[IGN PS3]Ninja Gaiden Sigma Hands-on 1080p full 60fps

Tecmo stopped over by the IGN offices today to let them have a look at Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Here is a sample of their hands-on with Ninja Gaiden Sigma:

Sigma will include all of the additional content that we saw included with Ninja Gaiden Black on the Xbox, like the mission modes, costumes and so forth. While we’re told that Ryu won’t see any new threads (or is that spandex?), all of his costumes have been reworked for the PS3’s HD output and will feature more detail than ever. Rachel too will see her own new accessories, though rather than full-on costumes you’ll be able to choose from a number of hair and earring selections for her.

Some 50 missions will be present here, with 10 dedicated to Rachel. You’ll be able to upload your efforts to a leaderboard and check out your rankings as before, but Sigma will add a number of new stats for comparison’s sake. From the number of deaths to how many advanced moves you performed to the number of times you used ninpo, you’ll have a bevy of stats to compare yourself to your friends with.

From a technical aspect, Ninja Gaiden Sigma looks about as sharp as we figure games can get. Every texture in the game has been reworked for the PlayStation 3, and a number of other effects have been added to spice things up, like self-shadowing and so forth. Some creatures now shine with ooze, while others emit clouds of something as they scurry about the battlefield. Tecmo said that it has just recently managed to implement full 1080p support into the game, and at a full 60fps to boot. Yes, this is one slick-looking title.

Hils Take
Having beaten the original Xbox Gaiden three times and Black once, I thought I’d had just about enough of Team Ninja’s brilliant action title. I was wrong. Sigma takes the meat of Ninja Gaiden Black and adds plenty of next-gen crackle. The intro level, which has Ryu Hayabusa attempting to infiltrate a ninja fortress, is crisp and colorful. The action, which was tightened to a frenetic pace for NG Black has been cranked to 11 on PS3. Ryu moves with such awesome speed it’s a miracle that the camera can ever keep up. And yet the camera, once a sore spot for the Xbox game, is actually more intelligent this time out and (at least for the most part) keeps the action on screen.

One of my biggest concerns regarding Sigma was the use of the Sixaxis’ tilt functionality. Fortunately, this is only used when casting ninpo (magic) and works fairly well. When you cast ninpo, just shake the controller up and down to quickly charge the attack. Because Ryu is locked in place during ninpo attacks, the need to shake the controller doesn’t disrupt the action and actually keeps you more involved throughout the sometimes lengthy casting animations.

There’s still a considerable amount of Sigma left to be seen. Rachel has three full-fledged playable chapters intermixed with Ryu’s original sixteen. There are also some surprises thrown in for long-time Gaiden fans, including new enemies and bosses for both Ryu and Rachel.

One secret Tecmo let slip is certain to get Ninja Gaiden fans pumped for Sigma. Early on in Ninja Gaiden, Ryu’s village is being attacked by the evil Doku. A beautiful CG cut-scene shows Ryu battle against Doku and lose badly. In Ninja Gaiden Sigma that CG cut-scene is gone. It’s no longer necessary — because now you get to fight that battle!

[IGN PS3 Hands-on]
[Ninja Gaiden Sigma Screenshots]
[Ninja Gaiden Sigma Videos]

Man I cannot wait for this game!

Wii Opera browser delayed Updates Announced

Looks like the Wii Opera web browser got delayed to April. But fret not because Nintendo has also announced some updates for the internet channel.

* new introduction animation
* new start page with search button
* auto-hide feature on navigation bar
* search and address buttons on nav bar
* multiple cursors (only one will be functional)
* quicker access to “favorites”
* an improved zoomed font
* buttons that will instantly type common preset letters, such as “www” or “.com”

Source: Thanks Wii Fanboy!

PlayStation 3 launched in Europe

Sony has launched its PlayStation 3 (PS3) console in Europe, in a bid to become the powerhouse of video gaming.

The company trails Microsoft and Nintendo in sales of next generation consoles and the launch has been beset with problems in the last year.

But the PlayStation brand remains strong with gamers and one million PS3s will hit shops on day one.

At the London launch everyone who bought a PS3 also received a free 46-inch HD television and a taxi home.

In total, the giveaway amounted to £250,000 worth of televisons to more than 100 gamers.

At the head of the queue, 17-year-old Ritatsu Thomas said the giveaway and PS3 had been worth the 36-hour wait.

He said: “I feel fantastic. I’m delighted that everyone here also gets a television.”

