U.S. Game Sales Surpassed DVD Sales in 2007

Category: Gaming, General News
Posted: July 2, 2008 04:16PM
Author: ClayMeow

The Entertainment Merchants Association recently released its annual report, and the results were great for the gaming industry. According to the report, the U.S. retail gaming industry took in $18.85 billion in 2007, nearly twice as much as the record-setting U.S. box office total of $9.6 billion. Gaming sales surpassing box office sales is nothing new, but what is surprising is that it also surpassed DVD sales, reportedly around $16 billion. Though the $18.85 billion pales in comparison to the total movie industry revenues of over $33 billion, one must remember the game sales does not include any digital purchases, like via Valve's Steam platform, or from Blizzard's millions of World of Warcraft subscribers.

Microsoft Reportedly Plans $50 Xbox 360 Price Cut

Category: Gaming
Posted: July 1, 2008 08:25AM
Author: Dale Shuck

According to reports and the usual anonymous sources, Microsoft is planning to cut the price of its Xbox 360 Pro console by $50 bringing the price down to $299. The price drop is in advance of the upcoming E3 trade show opening July 15. Rumors of the cut began circulating last week with several game sites displaying snapshots of retailers advertising circulars sowing the lower price. At $299, the Xbox would be positioned $100 less than the 40GB PlayStation 3 gaming console.

Hot Coffee Suit Fizzles

Category: Gaming
Posted: June 25, 2008 05:21PM
Author: ClayMeow

"Hot Coffee".  Mention just those two little words, and 95% of internet users know exactly what you're talking about. It may have something to do with the fact that in the U.S. alone, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sold over 9.1 million copies since its 2004 release. When hidden sex scenes were uncovered by modders, a national uproar arose, with people quickly taking sides on whether publisher Take-Two Interactive should be held responsible for mods to its game post-release. Well, any buyer who was offended by the hidden sex in the game could have filed a claim under a settlement lawyers struck with Take-Two and developer Rockstar Games. Yet, despite those 9.1 million copies sold, only 2,676 claims were filed, amounting to less than $30,000 that Take-Two will pay to resolve those claims. Yes, mathematicians, that's less than three hundredths of a percent of all buyers. With such a low payoff, Take-Two said it will give $860,000 to charity. So I guess the lesson here is that sex doesn't really offend the buyers of violent video games. Go figure.

Spore Creature Creator Spawns 'Sporn'

Category: Gaming
Posted: June 24, 2008 08:07PM
Author: Dale Shuck

I guess it had to happen, it just happened sooner rather than later. Electronic Arts new Creature Creator, released in advance of its upcoming Spore game, has led to some users creating creatures of, shall we say, a more anatomically graphic nature - Spore porn, or 'sporn' as one wag has so aptly named it. EA is not amused by some of the creations and has been warning users they are in violations of the terms of service by posting objectionable content. It's clearly outlined down in paragraph 54 that such creations are not welcome on any online sites governed by EA, so you more creative types may want to keep your more imaginative work to yourself.

EA Announces Spore Galactic Edition

Category: Gaming
Posted: June 24, 2008 05:20PM
Author: ClayMeow

Last week, EA released the Spore Creature Creator, and not only has it been a huge hit here at OCC, but there has already been over one million creations uploaded to Sporepedia, EA's online repository for Spore creations. Just when you thought we wouldn't have any Spore news to report on for awhile as we await the September release, out comes EA today with an announcement of the collector's edition, entitled Spore Galactic Edition. For a whopping $30 more than the regular PC edition (yes, as of now, the Galactic Edition is PC-only), you get a "Making of Spore" DVD video, a "How to Build a Better Being" DVD video by National Geographic Channel, a "The Art of Spore" hardback mini-book, a fold-out Spore poster, and a premium 100-page "Galactic Handbook". My question is, where are the special in-game items? No extra creature parts? No extra building or vehicle parts? $30 more without any extra in-game items seems a little steep when many collector's editions these days offer more for less. Still, after the complete awesomeness of the Creature Creator, anything Spore is a good thing.

