Posted by [MyIS]Zips
September 2, 2010

The multiplayer reveal event from last night for Call of Duty: Black Ops has come and gone. In its massive wake is a ton of details and specifics for the game that might have gotten lost in the Twitter storm last night.


Fortunately, we took the time to compile a huge number of details from the event as provided to us by [MyIS]Crrrazzzy from TGN, who was in attendance, and the other journalists and event goers who shared their information through Twitter.

The specifics are broken down by category, including a look at customization, PC specific details, weapons, perks, theater mode, and much more.

Posted by [MyIS]Zips
September 2, 2010

Hot on the heels of the leaked screenshots for Batman: Arkham City comes a slew of new details from the latest issue of OXM. Some of the highlights from the article were compiled by an Arkham City fansite and listed for you below.

There be spoilers ahead. Read at your own risk!

- Arkham City is four or five times larger than Arkham Asylum.
- The game starts by being briefed by Alfred, he explains the Two-Face vs Catwoman situation and you start heading to the area where the two are located.
- Batman is now much more agile, he is now able to plunge into a dive mid glide to accelerate flight.
- Two-Face has a gang roaming Arkham City, you will find them wearing face masks replicating their boss'.
- Criminals who aren't connected with any super villains roam the street.
- Story suggests that Professor Strange has been kidnapping Gotham citizens who are opposed to Arkham City.
- One and half years after the original game.
- Use new detective mode to discover a thugs super villain boss. This will be used to find The Riddlers men.
- The Riddler is in Arkham City, they hint you are almost certain to come face to face with him.
- Jack Ryder has been put into Arkham City due to him becoming to close to the truth on the city while working on an expose. Rocksteady were hesitant to reveal what Ryder had uncovered.
- Your first meeting with Two-Face is early on in the game. You are greeted with him displaying Catwoman tied up side down to a baying crowd of criminals. His two conflicting personalities being voiced out loud.
- Two-Face decides Catwoman's fate with the iconic coin toss. She gets lucky this time.
- The first confrontation with Two-Face results in Batman getting shot in the chest only for Catwoman to slip out of her chains and hit Two-Face into the acid she was about to be chucked into. A flirtatious conversation is then held between Catwoman and Batman only to be interrupted by a smiley face sniper dot rolling up Catwoman's suit. The shot is fired and misses her by a whisker.
- Your first detective mode experience is finding the bullet hole on the floor and figuring out its trajectory.
- Trajectory reveals the location of the shot. A bell tower housed by the Joker.
- Joker has a potentially fatal desease.
- Calendar Man is confirmed.
- The date and time effect your interaction with Calendar Man, set your console of PC's time a month ahead from last and you will receive a completely different conversation.
- Batman's launcher has received an upgrade, you can now stop at anytime instead of being forced to the end every time.
- You are pitted against a lot more thugs at once compared to the original game.
- Increased amount of combat animations.
- Phone booths ring only for thugs to stand by it, afraid to answer. Rumours going round suggest anyone that answers these calls end up dead.
- The mysterious caller ends up being Victor Zsasz, this starts one of many side quests in the game.
- To start the side quest you must follow a number of ringing phone boxes only to greeted with him at the final one.
- Co-Op seems to be hinted. Catwoman has very similar combat techniques to Batman when in game.
- Rocksteady suggest Crime Alley will make an appearance.
- Rocksteady insist that the only confirmed villains so far are the ones you have seen.


Arkham City is slated for release at some point in 2011.

Posted by [MyIS]Zips
September 2, 2010

Earlier this week an anonymous Flickr account had posted what appeared to be 20 new screenshots for the upcoming Batman: Arkham City. Keen eyes over at NeoGAF spotted the images before they were pulled from Flickr and with that, they make their way now to you.




Whoa whoa whoa, there's still a lot more to go here, including a look at Two-Face, the new look for Harley Quinn, and more. Be sure to continue reading to see the full image gallery!

Continue Reading...

