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http://www.gamespot.com/news/6212765.html

It might be related to their attempts to limit the time that people spend playing games online. After all it would seem strange to limit people from playing more than 3 hours in their private life, while still allowing people to play 4 times that long at work.

Short game, but it's really good.

http://www.gamespot.com/search.html?qs=braid&om_act=convert&om_clk=search

They need to get out a better video, if they have one, and soon.

well, that link was just a poorly shot video from a press-conference. here's a link to a better version http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6211130/sony-motion-controller-demonstration?hd=1

Press conference videos of the big 'three' (Microsoft,Sony,Nintendo) are here:

http://e3.gamespot.com/press-conference/microsoft-e3/

Microsoft won it for me, big time. Do not miss the project Natal introduction in Microsoft video (even with Steven Spielberg, pretty amazing stuff).

Nay, both games will ALSO be released on the good old PC.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/01/the-secret-of-monkey-island-special-edition-coming-to-xbla-pc/

http://e3.gamespot.com/story/6210601/the-secret-of-monkey-island-special-edition-first-look

Am I the only one who thought of this?

Ten reasons why I think Apple will/must release a gaming console fairly soon:

1. It is an extremely lucrative market. http://au.gamespot.com/news/6209281.html (e.g., Nintendo: US$18.5B revenue, $5.6B profit) and one that Apple has so far lost out to the PC on. No one buys a Mac for gaming.
2. Having said that, games are still already being written for the Mac. It's not like a new player is entering the field with no momentum or knowledge
3. Mac sales are increasing compared to PC sales and the market is expanding
4. Competing with Microsoft is important (and fun, come to think of it)
5. iPhone has had a halo (Halo?) effect on gaming with Apple
6. iTunes App store is so damn successful as a distribution channel
7. iPhone game sales are extremely high - many new and existing games companies are developing for a Mac platform
8. iPhone is OS X at heart. It would be relatively easy for games developers to write one game and deploy on iPhone/iPod Touch/Mac/iRig with little modification
9. Media centres are becoming extremely popular. Current gaming consoles are migrating towards being the media centre in the households. Why would Apple want the kids in the house determining how movies are downloaded and watched? Unless Apple provides a media centre that defeats all, many households will use PS3/Xbox etc. and take huge potential revenue from Apple
10. The ATV, while hardly actively developed, has proven immensely popular and demonstrated that an Apple built media centre will sell itself

Another way of pieceing all this together is this:

Apple only needs to update the video hardware in its existing ATV/Mac Mini to create a complete home gaming and media centre. It can link to both PCs and Macs for its overarching media control, or alternatively act standalone. It has a pre-existing distribution channel for games, movies, TV shows, software updates, etc. that could be switched on tomorrow. In one fell swoop, Apple could swing existing large gaming developers over to the OS X platform and provide them with an immediate three-pronged presentation channel: mobile devices, desktop Macs and the gaming console.

An Apple move into this market would almost immediately create a huge swing towards the Mac in the average household. At present, there are only three things that prevent widespread adoption of Macs: 1. Cost of entry, 2. Lack of enterprise adoption, 3. Lack of gaming buy in. (Things like less software, lack of familiarity etc. are just follow-ons from these.)

The second point isn't going to change rapdily, but the third would be eliminated completely once the iRig was introduced. Further, if the iRig was introduced at a price point similar to the other gaming consoles, suddenly Macs would be competing in the well-and-truly sub $1000 bracket and item 1) would be blown out the door.

So as far as I can see it, the only thing the introducing a gaming console *doesn't* do is increase adoption of OS X in the enterprise. You can't do *everything* with a single product release, but, hey, 95% is pretty cool for hardly any effort.

The only thing Apple will be spending their time on right now is thinking of what it's to be called! iPlay, iRig, etc. Actually, they'll probably have to come up with a nonsense name like drug manufacturers: Apple Xelf, Apple Quapi. Or perhaps just Apple Q or Apple Pi (symbol) - pretty cute.

Just having a look at .com names that are taken and free (held), I'm figuring something more like Zen or Xen - simple and cool. Or perhaps somehow blend in a Prince-like "symbol" - the Apple Pi (fun) or Psi (ironic).

Anyone think of a cool name for a set top gaming box for Apple?

