PS3
Mozilla Rejects Rumor of Firefox Coming to PS3
by Zach Carmichael | 11/20/09 | 1:07 PM PST

Yesterday, PlayStation Insider reported that Mozilla's popular web browser, Firefox, would soon be coming to the PlayStation 3 emerged. The credibility of this news was a bit shoddy, however, seeing as how the site has been wrong on multiple occasions. Today, Mozilla dispelled said rumor in an e-mail to PS3Center.net:

"Nope - not sure how that rumor got started but it's been keeping us busy all day :)"

Well, there you have it. It seems the PS3's OS will not be getting Firefox -- at least not anytime soon.

PS3
GameStop's Black Friday Video Game Deals Revealed
by Kombo Staff | 11/20/09 | 12:33 PM PST

The dreaded date of Black Friday on November 27th, 2009 draws ever closer. And while Kmart's gamer deals did little to excite, perhaps GameStop's offerings will do a little more for you.

So if you decide to venture forth out into the November cold at 6am for the named-in-poor-taste "Doorbuster" deals that run until 11am, or just any of the other deals which run all week, here is what you can expect.

PS3
Sony "Confident" It Will Sell 13 Million PlayStation 3's This Year
by David Oxford | 11/20/09 | 12:06 PM PST

Sony Computer Entertainment is aiming for 13 million PlayStation 3 consoles sold worldwide by the end of the fiscal year, as Executive Vice President Kaz Hirai explained to the press that he is "confident" that they can reach that goal.

Furthermore, they plan to achieve profitability with the platform by March 2011, with cost-cutting and investing in new technologies helping to pave the way, including their plans to focus on 3D gaming and movies with a firmware update.

Gamasutra notes that if Sony is able to accomplish the 13 million number by the end of their fiscal year in March 2010, it would "represent a significant gain over the company's fiscal 2008, which saw 10.1 million units sold." The company's own numbers show that they sold 4.3 million consoles combined over their first and second quarter, meaning they will have to sell over double that amount during the remaining half, which includes the holiday season.

GEN
"We Interrupt This Deathmatch to Bring You the Following Announcement..."
by David Oxford | 11/20/09 | 11:13 AM PST

Some of you might be familiar with the Emergency Broadcast System or its successor, the Emergency Alert System, which tend to interrupt television shows and commercials with their shrill sound tests. And on occasion, they even warn you of imminent danger, too.

That is, unless most of the time your television spends on is used playing video games, in which case you'll be halfway to Oz before you know what's going on. That's why state officials in New York are planning to send the alerts issued by the Emergency Management Office over video game networks.

PS3
IBM Ending Cell Processor Development
by Daniel Sims | 11/20/09 | 8:47 AM PST



IBM has confirmed that it will cease development of the Cell Processor used on the PS3 among other systems. This does not equate to an end of production.

IBM has been co-developing the Cell Processor along with Sony and Toshiba. Even after the PS3's launch better models of the processor have been developed between the three. IBM's most recent and supposedly last version of the Cell Processor is the PoweXCell 8i which is currently used in the world's second fastest supercomputer. IBM will not develop the planned 32 SPE version of Cell.

The status of actual development of the Cell Processor does not equate to the status of production of current models of the processor for the PS3. No reports have been made on changes to production or production of PS3s.

Despite ending development of the Cell itself, IBM will still incorporate parts of the Cell into future designs. Apparently they will pursue a CPU/GPU hybrid route in the future.

Technically, Sony can still hire IBM to develop a new Cell Processor for the Playstation 4. Their decision in this matter could affect things like backwards compatibility with PS3 games when the next console comes around.

PS3
Infinity Ward Considered Alien Warfare?!
by Kombo Staff | 11/20/09 | 8:45 AM PST



The team at Infinity Ward is made up of quite a unique and creative group of guys, and as such, I'm not surprised when I hear some of the outlandish ideas they originally had for Modern Warfare 2. From zombies and viral outbreaks to alien invasions, the development team considered a number of different possibilities when approaching the sequel.

In an interview with GamePro, Infinity Ward writer Jesse Stern describes the initial thought process that was involved in deciding what direction to take the game.

Hit the cut to see how it all began.

GEN
Rebuttal: Is Infinty Ward Anti-PC?
by Matt Pearce | 11/20/09 | 6:16 AM PST

A few days ago we published an article under the title "Modern Warfare 2: The Battleground for PC Gaming?" in which one of Kombo's Editorialists, Eric Frederiksen, discussed the hardcore PC gamer's opinions regarding Infinity Ward's move to do away with dedicated servers for their latest release. Like Eric, I'm a huge PC gamer. I've been playing PC games since DOS, and I don't plan on quitting. I fondly remember Quake LAN parties and dialing-up friends for Warcraft 2 matches. I'm also sad to see that games are straying from dedicated servers. In fact, the only statement of Eric's that I directly disagree with is that Infinity Ward's decision to use matchmaking in Modern Warfare 2 is "...one of the loudest shots fired from the bow of a major publisher against PC gaming." Infinity Ward isn't anti-PC, they're anti-piracy. If they were anti-PC they wouldn't have spent the time and resources to port the game to the PC. I know piracy played such a huge role in the decision, because shortly after the first Modern Warfare was released, Kotaku dug up a blog post of Robert Bowling's (creative director of Infinity Ward and a major proponent of the new matchmaking system) in which he mentions a disturbingly large number of people playing pirated versions of the game on the online multiplayer. Mr. Bowling titled this blog post "They Wonder Why People Don't Make PC Games Any More". With that said, it can't be denied that Infinity Ward did, in fact, anger a lot of their hardcore PC fans with the decision to use matchmaking in Modern Warfare 2.

