Ya ya, I know, I’m sick and tired of doing this every time. I’m in crunch mode, trying to cram in as much studying as possible at the moment (since it’s my final exam before uni!), so updates are currently off.

My exams will end on June 28, so expect updates from 29th onwards…

P.S. GO BRAZIL!

Sorry, the site hasn’t been updated in quite some time. As I said before, my exams were have come up and I’m now busy with my studies. And to top that off, the World Cup is going on in full swing!

Anyways, expect an update soon - maybe tomorrow, or next week.

A lonely screenshot from Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, courtesy of Shacknews.

Taking over damage control after Peter Moore’s recent comments on backwards compatibility, Microsoft’s PR blog, Gamerscoreblog, carries word that the company is still working on an update for backwards compatibility that will add support to the Xbox 360 for at least a dozen Xbox titles.

No other details or release date was provided, but the post assures readers that there are indeed people working on BC patches.

Having worked at SCEA for over ten years now, Molly Smith, the company’s PR machine, has resigned. She took over SCEA’s publicity operation soon after the launch of the original PlayStation, and has been going strong, keeping the PlayStation brand alive till now.

It is not yet known who will replace her as an official announcement from Sony is yet to be made.

Even though Wii’s showing at E3 stole the show this year, graphics on games for the console left a sour taste in gamers mouths (or eyes, whatever). All is not lost, however, as GameDaily spoke with an ATI representative who commented that the visuals shown now are just the “tip of the iceberg”.

Yes, it is known that Nintendo is taking a step backward with the Wii, whereas its competitors - Sony and Microsoft - are crunching polygons. Yes, we know the Wii will be cheaper and less powerful, but just how much of an improvement is it over the Gamecube? Industry sources have said that the Wii GPU is roughly two to three times faster than the Gamecube, but how does it compare to the Xbox 360, whose GPU was also made by ATI? “They’re different chips for different platforms and different uses. I don’t think it’s a fair comparison to put them on a chart [to analyze]. That’s not what it’s all about… I think if you focus on the capabilities that the chip will have for the average consumer, with the amazement and wow factor, I think that’s the value that we bring,” said John Swinimer, Senior PR Manager for ATI.

The man was smart enough to sidestep questions regarding Wii’s GPU details, but he does think that it’ll be “pretty cool for the average gamer.”

During an interview to MCV, SCEE boss David Reeves commented that Sony is not concerned about market share, but is more focused on how “fast we [Sony] can grow the industry,” going on to say that the company’s ambition is to grow “15 per cent a year on hardware and software.”

“We want to try and double digital entertainment in the next five to six years. Whether we have 40, 50, or 60 per cent market share is not that important.”

Words well said, but the cynical online media, in its usual Sony-bashing style, has taken the comments out of context. Sony does care about its market share in the upcoming generation, but according to Reeves’ comment, the company will be focused on “growing” the industry - increasing hardware and software sales - and to want and try and “double digital entertainment” in the forthcoming console war. Market share is not important, but reaching their goals are - it’s all a metaphor.

The interview also had Reeves talking about the PS3 controller and how well it has been taken by publishers, among other things.

It’s almost scary how one will jump on a chance to bash Sony. The whole thing has almost become a fad now - you’re cool if you hate Sony, you’re uncool if you don’t.

And no, I’m not a Sony fanboy.

Microsoft has jumped the gun on a Perfect Dark Zero maps announcement, declaring the maps to be available before they aren’t.

In an email sent out to Xbox.com users, the company announced that four new maps for Perfect Dark Zero had been released (image from email to the left) - Plaza, Trench, Rooftops, and Gas Plant. These maps were part of Map Pack #1 and were supposed to be available for download for 500 Xbox Live points.

As of yet, the map pack is unavailable.

Wired’s Game|Life carries confirmation that the user caricature feature shown at Nintendo’s pre-E3 press briefing will be included in hardware level. This comes through an interview with Animal Crossing producer Katsuya Eguchi at E3 where he stated that users will be able to store profiles, letting them create caricatures of themselves, their families, and others (if they wish to). This feature will also be available in other games.

