Videogame News Thread

[Purgatory]

We'd have to see how it fares when it's released. Being that I love FPS's, I may have to try it.

[Kane Knight]

:rofl: E-Sport??! "C'mon kids!! Why go outside and play real sports, when you can play SHOOOOOTMAAAANIAAAAAAAAA...From the comfort of your own couch." Big booming voice, fanfare, the works. I see this already.

:nono:

E-Sport is a ridiculous concept, but not a new one.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

I'm all for people playing video game tournaments for money, but don't call it a sport. I also don't want to watch it.

[alvarado52]

It's as much a sport as Nascar

[Drakul]

I've said that about F1. There is no real athletic ability needed in motorsports. It's not like you need good strength or the ability to run 100 metres.The guy in the fastest machine will win.
All you need in motor sports is good reactions and maybe the ability to plan ahead which is what you need in any competitive game.

I wouldn't call either a sport.

What is the definition of a sport, anyway? Any definition I've heard has also applied to something that isn't considered a sport.

[Kalyx triaD]

Some degree of physical stamina is required for motor sports.

I see it as anything that involves competition based on whatever factors that lend themselves to a non or least random game between humans. Chess can be a sport, certain games can be a sport, ultimate frisbee is a sport, golf, etc. All the field stuff is obvious but also instantly accepted because of the primarily physical factor.

People should be careful not to be so protective of the word, since the same human progression that changes definitions of marriage and other cultural things can also bleed into stuff like 'what is a sport'. Eventually it won't matter and people won't have a problem with Starcraft competitions being a sport.

Get over that.

[Drakul]

It's like art. A few centuries ago, art was a sculpture of a man or a painting of a countryside or some kind of scene. Now, art is an unmade bed, a single line on a peice of paper or a light going off and on.

People argue certain things are art and others argue that they aren't.

I don't know where I'm going with this.

[Kane Knight]

It's like art. A few centuries ago, art was a sculpture of a man or a painting of a countryside or some kind of scene. Now, art is an unmade bed, a single line on a peice of paper or a light going off and on.

People argue certain things are art and others argue that they aren't.

I don't know where I'm going with this.

Of course, since that was never really true, I'm not sure where you were going either.

[Kane Knight]

In times before electricity, when sheep ruled the world and waffles were considered health food, peeing was a sport. So don't get too attached to the word sport, because one day....

[Kane Knight]

It's as much a sport as Nascar

And Nascar is retarded. It's more retarded than the offspring of Droford and Lara Emily.

[DaveBrawl]

Sport or not it at least used to be entertaining but it's not even really that anymore.

[Emperor Smeat]

While it was teased weeks earlier Miyamoto was both working on a new IP series and it could possibly debut at E3, both ended up being delayed due to the announcement of Miyamoto's current schedule leaves him no real time to work on the project for at least the near future.

Currently Nintendo has him helping out their other development teams finish up their own projects for both the Wii U and 3DS.

"I'm working with a number of small teams on a lot of different ideas, but the problem is because of all these different roles that I have to fulfill, it takes me a long time to write the design document (...) maybe this time next year I'll have something ready to show you that perhaps will illustrate that idea."

The original plans were for the new IP title to be worked on around the same time as Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon and Pikmin 3 before changes were recently made.

The only announcement Miyamoto was able to confirm was he is currently working on storyboard designs for the new game using Flipnote Studio software during his spare free time in between work.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/blog_header_photos/69852/blog_header_876151.png
http://www.screwattack.com/news/miyamotos-new-ip-still-long-way
__________________________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) EA currently has no plans in reviving the MVP series once Take Two's exclusive contract with MLB expires later this year.
http://www.destructoid.com/ea-sports-not-currently-negotiating-for-mlb-license-228971.phtml

2) Nintendo announces the Kirby 20th Anniversary set is titled "Kirby Dream Collection" and will be released in September.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/kirbys-dream-collection-gets-release-date

3) Depending on your perspective, a new website called "black-aperture.com" recently appeared online and could possibly be teasing an announcement soon for Half-Life 3, Portal 3, or another trolling attempt by Valve or Valve fanboys.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/more-valve-trolling-or-fan-trolling

[Verbose Minch]

Miyamoto is a god.

[Kane Knight]

IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP IP

Just getting it out of the way.

[Emperor Smeat]

While the recently released Ninja Gaiden 3 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 was generally met with bad reviews and complaints from both reviewers and consumers, Tecmo revealed at E3 Nintendo is working with the company to improve the game for its upcoming port on the Wii U.

Nintendo confirmed they are publishing the game and are lending some support to help fix and tweak certain parts of the game. Tecmo also confirmed the complaints leveled against the game on the other platforms was the basis for improvements for the Wii U version.

The game's AI, the return of dismembering enemies, and a reworked leveling system were a few of the changes currently revealed.

* Unique Wii U controls – During single-player mode, players can enjoy faster and more fluid action by using the touch screen of the Wii U GamePad controller to select weapons, execute Ninpo, see in-game information and much more.
* New Weapons and Ninpo Types – Exclusive to the Wii U version, the game includes six weapon types and three Ninpo types, allowing for greater game-play variation and deeper strategy.
* Character/Weapon Progression System – Using the Karma points earned during game play, a player can upgrade his weapons and Ninpo and increase the character HP level.
* Faster, More Intense Battles – Improved enemy AI, the return of dismemberment, as well as new enemy types and battle areas have been added for greater variety in battles and increased replay value.

The Wii U version is on track for a Fall 2012 release.

http://s.pro-gmedia.com/videogamer/media/images/wiiu/ninja_gaiden_3_razors_edge/screens/ninja_gaiden_3_razors_edge_6_605x.jpg
http://www.videogamer.com/wiiu/ninja_gaiden_3_razors_edge/news/ninja_gaiden_3_razors_edge_on_wii_u_brings_back_dismemberment.html
E3 trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FW9lf_Q08g
_________________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) After years of rumors of E3 moving out of Los Angeles, it might become a reality next year as the ESA is looking for a new city to host the 2013 expo with Chicago, New York City, and San Francisco as the top choices.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/e3-may-be-leaving-la-area-next-year

2) Sony announces once again The Last Guardian for the PS3 is not cancelled with technical issues involving the PS3 as the new official reason for the delay and lack of news on the project.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/last-guardian-not-canned-yet

3) Overkill Entertainment are rumored to be currently working on a new Left 4 Dead game for Valve with the game possibly being a prequel to the first game in the series.
http://kotaku.com/5916492/left-4-dead-prequel-in-development

[ClockShot]

They can tweak Ninja Gaiden 3, still ain't gonna be as great as the first on Xbox.

And yes please, bring E3 to New York. I'll gladly sign the petition for that.

[El Fangel]

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



Holy fuck.

[Kane Knight]

2) Sony announces once again The Last Guardian for the PS3 is not cancelled with technical issues involving the PS3 as the new official reason for the delay and lack of news on the project.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/last-guardian-not-canned-yet


Could this be the beginning of a new DNF?

[Fignuts]

Dunno, I think the current Vaporware champ is still half-life 2 episode 3.

[OssMan]

that and Final Fantasy Versus XIII

[Kane Knight]

Dunno, I think the current Vaporware champ is still half-life 2 episode 3.

That's less vaporware and more an epic trolljob.

[ClockShot]

38 Studios officially filed for bankruptcy yesterday in Delaware.

State and federal money guys are combing the finances. Rhode Island is worried they ain't gonna see all of their $75 million bucks again.

[Kane Knight]

38 Studios officially filed for bankruptcy yesterday in Delaware.

State and federal money guys are combing the finances. Rhode Island is worried they ain't gonna see all of their $75 million bucks again.

They were apparently already under investigation.

[ClockShot]

That I know, but what surprised me was how long they took to file. I guess they couldn't afford the plane or train ticket to Delaware.

[Emperor Smeat]

While Sony showed off their own "Smash Bros"-like game at E3, Microsoft states they have no interest in making one nor would they even consider making one any time soon.

Phil Spencer, boss of Microsoft's game studios, made the official announcement during an interview with Kotaku.

Was this a confirmation that it was in development? No. The opposite. "You do not want that game," Spencer said. "Have you played the [PlayStation] All-Stars?"

He stated Microsoft's priority with their studios is not to make games that would compete against each other or to rush developing games to fill in multiple genres for the sake of diversity if it comes at the cost of potential sales revenue.

"I'm not going to take a shot at Sony first-party [game development]," Spencer said, "I think they do some great games. We're going to try to build games that actually create new opportunity on our platform. I don't really need to go and fill genres with the teams that we have. I don't compete with games that are already on my platform. Sure, all games on some level compete for a dollar bill, but for us it's really going to be to try to innovate. I haven't played the game, so I'm not saying it's not innovative, but..."

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17p5prblkdu1vjpg/original.jpg
http://kotaku.com/5916929/microsoft-you-do-not-want-an-xbox-smash-bros-clone
___________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Update to yesterday's Left 4 Dead prequel as Valve denies the game is in development nor is Overkill Entertainment working on such project.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/update-payday-devs-not-working-left-4-dead-prequel

2) Microsoft confirms the first person combat game from Crytek shown last year called "Ryse" is still in development but couldn't give any more details in regards to the project.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/e3-2012-cryteks-ryse-is-still-in-development-for-kinect/

3) After some backlash about no new Zelda game at this year's E3, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Miyamoto announces a new Zelda game for the Wii U is currently in the planning and research stage at the moment.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/miyamoto-talks-zelda-wii-u-and-casual-games

[Kalyx triaD]

Also Microsoft does not have enough of their own character to fill a roster.

[Funky Fly]

Blinx, Master Chief, maybe the Gears of War crew and like Kaim from Lost Odyssey...

Yeah, MS isn't really good at creating memorable mascots.

[Kane Knight]

Also Microsoft does not have enough of their own character to fill a roster.

Which is exactly what people were saying about Sony.

[Kalyx triaD]

And they were right. Allstar has a shit roster.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Blinx, Master Chief, maybe the Gears of War crew and like Kaim from Lost Odyssey...

Yeah, MS isn't really good at creating memorable mascots.

The 4 characters from Brute Force.

Hell, at least you can throw Banjo, Conker in and maybe some sort of piñata farmer in ala the Pokemon Trainer in Smash.

[Razzamajazz]

First time i try to log into psn in months and its down. fantastic

[Emperor Smeat]

Microsoft did make a few fighters on the original Xbox so they can use those if they wanted to beef up such a roster but everyone would want KI characters and Rare doesn't want that to happen any time soon. More of a technical reason for Rare since almost nobody is still with the company who worked on the KI series.

They'd still have the same problem Sony is having and its due to not having enough memorable characters. Sony couldn't even get to 7 characters revealed before teasing a 3rd party one appearing (Big Daddy).

[Kane Knight]

And they were right. Allstar has a shit roster.

You shut your whore mouth. Parappa > you.

[Emperor Smeat]

A couple of Wii U stuff with another potential rumor pointing to a $300-$350 price range and an interview from Kotaku with Reggie Fils-Aime.

While the price range has been rumored between $300 to $450, recent rumors are leaning towards $300 to $350 as the actual range. If a recent leak by Best Buy is true, the final price might be $300 which still confirms earlier rumors of Japan about the console costing less than $350 in the US.


In an interview with Kotaku, Reggie Fils-Aime revealed a few smaller details involving the Wii U:
* An achievement system has been designed but won't be a mandatory feature like the Xbox 360 and will be left to developers if they want to have them in their games.
* The ability to play Wii U games off of the tablet while the tv is used for non-gaming will be an optional feature for developers.
* Nintendo redid the entire Friends Code system to make it a lot simpler and to also allow account names to be possible
* A transfer system has been designed to allow Wii-to-Wii U games, saves, and DLC be moveable.
* Nintendo is leaning on only including a small hard drive but like the PS3 will allow users to use any hard drive they want for the Wii U.
* Smash Bros for the 3DS and Wii U was teased as the first big game that will show off connectivity between the 2 devices from Nintendo.
* The decision against multi-touch for the tablet was due to buttons being on the tablet which made it redundant to have multi-touch controls.
* Nintendo has no problems with the idea of used games nor has any desire to go after used game owners like other companies.

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17pgaaszn2tqjjpg/original.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/rumor-leaked-best-buy-kiosk-photo-prices-wii-u-at-300/
http://kotaku.com/5917363/better-friend-codes-achievements-and-more-nintendo-answers-our-burning-wii-u-questions
___________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Crytek announces their plans after Crysis 3 is to make all future games follow the free-to-play model starting with the North American release of Warface later this year.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/crytek-adopt-free-play-model-after-crysis-3

2) Eternal Darkness 2 is rumored to have been cancelled after Nintendo dropped all support for Silicon Knights due to the studio needing an initial $10 million package to stay afloat to work on the project with more payments possible if issues occur during development.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/rumor-eternal-darkness-2-cancelled-it-announced

3) The new boss for THQ hints the next Saints Row game could be tossing out the goofyness from the first three games in favor of something a bit more serious.
http://www.destructoid.com/new-thq-president-wants-an-adult-humor-free-saints-row-229326.phtml

[Kane Knight]

3) The new boss for THQ hints the next Saints Row game could be tossing out the goofyness from the first three games in favor of something a bit more serious.
http://www.destructoid.com/new-thq-president-wants-an-adult-humor-free-saints-row-229326.phtml

Hey guys, let's miss the point of the game series entirely and make it something it isn't. What could possibly go wrong?

[Emperor Smeat]

New details regarding the upcoming Splinter Cell: Blacklist were revealed recently to go along with the potential of a Wii U version possible if a retailer listing is true.

Unlike Conviction which took place mostly in Virginia and Washington DC, the storyline for Blacklist will take place in multiple regions and cities around the world similar to older Splinter Cell games.

Some details in regards to Sam Fisher's role in the new game were also revealed and are a bit of a spoiler.
He's the boss of Fourth Echelon after Third Echelon is dissolved and everyone who works for him follows his orders. He can call in airstrikes, drones, and other stuff to be used in missions without having to wait for approval.

Stealth and gameplay is a bit more fluid due to Sam Fisher being a bit leaner and faster in this game than in previous games.

A new feature was revealed called "Killing in Motion" and sounds a bit similar to what Ubisoft is trying to achieve with Assassin's Creed 3.
Ubisoft's Toronto dev studio takes over where the Montreal team left off and they're calling the new philosophy governing Blacklist's gameplay "Killing in Motion." It means that Sam can vault from a stealth position, stab an unsuspecting enemy in the neck and pull off two Mark & Execute kills while running to a wall that he'll effortlessly climb in seconds. The old days of watching a light meter and trying not to cough too loudly appear to be gone.

The game will also borrow a bit in style from Deus Ex Human Revolution and past Splinter Cell games by giving the player the option of which style they'd want to use for any mission between pure stealth, pure action, and a mix of both.

Returning from Conviction is the "Last Known Position" feature and interrogations which this time will offer more branching options. The ability to upgrade weapons were also revealed to be new features for the game.

While Ubisoft only announced the game will be released on the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3, a Wii U version might be revealed in the future if a recent leaked inventory list from Best Buy is true.

