Latest Gear Live Videos
Epsilon BIOS and Undiluted Platinum Mod Demo Video
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Mods/Hacks, PSP,
QJ.net has a pointer to a video supposedly demonstrating the new Epsilon BIOS for the PSP, as used with the new Undiluted Platinum. The video link was stuck in the comments on a post about the new packaging for the modchip itself. The mod shows a PSP, with all the features of the 2.71 firmware, booting backup ISOs from the memory card for LocoRoco and Me & My Katamari as well as a home-brew application. The video ends with the a shot of the empty PSP UMD slot, showing that all the games were run off the memory stick. The video, assuming it is accurate, shows an Undiluted Platinum modchip that is clearly nearing release.
Read More 
| QJ.net via MaxConsole.net
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No Xbox 360 Price Drop Planned
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: PlayStation 3, Rumors, Xbox 360,
The Global Marketing Guys at Gamerscoreblog dropped the hammer on price drop rumors for the Xbox 360, stating “the official word from folks in the know is that there are currently no plans for a price drop this fall.” Now, gamers can quibble about details like the wording “no current plans” and the fact that many of the rumors picked Europe as the target market for price drops. Realistically, though, there isn’t a compelling reason to either announce a price drop at this point, or actually lower the price.
While the rest of the statement on the site is pretty typical marketing speak trying to get gamers to hop on the Xbox 360 bandwagon, the truth of the matter is that the Xbox 360 does come in at a lower price point than the Playstation 3. Neither Sony nor Microsoft really consider Nintendo enough of a threat to their plans to consider the pricing of the Wii in their price points. So, more than likely, Microsoft will be content to sit on their price point at $299 and $399, and if they find that the Playstation 3 is seriously eating into their marketshare, consider a price drop at that time.
Read More | Gamerscoreblog.com
Half-Life 2: Episode 1 Statistics
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Internet, PC,
Valve Software has published some of the statistics they have collected via Steam for the game play patterns of Half-Life 2: Episode 1, and there are some interesting facts that one can glean from the data. Between June 10, 2006 and June 23, 2006, 774,520 sessions of the game have been played. The completion time, as tracked by Valve, averages 4 hours, 57 minutes, which is very close to the advertised 5 hours of game play from the content. It would have been interesting to see the median completion time as well, so that one could get an idea of where the top half and bottom half of the completion times lie, but the data graph seems to bunch around the 4 hour mark, with a few stragglers hanging out at around 10 hours. Average total playtime is also interesting; at around 2 hours, this suggests that a number of people aren’t finishing the game, and may be leaving off or getting bored at around this time. It’s a little hard to make any real conclusions because there could be a number of recent purchasers of the game in the list.
Having statistics like the number of registered serial numbers versus time would be interesting, since Circuit City offered Episode 1 for $7.99 this week, one wonders if that generated a spike in users. Other numbers not included, possibly because they would be too proprietary or business model related, would be the general split between Steam downloaders and retail purchasers.
Still, the chart showing number of deaths per map is interesting, if only to show which levels seem to be the hardest for gamers to complete. There are definitely areas where the difficulty level doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference, but there are some where the spread between easy and hard is immense. The deaths per map also speaks somewhat to the pacing of the game; there is a definite arc to the challenge of the game, interspersed carefully with “breather” levels that allow a player to regroup. The data showing the highest level played also is interesting; nearly half of the players with the game have played to the final level, and there doesn’t seem to be any strong drop-offs that might indicate frustration with the game play, causing abandonment.
There’s a ton of data in the graphs presented, giving more insight into how people play games, and how game design can impact player experience.
Read More | Steampowered.com
Tony Hawk’s Project 8 Screenshots
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Screenshots, Sports, Xbox 360,
Team Xbox was able to grab some screen-shots from the latest Tony Hawk incarnation, known as Tony Hawk’s Project 8. The game was rebuilt specifically for the next-gen consoles and from this early look the time spent was well worth it. Tony and friends will be hitting the Xbox 360 and the PS1, PS2, and PS3. Absent from the lineup is an original Xbox version and any showing on a Nintendo console. Project 8 is due out this fall when the drought of Xbox 360 games comes to an end.
Read More | Team Xbox
EA Confirms No NHL 07 For Gamecube or DS
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, Sports,
When EA announced their cover athlete for NHL 07 last week, Nintendo fanboys noticed that there was no mention of a Gamecube or Nintendo DS version. Nintendo followed up with an EA publicist to find out if the list was a final console rundown. EA did confirm that NHL 07 will not be making an appearance on the Gamecube or the DS, however they confirmed support for the DS with other titles and hope to work with the Wii in the future. Let’s hope that EA will kick it up when the Wii is released this fall.
