A lot of us God of War series fans will chew up whatever Cory Barlog news we can get hold of. It's just so hard not to be curious about what the master game maker is up to these days. In his latest interview with N'Gai Croal, Barlog seems ready to give us details on what his next project is. Read the full article and find out more about what the future holds for God of War 2's main man.

It's a little surprising to hear that Jack Thompson ordered his own copy of Manhunt 2 but maybe you'll want to hear it for yourselves. In this latest video, Jack Thompson and a number of other guests from the Moral Kombat debate express their views on Rockstar Games in Game Head. Watch the video in the full article.

E3 is the major event for gamers, developers, and publishers alike. Whatever waves that huge hurricane of video games create can decide whether something will end up a tsunami, or ultimately flop. That said, Sony will need a great boost from this much anticipated gathering where everyone is fighting for the spotlight.

Industry experts Michael Pachter, Billy Berghammer, N'Gai Croal, and Shane Shatterfield sat down with Geoff Keighly to discuss about what can revitalize the PS3 and PSP.

Hottest issues on PS3's shoulders include exclusivity, the steep price, and the fact that some don't experience hardware superiority that Sony promised.

The guys at Bonus Round pretty much concluded that the PS3 needs more games to increase momentum. Lair, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Final Fantasy XIII, and Metal Gear Solid 4 have been mentioned. As Shatterfield said, "Metal Gear Solid 4 can't come soon enough, Final Fantasy XIII can't come soon enough."

Pachter, known to talk a lot about price cuts, couldn't stress it more that the hefty PS3 needs to lower its tag. He believes that an announcement regarding the matter on E3 should give console sales a lift.

About the PSP, Pachter said that publishers should look at the handheld in a different light. According to him, games have been aiming for an immersive experience - something against the pick-up and play nature of portable game devices.

To see the video in full, click on the Read link below.

N'Gai Croal is a writer for magazine Newsweek. J. Allard is a Microsoft executive, and him being bald-headed is important in this one. Because you see, the two made a bet last year that the PlayStation Portable (PSP) wouldn't reach the 10 million units shipped within 12 months like the PlayStation 2 (PS2).

Here's the gist of their bet: If Croal loses, Allard gets to cut off Croal's dreadlocks live on stage. If Allard loses, he would have to wear a dread lock for one whole month. As you all know, Sony made their target two months earlier and Allard, being a good sport, has done good on his wager.

"Admittedly, the PSP was a beautiful device with incredible specs. it had a fantastic screen and I knew that they'd sell millions of them, but I just didn't think that demand could be higher than for the PS2. Hats off to Sony for outpacing the PS2 velocity with their PSP. Dreads on for N’Gai for calling it," posted J Allard on his official blog.

If you want to read J Allard's whole blog entry, refer to the Read link below.

 

Speaking to Newsweek's N'Gai Croal, God of War's David Jaffe, noted several reasons why the planned PSP game Heartland was aborted. The said PSP game was supposed to depict an America invaded by China, and was supposed to feature a Chinese-American faced with heavy moral decisions.

Jaffe explains how Sony's response to the matter was mixed, and how the folks from Sony wished that Jaffe decide to make this game for their big black PlayStation 3. Here's his words:

The game was very much a liberal person's response to the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. When I was entertaining lofty thoughts, the idea was to create an experience that would try to make the players--whom I mostly assumed would be of the Western world--feel what it must be like to have their own homeland occupied by another country. SCEA and I went back and forth over if we would ever say it was CHINA vs. AMERICA as they were a bit worried about being so literal, but that fight had not yet occurred when we pulled the plug.

As for Phil (Harrison, Sony president of worldwide studios), his biggest issue was thinking a game so epic should be on PS3. But I was always pushing for PSP, saying that Heartland should do for the PSP what Halo did for the Xbox. But as you know, Phil's a total supporter of innovation and games as art and so he was more than willing to see if I had anything worthy to say, as well as the talents to say it through the medium.

Other reasons for the cancellation of the game include manpower problems as the WarHawk team kept growing while Jaffe's team kept shrinking. He explains:

If the team would have been the right size, we would still be in production with Heartland today. That was the main reason we killed it, not enough folks to make the game. Granted, I would be 40 pounds overweight again, sad, depressed, and maybe even divorced, as it would have consumed me just like God of War did. But that aside, the main issue that made it clear that we could not continue was that WarHawk kept taking our team members as they were further along in production and were the top priority.

Jaffe then later adds that he could have worked harder in SCEA to get more people for his team, but his "heart was just not in it".

Well, we do hope that this "pop song" phase of game making that David Jaffe finds himself in at the moment becomes rewarding enough for him, so that after all the Calling All Cars and all those "light" games he's into right now, he can find the heart to move back to making those game "operas" that we loved oh so much.

For the complete Newsweek interview, feel free to head to it via our Read link below.

During part 2 of N'Gai Croal's interview with EA CEO Larry Probst, the CEO voiced his opinion on matters regarding the PSP. For one thing he says that when it comes to the PSP, they're not really keen on making original content for Sony's handheld. He says:

It's more likely that we would target platforms like the PS3, Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii if we had an original in mind. Our strategy on PSP has typically been to take the franchises that we build on other platforms and exploit them on the PSP. I think the price point needs to be lower, and I think you're going to see that next year, along with a different form factor.

Of course he goes on the clarify that they don't really know what Sony's plans are but, according to him, it wouldn't be surprising if they had a lowered price unit at US$ 149 and a more fully-featured upscale unit at  US$ 249 or US$ 299.

According to him, the compelling argument to get games for the PSP is that it's portable. However he does also say that he agrees to the thought that if someone own Madden on multiple systems already, say one for the PS2 and one for the 360, then they're less likely to buy Madden on the PSP.

He says that if you're looking for a PSP breakout hit, it really has to be something original or unique to the platform. That's not EA's strategy for now though. So what is their plan for the PSP? Here's his words:

We're interested in interoperability between PSP and Sony's other platforms, and if we can do something along those lines, that would be helpful.

While it's a bit of a downer to hear that another company isn't interested in making original content for the PSP, it is pseudo good news to hear that they're looking to take advantage of the PSP-PS3 connection. A mobile way to control your PS3 game perhaps? Time will tell.