It's gadgets galore with Alison Haislip who previews the Samsung NX10 Hybrid DSLR with 14.6 mega pixels, the HP TouchSmart tm2 Notebook/Tablet computer, and the HTC HD2 Phone that's thinner than the iPhone. Plus, she's also got the Barnes & Noble Nook eReader.
Ugh. Alison is right. All of a sudden, our shiny new gadgets here at home seem pretty shabby.
Check back tomorrow for more coverage from CES 2010!
Check out the products that Kevin Pereira managed to get his hands on at CES 2010, including the Google Nexus One phone, the Olympus Stylus Tough-3000 digital camera, the sleek Lenovo U1 Hybrid Laptop/Tablet computer, the shiny LG LED 8500 HDTV and more!
Is it too early to start a Christmas wish list? The CES 2010 coverage continues tomorrow, January 8th, on Attack of the Show, starting at 7:00p ET.
It's 2010, and what a fun, sexy time it is for Feedback. We're kicking off the new year in grand style with Sega's Bayonetta, our Game of the Week. I watched Patrick play it earlier in the week, and my brain's comprehension ability shut down after about a half-hour. But the funny thing is, I couldn't avert my gaze. It's like a high-calorie train wreck that you want to give the MST3K treatment to, but will still end up genuinely enjoying just because of how crazy it is. How did Abbie, Sterling, and Patrick feel about it? You're going to have to watch...
Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata revealed that the next Legend of Zelda game will hit the Wii in 2010. No details were revealed, but it's nice to know that it's only about 11 months away.
He also started talking about successor to the Nintendo DS. "Higher resolution" and "motion sensing" were mentioned, which isn't really too surprising given the Wii's success and how old the current DS tech is.
The Consumer Electronics Show is happening in Vegas, and the collective geek spotlight is on 3D television. After the impressive demonstration in Avatar, is it something we're willing to wrap our eyes around at home?
Feedback: Suggestively sucking on lollipops since 2009.
When most people descend upon Sin City, it's for the gambling and girls. When nerds visit, it's probably because the International CES show is going on.
This explains why Chris Hardwick and Olivia Munn discover Kevin Periera having way too much fun in Las Vegas. Here he has a first look at the long awaited Boxee Box, a cool LG eXpo projector phone, the 60 gig Canon HF S21 camcorder and...A LAMP! (No, really.)
Attack of the Show's coverage of CES 2010 will be back tomorrow, Jan 8th at 7:00p.
How much would you pay to have one of your songs available for download in Rock Band?
Developer Harmonix devised a brilliant answer to this question with its “free” authoring service, Rock Band Network, which will launch in earnest this year. However, as anyone who has witnessed the service first hand can attest, it’s a complicated and time consuming process, which actually isn’t that surprising given that it requires you to assume the role of a Rock Band developer, an intimidating proposition to begin with.
Well, should you fall into the “Can’t someone else do it?” group, then music distributor TuneCore wants to help. All you have to do is hand over a complete collection of your song's various components (guitar, bass, vocals, kick drum, snare, etc.) and the audio wizards at TuneCore will do their engineering magic and bring your musical masterpiece to life in Rock Band.
Lighting effects, accommodations for varying difficulties, song-specific character animations, camera direction, TuneCore takes care of it all. And it will only cost you $2500…per song.
Wait. What?
Actually, the company is currently offering a discount, so it will only cost you $999 to see one of your tracks in video game form. Still, even that price tag is significantly more than I would have expected for this service, and I don’t think I’m alone.
The thing that makes the price so hard to swallow is that it’s for something that you can do yourself for a fraction of the price. Considering all you need to do the job is an XNA Creator’s Club membership ($99/year or $49/month) -- for now, the songs will only be available on Xbox Live -- and the required Reaper production software ($60), asking between $1000 and $2500 per song just sounds insane.
However, you do have to factor in the labor aspect of the authorship process. Conservative estimates have put the average creation time at around 40 hours per track, but that could easily double or triple depending on the complexity of the song and/or the abilities of the author. So it could definitely be worth it in that sense, however, I don’t know too many unknown/struggling musicians with a few grand lying around to invest in putting a single song on Rock Band.
As for the payoff, TuneCore says on their site that if someone downloads your $2 track, you pocket $.60. So just to break even, you’d need to have around 4,200 downloads. That’s no small feat, especially if your song isn’t very good. At least if you put $2500 towards creating a whole album you’d have something much more substantial to show for it instead of a lone track waiting to be downloaded a couple thousand times.
Having said that, there's always the chance that your song becomes a phenomenon, in which case that $1000-$2500 investment would be the smartest one you ever made. (I'll predict it right now: at least one currently unknown band will be discovered via this personal authorship route.)
TuneCore is definitely onto something here, and I expect we’ll be seeing more companies emerge in the near future that will offer a similar service. This will most likely drive the price down, and it will also create an entirely new business that will operate between the music and gaming industries. It’s going to be a fascinating story to follow, and you can bet we’ll be keeping our eyes firmly on it going forward.
Looking for ANOTHER reason to destroy your buddies on Xbox Live? Microsoft and developer, Slick Entertainment, show off their fast-paced, top-down racer, Scrap Metal, for Xbox Live.
