Jamie Hall, aka Genki-Rocket, is a blogger at Fragcast and also a long-term contributor to the comments section of Three Speech. We got in touch with Jamie due to a comment he made and asked him to come and write a post for Three Speech, and here it is. If it inspires anyone else to get involved then mail us at blog@threespeech.com. Over to Jamie…

It’s been an ongoing theme on the personal blog I share with some friends that the nature of the games industry is changing – we’ve seen great swathes of people introduced into the industry who’ve never played games before – and modern consoles perform a huge array of tasks many of which only have a peripheral use for games purposes.

All this change has got me thinking: Are hardcore gamers becoming irrelevant?

There. I said it out loud. The sound of it is hanging in the air all around me, filled with menace and tainted with an odd sense of regret. What, you might ask, has lead me to such a question? One which basically declares my own mortality, and lays a great many of my close friends low… I am talking, of course, specifically about the rise of “non-games.”

It’s a slightly odd feeling, having been a gamer for nearly 20 years, to suddenly find that a large section of the market is driven by games which don’t interest you. By which I don’t mean games that aren’t interesting - I’m sure the people buying the products in question are having a simply wonderful time. I mean that these types of games hold zero interest for me: male, just shy of 30, raised on a staple diet of console classics for 18 years now. I find it shocking and strange that Cooking Mama can sell 1.6 million copies in North America… Not to suggest for a second that it’s a bad game, although I have no idea whether it is or not.

Even more shocking is the fact that many of the people who bought this particular title, and the dozens like it, probably haven’t even heard of many of the games that are currently making my radar light up like a set of nuclear powered fairy lights. If I mentioned Metal Gear Solid 4, Killzone, Resistance 2 or Final Fantasy XIII to the average person buying any one of a growing number of mini-game compilations or Brain Training clones, I’m fairly sure they’d find my entertainment choice as obtuse as I theirs. Not, you understand, that I begrudge them their fix of ‘cooking and chopping’ of an evening – far from it.

Read more…

Not long now until we are again sneaking around Middle Eastern battle fields fighting against private military companies as Solid Snake. Metal Gear Solid 4 will be seeing a worldwide release on June 12. Konami have released a batch of new screenshots and they are looking very good indeed. Can’t wait for this one.

Check out more images at Ene3. A video of the 15 minute English gameplay demo which was included as part of the Metal Gear 20th Anniversary celebration package can be found GameTrailers.

It has been announced today that Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will be available on Blu-ray on Friday 28 March for £24.99 (RRP), and as a download at the same price from the PSN on Thursday 27 March. Only two weeks and two days to go people.

You know this is going to be amazing.

Official press release follows.

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SingStar Summer Party has been announced for the PlayStation 2, with a release date set for April. The tracklisting is based around songs and videos that perfectly capture that feel-good summer sensation type-a-thing. Artists include Adele, Madness, Dirty Pretty Things, Klaxons, Blur and many, many more. As you all know, you can also capture your performances and upload your videos to the SingStar website at www.singstargame.com. Roll on April.

Official Press Release Follows.

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As you may have noticed we have made a few changes to Three Speech, with a wide new look, new banners and a countdown. More changes will be happening over the coming months, so hold tight for those. What can it all mean???

Well, Mobiletone, a friend of the site that many of you know, has actually gone and done it! He has got (from what we know) the world’s first PS3 tattoo. And, damn, it looks painful.

In Tony’s own words, ‘How much do I love my console? I guess this video says it all. It’s been nearly a year since the PAL UK launch of the console and I decided to get this tattoo done in honour of what I consider the best console ever made. Love gaming, love women and love life.’

Remember kids, don’t try this at home!

Click through for the stills.
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Want to see grown men jump around a film studio grunting and growling whilst wearing strange outfits and pretending to be part of an alien invasion? Well these two videos are just for you.

Taken from a motion capture session for Resistance 2, the videos show actors performing scenes from the game. Very strange indeed. Check them out here and here.

Sony will be attending the Play.com Live! event at Wembley Stadium on March 15 and 16. All that’s been confirmed to the public so far has been that they will be showing “GT5 and more”.

We got the low down from Sony and the confirmed title list (so far) is as follows:

PS3

GT5 Prologue - playable code
Everybody’s Golf: World Tour - playable code
Time Crisis - playable code
Echochrome - playable code
Killzone 2 - trailer
LittleBigPlanet - trailer
Play TV - trailer

PSP

God of War: Chains of Olympus - playable code

Should be a good one!

‘Linkin Park Fan’ over at the GameGrep Forums wasn’t over enamoured with the idea of making a ’stupid cabinet or DVD shelf’ in his wood shop class, so he decided to make a real life Heavenly Sword. He would have made it from metal but unfortunately his school only has a wood shop. Ahhh… His friends said he wouldn’t be able to do it but he did. It’s three feet long (look out!), and is ‘as light as a feather, a feather that can kill’. Nice work!

Ironically, he says, ‘I was the first one to get cut by my sword. I let a kid hold it and he got a little power hungry, started swinging it around and cut me in the arm. For a wooden sword, it sure cuts well’.

Wish I was at school again!

Thanks to Krunal from GameGrep.

PS3 Store

New Products

Title Licence/Publisher Price

Packs
Flow Expansion Pack SCEE £1.99
Guitar Hero 3 - No Doubt - Track Pack dlc Activision UK LTD £3.99

Video
Uncharted DJ Shadow SCEE Free
WipEout HD SCEE Free
The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles Trailer Bethesda Softworks Free

Blu Ray
The Pursuit of Happyness SCEE Free
Reign Over Me Sony Pictures Home Ent Free
Perfect Stranger Sony Pictures Home Ent Free

Themes
Graffiti SCEE Free

PC Store

Wallpapers
Warriors Orochi PSP KOEI Co Free