Activision Blizzard sued!!! By the PSN guy?!

Activision Blizzard sued by … yeah, it’s the PSN guy

via Joystiq – ULTRAFEED by Alexander Sliwinski on 11/25/09

 

Serial suit launcher Erik Estavillo is making a little name for himself in the game space, as his latest complaint seeks $1 million in damages from Activision Blizzard over the design of World of Warcraft. GamePolitics reports on the complaint, which claims that the publisher maintains a “harmful virtual environment to many of its customers by forcing them to follow the game’s sneaky and deceitful practices.” Estavillo alleges that the “calculated slow pace” of the game makes turning quests in take longer and thus generates more subscription revenue for Activision Blizzard.

If that wasn’t enough, Estavillo also subpoenaed actress Winona Ryder and Depeche Mode’s Martin Lee Gore to testify on his behalf regarding alienation. He explains that his health issues, which apparently include OCD, agoraphobia, depression (and more), mean that he “relies on video games heavily for the little ongoing happiness he can achieve in this life.” 

Estavillo had previously sued Sony after being banned from PSN and also has another suit against Microsoft and Nintendo, for his Xbox 360’s Red Ring of Death and Nintendo’s disabling of the Homebrew Channel in an update. Perhaps he’ll have more luck suing over the design of a game in which millions happily pay to participate.

Activision Blizzard sued by … 

Jeebus crisp… *sigh*
You would think with the number suits out there that this guy is only looking for easy money and just wants to meet Winona Ryder and Martin Lee Gore.
Course, I wouldn’t mind meeting Winona Ryder either. *Hmmmmm* .. I’d just be afraid she’d steal something from my house. L

New York State will issue emergency alerts via Xbox Live

New York State will issue emergency alerts via Xbox Live

via Joystiq – ULTRAFEED by Randy Nelson on 11/23/09

 

According to a report by InformationWeek, the state of New York is in the planning stages of a revamped emergency broadcast system capable of sending alerts to Xbox Live (and presumably other console online services) in the event of a natural disaster, terrorist attack or other not-so-good event. The state’s deputy chief information officer says the idea makes sense “considering the amount of time our youth spend on video games.”

No specifics of how the system would actually work were provided, but we’d hope those who heed the warnings would get Achievement points for doing so. After all, it’d mean taking precious time away from griefing other players in Modern Warfare 2.

[Thanks, Nick!]

New York State will issue emergency alerts via Xbox Live originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

OK, now that is pretty cool.

Pac-Tran?

Since I’ve not posted anything in the humor area for a while, thought some of you might find the funny. J

Xbox 360 now has twitter, Facebook, Zune Video, and Last.FM support

New Xbox 360 features now available (Twitter, Facebook, Zune Video and Last.FM)

We’ve just released the latest new features for your Xbox 360.  In case you’ve been off the grid for the past few months and don’t know what is in this update, allow me to give you the some of the highlights: Facebook, Zune Video, Twitter and Last.FM.  Here is how to find ‘em: Facebook and Twitter will appear automatically on your dashboard in the new My Community channel, Zune Video is in the Video Channel and Last.FM will be found under the Music Channel.

 
 

Assuming you have the latest Xbox 360 system update from Xbox LIVE, these new features will automatically appear sometime over the next few hours. Availability of these features will vary by region.

Remember, if you are under 18, you’ll have to wait a little longer for some of these features.

Cheap Xbox Live Gold at Sears and Kmart this week

Cheap Xbox Live Gold at Sears and Kmart this week

via Joystiq – ULTRAFEED by Richard Mitchell on 11/16/09

 

Kmart and Sears have announced a special deal in celebration of the new Xbox Live Dashboard Update, which arrives this week. Starting November 17, the same day as the update, gamers can pick up discounted Xbox Live Gold subscription cards. Three-month cards are being knocked down from $20 to $15, while twelve-month cards are dropping from $50 to $35. Not a bad deal for gamers looking to get their online gaming on the cheap — or those looking to give it to others for the holidays.

The cards will be available only on the Sears and Kmart websites through November 21.

