Natural Gamers

Overall Crysis on Video Game productions and Sales

2014-10-04T20:51:00.000+05:30

It has been more than 9 months after the release of latest game consoles by Microsoft and Sony.

According to latest report of NPD group, August sales for previous generation of consoles declined 57 percent from the same time last year while sales for the newly launched Xbox One and Playstation 4 failed to offset the drop, making it around $47 million overall decrease over the year.

This is mainly because of the steep decline in the release in the video games. As compared to August 2013 when 8 top games were launched, only 3 were launched in August 14.

The industry is expected to recover next month in October and November as some major developers are expected to release exclusive games for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

The Latest Far Cry 4 Trailor gives a good insight of game combats and weapons

2014-10-04T00:19:00.002+05:30

The newly launched trailer of far cry 4 by Ubisoft called 'Weapons of Kyrat', focuses deeply on its weaponry also describing its usage. As the game's release date is nearing up 18 November, Ubisoft is making it even more anticipating by releasing this new preview, trying to make it exhilarating.

The video introduces us to Longinus, a former warlord who has reformed and become a religious missionary. He is your arms dealer in Kyrat. The video though not contains all the weapons contained in the game but gives an overview of the type of weapons by demonstrating them one by one.

Game weaponry includes mortars, grenade launchers and machine guns that can have explosively damaging effects. Also it includes auto-crossbows and Kukri knives to approach situations using stealth.

Besides the long range and short range weapons, trailer also showcases a look at wildlife that can be potentially exploited as weapons. Video shows how tiger can be used as a weapon on the opponent.

Far cry 4 is available on PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PS4 and Xbox One. It is expected to release on 18th November in North America and on 21th November in Europe. Here's the video below, have a look on game's weaponry.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor releases today for PC, PS4, XBox One, PS3 and XBox 360

2014-09-30T23:54:00.002+05:30

People who loved Lord of the Rings can cross their hearts and can order Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor released by Warner Bros today.

The excitement doubles by reading Steve Tilley's article in the Toronto Sun, "The bloody, visceral combat is consistently thrilling" also he says, "especially once Talion (main character) unlocks more potent abilities and picks up powerful skill-enhancing runes for his sword, bow and dagger."
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is basically a role playing game set shortly after the events in "The Hobbit" but long before the onset of "Lord of the Rings". It is when Sauron is in rhe early stages of building up his forces for the preparation of his plans to unleash his evil power onto middle Earth.

The Players will also have an option to level up the abilities of Tailon both as a stranger and as a Wraith through two distinct skill trees. The Wraith abilities would also allow Tailon to impose his will on enemies, and have then gather information for him, spread tales of Tailon among enemies to decrease their morale or assassinate their leaders.

Silent Hill: Will it really be in an Episodic Format?

2014-09-30T00:57:00.001+05:30

According to sources, the latest due release of the game may be released in an episodic format.
During the Konami Showcase event at Tokyo Game Show, the developer Kojima Productions, studio head Hideo Kojima stated that the team focused on how the television seasons were scheduled and considered a similar format for the game.

Originally, silent hills was released as a free demo game for PS4 as a horror game. Kojimi later admitted that playing teaser was nothing but just an experiment in making a game with Konami's own Fox engine. The game is also a collaboration between the Konami and a Hollywood director.

Also the demo of the game is so enjoyable that it is indeed worthy to wait for the game release. Further there is such a moment in the demo which appears a perfect glitch

FIFA 15: Is it What Was Expected from EA?

2014-09-29T14:27:00.001+05:30

To be honest in giving the review of the mighty series of fifa by EA Sports, this time this game has betrayed the expectations of people. The game play they thought people would enjoy is actually not like that. All the "trimmings" actually have a negative effect.

Although the game also have some eye catching changes from its previous sequel like the amount of water in the wet field and player models give it a real look. But the worst and the most shocking part is the missing skin texture of the players. They actually look like anaemic. Also despite the graphical sharpness, in many cut scenes, players move robotically.

But in the end FIFA rules the arcade games and is the most preferred by today's generations. Making it available for Play Station 4 has also made it extravagant. This enlightened support of fans still make it one of the best sellers.

Grand Theft Auto V may feature new first-person mode, according to rumour for PC

2014-09-28T19:14:00.002+05:30

Earlier it was fancifully expected for GTA IV for the first person mode, but it was the only drawback which people saw in the game. But this time due to large and popular demands of people, there are rumors that GTA V is gonna bash up the market with all new first person mode. People are already very keen and excited for the release and these rumors are making them irresistible

In addition to this sources have confirmed the all new features in the vehicles like interiors of the vehicles, like speedometer, tachometers, dash light and more

But in the end these all are rumors and no one can guarantee if these features will be included in the final game.

SimCity

2012-03-09T23:46:00.001+05:30

GAME OVERVIEW

Build Amazing Cities

Constructible

Worlds
Immersive 3D worlds and tactile interactions give you the power to shape the city you envision.
Customize buildings to unlock additional functionality and offer additional gameplay benefits.
Experiment and place buildings in different locations and watch how it affects your city.
Play with new enhanced design tools like curvy roads and zoning to create the city you always wanted.
Complete missions to unlock better buildings and create the most impressive city in your region.

Multiplayer
Work together with friends to build a region for the first time! The cities in your friends’ region will directly interact with each other.

Want to be a good neighbor? Send fire trucks to help your friend in an emergency.
Want to be a bad neighbor? Produce mass pollution and watch your friends’ Sims become sick.
Team up to share resources and accomplish great feats like launching shuttles into space.
Participate in global challenges like lowering the total pollution output in the SimCity world to unlock a trophy to place in your city.
Check regional and global leaderboards to compare your city with your friends.

Every decision in your city and those in your friends’ cities will impact the greater SimCity world.
The Ultimate City Sim

Specialize in What

You Love
Create a unique city each time you play by specializing in a specific industry.
Build a casino resort and watch as your city becomes a major tourist attraction.
Invest in schools and become an educational enclave.
Or transform to a manufacturing powerhouse that fuels your region.
Watch as these specializations influence the look, feel and core personality of your city.

GlassBox Engine
SimCity introduces GlassBox, the revolutionary simulation technology that gives you the power to impact individual Sims lives, manage city level simulation, and balance multiple city simulations at once.
Now every Sim has a purpose in the SimCity world, a home to go to, a job to work at, even stores to shop in.
Experience city level simulations including power, water, traffic, unemployment, taxes and much more.
Within a region of cities, attract new Sims into your city, compete for precious resources, and protect your Sims against disasters.
It’s city planning at an epic scale!
Everything you see, we Sim

Sims Matter
The Sims in your city speak to you directly and it’s up to you to respond by completing pledges.
Unlock rewards and earn achievements by meeting your Sims basic demands, like providing water and electricity, but soon they will ask for better schools and bigger parks.
How you manage your city and the Sims living in it is entirely up to you.
Build hospitals for the sick and provide entertainment for leisure and your Sim population will grow and be happy.
Will you listen and be the toast of the town or abuse your power for fame and fortune?

