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Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, real-world, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Those attending Comic-Con 2009 will have a chance to get up close and personal with some of the developers of the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic, and the team has now filled in the details of their visit:

• Their panel will be called "Behind the Scenes: The making of Star Wars: The Old Republic", taking place in room 7AB on Friday the 24th of July, from 1:00PM to 2:00PM. This will feature the most SWTOR devs of the show.
  
• Signed "Threat of Peace" comics will be given away from Thursday through Saturday at the Lucasfilm booth (booth #2913) and Dark Horse Comics (booth 2615).
• The "Deceived" cinematic trailer will be shown at the Lucasfilm booth (booth #2913) on Saturday and Sunday, at 11am, 1pm, 3pm, and 5pm.
• The Star Wars Spectacular special event, hosted by Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira from G4, will happen on Friday the 24th of July at 5:15PM to 6:15PM in Hall H. The show is about everything Star Wars, so it won't be entirely SWTOR, but it will definitely be included.

Comic-Con International goes from the 23rd of July through to the 26th. Although the show is currently sold out (and no passes will be sold at the door), you can find more information about the event at the official website.

SWTOR's Comic-Con agenda originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Mac, PC, Meta (about Joystiq)

We actually thought news would be slow this past week; boy were we wrong. Let's check out the big events and exclusive content for the past seven days at Big Download!
Exclusive features

• Reviews: We give our final verdicts for Prototype and Fallout 3: Point Lookout
• Happy 13th Birthday Quake: We look back at the id Software FPS franchise
• The big PC game acquisitions: In the way of id Software's purchase by ZeniMax, we take a look at other PC game industry purchases.
• Mac Monday: Our weekly Mac games column takes a look at the life sim Spouts Adventure.
• Boot Disk: Our weekly look at retro gaming centers on the classic action-RPG System Shock 2.
• Big Ideas: "Can a game make you cry?" That's the topic of our latest weekly game theme feature.
• Freeware Friday: This week our free PC game feature is about the unusual puzzle game Chauk.
• Contest: You still have time to enter our contest where we are giving away some cool Turtle Beach headsets and Say2Play PC game voice command software products

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: June 22-28

The Best of Big Download: June 22-28 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, remember when we gave away all those codes of Battlefield 1943 just after E3 and there was a bit of confusion surrounding when you could use them -- er, ya know, actually play the game? Don't worry, we were confused too, but according to June's official EA Newsletter, the long awaited online shooter from DICE will be hitting your digital store shelves on July 9th.

Interestingly, the game description no longer lists a PC version, making the delayed iteration of Battlefield 1943 that much less of a possibility -- a strange one at that, considering the franchise's PC roots. Either way, those of you that snagged codes for the game back in early June should start getting ready for battle by talking to our friends in the JPAG and setting up a game night. Talk about two tastes that taste great together.

Update: DICE producer Gordon Van Dyke said today on EA's UK forums that "We are close to confirming our dates (Xbox 360 date & PS3 date), but still need to settle a few minor things." Looks as though the release date listed in the newsletter is still unconfirmed, unfortunately. Sorry, folks -- and thanks to everyone who sent this in!

[Thanks, Iain!]

EA reveals Battlefield 1943 release date [update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Before World of Warcraft, the words which made the sentences of my childhood were written with the red ink of broken syringe needles punctuated with the frantic key presses of console games one generation behind. My dreams were fueled by some arrogant notion I'd gotten into my head back then that I could be whatever I wanted to be, no matter the odds stacked against me. It didn't matter then and this remains true even to this day.

This week, my 2 troll Fire Cleave™ comp came up against a RMP. They killed my druid in less than 30 seconds into the fight. Did Sleaky and I give up? No. The rogue was at 30% life, the priest at about 20% mana but out of line of sight from his partner. I Lava Burst -> Frost Shock -> Thunderstorm (for good measure) and he dies. Elemental shaman/Survival Hunter vs Mage/Priest. On paper, there's no way in hell we're going to win this fight.

It didn't matter.

EVOCATE. Shock that ****. Hex. Ground the sheeps. Shock the frost bolts, that's the way we do it. LoS like ******* until your ****'s not on cooldown. Keep pressure on the mage. Alright. That's good. Priest just killed tremor. Redrop it and kite him away. Purge Mage clean. Sleaky just feign death'd a sheep. Ground the next one. Lava Burst. Over 9,000. Good. Drop another tremor and run the **** away from the priest. LARGE arcs. Large mother******. Keep grounding those sheeps. Shock the frost bolts. Priest is dumb. Just kite him with tremor totems.

Sleaky's sheeped. ****.

Make sure Frost Resist is down. It's down. Redrop it to maintain good aura positioning. Priest can't afford the mana to spam dispell and doesn't have much time. Ghost wolf and run away. Ruins of Lordaeron means you have the upper hand if you play it right. Come on baby, you can do it. Sleaky's keeping constant pressure on the mage.  Another Lava Burst -> Ghost Wolf away. Priest Penence on the mage. Shock's on cooldown. Cool. DPS him through it. Purge the Prayer of Mending, Renew and shield. Purge baby purge. You ate a fear. That's alright, trinket's up. Hex priest. DR shared with Wyvern Sting is a ***** but it's now or never.

Sleaky's no longer sheeped.

Explosive shot on the mage incoming. Priest is scattered. It's showtime. Lightning Bolt -> Lighting Bolt (LIGHTNING OVERLOAD) -> Chain Lightning. Dead Mage. Priest leaves before Lava Burst is back up.

Four points.

Going back to fighting games this weekend (against someone GOOD) reminded me of what gameplay is like when it's a chess match that goes faster a keypress approximately every 1.5 seconds. But just because it's not as fast doesn't mean it's simple by any means. In Soul Calibur you can go 15 seconds with you and your partner constantly ducking, dodging, parrying each other's attacks and it feels like an eternity. In WoW, 4.5 seconds means the difference between life and death.

After I began playing WoW in closed beta all the way back in 2004 my participation in other genres of games slowly diminished to the point where I all but neglected anything not WoW related. I find it fascinating that when we play other games it makes you that much better at the chosen game you've decided to devote the majority of your time to. It makes sense. In the old days, before the fragfest that makes up WoW PvP today, battlegrounds were fun because a well organized group ran in such a way that's not too much unlike a chess game. I'm not being nostalgic. Sentiment for something in a game that none of us will be playing 15 years from now isn't really my style. That's just the way it is.

Take Arathi Basin. 5 Bases. 15 people. Start with a 4 cap attempt at the beginning. 1 person take farm. Send 7 to Smith, 4 to LM, 3 to Mine. Adjust accordingly depending on where they send their people. Got your 4 cap? Cool. You didn't? 3 on D at each node you have at all times. Set up a swing team of 2-3 people at a strategic point so that they can respond quickly to incoming Alliance. Have druids/rogues ninja a 3rd or 4th. Once you have Blacksmith, Farm, Lumber Mill. Set swing team on the path where all 3 roads intersect. Wait. Or have your druids/rogues take another node. This is when battlegrounds were fun. Eating babies for 12+ hours a day for 11 weeks to get a pointless title in game was almost worth it.

It's when I think about games that puts you against other people the amount of thought that goes into the people calling the shots in both small scale and large scale. It's all a psychological game that's already been covered by such men with names like Musashi, Tzu and Caesar. With the regionals we saw the triumphs and failures of names we're all more than familiar with. Men with dreams and desires like us in an underrated form of competition.

As with anything, it's easy to pick apart things in retrospect and claim that you can do better. But when it comes down to it, when you're sitting there in a deep freeze, your trinket is down and you're pressing your wind shock key frantically because the mage is dumb enough to be in range and you can't do anything about it, I don't think there's a person in the world dumb enough to ask the question, "Well, why didn't you ground the deep freeze?"

I'm reminded of this quote:

"It is just as much a matter of chance that I am still alive as that I might have been hit. In a bomb-proof dug-out I may be smashed to atoms and in the open may survive ten hours bombardment unscratched. No soldier outlives a thousand chances. But every soldier believes in Chance and trusts his luck." - from All Quiet on the Western Front

As with life, there are some things you can't control and predict. I guess that's why I can't really stand out-skilling scripted encounters ad nauseum to get 10 more spell power. There's nothing more rewarding than fighting a DK, grounding his strangulate and raping him in the face. I can't do it every time, but damn. I feels ******* GOOD when I do it. This is the name of the game.

A bit of luck, a bit of skill and you earn those points while they matter.

Lost Planet 2 was one of Capcom's biggest hits at E3, mostly because of a great demo that showed off the game's 4-player co-op mode. If that sounds like something you would like to try out, it looks like you'll soon be able to -- we just don't know exactly how soon "soon" means. Speaking at Famitsu's Midnight Live 360 event (via Joystiq), producer Jun Takeuchi said that the E3 demo will become available for download "soon, I guess."

While Takeuchi doesn't sound entirely sure about the actual availability of this demo, we can only hope soon actually means soon, and not, "I'm not sure when it could be ready, so I'll just vaguely say 'soon' right now." Takeuchi also revealed a few new details about the game, such as the inclusion of computer-controlled bots, custom weapons sets, and a character customization feature that uses items that are unlocked after earning certain Achievements.

No release date for Lost Planet 2 has been set, although all indications are that it won't be out until 2010.

Filed under: Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, All Points Bulletin, Crime

The team at Massively is pretty happy to see that Realtime Worlds has broken radio silence with All Points Bulletin, first with the E3 2009 announcement and a video podcast, and now with some in-depth interviews about the urban crime game. Gamasutra's Christian Nutt recently spoke with APB lead designer EJ Moreland about some of the elements that could make this game different from most anything else presently on the market.

The game is clearly a departure from some of the conventions and game mechanics typical of an MMO. The game's emphasis is on dynamic action; Moreland describes APB as "an online action game with persistence." And, of course, there's that incredible potential for customization they've shown off.

Continue reading All Points Bulletin players to help determine game's evolution

All Points Bulletin players to help determine game's evolution originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Unlike the first Mass Effect, the sequel will not allow players to restart the campaign with all the skills Shepard gained throughout his (um, her!) second adventure. Mass Effect 2 Lead Designer Preston Watamaniuk notes on the BioWare forums that the team is working hard to "offer a smooth progression into ME3 from ME2." The reasoning is that they "have to have reasonable knowledge" of where a character could end up at the end of the game.

Of course, Mass Effect 2 players can feel free to create a new character and start over. So, it appears that if you're looking to start Mass Effect 3 with a jacked-up Shepard, make sure to explore every little nook and cranny of the galaxy before going into the sequel's final mission.

[Via Kotaku]

Mass Effect 2 won't allow second playthrough by character for sake of continuity originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One gripe among hardcore Mass Effect players is that its toughest difficulty was an unlockable - after playing through the game twice. A design lead explains why, and "insanity" may not be locked in ME2.

On the Mass Effect forums, Christina Norman, lead system designer, said that Insanity difficulty was made unlockable, because it was so difficult a player needed the experience of already playing through the game in order to complete it.

If we give access to insanity on the first playthrough, we need to show that it is possible to beat the game with all classes without any bonuses from achievements. We can't release a difficulty level where it's impossible to complete.

Effectively this means insanity would need to be easier. If we can assume you've already done a playthrough, we can assume you've acquired some bonuses, in addition to getting the experience of beating it on a lower difficulty level which will help you beat it on insanity.

So for ME1 at least, we were able to make Insanity harder because we limited it to people who'd already completed a playthrough.

So, what about the top difficulty level for Mass Effect 2? Norman said the team is considering "additional dimensions" to the difficulty system in Mass Effect 2, details that will make the game harder in the sense that it is more challenging, not simply "tougher."

We want insanity to feel like a smart experience, where you don't die because a rocket hits you and you're one-shot killed. You die because you face an overwhelming, deadly, force. You play extremely well, but not well enough, and on a subsequent try you're able to be victorious because you play better.

Once Bioware has its difficulty levels built out, then they will consider whether the top difficulty should be an unlockable. Norman said that decision has not been made yet. She is "totally open" to having insanity available from the get-go, "unless it means we have to make it 'easier'.

Ultimately if I have to choose between those options, I will choose a harder insanity difficulty, because I believe that's what's important to our players. Overall insanity in ME2 will be harder than ME1. That's a heads up for everyone! Beating insanity on ME2 is going to be a real "achievement", a badge of honor, get ready.

Regardless of how you feel about unlockable difficulty, Norman's reasoning makes plenty of sense, and gamers should really appreciate such transparency in their design process. This is a great example of meaningful gamer outreach. Hats off to her and to Bioware.

Will Difficulty Levels be Arbitrarily Locked in Mass Effect 2? [Mass Effect Forums, via The Save Points, thanks Meredith B.!]

PlayStation Home had a little trouble winning people over when it finally launched in November 2008, but it seems it picked up considerable steam since then. Sony has announced the online world has been downloaded over 7 million times, with over 6 million virtual items downloaded within it as well. And according to Peter Edward, Home director for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (via Gamasutra), it's a service that will "become an essential component" for every PlayStation 3 game in the future.

Sony provided a number of interesting figures concerning Home, including the fact that 80 percent of its inhabitants are males age 18-35 (which is actually better than the 90 percent Sony was expecting). But probably the more reassuring numbers for Sony are the figures associated with unique promotional events that have been conducted in Home in the past. The Red Bull Air Race, for instance, has generated 2.5 million visits and 575,000 hours of gameplay. And temporary movie campaigns, including "Watchmen," "Star Trek," and "Transformers," have also generated big numbers.

But Edwards assured that Sony has much bigger intentions for Home than just promotional tie-ins. "For Sony, revenue isn't the main driver for Home. We're in this for the longterm," he explained. "Home is the starting point for PlayStation 3 online, and that's something that gamers are going to expect as more games support Game Launch from within Home."

It's never a slow news day when you can find a picture of Master Chief in a letterman Jacket. PWN or Die features a hilarious gallery of images starring Halo's marquee super-soldier, Master Chief. Usually we recognize the Master Chief from his aggressive "Earth saving" escapades, but these "Senior Yearbook images" show us the UNSC powerhouse has a softer side too. If you've dreamt of Sears Family Portrait style images of the Chief, your prayers have been answered. Or your worst nightmares have come true ... either way, check it out.

Master Chief gets civilian-ized originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The list of 47 achievements, worth 1,000 Gamerscore, have made it out - for the Games for Windows Live version of Batman: Arkham Asylum. It's hard to imagine these will change much for 360.

Finishing the game on any difficulty (of three settings) returns 50 Gamerscore; 100 percenting it gives you 75, and solving all of the Riddler Challenges (you saw one in the earlier video, looks like a collection item) gives you at least 160, as you're awarded 20 Gamerscore at certain points in your progression (at 5 percent of challenges, 10, 25 percent, etc.) Combo achievements hint at some serious throwdown animations.

There are another 15 secret achievements, three of which are worth 50. The full list is at the link.

Batman: Arkham Asylum Achievement List [Xbox 360 Achievements, thanks again, Excaliburps]

There was a time when the suggestion of making a videogame that would force gamers to exercise would be met with incredulous scoffs. Clearly, those who scoffed then are probably kicking themselves right now. A new report out of the Games for Health Project (via GamesIndustry.biz) shows that health-focused videogames like Wii Fit, EA Sports Active, and Dance Dance Revolution have over an 18 month period generated an astounding $2 billion in worldwide sales.

"Healthcare is 18 percent of the GDP of the United States and so games for health is probably the largest sector of activity in the serious games field long-term," concluded Ben Sawyer, co-founder of the Games for Health Project. And according to Dr. Debra Leiberman, a director of health gaming research, schools ought to jump in on the sudden influx and success of health-focused videogames. "States' governors should direct their school technology officers to look at innovations like Dance Dance Revolution and Wii Fit as a way to extend the reach of physical education and comprehensive health education," Leiberman said.

No doubt much of the success of this growing "health" genre of videogames is attributable to Wii Fit and EA Sports Active in particular. As of March of this year, Wii Fit has sold 18.22 million units worldwide, and EA Sports Active has been equally impressive in the short time since its release, with EA saying it sold 600,000 units in its first two weeks alone. With Wii Fit Plus and Ubisoft's Your Shape both coming later this year, it looks like this genre is only going to get bigger and bigger.

If you were jealous that we got our greasy, unworthy hands on a 4-player co-op demo of Lost Planet 2 during our ransacking of E3 2009, you can now cool your jets -- according to producer Jun Takeuchi during an appearance on Famitsu's "Midnight Live 360," the same demo is coming to Xbox Live "soon." Actually, Takeuchi's exact words were, "soon, I guess," a sentiment that doesn't exactly fill us with optimism regarding the actual soon-ness of the demo's release.

Takeuchi showcased a number of new features during the Famitsu program, such as computer-controlled bots, custom weapon sets and character customization, which he explained can be done using items you unlock in tandem with certain achievements. We don't know whether any of these features will be present in the demo -- but if it's as similar to the E3 demo as Takeuchi says, it should be radical enough without them.

Lost Planet 2 demo coming 'soon,' features 4-player co-op originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

July 2009

• Here's a Story: The Great Chain Interview
  The Great Chain Interview, Part 1: Miyamoto Questions Metroid Director
  The Great Chain Interview, Part 2: Metroid Guy To Xbox Guy To PS3 Guy
  The Great Chain Interview, Part 3: Sony Questions Sony, Who Questions Shane Kim
  The Great Chain Interview, Part 4: Xbox Guy To Ex-Xbox Guy To That Guy's Boss
  The Great Chain Interview, Part 5: Riccitiello To Reggie To You
  by Stephen Totilo
• 
  
• Game Robo-cock
  When Robot Chicken Meets Video Games
  by Luke Plunkett
• 
  
• Playing The Numbers
  Kotaku Bureau of Weights & Measures Studies Fallout, Physics, Also Beer
  by Owen Good
• 
  
• Father Knows Best
  The Best and Worst Fathers in Video Games
  by AJ Glasser
• 
  
• Going Against The flOw
  ThatGameCompany And The Beauty Of Taking Risks
  by Brian Ashcraft
• 
  

REVIEWS

• Eduardo The Samurai Toaster Micro-Review
• Let's Tap Review: Rhythm Limbo
• Fallout 3 Point Lookout Micro-Review: Axe Murder
• Art Style Boxlife Micro-Review: Smart Misery
• The Sims 3 Review: Delayed Gratification
• Star Defense Micro-Review: Tower Defense in Spaaaace
• Zenonia Micro-Review: Unexpectedly Epic
• Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again Micro-Review: App Alternative
• Red Faction: Guerrilla Review: Bustin Makes Me Feel Good
• Prototype Review: Alex Mercer SMASH!
• Swords & Soldiers Micro-Review: Violence Included
• Ghostbusters: The Video Game Review: Survival Comedy

PREVIEWS

• Batman: Arkham Asylum Preview: A Thinker's Brawling Game
• Madballs in Babo Invasion Preview: A Game With Balls
• Wii Sports Resort Preview: Motion Game Of The Year?
• The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks Preview: Pigs Might Fly
• Wolfenstein Re-Preview: Sans Mecha-Hitler
• Shadow Complex Preview: Where's The Morph Ball?
• Tony Hawk Ride Preview: Feet On, Most of The Time
• Lost Planet 2 Preview: I Want To Be Inside You
• WireWay Preview: Drawn to Flight
• Marvel Super-Hero Squad Preview: Lego Without Lego
• Drawn To Life: The Next Chapter Preview: Wii-Drawn
• Darksiders Preview: Blasts From Pasts
• MX Vs. ATV Reflex Preview: Right Stick Re-Imagined
• Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time Preview: Time For Change
• PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe Preview: Marital Bliss
• Halo 3: ODST Firefight Preview: OUHave12
• Dexter iPhone Preview: Bits And Pieces
• Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment Preview: Disturbing Yet Familiar
• Muramasa The Demon Blade Preview: So, So Pretty
• Saw Preview: Should I Be Enjoying This?
• MAG Preview: Generic Action Game
• Jumpgate Multiplayer Preview: Shades Of Descent
• Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Preview: There's A Light
• Afrika Preview: And It Hurts That My Friends Never Stood Downwind
• G.I. Joe Preview: The Rise Of Contra
• PixelJunk Shooter Preview: Hot And Cold-Running Co-Op
• Split/Second Preview: Race Track Go Boom
• Fat Princess: A Fistful of Cake Preview: Fatter
• Splinter Cell Conviction Preview: A Smoother Operator
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii Preview: Classic Mario, Endless Play
• Alan Wake Preview: Shoot Twice
• LEGO Rock Band Preview: Building Family Fun-Time
• Batman Preview: Not A Bat-Toosie In Sight
• Gravity Crash Preview: Retro Evolved

WELL PLAYED

• The Great Experiment
• Kotaku's Best of E3 Awards: Hair Dragons, CatBats and Light Graffiti
• iPhone: The Great White Hype?
• Bethesda's Big Move

COVER

• by Michael McWhertor

There’s a lot to read here this week, though I’ll understand if you wait an hour or so to get started. The US is in the Confederations Cup Final… who saw that coming??

As usual, feel free to submit any stories we may have missed in the comments below.

The PS Blog weekly reading list (Week of June 22, 2009)

• Blood and gore: The Punisher: No Mercy has plenty of it - Destructoid
• Blockbuster selling high-end PS3 bundles - Joystiq
• Quantum Game Design Questions Answered By Tecmo - Siliconera
• Harvey Nicks’ streetfighter-esque ads - Wonderland
• ‘Drake’s Fortune’ set for big screen - THR.com
• BlazBlue PS3 Version Unlocks Remote Play - One Last Continue
• Bethesda gives a status update on Fallout 3 DLC for PS3 - Destructoid
• Sony’s Edward Talks PlayStation Home As It Hits 7 Million Users - Gamasutra
• Sony to talk ‘a lot more’ about motion controller at Develop Conference - Joystiq
• Demon’s Souls Direct-Feed Walkthrough - G4tv.com
• Bethesda says first Fallout 3 PS3 DLC almost done - Joystiq
• The best PS1 games on PSP - GamePro.com
• The King of Games unveils sexy Pixeljunk t-shirts - Destructoid
• Official Platform Nation Best of E3 Awards - Platform Nation
• Sony PSP Go: First Look video - Crave (CNET)
• Sony touts benefits of Blu-ray for PS3 - THR.com
• ‘Uncharted 2′ finds Game Critics bounty - USATODAY.com
• Analyst: PlayStation Motion Controller better for core gamers than Natal - Joystiq
• Kotaku Bureau of Weights & Measures Studies Fallout, Physics, Also Beer
• Take Two CEO Drops The Details On Spy-Game Agent - G4tv.com
• Monster Hunter Freedom Unite Review - PlayStation Universe
• Analysis: May 2009’s PlayStation Network Hits, Misses - GamerBytes
• Don’t Ride Bicycles Over Killzone 2 Chalk Drawings - Kotaku
• Curve’s Explodemon! coming to PSP, PSPGo - Destructoid
• Tales of Vesperia PS3’s New Dungeon, PSP Connectivity - SCRAWL
• “Damnation” Timberclad PS3 - Brass Goggles
• Final Fantasy VII PSN Release Results In Over 100,000 New Aeris Deaths - Kotaku
• Monster Hunter Freedom Unite Releases Today - Capcom Unity
• Street Fighter IV and Killzone 2 among top 7 best games of 2009 (so far) - GamesRadar
• Batman: Arkham Asylum Invisible Predator Hands-On - GameSpot
• Tekken 6 enters ring October 27 - GameSpot
• Final Fantasy VII is Really, Really Popular - IGN
• Uncharted 2 Takes Best of Show in E3 Game Critics Awards - Kotaku
• Online Service Battle: Network Outstripping Live - PSXExtreme
• Strikers 1945 hitting PSP as a download exclusive - Joystiq
• Meet the characters of Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time - Joystiq
• PS3 Deals on Amazon Gold Box - Amazon.com
• Uncharted 2 Closed Beta Multiplayer Impressions - GamePro
• Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Coming to PSP - Kotaku

Filed under: Sci-fi, Screenshots, EVE Online, One Shots

Maybe it's just us, but the drone hives we keep seeing are getting even more wicked-looking; giant, dark, amorphous structures looming in the depths of space. However, along with today's gorgeous EVE Online screenshot, we also have a tremendously cool short story to go with it from Ryl'avin Redwense! As it's a bit long, we'll be placing part of it behind the cut rather than editing it. If you'd like to send in a short story of your own to go with your screenshot, email it to us at oneshots [AT] massively [DOT] com. Now, on with today's excellent EVE Online tale from our very talented reader!

Continue reading One Shots: A story for Sunday

One Shots: A story for Sunday originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Minnesota inventor has invented an invention that inventively shuts off power to game consoles once a parent plugs in and password protects a time on its timer. Haven't we heard of this before?

Kids, meet the GameDr Video Game Timer! Sound familiar? Yep, we told you about BOB just last year, which does the exact same thing and even markets itself in the same way - being the "bad guy" for parents too strung out on boxed wine and antidepressants tired to fight about a gaming curfew.

GameDr. is sold by Digital Innovations of Illinois; BOB is sold by Hopscotch Technology of Colorado. But while BOB got airtime on the Today Show last year, GameDr comes recommended to the public with comments such as this, from Digital Innovations' marketing director:

"There are moms who say they love this, and that they know 10 people who need one. And there are gamers who say it's terrible and that parents should just monitor their kids."

OK, so, we just rendered moot about 100 comments on this post. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, in profiling the device reinvented by a 78-year-old guy in Medina, Minn., points out this trick has been tried before, and that the Xbox 360 even has an on-board timer to do the exact same thing. NPD's David Riley comes in to splash some sanity on the proceedings.

If parents are that concerned about what children are doing on home video-game consoles, the chances are they don't have a console or have one with only games appropriate for their children's ages.

No one explains how these devices are different enough that someone hasn't gotten all sue-happy yet. However, I am hard at work duct-taping an egg timer to a circuit breaker to release my Edge Game Power Cutter Offer by Fall 2009. That should put a stop to all these "bad guys."

Parents Have Bad-Guy Ally to Turn Off Video Games [Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and image, via VE3D]

Following the wake of Michael Jackson's surprise death earlier this week, we've considered the unusually deep connections he had with the videogames industry, not to mention his more ephemeral and tangential connections to gaming culture. But now Microsoft has decided to pay tribute in a simple and fitting way: Over the weekend, they're offering the landmark "Thriller" music video for free on Xbox Live Marketplace.

This is the full, 10-minute version of the video, widely considered to be Jackson's greatest music video moment -- and perhaps the most influential music video of all time, inspiring infamous prison inmate recreations as well as videogame related tributes. The free deal ends Monday, so if you're interested in a little poignant nostalgia, better download it before the end of the day.

This has been a week unlike any other for celebrity deaths. Billy Mays, the cheerful, if relentless pitchman who hawked such items as Oxiclean and Orange Glo, was found dead in his home today.

Mays, 50, was something of the modern heir to types like Ron Popeil. But his pitch style was never greasy or ironic, and much of what he hawked had an apparent use and value. He was certainly nothing like Vince Shlomi, aka the obnoxious ShamWow guy, whose arrest on assault and prostitution charges was met with derision, if not cheers.

Here's a mash-up, Heavy from TF2 selling one of Mays' signature products, Kaboom. (It was a response back in May to the Scout hawking Shlomi's Slap-Chop.) R.I.P. Billy Mays - a man fortunate enough to do for a living something he truly enjoyed, and do it well.

TF2 Heavy Sells Kaboom [YouTube]
'Infomercial King' Billy Mays Found Dead in Home [Fox News]

Yesterday in the Big Apple, socially-aware teens held the first-ever NYC Youth Media & Technology Festival. The event spotlighted the work of teenagers who create video games and other digital media projects in order to advance social causes.

Organizers expected about 100 attendees for the Festival. The gathering was intended to produce a citywide dialogue about the role of new media and technology in teens' lives and how it can be utilized to promotes issues kids care about.

A group of young designers affiliated with the New York Public Library were scheduled to showcase their designs and conceptualizations for serious video games about subjects like celebrity drug use, media consolidation and genocide.

Meanwhile, teens from the Global Kids Virtual Video Project premiered an animated short film about child sex trafficking in the United States.  Members of MOUSE discussed their efforts to advance technology in New York City public schools by developing open source labs, advocating for the One Laptop Per Child campaign and other efforts.

The invitation-only event was held at the Parsons The New School for Design.

-Doug Buffone, Entertainment Consumers Association intern

Thanks Mike Martinez. Intel Teams Up with Conan O'Brien Again. Thanks Digg. Like teenagers, computers are built to hook up. Thanks Ant and Boing Boing.

IN-WIN Commander 650-750W PSU on Bjorn3D.com. iStar xAGE-N99-SAU Hard Drive Docking Station on [OC]ModShop. Kodak EASYSHARE Z915 Digital Camera on Test Freaks. Noctua NF-S12B FLX 120mm Fan on...

