Videogame News

Sony Shifts Playstation Executives

It's been just about a month since Sony restarted its PlayStation Network following a devastating security breach, and now some executives are on the move.

Chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment Akira Sato and honorary chairman of the group, Ken Kutaragi, will retire this year. Kutaragi, known as the "father of the PlayStation," will retire immediately, but will continue to be a senior technology adviser to the company. Sato will retire at the end of August.

President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Kazuo Hirai will be elevated to chairman of the group, and the PlayStation chief executive for Europe, Andrew House, will replace Hirai as president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment beginning September 1.

Hirai remains executive deputy president of Sony Corp. and president of the Consumer Products and Services Group. According to Sony's statement, Hirai's job will be to continue to integrate Sony's various hardware, content, and networked businesses. That's something that has proved difficult over the years at Sony.

"We are facing new challenges this year, such as the successful launch of PlayStation Vita and further growth of the PS3 platform as well as expansion of non-gaming business," Hirai said in a statement. "I'm confident that the skills and expertise Andy has gained over two decades working for Sony and SCE Group will contribute enormously in leading the PlayStation business and to bring new initiatives in managing the business in the networked era."

Sony's PlayStation business is navigating some difficult waters right now. The division suffered an embarrassing cyberattack on its PlayStation Network in April that exposed the personal information of more than 77 million customers. Sony was forced to shut down the gaming and video streaming network for more than three weeks, has been questioned by several governments, and has faced class-action lawsuits accusing the company of improper security practices.

The network did come back online in late May, and Sony has offered free ID theft monitoring, and free games and movie rentals to try to appease customers. The company claims 90 percent of PSN customers have returned since then. All that happened just weeks before the company unveiled the successor to its PlayStation Portable, the PlayStation Vita.

Vita was a pleasant surprise to many in the industry because despite having an OLED screen and multiple inputs like touch-screen and button controls, Sony is pricing the basic model at a competitive $250. It was fairly clear at E3 2011 this year that Sony is gunning for Nintendo's handheld gaming business.

The plan for the Vita, as well as the likelihood that a PlayStation 3 successor will arrive in the next two to three years, means today's move is likely more about entrusting House to take the reins in the PlayStation mobile and console businesses than it is about punishing Hirai for the PlayStation security lapse.

In March, Hirai was named the president of the entire consumer business, giving him much broader responsibilities than just the video game business. He's been essentially stamped by Sony President and CEO Howard Stringer to be his successor. Elevating him as chairman of the entire PlayStation division signals he's still on that track.

Written by Erica Ogg of CNET.

Gears of War 3 - Horde 2.0 Video Shows Amazing Features & Graphics!

Gears of War 3 is five months away from its release, but the expectations and overall demand are so high that there are already nearly two million preorders! Cliff Bleszinski of Epic has said Gears of War 3 will easily sell six million copies and can go higher than ten million! IGN and several other websites have specifically said that the best-looking game available for consoles right now is the Xbox 360 version of Crysis 2. But it looks like Gears of War 3 will indeed do as expected and once again bring the crown of “Graphics King” back to the Gears of War series once it is released.

The new Unreal Graphics Engine from Epic is absolutely phenomenal. But having a new graphics engine isn’t enough to automatically achieve success. You need a high-budget for development and you need a flagship game to show off all of those graphics features in order to market the graphics engine to other developers. Gears of War 3 is Epic’s flagship game in the fleet of graphics engines on the market!

Gears of War 3 clearly shows all sorts of amazing new graphics techniques. When you see the beautiful water flowing while all those players are on the screen and all those explosions are taking place, your jaw will drop! Any console can create nice-looking water or storms when only one character is on screen (practically a scene where you aren’t even playing), since there is no artificial intelligence involved. But Gears of War 3 has excellent water effects and other environmental factors involved during all of those intense combat scenes with multiple enemies and huge bosses!

Horde is my favorite mode of Gears of War 2, because it allows all five members to work online as a team against computer controlled enemies. Horde 2.0 is a mode in Gears of War 3 that Epic recently unveiled. The number of new features is absolutely amazing – far beyond what I can write about here. Let’s just say that the new Horde mode is incredible and you need to watch the video below in order to learn more about it and see just how awesome the graphics in Gears of War 3 are!

