EA has taken a hard stance against the negative press it has been receiving from media outlets such as FOX NEWS, who had on Gold Star Moms’ Karen Meredith, who stated, “We’ve just come off of the worst month of casualties in the whole war,” she said. “And this game is going to be released in October. So families who are going to be burying their children are going to be seeing this and playing this game. I just don’t see that a video game based on a current war makes any sense at all. It’s disrespectful.”

Even politicians such as UK Defense Secretary Liam Fox, who, calling the game “Disgusting”, have joined in, asking both retailers and consumers to boycott the game – a request which seems to have fallen on deaf ears, while simultaneously pushing for an effective ban:

It’s shocking that someone would think it acceptable to recreate the acts of the Taliban.

I am disgusted and angry. It’s hard to believe any citizen of our country would wish to buy such a thoroughly un-British game.

I would urge retailers to show their support for our armed forces and ban this tasteless product.

It should be noted that UK soldiers do not appear in the game, though they have served in Iraq. Only U.S. forces appear in this title.

Of course, this is not the first time a video game has been targeted due to the way it portrays the present conflict. Developer Atomic Games’ Six Days in Fallujah, a title based around the real-world experiences of Marines serving in Iraq, was left without a publisher after Konami backed out due to receiving large amounts of negative press. Of course, the difference here being that Atomic Games’ President Peter Tamte made the mistake of saying they used the input of insurgents in development.

Not to long ago, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was also targeted as a result of an (optional) scene where the player, portraying an undercover agent operating within a terrorist cell in Russia, walks through an airport terminal as the terrorist fire upon travelers, employees, and officers. In this situation, even if the player chooses to play the scene, they do not have to fire their weapon at civilians to successfully complete the mission. They do, however, have to fire at FSB troops. The scene was flagged heavily with negative media. Despite this, it continues to sell heavily, even recently earning the title of the Best Selling Game Ever in the UK.

EA Games’ President Frank Gibeau later told Develop.

“We respect the media’s views, but at the same time [these reports] don’t compromise our creative vision and what we want to do. The development teams care very much about what they’re building, and of course a bit of criticism from the media causes some to get demoralized, but at the end of the day we’re proud of what we’re doing. Bringing Medal of Honor back was no small feat.

At EA we passionately believe games are an art form, and I don’t know why films and books set in Afghanistan don’t get flack, yet [games] do,” he explained. “Whether it’s Red Badge Of Courage or The Hurt Locker, the media of its time can be a platform for the people who wish to tell their stories. Games are becoming that platform.

Games have been set in Afghanistan before. We anticipated this when we decided on the concept of the game—this is about being a special forces solider. What’s really important for us is that we partnered with the US military, and the Medal of Honor Society as well. We’ve gone out of our way to produce the best story for the game.”

Medal of Honor releases October 12th, 2010 for the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

The game is advertised as free-to-play, however, to really get any of the true benefits of the title, gamers will have to pay $20 for the starter pack to advance beyond level 10. Truthfully speaking, the limitations imposed upon players who choose not to pay are severe, much to the point that you might as well pay or not play at all. But is the game worth the $20 to be able to reach the extra 40 levels, garner new vehicles, and earn access to new locations? From the impression gathered, unfortunately not much incentive to do so is offered at this point.

Need For Speed World was made by combining elements of Rockport (Need For Speed: Most Wanted) and Palmont City (Need For Speed: Carbon), and inserting them into one game. Through this, you have access to a vast area to explore and as you do so, you will encounter many other drivers, police, and the notorious Need For Speed taxi. You can chat with players in a chatbox located in the bottom left hand corner of your screen which is almost-always present (except when in your safe house), compare vehicles and statistics with other drivers, invite them to races or group sessions, join in races, or collide with a police cruiser to engage in a chase. Outside of that, the game does not offer much more. This results in a rather lackluster Massively-Multiplayer Online experience.

You are granted power-ups, which are usable in different situations and can be configured in different states based upon the conditions you are driving under. Unlike previous Need For Speed titles where a user is given a bar indicating how much Nitrous they have – a bar which replenishes over time if Nitrous is used, it is now a power up, fired for a set time based upon if it is still at stock level or if a user has upgraded it through level increases and/or micro-transactions. Other power ups are available as well, such as “One More Lap” which allows any racer in a circuit race to add One More Lap to the race (non-stackable) for the chance to increase their likelihood of winning, and “Juggernaut” which grants drivers essentially the powers of the Juggernaut for a set time period, during which front end collisions with other vehicles will not slow them down.

There are really only two race types in Need For Speed World: The first of which is the standard circuit race, where drivers drive 2 or more laps around a set track with the first player to complete their laps being the victor; and Sprint, a standard point to point race where drivers start at one point, and the race is completed when the drivers reach the other point. During these races, drivers are sectioned off completely from other drivers (and up to this point, Cops) and, instead, only have to worry about taxis, random traffic, and other racers. Races can be had with as few as 2 persons or as many as 8. There is also the option to engage in single player events where races are automatically filled with 7 other AI drivers. Barriers prevent you from breaking off the pre-determined routes, thus, you cannot take alternate routes to win a race (This means no taking Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) type routes to attempt to win a race).

