Talk Playstation 3 News

So what has the Playstation 3 got to offer in the year 2009 and how it will be better than 2008. Don’t get me wrong, 2008 has a very strong line up with the following games being released; Socom Confrontation, Wipeout HD, LittleBigPlanet, Motorstorm 2 and Resistance 2. It doesn’t stop there, 2009 will be even better!

First of all, Killzone 2 will be released at the beginning of 2009, february, which will make a great start to the year. Again, it doesn’t stop there. InFamous, another great looking game that will be available in Spring 2009. Finally Home will be released after being in Open Beta towards the of this year after a fair few delays.

Although Final Fantasy XIII has been made multi-platform and will appear on the Xbox 360 outside of Japan, but most likely sell better on the PS3 because PS3 has from now until the end of 2009 to catch the 360 up. The series has always been more popular in Japan anyways which is why its staying as a PS3 exclusive.

The one everyone has been waiting for, God of War III. Look how good God of War and God of War II looked on the PS2, breathtaking! God of War III is set to raise the bar even further and demonstrate what the PS3 can really do, just like GOW2 did with the PS2. Sony has said that GOWIII could appear in 2009.

Massive Action Game is believed to be released as early as spring 2009, a game that promises a massive 256 player online battle, another PS3 exclusive that will drop some jaws.

Not really a game but a price cut will almost definitely happen in 2009 if it doesn’t happen in 2008. If a price cut is due this year it will most likely be around xmas time. If a price cut does happen this year i think 2009 will see a price cut later on in the year.

Firmware updates – what will be available in 2009? As you know firmware updates have contributed to the success of Playstation Network and beyond and it can only get better via future firmware updates.

Uncharted 2 will be released in 2009 at some point, i can’t see it being release this year at all. Uncharted Drake’s Fortune is a fantastic game and a sequel would be just brilliant.

Gran Turismo 5. Although recently believed that it may not hit the shelves until 2010 it could still make it out by the end of 2009. GT5 will be the most complete racing game, containing a proper career mode.

Have you heard of Heavy Rain? This game is supposed to be coming out this fall but i think it will slip into 2009.

Other games that could be released in 2009

• Wardevil
• Tekken 6
• White Knight Chronicles
• A new Naughty Dog game
• Insomniac Games will release something
• Team ico’s new game

There’s probably more games to come in 2009 these are just some of the highlights. 2008 isn’t over yet with games such as GTA4, GT5P and MGS4 already out and more to come as suggested at the beginning of this post, 2008 will be very hard to beat… can you think of anymore 2009 games? Will 2009 beat 2008?

There has been a lot of talk about the Playstation 3’s Random Access Memory (RAM) vs Xbox 360’s RAM, saying that the 360 has more RAM to work with etc. Here’s an article to explain the situation of its RAM.

Just so you know that the PS3 has 512MB of RAM (256 for video and 256 for system). The Cell chip has 256MB of completely sharable RAM, the GPU has 256MB of dedicated RAM. Now the key here is what type of RAM it is.

The Playstation 3 has 256mb of GDDR3 at 700mhz  and 256Mb of XDR at 3.2ghz. So what exactly is XDR ram? Here are some of the highlights:

• XDR makes PS3 super effiecient
• XDR aids in faster cache mapping, both direct and indirect
• XDR ram works by a pointer to pointer technology and needs very small buswidth for execution
• XDR is not just faster than GDDR3 but it is much more efficient
• XDR RAM works by breaking down data into several packets which prevents data loss and exceptions

The Rambus XDR™ memory architecture is a total memory system solution that achieves an order of magnitude higher performance than today’s standard memories while utilizing the fewest ICs. Perfect for compute and consumer electronics applications

The PS3 has two times as much cache at 2x the speed, making it way faster for direct/indirect mapping. Not only that but it has 512k of L1 cache + 1.7m of L2 cache for the 7 spes. The PS3’s GPU, RSX was made to work with the Cell processor, it is not some GPU they took and slotted in. It is made to be compatible with the Cell.

More RAM does not mean a faster system it means more data can be stored in a fast access area. Games don’t always need 512mb of RAM.

The RSX can freely use as much of the 512MB total RAM that the PS3 has because the Cell doesn’t need much RAM because its fast enough. And the fact that the PS3 has XDR means that it has faster access to data files.

A lot of people are saying that the RSX only has 256mb of RAM, whereas the 360’s GPU has 512MB of RAM. To make it sound a bit simpler, here’s the real deal. The PS3 has it’s RAM in two separate parts, 256MB for the RSX and 256MB that can be used be either the Cell or RSX.

The Official Playstation Magazine (August issue) has the reasoning as to why a certain amount of Playstation 3 games require an install. Its because its quicker to read the game data from the hard drive rather than the Blu-Ray disc. This also means shorter loading times during gameplay.

Chief software architect at Eutechnyx, Dr Andrew Perella says:

“The biggest benefit of loading data from hard drive as opposed to Blue-ray is that the seek times are lower. Games that make use of lot of user customisations are hit hard by this as the developer cannot know ahead of time what will need to be loaded”

I bet your now thinking ‘does that mean every game will be installed to the hard drive’, the answer is no. Look at Call of Duty 4 and Uncharted Drake’s Fortune, they didn’t require an install and ran fantastically well.

Game developers are working around this by taking a more pro-active approach to Blu-Ray’s data transfer technology. Some are working with streaming methods that load data while your playing, others are duplicating frequent required data around the disc so it can be located and loaded up faster.

Pete Hines of Bethesda, the vice president of public relations and marketing says:

“we get around it by doing caching to the hard drive behind the scenes. And yes, we do have more than one copy of data on the disc in different locations to make the streaming process faster.”

It is understood that in the future, game installs for the Playstation 3 will be a thing of the past.

If your filling up your Playstation 3’s hard drive and looking for more space, you might consider getting a faster hard drive at the same time. The standard hard drive seen in PS3’s has a rotations per minute speed of 5400, you might want to look at a 7200rpm.

Ok, so lets take a look and compare the speeds and temperatures of the 5400rpm against 7200rpm. The following are system speeds – not in game.

PS3 startup time

• 5400rpm: 15.7 seconds
• 7200rpm: 13.5 seconds

Game background load time

• 5400rpm: 1.9 seconds
• 7200rpm: 1.9 seconds

Source.

Now, lets take a look at the temperatures for each drive in different conditions.

Idle

• 5400rpm – 111 degrees / 43.9c
• 7200rpm – 116 degrees / 46.6c

Stress test (ran some games and folding at home)

• 5400rpm – 129 degrees or 53.9c
• 7200rpm – 131 degrees or 55.0c

Below are install times for the following games.

Grand Turismo HD

• 5400rpm – 1:42.636
• 7200rpm – 1:32.993

About 10% increase in speed.

Jericho demo

• 5400rpm – 2:08.629
• 7200rpm – 1:58.685

About 8% increase in speed.

Tony Hawk demo

• 5400rpm – 4:11.184
• 7200rpm – 3:32.045

About 16% increase in speed.

DIRT Demo

• 5400rpm – 1:29.289
• 7200rpm – 1:25.385

About 5% increase in speed.

Special thanks goes to hotpocketdeath over at the Playstation Forums.

To be honest, i wouldn’t bother getting a faster drive, i would stick with a 5400rpm and get an even bigger drive. Its not worth the minus extra few seconds and more temperature.

Another thing is that upgrading your hard drive does not void your warranty. If i was to ever upgrade, i will be sticking with a 5400rpm drive to be on the safe side.

Pioneer has come up with a whopping 16 layer Blu-Ray disc capable of holding 400GB. The disc has 16 layers, each layer being 25GB, thats a lot of information it can hold.

Now the question is, can it be played in the Playstation 3 for its games or movie playback, whatever? Pioneer has stated:

“Since the optical specifications of the objective lens…are the same as those for the existing BD discs, it is possible to maintain compatibility between the new 16-layer optical disc and the BD discs.”

Source.

This means that we can probably put one of these 400GB disc in our PS3’s, but why 400GB, we will see any gaming benefits from this? Of course we will, simply because developers will be able to add a lot more content. Games such as Metal Gear Solid 4 and Heavenly Sword reached nearly full capacity of a dual layered 50GB Blu-Ray disc. But then again developers can use a 100GB blu-ray disc if they ever need to go above 50GB, i highly doubt they will go above 50GB this generation.

Games can fit on an 8GB DVD, HD Movies can Fit on a 25GB Blu-Ray disc so why do we need a 400GB you may ask? Here’s a famous quote:

“Nobody will ever need more than 640 kB RAM [Bill Gates, 1983]“

Anyway, down to a technical point of view, we won’t be seeing 400GB games this generation simply because they won’t be able to mass market them due to the failure rate each layer produces.

400GB this Generation? No.
100GB this generation? More than likely.

I can see Final Fantasy XIII being on a 100GB quad layer disc.

400GB Blu-Ray disc’s for the Playstation 4 anyone?

A TalkPlaystation.com user sent me the following to post. It basically argues that why people made the firmware 2.4 bug a big deal and how its happened to Microsoft with their Dashboard update.

“Should we trust Sony with their next Firmware update? Presumebly it will be firmware 2.41 that will be released next just to reasure Playstation 3 owners they havent got a dodgy firmware.

I’m sure Sony will be careful next time, just as careful as they should have been when they released 2.4 and then took it offline due to reports saying that it ‘bricked’ their PS3. The majority of people upgraded to 2.4 with no problems at all and are happily trophy hunting.

I think we can trust Sony because Microsoft, Nintendo and now Sony have screwed up when updating their systems. Remember when Microsoft updated the Dashboard and it screwed poeples 360’s, producing lag etc. The effect was very minimal and people have a go at Sony for a quick bug that is most likely fixed.

People are just exaggerating because Sony pulled it down because they wanted to see if there really was a problem. If your PS3 got bricked due to firmware 2.4 all you need to do is format the hard drive, yes you will lose all your data but its the only way to get your PS3 back.

Not everyone update will be perfect. Besides its Sony’s first BIG update.”

[UPDATE] As Paranoimia stated in the comments section “A very small minority have experienced problems with the update, while most people had no problems whatsoever.”

“It may well be that a minority of people have been affected in some way, but I’d put money on a lot of the internet talk being from Xbots who have picked up on this minority and decided to blow it out of all proportion”

Whats your say on this?

Ever wanted to see what the Final Fantasy box art could look like? Like this:

Its what Final Fantasy VII could look like if it got remade for the Playstation 3. Looks fantastic, only if it was real!. I bet a lot of you are wishing this was real… one day, just maybe… one day.

Now who wouldn’t buy this if it got remade…

Anyway, what do you think of the above box art?

Is Sony ready to launch firmware version 2.4 tomorrow? What i mean by this is that almost every Playstation 3 owner will be up tomorrow awaiting the release of 2.4 as this is the most anticipated and talked about firmware update so far.

Lets hope we don’t bring down the Playstation Network with the flood of traffic by downloading this new firmware (Remember school’s out) and god knows what file size it is. I assume it will be a pretty hefty download.

I can see a lot of people getting frustrated when 2.4 arrives because they are eager to try the new in-game XMB and start earning them new trophies to become to the trophy king.

I’m not going to rush and download this because i know it will be slow and take literally hours to download.

Are Sony prepared? We’ll see.

There’s a lot of new things coming in the next firmware update (2.4) and i bet you’ve lost track of whats to come. This post is to take a look at the improvements that will take place when the next firmware update is released AND whats to come in the future. Firmware 2.4 will be released on the 2nd of July which is like a few days away!

