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Trophy Support For Old PS3 Games In Doubt?

Kev Lochun — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:39:28 +0000

Regardless of when update 2.40 is re-released, Infinity Ward and 2K Games have become the latest developers to say they won’t patch previously released PS3 games to support trophies.

After a barrage of queries on its forum, the developer stated it has no plans to implement trophies or even Rumble in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, purely because Sony have left it too late to introduce them.

“At this time, we have no plans to patch in Trophy support for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for the PS3,” said forum community manager Robert Bowling. “Much like DualShock rumble addition to the PS3, the support for these new features have come much to late for us to add it to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare due to our current production schedule.”

A rebellion also seems to be underway on the 2K Games forums, where community manager Elizabeth Tobey told Civilization Revolution fans:

“Civilization Revolution will not support trophies. When we designed the game, before trophies were out, we did not plan on supporting the upcoming feature, and we are not going to add it.”

These announcements are a blow to the vision of PSN director of operations Eric Lempel, who told GameSpy that while Sony was not putting a deadline to developers, trophies would ultimately be supported in every existing game – though how Sony could possibly enforce this is a bit of a moot point. COD4 and CivRev join Resistance: Fall of Man and Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction in the pool of titles that won’t be patched, with Insomniac also citing current projects (Resistance 2!) as being more important.

At least Infinity Ward still love the idea of them for future releases. Bowling adds that they “would have loved to have these in the game at launch if the support was available, or shortly after.”

Call of Duty 6 a given then, but it seems like trophies are going to take a while to get widespread retrospective support. If at all.

Sources: Infinity Ward forum, 2K forum, GameSpy

PSN Leaked Document is True

Patrick Steen — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:14:13 +0000

We were right!

When we reported on the PSN Release Schedule leak story and the possible truth behind it, the dates and content listed were still only speculation. After recent revelations, it’s now clear that the schedule is in fact true.

The leaked European document was always potentially credible due to the correct date given to Warhawk: Operation Broken Mirror. Thanks to our very own Kelsey Hart’s digging into the Ratchet: Quest for Booty item on the list, further concrete reliability was added to the basket.

There were, however, some unlikely candidates – such as a Resistance 2 trailer, and a Lair Pack. These two have since been confirmed. The former was revealed to be making an appearance on GT:TV this Friday, and today Sony Japan provided the first details of the Lair update. The update will include the option to use much needed analogue controls, a new targeting icon, and rumble support. The release date for this update? April 17th.

(Click to Enlarge)

Even though the schedule lists the 15th as the date for these items, the April 17th relaunch of the Playstation Store accounts for the recalculation. Nonetheless, April 15th won’t be empty, since Playstation 3 firmware v2.30 will go live on that date – nicely slotting all the pieces together to create one hell of a Playstation Store relaunch next week.

Among other features, firmware v2.30 will include DTS-HD Master Audio output for Blu-ray videos, meaning the high-definition visuals of Blu-ray will now be matched with the highest quality audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio is literally bit-for-bit identical to the studio master recording and makes movie soundtracks and sound effects truly come to life. The technology delivers audio at the incredibly high rate of 24.5 mega-bits per second (Mbps) on Blu-ray disc, which is significantly higher than standard DVDs.

DTS-HD Master Audio also offers 7.1 audio channels at 96k sampling frequency/24 bit depths, so you’ll be totally immersed in the sound.

The firmware update will add DTS-HD High Resolution Audio as well, which is a similar output technology that requires less disc space. You can read more about both codecs here.

In regards to the new and improved Playstation Store, we can now present to you a video walk-through:

From Crackle: PlayStation Store video walkthrough

We can only hazard a guess as to what else is awaiting us next week, though we can provide a list of items when taking the validated release schedule into account: Super Stardust Pack, Lair Pack, Resistance 2 Trailer, Pain Add-on: Nigel, Dark Mist, Metal Gear Online Beta, Rock Band Song Packs, and Warhawk: Operation Broken Mirror. Oh and don’t forget, the US will be meeting Gran Turismo 5: Prologue!

Note: Although the leaked Release Schedule has been validated, all dates are subject to change. Let’s hope Playstation Home comes out before July.

*Update* - Sony have since confirmed that the new Playstation Store will launch on April 15th, with content to follow on April 17th:

To accompany the launch, the PLAYSTATION Store will see an exciting selection of content available from 17th April, consisting of the launch of the Metal Gear Online Premiere Beta, building up to the launch of the next chapter in one of PlayStation’s most loved franchises, Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots.

Also available will be Warhawk™: Operation Broken Mirror, a great new addition to the hugely popular Warhawk experience and Lair™: Diabolical Dragons Pack and Skyguard Upgrade pack, offering new and exciting features and functions. There will also be a collection of trailers including the latest for GTA IV, as well as a Sega Superstars tennis demo.

Playstation Store Redesigned: No Mouse Pointer, Dynamic Changes

Geoff Haugan — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:53:07 +0000

Over the next couple of weeks things will function as usual on the PlayStation Store, but no new downloads will be made available as Sony is in the middle of updating the store’s interface.

Due to arrive in mid-April, the store’s new design is intended to make navigation of content easier by adding more categories and allowing more space per page to list items.

In addition, the store will lose its previous web interface, embedding itself into the Playstation 3 for faster loading. Noel Silvia lets us in on some other goodies on the Playstation Blog, telling us that the store will dynamically change each time you enter, though the background will currently remain the same. Moreover, the mouse pointer is on its way out. Navigating the new store will now be more like scrolling through a menu.

The downside to new design is that no new content will be made available for the next two weeks while changes are being made.

When the store re-opens it will be accompanied by firmware update 2.30 that will allow users to access the new store, and the Thursday content releases will be resumed.

What can we expect on the day the new store arrives? Warhawk: Operation Broken Mirror, the Metal Gear Online Beta, and if this is to be believed, a new Lair pack and the first trailer of Resistance 2.

The PlayStation.Blog promises a closer look at the new design soon, including a video walkthrough. For now we have these four images:

Freeloader Sends Wii Region Free

Kev Lochun — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:20:59 +0000

Datel have launched a version of their much-anticipated Freeloader software that will play Wii games from any region on your console. Time to learn Japanese then.

Oh and it also works for Gamecube games. There are two versions for each side of the pond, weighing in at £9.99 in the UK and $19.99 stateside.

The appeal in Freeloader has always been that it is easy to use and doesn’t require you to do anything invasive or illegal to your Wii – and it’s particularly welcome news for importers given the Elpsa Anti-Piracy Unit’s sudden proactivity in taking down Wii chippers in recent weeks.

Of course Ninty has a history of rendering the discs useless with a firmware update and leaving you with a shiny coaster. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Or have a cup of a tea.

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