OUYA is true to its word: the company has confirmed to us that it’s shipping the first units of its namesake game console to the many, many people who crowdfunded at a tier high enough to set aside a production system. If you’ve received a tracking notice, you should expect to have the cuboid at your door in five to ten days, depending on just which corner of the world you live in. Don’t be surprised if your inbox remains empty for now, however. OUYA notes that it’s spreading delivery over the “coming weeks,” which by necessity will leave a few of us twiddling our (currently gamepad-free) thumbs.
Many game developers will tell you that the PlayStation 3’s Cell processor was a real bear to support. What they can’t tell you: the PlayStation 4’s lead architect, Mark Cerny, was already thinking of a solution as far back as 2007. He just revealed to Gamasutra that he’d been researching x86-based processors for the PS4 merely a year after the PS3 launch, knowing that there were “some issues” with realizing the Cell’s potential. The new console’s unified memory and eight-core CPU were the ultimate results of Cerny’s talks with game creators shortly after he took the reins in 2008. We’ve already seen the shift in attitudes through a very developer-centric PlayStation Meeting, but Cerny wants to underscore just how different the PS4’s holiday launch should be versus what we remember from 2006 — even the first wave of PS4 games should benefit from a healthy toolset, he says. We’ll know his long-term planning paid off if the initial PS4 library shows the level of refinement that took years to manifest on the PS3.
Hyperkin has developed a reputation for modern takes on legendary game consoles that are often better than the real thing. If true, its just-unveiled Retron 5 is a nostalgia singularity. The hardware emulator can use its namesake five cartridge slots to play original games from no less than nine vintage consoles, including the Genesis (Megadrive), NES (Famicom), SNES (Super Famicom) and GameBoys from the original through to the GameBoy Advance. It keeps going: there’s a custom Bluetooth controller that can handle every system, mix-and-match original controller support, save states and upscaling for both video (to 720p, through HDMI) as well as audio. While we’ll have to see just how well the Retron 5 works whenever it exists as more than a conceptual graphic, that opportunity may come quickly when Hyperkin is tentatively shooting for a July release at less than $100. About all that’s left for a follow-up Retron are Jaguar and Turbografx 16 slots — pretty please?
Gameplay footage for the PlayStation 3 version of Diablo 3 has been released. The video shows the PC-game with a very different UI. Gameplay is smooth (for the most part), the new control system seems very user-friendly, and the new dynamic camera system seems very appealing (the fight against Belial looked very entertaining). All in all, the PlayStation 3 port seems very well done and should appeal to Diablo 3 fans.
Diablo 3 on the PlayStation 3 will feature all of the current offerings of the PC version of the game. There will be Paragon levels after you reach level 60, Monster Power settings, PvP, and more. Along with those additions, there is also one, very important selling point. The game will have 4-player split-screen co-op. So you, and 3 of your friends, will be able to join together to take on Diablo in a nostalgic, Champions of Norrath/Gauntlet Dark Legacy-like way.
Diablo 3 has seen great commercial success, selling over 12 million PC copies to date, however the game had received a lot of negative criticism shortly after its launch. It received negative criticism for its Always-on DRM, previously difficult gameplay (like floors blanketed in desecration and plague), and lack of end-game content. Many consumers complained that it was the worst Diablo, if not the worst game, ever. The developers were able to make the game more enjoyable by adding a lot more content (like the Infernal Machine), dramatically reducing the difficulty of monsters and their affixes, and by allowing players to choose the difficulty of their gameplay via Monster Power levels.
There isn’t any specific release date for the Playstation 3 version of Diablo 3, but we do know that it will be released for the PlayStation 4 in the future as well. The developers of the game have also stated that the game isn’t necessarily a Sony-exclusive, so we could be seeing the game on other consoles like Nintendo’s Wii U and the Xbox 360/720. And many of you will be pleased to know that the console game will have an offline mode.
The Xbox 360 is continuing its dominance as the best-selling console in the US. Microsoft has announced that they sold 302,000 consoles in February, making it the 26th straight month that the Xbox 360 has been on top in the US. Meanwhile, though, Nintendo Wii U sales continue to slump, with only 64,000 consoles sold during the month of February.
The Wii U had a really rough January, seeing sales as low as 57,000, but while February sales of the new console saw a jump by 40%, that only means that the Wii U sold 64,000 units, which is still lower than the lowest that the PS3 or the Xbox 360 has ever gotten. It’s said that January was a particularly bad month for the Wii U due to holiday backlash and people returning the console to stores.
However, as for the Xbox 360 console, it holds 41% of the market share among current-generation consoles, and the total money spent on the Xbox 360 in February — including hardware, software and accessories — was the most for any console in the US. Some pretty impressive numbers considering that Microsoft hasn’t lost the number one spot in over two years.
