Eric Lempel is back with part two demonstrating the new features coming soon, July 2nd, to PSN.  This time he will show us the new Trophy system and explain it will work.

List of games that support Trophies:

• BUZZ! Quiz TV
• LittleBigPlanet
• MotorStorm Pacific Rift
• NBA 09
• PAIN**
• PixelJunk Eden
• Resistance 2
• SOCOM: Confrontation
• Super Stardust HD**
• Warhawk**
• Bioshock
• Novastrike

** Requires game update to install Trophies. (And requires you to play again to unlock them.)

Joystiq reports that a “trusted source” relayed information on a new detailed “avatar” customization that Microsoft is readying - they look very much like a cross between the already existing Nintendo Mii and PlayStation Home custom avatars.

Here is the text from the above image which was submitted by X3F reader who took an independent survey by Intellisponse for Microsoft-

“Avatars” are digital personas available this holiday for all Xbox LIVE connected members and this spring for all new console owners.  ”Avatars” will be used in place of the gamer picture you have today and give you a much more lifelike, animated, and fully customizable persona for you to reflect who you are online.

In case you missed something from the supposed Intellisponse survey leak (via NeoGAF), here’s what was scavenged.

• ‘Avatars’ to be Microsoft’s answer to Miis and Home
• First video of Silicon Knight’s Crucible: The Evil Within
• Forza 3 to require 2 DVDs, ‘over 400 cars and 100 tracks’
• Guitar Hero 4 priced, new touch-sensitive guitar
• ‘Lips’ is Xbox 360 karaoke with wireless mics, store, DIY tracks
• Powers & Titans - multiplayer superhero game for 360, PS3, PC
• Spider-Man vs. Marvel Zombies creeping to Wii, 360, PS3
• Tony Hawk to get board peripheral on 360, PS3; new Spider-Man to use Wii Fit board
• Ultimate Band coming to 360, PS3, works with Rock Band instruments; new trailer for Wii
• Xbox Live getting massively competitive social games - Jeopardy, Millionaire, etc.

We should expect an official announcement from Microsoft at E3 which begins in one month, July 15th- July 17th at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

[source]

Grand Theft Auto IV isn’t the only game to look forward to from Rockstar Games, this coming September (9/9/2008) they present us Midnight Club: Los Angeles which brings the series to the West Coast’s largest city.

Utilizing the impressive RAGE engine, MC:LA will feature customization of the interior and exterior of the extremely detailed cars and motorcycles. After a race you’ll have the opportunity to use a new “quick fix” option that will restore your car driving ability but not it’s looks, so actually totaling the vehicle at all is not possible anymore. In order to repair your car’s exterior back to pristine condition you will have to drive to a repair shop to get the work done.

Also for the first time you can drive around the city with day-to-night cycle that will include dynamic weather effects, and traffic that changes throughout the day based on real traffic patterns.  It is also interesting to note that the Los Angeles map used in the game won’t be exactly as it is in real life but similar enough that if you’re familiar with the city’s layout should be able to navigate without much difficulty, the changes made are mostly tweaks made to enhance your enjoyment as you speed through the city faster than the actual streets were intended to driven while providing an extremely realistic representation of Los Angeles that is as close to the real thing as Rockstar San Diego could make it.

Developers also placed a great emphasis on eliminating load screens, stating that the player can literally jump from career mode to an arcade race in under ten seconds.

Rockstar recently released these MC:LA screenshots for you to check out, continue reading and watch the trailer.

Read the rest of this page »

Xbox 360 Fanboy posted this preview to the upcoming April 15th Halo 3 DLC ‘Legendary Map Pack’. Expected to cost 800 MS Points ($10US) this content will add 3 new multiplayer maps:

• Avalanche: A reimagingation of Halo: Combat Evolved fan favorite, “Sidewinder”, “Avalanche’s” size makes it ideal for big ol’ games of Halo 3. “Avalanche” is a Forerunner power station set on a glacial shelf on an under-construction replacement for Installation 04.

*Best Gametypes: Multi-Flag CTF, One Flag CTF, One Bomb, Team King, Team Slayer

• Ghost Town: A medium-sized map designed for one-sided games ideal player counts range from 4 to 10 players. Ghost Town is the battle-scarred remnant of a war-ravaged hydroelectric plant in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

*Best Gametypes: Team Slayer, One Flag CTF, Multi-Flag CTF, One Bomb

• Blackout: It’s not a reimagination, it’s a remake of one of Halo 2’s most beloved maps. “Blackout” very nearly speaks the same language that its predecessor, “Lockout”, spoke to Halo 2 players. Its long lines of sight and interconnected platforms preserved, but in a new location: a frigid UNSC research station beneath the low lights of the aurora borealis.

