Gamer's Union

EA Vs. Activision

2011-08-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

Electronic Arts has heard what Activision has to say about mudslinging and, judging by its official response, it doesn't feel the same way.

Responding to the war of words that's taken place between Battlefield and Call of Duty, Activision Publishing boss Eric Hirshberg gave a speech at Gamescom this week in which he called for an end to the trash talking. In his mind, competition is good, but "this type of rhetoric" -- referring to EA's John Riccitiello talking about his wish to see Call of Duty "rot from the core" -- "is bad for our industry." He stated, "...it's one thing to want your game to be successful. It's another to actively want the games of others to fail."

While things are fine on some fronts -- Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling checked out DICE's Battlefield 3 today -- EA's VP of communications, Jeff Brown, wasn't especially kind in a statement given to Kotaku, starting out by saying, "Welcome to the big leagues, Eric."

An interesting RPG

2011-08-19T10:56:00.001-07:00

Gamers lament at how simplistic a lot of Western RPGs are these days, and developer Pirahna Bytes has heard you. Their new game, Risen 2: Dark Waters is set to give players what they want -- no lengthy tutorials, a giant world to explore, and an epic adventure that will take a massive amount of time to finish.

Risen 2 is all about making your character your own. After a short introduction you're dropped onto an island, left to decipher what exactly you're supposed to do. Sure, you're pointed in the vaguest of directions by a friendly NPC, but ultimately it's up to you to talk your way to success.

Conversation and dialogue are a big part of Risen 2. Over 250,000 lines have been recorded, and players have a number of options when they're interacting with the various characters they encounter. It's a significant undertaking, but done so that they can have multiple ways players can tackle a quest. For instance you might be offered an easy way off the island in return for killing some escaped slaves, while the less evil route might take you three times as long. It all comes down to what type of person you want your character to embody.

More Risen 2: Dark Waters Videos

Interacting with other characters is also a good way to learn additional skills. You don't pick a class or put points into a giant skill tree, you simply work with characters and they teach you how to do new things. For instance a prisoner might need your help to get out of jail, so working with him will teach you how to do things like sneak and lock pick. Or, if you're more of the witty type, you can interact a lot with prostitutes to learn how to get a "silver tongue."

Your character in Risen 2 is preset, but that isn't necessarily bad. I love altering the face, race, sex and more of my avatar, but it doesn't allow a game to be designed around that specific character. Risen 2 is very much the story of one man's journey as a pirate, and it's up to you to determine what sort of man he'll be.

Risen 2 isn't going to be as approachable as something like Fable III, but it looks like it could satisfy that niche audience that longs for a hardcore adventure. We'll find out in the first half of 2012 when it releases for PC and 360.

New WoW World of Warplanes

2011-08-19T10:55:00.001-07:00

Sure, right now if you say "WoW" when addressing gamers they'll think you're talking about World of Warcraft. But, in a year or so when Wargaming.net releases the follow up to its super popular World of Tanks, that could all change. World of Warplanesbrings the same style of gameplay from World of Tanks, allowing players to take the sky in a game that's shooting for something between being a simulation and an arcade title. The best part? It's totally free.

World of Warplanes is a massively multiplayer online game where players take command of any number of classic aircraft that span roughly from World War 2 to the start of the Vietnam War. You start out with a relatively weak plane, fighting battles so that you can level up your account and earn a ton of in-game currency. Using this currency, you then buy new parts to upgrade your planes and eventually purchase even better aircraft. Of course there are micro transactions to help you out if you don't have the many, many hours needed to grind away, but the option to never pay a dime is there. After all, the company behind World of Warplanes needs people for the paying customers to shoot.

Takeoff and landing just keep players from the action, so World of Warplanes removes it entirely. Instead players drop right into the sky, ready to set up in squadrons and blast one another from the sky. Up to 30 players can participate in a match, but each round is single elimination. This means that planning and teamwork is especially prudent, and the developers fully expect clans to organize and thrive.