Source: EA

Upcoming Rockstar Games

2012-03-09T23:31:00.004+05:30

Upcoming Games	Genre	Release Date
Max Payne 3	Xbox 360	May 15, 2012(US)
Max Payne 3	PS3	May 15, 2012(US)
Max Payne 3	PC	May 29, 2012(US)
Agent	PS3	TBA(US)
Grand Theft Auto V	PS3	September 2012
Grand Theft Auto V	Xbox 360	September 2012
Grand Theft Auto V	PC	March 2013

SSX

2012-03-05T19:27:00.000+05:30

The Ranking

84.50%

Overall Rank: 1388
PlayStation 3 Rank: 142
2012 Games Rank: 10
2012 PlayStation 3 Rank: 3
Score based on 9 reviews

Description

Redefining the SSX franchise, SSX will pit riders versus both mountain and man. Players will explore the story of a team who seek to be the first to descend the faces of the most treacherous mountain ranges on the planet. The team will travel the world to face the worst that Mother Nature can throw at them. From the peaks of the Himalayas, where the air is so thin that riders have to descend through the death zone at breakneck speeds to keep from blacking out, to the solid ice ranges of Antarctica, where a sunlit line is the only survival option when temperatures drop 50 degrees centigrade in the shade. And the mountain isn't the only danger players will face. In SSX the first goal is to survive. The second, in true SSX fashion, is to look good doing it.

Release Date: February 28, 2012

Also on...

Xbox 360 (83.37%)

Latest Articles

Site	Date	Type	Rating
PSX Extreme	03/04/12	Review	8.6 out of 10
PlayStation LifeStyle	03/02/12	Review	8 out of 10
Cheat Code Central	02/28/12	Review	4.6 out of 5
Giant Bomb	02/28/12	Review	4 out of 5
GameSpot	02/28/12	Review	8.5 out of 10
UGO	02/28/12	Review	A-
Game Informer	02/28/12	Review	7.75 out of 10
Playstation Official Magazine UK	02/28/12	Review	8 out of 10
IGN	02/25/12	Review	9 out of 10
GameSpot	01/24/12	Preview	n/a

All Review Articles

Site	Date	Rating	Ratio
PSX Extreme	03/04/12	8.6 out of 10	86.00%
PlayStation LifeStyle	03/02/12	8 out of 10	80.00%
Cheat Code Central	02/28/12	4.6 out of 5	92.00%
Giant Bomb	02/28/12	4 out of 5	80.00%
GameSpot	02/28/12	8.5 out of 10	85.00%
UGO	02/28/12	A-	90.00%
Game Informer	02/28/12	7.75 out of 10	77.50%
Playstation Official Magazine UK	02/28/12	8 out of 10	80.00%
IGN	02/25/12	9 out of 10	90.00%

Reviews with an asterisk (*) do not count toward the average ratio for a game.

All Preview Articles

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GameSpot	01/24/12	Preview
GameSpot	09/30/11	Preview
GameSpot	06/07/11	Preview
GameSpot	06/06/11	Preview
GameSpot	04/13/11	Preview

All Screenshots Articles

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GameSpot	06/06/11	Screenshots
GameSpot	12/13/10	Screenshots

All News Articles

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GameSpot	02/27/12	News
GameSpot	02/26/12	News
GameSpot	10/20/11	News
GameSpot	04/13/11	News
GameSpot	12/16/10	News

All Movie Articles

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GameSpot	04/19/11	Movie
GameSpot	04/14/11	Movie
GameSpot	12/13/10	Movie

Mass Effect 3

2012-03-05T19:15:00.001+05:30

Mass Effect 3 Launch Trailer

BioWare completes the Mass Effect trilogy with Mass Effect 3.

Mass Effect 3 Images

See All Mass Effect 3 Images »

Mass Effect 3 Walkthroughs

Mass Effect 3 Walkthrough
This is my favorite guide on the Citadel. Our Mass Effect 3 Walkthrough covers the entire spectrum of the single player story, multiplayer tips, and how to build a powerful army.
- Go to Online Walkthrough »

See All Mass Effect 3 Game Help »

Mass Effect 3 Videos

GameSpot AU's Shippin' Out - March 5, 2012

Play Video
GameSpot AU community manager James Kozanecki tells you what games are coming out in Australia in the week beginning March 5, 2011!
- Mar 4, 2012
- 1:31
Making Mass Effect 3: Interview with Robyn Théberge

Play Video
On the eve of Mass Effect 3's release, we have a chat to Associate Project Manager Robyn Théberge about listening to fan feedback, living up to expectations, and saying goodbye to Shepard.
- Mar 4, 2012
- 3:34
New Releases: March 4 -10

Play Video
This week sees Mass Effect 3, Street Fighter X Tekken, Sony's MLB 12: The Show, Major League Baseball 2K12, Unit 13, Crush3D, and I Am Alive.
- Mar 2, 2012
- 2:21
- (8,461 views)

See All Mass Effect 3 Videos »

Mass Effect 3 News & Features

A Mass Effect on Homosexuality in Games

Why homosexuality in Mass Effect 3 is important for the future of interactive storytelling.

Posted Mar 2, 2012 10:01 am SST
GAME Australia "intends" to stock Mass Effect 3

The retailer says that Australian operations have not been affected by GAME UK's decision to no longer stock EA titles. UPDATE: EA confirms GAME Australia will stock Mass Effect 3.

Posted Mar 1, 2012 8:12 am SST
Game, Gamestation not stocking Mass Effect 3

Neither Game nor Gamestation will stock March releases from EA; both retailers cancelling preorders, reportedly not offering cash refunds.

Source: www.gamespot.com

Alan Wake

2012-02-19T20:09:00.002+05:30

Alan Wake is a psychological thriller action game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released for the Xbox 360 in May 18, 2010 and Microsoft Windows in February 16, 2012. The story follows bestselling thriller novelist Alan Wake, as he tries to uncover the mystery behind his wife's disappearance during a vacation in the small town of Bright Falls, Washington. All while experiencing events from the plot in his latest novel, which he cannot remember writing, coming to life.
In its pacing and structure, Alan Wake is similar to a thriller television series, with episodes that contain plot twists and cliffhangers. The game itself consists of six episodes, and the fiction is continued by two special episodes, titled "The Signal" and "The Writer", that were made available as downloadable content (DLC) within the same year of the game's release, released for free with the PC's Collector's Edition. Together, they make the first season of a possibly longer story. Additionally, a six-episode live-action web series called Bright Falls acts as a prequel to the game, and a number of related books also expand upon the Alan Wake story.

Chiefly written by Sam Lake, Alan Wake took over five years to create; an unusually[citation needed] long development time in the game industry. The game received positive reviews from critics, and is often revered for its narrative, pacing, and atmosphere. Alan Wake has been awarded the first spot in Time magazine's list of the top 10 video games of 2010.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare, a full stand-alone title, is planned for release in February 2012 on the Xbox Live Arcade service.The game will not constitute a direct sequel to Alan Wake, and no plans have been announced for a sequel (or "season two") for the original game. Remedy have stated, however, that they are not yet done with Alan Wake.

Nuclear Dawn

2011-12-30T10:13:00.003+05:30

Nuclear Dawn is a post-apocalyptic first-person shooter real-time strategy hybrid video game (games in the same genre include Savage and Natural Selection). It was originally announced in February 2006 as an amateur mod for the Source engine, but in April 2009 was revealed to have become a commercial project, still using Source, aimed at Windows PCs, Mac OS X and the Xbox 360. It was released on September 26, 2011

About the Game

Nuclear Dawn is the first game to offer a full FPS and RTS experience, within a single gameplay model, without crippling or diluting either side of the game.

