Gaming - Page 2130

Before id Software sold themselves [and their souls] to consoles, id Tech 4 engine was great. It powered Doom 3, and by 2007 it went on to become the most successful project by id Software to date. It also powered other games such as Quake 4, Prey, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Wolfenstein and Brink.

John Carmack has now confirmed that the source code for Doom 3 is now available, only after some delays due to legal issues. Those legal issues arise from the use of "Carmack's Reverse" algoritm which has to do with a method of rendering shadow volumes using a stencil buffer.

At around the same point in time that Carmack discovered the algoritm, Creative Labs filed a patent for essentially the same thing. id Software, according to reports, agreed to include EAX audio technology in Doom 3 in order to use the shadow rendering technique in the game. Carmack didn't want to run the risk of getting into a legal battle over the code, so he decided to remove it from the source code and work around it. Carmack said that he added four lines of code and changed two for the workaround.

Steam have started their Autumn Sale which will run until the end of the weekend, with today's sale including Portal 2, Men of War: Vietnam, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Duke Nukem Forever, Test Drive Unlimited 2 and many, many more.

As for savings, how's this for some great pricing? Portal 2 is 66-percent off, $29.99 down to $10.19, COD: Black Ops has 50-percent off, $89.99 down to $44.99, Duke Nukem Forever includes 66-percent off, down from $49.99 to $16.99 and TDU2 has an amazing 75-percent off, from $19.99 to just $4.99.

Mass Effect 2 has 75-percent off, from $19.99 down to $4.99 and the Sam and Max Complete Pack also has 75-percent off, slashing the original $49.99 price down to $12.49. More sales are obviously on, and I'll continue to post some of the stand-out games for you. Black Friday sales are here already, it seems!

Apple have just allowed a video-game company to offer their titles on a subscription for the iPad, something they've only thus far allowed magazine and newspaper publishers. Big Fish Games, a Seattle-based publisher, won approval from Apple to become the first to offer access to dozens of titles for $6.99 per month.

Until today, games have only been made available as a one-time purchase, requiring users to download individual applications. Apple introduced their subscription feature earlier this year, where the founder of Big Fish, Paul Thelen, seeing an opportunity to offer an "all-you-can-eat" service. This is great as it allows players to go into one game, then into another, without having to download separate games.

Game-subscription services have not had a perfect track record, but mix the popularity of the iPad, with easy payment methods provided by Apple's App Store, makes this a much better step in the right direction. Thelen says:

Well, it feels like this is a game of tug-of-war, one day we hear rumors of a next-generation Xbox coming out in 2012, then a day flips past and it is not coming. Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities says that the Xbox 720 won't launch next year and probably won't even see the light of day in 2013, either.

He believes that Microsoft might launch an updated version of the Xbox 360 instead. He said:

The PC version of Battlefield 3 received its patch last night, weighing in at roughly 450MB. The patch has a huge change log/fix list, which fixes a bunch of issues people were experiencing, also while balance and gameplay adjustments have been made.

My triple-monitor, SLI system is still having issues. Even thought the patch includes "fixed multiple problems when using multiple monitors (Eyefinity/Surround)", this is my beef with DICE. There are countless people across Battlelog, and various other forums who are experiencing severe issues with multiple monitors. Did DICE not consult NVIDIA or AMD with this game? Did NVIDIA and AMD not test it on their setups? Did no-one at DICE, NVIDIA, or AMD, during testing, think to try it out on multi-monitor setups? Triple 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 30-inch setups would take me less than a few days of tinkering around. Yet, with all those teams and power, DICE couldn't do it?

This is why I'm so strongly opposed to consoles, and the development going to consoles for AAA titles. NVIDIA and AMD have all these new technologies like Eyefinity, Vision Surround, 3D Vision Surround, yet half the games either don't work on them, or have huge amounts of issues like BF3 does.

Microsoft really wants to see what startups can do with their motion-based Kinect camera. Selling 8 million in 60 days wasn't enough, and Microsoft sees the future of gaming (and technology) as a huge part of Kinect. Microsoft is now preparing to help teach developers around the US what it takes to make the Kinect work for products on the Xbox or Windows PCs.

Microsoft is choosing ten different developer firms and individuals to come to Seattle for three months to learn the Kinect system inside-out. The ten people or startups will participate in what Microsoft call the "Kinect Accelerator program" and will work out of the Kinect Accelerator office.

Whilst in the program, the participants will learn everything they need to know in order to create things for Xbox and PC that work with Kinect. They won't just get three months of free training, they'll also receive $20,000, an Xbox dev kit, and the Windows Kinect SDK. Once the training is complete and the startups get their ideas perfected, Microsoft will sit them down in front of investors, venture capitalists, and media to try and grab some additional funding.

Rockstar have just released the first details of the Max Payne 3 Special Edition which will be made available on all three platforms including Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. The Special Edition is available for pre-order starting immediately and only available until January 15th, 2012 while supplies last.

Max Payne 3 Special Edition will cost $99.99 and features digital multi-player character and weapon packs not found anywhere else. The Special Edition of Max Payne 3 includes:

A copy of Max Payne 3.

Whilst most people are enjoying Battlefield 3, there are some issues. Usually I hate issues on big AAA titles, but I forgive DICE for this. Battlefield 3 really pushes most boundaries of games these days, scale, graphics, audio, detail, etc. It's hard to release a game that looks this good, on consoles too, without some bugs.

But, DICE are preparing a major PC patch full of tweaks and improvements. A post on the EA blog explains it a bit more:

I've been playing Battlefield 3 a few hours here and there and I just love it. It's an amazing achievement from DICE and the new DLC pack Back to Karkand is set to kick some serious ass. A new gameplay trailer is out and it looks like it's been done on PC this time.

In the video above, Strike at Karkand is shown off, with the streets recognizable from the fan-favorite Battlefield 2. If you pre-ordered Battlefield 3, you'll get Back to Karkand for free, if not, it will set you back $15. Back to Karkand DLC includes four maps, Gulf of Oman, Sharqi Peninsula, Strike at Karkand and my personal favorite, Wake Island. New weapons, vehicles and special assignments are also featured.

PS3 Battlefield 3 gamer? You're in luck, you'll get a week of gaming in before we all do. PS3 gamers gave a week early access to Back to Karkand.

Nintendo has a grand PR stunt for the launch of Mario Kart 7 which launches on December 4 on the Nintendo 3DS portable gaming console; real-life replicas of the classic Mario Kart and Luigi Bumble V Kart. Yes, real-life replicas!

The replicas were built by West Coast Customs, who are known for their awesome work on the MTV series "Pimp My Ride." Mario's shiny red go-kart comes complete with its glider attachment for flying. Luigi's go-kart includes a cool rear propeller that's used for underwater navigation. In the below picture is Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America:

The karts will sit on display at the LA Auto Show, November 18-27 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. But, there's a really good thing coming from Gamespot here. A competition for the chance to take one of these bad-ass looking go-karts home! The competition is through GameStop's PowerUp Rewards program, where a PowerUp member must make a purchase or trade in a game at GameStop in the month of December.