The challenge for Wargaming.net comes down to keeping flight controls accessible. To this end they're working on a number of control schemes, and plan on supporting joysticks, keyboard, keyboard and mouse, as well as gamepads. They're also working hard to tweak the flight physics, aiming to make them feel just realistic enough to appease simulation fans, while not so hard as to put off the odd person who just wants to see what WoW is all about. Hopefully the Beta that takes place later this year helps them fine tune it.

Wargaming also wants to ensure that the levels are varied. With World of Tanks it was easy since they could design levels with hills and buildings for the tanks to drive in, but with World of Warplanes the challenge comes down to crafting terrain that makes sense for aircraft. To this end they're creating levels filled with buildings, canyons and mountains, giving players plenty of obstructions to break up line of sight.

World of Warplanes sounds great, but the real test comes down to how it plays. They weren't allowing anyone to play it yet, but a Beta should begin soon, with a targeted release date of early 2012.

New Game: Dragon's Dogma

2011-08-19T10:52:00.001-07:00

Dragon's Dogma remains a bit of an enigma. We know it's a new "realistic fighting fantasy" game in which you face off against typically Capcom-huge monsters with swords, bows and whatever else comes to gauntlet-clad hand. We know it's open-world, and that it's got some hot talent working on it. You can climb up enemies, which is always cool. But we still haven't seen that much of it in action, and there are still several mysteries surrounding its structure and plot.

One of those mysteries is the party system. You fight in a party of four in Dragon's Dogma – your own custom-created character, and three "pawns". You can command and customise these comrades, but exactly why and how has not been made exactly clear. At Gamescom, Capcom explained how this system works: it turns out that you'll be playing alongside other players' custom companions as well as your own.

You, as the Chosen One, have the ability to summon the Pawns from an alternate universe called the Rift. They look human, and they fight like humans, but it turns out that they are actually otherwordly beings that never age and never die. You get one "main pawn", who is yours to customise – so if you're a mage, you might create yourself a tank pawn in three-inch-thick armour to draw enemies away whilst you fight. There are six character classes in all.

Ninja Gaiden III will not have dismemberment or decapitation

2011-08-19T10:49:00.001-07:00

In Ninja Gaiden II, decapitating enemies and slicing off their arms and legs didn't just feel satisfying -- it was an important tactic for slowing them down and buying yourself time. This feature has been removed for Ninja Gaiden 3. Why? Because we don't want to see that anymore, apparently.

"We don't think people want to see that anymore," a member of developer Team Ninja told us at Gamescom today. "They've already seen it."

We are told Ninja Gaiden III is all about killing human beings. Team Ninja wants you to experience the feeling of your sword entering a person's body, hitting bone, and slicing through the torso. It wants these actions to feel realistic to the player, but that might be at odds with the fact that, in real life, heads and arms do come off.

Ninja Gaiden III will be out early next year.

Urban Champion being re-released as a 3d Classic!

2011-08-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

This week's update for the various Nintendo download services brings with it several new games, the most noteworthy of which is... worthy of being noted because of how awful it is.

Urban Champion ($4.99) is the latest game in the 3D Classics line of classic game revivals on the 3DS eShop. It's the third such remake, joining Xevious and Excitebike. It's a very simplistic fighting game (based on a Game & Watch title) that came to North America in 1986 on NES.

It isn't the strongest selection for a remake; it was also released on the Virtual Console in 2006 and was among theworst games available at the time. Nintendo has made it clear that 3D Classics likely won't ever be released in great abundance, so why a game that is generally regarded to be so miserable was chosen as one of the six planned 3D Classics is beyond me.

Diablo III to come out for Consoles??

2011-08-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

Diablo III is, officially speaking, only planned for release on PC and Mac. More than likely, it'll also make its way to consoles at some point. At Gamescom this week, a Blizzard staffer dropped yet another hint that such an outcome is almost certainly going to happen.

Over in Germany, lead designer Josh Mosqueira stated that Blizzard "is very, very serious about bringing the Diablo III experience to the console," reports Eurogamer. He explained that they're hiring programmers, designers, and artists to work on consoles, although this still isn't an official announcement that a console port is really happening.

"All I can say is it's going to be awesome," he teased. "Stay tuned."

