PlayStation 3 price questions for Ireland
Details on prices and versions of the PlayStation 3 that will apply in the Republic and Northern Ireland are still uncertain…
Weeks ago, Sony offered a “Euro” price of 499/599 euro (20/60GB
versions), and last week Ray Maguire MD of SCE UK said the 60GB hard
drive version would be £425 UKP. The UK MD gave no price for the lower
version that is rumoured not to be available in the UK.
However, this afternoon Sony Computer Entertainment Ireland could not
confirm to Games Toaster if either price point could be applied to the
south or north of Ireland, saying that they “don’t have any further
details on this at the moment but as soon as we do, you’ll be the first
to know”. Like SCE UK, they also couldn’t confirm details of the
versions that would be available.
In coverage of the revealing of PS3 price points
and hard drives, we noted that “If, like other releases, the Republic
of Ireland will have a higher price is currently unknown”. It’s
also worth noting that similar incidences have occurred with the
release price of competitors’ prices, tax rates differ, and a European
Union law on recycling has been enacted in the Republic but not some
other member states.
Sony’s PlayStation 3 is set for launch on November
17, 2006 in Europe
and North America. The console will have a Blu-ray DVD disk drive,
which allows storage of more data for games, and the playing of Blu-ray
films. It will use a Bluetooth wireless controller (pictured, top),
similar in shape to
the PS2 controller with the bottom buttons acting as triggers,
a attachable (USB) cable, and the addition of six-axis motion sensors,
but the removal of the Dual Shock rumble feature. The new PlayStation
console was playable at the ‘E3′ games industry show early this month
(pictured, right). The PS3 is priced at
$499/$599 in the United States; $549/$659 in Canada; 59,800Yen/(set by
retailers) in Japan, and 499/599 euro in, err: somewhere.
Nintendo Wii US price, sort of…
The United States and Japan pricing for Nintendo’s next console,
the Wii (pronounced Wee), has been confirmed to “not exceed $250 in
America, or ¥25,000 in Japan”, according to the company.
At today’s rates that translates to just over 195 euro, or £133
UKP — although console prices are usually not directly converted.
Correction: For a short time, this article wrongly
reported that the Wii would retail at $250, the company actually said that it
would “not exceed” such a price. The above news has been fixed to state such.
Ballyfermot and Trinity students win computer games competition
- Northern Ireland team picked earlier this month
- Teams go to Scotland for the finals
- Competition possible door opener to games ind.
- Irish Gov agency to send six teams in 2007
- Prototype incubator to run in Ireland next year
After some confusion about the Irish event this year, winners of the Republic of Ireland leg of the Dare to be Digital student games development competition were revealed last week.
What is described as a ’supernatural crime thriller’ was the winning
game from ‘Enduring Fragments’; it was from a joint team of third level
students from Ballyfermot College of Further Education, and Trinity
College. The game, set in London around 1900, features the ghost of a
dead detective as the player charter.
The winning team from Northern Ireland were picked earlier in the
month. Hugh O’ Keeffe, Alan McNicholas, William Horton, David Doherty,
and Seamus Gallagher of ‘Rule of Thumb’ won with a ’story-driven
action/adventure game’ named ‘Gal:Ex Spatial Delivery’. They are
studying Interactive Computer Entertainment at the North West Institute
in Derry.
Fighting it out among four teams, from six colleges, the Republic
team were interviewed by a panel of judges - Peter Lynch, Eirplay
Games; Tony Kelly, IGDA; Peter McInally, Torc Interactive; and Paul
Durrant, Director of Dare to be Digital. Along with the Northern team,
they will now go to the University of Abertay in Scotland where they
will be given support to build a prototype for the finals hosted at the
university in ten weeks time.
Prizes include (in UKP) £2000 for ‘Greatest creativity /
innovation’, £2000 for ‘Best use of technology’, £2000 for ‘Greatest
market potential’, and further support. Previous winners have gone on
to work in the games industry.
The events are supported by government agencies in the south, the
north, and in Britain, as well as EA Games, and Donegal-based Torc
Interactive.
Michael Hallissy, of the Irish Government’s Digital Hub, said that
“the Dare to be Digital competition is an excellent initiative which
not only offers students the opportunity to apply their technical
skills in the area of games development, but it also builds their
capacity to collaborate, be creative and consider game development as a
real career option”.
Talking of their commitment to gaming as a career, and expanding on
plans for next year Hallissy states, “Rather than just sending one team
to Scottish finals, we will be selecting six teams from the whole
island of Ireland to be represented”. Adding that “the six teams will
take part in a mentoring and support program in Dublin during which
they will build their game. Support will be provided by Irish and UK
games companies. At the end of a nine-week support programme, they will
then travel to the University of Abertay for the grand final”.
Dublin multiplayer games event back for the June bank holiday weekend
GamesCon,
the bring-your-own PC and console multiplayer games event, is back with
another 36 hours. GameCon 9 - “Irelands Biggest Gaming event” - is
to run next bank holiday weekend from June 2 — 4 (9pm to 9am), at the
Lucan Spa Hotel, Co Dublin.
The organisers say the event is for users of all formats (PC, Xbox
360, Xbox. PS2, GameCube, PSP DS), and the games to include Ghost
Recon: Advance Warfighter, Unreal Tournament, 2004, Call of Duty
2, Battlefield 2, Perfect Dark Zero, Halo 2, Fifa World Cup 06,
and Pro Evolution 5.
With 135 places, gamecon.ie
currently shows 18 people on the pre-pay list, with another 43 on the
regular list. Pre-pay costs 30 euro, while it’s 10 euro more at the
door.
E3 2006: Overview
- Nintendo steals show with innovation
- Microsoft pushes ‘AAA’ titles
- Sony offers open access on the floor
- Confusing “dress up” rules flouted
- Publisher fined for noise
- Robots and Hilton among antics
At the computer games industry’s largest event, E3, last week
Wii won on innovation, Gears of War (360) for game-play, and Warhawk
(PS3) has possibly the best ever air-fighter controller.
The organisers of the Electronic Entertainment Expo focused on keeping it professional. Attendance at the
Centre was down 10,000 from last year’s overcrowded expo. It was planned, aimed at keeping non-industry types out, but Northern Ireland born industry veteran, David Perry,
wrote on his blog “Even some really key (award winning) industry
friends were rejected as not having valid industry credentials”.
Exhibitors were told to dress up their “booth babes” (pictured, bottom right), most did, no swimwear this year, but as the Los Angeles Times reported
“rules, of course, are made to be bent. And it turned out E3 has
provided a way to do just that. In short, models are allowed to show
more skin if they are embodying a particular provocatively dressed
video game character”. There may have been a few less “booth babes”,
and while some of 2005’s extreme seediness wasn’t to be seen, cleavage
and ‘hotpants’ still very much so were — not all that uncommon in LA
anyway.
Once notorious for deafening sound, publisher EA kept their volume
relativity low - no sound wars with surrounding publishers like years
before — NCsoft however, were fined for infractions of sound
restrictions. US games site, GameSpot, reported
that NCsoft’s Fred Schmidt “blasted Sega [their booth neighbours]
saying they had three people with decibel readers monitoring NCsoft’s
booth for the slightest infractions”. Schmidt said “We have been
harassed for three days straight, and I’m not sure we’re coming back
here, but we are going to have a party next year–real near here–and
we hope you all will come”.
Besides Paris Hilton blocking pathways for
hours, and giving the wrong name for a mobile phone game with her name in it,
causing hysteria among the press, a robot caused annoyance at E3’s opening
press breakfast. By merely appearing with a robot head and cowboy hat, two
journalists from Destructoid.com upset GamePolitics.com’s Dennis McCauley and the
speaker, ESA president, Doug Lowenstein. While pointing to no misbehaviour
besides dress code, McCauley says the attention was “strictly of the negative
variety” and that it “highlights some of the ongoing issues with the
professionalism - or lack thereof - among fan sites”. Destructoid.com replied
saying “no ’stunt’ - that’s a bullshit spin on what went down by a hack who
didn’t even have the investigative reporting ability (aka GUTS) to approach the
people they are reporting on when we were in the same room. The most pathetic
part of the counterpoint was suggesting we won’t get E3 credentials next year”.
They went on to question the professionalism of hiring “thousands of women: to parade
around a conference half naked”.
Unscientifically, we can only say, Nintendo looked to have the largest
line; the people in question were looking to get into the Wii enclosure
– packed with games and gamers. Inside - with little foot movement -
lines to Wii consoles were slow moving; movement instead came from
waving and pointing hands with Wii controllers. Users messed houses up
to find little monsters, conducted orchestras, played tennis as if they
had bats in their hands (pictured, right), aimed guns, and in ‘the
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess’ alone they fished, through
boomerangs, and yielded bows and arrows. The Wii is out later this
year, no price point has been set.
Next stand over - just across a strip of carpet — Sony had playable
PlayStation 3 games on the show floor, limited entry lines, but the
demo areas were cluttered. Grand Tourism HD looked stunning, but no
Dualshock left some disconnected — no warning while veering off course,
and no feeling in the rough. With Warhawk the lack of a rumble feature
could be forgiven, as the new PlayStation controller acted more like
real aeroplane controls the thought that this betters joysticks for
flight games ran through our heads. Fahrenheit developer, Quantic
Dream, teased with non-playable ‘Heavy Rain the Casting’, and while the
new Sonic game was nice it was also on 360.
Meanwhile
a shortcut outside in the Southern Californian sun brings us to the
main hall, EA’s Spore spun possibly the longest queue for a trailer of
a single game (pictured, left). Next-door was a line for Ubisoft’s /
Gearbox’s Brother in Arms Hell’s Highway, smaller line, but using the
Unreal Engine 3 the PC, 360, and PS3 team-based tactical FPS game
looked impressive.
Earlier in the week, at their pre-E3 press conference on Hollywood
Boulevard, Microsoft surprised most saying Rockstar will release Grand
Theft Auto 4 on Xbox 360 from ‘Day one’ (October 19, 2007 in Europe).
Giving at least a level playing field for one game with the
PlayStation, GTA once had people buying the PS2 console just for it.
They were also quick to point out ‘Alan Wake’ (also 2007) - a much
awaited horror game from Max Payne developer Remedy - will be a
360/Windows Vista exclusive, and that Pro Evolution on next generation
will first be on 360 and will not make an appearance on the PS3 this
year. Mass Effect, a new space RPG from Star Wars: KOTOR developer
BioWare, is another exclusive. Then, hidden around the invite-only
meeting in the two-story Microsoft stand, was Epic’s Gears of War - it
looks to be turning out as a fresh console seller (see our preview).
Microsoft came to E3 this year armed with a working example of cross
platform multiplayer gaming with the FPS ‘Shadow Run’. Windows Vista
will use Live Anywhere — opening the whole PC-console controller debate
again — the same Live account will be accessible from Vista and 360.
Players will be able to fight with, and against, users of other
formats.
Friday came around again; the floor closes at 4pm, with many of the
visitors from Europe and around the world leave earlier to catch
evening flights — the SCEE desk abandoned when we passed by to grab
another go on PS3.
The general reaction was that Nintendo grabbed the attention of most
of the show; Sony was somewhat disappointing with playable but
graphically toned down PS3 games, Microsoft looks a hell of a lot
better knocking the PlayStation’s GTA exclusive and affirming hard
content - more so exclusives - this year.
Even with the high PS3 price tag, it’s accepted that early adopters
will still buy, it looks only to be a waiting game with many questions
– with such innovation, could the Wii ever be another Gamecube? — Will
we live without rumble on the PS3? Will Sony’s attempt at ‘Live’ work?
How much of the market will Xbox 360 take from Sony worldwide? — If
mass gains are made worldwide, will this be mirrored in a PlayStation
stronghold like Ireland?
