Yeah, you thought you were so clever waiting for the 4GB Xbox 360 to come out. A mere $199, while all your sucker friends had already sprung the $299 for the hard drive-equipped model. You thought you could live a happy, fulfilling life swapping thumb drives and carefully cropping your download collection. But you can't, can you? Night sweats, day sweats, you've got it bad. You need a hard drive, and now Microsoft's got a $130 250 gigger just for your wreck of a self. The drive has started popping up in GameStop stores and on GameStop.com, and while Microsoft still hasn't actually officially announced the accessory, when has that stopped you before?

http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/20/x...rosoft-cackle/ ...

Apple yesterday applied for a patent to allow remotely disabling electronic devices when 'unauthorized usage' is detected. The patent application covers using the camera to take pictures of the unauthorized user and using GPS to determine location, and it involves ascertaining whether the phone has been hacked or jailbroken, using those as criteria for detecting 'suspicious behavior.' The patent would allow the carrier or any other 'authorized' party to disable or restrict the functionality of the device. Is this Apple's latest tool to thwart jailbreaking?

http://apple.slashdot.org/story/10/0...lbroken-Phones ...

CVG is covering the controversy surrounding players' ability to play as a member of the Taliban in EA's Medal of Honor multiplayer. Fox News hopped on the wagon, interviewing a Gold Star mom whose son died in Iraq. She said, 'My son didn't get to start over when he was killed. His life was over and I had to deal with that every day. There's 1200 families from Afghanistan that have to live with this every day. And we live it — it's not a game... EA is very cavalier about it: "Well, it's just a game." But it isn't a game to the people who are suffering from the loss of the children and loved ones.' EA's response to this criticism of giving players the objective to 'gun down American troops' was this: 'Medal Of Honor is set in today's war, putting players in the boots of today's soldier... We give gamers the opportunity to play both sides. Most of us have been doing this since we were seven. If someone's the cop, someone's got to be the robber, someone's got to be the pirate, somebody's got to be the alien. In Medal Of Honor multiplayer, someone has to be the Taliban.' Of course the story recalls Six Days in Fallujah, which was dropped by Konami following similar controversy. It's clear at least a few people take issue with games surrounding modern conflicts.

http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/0...Medal-of-Honor ...

Having raised concerns about 'the classification of games playable on mobile telephones,' the Australian government has now 'put the wheels in motion to address this.' Under current Australian legislation, video games sold in the country must pay between $470 and $2040 to have the game classified, and due to the lack of an 18+ rating in Australia, if it is not found to be suitable for a 15-year-old, it is banned outright. This is the fate met by several recent titles, such as Left 4 Dead 2 and Fallout 3. Over 200,000 applications are available for the iPhone, many of them games, and developers have raised concerns about the prohibitive costs involved, with many announcing an intention to drop the Australian market altogether if the plan proceeds.

http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/0...App-Censorship ...

Microsoft has unveiled the launch line-up of games for Windows Phone 7, including first party titles such as Halo and Crackdown - as well as major third party franchises including Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell, Castlevania and Guitar Hero.

First announced in February of this year, the Xbox Live service on Windows Phone 7 will include many of the most popular features of the home console service, including support for Achievements, Avatars, demos, leaderboards, and turn-based multi-player.

Revealed for the first time this week are new companion titles for titles such as Halo: Waypoint (not a videogame, but a "media hub") and Crackdown 2. Microsoft Game Studios has also announced a number of other titles, including a line of board and card games and original titles ilomilo and The Harvest.

The first wave of games also includes support from prominent third party publishers including Gameloft (Assassin's Creed), Konami (Castlevania), Namco Bandai (Puzzle Quest 2), PopCap (Bejeweled LIVE) and THQ (de Blob).

"Windows Phone 7 is the launch of a major gaming platform for Microsoft," said Matt Booty, general manager of mobile gaming for Microsoft Game Studios (MGS).

"Just like we've done with Xbox 360, our charter is to push the envelope and deliver definitive games that maximise the platform. We will have an incredible line-up of MGS titles, and that's just the beginning."

The full list of "first wave" titles is as follows:

3D Brick Breaker Revolution (Digital Chocolate)
Age of Zombies (Halfbrick)
Armor Valley (Protégé Games)
Asphalt 5 (Gameloft)
Assassin's Creed (Gameloft)
Bejeweled LIVE (PopCap)
Bloons TD (Digital Goldfish)
Brain Challenge (Gameloft)
Bubble Town 2 (i-Play)
Butterfly (Press Start Studio)
CarneyVale Showtime (MGS)
Castlevania (Konami)
Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst (MGS)
de Blob Revolution (THQ)
Deal or No Deal 2010 (i-Play)
Earthworm Jim (Gameloft)
Fast & Furious 7 (i-Play)
Fight Game Rivals (Rough Cookie)
Finger Physics (Mobliss Inc.)
Flight Control (Namco Bandai)
Flowerz (Carbonated Games)
Frogger (Konami)
Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick)
Game Chest-Board (MGS)
Game Chest-Card (MGS)
Game Chest-Logic (MGS)
Game Chest-Solitaire (MGS)
GeoDefense (Critical Thought)
Ghostscape (Psionic)
Glow Artisan (Powerhead Games)
Glyder 2 (Glu Mobile)
Guitar Hero 5 (Glu Mobile)
Halo Waypoint (MGS)
Hexic Rush (Carbonated Games)
Dig It (InMotion)
iBlast Moki (Godzilab)
ilomilo (MGS)
Implode XL (IUGO)
Iquarium (Infinite Dreams)
Jet Car Stunts (True Axis)
Let's Golf 2 (Gameloft)
Little Wheel (One click dog)
Loondon (Flip N Tale)
Max and the Magic Marker (PressPlay)
Mini Squadron (Supermono Limited)
More Brain Exercise (Namco Bandai)
O.M.G. (Arkedo)
Puzzle Quest 2 (Namco Bandai)
Real Soccer 2 (Gameloft)
The Revenants (Chaotic Moon)
Rise of Glory (Revo Solutions)
Rocket Riot (Codeglue)
Splinter Cell: Conviction (Gameloft)
Star Wars: Battle for Hoth (THQ)
Star Wars: Cantina (THQ)
The Harvest (MGS)
The Oregon Trail (Gameloft)
Tower Bloxx NY (Digital Chocolate)
Twin Blades (Press Start Studio)
UNO (Gameloft)
Women's Murder Club: Death in Scarlet (i-Play)
Zombie Attack! (IUGO)
Zombies!!!! (Babaroga)

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...hone-7-line-up ...

After a brief period of confusion, where conflicting dates were communicated in the same press release, Microsoft this morning confirmed the European launch date for Kinect - and UK boss Neil Thompson has told GamesIndustry.biz he expects the device to "sell out" before Christmas.

The unit releases on November 10, a day after Activision's hugely anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops, and Thompson was bullish on its prospects, despite concerns over its price point, insisting: "It's highly possible we will run out of product in the period through Christmas".

He added that exact shipment numbers were still unclear, with Microsoft yet to make "any decisions on country splits yet - we have to do that in the next few weeks."

However, he insisted the company would be "bringing great quantities of product in and replenishing the product on a very frequent basis. On all of the supply plans I've seen so far, I'm confident people who want to play Kinect will have every opportunity".

Kinect's price point, confirmed as £130 for a standalone unit in the UK, has been the subject of intense debate, but Thompson rubbished suggestions it was too expensive and claimed Microsoft had "priced it as aggressively as we can given the extensive costs of development to bring the technology to market."

He reiterated the company's position that it represented "very good value" as a "multiiplayer environment" versus rivals like Sony's Move (which requires additional purchases for more than one player), but conceded that since Kinect is an "integrated technology solution", this was not an option.

Despite analyst predictions of a Kinect price cut early next year, Thompson poured cold water on the idea. "I haven't even launched the product yet so I'm not even thinking about price cuts - it's not entered my consciousness," he said.

"We've set the price point we believe is great value to our partners and consumers ultimately, so everyone in that chain gets great value. We have no anticipation of making any move on price."

Ultimately, consumer activity will shape Microsoft's plans in this area. It's unlikely the company anticipated slicing £100 from the RRP of the original Xbox just two months after launch to stimulate sluggish sales.

But with UK retail reporting strong pre-order interest, Microsoft's confidence of a strong launch may not be misplaced.

"You've got to go with what you believe in and we fundamentally believe we're bring a whole new experience to the world of gaming," he said.

Meanwhile, Thompson said that, aside from Kinect Adventures (which comes bundled with the hardware, he expected new Harmonix IP Dance Central to be the best-selling Kinect title this Christmas.

"At this point my personal view based on the feedback I've seen, Dance Central seems to be pretty hot; Kinect Sports is pretty hot; and for kids, Kinectimals is incredibly engaging - in that order".

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-neil-thompson ...

The PlayStation 3 has now sold 38 million units globally since its launch in 2006/7, with 16 million of those coming in Europe.

Those were the latest numbers revealed by Sony at this year's Gamescom press conference, with SCEE president Andrew House claiming last year's release of the PS3 Slim was the moment the console "sprang to life".

Meanwhile he added that software sales were up 38 per cent, with Metacritic scores averaging at 80 per cent, compared to 77 per cent for the Xbox 360.

New SKUs of the console were priced at $400 / €350 / £285 for a 320GB edition with PlayStation Move, while the 160GB edition will cost $300 / €300 / £250 and replace the existing SKU over time - with both being available from September 15.

The launch of an online classic film service, MUBI, was also announced and will be available from October, while House also revealed that the PlayStation Network now has a 70 per cent connection rate.

Rounding off the hardware section of the conference, House noted PlayStation Portable sales at 9.9 million for the past year, while PlayStation 2 sales now top 146 million globally, with a further 6 million projected for this year.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...obally-article ...

Mobile developer Aurora Feint have announced a new viral game distribution system for its social game network OpenFeint, which will eventually allow players to send SMS and email game invites across both iPhone and Android formats.

Aurora Feint announced support for Android last month, although OpenFeint 2.6 launched today only on iOS. A specific launch date for Android and cross-platform support has not been announced, although it is expected later this year.

OpenFeint claims to be the largest mobile social gaming community on iOS devices, with over 35 million registered users and a presence in over 2600 games.

"With Game Center just around the corner and thousands more games coming on the market every year, effective and unique promotion is more important than ever," said Jason Citron, CEO of Aurora Feint.

"By creating this out-of-network invite system, we'll help players give more organic game endorsements shedding light on the best games out there and resulting in more game downloads," he added.

Other new features in OpenFeint 2.6 include a new time-based leaderboard with geo-location services. Safeguards are also promised to prevent spamming. The update comes as a result of a second round of funding from Chinese investor, online publisher The9.

"One glaring problem with today's mobile gaming community is how fractured it is across platforms, OpenFeint is bridging the gap between gamers," said Peter Relan, executive chairman of Aurora Feint.

"As we expand cross platform this summer, we're going to roll out services that will help friends that use different device platforms play against each other," he added.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-android-games ...

Sony's next-generation PlayStation Portable features touch-sensitive controls and Flash storage, according a number of high-profile development sources.

Speaking to our sister site Eurogamer.net, three separate sources have said that the hardware will be similar in design to the PSP-3000, not the most recently released PSPgo, and feature a touch sensitive control area at the reverse of the unit.

Sony has very recently met with publishing partners to show first-party games on the device and presented a business model for the new system, with some suggestions that the hardware will be released before the end of 2011.

Sony has not discussed the hardware publicly. In its press event during Gamescom this week, the emphasis on the current PSP hardware was that it is skewing towards a younger audience.

According to the report, Sony had considered a disc-based storage system for the new PSP, but is now incorporating Flash media support following developer feedback.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-to-publishers ...