[source]

CCP Games, the publisher of EVE Online–the most popular space MMO on the market and the home of the most populous single game world in existence–has announced that that world is about to get significantly larger. Hit the jump to read more.

Dust 514 is slated to be a strategic first person shooter set on the innumerable and, until now, underdeveloped planets of New Eden. CCP Games has confirmed that Dust 514 will interact directly with the existing universe and player-driven economy of New Eden. CCP has not made any specific statements about the way in which this interaction will occur; they have, however, made a separate earlier announcement that an upcoming expansion would make radical revisions to the way sovereignty (the mechanic by which player run corporations conquer swathes of space) functions and further that those revisions would involve planets. It does not take an oracle to see the neat way in which these two announcements dovetail together.

The news about Dust 514, due in 2010, came at the Game Developer’s Conference Europe in Cologne, Germany. CCP Games revealed that Dust 514 had been secretly in production for the past three years at their Shanghai office. The game will be released for as yet unspecified consoles. There has been no word on whether or not there will also be a PC version.

[Official Press Release]

Everyone’s favorite Pushingplay photoshop…now on a t-shirt.

Taking pre-orders by August 6th. Shirts ship out August 14th.

[playrHater]

Hate it when gamer t-shirts are a bit too geeky? I always have. That’s why I, ChuBoi, have started playrHater.com, a t-shirt store offering gaming tees of a more inconspicuous nature. Shirts that don’t scream “NERD SHIRT”, but are just nerdy enough for us in on the joke to get it. Now you can rep your favorite game with an awesome shirt, and not have to wait until PAX or Comic-con to show it off.

Our first t-shirt on sale is for the Sony fans out there. The last line of Sony PR defense; the ground forces. Even with your exclusives taken from you, and the monthly sales data not going your way, you still fight the good fight within the message board and comment thread trenches.

Free shipping to US & Canada!

[Sony Defense Force Tee]

This week we’re back to our regular good form. We take a look at some review products that were sent to us, and we (try to) intelligently argue the benefits of Guitar Hero World Tour Vs. Rock Band 2. We played a pile of games, and actually have some news to discuss this time around, so hit the jump to see how many ‘pet urine spots’ tall you are!

Stuff that was sent to us to review
Able Planet PS500MM Side by side comparison review
New Play Control - Pikmin

Chu - Ghostbusters
Pete - Red Faction, Battlefield Bad Company, Ghostbusters, Terminator
Jacob - Fight Night, Blazblue, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Call of Juarez, Sim 3

GHWT Vs. Rock Band 2

EVO this weekend (17-19)
Modern Warfare 2 Prestige edition comes with WORKING NIGHT VISION GOGGLES!
Activision to stop supporting sony?
Tiger Woods loses at Golf
Valve’s Left4Dead 2

Subscribe to us on iTunes to automatically download new episodes. If you for some reason hate iTunes, then you can download the MP3 here.

Contact us at podcast@pushingplay.com

Intro/Bumper music is by The Black Keys. Go buy their tunes.

In a battle straight out of a Hollywood movie script, longtime rivals Justin Wong and Daigo “The Beast” Umehara faced off in the Street Fighter IV finals at this year’s EVO Tournament. The player’s previous encounters have been some of the most classic matches in the competitive Street Fighter world. Daigo took the first match, where Justin played as Abel, but Justin started to dominate when he switched over to Balrog (Boxer). Since Justin was coming from the losers bracket, after being put there earlier in the the tournament, he had to beat Daigo in two sets of first to 3. He won the first set, and took the second set all the way to the final game, but Daigo’s used Ryu to dissect Justin’s style, and closed out the tournament. The match represents the battle between North America, with Justin Wong, and their attempt to dethrone Japan from their longstanding domination of the fighting game scene.

Congradulations Daigo!

UPDATE: We’ve got the youtube videos of the match after the jump

The Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition is easily the most epic collector’s set this side of the Halo 3: Cat Helmet Edition. In fact, it tops the H3:CHE considering that it comes with freakin’ night-vision goggles that you and your cat (or dog, for that matter) can wear. The Prestige Edition is so epic that it’s turned most of us into giant hypocrites, myself included. We’ve all complained on message boards and comment threads about how unnecessary special editions have become lately, but now we’re all trying to find legitimate excuses to justify integrating night-vision goggles into our everyday lives. Well I, for one, don’t like being called a hypocrite, so here are four ways to justify buying the Prestige Edition this fall.

