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DCEmu.Com is a site that brings you the very latest in Gaming news that isnt console specific and the latest Current Gen news from around the world, Part of the
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THE LATEST NEWS BELOW
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November 10th, 2012, 23:20 Posted By: wraggster
22Cans founder Peter Molyneux is busy with the launch of Curiosity on mobile, but he took time to talk with IGNabout Microsoft's SmartGlass and Nintendo's Wii U. Molyneux admitted he was excited by the technology, but remained skeptical about using tablets and television in concert for gaming.
“The thing about the SmartGlass is that the tablet is a thing that you have with you all the time. Now, in that sense, I understand completely as a consumer and I'm excited to see what these guys do with it. But I do have a problem with it. I now have a screen in front of me on my lap and a screen up on the wall that I'm looking at. Which one should I be looking at? Should I be looking up at the big screen and down, or at my lap and up? Should I be checking down on my lap every few seconds? What's going to incentivize me to move my eyes from the wall to my lap?” Molyneux told IGN.
“I think what people do when they have multiple screens is something very simple. They will listen to the big screen whilst distracting themselves on the small screen. That's not what SmartGlass and Wii U are talking about. They're talking about producing an entertainment experience that you're engrossed in.”
“The psychology of making a game is hard enough because plasma screens are so big now. It's hard enough to get the player to move their eyes from the center of the screen to the borders,” explained Molyneux. “Getting people to move their eyes from the screen down to their laps is incredibly hard. There has to be some huge motivational thing like the words coming up, 'Look at your GamePad now.' If you're going to do that, from a design perspective that sounds a bit clumsy and complex.”
The split in attention isn't the only reason Molyneux is down on Nintendo's new console. He also slammed Nintendo for not having a compelling selling point behind the console.
“I struggle to see anything amazing coming out of Nintendo. There are a few, “Oh, that's smart,” but there's nothing that makes me rush out as a consumer to buy the new device. I'll give you a great example of how tech should be used. It's what Nintendo did with the Wii when it first came out. They introduced motion control. They were one of the first companies to introduce motion control and they had a fantastic Wii Sports Game. As soon as I picked up the controller and started waving it around, I got it. I already understood it. But I'm not sure there's a same sort of application out there for Wii U. I think to myself, 'Well, what's the reason to get it?'” he said.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...blet-tv-gaming
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November 9th, 2012, 21:09 Posted By: wraggster
Fancy a flutter on a Friday afternoon? Bookies Paddy Power and Ladbrokes have revealed to MCV their contenders for the best-selling game this Christmas.
Both firms are backing Activision FPS Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, with FIFA 13 the favourite for second place. Other potential winners include Wii U launch title New Super Mario Bros U, Medal of Honor, Assassin's Creed and Halo 4.
Such is the hype and momentum behind Black Ops 2, Paddy Power is even taking bets on what will be Christmas No.2, favouring EA's FIFA 13 at 4/9. The bookie is now taking betsthrough its website.
Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes said: "It would be one of the upsets of the year if Black Ops didn't land the top spot this Christmas."
Paddy Power is taking bets on the following:
1/20 Call Of Duty: Black Ops II
8/1 FIFA 13
20/1 Medal of Honour: Warfighter
28/1 Borderlands 2
33/1 World Of Warcraft: Mists Of Pandaria
33/1 Assassin's Creed III
33/1 New Super Mario Bros. U
Or for those who want a bit more of a challenge, the COD-less odds are as follows:
4/9 FIFA 13
6/1 Medal of Honour: Warfighter
8/1 Assassin's Creed III
16/1 World Of Warcraft: Mists Of Pandaria
16/1 Borderlands II
16/1 New Super Mario Bros.
Meanwhile, Ladbrokes is offering the following odds:
1/8 Call of Duty: Black Ops II
12/1 New Super Mario Bros U
14/1 Halo 4
16/1 Assasin Creed III
16/1 FIFA 13
25/1 LEGO Lord of the Rings
25/1 Hitman Absolution
33/1 Medal of Honor: Warfighter
33/1 WWE '13
50/1 Just Dance 4
50/1 Football Manager 2013
50/1 Need for Speed Most Wanted
66/1 Far Cry 3
100/1 Madden NFL 13
100/1 Forza Horizon
100/1 Diablo 3
100/1 Resident Evil 6
100/1 Dishonored
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/call-...s-no-1/0106136
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November 9th, 2012, 15:39 Posted By: wraggster
Hi all one of the things i enjoy in life is a pint of Real Ale, in the UK there are thousands of ales up and down the country. My new website will post news of new releases, events, reviews and the latest bargains in the supermarkets for all alcohol ranging from Real Ales to Bitters, Lagers, Ciders, Wines, Champagnes and Spirits.
Check out Real Ale Drinkers here --> http://real-ales.dcemu.co.uk/
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November 9th, 2012, 13:49 Posted By: wraggster
The NPD Group has released its October US retail report, showing another major YOY decline in overall sales.
The market saw a 25 per cent drop to $755.5m for the period compared to the $1bn made in October 2011.
The group is quick to point out that the data only makes up around 50 per cent of the total consumer spend, with plans for a full Q4 US Games Market Dynamic report that will include digital and other non-retail figures.
They also believe that despite the overall decline, the month to month numbers indicate momentum as the end of the year approaches.
“While we saw declines in hardware unit sales across all platforms year-over-year, when looking at average sales per week versus September, several consoles realized higher sales: The 360, PS3, NDS and 3DS. This is a sign of increasing momentum as we move into the holiday season,” said NPD analyst Liam Callahan.
Hardware sales accounted for $187.3m during the month, a decrease of 37 per cent from the $295.9m earned in the same period last year.
Xbox 360 came out ahead yet again, selling 270,000 units during the period and claiming over 40 per cent of the market in its division for the 20th consecutive month according to Major Nelson.
Accessories continue to be fueled by Skylanders, showing a five per cent increase over October 2011 with $135.6m this time around versus $129.6m.
Software sales were down by 25 per cent overall, $432.6m compared to $576.8m in October 2011 – though portable software sales specifically showed a 37 per cent growth.
NBA 2K13 finished ahead on the top ten games, as the game according to Callahan: "outsold last year's 2K12 by over 60 per cent in both dollars and units."
Here’s the top ten for the month:
- NBA 2K13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PC)
- Resident Evil 6 (360, PS3)
- Pokémon Black Version 2 (NDS)
- Dishonored (360, PS3, PC)
- Pokémon White Version 2 (NDS)
- Madden NFL 13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSV)
- FIFA Soccer 13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSV, 3DS, PSP)
- Medal of Honor: Warfighter (360, PS3, PC)
- Borderlands 2 (360, PS3, PC)
- Skylander Giants (Wii, 360, PS3, 3DS)
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/npd-o...-again/0106028
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November 9th, 2012, 13:49 Posted By: wraggster
This set of PVC cranks make you work for your game of Puzzle Bobble, also known as Bust-a-Move. It uses a little cannon centered at the bottom of the screen to pop bubbles based on like colors. There is a cartoon character that cranks as hard as it can to aim that cannon, and this hack brings that effort into the real world.
The controllers are made from PVC. A bit of creative use of joints and different pipe diameters make for a freely rotating rig. Rotation is monitored via the optical encoder wheel from an old mouse. Above you can also see the plastic container that hosts the ‘fire’ button. Since the mouse is already an input device, there’s no other electronic work to be done. Just plug the controllers in and map the wheel/buttons to the game you want to play. Make sure to check out the demo video embedded after the break.
If Angry Birds is more of what you’re playing these days you should consider building your own slingshot controller.
http://hackaday.com/2012/11/08/bust-...al-controller/
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November 9th, 2012, 13:48 Posted By: wraggster
The processor in the Raspberry Pi – an ARM11 built by Broadcom – actually has a long and storied history. Much as how the Intel i7 in a top-of-the-line desktop can still run code written for the original IBM PC, the ARM chip in the Raspberry Pi is also based on decades-old technology.