E3 2006: Day two from the lens
The Xbox 360 wireless
steering wheel, and merchandise. In the Gears of War hands on room. Peter Molyneux talks about Fable 2.
A side shot
of Paris Hilton (we’ll never make
paparazzi), and then her crowed by ‘minders’ walking away — her appearance at
E3 was something a mobile phone game.
What we think is Zelda
(pictured left). A Brother in Arms solder talks to the press on Hell’s Highway.
Scarface — they’d be all dead if this was the film.
Views of the private pressrooms on the floor show - 1Up.com, and Gamespot, as well as Gamespot’s TV studio. And lots more inside our E3 photo album:
PREVIEW: Gears of War
Developer: Epic | Publisher: Microsoft | Format: Xbox 360
Previewer: Cian Ginty at E3 in LA
The blood still rushes, after a few developer sessions and video trailers, you’re left wondering will all this ‘duck and cover’ work, answers come with a controller in hand.
An eight player team death match - start, run, duck, cover: but the running isn’t norm, in third-person the camera angle is to the players left, as it is generally. There’s a feel for speed, head down, and with the angle it’s like something out of a film with a camera following a trooper across a live battlefield, then you just ram into cover.
Right trigger gives un-aimed gunfire, left allows you to aim. The some crazy developer at Epic then allow for a chainsaw in the one gun. Mounted under the barrel, once it starts to dig, the screen splatters, red fills the TV — Microsoft a keen to point out Gears of War is for adults only.
If you’re not pinned down, you can revive team mates in a short time after normal death - unless their shooters came in to finish the kill.
The single player starts as Marcus, the lead, is helped out of military prison now under attack by the enemy, ‘the Locust’; in for disobeying an order, but since then the war isn’t going well. Everyone is needed. Desperation is in the air.
The stunning graphics are somehow nearly ignoredafter a minute of gameplay (the shot above is actually like what we played), it’s immersing. Fraying way from the term ‘Halo killer’, Gears of War looks to be put on a pedestal at near height. We hope we’re not wrong.
Gears of War is due in the “Autumn” on the Xbox 360 - it is to be ported to PC sometime afterwards.
E3 2006: Day one from the lens
The first day of E3 2006 is over, here’s our photos from the day…
The
usually outdoor photos the
secondary entrance, and the main doors with the
always, promoting their recruitment game. Later in the day, the main entrance
hall.
Our
first look at the PlayStation 3 games at Sony stand. People playing PSPs
sitting in a railcar mock-up. A crowd around the PlayStation stand.
Inside the Mass Effect developer session with KOTOR developer Bioware — it’s in
space but not KOTOR, not Star Wars (a little more on this later). Microsoft’s
cute and clever poster — “Defending the universe from the kid across the
street“.
Drooling over Battlefield 2142 (no
that was behind the camera). Pray on PC, and also on 360. Finally,
the booth babes that were according to some ‘banned’, and a crowd take photos
of other ‘booth babes’. More here.
PHOTOS: Xbox/Microsoft pre-E3 conference
The Grand Theft Auto announcement on-screen at the Microsoft
E306 Press Briefing, with an insert of Microsoft boss Peter Moore showing what
is apparently his latest tattoo, his last was to announce Halo 2. The latest GTA tattoo is said to be fake.
Games Toaster photographs
from the Microsoft pre-E3 conference are now online here.
Some highlights, as such: Peter Moore before he proceeds to
take his jacket off;
Live users;
pictured is the pool are of the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard – there were demos
areas in the hotel rooms around the pool; i
the hotel; too many screens. Also here is a press shot of the Xbox 360 with the HD DVD player.
MobPost: GTA for Xbox 360
At their pre-E3 press event Microsoft have said
that Grand Theft Auto 4 will be on Xbox 360 from ‘Day one’, which is
Oct 19 2007 in Europe. It was also said that the horror game Alan Wake is to
be released only on Xbox 360 and Windows Vista. Halo 2 is to be
released in 2007.