ToC Gaming News Blog : All The Latest PC Gaming News

 

Here is the Sony PS3 Yellow Light of Death coverage from BBC Watchdog.

“Thousands and Thousands of PS3 have gone kaput”

Even Sony admit thousands have died !!  To get it fixed, you have to pay £128 for a refurbished model, which only gets a 3 month warrantee. If it breaks down again after 3 months you have to pay £128 again !! Not to mention you loose all your data/games saves etc as they don’t return your console to you. You get some random refurbished model.

Suddenly the FREE Microsoft 3 year warrantee and detachable HD (so you keep all your important data) doesn’t seem so bad eh !!! lol.

Oh how the Xbox 360 owners laughed at the red faced Sony fanboys..

 

Hi everyone,
Got some good news for you all.
Just wanted to confirm that as is the case with almost all of our major releases, OFP: DR is planned to have a demo released prior to launch for all platforms.
I don't have any further details at the moment regarding dates and content, but I will keep on updating this thread as and when new info becomes available.

OFP: DR - Demo Confirmed - Codemasters Forum

Here is a new video from Gametrailers TV of the Call of Duty World at War Map Pack. Maps include Knee Deep, Nightfire, and Station. Also included in the map pack is a zombie map called Verrückt (Zombie Asylum). The release date is sometime this month.

N4G.com : Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack Trailer

Sales for Sony Corp.'s Playstation 3 160GB model increased at retailer Amazon.com on Wed. prior to the release of the anticipated game title Killzone 2.

On Wed., the 160GB PS3 SKU held a sales increase of 101 percent to rank at No. 119 in Amazon's Video Games division.

Sony in Nov. released the 160GB PS3 SKU. The bundle includes a new 160GB PS3, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, PAIN downloadable game voucher, and a Dualshock 3 controller for $499.

Additionally, it sells an 80GB model for $399.99. Amazon this month is selling Killzone 2 below $55 in a new coupon promotion.

In the offer, customers who use the coupon code KZ2SAVE5 at checkout will receive an additional $5 off the $59.99 pre-sale price.

Sony in Jan. said that third quarter net profit fell 95 percent between Oct. and Dec.

The Playstation division held a $4 million profit, despite a nine percent decline in PS3 sales to 4.46 million sold.

Source : Punch Jump :// NEWS - PS3 160GB sales up pre-Killzone 2 release - PS3

UK, February 12, 2009 - You've seen every screenshot, watched every trailer, prayed it would make it to console and rejoiced when Capcom duly obliged. The more enterprising of you may have even made the pilgrimage to the Trocadero in order to worship at the latest altar of pugilism - and you'd be forgiven that you now know all there is to know about the triumphant return of that most iconic of series in Street Fighter IV.

In many ways you'd be right; essentially, the home port of Street Fighter IV is the very definition of arcade perfect. The Street Fighter phenomenon is one that's so close to a whole generation's heart that it would be foolish to try and offer a definitive judgement on the new formula, the debate over whether jettisoning the hardcore baggage of the third game and its satellites and making a spiritual return to Street Fighter II unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. We will however say this – Street Fighter IV is the most engrossing one-on-one beat-'em-up we've ever played.

Fundamentally, this is the same rock, paper, Shoryuken mix that's familiar to anyone who's ever pulled off a quarter-circle on a D-pad in anger. There's no deformable armour, no huge weapons to clang opponents around the head with and no way of tearing a downed combatant's cheeks off at a fight's conclusion – this is one of the purest expressions of virtual sparring ever created.
Indeed, it's the accessibility of Street Fighter IV that's one of the game's greatest triumphs. By taking Street Fighter II as the basic template, the game's been opened up to the legions alienated by the series various detours down hardcore roads. More forgiving inputs significantly lower the barrier of entry for the less dextrous returning to the series – and for the first time in a life spent playing Street Fighter we can finally pull off Zangief's spinning piledriver with some level of consistency.
Gone are the parrying system and the multiple Super Arts of Street Fighter IV's numerical predecessor. Players now have one access to a single Super, though like most specials it's available in two flavours. Striking all three attack buttons when performing a special or Super with the EX gauge maxed out performs an Ultra, a high tier attack that serves as the climax to the heady drama of one of the game's bouts.

The visual style never tires - this game's likely to remain as appealing 17 years from now.

The return of the archetypal eight characters that defined Street Fighter II reinforces the link between Street Fighter IV and its 17-year-old predecessor, and another of the game's successes is its careful handling of their upgrade, as well as the successful introduction of a new cast of fighters. Shotokan fighters – practitioners of that holy trinity of Dragon Punch, fireball and Hurricane Kick - such as Ken, Ryu, Sakura and Akuma feel more distinct from each other than ever before, while the likes of Guile and Dhalsim make a successful return from their exile.
Most significant of the new additions is without doubt the focus system: holding down medium punch and kick together envelops the player in a swirl of heavily inked lines, allowing one incoming attack to be absorbed and turned back into a crippling blow, leaving the opposition prone to a quick-fire combo. It's a feature that's integrated seamlessly into the game's patchwork and sits well with the slower tempo of Street Fighter IV – a change in pace that may come as a shock to those who have been schooling themselves in the comparatively twitchy Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix in preparation, and putting paid to the misconception that this is a re-skinned Street Fighter II.

All of which is commendably faithful to the arcade original, but taking the finished article home it's now possible to relish all the little details that make Street Fighter IV so astounding a package. The shift to 3D visuals has been handled impeccably throughout, with hulking character models aching with muscle defined by flat textures and exaggerated features that anchor them to their 2D heritage. Their sheer size – no Street Fighter game has ever allowed its characters to accommodate as much screen space as they do here – lends them a new, more brutal physicality that's carried through with weighty animations and pixel-perfect collision detection. Get an arcing Dragon Punch to land squarely in an opponent's midriff and the feeling of contact is colossal, your opponent doubling over and their features transfixed in a caricature of pain.
It's a level of detail that's echoed in the backdrops - from the tourist excitedly fumbling with their camera as they try to catch the action in a crowded downtown alley, the cargo ship that slowly pulls into view and reveals a waving Balrog or the vast video screen that dynamically apes the action on the cruise ship's floor, each stage feels as alive as the fighters within.

Gouken's likely to be the last character you'll unlock, and it took some 50 hours of brawling for us to get him. He's worth it.

One of the few bum notes pulled by the otherwise excellent art design is in the animated cutscenes that bookend each character's journey through the vanilla arcade mode. Cheap in execution, they jar considerably with the heavy ink aesthetic that's evident elsewhere in the game, ensuring they're good for little more than a cheap giggle. It's one of the few additions for the console versions, though thankfully the other new features are more carefully integrated.
There's no attempt to pad the single-player campaign – instead of trying to shoe-horn in a lengthened campaign mode the solo fighter is instead given a wealth of tools with which to hone their prowess. Each character has a series of trials, requiring the correct input of commands from pulling off a simple special to the darker arts of executing cancels and some of the more intricate combos.
The slim single-player offerings are bolstered by the self-explanatory Time Attack and Survival modes and as such are an admission of where the game's focus lies – in the perfection of the one-on-one beat-'em-up genre. Street Fighter IV's real heart lies in competitive play, something that's well served by its solid online options. Thankfully this plays out more like the Xbox LIVE version of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix than the faltering LIVE version of Street Fighter II, with fights running with a consistent lack of lag.
Ranked and unranked play is available and for the former it's possible to acquire Battle Points through victory – although defeat will also result in losing Battle Points, meaning that it's as easy to get over confident and plummet down the leaderboards as it is to ascend them. One particularly cute touch is the ability to open yourself up to all-comers when playing through the single-player arcade mode, allowing anyone to interrupt a session for a spar. Short of importing a gaggle of intimidating teenagers into your own living room and drilling a coin-slot into your precious plasma screen, it's a great way of bringing the console version one step closer to the arcade experience.

In true Street Fighter boss tradition, Seth's a cheap and frustrating character.

Unfortunately the bulk of the online content is being reserved for a day one patch with enhanced matchmaking, a fully-featured tournament system and a replay mode all to be included. We'll follow up with a comprehensive report post release, but for now be safe in the knowledge that Street Fighter IV's online mode is satisfyingly sturdy.
One less welcome package that's being primed for post-release is the downloadable costume sets. Street Fighter IV's release is something to be celebrated so it's a shame that Capcom has almost spoilt its own party with such a move – it really wasn't that long ago when such small features were unlockables and given the scarcity of similar content in the retail package it seems particularly cynical to sell the content off at a premium.

Closing Comments
Regardless, Street Fighter IV is no less than the new standard for beat-‘em-ups. It's a triumphant return for the series after an eight year hiatus and is a seamless blend of the old and new, at once accessible to lapsed pugilists while being nuanced enough for the dedicated core to wallow in its depths. What’s more, Street Fighter IV takes an aging template and makes it fresh once more, offering a revival in every sense of the word. The waiting is over – Street Fighter IV is home, and it’s one very special game.

IGN: Street Fighter IV Review

 

Despite the Xbox 360 demo now being live, Ubisoft have just let us know that the PS3 version of the HAWX demo has been delayed, until February 26th, citing a “late discovery of an unexpected issue.”  Ubisoft apologise for the situation.

[Ubisoft's Twitter Feed]

Source : HAWX Demo Delayed | TheSixthAxis

 

Andrew Weymes of The Nightly Gamer writes: The demo for Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X hit Xbox Live a couple of days ago and it's surprisingly good, especially for a game that hasn't garnered much hype. For those that haven't heard of the game, be sure to give the demo a shot. It may even entice gamers who aren't into flight simulation games. Read the full article to get a more detailed explanation of what The Nightly Gamer thought about the demo.
Flight simulations games are kind of the niche' genre in the world of video games. Many of them feature very difficult control schemes that tend to turn off the average gamer. H.A.W.X certainly has a difficult control scheme to master if the setting is on expert, but the normal setting is quite easy to get accustomed to.
The demo consists of two missions, one of which is a training mission and both can be played online. As explained in the first mission, there are two ways of controlling your jet. When assistance is on, the camera angle is either directly behind the jet or looking through the cockpit. With assistance on, the game feels like almost any other flight simulation game. However, with assistance off, the game feels entirely different. Many manoeuvres become available without the assistance on such as breaking quickly and swinging your jet around behind pursuers. The camera is much different without the assistance on and settles very far from the jet itself. Both ways of playing are enjoyable, but having the assistance on seems to make the combat feel a little more exciting despite not having as many moves available at your disposal.
The graphics are similar to every other Tom Clancy game released. They get the job done, but aren't anything to be awestruck from. The jets are nicely detailed, but the cityscape is relatively unimpressive. It's a pity that Tom Clancy games all seem to share these graphical traits, because the gameplay is almost always solid.
The sound in the demo is probably its weakest aspect. The voice acting is decent, but the jets had a very poor sound quality to them. At times they would crackle through the speakers and it was quite unpleasant. Hopefully, this problem will be fixed in the retail version of this game.
The H.A.W.X demo was a pleasant surprise. The gameplay is certainly fun and exciting, the graphics are above average, but the sound quality was pretty bad. Flight simulation fans should certainly give the demo a shot. For gamers that aren't big fans of the genre, H.A.W.X may help change their minds. Being able to play each mission online is going to add a lot of replayability to the retail game and there are other multiplayer modes that weren't available in the demo. H.A.W.X may get lost in the shuffle of the stellar games coming out in February and March, but the demo certainly wasn't bad. In fact, it was much better than expected of a game with little to no hype.
Written by Andrew Patrick Weymes

