Little Big Adventure remake confirmed, may be used as testbed for third title

January 1st, 2012, 01:43 Posted By: wraggster

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MasterImage 3D to debut glasses-free 720p 3D tablet and smartphone at CES

January 1st, 2012, 01:46 Posted By: wraggster

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Crysis 2 Most Pirated Game of 2011

January 2nd, 2012, 21:32 Posted By: wraggster

When an advance copy of Crysis 2 leaked to the Internet a full month before the game's scheduled release, Crytek and Electronic Arts (EA) were understandably miffed and, as it turns out, justified in their fears of mass piracy. Crysis 2 was illegally download on the PC platform 3,920,000 times, 'beating out' Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 with 3,650,000 illegal downloads. Numbers like these don't bode well for PC gamers and will only serve to encourage even more draconian DRM measures than we've seen in the past.

http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/0...d-game-of-2011

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Indies furious over Old Republic collector's edition

January 2nd, 2012, 21:40 Posted By: wraggster

Independent games retailers are in uproar having missed out on stocking the GAME-exclusive £130 edition of Star Wars: The Old Republic.
The monthly subscription-based PC MMO developed by BioWare and published by EA hit stores as early as December 15th. The collector’s edition – featuring a statue, map, journal, metal case, soundtrack and extra in-game content – was exclusive to GAME.
“I cannot believe it,” Simon Mitchell from Eclipse Home Entertainment told MCV. “I am so mad. I had customers asking about this and now they’re going to shop elsewhere. Even if I had only sold five of the collector’s editions, that’s five customers who might not come back.
“But it’s not GAME’s fault. Just give me a level playing field.”
Store manager Julie White from That’z Entertainment in Romford added: “It’s unfair the collector’s edition is only available at GAME and Gamestation. We would’ve got more orders. And it means I’ve lost £130 ten or 12 times. It’s absolute madness.”
Others are more understandable of the exclusive SKU.
CHIPS MD Don McCabe told MCV: “As long as we had the standard edition, I might not be happy about it, but I understand it. What pisses me off big style is a complete lockout which is market abuse.
“The Skyrim guide was only available to GAME and I find that completely out of order."

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/indie...edition/088732

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Sony cuts Tablet S price by $100, now starts at $400 for 16GB

January 2nd, 2012, 22:22 Posted By: wraggster

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Star Wars success 'reflects healthy MMO market'

January 3rd, 2012, 21:32 Posted By: wraggster

'Peak concurrent users at 350,000 players', says analyst

The success of Star Wars: The Old Republic since its release last month reflects on a healthy MMO space, a market analyst has claimed.
The Bioware title currently has more than one million registered users, with early adopters getting a 30 day subscription-free period.

"We view the early success of Star Wars as an indication of a healthy MMO market," said Baird Equity Research's Colin Sebastian, as reported by gamesindustry.biz.
"While there is likely some shifting of usage from Activision's World of Warcraft, we see a viable market for multiple million-user MMOs in the US and Europe."
The company estimates that the game has 350,000 concurrent users at peak.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...thy-MMO-market

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Gigabyte Board Sets Intel X79 Overclocking Record

January 3rd, 2012, 21:42 Posted By: wraggster

Renowned overclocker 'Hicookie' achieved a new high clock speed on the Intel Core i7 3930K processor by cranking the chip past 5.6GHz using a Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 motherboard, the first mobo in the world to achieve a mulitplier of 57x. There was a bit of a scandal with Gigabyte recently when a YouTube video showed one of its X79 boards going up in smoke. Gigabyte released a BIOS update for several of its X79 boards to prevent such incidents from happening, and there were outcries that the new F7 BIOS would ... [reduce] overclocking performance; Hicookie's achievement should erase those concerns

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...locking-record

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Sonic 4: Episode II finally announced

January 3rd, 2012, 22:59 Posted By: wraggster

Sega has confirmed the second episode in Sonic's digital-only series will arrive this year.
Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode II is currently in development for XBLA, PSN and mobile platforms including the Apple App Store, Android Marketplace and Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7.
It has been two years since the original episode was first released.
The next game will continue to recreate the classic 2D gameplay of the early Sonic titles. The oh-so-subtle teaser logo confirms that Tails will return to the series, while a brief trailer suggests the plot will center around the rebirth of Metal Sonic.
"After twenty years in action, it's clear that Sonic hasn't slowed down one bit," said SEGA America's SVP of Digital Business Haruki Satomi.
"The first entry in the Sonic 4 saga was a major success. We've listened to the fans and been hard at work making sure we recapture that same spirit of fun in Episode II. We hope the fans will enjoy it."
Sonic The Hedgehog 4 was first announced back in February 2010, prior to which it had been known as Project Needlemouse. It was released in October 2010.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/sonic...nounced/089286

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Old Republic is "fastest growing MMO in history"

January 3rd, 2012, 23:00 Posted By: wraggster

Over a million. That’s the closest we’ve got to hearing any firm sales numbers for EA and BioWare’s new MMO title Star Wars: The Old Republic.
The figure was issued by EA on Boxing Day following the game’s release on December 20^th.
The game entered the UK Charts in 10^th place after nearly a full week on the market and this week dropped to 38^th, though of course these figures omit the MMO’s digital sales – which are likely to be higher than sales of the boxed version.
EA has also claimed that The Old Republic is “the fastest-growing subscription MMO in history”, with over 5.5m hours being logged in its first five days.
In addition, players have created over 850,000 Sith Warriors and over 810,000 Jedi Knights. 260m quests have been completed and over 9m space combat missions, with 3m NPCs dying in the process.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/old-r...history/089285

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Internet Explorer holds onto top browser crown while Chrome and Firefox come 2nd/3rd

January 3rd, 2012, 23:31 Posted By: wraggster

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Rumor: Fallout MMO lawsuit settled, details coming this month

January 3rd, 2012, 23:56 Posted By: wraggster

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FreeDOS 1.1 Released

January 4th, 2012, 23:28 Posted By: wraggster

MrSeb writes with this excerpt from an Extreme Tech article about the latest FreeDOS release and a bit of project history:"Some 17 years after its first release in 1994, and more than five years since 1.0, FreeDOS 1.1 is now available to download. The history of FreeDOS stems back to the summer of 1994 when Microsoft announced that MS-DOS as a separate product would no longer be supported. It would live on as part of Windows 95, 98, and (ugh!) Me, but for Jim Hall that wasn't enough, and so public domain (PD) DOS was born. ... Despite what you might think, FreeDOS isn't an 'old' OS; it's actually quite usable. FreeDOS supports FAT32, UDMA for hard drives and DVD drives, and it even has antivirus and BitTorrent clients."The official release announcement has more details on the improvements, and the FreeDOS website has the release for download.

http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/01...os-11-released

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IE6 Almost Dead In the US

January 4th, 2012, 23:32 Posted By: wraggster

Microsoft, and the whole tech world, is celebrating the fact that use of Internet Explorer 6 has dropped below one percent in the US. 'Time to pop open the champagne because, based on the latest data from Net Applications, IE6 usage in the US has now officially dropped below 1 per cent!,' said Roger Capriotti, director of Internet Explorer marketing. 'IE6 has been the punch line of browser jokes for a while, and we've been as eager as anyone to see it go away.'"

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/01...dead-in-the-us

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What's Keeping You On XP?

January 5th, 2012, 00:04 Posted By: wraggster

PC World reports that Windows XP lost more than 11 percent of its share from September to December 2011, to post a December average of 46.5 percent, a new low for the aged OS as users have gotten Microsoft's message that the operating system should be retired. Figures indicate that Windows 7 will become the most widely used version in April, several months earlier than previous estimates. Two months ago, as Microsoft quietly celebrated the 10th anniversary of XP's retail launch, the company touted the motto 'Standing still is falling behind' to promote Windows 7 and demote XP. In July, Microsoft told customers it was 'time to move on' from XP, reminding everyone that the OS would exit all support in April 2014. Before that, the Internet Explorer team had dismissed XP as the 'lowest common denominator' when they explained why it wouldn't run IE9. The deadline for ditching Windows XP is in April 2014, when Microsoft stops patching the operating system. 'Enterprises don't want to run an OS when there's no security fixes,' says Michael Silver, an analyst with Gartner Research rejecting the idea that Microsoft would extend the end-of-life date for Windows XP to please the 10% who have no plans to leave the OS. 'The longer they let them run XP, the more enterprises will slow down their migration.'"

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/01...ping-you-on-xp

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Gaikai expands customer base with BestBuy, YouTube, more

January 5th, 2012, 00:08 Posted By: wraggster

Game streaming company Gaikai has added BestBuy, YouTube, Ubisoft and Capcom to its client list, subtly building a catalogue of both industry and external businesses as it expands its services.
The company has also hired Mark Anderson, ex COO of Fox Mobile and CFO of Sony Digital Pictures, according to a report byVentureBeat.
Last month, GamesIndustry.biz sister-site Eurogamer announced it would be hosting Gaikai demos as part of its service. EA's Origin portal also operates Gaikai streaming, as does Walmart's website.
"The ability to pull a lever and have a million people play your game is something that's crazy to even think about today," said Gaikai chief Dave Perry in a September interview with GamesIndustry.biz.
"That's a very difficult problem, yet with cloud gaming that will be really quite straight forward. A normal way of thinking will be, 'I want another million and another million.'"

