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Read the rest of DC Universe Online: On The Epic Trailer Bandwagon (Video) (227 words)

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 4 comments on 07/25/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Opinion, Video Tags: DCUO, SOE

Blizzard will not be posting real names in forums.

Thank you for listening to your customers.  I suspect that Mr. Morhaime beat Mr. Kotick in an arm wrestling competition and this is the result.

A win is a win, I’ll take it.  See the full quote after the break.

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Read the rest of Thank You: We Spoke, Blizzard Listened! (413 words)

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 2 comments on 07/09/2010.
Posted in: News Tags:

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Read the rest of Blizzard Entertainment: A Whole New Level Of Fail (373 words)

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 19 comments on 07/07/2010.
Posted in: Fail, Featured, News, Opinion, Video Tags: Blizzard, World of Warcraft

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Read the rest of Team Fortress 2: The Engineer Update (0 words)

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 07/06/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Video Tags: Team Fortress 2, Valve

We shall see.

That is all for now. More to come

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 8 comments on 07/03/2010.
Posted in: Beta, News Tags:

The good news is that there is more good than both bad and meh combined.  I feel a future article stirring in my head on the extravagance that some of these companies putting on for product and/or game announcements.  It’s all starting to feel like Enron, but entertainment is what these people do.  Anywho, that’s a topic for another time.  Onto my picks, after the break.

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Read the rest of E3 Wrap Up: The Good, The Bad And The…Meh (335 words)

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 06/19/2010.
Posted in: Analysis, Featured, News, Opinion, Video Tags: e3

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 06/13/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Video Tags: Force Unleashed 2, LucasArts

I never played Guild Wars.  I guess EverQuest, EQII, SWG, WoW and all the games in between never left me much room to try it.  I won’t make that mistake this time around.  I think this is going to release in 2011 (?) and if so, poses quite the problem for me as far as MMO’s go.  What happens if I love SWTOR and GW2?  How can I devote enough time to both?  Where does WoW fit in?  A good problem to have I guess, considering all the crappy MMO’s out so far.

So far just the Warrior and Elementalist have been revealed.  I’m left wanting for more.

And that Charr warrior just looks wicked cool…

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 3 comments on 06/09/2010.
Posted in: Commentary, Featured, News Tags: ArenaNet, Guild Wars 2

Clone Wars Adventures, coming in fall 2010.

I’m sure you’ve already heard by now that Sony Online Entertainment is releasing a free to play MMO this fall, called Clone Wars Adventures. If you hadn’t, then there ya go.

Featuring mini-games, pets, housing, and more RMT than you can shake a stick at, SOE appears to be trying to capture the magic of Free Realms with CWA. I’m predicting another hit for them, because adding Star Wars to this formula will certainly increase the number of people that try and inevitably play this game. I just may be one of them.

I have yet to see the movie/TV series, but those are on my list of things to watch. I dig the art style, as it is perfect for mass consumption. No one is going to need a gaming pc rig to play this, the whole thing has mass appeal written all over it if you ask me. To that point, I can see this being an MMO I can play with my son and wife. It doesn’t seem to be cut from the old school of MMO design, where it will be light on grind (I think) and heavy on action with mini games. Things like tower defense, droid programming puzzles, lightsaber duels, speeder bike racing and more all seem to exists to bring some very fun elements to the game.

Check out the trailer below:

http://www.youtube.com/v/7xbkf4sQXi4&hl

I didn’t see this one coming. Looks like we’ve got a Star Wars MMO to play this year after all. Hopefully we’ll see no SWG style meltdowns with this one, and SOE can finally redeem itself to MMO and Star Wars fans.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 06/02/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Opinion, Video Tags: Clone Wars Adventures, SOE

OnLive offering 12 months and 1 game free.

I’m not one to get sucked into many promotional deals, but my curiosity on these services has me diving in to see what they are all about.  Cloud gaming service OnLive is ramping up for launch during June’s E3 event with a new promotion.  Those of us curious about the service received an email from Steve Pearlman and company today with some good news.  Our pre-registration  qualified us not only for 3 free months, but for a full year of free service and a free game.  Value of such offer is to be determined, but more of a free thing can’t be bad so I call this good news.

This offer appears to be good until June 3rd, and on June 17th the service begins taking sign-ups from everyone else.  Part of the registration requires you to have a bandwith “scan” done to determine if you have a big enough connection to handle the service.  Those on dial up and lower end DSL will be out of luck, but anyone with a 5 meg connection (as memory serves) or better seems all set to go.

I’m all signed up and will be posting the details here in a few weeks.  Soon we’ll know if it is another good idea with bad implementation, or the actual future of gaming.  I also suspect we’ll be getting some more news from competitor Gaikai as well.  I really get the feeling that they don’t want to be stuck under OnLive’s shadow if they can help it.  It also seems like OnLive’s pricing model might be in flux still.  Getting a free year of service just for registering makes me wonder if there might be a charge for it after all.  Perhaps we’ll see OnLive rethink the decision to charge for access to the service and to the individual games.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 05/30/2010.
Posted in: Featured, Gaming Gear, News Tags: Gaikai, OnLive

Gaikai and Onlive will stream games from the cloud.

Looks like the future of gaming is upon us in 2010. OnLive’s Steve Perlman announced a deal last week that will bring the OnLive gaming service to the UK, and this week he is announcing the service is also going to be available in Belgium.

Not to be outdone, OnLive competitor David Perry announced that his service is active as well.  Gaikai has started building servers for that service roll out as well.  Hand building servers as stacks of Nvidia chips arrive is the latest from Gaikai, as they seem to be a bit behind in the arms race to deploy a cloud gaming infrastructure.

It is certainly exciting to see all of this develop.  It could be a revolution in gaming technology…or an expensive flash in the pan. Only time will tell.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 3 comments on 05/17/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News Tags: Gaikai, OnLive

This game is probably going to be an Xbox seller, all by itself. Especially where I’m concerned, unless it gets released for PC before I can pull the financial trigger that is. This game looks really good, and appears to have a really good story to follow in single player mode as well. A good western themed game is really what I need right about now.

Red Dead Redemption releases May 18th on Xbox 360 and PS3 only.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 05/13/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Video Tags: PS3, Xbox 360

Cue Saul from Coming to America saying "Ah-ha!"

A few days ago I speculated on the Call of Duty franchise by asking if it could possibly turn into an MMO, and then I tried to connect the dots and wonder if Blizzard might actually be involved in such a thing. I took a step further into speculationville and wondered if Blizzard’s next MMO might be Call of Duty Online.

Bill at mmorpg.com jumped in and took the theorycrafting ride as well. Users in the comments there blasted he (and by proxy me) for coming up with such nonsense, and referenced comments like this one from Blizzard:

Games take years to develop from concept to release. Diablo III was in the works for years before being announced. StarCraft II was announced two years ago and isn’t even in Beta yet.

We have nothing to advertise for the new MMO because it’s a shell of a game thus far. We’ve already stated it’ll be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch. It’s an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this.

So I updated that former post to rule out Blizzard’s involvement with Call of Duty, and that was that. Blizzard’s next MMO can’t be Call of Duty based on that statement, unless someone has forced them to change their minds.  I would have not speculated as such had I seen that quote originally.

And then this happened: Activision gave financial reports on all its franchises today, and Bobby Kotick dropped this tidbit on us on Call of Duty (via Gamasutra):

The popular global fantasy of being a soldier is allowing us to enter new geographies, leveraging… [Blizzard's] expertise… creating content for audiences that have to date have only been satisfied by Blizzard games,” Kotick teased. “Soon we’ll announce our plans for both China and Korea.

So here’s what we know:

• Blizzard’s next MMO is an original IP, not Call of Duty, unless someone has changed their minds.  The next big Blizzard MMO is not Call of Duty.  However…
• Activision wants to turn Call of Duty into a subscription game, making it more MMO-like.  It already contains many elements of an MMORPG with leveling, achievements, etcetera.
• Blizzard will be involved in some capacity with this new MMO-like CoD game, according to the CEO of Activision.

So there you have it. We weren’t crazy to be connecting these specific dots. Specifically suggesting that Blizzard’s next MMO might be a Call of Duty MMO, might have been ill advised, but suggesting that Blizzard is involved with with whomever might be making the future Call of Duty games is not. We can debate what is or is not an MMO at another time, but this proves that it wasn’t crazy to put 2 and 2 together and figure out some sort of involvement by Blizzard in an MMO-like Call of Duty game.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with No comments on 05/06/2010.
Posted in: Analysis, Featured, News Tags: Activision, Blizzard, Call of Duty

It appears to be some fusion of Borderlands, Fallout and BioShock.  Probably not a big deal at first glance, but deeper investigation has several reasons that the press was in awe of what they saw.  From my reading, everyone can’t stop raving about the visuals and crazy level of detail in all areas of the game.  There are some unique game play elements that will make the title stand out too, like self-resurrection and other interesting mechanics.  It’s worth it to watch some videos and read up on the game if it looks interesting, where you’ll see things like Adam Sessler from g4tv say “…this game blew my mind.” and VG247′s Johnny Cullen saying “…our opinion on it is it’s downright motherf#%*#!*g awesome.”

I’m doing a bit of re-reporting here, which I don’t usually like to do.  However, the impressions people are reporting on this initial look at the game was worth my investigation and I thought I’d pass it along.  Looks like we’ve got another great game to look forward to in 2011.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with No comments on 05/05/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Video Tags: Id, Rage

I guess SOE was a bit envious of Zynga and decided that Facebook was the first platform to launch their game in, and I don’t think I can blame them.  If they can drum up a decent user base in this Flash based Facebook game, that just might translate to some big subscriber numbers of the full 3D game when it launches later.  It is likely a very solid strategy, and could be something we see more and more of in the MMO gaming space.

I am not very big on Facebook “games” but if you try this give us a shout back and say what you think about it in the comments below.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with No comments on 05/04/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Opinion, Video Tags: SOE, The Agency

Call of Duty Online? By Blizzard?

Via Gamasutra, Wedbush Morgan’s financial analyst for the gaming industry was recently quoted as saying that he thinks Activision is set to make some profit this year from Starcraft II’s launch (duh!) and from the Call of Duty franchise continuing to sell well despite the recent Infinity Ward drama.

He thinks that drama will eventually get worked out, and speculates on a new business model.  His speculation (likely a very educated guess) is what is really interesting here for Blizzard fans.

See his quotes below, speaking about Activision’s Call of Duty franchise:

Activision intends to transform the game from a packaged product only to a subscription multiplayer game.

He goes further to speak directly to the Infinity Ward Drama:

We think that the company is on the path to subscriptions, and that West and Zampella did not wish to work on that kind of game, leading to their termination,

This is where I’m going to try to connect the dots with Blizzard.  It might be a stretch, but we know they plan to create a new MMO.  We also know they’ve released almost zero information about this title, and no one knows how far along they’ve gotten on this new MMO.  Perhaps they haven’t started, or perhaps there’s not more than conceptual work?  We know that they wanted to do something very different from WoW’s fantasy genre, and with StarCraft II coming out (and StarCraft Ghost cancelled long ago) it is likely not StarCraft Online.

Maybe, just maybe…Blizzard could be working on a Call of Duty MMO?  If the former IW heads were against developing such a thing, who would be the next best studio to make an MMO on one of Activison’s IP’s like Call of Duty?  Blizzard would certainly be the best, but who knows if that is what Blizzard had in mind or if the Activision guys would even be able to convince them to make it.

It would be a very different MMO from World of Warcraft, and these clues point to the possibility of a Call of Duty online.  The stretch is if Blizzard might be the studio behind it, which would automatically make it a big seller.  Or would it?  I doubt a war based story would have the same kind of mass appeal that Blizzard undoubtedly wants in it’s next MMO, but crazier things have happened before.

What do you think?  Call of Duty MMO by Blizzard likely?

Update: This speculation was put to bed pretty quickly. While a Call of Duty MMO may still be very likely, it seems that it is definitely not the “next Blizzard MMO” that many have spoken about based on the quote found here:

We have nothing to advertise for the new MMO because it’s a shell of a game thus far. We’ve already stated it’ll be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch. It’s an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with 3 comments on 05/03/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Opinion Tags: Blizzard, Call of Duty

Uh oh.

