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SOCOM: Confrontation 1.30 patch finally brings Trophies, Party system, bug fixes

by Christopher Grant { Jan 9th 2009 at 5:22PM }

If you've been putting off SOCOM: Confrontation until developer Slant Six worked out all the bugs (oh, and added a Quick Match/Party system ... and Trophies), then today's your lucky day, friend. The long anticipated 1.30 update was pushed out early this morning, bringing with it the aforementioned features and fixes. Will it be enough to restore Sony's once-proud franchise to the top of your multiplayer shooter-heap? We won't pretend to know the answer to that, so we'll ask you. Is SOCOM back in action?

CES 2009: Microsoft wants to increase the 100-friend Xbox Live limit

by Justin McElroy { Jan 9th 2009 at 3:10PM }

So, it's not quite the "ZOMG Friends List Increase Confirmed" announcement that we hoped for but Xbox director Aaron Greenberg came as close as we've heard to revealing that it's in the works.

When we spoke to him at CES today (more on that later) Greenberg told us "I can't commit to when that will happen, but that is something we want to do. It's definitely something we're looking at expanding and, as this social network grows, we've absolutely heard the pleas for that. It's on the list."

Greenberg explained that original Xbox games were coded to be limited to 100 friends, and that limit was brought into the current generation. But now that Live is built in to the system, they've got a little more flexibility. We, and the thousands of potential friends we turn away daily, can't wait to hear more.

Burnout DLC adds Ecto-1, KITT & The General Lee ... 'parodies'

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jan 9th 2009 at 1:19PM }

Just click: Hop inside our gallery tour of Legendary Cars!

You've seen Criterion's hovering ~~DeLorean~~ 88 Special in action. Now meet the rest of the Burnout Paradise "Legendary Cars." They're, like, totally original, we swear:

Gallery: Burnout Paradise: Legendary Cars

Update: Gallery now features Burnout vs. "real" cars comparison pics -- plus video reveal after the break!

[Thanks Travis!]

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EA Sports coming to PlayStation Home with dedicated space, games

by Randy Nelson { Jan 8th 2009 at 1:41PM }

Electronic Arts has announced its first foray into PlayStation Home with a dedicated EA Sports label game space, the EA Sports Complex. Set to appear in the Home open beta this spring, the space will contain live leaderboards for all of the EA Sports label's titles, along with games designed specifically for the space (multiplayer poker and an arcade-style Formula 1 racer have been revealed thus far).

EA Sports president Peter Moore said in a press release, "As part of our continued commitment to the connected experience and the digitization of our business, the EA SPORTS Complex is a rich new online environment that presents a compelling and immersive social gaming experience for the global sports audience." Come again, Peter? English.

As you can see in the first released image of the space, there will be ads aplenty. In addition to banners and other signage, the space will feature multiple video walls displaying ~~ads~~ trailers for upcoming EA Sports titles. EA has confirmed that it is working with SCEA on additional Home spaces for its Games and Casual labels. Check out a video walkthrough of the EA Sports Complex after the break.

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CES 2009: Sony fires off PSN stats, MTV adds content to video service

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Jan 8th 2009 at 1:13PM }

We here at Joystiq absolutely revel in statistics and can think of nothing better than smothering ourselves in warm, moist data. Did you know that approximately 54% of all posts written on our site contain frequently unnecessary statistics? And did you know that the only thing we like more than reporting on numbers is to make them up on the spot? Oh well. Here are some real ones, straight from Sony's CES 2009 keynote:

17 million! The number of PlayStation Network accounts ... accounted for. 17 million is a really popular number for online networking, apparently.
330 million! Numbering the pieces of digital content that have been downloaded through PSN.
2 million! That's how many users the Life with PlayStation service has. An updated version will be coming this Spring.
2,000 hours! The answer to the question, "How much video content is MTV Networks adding to Sony's video delivery service?" The deal, which manifests in February, includes shows such as "MTV's The City, Comedy Central's Emmy and Peabody-Award winning South Park, Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants and VH1's Rock of Love Bus with Bret Michaels."
4! The number of bullet points which encapsulate all that information! This one doesn't count.

