Just Gaming

Minecraft - Released

Thu, 17 May 2012 01:44:11 +0000

Minecraft is a fun little indie game made by a guy called Notch. It's a crazy sandbox world where you build houses and castles, find resources, or craft yourself weapons and armour and fight your way through a monster-infested cave system looking for diamonds. There's some limited progression based stuff in gaining access to resources, but very little of that is necessary and you can really do whatever you want!

It looks like this. This is a river valley.

Minecraft Release
Minecraft is out! There are also gift codes, and there have been Free-2-Play weekends and discount weekends in the past. The game will continue to be updated beyond "release" so it's still not really "done".

Latest News:

Quote

Current Update: Minecraft 1.0 - VERSION NUMBERS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY

1.0 follows update 1.8 as the conclusion of the Adventure update, the second half of a series of features designed to enhance exploration, these include:

* 2 new Biomes: Snow and Mushroom forest!
* 1 new plane of existence, the Ender!
* 6 new mobs, including friendly snow golems and neutral NPC villagers. Also dragons!
* Skills!
* Bosses!
* Animal breeding and baby animals!
* Permadeath mode!
* Potion brewing and flask weapons!
* Enchanting and enchantments!
* New music and sound effects!

If you haven't heard of it yet, Minecraft is a phenomenon. Over 9 million people have played the game, and over 3 million have bought it, which is incredible for a small indie game that isn't even finished yet, and is distributed solely through a single website.

The game appeals to all ages, all cultures, traditional gamers and those completely new to gaming. It has won an incredible number of accolades, and been featured and namedropped by many developers and industry figures.

This thread is nearing 400 pages of unanimous praise, so buy it!

I remember playing this ages ago, what's up with it now?
There were originally various versions (Creative, Indev, Infdev) that you may have played in the past. Now there's Minecraft Survival Beta, with singleplayer and multiplayer available. Creative mode has now been integrated into Survival Beta, with the new updates, or the old version is available to play for free on the website. The game is regularly updated with new features.

The main attraction of the paid version is Survival Multiplayer, where people can go online and make things together. You can play online with rllmukers on our server, gracefully provided by weeksjh.

Is there a demo?
There's a free 1 hour demo available here with PC Gamer branded cows, but it's rather outdated. A simple stripped down web version is also available on Minecraft.com.

Community and Player Created Content
Also there's a great community: People make scripted "adventure" maps with rulesets, that are easy to download and play. Here's an example

There are also numerous texture packs that change the look of the game and there are player created character skins.

In addition, a huge modscene has sprung up around the game, despite the lack of any sort of SDK or official support. The best place to find these are on the official Mod Forum.

Check out a video of a mod that adds new creatures to the game, for example. There are also graphical mods, and ones that add new environments and items.

Here are some cool videos:

Getting started guides and general help:
These are kind of old, and some of the information in them might be a bit dated. The game features a very barebones tutorial that can show you the ropes.
Getting started tips and advice for newbs
A Beginners Guide to Minecraft
The Stuff of Nightmares

And here are some links:
Here is the Minecraft Wiki
Here is the Main Site
Development Blog
Two Funny British Blokes doing a Minecraft Machinima series

Try it, you'll lose hours (~~days~~, ~~weeks~~, months) to it.

rllmuk server info:
Survival Beta Multiplayer Server: otaku.co.uk - This server is protected to prevent vandalism, to be added to the whitelist and gain privileges, post in this thread with your Minecraft user name.

Quote

Server News
New Mukville is up and running! Includes the towns of Old New Mukville and New New Mukville

Suvival 1.8 Beta Multiplayer Server: minecraft.bencoleman.co.uk (Offline?)

Diablo III

Thu, 17 May 2012 01:05:50 +0000

So, Blizzard's homepage has had a new splash screen up for the past couple of days, which is slowly changing, revealing hidden runes and whatnot. There are numbered pieces of an image buried in a non-published directory on the site, and a few gaming news sites are covering the speculation this is generating.

Some fans are hoping it's all pointing towards an upcoming announcement of Diablo III, but others are saying it's just a teaser for their new WoW expansion.

Anyone know much else about this?

Day Z, The Road with Zombies

Thu, 17 May 2012 01:03:11 +0000

I have already posted this in the Arma II thread, but maybe it deserves more attention

Day Z is a mod for Arma II, the blurb from http://www.dayzmod.com/ is :
"Welcome to Chernarus. A 225 km2 open world post-soviet state and one of the areas hit by a new and presently unknown infection which has wiped out most of the world's population. You are one of the few who have survived and now you must search this new wasteland in order to fight for your life against what is left of the indigenous population, now infected with the disease."