Sony has declared its launch of PlayStation 3 to date as a success, saying early sales are faster than those of its predecessor PS2.

It believes that the combination of a high-definition Blu-ray DVD player, online capabilities and gaming powered by the Cell processor will convince gamers to spend £425 (599 Euros) on the machine.

“High definition is very important to people,” said Ray Maguire, head of Sony Computer Entertainment in the UK.

“A lot of people have bought flat panel TVs and they want content to go on it and PlayStation 3 is one of the few places they can get that kind of experience.”

Mr Maguire said the TV giveaway in the UK was a reward for gamers’ patience.

Source: BBC News Technology

WOW thats awesome! Buy a PS3 in the UK and get a free 40-in. HDTV! Enjoy your PS3s and HDTVs fellow PS3 owners over in the UK.

Playstation Network Downloadable packs for Europe

Three Speech has some info one some new downloadable packs coming to the Playstation Network this April and May. Here are the details:

Downloadable items available in April and May on PLAYSTATION Network:

Genji: Days of the Blade
Add more excitement to your medieval Japanese swordplay experience with different sets of battle dress for your four playable characters. Equip Yoshitsune with the armour of his adversaries the Heishi clan or opt for a set of Western-style metal armour. If those don’t suffice, the third pack will clothe your mighty warriors in… school uniform?

Ridge Racer 7
Make your machine look as good as it drives with a total of 14 downloadable decal packs arriving throughout March and April. Will your machine bear the Katamari Damacy livery or the classic PAC-MAN and XEVIOUS decals? This is your chance to customise your machine in the most distinctive way and show it off online!

Or will you enter a special downloadable race event? Test your skills against a jet-black ANGELUS in a Quad Battle event at Seaside Route 765, take on the Xevious army in a special race event at Downtown Rave City, or get behind the wheel of a fully-customised ABEILLE for a Duel event at Laketop Parkway. With 25 special event packs available in April and May, a visit to PSN is a must for serious drift race-heads.

MotorStorm
Any PS3 owner playing MotorStorm online will receive Time Trial Mode automatically – you won’t even need to download this one from the PLAYSTATION Store. Take any vehicle out on the track of your choice and go hell for leather to lay down the quickest lap time. You can race against ghost vehicles of your previous efforts, other players’ times and the best attempts from the MotorStorm development team – and then upload your best times to the global online rankings. In addition, more tracks, vehicles and game modes will be available later in the month, and thereafter on a regular basis.

Resistance: Fall of Man:
Download two new playable maps: Westmorland and Camborn. Take the battle against the Chimera to new areas of England: create carnage in the autumn splendour of Camborn with bullets, then leave blood trails in the fresh snowfall of hilly, sniper-friendly Westmorland. All multiplayer game types are fully playable on these stunning new landscapes.

To read the rest of the press release click here.

Three Speech also has some info on upcoming downloadable games coming to the Playstation Store this week and in the coming month.

Blast Factor Release
Tekken 5 available on the PSN – Release
GO! available on the PS – Release
Lemming on the PSN – Release
flOw available for download on April 6th

Xbox 360 Blu-ray add-on possible

Xbox UK boss Neil Thompson told BBC News, “Whatever format wins it is highly likely we will offer a solution.”

Microsoft enjoys downplaying the PlayStation 3’s Blu-ray movie playback ability, often saying that Sony is forcing consumers to adopt a pricey feature that they don’t necessarily want.

“The only debate is if you want to watch Blu-ray movies and pay the extra money for that feature. We prefer to offer the consumer choice,” he added.

Microsoft currently offers a $200 Xbox 360 peripheral that plays Blu-ray rival HD DVD discs.

This isn’t the first time that Microsoft has hinted that it would be willing to adapt to a Blu-ray world. Xbox head Peter Moore himself said a Blu-ray add-on would be possible, but also made clear that Microsoft is still firmly behind HD DVD.

Source: Next Generation

PS3 Firmware update 1.6 is live!

Fire up your PS3s and click on system update guys because the 1.6 update is now live! HEre are the update details:

Precision Zoom: You can automatically enlarge to optimal viewing size the area on the screen where the pointer is located. By analyzing the Web page source, the system automatically calculates the best enlargement ratio based on the area where the pointer is located. Select here for details.

Adjusting the resolution: You can adjust Web page size for optimal viewing based on the PS3™ system’s video output resolution. A setting to reduce flickering of the screen when outputting in interlace mode has also been added. Select here for details.

