After eight years of work, fans are about to release an updated and expanded version of classic video game Half-Life.

 Called Black Mesa, the resurrected game will be made available as a free download on 14 September. The update has been put together using programming tools released by Half-Life creator Valve. It will have improved graphics, better physics and environmental effects and a tweaked story line. News about the long-awaited update broke at the weekend when a countdown timer appeared on the Black Mesa project webpage. A forum message posted soon after revealed that eager players would not get an improved version of the entire game on 14 September. Carlos Montero, leader of the 40-strong Black Mesa development team, said it decided to release a shorter version instead of making people wait longer for the whole thing. Alien intrusion The large chunk of Half-Life that is finished lets players guide hero Gordon Freeman to a section of the original gameplay known as Lambda Core. Finishing this first chunk should take players between eight to 10 hours.

 The final section yet to be finished takes place in the alien Xen dimension. An expanded Xen section would be released at an unnamed date in the future, said the team. First person shooter Half-Life was released in 1998 and gave players the task of guiding government scientist Gordon Freeman through the Black Mesa research complex battling aliens and thwarting their attempt to invade Earth. The game has been hugely influential since its release. Half-Life creator Valve released an updated version of the game in 2004 that was built around its Source game code or engine. That official update of Half-Life was generally regarded as unsatisfactory and led to the Black Mesa project which aimed to do a better job. The project uses an updated version of Source which leads to improvements in physics, lighting and allows for far more subtlety in the facial expressions of characters. The Black Mesa team has also edited the storyline to beef up the more engaging parts of the game and eliminate the slower parts.









 3 September 2012 Last updated at 11:38
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19463712

Electronic Arts has revealed that the number of people paying to play its online video game Star Wars: The Old Republic has dropped below one million.
 The title is the US firm's biggest investment to date. Launched in December, it initially attracted more than 1.7m subscribers. The firm said the news was "disappointing" adding that it was switching to a new pricing plan which would allow users to access much of the content for free. The news coincided with the firm's first quarter results which showed net income of $201m (£128m), a 5% drop on the same period the previous year. Payment turn-off The President of EA Labels Frank Gibeau said the Star Wars game would still break even so long as it maintained 500,000 subscribers, but admitted that its current performance was "not good enough". "The message from players exiting the game is clear, 40% say they were turned off by the monthly subscription and many indicate they would come back if we offered a free-to-play model," he told analysts, according to a transcript of the conference call provided by the Seeking Alpha financial news site. "Our plan now is to pivot and provide a two-tiered pricing plan, which will make the game more accessible and grow the audience." The new scheme will allow users to explore the online title's first 50 levels at no cost, although they will not have access to all its features.

 Users must pay $15 (£9.50) a month for full access and a monthly allowance of in-game cash to purchase items or advance their progress. In addition the firm is cutting the price that it charges for the game pack that users must buy before being able to access the MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game). Online rivals EA's move comes just under two months before its rival Activision Blizzard releases an update to World of Warcraft. Mists of Pandaria is expected to help boost the title's subscribers above the current level of 10.2 million, securing its place as the most popular MMORPG. Other upcoming big name releases include Arenanet's Guild Wars 2 and Bethesda's Elder Scrolls Online. Competition is intense because analysts say most players are only likely to subscribe to one title at any one time. Other titles that offer free-to-play options include Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online and Entropia Universe. "Given the MMORPG landscape in recent years, where pure subscription is becoming a rarity, EA will have been planning to introduce this since before launch, but the drop in subscribers makes it a timely announcement," said Steve Bailey, senior analyst at IHS Games Digest. "It's not necessarily a portent of doom. The title's ongoing performance is now down to EA's ability to engage users with content refreshes, and other aspects of the service." Michael French, editor-in-chief of the games industry trade news site MCV agreed that the problem was not the title's gameplay, but rather convincing the public to keep paying for it. "There are distractions elsewhere and people have become used to playing online titles for free," he said. "What EA needs to do is to attract players back guilt-free by offering the title without charge, and then hope it is compelling enough to encourage them it is worth paying to unlock the additional content."








1 August 2012 Last updated at 10:40 GMT
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19077238

Zynga has unveiled a sequel to its most successful video game to date.

Farmville 2 builds on the original real-time farming simulation adding "3D graphics" which allow players to view the world from different angles. Users cannot carry over items from the original game, adding an incentive to buy virtual goods to speed up progress. Investors will hope it proves popular. The firm's stock has traded below its flotation price since April because of fears of waning interest in its titles. Some analysts have pointed to Facebook users shifting to mobile devices. Although Zynga offers "express" versions of some of its games via the mobile Facebook app, these have not proved popular. It has acted to counter this trend by offering a selection of titles as separate app downloads, although it has not announced plans to do this with Farmville 2. Added 'pop' The new game was announced at Zynga's Unleashed press event at its San Francisco headquarters, where it was also developed. "One of the things that people will notice right away is that it's our first 3D game," the firm's chief technology officer Cadir Lee told the BBC. "All the buildings, crops and animals are shown in 3D. You can see them from multiple directions, they can rotate, you can see them more richly - so it provides a certain pop in the game itself. "The game also has more social elements and a lot more crafting: the crops that you harvest are what you use in the game to make things which you then use to make other things, like on a natural farm."

Money earner According to independent traffic tracking service Appdata the original Farmville peaked with about 82 million users playing it at least once a month in March 2010. More than two years later Zynga revealed the title was still its biggest earner, accounting for 29% of its revenue over the first three months of 2012. The latest Appdata data suggests 21.7 million users still log on at least once a month to tend to their crops, trees and animals. Other titles unveiled at the event included The Ville, another revamp of an earlier game. Based on Yoville, players are tasked with building a house and developing relationships with other players. It also showed off Zynga Elite Slots, an "adventure" title featuring different fruit machines, and Chefville, a restaurant simulation in which players can entertain their friends. Expanding the platform Third-party developers were wooed with the announcement of API (application programming interface) tools to make it easier for them to create games based on Zynga's software. Resulting titles are then be offered on the firm's own website. Participants must also offer their creations via Facebook - something that may prevent the move from causing tension with the social network. Zynga said Atari had confirmed it would now join its network with an as yet undisclosed game.










26 June 2012 Last updated at 20:08
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18602270

Game maker Valve has appointed an in-house economist to help manage the virtual economies that have sprung up around its many titles.

The company has signed up economics professor Yanis Varoufakis as their resident expert adviser. Valve contacted Prof Mr Varoufakis as it started to think about linking game economies and hit virtual currency exchange problems. It comes as South Korea attempts to crack down on trading in video games. In a blog explaining how he came to work for Valve, Prof Varoufakis said first contact was made by Gabe Newell, president of the games company. Mr Newell had been reading Prof Varoufakis's blog post about the economic imbalance between Germany and Greece. "We were discussing an issue of linking economies in two virtual environments (creating a shared currency)," wrote Mr Newell, adding that this seemed to have direct parallels with what had happened in the real world. Intrigued, Mr Varoufakis replied and then visited Valve to talk about the issues. This was despite the fact that he was not a gamer and he last played a computer game - space invaders - in 1981. 'Test-bed' Prof Varoufakis said he had decided to sign on with Valve because of the novel applications of economic theory it would lead to. "Also," he said, "Valve's digital economies are a marvellous test-bed for meaningful experimentation." By contrast, he said, such experimentation was impossible in the real world. This situation, he wrote, meant economists often relied on hunches or happy accidents to avoid reaching absurd conclusions about the underlying causes of financial activity. At Valve, Prof Varoufakis said he would be doing a lot of data mining and experimentation to help the company understand what was happening in the online economics springing up around its own titles and the Steam game-playing service. Valve is not the first game firm to employ a professional economist. Space trading and combat game Eve Online signed up Eyjolfur Guomundsson to advise it on in-game economics in 2007. Jail time As Valve steps up its efforts to do more with game economies, South Korea has decided to crack down on the trading of virtual items. Reports suggest that South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will enact a law banning game trading later this year. Online markets have sprung up that let players buy virtual cash to use in games, or trade hard-to-find gear for real money. In a statement, the South Korean authorities said trading of game cash and gear was a "serious hindrance" to a healthy game culture. It estimates that 60% of the items being traded on official and unofficial market places were generated using automated programs that "farm" games for loot. Those who break the law could face large fines or prison terms.













15 June 2012 Last updated at 12:49
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18456171

Activision Blizzard has launched the video game Diablo 3's real-money auction house for players in North and South America.

  The facility allows users to buy and sell objects found in the title using real currency. The publisher takes a cut of each transaction, securing a new source of profits. It has warned that subscribers found guilty of using hacks or other attempts to cheat face a lifetime ban. Diablo 3 takes place in a horror-themed fantasy world in which players team up to save their land from monsters. Its in-game auction houses - in which gold, weapons, armour and other materials can be bought and sold - were originally supposed to have been launched on 22 May. However, the move was delayed following reports that some users had had their accounts hacked, and that items and characters had been stolen. Small steps Blizzard has now opted for a more limited launch. Auctions are initially restricted to equipment - commodities will follow at a later date - and several currencies including the Brazilian real and Argentine peso cannot be used yet. "We are rolling out the elements of the real-money auction house separately to ensure all of our players have the smoothest possible experience," it said on its blog. "We'll have more information on the availability of the European real-money auction house and the remaining American currencies soon."

 The firm has also introduced a range of security measures. Players wishing to pay for transactions through its proprietary Battle.net system must either download an identification app to their smartphone or buy an authenticator - a physical device that produces a digital code. Those wishing to buy goods via PayPal must sign up to a separate service that messages a special code to their phones which must be re-entered to complete the transaction. Chinese bots The Tech in Asia blog reports on one of the potential problems facing the title. It says some users there have already created software applications - called bots - which carry out automated tasks in the game. It says one user has uploaded a video showing how thousands of these bots and other scripts can be co-ordinated to generate in-game assets worth about $1,000 every hour. Blizzard has said such activity constitutes a breach of its rules. A recent forum update noted that "several thousand" players had already received account suspensions and bans for "cheating and/or using botting or hacking programs while playing". The firm has invited users noticing suspicious activity to email its teams so it can look into the problem. "Blizzard is legitimising the process of players transacting between themselves within the game," said Ed Barton, director of digital media at Strategy Analytics. "This has been happening for some time in other online games but often it was user-driven and only grudgingly tolerated by the game's operators. "I think it's going to be a little while before the whole process settles down as far as Diablo 3 goes and there may be some odd occurrences such as wildly fluctuating pricing in the meantime. Cautious gamers may wish to wait before getting involved."











13 June 2012 Last updated at 17:29
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18428332

The original, which sold over 2 million copies, was heavily criticised for featuring excessive violence Stainless Games aims to raise over $400,000 (£250,000) via Kickstarter. The UK-based firm has had to set up a separate company in the US in order to receive money through the crowdfunding site. Censorship Bonus points are awarded in the game for driving over pedestrians. This action was amended in the game's initial 1997 UK release following the threat of a sales ban, causing the developer to replace the victims with green-blooded zombies. However, it was later re-released in full, as was a sequel the following year. In subsequent years, other 3D "violent" games such as the genre-defining Grand Theft Auto sequels followed. Despite the Carmageddon's controversy, it was well-received by the gaming community for its innovative gameplay and "action replay" feature. 'Pedestrians running' Five of the original eight developers are still with Stainless Games and work has already begun on the new title, which is set to be called Carmageddon: Reincarnation.

"We've been able to very quickly get a prototype up and running," Neil Barnden, co-founder of Stainless Games, told the BBC. "With pedestrians running around, we're all just spending a lot of our day laughing like drains at things that happen in the game." Several games have been funded via Kickstarter projects, most notably Double Fine Adventure - which raised $3.3m (£2.1m). Restrictions on the sites, mostly relating to taxation issues, mean that only US-based companies are able to raise funds through the system. This led Stainless Games - which is based on the Isle of Wight - to come up with a workaround. "We have a lawyer in the States as we do a lot of our business there," Mr Barnden explained. "We had them set up a US company which then acts as the holding company for the funds that come into Kickstarter." Intellectual property Like many, Mr Barnden has called for Kickstarter to expand its operations to the UK and other markets.

"You'd imagine it would be in their interests to widen the base of who can actually set up a campaign." Kickstarter was unavailable for comment.
Other sites, such as indiegogo.com and London-based PleaseFund.us, offer similar features but have thus far been unable gain the popularity of Kickstarter. Stainless Games had to purchase the intellectual property rights from publisher Square Enix before it could go ahead with the game, despite being the game's original designer. "Back when we made Carmageddon it was just the case that when you signed with a publisher, they automatically gained all the rights for the title. "The original publisher of the game [SCi] owned the rights. They went away to make a third game when we asked for a break in Carmageddon for a while." That last game proved unpopular with the series' fans. "The new game is going to be like Carmageddon 1 and 2," said Mr Barnden. "But not 3, we're happy to confirm that!"











10 May 2012 Last updated at 00:05
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18009412

 Black Ops 2 is set in 2025 and centres on "the enemy" taking control of the US army's unmanned weapon systems. The title is being developed by the firm's Treyarch studio and is due for release on 13 November. That will pitch it against the return of Microsoft's Halo series. The science fiction first-person shooter launches a new trilogy a week earlier. Activision said the last title in the Call of Duty series, Modern Warfare 3, broke sales record grossing $775m (£465m) on its first five days on sale. However, news site Gamasutra recently reported that analysts at Macquarie Equities had suggested that since its debut the title had underperformed its predecessor. According to their numbers, by March the number of copies of MW3 sold was 4.2% behind where the first Black Ops title had been at the same time a year earlier.