As a soldier, explore war-torn post-apocalyptic landscapes, modelled on modern cities, and take the fight to your enemies as armoured, assault or stealth infantry, using various weapons across ten distinct load-outs to accomplish your objectives. The first person shooter action in Nuclear Dawn is hard, fast and unforgiving, with weapons that rely on skill and tactics more than on twitch reflexes and map memorization.

Then, take Nuclear Dawn above the action, and play as the commander. Organize your fellow players in squads, and assign them to tactical objectives. Plan the resource routes for your army, and production of your structures for forward deployment. Exploit the terrain and resource point locations to block your enemies’ advance, and crush their plans in an iron fist. Research and implement new technologies to give your soldiers the edge on the battlefield, and set up forward bases to lead the assault on your enemies, with a full complement of defensive and offensive structures to choose from, to build your perfect fortress.

Features
Two factions: The Empire and the Consortium have completely separate base-building paradigms.
RTS commander: Produce structures, research advanced technologies, unleash devastating strikes on the enemy, and lead your team to victory as a RTS commander.
Four classes: Each faction has four classes with various kit load outs, totalling over three dozen weapons.
Squad up: Squad-based 32 player full warfare battle mode.
Six maps: Travel across the largest, most detailed maps built in Source multiplayer to date.
Advanced Weaponry: As a commander, judiciously dispense healing to your troops, and death to their enemies, by managing your advanced abilities.
Stats and Unlocks: 60 ranks, 12 unlocks for each weapon, achievements, gizmos and more.
SDK: Nuclear Dawn Software Development Kit will be available for the community to be able to create custom maps, etc.
Source Powered: Based on the L4D2 engine and modified to bring you the ultimate online battle experience.
Steam Powered: Available for both Mac and PC through Steamplay with Steam Cloud support.

PC System Requirements
OS: Windows® 7 32/64-bit / Vista 32/64 / XP or higher
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or equivalent
Memory: 2GB
Hard Disk Space: 6GB of free HDD space
Video Card: Video card must be 128 MB or more and should be a DirectX 9-compatible with support for Pixel Shader 2.0b (ATI Radeon HD 2900 - NVidia GeForce 8800)
Sound: DX 9.0c compatible sound card
Mac System Requirements
OS: MacOS X 10.6.7 or higher
Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.4 Ghz
Memory: 2GB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 6GB of free HDD space
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 2400 / NVidia GeForce 8600M / Intel HD Graphics 3000
Not Supported: OS X 10.5.x, ATI X1600 or X1900 graphics, NVIDIA GeForce 7 graphics or Intel graphics less than Intel HD 3000.

Critics Respond: Battlefield 3 Vs Modern Warefare 3

2011-12-21T21:15:00.000+05:30

Kojima's new game is open world, offers over 100 hours of gameplay

2011-12-21T21:12:00.000+05:30

Project Ogre to branch out from Metal Gear

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima has drip-fed the internet a little more on his mysterious Project Ogre, rumoured by some to be Metal Gear Solid 5.

Where Metal Gear Solid and its ilk trod a linear path, the new game will be an open world affair. You'll be able to play it for 100 hours without getting bored. Sounds promising.

"The kind of game I'm making is some game that has a very wide entrance, a very open entrance," Kojima told CNN in a phone interview. "Rather than making something very cinematic, [I plan to] make something very free."

A screenshot of the first FOX engine game

According to the site's write-up, Kojima went onto "[describe it as being set in a very open world where players can wander around and explore freely. Players should still be able to find new sights and worthwhile adventures after having played the game for as many as 100 hours, he said."

Kojima Tweeted a couple of images created using Kojima Productions' multiplatform FOX engine earlier in the month. One is from an unannounced game, and depicts a soldier running past a tank in a sandy Middle Eastern setting. The other shows nurse underwear.

Kojima's initial pitch for Metal Gear Solid 5 took the series back to World War 2, with Metal Gear Solid 3 antagonist The Boss as leading lady.

inFamous 2: Festival of Blood becomes fastest selling PSN game ever

2011-12-08T21:41:00.001+05:30

inFamous 2 standalone expansion Festival of Blood was the fastest selling title on PlayStation Network in November, Sony’s said.

The Sucker Punch effort, the first since becoming a wholly owned studio of Sony Computer Entertainment’s WorldWide Studios, reigned as the number one game for last month.

It was followed by Saints Row 2 in second, no doubt bolstered by downloads from owners of Saints Row: The Third.

Payday: The Heist, NBA Jam: On Fire and Limbo rounded off the top five.

The Nightwing bundle for Batman: Arkham City, Chrono Cross and Corpse Party each topped the Add-on, PS Classic and PSP lists respectively.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

2011-11-29T20:53:00.003+05:30

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is the third game in the Uncharted series, created by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation 3, and was released in North America on November 1, 2011, Europe on November 2, 2011 and Australia on November 3, 2011. It is the sequel to 2009's Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.It was first revealed on December 9, 2010. Officially it was announced at the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards on December 11, 2010.
Uncharted 3 sees protagonist Nathan Drake and mentor Victor Sullivan traveling around the world to such places as the Rub' al Khali desert, in search of the legendary lost city, the Iram of the Pillars. Chloe Frazer and Elena Fisher also return in Uncharted 3. The plot draws from the archaeology days of T. E. Lawrence. Arne Meyer, Naughty Dog's community strategist stated that the "main theme of Uncharted 3 is 'finding the way'". Upon its release, Uncharted 3 was met with high critical acclaim, averaging 92% on both review aggregate websites Metacritic and GameRankings, making it one of the most critically acclaimed video games of 2011 for the PlayStation 3 on both websites.
Gameplay

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective, with the player in control of Nathan Drake. Drake will have a large number of different animation sets, enabling him to react according to his surroundings. Drake is physically adept and is able to jump, sprint, climb, swim, scale narrow ledges, wall-faces to get between points, and perform other acrobatic actions. Drake can now take on opponents in more ways than before: hand-to-hand combat with multiple opponents, contextual melee attacks, and new stealth options. Uncharted 3 also features expanded and diverse traversal moves with deep gunplay. Drake can be equipped with up to two firearms – one single-handed and one two-handed – and four grenades. Drake can pick up weapons, automatically replacing the existing weapon he was using, and additional ammunition from downed enemies.

Multiplayer

Similar to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Uncharted 3 is planned to include a separate multiplayer component with network play that runs in open beta during July 2011, featuring competitive and cooperative modes of play. The beta features several customization options, such as different character skins, ability boosters, skill medals to attain, and a progressive ranking system. Uncharted 3 will introduce free-for-all modes such as standard deathmatch, character model and weapon modification, and dynamic environmental 'events' within multiplayer maps, similar to the set pieces from the game's campaign - such as a hostile plane flying above shooting all players it catches in its crossfire. Collectible treasures are also said to be available within the multiplayer maps, which can be used as in-game currency for unlocking new characters, customization equipment and boosters. Unlocked customizations can either allow for changes to be made in character appearance, such as clothing and skin tone, or upgrading weapon attributes.

