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Free E3 Xbox Live Gold Week Begins
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, E3, Internet, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Microsoft’s free Xbox Live Gold week for E3 has started. From Monday, May 8, 12:01AM PST through Sunday, May 14, at 11:59PM PST, all Xbox Live Silver members will be able to play online and make use of the Xbox Live Gold features. In addition, Microsoft will be dropping some exclusive E3 content in the form of game trailers and demos, and will be hosting a number of giveaways and contests. Of course, since the last dashboard update didn’t include the ability to download files in the background, gamers trying to access the new content won’t be able to game at the same time. But still, there should be a lot of great insider content available on Xbox Live that gamers wouldn’t be able to get elsewhere.
Read More 
| Xbox.com
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MMORPG Vanguard Leaves Microsoft, Lands at Sony
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Internet, MMORPG, PC,
The latest MMORPG to gestate at Microsoft Games, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is now to be published by Sony Online Entertainment. Sigil Games, in a press release, announced that they are re-acquiring the rights to Vanguard and will co-publish the game with SOE. Interestingly, the original partnership was seen as somewhat of a coup for Microsoft, getting a new MMORPG designed by one of the originators of Everquest for SOE, and now it looks as if the title will be moving back into the Sony Online fold after all.
Microsoft’s history with massively-multiplayer games has not been that great; after Asheron’s Call, there have not been any real successes to speak of. Asheron’s Call 2 closed its servers in 2005, and another title, Mythica, was cancelled to devote more resources to Vanguard. Now, the title has moved on once again, and it is unclear at this time if Microsoft will tackle another massively-multiplayer title any time soon.
Sigil has posted a brief Q&A giving some answers to questions gamers may have at this point, and the full press release is included after the jump.
Click to continue reading MMORPG Vanguard Leaves Microsoft, Lands at Sony
The latest Time Magazine has an impressive preview of Nintendo’s Wii, and confirms a few rumors that have been cruising around the Internet. First, the reporter at Time loves the Wii, and loves the controller. Time got to see three of the games in development, starting with Wario Ware, and it sounds like a blast: “In one hot minute, I use the controller to swat a fly, do squat-thrusts as a weight lifter, turn a key in a lock, catch a fish, drive a car, sauté some vegetables, balance a broom on my outstretched hand, color in a circle and fence with a foil. And yes, dance the hula.” Second, they get some hands on time with the Zelda: Twilight Princess, and they confirm the use of the Wii controller in game, in which the gamer is “sword fighting with the controller, then aiming a bow and arrow, then using it as a fishing rod, reeling in a stubborn virtual fish…” Finally, they play tennis on the Wii, and again the gameplay seems natural.
The article also drops a little insight into Nintendo’s strategy for the new console, and the market they are going after. Nintendo really wants the new console to be all-encompassing, and to attract people who possibly have never gamed before. One could take the Brain Age marketing strategy as an example, or perhaps see the Wii in the same light as the iPod: not the most powerful on the market, but simple enough for anyone to use, and just powerful enough to do what it has to do. The full article has been transcribed on Digg, and should hopefully show up on the Time website soon.
Update: Full article online here.
Read More | Full Article on Digg.com
Read More | Post at GoNintendo.com
New Super Mario Preview
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Nintendo DS, Screenshots, Trailers,
Craig over at IGN got a hold of the review copy of New Super Mario Bros. to be released on May 15th in the US, and managed to get some early movies and screenshots posted on his blog. The movies kind of complement those that are slowly being doled out on Nintendo’s site, and show a little more of some of the different environments. The movies and screens look great, and really capture the feel of the old platformer series, while updating the characters and some of the environment to polygons instead of sprites. Purists may shudder at the use of 3D graphics in a platform game, but it really gives the game a modern feel, while still instilling that feeling of nostalgia when gamers first played Super Mario Bros. for the first time.
Read More | IGN.com
Anandtech has a review - benchmarks included - of a preview Ageia PhysX card from Asus. The PhysX cards should be on the market soon; the cards were scheduled to be released on May 9th, but some retailers have inventory already. The goal of the PhysX card is to act as a physics accelerator, or PPU, much like current GPU accelerate graphical effects. Initial shipments of the card will run around $299, and, at least at this point, Anandtech finds it difficult to recommend the cards. The card is run through a couple of benchmarks; the first, a test demo from Ageia, performed as expected. Scenes with the PPU enabled perform better than those without, and slower CPUs see more of a benefit from the card than faster ones. However, in the only game that currently supports the PPU acceleration, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, frames per second actually drops when the physics accelerator is enabled. To some extent, this happens because high end games will typically be GPU limited; throwing more action into the frame increases the number of objects that the GPU has to render, so while the CPU works less, the GPU will have to work more. It is definitely early in the PPU development cycle. Newer games, newer GPU, and the deployment of DirectX 10 could possibly change this picture, but increasing CPU power may sideline the technology unless PPU utilization improves. Expect PhysX cards on the market soon from Asus and BFG Technologies.
