EVE Online CEO pulls a Madoff and robs everyone

                         (Image not by me -- it was found in photobucket here.)

The space-ship themed MMORPG EVE Online has been at the forefront of virtual economies, with a thriving gaming world containing billions of virtual credits, overseen by a real-life actual economist. Like any good MMORPG, all those virtual credits add up to a couple of real-world dollars -- a fact that proved tempting for one player of the game. 

RicDic -- a name that will live on in infamy -- decided that while he was rich in EVE, he wasn't all that well off I.R.L. So, he decided to pull a good ole fashioned robbery. Being a CEO of an in-game corporation (the equivalent of a guild in a fantasy game), he had access to all the funds collected by his gaming-group. With one massive withdraw, he purged the company accounts, ending up taking somewhere around 200 billion space-credits. Sold to other players in the real world, this worked out to about $5,000 USD.

"I'm not proud of it at all, that's why I didn't brag about it," the terrible person was quoted as saying. "But you know, if I had to do it again, I probably would've chosen the same path based on the same situation," said the thief, as quoted by the Reuters news agency.

This big huge robbery caused a run on the in-game banks, and caused all sorts of anger explosions to break out in the game's forums.

"Anyone who 'understands' Ricdic's actions and sees them as justifiable should be treated as a future scammer and should not be trusted with anything worth more than a Mexican peso. Ricdic mismanaged his finances and found himself in a situation not uncommon to many people in these current times," said Lecherito, one of many upset EVE players.

"He should have stepped down and sold his computer, sold his car, moved to a house/apartment actually affordable on what must be an absolutely dismal salary, get a second job, etc etc etc etc. When **** hit the fan he made the decision of a weaker man. Stabbing friends in the back for his own benefit."

Dragon Ball franchises pass onto Namco Bandai starting January 2010 in a new five-year agreement

Atari's power levels with Dragon Ball gaming fade, as Namco Bandai confirms it is the new video game licensee for the celebrated anime franchise.  The publisher secures exclusive publishing rights for Dragon Ball video games in North America over the next five years beginning January 2010.

Anime distributor FUNimation previously threatened to terminate Atari's Dragon Ball Z North American software licenses back in 2007 due alleged violation of licensing agreements.  Atari would eventually reach a settlement with FUNimation, allowing the publisher to retain its licensing for DBZ until (you guessed it) next January.

Namco Bandai is already billed as publisher for the next batch of licensed games due later this year including Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo for the Wii, Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans for the DS, and Dragon Ball: Raging Blast for the Xbox 360 and PS3.  The publisher is also handling North American distrubtion of the Naruto and One Piece lineup of video games, so they've definitely gained ground with all the Shonen Jump manga fans.

EA would like you to trade Football Manager

EA's FIFA Manager series has been around for good many years now, and it is starting to look like all the work put into the game is starting to really come together for all the soccer managing fans out there.

A new video has been released to show people some of the stuff EA has been up to. This first video is focused on the new online mode, where you can play with up to 8 friends and enemies, in the same virtual soccer/football league.

With the long-running and huge-selling Football Manager series to compete against, it appears that FIFA Manager may have too much ground to make up for, at times. But hey, this is EA after all. They have been known to make a long-running, successful sport series or two, themselves. The last FIFA Manager game received both positive and negative reviews -- maybe 2010's edition will do a bit better.

This online mode sort of looks like it is the EA equivalent of playing "Fantasy League" sports games which are very popular these days. If you ask this gamer -- and hey, I guess you didn't, but anyways -- EA should have put a email-play option mode in this series -- it would be one thing that Sports Interactive's Football Manager hasn't done yet, and I'd guess it would be popular.

FIFA Manager 10 is coming out for PC, and no release date has been set.

Going from 1gig to 2gig for increasing popularity of HD content

YouTube announced on Wednesday it is doubling the size limit for uploads to its website from 1 gigabyte to 2 gigabytes in order to allow users to post more HD video content.

"The increase means you can upload longer videos at a higher resolution as well as large HD files directly from your camera, the changes allow you to share links directly to the HD version of your video, as well as embed the HD version on your blog or website," the media host said.