You can now use a full-size on-screen keyboard to enter text. Select here for details.

Support for background downloading of data has been added. Select here for details.(Yes you can background download while playing a game!!!! )

You can now download and use the Folding@home™ program. Folding@home™ is a distributed computing project that is run by Stanford University. The goal of the project is to research protein folding mechanisms in the hope that this will lead to medical treatments for related diseases. Using the Folding@home™ program, you can participate in this project over the Internet. Note that the program must first be downloaded and installed on your PS3™ system. Select here for details.

You can now use the remote play feature from a PSP® system via an access point. You can establish a remote play connection with a PS3™ system that is not equipped with the wireless LAN feature (20 GB model). Select here for details.

Other new or revised features in version 1.60:

Overall

# Support for playback of BD-RE (Blu-ray Disc Rewritable) ver 3.0 has been added.
# The PS3™ system can now automatically detect an HDMI connection to a TV. If the PS3™ system is turned on with an HDMI cable connected, the screen for switching video output settings will be displayed automatically.*
* Does not function unless the TV that is connected by the HDMI cable is turned on.

Settings

# Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, Chinese (Simplified) and Chinese (Traditional) have been added as options in [System Language] under [System Settings].
# You can now select the character set to be used for file names under [System Settings] > [Character Set].
# [Enable WMA Playback] has been added as an option under [System Settings].
# [Disc Auto-Start] has been added as an option under [System Settings].
# You can now restore backed up data to another PS3™ system under [System Settings] > [Backup Utility].
# You can now register a keyboard and a mouse under [Accessory Settings] > [Register Bluetooth® Device].
# [Remote Play Settings] has been added as an option.

Music

Support for playback of DSD (Direct Stream Digital) discs has been added. *
* These discs are music discs created using SonicStage Mastering Studio Version 2.1 or later or DSD Direct Version 2.0 or later (both Sony products, sold separately).

Video

Motion JPEG and AVCHD (.m2ts) have been added as playable formats.

Network

[Download Management] has been added as a feature.

Friends

[Start New Chat] has been added as an option.

Source: http://www.us.playstation.com/ps3/network/updates

Awesome update!

Newsweek: Xbox 360 Won’t Win the Console War

Sure, Microsoft has already sold well over 10 million 360s, and they have a rock solid online plan and a great library of games, but things should be going even better than they are, claims Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal. He talks about why the 360 won’t come out on top when the battle is over.

As part of N’Gai Croal’s “Level Up” section, the Newsweek columnist has put together a new piece that outlines some of the problems Microsoft camp is facing with the Xbox business, and why the 360 ultimately won’t be on top when all’s said and done.

The article “Redmond, We Have A Problem, Or, What’s Wrong With the Xbox 360″ (which follows his “Tokyo, We Have A Problem, Or, What’s Wrong With the Playstation 3″), acknowledges the advantages Microsoft has (a year’s head start, large library of games, a cheaper SKU, etc.) but it also points to a few shortcomings.

For example, Xbox 360 sell-through has been lagging behind the original Xbox, and while roughly half of 360 owners never purchased an original Xbox, owners of the first Xbox have been slow to adopt the 360. “Part of the problem is that in the absence of a new Halo game, there’s been a slower-than-expected conversion of Xbox owners to Xbox 360. As of last fall, half of the people playing Halo 2 were doing so on the original Xbox, not the Xbox 360,” explains Croal. “That’s why the upcoming Halo 2 map pack will only work on Xbox 360–Microsoft needs to force recalcitrant Halo-lovers to buy their new machine. Another challenge for Microsoft may be that most Xbox 1 units sold at $199 or less; in fact, when Halo 2 shipped in November of 2004, the price of the Xbox had been set at $149 for seven months.”

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Sony: PS3 is “stepping over current next-gen”

In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz Sony UK boss Ray Maguire said that the PS3 is leaving behind the competition. HEre is a sample of the interview:

“Many people are saying we’re now joining the next-generation console era, but I believe we’ve stepped over the current next-gen to create the real next-generation,” said Maguire, in an exclusive interview published today.

Maguire believes the stand out features of the PlayStation 3 – the Blu-ray player, the HDMI and 1080p support, and the Cell chip – are all crucial to distinguishing the console from the competition.

“All of those things are part of moving from the PlayStation 2 era to the PlayStation 3 and leaving behind all of the middle products that are in the market place right now, which clearly don’t compare in terms of technical prowess,” he said.

To read the rest of the interview click here.