54.6% of Xbox 360 fail in survey - Microsoft respond

Koyaku report - Microsoft's responded to Game Informer's controversial survey, which found 54.6 percent of Xbox 360s - among their readership anyway - have gone RRoD.

Microsoft didn't dispute numbers or offer their own, but did concede they're "constantly improving" the 360's design.

In a statement to TG Daily, Microsoft said:

Microsoft stands behind the Xbox 360 as a superior entertainment console with one of the best warranties in the industry. We are constantly improving the design, manufacture and performance of the console through extensive testing of potential sources of any problems. Xbox 360 is pleased to maintain the title of 'most played console' and the vast majority of Xbox 360 customers have enjoyed a terrific gaming and entertainment experience since their first day, and continue to, day in and day out.

As always, when you are dealing with a spokesman, it's what's not said that's the story. In this case, Microsoft didn't even take a swipe at Game Informer's survey methodology, or the staggering 54.6 percent figure. in February 2008, they disputed the validity of a report saying the console had a 16 percent failure rate.

Then again, Microsoft probably knows that to continue the who-shot-john over its original motherboard and Falcon designs is to propagate the console's rep as a failboat. Plus challenging someone else's numbers either dredges up ones reported in the past, or creates demands for you to produce your own. Probably best to give it some "superior console" boilerplate and invite the issue to go away.

Microsoft still didn't say anything about the suck-egg customer service numbers - that only 38 percent found theirs helpful.

Source: Kotaku

Puzzle? brings three new word games to the Xbox Live Indie Games channel

Utilising a word list of over 430,000 words in three exciting word games Puzzle? will prove entertaining and educational as you expand on your vocabulary exploring new words that you never thought existed.

Additionally if you fancy a bit of a timeout from word games, why not try out either single or local two player tic-tac-toe, which comes with Puzzle?

You can purchase Puzzle? today from the Xbox marketplace for only 80 Microsoft Points (US$1).

EyePet The next generation virtual pet for PlayStation 3 with screenshots

What makes a pet real? Introducing EyePet, the virtual pet that follows your every movement and command…

EyePet comes with an impressive array of abilities all made possible by Playstation Eye, the next-generation camera for PlayStation 3 slim (PS3). A loveable, simian-like pet, EyePet lives in an on-screen picture of your sitting room as captured second by second on Playstation Eye.



Working in ‘Augmented Reality’, EyePet is fully aware of people in the room and will interact with you and your environment. Place an object in front of the camera that EyePet hasn’t seen before and it’ll know exactly what to do with it, give it something new and it’ll examine it thoroughly. Tickle it by waving your fingers in front of the camera: it laughs, poke it: it jumps, roll it a ball: EyePet chases around the screen after it.

An incredibly lifelike little critter, EyePet gives you all the lovable benefits and interaction of a real-life pet without tearing up your sofa or making a mess on the rug. Kids and adults alike will love to customise, dress it and watch its facial expressions that range from the sweet to the cheeky to the hilarious. It’s all made possible by the power of PS3 which has enabled EyePet’s developers to achieve incredible graphics and animation in its facial reactions, lifelike fur and incredibly intelligent interaction with you, your environment and anything you choose to place in front of it.

EyePet will be available in late 2009, so prepare to bring a furry ball of mischief into your home and a new friend into your life.

Experience the first virtual pet who doesn’t just live on screen, he lives in the living-room. Using the PlayStation® Eye camera, EyePet will interact with users and the environment to deliver entertainment and fun for the whole family. With EyePet players will learn to care for their new pet, including teaching, feeding, and playing with them. Additionally, players can compete in daily challenges to make their EyePet more intelligent and agile, and to earn special rewards.



Features

EyePet Reacts to Every Move and Command – Place an object in front of the camera and EyePet will interact with it. Tickle EyePet by waving your fingers in front of the camera and he will laugh. Poke him, and he will jump. Roll a ball and EyePet will chase after it.
Customize Your EyePet – With over 250 unique collectibles you can customize your pet’s look by styling his fur, changing his clothes, and giving him new toys.
Graphics and Animation That Only the PS3 Can Deliver – EyePet features Pixar-like fur technology and facial expressions. Watch EyePet change as he evolves over time.
Create and Share With Friends – Draw new toys and watch EyePet interact with them as they spring to life on-screen.

