New Catalyst drivers came out yesterday, so we took out a stack of ATI cards and ran some benches. It turns out that two HD 4870 cards should be just about fast enough for anyone -- when they work.
Popular Facebook app officially slapped with lawsuit by copyright holders Hasbro and Mattel
Hasbro has been making strides to enter the casual gaming sphere, partnering with none other than Electronic Arts to make its big break on PC and consoles. You can imagine then that the board game company has been eyeing an unlicensed online clone of America's Good Time Game, Scrabble, with a disapproving look. Indeed, Hasbro is now officially bringing the makers of popular Facebook application Scrabulous to court for (you guessed it) infringement of intellectual property. Hasbro's lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, also wants Facebook to pull Scrabulous from their site in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Hasbro Digital Media's Mark Blecher explains to the New York Times:
"Hasbro has always had the same two priorities. One is to offer a great playing authentic game for fans and the second is to protect our intellectual property. This was theft of I.P., plain and simple."
Facebook app development has proven lucrative thanks to potential advertising revenue from the social networking site's scores of users, and Scrabulous is certainly reaping the benefits. Developers Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla of RJ Softwares reportedly pocket $25,000 USD monthly from online advertising, though the siblings insist their product did not come about solely for profit. Scrabulous first emerged on Facebook back in May 2007, though it had its roots online since August 2005. The Agarwallas related to the NYT earlier this March that they just wanted to play Scrabble with other Facebook users when no other alternative was available. At that time, Hasbro had already threatened legal action against Scrabulous, though the company hoped for a resolution that wouldn't force the game to go offline for good. In other words, Hasbro was looking to purchase Scrabulous off of the developers, but apparently no settlement came about.
Hasbro and EA launched their own official version of Scrabble for Facebook earlier this month, but it's currently not enjoying the same level of popularity which Scrabulous does. The unlicensed app enjoys the patronage of at least half a million Facebook members on a regular basis, while Hasbro's version has scored around 8000 active users. No doubt being first to tap into the Facebook crowd proved to be a big boon for the unofficial version, as there's less incentive for existing members to drop their lists of Scrabulous contacts to move over to the licensed edtion.
Japanese gamers, or those willing to import can soon consider an alternate solution to charging their Wiimote(s): Sanyo's Contactless Charger Set for Wii Remote Control.
For the product, a custom battery back based on the company's eneloop technology (a low self-discharge NiMH battery which charges on contact) was developed. Here, an electromagnetic induction system is used for charging the batteries, even through the silicon jackets some use.
Charging once (just under four hours) gets you about six hours, and up to four remotes can be subsequently charged. Nintendo says retainment of the charge is much longer than that of the average NiMH battery, meaning more juice in the long run; about 90 percent of its charge is preserved after six months, 85 after a year, and 70 after two years.
However, there are a few hang-ups that might warrant the Nyko Wii Charge Station (three times cheaper for two controllers, two-thirds for four) a smarter purchase, licensed or not. Firstly, the recharge times are pretty long, and remotes can not all be charged at once (meaning charging overnight is your only sane option, really). Second, it's unclear whether or not the station could accomodate the Wiimote once the WiiMotion Plus is connected. The final issue is its region-specific availability; as stated previously, it's only set for Japan at the moment, though you'll be able to purchase it from GeekStuff4U.com exclusively starting August 25.
Will Nintendo bring this over to retail outlets in North America and Europe? Only time will tell, but in the meantime, the question is, should they?
Electronic Arts announced today that it will be teaming up with Wildstorm, an imprint of DC Comics, to create a Mirror's Edge comic book. It's a little more substantial than the alleged Mirror's Edgemovie on EA's to-do list.
The series will run a total of six volumes and serves as a prequel to the game, which is to be released this winter for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. The comics introduce us to Faith and her fellow Runners who act as couriers in the world of Mirror's Edge, utilizing a series of skyways and rooftops to deliver messages from one point to another. The comics will also explain events leading up to the game, such as how her city got to be the way it is.
Writer and story designer Rhianna Pratchett, also responsible for the game's script, and artist Matthew Dow Smith will be masterminding the project, and the first issue of this comic will be distributed at Comic-Con in San Diego.
“Rhianna and DICE have created an amazing game with a great backstory,” says Hank Kanalz, Vice President/General Manager for WildStorm.
“The characters have really come alive in the game, and we are pleased that we will be able to add to the canon of the Mirror’s Edge universe with this project.”
A little disappointing for those of us who won't be making it to Comic-Con but are looking forward to the game. There's no word yet on when the other five installments will be published or where they can be purchased. Mirror's Edge looks like a great game, and I'm hoping the first issue will eventually be available to the rest of us who couldn't make it to the convention.
Upcoming FPS showing off new screen shots and artwork
Publisher and distributor G4BOX is calling Cross Fire a record-setting military shooter, set to hit North America and the United Kingdom in fall 2008.
During its 2007 launch in Korea by Neowiz, additional servers had to be added within an hour of going live due to overwhelming traffic. In March 2008, within three days of open beta in Vietnam, Cross Fire hit a personal milestone with over one million total subscribers.
Howard He, Chief Executive Officer of G4BOX is eager to show off their FPS, commenting on its popularity and awaiting fanbase:
"We have been bombarded with people wanting a sneak peek at Cross Fire before it comes out this fall so we are excited to release the first screen shots and details for the game. Cross Fire is an innovative and compelling FPS and we have no doubt it will be a huge hit when it hits the market. But in the meantime people can whet their appetite with these first images."
Cross Fire is currently being developed by Smilegate for PC, boasting "fast and stable multiplayer action and graphics" with its "sophistocated game engine" that'll allow it to run on low-end PCs, ensuring no gamer gets left behind.
