Videogame News Thread

[Funky Fly]

Looks as bad as the Turtles 4 remake.

Even that was better than this. This looks like an indy title or a generic early xbla title with Double Dragon slapped on. Not impressed at all.

[Emperor Smeat]

Microsoft hints the next big focus for Kinect is to improve the voice recognition to make users sound like "actors" with the basis being how well they liked the feature in Mass Effect 3.

The boss of the Kinect division, Kudo Tsunoda, says the goal is to improve the voice recognition to make virtual conversations seem more fluid while also improving the camera to take into account body movements and stances.

He said that he would like games to be able to factor in voice tone and body stance during virtual conversations.

“We’re looking at how we can make people more like actors within a narrative. I think the work done within Mass Effect 3 has been awesome,” he explained to MCV. ”We want to get to the stage where not only can Kinect detect what you’re saying but also tone of voice and body stance, and work that into the narrative. There are some really compelling experiences to be gained from that.”

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/me3.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/microsoft-wants-to-improve-improve-kinect-acting-features-used-in-mass-effect-3/

_________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Ubisoft announces the beta for Ghost Recon Future Soilder will start on April 12 for Xbox 360 owners and a later date in April for Playstation Plus members. The requirements for the beta involve owning Splinter Cell Conviction for Xbox 360 users and a PS+ membership for PS3 users.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/launch-date-announced-ghost-recon-future-soldier-beta

2) According to Lionhead Studio, the Fable universe will be expending to novels and digital shorts with the short films arriving around the same time Fable Heroes is released in May.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/fable-universe-expands-into-novels-and-digital-shorts/

3) The original Max Payne game will be ported as a "HD remastering" called Max Payne Mobile on April 12 for iOS devices while Android users will get it at a date to be announced later.
http://kotaku.com/5899712/the-original-hard+boiled-slow+motion-shooter-max-payne-goes-mobile-next-week

[Kalyx triaD]

Funny thing is, I always read out the options in KotOR1/2 (or any such branching dialogue system) to immerse myself in the game. It would be funny to actually do that as an option.

Fable is dead. Long live Fable II.

[Drakul]

The voice recognition thing is what I was talking about here (http://tpww.net/forums/showpost.php?p=3808821&postcount=4935).

You have to read out a few hundred phrases to help improve Kinects voice recognition. I guess the above news story is why.
The few hundred phrases are broken up into 8 stages so you don't do it all at once, if you don't want to.

Some of the phrases were weird. One was something like "I was in bed with Robert, at the time." Most were normal things like "Xbox, achievements." and small things like "cat" and "dog".

[Kane Knight]

I was in bed with Robert at the time.

[Drakul]

It was something like that.

[Kane Knight]

No, seriously. Ask him.

[Kane Knight]

I have a suspicion they're creating a voiceprint database they can use to defraud you later.

[Swiss Ultimate]

We are totally not doing that.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Anybody go to PAXEast Friday or Saturday? Going Sunday?

[Drakul]

Quick Pc question. Installed GTA 1 and I can't figure out how to adjust the ratio so the screen isn't cut off. GTA 2 has ratio adjustment in the options but GTA 1 doesn't. How do I fix this?

Also, for some reason, GTA 1 has the police radio playing the entire time, even if I'm on foot or in a non-police car.

[Pintint]

Quick Pc question. Installed GTA 1 and I can't figure out how to adjust the ratio so the screen isn't cut off. GTA 2 has ratio adjustment in the options but GTA 1 doesn't. How do I fix this?

Also, for some reason, GTA 1 has the police radio playing the entire time, even if I'm on foot or in a non-police car.

I assume youre running in compability mode for Win98?

[Drakul]

No.

[Emperor Smeat]

A bunch of Epic Games stuff with the long rumored Gears of War Exile officially canceled, an exclusive game being made for the PC, and no chance at a sequel for Bulletstorm.

While only rumored to be in development as a Kinect title, Cliffy B confirmed at PAX East Hears of War Exile was actually in development. The project was recently cancelled with the main reason rumored to have been the development team struggling to get the Gears of War style to work with the Kinect system.

Also announced at PAX East was the company is developing a game exclusively for the PC with the potential of being the debut game for the Unreal 4 Engine. A few rumors are pointing to either the tech demo of Samatarian could be made into a full game or a new game in the Unreal Tournament series.

According to Mike Capps, president of Epic Games, a sequel to Bulletstorm was in development until it was recently scrapped in favor of a new unannounced project. People Can Fly studio was developing the game for Epic Games until the project got cancelled.

"We thought a lot about a sequel, and had done some initial development on it, but we found a project that we thought was a better fit for People Can Fly," he said. "We haven't announced that yet, but we will be announcing it pretty soon."

"I'd love to go back [to Bulletstorm]," he added. "I think there's more to do with Bulletstorm. Heck, it kind of ended wanting more. I'd love to see another project, but right now we don't have anything to talk about."

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/gearsofwarexile_610.jpg
http://www.screwattack.com/news/gears-war-exile-no-longer-thing
http://www.screwattack.com/news/epic-games-working-pc-exclusive
http://uk.gamespot.com/news/epic-shelved-bulletstorm-sequel-6370603

______________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) The founder of Commodore, Jack Tramiel, passed away over the weekend at the age of 83. His main accomplishments involved overseeing the launch of the Commodore 64 and eventual ownership of Atari before the Crash of 83.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/commodore-founder-jack-tramiel-passes-away/4076/

2) Atlus announces Persona 3 FES will be arriving this week as a downloadable PS2 Classic on the PSN Store and at a $9.99 price tag.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/persona-3-fes-coming-to-ps3-as-digital-download/

3) Previous rumors of Dark Souls getting a PC port end up being true as From Software announces "Dark Souls: Prepare to Die" edition will be arriving this August containing 2 new boss battles and support for game pads.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/dark-souls-confirmed-for-pc/

4) The Brazilian branch of Ubisoft might have accidentally leaked a sequel to Rayman Origins will be arriving later this year and would be very similar in style to the original game.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/rumor-rayman-origins-2-sort-confirmed

[PrettyCool]

WOW

The entire World Of Warcraft

thats all of it :eek:

http://i.imgur.com/pRBxV.jpg

[Kane Knight]

Has anyone played that new free to play Pirates game on Playstation Home?

Just wondering, because I need a huge update just to log into home, and I can't be arsed.

[Kane Knight]

Can't be arsed unless it's worth a look, I mean, Obviously I wouldn't ask if I didn't think about playing.

[Emperor Smeat]

Anyone who downloaded the fan-made Sonic 2 HD remake is urged to delete the game as soon as possible from their hard drive as a keyloger was discovered to be running while the game is played.

The rumor is one of the programmers was pissed at the ability of people to take unapproved screen shots of the game or something that was done by others on the team which he hated and put in the key logger as a nasty surprise. None of the other members of the team knew about it until recently.

http://kotaku.com/5900549/sonic-2-hd-contains-keylogger-delete-immediately

[Kalyx triaD]

lol

[Kane Knight]

Wow.

[Kalyx triaD]

Next month this thread will be two years old. There's gonna be a TPWW Invite for some game during this period.

[Fignuts]

Was there nothing at Captivate about Darkstalkers 4?

[Kalyx triaD]

Nope. Guess E3's the place.

[Drakul]

They wont reveal a new fighting game until they've gotten more out of SFxT.

[Fignuts]

Sales have been abysmal. It's already down to 40 dollars at Wal-mart.

[Drakul]

£19.97 new on ASDAs website and about £25, in my local one.

[Emperor Smeat]

EA accidentally confirms the existence of Crysis 3 after making the mistake of publishing the box art on their Origin services instead of a place holder.

It wasn't just limited to a picture of the game's box art as other adverts meant to be shown latter were also discovered on Google and other web sites before being pulled down by EA.

The suggested $49.99 price is assumed to be just a place holder as EA and other companies have adopted the standard console price of $59.99 for big name PC games and ports.

This also isn't the first time Crysis 3 has been teased to be debuting soon as last month the CVG teased Crytek was working on a "major unannounced project" while magazine Game Reactor teased Crysis 3 might be the cover image for their upcoming issue.

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/39/2175083-crysis3headerimg530px1351.jpg
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/crysis-3-seems-to-exist-will-probably-be-announced-soon/4081/

____________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Sega is rumored to be in the process of a major reboot to the Sonic franchise with a rumored release of 2014 and a complete rehaul of the Sonic universe.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/rumor-major-sonic-reboot-coming-2014

2) Update to the fan-made Sonic 2 HD project as it was revealed a poorly implemented DRM system was causing the problems. The reasoning was due to the programmer not wanting anyone to copy his work which is ironic considering he had to copy the original game's assets for the project.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/update-sonic-2-hd-contains-virus-delete-asap

3) A California court decided against Gamestop in a class-action lawsuit involving Gamestop treating used copies of Online Pass enabled games the same as new and not informing customers of additional purchases needed with a used copy.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/settlement-requires-gamestop-to-warn-california-customers-about-dlc-pay-customers-back/4078/

Bonus: Sony's expected $2-$3 billion loss for this fiscal year ended up being revealed as a $6.4 billion loss with half due to "deferred" taxes they were required to pay back according to US laws.
http://www.vgchartz.com/article/250050/sony-loses-a-record-64-billion-for-the-fiscal-year-ending-march-2012/

[OssMan]

A Dream Deferred

[Kane Knight]

Two words that generally send chills down my spine. Sonic and Reboot.

Unless we're talking about the 90s animated series, in which case...

[Kalyx triaD]

The 'dark' Saturday morning cartoon was pretty cool. That's as good as it got for me. Never saw that underground stuff.

[Kane Knight]

Was referencing Reboot. Though that Sonic was pretty awesome.

[Kalyx triaD]

Weren't they rebooting... Reboot? What happened to that?

[Kane Knight]

They still are, sorta. Just not on the same level. Rainmaker is projecting it for this year or next.

[Fignuts]

Has anyone tried out Skullgirls?

Considering getting it tomorrow, but if TPWW isn't getting it, I don't think I will bother.

[Drakul]

I tried a demo fight for about 15 seconds and decided it wasn't for me. That's just me, though.

[Emperor Smeat]

According to Miyamoto, he'd like a "spiritual" sequel to A Link To The Past to be made one day and a new F-Zero game to be made for the Wii U.

While his idea is for a new Zelda game to be influenced heavily by A Link to The Past, he doesn't want an exact remake of the game made for the 3DS or Wii U. Instead he would want the game to use a similar graphical and gameplay style as the basis.

"I think the answer would be the same if we're talking about just porting," he said, "but I think I'd be even more interested in creating something new maybe based on, or starting from, A Link To The Past. I think it's important to bring some really new software."

He did admit he wouldn't have any control over the project but would want to hand pick the director if the project gets approved in the future.

"To be very honest and open, it really depends on the directors that have time at the moment as well," he said. "Some directors, I can give them the title and I know they will do something great with it.

"Other directors I'm not so 100 per cent confident [in], so they're the ones I'd rather take a more remake approach to the title. It really depends on that as well."

Miyamoto wouldn't be drawn on his favorite among the current crop of Nintendo directors, but he reserved special praise for one in particular: Koichi Kawamoto, who developed the concept demo that birthed the WarioWare series, and more recently created 3DS's StreetPass Quest. Miyamoto says Kawamoto is "a very strong figure [who] will play a very important role in the future."

The last time he held absolute control during development of a Zelda game was with A Link to the Past for the SNES.

