QuickJump QuickPeek 43: Of PlayStation Store revamp ramp-ups, the toastier side of Mortal Kombat, and mashmallow tests given via game demos

(Editor’s Note: Seven days have come and gone, and you know what that means! Another QuickJump QuickPeek edition!)

And just like that, it’s another weekend. You’ve probably been busy scrounging up pennies and loose change to save up for GTA4, so there’s a chance the you might’ve missed out on a couple of things that happened this week. Man, have we got a story to tell in QuickPeek 43!

(Editor’s Note: It’s been seven days already? And just like that, we’re back here once again recounting what’s been going on in the gaming industry. We’ve gotten some new Featured Content up on blogs – check ’em out when you’ve got the time. But for now, we give you QuickJump QuickPeek 43 and it’s looking beefier than ever!)

So what’s in store this week? Or, if you’re a PlayStation user, the more apt question would be what’s in Store. The capital S makes all the difference. But even with a revamp in your hands, there’s still quite a lot of other news to catch up on.

Meanwhile, we’ve got a few days left before Grand Theft Auto 4 hits some of your PS3 and/or Xbox 360 libraries at home so you guys might want to check up on how Niko Bellic’s doing. We hear he’s struck some gold.

There’s also been a shocking new game supposed to come out this Fall – toasty! – and some talk of satellites dying in an interstellar garbage dump. It’s definitely another mixed bag for QuickPeek, so without further delay, time to let the cat out of it. Rawr!

No one still seems to know when and if Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G will have a release across all other regions other than Japan, but if all this success and reception is something to go by, then Capcom might finally take decisive action.

There’s some new Quest DLC made available for MHP 2nd G this week in Japan. The new quest allows you (well, you Japanese gamers, at least) to go tame some Yian Kut-ku.

If all of these Monster Hunter updates is leaving you rather bitter, fret not. Capcom’s still taking measures to please fans in other regions. This week, they’ve put up three PSP titles on their Capcom Store: Monster Hunter Freedom, Megaman Maverick X, and Megaman Powered Up.

Link: New Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G quest: mini Yian Kut-ku taming
Link: Capcom re-introduces three PSP titles back into official store

Going across land and sea now, we head to Europe where a couple of games have been dated (and in one game’s case, delayed): Echochrome, Secret Agent Clank, and ATV Offroad Fury Pro. All three games have been dated to be released in June.

Link: Sony dates Echochrome, ATV Offroad Fury Pro, Secret Agent Clank in Europe

In case some of you guys submitted a homebrew project to this year’s NeoFlash Spring Coding Competition, it’s time to cap the event with the list of winners. From PSP games and applications to other homebrew projects for the DS, this year’s winners reveal a full spectrum of how the homebrew scene’s been fairing.

If you are interested to check out the entries, just click the link below. From there, you can download the individual entries if you want to try them out for yourselves.

Many thanks to Insert_Witty_Name for the tip!

Link: NeoFlash Spring Coding Competition 2008 winners announced

As for other notable homebrew, we’ve been getting updates on some pretty helpful applications that have been well-received by the most of you. Not least of which is another version of Weltall’s CWCheat – we’re sure you’re pretty familiar with that.

But in case some of you missed the others, we’ve got a file transferring tool that allows you to share data to other PSP users via ad hoc as well as the full public release for Winnydows’ XviX4PSP video converting application.

Link: PSP Adhoc File Transfer v0.7
Link: CWCheat 0.2.2 REV. B
Link: XviD4PSP v5.032 full public version released

More news next week, folks! Those seven days will come to pass just… like… that!

– QJ.NET’s PSPUpdates team

As expected last week, PlayStation 3 Firmware update 2.30 finally rolled in, and with it came the much talked about PlayStation Home PlayStation Store revamp. Yeap. It’s looking mighty sleek, and downright sexy… and getting quite a lot of complaints. Wait, what?

Shout outs to Steven Watson, DatNizzle, and NarooN for the tip of FW 2.30 going live!

Link: Sony PlayStation 3 2.30 Firmware now live
Link: PlayStation Home not part of PS3 firmware 2.30

As smooth and stylish as the new PS Store design looks, the same thing can’t quite be said of its implementation as some users seem to have aired out quite a number of complaints.

Thanks to Torrenera, Mentality, and Snowy for the tips about the complaints in Europe!

Link: New PlayStation Store – bigger, better, faster, and sexier
Link: SCEE releases statement on slow-loading PlayStation Store
Link: Sony Europe’s PlayStation Network generating lots of complaints

Hitches aside, to celebrate the milestone, Sony‘s giving us that oh-so-perfect slice of racing-sim heaven in the form of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. And considering we’ve been having some PS Store withdrawals from a couple of days of maintenance, Sony made sure we’ll be drowning in DLC this week. Check it out guys: not only did Prologue drop in, but so did some Rock Band tracks (Portal‘s “Still Alive” finally goes live!) and Warhawk content.

