Rss Feed
Tweeter button
Facebook button
Technorati button
Reddit button
Myspace button
Linkedin button
Delicious button
Digg button
Stumbleupon button
Newsvine button
Youtube button

Featured Articles Archive

Three things I’d change about Modern Warfare 2

By
Chip Loan
Published: 02/16/2010Tags: , , ,

Take a look in any gaming forum or comment section of a gaming site and your likely to stumble upon heated debates between gamers who think Modern Warfare 2 is the greatest thing since free porn and those who just can’t stand it. Because of it’s huge popularity it’s become quite the polarizing subject, almost as heated as the Xbox 360 vs. the Playstation 3 debate. People have taken sides and mud is being slung. I’ll give my two cents on the subject…because my opinion is the only one that matters.

Hit the break to find out what changes I’d like to seen made.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Modern Warfare 2 gets patched

By
Chip Loan
Published: 02/12/2010Tags: , , ,

As I mentioned a few days ago in this post Infinity Ward submitted a patch to Microsoft last week that would fix some ridiculously annoying exploits in Modern Warfare 2. Today an update fixing those problems was rolled out. If you haven’t been prompted to download the update yet (I did earlier today) you will in the next few hours or so.

Here are the problems the patch should take care of:

  • Care Package, Emergency Airdrop, and Sentry Gun marker grenades sprint speed normalized.
  • Fix for “infinite care package” exploit.
  • Sentry Guns: Improved placement detection, preventing cases of Sentry Guns inside geometry.
  • Model 1887: Bling using Akimbo and FMJ combination now has same range and damage as non-Bling Model 1887s.
  • Fixes to prevent various XP hacks (including the prevention of negative XP)

It looks like it’ll be safe to play some Modern Warfare 2 again. It’s good to see Infinity Ward does what it can to get these glitches taken care of. Running into players with the Akimbo Model 1887 was never fun. Well at least if you were on the losing end of them anyway.

Bookmark and Share

Alan Wake gets cancelled for PC

By
Chip Loan
Published: 02/12/2010Tags: , , , ,

Microsoft announced today that Remedy Entertainment will not be releasing a PC version of AlanWake, their upcoming eerie thriller. The announcement comes just months before the game’s release, and with no PC version in the works this would make Alan Wake a Xbox 360 exclusive.

A Microsoft spokesperson elaborated on the decision yesterday:

“Some games are more suited for the intimacy of the PC, and others are best played from the couch in front of a larger TV screen. We ultimately realised that the most compelling way to experience “Alan Wake” was on the Xbox 360 platform, so we focused on making it an Xbox 360 exclusive. Both Microsoft and Remedy have long histories in PC game development. This decision was about matching this specific game to the right platform.”

Alan Wake will be released on May 18th on Xbox 360. Assuming they don’t cancel that version too.

Bookmark and Share

28,981,249,043 zombies killed so far in Left 4 Dead 2

By
Chip Loan
Published: 02/12/2010Tags: , , ,

That’s right. Over 28 billion (as in a lot) of zombies have been put out of their misery since Left 4 Dead 2 was released in November. They were whacked with frying pans, teed up with baseball bats, doused in gas and set on fire, shot in the face and well you get the idea. It looks like a lot of people have been practicing for the impending real life zombie apocalypse. And if these numbers are correct we have nothing to worry about.

Valve has some interesting facts to help you put the death toll into perspective:

  • The entire population of the planet has been zombified and killed 4.26 times.
  • With the average height of a zombie being 6 feet, if you stacked them end to end they would circle the globe 1,322 times.
  • If you placed 28,981,249,043 rulers end to end, they would reach28,981,249,043 feet in the sky.

Let’s see if we can crack 50,000,000,000 before spring. Most of the country is trying to shovels themselves out of three feet of snow anyways. We might as well be productive!

Left 4 Dead Blog – Don’t worry, we’ll make more

Bookmark and Share

Halo: Reach multiplayer beta launches May 3

By
Chip Loan
Published: 02/11/2010Tags: , , ,

Less than three months. That’s all we’ll have to wait to get out next fix of new Halo online action. Bungie and Microsoft announced today that the multiplayer beta for Halo: Reach will be starting May 3. I’ll give you a second or two to run and mark your calender.

Remember you’ll need your copy of Halo 3: ODST to get in on the fragging. Expectations are very high with Microsoft and Bungie touting this Halo as the best yet saying that this preview is “on track to be the largest beta program of its kind on any console, is expected to see millions of participants when it begins.”