*Best Gametypes: Team Slayer, One Flag CTF, One Bomb

The Rumor Reporter posted this letter from a “informed source” regarding the recent delay Take 2 made with Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV.

Here’s the real scoop as to why GTAIV was “delayed”. It was never going to be released this year to begin with. Take 2 is in big financial trouble, and has been for quite some time. Isn’t it obvious this was the case? Come on, man. If either version of the game were actually causing Rockstar that much difficulty, that version of the game would have been delayed so that at least one version could have been released during the holiday season. Citing “difficulties during development” and not elaborating during a shareholder’s conference is the most obvious and painfully transparent deception of all. Take 2 told their shareholders that they’d have GTAIV out in 2007 so that they’d get more money from said shareholders. No investor wants to hear that the big money-maker is coming out in 2008 – especially when it’s obvious that the company is in financial trouble in 2007. The plan was always to release the game in 2008, not 2007. In fact, I would not be surprised if the game actually ships next fall.

If there are any developmental problems, they would stem from the Xbox 360 version of the game. The PS3 version of Grand Theft Auto IV has been in development longer than the 360 version has been, despite Rockstar showing off the “360” version every chance they get to show off the game. GTA IV’s technological “problems” on 360 stem from a couple of things. Unlike last generation where the PS2 did not have a standard hard drive, Rockstar is utilizing hard drive-caching and disc streaming for GTAIV. Assuming that they can actually fit all the content onto a DVD, the disc-streaming isn’t a problem for 360 – it’s the lack of a hard drive being standard. Microsoft is quite adamant about a game like GTAIV being able to be played by every single 360 owner. It gives them a marketing bulletin point to note that next-gen GTA can be played on a system that retails for $279.

But again, it’s extremely unlikely that the “developmental challenges” are a legit excuse, anyway. It’s a case of over-ambition and not enough time to deliver that game that resulted in a premature release date. A premature release date to help take a bit of the pressure off of Take 2 to perform, financially.

[source]

Grand Theft Auto IV has been officially delayed until 2nd Quarter 2008 for both the Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3 consoles.

“Certain elements of development proved to be more time-intensive than expected, especially given the commitment for a simultaneous release on two very different platforms,” said Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick in a statement.

Here is the official statement given to shareholders:

NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) today announced revised revenue and earnings guidance for fiscal 2007.

Take-Two is reducing its fiscal 2007 guidance primarily to reflect the movement of the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 to fiscal 2008, due to additional development time required to complete the title. The title is now planned for release in the Company’s second quarter of fiscal 2008. Additionally, Take-Two is updating third quarter and fiscal year 2007 guidance to reflect the movement of Manhunt 2 for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system and the Wii™ out of the third quarter and the fiscal year.

[source]

This game looks awesome, this is from joystiq:

Fracture is the new collaboration between publisher, LucasArts, and developer Day 1 Studios. To be released in mid-2008 for the PS3 and 360, the third-person shooter will rely on destructible environments as a key component of the gameplay. We’ve heard that promise before, but like a bass noticing a Shad Rap, the game’s potential is high enough for us to follow this lure to the boat.

It’s the year 2161, and the United States has been divided by its flooded Mississippi River. The East is full of cybernetically enhanced humans, while the West is populated with powerful mutants aided by genetic engineering. The freaks can’t get along, and this premise — which hopefully plays out better than it sounds — incites a world war based in America. (We look forward to the “K” broadcasters finally settling their feud with the “W” stations.

Gallery: Fracture

(Aside: Some of the marketing materials explain why the game’s future scenario is topical, such as tying current environmental issues to Fracture’s decimated landscape. Our favorite connection mirrors current stem-cell debate and research to the mutated lives of the western people.)

Fracture claims to rely on destructible — and constructible — environments. In addition to other explosive moves, players will blast holes under walls and create windstorms of boulders and debris. But players will also use certain weapons to shape the ground; LucasArts says that one example is to blast the earth upward in order to reach a higher area.

Red Faction, Black, and other titles haven’t fulfilled our expectations for destructible shooters. (Imagine that, games that don’t meet their hype.) But with Battlefield: Bad Company, Army of Two, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and others, we’re glad that developers keep trying. We’ll take a closer look at Fracture and report back on our initial impressions of its destructible gameplay.

[source]

from the official Gears of War website:

Gears of War™ Gears Up With A New Game Type

What’s old and new and red all over? That would be Gears of War, once a new multiplayer game type is released by way of a download from Xbox LIVE® on April 9. Read on to get the specs on the new way to enjoy a game you already love, and then hop online to experience multiplayer all over again!

