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If I remember correctly, $494 was how much it cost Sony to produce the Playstation 2. This means that it should be no problem for Sony to sell the Playstation 3 at a reasonable price to consumers.

Besides, Sony has learned from the PSX that selling a game console with a lot of features for a consumer-unfriendly price will only hurt them in the long run.

What you're clearly missing here is that Take-Two/Rockstar never had any chance at controlling this and coming out on top. It didn't matter what Take-Two/Rockstar said in their own defense, because this entire story exists because the American news media serves mainly to titilate its audience with twisted facts taken out of context followed by a lot of outright lies

11 very interesting games.

And most of them should be out within a year.

Of course the 360 is going nowhere in Japan at the moment! There aren't any RPGs for the platform, for crying out loud. DOA 4 alone isn't going to bring over Japanese gamers.

But there are several Japanese RPGs in development, most notably those by Mistwalker Studios (headed by a former Square-Enix producer). I think the 360 in Japan is really going to depend on the quality of these first games. If they aren't that that good, then yeah, the 360 in Japan is going to continue to flounder. But, if they turn out to be pretty decent, then I would imagine the 360 is going to do better. Also, we still have to see what Square-Enix decides to do with the platform. Somehow I doubt FFXI is going to be the only game released for the 360.

That said, I've looked at the previews for one of the first Japanese RPGs (Enchant Arm), and it doesn't look that hot to me. I'm a big fan of Japanese RPGs (most Squeenix titles, Xenosaga, Disgaea, etc.), so I guess I'm a target audience.

Of course the 360 is going nowhere in Japan at the moment! There aren't any RPGs for the platform, for crying out loud. DOA 4 alone isn't going to bring over Japanese gamers.

But there are several Japanese RPGs in development, most notably those by Mistwalker Studios (headed by a former Square-Enix producer). I think the 360 in Japan is really going to depend on the quality of these first games. If they aren't that that good, then yeah, the 360 in Japan is going to continue to flounder. But, if they turn out to be pretty decent, then I would imagine the 360 is going to do better. Also, we still have to see what Square-Enix decides to do with the platform. Somehow I doubt FFXI is going to be the only game released for the 360.

That said, I've looked at the previews for one of the first Japanese RPGs (Enchant Arm), and it doesn't look that hot to me. I'm a big fan of Japanese RPGs (most Squeenix titles, Xenosaga, Disgaea, etc.), so I guess I'm a target audience.

Bah, the screenshots clearly show that DailyTech is using Linux, they must be crazy.

On a serious note, however, how will this effect Xbox 360's, or would these custom ATI processors support it?

It was made into a Video game in 1996
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/ihavenomoutha ndims/review.html

For example "Foreign Ground" http://www.gamespot.com/news/6137237.html

I didn't see anyone else post a mirror, if there is one i must be blind and im sorry but here:

So the news came out that the Half Life movie directed by Quentin Tarantino is destined to join the list of the greatest science fiction movies that were never actually filmed. It has damned good company...

by David Wong

10. The "Real" Alien 3

1992, Directed by, oh, let's say Ridley Scott

The most excited I've ever been to see a movie ever in my life was the moment I saw the first Alien 3 "teaser" trailer in 1991 (teasers are shot well before the movie itself is finished filming). It's the one that promised the aliens were coming to freaking Earth.

No, I didn't dream it . They really did show that trailer (they even have a copy of it HERE ), sending it to theaters before they had even started production, before they had even picked a script.

Visions of awesomeness flashed through my head, a Blade Runner-ish Earth with sprawling, filthy buildings, huge flashing billboards with giant Asian women on them, beat-up flying cars whooshing by and steam always rising from the streets for some reason. And then the aliens start breeding in the miles of dank sewers that tangle under the bustling streets, the creatures boiling up out of manholes by the hundreds, cut to pieces by Marines with pulse rifles and maybe in the climax the Army has to nuke the city...

"This movie can't possibly not be awesome!" I said to my little friend John at the time. "This is gonna make Aliens look like ET! I hope it's directed by the guy who will in the future direct Fight Club!"

A year and thirty fucking screenplays later (including this rejected script by William Gibson ) they came up with the movie that killed the franchise, squatted over the face of the corpse and farted. They had stumbled through concept after concept, built sets, tore them down, filmed scenes, threw them away, fired directors, fired crew. When Sigourney Weaver held out for more money, they wrote scripts without her, when she came back, they did rewrites to cram her back into the story again. Very late in the game they brought in a young director named David Fincher -- whose only experience was with Madonna videos -- to start shooting after most of the budget had already been scattered to the wind like parade confetti.

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What squeezed out the other end of the development's digestive tract was a movie that, just seconds in, meaninglessly kills off the three characters Ripley spent the last movie saving. The hundreds of aliens were replaced with one small alien dog. The vast futuristic landscape was replaced by one dim, dirty building. The frantic gunfights were replaced by scenes of identical bald cast members staring quietly at the wall. The main character commits suicide at the end.

So What happened?

Budget, mostly. My Alien 3 would have cost twice what Aliens did, with its sprawling sets and dozens of animatronic creatures and costumes and explosions and CGI that was, at the time, still very expensive. At the end of all that you wind up with an R-rated sci-fi film with almost no chance of making back its budget (Aliens only made about $85 million, 150 if you adjust for inflation).

So they settled for this stripped-down version on a budget of $50 million (about 20% of which actually winds up on screen) filmed in an abandoned lead factory. Then they watched as fanboys like me piled into the theater on opening day anyway. Again, this is why they're rich film executives and I live in my car.

9. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

2005, directed by not Garth Jennings

There was a movie that perfectly captured the Douglas Ad

have you seen Gunstar Superheroes for the gba? you might like astroboy for gba too.
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Nintendo to demo Revolution in May at E3

Thanks!

Still, it sounds like that's a pre-release, so we shouldn't expect more than canned script game previews, no working models with working games. That sounds like Fall 06.

Are you crazy or just plain ignorant? Nintendo would not send invitations for a special pre-E3 presentation about the Revolution that will take place at the Kodak theater 165 days before the actual event if the Revolution was not going to be it's main focus. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6140464.html

Ok, I overlooked Madden. Madden is neck-and-neck with The Sims, with about 45 million sales as of last August.
For reference, The Sims franchise had sold 41 million copies as of Sept. 2004. Since that statistic was reported before the release of The Sims 2, it's entirely likely that the franchise has surpassed Madden in sales.

And you're kidding yourself if you think either of those franchises have come anywhere close to touching Mario in total franchise sales. Mario games make up four of the top five best-selling games of all time. The original Super Mario Bros. alone has sold nearly as many copies as the entire Madden franchise. As of December, the Mario franchise has totaled 184 million sales, with Pokemon following at 143 million sales. The Sims and Madden, while both very successful, have sold an order of magnitude fewer copies than Nintendo's leading franchises.

As for Madden being the top-selling game each year... it's generally not. Madden 2005 was drastically outsold by both GTA and Halo 2, and other games tend to beat it every year. The problem it has is that while each copy may sell well at its launch, each version dramatically drops in sales after the new one is released. Contrast this with Halo, which sold well in 2001, but continued to top Xbox sales charts until the release of Halo 2 in 2004.

In an attempt to stay on topic: The Sims is one of the top five most successful franchises in history, which is quite impressive considering that it's a relatively new game. As a game that's targeted toward women (or "non-gamers"), that's even more impressive. Pursuing this market could be Nintendo's best business decision yet. Not only can they open themselves to a large, mostly untapped market, but they may help defeat some of the negative stigma attached to video games by appealing to some of the industry's critics.

Ok, I overlooked Madden. Madden is neck-and-neck with The Sims, with about 45 million sales as of last August.
For reference, The Sims franchise had sold 41 million copies as of Sept. 2004. Since that statistic was reported before the release of The Sims 2, it's entirely likely that the franchise has surpassed Madden in sales.

And you're kidding yourself if you think either of those franchises have come anywhere close to touching Mario in total franchise sales. Mario games make up four of the top five best-selling games of all time. The original Super Mario Bros. alone has sold nearly as many copies as the entire Madden franchise. As of December, the Mario franchise has totaled 184 million sales, with Pokemon following at 143 million sales. The Sims and Madden, while both very successful, have sold an order of magnitude fewer copies than Nintendo's leading franchises.

As for Madden being the top-selling game each year... it's generally not. Madden 2005 was drastically outsold by both GTA and Halo 2, and other games tend to beat it every year. The problem it has is that while each copy may sell well at its launch, each version dramatically drops in sales after the new one is released. Contrast this with Halo, which sold well in 2001, but continued to top Xbox sales charts until the release of Halo 2 in 2004.

In an attempt to stay on topic: The Sims is one of the top five most successful franchises in history, which is quite impressive considering that it's a relatively new game. As a game that's targeted toward women (or "non-gamers"), that's even more impressive. Pursuing this market could be Nintendo's best business decision yet. Not only can they open themselves to a large, mostly untapped market, but they may help defeat some of the negative stigma attached to video games by appealing to some of the industry's critics.

Exactly. So the Revolution won't be Nintendo's primary focus at this year's E3, huh? I guess that's why they bothered sending out E3 '06 invitations half a year in advance to all the major gaming news outlets, announcing that the Revolution would be unveiled at...E3 2006.

It is rather hard to misinterpret that.

Only an idiot would think that Nintendo's primary focus at this year's E3 would be anything other than the Revolution.

You can really drive the sarcasm home with this link

"The best of these games is Animal Crossing, a game that we rightfully nominated for our Video Game of the Year award and a game that, in all seriousness, was by far the closest contender with Metroid Prime"

Not that I'd trust Gamespot, but still.

Yes, I am 55 years old, and I play Animal Crossing on the DS, and bought a PS2 so that I could play Katamari I and Katamari II. I will buy any game that I think will be fun. I am not terribly price-sensitive. I do not really enjoy pretending to disembowel other people and then watch the flies buzz around.

Yes, I am 55 years old, and I play Animal Crossing on the DS, and bought a PS2 so that I could play Katamari I and Katamari II. I will buy any game that I think will be fun. I am not terribly price-sensitive. I do not really enjoy pretending to disembowel other people and then watch the flies buzz around.

Console market for the most part rejects the Xbox It's not nearly as popular as the Playstation, but I fail to see how a rougly 25-30% market share equals "market rejection". Second place worldwide in overall units sold is not "market rejection" either. I'm not saying the Xbox is the greatest thing ever, but one ought to give credit where it's due. [http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/05/26/news_6099 369.html?new_theme=standard_alt&sid=6099369%5D

But hey, you need the HDTV graphics, fast processor, and expensive components for... what was that successful launch title again? Oh yeah, Geometry Wars - let's see Nintendo match that with their underpowered Revolution.

Yes, I am being sarcastic. The game being inexpensive and fun are the important points for Microsoft's best selling game - but yet they can somehow blithely ignore those little points.

Nintendogs sold 250,000 copies in the first week, and 1.5 million since launch in the USA alone, that's a seriously huge hit..

http://www.gamershell.com/news/24482.html
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6141751.html

'Halo 2 the game that redefined first-person combat and multiplayer action for millions of gamers worldwide, is set to explode onto PCs exclusively for Windows Vista.

Are you kidding me? Damnit bring back a robust Tribes and make sure Vivendi Universal has nothing to do with it. Console Kiddies and their boxed in Halo.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6122837/index.htm l/ http://www.firingsquad.com/games/top_10_2004/page3 .asp/

I know everyone is excited about the DS networking, and I too look forward to seeing what it can do.
Mario Kart DS was a great game to showcase Nintendo networking!

People should be aware of the PSP networking progress as well.
The PSP launched in the US with online titles (Twisted Metal, ATV, 989 sports games) and most PSP titles (100+) support Adhoc (LAN) gameplay as well.

SOCOM Fireteam Bravo was the first PSP game and the first handheld game (that I am aware of) to support 16 player PSP voicechat in game. That is really impressive for a handleheld!
FTB has 16 player games with many gametypes (deathmatch, bombing bases, hostage extraction, etc)
And it shares the SOCOM 3 servers.
The gamespot review is here
http://www.gamespot.com/psp/action/socomusnavyseal sfireteambravo/review.html

Now, where is that Microsoft portable game device!??? :)

Anti-videogame legislation has been introduced by the GOP

http://www.gamespot.com/ps/adventure/castlevaniasy mphonyoftn/review.htmlI

Perhaps the most important new feature added to Castlevania is its map system. Extremely similar to the one in Super Metroid, the map (which can be viewed at any time by pressing the Select button)

It's quite well known and accepted. The first thing that springs to mind is the map menu, which is almost an exact copy.

And this reflects important aspects of the gameplay of the two games. Until SOTN, Castlevania was a level-by-level game, with fairly linear paths.

In SOTN, you had a huge castle, interconnected areas, and lots of hidden passages that you could only access by learning new abilities

Not to say that's a bad thing though. I sure as hell wish Konami had tried to borrow from Metroid Prime when working on their PS2-Castlevanias.

Rocket Jockey

This is what I was reminded of when I saw the headline. Too bad, they would never add the elements Rocket Jockey had. That would definitely get me to watch it.

Sign me up though when people will be straddling rockets and trying to clothesline each other with ropes. :D

fact of the matter the product isnt out yet. this guy is a freaking dumbass and honestly hes a DUMBASS ... "Im just telling you what I am hearing. They proceeded to go into a lot of technical info that I don't understand. So I just nod" that technical info he doesnt understand is his job to know. now he did mention the dev kits.... "We received one of 5 PS3 dev kits in the United States some time ago." ONE of 5 ? my ass ! that some time ago there were 100 dev kits out in america , eruope , and japan simultaneously. . they had the same issues with the psp dev kits they were in such HIGH demand they were having trouble keeping up with the demand. as of currently there have been 4 THOUSAND dev kits sent out globally and now more being shipped because they can handle the demand and have even better smaller closer to spec dev kits. and ask for the whole f-bomb remark he made about the dev kits again he is talking out his ass! i honestly dont think he even touched the damn thing let alone see it. "" The preliminary development kit, code-named "Shreck," was a huge square metallic machine that ran with a 2.4GHz Cell chip and 256MB XDR memory. The machine got a face-lift during spring and was renamed to "Cytology," and it is currently about the size of a normal PC. Though it still runs at 2.4GHz, it comes with an upgraded memory size of 512MB. Kutaragi revealed that Sony plans to shrink the developer kit to the "rack mount" size of a server (around 19 inches wide) when the next, near-final version is released in December. Called the "PS3 Reference Tool," the kit will run at 3.2GHz, equal to the PS3's spec. Kutaragi commented that he also plans to offer a free-standing PS3 reference tool. "" http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/07/22/news_61296 11.html now if that company "not sony" that he worked on the demo for didnt look next gen to him or wasnt able to do some of the things he would have liked to have seen well then thats his fault as hes the one responsible for what populates the screen and how the camera is placed/what it the demo can do * playing from different angles etcetera*. plus he CANT speak for any of the other companies that made demos. this guy is a hack who wanted diss a machine not even out yet and even by his own words he worked with a VERY brutal early dev kit ie "shrek" . this guy is talking out his ass so bad he now has to be a brown nose-er so he doesnt get his ass sued by sony for talking out his ass so much. and again hes a DUMBASS only looking to piss off an old boss and get some crapy half ass notoriety and new job from sony competitors. not to mention the breaking of NDA of two employers! ..idiot!

They briefly had an exclusive deal with the NHLPA, but the NHL got in the way, saying they wanted competition. Link

> I know GameSpot posted a blurb about it in their rumor section

Is this what you're referring to?

"If [former Nintendo president and major stockholder] Yamauchi calls, I'll pick up the line immediately"

Kinda gives the phrase 'point-to-point tunneling protocol' a whole new meaning, doesn't it? ^_^

To be honest, I was wondering the exact same thing. I have no clue on the status of the game, but I have heard that it was morbidly easy compared to the other Dance Dance Revolution games.

GTA:LCS must have not sold as well as expected, considering Take Two's bringing it to the PS2 by May.

But even if Take Two crumbles into the ground, I doubt there's any stopping a next-gen GTA. Someone will get a hold of the franchise and the people who make it, whatever the cost.

Rats.

Hopefully "Supreme Commander" captures some of the magic. Though I think sometimes everything just lines up to make a standout game.

I will never forget multiplayer games of TA that I had, the total fear the first time a Big Bertha had my base under fire. Or the innocent days when you all suck and some brawlers could chew through the enemy. Great times using the corporate ISDN network for 2vs2 play. Ahh man, good times.

In case you haven't heard:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/supremecommand er/news.html?sid=6134783

You can get Devil Dice 2 for the ps2. Capcom bought the license from THQ and renamed it to Bombastic. It has 3 puzzle modes (standard (or bombastic), classic (or devil dice), and advanced (or jumbo)). Best of all it's retailing in the $11-$16 range. I got my copy from Amazon and it's probably the best $12 I've spent on a video game.

You can see gamespot's review http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/puzzle/bombastic/index .html?q=bombastic

Cheers.

Ok, this one doesn't match your 'no fees' criteria, but it really is an easy game to get into in short bouts, its great for puzzle solving and it runs in cycles, so it doesnt last forever... http://game1.atitd.com/main.html It's called A Tale In The Desert. From my experience with it, the game is pure community. There is no killing stuff to get ahead, there is no level grinding. Here's a link to a review. http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/taleinthedesert/rev iew.html Hope this helps.

Only benefits Rockstar?!?!

Rockstar has lost TONS of earnings because of this. Here it states that they've lost 28.8m due to the game being rated AO. Not only that, but Take2Game's CEO was rated the worst CEO of 2005 .

I personally am surprised this Hot Coffee issue is still being dragged out... mainly because the sex scene wasn't available by default... people had to *work* around the normal game to get to it. I think this Hot Coffee issue has been more an issue of politics -- they are just attacking an easy target to make themselfs look better.

Anyway, I don't think this is good news for Rockstar... but I hope they do win in court.

