Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Gaming Today

Gaming Today

Devil May Cry 4 iPhone Puts You in Control of Nero (VIDEO)

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 10:03 PM PST

We’ve been seeing Capcom porting their major franchises to the iPhone lately, with Resident Evil: Mercenaries Vs. just being released and Dead Rising making an appearance on iDevices as well. There’s also an iPhone version of Super Street Fighter IV, which is just gorgeous.

Next in line is a port from the Devil May Cry series called Devil May Cry 4 Refrain, which will follow the story of its console big brother while putting you in control of Nero instead of the series’ regular choice of Dante. Slide to Play got a chance to check the game out, which is on its way to the iTunes App Store later this month at a price of $6.99.

Refrain looks like it’s going to pretty much emulate the console experience in on iPhone-specific way — namely, simplified touch controls, but not many other big changes. It supports retina screen graphics for the iPhone 4 and includes 10 levels, and Capcom has mentioned future content updates that’ll include adding Dante as a playable character. They’re also talking about adding potentially adding a challenge mode to extend the game beyond its single-player story.

Action games on the iPhone can be hit-or-miss, but the platform can be a great one for small scale, slightly simplified games with a lot of energy like Refrain is likely to be.

Capcom Takes iPhone Online with Resident Evil Mercenaries Vs. (VIDEO)

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 09:23 PM PST

Along with the 3DS games coming up this year, Capcom’s putting even more Resident Evil into players’ hands with a version of its popular Mercenaries mode for iDevices.

The guys over at Slide To Play got their hands on a preliminary build of Resident Evil: Mercenaries Vs. from Capcom, which bridges Mercenaries, the arcade-style shooting game in which you run around, blasting as many enemies as possible in order to keep a timer running, with online play. It’s Capcom’s first online multiplayer, but instead of it being about killing zombies, Mercenaries Vs. is actually an online deathmatch game — the zombies are annoying, cannibalizing obstacles. You’ll score points chiefly for killing other players, although you snag some for clearing out zombies as well.

It’s still in the early stages, so right now Mercenaries Vs. only includes two characters — Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine — and one arena in which to play. The game supports four players at a time, in either a free-for-all or two-on-two match. Controls are more or less like those from the iOS version of Resident Evil 4, with context-sensitive controls coming up when necessary, but otherwise a shooting button and a virtual joystick. Pushing up goes forward, while moving the stick to either side turns your character.

Your decision of character brings a certain weapon complement to the game, just like in many of the games in the Resident Evil series. Chris is equipped with a pistol, shotgun and grenade, while Jill gets a pistol, submachine gun and flashbang. That should encourage players to work together rather than ignore one another.

Mercenaries Vs. is due sometime in February. It’s clear from the video that the game still needs a little work. Hopefully Capcom will iron it out a little more and add more features, or at least keep the price down to build a decent player base. The company said that it would add more features if Mercenaries Vs. proves popular, so hopefully it creates an easy to join, fun environment from the outset to create a community and a following.

MindJack Achievements

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 06:44 PM PST

Conceived by Japanese developer feelplus and published by Square Enix, MindJack is a solid if unspectacular entry into the burgeoning “3rd-person action shooter” genre. The game’s distinctive mechanic revolves around the ability to control enemy soldiers and vehicles by temporarily hacking into their brains. Without further ado, we present Mindjack’s 50 achievements.

Regular Achievements

Mind Hacker – Mind hack successfully for the first time – 5G

Honorary Citizen – Mind Hack 100 citizens – 20G

Newbie – Reach Level 5 – 5G

Berserker – Equip the “Berserker Time” plug-in and clear “Destruction Site” or “Steel Giant” – 20G

Demigod – Equip the “Demigod Time” plug-in and clear “Headquarters” or “Doorway” – 30G

