I ordered Lair from Overstock.com for $40 a while back. I wonder if they'll ship it early, right now it's stated as 9/4.


Warhawk is so damn fun.

8/28/2007 9:57:09 PM

Warhawk if really entertaining. I have a question for those of you out there, I just bought Madden 08 and cannot even get into a game. Im connected for a max of 5 minutes then it says "Connection to EA servers lost". But i can play warhawk, COD 3, and resistance fall of man fine. Anyone else have this problem?

8/28/2007 10:10:07 PM

i'll likely rent lair but i dont trust it with all the reviews. Just not worth a buy with the onslought of shit out there.

hell i just got in the COD4 beta and now that really divides my attention.

Still want warhawk, and the headset - so you are saying this friday for that?

8/29/2007 12:11:36 AM

I probably won't be buying this as I was never a gigantic fan of the gameplay in the UT games, but I think we can all appreciate how crazy awesome the visuals are. This makes Gears of War look like Quake.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24261.html






Timed PS3/PC exclusive to be released in November. PS3 version to support kb+m and possibly cross platform play. 360 version to follow in 2008, but no word on kb+m or cross platform play for that version.

[Edited on August 29, 2007 at 9:24 AM. Reason : :]

8/29/2007 9:17:12 AM

i cant wait for it, thats like my one definite ps3 purchase this year, i loved playing them on ps3 and unreal tournament was my first ps2 game when i got one of those!

8/29/2007 9:36:50 AM

I still can't download Warhawk. I get the "unexpected error" every time I try to add funds to my wallet. Pretty pitiful guys. Really pisses me off.

8/29/2007 1:02:00 PM

Hmmm, trying adding funds before going to purchase the game, like on the account management page.

8/29/2007 1:15:14 PM

^ Tried it, get the same problem. Sucks. Too bad there isn't a way to add funds over the internet without the PS3. I have bought a few things from the store and not had any problems. This is pretty piss poor. Happening to a lot of people and Sony isn't getting back to any of us.

8/29/2007 1:25:50 PM

At this point I'd say just go buy the retail version. Even if you don't want the headset, the thing retails for ~$40 so you could probably sell it to someone for at least $20 (in fact, I'd buy it from you).

8/29/2007 1:28:22 PM

The whole point of me buying it on PSN is so I can launch if without putting the disc in. I would totally buy the retail version if it could go completely on the hard drive and launch like that, but it can't. the guy said on the official Warhawk blog that they were working on the issue. Don't understand why its only an issue to some.

8/29/2007 1:43:41 PM

Unreal Tournament definitely looks good. Although there's no way I'm playing that on my ps3. Thats' a PC game through and through. Not just for controls, but for tweaking, community, lobbys/multiplayer namely.

8/29/2007 1:46:10 PM

99% of the time, I'd agree with that. In this case though, it's going to support keyboard/mouse controls and user modifications made on the PC. It may also support PC/PS3 cross play. If that's the case, the only real advantage left for the PC version is better graphics due to higher resolutions, and possibly better frame rates. I could see a lot of long time PC gamers getting this on the PS3 just for the ease of use factor, or possibly even double dipping.

8/29/2007 1:54:38 PM

We'll see...that's hedging on alot. For one, I doubt PS3 can run the Unreal Engine with better framerate than a PC armed with a DX10 card (although you allude to that) If it does that'll be cool, but likely PS3 flexes its muscles at extra physics and dynamics of a game engine not graphical power. PS3 doesn't have as strong a memory pipe or GPU as the 360, and the PC with good DX10 card can run Bioshock faster than the 360 so it stands to reason on UE powered games...

Although the main thing to me is the lobbying/mutliplayer issue....is so much more superior on the PC for games like this, Quake/Counterstrike/Team Fortress/UT type 'arena/team style' twitch shooters. I couldn't imagine running ps3 lobbies and friends list is even close to the same, not to mention clan or league dynamics, as well as seamless mods and mod servers. UT is a heavy, heavy modded community franchise, so that's pretty necessary.

I'm not trying to tarnish what's going on with UT porting to PS3 and 360 and the cross play involved. Just not sure I or others are ready to switch off on this one if they are a fan of the unreal franchise. good for new players though definitely. I also do like the fact that this generation of consoles has usb ports for keyboard/mouse style setups, except the wii - where Nintendo's pretending that no one likes to play online. Fuckers.

