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Another look at Champions Online, six months later
One thing that can be said about Champions Online in the period following its launch is that it has gone through some severe growing pains. When the game launch was announced, players protested, as the beta still had massive issues that had not been addressed. When the game was launched despite these reactions, it also launched with the infamous launch day patch that failed to repair numerous bugs within the game. At the break of the new year, Cryptic announced the Vibora Bay expansion, but leaks from then-community manager Daeke led the community to believe it would be a paid expansion, which launched the forums into a rage of untold proportions. This, combined with the notorious "kitchen sink patch" that caused more problems than it fixed, led to a mass exodus of unsubscriptions. A general air of doom began to rise over the community. Things were not looking good in Millennium City. Champions Online was in a bad spot. The community was revolting, the product was unpolished, and despite Cryptic's best attempts to make things out to be okay, it was obvious that the game was at a breaking point. Something had to be done. But rather than sit on their thumbs, Cryptic Studios decided to step up and make changes. It seemed obvious from dev blogs that they loved their game, and they wanted to see it successful. Hit the jump to read more!
Cheaper PS3 loses HDMI, slots, Wi-Fi, 40GB
As you can see above, there are a few things different between the two PS3 SKUs planned. (Hint: the obvious alterations concern high-def output and wireless connectivity -- though Bluetooth controllers should work just fine with both, with or without any chrome case highlighting.)So what's HDMI, built-in multimedia card-reader slots, wireless internet connectivity, and an extra 40 gigabytes' hard disk space worth to you? $100? Now that Sony's gone with the 2-SKU approach with its next-gen hardware (a la the Xbox 360's premium and "Core" systems), we can expect some tough consumer choices after six months -- with console shortages possibly for another six months after that -- as $100 separates the base $499 and premium $599 versions of Sony's "Clear Black" hope.HDMI is important to those who want to take full advantage of Blu-ray high def and have the new screens to use it; MemoryStick, SD, and CompactFlash slots would be nice for the PS3 memory-card users and those will run multimedia on the system; Wi-Fi's the only way to avoid stringing ethernet cables for online access; and 360 owners might appreciate the full 60GB available to potential buyers of the premium PS3 model. Neither model comes with a second HDMI port; thankfully, one should hopefully be all most users need. The details are laid out in a feature-comparison table at the end of Sony's official PS3 hardware press release, available in both Adobe Reader and Microsoft Word formats. Determine what's most important to your PS3 ambitions there.[Image pieced together from the PlayStation.com forums; thanks, Guru]
