Site News Delayed Due To Tech Upgrade

I am currently in the progress of upgrading my PC. my machine is 5 years old, going on 6, and i decided a cheap way to get more out of it was to upgrade the OS from its 32 bit Vista to 64bit Windows 8, taking advantage of the current Windows 8 promotion.
unfortunately, not everything i backed up has successfully been transferred so i am spending the next day or so sorting things out.

As i won't be able to do videogame news myself, i'll be resorting to the @QTE twitter account and reporting on news from other sites, much like i used to. hopefully this should be sorted by the end of the week at the latest.

Site Closed For Winter Break

Well it's that time of year once more. 
i hope everyone survives today to enjoy the christmas period and the new year.
for me, well i'm just hoping i'm going to be able to shake this cold before christmas!

so until later, maybe near or after the new year, i bid you all a goodnight and a happy christmas/festive period.

QTE Gamers Will Be Clocking Off For The Christmas Holidays, Should Be Back In Early 2012

Its that time of year again to clock off. i had thought about stopping at the beginning of the week, but the news just kept on coming, lol. things have quietened down now so i'm going to take the opportunity to have a holiday break. i aim to be back in the new year, but if there is any big news released before then i'll try to cover it.


Over the break i will be looking at improving the site, bring back more options that the original layout had. i'll also look into restarting the podcast again. i'm sorry that it abruptly stopped but with work and the site i had to give up some part to make sure things worked fine. the podcast took around an hour to do each day, an hour which i now use to get as much news ready for the site.


So until i return, i hope you all take care and enjoy yourselves. i'm not going to presume that you all celebrate Christmas, so instead i wish you all a happy late December, lol, and an even better 2012. Untill then Goodbye


xxx

I'm Back From Holiday, But The Site Will Still Be Down For Another Couple Of Days At Least

Yes its true i'm back from house/dog sitting. the break from the site was pretty refreshing and i've got several new ideas and things i want to try. because of this i won't be starting the site up again from tomorrow, i'm going to try some things out first. if the site changes or is not available, that's probably me trying things out so don't worry.

Sorry Everyone. I'm On An Unavoidable 2 Week Vacation. Please Understand, See You All In 2 Weeks!

Yes its true, i am taking a couple of weeks off. this will be the most time off i've had from the site since i started it nearly 3 years ago. the truth is, i have family commitments and for the next two weeks i will be house sitting and dog sitting. i'm sorry for this, but it is unavoidable. i will try to keep an eye on the news and report on anything big, but i cannot make any promises.

I hope you all understand and will visit the site when i'm back from my holiday.

Take Care Everyone

Its My Birthday Today So I'm Taking The Day Off!!!!

The title says it all really. the written re-cap is done and posted and i may get hte hit x podcast done. but apart from them two i'm calling it a day. i will be right back tomorrow catching up with today's and of course with tomorrows news as well.

Old Posts Lost When Blogger Was Down Are Set To Re-Appear Throughout This Week

Blogger went down around 2 weeks ago and i lost 2 to 3 days worth of posts. some of the posts were restored but unfortunately there's at least a days worth that were restored but not in a way which readers can access them. so i'm going to re post them over the week when it's quiet. i won't restore all of them in one go, they'll appear when posts normally do on the site. Some posts may have to be slightly edited before they re-appear so there's a chance they may look different. this appears to be a result of Blogger's restoration process.

QTE Gamers - 2 Years Old And Still Going Strong!

Well QTE Gamers is now over 2 years old! I can safely say that when I started it all, I never imagined it would be still around after 2 years. The site was started as just something to do whilst I was unemployed after Woolworths went under. But with the recession hitting hard and my qualifications not being suitable for where I live, I ended up being unemployed far longer than I wanted. You'll be glad to know that I am employed now and have been since October. The hours aren't great but at least its something. I hope that the site hasn't been too effected since I had a job, but if it has please let me know.

On the one year anniversary I wrote about the frustration in trying to get in touch with PR and access to press accounts. Well there's been some big changes since then. Codemasters got in touch with me!. They were a big help and I soon got access to their press site and they have been great when it comes to questions...so a big thankyou to Capcom. Another big addition was gaining access to GamesPress, who are probably the biggest Press site out there. Now I have access to Capcom and a whole host of other companies, large and small. Its not perfect, but it has made a big difference for the site. Only a few days ago I gained better access to Temco Keoi assets. Getting the news to my readers is important and i'm always looking to gain more access.

