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Gaming News & Discussion (Page 29)
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Stogieman
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Mar 14, 2012, 11:24 AM
 
EA announces more server shutdowns on April 13, 2012

- Burnout Revenge
- Create
- EA Sports Active 2
- The Godfather II (This has no online achievements)
- EA Sports MMA
- Need for Speed: ProStreet
- The Saboteur (This has no online achievements)
- Spare Parts (Online not required for achievements)

I wonder how much longer Burnout Paradise has until it's server(s) get pulled.

Slick shoes?! Are you crazy?!
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Mar 14, 2012, 11:39 AM
 
I seem to recall it being a ghost town the last time I logged on two years ago (Like 5k online).
     
Stogieman
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Mar 16, 2012, 03:10 PM
 

Slick shoes?! Are you crazy?!
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Mar 16, 2012, 03:35 PM
 
Yeah, I only glossed the article earlier, but nowadays I'm not a believer of denials like this. It doesn't seem as clear-cut as last years stock-saving declaration.
     
Leonard
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Mar 16, 2012, 03:58 PM
 
So they'll be talking about it at E3 2013!
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Mar 19, 2012, 09:15 AM
 
So Game of the Year is (According to BAFTA)...Portal 2! MW3 and Skyrim both walked away without any prizes.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Jawbone54
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Mar 20, 2012, 11:44 AM
 
PS4 ports won't suck?

Report: PlayStation 4 to Abandon the Cell Processor

The introduction of the PlayStation 3 included the Cell processor, a chipset designed by Sony to create the most advanced home video game console to date. Due to a number of possibilites, the results never quite reached Sony's high expectations, and it looks like the company may be moving to a different processor architecture for the PlayStation 4.

According to Kotaku, the PlayStation 3's successor will abandon the existing Cell processor in favor of a chip produced by AMD. Originally reported by Forbes, Sony's shift to an AMD produced chip would stray from its current partner and AMD rival, NVIDIA.

If taken to be true, developers can begin creating games using existing AMD architecture, as opposed to waiting for Sony to release new technology. Considering this, developers could, theoretically, already have the tools to start working on the next generation of home console gaming. Straying away from proprietary technology can also result in more consistent ports between platforms, something that has been a tough challenge for some PlayStation titles.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Mar 20, 2012, 11:48 AM
 
They'll find a way to make programming a hassle.
     
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Mar 20, 2012, 06:38 PM
 
There is actually a business reason that programming the PS2 and PS3 was such a hassle - that made it harder to port games developed for it to something else. They counted on anyone wanting to put their game on the PS(2|3) no matter how hard it was to program for, and for the PS2 that basically worked. Since Sony was the big dog at the launch of each console, they played defensive. The original PS was very easy to program for compared to the competition - also quite intentional, as they were trying to break in to a new market. According to this logic, they should make the PS4 program itself.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Mar 21, 2012, 09:20 AM
 
That seems somewhat apocryphal. I don't recall too many games that weren't multi-platform during the PS2 era, and almost universally all ports were regarded as slightly shinier on the GameCube and XBOX thanks to their marginally better processing power.

Certainly, with the PS3 they saw themselves as bulletproof thanks to the status of their brand, and ended up doing a series or risky moves (cell, price, forcing blu-ray) that ended up severely curtailing their market penetration. Programming here would be the icing on the perception cake as port after port looked inferior on a system with superior power.
     
mattyb
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Mar 22, 2012, 09:41 AM
 
XBL question : what does it mean when EVERYONE has 3 bars?
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Mar 22, 2012, 09:46 AM
 
You talking MW3? Because that was one it's greatest mysteries to me. I feel like it's Activision making them hide who the shitty host is.
     
mattyb
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Mar 22, 2012, 10:03 AM
 
Yeah sorry, MW3. The mystery that is lag compensation seems to be rearing its ugly head again recently. People are going wireless so that they DON'T get host. Yet I can have great games with 3 bars and great games with 4 bars and then terrible games with 3 and 4 bars. God only knows what they're tweaking; we went from version 1.5.410.12 to 1.5.514.3 the other day (yes I've been sad enough to note it down).
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Mar 22, 2012, 10:08 AM
 
Yeah, not making me miss MW3.
     
Jawbone54
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Mar 22, 2012, 08:35 PM
 
Dust 514: looking verrrrry interesting...