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/splinter-cell-blacklist.jpg
http://kotaku.com/5917737/splinter-cell-blacklist-ushers-in-a-faster-bossier-sam-fisher
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/retailer-lists-splinter-cell-black-list-for-wii-u/
___________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Update to the Eternal Drakess 2 news as the boss of Silicon Knights denies rumors of Eternal Darkness 2 being cancelled nor Nintendo dropped their current support of the studio.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/silicon-knights-lay-offs-and-debunked-rumors

2) Slant Six, developers of Resident Evil Racoon City, confirm layoffs have occured at the studio with roughly 25% of the entire workforce laid off.
http://www.destructoid.com/slant-six-hit-with-layoffs-229386.phtml

3) Shigeru Miyamoto squashes any rumors of Retro Studio's project for the Wii U being a Zelda game saying they are "too busy" to even work on such a project but stated he'd have no problem if the studio were to be picked to work on a Zelda game in the future.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/12/retro-studios-too-busy-to-work-on-zelda

[Kalyx triaD]

A lot of the Blacklist details, including the spoiler tag stuff, was well spoken about at E3. No news here, though they really elaborate on the return of Spies vs Mercs.

Of course there will be a Zelda WiiU, a main Zelda game has appeared on every Nintendo console (sometimes twice). I don't even consider it speculation.

After Too Human, I expect nothing from SK. Eternal Darkness was a special game that I don't think can be properly followed up in this day and age.

[ClockShot]

I know Mike Ironside ain't the voice of Sam Fisher anymore. Which is a bit sad, loved his work for the game and in film/tv. But I'll still grab this, even if some nobody named Eric Johnson is the new voice.

[Fignuts]

Conviction is one of my favorite games this generation, so I'll definitely be picking up Blacklist.

One thing they need to do, is take a note from the recent Batman games, and make the enemies get scared as you eliminate more people in the area.

It's kind of silly when an enemy is throwing out profanity laden insults and being all cocky, when the bodies of a dozen of his friends are all around him.

[Kalyx triaD]

Perhaps they have a Koopa Troopa's moxie.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Enemies are going to try and rape Lara in the new Tomb Raider.

Day 1 purchase right here.

[Boomer]

Indie Game: The Movie is really good.

[Kane Knight]

Enemies are going to try and rape Lara in the new Tomb Raider.

Day 1 purchase right here.

Well, rape always adds class.

[Emperor Smeat]

Shigeru Miyamoto teases that he might consider one day to make a first person shooter for the Wii U but not in a traditional sense where guns are the only focus of the game.

Instead he wants to take the first person perspective to enhance other aspects of a shooter to add in a stronger role for exploration and other often ignored aspects of things in the shooter genre.

In theory, he would want the Wii U tablet to contain all the main data and HUD to leave the tv screen free from items so it would only focus on the virtual world created.

"I actually do kind of want to make a first-person shooter," he told me in Los Angeles last week, "but I don't have time."

"Rather than necessarily the question of 'What kind of weapon do I have?' in a first person shooter or 'What kind of effect does that have on an enemy?', I think that the structure of a first-person shooter is something that's very interesting," he said through a translator. "Having that 3D space that in theory you are in and being able to look around and explore that—particularly being able to do that in conjunction with another person—is very interesting."

A few of the ideas he was considering were also explaining within the interview with Kotaku with the primary focus involving how the Wii U tablet can create a unique experience for each person playing.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/blog_header_photos/3588/blog_header_1638091.jpg
http://kotaku.com/5918095/the-creator-of-mario-and-zelda-wants-to-make-a-first+person-shooter
____________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Final update to THQ loss of the UFC license as the company will have to pay a $1.1 million severance fee to go along with the $1.3 million lost from the cancelled UFC 3 Undisputed project and $0.5 million from assets owned from the UFC series.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/thq-outlines-financial-fallout-of-ending-ufc-deal/4207/

2) IBM and Activision joins the growing list of companies who appose the potential ban on the sale of Xbox 360s in America after Motorola with Google won their recent patent case against Microsoft.
http://www.fosspatents.com/2012/06/ibm-activision-blizzard-latest.html

3) Nintendo announces the Japanese version of Kirby's 20th anniversary set will include 6 games, a special calendar for the series, an art book, and a soundtrack. The games listed could also be a teaser of what the potential US and European versions of the set will include.
Kirby's Dream Land (Gameboy) Kirby's Adventure (Famicom/NES) Kirby's Dream Land 2 (Gameboy) Kirby Super Star (Super Famicom/SNES) Kirby's Dream Land 3 (Super Famicom/SNES) Kirby 64 (Nintendo 64)
http://www.screwattack.com/news/kirby-anniversary-collection-games-announced

[Kalyx triaD]

Did you see the douchbag headline Kotaku gave that story? Ugh.

[loopydate]

This guy (http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/uxpil/ive_been_playing_the_same_game_of_civilization_ii/) has been playing the same game of Civilization II for a decade. His account of life in the virtual 40th century is really interesting.

[Fignuts]

Buying that Kirby set. Hot damn.

[Sepholio]

Wow, that makes me want to play civ2 again :o

[Emperor Smeat]

Crystal Dynamics denying and back tracking a bit on claims of the upcoming reboot of Tomb Raider having any rape scenes nor conveys it being possible.

The statement was issued after the negative backlash from the E3 trailer and details from the project's producer suggesting the incident occurs in the game.

Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrell Gallagher has issued a statement categorically denying the existence of an attempted rape scene in the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot, despite a colleague saying there was during E3.

“We were not clear in a recent E3 press interview and things have been misunderstood. Sexual assault of any kind is categorically not a theme that we cover in this game,” he said in a statement. Square-Enix and Crystal Dynamics were the center of a media storm yesterday after the game’s producer, Ron Rosenberg, mentioned that the reboot featured an attempted rape scene.

The official stance is the producer for the game misspoke about the potential scene in question from the trailer which made it be implied the scene occurs but not on camera during the interview with Kotaku.

Gallagher insists that Rosenberg misspoke while discussing a scene from the game. ”One of the character-defining moments for Lara in the game, which has been incorrectly referred to as an ‘attempted rape scene,’ is the content we showed at this year’s E3 where Lara is forced to kill another human being for the first time. In this particular section, while there is a threatening undertone in the sequence and surrounding drama, it never goes any further than the scenes that we have already shown publicly.”

A transcript of the original discussion has been posted by Kotaku:

Rosenberg: ”And then what happens is her best friend gets kidnapped, she gets taken prisoner by scavengers on the island. They try to rape her, and-”

Kotaku journalist: ”They try to rape her?”

Rosenberg: ”She’s literally turned into a cornered animal. And that’s a huge step in her evolution – she’s either forced to fight back or die and that’s what we’re showing today.”

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/blog_header_photos/56014/blog_header_1650926.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/crystal-dynamics-there-is-no-attempted-rape-scene-in-tomb-raider/
___________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) THQ currently in legal trouble over the claims the company intentionally mislead investors regarding the sales of the uDraw tablet in order to keep investors from bailing out if they knew the real details of the situation.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/thq-under-investigation-regarding-false-demand-for-udraw-tablet/

2) Naughty Dog announces a TBA 2013 release date for The Last of Us on the PS3 with the possibility of arriving after God of War IV which releases in March 2013.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/the-last-of-us-not-coming-until-2013/4213/

3) Sony currently rumored to be considering making a Gran Turismo game for the PS Vita based on a recent survey sent by the company.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/rumor-sony-survey-hints-at-gran-turismo-for-playstation-vita/

[Kalyx triaD]

Lord forbid a bad man tries to rape a girl and gets killed trying. It's only seen in a million fucking movies.

[LoDownM]

This guy (http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/uxpil/ive_been_playing_the_same_game_of_civilization_ii/) has been playing the same game of Civilization II for a decade. His account of life in the virtual 40th century is really interesting.

Wow, that makes me want to play civ2 again :o


Glad the new Civ5 expansion comes out next week. Wanna play now.

[alvarado52]

uhh....wut?

The studio that once ruled the game store sales charts with Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk have confirmed they are taking on another top selling franchise.

Neversoft turned their official web page into a giant hub for prospective employees as they look for programmers, developers and other creative and technical talent to help them build the newest Call of Duty title.

It's the latest detail since the studio announced last year that they were looking for employees to work on a new unnamed FPS that they only described as an "action shooter."

The announcement appeared on the NeoGAF forum where the news seemed to be less than encouraging from most of the responders. So brace yourself for the endless stream of "Modern Boardfare" jokes to come in the next few weeks.

http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission/2012/06/14/call-of-duty-revealed-as-neversofts-new-fps-project/

[Kalyx triaD]

Hmm...

[LoDownM]

I hope this means no more IW CoD games.

[Kalyx triaD]

That looks like the case. IW is basically dead, surprised they got to do MW3.

[alvarado52]

Pretty sure IW will be done. Gotta say, its a ballsy move giving your top franchise to a developer who (as far as i know) has never even sniffed a FPS.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2010/06/neversoftad6910.jpg

dont know if thats a legit poster from Neversoft, but if so it could say something about the franchise's direction.

[Kalyx triaD]

Well they have some range. They did Guitar Hero 3 and World Tour well enough, and they never did a game like beforehand. They also did one of the better Spider-Man games way back. I like them.

Don't like their bosses.

[alvarado52]

i think maybe Activision is realizing the franchise may be getting stale and need some new ideas injected. Im okay with Call of Duty switching developers...they sorta planned that anyway with Sledgehammer.

[Kalyx triaD]

They don't care if something goes stale, they just didn't a have a decent team to share Treyarch's... duty. I don't know if this will mean fresh ideas, but Neversoft won't get a series and not put their stamp on it.

[LoDownM]

Activision needs to just give the franchise to Treyarch and change it to a every 2 years release and just support the hell out of the game for 2 years kinda like Bungie did with Halo games.

IMO anyway.

[Kalyx triaD]

In a better world.

[LoDownM]

I've said it before, I would've been perfectly fine still playing Black Ops till Nov 13th.

[alvarado52]

Or just go with a straight up online shooter, then rape our wallets with 'premium' dlc.

[Tom Guycott]

Lord forbid a bad man tries to rape a girl and gets killed trying. It's only seen in a million fucking movies.

We're talking about an industry where a developer got in trouble for game content you had to mod your system to access, and the taboo name of "Taliban" had to be rechristened "OpFor", lest it piss off the uptight masses... so it really should come as no surprise.

[Kane Knight]

Well they have some range. They did Guitar Hero 3 and World Tour well enough, and they never did a game like beforehand. They also did one of the better Spider-Man games way back. I like them.

Don't like their bosses.

NSoft also did Rocks the 80s, didn't they? Looks like it still took 'em a while to get things right.

[Kalyx triaD]

Actually the 80s game was Harmonix's last game. A quickie for them.

[Emperor Smeat]

That looks like the case. IW is basically dead, surprised they got to do MW3.

They were working on the early stage of the game when the whole mess involving the former bosses and Activision started involving bonuses and other money with MW 2 sales. I think the mass exodus occurred weeks or months later.

Only reason MW 3 was finished on time was Activision committing 3 studios to work on the game (IW, Treyarch, and Sledge).

Wouldn't be surprised if IW later merges/absorbs with Sledgehammer Games to give them more experienced workers with the series.

[Kalyx triaD]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4wHRuvMcA0I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Kane Knight]

A Beenox Spidey game with free-roam?

[Emperor Smeat]

A couple of Dead Space related news as Dead Space 3 drops competitive multiplayer, the series needs at least 5 million more sales to be guaranteed future games, and the series will be moving away from its horror-based roots to "broaden" its sales ability.

According to news from Game Informer, Dead Space 3 will drop competitive multiplayer modes from the game after the negative reaction from Dead Space 2's multiplayer. The strong emphasis on co-op was done to replace online multiplayer for the game.

Some other details include the game being less linear than previous games, more ammo drops along with universal ammo pickups, side-quest missions called "beta missions", and the ability to combine weapons.

In a different interview, EA reveals the series and Dead Space 3 itself needs about 5 million more sales in order for EA to "justify" making future games for the series. While EA states they don't want to "piss off" loyal fans of the series, the decision to make Dead Space 3 less horror-based is part of their larger plan to broaden the potential buying audience for the series.

"It's definitely not getting away from gore or horror, but at the same time it's opening up to a larger audience by adding some elements," said EA's Frank Gibeau. "In general we're thinking about how we make this a more broadly appealing franchise, because ultimately you need to get to audience sizes of around five million to really continue to invest in an IP like Dead Space. Anything less than that and it becomes quite difficult financially given how expensive it is to make games and market them."

http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/229567-delarge.jpg
http://www.destructoid.com/ea-wants-dead-space-3-to-appeal-to-a-broad-audience-229567.phtml
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-06-04-dead-space-3-ditches-dead-space-2s-competitive-multiplayer
_________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Warren Spector believes the video game industry is moving too far into "ultra-violence" for games with other developers also a bit worried after this year's E3 was dominated by violent and gory games. The main concern is there isn't enough games on the other side of the spectrum to counter the growing public image of gaming only catering to violence.
http://kotaku.com/5918787/all-that-ultraviolence-bothers-the-people-in-charge-of-video-games-too

2) Capcom teases a Mega Man 25th Anniversary set could be possible but won't reveal any more news until mid-December and after the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary set is released.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/mega-mans-25th-anniversary-news

3) Based on a recent survey sent by Sony, the company is considering making digital versions of their games cheaper with the catch being either the PS3 or Vita version of the game has to be bought in order to achieve a discount on the other version as a digital game.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/sony-wants-to-know-what-youll-pay-to-download-vita-versions-of-ps3-games/

[Kane Knight]

We've been too far into ultraviolence for years.

[Kalyx triaD]

A Beenox Spidey game with free-roam?

And just like that I give a damn about a Spidey game. Miss that playstyle.

[Kane Knight]

And just like that I give a damn about a Spidey game. Miss that playstyle.

Yeah, playing a Spider-Man game without a large city to sandbox in is kind of stupid. Which is a shame, because I wanted to like their last two games, but....

[Kalyx triaD]

Shattered Dimensions and Edge of Time was a waste of production values. I did think getting all those old voice actors together was cool, but nothing beats carefree city-wide web-swinging.

[Kalyx triaD]

One final get together for Metal Gear Online:

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17pvvenoku1x6jpg/original.jpg

[RoXer]

<object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nCVRg_FIiWU?version=3&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nCVRg_FIiWU?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

[Kane Knight]

Shattered Dimensions and Edge of Time was a waste of production values. I did think getting all those old voice actors together was cool, but nothing beats carefree city-wide web-swinging.

I loved the idea of multiple Spideys, too. But there's no real fun in linearity. I want multiple characters with different abilities (I liked the 2099 skin in Spider-Man 2 or whatever), ideally. So much potential in Spider-Man's rogue gallery.

[Fignuts]

So much potential in Spider-Man's rogue gallery.

Hell yeah! Ringer ftw!

http://www.rapsheet.co.uk/Images/Characters/Ringer.jpg

[Kane Knight]

Hell yeah! Ringer ftw!

http://www.rapsheet.co.uk/Images/Characters/Ringer.jpg

Screw you, I want Paste Pot Pete.

[Funky Fly]

Screw you, I want Paste Pot Pete.

The Trapster*

Apparently at some point "Paste Pot Pete" wasn't 90s enough for whatever writer was in charge of Spider-Man that week.

[Kane Knight]

The Trapster*

Apparently at some point "Paste Pot Pete" wasn't 90s enough for whatever writer was in charge of Spider-Man that week.
They kept calling him that and Spidey kept calling Paste Pot Pete.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Who wants their daily portion of bullshit?

XBox 720. $299 with "Kinect 2" which has support for 4 player. Blu-Ray. 3D. Yadayadayadayada.