Read More | Anandtech
The Luigi Code
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Culture, E3, Nintendo, Wii,
Nintendo, perhaps feeling lonely after much of the fury over “Wii,” is now trying to hitch on to the DaVinci Code meme, with its own little puzzle, “The Luigi Code.” The “news” article promises E3 secrets, if only the reader can crack the code. The page leaves oddly capitalized letters interspersed within the document, a big clue to the nature of the code right there. Of course, impatient readers can just head over to Infendo, and get the cracked code. Not since “A Christmas Story” has a decrypted message not lived up to the hype.
Read More | The Luigi Code
Read More | Solution at Infendo.com
Nintendo DS Lite Launching June 11
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo DS, Portable/Mobile,
The release of the DS Lite in the United States is now official. Nintendo today announced that the DS Lite would be available in the US starting on June 11, for a price of $129.99. The launch color will be Polar White, and the press release did not mention when the other colors would become available. Gamestop is advertising the current Nintendo DS bundled with Animal Crossing for $129.99, so the core systems may see a price drop when the new DS Lite ships, though this is not confirmed. The DS Lite added a brighter screen, with multiple brightness levels, so gamers should be able to see games in bright sunlight, and also offers a more compact size, as Nintendo continues to streamline and improve the design of its portable hardware.
Full Press Release after the jump.
Click to continue reading Nintendo DS Lite Launching June 11
Shadowrun Teaser Online
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, E3, Role Playing Games, Rumors, Xbox 360,
TeamXbox.com points out a new teaser image online at Shadowrun.com. The guys at TeamXbox.com have been tracking the game’s release for a while now, trying to put together the pieces, and this seems to be the final confirmation that a Shadowrun game will be appearing soon, possibly at E3. Shadowrun is one of FASA Corporation’s original pen-and-paper RPG properties, and the game made appearances on both the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis, with the Genesis version gaining a fairly large cult following since it more closely approximates the original role playing game. While the pen-and-paper version has gone through some revisions (and passed hands from FASA to Fantasy Productions when the former went out of business) the game concept has stayed the same: a futuristic world, where technology and magic mix. Microsoft’s rendition of the game will almost certainly be more action-oriented than previous releases, possibly as either a first-person or a third-person shooter.
Read More | TeamXbox
Full Auto 2: Battlelines PS3 Exclusive
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Corporate News, Driving, PlayStation 3,
Sega has announced that the sequel to Full Auto on the Xbox 360 will be released exclusively for the Playstation 3. The new game, Full Auto: Battlelines has been “combat-enhanced and fully re-designed with an extensive list of features entirely new to the franchise.” The original game received strong, but not great reviews, and of course, it will be interesting to compare the two games when more details are released at E3. Exclusivity doesn’t necessarily mean a lot; while the specific Battlelines game may be restricted to the PS3, a parallel game developed with a different title and slightly different content could still potentially see a release on the Xbox 360.
Full Press Release follows.
Click to continue reading Full Auto 2: Battlelines PS3 Exclusive
Oblivion Rating Updated to Mature
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, PC, Strategy, Xbox 360,
The ESRB has, effective today, updated the rating on Elder Scrolls: Oblivion to Mature, from its previous rating of Teen.
According to reported statements from the ESRB, and a PDF released on the ESRB website, the following content triggered the update:
The content causing the ESRB to change the rating involves more detailed depictions of blood and gore than were considered in the original rating, as well as presence of a locked-out art file or “skin” that, if accessed through a third party modification to the PC version of the game, allows the user to play with topless versions of female characters.
Another statement on the ESRB website states that Bethesda Softworks, publisher of Oblivion will be taking the following actions:
- Immediate notification to all retailers of the change in rating, along with a request to adhere to their respective store policies not to sell the newly rated M (Mature) game to those under the age of 17, and explaining how to address consumer concerns;
- Issuance of stickers with the new rating information to all retailers and distributors to affix on the packaging of all existing unsold inventory;
- Display of the newly assigned M (Mature) rating in all future product shipments and marketing materials
- Creation and posting of a downloadable patch that will modify the art archive, rendering the topless skin inaccessible on the PC version of the game.
In addition, Bethesda will be releasing a new version of the game without the topless skin, and at that time, the “Nudity” content descriptor will be removed. The last high profile rating update, of course, was for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which had its rating revoked until an updated version of the game could be shipped.
Given the nature of the Oblivion changes, the impact of this change should not be that great. Most retailers will still offer “M” rated games, while Grand Theft Auto was threatened with a sales-deadly “Adults Only” rating. While it is good for the ESRB to react quickly to changes it believes impact the rating of a game, it is critical for the organization to get the ratings right the first time. It may be time for a comprehensive review of the ratings process.
Read More | Gamedaily.biz
Read More | ESRB Parental Advisory (PDF)
Read More | ESRB Rating Update (PDF)
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