Gaming - Page 1203

This morning K-Mart let the proverbial cat out of the bag on the Sony PS3 Slim. This is the same console that Sony has been denying for the better part of a year. Well K-Mart messed up by putting this up on their website for $299.99. The launch date was set for the 24th of August.

At the same time Sony was preparing for a news conference at Noon Eastern Time in the US. Many knew that they would hear word of the PS3 Slim from the horse's mouth.

Well Sony did officially announce the PS3 Slim and for the listed $299 but the launch date is a little off. Sony says that it will be ready in early September. The new PS3 will have a larger HDD at 120GB but will feature pretty much the same hardware otherwise.

Sony also announced that it will knock off $100 from the current PS3 system bringing it down $299.99 for an 80GB full sized version. Why you would want to do that I am not sure as in a couple of weeks you can have the newer version with a larger HDD for the same price.

So what is the price of Advertising in Gaming? If you are a player of WipeOut HD then it means slow load times, poor performance and host of other problems. Of course to me it means much more.

When I purchase a game I pay for gaming content, this comes in the form of graphics, AI, sound, immersive game play and storyline. I will happily shell out as much as $60 for a good game. This is in addition to any upgrades to hardware I might need to make sure I can play the game properly. What I do not want is to have to deal with advertising in my game.

I despise the presence of ads in games as much as I hate FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) both have no place in gaming and technology in general. Both are the last ditch efforts of the desperate.

Placing Ads in games will no doubt inspire more pirated versions of the games as they can selectively remove those ads like some games get their cut scenes removed. If fully pirated copies are not the outcome then surely tools to block these ads in the games will. So in the end the consumer and the gamer loose out by putting ads in our games.

Well it looks like Rage from id Software will be primarily aimed at the console market. This is in line with what John Carmack said back in 2008.

This is an interesting departure from id's normal work. Usually id titles hit the PC and then are later ported to the console if there is a big demand for it (like Doom). So why the shift to the console? Well if I were a betting man I would say that is the popularity of the newer consoles combined with online access they all now have. I would also add that porting from console to PC is usually easier than PC to console.

id has said that there will be a PC version with a little better graphics but that it will be split onto two DVDs for the install. However, since it is being designed for the console first it will be like many console ports and have controls that will feel awkward and clumsy on the PC unless you use a console style controller.

If you are into the Xbox 360 then there is some potentially good news for you.

The blunder made by Steve Balmer in announcing that Natal would come to the Xbox in 2010 could be correct and not a mistake.

The evidence that points towards this is Aptina being hit up for a few 1.3 MegaPixel cameras (of the type that would be used by Natal). This could put the "Natal Xbox" in the stores in time for the holiday shopping season in 2010.

There is no confirmation on this from Microsoft, but then again they need to clear out their existing inventory and honestly they would not confirm it now anyway. It is way too soon and could give the competition time to counter the move.

You know maybe we should start a new series of awards to honor people that just do not think...oh wait there is already one of those out. Well ok let's just make sure that this guy gets on the list for one.

According to WBIC in Indiana, an 18 Year Old was online playing World of Warcraft when he made a threat to blow up a commercial airliner. Now this is not something you bandy about in an online community that is monitored. You would not even say this out loud in a public place.

Well you can probably figure out what happened. A Moderator noticed the messages and contacted the authorities about them. The idio...Um I mean the person's IP was found, traced and the FBI showed up at his door.

He was interrogated and now may face federal charges.

His comment to the FBI...

He was testing a theory.

And the winner of this year's award goes to...

Ok this has to be the coolest accessory to ship with a game ever.

According to a YouTube video the new Game Modern Warfare 2 will have a Prestige Edition that will come complete with a working set of night vision goggles.

But that is not all, inside this awesome edition of what is going to be one of the best games to hit this year. You get the game, the ability to download the original game, a handy head for displaying your new NVGs, a book full of artwork that is only found on the limited editions and a steel box to keep your DVD in.

The Prestige Edition is available for both XboX 360 and PC. There is no word on pricing yet but you can bet that once they hit the streets they will go fast so on November 10th 2009 I would highly recommend you have cash in hand to grab one of these amazing kits.

If Command and Conquer is your thing you will be happy to know that the slip-up by EA was not a mistake.

It is now official that Command and Conquer 4 will be coming to an overpriced game shop soon. Ok it won't be until 2010 but it is still officially coming.

The new installment is the final chapter in the Tiberium Saga. We can only hope that this one will be up to the rest of the series.

GameSpot what appears to be some nice screen shots up on their site although it is too early to tell if they are actual game play or not.

EA has also announced a rather nasty surprise for console fans, this one will be PC only.

Remember when we told you that Activision was considering dropping Sony if they did not lower some pricing? Well Sony has spoken up about the original comment and it is not a very nice comment either.