HD video is increasingly popular but the higher resolution results in larger files; YouTube, although increasing the allowable file sizes, is still keeping a cap of 10 minutes for the length of each video.

Chapter 1 released, semi-sequel possibly soon

We're generally not the flash gaming type, you may have guessed, but a new title on Newgrounds (NG) really floored us: Mega Man X RPG.

Developed by NG member ChamberACR, Chapter 1 was released recently, a follow-up to the "0" chapter released earlier in the year -- ACR recommends you just skip that one, though, and just head straight to Chapter 1 which is much improved. The game essentially plays like the Paper Mario series (complete with timed hits) crossed with the Mega Man X series, and it does it so well you wonder why the actual creators haven't thought of this before, instead of, you know, plodding out god knows how many new iterations without too much spirit or innovation (Mega Man 9 is excepted, of course).

There are cutscenes, an RPG-style story that actually seems quite good, random battles, dropped items, great music, and save support -- all the standards we love so much. The game runs at a max 720x540 resolution, and unfortunately you can't fullscreen it, which does kind of bring you out of the experience, but hey, it's great enough you're not terribly bothered.

A "semi-sequel" to Chapter 1 is in development, subtitled "Mission Pack" -- the developer, sadly, will be heading off with the Army in August, so no release date is firmed up, though he hopes it will be before then. Below are the planned features and their status -- quite ambitious for a little flash game.

- Save Transfer feature enables all equipment/stats/etc to carry over. (90% complete)
- New enemies/bosses. (10% complete)
- New animations for main characters. (0% complete)
- Items are now broken into four parts: Consumables, Treasures, Scrap and Key Items. This should help alleviate any confusion as to what items do. (100% complete)
- Mix and match scrap to create new items and equipment! (0% complete)
- More efficient code. (100% complete).

The bottom line with the title is this: if Capcom have any sense (and we like to think they'd appreciate something like this), they'll make something commercial out of this in collaboration with the developer, quite unlike what Square Enix did with the Chrono Trigger title Crimison Echoes. BioWare's Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood did pretty well after all -- where's our traditional Mega Man RPG after all these years?

MP exp. in Horde, new achievements, fixes and better balancing noted

Gears fans are treated to a couple of very nice surprises today. First, like World at War and also Halo 3, the team at Epic will be celebrating Independence Day via Gears of War 2 with a "Double XP Weekend" starting today. What this means of course is twice as much XP for you battle, in all game types. More than that, you'll receive bonus XP whenever your team wins, and all-Ticker rounds will occur per every tenth Horde wave.

That is not all, though -- as of 2AM PST today, the fourth title update for the game has been released, which boasts numerous significant improvements, fixes and additions. Below are your release notes -- enjoy your weekend, Gearheads.

Improvements

Title Update 4 makes these new improvements:

• Adds the ability to collect multiplayer experience by playing Horde mode. Players currently gain experience at this rate:

o 50 points per completed Casual wave.
o 75 points per completed Normal wave.
o 100 points per completed Hardcore wave.
o 125 points per completed Insane wave.

• Adds the ability to restart Public Horde from the current failed wave instead of having to start over from wave 1. Title Update 4 also allows the host to kick players from a Public Horde session.
• Increases the frequency of downloadable content (DLC) maps showing up in map voting if all players have shared map packs.
• Adds a message at the end of the match to explain to players that they should wait before quitting so that they avoid an experience penalty for quitting early.
• Adds support for the new campaign chapter, "Road to Ruin."
• Adds 13 new achievements worth 325 points. All of the new achievements require the Dark Corners Map Pack, a set of seven new maps and a deleted campaign chapter to be released July 28. The 13 new achievements are:

o "My Way or the Highway" (25 points): Without being detected, complete the "Road to Ruin" deleted scene after choosing the stealth option.
o "Highway to Hell" (25 points): Complete the "Road to Ruin" deleted scene after choosing the guns-blazing option.
o "Two for the Road" (25 points): Complete the "Road to Ruin" deleted scene in co-op as either Marcus or Dom.
o "Be Careful What You Wish For" (10 points): Reach level 5 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 10 on the War Machine map in Horde (any difficulty).
o "Ride It All Night Long" (10 points): Reach level 10 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 10 on the Highway map in Horde (any difficulty).
o "No, But His Face Rings a Bell" (15 points): Reach level 15 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 20 on the Sanctuary map in Horde (any difficulty).
o "Lost in Transition" (20 points): Reach level 20 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 20 on the Way Station map in Horde (any difficulty).
o "Like Father, Like Gun" (30 points): Reach level 30 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 30 on the Allfathers Garden map in Horde (any difficulty).
o "Am I Only Dreaming?" (40 points): Reach level 40 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 40 on the Memorial map in Horde (any difficulty).
o "Blood on the Sand" (50 points): Reach level 50 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 50 on the Nowhere map in Horde (any difficulty).
o "Afraid of the Dark" (20 points): Play a multiplayer match on each of the seven Dark Corners Map Pack maps (any mode).
o "Did Not Go Gentle" (30 points): Win a multiplayer match on each of the seven Dark Corners Map Pack maps (any mode)
o "Is it Hot or Is That Just You?" (25 points): Kill 25 Bloodmounts with a Scorcher Flamethrower while playing Horde on a Dark Corners Map Pack map (any difficulty).

Exploit Fixes

Title Update 4 fixes these possible exploits, where under certain circumstances:

• A player could copy game progression data from one profile to another.
• A team could use the 50-point revive bonus to artificially increase its score in Horde. Going down but not out (DBNO) in Horde now subtracts 50 points, so there is no advantage to using the revive-bonus technique.
• A player could get 2 points for each kill in Wingman.
• A player could continue to shoot the Flamethrower while performing special movements like evading and mantling.
• A player could cause heavy weapons to spawn continuously while playing Horde.

Title Update 4 also fixes a number of lesser-known exploits.

General Fixes

Title Update 4 fixes these other issues as well:

• An issue that could cause players to lose all achievement progression if they signed in during a loading screen.
• Issues related to the Smoke Grenade causing a player to cringe instead of knocking them down. If hit by a Smoke Grenade with cringing turned on, players will now:

o Drop the Boomshield, even if aiming while carrying it.
o Drop a heavy weapon, even if it is deployed.
o Cringe while roadie running.
o Cringe while in cover.

• An issue that prevented players from shooting around the lower left side of a planted shield.
• An issue that could cause a DBNO player to not appear as DBNO.
• An issue that prevented Gears players from inviting players of other games to join them in progress in a Private match using DLC.
• Issues that caused rich presence information to become inaccurate.
• An issue that caused the overall achievements progress bar to not reflect the latest achievements.
• An assortment of localization bug fixes.
• Additional miscellaneous bug fixes.

Balancing

Title Update 4 makes these balancing changes:

• Adds a 30-second delay in map-based weapon spawning at the beginning of a Wingman match.
• Adds more future server-side balancing options.

We continue to test internally and monitor online gameplay to determine what else may need adjusting.

Set to launch shortly

Two European retailers posted the product pages of the Samsung N510 Ion netbook -- a small yet performative device -- on their websites this past weekend, noting the version featuring NVIDIA's GeForce 9400M chipset would launch in the next few days.

(Image source: Legit Reviews)

It features an 11.6" screen with a resolution  of 1366x768, wifi b/g/n, bluetooth and usual 160GB hard drive. It will sport the newer Atom N280, which has a FSB of 667Mhz compared to the 533MHz of the N270, and is clocked 66MHz faster. The netbook will come equipped of a 6-cell battery and is believed to provide approximately the same battery life as the older model the NC10, based on the aging Intel 945GSE chipset, except video performance will simply not be comparable -- the 9400M just owns its Intel rival.

Update: I just found this new picture, and the netbook does not seem quite the same. The borders around the screen are much thinner, and the NVIDIA logo has been replaced by the model name. Let's hope the second picture the design they will be going with! However this source states a release date as far as October.