I would like to give a big shout out for Namco Bandai. As a developer and publisher they are usually keeping me busy. But they became the first company to send me a review copy of a game and for that i'm extremely grateful. I will say that that had no bearing on my review score, lol.

I admit I haven't pursued other review copies as yet. With all the new press sites I have access to, I don't have too much free time during the day to play games, and those who keep up with What Have You Been Playing may have noticed the drop off. I did enjoy reviewing Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, but I played that game for just over 25 hours and ultimately the review came out later than I wanted. I already don't have much time to chase news with PR and I have to think carefully about reviewing games on top of it all.

Another big annoyance was with Viddler. It was great when they moved to HTML5, it meant more mobile users could watch trailers and videos I post. I wish Picasa and Podbean were equally accessible with HTML 5. but near Christmas issues emerged with Viddler and my account was basically frozen. The help page and email they provided didn't exist which left me high and dry. After looking around I decided to go with Veoh and i'm mostly happy with them. I'd be happier if they HTML5 support and if they didn't delete some of my videos for copyright issues, which I have contacted them about but not heard back yet.

But highs and lows are to be expected. I thoroughly enjoy what I do and would like to keep it going. I have ideas for features i'm looking to start in the next month or so and I know there's a few publishers/developers i've yet to get access to their press sites...i'm looking at you Atlus. I know changes to the site have slowed down over the year, and the change from Viddler to Veoh will have been annoying as Viddler at HTML5. But here's to the next year and seeing you around this time next year when I celebrate year 3!

Simon Revell

QTE Gamers Is Now Taking A Winter Holiday Break. The Site Should Be Back Up And Running As Normal In A Week Or 2

I've finally called it, i'm on my winter break. There was a surprising amount of videogame news over the last few days despite most of the industry being on their winter breaks. If there are any major developments I will report on them. I'm not sure when i'll be back from the break, I would like to take off until the new year, but if the industry wakes up before then I will to.


So until i'm back, I hope everyone has a good winter break, enjoys themselves, and has a great start to 2011...i know I will....


HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!

Its My Birthday Today

Just a quick heads up. its my birthday today, the big 25, and as you can imagine its been fairly busy with family and what not. i'll try to keep the news in brief up to date, and when i can blog posts. But ultimately, i do not know how regularly the site is going to be updated today. Apologies for any inconvenience, but as its my birthday i think you'll forgive me, lol.

PS...if you've been visiting the site for a while now, perhaps as a birthday present you could give a small donation???

E3 2010 Predictions - How Well Did I Do?

I Made some E3 predictions for this years Expo, focusing more on the Press Conferences from Nintendo, Microsoft, And Sony. But how well did i do? well i have crossed out those i got wrong.

PSP
PSP 4000 will be announced. PSPgo style but with UMD. Could be called PSP HDD.
PS1 Collections, Like Final Fantasy VII,VIII,IX, available on PSN for discount
New Firmware Update will remove location free
New Comic App update
Expanded PSN Features in games, like a friends list

PS3
PS2 games for sale via the PSN
More PSN collections, Like The ICO Collection, Grand Theft Auto Collection, Metal Gear Collection.
RSS Feeds added for Podcasts and Video Podcasts
The PlayStation Move is well recieved
A Slimmer PS3 Slim Model is introduced at a lower price, or current model gets price cut
PlayStation Move priced around £60/$60
More Steaming TV in Europe, like ITV and Demand 5 in UK.
A Surprise Game sequel Announcement
Greater Facebook integration, perhaps introduction of Twitter
PS3 trophy information API available for websites
Final Fantasy VS XIII Stays a PS3 Exclusive
PSN +
cross game voice chat free for all
New 3rd and 1st Party Game Franchises
New Firmware Update

PS2
Final Price drop
re-release of big sellers, perhaps in series bundles, God Of War I+II, Final Fantasy X+X2,
European EyeToy Bundle for current PS2 price