Posted by [MyIS]Zips
September 1, 2010

Perhaps it's just us reading too much into this, but it seems as though Duke Nukem Forever lives on. Well, it isn't just us reading too much into this either, it's every hopeful Duke Nukem fan in the world.

George Broussard of 3D Realms posted something very simple, and perhaps very telling, on his Twitter just an hour ago.


Ah yes, the old saying that such and such will happen "when pigs fly." You'll give up smoking "when pigs fly." You'll hit the lottery "when pigs fly." Duke Nukem Forever will be released "when pigs fly."

Now, there is a bit more to this rumor here. Gearbox Software has acquired the rights to Duke Nukem Forever in the wake of the financial troubles at 3D Realms. It is also rumored that Gearbox will unveil something very surprising at PAX Prime this weekend. They do have a discussion panel going on Sunday, but let's hope the big reveals come sooner than that.

Posted by [MyIS]Zips
September 1, 2010

A brand-spanking new trailer for the upcoming Mortal Kombat title was just released today. The "Shadow Trailer" gives a nice hint at what brutal violence is in store for the ninth installment in the series.


The trailer also includes a new song from Disturbed entitled "Another Way to Die" off of their fifth album, Asylum.

PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners should prepare to fight come 2011.

Posted by [MyIS]Zips
September 1, 2010

A new trailer was rolled out today for Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days to act as a preview for the triple dose of DLC available today for the title.


The multiplayer focused DLC is broken down below.

Doggie Bag Pack
Take on new heists and unlock new Achievement points with two never before seen maps and five exclusive weapons for Multiplayer and Arcade modes. Dockyard and High Rise maps, plus the Radio Tower map (previously available through pre-order offers) provide new opportunity to increase your wealth. And with the inclusion of five new weapons, including the DD 33, KL Viper, RTS, SMi 69, and the TOQ Model Four S the odds are in your favor of pulling off a successful heist.

Retail price:
Xbox 360 - 560 Microsoft points
PS3 - €5.99 (Europe) / $5.99 (US)
STEAM - €5.99 (Europe) / $5.99 (US)


Alliance Weapons Pack
Increase your weapons arsenal with seven powerful new weapons for all Multiplayer modes and Arcade mode. A mix of handguns, shotguns and assault rifles the new weapons include: Doretta Silenced, Steele 870, TOQ SBR, Kaliningrad 47, PAC 10 silenced, N 77P Silenced, TOQ Elite. (Weapons previously available through pre-order).

Retail price:
Xbox 360 - 240 Microsoft points
PS3 - €2.99 (Europe) / $2.99 (US)
STEAM - €2.99 (Europe) / $2.99 (US)

Multiplayer Mask Pack
Conceal your identity and avoid revenge attacks with 8 costume masks stolen from a Chinese gift shop, for all Multiplayer modes and Arcade mode. You never want to be identified, especially if you are a traitor! (Masks previously available through pre-order).

Retail price:
Xbox 360 - 160 Microsoft points
PS3 - €1.99 (Europe) / $1.99 (US)
STEAM - €1.99 (Europe) / $1.99 (US)

Pick your poison!

Posted by [MyIS]Zips
August 31, 2010

If you missed the NHL 11 USTREAM party and subsequently the NHL 11 Rookie Challenge, have no fear.

Thanks to the power of the Internets and USTREAM, the entirety of the event has been recorded and neatly filed away for your viewing enjoyment whenever you please.

18 NHL rookies partook of the knockout tournament to see who amongst them is the best NHL player, in the video game sense at least.

Mattias Tedenby - NJD
Zach Hamill - BOS
Kyle Beach - CHI
Kevin Shattenkirk - COL
Tomas Tatar - DET
Chet Pickard - NAS
Magnus Svensson Paajarvi - EDM
Jacob Markstrom - FLA
Mats Zuccarello-Aasen - NYR
Jonathon Blum - NAS
Erik Gudbranson - FLA
Nazem Kadri - TOR
Taylor Hall - EDM
Tyler Seguin - BOS
Ryan Johansen - CBJ
Scott Glennie - DAL
Calvin de Haan - NYI
Ryan McDonagh – NYR


Feel free to check out the recorded action at EA Sports' USTREAM page and follow them on Facebook for continued news on the NHL!

