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Battlefield 1943 Xbox 360 Review
July 13th, 2009
Battlefield 1943
When video games first release you have to expect that there will be bugs. By bugs I mean things like:
- Lag
- Random deaths
- Not being able to connect to the game
- Graphic glitches and/or missing textures
- Game mechanics not working properly
These are just a few things to expect when you go to play a game that has just been released. Most developers try to keep these to a minimum and very rarely does a game have multitudes of problems. Unfortunately for EA and Dice, Battlefield 1943 was one of those very unlucky games that had just about every problem possible.
With such a large company like EA backing Dice, the bugs were quickly fixed and game play resumed after only a short while. Frankly, these release hiccups are the only thing that was negative about this game. Now that we’ve got the bad out of the way let’s jump right into the good parts of BF1943, which is just about everything.
Online Gaming, Playstation 3, Video games review, Vigster, gaming, video games, xbox360
Sony Hopes to Merge Their Cell Phone with a PSP
July 1st, 2009
Photo courtesy of www.dailygamenews.com
Do you ever wonder what would happen if you took a hand-held gaming console and cell phone and merged the two together? Sony has and they want to turn their PSP into a cell phone gaming console. The concept isn’t all that new since many cell phones offer games of some sort, even if they’re simple in design and play style.
Many devices are being merged together with every passing year. You can watch movies on hand-held devices, listen to music, talk on the phone and even surf the web. Taking a gaming system and merging it with a cell phone was bound to happen at some point. Since Sony is often at the cutting edge of consumer technology, it’s no surprise it would be them to introduce it.
Sony has a prototype for their new device but is keeping details at a minimum. This comes as no surprise since Apple dominates with the iPod and the iPhone. Apple has big companies like Electronic Arts and Square Enix offering games for certain products they manufacture. Sony is attempting to get a working product so they’re not shut out by the Apple giant again.
Sony knows all too well what will happen if they fall behind with this new device. Back when Walkmans came out, Sony did very well for themselves. Even when CD players were brought into the mix, Walkmans were still a huge hit. Most people didn’t have access to a computer to make their own CD’s but could put together a mix on a tape. This all changed when Apple came out with their iPod and dominated the industry.
Sony plans to get a team together next month to start work on their new product. The details they have released say that the device will be a hybrid between the PSP and the Sony Ericsson phone. The product won’t look much different than the current PSP or some cell phones that have keyboard access. No details have been released about what types of features will be offered. We can only guess that it won’t be much different than what you can get from your cell phone or PSP.
However, don’t get your hopes up on getting one of these anytime soon. Sony Ericsson holds a patent for the device but refuses to comment on it. PSPhones were confirmed and denied back in 2007 but no one has released anything solid. Even when these products hit the market, companies will have to see how popular they are before we see an influx in them. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to get our hands on one of these amazing gadgets.
World of Warcraft Paid Faction Changes Coming Soon
July 1st, 2009
World of Warcraft
Are you fed up with your faction on World of Warcraft? Do you have friends that play the opposite faction and you want to play with them but don’t want to lose your level 80 that you’ve worked so hard on? If you’ve ever wanted to change sides just to see how they operate, then you won’t have to wait much longer. Blizzard has just announced that players that want to change factions will be able to do so sometime in the future with an upcoming patch.
While they’re not giving many details on exactly how they’re going to implement the change we can only speculate that it will be much like their other change systems. Right now World of Warcraft players have the chance to change their name, their realm and even completely re-customize their appearance. All of these changes can be made from your account settings and cost just a little bit of money.
PS3 May Play PS2 Games Without PS2 Chips
July 1st, 2009
Playstation 2 and Playstation 3
Do you have hundreds of PS2 titles that you can’t play on your PS3? So do the rest of us! A new Sony patent might change all of that. This new patent shows how Sony can take the PS3 chipset and give it the ability to read like it was a PS2 chipset allowing it to play games from the older console version. Even though the PS2 can play PS games the PS3 wasn’t meant to play PS2 games.