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...y-youtube-more

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Microsoft Flight is a free-to-play title

January 5th, 2012, 00:13 Posted By: wraggster

The re-birth of the Flight Simulator series, Microsoft Flight, will be free to download and play, Microsoft has confirmed.
The game will feature a replica of Hawaii’s main island and offer a daily challenge and free updates. Furthermore, gamers who sign in with a Live account will receive additional free content, as well as access to Achievements.
The included vehicle will be the Icon A5, a consumer aircraft chosen for the ease with which it can be flown. A second plane, the Boeing Stearman N2s biplane, will be offered once users login with their Games for Windows Live account.
Additional content will be available for those wishing to pay out. The initial content includes Hawaii’s extra islands.
Furthermore, Microsoft’s desire to bring the series to a wider market has resulted in a number of control options. Accessories such as flight sticks, pedals and the Xbox 360 joypad will be compatible for hardcore gamers, but a simplified mouse-only option is also available for newcomers.
Indeed, this want to attract newcomers is also the reason for the decision to drop the word ‘simulator’ from the game’s title.
“It’s for new audiences that include any people who look up in the sky and think airplanes are cool,” executive producer of the game at Microsoft’s new game studio for the Flight franchise Joshua Howard told VentureBeat.
“This is a whole new product about the magic of freedom and fun of flying. It is wrapped in a more game-like experience. This is the right way to deliver an experience that reaches a broader number of people. It’s a new muscle we are exercising.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/micro...y-title/089330

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MSI launches Big Bang-XPower II motherboard for militant overclockers

January 5th, 2012, 00:20 Posted By: wraggster

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One tablet sold for every four laptops

January 5th, 2012, 23:10 Posted By: wraggster

The astonishing rise of a form factor that's basically less than two years old.
The latest NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report says there were 72.7 tablets shipped in 2011, against 285.4m units for mobile PCs.
This represents a shipment growth rate for tablets in 2011 of 256 per cent thanks to significantly competitive new devices in Q4’11, strong demand for iPads, and additional distribution channels.
Yet there was still growth in the mobile PC space too - just not as fast. Notebooks were expected to reach 187.5 million units, up 12 per cent year on year, while mini-note PC shipments were pegged at 25.2 million units.
But the gap is closing.
By 2017, notebooks are forecast to reach 432 million units, and tablet shipments are projected to reach 383.3 million units. Ultrabooks, the very slim laptops evangelised by Intel, could be the form factor to watch.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...laptops/016591

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Microsoft explains 'refresh and reset' options of Windows 8

January 5th, 2012, 23:14 Posted By: wraggster

Microsoft set out to explain the new 'refresh and reset' options of the upcoming Windows 8, offering the ability to reset back to a "good state" or the "factory state" when decommissioning or passing on a PC.
Describing the plans in a new post on the Building Windows 8 blog, Microsoft described how the "Reset your PC" version would remove all personal data, apps and settings while also reinstalling Windows 8.
A less nuclear option is the so-called "Refresh your PC" option which will retain personal data, OS/PC settings and Metro-style apps while also reinstalling Windows 8. It would seem that Microsoft will also remove traditional native Windows apps and not reinstall them.
"We do this for two reasons. First, in many cases there is a single desktop app that is causing the problems that lead to a need to perform this sort of maintenance, but identifying this root cause is not usually possible," wrote Windows team program manager Desmond Lee.
"And second, we do not want to inadvertently reinstall 'bad' apps that were installed unintentionally or that hitched a ride on something good but left no trace of how they were installed," Lee added.
The functionality can be accessed either from within Windows 8 or via Windows RE, the new recovery tool which is accessible prior to Windows loading. If even this fails to start, there's also a tool to create a bootable USB flash drive which can be used to run the Windows RE tool.
Microsoft also talked up the speed that Windows 8 manages to accomplish the refresh and reset options with a refresh taking a little over eight minutes and a 'quick' reset taking just six minutes on the Samsung developer preview laptop.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...ndows-8/027731

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Firefox 3.6 Support Ends April 2012

January 5th, 2012, 23:23 Posted By: wraggster

Mozilla for some time after switching to the rapid release process talked about releasing Extended Support Releases that would give companies and organizations some breathing space in the race to test and deploy new browser versions. With the first ESR release (which will be Firefox 10), comes theFirefox 3.6 end of life announcement. Firefox 3.6 users will receive update notifications in April to update the browser to the latest stable version by then."

http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/01...nds-april-2012

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Star Trek Online adopts free-to-play model

January 5th, 2012, 23:40 Posted By: wraggster

Cryptic Studios' MMOG Star Trek Online will offer a free-to-playoption, while retaining its existing subscription model, from January 17.
The new system, explained at the source link below, will see those paying a monthly subscription fee renamed Gold members, with those playing for free given Silver accounts with fewer features.
Free players will be able to recruit additional bridge officers, re-spec characters, and access premium ships through microtransactions using a new virtual currency, Cryptic Points. Fleet creation, in-game chat and mail, forums and customer service access will also be limited compared to paying players. Veteran awards and priority login will be restricted to paying subscribers.
While the switch won't come fully into effect until January 17, developer Cryptic Studios is seeking to lure back lapsed subscribers by unlocking the free-to-play Silver option early for those who have paid for the game in the past.

http://www.next-gen.biz/news/star-tr...ree-play-model

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XCOM returns to strategy roots

January 5th, 2012, 23:45 Posted By: wraggster

2K Games has announced it will publish a new XCOM strategy title by the end of the year, entitled XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
The publisher is already working on an action shooter reboot for the classic strategy series, XCOM, which is due for release on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC some time after April.
Enemy Unknown will arrive on the same formats in autumn and will go some way to calming fans that have complained that the XCOM shooter takes the franchise too far away from its roots.
The new strategy game is being developed by Firaxis Games, the team behind Sid Meier's Civilization series, and promises to recapture the tactical gameplay of the original X-COM titles.
"We're looking forward to building upon the core gameplay experiences that fans of the original X-COM love, while introducing the franchise to a new generation,@ said 2K Games' SVP of marketing Sarah Anderson.
"With Firaxis' XCOM: Enemy Unknown and 2K Marin's upcoming XCOM, 2K Games offers a unique XCOM experience in different genres, as envisioned by two different studios with unique creative visions."
Firaxis president Steve Martin added: "It's been a dream of ours to recreate X-COM with our unique creative vision. We're huge fans of the original game and it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to re-envision a game that is a beloved as X-COM.
"We were careful to keep XCOM: Enemy Unknown true to the elements that made X-COM such a revered game while delivering an entirely new story and gameplay experience for both die-hard X-COM fans and newcomers to the franchise."

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/xcom-...y-genre/089382

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Gotham City Imposters slips to next month

January 5th, 2012, 23:53 Posted By: wraggster

Warner Bros' download-only Batman shooter has been pushed back to a February release.
Gotham City Imposters is a team-based multiplayer game that sees gangs of wannabe Batmans and Jokers battling over territory in the Dark Knight's home city.
Gamers can customise these vigilantes with costumes modelled on familiar Gotham characters, as well as homemade weapons and gadgets.
The first-person shooter was first announced for Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and for PC in May 2011. It was original due to go live this month, but Warner has announced it will now be released in February.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gotha...t-month/089381

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Daily Mail exposes Old Republic female slave torture scandal!

January 5th, 2012, 23:55 Posted By: wraggster

91 hours. That’s how far 2012 was able to progress before The Daily Mail got the ball rolling on this year’s tabloid tirade on video games.
And what a way to kick off the action.
“Hit Star Wars game lets players 'own' and torment female slaves with electric shock collar” is the headline that gets the juices flowing.
“Scripted lines such as 'Obey my every command'” it adds. “Can force her to watch your character have sex”.
BAN THIS SICK FILTH.
And in case there was any doubt about the legitimacy of the reports, the Mail cuts right to the chase in its opening sentence. Not only are “gamers playing the hit online game Star Wars: the Old Republic torturing and abusing a female 'slave' character with punches and an 'electric shock collar'” but the paper is confident enough to add a suffix – “and enjoying it”.
It goes on to add that “the game has dialogue written specifically FOR players who choose to treat their companion like this”.
The Mail’s extensive research PROVES that while those playing as a Sith have the option to treat their slave – named Vette – kindly, “the option to treat the character decently does not seem to have been enormously popular with players”.
And who is rolled out to support this? None other than Kotaku’s Mike Fahey, who dared to write about his experiences with a Sith slave on his site.
“She comes complete with a convenient high voltage shock collar, allowing me to administer harsh punishment should she speak or act in a manner unbefitting her station,” he wrote.
“I torture her. I tease her. I belittle her in front of others. On one occasion I even make her watch as I have sexual relations with the wife of a slain enemy.”
The Daily Mail adds that Star Wars is “no stranger to slavery”, recalling Princess Leia’s ultra-hot slave costume in Jabba’s Palace. Aroused? Of course you are. But you shouldn’t be.
“The idea of playing master yourself is unsavoury”, the paper adds. Which is completely subjective, of course.
Watch out for tomorrow’s copy of The Daily Mail which features a hard-hitting expose on kids relishing in the cruel treatment of house elves by the notorious Malfoy family.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/daily...scandal/089379

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MSI launches GT783 gaming laptop, burns through Battlefield 3 with GTX 580M GPU

January 6th, 2012, 00:19 Posted By: wraggster

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Infinity Blade games make $30m in a year

January 7th, 2012, 00:12 Posted By: wraggster

Epic Games and its development studio, ChAIR Entertainment, said the original game, launched December 2010, has hauled in $23m and that Infinity Blade II has grossed more than $5 million since release on December 1st 2011.
The rest of the cash came from franchise extensions such as the Infinity Blade: Awakening digital novella and Infinity Blade: Original Soundtrack.
“The success of the Infinity Blade franchise is testament to our talented team who is devoted to making games we want to play, all while using Unreal Engine technology to redefine what is expected from games on iOS devices,” said Epic Games president Dr. Michael Capps.
"We have so much more in store for players, and will continue to make great content for Apple’s evolving platforms.”

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...-a-year/016612

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World's largest OEM notebook maker sues AMD over hot chips

January 7th, 2012, 00:14 Posted By: wraggster

Chipmaker AMD is facing a lawsuit from the largest OEM notebook manufacturer Quanta, with the notebook maker alleging that AMD sold chips that were too hot and unreliable.
It seems that the suit relates to AMD chips that featured in notebooks that Quanta built for NEC some time in 2006. The part in question is an integrated graphics chip marketed as the ATI RS600ME.
Quanta fired a legal broadside at AMD, accusing the company of civil fraud, breach of warranty and a host of other civil claims in addition to the central claim that the company sold faulty chips to Quanta.
"Quanta has suffered significant injury to prospective revenue and profits," Quanta said in the filing while AMD disputes the claim and said that it was not aware of other customers with the same chip.
"Quanta has itself acknowledged to AMD that it used the identical chip in large volumes in a different computer platform that it manufactured for NEC without such issues," said an AMD spokesman quoted in a Bloomberg report.
It's somewhat puzzling that such a case should take until now to come to light and it probably doesn't speak well for the relationship of AMD and one of the world's leading notebook manufacturers.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...t-chips/027741

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Steam sales grow by more than 100 per cent for seventh year

January 7th, 2012, 00:58 Posted By: wraggster

Steam sales increased by more than 100 per cent year-over-year in 2011 for the seventh year running, according to Valve.
The developer and publisher has released an official statement which, along with highlighting the previously reported record number of concurrent users on Steam, also reveals the continued remarkable growth of its platform.
Steam's catalogue grew to include over 1,800 games and 40 million user sign-ups (what percentage of these accounts remain active was not disclosed, however).
Steam also doubled the amount of content it delivered in 2011 compared to the prior year, serving more than 780 Petabytes of data worldwide.
"Steam and Steamworks continues to evolve to keep up with customer and developer demands for new services and content," says Valve president Gabe Newell.
"Support for in-game item trading prompted the exchange of over 19 million items. Support for Free to Play (FTP) games, launched in June, has spurred the launch of 18 FTP titles on Steam, with more coming in 2012.
"Looking forward, we are preparing for the launch of the Big Picture UI mode, which will allow gamers to experience Steam on large displays and in more rooms of the house."

http://www.next-gen.biz/news/steam-s...t-seventh-year

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Aigo preps glasses-free 3D tablet because Avatar demands it

January 7th, 2012, 23:11 Posted By: wraggster

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OLPC outs XO 3.0 tablet at last, will make its debut at CES

January 7th, 2012, 23:14 Posted By: wraggster

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Star Wars: The Old Republic wins Guinness award for most voice acting

January 7th, 2012, 23:25 Posted By: wraggster

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Linux kernel hits version 3.2, plenty of power-saving features in tow

January 8th, 2012, 21:27 Posted By: wraggster

It's a little later than originally anticipated, but Linux kernel3.2 is finally here. As per usual, it packs a number of improvements -- most them under the hood. Perhaps most exciting are some power-saving features related to graphics drivers, which should help get those battery life issues under control in Ubuntu 12.04. Other improvements include better (and hopefully more stable) WiFi drivers and faster read access to EXT4 formatted file systems. The list of changes is pretty epic to say the least. You can find plenty more detail at the source as well as a link to download the kernel for yourself, though, we highly recommend you wait until it comes to your distro of choice on its own.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/08/l...s-version-3-2/

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Dark Souls admin suggests PC could happen with a petition

January 8th, 2012, 21:33 Posted By: wraggster

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OpenTTD 1.2.0-beta2

January 9th, 2012, 00:01 Posted By: wraggster

via http://www.aep-emu.de/PNphpBB2-file-...c-t-18144.html.

