Gaming - Page 1152

We knew it was coming, but wow has the time gone by fast. Tomorrow is the day Microsoft's new Metro-powered UI theme for the Xbox 360 goes live. Kinect is still a central part of the update, where users can now speak naturally to the Xbox, this will change the way a family or household uses the Xbox, instead of a clunky controller to navigate menus and such, a simple voice command is all that's required.

Let's say you want to run a search, if you're Kinect-powered, you could just say "Xbox: Bing, 'Fast and the Furious'", the results will show all of the content that matches the searched criteria across games, music, video and other categories.

The new Metro styling is instantly recognizable to anyone who has played with or owns a Windows Phone. This format will also be taken across to Windows 8. Microsoft are also trying to make the Xbox a set-top box, and is set to have a fair amount of live TV and movies on offer with companies such as Verizon FiOS, YouTube, HBO GO and Xfinity On Demand, TMZ, UFC, Wal-Mart's Vudu service and others lending a hand.

Fan of Minecraft? Fan of Super Mario? Get ready for your worlds to collide. Three guys have spent over 500 hours recreating the first two minutes and twenty four seconds of Super Mario Land. In their quest for insanity, they used more than 18 Minecraft blocks.

The above movie was made by carpenter James Wright, Joe Ciappa and a gamer known as Tempusmori, had the game running through an emulator and then replicating it pixel-for-wool-block-pixel inside a giant Minecraft Game Boy.

The three guys spent approximately four weeks, where each day consisted of six to seven days of hard work inside Minecraft creating the shots, which were then dropped into a video editor and slowed so each frame displayed for one sixth of a second. Crazy, but so, so awesome.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's beta went live last week and its just days later we have our first taste of gameplay footage. CS: GO looks much prettier than the previous Source-powered Counter-Strike. Check out the video of gameplay below:

It doesn't look too bad, but compared to next-gen shooters like Battlefield 3, it just feels so... old. But, for fans of Counter-Strike, they'll look past these things. Below is also a comparison between Counter-Strike: Source and Global Offensive.

I do like the improved buying system, it looks much better than the old CS/CS:S versions. Graphics look much better than CS:S and the original CS [of course], and all of the old-school sounds are back. "Lock and Load", "Fire in the Hole", all of the gun sounds, all make it back.

Someone on the NeoGAF forums have gotten their mits on the South Park edition of Game Informer and have released details on the upcoming South Park-themed RPG. The RPG will be the first game that South Park duo Trey Parker and Matt Stone have directly participated in, where they've written the script and dialogue.

As the protagonist, you will be silent. Parker has always preferred silent protagonists, so his wishes will come true. The character you play has a smartphone which acts as the primary game menu and has a Facebook-like app which shows the number of friends you have and your current standing with the various kid factions. Five classes are said to be included, wizard, paladin, adventurer, rogue, and a fifth unannounced class.

Obsidian will be using the Dungeon Siege III engine and have developed a dynamic lip-syncing tool to accommodate changes in the script. Parker and Stone have given an astonishing 15 years of assets to Obsidian to make the game with. For full details, check out the insane list below:

Sony have release a new system software update, version 4.00 for some. Not all users, but some at this stage. This new version is in preparation of the NGP launch, PlayStation Vita in Japan.

This update will prepare the PS3 to serve as a content management device, allowing users to copy over media such as games, music, photos, and videos between the PS Vita and PS3. It will also allow the backing up of PS Vita save data to your PS3 hardware, and update the system software for your PS Vita using the network features of your PS3.

Other changes include:

A few quick gaming nuggets today! Firstly we have the news of the long-awaited Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta beginning today. It was delayed for a little while there, but some good news for CS fans out there today!

The game is still aiming for an "early 2012" release, and it should be good to go then too if the beta has lifted off today. If any of our readers have gotten into the beta, please do let us know what you think by commenting below. Personally, I'm hesitant with CS:GO, I really expected a next-gen FPS, with the same feel of "freshness" that Counter-Strike first introduced all those years ago.

I wouldn't mind some real-time destruction, making for much more frantic shoot outs and battles. One can only wish.

During an interview with Industry Gamers, creator of Ultima, Richard Garriott had a few things to say about consoles. He thinks consoles will be extinct in the near future. Really...

With consoles multi-billion dollar, long-term investments for companies such as Sony and Microsoft, it is a bet. A big one. Longer development cycles are now the norm, with both companies touting a 10-year life cycle for this generation, and we're already up to seven years now.