Then in 2014, some kind of 4g/ wifi glasses like the Google ones that will augment reality and link with the 720. All very amusing.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/16/3090944/microsoft-xbox-720-kinect-2-kinect-glasses-doc-leak-rumor

http://i.imgur.com/v0zbY.jpg

[Kane Knight]

You should have waited for <s>Iop</s> <s>PrettyCool</s> <s>Beast</s> Damn to post it. >.>

[LoDownM]

Real or not. It's more shit I don't want or need to game with. Just give me a fucking controller.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

The slightly amusing slapstick cutscenes of the Lego games that made the Star Wars games brilliant have been ruined with cutscenes.

This Lego Batman 2 feels too serious, just with Lego characters. Can't even skip them, at least the first one. There's a couple of jokes, but the writing is horrible.

There's a trailer for the LOTR one and it is just the plot of the films in Lego format. All the charms is gone.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Earler this month, EA said that Steam cheapens IP with their sales (http://www.destructoid.com/ea-expect-discounts-but-no-steam-like-sales-on-origin-228991.phtml)

"We won't be doing that. Obviously they think it's the right thing to do after a certain amount of time. I just think it cheapens your intellectual property. I know both sides of it, I understand it. If you want to sell a whole bunch of units, that is certainly a way to do that, to sell a whole bunch of stuff at a low price. The gamemakers work incredibly hard to make this intellectual property, and we're not trying to be Target. We're trying to be Nordstrom. When I say that, I mean good value - we're trying to give you a fair price point, and occasionally there will be things that are on sale you could look for a discount, just don't look for 75 percent off going-out-of-business sales."

Today, EA has a sale. The following games are between 66% and 87.5% off:

Dragon Age: Origins, Darksiders, Spore, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Alice: Madness Returns, Darkspore,█Dead Space 2, Shank, Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam, Mirror’s Edge, The Saboteur, Gotham City Imposters, Gatling Gears, and Batman: Arkham Asylum.█

Cannot believe all that IP has been needlessly cheapened :'(

[Emperor Smeat]

TimeSplitters 4 could possibly be going back into development with Crytek and Free Radical looking at a fan-based movement as another test for the level of public interest in the game.

A fan-based movement called "100,000 Strong" is using Facebook to generate a goal of 100,000 likes for the project with the idea of sending the results to the boss of Crytek.

The movement itself was the result of a recent tweet sent by the boss of Crytek, Cevat Yerli, who wanted to get a quick estimate of the level of fan interest in the series from Twitter which ended up evolving into an official campaign done by fans.


Cevat Yerli ‏@RealtimeCevat

I had 2 interviews that provoked this question, how big is the Timesplitters Community? Let me hear you!! TS2 rocks, one of my alltime favs!
https://twitter.com/RealtimeCevat/status/212617185045123072

Both Crytek and Free Radical have mentioned for years they want to make the game become a reality even though financial problems involving Free Radical have caused most of the delays and original project being cancelled earlier in the year.

http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/229714-time1.jpg
http://www.destructoid.com/timesplitters-4-gets-its-own-100-000-strong-movement-229714.phtml
_______________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) The Xbox 360 dashboard will be getting a new set of ads for Kinect users called "NUads" which are interactive and completely optional to use.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/microsoft-teases-interactive-nuads-for-xbox-360-dashboard/

2) While Battlefield 3 was the first game to use the Frostbite 2.0 engine, EA states the game was more of a demo of the true capabilities of the engine since it was designed for the next generation of consoles.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/the-frostbite-2-0-engine-was-built-for-next-generation-consoles/

3) While Starcraft Ghost has been officially delayed for years, Blizzard hints in the future they might actually find some time to develop the game but not any time soon due to the very low priority the company currently has with the project.
http://kotaku.com/5919319/blizzard-says-starcraft-ghost-revival-is-as-likely-as-lost-vikings-3

[Cool King]

Yeah, I was shown the Facebook page a few days ago. I forgot to post it here.

I know I'll be "Liking" the page, even though my Facebook account is dormant. I never use that thing.

It's good news though and hopefully the target will be reached. :y:

[Kalyx triaD]

Whoever lives near a Nordstrom please go in there and see what those people consider 'value', and by extension see why that guy made an ass of himself on the internet.

[Kane Knight]

Earler this month, EA said that Steam cheapens IP with their sales (http://www.destructoid.com/ea-expect-discounts-but-no-steam-like-sales-on-origin-228991.phtml)



Today, EA has a sale. The following games are between 66% and 87.5% off:

Dragon Age: Origins, Darksiders, Spore, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Alice: Madness Returns, Darkspore,█Dead Space 2, Shank, Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam, Mirror’s Edge, The Saboteur, Gotham City Imposters, Gatling Gears, and Batman: Arkham Asylum.█

Cannot believe all that IP has been needlessly cheapened :'(

Yeah, such a tragedy.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

The slightly amusing slapstick cutscenes of the Lego games that made the Star Wars games brilliant have been ruined with cutscenes.

This Lego Batman 2 feels too serious, just with Lego characters. Can't even skip them, at least the first one. There's a couple of jokes, but the writing is horrible.

There's a trailer for the LOTR one and it is just the plot of the films in Lego format. All the charms is gone.

I literally laughed my ass off when Vader showed a Poloroid of Luke and him together for Empire.

I bought Lego Harry Potter (1-4) cause it was cheap on Gamefly, but haven't played much of it.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Goddamit. The cutscenes have been ruined by cutscenes. I meant voice acting.

[Kane Knight]

I literally laughed my ass off when Vader showed a Poloroid of Luke and him together for Empire.

I bought Lego Harry Potter (1-4) cause it was cheap on Gamefly, but haven't played much of it.

It's not as charming.

[Kapoutman]

I want more TimeSplitters. Loved those games on Gamecube.

[Fignuts]

Seth Killian has left capcom.

http://shoryuken.com/2012/06/19/seth-killian-announces-his-parting-with-capcom/

First Ono, now Seth. Ono leaving didn't bother me much, but Seth is a big hit.

[Kalyx triaD]

Good job FGC. Good job Capcom suits.

You both suck dick.

[Emperor Smeat]

Ono actually left?

I thought he just complained about the long hours and being in the hospital recently.

[Emperor Smeat]

Microsoft reveals the lineup for this year's "Summer of Arcade" promotion on Xbox Live Arcade.

The promotion starts on July 18 with Tony Hawk HD and ends on August 15 with Dust. Just like previous Summer of Arcade promotions, this year's special offers 400 MS points as a gift for purchasing three of the five titles available.

The main difference this year is all except one title is at the 1200 MS Points price while the special gift doesn't increase in points to offset the higher priced titles.

Tony Hawk HD was also confirmed to be a timed exclusive for XBLA with the PSN version not available until weeks after its release for the Xbox 360.

* July 18: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD, 1200 MS Points ($15)
* July 25: Wreckateer, 800 MS Points ($10)
* August 1: Deadlight, 1200 MS Points ($15)
* August 8: Hybrid, 1200 MS Points ($15)
* August 15: Dust: An Elysian Tail, 1200 MS Points ($15)

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2012/06/summerarcade619.jpg
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/06/19/xbla-summer-of-arcade-2012-detailed-tony-hawk-kick-flips-it-of/
__________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Sega announces the North American and European versions of Anarchy Reigns will still occur but now are pushed back to an early 2013 release date.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/anarchy-reigns-still-coming-to-the-west-itll-just-be-late/

2) Microsoft announces starting this Fall, Xbox 360 achievements will be tied into their Xbox Live Rewards program but offered no other details in regards to the rates between gamerscore and points nor if it will be available only to certain achievements like Avatar rewards are for games.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/earning-achievements-will-also-earn-xbox-live-rewards-this-fall/

3) Amazon reveals the contents for the God of War Ascension collector's edition with the price set at $79.99 and confirms the game uses an Online Pass.
8" Kratos statue, Steelbook case, Digital soundtrack, PS3 dynamic theme, PSN avatar pack, Double XP multiplayer unlock, and Pass for "future DLC content.
http://www.destructoid.com/god-of-war-ascension-collector-s-edition-for-pre-order-229704.phtml

[Kalyx triaD]

THPS here I come.

[Fignuts]

Deadlight looked really cool. No interest in the rest of those, however.

[Emperor Smeat]

THQ announces the DLC pack for Saints Row the Third called "Enter the Dominatrix" has been cancelled in order for the company to focus on developing the next Saints Row game.

While the add-on is being dropped, ideas such as alien invasions and superpower-like abilities from the DLC pack will play a role in the next Saints Row game.

Very few details were revealed besides a planned 2013 release date and Volition confirmed to be developing the game. The decision to drop the DLC is estimated to cost THQ another $20 million lost in potential short term revenue.

THQ’s new company president, Jason Rubin, made the bold decision. ”When I looked at the Enter the Dominatrix expansion in production at Volition, I was blown away by the ideas and desire to expand the fiction of the franchise,” he said. ”I asked the team what it could achieve given more time, more resources, and a broader scope for the project. We all agreed we wanted to play that game. When it comes to Saints Row, it’s clear our fans want bigger, better, and even more over the top, and that’s why Enter the Dominatrix will now be incorporated into a vastly expanded, full-fledged sequel, scheduled for calendar 2013.”

In a bit of irony, a week ago the new president of THQ stated he favors a more serious tone for the next Saints Row game while dropping all support for non-AAA type games as the best way to quickly fix the company's financial problems.

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/saints-row-the-third.jpg
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/enter-the-dominatrix-dies-so-that-a-full-saints-row-sequel-might-live/4226/
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/saints-row-dlc-plans-scrapped-new-game-coming-2013/
__________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Okami is being re-released once again as Capcom debuts "Okami HD" for the PS3 with a Fall 2012 release date, PS Move compatible, and a $20 budget price tag.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/okami-going-hd-on-psn-later-this-year/4227/

2) Microsoft reveals Sonic is the focus of this week's "Deal of the Week" sale on Xbox Live with 3 games, 1 add-on, and 2 avatar items all 50% off while Sega announces the deals also extend to PSN and iOS users.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/deal-week-save-half-sonic-hedgehog-games-xbox-live

3) The developers of The Last Story for the Wii, Mistwalker, announce they are pledging more support for RPGs for Nintendo's upcoming Wii U console.
http://wiiublog.com/takuya-matsumoto-is-really-looking-forward-to-wii-u/

[Kane Knight]

Wow. THQ is really making it easy not to buy from them.

[Fignuts]

Bought a Kinect. Having a blast so far.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I enjoyed my Kinect for 24 hours. Then only for another 4 after Diabolocal Pitch came out. Everything else is horrifically dire.

[Fignuts]

I have people to play with though. Much more fun that way.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

So do I when we were drinking at mine. We decided that Wii Sports Resort was much more fun.

Gutted that Steel Batallion was also absolute shit. Fist bumping had finally made it into a game.

[Emperor Smeat]

Crytek teases its possible for TimeSplitters 4 to be made as part of their upcoming Free-To-Play line of games if a normal release isn't possible.

According to the company's founder, Cevat Yerli, if publishers keep refusing to help fund the project, Crytek might end up going towards the free-to-play route. In terms of cost, it would be a lot cheaper to develop the game in the free-to-play model than as a standard retail game while providing a potential constant revenue stream which benefits Free Radical the most.

It would also help boost interest in Crytek's upcoming free-to-play service expected to launch later this year.

Yerli explained that he would love to make another TimeSplitters game, however publishers just aren’t interested in picking the franchise up. ”I wish we would develop it. We can’t develop it the way Free Radical had started it before we acquired them,” he said.

“When we looked at it – and again, I love TimeSplitters, I’m a huge TimeSplitters fan particularly of the multiplayer part. I love the idea, I love the brand, I love everything – but the publishers don’t. That’s reality. And I don’t want to spend our own money on the project in a retail business.”

”So let me say it this way: I love the picture of Timesplitters running on GFACE. So if we get enough fans, being loud enough…”

While EA is currently the main publisher for Crytek games, as of now they have refused any funding and support for TimeSplitters 4 with Free Radical's financial problems as the potential main reason.

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/timesplittes.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/crytek-free-to-play-timesplitters-4-is-a-possibility/
________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Nintendo announces a new Nintendo Direct conference will be held on June 22 with different starting times for North America, Europe, and Japan.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/nintendo-direct-presentation-going-down-tonight-for-japan-us-europe/

2) Microsoft has rejected a settlement offered by Motorola which would have ended the patent dispute between the two companies and now forces the ITC (International Trade Commission) to make a final judgement in the upcoming weeks on if Microsoft will be banned from selling Xbox 360s in the US.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/microsoft-rejects-motorola-settlement-offer-in-xbox-360-ban-case/

3) Portal's co-creator and designer, Kim Swift, reveals the release dates for Quantum Conundrum with the PC version available today, a July 10 date for PSN, and a July 11 date for XBLA.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/quantum-conundrum-finally-dated-for-xbla-psn/4229/

[Vietnamese Crippler]

Namco Bandai Developing Next Smash Bros.

Looks like a new team will be developing the next Smash Bros. project.


by Audrey Drake
June 21, 2012



It was revealed during today's Nintendo Direct Broadcast that Namco Bandai will be developing the next Super Smash Bros. game, previously announced for Wii U and 3DS. Series creator Masahiro Sakurai will still be heading up the project, which is normally developed by his HAL Laboratory team.


Buh? This should be interesting.

[LoDownM]

Amazing Spider Man game = Amazing. Open world webslinging AND plays like Batman: AA/AC when indoors. Freaking Love it.

[Kalyx triaD]

As posted, Sakurai over seeing the next Smash Bros. games with Namco-Bandai developing. Namco is pulling together a dream team of creators to build the games, including the Tekken team. Harada, however, tweeted that he's too busy to be a part of it. Sakurai says the current build is great.

[Kalyx triaD]

Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime has revealed today that, when New Super Mario Bros. 2 is released on 3DS in August, it'll be supported post-release by new, paid downloadable content.

2012 prophecies coming to pass.

[Fignuts]

Apparently there is a Dragonball z game on the way for kinect.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Sure is

http://www.destructoid.com/dragon-ball-z-for-kinect-will-make-you-want-to-cry-225862.phtml

Last week we told you Namco Bandai was working on a Dragon Ball Z game for Kinect. It basically sees you playing as one of 50 characters going through the storyline where you can perform hundreds of moves like the infamous Kamehameha. I got a chance to play the game after the announcement and immediately felt stupid for getting even remotely excited for it.

I want to give Namco the benefit of the doubt as this was an early build of the game and the area holding the demo wasn't that well lit. Still, my moves weren't being detected by the Kinect half the time and it's basically a stationary fighting game. You can't actually move your fighter around, instead you're just punching and kicking away. The only time you do move is when an attack pushes you back or if you perform some sort of special move.

You're just furiously punching away in front of yourself, much to the same degree as a person clawing their way out of a coffin would after being buried alive. There isn't even voice recognition. How can you make a Dragon Ball Z game like this and not let people scream their heads off?!

So that's Dragon Ball Z For Kinect in a horrible, rotten, nutshell. Oh, there's this whole thing with scanning QR codes for unlocking characters too. You know, because people LOVE scanning QR codes. We'll have video of me attempting to play going up later where I'm pretty positive you can see the moment my soul just dies.

[Kane Knight]

Apparently there is a Dragonball z game on the way for kinect.

So that video of Kalyx going Super-Saiyan was just practice?

[Emperor Smeat]

During an recent interview with Kotaku, EA's COO, Peter Moore, believes the future of gaming involves all games having paid microtransactions and subscriptions with a significant amount of future games being in the free-to-play model.

