General Discussion

<br> <br> Developed by: X10 Studios <br> Players: 1 <br> Platforms: PC (Available through Gamer’s Gate, Desura, Steam, Direct2Drive, and directly from X10) <br> <br> Drawing from various classics such as Metroid and Mega Man X, A.R.E.S. Exinction Agenda is the first chapter in an episodic side-scrolling shooter. Set in the 21st Century, Earch is over polluted and we are facing extinction. A processing station is sent in to Earth orbit to help with this problem, but is overrun by “zytron” that kills the station’s systems and turns all the machines hostile. ARES is a robot tasked with clearing out the station, rescuing the hostages, a…

Yes you did indeed read that correctly. This Dumbass of the Day hails from Sony’s camp and is the fictional PR man that Sony made up for commercials and gave “Kevin Butler” his own Twitter account. Unfortunately for whoever is running the Twitter account, they might be at the unemployment line today. Tweeted back as a reply to what was assumed to be a Battleship joke was the hack code for the now fixed “jailbreak hack”. Sony has been trying to keep the details of this hack a secret for an ongoing court battle as they attempt to locate all of the hackers that have used this code. The tweet has since been deleted and it looks like Sony will need to create a new face for …

A video has been uploaded by Youtube user kick755 that shows him playing Dead Space 2 with Kinect and a Wii remote in his right hand. In the video, Isaac Clarke responds what seems to be perfectly to kick755′s movements, mirroring him exactly. If this video is legit, it does help to prove that games that are not sports or recreation types can respond well to Kinect. via KinectHacks View the full article

Five studios are now responsible for Activision’s Call of Duty franchise. Newly added Beachhead joins Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer, and Raven. Beachhead will be concentrating on digital content for the long running successful series. Looks like Activision wants total and complete domination in the world of Call of Duty. via IGN View the full article

During the Conan O ‘Brien fiasco, Microsoft made an attempt to get the late night comedian to do shows for Xbox Live, however Executive Producer Jeff Ross revealed that Microsoft really did not show any plans for what they planned to do with Conan and instead signed with TBS. “A lot of the conversations were ‘well, it’s a show, but it’s not a show and there are no breaks, but maybe there are breaks and it’s not 60 minutes, it’s this’ and nobody really knew what it was,” Ross told Morris. “So it was really going to be a leap of faith to jump in with these guys and figure something out which we didn’t know. Plus there were 100 people of jobs and that didn’t bode well f…

True Crime is no longer. Forget about any sequels for that series. Guitar Hero will only be DLC now. They're also cutting some jobs. No mention of how many jobs, though.

Fans of Master Chief prepare to get your pants wet with sheer excitement. A remake of the game that put Halo on the path to taking over the world is officially being remade for the Xbox 360 and will be releasing on November 15, 2011 which happens to be exactly ten years since the release of the original. Saber Interactive who is responsible for Time Shift, is taking over the reigns of the remake. Halo CE will be getting a full visual overhaul supporting 1080p and 3D televisions as well as new art assets will be added. It has also been announced that Halo CE will not be a product of the Reach engine. No other major details have been released since the announcement. via…

Happy birthday KLRSKIR!!! You're getting old bro!

Xbox Live Arcade is throwing a party and you are invited! The Xbox Live Arcade House Party begins on February 16th with the release of the prequel to Contra: Hard Corps, Hard Corps: Uprising and ends on March 16th with Full House Poker that is replacing fan favorite, 1 vs. 100. Other games being released during this XBLA shindig are: February 16 Hard Corps: Uprising, 1200 Microsoft Points February 23 Bejeweled Blitz, 800 Microsoft PointsMarch 2, Beyond Good & Evil HD, 800 Microsoft PointsMarch 9 Torchlight, 1200 Microsoft PointsMarch 16 Full House Poker, 800 Microsoft Pointsvia Major Nelson View the full article

Image via The Source Batman fans who are eagerly waiting to get their hands on Batman: Arkham City will be able to read about the events that transpired between the video games, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. The six part miniseries picks up one year after Batman: Arkham Asylum ended. Readers will find the Warden turned Mayer, Quincy Sharp shutting down the deranged Asylum and building a city to house the lunatics of Gotham. The issues will be on a comic book stand near you beginning May with issues 1 and 2 being released during in the same month. via The Source View the full article

KyozoKicks who makes video game themed shoes, is holding an auction over at ebay where 100% of the proceeds will go to one of the greatest charity’s known to man, Child’s Play Charity. The colorful shoes feature custom designed LittleBigPlanet images and are all hand painted. The size 9.5 men’s shoes are currently sitting pretty at $305 with five days left to bid. via MediaMolecule View the full article

We here at Gamercide love Magicka. So much so that we want you to have a chance to play it, too. This Friday and Saturday, from 10PM Pacific onwards, we will be streaming the game and giving away codes for it. All you have to do is watch our stream, courtesy of JustinTV (thanks to Dateranoth for the excellent design for our streaming page), and answer some trivia based on the game as we play it. 4 codes will be up for grabs at 10PM PST on Friday, 2/11 as Dateranoth plays, and another 5 will be available the next day, 10PM PST on Saturday, 2/12 as AudaciousKevin (yours truly) takes over. So if you miss out on day one, there will be more codes for you to win the next da…

LG Electronics wants the U.S. International Trade Commission to bar the import of the PlayStation 3 into the United States, according to a complaint. The complaint, filed Friday with the ITC and first reported by Bloomberg yesterday, claims that the Blu-ray player in the PlayStation 3 violates several of LG's patents. The company cited Sony, Sony Corporation of America, Sony Electronics, Sony Computer Entertainment, and Sony Computer Entertainment America in the complaint, according to the docket page on the ITC's Web site. Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20030963-17.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