There is permanent death, you need to eat and drink to survive and from what i have seen other human players seem to be more dangerous than the zombies. Though there are a few videos of people teaming up. The map is synched to the server's local time, which is quite cool, so play at night and the world will be pitch black unless you have a flashlight or flares, The whole experience does seem very intense, especially at night. There are already a few interesting videos of this on youtube.

This guy explains the basic system, but he's mostly playing without meeting other players

installation guide here: http://forums.someth...40&pagenumber=1
And make sure battleye installs properly, you can manually get the latest DLLs for it here : http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?104254-quot-BattlEye-Initialization-Failed-quot&p=1700827&viewfull=1#post1700827

Xbox Live Arcade

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:37:24 +0000

XBLA talk, have at it folks.

Halo 4

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:33:45 +0000

http://kotaku.com/58...halo-4-and-more

Quote

Microsoft's E3 2011 briefing isn't until 9:30 AM Pacific. Someone forgot to tell the Xbox.com guys that, because for a brief moment around 9:30AM Eastern, fans caught a glimpse of Halo 4.

Dance Central 2, Halo 4, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Kinect Star Wars, and more appeared in name only this morning, the links attached to the name leading to error pages. After a quick refresh the page reverted to its original teasing state, but not before I managed to snap a screenshot.

For more news on these games and more, be sure to stay tuned for Microsoft's proper E3 2011 reveal later this morning.

And it is official!! Continuing from where halo 3 ended.

New Info 5th March 2012

Making Of Interview, contains in game footage and comparisons to Halo 3:

Screenshots!

Campaign:
The story will be the most cinematic Halo experience to date, that will set the stage for the next decade of the franchise.

Master Chief is back, and a new ancient and dark threat is going to be thrown at him that will not only test his abilities, but will give players an understanding just who he really is, all while introducing some new gameplay mechanics.
Cortana will play a huge part in the story.
Master Chief’s armor design has been upgraded to provide the functionality needed to convey his power.
Story will be darker and more sophisticated than past games.

Multiplayer

- Story wraps around the multiplayer experience for the first time in the franchise.

- Players now control Spartan IV’s, which promise to be just as powerful as Master Chief.

- There is a reason why red and blue soldiers are killing each other.

- Beyond the typical cosmetic customization options, players will be able to augment their Spartan IV’s abilities and weapon loadouts, altering their gameplay styles for the first time.
A lot of focus has gone into giving players a better sense of weight.

- Audio design has been much improved and really gives a player a sense of where shots are coming from.

- Maps have been built from the ground-up.

- Two maps have been announced so far: War House and Wrap Around.

- War House takes place in a civilian manufacturing plant that is travelling in a near space orbit above a gas giant.

- Wrap Around is a small slayer style arena, set in a Forerunner facility, that contains catwalks, ramps, and plenty of man-cannons to keep the action fast and frantic.

EuroGamer Interview:

Quote

Halo 4's newly unveiled multiplayer perks - which, for the first time in a Halo game will have an impact on the gameplay - aren't a result of 343 Industries chasing Call of Duty and Battlefield, the studio has said.
As part of a slim first look at Halo 4, 343 Industries' first game proper since Bungie departed the series, it's been revealed that you can change every aspect of your Spartan's appearance - and that doing so would influence the way that the game plays.

"I've never worked for Infinity Ward, or Respawn - for years I bet they were asked similar questions about how it's like the multiplayer system in Halo 2 or something like that," franchise director Frank O'Connor told Eurogamer when asked about the new system's similarity to Call of Duty. "We're not chasing anybody else's tail - all the pressure comes from inside."

"What we do take very seriously is changing player habits. So rather than chasing Call of Duty or Battlefield and trying to do their thing and doing it poorly and doing injustice to it, we're trying to do our own thing, and do something fairly original but still something that's completely compatible with the Halo universe."

"Halo's not Call of Duty," O'Connor continued, "Halo's a sandbox game about really emergent things. A lot of things that worked great about Call of Duty - and don't get me wrong, I was addicted Black Ops all of last year - they do player rewards really well. We're not trying to do the same thing, it's as simple as that. We're trying to do something else, and to push our game forwards and not theirs."

Both O'Connor and creative director Josh Holmes acknowledged that the change could prove controversial amongst Halo's community. "I expect a variety of different reactions," Holmes told Eurogamer, "One of the great things about Halo is we have the ability to support a variety of different play styles and play lists, create experiences that cater to different player types and community desires."

"We've a tremendous amount of respect for Bungie and for the universe that they created, and yet we do want to take our own unique view on Halo and on where we want to take the franchise is in the future. It's about finding the balance so it's still Halo yet still feels fresh."
Frank O'Connor also warned that what's been shown of Halo 4 to date - which, at Microsoft's Spring Showcase, amounted to a run-through of two multiplayer maps alongside a handful of snippets of the game in action - is the more conventional face of 343's take on the franchise.