 Competition Postings on site forums suggested that some players might have begun tiring of the format. Video game website IGN said that a decision to develop a topical plot centred on cyber-terrorism in conjunction with Batman Begins scriptwriter David Goyer and the Brookings Institution think tank was designed to bolster interest. "The decision to move Black Ops forward in time is a response to market saturation - there is an abundance of military shooters around - and a way to reinvigorate the genre," said games writer Daniel Krupa. "But it isn't a strikingly original move. Ubisoft's long-running Ghost Recon series is also making a leap forward in time this year. Halo is a military shooter set in the distant future. "Ultimately, the real future of the first-person shooter won't lie in the trenches of conflicts past or present, but in other settings with stronger narratives." 2









May 2012 Last updated at 09:03
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17920644

It was Christmas, sometime between 1993 and 1995. I don’t remember the specifics, as it was a while ago and my memory has always been spotty. Nevertheless, we were spending the holidays back in Washington state, USA where I’m originally from (but had moved over to Australia a few years earlier). We took a few days stop off in Hawaii, and while traipsing around one of the islands, I found a games store and managed to persuade my parents into buying me an early Christmas present. That game was Gobliins 2. Visiting my childhood friend Josh, we proceeded to play the game for the remainder of my stay, slowly working our way through its seemingly incomprehensible puzzles and amusing cartoonish presentation. Revisiting the game all these years later two things come to mind. The first is that the visuals, audio, sense of exploration, and humourous rewards still hold up to this day. The other is that the puzzles are enough to make you want to tear your hair right out of your scalp… so let’s explore this root of premature baldness. Gone is the health bar that plagued the first game in the series. Making a mistake would deplete this bar and have you restarting the level when you ran out. This became a drawing point of Gobliins 2, to my young adventure game loving self. I grew up playing Sierra adventures (at this point I think it was another couple of years before I discovered the wonders of Loom and The Secret of Monkey Island) and anyone who has played Sierra adventure games knows all about dying and game breaking scenarios. One wrong turn could spell doom for your character, and missing a crucial item or not doing things in the correct order could create an un-winnable scenario, where the only option was to restart; Gobliins 2 had neither of these. Nothing would cause your characters to die, and nothing you did would impede your progress. This was a breath of fresh air, but perhaps that was because this game was only published by Sierra, with Coktel Vision being the developer. I would say that this approach to freedom of experimentation is the cause of the style of puzzles found within the game. The main puzzle solving mechanic is using the two goblins at your command (named Fingus and Winkle) in tandem to either acquire items or access new areas of the current screen. Fingus is a more polite, well-mannered goblin, while Winkle is a chaotic troublemaker, and solutions often make use of their personalities. An example of this is on the first screen: a bottle is being guarded by two old men who will attack any goblin that tries to take it. There is an oaf sleeping next to a sausage. Having Winkle try to steal it will wake the oaf and result in a good pummeling. This causes the old men nearby to cackle uproariously, and while their laughing distracts them, Fingus is free to grab the bottle. Yes, slapstick and hurting your main characters isn’t just amusing, a lot of the time it’s a good way to solve puzzles. The timing and puzzles become more complex as the game goes on however, and there’s one puzzle in particular that was the catalyst to stop playing and start writing, due to the continued frustration mounting and at this point I experienced enough of the game to jog my memory and enjoy myself. It’s the meatball puzzle in the kitchen. It’s not a hard puzzle per-say (it does have iffy elements of timing though), but what makes it insufferable is that upon failure you need to reset everything, wasting a lot of effort for those of us who weren’t smart enough to save before executing it in the first place. To give you an idea of the steps needed,Ive found a video of this section of the game on YouTube. If you don’t mind spoiling the puzzles, give it a watch. Not only does this guy know what he’s doing, but aside from showing off the sequence in question, this provides a great example of not only the gameplay, but the odd world and puzzles presented, which is part of its overall charm. Also from what I hear, the timing and setups only get more convoluted the further into the game you go. For those of you wishing to revisit this game, or those that wish to try it for the first time, the Gobliins pack is available at GoG for a very reasonable price. It includes the first three games in the series and you get the option of playing either the floppy or CD versions. It’s this choice I wish to end with. I originally played all three games on floppy disc, completely unaware of any CD versions. Upon purchasing this pack I decided to give these previously unknown versions a try. Perhaps it is nostalgic bias, but I much prefer the floppy versions. They give the goblins this amusing fake language that I believe helps shape their personality… while the CD versions have voice acting. Not the highest quality to be sure, but I don’t think that’s the issue. Giving them voices instead of the fake language takes something away. Again, this is probably nostalgia talking but I find myself reciting the nonsense words of the wizard in the intro or Fingus’ high pitched speech at times, and this has helped strengthen my attachment to the game over the years. I’d be interested to know if there are fans out there who prefer the CD version. Would it be because you played that one originally and the voice acting is stronger in your memory than what might be considered annoying gibberish on the floppy version? For those of you with no frame of reference, I’ve run back to YouTube to show you the difference. The first video is the floppy version of the intro, and the second is the CD version with speech. Gobliins 2 is a strong entry in this adventure franchise, but the true champion of the trilogy in my humble opinion is Goblins 3; which is what I’ll be covering next time I write one of these. Until then, enjoy your games new and old, and never be afraid to revisit one of your favourites from years gone passed, even if it might not hold up as well as you thought it did. April 23rd, 2012 http://retro.indiegamemag.com/memories-of-gaming-past-revisiting-gobliins-2/

