Gamernode: Latest Game and Console News

EA: Boom Blox sales have met our expectations

With the casual gaming genre now one of the biggest money makers for developers, figuring out the best marketing strategy for the titles can be tricky. The tried and true plan of showing off trailers, screenshots, and bits of information almost an entire year in advance really doesn't cut it where casual games are concerned.

One of the best examples of this is the highly acclaimed Boom Blox by EA and Steven Spielberg. While heralded by some reviews as one of the best Wii games made, it should surprise some readers to know Boom Blox has only sold sixty thousand copies in the US. This has met EA's internal expectations, but there is no doubt they were hoping for more. Interestingly enough, Boom Blox may still net the numbers to make it be considered a bigger success.

It all comes down to how...

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Heavenly Sword 2 a no go?

While it was a huge hit at E3 2006, Heavenly Sword didn't turn out to be the monumental smash hit Sony had been hoping for. The game was good, but had some lingering problems that stopped it from being a system seller.

Talk of Heavenly Sword 2 has persisted for some time, but there has been a new rumor surrounding the franchise -- that the sequel had been canceled.

Ninja Theory, who worked on the original Heavenly Sword were not the creative minds behind Heavenly Sword 2, though. According to the unconfirmed story, due to some poor treatment by Sony, Ninja Theory very quickly decided they wanted nothing to do with their previous partner and would move on to bigger and better prospects.

But don't worry, because even though original news articles stated they were literally packing their bags...

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Pro Tip: Grand Theft Auto IV

Well, having braved cops, thugs, mobsters, bombings, hit men, angry citizens, and an assortment of other colorful characters in Grand Theft Auto IV, I have gained wisdom from the school of hard knocks and have made a list of things that may make your trip through Liberty City more productive and fun.

I had a blast playing the game and these are the little tidbits of knowledge that I acquired while dying needlessly or playing through a level a bizilion times because I didn't think through what I needed to do.

Look Both Ways Before You Cross the Street

It's such a simple rule and something that we all have been taught since childhood. But in GTA IV, you get the feeling that you're invincible...until a car slams into you while you're running across the street. Penalty? Your health goes down for ...

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Team Fortress 2 Pyro update - details revealed

The much-talked about Pyro update for Team Fortress 2 goes live in a mere hour and a half. In preparation for the patch, Valve has divulged exactly what the upgrade will bring to the table.

First of all, Valve has included two user-created maps in this update. Namely, CTF_Turbine and CP_Fastlane. You may have already played these maps as they've been available on custom servers for some time but now Valve is making them available to all TF2 players. Here are Valve's official descriptions for both of the maps:

CP_Fastlane: "A control point map with five points, in the style of Badlands. Its symmetrical layout provides for high-speed and well balanced gameplay, while the multiple indoor routes, connected to larger outdoor arenas, provide a wide set of interesting and varied combat spaces. The ...

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Thompson is pulled in by US Marshals

The Master of Disaster is at it again! It now seems as if the US government is counting Jack Thompson as a potential threat; with the US Marshals meeting with him after an extremely over-the-top sarcastic letter.

Yes, you read right. US Marshals were sent to the attorney's house by the US government! So why did the US government suddenly take interest in Thompson?

Well, it seems old Jackie, reacting to the "fact" that Al-Qaeda terrorists in Guantanamo Bay have more rights than he does, did the sensible thing and wrote to Chief Judge Federico Moreno.

He said, "I guess my 'mistake' was not killing 3000 people to make my point..." Yep, bringing up the notion of mass murder to a Chief Judge in a time of terrorist activity is totally cool, like saying that you should join the Westboro Baptis...

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Happy game developers live in...Wisconsin?

Quit giving California and the whole West Coast so much love game develoers! Not only is it home to the majority of game development studios but they have yearly gaming convetions situated there as well.

Why don't you look eastward toward greener pastures, like the lovely state of Wisconsin. If green pastures and an endless amount of high quality cheese isn't enough, what about tax reductions?

Wisconsin announced that it now offers devs a 25 percent tax rebate just for game develoeprs to call it their new home. Wisconsin is also trying to lure in more media for television and movie productions to take place in the state for more exposure and business agreements.

According to Joystiq: "Wisconsin is already home to a handful of notable studios, including Marvel Ultimate Alliance dev Raven Sof...

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New Sonic Unleashed trailer looks good

So I'm not surprised that another Sonic game is gracing our consoles this fall, but am I excited for it? Initially no, I mean trust me the series was great right until the Dreamcast died, then I believe the series died with it.

It was on top of the world on the Genesis and Game Gear but something about holding down forward and jumping once in awhile just doesn't have that same appeal like it used it.

No interest or appeal, until I saw this trailer. Even though essentially all you do is hold down forward and jump once in awhile, they did add quick button presses and different camera angles.

I give Sega a thumbs up for this level in particular. The city-scape looks great and the frame rate doesn't appear to dip, even when going as fast as Sonic. Let's hope they keep the fun level high in eve...

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Forza 3 to have 2 discs plus 400 cars

With the Microsoft information leak still fresh in our minds, one portion of news stands out amongst the others. Along with the Microsoft Avatars, and numerous games mentioned, one of the biggest titles in this leak was Forza 3.

Remember, this is a rumor.

Sources say Forza 3 is going to come packed with over four hundred cars, one hundred tracks, and realistic car deformation. But the biggest shocker has to be Forza 3 is going to ship with two disks instead of one. Along with Lost Odyssey, Forza 3 may be another game to suffer from the storage limitation of the Xbox 360 disk.

While this may not seem important to some, try to imagine Forza 3 with two disks. How does one separate an experience like Forza where the majority of the decisions are up to the player?

Tweak a car, run a race, compet...

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Second motion controller coming for PS3

The PlayStation 3 launched with a motion controller, but hasn't had near the success of the Wii remote. Instead of tossing in the towel, Sony is sticking with its guns and working on a second iteration of their original design.

Many have made the claim that Sony is stealing the motion controller idea from Nintendo and reports on the new design from Sony won't do much to stem these opinions.

Rumor has it that the new controller can break into two pieces and both have motion controller functionality, thanks to an accelerometer like those found in the Wii remote and the Apple iPhone.

With the rumors stating also that this new controller has already been shipped out to some developers, one has to wonder if Sony's new toy will make its debut at E3 this year.

[Via Eurogamer]

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Nintendo apologizes for "geeks and otaku" remarks

The Wii accomplishes its game saves and storage of downloadable content on its internal 512MB memory and removable SD memory cards, which can be a chore, and has started discussions about an HDD among Wii owners.

About a week and a half ago, Laurent Fischer, marketing director for Nintendo Europe said that only "geeks and otaku" would want a hard disk drive add-on for the Wii game console.

The insult didn't go unnoticed by the Wii community and Fischer has apologized for his harsh remarks.

"I have huge respect for those who, like me, share a common passion for Nintendo and want to make it clear that I would never use and I didn't use this terminology in such a context or way to cause offense, he said. "I regret that this misunderstanding has created such offense and disappointment within the...

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Firefox 3.0 launch crashes servers for 20 minutes

The most serious contender to Microsoft's Explorer web browser is Firefox. Today, the latest version of Firefox was released at 1PM EST.

Prior to the launch, the Mozilla Foundation was asking users to form download parties around the world in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the most downloads in one day.

The flood of hits was so great that the servers froze up for 20 minutes. Mozilla hopes to see 5 million downloads in just 24 hours.

The newest iteration of Firefox promises to be twice as fast for web applications such as email, more efficient use of memory, new security measures, automatic updates of plug-ins and add-ons, better integration with Windows, and virtually thousands of other improvements to the Firefox browser that are transparent to the user.Firefox is the secon...

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Daily Q: Which games were big disappointments?

Hot on the heels of yesterday's Daily Q, where I asked about games that exceeded expectations, I'm now here to find out about the other end of the gaming spectrum -- games that were utter disappointments. I know there have been a great many of them over the years, so let's hear your picks.

Which games have completely disappointed you?

These are a little bit more difficult for me to come up with off the top of my head because I usually do my best to forget such gaming experiences, but I'll give it a shot. Recently, Grand Theft Auto IV was a bit of a disappointment, because it promised so much, yet delivered what I felt was but an incremental update to the existing formula. Mass Effect, too, was hyped to the sky, but presented something far less than revolutionary. These are both decent games,...

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Team Fortress 2 "Meet the Sniper" video

Valve released the latest in their Team Fortress 2 "Meet the..." video series today. This time around, we are treated to a behind-the-scenes look at the life of the Sniper class, who apparently hails from GN writer Sean "jambo" Pincombe's backyard in the land Down Under. Check it out; it's good for a laugh or two.

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Suit against Tecmo represents all employees

The future isn't looking very bright for videogame publisher/developer Tecmo.

Earlier this month, Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series lead designer Tomonobu Itagaki publicly announced his resignation from, and subsequent lawsuit against what is now his former employer. He cited reasons such as "unpaid completeion bonuses," and "unlawful...unreasonable and disingenuous statements" made towards and about him.

Now, others are following...ahem...suit, as two more employees have brought their case against the company to the Tokyo District Court on behalf of all 300 of their Tecmo co-workers. The suit claims that Tecmo is guilty of gross labor violations and withholding employee wages under a "flexible hours" work scheme. Under this plan, individuals could and have put in over 100 hours of over...

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Daily Q: Which games exceeded your expectations?

Welcome to the late edition of the Daily Q. Today I've been thinking about videogames. More specifically, I've been thinking about really good videogames; the ones that you never expected to be as great as they ultimately were; the ones that totally exceeded expectations.

They're out there. They come along every now and then to remind us that in this industry that so often hands us let-downs and leaves us with the broken remains of our once-high hopes, there is justice and there are pleasant surprises. Those surprises are the subject of my question:

Which games have totally exceeded your expectations?

There have been quite a few to do this throughout my gaming career, so I am going to stick with the most recent pair that stand out in my mind. The first is Bioshock, which I never really got pr...

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M$ wants Xbox 720 to be first next gen machine

Some have questioned the wisdom of Microsoft launching its Xbox 360 so soon in order to get a lead on the competition. That was in November of 2005. The debut of the game console proved to be rather dubious as there were less than enough machines to go around.

People have accused Microsoft of launching a game machine that was not fully ready to be released. Case in point: the ubiquitous occurrences of the dreaded Red Ring of Death, which stops the Xbox 360 dead in its tracks.

Robbie Bach, boss of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft, not only defended his company's former position, but also added that he would love to see Microsoft launch its next Xbox ahead of the competition once again.

All we can say is that if Microsoft plans on being first to launch again, we hope they'll...

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Apparently, 360 owners don't care about the RROD

Xbox 360 fans are loyal. So loyal, in fact, that they've cared little about the Red Ring Of Death (RROD) issues that seem to be an ailment for almost every 360 out there. Or so Microsoft says.

Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Group leader, Robbie Bach, stated in an interview with VentureBeat that the RROD issue, while costly, did not disrupt customer loyalty. He stated that, throughout this whole process, preference, willingness to recommend, and satisfaction has not faltered.

"The number-one complaint I get from people is that it is taking you too long to fix the console," Bach stated, and although some have gone through three or four consoles, they still remain loyal to Microsoft's services, happy to hear that Microsoft is aiding those who are suffering. All still according to M...

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New Bad Company trailer mocks, blows up Snake

Gotta love it when one game pokes fun at another. In the latest Bad Company trailer, the guys poke fun at one of gaming's most beloved characters, Solid Snake. Check it out below, and feel free to post your positive (or negative) fanboy reactions for all to see.

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PSP firmware 4.00 adds Google search

Sony's beefing up the PSP's feature set once again with the upcoming version 4.00 firmware. This time around, Google search will be integrated into the XMB via a new, easily accessible menu button for anyone interested in surfing the internet from their handheld.

The new "Internet Search" button will be located in the Network section of the XMB, and will "deliver the same Google search results as when searching on www.google.com." Aiming to "make web searches easier and convenient," Sony will also be adding a history feature that will save up to 20 previous search strings for later use.

In addition to the search function, firmware 4.00 will allow PSP owners to adjust playback speed for videos stored on their Memory Sticks. "This allows you to watch a video quickly, or slow it down to listen ...

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Team Fortress 2 Pyro update gets a release date

I recently got back into the addicting mayhem of Team Fortress 2, so I, like many others, have been patiently waiting for the promised Pyro update that will add several new weapons to the class' repertoire as well as add new achievements.

Well the wait is almost over, as website Rock Paper Shotgun has confirmed that the Pyro update will go live this Thursday. The upgrade will include three new weapons for the Pyro (of which only one has been revealed) along with 35 new Pyro-specific achievements. The update will also include two new user-created maps, Valve's way to "highlight the great work being done in the community and distribute those works to all TF2 players."

No details were revealed as to what the weapons, achievements, or maps will be. At least we don't have to wait very long to fi...

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