Section 8 Beta Patch v7276 to v7284
This incremental patch updates the Section 8 Beta from v7276 to v7284 addressing several crashes and bugs issue experienced by testers.
Electronic Arts is being targeted by another class-action law suit over the DRM included with Spore, SecuROM. This time, California resident Alex McQuown is hoping to use Spore to take down SecuROM once and for all.
The grievances listed in Alex McQuown’s class-action suit against EA are much the same as the other suits with three big differences. His lawyers at Finkelstein Thompson claim that SecuROM damages computers costing consumer time and money to repair the havoc caused by its installation. The suit also asserts that EA has needlessly caused its customers grief. The figures prove that piracy of games that carry SecuROM has risen dramatically. The biggest difference in McQuown’s suit is that he invites every U.S. citizen that has purchased an EA product with SecuROM to join the class. Read the full article
It’s time for me to be reminded about how badly I was ripped off with an annual subscription — that’s right, it’s time for the third episode of Qore! This month’s is special in that it’ll guarantee you access to the Resistance 2 beta. Annual subscribers will get in on the “premiere” status beta, which is just a fancy way of saying you’ll get in earlier than those who opt to purchase this single episode of Qore.
In the world of downloadable content, there’s a new track ($3.99) and several skin packs ($2.49 each) for NASCAR 09, a team mode add-on for Snakeball ($1.99), and new tracks for both Rock Band and Guitar Hero III.
One other noteworthy release is the PlayStation Home theme which, as we informed you earlier, will automatically enter you for a slot in the Home beta. You’re not guaranteed a spot, but this is currently the only way to get into the beta as it expands in late August.
If you cannot get enough of the LEGO games, and feel that Star Wars, Indiana Jones and the upcoming LEGO Batman are just not enough to tame your cravings – take heart! Traveller’s Tales are working on more LEGO games to pacify your future cravings for plastic blocks.
During an interview with Variety, Traveller’s Tales president Jon Burton stated that the UK-based company is working on future LEGO titles which will be derived from intellectual properties owned by its parent company, Warner Bros.
You may recall that late last year Warner Bros. purchased Traveller’s Tales for $200 million, and it is due to this new relationship that Brurton feels compelled to work on other personal projects other than games.
“For me personally, I think further in the future we’re making a kids’ TV show…using some of the tech we’ve developed for games. In the mid-distance, personally, to be able to dabble around in CG and film would be interesting, and Warner allows me to push in those directions without ‘quitting the day job,’ so to speak.
So for me, to look to the future and think, ‘I wouldn’t mind [doing a film]…’ And Warner allows me to take a step in that direction, and if I suck? Great, I’ll make games.”
Burton did not go into detail on which Warner Bros. IP he was currently working on, but with such a vast library of titles it could be just about anything. Because of this, I have come up with some of my own ideas of what I believe would be interesting LEGO titles.
A few weeks back (June 23rd to be exact) I had the pleasure of taking a quick trip out to sunny San Jose, California to visit the offices of MMO Developer Cryptic Studios. While there I got an update on the studio’s plans and their upcoming release Champions Online. Through fortuitous events I was lucky enough to get interview time with the company’s Chief Creative Officer Jack Emmert.
Champions Online is Cryptic’s latest MMO. Once again the topic de jeur is Super Heroes but this time the platform is a bit different since the game is being developed for both the PC and Xbox 360 platforms and is adopting and expanding the world setting and characters originally developed for the popular and long-published Champions Pen-and-paper RPG.
Mr. Emmert was kind enough to agree to allow the interview to be recorded and I’ve turned the entire 12 minutes into the first Special Edition of the File-N-Forget Podcast.
The podcast interview can be downloaded here and found on the File-N-Forget podcast page along with the other 30+ weekly episodes.
For those who prefer their interviews typed you can read a transcript of the conversation after the jump.
Keep an eye out in the coming weeks as the embargo lifts and I can share the details of my Champions Online Gamer’s Day experience more completely.
