XYDO.COM: Video Games

8-Bit Kabuki Theater Visits the Second Day of Blip Fest 2012 [Video]

Saturday evenings, either by design or accident, is when the biggest "holy shit?!" moments go down at Blip Festival. Last night, day two of Blip Fest 2012, continued the traditional and then some. More »

Activision paid Infinity Ward over $493 million in bonuses since 2003

Hard numbers are starting to come out of the Activision v. Infinity Ward case as things continue to ramp up towards the actual trial, which is currently slated to take place next month. Specifically, Activision revealed during a hearing last Friday that it has paid out in excess of $493 million in bonuses to Infinity Ward, a figure that includes the $42 million payout that occurred earlier this month, according to Polygon.That $439 million encompasses all bonuses paid out to Infinity Ward since the original Call of Duty launched in 2003. To date, IW has been granted bonuses for games it was directly involved with as a studio, as well as games that used its tech and the Call of Duty IP, like the Treyarch-developed Call of Duty: World at War.Attorneys for former IW heads Vince Zampella and Jason West argued that the ex-Infinity Ward employee group is also owed its share of "launch quarter" bonuses from the release of Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3, a point that Activision obviously disagrees with.Activision paid Infinity Ward over $493 million in bonuses since 2003 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 27 May 2012 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

Minecraft Breaks Call of Duty's Grip Atop Xbox Live's Chart [Minecraft]

In news certain to delight indie games fans, Minecraft has done something that has not been seen in a long time—knock a Call of Duty game out of the top two on the Xbox 360's most-played list. More »

The Gamification of Hiring

First time accepted submitter funge writes "The Economist has an article on Work and play: The gamification of hiring about a start-up that lets you play games to show off your talents to prospective employers. From the article: 'The rules of Happy Hour are deceptively simple. You are a bartender. Your challenge is to tell what sort of drink each of a swelling mob of customers wants by the expressions on their faces. Then you must make and serve each drink and wash each used glass, all within a short period of time. Play this video game well and you might win a tantalizing prize: a job in the real world.'" Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Sunday Comics: Dead Island [Funnies]

Welcome to your Sunday read of the week's best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic. More »

Lego Batman 2: Superheroes unite - but is there anything new to say?

Eleven games in, it's time to call Superman The Danish LEGO factory spits out 1.7 million bricks every hour. It's an impressive feat almost matched by the frequency of Traveller's Tales' tie-in games. Not counting the Rock Band variant, we're now approaching the eleventh licensed LEGO game in seven years, and there's little wonder why the British studio is so prolific: even though the games have been universally great, they're mostly new skins painted onto pieces popped from the moulds constructed back in2005 for the first LEGO Star Wars.Click here to read the full articleRelated StoriesE3 2012's Most Anticipated: DishonoredSniper Ghost Warrior 2: Crytek-powered shooter takes aim at Call of DutyEpic Mickey 2: Why the daddy of Deus Ex is busy making history

Radeon HD 7970M Review

While NVIDIA's new Kepler architecture takes possession of the performance crown in the desktop arena, the outlook is somewhat different in laptop territory. Here, AMD currently rules supreme with its Radeon HD 7970M mobile graphics core - a piece of technology important for a number of reasons. Firstly, it's powerful enough to handle some of the most advanced DirectX 11 titles at high frame-rates and extreme resolutions. Secondly, the size of the silicon and the power it requires potentially makes the 7970M a viable contender for a next-gen console graphics solution. First up, let's talk about the laptop hosting this formidable kit. Supplied by Alienware, the new R4 revision of the M17x features a chassis that is superficially identical to the one used for the R3 model we reviewed a couple of months ago. It's a solid foundation which evidently didn't need much tweaking in terms of finish; the backlit keyboard, 17-inch LCD, and wide spread of connections (including optical out from a new Sound Blaster Recon3Di sound card) embed cleanly into a sturdy, rubberised matte exterior, with glossy flourishes for the two front speakers and its palm rest. For a laptop set in this higher price bracket, it looks the part in its own stylised way, and is reassuringly resilient to downward pressure during gameplay. But, of course, it's under the bonnet that we see the more radical changes. To begin with, the existing 32nm Sandy Bridge Intel CPU has been ousted in favour of an 22nm Ivy Bridge equivalent, offering a small but useful bump in performance, improved battery life (particularly at full load, not so much at idle) and a far superior Intel HD4000 integrated GPU. This stands in as an energy-efficient graphics output for general use, such as web browsing or watching video, though the Switchable Graphics controls ensure you won't be using it for actual gaming so long as the 7970M is active. Read more…

