More quotes from Tiyu’s twitter:

• “There are building elements in there, and we’re taking random generation to a whole new level”
• “We plan for there to be a main quest inside the sandbox world. Depends how much time we have of course”
• “Well, by in game achievements I mean achievements that actually get you an in game reward, like a new weapon or armor”

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Hopefully you’re not sentimentally attached to the “PlayStation Network” because from tomorrow (07 February) it’ll be gone. In its place will be the exact same thing (yes!) except it’ll now be called the Sony Entertainment Network. It also gets a shiny new logo.

So why the change? Well, Sony is going through a bit of a shuffle up what with new CEOs and whatnot, so why not rebrand its online service as well? According to a press release, the rebranding is meant to aid Sony in reaching its goal of “establishing a global comprehensive network platform of services across games, movies, music and more, all accessible from one convenient account”. You won’t need to create a new account or change your password, things will just click over.

In related news: a recent maintenance session accidentally broke some people’s ability to access content they’d purchased off the PlayStation Network (sorry) the Sony Entertainment Network. Fortunately Sony is aware of “error 80023102” and the company has its top men working on fixing it. Top. Men.

Source: Eurogamer & Kotaku

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However, Microsoft has released two hotfixes and a driver patch for the FX CPUs, and Toms Hardware recently did a thorough testing to see exactly what changed and if Bulldozer had any potential. The result?

“Old games running at low resolutions, for example, are hardly worth running (beyond their value as synthetics, that is). That’s why we spent a few days testing the hardware the way we would use it. And, at the end, we saw little to no improvement from the evolutionary changes implemented by Microsoft and some of AMD’s motherboard partners to help augment performance.”

While I appreciate the effort the engineers went through to create a new product, the marketing team just can’t be told to call a stick, a stick. AMD’s top dog, the FX8150 is heralded as a true octo-core. This is correct in a sense but it’s really just a quad-core with some fancy hyper-threading, for now.

In the future though, we may see marked improvements in Windows 8 with Bulldozer processors, and even perhaps a few wins over Intel. Windows 8 will use the modules more efficiently as proper, individual multi-core CPUs, and threads will no longer be parked on the incorrect core. FX processors are still good bang-for-your-buck, but it’s a bit like buying a Subaru BRZ and comparing it to a Ferrari 458 – it’ll be fun, but it’ll always come second. And recent announcements by AMD may just convince more people that this will be AMD’s “Business as usual” for the near future.

So, you're leaving the enthusiasts behind...

On its recent Financial Analyst Day, the company showed the public that it would be focusing on areas where margins and market share gains would be best: their APU lineup, and server-side computing. AMD has traditionally had mostly lackluster performance in the server market, kept alive only with the fact that their previous models were quite power-efficient and reasonably competent – focusing on that area should be a priority.

In addition, their APU lineup leaves no room for doubt. If you’ve ever used a Fusion-based notebook you’ll know that the graphics component allows their APUs to comfortably leapfrog Intel’s Atom range since a lot of processing done today is reliant on the graphics card to provide the muscle (games, movies, your web browser). GPGPU is also slowly becoming more important in the everyday life of a notebook/desktop PC user, and we’ll definitely see more power users maximising the potential offered by a Brazos/Trinity-based netbook/notebook in the coming months.

...and you're only going to be performing better than the i5 2500k in 2013...

However, my heart goes out to the desktop enthusiasts who crave a company intent on creating a new performance king. It’s almost as if the company is satisfied with coming in second place for the crown, and I hope they still keep enthusiasts in mind. Their announcements included kind words that promised a renewed focus on desktop performance, but it pales in comparison to the broad plans they have envisaged for the mobile, server and embedded segment in 2012.

Good luck to you, Rory. You’re going to need it.

Source: Toms Hardware

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Windows 8 on ARM isn’t such as big a thing for tablets as I think it will be for netbooks and Ultrabooks. Intel’s Atom has been ruling the roost here for over three years and despite the best efforts of AMD and Qualcomm, the Atom still rakes in more sales for Intel. It’s never been the most efficient of processors, and the graphics side of things has always been a thorn in Intel’s side (one they could comfortably remove, but profits wouldn’t be as high). AMD has now gotten things right with their APU, even making some headway into the thin-and-light market. But ARM could change the game completely.

For one, the power-sipping hardware that ARM requires would easily double battery life in most netbooks. Not only will the architecture bring efficiency to the table, but heat and power draw will be lower than any Atom design currently available. Not to mention the useful dual-boot option: imagine a Windows 8 tablet with a fully functional install of Android ICS for quick-boot scenarios – anything really is possible here.

The Snapdragon stand at CES this year.

One gripe, however will be the software incompatibility. Microsoft has to work quickly on their software compiler for ARM or create a virtual environment for x86 programs to run without hassle. Many of the programs we use today rely on x86 and x64 hardware instructions to run threads properly without corruption. ARM isn’t x86-based and executes code very differently, and thus a radical new approach must be designed and sorted before release.

Either way, eager devs are holding their breath for a summer release, with the public getting their hands dirty later this year – the only problem now would be the fact that ICS can run on x86 hardware today. Microsoft, you’d better pull up your socks now.

Source: Tom’s Hardware

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I’m not very interested in APU chips, if I’m honest. Currently my Athlon X3 445 keeps up very well with many stronger processors from Intel, and I don’t see myself upgrading this year. Perhaps this is also because I don’t tax my system that much right now and maybe it’s to do with the fact that I own a Radeon HD6870 which already offers superb gaming performance. What the A8 range does bring to the table is great performance and value compared to Intel, and very good graphics performance for those who don’t need a discrete GPU doing all the dirty work.

In their review the beavers don’t find much to dislike about the chip. Poor single-threaded performance is a given as the architecture is a big step away from the Phenom and Athlon ranges – while its acceptable, many developers haven’t optimised their code for the Llano chips and seeing as most things are developed on Intel chips, we’re off to a slightly rocky start anyway. However, the bonus comes with the unlocked multiplier of the A8-3870K, allowing the chip to be pushed up to 3.6Ghz from the stock 3Ghz speed. A modest overclock for most chips, but the graphics core got a massive bonus from the unlocked multiplier.

See, locked APUs from AMD suffer when overclocked very high at certain bridge speeds. Overclocking the graphics core to certain frequencies would disable the VGA port altogether, and changing the APU bus too high would create problems on SATA ports and produce artifacts on the screen. Unlocked chips get around this by allowing you to adjust multipliers and not much else – certainly something for the bargain hunter to consider. With the multiplier unlocked, we can finally get around graphics bottlenecks that plague the platform – you’ll want to invest in decent RAM if you want to do this.

AMD has yet to release details on local availability. For enthusiasts, its advised you stick to your Phenom and Athlon guns before looking at the current APU range. That said, the APU chips offer more bang-per-buck than the FX range.

Source: HardwareCanucks

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Last week, Bethesda rolled out update 1.4 for the PC version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. That patch brought with it Steam Workshop compatibility along with a bunch of stability tweaks and usual update shenanigans – no backwards flying dragons have been reported though. The added Steam Workshop compatibility is of no use just yet, but tomorrow that all changes when Bethesda releases the official Creation Kit to the PC masses.

The Creation Kit is the same program that Bethesda used in order to create Skyrim, which means for those into creating mods, it doesn’t get more powerful than this. For everyone else who lacks the aptitude to create mods (like me), it’s even better news because it’s going to give modders the tools to create some truly amazing things.

Bethesda’s VP of Marketing Pete Hines dropped the news of tomorrow’s release date via Twitter. He also mentioned that The Creation Kit’s release would bring with it a “special surprise”. No idea what that might be so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow. It would be really cool if Bethesda announced that mods were making the hop to consoles; theoretically the PS3 is in a good position for receiving Creation Kit mods considering the platform’s integration into Steam Works already (thanks to Portal 2). That would be a really nice peace offering towards the beleaguered PS3 players, what with their version of Skyrim being buggy as hell.

