Fresh off the Playstation Blog is news that the upcoming peripherals for Rock Band 2 (Harmonix), Rock Revolution (Konami), and Guitar Hero: World Tour (Neversoft/Activision) will at the very least feature some level of basic compatibility across one another. Michael Shorrock, Director of 3rd Party Relations at SCEA, had this to say about it:
“For the past several months, we have been working closely with Neversoft and Activision, Harmonix and Konami to ensure that PlayStation 3 guitars and drum sets will all feature a basic level of gameplay compatibility.
For the most part, this means that the titles with musical peripherals will work with the other’s software. A few specific examples include: Guitar Hero: World Tour’s guitars and drums will work with Rock Band 2 and Konami’s Rock Revolution software.
And yes, you guessed it, Rock Band 2’s guitar and drum set will work with Guitar Hero: World Tour and with Rock Revolution.
Conversely, Rock Revolution’s drum set will work with both Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2.
In addition, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2 will both support the SingStar microphones.
We’re still working hard to ensure compatibility between the Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles currently on the market, and we hope to have an announcement on that shortly.
Of course each of these great games have their own specific cool features that may not be compatible with the other controllers, but this is our first big step in bringing a level of compatibility to music games that is sure to benefit PlayStation 3 consumers.”
Y’all get that? Seems to be an important first step in eroding my previous fears of the market being crowded with a glut of incompatible instruments - after all, don’t these companies want to get their games out to the greatest number of people as possible? So why limit that by restricting compatibility in the first place? Of course, this means squat for the GH and RB games/peripherals currently out for the PS3 now - meaning if you want to play all of those new music titles this fall, you’ll still have to jump on one of their bundled sets - so hopefully something fruitful will come out of that matter.
Source:PS Blog
Get a taste of the “Force Unleashed” next week
August 17, 2008
Dust off those lightsaber skills and prepare for a trip to the dark side when Lucas Arts releases the demo for their upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed this Thursday on both the PSN and XBL. According to the press release, the demo will take place in an area called the “TIE Fighter Construction Facility”, where your objective is to secretly eliminate an invading Jedi General.
The full game is currently slated for a September 16th release.
FFXIII: A 2-hour long demo?
August 17, 2008
Looks like Square-Enix is looking for more bang for your buck if this latest piece of news is to be correct: according to the most recent issue of the Japanese Famitsu magazine, the Final Fantasy XIII demo that is to be packaged with the FFVII: Advent Children Complete Blu-Ray release may be much longer than what you would expect a typical demo to be. From PSXExtreme:
Yeah, some demos in the past (like the Heavenly Sword demo that clocked in at under 10 minutes) have been exceedingly short, but this demo most certainly won’t be. As a frame of reference “Advent Children” is 101 minutes long, but the demo, which will come on a separate disc, is reported to be longer than the movie! The latest Famitsu has supposedly confirmed this, and furthermore, we learn that the demo will “be based on the opening section of the game,”
Seems like a pretty meaty demo, don’t you think? It wasn’t too long ago where demos for FFVIII or even FFX ran anywhere between 20 to 30 minutes of gameplay, so the report may not be too far-fetched. However it’d be good to keep in mind that FFVII:ACC still doesn’t have a release date outside anywhere else other than Japan (March 2009), so unless importing/reading Japanese is your thing I think it best to wait for confirmation of an English release as well.
Left 4 Dead heading to the PS3?
August 4, 2008
Valve’s survivor-horror title Left 4 Dead may be coming to the Playstation 3 after all, according to a page scan from an upcoming issue of OPM (Official Playstation Magazine). Originally touted as being exclusive to PC and Xbox 360, the first person zombie fest is said to be ported through an internal team at EA. From the scan:
“Valve’s survival horror game Left 4 Dead is coming to PS3, but EA will be taking on development duties in-house.”
This can be seen as both good and bad news. The good: PS3 finally gets some sexy zombie action - where the hell is my PS3 version of Dead Rising, eh Capcom? - thus making the wait for next March’s Resident Evil 5 all that easier. The bad: the last time EA ported over a Valve title (*cough*OrangeBox*cough*) many were infuriated at the noticeable problems in the game - slowdowns, glitches, etc. EA has stated in the past that they’ve overcome their hurdle with PS3 development, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Source: N4G
Seriously, when the Eff’ is FFXIII coming out?
August 2, 2008
As the tide has washed over FFXIII’s newly established status as a multiplatform game, many were left to ponder when exactly Square-Enix would finally release it (either in America or Japan). Well recent news from SE’s invite-only event, dubbed “DKΣ3713″, has revealed that a playable demo of FFXIII will be included in the Blu-Ray release of FFVII: Advent Children Complete next March. Other sneak peeks at Agito XIII (PSP) and Versus XIII (PS3- for now) are also to be included with the movie.
