'Sonic' does not mean regular, normal, or boring. For starters, the Palit HD 4870 Sonic has a turbo switch, two fans, and is overclocked. But is there any reason to stick with a vanilla HD 4870?
Crytek seems pretty happy with the work they've done in Crysis Warhead -- and they want you to be happy with it to. Starting today, you can play Crysis Wars -- the multiplayer portion of Warhead -- for free.
The free-play ends on Sunday, at midnight, PST.
Shoot people in the face with a shotgun. Capture buildings. Punch someone in the knee. The possibilities are endless.
There are three modes for your playing enjoyment, and 21 maps, of various sizes. All weapons and vehicles are present in the free play. Rock and roll.
The system requirements for Crysis Warhead are much more forgiving than Crysis as well. So you might be able to actually play the game with decent framerates, which is cool.
And the system requirements are...
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 2.66GHz 3M Processor RAM: 1GB (1.5GB on Windows Vista) Graphics Card: NVidia GeForce 6800GT, ATI Radeon 9800Pro (Radeon X800 for Vista) or better VRAM: 256MB of Graphics Memory Storage: 15GB Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Microsoft Vista ODD: DVD-ROM DirectX: DX9.0c or DX10
Damn! 2.66GHz dual core! Forget what I said. Most people probably can't play this. But if you can -- well, enjoy your free play.
Instructions for getting into the free play weekend are here.
Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Worldwide Studios, has stated that he would like to see Microsoft's Xbox 360 succeed in Japan.
With the Nintendo Wii and DS dominating Japanese markets, Yoshida wants both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to do better in order to push concepts of hi-def gaming to consumers. He expresses his dismay over Japan's slow acceptance of "more sophisticated" gaming in an interview with Eurogamer:
"I like to see people here in Japan showing interest in high-definition gaming and more sophisticated gaming experiences. In terms of realistic-looking graphics and smarter AI, they haven't really shown the appetite for what this generation of gaming can offer. I'd really like to see both PS3 and 360 succeed here.
...I'm saying what Microsoft is offering and what we are offering are closer, compared to what other platforms are offering. Because of that commonality, the new games coming out on 360 and PS3 help to get consumers more interested in this generation of gaming."
Yoshida attribute's the Xbox 360's recent boost in Japan to its exclusive RPGs. However, the 360's sales spike doesn't mean that Japanese consumers are buying into next-gen gaming:
"...RPGs are very important for this market. But quite honestly, the real number being sold - we haven't seen real acceptance of the platform here in the Japanese market. The Nintendo Wii is still by far the biggest platform in Japan."
Basically, Yoshida believes that success for the Xbox 360 could lead to greater success for their console as well. He still claims that the PlayStation 3 has more to offer than its rival, but did admit that he prefers Microsoft's Xbox Avatars to Nintendo's Miis:
"Well, they're a little bit older-looking. Personally, Microsoft's work is closer to my personal preference. The Miis are very nice, but everybody looks cute, like Japanese-style characters."
Yoshida was reluctant to say much concerning the PS3's 2009 line-up, but Eurogamer assures us that he has "a lovely smile."
Microsoft's Xbox 360 is still outselling Sony's PlayStation 3 in Japan, but the 360's lead over its competitor decreases with each passing week.
In September, the Xbox 360 saw a startling leap in sales, going from 843 to 28,681 thanks to price cuts and some exclusive J-RPGs, and wound up outselling the Wii and PS3 by 1,000 units. A week later, it remained ahead of Sony's media-machine but fell behind Nintendo's endearing casual console.
Now, less than a month later, we see the Xbox 360 clinging to its declining glory, ahead of the PlayStation 3 by just 1,000 units.
Not surprisingly, Nintendo's handheld sits on top of sales charts, despite the upcoming Japanese release of the DSi. All platforms sales took a drop this week, with the exception of Sony's PSP, which saw a modest increase of just a few hundred units.
Of Japan's top 50 games this week, 23 were for the Nintendo DS, nine for the Wii, eight for PSP, five for PS2, three for PS3, and two for Xbox 360.
EA's Mythic Entertainment announced today that their hit MMO Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning now boasts 750,000 registered users.
Based on the popular tabletop war game from Games Workshop, Warhammer Online took number one on PC sales charts around the world when first launched.
"Thanks to our players, the war between the Realms continues to escalate at an incredible pace," said Mark Jacobs, co-founder and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. "The battlefields are alive with three quarters of a million players fighting for the forces of Order and Destruction in truly epic and unparalleled Realm vs. Realm battles!"
This is very good news for Mythic, whose popular new MMO acquired 500k players during its first week on the market. It looks like Warhammer is still going strong despite the nearing release of Blizzard's World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King, which is set to launch November 13.
Of course, there's no way of telling how many of those 750k registered are active players. The same can be said of Warcraft's whopping user base of 10 million.
The secret is out. The third new class revealed for Diablo 3. The new class is most classic of Tolkien fantasy archetypes: the Wizard.
Yes, the Wizard. Many Diablo fans suspected as much -- after the Barbarian, and the Witch Doctor, a big gap in the class landscape was a character class focused on using magic, like the Sorcerer in previous Diablo games. What's the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer, you might wonder? Even if I knew the answer to that one I would not mention it -- that'd be way too nerdy to even put into writing.
Like Starcraft 2, it looks like Blizzard is committed to the theory that if something works, there is not much need to change it. It looks like they are sticking to the standard fantasy classes: we have the Barbarian, the pure melee fighter; the Witch Doctor, which will take care of the 'pet' class, replacing the Necromancer of Diablo II; and now the Wizard.
