General gaming

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• Cave Story on 3DS Pushed Back Again
• This Week in the 1UP Community 6/19/11
• PS3 Hacker GeoHot Hired by Facebook
• This Summer's XBLA Games Get Priced and Dated
• Battlefield 3 vs. Modern Warfare 3: Which is More Promising?
• Journey Closed Beta Begins Tomorrow
• Senator Yee Hopes to Reintroduce Videogame Violence Law
• No, You May Not Delete Your Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D Save Data
• LulzSec Shuts Itself Down, Battlefield Heroes Data Leaked
• California Videogame Law Struck Down by Supreme Court

Cave Story on 3DS Pushed Back Again Posted: 27 Jun 2011 04:49 PM PDT First Cave Story 3D was pushed out of June and into August, and now it's been delayed once again. NIS America today announced the game is set to launch on November 8, not on August 9, as previously planned. This is "due to additional game improvements," a press release states. "We are currently undergoing improvements to enhance gameplay," said NIS producer Jack Niida. "Changes are in the small details, but in order to satisfy both the fans and the new players we need to make sure the game is done right. Please look forward to it this holiday season. Cave Story 3D will be a blast." Despite not being a completely original title, Cave Story 3D has been one of the most anticipated games on 3DS. The original started out as a free PC game released in 2004 by Daisuke Amaya (who spoke at GDC about pragmatic game design). Since then it's been ported to both WiiWare and DSiWare, the latter of which has been available on 3DS since the eShop launched earlier this month. The new, 3DS-specific version adds the obligatory 3D support and is a remake rather than a straight port. It will also be the first time the game is made available at retail.

This Week in the 1UP Community 6/19/11 Posted: 27 Jun 2011 03:58 PM PDT Hey, everyone! The weekend is here is almost here so what better time to unwind and relax than to catch up on highlights from this past week's 1UP Community. This week, the site has been brimming with giveaway opportunities for games such Trenched and Uncharted 3 to name a few. The boards have been alive with Star Wars media, discussion of favorite games and recently watched movies. In blogs, read about a criticism of current game reviews, how war games one member's career choice and more. IN GIVEAWAYS:

PS3 Hacker GeoHot Hired by Facebook Posted: 27 Jun 2011 03:28 PM PDT Less than two months after a settlement was reached in Sony's case against hacker George "GeoHot" Hotz, Facebook gave him a job. The 21-year old first became well known for his work on unlocking the iPhone. More recently, he was sued by Sony for his involvement with uncovering the PlayStation 3's root key and publishing it online. He was initially unworried by the lawsuit, but as things dragged on, Sony was accused by many of using underhanded tactics such as attempting to have the case tried in California instead of his home state of New Jersey to balloon his legal fees. The case would go on to be settled in April. "It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier," Hotz said at the time. "I'm happy to have the litigation behind me." That wouldn't be end of the matter for Sony. In response to what was deemed to be an abuse of the judicial system, hacker group Anonymous launched an attack on the Sony. The PlayStation website went down briefly and then, later in the month, the PlayStation Network breach took place which compromised millions of users' personal information and caused the service to be taken down for several weeks. Anonymous was never proven to be responsible and it's unknown if the Hotz lawsuit was what prompted hackers to go after PSN. Other companies took notice of what happened, including Microsoft -- the company said late last month it would work with a young hacker who carried out phishing attempts on Xbox Live in order to "develop his talent for legitimate purposes." [Update: As it turns out, the story regarding Microsoft hiring the young hacker isn't true.]

This Summer's XBLA Games Get Priced and Dated Posted: 27 Jun 2011 02:03 PM PDT This year's lineup of Summer of Arcade titles has been both priced and dated. Things start in a few weeks with Bastion on July 20 for 1,200 Microsoft Points ($15). Following it are From Dust on July 27 for 1,200 points, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet on August 3 for 1,200 points, Fruit Ninja Kinect on August 10 for 800 points ($10), and Toy Soldiers: Cold War on August 17 for 1,200 points. Last year's Summer of Arcade, for comparison's sake, included Limbo, Hydro Thunder: Hurricane, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, Monday Night Combat, and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Limbo ended up being the best selling of the bunch "by a long stretch," though it's anyone's guess how much had to do with its quality versus being the first of the five out of the gate.

Battlefield 3 vs. Modern Warfare 3: Which is More Promising? Posted: 27 Jun 2011 01:58 PM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet Battlefield 3 vs. Modern Warfare 3: Who Will Win? The 1UP staff looks at the two shooters that will face-off later this year. By: 1UP Staff June 27, 2011 EA and Activision are headed for a legendary showdown this holiday season. The rivalry developing between Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 is shaping up to be the stuff of legend -- Doom vs. Dark Forces; Quake vs. Duke Nukem; Street Fighter vs. Mortal Kombat. Who will win? In terms of sales, it's nearly a forgone conclusion that Modern Warfare 3 will outsell Battlefield 3 by a healthy margin. The cultural cachet that Activision has managed to develop can't be taken down in one year. That doesn't mean that Battlefield 3 can't be profitable and won't be a fantastic game. The 1UP staff tackled the question and picked which game they were most excited about.

