DCEmu Featured News Articles

Ubisoft's bluff-based strategy game R.U.S.E. will be released on 4th June on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

The date arrives as a public PC beta test gets underway on Steam, granting access to six factions, seven maps and three multiplayer modes. Head over to Steam's R.U.S.E. page to join in.

R.U.S.E., for those who don't know, involves tricking opposing generals by using a number of pre-defined ruses. It's a clever idea, and we delved into the multiplayer side of the game this December past to see how it worked.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r-...dated-for-june ...

Several snazzy supercars and one raunchy racetrack will be available for Need for Speed: Shift next Thursday, 18th March.

Stuffed in the Exotic Racing Series pack, these will cost 800 Microsoft Points (£6.80/€9.60) on Xbox Live or $10 from the PlayStation Store.

The new cars are an Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, BMW M1 Procar, Gumpert Apollo, Honda NSX, McLaren MP4-12C, Maserati GranTurismo S and Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss.

Swoon.

Each of these dazzling motors has had challenges crafted for them, totalling around 50 and including time trials and sprints.

The new course, Riviera, has "daring" corners, "blazing" straights and four layouts to stop you getting bored.

There are 125 extra gamerpoints on offer to those that complete every aspect of the DLC.

Need for Speed: Shift took the series onto the racetrack and off of the streets. The game launched last autumn and performed well. The next Need for Speed game will be developed by Burnout creator Criterion. Excitement abounds.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/nf...-dlc-next-week ...

EA has officially announced EA Sports Active 2.0 for iPhone, PS3 and Wii and said it will be released this autumn.

There's no mention of an Xbox 360 version. Perhaps they think some of us are beyond help?

Anyway, the new version of the fitness software will come with new leg and arm straps equipped with motion sensors. There's also a heart-rate monitor.

EA Sports Active 2.0 will also be supported by an online hub to track and share workout data, if that's the sort of thing you like.

The publisher also said that PS3 owners will be able to download new workouts and exercises over PlayStation Network.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ea...heading-to-ps3 ...

[Steve Hoefer] pulled together a great hack for the friendless. This glove will play a heated game of rock-paper-scissors against you. [Steve] realized that the middle and fourth fingers are all that need to be monitored to decide which of the three signs you are making. He used flex sensors on the back of these fingers as an input. There is also an accelerometer to judge the three shakes that lead up to the shoot.

The small screen you see displays what the glove chose and is a hack in itself. This idea adapts from an Evil Mad Scientist project, using three sheets of acrylic etched with the different icons and edge-lit with LEDs. All of this, along with a speaker and scoreboard, connect to an Arduino. The icing on the cake? [Steve] coded an adaptive learning algorithm that observes your playing style to gain an advantage.

See this in action after the break. Once you’ve mastered rock-paper-scissors you should consider building other glove-based peripherals.

http://hackaday.com/2010/03/10/game-...your-weakness/ ...

Alex St John has told GamesIndustry.biz that he believes the reason Microsoft and Sony haven't announced a new generation of consoles is because it's no longer clear what they can do to improve on the systems they are already offering.

The former executive at Microsoft and WildTanget, and now president of social games business hi5, said that the Wii proves that high-tech consoles aren't the next step in home entertainment, and cheaper social gaming via the web has left manufacturers in a niche market.

"This is usually when you announce [consoles]. It's 2010. No rumours either. There's two reasons for delaying. The reason for the delay is the reason I'm right," said the out-spoken executive.

"I love 3D, but that revolution is over. People academically say there's always room for more realism. But actually there isn't. There's diminishing returning for better graphics. People don't see more realism even if you give it to them. Once that's happened, games have to be differentiated for a different reason. You can't do more 3D than you've got. So what's happened is that differentiation is happening by community, multiplayer, social dynamics.

"When they rationalise making a new console, they're thinking the most successful console was the one with the crappiest 3D – the Wii. The cheap-assed 3D console, that's the one that beat everybody. The 3D didn't matter – it was a new input device, and Xbox Live." He added: "Coming third is Sony with the best 3D – oops."

"So they're sitting over there at Sony and Microsoft right now – I don't know that but I can hear them thinking, 'what the hell do we do? The ones we're shipping are finally profitable – we'll never recoup the losses for the 3D we invested in these consoles, we don't want to do that again. This online world is changing so fast we have no idea how to control it or how to participate in it. You know that Wii thing is neat, let's try some of that'.

"You can't spent $2 billion inventing a new console when you don't know what it's going to do," he added. "The only thing you know is the thing that you used to do is wrong. There was a time when the future wasn't blurry – it was clear what you had to do – it's not that way any more."

St John said that Microsoft had made a mistake in continuing to chase the dream of its technology being the centre piece of the living room – a goal he points out the company has had since the 1990s.

"When I was at Microsoft, Bill Gates wanted to get into the living room. I was in meetings with Gates and I'd go, 'I don't want to piss you off, because I know you've already lost a billion dollars on stupid web TV ideas – no offence, I know you can fire me – but the Japanese walked into your living rooms the entire time you were sat here scratching your heads, with games.

"Now what are they doing now they are in the living room? It wasn't easy but they got there. And what are they saying now they're in the living room? 'We're going to stream music and video'. You idiots! Do you ever learn? You morons - don't touch video with a stick, be focused – that's why you finally got to the living room, with games." In the time it takes for the future to become clearer, which he predicts will be in around five years, St John said one thing is certain: "Games are just made out of electrons and people have very powerful personal computers and growing internet connections. This idea of a living room is dying. Everyone is carrying a screen around with them constantly, they've got them everywhere, 3D chips are a commodity – once you have that, I think that maybe the living room just dissipated," he said.

More insight from the Game Developers Conference can be read in our updated feature here. St John is set to host a session on Hi5 at GDC today (Wednesday), at which he'll announce new plans for the company.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-console-plans ...

Electronic Arts' Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 will include support for the PlayStation motion controller - currently believed to be codenamed "Arc" - but not Microsoft's Project Natal.

The latest iteration of the franchise was unveiled at the ongoing Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and iPhone.

The game is due to be released on June 8, with the PlayStation motion controller not expected to be released until the autumn. Nevertheless, in comments made to website VG247 an EA spokesperson indicated that "timing" was the sole reason for the lack of Natal support and that it would be introduced in the next iteration.

Microsoft has promised that Project Natal, which has so far been the higher profile of the two new motion controllers, will be released before Christmas 2010.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 featured support for the Wii MotionPlus add-on, with an optional bundle including the peripheral sold in most territories. EA has already confirmed that this support will continue in this year's game.

Thanks to the use of motion controls the Wii version has become the most successful in the series in recent years, with the most recent iteration receiving particular critical praise.

The main new gameplay features for Tiger Woods 11 are the inclusion of the officially licensed Ryder Cup tournament and online team play for 24 players on the 360 and PS3.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...tiger-woods-11 ...

Electronic Arts' Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 will include support for the PlayStation motion controller - currently believed to be codenamed "Arc" - but not Microsoft's Project Natal.

The latest iteration of the franchise was unveiled at the ongoing Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and iPhone.

The game is due to be released on June 8, with the PlayStation motion controller not expected to be released until the autumn. Nevertheless, in comments made to website VG247 an EA spokesperson indicated that "timing" was the sole reason for the lack of Natal support and that it would be introduced in the next iteration.

Microsoft has promised that Project Natal, which has so far been the higher profile of the two new motion controllers, will be released before Christmas 2010.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 featured support for the Wii MotionPlus add-on, with an optional bundle including the peripheral sold in most territories. EA has already confirmed that this support will continue in this year's game.

Thanks to the use of motion controls the Wii version has become the most successful in the series in recent years, with the most recent iteration receiving particular critical praise.

The main new gameplay features for Tiger Woods 11 are the inclusion of the officially licensed Ryder Cup tournament and online team play for 24 players on the 360 and PS3.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...tiger-woods-11 ...

20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution are all set to offer HD movies for purchase and download via the PlayStation Network.

Initially announced only for the US, the service will be the first on a home console to offer movies to buy as well as just rent. The support of all six major movie studios also gives Sony a considerable advantage when competing against the more established Xbox Live service.

Sony has stated that a similar service will launch soon in the UK, France, Germany and Spain, although traditionally the content available, and sometimes the providers, has varied considerably between different territories.

"Securing high definition content from these studios is another significant milestone further validating PlayStation Network as a complete entertainment network in the home, " said Peter Dille, SCEA senior vice president of marketing and PlayStation Network.

"PlayStation Network continues to offer the most comprehensive catalogue of HD movies to PlayStation Network members that realize the wide-ranging entertainment power of the PS3 system," he added.

Movies due for release in the first few weeks including Fox's Night at the Museum 2, Disney/Pixar's Up, Sony Picture's District 9, Universal's Inglourious Basterds and Warner's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...tation-network ...

MSN's Video Player has come out of a successful beta and may find the Xbox 360 a natual place to expand to.

Speaking with TechRadar, MSN's Rob Crossen talked about targeting TV audiences next.

"What we're doing here is taking MSN beyond what it has typically been known for," explained Crossen.

"An obvious place to tale MSN Video Player - given the quality of content that you are seeing on the platform - is the TV, and there are a number of ways that we could do that and in fact the challenge is prioritising so we're looking at a number of opportunities."

He continued: "There are a number of ways... widgets on internet connected TVs, we have our own products within the Microsoft network, Xbox and Windows Media Center for instance. There are a number of ways that we could choose to explore."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS ...