Anyone who pre-orders Battlefield 3 will receive our first themed expansion pack at no extra charge. When Lead Designer Niklas Fegraeus got the assignment to lead the expansion pack, his thoughts immediately went to the four most played and loved maps in the history of Battlefield: Strike at Karkand, Wake Island, Gulf of Oman, and Sharqui Peninsula. Combined, these four maps have been played for an incredible 25,000 man years!
To receive back to Karkand at no extra cost, simply preoder the already amazing looking BattleField 3
New Ghost warrior 2 shots have been released. It appears that being powered by CryEngine 3 has done the game the power of good.
The title is the follow-up to last year's million-selling FPS title. Although applauded for its decent look, that game received mixed reviews, not least for its flat multiplayer.
Ghost Warrior 2, due to be released early next year, is the first third-party game to be powered by Crytek's CryEngine 3, which fueled the gorgeous Crysis 2. Here's some info: KEY FEATURES
* Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 takes all the breathless anticipation, precise controls and skillful fun of sniping and mixes it with stealth and silent elimination play, action scenes, a co-operative move playbook
* Night vision and thermo vision goggles to use in limited visibility situations
* Vehicle sections are a new addition to the Sniper series
* Multiple and varied locations including urban, jungle, mountain and tundra environments
THE Authentic, Modern Sniper Experience
* Realistic ballistics take into account the player's location, wind speed and direction, breathing rate and distance from the target
* Snipers do not fight alone in the real world and nor do they in Sniper 2. Working with your spotter is key
* All environments are based on real-world locations
* An array of faithfully recreated weapons are at your disposal, including six sniper rifles, three assault rifles, heavy machine guns, and more
More Skill, More Rewards
* Silent kills allow for quiet enemy elimination and successful execution sees the player rewarded with a brutal kill animation
* Bullet cam shows particularly successful hits
* Limb dismemberment from large calibre guns and explosions
Innovation & Technology
* Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 is built on CryEngine3, the most advanced multi-platform development tool for current-generation consoles and for PC
* New equipment for stealth gameplay
* Multiplayer modes designed especially for sniper duels.
* Epic story crafted by acclaimed writers
MAIN CHARACTER BIO
Full Name: Captain Cody Anderson
Codename: "Sandman"
Nationality: American
Occupation: Private Security Consultant (ex-Delta Force Sniper)
Background: Anderson grew up in the cold wilderness of Alaska, where he learned the skills of hunting, marksmanship, and tracking from an early age. After his father was killed in action while serving with the Marines in Vietnam, Anderson was raised by his Native American mother. From the time he was ten years old, Anderson hunted wild game to put food on his family's dinner table. Anderson joined the Marine Corp after high-school and trained as a scout-sniper, attached to the elite Marines' elite "Force Recon" unit. Anderson is descended from a long line of American soldiers. He was raised in the tradition of patriotism and service to his country.
The master assassin returns in Assassins Creed Revelations, but now you can continue his story with the Assassins Creed Special Edition.
Wrapped with exclusive artwork on the box the Assassins Creed Special Edition includes Ezio’s Ultimate Armour (The Turkish Assassin Armour) to use in the single player as you swiftly and silently hunt down your enemies.
There are also two exclusive in-game characters to use in the Assassins Creed Revelations multiplayer. One from Assassins Creed Revelations (The Crusader) and one from Assassins Creed Brotherhood that has been revamped to fit in amongst the inhabitants of Constantinople ( The Ottoman Doctor)!
And to finish off the Assassins Creed Special Edition you’ll also receive the single player theme soundtrack.
The third Call of Duty: Black Ops map pack will likely hit Xbox Live on June 28.
That's the date emblazoned across a GameSpot advertisement captured in photo form by a Kotaku reader.
It's a larger, higher quality picture of the retail poster leaked earlier in the week, more or less confirming new maps Hangar, Hazard, Silo, Drive-In and another Zombie level.
While Activision offered a "no comment" on the legitimacy of the GameStop poster. Less than two months has passed since the release of the last map pack, which is great news if you're a Black ops fan, and great news for the companies who want more money.
Mass Effect is set to feature a four-player co-op online mode, according to various sources.
Eurogamer reports that the much-rumoured multiplayer feature will include "competitive elements" and "will not compromise" the single-player portion of the game.
A reliable development source has since said that the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer feature will be built around "original missions made for online", which will be totally unique from the solo campaign. The source added there would "only be a handful" of co-op missions which have been created with the intention of being "played and played again". Sound boring?.... Sure does, which makes us doubt it's solid fact. Reports have suggested that the online offering will come in the form of a Horde-style mode, but sources was quick to play down the notion, play down, but not deny. Bioware's Montreal studio is said to be behind the co-op side, and was seen to be recruiting for "multiplayer" stafflast year. "Mainstream penetration is a major goal for Mass Effect 3 and those high up feel online co-op is the answer they're looking for," our source said. "EA's keen to push the multiplayer side of the game to help spread word of mouth - so it's not just going to rehash stuff from the campaign. It's going all out." Officially BioWare's refusing to confirm the Mass Effect 3 online antics, but when pressed on the matter last week, co-founder Ray Muzyka saidthat the studio is "exploring" multiplayer for all of its games.
Although Nintendo never likes to talk specs, its new HD Wii U could be up to 50% more powerful than the PS3 and Xbox 360.
So far we know only that the console will pack a powerful multi-core processor of the IBM Power-Architecture range and a custom-designed AMD Radeon HD graphics cards, but there are no official numbers to go with all that.That's if estimates from developers, who apparently told Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia as much, turn out to be accurate.
Its 1080p capability is thought to be on par with Xbox 360 and PS3, but according to Bhatia multiple developers have discovered Wii U's internals to be far more powerful than generally expected. "Some of the developers we spoke to indicated to us that the console will have 50% more processing power compared to the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. This is yet to be confirmed by Nintendo," said Bhatia. While the platform holder has become known for releasing lower-powered hardware at a low cost, Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata has already admitted that theWii U hardware isn't going to be cheap, suggesting there will indeed be some serious power under its hood.
A photograph claiming to show a retail flyer for the next Call of Duty: Black Ops map pack has surfaced online, showing four new maps and a fresh zombie level.
It could be fake, but the attentive will remember that the last Black Ops map pack, Escalation, first leaked online witha very similar retail image.
Simple but immensely popular bird flinging game Angry Birds has cleared 250 million downloads across all mobile platforms.
He also told the site that the company's working on a new a location-based platform which will be built into all Angry Birds games. Title Angry Birds Magic, it'll let you unlock new experiences depending on where you are playing Angry Birds.
"Magic Places will work on any phone," said product manager Ramine Darabiha. "So you can think of Magic as a way to deliver new things via interactions in the physical world."Peter Vestebacka, founder of developer Rovio, confirmed the figure to TechCrunch.
It's hard to believe that the original PC version of indie sandbox game sensationMinecrafthas sold over 2.5 million copies -- and it isn't even officially released yet. That's a whole lot of tree punching and creeper exploding. Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson posted the staggering but not surprisingbit of newson his Twitter feed before embarking on a post-E3 vacation this week. The announcement comes hot on the heels of some major Minecraft-related developments unveiled at E3, including plans for an exclusive Xbox 360 version of the game featuring Kinect support and a portable "Pocket Edition" for Xperia PLAY.
Bethesda has confirmed that over the past weekend a hacker group "attempted an unlawful intrusion" of its websites. Speaking onits official blog, Bethesda said that "While no personal financial information or credit card data was obtained, the hackers may have gained access to some user names, email addresses, and/or passwords." It has advised users to change their passwords on all Bethesda sites, and any other site for which they use a similar username, password, or email address. The attacks were preceded by a series of Twitter threats,according to VG24/7. The hacker groupLulz Sec tweetedon June 12: "We were going to keep this little treasure chest to ourselves, but it appears the hand has been bitten. Say your prayers, Brink users. >:]" This was soon followed by "Big lulz coming up in the near future. Time to show these bitches how it's done. #Brink #Bethesda #ZeniMax". Bethesda also advised users to keep an "eye out for suspicious emails and account activity."
Bethesda and id Software have delayed the release ofRageby one month, according to the game'sofficial website. The post-apocalyptic shooter will now hit retailers on October 4 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Rage was originally slated for release on September 13.
id Software co-founder John Carmack said the studio hasplans to develop a sequel.