H.A.W.X Demo is Surprisingly Good

If you haven't noticed, Killzone 2's been scooping universally huge review scores, with a Metacritic average of 92. The first ten or so reviews came in at a in-no-way reactionary 100%, before a few websites dare to break ranks and give it, er, 96. So when Edge Magazine's 7/10 review score was released, some internet fan sites reacted with customary restraint - dismissing Edge's writers as contrary, doom-peddling, attention-seekers and labelling their review as 'wrong', as all subjective opinions tend to be. Oh, good.
You can read The Edge review here.
Or read Metacritic's Killzone 2 page.
How did the internet's more committed game sites react to Edge's score? PSX Extreme (no clues there) weren't very happy, claiming "we advise all of you to ignore the desperate-for-attention, we're-going-to-prove-our-elite-status so-called "review" from Edge that has the entire Internet talking."
Click to read PSX Extreme savages Edge.
So while the pot dusts itself off...
Popular, sensible, games blog Kotaku were more measured, suggesting "In modern day review terms, in which the scale typically runs from 6 to 10, with 6 being nigh unplayable and 10 being "perfect," we have a problem on our hands. Or do we?
No. We don't."
">Kotaku defends Edge.
Kotaku continues, "One of the neat things about Edge is, it has a hard-on for innovation. Even neater, it uses the entire range of the scale, not just just comfortable 6 to 10 zone. Clearly, when reading the written critique of Killzone 2, the issues it takes with the game's characters, story (or lack thereof), and gameplay clichés, the numerical score provided to it - seemingly the most contentious aspect of the review - begins to make more sense."
Our take? Who cares. You'll know what you think when you've played it - and in the meantime can make up your own mind *thanksverymuch* whether Edge's review is, as suggested, madness. If you even care. Edge's anomalous score is sort-of irrelevant, as it exists within its own internal universe, not the '80% is a bad score' world of metacritic-moulded consensus and ardent fan sites, so the only debate is whether Edge's words, and opinions, correlate with your feelings about the game. Or are consistent within Edge's own universe, which is a thornier issue we're not willing, or qualified, to explore.
Do Edge's opinions agree with ours? Largely, yes. Did we give it 70%? No. Make of that what you will.
Pah. Let's cheer ourselves up by reading what the world's biggest Killzone 2 fans had to say about the game. While Edge's score does stick out, we're slightly more excited by some of the more expressive writing below, including suggestions that Killzone 2 makes you feel like being in an actual war, and may cause you to fill your pants, or make your eyes pop - which may, or more likely not, be true. To make things more fun, we've 'reviewed' some of the reviews below, which makes us feel clever.
Note: We're aware this is a cheap, tongue-in-cheek, pop at other people's work, and may involve the trajectory of stones in a fragile, transparent, living space but if any inexplicably offended website is considering doing the same to us, we'd just like to add: we've never made a mistake or mis-spelled a word. Ever.
I'll say it again: Killzone 2 is the best console first person shooter ever. It will be bested one day, and that is as it should be, but this game has set the proverbial bar so high we reckon it'll be the king for a good long while... Hail to the king, baby. [Feb 2009, p.66]
Score: 100
OPM Australia
PSM3 says: "Invoking the voice of God to qualify the stark staring obvious is an effective, if unusual, literary device, WHICH IS AS IT SHOULD BE. Eh? Who was that? Never mind"
It took a long time for Killzone 2 to finally come out, but after diving head first into the game, there's no doubt in my mind that it lives up to the hype and is a must-play for FPS fans. [Mar 2009, p.70]
Score: 100
Gamepro
PSM3 Says: "An interesting twist on the 'stating the obvious' genre, but mixed metaphors prove a poor substitute for the voice of God"
Probably the tastiest part of the Killzone Cocktail is the Multiplayer. Imagine if Call Of Duty 4 and Team Fortress 2 had a baby, which they then abandoned and as a result had to learn a few new tricks to survive. That's what Killzone Multiplayer is like.
Score: 100
G4 TV
PSM3 says: "The who's in the what now? We'll try the cheese. The Ch-ee-se."
With its unparalleled graphics, incredibly well-paced single-player campaign and in-depth multiplayer offerings, Killzone 2 has established its place among top-tier console shooters. Expectations on Killzone 2 had reached ridiculous proportions; here's one of those cases where the game actually lived up to them.
Score 100
1UP
PSM3 says: "This we actually understand and commend. Which limits our ability to say anything funny, or slightly less unfunny, than usual. But fetch the sieve, thine prospectors of comedy, because this next one is GOLD. Gold we tells ye"
It seeps action from every angle and makes you question whether you are actually in the middle of a war zone thanks to it's stunning effects and sound. If you want eye popping, pant wetting action then this is most certainly the game for you.
Score: 95
Wonderwall Web
PSM3 says: "The good news is, Killzone won't actually make your eyes pop, or promote involuntary bladder movements unless you were suffering an alarming, unprecedented, prior medical condition. We're just off for a quick blast on multiplaye... YAAARRRGH! Pfffffs... POP! P-O-P!"
While Killzone 2 does walk on mostly well-trodden ground, it does so with a keen attention to style and detail, pushing beyond the gray-and-red color schemes that define its competition while encouraging gamers to put a little bit of thought behind every bullet they hurl.
Score: 90
Wired
PSM3 says: "A disappointing lack of medical disasters sully an otherwise sensible review"
But without the first game's ambiguities, a sense of humour or even an ounce of intrigue, its story stinks. It's so slight you could play the levels in random order to little ill-effect, and it assumes knowledge of everything and everyone, not once recognising the real-world echoes of its premise: an allied invasion of an enemy the allies themselves created.
Score: 70
Edge
PSM3 says "THIS SCORE IS WRONG! DON'T BELIEVE THE HATERS WHO WROTE THIS SO CALLED 'REVIEW'!!! Er... and... ah... anyone who says Killzone is rubbish should... have their eyes... popped... or something which is... erm... AS IT SHOULD BE. Yes, that's better."
Oh, and if you want to hear what we think about Killzone 2 (Warning: Contains 'wrong' opinions)...
Click to download PSM3 Podcast#15 here.
Have a great evening,
PSM3

Source : PSM3 Blog: KIllzone 2 review 'scandal': Edge vs The World - PSM3 Magazine

  

Source : News: Burnout: First 'Cops and Robbers' shots - ComputerAndVideoGames.com

 

Battlefield 1943 Pacific is just like ... well, other Battlefields. That's a compliment, by the way. 1943 is no janky spinoff. It's small in scope, sure, but it offers (and even improves upon -- read: no more health packs!) the core experience of its disc-based brethren. This is visible -- even playable -- in a pre-alpha build (XBLA version) on the New York Comic Con show floor.

We got our hands on the Wake Island map, one of three in the downloadable game, which is modeled on the actual geographic location with a few gameplay-enhancing improvements. 1943's color palette is distinctly vibrant, clashing against the epic destruction that ensues once a match begins. As featured in Bad Company last year, the Frostbite game engine's destructible environments are exploding and imploding in 1943 as well, with buildings reduced to mere foundations as players carelessly toss grenades, launch rockets and even bomb from the skies (bombers can be somewhat controlled from within specially-marked, protected bombing HQs). Destruction is a gimmick -- but a good one.

1943 is limited to Battlefield's now classic Conquest Mode, where teams must capture all the flagged territories around the map. Once captured, these territories become spawn points, with one designated as the "frontline," indicating where the most action is taking place. More calculating players can choose to spawn closer to home base (say, an aircraft carrier) and ride a boat to shore or hop in a fighter plane.
Calling to mind Warhawk (on PSN), 1943 features two layers of play: first-person shooting and air combat. Admittedly, our only flight ended in a quick, spiraling dive into the sea, but, theoretically, a squad of fighter planes could do some major damage to an opposing team. We stuck to the ground, though, sniping, rat-tat-tatting, or simply tanking through the enemy. You know the drill.
And that's 1943. A familiar kind of fun, served small -- an appetizer portion of a game. At $15-20 (we're told), 1943 will fall into the pricier tier of downloadable titles (on PSN, XBLA and PC), but justified by its inherent replayability -- supported by a "stamp and postcard" rewards system -- in addition to Trophies and Achievements. But the real draw is a social one. 1943 is team-based, and developer DICE promises to improve upon the squad system featured in Bad Company. In this sense, teams are split into three, four-player squads (24 total match players), surely a perfect opportunity for several friends to get together, if just for a few rounds. DICE is also focused on developing a functional "party" system, essential for any respectable team shooter; but that technology is not complete in this stage of development.
Still, Battlefield 1943 Pacific looks to be on track for its scheduled summer release. Not a blockbuster by any stretch of the imagination, but a solid featurette to enjoy before you launch whatever you have in your disc drive. Keep your radars locked.

NYCC 09: Battlefield 1943 Pacific hands-on (XBLA) - Joystiq

 

We didn't know anyone wandered into Far Cry 2's expansive, hojillion-hour-long single-player campaign and somehow managed to make time to check out the game's multiplayer offerings, but apparently there's a sizable community of online FC2 players out there. This group has been calling for more realistic match settings for quite some time -- players can apparently catch more lead than Sonny Corleone and walk away with little more than a scratch and an interesting story.
Their pleas have been answered -- in a recent post on the FC2 community blog, the game's developers announced a patch which will, in addition to rebalancing the weapons in all multiplayer modes, add a more realistic "hardcore setting" to all match types. This mode will boost the damage for all weapons (ensuring speedier demises) and will let players tweak the "spawn times" (but not the "spawn rates", whatever that means). They didn't specify which platforms the patch will be landing on -- hopefully, they'll be affording a hasty death to all three.
Update: The update is coming to "all platforms". Huzzah!

Far Cry 2 patch to add 'Hardcore' multiplayer mode, rebalances weapons [Update] - Joystiq

 

According to the NPD annual software charts for 2008, Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV 360 outsold GTA IV PS3 by nearly 2:1.

The open world action title sold 3.29 million copies on 360 and just 1.89 million on Sony’s console where GTA games have traditionally resided. In fact, last year’s release was the first simultaneous multiplatform release for the franchise.

GTA IV 360 could see a resurgence in sales as platform exclusive DLC, Lost and Damned, becomes available later on this year.

All of videogaming247’s December NPD coverage can be found here.

videogaming247 » Blog Archive » December NPD: GTA IV 360 sales almost double that of PS3 for 2008

SR-71 USAF base (Kadena, Japan)-

“Though I fly through the Valley of Death, I shall fear no evil. For I am at 80,000 feet and climbing.”

The year is 2012, as the era of the nation-state draws quickly to a close, the rules of warfare evolve even more rabidly. More and more nations are becoming increasingly dependent on Private Military Companies (PMCs)- elite mercenaries with a lax view of the law. The Reykjavik Accords further legitimize their existence by authorizing their right to serve in every aspect of military operations.

Tom Clancy’s HAWX allows players to become a part of the mayhem, by becoming an elite pilot of the future.  Utilizing cutting edge technology, devastating firepower, and intense dogfights will just be the tip of the tomahawk. Players will be able to jump in the cockpit of over 50 of the world’s most famous aircraft and take flight over super realistic terrain that has been thrown together using advanced satellite mapping technology that is commercially available, providing an authentic look and amazing views.

“High-resolution satellite imaging is moving from the black world of intelligence to the white world of commerce and Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X will bring that reality to gamers,” said Mark Brender, vice president, corporate communications and marketing at GeoEye. “With video game graphics becoming more realistic, the use of high-quality photographic ground textures in H.A.W.X adds true photo-realism to the air combat experience.”

HAWX will also utilize the Enhanced Reality System (ERS). ERS is in-game technology that helps turn novice aviators into elite pilots of the future and will be the backbone of players flight experience, allowing players to use radars and incoming missile detection, damage control systems, a tactical map, information relay, and weapons trajectory control. ERS will also allow players to issue commands to your squadron. Just think, the airborne version of the Cross-Com system that was implemented in Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter.

Also jumping on the Co-op bandwagon, HAWX will allow the entire solo campaign to be experienced in 4 player “Jump-in/Jump-out” co-op mode. This marks the first time ever for the air combat genre, officially placing HAWX in the running for the coolest air combat game around. There will also be an 8-player Team Deathmatch that can be played online, to see who’s truly the top gun.

This is Tom Clancy’s first stab at air combat, and from the looks of it, he’s got it down pretty good. We’ll be keeping a very close eye on this as we near take-off.

 

 

 

Vitals: Tom Clancy’s HAWX | Games Are Evil: 360, PS3, Wii, iPhone, Portable Gaming Magazine

struggling to find the "sweet spot" in the video game market as its sales drop again.

Sony lags behind the Xbox 360 and Wii in this
generation's console war.

