Nvidia, a leader in PC game production, has unveiled its new 3D Vision gaming system. The technology incorporates state-of-the-art Nvidia products, including the company's new 3D glasses, which offer a larger viewing area and better blocking of outside light.

The 3D Vision system uses Nvidia's LightBoost technology, which the gaming giant says will 'dramatically improve' the gaming experience and will be used in a variety of top titles, including LA Noire and Batman: Arkham City.

Phil Eisler, general manager of 3D Vision at Nvidia says the technology creates 'gorgeous, bright, crystal clear 3D worlds', with images that are double the brightness of the manufacturer's previous offering.

'We are thrilled to be the first desktop display manufacturer to bring this new level of 3D visual quality to our customers with ASUS VG278H,' he added. Microsoft recently announced that its Xbox 360 console has been the best selling gaming machine for 15 out the last 16 months in the US, with sales reaching $534 million (£339 million) in September.

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This is a phenomenal mean machine and unleashes a brilliant, high definition entertainment experience with its Cell Broadband Engine that delivers a gaming experience that is far beyond expectations.

It is well known that Sony Electronics is a world leader in home appliances and entertainment products, and it is also a well known fact that the PS3 is more than just a games console, and delivers glorious 1080p/24fps video from Blu-ray discs, and even up-scales regular DVDs.

This is a phenomenal mean machine and unleashes a brilliant, high definition entertainment experience with its Cell Broadband Engine that delivers a gaming experience that is far beyond expectations.

A whole new generation in high definition gaming and unmatched digital media storage, all delivered by its built-in Blu-ray disc drive, whether its gaming, Blu-ray movies, music or online services, PlayStation 3 will change your digital life.

PlayStation 3 is powered by the Cell Broadband Engine a revolutionary microprocessor, and 40 times faster than the chip that is found inside the PlayStation 2 consoles. The Cell Broadband Engine has the muscle to move far beyond artificial intelligence.

PlayStation 3 has a built-in Blu-ray disc player which means that the gamer can enjoy next generation high-definition entertainment, which includes games and movies, remembering that the DVD offered a technological advance on CDs, Blu-ray is the next step forward in the advancement of data storage technology and digital entertainment.

Apart from Blu-ray capabilities such as high definition, superb picture quality, theatre quality audio, recordable media, Blu-ray has the broadest industry support for any disc format ever launched and is supported by more than 170 of the world’s leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers, this will include Dell, Hitachi, Apple, LG, Mitsubishi, Hewlett-Packard, Philips, Samsung, Hewlett-Packard, Sony to name but a few.

The PlayStation 3 provides an endless array of multimedia activities, it offers control, access and enjoyment of a huge range of digital media including music, photos, video and Internet content, and is the world’s most sophisticated videogame console to date, it comes in at pole position with its graphics, motion-sensing, controller, network capabilities, and terrific games, it is most certainly the system to beat.

With all its sophistication Sony and its PlayStation 3 has come under fire with regards to what gamers have dubbed ‘The Yellow Light of Death’, this subject has been tossed back and forth for some time, but Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has refuted claims that the PS3 consoles have an inherent defect.

This has become a big issue, and forums have been set up to discuss methods of repairing this fault, it is not difficult, either send the console back to Sony or find a PlayStation 3 repair service, job done.

The phrase ‘Yellow Light of Death’ has been adopted by some members of the online community to describe the situation, don’t get dragged into the drama, it has been reported to be a non-specific fault indicator that can be triggered in a range of different circumstances.

A good reputable PlayStation 3 repair facility can in fact repair this fault, and A spokesman for PS Pros a professional PS3 repair provider said “of course we can fix this and other faults and offer a same day PlayStation 3 repair, we are based in London, but can still offer this service to customers anywhere by using our post in service, go online and check us out”.

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Xbox 360 sold 438,000 units in September, making it the No. 1 game console in the U.S. for 2011, according to data from the NPD Group, an independent market research firm that tracks the digital entertainment industry.

According to NPD numbers released by Microsoft, Xbox 360 has 42 percent of the overall current-generation console market. Consumers spent $534 million on hardware, software and accessories for Xbox 360 in September. That was two times larger than the nearest competitor, according to Microsoft. With sales figures like that, Xbox 360 is on track to be the top selling game console in 2011, if Microsoft can keep up the pace with its competitors.