Struggling video games retailer Game Group has said it intends to file for administration.

Earlier, shares in Game were suspended "pending clarification of the company's financial position".

The firm said talks with stakeholders and other parties had not made enough progress to offer "a realistic prospect for a solvent solution".

Game has seen its business eroded by competition from online-only retailers, such as Steam and Amazon.

Last week, the retailer confirmed that a number of suppliers were refusing to do business with the company.

The group, which is headquartered in Basingstoke, has 1,300 stores worldwide, including 600 in the UK.

It said the business would continue to trade and discussions with lenders and third parties would continue.

'Over-expansion'
In an earlier statement on Wednesday, the firm asked for its shares to be suspended, saying the value of the company had been eroded.

Shares in Game closed at 2.39p on Tuesday, having fallen from 62p a year ago.

Game acquired GameStation in 2007, adding hundreds of new stores to its portfolio. Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games at IHS Screen Digest, said that with hindsight, this move could now be seen as over-expansion.

"Whilst it reaped the reward of this in 2008, when lots of content was sold thanks to new consoles and handheld devices, the packaged game market has since declined," he said.

But he added that there was still a place for a large specialist games retailer on the High Street, with 70% of spend on games content in the UK still in the form of physical media.












21 March 2012 Last updated at 11:54
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17455742

The new game will be released on 22 March and will be available on iOS, Android, PC and Mac.

"This began with a Twitter exchange about birds and pigs in space, and has grown into a tremendous outreach and education opportunity," said Nasa spokesman David Weaver.

"Games are fun and entertaining but can be inspirational and informative."

In an online video promoting the game, a US astronaut on the International Space Station explains the laws of physics using Angry Bird characters as props.

At one point flight engineer Don Pettit is seen firing a red bird down a space station corridor using a slingshot.

'Educational'
Nasa has called the collaboration with Rovio and Angry Birds "an exciting way to get people engaged with Nasa's missions of exploration and discovery, and get students energized about future careers in science and technology".

Peter Vesterbacka, Rovio's chief marketing officer, said the company wanted to create something "unique" for the game launch.

"Nasa has been the perfect partner for our Angry Birds Space programme and we can't wait to work with them on creating more compelling educational experiences," he said.

Angry Birds Space features 60 initial levels and six new characters but has what Rovio says is a "unique twist in a variable gravity environment".

"From the weightlessness of space to the gravity wells of nearby planets, fans can have fun with physics as they try out new gameplay possibilities," Peter Vesterbacka added.

"The Angry Birds themselves have also transformed into superheroes, with new costumes and abilities."

More levels will be available as free regular updates and in-app purchases.

In November, Angry Birds became the first game to achieve 500 million downloads less than two years after it was released.










Page last updated at 09:53 GMT, Friday, 9 March 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17310790

A video games controller which pulls and stretches the skin of its users' thumbs has been unveiled in Canada.

Developers said their prototype provided extra feedback about game characters' actions.

For example they said the device could mimic the recoil of a gun or the motion of a boat on water better than what could currently by achieved by vibrating a controller.

The device is being pitched to Microsoft among other console makers.

Engineers from the University of Utah showed off the device at the Haptics Symposium in Vancouver - a conference organised to highlight the latest research into the sense of touch.

"In the centre of the thumbsticks there's a little contact bud that is similar to what you have on a Thinkpad laptop - a little red dot," Prof William Provancher from the university's department of mechanical engineering told the BBC.

