HP caught off guard by tablet success, promises more to come - market teaches us a lesson?

Funny how things change when companies make the right decision by accident, huh?  By now, you've probably heard about the recent price ($99 U.S) cut to HP's 'unsuccessful' tablet after HP itself announced it was getting out of the game altogether.  What you may NOT have heard is that those tablets have sold out and HP is promising to provide more to market to supply the demand. 

Conclusion?  People like cheap stuff.  -well, yes...but HP's tablet is hardly anything distinguished on the market.  It doesn't run either of the up-and-coming operating systems (iOS/Android/WinMobile8) nor does it have much support on the application side of things.  Yet at the current price, it is smashing the iPad which is arguably the best seller of this type of gadget.  So what gives?

I'll tell you - it's perceived value.  Quite frankly, everyone I talk to likes the idea of a tablet, they just don't like the price.  By design or folly, HP has inadvertently discovered the true desire of the market thus concluding that if Apple and their ilk want to see the iPad REALLY take off, they need to get their pricing down to sub $200 U.S. level before anything is really going to change.

War of the Worlds reviving the haydays of 2D

This one might be a little off some radars but it is no less important than the flurry of Mass Effect, Batman, Uncharted, etc announcements that we've been bombarded with (repeatedly, unnecessarily) over the last few months.  No doubt destined for the furtile marketing grounds of PSN and XBLA, Paramount's 'War of the Worlds' is a shining example of the healthy revival of 2d-platforming.  The developer diary found here should contain everything you want to know about the game as well as the introductory gameplay narrated by Captain Picard himself. 

So why get excited?  Well, it looks absolutely lovely for starters.  It features a voiceover by Patrick Stewart who narrates you through the game.  The soundtrack is recorded from a full-piece, cinema-inspired orchestral score and the script is written by noted author Chris Fowler.  Summing up the dev story, much of their inspiration comes from 2d legends of past fame such as 'Prince of Persia' (Jordan Mechner's original - not the 3D series), 'Out of this World', and Flashback.  (think 16-bit Genesis).  In other words, this game is being made by guys who love games and with Paramount's backing on production values, War of the Worlds looks to impress.

With the slur of predicatable and uninspired first-person games of recent years, it is highly refreshing to see studios put their faith in tried-and-true game formats.  What started with 'Limbo' and 'Shadow Complex' is quickly becoming the newest old-thing in gaming trends a.ka. high-gloss 2d platforming.  Not to mention the fact that it's one of the only genres that can actually run in 1080p native on our aging consoles ;)

Check out this awesome new trailer for Colonial Marines!

I'll let the trailer speak for itself.
The only word that comes to mind is: 'Finally!'

New SSX trailer looks absolutely amazing

Head on over to Joystiq and check out this trailer for the upcoming reboot of EA's SSX for the next (current) gen.  SSX was a major hit on the last generation of console and the new one looks to up the game even more.  Apart from wild graphics and speed thrills, EA has put a lot of effort into community-based gameplay and (I think) they've done it in an intelligent and fun way.  Biggest bragging rights: 100,000 players live at one time.  No idea what that really means or how it will actually work out pragmatically but I'm looking forward to the game nonetheless.  Watch close and check out the 'flying' option.  A first-day purchase for me.

THQ impresses with 8 minutes of 'Saint's Row: The Third' gameplay

PS3Vault has posted this video of THQ's upcoming installement to it's 'Saint's Row' series.  Personally, I've never been a fan of the game as it always seemed to lack direction not unlike its spiritual cousin: 'Just Cause.'  While both are credible open-world franchises, they just don't seem to have the staying power of Rockstar's creations. 


That may be about to change.

The gameplay footage demonstrates some very fun game mechanics as well as improving on some existing ones.  It would also seem as though the new 'Saints' is much more story-driven than its predecessors which (hopefully) should provide a solid single-player campaign rather than depending on multiplayer 'lulz' to lure money out of our respective wallets.

Third time lucky?  Wait and see - but the video DID make me smile and that's no small feat considering how old and grumpy I'm getting these days ;)

ID's John Carmack stokes the console fanboy war: "360 better than PS3"

With all due respect, I don't believe in console 'wars' and nor does John Carmack - but it was a catchy title for the blog ;)

In context, John was recently interviewed by QJ.net about his experience with development and the question was put to him as to his thoughts on the PS3 being the 'best console' of all time.  His response was not particularly surprising - saying that although he liked the PS3, the 360 was much easier to develop for - largely because of a much better SDK (which we knew) and the flexibility offered by the 360's RAM architecture (the 360 allows devs to vary RAM allocation between CPU and graphics) compared to the PS3's sparse devkit and segmented RAM. (256k hardwired to CPU and GPU respectively)

While John's comments were not meant as a criticism necessarily - just an honest answer to a..perhaps fanboy-type of a question, his thoughts are worth listening to as the next generation of console approaches.  In terms of sheer potential, the PS3 is arguably better if only slightly, but for years studios have been forced to 'unlock' that potential by coding around incomplete development tools and architecture bottlenecks.  Some have been more successful than others largely due to money and resources; this has taken its toll on the PS3 particularly from the Indie games side of things which is largely non-existent for Sony's premier machine.

The Playstation 3 is a clear example of how hardware engineers can run amuck and create good electronics that are bad for developers.  Not knowing much insider details about the development cycle for the Playstation 3, we can only surmise that the software side of Sony didn't have a lot of involvement in the planning process.  Instead, it would seem that Sony used a 'if you build it, they will come' approach counting on the expertise of the software community at large to get their heads around the PS3's unique hardware arrangement.  While Carmark's comments about the PS3 are hardly unique or new, they underpin an important point of concern for Sony engineers who are, no doubt, in the final phases of specification for the 'Playstation 4.' 

Rumours swirl as 2K registers 'Citizen Skywatch'

Joystick is reporting that 2K games has registered a new domain called 'citizenskywatch.com' and it's obviously got them excited as the IP address traces back to Rockstar itself.  Suggestions of a new IP from the Red Dead Redemption team have got people talking.

Ironically, I think they're completely off the mark. Regardless of the IP belonging to 'Rockstar' (servers are shared across enterprises, guys...it's called 'cost effectiveness') 2K is also the publisher of the upcoming 'Bioshock Infinite' title and I suspect that this is all part of some viral campaign to promote Ken Levine's new sequel rather than some new IP from Rockstar no matter where the breadcrumbs lead to.

But hey - if it is a new IP from Rockstar, nobody is going to object, are they?