A new beta version of OpenTTD has been released. OpenTTD is a clone of the Microprose game "Transport Tycoon Deluxe", a popular game originally written by Chris Sawyer. It attempts to mimic the original game as closely as possible while extending it with new features.

Quote:
1.2.0-beta2 (2012-01-07)

• Feature: [NewGRF] Allow read-only display of NewGRF parameters, if GRF list may not be edited (r23760)
• Feature: [NewGRF] Alternate rail type label list (r23758)
• Feature: Make the default secondary sort method for the server list the number of clients instead of the name (r23710)
• Feature: Try harder to sort text instead of fancy characters in the server names (r23709)
• Feature: Make a distinction between fully zoomed in and default zoomed in screenshots [FS#4916] (r23695)
• Feature: Add ability to adjust brightness of colour after remapping for 32bpp sprites (r23670)
• Feature: [GS] GSGoal::Question(), to ask a question to a(ll) company(ies). It can contain random text, and at most 3 buttons from a collection of 17 (r23731)
• Feature: Australian translation (r23730)
• Fix: Make default timeouts for certain network states lower and configurable [FS#4955] (r23764)
• Fix: Check whether a water tile is really empty when overbuilding it with an object [FS#4956] (r23763)
• Fix: The check for duplicate town names was not really working [FS#4951] (r23759)
• Fix: Missing locking causing crash is extreme case when being in the MP lobby [FS#4938] (r23752)
• Fix: [Win32] Work around a possible deadlock when initialising threaded drawing (r23749)
• Fix: Make vehicle variables A8 and A9 always return 0. Returning cur_image is a potential desyncer due to Action1 in static NewGRFs (r23748)
• Fix: Also set ´info´ to NULL if ´instance´ dies (for both AI and GS); avoids invalid memory reads (r23746)
• Fix: If autorefit fails, count the vehicle capacity nevertheless, if it is already carrying the right thing (r23745)
• Fix: [NewGRF] Check the version of the right GRF [FS#4923] (r23744)
• Fix: [NewGRF] Call CB 15E for all vehicles before actually executing any refit [FS#4906] (r23743)
• Fix: Cheating to different climates messes things even more up than changing NewGRFs in-game so it was removed [FS#4939] (r23733)
• Fix: When cheating into another company, the SignList was not updated [FS#4942] (r23728)
• Fix: Reading memory of a temporary (already deconstructed) object is invalid (r23721)
• Fix: [Script] Show the script debug window also when the game script crashes [FS#4935] (r23720)
• Fix: Extraction of music packs failed [FS#4930] (r23719)
• Fix: [AI] Rescanai caused crash when the AI settings of an AI was opened [FS#4936] (r23718)
• Fix: Ships going to wrong dock location when moving the dock while the game is paused [FS#4927] (r23717)
• Fix: The amount of goals was too low [FS#4928] (r23699)
• Fix: Hardcode the original defaults for loading old savegames if they could totally mess with the game´s behaviour [FS#4859] (r23693)
• Fix: Infrastructure count of canals/locks/ship depots was not updated properly when a company went into bankruptcy or was taken over [FS#4921] (r23686)
• Fix: When fitting another engine the cargo capacity of wagons could become lower, causing them to contain more than they should. This caused the cargo transfer from the replaced parts to put even more stuff in the already full wagon. Prevent this from happening by reducing the amount of cargo in the vehicle to the capacity when moving vehicles/wagons around, or when autoreplacing [FS#4912] (r23683)
• Fix: Vehicle numbers got misaccounted when autoreplacing failed due to length checks [FS#4914] (r23681)
• Fix: [AI] Prevent removal of the (AI) company the local player is in [FS#4915] (r23680)
• Fix: [Script] Close the editbox of settings when changing an AI, to avoid invalid memory read/write (r23678)
• Fix: [Script] Invalidate AI Parameters window when changing AI [FS#4909] (r23677)
• Fix: When removing road stops the wrong tile was checked for updating the infrastructure cache [FS#4913] (r23676)
• Fix: [Script] The ´Configure´ button in the ´AI / Game Configuration´ window did not get enabled when activating a GameScript (r23668)

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GemRB Game Engine v0.7.0

January 9th, 2012, 00:04 Posted By: wraggster

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

The GemRB Game Engine is is a port of the original Infinity Engine (the one of Baldur´s Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, etc...) to Linux/Unix, MacOs X and Windows with some enhancements.

Quote:
GemRB V0.7.0 (2011-12-30):
New features:
- one can play through the whole Baldur´s Gate saga
- custom TTF fonts support
- arbitrarily sortable casting list
- ios configuration interface, xcode project
- more pst spawn ini flags, individual critical hit animations

Improved features:
- resting, comment timing, actions
- drop caps, keybindings, sdl 1.3 input
- bugfixes, cleanups

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QuakeSpasm 0.85.6

January 9th, 2012, 00:05 Posted By: wraggster

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

QuakeSpasm is a *Nix friendly Quake Engine based on the SDL port of the popular FitzQuake. It includes some new features, important fixes, and aims for portability and 64 bit correctness. It is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

Quote:
Changes in 0.85.6

• More work for string buffer safety
• Reverted v0.85.5 change of not allowing deathmatch and coop cvars to be set at the same time (was reported for possibility of causing compatibility issues with mods)
• Several cleanups/changes in the cvar layer
• Minor SDL video fixes.

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Chrome 17 pre-rendering web speed boost

January 9th, 2012, 23:39 Posted By: wraggster

Google is set to introduce pre-loading in the upcoming Chrome 17 web browser, loading and rendering pages which the user is likely to visit so that websites could appear instantly.
Chrome 17, already available in the beta stream, implements prerendering in order to reduce the time between the user hitting return and the appearance of a fully loaded web page.
Google also said that the security features called "safe browsing technology" has been further beefed up to protect against a greater variety of malware attacks. The changes are aimed at sites which try to get the user to download malicious software.
"If a file you download is known to be bad, or is hosted on a website that hosts a relatively high percentage of malicious downloads, Chrome will warn you that the file appears to be malicious and that you should discard it," said Google software engineer Dominic Hamon on theChrome blog.
"Remember, no technical mechanism can ever protect you completely from malicious downloads. You should always be careful about which files you download and consider the reputation of their source," added Hamon.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...d-boost/027746

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Silent Hill: Downpour brings the old back to the new

January 10th, 2012, 01:22 Posted By: wraggster

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Dell plans to launch new tablet in late 2012

January 11th, 2012, 22:44 Posted By: wraggster

PC firm plans to learn from the mistakes of its short-lived Streak 7.
Just last month Dell announced that its enterprise-focused Streak 7 tablet was to be discontinued in America. It was the second tablet the company abandoned following the Streak 5, which also suffered undesirable sales.
Now Dell has told Reuters that it intends to target consumers with its next tablet, which will receive a Q4 launch. It's likely the company will be hoping for a high interest in the device in the approach to the Christmas shopping season.
Steve Felice, chief commercial officer, Dell, said: "We have been taking our time. The general failure of everyone that's tried to introduce a tablet outside of Apple. You will see us enter this market in a bigger way toward the end of the year. So we are not really deemphasizing it, we are really being very careful how we enter it.
"When you are talking about PC, people are more focused on the hardware itself. When you are talking about the tablet or the smartphone, people are interested in the overall environment it's operating in. As we have matured in this, we are spending a lot more time in the overall ecosystem."
In order to make a dent in the iPad's sales, the future Dell device will need to think carefully about what OS to choose. Felice himself was tightlipped about whether the firm would select Windows 8 or Apple nemesis Android, calling both of them "viable options."

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...te-2012/016667

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Kinect for Windows available February 1st

January 11th, 2012, 22:53 Posted By: wraggster

PC edition of innovative motion controller to launch across 12 countries

Microsoft will roll out an official PC edition of Kinect on February 1st, Microsoft has announced.
Hardware will be sold in limited quantities across 12 countries - United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and Spain.

“Developers who have existing non-commercial deployments using our beta 2 SDK may continue using beta 2 and the Kinect for Xbox 360 hardware,” Microsoft said.
“To accommodate this, we are extending the time of the beta 2 license from June 16, 2013 for three more years, to June 16, 2016.
“However, we expect that as Kinect for Windows hardware becomes readily available, developers will shift their development efforts to Kinect for Windows hardware in conjunction with the latest SDK and runtime.”

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...e-February-1st

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Razer unveils Project Fiona gaming tablet

January 11th, 2012, 23:45 Posted By: wraggster

PC peripheral manafacturer Razer has unveiled Project Fiona, a dedicated gaming tablet PC featuring side-mounted handles with integrated controllers.
Unveiled at CES in Las Vegas, Project Fiona runs on Windows 8 and Intel's i7 Ivy Bridge processor, meaning gamepad-supporting PC games will run natively on the tablet with no need for ports. Developers will, however, be able to add Fiona-exclusive control options to their games.