The underlying story is a familiar one, revolving around two international mercenary corporations at war. Players will side with either the Black Risk mercenaries or the Global Risk terrorists and go head to head in online matches with various modes of play, including Team Death Match, Exploder Match, Elimination Match, and Ghost Match.
As players progress, they can earn experience points and achievements that will advance their character up the ranks. Other key features are as follows:
An all-new match-type called "Ghost Mode" where Mercenaries play versus an invisible assailant
Powerful and widely varying weapons
Customizable in-game characters that can carry different equipment and weapons
Duffle bag system that allows players to carry more weapons
Runs on very low system requirements
It's a brief list, but it's all G4BOX is willing to reveal right now. Until then, enjoy the pretty pictures.
Digitimes reports that Intel will apparently launch its upcoming Nehalem processor and x58 chipset in September, with products available in the channel in early October.
According to a market research firm study conducted by Parks Associates, in order to keep the MMORPG realm thriving, more free games will be needed. Why? Not enough people are willing to pay a monthly fee to participate in the virtual worlds.
Over 2,000 online gamers were polled for the research, and the results were that only 'hardcore' gamers were interested in subscribing, while "social, dormant, and leisure gamers all show significant interest in a free-to-play, microtransaction-based model." Moreover, 14% currently not playing subscription-based MMORPGs would be keen on playing them if it was free, and 2% from the same group were up for the idea of paying.
The conclusion reached is microtransaction models (where players can purchase goods and whatnot in the game for what is typically a small fee) work best.
"World of Warcraft, with over 10 million players, exceeded expectations for subscription-based MMORPGs, but it's unlikely any other publishers will achieve the same in the near term using a subscription model," said Parks Associate's director of broadband and gaming, Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai.
Of course, this should raise the question "Why can WoW be so successful but not anything else?" Should then other developers be learning something from WoW, or offering their own equally solid and innovative take on the genre and charging monthly for it? Has the game crowded the market, and the only hope now for MMORPG devs to be successful a different model? Many questions, so feel free to debate.
I, for one, fully relate to those who don't want to pay a monthly fee. I'm pretty into games and all, but it's certainly not my life (not to imply everyone who pays for an MMORPG makes games their life). In either case, I'm not willing to pay a monthly fee for such a thing, but MMORPGs do interest me. The appeal is pretty obvious, but to some it's just not worth a monthly admission. I applaud the study, but I think the answer is more specific: we need good free MMORPGs. There are tons and tons out there (seems like more lately), but they all seem more or less mediocre, and judging from forum posts all over, the attitude is often this: give up on the idea of a solid one, comparable with say, WoW or Age of Conan. Mythos was looking great, but internal problems saw that get canned, so who knows if it'll see the light of day now, especially in good form. But the point is this: there seems to be a wide open gap for an addictive, innovative free MMORPG waiting to be filled. I'm thinking the only questions are when will it be filled, and who will fill it?
Amimon has 802.11n variant for transmitting HD around the house
Five consumer electronics companies have apparently decided to support Amimon's variation on the 802.11n spec to transmit HD video around the house with a 100m (330ft) range. The Wireless Home Digital Interface special interest group aims to define the spec by the end of the year, and Amimon plans to ship a chipset for the spec when it is released.
The companies on board are:
Hitachi
Motorola
Samsung Electronics
Sharp
Sony
whom I am sure you agree are heavy weights in the electronics industry.
The spec will supposedly support full uncompressed 1080p transmission over 20-40MHz channels, and will use some form of HDCP.
Several games lined up for possible movie production
Sick of seeing games adapted for the big screen? EA definitely isn't, as evidenced by their recent deal with United Talent Agency in a push for more game-to-cinema productions.
First on the list is their Sims franchise, for which EA is trying to renew movie deals. In addition, EA wants to release an animated DVD to accompany the launch of Dead Space and a cartoon series based on MySims.
Patrick O'Brien, VP of Electronic Arts, commented on his company's recent activity:
"UTA is an ideal partner for us to bring the richness and story telling nuance of our popular games into other forms of media that give consumers more ways to experience these creative concepts. Some of our teams have already made steps to expand our games into other forms of media like online, social networks and print publication. This partnership will help us take these efforts to the next level and match each of our titles with the right artists, producers and financiers."
That's right, EA isn't ready to stop at just Sims. Other games lined up for possible movie productions, according to GamesIndustry.biz, include Mirror's Edge, Need for Speed, and Army of Two. Wait, but Mirror's Edge hasn't even been released yet; guess EA just wants to get a head start on things. No doubt Need for Speed will bank on the success of The Fast and the Furious.
Not surprisingly, UTA's Richard Klubeck sounded equally as upbeat about this recent partnership:
"We view EA as an emerging entertainment force, not just because they are a great untapped IP rights holder, but because at their core they care most about how viewers respond to their stories and creative vision. We're excited to work alongside the EA team as they make this important expansion of their intellectual property strategy."
Whether video game based movies turn out to be any good is often a moot point in light of how much profit is made off weekend releases with the initial influx. Between fan loyalty and general curiosity of other movie goers, there's apparently plenty of money to be made.
November fever has already struck many gamers, and now Metal Slug 7 has joined the already massive list of titles set for fall, set to come out November 18.
First announced in September 2007, more screenshots have recently arisen, perhaps an effort to get those hardcore DS gamers pumped up. Prepare to run and gun in yet another Metal Slug installment, with new characters, missions, weapons, modes of play and vehicles. Can any shoot 'em up get away without a set of wheels?
Ajay Chadha, President of Ignition Entertainment, had his own amusing input regarding this upcoming release:
"Truth be told, I have a pink DS and was embarrassed to play it in public. Now with Metal Slug 7 loaded, I have no qualms. Needless to say, and in all seriousness, we are very excited to announce our partnership with SNK Playmore USA to give both core and casual gamers a whole new insight into the unique, all-action, eye-popping world that is Metal Slug."
