Gaming Console Platform

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article about the territory the video game industry is trying to explore in terms of new controllers.

Kudos were given to games such as Guitar Hero and Nintendo for the Wii and the DS. However, things got more interesting when the article shifted to Sony Games Division Senior Researcher Richard Marks.

It was mentioned that he and his team have plans of allowing players to sketch drawings with standard pen and paper, scan them with a camera, and then “play” their drawings on screen.

“Our game industry is really good at making authored experiences, but there’s a new area that hasn’t been explored, where people want to make their own content,” Marks added. The researcher is responsible for creating the technology behind EyeToy.

He said as well that plans for live-motion capture in peoples’ living rooms using a camera is also underway.

A few members of the NeoGAF forums were able to get hold of the latest copy of Famitsu magazine and learned a couple of exciting details about the PlayStation 3 version of Devil May Cry 4 (also on Xbox 360 and PC).

This latest iteration of the DMC franchise was originally a PS3-exclusive but Capcom ultimately decided to have it as well on other next-gen platforms.

Despite that, it seems that DMC 4 PS3 is given enough attention especially with these features:

• HDD install is 4900MB (4.9GB).
• Save files are 3392KB.
• Some variety of PSN support.
• 5.1 LPCM audio.

While the save file and audio details are nothing new, we are interested about the rather huge amount of space the HDD install requires. If this turns out to be accurate, then we may be on our way to having a really seamless gameplay experience.

There is still no word regarding the specific features for the Xbox 360 and PC build but we believe that Capcom will soon be keeping all of us posted.

Has it really been 20 years since we first picked up our copy of Hironobu Sakaguchi’s classic Final Fantasy game? To celebrate the 20th anniversary of this widely acclaimed role-playing game first released in Japan back in 1987, Square Enix and Enterbrain have released the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary History Book.

The book contains information, images, and even unreleased information about all Final Fantasy games released over the past years. According to the product information up on the Japanese Amazon.com site, there’s also an interview and quite a few articles in the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary History Book.

This is an absolute must-have for all Final Fantasy fans out there, so if you’re willing to shell out  2,625 Yen or approximately US 23 for the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary History Book, then by all means follow the link below to Amazon Japan. The book’s all in Japanese though, and it’s only available in Japan at the moment, but if you think you just have to go and buy it (besides, the book’s all glossy!), go right ahead and grab one.

As the year ends, it’s the perfect time to speculate about what the future has to offer. This idea is probably what’s behind the list of “confirmed Sony PlayStation 3 exclusives” from the PS3Forums. Apparently, 92 exclusives along with 20 PlayStation Network titles are set for release on the console in 2008 and beyond.

Most noteworthy on the list would be the appearance of a next-gen Castlevania, Driver 5, and something from Crytek. Both Namco Bandai and David Jaffe’s Eat Sleep Play are expected to release three games in 2008.

Our suspicions are raised by the inclusion Fatal Frame, which latest installment in the series has been confirmed by Tecmo to be developed for the Nintendo Wii by developer Grasshopper Manufacture. An RPG from From Software, canceled before it received an official title, is also on the list.

There’s also a rumored exclusive section for the hopefuls, where Dark Cloud 3, Final Fantasy VII remake, Kingdom Hearts 3, and Zone of the Enders 3 are present.

Level 5’s success with Dark Cloud almost warrants a third, though the company expressed its interest in the Nintendo Wii. Strong demand for the return of FFVII may just push Square Enix to do the remake, and Kingdom Hearts 3 is almost inevitable. ZOE 3 could very well be Hideo Kojima’s next project after leaving Metal Gear Solid.

Will they all appear on the Sony PS3? Looks like we’ll have to wait and see. The list of “confirmed” PSN titles, which you can find via the link below, sounds more likely to be legit.

Saying Christmas is the time for surprises is no understatement for 13-year old Brandon Burns from Thousand Oaks, who unboxed what appeared to be a Sony PlayStation 3 only to find a phone book. The package was bought from EB Games for the full price of US 500.

According to Fox News, Brandon wasn’t particularly upset. The young man laughed about what he discovered inside the box, but his parents weren’t very happy. Brandon’s folks are planning to keep the phone book and the PS3’s box, then take the receipt to the Thousand Oaks mall where they made the purchase.

The Burns were at least able to get the copies of Skate and Pirates of the Caribean: At World’s End that were supposed to be Brandon’s first games. For now, here’s to hoping they can also claim the console they paid a good amount of money for.

With the recent updates that Folding@Home has picked up, we’re sure the PS3 owners are beginning to enjoy the benefits of progressing medical science, even as they whale away in multiplayer mayhem.

Or at least that’s supposed to be the case, unless you’re a new owner still learning the ropes of your console’s full capabilities console.

If you’re wondering how to make the most of your Folding@Home experience, we’re letting you in on a recent post by Noam Rimon of SCEA’s R&D Department. The Senior Dev Manager has written up a quick how-to guide on installing and optimizing the service’s settings. Rimon’s guide is accessible via the source link below.

The Media Create Japan hardware sales for December 17 to 23 have been revealed. The numbers are pretty consistent with the last two weekly hardware sales with the Nintendo DS and Wii taking the top two slots.

We’re pretty sure you want to see the exact figures so without, here’s a list of the number of units sold for each console:

1. NDS: 279,563
2. WII: 232,907
3. PSP: 171,804
4. PS3: 58,167
5. PS2: 20,391
6. Xbox 360: 7,908
7. GBA: 100
8. NGC: 31

It might be good to pay close attention to the Xbox 360 in the coming months since Microsoft has given word that it plans on increasing their console sales in Japan by tapping some of the popular video game developers from the region.

The Sony camp, on the other hand, is also not to be outdone with its PlayStation consoles edging slowly to the higher spots.

The Media Create Japan hardware sales for December 17 to 23 have been revealed. The numbers are pretty consistent with the last two weekly hardware sales with the Nintendo DS and Wii taking the top two slots.

We’re pretty sure you want to see the exact figures so without, here’s a list of the number of units sold for each console:

1. NDS: 279,563
2. WII: 232,907
3. PSP: 171,804
4. PS3: 58,167
5. PS2: 20,391
6. Xbox 360: 7,908
7. GBA: 100
8. NGC: 31

It might be good to pay close attention to the Xbox 360 in the coming months since Microsoft has given word that it plans on increasing their console sales in Japan by tapping some of the popular video game developers from the region.

The Sony camp, on the other hand, is also not to be outdone with its PlayStation consoles edging slowly to the higher spots.

If you are using Windows Media Home Server, be advised that utilizing certain programs to edit and save files may corrupt your data. This could be a potential problem for those who use laptops for their work and backup their files to a central server.

Among the programs that are said to corrupt files include:

• Windows Vista Photo Gallery
• Windows Live Photo Gallery
• OneNote 2003
• OneNote 2007
• Outlook 2007
• Microsoft Money 2007
• SyncToy 2.0 Beta

Other users have also found out that torrent applications, Intuit Quicken, and QuickBooks program files were also affected by this bug. As of this article’s writing, Microsoft is looking into the problem and will be posting more updates as soon as possible.

If you want to know more abut the matter, feel free to click on our source link for more information.

We learned the other day that the video game industry may be on the brink of another form of advancement in terms of producing video games. One of Sony’s senior researcher has revealed plans to have games based on user-drawn content.

While the technology is not at all new (it has already been used with Nintendo DS game Drawn to Life), maximizing its full potentials is where the trick lies. And it seems that Sony is not at all alone in pursuing this path.

The video clip below shows an MIT engineer hailing from Fullerton, California who has developed a software which converts sketches into interactive mechanical systems.