viedogame: iPhone/iPod | We just played VidRhythm

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iPhone/iPod | We just played VidRhythm Sep 9th 2011, 19:31 VidRhythm is… well, it's an app that… look, it'll be easier to explain after you watch the video below. Seriously, have a look. Watch this video in High Def OK, we know what you're thinkingâ€"what the hell was that? VidRhythm is the new app from Harmonix, the company best known for their work on the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises on consoles. VidRhythm is their first internally developed app for Apple's iOS devices, and surprisingly, it's not actually a rhythm game. So what is VidRhythm? While music is still at the core of this Harmonix title, instead of pretending to play virtual instruments in songs as in Rock Band, this app takes sound samples that you create and turns them into the instruments in some pre-made tunes. This works by breaking down the various sounds in a song, and you'll have to individually record each of these sounds for VidRhythm to put together. Recording is done via your iOS device's built-in mic, and you'll have to make different drum sounds (such as a low "bom" to simulate a bass drum, "pshh" for a cymbal, and even sing a few words here and there). Each time you make a sound, VidRhythm also takes a picture, which is then used to make the video to accompany your song. As with the songs, there are a few style templates you can choose from, ranging from video wall-like mash ups to videos featuring dogs and cats owned by the Harmonix staff. The result is what you saw aboveâ€"a goofy, often hilarious mash-up of the sounds you made accompanied by whatever funny faces you pulled during the shots. Most of the fun in VidRhythm really comes from roping in your friends to each contribute a sound, and it's great fun to watch and listen to the results. There are 20 song templates included in the app, ranging in genres such as hip-hop, dance, pop, and even a couple of classical tracks like Beethoven's Symphony No 5. And once you've made you mini-masterpiece, VidRhythm allows you to either save it one your device as a movie, or upload it to YouTube for the world to point at and laugh. VidRhythm is a great social app, and we can see it being a fun distraction at parties where you can rope in your friends to see just how ridiculous they can be. It may not be a game, but it's a good first step for Harmonix into the app world, and we can't wait to see what they've got next. Hopefully next time, it will be a game!

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viedogame: Xbox 360 | Crimson Alliance Review

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Xbox 360 | Crimson Alliance Review Sep 8th 2011, 21:10 The Video Review Crimson Alliance takes Maxwell on a walk down a familiar path in this video review. Stop us if you've heard this one before: A group of adventurers must band together to defeat an ancient evil and save a kingdom in peril. It's a classic tale and one that countless games have used as the backdrop for venturing across the countryside killing everything in sight. The best games weave it into a unique experience with interesting characters and varied gameplay. The rest, like Crimson Alliance, copy the formula whole hog and call it a day. The result is an action role-playing game built like a color-by-numbers drawing: It works, but it does nothing to distinguish itself. Assassin and Mercenary, two of nature's biggest rivals, must join forces to kill a bunch of goblins. Watch this video in High Def At the start of Crimson Alliance, you're presented with a choice of three archetypal characters: the elderly wizard, the burly mercenary, or the nimble assassin. At first blush, these characters all feel distinct: the wizard conjures rolling waves of ice, the mercenary cleaves enemies in two with his sword, and the assassin can throw daggers. However, once you spend an hour with each, you find they all follow the same combat style of two normal attacks and one nonlethal technique that stuns foes. They also have special techniques that unlock after you collect a specific number of hidden items all designed to wipe the screen of enemies. Which character you play as is really just a choice between range and melee--or you could just pick the assassin who does a bit of both. A lack of greater complexity is a recurring issue in Crimson Alliance. From level design to character customization, the game leaves you wanting in every category. The mission layout is a linear gauntlet of stages that repeatedly pit your heroes against the same basic enemy types: Those that run at you and those that shoot at you. Only in the final act does the game start mixing things up with traps and creative objectives, but by then it's too little, too late. In between these encounters, there are secret areas to discover that are filled with gold and treasure. You can also replay levels on a higher difficulty to compete for the high score on each stage's leaderboard. For your troubles, you're awarded copious amounts of gold, the adventurer's delight. In lieu of experience points and levels, you spend gold on weapons and armor to advance your character. Item vendors open up after you complete specific missions with new wares for you to buy. And because all of the items are split up between vendors, it can make comparison shopping a pain. Items improve your character's four stats: three for your attacks and one for your health. Improving health lets you take more damage, while improving your attacks changes their properties slightly--such as creating a bigger ice wave. The game's strongest feature is its four-player, online or local cooperative play. Mindless slaughter is always more enjoyable with a buddy or three, and there are even a few puzzles scattered throughout the game that require teamwork to surmount. It's a pity that the soundtrack is so forgettable. Crimson Alliance's light jazz accompaniment might be great for sneaking into a mansion or stealing a ruby necklace, but here, the music only further deflates the already-lackluster combat. If you're in a jam, just grab an exploding red barrel and watch your troubles go up in flames. Crimson Alliance simply does the bare minimum across the board. Its tale of an evil sorceress returning from the dead is accented with a bit of humor that should have been taken further. If the game followed through with its halfhearted attempts at comedy (a crate that serves as a familiar, for example), it might have produced a bit of sparkle. But Crimson Alliance doesn't go far enough in this respect, or in any other. It's a hollow game that offers little more than mindless monster slaying.

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viedogame: Xbox 360 | Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Review

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Xbox 360 | Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Review Sep 9th 2011, 01:02 If you're a Warhammer 40K fan, you've dreamed of taking up a chainsword and carving Orks into bloody chunks of flesh and bone. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine plants you in the heavy boots of an Ultramarine and lets you do just that. The viscera fly in this third-person shooter/melee hybrid. They stain the ground and splash against your screen, yet the brainless hordes continue their assault, crying out their familiar "waaagh!" before presenting themselves for slaughter. Space Marine is simple fun, and a treat for fans of the franchise--and for anyone who delights in the ceaseless bloodletting of bad guys. It is, in fact, a little too simple. As entertaining as it is, the game lacks the variety, the memorable moments, and the sense of scale of the finest shooters. After you annihilate yet another great mess of greenskins, the question arises: Is this all there is to it? With some exceptions, yes, that's all there is to it, and it's hard not to wonder what might have, should have been. But the action is so satisfying, and the atmosphere so grim, that you'll want to see the adventure through. If you get squeamish easily, this is one game you might want to avoid. Watch this video in High Def What Space Marine does best is capture the spirit of its universe. The Ultramarines' weathered armor is so heavy and hardy, they don't so much wear it as it wears them. As you push through battle-worn trenches, the Orks' makeshift machinery erupts from the ground, shaking the earth. Roaring greenskins in rocket packs rush past, providing a touch of comedy amid all the carnage. And such carnage it is. Enemies erupt in soggy displays of goo, yet the waves continue, your foes' bloodthirst overcoming their sense of self-preservation. When you carve your chainsword through these forces, the buzz is so authentic that you can almost feel the green flesh being torn away from your foes' skeletons. The visuals and sound both work hard to promote this brutal atmosphere. The story, on the other hand, is as dry as the battlefields are sodden. (To wit, the opening cutscene begins with a sequence featuring the ever-exciting storytelling device called "words displayed on a monitor.") As Captain Titus, your role is to mow down Orks and, later on, the forces of Chaos. You and your comrades speak in lofty, stentorian tones and act as mere pawns of the plot. The main players are voiced well but are as forgettable as can be, everyone filling their assigned roles but rarely giving you a reason to care about their destinies. The story is too simple for the plot "twists" to feel anything other than inevitable, and while the cliff-hanger ending sets up a sequel, you probably won't feel all that curious about what might happen next. All the blood lets you know your enemies are good and dead. Not that the promise of more Space Marine is a bad thing. The action is a fun mix of third-person shooting and melee. The sense of weight to the movement, the camera perspective, and the weapon selection interface might at first bring to mind Gears of War, but the similarities are superficial. You might be clad in weighty armor, but you aren't burdened by it. Aiming is swift and smooth, allowing you to gun down dozens of targets without breaking a sweat. When the crowd gets too close, you can swing your chainsword (or axe, or hammer) about with ease, the Orks spraying so much gore it's a wonder there aren't puddles of it to wade through. And unlike in Gears and its ilk, there is no cover system. Space Marine wants you to keep busy, not remove yourself from the action. The health regeneration system also complements the "kill, don't hide" mentality: to restore health, you perform a grotesque finishing kill. This doesn't mean that each enemy is a quick pick-me-up waiting to be harvested, mind you. You are vulnerable during these lengthy moves, so you must be careful not to leave yourself open to gunners or other attackers. Succumbing to death while executing a long fatality can be irksome, but a little tactical thinking should keep that from being a frequent occurrence. In any case, while the final acts have their challenging moments, Space Marine is not particularly hard, so frustration is uncommon. And so you put an end to the masses of meanies threatening the Forge World you protect. And it's fun, due in large part to your arsenal. You always have your bolt pistol (or its plasma equivalent) and its unlimited ammo when necessary, but it's better to take aim with the bolter, an assault rifle with a good kick to it. It's effective at surprisingly long range, and strong sound effects and a good sense of impact make it fun to use. (You can see the blood spewing from enemies hundreds of feet away.) The scoped stalker bolter is a nice toy, too, best used to take out distant gunners before wading into a sea of daemons with a death wish. The melee action has bite to it as well, though Space Marine is more shooter than hack-and-slash. When you get to the hacking and slashing, you mostly just pound on buttons and perform the occasional brutal execution. Fury mode--in which you become a temporary tornado of carnage--breaks up the repetition with some snazzy slow-motion visuals and extra helpings of Ork intestines.