Mills And More HD Screens

2 new shots posted. Get the full article at GameSpot "Battle Ludo Online Screens" was posted on Sat, 26 May 2012 17:03:22 -0700

Mills And More HD Screens

5 new shots posted. Get the full article at GameSpot "Mills And More HD Screens" was posted on Sat, 26 May 2012 17:06:36 -0700

Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is a stranger in a strange land

It's been quite a week, my friends. Not only is this my first ever Webcomic Wrapup, but I've been a member of Joystiq's staff for a mere ten days. In ten days, a lot can happen. Just this week, we witnessed the closure of 38 Studios and Big Huge Games. It was a spectacular mess.From the news came an unbelievable public outcry. The hashtag "#38jobs" began trending across the United States on Twitter. Facebook pages, websites, and Google docs sprang up, all bellowing support for those in the industry that lost their jobs this week in the form of open job postings.Meanwhile, I had the privilege of watching the Joystiq team document the entire disaster. In a word, it was humbling. I feel honored to be a part of this team and deliver content to you, the readers. We so easily forget that in the land of video games, there is a significant impact on the well-being of families, and the reporting of news deserves an equal touch of care.Likewise, a giggle here or there is important. I encourage you to check out last week's webcomics and vote for your favorite after the break to get those giggles in.Subprime Loans (Virtual Shackles)You Got It (Nerf NOW!!)Paynefully Subtle (No Cash Value)Luigi's Mansion 2 (Game Over Nation)Track and Field (Blow the Cartridge)I know what I have to do (Magical Game Time)Continue reading Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is a stranger in a strange landWeekly Webcomic Wrapup is a stranger in a strange land originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 26 May 2012 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

Dungeons & Dragons Next Playtest Released

New submitter thuf1rhawat writes "For a certain type of geek, nothing is more important than Dungeons & Dragons. In January, Wizards of the Coast announced that the next iteration of the game (referred to as D&D Next) was under development, and now they've released an open playtest. They hope to gather as much player feedback as possible to help refine the new rules." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Shitbird Comes Home to Roost After Blip Fest's First Day [Video]

Blip Fest 2K12 is officially in effect. As previously noted, we'll have a nice and meaty rundown once the dust has settled. But for those who have not purchased their tickets yet, or simply cannot attend for whatever reason, here's a small sampling of how night one shaped up. More »

See a Sleek Sly Cooper Slink Around on the PS Vita [Video]

Last week, Sanzaru Games, the maker of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time said the game would also release on the PlayStation Vita at the same time it arrives for the PS3. This video from the PlayStation Blog sheds more light on what that will mean. More »

GameStop touts Android tablets at 1,600 stores

It seems as though GameStop’s bold move to begin offering Android tablets alongside its traditional packed shelves of traditional console and handheld video games may be working out in its favor. The retailer has gone from a bunch of test stores to now selling Android devices in no fewer than 1,600 locations. Among the tablets that the #1 US games retailer sells are those from Acer, Asus, Samsung, and Toshiba. To tailor the offerings to its gamer constituency, GameStop pre-loads each Android tablet it sells with the Sonic CD and Riptide downloadable games, as well as the Kongregate Arcade app. Kongregate is a cloud-based game service that GameStop acquires in its effort to expand its horizons beyond the traditional gaming model. GameStop has also begun selling iPads and iPod Touch devices throughout the country. It’s part of the retailer’s growing realization that the gaming industry is changing, and in order for it to remain profitable it has to adapt its business model as well. For example, the retailer sells downloadable content (DLC) in stores, even though gamers can just as easily purchase the content directly through their console. But this allows consumers to use cash, trade-in credit, or gift cards as opposed to a credit card, giving GameStop a unique position in the digital content market. [via Gamezone] GameStop touts Android tablets at 1,600 stores is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear. © 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Nvidia demos upcoming Hawken mech game using cloud graphics (video)

Hawken is one of the highly anticipated free-to-play downloadable games coming this fall. Graphics chip maker Nvidia showed a demo of the online mech-combat title today in order to demonstrate its cloud graphics technology. Jen-Hsun Huang (pictured below), chief executive of Nvidia, and Gaikai (cloud gaming platform) chief executive David Perry showed how someone playing the game on a high-end PC could square off against someone with a relatively weak machine. They showed the game at the GPU Tech conference last week, and Huang demonstrated it again at Nvidia’s analyst meeting (where I saw it). The demo is very impressive considering Hawken is not a disk-based game. The cloud-based technology will make it work easier and better for players who don’t have awesome gaming hardware. “What is more fun than a mech first-person shooter?” Huang asked. The game is sort of like Call of Duty meets Mech Warrior and has players dueling each other in a ruined city. They stomp around in giant robotic suits that can shoot a chain gun or missiles. In the video, you can see that the action is fast and furious. It has pretty good visual quality for a downloadable first-person shooter. With cloud technology, Hawken has the potential to reach a lot more users than it otherwise could alone. The investors include Benchmark Capital and FirstMark Capital, the same investors who backed the highly successful Riot Games, maker of League of Legends (a downloadable web game that was so popular that China’s Tencent bought Riot for more than $400 million last year). Hawken is being developed by Adhesive Games, a small team in Alhambra, Calif. It will be published by its parent company, Meteor Entertainment, which is headed by chief executive Mark Long and has staff in Seattle. Meteor Entertainment recently raised $10 million in a bid to complete the funding of the downloadable online game. The team previously worked on a game development team called Offset Software that was working on a fantasy action game known as Project Offset. Intel acquired the company because it needed a team of game makers to create software to run on its Larrabee multi-core graphics chip, which was intended to be the heart of a video game console. Intel had a deal in place to make the chip, but the project ran off schedule, and Intel ultimately canceled it. After that, founder Khang Le left and recruited former team members to begin work on Hawken, starting in 2010. They continued the work without funding as a labor of love. Here’s a video that shows what the game play looks like, as demonstrated by Huang at Nvidia’s GPU Tech conference last week. The Hawken demo starts about three minutes into the video. Filed under: games

SlashGear Weekly Wrap-Up: May 26, 2012

Happy Saturday, everyone. Are you enjoying your holiday weekend so far? Hopefully you are, but if you want to take a moment to familiarize yourself with what made news this week, this is the place to be. First off, something for Apple fans – Apple’s Ive gets second knighting and a iPhone tease. For something a little more business-oriented, we have HP’s Q2 2012 earnings. And here’s a symbol to how the industry is changing these days - Toshiba discontinuing netbooks in the US. Featured: Here are some of this week’s featured stories:Bump for iOS reviewDiablo III review part I: your quest beginsRAMRod Powerbox gaming PC with RAMDisk reviewSamsung Smart TV voice gesture and face recognition hands-onSony Xperia U reviewMen in Black 3 VFX pros describe an onion of imaginationGoogle search 2.0 for iPhone and iPad reviewWhat Google won’t do with Motorola Other Stuff: Moving on to the other stories of the week. First off, Jury says Google doesn’t infringe on Oracle patents. And onto news about companies bungling their big opportunities, Facebook wants to ditch Nasdaq after IPO fiasco. And next, – Google+ for Android updated, new UI and mobile hangout control. And finally, we always like to end the week with something different and fascinating. This fits the bill pretty well – SpaceX mission makes history, docking successful. SlashGear Weekly Wrap-Up: May 26, 2012 is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear. © 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Live from MCM

Watch our live stream to get the latest from the MCM Expo. Get the full article at GameSpot "Live from MCM" was posted on Sat, 26 May 2012 02:51:08 -0700

The Best of Kotaku, This Week [Kotaku Round-up]

I've featured deviantART user wazzy88 here on Kotaku before. But, being a huge fan of Wall-E, I couldn't help but feature his Pokéball work again. Wazzy88 has plenty of other half Pokémon, half other nerdy things that I also enjoy up on his deviantART page that you should check out. More »

I Don't Know What the Hell is Going on With These Guys, But I Like it [Fine Art]

Chinese artist Xi Zhang works for online gaming powerhouse Tencent. He's been in the video game business for nearly ten years now. More »

MechWarrior Tactics Screens

17 new shots posted. Get the full article at GameSpot "Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny Screens" was posted on Fri, 25 May 2012 15:36:01 -0700

Atlus Demon’s Souls servers will live after all

The North American servers for Atlus’s game Demon’s Souls will not shut down next week as previously announced. Instead, the company says it will continue to support online play for the niche PS3 game. Atlus is known for publishing games that no other company would dare bring to the US because they are very niche and appeal only to a small base of fans of Japanese RPGs. “We’re incredibly excited to be able to announce that the Demon’s Souls online experience will persist for a while longer. While it originally seemed as though it would be unfeasible for us to continue to sustain the servers, a number of developments have made it possible for us to continue to invest in and support our fans as they have continued to invest in and support us and Demon’s Souls,” said Atlus VP Tim Pivicny. The company had previously announced that it would shut down its servers in North America at the end of the month, May 31. “For all the gamers who have yet to discover the game’s amazing online experience, we’re happy to say you can still log on and find out why Demon’s Souls is still regarded by many as one of the finest games of all time,” Pivicny said. [via CVG] Atlus Demon’s Souls servers will live after all is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear. © 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Are You Game for Tetris: The Movie? [VIDEO]

They made a movie out of Battleship, right? So why not Tetris? That’s the plausible conceit behind this (unfortunately fake) trailer for a movie adaptation of the famed ’80s videogame. The plot seems to be that the game has gotten out of control and now giant versions of the game’s Tetriminos are dropping all over the world. Luckily, there’s a plucky hero on board to stop it. Seriously, though: Wouldn’t you see this movie? More About: Gaming, Tetris, videogames, viral videos

Are Porn and Video Games Ruining a Generation?

silentbrad writes "An editorial published at CNN is titled 'The Demise of Guys: How Videogames and Porn are Ruining a Generation.' It makes the sensationalized case that not only do game addiction and porn addiction share similar characteristics, but they're also both damaging to young men, destroying their ability to connect with women, and therefore threatening the future of our entire species. A response by IGN dissects the idea that pornography and videogames are pretty much the same thing. 'The article, by psychologist Philip G. Zimbardo and Nikita Duncan argues that young men are "hooked on arousal, sacrificing their schoolwork and relationships in the pursuit of getting a tech-based buzz."' Zimbardo, has danced this jig before. At the Long Beach TED conference last year he told a delighted audience that "guys are wiping out socially with girls and sexually with women." He added that young men have been so zombiefied by games and porn that they are unable to function in basic human interactions. "It's a social awkwardness like a stranger in a foreign land", he said. "They don't know what to say. They don't know what to do."'" Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Steve Jobs Would Have 'Lost His Mind' Over Siri, Former Employee Says

Recalling the MobileMe fiasco, a former Apple insider reportedly told Fortune that Steve Jobs would have gone ballistic over the lackluster functionality of Siri. A voice-activated assistant, Siri has been in beta for over half a year now, yet the service seems to be just as flawed as it has been on day one. That&rs... (read more)

Game|Life Podcast: Reporting From Inside The Skinner Box

Pictured: Simplified design document of Diablo III.Image: Wikimedia CommonsWe fall victim to operant conditioning in this episode of the Game|Life podcast. Specifically, we get into discussions about Diablo III and the way that the Facebook version of You Don’t Know Jack, currently in beta testing, lure you in and keep you playing. By “we” I mean myself and Wired senior editor Chris Baker. Everyone else is either on some kind of crazy bike trip or… probably also playing Diablo. Baker brings up his time with Max Payne 3, and we do a lot of chatting about Star Wars games. Finally, we close with some comments from Game|Life listeners. Last week, we introduced our call-in line where you can leave us voice or text messages that we may decide to read on the air, if we are feeling generous: 56 POW! GL FAN. Yes, that’s a phone number. Next week, we’ll be talking E3 predictions, so if you want to ask us a question or make your own prediction, call in. Game|Life’s podcast is posted on Fridays, is available on iTunes, can be downloaded directly and is embedded below. http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gamelifeaudio/gamelifereboot_031.mp3 GameLife Reboot: Episode 031 Subscribe to RSS feed Subscribe on iTunes http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gamelifeaudio/gamelifereboot_031.mp3

How Rooster Teeth Won The Internet With Red vs. Blue

A film-school dropout, Burns doesn?t have a degree in anything, but over the course of the last ten years he?s built a multimedia empire, adapting with the internet as it shifted and changed shape. The company produces one of the longest-running sci-fi shows ever, dominates Youtube (they were the 8th most popular non-music channel of 2011) and publishes the most-downloaded video game-focused podcast on iTunes.

