Site Closing.

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GamePlay Unlimited

BluRay, HD-DVD update

Microsoft released a statement:
"We do not believe the recent reports about HD DVD will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace. As we’ve long stated, we believe it is games that sell consoles and Xbox 360 continues to have the largest next-gen games library with the most exclusives and best selling games in the industry. We will wait until we hear from Toshiba before announcing any specific plans around the Xbox 360 HD DVD player. HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room along with playback of the DVD movies they already own."

Source: Gamescoreblog

Also, it looks as if MS is just waiting for Toshiba to announce they have dropped HDDVD, Joystiq had this story on a rumor that a BluRay add on for the 360 is already complete and could be to the market in 3 months.

Joystiq Article

McFarlane Halo 3 Figure Site Opens

The site for the Halo 3 action figures has opened with a very distinct Halo 3 theme. The entire site looks like the in-game menu system for Halo 3. Not to mention that these figures are extremely more detailed than their Halo 2 predecessors.

See the site.

HD-DVD is Dead.

Sources from everywhere are stating that Toshiba will soon cut the HD-DVD format. This, along with the previously announced Wal-Mart, NetFlix, and Warner Bros. cut basically signals the end of the format. Question now is whether Microsoft will start supporting BluRay or not. Previous stories have numerous quotes from MS saying that a BluRay player is a possibility. We will just have to wait and see.

(From Reuters)
"Japanese public broadcaster NHK had earlier reported that Toshiba would suffer losses in the tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) as it scrapped production of HD DVD players and recorders and took other steps to exit the business.

The company source told Reuters that Toshiba was in the final stages of planning to exit the HD DVD business and that an official decision would be made soon."

Engadget Story
Reuters Story
Xbox 360 Fanboy Story

Microsoft "Bringing it Home" for GDC '08

(From 1up.com)

"That's right, this year's GDC will be accompanied by "VIP access" to the event via the Xbox Live Marketplace starting February 20th. As usual, all of the downloadable content will be free and so far we know that portions of the keynote from John Schappert (corporate VP of Live, software and services) will be offered as a hi-def download. Schappert's keynote is set to address plans for "unleashing the creative community," which sounds suspiciously like Sony's push this year with Home and LittleBigPlanet. How will Microsoft's plans compare? The keynote is set for February 20th at 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and will be split into highlights and offered on the Xbox Live Marketplace."

*Good to see. Free stuff is always accepted in my book!

360 version of GTA IV to have unique exclusive multiplayer support

RUMOR SMASH:
Apparently the guys at Kotaku contacted Rockstar about this issue and they had this to say:

"To answer your question, the PS3 version of the game will indeed have online multiplayer just as the 360 version does. "

So much for that rumor...

Gameindustry.biz has a story out about GTA IV's multiplayer feature and a few quotes from the Major Nelson podcast with Microsoft's Don Mattrick. It contains some information that is a bit interesting...

"Microsoft's senior VP of Interactive Entertainment, Don Mattrick, has told the Major Nelson podcast that Rockstar's forthcoming super-title, Grand Theft Auto IV, will have multiplayer elements which will be exclusive to the Xbox 360.

"It's an amazing piece of software, and I'm really excited with its downloadable content and online multiplayer support - again, that's something that's unique to 360," he said.

"We think consumers are going to love that, and it's going to create what I would describe, again, as the premium experience on our platform."

While there has been some confusion on the matter, and in the absence of further clarification from Microsoft or Rockstar Games, the news would seem to be a blow for PlayStation 3 owners who will already miss out on the previously announced Xbox 360 episodic downloadable content, which Mattrick also refers to here."

Full article

Spore coming to 360/PS3?

GameSpot just ran a story giving information that the widely anticipated PC/DS game Spore may be coming to the 360 and PS3. Details are still shaky at this moment but we can always hope!

"The Wii version of Spore, which was reconfirmed at an EA analysts' event today, has not yet been dated. However, it may not be the only version of the ambitious evolution-civilization-space-exploration sim to hit next-generation consoles. Speaking to analysts, EA Games president Frank Gibeau said that Spore is "already in development" for the newest generation of consoles, "Wii included." He did not specify further platforms, and EA reps could not clarify his comments as of press time."

Full Story

Arby 'n' the Chief Episode 4

Another hilarious episode from Digital Pheer. Enjoy!
(LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL)

Grand Theft Auto Site updated, new screens

Have you been looking forwards to the next installment of the Grand Theft Auto series? I think I can speak for everyone when I say yes, enthusiastically. Today the site has been updated with a giant Liberty City for your viewing pleasure. As well, new screenshots have been added and IGN has a few new videos to enjoy. (No prostitutes were harmed in the posting of this topic)

PGR4 DLC Coming February 14

Here are the details:

Free Challenge Pack (Free)

"Download the new Free PGR 4 Challenge Pack from Bizarre, and you'll drive the hydrogen-powered 2007 Peugeot Flux, winner of the 2007 Peugeot International Design Competition. Plus, you'll get two new game modes-one of them the player-requested Tourist Mode, which lets you tool around any city in the game checking out sights with your friends. Or play Free Roam Cat and Mouse, where a slow mouse vehicle must avoid enemy cats. And you add another 10 achievements. Get more racing fun for the best price-free!"

Premium Challenge Pack (400 points)

"The Premium PGR 4 Challenge Pack from Bizarre, available for 400 Microsoft(r) Points, gives you seven new cars-the 2008 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible Concept, 2007 Volkswagen Golf GTI W12-650, 2007 Peugeot Flux, 1987 BMW M3 E30 DTM, 2007 Ferrari 430 Scuderia, 2008 Honda S2000 CR, and 2008 Callaway C16 Speedster. You get three new bikes-the 2007 Yamaha YZF-R1, 1995 Aprilia RS 250, and 1998 Aprilia RSV 1000 Tuono R."

"Plus, new World Challenge Arcade Mode gives you 20 arcade events in 3 themed chapters, including 5 events that can only be done on platinum. In Tourist Mode, get a free ride with friends around any game city. In Free Roam Cat and Mouse, a slow mouse vehicle runs from enemy cats. Ten new achievements fill out the pack."

Zero Punctuation: Call of Duty 4

In his most requested review of the year(s) Yahtzee takes on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare by Infinity Ward.

New Mass Effect DLC March 10th

From BioWare's official site:

"To date, over 1.6 million gamers have explored the engaging sci-fi universe of Mass Effect. Beginning on March 10, fans everywhere will be able to expand the “Mass Effect” experience with the release of the first ever downloadable content for the award-winning saga.

The Bring Down the Sky downloadable content pack will be released to Xbox LIVE Marketplace on Monday, March 10 at 2 a.m. PST, and will be available for 400 MS points. This is the first in a series of planned downloadable content that further expands the Mass Effect universe and continues the adventures of Commander Shepard and the Normandy crew.

Bring Down the Sky includes a new uncharted world that introduces the notorious and feared alien race of the Batarians. A Batarian extremist group has hijacked a mobile asteroid station in the Asgard system, setting it on a collision course with the nearby colony world of Terra Nova. Only Commander Shepard can save the millions of innocent civilians before the asteroid completes its deadly descent.

Bring Down the Sky contains approximately 90 minutes of heart-pounding action and a new Achievement worth 50 Gamerscore points.

Mass Effect is exclusively available on Xbox 360 and is rated M for Mature by the ESRB."

Midway announces "This is Vegas"

Open World, Lifestyle Action Experience Allows Players to Fight, Gamble, Drive and Party in the World's Most Decadent City

CHICAGO - February 6, 2008 – Midway Games Inc. (NYSE: MWY), a leading interactive entertainment software publisher and developer, today announced This is Vegas™, an open world, lifestyle action experience, where players will live out their Vegas fantasies by fighting, gambling, driving and partying their way through the most decadent, fast-paced and wildest city in the world. Developed by Midway's acclaimed Seattle-based internal studio, Surreal, This is Vegas is expected to ship for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows-based PC in Winter 2008.

The first screenshots, video and game information for This is Vegas are being unveiled throughout the week at IGN (http://www.ign.com), the Web's top site for videogame information.

"We are thrilled to be unveiling the first-ever videogame experience which allows players to live out their wildest Vegas fantasies," said Alan Patmore, studio head, Surreal. "Whether it's partying in the hottest night clubs, racing in underground circuits, testing your luck at the tables or getting into a barroom brawl, This is Vegas has it all."

For the latest game information, trailers and more, please go to http://vegas.midway.com.

About This is Vegas

When a powerful businessman begins turning Vegas into a family-friendly tourist trap, you must start your own powerful empire and resurrect the famous adult playground. Party hard at the hottest clubs to make VIP connections. Grow your bankroll by hitting high stakes tables. Race the fastest cars on the underground circuit to raise your reputation. Fight off enemies with fists and firearms to prove your strength. Where you go and what you do is your call whether counting cards, seducing dangerous women, cruising the strip or starting bar brawls, you must put the sin back in sin city.

