“You don’t need to invent anything, you just have to do traditional research where you look at history and then compliment that with scientific research where you’re trying to do something new. That can lead to a lot in the business and technology sectors these days” – Bill Buxton
A chat with Microsoft Principal Researcher Bill Buxton, Part I
The wait is over. Gears of War 2 and Resistance 2 are available this week for everyone to enjoy. After playing around with these impressive shooters, I have to agree with this article I came across at Gamedaily.com. It is the same article but I just rearrange it to have everything in one page:
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Best Single Player Campaign
WINNER: Gears of War 2
Gears of War 2 takes you on a blood-soaked thrill ride across the planet Sera, as Marcus and company splatter Locusts across sprawling battlefields and in close quarters. You’ll fight humongous creatures, play with 17 excellent weapons and enjoy a riveting story with Hollywood style cut scenes and great voice acting. With Resistance 2, you’ll explore Chimera infested California, Chicago and other locations, using a bunch of high-powered weapons to topple a variety of creatures, one of which is 300 feet tall.
In a surprise twist, Gears of War 2 transformed Marcus, Dominic Santiago and the rest of the heroes from mindless grunts into people with a wide range of emotions. That’s what makes Gears’ single player mode superior. Resistance 2′s main character, Nathan Hale, lacks personality. As a result, we have a lot of trouble attaching ourselves to him and his cause. We love blasting Chimera, but we do it because we can, and not because the fate of the world depends on it.
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Best Multiplayer
WINNER: Gears of War 2
Both shooters have great multiplayer. Resistance 2 debuts a sweet perks system where you gain experience playing all three modes (single player, multiplayer and co-op) that transform your average soldier into a beefed up killing machine. In addition, the game has a mind boggling 60-person mode that splits everyone into squads with specific objectives. Finally, there’s a separate co-op mode for up to eight players where you choose one of three classes (soldier, medic and special ops) and work together to kill enemies.
Gears of War 2 has co-op single player and more intimate five-on-five deathmatches, but also modes like Wingman, where two man teams wage war across the game’s varied maps; and Submission, a variation of Capture the Flag where you must incapacitate a shotgun wielding non-player character and drag him back to your spawn point. However, Horde is without question GOW 2′s greatest mode. A five-person team bands together to outlast 50 waves of increasingly difficult Locusts. It’s amazing.
Resistance 2′s large-scale battles rock, but we also dig GOW 2′s five-on-five affairs. However, co-op story mode puts Gears ahead just barely.
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Best Graphics
WINNER: Gears of War 2
At first, this seemed like an easy win for Gears. Hundreds of Locusts pour out from emergence holes, punctuated by TV rattling explosions and gorgeous environments, all powered by Unreal Engine 3 make for brutal, yet beautiful warface. Resistance 2 fans always have the jaw-dropping San Francisco scene, with legions of Chimera ships blowing it to smithereens, but the rest of the game doesn’t look as good. Gears 2 looks gorgeous throughout.
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Best Audio
WINNER: Gears of War 2
Now is the time to splurge on surround sound, as Gears of War 2 and Resistance 2 feature weapons and explosions that’ll further immerse you in the experience. That said, Gears has a superior soundtrack, while Resistance 2 has this odd bug where turning around significantly lowers the volume of those speaking to you.
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Best Monsters
WINNER: Tie
This one’s too close to call. Gears of War 2′s Locust Horde are evil and ugly bastards that have no qualms chopping you into fish bait. Drones pour from emergence holes and open fire, while Maulers chase you with razor sharp machetes. As for Resistance, the Chimera come in both organic and robotic forms, and the humongous Leviathan in Chicago is breathtakingly massive.
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Best Weapons
WINNER: Gears of War 2
Gears’s 17 different weapons include the trusty Lancer Assault Rifle (with chainsaw attachment), Scorcher Flamethrower, Mortar and Mulcher chain gun, all of which do an excellent job helping you kill things. Resistance 2 also presents an impressive arsenal of deadly toys (the new Splicer fires razor sharp blades), each of which has a devastating secondary fire. However, Gears gets the nod for chainsaws, poison grenades and the always destructive Gnasher Shotgun.
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Best Special Edition
WINNER: Tie
The Resistance 2 Collector’s Edition ($80) comes with the game, a Chimera action figure, a bonus disc full of goodies, an art book and a download code for an exclusive HVAP Wraith multiplayer skin. Gears of War 2′s $69.99 Limited Edition comes in a special metal box, has a 48-page book, bonus disc and download code for an exclusive gold-plated Lancer Assault Rifle.