Katsuya Eguchi: Also as you saw in the media briefing, you saw Iwata, Miyamoto, and Reggie playing tennis. we are looking to implement a similar kind of editing feature into the hardware that will allow users to create caricatures of themselves, members of the family, people they would potentially play with. and so when they go to play tennis, those would be the faces in the game. a more sophisticated graphic look wouldn’t match well with the caricatures, but a simpler one does.

Wired News: So the feature would be in the hardware and then applied to, potentially, any game…

Katsuya Eguchi: Yes. The caricatures will exist in the hardware, as data, as one of several profiles that you could save in the Wii. And if you insert compatible software into the Wii, it will pull up the images that you chose.

Eguchi also confirmed that they’ll be including an editing tool that will allow players to create images as well as allow users to select one of several included images.

Heavy metal-listening PlayStation fans can look forward to the PlayStation Experience that will be tagging along with Ozzfest this year.

Ozzfest is a series of annual concerts put together by none other than Ozzy Osbourne, featuring bands like System of a Down, Hatebreed and the legendary rocker himself. This year the PlayStation Experience bus will be accompanying the tour, and inside will be PSPs, a Gran Turismo 4 set up with a driving wheel, an EyeToy arena and more.

The tour will kick off June 29 in Seattle and will go on until August 13 at West Palm Beach. Refer to this page for more details.

An announcement from THQ lets us know that Iron Lore’s hack n’ slash RPG Titan Quest has gone gold for PC. Set for release on June 26, Titan Quest will have gamers embarking on a transcontinental journey through Greece, Egypt and Asia written by award-winning screenwriter Randall Wallace (Braveheart).

In Titan Quest, gamers will quest through fabled locations such as the Parthenon, the Great Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Great Wall of China, to save humanity from terrifying monsters, mythical beasts and the evil Titans who have escaped their eternal prisons. The game features a deep single player and co-operative multiplayer game experience with an epic story written by award-winning screenwriter Randall Wallace (Braveheart, The Man in the Iron Mask).

Publications on and off the Internet hand out “Best of E3″ awards every year, but the Game Critics award is the definitive one. Comprising journalists from major gaming publications, the Game Critics awards the best playable games on the show floor. This year’s Best of Show award was won by Nintendo’s Wii, which also picked up the Best Hardware award, among others.

Full list after the jump.
(more…)

RedOctane today announced that it has begun shipping a limited number of solo Guitar Hero SG Controllers into stores throughout Europe. Modeled after the Gibson SG, the guitar controller for the game is available for £30.

In multi-player mode, two guitarists compete for the ultimate rock accolade as they thrash off individual sections of each song. Tunes alternate between the guitarists, with each player being judged on accuracy, timing and judicious use of Star Power. The player with the highest score at the end of the track wins - but with clever use of the game’s multipliers and bonuses, evenly matched guitar heroes will be contesting victory until the very final note.

Guitar Hero for the PS2 is priced at £50 complete with a Gibson replica Guitar Hero SG controller. A sequel is on the way.

Those who are looking forward to the upcoming Spy Hunter movie can now mark July ‘07 in their calendars, according to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He will be starring in the upcoming film that is “well written” and “not overly complicated”; it also aims to capture the same essence of Indiana Jones, however impossible that may be.

The interview with Hollywood Byte also has The Rock saying that it “all comes down to the writing”, referring to movie scripts. So what about the Doom movie? Apparently, he’s happy with what it turned out to be, as it was “very straightforward and that’s the way it should have been.”

Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run, for which Rock did motion capture and contributed his signature moves, will be out for the PS2 and Xbox this Summer.

Phil Harrison, the man behind SCE’s Worldwide Studios, in an interview with Spiegel Online remarked that the idea of Sony copying Nintendo’s Wii controller is “understandable,” but “a little stupid.” Apparently, both companies were working on similar technology for a long time, and now that such technology is possible within a price affordable by consumers, Sony went on to unveil the motion-sensing portion of PS3’s controller.

In the same interview, Harrison went on to say that users will adopt the PS3 as their “primary entertainment device” and that they’ll be doing their “gaming, movie watching, web browsing” and other “computer entertainment functions” through the console that will ship with a HDD and Linux preinstalled. “PlayStation 3 is a computer. We don’t need the PC.”