General gaming

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• New PS3 Model is Lighter, Uses Less Power
• Team Fortress 2 Getting its "Biggest, Most Ambitious" Update on Thursday
• Here's What Playable Robin Looks Like in Arkham City
• PlayStation 4 Won't be Rushed to Market by Wii U
• Grand Theft Auto V 2012 Release "Pretty Likely" - Report
• Trenched Review
• Village of the Banned: The Worst Excuses From Xbox Live's Banished
• Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony Review
• Sega Breach Hits 1.3 Million Users, CBS Needs New Pictures
• Halo Anniversary Gets at Least One Addition: Kinect Support

New PS3 Model is Lighter, Uses Less Power Posted: 20 Jun 2011 06:41 PM PDT After rumors that a new model of PlayStation 3 was on the way, the official Japanese PlayStation website has made it official with a listing for the console. It's not a huge difference from the old system and isn't as significant as the change to the slim PS3, but there are a few nice benefits that new buyers will be able to enjoy. As reported by Andriasang, the new, charcoal black CECH-3000B weighs about 2.6kg (down from about 3.0kg in the CECH-2500B), consumes 200 watts of power (from 230), and includes a 320GB hard drive. It appears to look identical to the older 320GB system with the exception of the lip holding the power and eject buttons which is now colored the same charcoal black as the console. It'll be priced no differently that the existing 320GB model at 34,980 yen (about $436) including tax. This new model will be what's included with the previously announced Tales of Xillia X Edition PS3 bundle that's scheduled for release on September 8 in Japan. It's unknown when the new model will make its way to the U.S.

Team Fortress 2 Getting its "Biggest, Most Ambitious" Update on Thursday Posted: 20 Jun 2011 05:57 PM PDT After a fairly quiet period for Team Fortress 2 updates, Valve today announced the Uber Update, which it's calling the "the biggest, most ambitious update in the history of Team Fortress 2." Coinciding with its launch will be the release of the long-awaited "Meet the Medic" video. The previous videos have been hilarious and did a fine job of introducing players to the personality of each of the game's character classes. (And the sandvich.) Included in the update itself is at least one class pack. The first of the bunch, Mobster Monday, was outlined today, but not before ample research was done. "To make sure everything was as accurate as possible, we went deep undercover at the most Italian place we could find, The Olive Garden," the announcement reads. "We asked the Mafia about a million questions, none of which they understood, because our mouths were full of all the free breadsticks the Mafia gives you when you visit them (they're not such bad guys)."

Here's What Playable Robin Looks Like in Arkham City Posted: 20 Jun 2011 04:37 PM PDT Provided they play through the entire game, everyone will have the chance to play as both Batman and Catwoman in Batman: Arkham City. The same can't be said for Robin, however; he was previously listed as a pre-order bonus for the game at Best Buy, and in case you thought it was a mistake, the retailer's website has now posted an image and some brief details on what players will be able to do as the exclusive character. Robin sounds as if he works much like the Joker, who was a playable character in the PS3 version of Arkham Asylum. He was a reskinned version of Batman with his own weapons and gadgets. Robin will be available in the PS3, 360, and PC versions of the game, provided you get a pre-order code for the 'Tim Drake Robin pack' at Best Buy. He's described as a "fully playable character" in the challenge mode where he has his own "unique gadgets and special moves" and an alternative Red Robin character skin. Besides the challenge modes that are otherwise included with the game, the pack has two additional challenge maps to play as him on, Black Mask Hideout and Freight Train Escape. Assuming there are no other exclusives from other retailers, Best Buy looks like the place to pick up the game. As for whether or not Robin will ever be made available as downloadable content, we don't know at this point. Joker was never made available to non-PS3 players, but that was a platform exclusive; it's entirely possible that the terms of this exclusivity deal will be different and that Robin could be made available separately at a later time. At this point, though, you'll have to buy the game at Best Buy in order to guarantee yourself a chance to play as Robin.

PlayStation 4 Won't be Rushed to Market by Wii U Posted: 20 Jun 2011 03:22 PM PDT It's unclear exactly where the Wii U should be placed in terms of it being "next generation." Is it just catching up and/or somewhat exceeding the power of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3? Or is it the beginning of the next generation of systems because, by the time it hits the market, it will have been five to six years since the last batch of consoles hit? No matter what the case is, Sony says it doesn't affect plans it has for its next gen system, the PlayStation 4. Asked by Forbes about when Sony will start talking about the PS4, Sony's Jack Tretton said, "PlayStation 3 is really just hitting its stride. And technologically, I don't think it's possible to provide any advancement beyond what we have. What we've seen from the competition is trying to add features that already exist in PlayStation 3. We invested heavily in that, we rolled a very heavy rock up a steep hill, through the launch period. But now I think that all pays off, and we've got a long run way behind it. So, I wouldn't look for any discussion of a next generation PlayStation for quite some time." The suggestion that the PS3 is at the apex of technology is a questionable one, especially given how we saw last week that the console versions of Battlefield 3 won't match the PC version from a technological standpoint. And, as Wired's Chris Kohler points out, Tretton has been saying that PS3 is 'hitting its stride' for at least three years now.

Grand Theft Auto V 2012 Release "Pretty Likely" - Report Posted: 20 Jun 2011 02:09 PM PDT Rockstar has still not acknowledged that it's working on a sequel to Grand Theft Auto IV even though one is obviously inevitable. There's been a fair bit of evidence that it's coming and analyst Michael Pachter speculated that a release before the end of January 2012 made a lot of sense due to key employees' contracts ending at that time. With those contracts being extended last month, that means there's likely not as much of a rush to get the game out. It might not be quite as soon, but a new report says we'll probably be playing the newest GTA game before the end of next year. An anonymous source close to Rockstar told GameSpot that development is "well underway." Specifically, it's already at a stage where "final touches" like minigames are being implemented, the report states. A release during 2012 is "pretty likely," according to the source. While we still have no official word on the game, it's looking as if it'll be set in or around a Hollywood-inspired locale. (San Andreas was partially set in a Los Angeles-inspired city, so it would not be a first for the series.) Domains were registered for what sound like faux brands in a GTA game; casting calls referred to "Rush," thought to be GTAV's code name; and one casting call in particular was for a character from the series.

