Retail Radar: Spore DS, Half-Life 2 for PS3 and Xbox 360, Wii Pilotwings, and Duck Hunt?

I'm waiting in line right now for pilotwings...

DUCK HUNT O YAH BABY now..only if we can kill the dog

I was wondering when the next EA hockey game was coming from. Now for Nascar....

Hey havent any of u FONY LOVERS played HL2 yet? Fanboys u should also try doom 3 , but then again the PS2 had F*** ALL fps on it , RE4 on the cube also rocks big time! ! ! !

Pilotwings would be awsome!

duck hunt rox0rz..................

duck hunt ....imagine that on the wii....

wtf 60 bucks for duck hunt... they better change it thats like buying a NEW game so they better chage it to under 20 bucks or else whats the point!

Oh thanks the LORD! I got a top of the line PC last year to play HalfLife 2 but I got no broadband on it, now I can play the best shooter ever on PS3
And with better graphics and phsyics!
SWEET

w00t! I get to play duckhunt again, hopefully they keep the dog...

Half-Life 2 for 360? Why? The Xbox version is already backwards-compatible on the 360.

hl2 for ps3 is no good

Hopefully we will get multi-player halflife 2 with the console versions that would be cool

for Duck Hunt just let us be able to shoot the !@#$ laughing dog

Whoa, $60? Please tell me they'll be cheaper when they actually come out. >_>

I have a hard time believing a >$250 system could have _>

Ugh..need..more..ORIGINAL..games..

Eh? The site gives "IBM Broadway 729MHz" under Wii tech specs. Was the CPU clock speed announced? Did I miss anything? Or is this just EB-BS?

PILOTWINGS rules.

mgsseries, you're right. PS3 is superior to the 360. In price. Seriously, Sony has ruined themselves with the console. The $500 version having no Hi-Def support?!? Sony just fell into last place after E3. Even check out IGN. Their Best of E3 Biggest Surprise was "Sony's Underwhelming Press Conference".
And Also IGN And Gamespot's game of the show was Bioshock, a 360 and PC game (But they only had the 360 version at E3). Just face it, Sony is going downhill.

Just let me shoot that laughing dog and then I'll be happy!

HL2 for the Xbox 360 is going to rock.

The Wii games will not cost $60. Iwata already stated that. This is just EB jumping the gun with lack of information.

mgsseries4life,

Wow you most have free time and lots of it. For making that many words on a video game website. Which proves even more so how fanboys side with their system.

Here's why the PS3 beats the 360 in every single way:

Let me first discuss the graphics. By this time everyone knows the outputs. PS3 will be outputting true HD (at this time) of 1080p. The Xbox360 isn’t far behind outputting 1080i. Although the screen resolution is the same, essentially the PS3 refreshes it's screen twice as many times a minute (For those that don't know: 1080i is an interlaced screen, "spraying" every other line 60 times a second essentially giving you 30 frames per second, while 1080p is a progressive screen "spraying" every line 60 times a second essentially dicing you 60 frames per second). Now while this difference doesn’t seem all that noticeable the interlaced screen may appear slightly choppy. Now not to rag on the Wii, but it will be outputting 480p, which doesn’t come close to competing with the PS3.

Now besides the output the systems have different graphics processors, and while I don't know everything about the GPU (Graphic Processing Unit), the major specs I have are that the PS3 has 1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance running at 550MHZ, and the Xbox360 only has 1 TFLOPS and runs at 500MHZ. The PS3 also surpasses the 360 graphics in other ways, and from what I know, they suggest that the PS3 is twice as powerful as the 360. (The Wii has not output specifics as to my knowledge.)

Moving on quickly to the power of the systems. I know you all are tired of hearing it but its all in the cell. It truly is an amazing piece of technology. It does in everyway surpass what the Xbox360 and the Wii have to offer.

Now, onto the subject of blu-ray. The blu-ray disc format does so much for the PS3. It not only provides more space to the developers for added game content, it alows for less data compression, and faster streaming rates, thus lowering loading times. Also the addition of the blu-ray player provides consumers with a low priced fully functioning blu-ray player which will share, if not control the home movie media market (HD-DVD may also catch on). Of course the PS3 will include a DVD player, so there really is no worry if HD-DVD catches on. Of course if blu-ray does catch on the technology will become easier and easier to produce and production prices will go down, and we could see a reduction in game prices due to less material costs of the disks.