Despite Sony's Playstation 3 quarterly sales growth doubling from last year, the end result from this year's holiday sales doesn't bode well according to the Wall Street Journal.
Sony hoped the PS3 would take the number-two spot in video-game consoles, as it currently trails the Wii and Xbox 360, respectively. Instead, PlayStation 3 sales are down 19 percent from last holiday season. Contrast that to Nintendo and Microsoft, which saw the Wii double its sales and Xbox 360 sales rising by eight percent, respectively.
Sony places a lot of hope on its videogame division as its electronics business is suffering terribly due to the global economic crisis. Sony projected last spring that its games division would finally make a profit since launching the PS3 in 2006.
Earlier this month, I reported that by 2010, Sony plans to eliminate 8,000 jobs (four percent of its global work force). This is certainly the result of a tail spin of poor electronics sales.
Here's where Sony probably went wrong.
A pricey console featuring fancy components is backfiring on them as this recession continues to spiral out of control and people are less inclined to drop money on the priciest gaming console. And why should they?
An entry-level PS3 model costs at least $150 more than the Wii or the cheapest Xbox 360, right? And although the PS3 has Blu-ray functionality that isn't in the Wii or the Xbox 360, it's still a bitter pill to swallow when parents just want to buy a respectable video-game console for their kids. Besides, the cost of actual Blu-ray players are relatively inexpensive, and you still can get one with an Xbox 360 for cheaper than what it would cost you to buy a PS3. Dang!
We also know that Microsoft helped its sales of the Xbox 360 when it slashed the price this past fall and bundled games, too. Nintendo kept the Wii's price at $249 but cranked out more consoles taking care of the shortage problem.
Let's also be frank...Sony hasn't had the great exclusive titles it enjoyed with the PlayStation 2. Microsoft has its heavyweight giants Halo and Gears of War franchises. Nintendo's big money makers are mostly in-house games. While Sony used to have a stronghold of exclusives, clever Microsoft found a way to get game publishers to launch biggies simultaneous with Sony.
Lastly, the PS3 just costs way too much to make. Last week, I told you Sony found a way to take the console which once took $840 to manufacture, and make it for $448.73. Granted, it still loses money on every PS3 it sells because it retails at $399, so Sony is going to have to cut the price to help boost sales.
Let the numbers speak for themselves. Since its launch, the Wii has sold nearly 35 million units, the Xbox 360 has sold 22 million, with the PS3 trailing at 17 million. Let's get even more specific. Last month, in the US, the Wii sold 2 million, consumers bought 836,000 Xbox 360's, and only 368,000 PS3's were purchased.
While Sony's best seller last month (according to The NPD) was Call of Duty: World at War...dang again! The Xbox 360 version sold twice as much.
Source

Lights Dimming For Sony's Playstation 3

Alone among the three major videogame consoles, sales of the PS3 are down about 19% from November 2007, according to the latest stats from the NPD Group. Sony was only able to sell 378,000 PS3s this November, compared to 466,000 last year.

And the problem for Sony isn't the recession, it's the PS3. Microsoft (MSFT) put up respectable numbers with its Xbox 360, selling 836,000 units vs 777,000 in November 2007. And Nintendo's (NTDOY) Wii continues to dominate the market, more than doubling sales from 981,000 to 2.04 million.

So why is the PS3 flopping so badly?

1. It's the most expensive console on the market, $150 - $200 more than its rivals. Even if you believe the video game industry is "recession-proof" (it isn't), a tanking economy makes consumers more price-conscious.
2. The PS3's big bonus is its ability to double as a Blu-Ray player. Too bad no one seems to care about hi-def DVDs. The differences between Blu-Ray and DVD are hard to see on a TV less than 50".
3. The PS3 just doesn't have any must-have titles exclusive to the console. "LittleBigPlanet" has generated decent buzz but isn't a game-changer, and neither is Sony's new virtual world "Home."

There's really only one option left for Sony to remain in the game: deep price cuts, and not just for people with good credit. Tell yourself the PS3 has superior graphics if it makes you feel better, but a $400 console with a mediocre game library simply cannot compete against an Xbox 360 priced at $200 in this economy.

Sony's PS3 A Sinking Ship: Sales Plummet

The promo renders for Tomb Raider Underworld from Eidos are massive. Check out the full resolution images. Firefox user can right click and select view image. IE users right click, Save as.... Enjoy.

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Call of Duty World at War Multiplayer Map Overviews.

Call of Duty World at War Multiplayer Map Overviews. - T.O.C. Clan Forums

US, November 11, 2008 - Some were delighted to find that the Call of Duty series was returning to World War II in Call of Duty: World at War, others were infuriated. But regardless of which side you turned a sympathetic ear to, Call of Duty: World at War is here and could prove to be one of the most intense World War II shooters available. Ultimately it's up to you decide, but in the meantime, before you go rushing into battle, we felt it was important to give you all the info on the in-game weapons. Some weapons are new to the Call of Duty series, such as the M2 flamethrower, others are more familiar, like the M1 Garand. Whether you prefer to hang back and snipe or get right into the thick of it, Call of Duty: World at War gives gamers a broad arsenal to get their kill on. So, without any further ado, IGN Gear presents the weapons of Call of Duty: World at War.

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Rifles

M1A1 Carbine

• Caliber Ammunition: .30 Carbine
• Action: Gas-operated, rotating bolt
• Weight: 5.2 Lbs.
• Magazine Capacity: 15 or 30-round detachable box magazine
• Rate of Fire: Semi-automatic

M1 Garand

• Caliber Ammunition: .30-06 Springfield
• Action: Gas-operated, rotating bolt
• Weight: 9.5 Lbs.
• Magazine Capacity: 8-round "en bloc" clip internal magazine
• Rate of Fire: Semi-automatic

SVT-40

• Caliber Ammunition: 7.62x54mmR
• Action: Gas-operated, tilting bolt
• Weight: 8.5 Lbs.
• Magazine Capacity: 10-round detachable box magazine
• Rate of Fire: Semi-automatic

Gewehr 43

• Caliber Ammunition: 7.92x57mm Mauser
• Action: Gas-operated
• Weight: 9.7 Lbs.
• Magazine Capacity: 10-round detachable box magazine
• Rate of Fire: Semi-automatic

STG-44

• Caliber Ammunition: 7.92x33mm Kurz
• Action: Gas-operated, tilting bolt
• Weight: 9.7 Lbs.
• Magazine Capacity: 30-round detachable box magazine
• Rate of Fire: 500-600 rounds-per-minute

Bolt-action Rifles

Springfield M1903

• Caliber Ammunition: .30-03 Springfield; .30-06 Springfield
• Action: Bolt-action
• Weight: 8.7 Lbs.
• Magazine Capacity: 5-round, 25-round(Air Service variant) stripper clip, internal box magazine

Mosin Nagant

• Caliber Ammunition: 7.62x54mmR
• Action: Bolt-action
• Weight: 8.8 Lbs.
• Magazine Capacity: 5-round magazine

Arisaka Type 99

• Caliber Ammunition: 7.7x58mm Arisaka
• Action: Bolt-action
• Weight: 8.16 Lbs
• Magazine Capacity: 5-round internal box magazine

Karabiner 98k

• Caliber Ammunition: 7.92x57mm IS
• Action: Bolt-action
• Weight: 9.0 Lbs
• Magazine Capacity: 5-round stripper clip magazine
• Max. Range: 800 m

PTRS-41

• Caliber Ammunition: 14.5x114mm
• Action: Bolt-action
• Weight: 9.0 Lbs
• Magazine Capacity: 5-round stripper clip magazine
• Max. Range: 800 m

Submachine Guns

Thompson M1A1

• Caliber Ammunition: .45 ACP (11.43 × 23 mm)
• Action: Blowback
• Weight: 10.6 Lbs
• Magazine Capacity: 30-round magazine
• Rate of Fire: 600-1200 rounds-per-minute

PPSH-41

• Caliber Ammunition: 7.62x25mm Tokarev
• Action: Blowback, open bolt
• Weight: N/A
• Magazine Capacity: 35-round magazine
• Rate of Fire: 900 rounds-per-minute

Type 100

• Caliber Ammunition: 8x22mm Nambu
• Action: Blowback
• Weight: 9.7 Lbs.
• Magazine Capacity: 30-round magazine
• Rate of Fire: 800 rounds-per-minute

MP40

• Caliber Ammunition: 9x19mm Parabellum
• Action: Blowback, open bolt
• Weight: 8.8 Lbs
• Magazine Capacity: 32-round magazine
• Rate of Fire: 500 rounds-per-minute

Shotguns

M1897 Trench Gun

• Caliber Ammunition: 12 gauge
• Action: Pump-action
• Weight: 8 Lbs
• Magazine Capacity: 5 round tubular magazine

Double-Barraled Shotgun

• Caliber Ammunition: 12 gauge
• Weight: 9 Lbs
• Magazine Capacity: 2 rounds

 

Machine Guns

M1919A6 Browning

• Caliber Ammunition: .30-06 Springfield
• Action: Recoil-operated/short-recoil operation
• Weight: 31 Lbs.
• Magazine Capacity: 250-round belt
• Rate of Fire: 400-600 rounds-per-minute
• Max. Range: 1,500 yards

MG42

• Caliber Ammunition: 7.92x57mm Mauser
• Action: Recoil-operated/roller-locked bolt
• Weight: 25.5 Lbs.
• Magazine Capacity: 250-round belt
• Rate of Fire: 1,200 rounds-per-minute
• Max. Range: 1,100 yards

Degtyaryov D-28

• Caliber Ammunition: 7.62x54mmR
• Action: Gas-actuated
• Weight: 9.12 Kgs
• Magazine Capacity: 49-round drum
• Rate of Fire: 500-600 rounds-per-minute

FG42

• Caliber Ammunition: 7.92x57mm Mauser
• Action: Gas-operated, rotating bolt
• Weight: 9.9 Lbs
• Magazine Capacity: 20-round magazine
• Rate of Fire: 900 rounds-per-minute
• Max. Range: 550m

Type 99

• Caliber Ammunition: 7.7x58mm Arisaka
• Action: Gas-operated
• Weight: 11.4 Kgs.
• Magazine Capacity: 30-round magazine
• Rate of Fire: 900 rounds-per-minute

Browning M1918 (B.A.R)

• Caliber Ammunition: .30-06 Springfield (7.62x63mm)
• Action: Gas-operated, tilting breech block
• Weight: 15.9 Lbs.
• Magazine Capacity: 20-round magazine
• Rate of Fire: 500-650 rounds-per-minute
• Max. Range: 550m

Pistols

Colt M1911

• Caliber Ammunition: .45 ACP
• Action: Short recoil operation
• Weight: 2.5 Lbs.
• Magazine Capacity: 7-round magazine
• Max. Range: 75 yards

Tokarev TT-33

• Caliber Ammunition: 7.62x25mm Tokarev
• Action: Recoil-actuated
• Weight: 840 grams
• Magazine Capacity: 8-round magazine

Nambu 14

• Caliber Ammunition: 8x22mm Nambu
• Magazine Capacity: 8-round magazine

Walther P38

• Caliber Ammunition: 9x19mm Parabellum
• Action: Short recoil, locked breech
• Weight: 800 grams
• Magazine Capacity: 8-round magazine

.357 Magnum

• Caliber Ammunition: 9x19mm Parabellum
• Action: Revolver
• Magazine Capacity: 6-round magazine

Perk Weapons

M9A1 Bazooka

• Caliber Ammunition: 60 Bazooka rocket
• Action: Rocket propelled
• Weight: 15 Lbs.
• Effective Range: 120 yards

M2 Flamethrower

• Caliber Ammunition: 2 gallons of gas, 1 gallon of nitrogen propellant
• Weight: 43 Lbs.
• Effective Range: 132 ft.

 

IGN: Weapons Locker - Call of Duty: World at War

While these aren't official there is a strong chance they will all be in the Retail Game.

Asylum

Abandoned hospital/Cod4 Vacant style. Russian/German?

Castle

In Beta, Japanese/Marines

Cliffside

Wrecks, community member author of COD4 Map "Vertical" has worked on the map. Japanese/Marines

Courtyard

Possibly an urban Japanese style map. Japanese/Marines

Dome

Shipment-like map? Russian/Marines

Downfall

Reichstag in Berlin?. Russian/German

Hangar

Small map, Killhouse revisited? Japanese/Marines

Makin

In Beta, Japanese/Marines

Outskirts

Large map in Russian or German town? Russian/German

Roundhouse

In Beta, Russian/German

Seelow

Large Japenese Camp, Japanese/Marines

Upheaval

Destroyed Village. Russian/German

Call of Duty 5: Multiplayer Maps - RGN Wiki

Here is the exclusive content available when you pre order with certain retailers.

