News on their main site!

Signups for Mac Open Beta here!

Press Release here!

Its no secret that City of Heroes is one of my favorite games. Period. This announcement today completely threw me for a loop, but I couldn' be happier. I'm hoping this adds an appreciable number of new players to City of Heroes so NCSoft is inspired to use Transgaming, Inc.'s Cider to bring even more of their titles cross-platform. This will be NCSoft's second Mac game, the first being Lineage I. A buddy of mine who is Mac only has been eyeing Aion for quite some time, so the idea that he might get to play it on his Intel Mac without having to use Boot Camp or some sort of virtualizing software like Parrallels or VMWare is great.

I can only hope more games follow suit, ranging from the truly superlative Guild Wars, the quirky Dungeon Runners, or even the highly underappreciated Tabula Rasa. This is a great step for NCSoft, and brings more variety to the Mac's MMO selection (L1, WOW, one of the EQ's and EVE are all I know of).

Its a pity that i13 "The Architect" had to be split in two, creating i13 "Power and Responsibility" and i14 "The Architect." The main feature for "The Architect," the Mission Architect, is a mission creator for players. Very big, very ambitious, and was holding everything else back, hence the split. If you look at everything i13 was supposed to be, then add in the announcement of City of Heroes coming to Mac? That's what I'd call a grand-slam home run. Everything is still looking awesome, mind you, but wow... what it could've been...

Four pages of article, with the last page being some reader Q&A.

It sounds like a good foundation to build off of, and will be a nice foundation for whatever the XB720 has. Like I've said many times before, software and services define this generation, and those have longevity beyond the current console!

Yeah... couple that with the 60g 360 upgrade kit and I really am itching to get one. The kit is a lot smarter than the old harddrive pricing - there's zero price penalty to buying an Arcade and upgrading to Pro functionalilty - so you can move up when you want to. One guy pointed out this actually saves you a little money. If I recall, before the 20g harddrive didn't get you a complete upgrade to Pro status, either. Of course, in the meantime, Core/Arcade users can apply for a free 512m memory card or a cheap 20g harddrive.

Microsoft is learning and pressing their price/modularity advantage a bit more, which is good. And I'd like to thank Sony and Nintendo for their parts in this; Sony from attacking on the high-end pricing and value, Nintendo for being the low-end price behemoth for casual and non-gamers. This really is one of the BEST generations for gamers, developers and publishers I've seen in a LONG time...

Thank you Gamasutra.

Overall, I think the industry sounds like its in good shape. Everyone is doing well and has something to crow about!

Its worth noting that the 360's 8.1 attach rate coupled with the PS3's 130% software sales increase from last year (5.3 attach rate) means there will continue to be no lack of incentive for cross-platform games in the US. Which is *fine* by me.

No PC numbers though, dammit @_@

At anyrate, yeah, things look good.

I am unworthy to buy it.

Seriously - I don't think I've seen a greater gaming truth in print before.

Story from Engaget.

Microsoft's New Xbox Experience has been pored over and dated, but now that Major Nelson has revealed it requires "at least" 128MB storage available to work, where does that leave suckers Core and Arcade SKU Xbox 360 owners? Enter the Xbox 360 Memory Upgrade Program, doling out free 512MB MU's or $20 20GB HDDs to Core owners, and a $30 20GB HDD + 3 months of Xbox Live package to Arcade owners looking to upgrade. November 19, Xbox Live becomes a storage-only affair (that goes for Netflix streams too, requiring 8MB of free space), so grab your serial number and console ID from the current Xbox 360 Dashboard and hit the registration website. Impressive customer service gesture to extend functionality for all, or more evidence of a short sighted and flawed dual-SKU launch plan that's cost gamers and developers alike? All we know for sure is we've probably figured out where the profits from those $149 120GB HDDs are going.

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The first MS site.

The upgrade program site.

Well, this might well be the end of the Core as we know it, albeit on a voluntary basis. I'm going to guess the 20g drives are on a "as supplies last" basis. I'd like to see the 512m cards be standard (Arcades come with the 256m card, right?), or for them to finally admit that's too small and go to 1g, 2g or even 4g - try and keep up flash cards and the like.

Story here.

Sony's president of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, has said that he wants Microsoft's Xbox 360 to succeed in Japan in order to help push the concepts of high-definition gaming to local consumers.

With Nintendo's Wii the most popular console in the Japanese market, Yoshida would like both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to sell well in order to convince punters of a more sophisticated take on next-generation gaming.

"I like to see people here in Japan showing interest in high-definition gaming and more sophisticated gaming experiences," offered Yoshida, in an interview with our sister site Eurogamer.net.

"In terms of realistic-looking graphics and smarter AI, they haven't really shown the appetite for what this generation of gaming can offer. I'd really like to see both PS3 and 360 succeed here."

"What Microsoft is offering and what we are offering are closer, compared to what other platforms are offering. Because of that commonality, the new games coming out on 360 and PS3 help to get consumers more interested in this generation of gaming," he added.