Bookmark and Share

EA pulls the plug on NCAA Basketball franchise

By
Chip Loan
Published: 02/10/2010Tags: , , ,

It looks like EA is finally going to pull the plug on it’s struggling NCAA Basketball franchise. The series has had dismal sales in the last five or so years (not that it was ever hugely popular) and hasn’t kept critics or fans impressed either. The game was glaringly vacant from the publisher’s financial filing on Monday which lead to talk of the game being discontinued.

EA Sports’ David Tinson confirmed that the franchise was indeed no more in a statement give to Game Informer:

“We do not have an NCAA Basketball game in development at this time, and we’re currently reviewing the future of our NCAA Basketball business. This was a difficult decision, but we remain a committed partner to the NCAA and its member institutions.”

EA Sports was the only publisher still pumping out NCAA licensed basketball games since 2K Sports ended it’s NCAA run last year, pulling out of the market. Next year will be the first year since 1998 that there will be no college basketball game on the market. Developers working on the series will be dispersed onto other projects. One’s that make EA money.

Bookmark and Share

Modern Warfare 2 care package glitch getting fixed. Finally.

By
Chip Loan
Published: 02/07/2010Tags: , ,

It’s happened to all of us. You are running around knifing people and popping off the occasional head-shot when you hear that voice pipe up on the TV “enemy care package incoming”. You don’t think too much of it, hopefully they get something lame like extra ammo or a UAV jammer. It doesn’t phase you. You just keep doing everything you can to kill and not be killed. And then you hear those words again “enemy care package incoming”. Something isn’t right. It’s pretty early in the match for someone to rack up enough kills for one, never-mind two care packages. You check the scoreboard and notice only one person on the other team has enough kills for a care package, but no one has enough for two.

Congratulations you are the latest victim of someone on the opposing team taking advantage of the care package glitch. The latest major glitch in Modern Warfare 2 to be exploited by douche bags with no skills.

But it’s OK help is on the way. Hit the break to find out when.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Xbox Live Arcade raked in over $100 million last year

By
Chip Loan
Published: 02/07/2010Tags: , , ,

2009 was the most profitable year for the Xbox Live Arcade service so far according to estimates by the  research group Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment (FADE). The online gaming hub made $103.4 million dollars in the 2009 fiscal year, a whopping 34% jump in profits from 2008. Recession…what recession!?

One of the major factors in the increased profits was the average cost for an XBLA game, which rose from $8.33 in 2008 to $9.12 in 2009. The extra $0.79 increase on average still isn’t that bad considering some of the great games we saw last year. It’s clear that a lot of developers and publishers are directing a lot of effort into developing quality games for the service, and it’s paying off.

EA’s Battlefield 1943 took the top honors last year as the highest selling title. To find out who else made the list hit the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

RIP Xbox Live service for original Xbox 2003-2010

By
Chip Loan
Published: 02/05/2010Tags: , , ,

Today will mark the day that Microsoft fully turned the page from their generation one consoles and passed the torch to the Xbox 360 and beyond. On April 15 they will discontinue the Xbox Live service for the original Xbox console and it’s games. A move that will effect hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who still play on the first gen console. And yes this will also include original Xbox titles that are playable on your 360, sorry Halo 2 fans…you’re screwed.

Ending the service on the original Xbox will enable Microsoft to enhance it’s Xbox Live’s online experience. Paving the way for Project Natal, hopefully adding more features  and finally getting rid of the annoying 100 friend cap on your friends list (crossing my fingers).

Hit the break to read the full statement released today by Microsoft’s Marc Whitten. Feel free to fire off some comments and let me know what you think, because I care.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Team Fortress 2 patch adds new Highlander mode

By
Chip Loan
Published: 02/04/2010Tags: , , ,

Valve released a patch yesterday to their cartoon-inspired shooter Team Fortress 2. Which isn’t anything exciting in itself, but buried in that patch was a new Highlander mode. In Highlander mode each team consists of nine players and each team can only have one of each class. It sounds like fun, a mode where team balancing is all but guaranteed.

Unfortunately there isn’t any mention of mass decapitations, but I’m willing to look passed that. I played a few rounds today and it’s a blast. Definitely worthy of your time.

