October 28th, 2007 Hans
Amazon.co.uk Best Sellers
Be sure to memorize the screenshot shown above. This is what Christmas will look like for the Xbox 360 across all retail outlets, especially in the UK where the Xbox 360 ranks 95th on the amazon charts. PS3, in comparison, is ranked 13th and has PES soccer tearing up the charts for the PS3 software, whereas the 360 version is nowhere to be found.
Truth be told, the Xbox 360 was stillborn in the UK. The only reason it was able to linger around for this past year is due to the fact that the PS3 has only just recently released in the region. Let’s also not forget the fact that in the UK the PS3 is priced $200 more expensive than the Xbox 360. Who can blame them for wanting to pay more for quality? Eight synergistic processors compared to three. Blu-Ray instead of DVD. nVidia instead of ATi. Free online with dedicated servers compared to 56k p2p garbage. Free wifi. Standard Hard Drives. 0% failure rate versus 75% failure rate. Is there any redeeming quality to the Xbox 360?
Peter Moore is leaving the sinking Xbox 360 ship. Robbie Bach is leaving the sinking Xbox 360 ship. Bungie is leaving the sinking Xbox 360 ship. And now the UK is leaving the titanic, although that analogy might not be fitting because let’s not ever try and compare the Titanic with the Xbox 360 — at least the Titanic was the most powerful ship of its time and sank because it hit an iceberg. The 360 fails just by turning it on. Perhaps if the Titanic were a small motorboat that failed upon engine startup the analogy would be a bit more fitting. Nevertheless, this only suggests the question of when, not if, the Xbox 360 will sink in America.
Posted in Industry News, Other Systems | 146 Comments »
October 24th, 2007 Hans
The Good:
- Shooting and platforming gameplay is fun.
- Lots of different and useful weapons.
- Beautiful, colorful visuals.
- Tight controls.
- There’s some good humor in it.
- The Story is interesting.
- Amazing ending.
- Wealth of gameplay variety gives the game compelling identity.
- Perfect gameplay difficulty.
The Bad:
Over the course of five years, Ratchet and Clank has crafted its own identity and has gone on to sell over 13 million titles world wide. It’s no surprise that the Playstation 3′s first outing continues this tradition by expanding upon the epic storytelling elements and caters to a broad audience. The title’s core gameplay is better than its predecessors and is amplified by countless interesting minigames and diverse gameplay mechanics. These issues put Ratchet and Clank clearly above its predecessors and represents the best title on the Playstation 3.
A good story would have been nice, and this is precisely what Insomniac has delivered. In fact, one of the strongest aspects of Ratchet and Clank is its story. You play as Ratchet, a Lombax on a mission to find his own origins along with his robotic sidekick, Clank. The game’s script, humor, and artistic direction rivals that of a Pixar movie and establishes Ratchet and Clank above all other titles of the genre. Without spoiling the title, the game ends magnificently and sets up a sequel perfectly.
The gameplay is a mixture of platforming and shooting which allows players a wide breadth of weapons at their disposal. This only solidifies Ratchet and Clank as a title with tremendous gameplay diversity and identity, something Insomniac is known for while lesser developers have been lacking over the recent years. Even more than platforming and shooting, the gameplay presents a few unique and diverse elements that spruce the experience up even more, especially with the spectacular space shooting sequences that bring back memories of Star Fox.
The visual package of Ratchet and Clank exceeds any other title released so far for next generation consoles. Sony made a promise to deliver Toy Story graphics on the Playstation 2, and while they came extremely close, they’ve satisfied this promise on the Playstation 3 with R&CF:ToD as it is indistinguishable from hollywood’s greatest CG movies. Ratchet and Clank’s audio is not only solid, but it is also remarkable and features an outstanding score that will keep you deeply engaged.
Try as it might, Tools of Destruction vastly exceeds the level of greatness exhibited by its predecessors. It’s a perfect difficulty, the story is epic and engaging, and the “throw everything including the kitchen sink” style of gameplay is a stellar combination along with the platforming and fun combat. That said, the gorgeous visuals and fun gameplay are enough to make Tools of Destruction receive the highest score in Sony Defense Force history, a well deserved 10.5/10.
