While the game was playable at both GDC and E3, it seems that it wasn’t quite ready. Zipper didn’t say why the game has been delayed, but they did say that they didn’t want to take “any shortcuts.”

“Instead, we want to deliver the best and most immersive SOCOM game we possibly can and we’re going to use our extra time to do just that,” Zipper Interactive community manager Jeremy Dunham wrote.

Odds that including PlayStation Move support is a chief factor for its delay?

Move and any 3D plans “will have to wait for Portal 3 or another title,” he said. “We won’t be supporting those in Portal 2.

Considering the rate of releases for most Valve IPs, Portal 3 will probably be out by the time the Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 are out, which will be a time when 3DTV’s have flooded the market and both consoles can handle 3D with 1080p easily. The reasoning is probably close to David Jaffe’s decision to ditch Move and 3D for Twisted Metal - they’re unnecessary features that would clog development time, even though Valve now has a “dedicated PS3 team”.

Let us know what you think.

They also discuss the new Halo game in development, Sony’s latest lies, David Jaffe rejecting 3D and Move support, Kinect’s $150 price tag, the Halo: Reach bundle, the announcement of Alice: Madness Returns, the new Capcom/Namco coproduction, Atlus extending multiplayer support for Demon’s Souls, and women’s purchasing power in gaming.

Question of the week: what feature would you most like to see in the next gen?

Listen in on the player below, download it directly here, or subscribe to iTunes!

Rather, Twisted Metal will feature none of that. No 3D, no Move, just plain vanilla video game action.

Cinema Blend Game’s Pete Haas reported that Jaffe commented at this year’s Comic Con that Twisted Metal for the PS3 will not support stereoscopic 3D or PlayStation Move for all those neo-contemporary gamers out there.

Of course, that’s not to say that 3D or Move support won’t be added post-release with a patch, but perhaps Sony would be better served if Twisted Metal had more downloadable content like arenas and cars included. You know, actual value content?

Let us know what you think.

Gotta love Sony. When the PlayStation 3 was released, they made a deceptive comparison chart with the Xbox 360, trying to claim that it was actually more expensive than the $599 PS3 system.

Guess what? They’re at it again.

If you read their comparison chart, apparently the few things the Move has over Kinect is:

• The Move has buttons, Kinect doesn’t.
• The Move has a ball that changes colors and has force feedback, Kinect only has auditory feedback.
• You can buy a second Move controller.
• The Move can use rechargeable batteries. Kinect can’t.
• The Move games have “Blu-Ray powered HD 1080p support”. Kinect only has 1080p.
• Kinect is not wireless.

Where to begin?

Let’s start with the most idiotic of the idiotic claims: you can buy a second Move controller. It sounds, er, wonderful that you can spend another $50 for a second Move controller until you realize the following things:

• Many of the Move titles like their boxing games require a second controller for a single player experience. Meaning, the second $50 controller is mandatory for a full experience.
• KINECT AUTOMATICALLY CAN DETECT UP TO SIX PEOPLE AS PLAYERS AND TRACKS AT LEAST TWO PLAYERS ACTIVELY*

That’s right, the competition doesn’t require the purchase of another controller, which is good, because people would riot if they had to spend another $150 on another Kinect. Which is less than the $180 you’ll spend for 2 Move controllers – oops, tack on another $30 for another “Move nunchuk”, since those are sold seperately.

To the next insanely stupid point: the Move has buttons, and Kinect doesn’t.

I believe Phillip J. Fry to the left can give you an appropriate reaction to this bullet point from Sony. Now, keep in mind, Sony is also comparing the Wii remote to the Move as well, and so, yes, the Wiimote has buttons, too, but Kinect? No buttons.

Did Sony get the memo on Kinect, that the entire point of Kinect is that YOU DON’T NEED A CONTROLLER OR, BY EXTENSION, BUTTONS?

This is like someone trying to brag that a rotary phone is better than a touch tone phone because the touch tone phone doesn’t have that wonderful, finger hurting rotary dial to spin.