Limbo of the Lost devs push blame on to others

Category: Gaming
Posted: June 23, 2008 06:41PM
Author: ClayMeow

Nearly two weeks ago, I made a post in the forum regarding point-and-click adventure game Limbo of the Lost apparently plagiarizing mega-hit role-playing game Oblivion. Developer Majestic was on a break until this week, and finally responded to the accusations. According to a Majestic representative, the company had no idea there was use of "unauthorized copyrighted materials" and if it had known, development of the game would have been ceased. So basically it seems that Majestic is trying to blame outside sources for the plagiarism instead of owning up. Guess this story isn't done yet.

Blizzard Teaser Sparks Rumors

Category: Gaming, General News
Posted: June 23, 2008 06:35PM
Author: ClayMeow

This weekend is Blizzard Entertainment's 2008 Worldwide Invitational, held in Paris, France, and rumors have been swirling all over the web that Blizzard is going to announce something big. Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably remember Blizzard's surprise announcement of Starcraft II at the 2007 Worldwide Invitational. If you visit Blizzard's home page, you see a mysterious image of shattered ice, so many are wondering if this is a teaser of things to come. Is it the long awaited Diablo 3? Is it a Starcraft or Diablo MMORPG? Or maybe it's a completely new intellectual property, having nothing to do with Blizzard's super successful franchises? We'll find out in five days; stay tuned!

9800GTX Gets 55nm Refresh, Becomes 9800GTX+

Category: Gaming
Posted: June 19, 2008 10:11AM
Author: Ben Grantham

As you know, we have been treated to an earlier than expected look at ATI's new 4850 card today, which on first impressions seems to offer similar performance to that of NVIDIA's current 9800GTX albeit with a $200 price tag (the GTX is going for around $270 at the moment). As this is the video card market, things progress rather quickly, so it's not really surprising to see NVIDIA trying to put a bit of a quash on the ATI offering with a die shrink refresh of the 9800GTX. Dubbed the 9800GTX+, the GPU moves across from the 65nm manufacturing process to a 55nm one. Naturally this comes with a bit of a clock speed bump, with frequencies up to 738MHz on the core, 1838MHz shader and around 1GHz memory (this from clocks of 675MHz, 1688MHz and 1100MHz on the current card). The smaller process also leads to a price reduction, so expect to see it for around $229 when it launches mid-July.

Spore Creature Creator Demo Released!

Category: Gaming
Posted: June 18, 2008 04:39PM
Author: ClayMeow

The time is drawing nearer. Maxis' Spore is set to release this Fall, and it's easily one of the most anticipated games of all-time. Until now, we've only had videos, screenshots and articles to hold us over, but as of today, we're finally able to get our hands dirty with Spore's Creature Creator. Don't have a design bone in your body? Don't fret! You don't need to know Maya 3D to create your creatures. All you need is a bit of imagination and the ability to click, hold and drag your mouse around your screen. So get downloading and get creating, and be sure to take some screenshots and show off your work here! If you'd rather buy the full Creature Creator (with full functionality) before Spore is released, you can do so for $10.

UK Games Industry Concerned About Lack Of Skills

Category: Gaming
Posted: June 18, 2008 09:24AM
Author: Ben Grantham

The British games industry, through campaign group "Games Up?", are expressing concern that many looking to work for games developers just don't have the right skills for the job. One of the problems cited is that a large number of video gaming degree courses are not giving their students the right skillset. Another concern is the reduction in the number of high-powered Maths and Computer Science graduates who are needed to build the increasingly complex products that are expected from today's gamers. Britain slipped from third to fourth position amongst games developing nations in 2006, with Canada taking up that third spot. Canadian government support for the industry has been a factor in its success, and the UK industry are saying that is what is needed to boost British prospects.

