By now you’ve heard the news that Devil May Cry 4 is going multi-platform, which should make everyone who owns a PS3, 360 and PC really giddy. Excited. Overjoyed. You get the picture. I have a confession to make… I’m not a genuine fan of the series, but perhaps the fourth installment sounds intriguing enough that I am willing to give it a shot.

Since I don’t know too much about the plot, you’ll have to forgive me in advance for offering you this baked verbatim of press release goodness which goes on to say: Devil May Cry 4 immerses gamers in a gothic supernatural world, where a new protagonist clashes with a familiar hero. As the new leading man, Nero, players will unleash incredible attacks and non-stop combos using a unique new gameplay mechanic, his powerful “Devil Bringer” arm.

(They really need to work on coming up with something more creative than… Devil Bringer.) Anyways, there’s a ton of screenshot galleries advertised on all the high-level sites who’ve been fortunate to check out preview builds — all of which prove that yes, it’s going to be a kickass looking game for your eyes to adore. Expect lots of action, mashy combos and an unique experience that you’ve come to love and cherish in a DMC game. Yes… even newcomers like me.

At last week’s Game Developers’ Conference, one of the earlier presentations was from Jeff Minter. It was a one hour talk about the history of Llamasoft, the art of games creation, and Space Giraffe. Now it’s up on Google video, available in full for anyone who wants to see.

If you’ve got the spare time and interest, check it out here. In addition to being an enjoyably candid talk, it also shows how low-key and informal these presentations can be.

There you have it: if you want some next-gen PS3 Warhawk action, you’ll officially be restricted to the confines of Sony’s online multiplayer arena. These aren’t exactly cruel shackles, though. For my money, this suits Warhawk best in its entrance into a new world that may not remember when it first graced the PSone; a time that, frighteningly, now seems far in the past.

The modes present will go beyond your typical repeated attempts to blow everyone else up and declare your virtual dominance, ranging from territorial battles to the requisite capturing of flags. Though I may be in the minority that fondly recalls the original’s corny live-action cutscenes, they will be missed!

When Microsoft announced Live Everywhere at last year’s E3, it seemed like a great idea. It was a way to integrate PC, Xbox, and even cell phone gaming so that they supported each other. MS seemed to be showing a lot of determination to strengthen PC gaming with recognizable branding, standardized controllers, and some of the added perks of Live like achievements.

But at GDC MS announced that they intended to marry Live for Windows and Xbox Live subscriptions as a single pay service. This means that to play a Live-enabled PC game, you’ll need to fork over the usual $7.99 a month for the privilege, a privilege that has been free since the beginning of time on PC.

It’s not completely clear if these titles will require Live for online play, or merely offer added benefits to subscribers, but if the former is the case, Microsoft has lost their minds. It becomes not only a question of whether or not consumers will pay, but what the incentive is for developers.

On Xbox, Live is the only game in town. Developers support it because they have to. On the PC, this isn’t the case. Developers can tell MS where to stick their Live. And at what point does a developer say “Hey, you know what would be awesome? If Microsoft got to charge our customers money to play out game! Wouldn’t that be great?” It’s not going to go down like that.

If MS had real insight to the PC gaming market, they’d look at Valve and see how a service like Steam could be married with the features of Live to create a free environment that’s profitable and attractive to everyone. Trying to rape PC gamers out of money because they can force them to pay on a console isn’t going to help strengthen PC gaming, it’ll either be a miserable flop, or a bullet in PC gaming’s head.

Sony might be late to the party introducing its own form of virtual community service, but “Home” might end up being a critical element that makes the PS3 more appealing. Today, Phil Harrison disclosed additional details in his keynote address at this year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California.

Each person can customize their clothes and facial characteristics, with millions of potential combinations.

For me, this wasn’t exactly news after hearing the reports prematurely discussed on Kotaku (and later confirmed by an anonymous industry insider who spoke with The New York Times). Of course, there were a number of things that still wasn’t clear to me – until today. According to what was announced, Home in effect owes a lot of its design from the Wii, Xbox 360 and Animal Crossing.

The process starts out with a user creating their own unique avatar and from there, are free to roam throughout the vast community filled with custom spaces designated to hold game data and personal apartments. To give you a textbook description, users can interact, communicate, join online games, shop, share private content and even build and show off their personal living quarters to other users in real time. In effect, it’s like Animal Crossing 2.0…

Home will offer a “club area” called Game Space (think of a modern PSO lobby) where users can mingle and play casual games like bowling, pool and retro arcade games – all free of charge. Digital content sharing will be a HUGE plus for Home users, allowing the ability to show off personal videos, pictures and any other digital media stores on their PS3 hard drives. Users will have various communication tools via audio/video chat, text and a modest range of emotional animations for each character. Sharing continues in the “Hall of Fame,”? where users can display new 3D trophies that will be unlocked through in-game milestones for the games they own as well viewing the trophies of other users across the PlayStation Network and for other games they’ve yet to purchase.

Home will be offered as a free download service, however users looking to give their virtual characters a distinct look with new threads will have to fork over a bit of green (price was not disclosed at the conference). SCEI will present a large-scale beta later this spring; hopefully I’ll have the chance to participate first-hand.

(Edit: Sony has launched a beta site for the forthcoming Home service. Not much to check out at the moment, so be sure to set up a bookmark on your browser. Link: http://www.homebetatrial.com)…

So — what are your thoughts?

  
[Top] The Games Space is where you can meet and relax with your friends with free casual games such as bowling, pool and retro arcade games.
[Bottom] Snapshots of personal apartments you can live in.