A Buddy System has also been implemented into multiplayer. At the beginning of each match, the player may be joined with a random partner or a friend if joining their game. The buddy's emblem remains displayed as part of the player's HUD to indicate their location relative to the player's own on the map. With your Buddy, you can do a cooperative taunt over dead enemies you defeated together, and can also collect each others' earned treasures for them. The player is able to spawn next to his buddy so long as the buddy remains alive and out of combat.[11] With the aim of making the multiplayer more flexible and accessible, several logistical improvements have been added, such as the capability to join games in progress or for two different PlayStation Network accounts to play together in split-screen multiplayer on a single console. In the event of ties or near-ties, matches enter an elimination mode as they wind down, in which the players are restricted to one life and must compete to wipe out all of the opposing team's members first within the allotted remaining time.

Several new features have been included in the game, including mechanics that create gameplay situations designed to assist the losing team, improves ability enhancements and augmentations that must be purchased for each use, special abilities that are made available when a certain amount of medals has been attained within a match, and "Uncharted TV", a small video window that appears throughout the multiplayer menus, creating a video that can be uploaded to Facebook, YouTube or the XMB. Multiplayer also includes a character creation system, allowing a user to extensively customise their in-game character. Co-operative multiplayer also returns from Uncharted 2.

Plot

The story begins with Nathan "Nate" Drake (Nolan North) and Victor "Sully" Sullivan (Richard McGonagle) meeting with Talbot (Robin Atkin Downes) in a pub in England. They negotiate a trade, a large sum of money in return for Sir Francis Drake's ring. Nate and Sully accuse Talbot of offering them counterfeit bank notes and, after fighting their way past Talbot's thugs, Nate and Sully emerge in an alleyway, where they are surrounded and subdued by Charlie Cutter (Graham McTavish), Talbot's cohort. They are then approached by Talbot's client, Katherine Marlowe (Rosalind Ayres), who steals Drake's ring. Nate attempts to go after her, but Cutter guns him and Sully down, seemingly killing them.

The story transitions into a flashback from 20 years earlier. A 14 year old Nathan Drake explores a museum in Cartagena, Colombia, in search of Sir Francis' ring, but is thrown out after guards suspect him of being a thief. Intrigued by the actions of a younger 40 year old Victor Sullivan- who he does not know at this point- Nate follows Sully to a keymaker and pickpockets him, before returning to the museum. He steals the ring but before he can leave, he is caught by Marlowe, her henchmen and Sully, who was working for her. Nate flees with the ring and is rescued from Marlowe's agents by Sully, who decides to act as a mentor to Nate.

Returning to the present day, it is revealed that the meeting was an elaborate set-up by Nate and Sully to get closer to Marlowe, with Cutter being an old friend of theirs. With the help of Chloe Frazer (Claudia Black), they trace Marlowe's car to a hidden library, where they manage to retrieve T.E. Lawrence's notebook and a map showing Francis Drake's secret voyage to Arabia, where he was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I to search for the lost city of Ubar. Using these items, Nate works out that clues to the city's location lie in Crusader crypts in a French chateau and a Syrian citadel. Nate and Sully head to eastern France and locate the long abandoned chateau in a dense forest. They find one half of an amulet inside the crypt but the two are ambushed by Talbot, who takes the amulet and sets the chateau on fire. Nate and Sully escape and quickly head to Syria, fearing that Chloe and Cutter, who travelled to the Syrian citadel, may have been followed as well.

They meet up with Chloe and Cutter, who have learned that Marlowe is the head of an order dating back four centuries that seeks to gain power by exploiting the fears of their enemies. The group reaches the second crypt and find the other half of the amulet, revealing the location of the next clue in Yemen. However, while trying to exit the citadel, Cutter is cornered by Marlowe and Talbot, forcing him to hand over the amulet piece. Nate, Sully, Chloe, and Cutter manage to escape and Chloe and Cutter back out while Nate and Sully travel to Yemen.

They meet with Elena Fisher (Emily Rose), who helps them locate the underground tomb where they discover the location of the lost city as well as evidence that Sir Francis Drake had also found the tomb and what he learned there caused him to abandon his mission. The trio are then attacked by flesh-eating spiders and flee above ground, where Nate is shot with a dart containing hallucinogens. After stumbling away alone, Nate wakes up outside a café with Marlowe and Talbot. Marlowe gives Nate to a band of pirates she hired led by Rameses to interrogate him for information about Iram of the Pillars. Rameses claims to have captured Sully who is being held captive on a cruise ship on the docks. Nate manages to escape captivity and searches the cruise ship, but discovers the pirates did not take Sully hostage. Mortally wounded, Rameses blows a massive hole in the ship's hull, causing the entire vessel to capsize. Nate navigates the overturned ship before diving into the ocean, ultimately washing back onto shore. He is reunited with Elena, who informs him that Sully was captured by Marlowe's men and taken on a convoy into the Rub 'al Khali desert, but they may be able to rescue him if they stowaway on a cargo plane due to deliver supplies to Marlowe's convoy.

The two of them infiltrate the airstrip and Nate manages to stowaway onboard as it takes off. He is soon discovered by Marlowe's men on board and a shoot-out ensues, resulting in serious damage to the plane. Nate is pulled from the plane by an air vacuum, but is able to activate a parachute and descend safely. After wandering the desert, suffering from heat exhaustion, severe thirst and experiencing hallucinations and mirages, Nate arrives at a ghost town in the desert where he is attacked by Marlowe's men. A troop of men on horseback, led by Salim (TJ Ramini), appear and ride to Nate's rescue. At the horsemen's encampment, Salim tells Nate that the city of Ubar was doomed thousands of years ago by King Solomon when he imprisoned evil Djinn within a brass vessel and cast it into the heart of the city. He agrees to help Nate and leads him to the convoy spotted by his scouts. Nate and Salim destroy the convoy and rescue Sully. Salim then instructs Nate and Sully to follow him into a nearby sandstorm, but the pair lose him amidst the dust and they realise that they have arrived at the gates of Ubar.

Upon entering Ubar, Nate and Sully come across a sophisticated water fountain that Nate drinks out of. Suddenly Sully is shot in the back and killed by Talbot. Overcome by rage, Nate gives chase and has to fight more of Marlowe's men, who seem to have been possessed by the Djinn, engulfing themselves in flames and moving at impossible speeds. Nate eventually comes to his senses and finds Sully alive. The true mystery of what happened to the people of Ubar thousands of years ago becomes apparent: when King Solomon cast the brass vessel into the depths of the city, it fell into the water and began to taint the water with a powerful hallucinogenic agent. The people were subsequently driven mad, and civilization within the city collapsed. Nate realises that the vessel is what Queen Elizabeth had sent Francis Drake to find, and what Marlowe was looking for now. Nate and Sully search the city and locate Marlowe, who is using a winch to pull the brass talisman from the water. Nate and Sully destroy the winch and the explosion sets off a chain reaction throughout the entire city, causing the city to collapse. Nate and Sully attempt to escape, but run into Marlowe and Talbot and see Marlowe trapped in quicksand. Nate tries to save her but he fails and Marlowe is left to drown in the sand, taking Drake's ring with her. After Nate and Sully defeat Talbot, who attempted to kill them, Salim rides in on his horse and leads them to safety as the city is engulfed by the desert.