(Image source: Blogeee)

Steam has just released one hell of a deal: 20 Games for 54 bucks

Earlier this week we had an article on a great deal from Steam: Fallout 3 for 25 bucks.  That won't be the only deal blowing out of Steam over the next little while.

2K Games just launched its huge game pack, bundling 20 of its games which would normally cost $229.80 in total, for only $54.00.   This is a real deal considering some of the tiles included in the game pack:

•     Sid Meier's Pirates
•      Shattered Union
•      Prey
•      CivCity: Rome
•      Sid Meier's Railroads
•      Railroad Tycoon 3
•      Railroad Tycoon II Platinum
•      X-COM: Terror From the Deep
•      X-COM: Apocalypse
•      BioShock
•      X-COM: Interceptor
•      X-COM: UFO Defense
•      X-COM: Enforcer
•      Freedom Force
•      Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich
•      Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete
•      Sid Meier's Civilization IV
•      Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
•      Civilization IV Warlords
•      Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization

New details on Reality Pump's 2006 RPG sequel

Two Worlds: The Temptation was originally pegged as an expansion pack for the first title in the series -- perhaps figuring two packs already was enough, The Temptation at some point became a full-out sequel, which developer Reality Pump has just now aptly renamed Two Worlds II.

With that comes a few new details: the game will be releasing this winter on the PC, Mac, and "next-gen consoles." The first title received a poor port to the Xbox 360 -- hopefully the sequel doesn't receive the same fate.

Publisher SouthPeak claims II has made "quantum leaps in all spheres": compeltely overhauled AI and balancing, experienced authors, an active combat system and new game engine are among the changes -- by the sounds of it, it could overcome the "average" standard its predecessor seemed to impress upon reviewers, but we'll have to wait and see.

Alexandra Constandache, the Executive Producer of TWII commented, “We intentionally opted for a completely independent game with radical new technology. This was the only way to ensure that we harness the enormous potential and experience gained from the making of the first “Two Worlds” project - and make full use of the further technical development of internal Reality Pump tools that has been on-going since the first “Two Worlds” was developed. This new release window gives us enough time to systematically implement both our own requirements and the feedback of the “Two World” fans, enabling us to create a breathtaking RPG experience.”

Keeping it cool with Arctic Cooling Twin Turbo Pro VGA cooler

Its no secret that some of today's more powerful video cards produce a lot of heat and the stock coolers on reference-design cards are loud and barely manage to keep temperatures in check.

Inno3D produces a line of videocards aimed squarely at enthusiasts and gamers who want top-notch performance and quieter cooling options. One of the ways the company does this is by incorporating aftermarket coolers from the likes of Arctic Cooling, Zalman and Zerotherm. Such is the case with the iChill GeForce GTS 250 that uses an Arctic Cooling Twin Turbo Pro cooler to provide excellent cooling at greatly reduced sound levels.

The unit mounts twin 92mm low-noise fans on the four-heatpipe cooler which offers over 80 percent greater cooling surface area when compared to the stock cooler. The advanced cooling solution on the iChill Accelero brings down temperatures 23C and reduces noise levels from 3.4 Sone to 0.4 Sone. The reduced temperatures also results in more stable performance and give you more headroom when overclocking the card.

Inno3D doesn't have the i-Chill GeForce GTS 250 posted on its web site yet and didn't provide pricing or availability information.

Images of more Ultimate All-Stars!

Capcom released some new Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars screenshots today, perhaps in stride with the game's showing at this year's Anime Expo in Los Angeles. 

Already a Japanese hit and highly anticipated by Western gamers, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is currently due some time in Winter 2009 for the Nintendo Wii platform.  Until then, enjoy the pretty pictures and stay tuned for more related news.

Anyone the area is welcome to head on over to the Los Angeles Convention Center and check the game out themselves, provided you're willing to fork over a badge fee.

Lookee, lookee!

Our editor Lydia Sung would normally be all over these new Darkside Chronicles assets from ze Festival des Loisirs Japonais, but as she's away at another Japan-related expo (the Anime one, to be specific), here we are.