Artist – Obtain all plug-ins – 30G

Head Case – Take our 30 enemies with head shots – 20G

Combo King – Defeat 10 enemies in a row using attack combos – 30G

Hacker – Reach Level 30 – 20G

Guru – Reach Level 50 – 40G

Artisan – Equip a plug-in for the first time – 5G

Birth – Experience the wonder of birth as a Wanderer – 5G

Contact – Successfully make contact with Rebecca at San Mira Airport – 10G

Star – In Host Play, get hacked into by over 100 Hackers – 40G

Shield – 10 people engaged as bullet shields get defeated – 30G

Blue Coat – Win 5 times as a Blue Hacker – 5G

Apprentice Gatekeeper – As a Red Hacker, hack into an enemy and win – 5G

Gatekeeper – As a Red Hacker, successfully defeat 50 Mind Hacker enemies – 20G

Guardian – As a Blue Hacker, successfully defeat 50 Mind Hacked enemies – 20G

Red Flag – Win 20 times as a Red Hacker – 20G

Red Devil – Win 50 times as a  Red Hacker – 50G

Mind Jacker – Clear half of the scenes with Hackers present – 100G

Blue Helmet – Win 20 times as a Blue Hacker – 20G

Blue Blood – Win 50 times as a Blue Hacker – 50G

Red Cap – Win 5 times as a Red Hacker – 5G

Blue Hacker - As a Blue Hacker, defeat a Mind Hacked enemy for the first time – 5G

Street Ripper – Mind Hack a Titan and defeat 10 enemies – 30G

Gun Wheel Guru – Mind Hack a Gun Wheel and defeat 20 enemies – 30G

Muderous Machine – Mind Hack a Quick Draw and defeat 10 enemies – 30G

Multi-Tasker – Mind Slave 4 enemies at once – 30G

Medic – Heal 20 people – 15G

Scratcher – Mind Hack a Swarmer and defeat 10 enemies – 30G

Hothead – Defeat an enemy within 1 second of them being Mind Hacked – 5G

Receptionist – In Host Play, be hacked into by a Red Hacker for the first time – 5G

Red Hacker – As a Red Hacker, defeat a Mind Hacked enemy for the first time – 5G

Puppet Master – Successfully Mind Slave 255 times – 30G

Mower Man – Use a Finishing Blow on 50 damaged enemies – 30G

I Know Kung Fu – Defeat 100 enemies using Attack Combos – 30G

Secret Achievements

Pyrrhic Victory – Uncover the truth, but lose something valuable – 10G

Push the Truth Button – Successfully press on to confront Andrew Gardner – 10G

Terminal Departure – Evade enemy forces and escape San Mira Airport on the monorail – 10G

Digging Down – Dig down into the truth behind the attack at the airport – 10G

Breakthrough – Escape the security cordon – 10G

Counterattack – Successfully join forces with Rebecca to repel the terrorist attack – 10G

Quick Mover – Working with Fernandez, make good time to Nerkas Campus – 10G

Betrayed – Discover Fernandez’s betrayal – 10G

Confessional – Discover Rebecca’s link to Jim’s wife – 10G

Piece of the Puzzle – Obtain an important piece of the NERKAS puzzle – 10G

Search – Search the port for hidden bodies – 10G

Reunion – Join forces with your comrade in arms, Fernandez – 10G

3DS Battery Lasts 3-5 Hours on New Games

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 05:21 PM PST

While it was giving out all kinds of new information about the 3DS at Nintendo World 2011 this weekend, Nintendo also mentioned that battery life for its new portable will last between three and five hours when playing 3D games.

A bunch of 3DS specs hit the Internet this weekend for the conference, among them details about the battery life. By comparison, the PSP is supposed to get between 4.5 and seven hours of battery life, depending on Wi-Fi connectivity, screen brightness and so on. Five hours is about the most you’ll get out of a DSi battery when you have its screen brightness settings amped to full as well, although that portable is supposed to get as much as 17 hours out of its battery with settings turned down.

Apparently it’s 3D that really kicks the battery in the ass. Playing DS games — the 3DS can handle all of them — the battery’s life hops up to a maximum of eight hours, with five being the low end of the spectrum.

In order to counter-act the battery limitation, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said every 3DS will come with a charging cradle and probably some recommendation about charging it immediately upon getting it home from the store.

If the 3DS only gets three hours of battery life, one wonders if that has had, or will have, any effect on the games being developed for it. Guess we’ll have to wait for March to find out.

Via Kotaku.

Skyrim Details: Fallout-Style Perks and New Combat

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 04:54 PM PST

The February issue of Game Informer has a bunch of new information about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, including changes to the combat and leveling system from what we saw in Oblivion. Probably the coolest one is the inclusion of Fallout 3-style Perks that’ll come as you move up the experience ladder.

The article in the print magazine talk about quite a bit of what you can expect from Skyrim, but some of the bigger hits are the development of the Perk system like we mentioned, along with some major changes to combat. Duel-wielding is a possibility for the future, but it sounds like one thing you can definitely do is toss a shield mid-fight in favor of a stronger two-handed grip on your weapon. The article also gives the impression that you’ll be able to use your off-hand more dynamically — meaning you can hit stuff with your shield, potentially. There are also finishing moves and unique attacks for each kind of weapon. Plus

Quests are said to be randomly generated based on your play style in order to make sure you’re challenged but not crippled by the gameplay. Skyrim will keep track of your stats and play style and then customize different missions accordingly.

NPCs should be a little more interesting — instead of zooming into boring headshots for conversations, characters you speak with will wander around, pick up your stuff and return it to you (or keep it) when you drop it, and act more like people.

There are a bunch more improvements: a new engine, an actually useful third-person mode, more customization to 10 different races, five schools of magic and the ability to forge your own weapons. Cities will offer more things you can do in them, like take on jobs like blacksmithing and farming.

Oh — and your character can have a beard.

Via Destructoid.

Razer PC Motion Controller Gets Exclusive Portal 2 Levels (VIDEO)

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 04:11 PM PST

We heard during CES 2011 last week that along with the new Hydra PC motion controller from Razer come some controller-specific levels for Portal 2 — and now there’s video from Venturebeat showing us what they’re like.

The motion controllers allow for some interesting changes to Portal game play, allowing you to manipulate objects by stretching or contracting them. The Hydra is like two Wii nunchuck controllers, which employs a magnetic field to measure your movements, instead of a camera. It seems to allow for smaller, more specific movements using the controller’s “six degrees of freedom.”

Along with the controllers and its field-projecting base unit, Valve is releasing a Portal 2 level pack. The whole thing is supposed to go for less than $100 when it’s released, although we don’t know exactly when that is. Portal 2, on the other hand, is due out in April.

Via VG247.

Little Big Planet 2 Trophies

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 04:02 PM PST

The original Little Big Planet harnessed the PS3′s powerful hardware for an interesting end, creating lush, whimsical worlds full of platforming “Sackboys” and other cutesy ephemera. Critics and fans alike went gaga for the game, and it returns now in sequel for, sporting new trophies. Check out all the Little Big Planet 2 loot below.

Bronze Trophies

Aces in Spades – Ace 10 different Story levels in a row.

Prize Collector – Collect 50% of Story prize bubbles.

10 Story Versus Wins – Win 10Story mode Versus games against at least one other player offline.

Multiplier 5x – Score a 5x multiplier in a Story level.

Multiplier 10x – Score a 10x mutliplier in a Story level.

Scoreboard 50% – Place in the top 50% of the players in the online scoreboard for a Story level.

Monster Masher – Kill 20 monsters in Story levels.

Mortal Coil Shuffler Extraordinaire – Accumulate 20 deaths in one Story level.

Dive in 25 – Dive in and play 25 random levels with other players and don’t immediately leave!

Play 25 Community Levels – Play 25 unique cooperative community levels.

Actually Quite Good – Place in the top 25% of players in 5 community level scoreboards (with at least 50 other players in them).

Play 5 Versus Levels – PLay 5 unique community Versus levels.

25 Online Versus Wins – Win 25 Versus mode community levels against at least 1 other palyer.

Who Needs Breakfast? – Play Little Big Planet 2 before 9am.

Just… One… More… Go… – Play Little Big Planet 2 after 9pm.

Grapple Hooked – Create a chain of 4 players grappling each other.

Turbo Slapper – Slap more than one player at once.

Snappy Dresser – Change your costume.

10 Minutes of Create – Spend 10 active minutes in Create mode.

Community Spirit – Publish a level to the community.

50 Unique Players – A level you published was played by 50 unique players.

Long Term Publisher – A level you published has been published for seven days.

A Series of Tubes – Use a Level Link to link two of your published levels together.

Custom Badger – Create a custom badge for your level from PlayStation Eye photo or an in-game photo.

Step Into My Arena – Publish a Versus mode level.

Teacher’s Pet – You watched all the tutorials! Take a gold star, go to the top of the class.

40 Yays or Boos – Give 40 positive or negative votes on community levels.

Journalistical – Write a review.

Paparazzo – Upload a photo.

The Votarator 5 – Rate 5 brand new community levels (less than 10 plays)

A Dip in the Stream – Play a level from your Recent Activity.

Silver Trophies

Complete Story Mode – Complete the main path of the story mode.

Scoreboard 25% – Place in the top 25% of players in the online scoreboard for a Story level.

Play 75 Community Levels – Play 75 unique cooperative community levels.

U Know U A Playa – Spend 5 hours playing community levels.

A Game A Day Keeps the Doctor Away – Play Little Big Planet 2 on every day of the week.