The goal would be to find the best and quickest way to generate larger amounts of revenue from a huge userbase in the millions and "billions" than just targeting a smaller "hardcore" userbase.

He feels the $60 model for games favored by "hardcore" gamers will struggle a lot in the future in terms of sales and growth potential. It would only get worse once the industry actually starts to shift in favor of a new revenue model.

"I think, ultimately, those microtransactions will be in every game, but the game itself or the access to the game will be free. Ultimately, my goal is... I measure our business in millions of people have bought our game. Maybe when I'm retired, as this industry progresses, hundreds of millions are playing the games. Zero bought it. Hundreds of millions are playing. We're getting 5 cents, 6 cents ARPU [average revenue per user] a day out of these people. The great majority will never pay us a penny which is perfectly fine with us, but they add to the eco-system and the people who do pay money—the whales as they are affectionately referred to—to use a Las Vegas term, love it because to be number one of a game that like 55 million people playing is a big deal."

"That's the point. If the business model... what do you do? It may well be that there will be games that survive and they are the $60 games, but I believe that the real growth is bringing billions of people into the industry and calling them gamers. Hardcore gamers won't like to hear this. They like to circle the wagons around what they believe is something they feel they have helped build—and rightly so. But we have seen, whether it was with the Wii getting mom off the couch to do Wii Sports or whether it was, more recently EA Sports Active, where we get females who love to work out, all the things that social gaming did—Rock Band did it, Guitar Hero did it—all of the things that elevated it from being a dark art of teenage boys usually sequestered in the bedroom—that it was testosterone-filled content that everybody railed against—to where everybody is a gamer...if you can move your index finger and swipe it this way, your'e a gamer. And that has got to be the way it goes."

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/moore.jpg
http://kotaku.com/5919847/the-strange-scary-fascinating-exciting-future-of-video-games-according-to-a-giant
___________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) A new patch for the digital title of Fez ends up causing save files to become corrupt with no real solution possible until another patch is released in the future by Polytron studio.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/maybe-dont-download-that-new-fez-patch/4232/

2) Rumors of Sony planning to buy Gaikai ended up falling apart recently after Gaikai placed the buyout price at $500 million.
http://www.destructoid.com/gaikai-is-looking-for-a-buyer-wants-500-million-229968.phtml

3) Current PS3 exclusive HD remake of Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath could end up having an Xbox 360 version in the future with Microsoft slowly regaining some interest in having the title appear on XBLA.
http://www.destructoid.com/360-version-of-stranger-s-wrath-hd-could-still-happen-229974.phtml

[Kalyx triaD]

Fuck you, Peter.

[Sepholio]

Peter Moore needs to fuck right off. Right along with Bobby Kotick.

[Sepholio]

When I look at that picture of Moore, I swear, that is NPH in like 30 years.

[Kane Knight]

Peter Moore needs to fuck right off. Right along with Bobby Kotick.
:y:

[Emperor Smeat]

Ubisoft announces Far Cry 3 has been delayed from its original September 4, 2012 release to now a November 30 release for Europe and a December 4 release in North America.

The announcement was made on the official Twitter account for the game with the official reason being Ubisoft wanted to give a couple extra of months for extra polish. Ubisoft also readjusted their financial outlook for the next two quarters as a result of Far Cry 3 being pushed into their third quarter earnings.

“We’re taking more time to create the best possible gameplay experience… Far Cry 3 is a huge offering and we want every element of this insane, action-packed adventure to be of the highest possible quality for the players.”

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/blog_header_photos/28/blog_header_2099421.jpg
http://www.screwattack.com/news/ubisoft-delays-far-cry-3-until-early-december
_____________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Update to Fez patch causing problems as Microsoft has removed the patch from Xbox Live while Polytron has stated it might take up to two months for a new patch to arrive.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/update-microsoft-removes-fez-patch-xbox-live

2) Microsoft is expanding the locations for the $99 subsidized Xbox 360 model to include Gamestop and Best Buy as participating retailers starting today.
www.giantbomb.com/news/you-can-now-buy-the-99-xbox-360-in-places-other-than-microsofts-barely-existent-stores/4237/

3) EA announces the Need for Speed and Burnout series will now be exclusively made by Criterion studio with Blackbox and other studios dropped from working on future games in both series.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/criterion-now-in-charge-of-all-things-need-for-speed/4236/

[ClockShot]

Another summer release bites the dust.

Borderlands 2 is pretty much running unopposed now.

[Fignuts]

Perfectly fine with Far Cry 3 being pushed back, given the reasons.

Far Cry 2 had a lot of potential, but technical flaws made the game both tedious and frustrating at times.

[Emperor Smeat]

The chief director of the Tekken series, Katsuhiro Harada, recently ranted on Twitter over the constant complaints regarding voice acting in the Tekken series and games in general.

While he states people are too eager to label Namco as lazy if voices are reused or dumb if new voices are used for certain characters, Harada explains the reality is the final decision is solely up to those voice actors. If they refuse to work on a new game, then new voices have to be used. Even the idea of reusing voices from previous games still requires the permission of the actor or agency in order to be used.

He also got several complaints about people wanting the voices to sound more like the original games which is a lot less feasible with the current generation of consoles due to different programming, audio work, and other stuff not being as easily transferable as people assume.

The playback program is different, as well as the sound effects added; reverb and 5.1 are examples of this. The comrpression rate, as well as the sound rate, is different today. Are you playing games on the same TV you used 16 years ago? What about your speakers? Headphones? They are all the same as 16 years ago? I wonder if it will sound like the same voice as 16 years ago, even with that data..
Also, you are assuming the voice actors themselves can reproduce the voice the recorded 16 years ago? Many voice actors decline work because their voice has changed since the original role, some have even retired. Sometimes they won't accept, even if we ask.

Some might say "just pay them to reuse the voice data".

But, often the voice actors decline this, or their agency declines.

Even when Namco is able to reuse the same exact voice sampling or phrases such as Brian's laugh from Tekken 3 for the upcoming Tekken game, people still complained the voices sound too different.

He also states continually spamming him with demands for certain characters to be back never works when it involves promising to buy multiple copies of the same game. Even when those characters do reappear, he still gets constant spam because people either don't bother to read news releases stating those characters will appear, be pre-order bonuses, or as future DLC.

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/7464/919040-tekken6up_6.jpg
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/you-should-read-this-rant-by-a-tekken-producer/4240/
_________________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Sony rumored to be potentially dropping their Resistance FPS franchise with the studio involved in making the series stating there are no future plans for the series.
http://www.destructoid.com/sony-has-no-definitive-plans-for-resistance-franchise-230160.phtml

2) The next game in the Total War series is rumored to be debuting soon and will be "Total War: Rome 2" according to a leak from the upcoming issue of PC Power Play magazine.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/rumor-creative-assembly-set-to-reveal-total-war-rome-2/

3) Details regarding this year's EVO championships were revealed with the biggest news being recent infinite combo glitches discovered for Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 will not be banned during that game's tournament play.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/news-about-upcoming-evo-2012

[Funky Fly]

I wasn't aware that people were so hardcore about the sound effects in the Tekken series

[Kalyx triaD]

lol

[ClockShot]

Too bad about Resistance. Had all the right stuff to make it a great series. Just didn't catch with people. Everyone went to Gears.

[LoDownM]

Yes @ Rome 2. Fucking loved the first one.

[Kalyx triaD]

Resistance did nothing for me. But sorry for the fans, I guess.

[Kane Knight]

I wasn't aware that people were so hardcore about the sound effects in the Tekken series

Vidya games are srs biznis.

[Emperor Smeat]

According to recent rumors, Vivendi, who owns Universal Music and other media-related properties could be selling their partial ownership of Activision to a new buyer.

The biggest fallout for the potential sale wouldn't be a new partial owner for Activision but instead the official debut involving the mysterious Titan project from Blizzard as a way to boost investor interest and stock value for any new potential buyer.

It would also occur a lot earlier than originally planned considering the only details regarding the project involve a vague late 2013 release date and its automatic status as a new mega series in the Activision brand.

Seeking Alpha analyst Jeff Borack believes that Blizzard could be forced to disclose information regarding Titan to drum up excitement, and purchasers, for Activision’s stock. So far, the MMO giant has remained tight lipped about the game, only offering a tentative Q4 2013 release window.

Titan is set to play a key role in Activision’s long-term share value, according to Borack, with Blizzard pouring tens of millions of dollars into R&D every year to develop the game. Titan has the ability to quickly eclipse World of Warcraft, just by carrying the Blizzard name, making it a lucrative asset to own.

An official press release revealing the debut of Titan is expected to occur in the near future if the rumors end up being true.

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/222587-Blizzard-Logo.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/analyst-if-vivendi-sells-activision-shares-then-blizzard-could-be-forced-to-announce-titan/
_______________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Capcom confirms a sequel to Dragon's Dogma will be made and its status as a new top series means they will be trying to squeeze as much revenue as possible with the sequel.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/dragon%E2%80%99s-dogma-sells-well-sequel-works

2) Square Enix announces they will be outsourcing a lot more projects in the future with issues regarding the development of recent Final Fantasy games as the reason for the decision.
http://www.destructoid.com/square-enix-to-move-toward-outsourcing-in-the-future-230244.phtml

3) Atari celebrates their 40th birthday today although the current Atari is actually the third iteration of the company.
http://kotaku.com/5921667/40-years-of-atari-all-at-once-all-for-you

[Sepholio]

Activision Blizzard needs to hold off on announcing Titan until they can recover from the lashing they are receiving from the launch of D3.

[Emperor Smeat]

The developer for the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow games, MercurySteam, hint they want to work on a new Contra game once both Lords of Shadow games are done if allowed by Konami.

David Cox, lead director of the Castlevania series on consoles, did state it would all depend on how well Lord of Shadow 2 sells.

Cox also stated he will step down from the series after the upcoming Castlevania games are released since he wants to both work on a new project and let someone new take over in charge of the series on consoles.

“Like I said, I know there’s going to be pressure on us to do another Castlevania game, but I don’t want to rise to that pressure. I want to do something else. I love Contra. I’d love to do Contra. At Mercury Steam we’ve got an original idea that I think is really awesome. We’d love to bring that idea to market and I’m hoping that the success of Lords of Shadow 2 will allow us to do that.”

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/00213.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-developers-want-to-do-contra-next/
___________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Activision has shut down the developers of Prototype series, Radical Entertainment, with poor sales of the series as the official reason and the PC port of Prototype 2 possibly being canceled.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/looks-like-radical-entertainment-shut-down/4246/

2) Naughty Dog announces The Last of Us will not have any co-op modes but are currently working on adding in online mulitplayer for the game.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/no-co-op-main-campaign-last-us

3) Sega has shut down most of their offices in Europe and Australia with the move done to help fix their current financial problems and part of the refocus on digital games and "strong IP" series.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/sega-shuts-down-offices-in-europe-australia-to-combat-financial-losses/

[Kalyx triaD]

A western take on Contra may be interesting, as the premise lends itself well to western sensibilities.

Probably won't be as a good as Hard Corps but with that out already, I wouldn't mind seeing what somebody wants to do with the brand.

[ClockShot]

Wow about Radical Entertainment. I enjoyed the first Prototype. Wasn't really drawn to the 2nd, even though it got decent reviews.

Kinda hope someone comes in and saves them.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Gamestop Buy 2 used get 1 free online this weekend. Just picked up Arkham Asylum, Lego Potter 5-7 and hopefully a workable copy of Oblivion. Thursday is early day for PowerUp Rewards members.

[Fignuts]

Fucking hell. The prototype games were an absolute blast, if not terribly deep in the gameplay department. Would kill for an avengers game made by those folks.

[The Rogerer]

Activision Blizzard needs to hold off on announcing Titan until they can recover from the lashing they are receiving from the launch of D3.Lashings of money

[Emperor Smeat]

A couple of news regarding the Gears of War prequel called "Gears of War Judgement" with the first being no Kinect controls and the other being a rumored February 2013 release date.

According to the series creator Cliff Bleszinski, the upcoming Gears of War Judgment will not be using Kinect controls unlike the previous Gears of War 3 game.

While he likes the technology and gameplay possibilities the Kinect can provide, he stated it won't fit well with what they are trying to do for the prequel. The decision may have been related to earlier plans for a Kinect-designed Gears of War game being canceled earlier in the year by Epic Games.

Gears of War 3's Kinect controls also could have played a factor since the game wasn't built from the ground up for Kinect and instead added as a quick optional control scheme.

”We are not supporting Kinect in Gears Judgment,” he said in a recent interview with Games TM. ”I like Kinect, I’ve been a fan of it, but I don’t think it has been fully realized as far as the potential of the device. Dance Central 3 looks great and all, but I’m curious how the ‘core’ games will work out.”

A rumor from CVG states the game is currently on track for a possible February 2013 release date. No exact date hasn't been finalized yet but most likely be released before the fiscal year ends for both Epic Games and Microsoft who's publishing the game.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/blog_header_photos/56280/blog_header_2135616.jpg
http://www.screwattack.com/news/gears-war-judgment-wont-use-kinect-controls-while-rumored-feb-2013-release
__________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) According to the director for Castlevania Lords of Shados, Konami was a bit upset at developers MecurySteam for making the game without planning for any DLC to be possible.
http://www.destructoid.com/castlevania-producer-says-mercurysteam-was-not-prepared-230382.phtml

2) The NDP which keeps track of products sold in the US revealed in their 2012 report so far that roughly a third of all gamers prefer to buy their games in a digital form.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/npd-group-one-third-of-u-s-gamers-prefer-to-buy-games-digitally/

3) Starting this Tuesday, Sony is holding a Summer sale on a select number of PSN titles with savings depending on membership in the PS+ program.
* Gotham City Impostors: $10.49 — $7.34 with PS Plus
* NBA Jam: On Fire Edition: $10.49 — $7.34 with PS Plus
* Shadow of the Colossus: $13.99 — $9.79 with PS Plus
* Infamous: Festival of Blood: $6.99 — $4.89 with PS Plus
* Crysis: $13.99 — $9.79 with PS Plus
* Killzone 3 Multiplayer: $10.49 — $7.34 with PS Plus
* Closure: $13.99 — $9.79 with PS Plus
* Jurassic Park: $13.99 — $9.79 with PS Plus
* Worms Ultimate Mayhem: $10.49 — $7.34 with PS Plus
* The House of the Dead 3: $4.89 — 3.42 with PS Plus
* Real Steel: $6.99 — $4.89 with PS Plus
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/psn-summer-sale-offers-shadow-of-the-colossus-for-less-than-10-dollars/

[Emperor Smeat]

The Xbox 360 ban won't be occurring this year and possibly never after the International Trade Commission issued a remand (change of the original court's decision) which states the future of the Xbox 360 now rests in a new lawsuit being heard in Seattle.

Microsoft is counter-suing both Motorola and Google in Seattle over the original court decision which suggested a ban to be made.

According to the changes made by the ITC, If Motorola and Microsoft agree to settle in the second case or Microsoft wins which both are currently expected, it would void the ban from the original court decision.

According to Florian Mueller, the initial recommendation for a ban by Administrative Law Judge David Shaw is being altered by the ITC with a “remand”—basically, a mandatory change of the judge’s original ruling:

This remand causes substantial delay, and time is not on Google’s side: in mid-November, less than five months from now, Microsoft’s FRAND enforcement lawsuit against Motorola will go to trial in Seattle. The outcome of that litigation is going to be a license agreement on terms set by the court. Once Microsoft is licensed, there is no more scope of import bans.

