Review: The Simpsons Arcade takes us back to the bowling alley
1991 was a good year for The Simpsons. Some all-time classic episodes aired, the series won a couple of Emmy awards, Bart Simpson t-shirts were still in fashion, and the family starred in an A-list arcade game. It was a better year than 2011, where the series closed in on its 500th episode while a few fans kept up the old argument over when the exact shark-jumping moment happened.
But back to the family’s arcade … Continue Reading
Sony renaming the PlayStation Network? [update]
![Sony renaming the PlayStation Network? [update]](http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/pro_senre-branduk.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1)
Update: A spokeswoman for Sony has added clarification behind the change:
Back at IFA in September, we announced that we would be changing the name of Sony’s online entertainment services from Qriocity to Sony Entertainment Network. The reason for this change was so that there was more unity between the services and the multiple Sony devices where they can be accessed. The goal is for there to be one networked log-in for all Sony services. … Continue Reading
The Tester season 3 hits PlayStation Network tomorrow
Season 3 of Sony’s online-only reality show The Tester premieres tomorrow, Feb. 7 on the PlayStation Network.
The show features a cast of 12 hopefuls who want to work in the game industry competing in a variety of challenges, many of which have nothing to do with game testing. But three seasons in, it apparently makes for interesting viewing as Sony says their viewership for season 2 increased 46 percent over the first. It’s produced … Continue Reading
Battlefield 3 voice chat is finally fixed on Playstation 3 – 104 days after launch
The fix for broken voice communications on the Playstation 3 version of Battlefield 3 has finally arrived today. Developer DICE has taken a staggering 104 days to get the voice chat working properly, and it is a welcome, if somewhat overdue, development for the multi-million selling game.
Battlefield 3 launched in Oct 2011, and voice chat for most PS3 users has been consistently choppy and unusable, until now. With over 4 million PS3 copies of … Continue Reading
Review: How Final Fantasy XIII-2 saves the franchise…for now
2010’s Final Fantasy XIII may have sold well enough, but the perplexingly bad design decisions quickly made the title a bitter disappointment for many fans. Coupled with the disastrous launch of Final Fantasy XIV, and even publisher/developer Square Enix admitted that its legendary role-playing brand had been severely damaged.
Rather than develop an entirely new game that would typically release in 5-6 years, Square Enix sought to make use of their existing engine and team … Continue Reading
New Skyrim patch coming, will actually fix stuff
Bethesda has announced that a major update for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is currently undergoing testing on all three platforms. Version 1.4 is expected to be finalized next week and submitted to Sony and Microsoft for certification.
The patch will finally address the PlayStation 3 memory issues which have plagued the game since its launch on November 11, 2011. I want to say “better late than never,” but then again I don’t have the … Continue Reading
Battlefield 3 voice chat fix for PS3 is confirmed – patch coming soon
Playstation 3 gamers can breath a sigh of relief today, as Electronic Arts’ DICE officially confirmed that a patch to fix long running Battlefield 3 voice chat problems is incoming.
PS3 users have been reporting issues with the voice chat functionality in Battlefield 3 since the Beta rolled out, back in September 2011. The full game saw the same problems occurring, but despite developer DICE saying that looking at the issue was a top priority, … Continue Reading
Six million LittleBigPlanet user levels created; here are some of the best
Little Big Planet developer Media Molecule has announced via Twitter that six million user generated levels have now been created for its Playstation exclusive video game series.
LittleBigPlanet was a revelation among console games when the first instalment launched in 2008. Giving PS3 owners the tools to create and share their own levels, LBP had the potential to create a large, resilient community from the start. While some gamers may have found the creation aspect … Continue Reading
Sony exec says Playstation Move sales should have been better
Fergal Gara, Managing Director of Sony Computer Entertainment UK, has been talking about sales of the Playstation Move periphal, saying, “I’d say we have a solid foothold. Could it, should it, have done more? I think so.”
In an interview with industry magazine MCV, Gara pointed out the importance of having strong software to support sales of the Playstation 3 motion sensing device. “We’ve had a widely different performance from the various Move titles. Sports … Continue Reading
Sony: PS3 still on track for 15 million sales this year
Despite a troubled European economy, and a major attack by hackers in April, Sony has revealed it is still on track to sell 15 million Playstation 3 consoles worldwide, in the financial year to end-March.