Well, I can’t say that I saw this coming.  It was reported that all is not well with Fallen Earth, LLC and Icarus Studios. Icarus states that all is not lost, but I don’t think anyone outside the executive offices truly know what is really going on.  Sounds like damage control to me, and apparently something didn’t seem to go too well for those employees and resources that got axed due to the restructuring of Icarus Studios.

Whatever is going on, it can’t be good.  These are some very mixed signals that don’t bode well for the future of the game.  Sad, this MMORPG development thing is.  Seems like very few can do well to make money at it, especially those outside the fantasy genre.  It only took six months and ‘restructuring’ had to be done.  Not good.

Could Fallen Earth go the way of Tabula Rasa?

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 04/30/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News Tags: Fallen Earth

Get the early M24 access by playing BBC2.

Looks like the “we don’t like used game sales” strategists at EA are up to it again.  Today we have news from the official MoH blog that you can get access to the M24 as an early unlock in MoH multi-player if you use the same EA account you played BBC2 with.  Unless I misunderstand, if you bought your game used and didn’t get a key to activate on your EA account you’ll have to miss out on this offer:

“The M24 access will be automatically awarded when Medal of Honor releases to all players who have bought Battlefield: Bad Company 2 new and claimed their VIP code (in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 box only) or played Battlefield: Bad Company 2 online (PC). The same EA account must be used in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Medal of Honor to make use of the M24.”

I expect that one day soon we’ll see these games become only accessible through online sign in, much the way that most MMORPG games operate. Regardless, it is still cool to get free/early/exclusive items in games. I still need to see more on this game, as I wonder how it will differentiate itself from Modern Warfare 2 and it’s Battlefield: Bad Company 2 cousin.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with No comments on 04/28/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News, Opinion Tags: Battlefield: Bad Company 2, DICE, Medal of Honor

Play The Passing on April 22nd

Valve updated the official LFD2 blog with the latest news on The Passing.  It will land in 2 days time and be free to PC owners.  Xbox players will have to cough up 560 MS points to enjoy it.  Not only does it introduce a golf club melee weapon, an M60 firearm and a new class of zombie (the fallen survivor), but we’ll also get a new series of weekly game mode events called “Mutations”:

These week-long runs of new gameplay modes range from “Realism Versus” mode to “Chainsaw Massacre,” which gives all players chainsaws with an unlimited supply of gasoline. There are over 20 Mutations planned, each playable on all L4D2 Campaigns. Mutations are exclusively available to owners of “The Passing” DLC.

On Launch day you can play with Valve employees (PC 11am-5pm PDT, Xbox 7pm-11pm PDT) if you add one of the accounts below to your friends lists:

On PC:
L4D2_DEV_1, L4D2_DEV_2, L4D2_DEV_3, L4D2_DEV_4, L4D2_DEV_5, L4D2_DEV_6, L4D2_DEV_7, L4D2_DEV8, L4D2_DEV_9, L4D2_DEV_10

On the Xbox 360:
L4D2 DEV 1, L4D2 DEV 2, L4D2 DEV 3, L4D2 DEV 4, L4D2 DEV 5, L4D2 DEV 6, L4D2 DEV 7, L4D2 DEV 8, L4D2 DEV 9, L4D2 DEV 10

Time to dust off the zombie killing skills.  Add Stimulus Package to your steam friends list to find me

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with One comment on 04/20/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News Tags: Left 4 Dead 2, Valve

Next Week: The Passing happens

Valve just posted an update to the official LFD2 blog announcing that The Passing will hit next week, so we’ll finally get to find out which survivor from the original cast didn’t make it.  The article doesn’t mention a specific day other than to say “next week”, but at least it is a 7 to 10 day window to expect that The Passing will be available.  We’ll also get a few new weapons and other goodies that come with this addition, so it will be a welcomed change to the game.

Additionally, the article mentions that 2 of the Midnight Riders songs are coming to Rock Band. Might be cool if you have both games, as the Midnight Riders definitely rock.

© Posted by br3ntbr0 for Im Talkin Games with No comments on 04/16/2010.
Posted in: Featured, News Tags: Left 4 Dead 2, Valve