Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City Review

The fierce foes and expansive dungeons of Etrian Odyssey III welcome all those with a love for a good old-fashioned challenge.  Score: 7.0 / good Get the full article at GameSpot


"Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City Review" was posted by Bethany Massimilla on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 18:26:05 -0700

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Poker AI: A Starting Point

In this article, Need For Speed: Shift programmer Simon Tomlinson provides a background in Poker AI development for beginners.

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Nat Geo Challenge! Wild Life - Nintendo Wii

Old Price: $39.99 Current Price: $29.99In NAT GEO CHALLENGE! WILD LIFE up to four players can compete from a selection of 15 types of entertaining quizzes, that include a variety of image-based questions, anagrams, and video observational questions. NAT GEO CHALLENGE! WILD LIFE integrates the fun of a trivia game with incredible images and extensive video from National Geographic's award-winning library, featuring 2000 high-resolution images and 90 minutes of high-definition video footage.

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Interview: Longbow Games Talks Indie RTS Hegemony: Philip Of Macedon

Longbow Games' Hegemony: Philip of Macedon, which has been in development for several years, follows the rise of Alexander the Great's father, Philip of Macedon, allowing players to manage the leader's armies and empires as they progress through the game's campaign. The game features large-scale real time strategy battles based on historical events and conflicts. The game allows players to manipulate troops and systems outside of the battlefield, such as supply routes and trade networks. ...

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Game Reviewers Face Odd Bribery From Publishers

eldavojohn writes "You might be used to the idea that game reviewers receive games free and ahead of time, but Ars opens up a darker side to the mystery box. Like a $200 check from Dante's Inferno, reading, 'by cashing this check you succumb to avarice by hoarding filthy lucre, but by not cashing it, you waste it, and thereby surrender to prodigality.' Or how about a huge-ass sword from Darksiders. Or brass knuckles (illegal in some states) from the makers of Mafia II. Or rancid, rotting meat mixed with spent shell casings, teeth, broken glasses and dog tags from Bulletstorm. NCSoft gave out flight suits and trips to weightlessness. Nintendo apparently likes to send all manner of food, including elaborate cakes shaped as their consoles and games. Squeeballs sent a crate of stuffed animals. iPods from Activision and Zunes from Microsoft seem to be pretty tame bait for reviewers ... but there's one reason why this continues to happen: more news-starved review sites and blogs report on the extras and the publisher's game gets spread around just a wee bit more. Even if it is as freakish as bracelets from an insane asylum spattered with blood." I think we must be doing it wrong around here... we usually can't even get games before the release date, much less get free rotting meat.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Skype and Facebook teaming up on SMS, voice and video chat

Filed under: VoIP, Social Software

If you're the biggest social network around and you need to tap someone for video chat, who better to do it than the biggest name in video calling? That's what Facebook thinks, and they're teaming up with Skype to deliver SMS and voice/video chat using Facebook Connect.

As Kara Swisher reports, Facebook hopes that giving users stronger communication tools will lead to a tighter community -- more users using it more often. Skype will likely see a nice increase in its monthly usage as well. While 124 million people Skyping at least once a month is certainly impressive, Facebook integration will no doubt provide a big boost.

Skype 5, which is set to release in a few weeks, will add a Facebook tab from where you'll be able to SMS or call your FB friends. The new version is currently in beta testing right now, but Facebook integration has yet to appear.Skype and Facebook teaming up on SMS, voice and video chat originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 29 Sep 2010 08:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments












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Konami Classics Volume 1 - Xbox 360

Old Price: $19.99 Current Price: $14.98Keep it old school and re-capture the golden age of gaming with 'Konami Classics.' Featuring a popular collection of some of the most recognized brands in video game history, 'Konami Classics Volume 1' includes the original Super Contra, Frogger and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Each game features the ability to be played in its original state, or in an enhanced mode with upgraded Hi-Def support at 720p along with a special graphics improvement filter resulting in smoother visual game quality. Re-live gaming glory with these timeless retro compilation packs!

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Game Reviewers Face Odd Bribery From Publishers

eldavojohn writes "You might be used to the idea that game reviewers receive games free and ahead of time, but Ars opens up a darker side to the mystery box. Like a $200 check from Dante's Inferno, reading, 'by cashing this check you succumb to avarice by hoarding filthy lucre, but by not cashing it, you waste it, and thereby surrender to prodigality.' Or how about a huge-ass sword from Darksiders. Or brass knuckles (illegal in some states) from the makers of Mafia II. Or rancid, rotting meat mixed with spent shell casings, teeth, broken glasses and dog tags from Bulletstorm. NCSoft gave out flight suits and trips to weightlessness. Nintendo apparently likes to send all manner of food, including elaborate cakes shaped as their consoles and games. Squeeballs sent a crate of stuffed animals. iPods from Activision and Zunes from Microsoft seem to be pretty tame bait for reviewers ... but there's one reason why this continues to happen: more news-starved review sites and blogs report on the extras and the publisher's game gets spread around just a wee bit more. Even if it is as freakish as bracelets from an insane asylum spattered with blood." I think we must be doing it wrong around here... we usually can't even get games before the release date, much less get free rotting meat.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

ITRON IRON MOUNTAIN INORATED IOMEGA INTUIT

Amazon unveils Kindle for the Web

Filed under: Web
You can already read Kindle books on a whole host of devices besides the Kindle itself -- like your iPhone, Blackbery, Android device, PC, or Mac -- but Amazon's not stopping there. The mammoth ebook seller has unveiled Kindle for the web, an embeddable reader which is capable of displaying book samples right in your browser. In my testing, however, I didn't have much luck -- I tried to embed every "Look Inside" book by George Carlin after the break, but wound up having to use Amazon's example instead.

As Mobiputing's Brad Linder pointed out to me, this could eventually lead to an Amazon Video On Demand-type setup for Kindle: "stream" books to your browser via the viewer, or cache them via HTML5's localstorage element for offline reading. Hey, the Web is the platform, right? Why bother developing dedicated apps for a slew of different devices if you can cleverly code a single Web app which does the job just as well?

Take a look at the embed code in action after the break -- it's a lot like a Google Docs Viewer or Scribd embed. Kindle for the Web currently bears the beta tag, so you might not see it on many Kindle books as you browser Amazon's shelves.


KindleReader.LoadSample({containerID: 'kindleReaderDiv', asin: 'B003X28734', width: '580', height: '600'});Amazon unveils Kindle for the Web originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 28 Sep 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments












iPhone - Amazon.com - Amazon - Google - George Carlin

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Demon's Souls: the five tips every new player should read

From Software's complex multiplayer RPG is proving a substantial challenge even for veteran role-playing adventurers. So we asked two leading experts to give Gamesblog readers some exclusive tips...A demon-filled fog has enveloped the kingdom of Boletaria and now the bravest warriors must penetrate this gaseous hell to save the land. The setting sounds like familiar RPG hokum but Demon's Souls is not your average dungeon crawler. Cult Japanese developer From Software has instead constructed a deep, imposing and tactically rich adventure with a rewarding combat system and masses of character customisation. Complete with online co-op and asynchronous multiplayer elements, it's been a leftfield hit in the West, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that it's punishingly difficult.If you're new to the game, or already deeply absorbed but in need of guidance, help is at hand. We've spoken to Matthew Whisker and Wayne Gibson, the writers of the official Guide to Demon's Souls and administrators of the Demon's Souls Wikidot. Here are their quick hints for Demon's Souls success...1. At the start you have the option of about eight or nine different characters. Which one gives you the best chance of success and why?Wayne: When you start for the very first time, a Royalty class is, in my view, the best choice. The main reason is you get a decent spell with ranged ability, and it helps until you learn the techniques of dodging, parrying, and the habit of always keeping your shield up.Matthew: Another good choice is the Temple Knight, which has an excellent set of stats for a melee combat-orientated character, and starts with a full set of armour, a good shield and a halberd which is deadly when wielded in two hands. Remember to un-equip some of the heavy armour at the beginning though, as you won't have the Endurance to wear it all and still roll/sprint normally. Wayne: Once you get those habits and skills under your belt, then there is no real "best choice" for a starting class. It just depends on what type of character you would like to make. I would recommend that you visit the wiki and look at the Character Builds page that the users have submitted.�Everyone can vote on how good they think a build is, so you can get a sense of which ones might have more merit than others. You should certainly read the top five or 10 and see if any of them fit your preferred play style.� 2. What tips do you have for defeating enemies in one-on-one combat?Wayne: Learn to Parry/Riposte! A parry/riposte will take down almost, if not every, enemy in the game except for bosses.�The damage output on a riposte is insanely high.�The best method for practicing this is on the dreglings in the first world (Boletarian Palace).�You can usually survive at least one hit on a dregling, so it gives you two or three shots to practice before you die, assuming you miss the parry. It can be frustrating to get the hang of it, and you'll still miss from time to time, but once you get it, it is deadly. Matthew: It also comes in handy for dealing with the rolling skeletons in the Shrine of Storms. Raise your shield and block them rolling into you, then parry when they swing their sword. With practice, parrying and riposting can be adapted to work well even against other players. Weapons like daggers and rapiers have an innate bonus to backstab and riposte damage too, especially with the Fatal upgrade.Wayne:�Use your shield! Keep it up all the time.�Things jump out at you constantly when you walk through doors, or around corners, or sometimes just up a flight of stairs.�The shield is not decorative.�This is not Call of Duty, you can't just run into a room spraying bullets everywhere.�If you run straight into a room in this game, especially if you've never been there before and have no idea what is waiting for you, you're just going to die a lot.� So, use the shield and take your time. Ironically, the more patient you are while progressing through a level, the faster you'll finish the level.�Rushing through and dying three quarters of the way into a level sends you back to the start and you have to go through again and all the enemies have respawned.� Matthew: The best shield in each category would be the Dark Silver Shield +5 for small shields and the Purple Flame Shield +10 for large shields, the DSS being my personal favourite for its versatility, parrying ability and 100% Magic damage resistance on block, as well as a passive bonus to Magic Defence.3. Do you have any useful general tactics on good combinations and how to maximise weapon power?Wayne: A good tactic to bear in mind is the "maximize weapon power" option. A weapon is upgraded with stones that you find, and there are over a dozen types of those stones.�Each stone does a particular type of upgrade on a weapon and you cannot have more than one type of stone upgrade on a weapon at a time. The stones are gone once you apply them to a weapon. Most weapons require some number of shards, large shards, chunks, and one or two pure types of stone.�The latter two can be difficult, and sometimes impossible, to find on a single play through. Please go to the wiki and carefully review the information on the stones. More info is available there on the the various upgrades and the weapons. It's worth planning out your weapon upgrade path before you play.�I didn't do this, and used stones on things that really didn't help me that much.�I regretted it, since I had to start over and they are so hard to come by.Matthew: In terms of tactics, the most important thing is to use a weapon with a moveset that compliments your playstyle. You also need to remember that some weapons perform much better in a two-handed style, eg: the Great Axe. It's one of the deadliest weapons in the game in both PvP and PvE, yet this only applies if you wield it in two hands, meaning you have access to its great rolling attack and powerful three hit combo. Polearms like the Mirdan Hammer are also much more effective in two hands, so experiment!For purely PvP combinations, some of the most common setups have an Uchigatana of some variety in the left hand. This is because the L1 Uchi attack is very fast and has a wide angle, allowing you to prevent an opponent from circling around you, and lock them in a combo with your right-hand weapon.Buffs of some form or another are also essential for any kind of play in Demon's Souls. Second Chance is a must-have no matter what you plan on doing, and Warding can almost completely nullify physical damage for a short period of time, making it very effective against other players and demons alike. A term you will see thrown around a lot is the 'Cracked ToB' referring to the Talisman of Beasts, which, with the right stat setup (18 Int, 6 Magic, 16 Faith is the usual one) will allow you to get Curse Weapon without suffering the huge percentage HP drain that offsets the 50% damage bonus of the buff. However, it takes a little more explaining than that, so please look it up on the Wiki for info on exactly why this happens, and how useful it can be. Light Weapon performs very well on faster weapons using the Insanity Catalyst and around 30 Magic, especially those with innate magical damage like the Blueblood Sword, so the LW BBS (as we abbreviate it) is another common sight in the self-made PvP arena of 4-1.4. How about collecting souls? How do you get as many as possible?Wayne: The Wiki page has a good section on finding good areas for farming souls. Generally speaking though there are quite a few tips on this.�My personal favourite (because I like using bows) is killing the grim reaper in world 4-2 (4-2 is also called the Adjudicator Stone).�The reaper is almost right at the beginning of the level at the bottom of what is best described as a pit.�There are shadow lurkers all around him, and if you shoot him two to four times (depends on attack power of arrows and bow) he dies and all the shadow lurkers die as well.�The best part is, you get ALL of their souls.� Matthew: Another good trick is to use the Silver Bracelets, Ring of Avarice and Soul Thirst, if you have them, and kill all the enemies in 4-3 using Stormruler before touching the Archstone and warping out. Don't forget to pick up any upgrade stones they might have dropped!5. Do you have any advice on defeating the end-of-level bosses?Wayne: This varies a lot.�In fact, each boss is fairly unique in what it takes to kill them. For some players, Flamelurker is the hardest, at least the first time you fight him.�I will warn you about one other boss that should be super easy but not always, as I had the misfortune of finding out.� When you fight the boss named Penetrator, if you have freed an NPC named Biorr, then Biorr will help you with the fight, and this results in the Penetrator focusing pretty much exclusively on Biorr. Since you can just attack him without really attracting his attention, this makes Penetrator an easy boss.� However, as I found out, if you don't free Biorr or you kind of kill him just to see what will happen if you do then you fight Penetrator alone, and he suddenly becomes a lot more difficult.�Not impossible ? just a lot more difficult.�For details on how to defeat each boss, visit the wiki again ? the boss section is our most often visited page according to Google Analytics tracking.Matthew: Another boss worth mentioning in terms of difficulty is the final boss of Boletarian Palace ? the False King. He used to give me real trouble when I first started playing the game, as he is very fast, aggressive and has some of the most damaging attacks your character will ever be exposed to. The important things to remember for him are to try and summon some help ? it's very beneficial to have him going after two people instead of focussing on one, as this will help you avoid getting soulsucked by him. If you do get soulsucked, you can get them back easily enough, and the souls you get as a reward for beating him will more than likely pay for any levels you lose. Finally, when you see him plant his sword in the ground, don't run away and try and avoid his area-of-effect attack like you would logically do. instead, run up to him and hit him, it makes him flinch and he stops charging the attack. The mistake I would make would be to run away from it ? it has incredible range and is nearly impossible to avoid unless you make him flinch. If I had any general advice for the game as a whole it would be to be patient, don't take risks and don't let the game get the better of you. If you die in the game, it is because you, as the player, made a mistake. Sure, the game can be brutal, the enemies are tough, the bosses are sometimes downright unfair, and you can't control it when another player decides to rain on your parade (except by playing offline, and we all know that's boring), but as time goes on and you get better at the game, you'll realise that the deaths are down to you usually being too aggressive, too reckless or sometimes not reckless enough. I'll leave it to you to find the right balance!Coming soon: yet more tips and insider info courtesy of the From Software development team! (We're just getting it all translated...)GamesGame culturePlayStationPS3Keith Stuartguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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Master Miner

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Round-Up: Gamasutra Network Jobs, Week Of September 24

In a busy week for new job postings, Gamasutra's jobs board plays host to roles across the world and in every major discipline, including opportunities at Rockstar New England, BioWare Austin and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted this week include:

Infinity Ward: Senior Animator
"Join our ranks! Infinity Ward, Inc. is an award winning developer of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. We are fiercely dedicated to creating the best games on the market, and strive not only to exceed the standard in game development, but define it. An incredibly talented team, an exciting work environment, and competitive compensation await those who are interested in creating cutting edge games."

Playdom: Art Director
"At Playdom, we let our players lead the way. We don't assume what they will or won't like; instead we look to them to actively enhance our games. We test features religiously to determine what stays and goes, and we listen, really listen, to them. If our players don't like something, we phase it out. And we give them more of what they want. It's that simple."
Rockstar New England: Physics Programmer
"At Rockstar New England, we think it's a matter of pride to make games that carry our name, and we're committed to ensuring they reflect who we are. We are a close team of dedicated industry vets, led by Dr. Ian Lane Davis. Rockstar New England is experienced in every aspect of game development with an unmatched expertise in artificial intelligence. We're constantly pushing the envelope."

Toys For Bob: Production Engineer/Build Engineer
"We're owned by Activision. We've been together for 20 years, made a bunch of games, many of which are actually fun. Our office and work style are pretty damn awesome. We aren't on fire. We advocate the relocation of polar bear tribes to Antarctica. We have the best design tools around. It would be nice to one day do another Star Control title but what's really most important is that we can keep working on fun games for fun people and not turn into a bunch of business jerks."

BioWare Austin: Analytics Manager
"The Analytics Manager will work with Live, Platform, Operations, Customer Service, Web/Community, Marketing and Game teams to track, aggregate, and interpret data across the Star Wars: The Old Republic in order to develop business strategies and measure performance. Metrics and telemetry will be gathered from the Game, Platform, Operations, Customer Service, Web/Community teams and more."

To browse hundreds of similar jobs, and for more information on searching, responding to, or posting game industry-relevant jobs to the top source for jobs in the business, please visit Gamasutra's job board now.

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Project MyWorld buyer revealed - Report

Former Realtime Worlds chairman Ian Hetherington said to have purchased social gaming platform to bring to market at new company, Kimble Operations.  
Realtime Worlds' collapse in August left a number of unanswered questions relating to the future of its online shooter APB and social gaming platform Project MyWorld. For APB, Realtime Worlds' closure left the game officially shuttered, but bankruptcy firm Begbies Traynor has said that it is actively seeking a buyer for the game. Speculation indicates the game may be acquired and relaunched by another company. Project MyWorld, on the other hand, has been bought, though its purchaser had been shrouded in mystery.



Project MyWorld's buyer appears to have surfaced.

It appears as if that mystery has now been resolved, as Gamasutra reports this week that the secretive buyer is Kimble Operations. The company is headed by former Realtime Worlds chairman Ian Hetherington, whose other industry credits include cofounding Wipeout studio Psygnosis (now known as Sony's Studio Liverpool).

"MyWorld was bought a few weeks back by Kimble Operations, which is basically Ian Hetherington, as he wanted the project to get to market," Tahir Rashid, one-time senior artist on Project MyWorld, told the industry news site. After departing Realtime Worlds, Rashid reportedly took a position as co-company director and art department head at independent studio Electric TopHat.

"There are 20 people left from the original MyWorld team that decided to stay with it. We are very pleased the project is not dead and look forward to them getting it out the door," Rashid continued.

Though APB took more than five years to reach market, its life span was a short one. The game launched in late June to a tepid reception. However, within days, Realtime Worlds had announced a "small number" of layoffs and soon acknowledged a laundry list of fixes and improvements it intended to make. The bottom fell out in August, though, when the Scottish developer entered administration (akin to bankruptcy for an American company) and subsequently laid off 185 people. Administration firm Begbies Traynor later rehired 23 members of the 60-person Project MyWorld team to continue work on the project.

Begbies Traynor had not returned requests for comment as of press time.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot


"Project MyWorld buyer revealed - Report" was posted by Tom Magrino on Tue, 28 Sep 2010 12:45:29 -0700

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Is an 'Inception' video game in the works?

Director Christopher Nolan says he's interested in making a video game based on his mind-trip of a blockbuster film.






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EA Delays NBA Elite 11 To 2011, Announces Stand-Alone Multiplatform Jam

Electronic Arts today delayed the planned October 5th release of NBA Elite 11 until 2011, citing "concerns about gameplay polish" gathered from play-testing and player experience with the demo. The game, which features significant gameplay changes from last year's NBA Live 10, had come under criticism for a high number of glitches found in the recently released demo. "We are going to keep working until we're certain we can deliver a breakthrough basketball experience," Electronic ...

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Club Penguin Game Day - Nintendo Wii

Price: $49.99 ETA: 9/21/2010It's a Game Day! Are you ready for the challenge?Play in the first ever Club Penguin island-wide Game-Day challenge only on Wii console. Create your own penguin, join a team and compete against other penguin teams in Java Jump, Sled and Slide, Sumo Smash, Fast Freeze and more. Compete to see who is the best team once and for all!

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F1: 2010 - Xbox 360

Price: $59.99 ETA: 9/22/2010Immerse yourself in the glamour, pressure and exhilaration of the world's most exciting motorsport as F1 2010 roars onto the track complete with all the official drivers, teams and circuits set to feature in the highly anticipated 2010 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP.Compete against FORMULA 1 Drivers' World Champions like Jenson Button, Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, and Fernando Alonso and take on the full 2010 circuit line up featuring the return of the FORMULA 1 CANADIAN GRAND PRIX, Singapore's dramatic night race realised in glorious high-definition for the first time and debut ahead of the drivers on the all-new Korean circuit.Powered by Codemasters' EGO Game Technology Platform, the world of FORMULA ONE comes to life with jaw-dropping visuals, authentic handling, dynamic weather and class-leading damage in a range of game modes including quick race, career mode and online multiplayer.F1 2010 will take you to the heart of FORMULA ONE like never before.

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Are video games the 'devil's flute'?

As the Supreme Court gets ready to look at a case that pits the state of California against the video game industry, some say this is simply history repeating itself. California wants to ban the sale of violent video games to minors but others say this far from the first time a new form of media has inspired moral panic and attempts to violent First Amendment rights.






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Fans to Decide the Fate of Carmine in ?Gears of War 3?

The fate of Carmine lies in your hands! For the first time in franchise history, Epic Games and Microsoft are giving fans the chance to decide the fate of a character in ?Gears of War 3.? By purchasing avatar gear on Xbox LIVE Marketplace, fans and gaming communities around the globe will decide the destiny of the newest Carmine brother set to appear in ?Gears of War 3,? with all the proceeds going to the Child?s Play Charity.

Keeping with the series? tradition, Clayton Carmine will be introduced in the trilogy?s final chapter, and like Anthony and Ben, the newest rookie brother runs the high risk of meeting an early death. However, unlike in the previous games, the Xbox community will choose whether Carmine lives or dies by purchasing special ?Gears of War 3? avatar gear on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Starting July 29 two new avatar t-shirts will be available on the Avatar Marketplace on Xbox LIVE ? one shirt reads ?Save Carmine? and the other reads ?Carmine Must Die.? By purchasing the ?Save Carmine? shirt, you?re casting your vote to let Carmine live in ?Gears of War 3.? Conversely, purchasing the ?Carmine Must Die? shirt means you want to see Clayton follow in the fate of his brothers.

Fans attending Comic-Con International in San Diego this week will also be able to cast their votes early by purchasing real life limited edition ?Save Carmine? or ?Carmine Must Die? t-shirts at the NECA booth (#3145) for $20.00. ?Gears? fans can also visit the Xbox 360 booth (#5153) to be amongst the first to play ?Gears of War 3? Beast Mode throughout the show. Finally, the team from Epic Games, including design director Cliff Bleszinski, executive producer Rod Fergusson and lead writer Karen Traviss, will be signing Comic-Con exclusive posters at the Xbox booth on Saturday, July 24 at 12:00 p.m. PDT.

Child?s Play is a community-based games industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children around the world. Through their network of more than 60 hospitals and through the generosity of their community of donors, Child?s Play raises millions of dollars each year to donate games, consoles and toys to sick children. The proceeds from the sales of the ?Save Carmine? and ?Carmine Must Die? avatar gear and limited edition NECA t-shirts will go to Child?s Play, so cast your vote, donate to charity, and get cool ?Gears of War? gear! Fans can get up to date information about the fate of Clayton Carmine by visiting http://www.gearsofwar.com.

Published by Microsoft Game Studios and developed by Epic Games, the ?Gears of War? franchise has won over 30 ?Game of the Year? awards, sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and redefined the third-person shooter genre for this console generation. The ?Gears of War? series is exclusive to Xbox 360 and its riveting multiplayer action makes it one of the most popular titles on Xbox LIVE. The trilogy finale, ?Gear of War 3,? will release on April 5, 2011, only on Xbox 360.

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Blade Kitten Riding Noot Gameplay Movie

We take Noot for a ride in Blade Kitten.   Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot


"Blade Kitten Riding Noot Gameplay Movie" was posted by edmondt on Sun, 26 Sep 2010 21:41:36 -0700

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CCP Releasing Free Incursion Expansion For Eve Online This November

Icelandic developer CCP Games announced plans to launch Incursion, its 14th free expansion for sci-fi MMORPG Eve Online, this November with various performance updates and new content.

The expansion's plot centers on "the escalating attacks of the deadly Sansha?s Nation, which is bent on instituting its own utopia and exacting vengeance against the pilots who stand in its way." Pilots can join public fleets to destroy the Sansha invaders and receive bounties/loyalty rewards/commendations.

Incursion will introduce many changes suggested by the Council of Stellar Management, a player-elected group that communicates concerns and requests from the user community to CCP. Those changes will include hardware upgrades, software updates, and new cluster components designed to increase game and fleet battle performance.

CCP will also renovate its character creator (new pilot portraits with CCP's Carbon character technology), NPCs and their AI, and Planetary Interaction system. As for new content, Incursion will add Sansha crafts (Mothership, Fighter, and Bomber), a Noctis salvaging vessel, loot and rewards, and storyline events.

EVEGate, the MMO's online social networking platform for pilots, will receive new forums meant to emphasize the importance of organizational and communication tools. The developer says this expansion seeks to enhance "the power of individual choice in the context of meaningful relationships with other players -- Eve?s true strength".

"Incursion marks a point where our PVE experience moves towards the co-operative roots of EVE and the largest introduction of our Carbon Technology platform to date. Never before have so many players and developers contributed to Eve?s living universe," says CCP's senior producer Arnar Gylfason.

TELETECH HOLDINGS TECHNITROL TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE SYNTEL

New Carnival Games with Wii Motion Plus - Nintendo Wii

Price: $49.99 ETA: 9/21/2010New Carnival Games for Wii takes the family-fun of the original multimillion unit seller to new heights with all-new games, attractions, prizes and achievements. Expanded multiplayer action and a Wii MotionPlus option add to the carnival thrills!

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Zynga Expands To Europe With Purchase Of Engine Developer Dextrose

Social game company Zynga announced that it has acquired Dextrose, a German game engine studio that will become the first European subsidiary for the FarmVille developer. Dextrose previously developed the Aves Engine, which allows graphically complex games to run in a web browser or on mobile devices using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The Mainz, Germany based studio will become Zynga Germany, and founders Paul Bakaus and Rocco Di Leo will become chief technology officer and ...

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How to get Gmail's Priority Inbox on your mobile device

Filed under: E-mail, Google
Gmail's new Priority Inbox feature has revolutionized how many people deal with their email. Unfortunately, you may have noticed that it's only available on the standard desktop version of Gmail in your browser. Well, that's not entirely true.
Priority Inbox works based on a label called "Important" that Gmail's priority algorithm applies to messages it considers important. Just like you can compose a Gmail search that will include items in your inbox or starred items by using the in:inbox or in:starred search operators, you can include items that Google's algorithm considers important by including in:important.
On your iPhone you can go to the mobile version of Gmail in Safari, and compose the following search:
in:inbox in:important
This is the basic criteria for what Gmail shows you in the top Important pane in desktop Gmail when using Priority Inbox. Once you've run the search, tap the + button at the bottom of the iPhone's screen, and choose Add to Home Screen. Voila, you've now got one-tap access to your Priority Inbox on your iPhone.
You can actually get access to the Important label as an IMAP folder on any IMAP-capable mail client including those on mobile devices, but because there isn't a way to compose a search query on mail clients that says, "show me messages that are both in the Inbox and the Important folder" you can't really create the same effect. But if your goal is simply to see what Priority Inbox deems important, this might be a worthwhile option.How to get Gmail's Priority Inbox on your mobile device originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 25 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments












iPhone - Gmail - Google - Priority Inbox - Gmail Priority Inbox

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New Carnival Games with Wii Motion Plus - Nintendo Wii

Price: $49.99 ETA: 9/21/2010New Carnival Games for Wii takes the family-fun of the original multimillion unit seller to new heights with all-new games, attractions, prizes and achievements. Expanded multiplayer action and a Wii MotionPlus option add to the carnival thrills!

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Epic Games Releases September 2010 Unreal Development Kit Beta

Epic Games, Inc. has released the September 2010 UDK Beta, the latest version of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides uncompromised access to the award-winning toolset used in blockbuster video games, 3D visualizations, digital films and more.

Epic is committed to providing the UDK community with regular software releases at no charge, and the latest beta is available now at www.udk.com/download.

Are you creating something great with UDK? Drop us a line in the Project Show-Off forums, where links to tech demos, gameplay videos and screenshots are always welcome.

We have a new UDK architecture forum. Are you using UDK to create 3D visualizations or simulations? Drop in and meet others who are using Unreal Engine 3 tools for similar purposes. Scaleform UI creation also gained its own forum.

It’s easy to sign up as a commercial UDK developer online. Our FAQ can help you determine which type of license is right for you.

This month’s build of UDK features significant additions, including:


UDK users now have access to the gameplay profiler tool.
Matinee’s movement tracks can now be split into individual translation and rotation components.
Users can bulk edit texture properties within the Content Browser.


Upgrade Notes


Due to changes in PhysX you should re-save all of your content.


UDKGame


Fixed leaning during jumps in UDK.
Fixed UDKVehicle crash.
‘AllowNVidiaStereo3D’ is false by default for UDK.
Switched UDK maps over to use precomputed visibility.
Resaved UDK maps for updated PhysX changes.


Profiling


Gameplay profiler tool now available in UDK!

‘GamePlayProfiler’ is a tool that allows digging deeper into time spent in gameplay code.
Read more:

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/GameplayProfiler.html






Matinee


Allow movement tracks to be split so that translation and rotation components can be individually manipulated.

Read more:




http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MatineeUserGuide.html#Separating Translation and Rotation



 


You can now disable the audio radio filter effect in Matinee Kismet blocks.


Particle System improvements


Now supports multiple ribbons per emitter.
New ‘RandomSeed’ module in Cascade helps particles play back more consistently.
Random size and lifetime can now be specified per ribbon in an emitter.
Particle spawn rates are now clamped to prevent negative spawn rates.


Rendering


Added ‘ImageGrain’ to ‘UberPostProcess.’
Improved post processing.

Uses less memory.
Better CPU/GPU performance.
Improved quality and consistency.
New features such as HDR scale and film grain.


Optimized distortion pass.
Fixed multiple split-screen issues causing color leaking.
‘F5’ key now enables shader complexity mode by default.


Animation


Added support for rotating Joint Bone to ‘SkelControlLimb.’
Animation compression improvements.

With automatic or the ‘CompressAnimations’ commandlet.

Savings of 30% over the previously compressed size are typical.
Can be much higher on some animations or with adjustments to the compression parameters.






Scaleform GFx


Integrated fix for sRGB handling with fonts from Scaleform.
GFx now supports Distance Field and RGBA UFonts.
Added a sample GFxUI.int to Engine/Localization/INT/.


DCC Tools (Max/Maya)


ActorX for Maya and Max 2011 is now supported.


PhysX


‘PhysXDestructible’ has been removed.
APEX destructibles are replacing them.


Other Improvements:


Workflow enhancements (e.g., find all materials using this texture, support for local collections to the Content Browser).
Fixed hitches during gameplay caused by long processing times for zero length linechecks.
OBJ mesh export now can generate a diffuse, specular and normal texture from the material.
Alternate mesh bone weight import tool has been much improved and supports both low->high and high->low bone count swapping.
Streaming texture stat enhancements including the new STAT TEXTUREPOOL command.
Landscape editing improvements.
The new color picker is now integrated into the mesh paint tool.
The mesh paint tool now supports flood fill.
Gamma can now be used even if the tonemapper is activated.
Texture properties can now be edited in bulk via the Content Browser.




UDN Pages


New 


http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UDKTrademarksAndLogos.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CapturingCinematicsAndGameplay.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/GameStatsVisualizerReference.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CreatingGameStatsVisualizers.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/InstrumentingGameStatistics.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/HitMask.html


Updated


http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UDKProgrammingHome.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UDKContentCreationHome.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UDKLevelCreationHome.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UDKCommunityLinks.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/DevelopmentKitFAQ.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/DevelopmentKitFirstScriptProject.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ContentBlog.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/AnimSetEditorUserGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/KismetUserGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/AssetConsolidationTool.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MaterialEditorUserGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PostProcessEditorUserGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/SoundCueEditorUserGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PhATUserGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/AnimTreeEditorUserGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/StaticMeshEditorUserGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MaterialInstanceEditorUserGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/SceneManagerReference.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/TaskBrowserReference.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ColorPicker.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ViewportToolbar.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/SCCIntegration.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ImportingSkeletalMeshTutorial.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ImportingAnimationsTutorial.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ImportingMeshesTutorial.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ExportingMeshesTutorial.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PhysicsConstraintReference.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/Scaleform.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ScaleformWorkflow.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/SettingUpVehicles.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/VehiclesTechnicalGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/SettingUpWeapons.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/WeaponsTechnicalGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CameraTechnicalGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PrecomputedVisibility.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/TextureDefinedSpecularReflection.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/SoftMasked.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ColorGrading.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UnrealScriptReference.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CommandLineArguments.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CommandletList.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ActorX.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/Eat3D.html

Community Links
UDK Forums: www.udk.com/forums
UDK Developers on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2493123
UDK on Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/UDK/183744733429
Epic Games on Twitter: www.twitter.com/EpicGames

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WarLight is an addictive turn-based, Risk-style Time-Waster

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters
I don't remember when I last posted a turn-based Time-Waster, but WarLight was so nice, I simply couldn't skip it. It's basically Risk; you get a world map, and you start off with a certain percentage in your color. With every turn, you get a few more "armies" (depending on how much space you've conquered), and you try to take over more of the map by attacking certain territories.
Each turn is made up of three stages. First, you deploy all of the new armies that you received (each country may have more than one army stationed in it). Then, you attack or transfer into new territories.
You can see how many armies are currently stationed in every new territory; if a territory has 10 armies, attacking it with a single army would do you little good.
Of course, while all of this is going on, your rival is also attacking and conquering their own section of the world and rapidly approaching your territories. Suddenly, you need to start fortifying your territories, finding ways to conquer your rival's territories, and figuring out what they're going to do next.
The game is very versatile, and it offers a ton of options. You can even graph your progress through the game in order to see how many armies each of you had on the board at every turn, or how many territories each of you controlled, etc.
You can play against the computer (especially useful for learning the game - there's a tutorial to start you off), but the real fun begins when you play against another person. This is one of those games that can be open in a background window all day long. It's very addictive indeed.WarLight is an addictive turn-based, Risk-style Time-Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 23 Sep 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments












game - Risk - Video game - Strategy - Time-keeping systems in games

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This Week on Playstation Network - Adventure, Sports, and Music Video Feature

This week, we take a look at Thongs of Virtue, demos for the Move, and rock the house with DJ Hero 2 and songs from Bob Marley.   Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot


"This Week on Playstation Network - Adventure, Sports, and Music Video Feature" was posted by sampsona on Sat, 25 Sep 2010 04:30:00 -0700

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WWF Helper - Anagram and Word Lookup for Words with Friends Screens

4 new shots posted.       Get the full article at GameSpot


"WWF Helper - Anagram and Word Lookup for Words with Friends Screens" was posted on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 17:42:14 -0700

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Video game advertisements will make you buy stuff

A new Nielsen study has found that advertisements in video games really do increase consumer spending on the product that's advertised. That's bad news for players tired of seeing an increasing number of ads cluttering up their games.

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Facebook Details Changes As Devs Question Benefits

Facebook this week released a list of new changes to the site intended to keep gamers and non-gamers in largely separate spheres, and some developers are concerned about the affect the changes could have on their games' growth.

Among these changes are game notifications that will "only be shown to those who are already engaging with the application." Reversing a previous update, game stories will be seen in their entirety (i.e. not collapsed or aggregated in the users' News Feed), as only people playing that same game will be able to see the notifications.

The spheres of Facebook gamer and non-gamer are not completely separate. Facebook said it will begin to show "fewer but more impactful News Feed stories" related to apps and games using the new "discovery story" News Feed item.

"For example, instead of the typical story saying that someone just bought a new item, it could say 'Dave, Jonny and 3 other friends' just started playing a game," Facebook explained in a blog post. The company didn't explain the algorithm behind the feature, or how many friends need to start playing a game before non-players are notified.

Through that method, Facebook hopes that users not interested in friends' gaming activities will not be hassled with updates. But the company still expects the change to help "drive new user growth for games." This week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that with 200 million people playing Facebook games out of the total 500 million-strong userbase, games are a "phenomenon." But he added that game notifications are "one of the biggest complaints that we get" from users.

While Facebook said that the changes, rolling out this week, will drive more "meaningful discovery" of games for those not playing them, developers have raised some red flags, mainly relating to potentially stunted virality -- a key marketing component of social games.Social game specialty site InsideSocialGames quoted Lolapps CEO Arjun Sethi, who reportedly summed up many developers' concerns: "One thing we?re worried about is, how do you find new gamers? How do they know if they will like the game or not?" He was expressing apparent doubt in the new "discovery story" feature.

Anatoly Ropotov, Gamasutra expert blogger and CEO at Facebook developer InnoWate (Legacy of Rome), expressed similar doubt about being able to reach new players.

"As for overall Facebook experience impact: users will be segregated between players and non-players," he said. "Non-players will start seeing 'discovery' stories, mentioning that few friends have started playing a new game. No [pictures], no explanation, just the name of the game and list of friends."

He added, "Users will get clean news feeds if they want, developers will see virality drop from news feed channels/streams to ZERO. NULL. It will only serve as a retention and re-engagement tool."

Facebook's full list and explanation of the changes is below:

Drive Re-engagement

- Targeting stories based on usage. Application stories will only be shown to those who are already engaging with the application. This means people who play games on Facebook can freely share stories about challenges and progress with friends, without worrying about overwhelming their friends who don?t play.

- Displaying full game stories. Now that game stories are uniquely aimed at the people playing them, they will no longer be collapsed or aggregated in News Feed. This gives you more real estate to reach your users with more relevant content.

- Deploying smarter bookmarks. The apps people use the most will be automatically bookmarked and will reordered based on usage. Individual apps will no longer need to request people to bookmark them.

- Displaying more prominent counts. If there?s a task to be completed within a game, or a user has an outstanding invitation, a count will be highlighted next to the bookmark on their home page for convenient re-engagement.

Improve Discovery

- Surfacing game activity through friends. By showing fewer but more impactful News Feed stories based on friends? activity and social context, we hope to drive new user growth for games. For example, instead of the typical story saying that someone just bought a new item, it could say ?Dave, Jonny and 3 other friends? just started playing a game.

- Moving requests. With the more prominent counts, we?re encouraging users to look to the left hand nav for their daily Facebook activity, so it makes sense for games re-engagement and discovery for requests to move to that high visibility area.

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Hyper Sudoku

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Mega Man Designer Explains Japan's Waning Video Game Influence

eldavojohn writes "As one of the creators of Mega Man, Keiji Inafune remembers the days when Japan redefined video games. He believes those days are long gone as he reveals much in his criticisms of Japan's ailing game economy. Inafune says Japan is five years behind — still making games for older consoles with 'no diversity, no originality.' When asked why, he responds, 'A lot of designers, if they find a genre that works for them, they stick with it. A lot of designers just stick to a set formula. That doesn't work any more. You can't just tweak the graphics, work just on image quality. You can't compete on that. The business side is not keeping up with investment. You need to be prepared to invest 4 billion yen or more on a game, and then spend 2 billion yen more to promote it. But Japanese companies can't do that. So we're losing out to the West in terms of investment in games. It's a vicious cycle, a deflationary spiral. Because you don't invest, you can't sell games, and because you don't sell games, you can't invest.' He compares making games for Japan and the US to Sushi and basketball — two popular things but each done in distinctly different ways by the two nations."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Hyper Sudoku

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9 Planets

Complete your missions to explore the nine planets of the solar system! Show aliens who's boss as you visit the planets and whiz by stars.

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Zynga Shares Growth Stats, Now Employing Over 1,200

Matching the audience growth of its social games, Zynga has increased its headcount to over 1,200 full time employees and is rapidly expanding its infrastructure to accommodate traffic.

The FarmVille developer, which operates six of the most popular games on Facebook right now based on monthly active users, has picked up much of its new staff through acquisitions -- recent purchases of companies like XPD Media and Unoh have boosted the number of the firm's studios up to 13.

