• May 2013 - The Announcement of the Xbox One

    Its Now May 2013 and the Next Gen Console race is hotting up. Today May21st we have the announcement of the New Xbox One and details coming in all the time of the PS4. If your a fan of mobile phones then im sure you have already brought a Samsung Galaxy S4. If your after a WiiU then Target are selling the console at a decent £240.

  • June 18th, 2012

    Wii U: Retail listing hints at dual colours for launch 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on June 18th, 2012 23:10
    1. Categories:
    2. Wii U News
    Article Preview

    Although Nintendo showed off black Wii U hardware at E3 this month, it's been unclear as to which options will be available at launch.
    Now US retailer Best Buy's gone and hinted at a dual-colour launch strategy for the console, by listing both white and black versions on its website.It's worth noting that the retailer added the black version almost a full week after its white brother, which could suggest it's been issued hard release info. Or maybe we're reading into it too much.
    Although Nintendo's yet to release official launch information and pricing for the console, it's told press it expects consumers to be "pleasantly surprised".
    If you missed Nintendo's E3 press conference earlier this month, here's a three minute video summary cutting out all the boring bits.
    http://www.computerandvideogames.com...rs-for-launch/
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    New Modern Warfare 3 DLC Revealed 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on June 18th, 2012 23:00
    1. Categories:
    2. Xbox 360 News

    Infinity Ward has revealed that the next downloadable content for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be available tomorrow. Xbox 360 players who are Premium subscribers to Call of Duty Elite will be able to download a new Spec Ops mission called Arctic Recon as well as three new Face Off maps: Vortex, U-Turn and Intersection.According to a tweet from Infinity Ward executive producer Mark Rubin, these will be “the last of the Face Off maps more than likely.” The rest of the Modern Warfare 3 DLC will be “all regular multiplayer from here on out.”
    As with all Modern Warfare 3 DLC, this content is exclusive to Xbox 360 Premium Elite subscribers for now. We’ll keep you posted once a release date for non-subscribers and PS3 players is revealed.

    http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/06/1...3-dlc-revealed     ...
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    God of War: Ascension collector's edition now up for pre-order on Amazon 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on June 18th, 2012 22:46
    1. Categories:
    2. PS3 News
    Article Preview

    Buried in a PlayStation Blog post from E3 was an announcement of a collector's edition for God of War: Ascension. If you're surprised to learn of the existence of a collector's edition of a major console game, allow us to welcome you to this generation.

    Amazon is now taking pre-orders on the $79.99 pack, which includes an "Exclusive 8" Kratos Statue," a steelbook case, a digital soundtrack, avatars, a dynamic theme, a pass for "all future DLC releases," a code for double XP in multiplayer, and an Operation: Elephant Monster Lobotomy Edition board game. We made one of those up.
    http://www.amazon.com/God-War-Ascens...ion+collectors
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    Visit 'Worlds of Ultima' for free on GOG 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on June 18th, 2012 22:41
    1. Categories:
    2. PC News
    Article Preview

    Two strange spinoffs of the Ultima series brought the familiar RPG gameplay out of the world of Britannia and into worlds full of dinosaurs and 19th-century space travel. Thanks to EA and GOG, you can now explore these "Worlds of Ultima" with nothing at stake but your time.

    GOG is offering Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire and Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams for free, and without the burden of having thatSavage Empire box somewhere in your house where another person could see it. Thanks, digital distribution!

    http://www.joystiq.com/2012/06/18/vi...r-free-on-gog/     ...
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    Emulating Mac System 7 on an Android device 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on June 18th, 2012 22:37
    1. Categories:
    2. Android News
    Article Preview


    Over on the 68kmla forums, a website dedicated to old Macs built before 1994, [zydeco] released his Android port of Mini vMac, a Macintosh Plus emulator that puts the power of a Motorola MC68000 processor and System 7 on any computer.
    Unlike the original Macintosh, or the subsequent revision that bumped the RAM up to 512 kilobytes, the Mac Plus was actually useful. With the addition of a SCSI port and support for 4 Megabytes of RAM, it’s not only possible to browse the Internet, but also act as a server. There’s a reason [Sprite_tm] chose to rebuild one of these classic, all-in-one machines to act as a home server; they really do epitomize the elegant computers from a more civilized age.
    68kmla user [FlyingToaster] even went so far as to put a Mac Plus in his nook touch. With this, he’s got a full-blown installation of System 7 running on an e-ink screen, complete with Lemmings, Gauntlet, and Tetris.
    It should be possible to plug this emulated box into the Internet. Unfortunately, experience tells us it won’t be a very pleasant browsing experience outsideHackaday’s retro edition.

