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Tuesday , April 10, 2007 |
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Poll: Who the F Buys all those Sims Games? 01:45 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(0 comments)
Every time we post a new top-10 best selling PC games list, someone always asks, "Who the F buys all of these damned Sims games?!" Welp, that's what this week's VE poll aims to find out. Vote on your right!
Here are the results of last week's poll:
Have you "upgraded" to Vista yet?
Nope. [1782 votes]
Maybe next PC... [1189 votes]
Yep! [984 votes]
Gears of War: The Movie Interview 01:19 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Consoles: Xbox 360
(0 comments)
IGN.AU quizzed Epic's Rod Fergusson about possible sequels for Gears of War, the upcoming movie, plus other curb-stomping related fun.
IGN: So New Line has optioned the script?
Rod Fergusson: They have, yeah. They have a writer, Stuart Beattie, who wrote 'Collateral' and 'Derailed', and was a contributing writer to the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movies. And so he's a big name script writer, and he's already written a treatment.
IGN: Did he work with you guys on this treatment?
Rod Fergusson: Yeah he has, and he's actually going to be visiting the studio, and he's already played through the game multiple times and he's a real big fan of the franchise. And that's why we have a lot of confidence in him - he gets the game and is a fan of the game.
Hardware & Tech Nuggets 01:06 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- hardware: General News
(0 comments)
A. Reller writes in asking, "I'm going to buy a new computer after the price drop happens. I have been looking at all the dealers, Dell, alienware, etc. Those avenues are very expensive, and I was wondering if you had any ideas where to get the best bang for the buck?" Ideas for him besides the obvious "build it yourself" response? :)
RPG Vault Goodness 01:00 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Role-Playing
(0 comments)
Game Reviews 12:49 am
- - Games: General News
(0 comments)
In Other News... 12:28 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- In-House: In Other News...
(5 comments)
Okay, we're back on a normal posting schedule after the festive Easter break. It's going to be a fairly busy month, as we're getting a new site design (knock on wood) and other fun stuff. Not that I'm personally involved with the design or making of said site, but unless IGN is toying with us, we should have it before the month is over. I also need to move, so that should be fun too. It's nothing drastic; just to a place a little closer to town...
Anyhoo, today's question is from ItBurn, who asks:
Have video games ever helped you in real life in one way or another? Give examples!
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Monday , April 09, 2007 |
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May 360 Dashboard Update Preview 09:59 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Consoles: Xbox 360
(2 comments)
TeamXbox has a preview of the May Dashboard update for the Xbox 360 which includes some cool new features. Highlights include: MSN messenger support, the seperation of marketplace and state, err games, better background downloads, plus other subtle, yet welcome changes. They also have a photo of a cool new 360 controller that has a tiny text keyboard.
Why make a game with John Woo? 09:55 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Action
(0 comments)
The new Stranglehold Blog on IGN ponders - Why make a game with John Woo? I think the first thing people notice and remember about Woo's films is the cinematic way he portrays action. It's one thing to have a room full of guys shooting at each other. It's something else entirely to mix a close-up of a frightened goon, a shot of hundred dollar bills exploding in the air, doves fluttering away, and of course Chow Yun Fat leaping through the air, all in slow motion. It's the little touches of humanity, humor, and completely over-the-top "oh shit" moments that say "hey, this is a John Woo film!" And really, no one has done this in games yet. Woo's been emulated in games almost as much as he has in the cinema. But no one's been able to capture the complete Woo-ness of the experience in an interactive form. So that's exactly what we're doing with Stranglehold: the complete John Woo experience in a game. We honestly couldn't achieve that without Woo himself being in the mix. Two new screenshots included.
Saboteur Interview 09:49 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Action
(0 comments)
PC.IGN has served up an interview with Pandemic about its upcoming World War 2 flavored action game, Saboteur. In the game, you play a member of the French resistance and carry out insurgent attacks against the Germans in occupied Paris. IGN: What were some of the influences behind Saboteur? It appears like diverse elements from films such as the action of Indiana Jones and the colorization effects from Sin City played a heavy role in the stylistic approach of the game.
Trey: That's certainly true. Obviously Sin City -- we've seen that and learned some of the lighting techniques from there. There are plenty of noir thrillers throughout the history of movie making that could apply. I would go so far as to say that we've pulled a lot from many of the pulp action stars and more traditional action heroes. We've referenced John McClane from Die Hard, certainly there are elements of Indy in that you're a hero that's not a soldier in World War II. But we're taking a slightly more adult approach to this: the world is harsh and the Nazis are very, very evil, and we're reflecting that in the art style. I think some of the titles you've mentioned and others are the ones we've been drawing from.
Phil: We're also certainly inspired by the great games that Pandemic makes. Mercenaries is clearly a starting off point for the open world kind of game that's not military in focus. I'd like to use that as a opportunity to talk about the guys on our team, who are highly creative. We've pulled guys from the Star Wars: Battlefront team, from the Mercenaries team and Full Spectrum Warrior, so everyone is bringing to the table their own expertise in different gameplay systems, graphics systems and game design issues. We're creating this unique, new IP that one of Pandemic's first next-gen games. A lot of that inspiration is just internally based around the talent that we have at Pandemic Studios.