Hone your skills with 60+ single-player missions, over 20 customizable vehicles, and a "slew" of outrageous weapons to wage online vehicular war on Xbox LIVE in:
Demolition Derby
King of the Hill
"Gasoline"
and "Tank War"
Interested? Check out the screens here and the new trailer below.
Before writing this article -- and before yesterday’s Sony CES press conference, really -- I didn’t know much about 3D television. Nor did I care. I saw James Cameron’s Blank Check on a 3D screen and thought it was visually satisfying. The added depth brought by the 3D really did make a difference for me, and I can’t wait to see it used in a movie with better writing. But after seeing Super Stardust HD presumably being played in 3D, I began to wonder if it’s something that will belong in my living room. In an effort to answer that question, I set out on a fact-finding mission that will hopefully shield me from the onslaught of 3D TV hype emerging from CES. If, like me, you don’t know much about the topic, then please join me on this fantastic journey of discovery. Just put on these special glasses…
Key Terms:
Stereoscopy/Stereoscopic -- The base concept for 3D. Humans have two (stereo!) independent eyes (scopic!) that mix their respective visual information in the brain which spits out an image that has depth.
Anaglyphic -- Two images super-imposed to create a 3D effect when viewed through these things:
Old school!
Alternate-frame sequencing -- 3D content needs to convey two streams of visual information (for the left eye & right eye), so it’s presented to your peepers in alternating frames. But because the information is effectively doubled, the speed at which it’s presented needs to double too. (Hence the requirement for 120 Hz minimum refresh rates.) In 3D gaming on the PC, the frame rate needs to be super high to create the effect, which means steeper system requirements. Alternate-frame sequencing requires the use of active-shutter glasses.
Active-Shutter Glasses -- Receives signals from the display source and matches up the alternating frame with its intended left or right eye. Nvidia uses active-shutter glasses for its 3D Vision initiative. They were also used way back in the day on the Sega Master System. My cousin had one, and I played Missile Defense 3-D until my head nearly exploded from the discomfort.
Refresh Rate -- Basically, how often the image on your screen is redrawn. 3D TV requires a minimum refresh rate of 120 Hz to handle the increased amount of visual information that needs to be displayed.
Autostereoscopic -- The holy grail, from what I can tell: 3D TV without the need for special glasses. It’s possible (and already exists in an incredibly expensive form), but it doesn’t appear to be mass-marketable for quite some time.
James Cameron -- Former truck driver who invented movies. (Seriously though, he commissioned the design of an entire suite of 3D filming technology that he employed in Avatar, and convinced theaters to upgrade to 3D-capable screens. There’s an excellent article about this in the December 2009 issue of Wired.)
HDMI 1.4 -- The most recent update to the HDMI standard adds support for stereoscopic 3D display. It also increases the resolution to that used by digital movie theaters, 4096 x 2160, and has built-in ethernet support. Neat!
Television -- Discovered in 1762 by Sir Gregory Television, “TV” has become an every day part of our lives, delivering news of the world, contests of sporting strength, and my stories.
Questions:
"Why do I need a 3D television in my living room, when I just bought a new HDTV? What the heck, guys?"
I know, right? I have a rather large Sony SXRD television that I purchased from a friend a year ago, and though it’s not something I can hang on a wall, it’s serving me quite well for high-def movies, games, and TV. I’m not alone: despite the rough economy, HDTV sales are still going strong.
But the new 3D TVs, like Sony’s just-announced Bravia that will be available in the summer, aren’t for you and me. They’re for the early adopters who will happily plunk down the obscene amount of money to beta test the technology for when the rest of us are ready. Content providers are just now announcing their plans to provide 3D content, and it will be slim pickings for quite some time. I remember getting an HDTV relatively early in the cycle and being amazed…at the assortment of PBS shows and un-narrated nature scenes. We’ve got some time to kill.
"I saw Avatar, and it was pretty and everything, but it gave me a headache…"
The headache thing didn’t happen to me personally, but as I was proclaiming to my family over the holiday break that the the only way to watch Avatar was in 3D, my brother said that the glasses he wore for Pixar’s Up triggered head pains. I can see that happening and sympathize; prolonged exposure to Avatar wasn’t painful, but by the end (robot knife!), I definitely felt the need to rest my eyes.
"Glasses? Really?"
Fine for a movie, and maybe an episode or two of Lost: The New Survivors per night, but I just don’t see myself tolerating prolonged exposure to obtrusive eyewear, especially for gaming. (I’m neglecting my need to wear real glasses for a reason.) That’s why it’s autostereoscopic or nothing…at least until we get to the positional holographic projectors that will be available in 2019.
In the meantime, I’m not going to work up too much nerd rage over being “required” to upgrade to 3D, because I don’t believe I have to just yet.
Capcom's latest screen batch of Lost Planet 2 has plenty of Vital Suits, soldiers and explosions at the ready, helping to make the wait for the third-person shooter a little more/less bearable.
The Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR may be the world's smallest 10x zoom digital camera, but Chris Hardwick and Olivia Munn find out if this super slim camera with 10 mega pixels, dual image stabilization and wide angle lens lives up to its $200 price tag.