Via: Joystiq

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Windows Phone 7 launched in 2010 and gained traction with critics, the public and developers lauding the new interface, the ease of use and ergonomics involved in the interface design, and the simplicity that came with programming for the platform. Today, with Nokia and HTC as their major licensees, one major update done and over two million handsets worldwide, Microsoft has seen fit to now detail the next major OS update, codanamed Apollo.

Windows Phone differs to Android and iOS thanks to the integrated services it features. There’s Bing for maps and searches and augmented reality, Microsoft Skydrive for 25GB of free cloud storage and file syncing, Live Mail for mailbox hosting, Messenger for live chat and Microsoft Office Mobile, for the ultimate office-on-the-move.

Apollo builds on all of these and more with support for better hardware; integrated Skydrive services, a Skype app with video calling, NFC with Wallet functionality and a new kernel based off Windows 8. Also promised is better security for your device thanks to Bitlocker drive encryption, support for Exchange and Active Directory policies and a new software system to allow for inter-App communication. There’s also an Opera Mini-like service for IE 10 called “DataSmart” and even a new sync client (no more Zune for you).

While many of the features are self-explanatory, many developers choose to focus on the kernel change and inter-App communication. Sharing a kernel with Windows 8 means developers can use code for an app made for the desktop, changing around a few UI elements and adjusting everything for the smaller screen – exactly what Apple’s been doing with OSX Lion and iOS.

Lastly,  inter-App communication works around WP7’s app sandbox, allowing apps to communicate with each other, bringing along in-app purchases linked to the Live Market. WP7 sandboxes installed apps so they can fail individually and avoiding the risk of a virus spreading from one app to the other; and now you’ll be able to send documents to a Skype contact while allowing them to see you’re now listening to the latest Britney Spears single while sitting in the nearby Wimpy.

And maybe we’ll finally see someone develop a file manager.

Sources: Paul Thurrot, Techspot

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And the problem now is that “industry analysts” across the waters on a strange land in America predict that tablets will eat up the netbook market this and next year, causing manufacturers to second-guess their target market and look at their portfolio a little harder. If you hobble over to the Prophecy site and check out their netbook section, many of the models are out of stock – now I’m not saying that’s indicative of the current market right now, but it’s a pretty sad sign if there’s any truth to it.

Regardless, MSI have released details of their latest revamp of the Wind 180, their netbook based off Intel’s new Cedar Trail line. Sporting either the Atom N2800 (1.86Ghz) or the N2600 (1.6Ghz), both dual-cores with Hyperthreading. It’s still stuck with the GMA3650 graphics core, but that’s okay considering the workload its designed to sift through. Also included is 1 to 2GB DDR3 RAM, 250 to 320GB storage space, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and HDMI-out. The sore spot (my only bone of contention) is the pitiful 0.3MP camera. I would have at least expected something stronger because video calling is a big thing these days, and Skype users are the biggest market out there – pissing them off is not something done lightly.

With a 6-cell battery MSI has promised up to 8 hours combined while working with the netbook – sounds bloody good to me! Pricing or availability hasn’t been detailed, but it should be around R4000 with Windows 7 Starter 32-bit.

Source: Fudzilla

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It all changed when Office 2007 was released, bringing a new tabbed layout and style to the way we do things. I personally loved the tabs the minute I started playing with them, and the way options were highlighted or offered to you on a contextual basis meant I really could just concentrate on what I was doing and not on having to delve deep into drop-down menus to find what I wanted.

Three years later Office 2010 arrived, bringing even more layout changes and offering a 64-bit edition as well on the same DVD for users who needed the extra grunt. While the tabbed layout was kept, things like the options and print menu changed to allow for easier mouse control, and offered the option of using the suite comfortably with a tablet. The biggest change that I could pick out was the previewing options which changed your highlighted text, picture, or graph as you chose different styles. Since I also use PowerPoint a lot, this was especially useful for power users like myself.

And now to coincide with the release of Windows 8, Microsoft has been hard at work on Office 2012 (aka Office 15), getting things fresh and ready for a generation of users new to the Metro-styled Windows platform. While Office 15 will be styled to the Metro design, there should be a minimum of issues with the new interface on traditional desktops. So much ho-hum has been made about Windows 8 and its ARM support, but my attention has always been on the Office suite because it’s what I use the most.

Outlook 15, the Metro version?

Some screenshots have been floating around the internet for a while now, but we’ll only get to see anything when Redmond releases the Public Beta, free to download as it always has been. Right now the closed technical beta is in progress, but many of those invited are under NDA. We’ll get to see exactly what changes have been made for better or worse, and I’ll certainly be the first to give it a go and let you readers know how it went. I’m not a huge fan of the Metro interface in Windows 8, and chances are I’ll keep my current Windows 7 install along with Office 2010 until I find something worthwhile to upgrade to. Judging by the current leaked screenshots the Metro styling (while good) doesn’t tickle my fancy, and I’ll most likely stay away until I have a tablet of my own.

Source: The Office Blog

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Last week, the public Steam group known as “A Call for Communication (Half-Life)” rallied its members and organised a mass Half-Life 2 play session for Saturday 04 February. At 21:00 our local time, as many of the group’s members as possible began playing Half-Life 2 like some geeky, activist mob. Their aim was to push the seven-year-old title up the Most Consecutive Players chart on Steam, and hopefully gain the attention of Valve in the process.

Valve has been remiss in keeping Half-Life fans up to date with what’s going on regarding Episode 3, something the Steam group wanted to highlight despite stating that the primary goal of this exercise was to “unite Half-Life fans in a unique and interesting way”.

Click to embiggen

Prior to the designated kick-off time, Half-life 2 was ranked 30^th on the Most Consecutive Players chart on Steam. Once everyone started playing, the game was pushed up nineteen spots to the 11^th position, and went from having a maximum player count of 3 205 to 13 216.

Click to embiggen

The organiser of the event, a Steam member called Surf, posted a message on the group’s Steam page following the synchronised headcrab beatings:

“Whether or not Valve will respond has yet to be determined; however, seven years after the release of Half-Life 2, over 13,000 fans have returned to play it again, together. That means something.

We were very close to reaching the top 10, finishing in the 11th spot on the list for concurrent players in a game, just short of our secondary goal. However, we were anticipating to gather around 10,000 concurrent players, and those expectations were surpassed.

I am personally impressed with what we’ve achieved today. We’re nowhere near done — in fact, we are currently in the process of planning new activities; this was only our first attempt, and, in my eyes, was a success for everyone.

If our group closed today, I would be proud of everything we’ve done and all the Half-Life fans who were able to unite together and work towards a common goal. However, we’ve got no intention of stopping now; this is only the beginning.

I’d like to thank everyone for what we were able to accomplish today. Together, I know we can achieve even more.”

If you want to keep up to date with what this group is planning, you can head over to their official website.

It’s not bad going getting 10 011 people to log-in at once to play a specific game, especially considering there are games like Modern Warfare 3 and Skyrim vying for people’s attention. If you’re wondering what the top-ranking game was on Saturday, it was Counter Strike. No, not even Counter Strike: Source – the bog-standard original Counter Strike. Seriously people, move on.

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Grasshopper Manufacture and Suda 51’s upcoming action brawler, Lollipop Chainsaw, is getting a host of pre-order bonus incentives. At the moment, US gamers can pick from five different outfits for Juliet depending on which store they pre-order from. Considering our local retailers have also begun offering pre-order incentives, it’s likely we’ll be seeing these options in South Africa as well. If not then it’s practically a given that all five outfits will become DLC a few months after the game releases.

One of the outfits is a homage to Ash Williams, the main character from Sam Raimi’s series of cult horror films The Evil Dead and Army of Darkness. It’s odd how instantly recognisable the outfit is. It also makes complete sense considering their shared subject matter.