Sony didn’t reveal its sales figures for the PlayStation 3, according to ubergizmo. But Sony did say it saw double-digit growth, with hardware sales up by 20 percent and software up by 52 percent. Nintendo reported that the Wii sold 240,000 units in September, and the DS family sold 145,000 combined units, according to ubergizmo.

Xbox 360 is dominate in the console world, but the gaming industry is being shaken up by smaller players with free to play games on Facebook. Some game industry leaders ponder if consoles have seen their best days, with the way social sites and mobile applications are changing the face of gaming. Still, don't prepare any eulogies for Xbox 360 just yet.

Top entertainment companies including Bravo, Comcast, HBO, Syfy, Verizon FiOS in the U.S., BBC in the UK, Rogers in Canada, Telefónica in Spain and Televisa in Mexico, plan to provide live TV and video-on-demand experiences via Xbox 360 in time for the holiday shopping season. Microsoft continues to beef up its game titles. Including “Forza Motorsport 4” and “Kinectimals Now with Bears!” this month. Also almost ready for launch are “Dance Central 2” and “Kinect Sports: Season Two.”

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Gabe Newell, head of Portal developer and Steam owner Valve, has warned consumers to the possibility that Apple will launch a set-top box that completely disrupts gaming consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Newell, speaking at the WTIA TechNW conference in Seattle, said that he suspects that Apple will launch a “living room product” that changes people’s expectations, leading to the disappearance of a separate gaming console.

Hypothetically, the product Newell mentions could be a future revision of the Apple TV utilizing the A5 processor and faster GPU as seen in the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S.

The Valve leader, speaking broadly, put the living room as a fourth platform for products aside the Web, mobile, and desktop apps. Traditionally, the living room was the sole territory of the console, but that exclusivity is gone.

He added that “it’s sort of ominous” that there is a trend away from open platforms and toward closed ones with walled gardens. Apple’s iOS is perhaps the best example of such a walled garden that Newell finds ominous, and many of his comments at the conference appeared to allude to Apple’s strategies and successes.

He elaborated that a business will simply decide “I’m tired of competing with Google [or Facebook]” and will then choose a “console model” to exclude dangerous competitors. Businesses that choose this strategy “build a shiny sparkling thing” that becomes popular and then controls access to the same products.

Challenged about the open status of Valve’s highly successful Steam platform, which is essentially an iTunes for games, Newell countered that developers can use the Steamworks toolset for free (regardless of selling on Steam or not) and that publishers are allowed to sell the same games on other platforms in parallel to Steam.

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Nintendo's been releasing 3DS Virtual Console games at a very nice pace so far. In just a few months, we've already had classics like Donkey Kong and Gargoyle's Quest. The newest release, Catrap, however, is probably the most obscure title yet.

Originally released in Japan under the title Pitman, and based on a game earlier released on a Japanese home computer, Catrap is an odd little puzzler which is not too well known, but a bit of a minor cult classic. The premise is a bit similar to that of Bubble Bobble — the two main characters have been turned into anthropomorphic cats, and have to solve 100 puzzles in order to turn back to normal and escape.

Similar to games like Wrecking Crew, every level in the game is basically one big grid of blocks and enemies. You cannot "freely" move around, and are restricted to only moving from one square to the next. The goal in each level is rather simple: you have to defeat all of the monsters. The first level is a very simple demonstration of this — all you have to do is run right into a monster in order to automatically punch its lights out and knock it off the screen.

It doesn't stay that easy for very long, though. Within a handful of levels you'll already have to deal with ladders to climb, blocks to shove and disappearing blocks to punch through. A major part of the game is the fact that if something is removed from underneath something else, the object or creature on top will fall down, but not until you move out from under it. Certain levels will have giant stacks of objects and enemies — the final level is literally nothing more than 10+ stacks of enemies and boulders — and you'll have to think very carefully about which pieces of the stack you want to take out at which moment, and maybe even at which height.

