The PS3 Weekend Warrior: MGS4 still dominant, Sony on the comeback trail, and a little something from CliffyB

Welcome to the first edition of the PlayStation 3 Weekend Warrior by QJ.NET! We’re recapping the biggest news that happened on the platform in the past seven days and we’re dishing out reactions to some of the hottest issues. This week, we’re taking a look back at yet another dominant week for Metal Gear Solid 4 and we’ll revisit updates on Sony‘s game plan to turn losses to profits. We also have a reaction on CliffyB’s statements on MGS4. Read on and enjoy!

 

Welcome to the first edition of the PlayStation 3 Weekend Warrior. As you probably know, we’re starting a new weekly article series across all the QJ.NET blogs. This is where we’ll be recapping all the major news that happened for the PS3 throughout the past week to give us all a quick view at the recent industry movers and shakers.

The Weekend Warrior is also here to provide a spot that will facilitate discussions among writers and readers about all the hot issues that came out recently. Here you can add your reactions to topics that catch your fancy and you can also suggest things that we can do right here on the PS3 blog to make it better. Rest assured that this blogger will hear you out and try to make your reading experience more enjoyable in the foreseeable future.

Enough rambling. Let’s get to the meat of the matter.

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Metal Gear Solid 4 still dominant, other big titles looming large

Konami‘s  Metal Gear Solid 4  has been our for more than a couple of weeks, but it’s still dominating the gaming scene in both the commercial and media perspectives. Over a million units have been sold in Europe alone and three million have been shipped across the planet. Did we mention that Metacritic has now established MGS4 as the second highest-rating game in this console generation? It’s next only to the equally great Super Mario Galaxy, and that’s a feat which can only be described as “over nine thousand!”

More good news from Sony and Konami for people who covet MGS4 PS3 bundles has also arrived. The console manufacturer said that they’re hoping to sell more of these bundles soon, which means you’ll get another crack at an 80GB PS3 with a DualShock 3 controller and the tactical espionage action phenom that is MGS4.

Link: MGS4 now the second-highest rating exclusive this generation
Link: Metal Gear Solid 4 exceeds one million in sales for first week in Europe
Link: It’s over nine thousand: Metal Gear Solid 4 ships three million units worldwide
Link: Sony hopes to ship more Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 bundles soon

Not all MGS4 news this week have been rainbows and butterflies, though. Over at the other side of the pond, UK charts showed that Lego Indiana Jones has knocked MGS4 off the top spot.

More interestingly, Cliff Bleszinski of Epic Games has been quoted as saying “we’re not doing a Metal Gear Solid” when he discussed Gears of War 2‘s storytelling model. The developer even went as far as to refer to MGS as “passive entertainment” – something that has obviously set our comments section ablaze.

Link: Lego Indy hates snakes: MGS4 whipped to second place in UK
Link: CliffyB: we’re not pulling a Metal Gear Solid

If you think that MGS4 is the only big gun in the PS3 arsenal this year, you can’t be more wrong. A wave of news updates on some of the season’s biggest games have hit town and the one looming the largest is Media Molecule‘s LittleBigPlanet. The devs shed more light on the story mode and a few more hints to boot.

By the way, Call of Duty: World at War finally unveiled its first trailer and we found out that the PlayStation 3 will get Resident Evil 5 at the same time the Xbox 360 will when it finally drops.

Link: Media Molecule on LittleBigPlanet story mode, adult content and plushies
Link: Resident Evil 5 not a timed Xbox 360 exclusive

Focusing on the PlayStation 3 console per se, Kaz Hirai recently confirmed that new 65nm RSX graphics chips are due out in autumn this year. On the more corporate side of things, it has been reported that Sony has lost more than US$ 3 billion on PS3 manufacturing costs, but Sony big boss Howard Stringer said that they’re on the comeback trail and profits are expected to trickle in by fiscal 2009. We’re optimistic that they’ll get over the hump eventually.

Link: PlayStation 3 65nm RSX Graphics Chip to arrive this Autumn
Link: Shaky ground: Sony lost US$ 3.32 billion due to PS3 cost, pricing imbalance
Link: Stringer: restoration of profits is Sony’s top priority

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Another eventful week for “the happening console”

Just in case you didn’t get what I was hinting at on the title above, “the happening console” is my pet name for the PS3. I know it sounds a little weird, but I started calling it that when the year started and so many big things started rolling in for the PS3. The moniker caught on with a little help from fellow QJ.NET staff members Karl B. and Victor B. and now that’s what we usually call the system among ourselves. You’re welcome to join in, of course.

In any case, what can I say? It’s been another great week for the PS3. MGS4 is sealing its reputation as one of the biggest draws in the industry today and all the praises are well deserved. It might not be for everyone, but I know it totally blew most of us away.

The same could not be said about another popular game maker. It’s clear that Cliff Bleszinski doesn’t share Hideo Kojima’s views on game storytelling when he said the words “games aren’t movies and aren’t consumed in a single sitting.” Be that as it may, MGS fans really shouldn’t lose sleep over it because the comment is pretty much immaterial.

I’m not saying this because of any lack of respect for Cliffy’s work. In fact, I’m a huge Gears of War fan and I’m very excited about Gears of War 2. I thought that the franchise has influenced shooters in this generation a lot and the industry owes Epic big time. However, I’d have to say that the reference was a little misguided in the sense that GoW and MGS are two very different games.

Of course they won’t do an MGS on GoW 2 because if they did, the styles would just clash. The first GoW had a good storyline, but the gameplay was the star of the show for a lot of people. I’m not sure if anyone would rather watch Fenix and Cole talk over a cutscene than slaughter hapless Locusts with a chainsaw. Nothing’s wrong with that. The model works and GoW deserved to sell more than 5 million copies worldwide for its sheer intensity with the action onscreen.

MGS, however, does things differently. Its gameplay is great, but cutscenes can be equally compelling especially when smashing fights occur and explosive revelations are dished out. It was never meant to be a typical action game, and that’s what people like about it.

Essentially, what I’m saying is that there’s really no point in saying “we’re not doing this, we’re not doing that, yadda, yadda, yadda,” and referencing another game that a lot of people happen to love. The sheer concept of it is absurd. It’s like directing an action flick and saying “we’re not having Celine Dion on the soundtrack.” Duh.

Bottom line, Gears of War is not MGS, and MGS is not Gears of War. Neither wants to pretend to be the other, so nobody has any business dissing the other. Both are great, let’s give it a rest.

But that doesn’t mean CliffyB is a bad guy by default or something. He can always reason out that we all have freedom of speech. God bless the First Amendment and I can’t disagree with him on that one. On him referencing MGS4, however, you just heard what  think of it.