World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria sets a new direction for Blizzard's first MMO

October 25th, 2011, 23:24 Posted By: wraggster

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Diablo 3 being polished up, no release date yet

October 25th, 2011, 23:20 Posted By: wraggster

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Grand Theft Auto V - the chilling truth

October 25th, 2011, 23:15 Posted By: wraggster

“The basement. Twenty one hundred. Come alone.”
It was with those cold, steely words ringing in my ears from a mystery telephone conversation earlier that day that last night I made my way down to the Intent Media basement to meet with a highly secretive Rockstar contact.
As I closed the basement door behind I was left in complete darkness. All that alerted me to the presence of another was the sound of strained breathing, the inhalation of a cigarette, the coughing of tight lungs.
My initial questions (“Seriously, how the feck did you get in the basement? And why the feck are we meeting in the basement anyway? There’s a new Costa Coffee just around the corner?”) were met with silence.
As my eyes adjusted to the dark I could see a shadowy figure staring me down from the far side of the filing cabinet. The figure had something on their head – a mask of sorts, fashioned from a paper bag. A paper bag from Costa. He knew about the new Costa, but chose to liaise in the basement anyway. My suspicion peaked.
He wore a white, buttoned shirt, worn jeans, old and well-worn brown leather shoes and a name badge that simply said “Sam – Happy to Help”.
He beckoned my to a makeshift shelter he had fashioned out of toner cartridge boxes and sheet bubble wrap in front of the MCV archive. We sat and he began frantically sketching pictures of cities and vehicles on a limestone slate with a red stick of chalk.
The chalk snapped. He grunted – I wouldn’t call it a scream – ate the chalk, and produced a fresh, unused blue stick from his shirt breast pocket.
“A new audience,” he muttered, though at first I was unsure whether he was addressing me directly or was absentmindedly talking to himself.
“New devices, new gamers,” he said more loudly, his crazed and blood shot red eye focused squarely on me now through a hole in the bag. “It’s not about the disc, it’s not about the platform. It’s about service, IT’S ABOUT ACCESSIBILITY.”
Seemingly agitated, I took a moment to compose myself before addressing Sam.
“It’s OK,” I said calmly. “It’s OK, I won’t hurt you. I’m a friend. My name is Ben. Please Sam, tell me. Tell me why you beckoned me here on this cold and dark autumn night?”
“I don’t understand,” he said, again almost as if to himself as he began to sketch what appeared to be an Xbox 360 joypad on the rear of the limestone. “They used joypads for years. They were fine. Our controller layout for GTA IV was spot on, responsive. Easy. WE SIMULATED A WHOLE WORLD USING TEN BUTTONS, TWO STICKS AND A D-PAD. Do none of them care? Does that count for nothing?”
Sam was now rocking on the spot, fingering his beard that peeked from the bottom of the bag. I leant closer and placed a hand on his knee.
“What do you mean, Sam? What is it you want to tell me about joypads.”
“TO HELL WITH JOYPADS,” came his screamed reply, his withered and filthy hands grabbing me by either side of the face. “We don’t NEED joypads. 3DS, iOS, Kinect, Move. Exclusive for those Grand Theft Auto V will be.”
I held his stare until his grip on my face eased. Realising now what was happening, that Rockstar had chosen me and the Intent Media basement to reveal all about Grand Theft Auto V. I reached for my notepad and, without any sudden movements, began to write as quickly as I could.
“Kinect and Move will keep us in touch with our core audience, yes,” Sam continued as he started to pull roughly at his beard. “But the iOS version, yes, that’s what will bring us the mass-market. Twenty two million sales for GTA IV? That’s nothing. NOTHING. The world is ready to welcome the seven billionth member of this miserable little race, and they expect ME to be happy with twenty two million?”
