Sound Byte: Meet the Audio Director of Battlefield 3

"Like many editors in the office, I've spent a lot of late nights playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2, aborbed in the intense multiplayer action. Whether you're lacing helicopters with C4 and flying them into the enemy or taking down entire structures with a tank, there are so many ways to create gigantic explosions that leave your ears ringing (like when a smoke grenade somehow winds up at your feet.) Part of what makes the game so fun and immersive is not only the gameplay, environments, and weapons, but also the sounds that depicts the cacaphony of war around you."


If you want to read up on the rest of this interesting article, shoot over to Gamespot for the official interview.  I love how DICE takes their sounds above and beyond the call of must games.  Instead of just recycling sounds from other games, DICE actually records the sounds of the guns firing, people walking through snow, sand, etc.


What most people don't know is that the music and sounds effects are just as much a character as the actual characters themselves.


Enjoy

Sony, Hotz Settle PS3 Hacker Case

Sony Computer Entertainment America and George Hotz have reached a settlement in a lawsuit that was filed in January after Hotz allegedly breached the PlayStation 3's security and published the information online. The two parties issued a joint statement this morning. Full details of the settlement are not known, however, Hotz did consent to a permanent injunction, meaning he can no longer publish any information about the PS3 hack. 

"Sony is glad to put this litigation behind us," said Riley Russell, General Counsel for SCEA. "Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal." 

"It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier," said Hotz, "I'm happy to have the litigation behind me." Hotz was not involved in the recent attacks on Sony's internet services and websites. 

Sony alleged Hotz released information to the public allowing anyone to install homebrew applications on the PS3, including those that would allow the console to play pirated software. Sony said Hotz violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and other copyright infringements. 

"We want our consumers to be able to enjoy our devices and products in a safe and fun environment and we want to protect the hard work of the talented engineers, artists, musicians and game designers who make PlayStation games and support the PlayStation Network," added Russell. "We appreciate Mr. Hotz's willingness to address the legal issues involved in this case and work with us to quickly bring this matter to an early resolution."


Hotz said he wasn't going to miss his vacation since he's had it booked from November.  Who knows, who cares?  Looks like Sony got to swing around their hammer a bit and flex their muscles, while Hotz got to do pretty much whatever he wanted to until he got back from South America.  Regardless, I could care less since I play on the XBOX 360. :p

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Gameplay - Xbox 360

Get a first look at the world and the combat of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

What is Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning?

A:

Reckoning is an epic, open world role-playing game that gives fans their first experience with Kingdoms of Amalur, a new universe imagined by R.A. Salvatore, brought to life by Todd McFarlane, and designed by Ken Rolston and his team at Big Huge Games.

R.A. Salvatore is the creator of the immortal Drizzt Do’Urden and author of The New York Times best-selling Forgotten Realms series. Todd McFarlane is a Grammy and Emmy-award winning artist, writer and toy designer best known for creating the fantasy series Spawn. Ken Rolston served as the lead designer of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion before joining Big Huge Games development studio, the Baltimore, MD-based wholly-owned subsidiary of 38 Studios, based in Maynard, MA.

More Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Videos

Resistance 3 beta bundled with SOCOM 4 - PS3

On April 19, Sony will release SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs exclusively for the PlayStation 3, and the third-person, PlayStation Move-supporting game is already on many military shooter fans' shopping lists. However, to sweeten the pot, Sony is adding an incentive to potential purchasers: Access to the multiplayer beta of Resistance 3.

According to the PlayStation Blog, codes for the beta will come in specially marked copies of SOCOM 4, available at participating retailers. They will also come with every unit of the $150 Full Deployment Edition of the game, which includes the game itself, a PlayStation Move motion controller, a PlayStation Move navigation controller, a PlayStation Eye camera, a PlayStation Move sharp shooter accessory. No start date for the beta has been announced.

Developed by Zipper Interactive, which created the series back in 2002, SOCOM 4 is set in Southeast Asia, in the pirate-plagued straits of Malacca. Players will take control of Cullen Gray, leader of a five-man squad of special forces operatives tasked with battling a revolutionary group in the Indonesian jungle. The game's multiplayer component will support up to 32 players as well as a five-person co-op mode.

Due out on September 6, Resistance 3 is the third installment in the first-person sci-fi shooter series. Developed by Insomniac Games, it is set in an alternate reality during the year 1957, after the US is overrun by a hostile alien race called the Chimera. It will follow an ex-soldier called Joseph Capelli who is hiding out from the Chimera with his family and several other survivors. Besides offering 3D and PlayStation Move support, the game will also boast several multiplayer modes for up to 16 people.

Just make sure you see the Resistance 3 sticker on the outside of the box.

Acer's New $450 iPad Killer

Today Acer introduced the Iconia Tab A500, an Android 3.0 Honeycomb-based 10.1-inch tablet with a 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor priced at $450, $50 cheaper than Apple's iPad 2 and Samsung's new 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab, and $350 cheaper than the Motorola Xoom.


Available today for pre-order, the Iconia A500 is the cheapest Android 3.0 tablet to date and could lead to a price war amongst the world's leading tablet manufacturers.

Click the photo for a larger view.

Packing an impressive spec sheet, including a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, 2-megapixel front facing camera, a 1280x800 TFT WXGA display, 1080p HDMI output, a built-in gyroscope, and 16GBs of built-in storage. It also supports GPS and 802.11 a/b/g/n, though Acer has not confirmed if there will be a 3G or 4G-connected model.

In terms of size, the Iconia A500 is 10.24-inches wide, 6.97-inches tall, and 0.52-inches thick, weighing only 1.69 pounds.

The Acer Iconia A500 is available now for pre-order on BestBuy.com, with in-store pre-orders beginning on April 14 before it officially goes on sale on April 24.

Brink - A Matter of Class Gameplay Trailer

This is the latest video that shows a better view of the four classes.  The medic, soldier, engineer, and finally the operative.  Also good news on the release date.  It will be coming out one week earlier.  May 10th in North America and May 12th in Europe.
If anyone is going to pick this up, me and a bunch of my friends are going to get this.  We are really team oriented.  We currently play Battlefield: Bad Company 2.  So we're going to bring our teamwork to this game.  Hope to see you there.  
You can look me up on the XBOX 360 -  Mr Fusco (screen name)
Enjoy.

Portal 2 - Aperture Investment Opportunity #3: "Turrets"

Here's the latest video for the portal puzzle game, Portal 2. :)  I just love these little guys.  This video reminds me of when Fallout 3 was coming out

BioShock Infinite "Name in the Game" competition announced

Irrational Games is giving its community members a chance to be a piece of BioShock history. Today, the Boston-based developer announced it is staging a "Name in the Game" competition that will allow one entrant's name to be included in BioShock Infinite as a character, business, or building. The studio did something similar in previous BioShock games with staff member's names in such locations as Sinclair Spirits and Robertson's Tabaccoria.

Sinclair Spirits is an example of a location named after a real person in a BioShock game.

Those wishing to put their names in the hat can do so at IrrationalGames.com from now until April 12, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. No signup or commitment is required.

Unlike its predecessors, BioShock Infinite is not set under the ocean but in a giant flying metropolis in an alternate early 20th century. The city, Columbia, was made by the US as a demonstration of the nation's technological know-how and to showcase democracy as it circles the globe. However, as was the case with BioShock's Rapture, the utopian ideals gave way to chaos and madness amongst the populace, a situation complicated by the fact that Columbia is bristling with heavy weaponry.

Into this mess steps the game's protagonist, Booker DeWitt, a former member of the feared Pinkerton National Detective Agency, which was the nation's largest security company in the late 19th century. He will enter a world where steampunk robots have replaced horses and people and where crazed citizens foment revolution with strange powers--and lots of guns.

BioShock Infinite will ship in 2012 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

I can't wait to see how Bioshock 2 plays out.  I am a huge Bioshock fan.  Bioshock makes me happy in the pants!

Rumor: Free-to-Play Games Coming to Xbox Live

Microtransaction-based games coming next year.

Sometime next year, Microsoft will make available free-to-play (F2P) games through Xbox Live. This will allow publishers and developers to release games through the service for free where users can then purchase additional content, such as weapons, experience points, in-game currency, and perks. 

The F2P business model is traditionally used for massively multiplayer online games on PC, such as Vindictus and Dungeon Fighter Online from Nexon and League of Legends by Riot Games. Electronic Arts also began experimenting with a F2P model for shooters, including Battlefield Heroes in 2009 and more recently with Battlefield Play4Free, which is currently in open beta. 

Joy Ride for Kinect was originally pegged as a F2P game for Xbox Live Gold and Free members when it was first unveiled at E3 2009. Game modes and environments were planned to be free. Customization options were going to cost Microsoft Points, however. 

Battlefield 3 Patrick Bach Interview (Xbox 360)

Here's an interview I found on Gamespot.  It talks about some of the things we already know, and clears up a few other things we've been wondering about.

Enjoy