The Elder Scrolls VS. Mojang Scrolls Battle Goes to Court

In spite of lighthearted suggestions byMinecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson that their differences be settled as gamers, the battle between developer Mojang andThe Elder Scrolls publisher Bethesda is headed to the courtroom.
Last month lawyers for Bethesda Softworks sent a lengthy letter to developer Mojang, claiming that the Minecraft studio's upcoming card-based strategy game, Scrolls, was too close for comfort to Bethesda's flagship franchise, The Elder Scrolls. WithThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim right around the corner, Bethesda requested that Notch and company rename Scrolls to avoid any potential confusion.
We didn't take the request too seriously. Judging by Notch's suggestion the case be settled with a Quake match, neither did he.
Earlier this morning, however, Notch tweeted that the case was going to court. So yes, things are serious now. So serious that Notch briefly tweeted a Washington Post from 1992 involving Bethesda parent company ZeniMax Media CEO Robert Altman being indicted on felony charges in New York, before removing the angry tweet and apologizing.I wish Notch and crew the best of luck. I believe there's room in the world for two Scrollsgames. As Minecraft's daddy himself has pointed out, this is a world where Bethesda's Rage can coexist with the classic beat-em up Streets of Rage, so anything is possible.

Source:- Kotaku

Clever Xbox Live User Sues Microsoft for $500 Billion (or 625,000,000,000 MS Points)

Some cletus down in Arkansas opines that Microsoft has to pay him $500 billion because it didn't answer, in writing, a mailing designed to not get a written response to his demands for $500 billion.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is your source for all the fun, courtesy of a federal civil complaint filed Monday by one David Stebbins. His grounds for suing is a technicality about the nature of the Xbox Live terms of service. He argues that he is allowed to unilaterally amend the TOS unless Microsoft rejects his terms in writing.
The new terms? Something about he gets paid $500 billion if they don't like the old terms.
Stebbins actually admits to the P-I that his notice to Microsoft was designed to not attract their attention and to go unanswered. "When I mail these documents to Microsoft, they won't go to any legal division; I arranged for the mailings to be picked up by the employee that just collects regular mail! It's quite possible that these employees won't understand the legal significance of these documents, and know that they're required to respond."
Clever! Best part? He refused to create an actual paper filing, as one would expect of a legitimate complaint. Instead he created a YouTube video (since removed) of screenshots of the contract amendments because to create them in paper "would put an undue strain on my printer."
You'd think that if $500 billion were actually on the table, someone would pony up for a $40 inkjet or a trip to Kinko's.
I'm not going to waste words poking holes in his legal reasoning or waste time finding the statutes that limit either the scope of his claims or proscribe this kind of conduct. It's enough to know he's tried this bullshit in other venues, too. And, also, that he claims to have Asperger's syndrome, which is the go-to punchline for many a 4chan troll. I'm sure his agoraphobia will keep him from showing up in court, too.

Source: Kotaku

Trash-talking Battlefield Publisher Predicts Call of Duty Will Collapse ‘In 2-3 Years’

EA, the publisher of this fall's Battlefield 3, responded today to a call from their competition for cooler rhetoric with some heated trash talk.
"Welcome to the big leagues Eric," EA spokesperson Jeff Brown said in a comment issued to Kotaku but adressed to Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision and the man who said in Germany this week that EA's expressed hopes that his company's Call of Duty will "rot from the core" are harmful for the industry.
"I know you're new in the job," Brown continued, "but someone should have told you this is an competitive industry. You've got every reason to be nervous. Last year Activision had a 90 share in the shooter category. This year, Battlefield 3 is going to take you down to 60 or 70. At that rate, you'll be out of the category in 2-3 years. If you don't believe me, go to the store and try to buy a copy of Guitar Hero or Tony Hawk."
As CEOs or spokespeople often do, Brown was boiling down the heated competition between EA and Activision's shooter games to numbers. The share he refers to is the amount of games sold in a genre go to a single series. The Call of Duty/Modern Warfare dominance in the military shooter genre has frustrated EA, whose Medal of Honor series used to dominate and whose recent Battlefield: Bad Company games, while well-reviewed, couldn't budge the king from his throne. EA's been wanting to take Activision down for a while, with Bad Company, with a revived Medal of Honor but also with the assumption that their best shout would be October'sBattlefield 3. That game is aimed to battle with Activision's November-scheduled Modern Warfare 3.
Brown's crack about Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk is a reference to those once-dominant music and

