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EA Pitches Us Battlefield: Bad Company [Media]

post from Kotaku on 13 February 2008 07:00:13 PM. © Kotaku

At EA's New York event today, the Gawker video crew got a quick look at Battlefield: Bad Company for Xbox 360/PS3. What's EA's big pitch? Destructible environments. We've heard it before—here's hoping that Bad Company is more than just shooting barrels and blowing holes in walls textured with only certain types of brick.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/full/~3/234659852/ea-pitches-us-battlefield-bad
-company

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Tumblebugs 2 Game

post from Hidden Object Games and Free Downloadable Games at Fenomen-Games.com on 13 February 2008 07:00:00 PM. © Hidden Object Games and Free Downloadable Games at Fenomen-Games.com

Oh no! The black bugs are back, meaner, faster and nastier! They've crashed the garden party and are rounding up the colored beetles. Once again it's Tumble to the rescue... but this time she's got backup. Call on your frog, butterfly and rhino beetle friends to help you in battle. Tumblebugs 2...

Read The Full Article:
http://www.fenomen-games.com/tumblebugs-2.htm

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Spirit of Wandering: The Legend Game

post from Hidden Object Games and Free Downloadable Games at Fenomen-Games.com on 13 February 2008 07:00:00 PM. © Hidden Object Games and Free Downloadable Games at Fenomen-Games.com

Join an adventurous captain's search for her lost love in this romantic hidden object challenge featuring tropical locations, cursed sailors, and the power of true love. Sail the seas with the captain of the Spirit of Wandering to a variety of locations and search for hidden items. Spirit of Wandering: The Legend...

Read The Full Article:
http://www.fenomen-games.com/spirit-wandering-legend.htm

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Today in Joystiq: February 13, 2008

post from Joystiq on 13 February 2008 06:59:00 PM. © Joystiq

In a way, having a framed picture of this Portal-Escher hybrid (full image via Kotaku) would feel refined. It'd go great next to our framed photos of LEGO Eschers. Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
A look back at GDC 2007
A look back at GDC 07: all the news thats fit to post
A look back at GDC 07: interviews and sessions
A look back at GDC 07: a taste of culture
Joystiq impressions: Boom Blox ... a Steven Spielberg game
Joystiq Impressions: Spore (Mobile)
Joystiq impressions: Spore Creatures (DS)
Joystiq impressions: Spore (PC/Mac)
Spore media blowout: impressions, images and more!
Today's most retrospective video: Spore's GDC 2005 unveiling
Today's least safe for work video: Chains of Olympus sex game
Wii Fanboy Weekly: February 7th - February 13th

News
NCSoft to announce first console game this year
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 unveiled
Pandemic Studios developing new Lord of the Rings game
Brace yourself: More Skate, Burnout, Need for Speed confirmed
Blizzard considering World of Warcraft app for cell phones
Knights of the Old Republic back in BioWare's hands
Can't wait for September 7? Creature-only Spore to launch sooner
EA announces lots of Sim-branded casual titles
Mass Effect to be an EA franchise for 'a very long time'
Korea Times: Starcraft 2 'expected' this year, LOTRO coming to Korea
Starcraft Ghost not technically cancelled
Rockstar: GTA IV has multiplayer capabilities in all versions
EA Sports launching 5 new franchises by early 2011
Eidos goes on a Brain Voyage
PS3 sales reach 1 million in UK
Atari loses more money in Q3, reveals new games
R-Type Command bosses PSP around on May 6
Canada funds new Silicon Knights, Digital Extremes projects
Someone thinks BioShock on mobile phones is a good idea
Maxis founder joins Red Mile, goes from SimCity to Sin City
Major Team Fortress 2 update adds Badlands tomorrow
NERF Wii Blaster is the coolest peripheral ever

Rumors & Speculation
EA predicts $6 billion in revenue ... in three years
Rumor: Classic GTA, Street Fighter Alpha coming to PSN

Culture & Community
A peek into Will Wright's office
Zero Punctuation attempts building SimCity Societies

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Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.joystiq.com/~r/weblogsinc/joystiq/~3/234768205/

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First Impressions - God of War: Chains of Olympus

post from Gaming Nexus on 13 February 2008 06:55:00 PM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Charles Husemann
NEWS - I got a PSP this summer for two reasons. The first was that as they were releasing a re-designed version with Darth Vader on the back and I'm all about the Star Wars. The second was that I loved what I saw from the brief taste I got of God of War Chains of Olympus at E3 this summer. I know there are dozens of other good PSP games out there but I was really smitten with what the folks at Ready At Dawn had done with the game and where they were taking the story line.