Total video game sales for February topped out at $810 million, which is actually down 25% from the same time last year. Console sales racked up $244.2 million, video game sales reached $369.9 million, and accessories rang in at $213.9 million while also boasting just a 3% drop from last year, while all other categories dropped 25% or more.
It was at this year’s CES when we officially got to see Valve’s long-rumored Steam Box, which Valve teamed up with Xi3 in order to make it into an actual retail product. It’s only been two months since the Piston PC debuted at CES, and already its manufacturer Xi3 has started taking pre-orders for the device.
Xi3′s Piston Console, which is what the company is officially calling it, will probably be the most expensive “consoles” we’ve ever heard of as the company is setting its pre-order price at $999.99, although Xi3 is discounting it by $100 if potential customers place their order before 11:59 P.M. CST on March 17, 2013. (more…)
Fans of classic gaming systems will be happy to hear that HyperKin is working on their latest retro console, and this one has a couple of new tricks up its nonexistent sleeves.
The latest system, dubbed the RetroN 4, leverages today’s technologies to bring improvements to retro gaming. Like the RetroN 3 before it, the new console can play NES, SNES and Genesis cartridges, but can also play Game Boy Advance carts too. It can also handle both NTSC and PAL formats. But the big upgrades come in the form of Bluetooth wireless controllers, and an HDMI output for use on today’s HDTVs.
In addition, the new console will sport an interface called “Perdana,” which is expected to provide capabilities like button reassignment and “other features” to be announced. Personally, I’m hoping for some sort of ability to save game states or run cheat modes, but those aren’t confirmed.
The RetroN 4 is expected to be revealed at the Midwest Gaming Classic in Brookfield, Wisconsin on Saturday, March 23 at 11:00am Central.
Just because the PlayStation 4 centers around an AMD-based platform doesn’t mean that NVIDIA is out of the picture. The graphics firm is updating the software developer kits for both its Apex dynamics framework and PhysX physics modeling system to address Sony’s new console, even if they won’t have the full hardware acceleration that comes with using NVIDIA’s own chipsets. The introductions will mostly take some of the guesswork out of creating realistic-looking games — theoretically, adding a larger number of collisions, destructible objects and subtler elements like cloth and hair modeling. Most of us won’t see the fruits of the updated SDKs until at least this holiday, but programmers looking for more plausible PS4 game worlds can hit the source links.
Hyperkin’s fourth RetroN console wants to be the perfect way to enjoy gaming’s past glories. Alongside the ability to play NES, SNES, Gameboy and Sega Genesis titles, it’s compatible with PAL and NTSC formats, with ports for your NES, SNES and Genesis controllers — you still have those, right? If not, Hyperkin’s own Bluetooth-connected controllers can fill in, while the console’s UI will allow you to reassign buttons as needed. There’s also HDMI output, so those 16-bit graphics will get the full glory of your HD plasma screen. Alas, following another notable games console, the company isn’t showing off the device just yet. You’re looking at its predecessor above, which should at least give your mind’s eye something to work with until it’s finally unfurled at Wisconsin’s Midwest Gaming Classic on March 23rd.
It looks like Sony slashing the prices of its PS Vita systems have done it wonders. Sony had cut the price of its PS Vita down to 19,980 yen from 24,980 yen due to its struggling sales. It looked like the 30% price cut worked because Sony saw sales quadruple for the device compared to two weeks ago. The announcement was made by Hiroshi Kawano, President of Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan, while he was doing a presentation for One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2.
It’s good to know that pricing seemed to be the only barrier stopping gamers from buying the device rather than the PS Vita software itself. It would be terrible to see the PS Vita suffer the same horrible sales as its predecessor, the PSP Go. The sales for the PS Vita should equal around 44,000 this week, considering two weeks ago the PS Vita sold somewhere around 11,000 copies. The official sales number won’t be released until tomorrow.
Sony stated that the United States won’t be receiving the same sales cut treatment for its PS Vita systems. Maybe after seeing the success rate that the PS Vita can achieve with a price cut, Sony will change its mind. However, it did state that one of the major reasons for reducing the price of its Japanese PS Vitas was due to Japan’s “current exchange rate”.
Now more Japanese gamers can enjoy the wonders of PlayStation 4 cloud-gaming with their new PS Vita devices. The PlayStation 4 will allow gamers to access all of their games remotely through the PS Vita. So if you’re in a situation where you can’t play your PlayStation 4 in peace, you can just enable remote play for your PS Vita and run off to a different room. Sony is redefining the way games are meant to be played.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
