I’m not really sure why developers like to make claims like this, but for some reason, they seem to think that it will impress everyone. Naughty Dog’s Christophe Balestra recently sat down with Arstechnica to discuss their upcoming title for the Playstation 3, Uncharted 2. During the interivew, he mentioned how the game itself barely fit onto the Blu-ray disc and cited that as one of the factors as to why the game itself is impossible to port to the system. In his words, it simply could not be done. I, of course, find that hard to believe. Sure the game might need to be compressed, placed on multiple discs, or even reworked from the ground up, but to make a claim as steep as “it can’t be done,” just strikes me as a bit ignorant. I suppose in the sense that company is so deep in Sony’s pockets that they wouldn’t be able to work out the logistics with Microsoft, yes it couldn’t be done. But realistically? I’m sure the game could be made for that system.

I feel bad saying it, but it really does make it sad, especially considering Uncharted is one of the absolute best games I’ve ever played. I mean that in all seriousness too. It’s a wonderful action/adventure title that’s more than worth your time and hard earned money. After seeing various footage from the press conferences I’ve attended this year, as well as having played the multiplayer beta, I’ve grown rather excited about the upcoming sequel and I look forward to playing it when it’s finally out this winter. I just wish that the developer would stick to making great games instead of flame-baiting fanboys. I think SquareEnix even made it clear that anything is possible when they announced their port of Final Fantasy XIII to the Xbox 360. Am I the only one who feels this way?

[Image Source: Sony Computer Entertainment]

Later this holiday season, Sony will be releasing a compliation of God of War titles exclusively for the Playstation 3.  Both titles included in this bundle, God of War, and God of War II, will run at full 1280 x 720 resolution, and feature remastered anti-aliased graphics and claims to run at a smooth 60 frames per second. This alone should make the game worth your time as both titles have been met with great critical acclaim. Unfortunately they remain rather violent, so you might want to pass on it if you’re not into blood and gore. The game will also support trophies via the Playstation Network. What’s more is that the collection will retail for a mere $39.99. That’s a pretty impressive price point, if I do say so myself.

The God of War series brings epic mythological battles to life with stunning graphics and an elaborate plot that puts Kratos, the trilogy’s main character, at the center of carnage and destruction as he seeks revenge against the Gods who have betrayed him. The latest installment of the series, God of War III, is scheduled for release exclusively on the PS3 system in March 2010. I had the opportunity to play the game at several events this year and it certainly does its job of delivering more of the thrilling gameplay that we’re used to seeing with this series. The battles are still epic in scope, and as violent as ever. Is anyone else looking forward to this game as much as I am?

Somehow I don’t see it happening, but I wouldn’t be too shocked if it did. Recently, an executive over at Electronic Arts hinted to the idea of Sony and Microsoft will be rolling out new versions of their current consoles before moving on to the next generation of their respective consoles.

To be perfectly honest, I feel we’re still too early in the actual life cycle to be discussing these topics, even then, some people might look at the upcoming Natal and PS3 motion hardware as a form of upgrade as it is. Rich Hilleman, Chief Creative Officer at EA, on the other hand, seems to think that we should be speculating now by stating, ”I expect we’ll see a PlayStation 3.5 before we see a PlayStation 4, and an Xbox 560 before we see an Xbox 720.”

I’m fond of the idea of providing consumers the opportunity to upgrade their consoles, but not if it comes at the price of completely replacing their current models, or having to pay a like sum. It already bothers me that there will be some titles that I just can’t play on my Nintendo DS that will work perfectly on the Nintendo DSi. I’d hate to think that a console which I already paid $300+ for would be reduced in a similar manner.

It appears that in a recent interview, Polyphony Digital’s Kazunori Yamauchi, almost confirmed a worldwide release for the upcoming, and long awaited title, Gran Turismo 5. If you recall, a preview of the full game, entitled Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, was released to the public. While the game didn’t impress people as much as the new contender, Grid, which was released shortly afterwards, it showed quite a bit of promise for a glorifide demo. News has since been slowly trickling out regarding the tweaks to the game which were implimented since that release, including realistic damage. Kazunori goes on to confirm that the damage will effect the handling of the cars in the game, and that “real NASCAR races” are to be included in the final product. Oh, and apparently the game runs at 60 frames per second at a very impressive 1080p.

