A4Games

Great News Shogun 2 Patch 2 is out now

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Mon, 9 May 2011 15:53:00 -0700

Total War: Shogun 2 - Patch 2 - OUT NOW - Full changelist

Hi everyone,

Patch 2 is almost upon us! We previously said we’d release this in the first week of May, but we’ll now be introducing a tiny delay. Don’t worry though, it’s only until Monday.

We’re exercising a bit of caution in not releasing over the weekend in order to get in as much test time as possible. There’s an enormous amount of fixes in the patch (see below!), and If we release it on a Friday and something goes wrong, we won’t be able to react as quickly over the weekend. The extra testing time will help to make sure we achieve a silky smooth release.

The team has been working really hard, and we know you’ve been waiting, so as a way of saying thank you for your patience, we’ve also sneaked in four brand-new free maps.

We're including:

Aki

Flood plains

Hida mountain

Sanriku Ria

This update will also bring you DirectX11, anti-aliasing support, and a whole caboodle of fixes covering all sorts, from the campaign map to AI behaviour and multiplayer balancing. There’s a lot in there, and we want to get it right!

Happy conquering,

The Creative Assembly.

***

Additions

DirectX 11 support, including:

• Advanced Shadows

The DirectX11 pipeline supports very high quality shadow maps, giving softer shadows with significantly less aliasing compared to DirectX 9.

• Support for MSAA 2x,4x,8x.

Requires Shader Model 4.1 or Shader Model 5 support, not available on Shader Model 4.0.
The DirectX11 pipeline supports Full screen multi-sampled anti-aliasing at 2x,4x & 8x resolutions. Shader Model 4.1 cards will support 2x, 4x MSAA. Shader Model 5 cards will support 2x, 4x, and 8x MSAA

• Enhanced Depth of Field

With Shader Model 4.0 & Shader Model 4.1 you will see enhanced depth-of-field with a dedicated pixel/vertex shader pipeline. With Shader Model 5.0 depth-of-field is accelerated with a Compute Shader, offering very high quality depth-of-field.

• Tessellation Support

Tessellated and normal-mapped rocks and rocky-terrain surfaces (requires Shader Model 5 support). Up close to the camera rocky terrain surfaces are visibly more detailed and realistic.

• Anti-aliasing support

Note: Enabling Anisotropic Texture Filtering on DirectX9 is not working in this update. This will be fixed in the next patch.

Bug fixes

General fixes (includes single player and multiplayer fixes)

• Fixed firing-arc overlay for blinding grenades to show minimum range
• Slight changes to the intercept for igniting buildings
• Fix for battlefield dominance being awarded to both players
• Fixed triggers for the Elusive Strikeforce and Inspiring Counterattack achievements
• Legendary force achievable in single player
• Fix for stacking effects
• Ninja hiding tweaks
• Change to how victory types are assigned so that Heroic victories are a bit rarer (they're the most common now) and decisive / close are more common. Pyrrhic can be more common than before
• Fixed entities floating outside castle wall when they get knocked down or knocked flying while climbing off the top of walls
• Fixed bug with looping transition animation due to move orders with invalid path locations being spammed by the squad repeatedly
• Capture buildings cache if the building was captured from held before telling the Aide de camp
• Improved torch caching
• Fix for crash in battlefield zone cursor intersection
• Adjustment to AI to make it more difficult for the AI to use cavalry against spearmen
• Fix for drop-in ambushes not starting if the player under ambush presses 'Start Battle' first
• Ship banners are now appearing correctly in replays
• Fix for men staying at the bottom of the walls when they are attacked whilst climbing
• In naval replays, some ships’ flags were appearing in the wrong colours, now fixed
• Order to burn down a building now finishes if the building is destroyed by other means
• Fix to rare crash when placing mines in naval battles
• Experience system revision: experience-level thresholds rebalanced to allow for faster overall level-progression. Per-unit-type threshold multiplier introduced that scales the thresholds to compensate for differences in the damage output of different unit types. AI experience levels now fully derived from combat (the AI experience boosting mechanism has been removed).
• Updated pre-battle speeches to take greater advantage of available situational information
• Grass and scrub no longer gets in the way of the camera during pre-battle speeches
• Armies sharing the same deployment zone are no longer deployed on top of each other by default
• Fixed bug in tracking-camera caused by restricted camera behaviour activated by Legendary difficulty mode
• Improved first-person camera and projectile camera: time dilation effect is now relative to projectile speed. Artillery engine crew now trigger the projectile camera when their engine fires. Projectile camera remains stationary at the projectile's terminus to allow the player to see the results
• Pre-battle speeches now distinguish between multiple causes of the gates being forced open at the start of the battle
• Adjustments to morale calculations, dependent on who is in control of an army and in what context. Allows for fine-tuning of morale calculations separately for single-player humans, multiplayer humans and AI armies
• Improved the calculation of unit combat status. This corrects errors in the reporting of a unit's tooltip win/loss state, and also fixes some issues in the unit morale calculations that use this status information
• New weather gameplay effects added: Fog now causes a range penalty to all missile units, and causes non-commanding units to be hidden at a distance of 600m or more, even if they are out of cover
• Fixed issue where the Total War camera sometimes snaps downwards when switching the camera type and/or starting a transition. (This was particularly evident at the end of the pre-battle cinematic)
• Fixed issue in reinforcements system that allows multiple armies to feed more units into one army than is allowed on the battlefield
• Fixed crash-bug caused by placing Yari Ashigaru into pike wall formation, then incrementing/decrementing their formation width and moving the unit before ending the deployment phase
• Fixed issue that allowed siege defenders in ‘fight to the death’ mode to continue fighting in the end phase of battle after their fort was successfully captured by the attacking force
• Pre-battle speeches are now disabled in custom battles if the player does not field a General
• Fixed crash bug where the Stand and Fight special ability was used in a custom battle on a general unit that had been removed and re-added to the battle setup
• Fixed crash bug resulting from construction of an RTS camera with specified position
• Fixed crash bug that could sometimes occur when the FPS camera's context-entity died
• Cinematic camera movement speed is no longer height-relative. This allows for greater control and adjustment of camera positions in the cinematic editor
• Fixed flaw in unit logic that could cause a crash in the multiplayer lobby when interacting with a veteran unit that has zero men.
• Pre-battle speeches now allow for minor clans to be playable.

Naval combat

• Fixed intercepting with surrendered ships
• Fixed ships getting stuck on the edge of the battlefield
• Fixed sail-configuration not fully working when using speed-up
• Fixed enemy naval mines being visible in deployment
• Hull-damage indicators now consistent across campaign and naval battles

Audio

• Audio rebalancing
• Added projectile injury sounds
• Added special ability UI sounds
• Added new unit melee sounds (male/female units, swords/spears, mixed)
• UI sound when unit ordered to climb wall
• Naval mines trigger launch sound
• Front-end seasonal sounds to match scene
• Fixed problem with music not playing on custom battle screen
• Music volume now defaults to 75%
• Fixed rare issue with sounds not triggering after extended gameplay
• Separate sounds for female units
• Added reverb for distance sounds
• Fix for host being able to hear UI sounds for units that have been gifted to another player
• Fixed move-UI sound being played instead of attack-UI sound when choosing artillery bombardment location
• Added new sound when buildings selected in campaign map
• Aide de camp now supported during pre-battle speech

User interface

• Fix for some effect-bundle tooltips being cut off
• Fixed finance summary profit totals
• Fixed radar map image not updating when new clan discovered, and fixed rebel-owned region tooltip
• Fixed front-end camera transition
• Fixed mpc win movies showing same faction for both allies
• Fixed radar flee- icon crash bug
• Changed public-order display on finance panel to show current factors (rather than predicted)
• Re-enabled slider for mission-event text
• Fix to block co-op tax exemption exploit
• Fixed assassination-movie location bug with garrisoned generals
• Fixed bribe/move options panel text
• Fixed mpc multi-turn move diplomacy panel exploit
• Added extra update for diplomacy 3D model view
• Fixed avatar snapshot uploading so that it only occurs when avatar changes
• Made regions with imminent rebellion flash red on public order maps
• Changed ‘become shogun’ event message into a movie popup
• Mousing-over factions in diplomatic relations now previews faction details
• Fixed avatars with bow-skill not loading customised model into battles
• Added display of convalescing characters into radar list
• Fixed agent options crash bug
• Customised avatar of opposing player in MP battles now loading correctly
• Fix for saving replays in results screen
• Battle-regroup flag now has tooltip and is shown on radar
• Fix for cards getting stuck to cursor
• Enabled right-click on multiplayer units to show encyclopedia
• Made selected cards more recognisable
• Minor chat fixes and polish
• Fixed toggling of group-behaviour
• Text input improvements
• Added timer to special-ability buttons to display cooldown in minutes/seconds when mousing over
• Morale and charge bonus icons now show correct images on unit-information panel, and now show in campaign
• Weather/Waiting panel in battle now gives details on effects current weather will have on battle
• Added extra guarding for accessing model to prevent potential crashes
• Modified drag-out behaviour so if user holds CTRL while dragging out units, they will walk to destination

Battle camera

• Fixed bug in historic battles where the camera would be left in cinematic mode after the end of the intro cutscene (particularly in Okehazama where it never returned to normal)
• Sekigahara and Okehazama historic battle in-game cutscenes are now skippable
• Heat haze in Nagashino historic battle reduced

Campaign map (some singleplayer, some multiplayer)

• Katana cavalry is no longer immune to attrition
• Wako trade ships upkeep cost reduced (to match other trade ships)
• Various fixes in general's retainers
• Increased chance of critical success for successful actions
• Slightly increased the value of resources not traded away
• Changed general skill ‘strategist’ to award the movement extension instantly (not just in the beginning of a new turn)
• Fixed issue where rebellion in regions could happen without prior warning of unrest
• Fixed issue where rebellion could happen in region on the turn after it was captured
• Finances map now shows regions that will rebel next turn as flashing. Tax-exempt regions with negative public-order value also flash
• Movement-distance display now updated when skills applied
• Random first-level art picked for research in first turn if researching nothing
• Accuracy mod bonus applied correctly
• Fix for issue where double-click on character skills could make skill points get lost
• Added preferences variable to control campaign-camera edge-scroll delay
• Re-added ‘trade route raided’ messages
• Fixed navies being deregistered from trade nodes when the commander dies
• Trade-route raiding now updates when war declared
• Fixed predicted number of turns for replenishment
• Fixed issue that wouldn't always allow navy-merging very close to trade nodes.
• Fixed rare lockup with agent acting against garrisoned settlement
• Fixed Namban trade port not updating number of available trade routes correctly
• Fixed path-finding state bug which could leave armies unable to move for a turn.
• Fixed inability to disembark army from navy in port which is under blockade.
• Fixed negative bonus-value modifiers for looting
• Fixed instance of trade route removal not cancelling existing raids
• Fixed rare disembark-at-port problem
• Reordered code on becoming Shogun to prevent inappropriate messages being issued
• In Diplomacy, probability of acceptance is now reported as high for gifts
• Fixed crash in family-system after adopting uncle back into family
• Workaround for bad path-finding data in starting position
• Fixed rare lockup where army disembarks from navy into zone-of-control in player settlement, the navy is too close to a third party neutral navy, and the player declines to attack the disembarking army
• Fixed rare load-crash when loading a pre-battle save game during an AI turn when that AI had previously issued a multi-turn order that involved an army disembarking from the navy in a future turn
• Agents will no longer play multi-turn action animations if the player cannot afford the action
• Autoresolve battle visual fix: army cannot drop to zero soldiers before the last round
• Night battle support for pending battle power-bar. Will update if night battle is selected (and if the UI queries the value again)
• Autoresolver will destroy or capture ships that are too weak to be used in battle
• Repairing a ship in a port no longer invalidates its hull panel information.
• Fixed a glow under the shroud when a castle is under siege
• Kyoto has an additional defence bonus in the autoresolver
• Improved defensive behaviour of single-region clans when building up forces to attack
• Improved force conglomeration when pulling in defensive forces from distant regions
• Fixed Bribe and Demoralise action-usage
• Fixed naval-repair behaviour
• Fixed minor clan alliance-breaking behaviour
• Fixed a number of issues that may lead to corrupted save games
• Fixed a number of AI-recoverable lockup issues
• Fixed number of AI/model positional inconsistencies
• Some efficiency improvements
• Fixed case where ninjas could end up standing on top of each other
• Fixed issue with not being able to back out of a sally-out attack
• Fixed issue with not being able to withdraw from an attack against an army that is standing very close to a castle (but not besieging) when the attacking army is inside that castle
• Fixed various issues with agents remaining in castles or armies they shouldn't be in after creating a vassal or bribing an army or castle
• Fixed AI lockup involving agents attempting to join a force that already contains three characters
• Fixed not being able to issue an order to blockade a port when the cursor was over a navy inside that port
• Fixed rare crash in recruitment system where armies could end up with the wrong unit leading the force
• Fixed issue with being unable to issue orders to agents inside a castle
• Improved recruit-to-general performance, especially when clan has a very large number of regions
• Sabotage Building action now applies a varying amount of damage linked to the ninja’s skill
• Fixed rare bug of a new Daimyo spawning a castle where a battle had just occurred, forcing the battle to be fought again
• Fixed spawned Ashikaga clan armies appearing on top of Ninjas
• Agents can no longer be recruited within besieged settlements
• Reinstated missing realm-divide event-log entry
• Fixed generals defecting to Wako or European Traders
• Fixed issue with AI not correctly issuing Demoralise and Bribe orders
• Fixed rare crash bug where merge-cursor would appear when the cursor was over a farm or special building, when the user had a navy with an agent onboard selected
• Fixed night battles being able to exclude a human player from participating in a battle
• Fixed lockup when carrying out a bribe action when another character is moving
• Building Sabotage events now show region name
• Fixed rare crash involving ambushers standing on top of each other
• Fixed Generals enlisted statistic so it takes into account generals acquired via dilemmas
• All newly recruited Geishas will be between 18 and 25 years of age
• Agent options dialogue no longer appears if the target army is in the same clan but already contains the maximum number of agents
• Removed gap in Agent Indicator flag on enemy army which signified Ninja presence
• Fixed bribed armies not ending their siege
• Fixed armies created via Incite Revolt appearing on top of the monk that incited the revolt
• Fixed rare crash in matched animations on campaign map

Units

• Removed passive ‘encourage friendly morale’ bonus from General’s units
• Increased flanking morale-penalties
• Changed casualty morale-penalties to be smaller at low casualty levels, and higher at large casualty levels
• Reduced siege-unit accuracy
• Increased detonation-radius on fire rockets
• Inspire ability bonus to morale reduced to 10 from 12
• Inspire ability bonus to accuracy reduced to 15 from 40
• Inspire ability bonus to reload reduced from 50 to 20
• Inspire ability bonus to melee attack reduced from 7 to 3
• Rapid Volley reload-rate bonus reduced from 70 to 30
• Whistling Arrow penalties to units reduced
• Fixed Hattori Daimyo's portrait in campaign
• Tweaked AI recruitment-priorities so more clan-specific units are recruited
• Added in missing bridge map from Iwami province
• Fixed errors with some Yari Ashigaru unit morale values, so clan specific versions now always have higher morale than generic versions

ADDITIONAL UPDATED INFO BELOW

Multiplayer-specific fixes

Unit costs

• Increased multiplayer costs of Cannon bune and Nihon Maru to 4000 and 5000
• Morale for Warrior Monks reduced by 2
• Naginata Warrior Monks melee attack reduced by 3
• Bow Cavalry cost reduced to 650
• Katana Cavalry cost reduced to 800
• Yari Cavalry cost increased to 850
• Fire Projecting Mangonels cost increased to 1500
• Fire Rockets cost increased to 1800
• European Cannons cost increased to 1500

Gameplay

• 14k is now the maximum fund bracket for matchmade battles
• Reduced siege unit accuracy
• Inspire ability bonus to morale reduced to 10 from 12
• Inspire ability bonus to accuracy reduced to 15 from 40
• Inspire ability bonus to reload reduced from 50 to 20
• Inspire ability bonus to melee attack reduced from 7 to 3
• Whistling Arrow penalties to units reduced
• All siege maps: Defender has 60% of funds instead of 50%

General

• Removed passive encourage friendly morale bonus from generals units
• Increased flanking morale penalties
• Changed casualty morale penalties to be smaller at low casualty levels and higher at large casualty levels
• Increased detonation radius on fire rockets
• Rapid volley reload rate bonus reduced from 70 to 30

Bugs

• Alt-F4 problem fixed. When any player disconnects from a matchmade battle, they will accrue a loss regardless of whether they are the host, or not. The player disconnecting will also suffer a 5% penalty on their ELO rating. The player not disconnecting will receive a win. It is, however, possible that wins accrued in this way will not update correctly on the leaderboard and avatar stats. All other gains from the win do work (eg unlocking of units, clan points, ELO skill rating etc)

• Enemy avatar customisations are now viewable in battle
• Bug where team matchmade battles always use small funds has been fixed
• Veteran unit speed upgrades are now working
• The ‘Hold firm’ clan speciality has been fixed
• The ‘Scares enemies’ clan speciality has been fixed
• Bug where matchmade battles sometimes result in incorrect battle type has been fixed
• Occasional soft lock in ‘opponent found, arranging battle’ has been fixed
• Various fixes to the matchmaking system and networking code
• Ability to delete hero units has been removed.
• Ability to clone veteran units has been fixed
• Bug where players randomly drop ELO points has been fixed

Bonus extras

4 new multiplayer maps:

• Aki
• Hida Mountain
• Flood Plains
• Sanriku Ria

Total War

Black Ops Escalation DLC Videos

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Fri, 6 May 2011 21:52:00 -0700

Black Ops Escalation DLC: Zoo and Hotel Maps Gameplay OFFICIAL

Call of Duty Black Ops Inside Xbox CALL OF THE DEAD Gameplay

Mass Effect 3: Beautiful new screens show intense combat, dramatic staring, Shepard's big butt

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Fri, 6 May 2011 21:43:00 -0700

Mass Effect 3 then. Exciting? Yes. Pretty? Definitely. We know that latter point as fact because of this fat slab of new screens that have appeared from Russian site Igromania. Showing off some tight close-quarters combat, they also feature some beautiful environments and the mandatory dramatic, reflective staring required for the third part of any epic trilogy.

Oh, and a bad dude gets Shepard's butt shoved right in his face.

Rockstar announces L.A. Noire pulp short story series

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Fri, 6 May 2011 21:38:00 -0700

Between the much-lauded facial modeling and meticulously-recreated L.A. of 1947, Rockstar's upcoming L.A. Noire puts a clear premium on realism. But from day one, the title's been sold just as strongly on its inspiration from the crime fiction of authors like Raymond Chandler and James Ellroy, with the latter's L.A. Confidential cited as a particularly strong influence. So what better way to promote the title than with a line of authentically pulpy short stories from a few contemporary crime authors?
L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories will be released sequentially on the L.A. Noire website and then as an ebook by Mulholland Books. The stories include contributions from Batman contributor Andrew Vachss and Pulitzer nominee Joyce Carol Oates, whose story puts a new spin on the notorious Black Dahlia case previously covered in Ellroy's own novel of the same name. Rockstar stresses that these aren't your bog-standard novelizations: the titles expand on the world of the game, weaving characters and cases from the title into new stories.
The first story is excerpted on Rockstar's site now – but if you ain't no fan of all them fancy book-words, head over to the coming soon gallery for a look at the covers, which are pretty gorgeous all on their own. The complete collection will be released on June 6, once you've had a couple weeks within the game itself.

