Updates

The price for the PlayStation 3 has been long debated about since the unveiling of the unit at last years PS3. Some predict it as high as $800 while some of the extreme naive individuals predict it as low as $300. Well that is a $500 gap and nobody really knows what the final price of the PS3 will be. With this in mind, the price announcement is something that almost every PS3 fan is anticipating or should be. Hell, even Microsoft is anticipating this because this could determine their next business move regarding the Xbox 360. If the PS3 is as high as $600, there is no need to drop the price of the Xbox 360. If the PS3 is as low as $400, then Microsoft may consider lowering the price of the 360 by atleast $50 so that it can have a competitive edge against the PS3 which is slightly more powerful hardware wise than the Xbox 360 mainly due to the Cell and Blu-Ray player and a possible 60GB harddrive. So the PS3 price is of concern for many people, not just potential PS3 consumers.

Who knows, we all may be eating crow because the final price may not even be revealed at E3 as it could be til September until we all find out how much the PS3 is going to cut into our budgets. Most retailers won't even start their pre-orders yet because of this. They want clean cut information available for their customers when they come in to pre-order their PS3s. A manager at a Babbages doesn't want to say "Well the PlayStation 3 could range from between $400-$800 so we don't even know yet." A customer doesn't want to hear "we don't even know yet" they want final concrete information. So this is why many retailers is holding off until a final price is available. So a lot is riding on this people and maybe, just hopefully E3 will answer this for us.

The Release Date Announcement:

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past few months, Sony has backed up the PS3 launch from Spring 2006 to November 2006 and the reasons were said to be because of the Blu-Ray situation and trying to get it finialized and whatnot. However just saying November 2006 isn't digestable for many people, I'm one of them. E3 could reveal a concrete date such as November 5th, November 10th, November 15th, and so on. People want a month and a day. Again, like the price situation, many retailers dispite having November 06 as a release to fall back on, still isn't satisfied until a more expansive release date because just November is too broad. Another question of concern regarding the release date is how will this Worldwide launch work out. Will the PS3 launch in Europe, Japan, and North America on the same day or will they all launch within a few days or week from each other in November? Since we got November to fall back on, not everyone has the release date as a number one thing of concern like the price issue, but it is still something that will be of concern at the Sony Pre-E3 Conference.


The Launch Line-Up:

There is a unofficial PS3 launch line-up. Certain developers has stepped out and said that their current in-house development project is slated to be released alongside with the PS3 in November. However this talk is just from a 3rd Party mouth, Sony has yet to come out and officially endorse certain games as a PS3 launch title. If so, Sony hasn't created a list. There has been some small talk that big games such as Metal Gear Solid 4 and Killzone 2 could both be launch titles and from other sources, it is said that the PS3 could have up to atleast a minimal of 20 games at launch. If both are true, then this holiday season is going to be one to remember.

The launch line-up isn't as important as the price and final release date, but having a concrete launch line-up could generate some more loyal consumers as they'll comfortable with getting a PS3 at launch as they know that they'll be playing some pretty interesting games, something that not everyone could have said about the Xbox 360 launch, but thats besides the point. If Sony is wanting more and more people to embrase the PS3, then they're going to have to release some hard info about what consumers will be playing come November.

Hands-On with the PlayStation 3:

Now has there even been a "hands-on" with the PS3? Seriously, its funny how this whole time, about a full year now and the PS3 has this big of a following but yet there has been no real hands on report about the PS3. We have gotten some pre-rendered videos, and we've gotten some in-game videos...but those are just what they are, videos in-game or pre-rendered. Killzone 2 is probably one of the more anticipated games for the PS3, probably behind MGS4 and yet nobody has played it. One pre-rendered video and Killzone 2 is one of the top 3 most wanted PS3 games. Not that I'm doubting the game or anything because I expect it to be good and an improvement over the first Killzone but sometimes I ask myself the question "Are we getting excited over pretty much nothing?" I mean think about it, nobody really has played the PlayStation 3 and if so, they've kept it behind closed doors. Nobody knows what the loading times are like and nobody knows what the controls feel like to name a few. Well all of this could come to an end at E3 this year.

