That's rather interesting. IGN hands on impressions said that Madden Wii was definitely the BEST game on the show floor as far as implementing the new control scheme. They said it was ackward at first, as it should be for anyone who has played games "the other way" for decades now, but that the second time through it is extremely enjoyable and refreshing. I guess we will all just have to play for ourselves.
That Oblivion add-on scheme worked so well for them that all three consoles might have that in place of a subscription. It's kind of insulting not getting a complete game and not letting fans mod them, but a free service isn't that bad a replacement.
The interesting thing about the 360 xbox live is that you can really see, especially with the marketplace that offers all sorts of downloadable media for free or for pay, the whole "trojan horse" concept taking shape, in other words the all in one entertainment box that MS/Sony hope their machines become. It was supposed to happen last gen but the hardware (despite the raw power of the Emotion Engine...) didn't let it happen.
Granted, there's no real confirmation, but if THIS doesn't get you hyped up for Wii... you may be legally braindead: Link E3: LucasArts Hints At Wii Lightsaber Game Interest During an extended technical demonstration for a new, unnamed Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 Star Wars title, LucasArts staff have confirmed to Gamasutra the company's intense interest in creating a Wii lightsaber game, if not yet its explicity existence. The X360/PS3 demonstration, named 'Force Powers Pre-Vis', featured a CGI trailer showing various Jedi defeating stormtroopers in a variety of imaginative and amusing ways. The second part of the demonstration was in real-time on the Xbox 360, and showed the console simulating a number of real-world materials such as wood, stone, crystal, ice, bone and the Star Wars metal "carbonite" using Pixelux Entertainment's Digital Molecular Matter (DMM) technology. The DMM system was being used in conjunction with NaturalMotion's euphoria technology in both the new Star Wars game and LucasArts's forthcoming new Indiana Jones game. At the end of the demonstration, Gamasutra inquired as to whether the company planned on creating a lightsaber game for the Wii, after many commented on he suitability of the system to the concept - especially after an internal speaker was revealed in the controller being used to demo the concept. This question produced a number of knowing smiles around the room from LucasArts employees, followed by the comments: "We know" and "We are looking into it", as possible concepts for the game were discussed. However, the firm has not yet made any official announcements regarding planned Wii titles.
With force feedback and a speaker...all you need is one of those cheesy extendable lightsaber cones and you're set.
xbox live is the best online service ever. they didn't revolutionize it but the evolved the online experince. sony can copycat all they want but microsoft makes the better online experience. it worth my 50 bucks/year
Just saw the trailer for ff13.... I hope their molding this to be an action rpg. Im sick of the traditional ff battle system.
Something interesting about the PS3 (via translation by "one" at B3D): Depending on how this works, this could add a lot of functionality to the PS3. Theoretically, it could work as a PVR (via MythTV?), it could play any type of media file (xvid, divx, etc., all those formats not supported right out of the box), connect a printer via USB, handle word processing and spreadsheets, play home-made games (MAME?), and basically any other thing you could do under Linux (including things already provided by the PS3, like web browsing, instant messaging, listening to MP3s, etc.). Well, that's the best case scenario anyway. I'm not sure why they aren't trying to push this more. $600 for a video game console is pretty ridiculous...but $600 for a PC isn't (although I'd still hold off on getting one). Hehe...I guess Sony and Nintendo are both trying to get non-gamers to buy their systems...just in different ways I guess.
I highly doubt that they would make it that easy because if you can use homebrewed apps on it, it will be even that much easier to mod and hack. They developers do not want that because then piracy will be out of control perhaps even worse than the original xbox. On the other hand they may do that hoping people will buy their product since it would be easier to hack. I would only imagine that the developers would go nuts about it though.
Plus, given the history of SONY's response to homebrew on the PSP I'd say it's a safe bet SONY isn't encouraging homebrew.
I'd be shocked. Microsoft has obviously made it much more difficult to mod the 360. From what I have read, there hasn't been much progress on coming out with a chip. I heard that TeamXecuter is coming out with a dongle for the 360 drive so that you can hook it up to a PC. You are supposed to be able to read the firmware on the drive but I do not know what this will do for you. If you can't run homebrews on it, what is the point.
I think IBM has mentioned something about the security with Cell being top-notch, so maybe they think they can afford to give these options. And with homebrew being supported, games being playable via the HDD, and with all games possibly being region-free, a lot of incentive to hack the system is gone (piracy remains of course). I guess it just depends on if the security implementation on the PS3 is any good. Plus, note that the PS2 already did much of the same via the Linux kit they offered (ran Firefox, Gaim, and a number of other things usually done on a PC). FWIW, the DVD drive was off-limits, as were some other things IIRC. I'm guessing the PS3 will do something similar, which might help prevent piracy. True, although they did support it with the PS2 Linux kit, not to mention the fact that they aren't leaving the PS3 (or parts of it) open to indie developers for nothing.
I also suspect that MS might (as rumors are starting to fly about it) drop the Core package to $249 to match the Wii, Drop the Premium package to $299-$349, and add in the HD package at $399-$499 to match or undercut Sony. Yeah, they'll lose their asses on the HD package, but they're already losing tons (as is Sony) on the consoles, and that would utterly rape Sony on pricing, not to mention allow consumers to get into the next-gen DVD format much cheaper with HD-DVD, than with BR... I don't get Sony's arrogance...
Sony is smarter than all of us here on CF.net, I think they know what they're doing. They've been doing it for a decade.
How is MS raping Sony in terms of pricing? A 360 w/hdvd = at least $499 while the base PS3 is $499. You cant compare the ps3 with the regular 360, you have to compare oranges with oranges. Seriously...whats the big deal about the price? People are happy to waste $300 for a ipod, when there are better and cheaper alternatives yet you don't hear people complaining about the price. If you can afford a $300 ipod, Im sure you can afford a $500 PS3.