Why should you upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray?

The simple answer is HDTV. If you've ever seen high-definition (HD) video on an HDTV, then you know just how incredibly sharp the picture is and how vivid the colors are. In fact, HD offers five times the amount of detail compared to standard-definition (SD). The problem with today's DVDs is that they only support SD and don't have the necessary storage capacity to satisfy the needs of HD. That's where Blu-ray comes in, it offers up to 50GB of storage capacity and enables playback, recording and rewriting of HD in all of the HD resolutions including 1080p. The format also supports high-definition audio formats and lossless audio.

In addition to the greater video and audio quality, the extra storage capacity also means there will be plenty of room for additional content and special features. This combined with the new BD-J interactivity layer adopted by Blu-ray will bring the menus, graphics and special features to a whole new level. For example, you will be able to bring up the menu system as an overlay without stopping the movie, and you could have the director of the movie on the screen explaining the shooting of a scene while the scene is playing in the background. The advanced interactivity combined with the networking features of Blu-ray will also allow content producers to support new innovative features such as downloading extras, updating content via the web, and watching live broadcasts of special events.

Thanks to the greatly enhanced HD video and audio quality as well as the advanced interactivity and networking features, Blu-ray represents a huge leap forward in the DVD viewing experience and will offer consumers an unprecedented HD experience.

What benefits does Blu-ray offer compared to HD-DVD?

Although both Blu-ray and HD-DVD are similar in many aspects, there are some important differences between them.

The first is capacity. Because Blu-ray utilizes a lens with a greater numerical aperture (NA) than HD-DVD, the laser spot can be focused with greater precision to fit more data on the same size disc. This allows Blu-ray to hold 25GB per layer (50GB on a dual-layer disc), whereas HD-DVD can only hold 15GB per layer (30GB on a dual-layer disc). Blu-ray has also adopted a higher data transfer rate for video and audio (54Mbps vs 36.55Mbps). The greater capacity and data transfer rates for Blu-ray will allow the movie studios to release their movies with higher quality video and audio than the HD-DVD format.

The second is content. The Blu-ray format has received broad support from the major movie studios as a successor to today's DVD format. Seven of the eight major movie studios (Warner, Paramount, Fox, Disney, Sony, MGM and Lionsgate) have already announced titles for Blu-ray, whereas HD-DVD only has support from three major movie studios (Warner, Paramount and Universal). This is an important difference because some of the studios might only support one of the formats, so you won't be able to get your favorite movies in the other format. Choosing the format with the most content support minimizes this risk.

The third is hardware support. The Blu-ray format has broad support from the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers, including Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Pioneer, Sharp, JVC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, TDK, Thomson, LG, Apple, HP and Dell. The Blu-ray format will also be supported in the next-generation PlayStation 3 (PS3) video game console. This means that you will have a lot of choice when it comes to players and hardware. The HD-DVD format has far less supporters, so the amount of players and hardware will be very limited. So far, Toshiba is the only company to officially announce a HD-DVD player and it will only support 1080i output, while the announced Blu-ray players will support 1080p.

You'll receive the most powerful gaming system (Cell based processor) with the LARGEST gaming library in the world (backwards compatible with PS2 and PS1 games). 162 Games already announced for the PS3 include: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Final Fantasy XIII, Killzone PS3, Resident Evil 5, GTA4, Devil May Cry 4, Resistance Fall Of Man, Naughty Dog project, 8 Day (which look amazing probably the next GTA), The Getaway, Grand Tourismo, Tekken 6, Heavenly sword, Virtua Fighters 5, Warhawk(look amazing specially with the new motion sensor thing), Coded Arms: Assault, SingStar, Unreal Tournament 2007, Haze, Ridge Racer 7, BioShock, Call of Duty 3, Virtua Tennis 3, Possession, Dark Sector, Stuntman 2, WinningEleven 2007 and Assassin’s Creed.