Nice save there, Mister Chadha! I have a black DS; does that automatically qualify it as a manly handheld? Or do I need a PSP? Oh nevermind because Metal Slug will apparently validate your masculinity.
SplitFish AG, the "world's premiere designer of PlayStation3 first-person-shooter (FPS) console controllers" announced today a deal with Living Picture AG which will effectively see the devices (pictures at bottom) distributed worldwide. Living Picture, then, will provide the required financial and other sales resources in order to increase production capacity.
Called the "FragFX", the controller currently has a backlog of orders in Europe and North America.
"The rapid growth of SPLITFISH has made it necessary to increase our management personel and build on our sales infrastructure," says SPLITFISH CEO, Francisco Shipperheijn. "LIVING PICTURE is a perfect fit to bridge this gap and SPLITFISH will benefit from LP's experience in distribution channels, logistics and methods of stringent quality control."
This doesn't seem to be old piece of junk either - according to the press release anyway, it's received rave reviews from media and consumers alike.
The FragFX is a patent- pending two-piece combination motion stick and mouse, that provides gamers with pinpoint accuracy and unmatched control in action games, The FragFX controller received one of the highest review scores (9.1) to date from IGN Gear who called the FragFX "the best controller we have tested on the PS3". SplitFish game team members later substantiated the FragFX superior performance abilities by gaining the #1 spot in the global leaderboards of the popular Playstation 3 game "Call of Duty 4".
Doesn't say when it'll be released, but presumably as soon as they can get shipping.
Online embedded service turns from pay system to free play service.
A lot of people have had some hate for Games for Windows LIVE, mainly because a lot of classic modes of operation were hindered and people had to pay to play to use all the features of the service, while Xbox fans may feel it's totally justified, it really isn't and many services on the net have been doing similar methods or options for quite some time now. As such the subscription service embedded into the titles was probably met with one of the coldest shoulders in gaming.
Times seem to have changed for MS though, gamers will be able to enjoy Games for Windows LIVE fore free now, no exceptions to the rule and cross-platform battles will be free as well. It seems this is a bit of a good faith move on their part that maybe a free service will entice companies to support their system a bit more as it enables many features without the developer time to code it manually.
The short version from MS:
• Games for Windows – LIVE makes great Windows games even better, now offering completely free online multiplayer including TrueSkill™ matchmaking
• 1 gamertag, 1 friends list, 1 list of achievements and gamerscore for your Windows-based PC & Xbox 360 • Experience cross-platform gameplay with Universe at War, Lost Planet: Colonies, Shadowrun, and more. • Games for Windows – LIVE is available in every country and region supported today by Xbox LIVE®
This doesn't solve the issue of international player problems, LAN support and more, but it is a step in realizing that PC gamers are just going to not buy what they don't like. Hopefully they move to open the platform to a global market because many key regions are still absent from their coverage for PC gaming.
Starting last Saturday, and appearing to have ended recently, the President of Georgia's governmental website has been hit hard by sustained distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
The unwanted network activity has come from one (or more) big botnets directed by a HTTP based command and control server based in US. This server used a bot-herding tool called MachBot, to flood www.president.gov.ge with HTTP, ICMP and TCP DDoS attacks. The website, inundated with connection requests, was shutdown for a period of time, but is now back online. Apparently the host site for the C&C server began blocked its network access. Security specialists from the Shadowserver Foundation suppose that the C&C server has only been up for a few weeks, and has only ever been used in this DDoS campaign.
There is no hard evidence that the instigators behind these attacks were affiliated with the Russian government. Quite possibly, the attackers could have been politically motivated (and bored) teenagers. However this recent attack follows in the footsteps of similar DDoS campaigns that took place against a number of Lithuanian sites last month, not to mention the Great Estonia Cyber-War of 2007, and before that, the attacks against the democracy-leaning Ukrainian government (led by the dioxin-poisoned President Viktor Yuschenko), which has endeavored to gain favor with the NATO states.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Kazuo Hirai, President and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, made some rather telling comments in response to the questions posed to him. Most of it reads like Sony patting themselves on the back, of course, because big corporations certainly aren't going to reveal their insecurities. But GamesIndustry did make sure to address the much anticipated Home, PSN's community-based service.
Having been in development since 2005, Home has drawn its share of skeptics as well as irritated fans who are simply running out of patience. Three years and many delays later, Hirai assures PlayStation fans to hang tight because Home will be well worth the wait.
In this excerpt of the interview with GamesIndustry, Hirai dismisses the idea that gamers may be tired of the unfullfilled release dates:
Q: What's happening with PlayStation Home? We didn't see much more in the press conference, and some people are asking questions about how it will be received - are you concerned that when the product does come out that it will end up being an anticlimax?
Kaz Hirai:Well I would put it the other way around - because we got so much buzz, had we launched it before we thought it was the right time and the right features and functionality to launch it - with the high anticipation, people would go there in droves the first time around, they would check it out and say, "This isn't fun at all, so I'm not coming back again."
The other scenario, at least if I had a choice, that I'd like to go down - which is the path we're doing - okay, we've been dinged, I've been personally dinged many times, but if I know we're doing it for the right reasons and that once we launch the service this Fall it's going to be something that the consumers once they go there see that it's actually going to be a fun service, that to me is a lot better than doing it the other way around.
I've said this on many occasions, and right now we're aiming for a Fall open beta programme, but no beta should be opened before its time, and it's important enough of an initiative for the platform and for SCE, that we don't want to prematurely launch it and then be dinged for having a bad service.
So if Home winds up having bad service, you can always "ding" Kazuo Hirai again. It seems that Sony is preparing for the long haul with their ten year (console) life cycle, which they are confident the PlayStation 3 will achieve.