The first ARM-based computer was the Acorn Archimedes, a mid-80s computer with 512kB of RAM and no hard drive. The Archimedes ran RISC OS, a very nice graphical operating system written explicitly for the ARM architecture. RISC OS is now available for the Raspberry Pi, finally bridging the gap between educational computers from 1987 and 2012.
Of course, a very much updated version of 25-year-old operating system running on a Raspberry Pi doesn’t mean much without a ‘killer app,’ does it? For the original Acorn Archimedes the killer app – and one of the best video games of the 80s – wasElite, a space trading and combat game that featured vector-style ships. [Pete Taylor] downloaded the Raspi RISC OS image and got Elite running using an Archimedes emulator and, of course, the Archimedes port of Elite.
It’s a pretty neat development if you’re in to alternative OSes and one of the best space-based games ever made. Well worth a download, at the very least.
http://hackaday.com/2012/11/08/raspb...ow-play-elite/
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November 9th, 2012, 13:41 Posted By: wraggster
If you believe the boss of developer Crytek, then games consoles are facing a crisis.
The firm’s CEO Cevat Yerli says that its three upcoming console titles – Homefront 2, Crysis 3 and Ryse – will be its last £50 products. After then it’ll focus all its efforts on creating free-to-play games.
And he is adamant that if Sony and Microsoft don’t adapt to this new business model, then the console market will die.
“This will be the last console generation,” he tells MCV.
“If consoles don’t join free-to-play gaming aggressively from now on, then it will be outpaced by PC and mobile. If they don’t adapt they are not going to survive.”
Companies have tried to engage the platform holders in the past with its free titles. Cambridge-based Jagex has attempted to bring its free MMO RuneScape to consoles, but has met resistance.
“Free-to-play would have been huge on consoles if the console owners had embraced it,” says Jagex chief marketing officer David Solari.
“It’s still likely free-to-play will be a big part of the console offering in the future but they will need to adapt and be willing to allow their users to play with players on other platforms which seems to be a step too far currently – this was certainly the case for us when we were talking to them about RuneScape.”
FREE PLAYS
Sony and Microsoft are not oblivious to free-to-play. Microsoft has developed several freemium PC games, including Age of Empires Online and Microsoft Flight. And Sony’s PlayStation Home virtual world is built on that model. Only Nintendo has resisted the micro-transactions entirely – although the platform holder has developed free software in the past.
Yet this is beginning to change this Christmas. Both Xbox and PlayStation are making more tentative steps into the free-to-play market. Xbox has launched F2P game Happy Wars (although it requires an Xbox Live subscription so partially misses the point).
But the big one comes from Eve Online developer CCP, who are creating a free micro-transaction-based FPS called Dust 514 for PS3.
“Sony working with CCP and making that game is a great step forward, and they should be applauded,” adds Yerli. “If Sony embraces free-to-play as a major way for PlayStation, that could be the key console. I would love to see a generation that supports free-to-play, because we will support it.”
DUST-TO-DUST
David Reid is the chief marketing officer at CCP, and in many ways he is the ideal candidate to discuss freemium on consoles. Not only does he have extensive free-to-play experience from his stints at Trion Worlds and NCsoft, he is also a former marketing executive from Xbox.
“A lot of the big disruptions in our industry start on the PC,” observes Reid.
“It’s where online gaming began. It’s where genres like FPS were born. Clearly, it’s where the MMO was born. But over time some of these things get much bigger on the console and our belief has always been that free-to-play is going to be big on the console. We’re very pleased to be in a position to be first with a big triple-A game out there. We look at 2013 and expect there will be a lot more. It won’t be such a new idea next year.”
Early signs suggest that Reid is correct. Shortly after we spoke to CCP, Sony announced that its SingStar series will be adopting a freemium-style business model.
Reid believes Sony’s aggression in this area will pay dividends for the platform holder.
“It is always natural that the challenger in the console business is going to be more ambitious and take a few more risks than the leader. Last generation I was at Xbox and we were having our arses handed to us three to one. And Xbox was the one that was trying to do these crazy new things, what with Xbox Live and working with developers and their different ways. Five years later, things have changed and now Sony is being more aggressive and thinking more about how things are going forward. It is a very cyclical business and it feels like we are coming around to another big turn again.”
There are still some challenges around free-to-play on console, such as the need to migrate customers from one generation to the next, plus the ability to play with gamers on other platforms.
But these issues are being addressed. Sony and Microsoft may be late to the party, but they’re catching up.
Reid concludes: “I think in the console space it was hard for some of the big publishers to get their brains around it until they saw some of the PC success stories, like League of Legends and World of Tanks.
“So now the console guys are saying that this is a big opportunity. You can argue that if they had a way to monetise Call of Duty differently, then you’d have a lot more people playing and a lot of people willing to pay more than $60.
“It is a bit of a foreign concept, having a game with five or 10 million players, with 80-plus per cent never spending any money. In the console space that has never happened. But we are seeing the change happen. We are living it right now. It happens faster on the PC than on the console, but the console guys are watching it very closely and will be involved a lot more with the next generation.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/can-f...onsole/0106113
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November 7th, 2012, 22:31 Posted By: wraggster
The Japanese hardware charts for the week ending November 4 saw a jump in sales for the Nintendo 3DS XL, from 38,089 last week to 63,993. Behind was the standard 3DS at 2, with Sony's PlayStation 3 at 3.
- 3DS LL - 63,993 (Last week - 38,089)
- 3DS - 29,996 (23,453)
- PlayStation 3 - 21,310 (20,364)
- PSP - 13,868 (14,541)
- PlayStation Vita - 4,842 (5,806)
- Wii - 3,806 (3,744)
- PS2 - 1,351 (1,006)
- Xbox 360 - 1,339 (1,931)
- DSi LL - 341 (214)
- DSi - 227 (227)
In the software chart however, the top five was dominated by games for Sony consoles, with four new entries for PS3 and PSP. New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS took the fifth spot, bringing its lifetime sales to 1,320,330.
- [PS3] Tales of Xillia 2 - 364,439 sales (New)
- [PS3] Okami HD - 68,644 sales (New)
- [PS3] Yakuza 1&2 HD Edition - 58,138 sales (New)
- [PSP] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2013 - 38,388 sales (New)
- [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2 - 24,69 sales
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...software-chart
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November 7th, 2012, 22:29 Posted By: wraggster
 Palmer Luckey is a self-described virtual reality enthusiast and former engineer at the USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT). Now his company Oculus is bringing, thanks to a huge show of support on crowdfunding website Kickstarter, what looks to be the world’s first viable gaming-focused virtual reality headset to market: Oculus Rift. Ahead of his keynote address at Evolve in London, we spoke to Luckey about his potentially revolutionary technology, why the time is finally right for VR and why indie mentality allowed him to innovate more than bigger companies.
http://www.edge-online.com/features/...-the-rulebook/
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November 7th, 2012, 15:28 Posted By: wraggster
The Raspberry Pi received a RAM boost recently, but it certainly won't need it to run the latest officially supported operating system -- RISC OS. A far cry from Linux variants the naked board is used to, RISC OS was developed in the late eighties by the same hotshots who designed the first ARM processor. Fittingly, it's also related to the OS found on the BBC Micro, a computer that shared the Raspberry Pi's educational vision. Don't expect much from the simple OS, but it will run extremely fast given the Pi's hardware is practically futuristic compared with the computers it was intended for. The simplicity does mean, however, that it's much easier to get right into the system and start tinkering. It was formerly a closed-source OS, so luckily, there are a bunch of Programmers' Reference Manuals (PRMs) available to kick-start your next project. Whether you are totally new to RISC OS, or excited to dive in fornostalgia's sake, head to the source link for everything you'll need.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/06/r...ry-pi-RISC-OS/
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November 7th, 2012, 15:22 Posted By: wraggster
EA Sports has put its weight behind the Movember prostate cancer charity in the form of $500,000 worth of in-game advertising.
The ads will run throughout November, and gamers can expect to see them appearing in titles like FIFA, Madden, and NHL. Given the nature of the games and the target demographic of the Movember charity, it seems like a promising way to raise awareness and funding.
Movember aims to highlight prostate cancer and male mental health by asking "Mo Bros" to grow moustaches in the month of November. "Mo Sistas" are also encouraged to help raise funds and awareness.
"The moustache is our ribbon, the symbol by which we generate conversations, awareness and raise funds for men's health," the charity explains.
You can find more information on the charity and its facial hair at the official site.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...th-in-game-ads
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November 7th, 2012, 15:09 Posted By: wraggster
The Atari Punk Console, a tiny synthesizer based on the ubiquitous 555 timer chip, is the first build de rigueur for any budding electronic wizard wanting to build musical devices. With just a handful of caps, resistors, and a pair of pots, the APC is a fabulously fun and easy build made even cooler by [Pat]‘s addition of a joystick.
The circuit of the Atari Punk Console consists of a 556 chip – basically two 555s put into the same package – and a pair of potentiometers to control the frequency and output of this very basic synth. Since most joysticks are just two pots arranged on an X-Y mount, [Pat] thought it would be cool to control his APC without twiddling knobs, and instead sweeping a joystick around.
After acquiring an old Microsoft joystick from his local Goodwill, [Pat] wired up his Atari Punk Console to the joystick, using the ‘fire’ button to turn the output on and off. The result is everything between a low machine gun-like tone to a nasal square wave that will hopefully keep pace with your chip-based audiophile friends.
http://hackaday.com/2012/11/07/atari...in-a-joystick/
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November 7th, 2012, 15:03 Posted By: wraggster
People don’t want to pay for games.
That’s what MCV was told repeatedly at E3. And indeed many of this year’s high-growth or most controversial games – World of Tanks, League of Legends, CSR Racing amongst others – were absolutely free.
Of course anyone that has followed this market as it has exploded over the past few years will know that these games aren’t exactly ‘free’. The publishers and developers make their money via premium subscriptions or micro-transactions where gamers can obtain extra items or in-game currency for a small fee.
The idea is simple and attractive. By removing the cost barrier, the potential market for a game is infinitely larger. And although the vast majority of those gamers will never spend a penny, the small percentage that do will often spend more than just £50.
Despite its recent popularity, free-to-play is not a new concept. It existed as early as the mid-90s, and could even be spiritually linked to the freeware scene. The breakthrough game was even developed in the UK – the MMO RuneScape arrived in 2001.
It then exploded in Asia and Korea, via games developed from major players such as Nexon, before slowing growing across the world. Although it took a combination of Facebook and iOS to finally make free-to-play a ‘thing’ in Europe.
“Five to six years back there wasn’t that many successful free-to-play games in Europe,” notes Scott Yoo, director of Game Service Division at Nexon Europe.
“But now the market is growing. What really changed the game was the expansion of social networking and mobile devices. I don’t think the Europeans were keen on discovering content online, particularly things offered for free. I think there may have been some bias towards free stuff. Lots of people were saying something free is very low quality. So there was some negativity towards it. But with the help of the social networks and mobile devices, people are more comfortable with playing online and that has benefitted the free-to-play market.”
FREE CONTROVERSY
In many ways companies such as Zynga – and before them Jagex and Bigpoint – pioneered free-to-play across Europe. But not everyone was in favour of the business model. Even today there are concerns that ‘freemium’ lacks transparency and tricks consumers into parting with cash.
“It’s not really free-to-play,” says Bohemia Interactive’s CEO Marek Spanel, the developer behind the smash hit Steam game Arma II.
The firm has also released a free version of the game.
“The cost of the play is not very transparent to users so while they may be tempted to think it’s a very good thing for them, I think it’s tricks people a bit. It’s difficult. Maybe if they put a note for parents about when kids play freemium games and then they are billed from their operator for some excessive amount.
“It’s more fair to do other business models. We are not even contemplating converting to freemium based. If you call a game free-to-play and then you start collecting money from the game, I don’t think it’s free-to-play. I think it’s a bit misleading.”