The Darkside Chronicles, if you're as of yet unacquainted, is an on-rails entry in the Resident Evil franchise, this one set for the Nintendo Wii late this year. Fan favourites Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy make a return, each of whom's enemies this time are "their own demons." The game is said to feature upgraded gameplay from The Umbrella Chronicles, and will fill in holes left by that title.

The first item we have today is a trailer, which follows the original announcement trailer and the second from Captivate 2009.

Next up we have 25 new screenshots, mostly depicting the enemies -- one in particular seems like a cross between a Necromorph (Dead Space) and Soul Calibur's Voldo. Our favourite is this gorgeous fellow.

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles launches this winter on the Wii.

Autumn not long to wait for Obsidian's spy RPG

Obsidian Entertainment's Alpha Protocol will be out on October 6th. It is official.

Tired of RPG's with the typical collection of dragons, elves and dwarves? Or the slightly less common collection of aliens, space ships and pulse rifles? Then you might be interested in Alpha Protocol, which gives a RPG gaming spin to the spy thriller.

Another dev diary for the game went up today. Surprisingly, it looks like the graphics have been raised a small notch since the last time we see saw some Alpha Protocol footage. Guess the crew at Obsidian is putting the pedal to the medal in this final stage of polishing the game in anticipation of release. 

Is it just me, or does Lead Artist Aaron Meyers bear a passing resemblance to Robert Downey Jr. ?

As an added bonus for you possible Neo-fans of the game, some previously unseen cam gameplay footage from E3 was submitted by a user to GameTrailers today. Here it is.

And last but not least, the box art was also shown today for the first time (as pictured below and left). Have to say, don't find it particularly eye-catching myself. What about this fan-made box art instead (below, right)?

Watch out for falling psychopaths

The new Batman game, Arkham Asylum, is set to touch down not to long from now. It is coming August 25th, for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC simultaneously.

Eidos has put together a new video. This one features the game director, and some of the writing team. Though the video doesn't really show anything much you haven't seen before, if you are a fan of the game, any new Batman: Arkham Asylum video is good video.

Steam deals continue to be awesome

Some of the best deals in PC gaming often come via Valve's Steam weekend deals. 

50% off is the par for the course, for the Steam deals. And this weekend it is Bethesda's blockbuster Fallout 3, for $24.99 USD. Not that bad!

If you are interested at all in the game and been waiting for a good time to get it, now is your chance. I suppose if you had the will-power to hold out for the eventual Game of the Year edition, with all the lovely DLC included in the box, than that might be a package waiting even longer for. But $24.99 for Fallout 3 ! You have to love it.

How many more PC games would sell every year if the normal price for a game was $30, instead of almost twice that?

"We make a point of listening to our customers"

If you haven't caught it, Microsoft recently put out an advertisement for the latest edition of Internet Explorer, featuring none other than Superman actor Dean Cain, and directed by comedian and writer Bobcat Goldthwait. The ad, one in a series of similar productions, is now notorious for its 'graphic content'.

Following complaints, Microsoft has pulled it, stating, "while much of the feedback to this particular piece of creative was positive, some of our customers found it offensive, so we have removed it. We make a point of listening to our customers."

Below is the advertisement in question.

Our feeling: it's hilarious. And as a note to Microsoft: while it's good you listen to your customers, what about the ones that find this being pulled absurd? Just a thought, of course -- let us know yours.

iPhone 3G / 3GS shouldn't exceed 35º C / 95º F

Apple issued a temperature warning for their 3G and 3GS iPhones this week. Perhaps the summer heat was killing a few of the fancy phones in North America.

"Operate iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in a place where the temperature is between 0º and 35º C (32º to 95º F). Low- or high-temperature conditions might temporarily shorten battery life or cause the device to temporarily stop working properly.

Store iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in a place where the temperature is between -20º and 45º C (-4º to 113º F). Don’t leave the device in your car, because temperatures in parked cars can exceed this range," said Apple's website.

