Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Gaming Today

Gaming Today

Farmville Is No Longer the Most Popular Facebook Game

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 07:56 PM PST

Zynga launched a new Facebook game last month, and whaaaaaaaaddyyaaaaa know but that game, called Cityville, now has the highest “monthly active user count” of any Facebook game ever at 84.2 bazillion, er, million, beating Farmville’s 83.8 million, which it achieved in March 2010.  This is significant because Farmville hit that number before Facebook put the hammer down on Facebook games spamming the s–t out of everyone. On the other hand, Zynga, which made both games, says the lack of spam in this case is offset by the game being offered in a bunch of languages immediately.

But whatever. Them’s the facts, and it’s seem that more people have played both Farmville and Cityville than have played any video game I’ve ever played. Oh well, don’t care.

There is more to these numbers and others, but I don’t follow this stuff closely enough to break it down properly for you folks, so I suggest heading over to Inside Social Games, which reported this in the first place.

Cops Charge Guy With Stealing Gameboy from Casket

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 06:27 PM PST


A Pennsylvania man is charged with all kinds of gross crimes — like abuse of a corpse, intentional desecration of a venerated object and theft — after police say he swiped a Gameboy from the open casket of a friend’s son at a funeral.

State police arrested Jody Bennett, 37, after receiving an anonymous tip that he had stolen several objects from the casket of 17-year-old Bradley McCombs Jr. during a public visitation on Monday. McCombs was killed Christmas Day in a car accident.

The criminal complaint states that Bennett was confronted by McCombs’ uncle after the uncle spotted Bennett taking the objects from the casket, which included a vintage Gameboy, three games and a light accessory. Bennett reportedly returned the Gameboy but made off with the other stuff because the uncle was unaware of it.

Bennett is in jail and has been unable to post the $15,000 ordered during his arraignment Wednesday, according to a report in The Philadelphia Inquirer. The non-sentimental value of the objects he stole: $46.90, according to the criminal complaint.

Via GamesRadar.

20 Million Black Ops Players Log 600 Million Multiplayer Hours

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 05:54 PM PST

That’s right, all you Call of Duty: Black Ops nerds out there have wasted about the equivalent of 951 lifetimes (seriously — I did the math, it’s like 68,493 years) virtually killing each other instead of anything else, according to a bunch of insane figures released by Activision.

Add it to the Black Ops record books. Black Ops has only been out since Nov. 9, garnering such a huge following in only two months. It works out to be about 30 hours logged per person playing Black Ops, but certainly a lot of those people are more like us and have considerably more hours under their belts. The game has seen 10 million gameplay hours logged each day. That’s a lot of Call of Duty.

VG247 threw down some comparison numbers between Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2: Activision announced 25 million players for that game four months after its release — only five million more players over twice as much time. And Black Ops bested MW2 in pretty much every other category. Black Ops became the Biggest Entertainment Launch ever by selling 5.6 million units on Day 1 in the U.S. and U.K., and after five days, it had made $100 million more than MW2 — $650 million to $550 million.

Oh, and Black Ops has already raked in $1 billion in global sales.

New Video Shows 3DS Making Miis with Camera

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 04:58 PM PST

There’s been talk about the augmented reality and camera functions of the Nintendo 3DS, but a new video of a demo for the Japanese publication Weekly ASCII shows off some of the cool things that can be done with the hardware.

According to Siliconera, the 3DS is going to ship with six “augmented reality cards,” one of which is shown during the demonstration. The game reads the cards and they unlock stuff in the virtual world, although it’s really tough to tell what the Question Block card used in the video is doing on the 3DS screen thanks to the limits of being able to use video on stereoscopic imagery.

Even cooler, the demo shows how you can snap a picture of a person and have the 3DS generate a Mii in that person’s likeness. It does a pretty great job of the process in the video, but I’d like to see if it can handle doing other faces and images, and if the face has to be straight on or can be slightly turned. If the 3DS can make Miis out of photos from magazines or even drawings, that would be cool, because it sure takes a long time to create those look-alike Miis you find online on the Wii’s current system. Plus it create potential of the hilarious passtime of Mii-izing different things, like famous people or cartoon characters.

Check out the video below.

Via Destructoid.