Read More | Nintendojo
Rumor: Road Rash Coming To Xbox 360
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Driving, Rumors, Xbox 360,
The August 2006 issue of the Official Xbox Magazine has alluded to an Xbox 360 version of Road Rash! The game is said to be under development at EA Studios in the UK. For those of you who have forgotten about quality Road Rash games, pull the Sega Genesis out of the closet and dust off that original Road Rash cartridge. There is no other information about this game available to date, but my vision of the game is one that looks like Moto GP, handles like a Need for Speed game, and battles similar to Burnout during races. You can be sure to see more info about Road Rash for the Xbox 360 on our site, as it becomes available.
Read More | Official Xbox Magazine
Saints Row Demo Drops August 1st
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Release Dates, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
THQ has announced that a playable demo of their new GTA-like game, Saints Row, will be available on Xbox Live on August 1st. Saints Row will be available for purchase on August 29th exclusively for the Xbox 360. This demo release date looks doable, unlike the recently delayed PREY demo for several reasons. The demo will be included in the Official Xbox Magazine which means a much larger lead time is needed to get it into the magazine. THQ will also be offering a demo on June 24th in Anaheim California which could easily be the same one we will see on Live August 1st. THQ has more info and screenshots on the Saints Row official site.
Read More | Saints Row Official Site
Microsoft’s In-Game Advertising Strategy
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
A few months ago when Microsoft purchased Massive, a video game advertisement agency that specializes in serving ads to online games, many wondered what direction in-game advertisement would take. Recently players in PGR3 have seen a new blitz advertising Cadillac cars through in-game models. Gamedaily reports that Microsoft is viewing in-game advertising as an important revenue stream for the next-gen gaming platform. Microsoft is looking to sign up 80 more advertising partners by the end of the year and expects to recognize a “25-30% bump in profitability”. The most surprising fact revealed by Gamedaily was that Microsoft could in the future offer the in-game advertising service to Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft hopes this would ease the trouble of serving up ads 3 different ways for a PS3 version, 360 version and a Wii version. If all of the manufacturers hopped on the Massive advertising train it would in essence create another monopoly owned by Microsoft by locking out the 2 main competitors in online gaming ad delivery. My thoughts about in-game advertising are that, if done unobtrusively, then more money goes to Microsoft and maybe, just maybe the savings will be passed down to me, the gamer. What are your thoughts on game advertisements?
Read More | GameDaily.Biz
A Look At GRAW Chapter 2 Downloadable Content
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Editorial, First Person Shooters, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Long time Gear Live and Playfeed reader David Roth (aka munkyxtc) was an early purchaser of the GRAW Chapter 2 downloadable content from the Xbox Live Marketplace. After playing with the various new additions to the game, he sent us his thoughts:
The long awaited release of Chapter 2 co-op campaigns and map pack has hit the marketplace with a steep price tag of 1200 Microsoft Points ($15US). Deciding to be an earlier adopter of this download proved to be quite an adventure. I started to download the 725MB update at 4:30PM EST yesterday, after making it through the downloading process to 84% (Mind you it took 5 hrs to get to this point) MS servers decided to start dropping connections which resulted in the content being corrupted, so back to the drawing board I went. I immediately started the download back up and everything was going great until I decided to waste my time playing Bankshot Billiards to pass the time - BUT WAIT, there is apparently a download for this game which automatically kicks you off Xbox live before asking if you want to download it or just quit the game to save you from being disconnected. Again, my downloadable content was corrupted. By this time I was completely frustrated and decided to just set it and forget it overnight. After crawling out of bed this morning I fired up GRAW and was prompted for a mandatory title updated, which I gladly installed.
Click to continue reading A Look At GRAW Chapter 2 Downloadable Content
Prey Demo PC Out, Xbox 360 Delayed
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: First Person Shooters, PC, Xbox 360,
3D Realms has released the Prey demo, and the file is available from a number of sources listed on the 3D Realms website. Prey has had a long and convoluted development history, but the latest incarnation, using the Doom 3 engine and being developed by Human Head Studios now has a demo available. Early feedback seems to indicate that the download is worth the wait (in both download time, and development time). The file weighs in at around 449 megabytes, so its time to crank up the bandwidth. Unfortunately, the Xbox 360 version of the demo has been held up temporarily, while Microsoft completes their final QA sign off, but every indication is that this process should only take a day or so. The demo features the first five single player levels, and two death-match maps, so it should keep gamers occupied for at least a little bit.
PC System Requirements after the jump.
Click to continue reading Prey Demo PC Out, Xbox 360 Delayed
Read More | 3d Realms
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