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viedogame: PC | Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Review

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PC | Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Review Sep 9th 2011, 01:02 If you're a Warhammer 40K fan, you've dreamed of taking up a chainsword and carving Orks into bloody chunks of flesh and bone. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine plants you in the heavy boots of an Ultramarine and lets you do just that. The viscera fly in this third-person shooter/melee hybrid. They stain the ground and splash against your screen, yet the brainless hordes continue their assault, crying out their familiar "waaagh!" before presenting themselves for slaughter. Space Marine is simple fun, and a treat for fans of the franchise--and for anyone who delights in the ceaseless bloodletting of bad guys. It is, in fact, a little too simple. As entertaining as it is, the game lacks the variety, the memorable moments, and the sense of scale of the finest shooters. After you annihilate yet another great mess of greenskins, the question arises: Is this all there is to it? With some exceptions, yes, that's all there is to it, and it's hard not to wonder what might have, should have been. But the action is so satisfying, and the atmosphere so grim, that you'll want to see the adventure through. Unleash your fury when it counts the most. Watch this video in High Def What Space Marine does best is capture the spirit of its universe. The Ultramarines' weathered armor is so heavy and hardy, they don't so much wear it as it wears them. As you push through battle-worn trenches, the Orks' makeshift machinery erupts from the ground, shaking the earth. Roaring greenskins in rocket packs rush past, providing a touch of comedy amid all the carnage. And such carnage it is. Enemies erupt in soggy displays of goo, yet the waves continue, your foes' bloodthirst overcoming their sense of self-preservation. When you carve your chainsword through these forces, the buzz is so authentic that you can almost feel the green flesh being torn away from your foes' skeletons. The visuals and sound both work hard to promote this brutal atmosphere. The story, on the other hand, is as dry as the battlefields are sodden. (To wit, the opening cutscene begins with a sequence featuring the ever-exciting storytelling device called "words displayed on a monitor.") As Captain Titus, your role is to mow down Orks and, later on, the forces of Chaos. You and your comrades speak in lofty, stentorian tones and act as mere pawns of the plot. The main players are voiced well but are as forgettable as can be, everyone filling their assigned roles but rarely giving you a reason to care about their destinies. The story is too simple for the plot "twists" to feel anything other than inevitable, and while the cliff-hanger ending sets up a sequel, you probably won't feel all that curious about what might happen next. All the blood lets you know your enemies are good and dead. Not that the promise of more Space Marine is a bad thing. The action is a fun mix of third-person shooting and melee. The sense of weight to the movement, the camera perspective, and the weapon selection interface might at first bring to mind Gears of War, but the similarities are superficial. You might be clad in weighty armor, but you aren't burdened by it. Aiming is swift and smooth, allowing you to gun down dozens of targets without breaking a sweat. When the crowd gets too close, you can swing your chainsword (or axe, or hammer) about with ease, the Orks spraying so much gore it's a wonder there aren't puddles of it to wade through. And unlike in Gears and its ilk, there is no cover system. Space Marine wants you to keep busy, not remove yourself from the action. The health regeneration system also complements the "kill, don't hide" mentality: to restore health, you perform a grotesque finishing kill. This doesn't mean that each enemy is a quick pick-me-up waiting to be harvested, mind you. You are vulnerable during these lengthy moves, so you must be careful not to leave yourself open to gunners or other attackers. Succumbing to death while executing a long fatality can be irksome, but a little tactical thinking should keep that from being a frequent occurrence. In any case, while the final acts have their challenging moments, Space Marine is not particularly hard, so frustration is uncommon. And so you put an end to the masses of meanies threatening the Forge World you protect. And it's fun, due in large part to your arsenal. You always have your bolt pistol (or its plasma equivalent) and its unlimited ammo when necessary, but it's better to take aim with the bolter, an assault rifle with a good kick to it. It's effective at surprisingly long range, and strong sound effects and a good sense of impact make it fun to use. (You can see the blood spewing from enemies hundreds of feet away.) The scoped stalker bolter is a nice toy, too, best used to take out distant gunners before wading into a sea of daemons with a death wish. The melee action has bite to it as well, though Space Marine is more shooter than hack-and-slash. When you get to the hacking and slashing, you mostly just pound on buttons and perform the occasional brutal execution. Fury mode--in which you become a temporary tornado of carnage--breaks up the repetition with some snazzy slow-motion visuals and extra helpings of Ork intestines.

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viedogame: PC | Hector: Badge of Carnage - Episode 2: Senseless Acts of Justice Review