Epic Games' websites and forums were recently hacked, the company confirmed in a statement this afternoon.
Epic says it expects everything to be restored in "a few days."
Forum email addresses and encrypted passwords were "likely" obtained. The Unreal Developer Network was not compromised.
Below is a statement from Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney:
"Our Epic Games web sites and forums were recently hacked. We're working on getting them back up and running, and expect everything to be restored in a few days.
The hackers likely obtained the email addresses and encrypted passwords of forum users. Plain text passwords weren't revealed, but short or common passwords could be obtained by brute-force attack. Therefore, we're resetting all passwords. If you have an account on the Epic Games forums, you can request to receive your new password by email it to the address we have on file for you. The Unreal Developer Network (UDN) has not been compromised. None of our web sites ask for, or store, credit card information or other sensitive customer data. We're sorry for the inconvenience, and appreciate everyone's patience as we get our servers back under control. "
Kill Team is an arcade type Warhammer 40k shooter, revolving around 3rd person co-op gameplay with each player taking the role of a Space Marine. From the trailer we can tell that Orks are definitely the main enemy.
An added bonus of playing this game is that by playing Kill Team you unlock the power sword for use in Warhammer 40K Space Marine.
Speaking to CVG in Los Angeles today, design boss Cliff Bleszinski told us that the length of the title's single-player would comfortably top ten hours - and suggested it would be closer to 12, by saying the game would have "at least a few hours" more gameplay than its predecessors.
"I can tell you this is the longest and thickest campaign Epic has ever produced." commented Bleszinski.
"Gears 1 and 2 were roughly about eight or nine hours for the average person, it's at least a few hours more than that. It's thick - and it's not just copy and paste level design. There's all this unique combat, all these story elements; there's a lot of stuff going on. It's quite a journey." The firm has given the game's multiplayer a full overhaul, including the new Horde 2.0 mode whilst the promise of dedicated servers will be music to the ears of long-term fans.
Developer: Radical Entertainment
Release: 2012 Genre: Action Platform: PS3X/360 Publisher: Activision
Prototype 2. I was led to a dark theater barricaded with velvet rope. Inside were cushy leather seating and fuzzy blood-red walls. Kind of odd, but it’s E3, one doesn’t ask questions. Also, this is the franchise where Penny Arcade so eloquently pointed out that one can karate-kick the effing helicopers. Anything, it would seem, goes.
They showed me a pre-alpha build, so the graphics as well as everything else were firmly in the sketchy development stages. We won't comment on those aspects of the game here. The game is broken down into zones. There’s the Red Zone. There’s zero chance for human life. This is where Newt from the film "Aliens" would reside.
Yellow Zone – This is the quarantine or triage zone. We were instructed to think of the movies ‘Children of Men’ or ‘District 9’. Stuff’s still going down, but human beings have escaped the red zone and are trying to get to our last place.
The Green Zone – This one is nearest to normal. It’s Bagdad in the green-zone. Now, it’s not all gravy and sunshine in the green zone. There’s the Blackwatch presence. They’re human beings who represent the military industrial complex. They’re trying to manipulate the citizenry to do their bidding. The guy showing off the game, speaking in front of the group was very excited about the dialogue that was happening between the Blackwatch folks and the human population. They look a lot like cops.
Our er… “hero” is Sgt. James Heller .He was a soldier who came back from Afghanistan to find his wife and his daughter dead, and Mercer, the er “hero” from the first Prototype is responsible. So he must become the thing he hates, and use Mercer’s powers for revenge. We were told developers wanted to move away from Mercer’s “I don’t wanna use my powers, but I must!” mentality toward a more revenge-based exuberance with it.
You gather information from ‘persons of interest’ by ‘consuming’ them. Don’t worry, you’re not eating people. You’re beating the crap out of them. Then, when those memories are leaking all over the pavement, then you have access to them. Devs told us they wanted the player to feel more in control of their destiny. So you’ll have quests that you can select. Additional information is provided by a new system called Blacknet. You can hunt down these trucks in the world and beat them up for information, much the same way as those persons of interest. These can also give you side quests.
