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and to quote IGN concerning GT4 Mobile: "Sony is, for all intents, planning on releasing an exact replica of the most advanced PS2 game ever developed on its portable system." - http://psp.ign.com/articles/513/513565p1.html

the PSP is definately no slouch in performance capability

As long as the PSP is mpeg compatible somehow with MP3 playback, this thing will have a thousand uses without any games.

You haven't heard? The PSP is only going to support ATRAC playback; if it 'supports' mp3s at all, it will be by transcoding them with it's authoritarian SonicStage software, and nothing more, like with their minidisc players.

Relevant Quote:

As far as codecs go, Harrison mentions the ATRAC audio support of the system, but the article goes on to say that MP3 will not be supported by the system -- this is in contrast to versions of the official specs that list MP3 as a supported codec. It was always known that PSP would push Sony's proprietary ATRAC3plus audio codec, for both security and corporate reasons, but it was assumed that ATRAC would mostly be the codec for UMD Audio and downloadable content releases, so it is unknown where this will fall out in the end (a third party MP3 player would be a given if Sony doesn't provide it, and users would have to convert their previously-encoded music files to the ATRAC format, so if this is the case, we're not sure what ends Sony plans to meet by omitting the feature.)

Given that, I kind of doubt they'll support letting anyone throw any old mpeg 2 file on it for playback. It's going to be a locked, proprietary system all the way.

According to this article the Cell chip will not be used in the PS3.

I can see there are a lot of websites stating that the Cell will be used in the PS3. Can anybody back that up with an official statement from Sony, or are those sites just stating that because there are a lot of web sites stating it?

They're not made anymore?

Nothing like Al Lowe and Sierra skipping Leisure Suit Larry version 4 (LSL4).

First, Sony have owned 18% of Square-Enix (which was Squaresoft at the time) since 2001, see this for details/proof on that.
That makes them the secone largest shareholder in the company, and as I see it, that is a large enough number to have a noticible impact on deciding which machines they develop their killer apps for.
And as to your Kameo-Rare-Microsoft comments, don't you think that I made it clear it would never be a realised dream?
I would hope that anyone reading Slashdot Games would know about that $M350 deal, there's certainly no need to remind me.

"Also, the not-a-Game-Boy DS will have wireless connectivity, so it's not as if they're abandoning the Internet altogether..."

I don't get that. Every time I read something about the DS, they're talking about its wi-fi capability and how people want to be able to link up their DSs to play and communicate with the people around them. Somehow though, that doesn't apply to their console.

Personally, I enjoy my single player games but there are definitely some that I think could benefit from online multi-player support. F-Zero and Double Dash come to mind instatntly. Yes, I've heard about the warp pipe project but I've also heard that Double Dash's broadband support pretty much blows.

IGN had this article about GC games that they thought would make good online games. Somebody at Nintendo needs to read it and wake up.

Of course then my question becomes, WHAT IS SILICON KNIGHTS UP TO?

Not much of anything, actually. They're still working on GEIST and Too Human, but otherwise, their partnership with Nintendo came to a close earlier this year.

so check one of the meta review sites. read some bad reviews, read some good reviews, spot the plugs[click ad to continue(tm)], and be well.

i'm still in the (game from movie == junk) camp myself but thats what rentals are for.

Christian games will have to do better than this to skyrocket:

Super 3D Noah's Ark
Other Wisdom Tree games

Yes, this is what we have to benefit from Christian gaming community. The Wolfenstein engine can be used for good!

Does a paintball FPS exist [...] ?

If not, maybe it should.

There are worse things than violent FPSs.

Much, much worse.

Does a paintball FPS exist [...] ?

If not, maybe it should.

There are worse things than violent FPSs.

Much, much worse.

Your probably not going to be finding a +1 magic pepsi anytime soon.

Yep, that's it. From IGN:

The controllers are unique "Tetromino" designs, complete with twisting action to rotate the pieces in the direction that the user indicates.

According to the IGN review, "slowdown and flicker from the original cart versions have been almost entirely eliminated (it's still in there, but it's only noticeable a few times per game)". IGN didn't do separate reviews for the GC and PS2 versions, and the person that reviewed it is one of their PS2 people.

Fuck you. You Sonice fanboys are all so blindly devoted to your Japanese men in the game industry that you are totally oblivious to the embodiment of sweaty, rough prison sex -- Reggie Fils-Aime.

He's Reggie. He'll kick your ass. And then he'll take your name. He eats babies for breakfast. How sexy is that?

DS Has wifi, not the BT.

DS Has wifi, not the BT.

The name of the game was Ore no Ryouri, sometimes called Ore no Ryori, an alternative spelling. I never played the full version, only the one that came with one of the Playstation Underground disks. You're right, it was a great game, and I would love to get my hands on a full version. Lots of info is available with a little googling.

There was actually a very good food simulator for the PS1 that involved chopping carrots, stirring noodles, and juggling tasks and customers around (a pot boils whether you watch it or not, but you need to strain the noodles before they get mushy). It came on one of the Playstation Underground disks, and was called Ore no Ryouri, one of the most fun games I've played in a long time. Definitely worth a try, if you can find it.

Even before the Xbox arrived to market, it was obvious that the existence of the platform itself is artificial. I said it many times and I'll say it again: It would've been the greatest generation ever if Nintendo and Sony gave us (the gamers) $100+ just for buying a piece of hardware. By now the Gamecube would be free of charge, the PS2 around $50 and the Xbox still $150 a piece.

Microsoft's business model for this console is possible only because of their deep pockets. It's not that releasing the next-generation hardware early will backfire, it's the fact that _this_ generation's business model has already backfired.

I live in Mexico and you'd be truly amazed on the uses people give to their Xboxes; emulators, media players, ripped games, here the machine is regarded as a pirate's paradise. Obviously, it hurts Microsoft's revenue and it's only natural they need to replace the platform as soon as possible. By the way, this is not really news, it was all the buzz at the last E3, as even Nintendo mentioned it in the pre-show conference.

The problem is, Sony and Nintendo are always thinking on extending the life-cycle of their products, like this and this, while Microsoft is now desperately planning to kill it. Clearly, the future of the console is not written in stone, because Microsoft could continue losing more than $1B per year and still be around by the year 2100. But it's now clear the Xbox is already dead come 2005, and developers are already starting to focus on the next console. This is also hurting the business this very year.

Look at what happened to True Fantasy Live Online, a great MMORPG I was really excited about, and it got cancelled because I'm pretty sure they'll move it to Xbox2/Next. In fact, I'm also willing to bet this is another indication that the next generation console will not be backwards compatible. They need to stop hackers, they need to bring prices down and they need good games for launch.

All that said, I was never happy to see the Xbox's artificial presence in the industry. However, I applaud Microsoft's clean room approach. If it's not heavily subsidized, heck, if it's a product that could live without someone pouring wads of cash on it, then I'll be in line to get mine and regard it as the real console the Xbox never was.

Even before the Xbox arrived to market, it was obvious that the existence of the platform itself is artificial. I said it many times and I'll say it again: It would've been the greatest generation ever if Nintendo and Sony gave us (the gamers) $100+ just for buying a piece of hardware. By now the Gamecube would be free of charge, the PS2 around $50 and the Xbox still $150 a piece.

Microsoft's business model for this console is possible only because of their deep pockets. It's not that releasing the next-generation hardware early will backfire, it's the fact that _this_ generation's business model has already backfired.

I live in Mexico and you'd be truly amazed on the uses people give to their Xboxes; emulators, media players, ripped games, here the machine is regarded as a pirate's paradise. Obviously, it hurts Microsoft's revenue and it's only natural they need to replace the platform as soon as possible. By the way, this is not really news, it was all the buzz at the last E3, as even Nintendo mentioned it in the pre-show conference.

The problem is, Sony and Nintendo are always thinking on extending the life-cycle of their products, like this and this, while Microsoft is now desperately planning to kill it. Clearly, the future of the console is not written in stone, because Microsoft could continue losing more than $1B per year and still be around by the year 2100. But it's now clear the Xbox is already dead come 2005, and developers are already starting to focus on the next console. This is also hurting the business this very year.

Look at what happened to True Fantasy Live Online, a great MMORPG I was really excited about, and it got cancelled because I'm pretty sure they'll move it to Xbox2/Next. In fact, I'm also willing to bet this is another indication that the next generation console will not be backwards compatible. They need to stop hackers, they need to bring prices down and they need good games for launch.

All that said, I was never happy to see the Xbox's artificial presence in the industry. However, I applaud Microsoft's clean room approach. If it's not heavily subsidized, heck, if it's a product that could live without someone pouring wads of cash on it, then I'll be in line to get mine and regard it as the real console the Xbox never was.

"I just don't understand why they don't focus more (read: release) the PS3 instead of this intermediate step with the PSX."

Sony can be as focused as they want on the hardware, but it's nothing without games. The difference in development cycles for PS2 games vs PS games was pretty dramatic and the first generation games always have it the hardest. Some houses started development last year and 'might' be ready for the 2005 release.

I will happily wait for the system with games worth playin. In the mean time, I'm trying not to buy the DirecTV TiVo HD-DVR. As long as I don't see on in the store I shoud be okay.

IGN is offering a free subscription to EGM when you subscribe to their Insider member service thing. So, uh, yeah, why would anyone subscribe to EGM instead of IGN?

Well, just ignorance I guess. Or lack of internet access.

Not all people, but Americans for sure. For the pokemon fans out there, this product, is free in Japan. Stateside its $20. I'm not trying to convince you of anything, because your last post demonstrated that you are willing to defend Nintendo through anything, but merely suggesting you look around. (Ironically, they call it a "bargain price". Its not a bargain when you compare it to free.)

Early adopters always get the shaft period

No, early adopters always pay more, but they do not always get the shaft. The technology existed to make the MC 1019 for launch. We have had the capacity to test with them for a very long time now. Nintendo just decided not to make them available forcing you to purchase multiple MC's. Of all the hardware makers, only Nintendo made this decision. THAT is getting the shaft.

I see no incentive to subscribe to something that's being converted from print to digital media. I'd rather subscribe to a website, like IGN. Say what you will about their reviews, but they always have up-to-date news, plenty of pictures and video of the newest games, and there's some actual original content lurking in their Insider section. Plus, for $5.95 a month, it's exactly the same price as that month's EGM or what have you.

Now on the other hand, print trumps digital in a couple areas. For example, coverage from E3. Sure, all the websites have their coverage up as it's happening, but there's soooo much content! I like to buy the EGM or other mag after E3 and be able to leaf through it. When I find something that looks interesting, I can find further details on the web.

Also, it's frustrating when you find a nice site that has infrequent updates. There is a 'zine called Polygon, and while they may not have the most current reviews and previews, their layout and writing style is 'A' material.

Ziff-Davis has the right idea with their website, 1UP. If you check a review for a game, they'll give you the 1Up review, the EGM Review Crew ratings, and possibly the review from Official PS2 or Xbox magazine.

I like gaming sites but print still has intangibles that cannot be replicated on the computer.

It isn't just the price that Bonnell says Sony needs to start providing information about, however. "What about the breakable aspects of it?" he asked. "If it breaks, can you bring it back and get another one for free? What about the movie strategy? The Wireless strategy? The MP3 downloading? We don't know. What about the connectivity issues? We don't know. What about the video output? We don't know."

> Did anyone else originally read the subject as the iRiver PIMP-120?

Yep, I just took a gander at the slut on the screen and then my eyes immediately jumped to the PIMP label underneath.

iPod vs. iRiver PMP-120
Here's an older article (May25) about the iRiver and here's their accompanying picture. I wonder what that is around her neck?

iPod vs. iRiver PMP-120
Here's an older article (May25) about the iRiver and here's their accompanying picture. I wonder what that is around her neck?