Which is about as logical as claiming that Move has built-in rechargeable batteries with Move. This is more of an attack on Nintendo’s Wiimote, which doesn’t, but on the Kinect said, it says “No”, which is not the same as saying “Does not need batteries”, which Sony wouldn’t put because it would be a plus that you don’t need batteries.

And that’s in the same vein as this winner: Move is wireless, Kinect isn’t. This is just a flat-out lie. Kinect is very wireless. So wireless you don’t need a wand controller. Notice Sony doesn’t mention that the PlayStation Eye can’t follow players around the room to keep them in focus, which Kinect does with mechanized servos.

This is also related to Sony’s feedback brag, that while both the Wiimote and Move controller both have audio and force feedback on their controllers, Sony’s Move also has a glowing ball on top, too! Because, that’s the selling point of the Move! The glowing ball that Nintendo’s motion controller doesn’t have! Of course, Kinect fails in force feedback because the technology is still not there to stun players with motion rays for a controller which doesn’t have any physical components. Another “rotary phone” argument from Sony.

Mr. Picard, what do you think over there to the right?

Lastly, Sony pulls out a whopper of deceptive advertising with the last point. Again, it’s more of a comparison with the Wii when they claim that Move games will be in high-def 1080p – though judging from Wii sales, the lack of high-def on the system hasn’t exactly been an issue for gamers. But then we get to the comparison with Kinect, and here’s where the deception is in full force. To differentiate, Sony says “Blu-Ray powered HD with up to 1080p support” while the competition from Microsoft only has “HD with up to 1080p support”.

What is the difference?

The answer is, of course, none. Zero. Zilch. Sony is trying to convince consumers that a pound of rocks is heavier than a pound of feathers. A pound is a pound is a pound. Blu-Ray, in fact, has nothing to do with game resolution. Blu-Ray is just a way of reading more information from a disc than, say, a DVD/9. It has nothing to do with how a system displays graphics. This, dear friends, is a bald-faced lie. If the ad were honest, they’d have to say that you have the option of watching Blu-Ray movies – but it has nothing to do with motion control.

As the fine folks at Evil Avatar noted, this is about as honest as the PSP ads claiming the PlayStation Portable would give you huge hardons.

Rant over. Let us know what YOU think.

* There seems to be some confusion as to what “active players” means and how many “active players” Kinect can detect. Kinect can ID six players, but if you have, say, a quiz show game, would it allow every player to join in since players aren’t strenuously active? Dance Central had three active players at E3. We won’t know til the release, and ID’ing “active players” is a software issue. Regardless, at least two players can “actively” play at once, which keeps Sony’s claim outright absurd anyway.

(Thanks, Kotaku and Evil Avatar.)

The fourth Videogame Roundtable Special Episode comes on the heels of the breaking news that Microsoft has officially priced Kinect at $150, as well as releasing details on the Xbox 360 Slim Arcade and the Arcade/Kinect bundle. Jonah Falcon and Paul S. Nowak discuss whether Microsoft is doing the right thing or not.

Listen in on the player below, download it directly here, or subscribe to iTunes!

It’s official: Kinect, Microsoft’s gesture-based peripheral, will cost $150, making it the most expensive standard issue console peripheral on the market. Microsoft has also announced the Xbox 360 Slim Arcade, which will cost $199. The Arcade will include 4GB of internal memory, and will support USB hard drives of up to 32GB. It also includes a slot for existing hard drives.

There will also be an Arcade/Kinect bundle which will cost $299 and will come bundled with Kinect and Kinect Adventures.

Nintendo recently introduced a new bundle for Wii, packaging its MotionPlus add-on and a second game with the hardware for $200. Sony will package its Move motion controller with a PlayStation 3 and a game for $400 when the new peripheral launches Sept. 19.

Let us know if you think that the $150 price point is good or not for the device.

(Thanks, Wired.)