About Midway

Midway Games Inc. (NYSE:MWY), headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with offices throughout the world, is a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software for major videogame systems and personal computers. More information about Midway and its products can be found at www.midway.com.

Gears of War 2 in GamePro

UPDATE: Apparently there won't be much coverage of Gears 2 in the new GamePro, in a post on the official Epic Games forum Mark Rein had this to say:

"It is complete nonsense," he writes. "We have not announced a sequel to Gears of War to GamePro or anyone else for that matter."

*So who knows how long it will be until the sequel is announced...


As seen in the cover image, it looks like fans will get a sneak peak of Gears of War 2 before this month's GDC '08. I can't help but wonder what kind of preview Epic let GamePro get their hands on. I guess we will have to wait and see.

"GamePro issue 234, which hits news stands on Feb. 12 and mailboxes next week, has the goods on Rainbow Six Vegas 2, including new information, new weapons, game modes, and features. In addition to exciting developments revealed in the mag, GamePro.com will be announcing a bit of Vegas 2 news on Monday. Rainbow Six fans, keep it locked right here."

Want to download your Halo 3 Fileshare Videos?

Try this method:

To up load your videos and put them onto your PC here is what you need to do

First you will need Firefox and something called Downloadhelper

first download firefox first then download Downloadhelper

When Downloadhelper is done is done downloading the icon for it will appear on the right hand side of the adress bar.

Next step is go register at www.geevee.com and then go click on Grab and fill out all the info it request for you then upload your video to it. After your video is done uploading click on the link you your video.

When you click on your video the Icon for Downloadhelper will flash. Hold down on it and download the .flv file to your video. After that is done head to www.media-convert.com. When at www.media-convert.com get the file and make sure the imput format is set to .flv and the output is set to .wmv. The .flv will be converted to a watchable .wmv file. From there you can get lots of clips and edit them together and anything.

(Thanks to wwm0nkey for the tutorial)

The Fox News Debates: Cooper Lawrence admits wrongdoing towards Mass Effect

Well we finally have some kind of apology. If you hadn't heard, Monday on the Fox News television show “The Live Desk With Martha MacCallum,” author Cooper Lawrence outraged the gaming world by making comments towards the game Mass Effect such as:
“Here’s how they’re seeing women: They’re seeing them as these objects of desire, as these, you know, hot bodies. They don’t show women as being valued for anything other than their sexuality. And it’s a man in this game deciding how many women he wants to be with.”
To top her comments off, GameTrailers TV host Geoff Keighley asked Mrs. Lawrence if she had ever played Mass Effect, to which she replied "No" and laughed.

Well you don't just hit the gaming community and get away with it. As Mrs. Lawrence found out, the gaming community will hit back. Lawrence's book site on Amazon.com as well as Barnesandnoble.com received quite a lashing. Review scores plummeted and angry posts flooded the page.

EA (parent company of Mass Effect's developer BioWare) called out the Fox News program and called for the record to be set straight, which led to Fox News claiming they had invited EA onto the "Live Desk" program with no response. Finally after all of this, Mrs. Lawrence has come out and admitted her comments were wrong.

"I recognize that I misspoke,” she said. “I really regret saying that, and now that I’ve seen the game and seen the sex scenes it’s kind of a joke. Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it’s like pornography,” she added. “But it’s not like pornography. I’ve seen episodes of ‘Lost’ that are more sexually explicit.”

Let this be a lesson to all media. Do your research before opening you mouth.

Grand Theft Auto IV dated April 29th

Rockstar Games and Take 2 have announced that one of this years' mega-hits, Grand Theft Auto IV will be releasing April 29th. The game should be the best in the series thus far, and cleans up every issue the past GTA games have had. IGN and Gamespot, among others, have extensive previews of the game for your viewing pleasure!

APRIL 29th

Fox News gets an earful from EA

Following the story posted a few days ago with a video of a Fox news report about how Mass Effect was apparently showing "Full digital nudity" and how it was letting players engage in full "graphic sex," Bioware parent company EA shot back with a rebuttal of their own. The following are a few excerpts from the letter sent by Jeff Brown, Vice President of communications at EA, to Teri VanHorn, producer of the Live Desk with Martha MacCallum show.

(From Gaming Today)

"'As the parent company of BioWare, the studio which created the game, EA would like you to set the record straight on a number of errors and misstatements which incorrectly characterize the story and character interactions in Mass Effect.”

“Your headline above the televised story read: “New videogame shows full digital nudity and sex.” Fact: Mass Effect does not include explicit or frontal nudity. Love scenes in non-interactive sequences include side and profile shots - a vantage frequently used in many prime-time television shows. It’s also worth noting that the game requires players to develop complex relationships before characters can become intimate and players can chose to avoid the love scenes altogether.

FNC voice-over reporter says: “You’ll see full digital nudity and the ability for players to engage in graphic sex.”
Fact: Sex scenes in Mass Effect are not graphic. These scenes are very similar to sex sequences frequently seen on network television in prime time.

FNC reporter says: “Critics say Mass Effect is being marketed to kids and teenagers.”
Fact: That is flat out false. Mass Effect and all related marketing has been reviewed by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and rated Mature - appropriate for players 17-years and older. ESRB routinely counsels retailers on requesting proof of age in selling M-rated titles and the system has been lauded by members of Congress and the Federal Trade Commission. In practical terms, the ratings work as well or better than those used for warning viewers about television content.”

[Concerning the panel in the discussion] “They have had zero experience with Mass Effect and are largely ignorant about videogames, the people who play them, and the ESRB system that governs their ratings and sales.”

“The resulting coverage was insulting to the men and women who spent years creating a game which is acclaimed by critics for its high creative standards. As video games continue to take audiences away from television, we expect to see more TV news stories warning parents about the corrupting influence of interactive entertainment. But this represents a new level of recklessness.

Do you watch the Fox Network? Do you watch Family Guy? Have you ever seen The OC? Do you think the sexual situations in Mass Effect are any more graphic than scenes routinely aired on those shows? Do you honestly believe that young people have more exposure to Mass Effect than to those prime time shows?

This isn’t a legal threat; it’s an appeal to your sense of fairness. We’re asking FNC to correct the record on Mass Effect.'"

New Far Cry 2 trailer hits the web...

Enjoy the new trailer for the PC/360/PS3 game Far Cry 2. The trailer showcases Ubisoft's new Dunia engine.

Fox News shows ignorance about gaming once again

Take a look at this news piece Fox News did about Mass Effect.

This news piece infuriates me. "Full Nudity?" Where in the game is that exactly? I have gone through every love scene and the most you see is the side of a breast or the butt of a character.

The news media is so ignorant to the gaming world that it makes me sick. If you have not played through the game in question you should get very little say. The fact that one of the latter guys said the game was "Luke Skywalker meets Debbie does Dallas" makes me wonder if I should even trust the news anymore.

Geoff did the best he could in his 30 seconds of time to defend it, and mention that it's not just "let's go have *** with as many people as possible," and that it is really a love story in the game that leads to it. This game is more like a movie than anything, but there you go, why all of the sudden are video games the hot topic? Do kids not have access to "R" rated movies in their home? I would bet that more households have "R" rated movies than have "M" rated video games.

The ignorance of news-media today really upsets me. Mass Effect is an entire epic story and people need to play it before calling it out to be blasphemy.

What do you think?

Win: Rez HD for free!

How can you win this amazing HD game you may ask? Simply go to the Rez website and register to win. On the last page of registration make sure you click the box that says something about entering to win one of 50 copies of the game. Isn't (almost) free stuff great?

Zero Punctuation: Crysis

Crysis this week with a rather optimistic review... Absolutely hilarious as well.

Zero Punctuation: Silent Hill: Origins

Yahtzee is back again this week with a review of Silent Hill: Origins, enjoy!

Rumor Mill: BioShock Sequel a...Prequel.

Fresh gaming intel from the Czech Republic website Hrej.cz states that a source inside 2K games has stated the next BioShock project will be a prequel set before the original game. These rumors gain steam with the announcement of the formation of 2K Czech, formally Illusion Softworks. The sources also stated that 2K Marin is rumored to be the studio at work on BioShock 2.

Far Cry 2 Coming to 360

Ubisoft announced today that the next installment in the Far Cry series will debut on the Xbox 360 and PS3 sometime in the 2008-2009 fiscal year. Ubisoft states that the engine used for Far Cry 2 is built "from the ground up."

"More than just a visual and technological achievement, Far Cry 2 immerses players in an entirely new kind of gaming experience, featuring a custom-made video game engine built from the ground up. Players will discover a true open world gameplay set in one of the most beautiful environments in the world, Africa, brought to life by high-definition next-gen technology. Far Cry 2 is scheduled to ship fiscal 2008–2009."

Official Statement

Zero Punctuation: Mario Galaxy

Yahtzee is back from the Holidays (or whatever they have in Australia) with another hilarious review. This time it is the Wii's mega-game "Mario Galaxy"

Escapist Magazine