For the full scoop:

http://www.1up.com/news/continues-look-like-diablo-iii-coming-consoles

Portal 2's Free challenge next month

2011-08-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

In typical Valve fashion, the first downloadable content pack for Portal 2 -- you know, the game with those offensiveadoption jokes -- hasn't come as soon as many expected. Shortly after the game's launch in April, Valve said toexpect it this summer. With the season winding down, it's hard not to wonder if that release window still holds up.

According to Valve's marketing VP, Doug Lombardi, it does -- it'll be out in mid-September. Speaking with Kotaku at Gamescom, he pointed out that mid-September is "still technically summer," which is true, as fall doesn't begin until September 21. But still.

The exact contents of the DLC remain unknown. When it was first announced, new test chambers (with accompanying leaderboards) and a challenge mode playable either alone or with another player were mentioned.

For the full info:
http://www.1up.com/news/portal-2-free-dlc-still-planned-this-summer

Street Fighter X Release

2011-08-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

Of the two crossovers between the Street Fighter and Tekken franchises, Street Fighter X Tekken is to be the first out of the gate. A new release window given to the game falls in line with what we've heard before, which is that we'll be playing it in less than a year's time.

Capcom has sent out a new fact sheet listing the game for a spring 2012 release. The company's most recent sales forecast showed the game having a presence in the current fiscal year, which runs through March 31, 2012. With spring beginning on March 21, that gives a fairly small window for it to be released. There's only a single Tuesday -- March 27 -- that falls within that period, so unless there's been some change and it's actually coming later in spring (which runs through June 20), that seems like a fair estimate at this point.

This applies for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game. The Vita version, announced at E3 in June and featuring Cole MacGrath from Infamous, isn't mentioned.

For more info visit:

http://www.1up.com/news/ and click the "read full story" button.

Competition for WOW

2011-08-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

No, I’m not saying World of Warcraft is dying, despite their recent announcement of a heavily-restricted-yet-free-to-play 20 levels of content. I’m just saying that Blizzard’s registering a trademark last week for Mists of Pandaria might be about the point where the folks at Blizzard are throwing anything and everything against the wall to see what sticks.

You don’t get twelve million paid subscribers for a game without being a pretty damn amazing experience, and World of Warcrafthas done a magnificent job of capturing the hearts and the minds of its fanbase. I myself was a devoted raider through bothBurning Crusade and Rise of the Lich King expansions. But it has to take an entire room full of writers months to churn out the kind of in-game content that WoW requires and still remain lore heavy and canonically accurate. There are only so many rabbits this room full of writers can pull out of a hat before they need to start getting…ahem…extra creative. Goblins on motorcycles? Bring ‘em on!

So when twelve million players start getting bored and looking at all the other games they’re missing out on, it’s critical for Blizzard to keep waving the shiny bauble in front of their eyes to keep them excited and spending money on your product. And the shiny bauble in this case is the fan favorite the Pandaren Brewmaster.

In what started as an April Fools’ Joke back in the Warcraft 3 days, every expansion for WoW since the first has been met with fans asking about the lovable drunken fighting panda bears as a playable race in Warcraft. And now it looks like Blizzard is delivering, but is this an admission on their part that they are just running out of steam?

Sure, another expansion shouldn’t be due out for another year to eighteen months, but WoW addicts across the planet are needing new content more and more frequently to get that same satisfying high. When you’re developing more content to keep your addicts happy, where do you go from Pandaria? You’ve covered just about every major angle of the lore, including the complete destruction and rebirth of Azeroth itself through Cataclysm. I understand the game is fantasy and the developers can make up any damn thing they’d like, but this seems like the last possible ditch effort to keep fans from wandering off before they just call it a day and announce the game is free-to-play with microtransactions.

In my opinion many people will stay with World of Warcraft including myself, this new game doesn't sound at all intriguing. being a Wow player for several years i don't see myself just hopping off to another game.

Jurassic Park the video game!

2011-08-19T09:14:00.001-07:00

Jurassic Park: The Game will be released worldwide on November 15th for PC, and on the same day for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America, developer Telltale has told GamerZines.

All four episodes of the dinosaur-enhanced adventure game will be released on day one, meaning you won't have to wait months to get the full story and it's believed all the episodes will be available for one price. A bit like Telltale have done with their other major movie tie-in Back to the Future: The Game.

Unfortunately, there hasn't been any news regarding Telltale's plans for the console release in Europe, but GamerZines understands that the developer is currently in discussions with distribution partners to ensure Europeans won't have to wait long to sample the game on Xbox 360 and PS3

The Xbox 720!?

2011-08-19T09:12:00.001-07:00

A title can be considered many things. A title can be a summation, of content and ability. A title can be a snapshot of the bigger picture portioned away into metonymy. Titles can even be stylish. What is their purpose though? Why do they exist? While etymology is its own field of study, its sufficient to say that titles exist to inform. They exist to let us know of what is present, regardless of the presentation’s qualities or true nature.

The worst titles are the ones that have nothing to do with what is presented. These titles can be interpreted as cruel jokes–much like the bastard children of Casanova. More often than not, the circumstances in which you find a bad title are the cases in which the namer, through their own juvenile intellectual retardation, see it as humorous to create names to confuse or disorient those viewing said presentation.

I digress. As gamers, we are all drawing closer to the beginning of 2012. It’s going to be a momentous year–several AAA titles will have just been released, Intel will be announcing a new chipset (for you PC gamers out there), and above all else, the new consoles are rolling out. We might as well change the dates of Christmas so that our paychecks coordinate with the emergence of all of this powerful new technology.

The new consoles are no joke. Each and every gamer has to take console releases seriously. The next generation of consoles will define how we play our games–our social interactions, our purchases, our love lives–all of these things depend on the next console. Unfortunately, we have yet to hear any solidified details as to what Microsoft and Sony are offering, and yet rumors and vague hints run rampant among the internet.

One thing that has taken form out of this is a name. For Microsoft fans everywhere, it has seemingly become acceptable and commonplace to refer to their new console offering as the Xbox 720. Am I interpreting this correctly? Are you making a joke out of the old Microsoft console, the Xbox 360? Going so far to imply that instead of making a traditional 360 degree turn in a geometric plane, you are in fact making twice that number? My God, it’s genius.

Let’s take a look at the basic semantics of what’s being said here. Instead of the Xbox 360 going once around, its going twice. Is that supposed to imply technological advancement or innovation? Is what we are to expect from our gaming lifestyle simply another rotation of itself?

Of course you are asking, “Why do you care? It’s just a name, and a fan-made one at that.”

Frankly, it’s much more than that. Names can shape thought, conceptualization, and interpretation. Out of all the possible offerings for something as meaningful and important as successor to the Xbox 360, we were given something with twice the name and half the effort.

If this were to be an official name, I would think that Microsoft were becoming flat-out lazy. I would think that they were trying to give me a console with twice the name and half the effort. I’d also be inclined to ask as to whether Microsoft HR had fired the entirety of their copy editors.

Back in the day, the Console Revolution was important. Each time a console was released, something genuinely new and ground-shaking was being developed. The original Xbox was the first console to have a hard disk. The Xbox 360 and the PS3 were the first consoles to be viewed in high-definition. These technological achievements are taken for granted nowadays, but that doesn’t change the fact that back then, each and every word spent describing it was dripping wet with the pure significance of something special–something special.

Microsoft chose Xbox 360 for several reasons, I’m sure. However, I’m fairly positive that by choosing that name they wanted to claim that they had gone full circle, and as result reached a higher level of existence–a higher level of sophisticated entertainment that they were about to share with us all.

The “Xbox 720″, as it is so brusquely referred to, is a deceit unto itself. It is a pustule, swollen and inflamed off of the idiocy of those that don’t understand the use of eloquence and decided to name something as a joke. Apparently Casanova’s children were born with something left over, as well.

It’s a sad thing, really. The name has become integrated into the stream of information surrounding the latest console releases, and I’d go so far as to say that it’s hindering what we are expecting of it. When you see the words Xbox 720, it’s not anything to be excited over. It’s simply another rumor, another machination of the fan’s whimsy and desire.

At the very least, Microsoft should name its successor. Such an act would change the shape of expectations, and change the fundamental form of what aesthetics were to come.

