IGN involved in a scandal after it was found out a reviewer "lied" about what was played during a review and the developer attempted to force the review to be changed due to problems with the hopes of a better score.

The issue involves PixelJunk SideScroller for the PS3 where the reviewer, Daemon Hatfield, complained about the abrupt ending of the game while also claiming it was played on "normal" mode. The developer for the game, Dylan Cuthbert, complained on Twitter the review must have been wrong because only the "Casual" difficulty lacks the real ending.

Daemon Hatfield eventually admitted to playing the game in the casual difficulty for the purpose of the review and even took down part of the review in question as a way to please the developer. He also admitted time constraints forced the original review to be done quickly due to IGN having rights to an early review.

After replaying the game in normal difficulty to see the ending and if anything else changed, the end result was nothing in the actual review got changed. The real ending was not enough to change the primary issue of the game's cost along with it being too short to impact the score of 6.5 given for the game.

PS3 fans ended up being enraged at the lack of a score increase and the fact the original review lied a bit. As of now an attempt to boycott or spread the word against IGN on Twitter and Facebook has started by the same disgruntled group.

http://download.gamezone.com/uploads.../pixeljunk.jpg
http://www.gamezone.com/news/how-ign...emoving-review
Review from IGN: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1210725p1.html

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Quick News Round-Up:
1) Update to Nintendo having one of their worst financial reports in 27 years with the company officially revealing the loss in profits was $840+ million which ends up being $500 million less than initially assumed. Nintendo also stated of the mid-term loss, about $600 million was due to the foreign exchange rate into Yen.

2) The rumored sequel to Ubisoft's 2003 cell-shaded shooter called "XIII" has been revealed not to be a shooter at all but an interactive puzzle-story game and only for the iOS platform. The story will take place after the ending of the original game but after that will share almost nothing in terms of gameplay from the original.

3) Sony announces the "first edition" bundle for the upcoming PS Vita will arrive a week earlier than the official launch of the handheld with the catch of only the 3G model will be on sale early. The Wifi version will come with a 4GB card and a carrying case for $299 while the 3G model will include the 4GB card, carrying case, and Little Deviants game for $349.

lol

From Joystiq:

If you prefer the vibrant, jewel-toned streets of Vice City or the gritty, decidedly not-jewel-toned avenues of San Andreas to the trappings of Old Liberty City, you might have your fancy tickled by Rockstar soon enough. The developer, which recently showed off its iOS port of Grand Theft Auto 3, recently told Digital Trends that, though it might be a "technical challenge," similarly mobile versions of GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas are "very possible."

That's the kind of can-do attitude that made Rockstar the top-flight development studio it is today. Well, that and the secret deal that Dan Houser made with the devil back in 1999. Oh, right, breaking news: Dan Houser made a deal with the devil back in 1999. We forgot that wasn't common knowledge!

Also: http://www.joystiq.com/2011/10/20/hi...uto-3-on-ipad/

How did I miss this news of GTA3 being ported to iOS? Not that it pertains to me, but it's interesting.

Though without an actual controller I can't see it working out. Can't play any "traditional" games (read: not something that feels like a mini game) with a touch pad for the life of me.

From what I've read, it's going to high end Android phones as well.

NOT the Xperia Play, though. Sony really skimped on the power of that.

It was part of GTA III 10 year anniversary by Rockstar and sort of came out of nowhere when they first announced it. I think they also released art or something spanning either the entire decade of GTA games (III, VC, SA) or just for GTA III for mobile devices.

After some confusion at E3 over Nintendo's press conference debuting the Wii U and the reports of Nintendo re-tweaking the system, the company announces the Wii U will get a second debut with this one called the final version.

Initial confusion had people wondering if the controller itself was the new system due to Nintendo barely mentioning anything about the system itself. The lack of potential prices and other information regarding games also was a factor in the confusion.

Due to the slow start of the 3DS, the drought of games for the Wii, and the poor financial reports for 2011, the company also has reworked their entire strategy for the system. The main goals revolves around lowering the costs for the consumer and ensuring a steady stream of games are available once the system launches.

Changes to the system itself were also done both to ensure multiple Wii U controllers could be used at once and changing specs after listening to input from several developers.

Current rumors place the launch around a June 2012 release window with he possibility of sliding to a Fall 2012 as a worst case scenario.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/def...Wii-U222_0.jpg
http://www.gamezone.com/news/nintend...-u-preparation
http://www.screwattack.com/news/nint...eil-wii-u-what

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Daily Recap:
1) Valve Halloween sale for Steam starts today and ends on October 31 with discounts ranging from 25% to 80% for games.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/deal...ajor-discounts

2) Ubisoft brining Assasin's Creed and other franchises to iOS devices with Assasin's Creed: Rearmed being the first avaliable.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/ubis...es-ios-devices

3) Electronic Arts posts a $340 million loss on the previous financial quarter.
http://www.vgchartz.com/article/8833...-2011-quarter/

4) Batman: Arkham City and Saints Row 3 are arriving on EA' Origin service as the first non-EA published games for sale on the service.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/batm...ow-head-origin

So yeah.

http://bulk.destructoid.com/ul/21479...Still-620x.jpg

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mTO9eQ9zRGw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

As directed by Takashi Miike.