As well as the handles - each of which contains an analogue stick and four face buttons - Project Fiona boasts force feedback, accelerometers, and a multi-touch screen.
Brad Graff, director of partner marketing for Intel's netbook and tablet group, said: "Project Fiona's combination of high performance Intel-based gaming hardware and innovative tablet design is specifically focused for PC gamers. It will unleash the PC gamer to play their existing and future high-end games in one of the most exciting new form factors - a tablet."
Razer intends to release Project Fiona in the fourth quarter of this year, and is aiming for a price point of under $1000 (£645). Dev units will be available soon.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/raze...-gaming-tablet

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Lack of digital chart is "turning off investors"

January 11th, 2012, 23:56 Posted By: wraggster

Potential video game investors are being put off by the lack of digital data, say industry experts.
The UK games industry’s Digital Group – which is supported by UKIE – says it’ll be easier to persuade financial giants to invest in games if they could see the size of the market.
“There is a ton of investors who want to invest in the games industry,” said Mediatonic’s Geoff Heath. “I know quite a lot of them and what’s holding a lot of them back is getting good data on the non-boxed business.
Green Man Gaming’s Paul Sulyok added: “We get professional investors contacting us, they are saying they would like some information about the market because they are doing x, y and z.
“But there isn’t that clarity around the value of this digital marketplace – and there is clarity around boxed products as it is established now.”
Get Games operations director Dermot Stapleton added: “There’s lots of headline figures about the industry being worth x number of billion pounds, but is the industry sustainable? Is there a living to be made out of it? Is it worth getting out of bed?”
The UK’s Digital Group currently consists of 24 members who are trying to form a PC digital download chart – which it says will be available in months.
“This chart is letting us measure this for the first time, and you can truly see that the PC market is not dying at all,” said Square Enix’s online publishing director Simon Protheroe.
UKIE?chairman Andy Payne added: “We haven’t dragged anyone to this group. There is good stuff here, so why not come on in? This is not a UKIE club thing. It is for the entire industry.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/lack-...vestors/089602

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This digital picture frame runs Linux better than you might think

January 12th, 2012, 00:53 Posted By: wraggster


Ah, the beauty of spreading the guts of some hackable hardware across your workbench. This happens to be the circuit board and LCD screen from a Parrot DF3120 digital picture frame. The device is pretty powerful, considering you can still find them available for around $25. You’ll get a 3.5″ screen, ARM9 processor with 8MB or RAM, Bluetooth, a tilt sensor, and more. It seem that [BusError], [Sprite_tm], [Claude], and few others really went to town and spilled all of the secrets this device has to offer.
Their goal of the hack was to get their own Linux kernel running. It is possible to reprogram the processor using its JTAG interface. And if you really want to drill down to the good stuff, there’s access to all of the BGA pins on the bottom of the board thanks to a grid of micro vias. But the device can be tricked into flashing your own firmware just by altering a stock upgrade image.
You can get a pretty good idea of what there is to do once you’ve replaced the firmware from the video after the break. A RAM upgrade (using a chip from an old PC133 stick) lets the video run smoothly as it’s controlled via a Wii remote.

http://hackaday.com/2012/01/10/this-...u-might-think/

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Rockstar devs check out the black market in Sao Paulo for Max Payne 3

January 12th, 2012, 01:06 Posted By: wraggster

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Street Fighter IV HD coming to Android Marketplace in May

January 12th, 2012, 01:09 Posted By: wraggster

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Gaikai coming to LG TVs, playable OnLive coming to GoogleTVs

January 12th, 2012, 01:10 Posted By: wraggster

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NPD: large screens fulfill productivity, small screens satisfy entertainment

January 12th, 2012, 23:52 Posted By: wraggster

Tablets between nine and 11-inches are the most desired.
Tablets are still relatively new devices but that hasn't stopped the likes of the Apple iPad from infiltrating millions of homes worldwide.
Firms including Samsung, RIM, HP and Dell have all entered the market with tablets of varying sizes, though some have seen more success than others. Indeed Dell has retired two of its Streak models from certain markets.
Eesearcher NPD In-Stat has examined consumer attitudes towards smartphones, tablets, portable media players and laptops and found that the screen size determines its use.
Devices with larger screens support users with productive needs and small screen devices cater for communication and entertainment needs, according to the report.
Results show 47 per cent of PMP owners have a screen size between 2.5 and five-inches, while 54 per cent say they prefer laptops and notebooks for personal information management.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...ainment/016672

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OnLive integrated into Google TVs

January 12th, 2012, 23:58 Posted By: wraggster

Early sets will only allow users to view others in action; Playable games to be implemented in the future

OnLive will integrate its cloud gaming service into an upcoming range of Google TV sets, the company has announced.
For now, Google TV owners will only be allowed to watch other people playing OnLive games through their sets, though OnLive CEO Steve Pearlman (pictured) said his firm is “working closely with Google” to enable gameplay.

The new deal with Google is the latest example of the OnLive executive team’s capacity to broker deals with external companies. In a matter of days the firm is expected to launch a cloud-based Windows apps service on iPads.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, TV vendor Vizio is said to have showcased the first-ever line of Google TV products with OnLive playability built in.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...nto-Google-TVs

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EA Play4Free hits 25 million users

January 13th, 2012, 01:05 Posted By: wraggster

Electronic Arts' freemium label, Play4Free, now has more than 25 million registered users, the publisher has announced.
Play4Free includes Battlefield Heroes and Need For Speed World, each of which crossed the ten million user mark earlier this month, as well as Battlefield: Play4Free, Dragon Age Legends, Battleforgeand Lord Of Ultima.
Sean Decker, vice president of Play4Free, said: "Developing a community of 25 million players is a remarkable achievement. It is testament to the explosive growth of the free-to-play market and a reflection of EA's commitment to spearheading the digital transformation.
"We plan to continue to innovate in the category, [and] introduce new gameplay that delights players and keeps them coming back for more. For our teams, this is an incredibly exciting time to be making games as the audience continues to grow and diversify."
To celebrate, EA is giving away virtual currency in Battlefield Heroes, using the generic code EQ9M-TYYT-TXR3-5GU3, andNeed For Speed World, with EWPD-3KGA-VBVF-9HYS.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/ea-p...-million-users

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Ubuntu Tablet OS To Take On Android, iOS

January 13th, 2012, 02:02 Posted By: wraggster

Canonical CEO Jane Silber discusses the Ubuntu maker's ambitions in the mobile market, saying there is plenty of room for a new player in tablets, TVs, and maybe even smartphones. 'There is a real demand for an alternative platform. We believe Ubuntu has all the characteristics that are needed to become that platform,' Silber says, adding that she expects to see Ubuntu on tablets later this year. 'And we think we can do that effectively because of characteristics of Ubuntu as a platform, industry dynamics, and an increased wariness around the walled gardens of Apple and to some extent Google and even Amazon, as they are increasingly in this game as well.' Silber cites openness, open governance, collaboration, and a strong developer ecosystem as key for Ubuntu as a tablet platform, when compared with Android and iOS."

http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/01...on-android-ios

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BioWare SWTOR post-mortem: it's more innovative than an FPS

January 13th, 2012, 02:11 Posted By: wraggster

Labelling Star Wars: The Old Republic competent but not innovative is "unfair", BioWare told Eurogamer - the MMO does more than today's FPS and action games to push its respective genre forward."It's been a little bit of an unfair characterisation," SWTOR game director James Ohlen remarked to Eurogamer. "Because if you look at other game genres, if you look at a Battlefield or a Call of Duty or a Gears of War or even a Half-Life - those games use the same tried and true interface and the same tried and true game mechanics of the first-person shooter genre that's been around for 20 years."If you look at real-time strategy games, they kept the same tried and true interface and the same tried and true mechanics that existed for 20 years. Same with adventure games, same with platformers, same with fighting games, sports games."I don't know why the MMORPG genre is not considered to be a genre," Ohlen shrugged. "It could be that World of Warcraft has dominated for so long that people just think of it as just a single game genre."But it is a genre, and we wanted to appeal to fans of that genre - we don't want to turn them away by making something that's radically different. And we wanted to take the lessons that have been developed in that genre over years and years and years and basically refine them, much like other companies do with other genres."So, I don't know, it's just the way it is, but I don't see us as not being innovative. We're actually a lot more innovative within the MMO space than comparable games in other spaces like the first-person genre, the action genre - games like that."Ohlen said the reception to Star Wars: The Old Republic, which touched down in December, had been "a little bit better" in the US than in Europe. "Star Wars [the brand] is a little bit stronger in North America than in Europe," Ohlen informed us.Eurogamer awarded Star Wars: The Old Republic 8/10."We're very happy in the review scores; we've been getting basically 90s and 80s - the lowest score we have is an 80, on average we have a 90. It's been coming in about where we expected," Ohlen said.

"We did succeed in creating a game that's very fun and addictive, and I think that's what's going to make this successful."James Ohlen, game director, SWTOR

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Riccitiello joy as EA makes $1bn in digital

January 14th, 2012, 00:10 Posted By: wraggster

Company folds standalone digital division for tighter integration with games labels

Electronic Arts hit a landmark milestone in 2011, having sold $1 billion of digital goods across mobiles, consoles and social networks.
John Riccitiello, CEO of the California publishing giant, said Electronic Arts left 2011 “as a very different company”.

“We empowered our creative teams, strengthened our IP and made progress in building a digital platform for our games and services,” he said.
“One year ago, we set a stretch goal to grow our digital business to $1 billion annually. I’m proud to say that we achieved that goal in Calendar Year 2011. Crossing the $1 billion threshold is an incredibly important milestone – congratulations!”
Riccitiello explained that the firm’s digital division, EA Interactive, would no longer stand alone as an isolated entity. Instead, it will merge into others, from core games to mobile.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...1bn-in-digital

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Microsoft Taking Aggressive Steps Against Linux On ARM

January 16th, 2012, 01:21 Posted By: wraggster

Microsoft has updated their WHQL certification requirements for Windows 8, and placed specific restrictions on ARM platformsthat will make it impossible to install non-Microsoft operating systems on ARM devices, and make it impossible to turn off or customize such security. Choice quotes from the certification include from page 116, section 20: 'On an ARM system, it is forbidden to enable Custom Mode. Only Standard Mode may be enabled' — which prevents users from customizing their security, and in section 21: 'Disabling Secure MUST NOT be possible on ARM systems' to prevent you from booting any other OSes.

http://linux.slashdot.org/story/12/0...t-linux-on-arm

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ALL copies of Mass Effect 3 PC require Origin

January 16th, 2012, 01:41 Posted By: wraggster

BioWare has confirmed that both digital and physical versions of Mass Effect 3 on PC will require users to have Origin set up on their machines.
Speaking in a Q&A (via VG247), BioWare's Chris Priestly said: "Origin is required for all PC editions of Mass Effect 3, physical or digital," adding, "Mass Effect 3 will require a one time, single authorization for the single player game. There is no limit to the number of installs."Reiterating the reason's behind EA's fall out with Steam, Priestly said: "During initial release Mass Effect 3 will be available on Origin and a number of other 3rd party digital retailers, but not on Steam at this time. Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content.
"We are intent on providing Mass Effect to players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play their game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with our consumers."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...equire-origin/

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Minecraft hits 20 million registered users

January 16th, 2012, 01:48 Posted By: wraggster

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Google hits back at Murdoch 'piracy leader' claims

January 16th, 2012, 23:38 Posted By: wraggster

Google has hit back against New Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch's claims that the internet giant was a "piracy leader" with Google calling the comments "nonsense".
"So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery," Mr Murdoch tweeted, having recently joined the social networking platform.
He later tweeted: "Piracy leader is Google who streams movies for free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying."
It's not clear what Mr Murdoch means by streaming movies for free but later he said he had "been to google search for mission impossible," and said that results appeared with "several sites offering free links."
"I rest my case," he said although later appeared to back peddle by saying "Google great company doing many exciting things."

