Gaming - Page 1189

The next piece of DLC for Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has been announced today by way of the unveiling of its official trailer. Are you ready to meet the first ever Dragonborn?

"Dragonborn" will tell the tale of the first Dragonborn ever to make his way through the Elder Scrolls world who is only known now as the Dragon Priest. The Dragon Priest will be attempting to come back and rule over the land as he did in the past, and we're assuming it'll be your job as the current Dragonborn to snuff him out.

Judging by the debut trailer released today, it looks as though new weapons, armor and enemies will be made available in the Dragonborn DLC, as well as a feature many Skyrim fans have been begging for even before the game was released: rideable dragons.

One of 2012's most highly anticipated first-person shooters that isn't Halo 4 will soon be released next Tuesday, but seeing as gamers absolutely cannot wait for actual release dates, a pirated version of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has been leaked through various torrent websites.

According to a number of reports, user "BAD 2 THE B0N3" published the leaked version of Black Ops 2 for Xbox 360 onto 360iso. BAD 2 THE B0N3 was also responsible for last month's Halo 4 leak.

A flood of gameplay footage has already started making their way through YouTube that cover much of the game including the game's campaign, multiplayer and zombies mode. If you're the type of person who would prefer not to run into spoilers of a game before its release, it's HIGHLY recommended you don't go looking through YouTube for the next week as Black Ops 2 can easily be ruined thanks to these videos.

In China, game consoles are technically illegal, which has stopped Sony's PlayStation 3 from launching in the country, until now. The company have been approved to launch their now ageing console in China.

Authorities granted the PlayStation 3 a "China Compulsory Certificate" in July, but the PS3 has yet to have launched yet. Considering the PS3 launched in Japan close to six years ago, it is definitely behind the times in China. China pushed in a console ban in 2000 to protect the nation's youth, in turn, creating a booming grey-market for game consoles, and games themselves, pushing piracy numbers up considerably.

Consoles can be sold if they're labelled as home entertainment consoles, and thanks to Sony baking in a Blu-ray player into the console along with its many online capabilities, the PS3 is considered a home entertainment system anyway. Microsoft never released the Xbox 360 in China, and Nintendo didn't bother with the Wii, either.

There's a new team-based first-person shooter on the block called Ace of Spades, and most of you (including myself) have probably not even heard of it.

Well, the game is being made specifically with the gameplay found in Team Fortress in mind, wrapped in the 8-bit blocky Minecraft-like look, which also gives players in the game the freedom to build themselves a custom battlefield, on-the-go. Yes, while you're defending, shooting, and running away from bullets, you'll be making your own battlefield.

Ace of Spades supports up to 32 simultaneous players in a world that is completely destructible, and just like Minecraft, players are only limited by their own creativity in building their surroundings. Ace of Spades is a PC-exclusive (yay!) and has been in development since April 2011, with the beta sporting around 2.5 million players.

Up until just a few months ago, Xbox 360 achievements have just been a way to brag to your friends on how much of a gaming god you are over them as you've gone above and beyond in order to unlock your achievements. But Microsoft changed that recently when they began to offer discounts on merchandise within the Xbox Live Marketplace for gamers who reached a certain amount of Gamerscore. Now it looks like American Express is getting in on the "rewarding gamers for their achievements" bandwagon.

American Express announced today that it will be launching its Card Sync Technology with the Xbox 360 which will reward players with real-world prizes like coupons and credit to their credit card. American Express card holders would need to sync their card to their Xbox Live account to which the company would keep track of your achievements and reward you accordingly.

The program will be available to U.S. and U.K. American Express cardholders and kicks off with Halo 4 next week. One reward that will certainly get a lot of Halo 4 players sprinting towards its completion is the reward for the "Lone Wolf Legend" achievement. Players will need to be one of the first 25 people in the U.S. and one of the first five in the U.K. to complete Halo 4 solo on Legendary difficulty. The reward for that achievement would be a trip to E3 2013 with all accommodations paid for.

I still remember when Medal of Honor came out - that's about the time we got some wicked anistrophic filtering tech on our graphics cards and it was one of the first games I used it on. The game itself was phenomenal, and this was all before Call of Duty entered the first-person shooter arena.

After rebooting a couple of years ago, we're looking at another jolt into the now disappointing franchise with Medal of Honor: Warfighter (our review on it is here). But, EA's earnings call a couple of days ago noted the disappointing performance of the game, but didn't give out any exact sales figures.

Wedbush Securities analyst, Michael Pachter, says that the bad reception could be the beginning of the end of the Medal of Honor brand, and furthermore, hurt EA's ongoing fight against Activision for the king of the hill position in the first-person shooter market. Pachter says:

Finally, some news for the gaming world that is exciting. VG247 have had multiple sources whisper into their ears that "Orbis" developer kits, otherwise known as the PlayStation 4, are reaching developers, housed in a normal PC case.

VG247 report that there are four different dev kit versions, with the previous version just a graphics card. The version shipping at the moment is a "modified PC", and the third version which will arrive in January 2013 will be closer to the final spec. The final version will be in developers' hands "next summer".