Hacker Releases Purported PS3 Root Key

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 04:51 PM PST

Huge news for everyone who owns a PS3. Celebrated hacker George Hotz, AKA geohot (who was instrumental in cracking the iPhone and who, just to make you feel really old, was born in 1989) made Sony wince yesterday by posting what he claims is the metldr key for the PlayStation 3 on his personal site. Accompanying this potentially Sony-shattering news was the following message:

props to fail0verflow for the asymmetric half no donate link, just use this info wisely
i do not condone piracy

(emphasis mine)

Smart kid to be sure, but it gets better:

if you want your next console to be secure, get in touch with me. any of you 3.
it’d be fun to be on the other side.

Click that link above to see the key for yourself.

Meanwhile, that’s pretty goddamned ballsy, as resume cover letters go. (In fact we can think of only one better, off the top of our heads). But before Sony considers his offer, they’re probably consulting their lawyers who, no doubt, are currently dropping like flies from strokes as I type this. Because the fact is, no matter how you spin this, if Geohot is correct and this actually is the PS3 root key, then as Kotaku points out, Sony’s kind of F’d with this.

Here’s why: to oversimplify things way too much, the metldr (root) key is a program that allows software to interact with specific hardware. Like knowing the password to get into the castle at night. It’s why you can’t play Wii, Xbox 360, even PS2 games on your PS3, or make your own PS3 compatible game. However, if you were to insert this key into the game (via that game’s source code), then burn that game to disc, assuming you do everything right, the hardware would recognize the game as authorized. Voila! Instantly feel like you work for Ubisoft!

Better still, since you didn’t actually mod the machine, there’s no way to detect if you’ve been making use of the key. And worst of all (for Sony), there’s very little that can be done. Sure, Sony could try releasing a firmware update to change the key on all current consoles, but assuming that would actually work, it would also instantly render all games currently using the old root key inaccessible. That would kill this particular kind of PS3 piracy deader than disco, but would also seriously inconvenience (to put it mildly) their millions of legitimate customers. Furthermore, it would likely impose a significant financial cost on them, one they probably wouldn’t be able to cope with for a long time.

While it’s doubtful they’d be willing to recompense Playstation 3 owners for the games they already have in their homes, you can bet your entire house that the lamestops and best lies and other places currently carrying their wares will be treating a root key change like the massive recall it most certainly would be, and subsequently shipping their now-useless copies back to their makers, and Sony (and their second party and subsidiary developers) would be taking the world’s largest bath on their current stock.

A possible solution would be to take this action and release DLC that would allow older copies of legitimate games to play, similar to Xbox games on the 360, though it might be time consuming and it’s likely they wouldn’t be ready for all games fast enough to make the effort matter. My guess is that their only option is to change the root key for the next version of PS3 console and suck it up until then. For all intents and purposes, Freak Geeks put it best: Playstation 3 ismight be hacked for good!

This doesn’t have to be a bad thing. There are plenty of legitimate, non-piratey things one can do with this information. For instance, authorized indie games, or even homebrew games. While GameFront (and myself) would never condone piracy in any form, the possibility that this information might spark the development of indie content for PS3 use is very, very exciting.

However, this definitely has staggering legal implications. As we’ve seen with Microsoft, Console makers are going to do everything they can to secure control over how their IP is used right up until the moment the Library of Congress finally realizes that console modding and other, similar uses of legitimately purchased Hardware are functionally equivalent to Jailbreaking. However that battle plays out, guaranteed that Sony now has a much bigger dog in the fight.

NOTE: Discussion with a programmer friend of mine, who insists he does NOT know anything about PS3 software, yields this: it might be easier than we think for Sony to get around this. In layman’s (I.E., me) terms, it depends on whether or not they planned for this contingency.


Grab DLC Content for LBP 2, Killzone 3 at — Wait for It — 7-11

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 04:12 PM PST

Now you can get a sugar high and a Killzone 3 high; now through the end of March, buying Slurpee cups at 7-11 stores earns you points that can be redeemed for downloadable content in Killzone, LittleBigPlanet 2 and Playstation Home.

According to Examiner.com, you can get special edition Slurpee cups at 7-11 stores that’ll earn you Slurpee points, and you can use those to purchase lots of different stuff, including an LBP2 sticker pack, a Killzone 3 map pack, and a Home Slurpee machine. Rewards are slowly being posted on Slurpee.com — right now, only PC wallpapers for Killzone and phone ringtones for LBP2 are available.

We’ve seen offers like this from 7-11 for Facebook games like FarmVille, but new stuff for a couple of huge Sony hits is kind of a big deal. Hopefully 7-11 doesn’t start giving Microsoft Points to people who buy their little taquitos, because I don’t know if I’ll be able to convince not to eat them if that happens.