Kodu is the new Boku: Xbox Live's 'LittleBigPlanet'

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jan 8th 2009 at 12:15PM }

Microsoft pulled no punches during its CES keynote, shuffling an "actual 12-year-old girl" onstage to demonstrate its newly renamed Xbox Live Community Game "Kodu." Apparently too reminiscent of the failed 80s-era adult juice, the former name, Boku, was dropped in favor of the less associable two-syllabler. But we digress. Kodu is still easily described as a LittleBigPlanet-esque effort, but on a much simpler scale -- and probably far less "brilliant," in the Brits' all-purpose sense of the word.

Sparrow, that 12-year-old we mentioned, apparently did create a "pretty impressive" game using Kodu, described by Engadget as, "Katamari meets light-cycles from Tron. It's totally bizarre -- now her and Robbie [Bach] are using cycles to steal rocks from each other." Actually, sounds brilliant to us.

Kodu was originally designed as a learning tool for kids, but Microsoft promises it's compatible with people ages "seven to 70." Players reportedly create their game worlds in mere minutes using a pool of 200 building blocks designed to drive simple gameplay concepts like vision, hearing and time. Kodu is scheduled for release this spring and has yet to be priced.

Update: Video after the break, and more details here. [Thanks EvilDud!]

Continued →

Xbox Live Primetime coming springtime

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jan 8th 2009 at 11:22AM }

With arms raised, Xbox head Robbie Bach declared during Microsoft's CES keynote address, "This Spring we'll launch the Primetime channel on Xbox!" While the announcement didn't exactly elicit an ovation from the crowd, it does put a relative timestamp on the arrival of another, delayed piece of the NXE puzzle (we're still waiting on word about movie sharing). The Primetime channel's complete lineup remains a vague concept of "scheduled social events," but we do have 1 vs. 100 -- and its limitless chest of real prizes -- to look forward to.

The game-show-turned-game-show was briefly demoed during the keynote, ostensibly confirming 102-player support (The One versus the 100-count Mob -- plus one host). Players will be represented by their Avatars and will answer questions "about really, really recent pop-culture," according to Engadget. The demonstration asked: "In 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' who plays a character that ages in reverse?" Three potential answers were offered. Clock's ticking!

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Red Alert 3 expanding in March with 'Uprising'

by Jason Dobson { Jan 8th 2009 at 10:40AM }

Don't count the filthy Reds out yet, as Electronic Arts has detailed Uprising, an upcoming expansion to Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. The add-on will send players back to the front lines with a new single-player campaign, new units and a greater quantity of live-action cutscenes, just in case the original's love affair with camp left you wanting more.

Uprising will also include a new mode, dubbed 'Commander's Challenge', which will allow players to test their strategic skills across 50 different stages with different rules and conditions. However, while Red Alert 3 is available for the Xbox 360 and a PS3 version should arrive ... someday ... only those playing on computers will be able to come away with bragging rights. Uprising will be a PC exclusive when it is released as a digital download in March.

Fable 2's Knothole Island add-on coming Jan. 13

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Jan 8th 2009 at 9:43AM }

click for high-res Knothole Island gallery

Those who have uncovered every treasure, bludgeoned every bandit and cracked every wisecracking gargoyle in Albion will be pleased to note that Fable 2's Knothole Island add-on (800

), initially delayed due to technical issues, is now scheduled to arrive on Xbox Live Marketplace next Tuesday, January 13th. The downloadable detour will add an isle's worth of quests, items and specialty shops for you to uncover and / or fart at.

Lionhead's community blog notes that January 13th will also bring a free title update which fans -- and Oakfield's abbot -- have been eagerly awaiting. You can look forward to new items, clothing and leaderboards being patched in along with the, uh, patch.

Gallery: Fable 2: Knothole Island (DLC)

CES 2009: Halo Wars demo coming to Xbox Live on Feb. 5

by Randy Nelson { Jan 7th 2009 at 10:38PM }

Microsoft's entertainment and devices boss, Robbie Bach, revealed during the company's CES 2009 keynote that a demo of Ensemble Studios' Halo Wars will hit Xbox Live Marketplace on February 5th. Additionally, Bach announced a February 28th ship date for the full game, which fits nicely with what Microsoft had previously announced. If the demo is anything like most others -- i.e., the earliest parts of the game -- it will likely contain a lot of what we played just a couple of months back.

