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mardi 21 juin 2011

Namco Bandai announces Aero-Cross reboot

Namco Bandai has revealed that the next game to feature in its retro Namco Generations stable will be Aero-Cross on PSN and Xbox Live.

The game is a remake of the 1985 Namco arcade classic Metro-Cross, a platform style romp which challenges the player to a futuristic footrace, navigating courses packed with jumps and obstacles against the clock.

Usable tactics will include slip-streaming behind other runners to gain speed to overtake – a novel idea for a sprint – and hoverboards (now that’s just cheating).

Previous Namco Generations titles include Pac-Man Championship Edition DX and Galaga Legions DX.

lundi 20 juin 2011

Zumba Fitness back on top of chart, beats out Zelda 3DS

Zumba Fitness is the UK all-format video game chart number one this week, as Duke Nukem Forever, last week’s top title, slid down to number three.

Zumba was at number one six weeks ago, and this is the fourth week in total it has spent on top of the chart, proving the popularity of casual fitness games. The Wii version jumped 50% in sales this week, which meant it beat out the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on 3DS.

Zelda came in at number two, although of course it is a single format game. Apparently 20% of 3DS owners snapped up the action-adventure-RPG in its first week on sale, although that still left it slightly short of the best-selling title on the system’s launch week, Pilotwings Resort.

At number four is LA Noire, which continues to sell fairly strongly, followed by Brink which is also maintaining a consistent mid-top-ten chart position, despite a lukewarm reception from some critics.

Lego: Pirates of the Caribbean was at number six, followed by Dirt 3 and then Infamous 2.

Other new entries this week included Dungeon Siege III which managed number nine for Square Enix, and EA’s Alice: Madness Returns, although that rather disappointed with a number thirteen position.

The final new entry was Child of Eden, Ubisoft’s psychedelic Kinect-powered shooter, but that failed to make the top twenty, let alone the top ten.

Battlefield 3 shown on PS3, will do 30fps

Battlefield 3 has caused much buzz since it was first shown off. The game looks superb and hugely atmospheric on a good PC, but questions have been posed about how well this will translate to the less powerful consoles.

Now those questions have been answered with the first showing of the game on PS3 format, which took place on the Jimmy Fallon chat show last week.

In between taking the mickey out of developer Johan Dohl’s accent, Fallon (and an EA rep) played a short section (the same bit which featured in the main trailer). Have a peep here.

The action looked reasonably smooth, from what you can tell from a YouTube video, and the visual detail pretty impressive – obviously not at the same level as a high-end PC, but that was always going to be the case.

One factor which may cause a bit more consternation, however, is the revelation that the game runs at 30fps. Infinity Ward has previously stated that Modern Warfare 3 will run locked at 60fps.

In fairness, the BF3 engine has a lot more going on. Maintaining a level of smoothness with the physics and vehicles contained within BF3 was never going to be an easy task.

How much this frame rate issue will sell MW3 above BF3 when it comes to the great war between the two titles this November, we shall have to see. 30fps is still fairly smooth, mind…

samedi 11 juin 2011

Nintendo Wii U designed for one tablet controller

More details on Nintendo’s console sequel slated to arrive next year have been revealed.

We’ve already heard a lot about the Wii U from this week’s E3 unveiling, and one of the smart potential features we noted is the tablet controller display making local multiplayer an interesting prospect, as it can obviously contain information hidden from other players.

However, it seems Nintendo isn’t thinking along these lines. In an interview with News.com.au, Shigeru Miyamoto noted that the console was only being designed with one tablet controller in mind.

When questioned about whether players could use two touchscreen controllers, Miyamoto replied: “Our basic premise is that you can use one with a system. If we got to an idea of having multiple (controllers) it might be just more convenient for people to use their Nintendo 3DS and have a way to connect that.”

“That being said, we are doing research about if someone brings their controller to their friends house and they want to play together on Wii U to whether or not something like that would be possible.”

So, that throws up an interesting possibility in itself – connecting the 3DS.

For a console which could allegedly be out in just ten months time, there’s a lot of talk of research – coupled with the fact that Xbox/PS3 footage was used for trailers, that would suggest the Wii U will be arriving late 2012, not inside a year.

Angry Birds cookbook on the way

Angry Birds is a franchise that’s definitely worth milking. Not only has it sold umpteen games, but there are also T-shirts and soft toys available, a board game, even a movie is rumoured.

Still, we were a little surprised to learn that Rovio is planning to release a cookbook. Yes, an Angry Birds cookbook.