Further arguments in favor of the PS3 include: Built-in WiFi, free online features (which include video chat, and downloadable content), HDMI output, full backwards-compatibility, firmware updates, linux based OS (Operating System), and more.

Also Sony Computer Entertainment America reportedly stated that gaming would be free, stating: "Please note that online gaming will be free right out of the box."
Sony has touted free online as an advantage over Microsoft's free XBox LIVE account, called a "Silver" account, which does not include online gaming as one of its services. The pricing structure for premium and downloadable content has still not been outlined

Finally in response to a previous "review" the reason of the "low" quality game content at E3 was that most games weren't more than 50% complete, and were not outputting true high-def. Also at this time games only are using about 20% of the cell processor (so I read), and it will take awhile for developers to get used to the system and its capabilities. I expect that in the future games will become much better.

As a quick side note I would like to mention that the PS3 is reportedly to be extremely silent, compared to the 360 which is extremely noisy.

Still it is a matter of opinion, and this is only mine. The PS3 is not only a game machine, it is a multimedia device. Compared to the price of normal blu-ray players, which will most likely be priced in the thousands, a fully functional one will be within the PS3 for only $600.

All the facts that I said are true since I got them from Google and other sure sources. Hope I helped to clear a few things up, or to pursue some that were on the fence. Personally I cannot wait to get my hands on a PS3.

Indeed, PS3 is superior to any other console. Period. in games, in power, in features, in media support and now even on-line with the Playstation Network Platform cause it does what X-live does plus more and it's free.
ps series will rise even more in the next gen. PS3 surpasses all the others easily.

some great games there!

Duck Hunt rocks

mgsseries4life writes-" Burnout exclusive to the PS3!!"

Hehe, I believe that update ownzed you me mgs man.

In regards to -r4z0rbl4d3-'s very long and formal message, I completley agree. Sony has absolutly brought no innovation to the ps3. It can hardly be called a next-gen console when it is just an updated ps2.

Nice one -r4z0rbl4d3-. Good on ya!

Ok, first, what is the deal with people posting without reading the other posts first, or at least the 10-20 latest ones??? Why do people still complaint about a $60 price-tag when at least 20 posts says it's a placeholder and far from final? metdevthegamer, to name one of many, obviously didn't read WPack911's post, made two hours before... Why post a comment about some news when they obviously don't read other messages? That's just wierd and sad...

Secondly, if I hear another PS3-fanboy start ranting about it being superior to other consoles in every way just because Sony spews out technical crap, I'm going to start killing people til I get the right ones... Freaking wait for it to launch before claiming superiority, not even 1% of you haven't even tried the "innovative" controller or let alone, played one decent game for it. It's all about the games, people. Honestly, do you really know how great a game is before playing it? Oh, it looks good? Ok, that changes everything...........

I was very sceptical about Xbox 360 before it's release because I couldn't care less for a Xbox 1.5 (just hardware upgrade), what makes this machine worth buying when I already have a Xbox? When I finally got to play the first demos I wasn't impressedf at all either.. Perfect Dark Zero was crap, Kameo smelled Zelda-ripoff and when the only decent game turned out to be PGR, my anti-racing-alarm went off... Then it all changed. I got to try Xbox 360 Live and I was sold. The interface is awesome and the features perfect. That is what next gen was all about for me. Not the pretty graphics or a higher framerate (nice bonus though) but something that made the system unique and made my gaming life so much easier. Right now there aren't that many cool games for Xbox 360, but there are some. What is on the way is even better (I hope) but til then I'm happy with FNR3 and Oblivion.

The Wii really seems like my kind of system. "Totally re-inventing gaming" seems appropriate somehow. The controller seems like more than a gimmick and I really think it will be something set a new standard for years to come. Purely speculation and I haven't tried it yet, may be a flop too but I think Nintendo has gotten it all right (again).

