http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/ en Copyright 2010 Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:37:03 +1300 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Halo series will introduce a "super epic" single player campaign, more balanced multiplayer action and vastly improved graphics, says Halo: Reach executive producer Joseph Tung. Due out in New Zealand on September 14, developers Bungie Studios have announced the Xbox 360 blockbuster will be the last Halo game they will produce. Speaking to media in Auckland this afternoon, Tung said Halo: Reach took players back to the birthplace of the Spartan supersoldier program, started on planet Reach. It would act as a prequel to the Halo series, putting players in control of an elite Spartan soldier known as Noble 6 in a battle against the Covenant alien alliance. "It's a darker story and story with no Master Chief... Reach is much more boots in the mud, told from the trenches." Tung said his development team had focused on making Reach the "definitive Halo game" and had gone to great pains to create a game environment that felt authentic. The size and scale of mission areas had been increased, effort had been put into making facial animations and damage effects more realistic, and weather had been more accurately rendered. Maps now also included wildlife and civilians, adding to the game's "environmental appeal", Tung said. "The campaign is as big if not bigger than any other Halo game but exact play-through time will really depend on what difficulty level a player chooses." Of course, it's the combat action scenes that most hardened Halo players will care about, and judging by what Bungie is promising, that aspect of the game won't disappoint. AI has been improved, more difficulty levels have been added and there are a bunch of new vehicles and weapons. For those with a penchant for gore, a new assassination kill style that can be performed at close range is included. Halo has a reputation for its quality multiplayer mode and a new Spartans vs Elites Versus mode will please fans. The popular co-op Firefight mode, first seen in Halo: ODST, has been tweaked to make it more customisable, allowing gamers to customise right down to exactly what enemies will be included in each wave of alien assault. "Firefight really is Firefight 2.0. We fully expect the community to go crazy with all the options," Tung said. For die-hard fans, Halo: Reach includes an upgraded Forge map editor that allows players to create bases or mazes anywhere across a huge sandbox world. Halo 3 players will already be familiar with the Forge, but its latest incarnation allows for greater flexibility and control. Halo: Reach’s Forge map builder allows map editors to more accurately place map pieces and even turn off normal physics, allowing pieces to be fixed in mid-air without falling.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/08/halo_reach_secrets_revealed_1.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/08/halo_reach_secrets_revealed_1.html Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:37:03 +1300 Red Dead Redemption. The team consisted of a half-dozen gamers from throughout the Netherlands, all of whom will share the record as the group decided to finish together. The new Guinness record holders are Sven de Vries, Renzo Bos, Robbie van Eijkeren, Marcel van Waardenburg, as well as brothers Edward and Maykel Leest. The session, which started at 12:55 PM on Friday in the Netherlands, was played completely on the PlayStation 3 version of Red Dead Redemption. Instead of using wired controllers, the team used a charging device called the TwistDock to keep powered controllers at the ready. The event was coordinated by Vogel's, the creators of the TwistDock. Dave Rudden ]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/07/new_video_game_endurance_recor_1.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/07/new_video_game_endurance_recor_1.html Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:14:06 +1300 Auckmageddon LAN tournament is returning to Auckland next month in a bid to bring "a fun and social focus" back to Kiwi gaming, says organiser Richard Patterson. It has been seven years since the three-day event was last held and Patterson said he was hoping the 2010 edition would prove popular when it kicked off at North Harbour Stadium on August 27. Auckmageddon would have an R18 bar, DJ's and more of a social focus than the country's largest gaming event, xLAN, which begins on July 9, he said. "XLAN has quite a serious gaming focus. The main difference Auckmageddon offers is that it it's not all about qualifying for big tournaments. We do have prizes for tournament winners but we are more about gaming for fun." The event would host solo and team tournaments for people wishing to compete in games including Battlefield Bad Company 2, Defense of the Ancients, Heroes of Newerth, Team Fortress 2 and Counterstrike Source. Winners would take home prizes such as hardware, games and Microsoft Sidewinder peripherals, Patterson said. Tickets are priced at $85 and will remain on sale until August 22. Auckmageddon currently has 150 registered attendees. ]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/07/auckmageddon_is_coming.