Horde 2.0 is shown below. I absolutely love how money is now included to buy features and equipment.

More Gears of War 3 Videos

Will There be a PS4? If so, When?

Sony executive, Jack Tretton, recently told Forbes magazine “I wouldn’t look for any discussion of a next-generation Playstation for quite some time.” But this statement obviously did not make sense, due to the fact that there are already plenty of discussions of when the next Playstation console will be released. In fact, it was employees at Sony who accidentally revealed work on the next Playstation console had already begun.

Multiple third-party game developers have revealed a new console will be placed on the market sometime in 2014. The only question is will it be the Playstation 4 from Sony or perhaps a new Xbox console from Microsoft. The developers at Avalanche Studios have publicly told the media that they believe at least one new console will be released in 2014, which is why they are investing in new development studios in New York City.

Last week, the developers at Avalanche Studios said in a press release that the studio’s first project would be a triple-A title "targeted for release on next-generation platforms in 2014. David Grijns, the managing director of Avalanche Studios New York, explained in an interview why the firm has cause to believe new platforms are less than three years away. He specifically said, “We obviously talk to everybody, and everybody talks to us. Grijns went on to reveal “We have some intelligence to go on that, by early 2014, we're pretty sure there'll be at least one next-generation console on the market.”

If you look at the history of Sony and Microsoft, you clearly see that Microsoft enjoys launching a console worldwide at the end of the year. Microsoft tried (but failed) to do this with the original Xbox, but was able to achieve this goal with the Xbox 360. But Sony is not like that at all; Sony doesn’t mind launching consoles at different points in time throughout the year. From what we are hearing throughout the videogame industry, it sounds like Sony would want to release the PS4 at some point in the spring of 2014 in Japan (where Sony always launches first), followed by launches of the Playstation 4 in North America and Europe.

Please share your thoughts on this subject. We know Sony is working on a new console and we know developers are creating new games for it. When do you believe this console will be released? Do you believe the PS4 will be made to work with the PSVita the way that the Wii U was displayed at E3, as some industry rumors suggest?

Halo: CE Anniversary Adds Kinect Features!

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition was unveiled by Microsoft at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo. Halo: CE will be released November 15, 2011, exclusively for the Xbox 360, in order to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the Halo series. Up to this point, Microsoft has revealed Halo: CE would be developed by 343 Industries and Saber Interactive using an in-house graphics engine. We also were told Halo: CE would give us the option of switching between remixed high-definition graphics and original graphics.

As far as game play goes, we were told Halo: CE Anniversary Edition would include Achievements in the same way other Xbox 360 games do. Halo: CE will also include a co-op campaign mode and multiplayer mode with seven maps. The story of Halo: CE will also feature several additions and other enhancements in order to make the game fall perfectly in line with Halo: Reach and the sequels to Halo: CE.

Microsoft Studios has now confirmed Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition will be fully equipped with features supporting Kinect! The new motion-sensing control device is now in the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest-selling electronics item in history! This certainly is an impressive quality to place on a resume. Over ten-million people own Kinect and will be looking forward to the features Microsoft has added to Halo: Combat Evolved. If you don’t own a Kinect, don’t worry about it; Kinect is not a requirement -- it is an optional enhancement.

Wii U – Is Price More Important than Power?

Prior to the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo, the biggest source of hype was coming from Nintendo. The reason for this is because Nintendo had said they would be revealing a new console, which was called the “Wii 2” by the media. But during the E3 show, most people were disappointed that Nintendo left so many questions unanswered about their new console, officially unveiled as the Wii U. This is particularly true in areas of pricing and hardware specifications.

In an interview with GameSpot, legendary game developer Shigeru Miyamoto has now made it clear Nintendo’s primary focus is price. This means the hardware specifications of the Wii U may be limited, depending on what price points and bulk deals Nintendo can negotiate. This news may be disappointing to hardcore gamers who want the best graphics, but from Nintendo’s point of view it makes more sense to release a product that is affordable.

Shigeru Myamoto said, "We're trying to find the right balance between the CPU and the GPU, and bringing all of that together with the ability to take advantage of the HD capabilities of the system.” Myamoto-san went on to explain "We're very sensitive, of course, to do all of this at an appropriate price. So I don't know that we would be able to sit here and say that it's going to necessarily dramatically outperform the systems that are out now. It's part of the balance that we strike in terms of trying to find entertainment that is new and unique."