Other outfits, according to the press release, include a “Pinup” style, “Goth Girl” and “Foxy Funk” seventies style. On top of the pre-order incentive news, it’s been revealed that Jimmy Urine from the band Mindless Self Indulgence will be composing all of the boss battle music and providing the voice over for Zed, one of the punk rock zombie lords. Hit the jump for a trailer loaded with all these announcements.

Lollipop Chainsaw will be out on 24 April in the USA, so will likely follow a few days later for us in South Africa.

Source: MTV Multiplayer

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Games have come rather a long way in the last fifteen years or so. Hell, they’ve come a long way in the last five.

Hour of Victory (2007)... Okay, maybe not the military FPSes so much, where the gun textures just get a bit better each year.

The game development industry innovates at maximum warp, and once we get something New! and Improved!, it instantly becomes standard, and we simply take it for granted forever and ever. You know, things like full mouse control in FPSes, which was actually only introduced in Duke Nukem 3D in 1996 – a game that rocked the world back then, and jilted it fifteen years later. Because why? Because mawkish sentimentalism. Also, because it was shit – which is basically the same thing here, and which also brings me conveniently around to the point.

What worked great fifteen, ten, or even five years ago doesn’t necessarily work that great anymore, and if you go back and replay something from back then, you’ll realise it probably didn’t work that great to start with, you just thought it did at the time. Context is everything, you see, and even two bits of rock to bash together are going to seem like a whole heap of fun when that’s all you’ve got to play with.

Dude, is that the new Rock 3000? I heard it goes up to 80 decibels, that's wicked sick.

But those are still just two bits of rock you’re bashing together.

One of the big things in the gaming industry right now is HD remakes of old games, and when I say “remake”, I mean “retextureds, and usually not even that nicely, actually”. With only one or two exceptions, they’re usually nothing more than instantly disappointing reminders of how clumsy and unsophisticated games used to be. Resident Evil 4 was a dead brilliant game back in 2005, but in now it’s, like, I played this without wanting to break sharp things on my face? Starting with these rose-tinted glasses.

This industry innovates at maximum warp because it has to. Maybe it’s because we’re spoiled now, but we expect something bigger and better to happen next week, and if it doesn’t, somebody’s going to start thinking that Frogger needs a reboot.

* I don’t know how else to explain the resurgence of stone-washed jeans and neon orange.

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Coming to Xbox Live Arcade sometime this year, Trials Evolution aims to be a sequel and then some. The trailer shows it best: multiplayer racing, challenging single-player, outdoor environments, a full featured track editor with global sharing, and the ability to make first-person shooters. Wait, what? And pinball tables? Huh? It looks like RedLynx is trying some of that LittleBigPlanet mojo.

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A lot. I mean, I know it’s an action RPG game, but there really is a lot of smashing going on in this trailer, all perfectly punctuated to the rhythm of a dramatic, orchestral soundtrack (with bonus electric guitar!). But it’s a launch trailer, so therefore it’s got boxes to tick; boxes that are marked “Rousing”, “Exciting” and “Dramatic”.

It gets the job done, that’s for sure. The game promises an open world with a ton of different character customisation options. While the art style might not be everybody’s cup of Black-Briar mead, you can’t fault the game’s combat mechanic. Those who have given the demo a whirl will know exactly what I’m talking about.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is out next week Friday, 10 February on PC, PlayStation 3 and PC. Hit the jump for colourful deathblows to a myriad enemy types.

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Oooh sexy case mods, we like! The Taipei Game Show starts today in Taiwan, and Thermaltake will be showcasing some of the Tt eSPORTS product range at their booth.

This Level 10 GT Call of Duty MW3 case mod, created by Brian Carter, can be viewed at their stand. If you’ve seen a Level 10 case before you’ll notice that the handle has been converted into a AT-4 rocket launcher, and the front driver bays sport a six-barrel chain gun that actually rotates when the power is on. There’s also a fully-stocked and functional gamer’s first aid kit that has a USB-powered beverage cooler, and if you look at the five hotswap bays bottom front of the case you’ll notice that they now look like rifle magazine clips.  This entry by Brian placed second in Thermaltakes Level 10 GT Mod Contest.

Brian Carter, aka Boddaker, is no stranger to case modding, and some of his other creations such as MYSTIQUE², Battlestar Galactica, and Neptune’s Trident are masterpieces.

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What on Earth is going on here? It’s like Electronic Arts has suddenly decided that their Project $10 is a crappy idea or something. Last week they revealed that the Online Pass for upcoming snowboarding game SSX wouldn’t be as bad as usual. Now it’s been revealed that there won’t be any Online Pass for Syndicate at all.

The Syndicate reboot has a massive online component with a heavy emphasis on a string of four-player co-op missions, of which there are nine in total. Considering the amount of importance developer Starbreeze is placing on the multiplayer, this decision seems a little odd considering that these Online Passes ordinarily lock away the game’s multiplayer modes.

The decision, however, has its merits for both developer and publisher. What’s more, the fact that this is an EA Partners published game has also helped the decision.

Speaking to Eurogamer, EA Partners executive producer Jeff Gamon said:

“We want as little resistance or barriers to entry as possible. The co-op is equal billing in this. We wanted everyone who owns a copy of the game to have access to the entire product…

Maybe another reason for not having the Online Pass is we were confident in the scope of the online game.

There are nine maps. It’s hard to say, but just to play through the maps once on normal is a good six, seven hours. To progress your character and upgrade a few weapons is a heap of content. That and the single-player campaign means hopefully we won’t see much in the way of early second hand sales and rentals.”

Because Starbreeze is an independent studio, and because EA Partners is publishing the game, there was more leeway insofar as removing the Online Pass was concerned. This, despite the fact that the Syndicate intellectual property is still owned by Electronic Arts proper.

Source: Eurogamer

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Let’s do a collective “Squee!” quickly, because Mass Effect 3 is mere weeks away. This means Electronic Arts and BioWare are about to kick into Hyper Punt Mode, and to kick things off they’ve put together a three-minute clip with all of the top actors lending their voices to the various Mass Effect characters.

Of course, nothing drives hype and awareness quite like reveals, and this clip is no exception. IGN’s video presenter Jessica Chobot has been added as a character model and voice actor in Mass Effect 3, much like Yvonne Strahovski plays Miranda Lawson.

Hit the jump for the video and revel in all of the new game footage. I haven’t been as excited as I should have been for Mass Effect 3, but this character promo clip has pretty much fixed that.

Via: Kotaku

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Because that is the day when you’ll get to rise-up in open demonstration of just how pissed off you are about the lack of communication from Valve. A couple of weeks back, a new Steam group popped up on Valve’s distribution platform; you can read more about that group here. Basically they’re calling for better communication from Valve regarding the status of Half-Life 2: Episode 3 or Half-Life 3 or pretty much anything Half-Life related even if it’s Dance Central: Vortigaunt Beats. (Note to self: pitch Dance Central: Vortigaunt Beats to Gabe next time I run into him.)

This coming Saturday, 04 February, the Steam group known as “A Call for Communication (Half-Life) (HL-CFC)” has organised a mass Half-Life 2 play session. The aim is simple: by getting as many people to play Half-Life 2 this coming Saturday at 19:00 (UK time, so 21:00 South African time) it is hoped that the Freeman’s second outing will be catapulted up the Most Played chart on Steam, thereby creating a greater interest in the game and sending a message to Valve that the serfs are restless.

Personally, I think it’s a great way for the fan community to express their desires and appreciation for the series in general. I will definitely be starting my eighth playthrough of Half-Life 2 at 21:00 this coming Saturday… right after I re-install it and download the bajillion gigs of updates. Anyone care to join me?

Source: Eurogamer 

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Love it or hate it, 3D is here to stay. Come on, you know Avatar looked amazing even if you won’t admit it in public. Anyway, the clever marketing people over at Marvel have teamed up with the clever marketing people over at RealD 3D and together will be taking more money away from consumers with their Avengers-themed 3D glasses.