Really, you pretty much need an all magic class for Diablo 3. All the fans pretty much expected him to show up, it was just a matter of win.
Now that we have three out of five classes down, let's take a stab at the remaining two.
A long-range fighter seems like a good choice. Something along the lines of the Hunter, or Ranger. Something that uses bows. Perhaps throw in some traps. That'll be the fourth class.
The fifth class I think is the only big wildcard in Diablo 3. Once all the bases have been covered (magic user, warrior, etc) then the Blizzard guys will put their creative hats on.
My personal vote would be for an Alchemist. This dude would us pole-arms and staffs for his weapons. And he'd make potions. And bombs. And maybe a side-kick golem or two.
However the safe bet for Blizzard would be a Knight or Paladin. A holy fighter kind of dude that can swing sword and heal and banish stuff. Seems like a likely choice.
Update: Wizard's skill trees: Conjuring, Arcane, Storm. Some spells: Time slow/stop, teleport, disintegration (that's the red beam in the shots below), some sort of tornado spell, magic missile, mana increase (increases drop rates of mana-fill potions/globes, duplicate (makes a clone of yourself), magic shield, magic weapon damage increase.
According to hands-on session on DIII.NET, the skill trees look fantastic -- they have many different skills and ability tiers, and there should be tons and tons of different character builds you'll be able to do.
Surely Diablo III is going to rock. Personally I wish I never heard of it -- I wish it just came out one day all of sudden, because I'm going to be looking forward to this one for a long time, it looks like.
For you D3 news needs, I recommend www.diii.net -- they'll be live-blogging Blizzcon Diablo news today.
A recent panel discussion held by the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) at the The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) yesterday concurred computer and video games can be a "force for good" in today's society.
The discussion was chaired by journalist Mary Riddell, and included experts from children's, religious and computer and video games groups, including the following:
• Martin Houghton-Brown, deputy director of new business, The Children's Society • Mike Royal, national director, The Lighthouse Group • Joseph Steinberg, Marketing & Fund Raising Director, The Church Mission Society • Andy Payne, chairman of ELSPA
Martin Houghton-Brown, deputy director of new business of The Children's Society, explained children now see gaming as a normal part of everyday life (it being a multi-billion dollar industry, it's no wonder). Interestingly, television watching is down from 3 hours a day to 2.5 hours a day since 2001.
"We now live in a digital age where the nature of playing games has changed. Now we have online games where interaction with others is possible. Children tell us supportive and loving relationships are key to a good childhood, we need to equip parents and carers to support children to stay safe when they play in the growing online world" he said.
As for that whole "issue" concerning violent video games and the potentially negative effect they could have on kids, Andy Payne, chairman of ELSPA, said simply: “Computer games can be violent but that is why there is an age rating system, PEGI, which gives parents the information to make their own decisions.”
He went on to say the games industry's job is “to help people understand what the ratings are there for and enable society to do its best to protect children by relying on parents to make decisions armed with the information and understanding of the ratings system.” Smart man. It's nice to know we have at least some sensible people at the top.
Mike Royal, national director of the Lighthouse Group, which helps to educate children who have been excluded from school, discussed the usefulness playing computer and video games can have in talking about 'boundaries' with young people and what behaviour is good and acceptable, not only in gaming but in other aspects of life, too.
He also stated gaming aids in bridging a dialogue between the parents of a household, and between the children, especially regarding the types of games kids are playing:
“The PEGI system provides a framework to help us support parents and educate them about the suitability of games, as well as providing clear guidelines on whether a game is appropriate for a specific age group” he said.
Now, while the panel concurred computer and video games can have a positive impact, they noted games must be "utilised in the right way" in order to yield the best results. Indeed, while I don't think things like games will affect an average adult or teenager negatively (i.e. causing them to be violent), kids are not yet molded, so to speak, and are impressionable and susceptible to these sorts of things. Take it from someone who watched way too much Power Rangers as a kid and got in trouble for beating up his friend. Not cool! As such, the panel states parental engagement and encouragement, as well as "safe and social gaming", can help children develop, and protect them in an environment which is heading more and more online.
At its Tokyo Game Show press conference today, Sony announced that 24 game companies have agreed to produce content for the upcoming and highly anticipated PlayStation Home.
The companies on board will have Home collaboration events for their games, and Sony has revealed that both Resident Evil 5 and Street FighterIV will feature some kind of Home support. There will even be in-Home character dolls for SF IV!
The list includes quite a few big names. Here are the companies mentioned at the conference:
In video games, there always some form of competition present. Gamers give it there all to best each other in the field of virtual combat, and testosterone may only increase that need to prove themselves -- and their manhoods.
Well, Dutch researchers at the Utrecht University have some discouraging news for boastful male gamers. In a study conducted by Dr. Marcel Waldinger, nearly 200 Dutch men who were a bit too quick in the sheets were shown to have a unique gene controlling their serotonin.
In the men who appeared to have this issue, the hormone was less active between the nerves in the section of the brain that controls ejaculation.
"This contradicts the idea, which has been common for years, that the primary form of premature ejaculation is a psychological disorder," Dr. Waldinger commented.
For a month, the subjects' female partners were asked to use a stopwatch during moments of intimacy in order. Talk about working under pressure!
Paula Hall, a sexual psychotherapist for relationship therapy service Relate, suggested that men with this alleged problem-gene are generally fast reactors.
"These men have very quick reflexes," she explained. "They may be excellent at playing tennis or computer games, for example."
There's no cause and effect here -- gaming won't cause premature ejaculation or vice versa -- but a correlation appears to exist in the newly discovered gene that handles serotonin interaction. A third of men are thought to suffer from premature ejaculation, though there is currently no medication for this condition.