Platform: PlayStation 3 system
Genre: Family
Rating: “RP” for “Rating Pending”
Peripheral: PlayStation Eye

Frank Lampard joins Rooney as cover athlete for upcoming EA video game 'FIFA 10'!

Electronic Arts Inc. today unveiled the global cover athletes for EA Sports FIFA 10. Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard joins Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney as the face of FIFA 10 worldwide on each available platform— the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, Wii, PC, PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo DS, PSP (PlayStation Portable) system and mobile.

FIFA 10 marks the fifth year the 23-year-old Rooney has been featured on the global pack cover of the FIFA franchise while the 31-year-old Lampard is on the cover for the first time in the FIFA franchise history.

“It is an honour to be part of the EA Sports FIFA franchise. Being on the cover of this fantastic football video game with such a rich history is really a great achievement for me”, said Lampard.

The two football greats will be joined by numerous stars from all over the world on regional packaging, including Karim Benzema in France, Xavi Hernandez in Spain, Giorgio Chiellini in Italy, Bastian Schweinsteiger in Germany and many others all over the world.

A full playable demo of FIFA 10 for the PLAYSTATION3 will be available for downloadable at the PLAYSTATION Store, for the Xbox 360 on Xbox Live Marketplace and for the PC at www.easports.co.uk/fifa10 as of September 10 in Europe and September 17 in North America. Play as Chelsea, Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Marseille, and Chicago Fire (MLS) and discover a football experience that will deliver a new standard for authenticity with gameplay refinements and innovations that will make it the most complete and intelligent simulation of football. In addition to playing an exhibition match, for the first time in a FIFA demo users will be able to upload created in-game videos to EA Football World.

Heavy Rain PlayStation 3 exclusive video game - a dark, emotional thriller where decisions can have dramatic consequences

Heavy Rain is a dark, immersive and emotionally-engaging experience; one that expands upon the innovative ideas of 2005’s acclaimed Fahrenheit to create a noir-thriller where decisions are charged with importance and actions can have drastic and unforseen consequences.

Breaking with traditional game conventions where necessary, the gameplay will be based around story, emotional involvement and the player’s decisions and interactions, rather than high-scores, combat and competition. Intuitive gameplay and controls are also fundamental to the experience – ensuring that the game is mature but accessible, and avoiding alienating players with obscure stats and complex interfaces.

In Heavy Rain you don’t watch the story – you play it. The dynamic narrative unfolds through the players actions - not cut scenes - and every action has a consequence. The choices you make and the way you interact with other characters have repercussions throughout the storyline. With unprecedented responsibility over the fates of the game’s characters, players will find Heavy Rain an emotional experience unlike any other. It dares to tackle subject matter and themes rarely touched upon in video games, making it a genuinely mature game for a new world of adult gamers.

Heavy Rain has been unveiled at Games Convention 2008 in Leipzig with a teaser trailer consisting of actual gameplay footage, demonstrating Quantic Dream’s use of stunning animation and motion-capture technology to create an atmospheric and thrilling experience.

Founded in 1997 by David Cage, French developer Quantic Dream has achieved international renown for its innovation within the games industry, particularly in the areas of interactive narration and emotional content. The studio’s record speaks for itself: in particular Quantic Dream was responsible for 2005’s award winning Fahrenheit (known as Indigo Prophecy in the US and Canada), a paranormal, interactive blend of film and gaming that was widely praised for re-imagining the adventure game genre.

Heavy Rain is the place where action gaming meets film-noir head-on, in an adventure unlike any other. A game where your mind, emotions and human nature will be put to the test like never before, Heavy Rain takes interactive entertainment down a dark, compelling path rarely ventured in the gaming world.

