Further PS3 slatings and PSP 2 whisperings emerge

A HUGE ROAR has erupted from the wibbly web this weekend, as Blizzard lifted the lid on what will surely become another massive multi-million seller for the company best know for producing World Of Warcraft.

We've already offered you a quick blurb and one of the first pics from the game, but now the weekend's past, there's much, much more.

For a mass of screenies head over to 1up here, whilst a video of in-game footage can be seen on this page. The site also has a brief list of what you can expect from the game.

Whilst Starcraft was a huge western hit, it also sold by the bucket load in the far east. Considering the success of the monthly billing subscription of WoW some were expecting another MMORPG with a Starcraft-themed backing. Fortunately, a good old RTS is in the offering, and we can finally get back to one of the finest top-down resource-gathering games in history, brought up to speed for gaming rigs of 2007.

Sales figures from the console world were as interesting as ever this month, as the latest NPD sales numbers were released for April 2007.

The Playstation 2 continues to conquer all, with 194,000 sold, but April was not kind to big brother Playstation 3. Sony's newest console moved only 82,000, nearly a 50,000 drop from March's 130,000.

Elsewhere, Microsoft may have doubled PS3 at 174,000, but experienced a dip from March's 199,000. In fact, Nintendo was the only company to experience an increase, with 360,000 units in April, compared to March's 259,000.

Xbox
The public test of Halo 3 began Wednesday, but many users reported trouble downloading the game, prompting Halo 3 developer Bungie Studios to say it was working with Microsoft's Xbox Live online gaming service to fix the trouble.

Microsoft said the problem was not due to Crackdown or the beta itself, but declined to offer more details. 1up offers some reasoning here.

This debacle was followed by a huge ban hammer hitting cracked (and reportedly some non-hacked) Xbox 360s. Reports indicate that whole consoles are banned and not just the Xbox Live account.

At least we finally have a set date for Halo 3 - the US receive the game on September 25th, with a European release a day later.

Microsoft also announced the release of a limited edition Zune digital media player to go on sale next month, featuring Halo 3 videos, soundtracks, trailers and artwork.

If you're still wondering about the graphical differences between Xbox's Halo 2 and the 360's Halo 3, try this video comparison for size. We suspect the quality of graphics is somewhat better than an embedded web-video can portray.

News trickled in during the week that previous statements suggesting a Blu-ray drive wasn't an impossibility for the 360 were taken out of context.

Microsoft's Games Global Marketing team blog states the following: "We firmly stand behind the HD DVD format as the best choice for consumers. Current reports indicating that Microsoft has a back-up plan, which includes Blu-ray support are incorrect. We're fully committed to HD DVD and have absolutely no plans to support other optical formats."

A new HD-DVD patch came out this week, and Next Generation have the low-down on the substantial additions.

Eurogamer has a good look at Virtua Fighter 5 on the 360, and suggests there's no difference between the 360 and PS3 versions. Which brings us to our PS3 related news...

PS3/PSP
It's been another bad week for Sony PR, with news of poor sales, poor profit figures, and a number of software studios complaining about the price of the PS3.

Sony has announced that the launch of the Playstation 3 has contributed to a 68 per cent drop in operating profits to JPY 71.8 billion (EUR 438.3 million) for the year ended March 31, compared to 226.42 billion (EUR 1.38 bn) a year earlier.

"In the Game segment, there was a significant operating loss as a result of the sale of PS3 at strategic price points lower than its production cost during the introductory period," said the company in its annual report.

Sony seemed to blame the available software for the poor performance of the PS3 in the charts.

"PS3 did see a dip in sales in April that we attribute mostly to a lack of new software in the market," said Dave Karraker, Sony Computer Entertainment America's Sr. Director of Corporate Communications, pointing to games like Heavenly Sword and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune as heavy hitters meant to spur sales in 2007. "We feel strongly that this robust library will help drive hardware sales in the upcoming months."

As 1up points out, if April was tough, May looks bleaker. Karraker wouldn't speculate on sales, but outside of MLB 07: The Show's release at the end of April, there are no first-party releases coming to PS3 in May - in fact there are only two May PS3 games: Surf's Up and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, both of which are multi-platform releases.

Others have been keen to point the blame squarely at Sony.

Yves Guillemot, president and CEO of Ubisoft, told Reuters that Sony will "for sure" have a "lower" market share than before due to the Playstation 3's cost. Guillemot, who declined to elaborate, lays it out with this simple quote, "They have to decrease the price quite significantly." Ah this is the kind of in-depth analytical information we pay these head-honchos for...

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz in an interview at the Nordic Game conference Nana On-Sha boss Masaya Matsuura of Parappa fame, observed that the PS3 is "currently" lagging behind but added, "of course they have a chance to recover over time".

He also said he believes the reason the Wii is outdoing PS3 in the sales stakes is because Sony's next-gen console is "too big" for Japanese consumer tastes.

As usual, Sony remains defiant. SCEA president Jack Tretton says he is currently unconcerned by PS3 sales figures despite Sony trailing its major rivals, while industry insiders suggest devs are shifting focus from PS3 to Wii.

Nevertheless, Tretton says Sony is in for the long haul, and has reiterated the company's stance that early results will not prove decisive in the next generation console war.

"We didn't get into PS3 for the first six months of 2007 - we're into this for the next 10 years and beyond," he said. "A million units one way or another at this point isn't going to worry us."

An analyst from Lazard Capital Markets reporting that Sony has suggested that a PSP2 will be on the cards at its Gamer's Day gathering in San Diego. According to Lazard's Colin Sebastian in a briefing regarding April game sales, "the company also indicated that [in addition to new software titles], a video download service and [PSP] hardware refresh are expected later this year."

Wii/DS
What with the deluge of news from Sony and Microsoft this week, the Wii has been hard-pressed to receive similar coverage.

A new mainstream press story on Sony's Playstation 3, this time from the Los Angeles Times, has quoted a Japanese representative from the IGDA who suggests that many studios may be shifting their focus to the Wii and away from Sony's console.

The article quotes Kyoshi Shin of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) in Japan as saying, "When people talk about the PS3 on chat forums they say it's like going to a very expensive restaurant and not getting anything to eat," which is perhaps a reference to Ken Kutaragi's famous quote given to IT Media in reference to the console's high price: “Is it not nonsense to compare the charge for dinner at the company cafeteria with dinner at a fine restaurant?”

More over at Gamasutra.

Eidos has confirmed the Wii debut of iconic character Lara Croft, with a version of Tomb Raider: Anniversary already in development.

The title is a remake of the original Tomb Raider game and has already been announced for the Playstation 2, PSP, and PC

"The Nintendo Wii is a hugely innovative games console and we wanted to make a special version of Anniversary to appeal to Wii owners," commented Kathryn Clements, brand manager at Eidos.

"The Wiimote and Nunchuck controller allows Wii gamers to control Lara in brand new, unique ways, and there are plenty of new features, to be revealed soon, which will ensure Anniversary really hits the spot," she said.

There's another cooler in town for the Wii, and this one is a sexy beast. Glowing blue LEDs are the dish of the day, and we fancy one or two for our office Wiis.

Fancy an analogue-esque joypad adapter for your Wii joypad D-pad? Now you can have it, courtesy of this device called the Remocon Stick. µ

See Also
Sony PS3-based PSX appears on the horizon
Games industry flashes wad, swaggers
Microsoft gaming labelled a "disastrous endeavour"
Xbox handheld and solid PSP2 rumours