/facepalm So an 11yr old boy over in the UK spent over a thousand pounds ($1,743.90) over a period of 6 months by purchasing things on Xbox Live. His mother, who claims that "when I put my card details in 18 months ago I thought it was just for his membership to play online with his friends", has gone to great lengths to condemn Microsoft. "It is ridiculous to allow someone of his age to make payments without any checks being done," she says. "When he is in gaming mode he can't be thinking about the money. You can't put all that responsibility on a young boy." The mother has reportedly complained to Microsoft, but claims that the "computer giant is ignoring her". Mi…

Hailing from the UK, we have Dawn Matthews and her 11 year old son Brendan Jordan. Brendan Jordan recently went on a spending spree and spent a total of $1,743.49 on XBL all while using his mother’s credit card. His mother, 37 year old Dawn Matthews is blaming Microsoft despite the little fact that she provided information to her son’s account. Matthews, who’s son claimed he did not know that the charges were going to his mother’s bank account had the following to say regarding her son’s expenses. “When I put my card details in 18 months ago I thought it was just for his membership to play online with his friends. I work two jobs just to look after my family and pay th…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8310530/Handbag-wielding-grandmother-first-interview-somebody-had-to-do-something.html

In some unexciting news today, an official announcement was made by MTV that stated that MTV Games is done making video games after Harmonix was bought by Harmonix in December of 2010. A rep stated to GameSpot stated that “MTV Games has ceased its publishing operations but has not been completely dissolved,” and only a small crew remains in New York for the time being. With that earth shattering announcement, we can now all get back to work. via GameSpot View the full article

Gareth Gath who suffers from cerebral palsy made a request to Visceral Games to add customizable controls to the PC version of Dead Space 2. Gath who has to play Dead Space 2 using a mouse with his chin is upset that he cannot assign the “walk forward” command to a mouse button. After his story made it through the internet, Dead Space 2 players started a petition to get his request heard and Visceral Games has indeed heard the request and are actively working on a patch to add customizable controls to the game. According to Joystiq, Executive Producer Steve Papoutsis said that the team is “passionate about getting this fixed and are hard at work on it.” “Dead Space 2 PC…

Scientists suspect the lake's depths will reveal new life forms, show how the planet was before the ice age and how life evolved. It could offer a glimpse at what conditions for life exist in the similar extremes of Mars and Jupiter's moon Europa. "It's like exploring an alien planet where no one has been before. We don't know what we'll find," said Valery Lukin of Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) in St Petersburg, which oversees the expedition. Read the rest http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/04/us-russia-antarctica-lake-idINTRE7135MB20110204

Screenshots have been revealed by EA and Visceral Games for the upcoming DLC, “Severed” for Dead Space 2. The DLC will be available for the PS3 and 360. No news on if PC users will get it. via GamesRadar View the full article

If you are looking to continue Isaac’s adventure in the Dead Space series with Dead Space 2 then you might want to check out Amazon today. Amazon is running a deal for only today where you can purchase a copy of Dead Space 2 (regular edition) for $39.99, that’s $20.00 off for those cannot do simple math. Released on January 25, 2011, Dead Space 2 continues the story of engineer Isaac Clarke who has lost his memory of the past 3 years and is also battling dementia in a hospital located on Sprawl. Dead Space 2 caused a minor outrage with dedicated fans not appreciating Visceral and EA adding Isaac’s voice to the game, because in the original Dead Space Isaac never spoke wh…

LG has asked the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban sales of PS3s and Sony Bravia TVs as part of patent infringement claims brought against the platform holder. LG alleges that Sony's high-definition TVs infringe four patents, while products with Blu-ray players including PS3 infringe four others, Bloomberg reports. The ITC is also investigating claims by Sony that LG mobiles are infringing seven Sony patents, while a civil lawsuit launched by Sony targets LG Blu-ray players. Read on at the link below http://www.computerandvideogames.com/287662/news/lg-wants-ps3-sales-banned-in-the-us/

Electronics giant subpoenas Google, Twitter, PayPal, more for information that can be used to identify console's jailbreak contributors. Last month, Sony unleashed its legal department on George Hotz and the fail0verflow group, better known as the hacking consortium which released security keys allowing people to run unauthorized software on their consoles. Thus far, that investigation has largely centered upon Hotz, who has been ordered by the court to forfeit his computers, hard drives, and other storage material to Sony's legal team in the interest of discovery. The PS3 remains an open platform…for now. Now, Sony is seeking to expand its search for incriminating inform…

The following retro shooter titles have been discounted for this week’s Deal of the Week for all gold members. Duke Nukem Manhattan Project – 400 MS points, regularly 800 MS points Space Invaders Infinity Gene – 400 MS points, regularly 800 MS points Geometry Wars 2 – 400 MS points, regularly 400 MS points Serious Sam HD: TFE – 400 MS points, regularly 1200 MS points Serious Sam HD: TSE – 400 MS points, regularly 1200 MS points Galaga Legions – 400 MS points, regularly 800 MS points The deals are good until Monday February 14. via Major Nelson View the full article

While many websites who reported about this little gem of a quote from Treyarch’s Community Manager, Josh Olin, raved and agreed with him, there will be no brown stained lip action here. In fact I find the following quote down right sad. In an interview with NowGamer, Olin talks about Black Ops and the new map pack that released on February 1, First Strike. At the end of interview that was going rather well, NowGamer asks, “What, in your mind, is the biggest problem facing the games industry today, and if you had the power, how would you fix it?” Olin’s response, “Personally, as a community manager who lives in the media or social media world every day, I think the soc…