It will make the most mundane tasks seem badass.
Having to wash the dishes is a lot like having to play Sonic Unleashed for review; both tasks completely blow, and you would rather pay your younger sibling to do them. Washing the dishes with NVGs? Badass. At least to the person wearing them. You can treat chores like Splinter Cell missions, except you’re Sam Fisher. Your girlfriend, wife, or parents, will think you look like an idiot, but they can’t complain since your contributing to a clean household for the first time in your life. Speaking of Sam Fisher…

It will help you go “Splinter Cell” on your friends
I’m not sure how it is with women, but men always have that one obnoxious friend. He’s the guy that gets you kicked out of public places for starting a fight (with someone bigger than him), or doing something downright stupid. Next time he pulls a stunt like that, sneak into his apartment and flip all the switches on the circuit breaker so it’s pitch black. Lure him into the darkness, and then punch him in the face from time to time. This is even better when your friend is drunk because he’ll have no idea what the heck is going on.

It will improve your sex life
Are you and your significant other looking to try new things in bed? Buy two Prestige Editions and get your Paris Hilton on. Just keep the sex tape to yourself. Who knew video games could save relationships rather than destroy them?

It comes with Modern Warfare 2
Let’s not forget that these NVGs come bundled with what could be the biggest game of this generation. If there were any game you would spend over a hundred clams on, it would be this. I’ll go out on a limb and say MW2 is probably going to be a good game. But I dunno, you might want to wait for the Metacritic scores to roll in.

When Street Fighter IV was released 4 months ago there was a great deal of concern about what kind of controllers people would play the game on. Surely the 360 D-Pad, notorious for it’s lack of accuracy, would be the bane of all SF players. The PS controller, though slightly more accurate, was a mess that would leave thumbs blistered after a short session of mashing out Ultra moves.

Fortunately, our options don’t end there. Arcade enthusiasts have taken their game to the next level with accurately modeled Arcade Sticks that recreate the arcade cabinet experience. We have been tossing Hadokens with a range of sticks since the release of SF IV and now we are ready to share what we feel are the best fighting game controller options available. Hit the jump (up on the controller, dummy!) to check out the results.

There are a handful of arcade stick manufacturers and while some of them manufacture their own sticks and buttons, for their lower-end sticks, but the higher-end sticks always have the same internal components. That is because a few companies; namely Sanwa and Seimitsu in Japan, and Happ or Industrios Lorenzos in North America, have mastered the production of readily available, extremely reliable and fairly inexpensive joysticks and buttons that can be easily mounted and rigged to work on any console or game system. Because these internal components are the same the difference between arcade stick manufacturers boils down to 3 things: build quality (how big and sturdy the box is), electronic components (wiring, extra features, etc), and aesthetics (is it purdy?). First we’ll take a look at the difference between the various types of available joysticks and buttons and then we will look at the various arcade stick options and which parts they use.

American VS Japanese parts

The difference between American and Japanese arcade culture presents quite an interesting sociological study. Aside from the obvious stick size joke, Japanese parts made by Sanwa are very sensitive and can pick up subtle motions as a result of their directional toggles being closer to the sticks resting position. The buttons also turn “on” with less effort, a player can rapidly push buttons by lightly brushing their hands across the inputs. Finally, Japanese joysticks traditionally use a Square gate; a device which restricts the movement of the stick. This, compared to the American eight cornered restrictor gate, means that the diagonal corners feel more defined. Some players find charge based moves, like Guile’s Moon Kick or Sonic Boom, easier on sticks like these. American sticks, on the other hand, feel more rigid and sturdy. The stronger spring on a Happ or iL stick has more resistance against a players movements. The buttons need to be pushed down further to work, encouraging players to mash the buttons harder than on the seemingly delicate Japanese parts.

The Boxes

Mad Catz

Mad Catz never anticipated the TE tournament sticks they manufactured would garner the kind of interest that they did. How could they have? Mad Catz has never manufactured a top-quality product before, so they had no way to anticipate the lengths that dedicated fans will go to ensure that they play their games with the best gear possible.

Mad Catz uses all Sanwa parts, and while the stick is designed to be as customizable as possible, it’s too shallow to fit an American stick. If you’re a dedicated Happ stick user, you’ll want to check out other options. That being said, the build quality on the Mad Catz stick is the highest of any of the sticks we looked at. The box is heavy and sturdy, although some more space under the buttons to rest my palm would have been appreciated. They have opted to place any unnecessary buttons (start, back button) on the top of the stick so that players don’t accidentally hit them while mashing out super moves, an act punishable by disqualification in tournament play. The graphics on the face of the stick are quite strong, and it’s easy enough to swap them out and replace them if you don’t like them.

My only serious problem with the design comes in the choice of button layouts. In an attempt to appease both players that use the slightly curved button layout, and the straight button layout, Mad Catz has opted to put 8 buttons on the face of the joystick. While this might not be an issue for someone who is new to arcade sticks, I found my fingers constantly getting confused by the extra buttons, which led to me hitting the wrong ones.