They are a little cheesy and we suspect really only made for the little ones (and crazy obsessed fans of course). But hey, if we were put in a corner and forced to choose a pair it would definitely be Iron Man ones, right? They will cost about $5 in the States and there is no news of a plan or anything to bring them to South Africa. Before you ask, no, they won’t improve the quality or look of the 3D movie – just the quality and look of the wearer.

This isn’t entirely a new idea by the way and South African audiences have already missed out on the rounded Harry Potter 3D glasses. There will also be Star Wars: Episode I: the Phantom Menace pod racer goggles released for the 3D release of the franchise, which we probably won’t see either. So, send your complaints to both Ster Kinekor and Nu Metro and make no difference whatsoever. The Avengers is out in May this year.

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Oh man, things are looking really, really bad for THQ at the moment. Last week Friday a particularly angry, open letter was issued to THQ’s Board of Directors; that letter detailed the personal impressions and feelings of those THQ staff members who had lost their jobs. A few days later, it was revealed that THQ’s Asia-Pacific branches had also been hit with massive layoffs, essentially gutting THQ’s global staff.

The reasons for the publisher’s current financial quagmire are numerous: mismanagement, the uDraw Tablet disaster, investing in shoddy cash-in titles, you name it. Now, adding to THQ’s gradual disintegration is the fact that they have been threatened with Nasdaq delisting if they cannot revive their price per share.

As revealed last week, THQ’s stock prices have plummeted from more than $30 a share to $0.70 a share over the last four years. In order for a company to be listed on the stock exchange, its shares are not allowed to drop below the $1 price mark. THQ has until 23 July 2012 to raise their share price to over $1 and keep it there for no less than ten consecutive business days, otherwise the company will be delisted.

Source: Gamesindustry.biz

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You can thank Electronic Arts for the Online Pass phenomenon that’s now more common than not in games. It all started when the publisher decided to stick it to the second-hand sales market by launching “Project $10”.

Most of the time, the game’s online capabilities are hidden behind these Online Pass activation codes. Sometimes, as is the case with Batman: Arkham City and more recently the upcoming Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, single player content his held ransom by these Online Passes. This is ordinarily not such an issue, but for first-hand gamers without a reliable internet connection, they effectively remain locked out of content they are entitled to.

EA’s upcoming snowboarding game SSX falls under the EA Sports publishing label and as such will have an Online Pass of its own. This time, however, it actually sounds kind of fair. You’re not going to be locked out of multiplayer if you buy the game second hand.

All copies of SSX, whether brand new or purchased pre-owned, will be able to access the multiplayer aspects of the game. The rewards for participating in online events, however, will be held back from second-hand purchasers until they fork out the extra cash online for an Online Pass.

Basically, winning online events in SSX nets you in-game credits, which in turn are used to upgrade your character, unlock new equipment and, from the sounds of it, buy your way into certain online events. If your game is second-hand, any in-game credits you win will be held back from you until you enter an Online Pass. Once the pass is entered then any withheld winnings will be handed over to you in the game.

That’s a good compromise, no?

Source: Game Informer

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If you head over to the Steam Mobile website, you’re provided with links to download Steam Mobile for either Android devices, or iOS devices. Steam Mobile is still in beta, but if you want to apply you have to install the app and sign in. The app will let you chat with friends, check out sales, make purchases, view screenshots and read gaming news.

“The Steam app comes from many direct requests from our customers,” said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. “Seeing which of your friends are online and playing a game, sending quick messages, looking at screenshots for an upcoming game, or catching a sale — these are all features customers have requested. Mobile is changing way people interact, play games and consume media, and the Steam app is part of our commitment to meet customer demands and expand the service functionality of Steam to make it richer and more accessible for everyone.”

There’s no clarification yet on when Steam Mobile will exit beta.

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Alright, so Minecraft has been around for a while now and you’ve probably seen a bunch of videos and screenshots of intricate structures that people have poured countless hours into making. That’s all well and good, but the various buildings and recreations in the above video make that 1:1 scale Enterprise recreation look like a three-year-old’s LEGO set.

Some very dedicated Minecraft players have been busy recreating cities and structures from both the real world and videogame world. You’ll get to see what Fable II’s Bowerstone Market would look like made up of pixelated cubes; there’s even a recreation of the whole of Solitude from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not to mention the Mines of Moria from Lord of the Rings. Yeah, people have been busy.

The video also showcases a very pretty Minecraft mod called Sonic Ether’s Unbelievable Shaders. You can pick up that mod here if you’re interested in making your vanilla Minecraft look a little more impressive. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go feel inadequate somewhere; my Minecraft buildings will never be anything like these, and that makes me sad.

Via: Kotaku

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This doesn’t happen every day: RedLynx’s Xbox Live Arcade game Trials Evolution has hit torrent sites across the internet. The follow up to the obscenely popular XBLA title Trials HD is still in development and still only has an official release window of sometime in 2012. This has led people to question how the game got onto the Internet to begin with, and judging by past experience, a lot of people think it was leaked internally.

It wouldn’t be the first time RedLynx has done that; back when the original Trials was released, the development studio uploaded an incomplete PC version of the game in order to create some publicity and potentially drive pirates to purchasing the complete game. This time, however, it’s an Xbox Live Arcade version of Trials Evolution that’s found its way online, and RedLynx is denying they have anything to do with it this time.

Speaking to website Develop, RedLynx managing director Tero Virtala said, “We want to be clear that [leaking Trials Evolution] is not something we did ourselves,” despite having done something similar in 2009. He goes on to, of course, recommend people wait for the final release rather than pirate the game – funny that. That being said, you’d need a cracked or debug Xbox 360 to run it anyway. RedLynx is now owned by Ubisoft, so here’s hoping the publisher doesn’t develop some ungodly DRM to make the lives of Xbox 360 gamers a misery as well.

Source: Develop
Via: Kotaku

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A PC version of Kinect is hitting, well, the PC this week on 01 February. Along with that new PC version comes an upgraded camera that allows Kinect to focus on people sitting closer to it; probably a good idea considering people sit way closer to their PCs than they do their TVs.

According to website The Daily, Microsoft is working with hardware manufacturers to integrate Kinect sensors into laptops. The Daily claims to have actually seen these laptops, which were manufactured by Asus. According the report, the Asus laptops were running Windows 8 and they had “an array of small sensors stretching over the top of the screen where the webcam would normally be”. Then, on the bottom of the laptop screen is “what appear to be LEDs”.

There’s no official word from Microsoft about any of this, so for now take it with a pinch of salt. Would it make sense for Microsoft to get hardware manufacturers to integrate Kinect into all of their laptops? Yes, it absolutely would. You might look like a total jackass sitting in an airport flailing your arms about in front of your laptop, but there’s more to Kinect than motion sensing; such as voice and facial recognition.

Source: The Daily
Via: Eurogamer

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Destructoid’s Jim Sterling has managed to create a bit of a PR disaster for Electronic Arts and 38 Studios’ upcoming action RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Upon receiving his review copy of the game, he noticed an included voucher that granted him access to the “House of Valor faction quests”, which added seven different quests to the main game.

This raised the question: why is a single player game having an entire set of faction quests hidden behind an online pass? If Kingdoms of Amalur had an online multiplayer component then perhaps it would make sense to bundle an Online Pass, but single player content now as well?

This has caused a bit of a stir online, with the game’s own forums accumulating a 49 page thread in a matter of hours; the thread is entitled “Did you push back at EA at all over this? Quest content gated by online pass.”

The online vitriol has reached a head now, and so 38 Studios head Curt Schilling has posted in the same Amalur forum thread (and on NeoGAF) to explain the reasoning behind the online pass. According to Shilling, the “House of Valor” faction quests that are locked behind the online pass were always intended to be day one DLC for the game. He claims that 38 Studios was behind the decision to give that DLC to paying customers as a thank you for buying their game new.

“…this next part is likely to piss people off, but it’s a truth and it’s how I feel. You can argue the merits and effectiveness of it, but right now it’s how it’s done and as someone that’s as invested as I am in this company, I stand by what has happened.