"What we showed today is in some ways really traditional," O'Connor told Eurogamer. "Some of the more revolutionary stuff that we're going to be doing is going to create more fuss, and I think it's going to be mostly positive fuss, as it's all been carefully thought out and considered."

Trials Evolution

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:22:21 +0000

Quote

Trials Evolution won't be another Xbox 360 exclusive to adopt Kinect, Eurogamer can reveal.

"No," confirmed dev co-founder Antti Ilvessuo, "the Kinect is such a different controller, and we have spent so much time polishing and tuning the controls in Trials to the Xbox controller, that to use Kinect would really mean a totally different game."

Trials Evolution was revealed at E3. Eurogamer found out this afternoon that the game will release "sometime between the end of summer and the end of the year". "We're aiming for 2011," he said.

But Ilvessuo confirmed that Trials Evolution won't be a Summer of Arcade game - the campaign Microsoft uses to typically launch the best XBLA games (Trials HD included). Nevertheless, Trials Evolution could go on to lead Microsoft's October Game Feast bonanza.

The biggest new features of Trials Evolution are proper multiplayer and a track sharing hub. Ilvessuo fleshed out the former, confirming four-player co-op on the same Xbox 360 machine.

"We have two to four player multiplayer, both locally and online," he said. "Locally means four controllers on the same Xbox, on the same screen. Online means just that - online and in real-time, against up to three other live players on the same track."

"Everyone drives on the same screen and the same track, but on their own driving line. We have a few good tricks to keep the competition fierce and balanced."

The track sharing hub Ilvessuo said is being "kept under wraps", although "it's fair to say sharing tracks is going to be a whole lot easier". "You won't have to rely on using the Friends list to share content, you can just download your creations from the new Track Central portion of the game.

"Everything is very easy to find and nicely organised." If he doesn't say so himself.

The level editor, another integral part of the Trials experience, has undergone a "huge evolution". There's an "incredible amount of changes, according to Ilvessuo, and improvements" that apparently make "all kinds of things possible you could never do in Trials HD".

"Some of the mini-games the guys are creating right now are like nothing you've ever seen before!" he exclaimed.

"We just showed it to one of the guys who worked on the editor with the last game, Trials HD, and his eyes just bugged out," said Ilvessuo. "I had to steer him back to his seat."

It's "a bit early to get into too much detail" about the editor, he added, but feedback from Trials HD has been "paid attention to" and RedLynx thinks fans will be "thrilled".

Other new Trials Evolution improvements include "open environments with different lighting" and "curved driving lines".

But there will be minimal changes made to the core Trials gameplay. "Really it's mostly just been fine-tuning the gameplay and physics," said Ilvessuo. "We don't want to break the base gameplay model - it's one that really works."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-06-17-trials-evolution-wont-use-kinect

Sounds amaze.

Max Payne 3 - Join the crew!

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:17:29 +0000

Join the Rllmuk crew:

http://socialclub.ro...com/crew/rllmuk

"Developed by Rockstar Vancouver, Max Payne 3 tells the story of a retired police detective embroiled in a world of corruption, turmoil and intense violence," is the first info we've received.

If you're new to the world of Payne, the game puts you in the role of Max, a hard-boiled New York City detective with a penchant for violence, out to avenge the death of his family. "The latest installment delivers more of the classic elements and hyper-intense action that fans have come to love, while moving the story of Max in a new direction," Rockstar adds.

We're starting a new chapter of Max's life with this game," said Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games. "This is Max as we've never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation."

The release continues: "Since leaving the NYPD and New York itself behind, Max has drifted from bad to worse. Double-crossed and a long way from home, Max is now trapped in a city full of violence and bloodshed, using his weapons and instincts in a desperate search for the truth and a way out."

No longer set in New York, Ill be interested to see where they go with this.

Super Street Fighter IV: AE

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:10:30 +0000

EVO 2011 - because most of you dolts play in this thread
http://shoryuken.com/2011/07/26/evo-2011-master-schedule/

Friday, July 29th
Tournament Schedule
8:00 AM � 6:00 PM: Pool Play, SSF4:AE, Mortal Kombat
6:00 PM � 8:00 PM: Quarterfinals, SSF4:AE, Mortal Kombat
8:00 PM � 11:00 PM: Semifinals, SSF4:AE, Mortal Kombat

Panel Schedule
10:00 AM: Feed the Stream Monsters: A Guide to Broadcast Fighting Games
12:00 PM: Skullgirls: A New Age of Heroines
2:00 PM: Inside the Mind of the Beast: Daigo Umehara Exposed!
4:00 PM: Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Past, Present, and Future!
6:00 PM: Screening, Bang the Machine

Saturday, July 30th
Tournament Schedule
8:00 AM � 6:00 PM: Pool Play, MvC3, Tekken, Blazblue
6:00 PM � 8:00 PM: Quarterfinals, MvC3
8:00 PM � 11:00 PM: Semifinals, MvC3
12:00 AM: MvC3 EC vs. WC 5 on 5 Exhibition

