QuickJump QuickPeek 41: Of PSP 3000s and DAX’s un-April Fools’ release, Niko Bellic’s warm coffee in GTA 4, and Kojima-Raymond’s brainchild
(Editor’s Note: Happy April Fools’! You’d think we’d run skimpy with all the non-news items, but actually, this might be our biggest issue yet!)
Y’know how notorious the gaming community could get during this time of the year. But in between rumors and Metal Creed Solid gags, this here QuickPeek 41 is one heck of a colossus. Dark AleX is back, Jade Raymond makes a cameo, and Niko Bellic’s got quite a lot of action cut out for him in GTA 4. Mind the Whoopie cushions! Wohoo!
(Editor’s Note: Isn’t it strange that Issue 41 should come out this week? I mean, c’mon. Don’t the numbers 4 and 1 strike you as strange? If you take them as dates, then you get April 1. And it so turns out that QuickPeek Four-One gets published on the week of April Fools’ Day. Pretty freaky, huh? And no, we didn’t start the first issue just to get to this day and make it seem deliberate. Harhar. Or… did we?)
If you’re a gamer, you know how April 1 goes. Or the whole of April, for that matter. The gaming industry is pretty notorious for pulling pranks right about this time of year. And yes, this week sure did see a lot of mix-ups, mayhem, and little mischievous pranks pulled off by the publishers and devs.
Y’know, it took quite a while to draft this baby up. You’d think that the only thing we got this week were a bunch of stink bombs thrown in, but actually, if you take away all of the April Fools’ gags going on (the biggest of which is sitting comfortably in the Odds-and-Ends section below, FYI), there’s still quite a heavy, palpable presence of news.
From a million Japanese gamers hunting monsters on their PSPs to an overly abundant dose of GTA 4 news on the side. Hurrah, the GTA 4 month has landed! We’ve also got more updates on PlayStation Home and a whole slew of map packs heading for (or are currently available) Xbox Live. Oh and yes, Dark AleX popped in again this week with a new release. Woot!
Get comfy in your seat – oh, mind the whoopie cushion – and let’s bring the house down with another colossus of a QuickPeek.
PSP: Topsy-turvies, turnabouts, and tricked-up DAX projects
Alrighty then. Let’s get this thing started. We’ve got quite a lot of ground to cover, so make sure you’ve got prepared for another big load of news.
It’s big, it’s scary, and it’s definitely making waves in Japan. No, we’re not talking about Godzilla. But, well, something quite akin to that. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G was released last week, and now Capcom’s got the sales figures in.
They’re probably rolling in the dough right now: MHP 2G has broken the one million mark already. And wait, that’s not the end of it. Capcom’s already released the first of the downloadable quests for Japan. Sweet. Well, a bitter kind of sweet, but sweet nonetheless.
See, the bitterness comes when you realize that the expansion hasn’t been confirmed for the US or Europe just yet. In the meantime, there are still trailers popping up every now and then to tease the gamers.
Link: Monster Hunter Freedom 2nd G breaks one million mark in Japan
Link: First look at Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G downloadable quest
Link: Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G trailer, gameplay video
Fancy some mind-bending updates? Turns out that topsy-turvy title, Echochrome, won’t be getting a UMD release. The only thing most every one knows is that the game will be rolling out via the PlayStation Network – download it onto your handheld or PS3, and all that.
But see, other people have been asking: just like in Japan, will Echochrome get a UMD release on North American retail shelves? Well, you can’t blame them if they want more options in acquiring a copy of the game. Answer: a very black-and-white “No.”
Link: Newsweek: No UMD for Echochrome in U.S.
Link: Echochrome: breaking down differences between each version
Speaking of giving the consumers the power to choose, we might be seeing just another new PSP being rolled out. More options, the better, right? Or… is it? Anyways, story goes that there might be a PSP-3000 Series coming out in the future. This, based on a supposed image that was found on Sony’s website.
Sony never gave anything official on the matter (it could be just a little April Fools’ prank, but who knows?), so all speculation beyond this point remains to be just that: speculation. For that matter, all arguments on the differences between GB and GiB (don’t ask how it came to that – it’s a long story) should be redirected over to the comments section in the particular article.