If you are bringing your iPhone to the beach, or over to similiar summery places, like Disneyland, it should not be that hard for your iPhone to exceed 32ºC -- especially in the hotter climates. So watch out! If you exceed this operating themperature, the horrible following problems may befall your so called 'smartphone':

• The device stops charging
• Display dims
• Weak cellular signal
• Temperature warning screen appears with the message "iPhone needs to cool down before you can use it" (see image below)

This somewhat limited operating temperature range might really be a problem this summer for owners in hot places, like South Africa or Bali.

$33 million for "substantially all" assets

Midway Games hasn't been in good shape this past while, if you haven't heard yet. Following lay-offs, cancellations, losses, debt, and shutdowns last year, Chapter 11 bankruptcy was filed, followed by a $33 million USD bid from Warner Bros. (WB) for most of the company's assets, including Mortal Kombat.

Yesterday court proceedings brought about the next step in the process -- Midway's acquisition by WB for the aforementioned sum and properties.

No other entities had filed a bid for the newly sold studio, though many had objected over intellectual-property rights, including Mortal Kombat filmmakers Threshold Entertainment and production company Tigon Studios, whom Midway collaborated with on Wheelman. These disputes were resolved yesterday, though, so everything will go forward.

With any luck, any upcoming MK games will remain M-rated as series creator Ed Boon is planning.

Midway's majority shareholder Mark Thomas had secured a $30 million claim in the bankruptcy, with $40 million unsecured; the latter has been eliminated in this new settlement. The comittee of unsecured creditors had sued Thomas, previous majority shareholder Sumner Redstone, and members of Midway's board in May, questioning how quickly Thomas purchase of Redstone's 87 percent stake had happened, and citing his payout as "unfairly large."

(Pictured left: Warner Bros.)

Team says it will 'enhance, not interfere'

It was announced to the public yesterday advertisements would be coming to the Xbox LIVE, something which sparked a lot of debate and controversy amongst gamers and journalists alike -- comments like "on Live it makes no sense if we have to pay a yearly fee and ON TOP of that have to deal with ads", and "They better have those ads for Silver accounts only" made up the general consensus of opinion on GameGrep.

Certainly valid points, especially when Wii and PS3 owners get most of the same services for free, and without ads -- sure, some argue it's an inferior experience, nevertheless, Microsoft's decision does raise an eyebrow or two.

The bright side, in any case, is the ads won't be obstructive, at least not much so -- Xbox LIVE's Major Nelson reports:

I’ve seen quite a bit of discussion today about how we’re bringing Silverlight ads to LIVE in the future.

I need to let you know that you don’t need to worry about a huge influx of ads across the dashboard. One of our core principles is to enhance, not interfere with the gaming experience, and we work directly with our partners to only deliver experiences that are relevant to the LIVE community. Silverlight will help make those ads a more organic part of the dashboard, like we’ve done with some of the NXE slots in the past. No one on the team wants to turn the dashboard into something that looks like like Shibuya Crossing. That’s just not good for anyone.

So at the least they're somewhat reasonable. 

PC World's Matt Peckham responds:

"[Nelson] seems like the nicest guy in the world, but "enhance" is one of those words that drives me crazy. As far as I'm concerned, anything that's designed to entice me to buy more stuff while I'm reading a book, listening to a music CD, watching a DVD, or yes, even playing a video game, is interfering with my [...] experience. The question is, how much interference is too much interference?"

The advertisements will be using Microsoft's Silverlight technology, which is designed for animation, vector graphics, and audio playback -- though it's not precisely clear at this point what the content will consist of, Microsoft  held a demonstration at Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2009 recently which used the latest Harry Potter film as an example of how advertisers could use their tools to increase profit, with the Xbox 360 as one component.

Since the "Xbox Experience" is already heavy on movies, seeing minorly intrusive and relevant content like this, particularly with the options of buying tickets, say, seems like a sensible enough idea to us, provided the animation and audio are left out of the picture. But as Peckham says, there are lines which can be crossed; respect should be in the highest order:

"Gamers buy game systems to play games, not be advertisement receptacles. In a smarter, more imaginative world, companies like Microsoft wouldn't need to gild the lily to lure advertisers and bolster revenue."

You're a dreamer, Peckham -- but you're not the only one.

