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The guitar compatibility saga continues.  A few days after Harmonix announced that Activision is blocking a patch they had ready to allow Guitar Hero III controllers to work with the PlayStation 3, Activision quickly retaliated stating that they wanted to cooperate but Harmonix refused to make a deal. 

In an article from The Boston Globe, Activision spokeswoman Maryanne Lataif explained why their company blocked the patch further.  According to her:

Unfortunately for Rock Band users, Harmonix has been unwilling to discuss an agreement that will allow us to provide that option in a manner that maintains the high standards people have come to expect from Activision.  We believe we should be compensated for the use of our technology.

Harmonix spokeswoman Spencer Saltonstall in the meantime commented that they want the best for gamers.  According to them:

We are looking at this from the consumer standpoint.

Pooch: “Compensated”?  Sounds fair in a corporate world.  But in the end, the consumers will be on the losing side.

It’s strange that they would block a compatibility patch for the PlayStation 3 controller.  Both Rock Band and Guitar Hero III guitar controllers work perfectly on the PlayStaion 2 and Xbox 360 version of Rock Band.  Why block them now? 

We already know that there is a shortage of Rock Band controllers and coupled with the defective ones that shipped out, the promised four player cooperative play is hard to realize.  Most PS3 players have bought both games, and were hoping to use the Guitar Hero controller as an extra guitar.  Now that option isn’t available, and many gamers are understandably unhappy about it.

Activision’s move is obviously a ploy to crush their rival.  They have already successfully taken over what Harmonix started with Guitar Hero, now they want to make sure they dominate their niche in the gaming world.  Blocking the patch will hurt Harmonix, particularly since Rock Band isn’t selling well.

As of now, Guitar Hero has a huge lead boosted by its cheaper price and compatibility with the PlayStation 2.  With 1.9 million units sold in November alone, they decimated Rock Band’s 382,000 units sold for the same month. 

They may be selling now, but Activision’s hard-balling may backfire on them in the long run as gamers get more and more annoyed with the company.  They are already facing a lawsuit.  In the meantime, EA seems to be doing a better job at taking care of their customers.

[Source:  The Boston Globe]

Elf Online is one of those MMOs that targets the non-hardcore gamers. With cute graphics and a relaxed game environment, it seems like confronting enemies would be so much fun if you’re a fan of small, loveable creatures beating each other. Oh and it seems they have an original concept called the prank system. Whatever that is, check their game out and see as their beta is already open.

Check out these screenshots:

(Source: Gaming Today)

Since gaming news has been slow because of the holidays, we’ll give you a feature instead.

Ever heard of Phoenix Wright? If not, then it’s like purchasing an NES without even playing Zelda. In other words, it’s madness! The game is original, it’s beyond fun, and it’s one of the main reasons why you should get a Nintendo DS.

“Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney” puts you on the shoes of Phoenix Wright, a defense lawyer fresh out from law school. The game is an original because no game was ever made yet that features a court hearing as its gameplay, it’s fun because aside from exciting court hearings where you get to object and interrogate, you get to investigate places and meet a lot of strange, if not stranger, people that give you clues and evidence you need for the trails. it’s one of the best games ever made because the game is not mindless fun as you need to solve cases. And randomly doing so will almost always give your client, a “guilty” verdict. (Unless of course you’ll use a walkthrough, which pretty much removes the idea of this game: to think)

You will need to play the game to understand what I’m trying to say. I rarely recommend games in my posts and when I say it’s good, it really is. Unless of course you have a bad history with lawyers. That’s how confident I am with this game. If I were to give it a score, I’d give it a 9 out of 10.

Oh and just for fun. I found this parody comics on the web and the team laughed as hard as I did when I saw it.

Now THAT is enough reason for me to watch this movie!

As was confirmed that a New Street Fighter movie will go into production next year, it seems like Kristin Kreuk will be taking the character of Chun-Li.  Kristin doesn’t only have a pretty face, but I really like how she acts in Smallville. Though I don’t really think she can pull a Chun-li off, I think It’d be decent enough if the directors really wanted a caucasian actress for Chun-Li. I mean, aside from Chun-Li being Asian, I can’t Imagine Kristine in a Martial-Arts film even if she has a few snippets of action sequences in Smallville (Better to be skeptic than highly anticipating a film, then be dissapointed in the end).

If only Chun-Li would be played by either Karen Mok or Zhu Qi, now THAT would really be legendary.

The new Street Fighter movie, dubbed as Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li, is directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, director of Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds, and Cradle to the Grave.

(Source: Gaming Today)

PSP phat (slang) came, then PSP slim, and now a foreseeable future PSP version 3 may be in development.

The assertion of a third PSP model arose when homebrewers came accross a file named “pspbtcnf_03g.bin,” a file that was quite similiar to a file they found before the PSP slim was released.  “Pspbtcnf_02g.bin” was the name of that file.  Homebrewers didn’t know what the file was for until after it’s release, and they found out that it was the file name for the Slim’s instructions. 

Though evidence is quite solid, Sony has no news yet whether they’re gonna be releasing a new version of the PSP.

W-h J: I don’t think it’s gonna be a PSP version 3. I’m guess it’ll be a new product, carrying with it the PSP software. A new Sony phone maybe?

(Source: Gaming Today)

When Unreal Tournament was first released, PS3 gamers where initially dismayed by the news that they wouldn’t be able to create their own content due to the delay of the release of the tools needed to make their creations PS3 compatible. That delay isn’t stopping Epic though.

In a surprise holiday treat for their customers, Epic has stepped in using their own development tools and released the first ever user made map. Although it usually takes some time before users start cranking out mods for games, Thomas Browett (who goes by the name Setheran on the official UT3 forums), created the first ever user-made map called DM-Shrine for the PC. Epic then promptly converted the map using their own tools so that users of the PS3 can also enjoy it.

The 23-year-old graphic artist has been playing Unreal Tournament since the first one has been released. He has been credited for creating several maps, but this will be his first map since the ones he created for the original UT. This new map is a small one, and is made for 2-6 player matches. In the words of Epic’s Mark Rein in the official forums, “a lot of our DM maps in UT3 are designed for larger player counts so this provides a great contrast and a chance to play in a more intimate setting”.

To install the map into your PS3 game:

1. Unzip the file to the root directory of any memory card that is readable by your PlayStation 3. It is already in the proper directory structure but, just in case, the path and filename need to be: ps3\savedata\blus30086-modimport\userdata.jam
2. Boot up Unreal Tournament 3 on your PS3
3. Go to the “Community” menu
4. Choose “My Content”
5. Press the [SQUARE] button to “Import Mod”
6. Follow the directions on the screen to import it from your memory card.

More user-created content has been promised in the next coming days. Among these are a mutator, a couple more maps, and a new game type. In the near future, Epic also promised more new mods that are still in development.

The editor seems to be done, but Epic still has some work to do before they can release it. According to them:

We’re waiting on some paperwork from Sony that will allow us to release an editor update so mod creators can do this cook process for themselves. We expect to have that very soon.

The map is available as a free download for Unreal Tournament 3 owners. You can download the map here.

[Source: 1UP]