Since one court case directly affects the other, the patent violation cited by Google/Motorola would be swept under the rug if Microsoft won their Seattle case ...

For their part, Motorola must’ve sensed that something like this would happen, as they already approached Microsoft about reaching a settlement. Microsoft’s legal team apparently smelled blood, utterly rejecting Motorola Mobility’s terms.

Since there will now have to be a new ALJ determination, which may easily take several months, followed by a Commission review and, potentially, a 60-day Presidential review before any import ban can enter into force, it’s practically impossible that Google can actually get an ITC import ban before the Seattle lawsuit takes care of the standard-essential patents at issue in this investigation (all of the asserted patents with only one exception).

Even with respect to the non-standard-essential patent (which Microsoft is presumably able to work around), the remand means that there won’t be a U.S. import ban on the Xbox in 2012, including the extremely important Christmas Selling Season.

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/00239.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/itc-xbox-360-ban-wont-happen-in-2012-may-not-happen-at-all/
___________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) This month's game rewards on Club Nintendo include Mario Tennis from the Wii Virtual Console (till July 22) and Electroplankton from the 3DS eshop (till July 15).
http://www.screwattack.com/news/club-nintendo-game-rewards-july

2) Sony has bought out streaming and cloud-based service company Gaikai for the price of $380 million but will still take months for Sony to fully implement the service onto PSN.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/sony-getting-into-cloud-gaming-with-gaikai-purchase/4250/

3) Seth Killian has been hired by Sony's Santa Monica studio with his first task to help out on the development of Playstation All-stars Battle Royale game for the PS3 and Vita.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/seth-killian-reveals-new-home-at-sony/4251/

[LoDownM]

SM it's July now ;)

[Kalyx triaD]

Good for Seth.

[Emperor Smeat]

Electronic Arts thinks gaming will go entirely digital in the near future so they announce they are in the process of planning to do the same with all EA developed and published games to only have digital releases once they are ready.

While it wasn't specifically stated, its assumed the games would only be available on Origin or a select number of EA approved digital providers.

EA could also have been influenced by a recent report from the NPD which stated roughly a third of all gamers now only purchase digital copies of games while the overall spending in the retail market has declined so far since the same period last year.

"Retail is a great channel for us. We have great relationships with our partners there. At the same time, the ultimate relationship is the connection that we have with the gamer. If the gamer wants to get the game through a digital download and that's the best way for them to get it, that's what we're going to do."

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/EAdigitalheader.jpg
http://www.screwattack.com/news/ea-go-entirely-digital-near-future
________________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) According to European Union's Court, consumers have the right to re-sell digital games while game makers can no longer imply in EULA terms that you only own are leased the rights to play the game and not the actual software itself. The ruling however doesn't require current digital distribution providers to offer a trade-in program if they don't want to though.
http://kotaku.com/5923280/european-court-says-you-should-be-able-to-re+sell-your-digital-games

2) A current rumor semi-confirmed by Gamestop states a Knights of the Old Republic Collection set will be released later this month as a PC exclusive, contains KOTOR 1 & 2, and a retail price of $20.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/rumor-knights-old-republic-collection-could-launch-pc-later-month

3) Atlus is having a mega sale on PSN with almost every game they've released or published for the service having a 50% discount from now until July 31st.
* Catherine [PS3] – $19.99 (originally $39.99)
* Trine 2 [PS3] – $7.49 (originally $14.99)
* Class of Heroes [PSP] – $7.49 (originally $14.99)
* Crimson Gem Saga [PSP] – $7.49 (originally $14.99)
* Hexyz Force [PSP] – $7.49 (originally $14.99)
* Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble [PSP] – $7.49 (originally $14.99)
* Knights in the Nightmare [PSP] – $7.49 (originally $14.99)
* Riviera: The Promised Land [PSP] – $4.99 (originally $9.99)
* Shin Megami Tensei: Persona [PSP] – $9.99 (originally $19.99)
* Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin [PSP] – $14.99 (originally $29.99)
* Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable [PSP] – $9.99 (originally $19.99)
* Yggdra Union [PSP] – $4.99 (originally $9.99)
* Droplitz [PS3] – $4.99 (originally $9.99)
* Rock of Ages [PS3] – $4.99 (originally $9.99)
* The Cursed Crusade [PS3] – $14.99 (originally $29.99)

http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/atlus-running-half-off-just-about-everything-sale-on-psn/

[LoDownM]

Gaming going all digital is still a bad idea with bandwidth caps.

[RP]

Gunna pick up Catherine on sale.

[OssMan]

Fuck I bought Catherine and got really annoyed at it, gave it to my friend

[RP]

Was there tits?

[OssMan]

If I had digitally downloaded that game I wouldn't have been able to give it to to my friend.

[OssMan]

Yeah this blonde chick was trying to fuck me

[RoXer]

I know how that is!

[Kane Knight]

Gaming going all digital is still a bad idea with bandwidth caps.

And shitty distribution of high speed. And HDD space still at a premium.

Incidentally, NPD is calling bullshit on this.

[LuigiD]

one hour of the Battlefront 3 demo video

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VJfc4bAiByM?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Fignuts]

Stop posting battlefront stuff. It makes me sad.

[Kapoutman]

Battlefront 2 is still one of my favorite game of all time. The only game with which I legitimately played online for a long time outside of NHL.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

FF7 & 8 are being re-done on PC. Probably just makes them work on newer PCs, but the specs have got one hell of a bump.

Releasing on their store. There's placeholders for them in Steam, so they should come there at some point.

[Kalyx triaD]

FF8 woooo.

[Kalyx triaD]

http://media.eventhubs.com/images/2012/07/05_mvcorigins12.jpg

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zM8Ga--dcAI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

- Marvel Superheroes and Marvel vs Capcom.
- 8plyr lobbies.

http://media.eventhubs.com/images/2012/07/05_mvcorigins10.jpg
http://media.eventhubs.com/images/2012/07/05_mvcorigins11.jpg
http://media.eventhubs.com/images/2012/07/05_mvcorigins09.jpg
http://media.eventhubs.com/images/2012/07/05_mvcorigins03.jpg

[DaveBrawl]

Don't really care about MVC, but I'd love the old Marvel Superheros game just for nostalgia.

[Emperor Smeat]

Google and a new company involving former people at IGN, Microsoft's Xbox division, and a few others are currently rumored to be working on a new console called Ouya.

The console is rumored to cost $99 and would be Android-based in design. Also rumored is the games will be free to play while the console itself can be legally "hacked" in a sense of every console coming with its own dev kit. Consumers are being encouraged to develop and publish their own games for the service.

Open, accessible game console for the biggest market in games: TV.

Any developer can publish games, just like mobile or social games today (but like no other console game platform). Orders of magnitude less expensive to develop.

Inexpensive enough for every consumer to buy, $99, and all the games are free to play. Every console is a dev kit; build peripherals, root the system — built to be hacked.

Designed by Yves Behar and fuseproject, creators of Jambox. Built with Android as embedded OS.

The founder and CEO of the company putting together the Ouya is Julie Uhrman (previously of IGN), and supposedly on board already are names like Yves Behar (One Laptop Per Child designer), Ed Fries (co-founder of the Xbox project at Microsoft), Amol Sarva (Peek), and Peter Pham (Color, Photobucket).

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/blog_header_photos/28/blog_header_2180246.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/is-a-99-free-to-play-console-in-the-works/
__________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Halo 2 rumored to potentially get the "Anniversary" treatment but no potential details nor will 343 Studios even consider working on the project until well after Halo 4 is released.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/rumor-halo-2-anniversary-works

2) According to leaked documents sent by Sony to the FTC, a new PS3 model might be on its way soon as part of rumored "Super Slim" (PS3 4000 series) with a rumored debut expected during this year's Gamescom.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/documents-suggest-new-ps3-4000-series-super-silm-model-is-in-the-works/

3) Activision is currently having a 50% sale on all DLC packs for The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3 which will last until July 9 and some of the proceeds going towards the Call of Duty Endowment charity.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3-and-black-ops-dlc-now-half-price/

[ClockShot]

Sounds like BS. Remember when Gateway or one of the other pc companies had a console in the works? Haven't heard anything new about that since.

[Kalyx triaD]

This Ouya thing may be interesting. Though having everyone and their mama's developing games will lead to a sea of shit by default. There may be some gems eventually.

[Emperor Smeat]

DICE thinks the modern warfare setting for shooters is getting stale while public support for the genre might be beginning to dwindle unless something huge can be done.

DICE’s general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson believes that the appeal of first-person-shooters set in the modern day may be dwindling.

“I think we’re going to start seeing people moving away from the modern setting, because every now and again settings or themes start to get stale and then everyone jumps over,” he told Edge. “You know, at some point dinosaurs are the hottest thing and everyone is making games with dinosaurs, but there are trends. It used to be WWII, and recently it’s been the modern era and people are now moving towards near future.”

Although he did state a simple switch of settings or time periods will not be as influential as the switch from World War II to modern warfare was for first person shooters.

He also hinted the whole problem might only be a real issue for the first person sub-genre and not shooters as a whole. The potential switch to the near future as the next big move might only produce a temporary boost and not the next big boost in interest for the time being.

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/00230.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/dice-modern-day-fps-setting-is-getting-stale/
_________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) While Sony recent bought streaming and cloud service company Gaikai, the company states it will not be moving purely digital with the PS4 since retailers are still a big source of revenue for the Playstation brand.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/sony-retail-is-important-for-playstation-4/

2) Valve confirms the annual Steam Summer Sale will be occurring very soon but gave no exact date although other rumors have stated it won't happen until after the current Warhammer sale ends.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/valve-confirms-steam-summer-sale-plans/

3) Sony reveals some new details regarding Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale with the pre-order bonus being exclusive costumes, 2 more characters to be revealed at EVO 2012, and a release date of October 23, 2012.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/introducing-psasbr-pre-orders
http://www.screwattack.com/news/playstation-all-stars-gets-release-date

[Kalyx triaD]

Forget near future, do a sequel to Battlefield 2043.

[ClockShot]

Well now, we can't go back and do World War 2 shooters now. That time period has been done to death too, right?

[Kane Knight]

Well now, we can't go back and do World War 2 shooters now. That time period has been done to death too, right?

Isn't that what the industry does? Alternates between two ideas so they seem fresh?

Honestly, though, I'm surprised anyone's picking up on this even after "shooter fatigue" at E3. The industry's always seemed okay with driving a genre into the ground.

[The Rogerer]

I haven't seen FF8 for PC confirmed or even rumoured anywhere else but this thread. It's like people go out of their way to be wrong about things.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I haven't seen FF8 for PC confirmed or even rumoured anywhere else but this thread. It's like people go out of their way to be wrong about things.

FF7 is confirmed. FF8 has an entry on Steam and has had for a while ready for it. Already been ported to PC and using the same engine as 7. Since it's not an HD remake, it's just really a case of getting 8 running smoothly on the latest Windows. It's happening.

They might not bother if FF7 doesn't sell well.... But it's FF7, so it likely will.

[Pintint]

Id rather they port FF9 to PC than reporting old PC ports.

[Kane Knight]

I'd rather they stop milking the past and make original, good games.

[Swiss Ultimate]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/K_TwNSbYM4s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[OssMan]

In theory I should love that game because of how much I love Final Fantasy music, but my hatred of rhythm based games and the 3DS makes me hesitant. I also feel like I would be embarrassed to play that/have people watch me play that.

[Swiss Ultimate]

Play it alone. Also...answer my calls!

[Pintint]

Forget near future, do a sequel to Battlefield 2043.

Quake Wars is an amazing FPS set in the future and was met with little to no success because everyone was too busy playing COD :/ I still play QW (imo, best fps of the past 10 years), but theres only a couple active servers left now...

[Blitz]

Michael Fassbender will produce the Assassin's Creed movie, and star as Desmond. (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118056333.html?cmpid=RSS|News|LatestNews)

[Curtis Anderson]

I think Fassbender will make a great lead, although I could have seen Jake Gyllenhaal in the role because he did such a good job with Prince of Persia.

[Tom Guycott]

I'd rather they stop milking the past and make original, good games.

I'd rather they quit the years of cockteasing everyone with spinoffs and reports and graphical demos or even WHOLE FUCKING MOVIES and get on with the actual overhauled remake of FF7 that Square knows everyone wants them to make.

Also, make original, good games with less characters like Hope in them. Seriously, I can't play through XIII because of that annoying asshole. Got to the part where I was forced to play as him and I haven't touched it since.

[Emperor Smeat]

The list of bundles and games Valve is planning to put on sale as part of their annual mega Summer Sale might have been leaked according to a posting on Reddit.

The source stated the info was found while digging in one of Steam's databases which listed 11 indie bundles and a lot of games along with DLC packs.

Indie bundles:

* Day 1: Anomaly Warzone Earth, The Baconing, Cave Story+, EDGE, Lone Survivor.
* Day 2: Botanicula, E.Y.E, Oil Rush, Splice, Universe Sandbox.
* Day 3: Bit Trip Beat, Braid, Bunch of Heroes, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Runespell Overture.
* Day 4: A Valley Without Wind, Atom Zombie Smasher, Blocks that Matter, Sanctum, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP.
* Day 5: Audio Surf, Gemini Rue, Greed Corp, Tiny Bang Story, Ys: The Oath in Felghana.
* Day 6: Awesome, Defcon, Space Chem, Ticket to Ride, Trauma.
* Day 7: Avadon, Dungeons of Dredmor, Qube, Vessel, Zombie Driver.
* Day 8: Demolition Inc, Hoard, Sol Exodus, Swords and Soldiers HD, Wings of Prey.
* Day 9: Capsized, Jamestown, Revenge of the Titans, VVVVVV, Zeno Clash.
* Day 10: All Zombies Must Die, Beat Hazard, Bit trip Runner, Eufloria, Machinarium.
* Day 11: Hydrophobia, Orion: Dino Beatdown, Star Ruler, Waveform, World of Goo

Other bundles:

* 1C Collection Pack
* Adam’s Venture Complete Bundle Retail
* Anno 2070 Pack
* Batman Arkham Asylum, Batman Arkham City and Batman Gotham City Imposters Bundle
* Bethesda Collection (BRINK, Fallout New Vegas, Skyrim, Hunted)
* Bioshock Franchise Pack
* BIT.TRIP.BEAT Bundle
* BIT.TRIP.RUNNER Bundle
* Carpe Fulger Bundle (Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale, Chantelise, Fortune Summoners)
* Civilization Collection
* Command and Conquer Franchise
* Dawn of War Franchise Pack
* Dead Island Complete
* Duke Nukem Bundle
* Foreign Legion Bundle
* Kalypso Collection (Tropico, Jagged Alliance, Airline Tycoon, etc)
* Majesty Franchise
* Paradox Collection (Magicka + dlcs, Mount and Blade, etc)
* Pendulo Adventure Pack
* Railworks 3 – Summer Sale Collection
* Red Orchestra Franchise Pack (ROW)
* S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Bundle
* Saints Row: The Third Franchise Pack
* Sniper Elite Franchise Pack
* Square Hit Collection (Hitman, Tomb Raider, Just Cause 2, Deus Ex, Deus Ex
* Human Revolution, Quantum Conundrum, Thief)
* Stardock Collection Pack
* Strategy First Complete Pack
* Sword of the Stars Franchise
* THQ Collection (Dawn of War, Warhammer, Stalker, Nexuiz, Darksiders, Metro 2033, etc)
* Total War: Shogun 2 Pack
* Victoria Franchise
* Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Pack
* Wings of Prey


No official date has been announced for the Summer Sale but it is still expected to occur shortly after the current Warhammer 40k sale ends on Steam.

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Steam.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/valves-steam-summer-sale-games-and-bundles-leak/
__________________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Peter Molyneux's newest plan involves seeing how many dumbasses will actually purchase a piece of DLC costing $50,000 for his upcoming game called Curiosity.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-06-07-peter-molyneuxs-new-game-curiosity-has-a-50-000-dlc

2) Gearbox announces anyone who has a Borderlands 1 save file will automatically unlock exclusive character heads and skins for Borderlands 2.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/borderlands-save-files-will-unlock-exclusive-content-in-borderlands-2/

3) Gearbox also claims despite rumors stating Brothers in Arms Furious 4 has been canceled, the game is still in development although a lot of new unannounced changes are being made to the game.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/brothers-in-arms-furious-4-isnt-canceled-despite-what-you-may-have-heard/4257/

[RoXer]

2) Gearbox announces anyone who has a Borderlands 1 save file will automatically unlock exclusive character heads and skins for Borderlands 2.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/borderlands-save-files-will-unlock-exclusive-content-in-borderlands-2/


aw man

[ClockShot]

Sweet. Always a safe bet to keep a old save file in the hard drive.

[Kane Knight]

I'd rather they quit the years of cockteasing everyone with spinoffs and reports and graphical demos or even WHOLE FUCKING MOVIES and get on with the actual overhauled remake of FF7 that Square knows everyone wants them to make.

Also, make original, good games with less characters like Hope in them. Seriously, I can't play through XIII because of that annoying asshole. Got to the part where I was forced to play as him and I haven't touched it since.

Was XIII the one where people were all "it gets good after the first hundred hours or so?"

But yeah, the teasing is probably their primary source of revenue.


Daily Recap:
1) Peter Molyneux's newest plan involves seeing how many dumbasses will actually purchase a piece of DLC costing $50,000 for his upcoming game called Curiosity.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-06-07-peter-molyneuxs-new-game-curiosity-has-a-50-000-dlc


I know Roxer will mock me for expecting you to know what you're posting about, but the cost is 50K pounds, not dollars, and there's only one, so it's not about seeing how many will purchase it. There is only one.

All you had to do was read the article you posted a link to (This news was up on websites like three weeks ago, I merely verified that it hadn't changed) to know that.

[Emperor Smeat]

While only 1 can actually buy it, Molyneux did state there is the possibility people will pool their money which means the item can be shared somehow. It would also imply that multiple people would be willing to pay a good amount to get the item (either have the $50,000 outright or having others help).

The money thing was a mistake since I took the news from another source that briefly stated the article but got the money wrong. The Eurogamer link was quickly taken from that article for more details (http://www.screwattack.com/news/peter-molyneux-has-dlc-his-next-game-cost-50000-and-he-defending-it).

Didn't have time to fully read the article because for the past year or so, I've been splitting time between my place and at the grandparents to help take care of them. I'm lucky if I can "leech" 1 bar of internet from the neighbors when I'm over there like today and countless days before.

[Emperor Smeat]

Yesterday Valve announced a new plan called "Steam Greenlight" to bring more indie titles to Steam.

Similar in a way to Xbox Live's Indie process, the community will be allowed to vote and approve which smaller indie focused games will become paid titles with the first batch expected to be ready by August when the plan is implemented.

"For many stores, there is a team that reviews entries and decides what gets past the gates," says Valve. "We're approaching this from a different angle: The community should be deciding what gets released. After all, it's the community that will ultimately be the ones deciding which release they spend their money on."

Unlike certain restrictions Microsoft places on their own Indie process, Valve will not reject titles if they are being developed for other platforms but do have the request of the title be Windows PC compatible and a valid Steam account be made for the service.

The new hub is targeted at indie developers looking to bring their titles to the platform. Developers can post both in-progress and final builds to let Steam users playtest them, and ultimately vote on whether or not those games will be launched via Steam. There won't be a specific vote threshold. Rather, success will be tallied based on "relative interest" compared with other Greenlight titles.

Games submitted must at least run on a Windows PC, but other platforms may be developed for simultaneously. Interested developers need a valid and non-limited Steam account. You'll need to fill out a submission form and include at least one video, four screenshots, and a written description that includes estimated system requirements.

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/39/2260950-greenligh_soon.jpg
http://steamcommunity.com/greenlight
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/valve-announces-steam-greenlight/4259/
__________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Based on several several sources and retailers, the North American release of The Last Story for the Wii has been suddenly delayed from its current July 10 date to now an unofficial July 31 release date. No official reason was given for the sudden delay while Amazon originally stated the delay was to be until July 13 until they also switched to a July 31st date.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Story-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B007CSF3GO
http://www.pixelitis.net/news/rumor-the-last-storys-north-american-release-delayed-by-three-days

2) CBS Films announces they have bought the rights to a movie adaptation for Deus Ex Human Revolution.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/cbs-films-attains-rights-deus-ex-adaptation
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/deus-ex-human-revolution-movie-in-the-works/

3) Take Two Interactive reveals Rockstar's Vancouver studio (Max Payne 3) has been shut down with the current staff to be moved to the newly expanded Rockstar Toronto studio.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/rockstar-vancouver-dies-so-that-rockstar-toronto-may-expand/4260/

[ClockShot]

I'll be damned, a Deus Ex: Human Revolution movie. But will it be a big screen release, or direct to DVD?

I wonder if Rockstar did the same thing to their crew like Schilling did to his when he moved.

[Cool King]

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

Most people are bitching about it not being an FPS. I don't think it looks spectacular or anything, but I like the fact that it's not "Army/war FPS game #562".

[#BROKEN Hasney]

People sounded pretty positive over on Destructoid. But come on, it's a cheap downloadable title that let's you be that non-Ziggler DOLPH in an isometric shooter. What's not to like?

[Cool King]

People sounded pretty positive over on Destructoid. But come on, it's a cheap downloadable title that let's you be that non-Ziggler DOLPH in an isometric shooter. What's not to like?

I haven't checked out Destructoid, I was only going by the YouTube comments. Saying that, I remember now that YouTube comments are pretty much null and void on everything. :o

[Emperor Smeat]

The next Batman game from Warner Bros and Rocksteady Studio is rumored to be a prequel to the current Arkham storyline with its basis coming from Btaman's time period during the "Silver Age" of comics.

According to the source at Variety, the game could possibly contain a lot more playable characters besides Batman with the timeline being rumored to occur during the 1950s and the lead up to the creation of the Justice League of America.

The story itself might be primarily focused on the origins and antics of the first Joker but other villains are a strong possibility to be included.

The rumor also appears to be done as part of a recent Time Warner mandate to expand DC Comics characters into multiple mediums at the same time while teaming up due to the recent success of the Avengers and other Marvel properties.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/blog_header_photos/28/blog_header_2223886.jpg
http://www.screwattack.com/news/rumor-rocksteady%E2%80%99s-next-batman-will-return-silver-age
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/rocksteadys-next-batman-game-possibly-set-in-the-silver-age/4262/
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118056432
__________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) A recently discovered patent originally submitted in late 2010 suggests Microsoft could be considering upgradable components as a potential feature for the next Xbox console.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/microsoft-patent-suggests-xbox-720-could-feature-upgradable-components/

2) Update to the Android console called "Ouya" as it has passed $3 million in donations on Kickstarter with the current surplus generated to be used on potentially expanding the kickback rewards for people who donate.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/ouya-android-console-tops-3-million-on-kickstarter-team-planning-stretch-goals/
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/07/ouya-kickstarter-funded/

3) EA is currently rumored to be replacing John Riccitiello, current CEO, with Peter Moore, boss of EA Sports, as the new CEO of the company soon due to the company's plummeting stock value by over 50% since last year.
http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=181075
http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/11/rumor-peter-moore-to-replace-john-riccitiello-as-ceo/

[DaveBrawl]

I could go for that Silver Age Batman game especially if Adam West does the voice.

[Kane Knight]

Getting rid of John Rikki Tikki Tavi would be a step in the right direction.

Ouya would be awesome.

[Emperor Smeat]

Epic Games revealed during this year's Comic-Con the first game to use the upcoming Unreal 4 Engine will be a game called "Fortnite" and has a planned release on PC in 2013.

The game is influenced a bit by Minecraft and Cliff Bleszinski, creator of the Gears of War series, is the lead design director for the game. Other details include gameplay being a co-op sandbox style game which appears to mix the building and defending aspect of Minecraft with the survival aspect from Left 4 Dead series and Call of Duty's Zombie modes.

Epic Games is describing Fortnite as a "co-op sandbox survival game." Players spend the day building defenses and crafting items, weapons to defend against enemies at night.

“Fortnite is PC primary and first, but we wouldn't rule out the possibility of other platforms later,” Cliffy B said on Twitter.

No specific release date was announced but the game will arrive at some point in 2013 and be a PC exclusive. There are plans for possibly porting the games later on to consoles but not until the next generation of consoles due to the demands of the Unreal 4 engine.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/blog_header_photos/56280/blog_header_2234281.jpg
http://www.screwattack.com/news/fortnite-be-first-official-game-unreal-4-engine-2013-pc-release-date
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/fortnite-is-epic-games-first-unreal-engine-4-game/4268/
_________________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Update to The Last Story on the Wii getting delayed as XSEED announces the new release date will be August 14 for North America and pre-order bonuses will now include a free mini-soundtrack of the game on CD.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/last-story-has-us-release-date

2) Valve officially announces the 2012 Summer Steam Sale has started which will last from July 12 till July 22 with the daily deals being 75% off in price.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/steam-summer-sale-2012-has-started-you-can-go-throw-money-at-it/
http://store.steampowered.com/

3) Yoshinori Ono during this year's ComicCon once again teases a new Darkstalkers game could be possible and teases a release to potentially occur later this year.
http://www.siliconera.com/2012/07/12/capcoms-yoshinori-ono-hints-at-darkstalkers/

[Emperor Smeat]

Epic Games reveals some new details regarding the upcoming Gears of War: Judgement game for the Xbox 360 with one being the debut of a brand new game mode and the other being an actual release date.

The new game mode is called "Overrun" and is an online class-based multiplayer mode. The mode pits two teams with one controlling the COG who have to defend certain areas and the Locust who have to destroy those areas with maps based on the single player campaign.

Each map is divided into 3 sections which open up once a current object is reached by either the Locust or COG team with the COGs getting the benefit of extra fortifications and help as the round goes on. The Locust side do get access to "Tier 2" characters once enough points are earned which are called "Corpsers" who are extra over-powered characters to the point of almost ensuring victory once they are unlocked.

The other detail revealed by Epic Games is the official release date will be in March 2013 which confirms earlier rumors of the game arriving before the end of the fiscal year for both Epic Games and Microsoft. No actual release date was announced but it is expected to be revealed later this year.

http://bulk.destructoid.com/ul/231319-g1.jpg
http://www.destructoid.com/sdcc-more-fun-times-with-gow-judgment-s-overun-mode-231319.phtml
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/gears-of-war-judgment-joins-the-march-2013-crowd/4269/
_______________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) According to Forbes, League of Legends was the most played MMO game of 2011 with roughly 1.3 billion hours logged in by players with Minecraft, World of Warcraft, and Diablo III in the Top 5.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/league-legends-officially-becomes-worlds-most-played-pc-game
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngaudiosi/2012/07/11/riot-games-league-of-legends-officially-becomes-most-played-pc-game-in-the-world/

2) Some new details from Comic-Com for the upcoming Beyond: Two Souls game include the game being more story-based than gameplay-based similar to Heavy Rain and a new character called a ghost named Aiden who can posses people while providing special powers to the main character
http://www.screwattack.com/news/beyond-two-souls-gameplay-revealed-comic-con-panel
http://www.destructoid.com/sdcc-beyond-two-souls-panel-yields-gameplay-details-231271.phtml

3) According to Bioware, the free-to-play remake of Ultima IV called "Ultima Forever" is not an MMO like rumors have suggested but instead a classic RPG game which borrows some MMO elements.
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/07/12/eas-paul-barnett-ultima-forever-reboot-is-not-an-mmo/
http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/ultima-forever-is-biowares-next-online-rpg/

[Emperor Smeat]

Rumored images of the "Super Slim" or 2nd slim version of the PS3 were supposedly leaked recently.

http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission/files/2012/07/ps3-slim4.jpg

In terms of features compared to the current slim, nothing is being taken out although it is rumored to come in 3 models each with a different hard drive size (16GB, 250GB, 500GB).

http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission/21445/rumor-are-these-leaked-photo-the-new-ps3-slim

[alvarado52]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GPWl3fCT8Xg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Sepholio]

I'm definitely down for a silver age batman game, but damn I really wanted a true sequel after the ending of Arkham City.

[Kane Knight]

Rumored images of the "Super Slim" or 2nd slim version of the PS3 were supposedly leaked recently.

http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission/files/2012/07/ps3-slim4.jpg

In terms of features compared to the current slim, nothing is being taken out although it is rumored to come in 3 models each with a different hard drive size (16GB, 250GB, 500GB).

http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission/21445/rumor-are-these-leaked-photo-the-new-ps3-slim

Ugly.

[Sepholio]

PS3: Now even more...ovally.

[whiteyford]

I could go for that Silver Age Batman game especially if Adam West does the voice.

:|

[Emperor Smeat]

While both Sony and Playdead have stated multiple times in the past why Limbo was declined for PSN, Sony themselves announce the official reason was due to the company wanting sole ownership of the property instead of developers Playdead.

Playdead offered the game first to Sony which would have included timed exclusive status but talks broke down after Sony made some demands to buy out the rights to the property to become the sole owners. Sony also refused to supply any funds to help market the game if they did not gain rights to the property.

Sony Computer Entertainment executive producer Pete Smith revealed the news at U.K. conference Develop last week. He said that Sony was in talks over an exclusivity deal, however things broke down after Playdead refused to give up the IP rights.

“I maybe shouldn’t say this, but we had issues when we were trying to sign Limbo because of the IP,” he said. “There are obvious benefits to keeping [your IP], but also to giving it up: you’re way more likely to get the deal. Remember: 100 percent of nothing is nothing. A publisher is much more likely to commit to marketing and merchandising if they own the IP.”

“Sometimes all we want is protection so [devs] don’t make a game, finish it then go to one of our rivals. We look at IP on a case by case basis. With a bit of common sense, you can find common ground,” he added.

Playdead ended up rejecting the offer while going to Microsoft who was a lot more willing to help fund the marketing of the game as a key game for their Summer of Arcade promotion on Xbox Live Arcade.

