Real news program from the virtual world:
-CONTINENTAL CONGRESS: The Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, is the biggest annual computer game event in Europe, and it keeps getting bigger. This yr, more than 203,000 people (which includes normal civilians, not just gambling professionals) got a look at the latest offering from 547 exhibitors gap out over more than 1 million square feet. That's a lot to take in over the entire four-day show, a great deal less in one day.
Sony was the star of this show, thanks to an compartmentalisation of hardware introductions. There's a new PlayStation 3 with a 160-gigabyte hard drive - twice the storage of the flow console - that will sell for $500.
There's as well a revamped PlayStation Portable, priced at $200, with a new LCD blind and a built-in microphone. And there's a cute new wireless keypad, which attaches to the PS3 controller and is meant to make it easier to old World chat with your friends in Sony's "Home" virtual world.
Perhaps the hottest gadget of the establish, though, was Sony's PlayTV, which essentially turns the PS3 into a digital video fipple pipe. It only works with Europe's digital terrestrial TV standard, though, and on that point hasn't fifty-fifty been a suggestion that Sony power bring a similar device to the United States.
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-BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: There wasn't a whole portion of fresh software at Leipzig - although, of course, it was the first time that most Europeans got a glimpse of the games we saw at E3 in July. But there were a few intriguing new titles that we'll plausibly see in the U.S. as well.
Sony led the way, over again, with "Heavy Rain," a moody PS3 thriller from "Indigo Prophecy" developer Quantic Dream. The company too scored with "EyePet," a virtual critter that reacts to your movements through the PlayStation Eye camera attachment. One game, still, that's not likely to cross the Atlantic is "SingStar: Queen" - as in the rock band Queen. The "SingStar" karaoke series has never quite caught on stateside, simply who wouldn't want to sing wish Freddie Mercury?
Konami offered an intriguing new action secret plan, "Lords of Shadow," which it described as "a dark queer tale" and "an epical battle between good and evil" adjust in the Middle Ages. Sega has revamped its zombie-hunting dealership with "House of the Dead Overkill," which has the nip of a missing episode from Quentin Tarantino's "Grindhouse." And Ubisoft has something for fans of "Super Monkey Ball" and "Ape Escape": the virtual pet we've all been waiting for in "Monkey Madness."
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-TOWER DEFENSE: All the fun stuff at Leipzig was overshadowed by a disputation over a piece of art that was on display at the show. As part of an exhibit celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of "Space Invaders," the French-American artist Douglas Edric Stanley created a version of the game in which you're stressful to keep the intimate aliens from destroying the World Trade Center.
"Like the original, this trial is ultimately unsuccessful, thus creating an articulate and critical commentary about the electric current war strategy," Stanley explained on his Web website. Naturally, some New Yorkers whose relatives died in the Sept. 11 attacks had a different interpretation, telling the New York Daily News they institute the art "distasteful" and "disgusting."
Taito, which holds the "Space Invaders" copyright, assign out a press acquittance describing Stanley's use of the game as "totally unauthorized" and said it was considering legal action against him. Finally, Stanley unplugged the installation, locution, "The American response to this ferment has been, frankly, immature, and deficient the sophistication and retainer that other parts of the populace have so far shown the work."
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-NEW IN STORES: The summer role-playing game drought ends with trine epics: Square Enix's "Infinite Undiscovery" (for the Xbox 360), Namco Bandai's "Tales of Vesperia" (360) and NIS America's "Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice" (PlayStation 3). ... With the waft races warming up, Nintendo's "Mario Super Sluggers" (Wii) steps up to the plate. ... The only home you'll see a certain golf maven this year is in EA Sports' "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09" (nearly systems). ... Forget about high school gas prices and learn a gyrate in Activision's "Ferrari Challenge" (PS3, PlayStation 2, Wii, DS). ... Atari brings the indie muffin "Nplus" to the DS and PlayStation Portable.
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