So next time an adversary won't quit bragging about his victory, go ahead and point out his flawed gene.
North American MMO publisher Wicked Interactive has announced that their online gaming portal, Suba Games, has accumulated 1.5 million users in just two month's time. Started on August 14, 2008, Suba Games is host to several notable free-to-play MMOs, including ACE Online, Priston Tales, and the upcoming Priston Tales 2: The Second Enigma.
Even Stanley Yu, president and CEO of Wicked Interactive, was startled by its popularity:
"We were of course confident in our games and our portal, but the astonishing growth of our community has surprised even us. The gamers who have joined the Suba Games family are joining because of the great games, and they are staying because of the great customer service and sense of community."
Priston Tales 2: The Second Enigma will launch later this fall, following its overwhelming success overseas. Wicked has released some screenshots in lieu of the approaching release date; apparently, many of the females have armored bosoms and are exempt from having to wear chest armor.
A new PC game came out this week. It is a life simulation game, called Kudos 2. It's a independent. A real independent game. In fact, it was mostly made by just one guy. (The guy's name is Cliff Harris -- you might remember a news story about him a month ago or so when he started a public discourse with pirates on piracy.)
The premise of the game is fairly simple: you play a guy or a girl who just turned 20 years old. The game ends when you turn 30, just like in real life. Through the decisions you make, you'll turn out to be a successful dude or dudette, or a pathetic failure. The choice is yours!
Being a small-team indie game, the graphics are limited -- but effective enough. The gameplay consists of choosing stuff, making every day type decisions (go bowling with your buddy, or stay home and watch TV?), and improving your character with night classes and stuff like bathing. Kudos 2 is sort of like a 2D stream-lined Sims 2.
I played the demo for an hour or two last night. I'd give the game 7 out of 10 indie stars. The game is well put together, runs smooth, and has a nice look. The gameplay can be pretty engaging -- in the demo, I just finished a night course that unlocked a new career path in journalism, for my character. I was tempted to pony up the $15 for the full version of the game to see how things all turned out. I felt that relationships could be flashed out a bit though, and at times, the gameplay has a repetitive nature to it.
But feel free to judge for yourself. You can get the demo here. And the game has very low system requirements for those of you with older computers.
Vancouver is a pretty cool place. We have mountains. Oceans close by. And tons of game developers. What's not to like?
One of the game developers that we like is Kerberos Productions -- makers of PC 4X strategy game Sword of the Stars -- because they let us do a little tour around their studio last week.
Working at a smaller studio like this seems like a better job than most -- they all seem really nice, and any place that has space ship designs on the walls is a good place in my books.
Kerberos recently released an expansion for Sword of the Stars, called a Murder of Crows.
EA Black Box revealed the new online modes in Need for Speed Undercover today, including a new multiplayer mode: Cops and Robbers.
Cops and Robbers is exactly what it sounds like. Two teams of four will be pit against each other, with one team playing the cops and the other acting as robbers. Robbers will need to pick up a package and take it to the drop-off point while the cops-team tries to stop them. Each game goes for two rounds, giving players the chance to play as both sides.
"High-intensity police chases are a signature component of Undercover and this extends to the multiplayer experience as well," said Bill Harrison, Executive Producer of Black Box. "The cops and the robbers mode will thrust players into andrenaline-pumping battles as they utilize the Heroic Driving Engine to deliver or prevent the delivery of the package in the safe house."
It sounds like a page out of Grand Theft Auto IV's online mode, but that's where the similarities end. The other modes for Undercover consist of sprint and circuit multiplayer races.
The game's soundtrack also features over 30 songs from various artists, such as The Prodigy, Tricky and Justice. Those interested can sample some of the music at EA Trax.
In an announcement on the Sierra Community Forums, Sierra/Vivendi listed 21 game servers that will be taken down on November 1. Some of the games date back to 1998, spanning all the way to 2006.
No specific reasons for this move were mentioned in the forum post. According to Shacknews, these servers will still retain their multiplayer functions but no longer allow server browsing or other additional community features, such as Tribes 2's clan support. Players will need to use direct IP connections or third party server browsing software if they want to keep playing online. Local multiplayer functions will remain unaffected.
Here is the list of servers from the original forum announcement:
Bethesda's sure-hit blockbuster Fallout 3 is coming October 28th, and reviews have been starting to trickle in.
So far the few reviews released have been from print magazines. A few days ago French mag PC Jeux gave the game a 93%. Now it seems that PC Gamer Sweden gave the game a less-impressive, but still good, 81%.
One of the opening lines of his review reads: "Fallout 3 IS "Oblivion with guns" -- which is what many were expecting. It seems that the Swede reviewer, Joakim Bennet, was a huge fan of the earlier Fallout games, and judged many of the game's elements against its successors. The bottom line seems to be if you were looking for a RPG like the original Fallout games, then you'll be disappointed. But if you are a fan of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, then you will probably like Fallout 3. This is not much of a big surprise, I suppose.
The reviewer praised the game's VATS combat system -- which he said was much superior to the real time combat -- and the game's SPECIAL skill system (one of the few mechanics taken from the original games.) On the down side, much like Oblivion, the reviewer stated that many of the backdrops and NPCs seem lifeless.
“Fallout 3 is an uneven game if I´ve ever seen one," the reviewer states.