Thanks Ant. A New BattleCast Primetime Episode is live, including a look at Red Alert for iPhone. Thanks Planet Command & Conquer… Debian Package of the Day - chromium-bsu- fast paced, arcade-s...

R.I.P.: TV pitchman Billy Mays found dead at home. Thanks Devicer. Oxy-Links: Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez. Play: Curse Village. IncrediBots 2. Star Beacons. Links: The Effects of the Videogame...

The Battle for Wesnoth Website has a new patches to update this freeware turn-based strategy game for Windows, MacOS, and Linux to version 1.6.3. Described as a "maintenance release" to fix bugs and...

The Still Life Website is serving downloads of a new patch for the German or French editions of Still Life 2, the third installment in Gameco Studios' and Microïds' point-and-click series that began...

Croteam Answers Questions On Serious Sam HD and Serious Sam 3. Three of them. Rodrigo Castillo of Revistronic Interview on Adventure Classic Gaming. Fenimore Fillmore’s Revenge and more. Swing Away...

GarageGames sponsored SpeedGame development run is finished. Thanks Intense Christian Entertainment. A decade Guru3D - Contest 1 Photo entries.

Hearts of Iron 3 on Tacticular Cancer.

Quantum PlayStation 3 Screenshots. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 PlayStation 3 Screenshots. Madden NFL 10 Nintendo Wii Screenshots. NES Controller Doorbell. Thanks Ant.

Original C&C on iPhone. Thanks Ant.

Look folks, we'll admit it -- it's been kind of awhile since we had nagging overlords demanding we shut off the game system and finish our homework. We can, however, understand the plight of our younger readers, worried their elders may find out about the built-in parental controls on Xbox 360 and simply flip a switch rather than engage their kids in spirited debate. Unfortunately, you guys may be in a bit of trouble, as John Morrissey, a man in Edina, Mn. recently took it upon himself to assist in the neverending War on Fun by inventing a device specifically meant to limit time spent playing games on, well, any electricity-based device. It's called the "Video Game Timer" (distributed by Digital Innovations).

From the looks of the thing, you plug whatever electric device you'd like to limit access to into the VGT, set an amount of time, and that's that. Star Tribune says that the device emits "some warning beeps" before automatically shutting off the power, though we're wary of anything instantly cutting off the power to the games we're playing. If anything, the interaction between parent and child every time they want to play a game as a result of this will help to act as punishment for any parents out there thinking about purchasing such a game console chastity belt. For those parents out there trying to avoid such ... less than pleasant interactions with their kids, we humbly suggest the Entertainment Software Ratings Board.

John Morrissey's 'Video Game Timer' is made of pure evil originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Michael Jackson Grief-a-Thon rolls into its fourth big moneymaking day. Except that "Thriller" is being offered free for the rest of the weekend on Xbox Live Marketplace. Ordinarily it goes for 160 Microsoft points.

"Beat It," "Smooth Criminal" and "Billie Jean" join Thriller in the top 10 of the Most Popular in XBLM's Marketplace right now. The former three videos are the standard 160-point price. They're all in standard def.

Michael Jackson's Thriller Video Free Today On XBLM [GayGamer.net]

Today's gaming setup belongs to Zoel. Zoel is a giant import collector and he has a ton of import games. He even has an imported Sega Saturn! Zoel also loves all things RPG as you can tell by all of the photos from his blog.

Wry Guy gave showed us how to be better at Goozexing, Brian Keljore created SimToid, Necros is in for some trouble at PAX, Dead Movie Star's new game is out and plenty more happened in the community this past week.

Here's SnakeDude4Life's unlockable costumes. Really clever.

Garison showed Dtoiders in their natural habitat. 

Here's who won the Papa Burch photoshop contest!

Wry Guy gave us a few more tips when it comes to being a pro at Goozex. 

bloodylip created the best custom joystick ever made. 

Brian Keljore made Dtoiders PsychoSoldier, Naia-the-gamer, Kaciesaurus, CrocBox, BunnyRabbit2 and Jonathan Ross in Sims 3. He then went on to molest these Dtoider Sims for the past week. Also, Kaciesaurus is an alcoholic.

Tronjoy did some Destructoid anagrams.

Today feels like a good day for a weekend update.  There are a lot of odds and ends to briefly comment on, announce, update, etc. etc.

[Podcast / Interview] Julie Whitefeather & Frances Kosac of the No Prisoners, No Mercy podcast had me on their show for episode 36 to discuss… well a lot of stuff, really.   They’re working on several episodes at once over there so I’m not sure what was all part episode 36 and what is being reserved for future episodes (I’m only halfway through listening) so you’ll just have to listen and enjoy.  I do know that you’ll hear my thoughts on Land of the Dead from my time on the public test server (this was recorded before LotD launched) and my thoughts on some of WAR in general.  Those two nuns are a lot of fun and you’re sure to enjoy their podcast (and me!) so give it a listen.

[Delayed] Mortal Online has delayed the sale of their pre-orders/collectors/whatever because they can’t get their store working properly.  No one could have seen that coming. OUCH! Sorry, my tongue just went through my cheek there.  Dodging the same problems that Aventurine had when they couldn’t get their store working probably would be a very good thing.  This whole “only 999 copies!” thing and having to pay full price to get into beta is a big put off for me so I won’t be adopting this one early.

[Gaming News] NCsoft delivered an open letter to their community.  In usual form for a producer’s letter, it gave very little information.  When I tried desperately to read into the letter or find something worth talking about I read the line “…an army of creative writers generating an enormous amount of rewrites as we execute to our total commitment of quality of content” and thought that this could at least explain why Aion, being so polished already, would need 3 more months before release.  Makes sense that rewriting the story and Westernizing the content would take a while…. but then I found out from a friend who has been following the game for years that they’ve been saying this same thing ofr the past 2 years.  Maybe they really mean it this time.

[Release] Battlefield Heroes launched this past week.  I’ve been in the beta for months and months and months and months and forever and have enjoyed playing and testing.  It’s not what you would think of when you think of the Battlefield franchise.  It’s cartoony, wonky, honky, and the antithesis of what you would consider the Battlefield games to be.  It works though.  It’s fun, completely free, and offers a decent amount of fun for a game that requires you to put so little into it.  You can earn experience on your character like you would in the recent FPS games to unlock new abilities.  You can do “missions” which are just like achievements and give you a form of currency to spend on buying new weapons.  The sad part about the game is that they’re really looking for you to spend money on their microtransactions.  To get any cool clothes you have to spend money and the weapons are not permanent because you have to continue spending to own them (7 days or a month at a time).  Unfortunately, their microtransaction system has to value to it.  You can’t buy more to save in the long run.  Spending $5 will get you X and spending $20 will get you X*4.   I consider myself to be decent at the game and enjoy completely destroying those who spent money on the game when I’ve spent zilch.

[Beta / Upcoming Game] Aion’s 3rd Beta Weekend will be a bit longer this time.  We get to play from July 2 – July 6 and have access to content from levels 1-20.  The schedule says that this will be open to Asmodians, but I bet they’ll open up the Elyos as well.  I’m torn on whether or not I should play a lot this weekend.  On one hand I want nothing more than to play the heck out of Aion, but at the same time I want to avoid burnout or seeing and experiencing the fun before it’s permanent.  I’m usually the type to play the beta, love it, play at launch and like it but feel like it wasn’t as good as beta – probably because the magic of the first time has worn off.  I’ll wrestle with my decision up until Thursday.  Be sure you pre-order if you haven’t already and give it a shot.  It’s only $5 if you can find a pre-order bonus box at your local Scamstop Gamestop/EB which can be transfered to another game if you don’t like it.

Natal? ODST? Whatever it is, Major Nelson, Stepto and other Redmond regulars have been playing it lately. I thought it might be 1 vs. 100, but other friends show that as "Xbox 360 Dashboard."

So that's two Xbox rumors before the morning's out. I have emailed Larry to see if he wants to say anything to his adoring public about it.

Update: Major Nelson has indeed replied! Here's his clarification, verbatim:

Regarding that entry on my Gamercard, that's something we're testing as part of the next dashboard release (nope...not ready to announce a date yet!.) If you remember at E3, we announced avatar marketplace, and the ability for games to award avatar items. We're testing that infrastructure.

Xbox 360 Beta Leaderboard [Thanks Dodge Story, Carlos V. and Duncan D.]

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles

Joystiq's fearless leader Chris Grant recently caught up with 38 Studios CEO Brett Close to discuss their recent acquisition of Big Huge Games, and what this might mean for the "Copernicus" MMO. Massively has mentioned Copernicus at a few points in the past, but unfortunately in terms more vague than we'd like. We know it's a fantasy MMO project that draws upon notables like R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane, but Joystiq turned up some more info about Copernicus.

Close stresses that Copernicus is an IP that will exist in several channels; there will be books, graphic novels, and of course an MMO that draws upon these elements. "Rather than drilling into details about why this is going to give people something they have never experienced before... what I will tell you is that it's simply based on that talent [R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane] and based on our approach and our experience in building these products. There's nothing like it out there right now. And I don't believe there's anybody working on anything like this right now."

Continue reading 38 Studios CEO Brett Close on the Big Huge Games acquisition and the Copernicus IP

38 Studios CEO Brett Close on the Big Huge Games acquisition and the Copernicus IP originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you don't know Polish, the narrative gets in the way, but you can watch Bats skulk around Arkham's grounds and get a feel for the stealth takedowns the game is engineered to deliver.

I was particularly impressed by his ziplining up to a guard tower and clonking a sniper, forehead-first, into the railing. Of course, it required the guy to be completely oblivious to a 200-pound man grappling to the floor he was standing on, but hey. It's Batman. Also, what's up with the x-ray vision mode?

Later, Batman lays out some pretty gruesome hand-to-hand combos - you can see the finisher coming up when the camera speed slows down. The combos deliver you bonuses for varying your moves, so, button-mashers be warned.

Finally, this may be in Polish, but everyone can get that's a load-time joke at 5:40 right? Right? Otherwise, that's one hell of a cameo for this game.

Batman Arkham Asylum Gameplay Beta [YouTube, thanks excaliburps]

Avatars are some sexy beasts. I've got my decked out in nerd chic right now, but I'm thinking about switching over to some nice summer duds. It's these important decisions that make life worth living, really. The clothes I really want my Avatar to wear though are the ones that show my gamer pride. Like, if I was a big Halo fan I'd want some Halo shirts, shoes, pants and a Master Chief helmet. While the latter may never come the rest are already around, you just have to be a Microsoft employee to have them.

Halo clothes have been spotted around Live on Microsoft employees' Avatars (like Randy No Arms above)and include some pretty shnazzy looking outfits, including a badass hat with a UNSC symbol on it. It's not clear if this is part of the Avatar reward system beta or the Avatar marketplace or possibly both. All I know is that once gaming oriented clothing goes down you won't find me in anything Hannah Montana The Movie: The Game shirts. 

We're all still reeling from the passing of the King of Pop, but fortunately, Microsoft's got a nice (albeit brief) memorial for Michael Jackson up on Xbox Live. This weekend only, the Video Marketplace is giving away the full, ten-minute version of MJ's classic "Thriller" music video for your viewing pleasure. Yep, the greatest music video of all time is free to download until the end of the day today.

It's a nice gesture -- but why not just make the video permanently free? We're not sure these wounds will heal in such a short period of time.

[Xbox Live Marketplace link - US only?]

Microsoft honoring MJ with free Thriller video download originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The online TV and movie streaming service Hulu has stopped working on the PlayStation 3 browser, at least for the time being. Users who have tried to watch videos have been greeted with the message, "Unfortunately, this video is not available on your platform. We apologize for any inconvenience." Engadget took a sharp look at the possible cause for the problem, and claims that "changing a browser's user-string to match the console reveals it is definitely being specifically blocked." This is all similar to the sudden blocking of the boxee browser in early March, though soon after it resumed functioning as normal.

In the ongoing (unnecessary) war of fanboys, Hulu has long been the PlayStation 3's answer to the Xbox 360 Netflix deal. Even if the 360 might be looking into support for the streaming video service, Hulu is ad-supported, so views from any browser helps the bottom line. Here's hoping that, like boxee, it mysteriously starts to work again soon.

The internet was abuzz this week with word of new downloadable content for the original Mass Effect, but it looks like it isn't happening - at least, not yet. In a tweet from early in the week, "Evil Chris" said on the Mass Effect 2 Twitter account, "Getting the feeling some news about the next ME1 DLC may be coming this week. Keep your eyes peeled." But after a week of waiting turned up no results, he later had to explain why. "Due to circumstances beyond my control (me being stupid on timing), any news of more ME1 DLC will have to wait," he said. "Sorry folks."

It seems odd that more DLC for the first Mass Effect is even on its way, since BioWare is likely concentrating so hard on Mass Effect 2. Since the stories of the series are so intertwined, it could be that this next content pack - whenever it's announced - will lead in to the events of the next game. For now we'll just have to wait and see, but those of us who have boarded the elevators in Mass Effect are used to waiting.

As seen in Manhattan. Thanks, reader Zuri F.

Master Asia has joined Japanator. Master Asia gives you super advice. You will be better at life after he has adviced you!

On Destructoid, we unofficially endorsed the World of Warcraft Mountain Dew flavors. On Japanator, they showed you how to become a better Otaku. And on Tomopop, check out the Overlord Minions figures. 

DESTRUCTOID

• Top ten Jeff Goldblum games (because I think he is dead)
• Destructoid unofficially endorses World of Warcraft Mtn Dew
• Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin': Trauma Center
• Bacalao! Punch-Out!
• Contest: Win a copy of Halo Uprising + Darksiders cloth map acquired! You can win one too!

JAPANATOR

• Building a Better Otaku: Uniqlo and how it can make you geek chique
• Advicemaster Asia: The man who will answer all your questions...with his fists!
• Japanese guy mounts a cam on his dog, gets the scoop on upskirts
• Japanator Recommends: Lillies and Remains - Part of Grace
• Disney finally puts out an English language Ponyo trailer

TOMOPOP

• Square Enix's latest Final Fantasy VII Static Arts are on sale now!
• Show and Tell: Overlord Minions
• Check out Rust This World's awesome Earthworm Jim custom figure
• MaloMike's Akuma Mighty Mugg causes Instant Hell Murder
• What toys are up to: pantsu assault!

Filed under: Sci-fi, Galleries, New titles, Wallpapers, Earthrise

Masthead Studios just got in touch with us and sent over two new wallpapers for their upcoming post-apocalyptic game Earthrise. One image shows off a group of kabuki-masked freaks denizens of the Eastern Gardens, one of the more outwardly utopian zones to be found in Earthrise's island setting of Enterra.

The second depicts a Continoma soldier, an enforcer of the ruling technocratic elite, face to face with a cybernetically-muzzled mutant. We're not sure if the game's mutants were once human beings, but that metallic covering is actually bolted into the thing's skull, which is much clearer in the max resolution shots they sent over. You can click on the images for larger versions of each, or flip through our gallery with multiple resolutions. Enjoy the eye candy.

Earthrise wallpapers show Eastern Gardens denizens and tamed mutants originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last night on 1 vs. 100, it sounds like host Chris Cashman let slip that this coming week the game show's beta is over, and players can finally take home Microsoft points.

The accidental leak came after The One, as many have been wont to do during the beta, either ignored or didn't remember the caution that choosing the money over the Mob results in a big fat zilch toward your MS points balance. Cash prizes are not being awarded in Beta. So Cashman jumped on the mike at a break to tsk-tsk about that, and overshared a little.

According to Xboxic, which was playing when it happened, Cashman reminded the players that "prizes cannot be be won until next week!

Having realised what he just said, the host mumbled his words and continued to speak at a faster pace - then announced again for us to watch out next week when a huge announcement is coming for 1 vs 100, before continuing to babble on about his lack of an original gamertag to move away from the subject!

I've emailed a Microsoft rep to see if they want to take a swing at this. At minimum, I'd expect some sort of announcement soon on a full 1 vs. 100 release.

Update: Reader LuppyLuptonium says he was in the same game and disputes Xboxic's account. Here's his take:

I was playing from the crowd. He didn't say that there would be no prizes til next week. He said tune in for a big announcement next week. Whoever sent that tip is mistaken ... I just walked over to my girlfriend in the other room who was playing with me and she said she didn't hear that either.

In fact later he addressed the people getting skyrocketing scores, citing it is a bug and needs to be fixed before they can start giving gamer points away.

So there you have it - I guess we can say "look for a big announcement." But whether it's the full release of 1 vs. 100 is in dispute.

1 vs. 100 an Announcement is Coming Soon [xboxic]

Whether or not you think Suda51 makes good games, it is an undeniable fact that the guys makes interesting games. That's enough for me to justify posting some new details about the sequel last year's No More Heroes, gleaned from the latest issue of Nintendo Power by Tiny Cartridge's Eric Caoli. Verily, he's doing the Lord's work on this brilliant Sunday morning.

These plot details may be considered spoilers, so be aware. Here goes:

1. Shinobu, the teen assassin from the original game, will return in NMH2: Desperate Struggle as a playable character. Her fighting style will significantly differ from Travis’, as she moves faster and can even jump. You can’t play as her whenever you want, though.
2. Suda expects NMH2 to have around 50 boss battles. He comments, “… we didn’t just want you to be fighting them as the same character again and again. By allowing the player to use a different character we can change up the tempo and offer more surprises. “
3. Travis’ primary reason for taking on the United Assassins Association again is to avenge the death of his best friend from the first game, Bishop. 

I don't know if there's anyone not foaming at the mouth for No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. Except, y'know, the people that didn't like the first one. For what's it's worth, I'm looking forward to it. If you need more convincing, check out this trailer. In a brilliant move, Nintendo Power has made their features available online in hi-res .jpgs. Read NP's interview with Grasshopper Manufacture's Suda 51, in its entirety, partiality here.

Oh, and I'm sorry, but if you gave Shinobu some fierce rabbit ears, you'd have Fran from Final Fantasy XII staring you in the face. Actually, that's a great idea for a mash-up, or some slash fiction.

brb, pitching a game to Suda51.

[Via TinyCartridge; image by The-Switcher]

Filed under: Fantasy, Contests, Culture, Free-to-play, Runes of Magic

Today is the final day of the Runes of Magic Jade Warrior item code giveaway, and to finish off what has been an exciting week of in- and out-of-game giveaways, we thought it only fair to let the rest of you who never received your code get one.

So throughout the day today, from now until 8pm EST, simply comment to this post and a key code will be emailed to you at the address provided in your profile. Only 1 code per person. For full details on this promotion and how to redeem your key, check out this post.

Runes of Magic item code giveaway grand finale originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It was 80 degrees, in the shade, at 7 a.m. where I am. That's too hot to be easy like Sunday morning. Stay inside and enjoy the air conditioned comfort of Kotaku's official open thread.

(P.S. If you don't get the reference made by the word balloon.)

Confused about commenting on Kotaku? Read our FAQ.

Samit hat go!

If I were to tell you that I had played a basketball game since NBA Jam I would be lying to your face (through the internet). That won't stop me from taking other people's opinions and writing about modern basketball videogames though. I think the opinion of NBA Live 10's producer, Sean O’Brien, should do the trick, and according to him Live 09 had a crap ton of issues. That's some honesty for you.

Of course O'Brien doesn't leave it at that. He wants everyone to know that Live 10 is going to be awesome and they aren't going to be making the same mistakes as they did with Live 09. "The direction this year has been about making Live a great playing basketball game again, while focusing on improving our in game presentation, visuals and atmosphere, getting to a never seen before level of authenticity with our players, providing you with a brand new way of playing OTP and taking Dynamic DNA to an entirely new level, both with how it impacts players and gameplay throughout the NBA season as well as how you as a connected user use it to change the way to play NBA Live" he stated.

In his blog post he also says that despite the game still having two months of work to go it still plays better than 09 and the revamped controls are going to melt our faces off by completely changing how we play videogame basketball. Who knows what that means, but O'Brien promises us all that this is not "marketing speak." From what I can tell it won't take much to be better than 09 since it was a tragically flawed game, but O'Brien clearly wants to not only be better than last year's game, but better than NBA 2K10 too.

Hooray! Another teaser site! Just what we always wanted. At least it's not a countdown this time, but it's still a pretentious load of artificial hype from a major publisher. This must be a Japanese thing, since it's usually either Nintendo, Konami, Capcom or Square Enix that do this kind of thing.

Anyway, it's Capcom's turn today, with a new site that says "1560." No idea what it means, and I hardly care, if I'm honest. Our editor-in-chief reckons that it has something to do with Sengoku Basara (aka Devil Kings) and nothing to do with Onimusha, as some believe. Since I really like Onimusha and hate Devil Kings, I hope he's wrong. 

He's probably right, though. Teaser sites rarely do anything but disappoint. 

[Thanks, Wilbo]

A little while back Dale "I'm a ninja and could kill you" North reported that Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was hitting XBLA and PSN on June 29. It was a little odd because it was a Monday release date and, it turns out, because that date was entirely made up. The game won't be getting here until some time near the end of July according to Capcom's Twitter.

Capcom revealed the vague true release date and admitted to a little curiosity in where the rumor had come from by saying, "MvC2 is not actually coming out on June 29, sorry guys. Not sure where that rumor came from, but it's going to be closer to the end of July." "That rumor" came from Marvel's Q1 financial report (.pdf) , which Capcom evidently didn't read. They also must have missed the hundreds of blog posts about it around the web, which, much like this one, linked to the Q1 report. Is there an exact opposite of Matlock?

So, another month of waiting. Life's a bitch.  

For the first time since Michael Jackson's death, we actually have something relevant to talk about that concerns him. This is great news for the various game blogs that keep trying to find excuses to mention his name in a bid to score some cheap pageviews. Xbox Live has decided to pay a subtle tribute to the Smooth Criminal, as US Xbox Live customers can download the video for "Thriller" at no extra cost.

Unfortunately, it seems that this is a US-only offer, as the SD version of the music video still costs European Xbox owners 200 Microsoft Points. Still, if you're in the United States and don't feel that the television networks have been playing Thriller enough times, you can download this little beauty right now. 

[Thanks, Doyle]

So I don't "do" MMOs, but evidently just because the sequel to an MMO comes out does not mean that the original dies out. I suppose that makes sense since people still want to play the original with their original characters. As such, Sony Online Entertainment has just announced at their community address at Fan Faire 2009 that both Everquest and Everquest II will be getting new expansions.

Those that are still trudging around the original Everquest, which has now been around for ten years, will be getting an expansion called "Underfoot." The expansion, which takes its name quite literally, will feature new underground zones for intrepid heroes to explore.

For those rolling around in Everquest II the expansion will be called "Sentinel's Fate" and will increase the level cap to 90 and will allow higher-level players to gain experience by playing older, lower-level areas. Rumors are also buzzing around the web that achievments might be intergated into the game as well. Obviously there will be new content in with it too.

Last time on There Will Be Brawl, Luigi met with King Dedede in order to find some answers on the missing Princess. Unfortunately, Mario got crazy drunk and killed Donkey Kong. During that commotion, someone had managed to kill King Dedede.

Now, the Mario Brothers, Samus and Pitt have teamed up to find out just what's going on as they try to find Bowser and Princess Peach. The Kingdom is going down the sh*tter really fast as an all out war is about to break out. 

Speaking of There Will Be Brawl, they will be having a gallery in Los Angeles this evening. The crew will be at the Fleeting Projects on 522 Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica from 6:00PM to 2:00AM. You can get more details about the show over on the Facebook page.

Otherwise, hit the break to check out the latest episode. 

I watch all my television on my computer by hooking it up to my television through an HDMI cable. At this point there just isn't any point to watching TV "live" since everyone can get everything over the web whenever they want, and for most of the shows watching it in Hi-Def is beyond unnecessary. Many others might use their PS3s to watch TV. They may have also used Hulu to do this, but no more.

Yesterday many PS3 owners may have seen this little message when trying to watch video on Hulu: "Unfortunately, this video is not available on your platform." Where did the Hulu go? Engadget decided to find out and, using Matlockery, discovered that "the Hulu TOS was just updated as of June 26, and although we haven't found any PS3-specific passages, changing a browser's user-string to match the console reveals it is definitely being specifically blocked."

Mystery abounds and Hulu isn't responding yet. For now PS3 owners will have to wait and see what happens and maybe try to make their brains turn back into a solid state.

Usually, whenever we're offered free games as a pre-order bonus, there's some common theme between the reserved title and the aforementioned playable incentive. Perhaps the bonus game is the prequel to the upcoming release, or at least belongs in the same genre as the pre-ordered title. However, a recent deal on Steam seems to go against this convention -- if you pre-order the upcoming fantasy action-platformer Trine on Steam's download service, you get the frantic top-down shooter Shadowgrounds for free.

Okay, so they're both made by indie developer Frozenbyte, but still -- there's a wide chasm between the worlds of Smash TV and ... well, we can't think of a pre-existing game to compare Trine to. Super Ultima-rio Bros?

Pre-order Trine on Steam, get Shadowgrounds for free originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Used to be 'round these parts that Saturdays here at the 'Stiq were synonymous with one feature, and one feature only -- the illustrated revue you're reading right this very second. Last week, Joystiq's newest featured bundle o' joy hit the site, and hit it hard. The inaugural edition of Swag Saturday received 3167 Comments? Seriously? Sure, free games are cool, but the WeeWebWrap provides you with instantaneous, guaranteed entertainment with no attached entry requirements, except for your undying, unswerving love.

Fortunately for you, we take our duties seriously enough to provide you with our seven favorite comics of this past week despite our tangible, heartbreaking jealousy. Check them out below, vote for your favorite after the jump and drop a few thousand comments telling us what strips we may have missed on!

Still a Few Bugs in the System (Virtual Shackles)
Condraculations (Penny Arcade)
The Lesson (Brawl in the Family)
Magic: The Scattering (Digital Unrest)
The Life Cycle of a Video Game (GameSpy)
Definitely Brutal (Dipswitch)
Gender Malfunction (MNC)

Continue reading Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is green with envy

Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is green with envy originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A quick public service announcement to any and all tipsters sending us links to Don Mattrick's official Twitter account: It's fake. Sure, it would have been nice to reveal new Halo: Reach related details, but the only news out of the Twitter account is that there is no news at all. Really, we're not surprised with such masterfully crafted tweets as: "We're currently working with a third party studio on a new xbox 360 exclusive game engine to showcase unmatched graphical fidilty." Yes, "fidilty."

Microsoft's (real) Twitter expert Major Nelson -- aka Larry Hryb -- tells us he is currently working with the Twitter team to have the account removed. With so many fake accounts, it's no wonder Twitter is testing a new "Verified Account" label. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Don Mattrick for inspiring a phony Twitter account, following good company such as artist Kanye West, ass-kicker Chuck Norris and all of the Pokemans.

PSA: How fake is Don Mattrick's Twitter? So fake originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If the world of professional Street Fighter-ing is a nebulous mystery to you, it may be time to get a clue from an excellent piece of research material -- indie graphic designer/filmmaker Ian Cofino's recently completed documentary, I Got Next. The feature-length film went live on UFragTV last night, and is expected to be widely released via torrent in the near future. For a bite-sized sampling, check out the trailer above.

For a still-harangued-by-student-loans amateur filmmaker, it's a really nice production -- one that gives us insight into the minds of a quarter-circle-punch obsessed populous we've never really bothered to study. Oh, also, it contains the music of The Go! Team, which is scientifically proven to make anything it touches a million times better.

I Got Next gives inside look at fighting game tourney scene originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The villains in The Punisher: No Mercy won’t suffer many clean deaths. Below the fold is a new teaser for the game. It’s packed full of gore, fire, dismembered limbs and a smattering of other obnoxiously violent things. Watch it if you want to see the Punisher deliver, uh, punishment to baddies or check it out to see the glory of unrestricted downloadable PSN titles: downloads like No Mercy aren’t what we’re getting on Xbox LIVE Arcade in terms of visual quality and possibly substance.

By the way, The Punisher: No Mercy is set to hit PSN soon. The title drops on July 2 for the real world price of $9.99. Not bad considering the game is packing online multiplayer, campaign, Unreal Engine 3 and tons of blood. Well, unless you're a bargain hunting nun. In that case, we suggest Critter Crunch or Elefunk.

Watch It Live: http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/

Sunday 11:15AM – 18:00PM (5:15AM - 12:00PM US Eastern)

The end is near as SK-US will be playing the red hot Team EG in winner bracket finals, and TSG will go up against Emazing Gaming in loser bracket finals.  Emazing has serious problems against heavy armor cleave, and TSG should advance. 

SK-US vs Team EG is going to be a very close call assuming Zyz doesn't have a wild night out and understand what is at stake.  Azael will most likely play destruction and it is all up to Zyz to slow down the ultra aggressive Enforcer, creating an opening for Azael. 