Yet slowly the games industry is coming around to accepting free-to-play. And, following the success of titles like World of Tanks and League of Legends, the major publishers are investing in big-budget, console-quality freemium titles. Ubisoft has just released Ghost Recon Online, Activision has teamed up with Tencent for Call of Duty: Online, while EA has invested in a multitude of free-to-play games, including the next game in the Command and Conquer series.
“We have great games and big brands,” says Sean Decker, VP of EA’s Play4Free division. “We are putting out games like Command and Conquer and making it free-to-play, and EA is behind this 100 per cent. We’re putting out a top-tier game from a top-tier franchise.
“EA believes this will become one of the dominant business models.”
FREE AND EASY
Browser and social games are only one part of the free-to-play boom. Smartphone gaming has played a significant role, too. In 2009 Apple introduced in-app payments for games sold via iTunes and freemium titles on iOS has since become the norm. They’re huge cash generators, too. iPhone game CSR Racing from Natural Motion is reportedly generating around £7.5m a month. And the free-to-play smartphone market is likely to grow further, with Japanese mobile giants such as Gree and DeNA making significant moves into the Western markets.
“There are multiple models in the market. But the item-based model is very strong, and it has been for us in Japan, just as it has been for Zynga,” says Gree’s senior VP of Gree’s EML business, Ryotaro Shima.
Gonzague de Vallois, SVP of publishing at mobile specialist Gameloft, adds: “Smartphones have become ubiquitous, mass-market devices. Today the vast majority of smartphone and tablet users are casual gamers. They’re searching for new high-quality risk-free experiences. Our focus on free-to-play games, like Ice Age Village, is simply a response to that demand. The free-to-play model makes our games widely accessible and gives customers the power to play things their way. The model also naturally limits piracy, but that’s not our primary motivation.”
FREE-FOR-ALL
The one downside to the sudden popularity of freemium is the sheer number of developers it has attracted.
And now that global giants like EA, Activision and Ubisoft are involved, it’s harder than ever for small indie developers to get noticed.
There are other emerging platforms for free-to-play games outside of mobile and PC, such as Smart TVs and even consoles (more on that over on page 22). But the sheer quantity of games – plus the fickle nature of social gamers – is beginning to hurt even the free-to-play pioneers. Zynga’s stock price continues to tumble and it has announced plans to close three studios and shed 100 members of staff. Meanwhile, Bigpoint has also just announced that it is making 120 redundancies, closing its US offices, while CEO Heiko Hubertz has left his position at the head of the company.
“The entire industry is going through a very challenging time,” said Hubertz.
“We are now already entering the consolidation time for the online gaming industry. For that reason, to go into such a time, we need really good people on board who know how you can grow strong out of this time. I think we will see some acquisitions, some mergers and maybe even some companies go bankrupt.
“We want to have a very strong management team to guide us through this time and after that, we want to be even stronger than we are today.”
And then there’s the spiralling cost of user acquisition (online talk for marketing), with companies having to spend millions to acquire significant numbers of customers.
Meanwhile, other big free-to-play companies are splashing out significant sums to acquire big licences
“The market is getting more and more competitive,” says Axel Schmidt, director of corporate communications at free-to-play giant Gameforge.
“The investment costs in online games are always rising. Also, the big majors are coming into free-to-play, they have noticed that you can make some major revenue there and you need premium licences to survive in this environment.”
So there are challenges. And not everyone is convinced that the model benefits the end consumer.
But free-to-play is no-longer a niche business model. Big brands from big publishers with triple-A production values are coming and will cost nothing to try out.
Over the three days we will be publishing details articles about the free-to-play market, and what it means for the UK, for consoles and for retail. Or you can read them all right now by downloading our free digital edition of last week's magazine.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/is-fr...ap-fad/0105931
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November 7th, 2012, 15:01 Posted By: wraggster
Free UK magazine ShortList is celebrating a gaming first this morning.
Today’s issue features what editor Martin Robinson describes as “the world’s first playable gaming cover”.
