Nick Doerr

Gaming By Nick Doerr

Race the dirt roads with your friends in this Baja video

There's nothing quite like driving in dirty environments with a rugged vehicle. We imagine. But driving in said environments with three other friends? Now that'd make a good multiplayer video, which is exactly what we have here for the upcoming racing title Baja due out in September. The environments are cool, the framerate is solid even with four players, and you apparently have the option of choosing between a horizontal or vertical screen split for two-player action. Hope you enjoy!

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PlayStation By Nick Doerr

Check out some battles from Valhalla Knights 2 in this video

Nothing can beat a battle montage. This trailer for Valhalla Knights 2 shows off several different battles with several different types of characters. The action seems very fast-paced and confusing, but it probably becomes second nature after playing for just a few minutes. Of course, the characters in the trailer seem way overpowered as well, but the game might be that easy. We'll find out when the title launches near the end of September.

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Gaming By Nick Doerr

I Am Alive will not make its debut at Leipzig, says Ubisoft

While it was rumored Ubisoft and Jade Raymond would reveal their new title, I Am Alive, at E3, it turned out they did no such thing. Now CVG got word that they have no plans to reveal the title at Leipzig, either. There's no reason behind the decision, so it's most likely too early in development to show anything substantial. If that's true, then we probably won't see it at the Tokyo Game Show, but we ought to hear something before the end of the year. This is shaping up to be a holiday '09 release!

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PlayStation By Nick Doerr

Sony answers some questions you may have about Qore

The third episode of Qore hits the PSN tomorrow and the PlayStation Blog has updated their site to let you know what's on it. While that's all well and good, they also take the time to answer several questions readers have had about the service. We thought we'd bring their answers to your attention.You can re-download Qore, but if you delete a particular episode and re-download it later, you won't be privy to time-sensitive content like exclusive demos and betas. As new episodes come out, they say they will not overwrite old episodes so you can keep them all individually. Just don't delete them if you're a collector. As for remote play, they are currently evaluating the PSP as a medium for viewing Qore -- we're sure piracy is some kind of an issue there. New annual subscribers may someday get access to older PSN titles are bonuses for signing up. Advertisers are allowed 15 seconds of advertisement per run of Qore, meaning you are forced to watch the ads once while the episode is active, but can skip it after that. We'll all get to enjoy the third episode tomorrow with the PS Store update.[Update: fixed a misinterpretation in the post. Sorry!]

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Streaming

Streaming By Nick Doerr

Sony may bring Rocketboom onto the PlayStation Network

Structured as a distribution and advertising deal, the daily video blog Rocketboom was bought by Sony Pictures Television for an undisclosed amount recently. Normally, we'd shrug it off as just another offbeat video blog getting shuffled around the interwebs, but Sony is going to distribute this rather entertaining video blog on the PS3 as well as the PSP. We've embedded a video of what Rocketboom is like -- think you'd watch this on the PS3 or PSP?[Via MaxConsole -- Thanks, Joe!]

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PlayStation By Nick Doerr

Sony may bring Rocketboom to your PSP

Structured as a distribution and advertising deal, the daily video blog Rocketboom was bought by Sony Pictures Television for an undisclosed amount recently. Normally, we'd shrug it off as just another offbeat video blog getting shuffled around the interwebs, but Sony is going to distribute this rather entertaining video blog on the PSP as well as the PS3. We've embedded a video of what Rocketboom is like -- think you'd watch this on the PSP or PS3?[Via MaxConsole -- Thanks, Joe!]

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Gaming By Nick Doerr

Listen to Quentin Sands in this Blitz: The League II video

Just a warning: there's some foul language in this video, so listen at an acceptable volume! Football is an American past-time, but we don't really get to hear the voices behind the masks -- especially when it comes to video game characters of their likeness. So that's why we found this Blitz: The League II video so interesting -- it offers a perspective we don't get to see in these styles of games that often. Here you get to listen to Lawrence Taylor, voicing the character of Quentin Sands in the game. He gives you some insight into the character, how he approached the voice, and how the story will be much larger than the first. Cool stuff.