Now, comparing these two competitors to the PS3, what does PS3 bring to the mold? Well... hardware? The controller is nothing new (heck, gyro-joypads have come and gone on the PC years ago, flopped hard), the online interface seems like a desperate move to try and overcome Xbox 360 Live and, like mentioned before, no word if ALL features will be free... Heck, PSP has a "free" online-service, but some games still have fees... PS3 is a PS2 with newer, more expensive hardware and features the competitors have (for less buck). Oh, and it costs $600! Don't give me any crap about the $499-version, that's a total rip-off since vital features are removed that makes the PS3 pretty much worthless... I feel sorry for people that doesn't realise this and are going to get f****d by Sony. So why should we buy a $600 PS3 when you can get all the new features (maybe even better versions of them) for less money with a Xbox 360 AND a Wii? I'll get back to you when I test the system out...

It all comes down to the games. If PS3 had exclusive rights for GTA4 (that gotta hurt, really), MGS-series (Hey, Snake is in SSBB!) and a ton of other games maybe one could concider selling an organ or two to buy all the consoles, but since most of the games nowadays are multi-plattform in some way or another I really see no point in purchasing a PS3 over a Xbox360 and a Wii. I may be wrong, only time will tell.

Wow, longest post yet on GS...

Well I see this sick trend of postponing games again. How bout set some realiistic guidelines and leave some room for creativity EA. You allready bought the market out so I have to buy your games anyways, Spore better be the best game ever, Im excited. Dunk hunt would be funny but then banned by polititions becuase they ares so incompitant

Yes Half Life 2 fir the 360!,nice. And I might as well get hyped about burnout 5 as well!!

Why are people so excited by HL2 on the PS3? they got it running on the original Xbox (albeit with awful load times) If the PS3 couldn't run it, that would be disappointing. Oh wait, I can arleady run it on my 360, its backwards compatible. I would like to see more of the multiplayer mods and such.

Alright

They put Spore back again! Nooo! Now I've got over a year to wait!

wake me up when this rummors become a reality! ZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

Yeah pilotwings. one of my favorites games for the N64.
Now i definitly have to buy a Wii. Damn you nintendo.

woohoo!! finally some kind of info on the release of project offset...even if it is on a console I don't own!

Pilot Wings...wow...haven`t heard that title for a long time. Hope it turns out as good as the old ones.

cool. wii launch is going to be the biggest and best console launch ever.

spore is gonna be sweet
hl2 on 360 is gonna be super sweet

Quote - OmegaBob
Anyone else notice that mgsseries4life copies and pastes the SAME SCRIPT in everyone one of these topics? The SAME SCRIPT... think bout that.

Testify brother. I am heartily sick of seeing his name everywhere, with the same posts. It isn't even related to the thread of the time. Just mention PS3, in he runs, pasting the copy given to him by his masters at Sony. I know you are reading this mgsseries4life- come clean - how much are you being paid? Is it by the post (if it is, man how rich are you getting?)? Your entire user information is a fake isn't it? This is a fraud and GS should ban you for obvious commercial abuse of a user site.

Get something new, we are all sick of the old one and we don't want to keep seeing for the next 6 months - or when you contract with Sony expires.

Sports games and shooters running wild in the next-gen. Booo!!!

Why are they releaseing HL2 AGAIN on consoles? Sure, the xbox wasn't pwerful enough to run it, but it's an OLD game now...and will be even older by the time it's released for the PS3 and x360

I can assure you that HL2 will suck on any console. It is best played on PC. So don't seriously think that PS3's version will be better. There is also no point in questioning the Gears of War game coming out on other consoles. It's not happening, that's like saying Halo is coming to PS3 which would be a joke.

sorry for the double post...but i messed up bad on threw "through" and one "won"...sorry it bothers me...lol...

In response to this quote below...we started taking those lists after E3 2005...so if they say 50 people on the list...thats rougly 2 people interested a month...we recently restarted our list because previous management through it way...we've had 6 people sign the list...2 were employees...and we're in a mall...near a large city...a lot of people aren't as excited about it after they hear its 600 dollars, i've heard a lot of people say they'll buy a Wii and/or a 360 or wait for a price drop on the PS3, sure it offers a lot of hardware...but it seems like they're forcing you to buy the more expensive won, much like microsoft did with the Premium package...but the PS3 is 200 dollars more than that...i mean i was excited there for a while, until i heard the price...and heard what games were coming out for it...and noticed that 80% of them are coming out for 360...anybody else not really feeling the PS3 anymore?

