Gamernode: Latest PlayStation 3 News

Manchester Cathedral forgives Sony's "sins"

Earlier this year, the members of Manchester Cathedral protested the use of likenesses of their church in Sony's video game, Resistance: Fall of Man, a first person shooter.

The church leaders were outraged and demanded an apology and monentary damages for this infringement. But now, the Dean of Manchester has taken a softer approach by forgiving Sony...sort of.

Reverend Rogers Goverder seemed to have giveth with one hand and taketh with the other as he said, "I think some important lessons have been learnt. So we forgive Sony for what they have done, even though they still believe they have done no wrong."

He continued by saying, "In an industry that is breaking new frontiers, it is important that long held traditions of film and television are maintained. These traditions include having co...

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Ratchet and Clank bug prevents game from loading

Some gamers who were able to get their Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction early are reporting that a firmware upgrade packed for the PS3, version 1.94, may actually prevent the game from loading.

The problem seems to stem from how much content is on the PS3's hard drive.

James Stevenson, Insomniac's community manager, said to Shacknews that:

"We recently discovered a bug on the US version of Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction that some of you may encounter the first time you boot the game. With specific amounts of free space on your drive, you may see a screen that tells you have insufficient space to create game data even though there is plenty of free space on your drive."

So what's the fix? It's an easy one. Stevenson said, "When this occurs, either delete or add abo...

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Uncharted goes gold, demo in mid-November

Over on the official PlayStation blog, Christian Gyrling, AI and animation programmer for Naughty Dog, mentioned that Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, has gone gold for the PlayStation 3 and is still scheduled for release on November 20th in the U.S. and December 6th in Europe.

He went on to mention that a demo is heading to the PlayStation Store sometime in mid-November too, so keep your eyes peeled for this in about two weeks.

The rest of Gyrling's post goes into some detail regarding Uncharted's AI system. Naughty Dog went heavily into utilizing the PS3's Cell processor architecture to allow for a deeper and realistic experience when fighting enemies.

Enemies are more aware of their surroundings and the AI can be easily modified for custom behaviors too. Gyrling is really hoping the game will ...

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Next firmware for PS3 will improve music functiona...

Sony has always touted the PS3 as an affordable entertainment center that can play Blu-ray movies, display photos, connect to the internet and play games and music. But until the emergence of the lower priced 40GB PS3 at $399, this has been a rather shallow statement.

But now, Sony is indicating that its vision for the PS3 is not only alive and well, but it is now a reality. In the next firmware release, Sony says that "...within a month, a software upgrade will improve the PS3's interface for music stored and played through the system," according to ps3fanboy.

At only $399, the 40GB PS3 seems to be the all-in-one box for those looking for an inexpensive Blu-ray player with the added features of a music system and entertainment center as well. And if you happen to be an audio-visual fan wi...

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Sony begs developers to be "patient" with the PS3

If one word could be used to describe Sony's past performance as far as public relations are concerned, many people would say the word, arrogant, would be an accurate match.

From Sony's proclamation that next gen doesn't start until they say so to remarks that the PS3 wasn't expensive at all, Sony has been full of errant comments that have not only distanced prospective customers but the game industry as well.

But things seem to be on the flip-flop according to a news story by the San Jose Mercury News. Sony has changed its tone dramatically and "pleaded with third-party developers not to abandon its struggling platform. That change in attitude is a marked difference compared to the arrogance of past years."

The issue is economics for developers. More people are needed to program for the PS3...

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Warhawk v1.2 patch detailed

Dylan Jobe, game director for Warhawk, put up a new post on the PlayStation Blog detailing the planned v1.2 patch. The recently released v1.1 patch was just to address various network problems and glitches, so Incognito is planning plenty of additional features for the next one.

Some of the new features include 5 new layouts (which are centered around 4-8 player matches), a clan game server option (automatically puts opposing clan members on teams and highlights clan games in the server list), buddy slot reservations, DualShock 3 functionality, new server filters and an auto-kick for idle players.

Jobe provided some follow-up comments to folks who asked a few more questions and mentioned that Incognito has been trying to work on an offline mode for Warhawk, but said that he couldn't go into...

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80Gb PS3 sales continue to soar on Amazon

Sony has done everything to find an alternatives to its high priced PS3. We've seen them all from the 20-40-60 GB versions of the machines, in its attempt to find a sweet spot.

Analysts have all had different projections and thoughts as to what Sony needs to do, and it all made sense... until this happened.

The big daddy, 80GB PS3 -- yeah the one that costs your soul -- has spiked up 960% in sales on Amazon.com. 960%. Either the usual 2 sales per day have jumped to 20, or the mad cow disease has struck the gaming demographic...or maybe the price is finally right.

The package that has been selling like Halo 3 at a 50% discount is the 80GB PS3 bundled with MotorStorm (an 82 average rating on Metacritic, and a resoundingly accurate rating of 8.2 on GamerNode) and a SIXAXIS controller for $499....

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Oblivion Game of Year Edition ready for PS3

So you still haven't taken the plunge into Oblivion on your PS3 yet? There's good news on the horizon as Bethesda Software is releasing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition for your machine.

It's the perfect time to get this bundle as you'll not only be treated to the original game in all of its wonderful splendor, but you'll also receive the expansion, Shivering Isles, plus Knights of Nine.

The PS3 version looks great and if you've never played this free roaming RPG before, you'll be in for a great adventure as the land of Tamriel unfolds before you and you go on a quest to turn back the tide of evil which is trying to destroy the kingdom.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year, for the PS3, will hit store shelves this week and has an MSRP of $59.99.

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Sony says, "Developers, don't abandon the PS3!"

According to some comments on The Mercury News' blog, Sony has been pleading with game developers to not abandon the PS3. While I can't really picture executives getting down on their hands and knees to beg, I bet Sony is putting on their PR face and asking developers to stick around.

While there's no source to that statement, there's some evidence behind it. For example, the number of developers required to actually make a full-blown PS3 game dwarfs the number of developers required to make a Wii game. Put that in a financial point of view and you'll notice that it's financially safer to invest in Wii games since you'll have to hire a less amount of developers.

There's another example; last month, the Wii sold just over 500,000 units while the PS3 only sold 119,000 units. One of the reasons...

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Sony: "We listened to the consumers" about price

When PS3 was released last year, the first words out of everyone's mouth were, "It's too expensive! Lower the price, damn it!" The cumulative screams heard around the world were all in unison-from the press to the public.

And Sony's response was to try to convince people that they were getting more value for the money spent.

While this was probably true in a feature per dollar sense, it still was a pretty big price tag to swallow at $599. But now, it seems that Sony has come around and has responded to the calls for a less expensive PS3 with price drops for their 80GB version and the new stripped down 40GB model.

Ray McGuire, Sony's UK managing director says that Sony is addressing this issue, according to mcvuk.com.

"They're saying the thing that's stopping them is the entry price. We've lis...

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Ratchet & Clank launches massive TV Campaign in UK...

Here in the US, everywhere you looked, Master Chief was plastered in every nook and cranny. I'm talking Slurpies, sodas, burgers, walls, and babies. It would be hard to imagine another game having an advertising campaign on that scale.

Or would it? Although it's not nearly as massive as Microsoft's Halo 3 campaign, Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction is proving that the gaming industry means business. Sony is launching a million British pound (about $2 million US) TV campaign in the UK for this holiday season.

Sony's product manager, Lucy Garnett, recently told MCV that the campaign will "target 16-34 year olds, with a focus on Saturday night family programming, which draws upon a broad demographic of viewers."

From the looks of the demo for the game, this may be another big title for th...

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Lost Planet PS3/Xbox 360 screenshot comparison

So you heard the news that Lost Planet is heading to PS3, right? Good, well, in my opinion, the PS3 will certainly be more than capable to handle Lost Planet, and in the case of this title, it  boasted some rather fine-looking visuals on the 360 version.

Capcom released some PS3 screenshots of Lost Planet, so PSU cropped up some Xbox 360 screens from Lost Planet to do some comparisons.

Well, there are certainly noticable differences in the shots, so you can clearly tell someone is flexing their muscles. Lost Planet looks great but is rather standard fare in game play. But in the end, you be the judge, so enjoy.

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80GB PS3 tops the charts at Amazon.com

Sony's 80GB PS3 seems to be a hot item in America according to figures from Amazon.com. In the "Movers and Shakers" category in the video games section, the 80GB PS3 took the number one spot for increased sales by going up over 450%.

This feat was achieved by moving up in the overall sales list from 96th place to 17th place. For overall sales, the Wii still ranks as top dog.

The increase in traffic is evidently due to the new lower price of the 80GB model--clocking in at $499, which is a full $100 less than the original 60GB PS3. But for those who purchase the PS3 during the month of October, Amazon is throwing in 5 free Blu-ray movies in the deal too.

But wait, there's more. The 80GB PS3 will also be bundled with the game MotorStorm. If people were on the fence about getting a PS3 before, ...

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The real reason for no BC on the 40GB PS3?

The Wall Street Journal has a new story up about the price drop of the 80GB PS3 and the upcoming 40GB model. Contained in the article, however, is yet another gem from Sony's camp -- more specifically, president and chief executive officer of Sony's U.S. games division Jack Tretton.

According to the WSJ: "Mr. Tretton conceded that removing that capability [backwards compatibility], along with a few other features, isn't dramatically reducing Sony's cost of manufacturing the console but will instead encourage buyers of the entry-level PlayStation 3 to purchase more games designed specifically for the new system."

The article continues, "Mr. Tretton said the company's research showed that compatibility with PlayStation 2 games isn't likely to be missed by customers, who most likely already ow...

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40GB PS3 coming to US Nov 2nd; 80GB gets $100 pric...

Sony sure loves revealing stuff late at night when I want to get to bed.

A short while ago, Sony's president and chief executive officer of their US games division shared some nice info: the 40 gig PS3 is coming to the US on November 2 at the price of $400, and the 80 gig model is being reduced from $600 to $500.

We'll have to wait and see if Sony's latest tactic to sell more units will work in the US. Initial reports show a 178% spike in PS3 sales in the UK since the 40 gig model has been released, but whether or not that's due to the 40 gig model itself is questionable.

Don't forget, Sony still has to meet their "promise" to sell 11 million PS3s by the end of this fiscal year (March). Let's see if this helps out.

[via Wall Street Journal]

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Who needs a supercomputer when you have 8 PS3s?

Everyone always preaches that the PlayStation 3's hardware and power is unmatched and how we have yet to harness it's true potential (Kinda sound's like Star Wars doesn't it?). While all that apparently hasn't been a big enough selling point to the general populace, it has however, attracted the eyes of science.

I remember when there were rumors about PlayStation 2s having the capability to launch nuclear weapons, but this is just ridiculous. However, Dr. Gaurav Khanna, an assistant professor at Dartmouth, jerry-rigged 8 PlayStation 3's together, creating essentially, a super cheap, super computer.

It's being used to solve the mystery of what happens when a massive black hole, a million times the mass of our own sun, swallows up a star. He created what he's calling the "gravity grid" of PS3...

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Game exec says Home won't sell more PS3s

Home, the new MMO community for the PlayStation 3, has a lot of questions surrounding it. One is whether or not it will help sales for the game console and give it an advantage over its competitors.

NCsoft's own director of product development, Thomas Bidaux, came out with his beliefs, stating quite bluntly to GamesIndustry.biz that "I don't think you can say you will sell more PS3s because of Home."

He actually thinks the relationship between Home and the PlayStation 3 is quite the opposite and "the success of Home is 100 percent tied to the PS3's penetration into the market."

If Bidaux is correct in his statement, then Home's "under the radar" launch makes more sense, and shows that Sony intended Home for this purpose all along. This makes Home more of a convenience and novelty for curren...

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Lost Planet confirmed...heading to PS3

Despite the numerous denials about how Lost Planet will not be released on the PlayStation 3, Capcom was forced to eat their own words when they announced Lost Planet will in fact find its way onto Sony's console in the early months of next year.

This announcement came out of the London Gamer's Day event, and should be putting a smile on the faces of PlayStation 3 owners who haven't had the chance to try Capcom's artic bug-invested adventure. Lost Planet did quite well here in the states, and Sony is hoping the well received game will gain a second wind.

[Via JoyStiq]

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Ratchet and Clank PS3 demo pixelates big time

After playing the demo for Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction for the PS3, I was pretty much blown away by how Insomniac has taken this game to the next level.

But not all is well in PS3Land, it would seem, as scattered reports have been coming in that some gamers are experiencing horrendous pixelization when playing the demo on their HDTVs in 720p mode.

In order to fix the problem, it turns out that if the 720p resolution is turned off on some HDTVs, such as Sony's 52 inch Bravia, the picture clears up, although there is still distortion at the bottom of the screen.

One of the Insomniac team members for R&C: ToD immediately posted on NeoGAF, an industry discussion community, for a call for help from the gamers who experienced the problem.

"Hey guys,

Can you send me any brand/model number...

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Gran Turismo creator says GT is better than Forza

PS3 Center has comments from Gran Turismo creator/president of Polyphony Digital, Kazunori Yamauchi, regarding his views about Forza Motorsport 2.

When comparing the game to Gran Turismo, he mentioned that while Forza has more features than Gran Turismo, Yamauchi believes that Gran Turismo is still the superior product due to its quality.

"Straight off the bat, I think that in terms of feature sets, Forza is ahead of us. They have more options, you can do basically anything... I am having difficulty trying to explain the differences, but one way you can look at it is, you can buy a watch that is super multifunctional, but economical, or a watch that is reduced in functions, but premium - higher end."

Yamauchi also noted that the two developers, Turn 10 Studios and Polyphony Digital, have dif...

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