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Gaming By Nick Doerr

Team ICO boss not feeling pressured to show new title

The early stages of development mean a lot of different things for a lot of different developers. Speaking with UK magazine gamesTM and brought to our attention by videogaming247, Fumito Ueda said "production has not reached the critical stage. The company is very reasonable thanks to my achievements in the past. So, although I do get pressurised, that's not happened yet [on the current project], and that's something I feel gratitude for, that the company gives us the opportunity to focus by giving us time."What does this mean? Simply put, Ueda isn't getting pressured to show off his game yet because Sony knows brilliance takes time. The game is too young, too early in production stages, to really show off. We're willing to wait because we're sure when Ueda is ready to show the world, the world will watch.

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Gaming By Nick Doerr

Skate 2 interview talks about keeping skateboarding games realistic

If you played the first Skate title, you're probably familiar with how they attempted to switch up the control scheme that was standard in most skateboarding games. You used the analog sticks to pull off tricks -- it worked fairly well. It wasn't a blockbuster or a perfect title, but it did what it set out to do and now it's planning to do it again. This time, it might correct all the little flaws and become that great title. That said, this interview explains how Skate 2 plans to keep the skateboarding as realistic as possible, along with some footage. It's nice.

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News

News By Nick Doerr

Scott Steinberg answers some tasty interview questions

Since Scott Steinberg sat down with GamesIndustry.biz for a long, long time, they split their interview into two chewable parts for us to digest and the second part has been released. We'll truncate the important bits, but there's plenty of information for you if you care to read the entire interview.Steinberg says it's just as important to get the PS2 safety foods (we're hungry) like SOCOM and Gran Turismo as it is to bring in more exotic and fresh cuisine like LittleBigPlanet and many of the PlayStation Network downloadable titles. In fact, Steinberg thinks "the reality is that we will win hands-down if we convert the PS2 owners to PS3 ... we salivate at the notion of converting our existing PS2 universe." This said, he says Sony isn't attempting to sway the senior citizen market like Nintendo, just the PS2 users. What do you guys think? Will most PS2 users eventually jump onto the PS3, or are the consoles different enough to swap brands?

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Gaming By Nick Doerr

Optional 8-bit glitches to reappear in MegaMan 9

Capcom has admitted they are letting in a few optional features for the upcoming downloadable MegaMan 9 that cause us to scratch our heads. Hironobu Takeshita sat down for an in-depth interview with Gamasutra, but we're going to focus on the added features relevant to the game itself.The old MegaMan games didn't allow more than three enemies on-screen at once without the sprites starting to flicker to support them ... this also resulted in slow-down. While we're not sure if the slowdown will be an option to turn on, Takeshita said "you can adjust [sprite flicker], unlike the old games. We purposely put some of those old-school bugs into this game, so it does recreate that feel." At least the sprite flicker option is just that -- an option. We're not sure why you'd want it on, but it's there just in case.

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PlayStation By Nick Doerr

PS3 Poll Police: Have you tried the PixelJunk Eden demo?

It's another week for the Poll Police to roll into town and get your take on a random, but relevant, issue that has come up over the past few days. While there are tons of new things on the PlayStation Store, we're most interested to see if you've tried the new offering from Q Games, the folks who brought the acclaimed PixelJunk Monsters. Their new title, PixelJunk Eden, has a demo up on the store right now that allows for a surprising amount of play. Have you tried it? Our opinion? We've tried it out and we're pretty sure it's going to be a fun game. It's simple to pick up and play, has an excellent musical feel to it, and just plain makes us smile. Even though the full game isn't out yet, we're very excited to see what Q Games has in store for us after this game. You can check out the results from last week's poll after the cut.

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Gaming By Nick Doerr

Characters galore appear in this Cross Edge trailer

It's time to get your translating hats on, everyone. A Japanese trailer for Cross Edge has hit the airwaves and we have no idea what it's saying. We see a ton of cast members, from Darkstalkers, Disgaea, the Atelier series (including Mana Khemia) as well as Ar Tonelico, doling out some voice-acting skills and massive damage. We're not quite sure what the game is about or how all these characters end up fighting alongside the main characters of the game, but the battles seem frenetic and entertaining. We're itching to see more because 2D is far from dead. [Via Siliconera]

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PlayStation By Nick Doerr

Hirai claims Home's release date doesn't really matter

Let's not take the subject line without some context, okay? Kaz Hirai stated that Home will truly resonate with consumers and they will love its online services. In that respect, its release date really doesn't matter. He said in an interview with MCV: "I'd much rather make sure we take the time to have a great service rather than rush something into the market ... If we have the right service, it doesn't matter when we launch – so long as it's in a reasonable timeframe." That said, Home is still scheduled to launch this Fall.

