Battlefield 3 Tournament To Be Held Aboard An Aircraft Carrier

NVIDIA has today announced that the GeForce LAN 6 event will be taking place in Alameda, California from the 14-16th October aboard the Aircraft Carrier USS Hornet.

With seating for up to 800 players, attendees can expect numerous Battlefield 3 tournaments as well as an appearance from some Dice employees.

“The Aircraft Carrier USS Hornet is a national treasure, having participated in two of the most historic events of the 20th century World War II and the Apollo 11 manned space mission. This is the first 48 hour LAN party to be held on the USS Hornet, and some lucky GeForce LAN 6 attendees may even get an opportunity to spend the night in the ships barracks or play dodge ball on the flight deck!”

PAX: Details On the Next Minecraft Update

If you haven't tried Minecraft, it probably doesn't make sense to you why its players get so excited over every update. But if you're one of the initiated (and you probably are if you're reading this), then you're probably like me -- you just can't hear about it enough. I saw an early version of the next update (and got a walkthrough from Minecraft majordomo Markus "Notch" Persson, below), and you have plenty to look forward to when it releases sometime in the very near future.

Bows Get Mighty

Instead of bows that limply toss arrows a few feet, players will now be able to draw back arrows longer, firing farther and with great effect. Holding arrows will make you move slower, but make the bow an effective first-person weapon great for taking out the even tougher new enemies.

Poison and Night Terrors

Spiders are already a nuisance in the world of Minecraft, but now they poison their prey. The resulting moments of panic as you watch your life tick away even after their death are sure to make exploring all the more treacherous.

Also appearing are the Endermen, a new monster that will attack you if you look directly at it. You can try to run if you want, but it will teleport to your location repeatedly. They are apparently vulnerable to water, though, so find a pool to run into if you incur their wrath.

Lastly, players will soon be battling Silverfish. These monsters lurk inside the very blocks that players mine, making each swing of a pickaxe a potentially violent affair.

Quests, NPCs and Experience

No quests or NPCs were on display in the PAX demo, but representatives from developer Mojang said that NPCs will be added in the update. Players will then obtain quests from these NPCs. No details are available as to the nature of those quests, but it should give players more to do than build yet another effigy to whatever nerd god they worship.

Killing monsters and other creatures will yield experience, giving players skill points. How skill points will be spent is still being decided, but Mojang has decided that experience will be lost if the player dies. The goal is to make death even more costly, making survival all the more precious.

Eat to Live

Currently food is used in Minecraft to instantly gain health, but now food is necessary to exist. A hunger meter is being added, and the only way to gain health is to max out your meter. This means there's no more button mashing the food key at the last minute in a heated battle, as consuming takes time, with health regeneration taking even longer.

The team at Mojang have many holes to fill in the upcoming update, but they're also considering rolling out the changes incrementally. Are you guys ready for survival to get just a bit harder? 

BioShock Infinite Panel - PAX 2011

Hurricane Irene

If anyone has heard, there's a massive hurricane coming to where I live tomorrow.  It's the size of Arizona and something like 300 miles across.  I live in the fucking path of this massive thing.

So, if I don't post for a few days, that means the power has been out and well, my house could be gone.  Who knows.

Torchlight II Developer Commentary

PAX 2011 Live - Turtle Beach

Check this shit out!  Live coverage!  Click me!

Halo Fest Livestream is go NOW!

Why are reading this when you could be watching IGN's Halo Livestream now??

Full panel schedule below, check out our tournament schedulefor carnage contest details, or just go watch Bungie talk about creating the Halo story.



Make sure to check back all weekend on IGN's Halo Fest Hub, and for up-to-the minute updates from the Halo Fest showfloor, including interviews, exclusive gameplay footage and news about everyone's favorite green Spartan.

As always, drop in and say hi to our friends at Halo Waypoint for more IGN exclusive updates.

Saturday

12:00pm-1:00pm
Hatching the Cosmic Halo Egg

At this year's PAX, Halo Fest is enormous! But ten years ago, it only took a small core of ambitious Bungie developers to fill the Halo universe with life. In this panel, the birth mother and father of Halo – Joseph Staten and Marty O'Donnell – along with a handful of Bungie alumni discuss the origins and development of the Halo franchise, and field your questions from the Community.

2:00pm-3:00pm
Halo: Building a Universe of Toys and Collectibles.

Meet some of the biggest names in the toy and collectible industry and get an exclusive first look at upcoming Halo products! Get the scoop from fan favorites McFarlane Toys, MEGA Bloks, and NKOK.

3:30pm-4:30pm
Halo Universe Fiction

Join Frank O'Connor and Kevin Grace as well as special Halo guests Greg Bear and Karen Traviss for a discussion of the first 10 years of Halo and what's coming next!

5:00pm-6:00pm
Halo Anniversary Campaign Discussion

Can't get enough Silent Cartographer? Does Assault on the Control Room make you weak in the knees? If so, this panel discussing the reimagining of the classic single player Campaign is a can't-miss!

Sunday

10:00am-11:00am
Halo 4

Here is your first chance to see and hear from the 343 Industries team that is creating the exciting next chapter in Master Chief's heroic story. Panelists include Franchise Development Director Frank O'Connor, Creative Director Josh Holmes, Executive Producer Kiki Wolfkill, Senior Art Director Kenneth Scott, and Audio Director Sotaro Tojima.

11:30pm-12:15pm
Xbox talks 10 years of Halo!

How does a new multiplayer service prepare for the Halo juggernaut? Just how wrong were the projections for concurrent players? Which panelist thought that an FPS on the console could not possibly be any fun? Join founding members of the Xbox team, Doug Hebenthal and Jerry Hook, as well as Eric Neustadter ("e"), Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson, and Stephen "Stepto" Toulouse to discuss how Halo helped shape Xbox Live.

12:45pm-1:30pm
Halo Anniversary Multiplayer

Want to get all the nitty-gritty on Halo Anniversary's Multiplayer? Do you have questions about the Reach Title Update? If so, this is the panel for you!

3:15pm-4:00pm
Red Vs. Blue Table Read

Join the (voices of) The Galaxy's Dumbest Recruits as they attempt to learn their scripts to record an episode of Red Vs. Blue.

The HotSpot - 08/27/11 - Halo Fest!

Click here for the podcast.

Nigh on unusable audio be damned, we got a podcast to do! Halo franchise director Frank O'Connor and 343 Industries executive producer Dan Ayoub join Tom Magrino on the PAX Prime 2011 show floor to talk Halo: Anniversary and Halo 4.

PAX Prime 2011 Assassin's Creed Revelations Panel

How much of a map's environment can you destroy in Battlefield 3? Here's the answer!

DICE's Alan Kertz dropped a new nugget of Battlefield 3 information today. Twitter member "Madkiller96" asked Kertz what percentage of a map can be destroyed in Battlefield 3. Kertz's repines?

"100,000% If you play the map enough times."

So, you know, now you can finally live out your dreams of having a gunfight in a parking lot if you put enough effort into it!