Amazing.

So they're telling the story of the first game?

Not that I'm in a rush or anything, but why the fuck does Goozex have nothing available? Way too much demand and no supply. I can trade my games in immediately all day, but I've got 2500 points and absolutely nothing to spend them on.

Go get 25 PS2 games.

I would not consider Condemned 2 or Dead Rising 2 or the Sly Collection new, and there are zero copies available. Everything that is available is either something I've already played or a five year old sports game.

And getting any copies of PS2 games would be useless, as the laser in my PS2 is broken. Thankfully, I can still play games from the hard drive and that my stupid ridiculous mod chip is still working after seven or eight years of use.

Microsoft announces as part of the upcoming Kinect's first anniversary celebration, the company will be providing selling the tools for commercial products to expand the device beyond gaming-only applications.

The inspiration for the idea came due to PC hacking enthusiasts who were able to hack the add-on and show off all the amazing things possible since the early beta of the device.

The plan called "Kinect for Windows commercial program" will also help integrate the Kinect and the Xbox to the company's Windows 7 platform as part of the push towards a more unified service and branding.

At least 200 businesses have either placed orders or shown interest in the tools once it officially goes on sale.

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/3...sor_middle.jpg
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/micros...ext-year/3777/

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Daily Recap:
1) Original beta planned for Counter Strike Go has been delayed after Valve listened to feedback from CS pro-gamers who were given early access to the pre-beta copy.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/pro-...strike-go-beta

2) Former Wii-exclusive rail shooters of Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles and Darkside Chronicles will be arriving as an HD set for the PS3 with full Move support.
http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/8...-hd-announced/

3) Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors will be getting a re-release on PSN with the likely scenario of the game being a PS1 Classic title and not from the arcade version.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/dark...ng-ps3-and-psp

Modern Combat 3 for iOS looks worth getting.

As part of Nintendo's re-evaluation in their development and strategy process for games and marketing, the company reveals a few things such how they "sacrificed" a year's worth of profits for the 3DS and the need for new games without getting the assumption of the company only makes those types of games.

In terms of the 3DS, Nintendo was willing to "sacrifice" a year's worth of profits at the cost of their other plans and platforms for 2011 just to ensure the 3DS had a stronger start than the DS. This was meant to make investors happy and continue the strong momentum the DS generated.

While investors were not happy at the supposed slow sales in terms of hardware, Nintendo didn't back away from the plan knowing they only needed more time for games to ensure a strong end for 2011. They also focused more on ensuring a stable future than the current fiscal term once the system outsold the amount the DS did for its first year.

In terms of games themselves, Nintendo was well aware people started to believe the company could only make Brain Age or certain "casual" games due to only those games getting high sales. They also realized this occurred due to a huge misunderstanding by consumers which ended up hurting other new IPs and lower tier titles because of those games being different than what the public believed Nintendo makes.

The company also has been well aware for a while the growing impact of smartphones for gaming. While the company is worried at the speed of which phones can "innovate" with games and features, Nintendo has changed their strategy to focus more on innovating more with new games to create another "Brain Age" instead of just relying on Mario or other powerful IPs.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/def...eld-Gaming.jpg
http://www.screwattack.com/news/nint...ced-profit-3ds
http://www.screwattack.com/news/nint...-misunderstood
http://www.screwattack.com/news/nint...ew-kinds-games

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Daily Recap:
1) Massive layoffs confirmed to have occurred at Silicon Knights with about 75% of the workforce released and the company currently in a restructuring phase.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/silico...mployees/3780/

2) EA dismisses claims of their Origin digital service scanning inside people's computers after complaints of the application going as far as looking for tax returns folders during scans.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/bf3-...-spied-ea-says

3) Sonic CD and other free goodies revealed to be in the bundle of stuff given away for those who purchase Gamestop's produced Android Tablet devices.
http://kotaku.com/5855334/sonic-cd-c...blet-customers

Silicon Knights is still around?

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

Yup, and they're apparently going back to their roots.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...quested-Titles

Pleeeeease be Eternal Darkness....

My hopes are a little less lofty.

Pleeeeeease just don't make shitty games anymore. :'(

If it is Eternal Darkness 2, then it might end up as a launch title for the Wii U depending when it finally gets released. Nintendo owns the rights to the sanity meter effect and they have been trying to figure out how to use the vitality sensor for a game.

We mustn't forget Silicon Knights have sucked for years now.

