We're going to start your weekend off the right way: with Yoshinori Ono phonetically reciting Raul Julia's iconic lines from Street Fighter: The Movie. As good as you think this is going to be, we promise it's better.
We're going to start your weekend off the right way: with Yoshinori Ono phonetically reciting Raul Julia's iconic lines from Street Fighter: The Movie. As good as you think this is going to be, we promise it's better.
If there's one thing we'd have to say the Dirt series has been missing, it's demolition derby -- cars crashing into cars crashing into cars. Another thing: so many pyrotechnics. Dirt Showdown realizes this and offers a taste of both in the latest trailer.
Microsoft's language filter on Xbox Live is strangling the linguistic skills of Quarrel players, banning such words as "help," "train," "balls" and "shaft" from being played. While we can understand the potential risque-ness of some of these words -- especially "help," which we're sure was added at the request of the XBL customer-service team -- without context we don't see the harm in them.
These words are fair game in singleplayer (with the Family Setting turned off), but Microsoft adds an extra filter to Live play, developer Denki's Gary Penn told Edge: "Quarrel uses the Collins official Scrabble dictionary comprising over 110,000 words up to eight letters in length, including a huge collection of words deemed 'offensive' by Collins, such as 'arse', 'shit', 'wank' and 'fuck.'"
Other banned words include "start," "skid," "poop," "hung," "dice" and "god." We're stumped on how to use "dice" in an offensive manner, but we've seen "fag" flung around Xbox Live chat with alarming, unfiltered regularity, so we're not going to try to figure out Microsoft's regulation process here.
These words are fair game in singleplayer (with the Family Setting turned off), but Microsoft adds an extra filter to Live play, developer Denki's Gary Penn told Edge: "Quarrel uses the Collins official Scrabble dictionary comprising over 110,000 words up to eight letters in length, including a huge collection of words deemed 'offensive' by Collins, such as 'arse', 'shit', 'wank' and 'fuck.'"
Other banned words include "start," "skid," "poop," "hung," "dice" and "god." We're stumped on how to use "dice" in an offensive manner, but we've seen "fag" flung around Xbox Live chat with alarming, unfiltered regularity, so we're not going to try to figure out Microsoft's regulation process here.

"Let me start by apologizing. The demo? Ya, it is way way WAYYYYY more buggy than anything ANYONE should ever release, much less a demo," Schilling wrote. He said that due to "the depth of breadth of a game that has anywhere from 40-50 hours (main quest line play) to 2-300 hours (for completionist)," it was inevitable there would be bugs. However, rather than releasing a demo with said inevitable issues, he argued with EA to not put out a demo at all. A fight that he said he's glad he lost.
"The demo has been a God send, especially when I realize even in this thread, how many people became aware because of the demo," Schilling said. "In a partnership there is a lot of give and take, and I believe in my team, they are world class, but when you have a publisher there are things happening you'd rather not choose. Shipping old code out 3 months prior to gold master to a 3rd party with no stake in the demo success can be problematic." Regardless of the issues, Schilling ultimately says he was glad for the exposure the demo granted Reckoning, and he'll be "chatting more" on NeoGAF in the future.
[Thanks, Wombat!]
Where's Carl been? We haven't seen that dude in two months. We thought he was just playing Skyrim, but now it seems that he's been roped into working on Resident Evil 6, much like the rest of the world's population.
"This is by far the largest scale production Capcom has ever embarked on," executive producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi reveals in a developer introduction to the announcement trailer, seen above. "Between the 150 staff members in Japan and everyone around the world, we have more than 600 people involved."
Kobayashi goes on to call Resident Evil 6 "the most ambitious" in the series, and employing 600 is certainly a statement to that effect. To put that number into perspective, recent sequels Assassin's Creed 2 and GTA IV were completed thanks to the efforts of 450 and an estimated 1000, respectively.
Kobayashi's foreword in the video above is joined by introductions from director Eiichiro Sasaki and producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, the latter of whom defines Resident Evil 6's genre as "dramatic horror." With a straight face.
When they weren't shouting it all out or expressing how everybody wants to rule the world, English pop rock band Tears for Fears were wasting our time with "Head Over Heels," available next week as Rock Band DLC. There will also be a pair of tracks from Canadian band Sum 41.
It looks like the House of Valor faction in Amalur's various kingdoms will be joining Catwoman in the limbo-like world of online passes. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning's House of Valor faction questline is dependent on players having an online pass that only comes with new copies of the game, as our reviews editor Richard Mitchell spotted in his retail copy of the game on Xbox 360.
