Hot 360 titles and PS3 problems exposed

Xbox 360
Out this week in the UK, the long awaited Gears of War has finally arrived for the Xbox 360.

This hack has been playing GoW all weekend, and it's surprising he actually made it to work. It's that good.

The graphics are awesome, certainly surpassing the majority of 360 games so far, albeit not the huge jump graphically above titles such as GRAW as has been previously suggested in the build up hype.

Not that this is a problem though, it still looks incredibly beautiful, if not the most advanced graphically pleasing console game to date.

Huge enemies, effectively characterised and emphatically delivered, appear throughout the game, coupled with a strong narrative delivered by finely tuned cut-scenes, make this a winner.

However the colours do tend to mold into a silvery-brown blurb every now and then, and mistaking enemies to friendly squad mates is easily done considering the similar colouring found within the 360 title.

Also some people on Live appear to love the multiplayer component, but we found it somewhat slower to that of Halo 2, and melee attacks are somewhat weakly delivered - it's hard to know who's going to come off best when a melee begins, despite your positioning or weaponry.

Despite the niggles, it's still a must have. The single player element alone is worth forking over hard cash for, and this hack will continue to play it until it's finished.

Microsoft are already stating that they expect GoW to ship over a million copies.

Viva Pinata was also released, but we've hardly had time to look at the game, let alone play it. Check out the fairly consistent high review scores from here and here. Rare looks to have a winner with this highly marketable copyright - and indeed, they seem to be pushing it to the full, with a television series already on viewers screens.

Halo 3 has also made further appearances, and you can check out some screenies at 1up. From judging by the pictures, you should expect more of the same, but with enhanced HD graphics glory.

It seems Command and Conquer 3 will make an appearance on the 360 along with the PC, as EA have revealed the top-down RTS will appear on the console. We're not convinced it's the best platform for this type of game, but as long as it's coming out on the PC we don't care.

PS3
Sony has had a few problems since the PS3's release last week.

Backwards compatibility was never Microsoft's strong-point with the 360, and the new Playstation is suffering similar problems.

"We are trying to get there as quickly as possible," said SCEA President and Chief Executive Kaz Hirai. Spokespeople from Sony said the issues were mostly related to audio glitches and Playstation 3 controller mappings which may not exactly correspond with what the developer intended with the original controllers.

However, problems with playback of PS1 and PS2 titles seemed much more problematic than just audio and controller issues, with gamers flooding internet forums with lists of incompatibilities.

Rumours also circulated amongs retail and games media earlier this week that Sony had only managed to ship around half of the promised 400,000 units to North America - but Sony has since gone on record denying this.

Speaking to the San Jose Mercury News this week co-chief operating officer ofSCEA, Jack Tretton, confirmed that there was "tens of thousands'' fewer PS3s in-store than originally expected for the launch.

Tretton blamed the shortfall on logistical problems and Blu-Ray manufacturing issues, stating, "This is not a perfect science manufacturing this device."

At least the inexact science of manufacturing didn't cause the US to receive a similar fate to that of Taiwan - they apparently only received 500 units on launch.

Wii
The release of the Wii occurred in the US yesterday, and we'll be bringing you a report on the new Nintendo console launch day shenanigans as we did for the PS3, later in the day.

Until then, take a look at the New York Times Square launch party pics from Saturday evening here. µ

See also
Playstation 3 dissected and analysed
XBox HD-DVD comes at a heavy price
Microsoft pulls Xbox HD movies from the ether
Sony admits to importing grey market PSPs