East Coast:

• July 17–18 Manhattan, NY Macy’s
• July 20–22 East Falmouth, MA Barnstable County Fair
• July 24–25 Manhattan, NY Seaport-Lower Manhattan Entertainment Area
• July 28–Aug. 1 Washington, DC Six Flags America
• Aug. 4–6 Canton, OH Football Hall of Fame – Rib Burnoff
• Aug. 7–8 Canton, OH Football Hall of Fame Festival Weekend
• Aug. 11–15 Chicago, IL Air Show/Navy Pier
• Aug. 19–21 Detroit, MI Woodward Dream Cruise – Auto Festival
• Aug. 26–30 St. Paul, MN Minnesota State Fair
• Aug. 30–Oct. 24 Tampa, FL Westfield Citrus Park Shopping Mall
• Sept. 3–6 Indianapolis, IN Rib America Festival
• Sept. 10–13 Nashville, TN Tennessee State Fair
• Sept. 15–16 Atlanta, GA Atlantic Station – Entertainment Plaza
• Sept. 18–19 Atlanta, GA Atlanta Arts Festival
• Sept. 23–26 Charlotte, NC Festival in the Park
• Oct. 1–2 Orlando, FL Disney Wine and Dine Marathon
• Oct. 8–10 Valdosta, GA Wild Adventures Theme Park
• Oct. 14–17 Dallas, TX Texas State Fair
• Oct. 21–24 Shreveport, LA Louisiana State Fair

West Coast:

• July 15–Aug. 22 Minneapolis, MN Mall of America
• July 25–26 San Diego, CA Youth Surf Cup – Soccer
• July 28–Aug. 1 Sacramento, CA California State Fair
• Aug. 6–8 Portland, OR Bite of Oregon Food Festival
• Aug.10–11 Seattle, WA Woodland Park Zoo
• Aug. 13–15 Seattle, WA Taste of Edmonds – Food Festival
• Aug. 19–22 Vancouver, BC Summerfest
• Aug. 27–Sept. 1 Pueblo, CO Colorado State Fair
• Sept. 3–6 Denver, CO Elitch Gardens
• Sept. 9–12 Albuquerque, NM New Mexico State Fair
• Sept. 16–19 Salt Lake City, UT Utah State Fair
• Sept. 24–26 Los Angeles, CA Universal City Walk
• Oct. 1–3 San Diego, CA Miramar Air Fest
• Oct. 7–11 San Francisco, CA Fleet Week – Military Ship and Air Festival
• Oct. 15–17 Phoenix, AZ Arizona State Fair
• Oct. 20–24 Las Vegas, NV PBR World Finals

(Thanks, Major Nelson.)

For the love of God, make it stop.

Sony is now claiming that 3D will make you better at playing video games, despite the fact it’s bad for your eyes and little children, the graphics and framerate are reduced, you can only play for 90 minutes and a tenth of the population probably can’t perceive it well.

Check out this awesome pseudoscience from Sony’s Simon Benson:

If you’re playing a racing game and you’re getting some additional [3D] information you can actually measure distances with your eyes, making it easier to judge breaking. Many of our hardcore gamers are already pretty good at that anyway, so how much of an edge is it going to give them compared to someone who’s only just tried a game for the first time?

… Why am I suddenly picturing Jack Tretton holding up his fist and boasting, “I love the Power Glove – it’s so BAD!”

Who is Simon trying to fool? There are those of us who have played games in 3D, and we’re no better than we were before playing it – at PAX East and before that.

Plus, you’ve gotta love his attempt at making it sound scientifically like 3D improves gaming. It sounds as sincere as doctors recommending cigarettes in television ads just before they were banned from the airwaves. Considering that the cheapest 3DTV set costs $1700, and the cheapest 3D glasses cost $150 each, Sony and other electronics manufacturers have to sell units somehow.

Just don’t play those videogames for more than ninety minutes at a time.

First off, some of the details that have been revealed concern just who Milo and Kate are: Milo (or Millie, if you choose a female) is a child whose family has just moved from London to New England. The titular Kate is the child’s pet dog.