The latest Orbis units are based on AMD's A10 APU series, with the PS4's APU described as a "derivative" of existing A10 hardware, which is "based on A10 system and base platform". VG247 were told that the "ultimate goal" for the hardware is to run 1080p60 games (1920x1080 at 60 frames per second) in 3D with "no problems". The goal, to create a machine that's powerful enough for "today and tomorrow's market". Considering tomorrow's market is 4K... I'll stop there for now.

Crysis 3 is coming. We've covered the game quite a bit, especially while checking it out at E3. We've told you how to get an Alpha multi-player key for this upcoming public trial. Now we're bringing you news that if you pre-order Crysis 3, CryTek and Electronic Arts will provide a free digital copy of the original for PS3, Xbox 360, or PC.

"The release of Crysis in 2007 was truly a watershed moment for first-person shooters and raised the bar on cutting-edge visuals and gameplay and we could not be more thrilled to include the original game as a pre-order bonus," said Cevat Yerli, Chief Executive Officer of Crytek. "Building upon the framework laid by the previous games, Crysis 3 offers unparalleled tactical freedom as players experience New York City's Seven Wonders and adapt to the truly unique challenges they present. By blending the best elements of the series so far, we've created an action experience that we believe will blow fans away."

Crysis 3 is sure to be great and getting Crysis original for free is just that much better. Users who pre-order the Crysis 3 Hunter Edition will get the Predator bow immediately in multiplayer, along with a Hunter Nanosuit module. Players will also start at level 5 in multiplayer. Pre-order the Hunter Edition on Origin.com and other retailers for $59.99.

Finally, Rockstar have announced the release windows for Grand Theft Auto V - spring 2013 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. GTA V is set in a "re-imagined, present-day Southern California in the largest and most thriving game-world we have ever created set in the sprawling city of Los Santos and for miles beyond - from the tops of the mountains and the depths of the ocean".

Pre-orders will open up on November 5, with the developer to tease even more details of the game in the following weeks. One very negative thing about this is that Rockstar didn't talk about the PC platform in their announcement.

I did see on their site that they posted about the PC version in the comments section stating that "we're currently focused on the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game and don't have any details to share about a PC version at this time". It seems that a lot of people, myself included, are disappointed that the ageing consoles are getting their release, but our powerhouse PCs are left out, once again.

The Nintendo Wii U will be sold at a loss when it is first introduced in November. Nintendo has come out and said that manufacturing costs are higher than what consumers would be willing to pay, so they've decided to sell it at a loss, much like Sony did with the PlayStation and Microsoft did with the Xbox.

This decision isn't necessarily a bad choice. Microsoft and Sony have been doing this for a while as it allows more consumers to purchase the console, which, in turn, widens a developers audience so more games, and bigger budget games, are developed for the system. This drives even more sales of the console.

Furthermore, some of those losses are recouped on selling accessories, such as remotes, and on licensing fees paid be developers. Nintendo will make up these losses by selling games and accessories. And, as the cost of manufacturing decreases, Nintendo will start to make back its losses through profits on sales of the console itself.

Pre-order bonuses have typically been an exclusive map, character or real-life merchandise like a sticker or poster, but this is the first time that I thought any pre-order bonus for any game was worth me going out to a store to pre-order any game at this moment as I absolutely need it in my life.

Sony has announced today one of the weirdest, but at the same time, coolest piece of pre-order bonus content I've ever heard of. For God of War: Ascension, if you pre-order either the standard or collector's edition of the game, you'll be given a voucher code to access King Leonidas from "300."

Yes - the ultimate Spartan to have ever kicked a messenger into a bottomless pit will be somewhat of a playable character in God of War: Ascension as the voucher code will give access to King Leonidas' red cape, helmet, armor and spear which has its own combat moves. All of this will be made available in God of War: Ascension's multiplayer mode only.

The Nintendo Wii U will be released in just under a month, but Nintendo has stated that they're still going to be dedicated to its Wii console even after the Wii U launches. With today's news, it's apparent Nintendo is doing its best in order to make the Wii even more of a bargain for parents who may want to give their children a game console, but don't need the latest and greatest.

Nintendo announced today they'll be offering two separate bundles for its Nintendo Wii that will bundle two games that will be on nearly every kid's list this holiday season: Just Dance 4 and Skylanders Giants.

Both Nintendo Wii bundles will come with the Wii console and a copy of the game highlighted in the bundle. The Just Dance 4 bundle will come with a white Wii console, Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk and will retail for $129.99. The Skylanders Giants bundle will come with a blue Wii console, Wii Remote Plus, Nunchuk, a Portal of Power, two Skylanders characters and an exclusive Giant Skylander and will retail for $149.99

Borderlands 2 has been available on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 for over a month now, but with Gearbox Software already releasing a new piece of DLC last week, we're sure many of you are still fighting across Pandora looking for loot and to kill Handsome Jack. But what if you could take everything you love from Borderlands with you while you're on the go on your mobile device? Then I'm sure you'll be one of the millions of people around the world who will be excited to hear Borderlands is coming to iOS very, very soon.