Quad-Core CPUs Get Extreme 05:26 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- hardware: General News
(14 comments)
Have $1,199 burning a hole in your pocket for a new CPU? Well, listen up, pilgrim:
Intel Corporation today advanced its enthusiast-level quad-core processor family with the introduction of the Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme processor QX6800, the company's twelfth quad-core processor offering. Running at 2.93 GHz -- the fastest native clock speed yet reached with the Intel® Core™ microarchitecture for the quad-core desktop -- this addition to Intel's innovative processor family sets new standards for desktop PC performance. The Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX6800 is ideal for those gamers, digital design professionals and enthusiasts who crave the highest performing computers they can get their hands on.
At the recent Game Developer's Conference1 in San Francisco, several software developers demonstrated new games that have been "threaded" to take advantage of multiple processor cores and threads. This increased performance can help deliver smoother gameplay, more realistic game effects and more lifelike artificial intelligence. Some of the most exciting titles of the year such as Crytek's Crysis1, Gas Powered Games' Supreme Commander1 and Flagship's Hellgate London1 have undergone substantial joint engineering efforts with Intel to use more than two processing threads to their advantage.
One of the first games ever developed for the PC is also entering the quad-core era. "The latest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator1 X, Service Pack One (SP1), due out later this month, is a great match for the extreme multi-core processing delivered by the new Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor," said Phil Taylor, Flight Sim Program Manager, Microsoft Game Studios. "Flight Sim X SP1 greatly increases multicore utilization and will scale as more threads are available leading to reduced load times as well as frame rate improvements and greater visual complexity during flight. The Flight Simulator team at Microsoft is pleased to work with Intel to provide our end users with a great gaming experience."
In addition to delivering adrenaline to hardcore gamers, the Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX6800 is also being embraced by media users and developers. Adobe1, Cakewalk1, DivX1, Sony Creative Software1 and dozens of other developers have delivered applications that use all four cores, enabling media professionals to do what they do best-- capture creativity quickly and reliably. For example, the Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6800 is up to 65% faster2 than the Intel Core 2 Extreme dual-core processor X6800 on video encoding. This is a key capability as more households are recording and editing high-definition video to capture, preserve and share memories.
"The performance and technology leadership we are delivering with our enthusiast quad-core processor lineup is a direct result of the reliability provided by Intel's manufacturing and engineering strength," said Eric Kim, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Digital Home Group. "This translates to user benefits such as better gameplay with more intelligent computer-generated opponents and less wait time for demanding high-definition media editing."
The Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX6800 is produced on Intel's industry-leading 65 nanometer process, key to enabling the large 8 megabyte cache. A 1066 MHz system bus is supported and the processor is available now at a cost of $1,199. You can find reviews at:
Meanwhile, AMD has cut its prices, taking the first shot in a hopefully bloody price war. The more they bleed, the more money we save. Check out the updated price list on AMD's website.
Top 10 Best Selling US PC Games 05:15 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(5 comments)
As expected, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars debuted as the best selling game for the week of March 25th through the 31st. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. hangs tight in the third spot, followed by World of WarCraft: The Burning Crusade. TES IV: Oblvion - Shivering Isles, makes its start in fifth place.
1) Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars - Electronic Arts - $46
2) Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars Kane Ed - Electronic Arts - $58
3) Stalker: Shadow Of Chernobyl - THQ - $34
4) World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack - Vivendi - $39
5) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Shivering Isles Expansion Pack - 2K Games - $30
6) World Of Warcraft - Vivendi - $20
7) The Sims 2 Seasons Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts - $30
8) The Sims 2 - Electronic Arts - $37
9) Supreme Commander - THQ - $50
10) The Sims 2 Pets Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts - $30
Not a bad list!
Gears of War Update on Live! 05:01 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Consoles: Xbox 360
(1 comment)
Score one for the side of good, as The Free Gears of War update is now on Live! The Auto Update includes a new multiplayer gametype called Annex, further 4:3 VGA fixes, and oh-so much more.
In Annex, gamers seize victory by keeping control over key map locations, or objectives, long enough to collect a winning number of points. Every map contains two to five identified objectives available for capture, with one objective active at a time. Objectives are based on map weapon-spawn locations and have a potential value of 60 points toward either team's score. Teams collect those points by maintaining ownership of an objective until all 60 points have been distributed. Every second that a team controls an objective, the team gets one point. When an objective falls to zero points, the next objective is selected at random.
And while defending their objectives against the onslaught of Xbox LIVE opponents, gamers may notice the following minor adjustments to "Gears of War":
- VGA Cable Support: Monitor resolution widths greater than or equal to 1280 now render as letterbox. In particular VGA users running at 1280x1024 will now see the game in full 720p (1280x720) resolution in letterboxed form.
- Adjusted Assassination Multiplayer Gametype: Leader no longer has to unlock weapons and now has to be executed to die.
- Adjusted Boomshot: Splash damage to be more effective rendering targets down-but-not-out
- Adjusted Hammer of Dawn: Aiming will be more forgiving of moving targets
- Adjusted Roadie Run: Reduced frequency of accidently grabbing cover while running
- Kill Message Ticker: Ticker can now be seen while down-but-not-out and spectating
- General: Addressed a number of possible exploits in multiplayer
They're calling this a "rolling update", which means it might not be available the moment you log in.
Hardware & Tech Nuggets 08:30 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- hardware: General News
(0 comments)
RPG Vault Goodness 08:20 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Role-Playing
(0 comments)
Game Reviews 08:15 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(0 comments)
In Other News... 08:03 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- In-House: In Other News...
(14 comments)
Everyone have a happy Easter I hope? Today is going to be slow with the holiday and all, but we'll keep an eye out for any news that pops up.
Today's question:
Anyhow have any suggestions for some questions of the day this week?
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