We assumed that this would contain lots of pork and bacon recipes – after all, it’s the pigs who are the birds’ enemies they’re trying to knock down.

But no, the recipes are all actually egg related, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to us (yes, we’re critiquing the plot of Angry Birds… sort of). Obviously there was a wider range of egg recipes to document so that made more sense.

Anyhow, apparently the book will be self-published in both printed and e-book form. We have a hard time believing that a book full of scrambled egg and omelette recipes will sell, but everything else that has Angry Birds printed on it has, so why not…

What next? Angry Birds stress balls, perhaps, Rovio could make them eggs too.

Codemasters latest game company to be hacked

Another video game outfit has been hacked, following the recent multiple attacks on Sony, as well as probes into Nintendo’s servers.

Codemasters announced on its community forum that a week ago, there was an unauthorised intrusion onto the Codemasters.com website.

They only discovered that on Thursday, whereupon the site was taken down. Apparently the main site, Dirt 3 VIP code redemption page, the E-Store and CodeM database were all compromised.

The hacker(s) took names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth and encrypted passwords among other details. No financial details were exposed, however, as Codemasters employs external payments systems.

The main Codemasters.com website has been taken down, with traffic redirected to the company’s Facebook page. That will remain the case until a new site is constructed, going live “later in the year”, so probably not for some time as the firm restructures security.

Codemasters is emailing those affected directly to let them know. The company advised: “For your security, in the first instance we advise you to change any passwords you have associated with other Codemasters accounts. If you use the same login information for other sites, you should change that information too.”

Of course, you can’t change your forum/CodeM password as that system has been taken down.

Codemasters further states: “On another note, for all of you wishing to change your CodeM password, as the sites and services are down that support you doing that yourselves, we are currently figuring out if there is a way we can do this for you or setup a temporary way for you to do this. However, in the meantime we ask for your patience as we figure that out.”

Some people’s patience on the forum, however, appears to be wearing a bit thin. And there are certainly a few folks who aren’t impressed about the delay of a week in being notified of the hack.

Mind you, that seems to be par for the course for noticing a virtual burglary. Sony also took a week to notify PSN users that their details had been pinched last month.

vendredi 10 juin 2011

Fable 3: The Journey coming for Xbox Kinect

This week’s E3 saw Fable 3: The Journey unveiled, with a trailer and the revelation that they’re doing a full Kinect game.

Yes, Lionhead’s next Fable instalment will be on Kinect and powered by the Unreal Engine 3.

Peter Molyneux of Lionhead commented that using the Unreal Engine would free up the developer to focus on crafting quality new gameplay experiences. Obviously it’s going to be a very different game with motion controls, anyway.

Mark Rein, VP of Epic Games, noted: “Lionhead truly impresses with their proficiency for Kinect, with intuitive and natural feeling player interactions using voice and gesture controls in demonstrations we have seen firsthand. That gripping experience combined with stunning UE3 visuals truly make this is a world-class union of imagination and technology.”

The trailer – which you can see here – doesn’t give much away, except the usual Albion is coming to an end and it’s up to you to save it scenario. From the smoke monster from Lost, by the looks of things.

The Fable series has shifted over nine million copies in total, with Fable: The Journey no doubt to add considerably to that figure when it’s launched in 2012.

Kinect gamers are certainly getting a bit more to look forward to now, with Dance Central 2 and Kinect Sports 2, actual driving in Forza 4, and now Fable. Not forgetting Star Wars, of course, and support in Mass Effect 3.

jeudi 9 juin 2011

Sony unveils 24 inch 3D display for PlayStation

Sony has announced that it has plans for a 24 inch 3D monitor designed to help more PS3 owners dive into the world of 3D gaming on their console.

The 3D display will come bundled with a pair of 3D specs, an HDMI cable and a copy of Resistance 3. It’ll be out this autumn with a US price tag of $499, so hopefully a bit less in pounds over here.

The monitor is a full HD 1920×1080 LCD affair and it’s specifically designed to show off 3D at its best, with quad-speed frame sequential display technology which minimises crosstalk. In plain English, this avoids distortion and gives the clearest and most realistic 3D image possible.

Other specifications include a 5000:1 contrast ratio and 4ms response time which should ensure gaming runs nice and smoothly.

There are other innovations here, too, including a very neat sounding feature whereby two players can look at the display and see different full-screen images of the game they’re playing via their glasses.