Consoles are also now faced with super-tough competition from what seems all sides. Smartphones are more powerful than ever, tablets will receive quad-core chips within days thanks to NVIDIA's Tegra 3 and the first Tegra 3-powered tablet, ASUS' Eee Pad Transformer Prime. Social gaming on PC is not helping with companies such as Zynga having over 100 million active users on games such as CityVille.

YES! Battlefield 3's first [and hopefully not last] expansion pack, Back to Karkand, has a release date of December 14. It comes out seven days earlier on the Sony PlayStation 3, with a release date of December 7.

Sony's Asian PlayStation Store lists Battlefield 3 Back to Karkand for December 7, 2011, which is how the news broke of the December 14 date. I don't mind waiting 7 more days, because I'm just so damn excited.

For now, enjoy yesterday's gameplay footage from one of the maps on Back to Karkand, Gulf of Oman.

Just days ago, 2K Marin had a Canberra, Australia-based arm to help with development. This studio is now working with former sister studio Irrational Games on BioShock Infinite. Irrational Studios boss Ken Levine said when asked for a comment:

Then we have a history lesson, in 2007, Irrational Games was bought by Take-Two, just before the release of BioShock. Just before this, the studio was split apart and renamed 2K Boston and 2K Australia. Since this time, 2K Boston has become Irrational Games, but 2K Australia was skipped. 2K Australia helped 2K Marin on BioShock 2, after which 2K Australia became 2K Marin, but based in Australia. After this, they helped with the XCOM reboot.

Skyrim has received a 1.2 patch for the PS3 version of the game, which fixes a whole heap of annoying issues and strange bugs. PC or Xbox 360 Skyrim gamer? You'll have to wait 48 hours for your patch.

The 1.2 notes are below:

Improved occasional performance issues resulting from long term play (PlayStation 3)

Microsoft's next-generation Kinect 2 is set to receive a hefty upgrade in specs, which will allow it to be so accurate, it could lip read. Yes, lip read. Kinect 2 will also offer improved motion sensing and voice recognition.

Eurogamer was told by a development source that Kinect 2 will be so powerful it will be enable games to lip read, detect when players are angry, and determine in which direction they are facing. Kinect 2 should also have the ability to track the pitch and volume of player voices and facial characteristics to measure different emotional states.

Current Kinect technology is held back by USB technology as it has to pass data through the ageing technology. Kinect launched in November 2010 with the depth sensor set to 30 frames per second and a 320x240 resolution limit. The USB interface is capable of roughly 35MB/sec but is artificially held back to use only 15/16MB/sec because multiple USB devices can be used at once on the Xbox 360.

Psst. Come over here. Yeah, over here. I have a secret - I'm secretly addicted to Battlefield 3. I don't play it often, but a few hours here and there and I'm on level 20. I don't want to thrash into it, I've had a few things happen lately that takes my time away from it. But, today brings a new gameplay video of Battlefield 3's expansion pack - Back to Karkand.

The map displayed is Gulf of Oman and features combat vehicles that you'll be able to control in the game. Three of the vehicles are from Battlefield 2 and those vehicles are: STOVL fighter jet, desert buggy (woo!), and one of the APC's.

Back to Karkand Lead Designer Niklas Fegraeus says:

PC gamers have had a great week, with 95-percent of them accused of being pirates, and just bagging them out in general and blaming piracy for lack of sales. But Good Guy Game Newell has come through with a treasure map of where to find success in digital distribution [I hope you get the pun there, it was intended].

Gabe tackles the issues of claiming that lowering prices for games will make piracy go away, and he also takes on companies that seek to fight piracy by inconveniencing consumers. He says:

I'm sure some of you pulled out your Lightsabers for the Star Wars: The Old Republic beta weekend just gone, and I've been hearing nothing but great things about it, but now we have some news on just how successful it was. Bioware had invited practically everyone to play in their MMORPG, so that they could stress-test their servers to see how they went with hundreds of thousands online at once.

Most servers had queues on them all weekend, with a few of them with queues of over 1000 gamers waiting to get in. Other beta testers and Twitter posts indicated even higher numbers on the queue, so you would think that it would be a limited server issue, right?

Wrong. Bioware were continuously adding new servers, with 51 North American-based servers and 37 European-based servers pumping away keeping SWTOR fans happy. Also, this was just for the beta. While the beta was free, it came in the cost of bandwidth. The beta client weighed in at more than 20GB, so it would be a turn off to those who are bandwidth restricted.