But this still begs one more question: When the hell is FFXIII finally going to hit?
One could possibly assume that, since the movie is due March 2009 (in Japan at least), the game could very well be out in time for later that Summer (again, only for Japan). Coupled with the localization process and Xbox development, PS3 and 360 owners - remember, at E3, SquareEnix stated there would be a simultaneous launch in North America for the game - may not see the game until at least Holiday ‘09. Which, when you think about how the media has been covering FFXIII on and off for more than 2 years now - without proper gameplay footage to boot - is quite depressing. I remember FF12 similarly having a long and troubled development time so I wonder what the holdup is this time around. . .
Oh, and don’t even get me started on when we’ll see FF Versus XIII. Moreso than its predecessor, that game seems to become more like vaporware by the day, despite the affirmation of “PS3 Worldwide” exclusivity.
Fun with SCIV’s Create-a-Character Mode
August 2, 2008
By now you’ve probably seen some rather “creative” characters in Soul Calibur IV either through online battles or videos posted over youtube. So to join in the fun I thought I’d share some of my own characters that I’ve spent quite a bit of time on through the game’s custom character mode:
HARLEY QUINN (from the Batman mythos)
THE HULK (nuff’ said)
TRUNKS (from my childhood favorite DragonBallZ)
ORLANDU (aka TGCid from FF Tactics!)
OLD SCHOOL ROBIN (Batman mythos)
NIGHTWING (Batman mythos)
The mode is surprisingly robust, though obviously there are particular limitations depending on the equipment the game offers. Still though, I can’t wait to see what some others have started to cook up already.
First pieces of Soul Calibur IV DLC online
July 31, 2008
If you check out the Playstation Network update today, fighting fans might be happy to see the first DLC for Soul Calibur IV pop up in two different flavors. The first add on, dubbed “Customization Equipment 1″, contains particular character equipment from past Soul Calibur games to customize your characters with; however, it’s hard to tell exactly how much content there is without purchasing the $1.49 add on yourself. Next up is some downloadable tracks from the original Soul Calibur title that made its debut on the Sega Dreamcast: each of the 17 tracks are available for $0.99 each, or $14.99 for the whole bundle.
Since Soul Calibur IV was only released this past Tuesday, it’s nice to see some online support already. However, if you aren’t waxing nostalgia from the previous games, it’s hard to recommend purchasing this installment of DLC… and if you ask me, a buck fifty is still fifty cents too much just for cosmetic changes to custom characters. And if the rumors of bringing the PS3 exclusive Darth Vader and 360-centric Yoda to DLC are true, let’s hope that the cost won’t break the bank.
E3 Trailer for Platinum Game’s “MadWorld”
July 18, 2008
Straight from the front lines of E3 is a another spanking new trailer, this time for the over-the-top violence of MadWorld from Platinum Games and Sega. My special message to Wii owners: PLEASE buy this game when it hits sometime next March…. you’ve already done grave injustice by not buying the Wii-tweaked Okami; so don’t be afraid to get some good games once in a while that isn’t “Wii Play”, mm k?
The upcoming Xbox Live Arcade (re?)release of Valve’s Portal: Still Alive, as briefly mentioned in Microsoft’s E3 press conference a few days ago, will reportedly bare no new content or addition to the existing storyline. Instead, new advanced puzzles will be available once the player has finished the main arc of the game. In an interview with Doug Lombardi, Kotaku sought the reasoning for a stand-alone XBLA release:
I wanted to know what gamers could expect from the game and why Valve decided to tweak it for the XBLA release.
“It’s about giving gamers more choices, more points of entry to get to the party, open more gates to the theme park as it were,” he said. “It makes a lot of sense for us.
“The main idea is that this is Portal available as a download, and there is additional content as advanced challenges that will be available to you after you finish the critical path of the game.”
Totally different than what I assumed it was going to be: originally I thought that a sequel was being made exclusive to the 360! Not surprising when you actually consider that Portal, Team Fortress 2, and Half-Life Episodes 2 & 3 are available as stand-alone packages on the PC as well. The original Portal was a blast to play through so I can only hope that more information about the inevitable sequel will be spilling out soon.
theFunk list: Almost-Home edition
July 18, 2008
For the past three weeks I’ve been spending some much-needed downtime with family and friends here in Hawaii, and come Monday night, I’ll be heading back to the heat wave that has currently consumed San Francisco and the Bay Area. I’ve tried to do a bit more coverage here on the blog whenever I had access to the internet - the place I’m staying at is a bit picky - especially in trying to access the flood of information coming from this week’s E3.
As mentioned before, I haven’t been able to touch my PS3 due to this trip, but I did break down and picked up a DS during my stay here (I know, why play videogames when I’m in Hawaii right?). Also been playing my PSP a lot more lately, since I realized I hadn’t finished Patapon quite yet…. nor Crisis Core for that matter.