 

Naturally here too are the 4 exclusive wallpapers in 1920x1200, I also received a free Xbox 360 (or PS3) theme comprising of the same 4 exclusive wallpaper images. Really quite sweet actually. :) Click for full size images.

    

Call of Duty, World at War

Forget that, pal – what you should really concern yourself with is –will Treyarch's World at War get it right this time? After the massive rush-job development cycle behind Call of Duty 3, Treyarch has had a full two years of development time to right the wrongs with their last game and even improve on Infinity Ward's last effort. After spending a couple of hours with the game, we're thrilled to report that things are well and good in Treyarch's hands. Follow us as we trace the biggest steps forward in Call of Duty: World at War.

It's Fresh. And Clever.
I thought World War II games were supposed to be bland rehashes of the same beach-storming, bunker clearing scenarios and playing as Brits or Yanks. Well, to be fair, you will do some of that stuff – but for the first time in a long while, you'll feel like this is a relatively fresh experience.

One of COD4's greatest achievements was integrating great scripted moments and twists into tight action and giving AI troopers terrific chances to stand out and add integrity to the story. This definitely continues in World at War's campaign. Though players still jump between roles, nationalities and settings, more than ever you get the feeling of being emotionally involved in a mission. Since the game can be played with 4 players, many of the levels feature branching paths or clear 'side A / side B' routes too.

Smoke effects are a great example the small but notable steps forward Treyarch is taking. Smoke has a gameplay affecting presence in a shocking way. I had one of those are 'wow' moments when I turned a corner in the Berlin mission, Eviction, as a burning building began to fill with smoke. The hallway I was in had volumetric smoke pumping in from the rafters and, just like in real life, standing upright mean that my character and his squad of Red Star Ruskies couldn't see and couldn't breathe. In order to pass through the thick smoke, you have to crouch or wriggle forward prone-style just like in real life. That's damned clever stuff.

Wheel of Morality, Turn, Turn, Turn...
Still in the grim streets of Berlin, you lead your battalion of disgruntled Russian troops on a path of destruction down a central laneway. After escorting a tank through heavy oncoming fire and taking out Nazis along the way, you come across a handful of German troops waving white flags and begging for their lives. Suddenly the game breaks out of combat and an exchange between you, your Ruskie squad and the potential prisoners of war. Your men want them dead, but they want you to make the call. Will you shoot them? Or let them live and risk being slowed down?

US peacekeeping forces participating in another act of diplomacy, civility and mutual consideration.

I made the call to let them live (Hey – I'm a nice guy, what can I say?). Suddenly, one of my troops opens fire with a flamethrower and toasts the lot of them. I was genuinely taken aback; my moral stand came to no good in the end, and indeed it actually prolonged their suffering when I could've ended things very quickly. It was an interesting and decidedly dark conundrum that I really wasn't expecting.

Flamethrowers: Setting My Heart on Fire
Some people love them, some people hate them. Flamethrowers. In Call of Duty: World at War, the flamethrower makes an early appearance during the campaign, and thankfully it's not immediately yanked out of your hands as soon as you've used it to complete the objective. After collecting it from out the front of a hillside artillery, you need to go prone and wriggle up the left bank and inch your way up to the front of the cement outpost. Then it's up to you to jam the flaming nozzle in there and finish the job.
Continuing on, you get to keep the flamethrower, which has infinite fuel and a generous time to overheating. Naturally, we decided to do a little experimenting with the fire effects and we were largely impressed. Grass does catch on fire, as does just about any wood-based environmental object or dead body. However, only select trees would ignite, leaving us to approach every palm tree with a burst of flame just to double check. One particular palm tree had a well-concealed Japanese soldier in there taking pot-shots at us. One hot minute later, the tree was smouldering like an old-fashioned witch-burning on a hill in Salem.

It also earned us a bloodthirsty achievement. Paraphrased, it went something like this: "No Safe Place (10 Points): No hiding place is safe from your flamethrower." Indeed. All shall bow down at my flamethrower and despair.

War is Deadly. And Pretty.
Running on the Call of Duty 4 engine, World at War looks amazing. It really does. In the pacific jungles of south-east Asia, an American contingent pushes through the muddy swamps of a dense thicket, searching for a downed Spitfire. The sun pours through individually rendered leaves in beams as you clutch your Arisaka bayonet. As Japanese soldiers begin to pour out of the jungle around you, you'll encounter melee-savvy enemies, ready to split you in half. The attention to detail on their uniforms is staggering; excellent textures suggest the dense weave of the fabric, while branches of foliage adorn their helmets.
Later, standing on the top floor of a burnt out building in Berlin, the skyline was filled with jetfighters, smoke, tracer bullets and layer upon layer of haze, particles, volumetric clouds and chaos. Below, at street level, we took in the view; dozens of wrecked cars (presumably VWs, being wartime Berlin) arcing down the long street. Buildings, once ornately decorated and bright, were now riddled with pockmarks and impact craters from constant shelling. Between the crates, upturned waste, corpses, twisted steel lamp posts and flaming wreckage, dozens of soldiers waged battle independently, taking cover, flanking and advancing. Like COD 4 before it, the level of detail and organic design work was astounding. A bassy, thrulling rock theme fades in and intensifies as you press forwards, crate by crate, barrel by barrel, upping the tension and atmosphere.

Not pictured: enormous marshmallow.

The Definitive WWII Experience
Every World War II game claims to be the be-all and end-all of World War II games. If it doesn't think it's the best, then what's the point? Honestly, that was Treyarch's biggest flaw with Call of Duty 3; it just wasn't as good as COD 2's interpretation of WWII. It made a lot of big promises but only really delivered on the multiplayer front. This time, things are radically different. We do think that, given Treyarch's excellent multiplayer foundation, COD: WW will succeed on this front. More critically however, from what we've played so far, the single player campaign is engaging and exciting too – the missing puzzle piece from COD 3. This could very well be the definitive World War II experience this generation.

CoD World at War News - CoD Map Mod News

Call of Duty: World At War Wallpaper

COD World At War Wallpaper 1

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The official Air Attack wallpaper for Call of Duty: World At War.

COD World At War Wallpaper 2

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The official Sniper wallpaper for Call of Duty: World At War.

COD World At War Wallpaper 3

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Official Call of Duty 5: World at War wallpaper 3.

COD World At War Wallpaper 4

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Official Call of Duty: World at War wallpaper 4.

COD World At War Wallpaper 5

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Official Call of Duty 5: World at War wallpaper 5.

COD World At War Wallpaper 6

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Official Call of Duty: World at War wallpaper 6.

Call of Duty: World At War Wallpaper - Call of Duty: World At War Wallpapers - Call of Duty: World At War Backgrounds

The Official WipeOut HD Picture Thread - NeoGAF

 

Treyarch has revealed details about the Call of Duty: World at War Limited Collector’s Edition, due to ship alongside the game when it launches on November 14th.

The Limited Collector’s Edition comes packaged in a metal storage tin big enough to store multiple games. So if you were ever looking for a solution to transporting all of your Call of Duty’s together, here it is.

The only other physical item included with the limited edition is a branded steel canteen. The other bonuses are all digital items to use in game, including the powerful FG 42 Machine Gun being unlocked from day one, a VIP status tag for use in the online multiplayer modes, and an exclusive double experience week.

So far we’ve only seen shots of the Xbox 360 and PC Limited Collector’s Editions, so it’s unclear as to whether it’ll be available on other platforms. Check out the first pics below.

D+PAD » CoD: World at War Limited Edition Revealed

 

Yahoo!: Playstation 3 is in trouble

 

In the November 08 edition of the Subscribers magazine PCGamer, was a great article, with some interesting news mainly revealing the buddies !!
In addtion to the Buddies, PCGamer voted Far cry 2 a "Wild" 94% quoting its pros were Beautiful, Free roaming and Utterly Absorbing, and its cons were, its not a linear shooter, its not a prescibed story and its not going to let you go !

The basis of Far Cry 2's story telling: Characters and situations are swapped via a software author, its responding to choices made by you the player. Its something that's been on the cards for some time - mostly in research projects - but this is the first high-profile game to use it.
Its nothing less than a revelation. What makes this procedural storytelling cool isn't that you get to play the game lots of times, and see new things happen, or do things in new ways, Its not even that it gives you stories to share, situations to compare with your friends. Its that the game just works and responds to your successes, failures and fuckups.
If you don't like what a guy is asking you to do, then don't do it... If you really like one of your buddies, you stick with him. When the situations force choices on you... By God, its incredible

You can now meet the main 9 buddies for the first time, exclusively to Farcry 2 World

In addition you can preview the entire magazine scans courtesy of PCGamer

I will be updating the characters page soon !

Exclusive PCGamer Article | News | Farcry 2 World

Click Here for 1920x2400 Wallpaper

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DLC: Burnout Paradise Bikes

 

It was this very week last year when we told the world that co-op was coming to Call of Duty. At the time we’d been on the piss with then Infinity Ward head honcho Grant Collier, who had given us the heads-up that plans were afoot to bring a co-op mode to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare via DLC. We told you, you said ‘yay’ and it never happened. We’ll probably never know why, although kickass sales and an avid online community no doubt took the pressure of Infinity Ward’s bank balance enough that they could do without a co-op DLC cash injection six months after launch.
The thing is, Grant wasn’t lying. Co-op was definitely part of Infinity Ward’s vision for their Call of Duty 4 engine, but rather than refine it themselves for a DLC release, they’ve passed on the challenge to developer Treyarch. Treyarch, using the CoD4 engine, will deliver four-player co-op in this Christmas’ Call of Duty: World at War. We’ve just been bashing about in this very mode, and we’re here to tell you it’s just as good as we hoped it would be.
But before we advance, let’s examine the lay of the land.
For the latecomers, developer Infinity Ward – the creators of Call of Duty – demand two years of time for each game they produce, which clashes with publisher Activision’s want of a yearly CoD cash-cow. As a result Treyarch tackles the in-between year iterations, such as 2006’s CoD 3 and this year’s World at War. Despite the less than great results of CoD3, Infinity Ward and Activision obviously have plenty of faith in Treyarch. We recall Grant also throwing his support behind the developer, claiming that Infinity Ward had two years to work on CoD 4, while Treyarch was given a mere eight months for CoD 3. Certainly the disparity in quality of the two games wasn’t as great as that timeline would’ve suggested.
This time around, Treyarch has had much longer to work on their instalment. Unlike last year’s Modern Warfare, the game takes us back to World War II, although this time at the backend of the conflict and on completely different fronts. There are two campaigns, one set in the Pacific, as American forces tackle the Japanese as they island hop from one tropical paradise to the next, and the other on the Eastern Front as Russia moved in on the final capture of Berlin. We played through levels from both.

It’s pretty bloody spectacular. As we’ve come to expect from the Call of Duty series, you really do get immersed in the world through a non-stop barrage of sound-effects, explosions, bullet-fire and well executed action set-pieces. Yeah it plays straighter than Ron Jeremy’s cock, but it is sensory overload of the highest order and it facilitates such tension that your butt cheeks will creep ever forward, clinging onto the edge of your couch as a clam would latch onto a diver’s ankle.
In the Pacific its kamikaze warriors rushing out of the trees, mortar raids and planes dropping from the sky while you scurry around in trenches, staying out of the line-of-sight of roaming tanks. In the urban landscape of Berlin, its heated corridor combat in abandoned houses which suddenly open up through collapsed walls to show you a dilapidated city at night, lit up by air-raids as you dodge falling rubble and constant bombs. We’d even go as far as to say it does a better job than CoD4 at brining the war to life – some call we know, but Treyarch aren’t taking a backwards step in taking Infinity Ward’s engine forward.
That said, it is a different type of game. The weaponry is old-school, and while new additions like the flamethrower provide plenty of comedic value – that’s right kiddies, watching foes light up like kerosene covered hay bales is worth the price of admission alone – if you love your red-dot enabled M16A4, you might be more than a little put-off. The graphics too, while impressive, aren’t as good as CoD4. Both games may use the same engine, but very few assets were able to transcend from modern day to the forties and the attention to detail, as well as the sharpness of the A.I – where Infinity Ward’s talent really shines – aren’t as impressive. At least in the build we saw.
But of course it’s the co-op which is World at War’s hadouken – its power play. Co-op is available as split-screen for two players (thank the Gods!), or as two-to-four players online. We played four player online.
The rules are pretty harsh. If someone dies, the game ends and it’s back to the last checkpoint. If there is mortal friendly fire, the same dealio. But it makes for more engaging gameplay as it forces you to think more about moving the frontline forward as a unit and watching each other’s backs. And while there is no leeway when it comes to friendly fire, if a player is downed by an enemy they can be revived within a certain time frame.