The Votarator 50 – Rate 50 brand new community levels (fewer than 10 plays).

Uber Prize Collector – Collect 100% of the Story prize bubbles.

Gold Trophies

Ace Story Mode – Ace every level in the story mode.

1440 Minutes of Create – Spend 24 active hours in Create mode.

160 Yays or Boos – Give 160 positive or negative votes on community levels.

Platinum Trophies

100% Complete – Earn all Little Big Planet 2 trophies.

Hidden Trophies

Hidden Trophy – Continue playing to unlock this hidden trophy.

Hidden Trophy – Continue playing to unlock this hidden trophy.

Hidden Trophy – Continue playing to unlock this hidden trophy.

Hidden Trophy – Continue playing to unlock this hidden trophy.

Hidden Trophy – Continue playing to unlock this hidden trophy.

The Trials And Tribulations Of Morrowind 2011

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 03:57 PM PST

Last week we reported on the release of Morrowind 2011. It’s a collection of existing Morrowind mods + an original guide to getting them to work together, intended to completely overhaul the venerable classic and bring it, graphically and gameplaywise, a little closer to where Bethesda’s current crop of games (Fallout 3/Oblivion) are. It’s a great idea, which is why it was greeted by excitement across the gaming community – at least it was for a second.

It is at this point that things get a little confusing, so bear with us as we try to make sense of the whole thing.

Morrowind 2011 went live on January 3rd. and there was much rejoicing in the land. That rejoicement was sadly short lived. Within 24 hours, Morrowind 2011 compiler Tyler Smith found himself at the center of a vast firestorm of outrage. At issue was the ‘uncredited’ and and unpermitted use of prexisting mods for inclusion in the game. Anticipating that possibility, Smith made certain that the original version of the WordPress site, included the following statement: “I do care about them [and] I have included a credits file in the zip.” Unfortunately, it was insufficient, and a particularly nasty flamewar broke out between Smith and outraged modders who felt, incorrectly, that they’d been uncredited, and perhaps more justifiably that they should have been consulted before release.

Whatever the legitimacy, the situation turned toxic for Smith as legal threats both explicit and veiled were issued against him. It was at this point (and remember, we’re still only within the first 48 hours) that Bethesda themselves weighed in.

Smith recieved notice that he was in violation of Bethesda’s copyright, and found himself banned (and his IP address blocked) from the their Forums. There has been no official word on precisely why Morrowind 2011 garnered so much of their attention, but it appears to be the result of the entire Morrowind community making themselves heard. Squeaky wheels and so forth, though we should note that they have so far taken no action against stuff like this. We don’t mean to impugn their motivations, only point out that the reaction against Smith seems a bit… overzealous, to say the least.

By January 6th, Smith found that the Morrowind WordPress site he created had been taken down. he created a new one and found it too was deleted nearly as soon as he created it. This indicates that credible, real legal threats were made and that WP acted accordingly. Ultimately, Smith opted to concede defeat and stopped posting new versions of the site. For the next two days he went dark, until he reemerged on Saturday appearing to have come to some kind of detente with the outraged Morrowind community. He returned with a new site, which broadly and clearly explains where each of the mods he used originated, and issued the following terse statement:

1. I'm not going to repost the old version of the mod on this site as I'm working on a newer version, there are torrents and mirrors everywhere if you want it.

2. I have a new version in the works, and right now I'm thinking about the pro's and con's of it being released.

3. We didn't start the flame war

I think most of the argument is over, there's a credit list, and I have removed all the bad shit I said such as people's public emails. While it might have been wrong for me to do that, you have to understand the whole story, and it's complex.

So I'm not throwing in the towel, just done fighting with this and working on either or a new release a guide.

So lets keep it to that, civil and quiet

And there we have it – though he’s not kidding about the original version of Morrowind 2011 still being fully available, he will no longer have anything to do with it, and it’s likely that a newer, less outrage inducing version is coming. That’s something of a disappointment, though we get it. The whole snafu has been a visceral reminder that no matter how supported any game’s modding community is, it exists solely at the discretion and pleasure of the company who owns the ip. And they’re as likely to bow to the demands of the community at large. Best to be certain your bases are covered, in other words.

Even so, this was a great idea. It’s disappointing that instead of becoming one of 2011′s more celebrated mods, Morrowind 2011 will instead be one of the year’s first miniscandals. We’re hoping he decides to release a new version and if so, that next time, it won’t end up causing all hell to break loose.

New New Vegas DLC Trademarks Filed, Maybe

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 03:23 PM PST

A NeoGAF forum member (yeah), rooting through trademark filings for whatever reason, says he/she found a few trademark applications by ZeniMax which could be new New Vegas DLC titles. the forum poster sure thought so, and there is reason to believe this is the case.

The trademarked titles are “Honest Hearts,” “Lonesome Road” and “Old World Blues,” and the reason we think these could be related to New Vegas is because “Honest Hearts” is the name a particular graffiti file from New Vegas. There’s even a Vault page about it, so you know it’s legit, y’all.

F–k Auburn up the butthole.

via Eurogamer

New Hacks Show Kinect Playing Call of Duty 4, Zelda, Doom

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 03:06 PM PST

We just detailed some of the more awesome and ridiculous Kinect hacks we’ve seen so far, but most of them don’t have a whole lot to do with what the machine was made for: playing games.

But that doesn’t mean Kinect hackers aren’t actually playing games with it, and a few new hacks show the controller making it possible to take on Call of Duty 4, Doom and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. We’ve got some videos for you below.

The hacks make use of some additional hardware — a Wii Remote with a nunchuk to do the heavy lifting of moving around and aiming in CoD, for example — but it’s cool to see that it doesn’t take an army of programmers to get us set up with Kinect-workable first-person shooters.

Okay, so, hacks are great, but somebody needs to start making these into games, please.

Via VG247.

DC Universe Online: Oolong Island Trailer

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 02:43 PM PST

Sony Online has released a new trailer for DC Universe Online. This trailer features just over two minutes of footage showcasing the zone Oolong Island. You can download this video here or watch it below.

Silent Hill 8 Gets Official Title, More Details

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 02:31 PM PST

You know that southeast section of Silent Hill that always appears on the game maps but you’ve never actually played through? Well, Silent Hill 8 goes there — and it apparently rains a lot, since the new game is called Silent Hill: Downpour.

The game first showed up at E3 2010 and is detailed in the new Game Informer. Vatra Games is working on the new title and we’re expecting it later this year sometime.

What we’ve seen is pretty trifling. Looks like you’re playing an escaped convict whose prison transport bus crashes and he escapes into (whoops) Silent Hill. The game includes a subway for getting around in the town — it’s apparently pretty big — and, like I just mentioned, there’s a whole section of the town we’ve never seen that players will be exploring this time out. We’re also expecting side-quests of some kind in addition to the main story.

Additional details also include boss battles involving quick-time events, and while you’ll be able to evade other enemies to dodge fights, you’ll have to kill bosses to advance. There also isn’t a weapon inventory, which sounds like you’ll have maybe a handful of items to use in your defense, and they’ll break from repeated monster-bashing.

Via ScrawlFX.

This is a Computer in a Keg of Beer

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 02:24 PM PST

Somehow, the biggest story of CES didn’t draw a small amount of attention this weekend. This is the biggest story in the history of gaming, and yet it’s treated like a silly novelty.

What is “this?” It’s Nvidia KEGputer. What the hell is that? It’s a really badass PC built into a working keg.

I’ll let that sink in for a moment.

Here are the spec on this baby:

2 x EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Hydrocopper 2 graphics cards in 2-Way SLI
ASUS P67 Sandybridge motherboard
Intel i7 2600 3.4 Ghz Sandybridge CPU
8 gigs of DDR3 Crucial Ballistix at 1600 Mhz
Crucial 160 Gig SSD
Danger Den Extreme liquid cooling system
Antec 1200 watt TruePower Quattro PSU

And it has 2.5 gallons of refrigerated space left over for your beer. That’s right, it refrigerates itself. And it can play Starcraft II on three monitors.

I’ve got nothing else to say about this.

[Nvidia blog]

LittleBigPlanet 2 Adventure Trailer

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 01:59 PM PST

I can not stand it anymore. I want me some LittleBigPlanet 2. Check out almost a minute and a half of new gameplay footage in this video. You can download the video here or watch it below.

Lady Seduces Kid Over Xbox Live

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 01:28 PM PST

The best week of a 13-year-old boy’s life ended with a woman going to jail. Police say Rachel Ann Hicks, 36 (pictured), seduced the boy over Xbox Live and then went to Maryland and had sex with him around Thanksgiving.

The woman is now in jail without bail. No word as to which murder simulator they were playing when they met. (I’m guessing Black Ops, since it’s very emotionally confusing and gross.)

via Kotaku
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