DAY 1 DLC, to be extremely and VIVIDLY clear, is FREE, 100% totally FREE, to anyone that buys a new copy of Reckoning, ANYONE.

If you don’t buy new games you buy them used, and in that case you will have to pay for the Day 1 free DLC content the new copy buyers got for free.

It’s clear the intent right? To promote early adopters and MUCH MORE IMPORTANT TO ME, REWARD fans and gamers who commit to us with their time and money when it benefits the company.

Every single person on the planet could wait and not buy Reckoning, the game would hit the bargain bin at some point and you could get it cheaper. 38 Studios would likely go away.

That’s just how business works.”

This same tactic was used by Rocksteady and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for Batman: Arkham City. The Catwoman missions were also gated behind an online activation code and were only available free of charge in new copies of the game. Don’t be surprised if this becomes a more regular method of fighting back at used game sales. Well, until the new Xbox arrives that is.

Source: Destructoid and Reckoning Forums

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A few days ago, Mojang’s Jens Bergensten tweeted a teaser image of a new mob type to be added to Minecraft in the 1.2 update. You can see the new mob in the header image. You can see it can’t you? It’s staring at you; no not the chicken (that’s not even staring at you – try to keep up please), it’s something else and yes it is in that picture.

Ocelots. Yep, Mojang is adding ocelots to jungle biomes within Minecraft. They’ll come in three colour varieties and you’ll also be able to tame them using raw fish. Tame two at once and they might even breed to produce tiny, adorable little pixelated ocelots.

There’s a video of them in action after the jump, which also shows some of the other new features coming up in update 1.2. Check it out and then get ready to tame and breed a million of these little buggers. I’m planning my Great Ocelot Farmyard right now. There’s going to be fish dispensers and everything. Ooh, and little beds for all my ocelots!

Source: Mojang
Via: Joystiq

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Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has introduced the company’s new online network during an investor’s meeting. The Nintendo Network will be available on the 3DS and the upcoming Wii U. You can think of it as Nintendo’s answer to Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Network, as it is to be a structured and branded online service.

According to Iwata, the aim of the Nintendo Network is to “establish a platform where various services available through the network for our consumers shall be connected via Nintendo Network service so that the company can make comprehensive proposals to consumers.”

What sort of “comprehensive proposals”? Downloadable content is one example but it’s unlikely to stop there. There are also plans to offer full-retail games as downloadable, digital versions.

On top of this, the Wii U will utilise individual user accounts that are not tied to the actual console; those accounts will be connected to the Nintendo Network so it sounds like you’ll be able to access your Wii U user ID from any console so long as it is online.

Primarily, at the moment, the Nintendo Network’s primary focus is to be a means of enabling developers (both first party and third party developers) to create and offer DLC for upcoming games. This is something that previous Nintendo consoles and handhelds have been without. According to Iwata: “As a software maker, Nintendo believes that its packaged software should be sold to our consumers in a form so that the consumers will know in advance that they can enjoy playing the software they purchased just as it is. We believe that our consumers will be able to feel more secure if we offer our add-on content as an additional structure in which those who love the game will be able to enjoy it in a deeper way for a prolonged play time.”

Source: IGN

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Hi, how are you? Actually, I’m not sure you can even read this, because you’re not plugged in. I know, I know, it’s been about seven months now since I moved into this flat, but there you are, a great black behemoth with no cables to give you life. I think they’re in a cupboard somewhere.

Behind the fish flakes, maybe.

Oh, Overmind. What happened to us? We used to be so good together. Do you remember that time you wouldn’t boot up, and I thought your hard drives had crashed or your motherboard had shorted out or a virus had replaced everything with popups and porn diallers and I’d lost my Diablo II saved games because I always overreact about everything? And it was just because I’d seated one of your RAM modules badly. You laughed so hard at my foolishness. Well, you beeped at POST like you were supposed to, but there was definitely a bit of a giggle in it. I think.

Then there was the time one of your hard drives really did crash, and I hadn’t backed it up, and you knew I hadn’t backed it up. I wonder, did you know about Xboxy then already?

I’m so sorry you had to find out like that. I guess I might’ve been a bit indiscreet, putting you next to each other on the same desk, hooking you up to the same monitor, stacking all those games in their distinctive neon green boxes right there in front of you. It was shameless and tawdry, and if I could go back and do things differently, I would. Like, I wouldn’t waste R3000 on a new video card, in a desperate and pointless attempt to rekindle the fading embers of a once torrid romance.

It must’ve been hard when I bought the big screen TV, and moved Xboxy over to it, but kept you both on the same network so you’d see all those incriminating data packets coming and going at all hours. You deserved better than that, I realise that now, but at the time, Guitar Hero II really was innovative. For whatever it’s worth, it’s not anymore, and Rock Band was better anyway. You probably don’t want to know about any of that, though, or the split-screen co-op in Gears of War…

I’m doing it again, aren’t I? I was never much good at this kind of stuff. Or waiting around for 10 GB game installations before I could play.

It’s complicated. I mean, you’re so complicated. All those extortionately expensive bits and pieces that needed upgrading every three months or so, the huge service pack and driver and patch downloads, and nothing working because of some esoteric hardware or software or personality conflict that wasn’t even listed in the known issues part of the readme file. And so many of the best games don’t even come out on PC anymore.

It’s not like I could replace you, though. Not entirely. Even the new desktop PC I got for work is called Undermind in deference to you. And because it’s a Celeron and calling it Overmind would be like an elaborate joke that it couldn’t understand anyway because it doesn’t have enough available cache memory to process the subtle algorithms of sarcasm.

But I just don’t… I just don’t love you like that anymore. You’re like the childhood friend I think of fondly, but don’t really want to have anything to do with because I don’t know how to talk to you anymore. I’ve moved on, but you’re still running Windows XP.

It’s over. It’s not me, it’s you.

Tarryn

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But if you stuck it out on faith that something worthwhile would eventually come your way – something not a rehash or remake of an old title, the likes of which seem to typify the 3DS library to this point – then you’ll be happy to know that Resident Evil: Revelations has finally arrived.

Built from the ground up exclusively for the 3DS, this new chapter in the RE saga lets players take control of Jill Valentine once again as she and her new partner, Parker, investigate a derelict ocean liner looking for their missing anti-bioterrorism comrade, Chris Redfield. Of course, it’s an RE game, so the ship turns out to be crawling with all kinds of nasty, genetically-engineered monstrosities on the hunt for tasty humans.

The graphics are probably the best the 3DS has ever seen – although the 3D does tend to lose its effect after a while for me, so that I have to keep asking myself, is it still on? The gameplay is pretty much what we’ve come to expect from the series, fighting tough enemies with limited ammo, grenades and well-placed melee attacks – but with a few new features. The first one I simply have to mention is that it’s the first in the series to have a sensible control scheme. RE: Revelations is the first game on the 3DS to use the new-fangled Circle Pad Pro, which gives players a second analogue pad and two extra triggers to use. The Circle Pad Pro unit makes the 3Ds significantly larger, but it also makes it more comfortable to hold with adult-sized hands, so we won’t get wanker’s cramp any more from bunching our fingers up.

But what that means for RE: Revelations is that we can play it just as easily as if we were playing RE 5 on a home console, with full camera control, dual-analogue aiming – and get this, you can move while aiming. That’s right, your feet are no longer rooted to the floor while shooting! Blimey, that’s a first. Some other first-time features include underwater swimming sections, a dodge system that actually works, a scanner that Jill can use to find hidden items, and weapon upgrades Jill can chop-and-change between weapons at will.

Apart from that, there’s the mandatory rating at the end of each chapter, and a whole bunch of criteria players can attempt to meet to unlock new weapons and upgrades. The game is also fairly long for a portable system. I don’t know if it’s enough to get people to start paying attention to the 3DS again on its own, but it’s a heck of a lot of fun.