Shigeru Myamoto has arguably the most impressive résumé in the history of the videogame industry to support his thoughts, but how do you feel about this? Over the course of time, the Wii U will drop in price. Should Nintendo release the Wii U at a higher price if it means releasing a better product? Maybe if enough people speak up, Nintendo will change their mind.

Japanese Government Confirms Theory that Sony Lied to Consumers!

Over the last several months, Sony has been criticized for a multitude of reasons. Identification of over 100 million consumers was taken by computer hackers that breached into Sony’s weak security associated with videogames and computers. This security breach allowed identity theft and other forms of credit theft to occur.

During this time period, consumers theorized that Sony deliberately avoided revealing this information to the public in order to avoid negative publicity. Sadly, the Japanese government has now released reports confirming this is in fact true. According to these reports, Sony became aware on April 25 (US time) that a “Fairly large amount of data” was compromised in an illegal intrusion into systems. Yet during several press conferences in April and May, Sony continued to downplay the severity of the problems.

Recently, Sony confirmed the last remaining Playstation Network servers were restored. Sony also pointed out that some of the hackers allegedly responsible for the outage were apprehended. Sony has also said there will be a 12-month form of insurance available to people who may have been affected in a negative way by identify theft or stolen passwords.

But senators and other government officials in the United States have made it clear that one-year is not enough time for this problem to reveal itself. Several senators have pointed out that Sony should follow in the footsteps of Microsoft by accepting accountability for their lack of responsibility. Extending this insurance policy to three years the way Microsoft did with the Xbox 360 would show far more appreciation to consumers willing to stay with Sony during these terrible times.

If you are an owner of a Playstation 3, a PSP, or you use the Playstation Network in some way, it would probably be a good idea for you to write to Sony. You should ask Sony to extend their insurance policy to 36 months. It isn’t fair for normal consumers to suffer because Sony was not willing to publicly disclose information or maintain optimal levels of online security.

At kmart - $60 Coupon When You Buy an Xbox 360!

If you are a kmart Rewards Member, you can purchase an Xbox 360 4GB console for $199, and then receive a $60 gaming coupon! The coupon will be printed at checkout and is valid from June 19, 2011 to July 30, 2011! This excellent deal essentially makes it so your Xbox 360 console costs only $140 this week at kmart!

Meijer – Great Sales on Xbox 360, Kinect, Wii and PS3

Meijer has some excellent deals this week if you are interested in buying videogame consoles or accessories. Here they are:

* Buy one Xbox 360 4GB console priced at $199 and receive a free $50 Meijer Gift Card! This is essentially giving you a brand new Xbox 360 console for only $149! Each Meijer store has at least five Xbox 360 units, but there are no rain checks or substitutions. With that in mind, I strongly suggest you hurry up and get to your local Meijer store in order to make sure you get one.

* Buy one Xbox 360 Kinect Sensor Bundle with Kinect Adventures packed in for the price of $149. Once you make this purchase you get a $25 Meijer Gift Card for free! There are at least six Kinect units per store, but there are no rain checks or substitutions. If you are interested, I recommend that you do not waste time getting to Meijer.

* Buy one Nintendo Wii console, and you get a free “Meijer Custom Coupon.” This coupon is valid on your next videogame department purchase. This coupon is valid from June 26 to July 9. This deal isn’t quite as good as the ones Meijer offers for the Xbox 360, but if you are interested in a Wii it is better than nothing.

* You can also buy a PS3 bundle on sale for only $299. The bundle includes Call of Duty: Black Ops packed in. Although Meijer tries to promote this as a savings of $59, this is not really the case because you can buy Call of Duty: Black Ops new on store shelves for as little as $29.99. But, if you are interested in this game, it is still a savings of $30.

* You can also buy “All Video Game Software” for a discount of 15% off! In other words, a $60 game will be $51, and a $40 game will be priced at $34. No matter which console or handheld device you own, Meijer is the place you want to buy from this week!

Free Xbox 360 to Students Buying a PC!

If you are a college student, it means you are going to need two things: a PC to help you out with school and an Xbox 360 to help you out with entertainment! If you are a student buying a Windows 7 PC priced at $699 or more, you will receive a 4GB Xbox 360 console valued at $199 absolutely free!