In other words, it’s possible to play a local multiplayer game not using split-screen, but with both players using the same (full) screen and seeing their own individual content. Clever indeed, but you’ll need two pairs of glasses, of course…

A slim design is promised and two speakers plus a built-in subwoofer should ensure that the sound coming out of this display is reasonable.

The 3D glasses will be sold separately for $70 should you need a second pair for that multiplayer gaming feature. Get ready for some 3D gaming come the autumn…

dimanche 5 juin 2011

Kinect support coming for Mass Effect 3?

Images of the Mass Effect 3 box shot have been spreading across the net due to one small purple addition to the cover art.

Yes, the purple “better with Kinect” label which features on games that have optional motion control facets or mini-games. Virtua Tennis 4 is an example of one such title, which has a version of Kinect tennis (although it’s exhibition match only and can’t be used in the career or online play).

Could Mass Effect 3 have Kinect support for some minor facet? For example, voice recognition maybe.

Some sources seem to think this is likely a piece of leg-pulling, which is a possibility… yet the presence of the box shot (and the fact that it has now been pulled from the EA store where it cropped up) would seem to suggest otherwise.

It is, however, certainly unlikely to be anything major.

Kinect support coming for Mass Effect 3?

Images of the Mass Effect 3 box shot have been spreading across the net due to one small purple addition to the cover art.

Yes, the purple “better with Kinect” label which features on games that have optional motion control facets or mini-games. Virtua Tennis 4 is an example of one such title, which has a version of Kinect tennis (although it’s exhibition match only and can’t be used in the career or online play).

Could Mass Effect 3 have Kinect support for some minor facet? For example, voice recognition maybe.

Some sources seem to think this is likely a piece of leg-pulling, which is a possibility… yet the presence of the box shot (and the fact that it has now been pulled from the EA store where it cropped up) would seem to suggest otherwise.

It is, however, certainly unlikely to be anything major.

samedi 4 juin 2011

Sony “Welcome Back” post-PSN hack freebies now available

Sony re-opened the PlayStation Store on Thursday, meaning everything is now back to normal for PS3 users online.

However, the “Welcome Back” pack of goodies designed to thank everyone for their patience while PSN was being sorted security-wise wasn’t released at that point.

Fortunately Sony promised it would be soon, and indeed it was unveiled yesterday. So what does the pack consist of, exactly?

PS3 owners can pick two free games from the following list: Dead Nation, inFAMOUS, LittleBigPlanet, Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty and Wipeout HD + Fury.

For PSP owners, the list is: LittleBigPlanet, ModNation Racers, Pursuit Force and Killzone Liberation.

To grab your gratis games, you need to go to the PlayStation Store from the XMB, click the Welcome Back banner, go into the Welcome Back category and select PlayStation 3 Free Games, then select Get Now.

Then you’ll be taken back to the Welcome Back section where you can pick and choose your two freebies.

Apart from the pair of games, Sony is also offering all PSN users 30 free days of PlayStation Plus with no charge or obligation to continue. Current premium users get 70 extra free days on their subscription.

To round the apology package off, Sony is throwing in a large number of free virtual items in PlayStation Home, and a selection of free film rentals.

The Welcome Back content will only be available for the next thirty days, so make sure you download it before the month is out.

Sony “Welcome Back” post-PSN hack freebies now available

Sony re-opened the PlayStation Store on Thursday, meaning everything is now back to normal for PS3 users online.

However, the “Welcome Back” pack of goodies designed to thank everyone for their patience while PSN was being sorted security-wise wasn’t released at that point.

Fortunately Sony promised it would be soon, and indeed it was unveiled yesterday. So what does the pack consist of, exactly?

PS3 owners can pick two free games from the following list: Dead Nation, inFAMOUS, LittleBigPlanet, Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty and Wipeout HD + Fury.

For PSP owners, the list is: LittleBigPlanet, ModNation Racers, Pursuit Force and Killzone Liberation.

To grab your gratis games, you need to go to the PlayStation Store from the XMB, click the Welcome Back banner, go into the Welcome Back category and select PlayStation 3 Free Games, then select Get Now.

Then you’ll be taken back to the Welcome Back section where you can pick and choose your two freebies.

Apart from the pair of games, Sony is also offering all PSN users 30 free days of PlayStation Plus with no charge or obligation to continue. Current premium users get 70 extra free days on their subscription.

To round the apology package off, Sony is throwing in a large number of free virtual items in PlayStation Home, and a selection of free film rentals.

The Welcome Back content will only be available for the next thirty days, so make sure you download it before the month is out.

New Tomb Raider trailer released, game arriving late 2012

A new Tomb Raider game is due out next year, and the trailer has just been unveiled on the official site by Square Enix.

Entitled “Turing Point”, the trailer features Lara Croft, a boat in a storm, more Lara Croft, an accident and flood, a wet Lara Croft, a massive leap, a cleavage close-up, and Lara finally ending up shipwrecked on an island, survivor-style.

Apparently this one is going back in time to show the origins of Lara, and how a scared young woman turned into a hardened platform-leaping, treasure-swiping heroine.

Thanks to the video clip, yesterday Tomb Raider was trending on Twitter for over 12 hours as folks got excited about the return of the Croft.

Her new game is expected to arrive in the autumn of 2012 on Xbox, PS3 and PC platforms.

The last game in the franchise (the eighth in fact) was 2008′s Tomb Raider: Underworld, which got somewhat mixed reviews. The reboot certainly has potential to reignite interest in the long-running series.

New Tomb Raider trailer released, game arriving late 2012

A new Tomb Raider game is due out next year, and the trailer has just been unveiled on the official site by Square Enix.

Entitled “Turing Point”, the trailer features Lara Croft, a boat in a storm, more Lara Croft, an accident and flood, a wet Lara Croft, a massive leap, a cleavage close-up, and Lara finally ending up shipwrecked on an island, survivor-style.

Apparently this one is going back in time to show the origins of Lara, and how a scared young woman turned into a hardened platform-leaping, treasure-swiping heroine.

Thanks to the video clip, yesterday Tomb Raider was trending on Twitter for over 12 hours as folks got excited about the return of the Croft.

Her new game is expected to arrive in the autumn of 2012 on Xbox, PS3 and PC platforms.

The last game in the franchise (the eighth in fact) was 2008′s Tomb Raider: Underworld, which got somewhat mixed reviews. The reboot certainly has potential to reignite interest in the long-running series.

vendredi 3 juin 2011

Develop publishes Top 100 game developer list

Develop, the international magazine for game developers, has produced a top 100 game developer list for 2010 in association with review aggregator site Metacritic.

The developer rankings were arrived at using global review scores from last year taken from Metacritic to determine who produced the best games. Or at least, the best games according to the gaming press.

Some surprises are certainly thrown up, with some very successful indie coders and mobile games doing very well, placing high in the top ten.

So who took the number one spot, any guesses? Ours was Rockstar or Blizzard, but it was neither of these, although they did place in the top ten obviously.

Nintendo EAD Tokyo took the crown as best game dev, thanks to Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii which scored an incredible 97% average at Metacritic.

At number two and three were a couple of those surprises we were talking about. In second place was 2D Boy, the two-man team from California responsible for World of Goo, followed by ZeptoLab who made Cut the Rope for iOS.

In fourth was SCE Santa Monica (God of War), followed by the first of our big name picks, Blizzard. Japanese outfit Media Vision (Wild Arms) was sixth, then Swedish-based 1337 Game Design (Dark Nebula).

Bungie was eighth, followed by Rockstar Leeds who could only manage ninth (Rockstar North was in fact twenty-eighth). Finally, TheCodingMonkeys rounded out the top ten developers.

Over half the list comprises of devs who have worked on iPhone and iPad games, showing the growing strength of digital distribution on the smartphone and tablet gaming market.

Develop Editor-in-Chief Michael French commented: “The potent mix of traditional boxed console and PC games with plenty of digital releases sold through the likes of Xbox Live Arcade and the Apple App Store shows the vibrancy of the games industry.”

“For the first time since we’ve published the Develop 100, a huge proportion of the list are independent developers, proving that there has never been so many opportunities open to those making games.”

If you want to see the full hundred-strong list, then you’ll find it here.

Develop publishes Top 100 game developer list

Develop, the international magazine for game developers, has produced a top 100 game developer list for 2010 in association with review aggregator site Metacritic.

The developer rankings were arrived at using global review scores from last year taken from Metacritic to determine who produced the best games. Or at least, the best games according to the gaming press.

Some surprises are certainly thrown up, with some very successful indie coders and mobile games doing very well, placing high in the top ten.

So who took the number one spot, any guesses? Ours was Rockstar or Blizzard, but it was neither of these, although they did place in the top ten obviously.

Nintendo EAD Tokyo took the crown as best game dev, thanks to Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii which scored an incredible 97% average at Metacritic.