Link: PSN US April 17 update: Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Warhawk DLC

Snaking their way this week are a couple more Metal Gear Solid updates. Not, not necessarily for Guns of the Patriots, but for Metal Gear Online, actually. With the beta testing just about to begin in a matter of days (see ya guys online come the 21st!), it’s been a mad dash for beta keys from MGS4 pre-orders.

Just like how the PS Store revamp was received though, already there have been a couple of complaints. It turns out that some of the keys have been detected as invalid, and Konami’s currently trying to settle the matter.

Many thanks to Darkshneider and Eclipze_ for tipping us on MGO‘s early release!

Link: Metal Gear Online beta up on PSN a day early
Link: Invalid Metal Gear Online beta keys detected
Link: Konami responds: of invalid MGO Beta keys and MGS4 bundles

This week, a mysterious and very much creepy counter appeared on the PlayStation Japan website. That counter got things bloody, if you get our drift. This is mostly because no one had a clue, and raw speculation (not to mention some hopes from certain readers and the occasional QJ.NET staffer) was the order of the day.

It was none other than Famitsu once again who jumped the gun and finally confirmed what the webpage was about to reveal: Siren: New Translation for the PS3. Well, it’s not what some of us may have hoped, but a survival-horror game is always a welcome addition to the next-gen era. Seen the trailer yet?

Link: Creepy, mysterious timer counts down on PlayStation Japan
Link: Game behind mysterious countdown confirmed: Siren New Translation
Link: Sony Japan opens official Siren: New Translation site, trailer now viewable

All these news items in just seven days… Sony sure does know how to pack in quite a lot of stuff in just a week, but is that all? Nope. Not really. Other stuff we heard of this week include a rumor about Sony’s supposed ‘transforming controller’, the betcha-didn’t-know-’bout-that PS3 cooling fan test, and the MGS bluetooth headset.

– QJ.NET’s PlayStation 3 team

It’s the last stretch, folks! With the fourth trailer (Good lord…) out of the pipeline, Grand Theft Auto 4 is finally dropping in in just a week and a half. Get your tenterhooks unhooked because none of us will be left hanging in suspense with another delay.

GTA4 has gone gold and is already shuttling its way across the country onto retail store stock rooms! Now. Who wants to bet the street date would be broken in the coming days? Ah… Who knows?

Other official news comes in the form of Rockstar’s announcement that they’re opening up pre-registrations for the Social Club leaderboard site. The game comes out on the 29th, but it never hurts to start creating your profile by registering on the statistics page this early.

Credit goes out to mupet0000 for telling us of the Social Club pre-registry!

Link: Grand Theft Auto 4 goes gold
Link: Rockstar Games Social Club now accepting pre-registrations

As for other GTA4 information, it seems that the rumor mill has been doing its last minute churning before the game’s release. The grapevine’s been creeping along with whispers and talks of some of Australia’s deleted scenes and what they’re like.

Deleted as they may be in Australia, some of you guys might be surprised to find it in your copy of GTA4. We don’t want to spoil the juicy tidbits, so to speak, but let’s just say that Niko gets rather… aggressive.

Other rumors this week include a supposed mandatory 5-minute install time for the game, as well as an outline of what the Xbox 360 DLC will bring us. Do we hear San Andreas? Man, if this only weren’t a rumor…

Link: GTA IV removed scene involves weapons and enemies’ private parts
Link: More GTA 4 rumors: 5-minute install times, Xbox 360 DLC features

Anyways, if you guys needed any reassurance that GTA4 would be good, OXM’s just reviewed the game, and despite the fact that the copy they got their hands on was based on an unfinished build, they’ve already given it a snazzy 10/10.

Link: OXM gives GTA 4 10/10 score, Xbox 360 DLC 10 hours long

Let’s put GTA4 aside for now and talk other 360 matters. And this is quite important too. Surprise, surprise: if you haven’t fired up your XBL account in the past week (what kind of person are you?!) you’d now be prompted to update your system. It’s not as big as last year’s Spring Dashboard update, but this one’s to “prepare for future growth of the service.”

Link: Xbox 360: New System update available via XBL

With that over and done with, it’s time to browse around Xbox Live to see what’s new. For those who’re still camping around to finish the fight, better get out of your rock and download the new Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack. The Iron Man demo is also up, if you feel like go-go-going gadget with Tony Stark.

Link: Halo 3’s Legendary Map Pack and Dashboard theme now on Xbox Live
Link: Iron Man demo flies to XBL on April 18, PSN version coming soon

Now remember Xbox 360’s supposed motion-sensing controller from last week? Well, more solid details have surfaced this week in the form of an actual patent filed by Microsoft. Yes, a patent.

Link: New Xbox 360 motion-sensing controller patent details, sketch emerge

Oh and in case you guys missed it: XBL will be down for some system maintenance on the 21st, so if you guys plan on getting anything from the network, better do it quick. See you guys in next week’s Issue 44!

