The recently-released Prey has been around for longer than most people might expect - almost longer than Duke Nukem Forever. The portal technology had been even more emphasized back in 1997 when the game was shown publicly for the first time. Obviously, besides this mentioned core concept, it had very little to do with the Prey of 2006, but was critically lauded for it's cutting-edge technology and innovative features.

However, Prey's development grinded to a halt in 1999 when "insurmountable technical problems" appeared, possibly because of the ambitious portal technology the developers were trying to implement. The year 2002 saw the revival of the game by shifting development responsibilites to Human Head Studios. They built a new game from the ground up, this time using Doom 3 technology, but keeping the concepts that fueled the first iteration. This would eventually become the Prey we all know.

And to put things into perspective, here's a video showing the game as of 1998. I know it's hard, but if you try to think about how it looked like in comparison to other games back then, it's pretty darn cool.

It's a new week, and that can only mean one thing - it's time again for Major Nelson's weekly Xbox Live roundup. As usual, the list is broken up into Xbox 360 and Original Xbox games, and Halo 2 still dominates both the combined rankings. Prey managed to snag the number 8 spot which is good considering it was just released, but what's even more surprising is that Chromehounds is number 3 out of all Xbox 360 games!

Xbox 360 Top Live Games
1 Call of Duty 2
2 Ghost Recon 3
3 Chromehounds
4 Oblivion
5 BFMC
6 Lord of the Rings: BFME2
7 Final Fantasy XI
8 Prey
9 PGR3
10 LOTR, BFME II Demo

Original Xbox Top Live Games
1 Halo 2
2 Battlefield 2: MC
3 Counter-Strike
4 Splinter Cell Chaos
5 Rainbow Six 3 BA
6 Pro Evolution Soccer 5
7 Star Wars: Battlefront 2
8 Madden NFL 2006
9 Forza Motorsport
10 Splinter Cell Chaos

While technology is supposed to make life simpler, it often backfires making life actually more complicated. Take Prey for instance. Typical of a multi-platform title, the question you have to grapple with isn't just to buy or not to buy. But also, do you  buy the PC version or Prey for Xbox 360. The question, of course, is valid only if you own a PC and an Xbox 360.

As usual, where there is a dilemma there's some folk who are bound to go find out for themselves. In this case it's the team at Gamespot. They decided to put the two Prey versions to test to see which is the predator and which is the prey. According to the team, PC-based games are traditionally superior to consoles especially for the FPS genre. Mainly because the mouse-and-keyboard standard presents better control than a gamepad plus PC graphics outclass the consoles'.

The arrival of the Xbox 360 is changing all that by giving the PC a run for its money. See what we mean by new technology making things more complicated? To make things less complicated, here are the GameSpot score card for the two species of Prey.

Prey (Xbox 360) The Good:

• Solid performance. Uses the console's addictive achievements system.
• Has Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.

Prey (Xbox 360) The Bad

• Costs $10 more than the PC version.
• Any user-generated content cannot be used.

Prey (PC) The Good:

• Cheaper retail price.
  
• Better graphics when played on high-end PCs.
• More potential thanks to additional content via user mods and maps.

Prey (PC) The Bad:

• No native support for widescreen resolutions.
• Multiplayer designed to only officially support eight players.

The bottomline: Prey PC is great on high-end machines. But the Xbox 360 version is better for gamers who don't want to upgrade their PC.

How long do you need to play a game to make it worth the hard-earned cash it costs you? Considering most Xbox 360 games run about $49 to $59, some folks may say you need to be able to play a game one heck of a long time.

So, where does that leave us with the long-awaited Prey from 3D Realms? Rated-M.com is reporting that it only takes 5 meager hours to solve the single player campaign! So, technically you could be dropping $10 an hour on this puppy!

Watch out... Here be spoilers!

On the left, there's a screenshot that supposedly shows the save from the battle with the final boss clocking in at just over 5 hours.

Others gamers across the internet are saying that 5 hour time is simply not true... It took them less than 5 hours to beat it!

Can any of you confirm or deny this story?

For those of you out there that can't get enough of the Prey demo, you better go ahead and turn off your 360 for a little while as 2K Games, a publishing label of Take Two Interactive Software, and 3D Realms today announced that the first-person shooter Prey is now available in stores across North America and will be available at stores in Europe on July 14. Developed by Human Head Studios and created and produced by 3D Realms, Prey is available for Xbox 360 video game entertainment system from Microsoft and PC in both regular and Limited Collector's editions.