It is so hard for me to call a favorite here between these three teams.  Azael obviously writes for WOM and the shaman community is still looking for their first ever championship.  Realz and I chat every now and then, and I learned my lesson to not bet against him.  TSG represent the BG I play in myself, and everyone in Stormstrike want to see them going all the way. 

Those three teams are also so close in strength, although I still believe if TSG can wash away the offline jitters, they have the best overall comp in this tournament.  I am happy with either two of those three teams representing America at world finals.  If I must make my selection out of three extremely close teams, I will pick TSG 1st, and SK-US 2nd.  However, I sincerely hope Azael's team makes it because 3.2 will be a great patch for shaman/lock teams, and I want that team in the world finals for America. 

Sit back and enjoy the games, trust me when I say it will be worth waking up at 5AM on a Sunday morning for.  See you in 7 hours!

Team EG (Rogue/Lock/Shaman) vs SK-US (Rogue/Mage/Priest): 1-3

It is interesting Azael opted to go with affliction, which has durability issues vs RMP and doesn't have the burst power to end a fight even if left open momentarily.  His CC is also weaker against triple-UD RMPs.  Game 1 took place on Dalaran and Pookz did a psychic pet nova to hit Zyz out of stealth and rooted Azael the warlock in place, big damage on Azael took him to 20% which forced Zyz to use his vanish offensively to stop the initial burst.  Azael got full dots on Enforcer the rogue but Zyz was sheeped by Pookz to stop his burst attempt.  A quick vanish CS->KS by Enforcer dropped Zyz shortly after as Kollectiv was unable to keep him up.  SK up 1-0.

Game 2 Pookz landed yet another pet nova to hit Zyz out of stealth in Dalaran tower.  He ate a big opener and had to blow cloak/vanish right away.  Realz and Enforcer had a miss communication, blowing pain suppression on Enforcer when he played defensively and got off a restealth and this cost them later.  Azael freed himself from Pookz's CC's and got his full round of DOTs up, and Enforcer/Zyz were caught behind boxes and Realz could not keep Enforcer up.  1-1.

Ring of Valor and SK opened up with a big opener on Kollectiv but he was able to heal back to full.  Quick swap to Zyz followed by Azael and on a map without line of sight, Azael could not stay up as Affliction.  SK up 2-1.

The final game took place on Dalaran yet again.  Zyz ran all the way around the map to avoid Pookz since he was hit out of stealth first two games on this map.  Unfortunately that gave SK a good 7 second's worth of free DPS on Azael and Zyz was hit out of stealth by a nova again even with a late opener.  EG was on the defensive from the get go as a result, but Zyz did manage to snap that momentum when both he and Enforcer vanished and he was able to land a sap on Enforcer.  Here EG made a questionable call and chose to go after Realz the priest, but Azael was CCed by Pookz and they didn't dish out any real pressure.  Enforcer got out of sap, Kollectiv hexed him but Pookz was able to remove it, and Enforcer was able to land a full opener on Zyz which took him from 100-0 with Pookz assist.

I believe Azael should have ran destruction, I can't see rogue/affliction beating elite RMPs, the margin of error is in RMP's favor so much.  You can control most of the match, but lose in a few globals if the mage gets off a big shatter.  If Azael loses in loser bracket (hence the ticket to Blizzcon) I see him rebuilding his team.  Rogue/lock synergy is not what it used to be in TBC, affliction needs high durability teammates so he can take his time to play outlast.  Destruction is the only spec that can dish out enough burst if they choose to go on your rogue, and being almost impossible to kill if they go on you.  I am impressed how far he took this team but he needs a better comp to compete with the likes of Inflame.

TSG (DK/Warrior/Paladin) vs Emazing Gaming (DK/Hunter/Paladin): 3-1

Hunter hero Twix went survival spec for more anti-heavy armor damage and control.  Veex charged into center bridge off the bat and was targeted right away, dropped to 50% instantly.  Not sure why TSG opted to go on Payce the paladin, leaving DK/hunter open to DPS and CC.  Zilea was forced to bubble but Veex went down during the global + casting time.

Game 2 saw TSG playing a lot safer, training the hunter and Veex was a lot more comfortable at start, landed a flawless blade storm that forced Paycee to bubble himself AND BOP Twix.  However Emazing really showing off their ability to play against a countercomp here as they kept Twix up and landed enough damage to Veex to force a bubble from Zilea, and dropped Zilea right after.  Unfortunately TSG was able to drop Paycee at the same time.  Veex was at very low health but stayed alive long enough for his DK to spread the DOTs around before he went down.  TSG DK Valrath saved their tournament winning the 1v2 fight against low health DK/hunter to tie it up 1-1.

Ring of Valor is here and Veex's blade storm took Twix to 2000 health before he was death griped by Emazing DK.  Paycee was forced to bubble and TSG swapped to him for the kill right after.  Game 4 was even quicker, perfect blade storm to force bubble + BOP, sudden swap to Emazing DK for the kill before Paycee even got out of his bubble. 

TSG won 3-1 despite some early hiccups and will rematch Team EG who beat them 3-2 yesterday, winner gets SK-US.  Personally as big of a fan as I am for Azael, I think TSG has a better chance of taking two series in a row from SK-US, so I will be rooting for TSG in the loser bracket finals.

TSG (DK/Warrior/Paladin) vs Team EG (Rogue/Lock/Shaman): 3-2

Pretty big words from Veex guaranteeing a meeting with SK-US in the grand finals during the on-stage interview, facing a team that beat them 3-2.  Many feel Team EG lucked out on the Z axis maps earlier, will TSG adjust when Azael inevitably jumps off a platform at 10% health?  We will see!  Veex is usually pretty good with his guarantees, like his bid for deadly gladiator from 0-2800+ the last week of season 5, will he be good on his promise?  I think most of us here in BG5 want to see TSG vs SK-US, we will find out shortly!

In Game 1 TSG finally did something I thought they were more than capable of doing, training down the shaman!  Nothing can stay alive in the face of warrior/DK damage, and Azael as affliction can provide very little CC on warrior/DK both with fear immunes.  Hammer of justice + strangulate and Kollectiv is down in less than 10 seconds.  Brutal and effective!  I can tell TSG was upset how they lost the first series, and Veex is playing with an axe to grind. 

Game 2 Zyz ate a hammer of justice from Zilea which he chose to trinket, followed by an intimidation shout from warrior which kept him out of fight for 10 seconds.  Azael fortunately switched to destruction for this fight and had no problem surviving the early 10 second pounding from warrior/DK.  I am not sure why they don't look for swaps on Kollectiv, I just don't think you can kill a warlock of Azael's caliber on Dalaran.  EG was able to score a kill on Veex once Azael got open.

Amazing game 3 as Zyz actually landed a cleaner opener for once, and they did big damage on Veex bringing him to 35% off the opening round of burst.  Anti magic zone + shield wall + blessing of protection were used to pick him up.  Team EG went for a swap on Valrath the DK but he hovered at 15% health for a long time with his defensive CDs as they brought down Azael.  Zileas played an absolutely brilliant game here avoiding shocks/spell locks and kept his teammates alive.

Ring of valor and this is the destruction burst we are talking about!  TSG was unable to dish out a lot of pressure on Azael early as destruction warlock is just too sturdy.  They left him open momentarily and paid a big price for it.  EG went for TSG's DK and brought him very low, Zilea bubbled at the perfect time and picked him up from 2000 to 8000 but it didn't matter as Azael nuked him down before the next holy light.  Kollectiv was VERY low on mana and Azael scored a critical kill to give his a team a tie at 2-2 and the next game is for the Blizzcon ticket!

TSG power!  It has been a long time since I felt the adrenaline going into this final game, so much at stake.  Zyz once again got hit out of opener, hammer of justice + feared, big pressure on Azael followed by a quick swap on Kollectiv, who managed to stay alive and gave EG a chance to nuke Veex.  Veex was at 40% health but his DK Valrath was able to strangulate / mind freeze Azael's burst attempts.  Zilea played the game of his life here keeping Veex alive while avoiding shock/fear/spell lock, and they managed to score the golden kill on Azael. 

Wow, go TSG, Veex you are the man of words with those guarantees!  Will we hear a pre-game guarantee against SK-US in a hour?  About time this squad gets real recognition and a serious sponsor.  Gravitas/Fnatic/Pandemic, why rebuild with your washed up players/rosters when you can pick up a brand new team already at the peak of its game?  Veex has been around forever and is so versatile on both warrior/warlock, so is Zilea, they have showed so much commitment to the game from S1 to S6, they deserve a sponsor over players who are too lazy to practice/maintain a good standing in their BGs.

Does this look like a professional arena player to you?


No and he failed to get a clean cheap shot in too many games for Team EG to beat the likes of SK-US and TSG.  I am amazed how Team EG was able to win game 2 against TSG, when Zyz was out of the fight for the entire first 15 seconds of the game, against a team that has very little CCs, wonderful. 

For Team EG to reach the very top I believe it is time they get ride of Zyz and look for a better rogue.  Look at what Enforcer did for SK-US!  Or they can consider a completely different melee with better lasting power.  I can't see rogue being a top class in 3.2.  Maybe retribution paladin?

Knowing Azael's desire to win, and the obvious problem which he CAN fix, I see a change in the melee spot.  Retribution paladin perhaps?  The one team I would love to see is Nick Hammer/Azael/Kollectiv, coupled with the 3.2 changes it should give them one of the most feared rosters for the next MLG.  Or Neilyo-kun who is already playing the same comp with a weaker lock/shaman combo.

TSG (DK/Warrior/Paladin) vs SK-US (Rogue/Mage/Priest): 1-3

TSG's struggle with Team EG had a lot to do with the unfamiliarity of the comp, as rogue/lock/shaman is a very rare team these days and with destruction being very hard to kill, it actually does very well against cleaves.  I don't think they will have the same problem against SK-US's RMP, but Realz calls his shots differently from any other RMP in the game.  If it was only one set I would have gave TSG a 60-40 edge but because they have to win two sets in a row, I am giving them a 50-50 split.

Knowing Realz they will most likely try what they did against Emazing before, pressure Zilea early to force him to cough up trinket/bubble and freedom himself, with Pookz CCing the warrior/DK to reduce pressure, and possibly set up a warrior kill or even paladin kill later in the game.  TSG will of course play cleave like the way it is supposed to be as the number one team on SK-100 3v3, brutal and effective priest trains with swap opportunities on mage/rogue here and there.  Who will come out on top?  Go TSG!

Wow, SK-US did exactly what I thought they would do but I didn't think they can pull it off on Ring of Valor.  Big pressure on Zilea at start to force bubble with Pookz controlling one of the two DPS's, and CCed him after he came out of bubble to score a kill on the DK.  The pressure on Zilea is huge as it prevents him from having the globals to remove sheeps/roots.  SK up 1-0.

Knowing they can not leave the most dangerous American mage open, TSG pressured Pookz the SK mage all game in game 2.  Without his help Enforcer could not make Zilea coughing up his bubble, and Zilea did a magnificent job kiting him behind pillars, dishing out freedom/cleanse on his melee, on top of avoiding counterspells and shatters.  A great adjustment by TSG, how will SK react which the series tied 1-1?

And they it by novaing both of TSG's cleaves in center map and going on Zilea at same time.  Both cleaves had to wait out the nova with Zilea stunned and that gave SK all the momentum in the world.  Enforcer is so aggressive and Zilea was forced to bubble but it was mass dispeled by Realz, and SK brought him down right after for the win.  Incredible pressure/momentum from SK, the way a RMP is supposed to be played!

And the final game went off the same way, Pookz got off a beautiful nova that caught warrior/DK/ghoul at same time, and they opened on Zilea with a big round of bursts.  Warrior/DK were caught out of position and had to play catch-up the entire game.  Enforcer/Pookz forced the bubble but the mass dispel was resisted.  However it didn't matter because as soon as Zilea came out of bubble, the next round of burst finished him off. 

It is simply amazing how high of a level SK-US is playing compared to other RMPs out there.  Their positioning is flawless.  Pookz consistently get off his novas to root enemy cleaves at longest possible range to give Realz all the time in the world to do his things.  And Enforcer is easily the most feared rogue today with his sheer damage output and super aggressive plays.  It is not that other RMPs don't know what they need to do to win, but they do not have a defensive/offensive duo like Pookz/Enforcer to maximize the strength of RMP.

I would LOVE to see this team go into the world finals vs HON in a RMP mirror, America with the #1 RMP in the world?  Believe it because it can certainly happen!  Unlike other RMPs who were forced on defense against the likes of Emazing and TSG, SK-US managed to turn the momentum upside down, and took the pressure to them instead.  The aggression, the momentum, it is as good as it gets for a RMP!

Did Zilea know what was coming in the grand finals?



Jokes aside, I believe he played as well as any paladin can possibly play, but Pookz's nova on melee from long range and Enforcer's opening cheap shot on Zilea pretty much landed at same time every game, and unless Veex/Valrath were willing to trinket a root, SK-US just found the Achilles Heel of TSG.

As talented as Zilea is, while this team will certainly get another chance at Blizzcon and MLG Dallas, we will have to see if either he or Kollectiv can break the curse of paladin/shaman at tournaments.  Unlike shamans, there is no major buff for paladins on the way and increased resilience will probably favor druid/priest. 

Still an amazing job by the paladin hero, your community is pride of you even if you were bend over in the grand finals!

 

News in Hollywood travels fast!

I am happy to confirm that it is indeed true, Sony Computer Entertainment has signed a deal with Columbia Pictures for a movie adaptation of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and it will be produced by Avi Arad, Charles Roven, Ari Arad and Alex Gartner. We have been working with Avi and the folks and Columbia for quite some time and look forward to sharing additional details on the film in the short future. Obviously we designed the game to be a cinematic experience and we too can’t wait to see it on the big screen.

So, who do you think should play Nathan Drake?

Greetings!

While everyone has been out there pounding away at the desert sands of the Land of the Dead, we've been hard at work pounding away at these Hot Fixes:

Land of the Dead

General Changes & Bug Fixes

• Ambient Dust Devils can no longer be damaged by area-of-effect spells.
• Lair Glyph objects can no longer be damaged with area-of-effect spells.
• Test monsters have been removed from the Necropolis.
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from using the effects from their pocket items.
• Players will no longer be branded cowards after successfully purging a Land of the Dead instance.
• Players will now correctly receive a loot chest after successfully defending a Land of the Dead instance from invasion.
  

Quests

• Four Tombs for Four Pillars: Raven’s Wing will now spawn properly in the waypoint location for the associated steps of this quest chain.
• The Keys of Zandri: Aloysius Roemer will now spawn properly in the waypoint location for the associated steps of this quest chain.
  

Public Quests

• Ricci's Raiders: The bandit groups required to begin this Public Quest will now respawn correctly and consistently.

Lairs

• Lair Boss Loot Drops: Fixed an issue causing Lair bosses to drop Silver Ankhs as loot, in addition to awarding a Silver Ankh directly to each player. Lair bosses will no longer drop these additional Silver Ankhs.
• The Tomb of the Moon: Fixed an issue with the Bride Aura’s. This fix will ensure that all players can see now the visual effect for this ability.
• The Temple of the Sun: Saa Khasef will not cast Disruptive Force on players who are standing in the Mists of Eternity.
  

The Tomb of the Vulture Lord

• Hall of Awakening: Corrected an issue with this encounter in which the High Priest Herakh would not reset correctly when the party wiped.
• Hall of Awakening: Corrected an issue with this encounter in which the Immortal Champions “Guard” ability was not being removed correctly from the High Priest Herakh in some situations, causing him to take too little damage and become more difficult to kill than intended.
• Sepulcher of Swords: High Priest Herakh can now be properly targeted and attacked after teleporting, allowing players more time to damage him before he becomes enraged.
  

Items

• Fractured Crystals: These talismans will now place the correct effect on the items they are slotted into.
• Tyrant Armor: Fixed an issue with the broken items that are repaired into Tyrant armor set pieces. As a result of this fix, players will no longer loot a broken Tyrant armor set item that they cannot use. Players whom have been affected by this issue may submit an in-game appeal using the “Missing Item” catagory to have the item replaced with the correct repairable Tyrant armor piece for their Career.
  

RvR

• Expedition Resources may now be obtained from Tier 4 RvR guards.
• Tier 4 High Elf and Dark Elf zones will now properly contribute resources to the Land of the Dead expedition.
  

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Classes, News items

The folks over at Ten Ton Hammer have been cranking out a number of features that examine the various class archetypes and specialty classes of Aion. So far, they've produced two game guides showcasing the Priest and Mage archetypes and had four interviews with NCsoft discussing the Gladiator, Templar, Ranger, and Assassin specialty classes.

When creating a character in Aion, you must initially choose one of four available archetypes. Anyone who has played a fantasy MMO or RPG in the past decade or so will find them quite familiar. They are the Warrior, Scout, Priest, and Mage.

Once you reach level 9, you're sent on a quest to discover your true identity and ascend to daevahood. The quest is like Red Bull - it gives you wings. At this point you must choose a specialty class defined by your original archetype. Warriors become Gladiators or Templars. Scouts become Rangers or Assassins. Priests become Clerics or Chanters. Mages become Sorcerers(esses) or Spiritmasters.

By our count, TTH has covered half the archetypes and specialty classes so far, so keep your eyes peeled for the second half coming soon. We'll also bring you our own impressions of these classes when beta permits. So far, we've been limited to testing some pretty low level characters.

Delving into the archetypes and specialty classes of Aion originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony is considering a gaming/phone hybrid device as a direct competitor to the iPhone, according to Nikkei Business Daily (Via Reuters). Unless you're new to the Sony Phone rumor mill, a gaming/phone hybrid has long since been rumored to be in development, but has been denied by the Japanese hardware manufacturer.

Sony currently develops mobile devices with Swedish partner Ericsson. In early 2009, MobileToday sources claimed Sony Ericsson had pitched the idea of a PlayStation-branded phone to Sony Corp, but was denied the rights to use the trademark. The rumor went on to further claim Sony only plans to license a PlayStation phone if the company plans to make handsets independently from Ericsson. In May 2009, Sony Ericsson president Hideki Komiyama stated that his company was destined to "lose" if they did not adapt to the "new technology and new market environment" -- presumably referring to Apple's iPhone.

According to the new rumor, Sony plans to set up a project team to develop the new device, which will combine functions of the PSP and Sony Ericsson's mobile phones. A PSP phone? Just imagine how much that mythical beast would cost.

[Image Credit: Engadget]

Nikkei Biz Daily: Sony considering iPhone competitor originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Select individuals have been seen sporting Halo-themed Avatar clothing recently, with fine young gentleman Randy No Arms being the latest spotted. It makes sense, considering the guy works for Microsoft, but are these new duds a part of the Avatar rewards beta, or is this the Avatar marketplace at work? Regardless, we're totally jealous he's sporting a slew of Halo-branded clothes, including a hat emblazoned with the UNSC symbol, a shirt with a pair of crossed energy swords, and a nice pair of khaki shorts with the Spartan helmet on the left leg.

Be sure to hit up our gallery below for some shots of the Avatar marketplace from E3, complete with Gears of War 2 and Halo storefronts.

Halo-themed Avatar clothing spotted in the wild originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here's a note for any aspiring developers in Destructoid's readership: if you want me to cover your game, just give it a Latin title. Latin is a powerful marketing tool: it lends any product it touches a sense of mystery, the hint of arcane knowledge, and, most importantly, gravitas. If you want bloggers who spend too much time pushing their glasses back in place (like I do) to pay attention, just throw a Latin phrase around - it makes my English degree feel useful.

Anyway, the game in question is Centauri Production's Memento Mori, a point-and-click adventure game about some stolen art and a secret brotherhood obsessed with the Ars Moriendi. Interpol agent Lara Svetlova and art-thief-cum-detective Max Durand globetrot across Europe in search of some artifacts stolen from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. For you unlearned, Momento Mori is Latin for the phrase "Remember you will die," while Ars Moriendi translates, roughly, as "the art of dying well." I'm telling you: if it's Latin, then some heavy sh*t is going on.

Published by Got Game Entertainment, the project certainly seems ambitious: Centauri Productions promise 45 different locations, spatial 3D puzzles, and an innovative dialogue system. If you enjoy point-and-click adventure games, it won't be long before you can take Memento Mori to task: it should be available for download on July 7th, which is next week. 

Memento Mori should be enough to tide you all over until other adventure games like Sam and Max Save the World and Tales of Monkey Island drop. In the meantime, drop your favorite Latin phrases in the comments. My favorite is Missa in tempore belli.

 

Our sister site BigDownload has the scoop on a pair of new expansions for SOE's popular Everquest franchise that were announced at this week's Fan Faire in Las Vegas. First up is the 16th commercial expansion for 1999's Everquest, Everquest: Underfoot. Due for release this November, the expansion brings with it a new underground zone to explore, with new creatures to battle, and even less reason to leave your house.

Probably more relevant is Everquest II: Sentinel's Fate, the sixth commercial expansion for Everquest II. Due for release in February 2010, Sentinel's Fate will raise the level cap to 90, allowing you to spend ten more levels beefing up that Summoner of yours.

SOE announces EverQuest: Underfoot and Everquest II: Sentinel's Fate expansions originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News items, Opinion, Second Life, Virtual worlds

There are several sets of rules for users of Second Life. The Terms of Service (TOS) and Community Standards (CS) which combined form your explicit service-contract with Linden Lab, and assorted implicit ones, like following any additional conditions the owner of whatever land-parcel that you are currently on may have chosen to impose.

Well, the Linden Lab have updated the Community Standards for the first time in, well, perhaps forever. While the Lab has said that it has updated them in the past, the document has remained unaltered since at least 2005. What's new, however, isn't necessarily as interesting as what's missing.

Continue reading Second Life community standards updated

Second Life community standards updated originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Joystiq tipsters -- and Xbox.com regulars -- have noticed a strange Beta 2009 icon appearing on some Xbox 360 'Played Games' profiles. While speculation (or hopes and dreams) was that the icon was related to something important, sources tell Joystiq that Microsoft is internally testing Avatar awards. Sorry, no megatons here.

From what we've been told, the test is an executable built for Beta users to play with the awards program before it launches. Avatar awards are triggered by in-game achievements: when a player unlocks an award -- clothing was the only specific award mentioned -- it is made available in the Avatar customization menu of the NXE. Select Xbox 360 users are already sporting fancy new threads, which are presumably related to this beta test.

Avatar awards were one of the many new features coming to the NXE revealed at E3 2009 -- including the smart evil idea of charging users for the real "cool" stuff.

Microsoft beta testing Avatar awards originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Fresno man was sentenced on Friday to life in prison for shooting a 19-year-old to death in a dispute over a PlayStation 2, bringing to a close a tragedy first reported on two years ago.

Jonquel Brooks (pictured at right), a freshman at Fresno State, shot and killed Brant Daniels, 19, and wounded Daniels' friends in the May 2007 incident. Daniels and the others had gone to Brooks' apartment to look for their stolen console. Brooks claimed he acted in self-defense. He surrendered to police after a two day standoff.

Police didn't find any PS2 in his apartment. Regardless, Brooks was found guilty in April of first degree murder and attempted murder. According to the Fresno Bee, Brooks got a total of 109 years and four months - 25 to life for the killing, 25 for using a gun, and 59 years, four months for three counts of attempted murder. It was not specified if those were consecutive or concurrent sentences.

Either way, it's one hell of a lot of hard time over a $100 PS2.

Man Gets Life in Killing Over PlayStation [Fresno Bee, and image]

Lara Croft has gone through a few changes in her life, most of them based around graphical advancements in breast rounding technology. Back in the day Lara was naught more than a couple of polygons stuck together to vaguely resemble large breasts and Angelina Jolie-esque lips. Yes, Lara has come a long way and Lara Croft fanboy Nicobass felt that it was time to update some of her classic sexy poses since the old ones really did look old.

Now that I'm seeing these side by side, old Lara was really creepy. Her heads way too big, her ass is unnaturally large and I'm pretty sure her lips would have to have their own zip code. Maybe my maturity level has been raised since those original images came out (doubtful), but I don't see what I saw in old Lara at all. New Lara on the other hand, well, I'd totally raid her tomb. Know what I mean? Eh? Eh? A nods as good as wink to a blind beggar.

[Images and story via Tomb Raider Fanboy]

We were sent a tip regarding a new PS3 bundle that Blockbuster was supposedly selling, so we headed on down to our local chain to snoop around. What we found was the above image showing off a PS3 bundle consisting of a 40gb console, Transformers: The Game, Spider-Man 3 Blu-ray, PS3 remote, HDMI cable, and a 12-week rental card (which allows you to rent one movie each week), all for $359.99. What makes this such an odd story, however, is that this bundle isn't offered at every Blockbuster store.

We called another nearby chain and quizzed an employee on his store's bundle. He said that particular store offered a 80gb console, with Transformers: The Game, Click Blu-ray, PS3 remote, HMDI cable, and a 12-week rental card, all for $499.99. So, it would seem that each store has a bit of leeway with its bundle package. If you're in the market for a PS3 and thinking Blockbuster, give them a call before you head down. Both stores we talked to were all sold out.

Blockbuster selling high-end PS3 bundles originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Marvel's financial report back in May said Marvel vs. Capcom 2 would release for download on June 29. The Capcom-Unity Twitter account has officially nixed that date, setting it back about a month.

Says Capcom-Unity:

MvC2 is not actually coming out on June 29, sorry guys. Not sure where that rumor came from, but it's going to be closer to the end of July.

Well, Marvel did say "scheduled release dates are subject to change." But dammit, they just seemed so certain by giving the date.

Guess the moral of the story is, release dates not actually announced by a dev or a publisher are worth about squat.

Capcom-Unity on Twitter [via Joystiq]

Where the hell do they hand out the professional analyst jobs, because I want me some of that. All you have to do is stand up, say something relatively inflammatory and the internet will quote your opinion on things. Case in point is gaming analyst Doug Creutz who has let his opinion be known on both Microsoft and Sony's upcoming motion control features for their new games. He sides with Sony, saying that their motion controls are "superior from a gaming perspective."

"Natal appeared to me to be a technological solution in search of a problem," Creutz said while speaking with Gamasutra. "Do I really care if I can navigate my Netflix queue without using a controller? I had a very hard time envisioning playing Modern Warfare 3 using Natal. By contrast, I had a very easy time envisioning it (and enjoying it) using Sony's control/motion capture scheme.

"Microsoft appears to be trying to steal casual gamers away from Nintendo, which is a difficult proposition given that you're essentially asking casual gamers to upgrade twice during the cycle (assuming they already own a Wii). In contrast, Sony is squarely targeting the core gamer market, which is what they need to be doing," he concluded.

I hate to say it, but I totally agree, and the line about a solution in search of a problem is spot on. I want to play serious games with my Wii Remote and I'm looking forward to playing serious games with Sony's controls if they work, but the more I see of Natal the less enthused I am about it as a method to do anything but jump around my living room.

We would like to remind everyone about our Sacred 2(Xbox 360) giveaway contest which ends on July 4th, 2009.  We have an extra copy of Sacred 2 and we want to give it away to someone absolutely free.

To have a chance at winning you must submit a work of art featuring the Keen and Graev characters in your favorite video game.  That is the only criteria!  It can be a comic or just a picture, funny or serious – the choice is yours. Be creative and original! We would also like to be able to tell which game you’re depicting or at least understand and relate to the type of situation you’re trying to represent in your art.   Here’s a reminder of the details:

Rules

• Contest runs until July 4, 2009.  All entries must be submitted no later than 11:59pm July 4, 2009.
• *To avoid paying too much out of our pocket, we’re opening this contest to residents of North America (contiguous United States and Canada) only – sorry!
• All entries must be sent to kgsacred2contest@gmail.com
• The Winner will be contacted July 6, 2009 via email.  After the winner has been contacted we will announce and show the artwork on our blog.
• All artwork submitted becomes the property of KeenandGraev.com.

If you want more information on Sacred 2 then you can check out our review of the game.  It’s a decent hack n slash rpg that can provide you with hours of gameplay this summer.

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Events, real-world, MMO industry, Star Wars Galaxies, Free-to-play, Casual, Free Realms

Sony Online Entertainment Fan Faire 2009 is happening in Las Vegas, and of course they've had a number of things to unveil so far. SOE president John Smedley gave his community address last evening, and other speakers made an appearance as well. We've got a few highlights from SOE Fan Faire 2009 for you:


Smedley jumped right in by talking about the state of the SOE game lineup and some of the new directions they've explored with them in this past year. One of those new directions has been the introduction of Station Cash, and he talked about the growing adoption of Station Cash among SOE game subscribers in EverQuest and EverQuest II, as well as how it will soon be tied into new services and customization options. He announced a partnership with Hewlett-Packard which will allow players to purchase matte print images of art from the games using Station Cash. You'll be able to have your own character rendered in a high-quality art print, or even have your entire guild depicted and sent to you as a hardcopy art book.


