Gaming - Page 1183

EA are in a world of hurt right now, so bad that they're now offering a free game to anyone who has purchased SimCity. They're doing this as an apology, with Maxis' boss, Lucy Bradshaw took to a blog post saying that anyone with a copy of the currently out of action sim game that was activated before March 18, will receive a free game from EA's catalog.

The full blog post is below:

A famous quote in the tech world is "nobody will ever need more than 640kB of RAM." Obviously we've blasted through that amount of RAM with cell phones and even embedded devices having much more than that. Yet, for some reason, the PlayStation 3 came with just 512MB of RAM, forcing level designers to cut corners.

Dishonored's lead level designer Christophe Carrier:

Crystal Dynamics' reboot of Tomb Raider has just been released, and being an AMD Gaming Evolved title, Radeon owners haven't been having an issue running it at all. GeForce users on the other hand? Well, you should read on.

GeForce users have been having huge problems with the game, so much so that NVIDIA's Andrew Burnes, the editor of the official GeForce.com website, wrote a three-paragraph statement regarding the performance issues of Tomb Raider on NVIDIA hardware:

As part of the ongoing launch troubles that SimCity has undergone, EA has announced that they will be shutting down some of the non-critical features of the game to help with server load and connectivity. Most of these features, ironically, are the ones that would require an always-on internet connection.

EA is also adding servers to help with the load. They have said that customers can request a refund, though this didn't work out too well for at least one person who tried. We'll keep looking for SimCity news, hopefully of the variety that EA has fixed all of the problems. If you haven't picked up the game yet, you would be advised to hold off until the all-clear is given by EA.

We've already been greeted with the PlayStation 4 specs, and now it's edging closer to Microsoft's time of unveiling their next-gen Xbox. Gaming Capacity have spoken with a source, who has had hands-on time with the next-gen Xbox prototype, unveiling some new details. The source wanted to stay anonymous, stating the following in regards to testing:

The source was able to unveil some details, which might surprise some:

Gamers across the world, myself included, are itching for the next-generation consoles to be released - but how many do Sony expect to ship this year? DigiTimes' latest piece comes from quoted sources at both the Foxconn and Pegatron manufacturing plants where the PS4 is being made, who have said that Sony's internal plans are to ship at least 16 million PS4s by the end of 2013.

DigiTimes' sources said that Sony have only just begun requesting quotes on the requisite components, and that mass component shipments in August would allow Sony to get the PlayStation 4 onto shelves by Christmas this year. If DigiTimes' sources are right, Sony are in the very beginning stages of industrial design, which could be problematic if something were to happen in the coming months.

16 million is a lot, but we have had nearly 10 years between consoles, and gamers are spending more than ever with DLC these days - so is it too much to ask for Sony to sell 16 million? What are your thoughts on the matter?

For those looking to play on some of EA's SimCity servers, you might have found yourself out of luck earlier today. EA was forced to shut down Oceanic 1, NA East 1, and NA East 2 to apply patches that will hopefully fix connection and load issues that users have experienced since SimCity's launch yesterday.

The process started at 11:40a.m. PST for NA East 1 and NA East 2. At 12:14p.m., EA said they had powered on four new servers to meet demand. Ten minutes later, they brought Oceanic 1 back online for players to use. At 1:55p.m., EA turned NA East 2 back on for gamers. At the time of writing, NA East 1 is still offline for maintenance.

EA added at 2:18p.m. PST that they were applying the patches to EU West 1 and EU West 2. This likely means these servers are offline, though I can not confirm this as I don't have SimCity. You can keep an eye on EA's progress on their status post.

Those looking forward to the coming Valve Steam Box, you won't have to wait too much longer. Speaking with the BBC, Gabe Newell has said that they should be giving out some prototype Steam Boxes within three to four months. "We're working with partners trying to nail down how fast we can make it," Newell said.

As an additional note, he added that a final controller design hasn't been decided. Valve is looking into the possibility of using sensors to measure the gamer's body metrics, such as heart rate, to judge engagement.

The game developer behind Call of Duty have some interesting photos to share with the world, where they show off a small PC with their Infinity Ward logo on the side. To most people this might not seem like much, but are we seeing the first proper builds of Valve's Steam Box?

Infinity Ward is a huge developer, and securing them on-board with an exclusive of any kind is sure to sell millions of Steam Box's at launch. One interesting thing is that they've put an iPhone next to it for a size reference, so we can see the purported Steam Box wouldn't even be that big, what is of more interest is the device underneath it.

This looks like an external hard drive, but I'm dreaming of an upgradeable GPU. Valve could really turn the entire console and gaming industries on their heads by offering us a console with an upgradeable GPU. Anything under 150W could be cooled quite efficiently, and would give consumers a great upgrade path, too. What are your thoughts on these leaked shots?

Mac has finally gotten access to the online multiplayer game League of Legends. The game was originally released for Windows back in 2009 and has grown in popularity ever since. If you already play League of Legends, you can download the open beta for Mac, or you can sign up for an account on their website.

League of Legends is popular among gamers and eSports enthusiasts. There are numerous events streamed live, each viewed by thousands of people. Prizes for the events can run up into the millions, so it's somewhat interesting that it has taken so long to get it onto the Mac platform.