Today we received a preview build of the game in the mail and I've been playing it non-stop for the last ninety minutes. I only stopped playing the game because my hands were sore from playing the game on the PSP and the rumble in my stomach for dinner has become too loud to ignore. So far I've gotten through the first level of the game and defeated the Basilisk that you first saw in the demo of the game and a little bit into the second level of the game. The final battle with the Basilisk is a lot of fun and it only took me a few times to figure out how to take him down. It's standard God of War action as you have to weaken the bad guy first before finishing him off with the prerequisite button sequence mini-games. Everything you've known and loved is here from the button mashing to open doors, to opening chests, and taking down bad guys.

The second level is where things start to get interesting as the sun crashes to Earth leaving the planet in darkness. The levels are now shrouded in a dark fog that you don't want to venture too far and you're now fighting undead soldiers. What is really impressive about this level so far is all the fog effects and impacts when you hit the skeleton warriors. You have to use fire to get through the fog and the swirling fog effects are very impressive for a handheld game. There are also some cool animations and effects on the enemy soldiers that are extremely well done.

If you've played the previous God of War games you will feel right at home with Chains of Olympus. The standard attacks and movement are what you would expect them to be with the nub moving Kratos around and the Square, Triangle, X, and O button handling the two attacks, jump, and grab respectively. What takes a little time is getting used to the dodge controls which require you to hit both shoulder buttons at the same time. It took me a while to get used to it but once I did it's become second nature. Magic is done by pressing the right shoulder button and one of the face buttons and the modified attacks for your weapons are done with the left button. I've unlocked the first upgrade for the blades of chaos so far and it's pretty easy to pull off after just a little bit of practice.

I've only got one nitpick so far and that is that there isn't a lot of "new" stuff in the game in terms of gameplay options. The puzzles have all been the same drag X here to open a gate, spin control Y to open something. I'm would imagine this stuff is coming up in further levels but so far the game hasn't exactly been a big challenge (I'm playing on the medium difficulty level).

I have a feeling that God of War: Chains of Olympus is going to help sell a ton of PSP's when it's released in a few weeks. The game is a ton of fun to play and unless the wheels fall off in a bit it's going to be hard to not see this as one of the top PSP games of the year. The game is also a showcase for the PSP as the graphics and audio are outstanding.
More On : God of War - Chains of Olympus | Sony | Comment

Read The Full Article:
http://www.gamingnexus.com/Default.aspx?Section=FullNews&I=7593

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Team Fortress 2 Thursday Update Brings New Maps,
Changes [The Orange Box]

post from Kotaku on 13 February 2008 06:40:58 PM. © Kotaku

THANKS FOR STANDIN' STILL, WANKER Valve has its own Team Fortress 2 Valentine's Day gift planned for fans, a Whitman's Sampler of a Steam patch that brings with it new map "Badlands" and a slew of tweaks, changes and bug fixes. There's some general housekeeping being done with SourceTV and the Source Engine itself, but the patch makes changes that should affect gameplay on popular maps like Dustbowl, as well as fun updates like "Added flamethrower 'sizzle' sound when the Pyro is hitting a target."

These updates are for the PC version only, with no new information on when Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 The Orange Box owners can expect their goodies. Interested parties can read up on all the changes that are sure to be the bane of TF2 players girlfriends at the official site.