In regards to a potential new F-Zero game, he teased its very possible the next F-Zero game would be on the Wii U with the goal of wanting to create a surprise or something unique which every F-Zero game has done so far. He admitted he nor anyone else was able to come up with something amazing for the Wii which is why there was no F-Zero game for it.

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17jdp8j6gew6yjpg/original.jpg
http://www.edge-online.com/news/miyamoto-keen-new-link-past

__________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Darksiders 2 could be missing its June 2012 release date although THQ refuses to explain what could cause delay with the possibility of it being more related to their current financial problems.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/darksiders-2-june-release-may-be-in-jeopardy/

2) Upcoming DLC and patches for the Xbox 360 version of Elder Scrolls: Skyrim will add in Kinect voice support and timed exclusive quest missions.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/skyrim-actually-getting-kinect-voice-support/4082/

3) God of War IV debut could be happening next week based on a posting by Sony on Facebook which teased a big announcement is on its way soon.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/sony-teases-game-reveal-next-week-possibly-god-of-war-iv/

[ClockShot]

God of War 4?

Didn't think it was necessary.

[Kane Knight]

I didn't think the last two were necessary.

[Fignuts]

I consider them good mindless fun.

I'm biased though, as I liked greek mythology as a kid, so this series was a nice nostalgia treat going in.

[Emperor Smeat]

Valve could be reigniting rumors of a Steam Box being developed as two key developments occurred recently.

The first is based on a recent job posting by the company due to them currently hiring engineers with experience developing hardware. While this could just be related to Valve's current plans on making Steam compatible with TV monitors, its also possible it could be related to previous "Steam Box" rumors.

“Join our highly motivated team that’s doing hardware design, prototyping, testing, and production across a wide range of platforms,” the advert reads. ”We’re not talking about me-too mice and gamepads here – help us invent whole new gaming experiences.”

The successful applicant will have to, ”work with the hardware team to conceive, design, evaluate, and produce new types of input, output, and platform hardware.”

The second development is based on a recent meeting Gabe Newell supposedly had today with the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook. While no exact details of the meeting were revealed current rumors range from Valve getting some input on how to design the Steam Box, a potential Steam app/client for the iOS devices, or integrating Steam into the AppleTV project.

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/valve.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/valve-job-listing-reinvigorates-steam-box-rumors/
http://kotaku.com/5901821/did-tim-cook-and-gabe-newell-meet-today

________________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Atlus confirms all the online servers for Demon Souls will be shut down on June 1st.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/demons-souls-servers-shutting-down-may/

2) Based on a recent domain registered by Nintendo and hints earlier in the year of a new "classic 2D Mario" in development, Super Mario Bros 4 is expected to be released later this year for the 3DS.
http://kotaku.com/5901823/nintendo-registers-super-mario-4-domain-name-hinting-at-future-game

3) Namco Bandai announces a new Dragon Ball Z game is heading to Kinect later this year with 50 motion based moves possible, a story mode, and at least one new character expected for the game's roster.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/dragon-ball-z-taking-your-kinect-9000

4) Sleeping Dogs (previously True Crime Hong Kong) was confirmed to have an August 14 release date in the US and an August 17 date in Europe for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/sleeping-dogs-receives-official-release-date-and-pre-order-bonuses

[Cool King]

WWE '13 survey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B5STDCV

[Emperor Smeat]

A bunch of upcoming E3 news with Nintendo confirming a new Mario for the Wii U and Pikmin 3 set to debut at E3 while Sony, Microsoft, and Ubisoft revealed their press conference times.

Sony and Microsoft once again will be having their press conferences occur on the same day with Ubisoft's sandwiched in the middle on June 4th. Nintendo will have its own day once again while Konami is expected to once again have a conference occur as part of the pre-E3 show.

Microsoft: Monday, June 4th, 10am PST
Ubisoft: Monday, June 4th, 3pm PST
Sony: Monday, June 4th, 6pm PST

A new Super Mario game and the long awaited Pikmin 3 will be having their official debuts at E3 with both set for the Wii U. According to Miyamoto, Pikmin 3 is hinted to have a similar style to the previous games and will be taking advantage of the Wii U tablet.

“In a recent interview, Mr. Miyamoto confirmed that a new Pikmin game will be shown at the E3 Expo in June. He believes that anyone who has played Pikmin games in the past will enjoy playing.”

In a recent interview, Mr. Miyamoto confirmed that a new Super Mario Bros. game for the Wii U system will be shown at this year's E3 Expo," a Nintendo spokesperson said. "We'll have more to announce about our plans for the E3 Expo at a later date.

Miyamoto didn't confirm if this new Super Mario game will be the rumored Super Mario 4 although the 3DS is also expected to have its own "classic 2D Mario" game get announced soon as well.

Luigi's Mansion 2 was confirmed to be shown for E3 in the same interview.

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/pikmin.jpg
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/nintendo-has-a-mario-game-in-the-works-for-the-wii-u-will-show-it-at-e3/4086/
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/nintendo-also-showing-wii-u-pikmin-game-at-e3/
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/sony-microsoft-ubisoft-announce-dates-times-for-e3-2012-press-conferences/

____________________________________________________________
1) Microsoft will be expanding the fees for Xbox Live later this year with either new content having separate costs or the rumor of Microsoft ditching points in favor of real currency.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/microsoft-to-further-monetize-xbox-live-later-this-year/

2) According to analysts, Sony could be considering stripping away more of their free PSN services as a way to recover the massive loss they recently posted for the fiscal year.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/analysts-sony-could-strip-down-psn-free-services/

3) The developers of recently released Fez are working with Microsoft to fix issues the game has with owners of older and Arcade model Xbox 360s. No exact date was given for when the patch would be ready.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/fez-developers-working-microsoft-patch-bugs

4) The creator of Shadowrun Return, Jordan Weisman, says one of his goals after work on the Shadowrun revival is finished is to revive the Crimson Skies game although he admits it wouldn't be worked on any time soon.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/shadowruns-creator-hoping-crimson-skies-revival

[Kane Knight]

Crimsons Skies...I'd love another.

Way to go, Sony. further punish actual users for your failings. assuming it's true, of course.

[Kalyx triaD]

Can't put my finger on it but Crimson Skies just worked.

[Emperor Smeat]

Rare could be tweaking their game development direction after recently hiring the former head creative director of Sega West as the new head creative director boss of the company.

Simon Woodroffe, who also worked at Midway and Ubisoft, will become the new head creative director with his main experience revolving around R&D for game projects.

Woodroffe has been in the industry for more than 20 years, his first game was a point-and-click adventure called Simon the Sorcerer. He also worked at Midway and Ubisoft before moving to Sega.

“He has worked on many innovative titles over the years, including some really impressive R&D prototyping projects. He is a terrific all-rounder and the ideal person to head up our design department,” said Rare senior studio director Craig Duncan. ”Rare is committed to making the best possible games experiences that inspire everyone to play, and we believe the best way to do that is to attract the brightest and best talent in the business.”

“Games are my passion and they are Rare’s passion so this is my dream role. I love working with talented and creative people and there are plenty of them here at Rare. I am looking forward to getting stuck into making incredible games that will be worthy additions to the pedigree of the studio,” added Woodroffe.

Woodroffe is expected to help more with the design and development of Kinect games the company currently is making than actually provide a huge shift into a new direction or even reviving classic Rare series.

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/kinect-sports.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/rare-appoints-sega-design-boss-as-new-creative-director/

__________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) EA's updates their Origin service to allow gamers who have been banned from an online multiplayer game or from the EA forums to still be able to play their other games in campaign/single player mode offline.Previously a banning from either area meant a complete ban from Origin and all games a user owned for the service.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/play-origin-games-offline-even-if-youre-banned/4087/

2) Nintendo announces they are skipping this year's Gamescom convention and instead will focus more on either hosting their own convention or participating in a lot more conventions this year than usual.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/nintendo-will-not-be-attending-gamescom-year

3) According to Capcom, the demo for the upcoming Dragon Dogma's game will arrive on XBLA and PSN on April 24 for US/Canada and April 25 for Europe.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/dragons-dogma-playable-demo-next-week

[Kalyx triaD]

An issue with many companies is lack of vision. Maybe this guy can help Rare, but they could have more problems than that itself.

[Emperor Smeat]

Activision announces a new James Bond game will be released later this year but isn't a complete tie in with the upcoming Skyfall film.

The game will be called 007 Legends and ties in together five films of the Bond series with Skyfall for the game's storyline.

Eurocom was announced to be the developers of the game with Mi6 Ops missions from GoldenEye Reloaded returning for 007 Legends.

Multiplayer will feature four-player split-screen and online, with new maps characters and weapons plucked from Bond’s 50 year history.

Daniel Craig was also revealed to be the Bond character for the entire game and will not feature multiple Bond characters.

The game is set for a Fall 2012 release date for the PS3 and Xbox 360 as of now.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/007-Legends-Announce.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/activision-announces-007-legends/

__________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) WayForward Studio teases Battletoads could become DLC characters for the Xbox 360 version of Double Dragon Neon if enough people convince Microsoft or Rare to approve of the idea.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/battletoads-may-become-dlc-double-dragon-neon

2) Darksiders II has been delayed from its original June 26 date to now a potential August release date with THQ's official response being the game need more time for polish.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/darksiders-ii-delayed-from-june-to-august/4092/

3) EA announces the reboot of SSX will be getting two Classic SSX DLC packs with one adding 7 classic characters to the game's roster and the other adding in a new race track who's style resembles classic SSX tracks.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/ea-announces-classic-ssx-dlc-for-ssx/

[ClockShot]

5 old Bond films plus the Skyfall storyline? AND we're playing as Daniel Craig? How the fuck is that gonna work?

We gonna go from Dr. No to O.H.M.S.S. to Octopussy to License to kill to Goldeneye to Skyfall?

See what I did there?

[Requiem]

New Bethesda game.

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/E1HlYTukh9A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Kane Knight]

not sure why I'd want to buy Battletoads as DLC for a shitty Double Dragon game.

I'm not THAT nostalgic for it.

[Fignuts]

FINALLY got around to playing Portal 2. If there is any series that absolutely deserves the amount of praise it gets, it is this series.

Perfection. Through and through.

[Funky Fly]

Pretty trailer with no gameplay footage.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

New Bethesda game.

Only as publisher, before we all get carried away and buy another Wet.

[Fignuts]

Valve needs to just come out and say they are never going to make Half Life 2 Episode 3/Half Life 3.

[LoDownM]

Only as publisher, before we all get carried away and buy another Wet.

I liked Wet :(

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I did as well. Everyone always tries to convince me it's shit, but hell, I even liked that Woo Stranglehold game.

Maybe Brink would have been the better example.

[Kane Knight]

Only as publisher, before we all get carried away and buy another Wet.

Yeah, wouldn't want to get our hopes up for another completely broken game.

[PrettyCool]

Valve needs to just come out and say they are never going to make Half Life 2 Episode 3/Half Life 3.

Valve sux, Half Life 2 sucked, I couldnt play through it cuz it was SO BORING and LAME.
HI GORDON I AM ALYX U CANT SHOOT ME OR ANY OTHER SCIENTISTS I AM COOL

LAME.

Ashley in Resident Evil 4 is the PROPER way to do a sidekick

http://i.neoseeker.com/ca/residentevil4_conceptart_38t8C.jpg

:love: :love: :love: :love: :love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

[Fignuts]

At least Alex could fight for herself.

If you like babysitting games tho, I won't judge.