On the topic of EverQuest, remember that mention we had of SOE trademarking new EQ properties? It turns out these are the new expansions: EverQuest: Underfoot and EverQuest II: Sentinel's Fate. Smedley kicked off the EQ announcements by reflecting back on 10 years of EverQuest and looking to where the IP is headed in the future. EverQuest II producer Alan "Brenlo" Crosby discussed the game's sixth expansion, Sentinel's Fate, where players will travel to the land of Odus and see what's happened there since The Shattering.

He dropped a few details about this next expansion, slated for a February 2010 launch, and the updates they plan to release between now and Sentinel's Fate. These updates will include the ability to downtier characters, allowing you to go back and replay older content, plus achievements are coming to EverQuest II. In addition, the EQ II level cap will increase by ten levels.

SOE hasn't forgotten about their long-term fans either, those who have stuck with the original EverQuest through the years. EverQuest producer Thomas Terrazas announced the sixteenth EQ expansion, Underfoot, which will launch in November 2009. Underfoot will feature 12-15 zones at launch, with bonus zones and additional content to release in April of 2010. Underfoot will have twice as many weapons as any of the previous 15 expansions, a new focus targeting window (allowing you to add specific targets to your list, monitor health of friends and foes), and achievement tracking that will help players remain aware of the objectives to be completed in their progression path. "In other words," Terrazas said, "you won't have to go looking online on somebody else's website so see what you need. It'll be in-game."

Fan Faire 2009 attendees will get both expansions for free.

Continue reading Highlights from the SOE Fan Faire 2009 community address

Highlights from the SOE Fan Faire 2009 community address originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Events, in-game, Warhammer Online

Warhammer Online is celebrating the fourth of July and summer in general by offering some in-game bonuses, and providing some explosive incentives for participating in RvR. WAR's James Nichols announced the event's official opening yesterday, saying, "It's our way of saying thanks, have fun, and enjoy the start of summer with a BANG!" As part of the event, all players can now take advantage of a 10% bonus to experience and renown gain. On top of this, slain enemy players will drop fireworks that can be used to revel in your victory -- we imagine large skirmishes will end with a whole bunch of colorful explosions for the duration of the celebrations.

These bonuses will be in effect for about a week and a half, ending on the 7th of July.

WAR's summer celebration event has begun originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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eBay is running another one of its daily deals, this time offering 12+1 months of Xbox Live Gold membership for the very reasonable price of $27.99. Compare that to the full price of $49.99, and we don't have to tell you how appealing this deal is. So, if you're going to take the plunge, act now. The deal ends Jun 28, at 8AM PDT.

[Thanks, Bikram!]

eBay selling 12 months of Xbox Live for $27.99 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Restarting a character, with all of his attributes, weapons and perks, at the beginning of the game is sometimes called "new game plus." Mass Effect had it, but Mass Effect 2 won't.

Preston Watamaniuk, the lead designer for Mass Effect, addressed the question today on Bioware's forums, and the explanation has as much to do with Mass Effect 3 as it does with Mass Effect 2.

The short answer is no.

The reason is progression. We have been working very hard to make sure we design the abilities system to offer smooth progression into ME3 from ME2. Allowing double progression on characters makes that almost impossible. We have to have reasonable knowledge about where a character could end up finishing all content on a playthrough. We also want to offer choice of character build within specific classes.

We replaced that feature with playing after you were done because it preserves progression and allows for smoother downloading of PRC.

I'd say "smooth progression into ME3," means that whatever happens to your character in this game, you'll have the option of inheriting him or her in the next. Otherwise, being able to play after completion will have to suffice if you're looking for replay in Mass Effect 2.

New Game+? [Mass Effect Forums, thanks Joshua T.]

Weekend Destructainment is a collection of funny videos brought together from all across the Internet to bring you entertainment on these slow and boring weekends.

Music, giant screens, diseases, racism and more await you in this edition of Weekend Destructainment. After the break, Screw Attack shows us the truth about the Street Fighter IV opening. Then check out Halo 3 being played on a giant stadium screen. Next, it's a performance by Bit Shifter. Then Dtoider NukaCola does Guile's theme on the drums.

Random Robot Intermission is up next with the emotional robot. Next, find out what life is like with First Person Shooter disease. Then some Italians protest Super Mario Galaxy 2. Prototype Parkour follows that. The Destructainment ends with America's Funniest Videos mixed with Team Fortress 2 sound effects.

Back-Street Fighter Boys. Spotted on Capcom-Unity.

 

 

Halo 3 played on the Cowboys' giant screen. Spotted on TweakTown

Some Bit Shifter for you all. See if you can spot Mr. Destructoid! Spotted on Offworld.

NukaCola does Guile's theme from Street Fighter II on the drums.

Random Robot Intermission: The emotional robot. Spotted on Geekologie.

First Person Shooter disease. Spotted on Polygamia.

I missed this during E3: Italians protest the new Mario game at E3.

Prototype Parkour. Giant ad for GameStop, but still neat.

America's Funniest Videos with Team Fortress 2 sound effects.

This week in gaming we have EA moving away from selling you games, and towards selling you the ability to buy more things from EA. EGM may be in the grave, but now you get to check out nearly naked ladies! Also, DJ games had something of a sickly E3 showing. This is what people were talking about this week in the world of gaming.

EA's new motto: please pirate our games... er, storefronts: EA doesn't mind piracy of Sims 3, as retail customers get the whole experience. In fact, please pirate the company's future games. Why? EA is selling a service, not a game. Consider everything that comes on the disc a demo; the real value is online.

Click here to read the rest of this article

Have you ever been among a group of people, and maybe someone mentions a movie of dubious quality, but you express how much you loved that movie expecting everyone else to agree, and then no one else agrees and they all look at you suspiciously, and you suddenly feel really exposed and vulnerable? We wonder if that's how Warner Bros. is feeling right now. The L.A. Times reports (via IGN) that Warner Bros. emerged as the sole suitor for Midway once the deadline for bids on the bankrupt publisher ended on Wednesday.

"No other bids came in, so there's not going to be an auction," said Midway spokesman Geoff Mogilner, meaning the Warner Bros. bid of $33 million wins by default. Then again, perhaps it's Midway's shareholders that are feeling exposed right now -- Warner Bros. actually extended their $33 million offer to Midway back in May, but Midway declined in the hopes of sparking a bidding war and raising the price. Clearly, that didn't work out very well.

The deal includes many of Midway's most recognizable assets, including ownership of their Mortal Kombat, Spy Hunter, Joust and Wheelman franchises. It also includes their Chicago and Seattle studios, but not their San Diego studio (makers of the TNA wrestling games) or Newcastle, U.K studio (makers of Wheelman).

If you're eagerly anticipating the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network ports of Marvel vs. Capcom 2, you're going to have to wait just about another month. A new message has appeared on the Capcom Twitter account (via Joystiq) that puts the game's release in late July.

"MvC2 is not actually coming out on June 29, sorry guys. Not sure where that rumor came from, but it's going to be closer to the end of July," the message reads. Well, anonymous Capcom Twitterer, allow us to inform: The rumor originated from a Marvel Q1 financial report back in May, which stated the game would be released on June 29 -- that is, this Monday. But clearly (and unfortunately), there's no MvC2 to look forward to next week... unless you happen to own the Dreamcast, PS2, or Xbox versions, anyway.

Filed under: Betas, News items, MMOFPS, Global Agenda

Hi-Rez Studios just updated their Answer Center with new Global Agenda beta information. The game is expected to move to a Closed Beta phase this July. Global Agenda has been in Alpha testing for a number of months now.

It looks like they're sub-phasing their Closed Beta Test as well (e.g., CBT-1, CBT-2, etc.), an approach that seems more common in MMOs these days. Warhammer Online did a series of closed beta phases, and more currently, Aion is doing the same. Each phase focuses on a different area of the MMO that needs testing and each successive phase usually brings more testers to the mix.

There are pros and cons when taking this phased approach. On one hand you really get to hammer down on your areas of concern but on the other you're only testing the individual parts and not the whole. Players always seem to play a game differently when unleashed upon the full experience.

In the end though, it probably won't matter to all the people who want a taste of what Global Agenda has to offer. Winning E3 Editor's Choice awards like "Best of Show 2009" is definitely building anticipation and raising expectations for this title.

Continue reading Global Agenda closed beta to begin in July

Global Agenda closed beta to begin in July originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Further clarifying reports from nearly two months ago surrounding the release of Marvel vs Capcom 2 on XBLA/PSN, Capcom's Twitter account is putting the game's digital release "closer to the end of July." Oddly enough, the statement claims to not know where the "rumor" came from, though Marvel Entertainment's Q1 2009 financial report (sourced below) was clearly the culprit.

In the month or so you have before the game releases, you should probably head over to Shoryuken's MvC2 forums to find out how badly you're going to get stomped online. And yes, you will get stomped. We all will.

Source -- Marvel Q1 2009 Report [Warning: PDF Link]

Capcom puts Marvel vs Capcom 2 release near 'the end of July' originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The dedicated players of Everquest - and after nearly 10 years, hell yes they are dedicated - will get expansions for the first two games in the series beginning in November.

At its Fan Faire in Las Vegas, Sony Online Entertainment announced the 16th expansion for EverQuest, will be released in November. Called "Underfoot," it allows players to explore new underground zones.

EverQuest II gets its sixth expansion in February 2010. Called "Sentinel's Fate", it increases the level cap to 90 and allows players to gain experience playing older, lower-level content with high level characters. Word also has it that achievements will be integrated into that game, too.

Expansions Announced for EverQuests [Eurogamer]

Is it sad that Tiger Woods has to win the U.S. Open in order to not suck or is it just a testament to how good he is? Well, as amazing as he is at real golf, he’s not so good at virtual golf. The video below demonstrates Tiger barely beating out Jimmy Fallon at Tiger Woods 10 on Wii, and this is after he lost to Fallon earlier in the day in Time Square.

I’ve not played Tiger Woods 10, but it’s clear from the video that despite Tiger’s far superior golf form you can get just as good a swing from Fallon’s one-handed style. Can anyone tell if they’re using Wii MotionPlus on those controllers? I’m not sure, because from what I’ve played with the Wii MotionPlus I would think that Tiger’s form would allow him to hit better.

What I really can’t wait for is Tiger sucking at golf on Natal.

The video is from Hulu so those not in the US should move here to watch it.

Sony may have recently reaffirmed that the PlayStation 3 won't get a price cut until they're good and ready, but according to rumors being floated by Ars Technica, that could be as soon as this fall. An insider "mole" has told them that not only will the PS3 get a price cut later this year, but it'll happen along with the launch of the long-rumored "PS3 Slim." On top of that, this mole also says the Xbox 360 Elite will get a price cut later this year, as well.

According to this source, Sony plans to constrain availability of the 80GB PS3 in the next couple of months, leaving more 160GB models on store shelves. The idea, this mole says, is to then sell through a good amount of the 160GB model, leaving Sony ready to launch the PS3 Slim at a lower price point in the fall. No details were given on what that new price point will be.

As for the Xbox 360, the mole says Microsoft plans to sell through the supply of Pro models with bonuses like the Halo 3/Fable 2 bundle. Once Pros disappear from store shelves, they'll never be seen again -- Microsoft will instead drop the price of the 120GB Elite model, essentially putting it in the spot the Pro currently holds. Again, no price details were given, so it's unknown if it'll actually be cheaper than the Pro, or if the $399 Elite will simply drop to the Pro's $299 price point.

Now that we've got our first Swag Saturday under our belt, it's time for week two. Since we gave away two destroy-em-ups for PS3 last week, we're going to do the same for 360 owners this week. Up for grabs are a copy of Prototype and Wolverine for the Xbox 360. If there's not enough testosterone-fueled action in there for you -- or virus-fueled action in Prototype's case -- we'll even throw in our beloved foam Wolverine claws too! To enter, simply follow the directions below. Good luck!

• Leave a comment telling us when you first started reading Joystiq
  
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) - sorry! These aren't our laws. :-(
  
• Limit 1 entry per person
  
• This entry period ends at 7:00pm ET on Sunday, July 28. We'll randomly select 1 winner at that time to receive: one copy of Wolverine for Xbox 360 (ARV $59.99) and one copy of Prototype for Xbox 360 (ARV $59.99)
• For a list of complete rules, click here

Swag Saturday: Prototype and Wolverine for 360 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The fun-killing neighborhood scolds at the Eagle Forum filed a brief [pdf] supporting California's violent video game law, and invoke the 1982 death of a Berzerk player as evidence that games even cause physical harm.

The Eagle Forum isn't much different from your typical gasbag family values think tank, except that it was founded in 1967 by Phyllis Schlafly (pictured), so it was a gasbag family values think tank before that was cool. It's also funny they're teaming up with Jerry Brown, the former "Governor Moonbeam" and current California Attorney General, who's appealing a lower-court decision striking down a 2005 law against the sales of violent video games.

In a laundry list of evils, the Eagle Forum attaches video games to everything wrong in the world, including high school dropout rates and the lack of preparedness freshmen have for a college curriculum. Nothing, of course, is cited, but that's should be expected from the paper's author, Andrew Schlafly. He founded "Conservapedia," the free online encyclopedia any knuckledragging flat-earther can edit.

The dated references to Sega and the 27-year-old death of Peter Burkowski make me think these are just talking points cut and pasted from the Eagle Forum's video game file.

Video Games Are Equivalent to Fighting Words, Conservative Group Argues in Supreme Court Brief [GamePolitics]

According to a new report from Japanese trade paper Nikkei (via Reuters), Sony is planning to create a new product with Sony Ericsson that combines their cellphones with PSP technology, in an interest of competing more directly with the iPhone.

The report states that Sony plans to assemble a team as early as July to begin development of this "cellphone-game gear hybrid." Otherwise, the story is light on details, and states that a Sony spokesperson declined to comment on the report.

Although this is all unconfirmed by Sony themselves, Nikkei is generally a reliable source (they recently correctly reported on Wii Fit Plus and a new Wii Mario game before E3 started earlier this month). Still, it does seem like odd timing, considering Sony just announced the PSP Go redesign at E3, which is planned for release in October. Exactly where a potential new "PSP Phone" would be positioned in their PSP lineup is hard to say.

• Katamari Forever - The Music - this one’s shaping up to be the best Katamari game of this generation. We’ll have more on the Blog closer to launch.
• Inside Tekken 6’s New Campaign Mode - Because fighting games need chain guns. Lots of them.
• Vengeance is Coming Exclusively to PSN in The Punisher: No Mercy - Finally, The Punisher is coming next week!
• MAG Mondays Featuring Exclusive Developer Diaries - We’ve got two more heading your way in the next two weeks.
• UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves Wins Big at E3 09 - Give it up for Naughty Dog - Uncharted 2 is *the* game of E3.
• PlayStation.Blog Maintenance Today - We’re still seeing a bit of… unusualness… following the server change. Please report any paranormal activity in the comments.
• PS3 Firmware (v2.80) Update - Installation is optional - which is why you may not have noticed.
• Sack it to Me: The “Stickers, Shirts and Golf…Oh My!” Edition - Who’s cuter, Sackboy or Nico Bellic? Exactly. Now go vote.
• Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do to Deserve This? Available Exclusively via PlayStation Store - Save yourself a trip to the store; this game is coming to you.
• Cuboid DLC Available Today - Build your own levels… now.
• Super Stardust HD Two-Year Anniversary - The first-ever game to feature Trophies celebrates its second birthday.
• Introducing Hustle Kings for PSN - All of the pool hall action, none of the cigarette smoke or biker gang activity. Unless you allow them into your home as you play.
• PlayStation Store Update - Droplitz, The Bigs 2 Demo, and - finally - Bad Religion’s “21st Century (Digital Boy)” for Rock Band. I can’t believe it.
• PlayStation Network Video Content Update - As you watch Jon & Kate Plus 8, Season 5 (now available for download), see if you can pick up the warning signs of what would transpire this week. Wow, that’s depressing.
• MotorStorm: Pacific Rift – Speed Weekend, the Weekend Festival that Never Ends - Lunatics (re)Unite! More Tracks, Modes, and Trophies incoming.
• inFAMOUS Facts, Figures, and Future - Sucker Punch has pretty much kept Seattle indie coffee shop “Starbucks” afloat these past few years.
• PlayStation Eye Chat: Shatter for PSN - It seems many of you enjoyed this interview format… so you’ll be seeing it again!

Courtesy of David “Point Man” Brothers

• 1.50 Update - Patch 1.50 is currently in QA, 1.60 is in development. 1.60 is also bringing free DLC along with it!

Courtesy of Victor Zuylen – Editor, Killzone Community

• Chalkzone - We got in touch with Ronaldo Salazar, the artist responsible for creating the amazing Helghast portrait at the Pasadena Chalk Festival.
• The Killzone Chronicles, Part 10 - Quite a few weapons were added to the Killzone 2 armory in the final months of 2007. Also, our AI got smarter!

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Lord of the Rings Online, One Shots

One Shots: A ways from Weathertop originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Though most of you base your video game purchasing decisions on replay value, storytelling elements or a title's raw, unmitigated fun factor, we realize there's a small sect of gamers who make said decisions based on the game's capacity for physical violence towards flying machines. A very small sect. Like, one person -- Penny Arcade's Gabe. His obsession was revealed in the recent strip "Consumer Advocacy," the winner of last week's Weekly Webcomic Wrapup.

Second and third place went to Virtual Shackles' "A Dose of Fake Reality" and 2P Start's "The Power of Teamwork," respectively. If you've got a favorite comic from this past week you'd like to see in the polls, now's the time to submit it -- just drop a link in the comments, or send in a tip!

Readers pick best webcomic: Consumer Advocacy originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How'd we miss this? In a chat a couple weeks back on IGN, Fight Night Round 4 producer Brian Hayes said that remapping the face buttons to throw punches might be "an option via DLC."

His full reply:

There is no option for face button punching in the final version, but we are investigating providing the option via DLC.

Now, no one said specifically that the face-button option would be paid DLC. But one would have to wonder why EA would give this away for free.

I used the face-button option in Round 3 liberally, as it was the only way for me to get through the damned punching-dummy minigame. Withholding it as an option from Round 4, and hinting that it may come back through DLC doesn't create a lot of gamer goodwill.

In the rest of his answers, Hayes' indicates that a dedicated DLC team will also be whipping up additional boxer customizations, if not real fighters who were not included in the official roster. That's OK. But making people pay or wait for controller schemes is kind of shitty, if not unprecedented.

Fight Night Round 4 - Your Answers [IGN via Evil Avatar]

You have to love bad DLC, especially when it's as shameless as this. Not only is the upcoming downloadable content for BlazBlue available on Xbox Live before the game's even out, the stuff you can pre-emptively purchase is nothing but stuff already on the disc, and that can be unlocked by playing the main game.

80 Microsoft Points apiece, gullible gamers can pick up "Unlimited" variant forms of characters. Customers are warned before buying that they can unlock the content simply by playing the game, but who wants to PLAY the videogames they just bought? Only a total moron would do that, right?

This kind of DLC is my favorite, as I love the idea of people paying even more money to effectively reduce the value of their games. It's an incredibly lazy, stupid and crap idea for downlodable content, but the fact that real gamers are obviously buying this garbage only justifies such shoddy little schemes. If Arc System Works had any class, it would release a list of names of the people who are buying this nonsense, so sane and sensible people know to avoid the drooling bloody lunatics. 

It's kind of sad that developers and publishers have systematically set about ruining the idea of DLC for everybody, but it's the way of business, I guess. I'm just impressed at the sheer gall on display with this one.

Dad, a newspaper publisher, always told me, "the news is what people are talking about." Video games can be that, too, as we've seen lately with mobile or flash games based on much-discussed current events.

The Christian Science Monitor wraps its arms around a long list of "news games," from the lighthearted "Swinefighter" (pictured) to more thoughtful efforts covering Hurricane Katrina, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the global economic slump.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has been funding news game ventures, seeing them as a potential moneymaker that reconnects news sites to their audiences. The state of "news games" now isn't near that kind of success, says a foundation vice president, but it will get there,

"There hasn't been a breakthrough in terms of a digital news game the way that the crossword puzzle was a breakthrough for the daily newspaper 100 years ago," said the foundation's Eric Newton. "That hasn't happened yet, but it will."

But with mainstream news brands everywhere taking a beating in an advertising slump, don't look for a fad to become a serious trend or feature of news sites anytime soon. The Knight Foundation recently honored a Pittsburgh developer for a series of 127 free games in which players could learn about current and historical events. The dev has hoped to sell off the popular series to a news organization, but has had no luck.

Video Games That Let You Play with Your News [Christian Science Monitor]

eBay has an awesome deal for Xbox Live Gold today.  You can get a years subscription of Gold for $27.99, saving yourself $22 from the regular price of $49.99. The deal is only good until June 28, 8:00 PDT so you better act fast.

This deal is especially good for all you collectors out there. I've never seen a green and Avatar themed 12 month Live card yet. This is a must just for the packaging alone. Prove you're the biggest Xbox 360 fanboy with your stack of useless Xbox related packages!  

Also, I could have given you a generic header image of Xbox Live Gold packaging. Instead, I gave you Party Dog. You're welcome. 

[Update: Dang. All of the Gold cards eBay had are gone. Frys some for $39.99 and I found some for $37 over on Amazon. Not as good, but still not the full $50 at least.]

[Via Joystiq]

Obsidian confirms the cancellation of Aliens RPG originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You need to be in Seattle from July 9 to 11, and you need a hundred bucks. The Seattle Symphony is giving a three-day performance of Final Fantasy's score, and Nobuo Uematsu will be attending.

"Distant Worlds" will be performed July 9 at 7:30 pm and July 10 and 11 at 8 pm. The Grammy Award-winning Arnie Roth is the program's conductor. Tickets are $25. For $100, you can get into a meet-and-greet reception with Uematsu following the performances.

Uematsu has composed video game music going back to 1985, and is widely regarded as the John Williams of video game soundtracks. He composed the scores for all of the Final Fantasy titles, and also did the music for 3D Worldrunner, whose tink-tink-tink chiptone I can still recall, for some reason.

Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy [Seattle Symphony, thanks Billy!]

Filed under: Free-to-play, Comics, Humor, Grinders

I suppose I should legally declare that Grinders is not paid by Sony to do comics about Free Realms, but on a completely unrelated note, I do so enjoy flossing my teeth with hundred dollar bills.

Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel@massively.com. The best will be put under a microscope and checked for the latest strain of Murloc Flu. Or just put in the comic.

---

Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and sporting a fancy tophat and monocle, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.

Massively webcomic: The Haves and the Have-Nots originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some PS3 websurfers have reported that, as of this morning, they're no longer able to play Hulu videos. Engadget dug through the Hulu TOS and thinks it knows why.

The PS3 had access to Hulu thanks to the console browser's flash support, leading some to wonder if this was a glitch or a block caused by the firmware. But do not adjust your set, reports Engadget:

The Hulu TOS was just updated as of June 26, and although we haven't found any PS3-specific passages, changing a browser's user-string to match the console reveals it is definitely being specifically blocked.

Hulu to PlayStation 3 Browsers: "This Video is not Available on Your Platform" [Engadget; image from FormatWarCentral]

Videogame blogs regularly churn out cynical list columns about sexy videogame characters so that they can appeal to and exploit the legions of horny teenage nerds that scour the Internet for anything even vaguely resembling Chun Li's vagina. Such articles are lazily thrown together, full of pictures to make up for the lack of written content, and then get a free ride to the frontpage of Digg.

Well, why should we not get ourselves a slice of that? 

If you're looking for a delightfully erotic good time, then look no further than this article, which will explore the sauciest videogame fantasies that one could ever have. Read on and learn all about the videogame characters that I would have sex. You'll be filling your jeans with bollock-vomit before the end of it!

Name: Kirby
From: Kirby series
Sexual Position: The Super Star

When you consider videogame characters that you'd have sex with, one would be a fool not to consider getting it on with Nintendo's famous pink ball of pleasantries. We've all considered it. It's soft, it's pink, and it doesn't even speak, so it couldn't tell anybody what it was you actually did that night when its parents were out. It's the perfect crime. Also, I have reason to believe that Kirby literally has the consistency of marshmallow, allowing penetration from any angle. 

Kirby also possesses one skill that will make him a perfect sexual partner, and I think you know what it is. If the little freak can suck in a sword-wielding monster that's equal to his own body mass, then imagine what he'd do to your cock for five bucks and a packet of Sun Chips. 

Name: Rouge
From: Sonic series
Sexual Position: The Bat Belt

I argue that wanting to shag Rouge the Bat from the Sonic games is not evidence of furry leanings, due to the fact that a bat looks a bit like it should be a reptile, and reptiles aren't furry, even though bats are. That is enough to legally cover me and allow me to look at crudely drawn images of Rouge getting pounded by Dr. Robotnik that I've drawn myself while wanking. 

Only an idiot would disagree that Rouge is quite the sexy strumpet. Besides which, years of working with Sonic the Hedgehog means that she's used to getting fucked in the ass, which means she's probably up for anything. Plus, the wings give you something to hang onto, which is an added bonus. 

Name: Psycho Mantis
From: Metal Gear Solid
Sexual Position: The Second Port

I know, I know. Psycho Mantis isn't much to look at. He's actually quite hideous, and not somebody you'd ever want to touch with a ten-foot pole. That's the beauty of getting your mack on with Psycho Mantis, however. You wouldn't have to touch him. Mantis is a psychic and a master of telekinesis, which not only means that he knows exactly what you want, but he can get you to orgasm without even being in the room. You know all that tantric sex that Sting loves having so much? He ain't got shit on Mantis, son. 

Besides which, Mantis can also take over the minds of others, so if you get into a committed relationship with him, you basically get the ability to shag anybody you want in the world! How awesome is that? I'm not sure if this would be considered rape or not, but if there isn't a specific law against boinking women who are possessed by Russian mass murderers, then nobody can get in trouble. 

Name: Vertigo
From: Primal Rage
Sexual Position: The Cobra Commander

I'm sure at some point in our lives, we've all considered what it would be like to have sex with a gigantic, prehistoric, bipedal snake that can hypnotize dinosaurs. Vertigo from Primal Rage makes all those fantasies come true. She's sleek, she's slim, and she'll swallow you whole. I think I'm in love, actually.

Also, if you happen to get her pregnant, you don't need to waste money on expensive abortions. Just cook and eat the eggs. Not only do you save money, but you get a tasty treat that only the unborn embryos of crossbred human/reptiles can provide. Everyone's a winner!

She's basically the perfect candidate for casual videogame sex. Job's a good 'un. 

Name: Jenova
From: Final Fantasy VII
Sexual Position: The Reunion

I don't know about any of you, but I love a strong woman who knows what she wants, and knows how to get it. They don't come more "modern woman" than Jenova, whose take-no-shit attitude and ability to ride planets like intergalactic surfboards practically invented feminism. Okay, so one of her tits has an eye on it, but who cares? 

People complain about the lack of a strong female character in gaming, but they don't come much tougher than this one. Jenova is one MILF who can taste my Lifestream any day of the week. Plus the head comes off, and you can do some proper Patrick Bateman shit with that.

Name: Tingle
From: The Legend of Zelda series
Sexual Position: The Rosy Rupee

There's no escaping the fact that Tingle is an incredibly creepy ... thing. He's a thirty-year-old midget who looks a bit like Gilbert Gottfried, he dresses in a skintight green leotard and he's quite possibly some kind of pederast. Nonetheless, I would definitely want to have sex with Tingle, simply through sheer curiosity. I can't begin to imagine the kind of freaky shit he's into, and the only way to find out is to get him into bed. He looks like the kind of guy who'd fuck anything, too, so it wouldn't be difficult.

I think the following decade of shame and nightmares would be a fair trade for one night of complete and utter debauchery, which may or may not involve Tingle rolling around in a bathtub full of his own shit and blood. Something tells me that more and a few chickens of Hyrule have already known this kinky bastard's touch so I'm guaranteed at least the most interesting sex of my life. 

I wanted to work in a joke about "spine-tingling," but couldn't fit it in. It would have basically insinuated anal sex though, somehow. 

Name: Muk
From: Pokemon
Sexual Position: Sloppy Seconds

Seriously, if it's that wet and sloppy on the outside, imagine what its cunt looks like. I want to find out!

Name: Nurse Demons
From: Silent Hill
Sexual Position: The Pyramid Head

Their heads look like somebody got some clay and poked their dick in it a few times, but nobody's looking at the mantelpiece when they're stoking the fire, and as far as I'm concerned, the rest of Silent Hill's Nurse Demon's look pretty frigging shaggable. 

The fact that they'd be instinctively trying to kill me just makes the whole scenario even better, adding an element of danger. Nurses appear in every Silent Hill game, but if I could choose, then I'd have to go with the Silent Hill 2 ones, since they were borne of a widower's sexually frustrated psyche. You know those bitches would be up for a good time.