Then later on: "Because in Fallout 3 I get almost everything served directly. Bethesda have tried to squeeze in as much as possible on area as small as possible. Substance enough for a lifetime in short-movie format, if you want to. And the result is an anticlimax, too much of the good in too short time. One minute I'm running into a nest of rad-scorpions, while there is a peaceful camp of settlers 30 meters away. Some slavers are walking around with their slaves just around the corner and some raiders just settled down a bit farther away. A quick jog and I'm a nest of deathclaws. It's compressed, maximized and anonymized at the same time. It feels like a enormous orgy where nobody wants to fire away. There's tight and crowded, but no friction nor excitement. Many parts, but no entirety. And this feeling of getting the world pushed in my the face is the single largest weakness with Fallout 3, and every one that loved the original two games will scratch their head, wondering."
The review does end on a high note, however: "But first and foremost, the game doesn’t let go of you, despite flaws. the story always makes you want to take a few steps more, and after every disappointment there will be a moment of awe."
For this gamer, it was mods that made Oblivion go from a so-so game to an excellent game -- maybe Fallout 3 will be the same way? I hope Bethesda does release a SDK eventually, as they have said they would.
So far a 81% and 93% -- it'll be interesting to see what other reviewers will say. Especially those who haven't played the first two games, which seems to have really skewed this Swedish reviewer's review.
(Follow the blog link below if you'd like to read more excerpts.)
Bringing the internet together as one big, happy family
YouTube has struck a deal with American online retailer Amazon.com in a move to increase revenues and create new advertising formats.
Links to Amazon.com's video game selection will soon begin appearing on YouTube, as well as links to the retail site and iTunes for music. EA Maxis' Spore will be one of the first games to get a link in this new advertisement campaign between the two internet giants.
In addition to games and music, YouTube hopes to eventually expand into movies, TV show, books, concert tickets, and other media-related products via related video clips on the site.
"There'll be lots of different solutions for lots of different problems," said Shishir Mehrotra, YouTube's director of product management. "We've tested a lot of things already, and we're going to be testing more in the future. Some will work, some won't."
When Nintendo announced that their new DSi would have downloadable content via DSWare that can be purchased with Nintendo Points, Nintendo fans wondered if points could be shared between the Wii and DSi.
It's a reasonable conjecture, considering the Wii also uses Nintendo Points for digital purchases, and there's no real evidence showing that the points won't be interchangeable -- until now. Reports have arisen, and we are reminded that Nintendo doesn't currently have an overarching account system to control digital distribution.
As such, once a Nintendo Points card has been used on either the Wii or DSi, remaining points must be spent on the same console. Gamers will not be able to split their Nintendo currency between the two platforms.
Here we see what the new Nintendo Points cards will look like when they're released in Japan this November. The second slide is a diagram demonstrating how the points will work, as explained in the article.
Coming from one of the most popular mods of all time...
Have you heard of Defense of the Ancients? It just might be the second most popular mod ever made, taking only a back seat to Counter Strike. The mod used the Warcraft III engine, and put the player in a sort of RTS-RPG hybrid fantasy game.
Just announced, moments ago, from the team that made Defense of the Ancients is what seems to be a commercial expansion of the game: it is called League of Legends.
The new company behind it is Riot Games. They have been working on League of Legends secretely for about a year now, it seems. Beta will begin in 2009 for the game, and you can sign up here.
For those of you who are not familar with Defense of the Ancients, the biggest strength of the game, in my opinion, is the tremendous selection of characters that you can choose to be. The game has an astounding 91 different heroes to choose to play as -- far, far more options than most commercial games offer (for example, the upcoming Gas Powered Games Demigod game which borrows from the Defense of the Ancients concept is only offering 8 different heroes to choose from.) In addition to the 91 heroes, players can purchase many different items, bringing a depth of strategy to the game not often found.
From the press release:
""League of Legends will bring gamers competitive battle-arena style gameplay that builds upon and expands on innovative gameplay concepts that were pioneered in DotA-Allstars, one of the most popular mods of all time," Brandon Beck, co-founder and CEO, Riot Games, said. "The team is applying its expertise and passion to producing a game that fuses premium art and gameplay features with deep community tools.
n League of Legends, players take on the role of a persistent Summoner avatar that gazes upon the battlefield from above and influences battles by taking command of a chosen Champion. During each online multiplayer play session, gamers will choose one of dozens of unique Champions wielding diverse skills and abilities, and engage in fast-paced team-oriented combat to bring their foes to ruin. Champions will gain levels, items, and abilities that enable them to slay their opponents and augment the strength of their allies by battling with enemy minions, foul beasts, deadly turrets and enemy Champions. Players also advance their Summoner's rank and power to gain new abilities and items, assisting their Champions in battle.
League of Legends emphasizes team-oriented gameplay and players must work together in order to defeat the opposing team. Players will be able to communicate easily through in-game lounges and chat rooms, and forums will act as a conversational hub for a wide variety of discussions amongst community members. League of Legends will feature custom-built multiplayer support including matchmaking, stat tracking, clan support, anti-cheat systems, dedicated in-game ladders and Leaverbuster technology. In addition to extensive multiplayer features, League of Legends will include a single-player mode where players can learn how to play and practice new strategies by engaging robust Bot-AI.
The League of Legends community will feature an abundance of ongoing events including tournaments, leagues and contests. The Riot development team will open their doors for community input, allowing gamers to have their opinions heard, have their ideas implemented in League of Legends and continue to shape the game as it evolves post-launch."
Album set to be released in November -- cake not included!
Most readers might have been misled by the headline into believing that Mirror's Edge bears some connection to Valve's hit title Portal. Well, there is none.
The Mirror's Edge theme song, Still Alive, actually has nothing to do with Jonathan Coulton's Portal theme. Though the two songs share the same name, the version in question it written by Rami Yacoub and Arnthor Birgisson and sung by Lisa Miskovsky, not sung by Ellen McLain.
