One Could Dream. Yes?

Konami Officially Comments on Xbox 360 Metal Gear Solid 4 [Kotaku]

Ha, can I say "I told you so"? I know this is not a solid confirmation, but here this official statement from Konami:

"The worldwide demand for an Xbox 360 version (of MGS4) is quite high," admitted Konami's Yoshitaka Arai to Japanese investor bulletin Morningstar. "It is something we are currently looking into."

I think it's no brainer that this will come to Xbox360, provided they don't find a major technical obstacle, and then I will have saved $500.

Wait, Sony still has LittleBigPlanet... Damn it!

Can PS3 Be Any Sweeter?!

Yes, I still remember this... boomarang-shaped controller. LOL.

SERIOUSLY, the evil Wal-Mart and Sony is tempting me like crazy!

Wal-Mart is having this special going on with any Blu-Ray players, and I mean any. That means it includes Sony PlayStation 3! So, if I go for PS3 with 40GB HDD, I can pay $399, and be treated with extra $100 to blow away.

But that's not sweet enough to get me salivating all over the floor, is it? Of course not. I just dished out almost $500 for Xbox360 only a month ago!

What if Sony, whom I've come to think of an evil corporation with its arrogance (which, I must admit, has been eroding away ever since obnoxious Kutanagi left the company), is offering $100 off of PS3?

No way? Yes way. :) Of course, the deal includes another credit card that you should get rid of later.

Still, think about $100 off of PS3 and then another $100 gift card... That's $200 right there! So, say I get the PS3 80GB at $499, and use the Sony Credit Card at Wal-Mart. With all the deals--that also includes 12 months no interest period--I'll only pay $399, and have extra $100 to spend! With Sony keep flirting us with all the promises--think Home and Final Fantasy XIII-- and with its interest and investment in artistic games, I am now seriously considering the buy. Of course, there's the release of a small game titled Metal Gear Solid 4, too. :)

Now, don't be surprised if I come back a few days later with a post saying "PS3 GET!!!"

PS. Somebody please stop me. :'(

Microsoft And Art. ...yeeeeaaah. But Sony And Art? Yes.

Seems like all the good things happen after I leave, or make a different choice.

First, only after my graduation at Virginia Tech did they found game media lab and started a experimental game development course. Second, only after two weeks of my leap from last generation PS2 to current-gen Xbox360 do I find clips like this:

This is a clip of self-claimed "interactive art" work that is developed by a small group of part-time enthusiasts, funded by Sony Computer Entertainment, and thus, will only be distributed on PlayStation Network.

Interactive art. Interactive storytelling. Interactive fiction. These are all the things I am really into, more than today's most popular form of interactive media, games.

I feel fooled by the fact that Xbox360's console design was inspired by a famous contemporary art piece, Constantin Brancusi's famous "Bird in Space", because knowing this, I thought the software giant Microsoft has some sense and future outlook into interactive art and literatures...

PixelJunk Eden, flOw, flOwer... and now Linger in Shadow. It almost seems like a hardware manufacturer has more artistic sense than a software company.

Yakuza and Musashi?

So, I've been hearing alot about PS2 game Yakuza on 1UP Yours Podcast lately, and got pretty hyped up about this game, albeit it's flaws with combat system and all. And here comes it's sequel (actually 2nd sequel after one that was released here in US), which is the game above.

It's set in feudal Japan when a lot of people had sword on their side, and you're the ancestor of the main character of the first (and probably second as well) game's protagonist, Kazuma, who is... also a part of a Yakuza at the time. Well, that's what I understood from the description given from the podcast, but then watching this video clip, with that child-looking girl (wearing what looks like geisha's clothes... weird) requesting you to kill the legendary swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi (which is pretty cool), and then later in the trailer, people start regarding the main character as Musashi himself! At that point, I'm all "WTF"? I'm at loss.

And I want this game!

But then again, this game is only on PS3 (wonder how much Sony paid these guys) which is sad... Also, from the trailer, it seems like there's huge amount of cut-scenes which are nice, but... that doesn't let player direct the plot at all. I'm just worried that it'll be like Final Fantasy, which, despite its attractive points, I regard with disdain for its deeply flawed storytelling. Maybe I'll just wait out on this game and watch the movie which I heard is in the work at the moment...(since I'm not planning on getting a PS3 anytime soon)

Prediction for 2008 ..and Beyond

Now that we're in 2008, and that everyone seems to be making their predictions on what's going to happen in game industry this year, here is my prediction (Well, not exactly 2008's prediction, but prediction nevertheless):

• Xbox360 will keep having strong year, as it had so far, albeit they lack next blockbuster title, such as Halo 3. It's Microsoft; they'll keep the system on luxurious life-support--they have enough gold in their account for this-should the need arise. I just hope they get a new PR for Japan, and get the sales numbers up to at least half that of PS3.
• Wii will see constant drop in sales, until Wii Fit comes out, when the sale will skyrocket again and keep going forever and ever and ever and... ever. Unless, of course, every single household obtains a Wii, and there is no one left to buy a Wii.
• PS3, by the way, will keep struggle to sell, even when Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out. But none of these matter, does it? Because of Square Enix's shady (cuz it can't be explained otherwise) affection to Sony's system will single-handedly revive the whole platform, with a little and bloated title called Final Fantasy XIII. (Remember what Squaresoft, SquareEnix before merger, did to Sega's Saturn system? Although lacking 3rd party support, Sega's system was totally on top of PlayStation, yet with Final Fantasy VII, things turned 180 degrees overnight. Poor dear Sega... *sob*)

So, there you go. Unless Microsoft and Nintendo cooperates and drowns PlayStation 3 almost definitely before FFXIII releases, they'll all looooooose. Big time!

PS. When's FFXIII coming out anyways?

New PS2 SKU for $99?!

Story Link

Just when I was planning to get myself a PS2... I actually thought there will be a price drop, but not whole another SKU!

If this rumor is true, which I think it is true, I can't buy PS2 right now and get money back using low price guarantee since it'll be two totally different product!!

What should I do?? Should I just get it at $129, and say I'm paying $30 for 2 months of gaming, or should I wait for the new model...? (But I already ordered Final Fantasy XII Collector's Edition..!!!)

I hate Sony... x'(

Rage against Machine360!! And Some Pondering.

Not that I'm annnouncing myself as anti-360 and pro-PS3, but I just found a funny video on the issue on notorious "Red Ring of Death" on all too many Microsofts Xbox360's:

So, the question for me is... which should I get? Xbox360 or PS3?

I sure wanted Xbox360 with Gears of War, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Bioshock, among other exclusives, but recent occurings with Xbox360 and Microsoft--bad PR strategies, bad marketing strategy with Vista, and much more--makes me want to look the otherway. The other way to PS3.

After long line of terrible news on Sony and its PS3 before and after its launch, PS3 has been getting more and more brighter news and titles, such as Ninja Theory's Heavenly Sword, LittleBigWorld, and more, and there are these good-to-your-ear news; Ken Kutaragi's resignation, which, in my opinion, is actually more like getting fired because of his stuck-up attitude that was doing the company's already weak PR no good, and of course, there is the recent news about it's price drop of a whole $100.

Since I still am in no place to make a purchase, I got some time to sit back and think about my choice. I sure want to wait for Xbox360's stability to get revamped, its price dropped, and get more good titles on it. (Halo 3 doesn't count. At least for me.) And for PS3... It's still over the top, pricewise, and so I don't wanna carve huge chunk of my wallet just yet. At least until they streamline their online game network, and do some good firmware that enables Blu-Ray's interactivity. If it will ever.

Sony, Sony, Sony...

Exclusives Sony Dropped The Ball On

With Sony seem to be losing it's grip on exclusive third-party titles lately, it seems like Ken Kutaragi was behind that mess afterall. In the article I linked above, it talks about two accounts like this: Grand Theft Auto IV and Assassin's Creed, both are triple-A, top-of-the-line, must-have titles.

You may be thinking, 'Of course, they want more player-base, and went multi-platform!' But no. They actually went to Sony to offer them exclusive rights to those titles!! Then what happened? Ken stayed silent...and they went multi.

So what happened?

One can only speculate, but I think it's simple; Sony is running dry on bank account. Third-party exclusive costs tons of money, and so, Sony lost the grip on those titles. It's as simple as that.

But I think it's all on Kutaragi-san. If he weren't so stuck-up about how uber his PS3 was, then he'd have spent every penny to keep them exclusive which would've driven PS3's sale like crazy. I, for one, would've decided to buy PS3 if they were exclusive for Sony!)