Warp Zoned Presents
Author: Mike Gutierrez
The G-Spot: Why Other OS Isn’t Worth Bringing Back (Much Less Stealing Credit Cards Over)
As the PlayStation Network is set to recover from the worst outage in the history of the service, there’s been a lot of talk about the feature this whole debacle started over. In the early days, one of the distinctive features Sony touted of the PlayStation 3 was its Other OS option, the ability to install operating systems such as Linux on your system. With the advent of the PS3 Slim, Sony removed this functionality, setting off a terrible chain reaction. First, the homebrew community managed to bring it back, which almost immediately opened the floodgates for hackers to destroy public matches on the PlayStation Network. Thereafter, Sony pursued litigation against modders looking to jailbreak PS3s, which led hacking groups like Anonymous to launch even more attacks on the PSN. It’s a complicated debate with valid points on both sides, but there’s no end in sight for gamers who have been written off as “collateral damage” by Anonymous. Given how few people actually ran Linux on PS3, it seems most don’t know what the feature they’re arguing about actually did. This installment of the G-Spot chronicles this ultimate irony: that one of the most lamentedly lost features on the PlayStation 3 wasn’t even worth keeping around to begin with. (more…)
Nintendo blaming earthquake for slow 3DS sales
The Nintendo 3DS has sold well, really well in fact, pushing over 3.6 million units worldwide so far. But that’s shy of the 4 million Nintendo projected, leading President and CEO Satoru Iwata to conclude, “the great earthquake largely affected the sales.”
That’s some confusing logic right there, considering more 3DS units have been sold in Japan than any other region. If the entire 3DS shipment sold out in a day, how many more units could they hope to sell?
Iwata seems just as confused, changing his analysis to a lack of marketing. “We are in a situation where we need to step up our efforts to further promote the spread of Nintendo 3DS… it has become clear that we need to do a lot more to convey the value to consumers.”
Nintendo has another marketing push planned for May, when a lot of those borderline insane features become available, like the eShop, Netflix, and free access to AT&T Hot Spots. If you ask me, Nintendo’s uncharacteristic lack of a killer app upon launch is to blame, such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and the bewildered little guy you see above.
The Witcher 2 opening level actually looks really cool
If you listen to the Warp Zoned Podcast, you’ll know I’m not a big fan of Western RPGs. So it’s saying something when even I have to admit that The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is looking pretty awesome. CD Projekt released the dev diary above, narrated by some guy with a vague European accent. Regardless, it does a great job showing off the opening sequence, as well as the character progression and variety thereof. They even give you a taste of bar-room brawling!
The Witcher 2 will be available on PC May 17, 2011.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
LucasArts licenses Unreal Engine 3
LucasArts and Epic Games have announced a long-term contract licensing LucasArts to utilize Unreal Engine 3, across all their studios and for multiple titles. This seems kind of late in the game, especially considering the Ronin engine for The Force Unleashed games looks pretty solid on its own. But I guess it could be a great solution for multiplatform games, especially going into the future.
Mark Rein, VP of Epic Games said, “LucasArts is now primed to capitalize on Unreal Engine 3’s ability to scale across platforms, from mobile, through PC and console all the way up to the next generation of games.”
So anybody want to take a guess what these new multiplatform titles will be? Star Wars: Battlefront III, anyone?
Posted in News
Tagged Star Wars 1313
Jurassic Park delayed on PC/Mac, multiplatform launch coming Fall 2011
Last month we posted an in-depth dev diary and confirmed that Jurassic Park: The Game would have an April release date for the Mac and PC, with console versions coming later in the Fall. Telltale is scrapping that schedule, instead opting for a simultaneous multiplatform release later this year. This doesn’t seem to be an arbitrary decision, with the company genuinely wanting to make the best game possible:
We see a ton of potential in the game’s exciting mechanics and style and feel we can take what we already have in place to an even more thrilling level, so we’ve decided to continue work on the game and launch the PC/Mac version of Jurassic Park: The Game to coincide with the our multiplatform release in fall 2011.
As an apology to those who pre-ordered the first full season on Mac or PC, Telltale will refund your money and send you a voucher for a copy of any Telltale game you wish, regardless of whether you want to wait and use it for Jurassic Park later in the year.
Jurassic Park: The Game is coming to PC, Mac, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Jurassic Park
THQ renews Warhammer 40,000 license
THQ and Games Workshop have announced today that they are renewing THQ’s exclusive license to prepare video game adaptations of the popular Warhammer 40,000 tabletop war game.
The publisher has two Warhammer 40,000 games in development: PC/360/PS3 third person shooter Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine and MMORPG Warhammer 40,000: Dark Milennium Online. THQ President and Ceo Brian Farrell expressed his enthusiasm for both games, still scheduled to launch this year, saying, “our envisioning of the Warhammer 40,000 universe will continue to grow with top quality games across all platforms, including the upcoming launches of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine and Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online.”
The last big game to come out of this license, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, was a notable success among PC gamers, breathing a little extra life into the Real Time Strategy genre.
In other tabletop news, anyone wanna get in on a D&D campaign?
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Warhammer 40000: Dark Millennium Online, Warhammer 40000: Space Marine
Nintendo Wii 2 may use “Screen Stream” to make you scream (no news of Steam)
In the flurry of Nintendo Wii 2 rumors and news, yet another tidibit of information has trickled down for Mario’s next console.
The pic on your left shows a slide from a Nintendo presentation, possibly for E3, possibly for developers they’re showing off the console to. It displays an interesting prototype design, one looking a lot like those controllers we reported the Wii 2 may have.
Even more interesting is the fact that Nintendo may be pursuing a new take on splitscreen gaming, taking the partitions of a screen during such multipalyer sessions and putting it on a controller. It’s also reminiscent of the Gamecube’s Gameboy Advance interoperability, putting certain elements on the screen for games like Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. You have to admit, if it’s going to be a small screen anyway, it’s kind of like taking the tried-and-true couch multiplayer and turning it into handheld multiplayer. Those controllers better have speakers!
The Nintendo Wii 2 will be officially unveiled at this year’s E3. We’ll keep you posted on all the details.
Sony still analyzing extent of damage to PSN, unsure if credit card info was compromised
It’s been a rough couple days for PlayStation Network users, and despite rumors of the service coming back online soon, there’s really no end in sight. The latest update from the PlayStation Blog claims there’s no “update or timeframe to share at this point in time,” but that they’ll let us know as soon as new information becomes available.
Satoshi Fukuoka, spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment in Tokyo, stated that a full investigation is underway to resolve the problem, which still is not being disclosed to the public. Even more alarming is that the company doesn’t know the scope of the security breach, stating that they don’t know if credit card information has been stolen. Fortunately, Fukuoka assures everyone that PlayStation will disclose such a breach immediately if it turns out to be true.
This is getting really bad, but I’m sure we all know who’s really behind this, despite them claiming they wouldn’t attack the PSN anymore. I guess they’ve gone back to looking at gamers everywhere as collateral damage.
Posted in News, PS3, PSP
Tagged ApocalyPS3 2011