I don't know. the half life 2 faces didn't look too creepy to me. they looked great.
Perhaps the creepiness is in part to blame for the designers lack of education in the field of human facial expression and such.
I argue that even if skin textures are just a bit off in games, and even if there are little whirring noises in androids, humans will have no trouble relating so long as the entity smiles correctly.
I understand that the article states that its the very subtle, basically tiny "offs" that are the creepiness factor, but I think it is the wax museum effect.
Those wax replicas in a museum look very realistic. but thier facial expressions are horrid! they smile, but do NOT look lifelike
In half life 2, at least from the trailer, the characters didn't seem to bother me at all.
I believe this is the result of the development team wisely bringing in an expert on such matters, rather than trying to tackle this subtle bit of human interaction on thier own.
The facial expressions in Half-Life 2 are all based on the work of Dr. Paul Eckman's work at the University of California on the taxonomy of facial expressions, and it is amazing just how much emotion the models can express with 40 animated facial muscles, ranging from noticeable sadness to anger to giddiness.
How many programmers and/or electronic engineers are considered experts at social interaction?

psst have you seen screenshots of farcry on xbox? here...

These are the ads that will randomly make you view an advertisement whenever you click on a link. You get a full-page ad and have to click a link to get to the page you originally requested.
IGN.com is notorious for using it.

One must not forget Silpheed for the SegaCD and it's sequal,Silpheed: The Lost Planet Although treasure only played a minor role in developing it Silpheed: The Lost Planet is a rather good PS2 shooter.

Prince of Persia: SOT sold pretty poorly overall, but because of the tremendous buzz surrounding it the Prince of Persia line is suddenly revitalized.

Please, please, please can everyone stop spreading this nonsense. While it is true that PoP sold pretty poorly upon release, strong word of mouth and reviews really built up its sales (especially post-Christmas). It ended up selling over 2.4 million copies as of April. Considering the rest of the series (including the numerous ports!) has sold a total of only around 3 million copies in the last decade or so, the newest Prince of Persia is actually quite a smash hit.

(Amazing how survivable an old meme is.)

And THAT will be the problem with these video players.

Whaddya mean "will be"? These things exist now. No need for speculation! Let's check out the reviews and see how many hours of battery life these video players actually have (when playing video, that is):

RCA Lyra RD2780: 4 hours max
Archos AV320: about 3 hours
Archos AV340: 3.5 hours

So no, you won't get your 5 hours from any f the current players.

I think the real problem here is that the manufacturers are trying to make these players too similar to audio-only players (e.g. the iPod). They're trying to use the same wimpy 800-1000mAh custom battery packs that most mp3 jukeboxes use. This makes sense from a business standpoint -- you only have to make one battery for your various jukebox products, and you get to sell those custom replacement batteries for $50. But from a practical standpoint, this just won't do.

The solution: video players are bound to be larger than mp3 players anyway, if only because of the screen size, and they're all an inch or more thick. It's time to start making these things use standard batteries, just like digital cameras. They'll fit, and the capacity of regular batteries is plenty high. I've seen AA batteries advertised with as much as 2300mAh of capacity. One of those would do the trick for sure, and two would rock! Even two AAA batteries with a 800mAh capacity each would be an improvement.

"Computer games in 2034 are likely to offer simulated worlds and interactive storytelling that's more engaging than linear presentations such as those in most movies today "

Even some of today's primitive games have most movies beat... (watching Hollywood eat it's young at a prodigious rate, I sometimes think "Tetris" is more complex, multifaceted and emotional storytelling.)

Pulse Racer isn't even worthy to be in the bargain bin!
Toss it into a flea market tub alongside games such as Extreme Paintbrawl and Superman 64 :-)

Pulse Racer isn't even worthy to be in the bargain bin!
Toss it into a flea market tub alongside games such as Extreme Paintbrawl and Superman 64 :-)

Sorry, I agree that the X-Box is a nice machine and all, and I agree with your advantages of Xbox over PS2 (although I'm not a graphics whore - when Gamecube's Simpsons Hit and Run version has 42,000 polygons and Xbox has 51,000 or whatever, I really dont care), but Gamecube is #2 in terms of sales.

Like these?

The article points to some chihiro specs and here are some X-Box specs.

Just from looking at these specs, we can note that the hardware is extremely similiar in both, while the only significant difference being that Chihiro uses Sega's proprietary GD-ROM as a data strorage/access medium, and X-Box uses a DVD medium.

From the interview:
Technically, it hasn't been an entirely painless process, however, with the Chihiro board's higher specification understandably causing a few headaches when it came to squeezing the game into the constraints of a console.