All you need to do is purchase your PC from one of several retailers working with Microsoft on this promotion. Some of the retailers are Dell, HP, Microsoft Store, Best Buy, and Amazon. You will need an email address ending in “.edu” to confirm you are a student online. Otherwise you will need to walk into the store and present your Student ID.

I can tell you from personal experience it is a good idea to stay away from Best Buy because of the poor customer service they offer. Best Buy refuses to honor warranties and extended insurance policies that consumers purchase. When I looked at the Better Business Bureau website, there had been over 40,000 complaints filed against Best Buy during the last 36 months. Currently, five states have attorney generals seeking legal action against Best Buy for refusal to honor warranties and insurance.

I can also tell you that HP is probably not the best brand to purchase. I am unemployed and I don’t have an income – I needed to take out a student loan to attend college. An HP laptop I purchased in 2004 was over $1,500. But the motherboard burnt out on the computer and HP claimed they had no way of repairing it. Also, I have owned three HP printers that stopped working – one of which literally started smoking and caught on fire right in front of me!

I recommend you buy from either Amazon, Dell, or the Microsoft Store. I have never purchased from Dell; however, I’ve had heard they offer quality service to people buying from them. I do often buy products from Amazon and I can tell you Amazon offers some of the best service online. I will provide a link below for you to click on in order to visit the Amazon website.

Microsoft specifically said they recommend products from Samsung, Dell, and HP. But like I said, I recommend staying away from HP and I recommend staying away from Best Buy. The Microsoft Store and Dell are great places to buy from if you want to confirm everything before having products shipped to you. You can also gain some additional information about this deal at Windows Facebook.

Take a look at these great videos with Marcus Fenix -- star of Gears of War, and Master Chief John 117 -- star of Halo!

Halo 4 is Coming to Xbox 360, but What About Halo 5 & 6?

At the 2011 E3, Microsoft officially announced Halo 4 would be released exclusively for Xbox 360 in time for the Holiday shopping season of 2012! In fact, Microsoft announced Halo 4 is part of a new Halo trilogy starring Master Chief John 117. But this is where the controversy is born. Will Halo 5 and Halo 6 also see a release for the Xbox 360?

If Halo 5 and Halo 6 are also full-size games, it means the soonest we would see each game is two years after the release of its predecessor. Even if the same graphics engine is used for each game, it means Halo 5 would be released in 2014 and Halo 6 in 2016. The fundamental problem with this is that 2016 is 11 years after the release of the Xbox 360. In all probability, Microsoft will have a new console on the market by 2016.

Industry insider sources at Microsoft have revealed to me that the current plan is to repeat history. Microsoft released Halo and Halo 2 for the original Xbox, and then released the conclusion to the trilogy for the Xbox 360. Halo 3 has sold over 10 million copies on the Xbox 360! All those fans of Halo and Halo 2 wanted to know how the trilogy ended, and the popularity of Halo 3 helped sell millions of new Xbox 360 consoles during the process.

There’s no doubt Microsoft will release the first game in the new Halo trilogy next year as Halo 4. Afterwards, I believe there is an excellent chance Halo 5 will be released for the Xbox 360 during the Holiday shopping season of 2014. But I believe 2015 will probably be when Microsoft launches the third Xbox, with a killer-app in the form of the first game in a new Gears of War trilogy. 2016 will be when the third Xbox sees a price drop and also sees the release of Halo 6 – the final game in the trilogy.

This is an excellent marketing strategy and keeps a steady stream of killer-app games coming to gamers! There’s no doubt the third Xbox will instantly establish itself as a successful brand, especially when you consider other killer-app games such as Forza Motorsport, Perfect Dark, and Fable will also see release during that time period. Gamers who own dozens of Xbox Live Arcade games and Xbox Live Indie games will automatically be on board the third Xbox. The same can be said for the millions of gamers who take Xbox Achievements very seriously (including me)!

What are your thoughts on this subject? Do you think Microsoft will release all three games in the next Halo trilogy for the Xbox 360? Or do you think Microsoft will release only one or two games in the new Halo trilogy for the Xbox 360, using the sequel(s) as a killer-app form of bait for the third Xbox? I believe my industry insider sources are correct – history will repeat itself.

Winner of 2011 E3: Microsoft - Software Overpowers Hardware!

The E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) is traditionally an event where people get excited about futuristic products that will be released at later points in time. Generally speaking, a new hardware device tends to carry more weight than a new game. When games are announced that focus on the future, it usually generates more excitement than games being released that year. However, the E3 show is an opportunity to place publicity on current products that will be sold later that same year.

Sony tends to have a reputation for focusing on games being released years down the road. Some critics have pointed out the reason for this is because Sony has nothing to show “that particular year.” This year, Sony unveiled a new portable console called the PSVita, while still showing a lot of games for the PS3 being released later this year. The games Sony displayed for the PS3 were the ones expected (and the ones rumored), but Sony actually did not show off several PS3 games that were available to be shown. This may suggest the games will be delayed.

I believe the PSVita disappointed a lot of people in several different ways. The name of “PSVita” is considered relatively stupid. The price of the PSVita is between $249 to $299, but this is too expensive for Sony to expect a large market anytime soon. There is no doubt Nintendo will remain champion of the handheld game market for many years to come.

The PS3 has a relatively strong lineup of games scheduled for release this year, but none of these games are “best-sellers.” Games like Uncharted 3 and Resistance 3 are considered good games born in the PS3 era, but both of these series are known for experiencing disappointing sales that were lower than expected. I believe Sony did the right thing trying to focus on this year’s games rather than Gran Turismo 6, which won’t be released for a very long time. But it was a mistake for Sony to try and shine all the light on just a couple of this year’s games rather than evenly distribute the light on others in niche markets.

Sony: B
The PSVita announcement was handled nicely, but the name actually left people disappointed. Sony has a nice lineup of PS3 games for 2011, but several of the games Sony announced were rather disappointing. Sony’s lack of desire to show several games also suggests some of the games on the show floor may be delayed.

Nintendo is the company I really thought had the best chance of winning this year’s E3. Nintendo was said to be unveiling a new “next-generation console.” But here at Controversy, we knew the console would not be a “next-gen” console with “next-gen” graphics due to the fact that the hardware specifications would not allow it – as we discussed here. Nevertheless, I really thought any form of new console from Nintendo would carry so much excitement along with it that Nintendo would easily be crowned the winner of the 2011 E3.

Unfortunately, Nintendo’s presentation of the Wii U left a lot of people disappointed and confused. Nintendo has made it clear the Wii U is not a portable gaming device. But the Wii U does seem to be both a console and a controller in one. And the evidence suggests that as long as the Wii U is kept within a certain distance of your TV set, it can be used as a portable gaming device.

Nintendo did not officially unveil hardware specifications or pricing for the Wii U. But our industry insider sources at Controversy have already provided us with information relating to Wii U specifications. As expected, the Wii U has graphics similar to the Xbox 360 and PS3. In fact, it actually appears the graphics of the Wii U are less impressive than the Xbox 360 and PS3. For example, there is no doubt the Tekken games on Xbox 360 and PS3 look better than Tekken on the Wii U.

This is a bit surprising because according to the reported specifications, the GPU and CPU of the Wii U are very impressive. The Wii U has a GPU nearly identical to the Xbox 360 GPU, and the same can be said about the CPU. Similarly, the Wii U has the same 512MB amount of RAM as the Xbox 360 and PS3. I think the reason why the Wii U probably has graphics less impressive than the Xbox 360 and PS3 is because so much processing power is devoted to other functions that Xbox 360 and PS3 don’t need to deal with.

Nintendo: B-
Nintendo focused on the Wii and 3DS consoles very nicely. But the Wii U ended up being a confusing disappointment. Whenever an audience is confused, you can say something was handled incorrectly.

Microsoft is a company known for using trade shows such as E3 to focus the spotlight on products being released relatively soon. From a business point of view, this is a very smart decision. High-profile games receive all the attention they deserve, which can help boost preorders. And if enough spotlight focus is placed on a low-profile game, market status can be raised to new heights.

I really thought Microsoft would be given the lowest rating this year at E3, simply because both Nintendo and Sony would be announcing new forms of hardware. I knew Microsoft had the strongest lineup of popular software this year, with amazing games such as Gears of War 3 and Forza Motorsport 4 – both considered the best game ever released in their particular genre. I also knew Microsoft may be announcing a couple rumored games, such as some form of Halo Anniversary Edition. Thankfully, Microsoft lived up to all these promises.