At number two and three were a couple of those surprises we were talking about. In second place was 2D Boy, the two-man team from California responsible for World of Goo, followed by ZeptoLab who made Cut the Rope for iOS.

In fourth was SCE Santa Monica (God of War), followed by the first of our big name picks, Blizzard. Japanese outfit Media Vision (Wild Arms) was sixth, then Swedish-based 1337 Game Design (Dark Nebula).

Bungie was eighth, followed by Rockstar Leeds who could only manage ninth (Rockstar North was in fact twenty-eighth). Finally, TheCodingMonkeys rounded out the top ten developers.

Over half the list comprises of devs who have worked on iPhone and iPad games, showing the growing strength of digital distribution on the smartphone and tablet gaming market.

Develop Editor-in-Chief Michael French commented: “The potent mix of traditional boxed console and PC games with plenty of digital releases sold through the likes of Xbox Live Arcade and the Apple App Store shows the vibrancy of the games industry.”

“For the first time since we’ve published the Develop 100, a huge proportion of the list are independent developers, proving that there has never been so many opportunities open to those making games.”

If you want to see the full hundred-strong list, then you’ll find it here.

Saints Row The Third E3 trailer unveiled

A new trailer for Saints Row The Third has been unleashed on the Internet in advance of E3 next week.

The clip shows a gunfight in a nightclub and then a load of other brawling scenes, including someone getting hurled off a rooftop. Just an average night out on the town, with a little too much of a literal emphasis on painting it red…

As well as the trailer, THQ has also revealed the release date for the game which is set to hit the UK on November 18th.

Saints Row The Third promises to be hugely over-the-top, even more so than previously, according to previews we’ve read. Silliness abounds in terms of weapons and controversy, which of course is what THQ will be hoping helps sell the game.

November is a tough launch window, though, stacked up with the most triple of A-rated titles: Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3 and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Saints Row The Third E3 trailer unveiled

A new trailer for Saints Row The Third has been unleashed on the Internet in advance of E3 next week.

The clip shows a gunfight in a nightclub and then a load of other brawling scenes, including someone getting hurled off a rooftop. Just an average night out on the town, with a little too much of a literal emphasis on painting it red…

As well as the trailer, THQ has also revealed the release date for the game which is set to hit the UK on November 18th.

Saints Row The Third promises to be hugely over-the-top, even more so than previously, according to previews we’ve read. Silliness abounds in terms of weapons and controversy, which of course is what THQ will be hoping helps sell the game.

November is a tough launch window, though, stacked up with the most triple of A-rated titles: Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3 and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

OnLive gaming service inbound to UK this autumn

OnLive, the cloud-based on-demand gaming platform which launched in the US last year, will go live in the UK this autumn.

The OnLive UK site proudly proclaims this fact, and provides a countdown to next Tuesday (the start of E3), when Brits intending to use the service will be able to reserve their player tag.

BT has the exclusive rights to bundle OnLive with its broadband package in the UK, and the company has already been trialling the service. Although you won’t need BT to enjoy the gaming platform, you’ll be able to access OnLive directly yourself.

Because OnLive is cloud-based, there’s no need for any file installations on your computer, tablet or other device. A special micro-console will also be sold that can be plugged into your HDTV to obtain the service.

Over a hundred games should be available upon launch, plus a special wireless controller designed to work with any device or the micro-console.

UK pricing hasn’t been confirmed as yet. In the US, the Playback package charges $9.99 per month for unlimited play of over 50 games including the likes of Prince of Persia, FEAR 2 and Borderlands.

OnLive gaming service inbound to UK this autumn

OnLive, the cloud-based on-demand gaming platform which launched in the US last year, will go live in the UK this autumn.

The OnLive UK site proudly proclaims this fact, and provides a countdown to next Tuesday (the start of E3), when Brits intending to use the service will be able to reserve their player tag.

BT has the exclusive rights to bundle OnLive with its broadband package in the UK, and the company has already been trialling the service. Although you won’t need BT to enjoy the gaming platform, you’ll be able to access OnLive directly yourself.

Because OnLive is cloud-based, there’s no need for any file installations on your computer, tablet or other device. A special micro-console will also be sold that can be plugged into your HDTV to obtain the service.

Over a hundred games should be available upon launch, plus a special wireless controller designed to work with any device or the micro-console.

UK pricing hasn’t been confirmed as yet. In the US, the Playback package charges $9.99 per month for unlimited play of over 50 games including the likes of Prince of Persia, FEAR 2 and Borderlands.

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