Friday, November 12, 2010

Gaming Today

Gaming Today

Report: APB Rights Bought by F2P Company

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 06:21 PM PST

We’d been hearing about potential buyers for the rights to APB ever since Realtime Worlds went under and then shut it down back in September, and if GI.biz sources are to be believed, a buy has been found. It’s not Epic, though. GI says the buyer is K2 Network, which is a company known for bringing Asian online games to the West via their free-to-play GamersFirst platform. I don’t really have much to say about this since I don’t know anything about K2, but I would guess that it’s safe to assume that APB, whenever K2 brings it back online, will be free-to-play. And that’s all I’ve got, at least until K2 confirms or doesn’t confirm this.

This Black Ops Kill Is the Luckiest Thing Ever (VIDEO)

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 05:48 PM PST

A couple years ago, I was driving down a five-lane road and pulled an absurd left turn at speed from the far right lane.  Naturally, a cop saw me and pulled me over. Oh, crappo, I thought, because I hadn’t paid my insurance and it had run out a couple weeks previous. So the lady cop walks over to my car and lectures me about making ridiculous turns like that, and I show her my expired insurance card, and she called me out on it. I told her I had insurance but I just forgot to start carrying my new card. I managed to get out of this situation because I just so happened to share my birthday with this lady police officer. I am not kidding.

Another time, I went to the kiosk at the movie theater to buy my ticket so I could avoid the line at the box office. I swiped my rewards card and my credit card, and the machine spit out eight free movie passes that I could use on whatever movie I wanted.

What I’m saying is that I’m kinda lucky. But I’m not as lucky as this Black Ops player, who managed to kill a guy by chucking a tomahawk up in the air across the map. See it and believe it.

Activision really oughtta give this guy some pie. I think they can afford it.

ZeniMax Buys Studio Created by Starbreeze Founders

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 05:28 PM PST

Last year, a bunch of folks at Starbreeze quit and founded a new studio, MachineGames. Today, ZeniMax announced that they bought the fledgling studio and now has them working on a new AAA game on id Tech 5 (which you’ll also see in action on Rage and Doom 4). This is big for MachineGames because ZeniMax has a bunch of money they can throw at them (Zeni also owns id and Bethesda), and it’s big for ZeniMax because it means they’re one step closer to being considered “one of the big boy publishers.” And it’s good for us because those Starbreeze guys made some great games (talking about Escape from Butcher Bay and The Darkness). And I like that they’ll keep making major releases, because the shooter/RPG meld, which they like so much, is always something we could use more of.

Silent Hill: Revelation 3D Director Talks Silent Hill: Revelation 3D

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 04:46 PM PST

It’s been not a very large amount of time since Silent Hill: Revelation 3D was announced as being in prod., and the film’s writer/director, Michael J Bassett, is already out and talkin’ it up. Well, he’s talkin’ it up to Empire, at least, who published an exclusive interview with the guy. Here are some quotes:

It’s early days, and I’m keeping details of the plot secret for now, but it’s going to be a sequel to the first film whilst trying to remain true to the plot of game 3, and will also work as a stand-alone movie for people who don’t know the series.
…
I spent a long time revisiting the games and reading just about every little piece of material I could find on the mythology. Of course, my choices may not please everyone, but the ambition is to give the audience a twisted, intense and terrifying experience, following a really interesting story, anchored by a terrific cast giving great performances. It’s more than you get from most horror movies these days, I know, but I figure why not aim high and try to bring a bit of quality back to a genre that’s rarely treated with respect?

So that’s what he told Empire. But that’s not all, because the dude also blogs. And he blogged that he really dug the production design aspects of the first film and that he’s going to try to bring back as much of its creative folks as he can for his film.

All right. While the first film may have had some problems, those certainly weren’t that they didn’t get the mood and look and feel of the world right. I continue to hold out hope that this could be the first (or second) “good” game movie.

New Super Meat Boy Levels Forthcoming

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 04:22 PM PST

Very soon, Super Meat Boy will be getting an Xbox Live title update, and Team Meat says they should be sending it off to Microsoft this week. And when it does go live (they “hope” it will by the 21st of this month), it’ll fix all the bugs and add a new song to the soundtrack. And it’ll come with 20 new levels. No s**t.

This new group of what they call “internet levels” is called the Sewers of Dross. They say: “In the sewers of dross you will be using only Gish and his sticky abilities to traverse 20 levels that ramp in difficulty from medium to soul crushing.”

Oh, and as a side note, they also say the PC version is on the way and should be out by the end of the month and that you’ll be able to pre-order it for a sale price, similar to what they did when it launched on Xbox Live.

from Team Meat Blog

Black Ops is the Biggest Entertainment Launch Ever (probably)

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 03:24 PM PST

Call of Duty: Black Ops earned $360 million in real money on day one in North America and the United Kingdom. That tops Modern Warfare 2′s opening day total of $310 million in those territories, and it seems reasonable to think that it will eclipse MW2′s $400 million worldwide day-one earnings once the full numbers are released down the line. By the way, that $360 million represents 5.6 million copies of the game, which is a lot of copies. Also, $360 million is more than Halo: Reach made in its first 17 days. Watch your back, FIFA 11; Black Ops is hot on your tail.

Isn’t amazing to think that Sam Worthington is in the biggest movie ever and what might end up being the biggest game ever? How f**ked would that be, particularly considering he’s terrible in both of them? (Hint to the world of entertainment: nobody is ever going to be excited about your thing because Sam Worthington is in it. Also, he couldn’t do an American accent to save all of existence, so stop making him play American.)

Xbox 360 Controller with New D-pad On Sale Now

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 02:59 PM PST

It’s been four years since the Xbox 360 was released, and as of today, one of gamers’ biggest problems with it has been resolved. Well, it’s been resolved for those who will buy this controller, anyway.  But yeah, that new Xbox 360 controller with the funky new transformer d-pad is now on the market, and you can buy it now from Amazon or very soon from a store near you, because, as Major Nelson tweeted this afternoon, the thing has been shipped to retailers. So rejoice, because if you’re in the market for a new 360 controller you can get this. On the other hand, it retails for $65 ($60 at Amazon), and Amazon is selling the classic white controller for $35, so…..

Now we just need to know if this new controller is going to be bundled with new Xbox 360s. We’ll ask.

Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit Achievements

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 01:52 PM PST

The cops and robbers aspect was one of the Need For Speed series’ most fun gameplay elements, and EA is wisely returning to it this year with Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010. Check out the list of achievements below to find a litany of rubber-burning, fuzz-evading, car-porning goodness.

Setting the Score – Select a Friend Autolog Recommendation and beat it – 25G

Graffiti – Create a “New Post” or “Write a Reply” on the Wall – 10G

Share the Dream – Share a Dreamshot to the Wall – 10G

Socialite – Have 5 or more NFS Friends – 10G

Gotcha! – Bust a Racer – 5G

Officer – Reach rank (3) Office as a Cop – 5G

Patrolman – Reach rank (5) Patrolman as a Cop – 5G

Trooper – Reach rank (8) Trooper as a Cop – 10G

Sergeant – Reach rank (11) Sergeant as a Cop – 10G

Lieutenant – Reach rank (14) Lieutenant as a Cop – 10G

Undercover – Reach rank (17) Undercover as a Cop – 10G

Captain – Reach rank (18) Captain as a Cop – 10G

Pursuit Agent – Reach rank (19) Pursuit Agent as a Cop – 25G

Ultimate Enforcer – Reach rank (20) Ultimate Enforcer as a Cop – 50G

True Blue – Earn a Distinction in every single-player Cop mission – 100G

Chase – Play 10 Online Hot Pursuits as a Cop – 5G

Bounty Hunter – Play 10 Online Interceptors as a Cop – 5G

Vengeance is Mine – Wreck a Cop – 5G

Suspect – Reach wanted level (2) Suspect as a Racer – 5G

Target – Reach wanted level (4) Target as a Racer – 5G

Felon – Reach wanted level (6) Felon as a Racer – 5G

Offender – Reach wanted level (8) Offender as a Racer – 10G

Outlaw – Reach wanted level (11) Outlaw as a Racer – 10G

Wanted – Reach wanted level (14) Wanted as a Racer – 10G

Fugitive – Reach wanted level (17) Fugitive as a Racer – 10G

Notorious – Reach wanted level (19) Notorious as a Racer – 25G

Most Wanted – Reach wanted level (20) Most Wanted as a Racer – 50G

Golddigger – Earn a Gold Medal in every single-player Racer event – 100G

Festival of Speed – Play 10 Online Races – 25G

Race – Play 10 Online Hot Pursuits as a Racer – 25G

Escapologist – Play 10 Online Interceptors as a Racer – 25G

Burnout – Fill the Nitrous bar then use it all in one go without hitting anything – 25G

Wall of Steel – Deploy a Road Black which then gets hit by a Racer – 5G

Shock to the System – Get hit with an EMP – 10G

Hit Confirmed – Get a hit with a Spike Strip – 10G

Aerial Assistance – Call in a Helicopter which then hits a Racer with a Spike Strip – 5G

Denied – First Jammer use that affects a Cop – 5G

In the Zone – Use a full Turbo without hitting anything – 25G

Power Spike – Spike Strip a car that is targeting you with an EMP – 25G

Eye of the Needle – As a Racer, drive through an undamaged Road Block without hitting it – 25G

Share the Joy – Dreamshot a BMW and share it with your Friends – 25G

Imprezive – Accumulate 2,000 yards of drift in a single event using the Subaru Impreza WRX STI – 25G

Flight of the Bumblebee – Win the “Muscle Reflex” race in a Bee Yellow Chevrolet Camaro SS – 25G

Shaken, Not Stirred – Win any Hot Pursuit in an Aston Martin – 25G

Wet in the Vette – Drive any Corvette in the wet – 25G

Godzilla – Get any medal in “Run to the Hills” driving the Nissan GT-R SpecV without using any weapons – 25G

Iron Man – Get Distinction in a Hot Pursuit, Interceptor, and Rapid Response using the Audi R8 – 25G

Electrically Charged – Bust the 918 Spyder using an EMP in “Porsche Patrol” – 25G

Snakebite in Black – Spike a cop while driving a Black Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR or Ford Shelby GT500 Supersnake – 25G

Midnight Cowboy – Dreamshot a Midnight Blue Metallic Ford GT at night in the desert – 25G

How to Fix Wii Disk Read Errors

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 01:44 PM PST

How to Fix Wii Disk Read Errors

Nintendo’s Wii game console may not have the repair problems that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 or Sony’s PS3 have, but over time the Wii will begin to experience disk read errors due to a basic design issue. If your Wii is failing to read disks, this how to offers a few possible solutions as well as step by step instructions for fixing Wii disk read errors.

Difficulty: Basic to Intermediate
Tools:

  • A microfiber cleaning cloth
  • A Tri-wing screwdriver Size 3 (don’t try and use a flathead) – This NEEDS to have a long shaft. There is a part of the Wii with recessed screws.
  • A mini Phillips screwdriver
  • A small plate or container ( to hold the screws in )
  • A couple pieces of tape to keep track of what screws belong to part of the Wii
  • Some water (not a cleaning solution)
  • Wii lens cleaner kit

Time to Install: 5-30 minutes
Table of Contents

Official Disclaimer:
Part of this how to will explain how to disassemble and adjust an internal part of the Nintendo Wii’s disk drive. If you are currently under warranty from Nintendo you absolutely SHOULD NOT attempt this procedure. Send your Wii back to Nintendo for warranty repair. If your warranty is expired, and you are comfortable working with electronics, you might want to try this process. Please note that you are doing so at your own risk.

Step 1: Preparations
Identifying the problem should be the first step before attempting to fix a Wii disk read error. The most common reasons the Wii won’t read a game disk are:

  • Your Game Disk is scratched or dirty
  • Your Wii Disk Drive has a mechanical problem
  • You inserted your game disk improperly (i.e. upside down)

The first two most common issues are relatively easy to fix. We’ll talk you through the cleaning process next but first you should make sure your Wii is positioned right-side up or if it is standing, with the feet down. This will eliminate the occasional "Duh!" Moment when you realize you have the disk facing the wrong way.
Here are two images of how to properly set up your Wii to accept disks:

Always set your Wii so that when inserting disks the printed side is up or facing to the right.

If you’ve noticed that your Wii is making a rubbing or rattling sound when you insert a game disk, you should head on down to Step 4: Fixing the Wii Disk Drive. You most likely have a problem with the retention clip on your Wii disk drive.

Step 2: Clean Your Game Disk
Game Disks often get the worst treatment. Between being set out face down during rapid-fire game sessions and constant touching and handling by oily fingers, discs can get pretty filthy. Because of this, it is important that when you find a dirty disk you clean it appropriately. Believe it or not, there is a right way and a wrong way to clean discs. Most game disks will get scratched and smudged over time, so regular and careful cleaning can maintain the life of your investment.

Properly cleaning any video game disc comes down to a fairly simple process but first here is a list of things NOT to do:

  • Don’t apply water directly to the game disk when cleaning.
  • Don’t wipe the disk surface in a circular pattern when cleaning.
  • Don’t use those “cleaning machines” to resurface or clean a disk – these do damage to the protective surface of the disk and rarely work effectively.
  • Don’t use a paper towel or tissue – these often leave remnants on the disk and can actually scratch the surface while you wipe.

With those rules out of the way, here is the proper way to clean a game disk:

  1. Dampen a part of your cleaning cloth with some water. Make sure you have either a dry microfiber cloth or dry part of the dampened cloth handy.
  2. Using the damp part of the microfiber cloth, wipe from the center of the disk out in a direct line from the inside rim to the outer rim.
  3. Using the dry cloth, repeat the cleaning steps to wipe any moisture off the disk.
  4. Let the disk air dry for a minute or two before trying to insert it into the Wii.
  5. Insert the disk into the Wii and attempt to play.

If the game disk fails to read you may need to clean the Wii’s optical laser using Nintendo’s licensed lens cleaner.

Step 3: Clean out the Nintendo Wii Using Air
Over time, dust and dirt are transferred into the slot of your Nintendo Wii thanks to constantly changing game disks. Aside from the lens cleaning solution I mentioned above, a good blast of compressed air can help resurrect some Wii disk drives. You can buy canned air at most computer supply places. Simply unplug the Wii, blast the inside of the Wii with some pressurized air and let the cold air dry out a bit before trying to use it again.

Step 4: Fixing the Wii Disk Drive
The most difficult approach to fixing the Wii disk read error is when you have to take apart the console and adjust the disk drive itself. The Wii disk drive, like most moving mechanical devices, wears over time. Gamers commonly report that the system makes rubbing or scraping sounds when the disk spins up to reading speed. This is most common among users who make the mistake of always leaving a game disk inserted in the drive of the Wii.

This rubbing sound comes from a metal piece inside the disk drive that sags a bit over time, causing it to contact the top of the Wii game disks. This contact can cause a number of issues, including the disk read error. It impedes the drives ability to spin the game disk at the right number of revolutions per second and may even cause damage to your discs if it progresses far enough.

Luckily, there is a fairly low-tech solution gamers can try before sending the unit into Nintendo for an expensive replacement repair – opening up the Wii itself and “bending” the metal retainer up to stop this contact.

Step 4a: Disassemble Your Wii

Step 1 – Remove the Battery

  1. Position the Wii on its side with the fan facing up toward you.
  2. You will see a single screw. Remove the screw and pull the battery tray out

Step 2 – Remove the 5 screws with plastic covers
When you removed the battery you revealed a screw. There are four more hidden underneath plastic stickers and rubber feet.

  1. Peel up the plastic stickers with a razor and pull it away with a tweezers.
  2. Remove the screws ( You can put the 5 screws to a single piece of scotch tape to keep them organized or just put them in your container. )
    • The black screw is on the top left. The two longer screws are located on the bottom, and the shorter ones are on the top.
    • This is important to remember because you need to put the screws in the correct holes when reassembling the unit.

Step 3. Remove the Rubber Feet and removing screws
Position the Wii flat on its top (so the memory slot is nearest the side facing you from the front) There are 2 rubber feet on top and 2 plastic stickers on the bottom that you need to remove. (Do not remove the rubber feet on the bottom – it is not necessary to disassemble the unit.)

  1. Remove the screws and fix them to a second piece of tape or put them in the container to keep them organized
    • The two black screws go into the faceplate/bottom and the two silver ones go into the top/recessed holes.

Step 4. Remove the GameCube port covers and hidden screws
One side of the Wii houses the ports for the Gamecube accessories. The covers to this section will flip open and easily detach. There is a sticker on the inside depicting how to remove the covers. They snap off with light pressure.

  1. Remove the covers.
  2. Remove the 3 black screws and attach them to another piece of tape.
    • The screw closest the front/face of the Wii is the longest of the 3 screws.

Step 5. Remove the faceplate
Position the Wii with the face upwards with the dvd tray on the bottom.

  1. Flip the Wii face up and away from you.
  2. Find the thin red and black wire connecting the faceplate to the body of the console.
  3. Use a flathead or tweezers to disconnect the connector from the socket.
  4. Set aside the faceplate.

Step 6. Remove the GameCube black cover
The black covering should easily lift out now.

  1. Remove 4 screws and attach them to another piece of tape or drop them into the container and set them aside. Two of the screws are tri-wing and two screws are Phillips.

You should now be able to open up the Wii clamshell and see the top of the Wii disk drive. You can break down the console further but that is not necessary in order to adjust the disk retention clip.

Step 4b: Adjusting the Disk Retention Clip
You can work on the Wii while the top is removed, and it is actually a good idea to test your adjustments before reassembling the console. Be very careful while the system is open and exposed. To make sure the disk retention clip is the source of your noise and disk read errors, you should insert a Wii game disk. The noise of the disk rubbing against the metal retention clip should be clear.

To adjust the retention clip you need to gently bend the metal up to reduce the amount of contact the clip makes with the spinning media. Eject the disk before making this adjustment just to be safe. If you don’t do this you might slip and gouge the top of your game disk, causing it not to read again.

Using a small flathead or Phillips screwdriver, simply pry the metal clip pictured above up slightly. Test the adjustment by re-inserting the game disk. Repeat this process, adjusting the metal clip on both sides of the unit until there is no rubbing or scraping sound and the drive spins the disk without contact.

Once you make sure the clip is no longer impeding the disk spin, you can begin the process or reassembling your Wii.

Step 4c: Reassembling Your Wii
Reverse the process outlined above to reassemble your Wii console. Once you have the unit back together, be sure to play one or more of the games you were experiencing the disk read error with for an hour or two, allowing the console to get up to speed and normal operating heat levels. If the disk read error occurs make sure the game disk is clean and possibly consider repeating the process if you hear the rubbing noise again.

Do not leave disks inside your Wii disk drive when you are not playing. If none of these steps correct your problem, you may have a bad unit. Call Nintendo to arrange to have the unit repaired.

THQ Says Games Need a Lower Price Point

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 01:25 PM PST

Are you tired of paying $59.99 for your favorite new console games? If so, you may want to keep an eye on what THQ is planning.

According to company president Brian Farrell,

What we’re thinking about the business is we’re turning it on its head a little bit. It’s not, ‘how high a price can we get’, but ‘how many users’. If you can capture everyone under that economic curve, that’s where you can make the most money.