"Prey revitalizes the first-person shooter genre with a new dimension of features including portal tactics and 360 degrees of gravity manipulating combat in an aggressive living environment," said Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K Games. "Prey is this summer's definitive next generation game." Prey tells the story of Tommy, a Cherokee garage mechanic stuck on a reservation and going nowhere. His life changes when an otherworldly crisis forces him to awaken spiritual powers from his long-forgotten birthright. Abducted along with his people to a menacing mother ship orbiting Earth, he sets out to save himself and his girlfriend and ultimately his planet.

A Limited Collector's Edition is also available, which includes pewter figurines of Tommy and Hunter, the Art of Prey illustrated booklet, a free soundtrack download and more. So if you're in need of a new game for your Xbox 360 or just want to play a FPS with an actual story go ahead and check it out.

Here are the titles which topped the charts of the Xbox Live most played games for the week of 7/3/06, straight from Major Nelson himself;

(Xbox 360) Top Live Games
1) Call of Duty 2
2) Ghost Recon 3
3) Oblivion
4) BFMC
5) Prey Demo
6) Final Fantasy XI
7) EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3
8) 2006 FIFA World Cup
9) PGR3
10) Perfect Dark Zero

(Original Xbox) Top Live Games
1) Halo 2
2) Battlefield 2: MC
3) Counter-Strike
4) Splinter Cell Chaos
5) Rainbow Six 3 BA
6) Star Wars: Battlefront 2
7) Pro Evolution Soccer 5
8) Madden NFL 2006
9) Forza Motorsport
10) Splinter Cell Chaos

Mr. Nelson apologized for not being able to give title-specific data, but he did say that if both lists were combined, Halo 2 would be number 1 on the chart (followed by all 360 games).

Okay, we don't really speak German to save our butts - we used Babelfish to translate "Good News German Prey Fans". We don't know if we got it right but this we know for sure: If you're in Germany and you have a German Xbox Live account, you can now download the Prey demo from the marketplace.

Now, there were speculations that certain blood-and-gore portions have been sanitized by the German authorities. But one poster at Major Nelson says nothing has been censored from the German Prey demo. He says German law states rated 18+ doesn't have to be cleaned up but may be only sold to or downloaded by persons of at least that age. The marketplace team was not sure about that, which caused the slight delay of the demo's German release.

If you're not German and you want to see the English Gameplay demos, you can download them from here.

Just a few days after the release of the Prey single and multiplayer demos, a theme for 3D Realms' upcoming first person shooter has finally hit the Marketplace. The themes pictures showcase some of the enemies you will be fighting for each of the individual blades of the 360 and cost the usual amount of 150 Microsoft Points.

The game from 2K Games will be hitting stores on July 11th, so that means only one more week of waiting for you gamers in need of a new shooter on your 360s. If you've enjoyed the demo (you really need to download it if you haven't seen the demo) and want to have Prey on your 360, get prepared and go ahead and check out the new theme on the Marketplace.

Those who are not yet Prey converts should take a look at these gameplay movies of this marvelous game from Take-Two Interactive and 3D Realms' 2K Games. This five-year-in-the-making FPS that takes its inspiration from Cherokee mythology is brought to life by an enhanced Doom 3 engine. In these videos you get to see the portal technology at work, where ghastly creatures like the Centurions, Fodders, Hounds, Hunters and Mutates, could just appear out of nowhere.

The demo version has been available at the Marketplace for quite some time now and is also available at Prey's official website. Those that downloaded the 1.17GB demo were treated to the multiplayer functionality that comes with it. So far Prey has gone gold and will available in North America on July 11 and in Europe on July 14. I'm pretty sure these movies will make you want to pre-order Prey.

Download: [Prey Gameplay Movie #10]
Download: [Prey Gameplay Movie #11]
Download: [Prey Gameplay Movie #12]

Whinings about the Prey demo delay subsided when the demo finally arrived on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Although we may have begun to see the calm after the storm, there's another cause for irritation as pointed out by Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica. Some people might have missed this little piece of info. An IGN report mentions that the PC version of Prey has been capped at a smooth 60 FPS (frames per second), while the Xbox 360 version will run at a steady 30 FPS.

In video games, frame rates of 25 to 30 FPS are considered minimally acceptable. Of course, game enthusiasts are divided when it comes to frame rate issue. To some gamers, games with extremely high frame rates "feel" better and smoother compared to games with lower frame rates. But it's also important to know that some games apply a limit on the frame rate because an average 17-inch monitor can only reach 85 Hz, which means performance reached by a game over 85 FPS is discarded.

The question remains, is 30 the best FPS the Xbox 360 can offer? If this is so, then we're probably better off picking up the PC version of Prey.