Link: PSP-3000 series image found on Sony website
Let’s move along to some homebrew cheer now. And how much cheerier can you get? Because this week (it’s no April Fools’ joke either – hence, an un-April Fools’), Dark AleX is back in the scene! Not with just one, but two – two! muwahahaha! – actual releases to boot!
The first release pertains to an updated custom firmware. His homebrew project sees its latest release: 3.90 M33-3. It’s now expanded some compatibility support. Likewise, the Despertar del Cementerio universal unbricker got a similar treatment. It’s now compatible with Dark AleX’s other big project, Time Machine.
Credits go out to [Neon], JumpR, and DWG21R for the tip on CFW 3.90 M33-3, and once again to JumpR for the one about Despertar del Cementario! Thanks, guys!
Link: Dark AleX releases CFW 3.90 M33-3 – with improved NO-UMD compatibility
Link: Despertar del Cementerio – now compatible with Time Machine
Spinning off from Dark AleX, we get other related brew: 1) Multi Cementario, a useful app specially tailored for devs who want to switch back and forth across different firmwares to test for homebrew compatibility; and 2) the M33xEver plugin – there’s actually two releases for this – that allows you to perpetually re-simulate the “birthday surprise” Easter egg that DAX put into M33.
Yeah, some of you commented that the second one was pointless, but hey! Some people apparently like recreating Dark AleX’s little April Fools’ prank on their PSPs.
Link: Multi Cementerio – installs older CFWs for homebrew app testing
Link: M33xEver – plug-in to permanently reset to M33 ‘birthday surprise’
Link: M33xEver v2: No date changes
The PSP homebrew emulator had quite a stir this week, with some unofficial updates on StrmnNrmn’s Daedalus project. Emphasis on “unofficial” of course. Someone leaked a bit of info of what we can expect from the upcoming R14 version of StrmnNrmn’s Nintendo 64 emulator. Though we advise you guys to take it with a grain of huge vat of salt, it’s still pretty cool that we now know that the project is still very much alive.
Also, PSPKVM, the emulator that allows you to run java games from the mobile platform had quite bump up, since it’s now merged with pspME. Now, you get more Java support on your PSP! Pretty cool, neh?
Thanks to Ari Bornstein and victor (aka dopey) for the Daedalus R14 tip!
Link: Daedalus R-14 Beta: Unofficial details and screenshots released
Link: PSPKVM v0.3.0 – merged source codes with pspME
See? We weren’t kidding when we said this’d be a heavy week of updates. See ya guys in Issue 42!
– QJ.NET’s PSPUpdates team
PlayStation 3: What the future holds and how a “very soon” can be taken loosely
Oh, joy! All those talks of a revamp of the PlayStation Store were taken with a bit of a rumor angle before, but now, everything’s pretty much settled and chiseled on rock. (And polished to perfection, mind you!)
Straight from a press release from Sony – with an accompanying post on the PS blog – screenshots of the new PS Store design finally surfaced. They’re looking mighty sleek and simple, with little icons and neatly-placed windows and frames. With this update, we also discover that there won’t be any new stuff on the store to make way for the implementation of the new design.
Link: PlayStation Store revamp in April: first screenshots, details
All those waiting for Metal Gear Solid 4, raise your hands!!! One, two, three, four… err ok, this’ll take awhile. Think it’d be easier if we just asked for a show of hands of who aren’t waiting for MGS4.
Listen up, Kojima fans! Once we do finally get MGS4 in our hands, did you ever think of what might happen after? We’ve had the entire franchise for 20 years now (epic Anniversary montage trailer FTW!), but what would life be like after Metal Gear? Of course, these thoughts have also been plaguing the mind of the big boss himself, Hideo Kojima.
Kojima confirmed that, despite him not spearheading any more MGS games, we’ll still be seeing Solid Snake in the future. He’s got some ideas, sure, and we just might find Snake stalking through the pages of a novel or a book. Meanwhile, it seems as if he’s got his eyes set on the middle school crowd – especially with how they’ve taken to Sony’s handheld console.
