MTV Games, Harmonix, Fender, and Mad Catz have teamed up for some truly excellent Rock Band 3 controllers. A lot of you have been having keytar dreams since that feature was revealed…and now you can check it out! I’ll stop blabbing and let you look at these fine photos of the Rock Band 3 peripherals.
I’m so, so, so psyched for E3 2010!!! Like Phil Collins, I can feel it coming in the air tonight. With the show just around the corner, I get these random bouts of excited energy (I’m pretty sure this is what “Hulking up” is like). The energy has caused me to think about the five known games I’m looking forward to at this year’s show. Here they are!
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, your World Cup predictions, Intelligentsia’s Edelweiss Finagro Estate Tanzania (my official coffee of E3 2010), or Angelina Jolie as Cleopatra, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
I’m so, so, so psyched for E3 2010!!! Like Phil Collins, I can feel it coming in the air tonight. With the show just around the corner, I keep getting these random bouts of excited energy (I’m pretty sure this is what “Hulking up” is like). The energy has caused me to think about the five (known) games I’m looking forward to at this year’s show. Here they are!
I’ll be playing Green Day: Rock Band
How about you guys and gals? What’s on your weekend playlist?
The FCC has tested a couple of new PlayStation 3 consoles a few days before Sony’s E3 2010 press conference. What could these new PS3s be? I’m guessing that they’ll use the PS3 Slim housing with updated CPUs and GPUs that run cooler and are cheaper to make — die shrinks are good like that.
Considering that PS3s have been difficult to find for the last few months, I hope the latest die process allows Sony to finally meet demand in 2010. Will the new models be accompanied by a price cut? I sincerely doubt it considering that Sony just slashed prices last August and price cuts are usually not announced at this time of the year.
Now it’s your turn to speculate! What are these new PS3s?!?
Earlier in the week, Tomonobu Itagaki — the man behind Tecmo’s Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden games — revealed that his next project will be shown at E3 2010. Valhalla Game Studios — the company Itagaki started after leaving Tecmo — has updated its site and revealed that the first wave of info will hit today! The game will be shown tonight on Spike TV’s pre-E3 special at 8:30PM Pacific Time.
I’m really looking forward to Itagaki’s new game…which is kind of weird because I’m pretty sure I find him more interesting than his games. Don’t get me wrong, I think Ninja Gaiden is fantastic and I’ve enjoyed lots of DOA Xtreme over the years. As a verbal entertainer, I enjoy Itagaki’s brash and bold personality (it’s easy to get interesting quotes from him). Plus, there was this one time in band camp Japan where we made this rookie journalist wait outside the interview room while we smoked and chatted about nothing — good times.
Anyway, let me know if you’re interested in Itagaki’s big reveal. What are you expecting? Will it have ninjas? Is it a fighting game? Will it feature buxom wenches playing volleyball? Or is it going to be something unexpected? Whatever it is, I’m sure it will look stunning. I can’t wait!
Did you miss the Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
Glyde has an interesting take on used games. The service allows you to sell your old games (CDs and movies too!) and give the proceeds to the charity of your choices. The process is straightforward and requires minimal effort. You list your game, it sells, Glyde sends you a mailer, you put the game in the mailer, drop it in the mail, and you’re done. It’s altruism made easy!
If you have any used games and want to use them for a good cause, give Glyde a shot. I’m going to make an effort to dig through old games and movies after E3. Anyone want to joint me (in donating, not at E3)?
Check out this trailer for Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
A recent study by OTX found that a very low percentage of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners are interested in PlayStation Move and Project Natal, respectively. Here’s the 411 from Gamasutra:
Research firm OTX’s U.S. tracking study GamePlan Insights polled a group of 2,000 gamers between May 23 and June 5, 2010, and found that 8 percent of the Xbox 360 market intends to buy Natal, and 6 percent of the PlayStation 3 market intends to purchase Move.
Of course the big caveat is that not much has been revealed about either system and a ton of information is expected to hit at E3 2010 next week. Microsoft and Sony have a chance to drastically change these numbers. Still, I wonder how successful either endeavor will be. Natal is certainly original and Move has some amazing tech, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into fun or sales.
Were you surprised by these numbers? Or are they inline with your feelings on Move and Natal?
Just in case you were getting tired of all those iPhone-to-Verizon rumors, Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu has thrown a change-up by predicting that T-Mobile will be the next American iPhone carrier. According to All Things Digital, Wu told his clients:
Currently, T-Mobile’s 3G service (UMTS/HSPA) supports 1700 MHz and 2100 MHz frequencies while AT&T supports 850 MHz and 1900 MHz frequencies. Interestingly, both the new iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS support 3G at the 2100 MHz frequency and, from our understanding, the technical hurdle to support T-Mobile is minor compared to supporting CDMA technology at VZ and Sprint.
I would love an iPhone 4 on T-Mobile. A (seemingly) great phone coupled with T-Mobile’s excellent pricing?!? Sign me up — especially if the phone takes advantage of T-Mo’s HSPA+ build-out. That said, T-Mobile has the smallest footprint of the four major American carriers. While it would advantageous for Apple to be on multiple carriers, Sprint or Verizon would probably be better choices.
At the end of the day, I’m totally writing this off as more garbage spouted by an analyst. This information is only slightly more meaningful than a Sprint CSR telling a customer that the iPhone is headed for Sprint in Q3.
Would any of you be interested in an iPhone on T-Mobile?