This is visualised by a revive marker that appears on the screen and slowly fades from green to red as the breath of your dying brother in arms comes to a close. If you can get to them first though and hold ‘X’ for a few seconds the magic needle will bring them back into the battle. It’s pretty cool and brings a whole new element to the traditional ‘creep-forward far enough until your A.I controlled buddies are willing to run up another ten meters and chew up the enemy’s bullets’ strategy of the past CoDs.
Now your human mates are your buddies, and if one of them runs up ahead and gets monstered, it is tough yakka to go in and save them as they are obviously in the line-of-sight of hostile forces. You’ll need to try and snipe out a few enemies first, or use a smoke grenade, or get someone to draw fire before you make the run for the fallen soldier. And of course that is if there is only one of you dying. We had instances where all three of our comrades were lying on the ground moaning like bitches, and we had to hop around the level like electrified rabbids trying to dodge bullets, revive them and then order them to look after the second noob while we rescued the third.
Throw it up to the hardest difficulty, and you and three CoD veterans will find yourselves engaging with the same enjoyable Call of Duty gameplay you always have, as a human squad - exciting to say the least. And while we think that CoD 5 will be pushing shit uphill encouraging the CoD 4 community away from Modern Warfare to the WWII setting, we do expect them to at least run through the single player in this mode at least once.
Certainly in the last two years Treyarch has come along way to bridging the gap between themselves and the mighty Infinity Ward. Clearly they still remain in separate classes, but that is the nature of talent, isn’t it? There can only be one Gold Medal winner. Thankfully, Silver ain’t bad either.

 

Gameplayer - Call of Duty: World at War

PC version looking very nice. :)

Far Cry 2

Exclusive Jackal Trailer

Gametrailers.com - Far Cry 2 - Exclusive Jackal Trailer

My first experience with Far Cry 2 was slightly disappointing. I first took the E3 demo for a spin on the Xbox 360, and here's why: the Far Cry 2 demo room at E3 had several builds of the game running for media members to play, but only one of the demos was the PC version. All of the other demo stations were Xbox 360s or PlayStation 3s. Even worse, when I first visited the Far Cry 2 demo room, the Dell XPS devoted to the game was actually turned off. Why? Because, according, to the Ubisoft team, the PC was overheating (it was pretty hot in that cramped demo room). But apparently, the temperature wasn't high enough to get the notoriously fragile Xbox 360s to overheat and enter the "read ring" death stage. Obviously, I was a little concerned that Ubisoft only had one PC running Far Cry 2 and that the system overheated. Was this game going to be incredibly taxing like Crysis? What were the hardware requirements for this game? I had a lot of questions. So I went back the next day to Ubisoft's demo room and got on the PC version, which was back up and running. And the results from my second try with Far Cry 2 were leaps and bounds better than my first. Visually, there is no comparison between the PC and console versions. That may sound like an obvious statement, of course, but it's worth emphasizing. The magnificent fire propagation effects that Ubisoft has treated us to in early trailers and gameplay videos were on full display in the E3 demo, but on the consoles, the fire animation was extremely bland and lacked the kind of detail and texture of the PC version. Similarly, the lighting and environmental weather effects were outstanding on the PC but didn't have the same kind of punch on the consoles. In terms of graphics, the PC version of Far Cry 2 looks almost as impressive as Crysis; the game is punctuated with vivid explosions, beautiful jungle environments and rich character renders much like Crysis. Ubisoft's newly constructed Dunia game engine delivered top notch visuals in this demo.

Like Star Trek films we’ve come to expect the Call of Duty games to run one good, one bad. However, now that developer Treyarch sat us down in front of the game, we’ve removed our cynicism goggles to look upon the series with fresh, blood-spattered eyes. Dropping the number system, Call of Duty: World at War is a new start for the CoD 3 developers – having been granted a lot more time to make the damn thing, and specialising on parts of the war not instantly recognisable to your average gamer – stuff like the Russian push on Berlin or, as we were recently shown, the conflict in the Pacific.

The raid of Makin Island, one of the first levels, starts with you tied to a chair, faced with a smug Japanese general. He puffs cigar smoke in your face, before turning to one of your comrades and shouting appropriately phrased Japanese at him. All standard fare until he takes that cigar and stubs it in your mate’s eye, the blood-curdling scream making even fellow enemies squirm, before they move into full-blown shock when he slits your comrade’s throat, spattering blood across the wall and the dead man’s shadow. As the general grabs you by the hair and readies to kill you, there’s shouting, footsteps and a knife in your captor’s back. A marine pulls you to your feet, assures you you’re safe and shoves a gun into your hand, asking if you can fight. As there isn’t a “bugger this” option, you’re well on your way into the most brutal portrayal of war you’ve ever seen.

“We didn’t want to make another World War II game. We wanted to make something new, something different,” smiles Mark Lamia, Treyarch studio head. “We knew with this Call of Duty that people didn’t want to play the same WWII game, and we didn’t want to make it – and we haven’t.” The skid-mark Medal of Honor: Rising Sun and bog-standard FPS MoH: Pacific Assault portrayed this side of WWII as a rather linear journey against some angry-looking Asians on a glorious summer holiday, but World at War continues CoD’s tradition of action-packed gameplay rooted in historic conflict – and the reality of a situation that was blood-drenched and ugly as sin.

Both in our history lessons and in most WWII games there’s a heavy focus on classical tank and infantry combat. Here, we see a rich, pine-laden Pacific and a different war, thanks to the unconventional style of warfare use by the Japanese. While the banzai tactic of running, swords drawn, into the enemy is well-known, the Japanese fought in a brutal, mano a mano fashion. The Bushido code, which valued honour over life, drove Japanese soldiers to fight to their last breath, no matter how dire and hopeless the situation was. To put it in Lamia’s words, “They were taking no quarter, and none was given.

“CoD has always been about authentic and cinematic battles,” he continues, “and as we learned about this enemy, we knew we had to change the game we were making. The Imperial Japanese weren’t like any modern fighting force you’ve ever seen. They were a gritty, ruthless, non-traditional opponent – stuff like guerrilla warfare and the Bushido code were completely alien to the Americans at the time.” Japanese soldiers would hide in undergrowth and slit the throats of sleeping soldiers and snipe from trees, using every trick they could to bewilder the allies. We later witness this in-game, near the end of the Makin Raid, as we trundle past a seemingly benign set of bushes. Flashlights suddenly blind us and a bunch of manic Japanese soldiers leap from the foliage. One primes a grenade and grabs a soldier in a suicidal embrace, winning a grim victory.

World at War’s stated aim is to move away from convention, removing the stodge from a tired genre with new vistas, under-exposed theatres of war, and a new angle on storytelling. As such, London-based video maestros Spov, best-known for their excellent mission briefings from CoD4, have returned to the franchise to create WaW’s campaign FMVs. They go beyond the simple briefing format with amazing combinations of slick graphics and facts about the mission you’re sent on.The Makin Raid mission is pre-empted by giant floating ribbons, an introduction to Emperor Hirohito and a visual representation of Japan’s invasion of Asia, with historic footage mixed in for good measure. It’s a fascinating mix of Bond-style credits and stock footage, which gives meaning to the action as well as the necessary pep and excitement.
Treyarch have had two years to create WaW, and Lamia is proud to say they’ve used it well: “We’ve created something that’s a great deal edgier, and with that edge the whole thing feels different. WaW will feel nothing like any other WWII game you’ve ever played.” And behind the optimistic waffle, he could be right – while we’re used to slow-paced crawls that eventually lead to hiding in ruined houses and bunkers, with the occasional tank thrown in, the Makin Raid appears to be pulse-pounding, erratic and wildly disorienting. Enemies seem to come from everywhere and nowhere, sneaking through undergrowth before charging at you, or hiding in seemingly cleared areas, waiting for you to pass by. “We’ve found, thanks to the AI, that testers are naturally using the tactics soldiers worked with,” interjects Noah Heller, the game’s senior producer. “Like throwing grenades into empty bunkers just in case there’s a soldier waiting to jump you at the next opportunity. It’s all pretty amazing.”

New to the series is the four-player co-op mode, allowing you and your friends to waltz through WaW’s conflicts, dropping in and out at the beginning of levels. We are given a demonstration of just how effective this is when the action skips to covering an encounter with a huge armoured division on some exotic-looking farmland. With two players on hand, one takes on the tank battalions by ducking into foxholes and launching barrages of rockets, then by going hell-for-leather and leaping on top of them, dropping a grenade casually into the metal beasts before scarpering.

Meanwhile the other player covers him and handles the infantry, at one point using a flamethrower to set fire to a huge field of corn, scorching several ghillie-suited Japanese soldiers and grimacing at their pained screams. The blowtorch certainly has a Return to Castle Wolfenstein feel (understandable, as many of the staff from Gray Matter – RTCW’s developer – are now working at Treyarch), but now has more practical uses in its ability to set fire to trees and any hidden snipers, as well as spreading between soldiers that are touching or are too close to each other.

Moving on from the farmland, the pair hurries up a hill and faces a group of soldiers holed up in a building, using a handheld mortar to flush them out. Said building, being of a destructible ilk, is shattered, and the explosion throws two worried-looking Japanese soldiers arse-over-tit accompanied by a pile of physics-enabled rubble. Not a pleasant end. No time for a breather though as seconds later a low-flying plane screams through player two’s vision, snapping power cables and crashing in a wall of flames that engulfs a passing tank. You couldn’t imagine a scene that sings from the CoD hymn sheet with as much gusto.

These days it’s become corny to even say that WWII is a road that has been heavily-trod previously – it’s something that everyone says and everyone thinks. However, the CoD4 engine, along with the new environment, has led Treyarch to believe they are creating a genuinely exhilarating experience out of source material thought long-since bled dry. “My hope is that players reading about this will realise that you’re not going back to WWII – you haven’t been here before. That’s how we’re making this game. It’s a realistic, true-to-events game that we’re taking in a direction that no-one’s ever seen,” grins Lamia. Heller steps away from the controls and nods. “When we chose the name ‘World at War,’ we wanted to make it clear that this was WWII and that we were going to re-establish the genre much like CoD4 did. Infinity Ward set a high bar, and we’re going to set the same bar for WWII gaming.”

Another help is that they’re using the multiplayer from Call of Duty 4, right down to the matchmaking and the excellent leveling-up system that makes playing CoD4 online so engrossing. WaW also has a new attachments system, allowing guns to be realistically modified (e.g. bipods can be connected to machine guns, letting you to lean the gun on a wall to make an accurate turret). Players will also have dedicated vehicle-based games, including some in specially made vehicle-only combat zones. Treyarch are promising great things, but they’re keeping mum about them for now. Rumour is that you’ll be able to use the LVT – an amphibious transport vehicle – to sneak up on people from the water.

Multiplayer-wise PC gamers will be treated to 32-player free-for-all battles (much larger than on World at War’s console versions). That means, with the promised dedication to mappers and modders, we can expect some epic combat scenarios. Also new to the multiplayer is the cross-map squad feature. Rather than just letting players stick together, you can now have built-in squad benefits – we predict better accuracy will be one example – that work across the team. These are still a work-in-progress, but promise to reward players for sticking together through Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Vehicle Deathmatch and other returning modes. They may also lead to some interesting clan-based scenarios, with particular load-outs leading to monumental clashes.

The maps have all been forged using readily available tools and have been tested and tweaked since development began, allowing Treyarch time to create convincing line battles, fast-paced fights (so that you’re no more than five seconds from a fight at any given point) and some individual and interesting maps for the multiplayer modes. We watched a game played by a group of testers. The play was every inch as action-packed as a CoD4 game, with one player shooting through a hut wall and leaping through the hole to escape a grenade, while others joined in a pitched battle that appeared far more fast-paced than earlier WWII notches on the Call of Duty bedpost.

It isn’t all Pacific either, Treyarch are still to reveal the European campaign – the Road to Berlin – where you are part of the Russian advance. This part of the war, previously only covered in depth by strategy titles, saw embittered Russian forces pushing the Nazi forces back into their home country and on to Berlin. Here the Third Reich’s army fought a street-by-street battle to slow down the Red Army’s advance, in a bid to give civilians a chance to escape the brutal vengeance of the Soviets.