It seems that Howard Stringer (Sony CEO) feels that Robert Kotic (CEO of Activision Blizzard) "likes to make a lot of noise". Now I don't know about you but that does not sound like we are going to see a price cut and in the world of poker you just heard "I'll see your twenty and raise you fifty".

In fact when asked if Sony would consider price cuts Stringer said that is they did that they would "lose money on every PlayStation I make -- how's that for logic".

Now we wait to see who has what cards it could be that Activision is only holding a pair of twos looking to bluff, but on the other hand with some popular titles under their belt, coupled with growing XboX, Wii and PC game sales Activision could be holding aces over kings and Sony could be the ones bluffing.

Rumors have been flying around like crazy lately concerning the PS3 and it looks like Foxconn has confirmed at least one of them, maybe more.

Foxconn and Pegatron have landed a contract with Sony, each getting 50% of the orders on a new PS3. This would be the newer, slimmer redesign that many have been eagerly awaiting. Pictures of the slim PS3 were spotted and Sony swiftly sent a cease and desist notice to have them removed, adding some credibility to the spotting.

According to Siliconica Sony filed for a patent on PS2 emulation for the PS3 Cell processor.

Now this is what is confusing, I had thought that Sony already had this some time ago (like when the PS3 came out). But it would seem that the patent was only filed back in December 2008 and only published about a week ago.

This new finding has added credibility to the rumors of a new PS3 coming soon, and now it would seem that it will have backwards compatibility.

Read more here

CyberPower has just announced the availability of the Xplorer X7-Xtreme S1 notebook which they are claiming to be the world's fastest gaming laptop.

Earlier today we met up with David and Eric from Cooler Master's gaming division, CM Storm, in Taipei at their headquarters ahead of Computex which begins next week. We got an early look at a whole bunch of products.

Oh the rumors the rumors! All about Apple, so many rumors, first we have an Apple netbook, then a new iPhone, then a new version of the iPod touch, Verzion deals and more!

The latest one is that Apple is returning to the console market. Yup that is right, all of those high profile hirings are nothing more than Apple building a console team.

The logic goes like this, Apple has a PPC CPU thanks to PA Semi, this is basically an SoC minus a GPU. Bring in all the ex ATi talent to fill that void, roll in a healthy and popular online content distribution center, all you would need is someone that is good with getting game consoles off the ground.

Apple filled that last gap with the hiring of XboX 360 guru Richard Teversham from Microsoft. You know it is starting to look like Apple picked up the whole XboX 360 team here.


Read more here

According to an article at PCGamesHardware it looks like MS is learning to play the game with game developers. DirectX 11 will be easy for devs to port their existing DX10 and 10.1 game engines over to.

A developer at DICE said that the porting of the Frostbite Engine was done in about three hours with very little effort. About the only thing needed was search for and replace relevant code in the engine.

They also noted that CPU load should be decreased
Read more here.

PureOC says that Razer and Valve are teaming up to develop a new FPS titles HellRazer.

HellRazer will be a squad-based tactial co-op FPS. The plot of the game centers around a deadly virus breating containment in a lab and turning everyone into "aggressive beings which need to kill other beings in order to survive." Sounds innova.... nevermind.

Bigfoot, makers of the Killer NIC, have announced the Killer Xeno, the company's next-generation NIC for gamers.

The Xeno has more memory, an upgrade network processing unit (NPU), and integrated audio for hardware accelerated voice-chat. The Xeno will work with TeamSpeak, Vivox, and Mumble and is an answer to the most requested feature requested by online gamers.

Cooler Master has launched the Scout Gaming Chassis, an all black enclosure designed in close cooperation with the world's leading professional gaming teams and eSports organizers.

The Scout is all black, inside and out. Inside the solid steel body, is a 140mm front intake fan, as well as 140mm top and 120mm rear exhaust fans which provide accurate airflow to efficiently manage heat. The tinted windowed side panel has froom for another two 120mm fans should you want them.

The gang over at Gaming Heaven has been taking another look behind the curtain, this time they have a preview of DiRT2.

It seems that Codemasters has gone some length to improve the game. DiRT was very popular and was a fun game to play, however the driving physics was always annoying to me (and to many that I know). However Codemasters have finally put a realistic driving physics setup in place that aims to give players the most realistic driving experience yet.

On the Graphics side things have been improved and we good enough to impress John Erikson even at the alpha stage.

Read more here at Gaming Heaven.

If you were a fan of Antec's Nine Hundred gaming chassis, you'll love the new Nine Hundred Two which the company has announced today.

Razer has unleashed a real treat for gamers today; well, two treats. Now on display at CES is the new Razer Mamba gaming mouse and Carcharias headset.

Looking over the Mamba, this is decked out with a highly impressive feature-set that's sure to have most any gamer pleased. It sports a long detachable braided cord and can be operated wirelessly if desired. Either way, it's said to be completely lag free with a 1000Hz Ultrapolling / 1ms response rate, 5600DPI Razer Precision 3.5G laser sensor and boasts up to 200 inches per second / 50g acceleration.