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Publisher THQ is in a bit of a pickle at present. The company’s monumental failure with their uDraw product has resulted in massive financial issues. To put it into perspective, THQ share prices were valued at $30 not too long ago; currently, the shares are worth $0.70. Drastic action is needed in order to salvage the company, and that has resulted in them permanently dropping their children and family game labels in order to focus on core, AAA titles titles like Saints Row: The Third. I’m sure many gamers don’t have a problem with this new strategy.

THQ has just announced further employee layoffs, with those from the administrative and publishing departments receiving pink slips. None of the five internal development studios have been affected, so at present this looks like a structure shuffle for THQ itself and not its collection of dev teams.

How did this all happen? Well, a fairly insightful and venomous explanation can be found in an open letter issued to the THQ Board of Directors. The letter was penned by those THQ staff members who have lost their jobs in this recent restructuring – the ex-employees refer to themselves as “The Formerly Mismanaged”. They’re placing all of the blame on the publisher’s senior management, specifically CEO Brian Farrell.

The letter itself is rather lengthy, but the gist of it is that the reason THQ is falling apart at the financial seams is because over-paid executives have somehow kept their jobs while the company has nose-dived. The person penning the letter on behalf of the ex-THQ employees immediately identifies him or herself as an “ex-employee at THQ” as well. They also make it clear to the THQ Board that they only have themselves to blame, and that any idiot would have been able to see this financial disaster coming from a mile away:

“This Board has allowed the [sic] Brian Farrell, the CEO, the ongoing ability to take a cash-rich profitable company and drive it from a $30 share price down to around $.70 without acting despite numerous mistakes that even for those lacking business training, could see were errors.”

The letter then goes on to analyse the major executives of THQ, stating their annual salaries for 2011 and explaining just how they failed to do their jobs. Despite this, nearly all of them are sitting pretty on top of large bank balances and continued employment at the publisher. The lower employees, according to the letter, are taking the brunt of the situation and have been left “scrambling” to find jobs.

This is what the letter had to say about THQ’s Chief Executive Officer:

“Brian Farrell, CEO with a 2011 salary of $1,289,558, for a lack of business intelligence or fiscal accountability. A vocal inside group pointed out the mistake of trying to launch a year-old product [the uDraw tablet] that received almost no software support in the last 12 months. Instead of listening and having a back-up plan, he went ahead and invested a ridiculous amount of money in the manufacturing and advertising of the product and failed miserably. It is passed time for him to go. We are wondering what is taking so long for you to act. We have been wondering this same question for a long time.”

It’s a scathing account of the internal goings on of THQ for the last year. If you want to read the letter in its entirety, then you can find it where it was originally published on Kotaku.

Source: Kotaku and Game Informer

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That’s right. Pac-Man and “American Mega Man” have joined the roster for the PlayStation Vita version of Street Fighter X Tekken. “American Mega Man” is modelled after the bad box art of the American release of Mega Man, while Pac-Man rides atop a Tron Bonne-style mechanized Mokujin.

You can find a character reveal trailer after the break.

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Well, it’s looking grim by Nintendo standards, which is to say that they’re not posting their normal 55 bajillion yen profit. In fact, it’s kind of the opposite, as the Japanese company has just issued its third quarter financial statements for the current fiscal year.

Nintendo has forecasted a much lower annual turnover than initially expected and this is largely thanks to underperforming hardware sales and a stronger Yen, which makes things expensive for foreign countries to purchase Japanese exports.

Initially, Nintendo forecasted a loss of ¥20 billion, which is just over R2 billion. Now, however, that forecast is looking a little grimmer, with the expected loss to come in at ¥65 billion, or R6.5 billion by March 2012.

Nintendo has reported a total loss of ¥48.3 billion up to December 2011. This time last year they were reporting a profit of ¥49.5 billion.

It’s not all doom and gloom however, as they’ve also announced that there are now 15.03 million Nintendo 3DS in people’s clammy paws. On top of that, the Wii has a lifetime sales figure of 94.97 million units.

Nintendo has also announced that the upcoming Wii U console will see a global release before the end of 2012. They are anticipating having the Wii successor in retail stores in Japan, USA, Australia and Europe for this year’s festive season.

Source: Eurogamer Article 1 and Article 2

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About a week ago we got a first glimpse of Tequila Works’ new indie game Deadlight. Billed as a “horror puzzle platformer” the game stars a sole survivor of a viral outbreak. Now, courtesy of website Joystiq and their interview with creative director Raul Rubio, we have some new details regarding the intriguing title.

The story begins with the viral outbreak starting in British Columbia, Canada. The virus has turned everyone into “killer automatons” which Tequila Works has named “shadows”.

The game is set during 1986 for a reason. According to Rubio, ’86 is significant for having “a lot of lunar events” (the Challenger space shuttle disaster, Halley’s Comet, the Russian Mir space station etc) which will supposedly tie in to the plot premise and possible explanation of where this virus originated. Furthermore, the mid eighties saw the release of films like Rambo: First Blood and Day of the Dead, both of which the team at Tequila Works is specifically referencing for the game’s unique style and mechanics.

The game is essentially a physics based puzzle platformer so don’t go in thinking this is another gun-packing zombie game. Joystiq says it’s closer in execution to Portal than Left 4 Dead. Protagonist Randall Wayne will be reliant on traps in order to survive, but you will have access to limited weaponry which should be seen as a last resort. According to Rubio: “[this] is a direct approach to fear and paranoia; the player must always use their brains to solve the puzzles and control the action and physics.”

Wayne is not on a mission to save the world and you’re not tasked with finding a cure or stopping this threat. You’re simply trying to survive, so think of post apocalypse films like The Road instead of Resident Evil.

“Deadlight is about Randall’s feelings and his desires, his problems. Everything that we take for granted now, like crossing the street, in Deadlight is a true challenge.”

Well, that’s me pretty much sold I guess.

Deadlight will be out sometime during our winter and is exclusive to Xbox Live Arcade.

Source: Joystiq

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First in Battle (FiB), a local Battlefield 3 team, will be competing as an official SA team in the international online ClanBase NationsCup XV. The MSSA hosted an online championship in January, where most of South Africa’s top BF3 teams competed.

“Clan FiB performed very well in the competition, winning all their rounds except one against Clan ASF. We’ve got a strong set of Battlefield 3 players in Team South Africa to represent us at the Nations Cup and we wish them the best of luck,” said Colin Webster, President of MSSA.

Twenty four countries have secured their spot in the competition, and have been split into four groups of six. South Africa are in Group C along with Australia, Belgium, Finland, Portugal and Russia, and will need to place in the top 3 of their group to make it through to the next stage of the comp. Team South Africa play their first match against Finland on Sunday 29 January at 9pm.

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I really wish these “industry insiders” and “sources close to Microsoft” could have got their acts together and leaked all this supposed information at once; it would have obviated my having to post a second Xbox 720 rumour piece in twenty-four hours.

So this is day two of the rumour-fuelled speculation on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 successor. Yesterday was all about graphics chips, processing power, supposed release dates and whisky distilleries. Today’s Xbox 720 rumour talks disc medium, motion sensors and potential DRM systems for the next console.

First off, Kotaku is referencing a “games industry source” for the information that Microsoft will switch to Blu-Ray as a disc medium for the Xbox 720 (again, the console probably won’t be called Xbox 720). Some might find this unlikely because of the misconception that Blu-Ray is Sony’s disc format; it is not. Sony was one of nine corporations, along with MIT, to form the Blu-Ray Disc Association back in 2002 in order to develop and market the new disc medium. Incidentally, Sony also helped to develop DVDs, and Microsoft has had no issues using that format.

Also according to Kotaku’s source, the Xbox 720 will ship with Kinect 2 – or whatever Microsoft names the second iteration of its motion-sensing device. What’s more, the newer version will have an onboard processor which will allow a higher fidelity of motion tracking.