Learn the Basics - IGN Game Previews Video - IGN
     
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Mar 23, 2012, 06:49 AM
 
Baldur's Gate for iPad confirmed.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Brien
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Mar 23, 2012, 08:58 PM
 
And Epic Mickey 2. I hope they fix the camera issues.
     
Jawbone54
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Mar 26, 2012, 12:20 PM
 
If you have an office-like gaming set-up, and you're looking for a small, capable TV, Best Buy is offering a deal right now on the "Playstation TV" bundle for $299, which includes MLB 12: The Show, Motorstorm: Apocalypse, two sets of 3D glasses, and an HDMI cable.

Specs
24" LED
1080p
240 Hz
2 HDMI ports
1 Component input
1/8" headphone jack

Even if you don't own a PS3, you could sell the two games and put the money/credit towards the 360 game of your choice. I'm moving into a new house with a bonus room that I'm converting into an office/game room, so I picked the TV up, and it looks fantastic. The screen size is perfect for gaming at a desk, and I didn't realize how good 1080p looks when the pixels are densely packed.

Anyhoo, just a heads up in case anyone would be interested.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Mar 26, 2012, 01:02 PM
 
Speaking of PS3, apparently their BF3 one-week exclusivity applies to the patches, as well.

L - O - L
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Mar 27, 2012, 10:40 AM
 
Call of Duty creative strategist Robert 'FourZeroTwo' Bowling departs Infinity Ward [update: Activision responds] | Joystiq
Robert "FourZeroTwo" Bowling, who served as creative strategist for Call of Duty and lead at Infinity Ward, just announced his resignation via Twitter. He has yet to announce where he is going next.

Net neutrality concerns raised about Comcast's Xbox On Demand service
Comcast's recent announcement that traffic generated by Comcast's new Xbox streaming video service would not count against the cable giant's 250GB monthly data cap drew swift denunciation from the network neutrality advocates at Public Knowledge.
Supposedly if you stream the same content to your PC it does count against your cap. Confusingly so.
     
Jawbone54
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Mar 27, 2012, 11:04 AM
 
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar View Post
Net neutrality concerns raised about Comcast's Xbox On Demand service

Supposedly if you stream the same content to your PC it does count against your cap. Confusingly so.
That's Comcastic.

Honestly, I don't have too much of a problem with it. When I read the article, I don't find it particularly dirty of Comcast. People using the service would possibly push up against the data limit anyways -- it almost seems kinda/sorta charitable of them.
( Last edited by Jawbone54; Mar 27, 2012 at 11:25 AM. )
     
exca1ibur
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Mar 27, 2012, 12:10 PM
 
What is dirty is if you use a competing service, say Netflix or Hulu on your Xbox you DO have caps if on a Comcast network. So I'd call this a unfair advantage for them vs any one offering the same service on the system.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Mar 27, 2012, 12:15 PM
 
Originally Posted by Jawbone54 View Post
Honestly, I don't have too much of a problem with it. When I read the article, I don't find it particularly dirty of Comcast. People using the service would possibly push up against the data limit anyways -- it almost seems kinda/sorta charitable of them.
Or manipulative.
     
BLAZE_MkIV
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Mar 27, 2012, 12:29 PM
 
I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft was paying Comcast for the bandwidth costs related to the service to try and get an advantage against netflix and comapny.
     
Stogieman
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Mar 27, 2012, 12:36 PM
 
About 18 months too late. Wasn't this guy promoted to creative strategist after the real creative team got fired or left IW? Before that he was in charge of the forums or something.

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The Final Dakar  (op)
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Mar 28, 2012, 04:32 PM
 
PS3 successor "Orbis" rumored for late 2013, ties retail games to online accounts
Kotaku is citing unnamed "reliable sources" in reporting that "select developers" are already receiving development kits for the follow-up to the PS3, code-named "Orbis." It will reportedly hit stores in time for the 2013 holiday season.
Orbis will reportedly end Sony's streak of home systems that are backwards compatible with software from earlier console generations
The most intriguing bit of rumor-mongering, though, has to do with the Orbis' reported system-wide protections against used games, which will tie each new retail game disc to a PlayStation Network account that must be actively signed in when the game starts up. Preowned game discs would supposedly still work in a secondary console, but would only play in a limited "trial" mode unless the new customer pays a fee to unlock the full game.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Mar 28, 2012, 04:49 PM
 
Brian Fargo vs video game publishers (interview)
I'd provide a breakdown but NeoGAF trumps me eternally on this one.
     
mattyb
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Mar 28, 2012, 05:18 PM
 
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar View Post
Brian Fargo vs video game publishers (interview)
I'd provide a breakdown but NeoGAF trumps me eternally on this one.
Cheers for that, very interesting.
     