Did Konami and Sony Strike Gold with Metal Gear Solid 4?

Category: Gaming
Posted: June 15, 2008 10:28AM
Author: ClayMeow

It's been over a year and a half since the PlayStation 3 launched and three years since it was first announced. Three years ago when that announcement came, one of the biggest demonstrations was that of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. A PS3 exclusive, MGS4 was seen by many as the game that could make or break Sony's "next-gen" console, but the launch of the console came and MGS4 was nowhere in sight. On Thursday, MGS4 was finally released, and the reviews have already come pouring in, riddled with 5/5's, 10/10's and 100/100's. According to Gamespot, it's "the most technically stunning video game ever made."  IGN proclaims that MGS4 sets "a technical, cinematic and gaming standard that future action and stealth titles will be judged by", and 1UP claims that fans "will find absolute satisfaction in the resolution MGS4 brings." Can MGS4 be exactly what Sony needed to strengthen PS3's market share? Only time will tell; but in the very least, gaming seems to have reached new highs, and only PS3 owners will be able to experience them.

Gaming News - Call of Duty 5 Returning to WWII

Category: Gaming
Posted: June 14, 2008 01:52PM
Author: Chris Benjamin

It seems that Activision was unimpressed by the incredible success of Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, as they have enlisted a new developer to take the game back in time for its fifth installment. Call of Duty: World at War has just been announced, and it seems that Activision is just barely making good on its promise to bring the franchise to a new battle theater, as most of the action will be taking place in the Pacific, thankfully granting gamers a reprieve from the uber played-out European theater. Oh wait, I spoke too soon - gamers will again be treated to battle in Germany, with a level depicting the Russian advance on the German capitol. New developer Treyarch (COD 2: Big Red One, COD 3) will be using Infinity Ward's COD 4 engine, so we know the gameplay and graphics should be solid. Rumors have COD: WaW out by the end of March 2009, with releases expected for all major gaming platforms. I'm calling BS on Activision here - the WWII theme is as dead as the Nazi leader that started the war, and the modern battlefields and weaponry were just the adrenaline shot that the franchise needed. Boooo!

Video Game Sales Up 37% in May

Category: Gaming, General News
Posted: June 13, 2008 09:07AM
Author: ClayMeow

Market researcher NPD Group reported that U.S. retail sales of video games, consoles and game accessories were up 37% in May over the same month last year, reaching $1.12 billion, helped by the huge success of Grand Theft Auto IV. Hardware sales rose 34% and software sales rose 41%. Nintendo's Wii and DS captured the number one and two spots in hardware units sold, respectively, for the fourth straight month.

Ben Heck Turns His Hand To Accessible Design

Category: Gaming
Posted: June 5, 2008 01:27PM
Author: Ben Grantham

Beck Heck, creator of numerous impressive mods, including recently a laptop version of the PS3 console, has got together with eDimensional to create a the Access Controller. It is a games controller with an intruiging modular design that claims to enable one handed operation, which would be helpful for those that are impaired or simply like to drink coffee while despatching another wave of evil aliens. Accessible design (at least in the ergonomics field) can be hard pushed to be beautiful, and I think I can safely say that Access Controller falls into this category as well. What matters is if it actually works as intended. If it does then the $129.99 asking price doesn't seem quite so steep.

Lian Li to release its replacement XBOX 360 case soon

Category: Gaming
Posted: June 5, 2008 12:42PM
Author: Andrew Robinson

Lian Li produces some pretty high quality cases for the enthusiast computer crowd. Now they are extending their arm out to the gamer crowd (at least the Microsoft side) by offering a replacement case for the XBOX 360. The entire front of the case is mesh which allows exponentially better cooling than the plastic venting of the original case could. The cooling is further enhanced by a speed adjustable 120MM fan mounted in the rear of the case. The case even has pre-grommeted holes for a water cooling setup and an X shaped top/side window. There is no official release date or price but it is rumored that the case will retail for $80.