As his example, he mentions that sales of MX vs. ATV really took off once the price point was dropped to $39.99. What did the company take away from that information? Farrell says,

So the thinking this time is, let’s initially launch at $39.99 — it’s a very robust game, very high quality, so this is not about trying to get a secondary title out. It’s an AAA title, at that price point, but then with a series of DLC so people can extend their experience. We think this is the future of gaming. We think that’s the way games are gonna go in the long term.

I’m not sure if this model will be successful or not, but it definitely would ease the cost of entry into the console market. You’d likely end up spending $60 or more on the game (once you bought all the DLC), but you’d at least be able to opt-out of the DLC if the game didn’t do it for you.

We’ll have to wait and see how the market responds to initiatives like this, but one thing is for sure: the gaming market will be changing in the future. How it will change is yet to be seen.

[Via Gamasutra]

LA Noire Kicks Your Ass in Spring 2011 (TRAILER)

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 10:54 AM PST

LA Noire is one of those games, man, that you don’t think will ever actually happen. It’s been in development for more than half a decade, and it’s Team Bondi’s first game, so it’s kind of amazing that a studio founded last generation would still be, in 2010, working on its first game. But that’s how it’s gone, and it looks like everything is finally falling into place for a spring 2011 release on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Also, we have a f**king trailer. And it features Mad Man Ken Cosgrove (actor Aaron Staton), who I identified because I recognized his face, which probably means something good for the game. Oh, and Rockstar would like you to know something: “This trailer was made entirely from in-game footage.”

download it here

Shogun 2: Total War Breaks Out March 15, 2011

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 09:42 AM PST

Think you have the wisdom of Sun Tsu?

Well The Creative Assembly is revisiting it’s classic Shogun: Total War using the latest version of the game’s tactical engine. Shogun: Total War 2 will see release this March on the PC and features land and sea battles to unite the warring clans of the Japanese mainland.

Based upon the classic Warring States period of Japanese history, Shogun 2 includes tactical battles as well as strategic combat using special units like Ninja to weaken opponent forces or assassinate enemy generals prior to a combat. You take the role of a Daimyo on a mission to subjugate the nobility under your control.

Interested, you can watch the Shogun 2 trailer to pique that interest even more.

Lord of the Rings Online Offers Discounts on Expansion for Veteran’s Day

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 09:19 AM PST

Don’t have the Moria or Mirkwood expansions for Turbine’s Lord of the Rings Online? Well in honor of Veteran’s Day here in the USA the company is offering the expansions for 1/2 price. The sale extends until tonight at 11:59pm (November 11, 2010).

Along with the two expansions (Moria is 1248 points while Mirkwood sells for 998), the company is also discounting a number of in-game items and emotes along with the content. For those who are just starting the free-to-play game, the content contained within Moria and Mirkwood represents most of the high-end content for the upper levels of the game. Moria and Mirkwood include the ability to gain Legendary Weapons, a basically add free points by adding the Warden and Rune-Keeper classes (Turbine also sells them for about 800 points individually) and increases characters to the level 70 cap.

Viacom to Sell Harmonix

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 08:36 AM PST

Rock Band is huge franchise, right? Harmonix must be doing pretty well, right? Perhaps not.

Viacom has announced today that they will be selling the music game developer. No word yet on who might be buying, or what any terms of a deal may be, but the sale is apparently going to happen.

All of this is in the wake of the release of what might be Harmonix’s best title ever, Rock Band 3 (we gave it a 95). Unfortunately, Rock Band 3 game and peripheral sales have been disappointing, with the game selling less than 7500 copies in its first week in the UK.

We’ll have to wait and see who steps up to the plate to buy Harmonix, but I would be highly surprised if someone didn’t come forward fairly quickly. The big question is this: How will this affect upcoming peripherals, like the $280 Squier Stratocaster that is set to release in March? As soon as we know, you’ll see it here.
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