BULLET POINTS: Unchartered 2 and God of War 3 - My first PS3 Post!

The only Playstation I've owned is the PS1. The most significant time I've spent on a PS3 is at Best Buy. I really haven't been all that impressed. I haven't disliked any of it, it's just that the 360 is more generally suited to my taste.
I have also had no genuine interest in the exclusives the Sony has had to offer for the PS3.

The other night I went over to my friend James and Mary's house. They have a PS3 (and a 360). I spent a little bit of time with Unchartered 2 and thought it wasn't a bad game but was so underwhelmed by the graphics that I actually forgot I was playing the sequel and, for a minute, thought I was playing the first game. James then asked me if I wanted to play the God Of War demo. I said sure.

(Here come the Bullet Points!)

* The graphics for Unchartered 2 - Meh.

* The graphics for God of War III - Outstanding.

The character design, environments and scale of GoW3 is phenomenal. Now, I haven't played the first two GoW's and my friend tells me that GoW2 and GoW33 aren't all that far apart similar in style and play. This is the first one for me and I still haven't gotten over it. For the very first time this console generation I have a little tugging in my tummy that wants me to get a PS3 so I can play GoW3 (will not happen due to finances).

On a side note:
Here's a comparison, from GamingBolt showing screens for Alan Wake (360) and Heavy Rain (PS3) both look good and they both look better than Unchartered 2:

Click Here for the Alan Wake and Heavy Rain Screenshot Comparison

I don't really care whether or not I'm playing a game with hyper realistic graphics (which it seems that neither game really does). Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, for my money is the best execution of photo realism I've seen in a game. I tend to enjoy stylized, artistic graphics like Bioshock, Arkham Asylum, Street Fighter IV, Fallout 3, and now(!) God of War 3. Hyper realism is also great for driving games. I think it's cool to see the attempts being made and to see the evolution of graphics playing out before us (I love this longer console cycle)but the particular style of graphics to me aren't as important as the care and expertise put into them. And, if Unchartered 2 is any indication, they still have a while to go before human characters start looking real.

No Failo 3 From Microsh*t

I am sad to report that I, as well as countless others, will not be getting our promised free copy of Halo 3 . The gist is this: Microsoft had what appears to be only a few hundred copies of Halo 3 available for the promotion (Switch an xbox live account from an original xbox to the 360 between Nov. 21 and Dec. 24th and get a free copy of Halo 3). After talking to XBOX customer service I found out that over 4000 people registered for the promotion; around 1000 qualified for the free copy of Halo 3. It was verified by 2 (or was it 3?) supervisors that I did qualify but they ran out of copies (while supplies last). The thing that gets my panties all twisted up in a knot is that I registered about a week after the promotion started (it ran about a month). I don't know how many copies they had to give a way but I'm thinking it's substantially less than a thousand. Offering a couple hundred free copies of Halo 3 at christmas time constitutes a drawing more than it does a promotion that's worded "Do "Y" and get "X" free!"Why couldn't Microsoft have worded their promotion something like this: “The First 500 people to transfer their original Xbox account to a new Xbox 360 will receive a free copy of Halo 3”? Because they wouldn't have sold FOUR THOUSAND XBOX 360's, that's why. This is such a scam on Microsoft’s part. By stating “Transfer your account…get a free copy…” you imply that there are more than just a hundred copies available. We’re talking about Halo 3 at Christmas time for cryin’ out loud! AND why they couldn't have told me this during my first call to customer service instead of 6 or 7 calls later? UGH! Ok, I have to finish packing for my move.

SAVAGE RUMORS UPDATE: EB has joined Best Buy in being X'd out of Xbox!

In a rumor first postulated right here on Fuzzy Voltage here is a story from Kotaku AU. Appearently EB hasn't had ANY Xbox 360's since X-Mas either. Something very odd is going on. Here's an excerpt from the story:

"I called countless EB Games stores across the country this morning, and at each store, was told the same thing: they had no Premium 360s in stock, and had not received new stock since before Christmas. None of the managers I spoke to had any idea why they weren't being restocked. Most of them sounded more than a little pissed off about it. Little strange that store managers would be kept in the dark about such serious supply problems, unless...well, unless the supply problem was at a higher level.

Bear in mind these claims are, at this point, unsubstantiated by either EB Games or Microsoft ("Microsoft does not comment on rumour and speculation"), but the consistency of the supply "issues" across the country is, at the least, highly suspicious."

Top 6 Reasons 2008 Could be the Year of PS3

I have a Xbox 360. Previously I had an Xbox. I'm glad Sony payed the humiliating price of failure for arrogantly disrespecting their fans by charging an absurd amount of money for the PS3 upon it's launch. BUT - thing could seriously change in 2008. Sony has gotten it's act together and brought the price of the PS3 down to an incredibly reasonable $399.00 and has a slew of impressive high profile titles loaded in it's rocket launcher. Microsoft is still dealing with hardware issues and came into the new year with crippled online componant.
Read the top 6 reasons why I think 2008 could be the year of the PS3 on the always effervescent Mania.com

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