MAG (Massive Action Game) Official Trailer

Sony has unveiled MAG, an enormous action game exclusive to PS3 that boasts 256-player online battles.

The name means Massive Action Game, in case you were in any doubt, and SOCOM outfit Zipper Interactive is the studio behind it.

Lead designer Andy Beaudoin took to the E3 conference stage to fill us in, and revealed that each side will be broken down into eight-player squads led by those who had previously proven themselves.

There will be a character advancement trees to climb and you can fine-tune your soldier to fit your style. Eventually you will rank up and assume more responsibility in your throng.

The idea is to combine large-scale battles with the intimacy of squad combat.

All of this was illustrated in what appeared to be a CG trailer, which showed huge armies and multiple views of the action: commander view, top-down view - presumably depending on what role you take.

We'll hopefully have that for you soon.

MAG is due out sometime in 2009, or "beyond holiday season", as Sony boss Jack Tretton put it.

FF Versus XIII "PS3 Only Worldwide"

August 2, 2008 - While most of the attention regarding upcoming Final Fantasy titles have been heaped upon Final Fantasy XIII, Versus XIII is still being diligently worked on by Square Enix. At the DKΣ3713 Private party event in Harajuku today, Square showed off a brand new trailer that highlighted a large number of new characters, settings and even battles that look phenomenal.

The trailer started out with a quote stating that this game is "a fantasy based on reality." While we don't know what exactly the reality of the setting happens to be, the camera focused on a car that was speeding through a tunnel, and eventually showed the main character reclining in the back seat looking extremely bored as he was driven through the passageway. The next shot was a phrase that popped up, stating that "the real figure is still hidden in the sleep." Again, we weren't entirely sure who this real figure is, if it's the main character, who's the young king that's trying to defend his kingdom, or how they relate to the reality or fantasy of the game, but we were shown a sequence of the main character walking down stairs as a large group of armed soldiers opened fire upon him. This, and the deflection of the bullets with a crystalline shield, wasn't new, as we saw this at E3 two years ago. However, what was somewhat new was the addition of a mysterious woman that the main character appeared to come upon suddenly.

The amount of time that was provided to this sequence was quickly cut short, as the trailer went through a fast montage of various scenes, including the battle between the main character and how he destroyed the troops that fired on him, appearing to dislocate one soldier's arms with a sword and impaling others with another weapon. It also focused in on a group of men sitting in an elaborately decorated great hall, many of whom wore suits (akin to those of the Turks from Final Fantasy VII) and deferred their attention to one man that sat at the head of the table. With the scene taking the appearance of a boardroom meeting, it was quite apparent that the "chairman of the board" was rather displeased at events and it seemed like heads would roll.

One facet of the trailer that we weren't expecting was introduction of three new characters, who all interact with the young king much like a group of close friends or brothers would. We watched as the young king gets put in a headlock by a young blond man with a gun that looks like a cross between a sawed off shotgun and a grenade launcher. In turn, this guy is put into a headlock by a man with a scar across his left eye. The fourth man, who wears glasses, simply looked on and shook his head in disapproval. It's apparent that these men have some connection, and the trailer highlighted a few scenes that showed the four of them travelling in the king's car as well as walking away from an outcropping after noticing that a highway was washed out and they couldn't proceed along the road anymore.

Similarly, we weren't expecting that we would be shown someone that would stand up to the king, but we were shown two figures like that. The first was a hooded man who projected a large ring of swords around him as soon as the main character approached. The other was the mysterious woman mentioned previously, who fired up her magical abilities that flashed red as the young king's flashed blue. Both projected swords and appeared to clash with each other.

The trailer closed with a Shakespearean quote: "Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." While no date was given, the trailer did emphatically state that it was only for the PS3. So don't worry Final Fantasy fans, there's still one FF title that isn't going Microsoft's way.

By: Jeff Haynes IGN.com

PS3 Greatest Hits Starts Today

July 28, 2008 - If you're an avid reader of the official PlayStation Blog, you've probably seen big news break on the site. Today, Kim Nguyen, Marketing Manager for the PlayStation 3 brand, posted on the blog today announcing that the PS3's Greatest Hits collection launches today.

PlayStation 3 owners can now pick up several high-quality games for $29.99 -- a significant price cut. Games such as Warhawk, MotorStorm, Resistance: Fall of Man, Call of Duty 3, Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion all join the ranks of Greatest Hits, which is excellent news for the price-conscious gamer. The new boxes sport a stylish red case to differentiate them from other titles.

Report: Final Fantasy XIII coming to PS3 first, Xbox 360 later

Recent comments made by Square Enix suggest that Final Fantasy XIII may not come to Xbox 360 until well after the PS3 version is out.
Final Fantasy XIII coming to PS3 first it seems

Final Fantasy XIII coming to PS3 first it seems

According to Square Enix, "Work on the Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII would not begin until the PS3 version of the game was completed," reports GamePlayer, while referring to Square Enix's E3 press conference held on July 14.

"So unless something was lost in translation," speculates GamePlayer, don't expect to see Final Fantasy XIII on Xbox 360 until 2010, whereas the PS3 version is widely expected sometime in 2009.

When asked for clarification, a Square Enix representative told GamePro over the weekend: "Outside of the interviews we had at E3 we won't be able to provide any official comments right now."