Check out the full Attack of the Show review after the cut.
What You Need to Know
The camera is about 4” wide and 1” thick.
It has a 2. 7” LCD screen.
It also has a metal body that feels very durable.
The camera is compact and easy to bring around with you.
The sculpted metal shell feels durable and not cheap like some plastic bodies.
There is no touch screen, but the buttons are laid out neatly and are easy to use for navigation and changing your picture settings.
The 10x zoom worked as you'd expect; you can make things far away appear close up and ideally you want to use it outdoors for lighting reasons.
The EXR technology is an enhanced CCD chip designed by Fujifilm to improve light sensitivity and picture quality.
It's as easy to use as auto mode and you can change between several settings for different conditions, but you can only take 5 megapixel pictures in EXR mode.
The other features are pretty standard, such as face detection and image stabilization, both working as they should.
The funny thing is low light pictures sometimes came out noisy and out of focus, even in EXR mode.
The colors were well balanced for the most part and under better lighting conditions, the images were okay, but not the best we've seen.
The 10x zoom produced fine pictures in daylight, but not so hot indoors.
Overall, nothing to make your jaw drop.
The EXR technology, while cool, isn't a huge improvement in the world of consumer cameras.
The 10x zoom is nice, but is more gimmicky than anything; it might be great at a sporting event outdoors but that's about all you'd use it for.
Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond hit XBL just yesterday. To celebrate the arrival of the side-scrolling, downloadable, action game on PlayStation Network, D3 Publisher has released a "gag reel" poking fun at more gaming industry icons.
Lawn care and Link? I never would've made that connection nor even attempt the joke.
Should you find yourself driving around the muddy tracks of THQ’s MX vs. ATV Reflex, looking for a new and exciting way to spice up your filthy pastime of choice, then you’re in luck, because the first batch of downloadable content for the dirty, dirty racing game is now available on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.
In addition to three new tracks, the pack also includes new vehicle skins and gear to keep you looking sexy out there on the dusty off-road. And it can all be yours for 440 Microsoft Points or $4.99 on PSN.
THQ plans to release a second DLC pack in February.
Good news Guitar Hero 5 fans looking for new downloadable tracks. Activision will be releasing a healthy amount of content over the coming weeks in the form of three new track packs.
Vampire Weekend fans will be able to check out two new songs off of the band’s upcoming album, Contra, in addition to one track from their debut album. Metal-heads can look forward to tracks from Shadows Fall, Amon Amarth and Dethklok. Blues lovers will definitely want to check out the New Blues Masters pack, which includes tracks from Tyler Bryant, Joe Bonamassa and Scott McKeon. And for those looking for some classic rock-and/or-roll, you’ll be able to jam out to three choice songs from the legendary Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Full details after the break.
Vampire Weekend Track Pack (Jan. 14)
"Cousins"
"Holiday"
"The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance"
Metal Track Pack (Jan. 21)
Amon Amarths - "Twilight of the Thunder God"
Dethklok - "Laser Canon Deth Sentence"
Shadows Fall - "Still I Rise"
The New Blues Masters Track Pack (Jan. 28)
Tyler Bryant - "Who I am"
Joe Bonamassa - "Lonesome Road Blues"
Scott McKeon - "Broken Man"
The packs will be available on Xbox Live for 440 Microsoft Points, PlayStation Network for $5.49 and Wii for 550 Wii Points. You can also pick up individual songs for 160 MSP, $1.99, and 200 WP.
You can't win a war against yourself. Although part of you might feel a little guilty for getting a laugh at the expense of tech nerds from yesteryear, enema enthusiasts and rock bands that even wild animals can't tolerate, the rest of you know that those things are mighty funny. Raise your inner white flag and surrender to the comedic onslaught of Around the Net.
And we're back. It's 2010 and The MMO Report has returned like a phoenix rising from the ashes. Except we lost our host. Temporarily. But not to worry, the lovely and talented Morgan Webb stepped in to fulfill the duties of hosting our little show to make sure you know all about the LOVE open beta, how Child's Play refused charitable donations from Atlantica Online, and to show off the new Star Trek Online trailer.
Oh, and in case you wanted to sign of for the LOVE open beta, check out QuelSolaar.com
And if you want to see all the Cataclysm zone screenshots organized by MMO Champion, here's the link. Enjoy.
If there’s one regret I have about Feedback, the weekly video programme we put on here at G4tv.com, it’s that we only have time for one big user question per show. That’s just one opinion in the spotlight…one user pulled from a community of millions*. Doesn’t seem fair, does it? When I started doing the “Reply to All” mailbag back in November, part of the motivation was to get more of you guys and gals (you’re out there, right?) to participate with a bit more prominance. And I’m happy to report that after a busier-than-expected December, Reply to All is coming back on a regular schedule.
* statistics not verified
What I need from you is questions, comments, diatribes, pithy remarks, challenges, tasty recipes, viewing suggestions, hilarious stories, PG-13 rated photographs, instructions to find buried treasure, curse words in foreign languages, and Twitter updates you think were direct messages but you mistakenly sent out to everyone. It could be about video games, but it doesn't have to be. Whatever's on your mind.
I will respond -- or I will find someone in our gigantic office complex to respond – in the Friday mailbag. Heck, I might even find some stuff to give away. All that needs to be done is either post something down below in the comments (there’ll be one of these posts every week), leave something in the weekly Feedback question post, or send direct e-mail to webmaster@g4tv.com.
Want a starter topic? Critique my Plan to Survive An Apocalyptic Event (beta) that I posted yesterday. After thinking about it some more, I’m not entirely convinced it’ll work.
Bonus starter topic: I’ve been rewatching Lost in anticipation of the final season. You have to pick one person to take with you on the raft: Michael, Claire (with her bai-bee!), or Ana-Lucia. Who’s going to annoy you the least? (No guns allowed.)
We’ve been hearing about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s super secret multiplayer modes since November, but until now, the discussion has been focused on the PC version of the game.
Well, as Modern Warfare 2 Blog reports, it turns out that some intrepid Xbox 360 players have found a way to unlock one of these hidden modes, Global Thermonuclear War, and they were kind enough to create a few gameplay videos to prove it. Why, here's one now:
Microsoft announced during their CES 2010 keynote address that the first round of downloadable content for MW2 would be releasing exclusively on the 360 this spring. Could these hidden maps be part of that DLC? Doesn’t seem that hard to believe. I guess time will tell.
Get excited baseball fans. Sony’s MLB 10: The Show will be taking the field March 2. And because release dates are kind of bland, Sony has been kind enough to pass along a slew of new details about the next installment in their acclaimed baseball franchise. PlayStation Blog has a nice rundown of some of the additions made to last year’s fantastic MLB 09: The Show, which includes improved online play, new Road to the Show training modes and features, full online seasons, homerun derby, over a thousand new animations and much more.
Hit the jump to see the full list of what you can expect from this year's offering.
Here's what’s new:
HR Derby – The Home Run Derby and MLB All-Star Futures Game are now available during the All-Star break in our season modes and as a stand-alone experience.
Catcher Calling the Game – Call pitches and play as the field general, just like Joe Mauer.
Online Gameplay Improved – This year the online gameplay experience has been vastly improved and will detect and respond better to adverse network conditions along with reduced bandwidth to help the speed and flow of online gameplay.
User Controlled Pick-Offs – Surprise a base runner with a quick move or lull him to sleep with our new pick-off mechanism.
Custom Music, Fan Yells, and Chants – Assign music or a recording to an entire team, edit tracks to assign batter walk-up music, or record your own voice and assign it to play for the team or player during the situation of your choice.
Movie Maker – Select up to ten replays to add to a single movie and do all the editing for your own highlight reel.
New Stadiums – Five new Minor League stadiums as well as classic parks including Forbes Field, Crosley Field, Polo Grounds, Shibe Park, Sportsman Park, and Griffith Stadium.
New Fielding/Pitching Training Modes and Practice Drills – New pitching and fielding training sessions will be part of our Road to The Show training suite.
Road to The Show Version 4.0 – New option settings (Game Watch and Game Completion) allow users to set how much of the game they wish to view, our mistake tracking system and new Green Light system reward and penalize good play, and our new stat tracking system keeps stats for your player’s career versus every pitcher or batter faced during the current season that can be accessed at any time.
Full Online Season Leagues – Fully functional online season leagues, save and display MLB Player stats, track player energy, allow for trades/injuries, and offer 40-man roster functionality.
Weekly Live Roster – An updated live roster will be available every week throughout the entire season.
Online Game History – View every game you’ve ever played online, complete with opponents, box scores, and game logs.
1-30 Player Season Modes – Control one or all 30 teams right from the start of your franchise or season.
New Camera System – The most realistic camera system available will make you double take and make sure you’re not watching a live MLB telecast.
Real-Time Presentations – More than 1,250 new gameplay animations, more than 1,000 new presentation animations, and more than 400 personalized pitcher and batter animations.
Stadium Realism and Experience – Details, details, details! MLB 10 The Show offers daytime transitional lighting, shows all players on field in real-time (including players in the dugout and bullpen), and offers improved stadium ambiance with HR/splash counters, fireworks, steam, noisemakers, towels, thunder sticks, working digital and analog clocks, crowd reaching over the rails, and crowd detail, such as interaction with vendors and placing K signs.
MLB 09: The Show is my favorite baseball game of all time, which is why just reading this list of improvements has caused my drool sensors to short circuit. Come on March! Move it!
With an exclusive NFL license, which extends into 2012, EA's Madden franchise is unquestionably the titan of videogame football. However, 505 Games would like to continue to take their stab at the monopolized section of gaming with their upstart Backbreaker project. Developed by the Oxford University-spawned software company, NaturalMotion, will look to tackle Goliath with a football game with...
"...realistic, physics-based motion AI, crisp high-definition graphics and a camera angle that follows the perspective of the player. Backbreaker is the first sports video game to feature NaturalMotion’s acclaimed euphoria motion synthesis engine, offering intense gameplay, dazzling graphics and an endless variety of unique sacks and tackles."
Check out X-Play's video preview and the second in-game trailer below. Do they stand a chance?
Just like Desmond in Lost, I have a constant in Las Vegas. Every time I visit Sin City, I wander over to the mostly deserted GameWorks to check on the House of the Dead 4 deluxe cabinet. It's been broken every single freakin' time, but I'm hoping Lady Luck is on my side this time.
This particular House of the Dead 4 cabinet is supposed to rock, sway and generally toss you around while trying to fight off an army of the undead. How cool does that sound? If that wasn't enough, there's a Jurassic Park: The Lost World deluxe machine right next to it, too.
The problem? That one's been broken every time, too. Here's to hoping I can break my streak...
Have something to share? Sitting on a news tip? E-mail me. You can also follow me on Twitter.
There’s been quite a bit of chatter this week about where and when Activision’s juggernaut Call of Duty franchise will be heading for its next tour, and if recent reports are to be believed, players will be shipping off to Vietnam this holiday season.
Sources tell CVG that Call of Duty: World at War developer Treyarch have set a tentative release date of November for the acclaimed shooter’s seventh installment. Continuing the series’ cinema-inspired presentation, the game is expected to borrow heavily from films such as Platoon, Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket (Can you say R. Lee Ermey as a drill instructor?).
With EA taking a stab at modern warfare with their Medal of Honor reboot, it would be quite fitting for Activision to try their hand at Nam, six years after the release of EA’s Battlefield: Vietnam. Also, considering Treyarch’s last effort took place in the tropical environs of the Pacific Theater, it would seem they already have a head start on the whole jungle warfare thing.
While it certainly makes sense for CoD to finally take on the fertile setting of the Vietnam War, Activision and Treyarch are keeping quiet for now. I’ve contacted Activision to see if they have anything to say about all of this, so stay tuned.
What do you think about a CoD Vietnam game? Did you play Battlefield: Vietnam?
A couple of months ago, my brother bought me Demon's Souls as a birthday gift. As I'm running way behind on the games in my collection (I tend to obsess), I still haven't played it yet. I knew the game was supposed to be very hard, and I generally enjoy a challenge, but after reading a recent editorial on Crispy Gamer I'm completely terrified of it now. To find out why, and to check out some massive retro computers and the creepy evolution of Avatar fans, enjoy this week's links.
Crispy Gamer takes a look at why high levels difficulty in games aren't always a good thing, how Demon's Souls can wreck your life, and why you'll still love it.
Offices have come a long way. See what a high tech office used to look like on Uncoached.
FilmDrunk shows us why the Avatar forums are starting to rival the Twilight forums in being creepy and pathetic.
BioWare's latest Mass Effect 2 videos come as another pair of form and function. The stunning ice queen, Miranda, is profiled below with an additional Vanguard class developer video after the cut.
Learn story and class archetypes in one fell BioWare swoop. God, is it January 26 yet?!?
Capcom is coming to CES 2010 with the strongest lineup of any publisher by far. Luckily, Brian Leahy and I are headed to the show later today to check out what Capcom's showing.
What are they showing? Glad you asked. Here's their impressive lineup:
While the biggest industry buzz at CES 2010 seems lasered in on 3D TVs, the show, which opens today, also serves to reveal much more about Project Natal. After over six months of speculation, Microsoft revealed yesterday that the motion-sensing device will hit store shelves this year.
In addition to yesterday's news, word has gotten out via Tech Radar that Project Natal will use at least a tenth of the Xbox 360's processing power to fuel its camera and voice-driven tech. According to the article, Natal lead developer Alex Kipman has been providing demos during CES and revealed a few choice details. Besides the information regarding Natal's resource usage -- one of the biggest struggles was balancing resource-hogging mo-cap with software that can run on existing hardware -- Kipman also mentioned that the team processed "terabytes" of data of people posing in various gameplay positions.
The Natal team fed the information into software running on a cluster of powerful computers. Eventually, the software evolved into a program that can recognize 31 different body parts moving at 30 frames per second. That's your detected body movements, not the game, by the way.
Quoth Kipman: "When we train this 'brain' we are telling it: this is the head, this is the shoulder. And we're doing that over millions of frames. When it sees a new image it can tell you the probability it's seeing a certain body part based on that historical information."
I'm excited that Natal has sophisticated means of reading our movements, although I can't help but to wonder how much existing games can be retrofitted for use with Natal. I have no metric for how much today's Xbox 360 games use the console's CPU resources, but it's making me wonder if my demo with Burnout Paradise will become an on-the-couch reality for millions, or if it'll just be the happy memories of an awesome tech demo.
Is that a concern for you, or are you more interested in what Microsoft has up its sleeve for Natal's launch?
"There's clearly a problem with this style of game on the Wii," said Antoine Seux, director general of Capcom France to Gamekult. "Gamers have obviously moved on to other things."
Capcom is singing a slightly different tone this morning, however.
"Further to comments made in a recent article on French website Gamekult," said Capcom in a statement to various European outlets, including Eurogamer, "Capcom would like to confirm its commitment as a multi-platform developer and publisher of interactive software."
The statement doesn't exactly address the issues Seux raised, however. No one doubts Capcom will continue supporting Nintendo's console -- it's how much they'll continue to support it.