"In our case that dot moves, and when it moves it provides touch feedback which allows us to enhance sensations such as gunfire.

"The feeling is very similar to what you get if you place your finger down on a table top and drag it across - it stretches the skin. In this particular case the tugging on your skin is happening because of the motion-device mechanism beneath the thumbsticks."

Fishing thumbs
So far the researchers said they had built a library of five tactile effects: bounce, pulse, a circular movement, a wave effect and the feeling of crawling along the ground.

In addition they said the thumbsticks could be used to give directional cues drawing users' attention to part of the gaming environment.

To demonstrate their invention the researchers have created Feelin' Fishy - a simulation which causes the thumbsticks to sway side to side, imitating waves pulling on a fishing line.

The controller also stretches the skin of users' right thumbs to signal when they should try to hook a fish, and then emulates it tugging against the rod.

The team is also developing a music-based title in which the sticks' motion is linked to the tones being played - the higher the note the faster they move.

Army remote controls
The controller was developed as part of a three year research study funded with a $150,000 (£94,530; 113,360 euros) research grant from the US-based National Science Foundation. It evolved out of a project which originally focused on building a steering wheel designed to send signals to one hand or the other to tell drivers to turn left or right.

Although the engineers are now focused on video games, Prof Provancher said the device might still have real world uses.

"The military have started using game controllers to interact with things like robots and unmanned vehicles," he said.

"So for instance if it's a robot that's on the ground it could be information about obstacles in the environment, or if it was a drone aircraft flying over doing surveillance perhaps it's processing the information and giving a cue to the remote pilot to focus their attention on something interesting."

Compatibility issues
Prof Provancher said he had already shown the device to Microsoft researchers and had been asked to give a more detailed presentation at the firm's Redmond headquarters.

He also hopes to attract further interest when he attends the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco later this week.

If one of the console manufacturers decides to license the technology, the professor said he expects the thumbsticks will add about £10 to the retail price of a controller.

However, if he fails to win over one of the console makers the innovation is likely to struggle since it depends on software being written specifically for it and does not give motion feedback for other games.








5 March 2012 Last updated at 19:48
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17257316

Every year, between the months of February and August, there's a feeling of emptiness that falls over me, and I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. American football fans know this to be the period of time when there is no college or NFL games, and when we turn into sad lots, feeling cold and alone on weekends and Monday nights.
So imagine my delight when I stumbled across this story about robots playing American football--two of my favorite things combined into one. Score, right? Well, sort of. Unfortunately, the game barely resembles American football, and the robots suck at it.


Sponsored by IT solution provider Fujisoft and held in Yokohama, Japan, the Robot American Football Tournament pits teams of five robots against each other in a three-minute game. Now in its seventh year, the competition, open to high-school teams from around Japan, is designed to encourage engineering and design as a career choice.
In order to be eligible for the tournament, the robots need to be no larger than 7.8 inches in length, width, or depth and 6 pounds in weight. In addition, they must not be equipped with a "new radio control system," though Fujisoft doesn't explain what that means, or there's something lost in translation.
Like American football, a team receives seven points, if the robot takes the ball into the end zone. However, that's about where the similarities end. There are no organized plays, and the bots have a penchant for fumbling the ball, but hey, it's still pretty entertaining to watch the metal droids ram and bash into each either.









by Bonnie Cha February 28, 2012 1:57 PM PST
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-57386862-235/robots-play-american-football-and-suck-at-it/?tag=mncol;txt

Sony's new handheld console - the Playstation Vita - is set to launch in Europe on Wednesday.

The device launched in Japan last Christmas and Sony say more than half a million units have now been sold.

It will be a rival to Nintendo's 3DS, boasting a quad-core processor and 5in (12.7cm) OLED touch screen.

However, it is entering a competitive market as mobile casual gamer space becomes increasingly dominated by game applications for smartphones.

Two different versions of the device will go on sale: a model with wi-fi connectivity for £229 and an enhanced version that also uses the 3G mobile network.

Johnny Minkley, from video gaming website Eurogamer, said the Vita was "the most competent handheld gaming system ever made", but he believed price would be an issue.

"It is a high-end device and Sony has shot itself in the foot with the proprietary memory cards, which is an added expense which everyone needs to make on day one," he added.

Launch line-up
When Nintendo launched its 3DS system last year, sales were poor, forcing the company to slash 40% of the price, despite critical acclaim.

It was not until games such as Mario Kart were launched that sales of the 3DS started to pick up.

In contrast, the Vita will have 30 different games available at launch. Some will be full-price commercial titles, while others are third-party downloads priced at under £10.