Google remained unimpressed with spokesperson Samantha Smith called the allocations "just nonsense," adding "last year we took down 5 million infringing Web pages from our search results and invested more than $60 million in the fight against bad ads."

Murdoch's comments appear to have been triggered by the US Obama administration saying they had great concerns with sections of the contentious SOPA and PIPA legislation which opponents believe will unfairly enable copyright holders to shut down web sites without due process.
"Like many other tech companies, we believe that there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking U.S. companies to censor the Internet," Google said in relation to the firm's opposition to the legislation.
Murdoch later admitted "Sure misunderstand many things" but said it was still "plain stealing" and also said "Google blocks many other undesirable things."It's not clear if Murdoch believes that Google doesn't block pirate and counterfeit links although more likely he believes, as do the SOPA and PIPA lobby group, that companies should be able to decide what is infringing and remove them from web sites.
Google instead advocates "targeted legislation that would require ad networks and payment processors, like ours, to cut off sites dedicated to piracy or counterfeiting."
Protests against the SOPA and PIPA legislation have been gathering pace, organised by online advocacy groups. Link sharing site Reddit announced a black-out protest day and Wikipedia is in internal discussions with a view to also launching a black-out protest.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-claims/027800

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Mass Effect 3 'unavailable through Steam'

January 16th, 2012, 23:41 Posted By: wraggster

BioWare title 'will require' one-time authorisation through Origin

Mass Effect 3 will not be available through Steam, EA has confirmed.
The publisher revealed that the latest sequel in the blockbuster Sci-Fi franchise would not be on Valve's digital distribution platform due to what it claims are a “set of restrictive terms of service” limiting how developers can interact with customers.

The game will instead require users of both the retail and digital PC versions to download EA's own e-store Origin to access the game.
“During initial release Mass Effect 3 will be available on Origin and a number of other 3rd party digital retailers, but not on Steam at this time,” said BioWare community manager Chris Priestly.
“Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...require-Origin

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Report: swathes of publishers targeting German "pirates"

January 16th, 2012, 23:50 Posted By: wraggster

UPDATE: We've been passed a statement regarding the below from Ubisoft, which says: "Ubisoft has not issued any legal claims similar to those mentioned in the Torrentfreak article in over three years."
ORIGINAL STORY: A large number of publishers are reportedly sending letters to those they claim have illegally downloaded games, threatening legal action unless they pay fines of several hundred euros.
After CD Projekt said last week it would no longer be pursuing those it accused of pirating PC RPG The Witcher 2: Assassin Of Kings, Torrentfreak dug deeper and found a host of publishers were doing the same thing, and that the practice is not limited purely to new releases.
Atari was found to have sought damages of several hundred euros for games including Alone In The Dark, Test Drive Unlimited and its sequel. Koch Media has pursued alleged illegal downloaders ofDead Island and Prison Break: The Conspiracy, and Ubisoft has done likewise with Rainbow Six: Vegas.
Square Enix has been at it too, reportedly demanding €800 from those it accuses of downloading Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and is also seeking recompense from those pirating Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, Dungeon Siege III and Just Cause 2. Codemasters is also at it, pursuing those it claims downloaded Dirt 3 and Operation Flashpoint: Red River.
There's more, too, with Torrentfreak claiming that "dozens" of developers and publishers are taking advantage of German copyright legislation and demanding several hundred euros from those it accuses of illegal videogame downloads.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/repo...german-pirates

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PES 2012 coming to OnLive

January 16th, 2012, 23:57 Posted By: wraggster

Streaming games service OnLive has announced that Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 will be released on the service in the near future.
And as we've seen before, those who pre-order the game – which will cost £29.99 – will receive a free OnLive microconsole.
It will support online multiplayer, 5.1 surround sound and support for both keyboard and joypad controls.
Released last year, PES 2012 can generally be purchased on console right now for under £25. The PC version, which is the same used by OnLive, can currently be purchased for £14.99.

http://www.mcvuk.com/index.php/news/...-onlive/089805

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Intel-powered Windows 8 tablets to struggle for sub-$600 pricing?

January 17th, 2012, 00:01 Posted By: wraggster

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Saints Row: The Third straps on Team Fortress 2 hats

January 17th, 2012, 00:15 Posted By: wraggster

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Team Fortress 2 masks look silly in Saints Row The Third

January 17th, 2012, 00:30 Posted By: wraggster

A selection of wacky Team Fortress 2-themed masks will be offered as free DLC to Saints Row The Third players on PC via Steam.
The giant masks will make you look suitably stupid as you surf on fighter jets and batter grannies to death with giant pink dildos.A total of nine giant masks will be given to Steam players for free tomorrow, January 17.
They will join the free CheapyD DLC and paid Genkibowl VII DLC also releasing tomorrow.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...row-the-third/

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Star Wars: Old Republic Update 2 will be 'much bigger'

January 17th, 2012, 00:48 Posted By: wraggster

Star Wars: The Old Republic is getting its first game update tomorrow, but the second release in March is going to be "much bigger in scope".
That's according to game director James Ohlen, who told CVG in a recent Old Republic interview that Game Update 2 will include three major pieces of content, as well as "full" Legacy game content.Ohlen said: "Game Update 2 is much bigger in scope. It's further out from launch, so we can have much more of the team focussed on it. There's Part 2 of Rise of the Rakghouls, a brand new planet called Denova which has an 8-16 man Operation and a new Warzone.
"We might also be able to get some new space game missions into it. In addition to that we have single player content that you'll be able to go through as well..."
Update 1 releases tomorrow and the highlights include level 50 bracketing for PvP WarZones, the addition of anti-aliasing and changes to Open World PvP on Ilum.
Regarding the "full" Legacy game update, Ohlen explained: "It's a system that really benefits players who like to play alts - instead of having characters who have no relation to each other you can create a family, and when you're playing any member of that family you earn experience points for your Legacy tree.
"Those then unlock abilities and perks that help improve all your characters. I think that's going to be popular. Characters can be related to your main character in all kinds of ways - siblings, father, son, friend, you could be married to them..."
He also touched on Guild Banks, as well as the addition of PvP rankings for the competitive-minded players.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...e-much-bigger/

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'Simplify Steam and core gaming could explode'

January 18th, 2012, 00:31 Posted By: wraggster

CLOUD GAMING EUROPE: Valve platform must streamline for widest audience, says Gaikai exec

The entire games landscape could change if Valve’s PC platform significantly improved how accessible it is to new customers, the CEO of a leading cloud gaming firm has said.
In a discussion point filled with caveats about how “brilliant and important” Steam is to the industry, Gaikai CEO David Perry nevertheless believes Valve’s core games platform should undergo a series of enhancements to appeal to new customers.

“The whole games industry could improve dramatically if Steam moved away from old tactics,” he said. “Steam still has far too much friction.”
Speaking at the Cloud Gaming Europe event in London, Perry provided a video demonstration of all the hurdles a player had to overcome to play PC game demo through Steam.
And although he laced his talk with how much respect he had for Valve, his demonstration pulled no punches.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...-could-explode

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Pre-owned sales tactics are pushing devs to digital'

January 18th, 2012, 00:35 Posted By: wraggster

CLOUD GAMING EUROPE: Gaikai CEO says high street schemes make download business even more attractive

Game publishing and development firms are finding sanctuary in digital distribution platforms because boxed retail is aggressively perusing pre-owned sales schemes, industry veteran David Perry has said.
Speaking today at the Cloud Gaming Europe event in London, Perry said “companies like Gamestop are getting so good at selling used games, getting better and better at squeezing revenues, that they are encouraging publishers to go digital.”

Pre-owned has long been a divisive subject in the games business. Retailers, which take all profits from selling second-hand games, say they are an essential business pillar. Publishers and developers, who make nothing from such trades, say the practice hurts revenues.
Andrew Oliver, the co-founder of Blitz Games Studios, last year went as far as saying that the significant pre-owned businesses was a bigger problem than content piracy.
Speaking at a packed conference hall at Cloud Gaming Europe, Perry told attendees that digital distribution has become the logical destination for publishers as the stakes get higher and the margins tighter.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...evs-to-digital

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Ubisoft Has Windows-Style Hardware-Based DRM For Games

January 18th, 2012, 00:45 Posted By: wraggster

Guru3D describes how the activation system in Ubisoft's RTS game Anno 2070 also tracks hardware changes: 'So yesterday I started working on a performance review. We know (well, at least we figured we knew), that the game key can be used on three systems. That's fair; the first activation is used on my personal game rig. The second we installed on the AMD Radeon graphics test PC and the 3rd on our NVIDIA graphics test PC. ... For the NVIDIA setup I take out the GTX 580, and insert a GTX 590. When I now startup the game, 'BAM', again an activation is required. Once again I fill out the key, and now Ubisoft is thanking me with the message that I ran out of activations.' Guru3D subsequently discovered that Ubisoft was less than helpful: 'Sorry to disappoint you — the game is indeed restricted to 3 hardware changes and there simply is no way to bypass that.' I, and many with me, will never buy games with such a draconian DRM scheme, as it's very likely that I'll swap out enough components to run into this issue. Even the Steam version includes this nice 'feature.' It's probably a good idea to let Ubisoft know why we'll pass on this title."

http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/0...-drm-for-games

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Microsoft Announces ReFS, a New Filesystem For Windows 8

January 18th, 2012, 00:47 Posted By: wraggster

Microsoft has shared details about its new filesystem called ReFS, which stands for Resilient File System. Codenamed 'Protogon,' ReFS will first appear as the storage system for Windows Server and later be offered to Windows clients. Microsoft plans to deprecate lesser-used NTFS features while maintaining 'a high degree of compatibility' for most uses. NTFS has beencriticized in the past for its inelegant architecture.

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/01...-for-windows-8

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Commander Genius v0.3.8 Alpha

January 18th, 2012, 15:55 Posted By: wraggster

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

Commander Genius is an interpreter for the Commander Keen Series for Windows and Linux.
It was formerly known as CloneKeen Plus and is based on CloneKeen.

