As promised, the demo for THQ's upcoming game Saint's Row is now available in the Xbox Live Marketplace. The demo comes in at 904.96mb, so if you're like me, your hard drive should be getting pretty crowded by now.
Electronic Arts has released the first map pack for the Xbox 360 version of Battle for Middle Earth II. The pack, entitled Aragorn's Journey reportedly contains just 3 maps for a whopping 700 points ($8.75) - no thanks guys, even if I had bought and enjoyed the game, no way I'd spend that much for three lousy maps. Those that do feel the need to be bent over can find the download in the Xbox Live Marketplace.
Gamespot is carrying a report that Crytek, the makers of the CryEngine used in many games and the developers of the much anticipated game Crysis, is looking for Playstation 3 programmers with cross-platform experience.
While that doesn't necessarily mean that those programmers are going to work on a PS3 version of Crysis, it would be a strong possibility. Hell, It certainly would be nice to see some good Playstation 3 news, though a multi-console launch would be even sweeter.
A few months back, we noted a PSM report that showed that there was a third party original Playstation controller made in 1999 than featured the same tilt effects as the newly unveiled "innovative" Playstation 3 controller. We thought that was kind of embarrassing for Sony at the time. We didn't know the half of it...
The folks over at GoNintendo have looked a bit further back into the mists of time and found that a third party "tilt" controller was also available for the Super Nintendo... back in 1996. What really worries me about the "tilt" features in both the Wii and PS3 controllers is that I question how friendly it may be to the user in the long run. I can speak from experience that I don't hold a controller perfectly still the entire time I play a game, and if those motions could throw the game off somehow, then there's going to be a problem.
I'm trying to stay optimistic that both controllers have been thought through better than their previous incarnations - sure, the earlier "tilt" controllers never caught on, but the systems they were on were never designed with them in mind. Hopefully at some point I'll get to go hands on with the controllers and put that issue and many of my other fears about them to rest.
Check out the GoNintendo article here and our previous article about the PS1 tilt controller here.
Gamespot has posted an interview with Doug Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) - the host organization for E3. In addition to explaining the "official" reasons behind the changes that are being made, Lowenstein confirmed that the new E3 will take place sometime in July, most likely early in the month.
While nothing is concrete yet, those looking for more information on just what exactly will be happening to the show can check out the Gamespot interview here and our previous articles on the changes here, here and here.
Let's get the question that's on everyone's mind out of the way first - is E3 cancelled? No folks, it's not, but E3 is going to be changing massively;
"To better address the needs of today’s global computer and video game industry, the 2007 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo) is evolving into a more intimate event focused on targeted, personalized meetings and activities, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced today.
“The world of interactive entertainment has changed since E3Expo was created 12 years ago. At that time we were focused on establishing the industry and securing orders for the holiday season,” said Douglas Lowenstein, President of the ESA, the trade association representing U.S. computer and video game publishers and the owner of E3Expo. “Over the years, it has become clear that we need a more intimate program, including higher quality, more personal dialogue with the worldwide media, developers, retailers and other key industry audiences." -ESA press release
In other words, take away all the flash, glitter and drama of E3 and reduce it to a much more intimate meeting between the media and exhibitors. Perhaps the best explanation of what to expect comes a few sentences later;
"While there will be opportunities for game demonstrations, E3Expo 2007 will not feature the large trade show environment of previous years.
“E3Expo remains an important event for the industry and we want to keep that sense of excitement and interest, ensuring that the human and financial resources crucial to its success can be deployed productively to create an exciting new format to meet the needs of the industry. The new event ensures that there will be an effective and more efficient way for companies to get information to media, consumers, and others” "- ESA press release
What I expect based on these statements is that the "show" will now consist of much more simple booths that are designed around showcasing the content the company has without having to catch your attention from half a mile away. I'm guessing everything will be much more rigidly structured, (perhaps even having scheduled times for every attendee at every booth) so that everyone's product would at least in theory have a chance to be looked at.
Most of the fine details still seem up in the air, which gives the press release a sense of "we managed to come to this agreement at the last second to save the show" rather than "we've been thinking about this since last May"
I've also got to say that the statement "E3 remains an important event for the industry" should be viewed with a lot of skepticism. I'd also be very interested to see how they plan on deciding who is worthy of attending the new format and who isn't.
Bottom line? (in my opinion)- the E3 everyone knew as the Super Bowl of gaming is dead, but it's being replaced with the Arena Bowl. Is that a good thing? Only time will tell - but from an average consumer's point of view, it sounds like it's bound to become a "who cares?" non-event. I'll continue keeping my fingers crossed that some of those cash savings will go towards more consumer friendly events or programs.
Check out the ESA press release here and our previous coverage of this story, here and here.
Gamasutra is reporting that the rumors of E3's death are greatly exaggerated. According to Gamasutra's sources, while the expo will be changing, it is not being cancelled.
"Despite sensationalist headlines regarding E3's outright cancellation from several online sources, Gamasutra has learned that the event is currently under significant threat for downsizing and relocation in 2007, due to dissatisfaction from major publishers over the cost of the LA-based event." -Gamasutra
While all signs are pointing towards some form of major change, my guess is that with all the rumors. speculation and "inside sources" floating about, we're not going to know the whole story until the ESA fills everyone in (hopefully) later today. For now, I'm sticking with my "I doubt it (a full cancellation) will happen, but it would make sense" position as stated in an earlier article. Naturally, we'll report on any new information as it becomes available.
Check out the Gamasutra article here, our earlier story on the rumors here and several of the other articles from around the net at the following sites;
Next-Generation, Kotaku, Major Nelson, Gamerscore Blog, Evil Avatar, Destructoid, Joystiq, Gamespot, IGN
No, we didn't miss an update, the MAME32 team bypassed v.107 and went straight for v.107.1. My guess is that MAME v.107u1 corrected many of the problems that were hindering the work on the latest Windows port of the emulator, and since they were going to have to upgrade to it eventually anyway, they just went right to .107.1.
Check out the official MAME32 page here for more details and the download links.
The first interim update to MAME v.107 is now available. This time around the update centers around problems found in the full version of 1.07, so we're going to hold back on our usual advice of waiting for the next full or feature packed release and state that if you upgraded to v.107, you're probably best off picking up this update. The files can be found at the official MAME page at Mamedev.org. You can Click here to see what's new in this update.
Another slow week with not much to look forward to. I guess if you really tried, you could get excited about yet another Super Monkey Ball game or if you really pushed it, Flatout 2. I however, just don't have that kind of energy to spare.
Here are the weeks scheduled releases;
Please keep in mind these are only estimated release dates and could change at any time.