Annex

Objective: Capture and hold key locations to collect enough points to win the round.

Description: In Annex, you win by keeping control over key map locations, or objectives, long enough to collect a winning number of points. Every map has two to five identified objectives available for capture, with one objective active at a time. Objectives are based on map weapon-spawn locations and have a potential value of 60 points toward either team’s score. Teams collect those points by maintaining ownership of an objective until all its 60 points have been distributed. Every second that a team controls an objective, the team gets one point. When an objective falls to zero points, the next objective is selected at random.

On the HUD, the current objective appears below the team scores at top left. This indicator contains several pieces of relevant information. The weapon icon inside the circle indicates which weapon-spawn location is being used as the objective. The compass along the outer edge of the circle shows the relative direction to the objective. The number inside the circle indicates how many points remain at that objective and the background icon color indicates which team currently controls it. No color means the objective awaits capture, a red icon means the Locust Horde hold the objective and a blue icon means the COG hold it. When the icon in the indicator circle fills, the corresponding team’s score also changes color, the team begins collecting points from the objective, and the point value of the objective drops.

On the map, a projected ring marks the physical location and boundaries of the objective in the world. The ring’s color indicates the current captor: White means neutral, blue COG, and red Locust. To capture an objective, players must stand inside the glowing ring uncontested for a short period of time. How long depends on how many teammates stand in the ring at once. One player can capture an objective in eight seconds, two players in four seconds, three players in two seconds, and four players in one second. Once a team takes an objective, they are not required to remain inside the ring to maintain ownership. The captured objective’s points drain until an opposing team member enters the ring, or until its points fall to zero.

Round scores can be set as low as 120 points or as high as 480 points. The first team to reach the target score wins the round.

Respawns: Infinite, wave-based every 15 seconds.

Options:

• Selected Map: Which map or series of maps to use.
• Number of Rounds: Number of rounds required to win the match.
• Bleed-out Duration: Amount of time before a player dies while DBNO.
• Round Score: Number of points required to win a round.
• Friendly Fire: In a player match, whether teammates can damage each other.
• Private Slots: In a player match, number of player slots reserved for friend invites.
• Weapons Swapped: In a player match, whether the person who sets up the match can determine whether weapons that appear in the maps are replaced or removed.

Updates:

• Annex became available as a Gears of War multiplayer game mode in the April 9 update.

[source]

…But surely not enough. Minutes after it was released the new GTA IV trailer became an instant video hit. Every gamer out there is watching it over and over again, searching for clues and details that may reveal any details about the gameplay or the storyline of GTA IV.

As you can see from the trailer, Rockstar is taking us to Liberty City (a fictional city based on New York city). There are several references to Liberty City on buildings and objects, as well as several distinct features that make the city a replica of New York, including the Statute of Liberty, Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge. Also from the cars that might be seen during the trailer it seems the action will be set in the modern day.

The day-night cycle has also undergone a major enhancement in this next-gen rendition, with shadows and rays of light moving along with the sun. The cars and pedestrians have a decent amount of detail, and if all the footage shown is in-game stuff.

An Rockstar official confirmed for Gamespot that GTA IV will use RAGE engine. “We would like to let the trailer speak for itself,” he said. “However, we can confirm that all footage in the trailer ‘Things Will Be Different’ was captured directly from 720p gameplay running real time in our RAGE engine on a next-gen gaming console.” Rockstar has used the RAGE or Rockstar Advanced Game Engine for their Table Tennis for the Xbox 360. Still, the end result may not be so detailed in Grand Theft Auto IV, due to the game’s “slightly” more numerous population that’s to be expected. But even with less smooth characters, it should still be a great leap forward from the last generation of GTA titles (GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas). And judging by the trailer, Rockstar did its homework.

What about the storyline? Beside the trailer, Rockstar didn’t reveal any information. As you may know already the trailer introduces a character in Grand Theft Auto IV - a nasty looking guy with a Russian accent. “Life is complicated. I killed people, smuggled people, sold people. Perhaps here, things will be different.”. he said. It’s still unclear if he is the main character of the game or just a member of a team.

The gameplay is also still a mystery. The previous games of the franchise were focused on a single player experience, but recent installments have dropped enough multiplayer modes to suggest that expanding beyond solo play is an interest of the series’ development team.

GTA IV is due to be launched stores in North America on October 16, 2007 and in Europe on October 19, 2007 and it will be available for the PlayStation3 and Xbox 360. No word about a PC version.

A few weeks ago, new details about the game emerged. Starting 2008, Rockstar will introduce exclusive episodic content downloads for Grand Theft Auto IV.

