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InFamous 2 will be released tomorrow, which is why I’m surprised Sony didn’t put more of a spotlight on it. I believe Sony should be focusing more on the present than the past or the future. The first InFamous game is one that received mixed reviews; it had some potential, but was known more as a PS3 exclusive game filled with graphic glitches than anything else. Let’s hope InFamous 2 solves those problems.
Sony also introduced a couple other exclusive games, which the E3 audience didn’t seem too excited about. Starhawk is a game which is a spinoff of the Warhawk series. The reason why is probably because Warhawk games continued to become less popular over the course of time. A game called Dust was also announced for PS3, but this game had rather disappointing graphics – it looks more like a PS2 game in high resolution than a PS3 game.
One good piece of news is that there will be a Bioshock game released for the PSP. Sony also announced that people who buy the PS3 version of Bioshock: Infinity will receive the first Bioshock game as a bonus on the blu-ray. Users who already own the first game shouldn’t worry about this, though. And gamers who are interested in the first Bioshock game, but not the newest $60 sequel, realize you can buy Bioshock as a Platinum Hit for both Xbox 360 and PS3 for less than $20.
Resistance 3 was put on display using both a controller and Move. Sony will also be selling a $150 package of Resistance 3 with Move packed in. The graphics of Resistance 3 will also be in 3D, but it actually looks as though the campaign graphics will not be as impressive as Resistance 2. The Move feature works with a gun accessory that looks very interesting.
Sony also made no reference to whether or not Resistance 3 would feature online campaign co-op the way the first Resistance game did. Resistance 2 features graphics noticeably better than the first Resistance, but in order to squeeze that power out of the PS3 it was necessary for developers to remove the online campaign co-op feature. The lack of this feature resulted in very disappointing sales for Resistance 2. Lack of online co-op campaign mode is one of the most criticized problems PS3 games such as Killzone 2 and 3 are known for. Let’s hope the developers are able to add this feature to Resistance 3, because it really is a “standard” feature in the online era we currently live in.
Uncharted 3 was the first product shown for the PS3. Sony is really stressing the importance of 3D gaming in Uncharted 3. In fact, Sony even showed two demos of Uncharted 3 – one without 3D and one with 3D. As Channel G4 said, the reason for this is because Sony desperately wants 3D to succeed, since they were the inventor of this form of technology – a form of technology that has been a disappointment so far for Sony. Uncharted 3 is using the same graphics engine as Uncharted 2, but with noticeable improvements. It looks as though Uncharted 3 will be one of the best-looking games available for the PS3 this fall when it launches.
Sony has recently experienced the greatest disaster in the history of the videogame industry -- producing negative results in the lives of over 100 million people. Sony's online services featured poorly designed security features which hackers easily broke into. Owners of the Playstation branded consoles and portable devices saw their password, birth dates, and other financial information stolen.
Sony initially didn't even bother to report this situation to loyal consumers. The management at Sony apparently cared more about avoiding negative publicity with the media than they did telling consumers to change passwords. Initially, this problem occured once, but has now happened to Sony multiple times. Essentially, the reliability of Sony's PSN online service is very questionable.
In Japan, the country where Sony is based, Sony's management took the time to apologize to consumers. But consumers throughout North America and Europe have not heard apologies like this from Sony. In fact, Sony only offers a 12-month insurance policy regarding identity thefts! This has motivated American senators to speak up and tell Sony to follow in the footsteps of Microsoft by making this insurance last three years instead of only one year.
I was watching several channels and website just now, as Sony is about to take the stage online at E3. Several people asked if Sony's executives will accept accountability for thier poor management by issuing an apology to consumers. Time will tell!
Update: Sony's executive, Jack Tretton, did take the time to apologize to gamers. However, it was very obvious he was reading off of a teleprompter. This apology really lacked personality, even though Tretton claimed he was apologizing in a personal way.
What's even worse is that Jack Tretton specifically made a reference to this website -- "Controversy." We do not enjoy reporting bad news, as Tretton suggested; we simply report the truth at the appropriate time (unlike Sony). Perhaps the reason why Jack Tretton mentioned Controversy is because we exposed Jack Tretton for issuing false sales figures in several interviews. You can take a look at the article about sales figures here.