We went into Treyarch’s offices cynical, and came out cautiously excited. Call of Duty: World at War looks truly different. While it’s still a World War II FPS, it has new enemies that react differently and, as Treyarch and their war researchers repeatedly say, entirely different battles. Sure, we’ve been burnt by this sort of thing before with the mediocrity of Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, but even in EA’s botched effort there were moments in which the variety, spectacle and terrifying ‘trees have eyes’ tension as you snuck through the undergrowth, gave us something new.

What is remarkable is that despite the preponderance of action games set in World War II, the bits we’re all-too familiar with remain the thin-end of a particularly horrifying global wedge. The day people truly run out of things to say about the conflict, or ways to portray it, will be the day that it’s revealed that historians haven’t been working hard enough. Say “It’s not Infinity Ward!” all you want, but let down some of your defences as Call of Duty: World at War could be massive.

Call of Duty: World at War, Call Of Duty: World at War PC Previews | GamesRadar

N4G.com : Far Cry 2 E3 2008 Stage Show Demo

When Sony announced the impending release of firmware v2.40 over a week ago, many gamers were excited that the PlayStation 3 would finally gain many of the popular features absent in its current entertainment package. The prospect of an in-game cross media bar (XMB) and a Trophy system tantamount to LIVE’s achievements suggested that the Xbox 360 would lose much of the edge it has had over its competitors in the early years of the console war.  After some users reported problems with v2.40 bricking their PS3s, Sony pulled the update and released v2.41 a few days later, which addressed the technical issues and included some minor tweaks to the Trophy system.  However, once gamers took the much heralded in-game XMB on a test drive,  it became clear the the PlayStation 3 still has some work to do if it hopes to supplant the gamer-friendly features most Xbox 360 owners already take for granted.  Join us as we explore some of the most compelling reasons that Microsoft’s console is still the system of choice for discerning hardcore gamers.

Everyone On LIVE Has a Headset

Join most online games on LIVE, and you will hear players chatting about all manner of things.  Whether discussing strategy, having quality time with close friends, or just straight trash talking everyone within earshot, Xbox LIVE is certainly a colorful, communicative place.  However, if you log on to any given game on PSN, the odds of you finding a room full of chatty players is slim to none.  This is mainly because Microsoft opted to bundle a first-party headset with their most popular SKUs, whereas Sony requires new PS3 owners to come up with their own third-party solution in order to communicate verbally.  As a result, practically everyone on LIVE has the means to chat, while almost nobody talks to one another when you jump onto the PSN.  PlayStation 3 online matches feel like you’re stuck in a ghost-town populated with bots when compared to their LIVE counterparts, and it’s largely because of the absence of a bundled, first-party headset.  It would certainly help Sony build upon their burgeoning online community if the soon-to-be released first party wireless headset becomes a standard pack-in with all of their consoles, or at the very least, as a new standard for the high-end 80gb model.

Chat Anytime Functionality

One of the implications of an ‘in-game XMB’ was the ability for PS3 users to chat no matter what either party is doing at the time, as they can with Xbox LIVE.  Unfortunately, the in-game XMB is currently a bit borked, only allowing PlayStation users to send text messages to one another.  While the texting feature is certainly better than no communication at all, it’s a distant second to being able to call up a friend and converse freely no matter what either of you happen to be doing.  Without the ability to do everything you can do from the XMB proper, the so called ‘in-game XMB’ is a bit of a misnomer at present.  Now, instead of begging Sony for an ‘in-game  XMB’, Sony enthusiasts will now have to specify ‘universal voice chat’ as their most sought after feature for the next firmware update.   

Reputation and Complaints

Ask anyone who played Xbox LIVE back in the days of Microsoft’s first console, and they’ll tell you that the service has come a long way since its initial release.  Whereas the old LIVE allowed children and trolls to flex their obnoxiousness with reckless abandon and few consequences, the new and improved LIVE allows for a persistent reputation system (which uses a 5 star scale) that allows you to punish people for being dicks, and reward people who like to play nice.  Sure, you still run across some psychos from time to time, but LIVE makes it easy for discerning gamers to report any assholes they come across with the press of a button.  Although you can block communications with unfriendly types you encounter on the PSN, the current system lacks the air of accountability that permeates LIVE, and there’s never a real way to see what kind of person you are dealing with in advance.  So if you are lucky enough to play with someone using a microphone, it’s totally up in the air whether or not they will be abusive or not.

Custom In-Game Soundtracks For All Games

Another feature that Sony enthusiasts were excited to receive with firmware v2.40 was the inclusion of in-game custom soundtracks.  While the feature sounded promising on paper, gamers soon realized that only games which are designed to support the feature will allow players to change the in-game music.  Right now, Burnout: Paradise and a handful of PSN downloadable games are the only titles that actually offer the support right off the bat, and it’s uncertain what percentage of future PS3 games will incorporate the feature.  Conversely, practically all Xbox 360 games allow you to listen to whatever you want, whenever you want.  This points out the difference between Sony and Microsoft’s approach toward developers: while Sony has a hands off approach that lets individual game-makers cherry pick which features they want to support, Microsoft insists that all their games adhere to certain standards.  The end result of the higher demands Microsoft places on its developers is a more robust feature set that is music to any gamer with a serious music collection’s ears. 

Standardized Matchmaking

As mentioned earlier, Sony and Microsoft take different approaches when it comes to standardization.  Sony lets developers decide which features they want to implement, and Microsoft requires all their games to incorporate particular standards.  One of these standards involves online matchmaking, which is essentially how the games selects the people you play with.  This standardization gives Xbox 360 gamers the ability to screen out certain elements of the LIVE community, using a variety of factors like Gamerscore, region, language, Gamerzone.  As a result, you can choose your Gamerzone (’Underground’, for example, allows profanity and is the place to be if you encourage trash talk.  I’m in ‘Casual’, where such rampant denigration is frowned upon.)  If you only want to play with, say a ‘Casual’ Canadian match populated exclusively by French-speaking players, or jump into a Japanese ‘Family’ match, you can do it easily with every single online title.  And some games, like Halo 3, have another layer of screening called TrueSkill, which uses complex algorithms designed to place you with players with similar abilities.  The bottom line is that LIVE gives the players the power to define their experience, whereas PSN gives developers that power.  Sure, some developers working with the PS3 will want to include many of the features listed here, but it’s not something you can depend on.  Hell, there are some PlayStation 3 games that don’t even offer voice chat!  Now THAT’S leniency.      

More Content Than You Can Shake A Toy Lightsaber At

There is so much available downloadable content on Xbox LIVE right now, it would take weeks or months to look at everything Marketplace has to offer.  Given the vast assortment of movies, to TV shows, demos, themes, and gamer-pictures, it’s no wonder that Xbox’s Marketplace is the 2nd largest provider of downloadable video content in the world.  By comparison, PSN gets mere trickles of content, and their library, while growing, seems totally dwarfed by the lumbering behemoth that is Marketplace.  Although Sony will soon announce a similar downloadable movie service that will ostensibly be comparable to Marketplace’s offerings, the head-start Microsoft has enjoyed has given them a definite edge in the DLC department.  Sony is going to have to start pumping out dramatically more material than they have thus far if they are to ever catch up to Marketplace.  Sony is actually in a great position to one-up Microsoft by offering 1080p HD movie rentals (Marketplace only offers 720p content), but who knows what cards Sony has up their sleeve regarding the PSN’s online video delivery solution.

Low Power Mode for Downloads and Controller Re-Charging

Modern consoles, particularly the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, consume a lot of power.  The problem with this is that many of the consoles functions are quite time consuming, with downloads and controller re-charges often taking upwards of several hours.  One great feature of the 360 is the ability to run in low-power mode, essentially using just enough power to complete the download, or recharge the controller before the system shuts itself off.  On the other hand, if you want to recharge your PS3 controller or download a large file while you sleep, you have to leave the system on.  Given the current energy crisis, it just makes sense for Sony to adopt a similar low-power option for players who want to perform ancillary functions without receiving a high energy bill at the end of the month.

We’re not saying that the PlayStation 3 doesn’t offer any advantages over the Xbox 360, just that when the two competing platforms are taken as a whole, Sony must continue to play catch-up if they want to dominate the industry as they once did.  The PS3 has a lot going for it: the release of Metal Gear Solid 4 heralds the dawn of truly outstanding PlayStation exclusives, Blu-Ray has become the official high-def standard for physical media, and for all its limitations, PlayStation Network still lets gamers get online with their friends for free.

As Adam Smith asserted with the his notion of the invisible handjob, competition truly benefits everyone in the long run.  Hopefully, Sony will eventually match the Xbox 360 feature-for-feature while continuing to offer free online play in the process.  Incremental improvements to the PlayStation 3 via firmware updates benefit people on both sides of the fence, since Microsoft will then be forced to respond with their own set of new offerings, and hopefully, free Gold memberships.   Should Sony be able to one day provide a service on par with the Xbox 360 for free, the gamers, rather than the hardware manufacturers, will be the real winners in the console war.  Sony is listening, but not to the complacent.  Let’s bitch our way to a world of better gaming for all! 

Why Xbox is Still the King | The Exploding Barrel

This is a scarier Call of Duty than we've ever seen," announces the head of Treyarch, Mark Lamir. "The direction for the team was to make the best game they could, and as they were doing this they created a grittiness that quite frankly made some people very uncomfortable."
The developer behind Call of Duty 3 intends to explore some of the darkest corners of WWII with the fifth game in the series. According to creative lead Rich Farrelly, taking the series to the terrifying battle for the Pacific gives the game more in common with the survival horror genre than traditional war movie influences.

Infinity Ward's COD4 brought the series into the modern age and saw phenomenal success, shifting over eight million copies. Now, by tackling darker themes and pitting you against a new, seemingly alien fighting force, Treyarch hopes to defy suggestions that the WWII genre has had its day. "We've had some great success working on WWII, but we knew there had been a lot and people didn't want to play the same game again," says Lamir. "We've been making these games for a long time now, but the team is going to settle for nothing less than creating the best work of our lives."
One of the biggest cards in its favour is a two-year development cycle, in contrast to COD3, which was completed in just 11 months. At that point in time, Treyarch also felt the burden of having to not only port the game for Wii, but also create an entirely separate version, COD: Big Red One for Xbox and PS2.
Realising that was too much to repeat, the developer now has separate teams for every port, with the Xbox 360 version acting as lead. Lamir also talks of the benefits and graphical fidelity offered to them by working with the COD4 engine.
The game certainly has a sharper look and visceral edge than any WWII game to date. As one of the few areas of the war not previously covered in a COD title, the Pacific conflict might seem an obvious choice, but there was more to the decision than just different looking environments.
"We figured out early that the Imperial Japanese fought in a different way that was full of suspense," says Farrelly. "From that point we started to skew the game in that direction, in every detail from the music to the way we set up encounters."
Our first demo of the game, a level titled 'Maken Raid' spells this out with a bullet. The scenario begins with the particularly brutal torture and execution of a US POW by a Japanese officer. We're not spared any of the horrors of war as the man has his throat slashed with a katana blade as the player is tied up and powerless to help his friend.

It's shocking stuff, and immediately shatters our expectations of the relatively gore-free series. Moments before the player shares a similar fate, a squad of US Marines intervenes on a secret rescue mission. The squad known as Carlson's Raiders cuts the player free before going on a vengeful rampage through the Japanese camp.
There are some similarities with the first mission of Modern Combat (the cargo ship) not least because both take place under cover of darkness and both explode from near silence into all-out carnage in an instant. As the Raiders launch their attack, a couple of the game's new features are brought to the forefront.
First, the game expands on the concept of being able to shoot through cover by forming visible holes in the bamboo huts. With enough bullets, the player causes enough damage to one of the walls to create a hole big enough to walk through. This pales in comparison though, compared to another of the game's most notable new features - flamethrowers with propogating fire. As the marines torch the village, you can see scenery crumbling and an impressive lighting model, which almost makes the devastation look beautiful.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that once the raid was over and the bodies lying cold on the ground, the tension would free up a little. It doesn't. The survivors are forced to beat a path through the dense tropical undergrowth. The player seems to become enveloped by his surroundings, thanks to some incredibly detailed graphics and close to 96 channels of audio, many of which are ambient jungle noises. The sensation is geniunely frightening because you're never sure where the enemy could appear from.
According to the game's military advisor Frank Kearsey, a Gulf War Veteran and advisor at West Point, the Japanese were masters of guerrilla warfare. Although they started the campaign using volatile tactics like the Banzai charge, huge losses made them swing dramatically toward the element of surprise.
"The Imperial Japanese were unlike any fighting force in modern times. You had to completely throw out the old rule book," says Lamir. "The traditional combat seen in Europe did not apply here."

