Gaming - Page 2035

Gabe Newell, founder and all-round awesome sauce man at Valve has confirmed that DOTA 2 will not see the light of day until 2012 at the earliest. Right now, the only thing close to a release is an invitation-only beta that is planned to follow the GamesCom 2011 show in Cologne, Germany. Newell has been quoted saying:

We'll just go into progressively wider and wider distribution. I don't think it'll be shipped until next year. [But then] with a game like this, you just keep shipping. You add new heroes. You try out new game modes. You are constantly tweaking item and hero balance. It's very much an ongoing thing.

DOTA 2 has however, been playable on the show floor at GamesCom 2011, but only for teams invited to compete in Valve's tournament dubbed, The International. Newell also stated (in regards to the business modem that Valve will use for the game) that they "don't have a plan." He did add:

GamesCom 2011 - Whilst Battlefield 3 is bringing people to their knees making them beg for a quicker release date because it just looks so, bloody, awesome. Activision and Infinity Ward have had to do something to bring a little candle of light toward their behemoth franchise, Call of Duty. The next instalment, Modern Warfare 3 has now been confirmed at GamesCom 2011 to include dedicated servers.

Noah Heller, who works at Beachhead Studios on Call of Duty: Elite said to Eurogamer:

And of course we're working really hard right now on the customised version of Elite for the PC [versions of Call of Duty games], because it's an open platform and has some challenges.

Sony has officially cut the price on the PS3 in all markets. The 160GB system will now be $250 in the US, 250 euros in the European territories, and 24,980 yen in Japan. The new price drop is effective immediately in all territories except Japan where it'll receive the price drop on August 18. The 320GB model of the PlayStation 3 will see a drop to $300 in the US, 300 euros in the European market and 29,980 yen.

SCEA's CEO Jack Tretton says:

In addition, a limited edition inFAMOUS 2 bundle is now available at participating retailers across North America. The bundle retails for $299 and includes a 320 GB PlayStation 3, a copy of inFAMOUS 2 and a 30-day membership to PlayStation Plus. Since its release in 2006, PS3 has gained tremendous support from fans around the world and its cumulative worldwide sales reached a milestone of 50 million units as of March 29, 2011," Sony said in the statement. "Equipped with future proof cutting-edge technologies including the sophisticated processors, Cell Broadband Engine and RSX, as well as the Blu-ray disc (BD) player and HDMI terminal, PS3 has continuously enhanced its value to consumers through system software updates to support new features and services including stereoscopic 3D content playback and support for the PlayStation Move motion controller.

Microsoft are ditching the glossy outer shell on select Xbox 360 consoles for a black matte finish. Major Nelson broke the news, with a 250GB unit in glossy finish and a 4GB model featuring a matte black finish being the current models on the market. Microsoft from now on will not be continuing the manufacturing of the glossy 360, instead it'll use the new matte-finish system. There will still, however, be glossy-based 360s in the form of the limited edition Gears of War 3 console and Star Wars console.

The transition from glossy to matte has already started and the new consoles will be available in a few weeks. So if you want to get in with a glossy model, you'd better run to your nearest electronics store and get some of that gloss on, because soon they'll all be matte.

Rochard is a PSN-exclusive side-scrolling platformer which features the ability to manipulate gravity through the use of the G-Lifer (a gravity device used to easily move weight objects around, ala Half Life 2) and is crucial to your success. Rochard is packed to the brim with puzzles, action, humor, great music, excellent level design as well as a story rich of twists. Rochard features 5 long chapters, a cartoonish visual style with humor and personality. Incredible items able to influence gravity and grab, swing and throw objects to solve puzzles or get rid of enemies.

Rochard also features a soundtrack by Markus "Captain" Kaarlonen from Poets of the Fall, mixing southern rock/blues and 80's inspired electronic music. Protagonist John Rochard is voice acted by Jon St John and finally, Rochard is powered by the Unity engine and the developers say that this is the most advanced use of the engine yet.

The story line of Rochard is as follows:

Like most, I hated Steam when it came out. But, it has turned into one of the best digital distribution methods on the market and I personally do not buy any games anywhere else. News has surfaced that EA will not be offering Battlefield 3 through Steam, but their own digital distribution service, Origin. EA's Seeson Mahathavorn said in a statement:

EA offers games, including Battlefield 3, to all major digital download sites. In doing so, our goal is to not only reach the widest possible global audience with our games, but also to provide ongoing customer support, patches and great new content. We are intent on providing Battlefield 3 players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play the game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with consumers.

For more on our policy to offer games to any major third party download service, please read here: https://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/7372195.page

Blizzard has changed their StarCraft 2 demo and morphed it into the StarCraft II: Starter Edition. The new demo has been revamped and removes the time restrictions that plagued the original demo which means you can play the same missions over and over again if you wish. Multiplayer is there in some form, with the new Starter Edition capable of using the StarCraft II AI and allows you to take on the Skynet-like AI in a quarter of the full games maps.

A detailed run down of what is included in the new Starter Edition:

The first four missions of the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty single-player campaign, including Mar Sara 1-3 and the choice to embark on Tychus's first mission or Dr. Hansen's first mission.

Gearbox Software has officially announced the development of the sequel to Borderlands. The sequel will be based on the rustic planet of Pandora (Avatar, anyone?) and will have players traversing uncharted lands to discover new "mysteries." As usual at the time of a new game announcement, details are very low but Gearbox are promising to deliver an "ambitiously crafted story" that unfolds alongside new characters, skills, environments, enemies, weapons and equipment.

Wow, I'm pretty sure that's also known as "stating the obvious." If Borderlands 2 follows its previous title, we can expect the same four-player, role-playing, FPS lootfest that the original game made oh-so much fun. Hopefully this time round, the PC version is at least worked on. The original Borderlands stank of console port, which was very disappointing to say the least.

More information will be available about Borderlands 2 shortly in the form of next month's issue of Game Informer magazine as well as the game being shown off at Gamescon in Cologne, Germany on August 17-18 and finally at PAX Prime on August 26-28. The official release window for Borderlands 2 is slated for Take-Two's 2013 fiscal year which runs from April 1, 2012 through to March 31, 2013.

Smartphones and tablets are edging ever-so-close to the now ageing consoles in terms of capabilities, with the future not looking bright for the old consoles. SoC (System on Chip) creators such as NVIDIA and Qualcomm have some very powerful technology coming out and Qualcomm has gone as far as saying that future SoCs will be capable of beating current-generation consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in terms of graphics and that we'll see a move from console and PC gaming to mobile-based gaming.

Their vision is to have a device such as a smartphone or tablet based on a high-end SoC, plug it into the wall or tether to a display (either wirelessly or through HDMI) and you've got a portable gaming console. Qualcomm is committed to delivering both the hardware and software support needed to bring developers to these platforms.

Most players in the SoC market are looking at doing this as the smartphone and tablet market expands at what seems to be a never-ending rate. With console sales slowing down, there is no better time for next-generation console announcements from the juggernauts of Microsoft and Sony. The transition from console and PC-based gaming to mobile-based gaming won't happen overnight, as there are too many AAA franchises on the big boy platforms.

Sony have previously said their next-generation portable gaming machine, PlayStation Vita, will launch globally by the end of the year and have said more specifically, that'll it'll be in the fall. Blockbuster have jumped the gun, with IGN nabbing their flier which suggests the PS Vita will hit UK retail shelves on Friday, October 28, 2011. The advertisement suggests that both Vita models will arrive in Europe after two months. Will we see a US or Japan release at the same time? We don't know.

As we can see from the above image (if true), the Vita will be £$229.99 for the Wi-Fi only model, with the 3G & Wi-Fi Vita at £279.99. Pricing doesn't seem too bad considering Sony has promised a PlayStation 3-level experience, as the Vita sports a quad-core ARM Cortex A9 processor with a multi-core PowerVT SGX543MP4 graphics chip that is four times as fast as the PSP. The Vita will come with a 5-inch OLED screen with a resolution of 950x544, two micro-analog sticks to simulate the Dual Shock experience, front and rear-facing cameras, as well as a two-finger multitouch pad on the back of the Vita unit.

Sony is hoping that the front and rear touch screens will offer new three dimension-like motion gameplay experiences never before seem on any device through "touch, grab, trace, push and pull" finger motions. A Sixaxis equivalent with a gyroscope and accelerometer is also available to let players control games by moving and tilting the Vita itself.