"Our Courts" Video Game Project

Category: Gaming
Posted: June 5, 2008 12:05PM
Author: Dale Shuck

If you were asked to put together a couple names of people involved in video games, I'm willing to bet that Sandra Day O'Connor wouldn't make that list. However, the retired Supreme Court justice has announced her involvement in a project to teach young people about the court system and how it works. Former Justice O'Connor says her involvement stems from her concern over attacks on judges from members of Congress, state legislatures and public interest groups that paint judges as activists and an ongoing effort by those groups to influence the judicial process.

Gaming News - Warhead is a Crysis Expansion

Category: Gaming
Posted: June 5, 2008 11:58AM
Author: Chris Benjamin

A few days after a rather cryptic "Crysis Warhead" image appeared on the Crytek website, some details on what sounds like a pretty cool Crysis expansion are coming to the forefront. Codenamed Warhead, the game will be a Crysis expansion, and not the highly anticipated second part of the proposed Crysis trilogy, and will follow the original game through the eyes of Psycho, one of Nomad's unit members. Expected to hit store shelves this fall, Warhead will be built on an enhanced version of Crytek's CryENGINE 2, and will provide players with more weapons and vehicles, as well as a possibly upgraded multiplayer function. This should be really cool...

NVIDIA Pump Out 9 Series Mobile GPUs

Category: Gaming
Posted: June 3, 2008 12:57PM
Author: Ben Grantham

NIVIDIA is claiming that the new GeForce 9M GPUs are up to 40% faster than their 8 series counterparts, and of course considerably faster than certain integrated GPUs (Intel). The new parts incorporate features such as Purevideo HD with support for DVI, HDMI 1.3 and DisplayPort 1.1. The 9M series also includes Hybrid SLi technology, allowing low power integrated video to be used for the day to day grind and the high performance part to kick in when needed. As with NVIDIAs desktop video solutions, DirectX 10.1 support is lacking but that isn't a huge deal. The 9 series will be aimed at the value, mainstream and performance arenas, with the 9100M G taking care of the bottom line. Midrange is filled out with the 9400M, 9300M GS and 9200M GS, while the 9600M GT, 9600M GS and 9500M G cover the high end bases. Driver support for PhysX is also expected in Q3.

Gaming News - Free COD 4 Map Pack Coming June 5

Category: Gaming
Posted: June 2, 2008 02:04PM
Author: Chris Benjamin

On June 5th, the online multiplayer world of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is going to get a little bigger, as an Nvidia-sponsored Variety Map Pack will be available as DLC for PC gamers! In addition to the four new maps, Broadcast, Killhouse, Chinatown and Creek, gamers will also be able to download a patch that updates the game to v1.6, which fixes a few bugs, and gives players some new options. What's really great about all of this is that Nvidia is picking up the bill, allowing PC gamers to download the new content for no charge - while console gamers will have to pay extra for new DLC.

MSI Crams Features Onto 9600GT

Category: Gaming
Posted: May 27, 2008 04:24PM
Author: Ben Grantham

Ahead of Computex in Taiwan (June 3-7) MSI has been giving journalists a look at some of the products they will be showing. One of the most interesting of these (or should that be slightly insane?) is its upcoming 9600GT graphics card, which packs in 2GB(!) of GDDR3 plus HDMI and Displayport connections along with dual DVI and even optical audio out. Now at last years Computex, MSI was showing its GX-600 laptop that brought back the concept of a 'Turbo' button that overclocked the laptop with a single push. The 9600GT it was showing also uses this concept, giving you higher clockspeeds via a button on the PCI bracket of the card (how much higher wasn't divulged). Putting all this onto what is essentially a mid range card seems a little strange, but it seems MSI actually plan on selling the card for somewhere between $250 and $300 by the end of June.

Guitar Hero? Lets Try Band Heroes!