Nate and Sully return to the airport in Yemen where Sully explains why he took such an interest in the young Nate. He then gives back Nate's ring and turns to see Elena joining them. The two embrace each other and the trio flies back home on Sully's new sea plane.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

2011-11-27T11:00:00.002+05:30

THE GOOD

Immense world stuffed with varied tasks to perform
Dragon battles are a blast
Lovely art design capped by some beautiful, atmospheric touches
Enjoyable battles that you can approach in a variety of ways
Lots of compelling, self-contained stories to experience in addition to the main one

THE BAD

Glitches and bugs frequently disrupt the immersion
Friendly AI is often more of a hindrance than a help

The province of Skyrim might be frigid, but the role-playing game that takes place within it burns with a fire few games possess. In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you take up arms against dragons, and your encounters with them are invariably exciting--yet depending on where your adventure takes you, such battles may not even represent the pinnacle of your experience. A side quest that starts as a momentary distraction may turn into a full-fledged tale that could form the entirety of a less ambitious game. Yes, Skyrim is another enormous fantasy RPG from a developer that specializes in them, and it could suck up hundreds of hours of your time as you inspect each nook and crevasse for the secrets to be found within. If you know Bethesda Softworks' previous games, you might be unsurprised that Skyrim is not a land without blemish, but rather harbors any number of technical glitches and frustrating idiosyncrasies that tear open the icy veil that blankets the land. Many of them are ones Elder Scrolls fans will probably see coming, but they're ultimately a low price to pay for the wonders of a game this sprawling and enthralling. Prepare for many sleepless nights to come.

Those nights traversing these lands are ones well spent. The game returns you to the continent of Tamriel, where you explore the northern realm called Skyrim, home to the Nord race. In these northern regions, snow flurries cloud your view, and platforms of ice float on the chilled waters. Nighttime often brings Tamriel's version of the aurora borealis, with its gorgeous blue and green ribbons stretching across the heavens. Skyrim's predecessor,Oblivion, featured prototypical fantasy environments--pretty but not quite evocative of the lore's darker undercurrents. Skyrim embraces its darker elements. You might feel an eerie chill as you glimpse a half-sunken ship through the mist, or watch as a dragon comes to life before your very eyes under the swirling firmament. Skyrim's atmospheric tone harks back to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, only the hazy dust storms of the earlier game have been replaced by glimmering snowfall and opaque fog.

These lovely vistas are best seen from a distance. Closer inspection reveals hard edges, plain painted-on textures, and other visual flaws that are conspicuous should you seek them out. But like many enormous games, Skyrim makes a fantastic impression not because its individual elements are sharply honed, but because they contribute to a grander whole. There's so much to do that your quest log becomes an embarrassment of pleasures, offering dozens of choices at any given time, each one as enticing as the next. You could follow the story, of course, which weaves a compelling tale that casts you as a dragonborn; that is, the soul of a dragon emanates from within you. As such, you are the key to discovering why dragons have returned to the land, terrorizing cities and potentially ending the known world. The tale has you facing dragons, of course, but also crashing fancy dress parties and scouring sewers in search of a key figure long assumed dead. It's a well-crafted tale that makes good use of those fearsome flying creatures that horrify the masses with roaring gusts of fire and ice.

It's impressive enough that there's so much to do; it's even more impressive that most of it is wonderful. Not every dungeon is a joy to explore. Stone-turning puzzles occasionally bring the fun to a halt, and a few repeated cave designs could dampen your spirits. But overall, every task has an excellent sense of context, and surprises lurk around many a turn. Searching for a lost dog turns into a grander quest than you could have guessed--and witty writing and voice acting shine some light into this somber world. Even a simple "go there, kill that" bounty can be a thrill. After all, how often do you face a towering giant and a couple of woolly mammoths? It's too bad that as you approach the giant's camp, one of those mammoths might spawn 100 feet in the air and fall to its death, or land on another mammoth and ride on its back for a few seconds before sliding off.

As for standard spells, they come in the usual schools of magicka: destruction (zap skeletons with sparks!), conjuration (summon a giant frost atronach!), alteration (light the way ahead!), and so on. You can even dual-wield spells, going full-on mage, with a glowing ball of fire in one hand and a summon at the ready in the other. For that matter, you can dual-wield one-handed weapons, giving you more flexibility in how you form your character. When you create your character, you choose a race from the usual Elder Scrolls standbys (Dark Elf, Breton, Argonian, and so forth), but you don't choose a class. Rather, your skill level with certain types of weapons, magicka schools, speech, and so on is governed primarily by how you play. Wear heavy armor, and taking blows gradually increases your heavy armor proficiency. Swing two-handed weapons, and you get better at using them.

Need for Speed: The Run

2011-11-21T20:27:00.000+05:30

Need for Speed: The Run is a racing video game, the 18th title in the Need for Speed franchise, and developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts. The 3DS version is being developed by Firebrand Games, the team behind Undercover and Nitro (both DS versions). It was released in North America on November 15,2011. And released on November 18, 2011 in Europe.

The game is described as "An illicit, high-stakes race across the country. The only way to get your life back is to be the first from San Francisco to New York. No speed limits. No rules. No allies. All you have are your driving skills and sheer determination"
Producers Jason DeLong and Steve Anthony have stated during an interview that Black Box is aiming to obtain critical acclaim after their last game received universally poor ratings.The Run has been in production for three years even though previous Black Box titles have had much shorter development periods.

Gameplay

The Run is the first game in Need for Speed history to allow players to travel on foot. These gameplay instances are quick time events. Here the player character leaves the car.
In The Run, players will participate in an "underground world of illicit, high stakes racing," in a race from San Francisco to New York, with stops through Las Vegas, Denver, Detroit, and many other locations, making it the first title in the series to use real locations. The cops aren't the only ones after the player though, as the player "blows across borders, weaves through dense urban traffic, rockets down icy mountain passes and navigates narrow canyons at breakneck speeds." There are over 300 km of track, three times more than Hot Pursuit, making it the biggest Need For Speed game.
The Run is powered by DICE's Frostbite 2 engine, making the game the first non-shooter and one of the first console titles to use the engine, which provides visuals and car physics that "hug the road even at top speeds all built around a gripping storyline." Additionally, Need for Speed Autolog, the Need for Speed franchise's social competition functionality, which was introduced in Hot Pursuit and was previously used in Shift 2: Unleashed, is also back as it will continue to track career progression and compare game stats.
The game features quick time events, with the player for the first time in Need for Speed history, exiting their car and traveling on foot. These events won't always be about harsh success or failure states. In some sections there are branching outcomes, so if the player mangles a certain button press, they'll get another chance to pull through.