Panel Schedule
10:00 AM: King of Fighters XIII: Panel and Discussion
12:00 PM: Street Fighter III: Online Edition, Reinventing a Classic
2:00 PM: Namco Bandai � Get Ready for the Next Panel!
4:00 PM: New Directions in Street Fighter X Tekken
6:00 PM: Screening, King of Chinatown
7:15 PM: Screening, Focus

Sunday, July 31
All times are approximate! We will also have some surprises in store throughout the day.
10:00 AM: Blazblue Finals
12:00 AM: Tekken 6 Finals
2:00 PM: Mortal Kombat 9 Finals
3:30 PM: SF3 Third Strike Exhibition
5:00 PM: Marvel Vs Capcom 3 Finals
6:30 PM: Screening, Balrog: Behind the Glory.
7:00 PM: SSF4:AE Finals
9:00 PM: Closing Ceremonies

==========================================

SSF4: AE Update

From Capcom Unity -

Quote

Super Street Fighter� IV Arcade Edition, brings the ultimate vision of Street Fighter� home to the Xbox 360�video game and entertainment systemfrom Microsoft�, the PlayStation�3 computer entertainment system, and PC in the Summer of 2011 in North America. The follow-up to the criticallyacclaimed Super Street Fighter� IV will further redefine the fighting game genre with classic 2D Street Fighter fighting action, a host of new andreturning characters, beefed up online modes, and more.Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition features a roster of 39 characters such as Ryu, Chun-li, Juri, El Fuerte, and Rufus, while adding 4 newcharacters to the roster including classic combatants from previous Street Fighter games like Yun and Yang as well as the all-new Oni. Beyond characters, Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition adds all-new balancing as well as an enhanced Replay Channel.

� New Playable Characters: Four new challengers enter the ring: Yun, Yang, Oni andEvil Ryu.
� Updated Character Balancing: Features all new character balancing, further refining gameplay.
� Updated Replay Channel:
- Replay Follower: Be able to follow up to 5 separate player replays making it easier tofind your favorite players� latest replay.
- My Channel Advanced: Allows players to distribute their replay data to up to 50 players.
- Elite Channel: Watch replay data from elite players who have a rating of 3000PP or more.
� All playable SSFIV characters will be unlocked out of the box, including Yun & Yang, Oni, and Evil Ryu.

JLM, Joffo; I don't know what's up, but I can't connect to your lobbies. Ever. Tried accepting the invite, Joining Session in Progress and coming through match making and they all booted me. Could be that the lobby was full or I guess it might be something to do with routers, there's a certain set of people I can never connect to.

Asura, I was just heading out yesterday as you sent the invite, definitely up for a game if you get time again.

---

Anyway, I've been fucking awesome on this tonight. Went on a 6 or 7 win streak with Ibuki, which included beating Rake Clown's 9,000 BP Gen. I also managed to land target combo>HK launcher> j.canc>air to air super as a finisher, which gave me a proper stonk on. I also took apart two goons in another lobby that collectively had about 6,000PP, using 'Buki, Gouken, Sim and a few regulars.

Which was nice.

Anyway, I'm loving this again. I'm sure I'll be getting Dryus tomorrow and getting salted out the back door, but for tonight, it's wub

=====

Old thread, including non-super SFIV, here: http://www.rllmukforum.com/index.php?showtopic=170144

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:08:54 +0000

It's Halo CE, so it deserves its own thread!

Linky

From that link:

Quote

A remake of Halo: Combat Evolved is on the way from Microsoft for 360, according to a rumour in the new issue of GamesMaster.

In the next edition of the mag, which will have a blowout on the next Tomb Raider title, it claims that 343 Industries are working on a HD remake of the Bungie shooter that will run from Halo Reach�s engine.

The release, if true, is most likely to celebrate the IPs tenth anniversary: the original launched as a launch title for the first Xbox in March 2002.

A Halo 1 HD remake is then set to set the stage for a fully-fledged Halo 4.

343 took over the reigns of the Halo IP following the release of Reach in September, Bungie�s last attempt at the series.

As far as I'm concerned, and yes I played the game on legendary from start to finish earlier this year, Halo CE is still by far the best Halo game ever made, and also still one of the best fps games ever made. Certainly in terms of fps combat nothing has come close since. The thought of a remake with online co-op and fancy HD graphics gets me rather excited! However, I don't want them to change anything in terms of level design, enemy placement, AI, indestructible warthogs etc etc. in short, I want the exact same game only with beautiful new graphics in glorious HD and the addition of online co-op and multiplayer, which is the only thing the original sorely lacked.

Is "Game" finished?