Join the reading revolution:digital reader coming to PSP and PSPgo (PlayStationPortable)

Sony announce the digital reader for PSP and PSPgo (PlayStationPortable), a new service that will allow PSP owners to access a range of media on their PSP. The digital reader service will be launched with Digital Comics this December in select countries, the U.S, and regions in Europe with other PAL territories to follow in 2010, putting PSP owners in control of a huge library of Digital Comics from provider partners including one of the leading comic publishers, Marvel Entertainment. Content from other partners such as IDW Publishing, iVerse Media and others, as well as graphic novels for bite-sized entertainment on demand and on the go will be available.

The new Digital Comics service will let you download hundreds of classic and new comics from PlayStation Store to your PSP, to read page by page or frame by frame wherever you are. The service lets you take a huge collection of comics out and about with you, allows you to pick up the latest edition from any Wi-Fi hotspot, and gives you a brand-new way to use your PSP for entertainment on the go.




The digital reader for PSP will offer the biggest names in comics, including content from Marvel Entertainment‘s Spider-Man, X-Men and the Fantastic Four, from IDW: TRANSFORMERS and Star Trek and in partnership with iVerse Media, brands like Archie Comics, and Image Comic's Proof, whilst other content will include graphic novels, comics from a variety of local publishers and the latest underground sensations. More and more titles will arrive on PlayStation Store with monthly content updates, offering a huge choice of quality titles at your fingertips, allowing you to take your favourite comic characters with you on the move.

“This is a great new service that offers PSP owners even more options for entertainment on the go and makes PSP a must for comics fans,” says Isabelle Tomatis, European Marketing Manager, Hardware and Platforms, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. 
“Digital Comics will sit alongside the new PlayStation®Network video delivery service as yet another way that PSP offers a whole world of entertainment in your hands.”

“PSP’s new digital reader offers an unprecedented consumer experience that will extend the world of Marvel from print pages into the hands of fans around the world. We are excited to be part of this launch,” said Ira Rubenstein, executive vice president, global digital media group, Marvel Entertainment.

The intuitive Autoflow feature allows you to zoom in and move from frame to frame on each digital page, mimicking the way your eyes would move across a print page from left to right. It’s straightforward and simple to use, and thanks to PSP’s high contrast LCD screen, your comics will be looking better than ever as the stunning graphics leap out from the screen.

Digital Comics will be launching on the UK, US, Irish, Australian, New Zealand and South African PlayStation Stores this December, with other PAL territories to follow, and with more and more comics and graphic novels arriving every month. Consumers will first need to connect their PSP via Wi-Fi to the PlayStation Store to download the digital reader. Once downloaded, they can return to the Store to choose from a wide variety of comics available.

Gran Turismo 5 damage mainly cosmetic? Kotaku take to the Tokyo roads...

Sony had a playable version of Gran Turismo 5 at GamesCom, a brief and very limited demo that offered a look at one feature fans have been requesting for years-car damage.

Well, we certainly damaged that Subaru Impreza.


Read the full post here on Kotaku...

Tesco to sell PSPgo at discount in UK at under £200 (still more expensive than a PlayStation 3 slim)

Tesco, the UK retailer has listed the PSPgo for £199.97 ($329.98) that's less than Sony RRP of £224.99 ($371.34).

Most of the other retailers have stayed with RRP. The supermarket have not only undercut the price they also offer Free delivery on all pre-orders. So, the PSPgo will be more expensive that the PlayStation 3 slim!

Their release date is listed as October 2nd 2009 (one day later than Sony's).

Tesco listing...

The new PSP Go system is a sleek and lightweight system that is more than 50 percent smaller and more than 40 percent lighter than the original PSP system that launched in 2005. The sophisticated and stylish design incorporates a sliding 3.8-inch display screen, delivering the same high resolution and vibrant visuals as the current PSP-3000 model.

Leveraging PlayStation Network and digital content exclusively, PSP go system features 16GB of internal memory as well as expandable storage via Memory Stick Micro (M2) to store plenty of games, videos, photos, and music.