One of the powers that Heller has access to is a kind of echolocation. Devs didn’t want the standard icon to appear on screen. You actually have to hunt down the person you want to find, and you can definitely choose wrong. They told us it was called the hunting mechanic.
You can also unlock new abilities and powers throughout the game. You can upgrade your bladed weapon on your arm, or grow new tendril like abilities. One of the powers displayed was called the black hole attack, which basically caused a black hole to appear in the middle of the tank the player was fighting. Another attack caused a huge infection in the target, which spun out of control and exploded, taking out a large amount of enemies.
A new aspect to the game is the ‘Lairs’. These are areas underground, which have a high concentration of bad guys within them. They’re usually also mini-bosses. When they’re defeated, you get a little more information on the infection. The combat system in the game has also been upgraded. Devs wanted you to have a ‘smarter’ fight. Enemies now will have certain tells that allow you to defeat your enemy in smarter, more efficient ways. A tactical jump at just the right moment can provide a good opportunity for a counterattack. Enemies will also change as you attack them. If you slice off a limb, that will have a noticeable effect on your enemy. The severed limb might make him weaker, it might just make him mad.
Lastly, we were introduced to ‘Tiny’ who was not so very tiny at all. In fact, he was huge. And he had two huge arms with which he was trying to kick the crap out of Heller. He was just a teaser of a boss battle though, and our presentation ended there.
The thunder run tank gameplay trailer shows off the amazing graphics of Frostbite 2. This mission follows our new character Marine Sgt. Miller as he takes part in a large-scale tank assault on the outskirts of Tehran.
Halo 4 has been announced and is hailed as the beginning of a new trilogy:
"Set in the aftermath of Halo 3, Master Chief returns to confront his own destiny and face an ancient evil that threatens the fate of the entire universe. A new trilogy begins when Halo 4 releases in 2012."
The CGI looks awesome as always, and Ubisoft as used The trailer to announce the Special Edition box, which includes a soundtrack, Turkish Assassin Armour single-player outfit and two multiplayer characters; The Crusader and Ottoman Doctor.
Nintendo's confirmed that its new home console will be called Wii U.
The platform holder showed the backwards compatible console at its E3 press conference, complete with touch screen controller.
The Wii U supports HD images wirelessly transmitted between the TV screen and game controller, which has a 6.2 inch in-built screen, which doesn't support HD.
The controller includes two thumb sticks, face buttons, a d-pad, a built-in camera, two trigger buttons on the left and right shoulders, an accelerometer and a microphone.
Supporting video chat, the controller can also be used in conjunction with the Wii Remote, Balance Board and Nun-chuk.
It looks awesome, as ever Nintendo is trying new things, but will it work?
Microsoft has officially announced Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, the long rumoured HD remake of original Xbox title Halo: Combat Evolved (pictured).
Set for release on November 15 to mark the franchise's tenth anniversary, it's described as "the epic game that launched a universe, remastered for a new generation" and is being developed by Saber Interactive (with support from Certain Affinity).
"A fully remastered campaign", "co-op over Xbox Live" and classic multiplayer maps "enhanced and updated for Xbox Live" were promised via a trailer at Microsoft's E3 press conference.
The game wasleaked earlier todayon Xbox.com, before its listing was pulled.
Here are the official facts (in Microsoft's words): "Stunningly remastered campaign. Relive the award-winning adventure that defined "Halo: Combat Evolved" as one of the best games of the decade with breathtaking next-gen graphics and audio remastered for the Xbox 360. Engage in epic-scale battles against the backdrop of the eponymous "Halo" ringworld, and relive nostalgic memories with the ability to toggle Classic mode to play the original version.
Online campaign co-op. For the first time, experience the story that started it all witha friend on Xbox LIVE and launch a cooperative assault against the Covenant,whether you live across the street or halfway around the world.
Classic "Halo multiplayer maps reimagined.Wage battle on six detailed remakes of some of the most beloved "Halo" multiplayer maps of all time, and bring the fight to the Covenant on a stunning and resonant new Firefight map.
Remastered in the "Halo: Reach" engine and inspired by maps from "Halo: Combat Evolved" and "Halo 2," these iconic battlefields reignite the heart-pounding multiplayer action of the original favorites and let you relive epic confrontations like you've never experienced them.