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:55:26 +0000

Just when you thought the game/gamestation shopping experience couldnt get any worse (What with piss poor trade ins, terrible staff and a crap product range) they have started charging more than anyone else for new releases.

HMV, the only real highstreet competetion that game group has, seem to be charging £37.99 for all their new releases.

How long will these high prices at game/gamestation continue? Is it permanent?

I have been using them for as long as they have been around, but this really is taking the biscuit and once my trade in card is used up I wont be using them again. And i'll make sure I get UC3 done in under 10 days so I can swap it for skyrim - fuck em.

GoBang Social - Kwalee's first iOS game

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:44:50 +0000

So, Brucie's studio Kwalee have snuck out their first app in the New Zealand app store, to get some experience and feedback on how their frameworks hold up in the real world, I suppose.

But what if you're not a Kiwi? How can you get in on this action? Well, your intrepid reporter* has the scoop for you.

When you enter the iTunes store, somewhere at the bottom of the main page there is a round flag button showing which country's store you're currently logged into. Click on it, and you can select any country's store. Pick New Zealand.

Now, search the app store for kwalee, and Gobang will show up. Click to download it - obviously it won't work yet, as you don't have a NZ iTunes account! So it will ask you if you want to create one. Why, yes! Yes I do!

Because you're trying to download a free app, the account creation screen will now have a button to select "none" as the payment option, allowing you to set up an NZ iTunes account without a credit card. Put made-up details in for the address and phone no. and you'll be good to go! You can now download Gobang and sync it to your device!

So, with that out of the way, impressions! Well, to be honest, there aren't many, yet. The app requires you to log in to facebook to play against anyone, and I'm not about to go pestering my friends to go through all this just to test some app they won't care about. However, if anyone off here wants to test it with me, send me a PM and we can hook up on FB.

Splash screen. Woo!

When the app loads, this is the screen you are greeted with.

My first impression was "Woah... ads." To be fair, I don't actually object to ads in free apps, but I think the layout of the page makes the ads look more intrusive - the fact that the Gobang banner appears under the ad banner makes it look like the ads are bigger than they actually are. I'd suggest changing the layout, so the ads aren't as in-your-face.

My second impression was "What the heck does this screen even mean?" Nothing looks intuitive. What's that icon with the arrow representing? Active games? Square games? No idea. And being greeted with a big "prohibited" icon like that doesn't help either. Settings is fairly obvious, but there's no help section in there to tell you what to do.

The green dots suggested swiping was something I could try, so I did, but the other screens weren't much help either:

What those icons represent, no idea. Except maybe the last one, perhaps that's for local play and it's indicating no other device is in range?

So, I figured I would try "New Game". Clicking on this straight away brings up a Facebook login page. At first, I wasn't too keen to give over my FB details to kwalee just to muck about with this app, but then I figured what the heck, I'll take one for the team. I didn't have to put my password in or anything, I guess I can trust FB and kwalee not to go abusing my information... I hope To be fair, there were options for how much I wanted the app to meddle with my info. On the first page I could set the level at which the app would interact with my FB profile - I decided to set it so that app acitivity would be visible to no-one rather than friends only or everyone. I don't like pestering people on FB with whatever I;m currently mucking about with - I certainly don't want to know what bloody crops you're growing in Farmville, so I don't want to spam my Gobang moves all over the shop. Also, I could disallow Gobang from accessing my information "at any time" - which the app said it would only do to give me a birthday present or something. I can live without that, thanks.

So, the FB integration side of it was less scary than I was expecting. Unfortunately I haven't played any games yet because as I said, I don't have any friends with the app yet! So if you want to have a go on kwalee's first app, download it and PM me for a friend request.

Overall, congrats Bruce for getting something out the door. Although I don't have masses of feedback yet, one thing I will say is that slightly confusing interface aside, the app didn't feel "shonky" - no crashes or anything, everything seemed to work OK, it looks well put together and the FB side of things appeared well integrated. Bit of polish and making the interface more intuitive would help.

*Sad wannabe geek with nothing better to do

I'm really sorry about the Horror tag, couldn't resist

Street Fighter X Tekken

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:38:53 +0000

Get ready for some interesting match-ups. Hwoarang vs. Juri anyone?

Capcom's doing the match-up in SF-style, while Namco is handling the reverse version (which would probably be called Tekken X Street FIghter like what Capcom and SNK did years earlier). That second trailer whooping is giving me goosebumps btw.

Kid Icarus: Uprising (it's your new favourite game)

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:29:36 +0000

(^________________________________________________________________________^)

[yt]a7detDcmMKY[/yt]

BEST E3 EVAH.

Shmups

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:28:54 +0000

Its been a while, and since they have had a little bit of a resurgence since the XBLA release of Ikaruga and the criminally under talked about Triggerheart Excelcia I wanted to start a thread. I know we have some hardcore bullet dodgers on here. Lets talk about what makes them still appeal in todays somewhat slightly stale climate of racers and first person shooters. Whats your favourite and why. This thread is inspired by an afternoon spent playing an awesome trinity of Area 88,Under Defeat and the almighty Psyvarier 2!

Ubisoft announce Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:09:44 +0000

Quote

UBISOFT� EXPANDS TOM CLANCY PORTFOLIO WITH TOM CLANCYTM'S GHOST RECON: FUTURE SOLDIERTM

Exclusive Multiplayer Beta Available This Summer

LONDON � February 9, 2010 � Today Ubisoft announced that Tom Clancy��s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier� is in development at Ubisoft�s Paris studio and is scheduled to be released worldwide Holiday 2010.

Created by the award-winning team behind Tom Clancy�s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter� and Tom Clancy�s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter� 2, the game will feature cutting-edge technology, prototype high-tech weaponry, and state-of-the-art single-player and multiplayer modes. Tom Clancy�s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier will go beyond the core Ghost Recon franchise and deliver a fresh gameplay experience, with an unparalleled level of quality that will excite long-time fans and newcomers alike.

Ubisoft is offering gamers a chance to be the first to play Tom Clancy�s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier�s Multiplayer Beta this summer 2010. This exclusive beta invitation will be available for a limited time to customers who purchase Tom Clancy�s Splinter Cell Conviction� for the Xbox 360� video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, which releases on 16 April 2010.

For ongoing updates about Tom Clancy��s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, please visit: www.GhostRecon.com

Playstation Vita

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:47:47 +0000

Details

Name: Playstation Vita
Base Model Price: €249.99, $249.99, £229.99
3G Enabled Model: €299.99; $299, £279.99
Release Date: December 17th 2011 in Japan. February 22nd 2012 EU & US

Tech Specs

Specs - CPU: ARM Corte-A9 core (4 core)
GPU: SGX543MP4+
Rumoured 4 - 5 hours of battery life
Rumoured to have 512MB of main ram with 128MB vram.

External Dimensions

Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (tentative, excludes largest projection)

Screen

(Touch screen) 5 inches (16:9), 960 x 544, Approx. 16 million colors, OLED

Inputs/Output

Rear touch pad (capacitive type)
Multi touch screen (capacitive type)
Front camera
Rear camera
Built-in stereo speakers
Built-in microphone
Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass (same as found in Move)
PS button
Power button
Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left)
Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square)
Shoulder buttons (Right/Left)
Right stick, Left stick
START button, SELECT button
Volume buttons (+/-)

Wireless Communication

Built-in GPS
Wi-Fi location service support
Mobile network connectivity (3G) on premium models
IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1x1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode)
Bluetooth� 2.1+EDR (A2DP/AVRCP/HSP)

Other Features

Confirmed backwards compatibility with downloaded PSP games.
Games will come on flash cards
Games will support Trophies
Games will be sold via retail and PSN
New OS design to power PSP2

E3 News Summary (courtesy of The Sarge)

PS Vita official title.
Vita means life, blurs line between life and entertainment
Eurogamer - For the standard Wi-Fi model you'll pay €249.99 (£223). For the fancypants 3G plus Wi-Fi model you'll pay €299.99 (£268). (they've since removed the article)
Joystiq - also list the price as 249.99 Euros, also confirm a global 2011 release - Joystiq
Montage, Uncharted, Hustle Kings, Little Deviants, and more
Dust 514 functionality
Bioshock coming to Vita
Wi-Fi and 3G models.
AT&T partnership - LOL with applause of disgust
Near - Connect with those around you, recommend games, compare trophies, etc.
Scott Rohde Appears!
Uncharted: Golden Abyss. Stunning! Dynamic lighting, touch melee, traversal - sticks and touch, tilt controls, not locked into controls, player choice.
Ruin! Action RPG! PS3 connectivity. Resume game on PS3 from Vita.
Modnation Racers - New experience, built from the ground up on Vita. PS3 connectivity/cross platform functionality.
Wipeout 2048 - 8 players using PS3 or Vita.
Cloud Saves, Content sharing, UGC shareable
LittleBigPlanet coming to Vita
Capcom - Street Fighter X Tekken comes to Vita! The liar takes the stage. Cole from Infamous joins the cast! Shown running in Vita
80 titles in development from a range of third parties.
Vita sizzle reel - Uncharted, Wipeout 2048, Little Deviants, LBP, SoundShapes, Hustle Kings, Ruin, Modnation Racers, SuperStarDust Delta, AR title and more.
Ridge Racer coming to Vita
Incredible Third Party Support
Street Fighter X Tekken - A New Challenger Appears!
Oddworld's Stranger's Wrath and Munch's Odyssey Announced
Dust 514 Cross Platform comes to Vita
Bioshock Comes to Vita

26 Japanese Launch Titles (props to Dandy Sephy for covering the TGS coverage)

Ys: Celceta, Sea of Trees
Lord of Apocalypse
Ninja Gaiden: Sigma
Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3
Hell's Army
DJ Max Technika
Katamari Damacy nobita
Browser 3 Kingdom
Bass Fishing
F1 2011
Dragon's Crown
God Eater 2
Escape Plan
Sound Shapes
Sawari Makuru
Super Stardust Delta
Reality Fighter 0
WipeOut
Yuusha no Kiroku
Michael Jackson
Ridge Racer
Shin Kamitachi no yoru
Shinobido 2
Dark Quest
Dynasty Warriors Next

What Is It?

Playstation Vita is Sony's second stab at a portable gaming device. From what we know the device has the theoretical performance of four iPhone 4's, and this was backed up by Epic's Tim Sweeney.

Tim's demonstration of the device showed a beefed up version of Epic Citadel running on the platform, but of more interst was his Vita demonstration of upcoming PS3 game, Dungeon Defenders, which he claimed took less than a week to port to Vita, with little to no sacrifice in quality.

The device currently features a broad range of features and inputs, and is clearly aimed at gamers looking for console like experiences on the move.

The device is also compatible with Sony's recently announced, Playstation Suite. Playstation Suite is intended to be a platform neutral Playstation store, which will provide customers with a range of Playstation certified games to play. Initially the store will be available on Android 2.3, and whilst it will initially only feature PSone games, more original titles are promised for the future.

The OS design for Vita looks to be completely different to the current XMB. It's not too dissimilar in concept to iOS, in that services and games are accessed via individual icons rather than scrolling categories.

A big part of the new OS, is that each game will get it's own area in a feature called LiveArea. LiveArea is structured around a series of vertically navigable home screens and features built-in social networking through PlayStation Network. LiveArea is constantly accessible, even whilst in the middle of a game. Games will automatically save and you can comment on your friends game.

Trophies are also going to be present in Vita games.

Massive props to The Sarge for originally compiling much of the information in this post.

E3 Press Release:

Spoiler

Original Press Release:

Spoiler

E3 Pics & Media

Sony Vita Showreel:

Vita's E3 Unveil:

Sizzle Reel

LittleBigPlanet

Modnation Racers

Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Street Fighter X Tekken

Ruin

Wipeout 2048

Super Stardust Delta

Little Deviants

Hustle Kings

Everybody's Golf

Reality Fighters

SoundShapes

Top Darts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBq12yPVzoA

Older Pics & Media

Spoiler

Games

JAPAN
ACQUIRE Corp. ALVION Inc. AQ INTERACTIVE INC. ARC SYSTEM WORKS Co.,Ltd. ARIKA CO.,LTD. ARTDINK CORPORATION ASCII MEDIA WORKS Inc. CAPCOM CO., LTD. CHUN SOFT CO., Ltd Codemasters Software Company Limited Crafts & Meister Co.,Ltd. CyberConnect2 Co.,Ltd. D3 PUBLISHER Inc. Dimps Corporation Edia Co., Ltd. ENTERBRAIN, INC. FromSoftware, Inc Gameloft K.K. Genki Co.,Ltd. Grasshopper Manufacture Inc. GungHo Online Entertainment,Inc GUST CO.,LTD. HAMSTER Corporation HUDSON SOFT CO., LTD. IDEA FACTORY CO., LTD. Index Corporation(Atlus) IREM SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INC. KADOKAWA GAMES,LTD. Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd. Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. LEVEL-5 Inc. Marvelous Entertainment Inc. media5 Corporation NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. Nihon Falcom Corporation Nippon Ichi Software, Inc. NOWPRODUCTION, CO.,LTD Q Entertainment Inc. SEGA CORPORATION SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION Spike Co.,Ltd SQUARE ENIX Co., Ltd. SystemSoft Alpha Corp. TECMO KOEI GAMES CO., LTD. TOMY Company,Ltd. TOSE CO., LTD. Ubisoft K.K. YUKE’S Co., Ltd.

NA
Activision, Inc. Capybara Games Demiurge Studios Epic Games Inc. Far Sight Studios Frima High Voltage Software Kung Fu Factory Paramount Digital Entertainment PopCap Games Powerhead Games Trendy Entertainment Ubisoft® Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment 2K Games 2K Sports

EU
Avalanche Studios Climax Studios Ltd Codemasters Software Company Ltd Eurocom Developments Ltd Eutechnyx Ltd Exient Ltd Firemint PTY Ltd Gameloft SA Gusto Games Ltd Home Entertainment Suppliers PTY Ltd Impromptu Software Ltd Rebellion® Rockstar Games Sidhe Interactive Sumo Digital Ltd Team 17 Software Ltd Ubisoft Entertainment SA Zen Studios Ltd

Games shown at the original press conference:

Killzone
Uncharted
WipEout
LittleBigPlanet
Call of Duty
Resistance
Little Deviants
Hot Shots Golf
Reality Fighters
Gravity Daze
Smart As
Broken
Hustle Kings

US Launch Prices, courtesy of j.m.ratkos:

systems
ps vita (wi-fi version) 249.99 22 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....with-wifi/91390

ps vita (3G version) 299.99 22 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....fi-and-3g/90061

ps vita first edition bundle 349.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....on-bundle/97939

memory cards
4gb 19.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....mory-card/98469

8gb 29.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....mory-card/98470

16gb 59.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....mory-card/98471

32gb 99.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....mory-card/98472

accessories
ac adapter 19.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....c-adaptor/98478

car adapter 17.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....r-adaptor/98479

card case 9.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....card-case/98477

carrying case 19.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....ying-case/98473

cradle 19.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....ta-cradle/98480

in-ear headset 19.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....r-headset/98468

portable charger 49.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....e-charger/98464

protective film (2 pack) 14.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....-two-pack/98475

starter kit 39.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....arter-kit/98476

travel pouch 19.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....vel-pouch/98474

usb cable 14.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....usb-cable/98465

games (early launch)
blazblue: continuum shift extend 39.99 14 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....ft-extend/98007

gravity rush 39.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....vity-rush/98723

hot shots gold world invitational 29.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....l-ps-vita/91439

little deviants 29.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....s-ps-vita/91434

modnation racers: road trip 29.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....p-ps-vita/91445

reality fighters 29.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....s-ps-vita/91444

ultimate marvel vs. capcom 39.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....-capcom-3/98030

uncharted: golden abyss 49.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....s-ps-vita/91436

virtua tennis 4 world tour 39.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....orld-tour/98518

wip3out 2048 29.99 15 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....8-ps-vita/91440

games (launch)
FIFA soccer 39.99 21 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....fa-soccer/98332

resistance: burning skies 39.99 22 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....ing-skies/92936

ridge racer 29.99 21 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....dge-racer/98651

shinobido 2: revenge of zen 39.99 21 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....ge-of-zen/98650

touch my katamari 29.99 21 feb 2012
http://www.gamestop....-katamari/98652

games (launch window)
army corps of hell 39.99 30 mar 2012
http://www.gamestop....s-of-hell/98006

littlebigplanet 39.99 31 mar 2012
http://www.gamestop....t-ps-vita/91438

MLB 12: the show 39.99 06 mar 2012
http://www.gamestop....-the-show/98114

ruin 39.99 31 mar 2012
http://www.gamestop....n-ps-vita/91442

Original Speculation Post

Spoiler

E3 2012 predictions and expectations

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:41:45 +0000

So, what better thread to start on a lazy sunday then a predictions and expectations thread about this years E3.
It's only a month and a week away now, so better get those crazy and outlandish ideas in before the first inevitable leaks start seeping in.

Personally I'm looking most forward to the Nintendo stuff this year: The final Wii U presentation, new 3DS games ea.
I'm hoping we get to see the new Wii U Mario title, Pikmin 3, a new 3DS Zelda game (which will hopefully feat. Toon Link), more of Luigi's Mansion 2, more of Animal Crossing 3DS + it's actual name, more on Level-5's Fantasy Life, the rumoured The World Ends With You Too, the rumoured Kirby, Donkey Kong and Yoshi 3DS games, the rumoured Z.O.E. 3DS game. And of course a healthy amount of exciting eShop titles.
And if I can dream, I'd like to see a Wii U F-Zero game, the announcement of an new Earthbound game, a Suda51 game for the WiiU (although he already said that he'd really like to do NMH 3 for the Wii U).

I'm also keen on seeing what Sony will do with the Vita; both on trying to counter the pretty poor sales, and hopefully doing this Nintendo-style by announcing lots of great new and unexpected games for this little baby. Whatever happened to Dragon's Crown (and Grand Knights History for that matter...) ?

Also excited about the PS4 actually, but just because I'm curious finding out about what we can expect from the next gen.

Ah, and lest I forget: Will we see the reveal of a new 3DS model (with two sticks)? Last year I was convinced this'd happen at either E3 2012 or TGS 2012, so I wonder if I was right. Although I'm not so sure now...

So, thoughts?

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 11/11/11

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:39:05 +0000

http://www.eurogamer...-5-in-the-works

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:34:00 +0000

Sonic 4: Episode II, part 2 of SEGA's reboot series. Looks substantially better than the original game, but could still be a heaping pile of crap, we shall see.

Forza Motorsport 4

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:22:39 +0000

http://forzamotorsport.net/en-us/forza4.aspx

http://forzamotorsport.net/en-us/news.aspx