Category Archives: video games

New Features from Blizzard at BlizzCon 2011

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While there were technically two days to the BlizzCon event, most of the gaming releases and announcements came on the first day. The second day was filled with mostly tournaments, demos and Foo Fighters. The opening ceremony was great, with Chris Metzen keeping us entertained and being an excellent spokesperson for Blizzard.

Now that the event has come to an end, we can look back at all of the new features that Blizzard released to us, all of it coming from the first day of BlizzCon 2011.

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria


The fourth World of Warcraft expansion set, Mists of Pandaria, has been revealed. Basically, this will introduce a new race (pandaren), class (monk), continent (Pandaria), talent system, pet battle system, as well as raising the experience cap from 85, which was set from Cataclysm, to 90.

World of Warcraft Annual Pass : Get Diablo III Free

If you commit to a 12-year subscription to World of Warcraft, you will receive the full digital version of Diablo III when it is released in early 2012. Furthermore, you will be invited to the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria beta when that is ready.

15-Years for Diablo III

Blizzard celebrated their 20th year of operation this year. They also are celebrating the Diablo franchise’s 15-year anniversary. Chris Metzen went over the past, present and future of the Diablo franchise, where he gave out some key details about Diablo III.

Here is the cinematic they gave about the game. Basically, Deckard Cain’s niece, Leah, is trying to uncover the secrets that Cain had left for her. Here, she is trying to figure out what the Black Soulstone is.

Diablo III Collector’s Edition

Chris Metzen announced and showed some images of the Diablo III Collector’s Edition, which will come with all kinds of different things. The box is white and looks amazing in detail. On the left is the Collector’s Edition, while the right is the original version.

Blizzard DOTA Trailer

Blizzard also featured the first official trailer for Blizzard DOTA, which takes heros from all of their franchises and lets users control them.

They were really excited about this upcoming release, as they should be. They obviously stuck a lot of time into Blizzard DOTA.

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Teaser

Not only did they show the Diablo III and Blizzard DOTA trailers, but they also showed a teaser for the upcoming Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm.

Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm was unveiled in May, but Blizzard has continued to work on the game in “secret.” This teaser was, as Blizzard stated, rendered entirely within the StarCraft II game engine. That being said, everything that you see is possible inside the game.

Summary

BlizzCon 2011 was a huge success. We got major updates and official announcements on Blizzard’s three biggest titles as well as information about Blizzard DOTA. Chris Metzen had tons of fun and was very entertaining. While speaking of World of Warcraft, he would occasionally yell out “For the Horde!” or “For the Alliance!” to get the audience pumped up. He seemed to sway more towards the Horde-side, as it seems more of the hardcore WoW players do.

Source: BlizzCon 2011

Call of Duty: Elite is Tempting and Expensive

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Last weekend, hardcore gamers gathered in Los Angeles to participate in Call of Duty XP, a convention celebrating everything CoD-related. Tickets were $150, but all of the proceeds went to a charity supporting veterans. Oh, and the closing concert featured Kanye West, if you’re interested in him at all.

The full details surrounding the premium Call of Duty: Elite were announced. Activision is definitely trying to make money off of the gamers upfront rather than later.

What Do You Get?

Regardless if you are premium or not, everyone will be able to access some features of Call of Duty: Elite, but in order to unlock everything the service has to offer, a $50 yearly subscription fee will be a must. Alternatively, you can buy the Hardened Edition of Modern Warfare 3, which will give users the game, a one-year subscription to the service and a lifetime “founder” status for your account.

Activision has estimated that there will be 20 pieces of downloadable content released after the game’s launch. Call of Duty: Elite premium subscription members (and Hardened Edition owners) will receive all of these free. The content will be released monthly for members, whereas non-members will get them quarterly (similar to the map packs for Call of Duty: Black Ops).

…And the Catch!

While premium subscribers get all of the maps and other content before everyone else, it will make it nearly impossible for these people that don’t have a premium subscription to catch up with the hardcore gamers. You will join a lobby and be the “first to play,” but you’ll end up joining a lobby where only you and your friends don’t know the map. Everyone else, the premium members, will have it mastered and be able to just stomp everyone via their positioning and working the map knowledge to their advantage.

Premium subscriptions will allow for extended clan support. Clans can actually level up aside your character, unlocking items and features specific to the clan. Your clan could earn its own double-XP weekend and be able to compete against other clans refereed by actual people courtesy of Activision. As well, players that have premium subscriptions will be able to defend their clans better by having a stronger knowledge of the maps.

It’s going to be difficult on whether or not to pay $50 a year for a Call of Duty: Elite subscription. I believe my choice is that I will buy the Hardened edition, and if I feel that after the year it is absolutely necessary, I will resubscribe to the service.

