Call of Duty Elite everthing you need to know

Call of Duty Elite

Will I have to subscribe to Elite in order to play Call of Duty online?

No. "It's worth repeating," said Berger during the reveal event, "Call of Duty does not and will not charge for multiplayer – that is our continued commitment to our players." Berger also reiterated the fact that some elements of Elite will be free to Modern Warfare 3 buyers, including the career stats and groups elements.

How can Activision justify charging for a social networking service?

Well, Elite will have already cost millions of dollars to set up. Activision has formed a new development studio, Beachhead, to create the system. Berger also stated that the publisher is employing "a standalone service team to provide worldwide 24/7 customer service for Elite members". That all costs money.

If map packs are included in the Elite subscription, does that mean I'll have to subscribe in order to get DLC from now on?

No, you'll be able to buy Modern Warfare 3 map packs without subscribing.

Will the service begin with MW3?

Yes, but it's also backwards compatible, to some extent, with Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2. These titles will feature a more limited version of Elite.

Is Elite multi-platform?

Yes, the service will work with PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the Call of Duty titles.

Will I be able to access my Elite account from different devices?

Yes, according to Berger: "The Beachhead team has adopted a philosophy that we call 'the four screens'. The idea is, when we launch Elite, it will be customised for mobile applications, on the television itself and within the game interface." An iPhone app is apparently launching later in the year.

If this is a success, will other publishers follow suit?

If there's the possibility of a new revenue stream, other publishers are bound to develop similar models. Electronic Arts, for example, is already experimenting with monitised multiplayer gaming, via its Online Pass system, which charges a one-off fee to buyers of pre-owned games who want to play online. The thing is, Call of Duty is one of the biggest entertainment brands in the world, and it has a vast, loyal user-base. As Activision pointed out during its London preview event, all four of the Call of Duty titles released between 2007 and 2010 are in the top ten most played Xbox Live titles. It's doubtful whether there are many other franchises that have the brand loyalty and mass appeal to support a similar proposition. But this time next year, if Activision is raking in millions of extra dollars from its Elite community, don't rule out a surge of similar announcements…




fuck that.
http://www.callofduty.com/elite

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Project Cafe, Specs Leaked..Again.

The hardware specs for Nintendo's Project Cafe have apparently leaked. The new system will house a custom AMD RV770 graphics chip (4850/70) and a Custom IBM Power 6 Chip (Codename Fox), Quad Core 3.5Ghz 512MB XDR2 DRAM (Main), 1024 GDDR5 VRAM (Video), 16MB eDRAMand and either 250GB or 320GB for storage.

Yeah i hear the non geeks saying "I have no idea what half that stuff means.." But trust me if true it blows the last gen out of the water. the ps3 was Based on NV47 Chip (Nvidia GeForce 7800 Architecture)

Here's a pic

 So yeah.. 3x the power, on paper at least.

It also supposedly uses Blu-ray, which fits the description of Nintendo's disc-based solution which earlier reports claim to offer 25GB of storage. It's also backwards compatible with the Wii Optical Disc and Gamecube Game Discs.

Well not long now folks E3 kicks off on 7th of June


JFK.

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Andoran: Prologue, A mod for The Elder Scrolls IV

 

 

Andoran: Prologue

Non-commercial non-linear open world RPG

Peculiarities of the project:

Freedom On Andoran one can do what crosses his mind and become anything he wishes: from a smith to a knight, from a pearl diver to a vampire, lurking in the night, from a killer to a diplomat, who won’t deal with armor during the whole game and who will solve all of his problems by convincing others of what’s gainful for him.
Non-linear plot The story of Andoran is an intertwinement of miscellaneous events. Information is of the greatest value in the game. The one possessing the necessary information has the potential to predetermine the plot and to turn the tide of global events.

Logical madness What would it be, if time went mad? Meeting your own self, talking to rats, intertaining fleas, live cheese and horses walking on the see – this is what a player will face in the “Axis”, one of the game’s areas. But things are not as they seem, the matters will become clear after a while and logic, though unusual, will replace the madness.
Care for traditions We hold strictly to the canons of the original TES lore. The only pre-condition not from it is the archipelago itself, the rest is rooted deeply in the Elder Scrolls’ history.
Good or bad? The world cannot be rendered in black and white. Andoran will highlight the dark side of The Elder Scrolls, where diversely saturated shades of grey dominate.
Various approaches Each problem can be solved differently, you just have to choose the approache, that suits you better. Want to get an item? You can kill the owner or steal the desired object. There is an opportunity to penetrate the owner’s house dressed like a guardian. A woman with the proper skill can jolly along the master, and while he is sleeping after a stormy night, she easily takes what she wants. What other options? Be original and find them for sure.
A rope and a sack On Andoran you can bind and carry away practically every character after having him knocked senseless or paralized. Besides, the unarmed fight has regained the option to knock seenseless, not to strike dead. It is up to you, what to do with the captives. You may kill them on the Daedra’s altar, interrogate them or to ransom their relatives or maybe think of something more innovative.
Elaborated and living world Talk to any character you like: if you appeal to him, he may tell you an interesting story once happened to him – all the stories are unique! All the NPC have an accurately elaborated day plan.
Attention to detail Details make the atmosphere. For example, gates of a city are closed at night. Want to get in? There are several ways, find a suitable one.

The action of Andoran unfolds in the setting of The Elder Scrolls. The location, where the Prologue takes place, is the island Andoran, one of the three islands of the archipelago south of Black Marsh, the native region of the pangolin-like Argonians. Andoran abounds with climatic zones and different cultures. Much attention is paid to the creation of unique places that will be on the player’s way. Gloomy caves, rapidly flowing rivers, lightful grassy glades covered with flowers, softwood forests, unexpected findings are designed to arouse the player’s interest and to entice him deep into the island. But beautiful scenaries are not sufficient to create the atmosphere, that’s why we have imlied specific architecture for each city reflecting its history and geographical position. A city founded by magicians and a fort-city will expressly point to what they are built for, and one can easily distinguish between them. The new music written specially for Andoran contributes to the atmosphere.
The Andoran Team wants to bring to life an unusual story, that will force you to make an uneasy chose, to consider carefully every step you take, and to decide for yourself, whether some actions or human egoism can be justified. We’ll try to make each character a kind of strong personality regardless of whether he’s good or bad one, as it is impossible to state for sure, if it is good or bad, that a man is guided by. And indeed do they exist in their pure form?

Prologue is intended to clarify the players the major trends and pre-conditions that will lead to the events of Andoran. During journeys you are off to learn the rich history of the archipelago - its past, present, and the large part of the future. Would you be in smb.'s service, intrigue or carry on independent research while hiding from annoying world – is up to you. In any case,you'll be always free to implement your final way. There is no sence in being in a hurry, if you accomplish the chain of events, more questions are likely to stay unsolved without getting the answers. You'll have no choice but face past, thinking over and over it's mysteries and lost opportunities, knowing that future has already been predetermined.

The player will be able to accomplish a great deal of extra short quests, as well as long ones. They will be interesting stories, funny and sad, requiring intellect and strong sword. Each of them is designed to supplement the player’s perceptions of the island, like gathering pieces of puzzle together.

Andoran’s release is slated for the second half of 2011. The game will require a licensed copy of TES IV: Oblivion.



http://www.andoran.com/indexen.html

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Dead Island 20 mins of gameplay

The first sustained video of Dead Island gameplay has arrived - showing 20 mins of sustained in-game action.

The footage displays various characters traversing the game's tropical locales from a first-person perspective - whacking plenty of the undead in the skull along the way.

Think Borderlands meets Left4Dead and you're some way there. Check it out below.

Meanwhile, GAME in France has displayed some box art for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC title online - which you can also see right here.

It's pretty gruesome stuff, and highly unlikely to appear in the US, where the ESRB has already voiced objection to the silouette of a hanging zombie being used in the logo.

Dead Island has been developed by Call Of Juarez studio Techland, and is due for release in the autumn. As well as a campaign, the developer has confirmed that the game will feature four-player co-operative play (local and online).

Dead Island has been named as one of our 60 Most Anticipated game of E3 2011


http://www.computerandvideogames.com/

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Gears Of War 3 campaign video is hot stuff

Microsoft showed off its Gears Of War 3 world premiere ad last night during the Champions League final - and you can watch it below.


Marcus's father makes an unexpected appearance to kick off proceedings, and then there's a cavalcade of guns, gruesome enemies and, naturally, grisly encounters. The whole thing features plenty of in-game footage from the title's campaign. Lap it up.

The obligatory rock soundtrack is provided by Black Sabbath's War Pigs. Nice.

Gears Of War 3 is due for release worldwide on September 20, exclusively for Xbox 360 so i wont be getting it :{

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7 things Sony must do to win E3

The biggest event of the gaming year is nearly upon us and, amidst all the anticipation, announcements and earth-shattering surprises, we'll (hopefully) see the three console platform holders go head to head.

It's a chance for each to shift the tides of expectation and turn eyes to their own box in a massive push for attention. That's why Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will all be vying to be the lasting thought in gamer's minds when E3 closes its doors for another year.

But what would it take for Sony to be considered the dominant force in L.A in your eyes? Here's what the PlayStation publisher has to do to be our champions of E3:

PSN APOLOGY: KEEP IT SHORT
We've all been hurt by the massive PlayStation Network hacks. You remember, the ones that resulted in the personal details of millions being stolen. Or maybe you remember the SOE hacks where pretty much the same thing happened. Again.

Yes Sony messed up and we expect acknowledgement of this at E3 but let's not dwell on it. We've heard the apologies, we've been given compensation and, to be honest, most of us are reasonable enough to lay the largest blame with the hackers.

The best thing Sony could do regarding the PSN hacks is to draw a line under the issue and use the rest of its time on stage to showcase what we all came to see; some mother-loving games. That's worth more than any amount of grovelling.

UPGRADE THE PSN
However, considering the PlayStation Network was torn to shreds, and it was never the most popular online gaming space compared to its rivals anyway, it's time for Sony to roll out some major upgrades.

Obviously these should primarily revolve around security and we want to know in real terms what we can expect to see from PSN in the future to provide a better, more secure and efficient service.

But to make sure all those hesitant Henry's jump straight back on the PlayStation Network horse, Sony's going to need a carrot with which to give them a little prod. We suggest cross-game chat, it's the one thing the PlayStation faithful has been waiting for ever since those smug little Xbox folk next door started flaunting it in their back garden.

SAVE PLAYSTATION MOVE
The PlayStation Move hasn't exactly waded to the forefront of gaming, we can't even be sure that it's cut out the slice of the casual market that Sony was hoping for. Sony never did go with the hard sell like Microsoft did with the Kinect, the PS3 publisher chose instead to dub the Move a slow-burner.

Even if it is a Wii-mote with a little extra tech stuffed inside, we really like the little wand and still think it has some great potential.

That's why we think Sony needs to relight the wick. Shove the Move back into people's consciences with some great software built especially for the device, something with gameplay that's deep enough to scare away grandma.

NGP: PRICE IT, DATE IT
As far as announcements are concerned, the NGP was a big success. We were expecting the PSP2 and instead we got something closer to a handheld PS3. With twin analogue sticks no less.

We've already seen the likes of Uncharted and Killzone 3 on the device, we know it's capable of pumping out some really triple A experiences as well as some inventive looking smaller games that make use of its touch-sensitive capabilities.

What we need (pretty desperately now) is a decent price and a release date that isn't too far away. We're not expecting any new hardware from Sony for a long time but the NGP has had enough of an impact already to really steal the show if we get the right software and the right numbers.

LET THE EXCLUSIVES FLOW
Uncharted 3 and The Last Guardian are just two of the PlayStation exclusives we want to see more of, but it has to be a lot more - we won't settle for that burning mansion level again Naughty Dog. This is the biggest event in the gaming calendar so there shouldn't be any holding back.

More on Twisted Metal and a new God of War title wouldn't go amiss either. We'll also accept HD Collections as currency in exchange for excitement. Either way, the quality of its exclusives is arguably the PlayStation's biggest selling point and Sony really needs to play to its strengths.

So let's see plenty of what we already know is on the way, the continuation of some key franchises and a few exclusive surprises would be the ultimate triple threat to competitors.

GIVE US AGENT
There is one Sony exclusive (at least for now) that everyone's anticipating a little bit more than the rest, if only to have some of the mystery surrounding it shed. We hadn't heard anything about Rockstar's Agent for yonks until it was mentioned fleetingly in a Take-Two earnings call this week.

Okay so it was just confirmation that the game (whatever it may be) is still in production, but that was enough to set us off again. It doesn't take much when there's a brand new Rockstar IP involved.

Now would be the perfect time to showcase the first glimpse of the game and put that PlayStation exclusive stamp firmly on the cover. With Rockstar's name still ringing in people's ears (along with Team Bondi of course) following the success of L.A Noire, Sony really can capitalise at E3.

AVOID THE GIMMICKS
Remember when Kevin Butler crashed the party last year? Yeah, that was funny wasn't it? No more though.

Last year's Sony conference was entertaining, but when it was over we felt a bit empty. We realised that Butler had basically been filler, a time killer. He didn't announce anything, he didn't make any promises for the future, he just did a shallow skit and left us with nothing but a smirk.

This year we want nothing but announcements, reveals and unveilings. Basically we want games, hardware and little else. Don't try and con us with your humour Sony. Fool us once, shame on us, fool us twice...

via cvg

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Star Wars Kinect to be unveiled at E3

Geoff Keighley has tweeted some exciting news for Kinect owners:


Yes, Star Wars for Kinect will officially be unveiled live during the Xbox 360 E3 briefing on Spike. Tune in on June 6 for more.

Yeah, but will it be better than this PC Kinect homebrew app?

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first InFamous 2 review is a 9/10

The world's first InFamous 2 review has arrived courtesy of IGN - and the site's scored the game at 9/10.

Critic Colin Moriarty reports that Sony's sequel "looks great and runs well, and the animations are fluid", adding that you can "expect to spend 20 hours beating Infamous 2; twice that much if you want to do everything again".

Although the game's plot is reportedly "contingent on having played the original", it still wins much praise for being a "well-delivered tale with two totally different endings", whilst there's "plenty to discover in terms of plot".

Another named highlight is the game's inconnectivity: "If you neglect side quests, the city will be less safe (making the game more difficult) and you'll have fewer skills to purchase," reports IGN.

"Neglecting to collect Blast Shards gives Cole less electricity to work with. Ignoring Dead Drops will keep the story darker and more nebulous. And refusing to work with UGC not only forces you to miss out on easy Trophies but also removes a welcome community feel to Infamous 2 that the original lacked."

The site concludes: "Nothing exists in Infamous 2 just because, and that's something developer Sucker Punch should be commended for. When combined with how well-executed just about everything in the game is, the overall package is one of PlayStation 3's best and a must-play for fans of the first game.

"Don't be deceived by niche subject matter like I was when the original Infamous first came out. This is a rock-solid third-person action game with an incredible story, great characters, meaty gameplay and - above all else - a string that effectively ties everything together."

InFamous 2 is due for release exclusively on PS3 on June 7 in the US and three days later in Europe.

[ Source: IGN ]

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Futuremark Tease Three Games, Maybe

Futuremark Games Studio, whose last outing was the well-received by largely unplayed Shattered Horizon, have announced that they are making three new MYSTERY games. They tell us: “you can tag this under PC, XBLA and iOS. We will leave it to your readers to guess which platforms apply to each game (there are only 343 possible combinations).”
Hmm! Let’s see whether we can guess from the trailer, which is below. (I think it’s actually pretty obvious.)



By Jim Rossignol via rockpapershotgun.com

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Microsoft will demo a tablet OS next week

POLISHER OF WINDOWS Microsoft is set to preview a version of its Windows operating system next week that it claims doesn't look like a complete dogs dinner on tablets.

Until now Windows-based tablets have been as pleasant to look at as a motorway accident and have generated similar feelings of revulsion in users. Yet the the company seems to have struggled to understand why Apple's hardware is flying off the shelves, while its own touch interface devices are gathering dust in a warehouse somewhere.
According to some anonymous insiders at the company, Microsoft has finally cracked touchscreen user interface (UI) design and will be looking for plaudits at Computex in Taipei and All Things D next week. It will demonstrate an "immersive UI" running on Nvidia Tegra 2 hardware when Steven Sinofsky takes to the stage at the All Things D show in California.
In recent days Microsoft seems to have busied itself by disagreeing with pretty much everything Steve Ballmer has said in public. When he announced that computers running Windows 8 will ship in 2012, the company swiftly backtracked, claiming he misspoke. It even refused to admit that the next OS will be called Windows 8. It has, however, yet to dispute Ballmer's claims that it is in a race and "not doing too badly, frankly", but that should only be a matter of time.
Microsoft needs its Windows operating system to find its tablet legs, and soon. It has been reported that PC sales are down eight per cent and netbook sales have plunged a staggering 40 per cent. These are, of course, areas where Microsoft has traditionally made a lot of money, so it must be causing some shareholder anxiety, even if the company hasn't backed off some of Ballmer's recent pronouncements.

Read more: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2074596/microsoft-demo-tablet#ixzz1NdQ1jSCq
The Inquirer - Computer hardware news and downloads. Visit the download store today.

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Leaked AMD roadmap reveals Desna APU, bona fide tablet strategy

What's a chip maker to do after successfully hawking five million of its Fusion APUs? Why, expand the line, of course! A leaked slide deck from within the lairs of AMD is showing off quite a bit of the company's upcoming roadmap, and while a good deal of it has already been made public in one way or another, there's one term that's causing all sorts of buzz -- and for good reason. Desna is the name to know, a Z-Series APU that's aimed squarely at the tablet form factor. To date, only a handful of chips have managed to slide into slates, and while we always reckoned that a version of Fusion could really give those ARM-based alternatives a run for their money, it wasn't clear if AMD actually had one that would handle the power and heat requirements. Based on these sheets -- dated this month, for what it's worth -- the Z-Series chip will offer Flash compatibility, DirectX 11 support and IE9 / HTML5 acceleration, and that's just for starters. Head on down to the links below for the full skinny, but make sure you grab a cup of joe and unplug the line first. You'll need a few, to say the least.
By Darren Murph

Liliputing

Android Community, NGOHQ

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Kojima Planning Something Big for Metal Gear's 25-Year Anniversary

2012 will mark 25 years since the first Metal Gear was released.

Hideo Kojima was recently upset recently over, causing speculation that it had to do with a game cancellation. We still don't know what he was referring to when he said, "What I prepared minutely spending a year became meaningless," but he did clear up some other matters up on a new Kojima Productions podcast (mp3). As translated by Andriasang, Kojima responded yes or no to a number of questions. He said he will not be at Microsoft's E3 press conference, nor will he be announcing Metal Gear Solid 5 or showing a multiplayer mode for Metal Gear Solid: Rising (which will not star Gray Fox or be out on November 1, 2011). Metal Gear Solid 3 for 3DS will be out in Japan by the end of the year.
Next year marks the 25-year anniversary of the original Metal Gear's release on the MSX2 and NES in 1987. Asked if there are plans for something big to celebrate next year, Kojima said yes, but there were no further details provided on what that might entail.
Super Mario Bros. celebrated that same anniversary last year with the release of Super Mario All-Stars on Wii. Nintendo promised something "different" but "just as special" to celebrate Zelda's 25th anniversary, which took place this year.
What would you like to see Kojima and Konami do for Metal Gear's anniversary?

by  By Chris Pereira, @ http://www.1up.com/news/kojima-planning-something-big-metal-gear-anniversary

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PS4 rumours: what you need to know about the PlayStation 4

In Depth: PlayStation 4 release date, specs and other speculation

PS4 rumours are slowly gathering pace

When it comes to rumours about the next Xbox, there's some wild speculation to get your teeth into.

Over on the PlayStation 4 rumour mill, things were, until recently, turning much slower. As Kaz Hirai said earlier in the year: "we're not deliberating on a PS4 or a next generation machine, whatever you call it."


But on 26 May 2011, that stance changed when Sony's executive vice president and chief financial officer Masaru Kato confirmed that Sony is working on the PS4. The revelation took place during a conference call to investors where he was asked about increased R&D costs. "This is a platform business, so for the future platform - when we'll be introducing what product I cannot discuss that - but our development work is already under way, so the costs are incurred there,"

So what can we expect from the PlayStation 4?

The PS4 specs could abandon the Cell processor and return to x86… 

In February, there were rumours of a failed Sony/IBM research project to develop a PowerPC chip for future PlayStations. Going forward, Sony will surely stick with the advanced, multi-core, bitch-to-develop-for Cell processor that it dropped $3 billion on. Here are three reasons why:
1. Easy backwards compatibility with the PlayStation 3

2. A familiar development environment. By 2015 (or whenever a PS4 comes out), games developers will have had much more experience working with Cell and its software tools



3. Toshiba recently sold its Cell factory in Nagasaki back to Sony for £400 million. Sony is hardly going to abandon the chip now it owns the means to manufacture it in bulk

What are the PS4 features we'd most like to see?

PS4info dreams of a next-gen PlayStation with a 32nm Cell processor an up to 16 SPEs, double the number in the PlayStation 3. While over on gamrConnect, there's talk of a greater partnership with Google. Sony's new fondness for Android on the Xperia Play is an interesting strategy.

Blu-ray on the PlayStation 4 is a dead cert. While digital distribution is undoubtedly the way forward, not every PlayStation owner has access to a fast broadband connection.

As Kaz Hirai told Develop, "we do business in parts of the world where network infrastructure isn't as robust as one would hope. There's always going to be requirement for a business of our size and scope to have a physical medium."

As for the PlayStation 4 controller, Dr. Richard Marks (Sony Computer Entertainment's US R&D manager of special projects) says that "anything that lets us get the player's intent into the system more" is technology they'll be looking at. No brain wave gaming just yet.

What about a PS4 release date?

Tricky. If you side with the likes of ITProPortal, you might believe that "the whole concept of a single lounge-bound gaming device may become obsolete". The future of gaming may well lie in a more portable device/controller that you can play on the move or plug into your TV. Epic's Mark Rein has some interesting thoughts on this here.

Sony claims that the PS3 will have a 10 year lifecycle, suggesting the next PlayStation will arrive by the end of 2016 at the latest. Or we might not get a PlayStation 4 at all. Developers haven't yet maxed out the potential of the PS3, while the release of PlayStation Move has given it an extra dimension…
"Where we go after this is an interesting one," says Sony Computer Entertainment UK boss Ray Maguire.
"The online side is very interesting and is a big part of our business going forward. But in terms of what sort of technology we'll be using, it's far too early to say yet because we're only half way through the lifecycle of PS3 - there are many years to come on that machine."

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First Review of Ocarina 3D

The very first review of Ocarina of Time 3D is now in and it was posted in the German edition of GamePro magazine. The review had only good things to say about the game, touching on the graphics, sound, and gameplay. The final score for the game was a 93%, which is already lining it up to be the best reviewed game for the Nintendo 3DS. To date the top reviewed game for the Nintendo 3DS is Super Street Fight IV, garnering a score of 86.67% on GameRankings. A member over at NeoGAF has translated part of the review and you can see his exact translation after the jump.

Graphics
+ impressive 3d effect
+ pretty light effects
+ loveable characters (complete with funny facial expressions?) Sound
+ familiar (grandiose) themes
+ very rich in variety
+ typical Zelda jingles and sound effects
Pros and Cons
+ long playtime
+ many side quests
+ varied dungeons and boss battles
+ perfect use of the touch screen
+ partial motion control (camera)
+ contains the unlockable master quest
+ the prettiest 3DS game to date (lol)
Bottom Line
brilliant remake of one of the most brilliant games of all time(TM)

via http://www.zeldadungeon.net/2011/05/ocarina-of-time-3d-first-game-review-gives-a-93-2/

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Controlling the Breath of a God with From Dust

Being a god in Ubisoft's From Dust ain't easy. Though you can manipulate the elements of this world, you'll sometimes feel less like an all-powerful deity than you might a hopeful local politician, a cog in a powerful, sluggish, bureaucratic machine.
You may feel as powerful as a child on a beach, building a sand castle against the unstoppable force of a rising tide. You may feel like a mini-god, struggling against your nemesis, Mother Nature, as you do good things at a micro level. After all, children playing in the sand can't hold swirling balls of lava in their hands or jellify a river, dividing its waters like a virtual Moses.
You are not quite a god, but you are god's breath in From Dust, the latest game from French game designer Eric Chahi, perhaps best known for seminal graphic adventure Out of this World (nee Another World). As god's breath, you look like a serpentine strip of light, skimming along the sand, water and rock of this dynamic world.
From Dust lets you play as a god preserving the lives of small bands of villagers, protecting them from tsunamis and floods. As god's breath, you'll snake your through sandy beaches, into volcanoes—something From Dust designer Eric Chahi has a passion for—and through delicate and powerful rivers, guiding people to totems, to new villages, and eventually to portals to safety.
I played From Dust, jumping into its world with an Xbox 360 controller last week, finding it a challenge to play as a deity with limited omnipotence. Really, my powers as god were to reshape the earth, inhaling spheres of dirt and water and lava, redistributing them to give people better lives.
My first goal, in one of the games 13 territories, was to guide people to a totem that would grant them a magic song. A countdown clock warned me of a rising tsunami, a wall of water that would wash away people, their huts and some of the sandy highways I'd designed. That totem would help the people recover a knowledge that could help them repel water.
First I had to curb the flow of a river, diverting its rushing waters into a lake and then into the sea. God's breath inhaled (right trigger) a huge ball of earth, then exhaled it (left trigger) in another location, slowly building a shoal for the villagers to walk across. Reshaping the land is not as instantly dramatic as being god in a Populous game, for example. Engineering earth takes some time and some thought. God's lungs only have so much capacity (about the size of a four story building, maybe.) Rushing waters will easily wash away your attempts at constructing a sandbar, I quickly learned. It felt like painting in a rainstorm. Eventually, I got enough to stick.
So, I did get these people to their first totem, though Mother Nature did subject the people to at least one crushing wave. They learned a song and fought off future water walls with dancing, singing and drumming. I could zoom in for a closer look, witnessing the celebration from a human perspective. The people have the power here, I'm just their local representative, I thought.
The people of From Dust built new villages as they prospered. I guided them to new totems, beckoning them to walk across newly safe pathways. "Come here!" I would say with a button press that delivered some god sounding tone. Onscreen, a series of icon totems filled in as villagers touched them, a border of blue surrounded those icons as villagers learned their songs.
I guided people to their next expansion, a landmass of rocky cliff walls and magma spurting volcanoes. The tsunami was still a threat here, but at least one village was partially protected by those rocks. As god, I needed to reinforce that rocky barrier. I learned I could slip up a hill, into a volcano and inhale a ball of lava, then drip it atop the rock wall, slowly reinforcing it.
I also learned that villages and swirling balls of molten lava do not mix well. (Sorry, my native worshipers! Hope too many of you didn't burn to death. Nice village rebuilding, by the way!)
It was in this land where I learned how to jellify water, after finding the rushing rivers too powerful to stop with simple balls of sand and dirt. Using my god powers, I held river waters still, inhaling a globe of clean water and disposing of it elsewhere, given the people a glowing pathway to safety. The goal was the same, get villagers to totems, get them there safely, do so with simple earth carving super powers. It was the dynamic environment, the wholly natural feel of this level that had changed, presenting new challenges.
From Dust was and was not what I had expected. It was a mostly relaxing struggle against imposing countdowns and natural disasters. It was an experience in which I felt less like a macro-god and more like a micro-god, still benevolent, but more like a local hero.

What is perhaps most captivating about From Dust is its beauty, a dynamic, gorgeously realized set of mini-worlds in which to design a life for little people. It's nothing like the Eric Chahi game I'm most familiar with, Out of This World, but it's just as beautiful and unique.
From Dust comes to the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC as a downloadable game this summer.

Michael McWhertor via http://kotaku.com/5806141/controlling-the-breath-of-a-god-with-from-dust

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Modern Warfare 3's Survival Mode exposed, detailed

Modern Warfare 3's rumoured Survival Mode has been confirmed and detailed, via a report in USA Today.

The mode, which comes as part of the new game's updated Spec-Ops suite, has players competing against increasingly difficult waves of enemies (in the Horde/Firefight fashion) across Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer maps.

USA Today teamed up with Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling on a map called Dome, described as a "derelict Cold War-era desert radar command bunker".

"As we dispatched ever-increasing waves of enemies, I discarded my pistol for a shotgun. Rubin passed me some in-game currency and I bought and installed a turret to keep the evildoers at bay, while I watched for attack dogs," it explains.

"After a few waves, the attack dogs became suicide bomber dogs that exploded a few seconds after you shot them. The next wave brought the kamikaze soldiers who exploded similarly."

Modern Warfare 2's near-invincible juggernauts also return for the Spec-Ops mode, the publication says, and this time there will be several different types of them.

"All that stuff really fleshes out Spec Ops and adds in a lot that we know our fans are going to love, some of the most addictive aspects of Multiplayer," Bowling said.

"You definitely have to change up your strategy as the enemy changes up. Obviously how you fight the kamikaze dudes is different from how you fight the normal dudes and how you fight a dog is different from a dude and how you fight juggernauts, they are not only big and armoured, so they will just brute force come at you. But they each have their own way of being taken out effectively."

In Modern Warfare 3, Spec Ops gains its own progressive ranking system, online matchmaking system and leaderboards.

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New Battlefield 3 gameplay in behind the scenes movie

EA's launched a new Battlefield 3 behind the scenes movie filmed at developer DICE's studio in Sweden.

As well as exclusive new footage from the upcoming FPS, there are interviews with key team members including the game's creative director, lead weapons designer and audio director, plus a look back over the history of the Battlefield series.


Earlier today, EA launched new concept art showing off Gulf of Oman and Sharqi Peninsula, two of the re-mastered maps making their way to Battlefield 3 as part of the Back to Karkand DLC. 

Tom Ivan via cvg

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Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2GB review

With the Sapphire Radeon HD 6950, we're getting into serious graphics card territory here, and inevitably that means serious money too. At over £200 that's a lot to spend on a single component if you're talking about an upgrade purchase.
But it's AMD's latest, and arguably greatest, GPU technology inside that Cayman processor and it's got some heavy-weight DirectX 11 graphical architecture backing it up.
Taking the seriously GPU taxing DirectX 11 tessellation-heavy benchmark of Metro 2033 there is no Nvidia card that can come close to managing double-figure frame rates at the highest 2,560 x 1,600 resolution until you get up to the £400-odd GTX 580. And even that card can only manage an extra 2fps over this impressive GPU.

It was an odd one from AMD's perspective as it launched both the HD 6950 and the other Cayman-powered card, the HD 6970, at the same time.
Despite the fact there was a gulf of around £80 in cost, there was very little between them in terms of raw performance. In the overclocking stakes the HD 6970 had the edge, but that was only down to the fact AMD had artificially limited the clockspeeds on the HD 6950 so as not to allow people to push the cheaper card as far as it's slightly more powerful brethren.
Stranger still was the fact that barely a week after release there was a BIOS flash for the HD 6950 that enabled you to open the dormant parts of the Cayman GPU to essentially turn it into a HD 6970 for free.
Hero card
That has made the original reference HD 6950 very much the hero card of the hour, and also much sought after.
Some recent respins though have come either with the dual BIOS switch disabled, or with lower frame buffers, both of which stop any flashing shenanigans you might wish to perform.
From a cynical point of view though, you could say it wasn't a coincidence that this happened at the same time AMD launched its multi-GPU HD 6990. Word from leading AMD manufacturers suggests we could still see new HD 6950s with the flashing reinstated.
As a graphics upgrade though, especially on the AMD side of the CPU war, the HD 6950 is definitely the one to aim for. It represents a huge step-up in power, even with the weakest of the CPUs, and when compared with the much more expensive GTX 570; that though, is on the AMD side.
When you factor in an Intel CPU based platform the AMD cards suddenly don't look quite so capable, and the more expensive Nvidia GPU wins the day.
Still, if you're rocking an AMD system then AMD graphics cards make the perfect match. Full platforms, innit?
 

(Reviewed by Dave James - PCFormat Issue 254)

Read more: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/graphics-cards/sapphire-radeon-hd-6950-2gb-958760/review#ixzz1NYuDpQyg

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How Nintendo can win E3 2011

Alright, chuckles; before you chime in with a "they can't" and scuttle back off to calculating how many days it is before you hit your next Prestige rank, maybe you should remember the Wii is the biggest selling console this generation. If past performance is any indication, it's never wise to bet against Nintendo - unless you did with the Virtual Boy, which was more painful than being subject to a Soujla Boy music video on infinite loop. But enough about the past! This year Nintendo is heading to the future.
Nintendo's E3 2011 conference takes place on June 7 at 09:00 PDT/17:00 BST. VideoGamer.com will be covering the event live, but here's what we think they should be showing if they want to best their gaming rivals:

Project Cafe

Seeing as interest in the Wii seems to be waning, Nintendo needs to really make sure that Project Cafe isn't complete guff. We've heard enough rumours to fill almost an entire issue of Heat magazine, but if Nintendo is going to go ahead with another wacky control method it's going to have to keep confidence high amongst both core and casual gamers.
A casual audience will be interested in knowing the price - it needs to be low. That seems plausible, especially considering rumours suggest it'll pack about as much power as the 360 and PS3. It'll also be very important for Nintendo to demonstrate why buyers should consider an upgrade - why get rid of your Wii when it has a perfectly good version of Mario Kart, Wii Fit, and Wii Sports Resort.
The core audience, however, will be interested in first-party titles and decent third-party support. The latter is especially important - third-party support on the Wii was more shambolic than both Wii Music and Vitality Sensor combined. Most major publishers - such as EA and Activision - will want to see it easily possible to port their software libraries over without the controller ruining everything and the end result looking like it's been interpreted to the Wii by a particularly busted Atari 2600 that can't understand colour.
Both audiences, however, will need to see this machine's 'Wii Sports' moment. One of the major failings of the 3DS launch is that there's nothing out which properly sells you on the technology itself, which is the exact opposite of what happened the first time somebody picked up a Wii Remote and tried their hand at tennis or bowling.
Sure, latent cynicism for the Wii might cloud some peoples' judgement, but just imagine if Nintendo actually manage to pitch Project Cafe to both core and casual audiences and bag that lucrative, identity-defining money shot?

Software for the 3DS

You know what the 3DS needs? Games. Literally, anything that isn't a port or remake of something that came out utter yonks ago would be a complete triumph. And if Ubisoft would consolidate its efforts we might see one decent game as opposed to four thousand abysmal ports of Splinter Cell.
Even the new games aren't sparkling. Initial views of Kid Icarus is that it doesn't contain the usual quotient of Nintendo magic (about 64 per cent by my calculations), so what Nintendo really needs to do it get the Italian plumber himself to sort it all out.
We need, want, and desperately yearn for footage of a decent and original Mario game on the 3DS, one that stands triumphantly upon the podium of success and shouts "hey! This is how you really make games for the 3DS!" loud and proud to the entire world. Something to get those creative juices really flowing.
Make it happen, Nintendo. Do it because the gamers of the world need something to boost our confidence in the machine, because if you get it right you'll win back our hearts, and because I'm sure Sony is cooking up some very fancy tech demos for the NGP right now.

A basic understanding of the Internet

Seriously - it's 2011. At time of writing the 3DS still hasn't got the 3DS eShop, and that's absolutely appalling. But even if it did, would we really want it? Let's cast our mind back to the sorry state of affairs that was DSiWare, which was basically four million novelty clock and calculator applications, or WiiWare, which functioned like a shoddy pre-alpha build of Xbox LIVE Arcade.
Here's a difficult truth: right now Nintendo's online portfolio is so shockingly bad you probably wouldn't even wipe your bottom with a Nintendo Points card.
So, yeah, Nintendo needs to wake up and check Twitter or something. The internet happened, guys. If premiership footballers can't escape its vicious clutches, then a video games machine stands no chance.
One of the major selling points for Project Cafe is that it should have a strong, versatile, and confident online service that lets both games and gaming really shine. And no more ridiculous Friend Codes this time, okay Nintendo?
Just imagine what Nintendo could do if it managed to embrace both local and online play in a simple and hassle-free way, having people playing together in the same room while competing/co-operating with against other people on various sofas across the continent.

more mature response to mobile gaming

Right now Nintendo's response to Apple's App Store is for the company to stick both fingers in its ears and scream "LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU" over and over again until it's passed out from exhaustion.
You can't simply get up on stage and say Nintendo's products are worth £40, that the iPhone App Store can't produce the kind of full-blown gaming experiences you'll get on the 3DS, and then release Steel Diver, probably the worst first-party title since Sony released Kung Fu Rider last year.
No, Nintendo needs to actually prove that its full-priced games are better than what the iPhone and iPad can do. The proof is in the pudding - and if Nintendo can actually show us why its games can do what the iDevices can only dream about, well, that's certainly a better result than simply pretending Apple isn't a major part of the competition.

That Nintendo magic

You know what I'm talking about - that sense of glee that only Nintendo can seem to provide. That tingly feeling you get when you look at games like Super Mario Galaxy, Kirby's Epic Yarn, or Zelda: Wind Waker.
You know what doesn't provide that slice of Nintendo magic? The Vitality Sensor.
What does? Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Kirby, Pokemon, and on and on and on and so forth.
Wondering how Nintendo's competition can compete? Check out How Sony can win E3 and How Microsoft can win E3.

By Martin Gaston via videogamer.com

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