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/07/auckmageddon_is_coming.html Tue, 06 Jul 2010 12:48:22 +1300 Kinect (formerly Project Natal) uses an RGB camera, depth sensor and multi-array microphone to let players control gaming action using nothing more than their own body movements and voice. That all sounds well and good, but the system will need to have a high degree of movement tracking accuracy to succeed. The motion sensing and tracking on the Wii has always been a deal breaker for me -- it has never provided an experience superior to that of a keyboard and mouse on a PC or a conventional controller on the Xbox 360 or PS3. I have not yet had the chance to try Microsoft's system hands, but if it is not vastly more accurate than that of the Wii, it is bound to fail. To attract the hardened gamers, it will also need to cater to games with a bit more oomph than Kinect Sports, Dance Central and the Kinectimals virtual pet stroking game on show at E3. The Kinect's main competition, the PlayStation Move, is similar in appearance to the Wii Remote, with the addition of a strange glowing orb on top. The Move controller is combined with the PlayStation Eye to track movements side to side and forward and backwards (some have criticised Kinect for its depth tracking). I got some hands-on experience with the device at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco earlier this year and it's fair to say it has potential to be much more than just a casual gaming gimmick. The Move maps movements far more accurately than the Wii, but the most impressive element of Sony's effort was the type of games that will be available for it right off the bat. Sure there will be casual table tennis and sporting titles, but the fighting games and shooters should give hardcore gamers a reason to believe motion control isn't all bad. In games like Motion Fighters players can hold a Move in each hand, allowing the system to accurately track their punches, blocks and even sways (the PlayStation Eye camera can map a gamer's head in relation to the sensors in the orb of the Move controller). By allowing gamers to use the accurate Move controller with a sub controller called the Navigation Controller, which again is very similar in appearance and function to the Wii Nunchuk, Sony has opened the door for shooters. At the GDC Sony illustrated that using Socom 4, which allowed gamers to target and shoot using the Move and walk around using the mini-joystick on the Navigation Controller. That could already be done on the Wii, but the Nintendo motion control system's huge relative lack of accuracy would let it down. With all that said, the Kinect appears to be the more groundbreaking system and it's easy to understand why it has been getting more media coverage this week. But groundbreaking or not, the accuracy of the Move, combined with the available titles, makes it the more exciting proposition, at least for hardcore gamers.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/06/is_motion_control_good_for_gam_1.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/06/is_motion_control_good_for_gam_1.html Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:43:53 +1300 Chopper 2. The original Chopper reached number one in the paid games category of the US iTunes store, selling more than 300,000 copies. More than 700,000 copies of the free Lite version of the game have also been downloaded. Majic Jungle Software founder and Chopper lead developer David Frampton said the next edition of the side-scrolling helicopter game would again thrust players into the cockpit as a pilot defending his country against enemy invasion. It featured 36 missions (the original Chopper had 20 missions), improved graphics and moving enemy and friendly forces with "basic but flexible" AI. "The original Chopper was quite 2D, it was only pseudo 3D. The new game will be truly 3D with a proper physics engine." The game's missions would open with a short intro sequence to outline the player's objectives, Frampton said. Each mission would take approximately two to three minutes to play through if the gamer successfully dodged enemy fire, but many players would need to replay missions multiple times. Frampton said he had been developing Chopper 2 for the past year and planned to launch it in July as a universal app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. He had originally intended to have the game ready in time for the US launch of the iPad on April 3 but it was not at the high standard he had hoped for so its release had been delayed, he said. "I'm pretty happy with the hype around it but I'm a little bit worried that people might be expecting too much. I'm putting in an extra effort to make sure I get it right. I'm really being a perfectionist." Final pricing for the game has not yet been announced but Frampton said it would be below US$5. Check out a video of Chopper 2 in action here.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/05/chopper_2_will_soon_be_burning.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/05/chopper_2_will_soon_be_burning.html Wed, 19 May 2010 16:24:52 +1300 StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is on its way to a computer near you. One of the most anticipated real-time strategy game in the history of the genre, Blizzard announced an end date to fans' collective yearning. On July 27, 2010, Blizzard will release StarCraft II in New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Australia, Russia, Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. That's a near-world-wide invasion of Terran, Protoss, and Zerg. "We've been looking forward to revisiting the StarCraft universe for many years, and we're excited that the time for that is almost here," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment, in announcing the July launch. "Thanks to our beta testers, we're making great progress on the final stages of development, and we'll be ready to welcome players