Limbo ended up selling over half a million copies, third best XBLA game of 2010, and the number one selling game during the Summer of Arcade promotion. The PSN version ended up arriving about a year later in the US.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/blog_header_photos/35/blog_header_2264481.jpeg
http://www.screwattack.com/news/sony-passed-limbo-exclusivity
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/limbo-ps3-exclusivity-deal-unraveled-because-sony-wanted-ip-rights/
_______________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) The Android-based Ouya console Kickstarter fund has reached over $5 million so far with the company now beginning to look at non-kickstarter investors and manufactures to prepare for mass production of the console.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/ouya-nears-5-million-via-backers-devs-look-for-non-kickstarter-funding/

2) EA accidentally leaks the announcement of Battlefield 4 on Origin before it was quickly removed which would have granted those who pre-ordered the digital deluxe Limited Edition of Medal of Honor: Warfighter access to a Battlefield 4 beta on Origin at a later date.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/battlefield-4-beta-ad-appears-origin
http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/news/a393342/battlefield-4-beta-outed-on-ea-origin-store.html

3) Pre-order bonuses for the upcoming Need for Speed Most Wanted reboot were revealed by EA which include anyone who pre-orders from select retailers get automatically bumped to the Limited Edition and early access to 3 special cars with each car having a unique in-game advantage.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/need-for-speed-most-wanted-limited-edition-and-pre-order-bonuses-revealed/

[Mooияakeя™]

Forget near future, do a sequel to Battlefield 2043.

A sequel to a game that hasn't been made? Interesting...

I would like to see 2143 personally.


DICE thinks the modern warfare setting for shooters is getting stale while public support for the genre might be beginning to dwindle unless something huge can be done.


Although he did state a simple switch of settings or time periods will not be as influential as the switch from World War II to modern warfare was for first person shooters.

He also hinted the whole problem might only be a real issue for the first person sub-genre and not shooters as a whole. The potential switch to the near future as the next big move might only produce a temporary boost and not the next big boost in interest for the time being.

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/00230.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/dice-modern-day-fps-setting-is-getting-stale/
_________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) While Sony recent bought streaming and cloud service company Gaikai, the company states it will not be moving purely digital with the PS4 since retailers are still a big source of revenue for the Playstation brand.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/sony-retail-is-important-for-playstation-4/

2) Valve confirms the annual Steam Summer Sale will be occurring very soon but gave no exact date although other rumors have stated it won't happen until after the current Warhammer sale ends.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/valve-confirms-steam-summer-sale-plans/

3) Sony reveals some new details regarding Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale with the pre-order bonus being exclusive costumes, 2 more characters to be revealed at EVO 2012, and a release date of October 23, 2012.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/introducing-psasbr-pre-orders
http://www.screwattack.com/news/playstation-all-stars-gets-release-date

They will be doing a future based BF next, so obviously it's time to set up the marketing and chin-wagging :)

[Kalyx triaD]

I got the actual year wrong. Sue me.

[Fignuts]

2142 was pretty great.

[Kane Knight]

I hate the need to own IPs. They're basically hoarding intellectual property.

[Emperor Smeat]

The verbal feud between Valve and Electronic Arts continued as Valve officially responded to earlier claims by EA of Steam sales being dangerous to the strength of gaming properties. EA accused Valve of "cheapening" those properties as a result and not in terms of savings to consumers. In a bit of irony, EA would shortly hold their own mega sale on Origin which "cheapened" a lot of their own games.

Valve's Business Development boss, Jason Holtman, stated recently the annual Summer sales and other big sales done by Steam do not "cannibalize" overall sales but instead help those same games succeed a lot more.

He also mentioned had Valve ever felt these sales were doing more harm than good to these games and partner companies, they would have ended the mega sales long ago.

"A promotion is not a policy; a promotion is just a feature to give people more value," he said. "It’s not as if a 75% offer or a 50% off sale at some point in time cannibalizes a sale that would have happened earlier, it’s just not true. We’re actually seeing both of them growing. We don’t see one cannibalizing the other. If we did, we wouldn’t do it.

"We put Left 4 Dead 2 and Portal 2 on sale. If we thought that was killing our franchise, or hurting the value of games, or hurting the revenue we could generate as a company, we wouldn’t do it. We’ve even gone so far as to give away Portal for free a couple of times. Whole days where it’s not free for a day, it’s just free. We looked at this amazing data afterwards. The day after the sales were exactly the same, if not more."

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/blog_header_photos/56280/blog_header_2275601.jpg
http://www.screwattack.com/news/valve-states-if-their-sales-were-actually-killing-games-they-would-have-ended-it-now
http://www.destructoid.com/valve-if-steam-sales-killed-games-we-wouldn-t-do-them-231526.phtml
_____________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) After accidentally leaking the existence of Battlefield 4 on Origin, EA decided to make the announcement official today as Battlefield 4 is in development and has a late 2013 release date.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/battlefield-4-announced
http://www.battlefield.com/battlefield-4

2) Valve reveals they are working on bringing Steam to Linux very soon with Left 4 Dead 2 being successfully ported to the platform and more games to arrive once a fully functioning Steam client is finished for Linux.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/steam-coming-linux-soon
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/valve-making-big-push-towards-linux-support/4274/

3) The Ratchet and Clank HD Collection containing the first three games in the series from the PS2, 3D support, and trophy support has an official release date August 28 and a $29 price tag.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/ratchet-and-clank-collection-has-release-date

[Kalyx triaD]

Everybody go look up Slender.

[Kane Knight]

Why?

[Kalyx triaD]

Free indy horror game. Just do it. YouTube it. Read about it. Play it. Just check it out.

[alvarado52]

Is a picture of your penis going to pop up in Google search if I look that up Kalyx? Seems like a key word.

[Sepholio]

Fuck that is some scary shit right there.

[Kane Knight]

F-Stop. google it.

[TNARICK,,,]

NERDS

[Extreme Angle]

I shat my slender self.

[Kalyx triaD]

Thinking about making a thread tbh.

[Emperor Smeat]

Developers of Limbo, Playdead, confirm Sony's story for rejecting having Limbo be exclusive to PSN was indeed true but don't believe the idea of had they sold the IP, Sony would have guaranteed a lot of support towards the studio.

Recently, Sony stated the talks broke down because they wanted sole ownership of the IP rights which Playdead rejected and lead to them going to Microsoft.

Playdead's CEO Dino Patti stated controlling the rights to an IP is one of the greatest strengths a development studio has over a publisher. He also felt IPs benefit the most when the rights stay with the creators and not when an outside company or publisher controls them.

“As a development studio, the IP is the greatest value you have,” said Playdead CEO Dino Patti in a statement. “Especially creative IPs, they should always stay with their creators.”

Double Fine studio who themselves lost out on the rights to Psychonauts due to a publisher for a few years publicly sided with Playdead's decision.

When the story started spreading, Patti found support from creatives like Double Fine’s Tim Schafer.

“Developers who give up their IP thinking they'll get more support from their publishers are in for a frustrating lesson,” said Schafer on Twitter. “Every developer currently negotiating a pub deal: demand your IP rights! If only 1% win, it's still easier for the next developer! I never said publishers are evil. They can be great partners. But it's better for both parties if devs own IP. Better games!”

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/blog_header_photos/35/blog_header_2264481.jpeg
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/playdead-confirms-limbos-psn-deal-crumbled-over-ownership-concerns/4279/
__________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Update to Battlefield 4 news as EA reveals pre-ordering Medal of Honor Warfighter will not be the only way to access the beta for Battlefield 4 but details on how won't be announced until a later date.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/battlefield-4-beta-begins-fall-2013-not-exclusive-to-moh-pre-order/
http://www.screwattack.com/news/battlefield-4-announced-update

2) Microsoft has improved the security to Xbox Live with a strong suggestion for those who have been affected in the past to change their passwords and profile information to prevent future phishing attacks.
http://www.destructoid.com/xbox-live-improves-security-urges-password-updates-231597.phtml
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/microsoft-talks-about-recent-security-efforts-for-xbox-live-urges-smart-password-safety/

3) Even though Halo 4 is still in development, Microsoft has begun hiring people to work on the next Halo game for the next Xbox console due to DirectX 11 experience being a big requirement.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/microsoft-hiring-for-next-generation-halo/

[Kane Knight]

Thinking about making a thread tbh.

What would the text read?

"Look it up. Now."

[Kalyx triaD]

"Download Slender, Play It, And Post About It"

[Fignuts]

So some dude just randomly appears while you look for notes, is what I got from the youtube video.

[Extreme Angle]

Yeah, it's just creepy as shit, it's based off some meme.
Apparently some guys on one forum created a thread where they photoshopped old photos and added fake paranormal stuff to them, then went over to supernatural forums and tried to pass them off as real.

[Kalyx triaD]

Wonder if it'll get a bigger budget version some day.

[Emperor Smeat]

The first official game to use the Unreal 4 Engine might require an "always-on" internet connection as DRM security according to Epic Games who hinted this is an option they are considering right now.

The justification if such DRM were to be used is due to the game being built predominately for online multiplayer modes even though it offers a single player campaign as well. According to the game's producer, Tanya Jessen, the DRM would be seen as an actual improvement to the game than not having any at all.

Producer Tanya Jessen wouldn't confirm the requirement as a definite, but did state that, should Epic go down that road, it would primarily act as an improvement to the game. The potential measure was justified by the fact that Fortnite is built predominantly for multiplayer.

"Fortnite is a game that’s being developed as a co-op experience primarily," she told Rock, Paper, Shotgun. "That’s our number one focus. This is a game you’re gonna want to play with your friends, and it’s most fun with your friends. So whatever we decide to do there is gonna be more relevant to the most fun experience you can have with your friends [than it is to piracy]. But I can’t nail that down today."

http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/231641-header.jpg
http://www.destructoid.com/epic-considering-always-on-drm-for-fortnite-231641.phtml
_________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Baring a change from Microsoft, Fez will stay "broken" on Xbox Live and the patch which caused save corruption has been reuploaded due to Polytron unable to afford the costs for creating a new patch on XBLA with the re-certification fee alone costing $40,000.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/polytron-forced-re-release-broken-fez-patch
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/maybe-go-ahead-and-download-that-fez-patch-after-all/4281/

2) THQ has officially been hit with a second class action lawsuit from another group of investors who claim the company knowingly mislead investors in regards to the abysmal Udraw sales on the PS3 and Xbox 360. The first class action lawsuit was done in regards to the overall financial decline of the company itself.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/investors-suing-thq-over-fail-udraw
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/07/18/more-thq-stockholders-suing-thq-over-udraw/

3) Even more bad news for THQ as they announce their QA office in Arizona has been shut down as part of the consolidation process while the remaining QA office in Montreal will handle all testing from now on.
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/07/19/thq-consolidates-qa-teams-closes-arizona-facility.aspx

[ClockShot]

A few more weeks until Darksiders 2 hits shelves.

I'd like to be a fly on the wall in that THQ office when they get the first numbers.

[Sepholio]

I hope it lives up to the hype. Darksiders 2 has been one of my most anticipated games for a while now.

[Kane Knight]

DRM is not an improvement.

Phil Fish is a dick.

[Emperor Smeat]

Electronic Arts reveals the reason why the upcoming Dead Space 3 has more action and co-op multiplayer is due to previous play testers for the series "were too scared to play the games alone."

In an interview with MVC, the boss of EA's marketing branch, Laura Miele, stated the decision for co-op in Dead Space 3 was due to previous play testers felt too scared to play the games alone. These play testers suggested for future games the ability for co-op to be included as a way to ease tension of playing the game due to its horror focus.

"We were hearing feedback that they love the thriller game, but it was pretty scary, and the obvious next step was that they wanted to play with someone. So we introduced co-op into the game," marketing boss Laura Miele told MCV. "The horror of Dead Space is still all there. It's still true to its roots and no less scary, but people felt far more comfortable playing it with someone else than they did doing it on their own.

"Personally, I would rather go to a scary movie with my husband rather than sit at home with the lights out watching one on my own. We're looking for that to reach out to consumers that perhaps were not open to Dead Space 1 and 2."


http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/231710-header.jpg
http://www.destructoid.com/ea-thinks-dead-space-was-too-scary-to-be-single-player-231710.phtml
http://www.screwattack.com/news/ea-says-dead-space-so-too-terrifying-play-alone
______________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) According to sources from Kotaku, Final Fantasy Versus 13 is rumored to have been cancelled in favor of Square-Enix to put all their focus on developing Final Fantasy 15. The game had been in development for 6 years with very little ever revealed while costing the company millions of dollars in development.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/rumor-square-enix-might-have-cancelled-final-fantasy-versus-xiii
http://kotaku.com/5927645/rumor-final-fantasy-versus-xiii-is-dead

2) Update to Fez staying "broken" on Xbox Live Arcade as Microsoft rejects any responsibility over Polytron's decision to cancel work on a new patch who claimed the high fees were higher than the studio could afford.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/microsoft-deflects-responsibility-over-fez-patch-problems/4288/

3) Nintendo is currently rumored to be in negotiations with Microsoft for the main reason of buying Rare back in order to gain the rights to the Banjo Kazooie franchise which is also rumored to be in early development by Retro Studio for the Wii U.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/rumor-nintendo-trying-buy-banjo-kazooie-franchise

[Kalyx triaD]

That Dead Space 3 bit is the stupid fucking excuse I ever read for making a game more accessible to the masses. This is, by the way, third second or third completely different reason for changing their never-actually-scary series into just another space shooter. I always said Dead Space never had any vision of its own, this sells it. It's a shit 'franchise' that added nothing unique nor did it do any one thing well. The design was utterly Western and boring, the gameplay oh so focus tested approved.

Games that lack vision are subject to changes like this, following the dollar. That's fine in the end, some decent games were whatever concepts. But fuck Dead Space. I said it sense day 1 and now its own company is pretty much saying it.

Sad story about Versus 13, but I had a feeling.

If Microsoft doesn't wanna be the big bad wolf, they could reveal how much it actually cost to get a patch uploaded, or they can reduce the cost for this case. If it's gonna do neither, they can't avoid backlash. Merely saying 'it's not us' doesn't cut it, when the developer was very detailed in their reasoning.

Banjo Kazooie on WiiU may be interesting. Just give all of Rare's old gems to Retro Studio, they're the new Rareware.

[ClockShot]

Nintendo trying to get their hands on Rareware again? That's good to hear. Maybe they can put together another good shooter.

[Kalyx triaD]

Unlikely. A lot of Rare's old team left to do other things. The Goldeneye/Perfect Dark team went on to do Time Splitters and such.

Better to take some old franchises and give them to a capable team, as Retro and Donkey Kong proves.

[Sepholio]

Apparently rumors are starting to fly that FFv13 is just going to become FF15.

[OssMan]

That is what they will say to cover up the fact that they are scrapping it. There will be no way to know since barely any footage of FF vs 13 has been released.

[OssMan]

Final Fantasy versus XIII is really just a fighting game between all the Final Fantasy characters and the dude from the comic book-style Gamecube game XIII anyway.

[Kalyx triaD]

That is what they will say to cover up the fact that they are scrapping it. There will be no way to know since barely any footage of FF vs 13 has been released.

Why would they rebrand it if they're scrapping it?

I think it's out and out canceled. No rebrand, no anything.

[OssMan]

To save face from saying that they are cancelling a game that had in development for six years and was supposed to be revolutionary. Just say it got integrated into FF15

[Fignuts]

Final Fantasy versus XIII is really just a fighting game between all the Final Fantasy characters and the dude from the comic book-style Gamecube game XIII anyway.

I thought that was Dissidia?

[Emperor Smeat]

In an interview with GameIndustry, former EA boss Bing Gordon stated due to the increased competition from the mobile market, Nintendo will be the first to drop out from the "Big 3" console hardware makers.

He stated they are already on track with the Wii U being the start due to the tablet and mobile market itself and not due to their own business decisions. In order to stand a chance in the future as a hardware maker, Nintendo would have to form a partnership with Apple.

