ps3

Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero 2 were big hits for Harmonix, and now the company is going even further with its newest game. Today, Harmonix announced Rock Band, a music game for the PlayStation 3 and 360 that combines guitars, drums, and singing into a mutant offspring of Guitar Hero, Karaoke Revolution, and Taiko Drum Master.

Like the name implies, Rock Band will focus on cooperating with friends as players take lead/bass/rhythm guitars, drums, and vocals and work together to rock out. Guitar, drum, and microphone peripherals will all be available, but you won't need them all … Read more

Rockstar Games took the wraps off the teaser trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV yesterday afternoon, giving gamers their first look at the highly anticipated sequel. While only about a minute long, the trailer offers some key details about the new game. The graphics have gotten a big next-gen upgrade, the setting is clearly a skewed version of New York City, and the game puts you in the shoes of an Eastern European protagonist. Tor Thorsen over at GameSpot offers some additional details, but the big news is that all of the footage in the trailer was captured "in … Read more

Sony will be releasing a software upgrade (1.60) to its PlayStation 3 console on Thursday, and it essentially consists of some convenience tweaks as well as a cool tie-in with a medical research project at Stanford University. Basically, Sony's taking a few more steps toward its vision of the PS3 as a living room media center rather than a gaming console. Unfortunately, it still has to deal with the Wii.

With regard to the convenience upgrades, you'll be able to connect Bluetooth peripherals, like keyboards and mice, to your PS3. You'll also be able to queue … Read more

Have you ever wanted to see how your game system works? Do you scoff at warranties? Do you not mind risking your $80-to-$600 gadget just so you can screw with it? Then this toolkit is for you.

Modding peripheral companies like Divineo and Mod-chip.com are selling the Zoozen Access Pro Tool Kit v2, a toolkit with virtually everything you need to crack into virtually every game system you have. It includes a socketed handle with standard driver bits for slotted, Phillips, and Torx screws, and specialized driver bits for the "tamperproof" screws many systems use (Ever … Read more

The Blu-ray Disc Association in Europe is making some big claims.

"Within three years it will just be Blu-ray," Frank Simonis, the group's European chairman, said Thursday at the CeBit tech show in Hannover, Germany.

While it's impossible to know how the next-gen DVD battle will turn out--we don't all have access to Simonis' crystal ball--Blu-ray does have a bit of a head start over rival format HD DVD with Sony's PlayStation 3.

That's because there's a Blu-ray player in every PS3, 1.84 million of which were sold in Japan and … Read more

April 15 may be known as Tax Day, but the HD DVD backers over at AVS forum are calling it something else: Buy HD DVDs from Amazon Day!

As one forum member put it: "The idea is to show support for HD DVD by buying movies on a specific day. There is no better way to show support for HD DVD than by backing it financially. That is the language the movie studios understand best. If there is a strong demand for HD DVD software, then hopefully Blu-ray-only studios will at least go neutral."

So far about a … Read more

Say what you will about PS3 sales, but it seems clear that the game console is having an impact on the next-gen DVD war. This week the Blu-ray version of Casino Royale broke into the Amazon top 10 for DVD sales and four other Blu-ray titles sit in the top 100. On the other hand, the top title on HD DVD, Happy Feet, is currently ranked at No. 117.

In a recent column, I suggested to readers that they should keep an eye on The Departed--it's a Warner release and therefore available on both HD DVD and Blu-ray--to get … Read more

We speak not of Sega mascot Sonic the Hedgehog's romantic obsession with gold rings (creepy as that may be), but of Crush, an upcoming platform and puzzle game for the Sony PSP that we saw at Sega's spring press event here in NYC.

This puzzle game caught our eye with its unusual 2D/3D design. Players traverse the find-the-exit levels by temporarily "crushing" the game's geometry down to a 2D view, allowing the main character to get to otherwise impossible-to-reach places. It's similar in some ways to Super Paper Mario for the Wii, and … Read more

Spider-Man 3 is shaping up to be one of the biggest movies of the year, and like any blockbuster it's getting its own video game. Usually video games based on movies based on comic books tend to completely bite, but Spider-Man has so far managed to dodge the bullet. Though repetitive, Spider-Man 2 turned out to be a fun, attractive game that captured the web-slinger's web-swinging beautifully. So I still have hopes for the Spider-Man 3 game.

PlayStation 3 owners have even more reason to be excited about Spider-Man 3. According to IGN, the Spider-Man 3 game will … Read more