Quote:
changes since last AEP reported release v0.3.3:
v0.3.8 Alpha:
-------------

• - More Enemies in Galaxy Support
• - Lots of speed ups
• - Better Galaxy Support
• - Better Sound Support

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EA 'probably' spent $0.5bn on Old Republic

January 19th, 2012, 00:01 Posted By: wraggster

Investment could define CEO John Riccitiello's tenure, says analyst

We’ll never know exactly how much EA spent on bankrolling BioWare’s first MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, but one analyst reckons the total figure could be close to half a billion dollars.
“I think it’s safe to say that the total all-in investment in Star Wars is probably approaching half a billion dollars,” Cowen & Co analyst Doug Creutz told MarketWatch.

“EA has minimised its risks as much as it can on this bet, but it’s still a risky bet. To the extent that any one game defines his (John Riccitiello) tenure, it’s going to be how ‘Star Wars’ performs.”

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...n-Old-Republic

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CCP: 'Cloud gaming perfect for free-to-play success'

January 19th, 2012, 00:03 Posted By: wraggster

CLOUD GAMING EUROPE: But is the cloud enough to make free-to-play a perfect bet? Namco Bandai isn't convinced

CCP's CEO Hilmar Pétursson believes that cloud gaming provides the perfect opportunity for free-to-play developers to maximise their revenues and succeed in the highly competitive space.
His comments came as he sat on a business panel at today's Cloud Gaming Europe conference in London.

"Free-to-play allows your customers to begin to play your game before they have even made a decision about it," said the CEO of the Eve Online studio in a session titled 'The Business of Cloud Gaming: All-You-Can-Eat or Micro-Transactions'.
"They can experience your game before they have reached the decision point of commitment to paying for certain elements of that game. In that way cloud gaming's lack of friction provides the perfect way to see success; to move people into your game to the point where they can make purchase decisions."
However, his co-panelist and Namco Bandai Partners SVP Olivier Comte argued that the increasing proliferation of cloud gaming services means little to gaming business models. In fact, Comte and his colleagues at Namco Bandai remain yet to be convinced that the cloud means free-to-play is a business model absolutely suitable for larger companies..

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...o-play-success

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Samsung Reinvents Windows (Not the OS) With Touchscreen Display

January 19th, 2012, 00:09 Posted By: wraggster

If you want a large, interactive display on your wall, typically you have to make space for it by moving any pictures out of the way, and finding room next to any shelves or lighting you have installed. Samsung's idea is to remove that problem by creating a transparent display that replaces an actual window, or at least sit over the top of one. The display uses ambient light during the day and then can switch over to a more traditional black background as a night time mode. If you want to shut the daylight out it has virtual blinds you can draw to help darken a room. And from the outside you just like you are tapping your window as none of the graphics can be seen. Yes, your neighbors will talk."

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...screen-display

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Out There: Do MMOGs need death?

January 19th, 2012, 00:14 Posted By: wraggster

Today, Ultima Online's early days, seem exotic, driven by the magic of the internet, a burgeoning economy - and danger. In Ultima Online, death was permanent. It meant that every play session was unpredictable and meaningful.
Keith Burgun of Dinofarm Games, maker of the excellent iOSRogue-like 100 Rogues, argues that this is exactly what's missing from modern MMOGs, claiming that social interaction in them is stunted, their static nature preventing players from imprinting themselves on their worlds. "In the modern MMO, there is very little unpredictability, and further, very few things matter," he says.
The answer lies in the early days of the modern MMOG, he suggests - in Ultima Online: "There has to be death; real death. Things have to be able to be created and destroyed, including characters. There is simply no other way that a world can be sustainable."
Death means danger, and danger makes things meaningful and unpredictable. "I could mine for ingots, sell them to a blacksmith. He could produce a sword and sell it to a vendor. The vendor could sell it to another person, who perhaps would get killed by a player-killer or a monster. It could come back around to me someday."
Eve Online engages with a lot of what Burgun argues was right about Ultima Online, of course, though you can't permanently die. You can permanently lose vast amounts of carefully hoarded materials, while its economy has generated a startlingly complex structure of social interaction that mirrors those of the real world.
But here's the question: do you want to play Eve Online? Or do you really just want to read about it, glad that it exists, because the level of investment and risk that it demands is simply too high? Death is scary.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/out-...ogs-need-death

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Star Trek Online now free-to-play

January 19th, 2012, 00:20 Posted By: wraggster

Cryptic Studios has confirmed that its Star Trek MMO is now free to all players.
The developer completed the transition from a subscription-based model to F2P on schedule, having previously promised a relaunch date of January 17th.
Players now have access to the entire game with no fees. However, those that wish to pay for a premium subscription of £14.99 per month will be able to play as multiple characters and start guilds.
Cryptic first announced that Star Trek Online would go free-to-playin September 2011. The game was originally launched in February 2010.
The MMO is one of many that have dropped subscriptions in favour of the F2P model, alongside DC Universe Online, Age of Conan, City of Heroes, Champions Online and The Lord of the Rings Online.
Many have reported dramatic rises in both registered users and revenue.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/star-...to-play/089925

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Alienware reveals dedicated gaming PC

January 19th, 2012, 00:24 Posted By: wraggster

There’s a new console hoping to muscle its way under your TV – Alienware’s X51 gaming PC.
The device is not a million miles away from Xbox 360 in terms of form and is indeed almost the same size.
It comes with either the Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 inside combined with a Nvidia GeForce GT 545 or GTX 555. RAM comes in 4GB, 6GB or 8GB flavours while a 1TB HDD, wireless a/b/g/n LAN and 7.1 audio are included in all models.
Outputs include HDMI 1.4, TOSLINK and coax digital outs and six USB sockets,
The machine is designed to operate either upright or laid on its side. The entry-level model can run EA’s Battlefield 3 at 1080p at round 30fps with hi-res textures, 4x aniostopic filtering and medium AA.
The X51 will start at £699. Expensive in console terms, yes, but very competitive when it comes to gaming PC prices.
"It's taking enthusiast-class PC gaming and putting it in a small form factor,” Alienware senior product manager Eoin Leyden told Eurogamer.
“This is something that has never been done before. There's no other small form factor PCs out there that offer any sort of a significant gaming experience."

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/alien...ming-pc/089916

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Windows 8 tablet requirements appear

January 19th, 2012, 23:50 Posted By: wraggster

Microsoft has released a set of hardware specifications for tablet PCs and hybrids suitable for running the Windows 8 operating system.
The minimum screen resolution for Windows 8 is 1366 x 768 and both x86 and ARM-based devices will need DirectX 10 capable graphics. The devices must also be able to play high-definition video including 1080p H264.
Windows 8 touch-enabled PCs must also be capable of registering five points and curiously Microsoft is mandating that tablets must feature a gyroscope, magnetometer and an accelerometer in addition to a 720p camera.
It also seems that the contentious secure-boot function cannot be disabled on ARM-based devices, which would appear to mean that such computers cannot be easily switched to another OS. Could this be aimed at Android?

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-appear/027822

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Blizzard still tinkering with Diablo 3 systems, highlights new changes

January 20th, 2012, 01:40 Posted By: wraggster

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Magicka summons 1.3 million in sales, new expansion in the works

January 20th, 2012, 01:43 Posted By: wraggster

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Blizzard: No one will remember if Diablo III is late

January 20th, 2012, 23:50 Posted By: wraggster

Blizzard's Diablo III director Jay Wilson has shared his thoughts on Diablo III's release date in a blog post on the game's official site.
"No one will remember if the game is late, only if it's great," he argued in response to suggestions Blizzard should speed up the game's release.
"While working on Diablo III we've been called out for messing around with systems too much, that the game is good as-is and we should just release it. I think that's a fair argument to make, but I also think it's incorrect. Our job isn't just to put out a game, it's to release the next Diablo game."
He went on to explain some of the game lay changes that are currently being implemented, including changes to character attributes, removing scrolls of identification and changing the way items work.
"We want Diablo III to be the best game it can be when it launches. To get there, we're going to be iterating on designs we've had in place for a long time," he added.
"Our hope is that by embracing our iterative design process in which we question ourselves and our decisions, Diablo III won't just live up to our expectations, but will continue to do so a decade after it's released."
News from South Korea also suggests the game is facing trouble with the local ratings boards.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...lo-iii-is-late

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Street Fighter X Tekken: Welcome to the festival

January 21st, 2012, 00:14 Posted By: wraggster

I remember the days of sitting in my buddy's room, losing repeatedly to his Vega as my Dhalsim flailed in front of pixelated, braying elephants. With every loss came the time to give up the controller for the next player in line. Depending on how many people were over, a sort of cheering section would develop. Fueled by Dr. Pepper and bags of potato chips, these impromptu parties are memories that I'm sure I share with many gaming folks.

Street Fighter x Tekken is doing its best to recreate those moments. We already know it's bringing together two of the biggest fighting game franchises on the market, thus creating a huge, varied cast. The Tekken characters have been given the Street Fighter IV treatment, creating a stylized, almost cartoonish look. Their new animations are just as stylized. They're clearly ready to party.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/20/st...-the-festival/

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Old Republic sales concerns 'are overblown' - Pachter

January 21st, 2012, 22:15 Posted By: wraggster

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter has suggested that concerns over Star Wars: The Old Republic sales are "overblown".
Writing in a note sent to investors this afternoon, he said: "EA shares have been under assault over the past two months (and especially the past week), as many of ourcompetitors have opined that the company's MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic was tracking well below 'consensus' expectations."Some of our competitors have suggested that the 'consensus' first quarter sales estimate was 3 million units, or over a million above our own estimate, which we believe is not only unrealistic, but borders on the absurd.
"Activision Blizzard's World of Warcraft, the most successful MMO of all time, sold 1.5 million units in its first month, and an additional 2.5 million units in its first year, representing sales of around 50,000 units per week after the first few weeks."
Pachter thinks about 1.7 million copies of The Old Republic have been sold to date. "We continue to expect Star Wars to have a meaningful impact on revenue and earnings growth in upcoming quarters. As mentioned previously, we expect sell-in of 2 million units in Q3:12 (with an additional 1 million units next year)," he said.
EA has "probably" invested close to half a billion dollars in Star Wars: The Old Republic, Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz said earlier this week.
The publisher has said that The Old Republic will turn a profit if it manages to retain half a million subscribers, and claimed over Christmas that the title is the fastest-growing subscription MMO in history.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...blown-pachter/

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Intel Relying On Ice Cream Sandwich For Tablet Push

January 22nd, 2012, 20:44 Posted By: wraggster

"Intel thinks tablets live and die by their software, not their hardware. So as they get ready for a big push into the mobile device market, they're relying on Ice Cream Sandwich to provide competition with Apple's products. From the article: 'The company has largely watched from the sidelines as mobile device makers have used processors based on ARM's microarchitecture to power their products in recent years. This despite the fact that Intel actually predicted the rise of what it called "mobile Internet devices," or MIDs, several years ago, and built a chip, Atom, for such gadgets. For all that [Intel CEO Paul Otellini] touts the software over the hardware when it comes to tablets, Intel knows it's got a lot of ground to make up to wrest design wins away from ARM. The Medfield System-on-a-Chip (SoC) is a promising but still uncertain step in that direction.' Otellini thinks the tablet market will get much more competitive over the next year as ICS devices mature and Windows 8 devices arrive.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...or-tablet-push