"READ PLEASE!
Playstation 3 Demand Still Strong Despite Announced Price
Calls placed to over twenty small-town retail outlets reflect demand ranging from lukewarm to red hot.
By Carl Bender - May 18, 2006

One of the themes trumpeted recently by analysts and gaming media following the end of E3 has been the concern that with an entry point of $499, Sony may have priced itself out of the console market. At a 20% premium to it's nearest competitor, the reasons for worry seem obvious enough; but yet the situation as reflected by retail outlets seems to paint a different picture, and indicates that at least for the launch window, Sony has little to worry about.

Looking to get a feel of how demand for the Playstation 3 has been holding up post-E3, PSINext placed calls to over twenty-five gaming stores in smaller towns across the United States; EB Games and GameStops for the most part, in order to keep it simple. Smaller towns were used on the assumption that they would more accurately reflect 'Middle American' willingness to spend up to $600 on a console, and the idea that figures taken from larger urban centers such as New York or Los Angeles might provide unusually inflated levels of interest in the system relative to the rest of the nation.

In this completely unscientific survey, roughly a third of the stores contacted - in towns such as Seaford, DE and Brookhaven, MS - were not keeping lists at all, mindful of avoiding the fiasco that was the XBox 360 pre-order situation. For the other two-thirds of the retail outlets, recorded interest since E3 seemed quite strong indeed. Although two towns contacted were decidedly lukewarm at best - Gilford, NH and Petaluma, CA had roughly a dozen names each - for the most part stores contacted had consumer callback lists in the vicinity of fifty to sixty names; well above expected launch day availability.

Some towns exceeded even those figures, with standouts like Wooster, OH and Houghton Lake, MI quoting numbers in the range of one hundred listed individuals.

If Sony were able to sustain these levels of demand, sell-through could be ensured not only through the launch period, but into the following year as well. But as a cautionary note we should mention that although these gaming-specific outlets presently reflect a strong interest for the upcoming Playstation, the Playstation Portable was in a similar situation approaching it's own US debut. And though gaming stores all over the nation were sold out of the portable at the launch, ample supplies still sat untouched on the shelves of Targets and Wal-Marts.

It stands to reason, however, that the above will not be the case for the Playstation 3.

Not only will the November launch position Sony for Christmas shopping, but demand for the console seems like it will readily outstrip the US allocation of Sony's 2 million console launch figure. And though launch quantities will ultimately form a very small percentage of total shipped units over a consoles life, an early show of strength can still be crucial in allaying developer concerns and getting third-party support onboard.

As time goes on, we will contact some of these stores again to keep a finger on the 'pulse' of PS3 consumer interest, and add others to the list to broaden the sample size."

You can bet your bottom dollar that if Half-life 2 gets ported to the 360 Valve WILL distribute content over Live. IMHO, but come on.... it's really a no brainer.

Half Life 2 for next gen? I wonder if it will have Episodes along or not.

Dang, how did they get $59.99 for Nintendo games? Noticed that only first party games have that sticker price. Nintendo was very exact on a cheap $49.99 price for games, especially first party titles. EB's pulling our legs here.

yay, Half Life 2 for 360, they could not only get it looking as good as the PC version, but maybe even better with HDR, higher res textures and models (like Lost Coast) and run it smoothly at 60fps with 4xAA at 1080i (they could even design it for 1080p, nothing is stopping them) at an ULTRA-SWEET resolution 1920x1080.

Since it will be on a DVD9 then Valve could include a 360 version on Counter Strike: Source. Maybe they could even have Half Life 2 mods on XboxLIVE and have a 360 version of STEAM so 360 players could compete with PC Players online,

Valve might even design the 360 version so that a USB mouse+keyboard could be used. Anyway, that is the best-case-scenario, but still, that would be damn good.

I still don't understand why MS doesn't add Mouse+Keyboard support for the 360, all it would take is a simple driver installation over XBOXLIVE, PC owners excuses are running out and giving the 360 Mouse+Keyboard support would get them a LOT of sales