360
Project Fails To Impress
Xbox 360 Slim revealed
Hulu added
Facebook App updated
youtube App, with video uploading, added
new NXE
2 new 1st party game franchises announced, both spanning this and next console
Natal priced at $110/£110
A Sports/TV re-run channel, like NASCAR that lets you subscribe to a season and watch it your way
Xbox Live Platinum membership
in-game last FM
price reduction on Xbox 360 peripherals, peripherals for Xbox 360 slim priced high
Major push of new games from 3rd party devs
major focus at the show on games and natal
360 Slim replaces arcade unit when its released, elite replaced by end of year

Wii
Youtube Channel
New Channels
Demos return and stay
return of Donkey Kong, Starfox, Pikmin, Zelda
New Game franchise announced
vitality sensor fails to impress
Vitality Sensor revealed as integral to well known franchise
new Pokèmon game announced
Firmware update

DS
big game push, many new titles announced
cheap “hits range promoted”
DS range scrapped, Dsi and Dsi LL price drops
Dsi firmware update
twitter added to Dsi and Dsi LL

3DS
some upcoming DS games will have 3DS features, Pokèmon Black And White battles will be 3d
large 3DS line-up, plenty of trailers shown, a few games announced for launch, they'll come out over a 3 month period
Nintendo Live/Network announced for 3DS, means current DsiWare games will be transferred to 3DS, and slowly expanded upon

Well, lol, as you can see i didn't do too well. the big change in how all 3 of the console makers did their conferences meant many of my predictions would never be mentioned during their conferences.

I Honestly thought this would be Sony's last big PSP push, but it ended up being just a side mention, the PS2 got even less attention this year. I also thought Sony would continue the social trend they started last year and digital TV, but instead they focused on the casual Playstation Move stuff. I didn't expect a Sly Collection, but i did predict more PS2 collections. The Cross game voice chat could still come to the PS3, it was mentioned on the show floor but no time was mentioned for when it'll come. The New firmware update was also mentioned on the floor, its set to come June 29th, but as it wasn't mentioned at the conference i haven't included it.

I thought Nintendo would bring more Channels to the Wii, like youtube, in an attempt to add greater life to the console, but instead the entire Wii focus was on new games. I also thought there would be a last big push with the DS before the 3DS comes to market, but it also got little mention at the conference. on the show floor there are several games coming, but in the conference Golden Sun was the only game getting a mention. I was right in saying the 3DS was going to have a large line-up, a vast improvement over the DS launch, but i really thought some DS games may have some 3DS features, and as the 3DS plays DSi games i expected some announcement regarding how to get DSi games you own onto the device.

Microsoft was a little more difficult to predict. it was obvious they were going to push Kinect, but i didn't predict they would leave the Hardcore 360 gamer behind in the extent they did. The 360 Slim was obvious, and Microsoft have said that it is replacing the Arcade Unit, but i didn't expect them to have enough to replace the Elite unit straight away. I Don't think Kinect Showed well at Microsoft's E3 press conference, the games were mostly causal, the scripts were terrible, and some of the games didn't Demo well. The press conference also showed off a new NXE for Kinect that was hardly talked about at all, apart from the voice commands. The ESPN wasn't a shock either, but read the small print as it'll cost for most people, as they were very muted when Sony announced MLB.TV and i thought that they may have something themselves.

E3 2010 Predictions

Here are my Predictions for announcements at this years E3. Some of them are pretty out there, whilst others i personally feel should come or expect to be announced. feel free to discuss and comment on them in the comments. i do not have any insider information, this is all from me and just rumour for now.

PSP

• PSP 4000 will be announced. PSPgo style but with UMD. Could be called PSP HDD.
• PS1 Collections, Like Final Fantasy VII,VIII,IX, available on PSN for discount
• New Firmware Update will remove location free
• New Comic App update
• Expanded PSN Features in games, like a friends list

PS3

• PS2 games for sale via the PSN
• More PSN collections, Like The ICO Collection, Grand Theft Auto Collection, Metal Gear Collection.
• RSS Feeds added for Podcasts and Video Podcasts
• The PlayStation Move is well recieved
• Playstation Move will come out before Natal
• A Slimmer PS3 Slim Model is introduced at a lower price, or current model gets price cut
• PlayStation Move priced around £60/$60
• More Steaming TV in Europe, like ITV and Demand 5 in UK.
• A Surprise Game sequel Announcement
• Greater Facebook integration, perhaps introduction of Twitter
• PS3 trophy information API available for websites
• Final Fantasy VS XIII Stays a PS3 Exclusive
• PSN +
• cross game voice chat free for all
• New 3rd and 1st Party Game Franchises
• New Firmware Update