Finally, and probably the most interesting report, is that Microsoft is intending to implement some sort of anti used game system into the Xbox 720. If this is true, it’s an obvious retaliation to the perceived loss of revenue to companies like Game Stop and our own BT Games. Publishers will in all likelihood love this new system; retailers and gamers who score from the lucrative second hand sales system will probably hate it.

While many will argue that publishers and console manufacturers have no claim to the second income generated off a game’s second hand sale (because they both profited the first time the game got sold), others who buy their games new loath the second hand market; it’s the reason we have things like “Online Passes”.

Exactly how this supposed anti second hand sales system will work in the Xbox 720 is not known as yet. Maybe all games will require an online activation that would tie a serial code to an Xbox Live account? If that’s the case then it would necessitate your console being online or you having to phone an activation phone number much like offline PCs need to in order to activate a copy of Windows.

It’s also possible that the game discs will remain tradable but that retailers would have to purchase a second activation code directly from the publisher in order to resell the game. That could potentially end those “Online Passes” and new copy DLC codes (ala the Catwoman levels from Arkham City).

Whatever the case may be, an anti second hand system is an interesting concept. It certainly makes massive financial sense for publishers and Microsoft, so don’t be surprised if the rumour turns out to be true.

Source: Kotaku

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A hacking and cheating forum called ArtificialAiming has hacked Battlefield 3 servers that are running the anti-cheating software PunkBuster. The reason: to ban honest players so as to prove how shaky the anti-cheating protocols are for Battlefield 3.

Focusing on third-party anti-cheating tools GGC and PBBans, junior members of ArtificialAiming have managed to issue bans to over 150 honest Battlefield 3 players. They’ve managed this by “framing” the user accounts so that the anti-cheating systems kick in to ban the player.

According to the cocky little buggers hacking group: “We are bringing back the unerring of PunkBuster back for a third season. We have selected GGC-stream as the target since they have the most streaming BF3 servers and makes it very easy to add fake bans. In 2011 we hit them with a mass ban-wave, and now we are banning real players from Battlelog while GGC-stream is totally unaware. We have framed 150-plus BF3 players alone.”

Publisher Electronic Arts is aware of the situation, although their statements haven’t really acknowledged the bans and have rather referred to them euphemistically as “connection issues”.

This problem is limited to PC versions of Battlefield 3 and neither of the consoles are affected in the slightest. EA’s suggestion is that players choose servers that are not running PunkBuster until such time as they’ve developed a permanent solution to the hack – I mean “connection issues”.

Source: Eurogamer

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When Famville developer Zynga couldn’t acquire NimbleBit, the three-person developer behind the recent iOS hit game Tiny Tower, they simply stole what they couldn’t have.

Zynga CEO Mark Pincus promising to only steal from those who can't afford to sue.

Zynga released Dream Heights, a blatant ripoff with changed graphics and not a single new idea in sight. All games are derivative in some form or another, we wouldn’t have Call of Duty if it hadn’t been for Quake, and so forth, but there is a limit to when you can claim “inspired by”.

Especially when you’ve taken great pains to sue other people “inspired by” your games. Last year, a number of Zynga’s games were cloned by Brazilian developer Votsu. Zynga responded with the sue-cannons, saying “Vostu has brazenly appropriated the copyright-protected aspects of Zynga’s games…with scant effort to mask their strategy, and then offered games virtually identical to Zynga’s games to prospective players in the United States and elsewhere.”

Zynga’s legal action granted them a preliminary injunction against Votsu, and then the judge ruled in Zynga’s favour, ordering Votsu to remove its four games within 48 hours or face a fine. Votsu is still in the appeal process.

NimbleBit recently responded to Zynga’s outright jerk move by releasing an open letter highlighting the similarities between the two games, and ample “praise” for Zynga’s innovation.

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In the January edition of NAG Magazine, you may have come across a news piece about Mojang spearheading a drive to get official Minecraft LEGO sets produced. Anyone can suggest a LEGO set theme via the LEGO CUUSOO website: an online submissions platform type thing. If the LEGO set gets more than 10 000 votes by the general public, then the proposal is taken to the LEGO bigwigs for final approval or denial.

Minecraft LEGO reached more than 10 000 votes on CUUSOO in a matter of days. As a result, the CUUSOO people took Mojang’s proposal to the important LEGO people (who I’m hoping have never been seen by the world and are actually yellow men with basic facial features and stiff limbs) who have given the LEGO sets the green light.

At the moment, the LEGO design team is in the stages of developing ideas that will eventually go into productions for retail LEGO sets; the header image is not indicative of their direction. The official CUUSOO blog didn’t have much more to share on the matter other than stating a desire to develop “a concept that celebrates the best aspects of building with the LEGO system and in Minecraft”. That shouldn’t be too hard seeing as Minecraft and LEGO are practically identical. If the little LEGO Minecraft men don’t have square heads and pixelated features, I will be very disappointed.

Source: CUUSOO Blog
Via: Joystiq

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It’s been at least a week since we’ve had a next Xbox console rumour, so here’s this week’s Nextbox 720 report: according to IGN’s sources, Microsoft’s successor to the Xbox 360 will hit retail outlets in “fall 2013”, or sometime between September to November for us here in South Africa.

The Xbox 720 (God, please don’t let them call it that) will be based off AMD’s Radeon 6000 series of GPUs – more specifically the Radeon HD 6670. This will give the new Xbox console raw graphics processing power that is six times the current console generation’s capabilities. It should also feature, if the current PC equivalent of this card is anything to go by, DirectX 11. IGN also notes that this would make the new Xbox console roughly 20 percent more powerful than Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U console.

Production of the 32nm processor should start in full by December of this year; the chipset is supposedly codenamed Oban, which incidentally is also the name of a Scottish distillery that makes a mean single malt whisky. This can only mean that the next Xbox will also allow you to distil your own gaming whisky, a feature many people believe is lacking from console models.

Source: IGN

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The first two Modern Warfare 3 maps of a promised 20 map and gametype content drops planned for Elite premium subscribers over the next nine months has arrived.

Liberation: “Mounted turrets on either end lend power to anyone brave enough to expose themselves in exchange for deadly firepower. Plan out your movement and always be aware of nearby sightlines to avoid becoming fodder for the enemy.”

Piazza: “Close-range combat dominates, and the team that best utilizes flanking routes will most often come out on top. Attacks from behind, above and below are an ever-constant threat. Keep up your awareness and don’t get taken by surprise.”

Because of the licensing deal between Activision and Microsoft, the maps are on Xbox 360 first, and non-Elite players can expect a bundle of the first five maps in March, with the PC and PS3 release of the map bundle sometime in April.

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According to a report over on Inside Mobile Apps, Microsoft is planning to phase out their MS Points currency system by the end of 2012. The rumoured discontinuation of the virtual currency would affect Xbox Live, Windows Phone and the Zune Marketplace.

Apparently, Microsoft intends to switch payment options onto real-world currency, with all purchases being linked to currencies depending on the region setting of the profile making the purchases. In other words: by 2013 we might be looking at Xbox Live Arcade Games being priced in South African Rands instead of MS Point denominations.

Many would welcome this change, as MS Points do not represent the same value the world over. Hell, different territories can only buy them in certain denominations so there’s no standard at all. On top of this, we’re getting shafted in South Africa: 2100 MS Points cost us about R350 and up, but in the UK they cost £16.99 which is about R210 based off current exchange rates. So yes, MS Points suck for some.

The reason for Microsoft’s rumoured change is so that they can be more in line with their competitors; Sony has been charging real-world currency on the PSN for ages, and Apple’s App Store works off region specific currencies as well.

This could present a problem for SA gamers using overseas Xbox Live accounts; many people set up UK and USA accounts in order to access the Xbox Live Marketplace before South Africa got official Xbox Live. Even though we’ve had Xbox Live in South Africa for well over a year, our Marketplace is still nowhere near as extensive as its UK and USA counterparts. If Microsoft chooses to drop the MS Points system, then hopefully they’ll install a voucher system similar to what iTunes and the PSN utilise. Without vouchers in foreign currencies, local Xbox 360 gamers with overseas Xbox Live accounts are going to be left without a means to fund their online transactions, seeing as how it’s unlikely local credit cards will be able to be tied to a foreign Xbox Live account.