Category: Gaming
Posted: May 23, 2008 12:23PM
Author: Carl Dunham

Activision has decided to get a whole virtual band in on the fun all while keeping the original namesake. “Guitar Hero World Tour” will allow two four person groups to compete with each other online for fame and fortune… but without the fortune part and probably the fame part too now that I’m thinking about it. Guitar Hero will now be an almost exact twin to its rival Rock Band in that it will have a guitar, drums, bass and microphone for the lead singer. Guitar Hero accounts for a 72 percent increase in Activision’s stock over the past 12 months alone with over a billion dollars made off of the hit game. “Guitar Hero World Tour” will feature bands such as The Eagles, Linkin Park, Sublime and Van Halen with every song being an original master track versus the past games with cover versions. Guitar Hero junkies can also look forward to “Guitar Hero Aerosmith” which should be released next month.

Wii Fit Hits U.S. Retailers Tomorrow

Category: Gaming
Posted: May 20, 2008 04:26PM
Author: Chris Benjamin

Nintendo's incredibly popular Wii gaming console got a fitness boost yesterday, when the Wii Fit game hit the shelves of Nintendo's New York retail store. The game, which features strength training, aerobic, balance, and yoga themes across its more than 40 different exercises, comes with a unique shoulder-wide exercise board that can track the user's BMI, weight, and fitness progress charts. Scheduled to hit stores nationwide on Wednesday, analysts predict that 30% of the 10 million current U.S. Wii owners will "get Fit", and Amazon and Wal-Mart claim to have already sold all of their available pre-order stock.

Beta Testing Begins for Battlefield: Heroes

Category: Gaming
Posted: May 20, 2008 12:41PM
Author: Carl Dunham

Sure it looks a lot like Team Fortress 2 and yes it is made by EA but free is free right? The game is a stripped down version to its older and much bigger brothers Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142 bringing a more lighthearted and cartoonish feeling to the series. The game is destined to run on milder systems with a high speed connection, this means that getting into PC gaming has just gotten a lot easier. In order to play the game you need to skip on over to EA’s website as the game is launched from their, this is what makes the game “free” as they can pump you full of ads while your loading. This is still a closed beta so you will have to sign up and cross your fingers to be selected, if you don’t make it the game is slated to be released by the end of summer so the wait won’t be to long. It’s from EA so it can’t be that bad… can it?

AMD GAME! to Help Identify Gaming-Grade Components Easily

Category: Gaming
Posted: May 19, 2008 01:39PM
Author: Chris Benjamin

AMD understands that it's sometimes difficult for consumers to easily differentiate gaming-grade PC's and components from similarly named and packaged mainstream parts, and they're hoping that the AMD GAME! initiative will help the buying public in that regard. AMD GAME! is the result of collaborative efforts between AMD, Alienware, Acer, Logitech, and Microsoft to help consumers figure out what PC's and parts are best suited to gaming and high-definition entertainment. AMD is, of course, pimping its own products here - but the hardware that will be branded with the AMD GAME! logo seems to offer solid performance potential. Consumers will soon find many AMD CPU's, 3xxx-series video cards, and AMD-based motherboards that have been AMD GAME! certified.

EA extends Take-Two Offer...Again

Category: Gaming
Posted: May 19, 2008 11:00AM
Author: ClayMeow

As many of you are probably aware, Electronic Arts (ERTS) has been attempting to purchase Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) for several months now.  After an initial bid of $26/share was rejected by Take-Two's board, EA attempted a hostile takeover by offering the same $26/share directly to shareholders.  Only a very small percentage of shareholders actually bit, however, and EA extended its offer to Take-Two until mid-April, but lowered the price to $25.74/share.  When that bid expired, EA extended the offer until mid-May, and now, as the mid-May deadline has passed, EA has once again extended the offer until mid-June.  You'd think EA would get the message by now.