    http://hackaday.com/2012/06/18/emula...ndroid-device/ ...
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    Mozilla's 'Junior' iPad browser prototype keeps it simple 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on June 18th, 2012 22:33
    1. Categories:
    2. Apple iPad
    Article Preview

    Love your iPad, but hate Safari? Mozilla's Alex Limi can relate, it's "a pretty miserable experience," he says. So what's he doing about it? Building a replacement, of course. In a recent presentation showing the fruits of the Mozilla Product Design Strategy team's labors, Limi offered a glimpse at Junior, an iPad browser that hopes to redefine how we view the internet on tablets. The prototype browser eschews the traditional address bar / tab layout in favor of a minimalistic, full screen experience, flanked by only two obvious toggles -- a back button, and a plus symbol that opens a menu containing favorites, recent pages and a URL / search bar. Other common options such as reload, forward and print are hidden away, but accessible. The idea is a simple browsing experience that's more fun, engaging and ergonomic. "It's very simple," Limi summarizes, "it's a browser." He stresses that Junior is still just a prototype, albeit a compelling one. Interested? Check out Limi's full product design presentation at the source link below.

    http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/18/m...eps-it-simple/     ...
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    Sony's "Shit Umbrella" on Protecting Studios and Vita's Advantage over Wii U 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on June 18th, 2012 22:23
    1. Categories:
    2. Playstation Vita News

    Sony Worldwide Studios vice president Scott Rohde (aka the Shit Umbrella) says Vita and PS3 can do "special things"

    Sony Computer Entertainment

    Sony Computer Entertainment is a Japanese videogame company specialising in a variety of areas in the...

    www.playstation.com


    Sony has always had a strong first-party studio system. One of the strengths of the PlayStation business has been that Sony has a robust array of game developers working on exclusive content, whether it's The Last of Us, Beyond, or God of War: Ascension. According to Sony's vice president of Worldwide Studios, Scott Rohde, the first-party studios are all given the autonomy to work on games as they see fit. 3D, PS Move, multiplayer or anything else is never forced upon them. And because he protects their interests, he's known as the "Shit Umbrella."
    "This is another thing that I'm very proud of as part of Worldwide Studios and Sony. We do what's best for every single game," Rohde told GamesIndustry International during E3. "It's simply not the culture at Sony to say, 'OK, here are 10,000 initiatives. Everyone must do those things no matter what effect it has on all the games.' Games come first. And that's why all the great studios like Naughty Dog and Santa Monica, they're going to help lead by example across all of our group and do great things. And if they don't think something makes sense, then we're not going to force it down their throat."
    "It's my job to create a giant umbrella and protect the studios from that because the game is first. There's a name for that. My nickname is the Shit Umbrella. And it's very apropos," Rohde said with a chuckle.
    "Because we have the Vita, I think we can do a lot of special things. And remember, that Wii U tablet doesn't have a processor in it, so it's got to be fueled by that box sitting under your TV"
    Scott Rohde

    Indeed, one of the things that many have speculated was forced upon the new God of War is the inclusion of multiplayer. This just isn't the case, if you ask Rohde.
    "The game teams are everything and, of course, we talked about it within Worldwide Studios even back during the development of God of War 3. 'Should we think about multi-player here?' And the foundations of what is in Ascension right now, we started to build that during the development of God of War 3 because we wanted to do it right," Rohde said.
    "They tried very, very hard to make sure that they were crafting a multi-player experience that did not feel tacked on because it is totally standard and I totally agree with the sentiment across the industry that it's a box that a lot of game teams check. God of War is a single player experience and they found a pretty neat way to turn this multi-player. It still has that whole God of War feel."
    With E3 shining a spotlight on Wii U, and Microsoft emphasizing its new SmartGlass technology, the idea of multi-device experiences is gaining prominence. We asked Rohde what Sony has up its sleeve, and predictably he pointed to the Vita as that second screen. In fact, Rohde believes it gives Sony an advantage over the Wii U.
    "Because we have the Vita, I think we can do a lot of special things. And remember, that Wii U tablet doesn't have a processor in it, so it's got to be fueled by that box sitting under your TV. We can do some pretty special things that you'll start to see on the floor this year and you'll see more over the upcoming months about what you can do when you actually have a processor in the thing that's in your hand as well," Rohde stressed.
    That's all well and good, but every Wii U comes with that touchscreen game pad controller. Moreover, most Xbox 360 owners do own some smartphone or tablet to take advantage of SmartGlass when Microsoft launches it. Vita, on the other hand, is only owned by 1.8 million consumers thus far and it's hard to say how many PS3 owners also own a Vita. Rohde believes this will pick up. It's early days for Vita still, he said.
    "When you start to see how you can cross over between the two platforms... developers are interested in that kind of stuff"
    Scott Rohde

    "It's only been three months though, just three months. There are a lot of games on that machine and I think what we have to hang our hat on... every single person that actually picks that thing up absolutely loves it. If you're a gamer and you pick up a Vita, you're going to have fun. And you're going to use it over a device like this if you really want a game," he said, while pointing to an iPhone.
    "So we're going to continue to build on that momentum. We have a lot of good things coming. And some of the games that we have coming out in the near future, they do cross out into the mobile space a little bit. And I think that's just - again, it's natural. We're not necessarily going to brand that as a technology, but it's absolutely natural for games to do that. You see all the big third party publishers have been doing it for a while. You see hints of it from us and hints of it from Microsoft. That's just going to continue     ...
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    Yoshida: We are 'very happy' with Vita so far 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on June 18th, 2012 22:07
    1. Categories:
    2. Playstation Vita News

    PS Vita got short shrift during Sony’s E3 presentation, but don’t mistake that for a lack of energy behind the new handheld.
    According to Sony, the firm focused on just three big brands heading to Vita ­– Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty and YouTube – to prove the device’s star power, and also to silence critics of SCE’s typically long presentations.
    But there was plenty more new games on display at the expo itself for the four-month-old device.
    “We had 25 PS Vita games playable on the show floor, some of which are really great titles I’m very excited about,” Sony’s Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida told MCV.
    “We could have spent more time talking about those, but we had a very clear intention this year to make the total press conference shorter, because we’re notorious for holding lengthy ones.
    He added: “I hope we accomplished that with this year’s conference – which I think lasted about 80 minutes – but from the perspective of people who are waiting for more information on Vita titles, we weren’t able to provide that.
    “I got lots of tweets to my account complaining that there weren’t many PS Vita games being talked about. In retrospect, we should’ve spent more time talking about our PS Vita titles.
    “I’m hoping that journalists are looking at the games on the show floor and getting the word out that way.”

    http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/yoshi...-so-far/098083

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    'Terrific' response from retail to Sony's Wonderbook 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on June 18th, 2012 22:05
    1. Categories:
    2. PS3 News

    Sony UK has been overwhelmed by the retail feedback to Wonderbook.
    Amazon told MCV that the interactive book service – which will launch with Harry Potter spin-off Book of Spells – is ‘terrific’.
    SCE UK’s boss Fergal Gara said that Wonderbook is the big PS3 launch of Christmas, and will arrive with multiple SKUs designed for current PS Move owners, those who have yet to buy Move, plus those who don’t own a PS3.
    “[Wonderbook] is the biggest one we’re going after this Christmas,” Gara said.
    “There’s still a lot to do and a lot of communicating to consumers still to do. We will need to work with retail where appropriate.
    “If consumers understand what we are offering them, then it should fly. It is unlike anything I have ever seen before. The feedback we have had this week is that this is special, this is unique, this is pushing boundaries. That is what you want to be doing in a sector like this.”
    Amazon’s head of buying for games, Graham Chambers said: “I thought [Wonderbook] was terrific, very innovative and good to see the PS3 offering something new this far into the lifecycle. I’m sure the Wonderbook will have huge appeal to parents and young children.”
    Gara added that Wonderbook could work in a wide range of retailers – perhaps even the likes of Waterstones and WH Smith.
    He said: “Specialists see a key role for them in it, especially with their power to demonstrate, but also it is going to appeal to parents, so you would expect the likes of Argos and the supermarkets to do well with it. And the hybrid between books and games means that it fits with Amazon’s strengths. Maybe it would be appropriate to take into traditional book retailers.”
    Wonderbook will launch this Christmas along with Book of Spells, and has been supported by Harry Potter author J.K Rowling.

    http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/terri...derbook/098084     ...
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    FIFA 12 tops UK chart 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on June 18th, 2012 22:03
    1. Categories:
    2. DCEmu

    FIFA 12 is the new UK all-formats number one, EA's football game reclaiming top spot for the first time since January and knockingGhost Recon: Future Soldier into second place after three weeks at the top.
    The week's highest new entry is Suda51 action game Lollipop Chainsaw, which debuts at number four. Vita exclusive Gravity Rushnarrowly misses out on a top ten spot, entering the chart at number 11.
    01. FIFA 12 (EA)
    02. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (Ubisoft)
    03. Max Payne 3 (Rockstar Games)
    04. Lollipop Chainsaw (Warner Bros)
    05. Battlefield 3 (EA)
    06. Diablo III (Blizzard)
    07. Game Of Thrones (Focus Home Interactive)
    08. Sniper Elite V2 (505 Games)
    09. Mario & Sonic At The London 2012 Olympic Games (Sega)
    10. Dirt Showdown (Codemasters)

    http://www.edge-online.com/news/fifa-12-tops-uk-chart-1     ...
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