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PlayStation By Nick Doerr

The heartwarming tale of a child's brand switch to PlayStation 3

Looking for a sickly-sweet bedtime story? How's this for you: Jane Wells over at CNBC offers up her "ultimate proof" that Sony is winning this 'console war'. You could read her story if you'd like, or if you're in a hurry, read our truncated version. Wells' 16-year-old son is an Xbox Fanboy. He had a PS-One, but when the Xbox came out, he stuck with the Microsoft console ever since. We don't blame him -- he was the perfect age to grow up with Halo and the like. To him, Sony didn't have the great games. Until he watched the Sony Press Conference from E3. He heard about what's coming up and finally got a good look at Metal Gear Solid 4. That was enough. He packed up his 360 and all his games and traded them at Gamestop for the PS3 and a copy of MGS4. An Xbox fanboy actually dumped his favorite line of consoles because of a single press conference. Has anyone else experienced, personally or through a friend, a complete brand switch like this?

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PlayStation By Nick Doerr

David Reeves likens PS3 to airplanes, explains 80GB SKU acceptance

Over at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, a man known as David Reeves is in charge. Since E3 has ended, Eurogamer thought it would be nice to catch up with Reeves and grill him with several questions that many consumers are curious about. We'll go ahead and summarize the interview, but if you'd like to read it in full, you're very welcome to do so.SCEE has only now accepted the 80GB SKU for European territories because it finally reached a price they thought would be acceptable to consumers. This bodes well for the 'console war', but even more importantly, Reeves declares, it can only serve to grow the market even more for everybody. He makes an airplane analogy, too. It's pretty awesome and weaves itself into the rest of the interview. For example, first-party titles are the "landing lights" for the PS3.European launches, like titles for the PlayStation Network, generally don't release at the same time in the UK and, say, Australia. Reeves says they are working on that and some titles coming up will have much closer releases between the European and Australian areas. Things like Home, he said, are coming along nicely now that they have a more realistic and less idealistic view of how the application should play. All in all, he's got faith that the PS3 is going to see a great second half of the year, it seems. Do you?

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PlayStation By Nick Doerr

PS3 is well-positioned for the first time, says Signal Hill analyst

Signal Hill analyst Tom Greenwald commented positively on the pricing strategy of the PlayStation 3, according to Edge Online. He said that "Sony [is] well-positioned for first time since launch" thanks to the 80GB PS3 selling at $399 and "Sony's biggest announcement was a strong counter-punch to Microsoft's $50 price cut on the 360." Greenwald also mentions what he feels is another advantage Sony holds over the competition: a strong game lineup. He also says that the $399 price point is a great advantage over the competition's similarly priced model, since it comes standard with so many more features. In the end, he's just one analyst -- your personal opinions are always the ones that count the most. Do you think he's got a point?[Via CVG]

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Gaming By Nick Doerr

Sackboy knight rescues his princess in LittleBigPlanet trailer

Sackboy wants to be a hero. In this infuriatingly cute trailer (yes, we're so bombarded by cuteness we're angry) you see the regular sackboy dreaming about becoming a knight rescuing his princess. It's another trailer showing how free you are to create your worlds and this is another success in our eyes, even if sackboy doesn't get his kiss. It's also got a great musical number going on in the background. October cannot arrive soon enough!

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PlayStation By Nick Doerr

Rescue that damsel in distress with this Fat Princess video

It's a short video, but it gets its point across -- Fat Princess will involve cartoon soldiers brutally slicing one another to pieces whilst a rotund princess is carried out of imprisonment and into her home territory. There's a pretty good scene around the :22 mark where you can really get a feel for how bloody the overly cute game can get. We'll await more details on this PSN title, as no release date as been announced yet.

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Gaming By Nick Doerr

Konami apologizes for Metal Gear Online problems, has no solution yet

Have you been playing Metal Gear Online? Experiencing some major technical difficulties, login problems, or getting overcharged on the MGO shop? Konami has apologized for all of these hiccups, not expecting the game to get such overwhelming traffic on a regular basis. The "Gene Expansion Pack" is the cause of many issues and those overcharged in the shop have had their money refunded. Konami, however, has "no permanent solutions we can announce at this present moment" in regards to the technical snafus the game has run into. They are working on it, and plan to resolve the issues in the quickest amount of time possible. So, if you're having troubles, don't worry. A patch will come, but no date is set.