The PS3 is expected to be playable, but only for the media, not the average attendees. Either way, atleast finally people from the media will get their hands on the actuall PS3 holding the actuall controller as they experience a PS3 game that is actually not a video. Finally we'll see some real hands on footage of Killzone 2 and possibly MGS4 and other PS3 titles. This means a lot because for the first time ever as the PS3 will lose its virginity and let people take a "hands on" approach to it. I'm not saying that the PS3 or its games will be a bust, but no true hands on preview has been published on any PS3 game, but yet we hold such high standards for the PS3 and its games. Its going to be interesting come E3 to read up on about people's experiences with the PS3 hands on for the first time. I'm not expecting anything negative, however it will be great to finally read about a PS3 game and its gameplay qualities, not just being aroused by a put together video by the devs.

Here Comes the Boom:

To tell you the truth, nobody really knows anything concrete about the PlayStation 3 and its upcoming launch. We know the specs, from a certain point of view because not even those are final as some features could be taken away and maybe even some newer features could be added. We have a general idea of the launch line-up but not a final idea. We only have rumors and analyist reports to fall back on when it comes to the price of the PS3. With the release date we just have November, but nothing more. Sony has been giving us the silent treament for such a long time now and these past few months leading up to E3 was filled with many industry events such as CES and many gamers held such hope and anticipation in these events, hoping that there would be PS3 info revealed. Well we got nothing until recently at the Sony Business Briefing when November was announced as the delayed release date and other notables such as 4D-Gaming. Still however the core questions remains unanswered and since January, I have been telling people in the PS3Forums that we are going to have to wait til E3 2006 for our questions to be answered because the next big event after E3 is the launch of the PS3. So its pretty much a now or never situation for Sony.

This is their "NFL Draft" and Sony is on the clock. What will they do? What will they reveal? What will be the overall opinions from the media at E3 after finally playing the PS3? What games does Sony see as launch titles? Sony has been holding this type of info back for a long time now, pretty much a whole year and the volcano is going to have to eventually errupt. Sony has been closed mounth on the PS3 these past few months at the past gaming events and in many ways, PS3 fans is almost demanding E3 to be the coming out party for the PlayStation 3. Just how serious is this? Well if Sony steals the show, then the anticipation and hype surrounding the PS3 will only increase which in the end could mean stronger sales in the PS3's first few months of existance. If Sony is soft on the PS3 at E3, then the doubts will begin to appear and people will start to lose patience. Kids around the ages of 14 whos parents told them that they can only get a 360 or PS3 will go with the 360 because they are too tired of waiting for information and stuff like this could just smell bad for Sony. Just think of it like the NFL Draft for Sony. What Sony does at E3 could bring out success for the PS3 or failure. This is why there is a lot of anticipation surrounding Sony at this years E3, more anticipation Sony probably ever had at E3.

Why buy a Playstation

Why buy a Playstation 3

by Andrew Mills

Playstations are one of the most popular gaming consoles on the market. There are several reasons for this.

PS3 Graphics and Controlers

- The biggest reason is the graphics. The Playstation has some of the best graphics on the market, capable of rending 360,000 polygons per second. This enabled it to render almost any image quickly and sharply, making it ideal for any game that you could play on it, whether it was taking jewels from a safe, sniping a villain, or slamming someone to the floor. The images were gorgeous, and are among the industry's best.

The controls are a dream; very responsive, and easy to learn, the controls are some of the best designed in the gaming industry. Although the games themselves may have had some ridiculous problems, the Playstation's controls themselves allowed any player to master the game to whatever level the player was capable of. Capable of handling up to four controllers with appropriate hardware, the Playstation could easily keep a group playing for days.