 This is really music to my ears, having played Grid mere weeks after Gran Turismo 5 Prologue came out. I was amazed by how much better the game seemed, and I had speculated myself as to how they could possibly top it. It comes as no surprise that the constant delays that the game has since faced have provided the developers enough time to really tweak the game for the better. Now, I’m looking forward to playing the final build even more than before, though I’m not sure when that will be. As far as I know, we are probably going to be seeing Gran Turismo for the PSP far sooner than we are for the Ps3. Until then, I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed and hope that through some miracle, the game is actually as good as it sounds. Then again, when has Gran Turismo ever gone wrong?

If you’d like to read the entire interview, you can do so here.

[Image Source: Sony Computer Entertainment]

Square-Enix’s Yoshinori Kitase recently spoke regarding the 360 version of the upcoming game, Final Fantasy XIII. Many gamers have been wondering how exactly they plan on fitting the game onto the console, and if the quality of the game will suffer due to the size limitations of the media they would have to use, namely, DVDs. According to Kitase, they’re currently aiming for 3, though there is no confirmation on the exact number just yet, meaning there might be more, and definitely not any less. “This is not the final count as we’re still working on it, but we’re aiming for about three discs for the Xbox 360 version,” he explained.

In an attempt to appease the fans on both consoles though, he went on to state “The 360 version and the PS3 version should be pretty much equal, both in terms of content and the visuals as well. Since the hardware is different, there might be some subtle differences if you compare screenshots side by side, but the team’s being very careful about the compression of the data and the visuals, so that it’s exactly the same on both.”

I remember the days when announcing that a title would have multiple discs was a major selling point. It would clearly show that you’re getting quite a bit of game for your money. While I’ve actually played a few RPGs on the 360 that span multiple discs, such as Lost Odyssey, I can’t say that it really takes away from the game. As for the damage this could do to the graphics, we’ll just have to wait and see when people compare the two versions side by side.

[Image Source: Square-Enix]

 Given the tone of my previous posts, you’d think it isn’t, but some analysts are claiming that it just might be. If you’d ask me though, all signs point to no. The price drop was announced the other week at GamesCom, a European game industry convention that’s open to everyone who wishes to attend. Held in Germany this year, the convention was host to a number of game companies who hoped to take advantage of the convention to announce new titles and hardware prior to Tokyo Game Show, which is coming up soon. While rumors had been flying around for quite some time now, the thought of Sony actually releasing this console so early in the PS3’s life cycle seemed a bit odd to most, which is why still took many by surprise, despite numerous leaks.

The new $299 price tag, actually went into affect the day after the announcement, with retailers everywhere dropping the price of the current model to match. One would think they’d lower the price even further in order to clear the current stock of PS3 supplies, but that doesn’t seem to be the case–at least, in most places. One reason could be that the console itself has already started to phase out, with many retailers reporting that the old model hasn’t been resupplied for quite some time, leaving me to believe that this was the plan Sony had in the first place. It’s probably a good thing too, since the new console is much lighter, and contains a slightly faster 45 nanometer processor. Don’t worry, it doesn’t make your old PS3 completely obsolete, it just might load a few things faster, that’s all. The only draw back to buying the new console, from what I can tell, would be that you’re no longer able to install a new OS on the system–not that anyone I know actually used that feature in the first place. If you are looking for a good deal though, I did see the price of the 160gb Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune bundle drop from $399 to as low as $325.  Assuming that it’s still in stock, that’s a deal worthy to beat out waiting for the slim.

[Image Source: Sony Computer Entertainment Japan]

It’s been quite some time since the PS3 was released, and yet, somehow the PS2 almost managed to out sell the PS3 in North America during the month of July–roughly 120,000 to about 108,000. It’s no surprise that the recession has taken its toll on the industry. Many gamers are resorting to spending cash on cheaper consoles, and waiting before purchasing the newest games. It’s scary to think that Sony has out marketed themselves, but let’s face it, $99 is a good price point for a console, and when your system lacks games, it’s going to have a hard time going up against something with the established game library that the PS2 currently boasts.

On the other hand, this isn’t really that bad for Sony, considering they’d be outselling themselves. I also wouldn’t be too worried about the PS3 making a rebound. With the rumored price drops, a slimmer console on the horizon, and the holiday season creeping up on us, I’d say it’s only a matter of time before we see those sales numbers reversed. Most developers seem to be pushing their release dates closer to the end of the year, and some are even going as far as to move them into next year. As a result, it creates a waiting game that we’re all forced to play.