Jawbone54
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Mar 30, 2012, 07:32 PM
 
The restrictions against used games will likely end up being a moot point as digital downloads increase in popularity and accessibility. I'm not too worried about that in the 720/PS4 future.

Meanwhile, EA actually did something sensible: EA explains why UEFA Soccer is now FIFA 12 DLC

Every four years, EA releases a soccer game based on the UEFA championship. EA renewed the license for the franchise long enough to make a 2012 version. However, there won't actually be a standalone UEFA release this year -- instead, EA is putting out UEFA Euro 2012 on April 24 as a DLC pack for FIFA 12. EA still refers to it as the "officially licensed videogame," but it's a downloadable expansion.

Why relegate the UEFA to expansion pack status? Mostly because FIFA 12 has been so popular, EA communications manager Steve Frost told Gamasutra. "We felt this was the best way to extend that experience and deliver fresh new content to our fans," he said. Releasing UEFA as DLC helps keep players engaged in FIFA longer.

"We expect that some fans who may not have FIFA 12 will want to play Euro 2012 and therefore purchase both," he said later in the interview, "but the bigger opportunity for us is to offer our loyal and passionate FIFA fans new content." Chances are, if you like soccer, you'd be interested in FIFA anyway, so this seems like a win-win.
There have to be business reasons for EA to be doing this. Anyone willing to make a guess?
     
exca1ibur
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Mar 31, 2012, 04:18 AM
 
Just the opposite for me. Blocking out used games is a crock of sh*t, digital or not.
     
mattyb
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Mar 31, 2012, 04:04 PM
 
Originally Posted by Jawbone54 View Post
There have to be business reasons for EA to be doing this. Anyone willing to make a guess?
Wonder what the price is going to be, and what they won't have to pay for in terms of burning disks, making jackets, distribution etc. I bet that DLC is far easier to manage than a 'normal' game distribution, and I bet the margins are also greater.
     
lpkmckenna
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Mar 31, 2012, 07:14 PM
 
Originally Posted by exca1ibur View Post
Just the opposite for me. Blocking out used games is a crock of sh*t, digital or not.
Works great for Steam and iOS. Frankly, I'd be amazed if they didn't do this.

The console makers will abandon discs eventually. And when you buy a huge game, the store would only download 1/4 of the game or so, and the rest would download overnight. That way, you can start playing right way.

The console makers are looking at Apple and Valve's huge piles of money and they see that's the future.
     
exca1ibur
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Apr 1, 2012, 01:29 AM
 
Originally Posted by lpkmckenna View Post
The console makers will abandon discs eventually. And when you buy a huge game, the store would only download 1/4 of the game or so, and the rest would download overnight. That way, you can start playing right way.
Comcast and AT&T can't wait, they are going to make a KILLING in the next few years.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Apr 2, 2012, 10:03 AM
 
Originally Posted by Jawbone54 View Post
There have to be business reasons for EA to be doing this. Anyone willing to make a guess?
Because they can can can?

The irony is they should do this for seasonal roster updates.

Originally Posted by lpkmckenna View Post
Works great for Steam and iOS. Frankly, I'd be amazed if they didn't do this.
Prepare to be amazed.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Apr 2, 2012, 01:43 PM
 
     
Stogieman
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Apr 2, 2012, 04:20 PM
 
Haha. I see a Kinect in Dakar's future.

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Stogieman
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Apr 3, 2012, 03:10 AM
 

Slick shoes?! Are you crazy?!
     
Jawbone54
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Apr 3, 2012, 10:35 AM
 
Interesting that they chose to keep the colored buttons on the silver model. The monochromatic look suited the newer model better.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Apr 3, 2012, 10:49 AM
 
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar View Post
Speaking of PS3, apparently their BF3 one-week exclusivity applies to the patches, as well.

L - O - L
This actually happened. Unprecedented!
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Apr 3, 2012, 12:44 PM
 
Review: Kinect Star Wars squanders promise with "Simon Says" gameplay
The real problem with Kinect Star Wars is that most of the game feels specifically designed to show off one (and only one) specific control function. Here's the part where you duck to avoid the low hanging tree branch. Here's the part where you slowly lift your arms to lift an inconvenient tree stump off of an ally. Here's the part where you hold your hand in front of you to deflect incoming missiles for a minute or so. Here's the part where you stand in place waving your arm in a figure-eight for 15 seconds to block a barrage of incoming blaster fire... yet again.

These discrete events don't flow together very naturally, and each one is usually accompanied by a voice-over explicitly telling you what to do, a little on-screen hologram illustrating what motion to make, or both. The net effect is a game that makes you feel less like an autonomous, badass Jedi and more like a participant in a really simple game of Simon Says.
And whenever the game was threatening to get exciting, the sense of flow would be interrupted by the game taking control of my character for yet another awkwardly acted cut scene, or to force my character to jog slowly down a corridor to the next enemy encounter. You'd think that a game that entrusts you with control of a freaking lightsaber would also trust you to navigate the world on your own, but Kinect Star Wars is constantly pushing you forward down one narrow path, making the detailed environments feel like so much window dressing. And that path forward seems to always go through more of the same simple timing challenges and generic enemies that you've battled many times before. Yet you'll battle them again, without actually having to evolve your underlying strategy or change up your repertoire of a few repetitive motions, the body-flailing equivalent of button mashing.
A. Sounds better suited as $20 DLC.
B. If Star Wars can't make kinect shine, what can?
     
lpkmckenna
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Apr 3, 2012, 01:12 PM
 
Anyone who expected this to be good is a fool. It was always a fraud from the very first demo.
     
exca1ibur
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Apr 3, 2012, 02:09 PM
 
Wasn't this the one that got bad reviews on the E3 floor about having major lag issues?
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Apr 3, 2012, 02:21 PM
 
Yes.
     
Stogieman
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Apr 3, 2012, 02:31 PM
 
Good. I hope this game tanks. I normally don't hold grudges but Terminal Reality is a terrible game developer. I'm still pissed about how they handled the Ghostbusters video game.

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The Final Dakar  (op)
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Apr 3, 2012, 02:53 PM
 
Capcom: 'On disc DLC no different than download' | Game Development | News by Develop
Capcom has responded to a wave of consumer complaints about its practice of charging for content shipped with the disc, but locked until that content is purchased as DLC.
When hackers found twelve finished characters hidden on the disc, Capcom announced that these would be made available later for 1600 Microsoft points, valued at $20 dollars.
"There is effectively no distinction between the DLC being ''locked'' behind the disc and available for unlocking at a later date, or being available through a full download at a later date, other than delivery mechanism."
     
Leonard
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Apr 3, 2012, 04:38 PM
 
Question is, where does the game stop and DLC start? I've seen Day 1 DLC. Was that DLC ready before the disk shipped or was it ready after the disk shipped. Then there is DLC that is just old maps re-packaged for a new game.

I guess it also depends on how much content you get with the actual game. I think I was happy with all the content that came on disk with Saint's Row 3, even though they cut MP. The DLC was fun although short.

I was happy with the disk content we got with Modern Warfare 3, there was the SP, Spec Ops Missions, Spec Ops Survival, and MP. There was alot to go through.
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The Final Dakar  (op)
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Apr 3, 2012, 04:41 PM
 
I'd say you're entering a gray area when you start working on DLC simultaneously with the game.
     
lpkmckenna
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Apr 3, 2012, 10:03 PM
 
Day-one DLC has become common because of the way console games are developed. After the game is finished, it has to go through an approval process from the console makers. That can take a month or two. During that time, the dev team must either sit on their hands, move to another project, or work on DLC. That's why this is happening. It's not insidious, they are just keeping the devs working.

If the DLC is finished before the approval is done, naturally they are gonna put it on the disk.
     
exca1ibur
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Apr 3, 2012, 11:41 PM
 
I miss the days of "ship it when it's ready" and you get a solid product that didn't need 100+ MB of patches at launch. Bethesda sure as hell needs to learn to do that, they have the worse QC in the business.
     
mattyb
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Apr 4, 2012, 03:19 AM
 
Originally Posted by exca1ibur View Post
I miss the days of "ship it when it's ready" and you get a solid product that didn't need 100+ MB of patches at launch. Bethesda sure as hell needs to learn to do that, they have the worse QC in the business.
Sorry, they're behind Twactivision/Infuriatingly Ward/Treyass.
     
 
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