One of the biggest downsides to consoles is that every few years there comes an upgrade and you can’t play your older games on the newer system. This is almost as annoying as PC gamers who have to upgrade their systems every six to twelve months just to play the newest games on the best settings. If Sony steps up and offers the PS3 with the ability to play older games, then PS2 owners will be able to play their favorite titles on a newer and better system.
So you’re probably wondering how all of this works. PS3’s without backwards technology are missing a chip known as the Emotion Engine. PS3 chipsets should be able to emulate (make a fake copy of) this and thus give the ability to play PS2 games. Sony has recognized this possibility by filing a patent that states they have the code and technology available to do just that.
Video Game Sales Fall in May
June 24th, 2009
Breaking in the video gaming industry reports that overall video game sales dropped 23% this May as compared to last year. It also means sales are down below the one billion dollar mark for the first time since August 2007 (according to a report by the NPD group). Some blame the summer season and others blame the lack of good games released at this particular time of the year.
Video Game Sales Fall in May
Since last year, sales of video game hardware, software and accessories dropped from $1.2 billion to $863.3 million this May. Every category dropped versus last year’s standings except for portable hardware sales which are actually up a bit due to the Nintendo DS, DSi and Lite.
Of all the platforms selling, the Wii from Nintendo is still the favorite and showed May sales of 289,500 units. Microsoft Xbox came in second with 175,000 units and the PlayStation 3 from Sony can in with 131,000 units. Surprisingly, the PlayStation 2 is still making sales following in close to the PS3 with 117,000 units sold.
Xbox 360 Games on Demand Video Demo
June 10th, 2009
At the E3 Video game convention, Microsoft unveiled its Xbox 360 Games on Demand service. This service will provide people a way to download games without being forced to camp out at stores for midnight launches late at night. Each Xbox 360 system will log your credit card information to make it easy for every gamer to purchase new game downloads by only pressing a few buttons. One of the best parts of this service is that you can play one game that you have already downloaded while another one downloads at the same time.
Xbox 360 Games on Demand Video Demo
In the past, gamers were only allowed to download small mini games via the Xbox Live Marketplace. With Xbox 360 Games on Demand gamers will now be able to download full length games instead of just mini games. This is truly a revolutionary innovation from Xbox because it has provided gamers with a way to make large purchases without being forced to go to a store and purchase a CD. It’s also a big marketing move by Xbox because they realize people will be more inclined to make purchases if they can do it from the comfort of their own home.
If you’ve purchased an Xbox game before then you’ve probably had to deal with scratched disks from time to time. As a result, you might have even had to purchase a brand new disk in order to play your favorite game. With the Xbox 360 Games on Demand service gamers won’t have to worry about scratched disks any longer. Instead of the files for their disk being located on the disk, they will be located on the hard drive of the Xbox. At this point, some gamers may be thinking that they will lose all of the money they invested in those games if their Xbox breaks.
When you download a game via the Xbox 360 Games on Demand service you will be linking the purchase to your Xbox Live account. If your Xbox breaks, you will still be able to download your games onto another Xbox. Microsoft keeps a record of which games you have paid for associated with each account and they realize that Xbox consoles can break from time to time. Either way, the Xbox 360 Games on Demand service will provide gamers with a way to play their favorite Xbox games without being forced to worry about a scratched disk.
Gran Turismo 5 Features
June 10th, 2009
Gran Turismo 5 showcased their new game, Gran Turismo 5 at the E3 2009 Sony Press Conference. If you’ve never played the game before, you should know that it is a racing game. You can play the game from the view point of the driver as well as from a third person view from behind the car. Sony has made many significant advances since the release of Gran Turismo 4. Some of the most significant advances that have come about are with the graphics driver. Most gamers that played the game thought that the race cars looked almost realistic.
Gran Turismo 5
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