The Games News

Sony announced the release date and prices for its much awaited PlayStation 3 video game console in May 2006 at the E3 conference in Los Angeles. The PlayStation 3 will be released on 11th November in Japan, 17th November in North America and will be available in Europe early next year. The PlayStation 3’s base model will cost $499 and an enhanced model will cost $599, substantially higher than its main competitors Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii. The PlayStation 3 has features like, a 20GB upgradeable Hard Disk, a Blu-Ray Drive, HDMI Port and many more, making it one of the most advanced gaming consoles ever made. But do these features justify the high price of the PlayStation3?

According to Sony, the high prices are justified but gamers are not convinced. Gaming community consider that, from whatever they have seen, the PlayStation 3 has not lived up to its expectations. Consoles are made for playing games and this version of PlayStation 3 doesn’t have many exciting games lined up. Even the much-hyped hardware is not as good as it should be. One of the PlayStation 3’s main marketing weapon, the Blu-Ray Drive according to critics, gives you images like a normal DVD player, nothing fancy. The gamers do have their doubts in mind, but will this actually have an impact on the sales of PlayStation 3. That has to be seen.

According to the reports, the long waited Super Mario Bros DS has sold 480,000 units on its debut, making it the fastest selling DS title ever. It shouldn’t come as a surprise as it can be considered as a marriage between the best names in their respective categories, Nintendo DS in the console category and Super Mario Bros in the gaming category.
Super Mario Bros boasts amazing graphics, which accompanies its 2D game play, which when coupled with the dual screen of the Nintendo DS, makes it simply irresistible. This time around, Mario has 3 others with him for company, Yoshi, Luigi and Wario. There are more levels to complete the game. For example one can play the game without actually having to complete all levels, which means replaying would just be fun. One of the new features of the Super Mario Bros DS are the minigames, in which you basically use the touch-screen feature of the DS. The DS also allows 2 players to wirelessly link with each other and play in the multi-player mode.
The notorius game, Super Mario Bros lives on in today’s world - where games are synonymous with extreme graphics - to actually prove that classics are very much alive.

During the final months of the development of Halo 3, the testers have begun testing the multiplayer aspect of the third and possibly final game in the series. Most of the testing has been on non-HDTV screens on a usual 4:3 480i NTSC TV screen. With the majority of the testing using non-HD definition, this means that Microsoft and Bungie are making sure that Halo 3 will be great for everyone, not just the lucky ones that possess HD. I am curious to see how the game will turn out. As an avid player of the first and the second Halo games alike, I played the multiplayer version to a point of insanity. It, in my opinion, is one of the greatest first-person multiplayer modes ever created. The hope that they continue their testing on the multiplayer and make it their top priority until the release of the game is one of my greatest concerns. The storyline of the game started on a downfall during the middle of Halo 2 while the multiplayer stole the spotlight. For college students and gamers alike, let’s all hope Halo 3 will live up to the hype.

In the upcoming months, both of Microsoft’s greatest competitors are releasing their next-generation systems to compete and possibly deter Microsoft’s seemingly relentless onslaught of the video game industry. Both of the competitors, Sony and Nintendo, will be ecstatic to hear that Microsoft has had no interest whatsoever of dropping the price of the Xbox 360.

With the Xbox Core system at $299 and the Premium system at $399, Microsoft has sold millions of the Xbox 360 while the people who buy it seem to aimlessly shell out the cash (or credit) to buy one. With the price of the Wii officially at $250 and the PlayStation 3 at a indecisive $599, the Xbox 360 stands right between both and should continue to sell the system with but a slight drop in sales due to the release of the two newer systems. With no price drop in sight for the Xbox 360, it will be interesting to watch the developments come mid-November.

Reggie Fils-Aime has just been promoted for President and Chief Operating Officer for the North American division of Nintendo and prior to that, he held the position of Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Reggie caught the attention of the gaming world in May 2004 at a press conference, where he famously said “My name is Reggie. I’m about kickin’ ass, I’m about takin’ names, and we’re about makin’ games” and no wonder he has a cult status among Nintendo fans. Critics love him too, not just for his words but for what he is doing for Nintendo and has done for companies like P&G and Pizza Hut, making “miracles” for every company. At VH1, as a senior marketing manager he increased the channel rating by increasing the number of teen viewers. At Pizza hut, he introduced the Bigfoot Pizza, which was of course a runaway success.

The success stories about Reggie could go on but one of his major achievements in Nintendo was the marketing of Nintendo Revolution nicknamed Reggielution, a little tribute to the marketing guru. Reggie in a very short time, has become one of Nintendo’s trump cards and with his marketing skills is expected he will elevate Nintendo to the numero uno position.