We all love the PS2 and we love playing as Kratos on the PS2, the lead protagonist from God of War is an icon for PS2 gamers worldwide. it looks like Kratos will soon have some competition, a game on the original Indian superhero aka Lord Hanuman is currently in development. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as many Indian studios are developing games with local content. As per a report on Angrypixel.com:

Pyramid Saimira and Aurona Technologies (in collaboration with Sony Entertainment) are up for the task, and they’ll be summoning the Monkey God himself, Lord Hanuman. According to AnimationXpress’ Money Sharma:Pyramid Saimira with its gaming arm Aurona, will develop game on Lord Hanuman, titled as ‘Hanuman’. Currently in the development stage, the game will portray some part of epic Ramayana and is slated for late 2008 release. The action adventure game is a role playing game and is being worked at Aurona’s Hyderabad studio with close to 60 artists working on it.

… Aurona Technologies Business Development Director Hetal Bhuva shared, ‘Our objective behind having collaboration with Sony is to explore the Indian gaming market and Indian content. The Hanuman game will be targeted at kids of age group of 6 – 16 worldwide, who are familiar with the Indian culture and mythology and can easily relate to it.’

Lets hope that this game does well in the market, as it will lead to better games with local content, GTA Bombay isn’t far away.

The world criticized Sony for their expensive PS3 and questioned the gaming giant’s decision to install a Blu Ray drive in the console. The bet paid off a few days ago when Toshiba backed out of the HD DVD production. according to a report by digitaljournal.com:

Toshiba wasn’t going to lose the next-gen DVD battle and leave unscathed. According to the Nikkei business daily, Toshiba will likely face a 100 billion yen ($986 million US) loss in its HD DVD business. The death of HD DVD is also expected to post a full-year profit of 250 billion yen ($2.5 billion US), falling short of its outlook. Toshiba declined to confirm the accuracy of the report. In February, Toshiba announced it will no longer develop, make or market HD DVD players and recorders, giving a victory to the rival Blu-ray disc technology primarily backed by Sony.

Microsoft was backing Toshiba’s HD DVD and was providing an external solution as well, but the external add-on wasn’t the answer, I believe Microsoft should have included an HD DVD drive based Xbox “Super Elite”. Many may find this absurd, but I believe that if gamers are ready to buy an Xbox with HDMI and a 120Gb hard Drive for more about $450, they would also buy a Xbox with a 20GB HDD and a HD DVD drive for $450

If M$ had sold even a million of these Xbox 360 Super Elites, the HD DVD and BLu Ray battle would have been different. You can read more about the HD DVD demise here.

With the BLu ray winning over HD DVD, Sony and Microsoft are in talks. This is a very interesting time for Sony, as if Microsoft does include a Blu RAy drive, it would make the console the Xbox more expensive, but if they don’t the Xbox user will lose out on HD movie content. Many believe that the Xbox will opt for a external drive for watching movies, although this makes sense, I think it will be an issue at a later stage. Xbox user will have to play games on DVDs, which will soon prove to be limited in terms of space. here is some more news from Gamespot.

Citing an unnamed “senior executive,” the Financial Times said that Sony and Microsoft are not simply discussing a successor to the Xbox 360’s now discontinued, dirt-cheap external HD DVD drive. The newspaper said that there is also the possibility of an internal Blu-ray drive being incorporated into a new, more expensive “premium” 360 model, as it is already in the PlayStation 3. Thusly, Sony would earn royalties from sales of a rival console–a first for the game industry.For its part, Microsoft quickly denied any move toward Blu-ray had been officially made. “We have made no such announcement,” a rep told GameSpot. “Games are what are driving consumers to purchase game consoles, and we remain focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available.”if the deal works out Sony will actually make money from Xbox sales, which will be a first in console history.

We all thought that Sony had won the war with Blu Ray, but apparently 50 GB of data just isn’t enough. Kojima Productions producer Ryan Payton said in an interview with Kotaku that 50GB of data just inst enough for MGS4 and that the team had to cut down a few things to fit the game. I personally believe this is just some news created to fill the internet with more stories about MGS4, a game that needs no introduction.

Hideo Kojima said the following in an interview to Famitsu mag:

Kojima: For us, we’re not still not satisfied with the quality we can do. You know, there’s not capacity space.
Interviewer: Wait, wait a sec. Saying there’s not enough capacity, are you talking about Blu-ray?

Kojima: That’s correct. There’s not enough space at all. (laughs) …There’s not enough space. We always talked about where to cut and what to compress.

for more on the story click here.

Little Big Planet is an upcoming game on the Sony PS3, this is one of the most innovative games that you will come across. The game most girls will call “cute” was announced in March 2007. The game revolves around the multiplayer as players play in co-op to overcome obstacles. Users will be able to create their own levels and share it with players. The game has intrigued many gamers; they’re all awaiting its demo which was supposed to be out this month.

The game has been postponed and will be out for gamers sometime next year. The characters are quite colorful and the gameplay looks promising. This one is for the family and casual gamers. The game is almost complete and will be out later this year.

The most fascinating aspect of the game is the user generated content, wherein the users will be able to create their own maps and distribute to other players online. This will the first game to have an online community on a console.

This is really funny stuff, two videos making fun of MGS, the best game series ever, but doing a great job at it, worth watching. click here to see the first video. the second video is on youtube, you can watch it below. I am a big fan of the MGS series but these two videos made me laugh till my stomach hurt.

MGS 4 is slated to release later this year, it is my personal favorite series and for good reason, watch the MGS 4 video below.

I remember playing the original Motorstorm, the game was fantastic and great fun online. The game was flawed no doubt, no offline multiplayer, long load times etc. Anybody with some knowledge of the industry would tell you that Motorstorm was rushed to meet the deadlines. well Motorstorm 2 will be out this year and will take place in a different setting…read on



Darren Water’s from the BBC say’s :

“Motorstorm 2 is due out in time for Christmas and moves the action away from the desert locale of the original. Gamers will be able to race around a lush island environment, full of interactive vegetation.
The game will feature four-player split-screen action, righting one of the obvious failings of the first game.
The title is some months away from completion but the game’s engine looked rock solid and the graphics were as impressive as one would expect from one of the best-looking racing franchises.” click here to read the full feature.

according to the article, Sony is developing another game which is super top secret,and that “we could be on the brink of a step change in what games consoles are capable of in terms of story-telling and immersion.” for more on the story click on the link above.

  

“Some guys have all the luck” a song by Rod Stewart and a harsh reality. The reason I use this absurd analogy is that some lucky reviewer got his hands on Chains of Olympus on the PSP and wrote a review on IGN.com. the game recieved an outstanding score of 9.4/10 which isn’t a surprise to anyone who has ever played a GOW game, these games are absolutely the best in their genre, which is kick-ass action. here is what the reviewer had to say, click on the link to read the full review:  IGN.com : I had very high expectations for the studio’s second PS2-to-PSP transition, God of War: Chains of Olympus. While creating an offshoot title that stars a sidekick is one thing, it’s a whole different ballgame to take the reigns of Kratos and attempt to follow up two of the PlayStation 2’s absolute best (and fan favorite) titles. Somehow though, Ready at Dawn has done it again.



God of War: Chains of Olympus is a stellar achievement on the PSP. It plays perfectly into the franchise’s storyline and offers up the same level of intense action as its console counterparts. It’s also the best looking title on the system, without question. Engaging from start to finish, Chains of Olympus is a mandatory purchase for anyone who owns a PSP and doesn’t mind getting a little blood on their hands.

The Blu Ray vs HD DVD battle may end very soon, with Blu Ray emerging as the winner. Sony can finally breath easy as their gamble of including a Blu Ray drive with the PS3 paid off. Gamers world over were flaming the PS3 for including the Blu Ray drive as it lead to a more expensive price tag, Sony on the other hand were firm in promoting the PS3 as a gaming+multimedia console, which is still the most affordable Blu Ray player in the world. The latest feather in Sony’s cap is Wal-Mart who will completely stop selling HD DVD’s in a couple of months, this is what hey had to say: 

“We’ve listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases,” said Gary Severson, senior vice president, Home Entertainment, Wal-Mart, U.S.  “With the customers best interest in all we do, we wanted to share our decision and timeline with them as soon as possible, knowing it will help simplify their purchase decision, increase selection, and increase adoption long term.  We anticipate enhancing our selection with continued great values in hi-definition Blu-ray products, so our customers can further enhance their entertainment experience at home.”   Whatever the reason we as consumes should be happy that the digital media war may soon be over and we can start buying some cheap Blu Rays. 

 Everybody is waiting for God of War: Chains of Olympus, and rightly so, its the ultimate killer app for the PSP. I have with me a few new screens from the game, the screens are a part of a press release I received today, take a look and enjoy. You can also check out more info here.