News- 08/08/09- COD4 on Wii

Not too much to report on for the new site's first week.

Wii Japanese sales have quadrupled this week thanks to the launch of Monster Hunter 3- a series which is highly popular in Japan. The game was originally planned to be a playstation exclusive, so I bet Sony are slightly miffed right about now. Wii sales are up to ninety five thousand (twenty fourthousand last week), huge compared to the PS3's nine thousand and the 360's measely three.

The PC version of Batman: Arkham Asylum will use PhysX- a feature which some users are having troubles with. Since PhysX is such a hardware hog, having it enabled is giving many gamers lower framerates which are at times unbearable. On the flipside, when it works it reportedly works very well. It will allow realistic environmental reactions to the players actions, such as improved fog effects and environmental damage.

Wii owners will finally be able to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare- the 2007 smash hit is being ported to Nintendo's console by Treyarch, who handled the platform's only other game Call of Duty 3. Frankly, COD3 was turd and I don't expect too much better from the studio this time either. The port will arrive in November, coinciding with the launch of Modern Warfare 2 which hasn't been announced for the Wii at this time.

More Left 4 Dead downloadable content has been announced- "Crash Course" will offer additional maps for Cooperative, Survival, and Versus multiplayer modes. The update follows from Valve's reactions to their fanbase's revolt at the recently announced Left 4 Dead 2's imminent release- namely, the sudden promise of additional support for the original game. The pack will be free for PC gamers but 360 players will have to fork over 560 Microsoft Points. It will go LIVE in September (geddit?).

WipEout HD recieves in-game adverts, has them taken off- adverts were added to the Playstation Network's futuristic racer via the loading screens, but when customers complained that some of them dramatically raised the load times Sony had them all removed. Kudos to Sony for the prompt response.

Playstation 3 production costs are reportedly down 70% since launch, making the PS3almost profitable hardware at this point- no wonder Sony have been reluctant to lower the price again. Sony Computer Entertainment is one of the few branches of the Sony family that can claim much success at all at the moment, so the PS3 is quickly becoming a lifeline to the whole company. Once the rumoured Slim model arrives production costs will likely be even lower, allowing for a further price slash.

Nothing huge this week, but be sure to check back next saturday for the latest headlines and gaming happenings!