If gamers a mad at MS for x360 shortages in US, in japan the reality is very different. The few people that are bought X360 consoles did not buy anygames(0.91 games per console sold http://www.gamespot.com/news/6141161.html). One could imagine a ploy of the japanese to increase MS games renenue loss since each 360 sold hurts more than 100 bucks in MS pockets.

You're killing me here! You don't know how to use Google or Gamespot???

Lazy bugger. Here's the link:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/actofwardirect action/download.html?sid=6116389

It's 684MB.

I would agree that 30 Euros does sound high at this point. I looked at eBay UK and found quite a few copies for less than half that though, one as low as £7.99, supposedly unused. Might be worth a look.

eBay link for the lazy bugger:
http://search.ebay.co.uk//search/search.dll?from=R 40&satitle=act+of+war

Enjoy.. :)

Gamespot has a list as of the November 22nd. release date of the backward compatible titles. Considering how rushed the 360 was, it's not a bad list.

Gamespot does that. They provide an editorial rating and then let readers rate the game separately. The "objective guy" rating can differ significantly from the "people's review" average. Here's one game that got a mediocre review (5.0) for being "too self-referential" about the anime series on which it's based; not surprisingly, the People rated it significantly higher (7.6). Gamespot also provides links to other review sites, whose reviews average out to be between the two (6.6).

Now because this is Slashdot, I'm sure I need to be beaten with the cluestick because Gamespot is a corporation which obviously caters to its advertisers, but I'd rather swallow corporate publications than fanboy spin.

I'd recommend Majestic Chess, if you can still find a copy. It includes a story-driven 'chess adventure' that teaches the basics of chess by working through a series of challenges. My 5yo likes playing it with me quite a bit.

So long as you're involved in her learning experience, I don't think it matters too much whether your kid learns chess sitting across from you at a real chess board or in a chair next to you playing through the software.

way to quote Gamespot word-for-word -- have you even played the game? single player is fun yet short...the story is crap...multiplayer, however, is always nice does anyone have any original ideas anymore? i'm beginning to think i'm the only one. if its not gamers who just sqwak tripe thats been told tho them, its the parents, cops, politicians, etcetera blaming crap games for some guy killing some dude when he's 15 he's hated since he was 10

I dont understand all this fuss about swapping discs. Hasn't it worked before? Look at Resident Evil 4 for the Gamecube, it has two discs but that hasn't stopped it from an average score of 96% http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/535840.asp or receiving Game of the Year awards http://www.gamespot.com/pages/features/bestof2005/ index.php?day=6&page=1. I understand that some games wouldn't suit multidisc that well, for example "free-roaming" games like GTA or RPGs, but some games (FPSs) could do well with a single player disc and a multiplayer disc. Alternatively why not put the single and multiplayer components of the game on separate layers of the DVD? I admit I know very little about DVD manufacture and suchlike so could someone please enlighten me why multidisc/layer is so bad?

It appears that the 360 is getting pushed off the mind of the public and everything is turning into Nintendo Revolution and Sony PS3.

Can anyone give a plausible scenario where Microsoft can remain relevant to the next gen race?

I am looking at the release list of games for the 360 over the next year and it looks like all the same type of games that the first xbox had. There doesn't seem any reason for anyone to buy a 360 who didn't already buy the first xbox.

It appears that the 360 is getting pushed off the mind of the public and everything is turning into Nintendo Revolution and Sony PS3.

Can anyone give a plausible scenario where Microsoft can remain relevant to the next gen race?

I am looking at the release list of games for the 360 over the next year and it looks like all the same type of games that the first xbox had. There doesn't seem any reason for anyone to buy a 360 who didn't already buy the first xbox.

"There haven't been any Microsoft software glitches."

are you serious? well apparently you havent heard tales of PGR crashing. CoD crashing... and this gem:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?t opic_id=24198870

these are software problems. regardless of whether it is faulty firmware or faulty software from the developers. it is microsofts' duty to ensure that these sorts of things/problems never make it to retail. thats why they have a testing and certification program in place in the first place. instead MS is pushing a release and patch program.

when the majority of your consumers never connect to xbox live in the first place... and the rest of the other half dont have harddrives... patching should never be an option.

Hopefully it'll turn out better than the rather lackluster Star Trek: New Worlds RTS did.

Now, if they decide to make it space-based and use something like the Homeworld engine, they might actually have something!

Don't forget Goblin Commander. While you're correct in bringing up Herzog Zwei, Goblin Commander is the only RTS I can think of that was built specifically for current-gen systems, thus using a controller much closer to the 360's than the Genesis controller of Herzog Zwei. I'm thinking GC would give a closer idea of what to expect from this.