UNSCleric.com

When I first saw the news of this, I didn’t think I would report on it, but, it ended up almost being as hilarious as Sony’s E3 conference.

Click here to download. (note: Sony’s servers are incredibly slow)

Listen as Sony “community” leaders robotically read off a script, and interview people who are also reading off a script. The cold, robotic way of speaking is even more evident here than it is at every E3 when Sony has its press briefing.

This is a perfect example to show how out of touch Sony is, as they try and compete with something like MajorNelson.com with this soulless garbage.

To read the previous entry on this issue, click here.

As the only videogame news site that is actually talking about this (if there is any others let me know) I thought I would write up another entry for those who might not have heard about this yet, or want to know more. A few minutes ago I was sent a great video that sums up what is at risk if the Senate passes this new bill which will take Net Neutrality out of the “laws of the internet” It has already passed the House of Representatives, and now only the Senate and a signature from the President stand between it being a reality.

Net Neutrality Video

I don’t understand why major gaming websites like IGN or GameSpot are not raving about this everyday. Are they being paid not to? Video games and the internet have been very important for each other for several years now, and that bond only grows more and more everyday, with services like Xbox Live, PS3’s online, Nintendo’s online library with thier new system, and of course, PC gaming. The millions of people who play Massively Multiplayer Online RPGs need to know about this, the 3 million people on Xbox Live need to know this, every single person in America needs to know about this.

SaveTheInternet.com 

There’s not much to report today, but I wanted to put at least something out here today, since there’s now several hundred people everyday checking out the site, it’s quite a change from a year ago, when the average number varied between 5-17 hits a day, over on the old site.

GameSpot has posted a new sales chart, and the Xbox 360 has an impressive 6 games on the list. Each time I look at the sales charts I notice that the Xbox 360 is always very dominant. One thing that caught my eye is that Hitman for the Xbox 360 is above the PS2 version by a couple slots, but, doesn’t the PS2 have supposedly a 100+ million userbase now? This just goes to show that that number Sony brags about is false, as if that wasn’t already obvious, since almost everybody with a PS2 has had problems and is on their second or third PS2.

‘Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting’ picture packs and theme are now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace as well. Each picture pack is 100 points each, and the theme is 150 points.

MotoGP 06 is also in stores today, and from what I’ve read about this new installment in the series (plus of course playing the demo that came out May 8th), and from the fun this series has delivered in the past, I’d say this is a must-buy, if not at least a must-try.

Also, don’t forget that the Prey demo is scheduled to come out in 8 days, on June 22nd. The full game will be out July 10th.

June 2006 Backwards Compatible titles added:

1. 4×4 EVO 2
2. Amped® 2
3. Bad Boys 2
4. Big Mutha Truckers
5. DOOM 3®
6. Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
7. Fatal Frameâ„¢
8. FlatOutâ„¢
9. Grabbed by the Ghouliesâ„¢
10. Intellivision Lives
11. LEGO® Star Wars®
12. Minority Report
13. MLB SlugFest 20-04
14. The Punisherâ„¢
15. RalliSport Challenge
16. Silent Hill® 4: The Room
17. Spawn® Armageddon
18. Spider-Man
19. Star Wars Battlefrontâ„¢
20. State of Emergency
21. Zapperâ„¢

Very happy to see Amped 2 on there, as it’s one of my all-time favorites. The BC list on the main UNSCleric.com site has also been updated if you want to see the current full list.

Minor Dash update

I wanted to give everyone a heads up that there is dash update that will start to roll out around 0200 (am) PT today. There are no new features in this update. There is one, small fix that improves character recognition for those users that are using the localized Chinese language version of the dashboard on their Xbox 360. You’ll get prompted for this mandatory update the next time you connect to Xbox Live. (Yes, you need to take the update even if you don’t use the Chinese language version of the dash keyboard.) I wanted to let you guys know what’s in the update, since I was sure you’d ask anyway.

Unbiased videogames news blog “Kotaku”, who recently had an article entitled, “PS2 Kicking Xbox 360 Ass” (so you know they aren’t biased for the Xbox 360) posted this a couple days ago.

More PS3 Downgrades On The Way?

“He’s back. The connected PS3-party wet blanket who brought us covert info on the PlayStation 3 has dug up some dirt from a phantom insider who claims the PS3 may see even more downgraded specs. From lower clock speeds to an external power brick to who-knows-what-else, one thing we know for certain is that we sure as hell won’t be getting what was promised at E3 2005.”

The rest of the article is the entire conversation with the source within Sony, so make sure to click the link.

In other news, internal GameStop e-mails have been circulating questioning how many PS3s their chain will actually get at launch. GameStop is estimating 20 PS3s at the stores that had 50-100 Xbox 360s, so if your GameStop only got 23 Xbox 360s like mine did, then when the PS3 comes out, you’re looking at the most pathetic console launch in history. Some people cannot and will not realize this truth now, but when November 17th comes, there will be no denying what is going on worldwide.

Thanks to Mike (GT: Twisted Plastic) for the heads-up on these articles.

For the minority of Xbox 360 owners that actually care about backwards-compatibility, another 20 or so games are being added this week to the 200+ BC game list. Doom 3 will be a part of this list, and so will Lego Star Wars. You can probably assume that the Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil expansion pack to be a part of the list too, but that’s not “confirmed”.

In an interview on Japan’s PC Watch, Kutaragi once again pushed the PS3 as a computer, not a games console.

“Speaking about the PS3, we never said we will release a game console,” he said. “It is radically different from the previous PlayStation. It is clearly a computer. Indeed, with a game console, you need to take out any unnecessary elements inside the console in order to decrease its cost. … This will of course apply to the PS3 as well.”

He continued, saying that making a platform highly configurable overrides issues of cost, and even implied that the PS3 will be made to keep up with new PC technology.

“However, the PS3 is a computer,” Kutaragi said. “Lowering costs is important but more important is its capacity to evolve. I think the HDD will gain in capacity. If a new technology gets into mainstream PCs, the PS3 will have to adopt it as well. Maybe the Blu-ray drive will become writable. Well, maybe not at this point.”

“We put up no restrictions. Because it is a computer, it can interact with anything, freely. If someone is familiar with PC building, he or she can upgrade easily PS3’s HDD.”

At one point in the interview, Kutaragi said that there will eventually be so many options for the PS3, the platforms could theoretically be made build-to-order. He pointed out that this would be a problem for resellers, but added,

“as a computer, the PS3 could really be sold via BTO.”

You can read the full interview here.

It’s pretty sick the way Sony is going to treat its customers in this upcoming generation. Not only are they going to sell them a Blu-Ray drive almost no one will use for years to come, if ever (not to mention it’s crippled on the non-HDMI $500 version of the PS3) but owners of the PS3 will also have to deal with what sounds like yearly hardware upgrades and who knows what else. This is more comical than anything else, but if Sony really does keep it’s large market share, and wins this generation by a huge margin once again, it’ll most likely be the death of console gaming as it is today.

Sony does not care about gamers, and never has, they care about getting their proprietary technology in your home. That is the single reason Microsoft entered the console wars, to stop Sony from doing that.

http://www.prey.com/flash.html

Let the hype begin.