When asked who he thinks is winning this generation, Hirai replied:
I think that 'winning' and 'won' are two different things. Where I stand, we look at it in the context of a ten year life cycle as we've done with PSOne and PS2, which is certainly on its way.
So it's really a matter of looking back after ten years minimum and asking what you've actually accomplished in terms of the installed base, in terms of the business that you generated for the internal first party studios, in terms of the business you've generated for the third party studios, in terms of the business you've generated for the retailers…
And that's when you actually look back and say, "Yes, this platform was successful, it wasn't successful, it was so-so," - whatever the case may be. So we're still only two years into the PS3, and I think the true test is really like the situation we find ourselves with PS2, where nine years later and 130 million units later we can look back and say, "Yeah - it's been a pretty successful platform."
So I know some people have been talking about who will be number one in this generation, and what have you, but before we get into that question, what about the life cycle management? If we want to compare apples to apples, let's see a ten year life cycle, because I don't see that anywhere else.
If somebody wants to say that they're going to have a larger installed base, we should compare notes after ten years, because otherwise we're not talking about the same thing.
And we certainly don't do the consumer the disservice of basically saying that the consoles have gone by the wayside because we have a new one. Right now, a prime example? PS2 is nine years into it. Where's the Xbox? Where's the GameCube?
It always comes back to the competition, doesn't it? In nine years, where will the PS3 be, I wonder.
In June we heard that the New York State Senate was working on new legislation to better regulate console video game content. Turns out, Proposition A11717 was signed into law last night by Governor David Paterson.
Paterson issued a statement in a press release, which GamePolitics has acquired a copy of:
"Governor David A. Paterson signed a package of bills, many of which are focused on public safety and protecting the rights of New York residents. [One of these will] ensure the State will explore the negative effects of violent video games.
'We have the obligation to be constantly vigilant about amending our laws to protect the residents of New York State. Many of these bills will do just that by closing loopholes or creating new laws to enhance the quality of life for all New Yorkers,' said Governor Paterson...
...A.11717 / S.6401-A [the video game bill] establishes an advisory council to conduct a study on the connection between interactive media and real-life violence in minors exposed to such media. This bill will also require new video game consoles to have parental lockout features by 2010, and mandate that games sold at retail disclose the ratings obtained from the gaming industry's voluntary rating system."
Previously, the ESA had been urging members of its Video Game Voters Network to oppose the bill. As we first reported last month, A11717 is comprised of three major parts: parental control on new consoles, the establishment of a 16-member video game advisory board, and game packaging that displays ESRB ratings.
At the time, we thought the bill would not go through because two of the three components listed already exist (cue skepticism), leaving only the advisory board. As it turns out, two of the sixteen seats have already been promised to the ESA and EMA, respectively, so that the video game industry and its retailers are not without say.
Still, any video game law tends to annoy the ESA. VP Richard Taylor expressed as much in a comment to GamePolitics:
"The state has ignored legal precedent, common sense and the wishes of many New Yorkers in enacting this unnecessary bill. This government intrusion will cost taxpayers money and impose unconstitutional mandates for activities and technologies that are already voluntarily in place. It also unfairly singles out the videogame industry over all other forms of media. One wonders where this overreach by government in New York will end. If New York lawmakers feel it is the role of government to convene a government commission on game content, they could next turn to other content such as books, theater and film."
No word of whether or not the ESA will be filing a court complaint -- as is their usual course of action when video game laws come to pass.
Clueless, Mean Girls and Pretty in Pink go interactive
Paramount Digital Entertainment and Legacy Interactive announced a deal today whereby the latter studio will create a series of PC games based on some popular Paramount pictures: Clueless, Mean Girls and Pretty in Pink.
Clueless: The Game
Here you take on the part of Cher who has the imperative task of "finding the perfect boyfriends for all her pals." You need to figure out what kind of man their friends want by noticing what clothes the guys wear and what interests they hold. The slogan is "Players will have to be quick! Love waits for no one!" But it is conditional to accessories..
Mean Girls: High School Showdown
Here you take on the role of a student trying to restore balance to the high school cliques, while simultaneously ending the reign of the terrible "Plastic clique", described as "the prettiest girls and the meanest of the mean." Really, this is just like Star Wars in a different package, but maybe I've been reading too much Star Wars news lately. Anyway, it's a noble cause, right? To restore order in this far away galaxy, you'll have to "use kind words and reveal important truths at the right time, or use the Plastic's own evil tricks against them, by using rumors, pranks and put downs." Anything in the name of order!
Pretty In Pink
This one features "beautifully rendered scenes" and gives players visual puzzles to solve in order to "experience the memorable story about love, friendship, the clash of social cliques and how to rise above them." I think I like this one best so far. Pretty In Pink: you have much wisdom to offer.
"Paramount is focused on creating quality interactive entertainment based on evergreen motion pictures. With these games, we will not only reach the core casual games audience, but engage new audiences with our properties," said Sandi Isaacs, Senior Vice President, Interactive & Mobile, Paramount Digital Entertainment. "We are confident that our collaboration with Legacy Interactive will be a great success."
"Legacy Interactive¹s vision for these fan favorite films is one that seamlessly takes each story into the gaming world," said Ariella Lehrer, President and CEO of Legacy Interactive. "Our goal in collaborating with Paramount Digital Entertainment is to create games that longtime fans of the films will appreciate, but also games that challenge and entertain the casual gamer."
Video game accessories for May were up more than 30% over the same time last year, according to NDP research. 2007 brought sales to a still fairly impressive $621 million, but with the statistics so far this year, if we extrapolate, sales look to be increasing to about $807 million. Not too shabby.