Cheap Xbox Live Gold at Sears and Kmart this week originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mad Catz offers alternative to Xbox 360 Wireless N Networking Adapter

Mad Catz offers alternative to Xbox 360 Wireless N Networking Adapter

via Joystiq – ULTRAFEED by JC Fletcher on 11/16/09

 

Following the release of Microsoft’s improved Wireless N Networking Adapter for Xbox 360, Mad Catz has announced its own wireless adapter, which improves upon Microsoft’s device in a couple of ways. First, the adapter, essentially an Ethernet bridge, works with the PS3, allowing for the use of the 802.11n standard with Sony’s console.

Second, and most importantly, the Mad Catz adapter improves upon the most reviled feature of the Microsoft model: the price. At $79.99 (£49.99/€59.99 in the UK and Europe), the Mad Catz Wireless-N Gaming Adapter is no impulse buy, but it’s exactly twenty dollars better than Microsoft’s version. Mad Catz told Joystiq that its device is currently shipping to North American and European retailers and will be available in the company’s online store this week.

Mad Catz offers alternative to Xbox 360 Wireless N Networking Adapteroriginally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Modern Warfare 2 – First Impressions

 
Well there is nothing like good gun porn, except with this, you can enjoy it with friends. The biggest FPS of the year finally arrives and all is well with the world. Or is it? Is this game worth the hype that has been on this game since the trailers at E3? I believe it is.
This is for FPS fanatics as what Madden is for football fanatics. The reason why I have some trepidation in giving this a full endorsement is although I have played through this for 7 hrs, in single player, Spec Ops and Multiplayer, there is not enough time vested to give it a `full’ review yet I feel like I played it enough to know what to expect, so take this as truly a 1st impression and not a full blown review.
 
Story mode:  Still feels the same as any other CoD game especially the last MW game. You are randomly given a character and assigned any given hotspot in the world pointed at a target and you go achieve your goal. That’s pretty much it. This is also MW’s weakest point in my opinion because the way that the narrative is told it feels like you are dumped onto a set and away you go. Not to say that the set pieces aren’t nice but I still would have liked a tighter story setup similar to possibly an older game like GRAW’s setup that makes me feel like I am more involved in the story.
 
**SPOILER** 
 
 
Because of the lack of a tight narrative, it took away the impact of the airport level (those of you that played it, know what I am talking about) and how it would make one feel playing that particular role and because it’s brief, you don’t have time to get into it
 
 
Online and Spec Ops
 
However, this is not what most people come to MW2 for. They come for the multiplayer and this is where MW excels.  What can I say? Tons of modes, tons of weapons, perks and better maps all designed for the sole purpose of creating arenas of digital death for online players to enjoy. Added to that, when you don’t want to play with many people, you have the option of playing the Spec Ops mode in co op mode either split screen or online with a friend. The AI in this mode is no slouch as it can and will adjust to your play style. They won’t keep sticking their head out in the exact same spot waiting for you to shoot and they will take advantage of whatever is around you and double up to outflank and kill you and some levels you have to do this and not hit innocent civilians caught in the middle. Every now and again however, I have seen a glitch where the enemy AI will just stay `struck’ in one position until you kill them.  The multiplayer hasn’t change much in the overall scheme of things, but the structure is still RPG like, the more you play, the more you unlock and the more you are rewarded, and to help draw new people in or people that aren’t all that good, there are rewards to be had if you get dominated that will keep lower level players from feeling too frustrated or left out by higher level friends.
 
Control wise, if you have played one, then you have played them all and this is a no brainer. It’s as intuitive and responsive as ever and no sense in making any radical changes. I do however wish and I have stated this is past iterations, that it would be nice to see possibly some kind of cover system instituted into the MW series. But I guess some fans would say, if you want tactical shooting, go play a Tom Clancy game or GoW. But hey, I am just one person.
 
So all in all, MW2 gets a strong 8 for such a good focus on seriously supporting and augmenting the multiplayer aspect of the game especially the co op part (which can take a lot longer than the main story) but it falls a bit short on telling the story.  With so many games that they have done on the current gen systems, I really think that by now, it could have been fleshed out a lot more and made to be just as enjoyable and immersive as the multiplayer side.  The graphics are as great as ever, the set pieces are fantastic (wait til you see Northern VA for those of you that are from around these parts…) voice acting is always top notch, (Keith David anyone?) and the action is nonstop as ever.