A remix album featuring the Mirror's Edge theme song will be available for download on November 11, released alongside the game. This digital soundtrack contains six versions of Still Alive:
Mirror's Edge Remix Album
Lisa Miskovsky - Still Alive (Mirror's Edge Theme Song)
Benny Benassi - Still Alive (Remix)
Junkie XL - Still Alive (Remix)
Paul van Dyk - Still Alive (Remix)
Teddybears - Still Alive (Remix)
Armand Van Helden - Still Alive (Remix)
There's no price tag for the album as of yet, but retailer Best Buy is offering a CD featuring the theme song and Benassi's remix to gamers who pre-order Mirror's Edge through them.
For those who have been asking about the song featured in the game's debut trailer, that particular piece is "Shine," by Alcorus, and isn't included in the remix album.
Hardcore Deus Ex fans worry about things like the auto-heal system
Across message boards and forums, many hardcore PC gamers and fans of the original Deus Ex game have been voicing concerns over yesterday's disclosure of early details regarding the upcoming sequel, Deus Ex 3.
The three most contentious issues seem to be: the idea of a 'Call of Duty 4' style auto-heal design change for the game; the introduction of a 'Gears of War' style cover system; and the removal of a point-based skill systems (for example, the original game had nine skills, such as lock picking, computers, rifles, and swimming.)
PC gamers are concerned that Deus Ex 3 will go the way of the last sequel to the game, Deus Ex: Invisible War, which had much less depth than the original game, and many found disappointing.
The general perception was that Invisible War was 'dumbed down for consoles' and many of the strongest elements of the original game were abandoned. Likewise, reading many forums, it seems that many gamers are concerned that Deus Ex 3 is destined to become much more focused on action, rather than focused on RPG elements, like in the first game. Auto-healing, the cover system, and augmentations such as 'Multi-Kill' which unleash "a combo of devastating martial arts" seem to support these fears.
However, in the first revealing of details on the game in the print magazine October issue of PC Zone, the Edios Montreal design team behind Deus Ex 3 seemed focused on recreating the critical design elements that made the original Deus Ex winner of many, many awards, and to be now considered one of the best PC games ever made, by many gamers and critics alike. The design team reiterated to the gaming public that the RPG elements in the coming sequel will be strong. Hacking and NPC interaction will also play a big role. Leveling up and experience points will have a "renewed emphasis" in Deus Ex 3.
"We want to make this franchise evolve," lead game designer Jean-Francois Dugas was quoted as saying. "One thing was clear in our minds: we wanted to respect the core values of Deus Ex, to mix genres and ensure that choice and consequence is at the core of the experience."
Fans still might be concerned however -- none of the original team is working on the game, and many of the makers of Deus Ex 3 have strong backgrounds in action games, but not much (if any) RPG experience. For example, lead game designer Jean-Francois Dugas has previously worked on the Far Cry: Instinct, and Francois Lapikas, senior game designer, is coming from the Tom Clany's Splinter Cell series. Furthermore, senior level designer Stephan Carmignani is best known for his work on the third-person shooter Dead to Rights 2.
This isn't to say that these competent and creative people are unable to make a new Deus Ex game live up to the high expectations of fans. But it does seem like those that are concerned that Deus Ex 3 will become merely a cyberpunk, conspiracy themed TBS in same mold as Gears of War, not a RPG-FPS like the much loved original game, do have at least some basis for being concerned.
Eee PC shipments believed to have hit 700K units last month
Earlier this summer it appeared that Asus was experiencing a shortfall in its Eee PC "netbook" sales, with shipments falling below expections for the first half of this year. Despite this, Chinese news wire Commercial Times reports that Eee PC shipments for September are actually the highest yet for Asus, hitting 700,000 units. Total third quarter Eee PC shipments are expected to hit 1.7 million units. The report notes that we're hitting the peak months of the year (October and November), so Asus might be able to maintain this momentum into the fourth quarter.
Currently, Asustek's Eee PC gross margins are between 15-20%. But since Acer has started to increase its netbook shipments, market watchers expect Asustek to adjust margins down to around 15% in oder to counter. However, the company denied the speculation saying margins will remain steady and that shipments of 10-inch Eee PC models will start to pick up in the fourth quarter, added the paper.
Of course, shipments are one portion of the pie. What should prove to be a better indicator of the Eee PC brand performance are actual sales figures.
True Games Interactive, a new global multiplayer online game publisher, announced today that they have appointed Peter Jarvis as the company's Chief Technology Officer.
Jarvis is an industry veteran and familiar with its heavy hitters. Most recently, he held the position of VP and Chief Information Officer at NCSoft, which gave him more than 15 years of experience in information technology -- 10 years focused on IT and game operations in MMOs. As such, Jarvis will be overseeing all applications and web development while launching and integrating multiple AAA MMO titles while building the True Tech platform at True Games.
Prior to NCSoft, Jarvis was head of information technology at ClearCommerce Corp, and EA/Origin Systems.
"Our mission is to deliver AAA social games to a free to play world. The foundation of our success will be building flawless, advanced technology to support our games," said Bob Drobish, CEO of True Games Interactive. "The addition of a highly experienced head of technology to our executive team is critical and Peter's background and in-depth knowledge make him a perfect fit for the role."
True Games Interactive plays a key role in several partnerships including a recent one with developer Petroglyph of Universe at War fame. True Games and Petroglyph are expected to announce full product details and launch timeframe in the near future.