Journey Closed Beta Begins Tomorrow Posted: 27 Jun 2011 01:26 PM PDT After promising that details on a "very limited" beta for Journey would be shared today, thatgamecompany has announced how gamers can get in and how long it will last. The beta kicks off tomorrow, June 28, and will continue through July 12. Invites will be sent to PlayStation Network users' XMB inboxes if they were among the "very earliest adopters" of Flower and are a current PlayStation Plus subscriber. The latter requirement should be fulfilled by just about everyone, as Sony gave away a free month of PlayStation Plus to everyone as part of the Welcome Back package following PSN's extended downtime. Giveaways will also be hosted for beta keys, including on the developer's Facebook page. Players will get to help test the game's network code, among other things, during weekly play sessions that take place on Tuesdays from 6PM to 10PM Pacific.

Senator Yee Hopes to Reintroduce Videogame Violence Law Posted: 27 Jun 2011 11:44 AM PDT The biggest proponent and author of the California law that would have banned the sale and rental of violent videogames to children, California Senator Leland Yee, has spoken out on today's decision by the Supreme Court. If you haven't already heard, a vote of 7-2 struck down the law in the case of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association/Entertainment Software Association this morning. And Senator Yee is none too pleased. "Unfortunately, the majority of the Supreme Court once again put the interests of corporate America before the interests of our children," he said in a a press release posted on his website. After passing through the legislature, the bill was signed by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005. It would criminalize the sale or rental of violent games to anyone under the age of 18 and fine offending retailers $1,000 per violation. It was soon after blocked by a U.S. District Court judge who felt games are protected by the First Amendment. The case worked its way up to the Supreme Court and, after deciding to review the case last year, it was struck down for the final time today.

No, You May Not Delete Your Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D Save Data Posted: 27 Jun 2011 10:41 AM PDT Update: Mercenaries is now listed as "Not Rentable" on GameFly, presumably as a result of the inability to delete save games. Original Story: Gamers who like to start from scratch will want to ensure they don't pick up a used copy of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, which comes out in North America tomorrow. Much like the Japanese version of the game, both the North American and European versions do not allow save games to be erased, as the image below shows. It's a curious decision, and one that appears to be a direct attack on the used games market. The appeal of buying a second-hand copy of the game will be diminished for some if they find out they won't be able to play the game as if it's a new copy. The tactic we've seen as of late to encourage the purchase of new games is the inclusion of a one-time-use code that allows access to certain content, usually the online mode. What makes that different is the ability to fork over some money for access to that content. With Mercenaries, you simply can't erase the data, even if you bought a new copy of the game and decide you want to start over again.

LulzSec Shuts Itself Down, Battlefield Heroes Data Leaked Posted: 27 Jun 2011 09:45 AM PDT Over the weekend, hacker group LulzSec announced that it was done. A press release claims it only intended to exist for 50 days, and with that point reached on Saturday, it is over and done with. As a parting "gift," it also dumped a huge amount of data including 50,000 users' information from "random gaming forums" and 550,000 users from the Battlefield Heroes beta. The latter caused Heroes to be temporarily taken offline. It has since been restored with a note that says an investigation is ongoing but that no personal data was compromised. That includes e-mail addresses, credit card numbers, or anything else like that. What was leaked was a list of usernames and encrypted passwords from an "early beta version of Heroes." It's reassuring that passwords were encrypted, but if you were registered in the early beta and use the same username/password combination elsewhere, you should change the offending password immediately. "For the past 50 days we've been disrupting and exposing corporations, governments, often the general population itself, and quite possibly everything in between, just because we could," LulzSec said in its Saturday statement. "All to selflessly entertain others -- vanity, fame, recognition, all of these things are shadowed by our desire for that which we all love. The raw, uninterrupted, chaotic thrill of entertainment and anarchy. It's what we all crave, even the seemingly lifeless politicians and emotionless, middle-aged self-titled failures. You are not failures. You have not blown away. You can get what you want and you are worth having it, believe in yourself."

California Videogame Law Struck Down by Supreme Court Posted: 27 Jun 2011 08:33 AM PDT The California law that would make selling violent videogames to anyone under the age of 18 a crime was appealed to the Supreme Court in 2009. It was announced last summer that it would be heard and after months of waiting for a decision in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association/Entertainment Software Association, we have that today: In a 7-2 vote, the law was struck down because it "does not comport with the First Amendment." Update: See how the bill's author, California Senator Leland Yee, responds. The court's decision (PDF) is fairly lengthy at 92 pages but it gets right to the point: "Video games qualify for First Amendment protection." A comparison to other forms of entertainment that are protected -- books, movies, plays -- is mentioned and it's said that "'the basic principles of freedom of speech ... do not vary' with a new and different communication medium."

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