What really won the 2011 E3 show for Microsoft was the announcement of a new Halo “trilogy” starting with Halo 4! Microsoft is known for their tradition of saving exciting announcements until the end of their E3 presentation. Some people thought Halo 4 might be announced, due to the fact that hours earlier the xbox.com page apparently listed Halo 4 as an upcoming game as an accident (since Halo 4 was deleted from the list shortly after being posted). But nobody thought an entirely new “trilogy” of Halo games involving Master Chief John 117 would be announced for Xbox 360!

Halo: Reach is an amazing game, which is why it is so awesome to watch Master Chief use that form of jetpack in Halo 4! The anniversary edition of Halo: Combat Evolved is completely updated to high-definition. The game also adds a variety of new game play elements not included in the original Halo: CE game. This additional game play will link the anniversary edition of Halo: Combat Evolved to Halo 4, Halo: Reach, the Forerunners, and other elements of the Halo plot.

Microsoft also focused on some amazing games and features associated with Kinect. The theme of making games better with Kinect is very important to Microsoft. It’s very cool the way games such as Ghost Recon: Future Soldier will actually have custom modes only available if you are using Kinect!

The anniversary edition of Halo: Combat Evolved will be released on 11/11/11. We were told Halo 4 will be launched during the Holiday shopping season of 2012. Gears of War 3 will be released in September and Forza Motorsport 4 will be released on 10/11/11.

This lineup of games is amazing! Halo has been called the greatest First-Person Shooter ever made. Gears of War is considered the greatest Third-Person Shooter ever made. Forza Motorsport 3 is now considered the greatest racing game ever made, and Forza Motorsport 4 races further ahead than ever. The announcement of the Halo 4 “trilogy” pushed this over the top for the Xbox 360!

Microsoft: A
The Xbox 360 holiday lineup of games for 2011 is literally the strongest lineup of games in the history of the videogame industry! The only other year to come close was 2007 for the Xbox 360. But getting Halo, Gears of War, Forza, and all of the other third-party exclusives, Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Live Indie games, and the surprise announcement of a new Halo trilogy makes it so Xbox 360 and Microsoft easily win this year’s E3.

E3 Champion of 2011: Microsoft
The Xbox 360 software overpowered the relatively disappointing hardware announcements from Nintendo and Sony. The Xbox 360 has the best software lineup this holiday season. Microsoft easily wins the 2011 E3.

Nintendo Officially Announces the “Wii-U” Console – Wii 2 Becomes Wii U

The Wii U has been officially announced by Nintendo. This unit is essentially a portable game console, hardware game console, and controller with motion sensitivity all rolled into one. For example, you can use controller to help target exactly where you want a fastball in a baseball game. Although, Nintendo does specifically say the Wii U is not classified as a "portable" game device. This seems to suggest that although you may be able to use the Wii U within a certain range of your TV, you would not be able to use it as a portable console in your car.

The Wii-U is based on a 6.2” screen and is fully backward compatible with all Wii and Gamecube products. The controller includes two Circle Pads, a D Pad, a Gyroscope, L & R buttongs, and ZL and ZR buttons. There is also a touch screen controller in the Wii-U.

The Wii-U uses high-definition images connected to an HDTV without using any form of wires at all for connection. You can also use the screen and the TV at the same time if the game calls for it, such as a baseball game.

The Wii U is even compatible with the Nintendo 3DS. For example, Nintendo announced a Smash Bros. game where you can play the game using these two different devices simultaneously. The Wii U is absolutely amazing, and we will continue to learn from it as time passes. The Wii U will be released in time for the Holiday of 2012.

For information regarding the Wii U hardware specifications (previously known as the Wii 2) please click here. The Wii U hardware offers graphics similar to the Xbox 360 and PS3. This is exactly the same prediction the staff of Controversy made in previous articles. Also, Nintendo will not be focusing on 3D technology from Sony. The 3D technology used by Nintendo will use the 3DS in order to produce true 3D, rather than simulated 3D.

Forza Motorsport 4 – Races Further Ahead Than Ever!

Forza Motorsport 4 was officially unveiled to the world by Microsoft. We now see Forza Motorsport 4 is even better than expected! Forza Motorsport 3 is considered the greatest racing game ever released in the history of videogames. Forza Motorsport 4 takes all of the excellent qualities of Forza Motorsport 4 and makes them even better. In addition, Forza Motorsport 4 adds newer cars, more features, and compatibility with Kinect!

The first thing that caught my eye with Forza Motorsport 4 is how much better the graphics are than Forza Motorsport 3. This is virtually unbelievable when you consider how Forza Motorsport 3 had such amazing graphics built from a brand new graphics engine. The cars and tracks in Forza Motorsport 4 display such an amazing amount of detail with high-quality textures. The lighting, shading, and texture quality used in a high-speed environment with such a smooth frame rate automatically take your breath away in Forza Motorsport 4.

But it’s the cool features such as compatibility with Kinect, a World Tour mode, automatic head tracking abilities, and various other features that really make Forza Motorsport 4 exciting. This is particularly true for people who love to work with cars and custom design the vehicles. Forza Motorsport 4 will be released October 11, 2011 exclusively for Xbox 360.

IGN reports that there will also be a unique new steering wheel released at the time Forza Motorsport 4 debuts. This wireless wheel includes vibration and is based around Haptic technology. The shape of the wheel is optimized to make your motion-sensing abilities Kinect even better, and the wheel is also fully compatible with all Xbox 360 racing games. This wheel will be priced at $59.99. Take a look here:

Gears of War 3 is the Best Third-Person Shooter Ever!

Gears of War 3 was officially demonstrated by Epic at the Microsoft press conference of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. During this amazing demo, it became very clear that Gears of War 3 does in fact live up to all of the hype surrounding this Xbox 360 game! Gears of War 3 is the best third-person shooter ever released – terms of both graphics and game play!

We’ve known for some time that Epic planned on releasing Gears of War 3 with a 4-player Online Campaign Co-Op mode, similar to the Halo games! This form of co-op adds an unlimited amount of replay value and fun to the game. And we’ve known for several weeks that the multiplayer of the Gears of War 3 beta has some absolutely stunning graphics. But yesterday we finally got to see what the Campaign mode of Gears of War 3 is like.

We can now confidently say Gears of War 3 has the most impressive graphics ever seen in a third-person shooter. In a previous article, I wrote about how Gears of War 3 probably would be crowned “King of Console Graphics” when it is released later this year. After seeing the amazing graphics in the Campaign mode of Gears of War 3, I can confidently say there is no doubt about this! No game shown so far at E3 has graphics as amazing as Gears of War 3!

Check out this huge boss as large as the entire screen in the video below. And what’s even more amazing is the way Gears of War 3 allows your characters to enter mechanical suits to help kick the butts of these Locust enemies! Gears of War 3 is truly an awesome game in every aspect – Graphics, Online Co-Op Campaign, Multiplayer, and Horde Mode! There are even new modes of Gears of War 3 we still haven’t seen yet!

More Gears of War 3 Videos

Here is an awesome-looking video of the new Horde 2.0 mode!

More Gears of War 3 Videos

PSVita Announced as Successor to PSP

PSVita is the portable successor to the PSP. Although the product appears to be nicely designed, it was very obvious the audience thought the name of PSVita was stupid. This is not a catchy name, but if it works for Sony I guess we will have to live with it.

Sony says they will be partnering with at&t as the exclusive wireless service provider for PSVita. The at&t subscribers will be able to use wi-fi hot spots for free. There will also be a social network tool known as “near” working with another service known as “party.” Sony announced these services, but did not reveal specific details yet. Sony claimed these details would be revealed at a later time.

One of the games shown for PSVita was Uncharted: Golden Abyss. This game uses traditional controls, in addition to the axis controls of the PSVita. The screen also can be used as a button, which adds even newer elements of game play. The developers said they have used the touch controls to enhance “Poor combat” elements of traditional Uncharted games on the PS3.

There are also several games series such as Little Big Planet ModNation Racers that work with the Playstation Network. These games offer various forms of methods used to allow communication with the PSN. In addition, there will be a PSVita version of Street Fighter vs Tekken featuring Cole from InFamous as a special character. The PSVita will launch at a price of $249 for the wi-fi version and $299 for the Wi-Fi/3G version.