all over the world to StarCraft II and the new Battle.net in just a few months." StarCraft II is the sequel to the award-winning 1998 title StarCraft. After nearly seven years of development, the war of galactic conquest begins anew. Set five years after the events of Brood War, the single-player campaign of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty will follow the exploits of Jim Raynor and fellow earth exiles (known as the Terrans) as they fight for survival against their own kind, the mysterious Protoss, and insidious Zerg. Subsequent expansions will highlight the other two races and continue the story. The original StarCraft featured a breathtaking balance between the races, an amazingly-addictive multiplayer system, and a compelling story. With 11 million copies sold, it's one of the most successful games of all time. You'd be a fool to not look forward to the sequel. By Chris Holt]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/05/starcraft_ii_launches_july_27.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/05/starcraft_ii_launches_july_27.html Wed, 05 May 2010 10:52:29 +1300 Alan Wake reckon they have pulled it off. That's a pretty big claim considering video games have been in production for decades but Finnish studio Remedy Entertainment is standing by it. In an interview with PC World yesterday, Remedy managing director Matias Myllyrinne said Alan Wake relied on "intrigue and mystery" and was best categorised as a mix between an action game and a psychological thriller. "Horror has been done lots before. Making a psychological thriller is about doing something that's much more cerebral," he said. Due to be released on Xbox 360 on May 20, Alan Wake puts gamers in the shoes of a fictional best selling author of the same name as he searches for his wife who has gone missing near the small town of Bright Falls. As time goes on, Wake realises the nightmare he is living is straight out of a thriller novel he has written. Myllyrinne said the game was controlled in the third person view, had a linear storyline and was cinematically rich. However, that didn't come at the expense of gameplay and gamers could still do a lot of exploring and learning about the game's more minor characters if they wanted to. Remedy was the studio behind the Max Payne series of games that popularised bullet-time -- a slow motion technique gamers could use during combat to warp time and dodge bullets more easily. In Alan Wake, Remedy had tried to revolutionise the use of light in the same way, Myllyrinne said. "We wanted to use a constant. With the Max Payne games we used time. We thought that light and dark were two things that resonated with all cultures. Light symbolises safety. That comes to us from religion... and it's also built into our DNA. "Basically light in Alan Wake is a combat tool for the gamer and a source of safety. We use light to burn away enemies and it's always more effective than a firearm. Anything from the headlights of a car to flashlights can be used. We spent a lot of time working with the lighting and making sure it looked really good." To ensure scenes in the game struck the right emotional chords with gamers, developers had consulted psychologists and put significant effort into effects and audio, Myllyrinne said. For example, playing the sound of a baby crying in a scene where a tornado was heading towards a house could create a strong emotional response in the gamer, he said. "Something only needs to be slightly off to make it really disturbing for us. There are a lot of things that you don't necessarily pay attention to... We rely on movie realism and doing things like making it feel dark even if it's not dark [on screen]." Another area where developers had tried to improvise was with the game's difficulty levels. Myllyrinne said Alan Wake included an advanced "dynamic difficulty" system that could alter how aggressive enemies were as players progressed through the game. That meant the game could cater for players of all abilities, including those with "less dexterous thumbs". For more hardcore gamers the dynamic difficulty would ensure they faced a challenge for the 8 - 10 hours it took to complete the game, he said.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/04/alan_wake_and_the_art_of_unner_1.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/04/alan_wake_and_the_art_of_unner_1.html Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:20:39 +1300 Interactive Australia 2009 study projected that the gender split for gamers would reach 50/50. Unfortunately, equivalent figures for New Zealand are hard to come by, but considering gaming studies in the US and UK are coming up with similar numbers, one can only assume that the Kiwi situation is similar. Interactive Software Association of New Zealand board member and Sony Computer Entertainment marketing director David Hine said the increasing number of female gamers had contributed to the Kiwi gaming industry netting a record $170 million in revenues in the 2009 calendar year. That figure was 12% higher than in 2008 and was expected to continue growing. "In the past there's been a pre-conception that gaming is the realm of teenage boys sitting in darkened rooms and working on their PlayStation tan, but that's a thing of the past. The types of games and technology available are bringing gaming out into the mass market. "There has over the past few years been a social gaming phenomenon. SingStar, Buzz, Guitar Hero and Rockstar, and of course games on the Wii, have all been popular. SingStar has well over 150,000 microphones in New Zealand homes and our