[The Destroyer]

Not really, you couldn't kill her either. Just let her be dragged off to her doom.

Couldn't look up her skirt either. :shifty:

[Fignuts]

Also, Ravenholm is scarier than anything in Resident Evil 4.

[Ermaximus]

Also, Ravenholm is scarier than anything in Resident Evil 4.

THIS!

Why do you think they even tell you that "we don't go to Ravenholm?"

[Kane Knight]

Valve needs to just come out and say they are never going to make Half Life 2 Episode 3/Half Life 3.

It's funny that the Sonic devs are getting their balls busted for stopping at part two of promised episodic content when Valve has been a much harsher prick tease about the whole thing.

At least Alex could fight for herself.

If you like babysitting games tho, I won't judge.

He probably just faps to her. We're talking about a guy who thinks the pinnacle of gaming is the ability to simulate sex.

[Ermaximus]

He probably just faps to her. We're talking about a guy who thinks the pinnacle of gaming is the ability to simulate sex.

So he likely owns Playboy: The Mansion is what you're saying then?

[Kane Knight]

He probably burned several copies off the web. :naughty:

[Emperor Smeat]

Sony officially debuts God of War IV with the details given so far making the game act as a prequel for the first game and set for release on the PS3.

The game's official title is "God of War Accession" and covers the origins of Kratos before the events of God of War I. While it wasn't specified how far back in the storyline the prequel occurs, it will cover the events that lead to Kartos' family destruction and him becoming a "god killer."

Sony also states more details about the game will arrive on April 30.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bD9CWj5SWg8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/sony-officially-announces-god-of-war-ascension/

_____________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Persona 3 which was released released as a digital PS2 Classic on PSN was recently discovered to have a game saving bug which does not allow any progress to be saved.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/alert-persona-3-fes-psn-will-not-save-game-data

2) Bethesda announces Prey 2 has been delayed due to serious issues involving the game's development which will prevent the game from being released in 2012.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/bethesda-says-prey-2-isnt-canceled-also-isnt-coming-out-this-year/4095/

3) Take it with a grain of salt but a rumor posted by the Official Xbox Magazine (OXM) states Mirror's Edge 2 will be arriving next gen with Kinect support for the next Xbox version.
http://www.oxm.co.uk/40751/mirrors-edge-2-is-xbox-720-game-uses-kinect-20-rumour/

[Kane Knight]

A God of War prequel sounds like a really bad idea,

[Fignuts]

I thought the PSP games were prequels. How many prequels do you friggin need?

[Kane Knight]

I thought the PSP games were prequels. How many prequels do you friggin need?

As many as will sell?

I'd like to see some spinoffs dealing with other pantheons.

[D Mac]

Update: Sold my Ipad 2 to gamestop for 220 and bought a laptop. Only lost about 250 bucks. Not bad. :shifty: It's a nice laptop tho.

[G]

Well, considering Apple products hold the highest resale value and are insanely easy to sell, I guess you made the right call letting GS violate you for $250. :roll:

[Emperor Smeat]

EA announces they are putting a strong emphasis on "online universes" for all future games they develop.

The idea is for a single game covering multiple platforms to share the same "online universe" in a sense that anything done in one platform benefits the same game owned on a different platform. The games would all share the same online account and data which also means everything is saved on EA's servers than locally.

The examples EA gave involved playing FIFA on mobile devices can unlock achievements for the same game owned on the Xbox 360.

Imagine a player gets up in the morning, plays an online match on his 360 before going to work. On the bus, on his way to work, he practices his free kicks on his tablet. At lunch he looks at the transfer window on his PC. On the way home he chooses his kit on his smartphone.

Here's the thing: when he gets home to play again on his 360 that evening, all those achievements and upgrades will be alive in his game.


The company already tested this idea earlier in the year by having the iOS app for Mass Effect 3 help unlock and boost stats for the console versions of the game.

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17k6esxzkqz4zjpg/original.jpg
http://kotaku.com/5903724/ea-declares-every-game-they-make-will-have-a-multiplatform-online-universe-of-its-own

__________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Update to Prey 2 being delayed as a new source states the developer for the game, Human Head, are to blame for the delay due to their unwillingness to work on the game for the past 2 years and an employee strike impacting the company.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/rumor-prey-2-development-halted-last-year-due-developer-strike

2) The closed Diablo III bets will become a public beta for this weekend only (April 20-23) with all classes available and a level cap set to 13.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/update-diablo-3-beta-available-everyone-during-weekend

3) According to Famitsu, the upcoming issue for the magazine hints Capcom will reveal an "unexpected" new game next week on April 26.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/capcom-to-reveal-unexpected-new-game-next-week/

[Kane Knight]

Well, considering Apple products hold the highest resale value and are insanely easy to sell, I guess you made the right call letting GS violate you for $250. :roll:
:rofl:

[Drakul]

NSMB2
<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tDRJd-Fad-Q?version=3&feature=player_detailpage"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tDRJd-Fad-Q?version=3&feature=player_detailpage" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360"></object>

Releasing for the 3DS in August. They probably could have thrown a trailer togethor for this.

[Kalyx triaD]

My roommate pitched a perfect game early this morning and I guess he has to do things now.

[DaveBrawl]

A good day for he and Philip Humber.


Is he the first to do it this year? I would have thought someone would have had it by now, since the contest on last year's game ended on the first day.

[Kalyx triaD]

I don't think he's the first, but they added other steps to make it a tourny sort of deal even after doing it at home.

[Kalyx triaD]

My brother made 2nd place in a West Palm Beach SoulCalibur V tourny today. Feeling unambitious as far as competitive gaming goes.

[DaveBrawl]

I don't think he's the first, but they added other steps to make it a tourny sort of deal even after doing it at home.

Oh, that's cool. Makes the whole competition seem more exciting to me rather than some random draw ending it on day 1 and everyone forgetting about it.

[G]

Pretty sure I would destroy your brother in Soul Calibur V.

[Kalyx triaD]

Who knows.

[G]

I am such a beast at the Soul Caliburs V.

[Blitz]

Ocarina of Time map done SNES style (http://filesmelt.com/dl/overworldnewpallet1.png)

[RoXer]

Do that with Dark Souls

[Kane Knight]

Do that with Skyrim

[Fignuts]

Honestly, just rom hack LTTP into every game ever, please.

[El Fangel]

http://i.imgur.com/5I0Ri.jpg?1

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Portable N64 model #1387612783

[El Fangel]

First time I have ever saw one. I want one :(

[Kane Knight]

Why didn't someone think of that bef....

Portable N64 model #1387612783

Oh.

[Emperor Smeat]

Activision announces the debut of the next Call of Duty game will officially occur on May 1st during the NBA playoffs.

The game is expected to be Call of Duty Black Ops 2 with more rumored details involving the game's multiplayer supposedly leaked. Since the game is being developed by Treyarch, very little chance of a new engine being created due to Infinity Ward being the studio in charge of the Modern Warfare engine development.

Game Modes

Escort ~ A game mode in which you escort a player across three flags to achieve victory. The enemy team killing the player will result in a win for their side.

Split Spawn ~ A game mode in which you spawn from a hellicopter, and climb down to get to the ground. The player starts with 3 lives. One player can control the chopper to let you climb down in different areas, as well as shoot from the chopper. If the chopper is destroyed, players can no longer spawn. Players compete for a central flag that takes 2x as long to capture than a regular domination flag. Either the death of all opposing players or the capturing of the flag will grant you a win. This game has 2 rounds.

Equalizer ~ A game mode in which players are switched to the enemy team upon death. Players will compete for a flag, which when owned, open up a power plant to allow the player to customize their class in game, get new weapons, and put on a juggernaut suit for their team only.When there are 2 players left on a team, they are granted with the power plant automatically, and pointstreaks up to a 5 point requirement can also be obtained. If either of the two players die, they will remain on their own team. The team with the most converts (kills) at the end will win. If tied, whoever is currently owning the power plant will win.

Perks have also been reworked to include "Elite" perks which require base perks to be included and not allowing just elite perks to be stacked on each other. Each perk also appears to be broken down into 3 groups with Pro, Elite, and a class specialist as the options available.

The entire list of known and rumored stuff for the game is greater detail in the EGMNOW source link.

The game is expected for release on November 13.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/callofdutyblackops22610.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/more-black-ops-2-release-date-and-multiplayer-rumors-surface/

_________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Nintendo announces Kirby will be getting the anniversary treatment for its 20th anniversary later this year and hinted it might contain every Kirby console and maybe handheld games ever released.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/nintendo-announces-kirby-20th-anniversary-wii-collection

2) Sony teases the will announce the next "huge PS3 Exclusive" game later this week on GTTV with a lot of rumors hinting of the game most likely being Sony's version of a Smash Bros game.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/%E2%80%8Ehuge-new-ps3-exclusive-to-be-revealed-this-week/

3) Valve's Gabe Newell denies all rumors of Apple's CEO Time Cook having a meeting with the company last week although teased if it did occur, it would have been amazing.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/did-apple-ceo-tim-cook-really-meet-valve-according-valve-nope

[Kane Knight]

Kirby getting a decent anniversary deal?

[Emperor Smeat]

After constant rumors of Ubisoft considering making a sequel to Rayman Origins, the company might have accidentally confirmed and leaked details of a potential sequel.

A survey sent by Ubisoft revealed the company wanted feedback to the details of the game containing new characters such as dragon ghosts and Greek Gods while also revealing plans for at least a PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 release.

The supposed screens included in the survey shows the game will a similar style as the first game although Ubisoft refused to deny the screens potentially being fake.

No other details were revealed nor if there will not be a handheld, Wii, or Wii U version planned for a later release. The original did have a release on the 3DS and Wii with poor advertising and timing to blame for low sales for each version.

A trailer was also supposedly leaked but wasn't confirmed by Ubisoft if it was indeed a legit debut trailer for Rayman Origins 2.

http://img.gawkerassets.com/post/9/2012/04/rayman.jpg
Trailer ---> http://www.screwattack.com/trailers/rayman-origins-2-first-trailer
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/rumor-rayman-origins-2-leaked-via-survey/

_______________________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Naughty Dog announces Uncharted 3 will be getting a Game of the Year re-release containing all the DLC packs and content later this year while also proclaiming the series has passed the 17 million sold mark.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/uncharted-3-getting-goty-edition-series-tops-17-million-units

2) Sony pulls a third PSP game from the PSP Store after hackers using PS Vita's were able to once again hack into the PSN network using the "Virtual PSP" mode which allows the PS Vita to play digital PSP games.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/sony-pulls-another-psp-game-featuring-vita-exploits/

3) Nintendo announces the New Play Control of Pikmin 2 for the Wii which was released in Japan and Europe 3 years ago will finally be arriving in North America this June as part of the lead up to Pikmin 3's debut at this year's E3.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/nintendo-brining-new-play-control-pikmin-2-to-north-america/

[Fignuts]

Kirby getting a decent anniversary deal?

I'd certainly buy it. It had better have the gameboy games though. I got the original Kirby when I was a kid, and it was my favorite gameboy game, behind Megaman 5.

[LoDownM]

Dragon's Dogma demo came out, seems like it'll be a pretty fun game.

[Kalyx triaD]

Oh shit.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

My roommate pitched a perfect game early this morning and I guess he has to do things now.

Holy shit that's awesome.

People who pitch a perfect game are put in an elimination tournament. Not sure how many people get put into the tournament or if he made that cut.

Good luck to him.

