Rumor: Guacamelee coming to PS4, Xbox One with new content

December 24th, 2013, 22:18 Posted By: wraggster

Drinkbox Studios is allegedly preparing a next-gen port of its latest,Guacamelee. This new version, which is said to be coming to Xbox One and PS4, will add new content and greater visual polish to the Lucha Libre-inspired 2D action-platformer.

The rumor comes via a piece that was published by IGN over this weekend but has since been pulled. In it, designer Chris McQuinn told IGN that the next-gen version of the game would include two additional worlds to explore, new enemy types, a "chicken-bomb ability" and updated visuals with better particle effects.

We contacted Drinkbox Studios and were told by McQuinn that the studio is "not ready to talk about any of our current projects but we'll be sure to reach out to you when we are." Guacamelee initially launched in April of this year, for both the PS Vita and PS3, and was later ported to the PC in August.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/12/24/ru...h-new-content/

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Castlevania deals on Xbox: Harmony of Despair, Symphony of the Night, Mirror of Fate

December 21st, 2013, 23:09 Posted By: wraggster

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Max: The Curse of Brotherhood swings onto Xbox One, out now

December 21st, 2013, 23:04 Posted By: wraggster

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EA finds itself in third law firm's iron sights over Battlefield 4 issues

December 21st, 2013, 22:34 Posted By: wraggster

EA has been under a lot of scrutiny lately. First, law firm Holzer Holzer & Fistel, LLC launched an investigation to uncover whether or not the company deliberately misled investors on the state of Battlefield 4 and the game's impact on company revenue. Then, law firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, LLP filed a class action lawsuit against the publisher. Now, law firm Bower Piven has likewise filed for a class action lawsuit, and is currently seeking a lead plaintiff.

Investors who lost more than $200,000 between July 24 and December 4 of this year have until February 17, 2014 to contact Bower Piven, should they wish to take up the mantle of lead plaintiff. The law firm alleges that EA violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by failing to disclose the game's multitude of issues before release, which in turn left investors unable to make informed choices about their investments. EA's stock declined sharply following the announcement that future DICE projects would be put on hold until Battlefield 4 was fixed, hence Bower Piven's case.

This legal kerfuffle is starting to look like a regular battle(field).

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/12/21/ea...r-battlefield/

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Xbox One-eighty, Adam Orth and online tyranny

December 20th, 2013, 21:32 Posted By: wraggster

Microsoft pulled an unprecedented 180-degree turn in the wake of Sony’s E3 conference, at which it was revealed that the PS4 would not only be cheaper, but also require neither an internet connection nor any fees for used games.

Not so long ago, arguing with someone online was as good a use of one’s time as phoning up a random stranger and shouting at them. Unfortunately, that’s not quite true anymore. The web may sometimes be an obnoxious voice-colony overrun by ear-piercing extremists, life-sucking idiots and attention seeking opinionheads, but it nevertheless carries a massive and growing influence. Developers of games consoles and software are now listening intently to those loud voices, and are even making extraordinary changes to their businesses in order to pacify detractors. In 2013, whining became the locomotive of history.Back in April, when ex-Microsoft creative director Adam Orth was swarmed with death threats across his email, Twitter and Facebook accounts as well as his mobile phone, those close to him suggested perhaps it was best to take the matter to the police.“People urged me to do this, but I never really considered it,” he said months later, during a speech at the Game Developers Conference. “I mean, how do you report the entire internet?”On April 4th, Orth had been browsing Twitter and noticed a new wave of anti-Microsoft sentiment creeping into his feed. The latest outrage was based on a then-unconfirmed report that the Xbox One (still unannounced at this point) would require an always-online internet connection to function.It was then, in the middle of the afternoon, that Orth decided to add his views to the outpouring of opinion with a 140-character message, in which he claimed he didn’t feel such a policy was controversial, before ending the tweet with the hashtag #dealwithit.Today he doesn’t deny this was a phenomenal mistake, not least because his Twitter bio showed he was speaking as a creative director at Microsoft Studios. For the hundreds of thousands of people who read it (and shared the screengrab) across Reddit, Twitter and NeoGAF, Orth’s offhand rejoinder was unofficial confirmation of an always-online Xbox. In the eyes of many, it also exemplified Microsoft’s aloofness in the face of a particularly volatile issue that had dominated discussion boards for months.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/...nline-tyranny/

