Category Archives: Games

Microsoft Removes Xbox One DRM

xbox-one-logo-bannerAfter taking a PR battering over 24-hour online check-in, used games restrictions, contradictory explanations of their policies and seemingly mocking people who didn’t like the Xbox One’s policies, Microsoft is performing an about-face on their established DRM policies.

A post on the Xbox website said that Microsoft was backtracking on the DRM and used games restrictions that nearly derailed the Xbox One in this console generation before it started.

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PSA: PlayStation 3 Firmware Update 4.45 May Lock Up Your System

Reports are spreading like wildfire that PlayStation 3 update 4.45 is causing some consoles to lock-up and become unusable after applying the update. The update was supposed to include trophy notification options and improved system stability options. It looks like they missed the latter by a bit.

According to some unofficial Reddit data analysis, if you have installed a new hard drive into your PS3 that’s larger than 500 GB, you have a 90% chance of your console bricking and becoming unusable. All other PS3 types have a failure rate of less than 10% with the stock 500 GB models suffering an 8% failure rate and 120 GB models locking up in 2% of cases.

As of publishing, it appears that Sony has rolled back the 4.45 update and lists 4.41 as the current firmware version. Just be aware if you do see an update 4.45 listed and check the internet to see if you’re safe to install it.

EA Moves Dead Space Developers to a New IP

ea-visceral-gamesNews of Visceral Games’ demise may have been premature but it looks like news of the end of the Dead Space may not have been. In an interview at E3, EA Games Label vice president Patrick Soderlund says that the developer has been moved on to work on a new IP while Dead Space has been but on hiatus.

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Conan Reviews Injustice and Unveils Zod DLC

For the casual gamer, there may not be a better or more relevant reviewer than Conan O’Brien. I’m serious. Watch his Resident Evil 6 or Tomb Raider reviews and you’ll find someone who is quite capable of pointing out some unintended faults in games that the core gamer just takes for granted.

Anyway, Conan and trusty nerd assistant Aaron Blair took a look at the recently released Injustice: Gods Among Us and unveils the new Zod DLC. He also backs me in saying Superman could beat Batman in a fight. Like that’s still a question.

The Xbox One Used Games Instructional Video

Just when you thought that Sony had all the momentum coming out of E3 with their anti-DRM policies and pot shots at the Xbox One, Microsoft fires back with their own versions of the famous PlayStation 4 game sharing instructional video. Unfortunately, I don’t think this will help Microsoft that much.

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E3 2013: Xbox One Games Were Running on High-Powered Windows 7 PCs

When a game developer works on a game for a particular console, they get a “dev kit.” These are computers that are specced out to perform similar to the retail version of the console. One would assume that the games being shown off at E3 were running on dev kits but you’d be wrong.

It turns out that eye-witness reports from the floor at E3 say that not only were Xbox One games not running on dev kits but PCs that were likely far more powerful than the XB1.

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E3 2013: Driveclub PS Plus Edition is Free-to-Play

driveclub-bannerDidn’t getting a PlayStation 4 launch title for free for being a PlayStation Plus subscriber sound almost too good to be true? Well, that’s because it actually is too good to be true.

Sony confirmed that the PlayStation Plus Edition of the PS4 launch title Driveclub is going to operate on a free-to-play business model. You can get the game for free but some of the game’s tracks and cars will be locked out until you buy them.

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House Sigils for Video Game Families

Polytron Announces Fez 2

Love him or hate him, Phil Fish made a damn good video game when he and his team at Polytron made Fez. (Review coming eventually, I promise.)

In an announcement at the Horizon conference, a one-day video game arts show run by Venus Patrol and the LA Museum of Contemporary Art, Fish officially announced that Fez 2 is in development and would be coming eventually on consoles to be named later. Hey, Phil, the Wii U doesn’t charge indies for patches!

Spielberg and Lucas Say Characters Will Bring Games to the Next Level

steven-spielberg-george-lucas-panelRegardless of what you think about their most recent movies, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg know a thing or two about movies, entertainment and storytelling. So when they start talking about video games, we should probably pay attention.

Both men said that it was the human connection between the players and the characters on-screen that was what video games struggled with the most when compared to other narrative-based forms of entertainment and that was where the next evolution of video games lied.

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