At this point Sam begun to sob, assuming the foetal position.
“But mass markets? How does that tie in with a 3DS version?” I asked before I had chance to think about whether I should be provoking him or not.
“BAH!” Sam screamed before jumping to his feet, pacing back and forth across the basement.
“Reggie…” he mumbled. “Reggie. Said he’d ‘ave me if I didn’t. I had to. Didn’t want to, you understand. Got a two-man team on it. Just gonna re-size the assets of the iOS version.” A small smile and cackle emerged from his dry, cracked lips. I leapt on the chance to probe further.
“But Sam, this isn’t 2008,” I said slowly. “This is 2011. People want Call of Duty. They want CityVille. They want to play against friends on Facebook. Shouldn’t you just concentrate on your core audience?”
Sam froze where he stood. Then, with the speed of rabid cheetah, he leapt for me, grabbing my by the collar and thrusting me into the air. “FOOL!” he howled, before tossing me into the pile of old Apple keyboards and non-functioning mice.
“I’m the man who made Grand Theft Auto. GRAND THEFT AUTO!” he shouted, crouched over me as I whimpered amongst the peripherals.
“Those witless fools live to serve MY whimsy. To serve MY design. There will be DLC, you see,” he added, stooping low to meet my eye. It felt as if he was almost seeking my approval.
“Order from GAME and GTA V will be set in New York, order from Amazon and it’s LA, from HMV it’ll be Detroit, from Zavvi it will be Skegness. You see? DO YOU SEE? They will be FRENZIED. The children. The CONSUMERS. They will kill to get my game. MY GAME. You’ve seen your London youth, how they loot and riot when they want things. THEY WILL WANT MY THINGS.
“And even when the mindless idiots have MY game, they’ll still want more. We’ll release the other cities, see. Premium DLC. PREMIUM. 1200 Microsoft points for Black Ops map pack? 2400 Microsoft points for a Forza 4 Season Pass? FORZA CAN SUCK MY DICK. We’re talking premium. PREMIUM. 3600 Points! Yes, THREE THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED. For the season pass. And you’ll get all the cities. All of them!
“And better yet,” he continued, slowly pulling away from me starting to perform a kind of prance. “Get the Season pass and you’ll get the content before anyone else. ALL THE CONTENT. FIRST. Those other ****ers will have to wait hours, maybe even days to get their hands on it.”
Then, with no warning, he hurled himself at me once more, grabbing both my hands and forcing me to my feet, dragging me into his crazed dance.
“AND IF THEY DON’T PRE-ORDER THE GAME THEY WON’T GET ANY CARS, SEE! NONE AT ALL. LICENSED OR OTHRWISE” he laughed to himself, twirling me in ever accelerating circles.
“AND THE BEST THING IS THEY CAN’T COMPLAIN. You can get about on foot, y’see! On foot. We’ve given the character better stamina this time, see? And you ccan make him more fit by making him go to the gym.
“‘We’re not punishing those who don’t buy the game, they can still traverse the world, but to reward those loyalist to the GTA brand they will be given access to vehicles’ is what I’ll say. HA HA! And there’s nothing they can do. NOTHING!”
Then, as suddenly as his frenzy had begun, it stopped.
Sam let go of my hands. He drew his paper bag back tight over his head and held himself as if suddenly gripped by cold. Without word, he simply gestured towards the door.
I was unsure what to do, with so many more questions to ask. But the bony, blood-stained finger that pointed to my exit was warning enough. Slowly, I put the lid back on my medium BIC and carefully back-stepped toward the door.
As my hand reached for the handle, the silence was suddenly broken.
“November 2^nd,” the motionless figure called. “It begins. November 2^nd.” And with that he vanished into a puff of smoke. Leaving me alone in the basement, with nothing to show for it aside from this chilling story.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/grand...g-truth/086985

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EA: "there is scope" to remake Syndicate