Posted by [MyIS]Zips
August 31, 2010

Quake Live is back up and running now after its latest update. The full list of changes are listed below.

- Added 'teamsize' options in team gametypes. Players can now 'callvote teamsize #' to adjust the size of teams in team gametypes (TDM, CA, CTF, FT). Issuing 'callvote teamsize 4' will result in a 4 available player slots per team, team sizes are now shown on the scoreboard.
- Added cg_drawCrosshairHealthArmor (Default 1, min 0, max 1) Displays a teammates health and armor below their name when you hover your crosshair over them.
- Added cg_drawCrosshairNames 2 (Default 1, min 0, max 2) The new '2' option allows you to draw crosshairnames only for your teammates, enemy names will not pop-up. This option is available in the in-game menu under HUD Options->Target Names.
- Added cg_drawCrosshairNamesOpacity (Default 0.75, min 0, max 1) Controls the opacity of the player names displayed when using cg_drawCrosshairNames 1 or 2.
- Added cg_playerLean (Default 1, min 0, max 1) Scales or disables the player lean effected caused by high velocities.
- Added 'gamepad' configuration control section & basic Microsoft XBOX 360 Controller support.
-- In the console set 'in_joystick 1' to enable gamepad support.
-- If you experience that you are unable to move, set 'in_joyballscale 1'.
- Added Discover card support for every region that uses USD. (We know, we know, PayPal support work is underway!)
- Fixed a problem causing standard Linux users to sometimes crash on startup.
- Fixed missing weapon icon on teamoverlay.
- Players removed from clans will no longer still bear the clan tag previously associated with them.
- Fixes for clantags from not getting properly cleared when a player leaves the server.
- Fixed some problems that would occasionally cause the browser-side error detection to cuase client performance problems.
- Fixed reported switch/quit match stat errors. Changes have been made to the backend to better handle team switches and quits; additionally players that rejoin after having dropped from the server should now show up on the scoreboard instead of on the quit list. Oddities may persist in Freeze Tag and will be addressed in the near future.
- Fixed missing Vertical Vengeance & Industrial Accident reports. Changes have been made to the backend to ensure that matches occurring on these two maps will now report match stats.
- Updated IEM5 Map tags to reflect the recent Intel Extreme Masters 5 map pool changes.
- PRO: Fixed 'Start a Match' map cycles. A bug was preventing user spawned servers from cycling past the first map; map cycles now work as expected.
- PRO: Freeze Tag matches started with Instagib mode will now run without spawn armor, and with thaw time set to 1 second.
- PRO: An arena will be selected by default for each gametype in the Start a Match interface.
- PRO: You can now choose the number of players allowed per team when starting a team game.

It should be noted that a small update will arrive next week and that the first major update for premium subscribers will arrive mid-month.

As always, the core game for Quake Live remains free, which still offers a ton of action for every Quake fan out there. Check it out at Quake Live.com.

Posted by [MyIS]Zips
August 31, 2010

Sega has just announced that the demo for Vanquish is now available through the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Network.

VANQUISH is the hottest title Shinji Mikami has worked on in over 4 years, achieving a high level of tension throughout the game and merging shooting and action in a finely balanced manner. The game is set for release across North America on October 19 for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system.

For more information, check out the Vanquish website.

Posted by [MyIS]Zips
August 31, 2010


Tripwire Interactive is slated to reveal something "big" this Thursday. What is it? No idea. But isn't that what we're all about here? Passing along the announcement of upcoming announcements on to you, our loving and understanding readers.

There are rumblings around the office that Tripwire has been hard at work getting something big ready for this Thursday in anticipation of PAX. We look forward to showing it to you in person to those who can ...attend. So make sure and keep an eye out Thursday, and make sure our booth (#3646) is your first stop Friday!

Posted by [MyIS]Zips
August 31, 2010

2K Games has just announced that Jimmy's Vendetta, the next piece of DLC for Mafia II will arrive on September 7 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC platforms.

