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A Review Of 2005 Game Hardware News
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360,
Next Generation published an article earlier today that does a good job summarizing what the big three have been up to this year regarding hardware. The article mentions everything from PS2’s $149 fixed price to the Xbox 360’s launch shortages. And naturally, the article also includes talk of Nintendo’s Revolution controller.
While the article doesn’t feature any new content, it’s certainly interesting to look back and see what Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft were up to this year. Reading about what unfolded at this year’s E3 does bring back some fond memories but in all honesty, it just makes us anticipate E3 ‘06 that much more.
Read More 
| Next Generation
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Nintendo Revolution To Drop Thanksgiving 2006?
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Rumors, Wii,
According to IGN, Nintendo’s Revolution is set to release “during the week of Thanksgiving 2006” in America. While Nintendo remains silent regarding an official release date for its upcoming console, several anonymous developers have leaked the mentioned date that Nintendo divulged to them. While this news may not be extremely shocking, considering that Nintendo is widely known for delaying its products (see Twilight Princess,) it confirms that the Xbox 360, and possibly the PS3, will have been released considerably earlier.
Will a Thanksgiving 2006 launch be a huge setback to Nintendo? The Revolution will arguably represent a fundamental change to the industry with it’s unique controller, but is a another year of waiting just too much? Or could the Revolution turn out to be next Christmas’ Tickle Me Elmo, as the Xbox 360 is turning out to be this year?
The next year will certainly be an exciting one - with a huge E3 in May - so be sure to stay tuned. In the meantime, brace yourselves for the next-gen console war, it’s going to be brutal.
Read More | IGN
In-Game Advertising Proves To Be Effective
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Corporate News,
A few days ago, Nielsen and Activision released results of a study measuring the effectiveness of in-game ads. Based on the study, most gamers openly welcomed advertising in videogame because it increases videogame realism. While videogame publishers currently do accept in-game advertising, fees they make are nominal. If you’ve played a recent Tony Hawk or True Crime game, you can probably recall ads in the game. Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland features everything from in-game billboard ads to company logos to slap onto your skateboard.
The study’s results are certainly pertinent today considering how much time 18-34 year old males spend playing videogame. With less and less people watching television - and even less paying attention to commercials - marketers need to find different ways of reaching consumers. So if gamers currently feel that in-game ads increase a game’s realism, why shouldn’t marketers increase the type of advertising? Most certainly, game publishers’ will be able to charge advertisers more based upon the results of this study. And with the extra revenue, publishers would hopefully lower game prices - which would be extremely welcome, especially considering the current $60 next-gen games.
Read More | GameDaily
So, we are giving away stuff this year in our 2005 Holiday Gift Guide, and we are pretty excited about it. We are adding new ideas and giveaway items on a regular basis, through Christmas. We have over $450 worth in prizes up for grabs so far, including:
- SCOTTeVEST Rodeo Technology Enabled Jacket ($199 USD)
- SLEEPTRACKER Wake-Up Watch ($149 USD)
- CanaryWireless Digital Hotspotter ($59 USD)
- Motorized UMD Disc Cleaner ($29 USD)
- Antec FanPal ($20 USD)
Look for more items to be added shortly. If you are interested in winning, head on over to the contest thread on our message board.
Read More | Holiday Gift & Giveaway Guide 2005
Perfect Dark Zero Optimization
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: First Person Shooters, Xbox 360,
Over at the TeamXbox Forums, someone put together a tutorial on how to improve the Perfect Dark Zero play experience for those who just can’t get away from playing the game like Halo 2:
I’ve seen that I wasn’t one having problems with aiming in PDZ, theres been at least 2-3 threads a day popping up about the aiming system, with even more negative responses in it, some people even say they hate the game because of it. Most people adjust the sensitivity and give up when they still can’t aim, I’ve experimented and experimented and found settings that make the game much easier to play, and when it’s easier, of course it’s more fun.
If you set your profile up like this, you’ll notice you get way more headshot kills, and kills period.
