General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article


Google Spent Almost $2 Billion On 79 Acquisitions In 2011

Posted: 29 Jan 2012 12:42 PM PST

HandshakeGoogle's filed its 10-K with the SEC yesterday, and the numbers have revealed a staggering increase in the number of acquisitions the search giant made in 2011. Google closed the year by spending close to $2 billion on 79 separate acquisitions in 2011, a number that has grown significantly from the $1 billion it spent in 2010. This number of course doesn't factor in the Motorola deal which is expected to clear in early 2012 to the tune of $12.5 billion, but includes dozens of other high profile startups. 

Many of the companies on its list you've probably never heard of, though some firms such as Clever Sense, Kantango, and Apture were promising startups. Google will be no doubt be stepping up its acquisition pace in 2012 as it looks to expand its talent pool to help dominate the mobile space, and goes a long way towards their expanding headcount which grew 33 percent from 2010 to 2011. Google's army now stands at over 32,000 employees around the world.  

Bill Gates Wrote Steve Jobs A Letter He Kept By His Death Bed

Posted: 29 Jan 2012 12:03 PM PST

Bill GatesIt's been awhile now since Bill Gates ruled the roast over at Microsoft, however his philanthropic work across the globe has more than made up for his absence. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has almost completely rid the world of polio, and malaria and aids can't be far behind at this rate. The founder of Microsoft has arguably made one of the most significant contributions to the world in the past hundred years, but even despite all his own personal accomplishments, he continues to reminisce over the death of Steve Jobs in interviews.

According to Gates Steve Jobs was one of the few people to understand his compulsions, and has started slowly opening up to the press in his defense over his description in the late Apple co-founder's biography. "Steve was an incredible genius who contributed immensely to the field I was in. We had periods, like the early Macintosh, when we had more people working on it than they did. And then we were competitors. The personal computers I worked on had a vastly higher [market] share than Apple until really the last five or six years, where Steve's very good work on the Mac and on iPhones and iPads did extremely well. It's quite an achievement, and we enjoyed each [other's work]."

Gate's comments might sound a bit like a tribute, but reading between the lines you can also sense his confidence in the decisions he made which lead to Microsoft's dominance. "He spent a lot of his time competing with me. There are lots of times when Steve said [critical] things about me. If you took the more harsh examples, you could get quite a litany." In Jobs's view, his rival was "unimaginative", "a bit narrow" and derivative. As he once told an interviewer, "He [Gates] would be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram."

Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates

Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates


Street Fighter Movie Reenactment with Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono

Posted: 29 Jan 2012 06:20 AM PST

Sometimes…we get bored. And, you know, fun-loving developers happen to be in our office. And, well…things happen.

When Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono stopped by to demo Street Fighter X Tekken last week, we handed him a piece of paper with lines from the Street Fighter movie on it, crossed our fingers, turned a camera on, and hoped for the best. You can see the result above.

Then let us know in the comments if this kind of thing should ever happen again.


Posted by: admin in Gaming News
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TGS: So, What’s the Most Worthless Game in Japan?

Posted: 29 Jan 2012 01:27 AM PST

After spending an afternoon wandering the retro game shops and bars of Tokyo, one sad sight in particular stood out to us: The most unloved, unwanted game in Japan, as discovered at off-the-beaten-path Akihabara standard Friends.

We’ve seen cheaper games than 30 yen (about 40 cents) apiece, but never quite so many at one time. The sheer numbers of unwanted carts in this basket — about 90% a single title by volume — means that you could buy this entire collection for about 10-12 bucks and… I don’t know. Use them as tiny bricks in your toilet basin to reduce your water bill?

And what is the unloved game in question? None other than Rockman.EXE Battle Chip GP, which came to America as Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge. Now, Battle Chip Challenge wasn’t a great game by any means, but it wasn’t this bad, either. I want to believe that this is part of a mass-dumping trend by angry Mega Man Legends 3 fans who are trying to make Capcom look bad by selling off their Rockman collections en masse.

But don’t be sad, Mega Man fans. Battle Chip Challenge has a long way to go before it’s regarded as a legendary kusoge (crap game) on the level of Moero! Pro Yakyuu (aka Bases Loaded). It would be tough to take a bath in this relatively small collection of carts.