Alligator-skinned Xbox 360

Category: Gaming
Posted: May 17, 2008 12:02PM
Author: ClayMeow

Yes, this is primarily a computer site, but there are a lot of Xbox owners here (myself not included), and when I saw pictures of this uniquely skinned Xbox 360, I just had to post it.  There have been several custom-made Xbox 360 skins over the life of the console, but you'd be hard-pressed to find one as detailed as this one...or creepy, depending on who you ask.  Check out the pictures and tell me that's not one of the coolest mod jobs you have ever seen.

Assassin's Creed Dumps DX 10.1

Category: Gaming
Posted: May 15, 2008 04:11PM
Author: Chris Benjamin

I typically save most gaming news for the semi-regular Binge, but I think that this story deserves its own slot. As part of a software update to its popular Assassin's Creed game, Ubisoft seems to have removed DirectX 10.1 functionality from the game entirely. This is interesting for a few reasons; first and foremost, it just doesn't make sense to remove "main attraction" features from a game - especially if the removal of these features results in reduced game performance on systems using a graphics card supporting DX 10.1. Secondly - and most importantly - because this title is part of Nvidia's "The Way it's Meant to be Played" program, the moves smells very much like collusion - seeing as no current Nvidia graphics cards support DX 10.1.  This was a terrible decision, and one can only wonder if karma will rear its ugly head...as it should.

Radeon 4800 Launch Details - Coming In June

Category: Gaming
Posted: May 15, 2008 12:10PM
Author: Ben Grantham

Going against what has been reported so far, it seems that ATI's 4800 series cards will be start to see introduction in mid June rather than later this month. The first product out of the stable will be the 4850, which comes with 512MB of GDDR3 on board. This will be follwed up with the 4870 and 4870X2 in July. Both 4870 cards will come with GDDR5 memory in 512MB / 1GB configurations respectively (though board partners may decide to push this higher at some point). ATI is making some interesting performance claims, saying that a 4870 should perform at a similar level to (or better than) the dual-GPU 3870X2. That is a bold claim indeed. The 4800 series will also support 7.1 audio over HDMI, as well as improving color output for the connection. The Universal Video Decoder will get a bump to version 2. Power requirements are looking like they should be reasonable, with a 450W PSU being recommended for a single card and 550W for two (bear in mind, this will account for less than great units). What about prices for these cards? The 512MB 4850 should come in at around $189-$219, while you should see 4780 cards for between $249 and $279.

NVIDIA GeForce 175.16 WHQL Driver Released

Category: Gaming
Posted: May 13, 2008 09:07PM
Author: Ben Grantham

NVIDIA kicked out the latest set of official WHQL GeForce drivers today. There are all the usual things you would expect from a fresh driver release, such as a raft of bug fixes for games and other specific issues that certain cards may have been experiencing. Notably, the new drivers improve support for the 9 series cards, and add some new Pure Video HD features for those cards such as dynamic contrast adjustment, dynamic blue, green and skin tone enhancements and dual-stream decode acceleration. You can read over the full release notes from NVIDIA here (warning : links to a PDF file). If you are the kind to use the NVIDIA Beta drivers, then these won't have changed much from the latest of those, so don't expect any major differences.

OCZ Getting Into The Notebook Game

Category: Gaming
Posted: May 13, 2008 05:07PM
Author: Ben Grantham

OCZ is a household name, at least for hardware enthusiasts everywhere, and have diversified their product offerings over the last few years. That trend continues with the announcement that the company will be offering do-it-yourself gaming notebooks later this year. Consumers should be able to buy a barebones notebook and then add components to it as they see fit, to complete a system. Standard features on the OCZ platform will include a 15.4" display, NVIDIA 8600M GT 512MB GPU, dual-layer DVD burner, four USB ports and an Intel PM965/ICH8M northbridge/southbridge combination. This comes at a price though, with the notebook weighing in at 7lbs (gaming notebooks have never exactly been lightweights to be fair). There is no word yet on how much all this will cost you, and whether it will appeal to those used to picking out components for their desktops is uncertain.