Andrew House, new head of Sony Computer Entertainment, told reporters on Thursday that, if anything, PS3 sales were slightly ahead of target for the financial year to date. House declined to comment on Playstation Vita sales estimates, with the new … Continue Reading
Team Ninja studio head talks DLC costumes and Tekken vs. Dead or Alive
Team Ninja, an in-house development studio owned by Tecmo Koei, is best known for its work on the Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden franchises. The last major entry in the Dead or Alive fighting game series, Dead or Alive 4, was released one month after the launch of the Xbox 360 in late 2005. Since then, Team Ninja has focused on ports, such as Dead or Alive Dimensions for the Nintendo 3DS, Ninja Gaiden … Continue Reading
Breaking Skyrim: The best tricks, secrets, and exploits
Free houses, infinite XP, unlimited magic…the list goes on. The Elder Scrolls titles are notorious for being overrun with bugs and glitches. Even the patch that was supposed to patch the game now needs its own patch. But not all of these imperfections are necessarily bad. In fact, a few can be quite humorous, or more importantly, allow the player to reach otherwise-insurmountable wealth and power. Plus, even as Bethesda continues to fix/break the game … Continue Reading
Final Fantasy VII remade using Unreal Engine, looks bad
A modern Final Fantasy VII remake is easily the most-requested video game of our generation. There’s even a long-running petition with over 65,000 signatures. I’m more of a Final Fantasy VIII fan personally, but I’d happily take either or. Sadly, the official word from Square Enix is that giving fans what they want would essentially be too hard, so instead they’re going to continue making easy sequels that no one asked for in the first … Continue Reading
Battlefield 3 sales top 8 million copies
Electronic Arts‘ military-themed first-person shooter Battlefield 3 has now sold over 8 million copies since its October 25 U.S. launch.
EA CFO Eric Brown mentioned the sales figures during a presentation at the Baird Technology Conference, according to a report from Game Informer. That’s a decent continuing sales pace after the game surged to sales of 5 million copies in its first week on the shelves – a mark EA said made it the fastest-selling … Continue Reading
Review: Saints Row: The Third is crazy, crass and a whole lot of fun
Saints Row: The Third, the latest third-person action game from developer Volition and publisher THQ, blasts its way into the hectic Winter gaming marketplace, with more spectacular set pieces than a blockbuster movie, a huge array of customization options, and absolutely no sense of shame whatsoever. Following the two previous Saints Row titles, this latest installment lets you play the leader of the 3rd Street Saints, who are embroiled in a turf war with The … Continue Reading
The definitive interview: The making of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is one of the best video games of the year. It is the flagship of Sony’s games on the PlayStation 3 this fall and shipped 3.8 million copies on its first day of sales on Nov. 1. We described it as one of the best but also one of the most annoying games yet in the series from Sony’s Naughty Dog studio.
Justin Richmond, game director at Naughty Dog, told us … Continue Reading
EA finally starts issuing Battlefield 1943 vouchers to PS3 gamers
After experiencing high level of backlash, including a lawsuit filed against the company, Electronic Arts has finally responded to public pressure by delivering the extra content promised to Playstation 3 owners of Battlefield 3.
“There have been some misunderstandings around Battlefield 1943 and Battlefield 3″, EA said in a statement on its website, which also explains what gamers must do to get their downloadable copy of Battlefield 1943.
In June, the company announced that PS3 … Continue Reading
Lawsuit filed against Electronic Arts for failing to keep Battlefield 3 promise
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Electronic Arts by disgruntled Playstation 3 owners, unhappy that the company failed to provide the extra content with Battlefield 3 that had been promised. Battlefield 1943, the best-selling Playstation Network title, was supposed to have been included with PS3 copies of Battlefield 3, but it failed to materialize, leaving many gamers frustrated and disappointed.
Many publishers are now bundling copies of earlier games with their most recent … Continue Reading
Free Saints Row 2 with PS3 version of Saints Row: The Third
THQ has announced a special treat for Playstation 3 gamers, with a free digital copy of Saints Row 2 being made available when you redeem your Saints Row: The Third online pass within the next 90 days.
These kinds of promotions are becoming increasingly common as game publishers look for ways to maximize the revenue on their new games by bundling titles from their older libraries.
Speaking on the Playstation Blog, Jon Miller, spokesman at … Continue Reading
The making of the Xbox: Microsoft’s journey to the next generation (part 2)
Update: Don’t like page breaks? This two-part series is now available as an e-book for the Amazon Kindle.
Editor’s note: This story is the second of two pieces on the 10th anniversary of the launch of Microsoft’s Xbox video game console, which debuted Nov. 15, 2001. The narrative is based on recent interviews as well as my two books: Opening the Xbox: Inside Microsoft’s Plan to Unleash an Entertainment Revolution, published in 2002; and The … Continue Reading