October 24th, 2011, 22:25 Posted By: wraggster

EA believes there is scope to remake the classic, strategic Syndicate from the early nineties.
But if it did, it probably wouldn't create a game for HD consoles, rather mobile phones, tablets and PC.
EA is working with The Darkness developer Starbreeze Studios to make a new Syndicate re-imagined as a modern FPS - one that's sparked controversy among veteran fans of the original real-time strategy game.
But that doesn't mean fans won't see a Syndicate game more in keeping with its roots, EA said.
"The original was such a classic. There is scope to remake it," Jeff Gamon, EA Partners executive producer, told Eurogamer.
"But I don't think it necessarily has to be exactly the same genre. If we did there are probably other platforms which are more suitable for it than the consoles we're making it for, if we wanted to go in that more strategic route, that perspective.
"I would love to see Syndicate as a true franchise again, bringing it back and expanding it out onto whatever platforms it's suitable for."
iOS and PC? "There's loads of potential," Gamon said. "We're not limited at all. But that's purely speculative at this point."
The first Syndicate was an isometric real-time tactical game developed by Bullfrog. It wowed gamers with its gritty, cyberpunk world and deep tactical gameplay.
Starbreeze's Syndicate, however, is a first-person shooter for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 with a four-player co-op mode.
And it's Starbreeze's effort that is key to any potential remake of the original.
"We're always looking to build franchises rather than just one-off games," Gamon said.
"Syndicate was a classic franchise and brand, but it's been a long time since it's been out there. A lot of today's gamers don't know it. So we need to go out there with a game, with a brand, and establish that brand and just take it from there."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...make-syndicate

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Jagex urges caution in rush to free-to-play

October 24th, 2011, 21:55 Posted By: wraggster

Jagex Game Studios, UK developer of browser MMOG Runescape, has cautioned developers against blindly joining the current rush to the free-to-play model.
In recent months, a number of existing and upcoming online games have adopted the free-to-play model, which relies on a small percentage of paying players to effectively subsidise a game's wider userbase by buying virtual items through microtransactions. On average, just three per cent of players do so, but in an interview, Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard tells us that three per cent can spend vast amounts.
"[Some players] can spend thousands of pounds a month on content - they just have to consume, they have to be number one," he tells us. "But at the same time it's a very small percentage. This is single-digit at best, and that's even fractional.
"Then you've got people who'll almost violently never pay: 'I'm going to stick it to the man'. But you need them to balance the game, to get it to critical mass, for virality."
While the free-to-play model has proven lucrative in many cases, Gerhard says that developers who think that all they need do is hitch themselves to the bandwagon and sit back and watch their margins skyrocket could be in for a shock.
"It's less about what's the right model, less about how to take money from a customer's wallet, and more about what kind of gameplay you have that's conducive to that type of monetisation mechanism," he says. "I think a lot of people say: 'All the successful games are doing this now, so you must, too'.
"We've looked at that and said it's the substitute of thinking. If you copy it wrong you might be copying the things that work, but you're probably also copying the things that don't."
Gerhard's comments go some way to explaining why traditional publishers experimenting with free-to-play for the first time are reluctant to go all-in, clearly wary of alienating their existing userbases. Blizzard has made World Of Warcraft free-to-play, but only up to level 20 and with several restrictions on game features; when Valve introduced microtransactions to the now-free-to-playTeam Fortress 2, the only virtual items for sale were cosmetic, or "vanity" items.
Yet German studio Bigpoint, which has been built from the ground up as a developer of free-to-play games, thinks differently. Last month chief games officer Philip Reisberger slammed traditional publishers' approach, telling us those that were terrified of selling a gameplay advantage rather than vanity items were, essentially, doing it wrong. "If selling an advantage ruins the game," he said, "you haven't done the balancing right."
Gerhard's comments are extracts from a feature in our new issue which looks at the rapid rise of free-to-play, with further input fromLord Of The Rings Online developer Turbine, mobile analytics firm Flurry, Eve Online studio CCP - which knows more than a little about how microtransactions can alienate a playerbase - and more.E234 will be with subscribers any day now, and on newsagents shelves from tomorrow.