Skyrim is one of the most anticipated games of 2011! The developers at Bethesda Softworks have done on excellent job, particularly on the Xbox 360 version, as you will see here! This is a seven-minute video from GameTrailers, looking specifically at the Xbox 360 version. As you will see, the graphics are amazing and the scope of the environment is huge!
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be released for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. I like the way the developers stress the importance of a third-person view, since so many gamers prefer that viewpoint. Take a look at the video and you will see for yourselves!
Ubisoft revealed some very impressive games for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. In addition, Ubisoft did an excellent job of showing how games can be optimized to be made better with Kinect. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is a perfect example of this! Simply put, there are features you never would have thought possible if it weren't for Kinect. For example, there is a gun smith mode where you can literally build a weapon with Kinect!
Assassins Creed: Revelations looked absolutely amazing when it was put on display. The plot is as good as ever, yet the graphics have somehow managed to get even better than ever! As we learn more about this game over the next few days, it will be very exciting. This is particularly true with the multiplayer aspects, but we will need to wait until tomorrow for the booth presentation from Ubisoft.
Brother in Arms: Furious 4 is a First-Perosn Shooter with a World War 2 theme. This is the most high-profile game like that since Call of Duty 2 in 2005. I'm really looking forward to learning more about this game.
Far Cry 3: Insane in the Membrane is a shooter where the character you play as appears to be insane! That's right, Vaas seems like a madman with a mission in an illogical way. Many people have said Far Cry 3 is a lot like having The Joker in the game, if you are a fan of Batman. One thing everyone agrees on is that Far Cry 3 appears to have noticably better graphics than Far Cry 2.
Beyond Good and Evil 2 is a game that was completely overlooked because it was placed in the middle of such high-profile games. This is the reason why I decided to talk about Beyond Good and Evil 2 last. If you were a fan of the original game (which was re-released in an HD format on Xbox Live earlier in the year) you will love the sequel. This is the second game, which was marketed as a trilogy and does have a loyal following.
I'm looking forward to see what else Ubisoft has to show! Please share your thoughts.
At Microsoft's Electronic Entertainment Expo today, Crystal Dynamics officially announced Tomb Raider is scheduled for a fall 2012 release for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. This version of Tomb Raider is an "origin" of the plot. The developers of Tomb Raider told us we would learn all about how Lara Croft became such a skilled female adventurer.
But what about the Wii 2? If Nintendo has a new console being released in 2012 that will compete directly with the Xbox 360 and PS3, why won't this game be released for the Wii 2? It will be interesting to see what Nintendo's new console is like. You can count on Controversy to bring you that information! Please share your thoughts
Rage is a premier game currently in development at id Software. Rage uses a new custom graphics engine known as the Tech 5, and is said to push consoles to their absolute limits. In fact, Rage is based on next-generation programming technology which will be used in the next generation of consoles. As time has passed, Rage has continued to gain a larger following due to its amazing graphics and game play.
Legendary game developer, John Carmack, has made it clear the Xbox 360 version of Rage will be the best-looking console version of the game – approaching the high-end PC in graphics quality. Unfortunately for PS3 owners, even the developers at id Software have admitted the PS3 version of Rage will not offer the level of graphic quality seen in the PC and Xbox 360 versions. In an interview with Edge magazine, John Carmack specifically said the Xbox 360 version of Rage will match the PC versions frame rate of 60 frames per second, while the PS3 version will run at “Just 20 – 30 frames per second.”
This is ironic, because people originally thought the PS3 version may have an advantage due to the fact that John Carmack had talked about how texture compression might have an impact on graphics. Consequently, people thought the extra space of a blu-ray disc may pay off in Rage. But, less than 1% of games see any form of advantage because of extra space on a blu-ray. Now that Rage is nearly complete, we clearly see texture compression will not be a problem since Microsoft has given approval for the huge Rage game to be released on four DVD discs. If disc swapping is an issue, simply install the game onto your hard drive.
During a recent interview, John Carmack compared the Xbox 360 to the PS3 hardware by telling us “The PS3 lags a little bit behind in terms of getting the performance out of it. The rasteriser is just a little bit slower - no two ways about that.”
John Carmack went on to tell us, "The RSX is slower than what we have in the 360. The CPU is about the same, but the 360 makes it easier to split things off, and that's what a lot of the work has been, splitting it all into jobs on the PS3.”
