General gaming news

[Enkidu]

50 million will in no way cover the entire cost of production on a game like GTA4. The 50 million was for exclusive downloadable content. If Microsoft was really in that much control, why not just kill the PS3 version all together?

Theres just something fishy about the only version of the game having been shown being the 360 one.

Gears of War cost $10 million to make according to the head of Epic. That doesn't include the U3 engine production costs, but I don't think you can really include the GTA4 engine production cost either, since they'll obviously be using it for many games down the road. Anyways obviously GTA is going to be more expensive to make, but 5 times as expensive? I doubt that. Looks like it was just a payday for Rockstar to me.

[Falconblade]

http://kotaku.com/gaming/exclusive%3F/h ... 286115.php

Computer and Video Games is reporting that UK entertainment retail giant HMV is currently offering pre-orders for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots. This might not seem so odd except for the fact that not only are they taking orders for the PS3 version, release dated on the site at April 18, 2008, but they also have a listing for an Xbox 360 version allegedly set to come out on Sept. 26, 2008.

Interesting, but really shady without a few more sources/confirmations.

[Pyro]

HMV is also offering preorders for Haze for 360 and PC with a release date of this year.

[Kazen]

Looks like they have a few mistakes so this is probably one to (ex. It says Unreal 3 is coming for the 360 but not the PS3 when it was already said to be a Ps3 exclusive for the first 6 (? or was it a year) months).

[Xavier]

Its bound to be a mistake. If Microsoft had MGS4 coming to the 360 at all, even if it wasn't the same release date as the PS3 version, they'd be running their mouths in the press very quickly.

[Exoduso]

Agreed, either it's a mistake or they know something that even MS doesn't (which isn't very likely.. )

[Tekki]

Ive been in the front lines of this industry long enough to put money down that it WILL be released on the 360 but it wont be at the same time. It would be at the earliest, 4-5months until it reaches the 360 (post ps3 release)

Konami has already stated MULTIPLE times that this game is becoming a huge sinkhole for funding and they have to find ways to make the most out of this game when it comes out. This has probably been their most expensive game to date and they are becoming realstic about the situation and this simple fact. A single console launch will not be enough for this game.

Most MGs never stay exclusive, even if it takes some time for them to release them or re-do them for another system 1+ year after the fact. What makes this different is the sheer cost of its development. This will speed up the process of bringing it to another system (the 360 of course)

[thestalkmore]

Ive been in the front lines of this industry long enough to put money down that it WILL be released on the 360 but it wont be at the same time. It would be at the earliest, 4-5months until it reaches the 360 (post ps3 release)

Konami has already stated MULTIPLE times that this game is becoming a huge sinkhole for funding and they have to find ways to make the most out of this game when it comes out. This has probably been their most expensive game to date and they are becoming realstic about the situation and this simple fact. A single console launch will not be enough for this game.

Most MGs never stay exclusive, even if it takes some time for them to release them or re-do them for another system 1+ year after the fact. What makes this different is the sheer cost of its development. This will speed up the process of bringing it to another system (the 360 of course)

Stop it you. =(

[Mysterio]

I look forward to it being on the 360.

It'll come in a nice collectible box set lol

[Kaylia]

I look forward to it being on the 360.

It'll come in a nice collectible box set lol

Or slightly increased loading time
Or a small graphic/sound downgrade that probably wouldn't be noticeable


I've no doubt they can fill a 40gig blu ray with uncompressed data to speed up/supress loading time, but they don't "need" that much.

[Tekki]

I look forward to it being on the 360.

It'll come in a nice collectible box set lol

Or slightly increased loading time
Or a small graphic/sound downgrade that probably wouldn't be noticeable


I've no doubt they can fill a 40gig blu ray with uncompressed data to speed up/supress loading time, but they don't "need" that much.

Most likely the only decrease in quality to save space you would see is sound quality. Even though compression technology is phenomenally better today, sound in games takes a massive amount of the space on a game disk. You probably wont notice a difference in graphics at all, and some could argue the video in game and c/s quality can prove to look better or have a greater frame rate on the 360.

[Exoduso]

It'll sound like FF12 (or even worse) and even though it's not a big deal, it was still annoying.

Regardless, unless MS announces it i'm not going to jump out of my seat because some random retailer decided to take preorders for a game that supposedly comes out a YEAR from now, when they don't really even have a confirmed release date for said release.

[Tajin]

and some could argue the video in game and c/s quality can prove to look better or have a greater frame rate on the 360.

wut?

[Xavier]

and some could argue the video in game and c/s quality can prove to look better or have a greater frame rate on the 360.

wut?

Madden 2008 running at 60 fps on 360, 30 fps on PS3.

[Torn]

MGS4 360 HMV thing was a mistake,
"Hell, sometimes even we get confused about the current status of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the Xbox 360 (no status at all), so far be it for us to scold some simple data entry clerk at UK retail giant HMV for posting a pre-order listing for the game during a bout of what the company labels as over enthusiasm.