PS3
REVIEW: God of War Collection Gives the PS2 Games a Facelift
by Ryan Olsen | 11/20/09 | 5:45 AM PST

What the Game's About
God of War: Collection is the re-release of the PlayStation 2 classics God of War and God of War II. The games tell of the story of a tortured anti-hero named Kratos who seems to always get tricked by the Olympian gods, gets really pissed and ends up destroying a lot of stuff and people. The reason they are re-releasing on the PS3 is that Sony's Santa Monica studios updated the visuals to a crisp 720p while retaining everything else you remember about these games.

What's Hot
A visual upgrade is a great way to reintroduce the wrath-filled tale of Kratos. The games looked great on the PS2 to begin with, but the PS3 has since blown anything the PS2 could do out of the water and them some (nomination for understatement of the year!). The new coat of paint on the textures remain faithful to the original material but gives it an HD shine that looks stunning on TVs. This is the real reason to pick this collection of classic games all over again. Screen shots don't do this texture rehaul justice, you need to see it in action.

PS3
Battlefield Bad Company 2 Multiplayer Beta is Up and Ready for Download
by Casey Jones | 11/19/09 | 7:29 PM PST



Dice has announced that the US client for Battlefield Bad Company 2 Multiplayer Beta is ready for download and servers are ready to start accepting players.

If you keep an eye on the Official BFBC2 twitter every day they will be giving out beta codes for PS3 users to redeem and play. So if you don't have a code yet definitely keep an eye on @OfficialBFBC2

PS3
Potential Modern Warfare 2 Movie in the Works
by Kombo Staff | 11/19/09 | 7:21 PM PST



Voice Actor Kevin McKidd, the voice of "Soap" McTavish in Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2, has mentioned that a movie adaptation of the game seems to be in the making. Apparently in Hollywood they have seen how huge Modern Warfare 2 is and I'm guessing they are seeing potential in a Call of Duty movie now. Here is what Kevin had to say about who would play Soap and some comments on voicing the character throughout the last few games

They were looking for a rough, Scottish actor in Hollywood they probably couldn't get Gerard Butler, so they got the No. 2 Gerard Butler, me. I had no idea it would be so huge, and now there are talks of a feature film. If the script is good, and Gerard isn't available [laughs], then absolutely.

Let's see who wins the race for the first huge FPS movie, will we see a Halo movie or Call of Duty movie first? What do you think?

PS3
The Re-Imagining of Mortal Kombat That Might Have Been
by David Oxford | 11/19/09 | 4:58 PM PST



Before departing Midway last year, artist Vincent Proce put together a proposal for a new Mortal Kombat game that was "a re imagining of the Mortal Kombat franchise from the original premise but mixing modern muti-player and dismemberment game design with the original fighting mechanic." As a part of that proposal, he redesigned four of the characters from the original roster.

Given that he's no longer with the company, the idea isn't going to happen and only stands as a vision of what might have been. Nevertheless, he says "I still would like to one day redesign all the rest of the original characters if I ever find the time.

You can check out the four designs in much higher resolution alongside brief descriptions at his blog, along with some other cool stuff, including various MK vs. DCU endings and images.

PS3
Gamer Fails at Suing Sony, Goes After Microsoft and Nintendo Instead
by Kombo Staff | 11/19/09 | 4:35 PM PST

One lawsuit-happy gamer by the name of Erik Estavillo didn't have much luck when he tried to sue Sony Computer Entertainment America for banning him from the PlayStation Network, so he has instead decided to try his luck against the industry's other two big platform holders.

And at the same time, no less.

PS3
Media: 20 Screens of No More Heroes: Hero's Paradise; Marvelous Losing Money on Most Wii Titles, Profiting on PSP
by Kombo Staff | 11/19/09 | 3:57 PM PST



Marvelous has launched the official Japanese website for the HD version of No More Heroes, known as "Heroes' Paradise." Unfortunately, there is almost nothing to do there, but never fear; it just so happens that the Japanese Xbox.com website has updated to include the game, and has presented 20 new screens which now reside in our gallery below.

PS3
Sony Aiming for PlayStation 3-D in 2010 with Firmware Update
by David Oxford | 11/19/09 | 3:11 PM PST

One of Sony's more buzz-worthy exhibits at the Tokyo Game Show was their 3-D demonstration of Wipeout. Today, Sony Computer Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Kaz Hirai followed up on their TGS spectacle during a press briefing with a statement which suggested that 3-D PlayStation 3 games may not be far off at all.

PS3
REVIEW: Buzz! Quiz World is One of the Best Quiz Games Out There
by Ryan Olsen | 11/19/09 | 3:05 PM PST

What the Game's About
Buzz! Quiz World is the next installment of the casual friendly trivia game on the PlayStation 3. The focus this time around is more variety of quiz round and an easier user interface that puts you in the game a whole lot faster than before. In addition to challenging your friends, you can take on the world with online play or continually expand your quiz question pool with the user created quiz packs that draw on the collective trivia brain trust of Buzz! fans. The game requires four wireless buzzers to play the game, so keep that in mind if you don't already have them.

What's Hot
The common complaint from the last game is that there weren't enough quiz round types. There are more this time around. There are some staple anchor rounds that remain constant but other than that, each game will have a different style that offers another way to gain or lose points. One of the best new modes is where you are put on the spot and your opponents have to either bet if you will get the answer right or wrong. The look on people's faces is priceless when they bet against you and you end up getting the question correct while you rocket up the leaderboard. You can expect many great moments on the couch with all the new modes of play because you can single out specific modes you want to play or simple find a setting that will play all your favorite parts, including online multiplayer. Another problem solved is the fact that you can enjoy Buzz! solo in Quiz World thanks to the single player challenges that changes up the rules that you will continually try to best your top score.