I just don't get it... how are there higher specfications if the memory is the same, the bandwidth is identical, and the video gpu used is the same as well? Something fishy about this... but who am I to judge, I wish they would elaborate more on the apparant struggles of porting from Chihiro to X-Box in the future, so there isn't any confusion :-)

Or a Star Trek Spacefighter

Funny you should mention that....

And yes, it's horrible.

Surprise at Dino Peak

I would think they would have a big problem with the panty brigade. I am surprised that it was not on their Hall of Shame. Are they OK with it or just didn't see it.

People just aren't taking any risk on new intellectual property (IP).

Could it be at least in part because they're afraid of subconsciously infringing somebody else's copyright? George Harrison got bit in the butt.

And so what Disney did was it didn't make R-rated moves.

Bullshit. Look at the Kill Bill movies, produced and published by Miramax Films, a division of The Walt Disney Company.

Or do you mean only the Walt Disney Pictures division? After The Lion King, the mean quality of WDP's in-house productions has gone downhill fast; at least Treasure Planet, Brother Bear and Home on the Range have bombed at the box office, and so did The Alamo. You may counter with Finding Nemo, but Pixar has announced it will dump Disney after the two more movies in its contract.

So what does WDP do? Sequels. Apart from Pixar, WDP is making money off Winnie-the-Pooh sequels (The Tigger Movie, Piglet's Big Movie, Springtime with Roo, etc) because it managed to buy enough senators to get Pooh's copyright (and thus Disney's life-of-the-copyright exclusive license) extended twice. See also this partial list; one reading that list could almost imagine the sequels popping up like the cliche badgers.

the most innovative game I saw was Destroy All Humans, which is destined for failure. But it is a very clever to twist everything so that you're actually an alien shooting people. It'll never sell, because it's over-the-top violent.

Gee. Tee. Eh?

Rome: Total War could be the only game coming out this year, and I wouldn't care. This game alone would be enough.

Medieval: Total War was a fantastic game which came as a complete surprise when I first played it on my roommate's computer. I almost immediately went out and bought it, and I still find myself going back to play "for a turn or two" and find myself plugging away 5 or 6 hours later. But as fantastic as Medieval is, Rome appears to trump it in every way imaginable.

First, Check out the trailers.

Wait, one more.

Okay, seen all that? Those are around a year old. Here is E3 2004 footage. (Apologies, WMP appears to be the free version of the videos. You have to register to see the Gamespot vids, but I suggest checking THOSE out...there is a much longer, better trailer that doesn't appear to be at IGN or gametrailers.com) The horses no longer move in unison, can jump over fallen bodies, people can get thrown when hit from a charge, everything looks even more fluid, I could go on for hours.

And this is just the real-time battle portion of the game, to say nothing of the turn-based portion.

Half-life 2, Doom 3....those two very touted PC games? I could care less at this point. Give me more Total War.

It's great, they call it a "hot-swap" game loading slot... like it's a feature that we're lucky to have.

http://ngage.ign.com/articles/506/506283p1.html

I think its worth pointing out that the mouse and keyboard combo looks like an interestingly designed piece of technology. Its shaped so that the entire thing can sit on your lap comfortably. The keyboard appears to be adjustible and the thing itself acts as the mouse mat. I would be slightly concerned that the mouse mat area is too close to the keyboard so perhaps that limits its use. IGN has a CGI mockup of it here and a real once can be seen in the BBC article linked too in the story.

Hardware aside I haven't actually seen any reports of software that runs on the thing. Did anyone who attend E3 get the chance to playtest one? As far as I can tell it was only the box on display and it may of only had a basic running demo.

The last thing I want to mention is about their distribution model. They claim they want to make software downloadable via broadband internet connections. Thats all fair and well but does anyone out there remember The Sega Channel? Long story short it was a cable channel that allowed you to download Genesis games directly onto your console. I don't believe it faired to well but given the popularity of XBox live and PS2 Online it shows that there is more of a likely uptake.

BTW, anyone interested in the Sega channel should have a look here and here.

-- Enditallnow

Unity and Odama, two games I'll definitely buy. I like companies who try to do something different, instead of just rehashing what's been done hundreds of times before.

Time to go play some PGR2 on XboxLive. God I love that game ...