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PC | Hector: Badge of Carnage - Episode 2: Senseless Acts of Justice Review Sep 9th 2011, 01:20 Even as games grow edgier with the times, most gamemakers seem to shy away from poking at certain boundaries of common decency. In crafting its crass new point-and-click adventure game trilogy, developer Straandlooper sheds caution as if it were a vile, fluid-stained trench coat and runs streaking across the line like a howling naked lunatic. The Hector: Badge of Carnage series debut, We Negotiate With Terrorists, set a memorably sleazy tone filled with comedic cartoonish debauchery and clever detective work. Episode 2, Senseless Acts of Justice, follows suit with another helping of the same unwholesome fun that is topped with gyrating nun strippers, exploding feces, and trucks adorned with massive hunks of dripping meat. It's an acquired taste--but it's one that delivers accessible and enjoyable gameplay, despite its often crude trappings. Erotic dancing nuns. Yes, really. Picking up right where the first episode's cliffhanger left off, Senseless Acts of Justice sees the series' pit-stained detective caught in the crosshairs of a psychotic cop-killing terrorist who's hell bent on cleaning up Clappers Wreake's cruddy city streets through force. After avoiding his own impending doom during the opening refresher tutorial, Hector is left with a couple of pieces of circumstantial evidence that offer clues to the terrorist's true identity. The trek across the city's repugnant terrain leads you through an all-new array of seedy locales, including a blood-spattered butchery, a nail salon that sells semiautomatic weapons, and an old church converted into a sex club. It's great to see that only a few locations are recycled from the previous episode. Each scene oozes with creepy characters, and however unsettling and grimy they may be, these new sections of the cityscape pack a lot of artistic flair. Moving between locations is a lot easier this time around. The episode's welcome new map system lets you bounce around from one area to the next without having to hoof it across three or four screens, which frees up time to poke around among the city's gnarly underbelly. Though the game doesn't stray from the genre's standard point-and-click formula, the puzzles are accessible and more intuitive than the average adventure game without being too easy. In terms of subject, they're also on the weirder side of things--something anyone who dug Episode 1 will be well accustomed to by now. Blowing up a building using a feces-filled toilet, peddling human organs and bodily fluids to raise funds, and consuming vast quantities of vomit-inducing grade F meat are a few of the odd tasks you tackle. Puzzles span several different areas of the city, and individual tasks are part of a string of challenges that are connected to one of the three main clues you chase. It's cool that each one feels like a different mini plot on its own. There's still a lot of the old "pick up object A, fiddle with it, combine it with something else, and use it on hot spot B," but a few of the game's more elaborate conundrums change up the pace. For example, the early stretch of the episode has you switching between Hector and his daft partner Lambert to approach a complex multitiered puzzle from two different angles. The game's revamped hint system now revolves around a police HQ hub that lets you hit characters up for clues before resorting to a more robust means of assistance. There's a full built-in walkthrough for those who need it, but it gives you numerous opportunities to figure out things on your own with a little help before revealing the complete solution to a puzzle. It's a great solution to the age-old practice of hunting the Web for adventure-game walkthroughs. There's enough help to get you through the sticky spots, but it doesn't spoil the experience. Hector isn't the only bloke you play as in this episode. Hector is still very much the crude antihero, and his harsh but amusing personality plays well off the cast of strange characters you encounter. There's no shortage of kooky weirdos to serve as fodder for his ridicule and amusement. Despite his incessant jibes and slanderous remarks, Hector's a bit more likeable in Episode 2 now that there's been enough time to get used to his abrasive mannerisms. The game's plentiful British accents are thick, and if you're not familiar with the lingo some of the jokes are hard to make sense of. But most of the time, the dialogue is funny, and a few of the comedic gags woven throughout the five-to-six-hour adventure are uproarious. It's disappointing to find that the story in Senseless Acts of Justice spins out to be a little too predictable. The lead-up to the cliffhanger ending lacks some of the punch found in the first episode, though the return visit to Clappers Wreake offers some excellent puzzles and character interactions that balance it all out. The episode flows much more smoothly, and updates to the map and hint systems make trekking across town a speedier process. Senseless Acts of Justice is also a longer jaunt with a broader selection of areas to explore. Underneath the thick coating of grime and blasphemy, there's a lot of fun stuck in the nooks and crannies of this irreverent adventure game.

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viedogame: PlayStation 3 | Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Review