THQ talks Homefront DLC, uDraw ports and profitable 2012 line-up

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Fri, 6 May 2011 21:33:00 -0700

THQ's investor calls are always good for a few newsworthy nuggets, and yesterday's fourth quarter 2011 chat led by CEO Brian Farrell lived up to this reputation by revealing details of the publisher's plans for future Homefront DLC, uDraw ports and a strong 2012 lineup.

Among the call's highlights was the news Homefront had exceeded THQ's expectations, selling over 2.6 million copies across the globe since its launch in March. Farrell said he expected this number to cross the 3 million mark in its lifetime, noting, "It's clearly a hit franchise we can build on going forward."

Farrell also touched on THQ's plans to release a Homefront multiplayer demo sometime in the near future, along with DLC for the FPS within the six months, adding, “This digital plan is an example of what we intend to do with all of our key core games going forward...Build a digital ecosystem after the launch of the retail game to continue to engage our consumers and generate revenue."

Alternate reality shooters aside, it was revealed that THQ hugely popular art title for the Wii, uDraw, will be coming to both the PS3 and Xbox 360 in time for the holidays. The port will ship with tablets that will be "slimmer, sleeker, and designed with the HD customer in mind".

In slightly less brag-worthy news, Farrell reported the company ended its fiscal year in March with a loss of $136.1 million on $665.3 million in revenue, and it's first three months of 2011 had made $44.1 million less compared to the revenue reported during same period in 2010. Switching to spin mode, Farrell ensured investors THQ's future lineup stands a good chance of making up for lost profit, explaining, “We expect to generate significant growth, profitability and cash in fiscal 2012, driven by the latest installments of multi-million unit selling franchises Saints Row, Red Faction, Warhammer 40,000, MX vs. ATV, WWE and uDraw.”

THQ previously announced it had acquired publishing rights for Voltron and a number of Mattel properties; two more brands that should contribute to better numbers for the publisher's next quarterly call.

Nintendo's E3 lineup full of games by western developers

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Fri, 6 May 2011 21:27:00 -0700

Nintendo's E3 presence will have more western games than usual, says company president, Satoru Iwata. “I feel that it will become necessary to reinforce the development resources in the foreign countries. Therefore, I hope we will be able to show you something like that at E3,” said Iwata at an investor briefing last week.

Those western games could be for the 3DS or Nintendo's new console, which Nintendo plans to unveil at the trade show. Iwata's comments on the state of Nintendo's third-party partners seem to indicate that many of these western titles will be for the new home console. “Of course, we would like to cooperate with software developers for Wii's successor, and as I am repeatedly saying, I don't believe Nintendo can carry out everything alone. I am saying that we are responsible for building up the market, but I don't think that Nintendo can maintain the market alone; We are aiming for creating a situation where software publishers will be willing to cooperate,” said Iwata.
Iwata also commented on the online capabilities of the new system, and implied that Nintendo was seeking outside help in that area. “(Nintendo) would like to clearly differentiate what is our true strength from what we can basically do by ourselves but can be done better by more skillful outside specialists in order not to fall into that trap again. You may be aware of some features which I am implying now in relation to the future developments of Nintendo 3DS and Wii’s successor system that we announced yesterday.”

WoW sells pet for Japan relief

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Fri, 6 May 2011 21:24:00 -0700

While the quake and tsunami that hit Japan in March has faded from the news cycle, many of the disaster's victims are still struggling. Blizzard hasn't forgotten. 100% of the proceeds from the newest critter in the WoW pet store, the Cenarion Hatchling, will go to the American Red Cross's Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami relief effort.

This particular pet is a twin of the rare Hippogryph Hatchling pet that players could obtain in the World of Warcraft collectible card game. However, you won't have to spend hundreds of dollars on cardboard in order to procure the Cenarion- the $10 adoption fee will suffice.

Sony PlayStation Network Hacker Hunt Taps Top Cyber-Sleuths

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Thu, 5 May 2011 18:47:00 -0700

As Sony works to restore service to its 77 million PlayStation Network customers and its 25 million Sony Online Entertainment customers, the company has brought in top brass to track down the hacker (or hackers) responsible for the outage.

Sony said on Tuesday that experts in consulting and digital forensics will aid the FBI in the investigation at Sony's San Diego data center, from which the hackers swiped users' personal information.

According to Reuters, Sony's for-hire detectives hail from Guidance Software, Protiviti and Data Forte.

The investigators may have made some headway so far.

Sarah Michelle Gellar, George Romero and More Star In The New Zombie Map ‘Call of the Dead’ In Call of Duty: Black Ops

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Tue, 3 May 2011 11:51:00 -0700

Well now we know why the new zombie map was kept so hush, hush when it came to promoting the new Map Pack, Escalation for Call of Duty: Black Ops. Apparently Director, George Romero, Robert Englund, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Michael Rooker and Danny Trejo are all slated to star in the new zombie map entitled ‘Call of the Dead’. It is part of the next map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops along with four other maps with the pack being called ‘Escalation’. The level is a tribute from developers Treyarch to George A. Romero who brought us Zombies for possibly one of the very first times with the classic films such as Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. Even Michelle Gellar is lending her talent to the level with the past TV hit vampire series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Freddy Kruger himself, Robert Englund is even a part of the project as well as more. The Black Ops Map Pack ‘Escalation’ Releases on May 3rd, 2011 exclusively for the Xbox 360 for one month. There will be four multiplayer maps including Zoo, Stockpile, Convoy, Hotel and of course the now fifth infamous Zombie map Call of the Dead. View the full Press Release below.

SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) and Treyarch revealed today that famed horror and action stars Robert Englund, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Michael Rooker and Danny Trejo have joined the cast of Call of Duty®: Black Ops Escalation’s zombie level, Call of the Dead. The Call of the Dead zombie level and four all new multiplayer maps make up the second content pack, Escalation, for the record-setting game Call of Duty: Black Ops, launching first on Xbox LIVE® on May 3rd. Dedicated to creating a Zombie experience like never before, the Call of the Dead storyline is inspired by none other than legendary horror writer and director, George A. Romero, who also stars as himself in the new level.
“Our latest zombie creation, Call of the Dead, is unreal!” says Mark Lamia, Studio Head of Treyarch. “We set out to create an exciting new zombie experience for fans of the genre that takes Zombies to an insane new level.”
“This is Treyarch’s tribute to the legendary George Romero, who truly defined the zombie genre and whose incredible work has been such an inspiration to our team,” says Dave Anthony, Call of Duty: Black Ops Director. ”It was an absolute honor to work with such an amazing and talented cast whose passion and energy brought their characters instantly to life. Fans are going to love this.”
In addition to George A. Romero, whose credits include Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Land of the Dead, he is joined by Sarah Michelle Gellar, whose credits include the hit TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Cruel Intentions; Robert Englund, best known for originating the role of Freddy Krueger in the successful Nightmare on Elm Street franchise; Michael Rooker, most recently acclaimed for his work on AMC’s horror drama The Walking Dead; and Danny Trejo, who starred in 2010′s action-thriller Machete.
Published by Activision and developed by Treyarch, Call of Duty: Black Ops is rated “M” (Mature) by the ESRB for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence and Strong Language. Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation content pack will launch first on Xbox LIVE on May 3rd. For additional Call of Duty updates and information, visit us on the web at www.callofduty.com/blackops, www.facebook.com/codblackops, and also via Twitter @Treyarch.
About Activision Publishing, Inc.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.
Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website, www.activision.com.
Call of Duty and Activision are registered trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.
SOURCE Activision Publishing, Inc.

Call of Duty Black Ops Perks, Emblem Editor, Character Customization, Equipment, Guns, and Much More

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Tue, 3 May 2011 11:43:00 -0700

A Call of Duty Black Ops News Video that goes over :

Black Ops Perks,
Black Ops Emblem Editor
Black Ops Character Customization
Black Ops Equipment,
Black Ops Guns & more!

Call of Duty: Black Ops Getting a Mod Tool Set

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Tue, 3 May 2011 11:39:00 -0700

Treyarch is aiming to bring a set of mod tools to create your own maps and more soon. This will obviously only be for the PC version of the and is most likely in response to the fact the Modern Warfare 2 never received that kind of support that PC gamers love. It is roughly set to get here this May says a Treyarch developer.

FREE Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation DLC Map Pack

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Mon, 2 May 2011 18:46:00 -0700

Win Great Prizes
4x FREE Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation DLC Map Pack

1. press like button on Facebook
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A4Games

Official “Call of the Dead” Black Ops Movie Poster

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Mon, 2 May 2011 18:17:00 -0700

There’s a zombie killer in all of us.
To honor the Hollywood Style that has attached itself to the “Call of the Dead” zombies mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation, Treyarch has released a movie themed poster for the map pack. The DLC is set to launch on May 3rd on the Xbox 360 and will run you the standard 1200 Microsoft points to access the content.
Have a look.

Our First Look at Escalation's Multiplayer Maps

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Mon, 2 May 2011 12:47:00 -0700

Treyarch released our first look into the multiplayer maps that are set to launch in the Escalation map pack on May 3rd, first on Xbox Live.

The video shows us what to expect from Zoo, Convoy, Hotel and Stockpile along with some really great insight from a wider array of Treyarch personnel. Traditionally, we hear from the same couple people in Treyarch released videos but this time around we get to see a few unfamiliar faces which is nice.

Take a look below:

We'll have coverage and more info as we move closer to May 3rd so be sure to stick around! We're expecting a separate reveal for the new Zombies map, Call of the Dead, since we didn't get a chance to see anything in this preview.

Will Black Ops Ever Get an MLG Playlist?

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Mon, 2 May 2011 12:44:00 -0700

Major League Gaming is increasing in popularity and user base rapidly, particularly in the Call of Duty universe. Something that the MLG communitiy has been asking for is a dedicated MLG playlist that accommodates the League rules and requirements.
David Vonderhaar, more commonly known as Vahn, is Black Ops' Design Director for multiplayer. Vahn recently had a beautifully detailed post on the official Call of Duty message board, discussing what an MLG playlist requires from a designers perspective and what Treyarch can and cannot do.
Take a look at some snippets from the lengthy post and hit the source link at the bottom to read the full post.
Last weekend I attended my first MLG Pro Series event in Dallas, Texas. At that event, and via Twitter, many MLG players asked me about the possibility of an MLG playlist. I've been thinking about what this means at a design and technical level.
Not everything the MLG has in its rules are enforceable at a playlist level. In fact, most are not.
Some fans of the game assume "anything" is possible in a playlist. This isn't accurate. While many things are possible, many more are not. At least they are not without some significant engineering work. The more engineering (coding) required the more risky the change is. The more risky the change is the less likely we are to want to do it.
Settings - All Games
• Hardcore Mode = Disabled
• Allow Killcam = Enabled
• Headshots Only = Disabled
• Allow Sprint = Enabled
• Force Respawn = Enabled
• Wave Spawn Delay = None
• Max Health = Normal
• Health Regen = Normal
• Spectating = Team Only
• Friendly Fire = Enabled
• Class Editor = Allow Player Classes
• Killstreak Editor = Don't Allow Killstreaks
• Perk Editor = Allow Perks
• Game Recording = Enabled
• Party Privacy = Closed
Most of these can be enforced at a playlist level, but not all. It's not technically prudent to build a full "MLG Playlist" that echoes a changing set of rules for a specific league. The MLG isn't the only competitive league. It's just the one I have some (limited) firsthand experience with. MLG players are a micro fraction of our audience. Any MLG playlist would have lower user counts. I don't care about that all that much. Bringing exposure to professional competitive gaming and growing the Black Ops participating in it is my motivation.
For the full post, including a rule-by-rule breakdown of what a Black Ops playlist can and cannot do to support MLG, head to the source link below.

Inside Xbox: Call of Duty Black Ops Escalation Map Pack, Call of the Dead

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Mon, 2 May 2011 12:38:00 -0700

The team over at Inside Xbox had a chance to put together an insiders look at Call of the Dead, the hotly anticipated new Zombies map in Black Ops' upcoming DLC, Escalation.

Escalation features four new multiplayer maps and of course, the new Zombies experience Call of the Dead.

Black Ops Receives All-Star Cast for 'Call of the Dead' Zombies Map

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Sun, 1 May 2011 16:43:00 -0700

Treyarch and Activision have really outdone themselves with this one. Like they've really outdone themselves.
The team is set to launch the latest DLC add-on for Black Ops, Escalation, on May 3rd but until now, they've been pretty quiet about the Zombies map, Call of the Dead. Today, however, they lifted the lid on the project and we are definitely impressed by what we're seeing.
'Call of the Dead' will feature a stunning cast of characters, voice acted and motion captured by Robert Englund (best known as Freddy Krueger), Michael Rooker (from The Walking Dead), Danny Trejo (most recently from Machete) and Sarah Michelle Gellar.
To top it all off, the story behind Call of the Dead was inspired by legendary film director George Romero, who also stars in the level as himself.

Treyarch have really put together a Zombie experience here that fans of the genre will be blown away by. Escalation launches on May 3rd, first on Xbox Live - followed up on PlayStation Network and PC soon after.

Sony: Credit card numbers were encrypted, PSN restored 'when we are confident the network is secure'

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 20:14:00 -0700

On Tuesday, Sony revealed that the personal information of PSN account holders, possibly even including credit card numbers, was compromised by an illegal intrusion to the network. Sr. Communication Director Patrick Seybold's latest post regarding the disaster (shit storm, cluster shart, etc.) features a substantial Q&A which addresses many of the concerns voiced after the previous announcement.

In the post, Seybold states that all credit card information stored by Sony is encrypted, and that "there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken." Additionally, even if credit card data was retrieved, Seybold states that Sony did not store credit card security codes (CVC numbers).

In regards to Sony's current plans, it is currently "working closely with a recognized technology security firm and law enforcement in order to find those responsible for this criminal act no matter where in the world they might be located," and still plans to have "some services" back online within a week from yesterday.

First Portal 2 DLC announced, will be free

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 20:08:00 -0700

Boo-hoooo, Portal 2 is too short. Well guess what, punks? Valve is releasing free DLC this summer, that's what. Just go ahead and ignore that '5 reasons to hate' article...
The first Portal 2 DLC will feature "new test chambers for players, leaderboards, challenge mode for single and multiplayer modes, and more," and will be released free for all platforms. No specific release date has been set, but Valve says that the DLC is "in development" and targeted for this summer.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation Map Pack Screenshots Revealed

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:09:00 -0700

Treyarch, today, released a nice batch of screenshots from the upcoming map pack, Escalation. We're really looking forward to spending some time with these maps, but in the mean time, it's nice to be able to see some high resolution screenshots.
Take a look at a few below, and hit the source link at the bottom for the full batch from Treyarch.

Convoy

Hotel

Zoo

Stockpile

New Battlefield 3 video teases 'full trailer,' kills us with anticipation

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 10:44:00 -0700

Today's new Battlefield 3 trailer, dubbed 'My Life,' largely contains footage from the previous three 'Fault Line' trailers. At the end of the video, however, we're treated to several glimpses of "oh shit" meant to promote the full trailer. Want to see the full trailer? Well, you can't just yet. We reported yesterday that the 12-minute promotional epic will be released after it receives one million 'likes' on its Facebook page.

There may not be much in this video that we haven't seen, but it should at least convince a few more to buy into the promotional stunt and just get to liking. Here stills of the final few flashes:

12 Players Crysis 2 game server is online

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 07:42:00 -0700

server name A4Games

Crysis 2

12 Players, Amsterdam,NL 173.199.109.163:64000

buy Crysis 2

Critics: Crysis 2 is “one of the best-looking games ever”

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Tue, 5 Apr 2011 09:46:00 -0700

Sci-fi shooter Crysis was a PC exclusive back in 2007, famed for stretching the platform to its limits with its class-leading graphics. Indeed, running it with its visual fidelity maxed out is a challenge for even today’s top-of-the-line hardware.
Its sequel releases this week, but this time it’s not just for those with pricey PC rigs: both Xbox 360 owners and PS3 fans can now enjoy what’s been hailed as one of the most graphically-advanced video games ever made. If you believe the hype, Crysis 2’s optimized engine will deliver all the bells and whistles of the original game, plus a few extras, all somehow shoehorned onto a five-year-old, $200 game console rather than a brand new, $1500 PC.
Big talk, but can the game actually live up to that promise? According to critics, quite possibly.
Says Games Radar’s Matthew Keast, “We’re calling it now: Crysis 2 is possibly the best-looking console game ever. It’s not leaps and bounds ahead of other graphical heavyweights, but it’s probably just a bit more polished, a bit more detailed… and yet running at a very respectable framerate...we didn’t believe it could be done, but now there’s no question the tech is a success.“
Calling it the “most beautiful” first-person shooter built around an alien invasion, Joystiq’s Randy Nelson was just as impressed. Crysis 2 ditches the original game’s rather anonymous jungle setting for something entirely more familiar -- the streets of New York City -- and the new environment is a hit.
“Its depiction of a disaster-ravaged New York City is the stuff of Hollywood blockbusters,” says Nelson, “with layer upon layer of impressive visual effects, animations and large-scale destruction.” Even if you’ve never been to NYC, you’ll recognize plenty of sights, though the game’s one-two punch of a killer virus and an alien invasion may not exactly have left them in prime condition.
Not just a pretty face, Crysis 2’s gameplay is coming in for a creditable amount of praise, too -- although it’s largely for the game’s high-tech, gadget-packed “nanosuit" the players get to control, and not so much its storyline. Still, in single-player its smart enemy soldiers put up a good fight, and in multiplayer, its broad range of Call of Duty-style unlockable content surprised many reviewers with its depth.
And the verdict? Judging by Metacritic’s averages, it’s scoring in the high 80s; that’s enough to set it alongside EA’s Dead Space 2 as the best-received action game of the year so far. High praise for any game -- and doubly impressive for this studio’s console debut.

New Mass Effect 3 details coming next month

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 07:29:00 -0700

We don't know much about Mass Effect 3 yet, but it appears that BioWare is about ready to spill the beans - multiple game magazines are teasing a big reveal in their next issues.

The most direct teaser comes from PSM3 magazine in the UK, which unequivocally promises a "world-first look at Mass Effect 3 on PS3" in the next print of the publication set to hit newsstands on April 28.

Other mags are getting in on the action too, though they're being a bit more subtle. For example, the French Official PlayStation Magazine teases a "long overdue" look at an upcoming title, assumed to be the new Mass Effect.

In the US, Game Informer's most recent edition entices readers to buy the next issue for details on a "highly anticipated" sequel to a game from 2010. Gotta be Mass Effect 3.

This will be the first new Mass Effect title since BioWare took the series cross-platform to the PS3. ME3 will be released on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC simultaneously, making it the furthest-reaching launch for the franchise to date.

Third Battlefield 3 gameplay trailer arrives with explosives, fists, and flying debris

a4games@gmail.com (A4Games.us [Special Force]) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 07:25:00 -0700

The third episode of the Battlefield 3 'Fault Line' series of gameplay trailers has been released (see the other two here). The trailer begins with the disarming of an IED and a quick time fight (which reveals that this is PC footage), and concludes with another street battle and the now iconic BVVVVVGHTTT. We hadn't noticed until now that the HUD shakes around when firing - neat.