Adam Sessler Interviews God Of War Ascension Director

Kratos in back in God of War Ascension, and he looks to be angrier than ever. After playing the game himself, Adam Sessler got a chance to talk to the game's diector about Kratos' new combat system, the game's new color palette, and much more.

Check Out More God of War: Ascension Gameplay Footage

Last year Sony gave us a sneak peak at a few minutes of God Of War Ascension game play.  Well, in preparation for the March 12th release date the folks over at Polygon have supplied 30 minutes of actual game play.

The Legacy Of The CD: Innovation That Ate Itself

by Joel Rose for NPR's The Record

2010 was another lousy year for the music industry – and in particular, the CD. Sales of compact discs dropped last year by nearly 20% percent, according to Billboard. For a while, those shiny plastic discs lifted the fortunes of the recording industry to new heights. But the CD also contained the seeds of the industry's collapse — a collapse that's rattling more than Manhattan boardroom windows.

A Sony factory in Pittman, New Jersey, will see its last CD roll out off the assembly line at the end of this month. At its height, the plant employed 1300 people.

"The overtime, you had it whenever you wanted it," says Jim Jones, who's been driving a forklift at the factory since 1982, when the plant still made LPs. "10 hour days if you wanted it. Saturdays, Sundays — you could get it. That's how busy we were. A lot of times it was mandatory. You had to work, that was it."

Jones met his wife, Cindy, at the plant in the 1990s, when they worked in the warehouse together, rushing out the latest hits. "It's been so long since there was a big hit," she says. "It's just," she pauses, "slow."

Sony will still make CDs at its factory in Indiana. But the closure of the New Jersey plant is telling. Sales of compact discs have fallen 50 percent over the past decade. It's a long way from the early 1980s, when breathless ads and over-the-top hyperbole touted "sound like you've never heard it before."



The CD was invented by hardware manufacturers Sony and Philips. At first, executives at the major record labels didn't like the new format. But they started to come around — thanks in large part to Jac Holzman, the founder of Elektra Records who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next week. Holzman was a big advocate for the CD when he was at Warner Music Group.

"The CD was sexy. And it would bring higher prices — from about 8 dollars for cassettes or LPs at the end of the '70s, to about $15 in the early '80s," Holzman says. "You could resell your best catalogue again. CDs were lighter and cheaper to ship, which is a big consideration."

All of that meant giant profits for the music industry in the 1980s and '90s. "The CD sold so well. And it created this gigantic boom in the industry," says Steve Knopper, the author of Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age. "And everybody got rich. And people just got incredibly accustomed to this. To the point where in the late '90s, the only way that you could get the one song that you liked was to buy the 15 to 18 dollar CD at the Tower Records."

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Trailer For PS3's DC Universe Online

Hulu Plus Is Official

Straight from Hulu's CEO, Jason Kilar:

Hulu Plus is not a replacement for Hulu.com. Hulu Plus is a new, revolutionary ad-supported subscription product that is incremental and complementary to the existing Hulu service. For almost all of the current broadcast shows on our service, Hulu Plus offers the full season. Every single episode of the current season will be available, not just a handful of trailing episodes. Now there’s never a bad time to jump in on a hot new show like Modern Family (which I recommend highly). From Family Guy to Glee, from The Office to 30 Rock, from Grey's Anatomy to Desperate Housewives, from Parks & Recreation to Parenthood, from House to Saturday Night Live, and dozens of other hits, the best time to jump in on any series is any time, and with any episode, that’s right for you.

As a Hulu Plus subscriber, you’ll now also have access to back seasons or full runs of some of TV’s greatest shows. All nine seasons of The X-Files. All three seasons of Arrested Development. Ten seasons of Law and Order: SVU. All five seasons of Ally McBeal. Seven seasons of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and three seasons of Roswell. Every episode ever of Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. Classic skits from the first five and most recent five seasons of Saturday Night Live. The list goes on. This is all on top of hundreds of shows already on Hulu.com today. It’s a treasure chest in the cloud for TV lovers.

Subscribers to Hulu Plus will also be able to download a Hulu Plus application for certain Samsung televisions and Blu-ray players that have an internet connections. Hulu will also bring Plus to the iPad, iPhone 3GS & 4 as well as the iPod Touch. Apparently Hulu has no love for us Android users. Also, it appears that Hulu and Sony have finalized the deal to bring Hulu Plus to the Playstation 3. The Hulu Plus service will be $9.99 a month, but for the moment it will be invite only. You can apply for an invite at Hulu.com/plus.

For more information, here's the full press release.

