The Joker is dead.

According to numerous sources, Heath Ledger was found dead in his Manhatten apartment this afternoon.  A maid apparently walked in to find him face down on the floor, naked, with pills strewn about his body.  Sounds too convenient if you ask me.  But if there’s any sort of shenanigans going on behind this, I’m sure CSI: New York will dig up the dirt.  Although I’m not so confident in their success without the clever one-liner quips and sunglass-taking-off skills of Horatio from CSI: Miami.

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We will finally be able to take Nero and his freakish arm for a try this coming Thursday when the Devil May Cry 4 demo hits both the PlayStation Store and XBOX Live! Marketplace. I cannot wait! I enjoyed DMC3 very much and since I have never played the acclaimed first instalment or its terrible sequel.

This game is somewhat of a significant release for the PS3 since it is Capcom’s first “real” PLAYSTATION 3 game. Initial comparisons and impressions have been overwhelmingly positive for both the XBOX 360 and PS3. You can expect impressions from me for the PS3 version.

Interactivity through the roof! A lot of nice examples of Alone in the Dark’s interactive elements. I especially love how he can pour gasoline and ignite it freely. I have no idea what’s this game is about aside from it being #5 in the Alone in the Dark saga and that it’s a surival horror game. Oh, check out the interesting inventory presentation.

P.S - I wanted to show the version of the video dubbed “Chaos in Darkness” which showcased proper lighting, but GT took it down for some reason.

The free to play model isn’t new. Many smaller games offer the ability to play the basic game for free, but if you want any flare or prettiness; you’re going have to cough up the quarters for it. So what makes Battlefield: Heroes a big deal? Well, it’s one of the first (if not the first) free to play online game from a “big corporation”. Charging for downloadable content works and people tend to willingly spend $2 multiple times instead of coughing up the lump sum.

Games for Windows Magazine’s February issue will have the world exclusive details Electronic Art/DICE’s Battlefield: Heroes, so details are scarce at the moment. In the meantime,  you can read the New York Times article released yesterday which gave a brief overview of how the business model will work.

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I have an infactuation for music games. No, I’m not talking about Guitar Hero or Rock Band. I am talking about games like Rez, Lumines and Everyday Shooter. If you took a look at those videos and were turned off by them — I’m not surprised. Videos do a terrible job at conveying these types of games. Well, I’m not here to entice you folks into playing these games, I’m actually posting to inform you all about Rez HD’s imminent release and AudioSurf, an awesome Indie game.

AudioSurf is absolutely brilliant. It’s like a blend of Guitar Hero + Wipeout + Tetris. Yes, it’s a musical rhythmic puzzle racer. DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames is also featured in a video here. What other songs are available? Anything you want. AudioSurf will analyze any song you have and generate a level for it. You can try out a very limited demo from the homepage, but since it only allows you play a handful of preselected songs at the moment, I’d wait for the full release.

As for Rez HD: it’s coming soon. Possibly this Wednesday, even. I’m not going to even bother explaining what Rez is about because this Wiki page does a better job. You can also try to understand the game through this video of a noob playing below:

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Rumors on the net are claiming that the XBOX 360 and the PLAYSTATION 3 will be $299 sometime within the first half of this year. While the XBOX 360 already has a SKU lower than $299 USD, this particular rumor was aimed at squarely on the only SKU people should care about: the Premium. The price cut is supposed to come just in time for Grand Theft Auto IV’s launch. It’s a smart move which will certainly grab headlines and sales, but until Microsoft actions such a move, I would not hold my breath.

As for the PS3’s $299 price cut, it may actually come as early as January 28th, 2008. Some posters from Slickdeals.net (via CAG) were claiming to have heard rumors about a $100 price drop for the 40 GB PS3. I see no reason for a price drop unless either A) January 28th is the day HD-DVD officially folds up or B) Sony feels like being nice since they’re PS3s cost only $400 to manufacture now. I doubt it’s either of them.

I did not own an Nintendo 64, thus the Turok series is somewhat of a mystery to me. I know what the games were about on a features and description basis, but if you were to ask me about the Turok experience — I would give you a blank stare. Fortunately, the latest instalment of Turok is supposed to be a reboot of the franchise and my lack of Turok nostalgia may actually benefit my view of Propoganda Games’ take on the famed franchise. I downloaded the 1.1 GB demo from the PSN store last night and after spending some time with it I have got to say I was right with my intial thoughts of the game; good, but not great.

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TwonkyMedia is a DLNA server, which supports a vast array of platforms including the HP MediaVault 2020 I raved on about last year when the PS3 firmware 2.10 was released. Well, I was very impressed with the 2020’s performance, the DLNA server would regularly choke up and spit out unsightly error messages about losing connection with the media server. Who was to blame? I believe it was the Syabas media server which the 2020 came with. Using this trusty guide, I was able to install TwonkyMedia 4.4.4 RC1onto the 2020 and use it instead. So far it’s been grand with not a single drop out. I’ll be using it regularly via remote play or natively through the PS3.

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The concept of the PVR is awesome, but the idea of purchasing a dedicated box for the added convenience is brutally expensive. Solution? PlayTV. While PlayTV isn’t free (or coming to North America), it will likely be cheaper than a dedicated box if you have a PS3 already. The instructional video demonstrates above all the neat features of PlayTV that will probably never see the light of day in North America. PlayTV uses DVB-T, but I do wonder if SCEA will come up with a North American equivalent.

Remember those XBOX Live! problems over the holidays? Remember the news about Microsoft making it better by offering us a free XBLA game? Well, Microsoft chose Undertow as the free game.

It’s worth 800 MS points, I don’t have it and it looks hectic. Not a terrible choice, but I would have appreciated free 800 MS points instead. Hey, free is free, though! Watch the trailer below. 

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