Late Night Consoling

Elaborating on past comments he has made regarding his preference towards Microsoft's next-gen console, id Software's John Carmack made several comments on G4 last night regarding Xbox 360. His relevant comments have been transcribed by various Internet Web Sites.

Bluntly, Carmack says, "Xbox 360 has far and away the best development tools." He qualifies that in terms of its impact on games, saying that "when you look at these development cycles that stretch over years and years, being 20% easier to develop on is much more important than being 20% more powerful." He notes that the PS3 is "probably marginally more powerful" than the Xbox 360, "but that's not really the best way to look at things."

Despite the fact that both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 have their pros and cons, Carmack notes, "I make fundamental decisions based on development tools and depth of documentation, which Microsoft has been superior on." This is a sentiment that has been echoed by various tradionally PC-oriented game developers in recent months when questioned as to their opinions on Xbox 360 vs. PS3.

The excerpts are from a G4 segment entitled "A Sense of Doom," which featured the four primary owners of id. For those interested, it airs again on October 22 at 5:30pm PST, October 23 at 1:00pm PST, and October 24 at 10am PST.

Fumito Ueda and his team, responsible for the classic PS2 title Ico and the just-released Shadow of the Colossus (PS2), revealed in an interview with Japanese publication Dengeki PlayStation, that his next project would be on PS3. The announcement comes as little surprise, since his team is part of an internal Sony development studio. The team is already known for fairly long development times, and with the much steeper learning curve for next-generation consoles such as PS3, Ueda expects that development of the next game will take several years. Ueda also indicated vaguely that he might be interested in developing a PSP title at some point, though if that were the case it would surely take a much different form than the team's PS2 efforts--for example, he noted, it might feature exaggerated characters with giant heads.

In regards to the next project on PS3, the acclaimed designer has lots of ideas, but apparently none yet which demand a game. Knowing Ueda, however, it's only a matter of time.

So, the Hex 168 countdown finished up today, and the page now contains tabloid-like images documenting the strange appearance of a hexagonal numbered symbol called "Hex 168." According to the site, the symbol confers strange yet ill-defined powers. Readers are invited to submit "proof" of Hex 168 sightings--that is, photographs or short videos showing groups of people in the vicinity of the symbol--to win "a technological miracle that pulses with the power of the Hex." Given that this is a Microsoft-run contest, it doesn't take much to speculate as to what such a miracle could be.

For those who don't enjoy speculation, we can instead simply refer to the official rules, which Microsoft is required to post on the site and which take a little bit of the mystique away. They indicate that winners of the photo/video contest will each receive an Xbox 360 console along with copies of the three Microsoft-published "launch" titles: Rare's Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo: Elements of Power, and Bizarre Creations' Project Gotham Racing 3. Submissions are due by November 4, and winners will be notified by November 9. Winners will be chosen by online voting on the site.

It seems that the Windows version of the Xbox 360 controller is being sold by certain retailers already. It is likely that the stores broke the street date on the controllers, since Microsoft has not announced a date for their sale and was surprised when presented with the news. Visually, the controllers are identical to the ones that will ship alongside the actual Xbox 360 console in late November. In fact, I don't see any reason they wouldn't work with the console, since Microsoft has stated officially that the only difference between the Windows version and the console version of the Xbox 360 controller is that the Windows package comes with a driver disc.

For those curious, the Xbox 360 controller is essentially the same as the current-gen Xbox Controller S, with the most crucial difference being that the white and black buttons have been removed and relocated to a shoulder position above the triggers. The controller feels very similar to its predecessor, but it is a slight improvement ergonomically, and feels sturdier yet lighter.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children has apparently won an award at Spain's Sitges film festival. The spinoff of the classic RPG was given an Honorary Maria in recognition of its heroic rescue of the film festival from the dismal depths of boredom. It does, however, sort of make you wonder what kind of other films were there not winning awards when an actual festival representative says, "You could say that this film was not only one of the highlights of the festival, but that without FFVII: AC the festival might have been a total failure." The film was shown twice due to popular demand, an almost unheard of event at Sitges.

Advent Children is due for North American DVD release in late November, though as of now there are no announced major plans for general theatre showings.

1UP chats with Peter Jackson about the upcoming King Kong movie and its adaptation by Beyond Good & Evil designer Michel Ancel. In regards to BG&E not selling well, Jackson, a big fan of the game, says, "If somebody reading this hasn't played it before, go grab it! Let's rise up and force them to make a sequel!" Please, listen to the man.