We have one of these puppies to give away, thanks to the kind people at SplitFish gameware. FragFX is a PlayStation 3 controller that gives PC-style gameplay on the PS3, doubling as an optimised mouse for PS Home and web navigation. It also sports a ‘Frag button’ that allows you to slow target movement down for better aim accuracy, comes with SIXAXIS motion control and supports all PS3 games. It’s yours for £44.99.

Hey, it’s yours for free actually, if you can answer the following question: when did Andrei Bogolyubsky, the 1st Grand Prince of Vladimir, die? Yeah, you read that right - that’s our question.

Email your answer to blog@threespeech.com and if you’re first out of the hat when we do the draw at midday on Friday, the FragFX is yours (be sure to put FragFX in the subject of your email and, soz to the rest, but this is for UK residents only).

www.splitfish.com

We reported a while back (here) that an Expansion for Warhawk was to be released, titled Operation: Omega Dawn and that the expansion makes some changes to gameplay, plus adds some great new elements. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet it’s definitely worth the money.

The first review of the expansion is via IGN who scored it a mighty 8.0/10 and here’s what they had to say:-

“It’s impressive how well the Dropship fits into the meticulously balanced game play of Warhawk. Not only does it force a number of new tactical approaches to modes like Capture the Flag and Zones, it doesn’t overpower the pre-existing vehicles. While Omega Dawn doesn’t add a ton of content to the title, how it takes advantage of the 1.2 update along with the tactical balance of the game makes it perfect for Warhawk fans looking for a new twist to this enjoyable multiplayer game.”

Check out the full review here and also check out the trailer for the pack.

Fresh from CES comes this lovely LittleBigPlanet video. You may have seen it elsewhere but here it is in high quality for you chaps. We have to say that this is looking really, really wonderful.

Resistance was a launch title here in the UK when the PS3 first arrived last March. The game featured fast, frantic game play, great visuals and online battles and went on to become a best seller. It’s been rumoured for a while now that a sequel was in production but little has been known about the next instalment to the franchise. However, some information on the game has recently been released and it would seem Resistance 2 is further along in development than any of us had thought and is set to include a lot of great new features. Below we’ve some Resistance 2 screens from Game Informer. Check the Official PlayStation Magazine (UK) for more info when it comes out on February 13.

The game is said to feature:

A huge co-op component featuring eight player story-driven campaigns over PSN (two player local) alongside single-player campaigns.

Sixty player competitive modes with a focus on squad-versus-squad combat set in huge United States landscapes.

New enemies including Chameleon and Stalker with total cloaking ability

Multiplayer class system. Three basic templates - tank with heavy weaponry, special ops for distance (bullseye modified with zoom) and medic.

Online matching - standard difficulty discarded for scaled challenges for team skill.

Partially randomised geometry making levels different with each play through.

Insomniac have been listening to players complaints about the first game and are also further tapping the power of the PS3 to give more enemies onscreen and improved AI. They are also working on a solution to the long checkpoints and health system.

The game will be released later in 2008.

Long-standing gaming/technology journalist Keith Stuart (The Guardian Gamesblog, Guardian newspaper technology section, Official PlayStation Magazine, Deathray, Edge, PC Gamer, Gamesmaster, you name it) takes a closer look at the high-def format landscape.

What a difference a week makes. At the close of 2007, the high-def format war was still grumbling on, with both the Blu-ray and HD-DVD camps claiming small victories once in a while to lighten up the gloom. But in the space of a few days it seems the Sony-backed Blu-ray technology has landed more killer blows than Joey Barton on a quiet night down the pub – if HD-DVD isn’t already on the canvas, it’s certainly buckling at the knees and flailing hopelessly.

It all started on January 4 when movie giant Warner Bros announced that, from May, all its high definition home releases would be on Blu-ray format, giving the format a 70% share of the DVD market. “The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger,” exclaimed Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros – you know, only about a year after every one else was saying the same thing. With the Blu-ray ball now rolling, however, things started moving pretty fast. New Line Cinema, owned by Warner Bros parent company Time Warner, followed suit days later, announcing its intention to abandon HD-DVD, as did yet another Time Warner stablemate, HBO Home Video.

Read more…

Hi all,

Here’s one of our occasional shout-outs, inviting you to contribute to Three Speech. Let us know if you’ve anything you want to write about - opinion pieces, experiences, predictions etc relating to the PS3 or digital entertainment in broader terms. Similarly, if you’ve design and art work, videos, audio content and the like that you want to share, let us know. We’re really keen to give the audience more of a say on Three Speech. Mail us here blog@threespeech.com

We found this on the web and wanted to get your thoughts on it. Seems that you can stream games from your PC to your PS3. Apparently you install Linux on your PS3 and away you go. There is a video here of Crysis being played on a PS3.

Let us know what you think or if any of you already do this.

Over at the US PlayStation Blog they are running a CES round-up, as they were lucky enough to attend. It’s well worth a look and has some great links to videos relating to LittleBigPlanet, plus lots of other titles and hardware.

IGN are running a great piece looking at games development in the UK, rightly stating what a good year 07 was and what a promising one 08 looks set to be for homegrown titles, with MotorStorm, Heavenly Sword, Haze and, of course, LittleBigPlanet all getting mentions.

Check the article out here

This is definitely a topic we’re keen to cover further in 08. Meantime, let us know your thoughts on games development in the UK. What’s the best homegrown game? Which ones are you most looking forward to? Does the future look rosy for development in this country? Are you looking to get into development? If so, what do you imagine the industry will have in store for you?

We posted a video interview yesterday in which a Konami representative said that MGS4 was on schedule for its release target of Q2 of this year. Looks like she wasn’t simply churning out marketing spiel as the latest Kojima Report Podcast confirms to us, via Ryan Payton (MGS4 Assistant Producer), that the game will face no more delays. The game is just about to go into the testing phase, and apparently it can be played from start to finish. There’s just a few last minute features and part of the opening movie left to finish.

Bring on the simultaneous worldwide release sometime in Q2!

[Ripten]