Let's say the Wii takes over the world. Just naturally, the traditional magazines -- if they stick to their current position of slightly dissing it -- will simply go out of business," said Julian Eggebrecht, presdient of Factor 5's who is most recently responsible for the release of Lair on PS3.
» Read More 

The list both shows confirmed, and rumored exlusives in an easy to read and well thought out way. The list includes both released and unreleased PS3 exclusives including timed exclusives such as Haze.
» Read More 

PSM's Editor-in-Chief Rob Smith sets some facts straight.

"I just want to clear one thing up: I didn't review either Lair or Warhawk. Both reviews were done by staffers. I did sign off on them, obviously, but didn't spend anything like the time our reviewers did."

More after the jump as well as responses from PSM subscribers.
» Read More 

Issue 6 of P3Zine, the free PS3 magazine, has a Top 50 Most Wanted PS3 games feature, with all the games grouped in release date order and info on each. 50 great reasons to own a PS3. Plus WWE SmackDown vs RAW exclusive and Lair preview.
» Read More 

German gaming webstite Gamefront has posted an image of the latest Playstation Magazine issue, in which both Lair and Warhawk have been reviewed. Both games will be in stores at around August/September but Playstation Magazine does not seem very happy with both games, as the magazine rates Warhawk 6.5, and Lair even lower: 5.0.

In the image of the magazine, you can see that Lair is described as: "A one-trick dragon" and destroys it with a 5.0 rating. Warhawk on the other hand is described as: "A third-person shooter that never quite gets off the ground", and rates the game with only a 6.5. The image can been see below.
» Read More 

A senior games industry executive has blasted the American ESRB games rating system, saying he thinks it is "absolutely bizarre," and calling for changes to be made to bring it in line with other mediums such as film.

Julian Eggebrecht, the president of Factor 5, drew on the example of the company's own game, the dragon-fighter Lair for the PlayStation 3, for which the company really wanted to get a T for Teen rating in the US, because teenagers make up a big part of the game's potential audience. He said, "Teenagers are really into dragons."

In order to do this, Factor 5 went through a process with the ESRB over "weeks and months," where it tweaked every bit of the game that the ESRB wanted it to in order to secure a T for Teen rating.
» Read More 

Heavenly Sword - 8

+ Stunning Visuals
+ Inspired use of the Sixaxis
+ Superb combat system
- Over too soon

Lair - 8

+ Always so much going on
+ Stunning attention to detail
+ Intuitive control set-up
- Not the longest of games
» Read More 

UK TV program Gamer.tv has given Lair 3/5. The episode aired at 10:00am Saturday morning and I personally watched it myself so can confirm the score is correct. They didn't seem to have any issues with the controls but said it was a bit repetitive.
» Read More 

Although still officially TBC, reports suggest that the title won't be available until October 26th. This date is almost two months behind the U.S. release, which itself was delayed from August 14th to September 4th.
» Read More 

The normal RRP(Recommended Retail Price) for games in the United Kingdom is £49.99 for the Playstation 3. Online game retailers such as Play, Gameplay and ShopTo have updated their prices to reflect the PS3 exclusives as £39.99 RRP. This includes Warhawk(with headset), Heavenly Sword and Lair

It is worth noting that despite these RRP you can buy games online for £39.99 instead of the RRP of £49.99 and these Sony exclusive games are available online for £32.99 instead of the RRP of £39.99. This makes them £7.00 cheaper than all other new games coming onto the market.

Could this be a promotion by Sony to promote the exclusive games you can only buy on the PS3? Will these prices help sell more consoles?
» Read More 

If you had missed it, they were the first gaming website to review the game and game the game very low scores. According to the latest podcast from them, the sit down and discuss the reviews of the game.

Here is what they liked and hated about the game:
» Read More 

Sony has just released the official box art for Lair, and it's looking pretty hot (no pun intended). Featuring the armored mug of Rhon, the main character, glaring off into the distance while a battlefield of guys get the marshmellow-in-campfire treatment, it's got classic look to it.
» Read More 

Weve just dismounted our dragon, that we've affectionately named Puff, in order to bring you this exclusive footage from Sonys fantasy blaster. And it's not all about soaring around hundreds of feet in the air. Taken from the game's first few stages, the footage shows that although there were some aerial scraps to be had, we also got the chance to land our scaly beast on the ground and unleash some fiery breath onto hordes of enemy troops. Escort missions of some much-needed supplies and an ... » Read More

The Play journalist who wrote the Lair review for their magazine (he gave it a 9/10) makes his face known on neogaf, stating that they reviewed the same build as other journalists. This review copy had a poor framerate, and other bugs - but they were assured by Factor 5 that this would all be fixed for release - they thus reviewed it in this knowledge:

"We (Play) received the same review copy that I assume all the other mags did, which had optimized frame rates in the earlier missions, but poor frame rates in the last few missions and several bugs. We contacted Factor 5 and asked for all known issues and Julian himself replied with a detailed list, promising that the later levels were being optimized for frame rates, the bugs were being fixed, and that one aspect of the control would be improved. They said they would have a gold master candidate ready by our ship date, so I wrote the review on the assumptions that their promises would be kept, got the gold master candidate right before we went to press, and played that version for a few hours to confirm that they had addressed the issues. That gold master candidate was dated roughly a month ago, and as far as I know represents the game's final optimization.

I'm not sure what version the OP played-ours were never labeled "Preview Code", but a print mag's Review Code is sometimes a web site's Preview Code. Our last-received version of the game does not run at a rock-solid 30 fps, but I did not consider the frame rate problems to be an issue at all. I don't mind a few frame rate dips into the 20's here and there, if it's for the purpose of making an otherwise amazing looking game. I'm certainly not as sensitive to frame rate issues as the OP, but I don't think the average game enthusiast is either.

Just something to point out to the people who want to hate on Lair here-Sony and Factor 5 went all out to make sure the print mags got review copies as early as possi...
» Read More 

No doubt the controls will continue to be tweaked as the development zeroes in on its release date, but beyond the occasional ungainliness of the game's core mechanic, early previews of Lair raise other concerns in its peripheral features and the manner in which the game ties together into a coherent whole - elements that are unlikely to see radical change between now and release.
» Read More 

Sony has delayed its flagship dragon flight game Lair three weeks, hot on the heels of Electronic Gaming Monthly's shock 6/10 review. According SCEA the dodgy review has nothing to do with the slip though, instead SCEA producer Ryan Hamlyn says it's "an extra step in QA testing to enhance the community features in the game." After all the anticipation, we sort of wish it was to do with the review criticisms. He went on to say that "natural challenges that arose while finalizing the offline ... » Read More

Following the early tips of delays from GameStop and EBgames, Ryan Hamlyn the associate producer of SCEA has officially confirmed the delay in Playstation Blog:

"Wow, even I didn't see this one coming! Due to an extra step in QA testing to enhance the community features in the game, the release of LAIR, originally set for August 14th, has changed to September 4, 2007. Natural challenges that arose while finalizing the offline game to include key online features - such as leaderboards and medal systems - have led to the difficult choice of pushing back the release date. We appreciate everyone's excitement and patience for the game and look forward to its release on September 4."
» Read More 

According to EB Games, Lair has been delayed until September 4th from it's previously scheduled August 12th release date. Gamefly has also changed it's release date, but they're showing September 6th (most likely to account for getting enough copies in to rent to customers). Screenshots taken in case they change it back (EB Games above, Gamefly after the jump).
» Read More 

According to an un-named source, two reputable gaming magazines/websites have reviewed Lair and have each given it 9 out of 10. EDGE magazine is one of the these sites which reviewed Lair and gave it a score of 9 out of 10.

Gamezone, the other publishing website that also reviewed Lair and gave it a score of 9 out of ten. According to the un-named source, they label the game as having a "unique experience "

While this has not been confirmed yet, the availability of EDGE magazine and Gamezone will be available in a few days in which we will know if this rumor is true.
» Read More 

Ryan Hamlyn, Associate Producer of SCEA posts on official Playstation blog:
Given all the content and interest here on Liar, I figured you guys would also be interested to hear that the North American version of Lair has completed its development and is now in manufacturing! That means that we are on track for our August 14 release date. It goes without saying that we're eager to get this out to those of you that have been waiting so patiently (or not!) for it to arrive. Considering the new PS3 price and now Lair, hopefully there's even more of a reason to scoop up a PS3 if you haven't already!
» Read More