Trenched Review Posted: 20 Jun 2011 01:55 PM PDT The folks over at Double Fine Productions seem to be some sort of video game genre necromancers. In Trenched the studio has managed to revive not just one, but two genres that many have written off as dead: mech games and tower defense. Mechs don't get a lot of love these days. A couple games trickle out in the western market from Japan each year, and usually die a quiet death as they languish on store shelves ignored by both gamers and critics. Trenched recalls the glory days of the '90s when the genre was popular and it seemed as if the torrent titles would never stop. It feels like a modern XBLA game out of an alternate universe; a universe where the Earthsiege series didn't transform into an FPS (Tribes) and where FASA studios and MechWarrior still remain king. In short, Trenched makes mechs fun and relevant again. At the same time, the developers take the genre's mechanics with that trademark Double Fine charm, and wrap it all around a tower defense core.

Village of the Banned: The Worst Excuses From Xbox Live's Banished Posted: 20 Jun 2011 01:03 PM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet The Village of the Banned: The Worst Excuses From Xbox Live's Banished Chances are you've met at least one of these people online. By: Seth Macy June 20, 2011 One of my favorite ways to pass the time is to revel in the deserved misery of others. This type of behavior on my part isn't exactly the sort of thing I'd want to pass on to my children, but watching the universe dole out rich, creamy ladles of karmic retribution is really quite satisfying. If you've ever used Xbox Live, and I'm sure many of you have, you've undoubtedly encountered some of the worst humanity has to offer. In fact, if Obi-Wan Kenobi had a Gold Membership, he would declare XBL a wretched hive of scum and villainy... and homophobia, grifterism, cheating, and racism. Really, this is nothing you don't already know. However, what you might not realize is that there are people at Microsoft who are actually monitoring the service and will investigate the complaints filed against offending users. Many times, these complaints lead to a banning, either temporarily or permanently, and the Xbox Live support forums have a sub-board set up for the sole purpose of fielding users' queries into their status as "banned." Did I mention it's a public forum and can be viewed by anyone? Well, it is, and it is easily one of the busiest online forums I've ever seen in terms of sheer number of new posts. Users are free to ask why they were banned from the service, and a member of the support team will always politely list the reasons before locking the thread down. I've been checking in on the forums for a few weeks now and I've discovered several types of people inquiring about their newly-acquired banned status.

Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony Review Posted: 20 Jun 2011 12:35 PM PDT It's hard not to be won over by the charm of Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony; after all, the game's premise focuses on the history of the titular American colony, but with an entirely new backdrop: Mars. Okay, so maybe they didn't get all the facts right -- I'm pretty sure Sir Walter Raleigh never escaped from the Tower of London via spaceship in an attempt to solve the mystery of Roanoke and clear his good name -- but, veracity aside, Final Form Games' outlandish premise combined with their lush, hyper-detailed 2D presentation makes for an experience that's far too remarkable to ignore. If you're familiar with the shoot-em-up (shmup) genre, the basic concept of Jamestown should be apparent: blow up anything in your path without getting blown up yourself. To help you accomplish this task, Jamestown gives you access to four ships, each equipped with a different special weapon fit for varying styles of play. And just like any shmup worth its salt, Jamestown features a mechanic to add a little spice into what could easily be a brain-dead experience: the combo-centric "Vaunt" system.

Sega Breach Hits 1.3 Million Users, CBS Needs New Pictures Posted: 20 Jun 2011 11:34 AM PDT Among the videogame companies to announce last week that they had been hacked was Sega. Its Sega Pass system was broken into and hackers made off with personal information like e-mail addresses, birth dates, and encrypted passwords. Sega Pass was taken offline on Thursday, June 16, and remains down as of this writing. Sega claimed at the time only a "subset" of users were affected. What that amounts to in actual numbers is 1.3 million people, Reuters reports. Spokeswoman Yoko Nagasawa said in a statement, "We are deeply sorry for causing trouble to our customers. We want to work on strengthening security." CBS reported on the incident but, as pictured above, the company's database of images could use some updating. Rather than show something relatively modern (Sega moved away from producing hardware 10 years ago) or synonymous with the company, like Sonic, a picture of the 17-year-old Sega CDX (as pointed out in the comments) and the 20-plus-year-old Genesis logo were shown.

Halo Anniversary Gets at Least One Addition: Kinect Support Posted: 20 Jun 2011 10:28 AM PDT Update: 343 has offered up some reassurance. A forum post reads, "Just to let everybody know, the Kinect features we're exploring with Halo: Anniversary are optional and won't affect your core gameplay experience. Our mission, from day one, has been to deliver a faithful recreation of the original game, and we remain dedicated to seeing that through to completion." That still doesn't clarify what form it'll come in (voice or motion), just that the game won't force you to use your hands when trying to melee attack an enemy or something along those lines. Original Story: Besides the graphical improvements, there will be at least one big change in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary -- it'll be the first title in the Halo series to support Kinect. In listing examples of first-party games that show Kinect is important to all genres, Microsoft Game Studios GM Phil Spencer told GameSpot, "Even games like Halo Anniversary has Kinect integration." He also mentioned Forza and Ryse, two games that are well-known to support Kinect, but it's the first time we've gotten official confirmation of it being included in the remastered Halo.

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