Source: Ars Technica

Final Fantasy Tactics: A $16 iPhone Game

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The iPhone version of Final Fantasy Tactics is an enhanced remake of a game that was originally released more than a decade ago. The game was originally released on PSOne, and then later ported on the PSP, which was subtitled The War of the Lions. That being said, the iPhone version will have the animated cut-scenes from that version, as well as new content like additional classes to unlock. This version of the game will cost $16, which is approximately 16 times the price of most iOS games. Realistically, you can probably find this game cheaper, but not for iOS. It is one of the best strategy RPGs of all time, so it is probably worth it.

The iOS version is exactly the same as the PSP version, with the same story and turn-based combat system. If you’ve ever played that version, there’s nothing new to see here. The engine and the play-style is the same as the Playstation version as well. This game still looks wonderful even on the smaller screen of an iPhone.

There is one new feature that wasn’t in the previous versions: the inclusion of touchscreen controls. Navigating the menus is a little annoying, as you have to tap an OK button outside of the menu most of the time. However, when you’re actually playing, it’s brilliant. Being able to rotate the camera with a swipe of your finger is very smooth and quite amazing.

People have said the game is a little laggy. However, they must be using inferior devices, because it runs great on the iPhone 4 (Verizon). Honestly, it felt a little quicker and “snappier” than the PSP version, which is what Ars Technica found out as well.

Final Fantasy Tactics is a legend of a game, and putting a pricetag of sixteen dollars for an iOS version isn’t really too high, even if it is expensive compared to other games. That being said, when you’re comparing games like Angry Birds to Final Fantasy Tactics, the scale isn’t exactly balanced. Besides, this won’t get boring after awhile if you follow the storyline and you get to play with new classes and such.

An HD version is reported to be coming later this month for the iPad. The current versions for iOS, as well as the HD version when it’s available, are available via the App Store.

Source: Ars Technica

Developer Dislikes Accurate Borderlands 2 Report from Journalist

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Randy Pitchford, Gearbox CEO, is known for not holding back and releasing his true feelings, and he didn’t fail to deliver last night when the news of Borderlands 2 was leaked. Eurogamer was given information from some anonymous source that the game was in development and that Gearbox had a “major announcement coming soon.” Pitchford called the stories about Borderlands 2 “shoddy journalism” via his personal Twitter account. The story from Eurogamer was actually 100% true, but it ruined the marketing plan for Pitchford and Gearbox.

“I can tell you that myself and everyone at Gearbox LOVES Borderlands and we have been absolutely thrilled at the reception it’s gotten from our customers and the fact that it’s sold over four million units now,” Pitchford told Eurogamer in the past. “But we’ve only announced what we’ve announced. If we haven’t announced it, it doesn’t exist.”

The report from Eurogamer spread across gaming blogs like mad crazy, which definitely seemed to annoy Pitchford. Borderlands 2 was in development, it was coming, and everyone knew this before it had officially been announced by Randy Pitchford or Gearbox. It seems things definitely can exist before they’re officially announced.

“I have long maintained that we will do more with Borderlands,” Pitchford tweeted. “Shoddy journalism is not an announcement.”

Less than a day after the “shoddy journalism,” the official announcement was made by Gearbox. The game is indeed in development and will be released between April 2012 and April 2013. Every detail from the original report from Eurogamer was supposedly 100% accurate. The problem that Pitchford had wasn’t with the report being accurate, but that the game’s existence was part of a larger marketing plan. “Eager gamers can learn more about Borderlands 2 right now by picking up the latest issue of Game Informer Magazine, which has the worldwide exclusive cover story on the title,” Take-Two wrote in a press release. “Readers will find many game details inside the issue, including the first reveal of one of the several new character classes being introduced in Borderlands 2.”

Journalists are supposed to be part of a marketing program, but when the journalist attempts to break a story that isn’t handed to them directly, it is met with hostility. If someone gets the scoop on a new game before it is officially revealed, that person comes into the “shoddy journalism” category. If you have the story before you’re supposed to, you become a target.

Game Informer will still have the first details on Borderlands 2, and that will remain exclusive until the rest of the gaming press is granted access to report on the title. The game will be playable at PAX Prime. Neither Game Informer nor Gearbox was hurt by the early developing news, but the power of a Game Informer cover and story cannot be underestimated within the industry, and publishers are going to do everything they can to protect the marketing plan they have in place. If you threaten that relationship with reporting the things you know, you run the risk of being a “shoddy journalist.”

Game Informer will still have the first details of the game, and that will remain exclusive until the rest of the gaming press is granted access to the title, which will be playable at PAX Prime. Neither Game Informer nor Gearbox was hurt by the early news of the game’s existence, but the power of a Game Informer cover and story can’t be underestimated within the industry, and publishers are going to do everything they can to protect the marketing deals they’ve made with the magazine. If you threaten that relationship with honest-to-goodness reporting, apparently you’re nothing but a shoddy journalist.