Link: Hideo Kojima on future of Snake, plans after Metal Gear Solid 4
Link: Hideo Kojima considers PSP audience important
Link: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots 20th anniversary trailer
All those waiting for PlaySta… ok, let’s do this right, this time around: all those who are not waiting for PlayStation Home, raise your hands!!! Anyone? Hmm? None? Anyhoo. We’ve got something interesting for some of you guys (i.e. pretty much everyone) about Home.
It might be just a one-liner announcement (a somewhat dubious one, at that), but it’s one that we believe some of you would want to cling on to. It turns out that the beta for PS Home could be released to the public soon. How soon? Well, the phrase “very soon” may be taken differently by other people so… for now, everything’s still pretty much up in the air.
Link: Home Beta to go public ‘soon’
Now in the same way that we get vague dates of when Home will eventually arrive on PS3 consoles, we also get, from time to time, lists of games that are supporting DualShock 3. However, considering that the new controller – “iv got teh rumbulz on mah pstriple! o_0” – will be released on April 15 already (oooh, just about a mere week from now!), it wouldn’t hurt to have a refresher course of what games will be supporting Rumble by the time it hits store shelves.
Link: SIXAXIS out, DualShock 3 in, plus list of compatible games
In line with the release of the DualShock 3 in North America is, as some would know, the release of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue on April 17. Suhweet. With what better way could you re-discover the Rumble feature than Kazumori Yamauchi’s racer? To get your pistons pumping, we hear from him that you can have your own little crash-o-ramas in the game.
The car deformation feature took a while to incorporate – they had to convince the car manufacturers to let it happen – and will be done so on a later date via an update. Mmm… burnt rubber, bent metal, shattered glass? Let thy road rage loose!
Oh and on a related note (this should have gone to the PSPUpdates team, actually, but we might as well sneak it up in here anyways), Yamauchi this week also said that a PSP Gran Turismo title would be unlikely, what with the time and effort they’ve been putting into the development of the GT titles for the PS3.
Link: Yamauchi confirms car deformation in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
Link: GT series creator Yamauchi: no Gran Turismo for PSP this year
There’s also been a couple of interesting news items that surfaced this week, and since we’d rather not spam you with even more and more walls of text, we’ll just give them a quick run through here, while you can go catch up on them separately in the specific articles linked below.
First up is a new patent filed by Sony to the FCC. Based on the online documents, this new patent reserves some changes to the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules of the PS3. Now though some people feel as if mandatory installations are just a fact of life, other people actually get all riled up about it. Hence, a little explanation from MTV Multiplayer.
Meanwhile, Criterion’s reaffirming their announcement that 1080i support in Burnout Paradise is very much real and there’s no Aprils Fools’ joke about it either. Warhawk got a patch update this week, and among the items in the changelog, one interesting little tidbit you might want to know about is that v1.3 makes way from “HOME Game-Launching.”
Link: Patent AK8CBEH110 signals coming of one more PlayStation 3 model
Link: The reason why there are mandatory installations for PS3 games
Link: Criterion: 1080i support for Burnout Paradise PS3 real
Link: Info on the Warhawk v1.3 patch update
Ahhh. Too many updates, so little time! If you guys want some more MGS4 loving though (not to mention with a Jade Raymond cameo on the side), we’d have to flip you guys over to the Odds-and-Ends section. GTA 4 updates in 3… 2… 1…
– QJ.NET’s PlayStation 3 team
Xbox 360: Niko Bellic’s warm coffee
It’s probably been the biggest week for Grand Theft Auto 4 in a while. We’re talking the same amount of spammage that daily SSBB updates from the Smash Bros. DOJO contributed to previous QuickPeek editions.
First up, we hear from the vice president of SCEA’s marketing arm. Yes, yes, we know that it’s from the “opposing army,” but what’s been said sort of hits home for the Xbox 360 users. See, SCEA’s Scott Steinberg said that, at least for the PS3 version, they won’t need and DLC because the game’s huge enough as it is. This, after much talk of Microsoft offering GTA4 DLC on XBL.
Link: SCEA marketing VP: GTA IV big enough, episodic DLC not necessary
Well, the game is big enough, that’s for sure. And since games’ playthrough times have been pretty much in the spotlight lately (Chains of Olympus, anyone?), it’s now been revealed that under certain circumstances – in this case, if you were a tester in the dev house of Rockstar – you’d take a rough estimate of 40 hours to accomplish the single-player mode.