Killzone 3 is due out on Feb. 22; LittleBigPlanet 2 hit shelves on Jan. 18.

‘Moon’ Director Thinks Raimi’s ‘WoW’ Can Save Game Movies

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 02:58 PM PST

Duncan Jones, director of the 2010 cult sci-fi hit ‘Moon,’ wishes he could trade places with Sam Raimi and direct the World of Warcraft film adaptation.

That’s what Jones (the son of David Bowie) told Badass Digest in an interview, where he claimed to be an actual gamer himself, and definitely was able to speak articulately on how Hollywood should be handling turning games into movies (he also said during the interview that he was part of a British Call of Duty clan). Jones also went on to say that he thinks Raimi’s take on WoW could be the movie that turns around the genre of game movies by making them, you know, not totally suck in every conceivable way.

Here’s what Jones said about making games into movies:

A good game adaptation is where you find the story or the emotional aspect that's at the heart of a computer game and you replicate that on film. It doesn't mean you need to have first person perspective or try and capture the mechanics of a game. If you're going to make a film of a game it's got to be about the essence of why you, the audience, care what's going on. There are certain games where that will work, and there are certain games where it doesn't.

At least somebody gets it. And Jones seems to think Raimi gets it, too, saying, “From the little I've read of interviews with him the way [Sam Raimi]‘s approaching it makes so much sense. It's what I was talking about – it's not worrying about how the game plays, it's about creating the world of the game and investing the audience in that world.”

That’s a pretty decent vote of confidence, especially considering ‘Moon’ is a great flick, and Jones has David Bowie for a dad — which might make him magic.

Via GamesRadar.

Bethesda’s 8-bit, Japanese Version of Fallout 3

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 02:40 PM PST

Sometimes we wake up in the morning to a knock on the door. We roll off the couch and yell that we’re coming we’re coming, damn it, and then we put on some pants, tie our hair back and answer to door only to find that it’s a UPS guy with a blu-ray of The Other Guys which we don’t remember ordering. But, hey, there it is, and we won’t question it.

That true story happened on Friday, and it helped prepare us for today, when we woke up, rolled off the couch and looked at our computer screen to find that Bethesda had put together a Japanese, 8-bit version of Fallout 3. Now, this is something I would never have asked for, and I can’t even play to stupid thing since I know no written Japanese, but there it is, and we won’t question it. Here is the game itself, and here is the link to the Bethblog post that kinda/sorta explains what its deal is.

via Kotaku

Fight Night Champion ‘Champion Mode’ Trailer

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 02:38 PM PST

Step into the shoes of Andre Bishop, an up and coming middlewieght, as he enters the world of professional boxing. This video gives you your first look at some of the characters and motivations that Andre will confront in his road to becoming a champion. You can download this video here or watch it below.

New Sonic Project(s) in the Works for 20th Anniversary

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 02:30 PM PST

Guess what: Sega wants to make more Sonic games this year. Since it’s the 20th anniversary of that hip, rude, fast-talking shoe-wearing hedgehog, that’s the theme Sega’s going with.

Japanese gaming news site Andriasang received a press release from the company teasing new stuff in the Sonic department, as well as for Puyo Puyo, a long-running puzzler also celebrating 20 years of sequels. Most recently, Puyo Puyo 7 was seen on the Nintendo DS.

The press release Andriasang got hints at anniversary “projects” for both franchises, which obviously suggests more than one Sonic game this year. Because that’s exactly what we need: more Sonic games like these.

Sega has also whipped up this Japanese site touting something in Japanese about the 20th anniversary. Doesn’t seem to have a lot of information yet, but then again, I don’t read Japanese, so I have no idea. There are no box art pictures, so I figure that means I’m not missing anything.

Wikipedia says Sonic games have sold more than 70 million units worldwide across the series, by the way. Across 20 years. That’s a lot of Sonic games, so I guess Sega has reason to celebrate the milestone.

Via Joystiq.

Some Fanboy Returns to Plead for Nathan Fillion in the Uncharted Movie

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 02:07 PM PST

That Guy who accosted David O. Russell about casting Nathan Fillion as Nathan Drake has returned, this time in a Youtube vide in which he talks to the internet about how right he is about stuff. He sounds like a really smarmy motherf–ker, the kind I tend to always meet at bars (which is why I go to the fratty, button-down-shirts-and-khaki-shorts bars now).

Not long ago I met one of these guys at a bar, and he started talking about video games, and I pointed out that whatever game he was talking about caused some kid to kill somebody, and then he was like, “Whoa, now.” And then I was like, “It’s OK, I write about games for a living. I kid.” And then he was like, “Yeah, well, I sell games for a living. Blow me.” (TRUE STORY) That’s what kind of person This Fanboy Guy is.