The cars can be altered with performance upgrades and visual upgrades, such as paint colors and body kits.
The driving model of the game is described as "sit somewhere between Shift and Hot Pursuit", not as arcade-styled as Hot Pursuit, but neither as simulator-styled as Shift. The Run employs a large range of real-world vehicles, seemingly taking in the usual mix of muscle cars, street racers and refined exotics, described as "each car presents a different driving challenge for the player." Exclusively digitized for the game is the 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S and the Pagani Huayra. The damage system will be similar to that seen inHot Pursuit. The cars can be altered with performance upgrades and visual upgrades, such as paint colors and body kits. There will be cosmetic body kits known as Style Pack kits and Aero Pack kits, which will affect aerodynamics as well as performance.
It was revealed at Gamescom 2011 that an XP system will be used for unlocking cars and events. The game will also feature a Rewind option to allows the player to restart an event to their last checkpoint if they wreck their vehicle or rewind their vehicle from a collision or missed opportunity. Rewinds will only be available in limited quantities as their amount will dependent on the difficulty level that the player has selected; Easy will have unlimited Rewinds, Normal will have five Rewinds, Hard will have less Rewinds and Impossible will have no Rewinds as well as the most difficult AI opponents.
Modes
A trailer was released on July 26, 2011 and entitled as "Run for the Hills", which shows the player racing along a barren desert highway which followed a series of hills as well as containing a large jump. The player had the task of overtaking ten opponents before reaching the end of the course event. GameSpot released a gameplay video on November 2, 2011 that portrayed a race consisting of 14 checkpoints that the player has to drive through before their time runs out. Time was added for each checkpoint that the player drove through. Pursuits can also occur during races. The police in the game will utilize roadblocks and perform ramming tactics. Police cars will have a health bar displayed above their vehicles.
Multiplayer
Up to 16 players can participate in a single online match. Players will be able to party with friends, pick a playlist of their favorite challenges and compete for supremacy across every stage of game. In addition to this, players will never have to wait in a lobby again even if they are joining a race in progress. The multiplayer matches are split into differing game type playlists, such as Supercar Challenge, NFS Edition Racing, The Underground, Mixed Competition, Exotic Sprint, and Muscle Car Battles. Most of these modes pertain to different car varieties for each race, but the Supercar Challenge is meant entirely for the fastest cars on the fastest tracks. The player can select an event and vote towards the race course that the multiplayer game will be taking place on. Players will also take part in a reward system known as "The Bonus Wheel", which randomly selects a reward and required goal criteria for it.

Nintendo 3DS/Wii
The gameplay is fairly similar to Hot Pursuit. Players race down freeways until they meet a police car. The officer will then try to chase them down and wreck their car. They will also encounter other objectives such as a straight-up race. There is another mode where players duel a rival. They can also race to toll booths that double as checkpoints.
The 3DS version will also feature Autolog, which is integrated throughout the career mode and uses 40 in-game challenges scattered throughout the campaign. The game also takes advantage of StreetPass, letting players upload their best Autolog scores to other Nintendo 3DS devices. In multiplayer, the game will feature a straight race mode where eight people compete. There is also a four-on-four Cops vs. Racers mode. The game will support Wi-Fi and local wireless connections.
However, the Wii version lacks online play, yet it has split-screen multiplayer.

PLOT
In Need for Speed: The Run will feature a linear story mode, which places the player in the shoes of Jackson "Jack" Rourke. After an incident leaves him in bad standing with a mysterious crime organization, Jack becomes a marked man and must flee for his survival. The consequence of his situation leaves him owing large sums of money, which he cannot pay on his own. He is directed to a massive illegal street racing event called "The Run" by an associate, Sam Harper. The Run is a 3000 mile journey across the continental United States, starting in San Francisco and ending in New York City. She informs him the prize money, $25,000,000, is enough to secure his freedom from the organisation but he will have to beat over 200 other drivers to the finish line to win. Complicating things, he is in debt to both the police and the criminal organization, and both want to make sure that he never finishes the race

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

2011-11-20T16:20:00.000+05:30

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (abbreviated as Call of Duty: MW3) is a first-person shooter video game, developed by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games, with Raven Software having assisted in development.It is the third installment in the Modern Warfare series, a direct sequel to 2009's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and the eighth Call of Duty installment.

The game was released on November 8, 2011 in Europe and North America on Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii, with a separate version for Nintendo DS developed by n-Space. In Australia, the Wii version will be released on November 23, 2011. In Japan, Square Enix will handle this installment with a separate subtitled and dubbed version, as they did for Call of Duty: Black Ops. First, they will release a Japanese-subtitled version on November 17, 2011. Then, on December 22, 2011, they will release a Japanese-voice dubbed version. Within 24 hours of going on sale, the game sold 6.5 million copies in the US and UK alone and grossed $400 million, making it the biggest entertainment launch of all time.

Campaign

The player assumes the role of various characters during the single-player campaign, changing perspectives throughout the progression of the story. Unlike its predecessors, the campaign is spread over different days. Each mission features a series of objectives that are displayed on the heads up display, which marks the direction and distance towards and from such objectives. Damage to the player is shown by blood splatter shown on the screen. The player's health regenerates as time passes. Objectives vary in their requirements, ranging from having the player arrive at a particular checkpoint, to eliminating enemies in a specified location, to standing their ground against enemy squadrons, and planting explosive charges on an enemy installation. The player is also accompanied by fellow soldiers who cannot be issued orders.

Cooperative

Modern Warfare 3 features a new mode, called Survival Mode. This game mode features one or two players fighting endless waves of enemies, with each wave becoming increasingly difficult. Despite being much compared to the World at War Nazi Zombies mode, enemies do not spawn at fixed locations like the zombies do; instead, they appear at tactical positions based on the current location of the player. The mode is available on all multiplayer maps in the game. In the mode, players earn "cash" for items such as weapons, upgrades, ammo, air/ground support and equipment. Special Ops also returns from Modern Warfare 2. These challenge missions feature up to 48 stars, unlike its previous installment, which featured 69. Some weapons in Spec Ops are exclusive to that game mode, and are not available for play in Multiplayer mode.

Multiplayer

The new "Recon Juggernaut" Pointstreak reward in Multiplayer Mode.

The entire Killstreak reward system has been revamped. Killstreaks are now known as Pointstreaks, and kills are no longer the only way to increase the player's pointstreak. Completing objectives such as planting the bomb in Search and Destroy or capturing a flag in Capture The Flag awards points towards the player's Pointstreak. Pointstreak rewards are organized into three different "strike packages" called Assault, Support, and Specialist. The Assault strike package works the same as the Killstreak reward system in Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops, offering rewards like the Predator drone and attack helicopters. The Support strike package offers support-style rewards, such as UAVs and SAM Turrets. Rewards from the Support category do not reset when the player dies, but accumulate over the course of a match. The Specialist strike package rewards players with perks of their choosing after every second consecutive kill. After eight kills, they receive every perk in the game, but reset back to none upon death.Players are allowed to choose which Pointstreak rewards they want to use when they gain it during the match, rather than choosing them between rounds.

Along with revamping the entire Killstreak reward system, Modern Warfare 3 also has a completely modified Ranking and Unlocks system, which does not use a currency system for unlocks. The player's primary weapon levels up alongside the player, and unlocks a number of "Proficiency" perks such as Attachments, (allows two attachments and is a successor to the "Bling" and "Warlord" perks), Kick (reduced recoil while aiming down the player's sight) and Focus (stay focused under fire). Only one Proficiency can be put on a primary weapon.Another new addition is the ability to equip "Hybrid Scopes" on a weapon, such as a Red Dot Sight and a magnifier similar to an ACOG on the same weapon, and the player can switch between the scopes. Modern Warfare 3 introduces a new "Prestige Shop" which will unlock only after the player has selected the option to prestige for the first time. The "Prestige Shop" allows Prestige players to use tokens they gain from using the Prestige option to buy exclusive features such as double XP and a extra custom weapon class.