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TV & Movies

TV & Movies By Nick Doerr

Buy 'Hakufu's milk' to celebrate the release of Ikki Tousen

Are you thinking of importing the upcoming PSP fighting game Ikki Tousen? While that is all well and good, we thought we'd bring to your attention some other Ikki Tousen goodies you'll miss out on unless you live in Japan. In celebration of the game's arrival, the Cure Maid Cafe have added a milk pudding dessert to their menu dubbed "Hakufu's milk pudding". The attention to detail is impressive -- there's even a small bulge in the middle of these, er, milk pudding globs. Has anyone been able to try this out? Whatever the case, Ikki Tousen is coming out October 2nd in Japan.[Via Otaku International]

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PlayStation By Nick Doerr

PS3 Poll Police: E3 is over. Was it good for you, too?

It's over. E3 has come to an end and the Sony camp has stolen the show. To some people. To others, they did nothing. Still others claim their opinion lies somewhere in the middle. Today, the Poll Police are putting these different opinions to the test: will more people think back on E3 positively or negatively? How did you feel about this year's E3 for Sony? E3 is over. Was it good for you, too? Yeah, it was a great show. I thought it was okay. It wasn't anything special. Really, it was sort of bad. Worst. E3. Ever. I've got an opinion different from these choices. pollcode.com free polls We looked back at everything that was announced or displayed at the Sony press conference and there actually was quite a bit worthwhile mentioned. However, did the Final Fantasy XIII announcement overshadow a smattering of decently good things? Were the Sony offerings not your cup of tea? Whatever your reason, it is justified simply because it is your opinion. That's what matters. Our last poll relied on your opinions, too, and look how that turned out.[Update: we had a snafu where two polls were displayed. The error has been corrected and we apologize for any inconvenience and confusion.]

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PlayStation By Nick Doerr

The Last Remnant roundtable discussion: still no PS3 release date

Don't let the subject line fool you -- while there's still no firm release date set for The Last Remnant on the PS3, it's coming and it's about time we learned a little more about the game. A bunch of press members sat down with the game's producer, Nobuyuki Ueda, then tried to get some information about the game's battle system and storyline. We'll summarize the important bits and let you decide if you want to read the whole thing.The game is supposed to appease both Western and Japanese gamers. English development is ahead of Japanese, so the English dub is proceeding along smoothly, Ueda says. The battles are as large-scale or as small-scale as you'd like. You have control over five "unions" with five members in each union, but it seems like you directly control either one at a time or the leader of each union during battles. Once battle starts, a timer is in place that'll signify when more enemy units will join in the brawl. The greater the number of enemies you choose to encounter, the greater the reward. Think of the DS title The World Ends With You to get an idea what they're going for. The morale meter does not indicate rewards; it helps you see how well other units will pay attention to your orders. While the game sounds like it keeps many traditional RPG elements, it also sounds like it may be more hands-off than expected. We don't know for sure, so we'll not make any judgments until we play it for ourselves.

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PlayStation By Nick Doerr

Kaz Hirai: PS3 operations to turn profit by March '09

As many Sony fans know, the PlayStation 3 hasn't exactly been a financial success for Sony quite yet. Every console sold has not necessarily led to profits for the company, but that trend is to change soon if you believe what Sony head honcho Kaz Hirai had to say. He believes that overall PS3 operations will start to bring in a profit by the end of this fiscal year -- that's the end of March, 2009. Keep in mind "overall" PS3 operations means more than simply selling the console. This means peripherals, software, and downloadable titles will contribute as well. It might not seem like something important to the gamer population, but unless the PS3 can do this, shareholders and other decision-makers may start to question the longevity of the console. We're not worried, though.

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PlayStation By Nick Doerr

Sony is disappointed, but unsurprised, by the FFXIII announcement

At a conference with game writers at E3, SCEA boss Jack Tretton spoke about Sony's feelings toward the announcement that a flagship title, Final Fantasy XIII, will also see a simultaneous release on the Xbox 360. His feelings: "Am I disappointed by it? Yes ... Am I surprised? No." We suppose we shouldn't be too surprised either. With the cost of game development growing as it is, holding onto third-party franchises is much more difficult. The game is still PS3-only in Japan, but we should really expect this generation to revolve around first-party developers. Everything else will more likely than not see release on more than one platform.[Via CVG]

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