Yessir, Goldeneye is influencing developers even today, and big ones no less, like Treyarch. The studio, who is currently working on the next Bond title, Quantum of Solace, says they use it as a measuring stick of sorts. When one if its developers Adam Gascoine (Gascoigne?) was asked if they wish it never existed, this was his response:
"I don't know. I don't know if it would. I think in hindsight some would say yes, I wish it had never existed. Actually it's beneficial to us, to be honest with you, because it's like a motivator. It might turn out bad, you never know right? But it's a motivator. You've always got this 500 pound gorilla in the room. We play it all of the time. We've got it up and running."
But like me, he feels it "might be" time for gamers to "get over" Goldeneye:
"I guess in that respect yeah it probably would be nice to have nothing to compare to. But you could also say the advantage is that people will look at this game and say 'oh my God! They got it! Another GoldenEye!'. And that's just going to be wonderful for us if we get that. But I think the actual content of our game does put it to bed."
A double-edged sword, it seems, Mister Gascoigne (I'm going with that, it makes him sound like he has an evil goatee). Personally (oh, I hear the fanboys stampeding already), I find Goldeneye to be to FPS' as Final Fantasy VII is to RPGs: overrated. Gasp! Sacrilege! Look, Goldeneye is a great and well-made game, it's just I think when the majority of gamers seem to hail it as "the greatest console FPS of all time", I think that's over the top. And also, at least from an objective top-down sort of perspective, I feel Perfect Dark did everything Goldeneye did and better, and gave us more, a lot more (kinda like I think FF VIII did). I'm not going to go off and say it's the greatest console FPS of all time, but it is one of my personal favourites. Other FPS' have different things to offer anyway, so I find it a little strange to hype a game up like that.
So, let's maybe move up and out and hope Quantam of Solace has its own greatness to give. Coming from Treyarch, and judging from the interviews, I doubt we should expect anything less.
It's an early news leak but it seems AMD is set to spin off manufacturing responsibilities to a new separate venture which will also assume responsibility for producing chips for other companies as well. The large plants over in Germany and other regions are apparently all part of the deal and the investment to fund this whole deal is said to be associated with the government of Abu Dhabi.
Further details about the split of power and future or name of the new company have yet to be revealed, one has to wonder if this will help the company refocus itself and get back into heavier R&D since they were already said to be experimenting with TSMC on chips, one has to also wonder how this might play in their already announced path to 45nm and if that might be a factor in the company ramping up production so fast with early samples already coming out.
We'll keep you posted as more breaks on this with any details on how this will impact road maps or any benefits coming to the company from the announcement of this change.
Update: AMD is becoming two separate entities: a design company and a silicon manufacturing company. In partnership with the Advanced Technology Investment Company, which is an investment firm sponsored by the government of Abu Dhabi (the second largest city in the United Arab Emirates), a new enterprise called the Foundry Company is being started. ATIC is committing 5.7 billion dollars (!) to the The Foundry Company over the next few years, which will go towards building semi-conductor fabs in New York state (gaining 1,400 jobs), and a new factory in Dresden (for starters). AMD's current fabrication plants will be sold to The Foundry Company. AMD and ATIC will have a joint share in The Foundry Company.
This will help AMD immediately -- they will receive 2.1 billion dollars in investment, as well as there debts being transferred to ATIC. Since purchasing ATI, AMD had had cash liquidity problems, so this will alleviate this problem. The entity of AMD will now be concentrating on designing new CPUs and GPUs.
Abu Dhabi, on the other hand, gains a big share in the global nanotechnology market. Rich from oil money, this investment will lead towards the United Arab Emirates playing a much larger part in the manufacture of semiconductors.
AMD's current executive chairman, Hector Ruiz, will become a chairman of The Foundry Company. AMD's senior vice president, Doug Grose, will become CEO of The Foundry Company.
These changes will not happen right away -- the deal will have to be approved by regulators.
Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley has more or less stated their company's next move. It appears that SOE believes consoles MMOs will be met with enough success to warrant their attention.
"We see that marketing coming; we think it's there now, so we want to get a good market share there. I would say that we would be one of the early adopters on [bringing MMOs to consoles], and we plan on becoming one of the dominant players in the MMO space on consoles...
I think what's going to happen is you're going to see a whole new generation of players that have been playing 'Resistance' now start getting introduced to MMOs. I think it's going to be a cool way for them to experience games that have been on the PC for a while, but have a totally different kind of gameplay on the console."
As such, SOE's upcoming MMOs DC Universe Online and The Agency will be released for the PlayStation 3 and PC at the same time.
Back in July's E3 Media and Business Summit, lead designer for The AgencyHal Milton mentioned to me that SOE was still trying to figure out how to balance out the differences that would occur between PS3 and PC versions of the MMO. Another issue SOE still has to consider is how to fairly charge players, especially when PSN is a free service.
Amazon.com and Natsume wooing gamers with great deals
Developer and publisher Natsume announced today that, true to tradition, they are offering a squirrel plush as an exclusive pre-order gift for gamers who order Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon through Amazon.com.
"There are gamers counting the days until they get their hands on Rune Factory 2, and we wanted to give them a little something special for being the first to order the game," said Hiro Maekawa, President and CEO at Natsume. "Fans of Rune Factory and Harvest Moon have loved the exclusive plushes that we have created for the series over the years, so we know that they will be excited to get their hands on this one and add it to their collection."
Amazon.com's Rune Factory 2 page indeed states there will be a "gift with purchase." Priced at $27.99 and eligible for the site's free Super Saver Shipping, it's a better package than most other retailers are offering. Plush supplies are limited, however, so there is a first-come-first-serve basis, as with most special bundles.
Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon is set to launch on November 18, 2008 for the Nintendo DS.
Next project to be revealed October 21 -- a KotoR MMO?