Link: Grand Theft Auto 4’s testers took 40 hours to finish single player mode
So, what do those 40 hours give you? What about side quests and whatnot? Here’s something pretty clear though. We get a preview of what the first five missions in GTA4 will be. From what it looks like, Niko’s got his work cut out for him right off the bat. And that’s with or without sipping on some hot coffee.
Yeap, the BBFC revealed (somewhat prematurely, actually) that the game does contain some sexual content that they’ve described as such: “[…] an un-detailed portrayal of masturbation, fellatio and intercourse […] While the game contains sexualised dancing and the portrayal of sex, there is no sexualised nudity.”
Link: Grand Theft Auto 4: Preview on five missions
Link: Grand Theft Auto 4 includes masturbation and explicit sexual references
On hindsight though, at least the BBFC already gave the go-signal that gains their approval of GTA4 being sold in retail stores. Though an “18” rating isn’t all that surprising, the knowledge that the board finally approved the game is still quite an achievement. This without any recurrence of Manhunt 2 controversies.
Speaking of achievements, a rumored list of achievements for GTA4 was published this week. And what’s this? If you successfully date a girl and she invites you over… you win the “Warm Coffee” achievement. Ha!
Link: BBFC clears Grand Theft Auto 4 for sale
Link: Rumor: Grand Theft Auto 4 achievements leaked
Wooo. Man if that wasn’t a beefy GTA4 update, we don’t know what is… Let’s move on to XBL-related news now, shall we?
We’re sure you guys probably know by now already, but if you got Rock Band, the DLC for Portal‘s “Still Alive” track is now available. Also, there are two new map packs for Call of Duty 4 – Broadcast and Creek. Better catch those while they’re still hot! Meanwhile, Halo 3 is expected to get another map in the future as well.
Link: Rock Band: Portal’s ‘Still Alive’ DLC free on XBLM, PSN to get it soon
Link: Call of Duty 4 Variety Map Pack hits Xbox Live today
Link: Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack: ‘Darkness’ teaser trailer
It’s GTA4 month! Wohoo! We’ll be monitoring things as the final stretch continues on. See ya guys next week!
– QJ.NET’s Xbox 360 team
Nintendo Wii: Knock, knock, knockin’ on homebrew’s door
Aah, we got some good news from Nintendo this week! And well, some of you may not find this surprising maybe (or at least not as surprising as, say, Alanis Morissette doing her own version of “My Humps” – aww, c’mon that’s old news, YouTube it if you haven’t seen it yet), but yes, Nintendo just shot all the way to the top of the 2007 fiscal year report in Japan.
With massive sales numbers pouring in from their Nintendo DS handheld and Wii console, Famitsu reveals that Nintendo pretty much won in both the software and hardware arenas.
Link: Nintendo tops 2007 Japanese fiscal year
With Super Smash Bros. Brawl out on retail now, what else is there to look forward to, some of you might ask? Well, there’s Star Wars for one. And if using the Force by waggling your magic white wand doesn’t cut it, then we don’t know what will.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed might be getting a cross-platform release, but for the Wii version, it gets that much more oomph. This week, we’ve got quite a detailed account of the control scheme for the game, as well as the game modes and levels in the Wii version. Pleased, very much, Yoda is.
Link: Star Wars: Force Unleashed for Wii – Wiimote controls, Duel Mode, exclusive levels
Remember the Wii Homebrew Channel revealed by Team Twiizers a while back? This time, we finally see a release. You guys can try it out, of course. That’s a pretty historic piece of homebrew right there!
The catch here is that it’s a beta trial – a homebrew app that will only be workable for ten full minutes. Why the restriction? Well, to quote the team’s release page:
A: Because it’s an ugly, crude version that pales in comparison to what we hope to release in the near future. Think of it as something halfway between a “sneak preview” and an April Fool’s joke that nobody else found funny. Our bad.