[Kane Knight]

I'd certainly buy it. It had better have the gameboy games though. I got the original Kirby when I was a kid, and it was my favorite gameboy game, behind Megaman 5.

I never actually played a full Kirby game growing up, but the times I tried them, I enjoyed them. I would love a proper anniversary collection.

Dragon's Dogma demo came out, seems like it'll be a pretty fun game.

Cool. I need to try the demo.

[Emperor Smeat]

According to sources close to the Official Xbox Magazine, the previously cancelled TimeSplitters 4 is currently in development again and is in a playable form but no guarantees the game will ever be released.


In their latest issue the magazine writes: ”Trusted OXM sources have claimed that they’ve seen TimeSplitters 4 running. That’s no guarantee that it’ll be released – at least one version of Star Wars: Battlefront 3 was cancelled without ever being announced – but it’s a promising sign.”

While Crytek hasn't completely ruled out a Timesplitters 4 game never being released and have stated they really want to revisit the franchise, its still up to Free Radical to develop the game itself. The biggest issue is funding due to Free Radical still having financial problems even with Crytek as their new parent company and EA will not help fund the game.

Earlier rumors did tease it was possible the game could have a debut as early as this year's E3 show but Crytek hasn't confirmed those rumors to be true.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/38306_TimeSplitters4-ConceptArt-04_normal.jpg
http://www.screwattack.com/news/rumor-timesplitters-4-seen-running

_____________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) The Stalker series is dead after the developers of Stalker 2 announce they have both cancelled the development of Stalker 2 and the series itself while shift focus to a new project meant to be a MMO FPS type game.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/pour-one-out-for-stalker-2-hello-to-survarium/4104/

2) The creator of the Resident Evil series, Shinji Mikami, announces his studio is currently developing a survival horror game with the placeholder name called "Zwei" and would be released in 2013.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/resident-evil-creator-making-new-survival-horror-game/

3) Crytek joins the growing list of companies who actually like the idea of next gen consoles blocking the ability to play used games with Crytek saying it would be "absolutely awesome" if it becomes true.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/crysis-3-dev-says-blocking-used-games-would-be-absolutely-awesome/

[Kalyx triaD]

Over 100 hits in a single day for an UMvC3 post on my blog. Kinda sorta proud of those numbers.

[Cool King]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QFaGZdaaifM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Cool King]

According to sources close to the Official Xbox Magazine, the previously cancelled TimeSplitters 4 is currently in development again and is in a playable form but no guarantees the game will ever be released.



While Crytek hasn't completely ruled out a Timesplitters 4 game never being released and have stated they really want to revisit the franchise, its still up to Free Radical to develop the game itself. The biggest issue is funding due to Free Radical still having financial problems even with Crytek as their new parent company and EA will not help fund the game.

Earlier rumors did tease it was possible the game could have a debut as early as this year's E3 show but Crytek hasn't confirmed those rumors to be true.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/38306_TimeSplitters4-ConceptArt-04_normal.jpg
http://www.screwattack.com/news/rumor-timesplitters-4-seen-running

Goddamn EA.

Still, it's something positive I guess, even if it is just a rumour at this moment in time. I'm just happy that it's still getting talked about and all that, instead of just falling into obscurity and just getting totally forgotten about.

Still, the day TimeSplitters 4 gets officially announced, I'll be the happiest guy in the world.

[D Mac]

Read on IGN that Madden 13 is gonna have a CBS broadcast team with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. Cool

[El Fangel]

http://i.imgur.com/SdDc1.jpg



Thought you all would like this.

[G]

Steve Jobs' Plan for a Willy Wonka-Style Celebration of the Millionth iMac (http://www.macrumors.com/2012/04/26/steve-jobs-plan-for-a-willy-wonka-style-celebration-of-the-millionth-imac/)

Wednesday April 25, 2012 9:19 pm PDT by Eric Slivka
http://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2012/04/original_imac-150x127.jpg

Among the many anecdotes about Steve Jobs included in Ken Segall's new book, Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success (http://www.macrumors.com/2012/04/25/insanely-simple-shares-anecdotes-on-steve-jobs-and-apple/), one in particular stands out for its glimpse into Jobs' character, providing evidence of his willingness to engage in playful ideas when the mood suited him. The story takes place relatively soon after the launch of the original iMac, with Jobs wanting to find a high-profile way to celebrate the sale of the millionth one to mark Apple's comeback from the dead.Steve's idea was to do a Willy Wonka with it. Just as Wonka did in the movie, Steve wanted to put a golden certificate representing the millionth iMac inside the box of one iMac, and publicize that fact. Whoever opened the lucky iMac box would be refunded the purchase price and be flown to Cupertino, where he or she (and, presumably, the accompanying family) would be taken on a tour of the Apple campus.

Steve had already instructed his internal creative group to design a prototype golden certificate, which he shared with us. But the killer was that Steve wanted to go all out on this. He wanted to meet the lucky winner in full Willy Wonka garb. Yes, complete with top hat and tails.
Those in the room with Jobs were amused by his excitement over the idea, but less than enthusiastic about seeing it come to fruition. Fortunately for those looking for a way out of it, California law required that all such sweepstake contests allow entry without requiring a purchase. Given that people would then be able to enter the contest without purchasing an iMac and there in fact being a very good chance that the winner wouldn't be an iMac owner or even an Apple fan, Jobs' pet idea for a Willy Wonka-themed prize was cast aside.

[LoDownM]

Goddamn EA.

Still, it's something positive I guess, even if it is just a rumour at this moment in time. I'm just happy that it's still getting talked about and all that, instead of just falling into obscurity and just getting totally forgotten about.

Still, the day TimeSplitters 4 gets officially announced, I'll be the happiest guy in the world.


EA doesn't own Crytek, EA only publishes the Crysis series, the article got that part wrong.

[Emperor Smeat]

EA does provide some funding but only at the end stage of development or if funds are needed for a console version like Valve console games.

Crytek themselves don't have enough to help fix the financial mess Free Radical is still in and work on their own projects which why they haven't helped fund Timesplitters 4 either.

[Emperor Smeat]

Speaking of EA, a bid was made by a Japanese company to start a takeover of the company although in terms of value and reserves it won't be enough for a complete takeover.

A South Korean company called Nexon officially placed a bid to purchase EA today with the reaction from the stock market being positive about the news. EA's stock value rose by 8% once the news was made public today.

Nexon primarily makes free-to-play MMO games like Maple Story and Dragon Quest with its main revenue base located in Korea. While it was founded as a company in South Korea, their headquarters and business decisions are located in Japan.

The biggest issue is according to market value, Nexon doesn't have enough to completely buy out EA since they are only worth about $1.5 billion while EA is worth $5 billion. They can still make a bid to become a minority owner of EA though if the company approves of the deal.

The biggest benefit for EA would be having a huge presence in the free-to-play market and a huge foothold in Korea due to Nexon if they were to accept the offer.

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/EA-logo.jpg
http://www.screwattack.com/news/rumor-nexon-makes-ea-offer-and-stocks-soar

_________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Nintendo reveals more details involving their first ever fiscal loss in the company's electronic era history with the final amount being $461 million lost and the price drop on the 3DS being a huge reason. The price drop alone ensured Nintendo can't make a profit on the device until August 2012 at the earliest.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/nintendo-lost-4612-million-last-year/4106/

2) Sony announces they are currently working on an emulator which would make PS One games playable on the PS Vita.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/sony-working-hard-to-bring-ps-one-games-to-vita/

3) Valve announces the next DLC for Portal 2 called "Perpetual Testing Initiative" is the official level editor for the game and will be free for PC and Mac owners.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/portal-2s-perpetual-testing-initiative-launching-may-8/4107/

[ClockShot]

The boys in the east are slowly starting to takeover north american companies.

[LoDownM]

EA does provide some funding but only at the end stage of development or if funds are needed for a console version like Valve console games.

Crytek themselves don't have enough to help fix the financial mess Free Radical is still in and work on their own projects which why they haven't helped fund Timesplitters 4 either.

I misread the article in my "still half asleep from waking upness." Thought the article said EA owned Crytek, not Crytek owning FR.

Once Homefront 2 is done, assuming THQ doesn't completely close between now and then, I would hope Crytek started funding Timesplitters 4.

[Kane Knight]

A 6% increase in EA's stock is hardly soaring, especially when you consider the decline they've been in.

It's kind of funny that what makes investors happy is "EA might be bought out!"

[Drakul]

I just saw footage of Sonys Smash Bros game. It doesn't "look a bit like Brawl", it looks exactly like Brawl. Even the 1P, 2P, 3P, 4P icons above each players head is the same as Brawl. All they did was replace the health precentage at the bottom of the screen with a small bar.

I'm waiting to come across a quote where they call it a brand new, totally orginal, 100% created by them idea.

[James Diesel]

I just saw footage of Sonys Smash Bros game. It doesn't "look a bit like Brawl", it looks exactly like Brawl. Even the 1P, 2P, 3P, 4P icons above each players head is the same as Brawl. All they did was replace the health precentage at the bottom of the screen with a small bar.

I'm waiting to come across a quote where they call it a brand new, totally orginal, 100% created by them idea.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4aVxcHTD1fY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Kane Knight]

Parappa? It's a shame I have no real interest in this game.

[LoDownM]

I'd need to see the full roster before I decide if I wanna play it or not.

[G]

Levels and graphics look a million times better than Smash Bros. #statetheobvious



#hashtagdouche

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Crash Bandicoot going to be in it? :D

[Kalyx triaD]

On one hand, this a hilariously blatant rip-off of the highest order. Sony had no shame in this.

On the other hand, being about 1:1 with Smash except for characters, there's no reason it can't be fun.

[Kane Knight]

Levels and graphics look a million times better than Smash Bros. #statetheobvious



#hashtagdouche


that's what happens when you don't design a game on an Etch-a-Sketch.

[Extreme Angle]

Gimme 10 points for Cloud Strife #StateTheSemiObvious

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Sora from Kingdom Hearts?

[RoXer]

This isn't lawsuitable?

[Kane Knight]

This isn't lawsuitable?

How so?

[Kalyx triaD]

While it looks like Smash, things like this happen all the time. Not to mention Jap companies are a lot more lax about 'ideas' appearing in other games. And there has been other Smash clones, like the Onimusha spin-off from Capcom. There won't lawsuits, but many people will frown on this anyway, as Sony is one of the big bad wolves of the PR circle.

Good for them, though. Many PS3 owners would love a Smash fix. Just as they don't mind a kart racer or kiddie-platformer or other things seemingly Nintendo territory.

[Drakul]

The thing that I think is getting to people is that it really is just Smash Bros. The idea isn't such a big deal, it's just that it looks like someone just modded Brawl.

The characters have a final smash, the UI is the same and characters even have the same "leave a trail of smoke while you flail your limbs when you're hit by a strong attack" animation.
The windmill stage looks straight of out Skyward Sword btw.

No one really minded when TMNT did it because, while it was just SSB, it didn't look like it actually was just SSB.

[Kalyx triaD]

I was laughing looking at the vid, but whatever. Let them eat cake.

[Drakul]

Nintendo are probably going to use it to take a jab at Sony during their E3 show.

[Kalyx triaD]

Even better.

[Funky Fly]

If it's as fun as a smash bros game, then great, rip it off. Rip it off exactly and don't change a damn thing if you have to. That Ninja Turtles game made by people who actually worked on Smash Bros goes to show you what can happen if you fuck with the formula too much.