For now, file this under “R” for Rumour – a Microsoft spokesperson refused to comment on the rumour citing the usual “we do not comment on rumours or speculation” line.

Source: Inside Mobile Apps
Via: Eurogamer

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A week ago, it was revealed that Anno 2070 had some pretty overzealous DRM measures. Each copy of the game comes with three activations only. If you alter your PC hardware in any way (even if you just upgrade your graphics card, which is kind of likely in the PC gaming sphere) then that counts as a new PC and a second one of your activations will be required to re-register the game with Ubisoft servers. Madness, we know.

Website Rock, Paper Shotgun asked Ubisoft whether this DRM bug would be fixed, and Ubisoft replied saying “LOL, there’s no bug there dog, you be trippin’” or something to that effect, and maybe with a French accent. They added that on the “rare occasion” of a PC gamer requiring additional activations, they should contact Ubisoft support directly for assistance. Gee, thanks.

Anno 2070 developer Bluebyte has since issued a response to Guru3D (the tech website that first uncovered this DRM balls-up) saying that they’ve removed the DRM tied to graphics cards: “Just wanted to let you know, that we now remove the graphics hardware from the hash used to identify the PC. That means everyone should now be able to switch the GFX as many times as he/she wants”. Hooray! DRM disaster averted, somewhat.

Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Via: Joystiq

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Thanks to the fine folks at Energizer, we’re giving away an XP8000 Portable Netbook Charger. Useful for keeping your gizmos going when they’re threatening to die on you at the worst possible time, the XP8000 works with smartphones, cameras, netbooks and more.

More info on the XP8000 can be found right here. To stand a chance to win, simply leave a comment below. The topic for comments is: well, anything really. Perhaps you could share with us a delightful story about batteries. Or something.

A winner will be randomly chosen at the end of February.

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Head Admin Frans “A10 Greep3r” Scheepers has confirmed that 25 clans have registered to play in the league so far, and says that he expects at least another five clans to register before the closing date.

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Xbox man Major Nelson just announced the dates and prices for each of the four games in the upcoming XBLA House Party promotion. For those unaware, or for those new to Xbox Live, Microsoft will periodically run a series of promotions for new Xbox Live Arcade titles. Normally the promotions receive a lot of cover over Xbox Live considering they ordinarily involve anticipated titles and a special offer of some kind.

The XBL House Party promo will kick off on 15 February with Warp going for 800 MS Points. A week later, Alan Wake picks up a flashlight and nail gun in Alan Wake’s American Nightmare for 1200 MS Points. On 29 February you’ll be able to pick up THQ’s Nexuiz for 800 MS Points, and finally on 7 March you’ll get to bluff your way out of conflict in I Am Alive for 1200 MS Points.

If you pick up all four titles in the House Party promo between 15 February and 13 March, then Microsoft will give 800 MS Points, essentially making either Warp or Nexuiz free. Kind of.

Source: Major Nelson

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ModNation Racers for PlayStation 3 was a decent-enough Mario Kart clone. While it lacked the svelte design sensibilities of the M-Kart series, it more than made up for it with fantastic track creation and kart customization tools.

With its original developer United Front Games busy working on the True Crime: Hong Kong reboot set for release this year, development of the PlayStation Vita version of the game has fallen to SCE San Diego Studio.

ModNation Racers: Road Trip is billed as being a new campaign and sequel to the original game, but there is trouble in the henhouse.

In a recent blog post by the Director of Product Development at SCE San Diego, Erich Waas admitted that Road Trip won’t have online play.

It will GPS-enabled Localized Leaderboards, which lets you compete in geographically-specific time trials, and the FourSquare-style “check-in” for earning Travel Points for unlocks.

But if you want to race against another human player and not just their ghost data, you’re limited to Ad-Hoc Play. And only for up to four racers. Waas actually tries to spin the lack of online multiplayer, as them “evolving online functionality”. To quote, “If all we ever did as developers is rehash features that have been done in previous games, we’d still be entering passwords instead of using save files.”

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We’re once again rolling review-heavy, because of the holiday backlog. So many games, so little time! Previews come in the form of the revitalised SSX and a new developer’s take on Sly Cooper. Reviews include such wonders as the dildo-sporting Saints Row: The Third and the long-awaited Wii-exclusive return of Link in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Management buffs can get their futuristic kicks out of our Anno 2070 review, while we find out if Need for Speed: The Run can successfully make us believe that scripted events belong in a racer. Trine 2 has us in awe of its sheer beauty, and The Lord of the Rings: War in the North tells the familiar tale from a different perspective.

Hardware aficionados: check out our healthy hardware section. Samsung’s Series 7 gaming notebook aims to wow us. We take a look at another brilliantly built gaming PC from Evetech. ASUS hopes to prove that 3D can be more than a gimmick with their VG278H LED 3D monitor.

The February issue of NAG will magically appear in a store near you this Thursday, the 26th of January.

Click here for the contents PDF [248 KB]

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In case you haven’t already heard, that internet-destroying Stop Online Piracy Act has been kicked in the nuts. Basically, the internet and general public caused enough of a ruckus for the US government to realise that actually, SOPA was a bad thing. As a result, the proposed legislation and its ugly step-sister PIPA (Protect IP Act), have both been shelved – the former indefinitely.

One of the early champions of SOPA was the ESA, or the Entertainment Software Association. For those who don’t know, the ESA is the trade association for the videogame industry. It is funded by many of the major publishers and is a who’s who of big names like Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Ubisoft, THQ… you get the idea. Oh, the ESA is also responsible for E3 every year, so yeah they’re a big deal.

Naturally they pissed off a lot of indie-types, gamers and industry press organisations when they professed their undying love and support for SOPA. Their thinking was that if the act lowered piracy rates then that’d be a good thing – they just kind of ignored the whole “killing the Internet” side of it. Now that SOPA has officially died, the ESA has backtracked and agreed that it was a crummy bill to begin with. Way to take a stance, ESA!

Here is the ESA’s initial response to SOPA when it was first presented:

“As an industry of innovators and creators, we understand the importance of both technological innovation and content protection, and do not believe the two are mutually exclusive. Rogue websites – those singularly devoted to profiting from their blatant illegal piracy – restrict demand for legitimate video game products and services, thereby costing jobs. Our industry needs effective remedies to address this specific problem, and we support the House and Senate proposals to achieve this objective. We are mindful of concerns raised about a negative impact on innovation. We look forward to working with the House and Senate, and all interested parties, to find the right balance and define useful remedies to combat willful wrongdoers that do not impede lawful product and business model innovation.”

And now that sane people the world over have pointed out just how stupid SOPA was, here’s ESA’s new response:

“From the beginning, ESA has been committed to the passage of balanced legislation to address the illegal theft of intellectual property found on foreign rogue sites. Although the need to address this pervasive threat to our industry’s creative investment remains, concerns have been expressed about unintended consequences stemming from the current legislative proposals.

Accordingly, we call upon Congress, the Obama Administration, and stakeholders to refocus their energies on producing a solution that effectively balances both creative and technology interests. As an industry of innovators and creators, we understand the importance of both technological innovation and content protection and are committed to working with all parties to encourage a balanced solution.”

So from the outset, the ESA supported the bill even though they claimed to be “mindful” of the negative aspects. In their defence they did imply that they wanted to work with the relevant people to “find the right balance”, but whether or not they would have granted the freedom to do so is not clear. Now that SOPA is dead they’re still drawing attention to their desire to develop “balanced legislation”, even though the first legislation that they signed their name to was anything but.  Oh ESA… such capriciousness.

Source: Game Informer
Header: AFP/Getty Images

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