Also in September Microsoft confirmed that the game’s publisher Take-Two will provide “exclusive access to two downloadable, epic episodes of Grand Theft Auto IV via Xbox Live, each with hours of entirely new gameplay”. Expect them within months after the release of Grand Theft Auto IV.

[via Playfuls]

EXCLUSIVE: Wii Know A lot You Don’t- Nintendo Wii Specs Fully Uncovered!!!

So far Nintendo have done a very credible job in keeping information regarding the Wii to a minimum. Well all that has just changed! An anonymous Wii developer has sent to us slurry of information regarding Nintendo’s next-gen console, all that’s left now is a confirmed release date and price to complete the puzzle. Believe us when we say, this article is a MUST READ, you won’t be disappointed. Prepare to get educated…
Wii Know A Lot You Don’t… but will – Enjoy!

Anyway, we’ve done enough talking thus far, prepare your eyes for a textual feast on the joys to behold with the Wii.

The Wii Hardware

- Nintendo Wii’s ‘Broadway’ CPU operates at 729MHZ with a maximum bandwith of 1.9gbyte/sec.
- Nintendo Wii’s ‘HollyWood’ GPU is clocked at 243MHZ, the internal memory of it includes 3mb of embedded graphics memory and 24megabytes of high speed main memory.
- 64megabytes of GDDR3 (MEM2) as the external main memory. Just like the internal memory, it can be accessed from the CPU and GPU with a maximum bandwidth of 4gbytes/sec and can also store programs in the MEM2.
- The GPU of the Wii is identical to the GC’s but it is on average 1.5X faster.

Wii’s Optical Disc Drive

- Opitcal Disc Drive (ODD) supports single and dual layer Wii disks, discs eject with software or button and the maximum read speed is the equivalent of DVDx6.
- Two main disc types supported the single sided 12cm single sided 4.7gb and the double sided 8.51 GB. Nintendo GC discs also supported. Some of the capacity of the discs are used by the system and games can not use full disc space.
- Inserting a disc will start the Wii console, even if it was already in an off state. Pressing the eject button will change the console to an on state to take out the disc also.

General Overview

- An optional wired LAN adapter that connects to a USB port is in the pipeline for users who do not possess a wireless LAN set-up currently.
- Internal non-removable 512MB flash memory used to storage game save data and downloadable content thus eliminating the need for a memory card.
- Both Wii discs and Gamecube discs can be played via an intelligent mode swap. When running in GC mode, the Wii’s CPU and GPU will lower to the respective speeds of the GC and some of the MEM2 functions as ARAM.
- Software development environment is an upgrade to the ‘Dolphin SDK’ used with the GC; the same libraries are used so developers can get up to scratch easily as well as the possibility of ports being easier.
- The following interfaces are included with the Wii; SD card slot, Wireless controller, two USB 2.0 ports, wireless LAN, 4x GC controller ports, 2x GC memory card slots and an AV multi output jack (only an analog jack).
- Supports Wii disks (one sided 12cm) and GC discs (one sided 8cm) and console auto switches depends on what disk is inserted
- More than just the Nunchaku is planned as an extension. GC peripherals such as DK bongos can be used in both Wii and GC modes.
- Three power status, on, off and unplugged. To prevent mistaken turn offs, the power button must be held for about a second.

The Wii Control System

- The Wii controller features; Direct Pointing Device, Three axis accelerometer, Wii power button (remotely turn console on/off), buttons, wireless connectivity, indicator LED’s, rumble, battery powered (two AA alkaline batteries) and ability to connect extension unit.
- The Wii controller supports three types of operations; by itself, with a nunchuk extension or with a classic controller. Classic controllers will ship to developers during August 2006.
- The SYNCHRO button on the Wii controller exchanges wireless ID numbers when pressed at the same time as SYNCRHO on the Wii console. Wireless communications are only possible with consoles which have been authenticated.
- The rumble motor can be turned on and off and the intensity can be changed.
- The Wii remote has a pointer for fine movements as well as a motion sensor +/- 3.4G suitable for larger body movements, the nunchuk attachment has a sensor of +/- 2G
- The sensor bar must be placed above or below a TV set, the pointer measures coordinates between the ends of the bar which are about 20cm apart.
- The Wii remote has four status, disconnected, communicating, establishing connection and pairing wait status.
- The pointer can measure co-ordinates within bounds of rectangle centered upon the sensor bar, thus it can also measure points beyond the screen. It also responds to strong light sources, windows, fluorescent lamps, fireplaces, mirrors etc.
- Due to players hands shaking while holding the controller, a ring buffer allows a precise direction to be created to hold and average accelerator samples.