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Pokémon games are normally quite tame affairs. The worst that happens is some weird animal gets knocked out for an hour or two. But in Pokémon Black, there is death, nothing but death, and it is all around you. More »

Google has added a new DRM program for the Android Marketplace that uses a licensing server to verify whether or not a user has purchased an app before it launches. In order to make use of the new DRM an app has to be sold through the Android Market store and built for the Android 1.5 operating system or later. Free apps can't make use of the service, but - in terms of DRM protection - I guess that doesn't really matter..

This will replace the current copy protection scheme used by apps in the Marketplace, which both developers and consumers have criticized for a number of reasons.

Apps can be written to handle the interaction with the licensing server in any way the developer choose, but Google is providing two preconfigured implementations that will stop an app from running if the server doesn't or can't verify the app's license. The second method will only allow the app to start if the server is available to verify the license. In other words, a DRM system that sounds an awful lot like what Ubisoft likes to use.

Source: aferdawn.com

Fresh off Inception, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is doing the variety show circuit to promote the film and talking about something extremely important. That's right, he's talking Street Fighter II. More »

While Prince of Persia director Mike Newell may have the magic touch when it comes to creating a decent movie based on a video game, his actual understanding of video games is almost embarrassing. In a recent interview with Computer & Video Games, Newell had a number of disparaging things to say about games and gamers that have made him this week's whipping boy among the video game chattering classes. But in between slamming gamers and games and even his own son's zombie-like devotion to some unnamed action game, Newell said one thing in particular that ticked a lot of people off: that game's can't convey human emotion that a film can.

But let's pull back the curtain a little more and examine his comments; Newell admits that he can't play games, and that, while making Prince of Persia, he had to rely on an assistant to play through the game while he watched. He said that while he watched the game, he felt nothing - just like when he watched his son play some unnamed action game. Read More

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Minecraft is a neat little indie game that until this week had been getting by on word of mouth and forum recommendations. All that changed when Team Fortress 2 developers Valve gave the game a shout-out. More »

On the left, console and arcade game Street Fighter IV. On the right, the Nintendo 3DS version of Super Street Fighter IV. More »

They're some of the most recognisable faces in modern pop culture. But have you ever wondered just who the men and women are providing the voices behind gaming's biggest characters? More »

Here's your first look at some of the new NBA Jam's old stars: Magic Johnson and Dennis Rodman. More »

The Lich King has fallen!

Happy Fun Guyz took down the Lich King tonight in a terrific battle.  We extended our lockout from last week and decided to give him two solid nights.  Last night we got him to 23% (only 13% from winning since you need to get him to 10%) and ended up calling it.  We came back tonight and wiped three times (once was a freak accident) and then came through at the last second.

Phase one went perfectly.  We did our first transition and the horrors died instantly.  We took out the raging spirits quickly with focus fire then transitioned into phase two with only one spirit up.  We dodged all of our defiles and downed that raging spirit quickly.  Graev was almost swept off the edge by a valk who grabbed him but we pulled him back at the last second to save him.

Transition two was a bit shaky. Defile had us spread out big time and we had to adjust our strategy on the fly with a quick call for a relocation of the raid to the side instead of near where we originally tanked and gathered.  Everyone adjusted and we managed to quickly down our raging spirits.  Transitioning into phase three was sketchy.  Right as we got into phase three one of the raging spirits smacked a healer and we struggled to keep up on heals.

The ghosts (as we call them) started to swarm around and our DPS focus fired the first of them out of the sky with enough time to switch to the raging spirit still alive.  Quickly switching back to the Lich King we were split a bit by a Defile that ticked up once and grew.  A healer ankh brought us back into the game but we had ghosts exploding everywhere.  Two DPS went down and a heals.  Combat rezzes went out and we were frantically trying to keep up with heals.

Arthas sent one of our two alive healers into Frostmourne and we were desperately popping cooldowns to survive.  We had four people down now and it was a struggle for survival.  “POPPING COOLDOWNS!” and “Defile on you, move!” went out into vent and everyone played their heart out.  18%… 16%… 13%… 11%.. “Hang in there!!!”