There’s no doubt that Wii Motion Plus makes the Wii gaming experience infinitely more satisfying and enjoyable than the standard Wiimote. But having to shell out an extra $20 for the attachment on top of the $40 for a remote, and its added clunkyness, are two justifiable gripes.
Enter popular peripheral manufacturer Nyko and their new Wand+, which the company will be showing off at CES 2010.
The controller incorporates Motion Plus into a standard sized Wiimote, but better yet, it’ll only cost you $40. The Wand+ will be available in March.
I guess now it's up to Nintendo to play catch up...with its own technology.
CES 2010 NOTE: Follow Brian Leahy (@bleahy) and Patrick Klepek (@patrickklepek) on Twitter as they'll be going hands-on at Capcom's Super Street Fighter IV Fight Club tonight @ 7:00PM PST.
Capcom's Super Street Fighter IV demonstrates the new features coming your way, including: new alternate costumes, ultra combos, rival battles, and even a MECHA ZANGIEF!
New batch of screens are available here, and two new gameplay videos after the jump featuring Adon and Cody kickin' butt.
It’s been going on 13 years since Duke Nukem Forever was first announced, and you’d think that the closing of its developer, 3D Realms last year, and the effective cancellation of the game would be enough to take down the Duke for good.
Well, think again…maybe.
During a recent appearance at MAGfest (Music and Gaming Festival), the voice actor who portrays Duke Nukem, John St. John, jokingly avoided answering an attendee’s question regarding the long, long, long, long, long awaited shooter, Pixel Enemy reports.
“I’m not allowed to speak on that subject, sir,” said St. John. In response to the subsequent booing his response elicited, St. John jumped back in to say, “No, no. Don’t be disappointed. Read between the lines. Why am I not allowed to talk about it?”
So there you have it. Duke Nukem Forever will be hitting store shelves in fall 2019! Thanks for bringing this 70 year on again/off again Nukem melodrama to an end Mr. St. John.
Actually, given that 3D Realms' CEO Scott Miller recently revealed that the developer is planning to release tons of Duke content over the next year, Forever could very well find itself off of life-support sometime in the near future.
It's here! Attack of the Show's live coverage of CES 2010 begins tonight at 7P. This means Kevin Pereira will be reporting from the floor with latest and hottest new technology from around the world, including 3D televisions, tablet computers and innovative phones.
Get ready to watch our nerd takeover of Sin City, all live tonight on G4!
It seemed unlikely the Microsoft video leaked earlier today was an elaborate CGI fake, but hey, I like to be thorough. Microsoft entertainment and devices lead Robbie Bach took the stage at his company's CES 2010 keynote tonight, however, and confirmed the Xbox Live Game Room exists.
Game Room is a retro-themed environment for your Avatar to roam around and interact with classic games from Activision, Atari, Konami and others. More than 30 games will launch with Game Room (including Centipede, Asteroids Deluxe and Super Cobra), with more than 1,000 games over the next three years. Microsoft will bulking that list up by adding more games to Game Room on a weekly basis.
If you purchase some nostalgia in Game Room, it will be playable through both Xbox Live and Games For Windows Live. You don't need to purchase the game twice.
Additionally, Microsoft is incorporating both achievements and leaderboards.
Have something to share? Sitting on a news tip? E-mail me. You can also follow me on Twitter.
Remedy Entertainment and Microsoft will finally deliver the long-awaited action-thriller Alan Wake on Xbox 360 this spring, but when the end credits scroll, that's not the true "end." Alan Wake will have additional downloadable episodes after launch, revealed Microsoft's chief of entertainment and devices, Robbie Bach, during his part of Microsoft's CES 2010 keynote.
Bach did not reveal any other details on the downloadable episodes.
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Xbox 360 has sold more than 39 million units worldwide, Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer revealed during the opening moments of the company's annual CES keynote this evening.
Balmer also noted more than 500 million pieces of software have been sold worldwide between Xbox and Xbox 360.
This follows on the heels of Sony's own CES announcement that PlayStation 3 sold 3.8 million hardware units worldwide during the holiday season. Earlier this week, Nintendo announced they sold more than 3 million units of Wii hardware the same period in the United States alone.
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Time for another daily wrap-up, and your comments about Kristin Adams' appearance. Here's what went on today in the world of video games, popular culture and technology.
Nintendo has told a Japanese newspaper a DS successor would most likely have a motion sensor and seems to confirm Zelda Wii in 2010.
With the infrastructure to host, pay and deliver movie and TV content already firmly established on the PlayStation Network for PlayStation 3 users, Sony announced an initiative at CES 2010 this afternoon to bring the service's "premium video offerings" to other Sony devices.
PlayStation Network's video database will eventually be expanded to various Sony-produced TVs, laptops, Blu-ray drives and assumedly other devices, as well. Sony is also implementing a unified ID and wallet to avoid confusion if consumers are hopping from platform to platform.
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Sony didn't actually discuss PlayStation 3 and PSP very much during its mostly yawn-worthy CES 2010 press conference, but they happily released this number: PlayStation 3 sold 3.8 million hardware units worldwide during the five-week holiday period following Thanksgiving.
Nintendo announced earlier this week that Wii sold in excess of three million units during the month of December in the United States alone. No doubt worldwide figures are much higher.