Rage is not the first game to have significantly better graphics and/or resolution on the Xbox 360. For example, the Xbox 360 version of Soul Calibur 4 runs at a 40% higher resolution in the Xbox 360 version. The PS3 version runs at the standard resolution of 1280x720p, while the Xbox 360 version runs at a resolution of 1365x960p.
Another example is All-Pro Football. One review of this game said, “The Xbox 360 version runs smoothly at 60 frames per second, while the PS3 version struggles to run at 30 frames per second.” This is no surprise considering the Xbox 360 can display nearly twice as many polygons as the PS3.
In technical terms, it all comes down to the specifications of the hardware. The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) of the Xbox 360 has the ability to display up to 500,000,000 polygons per second. The PS3 GPU has the ability to display up to 275,000,000 polygons per second. This is the reason why Xbox 360 versions of games have smoother frame rates and higher resolution.
After this controversial interview with John Carmack, id Software was flooded with a lot of messages. Most of these messages were from disappointed PS3 owners. These PS3 owners claimed id Software lacked the development talent needed to make the PS3 version as good as the Xbox 360 version. Although the developers at id Software knew this was not true, they still didn’t like the idea of possibly losing sales.
The following statement was issued on Twitter: “The article has caused quite a ruckus. We are committed to ensuring that gamers on all platforms have a great RAGE experience.”
But this apparently didn’t keep the knowledgeable PS3 fans happy. These fans knew 60 frames per second looks much smoother than 30 frames per second. And a frame rate as low as 20 frames per second can look bad at times.
Consequently, id Software released another update saying: “Everything is designed as a 60 hertz game. We expect this to be 60 hertz on every supported platform.” The developers at id Software go on to say “The work remaining is getting it locked so there's never a dropped frame or a tear, but we're confident that we're going to get that.”
For those of you who don’t know, your TV set runs at either 60hz or a multiple of 60hz. This is referred to as the “refresh rate,” because it represents how many times your TV screen is updated each second. For example, most LCD HDTV sets on the market nowadays run at either 60hz, 120hz, or 240hz. Most Plasma HDTV sets are very smooth and run at 600hz.
Each of the native 60hz in the game are handled by the videogame hardware, while multiples of 60 are handled by separate video processors found in HDTV sets in order to add smoothness. The reason why 60hz is so important is because 30 progressive frames per second represents 60 interlaced fields per second. A field is a half-frame. If the PS3 version could reach 30 frames per second (rather than 20 frames per second), it would represent a large step in quality. 60 is only one multiple from 30 – every field could be transformed into a frame relatively easily in a way that is optimized for performance at 60hz.
The Xbox 360 and PC versions will run at an incredibly smooth 60 frames per second. This means each of the 60 hertz (screen updates) will be completely filled with data. You will be looking at progressive frames rather than interlaced fields. So there is no doubt the Xbox 360 and PC versions will in fact be noticeably smoother, even if the PS3 version reaches 30 frames (60 interlaced fields) per second.
Currently the graphics champion on any console is the Xbox 360 version of Crysis 2. The candidates for King of Graphics all use next-generation technology and will be released within the next year. From what I’ve seen, Gears of War 3, Rage, and Forza Motorsport 4 really are the leaders of the pack. Games like Mass Effect 3 and Uncharted 3 are definitely impressive, but they are based on previous graphics engines and do not represent next-generation technology. It will be interesting to see what happens at E3!
This video of Rage is awesome! The game starts out very similar to a Starship Troopers style theme. Rather than squashing "bugs" you will be squashing "mutants," right? WRONG! Apparently you will be fighting humans, too!
You can take a look at another video here. This video shows you driving, talking with humans, and fighting with mutants, zombies, and robots. You can also preorder Rage on Amazon, which I suggest you do.
Videogame News is a special blog focusing on daily news updates in the videogame industry. We will also be exploring controversial rumors given to us from reliable sources inside the videogame industry. Our blog is dedicated to Xbox 360, PS3, Wii 2, and Wii.
Note: Dozens of other articles relating to the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and Wii 2 can be found by clicking on Controversy Home above, and then selecting Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, or Wii 2. For example, a five-page analysis of the Gears of War 3 beta is available. We also examine game sales. But Videogame News has outgrown that part of the blog and will now focus entirely on videogames.
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