It’s Monday, so that means we must have new rumors regarding the next-gen Xbox! This time, Ars Technica claims to have a Microsoft internal email that outlines basic functions that the console will be able to support without a continuous connection to the internet.
“Durango [the codename for the next Xbox] is designed to deliver the future of entertainment while engineered to be tolerant of today’s Internet.” It continues, “There are a number of scenarios that our users expect to work without an Internet connection, and those should ‘just work’ regardless of their current connection status. Those include, but are not limited to: playing a Blu-ray disc, watching live TV, and yes playing a single player game.”
Unfortunately, the email date wasn’t revealed, so there may have been significant changes to this directive since it was sent to employees working on the project.
The inclusion of “watching live TV” does seem to confirm that the console will be tied directly into the cable TV signal in some way. Previous rumors had said that the console would act more like a cable box in that it would hook directly to the incoming signal and play normal cable television signals, but with the Xbox interface being used instead of the cable menu. This would allow seamless switching between games and watching Duck Dynasty.
Nintendo is courting smartphone app developers for its Wii U console. According to The Japan Times, Nintendo is offering conversion software to smartphone app developers to assist them in porting their software to the Wii U.
Nintendo hopes smartphone software will help spur console sales, which will in turn lead to an increase in popular game titles for them, the sources said.
A lack of popular games was one of the primary reasons cited in the recently released annual report for the lower than projected adoption rate of the Wii U console.
Besides porting smartphone games to the Wii U, Satoru Iwata told investors that Nintendo is also looking into subscription and free-to-play games as a possible strategy to entice gamers more used to digital gaming prices.
“We will not simply change our existing packaged software distribution channel. Rather, we might have many other types of business models in addition to packaged software.”
“For example, we might see more games that are similar to free-to-play games, games that cost much less or games that require a monthly subscription fee. Digitalization allows for greater flexibility, whereby having more ways to make payments, both software developers and consumers have more options.”
“And Nintendo 3DS and Wii U have flexible systems to handle such trends, so it is now a question of putting these ideas into action. I can definitely say that Nintendo will make new offers that go well beyond simply replacing packaged software with digital software.”
Epic Citadel is now available for play through a web browser. Epic and Mozilla collaborated on creating the HTML5 tech demo in just four days to showcase the power and flexibility of the Unreal Engine and Firefox. Also, they wanted to show off by creating a whole castle in a browser in less time than I took to fail at ordering my Netflix queue.
The tech demo has been available on iOS and Android for since 2010. To check out the demo, you’ll need to use Firefox Nightly version 23. Neither Chrome nor Internet Explorer are supported, although Google says they are looking into it.
Hey, don’t complain. It’s got as much gameplay as Dear Esther.
Zen Studios’ Pinball FX 2 on the consoles was an huge hit on Quarter to Three. Scores were challenged, smack was talked, and dreams were crushed. Pinball wizards gathered together to mash flippers and pump fists when multiballs bounced. Such was the stuff of pinball dreams.
The only thing missing was PC players, but since Zen saw fit to release their initial PC version as a Windows 8 app, there were few people playing. That’s finally going to change. Pinball FX 2 will be hitting Steam on May 10th and will work with Windows 7! Finally, the majority of Steam gamers will be able to experience the red-hot rage of posting a high score only to have someone else post a better one within minutes.
The basic Pinball FX 2 client will be free, but packs of tables will be $9.99 each. These packs will inlcude Star Wars, Marvel, Marvel: Vengeance and Virtue, Marvel: Avengers Chronicles, the Pinball FX2 Core Collection and Zen Classics.
ZeniMax Online released the Journey to Coldharbour trailer to remind gamers that they have a game coming up. Looks pleasant enough, I guess. Longtime Elder Scrolls antagonist Molag Bal seems to be fond of a certain unified color scheme. Hopefully, that doesn’t hurt Coldharbour’s guest ratings.
Gearbox has confirmed to IGN that the fourth campaign DLC for Borderlands 2 will be released on June 25th. Tina Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep will be the final DLC included in the Season Pass.
The DLC was teased at the PAX East Gearbox presentation with a video of Tiny Tina and other Borderlands characters playing Bunkers & Badasses which seems to be a fictional version of Dungeons & Dragons complete with a 20-sided die.
You’ll experience their game as part of Borderlands 2 with Tina serving as dungeon master, narrating the action as it happens and even changing boss attributes, location details, character names and much more on the fly.
More Tiny Tina is always welcome. If you don’t have the Season Pass, the DLC will cost $9.99 on PS3 and PC or 800 Microsoft Points on the 360.
TimeGate Studios, developer of the Section 8 games, and most recently (and infamously) contributed unspecified work on Aliens: Colonial Marines, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas. Polygon reports that the court documents reveal that money owed to creditors and total liablility ranges from $10 million to $50 million.
TimeGate’s top creditors include companies like Unreal Engine developer Epic Games, online game service Agora Games and transmedia developer DJ2 Entertainment. Creditors listed in court documents also include a local pizzeria, to whom TimeGate owes $34.80, and video game agency Birthplace Management Group, which is owed $20,539.20.
TimeGate recently lost an appeal against Southpeak Interactive for ownership of the Section 8 property and $7.35 million in damages as part of a fraud countersuit.
The status of their currently in development game, Minimum, is unknown.
