Gaming - Page 2063

Bethesda have been very quick on patching their dragon-slaying, you-can-do-everything RPG, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. They've released Patch 1.3 which brings general stability improvements, optimized performance for Intel's Core 2 Duo processors and resolves the following problems:

Fixed Radiant Story incorrectly filling certain roles

Fixed magic resistances not calculating properly

I could sum this news up in just four letters: ROFL. But, I'll explain what is going on here... the Red Cross are investigating whether 600 million gamers are violating the Hague and Geneva conventions when they kill and blow stuff up for fun.

Delegates at the 31st International Conference of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Red Crescent raised their concerts over the potential "International Humanitarian Law" violations, which can constitute war crimes - during a workshop in Geneva.

The Red Cross wrote in its daily bulletin:

PC fans may miss out on Back to Karkand this week to PS3 gamers, but they gain a 2GB patch that fixes and balances so much of the game. The changelog includes the tactical lights which have been way OP (over-powered) and have now (with the patch) been scaled down at a medium distance.

The patch also includes most of the content for the upcoming Back to Karkand DLC, as well as dozens of other tweaks. The IRNV scope is now limited to close range, certain weapons are properly suppressed and conceal your minimap location, stealth air vehicles are less effective, firing a weapon on full auto is now less accurate, miniguns have been made weaker against jets and helicopters, and 12g FRAG ammo is now less effective and not so OP with auto and semi-auto shotguns.

[edited] - actually 3.9GB. Thank you Blair McClelland ‎for pointing this out on the Facebook feed. Also, restart Origin for the update to intialize!

Good news PlayStation 3 Battlefield 3 gamers! Back to Karkand launches tomorrow for the PS3, a week ahead of when PC and Xbox 360 games will get the B2K love. Back to Karkand features four old-school Battlefield maps reimagined using the Frostbite 2 engine.

It also includes three new vehicles (the VSTOL fighter jet, Desert Buggy, and an APC), ten new weapons that you can bring back to the base game, and a new layer of persistence with DICE's all-new "Assignments" make this a must-have for any Battlefield fan. DICE have also included some of the best maps such as Wake Island, Sharqi Peninsula, Gulf of Oman, and Strike at Karkand.

Not only that, but DICE have also upped the destruction, where "huge portions of these maps can be razed to the ground", while the buildings may go down, this excites me and makes me go up. DICE have given some more details on the "Assignments" inclusion in B2K:

We knew it was coming, but wow has the time gone by fast. Tomorrow is the day Microsoft's new Metro-powered UI theme for the Xbox 360 goes live. Kinect is still a central part of the update, where users can now speak naturally to the Xbox, this will change the way a family or household uses the Xbox, instead of a clunky controller to navigate menus and such, a simple voice command is all that's required.

Let's say you want to run a search, if you're Kinect-powered, you could just say "Xbox: Bing, 'Fast and the Furious'", the results will show all of the content that matches the searched criteria across games, music, video and other categories.

The new Metro styling is instantly recognizable to anyone who has played with or owns a Windows Phone. This format will also be taken across to Windows 8. Microsoft are also trying to make the Xbox a set-top box, and is set to have a fair amount of live TV and movies on offer with companies such as Verizon FiOS, YouTube, HBO GO and Xfinity On Demand, TMZ, UFC, Wal-Mart's Vudu service and others lending a hand.

Fan of Minecraft? Fan of Super Mario? Get ready for your worlds to collide. Three guys have spent over 500 hours recreating the first two minutes and twenty four seconds of Super Mario Land. In their quest for insanity, they used more than 18 Minecraft blocks.

The above movie was made by carpenter James Wright, Joe Ciappa and a gamer known as Tempusmori, had the game running through an emulator and then replicating it pixel-for-wool-block-pixel inside a giant Minecraft Game Boy.

The three guys spent approximately four weeks, where each day consisted of six to seven days of hard work inside Minecraft creating the shots, which were then dropped into a video editor and slowed so each frame displayed for one sixth of a second. Crazy, but so, so awesome.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's beta went live last week and its just days later we have our first taste of gameplay footage. CS: GO looks much prettier than the previous Source-powered Counter-Strike. Check out the video of gameplay below:

It doesn't look too bad, but compared to next-gen shooters like Battlefield 3, it just feels so... old. But, for fans of Counter-Strike, they'll look past these things. Below is also a comparison between Counter-Strike: Source and Global Offensive.

I do like the improved buying system, it looks much better than the old CS/CS:S versions. Graphics look much better than CS:S and the original CS [of course], and all of the old-school sounds are back. "Lock and Load", "Fire in the Hole", all of the gun sounds, all make it back.

Someone on the NeoGAF forums have gotten their mits on the South Park edition of Game Informer and have released details on the upcoming South Park-themed RPG. The RPG will be the first game that South Park duo Trey Parker and Matt Stone have directly participated in, where they've written the script and dialogue.

As the protagonist, you will be silent. Parker has always preferred silent protagonists, so his wishes will come true. The character you play has a smartphone which acts as the primary game menu and has a Facebook-like app which shows the number of friends you have and your current standing with the various kid factions. Five classes are said to be included, wizard, paladin, adventurer, rogue, and a fifth unannounced class.

Obsidian will be using the Dungeon Siege III engine and have developed a dynamic lip-syncing tool to accommodate changes in the script. Parker and Stone have given an astonishing 15 years of assets to Obsidian to make the game with. For full details, check out the insane list below:

Sony have release a new system software update, version 4.00 for some. Not all users, but some at this stage. This new version is in preparation of the NGP launch, PlayStation Vita in Japan.

This update will prepare the PS3 to serve as a content management device, allowing users to copy over media such as games, music, photos, and videos between the PS Vita and PS3. It will also allow the backing up of PS Vita save data to your PS3 hardware, and update the system software for your PS Vita using the network features of your PS3.

Other changes include:

A few quick gaming nuggets today! Firstly we have the news of the long-awaited Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta beginning today. It was delayed for a little while there, but some good news for CS fans out there today!

The game is still aiming for an "early 2012" release, and it should be good to go then too if the beta has lifted off today. If any of our readers have gotten into the beta, please do let us know what you think by commenting below. Personally, I'm hesitant with CS:GO, I really expected a next-gen FPS, with the same feel of "freshness" that Counter-Strike first introduced all those years ago.

I wouldn't mind some real-time destruction, making for much more frantic shoot outs and battles. One can only wish.