve magazine EON. On the article linked at Massively, there's a picture of the front cover of a story he's written.

/guiding hand social club operative

The PSP now has 50 million in sales.

Sure, the DS has more. But think about it. The PSP has sold about 3 times as many units as the iphone.

It is a very successful device.

Which is actually a pretty good deal

Maybe, or maybe it means games were always really expensive.

other prices have risen in the same time frame, including the cost to develop a game.

Very true, but instead of being happy when they sell 100,000 copies publishers are now looking at hopefully moving millions.

dropping the price doesn't result in an equivalent increase in sales.

Guess we won't know until they try! Or until those private companies release sales records about what happens when they lower prices to move those millions of copies that didn't sell for full price.

I'm not sure where the memory req's were mentioned either, but I am certain SC2 will at least prefer 4GB. SC was one of the first games to hit the 2GB memory limit on 32bit systems. Apparently SC would crash on very large maps when it hit the limit, even on 64 bit systes (bc the game is 32bit and still limited to 2GB mem).

Here is an article citing Chris Taylor that even 4GB is not enough for all the factions they wanted to add to SC2: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=185765

And here is a link citing the original problem: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1161686

...water is wet, the sky is blue, and Macs and PCs use the same hardware. i.e. There is nothing surprising here. The demand for the Wii has been mercilessly out of whack with what is possible (or at least practical) to manufacture, since day one. I know a lot of people thought the shortage was over when Wiis temporarily became available during the summer. (Note that I said "available", not "abundant".) The problem is that console sales always cycle during the summer. The best sales are obviously around Christmas, both before and after. (After for all the folks who couldn't get one during the Christmas season.) Being at the opposite end of the year, summer is obviously going to be the low-point for sales. Consumers are spending their money on vacations and outdoor fun rather than game consoles.

What I find far more interesting is the extreme vitriol expressed by those who commented on the ComputerAndVideoGames.com story. It seems the more successful the Wii becomes, the more the hardcore gamers hate it for its success.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/scott/spore-porn
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=191255

I find this one particularly amusing in its simplicity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnUXnnH6sY0

Galactic Civilisations is a very good game. Yes - I probably could have just pirated a copy, but no, I bought it. I was actually persuaded to do so because of this account of a game. Very entertaining. Unfortunately, though it would run on my old Linux system under Wine with an Nvidia graphics card, it keep crashing with my new AIT card. Well, it crashes with the proprietary drivers. It works with Mesa but doesn't have any 3D acceleration which makes it a little tricky to play.

Is it yours?

Pragmatic hardware review my arse. "the PS3 has been a failure for Sony from a gaming marketshare perspective"

Sorry, I know how much people wish this were true but it's nonsense. PS3 outsells XBox in Europe now.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=174190

Sony are doing really rather well. The fact that BluRay is part of the PS3 and now the leading format for Hi Def movies is a combination that's just going to keep getting sweeter for them.

Paramount had denied this allegation. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=178864

Sorely missing - the abyssmal sales figures for Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3. Neither game managed to sell 100,000 copies the first month, November 2007. THAT was a big, unexpected news item considering the hype.

Read, e.g. "Crysis and UTIII sales bomb" at http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=177667

Most speculations on why concern too demanding graphics.

Did you realize that you can transfer all your virtual games into a memory card on the wii? if the console died you could replace it with a new one and just transfer the games back inside. Or just download them in the external sd card. that is what i did when i broke up with my previous gf and she decided to keep the console, so i transfered the games to an sd card and bought a new one... now i still can play my virtualconsole games.

Oddly enough, that might actually happen

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=163601

Ha ha good one!

But in all seriousness, it's not been a good week for the Microsoft fanbois as the PS3 is now outselling it in Europe 2 to 1. Even the PSP is outselling the Xbox! Ouch, that's gotta hurt.

PS3 now outselling Xbox by quite a margin in europe

So shut the hell up already. The PS3 is doing just fine, despite what y'all naysayers are moaning about.

My phrasing was poor, sorry. Lots of people have said that the extra space on bluray discs was a waste for a year or two. With this game and UT3, the dvd format is starting to show its age with the 360. I guess this gap will just grow in the future. With nearly 50 gigs of storage on a dual layer disc, it seems that much premium content can be added for the PS3.

As long as they actually use it for content rather than "just because we can". A good example is Heavenly Sword. They said they FILLED the DISC and even stated there was 10 gigs of Audio on the disc, yet there is MUCH LESS content, than Oblivion (which fits on a DVD9).

"BluRay, please meet betamax."

I wouldn't call blu-ray the new betamax just yet, with Blockbuster already announcing they're carrying only blu-ray titles primarily due to PS3 sales.

But you have a point. Sony doesn't have a great history of making formats that eventually become the standard. Minidisc? DAT? UMD movies? If I was Sony I'd practically give away Blu-ray players just to get them out there, then in a year or two once it becomes a standard re-coop their costs in license fees. Microsoft has been doing this for years with the Xbox and Xbox360 but it was necessary to make them a major player in the console wars and at times Xbox has had the most sales.

So some random analyst assumes the PS3 is the problem, and it ends up in the flamebait summary even though a VP at Rockstar says they haven't figured out how to deal with the lack of hard drive in the Xbox 360?

Why doesn't the summary mention that Microsoft is considering allowing games which require the hard drive, possibly in response to these issues with GTA IV? Instead it just trash-talks the PS3. Lovely.