Wired's 7 Favorite Star Wars Videogames

Wired editors name their personal favorite Star Wars videogames on the 35th anniversary of the original film.

Report: How Scammers Are Stealing Xbox Live Accounts, and the Few Things You Can Do to Protect Yourself [Xbox 360]

For months now, Xbox 360 owners have been complaining of a surge in account thefts, incidents when people wake up one day to find themselves no longer with access (or even possession) of their own Xbox Live accounts anymore. More »

First Look at a New Zone of the Enders Project [Breaking]

Tonight at an event for Zone of the Enders, game designer Hideo Kojima and his studios Kojima Productions announced that they were working on a new Z.O.E. project that currently has the working title of "Enders Project". More »

Sony Interested in Interrupting Your Gaming with Commercials [Ads]

Are commercial breaks something gamers in the future will have to deal with? According to a newly surfaced patent, they might. More »

How One Dying Man Found Solace In World Of Warcraft [World Of Warcraft]

I'm so used to mainstream coverage of video games being this terrible, moral panic inducing mess of hyperbole - so it's really refreshing to see a mainstream story about video games that showcases the massively positive influence games can have on our lives. More »

We Can Only Hope Next-Gen Street Fighter Looks This Good [Fine Art]

Loraine Howard III doesn't just have the best name of any artist we've featured here on our concept art spotlight, he also has some of the most impressive 3D work, headlined by the incredible Balrog you see up top. More »

Jimmy Pataya Screens

3 new shots posted. Get the full article at GameSpot "Jimmy Pataya Screens" was posted on Thu, 24 May 2012 17:13:10 -0700

The Creator of The Wire Says Buffy Was The Better Show [Open Thread]

Hello, Kotaku. Here again, an open thread with a focus: Last night was the Cos, tonight, it's Buffy vs. Omar! More »

