Bioshock Infinite development is PS3 focused and uses Uncharted 2 tech

Bioshock Infinite is Irrational Game’s massive undertaking that has pushed the studio to rebuild its engine from scratch. As detailed by Irrational, the new engine which was built with the PS3’s architecture in mind also uses tech seen in Uncharted 2.
PlayStation 3 320GB System with PlayStation Move Bundle
The studio decided that the engine used for Bioshock 1 and 2 was not powerful enough to build the floating city of Columbia. Chris Kline, technical director of Irrational Games recently wrote:
We started out by taking a look at the original BioShock engine, and very quickly realized that the tools in that engine were too underpowered and unwieldy for the depth and complexity of the gameplay and narrative we had planned —
The studio built a heavily modified version of the UE3 to fit their needs from scratch. In order to do this the studio looked at implementing tech based off Deferred Lighting which is used by many Sony first party games like Uncharted 2, Killzone 2, and inFAMOUS 2.

PlayStation 3 160 GB
Kline writes:
To meet the aesthetic goals of our art team, our rendering gurus had to write a whole new renderer for BioShock Infinite based on Deferred Lighting (a technique used in Uncharted 2, CryEngine3, and Killzone 2), and on top of that they’ve developed a proprietary per-pixel dynamic relighting scheme that allows characters and dynamic objects to receive global illumination.

PlayStation 3 160GB Amazon Family Bundle w/ Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time and SingStar Dance Party Pack
According to Kline, Deferred Lighting allowed the team to move away from only utilizing the PS3’s GPU and onto the seven dedicated SPUs for rendering. Many of Sony’s first party studios have been using this strategy to offload most of the rendering aspects to the PS3’s SPUs on the Cell processor.

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Kline quells any concerns over a sub-par PS3 port of Bioshock Infinite by revealing that the new development process is based off the PS3’s architecture.  He also indicated that the engine has been optimized for the PS3 while giving a performance boost to the PC and Xbox 360.
He says:
So instead of declaring a "lead platform" and porting the game to the others, we’ve instead changed the game engine so that all platforms look (to a programmer) more like a PS3.
This means implementing a task-oriented task processor

PlayStation 3 120 GB

3DS games to cost more to develop than PSP games

Nintendo’s 3DS
Nintendo DSi Bundle Orange

made waves at E3 with its
innovative glasses-free 3D display. However, if developers are looking to make a full investment into the device, they may want to look at its development costs.

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According to Industry Gamers, Marvelous Entertainment’s financial report revealed that the company estimated that the development cost for the 3DS to range from $599,000 to $1.8 million. This is supposedly three times higher than current DS development costs which start at $52,700. This probably includes initial costs to purchase 3DS dev kits and additional resources to program 3D logic.
Nintendo DSi XL Red Bundle with Mario Kart


Also, PSP titles are said to cost as much as $709,000 to develop. The bottom line is that traditional DS developers like 5th Cell, responsible for Scribblenauts will find development costs difficult to swallow.
This obstacle could provide an interesting shift in development support. Its not conceivable for small apps developers to move onto the PSP away from the DS. Also, large development houses could potentially shift away from the PSP and onto the 3DS as well. It will be interesting to see if the PSP and DS will switch places.

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Privacy concerns over Xbox Kinect collecting personal data

 Kinect Xbox 360

Kinect Sensor with Kinect Adventures!

  It seems like privacy concerns over the Kinect camera actively monitoring you are legitimate as Microsoft details the possibilities. According to Microsoft the company has the ability to collect personal data that can be used to target advertising.

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Digital Trends reports that Microsoft’s COO, Dennis Durkin revealed that the Kinect is capable of collecting personal data such as which sports team you support by looking at the type of team jersey you are wearing.
He stated:
be more targeted about what content choices we present; what advertising we present; how to get better feedback and data; about how many people are in a room when an advertisement is shown; how many people are in a room when a game in being played.

Xbox 360 4GB Console
This is exactly the type of stuff Facebook go in trouble with watchdog groups and the Federal Trade Commission. Facebook started collecting personal data off user’s page and shared them with businesses to target marketing with ads.

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Using the Kinect camera to extract personal data from your living room is a whole new can of worms when compared to Facebook’s data gathering.

Xbox 360 250GB Console with Kinect

Kinect the X-factor in preventing PS3 from overtaking Xbox 360 in 2011

The once touted eight million lead the Xbox 360 had over the PS3 has now been reduced to a million or two. Analysts are now predicting the possibility of the PS3 overtaking the Xbox 360 in 2011.

According to reports, the PS3 managed to shave another 1.4 million in a span of six months this year. Its undeniable, the PS3 has been selling at a faster rate than the Xbox 360 since launch. However, it did take Sony almost four years to squash Microsoft’s one year or eight million unit lead.

Although you could argue that only Sony with its Playstation legacy could have survived the market with a console launch priced at $600. Even now I find it amazing that the PS3 is able to sell toe-to-toe with the Xbox 360, which also comes in a dirt cheap $200 configuration. You could probably attribute this to the slew of loyal Playstation brand fans accumulated over its 15 year lifespan. 

According to Industry Gamer, DFC Intelligence Analyst, David Cole stated that the Xbox 360 lacked diversity as it focuses too much on shooters. Cole also indicated that Microsoft should have focused more on Europe, which is pretty much Sony-land at this point.

We have been forecasting for the past 3 years that the PS3 would catch up to the 360 by 2011.  I think the big issue is that the 360 has been primarily the platform for FPS games and has lacked the diversity to appeal to a broader international market…mainly Japan and Europe where Sony is very strong.  The Xbox 360 was just much stronger in North America than it was globally. The main issue I think is Sony (and also Nintendo) being so strong in Europe and Japan.  I think in terms of doing things differently they should probably have focused more on Europe and just given up on Japan. They would have had a better chance in Europe.

Despite Microsoft’s attempt to go completely casual with the Kinect, Cole doesn’t believe it will help much. He stated, "Going forward I don’t know if there is much they can do.  They will try with the Kinect but I don’t see that working.  I think the PS3 will soon pass the 360 for good.

News Roundup: best Gran Turismo 5 trailer ever, Prince of Persia HD and Xbox breakup

It seems like the week just started and there are already some interesting news circulating the Web already. There is some chatter about Microsoft breaking off the Xbox division from the mothership. Also, Ubisoft finally announces the long awaited Prince of Persia trilogy and more after the jump.

Gran Turismo 5 is set to release November 24th and you know the date is set in stone as most retailers have already received shipment of the game. To get your blood pumping for the game, GT fan KopparbergDave crafted this remarkable Rebirth trailer using the audio from

PlayStation Network getting a bunch of TurboGrafx games

Sony seems to be on a mission to bring as many retro goodies to the PlayStation Network. Reports indicate that PS3 owners will be able to pick up and play some good old TurboGrafx games.

According to Siliconera, a slew of TurboGrafx games have been listed on Germany’s video game rating board prompting many to speculate that these games will be coming to the west. The Japanese PSN store has a library of TurboGrafx-16 games already.

This is good news for those in the U.S. as well as this will mean English translated games that can be downloaded off the European PSN store.

Here is a quick rundown of the games listed:

Bonk’s Adventure
New Adventure Island
World Sports Competition
Victory Run
Soldier Blade
Dungeon Explorer
Super Star Soldier
Alien Crush
Neutopia
Bomberman ’94

 

It is unclear of these games will be available to be played on both the PS3 and PSP. With the creation of the Japanese Import section, PSOne classics, and HD classic remasters, it seems like Sony is intent on bringing the retro scene back in style. Stay tuned for more information.

Gamer not important in Call of Duty: Black Ops single player campaign

There is a bit of controversy over a video showing a gamer waltzing through the first level of the Call of Duty: Black Ops without firing a single bullet. This has caused many to question if the game is scripted to a point where the player doesn’t matter anymore.

The difference between a movie and a video game is the user’s ability to interact and impact the outcome of the story. In a video game, there would be no story progression without the player’s interaction.

As pointed out by CVG, this is exactly what some gamers are saying about Black Ops. A gamer uploaded a video of the first mission where he makes it through the level without killing anyone. The NPCs pretty much cleared the path for the player and the story continued to proceed without the gamers’ input.

It almost seemed like the NPCs in Black Ops were the main characters and you’re just a bystander. Its possible that Treyarch may have overpowered the NPCs in the game accidentally, or just figured that no one would find out that its all smoke and mirrors.

Its a little disappointing that the game is scripted to this degree, but does it really matter if you weren’t aware of it in the first place?

Microsoft: No new Xbox on horizon

If you’re getting eager to see Microsoft unveil a new Xbox the prepare to be disappointed. Because Microsoft is insistent there isn’t a next-gen successor to the Xbox 360 on the way. Allegedly.

Kinect and Move have changed the gaming landscape. Microsoft and Sony see their motion-control systems as add-ons important enough to be treated like new consoles. Which means the chances of seeing a new console for real from either company in the near future are slimmer now than ever.