As Carlson's Raiders break out into an open area, the grass is already strewn with corpses, although that's at least the way it seems. It was a common tactic for the Japanese to play dead and lie in wait for unsuspecting marines. "This scene was actually inspired by the movie Aliens. We wanted to make you feel completely surrounded," reveals Farrelly.
While marines were taught to deal with surprises, nothing could prepare them for the heavy psychological toll levied by their enemy. "Their bizarre bushido code, which was honour to them, stopped them from surrendering," says Kearsey with a heavy voice. "They had a tenacity, a viciousness... there's never been a sense of reconciliation with the veterans we spoke to."
Blow 'n' screw
One of the most fascinating revelations is that many first-time players have been seen adopting the real-life tactic of 'blowtorch and corkscrew' without realising this was common practice with real US Marines. This technique involves setting fire to undergrowth and grenading foxholes to eliminate hidden foes.
Although the life expectancy of a flamethrower operator was shockingly brief, it's a weapon you won't want to be without in this game. It's based on the flamethrower design and handling from Return to Castle Wolfenstein, a game on which Farrelly was lead level designer. As previously mentioned, the weapon is excellent for toasting the scenery, but it works even better against enemy infantry.

In another demo level, Treyarch demonstrates its power by torching a field full of camouflaged soldiers. The cacophony of screams that follows is truly horrible, and this scene is made more shocking as you watch the enemies' skin melt off. "The only thing you don't get is the smell of burning flesh," says Kearsey.
Depicting this level of violence couldn't have been an easy choice to make. Lamir responds: "The team felt from a game perspective they needed to approach these themes and they didn't shy away. Activision has supported us. It's scary for everybody to do something different, but that's what we're doing. Redefining it."
"We are very mindful of being respectful when it comes to portraying that," adds Farrelly. "It's not just gore and violence for its own sake, but reflects what veterans have told us and the actual history."
Squad tactics
This game is full of surprises. We already knew that multiplayer would be a big factor, but Treyarch is also adding a four player co-op mode. This can be played using four consoles over Xbox Live, or two consoles each with split-screen.
"Co-op is something people have wanted in Call of Duty for a long time," says Farrelly. "We've been waiting for the technology to be able to handle that. It's just a natural fit to have three guys alongside you playing as a squad."
The co-op campaign looks to be identical to the single-player game, although will include a similar scoring system to the Modern Combat metagame. This means that you'll be constantly earning points which can be used to unlock special co-op perks. Alternatively, you can transfer the points over to multiplayer and unlock perks and weaponry there instead.
Of course, classic tactics such as distraction and flanking work brilliantly too.
In the demo level we see one player attracting the attention of a tank while the other player climbs on top and throws a grenade down the hatch. Frag grenades and incendiaries have a different damage effect on vehicles like this. Much like COD3, vehicles do play a big part in both campaign and multiplayer, although it's much more focused. In multiplayer, there are vehicle-specific levels and game modes, meaning that you can opt out of them altogether if you prefer to keep your boots on the ground. In the campaign, certain vehicles have entire levels dedicated to them, most notably the PBY Catalina search and rescue plane and a dramatic aerial raid on some Japanese aircraft carriers.

Enter the Russians
The battle for the Pacific wasn't the only defining moment of the end of WWII. The invasion of Germany by the Soviet Army was of equal importance, and Farrelly tells us that this will also be a major chapter in World at War. "The themes of brutality in the Russian campaign hit on how war brings out the darker side in people, the good guys or the bad," he says. "We show what that deep sense of revenge and hatred motivates them to get to Berlin."
While we played as the Red Army before in COD2, this time the Nazis are on the back foot and fighting with more ferocity. They're desperate to defend their final strongholds like Seelow and Berlin at all costs. This could mark the first time in the series characters are fighting for bloody vengeance rather than honour.
With two extraordinarily hard-fought campaigns in the mix, World at War easily has the potential to be the most devastating Call of Duty yet. It's certainly the most shocking and suspenseful, which is no small achievement. For Treyarch, it's foremost about making a great game, but in doing so they're learning that WWII still has tons of potential, and some of the most brutal and intense battles of all time. In Lamir's words: "That was actually the kind of scary shit they encountered."

http://www.oxm.co.uk/article.php?id=5084

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/07/07/ps3-system-software-update-v241/

The Evolution of CRASH | Infinity Ward

 

 

This video covers the multiple passes a level / scene goes through before it achieves the final look and mood intended by the designer. From it's basic wireframe structure through postfx, you can see each stage of the rendering process for the level and the role it plays in crafting the final outcome.

Behind The Scenes: Level Rendering | Infinity Ward

Inside IW

The biggest question I'm probably asked the most on any given day is, "What are you guys working on now?!"; Especially since it's been nearly 9 months after we've shipped (the currently #1 most played game on Xbox Live) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, a Variety Map Pack for it on every platform, and several patches later. While I can't quite say what it is, that we're currently working on it, I did want to give you a status report on exactly what's happening here at Infinity Ward and where we're going as a studio.

Future Projects From Infinity Ward

We're excited to announce that in the recent months we have decided to reup on our contract with Activision publishing. The recently renegotiated deal may not seem like much of an impact from the outside perspective, but it has laid the ground work and kick started our future project, as well as the possibility of a unique new IP by Infinity Ward, that we'll have complete control over. We're excited to be working on our next project, but it's going to be quite a while before I can share any details on exactly what that project is.

Building The Community

With Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, we were heavily focused on building a community around our titles. Launching Charlieoscardelta.com to give our fans an early look at the game via the Beta, as well as stay informed on pre-production with weekly blogs, status reports, and 1v1 feedback with myself and the rest of the development teams. We're planning on expanding on this mentality of how we do things in the future, moving out of the era of typical "PR" and moving towards an even more focused community driven future.

About 4 months ago, Grant Collier transitioned from Infinity Ward to Activision (special projects). As some of you may know, Grant handled a good amount of the PR duties for the studio with myself handling the more community / individual focused efforts. With our Community focused efforts expanding even further in the future, that PR-type position is no longer required at IW, as we'll be spearheading more tangible, personal means of getting information out to our players. Which is why we're so excited about the new Infinityward.com site. As we did with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, we are building a strong community around the studio which will allow our fans an even closer look at pre-production of our future titles, and keep them fully intune with the studio, the team, and the projects we're working on at any given time.

Essentially, this means we plan on doing much less of the traditional PR that ends up being a one way street, and building on what worked so well in the pre-production of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, where myself and the rest of the development team has an open line of 2-way conversation with our community throughout development and after launch.

Expanding Our Team and Studio

In case we haven't made it completely obvious via the in-game Message of the Day enough times, WE'RE HIRING! We're aggressively looking to expand our team here at the studio and are looking for the best talent in the industry to join us here at Infinity Ward. Therefore if you qualify for any of the following positions are looking to join the #1 development studio in North America according to Game Developer Magazine, then be sure to send us an email:

Motion Capture Technician
Senior Software Engineer
Software Engineer
Environment Artist
Senior Animator
Associate Producer
Unix Administrator
Marketing Manager
Game Designer

Note the Marketing Manager and Unix Administrator positions above, as they are perfect examples that we're looking for people in all areas of the industry. Trust me, there is absolutely no better studio to work at in the industry. You can learn more about the individual benefits of working here and a bit about the culture of the studio at the new Infinity Ward website, so be sure to check it out and let me know if you have any questions regarding a position you might be good for.

Hopefully this gives you a good perspective on where we stand at the time being, and what you can expect to see from us in the near and distant future.

The Future of Infinity Ward | Infinity Ward

 

Xbox's Major Nelson Interviews Treyarch Head Mark Lamia.

Major Nelson interviews Mark to discuss Call of Duty: World at War and Treyarch. Check it out!

Download the MP3 Here

Or, go directly to Major Nelson's blog.

Call of Duty Headquarters: Intel

 

James Bond: Quantum of Solace is the upcoming game based on Ian Fleming's iconic British spy, who's been around since 1953. The character has appeared in 14 novels and 22 films over the past few decades. The special agent has even starred in an array of games published by everyone from Nintendo to EA since 1983. The latest publisher to try its hand at the multitalented spy is Activision, which has tapped internal studio Treyarch to craft a new action game based on the most recent Bond films starring Daniel Craig. We watched a run through bits of the upcoming game at a recent press event held at Treyarch's Santa Monica offices.

Expect to play through scenarios from the new Bond movie, as well as 2006's Casino Royale.

Quantum of Solace marks the first game appearance of Daniel Craig's Bond and, although it's named after the latest film, it will cover the previous film, Casino Royale, as well as Solace. Covering both movies actually works out, given that Solace is a proper sequel to Casino Royale and picks up roughly an hour after the events in that film. Treyarch is taking a pretty standard action approach to the game, in that you'll be running Bond through his paces across various set pieces from the films that will have you spying, fighting, and shooting. Unfortunately for hardcore fans, Treyarch hasn't included a "bedding the ladies" component, which keeps Quantum from being the definitive Bond experience, but there's always the next game.

Our demo of the game broke down into looks at three different levels, all taken from the Casino Royale portion. The first demo was set during the latter part of the film, in which Bond chases his current special lady Vesper into a house on the canals of Venice. For the purposes of the game, Treyarch has taken some dramatic license and dropped into the house a whole bunch of foes who will stand between you and Vesper as she rides an elevator up to the higher levels. Your goal is obviously to follow her, dealing with the opposition in one of two ways: stealthily taking them out when possible or shooting them full of bullets. The demo of the level showed a pretty logical assortment of spots in the house where one method worked better than the other, which kept the action varied. The other element to the sequence involved making your way through the house environment, which, in typical dramatic Bond fashion, was beginning to sink into the water.

The second level that we saw was taken from a bit earlier in the game and was set in the casino that serves as the film's centerpiece. Bond's task is to shadow and protect main baddie Le Chiffre from assorted goons who would like to kill him. Bond receives direction via an earpiece as he navigates the guard-filled halls of the casino. The level skewed a bit more toward the stealth side of things; the initial demo level found our demonstrator attempting to tear through the halls on a shooting spree that got him smacked down pretty quickly. His second attempt to go through the level was much stealthier and saw him avoiding guards and even taking to the exterior of the building via windows to make his way to different areas. The exterior route also let Bond do some eavesdropping to get some useful information.

Once that was done, Bond was guided back into the building, where he took to the air vents for some more sneaking. Along the way he engaged in some stealth kills, which took the form of button-pressing minigames. After a bit of stealth, the level took a more action-oriented spin as Bond dropped from the vents into a firefight that was complicated by the presence of vision-obscuring steam. Once the shooting was done, the level was back to more sneaking that showed off a lock-picking minigame, which segued into another firefight. This time, though, we got a chance to see some of the level interactivity working in Bond's favor as he shot down a chandelier that took out some of his foes. As with previous games, Quantum of Solace will feature a bullet-time mechanic that will slow down time and let players target with greater accuracy.

Quantum will be the first Bond game with Daniel Craig donning the dapper tuxedo.

The final level that we were shown was taken from the early part of Casino Royale and followed Bond as he ran through a construction yard. The sequence is pretty faithful to the scene in the film, although obviously extended in a few places for dramatic license and gameplay. The demo showed a brief portion of the level and focused on the sequence in which Bond is running through the construction site and leaping around moving platforms and girders.

The gameplay appeared to be solid across all three levels that we saw. What stood out to us were the shifts between first- and third-person perspectives, which happened often. The basic logic is that you'll play the game in first person but the perspective will switch to third person at certain points, such as when you take cover or engage in melee combat. It's an interesting wrinkle to the action, but we're not sure how we feel about it, considering that it may make gameplay a bit too disjointed. Nevertheless, we'll reserve judgment until we play it ourselves. The rest of the gameplay was pretty straightforward and seemed fine. The action and stealth sequences look good. The stealth-kill and melee system look satisfying and seem as if they'll be pretty easy to handle. The assorted weapons are what you'd expect and should suit the action fine. It's also worth noting that the action in the game will revolve around Bond on foot and won't include any car sequences.

