Gaming - Page 1178

I remember last year when Ouya first reached Kickstarer, it was all the rage and I backed it to buy a Limited Edition console to have my username etched into the controllers - and because it looked like a neat little Android-based gaming console.

But, it's June 24 here in Australia and my Ouya console is stuck in Hong Kong. I've recently moved house (again, second time in 5 months) and I e-mailed them to change my address, which hasn't been acknowledged or replied to. If my unit is still in HK, then I won't be getting it for at least a few more days at the minimum.

The units are being shipped through DHL, and the last update for my Ouya console is 6/15 where it was "received & dispatched". There are still four more steps on DHL's website until it gets to me, unfortunately.

I've been waiting for what seems like years for Respawn Entertainment to unveil their game, which we saw at E3 as Titanfall. Respawn is a company made up of the ex-Infinity Ward guys, Vince Zampella and Jason West.

We've found out some more information on their upcoming shooter, which won't be including a single player campaign. This means Titanfall is a multiplayer only title, but it also gives the developer the benefit of putting all power into the single side of the game instead of splitting up people into separate groups. Respawn head, Vince Zampella has said that he considers the studio a "small startup" with "60 some developers", stating it's better to focus their resources where they'll be better utilized.

Zampella adds:

Earlier this week, many PlayStation 3 owners were shocked when an official software update bricked their console. The software update caused the system to hang on startup and locked the device from turning off. Owners had to physically unplug the device to simply power it down.

When word began to spread, Sony quickly pulled update version number 4.45 offline and began telling customers not to update their systems until further notice. This morning Sony has released an update on a fix for the broken systems.

On their Twitter account, the company said that they have identified the culprit and are working on a new system update to be released on June 27th that should resolve all issues including the bricked consoles.

If you think all of the negative news surrounding the Xbox One did anything to hurt pre-order sales, then you are horribly mistaken. This morning, Amazon.com told us that last week during the height of E3, the company saw more than 2500 Xbox One and Playstation 4 console pre-orders being sold per minute.

Last week accounted for Amazon's Game Store's biggest pre-order week ever. The E3 week pre-orders of the two wildly-anticipated gaming consoles brought a year-over-year increase of more than 4,000 percent compared to consoles ordered during E3 week last year. Day-one pre-orders for the two consoles was nearly two times that of all video games sales on Black Friday last year.

This falls right inline with what I have been saying all along; The next-gen consoles will sell in record numbers despite any bad news that is posted. Gamers are a dedicated bunch who tend to stay loyal to their favorite brand. Even those who were most vocal on Reddit and social media sites still purchased the consoles, they just didn't make it publicly known. Now time for a prediction; with Microsoft pulling the bait and switch on DRM, the Xbox one just may outsell the PS4 if it has not already. It will be months before those numbers are released though.

NVIDIA's project SHIELD has been one of the most talked about handheld gaming consoles of the year as well as possibly being the most anticipated handheld of the decade. Unfortunately not all of the talk was as good as NVIDIA had hoped. Many reports were good, but issues with ergonomics arose frequently.

During the last few months, NVIDIA has put SHIELD in the hands of the professional press as well as thousands of gamers at events like PAX East and has taken their feedback and went back to the drawing board. The result is a handheld Android gaming console that is nothing short of amazing.

So, Valve Time have gone elbows deep into project management and bug tracking software, Jira, finding evidence of multiple internal projects at Valve. This includes Half-Life 3, Left 4 Dead 3 and Source 2, as well as many other games.

Valve left a metaphorical window open to Jira, which allowed people to access Valve's internal tickets, but were quick to shut it down of course - Valve Time, were able to turn on Bullet Time, and save some of this information for us to all get lady boners over. There's evidence for Half-Life 3 which includes a mailing list of 42 people, but Valve have given the HL3 project around 300 people to get down and dirty with.

Left 4 Dead 3 is mentioned, which suggests a third outing in the Left 4 Dead franchise is in development. The next nugget is Source 2. We know this is in development, and I've theorised that Valve will unveil Source 2 on their Steam Box, along with Half-Life 3, Left 4 Dead 3 and other games. Check out Valve Time's post for more information.

Microsoft has decided to reverse course on their controversial DRM requirements that have drawn heavy criticism from gamers and the media alike. Microsoft has confirmed reports by other media outlets that the 24-hour check-in policy has been dropped, along with various other changes.

Microsoft probably explains it best:

Game sharing has become quite the hot topic lately with both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 having thoughts on how to do it and still turn a profit. As always, the true innovation begins in the PC gaming world. Steam is apparently looking into a process that would allow you to share your purchased PC games.