"In his enthusiasm, one of our online games team indicated that hmv.co.uk would start taking pre-orders for MGS4 on Xbox 360, when, in fact, he simply meant to ask customers if they wished to receive an alert in the event of this title one day coming out on this platform," admitted the retailer to GamesIndustry.biz

. So it was all just a big mistake, though the difference between release dates for the PS3 (Apr. 18th 2008) and 360 (Sep. 26th 2008) piques my curiosity for just a tiny moment before it goes back to not caring either way at this point."

http://kotaku.com/gaming/now-you-see...boo-286321.php

[Mysterio]

and some could argue the video in game and c/s quality can prove to look better or have a greater frame rate on the 360.

wut?

Madden 2008 running at 60 fps on 360, 30 fps on PS3.

Thats just lazy on EA's side, has nothing to do with the capabilities of the PS3, lots of PS3 games run at 1080p with 60 frames per second, Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a prime example.

[Xavier]

and some could argue the video in game and c/s quality can prove to look better or have a greater frame rate on the 360.

wut?

Madden 2008 running at 60 fps on 360, 30 fps on PS3.

Thats just lazy on EA's side, has nothing to do with the capabilities of the PS3, lots of PS3 games run at 1080p with 60 frames per second, Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a prime example.

Lazy, or too time consuming to bother programming properly?

[Semitry]

and some could argue the video in game and c/s quality can prove to look better or have a greater frame rate on the 360.

wut?

Madden 2008 running at 60 fps on 360, 30 fps on PS3.

And pretty much every multiplat game, including those ported to the 360 from the ps3 like AC4. But I don't believe MGS4 will be better just because Kojima won't be leading it.

On the disc space issue, audio takes up a majority of disc space used in games today. Like GTA3 and Oblivion's disc space, more then half was used on audio. Now pretty much all PS3 games use 7.1 PCM audio which has a bitrate of 6144Kbps. The 360 uses 5.1 compressed audio, with compression rates between 6:1 and 13:1. Uncompressed, 5.1 has a bitrate of 4608Kbps. So an hour of audio would take up 2.764GB (6.144*360/8) on the PS3 and on the 360, that same audio would take up between 160MB (4.608*360/8/13) - 346MB (4.608*360/8/6) on the 360. So there's a good chance of if/when MGS4 gets ported, it'll fit on 2-3 DVD discs. I however won't have to worry about that. By the time MGS4 comes out, the PS3 will have dropped in price a good deal with enough games to warrant a purchase.

Thats just lazy on EA's side, has nothing to do with the capabilities of the PS3, lots of PS3 games run at 1080p with 60 frames per second, Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a prime example.

It's not EA's fault Sony made a convoluted machine. Remember almost every developer is having issues with the PS3, and it's not that they're lazy. They have deadlines to fulfill and unlike fanboys, they have people paying them worrying about ROI (return on investment). Imagine you were the owner of EA. Would you delay one of your most high profile profitable games 6 months just so you can get the PS3 version, which has 1/3rd the userbase of the 360 in the US on par with the 360? Remember what happened when Take 2 announced GTA4's delay. Their stocked dropped 40%. So yeah, 60fps on the PS3 is possible. Is it worth it? Not at this time with the rising costs of next gen gaming, PS3's convoluted system and PS3's low installed base.

[Mysterio]

and some could argue the video in game and c/s quality can prove to look better or have a greater frame rate on the 360.

wut?

Madden 2008 running at 60 fps on 360, 30 fps on PS3.

Thats just lazy on EA's side, has nothing to do with the capabilities of the PS3, lots of PS3 games run at 1080p with 60 frames per second, Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a prime example.

Lazy, or too time consuming to bother programming properly?

too time consuming/costly is sort of what I meant by lazy.

Thats just lazy on EA's side, has nothing to do with the capabilities of the PS3, lots of PS3 games run at 1080p with 60 frames per second, Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a prime example.

It's not EA's fault Sony made a convoluted machine. Remember almost every developer is having issues with the PS3, and it's not that they're lazy. They have deadlines to fulfill and unlike fanboys, they have people paying them worrying about ROI (return on investment). Imagine you were the owner of EA. Would you delay one of your most high profile profitable games 6 months just so you can get the PS3 version, which has 1/3rd the userbase of the 360 in the US on par with the 360? Remember what happened when Take 2 announced GTA4's delay. Their stocked dropped 40%. So yeah, 60fps on the PS3 is possible. Is it worth it? Not at this time with the rising costs of next gen gaming, PS3's convoluted system and PS3's low installed base.

PS3 has almost half the install base of the 360 at the moment. Won't be much longer until it reaches, and eclipses the 360's install base. Be hard pressed to find someone other than a 360 fanboy to deny that.

EA's stock won't be affected like Take 2's was, GTA4 is a much bigger investment than the yearly iteration of Madden, so that's not a very good comparison. And EA is wayy bigger than Take 2, this lackluster performance for Madden on the PS3 is mainly due to them owning all the licensing and releasing continually shitty games because they have no competition.

I'd certainly chalk it more up to that than the PS3 being a "convoluted" system.

[Exoduso]

blablabla as of right now it's exclusive to the PS3.

And it won't look better on the 360, stop being ignorant... it'll look identical at best.