Jimmy's Vendetta takes players into an alternate perspective of the mob through the eyes of Jimmy, the guy the other guys call when they need to finish the job. Players will get their hands dirty helping Jimmy clean up other people’s messes as they deal with the Italian and Irish mobsters that reside in Empire Bay. As players progress, a slew of new quests are unlocked, including assassination and timed vehicle pursuits ending in dramatic shootouts and explosive car chases. Execute with deadly head shots or charged explosives, and rack up points for precision-timed vehicular power slides, lofty jumps, and supercharged velocity. Multipliers and combos add bonus points to overall scores that will be immediately posted to thenew online leaderboard system, providing extensive re-playability as players work to rise to the top of the ranks.

The Vendetta will run you $9.99 (USD) or 800 MS Points if purchased through the Live Marketplace.

Posted by [MyIS]Zips
August 31, 2010

Ruh-roh, it seems like Ubisoft is going to be moving away from creating new gaming IP's and is instead going to focus more on AAA quality titles.

Alain Corre, the European Managing Director at Ubisoft stated that non-AAA titles are just not profitable enough for the developer any more.

"The games that are not triple-A are not profitable anymore," said Corre.

Ubisoft will also begin focusing on the larger franchises as opposed to new IP. Corre said that "we concentrate more on key franchises, because that's what the market wants – something new with huge quality production behind it. The market is not supporting the full range of product that it used to anymore." He said that Ubisoft's upcoming RUSE may be the last original IP until the new set of home consoles.

He said that Ubisoft were "cautious" about introducing new brands because of the risk involved in development and marketing. "You cannot be 100 per cent sure the target audience you'd expect, which is needed for the comeback on the investment," said Carre.

While you may be thrilled to hear that a development studio is going to try and cut back on "shovelware" it should be noted that this also indicates that a lot more sequels to established Ubisoft titles will become more of the norm.

Posted by [MyIS]Dan
August 31, 2010

That's right, our very own [MyIS]Crrrazzzy is being let out of his cage for the weekend to go meet up with the developers of Call of Duty: Black Ops, the event will focus around the multiplayer side of the game.

Incase anyone is living under a rock or has just emerged from living under a rock, the Call of Duty: Black Ops Multiplayer - Rewind Theater video should refresh your memory:


Be sure to leave your questions in this thread for Crrrazzzy to ask the developers!

Posted by [MyIS]Zips
August 31, 2010

A "monster update" was just rolled out for Square Enix and Gas Powered Games' Supreme Commander 2. The 1.2 patch, available through Steam, includes a ton of changes, new features, improvements, balancing tweaks, AI tweaks, and a new building, the Cybran Mass Converter.

In addition, the patch includes all five of the special pre-order maps: Emerald Crater, Iskellian Coast, QAI Prototype Facility, Seraphim VII Site, and Weddell Isle. These maps are now available for all players.

Given how massive the patch notes are, all changes are going to be tucked neatly away in the following and very handy "spoiler" below. Click on "show" to reveal the full list.

1.2 Patch Notes

New Features:
- Added AI Custom Options menu to allow fine control of each AI's Core Strategy, Build Speed, Resource Income, Veterancy, Intel, and Target preference.
- The pre-order maps Emerald Crater, Iskellian Coast, QAI Prototype Facility, Seraphim VII Site, and Weddell Isle are now available to play for all players.
- Added a Cybran Mass Convertor structure, unlocked via the research tree.
- Added “No Artillery Structures” to game exclusions list.
- Added "No Mass Conversion" to game exclusions list.
- Added shield range ring indicators both during placement and on mouse-over.
- Added factional shield coloring, and quicker impact effects to improve overall visibility and feedback.
- Added a keybind to turn the UI and all associated in-game clutter on and off for screenshots and movies: Ctrl-U.
- Updated the current ranked season to season 2.

