Gaming - Page 1126

The state of gaming is in disarray, but the problem is that 90-percent of gamers don't really notice it. It's the old-school gamers, the early FPS titles that were remembered, the fast-paced, PC-exclusive, hardware-loving, crazy-insane FPS titles from the 90s that are the most enjoyed FPS games of all time. Back in a day when gaming wasn't mainstream, when a PC gaming system would give you hours of joy with hard games, not corridor shooters, with puzzles and hours of head-scratching now just simplified, easy games.

There's a video I found online, saying that if id Software's FPS defining Quake were built today, what would it be. Check it out below:

First we find there's a million and one load screens and advertisements before the game starts, as the game starts we find the main menu displayed. In the main menu is "new game", "options", "DLC" and "exit". The video shows "options" and within options, "graphics". Graphics has an awesome display of "on" and "off", which is taking the piss out of the current console ports like Crysis 2 which feature lack lustre graphic options when compared to even the original Crysis.

It was only hours ago that we found out Battlefield 3 had shipped 10 million copies with retailers begging for more, but straight from EA itself, we find out that Battlefield 3 has an estimated 5 million sold in its first week of availability. That is a bloody good number, but what most people want to know is how the numbers are split between the consoles and PC versions of the game.

EA have also talked about the various stability issues with Battlefield 3 which have haunted it since the start. EA told Ars Technica:

Guess who's back? The Battlefield 3 on Steam rumors are back, that's who. This time its thanks to a competition held by Sapphire, which was found on the Sapphire Select Club website. One of the prizes in this competition is "[o]ne (1) PC Game code for Battlefield 3, redeemable for the game on Steam". Of course, this could be a mistake on Sapphire's behalf.

Kotaku does raise an interesting point, that Sapphire are most likely so used to writing competition terms and conditions that usually reference Steam codes, that they just assumed it would be the same with this competition. But... there's also the PBSetup.exe file, which is used to install Punk Buster for Battlefield installs, has been updated and now shows the following install files:

C:Program Files (x86)Electronic ArtsBattlefield 3

Valve have been been quite good with DLC and user-created content, and Portal 2 from what it seems, is set to get a serious injection of not only awesome, but ease. Valve released Portal 2's authoring tools earlier this year and it has unleashed various custom puzzles for Portal 2 from the community. So far more than 700 puzzles have been created.

It's not a massive success, as many spiring modders have complained that the toolkit is too complicated to use. Many gamers have also complained that it's too difficult to find and play the community-generated test chambers. Valve have not been sitting on their hands during this, as they've vowed to resolve both lingering issues.

As you can see from the above two screenshots, Valve look to be offering the masses with a puzzle creator that offers "simplified" but "powerful" controls. Valve have not talked about any specifics on the new authoring tools, but the two screenshots above seem to indicate it would be quite simple indeed. I feel a Sims vibe when I look at them, and that is a simple enough game, but powerful at the same time.

If you haven't played Battlefield 3 yet, I don't know why you haven't - it is an amazing achievement of a game. For me, it has been one of (if not the) best multiplayer experiences of my life. DICE have followed through (technical issues aside). EA have announced that they have shipped 10 million copies to retailers worldwide, with many retailers requesting more stock.

Three million copies of Battlefield 3 had been sold as pre-orders before the game was released, which was confirmed by EA's COO, Peter Moore in an investor call a few days ago. Even though Battlefield 3 has been very successful, they [EA and DICE] still want to keep its single player campaign in the future Battlefield titles.

EA's Frank Gibeau says:

Electronic Arts have just announced that their digital distribution platform, Origin, will now be offering third-party PC games starting in November. The first wave of publishers to sign a deal with Origin include Warner Bros., THQ and Capcom. This will bring hit titles such as Batman: Arkham City and Saints Row: The Third to Origin, with more games hitting Origin in the coming months.

Origin already has over 100 EA games in its library and adding additional publishers only cements their service into competition against Valve and their digital distribution platform, Steam. David DeMartini (shaken, not stirred, thanks), senior vice president of Origin at EA says:

Shares in Take-Two Games have risen by 6-percent following the announcement of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 5 earlier this week. On Tuesday, Rockstar Games confirmed that GTA V's first teaser trailer will hit the Internet on November 2, where the announcement was made live with the game's official logo which shows a green-colored Roman numeral 'V' wrapped with a banner sporting the word 'Five.'

Of course, we all know how the Internet and fans work. As soon as there's a teaser for something, there has to be an easter egg or hidden something (image, word, art, etc) within the tease. GTA V as you can imagine, is no different. Some keen gamers have discovered that the logo displayed above, is identical to the design of the $5 dollar bank noted issued in 1889 by the US Mint. An American setting has been rumored, but would Rockstar be breaking the rules by taking GTA back to the pre-1900s era?

The most credible GTA V rumors lead toward an LA-based setting, in the modern-eta.

Do you like to have options? Enjoy portable gaming? Was looking forward to Sony's NGP, Vita? Well, games capable of saving directly to their own cartridges, won't offer gamers the option to save to an external cards. This means you will never receive a choice. Games that can save internally, will always do so.

Kotaku Japan also learned that you'll have to have a memory card in the Vita at startup to operate games that require external storage. Sony also told Kotaku Japan that in addition to save data, some games may use the memory card for DLC.

Disappointed? Hurt? Well, Sony have doen this before... but people were thinking that they might play the game differently with the Vita. People might have wanted to save a few dollars on not buying external memory, but you'll require this for DLC and the like. Frustrating? Yep!

Sony Online Entertainment's upcoming MMO/FPS hybrid, Planetside 2 is set to go insane on 'map' sizes (can we even call them maps now?). Planetside 2 is said to take a "Halo-esque" spin on its sci-fi universe, where it aims to combine the persistent world of an MMO, with the visceral, responsive mechanics of a first-person shooter. Planetside 2's creative director, Matt Higby talked about the staggering size of the new battlefields:

"We have enormous, enormous gameplay space," says Higby. Planetside 2's settings which are based on continents on the planet Auraxis, measure an insane eight kilometers square, with weapons capable of firing a full kilometer in distance. Higby continues saying "One of our largest development efforts on this project has been hand crafting every single area of those eight-by-eight kilometer continents".

In these eight-by-eight kilometer environments, three factions duke it out: The Terran Republic, The New Conglomerate and The Vanu Sovereignty. The battles are set to be epic, with Higby stating that "you're going to be fighting in battles sometimes when it's 200 people fighting against 30 people, because there's only 30 people defending that base and then suddenly 200 people log in from teh other ground and go do it".

Batman: Arkham City, one of 2011's most hyped games has done very well for itself. It was released last week for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and has since then, shipped 4.6 million copies. All in a week! This is both a surprise, and not a surprise. It's a surprise because it has only launched on the consoles and has enjoyed successful shipping numbers.

For it not being a surprise, is because the first game, Batman: Arkham Asylum was a smash hit. Batman: Arkham City has received rave reviews for both versions (PS3 and Xbox 360) and looks to be one of the biggest sellers for 2011. I haven't played it yet, as I'm waiting for the PC version which launches in a little under two weeks time. The PC launch will only expand these numbers, so too will sales between now and the end of the year.

4.6 million copies shipped is a very good milestone for Batman: Arkham City as it makes it one of the (if not the most) successful comic-book-to-game adaption ever. Now all we need is a really good Superman game, and I'll be one super happy camper. Please, please make a great Superman game. Maybe the guys behind Batman and Just Cause should get together for it?

Skyrim is only 2 weeks away and Bethesda have just confirmed the system requirements for the upcoming title. The requirements aren't too bad, but they're a tad higher than the 2006-based Oblivion, so if you're still chugging along on older hardware and want to get the most out of Skyrim, you might want to start an upgrade, now.

Recommended system requirements:

Quad-core Intel/AMD CPU

For everyone who reads TweakTown, and more specifically, my news posts, you'll know that I've been waiting for Battlefield 3 for what feels like, my entire life. I've posted everything from screenshots, to launch trailers, alpha footage to beta/full release footage, interviews, details and everything in-between. I found out on a forum last night that the game can be unlocked for some who change some VPN settings, so I did so...

I have a 3 screen (Alienware AW2310's) in Portrait, backed up by 2 x GIGABYTE GeForce GTX570's and a 4GHz Core i7... the beta, I had a few little issues, but they somehow worked themselves out and I was bug-free for the rest of the beta. The full game on the other hand... doesn't even work on my 3 screen setup. Yes, that's right: the beta worked and the full game does not.

My issue is, I launch the game, and it goes full-screen. Once its in full-screen, I can hear it load up and finish, if I move my mouse I can hear the cursor going over menus, but I cannot see the menus. If I alt-tab and go to a window, the menus appear and it's OK. If I click a menu, it goes back to full-screen. So I have to click a menu, alt-tab, full-screen, click a menu, alt-tab, full screen, etc until I get to video and change it to run in a window.

In just a week from now, Nathan Drake will feature on people's TVs across the world in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. Uncharted 3 has made its way to game reviewers across the world and it seems its yet another home run smash-hit for Naughty Dog. Reviews are mostly between 90 - 100, but these days - reviews can be somewhat, deceiving. If a rehashed COD title can usually score 90+, how does a stand-out game like Uncharted deserve the same score, shouldn't it be more?

Anyway, the reviews are very, very favorable and it just makes me want to play the game even more. If you haven't played the previous two Uncharted titles, I really suggest you grab them and play them both this week, then purchase Uncharted 3 when you're finished. I'm sure you won't need to play the previous two, but for one, they're amazing games. Two, it'll help with the characters, and story of the third game, which is just one week away!

Some thoughts from reviewers:

A few hours ago the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launch trailer hit the Internet and now, we have more details on how the PC version of the game will benefit over its console counterparts. From anti-cheat systems to dedicated servers, there's a lot there!

Infinity Ward dropped some details in a recent Q&A on the Call of Duty forum. Community Manager, Robert Bowling said:

Executive Producer at DICE, Patrick Bach, has said that the Xbox 360 version of Battlefield 3 is running the game without the high-resolution texture pack (which is found on the second disc) by default, and is the "standard def" version of the game. What the texture pack does, is bring the Xbox 360 version up to the same standards of that found on the PS3 and PC. Bach elaborates:

Bach has recommended to anyone with the HDD to install the texture pack as it makes a major difference.

400 million. Just think about that number, its huge. Absolutely, huge. Today at the Web 2.0, Rovio's GM Andrew Stalbow took the stage, shooting off some Angry Birds stats that has given us an idea at the growth of the [now] franchise over the past few months. At Disrupt, Stalbow stated that Angry Birds has pushed past 350 million cumulative downloads across platforms (and was selling 1 million t-shirts and plush toys each and every month - myself included), and today, Angry Birds has ballooned out to more than 400 million downloads.

If that number wasn't impressive enough, heres some more: Angry Birds is seeing 130 million monthly users, 30 million daily active users, and 300 million minutes of game play... wait for it, each and every day. That's not per month, thats 300 million minutes of game play every single day. Wow, wow, wow. On the scale side of things, we've had up to 400 million, but what would $0 give us? That's Rovio's total marketing budget. $0. Yes, nothing.

Stalbow also confirmed that there's a new bird on its way for Halloween, there's no details on the bird itself, or what 'ammunition' it'll pack, but it looks like the avian bomber will be orange, in some part at least. Finally, we have news that an Angry Birds movie has been confirmed, with the executive producer of Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America, David Maisel, was hired onto the project back in June.

EA and DICE have revealed some interesting stats regarding the open beta of Battlefield 3 with some impressive numbers indeed. Over 47 billion shots were fired, 2.2 billion regenerated health contributed by Assault players.

19 million people "lost their dog tags at the end of a knife" (I think I only took two people down with a knife, boo), 21 million M-Com stations were destroyed, 635.6 meters was the longest recorded headshot (I did one at around 550m, so I was close!), 1.5 billion kills were registered and finally, 8,125,310 users participated in the Battlefield 3 open beta.

Impressive numbers to say the least. I'm very surprised at the number of players though, over 8 million! That is a huge chunk of gamers. I would love to know the split on what platforms they used too... was it more on PC? Xbox or PS3?

Well, my dear wife: I have now found what I want for Christmas. One of these, please. Fan of Battlefield 3? Want some 360-degree, almost real life FPS simulation? Well, on Monday the 24th of October, watch The Gadget Show at 8PM on Channel 5.

This is a [truly] unique FPS simulator in which it turns gaming to near reality as you move, aim, fire and get shot within a 360-degree immersive environment. The team used a pre-release copy of Battlefield 3 and poached a team of top technology experts from across Europe to built a true one-of-a-kind simulator.

It sports the world's first, portable omni-directional treadmill designed by Swedish-based company MSE Weibull, the simulator lets you control the movements of your Battlefield 3 character with your own body (!). Now get ready for the best bit, it also sports 12 paintball markets that allow the player to feel the real punch of bullets - you will feel your enemies shoot you, for real.

While Australians have generally been jealous of the expos around the world such as E3 in the US and GamesCom in Europe, we now have had our taste of a Games Expo in the form of EB Game Expo 2011. Gaming is a huge deal these days, with the industry worth a crazy $74 billion, with the industry generating more incoming that Hollywood does making movies - if that's not big enough, I don't know what is!

13,000 tickets were sold to EB Games Expo 2011, this was even before the event had started! The only way to get in after that was to line up at the door and see if you could try your luck there. Tickets were available to Australian gamers months before the event itself, with general admission tickets purchased online setting you back $29.95. VIP experience tickets were available (limited to 400 per session) at $99.95. The VIP tickets gave you access to the "VIP-only" lines to try out games.

Which FPS was more popular? Modern Warfare 3 or Battlefield 3? Well, if you guessed MW3, you were wrong. Activision's queue, while long (wrapping around their huge stand) was just no match for EA Games' queue for Battlefield 3. Another huge line was seen, which was for, of course, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

DICE's very, very highly anticipated FPS, Battlefield 3, has been leaked to various torrent sites, over a week from the official launch. The PC version sits at just under 10GB in size, at 9.96GB, and its single-player portion of the game is fully playable. The only thing that would make sense on how its leaked, is if a retailer got their mits on a copy, and leaked it. But then the next question is, why did the retailer break the street release date?

Usually we see leaks of the console versions, so this does mark one of the first times a triple-A PC title has been leaked before release. Of course, it means the multiplayer side of the game can't be accessed, as this requires a valid Origin account. With the game not yet released, this won't happen. But it will effect sales on PC for sure, and will definitely get those frowns turned upside down over at DICE.

It's a pity it was leaked, but this is why concrete release dates are stupid. It allows things like this to happen, if it were my executive decision... all dates would be from lifted right now and the game would get released simultaneously worldwide, this would counter the downloads, leaks and loss of sales. Instead of 10 days of downloading, friends telling friends, 'oh get it and play it', and DICE losing out on potential hundreds of thousands of sales.