Video Games

Sony might be the highest priced console right now - but it doesn’t mean that they are the most popular. In fact they have sold less then half of what Wii consoles since September 3rd. While both the Xbox 360 and the Wii are priced below $300 the PS3 is still sticking to its $400 price tag.

Right now in this economy people are wary about buying something like this. So in order to boost sales PS3 needs to come up with a plan to make their console more desirable and more worth their money. We all know that the best way to do that is to bundle it.

For days we have seen commercials and advertisements for Sony’s new LittleBigPlanet video game for the PS3 console. The game was scheduled to arrive in stores next week - but recent news have stated that it will be delayed.

This “social plat forming” game has been generating excellent reviews - but it seems that there is one Muslim group that has e-mailed complaints to Sony because of the background music. The music was performed by the award winning Toumani Diabate - the Malian musician. The songs quote two verses from the Qur’an and because of this many Muslims find this offensive to their religion.

Crash: Mind Over Mutant is the next installment in the Crash adventure and if it is possible it is better then the others. Players will notice a few new features that include the ability to control enemies when they are ‘jacked’ and to store the mutants in Crash’s pocket. There they will be able to upgrade them and use their individual powers.

BlackFoot Studios announced this week that their new game Sky Gods will be available on the PS3, PC, and Xbox 360 during the first quarter of 2009. “Sky Gods will focus on a complete co-operative game experience centring on Special Forces operations, specifically HALO (High Altitude, Low Opening) and helicopter insertion missions,” the company said in a released statement.

The game itself will be using Unreal Engine 3 - which BlackFoot is hoping will help with the cross-platform development. “Unreal Engine 3 is proven on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with an art pipeline that allows for easy cross-platform development and drastically reduces the effort and costs involved with releasing a title on both PC and consoles,” the founder of BlackFoot Studios - John Sonedecker stated.

‘Too Human’ is the first in what will be a trilogy of games for the Xbox 360. The game is full of a parallel universe in which high-tech robots live together with Norse mythology and occasionally go at it.

Yet both constituencies are in for a luke-warm hybrid. The sword-and-sorcery set are the most ill-served as the game relies heavily on cinematic cut scenes that aim for mystery but ultimately just confound. It was three hours into the game, and I was still unsure who the bad guys were.

X-Blades is a third action game that features a heroine that can destroy anything that gets in her way with magic, guns, and knives. Players of the game will play Ayumi who is both stunning and a little bit seductive.

While using one of her many weapons she also performs some spectacular acrobatic moves. The story unfolds revealing demonic powers and spectacular landscapes, all ripe for exploration and battles. X-Blades features a special combination of cinematic style, stunning animation, and relentless, high speed gameplay.

Electronic Arts stated gave us a few details on their newest game Godfather 2. They stated that the second installment will be similar to the first and will even feature the original story using characters from the movie. The events surrounding the story will occur in New York, Florida, and Cuba.

Electronic Arts is introducing an additional strategy element to the game called “The Don’s View,” which allows players to oversee the entire world from afar as they grow the family business. “Running an organized crime family in a world defined by family loyalty is something that we felt could introduce a new strategic element to the genre,” said executive producer Hunter Smith.

Nintendo stated today that they have filed a lawsuit against five Japanese firms for selling and importing equipment that allows illegal game programs to play on Nintendo’s DS game player.

Nintendo said it filed the lawsuit earlier in the day at the Tokyo District Court together with 54 other Japanese software makers.

The SCEA released the PS3 firmware v2.40 last week and with it they offered owners XMB access in-game and allowed them to have a free test run of the new Trophy system. What they were hoping would be a big success turned into a problem - which forced Sony to stop the update.

Several PS3 owners were angered by the many major problems that were occurring while trying to access the new information and features. The company announced they are looking into the matter and will work with customers directly to solve the problem.

Most single shooter games that can be used for multiplayer purposes will separate players in to two different teams; red and blue. Red has always been a powerful looking color – but now it seems that the color might offer more than what we originally thought.

The study – which will be published in the Cyberpsychology & Behavior Journal – tracked 1500 matches in Unreal Tournament in 2004. The game splits players into two different teams – the red and blue teams. There is nothing different between the two teams except that they are two different colors. This means that there should be no advantage over the other when playing.