“No people’s Milo can be the same”, noted Molyneux who revealed decisions made will shape his personality, reports Wired.

The demonstrator had several conversations with Milo though ”responses were mostly a little generic, it was still tonally sound — he never said anything incongruous.” The tutorial for Milo & Kate lasts about 45 mins to an hour said Molyneux.

The game then shifts to something less linear or ‘on rails’ as it were, where the player can take Milo on “more, darker, adventures.”

Even more interesting is that Milo’s intelligence evolves, since it’s not disc-based, but on a “cloud” server, meaning that he’ll begin to use more and more colloquialisms and even adopt accents.

Actually, having a cloud-based Milo brings up even more similarities to Skynet. How long before Milo becomes our new omniscient Lord and Master?

According to Sutton:

“I would have said about an hour, an hour-and-a-half, to be about the maximum. A lot of people do say when they come out of the cinema that they are aware they’ve done something different with their eyes, even if it’s not to the extent of a headache or sickness, but they’re aware that it was hard work to watch. I’d have said that was more than enough. I’d would worry about people spending hours doing it, I must say.”

People who watched the two hour, forty minute long Avatar last year can relate, as many left the theater feeling nauseous and suffering severe eye strain.

However, it’s one thing to limit films like Toy Story 3 to 90 minutes or less – it’s quite another to expect gamers to limit themselves, who will spend hours on end gaming. Though even Sony is requesting gamers take frequent breaks, when you’re engaged in some hot multiplayer action on Killzone 2 or M.A.G., you’re simply not able to pause the game when your eyes feel like sandpaper.

Sutton hopes there is an option to turn off the 3D. While Nintendo does have a slider that can turn down the gradations of 3D on the 3DS – which is an incredible amount of foresight on their part – there’s no known current option to turn off 3D in Sony games.

The gang also discuss:

• Sony tells Nintendo to stop making fun of 3D glasses
• Sony warns of 3D health problems
• Halo: Reach will have Blood Gulch
• Modern Warfare 2 “Resurgence Pack” now available for PS3 and PC
• Dragon Age II revealed
• Xbox Live raked in $1B
• Blizzard reverses “real name” policy in forums
• Sega won’t publish Alpha Protocol 2

Let us know what you think.

Listen in on the player below, download it directly here, or subscribe to iTunes!

According to The Eyecare Trust:

3-D technology relies on our eyes’ ability to work together as a co-ordinated team to achieve an accurate perception of depth,” the eye care charity says. However, more than one in ten of us (12%) has a visual impairment that means our brains are unable to correctly process the individual images that are transmitted to it via our left and right eyes. This leads to an inconsistency in viewing the three spatial dimensions (height, width and depth) required to enjoy 3-D films in all their glory.

This may hurt both Sony and Nintendo’s ventures into the 3D realm, if a tenth of your public can’t even enjoy your tech – this on top of Sony’s health warnings.

Let us know what you think.

Sony warns:

• Some people may experience discomfort (such as eye strain, eye fatigue or nausea) while watching 3D video images or playing stereoscopic 3D games on 3D televisions. If you experience such discomfort, you should immediately discontinue use of your television until the discomfort subsides.
• SCEA recommends that all viewers take regular breaks while watching 3D video or playing stereoscopic 3D games. The length and frequency of necessary breaks may vary from person to person. Please take breaks that are long enough to allow any feelings of discomfort to subside. If symptoms persist, consult a doctor.
• The vision of young children (especially those under six years old) is still under development. SCEA recommends that you consult your doctor (such as a pediatrician or eye doctor) before allowing young children to watch 3D video images or play stereoscopic 3D games. Adults should supervise young children to ensure they follow the recommendations listed above.

So, 3D does indeed cause migraines and dizziness, requires frequent breaks, and isn’t safe for children? Look out for complaints from consumers and parents, who don’t have the time to look in the fine print.

