Thursday, 25 September 2008

New Xbox 360 menu system

The 360 is undergoing a makeover, coming this November.

Announced this Monday, the makeover will include a brand new menu interface, which contains Avatars, online store, and new Prime Time Community.

Check out the pictures below, more info will be posted here soon.


Wednesday, 24 September 2008

Crysis Warhead Has Stupid Graphics Settings


Did a memo go out saying that the accepted terminology for graphics settings in a PC game were no longer going to be used? We must have missed it. It must have been signed "EA marketing team", too, because no developer in their right mind (and we hope Crytek are in their right mind) would go changing "low", "medium" and "high" to "minimum", "mainstream" and "gamer". As for "enthusiast", Lord only knows where that's meant to go. An enthusiast of what? UFO conspiracies? North Korean military insignia? Cross-stitching?

Saturday, 20 September 2008

New Prince of Persia ready for Christmas


On September 18th, Ubisoft officially announced the release date of the upcoming game in the Prince of Persia series. The Xbox 360, PS3 and PC version of the game will all be released on December 2nd 2008.

This date also coincides with the release of Nintendo DS Prince of Persia game - the Fallen King - which is a distinct and separate game to that of the consoles'.

Tuesday, 16 September 2008

Saints Row 2 - PIRATES & NINJAS! - Co op demo trailer

This election season, its time to lay aside our petty differences, and band together as teams for the greater good of society:

  • Republicans & democrates
  • Rednecks & treehuggers
  • Cops & Robbers
  • Pirates & Ninjas

A must see game trailer for the new Saints Row 2:






Wednesday, 10 September 2008

Apple iPhone & iPod touch as games consoles

There has already been emulators made for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, but this has always been homebrew software, but now Apple have officially announced that the new models of the iPod touch and iPhone 3G are capable of being in direct competition with Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS.


Steve Jobbs announced that the iPod touch is "the best portable device for playing games" during the latest "Let's Rock" festival in San Fransisco. The new iPod is slimmer, has a speaker, and has external volume control buttons, wireless integration and a much longer battery life (36 hours constant music playback).

There are already over 700 games available to download (purchase) from the AppStore, and tripple that figure if you are taking into account homebrew games. Times the figure by ten if you want to take into account homebrew emulators!

Along with the release of the new iPod, there is speculation of a new iPhone 3G with 32GB storage capacity. With more memory, you have to agree that the iPhone and iPod would do justice to the portable gaming market.

Thursday, 4 September 2008

Xbox 360 has met its limit - price cut in half by Microsoft

Last week in the US, Microsoft made the Xbox 360 console the cheapest next-generation console on the market. The price was lowered to £112 ($199) for the basic arcade pack. Still $299 for the Core edition, and $399 for the Elite addition, but the move was made by Microsoft to allow everyone to own a next-generation console.

"We are thrilled to be the first next-generation console on the market to reach $199, a price that invites everyone to enjoy Xbox 360," said Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft in a statement.

"Xbox 360 delivers amazing performance at an extraordinary value with the leading online service and best lineup of games, downloadable movies and TV shows available from a console. The majority of consumers make the decision to buy consoles once the price falls to this mark, making this an important milestone for consumers and the industry."

But has the Xbox 360 met its limit?

Results from recent graphics tests by Epic have shown that the 360 is nearing its graphical limit! Senior Epic employee Rob Fergusson has stated that "Developers could soon hit the limit of Xbox 360's graphics capabilities".

"I think we're certainly approaching the upper end of it, as far as what developers are able to do with it," Fergusson told Gamasutra. In the near term, gamers are covered: "There will be games in development that won't ship until 2010, and I'm sure they'll look killer," he assured.

But 2010 releases leave two years before the Gears of War developer's own projections on the release of its next-generation graphics technology. Epic plans to deliver a console-focused Unreal Engine 4 in 2012. Crytek, the studio behind graphical powerhouses Far Cry and Crysis, also plans to deliver its next step forward in 2012.

Fergusson, for his part, is unsure of what's in store for the end of this console generation. "Just looking at all the demos we saw [at last week's Games Convention]--ours and others--it's clear that all the games just keep improving, and keep pushing that bar.