GamerNode: Latest Game and Console News

Microsoft drops HD requirement for 360 games

It appears that developers of Xbox 360 games will no longer be required to use a minimum resolution of 1280x720 pixels (720p), a quality benchmark that Microsoft has proudly boasted since launch day.

In his most recent column at Develop Online, Black Rock Studio's David Jefferies has revealed that Microsoft has since dropped that requirement, allowing developers to create games using other-than-HD resolutions. He claims this is a good thing for developers, who needn't waste video memory in order to maintain 720p, but can use that horsepower more efficiently as they see fit.

The exact quote is, "...until recently, Microsoft had a TCR insisting that games run at 1280x720 - providing you weren't one of the lucky ones like Halo, who got it waived and ran at 1152x640, that is." [Emphasis ours.]...

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Now you can change your WoW Faction for $30

Blizzard opened up the new World of Warcraft Faction Change service today, allowing players of the world's most popular MMORPG to change any character's faction for a fee of $30, provided the character has reached at least level 10.

Players who make use of the service will be allowed to choose any race that is available for their selected class, fully customizing the new character's name and appearance. Old names will remain unavailable to the WoW masses for a period of 90 days. All non-faction-specific mounts, equipment, achievements, and titles will remain unchanged after making the switch; those that are faction-specific will be replaced with "cross-faction equivalents." Non-combat pets and characters' experience points will be completely unaffected.

The Faction Change option can be foun...

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PS3 sales double in US

Despite complaints of Firmware 3.0, Sony has reason to be happy. A weekly report of hardware sales from August 23-29 acquired by VGChartz shows that the sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 have more than doubled in America, increasing 104% over the week prior.

The massive increase in sales has to do with Sony's drop of the cost of its PS3 to $299, with the new "Slim" model now on sale at the same price. Worldwide, the PS3 has seen a 35% increase in sales.

As for the Xbox 360, which had its price lowered by Microsoft to $299 for the Elite model, it saw a sales increase of 32% from the week prior and a 29% increase worldwide. Sony's PSP saw sales shoot up 81%, 19% worldwide, which is mainly due to the release of Dissidia Final Fantasy and a bundle involving the portable system and game.

As for the Ni...

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Ubisoft announces new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...

Ubisoft today announced a brand new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game in celebration of the brand's 25th anniversary.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Arcade Attack will be a side-scrolling beat-em-up in the same vein as the many TMNT arcade classics. It will have an original storyline and will be available in the last quarter of 2009. The game will also feature a new combination system and two-player cooperative play via local ad hoc wireless.

Said Ubisoft senior vice president of sales and marketing Tony Key, "Gamers all over the world recall the countless hours of fun these types of arcade games provided. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Arcade Attack plans to recapture that nostalgia and add an entirely new level of sophistication. Given the success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in...

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New PlayStation 3 firmware freezing games

There have been some unsettling reports coming out of the GameFAQs message boards for any and every PlayStation 3 owner. The community has been complaining  about games for the console, specifically and mainly Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, freezing ever since the new Firmware 3.0 update.

It is currently unsure whether the problems will be limited to this small list of games, which also includes UFC, Tiger Woods 10, and Bioshock, or if it will expand in the future. However this is still a bad sign for Sony, which has already started to hear criticism and complaints over just how "major" this update has been compared to the company's promises and public expectations.

[GameFAQS]

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Survey says "Red Ring of Death" is abating

The Xbox 360's "Red Ring of Death" is something every owner of the console dreads and, according to a GameInformer survey, about 55 percent have inevitably dealt with. However according to IndustryGamers, owners of the Xbox 360 will have reason to fear the "Red Ring of Death" less based on a new survey from SquareTrade.

The survey from SquareTrade, which claims to be the largest independent warranty provider in the world, evaluated the efficiency of all three current-gen consoles. The Xbox 360 had a 23.7 percent of failure over a two-year period, which the survey credits to the introduction of the "Jasper" chipset in late 2008 that "has likely solved" the "Red Ring of Death" problem.

As for the other consoles over that same time period, the PlayStation 3 had a 10 percent of failure and the ...

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Tetris makes your brain work better, last longer

A new study reports that playing videogames -- specifically Tetris -- improves the brain's efficiency, increases its size, and helps it resist late-life deterioration.

The Mind Reaseach Network's study, funded by the makers of Tetris, observed the brains of adolescent girls with MRI scans before and after a three-month test period. During this time, the girls participated in "challenging visuospatial tasks," operationally defined as a number of Tetris gameplay sessions.

The results show that certain areas of the cortex (shown in red above) increase in thickness after prolonged focus on these sorts of tasks, thereby making the individual more resistant to mental decline that may occur later in life. Other areas (shown in blue) function with greater efficiency after Tetris.

So the next time som...

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DSi-exclusive games coming this fall

According to the wild west of videogame industry news, the internet, the first DSi-exclusive game cards will be hitting retailers sometime this fall. 

At this year's Game Developers Conference, DSi hardware project lead Masato Kuwahara explained that special DSi games were in the works that would be unplayable on DS and DS Lite hardware. This would be different from currently available titles that function on all models, but have special enhanced features when played on the DSi.

When they arrive, DSi-only games will be packaged in distinct, all-white cases, so they stand out against the current DS library in stores, and will have a warning that they are only playable on the newer hardware. The game cards themselves will be manufactured from white plastic, as well.

This news seems to fall in l...

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Free at last! Wii Internet Channel costs nothing a...

Remember when the Wii Internet Channel was free? If not, it was during the first few months following the console's release. Since then, it has cost Wii owners 500 Wii Points to enjoy the internet via the Wii's Opera browser.

Well, not anymore.

The Internet Channel is available for free once again, and Nintendo is reimbursing everyone who ever paid for the right to surf the web on their console -- but not with money. Beginning October 1st, those misfortunate Internet Channel purchasers will be allowed to claim one free NES game (also valued at 500 Wii Points) to make up for their expenditure.

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The quality of Wii games is improving

We all know that Nintendo's Wii, aside from expanding the market and making tons of money, has been highly prone to third-party shovelware. But it looks like there is hope for improvement, because a year-to-year comparison of EEDAR Quality Scores shows that Wii games are indeed getting better.

Comparing review scores from the first six months of 2008 and 2009 show that while PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 scores have remained consistent, Wii games in 2009 have averaged 6% higher scores in 2009 than in 2008, up to 66/100 from 60/100. That's a 10% increase!

Hopefully this sort of trend continues, because I know I'm not the only one who's tired of playing crappy games.

[IndustryGamers]

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Empire: Total War Update 1.4 coming in September

Creative Assembly and Sega have announced that Empire: Total War will be updated to version 1.4 in late September. The update will focus on improving enemy artificial intelligence, with an overhaul to both the campaign and battle AI, as well as rebalanced sieges and naval battles.

Said Creative Assembly creative director Mike Simpson, "This update will please all Empire: Total War players as we've continuously listened to the feedback received via our forums. The framework has been laid down for all the exciting content that will come to the series in the future, and that's thanks to all the players of Empire: Total War."

A more complete list of fixes in the 1.4 update follows:

- Fix for auto unlimbering causing the attack order to terminate prematurely resulting in an inability to stop the ...

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Wait... What? Take-Two's quote on GTA V announceme...

VG247 is reporting that Take-Two is not taking kindly to anyone asking them about anything related to a Grand Theft Auto V announcement. This is a quote from who VG247 believes to be Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two's chairman, when he was asked during a Q3 earnings conference call about any GTA V announcement:

"We're not going to announce it. We're not going to announce when we're going to announce it. And we're not going to announce the strategy about announcing it or about when we're going to announce it either, or about the announcement strategy surrounding the announcement of the strategy.

Any other questions?"

So wait... who's on first?

[VG247]

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GamerNode's You Win! Awards are back!

Another GamerNode original column returns today, right alongside One Word Review. GamerNode's You Win! Awards are back, and ready to dish out all the commendation and condemnation the GN staff can muster.

With You Win! GN will honor not only the best and the brightest in the videogame industry, but also the most useless, incompetent, and just plain foolish. We will be looking at industry news, announcements, game releases, retail, politics, marketing, corporate shake-ups, critics, and anything else that could possibly inspire us to create and bestow a brand new (and extra shiny) custom award as often as possible.

The frequency of new "winners" is entirely up to how consistently awesome or despicable everyone chooses to be, but let's get things started with today's "That Makes Sense" Award,...

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One Word Review returns to GamerNode!

That's right, the world's fastest reviews are back at GamerNode!

If you're unfamiliar with the One Word Review Process, it's really very simple: the GN staff members pick out a current, aging, or classic title and attempt to encapsulate an entire review in a single word. You may or may not be able to find our game-condensing descriptors in a standard dictionary, but we have faith that you will catch our meaning, nonetheless.

It's a unique take on videogame critique. Videogames are so often rated, reviewed, and discussed to exhaustion, so we decided to strive for the other end of the spectrum with something succinct, sincere... and fun. And we love reader input at GN, so be sure to throw your own OWRs in the comments section, too.

GamerNode's latest OWR can be found here, complete with an EXT...

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Jade Raymond to lead Ubisoft Toronto

The highly visible producer of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed games, Jade Raymond, has been chosen to head up its new Toronto studio.

The announcement came on Monday, months after the developer had announced the founding of the studio back in July. Raymond will answer to Yannis Mallat, CEO of both Ubisoft Montreal and Toronto, and she will be in charge of the day-to-day operations of the studio.

Raymond has been with Ubisoft Montreal since 2004,  where she was one of the producers on Assassin's Creed. The popular third-person action game sold eight million units, according to Ubisoft.

She is currently the executive producer of Assassin's Creed 2 and other projects by the developer. Raymond previously worked with IBM, Electronic Arts, and Sony Online.

"I'm excited to have Jade managing our Toronto ...

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The Beatles: Rock Band could cost Viacom over $40 ...

Rythem games have hit a bit of a rut as of late. Rock Band's sales have gone down and rhythm games as a whole have lost money according to the latest NPD reports. "Of all genres, the music/dance genre has suffered the greatest declines this year, with nearly $390 million less revenues than the same time period last year," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

It's that reason which makes it hard to believe just how much money Viacom will be shelling out just to have the rights to use The Beatles music in their upcoming Rock Band title. The company has paid a guaranteed $10 million in royalties and, if sales of The Beatles: Rock Band hits certain figures, could increase to $40 million or more.

"The royalty rates on this are not even comparable to anything that has been done before," said Martin Ban...

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Gamestop Manager's Conference '09: God of War 1 an...

At the Sony conference during the 2009 Gamestop Manager's Conference, Sony announced a God of War 1 and 2 Blu-ray package. It will retail at 39.99 and run 60 frames per second at 720P resolution. It's due out in November.

More from the conference as it pours in.

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Disney acquires Marvel for $4 Billion

In a shocking move, the Walt Disney Corporation has acquired Marvel Comics for a staggering $4 billion.

All of Marvel's more than 5,000 superheroes and supervillains will now belong to Mickey and company, which makes many wonder what the future of Marvel will hold. There's a major portion of Universal Orlando devoted to Marvel Comics, as well as movies, video games, and other media that Disney's rivals all have a say in. Will they remain the same, or will Disney force a halt in production?

Ultimate Alliance 2 delay? I sure hope not.

From the official press release, via Kotaku, here's Disney's side:

"This transaction combines Marvel's strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney's creat...

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GameStop to offer old PS3 trade-ins for "Slim"

Many PlayStation 3 owners may not want to spend more money by purchase the new "Slim" model that is due to come out this week, but GameStop is doing its best to convince these people otherwise.

The largest videogame store chain will be giving customers $150 off of the new PS3 in exchange for their older, bigger models. If one does the math, that cuts the price of the new PS3 "Slim", priced at $299, in half.

It may still be an additional $150 on top of the large amount already spent for the older PS3, but it could be enough to entice gamers who have gained a fond attraction to the smaller new model.

[PSX Extreme]

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BioWare reveals Sith Warrior for The Old Republic

It shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone who knows that Star Wars: The Old Republic exists, but LucasArts and BioWare revealed the Sith Warrior as their newest playable class in the highly anticipated MMO. The lightsaber-wielding, hatred-filled force adept has its own profile page on The Old Republic website with details and hints on how the Sith will act and play in the game.

"Though the lightsaber is the Warrior's primary method of attack, he also uses his dark command of the Force to paralyze, terrify, and kill," says the site. "Protected by heavy armor and his powers of intimidation, the Warrior wades into the thick of the fight and unleashes pure hatred and fury to eliminate all who would stand against him."

The profile also mentions how the Sith Empire is run in the game, and that s...

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