Just a week to wait

The game will be based around aerial dogfights, trench combat and sea warfare, and is set to reinvent the classic maps from 1942 -- Wake Island, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Coral Sea are inspired by their predecessor and will feature a striking lack of cover.

The Coral Sea map will only be unlocked once the 43 million community kill incentive is released -- probably a little easier than it sounds given the 24-player support.

“Battlefield 1943 is going to change consumer expectations of what a downloadable game can be. By offering Frostbite’s next generation destruction technology with a full Vehicle Warfare FPS multiplayer experience at a mere 560MB, Battlefield 1943 sets a new standard,” said Gordon Van Dyke, Producer on Battlefield 1943. “Our goal is to blow people away with a fully accessible, retail-calibre game for veteran Battlefield fans and shooter fans alike to enjoy for only £9.99.”

Wake Island has already been video featured -- today we bring you Guadalcanal.

Starts July 1, 2009

Cooler Master has announced the start of it 2009 Global Modding Contestwhich begins today, July 1 and runs through September 30th. Once all entries are in voting begins with winners to be announced October 15th.

Competition will include three categories:

• Full Tower
• Mid Tower
• Unique

There will will be a total of of four winners from each category based on the number of votes received. The top three modders with the most number of votes will receive grand prizes with three runner up prizes to be awarded in each category. The prize packages are being sponsored by AMD, Crucial, CyberPowerPC, Intel Extreme Board Division, Final Fantasy XI, CM Storm, Choiix, MSI, Zotac and Kingston so there should be some awesome goodies handed out to the best modders.

To find out more information about the competition including rules and how to register, head on over to the official contest site.

Touch screen control for up to 5 fans

NZXT has released a new system fan controller that features a color touch screen controller and is compatible with any fan that uses voltage control. Fitting in a single 5.25 inch drive bay, the Sentry 2 boasts fast response time on the touch screen interface which displays pertinent information such as fan speeds and system temperatures in both Celsius and Fahrenheit.

The Sentry 2 can control up to 5 fans and supports 10W per channel and allows the user to manually control each fan individually or can be set up to automatically control the fans based on specific temperatures. The display can be switched off and the setting are stored internally during times when your PC is powered off. NZXT expects the Sentry to be available this month at a MSRP of $29.99 US.

Re-enters GPU market after a short hiatus

In January of last year, Mushkin announced its first graphics card, the Geforce 8800 GT XP.  Now it looks like Mushkin is about to release a few more.

The manufacturer has announced several Nvidia based cards that they plan to produce, ranging from GTX 260 to GTX 285 and GTX 295, all of which should be announced soon.

All of their cards so far have been based on Nvidia's primary design. Branded "UltimateX," the recently announced lineup includes a few overclocked models, and Mushkin is apparently preparing to do a few ATI based cards as well.

These cards are also shipped in nice wooden boxes, a high contrast to the cheaper cardboard containers typically seen. Precise details about the cards are still unknown, but we are quite sure that more information will come up soon.

Software and minimum hardware requirements posted

Looking forward to Wolfenstein?  This HD remake of a brutal classic will be arriving August 4 on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

For PC gamers, the minimum specs were recently posted on the official Wolfenstein forums, along with software requirements, by community manager "Sokal."  Nothing for recommended system specs yet.

Software Requirements

• Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP or Windows Vista(R) (Windows 95/98/ME/2000 are unsupported)
• Microsoft DirectX(R) 9.0c (included & required for Windows XP & Vista)

Hardware Requirements

• CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 3.2 GHz or AMD Athlon(TM) 64 3400+ processor
• RAM: 1GB RAM
• Video Card: 256MB NVIDIA(R) Geforce(R) 6800 GT or ATI Radeon(TM) X800
• Sound Card: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
• HDD Space: 8GB (Plus an additional 800MB for Windows swap file)
• Media: 100% Microsoft Windows compatible DVD-ROM drive
• Internet: Broadband connection and service required for multiplayer

Maybe NATAL will be finalized by then, too!

Okay, so no one actually said anything about Project Natal, but Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter still likes making video game industry predictions.  No matter how wonky they are or which console they favor.