According to the insert included in our copy of the game, online pass owners (read: those who purchase new copies of the game) will get access to "seven additional player quests" throughout the House of Valor faction questline. It's unclear whether the PlayStation 3 and PC versions of the game contain the same stipulation, but we've reached out to EA for clarification.
Update: 38 Studios community manager "Muse" posted the following statement to the 38 Studios forums, as pointed out in our comments section: "We wanted to post a quick clarification for something we've seen a few comments about. For what it's worth, the House of Valor content was not in the finished game/disc at one point, then removed. It isn't there and we're locking you out of it. The House of Valor was created as stand-alone content, and was always intended to be the first DLC. Instead of holding onto it and charging for it later, we opted to give it to everyone who purchases the game new, for free, on launch day. We hope that helps clarify that point, at least."
Update 2: EA issued this response to Joystiq this afternoon: "The House of Valor quest line is free bonus content available to those who purchase a new copy of Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning for the Xbox 360 and PS3 by entering the Online Pass included with the game. PC players who purchase Reckoning at one of the many digital retailers online including Origin, Steam and more, will also receive the House of Valor quest line at no cost."
According to the insert included in our copy of the game, online pass owners (read: those who purchase new copies of the game) will get access to "seven additional player quests" throughout the House of Valor faction questline. It's unclear whether the PlayStation 3 and PC versions of the game contain the same stipulation, but we've reached out to EA for clarification.
Update: 38 Studios community manager "Muse" posted the following statement to the 38 Studios forums, as pointed out in our comments section: "We wanted to post a quick clarification for something we've seen a few comments about. For what it's worth, the House of Valor content was not in the finished game/disc at one point, then removed. It isn't there and we're locking you out of it. The House of Valor was created as stand-alone content, and was always intended to be the first DLC. Instead of holding onto it and charging for it later, we opted to give it to everyone who purchases the game new, for free, on launch day. We hope that helps clarify that point, at least."
Update 2: EA issued this response to Joystiq this afternoon: "The House of Valor quest line is free bonus content available to those who purchase a new copy of Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning for the Xbox 360 and PS3 by entering the Online Pass included with the game. PC players who purchase Reckoning at one of the many digital retailers online including Origin, Steam and more, will also receive the House of Valor quest line at no cost."
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning's world seems to take its cues from Costa Rica when it comes to both ecological diversity and variety of environments. The latest trailer shows off just that as is, but we urge you to turn the volume down low and play this YouTube video in the background for the full effect.
As far as we're able to tell, Microsoft envisions a future where powerful businessmen and hipster ultrabloggers (like ourselves) flail wildly in front of our laptops while on crowded public transportation. Yes, the Kinect's array of cameras and sensors is being tested on various prototype Windows 8 laptops, according to a preview by The Daily.
On the laptops seen, the Kinect's cameras were placed above the screen, where you would normally expect a small webcam to exist; rows of what appeared to be LEDs lined the bottom of the screen. Beyond gaming applications, Kinect sensors integrated into a laptop could be used to navigate Windows 8's Metro UI, in a fashion not entirely dissimilar to navigating the Metro-esque interface on the latest Xbox dashboard. Additionally, a Kinect-equipped device could also be used for something actually useful by providing the disabled with another means of interacting with a computer.
Just like it does with its software, Microsoft be will licensing the Kinect technology out to hardware manufacturers, who will then implement it into their laptop designs. Considering the Kinect's rather expansive deadzone, we're interested in seeing how the technology functions in such an up close and personal application.
On the laptops seen, the Kinect's cameras were placed above the screen, where you would normally expect a small webcam to exist; rows of what appeared to be LEDs lined the bottom of the screen. Beyond gaming applications, Kinect sensors integrated into a laptop could be used to navigate Windows 8's Metro UI, in a fashion not entirely dissimilar to navigating the Metro-esque interface on the latest Xbox dashboard. Additionally, a Kinect-equipped device could also be used for something actually useful by providing the disabled with another means of interacting with a computer.
Just like it does with its software, Microsoft be will licensing the Kinect technology out to hardware manufacturers, who will then implement it into their laptop designs. Considering the Kinect's rather expansive deadzone, we're interested in seeing how the technology functions in such an up close and personal application.
Iron Brigade's "Rise of the Martian Bear" downloadable content will be deployed on February 1, according to Double Fine project lead Brad Muir.
As the title implies, the DLC sees the Mobile Trench Brigade blasting off to Mars in order to continue the fight with the Monovision. The price for the content has yet to be named, though Muir promises to tweet the news once it comes down from Microsoft.
As the title implies, the DLC sees the Mobile Trench Brigade blasting off to Mars in order to continue the fight with the Monovision. The price for the content has yet to be named, though Muir promises to tweet the news once it comes down from Microsoft.
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