Balance:
- Increased Mass Convert cost to 2500e and income to 250m.
- Increased Mass Convert cooldown to 10 seconds.
- Killing enemy units will now generate 25% less Research.
- Illuminate Rogue Nanites heal decreased to 5,000. Was 10,000.
- Illuminate ACU Shield health decreased to 12,000. Was 15,000.
- Illuminate ACU Teleport, Damage, Rogue Nanites and Personal Shield upgrades each increased by 1 RP.
- Illuminate Rogue Nanite's range increased from 10 to 15.
- Cybran Battleship range decreased to 90. Was 115.
- Cybran Kraken health and damage increased by 50%. Weapons no longer prefer unique targets.
- AI veterancy cheat buff is now an increased vet rate, rather than free levels.
- Illuminate Point Defense cost increased to 200m/440e. Was 190m/420e.
- UEF P-Shield health increased to 600. Was 400.
- Nuke cost increased to 1000m/4000e for each projectile. Was 750m/3000e.
- Mobile units that are hunkered will no longer be affected by the magnetron.

Fixes:
- Fix for being able to assist an engineer assisting a factory and bypassing the build speed reduction.
- Fix for being able to have UEF Pgens assist an engineer assisting a factory and bypassing the build speed reduction.
- Fix for being able to have UEF Pgens assist an engineer assisting a factory and bypassing the range check.
- Fix for AI not sending early attacks.
- Fix for Air units not accepting multiple destruction part meshes in their blueprints.
- Fix for AI ACU going back and forth when there are enemies nearby.
- Fix for AI not using the Noah Unit Cannon.
- Fix for units getting strung out along cliffs.
- Fix for units that have queued move orders pathing weird after using an ability.
- Fix for beam weapons not turning off when units were loaded onto transports.
- Fix for Hover units not triggering properly when killed.
- Fix for UEF Long Range Artillery not being able to fire at their upgraded max range.
- Fixed Sonar Radius buffs to work like Intel Radius buffs.
- Units that are dropped from a transport will no longer infinitely loop their move ambient sound.
- Fix for AI units trying to climb hills.
- Fix for UI-based ACU duplication exploits.
- Fix for replay files not closing properly under rare circumstances.
- Fix for Platoon position being on unpathable terrain and screwing everything up for the AI.
- Fix for units being teleported when dropped from a transport over invalid terrain.
- Fix for the wrong leader being selected for Air units.
- Fix for GPNav group leader selection. Agents are eligible to be the group leader only if they are close enough.
- Fix for units that have queued move orders pathing weird after using an ability.
- Fixed resources getting refunded for units that have completed building and are cancelled with the stop command.
- Fix for units getting stuck against walls if they started out moving via steering only (no flow field).
- Fix for naval units not receiving commands outside the playable rectangle.
- Fix for some air units in a group slowing way down.
- Fix for crash when issuing guard on the ground.
- Fixed a version number crash when loading a saved skirmish game.
- Fix for crash when loading a save game while a unit is jumping.
- You can no longer send air units through an enemy Space temple beacon.

Improvements:
- When we buff a unit's max health we now set the units health percentage to the same as it was before the buff was applied.
- Removed the visual effect on other units from the Bodaboom and Universal Colossus to improve performance.
- Increased Bodaboom buff check time to 8 seconds and Universal Colossus to 6 seconds to improve performance.
- Changed the Bodaboom range circle to match the Bodaboom's buff range.
- Attempting to join a game when you have modified files and the host does not (or vice-versa) will fail with a warning message. This is true for joining through the game browser or by receiving an invite.
- We now disable collisions on units while they are in a transport.
- All Air to Ground and Ground to Air projectiles will no longer collide with each other.
- Units that die while jump jetting will fall like air units.
- Anti-Nukes will now show the proper Available/Max numbers when you hover over the build AntiNuke button.
- Made path requests NOT immediately reset from cost stamp collisions.
- If you lose and have a human ally that is still alive, you can no longer hear sounds from enemies under the Fog of War and can no longer see decals created under the Fog of War.
- We no longer remove units from their group when issuing ability commands (except in special cases).
- GPNav now allocates all the memory it will require for Integration Fields at the start of the game to improve performance.
- Jump jetting units will now adjust their flying height to avoid colliding with terrain.
- Reduced the effect ambient sounds have on the game's framerate.
- Improved 'should dodge' logic so if your push class is less than, then you should dodge.
- Improved 'pass through walls' handling so battleships don't get pushed onto the shore.
- If a unit cannot move as fast as the group, then the unit's speed bonus max is 15% instead of 50%.
- Fixed air units group speed calc, so its not just the leader speed.. its the speed vote, just like land units.
- Illuminate Flare effect updated. Now less expensive, added an on ground impact effect.
- UEF Disruptor Station Activation Effects. Bigger for better player feedback.
- Illuminate Electroshock beam and impact adjustments.
- Illuminate Radar Overdrive, added activation effect.
- All faction scaffolding effect LOD adjustments. Better player feedback at further LOD range.
- Tri-armor buff effect. Now better looking and less expensive.
- Reclaim, Capture, Repair, Build effect LOD adjustment. Better player feedback at further LOD range.
- All Faction Unit destroy LOD adjustments. Better player feedback at further LOD range.
- Experimental Unit weapon effect LOD adjustments. Better player feedback at further LOD range.
- LOD update on unit upgrade, build bonus, overcharge, mass convert and hunker. Better player feedback at further LOD range.
- Changed text for shield restrictions to imply structures only.

AI:
- AI will now use path markers for attack and scouting.
- AI will build additional radar away from its base.
- Magnetron will now look for targets in a radius around itself, rather than the base it is assigned to.
- AI will now build the Cybran Mass Convertor.
- AI will build more than 1 mass convertor, if needed.
- AI will now prioritize getting the Mass Convertor research if it has a high amount of energy stored.
- AI will no longer mass convert when it has enough mass already.
- AI will now build more Pgens when Mass Convertor is researched, rather than waiting for it to be built.
- AI will use the buffer size to check for blocking terrain (via GPNav) before building a structure.
- AI will try not to nuke its own units.
- Improved AI research paths.
- Removed Radar and Vision cheat buffs from the AI.
- Added Naval Neural Net.
- Updated the Neural Net data based on several hundred new simulation sets.
- AI will wait until it has a mass convertor before going nuts with Pgens.
- Land, Balanced, and Rush AIs will put a higher priority on getting an Air factory if they can't reach an enemy by land.
- AI ACUs will no longer build Naval factories. This will be handled by Engineers.
- The AI will once again use the Illuminate Space Temple.
- Adjusted AI platoons to prevent the AI from stalling when hitting unit cap.
- AI can now use Naval units to guard its base.
- Guard base platoons will now guard a wider range.
- AI will build more engineers per expansion base.
- AI will only build up to 10 research facilities.
- AI will take mass fabricators into account when looking at income/spending ratio.
- AI will build Gantries in expansion bases more.
- Improved AI Nuke/Anti-Nuke behavior.
- AI platoons will no longer Jump Jet or Teleport unless at least 75% of the platoon can make the move.
- Platoons that the AI wants to run away will now clear previous commands.
- AI Neural Nets will now check to see if an enemy unit's shield is active when performing threat evaluation.
- AI units will no longer run to deactivated bases.
- AI will now use carriers appropriately again.
- Added a new function to the Platoon class to get a platoons shortest attack range.
- Micro distance is now based on the Platoon's shortest attack range.
- AI will now do a quick pathable check when looking for places to build.
- Engineers will no longer look for things to reclaim or units to repair while attached to another unit.

Known Issues:
- Replays from previous versions will not function with this version.
- Skirmish Save games from previous versions will not function with this version.
- Campaign Save games from previous versions will not function with this version. Campaign progress (unlocks) will still be preserved, however.

Posted by [MyIS]Zips
August 31, 2010

More good news for Mac gamers today as BioWare revealed, via Twitter, that Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening is now available for the Mac!

Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening is now available for the Mac! http://bit.ly/cCZ48j http://bit.ly/c66jCc

Awakening seems to be going for $29.95 from both of those aforementioned retailer links in the Tweet.