The device has had mostly positive response from the gaming media. Tech Radar gave it four-and-a-half stars out of five and said it took "gaming to a new level".

However, CNet gave it an distinctly average three out of five stars and said it was "bulky with an unimpressive battery life".

The site added: "All but the most hardcore gaming nuts would be better served by something like the iPod touch."

Jim Ryan, president and CEO of Sony Europe, told the BBC the device would stand out among smartphones and tablets.


"Gaming on the smartphone and tablet is a reality and it would be foolish to stick our heads in the sand," he said.

"We have to demonstrate that our device and the gaming experience is differentiated and we provide great value to justify the financial outlay they have to make to buy into Vita."

'Pent-up demand'
Piers Harding Rolls, an analyst with Screen Digest, said CNet had highlighted a problem that, longer term, Sony may have to face up to.

"There are plenty of other devices out there offering games content, so the market is very competitive.

"Our sales figure prediction is not a small amount by any means, but if you compare it to smartphones, it is but a subset," he added.


Sony said that, for the first two years, it would be targeting its core demographic: 18 to 25-year-old males who were gamers first and foremost.

"When we get to year two and year three, we will try to broaden the demographic to bring in the younger consumer - the more casual consumer, perhaps," said Mr Ryan.

How Sony will achieve that remains to be seen.

"Many people have smartphones so already have games on the move," said Mr Minkley.

"The biggest questionmark is, who is it for, outside of gamers. Where does Vita fit in? Right now, I really don't know."








By Daniel Emery
Technology reporter, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17096137

Video game sales slumped in the US - their biggest market - in January.

NPD group said stores sold $1.14bn (£720m) worth of games over the month, down 34% on the previous year. It added that hardware sales were down 38%.

The consumer data provider linked the drop to a lack of major new releases.

Other analysts also pointed to worries about the economy and said this might have an impact on the upcoming launch of Sony's PlayStation Vita console.

NPD said that Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the month's best-selling title. It was followed by Just Dance 3, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and NBA 2K12.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 held onto its title as the top selling hardware platform for the sixth month running.

"While the lack of new launches was a major reason for software declines, games which launched in the last three months of 2011 also performed poorly in January 2012, down 31% in units compared to fourth quarter launches in January 2011," NPD analyst Liam Callahan added.

"As shoppers were not drawn to stores due to new launch activity, this potentially impacted additional software purchases made on impulse."

The video games news website, IGN, said it had noted a similar drop-off in activity in the UK market. It said sales should pick up when Mass Effect 3 goes on sale in March, but noted that shoppers were worried.

"You can't really deny that the economy is a factor," Keza MacDonald, the firm's UK games editor, told the BBC.

"The lack of big new releases is just a tiny bit of the picture. The fact people are buying less games shows up in the US, European and Japanese data.

"People are just buying fewer games because they have less money to spend. The data before Christmas was also not particularly strong."

Vita's challenge
The news comes as Sony prepares the global launch of its new PlayStation Vita games console. The device goes on sale across Europe, Australia and the Americas on 22 February.


Analysts at IHS Screen Digest have forecast 7 million units will be sold by the end of the year. They say that would be 25% less than what its predecessor the PlayStation Portable System achieved over its initial roll-out.

"I think there is a segment of the population - potentially a narrowing segment - which is still engaged by specialist devices such as handheld consoles," said the firm's head of games, Piers Harding-Rolls.

"But it is a very price-driven situation and part of that equation is definitely the content on offer.

"Sony has hit the mark with a strong line-up at launch which should drive strong initial sales, but there's the potential that demand will drop off quite significantly after the first few weeks."

Industry watchers note that the console will have to compete for attention with Apple's latest iPad which the Wall Street Journal suggests will launch in March.

"A lot of the market for handheld gaming was kids and that market has completely shifted to iPhones, Android phones and touchscreen tablets," said Ms MacDonald.

"The Vita is a nice bit of kit - it has gadget appeal - but I'm not sure it has mainstream appeal."






10 February 2012 Last updated at 13:37
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16983122

The amulet and mask were a 13-year-old boy's virtual possessions in online fantasy game Runescape. In the real world, he was beaten and threatened with a knife to give them up.


The Dutch Supreme Court upheld the theft conviction of a youth who stole another boy's possessions in the popular online fantasy game, ordering the offender to perform 144 hours of community service.
Only a handful of such cases have been heard in the world, and they have reached varying conclusions about the legal status of "virtual goods" - and whether stealing them is real-world theft.
The suspect's lawyer had argued the amulet and mask "were neither tangible nor material and, unlike for example electricity, had no economic value."
But the Netherlands' highest court said the virtual objects had an intrinsic value to the 13-year-old gamer because of "the time and energy he invested" in winning them while playing the game.
The court did not release the offender's name, only his year of birth - 1992. It said he and another youth beat and kicked the boy and threatened him with a knife until he logged into RuneScape and dropped the objects in 2007.