8/29/2007 3:09:51 PM

What exactly is a lobby? You mean those chat rooms they have along side the server selection screen? I've probably spent 30 minutes total in one of those in all my years of multi-player gaming, that's what IRC and AIM are for. In any case, I think Xbox Live especially as shown us you can pull off a multiplayer community pretty damn well on a console, and PS Home looks very promising if you're into that sort of thing. Personally, the only thing that matters to me is a good server selection screen and a favorites list. If Warhawk can do that, I'm sure UT3 can.

Both consoles have shown they handle DLC pretty well, so if PC made mods are compatible with the PS3 version, that's not an issue. Although honestly, modding isn't what it used to be. Source hasn't seen anything of caliber of CS or DoD, and I really think the modding community's heyday is over.

Kb+m is still the biggest factor for me. If TF2 supported this on the consoles, I'd very temped to get it for the PS3 instead of the PC. Besides that Epic has said they are going to be using the same textures and models on both the PS3 and PC version. Don't get me wrong, I would probably still get it on the PC regardless given a more powerful machine, but I think we're at the point where you're missing out on a lot less than you used to. There will always be a graphical gap, but if they can fill in the other stuff, I'm a happy camper.

Quote :

"PS3 doesn't have as strong a memory pipe or GPU as the 360"

I don't think this has ever been true. There is a reason this game is leading on the PS3 instead of the 360, and I don't think it's preferential treatment from Epic.

[Edited on August 29, 2007 at 3:49 PM. Reason : :]

8/29/2007 3:39:18 PM

^ Oh man, here it comes.

8/29/2007 4:13:02 PM

Look, I'll admit the PS3 is harder to program for, that a lot of the multi-platform titles look better on the 360, and that as of today, there isn't much of a graphical gap (if any at all) between exclusive games on each console. But I don't think anyone will argue that , at least on paper, the PS3 is the more powerful piece of hardware. Also, the fact that a hard drive is standard makes it far easier to port a PC game to the PS3, then to the 360. It was the reason that Oblivion looked better on the PS3 than the 360. That really shouldn't be a point of argument, its just stating fact.

8/29/2007 4:23:11 PM

needles, i have no problem with shrike - in fact i welcome the discussion. we aren't flaming as so much as offering different perspectives. At least I hope that's what going on. Again, i have no motive to trash the ps3, quite the contrary. I own all platforms and like them all differently. I just am talking and discussing shit, hopefully with some amount of decorum and troll tactics. I have no other aim here.

I think what i meant by 'lobbies' is just the whole dynamic of organizing games with groups, friends, or clans. It also means the area right before a game, getting people into there that are associated or want to play together. It's not always easy. On Wii it's a steaming turd pile if not non-existant. On 360, live does a good job but games are isolated to certain number of players. On PS3, I wish they'd get rid of localized friend codes. On PC, it's bloody easy expeically with stuff like XFIRE and I can find anyone anywhere at anytime. Home might change it, but I'm skeptical of having to enter what's essentially a Second Life App to get into my games. Not sure how I feel about it. I'm thrilled to hear Warhawk game browsing works well...but I hope it's just as easy to bring friends along. I still need to check to see if CC has the retail ver. of that game. Anyway...

I'm not disputing that the PS3 is a more impressive piece of hardware overall. But as far as porting is concerned I'm not sure why it is 'easier' to port from PC to PS3 at all - not with the Microsoft framework vs. programming over that Cell hump, and different architecture. I think PS3 has more potential, sure. But it's unrealized so far (largely). Also the HDD being standard isnt really nearly as big a deal as the storage capacity. Now that is key. UT3 is not a game you want to put on 2 dvd's. I think that's way more the feather in the PS3's cap.

Point of argument is that I still think MMOs, RTS's, and Classic Arena/DM traditional PC shooters still feel more at home on the PC. I mean if the PS3 version owns butthole, I'll get it for the system..it's just I'm very skeptical.

[Edited on August 29, 2007 at 4:38 PM. Reason : oh and Epic went to PS3 first becuase of storage capacity, not graphical power.]

8/29/2007 4:36:27 PM

I dunno, I'd imagine being able to dump mostly the same stuff onto the PS3s hard drive as you would with the PCs hard drive would make things a little easier, rather than having to switch to a system of completely streaming everything off the disc. I agree with everything else you said, though. I mean, since so many developers have more or less committed to a "we either release it on a console or we're not making it" mentality, the more PC like features they can add to the consoles, the better. Unified platform ftw.