Firmware 2.4

In-game XMB

Ok, so this is the long awaited and most asked for feature and its coming very soon. In-game XMB is where you can access the Xross Media Bar while playing a game. You’ll be able to message friends, change a few settings, switch from 1 game to another and a lot more. Check this video out to see more.

Gamercards

You’ll be able to view your trophies as well as your friends trophies. Whats nice about this is that you’ll also be able to compare your trophies to your friends and see who’s doing better at which game.

When you view someones profile now you just get a basic text based look. When firmware 2.4 hits, a new look will apply, making it look something similar to this:

Trophies

Sony’s answer to Xbox Live’s achievement system. You’ll earn trophies for reaching a certain milestone in a game that supports it. 70% of games will support Trophies when its released in a few days according to this rumor. Trophies will also include a levelling up system, similar to that in traditional RPG’s. Want to know more on Trophies? Click here to see a video walkthough.

Google Search Bar

A Google Search tool will be added in firmware 2.4 that will allow you to enter a search term and it will take you straight to Google. Pretty handy.

Future Improvements

Home

A community based service for Playstation 3. Just think a 3D Facebook, Bebo and Myspace. In Home you’ll be able to build your own apartment space and invite your friends to it.

Video Store

A store where you’ll be able to download “New Arrivals”, “Movies”, “Television”, “Anime”, “HD Only”, “Rentals”, “Purchase”, and “Top Downloads”.

Playstation 2 Store

This is the newest rumor. Apprently this will be revealed at E3. Classic PS2 titles are to make their way to the Playstation Store.

Life with PlayStation

When you turn on your PS3, Sony want to present you with the latest news and the information you require. This new service is called Life with Playstation. Click here to see a video of it in action.

Source.

So Xbox Live has been better than Playstation Network in terms of features and still is better but with Firmware Version 2.4 on the way things are about to change.

So when firmware 2.4 is released the Playstation Network will be pretty much neck to neck with Xbox Live. Firmware 2.4 will add in-game XMB and a Trophy system (Sony’s answer to XBL achievements) so this firmware will pretty much overtake XBL ever so slightly.

Just think about the $50 a year fee for XBL versus Free for PSN. Not only that but Playstation Network is easily expandable through these firmware updates so they can probably add a lot more feature than XBL.

In terms of connection and online play there is nothing wrong with online play on the PSN, no lag apart from if your playing with someone with a crappy connection.

Whats missing from PSN that will definitely make it better than XBL after firmware 2.4?

• Advance invite system. Although you can invite friends while in game before you start a game but Home features a more advance invite system where it will launch the game and jump straight in automatically.
• PSN’s player based hosting VS Microsofts dedicated servers. This can be rectified if Sony were to put some dedicated servers in for PSN, probably a future plan.
• A new user interface. Ok XBL is far easier to use and navigate but again this can be sorted just like the Playstation Store got sorted.
• XBL has movie and tv show downloads. Ok but Sony is coming out with a video store.
• More content. PSN needs more content and XBL currently has more and gets more every week. Again this can be fixed by game companies releasing more demo’s and Sony acting upon it.

All the above can be sorted out and implemented via future firmware updates, so eventually Playstation Network will overtake Xbox Live and best of all it will still be free of charge.

Can you think of any features that are missing from Playstation Network that will make it better than Xbox Live AFTER firmware 2.4 is released?

[UPDATE] There is a typo in this article. I got mixed up and very sorry for that. Playstation Network has dedicated servers while Xbox Live doesn’t. Just wanted to correct it.

I’m seeing a lot of rumors saying that there will be a big announcement regarding Resident Evil 5 at E3. Well yes they could announce something special in the game like a new area or a twist of some sort but one thing they are definitely not going to announce is an exclusivity deal.

“What this basically means is that unless something changes, or something is leaked, we will not see anymore “new” assets or receive any extra content updates until then. This is not too much of a shocker because at this time of the year (pre-E3), any sort of news on upcoming games is a bit dry.”