So naturally, peripheral developers have even more incentive now to keep in on the action:
“For gamers, accessories are the bells and whistles that enhance the fun and quality of playing video games,” stated Tom LaVoie, President of Red Lion Interactive, the nation’s 'leading wholesaler of video game accessories'. “And for retailers and distributors the margins, especially from third party manufacturers, are higher than most other product segments.”
“Accessories generate significant revenues for retailers and provide consumers with substantial benefits as well. Video game peripherals play a powerful role in the $18 billion dollar game industry and can benefit everyone throughout the supply chain.”
Let's just hope it's more useful stuff than garbage, eh?
Joining the ranks of many other products branded with the trademark of top pro-gamer John Wendel, you can now purchase Fatal1ty memory from OCZ.
The "Fatal1ty Edition" memory comes in three flavors: OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 4 GB kits (5-4-4-18), DDR2 PC2-8500 2GB kits (5-5-5-15), and DDR3 PC3-10666 2GB/4GB kits (9-9-9-26.)
Easily North America's most famous gamer, John Wendell started his own Fatal1ty Inc. buisness a few years ago, and currently performs as the official spokesman of the Championship Gaming Series.
There is an interesting new cooler for CPU's - Danamics LM10.
In a typical heatpipe design, a liquid turns to vapor from the heat given off by the processor, rises, and as the fins cool it, turns back into liquid, running back into the bottom, to be heated again... and so on.. thus transferring the heat away from the processor, and cooling it.
Danamics has gone a couple of steps further - namely they have turned to using a liquid metal, and they have incorporated an electromagnetic pump to move the liquid metal along.
Sounds quite interesting... only thing that puzzles me is that the press shot does not show any power leads, and an electromagnetic pump by definition needs some electricity to drive it.
Danamics claims their LM10 outperforms most water coolers!
Asus' 10" display EEE PC - is its price dropping already?
Recently, Asus has made available a $100 rebate on the short shelf lived Eee PC 900 - and now they appear to have chopped the prices of the newest Eee PC, the 1000 - at least at
Electronics Arts is proving to be quite persistent, having just extended their Take-Two offer to August 18.
Take-Two still appears disinterested despite EA's earnest efforts. Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two Interactive, expresses such in a press release issued today:
"Take-Two's Board continues to be 100% committed to maximizing stockholder value and remains unanimous in continuing to recommend that our stockholders not tender their shares to EA. We are fully engaged in a formal process to evaluate strategic alternatives that have the potential to deliver greater value than EA's inadequate offer. As part of this process, we continue to engage in meaningful discussions with multiple parties, a number of whom have been conducting due diligence. We also remain absolutely focused on executing on our strategic and business objectives."
Ben Feder, Chief Executive Officer, stated that Take-Two's recent overwhelming financial success "demonstrated that [their] value-creation potential is greater than EA's offer," though EA's initial offer in February was rejected as inadequate.
Since then, Take-Two has proven to be a powerhouse in the industry, fully capable of holding its own. That being said, Take-Two's reasons for remaining independent are likely the very same incentive driving EA's unsolicited advances. In light of other highly publicized mergers, EA might be concerned with keeping their high standing in the industry, with contendors like Vivendi joining with Blizzard Activision.
It's a bird... it's a plane... NO! It's a heliplane!
Helicopters are by their nature vertical takeoff or landing craft, which can land pretty much anywhere. While that's great, they are not exactly fast in the air - making them easy targets for jets and shoulder launched missiles. DARPA wants something like a chopper, but one that flies faster when in the air.
The current subcontractor was apparently not cutting it, so DARPA is bringing in researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and will get Scaled Composites (X-Prize, remember?) to build the airframe.
Intel has announced some price cuts on a bunch of popular processors. The largest of price cuts come close to 33% percent.
The great overclocker, the E8500 (3.16) was cut from $266 to $183. The more inexpensive (and also great for overclocked) E7200 (2.53 GHz) gets a %15 price reduction, going from $133 to $113. The E8400 goes from $183 to $163, and the E3110 (3GHz) got a similar price cut, now selling for $167 instead of $183.
And Intel had some love for their quad-cores as well: the Q6600 (2.4 GHz) falls from $223 to $193.
The Xeon line also benefited from some price reductions. The X3220 (2.4 GHz) dropped to $198 from $224, while the X3210 (2.13 GHz) took a similar cut.
The pricing for all the "Extreme" branded processors has not been changed.
Click on the image below for a listing of all the price changes.
Alienware has just launched its Area-51 m17x model, designed for PC gamers, 3D content creators and multi-media enthusiasts alike. Here are the specs:
• Brilliant 17-inch, widescreen HD display • Core 2 Extreme mobile processors including Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 • Dual SLI enabled NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800M GTX GPUs for unprecedented performance levels. • Up to 4GB of 667MHz DDR2 Memory • Up to 640GB of hard drive space for storing massive entertainment collections, plus support for solid state drives and hybrid hard drives. • Includes Alienware's BinaryGFX technology • Smart Bay technology giving users on-the-fly customisation capabilities
Boasting it to be the fastest notebook ever created by the company, Senior VP Brian Joyce says they know their product:
“We pride ourselves in designing elite systems for consumers who absolutely refuse to settle for second best. The Area-51 m17x is, by far, the most aggressive, most powerful notebook computer Alienware has ever built.”
Joyce was asked to compare this new model with its sibling system, the Area-51 m15x and responded by saying both are great, but the m17x is for the 'hardcore':
“With both systems, Alienware has once again revolutionized mobile performance. The Area-51 m15x is ideally suited for road warriors or students who are constantly on the move but still want that boost of power Alienware delivers. The Area-51 m17x is for professionals and hardcore enthusiasts who want pure, unbridled performance with the added benefit of portability.”
The price? From £1,430 Inc VAT and delivery, or about $2860 USD/CAD.