His reasoning to why Nintendo would drop out included comparisons to Sega when they were a hardware maker and the "pinch" from the huge competition mobile devices are creating against their handhelds which is seen as their main stronghold. He did admit that Nintendo hasn't really committed the same level of huge mistakes that Sega did which lead to their demise from the hardware market.

I think Nintendo’s already on track to become primarily a software company. We saw that with Sega back in the day; Sega made some missteps and became primarily a software company. Nintendo hasn’t really made missteps, Nintendo probably has better creative talent and better leadership now than Sega did. It’s got the most robust business model, the best creative talent; Miyamoto’s still the best in the business. Apple’s most directly competitive with Nintendo. So far, when Miyamoto makes a perfect game, in his career he makes games worth $200 – it’s worth buying a system for. I think the handheld is going to be under a lot of pressure. I can imagine a day when Nintendo wonders – and maybe it’s generational change – when Nintendo wonders if they ought to take some of their best games and make them apps.

He did feel Miyamoto is the wild card for Nintendo's future since he;s seen as the one who has ensured Nintendo survived all the challenges its faced so far but Nintendo's biggest challenge ever will occur once he's gone.

In terms of the other hardware makers, he felt Microsoft has nothing to fear due to the Xbox 360 being their "consumer miracle" console while Sony's future is tougher to predict due to their multiple divisions all impacting each other.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/620x186_Featured_Banner/blog_header_photos/56280/blog_header_2335416.jpg
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-07-23-game-industry-legends-bing-gordon
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/former-ea-chief-says-nintendo-will-end-up-a-software-company-like-sega/
http://www.screwattack.com/news/former-boss-ea-thinks-nintendo-will-follow-sega-eventually-just-software-maker
____________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Hideo Kojima announces the official debut of the brand new Fox Engine will occur on August 30 which is being used for the next metal Gear Solid game, Project Orge which probably will be shown, and a new Zone of the Enders game.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/hideo-kojima-to-showcase-fox-engine-on-august-30/4290/
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/hideo-kojima-showing-off-metal-gear-solid-5-engine-on-august-30/

2) Vatra Games, developer of Silent Hill Downpour and Rush'n Attack Ex-Patriot, has the strong possibility of shutting down after they revealed their parent company, Kuju, has placed the studio under "strategic review" as part of an overall restructuring process.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/silent-hill-downpour-developer-might-not-make-it-out-alive
http://www.destructoid.com/silent-hill-downpour-developer-risks-closure-231838.phtml

[Kane Knight]

Didn't Patcher also say Nintendo was going software only? Pretty sure that proves it wrong.

[Kalyx triaD]

Kinda tired of 'industry analysis predictions' in general. They'll super-bias and pretentious and I actually cannot remember the last time somebody was on the money.

But that's the thing, they speak in such a future tense that by the time their words are bullshit, who's gonna dive into web article #175 from 2008 to say "Remember this, asshole?"

Where do these people come from?

Hell, we have guys right here in this forum that can call shit ahead of time and be mostly on the money. Fuck these analyst.

[Kane Knight]

Kinda tired of 'industry analysis predictions' in general. They'll super-bias and pretentious and I actually cannot remember the last time somebody was on the money.


"bias" of course meaning "doesn't say things I like." Since even Kal has latched on to this sort of thing before (and made his own predictions).

But speaking of bias, most market predictions are super safe and don't rock the boat. This is why you tend to only remember the really wrong ones. It's called confirmation bias, a more valid form of bias than the one you're talking.

I'm pretty sure there has been an industry outlier predicting the end of Nintendo since Super Mario 2 (US version). There always will be one, pretty much, long as there is a Nintendo. And should they become right, they will display their own confirmation bias in emphasising the one time they were right over the million they were wrong.

[Kalyx triaD]

"bias" of course meaning "doesn't say things I like." Since even Kal has latched on to this sort of thing before (and made his own predictions).

Actually no, I've never been particularly attached to that sort of 'news'. Feel free to show otherwise.

Though of course I've taken predictions from myself seriously, aside from the fact that's it's me saying it, my stuff doesn't go vapor. And I don't play it safe, either. If I'm wrong I'm spectacularly wrong, and that's fine. When I'm right, fuckin-A. Moving on.

So yeah, fuck off, nice chatting with ya.

[Emperor Smeat]

Some good news for once in regards to THQ as the company announces they prevented being delisted from NASDAQ and managed to slow down their bleeding of funds.

THQ was able to be removed from NASDAQ's watch list after their stock value managed to stay at or above the $1 limit for 10 days in a row. The decision to create a reverse stock split weeks ago was claimed as the main reason for success since it reduced the 70 million shares spread all over the place to a more manageable and stronger 7 million shares.

NASDAQ, who claimed a delisting would have been the "kiss of death", was happy at the results since a delisting would have made investors bail out faster than before and the stock worthless to own.

Under the new president of the company, Jason Rubin (former co-founder of Naughty Dog), the company revealed they managed to slow down the bleeding of company revenues. Several divisions and properties were shut down as part of the new plan to focus on fewer but stronger so-called "hardcore" IPs to provide the main sources of revenue in the future. The first test of the new plan will be once both Darksiders II and WWE 13 are released since the company is expecting both to be huge revenue providers.

http://d1vr6n66ssr06c.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/00123.jpg
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/thq-manages-to-avoid-nasdaq-delisting/4293/
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/thq-slows-financial-bleeding-retains-minimum-stock-market-value/
____________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Update to rumors from Kotaku about Final Fantasy Versus 13 being cancelled ended up being debunked by the CEO of Square-Enix who claims the game is still in development and regular staff meetings are still occurring for the game.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/final-fantasy-versus-xiii-isnt-dead-after-all
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/square-enix-final-fantasy-versus-xiii-isnt-dead/4292/

2) The voice actor for Mario, Charles Martinet, thinks Nintendo should make a sequel to Super Mario Sunshine in the near future with the reason being Sunshine was his favorite Mario game he's been involved with at Nintendo.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/marios-voice-actor-underrated-super-mario-sunshine-should-get-a-sequel/
http://mynintendonews.com/2012/07/24/charles-martinet-wants-a-sequel-to-super-mario-sunshine/

[Emperor Smeat]

Sony's summer promotion for PSN called "PSN Play 2012" starts today and lasts until August 27.

The 4 games their their debut dates revealed as the main showcase games for the promotion are:
* The Expendables 2 Videogame - July 21
* Sound Shapes - August 7
* Papo & Yo - August 14
* Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - August 21

Similar to other special sales on PSN and other digital service providers, this promotion also has special incentives for people who buy multiple games. Buying 2 games will provide $3 as a gift back, 3 games provides $6 as a gift, and all four games provides $10 as a gift.

Sony also revealed pre-ordering the games will provide an exclusive XMB theme while Playstation Plus members get an extra 20% discount on all the games available.

http://d1vr6n66ssr06c.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/7544036290_d2ab5f4d41_z.jpg
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/psn-play-2012-promotion-kicks-off/
_____________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) According to Destroid's preview for Dead Space 3, some new details regarding the dungeon levels in the game include optional dungeons which do not impact the story, each dungeon ranging from 30 minutes to 60 minutes to finish, and some are restricted to co-op only for exploration.
http://www.destructoid.com/preview-dead-space-3-will-feature-optional-dungeons--231870.phtml

2) Nintendo reveals the 3DS has managed to become profitable since the price cut late last year and while they did post a $220 million loss in fiscal first quarter for 2012 (April - June), it is a lot lower than last year's mega loss which was partially blamed due to the 3DS early struggles.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/nintendo-losses-continue-but-3ds-now-profitable/4295/
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/nintendo-takes-220-million-loss-in-q1-2012-hopes-turn-to-the-wii-u/

[Emperor Smeat]

Square-Enix officially debuts the newly redesigned Final Fantasy XIV MMO game which will be called "Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn."

Last year Square-Enix had announced they were disappointed with the original game's sales and reception whch lead to the vow of redesigning and fixing the game as part of a second reboot for the MMO game.

Some of the new changes include the game being rebuilt from the ground up, gameplay being completely rehauled, a brand new world and storyline, and the graphics itself has been completely redesigned.

While no release date was revealed, the game will be arriving on PC and PS3.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1vVkGkQWHuw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
http://www.screwattack.com/news/square-enix-reveals-final-fantasy-xiv-realm-reborn
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/final-fantasy-xiv-a-realm-reborn-announced-debut-trailer/
___________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) While official beta signups are closed, some of the changes revealed for the annual Microsoft dashboard update include the new web browser using Internet Explorer, additional and enhanced search abilities, and the ability to personalize the dashboard's display.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/xbox-live-update-beta-registration-open
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/want-to-beta-test-the-next-xbox-360-dashboard/4297/

2) Gamestop responds to growing criticisms by gaming companies about used games "killing" the industry by stating only about 4% of new releases are actually sold as pre-owened games within the first 2 months (main period of sales generation) and that Gamestop has been giving back a percentage to publishers for years (currently 17%) from used games sales.
http://gamasutra.com/view/feature/174739/have_used_games_helped_the_.php

[Requiem]

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/49OQHEJ5Y7c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Fignuts]

Bunch of supposed Half-Life 3 concept art was leaked recently. Was going to post it, but honestly, who cares at this point?

Give me some Portal 3 or Left 4 Dead 3 info, and I'll get excited. Tired of waiting for valve's "flagship".

[Verbose Minch]

Bunch of supposed Half-Life 3 concept art was leaked recently. Was going to post it, but honestly, who cares at this point?

Give me some Portal 3 or Left 4 Dead 3 info, and I'll get excited. Tired of waiting for valve's "flagship".

You are not a true fan.

[Fignuts]

Don't really care, guy.

[Kalyx triaD]

I don't care for anything Valve does outside of L4D but I kinda agree with Figgy in a general sense... it's why I lost interest in FFv13. When a game is announced there's a grace period where I expect news, tidbits, even those little clues and hints frustrating as they can be, and after 2yrs show me the money.

Very few games are worth waiting for over two years, and in the extreme case of nearly an entire console generation passing by without so much as a demo - I stop caring. Don't tweet, don't reassure, I'm done with whatever it is you're doing. I'll care when you show me you care. I won't wait for you, plenty of games out there.

I was a Duke Nukem fan. I followed any and all pieces talking about Forever but after about a decade of my life, when real news came I didn't have the power to care. The dev was delayed, mismanaged, whatever. Plenty of games out there. Hell, I'm getting to that point with Star Wars Battlefront 3, and Battlefront 2 is my favorite Star Wars game.

Show me you care, otherwise I won't.

[RoXer]

Sounds good. Because they haven't done that. They haven't released ANY news, tidbits, or hints really. They haven't tweeted, they haven't reassured. They've just been working. Quietly. But when they do release some info I'm glad you'll be there because I'm sure it will be a game worthy of the wait.

[Emperor Smeat]

Even though THQ proclaimed the Darksiders series was one of their "core" and important franchises they will focus on, the company announced recently they have placed an ultimatum for the series future.

If Darksiders 2 doesn't sell 4-5 million copies during a period THQ favors, the future for a Darksiders III could be in doubt with the possibility of the series being cancelled or more likely pushed aside for a while. Either scenario would have Virgil Games shift over to a new project in order to create a new mega-selling series THQ needs for financial purposes.

He specifically noted that if Darksiders II sells "4 or 5 million units" (give or take a million of course!) THQ President Jason Rubin would most likely ok a sequel. If it doesn't, Vigil may be assigned to a new, more lucrative project.

Even if Darksiders 2 does sell very well, it was also hinted a potential Darksiders 3 would be a lot smaller in scale and size in favor of a more polished game according to the new president of the company.

To put the numbers in perspective, the original Darksiders sold about a third to half of what THQ is expecting the sequel to sell with the majority of the sales coming from the first month (1.2 million).

http://i.neoseeker.com/n/7/darksiders_2.jpg
http://www.destructoid.com/if-you-buy-darksiders-ii-there-may-be-a-darksiders-iii-232057.phtml
http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/darksiders_2/news/vigil_could_reduce_scope_for_darksiders_3_to_improve_detail.html
________________________________________________________
Daily Recap:
1) Update to EA rumored to be having a new CEO as the chairman and board decided to let the current CEO, John Riccitiello, keep his job even though the company itself is worried about the sharp decline in stock value and revenues since the middle of last year.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/ea-chairman-announces-that-john-riccitiello-is-staying/

2) Update to the Ouya Android console news as OnLive has signed a deal to provide their services, games, and even a controller for the console when it is released next year.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/onlive-coming-ouya-and-there-controller
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/onlive-signs-deal-with-ouya/

3) Gamestop announces they are investing and researching certain technologies currently in development that would enable digital content to be resold multiple times as a way to expand their used game business which would include both games and their DLC content.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/gamestop-found-a-way-to-sell-used-downloadable-dlc-games/
http://www.destructoid.com/gamestop-interested-in-creating-a-digital-used-market-232051.phtml

[Kalyx triaD]

THQ aren't being realistic.

[Requiem]

Sounds good. Because they haven't done that. They haven't released ANY news, tidbits, or hints really. They haven't tweeted, they haven't reassured. They've just been working. Quietly. But when they do release some info I'm glad you'll be there because I'm sure it will be a game worthy of the wait.

Yeah pretty much that. They've been quiet about it, but everyone knows they have to have been working on something. Kinda makes me feel better that Valve isn't a company that has to build hype before they're ready. :heart: Valve. One of the few companies I will gladly fanboy for because I love their style/direction. They'll let the game do the talking when it's ready and not before because they know it's going to be huge.

[Emperor Smeat]

Capcom announces Dragon's Dogma will now become a series made by the company after the huge sales success of the first game helped contribute to a 290% profit increase for the fiscal quarter.

The news comes from two announcements made by the company with the director of the game wanting a sequel to be made while Capcom themselves state its "setting the stage for creating a series of titles."

Previously Capcom had teased a series could be possible if the game sold well leading up to the game's retail release as a possible new mega franchise or even a yearly one from the company.

According to the fiscal report released by Capcom, Dragon's Dogma has sold over a million copies with the biggest surprise being the huge sales from Japan which Capcom wasn't expecting. The sales of this game combined with Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City sales and strong sales from their mobile market helped generate the $16.9 net profit for the company in the quarter.

http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/232195-dragons-dogma.jpg
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/capcoms-probably-making-more-dragons-dogma/4303/
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/dragons-dogma-pushes-capcom-to-290-percent-increase-in-profits/
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Daily Recap:
1) The official financial losses for the defunct 38 Studios was revealed to be around $133 million with about $118 million used up before Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was released and another $28 million from EA to help fund the game's project. In order to pay back the money owed to EA alone, the game needed to sell over 2 million copies which it didn't (1.3 million sold).
http://www.destructoid.com/38-studios-shelled-out-133-million-prior-to-shuttering-232190.phtml

2) Square-Enix confirms the first gameplay videos for the reboot of Final Fantasy XIV will occur at Gamescom while also revealing which gameplay features and items will no longer be playable once the next patch is released for the game.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/square-enix-reveals-gamescom-line-up/
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/square-enix-details-final-fantasy-xiv-a-realm-reborns-removed-content/

3) More rumors about the next Xbox console have been leaked with the supposed development kit being leaked for Project Durango along with several sources and developers confirming the pictures of the kit and GUI screens are real.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/rumor-developers-believe-leaked-xbox-720-dev-kit-images-are-real/
http://www.destructoid.com/pictures-of-next-gen-xbox-dev-kit-are-reportedly-genuine-232209.phtml

[ClockShot]

Haven't heard from Schilling in a while.