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PlayStation 3 | Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Review Sep 9th 2011, 01:02 If you're a Warhammer 40K fan, you've dreamed of taking up a chainsword and carving Orks into bloody chunks of flesh and bone. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine plants you in the heavy boots of an Ultramarine and lets you do just that. The viscera fly in this third-person shooter/melee hybrid. They stain the ground and splash against your screen, yet the brainless hordes continue their assault, crying out their familiar "waaagh!" before presenting themselves for slaughter. Space Marine is simple fun, and a treat for fans of the franchise--and for anyone who delights in the ceaseless bloodletting of bad guys. It is, in fact, a little too simple. As entertaining as it is, the game lacks the variety, the memorable moments, and the sense of scale of the finest shooters. After you annihilate yet another great mess of greenskins, the question arises: Is this all there is to it? With some exceptions, yes, that's all there is to it, and it's hard not to wonder what might have, should have been. But the action is so satisfying, and the atmosphere so grim, that you'll want to see the adventure through. Hell hath no fury like an Ultramarine scorned. Watch this video in High Def What Space Marine does best is capture the spirit of its universe. The Ultramarines' weathered armor is so heavy and hardy, they don't so much wear it as it wears them. As you push through battle-worn trenches, the Orks' makeshift machinery erupts from the ground, shaking the earth. Roaring greenskins in rocket packs rush past, providing a touch of comedy amid all the carnage. And such carnage it is. Enemies erupt in soggy displays of goo, yet the waves continue, your foes' bloodthirst overcoming their sense of self-preservation. When you carve your chainsword through these forces, the buzz is so authentic that you can almost feel the green flesh being torn away from your foes' skeletons. The visuals and sound both work hard to promote this brutal atmosphere. The story, on the other hand, is as dry as the battlefields are sodden. (To wit, the opening cutscene begins with a sequence featuring the ever-exciting storytelling device called "words displayed on a monitor.") As Captain Titus, your role is to mow down Orks and, later on, the forces of Chaos. You and your comrades speak in lofty, stentorian tones and act as mere pawns of the plot. The main players are voiced well but are as forgettable as can be, everyone filling their assigned roles but rarely giving you a reason to care about their destinies. The story is too simple for the plot "twists" to feel anything other than inevitable, and while the cliff-hanger ending sets up a sequel, you probably won't feel all that curious about what might happen next. All the blood lets you know your enemies are good and dead. Not that the promise of more Space Marine is a bad thing. The action is a fun mix of third-person shooting and melee. The sense of weight to the movement, the camera perspective, and the weapon selection interface might at first bring to mind Gears of War, but the similarities are superficial. You might be clad in weighty armor, but you aren't burdened by it. Aiming is swift and smooth, allowing you to gun down dozens of targets without breaking a sweat. When the crowd gets too close, you can swing your chainsword (or axe, or hammer) about with ease, the Orks spraying so much gore it's a wonder there aren't puddles of it to wade through. And unlike in Gears and its ilk, there is no cover system. Space Marine wants you to keep busy, not remove yourself from the action. The health regeneration system also complements the "kill, don't hide" mentality: to restore health, you perform a grotesque finishing kill. This doesn't mean that each enemy is a quick pick-me-up waiting to be harvested, mind you. You are vulnerable during these lengthy moves, so you must be careful not to leave yourself open to gunners or other attackers. Succumbing to death while executing a long fatality can be irksome, but a little tactical thinking should keep that from being a frequent occurrence. In any case, while the final acts have their challenging moments, Space Marine is not particularly hard, so frustration is uncommon. And so you put an end to the masses of meanies threatening the Forge World you protect. And it's fun, due in large part to your arsenal. You always have your bolt pistol (or its plasma equivalent) and its unlimited ammo when necessary, but it's better to take aim with the bolter, an assault rifle with a good kick to it. It's effective at surprisingly long range, and strong sound effects and a good sense of impact make it fun to use. (You can see the blood spewing from enemies hundreds of feet away.) The scoped stalker bolter is a nice toy, too, best used to take out distant gunners before wading into a sea of daemons with a death wish. The melee action has bite to it as well, though Space Marine is more shooter than hack-and-slash. When you get to the hacking and slashing, you mostly just pound on buttons and perform the occasional brutal execution. Fury mode--in which you become a temporary tornado of carnage--breaks up the repetition with some snazzy slow-motion visuals and extra helpings of Ork intestines.

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viedogame: Blizzard three-year plan includes two World of Warcraft, Starcraft II add-ons

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Blizzard three-year plan includes two World of Warcraft, Starcraft II add-ons Sep 8th 2011, 18:57 Blizzard Entertainment is notorious for not committing to a release window until it is absolutely sure the game is done. However, the studio remains but one among the Activision Blizzard umbrella, and its corporate partner is expecting Blizzard to release a number of products over the next three years to grow the publisher's top and bottom line. Tippl believes the Starcraft II trilogy will conclude by 2014. Speaking at the Citi 2011 Technology Conference today, Activision Blizzard COO Thomas Tippl said that over the next three years, the publisher is expecting six "proven property" releases from Blizzard. These releases include two expansion packs each from World of Warcraft and Starcraft II. While Blizzard has not indicated any expansion pack plans beyond WOW's cataclysm, it has been more forthright with its Starcraft II plans. The game's second installment, Heart of the Swarm, focuses on the Zerg faction, and Battle.net project director Greg Canessa indicated it will be available in mid-2012. The series will conclude with Legacy of the Void, which focuses on the Protoss camp. The remaining two releases pertain to Diablo III. While Blizzard maintains that it hopes to release Diablo III in 2011, Tippl said that the game has not been factored into its earnings report expectations for the calendar year. Tippl also expects a Diablo III expansion will be available before the end of 2014. Of course, Tippl's word choice also left the door open for Blizzard to release an as-yet-unproven property in the next three years, namely its newest massively multiplayer online role-playing game Titan. According to a purportedly leaked, and thus far accurate, release schedule, Blizzard is planning on releasing Titan in fall 2013. Blizzard had not responded to a request for comment on Tippl's statements as of press time. Watch this video in High Def

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viedogame: Activision wins ModernWarfare3.com dispute