They need tight controls, lots of charm and a roster that is made up of 2/3s expected playstation favourites (Kratos, Parrappa, etc) and 1/3 "holy shit, they put him in?" unexpected classics. Add 1 or 2 bonus crossover characters for good measure and serve up hot.

[Verbose Minch]

I think the problem with Sony's Brawl is that they don't anywhere near as memorable characters as Nintendo does.

Brawl is great because it's a meeting of some of the greatest characters ever created. Who ever thought we'd get to see Mario, Donkey Kong, Link and Samus in the same game, let alone fighting each other?

Then you look at Sony's game. Sweet Tooth, Parappa, Sack Boy, Drake, Fat Princess, Kratos, Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, and some others. None of those characters are anywhere near as important or meaningful as Nintendo's.

Plus it's Sony, they'll manage to fuck it up.

[Funky Fly]

The footage looks decent, plus I like that they took the time to build a studio out of guys with fighting game dev experience. This could be what clinches me finally picking up a PS3.

[Emperor Smeat]

To be fair, Sony only really started to focus a lot more on their first party games starting with the PS3 after Microsoft managed to take away the huge advantage Sony used to have with exclusives.

Didn't actually expect them to almost make a carbon copy of Brawl when the news was first announced. Some people already have noticed the similarities between the specials and final smashes such as the Killzone guy having a very similar final attack Snake had in Brawl.

[Emperor Smeat]

Free Radical's future looks very bleak after Crytek announced Timesplitters 4 has been cancelled while in an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, the co-founder of the company blames Ubisoft and others for causing the financial mess.

Steve Ellis who is one of the co-founders of the studio said in an interview ever since the move from Eidos as their publisher, the studio has been harmed more than helped with publishers.

While Eidos was very hands-off and ensured money was never an issue, Ubisoft was very hands-on and determined payment schedules based on formulas instead of progress.

Ubisoft was also revealed to be the reason why Haze became a PS3 exclusive since original plans had the game as an Xbox 360 and PC game. Ubisoft's strictness with the money and the need to rush the game ended up almost killing the company as a result due to the bomb in sales the game produced.

Their next publisher was Lucas Arts and was just as bad as Ubisoft but for different reasons. Free Radical was developing Star Wars Battlefront III but Lucas Arts' constant hiring and firing of people tied to the project ended up dooming it. Lucas Arts ended up dropping Free Radical due to their own issues regarding poor management at the time.

Activision was their next publisher and almost had Free Radical create the remake of GoldenEye before suddenly pulling all support away from the studio for no official reason. The studio would have ran out of funds to stay operational if Crytek didn't buy them once the offer was made.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/Free_radical_design_logo.jpg
http://www.screwattack.com/news/free-radicals-co-founder-blames-ubisoft-and-others-companys-financial-problems

________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Crytek announces Timseplitters 4 is no longer in development with the official reasons involving spiraling development costs and issues regarding Free Radical's stability.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/crytek-confirms-that-timesplitters-4-is-not-in-development/

2) Ubisoft officially debuts Rayman Origins 2 with the official name being "Rayman Legends" and Wii U exclusive content involving touchpad controls, the ability to scan items into the game, and the tease of Enzio from Assassin's Creed being a special playable character.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/rayman-legends-real-and-coming-wii-u

[LoDownM]

Damn you Ubisoft and Lucasarts

[Extreme Angle]

Reminds me of what happened just before the last games industry crash, where there were just hundreds of pacman/space invader clones. Kinda falling into that spiral again I guess...

[Kane Knight]

Reminds me of what happened just before the last games industry crash, where there were just hundreds of pacman/space invader clones. Kinda falling into that spiral again I guess...

Except this level of copying has been around for ages. Okay, maybe it's a bit more exact, but there's been "clones" since just about the beginning of the post-crash games industry.

[Extreme Angle]

The abit more exact part of it being what i'm on about, obviously it'll never be as bad as what it was, where games would pretty much just change the colour of the palette and change a few sprites, but with the CoD "Kill +10" or w/e in the majority of new shooters nowadays, things will only get worse, especially with the state of the industry now.

[Kane Knight]

Yes, because the COD phenomenon is a wholly new one that didn't ever happen before with fighters, platformers, RPGs...fuck, I'm probably missing a few....Post crash.

[Savio]

http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/Mystery_Quest_NES_ScreenShot4.gif

Any one ever play this? or remember this?

[Kane Knight]

Not sure what it is.

[FearedSanctity]

Mystery Quest

[Sepholio]

Fuck yes, loved mystery quest. Was the hardest game ever for me when I was a little kid with an NES, but still oh so awesome. Never did beat it.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Bought Trials Evolution and DJ Hero 2 on the same day. Both infuriating.

Love Trials editor though. It's like the 360 Little Big Planet with all the crazy shit people are putting online.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Bought Trials Evolution and DJ Hero 2 on the same day. Both infuriatingly brilliant.

Love Trials editor though. It's like the 360 Little Big Planet with all the crazy shit people are putting online.

[G]

The user tracks are really fucking cool. Especially the Portal ones from that Templar Knight4 guy. Also love playing the ones I watch on Achievement Horse. There is this one extreme track where the guy has you going backwards upside down. Watching some of the replays are just insane.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

TellTale made a Walking Dead game and I had no idea. Based on the comics, episode 1 is getting some awesome reviews. It's not an adventure game, but all the characterisation and pacing is being praised to hell.

Glad it didn't end up like Jurrasic Park... Sheesh.

[Emperor Smeat]

They did mention in the past how they've learned from their mistakes and poor reception from the Jurassic Park episodes as a way to improve the development of the Walking Dead episodes.

[LoDownM]

The first episode is really short, I finished it in around an hour.

[Savio]

Fuck yes, loved mystery quest. Was the hardest game ever for me when I was a little kid with an NES, but still oh so awesome. Never did beat it.
Didn't like it too hard for me.

[Kalyx triaD]

That Walking Dead 'game' is pretty good. Has those Walking Dead moments that litter the show and comic.

Dragon's Dogma would have been a fun multiplayer game. Seriously.

[LoDownM]

You are supposedly going to be able to send your "Pawns" into other peoples games. Close as you are gonna get.

[Sepholio]

Didn't like it too hard for me.

I always got to like the 3rd or 4th castle and could never find the things I needed or a way forward, sadly. I tried soooo many times.

Going to try and play it now, maybe things have changed in the last 20 years since I played it.

[Kalyx triaD]

When Itsuno and his Devil May Cry 4 team revealed that their next game would be some medieval thing where you fought mythical beasts, I thought, “This is why we won’t see a real DMC for a while?” Pics didn’t impress me, and the videos weren’t mind blowing. This game has a demo on Live and PSM right now and I didn’t even play it for a while after downloading it. I figure I’ll get to it when I have absolutely nothing better to do.

Well I’ll be damned.

The demo offers the full(?) character creation tool, which is surprisingly cool for something from Capcom. The menu and interface has shades of the DMC franchise which I found amusing, by the way, just wanted to share. Anyway I created a fairly accurate version of myself, and gave myself a chick as a Pawn. Pawns being your sidekick that can appear in your buddies adventures (a pointless use of connectivity compared to what could have been, but we’ll get to that in a few).

Two scenarios are available, a prologue and a mission against a very angry Gryphon. Playing the game, it took a second to understand the controls. Well… maybe not the controls, but how it’s meant to be played. Some typical hack-n-fair is here, with shift-key mechanics that extend the use of your two equipped weapons. It was confusing putting all of that together, but when you do it becomes natural. Can’t say much about the inventory screen because it’s really sloppy. Imagine some horrible mix of classic Resident Evil and Zelda. I was never sure when I actually equipped something. Took 2mins to pull out my torch for light. Maybe I’m just slow, but that was not attractive.

But back to the gameplay, which I admit is pretty smooth and fun. I didn’t experiment enough to see if an actual combo system was in place (considering the dev team), but it was responsive enough that you could go from one attack to another without pulling your hair out. A sort of ‘manual chain’ of attacks if you plan it out well enough. And I needed that for Mr. Gryphon, who I must remind you is very very angry at me and my band for some reason. And yeah, you have a band of warriors you can command. Ghost Recon this is not; those clowns looks as terrified as people would be fighting a beast. The AI is whatever, let’s get to my real issue with this fun game:

How did nobody suggest this be multiplayer in the planning phases?

Just moving around and fighting the angry monster, I imagined this would be a blast with 3 (or more!) of my friends on XBL. I’m talking all-nighter stuff here. I’m talking an action-RPG thing on par with PSO. The more fun I had experimenting with this demo the more I got frustrated at the utterly missed opportunity for something fun and engaging. None of that number crunching stuff, an action multiplayer game with cool moves and vast landscapes and big angry monsters. And what do we have? A singleplayer with a strange option to loan out your sidekick. What?

Okay, fine. This game will drop soon. It’s fun. try the demo right now, you’ll enjoy yourself. But as for me: Call me when Dragon’s Dogma 2 launches with a rightful multiplayer mode in two years or so. So close, Capcom, so close.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Nah, I completley agree with this random dude from Giant Bomb's forums:


I've been scrounging through Dragon's Dogma info for a while and whenever I look at forum or youtube comments, people always seems to complain that the game doesn't have multiplayer.
I don't blame people for coming to that conclusion. If you look at the game from a far, it looks quite similar to something like Monster Hunter (http://www.giantbomb.com/monster-hunter/62-547/), which is incredibly popular because of its multiplayer.


However, if you study the Pawn system and some of the problems that can occur from information overload, I think it'll become evident why it shouldn't have co-op and why it's a lot closer to Final Fantasy (http://www.giantbomb.com/final-fantasy/62-194/) than something like Skyrim (http://www.giantbomb.com/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/61-33394/).


As you might know, a Pawn is a NPC companion that you create in the game to support you during your quests and gains levels along with your character. As other players use your Pawn online and as you use theirs, the pawn doesn't get XP, but they do have a rating on the different monster types and quests in the game. When they come back they will then be able to help you with tips on where to go next and how to combat monsters.


Now, another player could do that too, but I actually think that it would ruin the sense of exploration and adventure that you get in the game world.
For instance, if I played a public co-op game where Naruto420 joined my world, he might tell me "Oh, if you go up here you have to fight the skeletons with fire magic, so you can get the Goblin Blade and 5000 gold". Sure, it's helpful information that another player can help you by telling you where to go and what to do, but in my opinion it actually breaks the immersion of the game and the personal joy of discovery.
It's the same problem Journey (http://www.giantbomb.com/journey/61-31772/) has. When another player joins my game, we can't communicate, but if they know the solutions to all the puzzles, they can just run through it, effectively lessening my experience with the game.


Of course, this is example is all assuming that the random player you meet is friendly. There are tons of things a malicious player could do to ruin the game for you if they wanted, including the ability to physically pick up other characters and throw them off cliffs, run away from the group and not help you in combat or even stealing loot.
Certainly, they could change the game to balance all that out, but then I think it would be way too similar to other games.


Dragon's Dogma "passive" online functionality is what helps set it apart and that is one of the major reasons I'm looking forward to play the game.

Cynical Capcom weary me says multip[layer will be DLC after the "people demanded it" :shifty:

[Kalyx triaD]

Bollocks. That is a potential issue for every co-op campaign mode ever, yet they thrive on. Choose your buddies wisely, private settings and all that, end of story.

This game needs multiplayer. You could still play with your little Pawns all you like, but I want the option fight Gryphons with some buds. That kind of immersion is valuable to be, and I particularly wanna do it with this engine.