The Playstation was also the first console to integrate a DVD player into itself. This allowed the interesting situation of the owner being able to watch an anime, and then play a game based on that anime, all on the same piece of equipment; a great development on a console. Of course, it was a fully-functioning player, with all the features that you would expect from a DVD player; you could find an Easter egg on the player just as easily as you could on the games.
- Initially, even the name of the new gaming console was still very much unknown. With teasers, billboards and misleading posters with the very recognizable font "Prepare for Chang3," advertisement had gamers guessing. However at the E3 convention, it was announced that the name of the new console would in fact be "Playstation 3;" much to the dismay of many online blogers and game forum members. Sony also confirmed the PlayStation 3 will use Blu-ray discs as its media format. The discs can hold up to six times as much data as current-generation DVDs. This will essentially open the doors for game developers to produce higher quality games without having to worry about disk size limitations. Sony also unveiled the PS3's graphics chip, the RSX "Reality Synthesizer," which is based on Nvidia technology. The GPU will be capable of 128bit pixel precision and 1080p resolution, (some of the highest HD resolution available anywhere). The RSX also has 512MB of graphics render memory and is capable of 100 billion shader operations and 51 billion dot products per second. The new Playstation 3 graphics chip also has more than 300 million transistors, larger than any processor commercially available today. Below is a full "official" spec breakdown of the new Playstation 3.

The information you just read was pulled from many different resources. You should continue searching for information until you believe you have a firm grasp of the subject. I do want to thank you for visiting and good luck. Inspirational free love ecards are also available on the Internet. Some sites offer music accompaniments that you can choose to send with your free love ecard. Famous quotes can be added to some free love ecards. Everyone has that favorite quote that they love. Need to have a way to express yourself in a unique way, try a free love ecard. Personalize and design your own free love ecard. Maybe you are a poet yourself and have that special poem to use on your free love ecard or you just want it to be simple. What a way to let that special person in your life know how you feel. I hope you have gotten some good ideas from this article and that you are able to use them.

Find Out More about video game

Codename: Panzers is coming to PS3

Stormregion and 10Tacle Studios recently announced that they plan to make Codename: Panzers for the PS3.

“We are very excited about the creative possibilities that the next generation console titles can offer gamers and the new directions it opens up for the Codename Panzers brand. We are proud to expand the brand with our partner 10TACLE STUDIOS,” commented Tamás Szerémy, CEO of Stormregion Ltd.

“We feel that with the experienced Stormregion team we have found the right partner to try out something new in the context of strategy games and set new quality standards. At the same time, the expansion of the brand “Codename Panzers“ to different platforms is in line with the company strategy to build up our brands internationally and make them last”, Michele Pes, CEO of 10TACLE STUDIOS AG, explained.

For those of you who have never enjoyed the game Codename: Panzers here is a brief description of the gameplay:

Panzers takes you into the heat of World War II battles and the environments you wage war upon include everything from towns with bullet-riddled buildings, bleak mountain landscapes and treacherous swamps. Codename: Panzers plays like a 3d RTS where you create your army from over 100 detailed units and compete in either campaign or multiplayer modes.

WPT for PS3

I am a huge poker fan there had better be a WPT for the PS3. The world poker tour is probably more exciting than any other sport. Click Here for newest PS WPT games.
Don't believe me? Than you've never played. Check this site out www.getinthewpt.com.

Japanese RPGs and Why they are Failing by Kirk

You know, I've been thinking about Japanese RPGs. Ever since I've started playing Diablo II, I've realized how much good old American RPGing I've missed in the last 7 years or so. I mean, I really missed out. Everquest, Diablo, all those games that, while not explicitly containing amazing stories, had real play value to them. Hell, four years ago I would have openly and willingly said "I only like Japanese Console RPGs" with some sort of inbuilt vigor that would shake the building. I remember right before Square became Square-Enix (Well, about a year before, when there were rumors as such), I dropped over $300 at the Square online store buying every single game there. I was hardcore.

