The Gaming News Thread

[Krusader]

Seems like there's something fishy going on at Infinity Ward, or its just a big hoax:

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/70...aked-Out-.html

http://kotaku.com/5483348/report-str...esident-ousted

[Kekvit Irae]

Seems like there's something fishy going on at Infinity Ward, or its just a big hoax:

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/70...aked-Out-.html

http://kotaku.com/5483348/report-str...esident-ousted

Smells like a publicity stunt. Either that or Activision decided to play their own game of Real Life MW2 Spec Ops.

[drone]

Anybody following the Portal update stuff?

Either Valve has some really bored programmers, or we may be getting a sequel.

[Xiahou]

Stardock announces the release of........ Total Annihilation?

$9.99 for the game + the Core Contingency Expansion. Tempting....

[Arthur, king of the Britons]

Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption will be released in May instead of April.

Will avoid packed April release schedule with May launch

Red Dead Redemption has slipped again, but this time Take-Two claims that the decision to push back the release date has more to do with avoiding the packed April releases than the need for additional time to polish and tweak the title.

According our sources, while the spin might suggest that the decision to push the release back from April 27th to new date of May 18th was to avoid the releases of other April titles, the whispers we hear claim that the time will be put to good use polishing the title prior to release. May is also a very crowded month, with at least three major titles set for launch that month.

Depending on whom you ask Red Dead Redemption has had a rocky development cycle, with some sources claiming that the development was in trouble and that is why the decision was made to push the release back the first time.

With the announcement of the move to May 18th, this is the third time that the release date has been moved. Originally, the title was scheduled to launch late last year, only to have Take-Two claim that they were pushing it to next year so that they would not have to compete with the slew of titles trying to make an end- of-the-year launch date.

Only time will tell if this strategy works for Take-Two, but as the title is being billed as the next generation of sandbox games, it will have a lot of hype to live up to. From the pictures and trailers that we have seen from the game, it does look like it could be an excellent western-themed game, but we will now have to wait till May to find out for sure.

Source: http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/17927/1/

[Jolt]

Anybody following the Portal update stuff?

Either Valve has some really bored programmers, or we may be getting a sequel.

I have been following it roughly since the beginning and after figuring out several clues, Valve has already announced Portal 2. One major new feature (According to the BBS images) of Portal 2 will be a cooperation mode. It shall be certain to add a lot of complexity to maps.

But the clue game isn't over yet, and now with Portal 2 out of the way, it's only very obvious that these final clues will the revelation of Half Life 2: Episode 3.

[Beskar]

Not much for news, but old school technology in your living room is the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF_dnGVbXkM

[Kekvit Irae]

Not exactly news, but still noteworthy...

Reviewer gives Assassin's Creed 2 near-perfect score, says don't buy it.

It’s brilliant. Don’t buy it. The copy protection of Assassin’s Creed II requires you to be connected to publisher Ubisoft’s servers every moment you play. Any interruption to that connection kicks you out and erases all the progress you’ve made since the last checkpoint. We cannot wholly recommend a game that imposes such stringent and potentially problematic restrictions on paying customers without good reason.

Seriously... a 9/10, and yet he still tells people to not buy the game. Methinks the review scores are a tad screwed up.

[drone]

Reviewer gives Assassin's Creed 2 near-perfect score, says don't buy it.

Seriously... a 9/10, and yet he still tells people to not buy the game. Methinks the review scores are a tad screwed up.

I heard they had serious problems this weekend with the DRM servers. If you bought the PC version expecting any differently, I can't say I'm feeling sorry for you.

And Silent Hunter 5, with the same DRM as ACII, was cracked in 24 hours. Money and karma well spent, Ubisoft!

[drone]

Seems like there's something fishy going on at Infinity Ward, or its just a big hoax:

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/70...aked-Out-.html

http://kotaku.com/5483348/report-str...esident-ousted

So Activision files a countersuit, claiming the IW guys tried to cut a deal with EA behind their backs. Nothing too surprising or earth shattering but when asked for verification, EA spokesman Jeff Brown had this little gem:

We don't have the time to comment on the many lawsuits Activision files against its employees and creative partners.

[Martok]

Looks like the legal battle heating up will cause Modern Warfare 3 to be delayed:

Link

It will take a long time for the full picture of Activision and Infinity Ward’s dispute to be painted, but a more immediate effect is one that gamers most certainly will notice – potential delays to Modern Warfare 3.

As part of Activision’s counter-lawsuit aimed at former Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vincent Zampella, the publisher has alleged that the problems have delayed development of the anticipated war shooter.

Aside from the vast legal costs Activision is already facing, any disruption to the biannual release of Modern Warfare titles will inevitably dent the firm’s revenue projections and, as a result, share price.

It could also cost the wider industry, as the release of Modern Warfare 2 late last year gave Q4 a record-breaking boost. Without it, year-on-year sales comparisons would have been even gloomier for the world’s games retailers.



A number of other allegations from the lawsuit have also been published by MCV’s sister site Develop, including:

"openly discussing their intention to leave IW with IW employees;

"arranging meetings with IW employees to discuss the willingness of such employees to leave IW and join West and Zampella at a spin off studio;

"threatening to harm the IP developed by IW and owned by Activision if their demands to be allowed to leave Activision were not met;

"engaging in a campaign to portray Activision and its management in a negative light to IW employees in an effort to solicit those employees;

"refusing to abide by Activision procedures and protocols;

"attempting to block IW employees from receiving equity grands, bonuses and financial compensation and incentives;

"asking Activision to allow them to keep for themselves millions of dollars of discretionary compensation that Activision intended to offer to the broader IW team;

"secretly meeting Activision's main competitor; and delaying pre-production of MW3 and attempting to use that delay as leverage in their negotiations with Activision".

[Krusader]

Penny Arcade has one view on the lawsuit.

Personally, I can't help but think what message it sends out that the developers of the world's best-selling game shortly afterwards crumbles.

[TinCow]

If you bought a game from Gamestation on April 1st, odds are the company now owns your soul:

It's common knowledge that nobody ever actually reads the various end user license agreements, terms and conditions and other legalistic walls of text that gamers are commonly assaulted with. It takes too long, they're way too complicated and they all say the same thing: Do this, don't do that, no warranties explicit or implied, etc. Nobody cares about them anyway, so what's the point?

But on April 1, U.K. retailer GameStation decided to make a point: It inserted an "Immortal Soul Clause" into the T&C of its online game sales, then sat back to watch what would happen.

"By placing an order via this web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul," the terms and conditions read. "Should We wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it, within 5 (five) working days of receiving written notification from gamesation.co.uk or one of its duly authorized minions. We reserve the right to serve such notice in 6 (six) foot high letters of fire, however we can accept no liability for any loss or damage caused by such an act."

True to form, according to the company, 88 percent of customers didn't read the T&C and thus legally forfeited their souls. How could it tell? Because the 12 percent who did notice the clause also saw the opt-out option, which included a voucher for £5 - roughly $7.75 - off the price of their purchase. More than 7500 customers missed out on the offer and are now beholden to GameStation for all eternity.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...to-GameStation

[Kekvit Irae]

Ladies and gentlemen of the gaming public, I hereby announce that Survival Horror is dead.

Silent Hill will be a FPS.

According to Gamasutra, Vatra Games is developing a mysterious FPS in their new Czech studio founded by the ex members of Illusion Softworks. This new FPS is a new Silent Hill for Konami.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

There's a lot of this "lets turn icons of other genres into FPSes" going around these days.