 sports series falling so badly that neither has a new game out this year.
Activision has had limited reasons to sweat EA lately. Its Call of Duty and Modern Warfaregames have been smashing sales records for several consecutive numbers, easily cracking 10 million copies sold swiftly, ruling online play for months after their release. Activision is on the verge of launching a free and premium Call of Duty community and stat-tracking service and is staging a Call of Duty fan convention next month. Those are either the signs of the bubble Brown believes Battlefield is about to burst or they are the evidence that the juggernaut Call of Duty continues to be in shape to shrug off all comers.

Source: Kotaku

Is Iron Wolf the Next Call of Duty?

A pair of hackers that gained access to the Xbox account of a Treyarch employee believes they've stumbled across the next entry in the Call of Duty series, code named Iron Wolf. Are they on to something?
The Iron Wolf speculation comes after hackers gained access to the Xbox Live account of an internal PartnerNet gamertag which appears to belong to an employee atCall of Duty developer Treyarch. Flipping through braindx0's friends list, they noticed a number of friends playing a game labeled as Iron Wolf. Their assumption, fueled by the fact that one of the maps being played in Iron Wolf shared a name with a map from Black Ops, is that these people were playing Call of Duty 9, code named Iron Wolf.
The assumption strikes me as highly unlikely. The idea of a group of developers playing an upcoming game on a public network before the previous version has hit the market is ridiculous, especially when the franchise in question is Call of Duty.
What could they be playing? That requires more speculation. With a map name shared with Call of Duty: Black Ops, they could just be testing tweaks for that game. With the Iron Wolf code name sharing initials with Infinity Ward, they could be playing an early build of Modern Warfare 3, perhaps for comparison to the Wii version of Modern Warfare 3, developed by Treyarch.
And of course, I have to accept the possibility that sure, it could be Call of Duty 9. I'm 90 percent certain it isn't, but I have to allow. The Activision spokesperson I contacted about the story could only give me "Activision does not comment on rumors or speculation," so until they prove otherwise, there's always a chance.

Source:http://kotaku.com/5830319/is-iron-wolf-the-next-call-of-duty?tag=call-of-duty

Rumor: Team Bondi Being Acquired By George Miller’s KMM Studio

George Miller, the man responsible for directing, writing, and producing 1979 post-apocalyptic classic Mad Max, is the co-founder of a production house that is rumored to be interested in absorbing the remainder of L.A. Noire developer Team Bondi. Employees of George Miller’s KMM Studio are reporting seeing Team Bondi members, including infamous studio founder Brendan McNamara.
“Brendan McNamara was seen walking through the buildings of Dr. D yesterday, where Happy Feet 2 is being made,” claimed Kotaku’s trusted source.
The plot thickens when you learn that Sydney-based Dr.D is already staffed by some former Team Bondi folks who fled the reported crappy working conditions. Seeing their former boss presumably getting a tour of his potential new office was upsetting, says the source.
Apparently George Miller is a fan of Team Bondi’s work, and the fact that the company didn’t sacrifice their vision to meet deadlines.
“The word is going round that Team Bondi is being folded into KMM studios, Team Bondi is pretty much doomed after the scandal and can’t find any new supporters, so by doing this they can hide their name,” says the source.
KMM is currently working on a video game version of Happy Feet 2 to tie in with the animated film’s release. Allegedly KMM shifted focus away from a Mad Max title to the penguin-packed game.
If this proves to be true, the Team Bondi refuges at Dr.D could be in for a bitter reacquaintance should George Miller choose to take on the rest of the sullied Australian developer.

Source: GameInformer

Black Ops’ Rezurrection DLC is One Small Step for Zombie-Kind

Nacht der Untoten. Verruckt. Shi No Numa. Der Riese. These names strike terror in the hearts of anyone that dared venture into the undead playgrounds of Call of Duty: World at War. The zombie story started there. It ends on the Moon.
Due out on August 23 for the Xbox 360, theRezurrection donwloadable content pack forCall of Duty: Black Ops combines remastered versions of those four classic zombie packs with a new one called Moon, for obvious reasons. Forget about heading to a remote island to escape the undead hordes; they're spaceborn now, and there's no escape. Expect high-tech weapons, bizarre new weapons, and one hell of a challenge.
The five maps are packaged with an enhanced Zombies Soundtrack featuring three never-before-purchasable tracks and a special Xbox 360 Moon theme, all for the low, low price of 1,200 Microsoft points.
What's that you say? You've already gotten those four maps with the Hardened or Prestige editions of Black Ops? Well fine then, you get Rezurrection for free.
I'm sure the PC and PlayStation 3 players will get a similar deal whenever the content comes their way.

Source: Kotaku

Borderlands 2 Is Official. Borderlands 2 Is Coming.

Post-apocalyptic shooter Borderlands is getting a sequel. It's called Borderlands 2.
Currently in development, the title is being created by Gearbox Software, who developed the first title (above). Like the previous title, the game is slated for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
"Combining invention and evolution,Borderlands 2 features all-new characters, skills, environments, enemies, weapons and equipment, which come together in an ambitiously crafted story," said publisher 2K Games in an official statement. "Players will reveal secrets, and escalate mysteries of the Borderlands universe as they adventure across the unexplored new areas of Pandora."
Borderlands 2 is scheduled to be released between April 2012 and spring 2013. More information about the game can be found in the latest issue of Game Informer.

Source: Kotaku

Sitting on Your Ass Playing Halo for 12 Hours: The Silent Killer

Chris Staniforth was standing outside of a jobs center, awaiting an interview, when he dropped a pack of chewing gum. When he reached to pick it up, he began to spasm. In moments, he was dead.
Actual cause of death: pulmonary embolism as a result of deep vein thrombosis. Proximate cause of death: Playing his Xbox 360.
That's the reasoning of the coroner and the parents of Staniforth, a Sheffield, England 20-year-old who was like most guys his age, especially in his enjoyment of video games. The problem is that he'd game for incredibly long periods, up to 12 hours, without getting up to take a stretch.
"Kids all over the country are playing these games for long periods," his dad told The Sun. "they don't realise it could kill them."
The Sun showed remarkable restraint in reporting this tragedy without hacking Staniforth's cell phone. It did, however, diagnose him as a video game addict in the headline and second paragraph. For his part, Staniforth's father says he does not blame video games, consoles or their makers for his son's death.
But he has launched a campaign to raise awareness about the risks of deep vein thrombosis associated with gaming for hours on end. Microsoft, reached for comment by The Sun, said it recommends periodic breaks from gaming "to exercise as well as make time for other pursuits." Good advice.

Source:http://kotaku.com/5826170/sitting-on-your-ass-playing-halo-for-12-hours-the-silent-killer?tag=tragedy

Nintendo’s Former President Just Lost Half a Billion Dollars

A disastrous last quarter in terms of sales has sent Nintendo's share prices through the floor. If you own Nintendo shares, sorry! But hey, even if you do, it could be worse; spare a thought for former president Hiroshi Yamauchi. He just lost $500,000,000 in one day.
It's not like he'll be out on the street; Yamauchi, who used to be Japan's richest man, is so rich he can take a $500 million hit in his overall wealth and still rise to greet the day.
But boy, losing $500,000,000 in a single day has gotta hurt. I lost $2 down the side of my driver's seat last week and went through half a box of tissues!
Yamauchi ran Nintendo for over 50 years, and also used to own the Seattle Mariners baseball team.

Source:http://kotaku.com/5825817/nintendos-former-president-just-lost-half-a-billion-dollars

Is Japan Excited about Wii U?