Speaking on BBC's Click program, Metal Gear creator Kojima made a comment on what's in store for the future of gaming, and when:
"We will keep on making games for consoles and the graphics and sound quality will get better and better. But I think no matter how much we improve the quality, there is only so much we can hear or see. The next level will be when we start improving the backgrounds, the things you don't instantly see but enhance the experience."
"For example, there are leaves in the background and when you water them they grow. Instead of the backgrounds being pre-programmed, they actually respond to what the player does. This is not possible right now but maybe in the future it will be, and that is when we will have entered the next era of gaming."
It's easy to get really bent on the progression of technology (and nothing against that) while forgetting how far we've come in such a short time. I mean, just two decades ago you were probably playing stuff like this:
And now you're playing this:
Seriously! I think that's quite something to achieve in about two decades. But of course it is cool to think about how much further we can go, and how fast. I wonder if what Kojima is talking about will be possible with the next generation of consoles or not, and if the graphical leap this time will be as big as it was in previous generations.
Kojima is currently rumoured to be working on a new game based on RPG series Snatcher, one of his earliest works. Reportedly, this will be a collaboration with Suda 51 (No More Heroes).
'Creatively Glorifying God', 'How We Can Fund Missions Via Entertainment', more
Christians are gamers, too (apparently)! The community has stepped up since days of old though, and are having their own conference this year, titled the Christian Game Developers Conference. Speakers, workshops, expo time, all that good stuff, you'll see it there. Below you'll find a list of speakers, workshops, and panels.
Speakers
Jay Moore, The Strategery Group
Ken Kavanagh, ClickToy Interactive
Scott Wong, Brethren Entertainment
Chris Skaggs, Soma Games
Workshops
Wisdom or Waste?, Tim Reddington
How We Can Fund Missions Via Entertainment, Ed Armstrong
Creating AI-Bots in Multiplayer Games, Laurene Wells of Heaven's Blessings Tiny Zoo
Virtual Team of Volunteers, Charlie Mauck
The Dev
Challenge: Quickly Creating Value, Dan Olds
Creatively Glorifying God
Jerry Moore - Game Design.
Discussion groups & panels
Game Evangelism
The Life Cycle of a Bug
State of the Industry
Dan Olds' will be showing his latest film at the event, as well, titled "Song Man," which is described as such:
Song Man is the story of a young Jewish man, David, an out of work musician struggling with life, love, and faith, who's unaware that people all over the world are following his music and spiritual journey through the songs he writes; among them, a couple of contract killers trying to prevent him from claiming the inheritance that rightfully belongs to him. The film features the biblical card game "Prophecy", which Dan created and is published by Epos Entertainment.
Registration is still open to anyone who wishes to attend and can be done through the website found below; cost is $75 for two days or less or $90 for all three days. The experience is promised to be 'unique.'
Don’t miss this opportunity to gather with other Christian developers to discuss and pray over the exciting things God is doing in this industry! July 24-26, 2008, Portland, Oregon.
Do not roll eyes upon reading the title of this article. If you're reading this, you were interested enough to click it, and I've at least partially completed my objective by drawing you this far. This Sunday Special will be the third, and while E3 has taken most of my will to live, I have returned in time to provide everyone with what I hope will be another amusing weekend read. Recent news of the Silent Hill variety stemming from Konami's conference has inspired today's selection.
As the title has already revealed, this Sunday Special features Henry Townshend of Silent Hill 4: The Room. Like other Silent Hill protagonists from previous titles, Henry seems strangely lacking when it comes to emotional response. Thrust into that other world where rust, mildew, and raw meat suddenly become horrifying -- it's a vegetarian neat-freak's worst nightmare -- our brave hero has only one thing to say: "What the hell?"
Granted, those familiar with Silent Hill 4 know that we don't get to see the trademark nightmare world until the latter half of the game. Instead, Henry discovers a gaping hole in his bathroom wall after realizing he's been locked inside his apartment. "The phone doesn't work, the TV doesn't work... I can't even get anybody to hear me when I yell," he observes while staring at his door.
I really jacked up the brightness level on these.
Silent Hill likes using holes as metaphoric plot devices.
I've heard many fans complain that Silent Hill 4 did not focus enough on character development, that we really don't find out anything about Henry. Indeed, even the Translated Memories section on Walter Sullivan's recent victims has nothing about Mister Townshend. As you can see, his page is blank and his photo has been conveniently ripped out, though this can be easily justified by the assumption that Henry was meant to survive the events of Silent Hill 4 rather than become another victim. This is good news, really, because the ladies absolutely love Henry for being the oblivious dope that he is. Remember how Cynthia, the latina bombshell, comes on to him upon their first meeting? I'm not sure our cute little simpleton understood exactly how to react to a woman rubbing all over him and talking about "special favors."
Even better, we know Henry is really on top of things in emergency situations.
Henry is terrified by what he sees!
Aw, that's really sweet. Except for one thing...
She's really, really notokay.
At least he thought to ask, right? The guy really has a way with women. He took such good care of Eileen when she was hobbling around with a broken arm, busted eye, and a limp; actually, that depends on the player, but I took excellent care of her.
Okay, it might not be fair to make so much fun of Henry. I mean between Heather's laser eye beams and James' discovering the shiba mastermind (if you haven't seen that ending, I highly recommend it), Silent Hill is downright serious! The bottom line is that we love Henry Townshend because he curb stomps monsters, doesn't know how to shave, combs his hair, and wields that rusty axe like nobody's business.
He also wears a very clean shirt.
Cue battlecry: WHAT THE HELL?!!
Walter Sullivan. Because I can.