This probably the largest press release I have ever seen – or at least since I have been at Gaming Today. Normally they are pretty much short, to the point, and padded with overly positive and glowing quotes regarding just how fabulous the announcement is to them or how wonderful it is to work with so and so.
I wonder if we will ever get a press release that includes quotes from people who hated to work with one another? For example: “Bob was drunk all the time and kept playing grab-ass with all the female employees” or “John was such a tyrant that I wanted to spit in his tall-quadruple-half-caff-light-foam-latte with soy milk every morning. God I hated that guy” or “Pete stunk so bad that even after I got home of the evening I could taste cabbage in the air – even in my apartment”.
Anyway, this press release is more or less a massive list of upcoming titles from EA and its studios which will be released around the holidays and into next year. These titles will also be showcased at E3 next week with the initial press conference being hosted by CEO John Riccitiello, will also spotlight many of the creative leaders behind the games.
The complete line-up of titles on display at E3 are as follows:
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
Crysis Warhead
Dead Space
FaceBreaker
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT
iPhone/iPod Touch Games from EA Mobile
iPod Games from EA Mobile
Left 4 Dead
LITTLEST PET SHOP
Madden NFL 09
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
Mirror’s Edge
Mobile Phone Games from EA Mobile
Mobile, iPhone & iPod titles
MySims Kingdom for the Wii and Nintendo DS
MySims, made for the PC
NBA LIVE 09
NCAA FOOTBALL 09
Rock Band 2
SimCity Creator for the Wii
Skate It
Spore
The Lord of the Ring: Conquest
The Sims 2 Apartment Pets for the Nintendo DS
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09 for the PSP
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Zubo
For the full press release including more information on each title listed, as well as the prerequisite “sweet as honey” quotes from EA’s John Riccitiello and John Pleasants, read on after the jump.
It was only a matter of time before Qore got an exclusive demo, and it didn’t take long. Qore Episode 2 was released today and includes the exclusive Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm demo. (I wonder how many diehard Naruto fans fork over the $3 entry fee to play the demo.) It’s also got part one of a three part series on the development of Resistance 2. In other words, I continue to regret having purchased a subscription when Qore was first released.
Qore is pretty much the main attraction this week. You can find the week’s new Rock Band tracks (including one free track) and the free Guitar Hero III Top Gun track that Stephany posted about on Tuesday. Although I wouldn’t recommend grabbing the latter, not unless you want to torture yourself with garbage.
A new Dead Space Animated trailer was sent to us this morning, and while I have not watched Episode One, this one is interesting to say the least. The trailer features almost nine minutes of comic footage and if you were a fan of the last one, you should enjoy Episode Two.
As far as the game is concerned, Dead Space is expected to be released for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 around Halloween. Mwha ha ha ha.
I would really criticize this week’s update, but at least PlayStation 3 owners are getting something. PSP owners are unfortunately SOL this week.
The main addition this week is “The Cars” album to Rock Band’s catalog of downloadable music. Each track is $1.99, or you can get all nine tracks for the standard album price of $14.99. A pair of tracks — “Gimme Three Steps” by Lynyrd Skynyrd and “Dirty Little Secret” by All-American Rejects — can be purchased at a discounted price of $0.99 until June 5.
Quake Wars and Battlefield: Bad Company each have a pair of new videos, and there are various other videogame and movie trailers and wallpapers for you to download. You can get the full list of content after the break.
BioWare has announced several bonuses are now being offered for those who pre-order the PC version of Mass Effect from certain retailers. People who pre-order the game through Electronic Arts’ online store will receive promotional items for the upcoming Dead Space game, including the first issue in the comic book series and a poster. Probably the best bonus though is a $10 discount jsut for pre-ordering the game from places like GameStop, Amazon.com, and GoGamer.com. The PC version will involve enhanced visuals and controls, as well as the opportunity to download the “Bring Down the Sky” expansion absolutely free. PC gamers will fianlly get a chance to check out this awesome RPG on May 27th.
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