Using augmented reality app Blippar, the cover can be turned – or ‘blipped’ – into a playable version of ‘80s title Chuckie Egg.
There’s other interactive gaming coverage inside, too, including access to Grand Theft Auto V and Tomb Raider trailers as well as an interactive Assassin’s Creed III photography game.
ShortList editor Martin Robinson stated: “We’d been planning a gaming special for ShortList which celebrated retro games as well as new releases, and thought it would make for an exciting magazine first if people could somehow ‘play’ our cover.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/today...-cover/0105930
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November 7th, 2012, 01:57 Posted By: wraggster
New submitter mc10 points out a post on the CloudFlare blog about the circumstances behind Google's services being inaccessible for a brief time earlier today. Quoting:"To understand what went wrong you need to understand a bit about how networking on the Internet works. The Internet is a collection of networks, known as "Autonomous Systems" (AS). Each network has a unique number to identify it known as AS number. CloudFlare's AS number is 13335, Google's is 15169. The networks are connected together by what is known as Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). BGP is the glue of the Internet — announcing what IP addresses belong to each network and establishing the routes from one AS to another. An Internet "route" is exactly what it sounds like: a path from the IP address on one AS to an IP address on another AS. ... Unfortunately, if a network starts to send out an announcement of a particular IP address or network behind it, when in fact it is not, if that network is trusted by its upstreams and peers then packets can end up misrouted. That is what was happening here. I looked at the BGP Routes for a Google IP Address. The route traversed Moratel (23947), an Indonesian ISP. Given that I'm looking at the routing from California and Google is operating Data Centre's not far from our office, packets should never be routed via Indonesia."
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/11...-offline-today
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November 6th, 2012, 01:30 Posted By: wraggster
Samsung Smart TVs can now boast more than just bird flinging in the games department, with EA today dipping its toe in the Samsung App store in the form of two major digital board games: Monopoly andThe Game of Life. The games cost $10 a pop, and are controllable with your WiFi-enabled Samsung Galaxy SI, SII, and SIII mobiles -- you'll need to snag "mobile companion apps" for each game to enable controls, which adds some tilt sensor-based waggle (the apps are free). That brings the grand total of notable standalone games on Samsung's Smart TVs to three, but then there's always Gaikai support to tide you over as well, eh? And hey, we hear there's a new Nintendo machine on the way pretty soon, in case you wanna go down the rabbit hole even deeper.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/05/samsung-smart-tv-ea/
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November 5th, 2012, 22:08 Posted By: wraggster
Games industry analysts have weighed in with US sales predictions for the month of October, ahead of the NPD Group's release of official market data this Thursday.
<figure style="margin: 0px 0px 20px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px currentColor; width: 300px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); text-transform: none; line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; clear: both; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; word-spacing: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; float: right; display: block; white-space: normal; position: relative; orphans: 2; widows: 2; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="article-image article-image-alt article-image-300"> </figure>Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter and fellow analyst firm EEDAR expect Xbox 360 sales to top those of PS3 and Wii for the 22nd consecutive month.They also predict further underwhelming monthly Vita sales of between 40,500 and 45,000 units in October.
Pachter said in a research note distributed this afternoon: "Combined PSP and PS Vita unit sales were down 23% in the PS Vita's eighth month [September]. In our view, the PS Vita is highly unlikely to gain traction, even if Sony decides to cut price later this year."
Last week Sony lowered its annual sales forecast for Vita and PSP from a combined total of 12 million units to ten million. Those predictions are down from 16 million units forecast in May.
On the software front, Pachter expects October sales to be led by Skylanders Giants, Medal of Honor: Warfighter and Pokémon Black & White 2.