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Activision wins ModernWarfare3.com dispute Sep 8th 2011, 18:58 In July, the website ModernWarfare3.com drew the attention of military shooter fans when it began forwarding all traffic to the official website of Electronic Arts' competing military shooter Battlefield 3. It also drew the attention of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 publisher Activision, which filed a complaint with the National Arbitration Forum. Target down. That complaint has been resolved, as domain-tracking blog Fusible is reporting today that a three-member panel has sided with Activision in the matter, and ordered control of the URL transferred to the publisher. As of press time, the site was down. Among the key issues in the case was the site's forwarding traffic to a direct competitor of Modern Warfare 3, something which the former ModernWarfare3.com registrant described as a temporary mistake, and not evidence that he was running the site in bad faith. In issuing its order, the panel called the claims of the unofficial site's former operator "uncompelling" and "not credible." Originally registered in March 2009, ModernWarfare3.com billed itself both as "a 100 percent unofficial fan site dedicated to the Modern Warfare series," as well as "a parody of Modern Warfare 3." The site had for some time openly criticized the Activision shooter as a retread of the series, prompting Activision to send it a takedown notice related to copyrighted content that had previously appeared on the site. For more on Activision's shooter, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Watch this video in High Def

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viedogame: Dead Island sparks sexism flap

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Dead Island sparks sexism flap Sep 8th 2011, 17:37 Techland's Dead Island has proven to be quite the controversial game, though for reasons that pertain not at all to its rabid, flesh-eating zombies. And while the first wave of anger over the game involved an intense CG-rendered teaser trailer depicting the gruesome death of a child, the second is rooted in a misogynistic inclusion in the game itself. Zombies have a legitimate claim to the title "man-eater." Last night, a Steam user claimed to have uncovered a line of code in the PC edition of Dead Island referring to an in-game skill for the female survivor Purna as "Feminist Whore." The line of code can reportedly be found in Dead Island's .scr file. Steam users quickly picked up on the original post, speculating that it is in reference to Purna's ability that grants a 15 percent damage increase against male characters. In the game itself, it is referred to as the "Gender Wars" skill. In a statement released to GameSpot, Techland confirmed that the derogatory references can be found in the game, and apologized for the oversight. The developer also said that their inclusion was the result of a single individual: It has come to our attention that one of Dead Island’s leftover debug files contains a highly inappropriate internal script name of one of the character skills. This has been inexcusably overlooked and released with the game. The line in question was something a programmer considered a private joke. The skill naturally has a completely different in-game name and the script reference was also changed. What is left is a part of an obscure debug function. This is merely an explanation but by no means an excuse. In the end, that code was made a part of the product and signed with our company name. We deeply regret that fact and we apologize to all our customers or anyone who might have been offended by that inappropriate expression. The person responsible for this unfortunate situation will face professional consequences for violating the professional standards and beliefs Techland stands for. A Techland representative further stated that the studio is "currently evaluating options for dealing with the issue." Responding to a request for comment, North American publisher Deep Silver would only confirm the line of code, calling it the work of a lone developer at the studio. "These unfortunate actions were of one individual at developer company Techland and do not in any way represent the views of publishing company Deep Silver," the publisher said in a statement. The PC edition of Dead Island is proving to be a headache for Techland. Upon the game's release earlier this week, Techland said that an "incorrect version" of the game was released on Steam. Though it was subsequently fixed, those who had begun playing the game with the initially released version may have experienced corrupted save files. Deep Silver has promised a make-good for PC gamers affected by this issue. For more information, check out GameSpot's review of Dead Island. Watch this video in High Def

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viedogame: Max Payne returns in March

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Max Payne returns in March Sep 8th 2011, 15:22 It's been eight years since Max Payne 2 hit stores, but Rockstar Games' rough-around-the-edges New York City cop is about ready to hit the streets again. Rockstar today announced that Max Payne 3 is expected to launch next March on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC in North America and Europe. Max is haunted by a traumatic past. And a botched theatrical adaptation starring Mark Wahlberg. Max Payne 3 is in the works at Rockstar Games' Vancouver studio, which took over development reins from Finnish shop Remedy (Alan Wake). The game will catch up with the now-former cop, who has spent the time since Max Payne 2 running from his troubled past. That has led him to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he works as a private bodyguard for a wealthy family. Payne will fulfill his duties with a healthy helping of the series' signature bullet-time gameplay mechanic, in which the player slows the world to a crawl and Max acrobatically leaps into action, firing twin pistols at anyone in range. That's not the only way to play, as Rockstar is supplementing that approach with a variety of weaponry and a cover system. Rockstar is also incorporating multiplayer into the series for the first time with Max Payne 3. The publisher has said it will feature "traditional" multiplayer game modes with full-featured support for character progression, clans, and load-out options. Originally hinted at in 2004, Max Payne 3 was formally announced in March of 2009 and set for release that winter. It was then pushed to the following summer, and then the fall. When Take-Two delayed the game for the third time in less than a year, executives refused to even confirm in which fiscal year it was expecting the game to launch.