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Gaikai months away from full-game streaming

January 23rd, 2012, 23:07 Posted By: wraggster

Gaikai founder David Perry has revealed that the cloud gaming service is ready to go live with full games, not just the demos it currently hosts, within months.
Facebook remains the company's initial focus, with the service's launch on the social network imminent, but games will subsequently spread to other websites such as YouTube, Best Buy and those belonging to publishers such as Electronic Arts and Ubisoft.
In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Perry said that full-game streaming will be live "about three months from when Facebook launches, about 90 days from that."
Adding: "If you give me your game today I can put your game in front of more than 100 million people, easily. Quite honestly if we put you on the homepage of YouTube right now on it's own, you're already hitting that number."
Perry also commented on cloud gaming competitor OnLive, which already offers full games through its online service, MicroConsole and Android app.
"There's a very big difference between the way we're doing it and the way OnLive is doing it. They have to modify the game, they have to get the source code to the game. Gaikai doesn't require modification of the game.
"To give you an example The Witcher II was given to us and them at the same time. We went live with Witcher II immediately and now four or five months later they still don't have that live, and that's because they have to touch the code. The whole structure of Gaikai is about not touching the code. When we show World Of Warcraft it's the real thing, it's not like we had to go and tweak it to get it to work. That means that every game in history remains compatible with our solution."
Earlier in the month, Gaikai's chief product officer suggested that one of the current console makers would bow out of the hardware race at this year's E3, leading to speculation that Gaikai may be set to partner with a company in order to offer a cloud solution. Perry warns against underestimating the importance of cloud to gaming's future.
"You do not want to be the console that can't do this. You do not want to be the retail website that doesn't have playable games on it. You don't want to be the gaming website that you can't buy a game from," he said.
"[Console manufacturers] have got to take it seriously because it's better for consumers. I would play a lot more games if I fired up my Xbox, clicked on a game and it started playing straight away. I don't want to take your console from your cold dead hands, that's not the case at all.
"You're going to continue to play the way you play, but just imagine that you could have an opinion on all games because you've been able to try all of them. Each evening, flick through four or five games that just came out."

http://www.edge-online.com/news/gaik...game-streaming

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Doctor Who breaks The Silence, dances with Daleks in March 2012

January 24th, 2012, 01:08 Posted By: wraggster

The Doctor's two dimensional adventures on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Vita aren't quite as lost in time as the doctor himself, as Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock has been given a "March 2012" launch window. Perhaps you were worried that Supermassive Games (note: notBastion dev Supergiant Games) wouldn't include series staples like Silurians, Daleks, and whatever "The Silence" is? Well ... uh ... quit worrying about that, because they're all totally in there.

Also in there? Classic 2D gameplay! And, well, did we mention that those characters from the long-running TV series are in the game? Because they are, in case you didn't realize that.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/23/do...in-march-2012/

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Anno 2070 DRM grudgingly altered as little as possible

January 24th, 2012, 01:16 Posted By: wraggster

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First ever digital PC chart scheduled

January 25th, 2012, 01:38 Posted By: wraggster

Trade group UKIE pledges to push ahead with PSN and Xbox Live charts

UKIE will publish a digital chart for PC games next month, the trade body has announced.
It’s the first measure of downloadable video game sales and UKIE says it will be improved in the months ahead.

The basic PC chart will be made public but companies which share their data will be able to view more detailed figures on the PC download market. Chart participation is open to UKIE members and video games companies.
UKIE will continue to provide boxed game sales in conjunction with GfK Chart-Track. As previously reported by MCV, the trade organisation will be working on Xbox Live and PSN charts next.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...t-is-scheduled

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Warp teleporting to PC and PSN March 13

January 25th, 2012, 02:31 Posted By: wraggster

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QuakeCon 2012 dates announced

January 25th, 2012, 02:37 Posted By: wraggster

This year's QuakeCon - the annual id Software clambake - takes place in Dallas, Texas 2nd to 5th August, Bethesda has announced.Getting out there might not be too cheap, but if you do make it entry to the event itself is free of charge. See the official QuakeCon site for more details of how to get in.As usual, the event will take over the Hilton Anatole Hotel and host North America's largest LAN party, though specific details on exactly what else will be on show have not yet been announced.With Rage finally out the door, id Software boss John Carmack recently confirmed that the studio can now concentrate solely on the long-awaited Doom 4. Will we be getting our first glimpse of the game during this year's QuakeCon?

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ates-announced

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BF3 hackers ban innocent players, EA investigating

January 25th, 2012, 02:41 Posted By: wraggster

A group of hackers who don't particularly like the PC anti-cheat service Punk Buster have launched an attack on Battlefield 3 players to make their point.
Innocent players are logging on to find themselves banned from Punk Buster servers, being kicked from play and receiving error messages.Hackers on the site Artificial Aiming have declared: "We are bringing back the unerring of punkbuster back for a 3rd season. We have selected ggc-stream as the target since they have the most streaming bf3 servers and makes it very easy to add fake bans,"
"In 2011 we hit them with a mass ban wave and now were are banning real players from battlelog while ggc-stream is totally unaware. We have framed 150+ bf3 players alone," they add, before receiving universal praise from other forum members on the site.
EA has issued a statement with a workaround for those affected: "We are aware that some Battlefield 3 players are experiencing connection issues with PunkBuster enabled servers. This problem is limited to a small subset of players on PC and will not impact players on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.
"We are actively looking into the specifics of this issue and we are confident that we will have a permanent solution in place shortly. In the meantime, if a player's connectivity has been affected, we recommend that in the interim they join servers that are not running PunkBuster. There is a filter setting for this in the multiplayer server browser."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...investigating/

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HP To Open Source WebOS

January 26th, 2012, 03:35 Posted By: wraggster

This year the artists formerly known as Palm had quite a rough few months with HP dumping the hardware side of their own webOS mobile computing platform – their most recent move, having been announced just last month, is live today: open sourced webOS for all. While the actual main product which will be known as Open webOS 1.0 will not be released until September, they've already got the Enyo piece of the pie available today."

http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/01...n-source-webos

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Kingdoms Of Amalur dev wary of Skyrim threat

January 27th, 2012, 01:20 Posted By: wraggster

Big Huge Games, developer of Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning, has admitted that the biggest threat to its fantasy RPG's chance of success is that people are still playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Like Skyrim, Reckoning is a high-fantasy RPG set in a huge open world. Speaking to Eurogamer, lead designer Ian Frazier described Bethesda's offering as "our big competitor" - which is putting it mildly given that Skyrim shipments passed the ten million mark last month.
"Frankly, Reckoning is either going to do well enough that we're going to be in a good place or people are going to go: 'Nope, I'm still playing Skyrim, I'm not interested'," he said. "In which case, we're hosed. It's going to be one of those extremes.
"[Skyrim's] a good game. It's got problems. It's not God's gift to gaming, as some are describing it. But a lot of folks are still playing it, and that's one of my biggest concerns.
"It's hundreds of hours of content and it's a high-fantasy world. Are people just going to be bored? Are they just done with high fantasy for a while? I hope not. But that's the big concern at the studio."
Reckoning, then, needs to stand apart from Skyrim somehow. Launching without a variety of technical issues across all platformsthat has left players waiting for fixes more than two months after release would be a start, of course, but Frazier prefers to put emphasis on something that even the most ardent Skyrim fan would admit could be improved.
"The combat - I'll be blunt - is leagues better than Skyrim's," he said. "It's better than pretty much everything in the RPG space. I'm very proud of our combat."
Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning will be released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on February 7 in North America, and February 10 in Europe. A demo is available now on Steam, EA Origin, Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/king...-skyrim-threat

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Nordic signs Alan Wake on PC

January 27th, 2012, 01:37 Posted By: wraggster

Nordic Games has won a publishing deal for Remedy Entertainment’s critically acclaimed Alan Wake.
The company will bring the boxed PC version of the title to UK retail this March, which has been tweaked and redeveloped specifically for the platform. The PC SKU will include both DLC episodes – The Signal and The Writer – plus a 3D mode and multi-screen support.
Alan Wake was originally published by Microsoft on Xbox 360 in 2010. A digital version of the PC release will be self-published by Remedy over Steam.
“It goes without saying that we are very happy and proud to work together with some of the greatest talents and artists of the games industry,” said Nordic Games CEO Lars Wingefors.
“We are really looking forward to the PC version of Alan Wake, especially as we are talking about a fantastic PC adaptation, rather than a mere porting of the code."
Remedy Entertainment CEO Matias Myllyrinne added: “We’re very excited that we have the opportunity to bring the PC version of Alan Wake to retail and the fans out there. Working closely with Nordic, we can deliver an amazing experience to PC gamers.”
Remedy is working on a follow-up, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, which will be released as a digital-only game via Xbox Live Arcade on February 22nd.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/nordi...e-on-pc/090324

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Analog Joypad for your Retro PC

January 27th, 2012, 01:44 Posted By: wraggster


Part of the fun with old computers is playing some old school games, and while you could play them with a keyboard it is much more fun with a joystick. You can get old joysticks all day long on auction sites, but you have to watch out. Some are digital, which wont work for many games on many systems. Some were cheap to begin with and probably worn out, and many are flight sticks … ever play pac-man with a giant flight stick?
What I really wanted was a game pad like device for my 1986 Apple //c , using one of the modern thumbstick analog controllers. Using a thumbstick out of an old XBOX(1) controller, some generic parts from Radio Shack, and a little bit of effort , I ended up with exactly what I wanted.
Join us after the break and I will show you how to get there!

http://hackaday.com/2012/01/26/analo...your-retro-pc/

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Rayman Origins coming to PC March 29, retail versions DRM free

January 27th, 2012, 02:04 Posted By: wraggster

With the announcement of release dates for 3DS and Vita, there are vanishingly few platforms left that won't have Rayman Origins. Now the PC joins the platforming party, with a release in both Europe and the United States on March 29. The PC version retains the 4-player co-op functionality of the console versions, and also retains its local-only restriction.

Surprisingly, the retail release will have no DRM. The download version, for "all e-shops including Steam," will use "only an activation key." Pre-orders of the digital Origins from the Ubishop will also include a free copy of Rayman 2.

