news

Starcraft 2 Release Date Revealed

Thu, 06 May 2010 00:17:32 +0100

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, will arrive in stores throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on July 27th, 2010. It will also be available for purchase directly from Blizzard Entertainment shortly after the release date.

The Simpsons Supports South Park

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:57:43 +0100

In the newest episode of The Simpsons, entitled "The Squirt and The Whale" a message has been left which says they support South Park after Muhammad's name in the episode "201" was bleeped out against Matt Stone and Trey Parker's wishes.The episode "200" has recently been satirizing the fear over depicting Muhammad by showing him on screen wearing a bear costume. South Park is very unique in that it has a very short production time per episode compared to other animated series which means it can deal with topical issues. The Simpsons' producers however tweaked the opened credits to show Bart writing "South Park-We'd stand beside you if we weren't so scared" on a chalkboard. Image below:

Family Guy: Peter plays Modern Warfare 2

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:55:51 +0100

While I'm not really a fan of Modern Warfare 2, I am a massive fan of Family Guy and pretty much anything that Seth McFarlane pumps out (No pun intended), so this obviously excites me (Once again, no pun intended). What's that, you say?! This is old news?! Well guess what. This is my blog, mother f**ker.

Team Fortress 2 Weapon Drop Update

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 04:43:19 +0100

On the 20th, Valve made an update to Team Fortress 2 about the rate and occurrence of weapon drops. Straight from Valve's official Team Fortress 2 website. The changes are laid out below,

Previously, we rolled randomly at intervals to see if you got an item drop. Now we roll to determine when your next item drop will occur. So you're guaranteed to find items at fairly regular intervals. The bulk of drop complaints we've received in the past have been from players having unlucky streaks, where they didn't find any items for weeks. That won't be possible now.
We've significantly increased the rate at which item drops occur, compared to the previous average interval.
There's now a maximum amount of playtime per week in which you get item drops. Playing beyond that amount won't find any more items. The amount varies, but if you play an hour or so a day you're good. Some of your unused time will rollover to the following week, so if you're an intermittent player you'll also be fine.

What these updates mean,

If you're an idler, you're going to find fewer items than you were prior to this change. Sorry. On the bright side, there's less reason to idle, because it won't earn more than players who are playing regularly.
Everyone else will find items more frequently, and with greater regularity.

They also tell about wishes for future updates,

"We're still thinking about how to allow you to influence your drops. When we see discussions on the forums, people often ask why we don't tie it to some in-game performance (like your scoreboard position, or number of kills, etc). Many players understand that if we did this, idle servers would simply change into servers running plugins that generate those in-game events frequently (as we saw in the Soldier & Demoman WAR!).

There's another side of it that we care about just as much, which is the message it would send to all the players who don't want to idle. Any in-game performance metric we chose would result in there being specific maps, classes, tactics, and so on that resulted in more drops. We really don't want that to happen. When it's simply playtime, you're free to play the game however you like. If you love Payload, you can play Payload maps without worrying about whether you're earning less drops than the guys playing Arena maps. Community mapmakers don't have to worry about whether their maps earn item drops fast enough. Similarly, server operators can configure their servers however they like, without worrying about reducing the rate at which their players are earning drops. In short, while it's far from perfect, not tying to in-game performance is a lot less poisonous to your minute-to-minute game experience."

Team Fortress 2 Official Website:
http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3727&p=1

Halo Reach Limited and Legendary Editions Revealed

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 04:31:24 +0100

Bungie looks like they really want their last Halo game to go out with a bang. They've really delivered in what seems to be worthy successor to Halo 3's content packed Limited and Legendary editions.
A detailed breakdown is laid out below.

Limited Edition:

In addition to the game disc and manual, the Limited edition includes:

Game disc housed in recovered ONI ”black box”
An exclusive in-game Elite armor set for use in multiplayer modes
Artifact bag containing Dr. Halsey’s personal journal and other classified documents and effects that unravel long held secrets from the Halo Universe

Legendary Edition:

The complete Halo: Reach collection. In addition to the game disc, manual, and the complete contents also found in the Limited edition, the Legendary edition includes:

Noble Team statue expertly crafted by the artisans at McFarlane Toys. Individually molded, hand-painted and individually numbered, this statuette is a must have for any serious Halo fan
UNSC-themed custom packaging
An exclusive multiplayer Spartan armor effect

Price:
The Standard edition will be shipping at an estimated $59.99 and the Limited and Legendary at $79.99 and $149.99, respectively.

My Thoughts:
To be really honest, I'm not that much of a fan of the Halo storyline or universe which makes the statue and journal kind of useless. The boxes seem cool also but not really worth it. The only real reason that I'm even considering buying the Legendary edition is due to Spartan armor effect and the Elite armor set. All in all, I love Halo's gameplay so I will probably will end up buying it.

If you want to buy either the Limited or Legendary editions, better pre-order them fast as they are only available while stocks last.

Halo Reach: ViDoc Carnàge Carnivàle

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 04:31:06 +0100

The gameplay shown in this ViDoc is amazing and is the first thing released about this game that makes me genuinely excited about it.

Portal 2 will be at E3

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:04:45 +0100

Valve confirms much rumors that the sequel to the critics' surprise favorite of The Orange Box will be shown at this year's E3. They will be hosting a press event at the Regal Theater in the LA Live Event Center on the night of June the 14th.
Only those with a press card will be allowed to enter and see the first details of Portal 2. It is unclear what these are, but as nothing has been shown yet, I'm sure anything will be welcome.

Lost Planet 2 Pre-Order Maps

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 02:30:00 +0100

Pre-order Lost Planet 2 at GameStop and get a free download "Helix", an underwater research facility in which you can use the game's new swimming features, and "Back to the Island", which is a remake of "Island 902" from Lost Planet 1. UK users can get this same deal in GameStop and Game.

Helix

Back to the Island

The alternative to this is buy them for $1 on the day.

Your choice. Pay the fee to pre-order the game or get it for a mere dollar on the release day.

More info:
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=243524

Pokémon: Black and White Gameplay Footage Released

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:37:11 +0100

The Japanese television show called "Pokémon Sunday" released footage of Pokémon Black and White. This footage shows the player walking along what appears to be a water edge in a city.

Pokémon Black and White: New Details

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 01:33:43 +0100

The newly revealed Generation V Pokémon games, Pokémon Black and White. They are to be released on the DS and not Nintendo's newfangled 3DS. However, this has not stopped Game Freak giving the series a welcome overhaul. They have updated the game to be somewhat reminiscent of 3D. This is shown with the official screenshots shown in the Coro Coro magazine.
These pictures were later released in higher quality on Nintendo's website which means these aren't illegal scans.

City shown in 3D (Also shows the newest female protagonist)

A House shown in 3D (Also shows the newest Male protagonist)

Two new Pokémon have also been revealed. Zoroark appears to be the evolution of Zorua.

This image shows Zoroark (Player's Pokémon) battling Zorua (Opponent's Pokémon) and also shows the new-look battle screen

On a side note from this, there is also a new form of Pokémon evolution, called "Evolution 3", but details are sketchy and nobody quite knows what it is.

The revamped design of the game also merges the Pokémart and Pokécenter into one convenient building where you can buy items and heal your party all underneath one roof.

Image of the new dual purpose building

The game is supposed to be released sometime in Fall for Japan. Release dates for the west are yet to be hinted.

More images:
http://www.pokemon.co.jp/bw/index.html