Console players will get their Hack'n'Slash this year! RAW - Realms of Ancient War releases today on consoles (Xbox LIVE® and the European PlayStation®Network). The game will release in the US PlayStation®Network on September 25th. Accompanying this release is an explosive launch trailer, immersing players in the intense and spectacular battles of RAW - Realms of Ancient War.

A true and pure Hack'n'Slash that offers intense and challenging combat all while displaying an impressive number of enemies onscreen, RAW - Realms of Ancient War brings players to a continent ruined by a never-ending, violent war.

Take control of a powerful Warrior, a dark Sorcerer, or a Rogue master of stealth and plunge into an action-packed quest! The world of RAW leads players alone or in 2-player co-op through many diverse levels in every corner of the continent.

Along their quest, experience gained from violent battles fought as well as weapons and magic items looted from the lifeless bodies of opponents will allow players to develop the skills of their chosen character. Players will learn new powers and spells ever more devastating, some of which when mastered will allow players to inflict tremendous amounts of damage and eradicate several dozen enemies at once, imperative for enemies that rally in hordes to fight!

All the power granted will never be more than enough to exterminate outnumbering enemies. Thanks to the special ability of 'incarnation', players will even be able to take direct control of the body of the most powerful foes, seeding discord and destruction right at the heart of enemy armies!

Invite a friend to join in an exciting co-op mode where coordination and teamwork are essential ingredients of victory!

RAW - Realms of Ancient War is now available on Xbox LIVE® (Europe and US) and PlayStation®Network (Europe). It will be released on September 25th on the US PlayStation®Network. The game will also be released for download on PC on October 4th.

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2K Games and Gearbox Software announced today the much anticipated Borderlands® 2 is now available in North America and will be available internationally on September 21, 2012 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC. The four-player cooperative shooter-looter already has critics raving, with review scores of 9 out of 10 from IGN, 9.75 out of 10 from Game Informer and a perfect 10 out of 10 from PlayStation: The Official Magazine.

“Borderlands 2 is a game made by gamers for gamers,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “The unique visual art style, all-new characters, loads of loot, 87 bazillion guns, and role-playing-shooting combine for a truly addictive experience, especially when played with three other friends. The initial response from the press has been fantastic and the game is poised to be one of the highest-rated titles in the history of 2K.”

Developed by Gearbox Software, Borderlands 2 features all-new characters and skill trees, diverse new environments, missions and enemies, as well as weapons and equipment with more personality than ever before. Players will also experience an all-new story that takes place five years after the events of the original game. Four friends can team up online to journey through the huge, open world of Pandora to take down the notorious Handsome Jack and his corrupt Hyperion Corporation.

"Borderlands 2 is a Gearbox team passion project through and through," said Randy Pitchford, President of Gearbox Software. "Borderlands 2 is a must-play, one-of-a-kind single-player game and the best-in-class cooperative experience. Bring friends!"

Like the original game, Borderlands 2 will be supported with four add-on content campaigns. These four add-on content campaigns will be available individually or as a combined purchase of the Borderlands 2 Season Pass.This special offer, available starting on September 18, includes nearly $40.00 of add-on content and will be available for $29.99 (PlayStation®Network) / 2400 Microsoft Points (Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network) / $29.99 (Windows PC). Once purchased, the Borderlands 2 Season Pass enables gamers to download all of the announced add-on content campaigns for free as they become available on the PlayStation®Network, Xbox LIVE and Windows PC. All four add-on content campaigns are scheduled to be available by June 2013.

Borderlands 2 is rated M for Mature by the ESRB and is available now on Xbox 360, PS3™ and Windows PC. For the latest Borderlands 2 news and information, please visit www.borderlands2.com. Check out Borderlands 2 on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/borderlandsgame. ...

Activision today revealed Goldfinger – one of the most iconic James Bond movies – as the fifth 007 movie-inspired mission that joins Die Another Day, Moonraker, Licence to Killand On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, in this year’s upcoming 007™ Legendsvideo game . In 007 Legends, the Goldfinger mission finds the best undercover agent early in his career investigating Auric Goldfinger – a gold magnate thought to be behind a recent spike in gold prices – only to discover a larger plot to irradiate the entire Fort Knox gold reserve.

In order to thwart the plot, Bond takes action to infiltrate Goldfinger’s headquarters with help from a questionable acquaintance – Pussy Galore. Upon arrival at Fort Knox, 007 is tasked with defusing a nuclear bomb before it detonates, and the only thing standing between Bond and the bomb is Goldfinger’s henchman – Oddjob – and his notoriously deadly hat. Will Bond be able to defeat Oddjob? Will Goldfinger’s evil plans succeed? Check out007 Legends this autumn to experience some of the biggest moments in Bond history in this unique movie-inspired game.

A first-of-its-kind Bond gaming experience, 007 Legends features an original, overarching storyline that explores the undercover operative’s journey from a newly-minted secret agent to the most beloved, or hated, spy legend there ever was. By tying together five classic Bond movie-inspired missions, plus a sixth mission based on this year’s highly-anticipated movie – SKYFALL – which will be available post launch as downloadable content, players will experience the conscience and gritty evolution of James Bond like never before! As the most diverse Bond video game yet, each of the 007 Legends movie-inspired missions include multiple levels based on a re-imaginings of some of the most popular Bond films, showcasing state-of-the-art spy gadgets, an arsenal of weapons and sleek vehicles, exotic locations, and intense situations that require Bond’s quick wits to take down notorious villains and their brutal henchmen.

For more intel about 007 Legends, visit the game’s official Facebook page –www.facebook.com/007LegendsGame ...

The builds using a Kinect as a 3D scanner just keep getting better and better. A team of researchers from the University of Bristol have portablized the Kinect by adding a battery, single board Linux computer, and a WiFi adapter. With their Mobile Kinect project, it’s now a snap to automatically map an environment without lugging a laptop around, or just giving your next mobile robot an awesome vision system.
By making the Kinect portable, [Mike] et al made the Microsoft’s 3D imaging device much more capable than its present task of computing the volumetric space of the inside of a cabinet. The Reconstructme project allows the Kinect to be used as a hand-held 3D scanner and Kintinuous can be used to create a 3D model of entire houses, buildings, or caves.
There’s a lot that can be done with a portabalized, WiFi’d Kinect, and hopefully a few builds replicating the team’s work (except for replacing the Gumstix board with a Raspi) will be showing up on HaD shortly.

http://hackaday.com/2012/09/16/a-por...nabled-kinect/ ...

Bear in mind that many people are still unable to play Kinect because their living room is too small.
With that thought nestled firmly in your consciousness, take a look at one of Microsoft’s more ambitious gaming patents.
Spotted by CVG, it’s called the Environmental Display and uses advanced projection technology to project a full 3D environment across all four walls of an owner’s living room or bedroom.
A 3D depth camera similar to Kinect is used to monitor a player’s position within the area. However, this experience is amplified by the use of special 3D glasses that register the direction in which players are looking.
This information combined allows them to create additional 3D imagery inserted into the play area – augmented reality, in other words.
The patent describes it as "an immersive display environment is provided to a human user by projecting a peripheral image onto environmental surfaces around the user – the peripheral images serve as an extension to a primary image displayed on a primary display”.
A lofty goal, you’ll surely agree. Undoubtedly the tech exists to make it all possible, but the struggle it will face will be an obvious one – how many potential owners have the requisite space to utilise such tech? And even if you’ve got the room, have you also got all the flat white walls needed for it to work properly?
The long and short of it is that we’d be happy with just the 3D shark and hover boards out of Back to the Future II.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/are-f...ration/0102681 ...

Microsoft once again outsold the other consoles
Microsoft announced today prior to the NPD report for August that its Xbox 360 console has sold 193,000 units for the month, marking the 20th consecutive month as the top-selling current-generation console in the US.
Microsoft noted that Xbox 360 held 48 percent share of current-generation console sales, which is the 18th consecutive month that the system has held more than a 40 percent share of current-generation console sales in the US. Additionally, total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in August (hardware, software and accessories) reached $196 million. Microsoft said that consumers spent more on Xbox 360 products in August than they spent on the other two current-generation consoles combined.
Looking ahead to this holiday shopping season, Microsoft is quite bullish, commenting that "there has never been a better time to own an Xbox 360 than this holiday." The company expects big sales with top tiles like Halo 4, Forza Horizon, Dance Central 3 and Fable: The Journey. The push for Xbox for Windows 8, Xbox SmartGlass and Xbox Music will also start up soon.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-during-august


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via MCV


Microsoft will have to solve a major tech headache if it wishes to hit its planned September 2013 launch for the Xbox 720, if new reports are to be believed.

Tech site SemiAccurate reports that a chip designed for use in the console, dubbed ‘Oban’, is providing lower-than-usual yields. (Manufacturing microchips is notoriously unreliable. The yield is the number of production units that are functional. Newer tech can sometimes suffer from higher failure rates and, in some instances, prove to be uneconomical).

Oban yields are being described as “worse than painfully low”. Microsoft has even outsourced production to three separate factories in the hope that one will strike upon some sort of magic formula to improve the situation.

Microsoft current launch schedule is said to be able to accommodate a six to eight week delay, but anything beyond that could force the company to alter its plans.

And what is this release date? September 2013, according to SemiAccurate. And the site adds that if it were to slip, heads would most certainly roll.

There are also details about the Xbox 720’s innards. The CPU is apparently, as rumoured, an AMD x86. However, the GPU seems to have undergone an upgrade from the last reports we heard, and is now based on AMD’s HD7000, though it has been specifically tweaked by Microsoft for its machine.

AMD is also believed to be supplying the CPU and GPU for PS4.

See, we told you Microsoft was planning a 2013 launch. ...

Update: Multiplayer maps Boardwalk, Gulch and Parish now available to download, according to CVG readers and Activision, although some users are still reporting getting XBL Marketplace error messages.
The final round of Modern Warfare 3 DLC for Call of Duty Elite subscribers on Xbox 360 has been released, but Xbox Live users are facing difficulties downloading it.
According to the online service's status page, "users will have issues accessing new MW3 content."We are aware of the problem and are working to resolve the issue," Microsoft added. "We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience."
Call of Duty's UK community manager also said on Twitter: "Things have been done a little differently for our ELITE drop in this instance. No idea on the length of the delay though."
CoD multiplayer fans who have been underwhelmed by MW3's Face Off and Spec Ops DLC should be looking forward to the final Elite offering, which consists of three new online maps:Gulch, Boardwalk and Parish.
They're scheduled to be made available to non-Elite subscribers on Xbox 360 tomorrow, September 6 as part of Content Collection 4, which also features Offshore and Decommission, maps Elite users received access to in July.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...x-live-issues/ ...

It was very, very nearly revealed at E3 back in June, but talk of a longer than expected wait for Xbox 720 is bubbling up once again.
"We have heard no word yet from Microsoft or Sony about their plans to launch new consoles,” Michael Pachter said in his regular Wedbush Morgan investor note.
“Both manufacturers are widely expected to launch consoles by year-end 2013, although we believe that Microsoft could delay a new console launch until spring of 2014 in order to accommodate what is certain to be overwhelming demand among hardcore gamers."
It’s a staggering development in the already lackadaisical road to market for the next-generation of console hardware, although one that does concur with recent statements from GameStop CEO Paul Raines.
“We have not been expecting two more consoles in 2013,” he insisted. “We're expecting Wii U this holiday, another one next year, and another one in '14. These rumours change every week, but we're hearing more about next year.”
While possible, it’s hard to believe that Microsoft would be prepared to delay the launch of its Xbox 720 successor even further than it already has.
At the turn of the year Microsoft was planning to reveal the Xbox 720 at E3. In fact, in the weeks running up to E3 Microsoft was pitching a very high profile brief to journalists that involved an unusual level of detail and attention involving pre-announcement meeting with regional management, pointing towards something very big at the LA expo.
Which, as we know, didn’t happen. At what stage Microsoft decided to reign in its next-gen reveal we do not know. But what was shown was weak to say the least, and leaves Xbox 360 in an uncertain position this Q4.
What’s more clear is Sony’s roadmap. It too planned a PS4 E3 reveal but gladly held back when it became apparent Microsoft was pulling the plug.
Sony is nowhere near as far down the development road as Microsoft with its machine, as was evidenced byits excellent E3 showing. But at the same time it will not allow Microsoft’s new machine to enjoy the same sort of head start in the next generation as it did in the current.
This sentiment may have been downplayed in more recent times by Sony execs but I assure you – that’s the bottom line at the top of the SCE hierarchy.
Furthermore, delaying the new consoles further is beginning to make less and less sense. The traditional console market is dying on its feet. There’s a strong line-up of releases on the way over the next six months, but the market is still odds-on to suffer yet another year-on-year dip.
The games market is more diverse than ever, and an increasing number of even traditional gamers are turning to emerging models such as smartphones and PC/online free-to-play. It’s becoming increasingly hard to convince consumers that £50 for a console game represents good value.
Don’t forget the publishers, either. Some studios are now openly announcing next-gen titles while others are doing so in a more subversive fashion.
And publishers can insists that games such as Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes aren’t next-gen until they’re blue in the face. I’m not buying it. Any developer worth its salt in this day and age is now working with a fully scalable game engine. If the next-gen holds off, they’ll release on PS3 and Xbox 360. If not, they flick and switch and their titles will gratefully utilise that extra power.
Everyone is ready to go. We just need Microsoft and Sony to sound the claxon.
And all hope is certainly not lost. EA Labels boss Frank Gibeau predicted recently that both Xbox 720 and PS4 would hit in the next 12 months and claimed last month that he has seen both machines.
What’s remarkable about this transition is the staggering role reversal we’re seeing. Traditionally, platform holders have been keen push through new hardware (which more often than not equates to a nice sales boost) while publishers have resisted, hesitant at the idea of rebuilding (and, more often than not, upsizing) their ecosystems to accommodate new development requirements.
This time it’s the publishers, tired of staring at their dwindling returns, who are desperate for an injection of new life. So why are the platform holders so reluctant?
Well, Microsoft is still enjoying very strong sales of its Xbox 360 hardware in the US. It takes a leap of faith to turn your back on that. But chiefly it remains to be seen how easy it will be to convince them to fork out £250-£350 on a new console, too.
All in the industry are very aware that we may have already seen the last great console generation. Is it any surprise that they’re holding on to what they’ve got for as long as they can?

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/opini...ubt-it/0102359 ...