Review: Max Payne 3 Has Enough Bullets For Everyone

<< Previous | Next >> << Previous | Next >>View all You know that thing that movies sometimes do, where one of the characters says the movie’s title, and everyone in the theater looks at each other and groans? Max Payne 3 does something like that 14 times. After every level, the chapter title appears in the air ominously, foreshadowing some quip that Payne will grunt after killing a few hundred gangsters. “It’s drive or shoot, sister.” Or, “A fat bald guy with a bad temper.” And sure enough, you know somebody’s sister is going to be driving or shooting next to a fat bald guy with a bad temper at some point or another during the chapter. It’s fitting, given the way the game presents itself. Payne is very much amused by his own observations; his self-reflective inner monologue is almost as sarcastic as it is omnipresent. When navigating from one firefight to another, you can be sure that Payne’s voice will pick up and ramble about the sorry mess he’s found himself in, or how he sure wishes he could have a drink or pop some pills right about now. Even in the game’s cutscenes (which make up roughly one third of the single player campaign’s length), most of Payne’s dialogue happens only in his head. Max Payne only opens his mouth to tell people that he’s about to shoot them. And lots of people will be shot before the end of this PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (reviewed) game’s 10-hour campaign. It seems that every enemy faction in Brazil has 200 or more soldiers just waiting to be violently shot in the face by Max Payne, usually as he dives sideways out of an exploding explosion and kills 15 people in slow motion before hitting the ground. Payne goes down quick when exposed to fire, but luckily for him, delicious addictive pain pills that magically heal bullet wounds are scattered all around Brazil. Sure, there are the expected on-rails segments: boat rides, dangling helicopter fiascos, et cetera. But mostly, Max Payne is all about walking slowly through beautifully rendered environments, only stopping to take cover and shoot lots of people or sit through a cutscene. Often, cutscenes and gameplay combine for a set-piece moment that forces players into a time-sensitive slow motion shootout with gang members or corrupt policemen. I’ve played dozens of shooters that claimed to have “enemies that move dynamically to flank the player,” and it’s almost never true, but Max Payne’s enemies really are smart punks. They’re good at taking effective cover and moving to better positions just when you need to reload. As a result, combat isn’t just about waiting for your enemy to pop his head out of cover –– taking that strategy will get you killed quickly. Instead, players have to keep a close on their surroundings, carefully use the slow-motion ability to take out dangerous targets and move almost constantly to avoid getting swarmed. Whenever you kill the last enemy in an area, the camera goes into ultra slo-mo and follows the bullet from Max’s gun as it punches through the unlucky gang member/corrupt cop’s body. Then, as the enemy slumps to the ground, the player has the option to continue wildly shooting bullets into the corpse by rapidly pulling the trigger. The result is a gruesome, blood-splattery scene that would instantly earn any movie an R rating. The plot sags a bit in the first half by focusing so hard on Payne’s alcoholism, but otherwise the dialogue and overall plot feels on par with what you’d expect from a big-budget action movie. And really, that’s all Max Payne 3 is –– a beautiful, playable action movie. I didn’t expect to like the multiplayer, but came away feeling pretty impressed by it. It’s all wrapped in a Call of Duty-style progression system, because of course it is. Kill other players to get XP, use that XP to customize your loadouts and buy stat-boosting gear. You know the drill. The game encourages players in team deathmatch mode to pursue personal vendettas against players that they’re killed by, offering bonuses for taking out an enemy that you’ve declared a vendetta against. Rockstar even managed to make the slow-motion ability work in multiplayer –– when using the slow-down power, every enemy in your line of sight (but not everyone on the map) slows down too. While you create a location-specific time rift, other online players keep going, unbothered by the slow-motion madness happening in your area. That vendetta system almost works too well. Every time you’re killed by a player, you’re shown how many times that particular person has beaten you and vice versa. I found myself really getting worked up whenever somebody consistently got the better of me, to the point that I was yelling at my TV. It works, though, because once you finally nail a tormenter and settle a score the feeling is great. To keep playing Max Payne 3 longer than 10 hours, you’re going to have to get into the multiplayer. Playing through the game’s solo campaign is akin to spending a whole day watching every Die Hard movie: fun, but something you shouldn’t do more than once in your life. WIRED Refreshingly interesting third-person shooting mechanics, surprisingly good multiplayer. TIRED Campaign’s story sometimes drags. Rating: $60, Rockstar Games Read Game|Life’s game ratings guide.

Aika Online - Epic III: Descent Screens

9 new shots posted. Get the full article at GameSpot "Aika Online - Epic III: Descent Screens" was posted on Thu, 24 May 2012 11:06:00 -0700

Mass Effect 3 multiplayer download out May 29

Outed earlier this month via Sony Hong Kong, Mass Effect 3's free Rebellion Pack adds two new maps and a slew of new characters to the game's multiplayer experience on May 29 for PC, Xbox 360 and North American PlayStation 3s, with the Euro PS3 version following a day after. More »

Dirt Showdown Review

Mark gets behind the wheel of Codemasters' latest entry in the DiRT series. But how does the new arcade livery fare on the race track? Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot "DiRT Showdown Video Review" was posted by sarahl on Thu, 24 May 2012 02:22:28 -0700

Fake Angry Birds app cost UK Android users £28,000

A developer who created fake versions of Angry Birds, Assassin's Creed and Cut The Rope mobile games has been fined £50,000. The scam apps sneakily sent three premium SMS messages to users. Each message costed £5. Customers claimed they weren't aware of the ruse until recieving their monthly phone bills. The apps were launched on Google's Android Market (now Google Play) last November by a Latvian firm, which must must now refund £28,000 to affected mobile users. Read more…

Images of this Skyscraper City Will Blow Your Friggin' Mind [Hong Kong]

To say Hong Kong is crowded is an understatement. Over seven million people are squeezed into just 1,108 square kilometers. And boy, in some places it's a tight squeeze. More »

Foreign Languages Kill Your Video Game Bullsh*t Detectors [Japan]

There's an image floating around online. It's rumored to be a "major specifications" sheet for the PlayStation 4. Personally, I don't buy it. More »

Guild 01 Sequel, Guild 02, Features Ant-Sized Tanks And Monsters Every Friday [Guild 02]

Guild 01, the collection of 4 different games by 4 different directors from Level-5 for the 3DS, which will be hitting the stores in Japan on the 31st of this month, already has a sequel in the works. Guild 02 does not have a release date yet, but already it's looking to be as outlandish as its predecessor. So far 3 games have been announced for Guild 02, with potentially more to be contained within. More »