Then we all died.

It was the sweetest death ever as the roleplay began and the Lich King prepared to raise us as his undead slaves.  Not today Arthas!  We were revived by Tirion who finally decided it was time to bubble out of his ice cube and the Lich King was held firmly in place.  “LUST IT UP GRUZ!” The cheers were epic and we brought Arthas down and got to see our achievement spam and cutscene.

Completing the content of this expansion felt so good.  I accomplished my goal and I did it with my guildmates. I’m very proud of how well we did. Onward to Cataclysm guys!

Looks like Sony's Kevin Butler character isn't the only ad campaign inspiring an imitator. This new Saw 3D movie poster is a little too close to an older PlayStation 3 spot for comfort. Can you spot the similarities? More »

If there's one issue games journalists love to argue about besides the best scoring system for reviews, it's got to be press junkets. In case your not familiar with the practice, it's when a game publisher or developer pays for a journalist to go somewhere to see something. It could be as simple as the publisher paying for airfare, or it could be as extravagant as a trip to Hawaii - all expenses paid.

The Game Beat tackles the topic, using Capcom's Captivate event in April, where several prominent publications accepted “all expenses paid” trips to play Capcom's newest games at a resort in Hawaii for three days.

Journalists really are divided on the issue. Some see it as an acceptable practice that has no influence on what these journalists will be writing about, while others believe that the practice creates an "appearance of impropriety” or “undue influence” - real or imagined – and is not worth the hassle. Read More

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It's been a huge question for months: What will be the level cap for Guild Wars 2? Eager fans have grabbed onto every piece of information looking for clues over time, and tonight Isaiah "Izzy" Cartwright, Guild Wars 2 game designer, confirmed it: the level cap will be 80.

No, hold on, there's still no grind. Grind in most games with a high level cap comes in because it takes longer to level the higher you go. In Guild Wars 2, this is not an issue, says Izzy: "Instead of taking longer and longer to reach each level, it takes about the same time to go through each level."

In short, it's still all about the content and the journey, and you won't find yourself stuck at level 60, endlessly grinding the same mob to advance. Check out the newest ArenaNet blog post for all the information.

Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, New titles, News items, Guild Wars 2

Guild Wars 2 level cap confirmed at 80 originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Let's end the day with a little interstellar insanity. As a fan of watching people go bananas in the far reaches of our universe, I figure it's as good a conversation starter as any. More »

Why is this man smiling? Because a Texas jury just awarded him $28 million in a suit filed against NCsoft, the publisher of his now defunct massively multiplayer online game Tabula Rasa. More »

Gubernatorial proclamation naming Sept. 21, 2010 - the game's release date - as "Sid Meier's Civilization V Day" in Maryland, home of Sparks, Md.-based Firaxis Games. Looks more like a letter of marque from Pirates! to me. More »

Episode 6 of DC Universe Online's video dev diary Inside the Studio has been released on Facebook, with Game Director Chris Cao and Creative Director Jens Andersen answering the latest round of fan questions.

The questions, of course, were pulled from Facebook comments, and the 10-minute video covered quite a few subjects. The developers confirmed that you will have powers which allow you to shapeshift into various animals, taking on their powers. They gave more details on weapons, powers, and the combinations thereof, details about flight, story arcs, and much more.

Check out the full video on Facebook for all the answers, and keep an eye out for Episode 7.

Filed under: Super-hero, Video, News items, DC Universe Online

DC Universe Online releases new video developer Q&A originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If, like me, you're playing StarCraft II on a Mac, you've little choice in the hardware on which you'll play it. But if you're in the market for a new PC, you may want to make it a StarCraft-playing beast. More »

Lovely Farm (Web)
Lovely Farm

Michael Jordan isn't the only best-ever superstar gracing the cover of a video game and appearing in it this year. Wayne Gretzky's playable in NHL Slapshot and also serves as your mentor in the singleplayer career mode. More »

NBA 2K11 (X360)
Basketball has never looked so good.