[Image Source: Sony Computer Entertainment Japan]

For those of you who were wondering, the Batman: Arkham Asylum demo was recently released on the Ps3 and Xbox 360 on Friday. I had previously played this game at E3, and while I felt the game still had some ways to go, I was impressed by the quality of the visuals achieved with the Unreal Engine. I finally took the time to sit down with the recent consumer demo for the PS3 and was actually able to enjoy it a bit more in the comfort of my own home. The first thing I had noticed, which I hadn’t really taken the time to appreciate beforehand, was Mark Hamil’s reprisal of his patented Joker, whose voice many of us had come to associate with the character due to his wonderful performances on various Batman animated series. It wasn’t long before it struck me that the entire cast of the original animated series had returned to do the voices, clearly playing to my nostalgia.

The demo starts with a wonderfully rendered Gotham skyline, and quickly follows with a cinematic opening using the very impressive in-game graphics. It was at this point that I recognized half of a musical cue, which was kind of nice, but would have been better had they simply licensed the music from the series for arrangement. Maybe Danny Elfman wasn’t too fond of them using it–who knows. The sound was also notably loud, but that’s alright since you can easily adjust that in the options menu.

Once you get down to the actual game play, they immediately have you fighting a mob of enemies to help you get used to the combat. The game tends to shift between “bullet-time” and real time when you brawl hand-to-hand, allowing you to seemingly have plenty of time to counter attacks. This makes it a bit too easy if you ask me, and I hope later battles start becoming more fast paced as you progress through the game, but that might just be wishful thinking. Other portions of the demo show off the “detective mode,” which gives Batman the ability to see things such as people’s condition, heart rate, weaknesses in structural integrity, and other potentially helpful things. There’s nothing that makes you use it sparingly, which might take away from a lot of the challenge. You’re also encouraged to sneak around more powerful opponents and to avoid guns, as Batman isn’t Superman–he can be shot to death.

The demo actually ran pretty long, and while I really enjoyed what I played, I have to wonder about the length of the game. I’m not really sure how long it’d take someone to complete but that said, the game is pretty spectacular and might be worth having just for the amazing acting. Oh, and seeing as the PS3 version of the game allows you to play as The Joker, that should at least double the play time. The game itself should be hitting stores in the US on August 25th.

Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony Corp’s CEO and Executive Vice President, recently announced during a conference call that the actual manufacturing costs of the Playstation 3 system have dropped 70%. This is probably the best news Sony’s investors could hope for, considering the original manufacturing costs of the system itself was costing Sony far more than they were making in sales. As a result, Sony had been reporting a loss in previous quarters. However, now that the cost of the consoles themselves have dropped considerably, there might be light at the end of that tunnel for Sony after all.

“The cost reduction since we introduced the PS3 is very substantial and this is on schedule,” Oneda-san replied when asked about manufacturing costs. “We don’t disclose how much of the PS3, specifically the cost deduction was achieved during the past two years. But that is on schedule.”

These statements leave a lot to the imagination, and while it doesn’t exactly confirm the potential for PS2 emulation, anyone could speculate that the cost cuts were achieved through a number of changes to the hardware of the PS3 itself, including the previous removal of PS2 emulation, as well as the rumored changes to the architecture of the cell processor. Either way, I look forward to what Sony has in store for us moving forward into the next financial year.

The latest edition of the most recent Ninja Gaiden installment, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, is set for a North American launch date of September 29th. The game is the first Ninja Gaiden title being produced since the departure of former Team Ninja leader, Tomonobu Itagaki, last year. His departure from the company was a bit of a surprise to many, and didn’t end on very good terms. As a result, many people doubted the future of Team Ninja and Tecmo as a whole. That was, until Tecmo decided to merge with Koei earlier this year. They’ve since reformed Team Ninja under the guidance of Ninja Gaiden Sigma producer, Yosuke Hayashi. Given his impressive performance with his previous PS3 title, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, I have high expectations for any future projects involving him and his team.

Unlike the 360 release, this version will feature new playable characters, such as Ayane from Dead or Alive, and Momiji from Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. A co-op mode is included this time, voice chat, and over 30 different missions to play through. In addition, there is a challenge mode available that will rank players online according to their total karma points at the end of each mission. With the game itself being marketed as the most definitive version of the series to appear to date, you’ll be sad to learn that it’s only being released for the PS3. It’s also rumored that Team Ninja will be shifting their main development platform from Xbox 360 to PS3 from here on out, so games should be released on that console first. The game is also going to be rated M for mature, so keep that in mind if you’re planning on making it a gift.