Whatever happens, it's worth noting that Final Fantasy XIII has been in development on PS3 for some time, whereas the decision to port the game to Xbox 360 was only made recently, says Square Enix.

BY : Blake Snow

‘Solid’ finale is the best PS3 title in 2008

Even with a few technical oddities and inherently silly aspects, Solid Snake’s swan song, “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots,” is one of the most technically impressive video games ever made — and probably the best PlayStation 3 title currently available. If you have a penchant for excessively lengthy cinematics and cutscenes (at least a feature-length movie’s worth), all the better.

Like the 20-year-old franchise, protagonist Solid Snake has aged and the failing state of his mortal coil is one of the central notions of the game. Thankfully, so is getting back to the basic fun of skulking amidst the bad guys one minute and working them over the next with old-school, return-to-roots “tactical espionage action.”

The franchise has wandered harshly from the unique and clever gameplay conventions the first title created, adding too much absurdity and hokum for all but die-hard fans. But “Guns of the Patriots” is flat-out playable for anyone, while the story is still goofily philosophical and overblown enough to fit the time-honored “Metal Gear” bill.

Set a mere six years in the future, the game plops you right into the middle of a raging conflict between private military corporation troops and a local rebellion. Pitting one side against the other for your own gain is as crucial as it is entertaining. Cranking off a few well-placed rounds and then watching the fools wail on each other in a grand case of mistaken identity helps you get around without attracting unwanted attention.

But be warned: sparking such conflicts directly (and realistically) affects the price of available weapons and ammo.

Basic gameplay remains largely unchanged, but it is slightly improved. Combat with guns can take place from either a third-or first-person perspective, both equally useful depending on which weapon you’re using and in which circumstance. The camera now tends to center on key elements instead of leaving them up in the corner of the screen.

The game’s online multiplayer mode feels totally tacked on, but it does allow 16 players to go at it on five maps of conventional game types. This should be enough to hold most gamers over until Konami coughs up more downloadable multiplayer content slated for later this year.

Meanwhile, you’ve still got a game that’s frankly stunning in its sheer technical brilliance, good looks, lengthy-but-awesome cinematics and some halfway-coherent answers to many of the franchise’s long-running plot holes, dangling back stories and general dramatic mysteries.

The game’s famed designer, Hideo Kojima, has said that this is the last “Metal Gear” game, and he schools everybody by showing how an epically long-running game series should end: with a bang.

‘Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots’

Konami; PlayStation 3; $59.99

Sony's Playstation 3 Regains 1st Place Over XBox

SAN FRANCISCO - Sony's(SNE - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) latest PlayStation 3 console has stretched its lead over rival Microsoft's(MSFT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) Xbox 360 last month, though it still lags behind Nintendo's Wii system, according to industry research firm The NPD Group.
Sony sold 405,500 PS3s, compared to 219,800 Xbox 360s but still has a long way to go before it catches up with the Wii, which sold 666,700 systems last month.
It's the second month that the PS3 has stayed ahead of the Xbox 360.
Sony still has a long way to go before it beats Nintendo. The Nintendo Wii has now become the best-selling console among its peers, with 10.9 million units sold year-to-date in the U.S.
Sony stumbled when it launched the expensive PS3 console a year-and-a-half ago and trailed its competitors for months. That's in contrast to its position as the clear market leader with the older PlayStation 2 console.
Sony is making concerted efforts to regain its footing. Earlier this week, it shaved $100 off the price of the PS3. Sony said the 80-gigabyte version of the PS3 will retail at $400, down from $500, while discontinuing the 40-GB version of the console.
Microsoft also dropped $50 off the price of the Xbox 360 and said the basic 20-GB model of the console will retail at $299.
Sales of PlayStation 3 were helped by Konami's(KNM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) latest release, Metal Gear Solid 4: Gun of The Patriots for the PS3, which zoomed to the top of the charts with nearly 775,000 copies sold last month. Konami's game was made exclusively available on the PS3.

By:
Priya Ganapati

PS3 Vaulted Blu-Ray To Victory, MGS4 "Impossible" On 360

At Sony's press conference, Jack Tretton spoke a great deal about the PlayStation 3 and its inherent capabilities. He first reemphasized the fact that Sony's next-gen machine has a 10-year lifespan, and he moved on with several other comments of interest during the course of the presentation.
First of all, like many journalists have written already, Tretton freely said the PS3 is what vaulted Blu-Ray to victory in the high-definition format war. Furthermore, the PS3 will "return the favor" by giving developers the continued change to take advantage of the BD format, and this led to another topic: the issue of PS3 exclusivity for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Tretton basically said that no other console could handle the game:
"PS3 offers an experience for both gamers and developers no other console can match. Metal Gear Solid is not only exclusive on PS3 its only possible on PS3, thanks in part to Blu-Ray."
We're willing to bet that Hideo Kojima would probably agree with that sentiment, especially after the news we've heard from his team over the past six months or so. And while some sources continue to claim that MGS4 will eventually find its way to the Xbox 360, we still have nothing but rumors. For now, let's just say the PS3 is on the right track, and the official word is that MGS4 isn't confirmed to be going to any other platform.

BY : 7/15/2008 Ben Dutka