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Back from the dead: MX vs. ATV

December 20th, 2013, 21:20 Posted By: wraggster

Nordic Games will revive the MX vs. ATV series with a new game set for release in 2014.MX vs. ATV Supercross is due out during the first half of 2014 for PC, PlayStation 3, Linux, Mac and Xbox 360. The publisher indicated it has the scope of a downloadable game.Nordic bought the rights to MX vs. ATV after previous IP owner THQ went bust. Now, Nordic has created a new team of former MX vs. ATV staff based in Phoenix, Arizona - where the original development team was based - to resurrect the franchise.The team will maintain the existing MX vs. ATV Alive and MX vs. ATV Reflex code and bring back as many features from those games as possible, Nordic said, including multiplayer on consoles and Motoclub Depot."A lot of the original team members have been aching to continue their passion: building the most authentic off-road racing games possible," said executive producer Ken George. "The hiatus is over, and the team is back to work on MX vs. ATV with great new things to come."In August 2011 THQ - before it shut down - canned the MX vs. ATV franchise. The last THQ-published game in the series was MX vs. ATV Alive, which launched earlier that year but failed to set tills alight.In early 2013 Nordic emerged as the surprise owner of Darksiders, Red Faction, the ill-fated uDraw, MX vs. ATV, Destroy All Humans, Summoner and many more franchises following the THQ IP auction. The company bought the lot for just $4.9 million.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...dead-mx-vs-atv

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Zoo Tycoon community challenge to help endangered animals

December 20th, 2013, 21:14 Posted By: wraggster

Microsoft has launched a Zoo Tycoon community challenge to raise money to help endangered animals.Each month the Frontier-developed Xbox One and Xbox 360 game will launch a community challenge focused on one of the endangered animals in the game, with players invited to vote for which non-profit organisation they wish to benefit.When the challenge's goal is reached Microsoft will donate $10,000 to the chosen non-profit. Players will get updates on how the cash is spent with pictures and reports.Voting is already underway for the first beneficiary from the following charities: Rhino Rescue, Komodo Survival Program and the Tiger Species Survival Program. When the voting closes on 31st December a challenge will be issued.These are the challenges:

• Release 1000 Rhinos to the wild in Zoo Tycoon and Microsoft and Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) will donate $10000 to help protect and deter further poaching of rhino horns in Africa.
• Adopt 1000 Komodo Dragons in Zoo Tycoon and Microsoft and AZA will donate $10,000 to support the Komodo Survival Program's work with the Indonesian Government to protect this species.
• Release 1000 Sumatran Tigers into the wild in Zoo Tycoon and Microsoft and AZA will donate $10,000 to the Tiger Species Survival Program to help reduce the number of Sumatran Tigers killed, displaced or caught in snares.

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Microsoft's first Xbox-exclusive documentary is digging up Atari's past

December 20th, 2013, 00:43 Posted By: wraggster

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Forza Horizon down to $15 in Xbox Countdown to 2014 sale

December 19th, 2013, 23:47 Posted By: wraggster

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Battlefield 4 patched on Xbox One, again

December 19th, 2013, 23:46 Posted By: wraggster

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Xbox 360 Time Warner Cable app finally gets video-on-demand

December 19th, 2013, 01:28 Posted By: wraggster

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Free Ryse update adds two new level events

December 18th, 2013, 23:20 Posted By: wraggster

A free update for Xbox One exclusive Ryse has been released that adds two new level events.Slaying barbarians in the arena will apparently cause the events to randomly occur across a variety of maps. In one, an enemy turret will appear and bombard you with arrows until you destroy it.In the other, Reward Statues of Roman deities will sprout from the sands and offer one-time buff bonuses to your health or focus attributes. That's sandy.A paid piece of downloadable content has arrived, too. The Colosseum Pack, $3.99, adds two new arenas and two new player skins. The arenas are Henge, conquering an ancient forest shrine, and Ascension, fighting out of Hades' lair.

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First run of ID@Xbox Games arriving on Xbox One closer to March 2014

December 18th, 2013, 23:13 Posted By: wraggster

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Xbox's Charla: Indie boom will never die

December 18th, 2013, 21:48 Posted By: wraggster

ID@Xbox director believes there will always be demand for indie games
Chris Charla, director of Xbox's independent publishing scheme, is confident that gamers will always be on the lookout for games by new and smaller studios.
During a recent interview with Develop – which you can read here – the Xbox exec dismissed the notion that the growing number of indie developers is nearing its peak, or that the public's current love for indie games will diminish.
"The games industry is constantly changing," he told Develop. "It’s different than it was six months ago, it’s different than it was six months before that, and it’s going to be different six months from now. From my perspective, thinking about what’s going on in the development community, there are some amazing games coming out, super innovative games and I think there’s always a market for that."
It can be argued that some of the most notable indie firms of recent years are going to a size – both in headcount and stature – that some may not consider to be indie. What happens when all of these firms have grown too big, or failed from lack of success?
"Then a guy will split off from those teams and sets up on his own," Charla said. "If you look at the history of the games industry, you see these cyclical patterns forming. The developers that started ten years ago grew to a certain size, were bought by a publisher, and then a few people left and formed their own studio, and the cycle began again.
"I think the rise of the independent developer, especially the small independent developer, has changed that a little bit and we’ll continue to see more changes to the industry. But that’s normal, it’s a sign of a healthy industry that isn’t stagnating."
Charla's comments follow a keynote at last month's London Games Conference, in which PlayStation's Shahid Ahmad declared the indie revolution was over.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/x...er-die/0187462

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Xbox offers Countdown to 2014 daily deals on Fez, Spelunky, Terraria

December 18th, 2013, 20:32 Posted By: wraggster

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Three Battlefield 4 updates follow Xbox One's bug-squashing lead

December 18th, 2013, 20:32 Posted By: wraggster

In its ongoing quest to stamp out the bugs that plague Battlefield 4, developer DICE has launched a new update for the game - actually, make that threeupdates: one for PlayStation 3, one for PlayStation 4 and one for the Xbox 360.

Battlelog offers extensive explanations for each patch, so we'll cover the highlights. The PlayStation 3 game should now crash less frequently as well as allow players to more easily connect to online games. This patch also goes a long ways toward snuffing players' ability to trade kills and thus artificially pad their stats, though DICE continues to work on a permanent solution to this problem.

The Xbox 360 game is likewise receiving stability improvements, both online and off. It, too, is seeing a fix for the kill-trading issue, though perhaps more crucially, it also squashes multiple bugs that could leave a player stranded at the respawn screen after attempting to return to battle.

Unsurprisingly, stability improvements are directly cited in the PlayStation 4patch, along with a number of fixes now said to be in place to prevent more common crashing scenarios. Kill trading has been fixed here too, though more notably the patch is also said to remove the periodic audio drops players experience from time to time.

These patches follow hot on the heels of an Xbox One patch designed to fix many of the same issues outlined today. All of these updates are free of charge, and should be downloaded to your game the next time you fire up your console of choice.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/12/18/th...quashing-lead/

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Holiday-themed DLC hits Borderlands 2

December 18th, 2013, 01:04 Posted By: wraggster

Tis' the season to blow aliens to pieces, and to aid in that effort developer Gearbox has unleashed the third entry in its Headhunter DLC series, aptly dubbed "How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day."

Not quite a full-fledged DLC offering, How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day will only set you back $3. As we reported earlier, the adventure is holiday-themed, pitting players against arctic temperatures and an eventual battle with theAbominable Mister Tinder Snowflake, a character whose adorable name belies the posse of killers he's employed to protect his grim winter wonderland. Kill Snowflake, and you'll be rewarded with a custom snowman head for your character, almost daring snipers to aim for the huge white blob attached to your skull.

This latest Headhunter DLC joins Thanksgiving- and Halloween-themed DLC with similar bonus prizes.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/12/17/ps...borderlands-2/

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Ubisoft: Watch Dogs could have been "best-rated next-gen launch game"

December 18th, 2013, 01:01 Posted By: wraggster

“It’s a very intense decision” – that’s how North American Ubisoft president Laurent Detoc describes the process leading up to the delay of a game.
Speaking to IGN, the exec explained that as late as August of this year Ubisoft still hoped to have Watch Dogs ready for the launch of Xbox One and PS4 in November.
And he believes it would have been good, too. But the decision to delay into next year will make it even better.
“I actually believe that Watch Dogs could have ended up being the best-rated game on next gen if it came out at launch. We wanted it to be even higher,” Detoc said. “The whole package is there already.
“But without sending them too many flowers, the guys at Rockstar have showed us again that if you make a 96 per cent game, people will come. Watch Dogs, I can only hope we get to that level. There’s an attachment to the brand, in the case of GTA, that makes people really want to give it that 100 per cent review. We’ll be missing that on Watch Dogs until we go further, potentially. That’s what we’re after.
“I’ll tell you, at Gamescom, everybody was looking each other in the eye thinking we would be there at launch. There were already some lingering doubts, but we were ploughing through it. There were more than a thousand people touching that game. Then eventually, a month later, we said, ‘this is not gonna fly.’
“Then it takes a few more weeks to decide how we’re going to package that news for everyone. It’s not just about delaying for the sake of delaying it. No matter how hard we try, we also put out games that are not good quality, unfortunately. It’s not because we go out and say, ‘great, let’s make a piece of junk and put it out there.’ It’s really painful to us. But some games, you just can’t make them that much better because of how they’ve been progressing.
“Part of the decision to delay Watch Dogs is also that. We know it’s not where we want it to be. Can it get there? What will it take to get there? That’s why it takes a longer process. But in August we really thought we were going to have that game at launch.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ubiso...h-game/0125933

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343: We're looking to have Halo experiences in as many formats as possible

December 18th, 2013, 00:58 Posted By: wraggster

Halo 4 developer 343 Industries hopes to bring the FPS franchise to a multitude of digital and physical formats, according to Halo: Spartan Assault lead designer Mike Ellis.
Speaking with VentureBeat, Ellis discussed Halo potentially branching out from its typical formats – though he didn't go as far as to indicate if the Microsoft-published property would ever make it to hardware in direct competition to the firm's Xbox and Windows platforms.
“343′s looking to have Halo experiences in as many formats as possible,” Ellis said.
“You can look through our portfolio now. We have games. We have books on the New York Times bestseller list. We have toys and things like Mega Blocks and McFarlane figures.
"Halo is bigger than any one game. We see it as an entire universe of experiences.”
343's Halo: Spartan Assault will land on Xbox One later this month and Xbox 360 sometime next year, following a timed-exclusive launch on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/343-w...ssible/0125974

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x360ce SVN r849

December 17th, 2013, 00:59 Posted By: wraggster

via http://www.emucr.com/

x360ce SVN r849 is compiled. Xbox 360 Controller Emulator (a wrapper library that translates the xinput calls to directinput calls) which allows your controller (GamePad, Joystick, Wheel, ...) to function like an Xbox 360 controller on a Windows PC. For example it allows you to play Grand Theft Auto (GTA) game with Logitech wheel.

x360ce SVN Changelog:
r849
fixed building x360ce.app
compile in x86 or x64 xinput dll based on archtype (AnyCPU uses x32 for now)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/5ajr76

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