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En Masse executive replies on NCsoft lawsuit

Posted: 29 Jan 2012 12:19 AM PST


(Source) While not exactly a long speech, En Masse Entertainment’s Vice President of Publishing, Mr Chris Lee, has apparently spoke about the lawsuit filed by NCsoft. En Masse Entertainment is the North American subsidiary of Bluehole Studio, the Korean developer of TERA accused of stealing sensitive information from NCsoft with regards to Lineage 3.


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Final Fantasy XIII-2 Reveals a Series in the Throes of Awkward Adolescence

Posted: 28 Jan 2012 06:18 PM PST

In a season riddled with life-changing mega-sequels, Corpse Party couldn’t have arrived at a worse time — especially on a platform so ravaged by the deadly tag team of piracy and disinterest. With its distinctly fan-made presentation and digital-only availability, XSEED’s latest isn’t going to turn heads like the Uncharteds and Modern Warfares of the world; though, in the case of Corpse Party, this lack of attention just might be for the best. While most of our modern gaming blockbusters seek to offer either awkwardly bloodless violence for the sake of the coveted catch-all Teen rating or Bruckheimer-esque glorification of combat, the folks at Team GrisGris obviously didn’t suffer under these same publisher pressures. Corpse Party doesn’t seek to cast the widest net possible with a series of escapist power fantasies that gently nudge players down a path of rewards; from the outset, the game wears its heartlessness on its sleeve, dispatching characters in ways that have yet to debut in your nightmares (but soon will). This glorified visual novel may resemble a B-tier Super Nintendo game on the surface, but nothing else I’ve played over the past 25 years has been so relentlessly brutal, bleak, and terrifying.

Though Corpse Party looks like an ancient JRPG, trappings like hit points, an inventory, and tile-based movement only exist as lip service; the “game” portions of Corpse Party act solely as a conduit for the narrative. Like Phoenix Wright and 999, Corpse Party is a visual novel, though it looks and plays decidedly more “gamey” than other entries in the genre. Instead of transitioning from static scene to static scene from a first-person perspective — typical of the genre — the game employs 2D sprites and an overhead perspective, providing players with a more familiar means of input. And since you’re tasked with controlling a group of defenseless teens, combat simply isn’t an option; the few foes found in the game most often kill with a single touch, making their presence more disturbing than any turn-based ghost battles ever could.


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Jade Dynasty: Prelude (CN)

Posted: 28 Jan 2012 01:26 PM PST


A couple of weeks back, I first posted about the upcoming expansion for Jade Dynasty’s China server, which is titled Prelude (link). There are also 2 new god classes for both Athan and Human, each with different characteristics. In this post, more info will be posted (but not all) as the expansion will be hitting the Chinese server on 2nd September, which is in a few days’ time. Under each new class is also a picture gallery showing off the level 15 to 150 equipments.


For Athan, there is the new powerful fists user who specializes in close range combat, physical combos and a set of skills allowing him to transform into a either a bigger or smaller stature. These 4 transformation skills will increase certain stats, but decrease another as well.


Running away from this class is almost impossible as well, as there are quite a number of skills which will pull a target towards him or simply root the target to the ground. A fierce brawler, this class is awesome for all who craves punching the hell out of opponents and restricting character movement!

Next, we have the new god class for the Human, posted as Incense Mage by a reader. This class is all about fire and torching your opponents to crisp! No ice spells, no lightning shocks, just pure hellfire. As you can imagine, there will be burn effects, spectacular number of graphically stunning area spells and even one which will lock-on to an area and prevent any players from going in or out. Then unleash the fiery inferno!


Also acting as a support class, there are various formations in which can be activated to buff party members. Think of these skills as the Auras from Diablo II’s Paladin. However, these formations only lasts around 10 seconds.


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MMO Updates

MMO Updates


League of Legends reveals Ziggs, the Hexplosives Expert

Posted: 29 Jan 2012 09:00 AM PST

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League of Legends title image
If you're a fan of League of Legends' cute, fuzzy, and distinctly psychotic yordles, you're in for a treat this week! Riot Games has revealed the game's next champion, a furry little yordle who's as adorable as he is deadly. Ziggs the Hexplosives Expert may look innocent enough, but he'd just as sooner drop a bomb in your lap than give you a hug. In a new gameplay reveal, developers give us a look at each of Ziggs' abilities, some screenshots of him in combat, and a dose of lore to blend the new champion into LoL's ever-growing roster.