The PSP go system is designed for the digital lifestyle, offering on-demand entertainment to consumers who want to download content directly to their device anytime, anywhere over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth

Could Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 could become the best selling game of all time?

That's what US retailer GameStop think...

"Although we have seen some title slippage, we still see a strong fall line-up, led by Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, and Halo 3 ODST, and expect that Modern Warfare 2 could be the best-selling title of all time," said Julian Paul Raines, chief operating officer, in a conference call to investors.


Pre-orders for the game are strong, said GameStop, with consumers upgrading from the standard and Hardened editions, priced at USD 59.99 and 79.99 respectively, to the Prestige Edition, which ships with night vision goggles for USD 149.99.

"We believe that Modern Warfare 2 has a chance to be the largest title of all time and obviously we are basing that on the reservation activity that we are seeing in our stores, so we continue to see strong reservation activity," added Tony Bartel, executive vice president.

"We have very strong reservations on the Call of Duty Prestige Edition and that’s obviously a price point. There’s a lot of excitement around the goggles on that, so we have a very strong demand that we are seeing in our reservations. Once that was announced, we had a lot of reservations move from the base version to the Prestige version, which is a very good sign."

The company also gave an indication of titles it expects to boost sales in the first half of next year, including Halo Reach, Final Fantasy XIII, Gran Turismo 5, God of War III, Metal Gear Solid, Super Mario Galaxy II, Bioshock 2, Splinter Cell Conviction and Starcraft 2.



"Those are great titles, close to a dozen great titles that we have that will impact us favourably and impact the entire industry favorably in 2010," offered Bartel.

And following a number of high-profile delays, CEO Daniel DeMatteo added that it was unusual for retailers to have a clear indication of titles for the following year, which leads the company to believe 2010 will start with a bang.

"I never remember a time when we had as much knowledge this far in advance of titles that are going to be releasing into the following year," he told investors.

"Many of these titles have moved either because of they just weren’t complete or not ready, which I believe are probably the majority, or some of them may have moved just because of the competition in the back half of the year and maybe the economy."

He also said that hardware sales should start moving again now that Sony has announced a price cut for the PlayStation 3, and the company is assuming that competitors Microsoft and Nintendo will follow by reducing their own hardware.

"The recently announced Sony price cuts and most likely others should get the installed base growing again.

"Historically what has happened is that manufacturers follow the others with a price reduction. We assume in our forecast that some time in Q3 that that will occur, but we don’t have any data on that. We have an assumption it will," he concluded.

Source: GamesIndustry

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat PC video game Interview with developer

The announcement of a new S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, Call Of Pripyat, offers an intriguing prospect. It’s a trilogy-completing work – with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky acting as prequel – and it proports to show what took place in the zone after the events of Shadow Of Chernobyl.



The initial announcement seemed to promise a great deal: enhanced A-Life, more freedom, and more survival conditions to consider. But what else is in there? And what did the Ukrainian company learn from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky? GSC’s Oleg Yavorsky took some time out to answer our questions, and to reveal a bit more about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call Of Pripyat.

Q: Do you think you learned any important lessons from the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky? Has that shaped how you’ve approached work on Call Of Pripyat?

Yavorsky: Clear Sky has been a good lesson for us indeed, primarily in the aspect of game stability and playability. There were a lot of changes both in technology and gameplay that we did for Clear Sky, but we had no time to polish and fix everything as proper before the release. With Call of Pripyat now we are taking a safer route by, firstly, building the game on the technology we’ve been polishing since Clear Sky, secondly, getting rid of some features which did not work out well – such as global war of factions, for example; and thirdly, by taking more serious approach to testing the game.

Q: Can you tell us about the new areas of the zone that Call of Pripyat will include? How much of this new material is taken from the real Chernobyl zone?

Yavorsky: We will present a complete set of new locations in Call of Pripyat. This includes the Pripyat river basin and its rusty fleet standing still for over 20 years now, the Kopachi village completely buried after the accident, Jupiter factory located on the outskirts of Pripyat, the railway station Yanov, and, to crown it all – an entire district of Pripyat, modeled in its real scope. Many players have repeatedly asked us to implement Pripyat in the game, so we decided to satisfy their wish.

I think Call of Pripyat will be the most photo-realistic, and hence, atmospheric S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game of all three.

Q: Can you explain how you’ve changed the A-Life system for this new game?

Yavorsky: Firstly, we picked the best-liked features from SoC and CS games to preserve them in Call of Pripyat. Secondly, we added a number of touches to make the world and its atmosphere more believable. Hence, day and night cycles will affect the behaviour of both monsters and NPCs: monsters will be more active and go hunting prey at night, while NPCs will try to find shelter and return to bases after seeking artifact and day-patrolling as night descends. To liven up the game world, each character/monster has been attributed their deadly enemies. Mutants hunt humans, bandits are after neutral s.t.a.l.k.e.r.s, Duty faction is after mutants.

Thirdly, hunger and sleep will have their effect too in the game: if the player is hungry, it will take him longer to restore his stamina. Sleep function will help you to refresh yourself, so as to speed up the time a bit (which may be useful in case you have a night mission designated to start at a particular time at night, for example).

This said, we gave all monsters an updated look, changed their behaviour in combat (so as to make them tougher and more interesting to fight with), added a couple new monsters – Burer and Chimera.

Q: How much inspiration do you take from the work done by the modding community on the previous Stalker games?
Yavorsky: We are very pleased to see how active the modding community is with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – we’ve seen a number of interesting modifications done by the fans (AMK-mod, for example). When it comes to development of the next official games, however, I’d say we rather build them the way we see as proper and our own style, rather than copy mod-makers’ ideas. Our ambition is to present players our own S.T.A.L.K.E.R. as we see it (and we still have a number of ideas to get implemented). Nevertheless, we do listen to a lot of feedback received from players and their wish-lists. It helps us make decisions on which directions to take for the series.

Q: From the patch notes: “Sleep function added into the game.” That’s a function that was unlocked by several mods…

Yavorsky: As opposed to pure story presentation element, the sleep function this time will have its gameplay role. As mentioned, you can take a nap to save time and not walk about in wait for your mission to start at a certain time. After sleeping your character will also restore his powers. You will only sleep in safe dedicated spots, such as s.t.a.l.k.e.r. bases, for example.

Q: Can you explain how the game will be playable “after completion in a freeplay mode”? Is this tied to the extended side-quests?

Yavorsky: The free play mode is designed for those players, who prefer to stay in the game and explore as much as they want without the need to re-play it to see all of it. So, you’ll be able to travel freely, enjoy the A-life around and accomplish quests you missed during the play through.

Q: Do you expect to return to the underground “horror” sequences of the original Shadow Of Chernobyl? Yavorsky: We will provide a couple underground locations for players to explore in Call of Pripyat, so beware of spooky monsters!

Q: Replacing English dialogue with the original Russian dialogue seems like a popular modification – have you considered an all-Russian dialogue option with English subtitles, as CD Projekt did with Polish in The Witcher?

Yavorsky: Thanks for the idea! At least part of our S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games has been in Russian already (such as campfire stories, combat shouts (predominantly rude ones!)). We’ll consider adding even more of the language flavoured with vodka, bears and balalaikas.

Q: Is there much you still have to do with the original Stalker setting? Can we expect another “new” Stalker title from GSC one day?

Yavorsky: I assure you there’s a lot of ideas still untouched about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe and setting. We are building plans for the full-fledged sequel game, but it’s too early to talk about it at this point.

Call Of Pripyat is due for release in Autumn 2009.

System requirements:

Minimum System Requirements

* Intel Pentium 4 2.0 Ghz / AMD XP 2200+
* 512 MB RAM
* 128 MB DirectX 8.0 compatible card / nVIDIA GeForce 5700 / ATI Radeon 9600

Recommended System Requirements

* Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 / AMD 64 X2 5600+
* 2 GB RAM
* 512 MB DirectX 9.0c compatible card / nVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX / ATI Radeon HD 4850

The plot and quests here on gamezplay...