Borderlands 2 is coming to the 360, PS3, and PC between April 2012 and April 2013.

Source: Ars Technica

PlayStation 3D TV and Other E3 Goodies

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Basically, Sony’s 2011 E3 keynote has been focusing on one major theme: 3D. They have rolled out a surprising advance in technology with this as well.

For $499, you can get yourself a new bundle. This bundle comes with a 24″ PlayStation 3D TV, an HDMI cable, a pair of 3D glasses, and Resistance 3.

Now, 3D TV’s aren’t new, but the technology in this one is. Instead of playing split-screen, which can definitely get annoying and makes the screen a lot smaller (half, imagine that), this TV is capable of giving out different images to each player via the glasses. So for each player with glasses, the images will be different than your fellow gamer. For each additional pair of glasses outside the pair included, they will run you $69.

As far as 3D gaming, Sony also announced two new 3D collections. The God of War Origins collection bundles together the two portable entries in the series, Ghost of Sparta and Chains of Olympus, and remasters them as 3D titles for the PS3. The recently delayed Team Ico collection, which features PS3 classics Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, will also be getting the 3D treatment.

Both of these collections will be available September 2011, so this year.

Source: Ars Technica

Sony Updatification (Not a real word)

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So, there are two major topics I would like to discuss today. Fortunately for us, both are in regards to Sony.

First, Anonymous has officially made a statement against Sony in stating that they did not do anything to the PSN. Despite rumors, there has been nothing used on the credit cards that were “stolen.” With that in mind, Anonymous said it is more likely that Sony had an internal error and blamed them to get them “out of the picture” than they hacking the PSN. They said basically what I have said, obviously. They aren’t out to hurt gamers, but only Sony. And, Anonymous stands for privacy and internet freedom: something not achieved by stealing credit card information. Thus, it goes against their beliefs and practices. I won’t say anything more, as I’ve had many rants about this topic. Case closed. Anonymous didn’t do it.

Second, Linux has returned to the PS3. With the PSN being down for so long, even past the promised May 3rd date (told you so), hackers had to find something to do. And if you can remember back to the George Hotz case, a little bit of the stir was for Sony removing the ability to run Linux on the PS3, in which some people bought the device just because of that. This is done using OtherOS++, something that Sony got rid of because of George Hotz. Hackers not only brought it back, but made it improved. This sort of thing isn’t for just your run-of-the-mill child to start doing, but if you’re experienced, the access is there and available for free.

It’s just another moment in which Sony is getting beaten to the ground. Feel free to read more on the source link below.

Source: Ars Technica

PS3 Getting 3D Blu-ray Movie Support

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If you happen to have a Playstation 3 and a 3DTV, this is your lucky day! Next week (September 21 to be exact), Sony is unleashing yet another firmware update to the system. This one will allow you to play back Blu-ray movies in 3D to your 3D capable TV. Very nice that PS3 is getting this capability, but it begs the question: who has a 3DTV? I honestly don’t know anyone that has one or is in the market to get one. But regardless, it’s still neat. Also, if you’re one of those lucky few that have a 3DTV, be sure to check out the PSN store on your PS3 to get some game demos that take advantage of it. I hear they look really awesome. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen them in action.

Source: Playstation.Blog

Rumor: Playstation Phone Coming

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Hot off the failure of the PSP Go, Sony (well, Sony Ericsson) is rumored to be coming out with a PSP phone. These rumors have been around for a long time now, yes, but they might be real this time. According to Engadget, the phone will be modeled after the PSP Go and will be powered by Android 3.0 (aka Gingerbread, which continues their tradition of tasty names). Being modeled after the PSP Go, the device will be marketed as a game playing machine that also makes calls and will feature the same slide out controls that the PSP Go has. If this rumor holds any weight, this could be an awesome device! I’ve been looking into an Android powered device to supplement my iPod Touch, and this would probably be the one I get since I love video games and the PSP. However, one wonders why they didn’t reveal it at E3 if it’s coming out this Fall? Perhaps Sony was too busy talking about Playstation Move? Who knows. All I know is I want this phone!

Source: Engadget

The Pantheon of Geek Gods

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This caught my eye on Foxnews.com mainly because of the title.  I’m not just an IT fan, but a Greek mythology fan as well.  They have the biggest names in various IT fields, and I was tickled to see this guy.

This is Shigeru Miyamoto, and anyone who enjoys video games knows this gentleman. He is the creative genius that put Nintendo on the map. You are looking at the creator of Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and many other beloved characters. When the video game crash of the 1980′s hit the US, it was Japan-based Nintendo’s 8-bit game console and this man’s creations that saved the industry. So anyone who enjoys their Xbox360 or PS3 owes this man a huge thank you.