God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta’s PSP

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God of War: Ghost of Sparta is out for the world to witness what might be the last great PSP title. It seems appropriate, then, that it would come with a cool custom entertainment pack of its own.

Calvin Klein’s Designer 3D Glasses

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Calvin Klein announced that they have partnered with Marchon3D to create designer 3D glasses.  They use the patent-pending curved M3D lens technology, which matches the contour of the eye and allows them be worn both indoors and out.

“With Marchon3D’s M3D technology and ck Calvin Klein Eyewear’s sleek, fashion-forward design, we are providing consumers the best 3D-enabled sunglass on the market,” said Claudio Gottardi, President of Marchon and CEO of Marchon International. “Having infused technology and fashion only raises the bar in the 3D eyewear field and Marchon is excited and proud to lead the industry.”

The ck3D sunglasses will be offered in three men’s and three women’s styles when it goes on sale December 2010.

EA Wants You To Battlefield For Free

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Electronic Arts has announced a new free-to-play game called Battlefield Play4Free.  It’s designed to have have 32-player online battles with maps from Battlefield 2 and classes, weapons and vehicles from Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

“We broke new ground in 2009 with the launch of Battlefield Heroes; a game that has 6 million registered players worldwide. Now we are complementing that arcade shooter with a core, realistic Battlefield shooter experience that fans have been clamouring for,” said James Salt, Senior Producer, Battlefield Play4Free. “Battlefield Play4Free is for serious shooter fans who are looking for a premium — but free — experience that rivals top console titles.”

While Battlefield Play4Free will launch in Spring 2011, those interested in the closed beta that starts November 30 should visit battlefield.play4free.com.

Capcom Arcade Comes To IPhone

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Capcom has announced that they have launched Capcom Arcade for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Offering three free plays a day, the app includes Street Fighter II, Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, 1942 and Commando.

Players will be able to play an adapted, easier iPhone Mode or the original arcade version. While the app is free to download, users can buy DLC upgrades, purchase ten tokens for $.99 or buy unlimited plays of one game for $2.99. New games will be added on a monthly basis.

Paul Anderson Talks Resident Evil Films, 3D

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Paul W.S. Anderson is perhaps the greatest adapter of video games to the movie industry, having filmed the first Mortal Kombat and the four Resident Evil films. With Resident Evil: Afterlife grossing over $278 million worldwide and a fifth film already in the works, Anderson talks about his keys to success.

As a filmmaker, I’m definitely immersed in the world of Resident Evil, so even though we’re choosing to tell slightly different stories and introduce some different characters, the movies are very much immersed in the video game world, described Anderson. You can see it from the way they’re shot to what the production design looks like, to what the costumes look like. This is clearly a franchise made by people who know the intellectual property that it’s based upon very, very well. I think it infuses the whole movie with the feeling of Resident Evil that I think the fans know is authentic.

It always surprises me when sometimes people who direct video game adaptations say that they never played the video game, he added. I’m like, ‘No wonder you didn’t manage to capture what the fans like about the video game.’ It didn’t surprise me when Prince of Persia — I haven’t seen it yet, but people say it’s very disappointing — didn’t do the business they were hoping. The director (Mike Newell) was very vocal about the fact he never played the video game. And for me, that’s like adapting a book without reading the book or adapting a stage play and never seeing the stage play. I think it’s disrespectful to the medium, and it’s disrespectful to the original source material, and ultimately, it doesn’t make the best movie.

Anderson is also in love with 3D filmmaking, saying, We were the first people to slave two Phantom slow motion cameras together for 3D. These cameras allowed us to do uber-slow motion. They were developed by NASA as a scientific tool to detect minute cracks and stress fractures in the heat resistant tiles on the space shuttle.  To give you an idea, your average high speed film camera will go up to 120 frames per second. This will shoot 1,000 frames per second, which is unbelievable for rainfall and explosions. We really captured a lot of stuff in 3D that looks truly stunning. The opening of the movie is in Shibuya and it’s all in the rain and it looks so beautiful. And the fight scene between the executioner and Claire Redfield (Ali Later) and Alice (Jovovich) is done in a mix of slow motion and real-time and I think it’s just fantastic.

Source: Crispy Gamer

Batman, Inc. Inspired By Arkham Asylum

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Grant Morrison is one of the most well respected men in comics and he’s currently working on a relaunch of the Batman franchise for the comics in Batman, Inc. As it turns out, one of his biggest influences is Batman: Arkham Asylum.

One of the things I wanted to do was capture the feeling of the Batman: Arkham Asylum game that came out in 2009, said Morrison. When I played that game, it was the first time in my life where I actually felt what it is like to be Batman. It was very involving. The way the game and Paul Dini’s story was created, crafted and shot made you actually feel like Batman.

People don’t want to pay money to watch some guy pretending to be someone else when they could be doing it themselves, he added. In games, anyone can be a superhero or a soldier, and the gaming experience doesn’t follow strict narrative rules. You can do things on your own, and move in directions you choose. So I wanted to follow that concept: We are now the heroes, and we can look through their eyes.

Source: Wired

Heavy Rain Should Have Been Advertised To Women, Says Bleszinski

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Heavy Rain was more successful than Sony perhaps thought it would be. Epic Games’ Cliff Bleszinski thinks that the game’s success could have been furthered by marketing to women.

“It feels like such a great game for a girl who wouldn’t normally play games,” said Bleszinski in an Irrational Games’ podcast. “You’d see Heavy Rain advertised in PlayStation Magazine and things like that. I’m like, dude, why isn’t this in Entertainment Weekly . . . Why aren’t you marketing this to the right crowd ”

Bleszinski had nothing but praise for the game itself. “I fell in love with it,” he said. “There were scenes were I was almost literally dropping the controller it was paced so well. If you had that and shipped a disc with all those women’s magazines you’d maybe have sold twice as much.”

Source: Kotaku

Hulu Plus For All PS3 Users

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Sony recently announced that Hulu Plus will come to new Bravia televisions, and will come soon to Blu-ray and other media players. Additionally, the Hulu Plus service will soon be available to all PS3 users in the U.S.

Beginning next week, Hulu Plus will lift the invitation-only availability of its service, which was previously exclusive to select PlayStation Plus subscribers, and open it up to all PlayStation Network members, making the PlayStation 3 the first and only console dedicated to gaming to offer the service, writes Susan Panico, Senior Director for PlayStation Network. The Hulu Plus subscription service offers full current season runs of hit TV programs from major broadcast programming studios and will add to the more than 27,800 movies and TV episodes already available on the PlayStation Store, providing the most exhaustive catalogue of entertainment content to PlayStation Network members.

Ubisoft Reaffirms Online Focus With Quazal Purchase

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Ubisoft has announced that it has acquired Quazal Technologies.  The creator of multiplayer middleware Rendez-Vous and Net-Z has developed integrated solutions for Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and will be available to license from outside parties even after the acquisition is finished.

“Quazal and Ubisoft have worked closely together for several years now to create amazing online experiences for our major brands, stated Quentin Gallet, executive director of the Technology Group at Ubisoft. The engineers at Quazal have honed their expertise over 12 years and this acquisition guarantees Ubisoft a solid technology that will help us to attain the ambitious objectives of our online strategy.

“Today’s announcement is the culmination of ten years of dedication by the teams at Quazal, added Sylvain Beaudry, co-founder, and chief executive officer at Quazal. Their talent, their passion and their commitment to developing online technology of the highest quality are the reasons for Ubisoft’s decision to acquire our company.

“The close collaboration between the teams at Quazal and Ubisoft will facilitate the development and launch of new online services, concluded Martin Lavoie, co-founder and chief technology officer at Quazal. We’re happy to be able to continue to express our creative vision via the projects we’ll be working on with Ubisoft.