Can any of us claim to do any better in his situation? Mostly likely not, because we're not quite so dead inside as the protagonists of Silent Hill. Yet we've always learned to love them for their prosaic wit and desensitized reactions in the face of disfigured flesh wads, rabid undead dogs, epileptic nurses, and big dudes who wear pyramids on their heads. When Silent Hill is after you, all you need is an old axe and a lot of Health Drinks.
Many may remember a time during which rumours were floating about regarding a PS3 version of BioShock. Particularly, I recall an interview with creator Kev Levine on Joystiq some time ago - being questioned about such a thing, Levine responded basically with a "no comment." Of course, as we all know, no comment is a comment, and now that the dust has cleared, we can see why he had to respond as such. Anyway, VideoGamer got ahold of 2K to discuss what happened, being now they're at liberty to say:
"Originally we announced BioShock as a next-gen game and didn't specify platforms," stated [Markus Wilding, International PR director, 2K]. "Then we were approached by Microsoft and at that time that deal made perfect sense for everybody, so we did it. As far as exclusivity deals go these days, they expire after a certain time, and then it was up to us to decide if it would make sense to release a PS3 version such a long time after the 360 version. BioShock has such a huge fan base and we literally got emails almost every day from people requesting, asking for a PS3 version or asking if it would be possible.
"Basically we chose the right time and we had the opportunity after a while, and we said all right, we'll go for it. Obviously we couldn't announce it for a while. Had we announced it at the time we launched the 360 version, basically we'd nullify that deal, so we had to work it so both parties would be pleased. That's the basic story. There's no big surprise in there. As long as you have an exclusivity, you cannot talk about other platforms."
As for when it started, Wilding says it was a ways after the 360 version was done:
"The development basically started, let's see, I can't put a finger on it, but certainly not right after we shipped the 360 version, because at that time we didn't know if it'd make sense to release a PS3 version. BioShock was a big team, but it wasn't like 200 people working, so it wasn't like we could say "hey, let's work on a version that might not even come to light". So I can't give you an exact date, but after the 360 version was done. When the right time came we could announce it and we did."
Now, regarding BioShock 2, he says nothing will surface on it at least until the PS3 version is released late October, as that's what the team is focusing on right now. Stay glued to your seats, BioShock fans.
Forums shutting down tonight, Hellgate: London's time looks limited
As we wrote about last week, Flagship Studios appears to be in a great, horrible mess. Apparently unable to sustain itself financially, both of Flagship Studios' games -- MMO's Mythos (unreleased), and Hellgate: London -- are looking like they will some day become property of Korean company HanbitSoft.
Although Flagship released a statement at the beginning of the week saying that they were still in operation, this isn't really saying all that much when they have (finally) admitted now that most of their staff has been laid-off, and now today, the community forums for Mythos and Hellgate are shutting down, as of tonight.
Unfortunately, the Mythos beta is going offline tonight as well. From TaylorBabli, Mythos developer: "Mythos was not the reason Flagship laid everyone off. We cannot afford to pay moderators and customer service people (like Tiggs and her Minions). In fact, we've all been on here doing this for free FYI. The forums are one of many faces of the company, and if it were left to the wolves it would become infested with spam and advertisements. We can't allow that, so the boards have to come down. The Mythos Team"
Judging from a recent story by Korean site thisisgame.com, HanbitSoft is putting together a big lawsuit against the founding staff members of Flagship Studios, most notably ex-Blizzard Bill Roper. Here is a quote from that story (translated) : "HanbitSoft does not expect to have any difficulty in securing the exclusive intellectual property rights related to Mythos. HanbitSoft is prepared to deal with Comerica bank in a local visit to them next week in order to secure and acquire the intellectual property rights of Hellgate: London.HanbitSoft believes that the game has nothing to do with the aforementioned bank as HanbitSoft already holds the rights to the game in Asia. HanbitSoft believes it has a strong possibility of acquiring the intellectual property of Hellgate: London in the United States and the rest of the world. HanbitSoft stated that they will be devising a plan to continue work on the games with local (Korean) game developers in order to see the game through."
So what does the future hold? Hopefully, it will not turn into a prolonged court case. Some might guess that although HanbitSoft has the resources to turn Hellgate: London into a more successful product, a long spell in court would kill any of the residual dwindling interest for the game. As for Mythos, things look bleaker: although it has the makings of a very good game, a new programming staff taking over from a team working on a closed beta just doesn't usually work out all that well.
The people probably most distraught about this entire situation are the people that paid $150 for the Founders deal (which gave them a 'life-time' subscription for a game that looks like it'll shutdown after only 9 months) and our poor, poor Japanese gamer friends. Hellgate: London only went on sale in Japan a couple of weeks ago -- undoubtedly, the thousands of Japanese gamers who bought Hellgate will be upset to know that the game went up for sale when the company behind it was fending off an inevitable collapse, and had little hope of supporting the product for any substantial amount of time. (It is possible to play the game in single player mode, but that version of the game is well overdue for more patching.)
For more information on this sad and tired subject follow this link.
Game's DRM so annoying even Ubisoft uses cracked .EXE's..?
A bit of a wacky story turned up on the Internets today.
To help users deal with a DRM-related technical problem (surrprise surprise) found in the Driect2Drive version of Rainbow Six Vegas 2, it seems that, unbelievably, the Ubisoft support team posted a NO-CD crack made by the evil piracy group Reloaded, in order to deal with the problem. It seems like a pretty sloppy fix indeed: they merely renamed the crack r6vegas2_fix.zip and released it as there own work-around, giving no credit to the shafted Reloaded group. But a curious forum-goer named Twingo delved into the assembly code of the .exe file with a hex editor and found Reloaded tags, proving suspicions that the fix offered by Ubisoft was one and the same as the one released by the mega-illegal sea-dog 'warez' group.
Any mention of the issue on the official forums are getting immediate lock-downs by moderators.