Quelg

Since Take-Two has the publishing rights they're going to keep the DNF assets and current playable game and never release it or they're going to hand it over to another team that won't put forth the Duke style that one would expect. I really wish they would at least release a beta demo of the playable assets.

According to GameSpot, Take-Two only owns the publishing rights. The intellectual property still belongs to the developers, so don't hold your breath waiting for a Rockstar Studio to finish the job. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6209271.html

I don't trust the industry - been burned once too many by some of the over-hyped turds they put out

You might want to check out GameSpot; I have been using them for years and they have never steered me wrong on a game (i.e. they gave it a good score, but the game actually sucked) AND there are separate user ratings for the game which actually track the staff reviews pretty well, sometime higher and sometimes lower but generally in the ballpark with not too many degrees of separation (i.e. the staff thought the game rocks but the users all think that it sucks). They also get lots of exclusives like developer interviews, inside news and information, and special pre-release trial deals for their paying members. If you are willing to shell out a few ducats each year for really extensive game coverage (there isn't enough time in the day for you to play that many games personally and separate the wheat from the chaff), think of it like consumer reports for games, then give GameSpot a chance, I don't think that you will be disappointed.

BTW: I don't work for GameSpot or ZDNet and I don't receive any money from blogging for them or ads. I am just a satisfied customer, not a shill.

If you think "guitar hero" is strange, in 2006 activision trademarked "Guitar Villain" and "Drum Villain."

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6164293.html

They don't seem to have ever done anything with those names, maybe they were considering it a while and decided not to or maybe they just didn't want anyone coming up with a cheap knockoff or a ripoff that was better than their product. Which is sad, I really am curious as to what "Guitar Villain" would be. Maybe it would have been grunge (killing hair metal), maybe it would have been all awesomely bad songs like "Final countdown" or "We built this city", who knows. But I'd bet if there was any product they were thinking of developing it was just the multiplayer mode from guitar hero 3 expanded, in which you could obtain powerups to mess with the other person. Which may not have been fun, but it makes the most sense for that name that I could think of.

Anyway, I like the title "Guitar Villain" better and thought that was interesting. Lego Guitar Villain not so much though.

First StarForce posting a link to a torrent of Galactic Civilizations II, now Gamestop breaking the street date. We can only assume that Stardock is doing something right, to be earning so many high-profile enemies!

According to GameSpot's review Day of Defeat is Half-Life mod released as standalone game. It seems that no game developer wants to give the equal chance to both sides at the start. Usually the other side ( the bad guys ) are NPCs in series of levels with scripted events. They ( the game developers ) usually follow the history line. In this rare case someone dared to publish the mod as complete standalone game. Thank you for clarifying my point.

Probably what Namco, EA and Capcom have learned. Namely, you don't have to actually let the user access the full game they bought for full price anymore. You're free to lock content on their disc, then charge them for it again later (or even on release day) via DLC. Best of all, after basically spitting in the faces of your biggest fans, they'll fall over themselves to defend you for it on the Interwebs.

GamePolitics asked a First Amendment rights expert for his opinion on the matter, and the National Coalition Against Censorship spoke out against the bill, urging Governor Jon Huntsman to strike it down. Fortunately, it appears he took their advice (or that of many lobbying retailers), as the bill has now been vetoed. Huntsman said, "The industries most affected by this new requirement indicated that rather than risk being held liable under this bill, they would likely choose to no longer issue age appropriate labels on goods and services."

(emphasis mine)

I'm optimistic that we'll see a lot more stories in the coming year like this one, of governors vetoing similar game-sale restrictions - or of state legislatures not passing these bills at all.

But it's not just because of First Amendment issues. Apparently, that hasn't been a problem for the legislatures passing the bills in the first place. I think the downturn in the economy will wind up helping the game industry here.

This governor clearly got the message: "the economy is in recession, and this bill would make it less likely that your state would have sales in a certain industry." And he wisely decided to veto the bill, so that game retailers in his state (WalMart, Target, EB/GameStop, ..) would continue to sell games. No doubt someone also showed him the sales numbers for the top games and how many of them would be affected by this bill (rated M). And so, had a bill like this already been on the books, those sales would not have happened in his state. I can't see any governor wanting to sign a bill that prevents money entering his state's economy, not at a time like this.