Both consoles are currently being trounced in Japan by Nintendo's Wii. And although the Xbox 360 has been outselling PS3 in recent weeks, Yoshida sees the success as short-lived.

"Quite honestly, the real number being sold - we haven't seen real acceptance of the platform here in the Japanese market. The Nintendo Wii is still by far the biggest platform in Japan," he said.

And still on the subject of Microsoft, Yoshida admitted he's impressed with the New Xbox Experience, prefering the ****of the avatars over Nintendo's Miis.

"I think it's quite nice. I like the avatar designs they're working on. Personally, Microsoft's work is closer to my personal preference. The Miis are very nice, but everybody looks cute, like Japanese-****characters," he said.

The full interview with Shuhei Yoshida, where he discusses the release of Home, forthcoming PS3 titles and the success of PSP, can be read here.

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Well folks - this is why I love the gaming industry sites - you can read stuff like this! Some folks have complained that multi-platform titles are holding back the PS3 and 360... it would seem, at least in Japan, the success of the Wii and apathy towards the "bigger, badder, better" next-gen experience on the PS3 and 360 are a much bigger factor.

Sony and Microsoft compete in some things, cooperate in others, and coexist on a few. This is a good example of business - how even your competition's success can prove beneficial to you.

Nothing like fanboy disgust.

----- fanboy

xbox get your own games. i feel so dirty, knowing that my favorite fighting game has been soiled by the POS 360.

----- me

Know you know how Virtua Fighter fans felt when VF4 was released on the PS2. To say nothing about how disgusted we were when all the "VFSUX" fanboys suddenly became long-time VF "fans" and talked about how the series they had been dissing since the PS1 days was suddenly this amazing, highly-respected series. Nothing quite like seeing that 180 turn-around when VF came to the PS2...

-----

I firmly expect something similar to happen with XB/DOA fanboys suddenly liking Tekken, mind you, and I'll find them equally contemptable.

At anyrate, I can't say I'm horribly surprised by this move. Fighting games are a niche genre to be sure; their glory days and mass-market appeal are long behind them, replaced with longtime fans, the truly hardcore and tournament players. So, from an economic standpoint? Makes total sense - neither the PS3 or 360 have utter dominance over the other, so this maximizes their potential market and gives them the greatest return on their total investment.

And to be honest? All that in mind? I don't think, sales wise, this is that big a loss for Sony. Loss of prestige, perhaps, but that's about it. I sincerely doubt that Tekken (or VF, or SF, etc) was THE reason for very many people at all to buy a PS3. It might sway some fence sitters (or keep them on the fence longer), but meh.

How will the two versions fare? To me? Don't care. Harada has some legitimate concerns about storage, but to be honest? While I would not be surprised if the 360 had lesser graphics than the PS3 version, it doesn't matter to me. I'm a VF fan. No home console has ever exceeded the arcade versions, so I don't worry about that. I'm a Neo Geo fan. It took 10 years for home hardware to produce accurate conversions of SNK fighters. And when it comes down to it, anyone who's more worried about graphics than gameplay when it comes to fighters isn't what I'd call a fighter fan. Is the gameplay spot on? Is the engine right?

Plain and simple - if Tekken 6 looked like a PS1 game, would you still play it? I would. The longevity of a fighter is entirely based around the engine, the gameplay, and not the graphics. One look at the national (and international) tournament scene will readily confirm this. Games that can't hold it together gameplay wise fade away, no matter how nice they look. And to be honest, if Tekken 6 looked just like Tekken 5 on the PS2? It would still be a gorgeous game.

Anyhow - enough ranting.

So far so good, although I'm worried this will ruin me for other RPG's.

1. It has choices, the way I loved them in KOTOR, but better. Why? Because the effects of your choices aren't always immediate! As a result, you really ought to think about what you want to do, because the reprecussions might not come around until quite a while later. When something happens as a consequence of something you've done earlier? The game lets you know, too! And those decisions are mutually exclusive - you can't have it both ways...

2. Combat is fun. Your character, Geralt, is quite capable from the get-go.

3. Character development (skills, attributes, etc), is clear, easy to understand, and fairly deep.

4. The characters you interact with are interesting, and you can have conversations with them, make them happy with your or tick them off.

5. The in-game journal is very helpful, especially in that it will tell you when you've hit a dead end and need to do something else first (in regard to the primary quests).

Its a pity this isn't on the 360 or PS3 - I think fans of the RPG genre all around would love this. If your PC can handle it, I can strongly recommend this. Please note that it does earn its "M" rating (check the rating, check the box!), and to th best of my knowledge you can't turn off the swearing and such (does supports Vista's parental controls, though). So, if that's a turn off or you think it might be inappropriate for other players who might use the same computer, consider yourselves warned.

A collection of interviews at Edge Online.

I figure a few of you might find that interesting.

If you're a fighting fan, you *really* need to read this.

Why, you may ask? Because the interviewer is a fighting fan himself. Its a very good read, and whets my appetite for the game far better than any gameplay video or screenshot.

SFIV is coming not soon enough for the PC, PS3 and 360.