Updates for TF2, Source Engine, SourceTV Coming Tomorrow [Steam]

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/full/~3/234659853/team-fortress-2-thursday-upda
te-brings-new-maps-changes

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PWNED: Square Enix initiates battle against sword
replicators, waits turn

post from Destructoid - Hardcore video game blog on 13 February 2008 06:35:03 PM. © Destructoid - Hardcore video game blog

Square Enix is squaring (horrible pun intended) off against California and four retailers that have been selling replica swords based on the Final Fantasy series. Square has been working with Homeland Security and Customs who have recently seized a crate of swords. The retailers of the swords refused to cooperate with Square Enix which caused them to go file the lawsuit.

In regards to this situation, Square Enix general counsel Yasuhiko Hasegawa stated:

"We are actively pursuing those who commit intellectual property infringement against our company ... While Square Enix appreciates the enthusiasm of its fans, and values its relationship with them, it is also obligated to protect its intellectual property rights or risk weakening or losing the very rights that enable the company to continue to provide its fans with an exciting entertainment experience."

I totally understandable where Square is coming from. Last thing anyone would want is for someone to make money off of their property. Of course, this will hurt all future wanna be cosplayers ... which may or may not be a good thing.

Whatever. I used to be a sword guy, but now I'm all about the KNIFE EYE ATTACK!!!

[Via Wired -- Image via Dr. McNinja]

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Destructoid/~3/234785031/pwned-square-enix-initiat
es-battle-against-sword-replicators-waits-turn-70155.phtml

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TORRENT OR CARRIER PIGEON

Well, the good news was that yesterday, Codemasters released the patch for the eagerly-awaited Book 12 a day prior to the update going live on the servers. The bad news was that for some strange reason, they decided to only do so as a torrent - the problem with that being, as shown by the howls of anguish on the forums, that a great majority of players hate torrents with a passion. I have to admit to being one of them myself, but the passion doesn't seem entirely unjustified when you consider that many people were reporting estimated download times of between one and five days...

By early Thursday morning, the system seems to have collapsed gracefully, resulting in a flood of "tracker offline" or "torrent rejected by tracker" messages. One generous player, RevHellfire by handle, went so far as to mirror the patch himself and post the link on the CM forums, adding the warning "no promises as to how long I'll leave it up if it gets hit hard".

At the end of the day it hardly matters, since by early afternoon today we should be able to get the entire update off the servers, but it does leave you wondering why they opted for torrent when they could have used carrier pigeons - so much more efficient.

Read The Full Article:
http://lotro-chronicles.blogspot.com/2008/02/torrent-or-carrier-pigeon.html

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Brochure reveals more info on This is Vegas'
fictional Las Vegas

post from Destructoid - Hardcore video game blog on 13 February 2008 06:22:59 PM. © Destructoid - Hardcore video game blog

Sitting in my mailbox this morning was a suspicious, plain white envelope which contained a "This is Vegas 2008 Tourist Guide." Courtesy of Midway, the fold-out brochure and map reveals a bit more about the world and tone of the recently announced open-world title, This Is Vegas.

The map reveals that the game's world will not be a one-for-one of real world Las Vegas, but rather a reasonable facsimile that takes generous creative liberties (must like Rockstar's Liberty City to New York City). Littered across the strip are what will become the game's landmarks, with casino's like Big Top, the Mayan, The Avalon, and the Olympus Casino (the latter of which is an obvious nod to Caesar's Palace). The also notes that there are four districts: the Strip (where tourists go to gamble, eat, and be entertained), Freemont and Paradise (home to numerous pawn shops), and Naked City ("where tourists of low moral fiber can engage in dangerous, illegal, sexy activities no condoned by this brochure.").

Spore Creature Creation Preview [Clips]

EA is showing off a bit of the recently dated Spore today, with the PC and Mac versions getting special treatment in the creature creation preview department. In the clip above, you'll learn more about the process of building your own species from all manner of body parts—arms, legs, tails, custom torsos, even parts that are "social," including plumage that draws attention and mouths that are better at singing than others.

The preview also shows off Spore's content browser, a web app that lays out user and Maxis generated content. Highlighted here are a few interesting, holiday themed items like a building shaped like a Christmas tree and a UFO built in the shape of... well, I won't spoil it. Just watch.