Several controversial perks in Modern Warfare 2, accused of being overpowered, have been removed in Modern Warfare 3. Diving from standing to prone, known as "dolphin diving", has been removed due to balancing issues. Modern Warfare 3 will utilize Treyarch's hot fix system to fix bugs and glitches. Modern Warfare 3 features a local and online split-screen option.

Several new game modes have also been added:

"Kill Confirmed" requires players to collect floating dog tags from the corpse of a downed enemy before the kill can be registered. However, the opposing team can pick up the dog tag as well to deny the other team of a kill.

"Team Defender" requires both teams to try to capture a flag dropped by the first person who gets killed when the match starts, and hold it to gain double points per kill while the team without the flag only gets the default amount per kill.

Private matches also now include pre-made game modes including: "Infection" (where the infected kills enemies to recruit them to their team), "Drop Zone" (where the player must hold a drop zone for points and care packages), "Team Juggernaut" (each team plays alongside an AI Juggernaut character), "Gun Game" (be the first to get one kill with every gun in the game) and "One in the Chamber" (in which players are only allowed one pistol with one bullet and three lives where they can only get more bullets by killing other players). Along with this, players are allowed to create their own game modes with customized settings such as number of players and time limit.

Call of Duty: Elite

Main article: Call of Duty: Elite

Call of Duty: Elite is a new free/subscription-based service developed by Beachhead Studios for the multiplayer portion of Modern Warfare 3 (as well as the previous installment in the series, Black Ops). It was first showcased at E3 2011 and was released on November 8th, 2011 to coincide with the release of Modern Warfare 3. The free version includes features such as lifetime statistics and social-networking integration. The subscription version is priced at $49.99 per year and includes monthly downloadable content, daily competitions with virtual and real life prizes, the ability to level up your clan, pro analysis and strategies, and more.

The Cursed Crusade

2011-09-29T15:46:00.001+05:30

Templar's Curse

To bear the Templar's Curse guarantees its wielders will end up in Hell when they fade from the mortal coil. The Templars have borne the curse through the generations, passing it down to their sons.
Those who activate the curse are the only ones who see the world turn to Hell. To all others, it would seem only that their opponent is faster, stronger, and more capable…
In the Templar's Curse, even horses gain the ability to ride faster and jump further.
Activating the Templar's Curse puts the power of Hell at the one's disposal. Increasing speed and power, as well as granting new abilities beyond mortal men, it is a power to be reckoned with. But at the cost of one's life, and with Death lurking in the shadows… One must use it wisely.
The Templar's Curse gauge is divided into three tiers. While the first will slowly refill automatically, the second and third will fill only when the curse begins to feel the lust of the battle. Should the gauge fill entirely, the curse will automatically activate.
While in the curse, the souls of the damned and lost become visible. Purifying them and sending them to their final rest may yield benefits to those would seek redemption for their deeds.
The cursed souls who fall in battle are instantly driven into the vision of Hell… where Death begins to stalk toward his claim. At this point, one must buy time with one's limited powers before one's partner comes to help, or Death will taste his victory.
The game will offer a Customization feature, which enables the player to equip any weapon and armor, that the character happens to come across on the battlefield, on the fly. The character's appearance, strength, and endurance will change accordingly to the pieces of equipment in use.
Weapons
Swords
The sword is one of the most versatile and plentiful objects on the battlefield, as it can be wielded with a shield or with one in each hand. While they excel at taking lives, they are not very adept at penetrating armor.
Spears
The spear is a two-handed weapon that with its extended range and power, kills with great efficiency. However, against armored foes, it becomes considerably less menacing.
Axes
The axe is a well-balanced weapon that does equal parts damage to armored and unarmored foes. They can be wield with one in each hand to bring double the damage.
Great Swords
These massive blades are slow and heavy, but the damage they inflict is second only the the spear. As they are double edged weapons, they are somewhat less effective against armored foes.
Maces
The mace is a weapon that can be swung easily and finds its true purpose in annihilating the armor from one's foes. Once that is achieved, however, it is best to switch to a weapon more suitable for delivering the killing blow.

The Ultimate Playstation 4

2011-07-13T15:38:00.000+05:30

If you had a PS4 (Sony Playstation 4) in your hands right now would you tell anyone or would keep the secret to yourself? Just think of what the PS3 has done and then imagine what its next generation gaming console will do.

SPECIFICATIONS
With so much on the line we believe Sony will put some of the worlds best engineers to work on the most revolutionary gaming console ever known to man.First up is the PS4 CPU (Central Processing Unit)
For comparison the PS3 uses a cell based processor with 1 PPE (Power processing element) @ 3.2 GHz which is dual thread i.e. capable of processing 2 streams of instructions at a time and 8 SPEs (Synergistic Processing Elements) @ 3.2GHz of which 1 is disabled for yield purposes and 1 is reserved for security purposes such as encryption and decryption of the hard drive in real time. The cell in the PS3 has an overall performance of 204 GFLOPs.
Sony had invested hundreds of hundreds of millions of dollars in to the development of the Cell Processor and on building fabrication factories (of which cost over $500,000,000 each!), all that money would go to waste if Sony chooses not to include a Cell processor in their next console.
I believe that Sony will add more SPEs to have an overall amount of 16 SPEs as this has an optimal power to heat ratio if manufactured at 32nm. It should consume the same amount of energy as the 90nm Cell processor found in the 60/20Gb PS3s. 1 will be disabled for yield purposes and 1 will be reserved for security purposes. If this cell processor is made then it should start at 32nm as Sony are already at work shrinking the PS3's cell to 32nm. At 32nm they could double the local store for each SPE to 512KiB which will add much more performance for games.

Clock speed could increase to up to 3.8GHz, however with the improved performance of the new cell and the amount of SPEs this is unneeded and will create too much heat. I can only see an increase in clock speed if fabrication starts at 22nm as this will help reduce the heat created. 22nm processors are expected to be released in 2011 so by the time the PS4 comes out this would be the norm, so 22nm is a feasible starting fabrication. This will make it have an overall performance of around 500 GFLOPs for the whole Cell Processor at 3.2GHz.