In the latest Steam beta release, a short section of code has been spotted that discusses a "Shared Game Library" which appears to allow other steam users to use your games. However, you are only allowed to share the game with one other user and that person can only play the game when you are not playing it.

What happens if I want to play my game but my friend is playing it? Well that is quite simple, if you attempt to load a game which is being played by another user, Steam will send them a message letting them know that you want to play and since you are the owner they should stop and let you play. Below I have pasted the short snippet of code that has led to all the speculation.

Likely as another shot at Microsoft, Sony has confirmed that PS Plus will not be required for PlayStation 4 users interested in using the social aspects, entertainment apps, or auto-updates. Xbox 360 users will know that Xbox Live Gold is required for Netflix, Hulu, and social aspects of the console.

It's possible that streaming PlayStation 3 games to the PS4 may require PS Plus, but it seems like that is still up in the air. Unlike the PlayStation 3 which required PS Plus for automatic updates, PlayStation 4 users will find that they get this feature for free.

It seems like some of the PS Plus details for the PlayStation 4 are still under discussion inside the company and are subject to change. This would explain why Sony has detailed the system and PS Plus fully. PS Plus will apply across the PlayStation 3 and 4 for no extra charge.

I think the line in the sand has been drawn with next-gen consoles, but just how far back as Microsoft been pushed? Well, according to a poll run by Amazon on their Facebook page, Microsoft are really losing this war, by a long shot.

They asked readers which next-gen console they prefer, the PS4 or the Xbox One and the results are absolutely huge. The PS4 has 31,689 votes and the Xbox One has just 1,754 votes - yes that is not a mistake. Of course, this doesn't mean that the PS4 is going to be 20x more popular, or make 20x the sales - but this is an interesting statistic. This doesn't mean the Xbox One is finished, but it'll be interesting to see where things sit in a couple of years from now.

All I know is that I would've bought an Xbox One on launch if there was a killer app, but nothing I've seen makes me want one. The built-in Kinect sensor being always-on kind of turns me off, and isn't something I want sitting in my house. I like that Sony at least gives you the option, which is definitely the right move.

Microsoft are having to go into some serious damage control post-E3 2013, as the Xbox One is really losing steam with gamers. Xbox Live director of programming, Major Nelson, took to Reddit in r/games and during an interview answered the following question:

Interesting question, which should have an interesting answer, right? Well, Nelson answered with:

E3 2013 - At this year's E3, Popcap announced a new version of their popular Plants vs Zombies franchise. Known as Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, the new game takes a twist on the older tower defense game. The new game makes use of the Frostbite 3 engine, which allows for excellent graphics. The trailer is embedded below, and I suggest you watch it before moving on in this piece:

In all reality, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare is probably my official highlight from the 2013 E3 show. The graphics look great, the gameplay looks interesting, and it was probably one of the biggest surprises at the show. Everyone expected most of the other games, but I hadn't heard of this until EA's press conference on Monday.

EA and Popcap tried to merge the best of the FPS world while still keeping what people loved from the original: EA took "everything you love about action games and matched it with everything our fans love about Plants vs Zombies."

E3 2013 - TweakTown got a chance to capture some extended in-game action of the upcoming FPS Battlefield 4 at E3 2013. Before watching the video, let me add a disclaimer that I am not much of a Battlefield player, preferring the older classic Unreal Tournament 2004. The graphics and "levelution" make Battlefield 4 an excellent game, and I will soon become a seasoned veteran because of those features.

With that said, this is still an early build. I noticed various graphical glitches throughout the game that should end up being fixed by the time BF4 launches in October. I didn't get a good chance to experience the Commander mode, but it does look to be a nice addition to the game, especially since it allows the Battlefield 4 experience to be taken to tablets and mobile devices.

Planetary Annihilation is something I've been keeping my eye on, which went live on Steam this week. The problem is, you can buy it and play it now all ahead of the full launch, but it'll set you back an insane $90 for the privilege.

The $90 does also give you entry to the Planetary Annihilation beta as well as the finished and polished version which is due in December. The final game won't cost $90, which is a sigh of relief. So alpha players are kind of funding the game on top of its Kickstarter funding, which isn't cool of the developers. Some gamers are up in arms over it, with some messages from the Steam boards as proof:

Pretty much everyone was surprised this week when Microsoft announced a new redesigned Xbox 360 even though it planned to launch the next generation Xbox one just a few months from now. Not wasting any time, repair manual website iFixit, has just posted the world's first teardown of the Xbox 360 Model E.