Relax, The Xbox 360 Probably Isn't Going to be Banned [Xbox]

International Trade Commission judge David Shaw has recommended that the import and sale of Xbox 360 consoles in the US be halted immediately. Sounds drastic, I know, but maybe it's not as bad as it sounds. More »

Microsoft Minecraft Xbox 360 buyers eligible for refunds

Microsoft is offering one of the most radical appeasements that any video game company can possibly offer – a refund for a digitally downloaded title. Anyone who purchased the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft and doesn’t own an HDTV is eligible to receive a full refund. That’s because one of the game’s key selling points doesn’t work unless you’re using a high-def set. Apparently the development offices didn’t have any old-school TVs in their testing labs. But even though Microsoft never realized it, it didn’t take long for gamers to complain that anyone with a standard-definition TV was not able to enable the split-screen multiplayer feature. As Minecraft has risen to epic popularity as a solely single-player endeavor, the addition of a multiplayer component was one of the most significant aspects to the Xbox 360 version. A Microsoft spokesperson was quoted as saying, “We updated our pre-sale notification to inform customers that an HD screen is required for the split-screen multiplayer feature on Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. If a player does not have an HD screen and purchased this game prior to the notification update, they are eligible for a full refund through customer support.” The game sells for 1600 Microsoft Points, or $20. [via RipTen] Microsoft Minecraft Xbox 360 buyers eligible for refunds is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear. © 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Making of - Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock Video

Check out a making of video for Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot "Making of - Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock Video" was posted by MikeTao on Wed, 23 May 2012 17:57:42 -0700

Minecraft Mod Adds Emulated 6502 Processor

New submitter Direwolf20 writes "The Red Power 2 mod for Minecraft has recently been updated, and it adds a fully emulated 6502 processor that can be programmed in assembly, but comes with a Forth interpreter. From the article: 'Eloraam calls it the 65EL02, because "it supports all the 6502, 65C02, and part of the 65C816 instruction set" as well as "a set of completely new instructions and two addressing modes. Since the 65EL02 is an 8-bit CPU, Eloraam didn't have as many options for programming environments as we have on today's 64-bit computers. While it's possible to program the 65EL02 in assembly language, for general use she chose to implement a Forth interpreter. Further technical information about RedPower Control's 65EL02 is available on Eloraam's blog RP Control Internals, and on the RedPower wiki's page for Red Power Control.' (Fair disclosure: The video linked in the article is mine.)" Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Diablo III becomes the fastest-selling PC game of all time

Blizzard Entertainment's "Diablo III" has set a record for the fastest-selling PC game of all time, selling 3.5 million copies in its first 24 hours, parent company Activision Blizzard said in a release. The news comes as a spot of good news for the company, as the "Diablo III" launch has been rife with speedbumps. Blizzard had to issue an apology for a series of server outages that impacted players. Even in a single-player game mode, the game must have a connection to the online servers. Then

ITC Judge Calls For US Xbox Import Ban

symbolset writes "In the long running dispute between Motorola and Microsoft, Judge David Shaw of the ITC recommended Monday an import ban on Xbox 360 S consoles, as they are found to infringe Motorola's patents (PDF). The judge also ordered Microsoft post a bond of 7 percent of the retail price of all unsold U.S. Xbox inventory. The decision will go to the ITC's board of commissioners, who will either uphold the recommendation or overturn it. 'Microsoft argued that Shaw's exclusion order does not serve the public interest because it would leave consumers of video game consoles with only two options to satisfy their needs: the Sony Playstation and the Nintendo Wii. Shaw rejected that argument, finding that the public interest in enforcing intellectual property rights outweighs any potential economic impact on video game console buyers.'" This follows news last week of Microsoft winning an import ban on Motorola's Android devices. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Explore 5 Japanese Cities in Ambitious Yakuza 5

Sega will release the ambitious mobster game Yakuza 5 this December in Japan.

Diablo 3 Is the Fastest-Selling PC Game in History

Blizzard Entertainment is celebrating today with the news that its action-RPG sequel Diablo 3 sold more than 3.5 million units in its first 24 hours of release Continue reading Diablo 3 Breaks PC Sales Records, Moves More Than 3.5 Million Units In 24 Hours