Link: Wii Homebrew Channel Beta Trial now available
Other interesting Wii homebrew developments come in the form of some development updates on the Wii-Linux Proof of Concept. They’ve made some progress on the kernel front. The proof of concept now allows you to access SD cards via the front card port. With this baby incorporated into the project, who knows what we can see next? We’re really knocking at the front door of the full blown Wii homebrew scene right now, huh? Sweet!
Link: Wii-Linux Proof of Concept v0.3
And that’s it for this week! Check it out. Did any of you guys see the V-sport in Japan? Yarp! That probably takes the cake. And no, that’s no April Fools’ joke!
– QJ.NET’s Nintendo Wii team
General Gaming: Cross-platform parties
Recent sales figures from Japan has hailed the PSP at a very high position. So high now, in fact, that for the week ending March 30, it has apparently sold almost just as much as all the other consoles, combined. Dayum, that’s hawt. Guess the Japanese do love monster hunting on their portables.
Link: Japan: PSP sells nearly as much as all other consoles combined
Probably one of the most highly-anticipated multi-platform releases for this year is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. If you’ve got a current-gen console – any console – or a handheld – any handheld – chances are, you’re really geared up for this game. Set your eyes on the prize, a release date is finally confirmed!
September what? Ah, you’d have to check out the full article for that. Meanwhile, the game will also be getting some spotlights on Spike TV too! Geoff Keighley, represent!
Link: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed dated, special segments on Spike TV
Blizzard finally published the patch notes for WoW 2.4.1 this week. It’s actually quite a tiny changelog, but still, it’s a patch update nonetheless.
Link: Blizzard unveils World of Warcraft patch 2.4.1
Science and Technology: Brain storm, take us away from the norm…
Whoohoooaaa, amber is the color of your energy, whoohoooa! (harhar, thank you to Gino D., self-professed 311 fan, for pointing that out! o_0). 311 lyrics aside, amber isn’t just a color. It’s also the product of hardened tree sap. And in this case, it’s painting quite a colorful picture of life – all 356 life specimens frozen in it, that is.
A team of scientists managed to acquire an amount of amber that has preserved and fossilized little itty bitty creatures that date back as far as a hundred million years ago. The different kinds of organisms in the tree sap range from wasps to ants, and other small organisms.
They were able to find 356 life forms in it, and among those, they’ve already been able to identify the specie family of about 50% of them.
Link: Ancient amber unearthed, 356 animals found inside
Odds-and-Ends: Dijuu rike eet?
Indeed, there were a lot of loose ends that we could have tied in neatly here. But without a doubt, if there was one clear thing that you should have seen – whether you’re a fan or not – this week was the little April Fools’ stunt that Jade Raymond and Hideo Kojima collaborated on.
In the same manner that we saw a fanvid last week of Final Fantasy babes taking on the Dead or Alive chicks, this time around we’re seeing the fusion of two other universes, only, it’s pretty much taken in an official sense in that it was done as supervised by the producers.
Here we have something that we’d call a Metal Creed Solid 4: Assassins of the Patriots. From the dubbed title alone, you probably already know what it’s got. It’s basically MGS 4, Assassin’s Creed style… Or the other way around?
The curious thing here is that, despite it not taking itself too serious, you can still consider it to be new gameplay footage for MGS4. And going along that same thread of logic, you might assume also that an Altair costume just might be an unlockable in the game.
Link: Kojima-Raymond’s Metal Creed Solid 4: Assassins of the Patriots
Comment of the Week: Hell hath no fury like a gamer wifey scorned
QJ.NET regular Quixand from down under had a rather interesting commenting thread going on at our little post about the common types of girl gamers. As much as some of you’ve voiced out that our piece was an interesting read, we’d also like to say that Quixand’s little “confession” of sorts is just as much an insightful read. There’s a bit of a humanizing factor to it too.
While we’d want to post Quixand’s full thread on his woes about his wifey (Golden Compass comment was ROFL), we’d just notch up the first one to give you guys an idea of the direction of where the whole conversation with Master Chef went. For the rest of the thread, you’d have to click on the link below.
Yay for Marge and her megaphone though! Woot!
Link: QuickJump Quicklist: Seven types of girl gamers
Article originally posted on April 05, 2008 at 4:31 PM.
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