http://www.next-gen.biz/news/jagex-u...rush-free-play

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WoW gets Annual Pass, Diablo III free to subscribers

October 24th, 2011, 21:42 Posted By: wraggster

Blizzard is introducing an annual subscription for World of Warcraft, and is offering a free copy of the forthcoming Diablo III as a subscriber bonus.
The Annual Pass was unveiled at Blizzard's annual event Blizzcon in Anaheim, California. A FAQ on the company's website describes it as a "limited-time offer" available to WoW players with a, "North American or European World of Warcraft region license in good standing on or before October 18, 2011."
The Annual Pass requires a Battle.net account, and is only available in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. It is billed at WoW's regular rate, and can be paid either monthly or in bulk.
The other subscriber incentives were an exclusive mount, Tyrael's Charger, and access to the beta for the new WoW expansion Mists Of Pandaria, which was also announced at Blizzcon.
Mists of Pandaria will add a new playable class, the Pandaren, which were first introduced to the lore in the real-time strategy game Warcraft III.
This year's Blizzcon had the most crowded schedule in the event's history. In addition to the WoW expansion, Blizzard is also working on StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, the PC and console versions of Diablo III, and a DOTA mod for StarCraft 2.
DOTA started out as a Warcraft III mod created by the Blizzard community, but Valve is currently developing a sequel and looks set to trademark the name.
When quizzed by Eurogamer on the subject, Blizzard's Mike Morhaime reiterated the company's belief that the name "DOTA" should belong to the community.
Blizzard's DOTA mod will to anyone with a copy of StarCraft 2, or for free with the StarCraft 2 Starter Edition. However, DOTA's production director Chris Sigaty told Eurogamer that Blizzard is exploring ways to monetise the game.
"If you come in through the Starter Edition there will definitely be some costs," he said.
"We haven't really talked about exactly how [we will monetise Blizzard DOTA], we're still looking at that, but there will be some ways."
"Certainly Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm will get some advantages to you in DOTA, as far as if and when we monetise it; they will give you some ins. We're still talking about how that will work."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...to-subscribers

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Newell: Team Fortress 2 sees 20 per cent free to paid conversion

October 24th, 2011, 19:56 Posted By: wraggster

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell has shared some surprising statistics about free to play title Team Fortress 2, revealing that its conversion of people playing for free to those spending real money is way above the average.
"When we talk to partners who do free-to-play, a lot of people see about a 2 to 3 percent conversion rate of the people in their audience who actually buy something," Newell said at a recentWTIA TechNW panel.
"With Team Fortress 2, which looks more like Arkham Asylum in terms of the user profile and the content, we see about a 20 to 30 percent conversion rate of people who are playing those games who buy something."
In the online multiplayer game, players can purchase special equipment and apparel for their characters via microtransactions. Newell suggested that the type of content might be responsibile, but admitted they still had a lot to learn.
"We don't understand what's going on. All we know is we're going to keep running these experiments to try and understand better what it is that our customers are telling us."
"And there are clearly things that we don't understand because a simple analysis of these statistics implies very contradictory yet reproducible results. So clearly there are things that we don't understand, and we're trying to develop theories for them."
The outspoken developer admitted it was "an exciting time but also a very troubling time."
Valve recently announced that Team Fortress 2 community members had made $2 million by creating and selling virtual items via Team Fortress 2's Mann Co. Store.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...aid-conversion

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Linux 3.1 Released With Support for the OpenRISC CPU

October 24th, 2011, 19:51 Posted By: wraggster

Linux 3.1 has been released. The changes include support for the OpenRISC opensource CPU; performance improvements to the writeback throttling; some speedups in the slab allocator; a new iSCSI implementation; support for NFC chips; bad block management in the generic software RAID layer; a new 'cpupowerutils' utility for power management; filesystem barriers enabled by default in Ext3; Wii Controller support; and [the usual] new drivers and many small improvements.

http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/1...e-openrisc-cpu

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StepMania v5.0 Preview 4

October 24th, 2011, 00:16 Posted By: wraggster

via http://www.aep-emu.de/

StepMania is capable of playing many game types. Currently, it supports games similar to Dance Dance Revolution, Pump It Up, EZ 2 Dancer, and Para Para Paradise. In the future, it will support games similar to BeatMania, Guitar Freaks, DrumMania, and more.

Quote:
2011/10/04

• [NoteDataUtil] More accurate Left, Right, and Mirror mods for Pump gameplay. Major thanks to Hudson Felker and Bill Shillito here. [Wolfman2000]

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WOW's Pokemon-style pet battles

October 23rd, 2011, 13:07 Posted By: wraggster

Blizzard has unveiled a new pet battling system for World of Warcraft's next expansion, Mists of Pandaria, which bears a striking resemblance to Nintendo's Pokemon games.
The previously vanity-only collectable pets in WOW will now be able to train skills, level up, and battle against other players' pets in a turn-based mini-game.
You'll even be able to hunt for new wild pets across Azeroth and trap them after battling them with your existing pets. You can also learn new skills from master pet trainers around the world.
The system, which will be accessible to all players regardless of level, will also work with almost all existing WOW vanity pets. All pets will be customisable with items and you'll be able to name them.
Wild pets will have unique spawning rules - they'll only be found when it's raining, for example, or in the winter, as well as in a particular area - and varying stats.
Trained and levelled-up pets will be tradable with other players on the game's auction house.
In the simple turn-based battle system, each pet can choose three skills from a total possible of six, and each player can form a team of three pets for a fight. Your WOW character will appear on the screen with your pet, urging them on in the battle. There'll be a queueing and matchmaking system for player-versus-player battles.
Along with the introduction of the battle system, all pets will be made account-wide - so, shared between all the WOW characters on one account - and there'll be a new pet journal interface for browsing pets.
At a BlizzCon presentation on Mists of Pandaria, world designer Corey Stockton said the system was intended to be "content for everyone" that offered a slower, more cerebral option for competition with other players as well as giving a point to the ballooning ecosystem of collectable pets in the game.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...le-pet-battles

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New StarCraft 2 units reveale

October 23rd, 2011, 13:06 Posted By: wraggster

The new units and major changes for the three races in StarCraft 2 have been revealed at a BlizzCon panel discussing how multiplayer will pan out in first expansion Heart of the Swarm.
Lead designer Dustin Browder said that each race will get three new or completely remodelled units in the add-on - although he stressed that no changes were final yet.
The Terrans' Hellion vehicle will now be able to transform into a Battle Hellion, giving it better close-range abilities and ensuring it remains useful in late-game battles.
The Warhound is a new mech "like a smaller, faster version of the Thor" with an anti-mech ground attack for use against other Terran or Protoss players. It's partly intended to move the Thor back up to the status of ultra-powerful "über" unit.
The Shredder is a cheap, stationary board control piece that automatically defends with lacerating fields of attack. It's particularly useful against Zerg but it doesn't work near other Terran units, forcing Terran players to spread their resources around the map.
On the Zerg side, the Ultralisk changes size and gains end-of-game splash damage ability as well as a burrow charge that lets it penetrate right to the heart of enemy formations.
The Viper is a new flying, spell-casting unit which can use a long appendage, like a tongue, to pull enemy units towards it or off elevated positions.
The Swarm Host is an artillery unit which burrows and spits out locusts and is seen as a great way to gain map control.
The Protoss have the highest-profile casualty; the Carrier unit from Wings of Liberty is gone. It's replaced with a new capital ship, the Tempest, a pincer-shaped vessel with powerful area-of-effect anti-air capabilities.
The Oracle is a powerful Protoss flying raider that can be sent into a rival's base to cripple their economy by freezing access to its resources.
Finally, the controversial Replicant is an extremely expensive high-level unit that can actually copy opponents' units, giving the Protoss player access to the units of other races - a demo video showed a Protoss player summoning siege tanks.
Among further major changes, the cost of the Ghost's cloak will be adjusted, Reapers will regenerate health out of combat, the Battle Cruiser gains a speed boost ability, the Baneling a burrow move, the Hyrdalisk a speed upgrade, Corruptors a new ability called Siphon which harvests buildings for resources and the Nexus gets defensive and recall abilities.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...units-revealed

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Blizzard DOTA free but "there will be costs

October 23rd, 2011, 13:05 Posted By: wraggster

StarCraft 2 mod Blizzard DOTA will be playable for free without buying a copy of the main game - but the company does have plans to monetise it.
Production director Chris Sigaty confirmed to Eurogamer that the game will be playable via the free-to-download trial version, StarCraft 2 Starter Edition. "But if you come in through the Starter Edition, there will definitely be some costs," he said.
The Starter Edition of StarCraft 2 currently includes access to the Terran race in basic multiplayer, a few missions from the campaign and the StarJeweled official mod. "DOTA will be playable through Starter Edition as well and it's free to play," Sigaty said.
Sigaty couldn't confirm plans for how players will be charged, as these are still being worked out. But the idea is that owners of StarCraft 2 and its expansions will be given some or all of this content for free.
"We haven't really talked about exactly how [we will monetise Blizzard DOTA], we're still looking at that, but there will be some ways," Sigaty said. "Certainly Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm will get some advantages to you in DOTA, as far as if and when we monetise it; they will give you some ins. We're still talking about how that will work."
We'll have more info on Blizzard DOTA from BlizzCon shortly.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-will-be-costs

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Jumentum Introduces a Single-Chip Linux System

October 23rd, 2011, 13:02 Posted By: wraggster

The Jumentum open source project has announced a single-chip programming system based on the NXP LPC1768 (the same as in the mbed) that can generate PAL/NTSC video and use a PS/2 keyboard, so it may operate as a standalone BASIC programmable computer, similar to many of old BASIC computers (e.g. Apple ][ or C64) of yore. Projects such as the Raspberry Pi provide a multichip Linux solution, and the Humane PC uses three AVR microcontrollers, however, the Jumentum system can provide a true one-chip solution. Video is generated by software, and only a few external resistors are required to interface to a composite video input. With the Jumentum system, you can take your tiny one-chip computer on-the-go, or use it as part of your own electronics projects (using for example, the mbed) to give it a convenient interface (along with Jumentum's Ethernet web and USB interfaces)."

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...p-linux-system

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StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, Blizzard DOTA teasers evoke some emotion

October 23rd, 2011, 00:31 Posted By: wraggster

Our hearts beat with a combination of blood, Big Macs and Dr. Pepper.StarCraft 2's heart beats with millions of ruthless, juicy aliens, and as the above BlizzCon teaser shows, Sarah Kerrigan's heart doesn't beat at all. We're not saying she's heartless, but to be a strong female lead these days, not giving a crap about anything except revenge is sometimes necessary. Being a cyborg and making that distinction truly literal is just a bonus for game journos everywhere.

A teaser for the Blizzard DOTA mod for StarCraft 2 channels a markedly different emotion than vengeance -- watch the video and decide for yourself what emotion that may be, but for now we're going to call it "Valvey scorn."

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/10/22/st...ers-evoke-som/

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Gaikai-powered FIFA 12 demo now available on YouTube

October 23rd, 2011, 00:29 Posted By: wraggster

A demo of FIFA 12 is now available to play through YouTube with no download, powered by Gaikai. Only available in the US at the moment, the news was tweeted by Gaikai CEO David Perry earlier today.
Clicking the demo banner on the game's YouTube page will launch a new window in which the game runs. The demo uses standard mouse and keyboard controls as well as controllers.
This is the first time a full 3D game has been available on YouTube, and could have profound consequences for developers who will be able to get their games out to very wide audience quickly.

http://www.next-gen.biz/news/gaikai-...ilable-youtube

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Bethesda dismisses Doom 4 rumours

October 23rd, 2011, 00:11 Posted By: wraggster

“Complete bollocks.” That is Bethesda’s response to rumours of a postponement of development on id’s Doom 4.
This morning Kotaku claimed to have word from a source close to publisher Bethesda that parent company Zenimax had decided to "indefinitely postpone" development of the game.
The decision was said to stem from concerns at both Zenimax and Bethesda about the mixed reviews of recent release Rage, as well as the technical problems that muddied the launch.
These factors have culminated in "a serious lack of confidence in the project management at id", the site claimed.
But speaking on Twitter, Bethesda’s VP or PR and marketing Pete Hines referred to the rumours as “complete bollocks”, seemingly nipping that rumour in the bud.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/bethe...rumours/086891

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Early Speed Tests For Windows 8

October 22nd, 2011, 01:41 Posted By: wraggster

You often hear in the software industry that performance optimization is one of the last steps in the software development process. That bodes well for Windows 8, considering at the early stage of Developer Preview—even before we've seen an actual beta—the nascent operating system is getting widespread praise for its performance, particularly in startup times. Anecdotal evidence is always encouraging, but PCMag decided to run some very early tests on the OS to see if the reports were wishful thinking or if there was a real, measurable boost in speed. Along with startup and shutdown times, they used several standard industry benchmarks to compare Windows 8 performance with that of Windows 7 running on the same machine.

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/10...-for-windows-8

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Blizzard Announces New WoW Expansion: Mists of Pandaria

October 22nd, 2011, 01:31 Posted By: wraggster

Blizzcon 2011 kicked off today, and the biggest announcement from the opening ceremonies was the development ofa new expansion for World of Warcraft. Titled Mists of Pandaria, the expansion will focus on the battle between the Horde and the Alliance instead of a traditional Big Bad Enemy. There will be both a new race — Pandaren — and a new class — Monk. The level cap will be raised to 90, there will be "challenge mode" dungeons, and they're introducing a pet battle system. Blizzard also mentioned that people who buy a 12-month subscription to WoW will get a copy of Diablo 3 for free.

http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/1...ts-of-pandaria

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New Turtle Rock FPS uses CryEngine

October 21st, 2011, 00:57 Posted By: wraggster

The mysterious new shooter from original Left 4 Dead developer Turtle Rock is powered by CryEngine 3, the studio has revealed.
It confirmed the news in a post on its Twitter feed, following a recruitment call on its websitereferencing Crytek's engine.
"Yes, its all true. We are using CryEngine 3 for our next title, and yes, it's going to be awesome," read the message.
Very little is known about the THQ-published project, other than a planned 2013 release date.
"It's an incredible design," THQ core games boss Danny Bilson told Eurogamer earlier this year.
"I can't wait till we share the concepts of that game, because there is some gameplay in there I've never played before."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...uses-cryengine

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Free Realms claims 20m registered users

October 21st, 2011, 00:52 Posted By: wraggster

Family-friendly PC/PlayStation 3 MMO Free Realms has notched up 20 million registered users since its launch in 2009, according to publisher Sony Online Entertainment.
To celebrate, every player gets an in-game varsity letterman jacket for their character, providing you log-in at least once between 21st and 31st October 2011.
"This benchmark is an honor and a true testament of SOE's success with Free-to-Play games," commented SOE boss John Smedley.
"Free Realms delivers a truly captivating, quality gameplay experience that keeps our community engaged and continues to attract new players every day."
In other Free Realms news, SOE has also announced it's holding a special in-game Halloween event between 24th October and 7th November, featuring various horror-themed mini-games and special items to pick up.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...gistered-users

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