General gaming

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• StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm is Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos 2.0
• PlayStation Store Returning by Week's End
• Call of Duty's Long-Rumored Subscription Service is Here
• "This is the Beginning of the End for Sony," Says Hacker Group
• Minecraft Documentary Wants Your Story
• Uncharted 3 Beta Has Nine Modes, Runs Until July 13
• NGP to be Named PlayStation Vita - Report
• 1UP's Calibur11 Xbox 360 Game Cases Giveaway

StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm is Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos 2.0 Posted: 31 May 2011 12:04 AM PDT In the days leading up to my demo of StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm's single-player campaign, I started to speculate what might be in store. Will it be an RPG that follows Kerrigan on her quest of redemption (or her control for power)? Perhaps it could be something akin to the "The Founding of Durotar" campaign from Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne? How much will it borrow from previous games in the series? It got to the point where I was having dreams of Zerglings and Ultralisks on a nightly basis. Turns out some of my speculation was half-right: Heart of the Swarm will introduce a variation of the Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos hero mechanic and Kerrigan will be that "hero" -- unlimited respawns and all. Unlike Reign of Chaos, where the player could locate power-ups scattered throughout the levels and freely swap them out mid-mission between heroes, Kerrigan will have static powers known as Focus Abilities. These get upgraded between missions by using the earned XP from successful completion of objectives, and are divided into two paths: Corruption and Spec Ops.

PlayStation Store Returning by Week's End Posted: 30 May 2011 09:05 PM PDT Sony has announced it plans to fully restore the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services by the end of the week unless you reside in Japan, Hong Kong, or South Korea. For those everywhere else in the world, that means the PlayStation Store will be back online for the first time since it went down along with PSN on April 20. PSN service resumed on May 14, and the Store was rumored to be coming back on May 24, which it did not. Sony maintained that it would have service resumed by the end of May, but it now looks as if it could miss that goal by several days. "We have been conducting additional testing and further security verification of our commerce functions in order to bring the PlayStation Network completely back online so that our fans can again enjoy the first class entertainment experience they have come to love," said Kaz Hirai in a statement. "We appreciate the patience and support shown during this time."

Call of Duty's Long-Rumored Subscription Service is Here Posted: 30 May 2011 08:14 PM PDT Update: Expect to learn a lot more tomorrow with an NDA lifting, but one detail that's been clarified by Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling is that Elite is a free service, and that certain, undetermined aspects of it will cost money. Original Story:This year's Call of Duty title, Modern Warfare 3, will bring with it an optional, monthly subscription service that the franchise will carry into future titles. Such a thing was rumored after a survey inquired about the possibility in 2009. Activision denied that Modern Warfare 2 or Black Ops would see a subscription, but CEO Bobby Kotick did admit last year he'd like to see CoD as an "an online subscription service." Sure enough, he's getting his wish with Call of Duty Elite. The Wall Street Journal brings word of Elite, which will provide content beyond what you'd expect to be on the game disc, including more of the map packs that have been so successful. Elite will also offer functionality similar to that of stock-trading websites that allow players to track in-depth statistics. Another feature mentioned was a social networking service of sorts that allows players to find similar players to join up with, which will be free for everyone to use. A "digital platform" was announced earlier this year as coming from Activision's Beachhead studio which Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter theorized could be a subscription service.

"This is the Beginning of the End for Sony," Says Hacker Group Posted: 30 May 2011 06:35 PM PDT Since suffering an attack on the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services -- leading to users' data being leaked and PSN being taken down for several weeks -- Sony has been targeted by hackers several more times. Just recently, more than $1,000 in virtual points were stolen when Sony's ISP was broken into and a phishing site was discovered on Sony's servers. The attacks on Sony don't appear to be done, either. Over the weekend, PBS' website was hacked and a story was posted claiming rapper Tupac is still alive. It was apparently perpetrated by LulzSec, the same group that took responsibility for an attack on Sony BMG's Japanese website a little more than a week ago. It hasn't said it was responsible for the attack on PSN. That same group said on Twitter this past Friday, "We're working on another Sony operation. We've condensed all our excited tweets into this one: this is the beginning of the end for Sony." A follow-up tweet yesterday said, "#Sownage (Sony + Ownage) Phase 1 will begin within the next day. We may have a pre-game show for you folks though. Stay tuned." As of this writing, no further updates related to Sony have been posted.

Minecraft Documentary Wants Your Story Posted: 30 May 2011 02:52 PM PDT A feature-length documentary on Minecraft and developer Mojang's first year has been in the works for some time now. The team behind the the doc, 2 Player Productions, is looking to hear the extraordinary stories some fans have to tell. If you have a story about how Minecraft has impacted your life -- maybe you used the game to propose to your significant other or get a job -- 2PP wants to hear it. If your tale is deemed special enough, it might just make it into Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. The documentary is being funded by fans. A donation page on Kickstarter for the project shows that more than $210,000 was raised by 3,631 individuals, far more than the goal of $150,000 (which was met back on March 26). A 20-minute version, made before realizing that a more in-depth piece was needed, can be seen here. 2PP explains what fans will get from watching: "For the first time, viewers will be given an in-depth look at both the triumphs and the challenges faced by a studio during their first year in existence. 2 Player will analyze the unprecedented success of Minecraft, gain insight into its impact from journalists and industry professionals, and meet the fans whose lives have been changed by the game."

Uncharted 3 Beta Has Nine Modes, Runs Until July 13 Posted: 30 May 2011 01:24 PM PDT The Uncharted film adaptation lost director David O. Russell last week, something that will inevitably push back production of the movie. Luckily fans of the franchise still have Uncharted 3 to look forward to later this year as well as the multiplayer beta that kicks off in about a month. The beta will run for more than two weeks, from June 28 until July 13, IGN reports. Players will only get access in June if they're a PlayStation Plus subscriber or have the voucher included with specially-marked copies of Infamous 2, coming out on June 7. Those who don't meet either of those criteria will have to wait until July 4 to get in. Players will be able to reach level 25 and check out the new boosters, medal kickbacks, and weapon mods. There are two maps (the airfield and a French chateau) and nine multiplayer modes included, three of which are unrevealed co-op modes. The competitive multiplayer stuff sounds pretty standard-fare, like team deathmatch and capture the flag (or treasure, in Uncharted's case). The exception is High Stakes, where players can gamble their XP and cash not entirely unlike Call of Duty: Black Ops' Wager Matches. None of the competitive multiplayer modes allow for more than 10 players total, and some cap out with fewer players.

NGP to be Named PlayStation Vita - Report Posted: 30 May 2011 11:35 AM PDT It seems likely that we'll learn the final name of the PlayStation Portable's successor at its E3 press conference next Monday. The surprise may have been spoiled as two (purportedly separate) reports have surfaced showing that the Next Generation Portable's final name will be PlayStation Vita, or PS Vita, as the image above shows. It isn't the first time we've heard the name used in connection with the system -- developers told 1UP that "VITA" was the code name Sony had been using to refer to it. A Blogspot website, which has since been made private (cached versions available here and here), posted both the name and picture above, which is said to be a prepared graphic for E3. Joystiq reports a note was left on the site at one point that read, "This has to be one of the stupidest things I've ever done. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sorry. I really am." Another website, Games Pundit, claims to have heard from an anonymous source that Vita is the system's name but offered up no evidence beyond that. RipTen, meanwhile, claims it's also heard Vita will be the system's name, and that what's currently referred to as Uncharted NGP will be known as Uncharted: Golden Abyss.

1UP's Calibur11 Xbox 360 Game Cases Giveaway Posted: 30 May 2011 07:49 AM PDT 1UP's Calibur11 Xbox 360 Game Cases Giveaway How To Play It's time to soup-up your Xbox 360, style!

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