Using patented Depth-Enhancing Technology that uncovers depth cues hidden in 2D images, the Deep Screen uses a combination of sophisticated optical components that work seamlessly with existing TVs, PCs and LCDs by simply fitting over the screen. Once the Deep Screen is in place over the monitor any movie, show or video game will instantly exhibit a rich, multi-dimensional expansion of images, colors and space. Images seem to extend forward from the viewer, as if expanding the screen’s depth and providing a wider visual horizon. There are no glasses or software required or any type of pre-programmed content. It’s ready out of the box (larger version will be available in late 2010).

The claim it works with existing games without the need to update is strange, and currently only comes in a 23” model (which fits 19–23” monitors and TVs) and a 32” model that fits 29-33” monitors & TVs. RealView promises larger screens, however, with 32” and 42” versions to be available later this year.

Click “Read more…” for the full press release.

REALVIEW’S DEEP SCREEN LAUNCH AT E3 OFFERS ONLY

CONSUMER-READY ALTERNATIVE TO 3D MANIA

Bridging the Gap Between 2D and 3D, Deep Screen Works

With Existing Library of Movies & Video Games

COUNTY ROSCOMMON, IRELAND (JULY, 2010) – Recent surveys indicate that consumers are not sold on the idea of home-based 3DTV. Of those surveyed, nearly 70 percent of those who don’t want 3DTV cited the stereoscopic glasses as the main reason. RealView Innovations’ 23” and 32” Deep Screens, which debuted in the US at E3 in June, are the only available multi-dimensional solutions available to consumers that do not require 3D glasses. Equally important, the Deep Screen works with any current movie, DVD or video game available.

Using patented Depth-Enhancing Technology that uncovers depth cues hidden in 2D images, the Deep Screen uses a combination of sophisticated optical components that work seamlessly with existing TVs, PCs and LCDs by simply fitting over the screen. Once the Deep Screen is in place over the monitor any movie, show or video game will instantly exhibit a rich, multi-dimensional expansion of images, colors and space. Images seem to extend forward from the viewer, as if expanding the screen’s depth and providing a wider visual horizon. There are no glasses or software required or any type of pre-programmed content. It’s ready out of the box (larger version will be available in late 2010).

“The jury is still out on whether the world is ready for conventional home-based 3D that require special glasses,” stated Eamonn Ansbro, RealView’s Executive Director. “The technology is just not there yet as far as most consumers are concerned. No one wants to wear the glasses, especially for extended periods. RealView’s technology takes a completely different approach. Best of all, the solution we’ve developed is ready to go, now! Simply attach it to your screen and your movies and games will appear more spacious and multi-dimensional. The Deep Screen creates an amazing sense of depth and immersion. It’s the only viable solution on the market that’s ready for home use.”

Notable Highlights:

• No Glasses Required
• No Software or Pre-programmed Content Required
• Works with Existing Library of Movies and Games
• Comfortable to Use and Easy to Set Up
• Sleek Design Attaches Directly to TV or Monitor in Seconds
• 23” Model fits 19–23” Monitors & TVs
• 32” Model fits 29-33” Monitors & TVs
• Immersive, Multi-Dimensional Viewing Experience
• Works with Existing TV Technology
• Works with Existing PCs, LCDs, Plasmas, and LEDs
• No Configuration Required
• Compatible with 20-23” screens (32” and 42” available summer 2010)
• The nearest 3D solution available
• Affordable (23” SRP under $199, 32” SRP pending)

About RealView Innovations Ltd.

Founded in 2001, RealView Innovations Ltd. is a privately-owned research & development company based in Ireland. RVI’s management team has specialized in high-volume optical production, thin-film technology, advanced industrial and military optics, and scientific instrumentation. Presently, RVI’s focus is on applications in the personal entertainment and video game markets. Its technology will also be integrated into other areas including mobile phones, televisions, arcade games, ATMs, and flight simulators. In May 2010 RealView was awarded “Best in Show” at Retail Vision Europe 2010 and played a prominent role in the 3D TV World Forum in London.  Since 2009, RealView Innovations Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of RealView Manufacturing Ltd.  www.realview.ie