Whether you win or lose a race, you are rewarded with a certain amount of “rep” (Reputation) points, cash, and if you’ve leveled up, a chance to select a passive, albeit, permanent powerup. The amount of rep you collect (as indicated at the top of your screen) determines the point at which you level up. Cash earned allows you to purchase new cars or upgrades for your own. The higher your level, the more places open to you to explore. If you have not paid for the starter pack, you will be capped at level ten and will earn no further reputation points. You will, however, continue to earn cash.

When you’re not racing, you’re exploring by just generally driving around. As previously mentioned, the only thing you’ll see here are random police cruisers, other drivers, and intermittent traffic. If you’ve played any of the previous Need for Speed titles, you should recognize familiar sights such as Rockport Stadium, Chinatown, Rockport University, and Palmont’s Casino area. The curious thing is that Need For Speed World offers no general incentive to just drive around. At any time during exploration, should a user wish, they can merely open the world map and teleport to a location or select a race on the complete other side of the map without driving there (see: Need For Speed: Carbon’s world map).

The fourth, and final state of driving, is possibly the most entertaining of all the games modes: Pursuit. It’s time to run from the cops in this mode. Pursuit is initiated in the exact same way no matter what the conditions are, whether you have a heat of 1 or 5. The only way to initiate a pursuit is to come into physical contact with a police car, the easiest of which is side swiping or ramming the vehicle, after which a chase ensues, you are magically cordoned off from the rest of the game (once again, with the exception of intermittent traffic), and other vehicles join in the chase. The chase mechanics have not changed since their re-inception in Need For Speed: Most Wanted, you try to escape the cops, you engage in Cool down (the final stage of an escape where cops are tasked to search for you, if you’ve broken contact for long enough of a duration) either by continuing to run or finding a hiding place (Unfortunately, there are no specific safehouses to run to during cooldown as in previous titles as it has instead been replaced by a safehouse button which is deactivated during pursuit) till the cooldown meter fills and you rejoin the rest of the world. If you escape and have managed to rack up enough of a cost to state, totaled police cars, dodged spike strips / roadblocks, etc., you may be rewarded with a sizable cash and reputation bonus. If you are busted, however, the same factor may come back to haunt you with a sizable fine. Points on cars, though, are not assessed, so you do not have to worry about having your car impounded if it is busted to many times like in previous games. Up to this point, though, I’ve experienced numerous crashes during pursuit-mode chases after 4-5 chases during a single session. Hopefully this is fixed soon.

Sound is mixed pretty decently. Most sounds seem to be recycled from the older titles upon which the game was built. There is not, however, a licensed soundtrack so do not expect music but your own during game play. Graphically speaking, cars look and shine excellent, but the environment and surroundings are rather dull. This is not helped by the lighting as the game seems to be always occurring in daylight. I have not yet witnessed a dawn, dusk, or night occur in this game. Game performance is rather high, though configuration options are not available. You will not be able to reconfigure a controller, support is rather hit or miss for one, and the keyboard controls are rather limited (and on a guess basis for the first few hours of game play as you learn what is mapped to what due to the control menu being grayed-out).

Once a person purchases the starter pack, they may progress past level 10. However, what a driver will soon realize is that the rewards for leveling past level ten are far and few between. With races far and few between, a severely limited user base, and high variability in race population, one will spend lots of time grinding their way to the next level, much to the point that the enjoyment is lost and it instead becomes a chore to get to the next stage. Running the same races, and to a point, the same pursuits over and over loses it’s luster rather quickly. This seems like a lost opportunity, in all honesty, and a missed attempt to capitalize on the Need For Speed title. Instead, the game loses it’s replayability rather fast, looks are lackluster, and it plays rather simply to the point that it gets dull. This is not EA’s best work, and I’d recommend skipping over it. Hopefully, better things come from the reincarnation of “Hot Pursuit”.

Sony Online Entertainment and LucasArts are looking for video game enthusiasts of all ages and fans of the Star Wars^®: The Clone Wars^TM animated television series on Cartoon Network to be the first to get hands-on in the open BETA testing that begins today for Star Wars^®: Clone Wars Adventures^TM. Get a sneak peak of the highly anticipated free-to-play online virtual world and provide feedback to help put the finishing touches on the final game scheduled to be released later this year on September 15th.

The ultimate virtual destination for a new generation of Star Wars fans, Clone Wars Adventures is an action-packed virtual world where players can go online to experience fun minigames, daily activities, events, rewards, lively social environments and competition. Clone Wars Adventures lets players duel iconic adversaries with their own custom Lightsaber, speed through the galaxy in a custom Starfighter, defeat enemies and take down starships.

Clone Wars Adventures is a free-to-play game, but players who want to take the galactic action to the next level can purchase a monthly Membership subscription for $5.99, while a variety of epic items can also be purchased through Station Cash^® micro-transactions. The Clone Wars Adventures Galactic Passport is scheduled to be available at thousands of retail locations in North America later this fall and will include a 90-day membership, 500 Station Cash, the ability to unlock the Togruta playable character, a Yoda monitor topper, and more.