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WebOS to be fully open-source by September

January 29th, 2012, 00:28 Posted By: wraggster

HP will release the webOS operating system to open source by September with various components becoming available each month including the recently released Enyo javascript framework.
Earlier in the week boss of the new HP open WebOS project Sam Greenblatt announced the release of Enyo 2.0, a JavaScript app framework. The broad availability of this component will allow WebOS apps built using Enyo to run on other platforms including modern web browsers.
A new Enyo website offers documentation, samples and downloads of the JavaScript library.
Next month the group will release the JavaScript core, UI widgets for Enyo and QT WebKit extensions. Following that, the WebOS Linux kernel, graphics extensions, database and USB will be made available.
HP's move to an open source model is certainly a bold one, given the amount the firm paid for it. However the company now believes that funding an open source WebOS is the best way to promote the platform for adoption in a wider variety of devices.
"It takes a village to create a complete solution," said Greenblatt, quoting open source activist Eric Raymond.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...ptember/027854

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Some Windows 8 Laptops May Come With Built-In Kinect Sensors

January 29th, 2012, 00:47 Posted By: wraggster

An anonymous reader writes to point out reports that Asus is "working on a new laptop that will include Kinect gestures and will be compatible with Windows 8," and adds, "What does this mean for the consumer? Portable gestures in Windows 8!" Wired has anarticle based on the same report, which mentions also the prospect of devices incorporating alternative gesture-tracking software from SoftKinectic and others.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...kinect-sensors

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Rayman Origins confirmed for PC

January 29th, 2012, 22:43 Posted By: wraggster

Ubisoft has confirmed that Michel Ancel platformer Rayman Originswill be released for PC on March 30.
Even better news for PC owners: the digital download will only require a single activation, while the retail version will not featureUbisoft's dreaded DRM at all.
The 3DS version, however, has been delayed. It was previously set to be on shelves on March 16, but will now be released alongside the PC version on March 30.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/raym...s-confirmed-pc

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C&C: Renegade remake Renegade X: Black Dawn deploys tomorrow

January 29th, 2012, 23:12 Posted By: wraggster

Here at Joystiq, we pride ourselves on being inside your mind, knowing what it wants, knowing what it thinks. We're like a somewhat creepier, less linguistic. The one thing your brain has been demanding is an updated version of 2002's Command & Conquer: Renegade.

We'd like to bring to your attention Renengade X: Black Dawn, a "spiritual successor" created by fans at Totem Arts. Tomorrow, the group will release the full single-player "mini-campaign," which was built in the Unreal Development Kit, and later Totem Arts plans to release a new multiplayer installment using the UDK.

In its current form, Renegade X is an updated version of the original game's multiplayer, made in Unreal Tournament 3, and has been playable for some time. If you want to partake, you'll need to own a copy of Unreal Tournament 3with the latest updates.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/27/ca...loys-tomorrow/

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Intel launches new GPU-less Core i5, Celerons

January 31st, 2012, 10:10 Posted By: wraggster

Intel has expanded the chipmaker's Sandy Bridge range of CPUs with a number of new Core i5 and Celeron M models.
At the bottom end of the scale, Intel announced new Celerons including the dual-core Celeron M B815 clocked at 1.6GHz and the single core Celeron M B720, priced at US$86 and $70 respectively. A new 1.3GHz dual-core Celeron M ULV 867 ultra low-voltage model also appeared priced at $134 so long as you're buying a thousand.
The beefier Core i5 range gained two new quad-core chips, the i5-2450P clocked at 3.2GHz and the i5-2380P with a 3.1GHz clock. The new P-variants don't have a built-in graphics core, or at least it's been disabled at any rate. That means they're about US$10 cheaper than the non-P variants.
The processors appeared in Intel's processor pricing list dated the 29th of January.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...elerons/027870

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EverQuest goes free-to-play

January 31st, 2012, 17:08 Posted By: wraggster

EverQuest will celebrate its 13th birthday in March by adopting the free-to-play model, Sony Online Entertainment has confirmed.
The move was revealed in a post on the game's official website by producer Thom Terrazas. Like its SOE stablemate, the PC and PS3MMOG DC Universe Online, EverQuest will offer a free option alongside monthly subscriptions.
The changes, which come into effect on March 16, the 13th anniversary of EverQuest's launch, mean SOE will operate a three-tier service: Free, Silver (for $5 a month) and Gold ($14.99 a month). This means Free members face caps on character slots, coins, active quests and more, with limited access to features including in-game messaging. The finer details are explained on the EverQuest website.
"We're excited to be expanding the EverQuest experience by making the game more accessible to every type of player so that you can choose to play the game in a way that suits you best," Terrazas writes. "The game will now be set up as flexible so that you can decide how much to pay, based on how much fun you're having.
"We are very excited about this new flexible system. Free-to-play is the best fit for EverQuest and we are looking forward to supporting the game and our dedicated fans for years to come.
"This is a great year for everyone associated with EverQuest and SOE. We think you'll be pleasantly surprised at what's coming in 2012."
The move comes as little surprise given the successful switch made by DC Universe Online last year. SOE boss John Smedley revealed that player numbers rose by 1000 per cent, and revenue by 700 per cent, in the days following the addition of a free-to-play option.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/ever...goes-free-play

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APK puts Windows 95, 98 and XP, plus Linux on the EVO 3D

January 31st, 2012, 19:47 Posted By: wraggster

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Humble Bundle for Android includes mobile and home versions of Anomaly, World of Goo

January 31st, 2012, 19:49 Posted By: wraggster

No smartphone is safe from cheap indie games (unless it's a Blackberry). Just as the Steam mobile app goes out of beta, allowing unfortunate impulse purchases from iOS or Android devices, the Humble Indie Bundle has announced its first Android release, available now.

Under the same "pay whatever, support charity" pricing scheme as previous Humble Bundles, the Humble Bundle for Android offers Android versions ofAnomaly: Warzone Earth, Osmos, and Edge, with a bonus copy of World of Gooavailable to anyone who exceeds the average payment.

All of these games are cross-platform, so you get them on your Android phone and Windows, OSX, and Linux. That's a pretty appealing deal for the price ofhowever much you end up paying. And you

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/31/hu...versions-of-a/

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SWTOR 1.1.1 patch notes in, servers return

January 31st, 2012, 20:44 Posted By: wraggster

Weekly Star Wars: The Old Republic maintenance has been completed and game servers have returned - patch 1.1.1 is now live.
It doesn't give white Lightsaber crystals to everyone. That was a joke - a forced choke. Sorry.
All the SWTOR patch 1.1.1 changes are noted below.
Our favourite is that "Kintan Behemoths no longer occasionally walk on top of trees when in combat".

[h=3]Classes and Combat[/h]General

• Fixed a bug that could cause the Global Cooldown to appear as if it has been cancelled when it is actually still in effect, resulting in a feeling of unresponsiveness to input.
• Corrected an issue that could cause an ability icon to appear usable but be unresponsive to clicks or keypresses for several seconds.
• Players revived by other players, including by in-combat revival abilities, now revive with 25% of maximum health.

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Half-Life 3 fan campaign staging mass gameplay session

January 31st, 2012, 20:47 Posted By: wraggster

A fan campaign designed to encourage more Half-Life information from developer Valve plans a mass gameplay session this Saturday.Steam group A Call for Communication (Half-Life), which boasts more than than 29,500 members, has organised a huge Half-Life 2 play session this weekend, designed to raise awareness of its campaign by boosting the game up Steam's most-played list.The fan collective aims to encourage information from Valve on when the Half-Life series might return, be that in the form of Half-Life 2: Episode 3 or a fully-fledged Half-Life 3.Group numbers have swelled from 10,000 members since the campaign first hit the headlines two weeks ago.A Call for Communication's Half-Life 2 play session begins at 7pm UK time this Saturday night."Instead of focusing efforts in a negative and disrespectful way, we have decided to gain Valve's attention by delivering a basic message: 'Your oldest and longest running fanbase would like better communication,'" the Steam group's description reads."Hopefully such attention will be recognized by Valve, and the community's voice will be heard."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...meplay-session

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ScummVM 1.4.1 "Subwoofer Release" Is Available!

January 31st, 2012, 22:02 Posted By: wraggster

news from http://www.scummvm.org/news/20120127/

The ScummVM Team is pleased to announce ScummVM 1.4.1, a maintenance only release that fixes several bugs in 1.4.0.
The most notable changes in this release are:

• Support for the Beneath a Steel Sky Enhanced Soundtrack by James Woodcock
• Slight graphical improvement for the PlayStation version of Broken Sword 2
• Several bugfixes for Lands of Lore
• More logical sound settings for SCI games
• A fixed crash in the VGA version of Quest for Glory 1

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OpenTTD 1.2.0-beta3

January 31st, 2012, 23:10 Posted By: wraggster

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

A new beta version of OpenTTD 1.20 has been released. OpenTTD is a clone of the Microprose game "Transport Tycoon Deluxe", a popular game originally written by Chris Sawyer. It attempts to mimic the original game as closely as possible while extending it with new features.

Quote:
1.2.0-beta3 (2012-01-21)

• Feature: [NoGo] Allow to chose the goal question window´s title from a (small) set of options [FS#4992] (r23827)
• Feature: [NewGRF] Enhance some fatal NewGRF errors with the spritenumber that caused the problem (r23809)
• Fix: Loading empty GS strings/translations failed [FS#4996] (r23829)
• Fix: Return early from SlString() for empty strings, before doing invalid things which surprisingly do not break everything. (r23828)
• Fix: The detailed performance rating window showed the cargo count of the current quarter instead of the last quarter like the tooltip says [FS#4972] (r23826)
• Fix: Removal of towns with 0 population failed during map generation [FS#4951] (r23819)
• Fix: [Network] Desync due to different NewGRF version at client and server [FS#4962] (r23817)
• Fix: [NewGRF] Textstack was not properly used when storing parameters for the error message window [FS#4969] (r23803)
• Fix: Game lobby gui not updated when new company information becomes available [FS#4968] (r23802)
• Fix: Reading the UTF-8 BOM from AI/GS files on big-endian machines failed (r23801)
• Fix: Move ´refitable to´ text above custom newgrf text in build vehicle gui [FS#4958] (r23792)
• Fix: [NewGRF] Resize text panel for parameter description if it does not fit in 4 lines [FS#4960] (r23791)
• Fix: [NewGRF] While we can only show one error per NewGRF, fatal errors should always disable the GRF. Also give those errors precedence over other information (r23789)
• Fix: [NewGRF] Failure to load newgrf files that use action 0 general prop 15 with a missing language file (r23788)
• Fix: Crash due to genders used for station name in hangar string of Italian translation [FS#4965] (r23782)
• Fix: Under certain circumstances, e.g. a single invalid order, trying to determine the next order state could end up in an infinite loop [FS#4964] (r23781)
• Fix: [Network] Missing naming of some errors[FS#4963] (r23780)
• Fix: Trim all control codes and the likes from strings being passed into the AI. If the AI would be displaying them later we would be showing those control codes as question marks [FS#4957] (r23778)
• Fix: Hide the PCX screenshot format from the options window, if a 32bpp blitter is used (r23775)
• Fix: [NewGRF] Update all cached train properties if a train vehicle enters a new railtype (r23773)

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