Hulu's Getting Closer To Subscription Service

For $10 a month, viewers will reportedly have access to a wider selection of shows than the free, ad-supported version Hulu currently offers. The service would work on PCs and specialized devices such as the iPad, video game consoles and set-top boxes. The company plans to test a version of this “Hulu Plus” subscription, an expected development, with select users as early as this month to find out whether they’ll will bite, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal and All Things Digital.

To read the rest of the article shuffle on over to Wired.com.

Adam Sessler On Red Dead Redemption

More Details On Google TV

Here are answers to some of the frequently asked questions, straight from Google:

Q. What is Google TV?
A. Google TV is an open platform for TV-related devices that brings together the best of TV and the best of the web to deliver the premier entertainment experience for the living room. It is built on Android and runs the Google Chrome web browser.

Q. What does it mean for the developer community?
A. The Google TV platform will bring developers into the living room. Web developers can start taking advantage of the big TV screen as soon as products hit shelves this fall. In the future, the Google TV platform will allow developers to navigate TV content. Android developers will not only have access to most of the Android APIs currently available but also to Google TV-specific API extensions that tap into the power of TV. We will have more details later this year.

Q. When will Google TV be available?
A. Google TV devices will go on sale in fall 2010.

Q. Will Google TV work if I don’t subscribe to paid TV service?
A. You don’t need a set top box for Google TV to work. However, a set top box and service is required to access your TV feed.

Q. Does Google TV require Bluetooth support? Can I use Bluetooth keyboards and game pads with the devices announced?
A. Google TV will come with its own input device. In the future, other input devices may be created and used with Google TV.

Q. When will the SDK add-on for Google TV be available to developers?
A. The SDK add-on with Google TV-specific extensions will be available a few months after first product availability.

Q. Can I download Google TV? When will it be open sourced?
A. No, Google TV is only available pre-installed on Sony TVs and blu-ray players, as well as Logitech companion boxes. We are working hard to open source the code for the Google TV project, and hope to release the source code next year.

Here's some of what Engadget had to say:

The basic facts

Google TV isn't a single product -- it's a platform that will eventually run on many products, from TVs to Blu-ray players to set-top boxes. The platform is based on Android, but instead of the Android browser it runs Google's Chrome browser as well as a full version of Flash Player 10.1. That means Google TV devices can browse to almost any site on the web and play video -- Hulu included, provided it doesn't get blocked. It also means that Google TV devices can run almost all Android apps that don't require phone hardware. You'll still need to keep your existing cable or satellite box, however -- most Google TV devices won't actually have any facility for tuning TV at launch, instead relying on your existing gear plugged in over HDMI to do the job. There's a lot of potential for clunkiness with that kind of setup, so we'll have to see how it works in person.

All Google TV devices will have remotes with some form of QWERTY keyboard, and you'll be able to use Android phones as remotes as well. Using an Android phone opens up some extremely intriguing possibilities, like searching for content using Google Voice Search and navigating by gesture, but it's not clear how deep the integration between Android on Google TV and Android on phones will be at launch.

Partners

Google's not going into the living room alone -- the company's launching Google TV with an impressive array of partners, each of whom has a different spin on the platform. Here's the list:

• Sony plans to build BRAVIA Internet TVs and Blu-ray players that run the platform, all expected to launch this fall.
• Logitech is building a Google TV "companion box" that can control your entire A/V rack using Harmony technology, using and Android phone or an iPhone as the remote.
• Dish Network was actually the beta test partner, but we don't specifically know what its plans are -- there's no hardware right now, and Google demoed the platform using a custom IP protocol to control a Dish receiver. We're guessing that means there's no custom hardware coming, but look for Google TV-ready Dish boxes sometime in the fall as well.
• Adobe's obviously building Flash 10.1 for the platform.
• Intel's making the Atom CE4100 chip that's used in all these devices -- it's actually kind of a burner. More on it later on.
• Best Buy has partnered to sell Google TV devices in its stores, so there's going to be a big retail push

If you're interested in more info, Google TV: everything you ever wanted to know.

God Of War III Review

New God Of War III Trailer

God Of War III Gets A Release Date

According to the Playstation Blog, March 16th will be the beginning of video game March Madness. You can already pre-order God of War III.

There will also be a God of War III: Ultimate Edition that will feature:

• Copy of God of War III.
• High-end sculpted replica of Pandora’s Box.
• Limited edition God of War art book featuring exclusive art, content and interviews.
• Exclusive content downloadable via PlayStation Network.
• God of War Combat Arena containing an exclusive environment and seven challenges.
• Premium Kratos Skin – Dominus.
• God of War: Unearthing the Legend Franchise Documentary – a full-length movie documentary depicting the history of the God of War franchise.
• God of War Trilogy Soundtrack – God of War, II, and III scores from the game (mp3 digital download).
• God of War: Blood and Metal EP – a heavy metal homage featuring original music inspired by God of War (mp3 digital download).