Money drives a lot of things, and the economy clearly drives decisions at the government level.

GameSpot have a video of the presentation that the link in the OP is summarising (53mins).

Personally I can't fathom how they can get good quality 720p down a connection 1/3 (5Mbps) of what would be needed for MPEG2 (15Mbps). Nor how they can have low enough latency to process the controls on the server - they mention specially designed servers but they surely can't do so much better with the intertubes than gaming server hosts do already, then there's the fluctuations... I suppose we'll find out when people get onto the beta in summer.

Continuing my comment above: Gamespot has a story about the beginning of the case.

Unfortunately, we cannot depend on Slashdot editors to do much research before they post a story.

Here are 10 Microsoft patents. I haven't investigated further, I'm not in a position to be a Slashdot editor, but the descriptions give the impression that what is being patented are obvious extensions of what is already available, or extensions of what should be open standards. They seem to be the kind of "advance" that would be routine when doing new development.

Unfortunately, there is at present a heavy dependence on using U.S. government power to make money. There also seems to be a lot of trolls trolling other trolls.

Hmmm... weird. I assume you're talking about this:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6202552/index.html ... which is very odd, because in the screenshots, I can indeed see the fence on the 360 one. I can't see it on the PS3 though.

There are already camps in Amsterdam and China addressing that concern. In fact, the China program is held in a Beijing military building!

Internet addiction disorder is trying to fight its way into the DSM IV.

In other words, if a few fatasses died in their parents' basements because they ate delivered pizza 24 hours a day and never moved their body except for their mouse wrists then they will ruin it for everybody and the sociologists in charge of the DSM IV make IAD a bona-fide disorder. More money for drug companies that way.

Ethanol-fueled. p.s. anybody who mods me down is a bitch.

There was a recent remake. I never played it, but the reviews were sufficiently bad that I don't want to even bother.

Don't worry, replay and earn 250,000 points to save him! http://www.gamespot.com/news/6141633.html

Okay, here you go:

There was an article that was posted on Slashdot about piracy a while back. The quote I'm citing is on page 8, here:

http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_8.html

In this interview, Mark Slater from 2k games said this about the Bioshock release:

"We achieved our goals. We were uncracked for 13 whole days. We were happy with it. But we just got slammed. Everybody hated us for it. It was unbelievable... There is a lot of strain on our content-delivery servers and things like that, where everyone has to download a 10MB executable. I don't think we'll do exactly the same thing again, but we'll do something close. You can't afford to be cracked. As soon as you're gone, you're gone, and your sales drop astronomically if you've got a day-one crack."

Now, before everyone mods me down for ostensibly liking DRM, I can't stand DRM, and would like to see it gone -- however, the article does provide some interesting insights.

"No cloud or squall shall hinder us." http://www.gamespot.com/pages/unions/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=24776763&union_id=6033

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2467470.html

Yamauchi does not say "depressed gamers who like to sit alone in their dark rooms and play slow games". What he did say was "stop playing boring games" and "If we can change the quality, the number of the available software titles can be as little as one-tenth the current figure. Somebody says there are a small number of titles available for Nintendo 64 and others say we do not have enough RPG. But it is not the issue this industry can afford to worry about now"

A company that tries to make games more fun is the kind of company I want to do business with. Nintendo has had oodles of problems with patents, it's only prudent to cover your own ass.

Uh...yeah

I mean, in that you mean the game's graphics quality is much worse, but can't turn it up.

See:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6202552/p-4.html?tag=feature;sidenav

Well, speaking of getting outsold: GTA 4 had more sales on the ps3 than the xbox despite the larger number of xbox machines. What's really interesting in this picture is that the next gta4 addon will be xbox exclusive.
Dare I say foulplay?

A majority of the bosses require very specific strategies to defeat, and the uninformed will likely perish several times in these encounters before they grasp how to claim victory. Even if you're a seasoned veteran who knows all of the tricks, don't expect things to be simple; some bosses have changed just enough to throw you off of your game, and all of them are a lot tougher than you remember. By the end of the game, even the normal monsters found in random battles are tough enough to wipe the floor with a superpowered party of heroes if they're unprepared.