Profile Options > Controls
Basics:
* Control Style: Standard
* Auto Aim Style: On or Off, doesn’t make much of a difference, in this game if the small crosshair is over an opponent, the shot is going to hit.
* Sensitivity: 75-100 seem to be the best.
* Invert Y: Up to you.
The most important part:* X/Y Sensitivity: Off - Most console FPS have Y Slower than X as default, but in PDZ they decided to make it so the X and Y axis are the same speed, it may sound silly, but this makes a HUGE difference when changed.
* Y Sensitivity: 45-60 - The Higher your X is, adjust it appropriatly with the Y. This is where you’ll be getting more headshots.
* Fast Look: OFF - Fast Look is a stupid feature. Basically when you push your analog stick all the way in ANY direction, it will spin you around in less than a second, making precise aiming almost impossible.
Optional:Options > Game Setup
* Camera Bob: Off, Camera Bob is annoying to me, but it won’t really affect your aiming too much.
After I changed these options, this game is almost as fluid as Halo now, the only thing I can’t fix is the Zoom Sensitivity.
Read More | TeamXbox
Latest Xbox Live Backwards Compatibiliy Update Breaks Halo 2
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: First Person Shooters, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
So, we were feeling nostalgic last night and decided to play a little Halo 2 on the Xbox 360. Earlier in the day, there had been an update to the backwards compatibility list, and the Xbox 360 prompted us to download it before continuing with the gaming session. After the update was applied, we fired up Halo 2, only to find that it had been “broken.” How so? We have a 46” widescreen HDTV in our lab, and Halo 2 has always played in its widescreen mode. This time, it was in a 4x3 box, squeezed so that everything was really skinny. I made sure the aspect ratio of the TV hadn’t been changed, but when I changed it to 4x3, it was even thinner. So basically, the latest update has rendered playing Halo 2 in widescreen 720p non-existent. Luckily, it looks like the right people are aware of the problem, and a fix should be released later today.
Xbox 360 Owners: Grab Windows Media Center 2005 Today For $115
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Xbox 360,
This one is a quick heads up for current, and possibly future, Xbox 360 owners. If you are looking to take full advantage of the Windows Media Connect infrastructure on your home network, then you need a PC with Windows Media Center 2005 installed. Newegg has a special on the software running today only, with a pricetag of about $115. From personal experience, we can tell you that this isn’t too shabby for the extra functionality that it brings. Of course, this won’t change the fact that your Xbox 360 won’t play Divx. Can’t win ‘em all.
Apple iPlay Videogame Console Mockup Images
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Hardware, Screenshots,
Someone out there pondered what an Apple-branded game console might look like, and whipped up a few mockups for the world to see. From our perspective, this looks more like a paper shredder and/or office trash can than a game console - but then again, so does the Sony PS3. Check out a few more images after the jump.
Click to continue reading Apple iPlay Videogame Console Mockup Images
Gameboy DS: A Blast From The Past
Posted by Oscar M. Cantu Categories: Mods/Hacks, Nintendo DS,
Now this is just plain cool. Chris got bored at work, so instead of actually finding another task to do, he decided to customize his DS to look like something most of us remember hauling around like the brick that it was: the classic Nintendo Game Boy. More pictures are available on the LiveJournal Nintendo DS group.
Read More | LiveJournal Nintendo DS Group
In Major Nelson’s recent “blogcast”, he states that Microsoft will “probably not” ever support DivX (through Windows Media Center) on Xbox 360. He’s vocal about the fact that it was likely due to people using the popular codec to violate copyright and “backup” DVDs. So apparently all of us who use DivX to encode our home movies to save on storage space are out of luck? Larry…there are a lot of legitimate uses for DivX. Sure, people are using it to violate copyright, but don’t paint everyone with the same brush. DivX is a fantastic codec for people who create their own content and want it to take up the least amount of space possible, while maintaining good video quality.
Read More | Major Nelson
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