GNews

Forza 2 joins XLEAGUE lineup

2007-06-22T13:22:00.000Z

Since coming out earlier this month, Forza Motorsport 2 has been impressing the masses and now XLEAGUE.TV has added the racing title to their online roster. Speed junkies will have to buddy up since it's being run as a team game, and there's a sweet £1000 at the end of the tunnel for the winners. Tasty.

Hour of Victory Demo on Xbox LIVE!

2007-05-31T10:20:00.000Z

The highly anticipated World War II FPS from Midway finally lands on Xbox LIVE as a single player teaser demo to wet your appetite till June, when this baby hits the stores. You'll have access to the North Africa level where you can use any of three characters .
Many thought this would be a hot title but so far, word on the net seems to be that its utter crap... but hey, we just report the news.

Four years of PlanetSide

2007-05-22T17:08:00.000Z

In celebration of PlanetSide's 4 year anniversary a bunch of new weapons have been added the the MMO. All players will be able to access the weapons except the new experimental flamethrower, which is for any1 whose had an account for 3 years or more (does that make you 75 in PlanetSide years?).
Click for detailed list.
• PISTOLS - The Spear (NC) / The Stinger (TR) / The Eraser (VS)
These Empire specific pistols are designed to be very lethal towards Infantry units but lack a punch in the armor piercing department.

• MISSILE LAUNCHER with PROPELLED EXPLOSIVE - The Scorpion
The Scorpion uses a range-finder technology to fire 'smart' missiles from long distances.

* If not a 2 year veteran, it may be purchased for 1 certification point if Special Assault has already been learned.

• FLAMETHROWER - The Dragon
The Dragon is a powerful flamethrower that works best at close ranges, although it is an experimental weapon and may not be accessible at all times in PlanetSide.

* The Dragon includes a three minute purchase timer.

StarCraft 2 Announced

2007-05-20T21:19:00.000Z

It’s not just any event that would get us to do a weekend report here at GNews, but this was worth getting out of bed for....

http://starcraft2.com
After much hint dropping and speculation, the official word is finally out that yes, there will be a StarCraft 2! Not only do the graphics appear to have had the upgrade to 3D, but also gameplay has received many updates, such as new units for all the races. To go with the announcement, Blizzard released two trailers and here’s the first one. Have fun. I know I did.

XLEAGUE TV channel launched

2007-05-17T15:22:00.000Z

Well we reported on it previously, and now the UK's first eSports channel is finally on air. It started yesterday but I wanted to watch it a little before hitting the blog. It looks good although at the moment it seems like they could do with a little more content. I'm sure more will come as the channel grows though.
I really like the idea, and have always wanted to see competitive gaming more recognised as a sport, but cool game related ideas never seem to last on Sky. With any luck this'll stick.
If u don't have sky your limited to the website, where those who want a piece of the competitive action can sign up.
Those who do have it can hit 291 for to find out what all the noise is about.
http://www.xleague.tv/

Lost Planet DirectX 10

2007-05-15T22:16:00.000Z

A demo of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition for the PC has been released, and is the first demo to take advantage of NVIDIA GeForce 8 Series DirectX 10-compatible graphics processors.
The game will feature Extreme High Definition (XHD) support with up to 2560x1600 resolution (sounds larger than life itself), and better effects all round. It's a big wank for Microsoft and Nvidia but that doesn't mean it won't be good. Those not yet in the DX10 race need not worry cause there'll be a DX9 version too, though obviously not as hot, for Windows XP.
Those interested can find the demo at:
http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_lostplanet_downloads.html
The final version of the game is scheduled for release on June 26th.

New Team Fortress 2 facial animation abilities

2007-05-15T16:44:00.000Z

Valve has given the public a look at the next iteration of facial animation technology for the Source engine. Provided Team Fortress 2 doesn’t carry on down the Duke Dukem Forever path, it will be the next of Valve’s games to feature the technology....
Depending on the ease of implementation, this could have further benefits for the Valve loving portion of the Machinima community. At the very least it should help bring games ever closer to the levels of cinematic excellence which are in so much demand by current generations of technology.

New Cars for TDU on the 360

2007-05-14T15:44:00.000Z

Hardcore Test Drive Unlimited fans on the 360 should prepare to part with 350 points as Atari has made Test Drive Collection Volume 4 available on Xbox Live. In this little package you'll find six new cars: the Dino 246 GT, Ferrari Challenge Stradale, Cadillac® Cien™, RUF RK Spyder, Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster, and the TVR T440R.