Put more practically, they could certainly choose something more pleasing to the ear. So many futuristic sounding terms start with the letter X these days, they’d damn well not waste their ingenuity as something as pitiful as a simple manipulation of arithmetic.

DmC new changes to Dante

2011-08-19T09:10:00.001-07:00

In his Demon and ANGEL forms he will a different sets of weapons along with his twin handguns and Rebellion (sword).

Each weapon will be available on the fly to launch devastating combos on ground and in air.

You will also be able to gliding,chaining, and even manipulate the environments.

Dante is able to see whats is going in the human world that has been poised by the demons and he hates the demons. Who have affected him personally throughout his life.

to find more information please visit:http://vegivo.com/2011/08/19/dante-will-have-different-sets-of-weapons-in-his-human-and-angeldemon-forms/

Call of Duty Beta impression

2011-08-19T09:05:00.001-07:00

The first thing we noticed was the way it identifies where all the action happens on a map. This is visualised through heat maps and shows the user where most fire-fights and kills take place. Using this feature, a player can look at every single one of their kills and deaths on the map and pinpoint where the shooter was positioned. This enables the ability to locate key camping spots, spawn points, flag capture points, headquarter spawn points and many more locations. Players looking to improve their skills can analyse these maps and adjust the way they play to possibly dominate the opposition.

To read more please visit:http://www.itfgaming.com/reviews/call-of-duty-elite-beta-impression

Social Gaming vs. Single player Gaming

2011-08-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

I myself prefer to play social games, i find it way more intriguing to have to rely upon others to get some things in the game finished, to me it adds more to the games content and more of a challenge getting the right players skilled and experienced enough to finished what you started. At the same time though i also think Single player games can be rewarding, but it also has the drawback of seeming like there is no challenge, and if you do run into trouble within the game you can't contact another player in-game and get information, you would have to look at a strategy guide, or find someone in real life that also plays the game and has gotten past the part your stuck on.

MMO's and there current set-up

2011-08-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

I have been up on playing WoW and have noticed that they are trying to switch from the generic Tank/Healer/ Dps roles and wanted to focus more on the ability to Crowd Control. i have heard from other mmo's that they have switched it up even more drastically. I like the current set up, i enjoy tanking and healing, but i've heard from others that this can get repetitive as a lot of those players have been playing since the open Beta, while i think its a good idea for a change, i think that the current set-up they have set-up the foundation for their game if they mess that up, they could lose all there old regular players.

Guild Wars Raising the Bar?

2011-08-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

Along with learning all about Guild Wars 2 new structured PvP mode, Conquest, during Gamescom 2011 we also got to check out what else NCSoft and ArenaNet are doing with the fantasy MMORPG to take the title to revolutionary heights. Everything from character creation, to end game, Guild Wars 2 tries to elevate the MMO genre. We continue to be impressed by what we see from this PC exclusive.

"What’s so impressive about Guild Wars 2 here at GamesCom is how complete a game it looks. Be it in the first few minutes of noobing through a character’s origins story in its fantasy world, or be it reigning terror across the endgame areas against armies of enemies and behemoths of bosses, Guild Wars 2 has something uniquely different about it. Thing is, a lot of the ideas in Guild Wars 2 aren’t wholly original; that shouldn’t surprise given that the MMO space only ever gets busier. What GW2 does, and it does it leagues better than Rift did earlier this year (and Rift did it pretty well), is to take those ideas and really and truly run with them in a new, different direction."

Be sure to check out Guild Wars 2 Gamescom Preview to learn more about this polished MMO.

New WoW patch!!

2011-08-18T21:49:00.001-07:00

Chilton was third up with an overview of the upcoming World of Warcraft v4.3 patch. This update will include the new Deathwing raid, featuring a climactic final battle against the monstrous dragon. Chilton was quick to note that this will be "the most epic encounter we've had to date," adding that players will, during one stage of the battle, be fighting atop Deathwing's back as it flies through the air.

Although he didn't go into any details, Chilton also mentioned that the update will include three new five-man instances.

The bulk of his presentation was spent explaining the three new game mechanics coming in patch v4.3. At the top of this list was transmogrification. This will let players further customize the look of their avatar by combining the appearance of one armor piece with the stats of another. This means a player can dust off an old or low-level piece of armor they thought looked cool and override its stats with those of a more current one.

However, there are some restrictions to prevent total confusion. When combining two armors, they must be the same type--meaning leather goes with leather and mail goes with mail. There is also a class restriction in place, so don't expect to mix a warrior's chest piece with a hunter's. Finally, players can't make anything look like a legendary item.

Second was void storage. For a fee, players can gain access to a much larger storage area where they can store items long-term and free up room in the bank. The last item to discuss was the new raid finder. This feature extends the services provided by the dungeon finder to raids. Players can specify the types of roles needed, and the finder will build a team of up to 25 players. Chilton hopes this addition will "open up raid content" for newer players, as well as make raiding "much less of a hassle" for experienced ones. When asked if the raid finder would be restricted to individual servers, he responded that it will be a cross-server service to help keep queue times to a minimum.

Go to http://gamescom.gamespot.com/story/6330079/blizzard-talks-new-additions-to-upcoming-games/?tag=recent_news%3Btitle%3B1 for more info.

Gamestop tanking?

2011-08-18T21:43:00.001-07:00

GameStop started its fiscal year with a spring in its step, reporting record sales and surging profits for the February-April quarter. The specialty retailer's fortunes have reversed of late, as today GameStop reported second-quarter results showing revenues and net income sliding year-over-year.

The premiere brick-and-mortar destination for downloadable content?

For the three months ended July 30, GameStop posted sales of $1.74 billion, down 3.1 percent year-over-year. Net income was also off nearly 25 percent, with the chain reporting $30.9 million in profits for the quarter, down from $40.3 million in the same period the year prior.

Despite the down numbers, GameStop pointed to some positive trends. First and foremost, it noted that digital revenues are up a considerable 69 percent, with used-game sales jumping 12 percent year-over-year. Given the larger profit margins on both those categories compared to new boxed titles, the company as a whole reported the highest margin rate in five years.

As for those new systems and boxed games, they still made up just over half of GameStop's sales for the quarter. On the games front, the company reported that its five best-selling titles were L.A. Noire, NCAA Football 12, Infamous 2, Brink, and Mortal Kombat.

In a postearnings conference call, GameStop CEO Paul Raines said the growth of downloadable content is driving a new cycle in the pre-owned games business and that he expects regular DLC launches for all major titles in the future. GameStop president Tony Bartel added that GameStop is actually helping push DLC acceptance among consumers. GameStop has found about half the customers who purchase DLC through its retail locations have never tried DLC previously.

The growth of DLC isn't the only source of optimism for GameStop. Bartel said the company expects to have more games with 1 million preorders or more between now and the January end of the company's fiscal year than it has had in its entire history.

For more information please visit: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6329863/gamestop-sales-profits-sink-by-millions?tag=newstop%3Btitle%3B6.

Cap on SW:Old republic digital copies to be sold

2011-08-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

The success of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game is commonly measured by how quickly it can gain a bustling population, and how many players it has compared to genre kingpin World of Warcraft. However, Electronic Arts appears to be opting out of that race with Star Wars: The Old Republic.

EA has ways of dealing with…consumers.

As reported by Game Informer, EA said today that it will be limiting the number of Star Wars: The Old Republic copies that will be available at launch, through both retail and digital channels. EA reportedly made this decision so as to ensure server stability when the game goes live later this year.

The publisher went on to note that while it has already established what the exact number of copies sold will be, it will not be announcing that figure. If and when that sales figure is reached, the publisher plans to cease digital sales while it expands server capacity. Once the player load can be accommodated, EA will resume game sales.

Electronic Arts said in February that The Old Republic would be "substantially profitable" with just 500,000 subscribers, with anything above 1 million monthly users making the game "very profitable." Analysts have pegged the game's opening sales at anywhere from 1 million to 3 million units.

To read more visit: http://gamescom.gamespot.com/story/6330062/ea-to-cap-star-wars-the-old-republic-sales/?tag=updates%3Beditor%3Ball%3Btitle%3B3 for more information.