anecdotal evidence would suggest that the majority of those players would be female." Although many female gamers enjoyed playing PC games, it was the "interactive and social nature" of gaming on a console that women found most appealing. Hine said it was hard to say exactly what made a game appeal to a girl gamer but in general it was the "family games and puzzle games" that women were buying. "The PlayStation 3 is no longer just a gaming console... it's an entertainment device that does so much more than gaming and as the recognition of what the console can do becomes more accepted, it will appeal more to the wider market." One of the best known girl gamers is Sydney 27-year-old Ashley Jenkins, known in gaming circles as Jinx. She now works as a New Zealand and Australia digital site manager for Xbox but was formerly a pro-gamer, being paid a full time wage to play first person shooters with US all-girl team the Frag Dolls. "For a few years I was a pro-gamer traveling around the US to tournaments. I made enough to live on." She got into gaming when she was young and says she never really noticed that most other gamers were guys. "I remember getting a Nintendo for Christmas one year. I grew up in a kind of rural area playing Nintendo with my friends. It wasn't until high school that I realised that gaming was the reason most of my friends were male." These days, she spends most of her time playing adventure games but enjoys games from all genres. "I play chiefly on the Xbox now, I'll admit I really like the achievements, but a lot of my favourite games have been on PC. I can't really imagine how many hours I put into Morrowind. I still play it from time to time." There were plenty of "bloodthirsty girls" that enjoyed first person shooters, and many that played RPGs like World of Warcraft, but the massive increase in female gamers in recent years could be put down to the fact that game makers were specifically targeting females, she said. The popularity of games like Guitar Hero and SingStar were classic examples, although plenty of guys enjoyed them too. "Singing is something that's familiar to everyone. Who hasn't sung in the shower? SingStar just allows you to get a score for it." Consoles were generally slightly more appealing to female gamers than PC games, mainly because they simplified the whole experience, Jenkins said. "When PC games start to become more intimidating is when you have to start patching and getting technical. Consoles do all that for you." By James Heffield]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/04/the_rise_of_the_girl_gamer.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/04/the_rise_of_the_girl_gamer.html Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:47:44 +1300 Martyn Williams]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/nintendo_to_launch_3dcapable_d.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/nintendo_to_launch_3dcapable_d.html Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:58:22 +1300 God of War III went on sale in New Zealand today, picking up where its 2007 predecessor left off. Sony Computer Entertainment said in a media release that the God of War series had sold more than 3.9 million copies to date and the finale released today was expected to do just as well. A lot has been made of the game's graphics, which feature some of the most advanced shadow effects of any game on the market. God of War III was the poster child for shadow effects at the recent Game Developers' Conference in San Francisco, where the techniques behind some of its most stunning graphics were showcased. When it comes to gameplay it's all about non-stop bloodthirsty battle action. You will talk to a few people and enjoy the odd cut-scene but fans of the series know the bulk of the game is about slicing down hordes of enemies on the way to the next "boss" character. In God of War III, you again play as Kratos, a former Spartan captain who is seeking vengeance against the Greek gods who have wronged him. That involves plunging your "Blades of Exile" and "Cestus" into every living and undead thing you come across as you continue your fight up Mount Olympus to take them all on. It's a tough task, but Kratos is up to it, and if you're willing to part with some of your hard earned cash to buy the game, you can go along for the ride.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/god_of_war_iii_hits_nz_shelves_1.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/god_of_war_iii_hits_nz_shelves_1.html Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:25:29 +1300 My GDC game of the day - R.U.S.E If you're after a shiny new WW2 real-time strategy game, Ubisoft's R.U.S.E is worth a try. It's similar to the Command and Conquer series of old but with much slicker graphics and a few twists that add depth and a bit more realism to the experience. One of these twists, as you might have guessed from the name, is the ability to use "ruses" during a battle to fool the enemy. These include things like "camouflage net," which prevents the enemy from gaining any intelligence about your forces located in a particular zone on the map, and a range of diversions, which provide fake information to the enemy. Fog of war in R.U.S.E is more complex than most real-time strategy games; instead of having an area of the map blacked out, you will instead only get small portions of intelligence about the type and strength of enemy units located there. How much information you get will depends on where your units are located and also whether your opponent has used and ruses against you. Other nifty features include the ability for your infantry to hide in forests to ambush the enemy and the inclusion of cover and lines of sight for your units on the map. Roads are also in the game, allowing your supply trucks to generate income for you by travelling to and from any supply depots you have built. If you want to gain more income and hurt the opposition, you can station units on roads between the enemy town and their supply depots, grabbing resources for yourself. The game will include more than 20 battle maps at release and caters for online multiplayer play between up to eight human or AI opponents. All in all it looks like an interesting experience, albeit maybe not quite as groundbreaking as some other games being launched soon. An open beta-test is currently available worldwide (yes, that includes New Zealand) via Steam. The final game will be released on PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Take a look at this R.U.S.E trailer on YouTube.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/how_a_connected_society_change.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/how_a_connected_society_change.html Sun, 14 Mar 2010 08:29:14 +1300 Civilization series and led development of all time classics Pirates and Railroad Tycoon. He is currently the director of creative development at Firaxis Games and says his blockbuster development days are not over yet, hinting that there may still one day be hope for Dinosaurs - a game he began developing a decade ago but never released. During an address to a crowd of thousands of his peers, Meier said developers needed to remember the games they created were "all about the player. Keeping them feeling good about themselves is what it's about". Understanding the psychology of the gamer was also important - if a game didn't have an intriguing and rewarding first 15 minutes, developers risked losing their audience, he said. To do that, developers needed to make sure gamers were able to "suspend their disbelief" and feel that were part of the game or in the shoes of its main character. Humour, music and atmosphere added greatly to a game, but modern developers could not rely solely on technology and graphics if they hoped to succeed. "Use the player's imagination, no matter how cool your graphics are or how cool your tech is." The best games took players on an "epic journey," allowing them to make interesting and meaningful decisions as they learnt and progressed through the game. Meier promoted a "one more turn" philosophy, telling developers to keep gamers "constantly learning forward". Designing a journey that was "multi-epic" (ie. could be played more than once) and offered an experience that was significantly different each time was the final ingredient required to make a game great, he said. He had some regrets during his time as a developer, saying his initial plan to make Civilization a real time strategy game instead of a turn based one was "the first bad thing I did in life". "What we found with the real time version of Civ was that the player became an observer. Our mantra was that the player had to be king." As I'm sure you all know, Civilization was released as a turn-based game and is now one of the top selling game series of all time. My GDC game of the day - VisualSoccer on Visual Sports System Okay, so it's a bit of a gimmick and it's far too easy to score if you've got a smidgen of football talent but I had to mention this one purely because it's a cool idea. The Visual Sports System, due for release in the US early next year, is a peripheral designed for PC, Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. It features a small netted "arena" you place in front of your screen and motion tracking cameras. In its VisualSoccer incarnation, it allows you to physically boot a ball at your TV screen (which sits behind the netting) or a projected image, in a simulated penalty shootout. Unfortunately the goalkeeper lacks some talent, but the simulator can track the velocity of your shots, the number you have scored and the total scoring percentage. It has a long way to go to make it more realistic but the idea of kicking a real ball at your expensive TV is so cool that it just might work. According to its creator, Visual Sports, it will be released with a selection of other sports games as well, including baseball, golf, ice hockey and "zombie handball". No decision has yet been made as to whether it will be available in New Zealand.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/games_should_be_multiepic_1.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/games_should_be_multiepic_1.html Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:48:23 +1300 As for 3D gaming, it has to be seen to be believed. From racers to sports games, it has a lot of potential to seriously soup up a gaming session and make it far more immersive. Unfortunately 3D glasses and an expensive 3D TV will be required but the richness of the experience makes it worth donning the dorky eyewear (and unlike 3D movies, you don't have to wear them in public). The more serious side of the show takes place in the lecture sessions, where industry legends provide advice to the thousands of developers in attendance on everything from improving their games' graphics and audio to marketing their new products. In two of the more interesting lectures today, EA Sports developers Joseph Harmon and Jayeson Lee- Steere and Sony developer Ben Diamand discussed the importance of producing realistic shadows in Madden NFL 10 (EA Sports) and God of War III (Sony). Producing accurate shadows and lighting was vital to creating the graphically