Second up is the PS4 GPU (Graphical Processing Unit)

This is where it gets a bit tricky as I am just going to base my prediction on a product that hasn't been released yet. However I do believe that since the PS4 is a “closed” system and that the cell can do some graphical processing that a relatively moderate GPU can be used in the PS4. For comparison the PS3 uses the Reality Synthesizer developed by Nvidia, clocked at 550MHz with 256Mb of GDDR3 clocked at 700MHz.
So if Sony is going to continue with stereoscopic 3D then that will rule out any ATI 5000 series cards and below and I do believe that Sony will stick with Nvidia anyway since they have a good relationship. The PS4 will need to be able to support 1080p 3D @ 60 FPS per eye so it has to have enough VRAM.
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 (due to be released in 2011) fits the bill perfectly. A 256 bit bus so that it can communicate with the cell fast enough, a 820MHz core clock speed, 1Gb of VRAM clocked @ 1GHz (4GHz effective speed). All of which if utilised properly could do 1080p @ 120 FPS and most importantly unified shader cores means more polygons, higher resolution textures and better effects.
Thirdly the main PS4 system RAM.
For comparison the PS3 has 256Mb of XDR RAM clocked at an amazing 3.2GHz (Super fast!!!!! :o). The next obvious step would to include 1Gb of XDR however XDR2 has been released since that time with many improvements such as a bandwidth increase and reduced latency (even though it was low to begin with). XDR2 operates at double the CPU speed, so 6.4GHz to 7.6GHz is expected even though it can operate at up to 8GHz!
More than 1Gb isn't needed since there is a lot more VRAM this time, therefore there will be a more efficient use of the main RAM this time for other tasks for example watching a video, looking at pictures, going to the playstation store all while in a game.
Blu-ray or HVD?
Many people have been saying that the next logical step for Sony is to ditch blu-ray and go with HVD. HVD drives are just too expensive (a few thousand dollars) and too big.
Sony spent a lot of money on developing blu-ray, why would they ditch it? Its wasteful and the fact that not a single developer has created a game that uses a full 50gb dual layer blu-ray disc yet makes the extra space useless. And with a 100gb quad layer disc in development who needs HVD anyway?
Anyway to use the 100Gb disc you'll need a better blu-ray drive with faster reading speeds. The PS3 has a 2x blu-ray disc, 4x is the minimum to read a 100Gb disc. However the average read speed nowadays is 8x and it is relatively cheap, so I expect the PS4 to have at least a 8x drive which reads at 36Mb/s, so games should load much faster.
Hard drive or SSD?
SSDs are still to expensive to even be considered for a games console, so I expect spinning drives to stay with similar sizes of today’s PS3s . I'm not sure if Sony will change the SATA port to SATA 2 or 3 considering hard drives still don’t reach the SATA 1 limit of 150 Mb/s.
Lastly PS4 USB connections
2 to 4 USB 3.0 connections are to be expected. Anyone who has ever done a full back-up of your PS3 would be grateful for USB 3 connections as backing up 100Gbs of install data, applications and save data can take about 8 hours, with USB 3 this should be halved.

DirectX 11 Ultra Upgrade for Crysis 2

2011-06-29T10:44:00.000+05:30

The DX11 Ultra Upgrade is a free visual improvement add-on introducing
DirectX 11 support as well as a wealth of graphical improvements and
performance optimization for both DX11 and DX9 API's. When using the
new “Ultra” spec, DX9 platforms will benefit from real-time local reflections
and contact shadows. The owners of DX11 platforms, in addition, will be
able to enjoy hardware tessellation (requires the installation of the
“DX11 Ultra Upgrade”), parallax occlusion mapping and several
improvements for shadows, water, particles, depth of field and motion blur.

This free package enables the full DX11 feature set for Crysis 2 such as Tessellation and Displacement Mapping, Realistic Shadows with Variable Penumbra and much more for an outstanding visual experience. A DirectX 11 capable system is required.

This package provides higher texture resolution for a wide variety of assets. It supports both the DirectX 11 and DirectX 9 versions of Crysis 2. A 64-bit operating system and a graphics card with at least 768 MB of memory are required.

Max Payne 3

2011-06-27T10:01:00.000+05:30

Max Payne 3
Promotional poster for Max Payne 3
Developer(s)	Rockstar Studios
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games
Series	Max Payne
Engine	RAGE, Euphoria
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer

Max Payne 3 is an upcoming third-person shooter video game in the Max Payne franchise published by Rockstar Games for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Development is taken by Rockstar Studios, a collaborative effort led by Rockstar Vancouver along with New England, London and Toronto studios.This is the first game in the series not to be developed by Finnish game developer Remedy Entertainment and not being written by series creator Sam Lake.
The game was originally scheduled for release in late 2009. However, it was pushed back to 2010 alongside several other Take-Two Interactive franchises in order to "benefit from having more development time." In June 2010, the game was again pushed back to 2011.On December 21, it was not present on the 2011-2012 calendar year, and was pushed back again.

Plot

According to Rockstar's Sam Houser, it is their intention on starting a new chapter of Max Payne's life with the game. "This is Max as we've never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever." Since the last game, the press release states Max has left New York City behind and has "drifted from bad to worse." The press release then goes on to say Max has been double-crossed in this new city and he is searching for the truth and a way out. The game will be set in São Paulo, Brazil, where Payne is working in the private security sector for a wealthy local family, set 8 to 12 years after the events of the second game.
Rockstar initially claimed that series staple James McCaffrey would not return to the role of Max Payne, instead opting for an older actor.However, in a May edition of Edge it was confirmed that James McCaffrey will not only return to voice Max Payne, but will also return in a full acting role through motion capture.

2011-06-24T07:23:00.000+05:30

F.E.A.R. 3

Developer(s)	Day 1 Studios Monolith Productions
Publisher(s)	Warner Bros. Interactive
Engine	Heavily modified Despair Engine
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release date(s)	^NA 20110621June 21, 2011 ^UK 20110624June 24, 2011 ^AU 20110629June 29, 2011
Genre(s)	First-person shooter, horror
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer
Media/distribution	Optical disc, Download
System requirements Intel Core 2 Core E7500 2.93 GHz Video/Graphic Card Geforce 200 series, sound card Direct x9.0c or Direct x10. or even higher

F.E.A.R. 3 (stylized in the logo as F.3.A.R) is a first person-shooter developed by Day 1 Studios for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and the OnLive cloud gaming service as a sequel to the game F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin and the third installment of the F.E.A.R. series. It was announced on April 8, 2010 and is stated to include John Carpenter helping on the cinematics as well as writer Steve Niles. Originally scheduled for a 2010 release, a delay to March 2011 was announced followed by a further delay to May 2011. On the 27th of April 2011, Warner Bros. announced yet another delay to the title; Pushing it back to June 21st in North America and June 24th in the UK.

Gameplay
F.E.A.R. 3 is to include new features such as co-op, an evolved cover system, and more scares, according to Day 1 Studios founder and president Denny Thorley. In the game the player will be able to control both Point Man and Paxton Fettel, the protagonist and antagonist, respectively, from the first game, F.E.A.R.. The controls for the Point Man are the same, with shooting enemies and slowing time. As Fettel, you assist the Point Man by using telekinesis, stun, possession, and other abilities. Also, the game will have both online and offline Co-Op play. And as confirmed at last year's E3, there will be split-screen Co-Op. Also, it has been confirmed that once you complete a level as Point Man, in the single player mode, you can then replay that level as Paxton Fettel.

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North

2011-06-23T15:33:00.000+05:30

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive

Developer: Snowblind Studios

Genre: Action, Role-playing

Release Date: N Amer - 05/24/11

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North evolves the Action/RPG genre through innovative online, interdependent co-op play for up to three players, who form their own Fellowship and engage in brutal combat. Gamers must play together or perish as they explore previously unexplored lands, story elements and characters as well as elements familiar from past feature films. Players engage in extensive character customization and development, expansive co-op gameplay options and upgradeable weapons, skills and special abilities.

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The Lord of the Rings: War in the North