Today in Gaming News: April 30, 2008

What? There’s something else going on in the gaming industry — I mean other than Grand Theft Auto IV?

Why yes, indeed there is. Granted, if you check all your regular news sites, you’ll notice anything not GTA-related is pretty lightweight by industry standards. No PR department in its right mind would release any big news in the next few days, unless it was embarassing and needed to be buried.

But guys, seriously, there really are other games out there.

• We wouldn’t use the “R Word” when it comes to the US economy, but let’s just say things are looking pretty pear-shaped stateside. Sony announced today that, as of May 1, it would be adjusting prices in PlayStation Store for Canada to reflect the fact that the Canadian dollar is now pretty much equal to the US dollar. Canucks can send thank-you cards to 1600 Pensylvania Avenue, Washington DC.
• Remember Duke Nukem Forever? Yeah, neither do we. But one site swears it’s real. So real, in fact, they’ve seen the actual game! No, not the trailer. Shacknews.com says it’s seen actual gameplay! And Bigfoot!! Okay, maybe not Bigfoot.
• Screenshots of the upcoming next-gen Prince of Persia are showing up online after a French website posted the first preview of the game (Note: Unless you read French beyond “fra-gee-lay,” the link is pretty pointless). Joypad Magazine also has quite a bit of artwork in its recent issue.
• The much ballyhooed Rockstar Social Club website, which was touted as the one-stop online shop for GTA stat tracking and retail features, isn’t working for a whole hell of a lot of people. We haven’t bothered to log in, but is it working for you?
• Microsoft dropped the price of the Xbox 360 in Asia. As in dropped it a hefty amount. Eleven percent in Hong Kong. Seventeen percent in Taiwan. And a whopping 20 percent in Singapore. No surprise since Asian markets have favored home team Sony since God wore knickerbockers.
• The discussion of GTA PS3 vs. GTA 360 is getting more heated as fanbois worldwide are pulling out rulers and comparing sizes of their e-penii. Noted in more than one forum and news item is that, despite many claiming the PS3 version “looks better,” in actuality, GTA PS3 is running at 640p, while the 360-flavored GTA runs at 720p. Add to the mix that the PS3 multiplayer went up in flames for a while yesterday and Microsoft devotees are pretty smug little bastards right now. Children, please. Can’t we all just get along? I mean, seriously, if you really care about this head-to-head comparison, maybe you need to watch this video from gametrailers.com. Do you see a huge difference beyond slight color differences? Honestly? Neither do we.