PS2

• Final Price drop
• re-release of big sellers, perhaps in series bundles, God Of War I+II, Final Fantasy X+X2,
• European EyeToy Bundle for current PS2 price

360

• Project Fails To Impress 
• Natal comes out at retail after Move
• Xbox 360 Slim revealed
• Hulu added
• Facebook App updated
• youtube App, with video uploading, added
• new NXE
• 2 new 1st party game franchises announced, both spanning this and next console
• Natal priced at $110/£110
• A Sports/TV re-run channel, like NASCAR that lets you subscribe to a season and watch it your way
• Xbox Live Platinum membership
• in-game last FM
• price reduction on Xbox 360 peripherals, peripherals for Xbox 360 slim priced high
• Major push of new games from 3rd party devs
• major focus at the show on games and natal
• 360 Slim replaces arcade unit when its released, elite replaced by end of year

Wii

• Youtube Channel
• New Channels
• Demos return and stay
• return of Donkey Kong, Starfox, Pikmin, Zelda
• New Game franchise announced
• vitality sensor fails to impress
• Vitality Sensor revealed as integral to well known franchise
• new Pokèmon game announced
• Firmware update

DS

• big game push, many new titles announced
• cheap “hits range promoted”
• DS range scrapped, Dsi and Dsi LL price drops
• Dsi firmware update
• twitter added to Dsi and Dsi LL

3DS

• some upcoming DS games will have 3DS features, Pokèmon Black And White battles will be 3d
• large 3DS line-up, plenty of trailers shown, a few games announced for launch, they'll come out over a 3 month period
• Nintendo Live/Network announced for 3DS, means current DsiWare games will be transferred to 3DS, and slowly expanded upon

QTE Tweets Of The Week

Here are this weeks most clicked tweets from the QTE Gamers News In Brief.

10 QTE Blog: Re-Cap of The Weekends News (oldest to newest) http://ow.ly/16A9tB

9 Sonys Rob Dyer says that the console exclusivity trend will continue to disappear in the future. advertisements important http://ow.ly/18obP

8 Sony has filed a patent for a universal game controller, much like a universal remote. it has a touch LCD screen http://ow.ly/197Q4

7 PS3: Naughty Dog are releasing new Uncharted 2 multiplayer maps based on Uncharted Levels. there are new trophies/medals http://ow.ly/174P8

6 PS3: Sony's Rob Dyer says Wii 3rd Party Devs are moving back to the PS3, with exclusive content or Making PS3 Port better http://ow.ly/18G1W

5 360: Capcom say that a significant amount of content had to be cut from lost Planet 2 due to disc restrictions http://ow.ly/18G4G

4 Nintendo Have Won another piracy lawsuit. they have been awarded $520k in damages against RSJ IT Solutions who sold R4 http://ow.ly/18I72

3 QTE Blog: THQ Announce The Deadline For Them To Renew Their WWE License Has Been Extended http://ow.ly/15XTIv

2 QTE Blog: THQ And NVIDA Announce Metro 2033 Will Feautre DX11, NVIDIA 3D Vision, And NVIDIA PhysX Support http://ow.ly/16Bn1q

1 PS3: its suggested that a new Patent from Sony is in response to the GeoHotz PS3 Exploit, to stop code being used http://ow.ly/17PNf

About QTE Gamers

My Name is Simon Revell and I run everything. There is only me working here so everything you see on the site has come from me. I'm also the person who posts the twitter messages and live blogs events. Prior to QTE Gamers, I had no experience reporting on videogame news beyond forum posts. I have been doing this for over a year now and have had some stories mentioned on the big sites, like Joystiq, and become important news on the internet.
If you have any questions for me, get in touch via email at qtegamers@googlemail.com

QTE Gamers is a news site designed to get the news to people quickly and simply. By incorporating Twitter, QTE Gamers is able to report on news from across the web in such a way that subscribers to the Twitter feed, or readers on the website, are able to read about the story and decide if they want to read more indepth about it from the site the story is from.