Of course, since this is a game that can ask for a lot of trial and error, the developers built in a very handy function: it's possible to hop back in time, move by move, with a single press of a button, allowing you to "rewind" exactly to the moment at which you think you did something wrong. In fact, Catrap is credited with being the first game ever to include such a feature.

Things will continue on with the basics for a while, but around level 30 a new feature will suddenly be introduced. From that point on, almost every puzzle will feature not one, but both of the game's characters and you'll actually have to switch between them, sending them to different parts of the level in order to reach their common goal of wiping out all enemies. Puzzles start to get even more complex from then on, and you can potentially spend hours on some of them, they're just that dastardly.

There's also a nifty level editor included for the creative types. Although some might lament the fact that the game generates a password for each level you create, rather than saving it, in hindsight, this has turned out to be rather handy: it allows you to share your levels with others by simply handing them the code.

While the gameplay itself is very addictive, the overal presentation is a bit lacking. The graphics are relatively simple but repeat over and over; there are no suddenly different tilesets every few levels, so you're stuck with the same identical blocks and drab environment from start to finish. The music is also quite grating, and it'll get on your nerves before you know it.

Conclusion
Catrap is perhaps the first unknown gem to hit the 3DS Virtual Console, and we couldn't have thought of a much better pick. With its 100 built-in levels which get more and more devious, as well as a level editor, the game has a giant amount of content for such a "simple" Game Boy game and could keep you busy for weeks. It was quite overlooked back in the day, but perhaps now people will give this innovative puzzler a bit of attention.

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Nintendo's upcoming game console, the Wii U, is not really a "next-generation" platform, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said in an interview published yesterday with Industry Gamers.

"The Wii U is a pretty ambitious undertaking," Pachter told Industry Gamers. "It's a new console, with new controls and architecture, but it's not quite 'next' generation. Developers have to contend with differences between the Wii U and current generation consoles, then have to figure out what to do with the controls."
According to Pachter, the Wii U will be home to "no significant third-party 'exclusives,'" and instead, will simply get games from developers that are ported from the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Nintendo's decision to release a new console next year is somewhat of a surprise, since the company's competitors are reportedly not planning to release new hardware until 2014--when, some believe, the true "next generation" will begin.

The issue for Nintendo is that the company's current-generation device, the Wii, is behind the curve. Although the console has sold extremely well over the years, it lacks HD graphics and the graphical sophistication to compete visually with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. With the Wii U, Nintendo is addressing that problem with HD graphics and better internal components, but there is some fear that the device's visuals will only match those of the consoles already on the market.

That said, Nintendo has little choice but to release the Wii U as soon as possible. The Wii is suffering from slow sales as both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 rally. Just yesterday, Pachter reported in a note to investors that Xbox 360 sales in the U.S. last month likely hit 360,000 units. PlayStation 3 sales are estimated at 260,000 units. The Wii, Pachter says, only tallied 190,000 unit sales.

That disappointing performance is nothing new. In January, Nintendo announced that it had sold over 7 million Wii units in the U.S. last year, making it the third-consecutive year it reached that milestone. The only issue is, in 2008, the company sold over 10 million Wii units, and over 9 million Wii units in 2009. Based on NPD sales figures so far this year, it appears year-over-year Wii sales are once again going to be down by the end of 2011.

That decline, in addition to poor sales of its 3DS portable, pushed Nintendo into the red during the second quarter of 2011. During the period, the company announced in July, it lost a whopping $328.3 million as revenue plummeted more than 50 percent year-over-year.

Although new consoles tend to bolster sales, Pachter isn't convinced that the Wii U will mimic the kind of success its predecessor enjoyed in its early days. The analyst told Industry Gamers that the fact that third-party developers will be offering the same games sold on other current consoles means the Wii U is unlikely to see "significant" sales.

That said, prior to the Wii's launch, many folks thought that the console would fail miserably. So, while Nintendo's console might face some adversity, it might be tough to count it out just yet.
Nintendo plans to launch its Wii U next year. The company has yet to reveal an exact price or release date.

 

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Those of us not clamoring for an iPhone 4S have something else to look forward to come Oct. 12: iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system.

The new iOS introduces a number of new features. For one thing, this should be (just about) the last time you’ll have to plug your iPhone or iPad into your computer, as the new operating system introduces over-the-air syncing. It’ll also add iCloud features, a big selection of new apps and new functionality, and stick Twitter in everything your iPhone does.

Another big new feature getting a lot of attention is AirPlay Mirroring, a capability we’ll be seeing in the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. Mirroring uses Apple’s AirPlay software, which allows iOS devices and computers to share content over a local Wi-Fi network, to also share what’s being displayed on those devices. A practical example: If you have Apple TV and an iPad 2, AirPlay mirroring will allow you to project what’s shown on the iPad 2’s screen on your TV.

Big-screen Gaming
That example also embodies one of the major developments that many people have been pointing to as the future of the convergence between mobile gaming and traditional video gaming. With AirPlay Mirroring and the right hardware – namely, a $99 Apple TV set-top box and your existing (latest-generation) iOS devices – you effectively have a video game console like an Xbox 360, a PlayStation 3 or a Nintendo Wii. You can play your mobile games at full-size on your TV set.

A lot of developers see this as a big wave that could make Apple a de facto player in the video game console market, which is currently dominated by the likes of Sony and Microsoft. Both those companies have been slow in developing their next generation of console hardware, and both systems are aging. Meanwhile, the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S are fairly shiny and new, with thousands of games in their respective iTunes App Store stables, and a huge new segment of gamers. Services such as OnLive, which allows users to stream PC games to their computers and TVs over the Internet, are also adding support to the iPad. With the right apps, it seems, your iOS devices may really be able to do everything your Xbox and PlayStation can do.

True competition?
But can AirPlay Mirroring really make Apple a threat to Microsoft and Sony? That’s a tough question, and despite the enthusiasm of quite a few developers, you’re probably not going to see kids trading in their controllers for shiny new iPads, even if (in the long run), it does seem more cost-effective to do so.

There are a bunch of great iPad games out there, and iPhone games besides, that would be pretty effective as console games. But unfortunately, there aren’t that many that really drive the experience that consoles and PC games currently deliver. It’ll take a concerted effort to make some bigger, more involved iPad games to really give the big players in video games a run for their money.

It might be possible, with a little marketing, for Apple to start to push its way into the console market with its highly successful mobile devices. PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360 all enjoy healthy downloadable markets with smaller games and a lot of those games, like EDGE Extended on PC, have gone on to become iOS games. There’s quite a bit of overlap that would make the iPad a viable home gaming machine.

But it’ll take some really big, awesome titles to really make a splash that traditional gamers notice. Mobile games still tend to be smaller and less robust than major video game releases, and until more games seem like they can stand up to more traditional video games – or at least provide a comparable experience – it’ll be tough for Apple to replace what gamers already know and trust.

But it’s certainly not impossible to see an iPad replacing a PlayStation; it’s just going to take some work from developers, and from Apple.

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Ask any pc gamer if they thought Crysis would be possible on consoles with quality comparable to the original version and they likely would have laughed in your face.  The game has been the benchmark for PC gaming this generation, and at the game's launch in 2007, there were very few people who could run the game in all its glory.  While Crysis may have been widely known as graphical powerhouse on PC, the game also introduced a unique gameplay style that focused around the Nanosuit.  Whatever your gameplay style, the Nanosuit could handle it, offering gamers stealth options or the ability to take enemies head.  How does this game stack up nearly a half decade from release?  Quite well as it turns out.

From a gameplay perspective, Crysis on console doesn't drop a thing.  The raw power afforded the player translates well, and if you played Crysis 2 on console, you know this all too well.  The free flowing gameplay which was offered in Crysis 2, is even more evident in the original, with a wide open jungle being your stomping grounds.  The luscious jungles of the original offer a great backdrop to showcase the tools available to you.  Sneaking around to dismantle the enemy forces, scaling the hills with your power jump to move into elevated positions, or armoring up to take the enemy head on are all viable options.  The nanosuit controls feel great on console as was evident in Crysis 2, and there is no difference here.

The story of Crysis isn't exactly the most original, but this tale of enhanced super soldiers vs. aliens is still quite interesting.  Without giving too much of the plotline away, Delta Force is sent to Korea to investigate a distress signal. After freefalling to the jungle under the cover of night, you'll find that the Korean occupied army is firmly embedded in the area.  Early on you'll find that this isn't your only enemy on the island, and certainly not the most dangerous.  As the story unfolds, you'll discover all of the secrets that the island holds.