Yesterday we reported that Ghost Recon: Future Soldier won't be coming to PC because "95-percent of PC gamers would pirate it." Think I'm joking? Check the article out. Today, we have news that I Am Alive won't see the light of day on PC, with the game's creative director Stanislas Mettra telling IncGamers the news in an interview.

The game will hit Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network sometime next year, but the PC version is doubtful as piracy makes profitably uncertain. Mettra is also aware that PC gamers have been quite vocal regarding the lack of official statement regarding a PC release. Mettra says:

For a while now, casual games on mobiles have been thought of the death knell of console games. But, according to a survey run by 3DS Buzz, mobile games aren't hurting console games at all. 3DS Buzz conducted a survey to find out who owns the latest handheld gaming consoles would disagree with the idea that it is dying out.

3DS Buzz wanted to ask those who had been DS gamers, but they had turned their backs on the latest gaming system. They found out nearly 300 people who had bought a DS but not a 3DS so 3DS Buzz asked them why they didn't buy the new 3D portable system. 3DS Buzz provided 16 options on the survey, which allowed participants to pick as many reasons why they hadn't made the purchase they wanted.

2-percent of voters selected "I'm happy with my mobile phone/tablet for handheld gaming." But, consider that 3DS gamers are a totally different kettle of fish, as personally, I know of only two people in my entire family and friends circle with one. Considering over half of them have a console (PS3 or 360) and every single one of them has a PC.

This is something that would make quite a lot of sense, and actually be quite good for customers and gamers alike. Industry sources are pointing toward two new Xbox consoles being launched sometime in 2013, which should give Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) plenty of time to get their 28nm manufacturing process working like a charm.

Microsoft is said to be working on an entry-level system as well as a true next-generation hardcore gaming console. Multiple price points aren't anything new for Microsoft, as that's what they do with the 360 with multiple packages. Different hard drive sizes, limited edition bundles, game and accessory bundles.

The lower-end model is said to come at a very low price point and be positioned more like a set-top box, where it will target streaming media services such as Netflix and cater more to casual gamers, described as a Kinect-themed portal. The mainstream, hardcore gaming Xbox would be the upgrade we all want, dream and wish for. Sporting an optical drive (Blu-ray?), hard drive storage, and backwards-compatibility with existing 360 games. This system would have a price premium over the entry-level model, with price and graphics performance reflective of these features (awesome!).

Is this the change we're seeing in console development? They do a sloppy job on the PC version, sales are bad and they just blame piracy? Surely a stable-minded developer wouldn't think that way, well, think again. Ghost Recon Online is set to be a free-to-play game, and is a 'response' to piracy and an alternative to the restrictive DRM that has plagued previous Ubisoft games.

Ghost Recon Online producer, Sebastien Arnoult has said:

Before id Software sold themselves [and their souls] to consoles, id Tech 4 engine was great. It powered Doom 3, and by 2007 it went on to become the most successful project by id Software to date. It also powered other games such as Quake 4, Prey, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Wolfenstein and Brink.

John Carmack has now confirmed that the source code for Doom 3 is now available, only after some delays due to legal issues. Those legal issues arise from the use of "Carmack's Reverse" algoritm which has to do with a method of rendering shadow volumes using a stencil buffer.

At around the same point in time that Carmack discovered the algoritm, Creative Labs filed a patent for essentially the same thing. id Software, according to reports, agreed to include EAX audio technology in Doom 3 in order to use the shadow rendering technique in the game. Carmack didn't want to run the risk of getting into a legal battle over the code, so he decided to remove it from the source code and work around it. Carmack said that he added four lines of code and changed two for the workaround.

Steam have started their Autumn Sale which will run until the end of the weekend, with today's sale including Portal 2, Men of War: Vietnam, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Duke Nukem Forever, Test Drive Unlimited 2 and many, many more.

As for savings, how's this for some great pricing? Portal 2 is 66-percent off, $29.99 down to $10.19, COD: Black Ops has 50-percent off, $89.99 down to $44.99, Duke Nukem Forever includes 66-percent off, down from $49.99 to $16.99 and TDU2 has an amazing 75-percent off, from $19.99 to just $4.99.

Mass Effect 2 has 75-percent off, from $19.99 down to $4.99 and the Sam and Max Complete Pack also has 75-percent off, slashing the original $49.99 price down to $12.49. More sales are obviously on, and I'll continue to post some of the stand-out games for you. Black Friday sales are here already, it seems!