It seems like a tie, but wait! Amazon.com has a special offer where you can bundle the Limited Edition with a replica Lancer, as in, a life size blood-covered replica. If you pre-order by November 6th, you can score the Lancer and the regular edition of GOW 2 for $139.99, or it and the Limited Edition for $149.99.
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And the winner is…
Sorry PlayStation 3 fans, but Gears of War 2 is simply superior. Resistance 2 is great, but its lack of character development and less impressive weapons puts it in GOW 2’s rear view mirror.
Tags: GearsofWar 2, GOW2, Resistance 2, Playstation 3, PS3, Xbox 360
Source: Blorge.com
This generation has seen a new battleground for the console wars: the online community offerings. Up to now, few would argue that the Xbox 360 has ruled the roost, with Xbox Live offering a brilliant and user-friendly place for gamers to congregate. But the battle lines are now being redrawn as the all-new Xbox Live attempts to go up against Home on the PS3.
The Tokyo Game Show has brought few surprises, but some interesting announcements, nonetheless. In terms of the new online offerings from both companies, Sony confirmed that its long-awaited Playstation Home service, exclusive to the PS3, will be here by the end of the year; while Microsoft announced details of its New Xbox Live ‘Experience’ – coming to a 360 near you on November 19th.
Home has been a long time coming and there are still mixed views over whether it will actually live up to the hype built over the past three years. It’s still not quite here, currently stuck in private beta, but a full, open beta has been promised before the end of 2009.
Home will allow PS3 owners to create an avatar and decorate their own apartment. They will then be able to live out a virtual life, online, in a kind of Second Life way. Community will be the order of the day, with meeting new people, chatting, hanging out together and generally cohabiting being the main bulk of the experience.
Other features will include a virtual cinema, showing movies, stores by companies such as EA, Rockstar, and Sega, and of course the chance to play against other gamers online for free.
The New Xbox Live ‘Experience’ demonstrates a whole new way of thinking by Microsoft. According to an interesting look at the new online playground by CNET, the Experience is mostly about the new avatars, which themselves are just a rip off of Wii Miis.
Another new feature will be ‘Parties’, a new way of interacting with friends and keeping track of who’s playing what. But apart from that, there doesn’t look to be too much to get excited about. And to be honest, I can see many Xbox Live veterans not being happy at the changes, clearly intended to appeal to the more casual end of the gaming spectrum.
I can see both services having difficulties for a few months, with Xbox 360 owners struggling to adapt to the changes while PS3 owners will have to come to grips with the complete change of pace on their network. In the end though, despite all the difficulties, delays and disappointments in getting Home here, I think it’ll prove to be the ultimate winner.
Tags: Microsoft, Opinion, PS3, PlayStation 3, Sony, Xbox 360, Xbox Experience, Xbox Live
The long delay until Sony launched its video download service (actually more like a few hours), is over. HD and SD rentals, and SD purchases from an assortment of movie studios is now available in the Playstation Store by selecting the video button at the top left. Need to know what’s available in your region but aren’t near your PS3? Check out the website for a list of what awaits.
PlayStation video download service is live – Engadget
Tags: breakingnews, BreakingNews, e3 2008, E32008, playstation, playstation 3, playstation store, Playstation3, PlaystationStore, ps3, psn, sony, video store, VideoStore
This is going to be an interesting year. Two monster games are being launch at the end of 2008: Resistance 2 and Gears of War 2. I’ve had the opportunity to play both old versions for the PS3 (Resistance) and GoW on the XBox360.
Each game have their unique features and let you immerse easily on the gameplay. Both games marked an important milestone on both consoles and I’m pretty sure they will do it again. I think the Playstation 3 has the advantage this year, because of the launch of several exclusive titles: Metal Gear Solid 4 (launched on June 12th); Resistance 2, Killzone 2, etc. These games have a well-known established fan based that will favor the PS3 for sure. But the XBox360 will be fighting with its 2008 games lineup.
Loading ...At the end, it is up to the gamers to decide which one to pick (I will pick both 
) and in order to create some good expectations, here are some videos for you to take a look. Enjoy!
Resistance 2 Gameplay:
Gears of War 2 Gameplay:
Dutch gaming website PS3-Sense posted a video of Playstation Home. The video shows a few new features and spaces. The good part of all this is: It is for FREE! We would be able to enjoy this virtual Social Network using the PS3 for FREE