One of the thieves, who was also playing the game, was then able to pick up the items, making them his virtual property. Both were convicted by a lower court in 2009, but only one of them had appealed to the Supreme Court.
In 2009 a man hacked into computer accounts and stole virtual characters and their possessions from RuneScape and was given a police caution.
RuneScape has approximately 10 million active players who are reported to log on regularly and is set in the medieval world of Gielinor which consists mainly of grassy rolling hills and large areas of woodland.
It holds a Guinness World Records for world’s most popular free RPG (role-playing game).




11:40AM GMT 01 Feb 2012
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/9053870/Online-game-theft-earns-real-world-conviction.html

Skyrim, Arkham City, Modern Warfare 3, the best games of 2011 are going to be a hard bunch to beat. But with the arrival of the PS Vita and the Nintendo Wii U joining the current console stalwarts, gamers will not be short changed in 2012.


Looking ahead to the year in gaming, we pick out the top titles across the formats that we can't wait to get some hands-on time with. Get saving and feast your eyes on these...


SSX

After SSX 3 was so successful, it seemed strange that the SSX franchise just seemed to disappear into thin air, even if follow-ups such as SSX On Tour and SSX Blur were less than successful. You can count us among the scores of happy virtual slope-rippers who cheered when EA announced a new SSX at E3 in 2010, especially since the the stunt-heavy snowboard sim will feature real-world locations this time round, along with a slope-stomping new soundtrack to accompany some classic SSX gameplay.

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3

Release date: February 2012

Link: SSX trailer

Next The Last Guardian




17:20 23 Jan 2012 by T3 Online
http://www.t3.com/features/best-games-2012#main

A new trailer has been unveiled for the upcoming Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock game which is coming out for PS3, Xbox 360 and the PlayStation Vita.

The new trailer shows actual gameplay for the game and it looks as if the developers have gone for a retro feel with the side-scrolling platform feel making a refreshing change and echoing that of the recent Tintin title.

Elsewhere it's clear that a lot of attention has been put into authenticity with each character looking picture perfect with some characters (we're looking at you Alex Kingston) having been given an outfit that screams 'The Avengers'.

Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock see's Matt Smith's Doctor travel across space and time as he and River Song battle through the universe to try and save Earth.

Players will be able to play both characters and will have to master the intricacies of time-travel where even the smallest decision in one time will have major consequences in future levels adding an entirely new aspect to conventional gaming.

The game has been written in collaboration with the BBC Wales team that work on the series and will feature full voice-acting from the entire cast. The Eternity Clock is just one of three Doctor Who games planned in the series.

All in all it looks to be shaping up as a brilliant platformer and with the release for PS Vita as well it'll be great to see those graphics really shining through on the handheld.

Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock trailer





15:43 23 Jan 2012 by Thomas Tamblyn
http://www.t3.com/news/doctor-who-the-eternity-clock-announced-for-ps3-ps-vita-and-pc

If your February wasn’t busy enough, the Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition will be out on February 7th in North America and February 10th in Europe. It will retail for $49.99 on PS3 and Xbox 360 with a PC version selling for $39.99.

The Ultimate Edition includes the Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, and Lonesome Road add-on packs as well as all of the addition seen in the new Courier’s Stash and Gun Runners Arsenal packs.




January 19, 2012- Jason Dunning
http://trendygamers.com/2012/01/19/fallout-vegas-ultimate-edition-february-7th/

NIS America announced that Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 will be out in North America on February 28th and Europe on February 24th for the Playstation 3.

If you are unfamiliar with the game, Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 is the sequel to the popular RPG Hyperdimension Neptunia, in which you control personifications (humanoids) of videogame consoles with the objective of protecting the world of Gamindustri. In Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2, the four heroines are the younger sisters of the CPUs (Console Patron Units) from Hyperdimension Neptunia. Once again, fans can indulge in the mysteries and adventures found within Gamindustri!

The game will also feature an all new free roam battle system which offers more strategic combat, a streamlined combo system that allows for faster combo executions, new item synthesis system to craft item and weapons, and a Coliseum to test your might and face powerful opponents.




January 19, 2012- Jason Dunning
http://trendygamers.com/2012/01/19/hyperdimension-neptunia-mk2-launches-february-28th/