via Eurogamer


Microsoft has confirmed that Silver Xbox Live members will have to wait a week to access free downloadable content.

Restricted downloads will have a red circle with a slash through it to make it clear, and a message that will pop up confirming its exclusivity to paying Gold subscribers.

Title updates (or patches in real language) should still be applied automatically for everyone connected to Live, but content like demos or the recent free plasmid pack for BioShock will be unobtainable for a week.


The autumn Live update was applied yesterday and revamped the dashboard appearance and added downloadable Xbox titles to the Marketplace.

More interestingly it also added support for Xvid and DivX playback. ...

via Eurogamer


Doing anything on Friday afternoon? Of course you're not. So why not come along and interview some of the people who made Halo 3?

Yep, following on from chats with Peter Molyneux and Evan Wells, this week we're happy to welcome Bungie Studios production director Jonty Barnes and writing lead Frank O'Connor to our LiveText interview booth.

Both men will be here from 3pm GMT on Friday, 7th December, to take your questions about Halo 3 and anything else you might like to ask them. You will be able to submit questions through moderators and then watch their answers bounce back without having to refresh the web-page at all.

"I'm really looking forward to being grilled by Eurogamer readers on Friday. When I lived in the UK, it was one of my favourite gaming sites," said Barnes, implying that it's all gone wrong for us. "It always had the reputation as being hard yet fair. I expect nothing less from its readers on Friday!"

Frank O'Connor added: "I have been studying European culture carefully since finding out about this interview and I believe that the authoritative piece on the continent and its people, National Lampoon's European Vacation, will be an excellent preparation for me. I have no worries about the types of question these Aussies and Kiwis have planned for us."

So join Jonty, Frank, Super Moderating Hero and all your friends on Friday at 3pm GMT when we'll find out once and for all whether they wear hats, what colour they think snakes should be, and anything else you can think up. ...

via Eurogamer


Hollywood director Michael Bay has lashed out at Microsoft and its HD-DVD format, claiming its purpose is to make other formats fail rather than succeed itself.

His angry swipe was made on the "Ask Michael Bay" sub-forum (well spotted, Kotaku) after a fan pushed him on the unavailability of his films on Blu-ray.


Conspiracies like robots disguised as trucks on Earth, then.

Recently we heard Blu-ray films accounted for 73 per cent of the high definition market in Europe, although the keen-eyed among you attributed it to HD-DVD being region free.

So, is Michael Bay right? Or has he pulled your Armageddon? ...

via Next Generation


Kynapse for Wii, which is already being used by two game developers, offers a range of features including a 3D pathfinding solution for dynamic terrains, advanced spatial reasoning functionalities, perception data generation, and can be used to bring several thousands of characters to life on-screen, according to Kynogon.


Kynapse has been used to aid the development of more than 60 games, including Crackdown, Fable 2, Medal of Honor: Airborne and The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. ...

via Engadget




We've seen, shall we say, creative uses of well-known brands to sell cheapo gear in the past, but it's not often we see a case as brazen as the one above, which cavalierly throws Sony's familiar logo onto a generic Chinese PMP in an attempt, presumably, to give it a bit more cred. Of course, there is the little matter that the PMP boasts of its ability to play NES games, and the fact that it uses SD cards instead of Sony's beloved Memory Sticks -- which are certainly welcome features, but not exactly ones high on Sony's list. If for some reason you want to take a chance on the player, however, you can currently find one on eBay at the link below, with the bidding hovering around the $25 mark (as of this writing). ...

via Kotaku


Culdcept is one of my all-time favorite PlayStation 2 titles, and next month it's getting an Xbox 360 sequel, Culdcept Saga. Quite popular in Japan, Culdcept combines the board game real-estate collection mechanics of Monopoly with Magic's monster card battles to create something I can only describe as geektastically blissful, and it will be that much more awesome when the 360 version introduces four-player online and the ability to customize your avatar with unlockable items. *squee!* It's much easier for you to try it out for yourself than for me to explain it, so clear off a good 620megs or so off of your 360's hard drive and download the demo. If you don't like it you aren't my friend anymore, and I want my lawnmower back. You've had it for months now, and you live in an apartment so it doesn't even make any sense. ...

via Games Industry


THQ's WWE Smackdown! Vs. RAW 2008 continues to top the charts in Spain according to sales data released by Media-Control GfK International.

The PS2 version of the game was in first place, with the PSP version coming in at number six.

Recent releases Assassin's Creed, Super Mario Galaxy, and Need for Speed ProStreet charted at number two, four, and five, respectively, but could not overcome Smackdown's continuing popularity.

Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, which has also been on the charts for some time, remained in the third spot.


The complete Top 10 list is as follows:

1. WWE Smackdown! Vs. RAW 2008 (PS2)
2. Assassin's Creed (PS3)
3. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (PS2)
4. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
5. Need for Speed ProStreet (PS3)
6. WWE Smackdown! Vs. RAW 2008 (PSP)
7. Mas Brain Training (DS)
8. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3)
9. Imagina Ser Mama (DS)
10. DragonBall Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (PS2) ...

via Games Industry


A survey of 4000 parents across the UK, France, Germany and Italy has concluded that 75 per cent of respondents were concerned about the content in videogames that their children played.

Additionally 43 per cent claimed they were unaware of any ratings system in place, despite the PEGI system in place across Europe, and the BBFC in the UK, while 44 per cent believed that time spent playing should be limited to one hour per day.

The survey, carried out on behalf of Microsoft, is the latest research to highlight concerns over the use of videogames by children, despite the number of 18-rated titles available only making up a small percentage of games released.

It also went on to find that an average of 63 per cent of children played games on their own, without any kind of supervision, although most parents claimed that they identified and selected the most appropriate games for their children to play.

ELSPA set up the Askaboutgames web site to try and better inform parents about the content of videogames, and how to judge whether or not a game is suitable.

And in the UK Dr Tanya Byron is currently leading a government review into the subject of how children relate to videogames and the internet, the findings of which are due in the first half of 2008. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Well-known videogame analyst Michael Patcher says that it will take as long as three months for Wii stock to even out after the Christmas rush.

The Wii is already widely sold out around the world as Nintendo's motion control antics have become the most desired Chrimbo gadget for it's second year, and its unlikely that supplies will recover until April, according to Patcher.

He did, however, state that despite the lack of stock, Nintendo will top Christmas sales with Wii, predicting the company to sell 1.7 million consoles over the Christmas period, while he expects Microsoft to sell 1.5 million 360s and Sony to flog 800,000 PS3s.

Elsewhere in the report, Patcher points identifies a current sales spike for console overall, despite consoles of the current generation being generally more costly than the previous gen.

Patcher states; "While next generation hardware unit sales are more modest than they were in the analogous period of 2002 (when console prices averaged under $200), recent price cuts and new hardware (slim PSP and the 40Gb PS3) and the release of key games (Halo 3 and Guitar Hero III) triggered a spike in hardware sales over the last few months that we believe will continue over the remainder of the year," according to Gamasutra. ...