Gaming - Page 2058

'Disney' and 'console' are not two words that I would've thought I'd be writing together about, but here we are. Disney all the way back in June 2011 filed an application for a patent, but it was only recently that the Patent and Trademark Office logged it.

Disney's patent suggests that the behemoth company are working on their own console that would sport 3D augmented reality, including a handheld device. The patent has teased that it is, or will be called 'Toy Box'. The description of Toy Box sound intriguing: "It's gameplay involves various Disney and Pixar characters interacting with each other".

Considering Disney have a plethora of characters under their name, including the Pixar name and now Star Wars - this could be truly game-changing news. It might not directly compete with the Xbox and PlayStation, but it wouldn't need to. Also remember that Pixar and Apple are BFFs... so this could be the work of Apple, or they've at least got their finger in the pie here.

Microsoft has halted development on its free-to-play Age of Empires Online game that came out in 2011. What this means is that there will be no new content coming for the game, though the game will continue to operate. Microsoft detailed what it means in a blog post:

So, the game will eventually die, and until then, bug support will be slow and possibly non-existant: "Fixing and remaining bugs and addressing balance issues will be slower and, frankly, more difficult for the team. Some may, in fact, be unfixable. We will be watching carefully in case any critical bugs appear."

The Nintendo 3DS has proved a tough nut to crack, but hackers have finally managed to get the system to run homebrew code. Back on December 16, hacker Yellows8 posted images of the 3DS with the screen displaying the text "We hacked it!" At the time, the 3DS was only capable of displaying text, but that has changed.

In the few weeks between initially cracking the device and today, hackers have successfully managed to produce images on both of the screens using homebrew code. While we're still a ways from running full homebrew games and pirated games, progress seems to be progressing quickly.

The original DS suffered from rampant piracy in the form of the R4 card. The piracy was so bad it led to many developers abandoning the platform completely. Fears from several developers regarding this on the 3DS have already been voiced, and many more are likely to join them.

A picture of a GameStop Black Ops 2 DLC poster has leaked to the internet and provided precious details about the upcoming DLC. In the picture, you can see that there will be four new multiplayer maps, a new zombies map, and a new SMG. As far as the details go, we really only have names, so it's time to let your imagination go wild as to what the maps will look like.

"Hydro", "Grind", "Downhill", and "Mirage" are the new multiplayer maps, with "Die Rise" being the new Zombies map. Downhill appears to be a ski resort, which would make sense, while Mirage appears to be in the desert. The other two pictures aren't as clear and the names could align the maps in many different settings.

The SMG is named the Peacekeeper and there are no details as to which game modes it will be available in. The DLC is set to come to the Xbox 360 on January 29 and will likely cost $15, if it stays in line with the pricing of Black Ops DLC. If you have the Season Pass, you'll get the DLC for free when it releases.

Rumors have a way of starting using data that could mean next to nothing. For instance, a rumor is now saying that the countdown to E3 posted by Microsoft today is proof positive that they will be announcing the next Xbox at E3 in June. While there have been rumors saying this is the case, this timer does not have any shred of definite proof.

While it is pretty likely that the next Xbox will make its first appearance at E3 this year in June, a simple timer does not give any hard evidence. The text "And it's on..." only adds fuel to the fire, but still does not prove that this is Microsoft's plan. While it certainly is time for Microsoft to update the Xbox 360, they will likely try to milk it for every dollar its worth.

It's also important to consider that Microsoft still has some major Xbox 360 game releases to get through, including Gears of War Judgement in March. Would Microsoft really release the next-gen console so quickly after a major game release? It's hard to say. If the console includes backwards compatibility, then it is possible.

Sony has sent out an invite to members of the press for an event in February. Destination PlayStation will be held February 25-28 in Scottsdale, Arizona and will show off games, with attendees being "treated to food, drink, play, and a first look at all the amazing new releases coming from Sony Computer Entertainment America Entertainment in 2013."

SlashGear suspects that the PlayStation 4 will be announced here and released in 2014, if it follows past release trends from Sony. Couple this with the rumor that Sony has ended production of the PS2 to focus on the next-gen console, and it's starting to look really good for console gamers.

The PlayStation 4 will be competing against Microsoft's next-gen console, rumored to be called the Xbox 720, whenever it does eventually decide to launch. Some rumors have placed the announcements as E3 this year, but others say that it won't be until 2014. One thing is certain, they can't be too far in the future.

An era has come to an end. Sony has finally stopped production of the PlayStation 2 for Japan. The console, which was first released in March of 2000, has been sold consistently since then, and managed to rack up 150 million sales. The device proved so popular that it actually outsold the PS3 for the first three years of the latter's availability.

By ending production of the PlayStation 2, Sony has caused some to speculate that they are putting the manufacturing resources towards the yet unannounced PlayStation 4, a next-gen console rumored to be announced at this year's E3 in June. Incredibly, it's believed that about 11,000 games have been produced for the console.

Sony has not announced plans to end production for other regions, though a 12-year lifespan is longer than most consoles enjoy and is a likely announcement to be made in the future.

Some Xbox Live Gold users have experienced an outage for the cloud saving feature present in some games. Microsoft has now fixed the patch and automatically credited one month of free Xbox Live Gold to the users who were affected. Some were without their saves for mere hours, others for days.

Again, this outage proves that the cloud is not a perfect solution. Local backups are important, and in this case, would have been easy to do. It is nice to see Microsoft being proactive in applying the Xbox Live Gold credit, rather than requiring users to ask for it. That still doesn't help if you were left without your game saves this weekend.

Well, folks, Blizzard just confirmed that they will not be implementing a player-versus-player Team Deathmatch in Diablo III. Blizzard promised PvP modes for the game, but they have yet to materialize. Blizzard has said that plans for Dueling are still on and will be released in patch 1.0.7, which is coming sometime in 2013.

Keep in mind that Diablo III launched back in May of this year. At the time the game launched, Blizzard was promising these PvP features. Here's what they have to say about their plans:

News came out that the upcoming Sim City successor will be required to have an always-on internet connection to play and save the game. Some people have worried that this could be a problem if your internet drops out while you're playing. What exactly happens to your city? The answers aren't clear, but Lucy Bradshaw, lead for the Maxis lablel at EA, would like to defend the DRM scheme.

I'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not you believe or agree with Bradshaw. Of course, once the game comes out in March 2013, we, along with other sites, will be able to give you a better idea of how the game plays.