Posted in Playstation 3, Reviews | 133 Comments »
October 18th, 2007 BennyB
The chart says it all. Sony has once again topped both Nintendo and Microsoft in September’s U.S. NPD sales charts. One must wonder how well Sony will do now that the $399 PS3s are hitting store shelves.
It’s also worth nothing that the Halo series is indeed showing a decline in popularity and system selling power.
Halo 2 Launch
Nov 2004 NPD: XBox: 708K
Halo 3 Launch
Sep 2007 NPD: XBox 360: 528K
After seeing this data one must wonder if it is indeed a good thing MS and Bungie split. It’s quite obvious their franchise is running out of steam.
Posted in Industry News, Other Systems, Playstation 3 | 142 Comments »
October 18th, 2007 blasphemy
We at the SDF headquarters knew a price drop was coming for the PS3 that would make it a bargain and Sony has just made promise to show that it will be number 1, again. As times had been harsh for Microsoft and Nintendo with their slumping sales, Sony has just been rolling on with the good news.
“The PlayStation 3 with an 80-gigabyte hard drive was cut to $499 from $599, effective immediately, Sony said in a statement today. A $399 model with 40 gigabytes of storage goes on sale Nov. 2, Jack Tretton, head of Tokyo-based Sony’s U.S. video-game unit, said in an interview. “
While we are basking in our glory, we would like to take time to rest assure that the Xbox 360 will not be forgotten. We know that Halo 3 was a big disappointment, the Red Rings Lights of Death have plagued over 1/3 of the Xbox 360 population, Bungie leaving Microsoft, Peter Moore leaving the sinking ship, paying for online multiplayer where the PSN is FREE. All of these cons of the inferior Xbox 360 will hopefully be forgotten with the sale surge of the PS3.
* The picture above is from Ps3fanboy.com, it is detailing the superiority of buying a PS3 at a significant decrease in price. It sure does look like the PS3 is by far the best console to date.
Posted in Playstation 3 | 53 Comments »
October 17th, 2007 blasphemy
Looks like the Sony marketing team is back in swing, with the introduction of 40Gb and 60Gb Skus sales have seen a dramatic leap in the UK. The sales were up 178 percent, this in turn lead to other great games like Heavenly Sword, Resistance: Call of Man and Motorstorm to move up in sales positions. With all of the bad news that the Microsoft fanboys like spew, this clearly states that the PS3 is here to stay.
*Look at all those people buying PS3′s
Posted in Playstation 3 | 79 Comments »
October 17th, 2007 m0dus
We told you so.
Live report from Capcom Gamer’s Day in London, Capcom announces Lost Planet: Definitive Edition for PS3:
- Available early 2008
- All bonus characters from PC version
- All downloadable content from X360 version
- All extra content made possible thanks to Blu-Ray
- 16 player multiplayer on dedicated servers on PSN
Source
Posted in Blu-ray, Playstation 3 | 58 Comments »
October 16th, 2007 Hans
The recent price drop of the Playstation 3 in Europe has shown clearly for all to see that Europe is, indeed, Sonyland once again. Currently, the PS3 is setting the charts on fire in the UK where it is ranked #2 amongst videogame sales and is #1 in France for amazon’s rankings.
Where is the Xbox 360 to be found on these charts? In Microsoft’s strongest European region, the UK, it is currently selling at an amazing rank of #27, while the system cannot be found in the top 100 for the French site.
This news should be extremely disappointing to Microsoft as it tries to establish a dominant presence outside of its native land. Unfortunately for them, this appears to not be the case. Perhaps the departure of Bungie, Peter Moore, and Robbie Bach’s stake in the Xbox division is a sign of things to come. Europeans simply aren’t interested in a console that is designed to look like a toy and has a failure rate exceeding 50%. Halo 3 has apparently hardly made a dent in sales for the UK and mainland Europe where Resistance is outselling the title, despite numerous bundles and packages that are priced well below the PS3.
European gamers in general appear to have more class and sophistication than their American counterparts, and this is shown in their strong endorsement of the playstation brand.
Posted in Industry News, Playstation 3 | 55 Comments »