The Wii U is Nintendo's new console. You might be excited about it. You might not be. But what do Famitsu readers think?
Famitsu is Japan's biggest gaming mag, and its polls provide insights into what readers are thinking. So what are Famitsu readers thinking? Here are the results, via 1Up:
•38.3 percent said they had a good impression of the Wii U after E3
•33.7 percent said they did not have a good impression
•28 percent were undecided
Many liked the console's potential, but 22.5 percent didn't like the console's name, and others thought the Wii U seemed like a minor Wii upgrade.
Developers were more excited about the console, with Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi,Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki, Yakuza designer Toshihiro Nagoshi, Resident Evildesigner Shinji Mikami, and Professor Layton developer Akihiro Hino all expressed interest in the machine. Many of them, however, seemed to be taking a watch-and-see attitude towards the console.
"We can think about new ports of games like Professor Layton which use the touch pen," Hino told Famitsu (via 1Up), "but I'd also like to think of new possibilities for games you can enjoy at home."
Having developers on board is important. Having good third party titles from non Nintendo studios is important. But talk is cheap, and developing new games isn't.
At E3, BioShock designer Ken Levin appeared in a Wii U promo reel, but later said his studio currently had "no plans" for Wii U titles.

Source:http://kotaku.com/5825110/is-japan-excited-about-wii-u

Does the game bulletstorm turn people into rapist? Fox News controversy.

If you’ve been following the latest Bulletstorm news, you might have heard a recent controversy regarding the game and Fox News where they said the game "turns people into rapists." Mike Capps, Epic Games President, had this to say about the situation while talking toIndustrygamers:
"There are two ways to answer the question. The first is what it does for Bulletstorm and the second is what it does for the industry. For what it did for Bulletstorm... yes, there were people who were very excited about any attention at all. For a game that's over-the-top, they probably helped sell more units than they convinced people to pick at us."
He was also pleased that the industry media defended it, saying, “Every journalist said this Fox report is junk... It's wonderful to see a media that's defending free speech."
Bulletstorm has only been out for a couple of weeks and it’s doing quite well, at least according to Mike Capps. "We got a reorder on day one from one of the big U.S. retailers that focuses on games," Capps told us during GDC, likely referring to GameStop. "So that was a pretty good feeling."
I’m guessing that including a Gears of War 3 beta invite with Bulletstorm: Epic Edition certainly helped just a wee bit. So, what other games out there should Fox News “help” out next?


Source:http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/84491/bulletstorm-sales-helped-by-fox-news-controversy/

Take Some Friends With You to Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

Beautiful adventure game Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet comes to Xbox Live Arcade next week. It is a mysterious, quiet game—Dimmu Borgir music notwithstanding—that is Metroid-like, full of exploration, power ups and re-exploration, at least on the single-player side.
But there is a multiplayer side to Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet as well.
This 10-minute-long video of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet gameplay does a very good job of showcasing the single-player side of the game's atmosphere and mechanics. I played about half of that exploratory demo during a hands-on session with the Xbox 360 game at Comic-Con. It felt like a free-floating game of Metroid in which I unlocked new abilities for my flying saucer, navigating an alien world populated with indigenous threats and strange mazes.
I spent more time with the game's frantic cooperative multiplayer mode, playing alongside developers from Fuelcell Games and artist Michel Gagné. We jumped into a fresh game, three players, and set off. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet's multiplayer mode is an endless, side-scrolling race. Players are chased by a full screen-sized, multi-tentacled beast that creeps in from the left.
Our cooperative goal was to stay ahead of it and to drag three glowing lanterns with the mechanical arms that protruded from our saucers. Crumbling rock walls and deadly alien lifeforms occasionally stood in our way. We cleared boulders away with each ship's arm. We switched from the mech arm to our blasters, taking out attacking flora and fauna as the giant tentacle beast filled the screen with black. At times, we'd come to a full stop, the screen filled with freshly spawned enemies, turning Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet into a brief game of Asteroids.
Then we'd sprint forward. After a few minutes of this endless pursuit, we lost one lantern to the leviathan. Then another. Then it was just me, pulling my lantern behind me, the others shooting aliens, shooting rocks, dying, respawning until eventually the beast had overtaken us fully. It felt like a satisfying (but nerve-wracking) 2D take on a Horde-like mode, a series of every increasing challenges and waves of bad guys. It made me more excited to playInsanely Twisted Shadow Planet beyond its six to eight hour long adventure mode.
We'll be able to play Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet alone and together next week, August 3, when the game comes to Xbox Live Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points.

Source:http://kotaku.com/5823916/take-some-friends-with-you-to-insanely-twisted-shadow-planet

New Screens For Silent Hill HD Collection and Silent Hill: Downpour Come to Light

Silent Hill fans will be soaking in terrifying blackness this fall with the release of the Silent Hill HD Collection and Silent Hill: Downpour, two titles shooting for release by October.
Konami has released new screen shots of both titles, Silent Hill HD Collection's version ofSilent Hill 2 for the PlayStation 3 and Silent Hill: Downpour for PS3 and Xbox 360, games that will put your television's black level display skills to the ultimate test. Konami's HD collection of Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 will hit in either September or October, with Downpour slated for October 25 in North America.
See both titles in action in the gallery above, preferably with the lights off.

Dead Island’s Infestation Spreads to PlayStation Home

The zombie strain that strikes the vacationers on Dead Island is so virulent that even advertising the game results in a full-on undead plague, as EuropeanPlayStation Home users will discover shortly before the game launches in September.
PlayStation 3 owners will start feeling the effects of the Dead Island infection shortly before the game launches on September 6 in North America, September 9 in Europe. It'll all start with a few zombies shambling through the Home Square. Apparently those zombies will be landscapers and building contractors, because soon enough visitors will find themselves wandering about a recreation of the island of Banoi's Royal Palms Resort.
Then the mini-games start.
Up to four players will be able to take-on a Dead Island-themed challenge in which they must craft weapons and utilize special abilities to repel the zombie horde. Completing all 10 challenges will earn a player a special in-game item for the game proper, something called "exploding meat." Mmm.
Players can also get their picture taken with a zombie, take on a zombie survival quiz for fabulous Home prizes, or preorder the game directly from Home-based kiosks, scoring an exclusive in-game "Exploding Zombie Outfit" for their trouble.
The key element to take away here is that the PlayStation Home Dead Island experience will lead directly to in-game exclusives that can't be found anywhere else. That's a rather aggressive way to get folks to give Sony's virtual playground a try.
Update: This is both U.S. and Europe. Updated the story to reflect this!

Source:http://kotaku.com/5824422/dead-islands-infestation-spreads-to-playstation-home/gallery/1

Star Wars: The Old Republic Won’t Launch In Asia, Australasia

As though we were still living in the 1990's, it's come to light that when upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic is released, it'll only be released (at first) in North America and Europe.
If you live in Australia, and expected to be playing when those in the US, Canada or Europe were playing, sorry, you miss out. Japan, you miss out. New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, India, Taiwan, you miss out.
A statement issued by developers BioWare on the issue reads:
To all of our fans outside of North America and Europe:
Today we've announced the pre-order details for the initial launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and as you may now know, we've taken the difficult but necessary decision to limit our initial launch supply for the game. BioWare and LucasArts are completely focused on building an exceptional game and an exceptional game service to go with it. We decided to constrain our launch capacity to ensure we deliver a great experience to every player.
Part of the reason this decision was made was because of the overwhelming demand for The Old Republic, and we're humbled by that level of excitement and anticipation. We fully intend to deliver to you an amazing game when we expand our service post-launch, but right now we cannot commit to any timeframe for when that may happen. As soon as we have more information about additional launches in more territories, we'll let you know.
We are committed to delivering Star Wars: The Old Republic to BioWare and Star Wars fans around the world, and to growing a truly global community.
To recap, EA and BioWare cannot commit to a timeframe for the release of a game that is played over the internet. In 2011. Ridiculous.

Source:http://kotaku.com/5823736/star-wars-the-old-republic-wont-launch-in-asia-australasia

What if LittleBigPlanet Had Been Free To Play?

We could have had Sackboy for free at one point. Turns out that this was an early suggestion from Sony to the fledgling group of devs that would become Media Molecule, the studio revealed at the Develop 2011 conference.
"Phil said all sorts of buzzwords that hadn't really hit yet. He said it should be driven by DLC and that it should be free-to-play, have a social core and premium, paid-for content. From that initial meeting Sony agreed to fund us for six months. But that time was primarily spent making videos to try to explain what this game was going to be, not to Sony, but to ourselves!"
At that time, the game was called Craftworld, and Valve had even expressed interest in hiring the team — and this was in 2005, before they had hired the Narbacular Drop team that would go on to develop Portal.
I'm now imagining a world where Little Big Planet could have been free to play, Portal never happened, or maybe it did, but was developed by Media Molecule, and it was full of candy and joy.
Someone should notify these guys of all the alternate realities they've potentially created by telling us this.

Xbox.com Now has Games for Your Browser

CLICK HERE TO PLAY PLANT VS ZOMBIES!

Presumably as part of the coming together of Games for Windows and Xbox.com, you can now play four free "trial" games (ie demos) on the Xbox 360's homepage, right in your browser, no install necessary. The games are Plants vs Zombies, Bejeweled 3, Zuma's Revenge and Text Twist 2.

Source:http://kotaku.com/5822956/xboxcom-now-has-games-for-your-browser

Women enjoy online games more than sex

A study supposedly commissioned by the folks behind Doritos — yes, the triangular tortilla chip snack — brings us some tragic news about female gamers. Apparently a lot of ladies enjoy online games more than just about everything else — including bathing and having sex.
According to trade news site MCV, the study in question surveyed 2,052 people in order to analyze their gaming habits and preferences. Out of those individuals, 49 percent of women play online games (compared to the 50 percent of men who responded similarly).
It's once we focus on the women who acknowledged that they enjoy playing online games that things get slightly strange though:
Of these female online gamers, 84 percent said they enjoy their gaming sessions, compared to just 70 percent who enjoy sex. 62 percent enjoy working out, 71 percent enjoy shopping and 75 percent enjoy having a bath.
Are you seeing the pattern? Games consistently rank as being more enjoyable than other activities. Now, it's worth noting that just because an activity is deemed "enjoyable" more frequently than another doesn't mean that it'd be chosen over it. Meaning, that while some of the women surveyed enjoy gaming more than they enjoy bathing, they don't necessarily choose to skip a bath to game. (Then again, they might. That's the tricky thing about these studies.)
It's also curious that we are not told which games are cited to qualify someone as a "gamer." Does FarmVille count? Is it a game that's played via Xbox Live? How about "Bejeweled"?

Source:http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/07/18/7105351-study-women-enjoy-online-games-more-than-sex

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ModernWarfare3.com’s Owner Revealed!?

Website ModernWarfare3.com used to redirect to Battlefield 3's website. Pretty funny! Modern Warfare 3 publisher Activision was not amused.
Before that, the site hosted anti-Call of Duty rants like this:
Modern Warfare is crap. On November 8, 2011, the most over-hyped first-person action series of all-time returns with the copy and paste sequel to the lackluster Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Check out the E3 2011 gameplay demo featuring the Black Tuesday level for a look at the epic fail of the campaign. Pre-Order Call of Duty MW3 Today for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC to secure exclusive bonuses only available online for Modern Warfare 3 fanboys who don't know that Battlefield 3 is the better game.
ModernWarfare3.com is currently offline as Activision filed a complaint with the National Arbitration Forum, seeking to "transfer the registration for the Domain Name".
The domain's owner was a mystery, because it was registered via proxy. When the site's misdirect was first discovered, some thought it was ruthless trolling by Battlefield 3's publisher EA. However, EA told Kotaku that it did not own the site.
Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 are two big, modern first-person shooters going head-to-head this year.
As website Fusible pointed out, Go Daddy removed the domain's privacy settings, revealing the identity of ModernWarfare3.com's domain holder. The domain holder is Florida's Anthony Abraham.
Canceling privacy settings is one way the service provider deals with UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy), hence Abraham's sudden unmasking.
This isn't the first time for one of Abraham's sites to get a public internet airing. Back in 2008,a report on website RipoffReport wrote that a Zune music download site registered by Anthony Abraham was "the epitome of a scam in every way". The contact address and email is the same as the contact info for ModernWarfare3.com.

Source:http://kotaku.com/5822534/modernwarfare3coms-owner-revealed