The quote above is another example of 'I don't like it, therefore it should not exist', which is all the rage online these days. I want the option for us both to enjoy this game our way, whereas the lack of multiplayer actually makes him look forward to the game (strange).

[#BROKEN Hasney]

After RE5, any Capcom game that says there's no co-op fills me with joy.

There probably is no reason why they couldn't make pawn and actual co-op work, but is the amount of time and resources to do that worth it on a new IP? If they could only do one, I'm glad they took this route as these type of games are the ones I prefer to play on my own and the indirect pawn system that you can rent out is the icing on a delicious sounding cake.

Hopefully they don't bugger this one up with Dead Rising style spin-offs 6 months later or give us a short game bulked by DLC.

[Kane Knight]

And why no Team Deathmatch?

[Kalyx triaD]

Actually Capture the Dragon Egg would be great.

[Emperor Smeat]

Kotaku was invited to have the first look at God of War Ascension and confirms their is multiplayer in the game.

In terms of multiplayer, two teams of four players each are fighting over to win both territories and an item in order to finish the objective or kill the monster in the end. The demo showed off multiple versions of Kratos which might be teasing Kratos' appearance will be changing a lot during the game's single player mode.

"Basically we showed a team component where two people killed the small Cyclops. Then we pulled back and tried to show that there's a bigger fight happening on a bigger scale with a bigger Cyclops."

The game we just watched was a four versus four affair — essentially God of War's interpretation of ‘territories'. Each team had to hold two separate positions, and hold said positions for a specific amount of time before earning ‘the favour of the gods', and the right to use the Spear sent from the heavens to slaughter the massive Cyclops.

The game will also contain a class system tied into character creation with playable characters such as Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, and Aires as possible choices.

The PR guy from Santa Monica Studio also hinted the series trademark "Titan moment" to generate the main hype for the game will be the multiplayer and not the traditional large scale boss battle.

Santa Monica Studio is also aware of the huge risk of the game's single player taking a hit or concerns of the multiplayer feeling tact on like the case with other single player games when they added multiplayer (ex. Bioschock 2, Dead Space 2). They feel it won't be a concern with Ascension due to their status and the God of War series status has with gamers.

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17l6m0wux90dpjpg/original.jpg
http://kotaku.com/5906237/our-titanic-first-look-at-god-of-war-ascensions-multiplayer

__________________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Richard Lemarchand, lead designer of the Uncharted series, will be leaving Naughty Dog studio in order to take on a professor job at the University of Southern California.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/richard-lemarchand-leaving-naughty-dog-to-get-crazy/4114/

2) Bayonetta 2 is rumored to have been cancelled with the unofficial reason due to Sega's poor financial report and losses from last year.
http://spong.com/article/26926/Rumour-Bayonetta-2-Has-Been-Cancelled

3) Awesomenaughts which was set for a release this week on XBLA and PSN could now be delayed indefinitely after the developers recently filed for bankruptcy.
UPDATE: Sony confirms the PSN version will still arrive on time while the developers confirmed the XBLA will also arrive a day later.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/you-probably-wont-be-playing-awesomenauts-this-week/4113/

[Kalyx triaD]

Multiplayer in an action game? Now we're talking...

[Blitz]

I realize I'm super late to the party on this one, but goddamn, Limbo is an awesome game.

[Drakul]

http://i.chzbgr.com/completestore/12/5/1/puN8y1eLjUavBCeQJHyYtw2.jpg

[Kane Knight]

http://i.chzbgr.com/completestore/12/5/1/puN8y1eLjUavBCeQJHyYtw2.jpg

Simple solution: Time saver packs.

[Blitz]

Not so late to the party on this one: The Walking Dead game is also awesome.

[Emperor Smeat]

DICE studio becomes the newest member of a growing list of publishers and developers who like the idea of next generation consoles blocking the ability to play used games.

In an interview with CVG, Patrick Bach, interim CEO of DICE and executive producer of Battlefield 3, states he sees the idea as a "win-loss" situation with the win being more games bought new and the loss being consumers might end up buying less titles overall than before.

“Yeah, I heard about that. I think that can be a win and a loss,” he told CVG. “I think it’s a loss if it only means that you will be able to get fewer games for the same money. But in theory you could see it in the other way, because a lot of companies making games today are struggling based on second-hand sales.”

He does favor the banning of used games personally with his reasoning being it would automatically mean more new and diverse IPs can be created.

“So if you think that there are too few new IPs on the market, no one can take that risk if their game is at risk of being resold too many times. Therefore you see a lot of online games being the most popular. You mentioned that you feel like a lot of [online shooters] have the same formula and this is one of the reasons, which most people seem to not realise.”

“So on the positive side you could see more games being created because of this, and also more new IPs, because there’d be a bigger market for games that don’t have for instance multiplayer. There could be awesome single player-only games, which you can’t really do these days because people just pirate them, which is sad.”

“From a gamer perspective, if you want to buy as many games as possible then this could be a problem, but if you want more diverse games then it’s a more positive thing than negative. The only thing I know is that people are not doing it to be evil and stupid, it’s about trying to create some benefits for consumers.”

His reasoning though don't cover the large percentage of gamers who trade in their games to help cover the costs of a new game. Nor do they cover those who purchase used games as a cheap way to be introduced to a new series.

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/usedgames.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/dice-comments-on-next-gen-used-game-block-can-be-a-win-and-a-loss/

___________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Club Nintendo game rewards for the month of May are Eco Shooter: Plant 530 (WiiWare), Snowpack Park (WiiWare), 3D Classic Urban Champion (eshop VC), and Art Style: PiCTOBiTS (eshop).
https://club.nintendo.com/rewards.do

2) According to Kickstarter themselves, the idea of smaller gaming projects to be funded completely by the public is not possible due to only 25% of all gaming projects were able to reach or come close to their fund-raising goal.
http://kotaku.com/5906711/three+fourths-of-video-game-kickstarters-fail

[Sepholio]

I'm actually wondering if they could legally do this, to be honest. Seems like if they block used games, then they are basically destroying businesses like Gamestop, and I don't know how well that would fly. I don't pretend to understand corporate law by any means, but it does seem like Gamestop and other businesses like it would have some kind of claim if they were forced out of the market.

Besides, if even one console announces it will block used games, then the other 2 will allow them, no questions asked, just because of the shit ton of extra revenue they would gain from their competitors loss. The system that blocks used games will lose the next generation of console wars and will probably put the company into a massive loss.

Plus if used games get blocked then piracy will just shoot through the roof again with people figuring out how to work around the blocks put in place. Never underestimate the ingenuity of a disgruntled consumer.

[OssMan]

I saw that pic and got excited for Xenogears

[G]

The user tracks are really fucking cool. Especially the Portal ones from that Templar Knight4 guy. Also love playing the ones I watch on Achievement Horse. There is this one extreme track where the guy has you going backwards upside down. Watching some of the replays are just insane.



Seriously, they are so fucking cool.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FGaN4-nm_NE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Kane Knight]

I'm actually wondering if they could legally do this, to be honest.

currently, yes.

I'd like to see them try, honestly. Watch how well they fare without dedicated retailers.

[Ultra Mantis]

Source (http://games.on.net/)
http://gon.cdn.on.net/screenshots/a/0/8761/2012-05-01/feature_floater.jpg

Looking like somewhat of a cross between the Strogg from Quake 2 and the Genie from Disney’s Aladdin comes the horrific new re-imagining of the alien (and somewhat unfortunately-named) Floater. Originally debuting in UFO: Enemy Unknown’s 1994 release, the Floater has been drastically overhauled from its traditional appearance of a weird pink alien slathered across a floating orb, to a monstrous cyborg powered by a pair of twin back-mounted jets.


http://gon.cdn.on.net/screenshots/a/0/8761/2012-05-01/XCOM_EU_Floater_Battle.jpg

Firaxis described the new Floater to us as living a life full of “rage and pain”, and seeking to take that rage and pain out on us as players. Their new battlefield role seems mostly unchanged from the original, but they are now described as having the additional ability to teleport rather than simply relying on flying from place to place. Their new appearance also suggests perhaps a tougher or more front-line level of combat, although this is not yet known.

http://gon.cdn.on.net/screenshots/a/0/8761/2012-05-01/xcom_floater_comparison.jpg

The Floater joins the Sectoid as the only other known enemy to be making a return from the original games, with all previously released screenshots to date showing only human-like enemies in blue suits. Unlike the Sectoid however, which appears to be a darker take on its iconic 1994 appearance, the Floater is a clearer indicator of Firaxis’ new vision of the UFO/XCOM universe - a universe that is looking more and more compelling by the minute.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Kickstarter needs to have better prizes like stock in game profits. A signed copy of the game or a ticket to place I can't go cause I need to fly out there?

Screw you. Give me profits.

[Kane Knight]

Kickstarter needs to have better prizes like stock in game profits. A signed copy of the game or a ticket to place I can't go cause I need to fly out there?

Screw you. Give me profits.

Kickstarter needs to fuck off and die.

Though I like the new Shadowrun project....

[#BROKEN Hasney]

There's a European kickstarter like website that has a profit share gimmick. Can't remember the name, seen it on either Joystiq or Destructoid.

[Kane Knight]

I doubt that will catch on very much.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Yeah alot of people on JustinTV funded a wrestling project on kickstarter. Then the guy signed an exclusive deal to be the only wrestling on jtv. So, everybody who funded the program were banned JTV at the request of the douchebag who asked them for money.

[Kane Knight]

Yeah alot of people on JustinTV funded a wrestling project on kickstarter. Then the guy signed an exclusive deal to be the only wrestling on jtv. So, everybody who funded the program were banned JTV at the request of the douchebag who asked them for money.

lolwot

[Extreme Angle]

There's a European kickstarter like website that has a profit share gimmick. Can't remember the name, seen it on either Joystiq or Destructoid.

IndieGoGo.

[Blitz]

Gambitious.

[Emperor Smeat]

According to Joystick, new details regarding the Nintendo Network were revealed recently.

The Network will handle in a similar way to the current 3DS eshop network where games are tied to user accounts and not just purely on a single hardware like the Wii was. It will also support multiple user accounts per system similar to the Xbox 360 in terms of game purchases and playability without the restrictions Xbox Live places for Gold and Silver users.

The biggest changes in comparison to PSN and XBLA will be the plan for digital retail games to go on sale the same day as their disc-based counterparts. Nintendo already promises the majority of their future games will take advantage of this setup and will include third party games. Currently Micorosoft and Sony only allow digital versions of retail games to be made available months after a game's release with Microsoft recently confirming they are sticking to the 6-month gap for their digital retail titles.

Listening to complaints from both users and developers, Nintendo also announced they are taking a cue from Valve by providing more frequent sales on digital retail games and games on the network in general than currently done by XBLA and PSN. The main idea is for digital versions to gradually match retail prices than Microsoft and Sony who only temporary discount digital retail games during special sales.