But now, I go to the store and look. A week ago, I was in a local EB Games (Note: Local EB Games stores suck now. I saw more used copies of shit games than I've ever seen in my life, and not a new and good game in sight), gift card fresh in hand, ready to blow some cash on worthwhile games to satiate my tastes. I went, as I used to do, and made a beeline for the PS2 section first. While I also have a XBOX and Gamecube, that's what I do. And I saw the RPG section.

Not a single thing even looked remotely interesting.

It's not like there was a shortage. Surprisingly, there was a large amount of new PS2 RPGs. New ones. Grandia 3, to name one, among other obviously Anime inspired RPGs. The kind of stuff I would have completely exploded for three years ago. But I didn't drop a dime on any of them. I skimmed over them, then moved onto the Action section- I even took a look at the Sports section. But I graced completely over the one thing that I used to enjoy so much on the PS1 and early PS2- Japanese Anime inspired RPGs. Wow.

So, I went and I thought to myself. "I've been hearing about this from a lot of gamers. Maybe it's just we're getting older". So, to test this, I went and messed around with one of my ultra hardcore Japanese RPGs- in this case, just a plethora of different games, from Final Fantasy 7 to Legend of Mana. And I enjoyed them just the same as I did. So, it's not me getting older at all- in fact, as I get older, I found I could appreciate the finer portions of the games more. So what in the hell WAS it?

It's the games. The new ones, I mean. The new games by Japanese developers, mainly in the RPG market, are absolutely terrible. The Role Playing Game market has absolutely, positively lost it's edge ever since about 2002. Ever since I purchased Final Fantasy X really early 2002 (As it came out around Christmas in 2001), I have not purchased a single RPG that has captured my interest whatsoever. This is not to say I haven't been getting games, from Xenosaga to .Hack, and even Final Fantasy X-2. But none of them caught my attention. Sure, Kingdom Hearts was great, but I'm talking oldschool RPGs here, the ones that remind me of the days with Chrono Trigger or Lufia 2 on my Super NES. And I haven't found one.

I'm sure there are other gamers like me. It's as if we need some sort of support group. All of a sudden discovering that your favorite kind of genre is going down the tubes is like finishing a video game you spent 100 hours on- it puts you out of whack, makes you feel like you miss something. So the following is my instruction manual on how to screw up a multi million dollar industry in a few moves. Like chess, except you lose a lot more.

STEP 1: Distribute bad games under a good license.

I'm looking particularly at you, Square Enix, though other companies did the exact same thing. Think of yourself as a CEO of a big game company. You sent your developers off and they come back with a game that is absolute ass. I mean, you wouldn't give this to your enemy. The story is stupid, the graphics suck, the engine is mediocre, and your beta testers won't even play this shit. But you just spent a cool million on developing it. Oh, and for the sense of this question, let's say it's almost the end of Q4 (Which would be about October-November) and you have to get this stuff out before Christmas or else you'll be subject to lackluster Q1 (January-April) sales. What do you do?

A. Stop! Go back, fix it, delay the release date and lose sponsors/buyers. B. Yell at development team, make them make some quick fixes and run it through the market on a slight delay, making it in before Christmas, but still with a mediocre product. C. Package it up, ship it out, and call it "unique to the genre".

If you answered C, you may be in line to work at Square Enix. Ever since they pumped out Final Fantasy X (Officially known as Nobuo Uematsu's last work, which was beautiful but sad because the man is a genius), they have not only signed with Enix, but have lost some of their "Big Guns"- the guys who made the Final Fantasy games on the Playstation, primarily. They're getting old and retiring. So, as Square-Enix fills with new blood, they have slowly changed their games and overall quality to something inferior to their old history. Don't believe me yet? Let's look at their latest big RPG titles:

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, which suffered a huge attack by fans because it had about as much to do with Final Fantasy's style as I have to do with Lindsay Lohan, Grandia III, which ends up being made fun of for the stupid mundane story and lack of anything but a OK battle system, Romancing SaGa, attacked for being so convoluted and stupid that basically no-one bought it, Radiata Stories, which ended up being cutesy Crystal Chronicles on the PS2, Musashi: Samurai Legend, a shitty remake to a great game, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, which made cut scenes movies, Final Fantasy X-2, which was an embarrassment to anyone who figured out it was just a Victoria's Secret Final Fantasy aiming for the sexual desires of lonely gamers, and finally Drakenguard, which no-one bought because there wasn't a damn thing special or even remotely fun to it.

The problem is evident. That's 8 games that failed. I don't care if FFX-2 was a big sell, it wasn't a Final Fantasy game so much as it was pure unadulterated fan service. You would think that in EIGHT GAMES, that at least ONE of them would be worth a lot of hype, as Square Enix used to get. But no. Square Enix now seems to survive purely on remakes of their old games (Like Final Fantasy Dawn of Souls or Final Fantasy IV for the GBA) and not real, new games. Maybe if they were cheaper? But no, there's a lot of work into these games, unfortunately meaning that they have to get SOME kind of profit off them. And thus the cycle continues.

STEP 2: Hire bad writers

This time, I'm going after Namco. Namco, the Xenosaga concept was a great idea. But what in the hell perversed you to go and screw up Xenogears? Why did you have to make it so childish, then switch the whole feeling of the game in the second rendition? WHY?

Namco had a great thing going. Grab a underrated but extremely popular license (Xenogears- basically, the Xeno prefix) and make some sequels or prequels or whatever. So, sound great, right? Except for the part where they seemed to have never played the game. Instead of giving the game the mature Anime style that felt like Ninja Scroll meets Gundam, it turned Xenosaga into some kind of childish Anime ripoff where everyone had that childish 12-year-old-with-DD-breasts look, and made the enemies and problems extremely boring. Look at the "Main Characters", as off their site:

Shion Uzuki (Bearing the Uzuki last name from Xenogears), who's a stereotypical strong girl. KOS-MOS, the mysterious woman with red eyes, aka clich� #2, Chaos, a young energetic boy, clich� #3, Junior, who appears to be 13 years old yet FOUNDED A CORPORATION AND SAILS AROUND WITH A BLONDE GIRL WITH A SOUTHERN ACCENT, Ziggy, stereotypical hardened marine or whatever he is, Albedo, just like Dante from Devil May Cry and other action heroes, has an attitude, and Momo, the quiet cute psuedo-heroine who is in about every RPG ever made in the Asia area.

I mean, I'm yawning already. Any of those charactes seem remotely interesting or even kind of fun? Nope. Oh, and they don't get real big boy weapons either, they all have unique weapons that seem so complex that you don't even want to mess with it. And don't even get me started with the boring "AGS" fights, or whatever they call them- the Mecha stuff.

There's a reason I'm not giving out hard facts and just guessing, it's because the game wasn't memorable. I played it. I got bored of it fast, but still played it. There was no payoff for putting up with it. There really was none for Final Fantasy X-2. The list goes on. No gamer likes to pay for a game and find out not only did he waste his time, he wasted his cash. I don't especially.

STEP 3: Whore out old stuff.

Really quickly on this one, because it's another slam against Square Enix: Square, stop trying to make money off old licenses. Just because you're doing poorly does not give you the right to mass market random things with the Final Fantasy license on them so you can continue living high on life. Make good games.

Yes, I liked Advent Children. But when I have to see not only that, but a Final Fantasy drink, a Final Fantasy DVD box set, a Final Fantasy clothing set, jewelry, toys, special controllers, special systems, new versions of old games including re-boxing or porting it to the PS2, cell phones, cell phone GAMES, stickers, magazines, books, and musical ensembles NOT done by Nobuo Uematsu, it makes me sad. Stop it. It's like as if Jim Henson came back and made a porno with the Muppets in it.

Oh, and don't think other companies don't do it too, especially Bandai and the .Hack// series. While they weren't as blatant, the popularity they made off the anime series and the games they produced from it wasn't out of the great quality, it was selling shitty merch for a somewhat OK series.