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Sometime next year, PlayStation 3 will receive a firmware update to display 3D movies and video games. Avatar: The Game is one of the first 3D-enabled games to arrive at retail, but it won't be the last and it's possible that publishers could release patches to add 3D to already released games.
Sony briefly showed a clip of Super Stardust HD, the popular PlayStation Network downloadable twin-stick shooter, in 3D during their CES 2010 press conference. It appeared to be on the CES show floor, too, which means we should have a chance to check it out this week, too.
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Over the holiday break, my brother and I went to see the new George Clooney picture, Up in the Air. Afterwards, we were discussing what we thought of the film, and through the course of conversation, the subject naturally arose of what the two of us would do in the case of an apocalyptic event. (This is how we think.) I revealed to him that this was not the first time I've thought of this, as my preferences in entertainment -- video games, LOST, stories about surviving something -- are prone to triggering daydreaming sessions about The Worst Case Scenario. In honor of this week's release of Darksiders and the pending release of The Book of Eli, I thought it'd be best to get my ideas down on paper and see if everything makes sense. This all assumes that you have chosen yourself to be the leader of your survival group. (Note that while I've read Max Brooks' excellent World War Z, I have yet to make my way through his first book, The Zombie Survival Guide...if anything happens to contradict or overlap with what Brooks wrote, it is purely by coincidence.)
The Andrew Pfister Plan for Surviving an Apocalyptic Event (beta):
1) Determine nature of apocalyptic event: religious or secular?
This is a tricky one, but probably the most important to determine as soon as possible, as it dictates your ensuing course of action. If your apocalypse is influenced by higher powers, it could go one of two ways: Some faiths view the end of the world as a simple sorting of the "saved" and "non-saved," while others take a much more literal view of an actual battle between good and evil to determine the winner. If the former, there doesn't seem to be much you can do except hope that your team was right. But if full-out Armageddon occurs and Good battles Evil, your main priority is to find shelter and defend against the panic-stricken damned until a winner emerges and we’re sent either to the streets of gold or lakes of fire.
But if the good Lord has other things to do and the apocalypse is triggered by your fellow man (or visitors from beyond), then you have a bit more control over the situation, and that’s where Steps 2 through 5 come in.
2) Perform threat assessment.
This is an apocalypse, so we’ll have to make the following assumptions: survivors will panic, the rule of law will break down, and it’s every man for himself. If avenues of mass communication still exist, try to get a general overview of the situation, including what exactly happened, if certain areas are uninhabitable, how many people lived, and where it’s safe and unsafe to be. If you don’t have access to any of this information, survey your immediate surroundings, and assume the worst about everything that you can’t see.
If you perceive human threats, proceed to Step 3 with the goal of obtaining standard weaponry that provides adequate self-defense.
If the threats are human, but involve any sort of mutation that grants super-human abilities, or if they involve visitors from beyond the stars, then proceed to Step 3 with a focus on caution and avoidance. You will need to observe these threats more carefully in order to discover weaknesses.
3) Procure food, water, medicine, and armaments.
It should go without saying that you should have acquired some sort of backpack by now. Assuming that you will be constantly on the move and under an immense amount of stress, you will need energy. This means finding foods rich in carbohydrates and protein, and making sure whatever water you come across is potable.
After you know what you're dealing with, it's time to arm yourself with weapons. First priority is to raid dedicated gun stores, sporting goods stores, and abandoned police stations. Any home you come across should be searched for food, water, and basic medical supplies. It will be beneficial to start making maps to these viable resource nodes and safe travel paths. (Note that this is something that can be easily prepared ahead of time and included in an Apocalypse Emergency Kit.)
Now that you have what you need to keep yourself alive, it’s time to proceed to Step 4.
4) Establish shelter and gather resources.
The next priority is to settle on appropriate long-term shelter. The Helm's Deep principle applies here. Desirable traits include close proximity to key resources, good sight lines, high ground, and natural choke-points and barriers to entry. Secret entrances are a plus. By the time you find a suitable location, you should have accrued a number of fellow survivors. Now is the time to divide them into groups and send them out to obtain vital resources.
Vehicles: Car dealerships, parking structures, and impound lots are your best bets. Try to get your hands on at least one pick-up truck or bus for transporting larger cargo and supply caches. And don’t overlook sport vehicles such as ATVs, snowmobiles, and jet-skis, depending on your geographical location. They will be useful for your scouts.
(Note: Don’t forget about fuel -- you’ll need it, and it can be used as bartering material when you encounter competing groups. Try to locate your shelter near gas stations. If that's not possible, devise a system of efficiently obtaining, transporting, and storing large amounts of fuel. Make sure security is tight, because everybody’s going to want it.)
Storage: You've got weapons, but you need a secure place to keep them. Send a party out to a sporting goods store and get yourself a gun safe. Share the combination with as few trustworthy people as necessary. While they’re there, have them stock up on sleeping bags, propane stoves, warm weather clothing, shoes/boots, and fitness equipment.
Books: One group goes to the library to obtain necessary reference material. Medical books. Paper maps. Field survival guides. Cookbooks. Mechanical and electronics manuals. Computer equipment. Anything that might prove useful in the future.