Comcast announces new bandwidth throttling scheme

Comcast announces new bandwidth throttling scheme

via Engadget by Joseph L. Flatley on 11/5/09

 

Comcast customers have been no stranger to bandwidth shenanigans over the years, from the whole torrent filtering mess to the 250GB monthly cap. Now the company is back with a new data throttling scheme intended to put the kibosh on excessive traffic during those times when the network is already being overwhelmed. The two-tiered system is put on alert if either more than 70 percent of your max bandwidth (downstream or upstream) is used for more than 15 minutes or if your particular Cable Modem Termination System gets congested and it decides that you’re partially responsible. Should you run afoul of the traffic warden, expect to find yourself down-throttled for at least 15 minutes, or until your average bandwidth utilization rate drops below 50 per cent for 15 minutes. If there is no congestion, however, you shouldn’t notice any difference whatsoever — unless, of course, John McCain gets his way. Warning: PDF read link.

[Via Slashdot]

 

Pogowolf’s Vue:
Why don’t they just fix their freaking network rather than throttle people that could be just playing WoW? When is the government going to get the balls to throttle Comcast for being one of the worse companies in history? From the horrible quote tech support unquote to missed appointments, to it’s the 10^th time I’ve called to fix this issue and it’s not fixed, to outages just for the hell of having an outage. But if you are a day late on the bill they are all over your ass like flies on shit.

There is no end to the relief I feel when I switched from Comcast to U-Verse. I would rather be offline than go with Comcast again. U-verse was like finding God after being in Hell.

Epic releases free version of Unreal Engine

by Michael French 

 

UE3-powered UDK is ‘an unprecedented milestone in game development’ studio says

Just a week after Unity announced its engine was now available for free to indie users Epic Games has revealed a free version of its popular Unreal Engine technology.

Called the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), it is a free edition of UE3 that allows community, modder and indie users more access to the engine’s features and is available for all.
 
Epic said game developers, students, hobbyists, researchers, creators of 3D visualizations and simulations plus digital filmmakers can all take advantage of the UDK for non-commercial use.

The UDK can be downloaded at www.udk.com, which also offers detailed product features, technical documentation, commercial licensing terms and support resources.

Epic is calling the move ‘an unprecedented milestone in game development’ – the Unreal Engine is widely used in games for a variety of projects. Almost ever major publisher has signed up big licensing deals for the engine to form the basis of a number of high profile titles.

The UDK contains all the most recently added features in UE3 including, the studio says, “many that have yet to be seen in an Unreal Engine game”. Epic has also promised to keep releasing ongoing, upgraded builds of UDK for free.

Currently the UDK only supports PC development – but Epic said it was ‘considering’ a console version.

The studio also reckons that the commercial terms for those switching from the free version should they choose to sell their project or have it published will find that is is “easy for independent developers, start-up firms and seasoned professionals to use UDK with minimal financial barrier from concept to deployment”.

“I’m excited about the possibilities the Unreal Development Kit opens to those who are looking to get into the game business but don’t otherwise have the means to acquire world-class technology and tools like ours,” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games said in the announcement of the tech.

“UDK is Unreal Engine 3, which has been used to create games in a wide range of genres, as well as military simulations, 3D architectural walkthroughs, animated movies and more. Users are only limited by their imaginations. Go ahead make something Unreal!”

Xbox 360 Console Bans

via Xbox Live’s Major Nelson by Major Nelson on 11/4/09

 

As you may have read online, we’ve been actively banning consoles from Xbox LIVE that have been modified to play pirated games. Our commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the more than 20 million members of our Xbox LIVE community remains a top priority. All consumers should know that piracy is illegal, and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs, violates the Xbox LIVE terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox LIVE. The health of the video game business depends on customers paying for the genuine products and services they receive from manufacturers, retailers, and the third parties that support them.  This would also be a good time to remind you that the warranty on an Xbox 360 console is not transferrable and if you purchase a used console that has been previously banned; you will not be able to connect to Xbox LIVE.