Super Street Fighter IV - New Contender Trailer

EA Sports Throws It's Hat In The MMA Ring

EA SPORTS MMA will feature the most authentic, intense and broad mixed martial arts experience to date - complete with a vast array of top fighters and fighting styles from around the world. EA SPORTS MMA will be available on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system and the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system in 2010.

"We are very excited to be working with STRIKEFORCE and feature them as a premier league in our game," said Executive Producer Dale Jackson. "They have a wealth of mixed martial arts expertise, put on great shows and have a great stable of top-notch fighters. Together we look forward to growing the sport and delivering an immersive interactive gaming experience."

You can keep up with the game developments at Twitter.com/EASportsMMA

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God Of War Collection Trailer

Available this November – just in time for the holidays — fans and newcomers to the franchise will be able to experience the epic journey that is God of War and God of War II on the PlayStation 3 for the first time remastered in full HD resolution on a single Blu-ray Disc. Both critically acclaimed games (originally developed for the PS2) will include 2X anti-aliased graphics running at 60 frames per second for an ultra smooth gameplay experience on the PS3.

The God Of War Collection will also include a PSN voucher code for the God of War III E3 2009 Demo. So don’t miss your chance to check out God of War III before it hits store shelves in March 2010.

Info courtesy of the Playstation Blog.

Uncharted 2: Amoung Thieves (Review)

God Of War 1 & 2 Coming To PS3

This is definitely great news for me. Although I love games I have not had a console for years and haven't had access to anyone else's for equally as long. This past weekend I got to finally play the original God of War on the PS2, myself. It's still dope! I always planned on eventually getting a PlayStation 3 and I wanted to cop all of the God Of Wars, but I was told that the first one wasn't compatible with the PS3 . . . until now!


From Sony:

God of War Collection will feature reworked versions of both God of War® and God of War 2 on a single Blu-ray Disc™ at full 1280 x 720 resolution. Both critically acclaimed games, which were originally developed for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, have been remastered with anti-aliased graphics running at 60 frames per second for a smooth gameplay experience on the PS3 system. Additionally, the Blu-ray Disc compilation will bring PlayStation®Network (PSN) trophy support to the franchise for the first time (included for both games). God of War Collection offers substantial value to PS3 consumers, the compilation of both best-selling games costing just $39.99 MSRP.

Source

Sony Finally Announces PS3 Slim For $299

Earlier Tuesday, Kmart.com jumped the gun on the announcement and accidentally posted an ad on its home page that revealed a price cut to the "old" 80GB and 160GB PS3s to $299 and $399 respectively and hinted at the impending arrival of the new PS3 Slim.

In Cologne, Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai performed the unveiling, taking the stage and announcing the PS3 was "getting a new model" and that indeed it was called the PS3 Slim.

The Slim is hitting stores the first week in September and will cost $299.99 (or for those who live in other regions, 299 euros or 29980 yen). Hirai says it has the same features and functions as the "old" PS3 but is 33 percent smaller, 36 percent lighter, and comes with a 120 GB hard drive. - CNET.com

Zero Punctuation reviews inFamous

Sucker Punch Productions' Infamous

Uncharted 2: Amoung Thieves (Game Play & More)

I can't believe this is actual game play footage. This is insane!



Uncharted 2: Among Thieves drops October 13, 2009.

According to Kotaku.com:

"Sony laid out its retailer plans for a quartet of downloadable exclusives with Amazon.com, GameStop, Game Crazy and BestBuy."

Amazon.com - Exclusive UNCHARTED 2 Treasure Map
The exclusive UNCHARTED 2 Treasure Map allows players to discover hidden treasures throughout the game.

Game Crazy - Exclusive Currency Multiplier for multiplayer online use
The UNCHARTED 2 Currency Multiplier allows gamers to gain in-game currency and unlock bonuses faster than their opponents for a limited period.

GameStop - Exclusive first access to the Multiplayer Demo and the downloadable Revenge Attribute
The Revenge Attribute is one of the last boosters that you can unlock in the multiplayer campaign. This bonus allows you to unlock the "Revenge" booster right from the start of your multiplayer campaign. (Available September 9th to September 29th)

For more info on the extras: Uncharted 2 Release Date, Box Art, Pre-order Goodies Revealed