Saturday, September 15, 2007

NFS ProStreet Video Analysis | An In-depth Look

EA Blackbox has taken NFS ProStreet in a new direction - the right one. The recent NFS series have been sub par at best. While I enjoyed Most Wanted and Underground 2, but I can't say the same for Carbon.

A couple of trailers have been released. Here's what I like so far:

1. The physics engine: The previous NFS games lacked an important element - the physics. Sure its an arcade racer but you need the rudimentary physics at the very least. No, I am not saying that turn NFS into Gran Turismo or Project Gotham Racing. What I am saying is that if I drive a car, it should feel like one and handle accordingly. I am sick of pulling off all those corners at excessively high speeds - it's plain dumb. While I don't know whether the cars handle realistically in ProStreet but I can sure say one thing - the crashes rock! Which brings me to my next point.

2. Realistic damage models: Now, the car makers won't like it, but I sure love crashing an expensive car (in videogames, that is)! EA has acquired rights to apply damage models to these licensed cars which means even more realistic damages. Gone are the days of minor scrapes and broken rearview mirrors. We're talking about body transformations that truly mimics what you'd expect if you drove a Mazda head long into a wall at 150 mph.

3. Sense of speed: The fast paced action packed races are back in NFS ProStreet. From what I saw, you really do feel like driving a fast sports car. I hope they feature motion blur this time.

4. A change of locale: What does NFS Underground, Underground 2, Most Wanted and Carbon have in common? They are all about illegal racing in cities. While it rocked in Underground and Underground 2, but the midnight racing theme is getting a bit - um, I don't know - a bit boring. So kudos to EA for making the switch to daylight locations and not making me drive in a city all again.

5. Getting rid of those cheesy cut scenes they called a story line: They might have worked in Underground and Most Wanted but Carbon was a laugh off. I barely went through them - all I want is some good old fashioned racing. But the racing girls are hear to stay (thanks!) and EA hinted that there will be some sort of persuasion to keep players going for more.

6. Smoke effects: I just love what I saw - the burning of rubber and getting to see the smoke as it fills the air. This is a new feature in the NFS franchise. Hope they handle it properly and not blow it off.

Now that's not to say that I like everything in NFS ProStreet. I was a bit disappointed with what I saw in one trailer - the way that the cars drove off the cliffs - they seemed a bit too flimsy for my likings. Anyway, don't take my word for it. Head on to Gametrailers and see them yourself. Can't wait for NFS ProStreet to release this October.

RELATED ARTICLES:

NFS heads to a new direction : PROSTREET
NFS Carbon Collector's Edition DVD Giveaway
Exclusive NFS ProStreet Screenshots

Friday, September 14, 2007

Ninja Gaiden 2 Stated For Xbox 360 | Exclusive Screenshots

After wild rumors and speculation in message boards, Microsoft finally confirmed that Ninja Gaiden 2 is to be released on the 360 sometime in 2008. It is being worked on by Team Ninja, developer of the 2004 Xbox Ninja Gaiden, the 2005 Xbox rework Ninja Gaiden Black, and the 2007 enhanced rework Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PlayStation 3.

Moments after the screenshots were pulled from the Japanese edition of Xbox.com, Microsoft announced that it is in development. Luckily that didn't stop us from getting our hands on a couple of awesome (and gory) screenshots for you to enjoy. Click on the link below to view the screens (if you are on the homepage of this blog).

Click on the individual screens to get a bigger view. Judging from the looks of it, Ninja Gaiden 2 is gonna be a hell of a gory game. Subscribe to the Gamers World Bangladesh Blog Feed/Newsletter to get updated when we have more info on this game.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Just Signed Up For Payperpost

Just wanted to let you know that Gamers World Bangladesh Blog finally jumped into the PayPerPost bandwagon. For those of you who do not know what it is (I doubt it) PayPerPost allows you to make a buck while writing about the things you love.

Well, if you own a blog then you can sign up. After you have been approved, you will be able to browse "Opportunities" and take up on offers that you like and is relevant to your blog. After you finished your entry, just send them the link and if they like it, you get paid! As simple as that.

Actually, I was a bit skeptical at first. Since this blog deals with video games and such, I hardly believed that I could get good and worthwhile "opportunities". I mean I tried other similar sites (Reviewme) and I couldn't find enough opportunities. Needless to say, it was difficult to make a buck. But then I read in a mag about payperpost. Being what I am, I instantly signed up in their site.

After a simple and quick registration, I was able to take up on offers that were relevant to my site and what I believed, would interest my readers. To put it in short, there are lots of opportunities, whether you blog about games, your life or what not. And hey, who doesn't love to get paid to blog? I sure do.

I think you will be seeing a couple of sponsored reviews in the future. But don't worry, they won't be something as irrelevant as what I had for lunch.

Heck, if you own a blog then just head to payperpsot and sign up. I'm sure you won't regret it. And while you are at it, take the time to look up the payperpost blog. It's a great place to get started.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

The Death of Hardcore Gaming?

Hardcore gamers, you're a dying breed. Casual games are blowing up, and it seems like everyone wants in on the action. It's easy to see why: from free-to-play web-based games like Bejeweled to the Wii minigame collections clogging retail shelves, the genre commands an audience more than 150 million strong, according to a report by the Casual Games Association. But the industry-wide push to turn grandmas into gamers has raised a worrisome question: as more and more companies shift their attention to these seemingly innocuous games, will more traditional, hardcore experiences fall by the wayside?

Let's step back for a second. Casual games - usually defined as simple games that are easy to get into and relatively inexpensive to make - have been with us for a long, long time. For years now, their biggest audience has been on PCs, where downloadable games like Diner Dash and Cake Mania entertain a mostly older, female demographic more interested in killing time than in killing monsters. With the advent of the Wii and successful game-download services on the 360 and PS3, however, we've seen an explosion in the amount of attention paid toward the genre - as well as a trickle of publishers abandoning more complex games in favor of lower-cost, higher-profit projects on the Wii and DS.

Read the full story at Games Radar.

NFS Carbon Collector's Edition DVD Giveaway Deadline Extended

Dear Readers,

Just to let you know that the entry deadline for our NFS Carbon Collector's Edition DVD Giveaway has been extended to the 31st of October 2007. So, you still have a chance to enter the contest at http://www.gamersworldbd.com/2007/08/nfs-carbon-collector-edition-dvd.html

Hurry up and hope to see you as one of the 5 lucky winners who will get this DVD for free.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Cheaper, Faster Next Generation Xbox 360 | The Falcon

Here's a Trade secret that Microsoft is unlikely to publicly acknowledge. Sony's cutting the price on the PlayStation 3. How will Microsoft react? We'll find out soon. But a key part of the strategy is going to be a project code-named Falcon.

Falcon is the name for the latest internal electronics in the Xbox 360. It will have an IBM microprocessor and an AMD/ATI graphics chip that are manufactured in a 65-nanometer production process. These are cost-reduced chips that do the same thing as their 90-nanometer predecessors, but they're smaller.

With smaller chips, Microsoft gets a bunch of benefits. They won't generate as much heat. So the risks of overheating - one of the main reasons behind Microsoft's billion-dollar write-off for repairs and extended warranties - are much lower. The chips may also cost half of what it took to make them before, because they use less material and fewer manufacturing steps to produce.

Everyone knows that console makers cut the prices and costs on their consoles over time. But you may not be aware that the primary chips - microprocessor, graphics, and the Ana video processing chip - are the bulk of the cost of the machine. Microsoft started making the Xbox 360s in August, 2005, with a 90nanometer process. It is overdue to switch to the newest technology, 65 nanometers, but that day has finally come. It may be some time - a year, maybe two - before it moves on the a 45-nanometer process.

But it's worth It. I recall that Ken Kutaragi said that by moving along the semiconductor manufacturing cost curve with the PlayStation 2, Sony was able to reduce the size - and therefore cost - of the PlayStation 2's original chips to just 13 percent of the original over the life cycle of the PS2.
If you cut the costs on the chips, you can cut the overall cost of the system. You get ancillary benefits such as using a smaller motherboard, more air flow inside the console, and the ability to take the big giant power supply in the Xbox 360's power brick and put it inside the console.

Microsoft is in the process of qualifying the new Falcon chips and motherboard this summer. 1 expect it will launch Xbox 360s with the new Falcon innards this fall. That is why the company has been able to say that it has solved its manufacturing quality problems. Microsoft is likely to spend a little more money" on heat sinks to make sure that the overheating problem doesn't resurface with Falcon.

The good thing about the smaller chips is that they will likely be easier to make in mass quantities and they shouldn't fail as often. Quality should automatically go up. That's what folks said about the 90 nanometer generation. But the 65-nanometer production process is a known quantity at this point at places such as IBM for sure and possibly at other suppliers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. So rather than fix the pr.oblems with the 90-nanometer machine, Microsoft has the easier problem now of getting a 6s-nanometer machine to work right. I suspect that is why Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment & Device$ group, said on Thursday on a conference call with analysts that the company has "its hands around it at the engineering level."

But once this machine is in the field, Microsoft will have a few options. It can take the power brick and put it inside the same chassis. It can also make a smaller version of the core, but this involves considerable redesign and retooling resources. And it could also beef up the console and make room 'for more costly things - as it did with the Elite.

It's anybody's guess as to what Microsoft will do with the Falcon as its base platform going forward. But Sony had better watch out. Microsoft is moving ahead of Sony oh the cost-reduction curve. It. would be risky for Sony to get into a price war with Microsoft.

Now it's easier to see why Microsoft still expects to be profitable in fiscal 2008 with the Xbox 360 business. In this fiscal year, Microsoft will introduce a major cost reduction with the Falcon platform. It will launch Halo 3. And it has already written off in fiscal 2007 the costs of repairing consoles for the
next few years.

Looks like things are looking bright for camp Microsoft.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Exclusive NFS ProStreet Screenshots

Thanks to our forum member, we have put together a collection of all the latest NFS ProStreet Screenshots for you to enjoy. Click on each of them to get a larger view.