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viedogame: Big in Japan Aug. 29 - Sept. 4: Grand Knights History

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Big in Japan Aug. 29 - Sept. 4: Grand Knights History Sep 8th 2011, 16:11 Fear of cell phones and tablets aside, handheld systems are still a popular way to get one's game on in Japan, as indicated in the recent Media Create sales update for the week of August 29 to September 4. The 3DS topped the hardware sales charts for the week, while VanillaWare's PSP game Grand Knights History led all software with 64,630 units sold. Dragons and knights won the sales battle, according to Media Create's sales figures. Grand Knights History is a turn-based role-playing game where three kingdoms of a fantasy world clash in an all-out war. The game's main feature is unit customization and online play where players represent their kingdoms and fight against each other to gain territory. Developer VanillaWare is best known in the West for games like Muramasa: The Demon Blade, GrimGrimoire, and Odin Sphere. For more information, check out GameSpot's recent coverage on the title. While the former number-one title was bumped down, it didn't fall far. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD Ver. came in second on the charts, selling 52,792 units for that week. Rhythm Heaven moved up to third place with 22,762 units sold, while Samurai Warriors 3 Empires did not budge an inch from its position with 21,604 units sold. Corpse Party: Book of Shadows for the PSP made its debut in the charts with 15,249 copies sold. Created by developers 5pb, the first-person adventure game is based on the old Corpse Party game that was originally on the PC and PC-98. This iteration is focused on a group of students who have to get out of a run-down elementary school filled with bodies of lost children and damned spirits. The game features a spirit contamination system where characters experience hallucinations if their sanity meter is depleted. Another newcomer (if a remake can be considered such) is the 3DS version of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor. This version of the game sold 20,809 units, good enough for fifth place. New additions to the title include full voice acting and an epilogue chapter called "The 8th Day" for veterans to play through. Outside of the top 10, the sole Xbox 360 representative on the week's sales chart, Monster Hunter Frontier Anniversary 2011 Premium Package, finished in 16th place with 7,953 units sold. Black Rock Shooter dropped from second to 14th place with 11,186 units sold. Meanwhile, 3DS and PS3 sales were strong, with the former's performance attributed to the previous price drop and the latter being supported by the new Monster Hunter iteration. Despite the major presence of PSP titles, the system is still in third place among hardware on sale for the week. JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF AUGUST 29 - SEPTEMBER 4 Software: Rank/Title/Publisher/Platform/Unit sales 1. Grand Knights History / Marvelous / PSP / 64,630 2. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD Ver. / Capcom / PS3 / 52,792 3. Rhythm Heaven / Nintendo / Wii / 22,762 4. Samurai Warriors 3 Empires / Tecmo Koei / PS3 / 21,604 5. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked / Atlus / 3DS / 20,809 6. Kirby Mass Attack / Nintendo / DS / 15,804 7. Corpse Party: Book of Shadows / 5pb / PSP / 15,249 8. Mobile Suit Gundam: New Gihren's Ambition / Namco Bandai / PSP / 14,656 9. Monster Hunter Diary Poka Poka Felyne Village G / Capcom / PSP / 12,924 10. Dynasty Warriors 7 Special / Tecmo Koei / PSP / 12,209 Hardware 3DS - 54,744 PS3 - 33,831 PSP - 30,192 Wii - 11,606 DSi XL - 3,177 DSi - 2,453 PS2 - 1,394 Xbox 360 - 1,228 DS Lite - 80 PSP Go - 7

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viedogame: Max Payne returns in March

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Max Payne returns in March Sep 8th 2011, 15:22 It's been eight years since Max Payne 2 hit stores, but Rockstar Games' rough-around-the-edges New York City cop is about ready to hit the streets again. Rockstar today announced that Max Payne 3 is expected to launch next March on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC in North America and Europe. Max is haunted by a traumatic past. And a botched theatrical adaptation starring Mark Wahlberg. Max Payne 3 is in the works at Rockstar Games' Vancouver studio, which took over development reins from Finnish shop Remedy (Alan Wake). The game will catch up with the now-former cop, who has spent the time since Max Payne 2 running from his troubled past. That has led him to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he works as a private bodyguard for a wealthy family. Payne will fulfill his duties with a healthy helping of the series' signature bullet-time gameplay mechanic, in which the player slows the world to a crawl and Max acrobatically leaps into action, firing twin pistols at anyone in range. That's not the only way to play, as Rockstar is supplementing that approach with a variety of weaponry and a cover system. Rockstar is also incorporating multiplayer into the series for the first time with Max Payne 3. The publisher has said it will feature "traditional" multiplayer game modes with full-featured support for character progression, clans, and load-out options. Originally hinted at in 2004, Max Payne 3 was formally announced in March of 2009 and set for release that winter. It was then pushed to the following summer, and then the fall. When Take-Two delayed the game for the third time in less than a year, executives refused to even confirm in which fiscal year it was expecting the game to launch.