If you would like to feed your kids but still enjoy some new content, the Saturn™ Curve™ is available for free, although of course this is probably to make you consider letting the nippers starve in favor of driving the other cars.
Once obtained, the new motors can be bought as normal in the in-game dealerships.

New Spider-Man game in the works

2007-05-08T13:01:00.000Z

Only a few days after the release of Spider-Man 3 (the game), Activision has already announced another one.
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe will be released in Autumn, and while there's really no info about it whatsoever, I imagine it will be very close to the release time of Spider-Man3 (the film) on DVD.
The teasrer-site doesn't have much, just lets you sign up for updates, contests, the usual.

http://spiderman-friend-or-foe.com

Spider-Man 3 game swinging to a shop near you

2007-05-04T11:41:00.000Z

Today the wait is finally over and wall crawler fans across the world will no doubt be donning their virtual spandex and taking up the role of Spider-Man once more, as the Spider-Man 3 game comes out on almost all the major platforms today....

building on the great elements of the game tie-in for the Spider-Man 2 movie, Spider-Man 3 features the same free-roam game play style but this time with a much larger city to explore. Not only do you get the chance to websling through the city heights, but also the sewers and subways as 3 new rival gangs and a host of Spidey super-villians all want a piece of New York City.

The famous black suit finally makes it's way into the story, and players will get a chance to harness it's greater strength, agility, and durability. Of course you don't just get to have all this power at no cost to the tax payer! As time goes on the suit becomes harder and herder to control, but I'm sure nobody's thinking that far ahead right now.

Also seeing a big change is the fight system, which has been re-built from the ground up, allowing you to do a flurry of newer and more advanced attacks, which you'll need to take down the smarter enemies with their revamped AI.

But enough of all this talk! My virtual slacks are on, and I now leave to play my own role as Spider-Man on the Xbox 360!
The game is available on all major platforms, though the PS3 version has been delayd for release later this month.

IBM chip breakthrough

2007-05-03T16:20:00.000Z

A new computer chip developed by IBM is set to take processor technology forward using a process called "self assembly". Once again industry steals from one of mother earth's many patents as self assembly is a phenomenon that occurs in nature, and is responsible for the formation of seashells, snowflakes, and the enamel on teeth....

The process is used to create trillions of nano-sized holes, which will hurtle
lots of lovely little electrons that flow inside the chip.

The chips will run faster, and... jump higher than current technology with a 15% smaller power consumption.
Apparently we can expect to see them in mobile phones, computers, games consoles, and a plethora of other devices old people are known to have trouble with. It's believed this technology will drive chip-kind forward by two generations of Moore's law, and if you don't know what that is I can't be bother to explain.
Bye bye for now.

New Gears of War maps

2007-05-03T13:25:00.000Z

Some extra cogs have been added to the war machine today in the form of some new multiplayer maps for Microsoft's Gears of War.
The map pack, called "Hidden Fronts" offers four new maps to add to the online action....

'Bullet Marsh' places you in a Kryll infested swamp with a vulnerable generator powering the lights that keep them at bay.
"Garden" is a conservatory area that requires you to vent the air in the greenhouse to prevent it's life threatening pesticide system from becoming a hazard to your health.
"Process" Pits teams against each other for control of an old imulsion processing plant, and
"Subway" is a regular old subway... but crawling with locusts.

The maps are available via Xbox Live for the price of 800 Microsoft points, that is until the 3rd of September, after which time they'll be available for free.

Chinese mapper arrested on terrorist suspicion

2007-05-02T15:15:00.000Z

Not usually the kind of story we report on here, but it's too ridiculous to pass up!
A student at Clements High School in Fort Bend, Texas was arrested for making a game map of his school. It turns out two parents learned about it from their children, and complained to the FBISD (Fort Bend Independent School District) administrators.
On searching the boys house they found a hammer in his room (reportedly used to fix his bed) which was confiscated as a possible weapon. While no charges were filed against the boy, he was removed from the school and won't be allowed to take part in the graduation ceremony.

Do many other mappers now run the risk of being arrested for making maps of real locations?
It's said that the arrest was not racially motivated, but one can't help but wonder.
Ridiculous, or prudent? You decide.

