Frontier Developments boss: "Halo 3 schmalo 3"...

...or at least that's my interpretation of it.

Frontier Developments boss David Braben thinks that yes, Bioshock and Halo 3 were fun games, but ultimately, they fall short of the title "next-gen". Not that they don't look pretty; he places the biggest fault on their gameplay.

In an interview with Eurogamer, his thoughts on Bioshock are, "I loved the 1930s-1950s atmosphere of BioShock: the lovely Art Deco visuals and the audio that worked especially well. Overall the whole game was beautifully executed, but the gameplay itself was not 'next-gen'."

And Halo 3? He says, "I found Halo 3 great fun, too, but also a little disappointing - as although there were a few nice touches and improved graphical fidelity, it hadn't really moved on much from Halo 2 in terms of the gameplay."

So you might be asking yourself now, what is an example of a real "next-gen" game? Well Braben believes that the project his company is working on now, The Outsider, will be one of the first real examples of a new generation in gaming. He believes that what truly distinguishes a game is the ability for the gamer to be the biggest influence in how the game plays out; something that is far more than just simply picking an alignment(ex. good, evil, neutral good, lawful evil, etc.).

As for what I think...maybe he's right, but I just can't shake the feeling that he's only saying this to raise awareness for the game he's developing. No release dates or consoles have yet to be announced for The Outsider, so we'll just have to wait and see if he can really deliver in his promises.

Okami soon to be re-released on the Wii

Wii owners and fans of the original game rejoice! Okami, first released on the PS2 in 2006, is now being treated to a remake on the Nintendo Wii.

Confirmed by Capcom earlier this week, Okami is expected to be released sometime within the second quarter of 2008.

Okami is widely thought to be one of the most overlooked games ever released, so Capcom may be hoping that with the remake of the game for the Wii, and possibly a little more advertising, they can make up the sales they didn't get with the PS2 version.

One of the advantages of the Wii version is that players can now use the consoles motion-sensing capabilities to use the games Celestial Brush (a weapon used to make brush strokes on the screen) in an easier manner.

As for me, I'd heard about Okami before it came out originally, but then I kinda never heard anything about it again. Its impending re-release for the Wii however, has made me go back and look into it. And judging from the scores it received from most critics and reviewers, and the way the game sounds and looks, I think it's a safe bet to say I'll most likely be picking this title up.

Sony announces new PS3 model and price cut

Jack Tretton, the President of Sony Computer Entertainment America, settled rumors today when he announced the imminent release of a new Playstation 3 model: a $400 40 GB version.

This is coming after Sony cleared house on a 20 GB version earlier this year upon seeing that gamers preferred the 60 GB and 80 GB models. And there has been more than just hard-drive space cut from this model; the backward compatibility with the PS2 has also been removed.

In a interview with Reuters, Tretton states, "We're choosing to focus on the PlayStation 2 consumer with the PlayStation 2, which remains incredibly relevant, and focus on the PlayStation 3 consumer with the new 40-gigabyte model and the great software coming out."

"Backward compatibility is a nice secondary consideration, but it's far from the number-one priority."

Along with the introduction of the new model, the 80 GB PS3 has been cut in price from $600 to $500.

The 40 GB model, already available in Europe and Japan, will be released in the United States on Nov. 2, just ahead of the Holiday season. Whether it will be enough to help bolster the PS3's abysmal sales...well, we'll just have to wait and see.

Hello Gamers!

It's Aaron here...guess what! I'm going to start put my writing skizzillz to use for Gamer Time Radio, and do some stories for the front page.

Word.

So now you can come to the site for more than just once-a-week podcast updates on the gaming world, and you can have more topics for discussion in the Forum. Have fun reading!

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