Gaming News - Page 1806

This is some exciting news for all of you Dirt, F1, and Grid fans. Codemasters, the game studio behind the aforementioned games, has announced that they will be ditching the action genre in order to better serve and focus on the racing genre which is where their heritage is. This announcement comes on the heels of the difficult Operation Flashpoint: Red River and Bodycount launches.

The new racing games will be published under the company's new publishing label, Codemasters Racing. The first game of the new label will be Dirt Showdown which is set to release on May 25. "We have kept our reputation for delivering best-in-class racing games," said communications chief Rich Eddy. "And best-in-class racing games is now our razor focus going forward."

"In racing, we are No.2 in Europe and that's not good enough. We want to take racing games across multiple platforms and genres. So that players can play anytime, anywhere and on any device," he added. "Racing is our DNA, it is our heritage, it is our specialisation and it is our absolute focus going forward."

It turns out that all of the rumors saying that Prey 2 has been canceled have been greatly exaggerated. While it's true that it may not make it to shelves this year like originally planned, Bethesda revealed today that they are in fact still working diligently on the game to make it top quality before releasing it.

Bethesda posted on its blog:

Development of Prey 2 has not been canceled but the game will not be released in 2012 as planned. The delay is due to the fact that game development has not progressed satisfactorily this past year, and the game does not currently meet our quality standards. Prey 2 has shown great promise and we regret disappointing our fans. We have made a substantial investment in game development to deliver the experience fans want. We are determined only to release the AAA game that fans rightfully expect, and are unwilling to compromise our quality standards to meet a release schedule.

A few nuggets of Diablo III news have arrived, first up the beta servers for the game will shut down on May 1st. All stats and characters will be wiped in preparation for the full launch of Diablo III on May 15th. Second, some individuals have discovered that there will be a Starter Edition of Diablo III, that was accidentally made available for download through their battle.net accounts.

Blizzard noticed this quickly, and took battle.net down for "maintenance" at 8:45am EST. Some people were lucky enough to stealth away with the download, and have reportedly been able to play through part of the single-player campaign without the need of a product key. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Those who have been bashing around within the Starter Edition report that it is indeed Diablo III, but in a "limited form".

Most of the players say that the content found within the game is similar to the Diablo III beta. All of the classes are available to play, but the user interface prompts the user to upgrade to the full version of Diablo III in order to access certain features. Now that we have a confirmed Starter Edition of Diablo III, this is beginning to make sense. StarCraft II and World of Warcraft have enjoyed Starter Editions, which allowed players to play a limited part of the game for free.

The debut trailer for Dishonored is out, and for those of you who haven't heard about it (like me until just now) it's a new first-person stealth action game from Arkane Studios and Bethesda Softworks. Dishonored casts you as a supernatural assassin driven by revenge. Sounds good, doesn't it?

Bethesda and Arkane Studios explain Dishonored as:

Dishonored casts you as a supernatural assassin driven by revenge. You are the once-trusted bodyguard of the beloved Empress. Framed for her murder, you become an infamous assassin, known only by the disturbing mask that has become your calling card. In a time of uncertainty, when the city is being besieged by plague and ruled by an oppressive government armed with strange technologies, dark forces conspire to bestow upon you abilities beyond those of any common man.

In an undeniable attempt to gain more paying Xbox Live Gold customers, Microsoft will be offering it for free for five days. Commencing on Thursday, April 19, and running until Monday, April 23, users will gain access to Xbox Media Apps. Online multiplayer gaming will still be reserved for paying players only.

Additionally, partners such as Hulu Plus and Netflix will be opening the doors and offering free access at the same time. This should allow both services to compliment each other and both should gain subscribers during this event. There are a few limitations of the free access to these apps. For example, the free Netflix trial is only available to those who haven't yet used a free month's trial.

Depending on where the customer lives, they will get a varying amount of free apps during the trial. In the US, the free apps will include CinemaNow, Crackle, Dailymotion, EPIX, ESPN, HBO Go, Hulu Plus, iHeartRadio, Last.fm, MSN, Netflix, Syfy, TMZ, Today, UFC, Verizon, VEVO, Vudu, Xfinity TV, and YouTube. I'm already a subscriber, so I wonder if I can get the Hulu Plus trial for free for a month.

It seems like the creators of the eye-candy that is Crysis have caved, at least somewhat, to demands that the series return to the jungle for this third installment. Instead of returning to the jungle, they have turned New York City into 7 unique environments dubbed the "7 Wonders." From raging rivers to urban rain forest, this new game is sure to have some incredible eye-candy, that is if your computer can run it!

Due to the new environments, new weapons have been developed. Prophet, the protagonist of the series, will be equipped with a lethal composite bow, an enhanced Nanosuit and devastating alien tech. An excerpt from the announcement of the game:

Players take on the role of 'Prophet' as he returns to New York, only to discover that the city has been encased in a Nanodome created by the corrupt Cell Corporation. The New York City Liberty Dome is a veritable urban rainforest teeming with overgrown trees, dense swamplands and raging rivers. Within the Liberty Dome, seven distinct and treacherous environments become known as the Seven Wonders. This dangerous new world demands advanced weapons and tactics. Prophet will utilize a lethal composite bow, an enhanced Nanosuit and devastating alien tech to become the deadliest hunter on the planet.

Tribes: Ascend is officially out of beta and has landed for the general public's consumption. The beta was enjoyed by more than 500,000 people, and the free-to-play first-person shooter is now here to enjoy!

Developer Hi-Rez Studios have also released a new developer diary which goes over the custom server options, and the new games take on the classic Raindance map from the old, very popular Tribes games. The video above doesn't feature too much gameplay, but it does show off a very nice looking user interface.

Ok, now that you've read all of this, you want to know where you can get this bad boy and start getting into it? Well, you can create an account here, and I'll also let you know that the client comes down at around 2.6GB.

Resident Evil fan? Like collecting Collector's Editions? Well, you might want to put away some of your money, now, because Capcom are going to start waving an insane Resident Evil 6 Premium Edition right under your nose.

The upcoming Premium Edition of Resident Evil 6 will include a copy of the game, four different Resident Evil 6-branded tablet covers (which come in a Chris, Leon, Jake and Secret version), as well as a Leon leather jacket. An actual replica of the in-game jacket that Leon wears, which comes in small, medium, large, and extra large.

But, the pricing here is the kicker - ¥105,000 or US$1,293. Wow. Just wow. The Premium Edition is being made through Capcom's online site, e-Capcom. There is a sprinkle of good news here before you shut up and give Capcom your money, is that they generously offer free shipping. Thanks, Capcom.

I love it when companies screw up and release information on upcoming releases. Notably, the GTX 680 was posted for sale several times before the official launch. This time it is EA that screwed up. They posted Crysis 3 artwork on EA's digital download service Origin which gives us a first look at the yet unannounced game.

The image was only published briefly before being redacted, but someone saw, and saved, the image and it has since started circulating the internet. The details on the game are pretty unclear since nothing has been announced, but the image gives us a small insight into what could be in the next game.

Mainly, the image shows a crossbow being used by someone in the iconic nanosuit. This is the first time a crossbow or something similar has been used in any of the Crysis games. It appears to be set in a city, against many people's cries to return to the jungle. I would like to see it return to the jungle as well.

This is one of the more ridiculous rumors that I've heard regarding the upcoming Xbox 720/Next, so let's start off with some traditions and superstitions. First, the tradition: get out some salt and throw it over your shoulder. Second, the superstition: knock on some wood, because if this rumor is true, the next Xbox could be one beast of a gaming device.

The latest issue of Xbox World reports that the devkits for the upcoming Xbox were sent out after some secret meetings were held in London. The devkits don't look like the final product, but the hardware included is supposed to be representative of the final consumer product.

XBW's sources suggest that the devkit is powered by a state of the art 16-core IBM Power PC CPU with a GPU that is in the range of the AMD HD 7000 series of GPUs. The 16-core CPU is the interesting piece, and the most curious part of the upcoming Xbox. Most games only take advantage of a max of 4 cores. Additionally, 16-core CPUs are still in the future for desktop gaming rigs.