The creators behind the Ouya console will begin shipping the consoles to Kickstarter backers on March 28. That's right, just one more month until you will be able to get your hands onto your very own Ouya console. The consoles are currently being produced with full launch still set for June.

Ouya is the console that everyone is looking forward to. It blew through its $950k funding goal by raising nearly $8.6m. It will be available in stores for around $100 with extra controllers coming in at $50. They expect to release new versions every year, likely featuring new hardware.

Sony keeps releasing tidbits of information here and there about its upcoming next-gen console, the PlayStation 4. In images released today Sony is giving us an up-close look at the portable and social aspects of the PS4.

The high-resolution screenshots show off some of the upcoming console's graphical user interface, but more importantly some of them give us a first look into how the new console will integrate with social media as well as mobile devices such as tablets and phones.

Other screens showcase the home page, game streaming and user profiles. I have posted all of the images below in the news image gallery in hopes that they will keep your appetite wet until we actually see an actual image of the mysterious PlayStation 4.

EA have announced that they will be building micro-transactions into all of their future games on PC and consoles, with the decision forming amidst the controversy over the micro-transactions in Dead Space 3, which was the first game in the EA-published series to be impacted by micro-transactions. Chief Financial Officer, Blake Jorgensen, when speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, said:

It looks like micro-transactions are here to stay, and I'd even be willing to get we'll move toward a future of cheaper or even free-to-play games that are financed from micro-transactions.

We've heard so much about the PlayStation 4 in the last week or so, but what about the cost of games? Surely these next-gen games cost more to develop? Yes, yes they do, and that cost will see games rise by 5-10% at launch, thanks to the higher development costs on the PS4.

The news comes from EA's latest investor call, where the company's Chief Financial Officer, Blake Jorgensen, stated that there will be a 5-10% increase in development costs for PS4 titles. This means we should expect to see PS4 titles priced at $69.99 at launch, where over time, they'll eventually fall down to $59.99. In order to back this up, EA's Chief Technology Officer, Rajat Taneja, has said that PS4 games will be capable of 8-10 times the graphic capabilities of current-gen games, where we'll see games in 1080p at 60fps.

One last surprise, Taneja also said that he's seen Battlefield 4 and that "it's stunning."

I'm pretty excited about the PlayStation 4, mainly because it's going to give the PC a much needed injection of next-gen games instead of sub-par ports. Ubisoft were asked what they wanted the PlayStation 4 to be like, with Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot telling Kotaku last week:

Ubisoft's reply was something we all wanted to hear, with some of us expecting it:

EA has sat down with VentureBeat to talk about a future of gaming with EA under a single identity across multiple platforms, even if that platform is Xbox 360, iOS, or Mac. This move will see EA follow gamers across all platforms, where they can track their activity and even move into new business models that would better target consumers. EA's chief technology officer, Rajat Taneja, said:

All of this is the work of 1500 engineers, and more than 18 months of pure time. It's all part of a major investment that EA chief executive John Riccitiello has made, in order to help the company bridge from being just a game publisher, to a multi-platform digital games company.

I only became aware of Watch Dogs last week when a friend pointed it out to me, I was blown away - it looks truly incredible. The game was then shown off during the PlayStation 4 unveiling late last week and now we're hearing some discussion from developer Ubisoft Montreal on the game. Senior producer on the game Dominic Guay, has said that the PS4 version of Watch Dogs pushes all aspects of the game further, he told Digital Spy:

The PS4 version of Watch Dogs will use the PlayStation 4's new touch pad to control the protagonists phone in-game, something that has been described as a "direct translation", and a "really cool" feature. As for the development of Watch Dogs on the PS4, Guay said that it's "definitely easier to get in" to as a platform, elaborating:

If there's a single game I'm excited for in the next couple of years, it has to be Battlefield 4. Battlefield 3 really pushed the boundaries within the first-person shooter in terms of graphics, but the next one should amp that up considerably.

EA labels president Frank Gibeau has said:

As we've previously reported, the actual PlayStation 4 console was noticeably absent from the unveiling Wednesday night. Sony said that this was due to the console's hardware and design still being finalized. The CEO of Sony has now come out and said that we should see the actual console at E3 or sooner.

"I would look for E3 as a time when you'll get a good look at it," he told Forbes in an interview. "Or sooner."

As soon as actual pictures of the PlayStation 4 surface, you can be sure that you'll be able to find them here on TweakTown.

Most of you were probably tuned into the live stream or our live coverage of the PlayStation 4 event last night. The one thing that you probably noticed was that a picture or actual hardware version of the PlayStation never made an appearance. There wasn't a single sighting of the device last night and Sony's CEO Jack Tretton has explained why.

According to an interview with AllThingsD, Sony hasn't finalized the hardware or specifications, so they didn't have a final hardware design to show off. That's right, Sony announced the product before they had even finished designing it.

Sony Computer Entertainment of America CEO Jack Tretton: "We're certainly capable of showing playable game content, but we don't have a mass-production box that we can bring out and pull out. That's still in development in terms of final specs and design."