For a full breakdown of what else was included in the latest patch hit the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Darksiders and Saints Row will get sequels in 2012

By
Chip Loan
Published: 02/03/2010Tags: , , , ,

THQ will be releasing sequels to key franchises and top selling titles during fiscal year 2012 according to the company’s CEO Brian Farrell.

In a conference call with investors Farrell explained that THQ is gearing up for a strong 2012 with “accelerated growth with three major core game titles scheduled: Warhammer 40k Space Marine, a sequel to Darksiders and the third generation of our popular Saint’s Row franchise.” The fiscal year for 2012 runs from April of 2011 until March of 2012.

Anyone with a clue would have expected Darksiders to get a sequel. It had solid sales numbers in a very competitive release window after the holiday season and was well received by critics. The same can be said about the Saints Row franchise, it’s been a great source of income for the publisher. It turns out that being able to booze it up and ho-smack hookers makes for a fun game.

Bookmark and Share

Game kiosk company e-Play suspends operations

By
Chip Loan
Published: 02/02/2010Tags: , ,

Retailers Walmart and Best Buy launched pilot programs last year to test game kiosks in some of their stores. Walmart tested the kiosks in almost eighty of their stores while Best Buy tip toed into the market with only two. Both retailers were trying to find a cost effective way to take a bite out of GameStop’s lucrative used game buy-back program. As of today both of those pilot programs will have to come to an end.

According to Industry Gamers e-Play, the company who supplied those kiosks to both Walmart and Best Buy has suspended operations. The company’s website only features the following ominous message:

e-Play, LLC has suspended operations. Thank you to all our customers. For more information call 1-866-602-6014

I called the toll-free number listed in the massage, it’s just an automated message explaining how to return games and asks if you would like to leave a message.

It looks like GameStop’s hold on the used game business will remain intact. Both Walmart and Best Buy will have to go back to the drawing board if they wish to get back into the used game marketplace.

Kiosks still left at the selected “test stores” will be removed in the coming weeks.

Bookmark and Share

UFC 2009 Undisputed gets a price cut

By
Chip Loan
Published: 02/02/2010Tags: , , , ,

THQ had a lot riding on UFC 2009 Undisputed. The publisher was a financial mess and really needed their marquis MMA game to do well. Luckily for them it did.

According to an announcement by THQ earlier today UFC 2009 Undisputed has sold 3.5 million copies to date. That includes both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sales. Even with early issues with online play, the game was well received by critics (including myself) and fans of MMA bought the game in droves. And it has paid off huge for THQ.

To celebrate the game’s success it will get a price cut on both consoles, dropping the price to $29.99. A great deal for one of the best fighting sims on the market. A not-so-great deal if you were one of the 3.5 million people who forked over the full $59.99.

Bookmark and Share

Dante’s Inferno to be featured during Super Bowl XLIV

By
Chip Loan
Published: 02/01/2010Tags: , , , ,

EA is spending some serious cash to get the word out on their upcoming release Dante’s Inferno. And that trend will continue when they showcase a spot in this weekend’s Super Bowl match up between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints. Estimates have a regular 30 second spot during Sunday’s game costing around $3 million bucks. Not cheap.

The advertisement, titled “Hell Awaits”, will be shown sometime during the fourth quarter.

Hit the jump for more info!

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Steam sees 25% growth in ‘09

By
Chip Loan
Published: 02/01/2010Tags: , , ,

2009 was a huge year for the gaming industry. Games like Modern Warfare 2 shattered sales records and raked in profits never before seen. We are talking swimming in gold Uncle Scrooge like money. And if Steam’s user base growth is any indication then Valve is riding the success wave as well.

In 2009 the digital software distributor saw a 25 per cent growth from it’s user base in 2008. The service now has over 25 million registered users logging an average of 13 billion minutes of playing time a month.

Valve’s president Gabe Newell had this to say about their success:

“Steam turned five years old in March 2009. With the introduction of each new platform feature released over the years – such as the Steam Community, Steam Cloud, and Steamworks – we’ve seen corresponding growth in account numbers, concurrent player numbers and developer support for the platform. As such, we plan to continue to expand and grow the platform to better serve the developers supporting the open platform and millions of gamers logging in each day.”

With so many people ready to put the last nail in PC gaming’s coffin it’s good to see that Valve is doing everything they can to keep it relevant.

SOURCE: GamesIndustry

Bookmark and Share
Page 1 of 71234567