Clone Wars Adventures BETA registration is open now. Prospective Jedi masters and Clone Troopers can register for BETA and test their Lightsaber skills, helping to fine tune the game for launch this September!

For the opportunity to participate in the program visit the game website www.CloneWarsAdventures.com and click on the BETA registration link.

Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers around the globe. SOE creates, develops and provides compelling entertainment for the personal computer, online, game console and wireless markets. Known for its blockbuster franchises and hit titles including EverQuest^®, EverQuest^® II, Champions of Norrath^®, Untold Legends^TM, PlanetSide^®, and Star Wars Galaxies, as well as the recent kids’ phenomenon Free Realms^TM, SOE continues to redefine the business of online gaming and the creation of active player communities while introducing new genres on various entertainment platforms. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, with additional development studios in Austin, TX, Seattle, WA, Denver, CO, and Tucson, AZ, SOE has an array of cutting-edge games in development across various platforms and genres for audiences of all ages.

About LucasArts
LucasArts, a Lucasfilm Ltd. company, is a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software worldwide for video game console systems, computers and the Internet. Based in San Francisco, Calif., as well as on the Internet at www.lucasarts.com, LucasArts was created in 1982 by George Lucas to provide an interactive element to his vision of a state-of-the-art, multifaceted entertainment company.

LucasArts and the LucasArts logo are registered trademarks of Lucasfilm Ltd. SOE and the SOE logo are registered trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment LLC. © 2010 Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. or Lucasfilm Ltd. & ^® or TM as indicated. All rights reserved.

“We are very proud to be releasing Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “We have taken our time to ensure this version of the game is not just a quick port, but a perfectly tailored experience for the PC. We hope the PC gaming community appreciates all of the innovative features in the game. Grand Theft Auto began on the PC and we have tried very hard to ensure this version was worthy of that heritage.”

Developed by Rockstar Toronto in conjunction with series creator Rockstar North, the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV offers a wealth of new features, including 32-player multiplayer modes – expanded from 16 on the console versions of the game; a deep, sophisticated and easy-to-use video editor tool to capture and edit in-game footage; stunning, high-resolution graphics; and the all-new Independence FM radio station that allows players to add their own songs for a truly personalized and unique in-game music experience.

Minimum System Requirements:
OS: Windows Vista(TM) operating system – Service Pack 1 / Windows(R) XP – Service Pack 3
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 Ghz, AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4 Ghz
Memory: 1.5GB Windows Vista / 1GB Windows XP, 16GB Free Hard Drive Space
Video Card: 256MB NVIDIA 7900 / 256MB ATI X1900

Recommended System Requirements:
OS: Windows Vista – Service Pack 1 / Windows XP – Service Pack 3
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz, AMD Phenom X3 2.1Ghz
Memory: 2.5GB Windows Vista / 2.5GB Windows XP, 18GB Free Hard Drive Space
Video Card: 512 MB NVIDIA 8600 / 512MB ATI 3870

Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC is rated M for Mature by the ESRB, with an MSRP of $49.99. For more information, log onto www.rockstargames.com/IV.

[ Joystiq ]

So I grabbed the new Xbox dashboard last night. My least favorite new feature is the one were it locks up my box when I try and look at my friends list. Then I have to restart and it freezes again. Then I do that about seven more times before I throw my controller and play WOW. I liked how in the old Dashboard I could use it without it breaking my Xbox. Maybe that’s just me.

According to GameSpot (via USA Today), this will be no small DLC. Instead, this will introduce a brand new protagonist named Johnny Klebitz, a member of the biker gang known as “The Lost”. It will also leave behind the clone of Manhattan and move onto a clone of New Jersey, effectively introducing a brand new game. Reportedly, Niko Bellic will also make an appearance.

“Johnny is a very different character than Niko, with a very different background. I can’t go into too much detail on the story, because we try not to give away too much plot before the game is released. But I can say that the story will show you a different side of Liberty City,” Rockstar Games Vice President of Creative Development Dan Houser told USA Today.

Players will also be treated to new vehicles, weaponry, multiplayer modes, and an entirely new soundtrack. These new additions, however, have not yet been detailed.

On the Bungie official website, Bungie Chief Caching Officer Mat Noguch posted a detailed explanation as to why it would not decrease load times:

The Xbox 360 HDD has a section for games to use called the utility partition. Games can use this section for whatever they want to; Halo 3 uses the utility partition to cache maps as they will load faster off the HDD than off the DVD. As a side note, the utility partition can be deleted when other games are played. This is why maps can take longer to load when you play another game in between various Halo 3 sessions. (As was the case with Halo 1 and Halo 2.)

So when Halo 3 runs, if a HDD is present, we copy maps from the DVD to the utility partition (on the HDD). Think of it as an on demand install of Halo 3 to some scratch space on the HDD. Halo 3 doesn’t actually know where it’s running from, so it always assumes it’s running from a DVD. This is an unfortunate consequence of new features (namely, install to HDD) being added to the Xbox 360 after Halo 3 shipped. And as a result, it means that even if Halo 3 is already installed to the HDD, it will still copy maps to the utility partition.