Developed in collaboration with Certain Affinity, the new multiplayer maps are included on the "Halo: Anniversary" game disc, which means players will not need to own the original "Halo: Reach" game to play. The first of the new remakes to be revealed at E3 Expo 2011will be the fan-favorite map Damnation.
New challenges and enhanced story. Unlock up to 1,000 Achievement points as you clash with online opponents and battle through the campaign, and uncover never-before-revealed backstories told in motion-graphic form that foreshadow new mysteries in the story of "Halo 4."
If you are reading this post chances are you’ve played The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, probably in one sitting on your Nintendo 64 back in 1998... Because it was that good.
If you haven’t, what’s wrong with you? You’ve had over ten years to play what many folks would argue is not only one of the best games in the Zelda series, but one of the best games of all time. You’ve had alot of opportunity, too.
It’s been released for the Nintendo 64, re-released on the GameCube, and most recently was made available for the Wii on its Virtual Console.
Now it’s coming to Nintendo’s 3DS system, and you’re wondering why you should care. Hey, did you miss the part where I basically said it’s one of the greatest games of all time? I went hands on with a demo of the 3DS version of the game earlier this week, and it’s just as good as it’s ever been… if not better.
If you’re curious as to how Nintendo is managing to make a 13-year-old game look good in 2011, the first part of that answer is that the smaller 3DS screen helps a bit in that regard. But that’s not to say Nintendo hasn’t put other work into the visuals, as the game looks decisively sharper and cleaner than ever before. The only other place you’ve seen Ocarina of Time look this good is probably through a Nintendo 64 emulator, pushing it to resolution Nintendo had never intended.
But even still, you’ve never experienced Ocarina of Time in 3D, and thankfully, it translates well enough. Talking to others who had played the game, the range of opinions on how nice the 3D looked (and whether or not it was even necessary) was interesting, but not surprising. For instance, I found that when I had the handheld’s 3D slider bumped up to its max, images were “doubling” and looked ghost-like. Others I spoke with agreed, while another group thought it looked perfectly fine.
The good news is that the 3D effects aren’t all or nothing; moving the slider to the halfway point provided a subtle but noticeable depth effect for me, without the aforementioned ghosting. But the question is, for a game like Ocarina of Time, did it make a difference? Frankly, no, but I’m not sure if made a difference in most of 3DS games I played at Nintendo’s event. Personally, I preferred playing with the 3D turned completely off -- I felt the colors popped more, and the images looked more crisp. For me, that was more important than the sometimes distracting depth effects; I have a strong feeling the 3D is really going to polarize gamers. Bottom line: you need to really see it with your own eyes.
As for the game itself, it’s Ocarina of Time like you mostly remember it, with a few tweaks for Nintendo’s portable. The bottom screen, for instance, is now used to view the game map, as well as to select weapons and items with touch. It’s handled quite well, with an interface that’s both attractive and not in any way cluttered.
Also new for the 3DS version of Ocarina is the ability to free look and aim weapons like the slingshot using the handheld’s gyroscope. In this aiming mode, you’ll find yourself in first-person view, moving the 3DS screen in front of you to control camera direction. It’s surprisingly accurate in its movement, and an absolutely exhilarating effect. I did have some issues as I was playing seated, though; making long, sweeping turns or having to look upwards towards the ceiling was sometimes tricky. Fortunately, you’ll be able to aim the old-fashioned way, simply moving the 3DS’ Circle Pad to adjust the camera.
As great as Ocarina of Time is, I’m sure I’m not alone in wishing the Big N would surprise us with an all new Zelda experience for the 3DS. All the same, Nintendo already had a leg up on its competition here with its first-party 3DS line-up, as there are few games that can compete with Ocarina of Time in terms of experience and quality… even 13 years later.
Sadly, Ocarina of Time couldn’t be a launch title. In fact, it’s a disappointment to all fans that it didn’t even make the “launch window,” which is to say it won’t be out before June of this year. While there are those few notable tweaks, you have to wonder what’s taking them so long with what’s essentially a port. Who knows, but one thing’s for sure: it’ll be worth the wait.
A Comparison of the 3DS release and the Original game on the Nintendo 64:
