Gamer Blast

MAG DLC Hits Next Week, And It’s Free!

Connor — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:26:09 +0000

If there’s anything that I love more than a great game, it’s a great game with committed developers. MAG is an online first-person shooter than supports a massive 256-player game size, making for incredibly large-scale battles.
I haven’t tried it out yet, but it looks fantastic, and I’ve been following news on it since the game was announced. A lot of the news has been posted on the Playstation blog, where developers and Sony update gamers on the happenings of the console. The developers for MAG (Zipper Interactive, former developers of the SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals series) have been updating the Playstation blog quite often, with news as well as gameplay tips.
They’ve involved with the community, and I love that.

Just tonight, they’ve made a post announcing upcoming downloadable content for their popular online shooter. The best thing about the announcement is that the DLC will be completely free, and will be hitting the Playstation network next Thursday, March 25th.
It’s not often you see free downloadable content, so it’s an absolute joy when you do. (Another recent example of this is Battlefield Bad Company 2’s upcoming map pack, which will be free. An example on the other end of the spectrum is the upcoming map pack for Modern Warfare 2, which will be a whopping $15.)

The DLC will include new weapons (three light machine guns, as well as a flashbang grenade, which… Well, quite frankly, I’m not sure why that didn’t come with the game. Pretty basic element of an FPS), as well as two new uniforms to give you more customization options and more tactical camouflage options.

Their post on the Playstation blog also says,

The best part of the Trooper Gear Pack? It’s just the beginning of our ongoing commitment to MAG. In the coming months, you can expect to see plenty of other add-ons and goodies that we can’t quite tell you about yet (but know you’ll enjoy).

This is great news, even for me, somebody who has yet to pick this game up. These guys sound really committed to making MAG a better game over time, which is fantastic. They’ll also be holding a double experience promotion, starting March 25th at 3am (eastern) and ending March 28th around the same time. Basically, if you sign on during this time and play a few matches, you’ll earn twice the experience points that you would normally earn.
Pretty neat.

[Post on Playstation Blog]

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MAG (Video Game)

List Price:	$59.99 USD
New From:	$45.00 In Stock
Used from:	$40.00 In Stock
Release date January 26, 2010.

GTA IV Episodes Delayed

Kraven — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:49:46 +0000

The scheduled release of new Liberty City episodes for Grand Theft Auto IV, for the Play Station 3 as well as for the PC, are delayed, due to a request made by Sony, at the last minute, forcing the software manufacturer to edit, and re-test the software, before it can be shipped to the US and Europe.

Sony’s request for editing part of the content for the Liberty city radio station, TV station and the added internet content, forced Rockstar Games to delay the release, as the gaming giant published on its blog, in order to provide the fans of the famous series with an explanation, as to why the release got delayed.

A new release date for the downloadable episodes: The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, as well as the new episodes from Liberty City are now set for April 13th in the United States, and April 16th in Europe.

Rockstar added to its explanation that after making the requested changes, the game will have to be re-tested for bugs and errors, and will also have to be reviewed again by Play Station, which according to Rock Star is standard procedure in the gaming industry.

The editing, as was requested by Sony is required only for the PS3 version of the game, but in order to keep it fair for everybody, Rock star decided to delay all releases, so fans can all experience the game’s multiplayer features at the same time. This means PC gamers will also have to wait until the new release date, for the new episodes to come out.

The Software manufacturer admitted it was a tough decision, but stands by it. Fans of the series, will have no choice, but to wait just a little longer for the new goodies to come out.

MSG Peace Walker Entertainment Pack in June 2010

Kraven — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:26:35 +0000

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Fans of the Metal Gear Solid game, are in for a pleasant surprise, because Sony will be launching a brand new Metal Gear Solid bundle, in June 2010. This “Peace walker Entertainment Pack”, will consist out of a PSP 3000 in a completely new shade of green, for the United States, called Spirited Green. But that is not all, it will also come with special in game extras like uniforms, logos and special features that are exclusive to this bundle. The extra content, can be unlocked early on, while playing the game.

The entertainment package will include: The Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker game, that was hand-crafted by series creator Hideo Kojima, a downloadable cinema voucher for a yet unknown movie (valid for citizens of the United States only), and a 2GB Memory Stick, for saving game scores, images and the likes, to free up the memory of the PSP itself.
The game itself will start where the previous PS2 game: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater ended, and will deliver a brand new story line and scenario, based on the developments that unfolded in Metal Gear Solid 3 .

There will be two entertainment packages released; one for the US and one for Japan, that are certain to be totally different from each other, like always was the case with other bundles, Sony has released before, but looking at the US package its promising to be a hot item for fans of the Metal Gear Solid series.

The Peace Walker entertainment pack is going to cost $199.99 and looking at the demo of the new installment to the Metal Gear Solid series it is well worth it, not even taking the extras into account.

So if you are a fan of the Metal Gear Solid series, June is going to be an exciting month for gaming.

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Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker (Video Game)

List Price:	$39.99 USD
New From:	$36.99 In Stock
This title will be released on June 8, 2010.

God of War III – The end of a trilogy

Kraven — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:29:35 +0000

It took 3 years of developing, and for the fans 3 long years waiting on the end, but now the wait is over, and God of War III has arrived, bringing us the grand finale to Kratos and his relentless quest for revenge. God of War III may not be the last installment of the series that continuously hovered in the top 3 on many gaming fans wish lists, it does bring the final part to this story.

There aren’t many changes made to the game play, just a little bit of polish here and there, but basically everything works pretty much as it has been working in all 3 parts of the game. Gamers, that were hoping for ground breaking new features, will be disappointed. On the other hand, why try to fix things that are not broken?

The graphics have always been one of the key features in the God of War games, but in this last part, the creators really have outdone themselves, leaving us with eye candy that takes our breath away. This is an M-rated game, meaning lots of blood and gore being shown throughout the game. It is safe to say this game is not for the weak hearted (Or youngest among us.)

The only downside to this otherwise awesome game series, was that, though there are many weapons that can be picked up and used throughout the game, the swords pretty much seem to be the only weapons that are useful in just about any situation. No more in this last part, where there are at least two other types of weapons that are equally useful then the blades, if not more useful in certain situations.

The only thing that provided a minor annoyance to me was that the new weapons are very similar to the swords, which does little for variety. But that’s just a very minor annoyance.
Overall God of War III turned out to be a game worthy to the series, and will be in the familiar top 3 on many gamers wish lists, just like the other installments to the series.

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God of War III (Video Game)

List Price:	$59.99 USD
New From:	$49.99 In Stock
Used from:	$53.98 In Stock
Release date March 16, 2010.

Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening The Architect Trailer

GameMaster — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:20:25 +0000

In the new trailer for Bioware’s upcoming expansion pack, Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening, gamers will get to meet a new character known as The Architect, who is one of the most formidable foes amongst the Darkspawn. The Architect, is “the first darkspawn to develop a will of his own” and has been described as “an unusual outcast who seems not to be subject to the call of the Old Gods, nor to the other darkspawn compulsions.” The Awakening expansion pack is filled with many new enemies and allies who you will have to discover.

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Dragon Age: Origins Awakening (DVD-ROM)

List Price:	$39.99 USD
New From:	$32.99 In Stock
Used from:	$41.09 In Stock
Release date March 16, 2010.

Release date of Dragon Age II in January 2011?

Kraven — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:32:38 +0000

Dragon Age: Awakening, is due for shipping somewhere in the coming week. Around that time, the gaming review sites, always start receiving review samples from EA, for upcoming game releases and other new stuff they have in the works. This time 1up got them first, and on their site they posted images of a document showing, what appears to be the release date of Dragon Age II, for the first quarter of 2011.

Displayed on it is the famous red dragon, from Dragon Age, but not from the side, like we are used to viewing it, but from a full frontal view, making all two wings visible, with at the top right the date 02-01-2011.

This date means a release date early next year. EA already announced a release around that time, but called it Dragon Age Title TBA. The game was supposed to be available for PC gamers and several portables, which were not further defined. However, sources reported the hand-held version would most likely be nothing more than an IPhone port, to other portable devices.

There are voices stating that the mentioned release is not for the long awaited sequel to the Dragon Age game, but will be the release date of an expansion pack for the first game instead, containing new levels and more. While the second possibility is certainly not something to pass up on, it appears that most sources still report that this will be the true release date for Dragon Age II.

EA has made no comments either denying, or confirming the above. Either way, valentine’s day for gamers appears to come a little early next year, either in the shape of Dragon Age II or a new expansion pack on the original game. Something good is coming around that time from EA, that much is certain.

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Dragon Age: Origins Awakening (DVD-ROM)

List Price:	$39.99 USD
New From:	$32.99 In Stock
Used from:	$41.09 In Stock
Release date March 16, 2010.

The Playstation Move – Worth Any Hype?

Connor — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:04:02 +0000

The Playstation Move is the much expected motion controller that was announced by Sony yesterday. It’s very much like the Nintento Wii remote, in that… Well, it looks almost exactly the same. It’s a wand that you hold and move around to have things change accordingly on-screen.
But this one’s black, with a giant light at the end of it.

At first, the device looks a little ridiculous… Looks awkward, and a bit more like a toy than a serious controller. And who knows, that might be what it turns out to be. But for now, we have to put those feelings based purely on aesthetics aside and focus on the usefulness of such a controller.

The Nintendo Wii has been widely successful due to its ability to get non-gamers in the game. It’s very family-friendly, and anybody can pick up the controller and play. There’s not much of a learning curve for most of the games.
The Playstation Move could accomplish something similar on the Playstation 3, but will also include more hardcore gamers who are more into great shooters and whatnot, seeing as the Playstation has a rapidly growing collection of such games.

It claims to have 1:1 movement ratio, meaning that the movements you make will be perfectly interpreted and passed on to the game that’s in your console. This is something that Nintendo lacked at the launch of the Wii, but recently added with the controller peripheral MotinonPlus. The Playstation Move will have it from the get-go.

This controller also doesn’t user a sensor bar… It uses the existing Playstation Eye camera peripheral to track your movement. It relies on the light on the end of the wand to get accurate data regarding where you are. (The cool thing is, it actually figures out what colour shows up least in the room, and makes the light at the end of the wand that colour, to add greater contrast, so depending on the room you play in, your controller will glow differently. Neat.)

Now, there’s also a “nunchuck”-like controller. It’s very similar to the Nunchuck for the Wii, in that it contains an analogue stick, but this one also contains the d-pad, which is missing from the main controller (to make it more simple, I suppose). It’s also wireless, so there is no cable connecting the two controllers and getting tangled up.

The launch for this thing has been set for fall, with a price point of “below $100″ for a starter kit that contains the controller and the “Playstation Eye” camera, which is a necessity.

So far, I’m not incredibly impressed, but I’m also excited enough to care to look at upcoming news stories about the device. It looks pretty promising. I regard the Nintendo Wii as a failure, by and large, but Sony has been sitting on the sidelines, watching how things play out, and I’m sure they will improve on a lot of the things that some gamers hate about the Wii. In fact, I feel that this could completely replace the Wii for some (myself included), as it’s essentially the same thing with better games and better graphics.
We’ll see where this goes. Hopefully not down the crapper. Listen to the customers, Sony! Fix any problems this thing might have, and you will have a successful launch.

Mac Gaming Gaining Traction

Connor — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:53:22 +0000

Mac computers have always been shamed by their lack of support from game developers. It’s one of the key arguments against the Mac operating system in all “Mac vs. PC” debates, and there’s nothing anybody can say back. It’s the truth.
Well, it WAS the truth. It’s quickly becoming a decent competitor in the gaming world.

The most recent and amazing victory in the realm of Mac OS X gaming is the announcement that popular gaming platform Steam is coming to Mac, along with Valve’s game catalog, which will run natively using OpenGL. This is great, because it will also help advertise the fact that OpenGL is an amazing cross-platform alternative to DirectX, which is used in most modern games (and is the primary reason that the majority of large game releases are for the Windows platform, as DirectX is Microsoft’s software, and is not available for Mac OS X). For more information on why this is a great thing, see this article, as well as this comparison between DirectX and OpenGL.
This alone will blow the door wide open for the Mac gaming community. Valve’s games include the Half-Life series, Portal, Counter-Strike, Portal, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, and Portal. Did I mention Portal? Speaking of Portal, the second iteration of that fantastic game series will be the first to have a simultaneous release on Mac OS X, Windows, and Xbox 360 when it hits later this year.
As for Steam on Mac, that’s happening next month. Plus, if you’ve bought a game for Windows on Steam, you’ve bought it for Mac, too. No need for separate purchases.

That’s just one of the upcoming contenders in the very open and very welcome marketplace that is gaming on Mac OS X. Next up on the list is OnLive, which has a June 17 launch. This service will use streaming to play video games instead of installing them directly onto your machine (as I wrongly expected Steam would, when it inevitably came to Mac). This makes it so that essentially any machine with high-speed internet access can play the newest and highest-quality of games. It will be available for Mac, Windows, and as a standalone console. Looks pretty sweet, but I’m skeptical, mainly due to the possibility of major game-breaking lag with even single-player games, since the game is never actually running on your computer, but is being run on a remote server and streamed to your computer live.

Now, all of that isn’t to say that the Mac gaming community has been completely dead. It’s gotten support from lots of independent game developers, such as 2D Boy with the wonderful World of Goo, and Amanita Design’s Machanarium, as well as some of the big-wigs, although normally those are ports that come after the launch (such as Modern Warfare and Bioshock).
There is also an unofficial game porting community that primarily uses TransGaming’s Cider software to emulate a Windows operating system to allow the game to run. This is referred to as a “Cider port,” and often has issues, be it with sound, visuals, or otherwise (although there are some perfect ports).

On another spectrum, we Mac users with somewhat newer machines that have Intel processors have the ability to run a Windows operating system on a separate partition from our Mac OS, dual-booting with the help of Apple’s Boot Camp. This allows you to play any Windows game on a Mac, but you’re also running Windows, so it sorta defeats the purpose and is not nearly as awesome as developers supporting the operating system.

I’m not saying that the Mac gaming world is going to blow up overnight, but it’s definitely working toward greatness and possible equivalence to the support that Windows has. Someday. *Looks off in the distance*

Finally it has arrived: Final Fantasy XIII

Kraven — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:33:33 +0000

After the first teaser that was shown to the public in 2005 at the E3, it has finally arrived: The new installment of the famous Final Fantasy series: Final Fantasy XIII.

Freshly released for multiple gaming platforms yesterday, in Europe and the United States, already there have been 5 million units, shipped worldwide, which is only one million short of the lifetime sales estimate, published by Square Enix in September 2009. With numbers like this the game is set to smash all expectations, and more.

The total units shipped also include the Final Fantasy XIII units that were sent to Japan, where the game was launched in December 2009 as a PS3 exclusive. On its first day the game sold one million units over there. In the western world, Final Fantasy XIII is not a PS 3 exclusive and is also available for the X-Box 360. How many of each version were shipped was not disclosed.

Unit shipments of all Final Fantasy games now total approximately 96 million units worldwide, since the first release of the famous RPG game in 1987 on the Nintendo NES. The new installment of the series is the first to come out for multiple gaming platforms simultaneously.

For buyers of the game Square Enix also has released extra content for both the PS3 and Xbox. All copies include a redeem code which entitles the owners of the game for a male or female Avatar PSICOM Soldier uniform. Square Enix also disclosed a Final Fantasy XIII themed apartment, and other themed items, that gamers can purchase for their game.
And if that is not enough; besides the Final Fantasy III extras, buyers of the game will also get a sneak preview of some footage that will be in the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV, the next installment for this famous game series.

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Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)

List Price:	$59.99 USD
New From:	$54.99 In Stock
Used from:	$54.25 In Stock
Release date March 9, 2010.

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa: Game Trailer

GameMaster — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:00:51 +0000

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2010 FIFA World Cup (Video Game)

Here is the official trailer for 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, from EA Sports. It is the only official and exclusively licensed video game for the 2010 World Cup to be held in South Africa. The game is due out on April 27, 2010 in the North American market and April 30, 2010 in Europe and Asia. It will be available for the PS3, Xbox, Nintendo Wii and the PSP. Unfortunately for all the PC gamers it does not look like it will be released for the PC any time soon. EA Sports 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa will feature all 199 national teams that took part in qualifications and all 10 official stadiums which are to be used in the South African games, as well as the stadiums for each qualifying region. The level of detail in this game looks incredible, there is even confetti rain, streamers and fireworks. Gamers will be able to compete in an online World Cup tournament and play as the country of their choice from qualification all the way up to the Word Cup Final. The game features group stages, knockout rounds and the home and away strategies for every participating country. The game also features realistic altitude effects which influence how players get fatigued as well as the flight of the ball.
List Price:	$59.99 USD
New From:	$56.99 In Stock
This title will be released on April 27, 2010.