Ziggs is able to throw a bouncing bomb, set up a delayed satchel charge and scatter proximity mines across the ground that detonate on contact. His ultimate ability, the aptly named Mega Inferno Bomb, is essentially a long-range portable nuke that deals massive damage to those inside the primary blast radius. All of these abilities add up to make Ziggs a scary little damage-dealer to come up against in a match.

The Ziggs patch will bring with it a number of additional balance changes, including the removal of the critical strike mastery in the offense tree, a buff coming to Jax, and a significant nerf heading for Lee Sin players. Check out the Ziggs patch preview video after the break for more details.

Continue reading League of Legends reveals Ziggs, the Hexplosives Expert

MassivelyLeague of Legends reveals Ziggs, the Hexplosives Expert originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Previously on MV TV: Week of January 23rd

Posted: 29 Jan 2012 07:00 AM PST

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Vekk
Welcome to Previously on MV TV! Our livestreaming schedule has picked up a lot over the past few weeks, and our readers have busy lives, so we know it's impossible to watch every single streaming event live. Fortunately for you, we save all of our streams all for posterity on Massively's Twitch TV channel, so you can view them at your leisure. Even better, we've got a roundup of a few of last week's MV TV highlights from the livestream team. Follow along after the jump for the best of the best, and check out our full library of videos for the other games we've streamed last week as we begin to ramp up our streaming even more in February!

Continue reading Previously on MV TV: Week of January 23rd

MassivelyPreviously on MV TV: Week of January 23rd originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    The Daily Grind: How often do you want new abilities?

    Posted: 29 Jan 2012 05:00 AM PST

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    This level, I learned to bend my wrist ninety degrees in any direction without breaking it!
    We're all very familiar with the term "ding." We're also familiar with the immediate follow-up to a ding -- namely, figuring out what new stuff you get following a new level. Of course, that varies a lot depending on the game. Guild Wars will give players new abilities all the time, whether or not you hit a new level, but Star Trek Online only offers up a new set of abilities every 10 levels or so (equipment notwithstanding).

    Granted, if a game gives you abilities infrequently, each one tends to be more vital to your overall play experience. Having a wider spread of abilities means more choices, but it also means that each individual skill doesn't matter as much. So which do you prefer? Would you like to be swimming in new abilities and new tricks at every new level? Or would you prefer a slow roll, with new skills coming infrequently but being special when they do come?

    Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

    MassivelyThe Daily Grind: How often do you want new abilities? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 29 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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      The Mog Log: Weakness is strength

      Posted: 28 Jan 2012 05:00 PM PST

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      The Mog Log header by A. Fienemann
      If you think about characters in the online Final Fantasy games compared to the console-based equivalents, you have to come to a kind of demoralizing conclusion: Your character online is pretty weak. In Final Fantasy XI, you can cap out your Black Mage and you'll still never learn Ultima. In Final Fantasy X, by the time you have your Black Mage using Ultima, you've still got most of the endgame ahead of you. Final Fantasy XIV might move the power scale upward, but at this point your character hasn't even actually mastered being a Paladin, much less summoning anything. Final Fantasy VII, by contrast, gave us three different versions of Bahamut to summon just to keep him relevant, and he was still nowhere near the best.

      And you know what? It makes the games much more fun to have these barriers in place.

      Players have been clamoring for high-end summons in Final Fantasy XI since forever ago, and the fact that it's not even on the visible horizon for Final Fantasy XIV is disheartening to some. But there's something to be said for a play environment where these touchstones of power remain out of reach, certainly for now and possibly forever.

      Continue reading The Mog Log: Weakness is strength

      MassivelyThe Mog Log: Weakness is strength originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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        The Tattered Notebook: The significance of the update delay

        Posted: 28 Jan 2012 03:00 PM PST

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        Othmir
        A funny thing happened on the way to the forum, and you could almost hear the record scratch when it did. Players have been speculating on two things recently: the release date of GU 63 and the absence of Executive Producer Dave "SmokeJumper" Georgeson from the forums. As it turns out, SmokeJumper was simply on vacation, but his first post after returning created quite a stir. He reported a new timetable for game updates this coming year, and it's different from what had been announced.