Gallery: Halo Wars

UGO boss tells his side of the story; world listens

by Christopher Grant { Jan 7th 2009 at 7:30PM }

It's like this: there are two sides to every story (even stories about things with more than two sides, apparently). Take last night's 1UP / UGO situation (UGO-gate? 1UP-ton?). On the surface, that certainly appeared to be a gruesome bloodletting, with the entirety of EGM's staff let go, the magazine shuttered, and much of 1UP's popular media production teams sent packing. That's certainly not good news for any of the affected, including Ziff's community.

But, inversely, it's no secret that EGM and other video game mags (not to mention the entire print journalism industry in general) aren't doing so well – one need only peruse themediaisdying for a moment to get the idea. From UGO's point of view, they weren't laying people off, but hiring 24 new employees and expanding the UGO workforce by 33%. Speaking with MTV Multiplayer, UGO chief J Moses says that "the simple reality is that we only wanted to buy 1UP and related sites" and that "closing EGM has absolutely nothing to do with UGO."

What about all those podcasts and video shows? 1UP's Sam Kennedy – who agrees that UGO is not the bad guy – tells MTV that "the Retronauts podcast will continue" and there are "some possibilities" regarding the future of the 1UP Yours podcast. As for the The 1UP Show video podcast? It's "more up in the air," according to MTV. So, dear readers (and angry 1UP / EGM fans), does this help you understand the situation? Empathize with UGO? Still gwumpy? Sound off in the comments.

CES 2009: No Rock Band 3 in 2009

by Justin McElroy { Jan 7th 2009 at 7:10PM }

We were wondering why EA would pit an upcoming Beatles/Rock Band hybrid against the next numbered iteration of the series this fall, and now we have our answer: It won't. According to Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopolous, who spoke at a Billboard CES session today, the company will be breaking the annual release cycle and avoid releasing Rock Band 3 this year.

Are we alone in hoping Harmonix avoids releasing it in 2010 also?

Level-5: White Knight Chronicles riding into North America

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jan 7th 2009 at 10:00AM }

Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino has confirmed that the PS3's White Knight Chronicles is coming to North America, though no release window has been announced. This should come as good news to JRPG fans, especially those who like having "Chronicles" in their titles.

In an interview with GameTrailers, Hino also dances around the issue of the game's online features and whether cross-region play will be possible. Check out the full interview after the break.

Gallery: White Knight Chronicles TGS 2008

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Continued →

Official: UGO buys 1UP, EGM dead [update]

by Randy Nelson { Jan 6th 2009 at 7:25PM }

Within hours of our earlier post regarding 1UP's reported sale to the Hearst-owned UGO network, the deal was confirmed in individual press releases from both entities. Additionally, Ziff-Davis has made official the closure of EGM after nearly 20 years of publication. It's January issue -- currently on sale -- will be its last.

1UP editorial director, Sam Kennedy, is quoted in the release, saying that the site's staff is "extremely excited to join the UGO team." UGO's release states that 1UP.com will operate as a separate entity and implies that its current staff will remain in place. The sale to Hearst also includes GameVideos.com, MyCheats.com and GameTab.com.

The shuttering of EGM -- the oldest multi-platform games magazine in the US -- leaves GamePro and Game Informer as the last bastions of what, with today's news, continues to be the dying breed of print media.

Update: There's not much in the way of new info, but Gamasutra got their mitts on an internal email from Ziff CEO Jason Young, who tells the staff that "more scale is necessary to effectively compete in this market segment." So UGO's planning to keep growing 1UP? Then why kill off the 1UP Show and layoff 30+ people? One other note: Ziff "will continue to operate the Filefront business as a part of the PCMag Digital Network." More as we hear it.

Source – Ziff-Davis press release
Source – UGO press release

PaidContent.org reports EGM's death, pulls story [update]

by Justin McElroy { Jan 6th 2009 at 5:45PM }

Update: As you can see here, it's official.

Earlier today, media business site paidContent.org reported that video game media hub 1UP had been sold to Hearst (which runs competing hub UGO), and that the organization would be shuttering Electronic Gaming Monthly. You may remember that we reported that both moves were under discussion last month. PaidContent's report has since been pulled, but the full details were related by former 1UPer John Davison's What They Play. WTP then reported that sources had told them that the story would be validated or denied tomorrow.

If this is on the level (and we have no reason to think it's not), it's a sad day for fans of video game magazines and game journalism in general. If it comes to pass, here's hoping everyone affected lands on their feet.