Source: videogamesblogger.com

A new trailer has been unleashed on the unsuspecting masses for Resident Evil: Degeneration, the upcoming new computer generated Resident Evil feature film that reunites both Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield!

As you can see from the trailer below, the movie looks very similar to Resident Evil 2, except it reportedly takes place (at least partially) in a zombie-infected airport. But it even has the token little girl, how much you want to bet that it’s Sherry Birkin?

What’s even greater about this CG film is that Paul Mercier and Alyson Court return to reprise their voice acting roles as Leon and Claire in the movie. Paul voiced Leon in both Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4, while Alyson voiced Claire in both Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil: Code Veronica. This will definitely lend credibility to the movie and make it that much closer to the feel of the games.

Resident Evil: Degeneration is set for release in America later this year on blu-ray and DVD disc (too bad it won’t be released in theaters here like in Japan, I’d definitely go see it!).

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Along with the Prison Break - Season 3 DVD / Blu-Ray release comes an ad for Prison Break: The Video Game. Based on the TV show, the Brash Entertainment-developed game will be released in February 2009 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Previously actor Robert Knepper, who plays T-Bag on the show, said: “I don’t think it’s quite done, but I heard that on the wind last year that they were trying to do it. You know the whole thing with an escape, they were working on a videogame where you plot your own escape from prison.” — Via Kotaku

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Square Enix’s DKS3713 event was held this weekend in Japan. The company announced the PlayStation 3 will be receiving the first Final Fantasy XIII Demo in the form of a bonus on the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete Blu-ray disc, which is set for release in Japan in March 2009.

1UP reports that it’s possible a downloadable version of the Final Fantasy XIII Demo could come to Xbox 360 around the same time, but Square hasn’t said anything at this time — let alone outside of Japan — and that seems unlikely given comments that Square will be finishing the PS3 version completely before they even begin porting the RPG to the Xbox 360.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Sony’s PlayStation 3, the 2007 loser in the fight for second place in videogame console sales, is said to be gaining ground on Microsoft’s Xbox 360. The PlayStation 3 outsold the Xbox 360 in the U.S. in the first five months of 2008 after trailing Microsoft’s console in 2007. New exclusive games, such as Metal Gear Solid 4, and the rise of Sony’s Blu-ray as the dominant high-definition DVD player may enable PlayStation 3 to hold onto its lead, report Bloomberg-interviewed analysts.

Meanwhile, the Nintendo Wii is outselling both those consoles put together. Sony Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer said in an interview last week at the Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, that: “Wii isn’t a rival to the PlayStation 3 because it doesn’t offer the broader features of the Sony console, including the ability to watch movies and access the internet. I’ve played a Nintendo Wii. I don’t see it as a competitor [of the PS3]. It’s more of an expensive niche game device. We’re selling a lot of PlayStation 3s now and it’s still the best way to buy a Blu-ray player.”

Looks like the E3 rivalry started early. Although it’s more misinformation than anything else since the Wii does have internet functionality and is the cheapest of the next-gen consoles (because it’s not a media center). The PS3 has some great exclusives, but the Xbox 360 definitely has a lot more. So it all sounds like PR-speak to me, what do you think?

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Are you tired of mandatory hard drive installs on PlayStation 3 and wanna what the deal is? Well blame Blu-ray and DVD according to a new article on the issue from MTV’s Multiplayerblog.

Capcom took a public lashing in February when Devil May Cry 4 was released on PS3 with a mandatory 20-minute installation not necessary on the Xbox 360 version. Since then, Capcom VP of business development and strategic planning Christian Svennsson told said his company didn’t realize the issue would “blow up.” He says the company will take the response into account for future releases.

According to the article, publishers do not want to talk about why some PS3 games require instals, while others don’t. The PS3 version of Lost Planet requires an install, as does Lost: Via Domus and Hot Shots Golf 5: Out of Bounds from Sony. But Dark Sector and many other PS3 releases don’t.

Apparently the issue arises from differences in the reading techniques of DVD and Blu-ray. By nature, the outer and inner parts of a disc move at different speeds while a disc is spinning, regardless of format (CD, DVD, Blu-ray, HD-DVD, etc.). While DVD drives can read data at those differing speeds, Blu-ray reads at one speed. Combine that with the extremely large size of Blu-ray discs, and simply dumping existing DVD data onto a Blu-ray disc will inevitably result in longer load times. Installations are a way around this issue.

Because when a publisher asks you to install a game on the PS3, it’s because they’re moving some of the disc data to an area of your console that has much faster read access: the hard drive. You get vastly reduced loading times, but have to sit through an installation.

But there are other ways of doing things, as is evidenced by Dark Sector, Call of Duty 4, Burnout Paradise and others, which are all multi-platform titles without installs. Based on conversations with several developers, catering to Blu-ray is hardly impossible, but requires work. Some developers copy their game’s data on the disc multiple times, giving the drive more areas to seek the same exact data from. Others spent time optimizing streaming techniques.

Bethesda Softworks executive producer Todd Howard recently publicly confirmed the duplicated data technique as a strategy on his company’s Fallout 3. “Small things like this can make a huge difference over the course of a game,” he told PlayStation: The Official Magazine.

Some games, like Unreal Tournament III, make the process optional. Epic Games recommends doing it, but if you want to save space, they won’t stop you. In my weeks playing “UT3,” the reduced loading was worth the trouble. The seconds saved between firefights adds up over hundreds of matches.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

PlayStation Store Senior Manager Grace Chen walks you through the upcoming PlayStation 3 firmware 2.30 update which includes the new and revamped Playstation Store interface. Due worldwide on April 15th, 2008. Watch the demo video below.