The electronics in the Mad Catz stick are more advanced than anyone could ask for, and are the most comprehensive of any of the sticks we looked at. Players can disable the pause button, independently turn on two levels of turbo for each button and determine whether the stick is controlling D-Pad or either of the analog sticks. I can appreciate where Mad Catz is coming from with the inclusion of these options, but they ended up causing more frustration than they were worth. I would often turn on my system and think my stick was broken, only to realize that it was simply controlling the wrong stick.

HRAP EX

HRAP has a large line of sticks ranging from top end ones that use all Sanwa parts, to less expensive models that use HRAP’s own joysticks and buttons. We looked at the HRAP EX, which uses the same Sanwa parts that were in the other sticks we looked at. All HRAP sticks have a similar layout, and it’s not a particularly good one. The sturdy case has a solid colored faceplate on which the stick and the 8 buttons are located. This means that the start, back, and guide buttons are all on the face of the joystick, waiting to accidentally be hit. This happened a few times during our short test, and it was enough to turn us off. In addition, the headset port is perplexingly placed directly above the joystick, forcing me to run the wire under the whole box so that it didn’t get tangled up while I was playing. Overall the build quality was strong, but some design decisions ended up hindering our experience with the HRAP stick.

Arcade-in-a-Box

AIAB have been making custom joysticks for a decade, and making them for consoles for the last three years. While these sticks don’t have the industrial polish that comes with the mass production that HRAP and Mad Catz sticks benefit from, they’re quite sturdy and are hand assembled by a competent team of fighting game enthusiasts right in the United States of America. If that doesn’t make you feel a twinge of patriotism, this next point will. They are the ONLY stick we looked at that gave the option of using an American joystick. That’s right: 8-way movement gate, strong spring on the movement, satisfying clang when you mash the buttons. This is Street Fighter EXACTLY as you remember it in the arcade. I hear if you ask nice enough, Ed, the head honcho over at AIAB, will pour some Dr. Pepper onto the face of your joystick to REALLY recreate that classic arcade experience. I’m not a fan of American Sticks, but if you are this is the stick to check out. I found their Japanese model to be my favorite of all the sticks we tested. The large area below the buttons gave my hand ample resting room, and the 6 buttons were spaced and angled perfectly for my oafish paws. The omission of the extra 2 buttons that appear on the Mad Catz and HRAP stick allowed me to focus on the 3 punches and 3 kicks that I knew and loved. The start, back, and guide buttons are tucked away on the side of the box, and the headset jack is at the bottom of the box where it doesn’t get in the way. My only quam with the stick was it’s wire, which at only 8 feet couldn’t easily reach from my console to my couch. The problem was easily remedied with an extension cable that can be added on to your order, but this is a problem that would’ve been avoided if they added a few extra feet to the cable.

It’s also worth noting that AIAB were the only company that offered a stick that worked on both systems. While this feature won’t appeal to casual players, any players who intend to bring their sticks out and play on other peoples system will appreciate not having to lug around an extra stick, or use conversion devices that slow down input response time.

Price
Because of the insane demand that these arcade sticks are seeing, people have been reselling them for grossly inflated prices. We decided to give you both the recommended retail price, as well as the average price that they’re actually being sold for.

Mad Catz
MSRP - $149
Street Price - $240-300

HRAP
MSRP - $129
Street Price - $200-250

Arcade-in-a-Box
Custom rigs range in price from $155 to $284

In conclusion, we enjoyed the Arcade-in-a-Box sticks the most. We found the ample hand space, combined with the versatility of the stick being able to run on both systems made it the clear winner. If you can find a Mad Catz TE stick for a reasonable price, they were a close second, but at the inflated price it would be better to either wait until the hype dies down, or go for Arcade-in-a-Box. The confusing design choices on the HRAP stick made it our least favorite stick of the ones we tried, so we recommend avoiding it unless you can get one for substantially less than the retail price.

Stay tuned… in the next few weeks we’ll be giving away a custom Arcade-In-A-Box PS3 stick!

Johnny Lee, eat your heart out! What you see above is a combination of a handful of technologies that are being integrated to create some really interesting applications. It allows you to ‘lean’ around corners, turn using your head, and even scope in and out with basic head movements.

Torben Sko has been working on this as a PhD project, which will surely earn him the high marks he’s looking for. It’s interesting to see technologies like this start emerging only after we saw Natal, and Sony’s new camera based motion technology. It looks like we’ve had the gear to do it for years, it was just a matter of arranging it in an effective way.