For those that bought into the hype heading up to release, it's not hard to see that Crysis certainly doesn't perform to the visual fidelity benchmarks that are offered on PC.  It's definitely not a bad looking game by any means, but having seen the game run at max settings on PC and you can tell that the PC did things four years ago that still can't be achieved on console.  It says alot about the game though.  The visuals of this four year old game are on par with what is being offered currently on consoles, so it's definitely not disappointing by any means.

Lighting and water effects are spectacular and really bring the island alive.  The game isn't completely without its problems however.  Audio cuts out during key conversations and cutscenes, graphical miscues occur when pressing close to cover, and there some weird clipping issues to be found with the enemies and the environment. While these problems are noticeable they don't really detract from the core gameplay which is a ton of fun.  If you can resign to the fact that current generation consoles aren't capable of what PC's are, you'll have a blast with Crysis on console.  If you enjoyed Crysis 2 and your first experience with the game was on the PS3 or Xbox 360, you owe it to yourself to check out this spectacular port. It's available for download now on the PlayStation Network Store and Xbox Live Marketplace.

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Today, the Internet is all abuzz with memories and retrospectives about Steve Jobs and the company he helped created, but here's one that is particularly interesting. As a means of answering the question how to make the death of Steve Jobs relatable to the gaming industry, the blog Kotaku has dug up something most people never knew about, and the few that did likely forgot.

It was called the Pippin, an ambitious TV-connected device that was supposed to revolutionize the way people thought about game consoles. In addition to crazy peripheral ideas like a printer and full Qwerty keyboard, the console was designed to be as powerful as a computer. You could even insert Pippin discs into a Mac.

It was a hot and sexy time for game consoles - the mid-1990s. Everyone was trying to cash in on the market that was so easily milked by companies like Nintendo. But Apple did not have quite as much success.

The Pippin was priced at $600. Many blame the PS3's $600 price point for its terribly sluggish early sales, and that was a good decade later. When the Pippin came out, $600 was insane. On top of that, only 18 titles were released in the US, and not a single one made headlines or became a big collector's item after the fact. Very few gaming franchises even managed to grace the Pippin platform.

Jobs was not directly involved with the Pippin, but even when he tried to get the company into the game world it didn't work - that is, until the iPhone app revolution spun the industry completely around. And yet the average iPhone game today is probably not even as sophisticated as the software that came out for Pippin. Go figure.

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Microsoft Corp. is adding significantly more video content to its Xbox 360 game console, though it's not yet ready to replace the cable box. The technology giant has reached deals with nearly 40 television distributors and content providers that will offer more TV shows via the Xbox Live online service by this holiday season.

However, with only certain channels and programs available, the agreements fall short of aspirations Microsoft discussed at the E3 industry conference in June of making its console an all-in-one entertainment device that could replace traditional set-top boxes from cable and satellite television services.

Moreover, users will still have to subscribe to traditional cable services in order to access much of their content on the Xbox. The nation's largest cable TV distributor, Comcast Corp., said it would put its Xfinity service on the game console, allowing its subscribers to watch a wide variety of TV shows on demand. Telecommunications giant Verizon also will offer some live channels from its FiOS TV service.

And, premium cable channels HBO and Epix will allow subscribers to watch their movies and original programs on demand through the Xbox, as will NBC Universal-owned networks Bravo and Syfy. Internationally, the BBC will be available in the U.K.

Marc Whitten, vice president of the Xbox Live service, said the agreements expand the console's entertainment offerings. Some 35 million people use the Xbox Live service, which extends the gaming experience online and provides access to movies, TV shows and music.

Over the last few years Microsoft has made a wide variety of TV shows available to watch or rent and also added popular on-demand offerings from Netflix and ESPN.

Roughly 40% of the time people spend on Xbox Live is devoted to activities other than gaming, with video consumption up 300% from a year ago, said Whitten.

A new version of Xbox Live will be released in time for the holidays to allow people to use voice and gestures (instead of remote controls) to search for movies and TV shows with Microsoft's Kinect controller.

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