Update on Activision Blizzard Games

Earlier in the week, reports emerged about what games Activision Blizzard had confirmed as keeping after their merger with Vivendi Games. This list was a little disturbing to some gamers who didn't see their anticipated game in the list of five games. I held off on blogging about it until some more information came out/was confirmed.

The five games/franchises which are confirmed as still on the way are:
- Crash Bandicoot
- Ice Age
- Prototype
- Spyro
- an unannounced title

I think Prototype looks good, and the other games are guaranteed to make a certain amount of money(other than the unannounced title, of course). But many noticed some glaring omissions. Two of the big names missing are Ghostbusters and Brutal Legend.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has the license to the Ghostbusters game and has officially confirmed that they will still get the game published. The real question is who will publish it and will this affect which systems the game releases on. Sony is also using this development to delay the game's release until 2009 so it can coincide with the 25 year anniversary of the movie Ghostbusters.

Double Fine is the developer behind Brutal Legend, and the game is being helmed by Tim Schafer, made famous from his work on Psychonauts. They say that they will still put out Brutal Legend and are close to signing with a new publisher.

The Bourne license was also cut by Activision Blizzard so all of the gaming rights revert to Ludlum Holdings who have stated that they plan on making more Bourne games in the future with a different publisher.

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand was also cut from the Activision Blizzard lineup. So far, developers have been pretty silent on the fate for this game. Normally, I wouldn't care about this game because the first one seemed like it sucked, but there was actually some independent reviewers who had some good things to say about what they saw from this game. Still, if it dies, I won't shed any tears.

New COD4 Playlists May Be Delayed

Infinity Ward has been hard at work on four new playlists for Call of Duty 4. They were hoping to release them upon the masses this weekend, but some critical bugs are possibly pushing their release back a bit. No concrete release date has yet been set.

The new playlists are:

- Bare-bones Team Deathmatch - Team Deathmatch with no perks and no rewards. Just you and your skills.

- Hardcore FFA - Free-for-all with increased damage, no HUD and no health regen.

- Hardcore HQ - HQ with increased damage, no HUD and friendly fire is on.

- Multi-bomb Search and Destroy - Every attacking team member has a bomb so anyone (or everyone) can plant the bomb.

Halo 3 Maintains Number One on Live

For the second week in a row, Halo 3 has maintained its number one rank on Xbox Live. In fact, very few of the top ten changed positions from last week.

The top ten for the week beginning July 21st are:

1. Halo 3
2. Call of Duty 4
3. GTA IV
4. Gears of War
5. Guitar Hero III
6. Rock Band
7. Battlefield: Bad Company
8. Too Human Demo
9. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2
10. NCAA Football 09

Gamers must be loving that new and free Cold Storage map!

PS3 Launches Greatest Hits

Today announced the start of Sony's Greatest Hits lineup for the Playstation 3. The collection currently has ten games in it which will retail for $29.99 each.

The Greatest Hits games will be in red cases like this one. The games in the series are Resistance: Fall of Man, WarHawk, Motorstorm, Call of Duty 3, Fight Night: Round 3, Need for Speed Carbon, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Assassin's Creed, Oblivion, and Ninja Gaiden: Sigma.

Sony has said that the Greatest Hits version of Warhawk does not include a headset, but that the regular version with the headset should soon see a price reduction to $49.95.

Mass Effect DLC Out and Free for PC

A while back, the first downloadable content, "Bringing Down the Sky," was released on Xbox Live for Mass Effect on the Xbox 360. Today that same DLC was released for the PC version of Mass Effect. But for PC gamers, this DLC is free!

Gamers can download the additional mission at http://masseffect.bioware.com/downloadablecontent/.

The new mission revolves around a group of Batarians (only talked about in the original game, never saw) who have hijacked an asteroid and are flying it on a collision course with Terra Nova.

I'll admit I never finished the new mission, but I enjoyed what I played of it. Bioware was supposed to release a lot of DLC for Mass Effect, but so far this is the only thing they've released. They said they were working on more DLC when Bringing Down the Sky first released, but I haven't heard anything since. What's up, Bioware?

Xbox 360 Repairs: Day Nine

At 4:17 am this morning, Xbox sent an e-mail saying they had shipped back my 360. Which is technically not true since UPS hasn't picked it up from the repair center yet (according to tracking).

I can tell that it's a replacement 360 by two things: 1) the fast turn around and 2) the new serial number. It's that second one which is the real giveaway.

But I'm looking forward to my 360 coming home. While it's been gone, I've bought three different games that I found on the cheap. So that should keep me occupied and provide a good test on the "new" system.

Opinion: What's With All the Banning, Australia?

It came out in early July that Australia has banned Fallout 3 in their country. Fallout 3 was officially banned because of drug use, although the violence could have gotten it banned as well. It crossed my mind then that they seem to ban or restrict a lot of games.

Australia bans games usually because of violence or sexuality or a combination of both. Sometimes a censored version of the game is later released in Australia.

At least 26 games have been banned in Australia, including all of the GTAs since GTA III, Duke Nukem 3D, both Manhunts, and 50 Cent: Bulletproof amongst others.

But what's with all the banning? I couldn't find any country that banned more games. Germany bans games that have Nazi references and a few just for being really violent. But I can understand wanting to ban Nazi references in Germany.

Brazil is actually the second largest game banner with 12 banned games, but most of this is the result of a man in 1999 going on a killing spree which the government believed linked with the man's love of video games.


But Australia? Apparently, one of the problems is that Australia doesn't have an equivalent M rating for video games. They do have an R rating equivalent for movies, but not for video games.

This issue was just recently brought up when citizens questioned the Australian government why there wasn't a higher rating for video games. The response was pretty much "Nobody pays attention to video game ratings so having a higher rating would just let kids get corrupted by games meant for adults."

This sounds like the government should work more on penalties for retailers not enforcing the game ratings instead of penalizing Australian gamers and depriving them of some great games.

More Fables to Come

Fable 2 isn't due out on shelves until October, but creator Peter Molyneux is already discussing his plans for Fables 3-5.

Molyneux says that the Fable series is actually a big story arc that would encompass all five games. Of course, while it is great to have these plans, it might be better to wait and see how Fable 2 does first. I'm sure Lionhead and Microsoft wouldn't support any more Fable games without a good return on their investment.



Personally, I'm hoping that Fable 2 kicks ass. I enjoyed the first Fable even if it didn't live up to all of Molyneux's hype. I think some of the improvements in Fable 2 should silence some of his critics.

Xbox 360 Repairs: Day Eight

After two different delays from Hurricane Dolly, my Xbox 360 was finally delivered to the Repair Center this morning around 9:30 am. Microsoft e-mailed me about two hours later to inform me that they received it.

Now it's time for more waiting. From everything I hear they won't actually repair my Xbox and send it back, but simply send back one that's already been repaired. Hopefully soon since I already lost about four days due to weather.

CONFIRMED: Cross-Platform Games Free on Silver

Some gamers have discovered that some games are now playable online by Xbox Live Silver members. The playable games appear to be cross-platform games(games where Xbox 360 gamers can play against PC gamers). Microsoft has not made any official announcement about this as of yet.

The games that have been tested so far by gamers are Shadowrun and Lost Planet. I'm not sure how many other games are cross-platform on the 360, but gamers guess that this is a result of Games for Windows Live going free.



Edited: 7/28 Microsoft has confirmed that cross-platform games are free to play online to Silver members. However, this will only last until the fall dashboard update.

And the only other game that is cross-platform is Universe at War.

Gears of War 2 Update

Some more information has come out about Gears of War 2. At the current time, some is confirmed and some is rumored. But read on for information on the Limited Edition and "linked achievements."

For some confirmed news, we'll talk about linked achievements. Basically obtaining some achievements in Gears of War 1 will unlock things in Gears of War 2 like playable characters. Some of the unlockable playable characters that were announced are Carmine, General RAAM and Minh Young Kim.

Now the Limited Edition contents right now are rumored, but they are supposedly credible. The rumors say that the Limited Edition will cost $130 and come with a miniature replica Lancer. How miniature? Nobody seems to know as of yet. But it's safe to assume it won't be the size of that Lancer Cliffy B likes to wave around.

Xbox 360 Repairs: Day Four

So, my 360 was supposed to reach the repair center today. It was well on its way. Do you know where the repair center is? It's in Mesquite, Texas. You know what else is in Texas? Hurricane Dolly!

Okay, I think technically it's been downgraded to Tropical Storm Dolly now, but it's still fucking with my Xbox 360. UPS actually has my 360 in Mesquite, Texas. It arrived there last night. But UPS says they can't deliver my package until weather conditions improve.

God hates my Xbox 360. At least it's encouraging me to use my Wii Fit while the 360's gone. I'd just like it back before something good comes out for the 360...

Rumor: E3 Changes for Next Year?

A couple years ago, the Entertainment Software Association decided that E3 was getting too big and diluted so they decided to scale it down. Many declared that this would be the end of E3. Last year was the first scaled down E3, and it was widely regarded as a disaster. This year's E3 was made a little bigger and came off better, but there were still complaints. Now a rumor has surfaced that the ESA is considering opening E3 to the public next year.

I'm all for this move. It would bring E3 back to the old days, except that now all those people who aren't really industry officials wouldn't have to pretend to be industry officials. It would make the companies take E3 more seriously again.



I understand the reasons behind the original scaling down of E3 and why some companies have stopped going. The event can place unneeded pressure on developers to throw something together. It can take time and money away from the development of the real game. Lots of money in some cases.

But it's also the best place to create a real buzz for your game. Of course, a poor showing can cause a real negative buzz for your game, earned or not. If steps aren't taken by the ESA, E3 will continue to limp its way to the grave as more and more companies will be no shows as time goes on.

But most importantly, if they opened E3 to the public, I'd know what I was doing in July next year...

Halo 3 Back on Top

Last week, Halo 3 retook its crown on Xbox Live from Call of Duty 4. Call of Duty 4 has been ruling the Xbox Live usage stats pretty much since release. It remains to be seen if this is a fluke or if Halo 3 is back to stay.

I'll tell you who's to blame for this. Me. Yep. We had a LAN party and played Halo 3 online for like 15 hours or so at the house with a bunch of gamers.

Actually, I felt like the number of players playing the various games were a lot lower than last time I'd played online(which had been quite a while). Maybe a lot of people were logging on for the Double XP of Griffball for the weekend...

Watchmen Coming to Gaming

With the growing buzz of the upcoming movie Watchmen(a trailer before The Dark Knight tends to do that) comes news of a Watchmen game. The game will be episodic, downloadable and available for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Deadline Games will make this third person game which will have a co-op option.

The Watchmen game will be a prequel to the movie and take place in the times before costumed adventurers were outlawed in the Watchmen world. It will also take place only at night. Players will play either Nite Owl or Rorschach. Hurm. They will play as the team in their earlier days of crime fighting, back when they were younger and more fit.



The game is expected to receive an M rating. Rorschach will be a street fighter who will use anything and everything in a fight. Nite Owl will use more finesse, martial arts and electronics. There will also be puzzles for players to overcome.

The game will be released in episodes and will be released around the time of the movie's release(March 2009).

I must say, I just read the Watchmen graphic novel in the last month, and it's definitely a lot different than any other super hero world. I look forward to it.

Play Any Class in Too Human Demo

If you're like me, you've already played through the Too Human demo. I was able to get almost an hour and a half of play out of the demo. I checked out all the secret areas and all the chests and actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Unfortunately, the demo only allows you to play as a Champion... for now.

It turns out that two other classes are timed releases. The Beserker class will unlock this Friday(7/25) and the Commando class will unlock August 12th.

Of course, if you don't want to wait, all you have to do is unplug from Xbox Live and change the date on your Xbox 360 to the future. Quite simple.

To unlock the Defender or Bioengineer, select them in the class select screen. Then flick the left thumbstick to the right and press A at the same time. (This may only work if you've changed the date forward. I'm unable to test it since my 360 is in for repairs.)

Enjoy!

An Open Letter to EA

Dear EA,

Dude, I get it. I think we all get it. You really, really like Take Two. When you first asked her out, that was a good move. She was vulnerable. It was your best shot to make her yours.

But man, you gotta learn to take no for an answer. When she shot you down that first time, it hurt, I know. But then you kept asking her out. It's becoming embarrassing. Everyone sees you in the halls, hanging around her classes, following her around, hoping she'll change her mind. She won't.

And now you keep trying to get her friends to make her go out with you. That's just sad. Even if she were to finally give in to her friends, what kind of relationship would that be? Take Two's a free spirit. She likes to be out on her own and doing her own thing.

I know you think you and her would be a great match. It might help your image. I mean everyone sees you as power and money hungry. And yes, some of your image may be exaggerated, but this endless pursuit of a developer who doesn't want to be with you isn't helping.

I think it's time you gave up. Maybe some day she'll find you interesting, maybe some day she might want to "merge" with you. But not now. Let her go, dude.

There's plenty of developers in the sea. I'm sure there are some who love to go out with you. Time to find someone new. Don't worry. Prom's still a ways off. You'll have time.

Your friend,
Jester013

Games for Windows Live Now Free

In a move that many had hoped would apply to Xbox Live, Microsoft announced today that Games for Windows Live would now be free for everyone.

Games for Windows Live is a lot like Xbox Live, just for Windows based computers. It includes achievements, matchmaking, voice chat and cross-platform play with the Xbox 360. Microsoft also announced that they would be opening up a Games for Windows Live Marketplace like the Xbox Live Marketplace.

I'm sure this is an attempt by Microsoft to bolster their failing Games for Windows line. Of course, this will also spur more Xbox gamers to demand Xbox Live to be free. They can be like Josh.

Xbox 360 Repairs: Day Two

Within two hours of my repair being put into Xbox, I received an e-mail with the UPS shipping label. I didn't receive the e-mail from Xbox explaining the shipping options until this morning. (Although they sent the exact same e-mail again 3 hours later.) There are three different options. I thought I had asked for them to send me a box with prepaid shipping on it, but apparently, I went for the they send me a shipping label and I find my own damn box. Faster, yes. More annoying, also yes.

I used to have lots of boxes around, but I threw them out recently so I created this monstrosity from a larger box I had. Supposedly, they will ship back my repaired or replaced 360 in the same box.

After creating the box(which took a trip to two stores for packing tape), I wrote my Repair Reference Number on a slip of paper and attached it to the 360. I then packaged the 360 with some newspaper in the box and sealed it up. After attaching the shipping label(which also took me a while because my laptop wasn't synched with my printer), I braved a little downpour to get the box into a UPS drop box nearby right before pickup time.

The box barely fit, but it did fit. Now I wait for 2-3 weeks supposedly for a return. I can track my 360's repair status on http://www.xbox.com.

Xbox 360 Repairs: Day One

My second 360 died. I was playing Friday night, and some lines started appearing in the game. I was worried. My 1st Xbox 360 died from a bad video chip, also known as E-74 error. My 1st 360 had been out of warranty and I didn't want to pay and have to wait for repairs so I had gone out and just bought an Xbox 360 Arcade instead. After I finished my mission, I saved and powered down the system. Maybe it was just the game. Hopefully... I had a LAN party at the house the next day.

LAN party! I test the system. No lines at first, but they seem to come back after a bit, though. One friend is earlier than the others. He wants to play some GTA IV. No problem. Except when I put it in, there are tons of lines everywhere. After a few minutes, we eject it. Check Halo 3, the main fare for the day. Definitely some video interference here, but playable.

Another friend arrives. He suggests turning it off and turning it on. When I power it back on, it goes to the E-74 error page. It so far has not stopped going to that page.

Sunday I didn't call it in. I thought they might be closed. I was wrong, but that was my thought.

Monday I did call it in... at 11:40 pm. I was sick all day so I didn't feel like dealing with the Xbox phone support.

With support, I was able to get through quickly and my support guy was fairly painless. Yes, he had an accent, but he was understandable. I told him simply that they needed to send me a box to send in my 360 for repairs. I had to answer a few questions, but he only tried to get me to self-repair a time or two which I've already done all the "self-repairs."

Self-repairs are simply unplugging everything and then plugging everything back in, including harddrive. They also like it if you try to boot the 360 without the harddrive attached.

Anyway, my "coffin" should be here soon. I'll keep you updated.

Feeding Your Gaming Addiction

Gaming is great. It's fun. It can provide a challenge. It can be a social aspect of your life. It also costs money! Here are some things that I do to help expand my gaming collection.

Gamefly - This one costs money, but I find it a good way to try out games that I wouldn't want to pay retail for. But there's also something about Gamefly you might not know if you weren't a member: they sell games as well. And their used games are usually cheaper than you'll find at Gamestop. Not to mention free shipping and the rewards discounts you can earn from being a longtime member.

e-Rewards - e-Rewards is a survey site. Every once in a while they'll send you e-mails and want you to take some surveys. You get e-Rewards money for the surveys you complete. There are many different prizes at different levels of e-Rewards money. At $50 e-Rewards money you can get a $25 gift card for Gamestop. I've done this a few times. They're pretty quick to send you the card after you select it and it works at any Gamestop.

Live Search Club - This is a collection of little puzzle web games that Microsoft hosts. Most of the games have you utilize Microsoft's Live Search search engine. You can win some Xbox or PC gaming supplies through the prizes. Some of the Xbox goodies? Kameo, Halo 2, Wireless controller, and Rock Band. On the PC side? Flight Simulator X, Mouse, Keyboard, Windows Vista and Microsoft Office. They're adding new prizes all the time. Of course, the good prizes take a lot of tickets and that takes time. You can only earn 1,000 tickets a day. I personally like to play Flexicon. I picked up an Xbox 360 wireless controller from here the other day(5,500 tickets).

And I guess you could trade old games back in, but I've never done that. What do you guys do to boost your gaming collection?

Dead Rising for Wii Confirmed

MCV has confirmation that a port of Dead Rising will make its way to the Wii. No news about the game was given at E3, but Capcom of Japan has confirmed that it is true.

This is pretty cool. I loved Dead Rising and I'm kind of curious to see how it works on the Wii. Hopefully they will use all the graphics power behind the Wii to make it look and play almost as good as the 360 version.

No Bungie Update This Week?

Sadly Bungie won't be doing a big reveal this week. Harold Ryan has just posted the following:

From: Harold Ryan
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 7:00 PM
Subject: E3 Announce

For the last several months, we've been building toward a reveal of something exciting that Bungie is working on. We were looking forward to sharing that with our fan community during the week of E3. However, those plans were just changed by our publisher.

We realize that many of our fans are disappointed by this turn of events; members of the Bungie team share that disappointment.

When the right time comes, we look forward to sharing this exciting announcement with you. Until then, we appreciate your continued support and patience.


Harold Ryan
President
Bungie LLC

That's a little upsetting, but there is so much cool stuff coming out of E3 it will be cool to save some stuff for after the event.

But this also could be a trick. The clock is stopped at 12 hours exact. We shall see.

Update: The forums are lighting up at BNet, but it's not the "Oh shit Bungie fail". It's the "oh crap we are solving your riddles". Lots of hardcore fans are already putting pieces together and stating that the delay is to be expected as told by the Superintendent. There are messages being sent out by the Superintendent that say:

KEEP IT CLEAN
PLEASE REMAIN CALM
THERE WILL BE DELAYS

More to most likely come.

GTA on DS, I Kid You Not

According to Edge Online, Rockstar has a press release stating they have begun production on a GTA game for the DS titled, Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars.

"It’s set in a modern day Liberty City, and will feature the gameplay that 'players expect.'"