According to an ad that was leaked in Borderlands 2's digital strategy guide, it looks as though a Borderlands-inspired iOS game is currently in the works called Borderlands Legends. Better yet, the ad says the game will be "coming in October" which means the game should be released very soon.

The ad for Borderlands Legends says the game has been designed for mobile and tablet devices and will have you play as the heroes from the original Borderlands. Players will take on wave after wave of enemies in order to collect in-game cash and experience which can be used to purchase new weapons, level up your character and unlock new skills and abilities. Seeing as the characters are from Borderlands, take the phrase "new skills and abilities" to mean skills and abilities they were already capable of.

Microsoft's Xbox SmartGlass was first announced at this year's E3 and it blew away the majority of the gaming & tech community as not only would it serve as a companion application that allows for your Windows-powered devices to interact with your Xbox 360, but it will also play well with iOS and Android devices, too. The wait for Xbox SmartGlass is nearly over as it'll officially launch alongside Windows 8 on October 26th.

Xbox SmartGlass will first be made available as a built-in add-on to Microsoft's Surface RT and other Windows 8 tablets that can be accessed within Windows 8's "Games" section. You'll then be able to use your Windows 8 tablet as a second screen or event a controller, depending on what game you're accessing at the time. Think of the Wii U, but without needing to buy a completely new console.

Microsoft has announced a handful of games and applications that will have SmartGlass integration when Windows 8 launches on October 26th like Dance Central 3, ESPN, HBO GO and NBC News to name a few.

We're nearly here, folks! The Classification Board has started working with Australian retailers to get them ready to introduce the new R18+ classification in January 2013.

The Board are working with retailers, getting training programs into place, making sure that staff are prepared for the changes to happen in January. In an update from the iGEA, CEO Ron Curry has said that JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, Dick Smiths Electronics, Big W, Ebay Australia, Kmart and Target have already had meetings with the Classification Board and had discussions about the new signage that will be placed around the retailers' stores when the R18+ rating is live.

There is one big retailer that hasn't had discussions yet, and that's EB Games. EB have a future date set up for discussions of similar issues. Video Game Assessors are also set to take part in new training through information sessions provided by the Classification Branch in Sydney and Melbourne.

Robot Entertainment's hit free-to-play iOS game, Hero Academy, has been receiving regular updates ever since it was released earlier this year. When it was first released, only the Council and Dark Elves, but within months, we had The Tribe, Dwarves and Team Fortress 2. You would think that would be good enough for Robot Entertainment, but today, they announced a new team will be making its way to the Hero Academy stage next month.

The new team that will be released this November is called the Shaolin team and they will focus more on combinations as the more you attack with individual Shaolin units, the higher the amount of damage your team will inflict on the opposing team. Not only that, but the Shaolin team's heroes can reduce the strength of the opposing team, which makes them quite the serious team to go up against.

As is customary when new teams are introduced, a new map inspired by the Shaolin team will be put into rotation once the update goes live next month as well as new avatars and Shaolin team-specific challenges.

I'm an old school PC gamer, and enjoyed the days of Quake, Total Annihilation and System Shock 2. BioShock is a spiritual kind of successor, and was a great game - not as good as SS2, but for today's Call of Duty clones, it was great.

BioShock 2 felt like a let down, but BioShock Infinite... well, it's shaping up to look quite delicious indeed. The latest trailer for the Irrational Games-made first-person shooter is here, and shows off some great in-game footage.

There's a bunch of swinging in the air with your Sky-Hook, rescuing your lady friend, and a show of that huge city in the sky, Columbia. BioShock Infinite is set to hit the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on February 26, 2013.

BioWare Montreal producer, Fabrice Condominas, sat down for a chat with VG247 where he discussed that the studio feels Commander Shepard has had his time to shine in Mass Effect, and that it's now time for another character to take the lead in Mass Effect 4. He says:

In a response to a question of what features the fourth outing in the Mass Effect world would include, Condominas replied with:

Rockstar wants your help with their upcoming sure-to-sell-millions, Grand Theft Auto V. GTA V is set to use the new Crews which popped its head up with Max Payne 3. Crews are groups of Rockstar Social Club members who form persistent teams and compete online together.

Rockstar doesn't consider Crews a finished product, and they want your help with it. Rockstar have said:

The first image of the upcoming expansion to Battlefield 3 "Aftermath" has hit Reddit, as a timed exclusive. You can see in the photo that one of the guys is holding a crossbow, which is going to be very, very interesting in-game.

"crash7800" which is Battlefield 3's Community Manager on Reddit, pointed out the crossbow, stating in a post "quake environment, survivors are modifying weapons what they get their hands on to work. The crossbow is one example, but vehicles will see more of this kind of treatment as well... :D".

Using the great words of Jim Carrey, alllllrighty then! This is going to be great if DICE can pull this off - the management of weapons in-game, would make the first-person shooter feel much more like Team Fortress 2, and that can only be a good thing. Now, if only my Origin account wasn't hacked, with EA not returning any of my messages about it, I'd be playing Battlefield 3 more. For now, I'll just salivate over this image of Aftermath.