- From Gamespot

It seems that, at least in the case of the bosses, better preparation might mean reading up ahead of a battle to learn the right tactics. The alternative is a try-and-learn method, which I enjoy. I just hate being punished for failing by having to go so far back in the game that it gets frustrating.

Lots of console games are released with major performance problems. The Last Remnant is one of the latest culprits; from the language in that review (the game is "outstanding", the voice acting is "excellent") I reckon Gamespot would've given that game at least an 8 rather than a 6.5 if not for the frame-rate issues. I'm waiting for its release on PC in the spring, even if they don't optimize the game I'm sure my PC can handle it as it's far more powerful than my 360!

It's unusual for an otherwise high quality game to be released in that state but it's not unusual for publishers to cut their losses and just drop an unfinished game in shops with broken gameplay and major technical/performance issues.

I really hope this was meant to be disingenuous.

Freeciv (Free and open version of Civilization) : http://freeciv.wikia.com/
OpenTyrian (Free and open version of Tyrian) : http://code.google.com/p/opentyrian/
The Ur-Quan Masters (Star Control 2) : http://sc2.sourceforge.net/
Oolite (loosely based on Elite) : http://www.oolite.org/
Command and Conquer 1 : http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/commandconquer/download_6178099.html?tag=other-user-related-content;4

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/swine/download_6141612.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=files&tag=files;title;2 Pigs vs Rabbits, with tanks. What could be more fun for kids?

I've done a little searching and I think I'm remembering this game and this game.

I've done a little searching and I think I'm remembering this game and this game.

NO THIS IS MUSHROOM KINGDOM!

I just thought this was a good time to remind people that for the 12th aniversary, Westwood started giving away C&C I gold edition free. I can't find the download on their website any more, but gamespot has it mirrored.

Now we know why all those disco people seemed to suffer from brain damage!

The PS3, while on and running a game, consumes some 33.34kWh weekly--equivalent to around A$5 ($4.79). When on but idle, it uses almost as much, sapping 31.74kWh, or A$4.76 ($4.56). When the machine was off (with the back switch on), power usage plummeted to 0.30kWh, or A$0.04 ($0.04) a week. http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=26421252 So it's using about 16 cents a month in standby. That's hardly equivalent to 5 refrigerators. It's common sense to turn something off when your not using it. Why would someone leave a game console on when it's not in use?

I've seen the same figure in numerous write ups. Here is but one example. Excerpt:

"So how has this strategy panned out for the gamemaker's first third-party-published title, Ironclad Games' Sins of a Solar Empire? As reported by gaming trade site Gamasutra, Sins of a Solar Empire has surpassed 400,000 units at retail, with another 100,000 units digitally distributed through Stardock's online store, since the PC game went on sale in February. That's not a bad figure, considering Sins reportedly cost under $1 million to make.

Jesus. Christ. http://www.gamespot.com/features/6112889/p-18.html

You've probably got the article The Final Hours of Half-Life 2 in mind; it was posted on GameSpot back in November 2004. Gabe Newell tells about his encounter with DaGuy on page 21 I'm Getting My Crowbar.

The 25-page article covers quite a bit of ground. Slightly dated perhaps, but still a great read.

You've probably got the article The Final Hours of Half-Life 2 in mind; it was posted on GameSpot back in November 2004. Gabe Newell tells about his encounter with DaGuy on page 21 I'm Getting My Crowbar.

The 25-page article covers quite a bit of ground. Slightly dated perhaps, but still a great read.

I remember this story from GameSpot's "The Final Hours of Half-Life 2" at http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6112889/p-18.html and onwards.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/wheeloftime/tech_info.html

Yeah, the last one sucked (of course gamespot thinks it's good), so of course, they should make a new one that also sucks.

I am surprised as I haven't been following this news since Jordan's death. I will say I am excited as I picked up Eye of the World for a quarter at a used bookstore in high school. I've been a huge fan ever since but have often wondered if there is any possible way a game or movie can do this series justice.

Wheel of Time has such extensive (sometimes laboriously so) plot lines running in tandem and across multiple characters that may not cross for thousands of pages. Can this be set in film successfully? The introspection of the characters when you're seeing things from their points of view ... the political games ... the extensive dream sequences ... keeping the dream world and waygates straight ... so much they could get wrong!

In truth, I wondered the same of George R. R. Martin's Song of Fire & Ice series recently licensed by HBO. I guess we'll see if they can do that series justice as well.

As for the games, I was a bit disappointed with the 1999 version which was basically a Hexen engine playing as an Aes Sedai in one of the Ajahs. A visually pleasing game, though. I certainly hope they do better with The Wheel of Time MMOs & don't dish me another buggy clone like Lord of the Rings or Warhammer.

Red Eagle & Universal, please don't screw this up! Disclaimer: I am a Perrin fan.

Actually, the 3M is a bit bigger...

The size of the 3M version is 11.5 x 5 x 2.2 cm (that's about 5 inches by 2 inches by .8 inches for those who haven't evolved).

The Optima is "2 by 4.1 by 0.7 inches, weighing 4.2 ounces."

What we need is a head to head by a reputable, unbiased website.Like Gamespot maybe.

Well, i said pocketable, not smaller. It's .9 inches longer and .1 inches thicker. For a higher resolution image and $100 less, i'll deal with the added size.
But actually, the dell pico projector suits my needs more than any of these, even though it's larger. As soon as it drops back down to $400 (i saw it for ONE DAY recently, but i was broke), i'm going to get one.
-Taylor

Actually, the 3M is a bit bigger...

The size of the 3M version is 11.5 x 5 x 2.2 cm (that's about 5 inches by 2 inches by .8 inches for those who haven't evolved).

The Optima is "2 by 4.1 by 0.7 inches, weighing 4.2 ounces."

What we need is a head to head by a reputable, unbiased website.Like Gamespot maybe.

Actually, the average age of gamers in Australia is 30:

http://au.gamespot.com/news/6200065.html

Most of the [gaming] benchmarks show that Vista is just slower than XP.

This was true when Vista was RTMed but is just no longer the case. For any reviews after Vista SP1 (MS always takes 1 SP to get things right), the performance is about equal. Please cite any benchmarks you find to the contrary though -- I'd love to read them.

http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2008/03/25/windows_vista_sp1_gaming_performance/10
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2302527,00.asp
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6188289/index.html?sid=6188289&cpage=8

If you were expecting a huge drop in performance as your eyes scanned from the XP to the Vista results, well, surprise! As many a tech analyst predicted, Windows Vista's gaming performance conundrum has largely been solved, and it was mainly due to early graphics drivers.

To me, there is a serious problem with the Wii.

I've not checked many review sites so if I'm bringing up a biased, poor review site by all means, reject what I'm saying:

2 years in and according to Gamespot only 8 games have made a score over 8.5 - 12 if you count 8.5

This is woeful. You go to the Wii section in any store and the shelves are stocked with what I deem "exploitware". That is, poorly designed games attempting to sucker the Wii mass market into buying games based on advertised novel mechanics (that rarely work).

A year ago, you could forgive this type of situation on the industry having not caught up with the prolific popularity of the console. Now, I find myself losing faith in the Wii. With all the Mario lineup accounted for and Smash Bros done, a "not completely awesome" Metroid. What do we have to look forward to?

Url may or may not work for you (localised) http://au.gamespot.com/reviews.html?type=reviews&platform=1031&mode=all&sort=score&dlx_type=all&sortdir=asc&official=all

To me, there is a serious problem with the Wii.

I've not checked many review sites so if I'm bringing up a biased, poor review site by all means, reject what I'm saying:

2 years in and according to Gamespot only 8 games have made a score over 8.5 - 12 if you count 8.5

This is woeful. You go to the Wii section in any store and the shelves are stocked with what I deem "exploitware". That is, poorly designed games attempting to sucker the Wii mass market into buying games based on advertised novel mechanics (that rarely work).

A year ago, you could forgive this type of situation on the industry having not caught up with the prolific popularity of the console. Now, I find myself losing faith in the Wii. With all the Mario lineup accounted for and Smash Bros done, a "not completely awesome" Metroid. What do we have to look forward to?

Url may or may not work for you (localised) http://au.gamespot.com/reviews.html?type=reviews&platform=1031&mode=all&sort=score&dlx_type=all&sortdir=asc&official=all