I can't imagine the DS putting out enough power for this to resemble any form of the 3D environment GTA. It could possibly be the top down version, but I have to say that I'm excited to see some screens. Sadly they had none.

Bungies Started to Go Viral

Looks like Bungie has started their viral marketing or whatever you want to call it. Their home page has been converted into a error or warning screen with a clock that seems to be counting down to Friday. Once you click statistical processing continues it takes you to the normal Bungie site, but it's not completely normal.

It looks like Bungie removed the news section from the front. You can still find the news by digging through the links. The rumors on the forums are pretty weak as to what the big changes will be to Halo 3 online. Some speculate rank resets, which honestly is only a big deal to the hardcore players. Others believe there will be some changes to the Battle Rifle, while others hope that they have some new hosting and network code (maybe dedicated servers as one person suggest).

We won't know, it seems, until Friday though. I guess this is the change that Luke was referring to in the podcast. Hopefully when he uses the words "Major changes to the Halo 3 online experience" he's not exaggerating and it just turns out to be some new armor colors. Then again Luke Smith did talk up Halo 3 to be this insanely great game and it wasn't.

Xbox 360 Price Cut Starts Today

Today is the start of the $299 Xbox 360 Premium systems with the 20 Gig Harddrive. This $50 price cut is for the U.S. and Canada and will only last long enough for Microsoft to unload all their 20 Gig versions. The new Premium version will be $349 and have a 60 Gig Harddrive. It will be available starting in early August.

I personally like the quote from the press release: "We know consumers need more and more space to store the amazing digital content Xbox 360 offers, and we're giving it to them at no extra charge," said Albert Penello, Xbox director of product management at Microsoft.

That quotes a lot different than back in the day when gamers were begging for a bigger harddrive and Microsoft's response was a polite "Go screw."

Rumor: Dead Rising: Vegas!

More rumors have surfaced that canadian developer Blue Castle Games is in charge of the Dead Rising sequel. But even juicer is the new rumor that Dead Rising 2 will be set in Las Vegas! Slot machines, strippers and zombies! Hell yeah!

While I am extremely excited about the possibility of Vegas, I'm not as excited about Blue Castle Games. Blue Castle Games is known primarily for making The Bigs, a baseball game. I worry about a sport game developer being in charge of Dead Rising. But I'm probably being genre-ist...

EndWar Stress Test Info

Ubisoft is offering gamers a chance to be part of the "stress test" for Tom Clancy's EndWar before the game is released. If you pre-order the game through Amazon.com or Best Buy, you will receive a code to enter the stress test.

Stress tests are a chance for developers to make iron out some of the online difficulties with the game before release, especially problems like lag or server crashes.

No word when the stress test will start, but the closed beta just ended and the stress test registration page started accepting codes yesterday. EndWar releases in the US on October 15th.

Tom Clancy's EndWar is a realtime strategy game in the Tom Clancy universe in 2020. The game will feature voice commands and allows gamers to play as the Russians, the Europeans or the Americans.

Comic: One Small Step...

So news hit this week that programmer Jeff Minter accidentally created "procedural" pubic hair with his Xbox 360 dev kit. Procedural basically means that the hairs will always respond to simple rules and the code can be used in different places without copying the code over and over again so they're not just simple 2D or even 3D squiggles. Minter says "They glisten and curl and everything.""

For some reason this caused a big stir on some gaming sites. The kids apparently are crazy for the pubes.

However, I can't see any real use for this new breakthrough. Have there been games that just weren't what they could have been because of no procedural pubes?

More Bungie News Coming July 14th

The Bungie Podcast yesterday spoke of big news coming next week at the beginning of E3. What could it be?

Well it's definitely going to be a game announcement, but what will they announce. Some believe it will be the Peter Jackson Halo game, while others believe it to be another arc to the Halo story since Halo 3 left us asking what planet is Master Chief heading to?

Also there is another viral marketing site out that is believed to be Bungie and/or Halo related called 1019foxfm.net/. Notice all the sevens. Well I'll definitely be tuning in Monday and I'll post whatever news and rumors are out there as they come out (unless Andy beats me to it).

Happy Bungie Day!

July 7th is the official Bungie Day! There are free downloads on the Xbox Live marketplace for everyone. The free downloads include a picture pack, a theme and the free map of Cold Storage for Halo 3. These downloads are only supposed to be available today so get to downloading!

Cold Storage will be put into gaming lists that require the Legendary Map pack.

Speaking of which, today also marks a price reduction in the Legendary Map pack from 800 Microsoft Points($10) to 600 Microsoft Points($6.50).

Unreal III Will Have Dedicated Servers

Epic has announced that Unreal Tournament III will have dedicated servers for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Unreal Tournament III will release in North America July 7th.

I like this. Dedicated servers are great. I think this might be the first game for the Xbox 360 that will actually have their own dedicated servers.

Comic: The New PS3

Today's comic deals with my thoughts on the upcoming 2.4 Firmware update for the PS3.

Yes, the comic is somewhat fanboyist. But as I was looking at the 2.40 Firmware update I couldn't help but notice the similarities to features already offered on the Xbox 360.

Trophies - Achievements.

Custom soundtracks - Have been available on Xbox 360 since launch.

In-game XrossMediaBar access - In-game Dashboard access has been available on Xbox 360 since launch.

But these are all good things. They will make the PS3 a stronger platform. I have no problem with the console systems stealing the good things from each other. In fact, I encourage it!

Update on PS3 Trophies

More information has been released about Trophies for the Playstation 3. In the 2.40 update on Wednesday, Trophies will finally be released to the public. Trophies are Sony's version of Xbox 360's Achievements.

Sony says that around 70% of games already released will have Trophies. However, they will not automatically unlock. If gamers want the Trophies, they will have to go back and play the games again and earn them all over again.
Trophies are also not required by Sony. Third party developers will have the option to include Trophies or not. I would assume that most would, especially ones that make cross-platform games for the 360 as well.

July Game Releases

Independence Day and celebrating America's freedom. When not barbecuing, drinking, and shooting off fireworks, what games do developers have in store for inside fun?
 

DS Titles
July 1
• AMF Bowling Pinbusters
• Ducati Moto
• Trauma CenteR: Under the Knife 2
July 8
• Carnival Games
• Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
July 15
• Mister Slime
• Nancy Drew: Clue Bender Society
• Puchi Puchi Virus
• Space Chimps
July 22
• Final Fantasy IV
• Izuna 2: the Unemployed Ninja Returns
• Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
• New International Track & Field
• Suzuki Superbikes
July 29
• Puzzler Collection

PC Titles
July 1
• Baseball Mogul 2009
• Elements
July 8
• Devil May Cry 4
July 14
• 1701 A.D. Gold Edition
July 15
• Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm
• The Golden Horde
• Hunting Unlimited 2009
• Painkiller Universe
July 22
• Fate: Undiscovered Realms
July 29
• Beijing OIympics 2008
• Everlight
• Ford Racing Offroad

PS2 Titles
July 15
• B-Boy
• NCAA Football 2009
• Rock Band Track Pack Vol. 1
• Space Chimps
July 22
• Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
July 28
• MLB Power Pros 2008

PS3 Titles
July 8
• Beijing Olympics 2008
• Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
July 15
• NCAA Football 2009
July 29
• Soul Calibur IV

PSP Titles
July 8
• Code Lyoko: Quest for Infinity
July 15
• B-Boy
• NCAA Football 2009

Wii Titles
July 1
• Purr Pals
July 8
• Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon
• Wonder World Amusement Park
July 15
• NCAA Football 2009
• Rock Band Track Pack Vol. 1
• Space Chimps
• We Love Golf!
July 22
• Kidz Sports: Crazy Golf
• Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
• Order Up
July 28
• MLB Power Pros 2008

Xbox 360 Titles
July 1
• Gears of War Refresh
July 7
• Unreal Tournament III
July 8
• Beijing Olympics 2008
• Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
July 15
• NCAA Football 2009
• Space Chimps
July 29
• Soul Calibur IV
• Spectral Force 3