[Edited on August 29, 2007 at 4:58 PM. Reason : :]

8/29/2007 4:54:06 PM

^ I think this is good discussion. What I meant earlier is I just fealt a wave of trolls coming in, just waiting for this type of opportunity.

Anyway, I spent about an hour trying to add funds to my wallet. I finally added a new credit card and it finally worked. There was nothing wrong with my old card as I've bought plenty of items off the network with it.

Not though the PSN has taken a hit and I'm getting a meg about every 30 seconds. This is so frustrating. As much as I enjoy my PS3, I just don't understand how the connection to PSN can still be this bad when downloading from the store. Why can't this just be quality for crying out loud?

Sorry to bitch and moan. Hopefully I'll be online with Warhawk soon.

8/29/2007 9:28:30 PM

Yeah, like I said, I was shocked when I bought it Monday night/Tuesday morning and it downloaded in under 30 minutes. I guess things are back to normal with the PSN now. Look on the brightside, at least you got it today, and not on a Thursday.

8/29/2007 10:47:34 PM

Yeah, I was up at midnight on Tuesday and my download was going REALLY slow. I paused it for about 10 seconds, then resumed and it TOOK OFF. I got about 20megs in the first 20 minutes, then when I reconnected I got the remaining 760megs in about 10 minutes.

might be worth a try.

8/30/2007 8:37:50 AM

So Lair is coming out tommorow I think. Anyone pick this up? It's hard to ignore all the bad press, but one thing is for sure, the game looks absolutely sensational. I'll definitely rent it.

http://www.gamersyde.com/stream_4346_en.html

8/30/2007 9:45:37 AM

not sure, id rent but no idea when gaybuster will get it in

let me say this, bought retail warhawk, came home and played online with me and my buddy splitscreen...i was like well this is an ok game but after he left and i could play by myself it was way better (graphics better too)...maybe i was getting used to it but it's like halo, splitscreen kinda sucks instead of just playing by yourself.

also, i started with deathmatch/team deathmatch, meh they werent crazy fights but then ctf was insane...

on another note, the first 2 games we played, the game/ps3 froze...once right when we got into the game and the 2nd time like 30 seconds into playing...then it never happened again

8/30/2007 10:10:22 AM

Lair should be on its way tomorrow, hopefully i'll have it by tues/wed.

8/30/2007 10:32:32 AM

Super Puzzle Fighter II HD Remix out tonight. I heard its pretty fun, so I'm thinking about it.

8/30/2007 3:09:06 PM

[Edited on August 30, 2007 at 5:47 PM. Reason : crap]

8/30/2007 5:45:42 PM

part 2 was him using pc but yeah this is my next ps3 purchase, hs and lair are rents for me

8/30/2007 5:46:35 PM

damn i saw the ps3 version and it wasnt running as fast. Sorry, ignore my link - i thought that was ps3. Wonder what PC rig he's running.

8/30/2007 5:47:53 PM

Nice PSN update tonight. 2 games, 4 demos, bunch of trailers. Sony is finally getting the message it seems.

Quote :

" Games: -Warhawk - $39.99 -Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix - $9.99 -Tekken 5: DR Game w/Online - $29.99 -Tekken 5: DR Online patch - $9.99 -Tiger Woods PGA Tour '08 Demo -NASCAR ’08 Demo -All Pro Football 2008 Demo -Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Demo Trailers: -Heavenly Sword (Animated Prologue - part 4 of 5) -Heavenly Sword (Making of... part 4 of 5) -Folklore “Surviving the Netherworld” -Jericho"

[Edited on August 30, 2007 at 7:26 PM. Reason : :]

8/30/2007 7:11:51 PM

ign gave LAIR a 4.9....wow

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/817/817117p1.html

8/30/2007 10:56:43 PM

Factor Not Quite 5.

8/30/2007 11:21:42 PM

4.9? god damn! That's fucking awful. 1UP gave it a 60, and even PSM gave it a 50 something.

What's the deal? Why'd they botch this game so f'n bad....just doesn't make sense. That game has been hyped, and for what.