Wedbush / EEDAR October hardware sales estimates (change year-on-year):
- 360 - 305,000 (-22%) / 315,000 (-20%)
- PS3 - 226,000 (-9%) / 225,000 (-10%)
- 3DS - 220,000 (-12%) / 250,000 (0%)
- DS - 105,000 (-42%) / 115,000 (-36%)
- Wii - 85,000 (-66%) / 135,000 (-46%)
- Vita - 40,500 (n/a) / 45,000 (n/a)
- PSP - 7,500 (-89%) / 6,000 (-92%)
- PS2 - 1,000 (-94%) / (n/a)
- Total - 990,000 (-30%) / 1,091,000 (-22%)
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...ling-analysts/
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November 5th, 2012, 21:32 Posted By: wraggster
Jean-Maxime Moris, creative director on Capcom's new IP Remember Me, has addressed the hot topics of violence and white male leads in video games.
"How f**king stupid is this industry to only bet on those stereotypes?" he asked CVG.
"It's the only thing you give people, they get accustomed to it and don't want anything else. So yes, our character, Nilin, is mixed race, she is female, her sexual orientation is her private life, so I won't go there."
In the upcoming release Nilin explores a dystopian Paris, messing with memories to take on the Memoryes corporation.
"It's the only thing you give people, they get accustomed to it and don't want anything else"
"She runs around, climbs, leaps, kicks guys' asses, remixes their memories, only kills a few people - and does it all in a game with no blood," continued Moris.
"We made those choices to say: 'look you can have something that's kick ass, something that's powerful, and you don't need it to be ultraviolent'.
Last month Moris also spoke about the benefits of launching a new IP so late in the current consoles' life cycle.
"If you have something that's new enough, that's fresh enough, and interesting enough, you've never been able to sell it to as many people as now," he said at the time.
Remember Me is due for release next spring.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...n-ultraviolent
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November 5th, 2012, 21:31 Posted By: wraggster
The offices of Mind Candy have played host to the XX Game Jam, which organisers Debbie Rawlings and Helen Kennedy believe is the UK's first female-only event of its kind.
"Within eight days of the registration going live we had filled 40 spaces," Rawlings told the BBC.
She has organised similar events in Bristol in the past and is also director of operations for Auroch Digital Ltd.
"We have a waiting list of about another 40 already so we could run another next week and I'm totally confident that would sell out too."
The 24 hour event was held at the end of last month to coincide with Ada Lovelace Day, which tries to highlight the role of women in technology, science and mathematics. Men were welcome to attend the showcase, but not to participate in the actual games development.
"The whole idea of an all-female game jam is something I discussed a while ago," added Kennedy.
"I took the idea out to Canada and pitched it for funding and they told me it couldn't be done, the whole format of a game jam was somehow too masculine to be done with just women. I thought that was a rather challenging thing to say as I don't believe in those sorts of categorisations."
University of the West of England, London Games Festival, Next Gen Skills and Auroch Digital all supported the event.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...e-only-gamejam
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November 5th, 2012, 19:17 Posted By: wraggster
Assassin’s Creed III has become Ubisoft’s biggest ever launch title – selling nearly twice the amountAssassin’s Creed II did – and in the process taken the top spot in the UK all-formats software chart.On a broader scale, it can claim to be the second biggest launch of the year to date, after FIFA 13 (which remained in the UK chart for four weeks).Medal Of Honor: Warfighter, last week’s number one and the game that dethroned FIFA 13, drops to number six and WWE 13, Football Manager 2013 and Need For Speed: Most Wanted take positions three, four and five respectively. FIFA 13, meanwhile, holds on to position two.Despite competing against four high-profile new releases, Dishonored manages to retain a top ten position – the only non-sequel there.The only other new release is Assassin’s Creed III Liberation, which debuts at 14 – the third biggest debut for a PS Vita game after Uncharted: Golden Abyss and FIFA Football).01. Assassin’s Creed III (Ubisoft)
02. FIFA 13 (Electronic Arts)
03. WWE 13 (THQ)
04. Football Manager 2013 (Sega)
05. Need For Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts)
06. Medal Of Honor: Warfighter (Electronic Arts)
07. Forza Horizon (Microsoft)
08. Skylanders Giants (Activision Blizzard)
09. Just Dance 4 (Ubisoft)
10. Dishonored (Bethesda Softworks)
http://www.edge-online.com/news/assa...t-ever-launch/
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