The Kickstarter for Camelot Unchained, by Mark Jacobs and City State Entertainment, has been successfully funded with $2.23 million in the final tally. The Kickstarter asked for $2 million, so the extra amount pledged was enough to unlock archers, one new race per realm, and heraldry. The MMORPG will include realm versus realm battles with up to 500 players and player-built forts and castles.
The game will feature RvR-based leveling tracks for all classes. No PROGRESSION VIA PvE (player vs. environment), loot drops or other such systems are currently planned. All leveling will come from engaging in the game’s RvR-based systems, whether by fighting other players, capturing objectives, and/or crafting objects to help in RvR. There will be NPCs but you cannot use them to level your character.
The last 48 hours of the Kickstarter was hampered by overzealous fans that spammed news sites with entreaties to publish stories about the game. Mark Jacobs asked fans to tone down their efforts and let journalists do their jobs.
Mojang announced that Minecraft: Pocket Edition has sold 10 million copies. That’s a lot of wood chopping and coal mining! The post also included some details on future updates.
So… I know what you are thinking. “Yeah, 10m is cool but where is the next update?” We have been working hard on restructuring the backend of a lot of things for Minecraft – Pocket Edition to make future updates smoother. For instance, you can now change options without jumping back to the main menu. What you can also notice is that we have in one of our menues (more to come in the future) an experimental title where we will put in features that will work for more high end devices. The reason to put in in experimental is because we first want to test out features before making them default on.
Mojang is also working on Minecraft Realms, a paid subcription service that will allow players to use official servers and maintain persistent worlds.
Is your Wii’s light slowly pulsing with a blue glow? It may be that update from last year that you still haven’t downloaded, but it could also be the message Nintendo sent out to explain the benefits of owning a Wii U instead of the sad Wii you have now.
It’s time to discover Wii U.
Wii U is an all-new home console from Nintendo. It’s not just an upgrade – it’s an entirely new system that will change the way you and your family experience games and entertainment.
Nintendo of America’s newly appointed CEO, Satoru Iwata, told stockholders after the last financial briefing that the company hadn’t educated consumers on the Wii U system.
Some have the misunderstanding that Wii U is just Wii with a pad for games, and others even consider Wii U GamePad as a peripheral device connectable to Wii. We feel deeply responsible for not having tried hard enough to have consumers understand the product.
Blasting a spam message to everyone owning a Wii is one way to do it, I guess.
Annual Call of Duty installments are as predictable as bad food being served at my birthday parties. It’s a tradition.
We’ve known for a few days that this year’s game was going to be titled Call of Duty: Ghosts, but we have official confirmation that the game will be shown at the next-gen Xbox reveal event on May 21st. Hey, you can already preorder it! You know, just in case you were scared that your local retailer might run out of the game that typically gets printed in runs of a jillion at a time.
No other details have been confirmed except that the game has masks and guns. I’ll predict that it will also feature some gameplay that involves shooting people.
Edelson LLC on behalf of their client Damion Perrine has filed a lawsuit against Gearbox and Sega in California. Polygon reports that the suit contends that Gearbox and Sega falsely advertised Aliens: Colonial Marines by showing demo footage that differed, sometimes in vast ways, from the final game.
“Each of the ‘actual gameplay’ demonstrations purported to show consumers exactly what they would be buying: a cutting edge video game with very specific features and qualities,” the claim reads. “Unfortunately for their fans, Defendants never told anyone – consumers, industry critics, reviewers, or reporters – that their ‘actual gameplay’ demonstration advertising campaign bore little resemblance to the retail product that would eventually be sold to a large community of unwitting purchasers.”
The suit also accuses Sega of using the press review embargo to surpress the information that consumers needed to make an informed purchasing decision. The filing seeks damages for people that bought the game on the release day, or as a preorder.
Sega Europe added a disclaimer to video footage of the game on April 3rd after a customer filed a complaint with the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency.
“Sega Europe acknowledged your objection that the trailers did not accurately reflect the final content of the game. They agreed to add a disclaimer, both on their website and in all relevant YouTube videos, which explains that the trailers depict footage of the demo versions of the game.”
Eclipse is out today for the iPad. It’s the port of a streamlined boardgame of epic sci-fi strategy. Or, to put it in videogame terms, a full game of Master of Orion 2 or Stardrive or GalCiv II played in an hour. Look how boring (pictured) it looks.
Adam Foster has posted a director’s cut version of his Half-life 2 mod Minerva to Steam for everyone to easily enjoy. No more fumbling with separate pack downloads! It’s still free but Foster has tweaked puzzles, fixed bugs, and given the whole thing a nice coat of polish. The mod made waves when it was first released for being one of the best (and first) user-made singleplayer add-ons for Half-Life 2 that followed Valve’s design sensibilities. In fact, it’s so good, the mod got Foster a job at Valve!
You’ll need to own Half-Life 2: Episode One on Steam to play Minerva. You can find the mod here.
“Maaaaaarrrrriiiia!” Variety reports that Scott Stuber, of Bluegrass Films, has agreed to produce the Gears of War movie. He will develop a script in cooperation with Epic Games. Stuber most recently produced Ted and Battleship. Hopefully, these will be inspirational to Stuber so that the Gears movie will be hilariously crude and explosively dumb.
New Line originally had the movie rights, but after failures to get production started, they let the property revert to Epic who has since been courting filmmakers to commit.