Based on recent patent filings and design documents from Sony, it appears the company is currently working on a new controller tech similar to the Vitality sensor from Nintendo.

The idea also has some similarities to a previous patent filing from a different company which uses a liquid-like substance to improve rumble technology in devices.

Sony's potential tech would measure skin resistance to certain areas of a device gripped by hands and then calculate the stress level of the current player due to the friction from the sweat or pulse.

These results could then be relayed to the game which then would adjust certain aspects such as difficulty or music changes to either benefit the gamer or help increase tensions for a quick fear effect.

http://www.screwattack.com/sites/def...age_thumb2.png http://www.screwattack.com/sites/def...age_thumb3.png
http://www.screwattack.com/news/your...nge-everything

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Daily Recap:
1) Ubisoft buys RedLynx studio (creators of the Trials racing series) for an undisclosed fee which will take effect after Trials Evolution is released due to Microsoft being the publisher for the game.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/ubisof...-redlynx/3785/

2) Sony's 2nd quarter financial report shows the company lost $350 million with the revised March 2012 yearly report now showing an overall loss of $1.1 billion instead of the previously expected $700+ million in profits.
http://www.vgchartz.com/article/8835...in-2m-of-x360/

3) Ninja Theory states the current Dante character for the reboot of the Devil May Cry series is now considered a spin-off or a separate Dante in a "parallel" universe from the Dante in the original DMC series.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/dmcs...allel-universe

Bah. If they're not going to release a game I give a damn about, they can go away for all I care.

Ubisoft confirms the upcoming Rainbow Six game does have the title of "Rainbow 6: Patriots" and also confirmed moral choices in the game plays a huge role in how the gameplay and plot develops.

The plot revolves around a new enemy group in the game is called "True Patriots" who are home-grown terrorists. Their primary goal is to topple the US government which they feel is "corrupt".

In a new feature for the series, the game will offer "moral" choices for certain sections and based on the decision taken, the game will then branch-off into different levels instead of the more linear style of previous games. The branching will affect future choices and even the storyline itself as a way to provide multiple endings and experiences.

The new branching feature is why the game no longer goes by the older "Rainbow Six" tag but now as "Rainbow 6" due to them feeling the game breaks away enough to be considered a new series.

The studio gave an example of a branching storyline in the game where at one point a home burglary occurs by an unknown group who straps a bomb to the chest of a "hostage."

The game is expected for a 2013 release date with at least the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC confirmed as platforms.

http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/image...ff943cc4ac.jpg
http://kotaku.com/5856191/branching-...-secret-weapon
http://kotaku.com/5856120/homegrown-...iots/gallery/1

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Daily Recap:
1) Major Nelson's blog confirms the next Alan Wake game will be an XBLA downloadable title and will debut at this year's Spike TV VGA show.
http://kotaku.com/5856231/the-next-a...nloadable-game

2) Spike Tv reveals the nominees for their Game of the Year award with a Nintendo gaming included for the first time since 2003 and 4 of the games were not actually released during the time the list was made.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/2011-s...e-things/3787/

3) Apple and Steve Jobs voted as the most influential company and person in the video game industry based on a poll involving only people in the industry.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...aming-Industry

8-bit sunglasses

Would be all over these if they weren't 280 fucking dollars.

http://www.ufunk.net/wp-content/uplo...-glasses-1.jpg

Surprised it didn't happen sooner considering how huge requests for gamesharing are on a lot of the big video game forums and publishers always complaining about lost sales or favoring XBLA for digital games.

Systems per account? You mean, like, you're limited to the number of consoles your account can be tied to or something?

No real clue what this is aboot.

Nevermind, G types faster then me.

I'm surprised they had a system like this in the first place.

Which also includes PSP's and Vita's for those games that can also be used on the handheld, so it can only be tied to 2 Sony systems in it's entirety. You have to call Sony to deactivate systems.

Have they been planning this for a while? I only ask because of the news that 56% of gamers don't buy games.

I have little perspective on the firm that did the study. All I really know is that when one of their analysts said EA and Blizzard would have to court the casual market sooner or later, the Escapist forums were all "This is a crock of shit!" And when this hit, the tone switched from dismissal of the firm to "OMG! ONLINE PASSES WILL SAVE GAMING!"

It's not like Michael Patcher, where you know where he stands. On a hill of bullshit.

Oh wow, that's fucking stupid.

Seriously, I could certainly see 5 PS3s being unnecesary, but 5 devices off two generations, two of which are portable?

And I've never really got the "You need to call to deactivate" thing. I don't know, I like Amazon's system where I can just go and deactivate my devices. I wouldn't mind calling to deacvtivate something if I was more likely to not wait 30 minutes just to talk to a real human. If they're going to make me interact with a machine, at least make it a computer so I can finish in ten seconds....

Much like Sascha's love life.