As far as visuals go, Quantum of Solace is benefitting from Treyarch's use of the Call of Duty 4 engine. The powerful engine is already offering high visual fidelity and impressive performance even in the work-in-progress levels that we saw. The environments feature a high level of detail and interactive elements such as breakable objects and fabric curtains that react. The first- and third-person shifts are handled pretty well, although the camera movement looked a bit jarring to us. The upside is that the third-person perspective shows off the detailed model of Daniel Craig, which is worth some showcasing. Treyarch might have gone a little overboard when modeling the super spy, going so far as to show pores in close-ups, but the attention to detail helps the game's cinematic leanings. The secondary enemies don't get quite the same glamour treatment but they still look pretty sharp.

The game will feature a mix of stealth action and plenty of gunplay.

Audio in the game is another facet of its presentation that's benefitting from the COD4 tech. Quantum of Solace's audio team is working to craft a dense layer of sound to complement the visuals. You'll obviously hear familiar tunes such as the Bond theme, mixed in with other incidental music to frame the action. At the same time, gunfire and enemy chatter will add to the chaos of gunfights and the like. To keep things authentic, Daniel Craig and Judy Dench will be voicing Bond and M.

Based on this early look, Quantum of Solace has a nice look to it and is taking an interesting approach to serving up a Bond experience. We're curious to see how the Quantum of Solace levels look and play, but we expect that they'll be in line with the Casino Royale ones we saw. We're also curious about the game's multiplayer experience; Treyarch said that multiplayer would be included but kept mum on the specifics, which are expected to be released later this year. Bond fans will want to keep an eye out for James Bond: Quantum of Solace, which is set to ship later this year across all platforms. For those keeping track, Treyarch is handling dev chores on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, whereas the rest of the platforms are being handled by Beenox (Wii and PC), Eurocom (PlayStation 2), and Vicarious Visions (Nintendo DS).

James Bond: Quantum of Solace First Look - Xbox 360 News at GameSpot

As we've already reported, SCEA has removed firmware 2.40, released early this morning, from its update servers. Users attempting to use the System Update feature from the PS3 XMB from firmware prior to 2.40 are now being told that their software is up to date.
This action follows a large number of reports on the official PlayStation message boards of the update adversely affecting users' systems. The most widely noted problem is systems simply failing to reach the XMB upon booting, instead getting stuck on a screen with only the familiar "wave" background displayed.
Some posters have reported that removing the PS3 hard disk, formatting it via a PC, then re-inserting it allows the PS3 to boot properly ... with the obvious drawback of losing everything – profiles, saves, DLC, etc. – that was on the drive.
Joystiq contacted SCEA for comment on the situation as was told by PR director Patrick Seybold that they are aware of the message thread and that they are "looking into it right now and will work with those customers directly to address any issues they may be experiencing." This comment came before the update was removed from Sony's servers. We're seeking further comment and will update as we receive it.
[Update: SCEA has issued a formal statement via the official PlayStation blog confirming that firmware 2.40 has "temporarily" been taken offline until it can "isolate the problem" and "identify a solution."]

Yeah, that's right -- you can get it right now. In game XMB, trophies... the whole nine. Why are you still reading this?

Engadget

Call of Duty World at War trailer takes no prisoners

Heads-up heroes! We’ve a grade-A treat for fans of console gaming’s greatest military blaster...

You’d better hold onto your helmets because incoming to Xbox LIVE Marketplace as of June 21 is a fulsome, highly exclusive and, we might add, TOTALLY BRILLIANT video trailer for the next chapter in the Call of Duty franchise – Call of Duty: World at War. That’s so red hot it’s ice cool!

You’ll forgive us if we get a bit carried away but we think the enthusiasm is more than a little justified, especially after the jaw-dropping magnificence of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – a game that not only continues to occupy the upper reaches of video games charts having sold more than 10 million copies worldwide (and counting!), but is still responsible for more than its fair share of activity across Xbox LIVE. Take your skills online and you’ll soon understand why.

The success of COD4 is certainly reason enough to be excited about this fifth outing in the series, but Treyarch, the makers of the game, are not about to rest on their laurels and have introduced a new theatre of war and a squadron of new gameplay surprises.

First things first and we’re back in World War II and, brand new for this series, the harrowing Pacific theatre of war – and that means a whole, devious new enemy to fight. Then there are powerful new weapons to master, new vehicles to wrangle with and excellent new abilities such as swimming. The multiplayer game has been given a thorough makeover too, with two-player splitscreen and four-player online co-op support.

Does the word ‘awesome’ cover it? Well, we recommend that you check out the FREE trailer with extreme urgency and find out for yourselves. Quick march!

With COD4 still so popular, Activision and Treyarch needed to take the series in another direction if they wanted to see another installment sell well this fall. Since the announcement of Call of Duty: World at War there really hasn't been much seen of the game. Sadly while the teaser trailer does give us a short glimpse of the game, it is only that, a teaser. So for those of you who haven't gotten the trailer from the Marketplace, GameTrailers TV has a teaser trailer up too (which is embedded after the break due to GTTV's flash player being a bit finicky these days.)

Developer Treyarch (yes, yes, it's not Infinity Ward) is clearly taking advantage of the new Modern Warfare engine, with some impressive-looking fire and light effects. Better yet, they seem to be taking full advantage of the new Mature rating - just check out the nasty katana blade to the face, or the soldier toasting like a flame thrower marshmallow.

Are you more or less excited about Call of Duty: World at War after seeing these screens? Discuss - and argue - in our forums!

Jun 17, 2008

 

Call of Duty 5 Trailer - World Premier - T.O.C. Clan Forums

For many years, we've wondered why some folks considered the process of mod chipping to be illegal. After all, if you own a device, why shouldn't you be able to modify it? It's not illegal to modify your computer, so why would it be illegal to modify a game console? Well, thanks to the DMCA in the US, the question wasn't entirely clear -- because console makers use encryption, they consider any modification to be a circumvention of that encryption, and the DMCA has that pesky anti-circumvention clause. In the US, it's become even more bizarre, with federal officials taking up the cause and fining mod chippers while claiming (seriously) that mod chipping was a national security issue.
Luckily, it looks like the courts in Europe are a lot more reasonable about all of this. A few years back, we noted that an Italian court ruled that mod chips were perfectly legal (Update: Well, darn. As a commenter notes, the Italian decision was later overturned). And, now, a tipster alerts us to the news that a UK appeals court has found the same thing, tossing out all of the charges against a mod chip seller, noting that mod chips do not circumvent copy protection systems. Not only that, but the defendant was awarded legal fees. This is a big deal, as the lower court had found the guy, Neil Higgs, guilty for selling mod chips he had imported from Hong Kong. So, now that's Italy and the UK that recognizes modifying your gaming consoles shouldn't be illegal. Anyone else?

Techdirt: Mod Chips Found Legal In The UK

If you've been following the development cycle of the Call of Duty games, then you'll know that in order to put out a new CoD SKU (Call of Duty game) every year, the development is lead by Infinity Ward, with Treyarch  helping out with console versions.

Odds and Evens.

This used to work as follows, IW would develop the even numbered new titles, Say Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4, and Treyarch would fill in the odd numbers, Call of Duty 3 on consoles etc. It was assumed that the development cycle wouldn't change this time around.

However I've spotted some interesting information or rather I'm not ignoring some information previously released anymore. The following press release has been doing the round for a few months now. I had been taking the inclusion of the PC release with a pinch of salt. Assuming that some copy writer at Activision was a little over enthusiastic with the formats on the release.

Activision have confirmed that a new instalment to its Call of Duty series will be released in late 2008/early 09 - and this time, the game will be released on the Wii and PS2 (as well as the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC).

Turns out I was wrong and they were right. Please see Pre-Order details for Call of Duty 5 below from play.com. On Xbox 360, PS3 and yes PC. It seems we are getting a new Call of Duty game on the PC sooner than we thought. Hoorar.

Xbox 360

PS3

 

and PC !!!!

  

So mark that date on the calendar, 28th November.

Click the link below to see for yourselves. :)

http://www.play.com/Games/PC/6-/ComingSoon.html?cpage=7&ob=date#28/11/2008

by fourzerotwo

I wanted to keep you guys in the loop on how the Map Contest is rounding out for all the PC mappers waiting to submit their maps. We had hoped to start accepting submissions by now but regretfully (as typically happens) the legal required participants to be US only which was unacceptable for us. So we’ve been working on making it open to worldwide participants which requires quite a bit more legal / contest rule work due to the different laws and regulations in each country.
We could have launched it and made it US only but I know we have a fantastic worldwide community of mappers that would have got severely screwed if it was that way and I won’t let that happen. So that’s what’s holding things up right now. The good news is submissions should be starting THIS WEEK as we’re in the final stages of chasing down our international legal department. Once we have it all confirmed, I hope to have the submission page linked here for you so you can start sending in your custom maps for the contest.

As for the 1.6 patch which was going through test, we found a critical bug during QA which broke kill cams when playing with mods among other things which put a hold on it and put it back in development. We’re continuing to evaluate it and looking into releasing it when the map pack potentially hits PC. I’ll keep you updated as it progresses, but right now it won’t be coming out anytime soon while we track down this bug.

Playstation 3 Map Pack Worldwide Release on April 24 !

PC 1.6 Patch delayed. Bug found during tests...

2008-04-04 | Written By: Charlie Oscar Delta Staff

The Variety Map Pack has arrived, Charlie Oscar Delta!

The Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Variety Map Pack is available now. You can get four new downloadable maps today on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for 800 MS Points. If you haven't already, check out the New Content Revealed SITREP to get a full description of each of the four new maps: Broadcast, Creek, Chinatown and Killhouse.
To celebrate the launch of the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Game of the Year Edition and the Variety Map Pack, Xbox LIVE® will host a Double XP Weekend. Starting on Friday, April 4 through Sunday, April 6, players can earn twice as many experience points as they play the new maps on the Variety Map Pack specific playlists.

That's not all soldiers! In stores today is the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Game of the Year Edition. This limited edition gives gamers the chance to experience the intense cinematic action of the original game while expanding the online experience of 2007's top-selling game by including a free token to download the Variety Map Pack.

No Word on the PC version yet.

Charlie Oscar Delta

The demo features a match between England and Germany

Electronic Arts has released a playable demo of UEFA EURO 2008, giving you the chance to try out the only officially licensed videogame of UEFA EURO 2008, one of the world's largest sporting events that crowns the UEFA European Soccer Champion every four years. Thanks: Blues/Tiscali Games. The game features stunning visual representations of the world's most famous soccer players, all of the teams and official stadiums that will be part of UEFA EURO 2008, and a new game mode called Captain Your Country which will enable gamers to put themselves on the pitch, earn the captaincy of their team and truly inspire their country to glory. In addition, an online mode call Battle of the Nations will enable gamers around the world to lead their country to global supremacy. UEFA EURO 2008 will hit the store shelves across Europe on April 11 and will be available in North America on May 20, for PC, PS3, PS2, PSP, Xbox 360 and mobile.

http://www.gamershell.com/download_24042.shtml

 

 

Tiscali Games - Plná velikost obrázku ze hry Operation Flashpoint 2

I made this in an attempt satisfy some requests and to babystep some people into PS3 linux. What You Need: PS3 Usb Keyboard Usb Mouse Ethernet Cable A Windows Xp Install CD Nlite Computer with Internet (semi fast because you need to download a 700mb iso file) CD or Dvd Burner CD or Dvd Patience Is a different distro already installed? If so then skip step two of preparing your ps3 part 1.

Our man at GDC was granted a viewing if DICE’s “revolutionary” first-person action game Mirror’s Edge at GDC last week. As you’ll see, his mind was well and truly blown.

Take back the night as The Dark Knight – one block at a time.

 

Gamers can order online now for delivery on the April 29th

Consumers can now pre-order Grand Theft Auto IV online for £37.99 on both PS3 and 360 from PC World.
Customers can also reserve their copy in store for £5, with midnight openings planned for the game’s release.
"The team here at PC World are hugely excited about the forthcoming release,” said René Wright, senior category manager - console and games at DSGi.

GTA IV pre-orders go live at PC World - www.mcvuk.com