Gaming - Page 2122

After numerous rumors and hearsay, EA have announced an agreement to acquire PopCap Games. The transaction is expected to close next month subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The deal includes EA pay approximately $650 million in cash and $100 million in shares of EA common stock to be issued to certain stockholders of PopCap.

PopCap employees roughly 400 people and makes casual digital games for mobile phones, tablets, PCs and social networking sites. Their games include smash-hit titles such as Plants Vs. Zombies, Bejeweled and Zuma. PopCap Games is a Seattle-based company which has more than 150 million games installed and played worldwide on a range of platforms: the Web, PC, Mac, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Zeebo, Cell Phones, PDAs, iPod Classic, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Android.

Last year, PopCap made over $100 million in revenue. EA CEO John Riccitiello said in a statement:

I was going to post this yesterday but the sources for this news were not what I would deem trustworthy. The news has popped up again that Microsoft might be including Xbox 360 compatibility in Windows 8. This would mean that anyone who purchases Windows 8 (and has a minimum requirement in hardware) should be capable of running Xbox 360 games! This is obviously a very, very bold move by Microsoft and if true, could really shake up the entire gaming industry.

As you can see from the above picture, in the Windows 8 source code is a line with "XBOX360_SYSTEM_CRASH", gee, I wonder what that could be for. If you look at the source (Engadget) and its comments, most people don't understand why this would be beneficial. Well, let's look at it this way. Microsoft have 400 million Windows 7 licenses out in the wild, 50 million plus Xbox 360 users and hundreds of millions of other customers who may not yet be on either platform.

The biggest thing to remember, is Microsoft are set to launch a next-generation console, if they do so by holiday season 2012 it would be a huge coup for them. The way I see it is, they could market by holiday season this year, until the launch of Windows 8 that Xbox 360 games will be compatible. It'll drum up unimaginable business and amazing PR for them. Once it launches, they could announce the next-gen Xbox at E3 2012 and release in holiday season later that year.

With Nintendo releasing their next-generation console next year in the form of the Wii U, it must be making Sony and Microsoft shake in their boots. Their consoles are getting old, cannot handle AAA titles in 1080p and are beginning to age, fast. With the underdog (in terms of hardware) coming out with a next-gen solution, it seems Sony are already looking at the PS4 for a possible 2012 release.

Taiwanese component makers have told DigiTimes that Sony are prepping a new home console for a 2012 release, which will feature body-movement controls ala Microsoft's Kinect. Unexpected? Well, yes... after the time, sweat, tears and money into their Move technology, it's a strange move indeed. The report states that both Foxconn and Pegatron Technology will assemble the PS4 for Sony, as they did with the PS3.

Sources told DigiTimes that the PlayStation 4 will go into production at the end of the year for a 2012 launch, with rumors that Sony will pump out 20 million PS4 consoles for 2012. Launching in 2012 has its benefits and draw backs. Draw backs are the US economy, yes it's bad, but people are still buying tech. Apple haven't slowed in sales, they've grown. Release a great product and people will find the money to buy it.

The latest game to get thrown onto torrent sites [way] ahead of release is Gears of War 3. Not due until September 20 (!) and considered by many as the biggest Xbox 360-exclusive title of the year, a leak this early of a game this big is very surprising. The build is near-final and a poster on the website NeoGAF says that it includes the full single-player campaign and all of the multiplayer options and adds "Buggy as hell, but it seems like it's all there."

Of course, Epic are doing damage control and are trying to contain the leak and go after those who are responsible, claiming they are working with their security teams and law enforcement to address the situation. Epic have said that the leak does not represent the final experience players will have with the real thing.

The leak whilst bad, can also be good for Epic. First, it's not the final build so it does not represent retail quality, secondly it's only playable on the Xbox 360. Gameplay videos have made their way to YouTube and other streaming video sites, so fans of Gears of War 3, start looking for some gameplay footage!

Jaap is a 66 year old Grandpa who still cranks online gaming and since his retirement at 59 years of age has gotten himself into the world of online FPS gaming in the form of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on the PS3. His YouTube video has seen what Borat would call "great success" with half a million views in the first week alone! His wife thinks he spends a little too much time playing games whilst his two sons are actually part of the BF:BC2 squad he is part of and are proud of him.

When Jaap retired at 59 he first stated playing Call of Duty and has now evolved up to BC2 on the PS3. His normal day consists of 2-3 hours of gaming and since the video has gone viral he spends most of his day playing games because of all the supportive attention he has received.

His online name is "Wacko Jacko" and this came about from his previous job as a journalist where he met Michael Jackson and several members of his family and to honor him, Jaap used the name "Wacko Jacko". Jaap has also received a great Father's Day present; Battlefield 3. He has a pre-order for it and can't wait to play it.

As promised Crytek have released the "DX11 Ultra Upgrade" patch for Crysis 2 and also the high-resolution texture pack is now available. The update intros DX11 as well as graphical improvements to not only the DX11 version of the game, but the stock DX9 version. There are three packs available, patch 1.9 enables DX11 support but there will be separate downloads on top of patch 1.9 in the form of "DirectX 11 Ultra Upgrade," DX11 Tessellation Pack," and "High Res Textures."

The DX11 patches will obviously give higher-fidelity visuals, but the patch also includes graphical and performance improvements under DX9. After the patch 1.9 is installed, DX9 users will gain real-time local reflections and contacts shadows. DX11-based gamers will gain hardware tessellation, parallax occlusion mapping along with various shadow, water, particle, depth of field and motion blur enhancements.

Patch 1.9 also includes over twelve gameplay tweaks as well as multiplayer bug fixes.

Just in time to make Crysis 2 relevant again, the DX11 patch is coming June 27. MyCrysis reveals that both the DX11-enabling 1.9 patch will also include the "High Res Texture packages" and will be available on Monday, June 27. The patch includes hardware tessellation support, which DX11 players will have to download. In order to see these spruced up textures, users will require 1GB of VRAM and a 64-bit OS.

The official change log is looking good;

Added Contact Shadows

id Software have their plate full right now, Rage is around the corner, Doom 4 begins work when Rage is finished and now the fresh off the press news of a Quake reboot is filling the dreams of PC-based FPS fans the world over. Eurogamer state there are "strong factions" inside id Software that are pushing for a return to the "bizarre, mixed up Cthulhu-ish Quake 1 world and rebooting in that direction."

John Carmack, the id Software god himself has revealed that once RAGE is completed, the core tech team behind it will focus their entire energies on Doom 4. Whilst Doom 4's single player is said to have a single player frame rate limit of 30fps, this is to allow "30 demons crawling all over" to keep the frame rate steady. Multiplayer however, gets bumped up to 60fps which should be a standard in multiplayer gaming in my opinion.