NBA 2K11 (PS3)
Basketball has never looked so good.

High Moon Studios announces a double experience points weekend for Transformers: War for Cybertron will kick off tomorrow at 9:00 pm EDT through 3:00 pm EDT on Monday, saying: "Anyone playing in...

There's a new Modding Guide on the Elemental War of Magic Website, as the mod tools are available as of beta 4 of the 4X turn-based strategy game. The article has details on file formats and an...

A new Shogun 2: Total War Gameplay Trailer offers a look at the upcoming installment in Creative Assembly's real-time strategy series. The clip features a naval invasion, and true to the series,...

Haden Blackman, executive producer and writer on the Force Unleashed series, has departed LucasArts, reports IGN. "I've had a fantastic time working with the team at Lucasfilm and am really grateful...

Back by popular demand. Command & Conquer Series on the EA Online Store. Save up to 75%. Elven Legacy Bundle on Impulse. Save 60%. Fallen Earth: Blood Sports on Direct2Drive. Save 40%. Also includes...

A new automatic patch is now available for Serious Sam HD: Second Encounter, the first-person shooter remake, announces Steam News. The new version fixes display of menus and the HUD on extra wide...

Steam now offers a new automatic patch for Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge, the classic adventure game remake. Here are the patch notes. Adjusted timing delays for certain puzzles...

A new Railworks patch is now automatically available via Steam, updating the transport simulation with several changes, including the addition of the RailSimulator.com Career System. The new version...

A new patch for Garry's Mod is now automatically available on Steam, adding two new game modes, among the changes, which are listed below. Added Fretta gamemode "Dogfight: Arcade Assault" Added...

Natural Selection 2 News has details on a new patch for the Natural Selection 2 Alpha that's now automatically available through Steam. Word is: "Our priority in this patch was addressing the issues...

Mafia II on GameZone.

Cosplayers of Comic Con.

Design a Trials HD track and win fame and (a small) fortune. Kinect and Move- Not Really for Families.

Thanks Acleacius. Android vs iPhone vs Palm Pre vs Maemo- which is best? Thanks Ant via Linux Today. Music video created with Nintendo DSi. 'Unhackable' Android phone can be hacked. New Amazon Kindle:...

Thanks Ant. Nvidia warns of second-quarter revenue shortfall. Thanks [H]ard-OCP. AMD Wrestles Discrete Graphics Crown from NVIDIA. GPU value in the DirectX 11 age. Libraries top Netflix, Redbox when...

The Lineage II Freya patch has been in the works for a while, and NCsoft let us know last week that it's nearing completion.

The company promised more information soon, and it arrived today along with access to the Play Test Server. The official release date for the Freya patch was given today -- Freya will be available to everyone on August 24th.

The full patch notes were released today as well, and if you want to read through them be prepared to spend some time. The list of bug fixes, new items, content additions, and so on is long enough to warrant 13 forum posts from the community manager. The notes may be long, but they're broken down into manageable sections this way, which helps quite a bit.

Until the August 24th release date, feel free to download the Play Test Server to get a feel for the patch. For a bit more of a preview, follow along after the jump for a new video depicting some brand-new emotes.

Continue reading Lineage II: Freya PTS open, launch date and patch notes released

Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Lineage 2, Patches, News items

Lineage II: Freya PTS open, launch date and patch notes released originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Michael Jackson's estate wasn't too thrilled with the zombie King of Pop lookalike featured in Plants Vs. Zombies. Not wanting to be startin' something legally with Jackson's legal team, PopCap opted to drop that moonwalking zombie for something less litigious. More »

Update
07:50PM PST - All classes changes are now up.
07:00PM PST - Added interface strings and Mage changes.
06:30PM PST - Added Warrior changes.
06:00PM PST - Added Battle for Gilneas

News on 3DS's price/release, SOCOM 4 delayed, & PS3 sales are up.