PSP GoCam

2007-05-01T16:09:00.000Z

Today Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced the latest upcoming gadget for the PSP (gadgets attaching to gadgets. It's like some kinda RPG), the Go!cam. This video camera attachment (bundled with editing software) will give you up to two and half hours video recording time and the ability to take and store over 40,000 photos provided you're also using a 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo. It also has a microphone, and the ability to rotate the camera 180 degrees for when you feel vain. It's planned for release on the 16th May across Europe and the PAL territories, and surprisingly only requires a 2.80 (or above) firmware.

Best PC games of all time?

2007-05-01T15:05:00.000Z

In the latest issue of PC Zone Magazine the results of a poll have been released, crowning Deus Ex as the number 1 PC game of all time in the universe. The survey questioned a number of games journalists (I would have maybe preferred a consumer poll, then again I don't trust anyone's opinion) for the special feature of the 101 best PC games. We don't have em all for ya, but here are the top 10.
Click for list

1. Deus Ex
2. Half-Life 2
3. Civilization IV
4. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
5. Half-Life
6. Rome: Total War
7. System Shock 2
8. Doom
9. Battlefield 2
10. The Secret Of Monkey Island

It would be interesting to see if consumers would agree with it on the whole. While I love some of those games, I've always been one for the great games that slip by the wayside like Hardwar and Startopia, so these lists always grind my gears just a little. Maybe they are on there somewhere (they better be!)

Sony's God of War 2 Goatse

2007-04-30T15:48:00.000Z

I woke up this morning thinking it was just gonna be another dry Monday, with the typical start-of the-week annoyances that really make you wish it was still the weekend. This Monday however is different, all thanks to Sony and 'God of War 2'. On this Occasion the game itself hasn't managed to cause any fuss, but rather the publicity surrounding the game...(watch video)

Two Monthes ago, the God of War 2 launch party was held in Athens and apparently someone thought it'd be a good idea to have a decapitated goat on display. Yes you heard me right, on display was a goat... with no head!
Possibly more amazing is the fact that nothing was done or said about this until Yesterday, when 'The Mail on Sunday' a UK news paper, trounced the event, calling it "depraved". Some pictures of the event were released in the official PlayStation magazine and there has been a massive call back, but as always happens after such an act of incompetence, some of the depravity filled copies made it out.
And if you've been waiting this whole time to see it... here it is [see video]. Possibly not the worst thing to have happened in Athens, but by no means does it look any fun! Of course the topless girl in the corner is another possible point of contention, but the goat's the real crowd puller.
Sony is apparently conducting an internal inquiry, so that they can learn from the event and make sure it doesn't happen again.
Animal welfare activists are reportedly very offended, although it's claimed the goat was bout dead from a butchers, and not slaughtered on site.
And there you have it. As far as world news goes it's really a non event, but as you can tell from the title of this post We think Playstation Magazine might aswell have put a goatse or tubgirl style picture on the front cover of the magazine, cause the amount of negative press has been just huge. I'm Dr. Nemesis, and have a clean Monday.

Oblivion to the PS3

2007-04-27T12:18:00.000Z

Over a year ago now, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion graced the PC and Xbox 360 with it's multi award winning RPG goodness, and now in the UK it's finally hit the PS3. Sometimes this sort of thing means a slightly spruced up version of the game but from what we can tell there's no newly added features, so the PS3's just playing catch-up in this case. Regardless, it's the highest rated game in Playstation Magazine UK so I'm sure the people in PS3 land are rejoicing.

Transformers DS in 2 flavours

2007-04-25T16:00:00.000Z

Today Activision announced that the DS release of the upcoming Transformers game will come in 2 versions: Autobot and Decepticon. Not so surprisingly the difference between them will be in your mission to protect - or destroy the earth, and it sounds like this will make some very interesting battles over Wifi, and player statistics comparisons will help the rest of the world decide which party is really winning this war (my money's on the Decepticons).

Spider-Man 3 Wii trailer

2007-04-24T15:06:00.000Z

There’s only a little over a week now before we see the web slinger back in his third film, and gamers everywhere can do nothing but drool as we wait for our chance to play what’s so far looking like the best Spider-Man game yet. Here's the newly released wii trailer.

VideoGame Expo 2007 Pricelist (US)

2007-04-24T13:16:00.000Z

American's looking forward to the third VideoGame Expo in November can start saving yo pennys (or cents?). The expo, based in Philadelphia, gives gamers (not just industry pros) a chance to play the newest games, meet some legends of the industry, and compete in tournaments among other cool stuff.
Under 7's go for free.
http://www.vgxpo.com

Click here for the list.