Speaking at Oracle?s OpenWorld conference, Zynga CTO Cadir Lee claimed over 10 percent of the world's internet population, or some 215 million monthly users, has played a Zynga title, The San Francisco-based company aims to reach more of that audience with its expansions in Asia and the recent launch of a Chinese version for Texas Holdem Poker.

To accommodate its growing traffic, Zynga has been adding as much as 1,000 servers every week, according to a report from TechCrunch. The developer operates its own data centers using a hybrid private and public cloud infrastructure, which see around 1 petabyte of data activity each day from Zynga games.

Along with describing the challenges his company faces with increased workload (e.g. setting up those 1,000 servers) and traffic at OpenWorld, Lee outlined three primary goals for Zynga: establishing trust with its users, providing quality experiences for its users, and making games available.

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2010 GDC Online Awards Reminds On Audience Award, Over 125K Votes Cast

Game Developers Choice Online Awards organizers have revealed over 125,000 Audience Award votes cast so far, reminding possible voters that award voting is continuing until September 24th.

After a committed response from many of the players of online games worldwide, there have been 129,700 total votes for this first-ever Audience Award for persistent video games -- and of those, over 67,300 have been email verified by the submitter so far, making them eligible to count.

The winner of the Audience Award will be revealed at the Choice Online Awards ceremony, to be held on the evening of October 7, 2010 as part of the 2010 Game Developers Conference Online (GDC Online), which is taking place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas October 5-8.

The first-ever Game Developers Choice Online Awards ? a sister event to GDC's notable annual Game Developers Choice Awards in San Francisco ? is the first award ceremony honoring the accomplishments of the creators and operators of online games.

Those voting for the Audience Award simply have to enter the name of the game and a valid email address to receive an email and confirm their vote. They may pick from any currently-operating persistent online game, whether it be a subscription MMO, free-to-play web game title, social network game, or anything else.

With the exception of the Audience and Special Awards, the Game Developers Choice Online Awards is voted by the International Choice Awards Network (ICAN Online), which is an invitation-only group comprised of 400 leading game creators from all parts of the online game industry.

More information about the Game Developers Choice Online Awards is available at the official website for the awards. GDC Online -- part of UBM TechWeb, as is this website -- takes place in Austin, Texas from October 5-8, 2010. Information about sessions and still-open registration for the show is available at the GDC Online website.

TERADATA TELETECH HOLDINGS TECHNITROL TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE

Are consoles really better than PCs at shooter games?

Kinect creator thinks FPS games better on console...I've played on Kinect and was mightily impressed. Responsive and intuitive, Microsoft's upcoming hands-free motion controller will eventually host some unique gaming experiences as well as being a brilliant party starter. I exepct it to be huge. This doesn't mean though that I want to play "core" games on it. First person shooters? Most sports games? RPGs? The pad will do very nicely thanks. Kinect creator Kudo Tsunoda - unsurprisingly - thinks I am wrong. In an interview with gaminformer Kudo suggests that "core" games can use the Kinect if it is done correctly.I think that the stuff we have learned about Kinect is that you don't want to take it and port a experience over to Kinect or force it into things. You see a lot of motion control games that put the motion technology into a random game and that isn't the way to make an awesome experience.So far so good. Fingers crossed for Fable III then. But then Kudo lets his argument slip by using the example of first person shooters.If you think about the way that first person shooters evolved, they started on the PC. People for the longest time tried to port shooters from the PC onto the console. And people said the same things that they are saying now about Kinect ? "It's never going to be responsive enough to do this," or "You're never going to get a fun first person shooter on the console ? it's only made for a keyboard and mouse and that is the way it is supposed to be played." And as long as everyone was just porting the existing shooters over to console, they weren't as fun as the PC ones. Of course, they were built for the PC. Halo did an awesome job of building a first-person shooter exclusively for the console, and now hardly anyone plays first person shooters on the PC anymore. It's all about the console. And I feel it is the same with Kinect stuff. If you are constantly trying to take something that is made for a controller and port it over to Kinect, it's not going to be a good experience because it is made for a controller. If you take the time to build it for Kinect from the ground up, however, you can make something that is a very new experience, but lots of times even more fun than it was before. Ok, he has a point. Halo did revolutionise the FPS on the consoles. No one would really dispute that. You could argue that Goldeneye on the N64 was the real trendsetter but Halo was the first to incorporate the range of control play options that characterises the genre on the PC. But is he really suggesting that, "hardly anyone plays first person shooters on the PC"?Veteran shooter developer id have already voiced their opinion. Creative Director Tim Willits said:The FPS genre is still great on the PC, the input controllers are very responsive, the keyboard allows many more choices and options, and the social networking of the PC allows you to reach out and play with your friends much easier than any of the consoles. Plus, as any hardcore FPS gamer will tell you, the mouse is still the best device for aiming.I rarely play FPS on a PC these days. I'm lazy and it's just so much easier to stick on Halo or Modern Warfare 2 on a console. Plus after a day in front of a PC I don't necessarily want to spend an evening in front of one. Having said that if I was deadly serious about my shooters then the PC would be the natural home. As Willits says, the mouse is still the best device for aiming. What about you? Is the PC the natural home for the FPS? Or have the consoles taken over?GamesMicrosoftGreg Howsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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Learning By Playing

theodp writes "This week's NY Times Magazine — a special issue on education and technology — is tailor-made for the Slashdot crowd. For the cover story, Sarah Corbett explores the games-and-education movement, which she notes is alive and well at Quest to Learn, a NYC middle-school that aims to make school nothing less than 'a big, delicious video game.' Elsewhere in the issue, Paul Boutin writes about Microsoft's efforts to inspire The 8-Year-Old Programmer with its Kodu Project, and Nicholas Carlson reports on Columbia University's efforts to mix journalism and hard-core computer science with its unique dual-degree master's in journalism and CS. There's also an accompanying timeline that nicely illustrates how learning machines have progressed from the Horn-Book to the iPad."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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'Civilization V' revolutionizes its game

Previous games in the long-running "Civilization" series have been prisoners of the past ?forced to improve the series via baby steps, for fear of upsetting an apple cart twenty years in the making. "Civilization V," however, �doesn't do baby steps.







Civilization - Games - Strategy - Video game - Turn-Based

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APB To Close Mere Months After Launch

APB, the action MMO created by Realtime Worlds and launched at the end of June, will soon be closing its doors. The game was very expensive to make, and news of the studio's financial difficulties has been circulating in the wake of disappointing sales numbers and reviews. Today, less than three months after the servers went live, community officer Ben Bateman announced that service will be discontinued shortly. One of the developers said, "In every way APB was a dichotomy. I have witnessed the project alter from a fragile and delicate entity used to show the world the depth of our vision through to the sturdy beast we released to the public. There were the unusual errors and crashes which are to be expected, but it worked. Once in the hands of our community I have never seen something elicit such a polarization of people. It was dismissed as overhyped and broken or else taken to heart to be loved and cherished, buoyed on by a fanaticism I was proud to have played a part in bringing to the world."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

ITRON IRON MOUNTAIN INORATED IOMEGA INTUIT

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 - Field Training Gameplay Movie

Two fighters go head-to-head in a field. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot


"Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 - Field Training Gameplay Movie" was posted by sampsona on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:56:35 -0700

AMERICA MOVIL AMKOR TECHNOLOGY AMPHENOL ANIXTER INTERNATIONAL

APB To Close Mere Months After Launch

APB, the action MMO created by Realtime Worlds and launched at the end of June, will soon be closing its doors. The game was very expensive to make, and news of the studio's financial difficulties has been circulating in the wake of disappointing sales numbers and reviews. Today, less than three months after the servers went live, community officer Ben Bateman announced that service will be discontinued shortly. One of the developers said, "In every way APB was a dichotomy. I have witnessed the project alter from a fragile and delicate entity used to show the world the depth of our vision through to the sturdy beast we released to the public. There were the unusual errors and crashes which are to be expected, but it worked. Once in the hands of our community I have never seen something elicit such a polarization of people. It was dismissed as overhyped and broken or else taken to heart to be loved and cherished, buoyed on by a fanaticism I was proud to have played a part in bringing to the world."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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THQ Chooses Joyent For Social Networking Infrastructure

Publisher THQ has tapped Joyent to take advantage of the cloud computing firm's social networking infrastructure services in its social gaming development teams.

With this deal, THQ intends to expand its presence in the social space with Joyent's development and publishing environment. The "infrastructure-as-a-service"/"platform-as-a-service" provider will manage server infrastructure, bandwidth, hosting, and network operations for the publisher.

Joyent's services are designed to enable rapid prototyping and deployment of online games while lowering operating costs and improving scalability. THQ says it chose the company's solutions as it removes the complications of infrastructure deployment, allowing its developers to focus on making games.

The publisher has previously said that it believes "gaming can come roaring back" with emerging technologies like cloud computing, as well as the brand extension opportunities offered by social gaming. The company will soon launch a free-to-play online version of Relic Entertainment's Company of Heroes series.

"We?re pleased to be providing smart computing infrastructure to THQ?s developers," says Joyent's Field Operations EVP Chris Arisian. "Joyent?s extensive experience supporting some of the leading developers of social games have helped us refine our technology specifically for online games.

Arisian adds, "We support the entire development lifecycle and have optimized our platform to deliver an end-to-end performance and scalability required by game developers. From prototyping through production, Joyent provides the infrastructure solutions to deliver the entire game."

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Gormiti: The Lords of Nature! - Nintendo Wii

Price: $39.99 ETA: 9/21/2010Gormiti: The Lords of Nature! features characters and locations from the popular Gormiti TV show co-produced by Marathon Media and Giochi Preziosi. The action starts as a character named Razzle, while cleaning the library, accidentally knocks some old books into a Portal. These books tumble down to the 'Island of Gorm' where a never ending battle is going on between vast armies inspired by the elemental forces of nature. The books eventually land at the feet of Magmion, the evil Lava Gormiti. Magmion reads the book and learns of an old legend which talks about reuniting five sacred amulets which have been scattered across Gorm. Once reunited these amulets allow the holder to open an inter-dimensional portal to Earth! The Lords of Nature need to use all their unique powers to hinder Magmion's plans and save Earth. The game recreates the beautifully illustrated island of Gorm, where the Lords of Earth, Sea, Air and Forest are charged with stopping the evil Magmion from wreaking havoc.

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Demon's Souls - Playstation 3

Old Price: $29.99 Current Price: $29.98Beautiful, compelling, and at times unforgiving, Demon's Souls is the hardcore RPG experience PS3 owners have been waiting for since the platform's launch. Revolutionary online features define your adventure like never before, presenting seamless interconnectivity that serves in every instance to enhance the single-player game. Unprecedented in its depth and subtlety, peerless in its relentlessly challenging gameplay, Demon's Souls is the ultimate action RPG.

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4. Lose the Heat

The police are hot on your trail, so it's time to lose the heat!

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Firefox Home update adds more powerful search, private server support

Filed under: Mozilla, iPhone, Browsers
Firefox Home has become one of my most-used iPhone apps, and the recent update has added a greatly-improved search function. Previously, FF Home could search your synced content. Now, however, it will actually search Google if no matches are found (check the official demo video after the fold to see it in action).

Another welcome addition is support for private servers -- you're no longer left out in the cold just because you're syncing your data somewhere other than Mozilla's default location. Firefox Home is also now available worldwide, so users everywhere can enjoy the app's desktop-to-iPhone synchronization goodness.Firefox Home update adds more powerful search, private server support originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Teaching Game Development To Fine Arts Students?

jkavalier writes "I've been asked to prepare a short course (50 hours) of video game development to Fine Arts students. That means people with little-to-no technical skills, and hopefully, highly creative individuals. By the end of it, I would like to have finished 1-3 very basic minigames. I'm considering Unity 3D, Processing, and even Scratch. How would you approach teaching such a course? What do you think is the best tool/engine/environment for such a task?"

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Treasure Hunt

Explore the caves, jumping over spikes, avoiding enemies, and bashing rocks out of your way as you collect the treasure within!

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6. Sandy's Skin Solutions

Sandy's sensitive skin is breaking out, and she needs your help to get the spotty situation under control!

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Shanda, Square Enix Bringing Final Fantasy XIV To China

Shanghai-based MMO operator Shanda Games and Square Enix announced a partnership to bring Final Fantasy XIV to China -- the RPG franchise's first commercial release in the region.

Japanese publisher Square Enix says globalization is one of its key initiatives, as it maintains a network developing and offering games in Japan, North America, and Europe. It believes this deal with Shanda will strengthen its global business development with a focus on China's rapidly growing market.

Shanda adds that its in-house development team is qualified to assist in localizing Final Fantasy XIV to the China market, and that its sales, marketing capabilities, and game operation platform will provide access to "a broad audience of Chinese gamers."

This agreement follows a similar partnership Shanda announced last week with Beautiful Game, a subsidiary of Square Enix Europe, to bring a new online entry from the Championship Manager soccer management sim series to China. Shanda is working with Beautiful Game's Eidos Shanghai studio on the project.

Shanda plans to operate China's edition of Final Fantasy XIV separate from Square Enix's servers for Japan, North America, and Europe. The MMORPG will launch for PCs at the end of this month in all other markets (March 2011 for PS3), but Shanda intends to announce its Chinese launch plans at a later date.

Though consumers will need to purchase Final Fantasy XIV and sign up for monthly subscription fees to play the game in other regions, neither Shanda or Square Enix have disclosed whether they'll keep this business model for the Chinese market, where free-to-play online titles are the norm.

"The media entertainment markets are increasingly becoming more and more global in nature," says Square Enix president Yoichi Wada. "Under this environment, we are speeding up our globalization strategy aimed at transforming our Group into a truly world-class enterprise."

Wada adds, "Through this partnership with Shanda Games, a company with great success in online game operations in China, we are taking an important step in increasing the reach of high quality content from the Square Enix Group to even more customers around the world."

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