Blowjobs are crap though.

Name: The Overlord
From: Overlord series
Sexual Position: Simply Straight Up The Arse

What can I say? I'm a whore at heart and attracted to men with power. Whether or not I find him attractive isn't the point. The point is that the Overlord has everything I need to pull an Anna Nicole-Smith and get my hands on all the loot and influence in the land. Taking it roughly up the arse from an evil tyrant would be worth it. 

Also, men who pursue so much power are usually overcompensating for something else, and if that's the case, at least the thrice-nightly anal will be relatively painless.

Name: The Witch
From: Left 4 Dead
Sexual Position: On Her Knees

Eh, she's already crying. Might as well disappoint her further. 

Like any good sports star, the launch trailer for Fight Night Round 4 that just landed on us does a good bit of strutting around and letting us know who's the best. And who, you ask, is the best? Why clearly Fight Night Round 4 which dropped earlier this week -- albeit with some technical issues -- a full week earlier than we had originally expected. If you're looking for another dose of ridiculously detailed boxers throwing punch after punch at each other, look no further. If not, well, maybe you're smoking lettuce, ya lettuce smoker.

Fight Night Round 4 trailer struts all over the ring originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eurogamer has a report from the Sony Fain Faire, the annual convention that's now underway in Las Vegas. At the show SOE has announced new expansions for both EverQuest, and EverQuest II, their...

The Obsidian Community Forums finally drop the other shoe on Obsidian's on, off, on again, off again Aliens RPG (thanks Giant Bomb/Shacknews). The latest (for the moment) is that the game is...

The Los Angeles Times has this month's regularly scheduled story about Warner Bros. attempting to buy up the assets of bankrupt Midway Games (here's May's and here's April's. The new story indicates...

Raven’s Eric Beissman talks about the highly anticipated Wolfenstein game on GameZone shares thoughts from Raven's creative director on the upcoming return of super-soldier William "B.J." Blazkowicz...

Muzyka On EA's New BioWare/Mythic RPG Team-Up on Gamasutra converses with the BioWare co-founder about the news of their shotgun wedding with Mythic Studios. They probe for more clarity than the...

38 Studios CEO on Big Huge Games acquisition on Joystiq gets close to Brett Close to ask the CEO of 38 Studios about the reasons they acquired Big Huge Games. Along the way he explains why they are...

The City of Heroes Interview on Boomtown chats with City of Heroes Senior Lead Designer Matt Miller, discussing the upcoming Issue 15 for NCsoft's superhero MMORPG. The conversation also touches on...

CITIES XL on Blue's News.

The truth about game physics. Thanks Mike Martinez and Slashdot… World of Warcraft FAQ on [OC]ModShop…

Be gentle. I'm a Mets fan. Shellshocked Links: Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez. Play: Perfect Shot LCD Cinematic Action 2. Overlord II Tower Defense. Links: 26 Geekiest Wedding Cake Toppers. Science:...

AMD DirectX 11 White Paper Released - DirectX 11 is about efficiency.

The Simpsons- Worth More on Hulu than Fox. Thanks Ant and Slashdot.

Antec P182 vs. P183 Case on Puget Custom Computers. Asus HD 4770 Formula Edition Graphics Card on Bjorn3D.com. BFG ES-800 PSU on Hardware Secrets. Evercool Transformer 4 CPU Cooler on Overclockers...

There's a long list of games you can trade in for a free Fight Night: Round 4 at GameStop, but of course, these are high value targets.

The rest of the week's values seems to indicate a post-Dad's Day lull, with retailers clearing off stock and offering regular bundles as major value-adds. Eh, whatevs, let's get to the coupons.

• GameStop's really flacking the trade-ins with a variety of percentage bonuses depending on what you hand over, including consoles. See their full ad to see if any of it is worthwhile to you. But you can get Fight Night Round 4 if you bring them three "select titles" for trade in. See the 360 list and the PS3 list and yes, they want good games. Although if you're trading in old sports titles you're done playing until next season, this can be a decent value. [Gamestop]

• This week's Steam sale is half-off on the daring indie title Zeno Clash. You can check out our review and then decide if you want it for $9.99. [Steam]

• Walmart's also being stingy with the free game come-ons. Buy a console and they'll give you a free title, but of course, it's from a "select list." Buying a 360 gives you the Fable II and Halo 3 bundle (available elsewhere for the same price) but a PS3 has a longer list from which to choose. The deal applies to every platform, handhelds too. [Walmart]

• Newegg's got a few deals worth mentioning: $10 off if you want to re-up your Xbox Live Gold sub for 12 months; $12 off a PS3 DualShock controller; also, Red Faction: Guerilla is $39.99 for Xbox 360 and PC. [Newegg]

• And while Newegg's price on the Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter is nice, Amazon's is much better - $76.99. Free shipping available, both SuperSaver and if you have the Amazon Gold whatchamacalit. [Amazon]

As always, smart gamers can find values any day of the week, so if you've run across a deal, share it with us in the comments.

The MMO is one of the few genres that really and truly struggles on consoles. It and the RTS are the bane of the console industry, and while both genres have their bright spots on consoles and are constantly being tackled by developers, there are some reasons they don’t work. Rob Pardo, Blizzard's executive vp of game design, believes he knows why MMOs aren’t making the leap so well. Speaking with Industry Gamers he laid the cold hard truth out.

"...there's a lot of challenges. I'd say challenge #1 is the input device. So if you're going to port a game like WoW how does that work? Do you ship a keyboard and a mouse? Do you try to make a game that [adapts] to all the different controls and buttons? That's a porting issue. The bigger issue would be things like hard drives. I think WoW now is about 10 gigs and we're always pushing out more content. That's something cloud computing could eventually solve, but in the current generation of consoles that's a lot to deal with. You'd have to eat almost the entire hard drive, and there are Xbox consoles [sold to consumers] that don't have hard drives. So that's a big issue," Pardo explained.

He continued, "Another big issue is how to actually do patches because the certification process is pretty arduous to do that. I know that's something Microsoft is trying to work out so you can do more updates and the certification process is faster, but it's not going to be nearly as fast as we can do it. We just put it through our QA department and upload to our servers. ... Then, the other big issue is the business model. Right now, Microsoft and Sony charge platform fees for retail, but if you do an MMO there and it's subscription-based, they're going to want a cut of the subscription revenue too, and so that becomes a hurdle. So there's definitely a lot of hurdles right now for doing MMOs on a console, but it all can be overcome and I think in the next generation of consoles it'll be much easier."

So the issues are the controls, the platforms and the money – that’s pretty much everything, isn’t it?

Let's be honest: this shirt isn't all too cool. That's a shame, considering we love our PixelJunk, and would love to wear some tees showing off our fandom. This rather uninspired shirt is from premium t-shirt maker The King of Games, and will cost a premium price: 3800円 (about $40). Considering the stylish look of all the PixelJunk games so far, we have to admit we're disappointed by this offering. Thankfully, an equally priced PixelJunk Eden Encore t-shirt is a bit more eye catching.

[Via Destructoid]

Show off your PixelJunk with boring, expensive tees originally appeared on Joystiq Playstation on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Culture, MMO industry

It's not everyday that we find a letter addressed to an entire company's audience when it's posted on a specific game site, but that's what NCsoft West's executive producer, Lance Stites has done with his recent letter to the Aion community.

To sum up his letter, it's been a busy series of restructuring the company and preparing for their next big release: Aion. While much of the focusing has been on Aion, the company isn't looking away from Lineage, Lineage II or Exteel. Those are still high on the company's priority list, according to Stites.

But things are going along smoothly for Aion, as more voice overs are currently being recorded, the localization is continuing smoothly, and tutorial videos are in production. It sounds like Aion really is the golden game of the studio, but it's also nice to hear about all of the staffing changes going on with the other games.

For the full letter and all of the nitty gritty of what's going on with the studio, head on over to Aion's website and check out Stites's report.

NCsoft's open letter to the Aion community targets all players of NCsoft games originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this week, Evil Chris on the Mass Effect Twitter channel told us to expect some ME1 DLC news by Friday. Well, Friday happened, so what's the word?

Tweeted Evil Chris yesterday: "Due to circumstances beyond my control (me being stupid on timing), any news of more ME1 DLC will have to wait. Sorry folks."

In reply to a fan, he expands the mea culpa: "Totally my fault for getting hopes up. I don't want to speculate and do it again till I'm sure."

The Twitter feed did manage to dribble out one piece of news for Mass Effect fans. In the next 10 days, Mass Effect Galaxy will get a patch, delivering an estimaged 50 percent performance boost for lower-end iPhones and iPod Touches.

BioWare: Mass Efect DLC News 'Will Have to Wait' [VG247]

Okay, so it's Saturday and news is always slow on the weekends. Still, I think I would have posted about this any other day in any case. Why? Because it's f**king Nathan Fillion!

Bungie invited Nathan up to their HQ where he got to play Halo: ODST, which according to the latest Bungie update, Halo: ODST "is all wrapped up." Nathan actually has a role in ODST as Buck, the squad leader of the ODST soldiers you'll be playing with.

It looks like Nathan is a big Halo fan. He played Halo: ODST for about six hours when he came to the Bungie offices the first day and then came back for more the following day. He even got to see some super secret details on Halo: Reach.  

Oh, Nathan. I'd let you hold my sniper rifle any day. 

Filed under: Massively meta

Welcome, one and all, to the weekend! Is the month almost over already? We checked and double-checked our calendars and it looks like, yes, we've made it to the the last weekend of June. July, and more summer weather are just around the bend -- which makes it seem like a great time to beat the heat by staying indoors and play video games! Here at Massively hope you're all enjoying it, in or out of game. So... what are you up to this weekend? And what is the Massively team up to this weekend? You'll have to read on to find out...

Continue reading WRUP: Summer fun in the MMO sun

WRUP: Summer fun in the MMO sun originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We learned some important lessons about the physical world this week, notably that Fallout sees no difference between a tall frosty cold one and a device used to rip out nosehairs. Yes, unbeatable refreshment.

In addition to the behemoth study of video game weights and measures, we gave a look at Nintendo's major goods and wares due out by the holiday season. Luke took a look inside Robot Chicken, and A.J. broke down a comprehensive list of gaming's most noteworthy daddies. The week that was in original writing and reporting:

Previews, Reviews, Hands-On and Impressions
Madballs in Babo Invasion Preview: A Game With Balls
Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1 Preview: Guybrush Sails Again
Art Style Boxlife Micro-Review: Smart Misery
Batman: Arkham Asylum Preview: A Thinker's Brawling Game
What MotionPlus Adds to Tiger Woods Golf
Wolfenstein Re-Preview: Sans Mecha-Hitler
Halo 3 ODST Impressions: What Happened In Africa
Fallout 3 Point Lookout Micro-Review: Axe Murder
Let's Tap Review: Rhythm Limbo
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks Preview: Pigs Might Fly
Feet-On With Wii Fit Plus' Wacky New Balance Games
Wii Sports Resort Preview: Motion Game Of The Year?
Eduardo The Samurai Toaster Micro-Review
Darksiders Preview: Blasts From Pasts

Features
Bethesda's Big Move
Kotaku Bureau of Weights & Measures Studies Fallout, Physics, Also Beer
When Robot Chicken Meets Video Games
Father Knows Best: The Best and Worst Fathers in Video Games

News
Notebook Dump: Layton, Samurai Showdown, RE5 3D
Playing As Insurgents: Volition Reflects On Red Faction Guerilla
Autobots Fans Currently Crushing Decepticons Fans
Industry Figures Share Michael Jackson Memories, From E3 To Neverland
Gearbox President Says "War Hero" Another Original Game
Holy Invasion Of Privacy, Badman! Goes PSN Exclusive
id: Why We Sold To ZeniMax
Your NHL 10 Box Art Looks Like...
Layoffs At Rockstar New England
Despite Gaming Success, Apple Not Ready To Call iPhone A Game Platform
Ghostwire's Augmented Reality in Action on DSi
Sony Japan Launches New PSP Bundles (It's Monster Hunter Time)
British Sales Charts: If There's Something Strange...

Nintendo
How Much Of New Mario Vs. DK Is Actually New
The Little Things Noticed At Our Nintendo Demos
Why Guys Should Care About Girl-Game Style Savvy
Fifty-Seven Flights Up With New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Pokemans
Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver Dated For Japan

Comix
This Week In Video Game Comics

That's Not Nice
Don't Ride Bicycles Over Killzone 2 Chalk Drawings
What Not To Do With Xbox 360 Avatars: Drugs, Decapitation, Fluids

Boobies
Olivia Munn Not Nude, Not for a Lack of Effort

Is it just me, or did Battlefield Heroes' release yesterday come seemingly out of nowhere? A few months ago, I couldn't turn around without seeing an interview or a news story about the open beta. Then, nothing. Then, with almost no fanfare or immediate pre-release hype, it spontaneously becomes available for free download.

In case you haven't been following it, Heroes is a fully featured cross between classic Battlefield 1942 gameplay (complete with control points, planes, and Nazis) and the free-to-play, microtransaction-based structure of  titles such as Maple Story. You can download the entire game for free from the official site, but you'll have to shell out a few dollars if you want your character to look more distinctive than the other grunts running around in Heroes' zany, cartoonish version of World War II. 

But does it work? Does the free-to-play structure and emphasis on persistent, RPG-like character building work harmoniously with the original Battlefield gameplay? 

Hit the jump for my personal answers to those questions.

Battlefield Heroes (PC)
Developer: EA Digital Illusions CE
Publisher: EA
Released: June 25, 2009
MSRP: $0.00 (optional clothing, expressions, and XP widgets can be bought via microtransactions)

Battlefield Heroes is based on an awfully compelling concept: it seeks to merge the grindy, microtransaction-driven addictiveness of games like Maple Story with the considerably deeper and faster-paced action provided by the Battlefield franchise. 

Unfortunately, it doesn't work as well as it could.

My first hour or so with Heroes was a bizarrely pleasant one: upon seeing the numerous character customization options and skill trees, I experienced a mixture of fear and attraction. My mind was filled with conflicting emotions -- "oh God, I hope I don't get addicted to this and spend the next three weeks building my character" and "oh man, I can't wait to get addicted to this and spend the next three weeks building a sweet-ass character." There were emotes and clothing available for purchase with "Battlefunds" (the Heroes equivalent of Microsoft Points that must be bought with actual Earth currency), and new weapons buyable with the free Valor Points players earn by doing well in combat.

The numerous abilities available for the three classes, each with the capacity to be upgraded five times, implied a depth of gameplay that would keep me enthralled for weeks. The temporary nature of the buyable items (health recharges have to be purchased, all weapons last less than a month, and all cosmetic items last a month unless you pay three times their initial price to permanently own them) suggested I would need to keep coming back to it over the next few months. The classic Battlefield gameplay revolving around capturing control points and depleting the opposing team's respawn tickets seemed warm, inviting. An hour after first booting up Heroes, I was fully prepared to devote a hefty chunk of time to plumbing its depths.

My first character, a Commando (basically a cross between a sniper and a spy), was pretty satisfying. Characters earn Valor Points and experience points by dealing damage or capturing flags, which results in a feeling of constant reward. Did you shoot a guy once in the leg, only to have him turn around and annihilate you with five shotgun blasts? Don't sweat it -- you still got some XP and cash. Even though I sucked for the first ten minutes of my first game, I still felt like I was constantly building my character and reaping rewards from my own ineptitude. In a few minutes, I had enough Valor Points to try out two new weapons, each far more useful than my default guns. I felt progressively more powerful with every new ability I earned. Things were good.

Four hours and two new characters later, the picture was less rosy. 

It takes a while for Heroes' flaws to make themselves apparent, but they're impossible to ignore once they do. Even though there are only three classes, for instance, the Commandos still feel irritatingly overpowered. Their sniper rifles do incredible damage, they can remain permanently invisible to anyone more than a few feet away from them, and they seem to move faster than the other two classes.

Or what about the fact that you cannot switch teams or classes during a game? When creating a character, whatever faction and character class you choose for him are his for life. Initially, this makes sense: the beauty of RPG-esque character building is that for all the experience points and ability points and cash you sink into the guy, he's yours. That character is a permanent symbol of all the time you put into the game; he's a walking testament to your efforts. But in a multiplayer combat game, it's not enough to just enter a server with a fixed character and assume things will be all right.

What if you find that your entire team is made up of Soldiers, but you need some Commandos to take out a guard post? In any other game, you'd simply switch classes, take the guard post yourself, and switch back. Or, what if one team is slaughtering the other team simply because they've got better players? In a regular multiplayer shooter, the teams would automatically rebalance in order to make things fair.  In Heroes, you're locked into the same team configurations no matter what, unless a huge number of people leave and are replaced by new people. This almost entirely reduces any possibility for cooperative, strategic gameplay, especially when you consider the fact that a lot of players seem like they're just out to get as many XP and Valor Points as they can, the rest of the team be damned.

The game constantly struggles with satisfying both the needs of a persistent, stat-based RPG and those of a compelling multiplayer shooter without ever combining them into a coheisve whole. For instance, players take a metric asston of damage before dying, because that way you can score lots of experience and valor points by blasting away at them. After a few hours of play, however, the seeming ineffectiveness of every machine gun or explosive begins to get frustrating and tedious. I threw three grenades at a Gunner, then shot him four times with a shotgun, and watched in furious horror as he killed me with less than ten HP left.

There are planes, because this is a Battlefield game, but all the control points are surrounded by buildings or trees (perhaps to force players in close proximity to one another so they can pick away at one another with close range weaponry and get a ton of points), thus making the planes effectively useless except as a means of transportation.

There are only three maps with more presumably on the way in order to keep players coming back on a quasiregular basis, constantly eyeing the new gestures and clothing items in the shop, forever tempted to open their wallets and engage the microtransaction model head-on. But these maps become downright boring after a few hours of play, and even the satisfying XP system and legitimately interesting abilities (like a Soldier powerup which makes your SMG fire incendiary rounds for a limited time, or a Gunner perk that allows you to eat all nearby explosives and convert them into health) can't save the core gameplay from degenerating into unfortunate tedium after you've experimented with each class and their different weapons. 

On a slightly different note, I want to discuss one aspect of Heroes' microtransaction system.There's some legitimate concern to be had over the game's buyable XP "widgets" that, for a few real-life dollars, will double the amount of XP or Valor Points you get while playing for a certain period of time. One could rightfully claim that such an item rewards those players with deep pockets over those who rely on personal skill. As it turns out, however, it never really felt like an issue to me. I felt very little compulsion to keep playing the game after sufficiently experimenting with all three characters, and I subsequently just didn't have time to get frustrated that some dude was earning twice as much XP as I was just because he plopped down a few extra bucks. The game gets dull far beforesuch larger questions of paying money for character power have the chance to become relevant.

However, the game's replayability may definitely become more of an issue as time goes on. When newer, cooler weapons and items start popping up in the shop, and more varied maps become available, perhaps the cash-for-levels system will become a legitimate issue. This will also mean, however, that the actual act of playing the game will become a much more varied, enjoyable, and longterm experience than it currently is -- a fair trade, perhaps.

Opinions are divided on Battlefield Heroes' revenue format, but I was honestly hoping the whole microtransaction structure would work to its favor. An ideal version of Heroes would be as consistently addictive and intrinsically satisfying as a mindless grindfest like Maple Story, while still providing actual depth and intelligence provided by its essential FPS gameplay. As it stands, however, the game we've been presented with works against itself more often than it does not. Perhaps the inevitable flood of subsequent map, weapon and shop updates will provide more depth and replayability, but the I also fear the design may possess some intrinsic contradictions that no patch can fix. Battlefield Heroes is a highly recommended download if only because it is both free and a total blast for the first few hours, but you might be surprised at just how quick and easy it is to fall out of love with it.

Score: 4.0

 

Filed under: Fantasy, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Mortal Online

When we heard about the all the goodies in the Mortal Online Collector's Edition - combined with the especially cool one that's up on eBay, with 100% of the proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders - we were pretty impressed. Not only are Star Vault starting off on a great foot PR-wise with their special charity auction, but it sounds like the extras in their CE version are pretty cool - at least, if you were planning on buying Mortal Online anyway! So if you're one of the hardcore PvP MMO fiends, is this on your list of things to get? Are you frustrated by the extremely short notice? Or are you psyched to finally get some details on it - and chomping at the bit to get into beta?

The Daily Grind: Will you be picking up the Mortal Online CE? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, that's the end of that chapter. Despite recent rumors of a potential revival, Obsidian has confirmed that the long-fabled Aliens RPG is officially, well and truly, dead. A number of news outlets tried to spark rumors that the RPG was still coming, but just as we had anticipated, wires were crossed and it seems that only Aliens vs Predator, Aliens: Colonial Marines and the freshly revealed DS game are in development.

"Rumors have circled around a bit regarding the fate of the Aliens role playing game that Obsidian and SEGA had been working on," states the admin of the official Obsidian forums. "Unfortunately, it is true that we are no longer working on the game, and we wanted to finally announce that officially to everyone who has been following its development."

I believe this is the closest we've ever come to a cancellation announcement, and the first time somebody with any authority has confirmed the game's status. Let's face it, not many of us held out any hope of it actually coming, but it's still sad to see the final flickers of life extinguished with such a sorry little whimper.

That Apple iPhone is pretty popular with just about everyone these days and as it becomes more and more ubiquitous it's also becoming a better and better gaming platform with some real and noteworthy games coming out for it. Like any good, world dominating company Sony wants in on some of that hot, hot action and are thus, as Japan's Nikkei business daily is reporting, starting to develop a "cellphone-game gear hybrid."

Development on the project will begin next month with a specialized team tackling the job. The job in question is to "develop a new product that combines functions of its portable game player and Sony Ericsson's mobile phones." Does this interest anyone or does the fact that Sony is once again about three years behind Apple on this mean Sony has lost yet another market to Apple?

Rumors concerning Sony and a gaming phone have swirled for years, especially since Skype hit the PSP, but the source on this is heavily reliable, so it is almost a sure thing that Sony is at least going to look into the making of a phone/gaming platform.

Also, thanks to Silent Hill, Destructoid now has images ready for any type of phone/gaming rumor that could ever happen.

I used to live in the United Kingdom, and in all my years as a British resident, not once was I considered posh enough to go into a Harvey Nichols. The clothes store is quite upper class and full of designer nonsense, but at least the firm's marketing department has a sense of humor, ripping off Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat to promote its latest sale.

A collection of images which parody fighting games have been created for Harvey Nicks' big sale, and they look ... well ... kind of disturbing, actually. You'd think sexy fighter ladies would be somewhat enticing, but they just creep me out. That's even before you consider that these girls are selling designer clothes, which means they are naturally emaciated, starvling skeletor women. Not sexy at all. 

That said, it's a fun collection of images. I'm still not posh enough to enter the store though.

“I’m not sure why there’s this constant desire to keep rooting around in Hollywood’s action-movie scrapheap.”

With those words to That VideoGame Blog Rhianna Pratchett perfectly summed up what I see wrong with a massive chunk of gaming, but unlike me, she actually backs it up with experience and intelligent comment instead of mad and angry raving. That quote was lead into by Pratchett, who is the award winning writer for the Overlord series and Mirror’s Edge amongst others, speaking about writers in the gaming industry.

“Writers and narrative designers are still relatively new positions on development teams.” she said. “This means there’s still a level of uncertainty about how best to use and integrate them. I know from talking to lots of fine people in my field that the writing process can often be done too late, without proper access to the team and under extreme pressure. Thankfully, things are starting to get a little better and more writers are being contacted in the first few months of a project’s lifespan, rather than the last few months … A little more variation in concept and content would be nice, as well, which is something writers and narrative designers can help with.”

What do you think? Are we just rooting around in the action movie doldrums, or is there more behind the dulcet grays of Gears of War.

Season 7 Armor Sets Sneak Peek
After yesterday's preview of PvE sets, it's time to let you take a look at the Arena Season 7 Armor sets.

Comments - Read first!

• Death Knight - The helm is missing textures.
• Druid - Shoulders are REALLY bugged, only right shoulder available.
• Hunter - Helm and Shoulders are missing.
• Mage - Shoulders slightly bugged, fixed with some photoshopping in the front view to match a nearly-final render.
• Paladin - Works fine.
• Priest - Works fine.
• Rogue - Only shoulders available.
• Shaman - Shoulders are heavily bugged, once again fixed with some photoshopping in the front view to make it look better. Helm seems bugged as well.
• Warlock - Works fine.
• Warrior - Nothing available yet, see you after the next PTR build!

The spell for the Season 7 Relics are also in the game files.

• LK Arena 5 Gladiator's Death Knight Relic - Your Plague Strike ability also grants you 172 attack power for 10 sec.
• LK Arena 5 Gladiator's Idol of Resolve - Your Mangle ability also grants you 172 attack power for 10 sec.
• LK Arena 5 Gladiator's Idol of Steadfastness - Your Moonfire spell grants 101 spell power for 10 sec.
• LK Arena 5 Gladiator's Idol of Tenacity - Increases the spell power of the final healing value of your Lifebloom by 376.
• LK Arena 5 Gladiator's Libram of Fortitude - Your Crusader Strike ability also grants you 172 attack power for 10 sec.
• LK Arena 5 Gladiator's Libram of Justice - Increases spell power of Flash of Light by 404.
• LK Arena 5 Gladiator's Totem of Survival - Your Shock spells grant 101 spell power for 10 sec.
• LK Arena 5 Totem of Indomitability - Your Lava Lash ability also grants you 172 attack power for 10 sec.
• LK Arena 5 Totem of the Third Wind - Increases spell power of Lesser Healing Wave by 404.

Patch 3.2 BOP Items Trade
A very nice feature was added to the game with the latest PTR patch, according to the interface files and a few in-game tests you can now trade BOP items with members of your raid who participated in the kill. This change will probably considerably lower the amount of GM petitions each day.

• BIND_TRADE_TIME_REMAINING = "You may trade this item with players that were also eligible to loot this item for the next %s."; -- Time remaining to trade a bound item.  Example: You may trade this item with players that were eligible to loot this item for the next 1 hour 30 minutes.

Watch It Live: http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/

Broadcast Schedule: http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/_images/rf09_schedule_en.pdf

Saturday 11:15 – 20:45 (5:15 - 14:45 US Eastern)
Sunday 11:15 – 18:00 (3:30 - 12:00 US Eastern)

Germany local time listed, find your time difference here

US Bracket:http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/brackets-wow-na.xml
EU Bracket:http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/brackets-wow.xml

EU Loser Bracket Final: X6 vs Edawg (DK/Hunter/Paladin vs Rogue/Mage/Priest): 3-0

Can Edawg put together what Realz/SK-US did vs Emazing Gaming running the same comp, and beat X6?  We will find out shortly!  Edawg went on X6's paladin right away, forcing a bubble during cheap shot but did not peel for their priest at all, poor opener allowed X6 DK/hunter making a bee line to their priest and that is not going to cut it as he went down in six seconds.  The mage needs to peel the DK AND dishing out damage on paladin at same time, Pookz style.

Game 2 Edawg had a much better start, very good peels on DK in the beginning and forcing the bubble before their priest took any damage.  But the priest was caught in a bad spot during the bubble and went from 100-0 during the bubble duration.

Edawg went with paladin instead of priest for round 3, but as we have seen from other teams that changing the priest alone doesn't do anything, the PHD just trains the mage instead.  Edawg mage was forced to block before X6 paladin had to bubble and that sealed their fate.  By the time they forced bubble Edawg mage was forced to block for a second time and he went down shortly after.  Edawg's paladin was very second hand, with BOP he should have kept his mage from blocking so early but that is what happens with second hand classes.   

Watch It Live: http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/

Broadcast Schedule: http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/_images/rf09_schedule_en.pdf

Saturday 11:15 – 20:45 (5:15 - 14:45 US Eastern)
Sunday 11:15 – 18:00 (5:15 - 12:00 US Eastern)

Germany local time listed, find your time difference here

US Bracket:http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/brackets-wow-na.xml
EU Bracket:http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/brackets-wow.xml

Many feel the TSG DK/warrior cleave is better with druid over paladin, but Zilea always delivered superior results with his paladin. Can Zilea's first ever LAN tournament turn into a magnificent victory for Veex's TSG, the highest rated 3v3 team in the world and first seed going into the American regionals?  This is the best chance for the paladin hero to bring pride to his class.  Don't miss it 10 AM US Eastern time!  But first we have Euro finals.

EU Loser Bracket Final: X6 vs Edawg (DK/Hunter/Paladin vs Rogue/Mage/Priest) 3-0

Can Edawg put together what Realz/SK-US did vs Emazing Gaming running the same comp, and beat X6?  We will find out shortly!  Edawg went on X6's paladin right away, forcing a bubble during cheap shot but did not peel for their priest at all, poor opener allowed X6 DK/hunter making a bee line to their priest and that is not going to cut it as he went down in six seconds.  The mage needs to peel the DK AND dishing out damage on paladin at same time, Pookz style.