Pricing for Adults (15 and older):

Pass Type	Door Price	Online
Multi-Day (up to 3 days)	$30.00	$25.00
Friday	N/A	$12.50
Saturday	$15.00	$12.50
Sunday	$15.00	$12.50

Pricing for Kids (8 to 14 years old):

Pass Type	Door Price	Online
Multi-Day (up to 3 days)	$20.00	$15.00
Friday	N/A	$7.50
Saturday	$10.00	$7.50
Sunday	$10.00	$7.50

Lord of the Rings Online Hits Europe

2007-04-24T13:02:00.000Z

In follow-up to our last LOTR report, the game, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar has come out of beta and has been officially released in Europe.

“The release of The Lord of the Rings Online marks a momentous occasion for MMO gamers and Tolkien fans around the world... Countless adventures await gamers eager to experience Middle-earth in an entirely new way and we’re confident that once they’ve visited this epic world, they’ll never want to leave.” -Jeff Anderson, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc.
The standard version is available at a RRP of £34.99 / €49.99. The Lifetime membership has now gone up to £179.99 / €249.99.

Virtual market for the Toribash bloodfest

2007-04-23T20:00:00.000Z

Toribash, the unique online fighting game received a virtual market place, letting players purchase new heads, blood splatters, and secret moves.
But before you rush off to Google to find out exactly what Toribash is, let us explain in a bit more detail (watch video)....

http://www.toribash.com

Toribash is a turn based fighting game which uses rag doll physics to control the characters. Fighting moves are executed by manipulating joints, specifically by holding, extending, relaxing, or contracting them in order to whack your opponent.
This is of course utterly different from conventional fighting games such as Tekken, Dead or Alive, or any of the billion other examples in existence. Those games are real-time, so character control on such a level is unfeasible.
In Toribash the aim of the game is to score points by making your opponent touch the ground with a body part other than the hands or feet. Through the setting of game rules, this can be done by knocking your opponent down, or severing limbs entirely with a well placed kick or punch.

The market place allows Toribash players to buy customized assets such as new heads using ToriCredits, the in-game currency which can be earned by winning matches or deposited using SMS.
For further information, and a demo of the game, you can visit Toribash.com

Commodore Gaming open

2007-04-23T18:28:00.000Z

The news is really shining on UK gamers, as Commodore Gaming opened their online store today, letting UK and Irelanders be among the first to purchase some of them snazzy looking PC's.
Any Europeans hoping to get their mitts on one can do so in mid May, the rest of the world following after.

Apparently they are unique because they're customisable (shrug). Anyway the PC's are aimed at everyone from the casual to professional gamer, although I consider myself a casual gamer and £1759 is a bit steep really. However, you can specify the parts and pick from a selection of cool skins (C -Kins) which are actually much better than skins cause they're sprayed onto the box.
www.commodoregaming.com

Commodore gaming pc uk online+store

XLeague launch list

2007-04-23T18:09:00.000Z

Network gaming as spectator sport is finally taking a stand in the UK, as XLEAGUE.TV will be the UK’s first "dedicated eSports entertainment television channel".
Today they released the list for what games will feature in their leagues and tournaments, so those who think they got the skillz to pay the billz can start brushing up.
The website is already live, and the TV channel is planned to launch soon on Sky.

Click for the list
XBOX 360
1. Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (Published by Konami)
2. Rainbow Six: Vegas (Published by Ubisoft)
3. Project Gotham Racing 3 (Published by Microsoft)
4. Gears of War (Published by Microsoft)
5. Halo 2 (Published by Microsoft)
6. Dead or Alive 4 (Published by Microsoft)

PS3
7. Resistance: Fall of Man (Published by SCEA)
8. Motorstorm (Published by SCEA)

PC
9. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (Published by EA)
10. Quake 4 (Published by Activision)

gaming league tv online XLEAGUE.TV

PS3 firmware getting firmer

2007-04-20T16:14:00.000Z

Sony's PS3 sees a firmware upgrade, taking it to version 1.70.
The major change to it is the ability to play PSone games on the PS3 itself, rather than just your PSP. Another Major change is partial rumble support. PS 1 and 2 games will now once again tremble your loins if plug in any vibrating accessories. I would really like to make a 'seX Box' joke right now, but it's the wrong console for that!