Pre-paid cards will now be unified to allow a single card to purchase both 3DS and Wii U related content.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2012/01/nintendonetwork126.jpg
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/26/wii-u-getting-user-accounts-as-part-of-nintendo-network/
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/majority-of-first-party-3ds-and-wii-u-games-to-be-sold-digital/
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-05-02-nintendo-to-launch-digital-downloads-for-third-parties

______________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Sony considering expanding their paid Playstation Plus program into a tiered program with the regular yearly and 3-month set staying the same, a new $7.99 per month plan, and a new top tier of $10 per month. The top tier will allow free access to CoD Elite, more rewards, and even earlier access to stuff than regular PS+ users.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/sony-considering-free-day-one-releases-and-cod-elite-subscriptions-for-playstation-plus/

2) Microsoft cancels their Inside Xbox and all in-house created shows for the Xbox 360 with IGN rumored to have made the demand in order to provide more content and shows for the Xbox 360.
http://kotaku.com/5907133/microsoft-cancels-inside-xbox-video-series

3) Microsoft has been recently granted a patent which would allow electronic devices to be controlled based on muscle movements from a user through the use of a sensor on the body.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/microsoft-granted-patent-for-muscle-controller/

[ClockShot]

Walked into Gamestop today and reserved the collector's edition of Hitman: Absolution. Just an FYI to you guys, they jacked up the pre-order minimum for all collectors editions and above from 5-10 dollars to a whopping $25. The reason they gave me is that the company is tired of having all these extra collectors editions sitting around and not being picked up and they can't do anything with them.

[Kalyx triaD]

Nintendo's network is sounding good.

[Extreme Angle]

ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE

[RoXer]

Arkham City is $15 on Steam and Arkham Asylum is $7

[Fignuts]

Has there been any news on Elder Scrolls online, or was Extreme Angle just saying that for no particular reason.

[Hornicane]

Just that it was announced officially today, I guess? Not sure, today is the first I have heard of it, but I also don't pay particularly close attention to gaming news.

[DaveBrawl]

Ok that sucks, apparently someone hacked my XBL account through my EA account and got all of my XBL points via some glitch involving the Fifa games. I wouldn't have even known it without an email from Playfire telling me Fifa 12 had been added to my profile.

Way to leave a glaring loophole EA and not fix it after like 3 years now.

Hopefully the good people at Microsoft will restore the balance of the world and give me my 5100+ points back. That's a lot of DLC that I could use, but likely won't.

[Fignuts]

Hope it's not a PC exclusive.

Also, anyone have any word on Prototype 2? Worth 60 bucks, or a used copy buy?

[Emperor Smeat]

Bethesda Softworks announces they are working with ZeniMax Online on the development of an MMO version for Elder Scrolls to be named Elder Scrolls Online.

Bethesda also announced the official debut and more details won't occur until the June issue of Game Informer is released.

The project had been in the works for years but delayed recently when Bethesda sued Mojang over the ownership of the "Scrolls" name which they eventually won.

According to the head of the development team the goal is to make the game the best MMO ever and to tie in the entire Elder Scrolls universe.

“We have been working hard to create an online world in which players will be able to experience the epic Elder Scrolls universe with their friends, something fans have long said they wanted…It will be extremely rewarding finally to unveil what we have been developing the last several years. The entire team is committed to creating the best MMO ever made – and one that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise.”

Probably little to no chance of the game having a console release considering the lack of MMO games on consoles and Sony along with Mircosoft have strict rules involving free-to-play or the requirements needed to constantly patch and provide content for a MMO game.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/Skyrim-Dovahkiin-Jump-675x250.jpg
http://www.screwattack.com/news/elder-scrolls-online-being-developed-zenimax-online

____________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Update to Nexon bid in a partial buyout of EA as EA has rejected the bid but instead will form a partnership allowing Nexon to become the new distributors of the FIFA Online MMO series in Korea.
http://www.vgchartz.com/article/250112/report-electronic-arts-and-nexon-discuss-partnership-not-buyout/

2) Relic confirms Company of Heroes 2 is in development with a 2013 release date set and takes place during World War II on the Eastern Front.
http://kotaku.com/5907433/company-of-heroes-2-comes-out-next-year-moves-to-wwiis-eastern-front

3) The console versions of Tribes: Ascend have been cancelled with the official reason being due to both Mircosoft and Sony refusing to allow the game's XBLA and PSN versions to use the free-to-play model the PC version is planned to use.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/no-plans-to-bring-tribes-ascend-to-consoles/

[Hornicane]

Hope it's not a PC exclusive.

Also, anyone have any word on Prototype 2? Worth 60 bucks, or a used copy buy?

Everything I've seen is pointing to PC and Mac.

[Fignuts]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF


Feel like with 64 player battles in battlefield 3, The Old Republic, and now The Elder Scrolls online, I might finally buy a PC.

I'll wait to see what ESO is like. If it's like skyrim but with tons of actual people in the game world, then I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and shell out for a gaming rig. If they change the mechanics a bunch, I might pass.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Get a PC, build it yourself. It's a pretty fabulous life picking everything up at the bleeding edge for new releases and then the Steam sale for the less interesting games.

Also having a blast with Prototype 2. I enjoyed the first one, but this is a lot, lot better and the reviews seem to be agreeing with me.

[Fignuts]

Reviews I've read seem to imply that it's a decent game, but kind of more of the same, with no signifigant changes.

[Extreme Angle]

Get a PC, build it yourself.

:yes:

[Tom Guycott]

http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/Mystery_Quest_NES_ScreenShot4.gif

Any one ever play this? or remember this?

I always got to like the 3rd or 4th castle and could never find the things I needed or a way forward, sadly. I tried soooo many times.

Going to try and play it now, maybe things have changed in the last 20 years since I played it.

I couldn't find anything I was supposed to be doing ever. Didn't understand what I was supposed to be doing. 30 minutes later, went back to MegaMan 2.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Reviews I've read seem to imply that it's a decent game, but kind of more of the same, with no signifigant changes.

While not "significant" in terms of a massive overhaul, it's more polished and the small tweaks make a huge difference.

Less random battles all over the place, side-missions I actually want to do and bosses that aren't as cheap while still feeling difficult really add up to an awesome experience.

[Extreme Angle]

Arkham Asylum £3 on Steam. Never finished the it so here I go...

[Requiem]

Elder Scrolls Online article scans

http://imgur.com/a/fO9Ty#18

[Sepholio]

Looks pretty good, actually. Graphics kinda remind me of Kingdoms of Amalur. Still kinda feel like even if this is a good game that it will not be able to live up to the level of detail the rest of the series has.

[Extreme Angle]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/njhooSoLJks" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Mad to think this got him a job at Blizzard...

[Cool King]

This makes me both angry, and sad.

Steve Ellis, co-founder and former managing director of Free Radical, has revealed his attempts to get Timesplitters 4 off the ground failed due to publishers' unwillingness to stray from the formula.

Speaking to Edge Ellis, who also worked on Rare's GoldenEye 64, said publishers aren't interested in quirky and different shooters.

"I spent the whole of 2008 going round talking to publishers trying to sign up Timesplitters 4," he said. "There just isn't the interest there in doing anything that tries to step away from the rules of the genre - no one wants to do something that's quirky and different, because it's too much of a risk. And a large part of that is the cost of doing it.

"Nobody really buys any FPSes unless they're called Call Of Duty," he added. "I guess Battlefield did okay, but aside from that pretty much every FPS loses money. I mean, [look at] Crysis 2: great game, but there's no way it came anywhere close to recouping its dev costs."

Obviously, Ellis' statements ignore the numerous non-CoD shooters current in the works, titles such as BioShock: Infinite, Metro: Last Light and Dishonored.

Whether those games sell well is yet to be seen, but surely they show that some publishers are willing to court 'quirky and different'?

The studio formerly known as Free Radical was saved from closure by Crytek, which acquired it and renamed Crytek UK. Although many speculated it might be working on a Timesplitters a spokesperson officially confirmed that was not the case last week. Other rumours suggest Crytek UK is developing Homefront 2.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/346234/timesplitters-4-nobody-was-interested-in-signing-us-says-dev/

[Emperor Smeat]

Harmonix reveals they are currently hiring and working on a new project meant to be released with the next generation of consoles.

Based on the slim details given, the game will be motion-based for controls but won't be a music or a game they've done similar in the past. The game may or may not be a rail-style game depending on which platform the game arrives and how involved Kinect/Move/Tablet controls are used.

The game in question will feature creative storylines, environments that encourage player exploration, and combat encounters

The game also appears to be planned as the start of a brand new series more than just a standalone game.

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/harmonix-logo.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/harmonix-hiring-for-next-gen-motion-control-game/

____________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Valve releases new updates to Steam which allows remote downloading and better efficiency with downloading once the recent Steam beta client is downloaded.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/steam-receives-remote-download-function/

2) As a result of THQ's terrible financial situation, the company will not have any booth presence at this year's E3.
http://kotaku.com/5907505/thq-wont-have-a-booth-at-e3-this-year

3) In an interview with Edge, Miyamoto explained the Vita's current sales struggles is due to Sony struggling to have games that really define the system while people are less willing to wait for the big titles than with the 3DS. Currently the Vita has sold 2 million units worldwide but is also suffering huge declines in sales since its launch in all regions.
http://kotaku.com/5907681/shigeru-miyamoto-explains-why-the-vita-isnt-a-very-strong-product

[ClockShot]

There a pool going on here on how long THQ is gonna last?

Might wanna get in on that.

[Kane Knight]

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/njhooSoLJks" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

Mad to think this got him a job at Blizzard...

Iop works for Blizzard?

[Drakul]

Does anyone have any idea when the next Steam sale will be?

[Kane Knight]

Has Shadowrun Returns come up here yet?

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Does anyone have any idea when the next Steam sale will be?

Summer.

[Xero]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4aVxcHTD1fY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

lol, this is utterly ridiculous.

[RoXer]

Arkham City is $15 on Steam and Arkham Asylum is $7

Also, for the next 4 days Dungeon Defenders and some other games included in the bundle are about $5

http://www.indieroyale.com/

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

I thought there was already a mod for Skyrim to make it an online game. Is that something different?

[El Fangel]

http://th09.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2012/126/6/4/1st_set_by_xxepicxx-d4yp86r.jpg

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Awesome, whats the news about it?

[Kane Knight]

Awesome, whats the news about it?

Well, it was posted in DeviantArt, so the five of them will be having sex.

Possibly with furries involved.

[Kane Knight]

...Kinda funny the Bison/Wario similarities. Not like they're twins or anything, but still.

[Extreme Angle]

Awesome, saw these the other day which I thought were amazing.
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg809/scaled.php?server=809&filename=marioline.jpg&res=landing
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg27/scaled.php?server=27&filename=luigicolor.jpg&res=landing
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lHahbKFONF8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Verbose Minch]

...Kinda funny the Bison/Wario similarities. Not like they're twins or anything, but still.

Throw a moustache on Bison and you've got Waluigi.

[Sepholio]

If Super Mario Bros: Gulf of Mexico was real I would be a very happy man. Straight up epicness right thurrrrr.

[Kane Knight]

If Super Mario Bros: Gulf of Mexico was real I would be a very happy man. Straight up epicness right thurrrrr.

It'd be even better if the Marios were cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico. Real or not, they can't do much worse than the current clowns.

[Pintint]

http://th09.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2012/126/6/4/1st_set_by_xxepicxx-d4yp86r.jpg

Looks like Blizzard's art style.

[LoDownM]

Driving around with mass quantities of illegal narcotics isn't exactly the smartest idea in the world, but if that's something you plan on doing you could learn a thing or two about what not to do from this tale about a man, the police and an Xbox.
Upon being pulled over by the West Texas fuzz Carlos Valenzuela, 42, appeared visibly nervous and repeatedly looked at a bag in his Mercedes' passenger seat. After discovering a bundle of the devil's dandruff in the vehicle, the El Paso County Sheriffs' Office brought in a K-9 unit that promptly uncovered an additional two bricks of cocaine hidden inside an Xbox 360.
In total close to four pounds of nose candy was recovered from inside the vehicle. Valenzuela was arrested, charged with manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance and placed on a $25,000 bond. In the end, the real tragedy in all of this was that yet another innocent game console has lost its life in the War on Drugs.


http://www.destructoid.com/man-arrested-for-smuggling-cocaine-in-his-xbox-360-227008.phtml

[Kalyx triaD]

You'd be surprised how many idiots fucked themselves over by simply looking suspect when in the presence of a cop.