So watch this video, and while you do that please keep in mind that David O. Russell is an excellent writer/director who has not yet made anything resembling a bad movie. It just might be that, if he even does actually make the Uncharted movie, he won’t be gearing it toward you, which is OK since YOU HAVE THE UNCHARTED GAMES YOU CAN PLAY.

Production 3DS Pics Hit Internet

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 01:39 PM PST

One of Nintendo’s 3DS units has apparently been stolen from the factory by an intrepid (or foolhardy) Chinese worker so he could share pictures of it with all of us eagerly awaiting on the Intertubes.

Engadget has a couple of photos of the apparently half-assembled, backless, non-functional 3DS. It’s different from what we’ve seen of the portable up to now, but only slightly: the Home, Select and Start buttons at the bottom are now flush rather than sticking out, and we know the 3DS will carry 96MB of RAM and a 1300mAh battery.

There’s also another photo that shows the black 3DS in comparison to a whole mess of other DS and Gameboy units, so you can see that it’s slightly smaller than other DS units. Compelling stuff, I know.

Enjoy your tiny amount of 3DS information, Internet — at least it seems more reliable than the warning that 3DS could make your eyes fall out.

Check out some more pics over at CVG.com.

Your Character in Bulletstorm Can Get Drunj

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 01:13 PM PST

OK, so the ESRB has rated Bulletstorm. It got an M for Mature, as you might expect. The box for the game will say it got the rating for “Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol.” That’s a hefty explanation there, but the elaborate and very specific reason given on the ESRB website is more enlightening and learns us about a feature in the game I, personally, was not aware of.

Obviously, there’s lots of cursing and s–t and crude comments about vaginas and penises and buttholes and things of that nature, and of course it’s violent and bloody, but here’s the cool new thing:

During the course of the game, players can consume alcohol and kill enemies in order to receive an Intoxicated Skillshot; the screen turns blurry during these sequences.

HEY-OH. I am no off the fence about this one. The game is out on PC, 360 and PS3 on February 22!

YES: Vagrant Story, Xenogears and More Coming to PSN

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 12:49 PM PST

I knew there was a reason I shelled out for Playstation Plus.

IGN has picked up on ESRB ratings for a bunch of old PS1 titles, most of which are awesome Square Enix RPGs from back when I was in high school. Numbering among them are two of my favorite games ever — Vagrant Story and Xenogears — as well as a few other classics like Legend of Mana and Threads of Fate. All those titles date from between 1998 and 2000. IGN also pinged Arc the Lad III and R4 Ridge Racer Type 4 as being on the way.

While ESRB ratings are a pretty reliable way to see what’s coming down the pipe, this seems to pretty much confirm a U.S. release for Vagrant Story (hooray!), seeing as it’s already available on the Playstation Network in Japan and Europe. Xenogears is also getting a new orchestral CD release featuring 14 tracks from its soundtrack — maybe corresponding with the re-release of the game? HOPE SO.

Officially, nobody has confirmed the release of any of these games. Square Enix and Sony better not deny/cancel them, though, because I’ve wanted to play Vagrant Story ever since I got rid of my Playstation 2 and had Sony pull the rug out of backward compatibility with the PS3. We’ve been waiting, like, three years to catch up to Japan on at least Xenogears. Lets get it done, Square Enix.

Kinect Maker Creating Motion Controller for PC

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 12:13 PM PST

Seeing as Microsoft has sold more than a million Kinect controllers in the two months since it’s been released, and it was damn near impossible to find one before Christmas, the guys who made Kinect are working on a new motion controller that’ll work for PCs.

PrimeSense, the company behind Microsoft’s Kinect, is teaming up with computer accessory manufacturer Asus on the new controller, which has the slightly goofy name of “WAVI Xtion.” It’ll enable gesture controls like the Kinect does, but PrimeSense says it’ll be more geared toward multimedia applications than gaming. If that’s the case, it’ll be interesting to see if you’ll need Kinect’s full room of clear space to use it, or if WAVI will somehow be of a smaller scale.

Currently, the WAVI is scheduled for release in February, and PrimeSense is planning an online store where developers can sell apps that work with the controller. Seeing as people have been using the Kinect to do all kinds of things — including work as a PC controller — there’s sure to be a demand for WAVI, even if it doesn’t play games.

Via Ars Technica.
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