 Harmonix was all set to release a patch for Rock Band for the Playstation 3 that would have made Guitar Hero controllers compatible, but at the last minute Activision blocked Sony from releasing the patch, according to a statement from Harmonix on Joystiq.
The patch, which would have been released on Dec. 4, was approved by Sony and was all set to be released before Activisions’ guitarblock. In Harmonix’s statement, they said releasing the patch would be what’s best for the consumer, and if any other companies want to make their products compatible with Rock Band equipment they would have the full support of Harmonix and MTV.
The full statement to Joystiq:
“As we have said in the past, Harmonix and MTV Games believe in an open standard philosophy of hardware and game compatibility. We think that there should be interoperability between music instrument controllers across all music games. This is clearly in the best interest of consumers, game developers and console manufacturers and will only help to grow the music game genre as well as inspire innovation and creativity.
Two weeks ago, Harmonix created a software patch for the Sony PLAYSTATION 3 version of Rock Band that allowed for guitar compatibility and support for third party peripherals, including enabling use of Activision’s Guitar Hero III controller with Rock Band. The compatibility patch was submitted, approved and had been scheduled for release by Sony on Tuesday, December 4. Unfortunately, Activision objected to the release of the compatibility patch. The patch remains with Sony, but we have been told that it will unfortunately not be released due to Activision’s continued objection.
As is the case with the Microsoft Xbox360, we believe that Sony PLAYSTATION 3 users should be able to use the peripheral of their choice with Rock Band. We sincerely hope that Activision will reverse its decision and allow release of the compatibility patch and further, that Activision will allow Guitar Hero III to support Rock Band guitar controllers as well. We welcome all third party developers who wish to support our controllers and will provide any required support in order for them to do so.
We believe that when consumers have choice, everyone wins. Harmonix and MTV Games hope that Activision and others in the industry will also adopt this philosophy.”
Seriously, way to look like a money grubbing douchebag Activision. There’s no way to come out of this looking good except to allow the patch to be released. Of course, it would make Activision look even better if they took Harmonix’s suggestion and allowed the use of the Rock Band guitar with Guitar Hero. I can’t see how this wouldn’t be more profitable for them. I haven’t heard of anyone who prefers the Rock Band guitar to the Guitar Hero one, so they could probably sell more of their peripheral.
Also, I must praise Harmonix for their apparent interest in what’s best for the consumers. I suppose this just goes to show the different aims of developers and publishers.
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 Do you always have to have the Biggest and best toys and show them off to your friends? If yes, the “Dreamcade Vision 120” is the must have game system gift for you this Christmas.
The “Dreamcade Vision 120″ isn’t just a game system; it’s an arcade center. In fact, the Vision 120 comes complete and ready to play with more than 145 classic arcade games, including all of your favorite classic games from Atari, Midway, Namco, Digital Leisure, and Capcom as well more than 7,000 classic console games. What did you just say; you already have a Next-Gen game system? The Vision 120 also comes with Component and HDMI video inputs for your Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or Nintendo’s Wii console with a wireless sensor bar built right in. Play all of this in high definition with a 120-inch portable screen.
 All this for the small retail price of $3,999, but can you really put a price on playing 145 classic arcade games on one system with a 120-inch screen?
Dreamcade Vision 120 Features:
- High powered projector - Bright enough for daytime use!
- 120-inch Portable projection screen - makes it simple to set up, move, and store
- Dreamcade 2.0 Gaming PC - modern PC games can be played using authentic arcade controls
- More than 145 classic arcade games including Ms. Pac-man, Centipede, Dig Dug, and many more.
- Free year’s subscription to more than 7,000 classic console games via Console Classix, including games for Atari, ColecoVision, NES, SuperNES, Sega Genesis, Sega Master System, Sega GameGear, and GameBoy.
- Component and HDMI video inputs for your Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or Nintendo Wii for the ultimate in modern gaming as well as classic arcade games.
- Arcade Control Panel Features:
- Lighted trackball - For authentic gaming action on games like Centipede and Missile Command
- Spinner - To play retro classics like Warlords, Breakout and Pong
- Full arcade control panel with additional side buttons allows playing nearly any game from Street fighter to MAME pinball as well as modern games and classic console games through Console Classix
- Removable control panel - Gives you the ultimate versatility
Sony has dropped the price of Playstation 3 dev kits to $10,250 a piece, according to Gamespot. The drop in price will help smaller developers get in on that sweet, sweet cell processor action. In addition to the cheaper price, Sony is also adding features that will make it easier to develop for the PS3, Gamespot said.
Sony is also rolling out new software-development features, debugging tools, and support for applications such as ProDG and its SN tool suite.
Sony is following the PS2 formula, reducing the prices of dev kits for both systems about a year after their release, Gamespot said.
Hopefully this is the right direction for Sony. My biggest problem with the PS3, and why I’ve gotten a Wii and Xbox 360 first, is the lack of games that I absolutely must have. Heavenly Sword looked like it would be kinda cool, I really want to try Folklore, but there’s nothing that absolutely screams buy me now. Perhaps some more indie studios will be able to pump some life into the system.
 In general, I don’t like the full on publication of interviews. Call it my journalism brainwashing telling me the reporter has to cull the good quotes from the interview. OXM’s interview with Alex Rigopulos, CEO of Harmonix, actually has some rather enlightening dialog on what Harmonix really wants to achieve with Rock Band. (Found through 1up.com)
Among the many exciting things Rigopulos has to say, the most interesting for me was his vision of how we’re going to experience music in the near future.
In 3 to 5 years people are going to expect to be able to play with music as the normal way that they experience music that they love. If you have a favorite band that releases a new album, sure you’ll buy the CD but you’ll also want to go onto the Rock Band server the game levels based on those 15 new songs to experience them as an active participant in the music-making. But this is how people are going to come to expect to experience the music that they love.
He later said of music distribution through Rock Band:
In the same way that MTV has promoted artists through the video medium on their channels, we actually see Rock Band as a way to break and promote new artists to the audience of people that are playing the game. So that’s definitely something that’s part of our plans.
It’s nice to know that my thoughts on how to best utilize Guitar Hero turned out to be what they wanted to do all along.
Also exciting are plans to be able to export your character onto the Rock Band Web site and convert that into different kinds of merchandise, from t-shirts to bumper stickers. Figurines are mentioned by both OXM and 1up, but I don’t see it in the interview.
So, to get Rock Band or to not get Rock Band? That’s a lot of money to drop on one game, but if Rigopulos’ vision comes true it will be the future of music content delivery anyway.
 Video Game Chartz has released the hardware sales chart for America for the week ending Nov. 10, and once again Nintendo’s Wii is first and Sony has come in last.
The Wii came in first for the week at 192, 482, followed by the Xbox 360 at 173,895 and the DS at 142,299. Sony’s PSP came in a distant fourth at 75, 954 and the Playstation 3 came in an even more distant fifth at 63, 788.
All three next-gen consoles saw a jump in sales, though: 31 percent for the Wii, 25 percent for the Xbox 360 and 15 percent for the PS3.
I once predicted the Wii was the future of video game consoles. I said, since the Wii changes how we play games instead of just how we view them, it would be able to over take the Xbox 360 and PS3, which certainly go farther in terms of hardware power but don’t fundamentally do anything different than the original Playstation.
I think a lot of the industry on the console production side is focused on better hardware power for consoles because that’s what has worked before. If you look at the jumps from system to system, what what you notice most in the slide show is the change in detail, from 8-bit to 16-bit to 32-bit and the era of the Playstation, which by my estimation only ended with this generation. The real fundamental change, though, is the change in gameplay.
Indeed, much of Nintendo’s success comes from seeing where the next change in how we play games is going to come from. Likewise, their failure comes from not seeing these jumps. Sony won the last generation because all the other companies that got involved, Nintendo, Microsoft and to some extent Sega, were content to try to do more of the same, and the Playstation 2 just did it better, either because it was more powerful or more deeply embedded. If Nintendo, or anyone else for that matter, had figured out a new way to play games we probably wouldn’t have seen the Playstations dominate as heavily as they did, if they would have dominated at all.
Mario’s adventures across the consoles is a perfect example. Super Mario Bros. defined platforming in the 8-bit era. The next great change you notice is Super Mario 64 and the jump to 3D, which defined the 3D platforming genre. Where Mario failed most is Super Mario Sunshine, which didn’t do anything fundamentally different from Super Mario 64. It may be too soon to call Super Mario Galaxy yet another redefinition of platforming from a historical perspective, but that hasn’t stopped reviewers from doing so.
What really amazes me, however, is the public’s almost unquestioning acceptance of the Wii’s new terms of playing games. Usually people are very slow to accept change. Even though most of the games on the Wii are epic fail at fully utilizing the consoles innovations, the exceptions being first-party games, the console continues to sell out the day stores receive new shipments. Perhaps the public was already thirsty for something new after a prettier version of more of the same from last generation, even if the new doesn’t exactly work perfectly?
The real test for the Wii now is whether Nintendo will continue to string us along from one exceptional first-party game to the next, a third-party company will step in and finally get the motion controls as perfect as Nintendo does so the system can really show what it can do or the Wii slowly fades away into obscurity, something that could’ve been a revolutionary turning point in how we play games but turned into little more than a novelty for most people.
If nothing else, the Wii has shown there is serious money to be made in doing something differently. Hopefully console makers, and developers even more so, will take note.
Capcom Entertainment, today announced the contents of the Devil May Cry 4 Collector’s Edition package, which includes volume 1 of ADV Films’ Devil May Cry: The Animated Series, a Steelbook case and a bonus DVD filled with extras. The $79.99 Devil May Cry 4 Collector’s Edition will be available February 5, 2008, for both the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.
The Devil May Cry: The Animated Series anime disc will be packed with the Steelbook case, and will include the first four episodes of the 12 episode anime series. Volume one of the four-disc DVD anime series will be available from ADV Films at the same time the game launches. Inside the case will be a second bonus DVD alongside the game that users can slip into their computers. The bonus DVD will contain a “making of†feature on the game, music from the Devil May Cry 4 soundtrack, a digital art book with images and sketches from the development team, wallpapers, icons and screen savers.
The highly anticipated Devil May Cry 4 immerses gamers in a gothic supernatural world, where a new protagonist clashes with series mainstay Dante. As new leading man Nero players will be able to unleash incredibly powerful and stylish attacks and non-stop combos using a combination of the Devil Bringer arm and the Exceed system, both of which are new gameplay mechanics for the series. Fans of Dante won’t be disappointed as he too will be playable during the course of the game.
Devil May Cry 4 is an epic story where the lines between good and evil are constantly blurred. Taking full advantage of the advanced graphical and processing power of the next-gen systems and Windows PC it draws gamers into the rich and highly detailed world of Fortuna and its surrounds with more enemies than ever before and some of the most breath-taking bosses ever conceived.
Devil May Cry 4 includes the following features:
• From the producer of the original Devil May Cry® and Resident Evil® 4
• 2 playable characters – take control of both Nero & Dante
• High-definition visuals moving at 60 frames per second
• Blend of familiar and new: newcomer Nero clashes with veteran Dante plus appearances from Trish, Lady and others from the DMC series
• Exceed System allows Nero to easily charge up his sword with a throttle effect, revving up to three levels with powerful and varied attack options
• Deep combo system rewards stylish dispatching of enemies
• Unique “Devil Bringer” arm opens up a range of never seen before combo options
• Distinct set of weaponry and moves for Nero and Dante
• New active style change system for Dante allows him to switch styles and weapons on the fly, producing crazy combo possibilities
• Numerous new characters and environments
• Signature blend of guns and swordplay
Devil May Cry 4 Collector’s Edition contains the following extras:
• Volume 1 of ADV Film’s Devil May Cry: The Animated Series on DVD, including four complete episodes of the anime (a retail value of $29.99)
• Unique Steelbook™ metal case
• Bonus DVD
o Making of Devil May Cry 4
o Music from the soundtrack
o Digital artbook
o PC content (screen savers, wallpapers, icons)
Previously, Turok was planned to be a next gen console title only, Touchstone today announced that it ill also be coming to the Windows PC. The console version by Propaganda Games is expected on February 8th, 2008 with the PC version which is being handled at Aspyr Studios to come later.
LONDON, England — (November 2, 2007) — Turok, the epic, sci-fi first person shooter, will be released in spring 2008 for Windows PC, Touchstone announced today. Touchstone previously announced that Turok, one of next year’s most anticipated games, will be available for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. Developed by Propaganda Games, Turok for consoles will be available at retail stores on February 8th, 2008.
“First person shooters have a rich history on the Windows PC platform and are known for having enthusiastic, dedicated fans,†said Josh Holmes, vice president and general manager, Propaganda Games. “Turok will be an unforgettable experience ideal for the Windows PC platform when it becomes available in 2008.â€
Turok is an epic, story-driven first-person shooter set on a dark, mysterious planet in the future. Players take on the role of Joseph Turok, a former black ops commando, now part of an elite special forces squad, known as Whiskey Company, which is on a mission to take down a war criminal – Turok’s former mentor, Roland Kane. Set on a planet inhabited by Kane and his Mendel-Gruman Corporation soldiers, Turok must use his elite military training to elude Kane’s well-trained army and the ravenous, unpredictable dinosaurs, huge insects and other massive creatures that populate the environment.
Brought to Windows PC by Aspyr Studios, Turok will feature an engaging, story-driven single player experience and multiplayer modes for up to 16 players per game
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Kmart is turning into a gamer’s paradise by selling Playstation 3’s for the low price of $319 with a 20% off coupon you can 