        Game Update 63 is now scheduled for April, not February. Furthermore, there are only three planned updates this coming year, rather than four, along with an expected expansion at the end of the year. Let's look at some reasons for the change in schedule and what it means to EverQuest II fans.

        Continue reading The Tattered Notebook: The significance of the update delay

        MassivelyThe Tattered Notebook: The significance of the update delay originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          Captain's Log: Epic adventure, revenge, and an interview with Adam Ihle

          Posted: 28 Jan 2012 01:00 PM PST

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          Enterprise F Dry Dock
          This week, after what seemed like an interminable period of waiting, Star Trek Online's acting Executive Producer Stephen D'Angelo posted a dev blog that outlines most of the details for STO's second anniversary events.

          Beginning Thursday, February 2nd, STO will see the return of the infamous Q and his mischievous ways. Players are invited to sign in every day between February 2nd and 6th to participate in a challenge handed down by Q. After doing the entity's bidding, players will be rewarded with a different daily prize, although what those four prizes are has not been revealed.

          However, the news that really has the playerbase buzzing is the announcement that the new and very highly anticipated Federation and Klingon flagships will also be up for grabs -- for free.

          I will be outlining D'Angelo's follow up posts that give us more details into both ships. Also, in light of the announcements, I took the opportunity to catch up with Adam Ihle, whose winning starship design became the inspiration for the final look of the Odyssey class; we'll hear his reaction to the ship's debut in the game.

          Continue reading Captain's Log: Epic adventure, revenge, and an interview with Adam Ihle

          MassivelyCaptain's Log: Epic adventure, revenge, and an interview with Adam Ihle originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            Five phantastic videos from the Phantasy Star Online 2 alpha test

            Posted: 28 Jan 2012 11:00 AM PST

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             title image
            A decade ago, Phantasy Star Online brought the special multiplayer magic of the emerging MMO genre to console gamers around the world. Sega celebrated the game's 10-year anniversary with the announcement of a sequel due to hit the shelves in Japan this year. No word has been given on whether there will be a US or EU release, but that hasn't stopped international fans of the game from getting excited. PSO2 officially launched its second alpha phase yesterday, and foreign game review website Steparu managed to get itself an invite.

            Fans of the original game's online play will be pleased to know that party gameplay has been given some much-needed improvements. There's no more need to make sure everyone is on the same quest; instead, the party leader picks a mission and the whole party gets it automatically. Mini-quests can pop up randomly during a dungeon, and completing them grants bonus experience. Boss fights are just as deadly and hectic as in the original, with fast-paced action and team members dying repeatedly throughout the fight. Steparu has published a comprehensive review of the early alpha, with videos of everything from dungeons and boss kills to furniture arranging. We've embedded a few of those videos after the cut.

            Continue reading Five phantastic videos from the Phantasy Star Online 2 alpha test

            MassivelyFive phantastic videos from the Phantasy Star Online 2 alpha test originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            General gaming

            General gaming


            Final Fantasy XIII-2 Reveals a Series in the Throes of Awkward Adolescence

            Posted: 28 Jan 2012 02:30 PM PST

            Age 13 was a tough year for me. After making my way innocently through elementary school as a naive, good-natured, obedient, straight-A student, I found myself suddenly thrust into the world of junior high, where the traits that had helped me remain so admired among my family and teachers made me tragically uncool among my new peer group. Seeing old images of myself as I sorted through family photos not too long ago really drove home just how awkward I was at that age.

            So I feel some sympathy for the Final Fantasy series. Age XIII was a tough time for it, too. With Final Fantasy XIII, it went from being the cool, cutting-edge RPG series that everyone in the world loved to a symbol of everything troubling the Japanese game development process in one fell swoop. No longer was it the bold, sweeping definition of refined console-based role-playing it had been in the 16-bit days. No longer was it the cutting-edge exercise in marrying technology and narrative that its 32-bit iterations represented. Even the quirky sense of self-reinvention that defined its PlayStation 2 entries was lost.

            MMOGaming News

            MMOGaming News


            En Masse Entertainment: Outright Rejecting to NCsoft Lawsuit

            Posted:

            En Masse Entertainment: Outright Rejecting to NCsoft Lawsuit


            As we reported yesterday, the lawsuit from MMO veteran publisher NCSoft early this month made TERA's official launch in North America suspense. This piece of news suddenly become top heatedly-discussed topic in players and MMORPG industry.

            Green Dragon Nest Features

            Posted:

            Green Dragon Nest Features


            Green Dragon Nest Features

            Continue reading Green Dragon Nest Features.

            En Masse Executive Responds to NCsoft TEAR Lawsuit

            Posted:

            En Masse Executive Responds to NCsoft TEAR Lawsuit


            En Masse Entertainment's Publishing VP Chris Lee has responsed to this issue, stating that the firm "outright rejects" NCsoft's position and will do everything they can to protect themselves and launch TERA on time on May 1.

            Nexon Merged with Nexon Mobile and Developed IOS Games

            Posted:

            Nexon Merged with Nexon Mobile and Developed IOS Games


            In order to facilitate the development of Mobile business, Nexon will combine with Nexon Mobile.Nexon and Nexon Mobile signed the Merger Agreement on 26th Jan. 2012.

            Knight Age (KR): New Promo Trailer Shows Various Mounts, Combats and More

            Posted:

            Knight Age (KR): New Promo Trailer Shows Various Mounts, Combats and More


            Knight Age, a cute-style MMORPG developed and published respectively by Korea-based Gnisoft and Sesisoft, has recently released the latest promotional trailer via its official site.

            Deep into the Flashpoint - Directive 7

            Posted:

            Deep into the Flashpoint -  Directive 7


            This guide is written for the hardmode version of the flashpoint but the mechanics are the exact same for the normal version except for the fact that in normal version the bosses do not have an enrage timer. The hardmode is certainly challenging, some of the bosses have very tight enrage timers and the last boss fight can be pretty chaotic.

            Cartoon Style TPS MicroVolts Announced Knox Pow Wow Update

            Posted:

            Cartoon Style TPS MicroVolts Announced Knox Pow Wow Update


            Rock Hippo Productions Ltd. announced today the launch of its Knox Pow Wow update for the popular cartoon style third-person shooter, MicroVolts. This latest update features exciting new parts for the hip hop action figure, Knox, plus a peek inside the developers' office with the new map: "Bitmap"!

            RIFT Upcoming 1.7 Changes and Your Cleric!

            Posted:

            RIFT Upcoming 1.7 Changes and Your Cleric!


            Hey everyone, patch 1.7 is coming up! This patch isn't as content heavy as some of the prior patches but does bring some significant changes to the cleric class. Reading the patch notes, it can be a bit hard to decipher what some of the changes do to our class and our playstyle.

            Girls' Generation Speaks for Freestyle Spots

            Posted:

            Girls' Generation Speaks for Freestyle Spots


            JCE combined three sports game, Freestyle, Freestyle Football, and Freestyle2, into one collection called Freestyle Spots. As a pioneer of star marketing in the gaming world, JCE invited the hottest idol group, Girls' Generation, to be their spokesperson.

            Rusty Hearts Next Major Update Requiem Slated for Valentine's Day

            Posted:

            Rusty Hearts Next Major Update Requiem Slated for Valentine's Day


            Perfect World Entertainment released a Rusty Hearts video announcing Requiem, a brand new content update that is coming to the game on February 14th.

            WAKFU to Launch Worldwide on February 29th, Dev Diary Video Released

            Posted:

            WAKFU to Launch Worldwide on February 29th, Dev Diary Video Released


            WAKFU, the MMORPG currently in open beta, will be released in less than a month.

            My Bones Ache for Vengeance!

            Posted:

            My Bones Ache for Vengeance!


            Clinkz is introduced to the game this week. And next week we will change the way we ship new content to you every week. As mentioned in our previous update, old replays will stop working then, so don't forget to save your favorite moments out to a video format.

            Guild Wars 2 to Launch on June 30? Well, Amazon.de Thinks So

            Posted:

            Guild Wars 2 to Launch on June 30? Well, Amazon.de Thinks So


            With the announcement that Guild Wars 2 will have selected press test in February and then officially released later this year, speculations about the exact date are spreading. The German version of the Amazon web store has begun taking pre-orders for Guild Wars 2. Moreover, the site lists the game as a June 30th, 2012 launch date.

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