There has been much speculation since E3 that LucasArts and BioWare would be working together on a Knight of the Old Republic MMO, but the two companies have never actually confirmed anything.
On October 21, LucasArts and BioWare will be unveiling their joint development project to the press, likely at LucasArts' San Francisco office. Nothing Star Wars-related was mentioned in the invitation issued to various media outlets, only an obscure declaration that "the wait is over." If nothing else, there's a good chance this game is going to be sci-fi. Perhaps actually mentioning Star Wars would have been too forward of them?
"We've got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development," he said, referring to Warhammer Online and Knights of the Old Republic. "And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it."
It seems that a revision is coming for the 9600 GSO. Where 65nm G92 GPUs were, three new GPUs are going to be: G94-210-A1 (65nm), G94-210-B1 (55nm) and the G94-219-B1 (55nm). This should happen according to unnamed "sources" friends with Chinese site Expreview.
Not all the board partners will be able to sell the new GSO though. Only a few companies will be allowed; the short-list for the new GSO include Asus, Leadtek, XFX and MSI.
It is too early to tell what sort of differences to the 9600 GSO these changes will bring. The 9600GSO is currently a speedy, inexpensive video card that compares well to ATI's option, the HD 4670, often selling for around a $100 USD. Judging from this, a reasonable guess would be that the new 9600 GSO will be about as powerful as the old 9600 GSO, but NVIDIA will be able to manufacture it for less, allowing them to price products more competitively.
The second unknown is what name the new 9600 GSO will bear. Expreview seems to believe that when NVIDIA will revise the 9600 GSO GPU, they will keep the same name for the card -- this would not be the first time for NVIDIA to do this. However, with news of the new NVIDIA naming scheme, it seems that with the core revision, it would be good time to change the name. The 9600 GT is set to become the GT 130, so maybe the new 9600 GSO could be the GS 130? (The new naming scheme was supposedly launched to help clear up some naming convention confusion -- but at least at first, it seems like it'll be a bit of puzzle to figure out what is what.)
Shaky cameras and low quality footage feeding the fanboy senses
E For All wraps up today at the Los Angeles Convention Center. This year we see one of the perks (or drawbacks) of a video game convention open to the public, with the E3 Media & Business Summit closing its doors for a private audience.
Just as our news slash social networking site GameGrep allows users to provide the content, E For All makes a reporter out of anyone with a recording device. Throughout the weekend, videos of Gears of War 2 in particular have been popping up across the Internet. I, for one, am wondering why E For All would allow cameras into the exhibition hall if recording footage is not allowed -- either a grievous error or intentionally lax enforcement.
So there will be no Sunday Special today, readers, just a lot of Gears of War 2 multiplayer combat footage compliments of your fellow gamers. No doubt a thorough search on YouTube would produce more results, but here's my top pick: Horde Mode.
Not sure how I feel about Budweiser, but that's some awesome gameplay. The wait isn't much longer now, with Epic's upcoming masterpiece of a bloodfest scheduled to hit retail November 7, 2008.
Everyone, including Rockstar, loves Obama. Well, except Will Wright
Up until now, I never would've thought game developer's would be so darn political. And well, before I got into this racket, I wouldn't have much thought games could be so political either.
In any case, GamePolitics has done some hard work and dug through a list of "A-list" donors to the presidential campaigns, finding quite a lot of designers and developers on there. Pretty well everyone has ponied up a few grand to Barack Obama's campaign, which won't come as a surprise to many, I suspect, but nevertheless, there are some interesting bits here. Check it out:
Republican contributors:
Will Wright: (Spore, The Sims) $3,000 to McCain; previously donated $2,350 to Giuliani
Bobby Kotick (Activision CEO) $2,300 to McCain; previously donated $2,100 to Romney
Curt Schilling (38 Studios) $2,300 to McCain.
Democratic contributors:
Strauss Zelnick (Chairman, Take-Two) $2,000 to Obama; had previously donated to $2,500 to Edwards, $1,000 each to Biden & Richardson
Ben Feder (CEO, Take-Two) contributed $1,000 to Biden in 2007
Sam Houser (Rockstar) $4,600 to Obama
Patricia Vance (president, ESRB) $2,000 to Obama
John Riccitiello (CEO, EA) $4,600 to Obama
John Smedley (Sony Online Entertainment) $2,300 to Obama
Richard Garriott aka "Lord British" (Ultima series, NC Soft) $2,300 to Hillary Clinton
Alex Rigopulos (CEO, Harmonix) $32,900 to Obama
Kathy Vrabeck (president, EA Casual) $2,300 to Obama
George Lucas (LucasFilm) $33,100 to Obama
Doug Lowenstein (former ESA head) $2,300 to Hillary Clinton
Kenneth Doroshow (new ESA general counsel) $2,500 to Obama
Gabe Newell (pres., Valve) $2,300 to Dodd
To draw some conclusions: most don't like Republicans (the greater of two evils, some might say, but who really knows anymore), and most everyone loves Obama! Two really surprising things for me here are Rockstar's Sam Houser's donation to Obama, and Will Wright's donation to first, the Republicans, but more than that, Giuliani, and freaking McCain. Wright? McCain? What? I can't figure that one. The other one of course is George Lucas' massive $33,100 to Obama's campaign. Wow.
Now here's where my cynical side comes in. It's easy to sit back and say 'oh awesome, designers love Obama and are helping him, that is cool', but what should money have to do with it? Doesn't that effectively mean whoever has the most money has the highest chance of winning, effectively turning the election into a lottery, run by the wealthy? Oh America, you don't sound too democratic to me.
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2007, Sony's OLED screens blew us all away. Now, they've done it again by simply outdoing themselves.