[Sepholio]

You'd be surprised how many idiots fucked themselves over by simply looking suspect when in the presence of a cop.

99% of them, I'd wager.

[Savio]

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/2433/gamexb.png

[Kane Knight]

lolwot

[Sepholio]

lol nerds and their nerd challenges.

[Drakul]

A new Family Guy has been leaked. It'll be based around the episode where BRian & Stewie jump to different dimensions.

[Emperor Smeat]

Ubisoft announces Beyond Good & Evil 2 will be getting a release but not on current consoles.

The creator of the Rayman series, Michel Ancel, confirms he's in charge of the project and is currently in development again.

The game will be taking some inspiration from Mirror's Edge in regards to camera and movement system but current consoles do not have enough power nor tech to make it work the way Ubisoft wants. The goal is to make it feel very life-like and as if the action was occurring live.

“We are in an active creation stage and at this moment we are only focusing on the game and making it the best game that we can... I can say that it’s a very ambitious game and we need some tech to achieve that ambition. We focus on the game. We create it first, then we’ll see what can run it.”

Ubisoft also teased there won't be any news about the game for this year's E3 due to the company being focused on Rayman Legends and Assassin's Creed 3 as their current top priority.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/beyond-good-and-evil-hd-6.jpg
http://www.screwattack.com/news/beyond-good-evil-2-has-been-confirmed-next-generation

__________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Huge announcement regarding the upcoming Hitman: Absolution will be revealed on May 10 by IO Interactive.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/major-hitman-absolution-announcement-coming-this-week/

2) Rumored launch list of about 25 games for the Wii U was supposed leaked by Blockbuster's UK branch showing potential heavy support from Ubisoft and several games that have yet to be revealed.
UPDATE: List itself got debunked as just "speculation" by a former Blockbuster manager.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/rumor-has-blockbuster-uk-leaked-wii-u-launch-titles

3) Sony starts the hype machine for their E3 press conference by calling it the "Future of Gameplay and Innovation" conference with the news expected to cover upcoming games and new services for PSN.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/sony-promises-the-future-of-gameplay-and-innovation-at-e3/

[DaveBrawl]

Ok that sucks, apparently someone hacked my XBL account through my EA account and got all of my XBL points via some glitch involving the Fifa games. I wouldn't have even known it without an email from Playfire telling me Fifa 12 had been added to my profile.

Way to leave a glaring loophole EA and not fix it after like 3 years now.

Hopefully the good people at Microsoft will restore the balance of the world and give me my 5100+ points back. That's a lot of DLC that I could use, but likely won't.

Sweet, MS gave me my points back and my new slim I got off ebay is working correctly. Everything is coming up Milhouse.

[ClockShot]

Other than the pretty good voice cast, I hope it's a release date for Hitman.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

SF X T: 1.4 million (target was 2 million. Ouchie)
RE: Racoon City: 1.7 million (I'm no SF X T fan, but fuck off did this corpse outsell it)
Monster Hunter 3G: 1.6 million (Only out in Japan too. They can't get enough of this shit)
UMVC3: No real figures announced, but it didn't break a million (You think it might have been too soon for your stupid upgrade edition Capcom? Shocking)

http://www.destructoid.com/capcom-profits-down-street-fighter-x-tekken-sales-lagged-227099.phtml

[Kalyx triaD]

ORC did way better than it deserved. SFxT did well, it'll reach target by Fall, I think. Monster Hunter kills it again, like that's the whole population of Japan buying it. Only people who really dug MvC3 would double dip, I didn't imagine it would sell anywhere near vanilla's numbers.

[Drakul]

I got a 120gb hard drive for a 360 for pretty cheap. Then I got it home and realised it was for the slim 360 and I have the fat 360. I took it back to the shop and the guy says I can still use the hard drive on the old fat model. I'm thinking he's talking crap just to keep the sale.
So, before I break my 360 trying to jam the hard drive into place, does the slims hard drive work with the original fat model?

[#BROKEN Hasney]

You need a case, but yeah, they work fine.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/hdd-hard-disk-drive-case-for-xbox-360-black-30826?item=1

[Drakul]

So, I can buy this (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Xbox-Replacement-Drive-Black-Caddy/dp/B0056ZUCKM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1336487573&sr=8-4), put the slim hard drive into it and put it in my 360?

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Yup, that'll do it.

You'll need to take it out of the case it's in now as well.

[Drakul]

Sounds like it could be tricky.

If GAME trade in hard drives, I might just see if I can get a little profit from a trade in.

Edit: Seems GAME might give me very little for it. So trading it in is a waste.
I could take it back for a refund from the shop I bought it from but I'm not in the mood to get messed about right now.

[Drakul]

Ok, I tried to put it into my 360 and it fits in perfectly. I guess it wasn't a slim after all.

I skipped sign in and had a look at what was on the drive. So far it's a ton of demos and a few games. A lot of which involve shooting people in the face.

Worryingly, the only theme on the drive is titled osama_bin_laden_.jpg :|

[#BROKEN Hasney]

So does the hard drive look like that enclosure you linked to on Amazon?

[Kalyx triaD]

It works, my bro did the same.

Though it came with the cable at the time.

[Drakul]

So does the hard drive look like that enclosure you linked to on Amazon?

It looks exactly like the 60gb I originally had in my 360 but black. I stupidly thought the fan above the "eject" button was part of the 60gb drive:$.

No way am I paying £15 for a transfer kit I'm going to use once. I'm just going to try and fill up a pen drive with stuff from the 60gb and move it to the 120gb.

[Emperor Smeat]

EA released their financial report today revealing Star Wars TOR is losing subscribers again, new Need for Speed confirmed, and the plans to invest around $80 million for initial next gen games.

In terms of the stock market, EA's stock dropped by 10% after the fiscal report was announced with the details involving Star Wars Old Republic being the main reason.

The MMO game of Star Wars The Old Republic, another 400,000 subscribers have dropped out since February leaving around 1.3 million users left. None of the special promotions and free month deals have been effective in keeping subscribers.

A new Dead Space and Need for Speed game have been confirmed to be in development with a Spring 2013 release expected. No details were revealed about the new Dead Space but its assumed Criterion is developing the new Need for Speed game.

The company itself is undergoing a "restructuring" phase with massive layoffs expected to the amount of around $40 million needing to be saved.

* EA spending $80 million on next generation development (it's calling it “Gen4”) over the next year.
* 11 million users are currently using Origin, and the service generated $150 million in 10 months.
* As rumors have suggested (also, logic), there’s another Need For Speed game coming later this year. It should be Criterion's turn.
* Another Dead Space game was mentioned, but no details. I wonder if the snow planet rumors are true?
* The reception to The Old Republic is, in EA’s eyes, in line with “original assumptions.”
* The company will undergo a “restructuring” between now and September 30 that will result in layoffs. It’s unclear how many employees will be impacted, but since it’s going to cost EA about $40 million to “restructure,” that’s not a very good sign.
* A bunch of stuff about EA pushing deeper and deeper into social/casual gaming.
* No PopCap news, which means EA did not announce Peggle 2.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/Dead-Space-2-action-feature.jpg
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/tidbits-from-electronic-arts-q4-financial-results/4130/
_______________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Microsoft rumored to be working on a new Kinect-addon called "Kinect Play Fit kit" which will end up working similar in idea to Nintendo's Wii Fit and the unfinished Vitality Device combined.
http://kotaku.com/5908519/rumor-microsoft-prepping-kinect-play-fit-exercise-tracking-and-heart+rate-monitor

2) New details regarding God of War Ascension include no co-op planned for now, campaign will last around 5-10 hours, and the camera system has been tweaked a bit.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/new-god-of-war-ascension-details-from-games-director/

3) Anyone who pre-ordered Hitman Absolution at Gamestop can now access a free sniper challenge mission DLC pack starting today.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/hitman-sniper-challenge-pre-order-bonus-gamestop

[ClockShot]

Awwww quick, what the fuck was that game at the arcades where you were a sniper for SWAT or something and you had to do some shooting through the scope? And when you scope a hot chick your health goes up.

That's what the sniper mission for hitman reminds me of.

Also, 5-10 hour campaign for the new God of War game? Sounds shorter than Force Unleashed 2.

[FearedSanctity]

http://www.usn.co.jp/us-eng/gun/silent_scope_us.jpg

?

[Kane Knight]

Losing, SM, not loosing.

EA's had stock problems already. They're nto THQ, but...This definitely isn't helping them.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Keep seeing articles about a new WWII shooter and people saying its fresh because it's been a while.

The whole FPS genre feels stale regardless of setting. They all have pretty similar mechanics with their regenerating health and only a couple of weapons. You could set an FPS in my large intestine and it would likely feel stale.

[Drakul]

FPS is only stale because they keep making the same game. I don't play modern FPS games like CoD or BF and I honestly can't tell the difference when I look at screens or videos.
FPS games need much more variation. TS4 would have been perfect to revitalise the genre but that's "too risky". Where as churning out identicle games yearly is never ever going to backfire. Nope, no one will ever get sick of the same 5 run-of-the-mill guns in the same bland setting every year.

[Drakul]

http://i.chzbgr.com/completestore/12/5/8/JnBFSoLEukabLNHuRVjByw2.jpg

Minecraft 360 is out today. I'll DL the demo but I'm not sure if it'll be woth buying. I already have Fortresscraft, which looks like the same thing.
Unless Minecraft has stuff I don't know about. Demos aren't always great and showing everything.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

FPS is only stale because they keep making the same game. I don't play modern FPS games like CoD or BF and I honestly can't tell the difference when I look at screens or videos.
FPS games need much more variation. TS4 would have been perfect to revitalise the genre but that's "too risky". Where as churning out identicle games yearly is never ever going to backfire. Nope, no one will ever get sick of the same 5 run-of-the-mill guns in the same bland setting every year.

Exactly, that's my point. It's not that FPS have to be stale, it's just that they make them so and a setting is not going to change that unless they play with the mechanics at least a little bit.

[Kane Knight]

Keep seeing articles about a new WWII shooter and people saying its fresh because it's been a while.

The whole FPS genre feels stale regardless of setting. They all have pretty similar mechanics with their regenerating health and only a couple of weapons. You could set an FPS in my large intestine and it would likely feel stale.

Pfft. the brown gray cover based FPS is the greatest and most immersive innovation ever. All games should be made into one.

[Drakul]

Preorder The Amazing Spiderman at Amazon and get Stan Lee as a playable character.
I looked at Amazon and get see anything yet. I preordered anyway so I should still get Stan Lee.

Preorder at Gamestop and you get a Rhino challenge pack. You don't play as Rhino, you just do chalenges around him.

[Sepholio]

In terms of the stock market, EA's stock dropped by 10% after the fiscal report was announced with the details involving Star Wars Old Republic being the main reason.

Oh well, just the market leveling out that bullshit 9% gain they got last month when Bloomberg or whoever it was reported that Nexon was going to buy EA.

Makes me wonder if anyone at the publication had EA stock and sold it abruptly after that article ran. You know, since it was utter garbage and not true at all.