Additionally Sony reports that “the system software update will also add DTS-HD Master Audio output for Blu-ray videos, which means the high-definition visuals of Blu-ray will now be matched with the highest quality audio for the ultimate movie-watching experience on PS3. — DTS-HD Master Audio is literally bit-for-bit identical to the studio master recording and makes movie soundtracks and sound effects truly come to life. The technology delivers audio at the incredibly high rate of 24.5 mega-bits per second (Mbps) on Blu-ray disc, which is significantly higher than standard DVDs. DTS-HD Master Audio also offers 7.1 audio channels at 96k sampling frequency/24 bit depths, so you’ll be totally immersed in the sound. The firmware update will add DTS-HD High Resolution Audio as well, which is a similar output technology that requires less disc space.”

PlayStation 3 firmware 2.30 update demo:

Source: videogamesblogger.com

The next PlayStation 3 system software update will arrive for download in the next few days. Firmware version 2.20, introduces your PS3 to a few new entertainment center features.

Sony mentions that most notably, the update enables the PS3 to support Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0, also known as BD-Live. You can connect now to the Internet while playing discs that support BD-Live to obtain additional content and special features. These features vary from disc to disc, and will keep your BD discs fresh with new content and in some cases exclusive content only accessible to owners of BD-Live enabled discs. On April 8th Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release The 6th Day and Walk Hard on Blu-ray; these titles will be among the first to take advantage of BD-Live. With this update, the PlayStation 3 becomes the first Blu-ray player on the market with BD-Live functionality.

Here are some of the other new features/enhancements that will be included in PS3 Firmware v2.20:

* The ability to copy PS3 Music and Photo playlists to a PSP system. We introduced the ability to create Music and Photo playlists on the PS3 in firmware update v2.0. Now you can easily export your playlists to your PSP.
* You can now play DivX and WMV format files that are over 2 GB. In addition, you can now display subtitles when viewing DivX files.
* Resume Play - begin playing a DVD or BD disc from the point where you previously stopped it, even if you eject the disc and insert a different movie or game.
* Use your PSP as a remote control to play back your music files on your PS3 without turning on your TV.
* The Internet browser now displays some web pages faster. In addition [Save Target] has been added as an option under file. This option lets you save a file that is linked to a web page to your PS3 hard drive or storage media.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

The end has come. Blu-ray emerges as the winner of the HD-DVD vs Blu-ray format wars!

Toshiba Corp, the company that makes HD DVDs, is planning to stop production on HD DVD players and other equipment compatible with their high-definition video format, giving Blu-ray free reign in the market place to become the single high-definition standard.

As a result Toshiba is expected to suffer tremendous losses amounting in the tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) to scrap production of HD DVD players and recorders as they take steps to exit the business completely, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said on its website today, via Reuters.

The format war between the Toshiba-backed HD DVD and Sony Corp’s Blu-Ray, often compared to the Betamax-VHS battle in the 1980s, has slowed the development of what is expected to be a multibillion dollar high-definition DVD industry.

Toshiba was dealt a blow on Friday when Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it would abandon the HD DVD format, becoming the latest in a series of top retailers and movie studios to rally behind Blu-ray technology for high definition DVDs.

Toshiba plans to continue selling HD DVD equipment at stores for the time being but will not put resources into developing new devices, NHK said. This means the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player add-on will stop being produced as well.

Well one thing’s for certain, all those PS3 gamers who picked up the system in part to play Blu-ray movies will definitely be happy to know that they made the right choice in deciding to get Blu-ray over HD DVD.

Now it’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft starts production soon on a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360 like they’ve talked about in the past. — Picture via N4G

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Earlier this week at CES 2008, Sony briefly announced that using Blu-Ray Profile 2.0 later this year, you’ll be able to copy a Blu-Ray movie to a PSP or Memory Stick. You might have been wondering if there were any more details to it, so Gizmodo lined them up:

* The movies are around 1GB (standard definition and PSP-optimized) and take about 3-5 minutes to download via USB to the Memory Stick Duo in your PSP.
* The service will be free and it “can be used potentially on any Blu-ray movie title.”
* Sony is still in the processing of reviewing how the DRM copy-protection is going to work, and how portable the copies are going to be (important, since they’re stored on Memory Stick Duos). The number of copies you can make from each disc is still undecided.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

At CES 2008 the new Blu-ray technology called “BD Live” is being shown. The technology allows Blu-Ray players that are connected to the internet, to download and play a mini-game. The Blu-Ray version of the first Aliens vs. Predator movie uses it and allows you to play a mini-game titled Alien vs. Predator vs. You.

1UP reports from the show to explain it in more detail: “Players upload a picture to the ‘net, presumably through Fox’s website. From there, the disc can access the picture and make you part of Alien vs. Predator vs. You, which is actually little more than a limited game interface placed over the movie. You are equipped with a slew of weapons and awarded points based on how you fare against the creatures on the screen, except the creatures have no idea you’re there. Like we said, it’s just a game interface placed over the already produced film for a little bit of added replayability.

The version on display at CES used a remote as the controller, though we imagine a Sixaxis will function just fine, if you’re using your PS3 as the player.” Aliens vs. Predator will be released on Blu-Ray on January 23rd, 2008.