The Latest Video Game News from 1UP

Randy Pitchford Renews Criticism Of Valve

Kat Bailey — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:51:00 PST

Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford has become known for his opinions, particularly about Valve. Having recently suggested that Valve's connection to Steam is a "conflict of interest," Pitchford is now calling the studio's stance on the PlayStation 3 "childish."

"I noticed something on the net not too long ago. Doug Lombardi (Valve?s VP Marketing) had to take a swipe at the PS3 again, and I thought it was foolish. I read it the same way I read fanboys," Pitchford told Official PlayStation Magazine UK (via ScrawlFX), also noting that he thinks the platform is "really cool."

"Like there's a guy who brought the Sony platform and he's a Sony guy, so he decides he's going to spend a certain percentage of his time bashing Microsoft. And there's a guy on Microsoft doing the same thing. Those guys are childish and narrow-minded, it's the same kind of thing."

PC Modern Warfare 2 Unplayable Until November 10

Kat Bailey — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:53:00 PST

So you managed to get an early copy of Modern Warfare 2 from a Pennsylvania, Ohio or New York GameStop, and you're feeling pretty good about yourself. Unfortunately, if you happened to grab the retail PC version, it's not going to do you a lot of good.

In a recent tweet, Infinity Ward Creative Strategist Robert Bowling wrote, "If you bought a retail copy on PC, you can play it on 11.10.09."

Infinity Ward has had major problems with early leaks as illegal copies have flooded torrent sites and retailers have broken street dates. One retailer claimed to have "special permission" to break the street date, but Activision quickly released a statement saying that no one had permission to release MW2 early.

Penny Arcade Launches 2009 Child's Play Charity Drive

Kris Pigna — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:27:00 PST

It's that time of year again, folks. Penny Arcade has announced the official start of the 2009 Child's Play charity drive, where throughout the holiday season gamers (or anyone, really) can make gift or money donations to children's hospitals around the world.

As before, participating in the charity drive is made excruciatingly simple: Just click on over to the official Child's Play website, choose one of the participating children's hospitals from the map, and you'll be taken to that hospital's Amazon wish list where you can purchase one of the many listed items for donation. If you'd rather donate money directly, you can do so through PayPal here.

Through sponsorships from various organizations, the tally so far already exceeds $250,000, and that's before donations from the public at large got underway. Looks like this is already shaping up to be another big success for a charity that's done a lot of great work over the last few years.

Northeastern GameStops Reportedly Selling Modern Warfare 2 Early

Kris Pigna — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:59:00 PST

If you find yourself living near GameStop stores in the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, or New York (assuming your store isn't currently being swarmed by angry bees, New Yorkers), then it looks like this may be your lucky day. Reports have been floating around the net that certain stores in these Northeastern states have broken Modern Warfare 2's November 10 street date and are selling copies today.

Strangely, Kotaku originally reported that an employee at a GameStop in Bowling Green, Ohio stated that they were given special permission from Activision to sell the game early after local mom and pop stores broke the street date first. But a statement from Activision later denied this claim, saying that they have "not given any retailer permission to sell Modern Warfare 2 prior to the Nov. 10 street date. The company fully supports the Nov.10 street date."

Whatever the reason, the fact is it looks like some stores are selling the game early, so residents in these states might as well try giving their local stores a quick call. As for the rest of us living in the America where Modern Warfare 2 isn't sold early, we probably speak for everyone when we say phooey.

3D Dot Game Heroes 360 Port Could Happen

Kris Pigna — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:13:00 PST

If you're an Xbox 360 owner who was pouring your eyes over that Link recreation in the PlayStation 3 title 3D Dot Game Heroes with wistful desire, here's some good news: It may well be that an Xbox 360 port of the game could be released in the future.

Speaking to a Japanese website that recently visited Silicon Studios' offices (via Andriasang), producer Hiroyuki Misawa explained that a port is absolutely possible. "We can do it. Our libraries are multiplatform, so it would be possible to make it for 360." Whether it will happen, though, appears to depend on the game's publisher, From Software. "It's up to From. We're a developer, so if there's a call to make it, I believe we can do it," Misawa said.

There's still no specific North American date for the PlayStation 3 version, though, so it may be a while before we find out for sure whether a 360 port lies in Silicon Studios' future.

Final Fantasy XIII Announcement Coming Nov. 13?

Kris Pigna — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:28:00 PST

As if for some reason you planned not to read things on the Internet this Friday, here's a good reason to reconsider. Last Friday, Square Enix posted a message on the official Final Fantasy XIII website that contained a mysterious anagram. Now it's been solved, and it seems to point to a big announcement coming next Friday, November 13.

The original post read: "A puzzle for FINAL FANTASY XIII fans! Solve this anagram to find out what lies ahead: A Henchmen Inventor Tent Unto. Check back Monday for the answer!" No need to check back Monday, because two FinalFantasy-XIII.net forum goers already solved it: "Announcement Nov Thirteenth" (ripten, via Kotaku).

Obviously, that probably means there's going to be a Final Fantasy XIII announcement on November 13. Could it be the North American release date? Could it have anything to do with the advertisement Square Enix was reportedly casting for that would reveal the North American release date? Keep your eyes peeled this Friday, and we'll all find out together.

iPhone Developer Accused of Using Games to Harvest Phone Numbers

Kris Pigna — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:07:00 PST

At the risk of making this story sound like one of those annoying local advertisements for personal injury attorneys, here it is: If you or someone you love recently purchased and played an iPhone game from developer Storm8, such as iMobsters or Vampires Live, it appears your phone number may have been collected without your consent. Or, at least, that's what Lynnwood, WA resident Michael Turner is accusing the company of doing in a class action lawsuit he recently filed (BoingBoing, via Joystiq).

According to the lawsuit, Storm8 is accused of exploiting an "electronic backdoor" with the use of "malicious software code" in their games to collect phone numbers without the iPhone owners knowing, and without the authorization of Apple. "Storm8 has written the software for all its games in such a way that it automatically accesses, collects, and transmits the wireless telephone number of each iPhone user who downloads any Storm8 game," the language of the suit claims. "...Storm8, though, has no reason whatsoever to access the wireless phone numbers of the iPhones on which its games are installed."

Storm8 did, apparently, admit to collecting numbers back in August, but they said it was the result of a "bug." The lawsuit, however, claims that only "very specific and specialized software code" could have collected the numbers and attributing it to the result of a bug doesn't hold water.

Activision 'Not Overly Concerned' With Modern Warfare 2 PC Backlash

Kris Pigna — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:38:00 PST

When Activision announced their IWNet matchmaking service will replace dedicated servers for the PC version of Modern Warfare 2, it predictably angered a lot of PC gamers. But apparently when you're dealing with what's already been anointed as the likely-to-be best-selling game of the year, angering some of your customers isn't too much to worry about.

"We're, of course, watching this very carefully and paying attention to it," said president Mike Griffith during an earnings call (via Kotaku), in response to a question about whether the backlash could affect sales. "But we're not overly concerned about it."

Why? As Griffith explains, he's confident the IWNet service will add enough benefits to overcome the backlash. "One of the problems with our PC SKUs in the past is that it has not been as friendly a consumer experience in terms of matchmaking and online play as the consoles have allowed it to be," Griffith said. "Our solution here improves that consumer experience overall by a significant margin. And so we think that the benefits we will see are going to far outweigh any negatives that seem to be surfacing."

Gyromancer Coming to XBL and PC Nov. 18

Kris Pigna — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:44:00 PST

PopCap and Square Enix have announced that Gyromancer, the result of their collaboration to make a game combining Bejeweled Twist and the general experience and level-gaining elements of a Final Fantasy, is set for release on Xbox Live Arcade and PC on November 18 (via Shacknews).

If "a cross between Bejeweled and Final Fantasy" sounds familiar to you, then you've probably heard of or played Puzzle Quest. PopCap and Square Enix don't really seem to be hiding the fact that Gyromancer will be a direct competitor to the popular puzzle/RPG hybrid, though, so it'll be interesting to see if the higher profile names attached to it help Gyromancer catch up to the surprising success of D3 Publisher's franchise.

If you're interested, the game will run you 1200 Microsoft points or $15 dollars.

New Zelda Wii Not 'Committed' to 2010 Yet

Kris Pigna — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:12:00 PST

For a company that's long been notorious for delaying their games, is it any surprise to see they'd be cagey about committing to anything so early in a project's development? Speaking to Geoff Keighley on the latest episode of GameTrailers TV, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime was very deliberate in not setting a release timeframe for the new Legend of Zelda in development for the Wii.

"We haven't committed to Zelda in 2010," Reggie elusively said. Keighley clarified that Miyamoto has so far said the game is "tracking" for 2010. "That's what he said, and we'll see how that continues to develop," retorted Reggie.

He did, however, reconfirm that Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M are committed to 2010, so that's at least two big titles to look forward to next year, Wii fans. And looking more toward the immediate future, Reggie also made a bold challenge to Infinity Ward: He predicted that New Super Mario Bros. Wii will outsell Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox 360 by the end of the holiday season.