GamerNode: Latest Industry News

FCC slaps Comcast for capping Internet usage

Comcast, an Internet service provider, announced recently that it was going to set a cap limit on home subscribers to 250GB a month starting on September 5.

That's a pretty good amount of downloadable content for most, but if you are a heavy duty gamer and like to download lots of movies and media, that 250GB cap starts to look a little small.

But never fear the FCC is here. The government agency determined that the Comcast policy was "legally inappropriate and its findings were not justified by the record."

The FCC went on to say that the new policies were "discriminatory and arbitrary" and that the Comcast move was to "contravene industry standards and have significantly impeded Internet users' ability to use applications and access content of their choice."

Comcast is fighting the decisi...

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The best gadget ever: The Pong wristwatch

This gadget has to be at the top of my list of "things I wish I had." The object of desire is a wristwatch. I am not talking about your multi-thousand dollar watches such as Rolex, or the $2.1 million Patek Philippe that someone bought this year.

No, what we're talking about here is even better IMO...a Pong wristwatch that shows the time via an ongoing game of Pong.

Now that's what I call class.

The idea was spawned originally by a large Pong wall clock by futuristic designer Buro Vormkrijger. That's when John Maushammer took the concept a step further and made a Pong wristwatch.

Maushammer made the unique device in his spare time using computer operated fabrication machines, a slew of electronic components to make a prototype of the watch, and finally, a working model. The whole project took...

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Peter Moore says he dropped the F-Bomb on Sega

Peter Moore is a real character in the game industry. He tells you what's on his mind, he is a true gamer, and he's been a major force in video games for years. He recently disclosed to Esquire magazine that when he was a top executive at Sega, he said to Yuji Naka, game developer and creator of Sonic, "F**k you."

We leave it to your imagination to fill in the blanks.

The F-Bomb came when Moore was in a boardroom meeting with Naka and other Sega brass. At the time, the Dreamcast was hemorrhaging heavily due to competition from Sony's PlayStation 2. Moore was trying to show the managers that Sega needed some major overhauls to stay alive.

He recounts what happened at the meeting year's back, and related how he formed and video taped the reactions of focus groups to evaluate what they though of...

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Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer beta in Oct...

Everyone seems to have loved Call of Duty 4, and despite some hesitance at the mention of Treyarch, the next installment in the CoD series should prove to be quite a hit financially. But how will it function as a game?

Well, you'll be able to find out this October, as the upcoming Call of Duty: World at War is opening up a multiplayer beta nearly a full month before its November 11 release date for both the Xbox 360 and PC.

Recently Call of Duty: World at War faced some controversy when Treyarch presented Olympic champion Michael Phelps with an early copy of the game (which later was found out [off camera] to be an empty box serving as a pre-order). Some criticized the move of making it look like they were handing out an early copy; some criticized the move of trying to gain popularity by ...

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Ubisoft: Europe > US

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told GamesIndustry.biz in an interview that Europe is now the company's biggest territory-not the US.

"First, our money - the pound or the euro - is very strong and because of that the turnover from those countries is heavier than they used to be," he explained during an interview at Games Convention. "So for Ubisoft turnover Europe is actually more important than the US now, and by more than 5 per cent. It's become a very strong market for us."

Guillemot gave credit to newer games being more inviting towards more casual gamers, and Ubisoft titles like EndWar which is "totally changing the industry."

Not mentioned in his spiel on how awesome Europe is for Ubisoft are how many copies of the Imagine series Euro gamers are inexplicably buying, what this mystery Ubiso...

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Behind the scenes of Legendary, episode 5 of 6

We are inching ever closer to Legendary's September 30th release date, and with the fifth of six behind-the-scenes videos of the game, we are also nearing the end of this revealing series.

In this penultimate video of Gamecock and Spark Unlimited's mythological first-person shooter, the team describes the choices behind the game's conceptual design, enemy AI, and characterization.

Hit the jump to watch the video.

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The future: Square Enix...Tecmo?

Get ready to add to the growing list of mergers, acquisitions, and conglomerations of videogame companies, because mega-publisher Square Enix is looking into taking over Tecmo, Ltd.

Square Enix announced today that the company has submitted a proposal to the Tecmo board of directors, outlining a friendly take over bid, in which Square Enix would acquire a majority of shares of Tecmo common stock.

The proposal includes a clause stating that consent shall be either granted or denied by the Tecmo board of directors no later than September 4th, 2008. More details can be found below.

1. The reason to submit the ProposalVideo games have been globally recognized as a major entertainment genre, and have now become an industry receiving considerable attention in terms of its market size and growth p...

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Sony sued over Blu-ray patent. Good bye PS3?

The Blu-ray technology that Sony has been trying for so long to make a standard in the industry finally won over HD DVD. But the victory is bittersweet as firms continually file patent infringement lawsuits against Sony over Blu-ray.

The latest of these is from Orinda Intellectual Properties USA. They say Sony infringed on their patent (number 5,438,560), which basically has to do with the way information is recorded and read from an optical disc.

Orinda is asking the court to stop Sony from selling Blu-ray devices, among them, the PS3, and wants "a reasonable royalty" from all of the sales related to Blu-ray products.

According to court documents, the firm stated, "Orinda has been and will continue to be damaged as a result of Defendants' infringing conduct. [Sony's] infringing conduct will ...

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EA upset over used game sales. Online fees coming?...

If you don't mind waiting a few weeks or months to nab a good game, going to the bargain bin or used games section of your favorite game store can save you some money over full retail prices.

But not everyone is happy about this; namely Electronic Arts.

EA is groaning that used game sales of its titles don't make them one thin dime because vendors that sell them reap all the profits for themselves. EA is mad and is trying to think up a way to make buying used games not as attractive.

What does this mean for gamers? EA is considering a new business model that will force consumers to pay not just for the game itself, but pay for additional online services and content to make the game "complete."

Jens Uwe, general manager for EA Europe said:

"What we're trying to do is build business models that...

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Behind the scenes of Legendary, episode 4 of 6

Gamecock Media group has released the fourth of six behind-the-scenes videos of the upcoming first-person shooter, Legendary. The game is due to arrive just over a month from now. Until then, these videos can give us a closer look at exactly what to expect from this original IP.

This time around, members of the team at Spark Unlimited talk about the game's setting. From New York City to northern England, the opening of Pandora's Box has global repercussions in Legendary, and the developers want people who play the game to feel as though they have experienced a massive, world-changing event.

Hit the jump to watch the video.

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Microsoft's Peter Moore: Don't sue the pirates

Game software organizations such as the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) make it their duty to go after and shut down pirates. Often, the pirates who are captured and prosecuted are used as a banner headline to warn others that pirating is not only a bad idea, but also illegal.

Whether the action of putting pirates behind bars is a deterrent to prevent illegally copying software is debatable, but one voice from within the game industry, namely Peter Moore, of EA's sports division, thinks that tracking down pirates and suing them is not the answer.

He says suing individuals for pirating is not the way the game industry should go. He made his remarks at the Leipzig Games Convention last week and is suggesting that other ways could be used to prevent piracy, although he wasn't specific ...

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Crysis moving to the PS3 and Xbox 360?

The latest rumor says that Crysis, the PC shooter that stretches the limitations of gaming rigs to the max, may be headed for the PS3 and Xbox 360 sometime in the fourth quarter of 2008 or first quarter of 2009.

The game may have to be dumbed down to run properly. As for the PS3, its highly touted Cell processor may finally get the chance to show its computing muscles with Crysis...that is, if the coders can find a way to properly program it.

One source says that Crytek is focusing on each system's treading core and is especially taking time in porting it over to the PS3 in order to maximize the power of the Cell processor for improved AI, quality graphics textures and other features.

Crysis received fairly high review scores in the high 8s. Some may wonder why Crysis is even being considered...

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The top selling video game this year is...

Three game industry statistics companies, NPD, GfK Chart Track Limited, and Enterbrain have joined together to share data and produce a report that reveals which games are the top sellers in the UK, US, and Japan.

Anita Frazer, an industry analyst said:

"The video games business has become increasingly global, with the majority of the publishers releasing games in multiple markets. The U.S, as the world's largest market will be able to view and compare sales for the first time outside of their own market."

It may be no surprise to many, but Grand Theft Auto IV came out as the top dog in sales with Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii coming in second and third respectively.

Of the top five positions, Nintendo grabbed three of the spots. Although the critics of the Wii continue to claim ...

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Behind the scenes of Legendary, episode 3 of 6

Gamecock has released the third episode of their behind-the-scenes video series for the upcoming mythological first-person shooter, Legendary.

This time around, the team shows off the impressively massive, "skyline-altering," titan-class enemies that players will face in the game, from urban golems to sea-dwelling kraken.

Hit the jump to watch the video.

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Tom Clancy's EndWar Games Convention trailer

Games Convention 2008 kicks off tomorrow in Leipzig, Germany, and Ubisoft has gone ahead and released an official trailer for Tom Clancy's EndWar, the next in a long line of videogame franchises to be named after the militay novelist. This voice-controlled real-time strategy is due to hit the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on November 4th. Have a look:

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XDE DVD promises near HD at a nice price

Toshiba, the supporter (and loser) of the HD DVD format is coming back with another "hi-def" DVD system they hope will tickle the fancies of standard DVD player users. It's called XDE (extended detail enhancement.)

It won't be as hi-def as Blu-ray but it won't cost as much either. Toshiba says their new XD-E500 DVD player will be priced at only $150 and will offer resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. In comparison, a standard display for standard TV is 640 x 480.

Toshiba is banking on the fact that many people have not jumped onto the Blu-ray wagon due to its higher pricing buy may try a new technology that promises to upscale their existing standard DVD libraries to near HD quality.

Louis Masses, director of product planning at Toshiba said:

"Consumers have embraced the DVD format like no othe...

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The 2008 Games Convention list

With E3 over with, we have two big game conventions left to look forward too, PAX and Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany.

Luckily we got our hands on the list of games that will be revealed at GC2008 and by the looks of it, this convention might just trump E3 '08.

Microsoft

Halo WarsBanjo-KazooieFable 2Lips LipsScene It? You're in the Movies

Sony

Resistance 2Killzone 2Motorstorm: Pacific RiftLittleBigPlanetHomeHeavy RaininFAMOUSFree RealmsThe AgencyDC Universe OnlineRatchet and Clank: Quest for Booty

EA

Need for Speed: Under CoverRed Alert 3Dead SpaceRock Band 2Dragon Age: OriginsLord of the Rings ConquestCrysis WarheadMercenaries 2MySims KingdomFIFA 09Mirror's EdgeLeft 4 DeadFacebreakerNHL 09Madden NFL 09Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09SimAnimalsThe Sims 3RageBattleForgeHarry Potter and the Half-Bloo...

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Star Wars: TFU demo coming this Thursday

If you are one of the many people who can't wait for the new Star Wars action game to come out and instead resorted to going to the theaters to watch the Clone Wars movie, then you are in luck.

The demo for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be available on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network this Thursday.

You are in control of Darth Vader's "secret apprentice" who is tasked to destroy a TIE fighter facility along with killing Jedi Rahm Kota.

Oh, and if anyone notices you wreaking havok, don't hesitate to take them out as well in a show of power and glory. There will be a tutorial bundled with the demo so players can learn how to wield the force correctly, and with ease.

The game is scheduled to come out on September 16, so stay tuned for a preview of what looks like a very promising St...

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Buy a DS and a PSP from a vending machine? Sure

In Japan, vending machines have been elevated to a state where practically anything can be purchased from them. People can literally do their grocery shopping, electronics shopping, and everything else in-between at these electronic kiosks.

The idea of selling items outside of just food and drink is catching on outside of Japan. Various airports around the US are displaying Best Buy and Sony vending machines

Inside the kiosk of "Best Buy Express" you'll find Nintendo DS consoles, video games, headphones, MP3 players, flash drives, computer accessories and even unlocked phones.

As for the "Sony Access" vending machine, it has a healthy assortment of headphones and lots of PSP slims with a good selection of games such as Patapon, Crisis Core, and God of War.

The idea of vending machines at airpo...

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EA signs deal with Epic, Grasshopper

Yesterday everyone talked about EA milking franchises for as much as they can, and the possible plans to do so with Spore. Today, people are talking about EA again-but for an entirely different reason.

Earlier this afternoon, EA announced two big new deals they signed with two very respected developers: Grasshopper Manufacture, and Epic Games.

Grasshopper Manufacture, best known for their enigmatic CEO Goichi Suda (Suda 51), is a developer of some...unique titles. Most recently creating No More Heroes for the Wii, the new game will be produced by the legendary Shinji Mikami, and directed by Suda 51. "Grasshopper Manufacture is excited to work with EA Partners to bring our new title to gamers around the world," said Suda. "They are a great partner who shares our commitment to quality and inn...

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