Asked by Eurogamer a random question about the next-gen Xbox, Microsoft Xbox & Entertainment Director, Stephen McGill, replied:

We’ve no plans for another Xbox. You’ll continue to see us bring amazing new experiences to the console, without you having to buy a brand new console. A couple of years ago we didn’t have movies, Sky, Facebook and Twitter – now we’ve got things like Kinect. We’ll continue to evolve those gaming and entertainment experiences through the power of software updates, rather than new chipsets and plastic.

McGill was then asked to comment on Aaron Greenberg’s estimation that a new Xbox would arrive in around five years time, to which he replied:

I’m not sure what the timeframe is. There’s a long long way to go with the experiences people deliver on this platform – we’re just beginning to scratch the surface. Obviously we’ve got this brand new experience platform with Kinect. The launch games and experiences are pretty phenomenal but it’s a gateway to unlock a lot of amazing ideas for developers. So there’s a long way to go.

I have no doubts that Microsoft is at least thinking about the next Xbox console. Someone, somewhere in the bowels of Microsoft HQ will be working on designs and specification wish-lists. But for now, and likely for some time to come, Kinect is where the focus of attention is, and Microsoft thinks it has the capability of breathing new life into the Xbox 360.

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Halo waterfront ...check the video out http://g4tv.com/videos/48781/Waterfront-Map-Strategy---Halo-Reach-Guide/

Microsoft sues Motorola over Xbox 360 licensed components

Microsoft is hot mad at Motorola for overcharging the company on licensing fees for some of the components in the Xbox 360. The interesting thing about the suit is that this came about with the release of the new Xbox 360 Slim model.

As many of you may already know, the Xbox 360 didn’t always have built-in Wi-Fi. The feature was added to the Xbox 360 Slim due to overwhelming complaints from users. It appears that the technology is owned by Motorola and is licensing it Microsoft.

According to Kotaku, Microsoft found out that Motorola has been overcharging the company to license the Wi-Fi tech along with a patented codec technology that allows H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video playback.

Microsoft accuses Motorola of breaking

Kevin Butler has a special message for Canadian PS3 owners

Kevin Butler, VP of everything under the Playstation sun recently sent out a message to Canada. The message pretty much talked about the availability of the new video delivery service over PS3’s Playstation Network.

A couple months ago Sony brought the PSN video store to Canada allowing users to stream videos. This was made available to coincide with the celebration of Canada Day. This service allows users to purchase or rent videos in 1080p resolution as well.

The PSN video store has a large library with content from over a dozen studios including all of Sony’s movie studios. With access to both Netflix and the PSN video store, Canadians can enjoy a similar selection to the U.S.

Check out the video below for some laughs. As always Kevin Butler seems to know how to deliver a message.

Did you catch everything on Kevin Butler’s to-do list? I think I may need to put getting super powers on my to-do list as well.

Leona Lewis launches Kinect in U.K.

Kinect for the Xbox 360 was released in Europe today (Nov. 10), and chosen to launch the system in the U.K. was Leona Lewis, the blandest, most boring, personality-free celebrity ever to grace this planet. Oh, and The Wanted, whoever they are, were also on hand.

A week after launching in the U.S., Kinect has arrived in Europe. There weren’t the queues as seen in New York days before launch, but then there weren’t goodies being given away to those who are sad and desperate and who also have plenty of time on their hands to queue in such a way.

Having said that, Kinect is thought to have sold out pretty much everywhere in the U.K. already, with pre-orders accounting for most of the initial stock.

As usual, Lewis looked great, sang well, but was dull at all other times. Fantastically, The Wanted performed All Time Low (no, me neither), which is a fairly accurate description of how many core gamers (as they now seem to be called) see Kinect.

Oh, and according to The Daily Mail, Kinect is “the new Xbox.” And there was me thinking it was an add-on to the existing one.

Call of Duty: Black Ops breaks all-time day 1 record

Call of Duty: Black Ops is selling like hot cakes breaking all kinds of records. The game may not have reviewed as well as Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 2, but its definitely outselling it day one.

Activision has revealed earlier today that Call of Duty: Black Ops by Treyarch has sold 5.6 million units during its first day out. Black Ops breaks Modern Warfare 2’s 4.7 million.

According to the press release, Black Ops has generated $360 million just in sales across the U.S. and U.K. Analysts expects Black Ops to top $1 billion in sales this by the end of this holiday.

Its strange that a game that has scored lower than MW2 has been selling much more. Its likely that most gamers won’t care who develops the title as long as its called Call of Duty. I think the awesome trailers for the game might have something to do with its popularity.

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In-depth Killzone 3 beta gameplay

Sony has just started sending out the invites to the Killzone 3 beta recently and the videos have started pouring out onto the Internet. The multiplayer mode in Killzone 3 has been refined while keeping the formula the same.