8/31/2007 12:19:00 AM

Better question is how did it from from this -

Quote :

"As a result, Lair is surprisingly easy to pick up and play, and piloting your dragon in the heat of a battle - with swarms of enemies bombarding you from every angle - becomes simple with practice. They're responsive too, and moves such as the quick 180-degree turn, executed by jolting the pad up, means that dogfighting soon becomes second nature."

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/801/801928p1.html

to this -

Quote :

"A bus-like feel and Sixaxis controls kill this game. In wide-open areas, it's okay, but the moment you need precision, you realize you’re screwed -- you can't corner, target or fight well."

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/817/817117p3.html

Just seems extremely odd that they would pull a complete 180 on their opinion of the controls. I still maintain that this is a game you have to play for yourself and decide if you can cope with the Sixaxis controls or not. The reviews are all over the place.

8/31/2007 12:25:54 AM

i think it would have been a 7.0 all around had you been able to use motion or joysticks...your choice

8/31/2007 12:29:38 AM

FanatiK in response to posts by Kainen

Quote :

" statements like these: Lair and Heavenly Sword aren't anything special.." expose you for the troll you are. You haven't even laid eyes on the games themselves, much less played them... Lair has weird gameplay + choppy framerate... really??? "

I've never seen someone get boned so hard.


[Edited on August 31, 2007 at 8:08 AM. Reason : cant nest quotes, wtf!]

8/31/2007 8:06:56 AM

well i think the complaint is that in general the game is NOT fun to play. I might rent it but, yeah.
I saw multiple people post on shacknews that yes, the controls are a bitch - but it just isn't fun. It's more of a 'trial' feeling and it's annoying. Not sure how you can fix that.

Sorry but with all the ass-plosion of games coming out this year, specially this quarter, that will not do. No one will give a shit.

I have an audio ps3 question guys...what's the diff between Bitstream and PCM? My shit is PCM audio coming through the HDMI...is that supposed to be of a lower quality? I'm not very knowledgeable on audio standards.

8/31/2007 8:12:22 AM

I just think its funny that you got insulted by fanatik for calling a spade a spade. I wonder how pissed he is he preordered a piece of shit game.

8/31/2007 8:14:08 AM

^^ I believe PCM is uncompressed audio, so its the best. Only way you can get 5.1 or 7.1 uncompressed PCM though is if you have an HDMI receiver as the bandwidth is too much for anything else.

So PSN was kicking ass last night. Stuff was downloading very fast, and I finally got Warhawk, which is sweet. Had a lot of fun playing, but I suck ass at it right now. Need to practice some more. its hard as hell to blow warhawks up with the tank.

Question though: When I'm in the games list lobby, seems like the games don't really refresh. I try to hop in a server that is max 32 players and there are 24 players in it and when I try to join its says its full. This happens all the time. I press triangle to refresh game and it does nothing. Anyone else have this issue? It always happens with 32 player servers.

8/31/2007 8:43:26 AM

^^^PCM either means the game/movie is playing a fully uncompressed soundtrack or the PS3 is handling the Dolby Digital/DTS decoding itself and pumping it out as multichannel PCM. If your receiver can handle PCM, I'd just leave it on that.

And yeah, it's disappointing Lair turned out like it did, but in the grand scheme of things, it won't matter much. Of the 3 big August/September releases, Warhawk was as good or better than advertised and Heavenly Sword, while shorter than most would have liked, mostly lived up to expectations. 2 out of 3 ain't bad, I hope no one was seriously expecting every single game to come out this Summer/Fall to be a smash hit.

For the rest of the year we've got Ratchet and Clank, UT3, Little Big Planet, GT5 Prologue, Haze, and Uncharted (PS3 GOTY imo) to look forward too as far as exclusive titles. Then there are all the multiplatform titles like CoD4 and Stranglehold. There is no one single killer app or system seller among those, Sony will have to rely on the whole lot + some big Blu-ray releases to sell the PS3. It'll be a Wii/360 Christmas as far as sales but the PS3 will have it's resurgence starting in March with the releases of MGS4, Killzone 2, GT5, and GTA4.

[Edited on August 31, 2007 at 9:01 AM. Reason : :]

8/31/2007 8:45:35 AM

Shrike, IGN is notorious for hyping anything that they preview. Heck, they even gave a positive first-look article for Escape from Bug Island for the Wii. They then tore it up in their review. Standard practice, I suppose?

