World-Record: 999 players on a single server

 A multiplayer match of epic proportions. It’s been rubber-stamped by Guinness as a success. Here’s how it looked from a player’s perspective. utter madness

PS, i forgot all about this so its probably my fault it wasnt 1000...

Read more »

Wii U hardware “changing constantly,” says Team Ninja

“Nintendo asked us what we would want from the hardware. And when we gave them our feedback, we could see that they really listened and made ​​changes. The hardware is currently changing constantly.” – Team Ninja boss Yosuke Hayashi, speaking to German website Gamefront.de.
 
Team Ninja has previously said it was pushing Wii U hardware as hard as it can. Ninja Gaiden 3 is set to launch this year.

Read more »

Mass effects edi gets a body and other nonsense

Well, I think we can universally decree Mass Effect 3 the worst kept secret in video games ever. It’s had a horrible string of bad luck. First, a demo that wasn’t supposed to be seen by everyone appears on Xbox Live and is there long enough for people to completely Play through it.

Then, people managed to get a rough draft of the script from that leaked demo. found here

Now, there’s another leak. It just so happens that The Art of the Mass Effect Universe artbook, which wasn’t due out until February 21, 2012, has landed in some fans’ hands and sensitive images have been scanned and uploaded online.

full story with more pics

Read more »

Aliens: Colonial Marines Cinematic Trailer

Set just after the events of Alien 3, you must pull on the virtual boots of another squad of marines as you investigate what happened to Ellen Ripley and the original team from the movies.

You can switch between any squad member whenever you want, each with a different speciality or weapon. High tech equipment like the motion tracker and sentry guns are now yours to use and deploy as you see fit, as you fight off wave after wave of xenomorph.

Read more »

Nintendo to launch Wii U by Christmas

Speaking at an investor meeting following the release of its Q3 financials today, Iwata said (via Reuters) that Wii U will launch within the holiday period in EU, US, Japan and Australia.

A 2012 launch was confirmed Wii U’s debut at E3 last year, and was narrowed down for release between E3 and December at the end of last year. This is the first time Nintendo has been specific on release timing and regions since the console’s announcement in Los Angeles last summer.


Nintendo has said it will re-reveal Wii U at this year’s E3. That will take place between June 5-7. The console was shown to press at CES in Vegas this month, an event which included the debut of a new panoramic demo of a Tokyo street.

On the first-party front, not much is known to be in development for the system besides Super Smash Bros. A Zelda HD demo was also shown at E3 last year, as was a New Super Mario Bros-like experience.

For third-parties, EA, THQ, Ubisoft and Warner are some of the studios who have committed to Wii U, with local versions of Darksiders II, Metro: Last Light, Batman: Arkham City, Assassin’s Creed and Ghost Recon planned for the system.

Full Story

Read more »

Wii U has twice Xbox 360′s power, still not enough

According to a developer speaking under the condition of anonymity, some designers have complained the new console is still a bit “underpowered compared to what Nintendo announced,” which has resulted in some studios having to “de-scale” current plans.
Rumors over the processing power of the device have been rampant since before E3 2011, when the console was known as Project Cafe.

Various sources claimed the new console would be “significantly” more powerful than both PS3 and Xbox 360, and that it would contain a minimum 700mb of RAM, an R700 AMD GPU, and contain a TriCore PPC similar to the one in used in 360.

However, it’s impossible at this point to know exactly what kind of hardware is inside the system, as Nintendo’s lording an iron-clad NDA over developers’ heads. Until someone is able to speak freely regarding specs, anything relating to Wii U’s performance will remain speculative.

If the rumors regarding its processing power are to be believed, it will still fall short of the next-gen Xbox rumored to also be in development – reportedly.

Yesterday, IGN quoted a source as saying Microsoft’s next system will be “six times as powerful” as 360 with performance power 20% greater than that of Wii U.

Meanwhile, rumors that Sony are working on PS4 are also all over the net.

full Story

Read more »

Xbox 720 Chip codenamed Oban, in production since December

It seems now that recent speculation that the new main System on a Chip (SoC) for the Next Xbox (or Xbox 720, if you like) began production is apparently accurate; the SoC did indeed start production in late December of 2011.

Sources tell us that the code name for the chip is Oban, and it is being produced by both IBM and Global Foundries for Microsoft.

If speculation is correct, which our sources believe it is, the power behind the next Xbox will be a PowerPC CPU that is married to an ATI Southern Islands GPU, or modified 7000 series. Continued rumors of an x86 compatible CPU seem to be bunk, just based on where the chip is being fab’d.

This first run of these 32nm Oban chips will be destined for developer consoles, so any hope for a holiday console release in 2012 seems unrealistic, according to our sources, but an announcement perhaps before the end of the year might be possible.

It would seem Microsoft’s strategy of getting it in 2013 is all but assured. We do think that the chips will be in production by the end of the year for consoles destined to be sold in 2013, which seems to agree with what others are saying.
 

There are still many unknowns, but those in the development community seem to be clued in at least a high level.

From the shadows we hear whispers of expecting development kits as early as March, but more than likely April, if all goes well.

full story here

Read more »

Single-player footage for Mass Effect 3

Bioware has said one of the philosophy’s behind the development of Mass Effect 3 was “go big or go home,” according to lead series writer Mac Walters.

Speaking with GTTV, Walter said since the March release will be the end of Shepard’s story, the team wanted to pull out all the stops by including “the biggest decisions, the biggest consequences, and the biggest battles” for the conclusion of the trilogy.

Read more »