The same is true with posts on QTE Gamers. Every post on the site goes through our twitter feed, so the title for every post is written like a Twitter news story. The game, what the post is about, the company, and Console are all mentioned in the post title so people know what the post is about and can make a decision whether they want to read it or now.

The text in a news post is designed to be concise, simple and short. There's no faffing around with jokes, I report the news as it is. When I get a press release, I avoid the filler that many press releases have and simply write the news story. If people want to read the press release themselves, I make sure every press release is included in every post at the bottom of the section.

Screenshots, Concept Art, And videos are all accessible from the front page of the site, in their news post, to make it easier for people to quickly get the news, saving them having to click and find the screens. For people accessing the site via a Mobile device, or console, the screenshots are not usually accessible so a link is provided so people can go straight to the album and view them that way.

Having a re-cap of yesterdays news provides people with a quick way of looking at what happened the day before without having to go through web pages. The audio re-cap is again there so people can hear about the news without having to go through many pages to read it all.

If you have any questions about the site, or want to make some suggestions let us know at qtegamers@googlemail.com.

Our 1 Year (+5 Days) Anniversary!!!

Yep its true, the QTE Gamers website has been live for a year, and 5 days. The twitter aspect of the site has been live longer, but I was unable to find out what exact day the QTE Gamers twitter account started so I decided to celebrate the day the website went live.

To celebrate the anniversary I will be writing some posts about my experience in videogame industry. I will also be revealing more about the site, why I've designed it like I have, my goals, and aims. I will also discuss the future of the site, where I would like to take it. I will finish with a little piece offering advice for budding videogame bloggers.

It maybe a humble celebration, if I could do something more grand I would, but for now I hope this insight will be sufficient.

QTE Gamers Need You - Vote For Us In The Shorty Awards

http://shortyawards.com/images/logo_big.gif

QTE Gamers needs all it's readers, followers, visitors...basically everyone to vote for us in the Shorty Awards.
Head to http://shortyawards.com/ and vote for us on the front page. vote for us in news and don't forget to write something after because... as if nothing is written, the vote isn't counted.

Please Vote For QTE Gamers. we feel we are perfect for this award, and after the disappointment of missing out on a Mashable Award, we really want our community/readers to get behind us and vote for us.

Its Rumoured Microsoft Is Either Neutering The Natal Processor Or Removing It Plus Halo Reach Won't Use Natal

On the 4 Guys 1up podcast from 25/12/2009, in a discussion between the host, David Ellis, and guest, John Davison, Microsoft's Natal was brought up. The conversation starts at 1:17:05 into the podcast.
David Ellis spoke about a rumour he had heard regarding Natal and how Microsoft may neuter/remove the processor in Natal to reach a cheap price point.

“Microsoft is paring back natal to reach that price point that has been kinda announced out there. Trying to launch it sub 100, sub 70, sub 60 trying to hit 49.99 with it, and as part of that they are having to pair it down”

And that the Xbox 360 Main Processor will have to be used instead. however, he pointed out that this move is not welcomed by some of the Natal developers as it will impact the games they are working on.

"my understanding, this is rumour cause its not 100% sourced, but my understanding is the processor is either being neutered or completely taken out of it and those CPU cycles are going to have to come out of the processor of the 360 now.
Some of the people that were saying similar things to it were saying that it made them less interested in making things for natal as that would mean sacrificing CPU cycles from the the main processor in the system."

David Ellis goes even further to suggest that the games we'll see come out for Natal won't be the big budget Xbox 360 games like Halo or Burnout or even small titles like Katamari. it'll be the smaller games like the Breakout thing they showed.

“they showed some kinda shareware kinda throwaway games. Like the break out thing,. I think that's were they are going, that's the direction. Its not the burnout title, is not a new Halo, its not even Katamari”

When John Davidson asked about Halo Reach Using Natal, David Ellis says its not.

“Reach is supposed to use it?”
“no its not”
“no?”
“Reach is not using it”

There is no official word from Microsoft and this is just rumour at this point.

QTE Gamers Wishes All Its Readers Happy Holidays And A Happy New Year

i'm just writing to say happy holidays.

I hope that everything turns out ok and that QTE Gamers will see you all after the holidays.

I'm going to take a few days off during this holiday period. It'll be my first proper holiday since i started QTE Gamers. Also, its coming up to our first anniversary as well which is exciting. I know that QTE Gamers isn't the site i have in mind, but i still want to thank you all for for asking questions, engaging me, re-tweeting, and visiting the site. I hope that i can continue working on the site but unfortunatly i really do need some money so i may have to get a job, but i'll keep everyone informed if it comes to that. if you want to donate some money that would be really helpful and so apprieciated.

I will write some things, a reflection on the year, tips on being a blogger and doing a site for the anniversary, but until then i hope every one has a good holiday break, a great new year, and that we get to see you all again soon.

QTE Tweets Of The Week

The Following are the top 10 most clicked QTE Gamers tweets of the week. I'm not too sure how accurate it is this week as there were some issues at the start of the week with the Owly service.

10 Final Fantasy XIII on 360 will have compressed Audio+Video. On PS3, nothing is compressed. still only needs 1 Bluray disc http://ow.ly/KgnL

9 PS3: Trophies for Borderlands hints that the next DLC will have 3 coliseums which will have Lesser and Larger challenges http://ow.ly/Klw6

8 Australian Ratings board has a listing for Star Wars Legends. it's a Mature game. activision is pub, Lucas arts as devs http://ow.ly/Kgeb

7 QTE Blog: THQ Have Released A Trailer For The UFC Undisputed 2010 Video Game Awards 2009 Reveal http://ow.ly/167Ty1

6 Dragon Age Origins has been patched to 1.02. it's manly tweaks. the PC patch has more fixes than the consoles http://ow.ly/KfYC

5 iPhone: Microsoft has asked that the Xbox 360 Live App be taken down from the store. App will work for those who got it http://ow.ly/KfUp

4 QTE Blog: Microsoft Have Announced That Twitter, LastFm, And Facebook Updates Will Allow Child Acesss http://ow.ly/167VzL

3 TellTale are teasing a new Sam & Max game. the teaser are hints at time travel, it may not be a point+click game http://ow.ly/Kg8g

2 PS3: The Yakuza 4 is set to come out in Japan on March 19th 2010 for ¥7,980 http://ow.ly/Kg5H

1 The Next Resident Evil movie, Resident Evil: Afterlife, has been delayed until 2011, says Milla Jovovich http://ow.ly/Kjz7

Android Game Of The Week – Bonsai Blast

This will be a new feature where each week i'll talk about my Android game of the week. Most of the games will be free as I do not have the funds to buy full price games. The handset I have is a HTC Hero (T-Mobile UK Branded G2).

The format may change slightly in future weeks. Feel free to comment.

Bonsai Blast
Developed By Glu Mobile
Free
Version: 1.2
Size: 6MB

The Good
Graphics
Load Times
Price

The Average
Music
Game Modes

The Bad
Touch Controls

Bonsai Blast has been available on the Android Market for a while know and is perhaps one of the more well known games you can buy for free. The game is similar to the more well known Zuma game series. It is one of the larger file sizes on the Android Market, but that never feels like a problem when you play the game. The game loads very quick and the front page shows high quality art which is consistent throughout the game. The front page will also show the few game modes available.

Adventure tasks the player with completing stages in 3 different worlds, each stage being slightly different to the other, whilst survival lets you play any of the unlocked stages from adventure until you loose. Adventure offers quick gameplay with the stages not feeling to long. If changes up the gameplay by either changing the layout of the stage, the different use of power-ups, or inserting objects in a stage which need to be avoided or used.

The few game modes are never really a problem as both Survival and Adventure game modes well done. The music in the game is in keeping with the art style of Bonsai Blast, but is average, whilst some of the sound effects are a bit too simple. You may find that other time you turn down the volume.

The game appears to be touch only and for the most part it is accurate, but there are occasions where you need to change the platform your shooting from and it doesn't register the move and shoots a ball in that direction. There are also occasions when the ball doesn't quite go in the direction you aimed for. This could be gameplay or it could be me as i'm not used to the HTC Hero's capacitive screen. Ultimately, it never becomes a issue that ruins gameplay.

For anyone with a Android device, Bonsai Blast is a game you should download and play as it's a perfect introduction to what Android devices can do and touch screen gaming.