FINAL STEP: Don't do anything to fix it.

So, all of the RPG companies are sucking. Are they doing anything to fix this? No. Final Fantasy games are still pouring out in huge quantities and low quality. .Hack finished it's fourth edition of the PS2 series and now plans a fifth game, though unrelated. Grandia III just came out and reminds all of us how bad stories can be when a game is still good. And it's not stopping.

What could save the industry? I don't know. Honestly, there can be a lot said for completely stopping existing games and the companies re-thinking their strategies. I know they need money. But, let's face it, if they do not innovate, companies like Square-Enix, Bandai, Atlus, and Namco will die. The gaming industry demands new and original ideas, and unless these RPG companies can deliver, they will find themselves out on the street fast. Let's hope they don't.

a little 360 info for ya

Xbox Catching Up in 2006

 by: Chris Robertson

Although there was a delay in delivering the number of Xbox 360s that consumers demanded for the 2005 holiday season, Microsoft is expected to manufacture over 2 million of the gaming consoles in the first quarter of 2006. It's estimated that about 1 million Xbox 360s made it to stores in time for the holidays, so there's a pent-up demand for the console. In addition, reported bugs and cooling problems will likely be worked out in the near future.

The Xbox isn't the only consumer electronic hitting the news these days. At the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show, a number of manufacturers of cell phones will be honored with innovation awards. For example, Firefly Mobile will be honored for their "Mobile Phone for Mobile Kids," which is specifically designed for tweens. In addition, Auvi Technologies will be presented an award for their innovative PHIP100 VoIP-enabled cordless speakerphone with a built-in webcam.

CES will also honor a number of innovative computer manufacturers, including Hewlett Packard. HP has two products, the Media Center Photosmart PC and the Pavillion desktop PC, which combine computing with cutting edge digital entertainment features. Logitech will be accorded the 2006 Best of Innovations award for its customizable computer mouse, which allows the user to change the mouse's weight and balance.

Consumer electronics continue to be integrated into car design and sold as after market features. Audivox, for example, offers dual DVD players that offer backseat passengers a choice in which DVD they each watch, while Panasonic has an in-dash DVD monitor and receiver. Manufacturers are also producing after market products to integrate MP3 players and iPods into a vehicle's sound system. As a result, drivers and passengers no longer have to rely on a CD to bring their favorite tunes on the road.

Although many developers of video games seem to be waiting until the next generation of gaming consoles saturate the market, a few recent titles are noteworthy. Psychonauts is a hit, and for the role-playing crowd, Jade Empire is the video game du jour for the Xbox. In portable gaming, the Sony PSP comes out on top with Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, while the Nintendo DS offers Mario Kart.

On the whole, consumer electronics continue to improve in reliability and performance, while becoming increasingly affordable. In all respects, 2006 looks like it will be a stellar year for everything from video gaming systems to cell phones.

About The Author

Chris Robertson is a published author of Majon International. Majon International is one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing and internet advertising companies on the web. Visit their main business resource web site at: http://www.majon.com

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NIce hands on review from Hagrin.com

In one of the first hands-on reviews found on the Internet for the Playstation 3, Kikizo has obtained a highly secretive look at a basically finished Playstation 3. There was much that they could not talk about due to a NDA, but they did reveal the following pieces of information which I'll bulletpoint:

* From what they had seen, there was no BluRay support to be seen and everything was being written for standard DVD size.
* The graphics chip used by the PS3 is called the RSX ("Reality Synthesiser"). Initial impressions were that, while although powerful, it doesn't live up to the hype offered by Sony. This is mainly due to the fact that the games are running in 720p and not 1080i.
* The PS3 showed the potential to handle more simultaneous graphical tasks than the already on the market Xbox 360. However, developers for the PS3 say that they will need additional libraries to be provided by Sony to unlock even more power from the Playstation 3 console.