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Showing posts from October, 2008

No Longer A Fluke, But A Reality: Playstation 3 BOMBS IN JAPAN FOR 7TH STRAIGHT WEEK

The Playstation 3 continues its steady decline into irrelevance in Japan, continuing its epic fail in the Land of the Rising Sun for the SEVENTH CONSECUTIVE WEEK. There's no doubting that Japanese gamers are starting to look for the games on the Playstation 3, and they just aren't there. http://kotaku.com/5071641/psp-tops-hardware-sales-again-ps3-sinks-to-new-low PSP Tops Hardware Sales Again, PS3 Sinks To New Low Sales of the PSP-3000 model in Japan have cooled considerably since it launched in the region, but Sony's portable sells far more than enough to retain the top spot on the Media Create hardware charts. The PSP's hardware peers all took a hit this week; the Nintendo DS drops to third, with the Xbox 360 holding steady with the week's lowest decline. The bad news continues for Sony's PlayStation 3, which suffers its worst week ever, selling just half of what its HD competition did, shedding nearly 17% of its sales week-to-week. Those LittleBigPlanet bund

That Poem in the Gears of War 2 Commercial....

Have you seen the Gears of War 2 commercial (the older one), the one where there's a voice that utters this poem that begins with "I have a rendezvous with death...." I happened to find what could be the poem that they [most likely] based it upon. Just an interesting read; apologies if this seems an academic post and not exactly video-game related.... Source: http://www.bartleby.com/104/121.html Louis Untermeyer, ed. (1885–1977). Modern American Poetry. 1919. Alan Seeger. 1888–1916 121. "I Have a Rendezvous with Death" I HAVE a rendezvous with Death At some disputed barricade, When Spring comes back with rustling shade And apple-blossoms fill the air— I have a rendezvous with Death When Spring brings back blue days and fair. It may be he shall take my hand And lead me into his dark land And close my eyes and quench my breath— It may be I shall pass him still. I have a rendezvous with Death On some scarred slope of battered hill, When Spring comes round ag

Fable 2 : Believe The Hype

If you've been reading a lot of game review sites and forums online, Fable 2 has been getting an immense amount of buzz this week. After having played the game since yesterday up to this afternoon...I say that the game really does deserve it. I haven't completed the game yet, to be honest, but I am getting that feeling that this is one of those games that will set a new bar for Western RPGs (or, perhaps RPGs in general). A quick list of things I liked: 1. Interactions with villagers, while limited and lacking dialogue, really come into their own after you spend a good deal of time with it. 2. Interesting design decision in Fable II - it seems monster encounters/bandit encounters do not drop any gold; just fighting experience (which can improve your physique and magic capabilities). Over time this makes you actually spend time in the towns, do the jobs, and change the way you understand the definition of a 'role playing game'. 3. It's really cool that you can buy sta

RPG Incoming: Fable 2

That's just a sampling of the incredible, INCREDIBLE levels of hype Fable II is getting all over the Web. Can a game be THAT good? ***** The definition of RPG between Western developers and Eastern developers clearly differs in some way. Western devs mostly think that when a game is a 'role-playing game', they take it quite literally---you, the player, play a role in a fantasy setting, and as such, you should be given full ownership of that role. There's a lot of emphasis on freedom and the ability to do what you want to do in that world; the more expansive the choices you can make, the 'better' the game is. By this logic, even a game like Grand Theft Auto IV is technically a 'role-playing game', even if its setting is not a fantasy world (though at times, what happens is totally fantastic). With Eastern developers, it's different: a role-playing game for Japanese developers is putting the player in the middle of a story. The story is already written

Playstation 3 Sales Continue To Plummet In Japan

If you've been following the news lately, the Playstation 3 has been suffering huge losses WEEK AFTER WEEK against the Xbox 360 in Japan. Surprisingly the Xbox 360 has been holding up well, despite being unable to defeat the Nintendo Wii and its strong sales run. Hardcore gamers are most likely staying tuned to the battle between the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 since both consoles are home to the kind of games that they want to play. The casual gamers continue to support the Wii and thus, it remains on top for this generation of consoles. These are the latest figures for Media Create for the week of October 13 to October 19, 2008: • PSP - 159,816 • Nintendo DS - 29,839 • Wii - 26,024 • Xbox 360 - 7,856 • PlayStation 2 - 7,261 • PlayStation 3 - 4,725 Sources: http://kotaku.com/5068081/playstation-tops-bottoms-weekly-japanese-sales-charts http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=339753 Alternative numbers from Famitsu/Enterbrain paint the same story for the battle between th

The Dream Gaming Convention

For the past few weeks we've been to a couple of gaming events and we are very, very grateful to have been a part of them. We're happy to have been part of Anicon, Playground's booth at Level Up Live, and the WCG's League event this past Sunday. All these have been great experiences for us and we're also glad that our involvement was also a lot of fun for other gamers, too. Now, let's just imagine for just a second....a dream scenario. Now, let's be clear about a few things. NOTHING about what I'm going to post next, is real. The following is just an imaginary scenario that I dreamed up in my mind, after all these great experiences I've had in these gaming events. Let's be clear first that this post is not meant in any way to criticize or demean the game conventions and events that I've been to. The following is a scenario that is practically impossible, it's imaginary and it will probably never happen. * HYPOTHETICAL, DREAM SCENARIO F

Pictures from the Guitar Hero III / Soulcalibur IV Tournament Last Sunday

This tournament was not organized or managed by the Pinoyxbox community ; however, we played a role in informing console players and arcade players about this major tournament. Pinoyxbox voluntarily lent 2 Hori EX2 Arcade Fighting Sticks for FREE, for use by Soulcalibur IV tournament participants. We did this to encourage arcade gamers, Playstation 3 gamers and Xbox 360 gamers to all participate in the tournament, so that the level of competition would be very high. Given that the Xbox 360 and Soulcalibur IV is not officially marketed or supported in the Philippines, a lot of game players here only know about the Soulcalibur series because of the availability of the game in local arcades. Players also know about it because of the locally successful Playstation 2 version; a lot of Filipino players still aren't aware that the game's latest sequel is also available on the Xbox 360. Tournament results: Guitar Hero III 1st Place - P10,000.00 - Luis Benesa - Pinoyxbox member "S

Yes, the Filipino Gamer Can!

It’s been around 4-5 years since I played Philippine Ragnarok Online (PRO). I still remember our (mine and my brother’s) primary character, a priest name Leafar. We operated as a lone wolf providing only the cheapest healing services in the dungeons of Prontera. When we played PRO we only had one goal in mind...to make our priest look like some kind of jester. We had everything...swirly glasses, clown nose, etc...ect...EXCEPT...the jester hat. And for around 3-6 months we toiled around the world of Ragnarok trying to find the monster that would drop that specific hat with no such luck. After that frustration, we decided to move on to other games but PRO will always have nice memories for us. We had the PRO Hall of Shame site (with screenshots of the lame tactics people do), we participated in the ‘Happy New Year’ festival where the GMs unleashed all the boss characters in the towns and everyone died, my brother’s friend had some hilarious ‘ chiksilog ’ moments! To clarify, a chiksilog

Photos from Pinoyxbox @ Level Up Live 2008

Here are some photos from PINOYXBOX @ Level Up Live 2008 More photos to be added as they are uploaded.... Official Site for Level-Up Live: http://levelupgames.ph/live2008/ This is the venue hall before they let the people in. One thing for certain, the scale of Level-Up Live 2008 is arguably MUCH bigger than the World Cyber Games: Asian Championships in Singapore. Looking at this thing, I have no doubt that the Philippines can throw a kickass gaming convention! This is the PXB area within the Playground Magazine booth. We just have one TV so we had a very simple set-up. Initially we were just going to bring Soulcalibur 4 but then we figured out we need some variety in our line-up so we brought Rockband 2 as well. Once again THANK YOU SO MUCH TO GAMEHOPPER AND BRICO FOR HELPING US WITH THE LCDTV DISPLAYS! THANKS TO WAKKA FROM GAMECORE FOR PROVIDING US WITH A POSTER OF SOULCALIBUR 4! Here's Pinoyxbox members Whyme and Teejay testing Soulcalibur 4. Our very first guests! Dexter,