This time, he's declaring the PlayStation 3 a victor -- in 2015.  As a result, Pachter claims that the Xbox 360 will fall into third place worldwide by then, with the PlayStation 3 in second thanks to its Blu-ray compatibility and the Xbox 360's poor sales history in Japan.

Here's the notable excerpt from Pachter's 200+ page report:

"We think that the PS3 will capture significant market share, primarily due to Sony’s victory in the high definition DVD format war, and will end up in second place by 2015.

"Although Microsoft’s Xbox 360 enjoyed a first mover advantage, we think that its market position will fade to third place due to lack of penetration in Japan."

This man can see the future, someone call the B.P.R.D.!

Wait, so who will be first place in 2015, if not the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360?  The Nintendo Wii HD, of course!  I'm not making this up; the report also speculates / insists the arrival of an HD Wii console, which Pachter believes will debut next year.

Some issues with purchase link being addressed

The gaming community has been calling Kodu the "LittleBigPlanet-killer" since the game was first announced. 

While I certainly don't like seeing video games kill each other (or people), Kodu does offer Xbox 360 owners their own taste of community-driven play.

Having shipped last night, Kodu is now available for purchase after two and half years, when the game was first conceived.  There are already countless player-made levels more "sophistocated" than what the dev team could dream up, apparently.

So there shouldn't be any worry about lack of content, for those more interested in playing than creating.  But first, make sure you've got 400 Microsoft Points to spare. 

The Xbox LIVE Marketplace description states: "The visual programming environment allows rapid design iteration using only a game controller for input. Share your creations with friends over Xbox LIVE."

It should be noted that Kodu has been experiencing problems with purchase links online, so you may want to buy through your console for the time being.  Just to be on the safe side.

Inspired by the classic film, bringin' back the memories

505 Games, in collaboration with Paramount Digital Entertainment, will be overseeing and publishing a Grease video game on Nintendo DS and Wii.

This is a massive trip down memory lane for a lot of people, no doubt, and especially well-timed given the rise in casual gaming.  More than ever, we see gamers from more unusual demographics.  Looks like a possible buy for more casual gamers, or anyone looking for a family-friendly experience. 

“We are really excited about working with Paramount Digital Entertainment to turn this world famous film into a video game for the very first time. Working with such a well known and much loved brand is a great opportunity and we believe the collaboration further strengthens 505 Games’ entertainment portfolio,” commented Ian Howe, Managing Director at 505 Games.

In the game, players will be allowed to sing and dance alongside Danny, Sandy, The Pink Ladies, and T-Birds, using the DS's touch screen or the Wii's motion controls and mic.

“Paramount Digital Entertainment is pleased to be working with 505 Games to develop Grease,” said John Kavanagh, Senior VP of Video Games for Paramount Digital Entertainment. “Grease is the ideal opportunity to reach a broad gaming audience who love to sing, dance and have fun with a party-style game.”

Are the pastures in China just as green?

China will never run out of MMOs to play, and now Warrior Epic is hopping the Great Firewall for some action.

International publisher True Games Interactive announced today that they've signed a deal with top Asian publisher, Gamania Digital Entertainment, giving Gamania exclusive publishing, distribution and operating rights over Possibility Space's Warrior Epic in China. 

"Gamania is one of the premier publishers of online content in Asia and it is an honor to have them as a partner for Warrior Epic," Jeff Lujan, Founder and Chairman of True Games.  "While it is common for Eastern-developed online games to come West, it is rare that a Western-developed game would be published in the East, but that is how confident we are that Warrior Epic has an appeal that spans gamers worldwide."

Based in Taipei, Taiwan, Gamania also publishes other notable MMOs in Asian territories, including Lineage Online, MapleStory, Mabinogi and more.

"We are thrilled to be working with True Games to bring Warrior Epic to the Asian community of gamers," said William Chen, Chief Operating Officer of Gamania.  "We have brought some of the most successful MMO titles to market here in Asia and Warrior Epic will make a great addition to our portfolio of games."

If you'd like to try the game out for yourself, feel free to click around the official website.