I totally agree with what Filefront said above. If Capcom were to put a time exlusive deal for the Xbox 360, its not part of their business plan and they will try to maximise profits. Ok Microsoft could pay millions for it but what will Microsoft get from it apart from a ‘few’ extra systems sold.

Another thing is that the install base of the Playstation 3 will be pretty close to Xbox 360’s and will have almost caught up, so why should Capcom shut off millions of potential consumers?

Speaking with VG247 rep told told them this:

“We’ve got our press conference. At CAPTIVATE08 we told everyone that we would have some big things to reveal at E3. It’s our main game there.”

Well yes they have some big plans for the game and for them to announce exclusivity now is pretty much wrong and will really annoy Playstation fans.

Ripton.com have posted their opinions on this rumor saying that its 100% bogus.

“Sounds 100% bogus to me. Capcom did put on paper that there will be a “huge” announcement regarding their beloved Resident Evil Franchise, however if there was some sort of time frame, what does Capcom or Microsoft earn?”

Just like i said a few paragraphs up, what are they really going to earn when the install base will be much larger in 2009 when the game is released.

I guess we will have to wait until E3 but i highly doubt they will announce a time exlusivity deal for the Xbox 360.

UPDATE: Capcom’s Corporate Officer and Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development, Christian Svensson has dismissed the rumors over at Capcom’s Blog.

“The assertion is false. RE5 is a multiplatform release that fits with our oft-stated crossplatform strategy.” Source.

This is probably the most annoying glitch in Grand Theft Auto IV EVER! So i spend hours and hours trying to find the perfect sports car to put in front of my safe house… still can’t find one and i still can’t find one. Eventually i found the car i was after, started to drive it back to my safe house only to find about 50 parked outside it! After all that time and effort gone to waste.

Why is it that when you try to find a car your after, it never shows up but as soon as you find one and start driving around you run into loads either parked up or driving.

Here’s the glitch/bug in action, i had to show it, screenshots and a video.

And here’s the video. Beware of me controlling Niko, holding a Camera while controlling a game doesnt work.

This wouldn’t bother if there were ‘less’ sports cars but driving around for so long without even seeing one and then you finally find one and see aload of them is slightly offset.

Has something like this ever happened to you? What are your most annoying GTA IV glitches?

Here’s a list of the most difficult Playstation 3 games we have experienced. While some games are easy to finish and complete, others are rock solid.

In no particular order:

• Ninja Gaiden Sigma
• Timeshift
• Singstar
• Crossfire
• Gundam
• The Darkness (on highest difficulty)
• Call of Duty 4 (on highest difficulty)
• Metal Gear Solid 4 on the hardest setting

The hardest on that list is probably Ninja Gaiden Sigma, i remember getting really frustrated playing that game.

Just like PS3FanBoy, we also love the Metal Gear Solid 4 installation screen. Its not just a standard installation screen it actually shows you how long is left and some comedy is thrown in there too for example it reminds you that the game is a Playstation 3 exclusive.

The installation process goes through a health warning and little bits of information, while watching Solid Snake have a cigarette.

For those that don’t own Metal Gear Solid 4 and want to see the installation we were sad enough to record it and upload it to YouTube.

So here it is.

So what does the Playstation 3 need? Don’t get me wrong the PS3 has a very strong line up this year with games like Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet being released and Metal Gear Solid 4 just released.

But what extra games would be good to see on the PS3? Lets bring back some old franchises.

In no particular order:

• NiGHTS (PSN game)
• Twisted Metal next gen
• Syphon Filter next gen
• Legend of Legaia
• Colony Wars 3
• Parappa the Rapper 3
• Legend of Dragoon 2
• Destruction Derby next gen
• G Police
• Medievel 3
• Cool Boarders 4
• Parasite Eve 3
• Shadow of the Colossus 2

Any old franchises that were on Playstation you can think of?