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viedogame: Sony Asia and Nanyang Polytechnic to continue game design partnership

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Sony Asia and Nanyang Polytechnic to continue game design partnership Sep 8th 2011, 04:33 By Jonathan Leo Toyad, GameSpot AsiaPosted Sep 7, 2011 9:33 pm PT Publisher and school sign new five-year MOU to make PS3 and PS Vita titles thanks to outcome of Games Resource Centre. Back in 2010, Sony Computer Entertainment Asia collaborated with Nanyang Polytechnic Singapore to launch the School of Interactive & Digital Media PlayStation Development Community that allowed students from the school to use PlayStation development kits to create their own games for school projects. In lieu of this partnership, SCEA decided to further their partnership with the school with a five-year Memorandum of Understanding. This will enable students to continue developing games as final year projects using the development kit which, at this point in time, is still the only PlayStation development and training centre in South-East Asia. This also allows them to gain access to tools to make games for the upcoming portable PlayStation Vita. According to Sony Computer Entertainment Asia's president Tetsuhiko Yasuda, the reason for this continued partnership is because SCEA wishes to train more developers and help contribute to Singapore's video game industry via Sony-sanctioned development kits. NYP students will get a good feel of the Vita's innards. The two notable titles that benefit from this partnership are PhaseShift: Threat Beyond the Network and Spell Weaver (working title). The former is a 2D shooter by Dark Potato Studios and is the brainchild of Hoong Boon Wai. The latter is a 2D platformer with emphasis on seven-word spelling developed by Red Hare Studio. PhaseShift has yet to settle on an official release date due to the game still being a prototype, while Spell Weaver is slated for a 2012 release on the PlayStation Network.

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viedogame: Madden NFL 12 Kicks Off Season With Huge Numbers

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Madden NFL 12 Kicks Off Season With Huge Numbers Sep 8th 2011, 05:08 More than 1.4 Million Copies Sold Through in Week One; Up 10 Percent Year Over Year. REDWOOD CITY, Calif.â€"(BUSINESS WIRE)â€"Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ:ERTS) announced today that EA SPORTS Madden NFL 12 has sold through more than 1.4 million copies across all consoles in its first week at retail (Aug. 30 - Sept. 5), up 10 percent over last year’s opening week of sales. Based on internal estimates, digital gross revenue, driven largely by the Madden Ultimate Team mode, is up 78 percent over last year. “Madden NFL 12 is off to a great start, and we’ve seen a tremendous amount of excitement and demand this first week,” said Chris Homeister, senior vice president and general manager of the home entertainment group at Best Buy. “Fans lined up at Best Buy stores around the country for midnight launch events to be the first to bring Madden NFL 12 home and get a jump on their rivals.” Among the additional notable accomplishments for Madden NFL 12 in its first week at retail: Madden NFL 12 fans have played more than 5.4 million online connected game sessions since launch; the equivalent of more than 10,000 regular NFL seasons. Madden Ultimate Team has been a big hit, with fans having purchased nearly 200,000 Madden Ultimate Team card and coin packs in the first seven days. EA SPORTS Season Ticket subscribers got a jump on the competition, with early full-game digital access to Madden NFL 12 beginning on August 26. Fans logged more than four million total gameplay minutes in the early access period. Within its first week on the market, Madden NFL 12 reached the number one top paid spot on the Android market and ranked in the top 10 grossing on the App Store for iOS platforms. “With the start of the NFL season only days away, fans are thrilled to get back to football and they’re doing so in record numbers through Madden NFL 12,” says Andrew Wilson, executive vice president of EA SPORTS. “The growth across console and digital shows that the appetite for the Madden NFLfranchise has never been bigger.” Madden NFL 12 sets a new benchmark for the franchise by delivering the most authentic NFL gameplay experience to date. USA Today says, “Madden NFL 12 is a delightful pro football simulation and perhaps the series’ best entry in the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 era” and, according to Planet Xbox 360, “This is the Madden NFL that the hardcore football fans thought only existed in their dreams.” Madden NFL 12 continues the rich tradition of the storied franchise by bringing fans closer to the NFL than ever before, featuring all 32 teams, stadiums, and favorite players in the league. Madden NFL 12 transforms on-field action and core gameplay modes, driving innovation in six key areas: Playbooks and Gameplay; Presentation; Franchise and Superstar modes; Dynamic Player Performance; Madden Ultimate Team; and Online Communities. Madden NFL 12 is now available and retails for $59.99 on the Xbox 360® video game system from Microsoft and the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, $49.99 on Wiiâ„¢, and $39.99 on PlayStation 2 and PSP (PlayStation Portable) handheld entertainment system as well as Android devices, iOS devices and feature phones. The free-to-play Madden NFL Superstars 12 game is now available on Facebook. Madden NFL 12 is developed in Orlando, Florida by EA Tiburon and has been rated “E” for Everyone by the ESRB. For more information, please visit http://www.ea.com/madden-nfl. All player participation has been facilitated by National Football League Players Incorporated, the licensing and marketing subsidiary of the NFL Players Association. EA SPORTSâ„¢ is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, global videogame competitions and breakthrough digital experiences. EA SPORTS delivers experiences that ignite the emotions of sport through industry-leading sports simulation videogames, including Madden NFL football, FIFA Soccer, NHL® hockey, NBA ELITE basketball, NCAA® Football and NCAA Basketball, Fight Night boxing, EA SPORTS MMA and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® golf, and EA SPORTS Active. For more information about EA SPORTS, including news, video, blogs, forums and game apps, please visit www.easports.com to connect, share and compete. Leave a Reply You must be logged in to post a comment.

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