One forum community manager had this to say on the forums: "The file was removed from the site over a week ago now and the matter is being thoroughly investigated by senior tech support managers here at Ubisoft. Needless to say we do not support or condone copy protection circumvention methods like this and this particular incident is in direct conflict with Ubisoft's policies."
It is indeed a sad state that PC gaming finds itself in when even a company's interneral support staff use a cracked .EXE for their own game, to get around problematic and annonying DRM. It seems like often the only people that DRM prevents from playing the game are the ones who actually bought it.
Digitimes reports that Intel is planning to drop the price of its "Extreme" edition back to $999 with the introduction of the Bloomfield (Nehalem) processor. Apparently the 3.2GHz processor will be priced at $999 (in trays of 1000 pieces) down fromt he current $1,499 price for the present top chip, the QX9770.
There are apparently going to be three Nehalems introduced at first:
3.2GHz $999
2.93GHz $562
2.66GHz $284
All will use the new LGA 1366 socket, and require a new X58 chipset based motherboard.
Sure, E3 has brought us lots of goodies, news, screenshots, trailers and all that fun stuff this year, but what about the dark, seedy underbelly? Industry executives, at EA and Ubisoft no less, are slamming the conference following its end.
Being interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle, EA boss John Riccitiello said, "I hate E3 like this. Either we need to go back to the old E3, or we'll have to have our own private events."
Ubisoft's head Laurent Detoc echoed his sentiments: "E3 this year is terrible. The world used to come to E3. Now it's like a pipe-fitters show in the basement." Rightfully declared, most would say; E3 was once something of a party in itself, where 60,000 gamers, execs, developers and booth babes alike would rub elbows. Now? A 5000 invite-only press affair. So discreet!
Moreover, the event used to take place in May; Ubisoft VIP Alain Corre says this choice of setting was critical:
"It's one milestone in the communication of your products throughout the year, and it's important because it's the ramp-up for Christmas. [But] E3 here, mid-July, in the Convention Center in downtown LA - it's not appropriate I would say."
Even Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto has his concerns, which he voiced to MSNBC:
"For a very long time, E3 was an event where — and certainly Nintendo included — catered specifically to the core gamer. Now we look at more … an opportunity for us to introduce new concepts and new types of play that we intend to bring to the broader audience, particularly because of the media that gathers at E3 now.
So while attending an E3 event like this, they might be given the impression that Nintendo is no longer focusing on the games that appeal to the core gamer, in fact we’re still working on many of those titles, but it’s just not the type of event where we’ll be showcasing that anymore."
Of course, all this disdain and concern is useless without some action: will E3 be the same again next year, or will folks like John Riccitiello stick to their word and flat-out abandon it if nothing changes?
2008 yields heaps of hackin' 'n slashin' (and sailors, and soccer)
Five MMOs enough for you? Well, four and a half, I suppose. That's what Frogster Interactive Pictures AG is planning for the second half of the year: Runes of Magic, The Chronicles of Spellborn, StoneAge 2, Kickster and an Add-on for Bounty Bay Online.
So here's the schedule: Runes of Magic enters closed beta this September, "completely adapted to Western standards" (it's put out by a Berlin publisher), complete with an "impressive" soundtrack put down by sound studio Dynamedion. Roughly two months later, the game will enter open beta, and a complete launch will begin around the year's end. Pre-registration has already begun, so sign up if interested.
Next is Chronicles of Spellborn. The game passed performance and stress tests as of last week quite successfully following what they're calling an essential development milestone. All that's left is to integrate some remaining content components, do some final balancing, polishing, touching up, that sort of stuff, and it'll be done sometime this year. Pre-reg has begun for that one too, and you can sign up on Spellborn.com.
StoneAge 2 - a 'free2play' game - was just recently announced in its European form, and progress appears rapid; closed beta begins next month. Launch is planned for autumn, and beta registration is available on StoneAge2.com.
Kickster departs from the pack, it being an online soccer game. This one will launch in the autumn. Between that and Smash Online, sports fans should be having a field day (pun accidental) on the interweb this year.
As for the sailor MMOG (who knew!) Bounty Bay Online add-on, that's 'in the making.'
Next game in the works; WoW faces more competition
E3 has been chock full of juicy goodies, and here's another for ya: EA chief executive John Riccitiello revealed at the show BioWare is at work on the next Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game, and it will have an MMO component.
"We've got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development," said Riccitiello. "And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it."
The first one is with the Warhammer franchise, the second, he confirmed, is KOTOR. More than that, it appears to be PC exclusive: the man stated it will "sidestep the consoles owned by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo."
Speaking more on business, Riccitello boasted, "I think, hands down, there's not a publisher or a platform that's got what we've got." Cocksure, definitely. But just work with the team, EA, don't condone rushed product fueled mostly by crunch time, hey?
It looks like Asus is going to bring their Republic of Gaming branding up another level with the release of the upcoming X48 chipset motherboard, the Rampage Extreme.
According to reports coming from other side of the world (specifically: Taiwanese technology site Hard Spell), with the Rampage Extreme you can overclock the FSB to 710 MHz (2,840 MHz effective). For comparison's sake, generally most new motherboards are doing well if the can overclock to the 500 MHz mark.
From the picture below, you can see that this overclocker has a E8400 running at 710 * 6, which translates into a system running at 4.26 GHz.
Besides awesome overclocking potential, the Rampage Extreme also features a BIOS that can be adjusted on the fly. That's right -- you don't even have to reboot to overclock your system for a gaming session. Called the "TweakIt", the new motherboard also has a LCD display right on the board with a small little joystick that you can use to adjust your clocks.
To support these high speeds, this Asus board reportedly has high quality capaciitors, and extensive heat sinks on the North/Southbridge.
For further information or more pics, follow the source link below.
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