At this year's Combined Exhibition of Technologies in Japan, Sony unveiled their latest project: an OLED of miniscule proportions. Just as flexible as its predecessor, this 11-inch display seen at CEATEC 2008 is a mind-boggling .3 mm in width. You read right -- it's thinner than that lunch meat in your sandwich.
This wonder of Sony ingenuity isn't hitting retail shelves any time soon, but it's definitely an exciting implication of things to come, as well as a reminder of why we love technology.
New opportunities for career-seekers and gaming fanatics alike
Lunar Tide Communications Inc., co-producer of America's Video Game Expo, has decided to add a new game industry conference to VGXPO -- the East Coast Games Summit.
The East Coast Games Summit is designed for current professionals ss well as those who may be interested in starting a career in the video game industry. Co-sponsored by GameJobs.com and GameRecruiter, the Summit will provide many programming and networking opportunities to attendees. Here are some of the featured workshops:
"Scrum Deconstructed" - a hands-on workshop for game industry management and technologists
"Breaking In" - a single-track mini-conference for students and others interested in making a career out of games
"Pitch You Game Idea" - a session for would-be game entrepreneurs to present their game concepts to game industry leaders
Speakers from various leading companies, organizations, and educational institutions will be attending the conference as well, representing a myriad of industry bigwigs including (but not limited to) Acclaim Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Bioware, Obsidian Entertainment, Entertainment Software Association (ESA), ITT Tech, and The Art Institutes.
"The East Coast Games Summit helps the videogame industry grow not only on a management-process level, but on an education-outreach level as well," stated Fiona Cherbak, VP of Marketing at GameRecruiter. "For people not already in the games industry, there is an opportunity to gain a lot of knowledge about the the games making process and also get your foot in the door for a possible career in videogames."
America's Video Game Expo and the East Coast Games Summit will be held November 21-23, 2008 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.
"We are thrilled to host the East Coast Games Summit," added VGXPO Show Director Jennifer Johnson-Halpin. "The summit is going to be a great experience for VGXPO attendees and our colleagues in the industry. We look forward to providing east coast videogame insiders with a new venue to exchange ideas and network with peers."
It took a bit of detective work, and a lot of statistical analysis, but an online poker player Michael Josem took upon himself to uncover a huge online poker scam. After studying great amounts of data, Michael Josem uncovered a group of people winning games almost at 100% of the time, and playing much faster than normal. The scam has been going on for about 3 years.
The thieving epidemic was discovered at poker sites Absolute Poker and UtimateBet. It was an internal scam -- a group of employees working within both companies used an software exploit that allowed them to see all the cards people were holding. Knowing what everyone was holding, the scammers brazenly folded and bet with impunity, winning as many matches as the could, without trying very hard to cover their tracks.
"Every online poker hand is recorded electronically and can be analyzed after the fact. Just as the third umpire video replay can be used to enforce the rules in cricket, third-party analysis can be used to enforce the rules of poker," Michael Josem was quoted as saying. "The chances of [the investigated] players winning at those rates is approximately equal to winning a one-in-a-million lottery on six consecutive occasions," said Josem. "If you know what cards your opponent has, you'll never lose - and this is precisely what happened."
It's pretty tough to figure out how much money was scammed from unknowing players because after they become a subject of an investigation by the the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, Absolute Poker went on a record-erasing rampage and destroyed all the incriminating records. The Gaming Commision fined Absolute Poker $500,000 for the cover up, and then just this week, laid another $1.5 million dollar fine in an on-going investigation.
Humorously enough, one of the top scammers was Russ Hamilton -- a guy considered to be a world-class, professional poker player.
Michael Josem may be the only one left with a smile on his face after the end of the investigation of Absolute Poker and UltimateBet. Because of his diligence in uncovering this scam, one of the largest pokers sites in the world, PokerStars, offered him a job on their security team.
Registration for Bomberman Blast competition has begun!
To further celebrate the recent release of Bomberman Blast for WiiWare, Hudson Entertainment is hosting is offering a series of online tournaments. This includes a live, online, head-to-head competition between 49 participants selected at random.
In addition to the matches, Hudson Entertainment is also holding an associated sweepstakes that players can sign up for when they register for the competition.
There will be eight winning positions available, along with corresponding prizes:
1st Place PrizeAn HDTV
2nd Place Prize 14,000 Wii Points, Bomberman Land for the Nintendo Wii, and Bomberman Land Touch! 2 for the Nintendo DS
3rd Place Prize 10,000 Wii Points, Bomberman Land for the Nintendo Wii, and Bomberman Land Touch! 2 for the Nintendo DS
4th Place Prize 10,000 Wii Points 5th Place Prize 8,000 Wii Points
6th-Place Prize 6,000 Wii Points
7th-Place Prize 4,000 Wii Points
8th-Place Prize 2,000 Wii Points
Registration is now open and will end today at 5:00 pm PST. The tournament itself will be held on October 6, 2008 at 2:00 pm PST. Those interested in competing can sign up and learn more about the upcoming "Bomb It Up" Tournament & Sweepstakes on the official website.
Crytek and EA are eager expose more potential customers to the recently released multiplayer portion of Crysis Warhead.
Warhead has been getting fairly positive reviews -- most reviewers think the sequel is better than the original Crysis. The free trial of Crysis Wars includes three different game modes (InstantAction, TeamInstantAction and PowerStruggle [Capture The Base]) as well as 21 maps and full access to all the weapons and vehicles found in the game.
If you are down for a free go at Crysis Wars, you can sign up at mycrysis.com, starting on Monday. If you have some friends who live close by, you can setup a LAN game anytime between October 6th and 12th with the trial copy of the game.
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