Playstation Nation recently released three lengthy gameplay videos of the beta and the game looks phenomenal. The new multiplayer mode received tweaks to turret deployment and more. You now receive points for everything you do from destroying an enemy turret to performing an assist kill.

One of the biggest complaints about Killzone 2 was that it took ages to level up before things really got good with the badge/perk system. However, in Killzone 3 you will be instantly rewarded with perks earlier on.

The first video focuses on the exoskeleton or mech suit, while the second video focuses on jet pack gameplay. The final video goes over a massive map called the

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PS2 10 year birthday: holds highest attach ratio in gaming history

The Playstation brand has earned its place in history as the one console to bring video gaming to the mass market. Sony celebrates the Playstation 2’s 10 year anniversary this week.

On the official Playstation Blog, the site throws up some very interesting facts about the PS2 and its monumental achievements that won’t be forgotten.

The PS2 was the first console to have a DVD/CD player, Internet online gaming and motion control technology with the Eye Toy. The console also achieved a massive milestone by selling close to 150 million units with over 2000 games in its catalog.

The PS2 also sold over half a billion games in the US alone and still remains as the most popular video game system ever. One in every three US household has a Playstation 2.

The PS2 also holds the top record for achieving an attach ratio of 12.4:1 in only two years after its launch. No other console has come close to beating that attach ratio in that span of time.

Sony released this very interesting retrospective on the Playstation brand in celebration of the PS2’s 10 year anniversary:

Discuss what is your favorite PS2 game below. I would have to say my most favorite title of all time on the system is Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. The tanker missions were epic with awesome boss battles.

PSP2 spotted in the wild?

Someone has sent in pictures of what appears to be a PSP combined with a handheld phone. Many speculate this to be the rumored PSP2 and could be the surprise Sony Ericsson has been working on.

Sony Ericsson’s CEO teased that there would be a big surprise announcement in the coming months. The rumor is that the company is developing a PSP phone with Android 3.0.

Recently, someone sent Engadget some photos of what appears to be a PSP Phone prototype. The pictures look extremely convincing and quite possibly could be the real deal. According to the site the PSP phone hybrid will boast a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 processor with 512MB ram and 1GB of ROM.

Pachter: Wii will win holiday season

Michael Pachter is confident that Nintendo will have a good 2010 holiday season. More confident that Nintendo itself, in fact.

Earlier this month, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata admitted that this Christmas period for crucial to Nintendo and the longterm health of the Wii and DS. While remaining hopeful that things will turn out OK, he and the company seem to be somewhat pessimistic and are preparing for the worst.

However, in a recent interview with IndustryGamers, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter (numero uno crystal ball-gazer), stated that he thinks the Wii will win this holiday season. What’s more, falling DS sales are just a blip that will be forgotten once the 3DS launches.

He said:

I don’t think that Nintendo’s holiday season is in trouble at all. The Wii has dropped from first to third, but the new models for Xbox 360 and the launch of PS3 Move had something to do with that, and it’s likely only temporary. I think that Mr. Iwata is right when he says that the Wii is more of a holiday purchase, as the core audience has long been satisfied, and the more casual audience comprises the much larger portion of the addressable market. With effective marketing, a slew of great games, and some likely support at retail, I expect the Wii to once again become the best selling console in November and December.

The DS remains challenged by the iPod Touch, and the new XL and regular DSi models haven’t really captured anyone’s imagination. Also, the impending launch of the 3DS has to have some continuing impact on sales of the existing DS models, but I’m quite certain that once the 3DS launches, handheld sales will rebound nicely.

Maybe it is a little churlish to suggest Nintendo is in trouble in any way, because it’s still doing great. But I’m not convinced there are enough people out there who haven’t bought a Wii and that are going to this Christmas to make the Nintendo console number one this holiday. We’ll know come the New Year who was correct…

Killzone 3 Helghast Edition is all kinds of awesome

Up on the official Playstation blog, Sony revealed a limited edition pack for Killzone 3 that is pretty awesome. The LE pack will cost a hefty $129, but arguably comes with

Enslaved to get new story DLC and 3D support for Xbox and PS3

Fans of Enslaved will be happy to know that Namco Bandai will be releasing a full feature story in the form of DLC. In addition to the new story, the DLC will update the game to support 3D.

The DLC titled Pigsy’s Perfect 10, will follow the story of Pigsy, the side companion to Monkey and Trip. The gameplay mechanics will be completely different as well as it focuses more on shooting and stealth.

Its looks like Ninja Theory built a framework around Enslaved for fully realized plug and play DLC content. This could mean that the studio has many more content planned for the game down the line.