8/31/2007 9:15:06 AM

lol, escape from bug island. Dude the only decent Wii games are the ones that get TLC b/c they are 1st party franchise tags. If it ain't mario, metroid, zelda, or a combination of et. al (smash brothers), chances are high it's a cleveland steamer. I know this isn't a Wii chat but sometimes it frustrates me to shit.

That line-up that Shrike posted is [[much]] better. I for one will buy Little Big Planet faster than hot mexican bell peppers. Uncharted is also one I've got an eye on. Haze i'm hazy about...we'll see, and what a fucking lame pun. Sorry. The more I watch the UT3 video the more I appreciate those visuals that EPIC is getting on the console. If my PC can't run the game very well I may possibly look towards a console purchase IF AND ONLY IF kb/mouse and online functionality work really well. If 360 version doesnt support this, they're stupid as hell. (kb/mouse).

And yeah, next Spring will be Sony's bit 'window' in my eyes, because beta testers of Home have said they've done little work or headway on it, and it's been disappointing progress. In the meanwhile they need to keep improving PSN and streamline online functionality. They will need to throw everything they've got into next spring, where it is traditionally a drought. I feel like they've done ok, but have not quite realized the potential going into Christmas, imo. MGS4, Killzone2 -looks fantastic, just fix the AI ok? , and GT5 are really shaping up.

GTAIV will be an interesting quandry and square off with the 360. You've got superior storage and streaming ability in one corner, in the other you have exclusive downloadable content/chapters and achievements in the other. Seems lame to bring up achievements but they are fun. I really wish PS3 would implement a universal scoring system.

8/31/2007 9:29:35 AM

Oh, I understand that. That's pretty much standard practice for all magazines and publications. It's still a little dubious when they give their impressions on one specific aspect of the game when playing a near final build, and then give a completely opposite opinion on that same element of the game with the final review. The previews and reviews were also written by 2 different people.

There have also been multiple reviews and impressions from normal old forum goers who've played the game and thought the controls were fine. In other words, if you were dead set on getting this game, I still wouldn't give up on it without playing it first. I honestly didn't care either way, but it still sucks it didn't turn out better than this. Like I said, it doesn't really matter.

In other news, Haze is apparently a total (not timed) PS3 exclusive now.

http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6177964.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;1

8/31/2007 9:29:53 AM

Quote :

"I've never seen someone get boned so hard."

Not surprising, given how difficult it must be for you to get laid, Skipper.


I'm actually pretty excited about getting Lair, I don't really give a shit what reviews say. Some are good, some are bad. Oh well, I'm not gonna get all worked up about it.

Quinn, you really need to find a hobby.

8/31/2007 9:51:45 AM

yeah, and reviewers also say shit like tommy boy sucks, so there you go

8/31/2007 10:43:45 AM

But this entire thread is:

Preview with good early review, months and months of hype because of it, shitty final review, "who cares about reviews anyway?"

8/31/2007 10:53:55 AM

How long have you been waiting to use that line? Watching Resistance, Motorstorm, Oblivion, NG: Sigma, Warhawk, and Heavenly Sword all get reviewed well must have been very disappointing for you.

8/31/2007 11:55:02 AM

I've been using ones exactly like it for a while in this very thread.

Quote :

"Heavenly Sword all get reviewed well"

Yeah man, reach for the skies with those 70s!

And wow, I can't believe that Oblivion and Ninja Gaiden: Sigma were both well reviewed on the PS3 considering they're just about exactly the same as their previous releases which were well received on different platforms.

Does it concern any of you at all that one of the Top 5 games currently for your console is a graphical update of a 3-year old XBox game?

8/31/2007 12:06:56 PM

Quote :

"Yeah man, reach for the skies with those 70s!"

http://gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/928391.asp

Just as well or better than your precious Pokemon games. I guess those suck too now?

And no, it doesn't concern me at all. The most hyped game on the 360 is a graphical update to a game released in 2001.

8/31/2007 12:12:27 PM

And what game would that be Iskander?

8/31/2007 12:15:21 PM

Quote :

"The most hyped game on the 360 is a graphical update to a game released in 2001. "

LOL HALO 2.5 UR SO WITTY

Quote :

"Just as well or better than your precious Pokemon games. I guess those suck too now?"

No, but I didn't pay $600 to spend $60 on an 85.

[Edited on August 31, 2007 at 12:18 PM. Reason : .]

8/31/2007 12:16:15 PM