Game 2 Edawg had a much better start, very good peels on DK in the beginning and forcing the bubble before their priest took any damage.  But the priest was caught in a bad spot during the bubble and went from 100-0 during the bubble duration.

Edawg went with paladin instead of priest for round 3, but as we have seen from other teams that changing the priest alone doesn't do anything, the PHD just trains the mage instead.  Edawg mage was forced to block before X6 paladin had to bubble and that sealed their fate.  By the time they forced bubble Edawg mage was forced to block for a second time and he went down shortly after.  Edawg's paladin was very second hand, with BOP he should have kept his mage from blocking so early but that is what happens with second hand classes.

6 RMPs and not a single one will get a ticket for Blizzcon, how is that for people crying for RMP nerfs?  3.2 will probably be even tougher for the comp with durability goes up, and matches are dragged out longer.

Have to respect the professionalism of WC3 players, after a thrilling 2-1, 2-1 finish in grand finals, both players sat down and watched their replays immediately.  I am really hoping they will add arena replay to WOW soon.  It will greatly improve the competition.

EU Winner Bracket Final: Woah vs X6 (Warrior/Lock/Druid vs Warrior/DK/Paladin) 2-3, 2-3

Will X6 play hunter against Inflame's warlock, or will they go cleave?  Apparently they did go cleave but I don't think they have the same quality of play from TSG as a second hand comp.  And that showed in game 1.  They couldn't get the pressure out on Inflame with his druid's cyclone/root.  When they finally got to him, they brought him to 20% but a teleport later Inflame was healed back to full.  From behind the boxes Inflame was able to get off his fears on the X6 paladin and scoring a kill on the warrior.  Woah up 1-0.

Incredible play from Inflame/Kae on Ring of Valor, a map that is supposed to favor the cleaves.  X6 trained Inflame all game but every time it looked like he was going down, a simple demonic portal and he gets healed back to full.  X6 managed to kill both of Inflame's pets but DOT pressure from DK/lock is just too much to overcome as the game went on.  X6 paladin had less than 1000 mana when his warrior died, Woah druid still had almost full mana.  Woah up 2-0.

X6 made a surprise swap on Woah druid who has been cycloning/rooting the last two games.  Poor guy never saw it coming and intercept + strangulate + hammer of justice killed him.  I think this is what X6 needs to do if they are going to make it a series.  Warlock can't really peel warrior/DK effectively.  But is it too late?  Woah up 2-1.

Game 4, X6 starting out for a pet kill before quickly swapping to Woah druid again for the kill.  Is this warrior/lock/druid's fatal flaw?  Warrior/lock can't peel DK/warrior much at all, and all it takes is a few seconds to bring down the druid.  2-2 and momentum is definitely shifting.

Game 5 saw Ocelote, the Woah warrior hitting a blade storm at perfect time and took X6 DK to 15%, but X6 managed to keep him up despite death coil + drain soul from Inflame.  Swap to the druid again after pressuring the warlock early, and the druid really can't stay up against intercept -> charge -> strangulate, just too much damage and pressure as HOTs can't keep up. 

Wow, I am not sure if Woah has an answer for this.  Will TSG's warrior/DK/paladin turn out to the answer for Inflame's warrior/lock/druid?  X6 is going into the second set with all the momentum in their favor.  X6 abused the hell out of warrior's ungodly mobility, starting pressure on Ocelote the Woah warrior, quick swap to druid, swap back to warrior again, and back to druid to score the kill.  Druid's biggest problem is their HOTs take time to roll up, and when you have a DPS as mobile as the warrior swapping back and forth, it is a nightmare on his mana pool.  X6 up 1-0 in second set.

Incredible game by Woah as they kept their druid behind LOS while Ocelot got off a perfect blade storm, taking both of X6's melee to 40% health.  X6's first druid swap attempt didn't work out as Kae was able to get away in travel form and get himself back to full.  X6 paladin's mana was getting really low but their second swap attempt dropped Kae.  However, by that point their warrior is at very low health and the paladin is out of mana.  Woah drops the X6 warrior, followed by out of mana paladin and they won the 2v3 fight.  All tied up 1-1.  It is now a best of 3.

X6 got a very clean opener on Kae the druid and caught him under the blade's edge bridge.  Very bad spot for him to be in as chain stuns from warrior/paladin/ghoul and strangulate from DK made short of him.  X6 hit a super early bubble to keep the momentum rolling and never lost it.  X6 up 2-1.

Game 4 took place on Ruins and X6 made some hasty decisions.  They got a good death grip on Inflame very far from his druid, and chose to blow blade storm and strangulate on him instead of saving them for the druid.  Inflame got off his teleport with 10% health left and that greatly weakened X6's swap attempt on druid without those big CDs.  X6 couldn't drop the druid and lost their DK in the process. 

One game for all the marbles!  Again on Blade's Edge X6 got the first hit on druid, Whoa hit all the right peels but blade storm + DK dots took Inflame to 50% in the process.  Druid managed to get away but stun + swap on Inflame took him to 15%, Inflame gets off the teleport to get back above the bridge but X6's DK hit a beautiful death grip to bring him right back down for the kill.  What a grip as X6 wins the second set 3-2!

Great job by X6 as they once again came out of loser bracket to beat Inflame at the European regionals.  It is amazing how consistent this team is, same exact roster from 2008, totally different comps, they played 600-plus games over the last week or so and practice really paid off.  Inflame doesn't have to worry too much however as if the trend continues, his team should win the Blizzcon world finals two months from now with the 3.2 resilience buff.  American regional is next!  Go TSG! 

TSG (Warrior/DK/paladin) vs Complexity (Rogue/Mage/Priest): 3-0

The American tournament is not going to kind to RMPs either as TSG played a very strong series.  Big trains on priest in two games and even a mage kill in one and they made it look easy.  The highest rated 3v3 team in the world did not disappoint and Zileas is looking good!  I unfortunately fell asleep for 30 minutes and missed this series, but TSG dominated the match-up from start to finish, was never pressured.  I think people who actually believe BG makes a difference (Rampage vs Stormstrike, are you serious?) can shut up now, a 2950+ team that doesn't queue dodge is a 2950 team for a reason.

SK-US (Rogue/Mage/Priest) vs Wild Rogue Monkey (DK/Hunter/Druid): 3-1

Wild Rogue Monkey scrapped the hunter/mage/shaman comp that took them to the regionals and went with RMP counter DK/Hunter/Druid.  Can they pull it off with a second hand comp?   The druid version of DK/BM is a lot easier to kite than PHD, and it reliest on outlast.  Game 1 SK-US peeled DK/hunter off their priest effortlessly, but couldn't put together any effective kill attempts of their own.  Realz eventually ran out of mana and WRM scored a kill on Enforcer the rogue for game 1.

Again Realz aka Shikamaru/Phil Jackson worked his magic, as the second game they were so much better prepared.  Ring of valor rolled around, a map supposed to favor the cleave, but SK pulled off a beautiful druid train while Pookz controlled the DK for a quick kill.  Game 3, quality peels on with sheep->blind chain to open up fear/burst kill on hunter.  Game 4 it was ring of valor again, and hard train on druid won it again.

Pookz is just amazing at handling pressure.  He managed his ice block/trinket cooldowns flawlessly, kept himself alive and dished out the CCs/damage his team needed to win.  I can't wait to see SK-US vs TSG, the top two teams of this tournament.

Emazing Gaming (DK/Hunter/Paladin) vs Team EG (Rogue/Lock/Shaman): 1-3

This is going to be an ugly series for Azael and company, as they lost to the same setup a few weeks ago.  Zyz played terrible and he CAN step up his game and make a difference here.  And he played a much cleaner/crispier opening round.  Instant blood lust off the first hit, Zyz dished out a ton of DPS pressure and coupled with Azael's DOTs, they put a lot of pressure into Emazing's DK and forced him to play defensively before scoring the kill right before blood lust ran out.

Game 2 showed same pressure from Team EG but this time around Emazing used their defensive cooldowns much better to survive the blood lust.  Again they had Team EG's DK low but couldn't finish the job this time and Azael went down to DK/hunter pressure.  Azael playing affliction allows him to dish out good damage even when focused, but he is not as sturdy as destruction as a result.  EG even won the mana battle but couldn't save Azael at the end. 1-1.

Gorgeous game by EG as Zyz was able to slow down the DK early, and Azael is playing like a MVP.  He put DOTs on both DK and hunter, followed by a spell lock on Paycee to force Emazing's paladin to make some very hard decisions.  With blood lust at start, EG is canceling out Emazing's DPS pressure and actually winning the early game despite of The Beast Within, and they took game 3 scoring a kill on Twix the hunter hero.  This is a totally different Team EG from the MLG days, it is good to see a rogue/lock team playing this good and Azael is taking over the game like he is capable of.

What a difference it makes when Team EG is playing at its best!  Incredible control on DK at start, quick swap to paladin to force bubble which allowed them to CC him later and score a kill on Twix the hunter hero.  Great job!  EG knows humiliation and they grew into a stronger team before our eyes, can they beat TSG in next round?

It is worth pointing out that Emazing Gaming is playing with a different DK for this tournament, and most people believe their MLG DK is far superior.  We will have to see how much that affects them as they are now in the lower bracket.  

SK-US (Rogue/Mage/Priest) vs Pandemic (DK/Lock/Druid): 3-0  

I like Shinaniganz/Pandemic a lot better than Ohnoes/Pandemic, and according to Kintt's interview they have been practicing a lot so this should be a good match-up.  Kintt's druid hopefully improved a lot over the last time we saw him at MLG and at the time they were one game away from beating SK the eventual champion.

SK-US trained Kintt the druid from start to finish with triple-UD RMP, taking advantage of DK/warlock/druid's lack of peels against a triple UD team.  Kintt kept himself alive for quite some time, but was caught in a beautiful blind from Enforcer after trinketing the kidney shot, all of his HOTs fell off in the process and the next round of nuke killed him.  Well played by SK-US!

Wow, did Realz figure out the ultimate anti-druid move?  It is funny how Kintt bragged about going 50-50 against SK-US in practice rounds, when Realz probably saved their nastiest plays for the real thing.  Super early offensive blind on Kintt the druid to dispel him clean and get all HOTs off, improved CS and they drop him during the silence.  Quick decisive win and ingenious play from SK!

Brutal third game for Pandemic and they dumped all of their damage on Kintt the druid yet again.  Pandemic's DK seemed to be left clueless for a bit as he started off on Pookz the mage and did almost nothing on him.  Enforcer/Pookz is probably the best rogue/mage combo in the game right now, with Pookz's incredible defensive/control plays opening Enforcer up to go all out.  A quick 3-0 should wipe the smirk off Kintt's face when he actually sounded confident during the interview, sorry Realz doesn't show his full hand until it is the real thing.

TSG (DK/Warrior/Paladin) vs Team EG (Rogue/Lock/Shaman): 2-3

Can Team EG pull off a major upset here to beat TSG's cleave as a warlock team?  Even Inflame could not pull it off against X6 and we will see what EG can do against the #1 team on SK-100 3v3.

Incredible opening game as Team EG played TSG evenly and stopped most of TSG's burst attempts.  However Azael was still taking massive damage and Kollectiv ran out of mana.  Azael forced Zilea to bubble and scored a cross kill on TSG DK, but out of mana rogue/shaman is no match for Veex/Zilea's warrior/paladin.  TSG up 1-0.

Second round Team EG chose to go on Veex himself to control his damage output.  Unlike the DK, a warrior in defensive mode loses a lot more DPS and that cut down TSG's damage output a lot.  DK alone without MS debuff is a lot easier to heal and Team EG eventually forced a kill on Veex's warrior.  Being able to teleport from lower to upper platform also did wonders for Azael's survivability.

Yet another perfect game for EG as they started on the DK before swapping to warrior.  Azael dotted up both cleaves and Zilea's sacrifice caused him to lose HP at a rapid rate.  All three TSG players were at 50% and Zilea chose to bubble and heal his cleaves, when he came out of the bubble EG swapped to him for a kill.  EG takes 2-1 lead.

TSG is playing too passive and they need to pick up the energy, that what Veex gave them in round 4 with a perfect blade storm taking both Azael/Rogue to 30%, strangulate on shaman and Azael was down for the count.  A lot of people talk about cleave having low skill cap, but I can assure you there is a world of differenec between a cleave like TSG and everyone else.  2-2 all tied up.

When I saw the final game on Blade's Edge instead of Ring of Valor I knew TSG would be in trouble.  Azael managed to jump off the bridge at 10% health twice and TSG probably should have swapped to Kollectiv, instead they went for the bait, Azael teleports right back up, and Kollectiv was able to keep him to full, even dropping a mana tide totem in the process which gave him the mana edge over Zilea.  Zilea ran out of mana, Veex used all of his defensive CDs to stay alive and almost scored a cross kill on Zyz in the process but EG took him down and healed Zyz back up to win 3-2. 

What a series!  Best I have seen this weekend!  And what an incredible difference after EG's embarrassing performance at MLG!  Glick's "we are bad, but we are not EG bad" comment really fired up the team, and now they are at top of their game and winner bracket finals against SK-US.

I still expect TSG to make their way to the loser bracket finals, as long as they review the video of Euro finals when X6 beat Inflame's melee/lock/druid team.  And SK-US will be taking on Team EG and Azael will probably go destruction for this fight.  This should be a much more intense series than MLG, now EG is at the top of their game.

Please Zyz, DO NOT GO OUT AND PARTY TONIGHT like you did at MLG, Hafu-chan is not in Germany to drain your chakra, keep yourself fresh for the finals!  You let Azael/Kollectiv down last time, but you more than redeemed yourself today with huge wins over Emazing/TSG.  Keep it up!

Zilea played a brilliant game, little to no mistakes whatsoever, but if only TSG drew Ring of Valor even once in this series instead of Blade's Edge and Dalaran, where Azael/Kollectiv took full advantage of the Z axis..  TSG you can still fight your way out of the loser bracket!  Remember X6 went to the loser bracket in opening round and came back to win the whole thing.  Be resilient!

Complexity (Rogue/Mage/Priest) vs Emazing Gaming (DK/Hunter/Paladin): 1-3

A quick 2-0 start for Emazing, as demonstrated by X6's PHD vs every RMP this tournament by straight training the priest.  Complexity never had any chance.  But in the third game on Nagrand, the map with the best line of sight for a priest to hide, Sodah the priest managed to outlast the BM, and the RMP was able to recover and score a kill on Twix the hunter hero.

Unfortunately the final map is on ring of valor and Sodah simply doesn't have the pillar power to survive hunter/death knight damage.  Emazing brought him down during BM and Complexity is out of the tournament.  I feel sorry for Venruki/Sodah/Minti as they had to face two RMP killers in a row with TSG/Emazing. 

It is up to SK-US to be the only RMP to make it to Blizzcon out of the US/EU scene. 

You know it's coming. Natal is little more than a concept to most people, yet that hasn't stopped the parasitic third party plastic garbage makers from dreaming up peripheral nonsense for both it and Sony's motion control wand.

"One of the biggest challenges for peripherals firms is keeping up with changing technology, particularly the trend toward interactive gaming started by Nintendo and now embraced by Microsoft’s Project Natal," says DreamGEAR COO Richard Weston.

"From all the recent revelations at E3 for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii, motion sensing devices and add-on accessories for these devices will be the main focus in the future," adds Paul Coucher of Logic3.

Typical. Third parties are not going to let Natal's "hands-off" nature get in the way of a "hands-on" rubbish steering wheel. It'll be hilarious how many Natal users will buy a load of peripheral junk, completely missing the point of Microsoft's new invention.

Here are some facts about inFamous:

• In addition to the kitchen espresso, the inFamous team traveled to Starbucks approximately 18,200 times. Two groups of 10 people per day, five days a week.
• There were 10 inFamous babies born during development. One employee had two during that time.
• It took over 70,000 separate art, code and media check-in submissions to make inFamous.
• The inFamous team consumed 17,472 cans of diet Coke and 13,104 cans of diet Pepsi during development.
• There were no less than 14 high rise buildings constructed within 3 blocks of Sucker Punch’s offices during the inFamous development cycle.

Aren’t those facts fun! Actually it’s a little stunning to hear how much time and caffeine goes into the making of one of these blockbuster games. I don’t drink coffee, but if you’ve got an espresso machine in your office why do you need to go get Starbucks? Maybe it was for those sandwiches they have, those are good. Also, who keeps track of the number of sodas consumed?

In some actual news, the same post that informed us of these fun facts from Game Informer also gave news that inFamous will be coming to Home. No details yet on it, but if Home is really growing I suppose some people will be looking forward to it.

P.S. Overlord II also has facts.

According to Japan's Nikkei business daily, Sony will next month begin the process of designing a "cellphone-game gear hybrid" which it's hoped will give Apple's iPhone a run for its money.

Apparently a "project team" will be set up next month to build an all-new device that combines the functionality of a Sony Ericsson mobile phone with a handheld gaming device.

In other words, a PlayStation Phone, in spirit if not in name.

Not the first time we've seen one of the these rumours, we know, but the specifics and the source make it by far the most plausible of the lot.

Sony eyes cellphone/game gear hybrid - Nikkei [Reuters]

Being El Presidente of a South American country is an exclusive club. With that in mind, Kalypso Media is currently taking applications for players interested in Tropico 3's closed PC beta. Despite what you've been led to believe in recent years, a beta is not a demo, and your job is to actually help test the game and report bugs.

Those interested in helping make the banana republic simulator the best it can be, can head on over to the Haemimont Games website and fill out an application. The actual testing begins July 13. Tropico 3 is expected to start a revolution on PC and Xbox 360 this September.

Sign up for Tropico 3's closed beta revolution originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is as unexpected as it is brilliant; the ad firm running a campaign for posh British department store Harvey Nichols have decided to sell the sale using sexy ladies in a 2D fighting game.

OK, mostly sexy ladies. The last one has dudes. But they're sharp-dressed dudes, which makes them look like King of Fighters characters, which makes it OK.

High-End Department Store Looks To Fighting Games For Ad Inspiration [GameSetWatch]

Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge (GB)
Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge, Game Boy

European game service Metaboli -- partner to GameTap -- has announced its plans to launch the Chill-Out Pack, a service dedicated to downloadable, family-friendly casual games. The service is set to include over 200 casual games, including recognizable movie licenses like The Chronicles of Narnia and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, according to Casualgaming.biz. The service will update with new titles every week as well.

The Chill-Out Pack also offers new parental controls, including the ability to create sub-accounts for children, which allow parents to set parameters for their little ones, such as limiting playtime and deciding which games the kids can play.

Honestly, we thought it sounded like a great idea, until we discovered that the pack offers Peggle. As a warning to unsuspecting parents: Know that Peggle has the ability to tear your family apart. Seriously, you might want to hide it from the kids.

Metaboli's Chill-Out Pack brings casual games, parental controls originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hello! The weekend is just around the corner. But first, let's talk. It's Friday, time for TELL US DAMMIT.

Here's how it works: We ask a question, you answer it. Simple and no strings attached! This isn't some marketing survey or whatever. It's an emotional investment in you. Yes, we're interested in knowing you, Kotaku reader person.

You probably know oodles about us - more than you even want to, we're sure. But, hey, we'd like to know about you. That way you won't be some faceless blob - and we might feel a tinge of guilt when we ban ya. Or not, because really we're incapable of human emotion.

Question: Do you like sports games?

Hate countdowns? Love mysterious teaser sites that barely hint at an upcoming game? Good, because Capcom cooked this one ready for your perusal. The number 1560 simply fades in and out, moving from left to right. While some are postulating it's another Onimusha game (the first game took place in the year 1560, and is based on the Battle of Okehazama), we'll use the power of Wikipedia to show us some of the more interesting things that happened in 1560:

• "Denmark buys the Estonian island of Saaremaa from its last prince bishop."
• "The first tulip bulb is brought from Turkey to the Netherlands."
• "Jean Nicot introduces tobacco in the form of snuff to the French court."

Hmm. Okay, we'd rather have an Onimusha game, Capcom.

Capcom creates countdown-free teaser site originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ever wonder how many Americans played a music game during the month of April? Well, we can tell you. 25 million Americans played a music game during the month of April.

The figure comes courtesy of market research firm Interpret, who can also tell us some other fun facts about music game players, like:

- People who play music games buy 67% more CDs than the Average Joe

- They're twice as likely to legally download a song

- Music game players are more likely to watch music videos online than the Average Joe (29% vs 15%)

- They're also more likely to listen to music via a social network than Average Joe (45% vs 32%)

So, there you have it! Music game players like music.

25 million US gamers played music games in April [GI.biz]

Syndicate creator Sean Cooper says he remains skeptical any revival of his 1993 cult-classic title will be able to capture the "essence" of the original. "Every time I've seen a prototype of a new Syndicate it's just been misguided," Cooper told IncGamers.

In October 2008, rumors swirled about the possibility of Riddick dev Starbreeze reviving the Electronic Arts property. Last March, GI.biz stated that "sources confirmed" the rumor was true. No official announcement has ever been made.

According to Cooper, Electronic Arts has attempted to revisit the real-time tactics title many times in the past, citing memories of failed prototypes brought to his attention. However, Cooper fears EA won't be able to capture what made the original so popular: "The essence of the game was killing people - and that was it," Cooper said. "If I have to kill everyone, I will. That to me was the essence of the gameplay."

Syndicate was developed by Bullfrog Productions, a company co-founded by Microsoft Game Studios Europe creative director Peter Molyneux. In 2006, Syndicate was included in the PSP-exclusive compilation EA Replay -- unfortunately, it was a terrible version.

Syndicate creator skeptical of a series revival originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Has Really Big Guns
Comment by: psycoking
Nominated by: -MasterDex-

Yeah, something about this thread has me feeling like I'm some cranky old man of gaming. I seriously can't believe that people here are complaining about a few slightly rough edges and calling them "jaggies." Hell! I remember a time when you'd start up a game and you'd be surrounded by jaggies. Real ones too. Not these sissyfied jaggies with steps so small that'd you hardly notice them without putting on your glasses. I bet you don't even see them when their moving! Hmph! I remember when jaggies were JAGGIES! Corners so big and so sharp you could cut yourself if you got to close to your monitor!

Angelina Jolie Annoyed Megan Fox Might Be Lara Croft
Comment by: (zombie) buddhathing damn...
Nominated by: Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet...

2 Girls 1 Tomb

Gay Pride Week in World of Warcraft
Comment by: kidkero
Nominated by: embef

Also, for many of you who might demand "wtf the point of this is?" - eh. If you're an adolescent/teen, gay or questioning, a geek, and in an area where seeking out guidance/support is neither healthy nor wise re: one's well being or ability to remain in their family, this is a decent surrogate.

To see those kinds of numbers, to know you're not alone. It sounds corny, but there really are times when its important to get "belonging" wherever you can find it.

Its all in good fun, and the community and devs alike keep it all well natured.

RRoD Prevents Condensation Ring of Death
Comment by: RPharazonius
Nominated by: cokefan999

How many people does it take to make a first post?

One to make it and a hundred to angrily respond to the guy.

I obviously don't know what a baby sling is because I fail to understand why the comfort of babies would matter when catapulting infants.
Comment by: I obviously don't know what a baby sling is because I fail to understand why the comfort of babies would matter when catapulting infants.

I obviously don't know what a baby sling is because I fail to understand why the comfort of babies would matter when catapulting infants.

Want to nominate comments? Send to tips any insightful or funny comments you read from other commenters. (Read: NOT YOURSELF). Be sure to include the post's URL, the commenter's page, the actual comment and your commenter page.

Here's a handy guide to commenting. Read it, learn it, live it, love it.

Do you get the sense that Project Natal is ... missing something? Accessory peddler dreamGear does. The maker of such essentials as the 3-In-1 Player's Sports Kit for Wii, the 7-In-1 Player's Kit for Wii, the 10-In-1 Player's Kit for Wii, and the 15-In-1 Player's Kit for Wii is already hard at work trying to adapt its enhancements for Microsoft's upcoming motion technology release. "One of the biggest challenges for peripherals firms is keeping up with changing technology, particularly the trend toward interactive gaming started by Nintendo and now embraced by Microsoft's Project Natal," dreamGEAR COO Richard Weston explains to MCV. Molding a plastic steering wheel that fits in everyone's hands is a true challenge, you see.

"From all the recent revelations at E3 for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii, motion sensing devices and add-on accessories for these devices will be the main focus in the future," Logic3's sales manager Paul Croucher frighteningly foretells. So then, the snooker cue attachment for the PS3 wand confirmed? Please, make it STOP.

Natal, PS3 motion wand inspire new wave of plastic props originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EA Sports today released a ton of new Madden 10 screenshots, focusing on the teams from the NFC West. And here they are.

Fun fact: despite my antipodean residence, I'm actually a big Niners fan. Tragic, I know, but that's how I roll.

Trine 'Team Puzzles' trailer HD

Trine is headed to three different platforms, and on all three platforms, the game will have a different publisher. Atlus is handling the Xbox Live Arcade version, Nobilis is publishing it on PS3, and now SouthPeak Games has announced that it will take the reigns of the PC version. This three-player co-op platformer adds the twist of using physics and three distinct characters that you have to switch between in order to tackle challenges as they are presented. It was received extremely well during its showing earlier this month at E3 -- check out our preview for a take on what you can expect.

You can look forward to this unique title being released at some point this summer. In the meantime, check out the PC demo and consider pre-ordering on Steam which will net you a free copy of Shadowgrounds.

Continue reading JBO: Joystiq Box Office, June 22 - 26

JBO: Joystiq Box Office, June 22 - 26 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Way back in October, we brought word that Spielberg's "ultra-real" game, code-named LMNO Project, had been shelved — a rumor EA said was "incorrect".

Earlier this year, we heard that despite the many denials, Steven Speilberg action title LMNO (pronounced Elemental) was dead in the water, the budget pulled, the assets locked away. The game was apparently victim of the sluggish economy.

In a recent interview, game designer Jason Rohrer gives that LMNO-is-D.O.A. talk further credence when he let this slip about the title: "On top of that, I did some consulting work, most recently for EA on the Spielberg LMNO project. My understanding is that project's pretty much been canceled now, what with the changing economy, but I'm not sure."

So maybe canceled, maybe not. This guy isn't sure. What we're sure about: if you're a consultant, you probably shouldn't go around blabbering the status of projects you've worked on. But, hey, we're not consultants. We're gourmet chefs. No, really.

Update: EA contacted Kotaku, stating: "The rumor is incorrect. EA remains deeply committed to its collaboration with Steven Spielberg and projects we are developing together. LMNO was a code name for a project in development at EALA. While the project continues to develop at EALA with Steven, we no longer refer to it as LMNO. We have no further details to reveal at this time."

Interview: Jason Rohrer [EDGE via Joystiq]

The first two iPhone games out of Tecmo have been pretty much exactly what we would expect from an early mobile Tecmo game (that wasn't an arcade port of Star Force or something) -- simple minigames with pictures of girls involved. We didn't expect both of them to be blackjack, but that's exactly what Tecmo is offering on the App Store: Rio Blackjack, in which players interact with an anime-style dealer named Rio, and Girls of DOA Blackjack: Kasumi, in which players compete with a reused character model from Dead or Alive.

Much more effort appears to have gone into the third game, Annie's Wild Shot, an adorable, cartoonish Wild West shooting game. Annie's Wild Shot features optional, clever motion controls, allowing players to swing the phone around to change camera angles.

Wild Shot is available in the App Store for 99 cents from now through July 9, when it will be bumped to its 'normal' $3.99 price. Check out some gameplay footage after the break.

Continue reading Tecmo launches surprise non-blackjack game for iPhone

Tecmo launches surprise non-blackjack game for iPhone originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, EA decided to roll both their big RPG houses - BioWare and Mythic - together under the one command structure. It only took about 30 seconds before people started wondering: could the two ever work together on a game?

BioWare co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka, who is now heading up the merged division, says...mmmaaayyybbeee.

Anything's possible. We can't say it wouldn't happen. There's no active plans, currently to do that, but the teams at Mythic and BioWare I know from talking to all of them, they're really excited about working together, so I think that fuels a lot of cool things. People start talking about 'Hey, wouldn't it be neat if we did this, or did this together?' That kind of thing might evolve over time.

Knights of the Old Mass Relay: The MMO? Oh, we can only hope.

BioWare Comments on Mythic Merger [IGN]

I'm a huge fan of IL-2 Sturmovik on PC. Whenever we get around the water cooler and start talking about flight sims...well, that doesn't really happen. If it did, though, oh man -- I'd be gushing about that game daily. A few years ago, I even bought a couple copies of IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 for my friends so we could all play it online together, and it's one of the few games I've purchased twice for myself. Needless to say, when 1C announced IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey last year as a console game (for 360, PS3, PSP, and DS), I was giddy as a schoolgirl. It took a year, but I finally got my first hands-on time with the 360 version last night at a 1C press event held here in San Francisco.

The developers greatly simplified the game's controls from the PC version: You use the left-analog stick for pitching and yawing, while the right stick handles the throttle and rudder -- you don't need to hold the throttle forward to keep speed up a la Blazing Angels, however; you can set it and then leave it alone. The upper left of the screen displays the throttle, airspeed, ammo, and altitude numerically, while the upper right shows the radar -- a very minimal interface overall. You fire with the Right trigger, cycle through weapons with the Left bumper, and use the Back button to control the landing gears.

This latest trailer for King of Fighters XII makes with the pummeling, as trailers for fighting games are wont to do. We've said it once, and we'll say it again: Pretty sprites these be. The game just looks great, plain and simple. And on top of that, the gameplay is something we know we'll enjoy, because, well, it's King of Fighters, and King of Fighters doesn't really change.

Oh, and we totally love watching Kim Kaphwan get the business. He's such a goody-two-shoes jerk.

King of Fighters XII trailer explores the triumph of combat originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now, we're hardly convinced that the original is real, we are convinced that this Japanese remix is UTTERLY AMAZING. More phony freak-outs for brilliant remixes, please!

Oh, and as Kotakuite Gantz La Dix Croix points out, that's Kirby's theme song. Kirby's theme song makes everything better. Even spinach.

WOW Cancellation Tantrums: Japan Gets Into The Act [Giant Bomb]

It seems the lengthy litigatory road embarked upon by The Pirate Bay's four founders back in April is finally coming to an end. Following a guilty verdict that sentenced Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde to one year in prison and fines of 30 million kronor (about $4 million), the quartet's lawyer requested an appeal after it was revealed that the presiding judge over the case was, in fact, a member of the Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property. The request was denied earlier today by the Svea Court of Appeal.

Yes, the folks who made it possible to finally find that KeyGen for your downloaded copy of Barbie Horse Adventures: Mystery Ride are heading for a Swedish slammer -- but before they go, they'll reportedly press charges against Sweden for violating their human rights.

[Original image: marcusrg]

The Pirate Bay retrial request denied originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Takara Tomy's been pretty quiet on the rebooted Toshinden that it announced last October. We don't know that much about the 3D Wii brawler, but at least we know now who is developing it.

That would be Dream Factory, as rooted out by Siliconera. If you're hoping for the best, remember that Dream Factory was responsible for the Tobal series on the original PlayStation, as well as Ergheiz. You know, the one with the tacked on Final Fantasy VII crew?

The down side is that Dream Factory is also responsible for such duds as The Bouncer and Kakuto Chojin, so buyer beware.

At least the artwork's pretty good?

Ehrgeiz Developers Working On Toshinden Revival [Siliconera]

Not to be confused with the Advertising Bureau of the Internet (splitters!), the Internet Advertising Bureau is a non-profit that focuses on "the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive's share of total marketing spend, and of its members' share of total marketing spend." Thus, the IAB is looking to start an advertising council in the UK, Edge reports, to aid in implementing advertising in games, which the IAB is no stranger to. Recently, it proposed a series of guidelines for advertising in the US, and one of the first tasks charged to the new UK council will be to determine if the same standards can be applied to the UK.

The IAB argues that, while games advertising is big business in the States, it's still relatively new and untapped in the UK. The IAB hopes to bring the same revenue streams and procedures that have worked so well in the US to our neighbors across the pond. Whether it will work or not is to be seen, but we do have one suggestion: See if Brian is available. He has a way with people.

IAB seeks to create UK game advertising council originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's easy to buy something when no one else wants it.

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, Patches, News items

EVE Online patch Apocrypha 1.3 is slated for a Monday June 29 deployment. CCP Games is pushing ahead with their Need for Speed initiative, which aims to streamline the game's performance and provide a better play experience. They're making some database changes with the next Apocrypha patch that should improve what you experience in your game client with inventory management, but beyond addressing "The Jita Problem" there will be a fair number of changes in the next patch.

On that topic of speed, players should notice a huge change with starbase deployment (or hasty tear downs): players will be able to anchor, online, or unanchor offensive and defensive starbase structures in half the time it took previously. (Ninja POS deployment?) Perhaps more significant to some players than others, station reprocessing will be much faster -- apparently refining stacks of items will be up to 25 times faster than before. Also, some of those changes to Tech III production we've mentioned before are going into effect on Monday, and should ultimately be a boost for Tech III. Apocrypha 1.3's changes extend far beyond what is mentioned here; players heavily invested in wormhole exploration and the production it fuels should look closely at the patch notes to see how CCP's changes to the game might affect them.

Continue reading Apocrypha 1.3 improvements and Tech III changes coming to EVE on Monday June 29

Apocrypha 1.3 improvements and Tech III changes coming to EVE on Monday June 29 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The sequel to the Hitman movie, which is still in its early stages, won't be just a sequel to a pretty crummy movie. It'll also be a marketing tie-in for the next Hitman game, which is due out next year.

Variety reports that the movie, which we told you about yesterday, would "contain story elements from Hitman 5", a game due to be released "in late 2010".

While we knew the game was in development, but 2010? Handy. Been hanging out for some new Hitman.

Fox sets sights on 'Hitman 2' [Variety]

Despite the relative success of games like Halo Wars and the long-running Command and Conquer series, real-time strategy games don't seem to get as much attention these days as their more popular first-person shooter counterparts. Developer Atomic Motion is trying to change that trend by combing "a first-person shooter experience with the command and overview advantages of tactical real-time strategy" in their upcoming title Raven Squad.

I was able to check out a demonstration of the game recently, and as a hybrid, it looks like a lot more fun with friends than as a solo campaign. You can play alone, or cooperatively with a friend online (and through system link on 360), but regardless of who you're playing with, you always have two friendly squads on-screen at a time (assault and support) made up of three members each. Within those squads, your team members each have unique weapons and skills (like the medic and the sniper) so it's important to keep all your teammates alive so you can switch between characters (and squads in single-player) on the fly. Routing out some enemies with a quick grenade assault then switching over to a sniper to pick off any unfortunate survivors is just a few button pushes away.

Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
See 1:1 Motion Plus demos of Wii Sports Resort.

THQ*ICE, a joint venture between THQ and ICE (a Shanghai-based MMO publisher) recently announced that the closed beta for its upcoming Dragonica Online will be starting next week. The closed beta starts on June 30 and will run until July 14, and you can sign up at the official website, the official Twitter feed, or the official Facebook group.

For the uninitiated, Dragonica is a combination free-to-play MMO/side-scrolling action game. So instead of mouse-clicking and spamming the number buttons to watch a bunch of combat animations, you actually have to do stuff like run, jump, and attack like you would in an action game. In fact, the game's combo counter even tracks how many successful blows you've landed; a successful string of attacks (let's say 50 hits on the combo counter) usually results in an experience point boost. Another gauge, the monster counter, tracks how many foes you've beaten in succession without being taken down yourself; beating up 100 monsters in a row could earn you a special treasure chest with even more loot than usual.

OK, if you have an Xbox 360 and live in a participating country, it's time to check out the 1 vs. 100 beta. Remember, Xbox Live silver members are good to check out the game now for a limited time. The live shows are definitely solid times for trivia buffs, but the real fun is watching the mob lose way more members than it should through ridiculous or easy questions. Some of the best moments so far: the 50 people knocked out who didn't know that Bell invented the telephone and the infamous question about Jessica Simpson's hair extension brand. Check out the live game tonight and tomorrow, if you can. Oh yeah, one more thing, don't take the money!!! There is none!

Continue reading WRUP: You know you're smarter than the mob edition

WRUP: You know you're smarter than the mob edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings (Wii)
We'll solve the puzzles, you deal with the snakes.

I'm kicking myself for not having subscribed to the Official Xbox Magazine, as subscribers are due to get a free Left 4 Dead premium theme to zombify their Xbox 360s. Wait, do I subscribe to OXM? I can never remember.

This nice little bonus for those of us who have turned their Xbox 360s into a dedicated Left 4 Dead player will almost assuredly spawn more anti-Valve sentiment because they're clearly wasting their time on themes and not precious campaigns. Please sign my petition.

Left 4 Dead Premium Theme with OXM [CVG]

You can find and read the entirety of the letter on the Herald.  I’ll assume you’ve read it and just jump right in to what I have to say.

“The Winds of Change are upon us, but the ship and crew remain the same.” – Jeff Hickman

Uhh, no.  Why even say that?  I don’t get it.

Overall, it’s very much the standard producer’s letter.  Jeff Hickman tells the players what we want to hear but also throws in some educational tidbits on how they’ll change city sieges (for better or worse remains unseen) and how RvR in general will improve even if it means removing fortresses.  AoE is more than out of control in WAR and I fear that a few changes won’t be enough.  The situation is out of control for all AoE classes and it has really trivialized almost every combat mechanic in the game.  Crowd control itself is not really an issue in WAR, but how it operates within the limits of “annoying” and “functional” is nothing short of borked.  The immunity timers being consolidated will help.

I participated in giving feedback during Mythic’s reaching out initiative and I focused mostly on the realm war being flawed.  I really do feel that the entire way in which zones flip and push the war in one direction is too arcade, shallow, and detached from the soul of RvR.  Fortresses are absolutely part of this terrible system and only serve as the biggest and most obvious example of ‘why’.  Get rid of them and the system will improve.  Take it further though and look at why the fortresses should be removed, other than performance issues.  We’re pushing zones in one direction trying to “flip them” to earn invisible points to “dominate” a zone all in order to push open the gates of a city.  That sounds really cool and it sold well on paper pre-launch but there is a reason why WAR’s retention rate is low in T4.  Fix all the little issues that make people bitch and moan on the forums first.  Fix CC, AoE, etc., then turn a serious eye to the bigger picture.

Optimism is great, but I want to see results.  You say “We’re still working out the specifics…” but it’s those specifics we want.  Bring results, Jeff, and you’ll get the community’s attention.  We really do want to share in your optimism and see what you see.

P.S. What is this in-game celebration buff (pictured right) all about?  Hopefully it’s not what I think.

Work on Aliens: Colonial Marines continues in earnest over at Gearbox. Obsidian's Aliens RPG, however, is not so lucky. According to Giant Bomb, Obsidian has confirmed that development on the game has officially ceased.

"Rumors have circled around a bit regarding the fate of the Aliens role playing game that Obsidian and SEGA had been working on," an Obsidian representative said on the developer's official forums.

"Unfortunately, it is true that we are no longer working on the game, and we wanted to finally announce that officially to everyone who has been following its development. We're going to keep this forum up for another week for archival purposes and to allow you guys to finish up any open threads, and then we will shut it down since it is no longer a product that is in development."

Filed under: Fantasy, Warhammer Online, News items

As Warhammer Online fans wait for a post-BioWAAAGH! pep talk from Mythic's new General Manager, Rob Denton, they'll have to make due with part three of an Executive Producer's letter from Jeff Hickman.

The letter primarily discusses the ways Mythic plans to resolve the top 5 issues identified last week by various focus groups. Warhammer Alliance has an excellent summary in bullet form for those unwilling to wade through the whole article (though we suggest you do for full context).

Jeff makes a few really interesting comments in his letter that jumped out at us.

He states that Mythic is still committed to Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online and will be sharing their plans for both titles in the near future. We know about the new UO expansion but haven't heard much about DAOC lately. Where oh where are you, Origins?

It appears Mythic is "looking at some fairly radical approaches" to address server population issues in WAR. Maybe we'll finally see that realm queue system they had working pre-release...

Finally, it sounds like fortresses may be on their way out if Mythic can't find some way to fix them. Andy Belford had this to say: "How do we make it a fun encounter while not diminishing the epic feel of it? At what point do we say, enough is enough, and cut off the offending appendage?" Radical indeed.

Mythic may take radical approaches with Warhammer Online originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings (PS2)
We'll solve the puzzles, you deal with the snakes.

Telltale Games aims to bring the comedy, adventure and swashbuckling of the classic Monkey Island games to a whole new audience – and to that end, they just drop you right into the action with Launch of the Screaming Narwhal.

For fans of the original PC adventure games, the setting, situation and characters will be immediately familiar. Elaine Marley has apparently been captured by ghostly pirate, LeChuck (again) and Guybrush Threepwood – Elaine's husband of some years – has apparently gone on a quest to find voodoo ingredients to defeat him and is only just now arriving to save the day.

For the uninitiated folks, the game will still seem familiar: tits go up and things get wacky, just like you'd expect them to in a Telltale game.

What Is It?
Tales of Monkey Island is a new adventure told in five parts that picks up where the Monkey Island adventure game series left off. A ton of LucasArts alumni who worked on the original games evidently wound up at Telltale and convinced LucasArts to let them develop a fifth game in a five-part episodic format typical of other Telltale games.

What We Saw
I played through the beginning of the first episode to the point where Guybrush washes up on Flotsam Island, determines that he needs to defeat a pirate called Deep Gut to obtain the only ship on the island and for some reason, his hand is glowing green and randomly punches him.

How Far Along Is It?
The PC version ships July 7, but Telltale's tendency is to work all the way up until the day before they roll an episode out; so this build definitely didn't look done. They're still hammering out a mouse control scheme and graphics were missing or broken.

What Needs Improvement?
The mouse control scheme: There's a divide among PC adventure gamers between those that like W, A, S, D plus mouse and space bar and those that only want to use the mouse. Telltale has experience with both in their point-and-click adventures work—and a keyboard-only control scheme in Wallace and Gromit—but for Monkey Island, they're looking for a compromise. Right now, you can use the keyboard to move around, but you still need the mouse to click stuff and manipulate your inventory. The alternative is to click and hold the left mouse button to bring up a red direction arrow over Guybrush. Dragging the mouse in this mode will make Guybrush walk steadily in whatever direction the mouse is moving toward. It's still a bit twitchy, and it would be nice if you didn't have to hold the left button down; but there's still plenty of time for the development team to figure it out.

What Should Stay The Same?
It's Monkey Island, Not Sam & Max: People are skeptical of Telltale's take on Monkey Island because it looks cartoony –- like Sam & Max. Based on what I've seen, however, Telltale hasn't forgotten what it is that made Monkey Island a great series. For example, they've worked very hard to keep the wide-roaming adventure feel of the original games intact. Most Telltale games work with a centralized location that the characters keep going back to in every game; this allows the artists to reuse the same assets in every episode. Tales of Monkey Island scraps the hub, however, and sets each adventure in a different location. Even when Guybrush gets a ship, says Telltale, it won't become a permanent fixture – this is a Monkey Island adventure and anything can happen.

Final Thoughts
Personally, I'm the type to wait for compilations like Sam & Max Save The World instead of shelling out for monthly installments. However, I'm told that the adventure-ness of Monkey Island –- complete with episode cliffhangers -– will turn the game into one of those things you have to keep up with. Like the TV show Lost, only infinitely funnier.

How often is a publisher relaxed enough to announce a product with an extended joke? Usually, trailers are very carefully put together to attract the target market. None of that for AQ Interactive, however! The publisher revealed its new DSi-enhanced version of Korg DS-10 by having producer Nobuyoshi Sano give a fake Apple-style keynote presentation. And it's fantastic.

As for the program, it uses the extra processing capabilities of the DSi to double the number of analog synthesizers (to four) and drum synthesizers (to eight), allows the use of twelve tracks, and features real-time editing. Korg DS-10 Plus will be out in Japan on September 17. See the faux Stevenote after the break.

[Via Offworld]

Continue reading One more thing: AQ Interactive announces Korg DS-10 Plus

One more thing: AQ Interactive announces Korg DS-10 Plus originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At long last, the fruits of the Koei-Tecmo merger have entered the world -- the conjoined companies lifted the veil off of Tecmo Koei Europe, or TKE, as they've chosen to truncate it. Looks like we'll have to stop associating that acronym with beer pong tournaments and terrifying hazing rituals.

The newly formed studio will focus on obtaining the Western success the two companies highlighted around the time of their merging -- a goal it will likely achieve with the first game to be released under the TKE brand name: The PS3 version of Ninja Gaiden 2. Ninjas, buxom heroines and more ninjas -- that's certainly a recipe for an American and European blockbuster.

Tecmo Koei Europe officially formed originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ohio Democrat and US House rep Dennis Kucinich has got some serious beef with America's Army (the game, not the US Army) and the US government's "Virtual Army Experience." Billing the recruiting center-cum-arcade as a "high-tech traveling exhibit" and saying it advertises to "children as young as 13-years-old," Kucinich requested a variety of improvements be made to the experience -- for instance, not targeting the experience at people under 18 years old.

The House Armed Services Committee chairman Ike Skelton acquiesced to Mr. Kucinich's requests in monotonal agreement, matter-of-factly stating, "I support the VAE -- at the same time, I know it can be improved." To see the entire thrilling exchange play out on C-SPAN, check it out after the break.

[Via GamePolitics]

Continue reading House representative speaks out against 'Virtual Army Experience'

House representative speaks out against 'Virtual Army Experience' originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ARMA II is now available on Steam, offering digital distribution of this military shooter sequel from Bohemia Interactive Studios. A playable demo for the game was released yesterday, and here's some...

Thanks Mike Martinez. Music industry 'missed' Napster. Social media will not get me to eat your gross pizza.

Green Dam exploit in the wild.

Thanks Mike Martinez. Pirate Bay Retrial Denied, Judge Declared Unbiased. Creating worthless copyright "consensus": Canada's case study. Copyfraud Is Stealing the Public Domain. FBI compounds mystery...

Thanks Ant "Uncharted" Video Game Becomes Film… Moonwalker: the video game legacy of Michael Jackson. Thanks Mike Martinez… Stella version 2.8.3 for Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows is...

Steam News has word that the promised free DLC for Zeno Clash is now available, and the 50% off sale for the weekend is now underway. The new DLC is called The Pit, and here's how it is described: "Th...

Steam is now accepting pre-purchase of Trine, Frozenbyte's upcoming fantasy-themed action/platformer for which a playable demo was released yesterday. The game is due for release next month, and...

More bargains: The Heroes Pack on Steam (Dark Messiah Might and Magic, Heroes of Might and Magic V, Heroes of Might and Magic V: Hammers of Fate, and Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East)...

All Things Must Come to an End on Online Games Are a Niche Market is a blog post by Mark Jacobs following the news he has parted ways with EA and Mythic (thanks Mike Martinez and Kotaku). He talks a...

Memento Mori on Blue's News. Section 8 on GameInfoWire.

Thanks Mike Martinez. Tecmo Koei merged; Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 will be first game. Revenge of the annoying countdowns: Square Enix hints at 'new game'. Home to be “essential for all PS3 games”. MS...

Thanks Mike Martinez. Some Initial Thoughts on Propus, AMD's Quad-core Athlon on PC Perspective. Sony Computer Entertainment names new Deputy President. Why Sony's Howard Stringer Has One of the...

Thanks Ant. Mile-High Gaming with Virgin America + Google. Kotaku - 3G Versus 3GS Game Comparison- Slooooooow Load Times. Thanks Mike Martinez. Bitten another exciting ant killing game for iPhone...

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, PvP, News items, Mortal Online

Mortal Online is the next MMO title on the way that will cater to the hardcore fantasy PvP niche, which is currently filled for some gamers by Darkfall Online. The Mortal Online developers, Star Vault, announced that two beta players were given permission to write "Combat Beta" reviews of the PvP-centric title, which can now be found on the game's official forums. One was written by Mortal Online player Lachrymose which looked at character creation, melee and ranged combat, while the other review by Shinzon looked at crafting and the game environment, as well as combat.

That caught our attention and we think the reviews are worth a look, but the real news here is about the Mortal Online limited edition we mentioned recently -- there are only 999 copies of the limited edition which will go on sale on June 29th in the Mortal Online Game Store. Here's what you'll get with the limited edition:

• Everything in a printed jute bag

• Numbered and embossed metal box

• Collector's figurine: Draconigena Knight

• Collector's figurine: Thursar Barbarian

• Mortal Online journal with 24 concept art pages and poster

• Free shipment of all pre-launch updates on DVD

• Digital Download access

• Free access to 'Block A' beta

• "Free future digital updates and expansions"

• One month of game time (after the Q4 launch)

Continue reading Mortal Online limited edition available June 29, first game reviews are in

Mortal Online limited edition available June 29, first game reviews are in originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like the new home of Mortal Kombat, Joust, Spy Hunter and other well-known Midway properties will be Warner Bros. after all. The media conglomerate looks to have won bidding rights to the publisher and developer by default.

According to the LA Times' report on the matter, Warner's $33 million bid for the better portion of the company's assets was the only serious offer. There were no other formal bids.

As part of a buy out time line that would accept offers until June 24th, Midway's goods and people were previously planned to go up for auction on June 29th to the entity with the deepest pockets. No need for that now.

Warner's bid would net the media giant development studios in Chicago (Mortal Kombat, Stranglehold) and Seattle (The Suffering, This Is Vegas) and rights to new and classic IP. It would also almost certainly mean another Mortal Kombat and DC crossover.

Midway still has two orphaned studios, one in San Diego, one in Newcastle (Wheelman), with the latter currently seeking a buyer for the team and its original Necessary Force property.

More details at the LA Times.

Warner Bros. emerges as sole bidder for Midway Games [LA Times]

"Hey what the f**k are you kids doing on my f**king lawn?! And don't look at me when I'm f**king talking to you.

Get that kid of my ice you little wankers. Alright, give him the stick. DON'T GIVE HIM THE STICK!

OHHHHHHH!!!" 

Destructoid Originals:
READY TO FRIDAY
Fanboy Friday: Dixaxis In Your Arse Edition
Art Attack Friday: DW3Girl
Top ten Jeff Goldblum games (because I think he is dead)
Friday Night Fights: Meat cubes and free swag edition
Indie Nation: Curse

Community:
Untapped Potential: A true family computer
Community blogs of 06/26/09
Forum of the day: Books on Videogames

Reviews:
Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled
The Munchables

Contests:
Twitter Friday: Bustin' makes me feel...aw, nevermind
Win an Nvidia 9800 GTX + and maybe be able to play Crysis

News:
Uncharted getting a movie
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is Koei Tecmo's first official game
25 million Americans played music games in April
Silver DualShock3 now available, Red and Blue coming this fall
*Sigh* ... Yet another Square Enix countdown teaser
Closed beta for Tropico 3 to kick off in July
PS3 firmware 3.0 to be a 'completely new system' (Update)
Sony: Home to be 'essential' for all PS3 games
Left 4 Dead NXE theme comes with free OXM issue
Could Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles see a 2009 release?
Dragon Quest IX only has one save slot: Everyone PANIC!
Activists cry about 'predatory' game industry
Finding is half the battle in upcoming G.I. Joe game
Lord of the Rings: War of the North trademarked
THQ working on an accessory, will hit in 2010
Australia is also banning Second Life
PS3 Slim and a PS3 price drop happening this fall?
The bidding is over: Warner Bros. the likely owner of Midway
Champions Online open beta to happen in mid-August

Offbeat:
Sega's robot girlfriend will love you long time

Media:
Korg DS-10 Plus, new musical software announced for DSi
TMNT: Smash Up trailers has turtle, human, and robot power
Machinima's latest episode of Inside Gaming features a Shark
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood shows off its multiplayer
Section 8 screens arrive, still better than Velvet Assassin

And what we want to be playing.

Aidan Sinclair shows Sony how to master their destiny with precision.

Mark Jacobs' unforeseen exit from Warhammer Online developer Mythic, a departure made known during the revelation of the BioWare/Mythic merger, left many fans and colleagues stunned and confused. In a lengthy post on his personal blog, Jacobs explained the reasoning for his evacuation -- he actually left the company early in May, when EA informed him that "they wanted to make some changes within the Games Label." Since that day, he's been out of contact from the rest of the Mythic team.

However, he's not ready to talk smack about the gaming industry juggernaut that forced the changes upon his studio -- Jacobs explained, "Over my 23 years of making games professionally I have refrained from attacking the competition, former and/or current partners, other game developers," and so on. You're a stronger man than us, Mr. Jacobs.

[Via Massively]

Mark Jacobs explains departure from Mythic and EA originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Despite several attempts at finding a group within my guild to do any content, I wasn’t able to secure a group to do anything at all.  No one does the city dungeons anymore (and I still do not have a single piece of Sentinel gear) and they all operate within their own cliques of which I am not apart.  I don’t really blame them for finding a group that works for them and sticking with it, but it leaves me out in the cold a lot.  I decided to turn to pugs with hopes that I could do something – anything – in Land of the Dead.  Nothing.  No bites for an hour.  Then Order took control.

My one last attempt at finding a group went into alliance chat “Anyone need a 5/5 gw Shammy for anything?” and I got a bite.  Someone wanted to form a group for Lost Vale!  I had never been and this was as good a chance as any.  I didn’t get my hopes up because, afterall, it’s a pug.  I was expecting a couple frustrating boss attempts and people who constantly afk or don’t listen to instructions while talking about their girlfriends or drugs – you know, usual pug stuff.  Furthermore, I was scared since half of us had never done LV at all.  I wasn’t expecting to meet genuine decent people who listen, know how to play their class, and wanted to group with me again in the future.  You can imagine my surprise when I did.

We cleared the left wing with one accidental wipe and two of my Darkpromise pieces dropped.  All of the pulls went very smooth and the tank, who also led the group, carefully explained all of the fights and the group listened.  The first boss was tank and spank and went down in a matter of seconds thanks to our great DPS.  The next couple of bosses were also tank and spank with little quirks such as mist you have to avoid or other usual mmorpg boss encounter mechanics.  The last boss of the left wing was a spider who would knock back and web you if you (which also silenced); this had to be burned off with a torch you obtain from a quest that you had to complete as you killed each boss up to that point.  During the spider fight lots of little spiders would swarm towards the boss and if they reached her they would enrage her (not a good thing).  It went incredibly smooth and we had a lot of great item drops.

After the left wing we went to the right wing which is a lot harder.  We wiped twice here but recovered my running out and resetting the boss.  These deaths were due to learning the fight but man… we sure learned well from our mistakes and came back to kick the crap out of even more bosses after each wipe.  One boss in particular we had to keep resetting because he had a gnoblar companion that would enrage the more damage you dealt to the boss.  When the gnoblar enraged to 200% he needed to be killed, but the catch is when he dies the boss gets harder.  We figured out that we kill him at certain increments of the main boss’ health and it was cake from there.

I had to handle most of the healing because our other healer only had two greater wards (which meant he died a lot to cleaves and aoe’s), but I enjoyed the responsibility that came with having to constantly heal with everything I had.  Every boss kill was exciting for our group and we were all constantly telling each other “good job” because each of us really was doing a good job.  We’re scheduled to return and complete the instance tonight where I hope to get more Darkpromise gear and have more fun.  I’m hoping that these guys will want to run dungeons together regularly and become a static group – something that is very important in a game like WAR.

Two upgrade, a trip to one of the top-end dungeons in the game, and new friends all thanks to a PUG.  Go figure.

Watch It Live: http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/

Saturday 9:30 – 22:00 (3:30 - 16:00 US Eastern)
Sunday 9:30 – 18:00 (3:30 - 12:00 US Eastern)

Germany local time listed, find your time difference here

US Bracket:http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/brackets-wow-na.xml
EU Bracket:http://eu.blizzard.com/rf09/brackets-wow.xml

Don't miss the Saturday morning live blog.  Can paladin hero Zilea bring honor to his community?  TSG vs Complexity, don't miss it!

6 RMPs out of 8 teams, not a single one of them can make it to the final two spots for a trip to Blizzcon, as unlikely as that sounds, it is the situation European RMPs face going into this weekend.  Ensidia?  Two straight 2-3 losses, including an embarrassing choke job against RIMP after taking a 2-0 lead sent them home, and they didn't even get to face the RMP killers in this tournament: Inflame's Warrior/Lock/Druid and X6's DK/BM Hunter/Paladin.

Inflame's success was a surprise to some because they did not do all that great in ESL TV Invitationals.  But certain teams have the ability to activate the cursed seal for a chakra explosion when there is real money at stake, playing much better in the playoffs than regular seasons.  Ocelote's latest PVP video took a lot of unjustified criticisms from the European community but he played a phenomenal game here in Germany, timed his peels, blade storms and defensive CDs flawlessly.  I felt in the 1-3 series they had against Innerfire in ESL TV Invitationals, Ocelote made some very questionable decisions and a step slow, but today he was at the top of his game and that was the difference.

Out of all the teams at the tournament, Inflame's WLD was the only team that could defeat X6's DK/BM/Paladin, and like Rock Lee who had to face Gaara in the opening round, the only ninja with enough defense to beat him, X6 got a quick ticket to the loser bracket.  However, they have 3-0ed three RMPs in a row to make it to the loser bracket finals. 

Unless Edawg can get some tips from Realz & company (although they don't have the defensive specialist in Pookz at mage spot and a super aggresive rogue like Enforcer), it is a foregone conclusion that X6 will make quick work of Edawg's RMP like they did to all other European RMPs, but lose to Inflame in the grand finals.  However, X6 has quite a bit of flexibility in their line-up, perhaps they can put together some sort of cleave to take out Inflame?  At the level Inflame is running Warrior/lock/druid however, you will need a full-time cleave team like TSG to beat him, a second hand cleave won't do the job.

I was very happy when mutilate hero XOM gathered the last bit of strength he had and eliminated Ensidia 3-2 in loser bracket.  It wasn't a story book ending to Blizzcon, but still very respectable.  Another will probably move onto a cleave team with his DK.  The mage class has the highest skill cap, and I feel ever since Another fell to the dark side of easy mode cleaves, his mage is no longer elite.  As much as SK-EU's struggle has to do with XOM's decline, Another in my opinion is just as responsible.  He is playing mage when his heart says cleave, can't get it done like that, RMP requires you to dedicate everything to it, even the slightest doubt results in a weakened comp.

A big thanks to Druds for covering the matches I missed!

Edawg vs Rimp (Rogue/Mage/Priest vs Rogue/Mage/Priest): 3-1

Game 1: Dalaran arena

eDawgs opens on the priest and force PS at the start. Rest in many pieces mage/rogue failed at controlling eDawgs dps and RiMP's priest went down. Weak play by RiMP's priest and game is lost.

Game 2: Ruins

Both teams go for the other priest and its a double kill. Then both rogues go down at the same time and its mage/mage mirror. eDawgs mage have to play defencive and after some bad play he goes down. 1-1

Game 3: Dalaran arena

RiMP gets a sap on the enemy rogue, and open on the priest. Good play by eDawgs to assist the priest and he survive without any trouble. It is a rogue rogue fight and eDawgs take down the rogue without any trouble. 2-1 to eDawgs. So far I'm not impressed by RiMP's performance, eDawgs is probably taking this set of games without any trouble.

Game 4: Ring of Valor

Both teams open on the enemy priest. eDawgs take down the priest first. RiMP blind the priest in a last stupid attempt to swap to the rogue, and do get the kill, but eDawgs have already taken down their rogue and they take the third and last game. eDawgs was by far the best RMP in this mirror match, and you can really se the almost perfect synergy.

x6tence vs AAA RAT (DK/Hunter/Paladin vs Rogue/Mage/Priest): 3-0

Game 1: Blade's Edge

We jumped in after most of x6tence CD's was used and aAa's priest still alive. X6tence playing BM/dk/hpala training the priest from start to finish. The priest jumps down to try and LoS but is taken down without to much trouble. aAa get a counter kill on the paladin, but aAa HP are allready low and the game is lost. 1-0 x6tence.

Game 2: Ring of Valor

x6tence training the priest while aaa is going for the paladin but without anywhere to LoS x6tence take the game without to much trouble. Not much aAa can do against x6tence in RNG valor, can they come back strong and kick x6tence out of lower bracket? 2-0

game 3: Ring of Valor

We all know how this will end. x6tence train the priest, while aAa tries to control the DK. aAa makes a good swap to the hunter when his CDs are used and almost get a kill, but the pillar goes down together with the priest. aAa get a kill on the hunter but the game is allready lost. 3-0 x6tence takes the set of games.

Woah vs aAa (Warrior/lock/druid vs Rogue/Mage/Priest): 3-0

Gonna be some very interesting games, can Inflame beat aAa and finally win a tournament? I'm gonna put my money on WLD, with a warlock like Inflames aAa wont be able to do much.

Game 1: RNG Valor
aAa stay on the warrior controlling him, but leaving Inflames open to harass aAa. Woah makes a perfect swap to the priest and get a fine kill. 1-0 to Woah

Game 2: Nagrand Arena
aAa starts of weak, and that leaves Woah to control and dominate the game. And Woah takes down the rogue within the first 50seconds in a clean nice kill. 2-0 to Woah

Game 3: Ruins
aAa gets a weak opner again, but they have better control of Woah and keeps the game going for a longer time. They where close to get a kill on the warrior but Woah won the mana war without to much trouble. Woah played 3 perfect games and took the match-ups as deserved. 3-0 to Woah.

I do think that it was wrong by aAa to swap between the warrior/druid, they should have gone for the warlock/warrior. So some weak games tactic wise from aAa and they are in the lower bracket.

X6 vs RiMP (DK/Hunter/Paladin vs Rogue/Mage/Druid): 3-0

Game 1: Dalaran Arena

X6tence playing BM/DK/hpala while RiMP playing druid mage rogue. X6tence trains the mage and the game is over in less then 1min. Nothing much to say about that game, the hunter used CDs after the mage used ice block and the mage went down asap. 1-0 X6tence

Game 2: RNG Valor

Both teams keep their setup. X6tence keep training the mage and force iceblock without using any CDs, after the ice block the hunter use his CDs and the mage got no chance. RiMP try to train the DK to control him but in vain since they can't keep the pressure up. RiMP is again playing weak games and failing to adapt to the damage pressure from x6tence. 2-0 X6tence

Game 3: Nagrand

RiMP need to step it up and win 3 games in a row to stay in this tournament, can they do it? Same setups again. RiMP opens on the DK controlling him for a good amount of time. X6tence kept training the mage forced a ice block, then used CDs and the mage went down. Better play from RiMP this time, they where close to getting a kill but they didn't have enough pressure to keep it up. 3-0 X6tence.

RiMP wasn't going the extra mile and had no chance vs X6tence. Pretty boring fights watching both teams tunneling 1 player the whole time 3 games in a row.

SK Europe vs aAa (DK/Rogue/Priest vs Rogue/Mage/Priest): 3-2

Game 1: Ruins

SK opens with a sap on the priest and starts on the mage, forces a ice block. Then go on the rogue and gets him low a couple of times but aAa's priest manage to outheal it. aAa train the priest from start to finish and eventually get a kill, but then SK get a double kill on the rogue but its no use it is to late. 1-0 aAa

Game 2: RNG Valor

Both teams go for the other priest, and when the pilar goes down the aAa priest goes down. aAa get a counter kill on SK's priest but in vain, SK takes the second game. 1-1

Game 3: Nagrand

aAa opens on the DK, but doesn't get pressure up with SK opening on the aAa rogue. SK swap to the priest, aAa tries to peel but aAa's priest goes down. 2-1 to SK.

Game 4: Nagrand

SK goes for the rogue, while aAa does the same and get a really fast kill.(if you looked away for a second you missed it) That is how you should play RMP. 2-2. Can aAa take the 5th game and win the set of games?

Game 5:

First I saw RNG valor and though, gz SK but due to some error there was a small break where they decided what map they should use. They ended up in RNG valor again, to bad for aAa. aAa trained the priest from the start, having him close, playing a really good game. But SK was lucky with the map and played good with peeling the enemy rogue and eventually getting a kill on the rogue. SK took these matches. 3-2.

Was an interesting match-up aAa really stepped it up in the last games, but had bad luck with the maps. I really think that aAa should have won that match-up but they did a good job.

X6 vs SK (DK/Hunter/Paladin vs Rogue/Mage/Priest): 3-0

Game 1: Ruins

SK goes for the paladin forcing bubble early, but with the pressure X6tence had on the priest made him unable to mass dispel. And the priest went down shortly after. 1-0 X6tence

Game 2: RNG valor

Both teams using same setups. SK tried for a fast kill on the paladin, but failed to even force bubble. SK's priest dies game ends. 2-0 to X6tence.

Game 3: Ruins

Same setups, can SK come back and win 3 in a row, or will they be kicked out of the Regionals? SK goes heavy on the hunter, 1k hp away from a kill but he gets healed up again. SK's priest goes down, but SK manage to to get a counter kill on the hunter and its again a close game. But mage/rogue without to many CDs vs pala/dk its a lost cause for SK, they got close on a kill but X6tence manage to make these series 3-0.

eDawgs vs Woah (Rogue/Mage/Priest vs DK/Hunter/Paladin): 1-3

RMP vs WLD upper bracket final

Game 1: RNG valor

Fast game, eDawgs trained the warrior imp CS right when Kae used NS and the warrior went down. 1-0 to eDawgs

Game 2: RNG valor

eDawgs open offensive on the warrior but not enough to drop the warrior. They did a good job keeping pressure on the warrior but Warlock dots + warrior's damage is just to much in the late game and the priest goes out of mana and dies. 1-1

Game 3: RoL

eDawgs opens on the warlock pet but fails to get a kill. They swap to the warrior and keep training him out the game. Woah kept pressure up on the rogue, but eventually the warrior got a good blade storm off hitting both the rogue and priest and they got a kill on the priest. 2-1 to Woah

Game 4: RNG valor

eDawgs open on Inflames, doesn't really do anything, they swap to the warrior doesn't really do anything. Then they went back to Inflames and kept him low, but Woah kept pressure and a good blade storm made them win the 4th game and making them the Upper bracket winner.

To: Ash
From: Crecente
Re: Now This Is Service

Today the family and I headed to Carlsbad, New Mexico to check out their spectacular caverns. As usual, I wrote while Trish drove. About half way there we came across a border patrol check point station. When we stopped to talk to the INS agents we realized that Trish's parents, visiting from Australia, had left their passports back at the house.

It took some sweet talking for the agents to let us call someone at the house to fax copies to them, instead of taking them both into custody while we drove the hour or so back to the house. Happy endings though.

After making our way past the check point we made it to the caverns and spent about three hours exploring them before returning home.

Have you ever been? It's pretty freakin spectacular. The whole time I kept thinking that it would be the perfect place to build an underground city. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't convince Tristan that molemen had, in fact, already started on the city.

What you missed:
What MotionPlus Adds to Tiger Woods Golf
Batman: Arkham Asylum Preview: A Thinker's Brawling Game
3G Versus 3GS Game Comparison: Slooooooow Load Times
Industry Figures Share Michael Jackson Memories, From E3 To Neverland
Autobots Fans Currently Crushing Decepticons Fans
Bethesda's Big Move
Playing As Insurgents: Volition Reflects On Red Faction Guerilla
Notebook Dump: Layton, Samurai Showdown, RE5 3D
Art Style Boxlife Micro-Review: Smart Misery

Aion: Tower of Eternity (PC)
Check out this zone tour of the various regions in the game.

PS3 Slim, new Xbox 360 bundle expected to hit this fall.

Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Age of Conan

This has been a really big week for Age of Conan. They released Update 5, "Gangs of Tarantia", which has introduced new zones and content, but more than that, completely reworked some of Age of Conan's existing game mechanics. The amount of written content that Funcom has put together on these changes is substantial -- in fact we linked to all of it in our post on Update 5 earlier this week. Funcom can write all they want about the new changes to the game, but when it comes down to it, actually seeing these places they've described may have a stronger impact. With that in mind, Funcom released a video tour of the Tarantia Commons zone today, narrated by game director Craig Morrison.

Tarantia Commons is what he describes as "the urban underbelly" of the capital city of Tarantia, a place Morrison says is "wracked by gang warfare and civil unrest." In other words, there's always a lot going on in Tarantia Commons and the video walkthrough shows this, revealing how players will choose which side to take in riots -- either aid the city guards or stick it to the man with fellow rioters. The riots then trigger other events. Specific quests become available and certain bosses spawn, depending upon the general state of chaos in the streets of Tarantia Commons.

There are two warring gangs in the new gameplay area, The Wharf Rats who exist at ground level in the streets of Tarantia Commons, and The Crows whose area of influence shows off a different aspect of the game: rooftops. Interacting with The Crows above Tarantia Commons gives a different perspective on the city, with some impressive views of the zone. Of course there's content on the outskirts of Tarantia Commons for players to experience as well, including a leper colony where NPCs will lash out at you, intentionally trying to infect you with disease. As an added bonus, or spoiler depending upon your point of view, the walkthrough also shows off a boss encounter and the tactics he'll employ against players.

If you're on the fence about returning to Age of Conan to see the new content, this Tarantia Commons walkthrough might just be the tipping point. We've got a video embed for you after the jump:

Continue reading Age of Conan video walks players through new Tarantia Commons zone

Age of Conan video walks players through new Tarantia Commons zone originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The rumors were true. Sega's Aliens role-playing game, previously in development at Obsidian Entertainment, is as dead as games can get. The title's developer and publisher both confirmed today that development on Aliens RPG has ceased.

A posting on the Obsidian forums from a forum administrator, picked up by Giant Bomb, attempts to clear the air by noting "it is true that we are no longer working on the game, and we wanted to finally announce that officially to everyone who has been following its development." In case there was any confusion about that, the post ends saying that Aliens RPG is "no longer a product that is in development."

Sega also confirmed in a statement that the title is kaput. "At this point, SEGA has no plans to move forward with the Aliens RPG," says official word.

The role-playing game from the dev team responsible for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II and the forthcoming Alpha Protocol was announced in December of 2006, but was never shown publicly.

Sega still has plenty of Aliens licensed game coming down the pipe, with Aliens Vs. Predator and Aliens: Colonial Marines shooting for every platform that can handle 'em.

The Official State of Obsidian's Aliens RPG, by The Guildmaster [Obsidian Forum Community via Giant Bomb]

This week in Europe, Hudson Soft has one release on all three Wii download services. That's a pretty impressive feat, even if the individual games don't seem that exciting. We suppose 50 sudoku puzzles for 200 points is nice, and SimEarth is a good game.

The Hudson releases are joined by Taito's Puzzle Bobble/Bust a Move update and by Altered Beast. Now, we love Altered Beast more than most people (by which we mean we love it some), but 900 points for the arcade version? What's that about?

WiiWare:

• Puzzle Bobble Plus! (1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)
• Water Warfare (1-2 players offline, 2-8 online, 800 Wii Points)

Virtual Console:

• Altered Beast (Arcade, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points)
• SimEarth (Turbografx-16 CD-ROM, 1 player,800 Wii Points)
  

DSiWare:

• Sudoku 50 for Beginners (1 player, 200 DSi Points)

VC Friday: Hudson Powers Up originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It appears that Warner Bros. was the sole bidder for Midway, meaning the company's $33 million offer likely nets it the whole mortal kit and kaboodle. The LA Times reports that there's still some issues to deal with before the acquisition is finalized -- involving creditors, objections and those who had deals with Midway, including Mortal Kombat producer Lawrence Kasanoff.

If the deal is finalized, WBIE will add more titles to its roster, including the next Mortal Kombat game and This is Vegas. Warner could also resurrect Joust and Spy Hunter if it wanted to. But, before all that, the company may still have another acquisition looming with Codemasters.

Warner Bros. was the only one interested in Midway originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Overlord: Minions (DS)
What could have been a really great action puzzler is brought down by frustratingly inconsistent control.

There comes a time in the week when to reflect on what got into my reporter's notebook but didn't turn into Kotaku blog posts. Shall we?

New Professor Layton: I played Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box on Monday evening during those Nintendo demos I couldn't stop writing about in the middle of the week. But what can I write about a DS sequel that I played for all of four minutes? The mechanics were similar to those of the first Layton game. The art style was similar, the puzzles were of a familiar sort. I'm told there will be more animated scenes. But the Nintendo reps on hand wouldn't confirm or deny whether there will be puzzles involving filling the proper amount of fluid into a jug with the help of two other jugs.

iPhone Neglected: Oh, and on Monday Apple demoed the 3GS iPhone for me in a meeting that was so fancy that they had one Apple rep whose task was just to bring people up and down the elevator, to say nothing of three more hanging out to show the product. But they also sent Crecente one and put an Apple bigwig on the phone with him. Crecente's been doing a fine job so far on that, so I didn't post. Yet.

Shane Bettenhausen Chopped In Half: I played the new Samurai Showdown (actually this was two weeks ago, sorry) against former EGM editor-turned Ignition development man Shane Bettenhausen, but we all know I stink at fighting games. How can I judge the quality of this game in a preview? I can't just yet. Not when I was distracted by playing more Muramasa: The Demon Blade. And not when the only strategy I know is button-mashing. But I can confirm that I fought Shane in a level set at 5PM. I played as an old man and, true to Shane's word, the game has button combos that allow for sudden kills. The one I accidentally inputted sliced through Shane's guy's at the waist. One body became two halves with two limbs each. Shane squirmed. I won. I promise, I'll get better at covering these fighting games.

RE5 In 3D: On Tuesday night, I ran into Capcom marketing man Chris Kramer at a Microsoft event. He had special 3D glasses for me to put on so that I could see a demo of Resident Evil 5 PC running in 3D through Nvidia's Geforce 3D Vision. The tech requires a special monitor and graphics card. As it was programmed for the demo, there were lots of depth effects. That starter RE5 town we all played in demos had more space to it and ... distance. Nothing was programmed to jump out at me yet, though Kramer said that was possible. Maybe a knife might be thrown toward my face some day through the magic of RE5. But the effectiveness (in this case) or lack thereof is so hard to express in text. So I didn't do a post.

I think that's all that I didn't get to this week... other than the stuff I'm saving for next week. Have a good weekend, folks. Be nice to Owen and the Kotaku's Team Pacific.

Filed under: Betas, New titles, News items, Champions Online

Mark your calendars, because according to fansite Champions Online Daily News -- and confirmed by Cryptic themselves -- August will be the month when everyone can flood into Champions Online's open beta. This information came from Daily News' recent visit to Cryptic's actual studio in Los Gatos, CA where it sounds as though the design team is sweating plutonium to get the game ready for public play.

We know many of you have been waiting to hear this news. With the game launching in September, it was only a question of whether or not a beta would happen -- August was mostly a foregone conclusion. Still, now that it's officially coming you can toss up your hats (or whatever article of clothing you would like to remove and hurl into the air) and celebrate. Beta's only a couple months away... just a couple more months.

[via 1up; Thanks, Kinnetik!]

Champions Online open beta coming in August originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve been unable to get into the Champions Online closed beta and are spectacularly patient about these things, get ready to be excited: according to fan Web site Champions Online News, Cryptic Studios’ superhero MMO will enter open beta in mid-August.

Champions Online News recently visited Cryptic’s offices, chatted with some personnel and learned the target date for the open beta. Unfortunately, the open beta appears to only be for the PC version of the game. Champions Online is slated to hit both the PC and Xbox 360 September 1.

It’ll be interesting to sniff what Cryptic has been cooking for the last few years. Are any of you interested in giving the beta a spin?

[via 1UP]

Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves (X360)
The fights are more furious than before.

Mark Jacobs discusses his leaving the EA studio.

You may not know this, but April is actually the biggest month of the year for banjo sales in the US. You see, the annual Jugband Jamboree takes place in April each year, across various states in the country, but nobody attended this year thanks to those darn Guitar Heroes, Rock Bands, and Singstars.

A new report (via GI.biz) came up with the data, based on research done by firm Interpret. In fact, aside from the staggering 25 million US gamers that got down with one music game or another, data showed that these gamers purchased 67% more CDs than those who didn't enjoy rhythm-based games. In addition, 29% of these wannabe rockers actually downloaded or streamed a music video in the past three months (compared to the 15% that partook overall), and 45% listened to music via a social network (versus 32% overall). So, as much as celebrities like to bash these kinds of games, it's helping more folks get into music, which, to us, is a good thing.

Report: 25 million played music games in April, banjo sales at all-time low originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Punching aliens in the face doesn't have to be costly.

Kodu (X360)
A really, really simple one.

The old tagline for the Madballs collectible toys of the 1980s was "Obnoxious And Gross!" which should tell you a lot about both the 80s and what to expect from squishy balls with disgusting faces.

However, apart from starring revolting balls, Babo Invasion isn't really affiliated with the toy line, the subsequent cartoon or the comic book series that spawned like bacteria colonies in the 80s. Lately, Madballs have been getting a bit revival thanks to a 2006 deal between the original rights holders, American Greetings, and Art Asylum. Riding that wave is Madballs in Babo Invasion – an Xbox Live Arcade multiplayer title that takes the best of that tagline and adds a whole lot more.

What Is It?
Madballs in Babo Invasion is the first console game created by Canadian developer, Playbrains. It's a "casually hardcore" multiplayer-centric game that supports up to 16 players in online versus mode or four players in online co-op through the 10-level singleplayer campaign. Because the game relies so heavily on the multiplayer experience, Microsoft has allowed the developer to put up an "extensive" multiplayer trial – pretty rare for an XBLA game.

What We Saw
I spent about an hour with the game, poking at singleplayer mode and getting my butt kicked by the development team in two of the online multiplayer modes.

How Far Along Is It?
The release date is still "Summer 2009," but the game looked awfully final to me.

What Needs Improvement?
Gross Factor Is Kind Of Hard To See: The game features two views, top-down and third-person. In either view, however, you can't appreciate how obscene and disgusting the Madballs really are. That was the appeal of the toys, the comics and the TV-show: the disgustingness of exposed brain sections, fangs, throbbing veins and stitched gashes. Without that, the gross factor goes away and you kind of miss out on the nostalgia of seeing a Madball you might once have owned (and thrown out a car window) as a child.

What Should Stay The Same?
The Gameplay: There's a complexity to the various weapons, five different classes and two factions of Madball that gives the game a lot of depth; however, anyone could pick, play and enjoy it. Each weapon has two types of ammo – say, a fire shot and an energy shot – and the Madballs themselves have vulnerabilities to different types of ammo. It's like rock-paper-scissors only with way more options, plus you can still kill people even if you don't have the type of ammo they're weak to. The five classes are Assault, Flyer, Support, Heavy and Runner (which doesn't make any sense because eyeballs don't have legs). Both factions, the good BDI and the bad Scorched Brotherhood, have access to all weapons and all classes – but which side you're on determines which Madballs you can play as. This matters because each Madball has a special ability – like the Scorched Brotherhood's Magmor who can expand in size and crush other Madballs in multicolored explosions of goo. It's pretty cool and there's an Achievement if you can kill 100 other Madballs that way.

Invasion Mode: This multiplayer mode combines elements of map-building, point-control strategy and hide-and-seek. The game ships with 150 tiles which can be assembled into a multiplayer map. However, here's the catch – your team builds only half of a level and the other team builds the other half. You can't see what they're doing and they can't see what you've built. Once you're finished, you pick a place on your side of the map to position your base. The other possible locations become energy nodes that support the barrier around your base. Then the real game begins where you have to capture all energy nodes on the map to bring down the enemy base's barrier and subsequently destroy the enemy base. It's really fun and still keeps up the frenetic pace despite the strategy element.

Avatar Mode: This is a basic deathmatch multiplayer mode – however, the game uses your Xbox Live Avatar as a character. This is accomplished through the "decappuccino machine" which subtracts your Avatar's body from its head. Then you get to roll around like a Madball and shoot other rolling heads. The more people you kill, the larger your head grows, making you an easier target.

Final Thoughts
There is a lot to like about this game. Aside from what's mentioned above, I appreciate that the game will ship with 21 maps and Playbrains is already planning out more for downloadable content. Having played Madballs in Babo Invasion I believe the motto that the developers have posted on their homepage: "We absolutely believe that downloaded entertainment can be as rich and immersive as traditional retail games, and we are committed to creating easily-distributed, high-quality fun across all game genres." I'm looking forward to what they come out with next.

Maximillian and the Rise of the Mutant Mudds (DS)
See the latest game from Renegade Kid in action.

Will we ever see a combined development effort?

Will we ever see a combined development effort?

The Sims 3 (Collector's Edition) (Mac)
Tips for creating Sims, building stuff, and beating bugs, all written in plain Simlish.

PS3 Slim, new Xbox 360 bundle expected to hit this fall.

The Sims 3 (Mac)
Tips for creating Sims, building stuff, and beating bugs, all written in plain Simlish.

There are rebellions that were and weren't intended to be part of Red Faction Guerilla, Volition and THQ's well-reviewed destroy-everything open-world game. Kotaku talked to the game's designers about the possibilities and politics of what they made.

"I like an open world where it feels like stuff is going on around you," James Hague, Red Faction Guerilla's lead designer at development studio Volition told me in a phone interview earlier this week.

Red Faction Guerilla is a sprawling open-world action-adventure for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 set on a Mars ruled under the tight grip of the heartless Earth Defense Force. The player is a miner-turned-revolutionary who shoots and batters enemies and buildings to help the just overthrow the bad.

What Hague was discussing a game that is loaded with opportunity and charged with the energy of an insurgent's rebellion against a military authority – the kind that, not intentionally, has parallels to those seen fighting on the news these days.

Let's start with the game design rebellion. The game Hague and his team made, the game that technical designer Luke Schneider maintains was not intended to be a "GTA on Mars," was made to feel like a more open open-world game than the average one. It was a game designed to enable rampant destruction and handle all of the gameplay consequences. Volition built their game, Hague and Schneider told Kotaku, on the premise that giving the player an axe and guns that can destroy every structure on the map is also a game that should open the player's options to do as much as they can imagine.

"We wanted people to play pretty much however they wanted to," Hague said.

There are signs of success. For example, the developers has learned that players are doing things the creators didn't expect. Take the destruction of a canyon-spanning bridge in the game's Badlands district. Some might take it down with explosives. Others might use the game's disintegration gun to zap one strut away at a time. Volition discovered that one player decided to attract military attention and then shot helicopters so they crashed into – and tore down – the bridge. Another player filled the bridge's lanes with cars then made them detonate in a chain. "When that was put in there, the goal was to put in something very large and allow the player a lot of choices in how to take it down. We're not looking to dictate how you do it."

What they pushed was emergence, a value celebrated by players and makers of open-world games at least as far back as the launch of GTA III.

"We were trying to go a little further out there in terms of emergent gameplay on the high level," Schneider said. During development, they went too far: "Players would just be completely lost." The developers said they wanted to make an open-world game that felt more open than gamers have been playing. Things in the world were just supposed to… happen. Convoys would drive through the game world at set times each game-day. Players could attack them or not. But some players of pre-release versions of the game panicked and felt that they'd be letting their guerilla movement down if they saw a convoy and didn't attack. Missions like hostage rescues that are now triggered only when a player goes to an icon on the game world's map – the classic way of starting missions in open-world games – used to instead be sprung upon the player as alerts they could choose to respond to. "We were trying to get a balance between letting you choose what you want to do and making the world seem alive," Hague said. "We tried at both extremes and I think the balance is pretty good."

They found the right amount of insurgency to make their game work. And if it resembles any current real-life insurgency, that's not intended, the developers say. "We weren't looking at the modern day situation," Hague said. "We were looking at stuff like the past wars in Afghanistan and so on. How do react when you have a superior force against you and you can't attack them head on? We weren't trying to make an Iraq simulator."

Yes, this is a game about being part of an insurgent fighting force, a game that rewards players who can sneak up and undermine a more powerful military maybe with a disintegration ray or maybe by blowing up a car in front of a building. But civilians are never targets. The enemy is only military and always armed. Early in the game, the hero of Red Faction tells his brother, "I'm not a terrorist," only to see his brother gunned down by the evil military rulers, the Earth Defense Force. "We didn't want people to feel like they were on the wrong side of this war," said Schneider, who said that wars as far back as the American Revolutionary War were studied for tactics. "We just wanted people to have fun blowing stuff up."

With both the politics of the game as well as in the gameplay design, the developers don't think they took their rebellion too far. Almost.

One mission, which puts the player in the turret position of a vehicle while a fellow freedom fighter sharpens knives and begins to viciously interrogate a captured military man, did make Hague briefly uneasy. "The first time I actually played that mission once we got it in place I felt kind of bad," he said. He remembered thinking: "The Red Faction really crossed the line here. I don't know if I believe in the same stuff they believe in anymore, but I've got to keep continuing because it's a good cause overall… I remember we were going to go with an interrogation fairly early on. It just wasn't until we did the final writing pass and recording pass that we could really hear it in context. Honestly, it came out a little more over-the-top and intense than I expected to be."

A scene like that wouldn't have been unusual in 24 or out of context in an action movie. It's an ethical boundary, pushed.

The rebellions of Red Faction Guerilla are set to continue. Development of downloadable content is underway. The two developers would not share specifics.

Is this as open as it gets? Of course not. But as far as they've gone, the makers of Red Faction Guerilla are happy with the result.

The Sims 3 (Collector's Edition) (PC)
Tips for creating Sims, building stuff, and beating bugs, all written in plain Simlish.

The tri-Crescendo-developed Namco Bandai RPG, Fragile, will eventually make its way to Europe, GameSpot reports. Sometime in early 2010, Europeans will be able to get their own taste of this post-apocalyptic title following Seto, who is believed to be the last living human being. It's kind of like I Am Legend, but, like, bearable.

Made by the same team behind Eternal Sonata, Fragile is currently set to release in North America during the holidays courtesy of XSEED, and will arrive in Europe via Rising Star Games.

Fragile arrives on European shores early 2010 originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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