– QJ.NET’s Xbox 360 team

After Brawl, most of you are probably waiting to check out Mario Kart Wii. Likewise, we’re just about as ready to re-live the 16-bit craziness of Mario Kart on the SNES in the next-gen era of Wiimote waggling. Fortunately for Europe, they got the wacky racer ahead of most everyone else.

Not only that but Mario Kart Wii‘s sped its way to the top of the UK charts and left racer-sim Grand Turismo 5 Prologue in second place. Interesting to note here is that for a launch week, Mario Kart Wii‘s sales have beaten other Mario Wii titles’ first week out in the market… combined.

Link: Mario Kart Wii bursts into UK charts: biggest Mario launch week ever
Link: Media Create Japan: Mario Kart debuts at over half a million copies sold

As swell as that might sound, Nintendo isn’t one to slack off after basking in the limelight of success. They’re serious and they mean business, especially when it comes to cheating. We’ve gotten reports this week of players’ records getting deleted after activating (whether deliberately or not) a bizarre bug in Time Trial mode.

Link: Official Nintendo Magazine forum: Mario Kart Wii has a bug
Link: Nintendo gets serious, deletes records of Mario Kart Wii cheaters

Now if it’s not Mario Kart Wii that you’re waiting for, then maybe it’s Wii Fit. The cool thing is that your pricing concerns may finally be put to rest as Nintendo’s formally announced the official price tag for the game (with the Wii Balance Board, of course).

Link: Nintendo’s Wii Fit officially priced for US, more release details

Main man Shigeru Miyamoto‘s back in the scene too. He’s been talking a lot about Wii Fit lately, and more than this, a couple words on what the future holds for their Wii and DS platforms.

There’s some talk of bringing Wii Fit to the DS in the form of a calorie counter of some sort. Likewise, he promises that more games in the future will be using the Balance Board, maybe even Mario himself.

Link: Miyamoto talks Wii Fit, DS connectivity, Mario balance board game possibility
Link: Miyamoto on creating a better environment for games and gamers

Speaking of Miyamoto, he’s once again nominated for one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential Persons. We even hear there’s already an online petition to get him up on the list!

– QJ.NET’s Nintendo Wii team

Catching gamers off guard is a new title that’s apparently been in the works for quite some time now. From Midway Games comes a cross-franchise fighting title that’ll either make your eyes bleed either because of a) pure bliss, or b) utter fail.

Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe has finally been confirmed for the Xbox 360 and PS3 after earlier rumors this week. There’s already a trailer, and still, some readers seem to be on the fence with this. Meanwhile, other related tidbits surfaced, talking of the possibility of there being no fatalities in the new MK installment.

Link: Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe confirmed with trailer: Sub-Zero vs Batman
Link: Rumor: little blood, no fatalities in Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe?

We know some of you guys appreciate seeing sales figures, and among the grandest daddy of them all usually come from NPD Group. That’s what the analysts keep talking about either way, and more often than not, that’s what Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo usually respond to.

Some of you may have expected the outcomes for March: the Nintendo Wii’s reigning supreme hardware-side, and coincidentally, Super Smash Bros. Brawl come up on top in the software charts.

Link: March NPD US results: hardware, software skyrocket; Nintendo brawls way to top

Ever wondered what happened to artificial satellites when they shut down after years of orbiting our planet? They turn into sperm cells. (Oops, sorry for that bit – Gino D.’s comment sort of stole the show back there. o_0)

See, since 1957 – that was the year Sputnik was released into orbit – there’s been some 6,000 satellites out there. And as you might guess, not all of them are still operational. Most of them in fact are just drifting around, waiting to smash into each other. Think of it as an interstellar graveyard.

But upon seeing pictures of all these 6,000 satellites swarming around our Mother Earth like sperms surrounding an egg cell, you can’t help but think of how dirty it is: it’s actually not so much as a graveyard, more like… a garbage dump.

Link: Outer space: where satellites go to die

Penny for your thoughts this weekend! Would you buy a game because of the trailers or because of getting to play a demo of it? For some people, the answer may be painfully obvious. But see, for others, statistics and findings are the order of the day.

In a recent study, data gathered shows that games that have only released trailers reaped more sales than other games that decided to release either demos only or both demos and trailers. Of course, we’re sure there’s a whole slew of other factors affecting sales, and trailers and demos could just be the tip of the iceberg.

Link: Study suggests that publishers should avoid releasing demos

As with any other week in the gaming industry, there’s been quite a hubub about video games and physical violence once again. This time, we hear from gun control advocate Paul Helmke, who believes that video games aren’t the ones to be blamed for school shootings, but actually the guns themselves. More specifically, guns and how it’s become easy for a kid to possess it.

We all have our sentiments for or against this, but all in all, Helmke’s statement is still pretty valid. But taking from QJ.NET commenter Boots_Megamix, there are also other matters related to this that people should be concerned about:

Link: Paul Helmke says guns, not games, are to blame for school shootings

Originally posted on Apr 19, 2008 at 02:34PM.