Archive: December, 2009
Unreal Engine 3 for the iPod Touch/iPhone 3GS
The future of Iphone gaming is in testing! The guys at anandtech.com got a sneak preview of a modified Unreal 3 engine demo running on the Iphone and Ipod touch, there is much work to be done but the video will show you that they are almost there.
I think controls are the biggest hurdle now, limited screen space and fat fingers would ruin an otherwise playable game. Perhaps the answer is in the accelerometer technology, either way we are in for some decent handheld fun in the near future.
Article here
Final Fantasy XIII, 1.5 Million Copies Plus
Square Enix’s role playing cash cow Final Fantasy XIII sold over 1.5 million units in its first four days on store shelves in Japan, reports tracker “Enterbrain”. The game has also boosted PS3 sales to nearly 235 thousand units this week alone leaving Sony with a warm feeling this Christmas.
The english version, which is released on PS3 and Xbox 360 hits our shelves in March and is expected to sell in similar numbers. Final Fantasy as a franchise can claim some 92 million units sold worldwide. The last in series, Final Fantasy XII for the PlayStation 2, sold over 2 million copies in Japan alone.
Merry Christmas from SOE
Sony Online Entertainment is now offering premium Station Account access to anyone with an active subscription starting the 17th of December free of charge and bonuses to Station Cash starting the 23rd of December.
Games affected are:
EverQuest®, EverQuest® II and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes™.
More information available here
AVP Gets the Green Light in Australia
Following an outright ban of the upcoming Alien vs Predator title by Rebellion and a subsequent appeal made by Sega Australia the game has now been allowed for sale to anyone over the age of 15. The ruling was overturned without the need for Rebellion to make any cuts, trims or edits to the original game.
Sega Australia’s general manager, Darren Macbethn says “It is with great pleasure that we announce the success of our appeal. We are particularly proud that the game will be released in its original entirety, with no content altered or removed whatsoever. This is a big win for Australian gamers. We applaud the Classification Review Board on making a decision that clearly considers the context of the game, and is in line with the modern expectations of reasonable Australians”.
Sony’s Motion Controller, Dominating Patents
Sony is snapping up patents for its new motion controller at an alarming rate, patents cover the initial design as well as a host of accessories in every shape and form.
This will all put pressure on the Xbox Natal designs which are looking more and more like a clone of Sony’s plans, Microsoft will have to come up with some interesting uses for their controller to avoid stepping on Sony’s patents. Get ready for another console feud.
More images here
PS3 vs Xbox, Journalism Fails
Just a quick regurgitated article about the danger of regurgitating news (yes, I get the irony).
Thomas Pain writes about how like for like sales worldwide have favoured PS3 while hundreds of news outlets, blogs and websites claim MS has won the November battle with the Xbox in error. This is a very interesting read about this particular battle and the state of gaming journalism.