Socks: You’re going to need a good pair of socks.
5) Begin rebuilding process.
"Live together, die alone," a famous man once said. Trust is certainly going to become an issue, but really, you aren’t going to be able to do this by yourself. There are a few ways you could go about establishing a new social structure within your group, but I myself am probably going to go with a totalitarian approach, supported by a basic cabinet/ministerial system.
Minister of Law: Responsible for maintaining order and justice within the group. Hears grievances and settles disputes. Can only be overruled by the Leader (that’s you).
Minister of Health: Responsible for the well-being of all members of the group. Should it become necessary, determines who is to mate in order to perpetuate the species.
Minister of Food & Beverages: Responsible for managing equitable distribution and quality of food and water resources. Tasked with obtaining outside food as well as developing self-sustaining food production (i.e. gardens).
Minister of Security: Responsible for vetting new survivors into the community, maintaining viable internal and external defenses, and carrying out punishment as determined by the Minister of Law.
Minister of Communications: Responsible for establishing and maintaining diplomatic ties with competing survival groups, proposing mutually beneficial trades, and disseminating news from the outside world. Also checks out all the library books.
(Secret Minister of Espionage: Responsible for ensuring the Leader’s continued rule through information gathering, misdirection, propaganda, and other general subterfuge.)
As far as the “citizenry” goes, you’ll want to emphasize these key professions: Doctor, Police Officer/Military, Psychologist, Chef, Thief, Priest, Biologist/Ecologist, Mechanic, and Electrician. Anyone else belonging to a now-valueless profession (lawyers, investment bankers, game journalists, etc.) should be turned into valuable support classes such as soldiers, drivers, gatherers, sous chefs and nurses.
* * *
Oh, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to lie about having a nuclear warhead that you could set off at any time. You know, just to keep people on their toes. Good luck out there!
New Nielsen data reveals the Xbox 360, in terms of minutes, is the most used gaming console in the United States, PC World reports.
Sony’s last-gen PlayStation 2 ranked second while Nintendo’s Wii came in third. Not only did Sony’s PlayStation 3 fail to crack the top three, it didn’t even make it on the final list apparently. It isn’t clear exactly why the PS3 was omitted, but at least Sony can point proudly to the PS2 and say, "Look! We make consoles that last, people!" What’s interesting about the omission though is that it seems to suggest that Sony’s whole "It only does everything" approach isn’t causing PS3 owners to use their consoles more, which has to be disappointing for Sony to hear.
The report includes other noteworthy findings like the fact that 73 percent of households use a device specifically to play games. Also, console/handheld system ownership has reached 54 percent, with next-gen consoles contributing to 41 percent of that. Also, females now make up 45 percent of all gamers, 49 percent of Wii owners and 52 percent of PSP owners. Goooooo girl gamers!
Any of these findings surprise you? What console do you use the most?
Polyphony Digital keeps the Gran Turismo brand in tune with it's trademark luxury sports cars with the promise of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG coming to Gran Turismo 5 on the PS3.
Microsoft has been cagey about a release date -- or even a release year -- for their entry into the motion gaming space, Project Natal. A leaked CES 2010 promotional interview with Robbie Bach, Microsoft's head of entertainment and devices, appears to have spoiled that surprise: Natal is coming holiday 2010.
Okay, sure, no one is shocked, but it's something.
The leaked video has since been ripped down in anticipation of Microsoft's annual CES keynote. It's expected the video, and by extension Project Natal, will be part of the keynote tonight.
"I think [Natal] is going to revolutionize how people think about the gaming business and actually turn it into an interactive entertainment business," said Bach. "I think we're finally going to get there where people can break the mold of gaming and get to real entertainment."
We'll find out more later tonight. The keynote kicks off at 6:30 p.m. PST.
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But the new 3D TVs, like Sony’s just-announced Bravia that will be available in the summer, aren’t for you and me. They’re for the early adopters who will happily plunk down the obscene amount of money to beta test the technology for when the rest of us are ready. Content providers are just now announcing their plans to provide 3D content, and it will be slim pickings for quite some time. I remember getting an HDTV relatively early in the cycle and being amazed…at the assortment of PBS shows and un-narrated nature scenes. We’ve got some time to kill.
If there’s one regret I have about Feedback, the weekly video programme we put on here at G4tv.com, it’s that we only have time for one big user question per show. That’s just one opinion in the spotlight…one user pulled from a community of millions*. Doesn’t seem fair, does it? When I started doing the “Reply to All” mailbag back in November, part of the motivation was to get more of you guys and gals (you’re out there, right?) to participate with a bit more prominance. And I’m happy to report that after a busier-than-expected December, Reply to All is coming back on a regular schedule.
Get excited baseball fans. Sony’s 
There’s no doubt that Wii Motion Plus makes the Wii gaming experience infinitely more satisfying and enjoyable than the standard Wiimote. But having to shell out an extra $20 for the attachment on top of the $40 for a remote, and its added clunkyness, are two justifiable gripes.
It’s been going on 13 years since Duke Nukem Forever was first announced, and you’d think that the closing of its developer, 3D Realms last year, and the effective cancellation of the game would be enough to take down the Duke for good.
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