Battlefield 1943 PS3 Review

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Battlefield 1943 is becoming one of the most downloaded games for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. If you have been a fan of the PC version of the last couple of Battlefield series games, don’t expect Battlefield 1943 to be the same game.

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PSP Go Pictures Leaked Before E3

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The PSP-3000 now has a new cousin, the PSP Go. New pictures of the PSP Go have surfaced before its debut at E3 2009.

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Possible $99 PS3 Price Drop March 22nd

PS3 Side View2old2play.com has come to find a possible price drop on the Playstation 3 coming this March.  One of the 2old2play community members learned of the price drop during a visit to an EB Games store.  According to an EB Games employee, the store is preparing for a $99 price drop on March 22nd, and that Sony plans on informing the press the day before.

The price drop is on the 80GB version, bringing the price down to $299.  This rumor of a price drop comes about after third party publishers urge Sony to drop the price on the console to be more inline with the Wii and Xbox 360.

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Playstation 3 Meant To Be Hard To Program Games

PS3 Side ViewIn an interview with Playstation Magazine, SCEI head Kazuo Hirai, explained that the Playstation 3 was intentionally designed to be troublesome for developers to design games for.

Hirai stated, “We don’t provide the ‘easy to program for’ console that [developers] want, because ‘easy to program for’ means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so then the question is what do you do for the rest of the nine-and-a-half years?”

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Can New PS3 Colors Boost Sales?

ps3_blue.jpgAs many of you gamers know, Sony’s Playstation 3 has trailed in the “Big Three” console war for quite some time now.  The Nintendo Wii continues to dominate in sales, while Microsoft’s Xbox 360 continues to outsell the PS3.  The most obvious reason as to why the PS3 still continues to be the lowest selling console of the three is its price.  The Wii is currently selling at $249.99 USD, the Xbox 360 Pro sells for $299.99 USD, and the PS3 continues to sell at $399.99 USD.  It is no wonder that the PS3 trails the pack in sales, it costs more in addition to a smaller selection of games.

The reason the PS3 still sells for such a high price is because it costs so much to manufacture the console.  Sony still hasn’t made any money on PS3 sales due to its high manufacturing costs.  Recent upgrades to the hardware will ease the manufacturing costs, but the PS3 will still sell at its current price for quite some time.  Of course, many people believe the PS3 is a bargain because it has Blu-ray functionality while at the same time being a gaming console.  But, with the falling prices of Blu-ray players, the bargain isn’t so great anymore.

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Sony’s Home Team Discusses The Recent Public Release

pshome_logoEd Fear from developmag.com recently sat down with the developers of Sony’s virtual world, Home, to discuss the public Beta release.  Off the bat, the lead programmer, Mitch Goodwin, expressed how Home has been a work in progress that originally was a PS2 project that stalled due to a lack of online users, and eventually became a dedicated PS3 project.  Goodwin said the project has been a very slow process, so slow that legacy code reveals weapon pickups from when the project had a different direction, something that would definitely make Home a little more exciting.  Imagine running around with weapons and taking out the fools that run circles around you and dance in your face.

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Playstation Home Open Beta Impressions

Playstation Home was recently released to the public as a beta version, known as 1.03.  The initial launch has been a bit rough due to server errors when trying to login to the Home client, which has most likely led to a lot of furious gamers out there.  But, for those that have been patient, the Home experience may be a bit entertaining.  When I was finally able to login, I created a avatar to the best of my abilities.  The facial customization is fairly complex, but the choice of clothing is a bit lacking.  Of course, this is because Sony is expecting to make a profit on microtransactions to include clothing, furniture, etc.

As expected, the initial release wasn’t as smooth.  I experienced many server error connections, and it still takes a few tries to login.  Once you login you are presented with a character customization, where you decide what you will look like in the Home virtual world.   If you have ever played the latest Sims game, it is a lot like the customization presented in the Sims.  Although it is fairly complex, I felt like I couldn’t quite get my Home character looking like I wanted to, but it is still detailed. Read more…

Playstation Home Goes Live Today To The General Public

It has been quite some time since Playstation Home was announced.  And now Sony has finally decided to release PS Home as an open Beta, version 1.03.

The PS Home servers are expected to be down until Sony decides to flip the switch, allowing the general public to download PS Home.  The release is expected sometime in the “early PM” GMT.

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Fallout 3 Impressions

I’m a newcomer to the Fallout franchise, and decided to pick up Fallout 3 for the Playstation 3.  After watching some videos on IGN, it looked like a game that would last a while and be fun to play.  I used to play Oblivion on the PC, which is created by Bethesda Software, the same company behind Fallout 3.  So I expected Fallout 3 to have some similar game play.

I have played Fallout 3 for about a days worth of game play, probably around 4 or 5 hours.  I called in sick for work just to pick it up and play, a reminiscence to the days I was in college and would skip classes for several days to play a new game.  I have yet to experience much game play, even after playing for so long, so this is just a first impression of the game.

The rest contains spoilers…

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LittleBigPlanet Recalled For Quran References

Sony has decided to recall LittleBigPlanet for containing two phrases in the background music that also appear in the Qur’an.  This is a massive undertaking that is worldwide.  Every copy needs to be replaced.

“During the review process prior to the release of LittleBigPlanet, it has been brought to our attention that one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Qur’an,” Sony said

As a result, the release of LittleBigPlanet will be delayed.  It’s original release date was slated for October 24th.