rich environments modern gamers desired, but rendering them at high frame rates in both of the games placed a lot of demand on hardware and memory, they said. That meant that if they were using current technology, developers had to either trade-off graphics in other areas of a game or create new programming code that was less resource intensive. Another interesting session came from game audio legend Akira Yamaoka - the man behind the audio in Konami's Silent Hill series. He pushed for developers to make more effort composing and implementing the audio in their games. "It's sound that directly touches people's emotions," he said. Interestingly, he also said game developers should make more effort to engage gamers' emotional sides through non-audio tools as well. Specifically, developers should regularly foreshadow upcoming events in the plot, much like the best novel writers do, and make people turn right regularly in horror games to create a sense of unease. According to Yamaoka, turning right repeatedly causes a person to become uneasy, while turning left is more natural. Sounds farfetched to me, but he even reckons that's why horses are usually made to run around a racing track anti-clockwise, always turning left, instead of running clockwise! My game of the day - Power Gig Guitar Hero may be a lot of fun but it won't exactly teach you how to play a guitar. Power Gig: Rise of the SixString, on the other hand, looks to be pioneering what every musically inclined gamer has wished for - the ability to use a real electric guitar as the controller. Seven45 Studios has one of the hippest stands I've seen at the GDC and was showing off the new title. It won't be available on PC, but PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 gamers will be able to unleash their inner rocker using a 'SixString' guitar controller that is essentially a real six string guitar that can interface with their console. The guitar can also be plugged into a standard amp and used normally. According to Seven45 Studios the game has two overarching modes - beat matching and chord play. Beat matching is similar to the gameplay in other band games like Guitar Hero, and requires gamers to strum specific strings in time with the on-screen instructions. Chord play is slightly more complex, requiring the gamer to place their fingers correctly on the strings to play specific chords and songs accurately. Seven45 Studios is partly owned by musical instrument manufacturer First Act. Power Gig is due out in the final quarter of this year.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/augmented_reality_and_3d_star.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/augmented_reality_and_3d_star.html Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:39:57 +1300 Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to get hands-on with Project Natal just yet so I can't draw any firm conclusions, but the PlayStation Move combined with the PlayStation Eye allows for an amazingly precise gaming experience. The Eye allows your console to map your head and body on screen as a reference point. It can then use the sensors in the Move to precisely map all of your movements in relation to that point. Its a package that allows for more accurate depth tracking of movement than the Wii can manage without a camera, and Sony is claiming it will also outdo Project Natal which lacks any controllers. Many Move-compatible games will actually use two Move controllers, one in each hand, to map the exact location of both of the gamer's hands. This proves particularly effective in fighting games, like the upcoming Motion Fighters, and it will get gamers' swinging punches and grabbing the air as they destroy their on-screen opponent. In terms of its layout, the Move features Dual Shock vibration-feedback technology and has many of the standard PlayStation buttons including the four action buttons (X and O etc), a shoulder button, start and select. The bright RGB LED sensor on top can be set to the colour of your preference or utilised by developers to add to gameplay by changing colour at pre-determined points (eg. casting a "fireball spell" in a game may turn the LED orange). Senior vice president of PlayStation marketing and the PlayStation Network Peter Dille said the device would be popular with both casual and hard core gamers, due to its accuracy. "It's precise, responsive and ultra-sensory... from the tiniest twitch to the strongest punch. "We'd like to think that the migration path from the Wii household to the PlayStation household is a natural one." Accessories like the PlayStation Move Sub Controller will also be sold, he said. The sub controller can be held in a gamer's free hand and includes the arrow keys found on the normal PlayStation controller, making walking around in in games easier. The Move is expected to arrive in New Zealand late this year and according to Sony all of the big international gaming studios are on board and have Move-compatible games in the works. It will go on sale in the US for about US$100 with a PlayStation Eye and a game, but no New Zealand pricing has yet been announced. ]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/playstation_move_unveiled_1.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/playstation_move_unveiled_1.html Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:39:45 +1300 John Davison and Dave Rudden]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/onlive_to_launch_june_17.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/onlive_to_launch_june_17.html Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:17:51 +1300