IFixit notes that apart from a model name change, and cosmetic case updates, there is very little difference between the original Xbox 360 and the 360 E. It appears that the cosmetic changes were implemented to save on the cost of manufacturing the machine.

The costs saving measures include a redesign rear port area which cuts the A/V and S/PDIF ports from existence. Additionally Microsoft has removed one USB port from the back panel cutting the numbers down to just four. It appears that Microsoft used the exact same heat sink and cooling fan as the previous model which makes sense because they solve the RRoD issues with the S. Additionally the hard drive is easier to remove, but comes hermetically sealed inside a plastic case.

E3 2013 - During yesterdays walk around E3, we got the chance to sit in on a talk about DriveClub, the social racing game slated for the PS4. We have already posted a hands on video of actual gameplay, but decided to post this talk as well to better help explain the game as a whole. Sony says that you can play aspects of the game across all of your connected devices such as smartphones, tablets, and your PS4 console.

"It is fully integrated into your life, you are connected to the game 24-7. There is always something to do and there is always a new experience" said a representative from Sony. "There has never been a console that focused on connectivity as much as the PS4"

Personally, I am pretty excited for DriveClub, but realistically with Forza 5, Gran Turismo 6, and Need for Speed Rivals all hitting the market in the coming year, DriveClub has some serious competition to overtake if it wants to be crowned king. What do you think about the game? Does it look like a serious competitor to Forza or GT?

E3 2013 - During Sony's PlayStation 4 announcement back in February one of the most talked about games was a new racing title called DriveClub. While the new racing game is nothing terribly interesting, what makes DriveClub unique is that is built around a social gaming premise.

In DriveClub their are set challenges along the tracks such as drifting a specific zone, average speed test, and best lap times. The game pulls in data from your rivals/friends and challenges you to best their accomplishments even if they completed the challenge significantly earlier than you did. It's kind of like Trackmania but with much better graphics.

As our Trace Hagan demoed in the video above each player has their image taken with the next-gen PlayStation Eye and that mug shot is then paste on the back of your car even while in ghost mode so your opponents can see who they're trying to beat.

E3 2013 - Unfortunately we don't have a video to show you for World of Warships as they wouldn't let us record the pre-alpha gameplay. We can, however, describe the experience using words. We got to see two different recorded gameplay scenarios, both of which were pretty cool 6v6 sea battles. World of Warships will really round out WarGaming.net's war-themed offerings.

World of Warships will join World of Tanks and World of Warplanes as part of WarGaming.net's line-up. In World of Warships, there is an aircraft carrier class that features planes. It'd be really cool if the WarGaming team could integrate World of Warships and World of Warplanes into a single game with planes being launched from the aircraft carrier. However, I inquired if they were planning to do this and at this time, they aren't.

There is still quite a bit of polishing to do--remember, we saw pre-alpha code running--but the models, gameplay mechanics, and overall game seem like they will end up being a hit alongside the current offerings. We'll share more details when they become available.

E3 2013 - The original Xbox 360 design was attempt at making a stylish, sleek gaming console that would fit into the decor of any living room. In reality what happened was Microsoft designed a massive heat trap that eventually wound up killing many of the consoles after just a few months of use.

On Monday Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 would be receiving its third redesign in an effort to more closely align the 360 with the aesthetics of the new Xbox One. We finally got a good look at the new 360 design thanks to our friends over at Gizmodo. The exterior refresh is a drastic step away from the Xbox 360 we have seen in the past, with a two-tone color scheme similar to the Xbox One.

The new Xbox 360 also appears to have ditched the power ring for a more modern machined metal design alongside adequate cooling vents placed in the side of the case. The vents appear to be placed directly over the CPU heatsink and additional vents have been placed on the top of the box. If you pick up one of these redesigned Xbox 360's post some pics on our Facebook wall!

As someone with a business degree, I know that the main objective of a business is to get your latest and greatest product into the hands of the consumer. Apparently no one at Microsoft bothered to go to business school, or at least no one bothered to listen to anything that was taught.

In an interview with GameTrailers, Microsoft's Don Mattrick addressed consumer concerns about the Xbox One and those who have little or no access to broadband internet. When asked what gamers with no internet should do, Mattrick said: "Fortunately we have a product for people who aren't able to get some form of connectivity; it's called Xbox 360," he continued "If you have zero access to the Internet, that is an offline device."

He went on to attempt to empathize with US service men and women by saying: