Siren

Ubisoft Annecy's multiplayer game director Damien Kieken confirmed the news that there will be no multiplayer beta for Assassin's Creed 3 claiming that Ubisoft would rather spend time perfecting the game, then putting out a time consuming beta. "To be honest, it’s something we want to do every year because we get community feedback that helps us tune the game. It is also a good reward for the community that has followed us from the beginning. But doing a beta takes a lot of time; we’d need to polish a version, submit it to the platform holders and support it when it’s out. And all the time put into the beta doesn’t go into the final game. Because we wanted to push so many things into the game, we took the hard decision to favor the final game content instead of doing a beta and we believe it will be favorable in the end..." Kieken told Xboxgamezone in a recent interview. Disappointed that you won't be able to take the game for a test drive, before it's release? Relax, you can get your eager gaming mitts on Assassin's Creed 3 on October 30th. http://youtu.be/Boy11rMf50Q Click here to view the article

Can't wait to get your hands on those big, huge, muscular, biceps of Duke Nukem? If you happen to have purchased Borderlands Game of the Year Edition you are in luck, because 2K Games and Gearbox recently announced that the members of "Duke Nukem Forever First Access Club" will be receiving the demo on June 3. The only way to become a member is by purchasing Borderlands GOTY or pre-ordering a copy of Duke Nukem Forever from a local game store. Gearbox President Randy Pitchford made the announcement in a "Special Message from Gearbox" video. http://youtu.be/wsoNz-7xtg0 via VG247 Click here to view the article

EA and DICE were bitch slapped by a person claiming to be a 15 year retired SWAT team member in an open letter that was posted on the Battlefield 3 forums. The unnamed individual compares the supposed realistic upcoming shooter Battlefield 3 to what he calls "fake" games like Halo all because of the lights and lasers that are on the weapons that you use in the game. I’M RETIRED AFTER 15 YEARS SWAT AND CAN TELL YOU THE TAC LIGHTS AND LASERS ARE BEING IMPROPERLY USED AND MAKE WHAT HAS BEEN A FAIRLY REALISTIC EXPERIENCE SEEM LIKE HALO OR SOME FAKE GAME. I WAS ISSUED AN MP5 AND MADE HUNDREDS OF ENTRIES USING THAT WEAPON AS MY PRIMARY AND HAD MY KIMBER TLE 1911 .45 WITH TAC LIGHT ON MY RIGHT LEG IN MY DROP HOLSTER. MP5 9MM HAD A LIGHT ON THE FOREGRIP WITH A RUBBER PRESSURE SWITCH FOR QUICK ON AND OFF DEPRESSIONS. THE REASON YOU NEED A LIGHT THAT TURNS ON AND OFF QUICKLY IS BECAUSE OF WHAT WE CALL “LIGHT DISCIPLINE” YOU CAN READ ALL ABOUT IT BUT IN SUMMARY LIGHTS CAN HELP YOU OR HURT YOU. WHEN MOVING IN A SQUAD OR CELL YOU NEVER WANT TO “BACK LIGHT” YOUR TEAM MEMBERS WHICH CREATES A TARGET FOR THE ENEMY. YOU NEVER WALK AROUND WITH YOUR LIGHTS ON OR THE ENEMY SEES YOU COMING AND CAN PICK YOU OFF EASILY BY SHOOTING AT YOUR LIGHTS AND WATCHING THEM BACK LIGHT YOUR TEAM. FLASHLIGHTS ON HANDGUNS OR SUB GUNS ARE FOR CLEARING BUILDINGS AND CUTTING CORNERS CAREFULLY THEN TURNED OFF TO MOVE UNDETECTED. THIS GAME NEEDS A MOMENTARY SWITCH FOR LIGHTS, NOT AN ON/OFF SWITCH OR A STUPID HANGUN THAT AIMS UPWARD WITH LIGHT ON AS YOU RUN OR MOVE. NEVER RUN WITH A FLASHLIGHT ON. NEVER RUN WITH YOUR HANDGUN AIMED STRAIT UPWARD. NEVER WALK OR DO ANYTHING WITH YOUR WEAPON POINTED UPWARD, THAT’S HOLLYWOOD CRAP. GUNS ARE CARRIED IN A “LOW READY POSITION” DOWNWARD AND BELOW WHERE YOUR EYES ARE SCANNING FOR TARGETS THEN YOU CAN AQUIRE A TARGET AND RAISE UP AND FIRE. IF YOUR GUN IS AIMED UP YOU SEE THE SAME TARGET AND THEN LOWER THE GUN ON THE TARGET MOMENTARILY BLOCKING YOUR VISION AS YOUR ARM OR ARMS COME DOWN CROSSING YOUR FIELD OF VISION. (STUPID) FLASHLIGHTS ARE PRIMARILY LED HIGH INTENSITY LIGHTS, BUT THEY DO NOT PRODUCE THE KIND OF LIGHT SIMULATED IN THIS GAME IN ALMOST ANY ENVIRONMENT THIS GAME SEEMS TO PRODUCE A HUGE WHITE AREA WHERE YOU CANNOT TELL THE CENTER OR SOURCE OF THE LIGHT. THAT IS BS. FLASHLIGHTS ON GUNS TEMPORARILY BLIND THREATS/TARGETS, BUT THAT LASTS ONLY A FEW MOMENTS AND THEN THE TARGET CAN RETURN FIRE ACCURATELY AIMING FOR YOUR LIGHT. THIS IS WHY THE FBI STARTED HOLDING FLASHLIGHTS IN THE OFF HAND UP HIGH AND TO THE SIDE SO IF THE CRIMINAL OR TARGET SEES THE LIGHT THEY MISS THE AGENT. THIS WAS DETERMINED AFTER POLICE AND FBI GOT SHOT TIME AND TIME AGAIN IN THE PAST USING THE “HOGAN” METHOD OF CROSSING ARMS AND KEEPING THE FLASHLIGHT NEAR THEIR HANDGUN. LASERS ARE WHAT SWAT MEMBERS CALL “CRUTCHES FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT POINT SHOOT”. WE NEVER USED LASERS FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS BUT TO KEEP IT SHORT: IT TAKES LONGER TO LOOK FOR YOUR RED DOT ON THE SUSPECT THEN FIRE, THAN TO JUST FIRE FROM THE LOW READY POSITION USING A POINT AND SHOOT METHOD OF NON SITED FIRE. ALSO THEY DON’T EMIT A LONG BEAM VISIBLE UNLESS YOU ARE IN THE FOG OR SMOKE. IN EITHER CASE THEY GIVE AWAY YOUR ANGLE AND POSITION. THEY ARE COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY FOR TACTICAL PURPOSES AND ONLY USED FOR “PSYCHOLOGICAL” REASONS AND HOLLYWOOD DRAMA. I CAN GO INTO MORE DETAIL, BUT THIS IS MY SUMMARY AND OPINION BASED ON 15 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE DOING THE REAL THING. RESEARCH THE TOPIC AND YOU WILL SEE I AM CORRECT. As a veteran of the US Army I see the point being made. After all a soldier who uses a light while clearing a building might as well put on a Barney costume and sing the "I love you, you love me" song at the top of his or her lungs. However as a gamer, video games are not real, this is a minor issue that does not change the main gameplay of Battlefield 3 except that the writer of this letter might be dying more often during the BETA which is why this was written, and this is not a Rainbow Six game. What do you guys think? Do lights and lasers being used make this game not "real"? via Product Reviews Click here to view the article

The Producer behind Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, David Cox has announced on Twitter that the followup to 2010's Castlevania: LOS will indeed be releasing on the PC. Castlevania: LOS was only released on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The details on the sequel are unknown except for a tiny tidbit of information that Konami revealed at this year's E3. (If you have yet to play the Castlevania: LOS or beat it, you might want to skip this part) Gabriel is back as Dracula and the Belmont family is out for his blood. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is expected to release on the PC, PS3, and 360 next year. Click here to view the article

Some Xbox 360 gamers had the unfortunate discovery this morning of their achievements going missing or their entire gamerscore reset to zero. Since the announcement this morning Microsoft has said that they are aware of the issue and are working on it. They do offer a few suggestions such as signing in and out of Xbox Live and also recovering your gamertag onto your console. There are reports of people confirming that recovering your gamertag seems to fix the issue. via Xbox Support Twitter Click here to view the article

New figures from the NPD group are showing that the Xbox 360 is leaving the competition behind as it pulls away in terms of online game sales and game point cards that sold in stores. The graphs that were released by the NPD group today showcase that the Xbox 360 has had a steady and continuious rise in the number of online games and point cards that are being sold since 2006. Sony's PS3 appears to be staying steady with their numbers, while the Nintendo Wii looks to be hitting rock bottom during the four year period which the study was made. via Gamasutra Click here to view the article

Developer: Bit Barons Players: Single Player Genre: Puzzle Platforms: PC and Mac Release Date: January 27, 2011 Price: $13.99 on the Official Website for Astroslugs Easy to Navigate Menus New developer Bit Barons is making their PC and Mac debut game with Astroslugs. This cute, vivid, and vibrant puzzle game has what it takes to make Bit Barons a household name, but the question is, can Bit Barons deliver? In Astroslugs, you play as a small purple slug who is traveling the universe activating slugballs in the form of ancient glyphs in order to fuel the slugs space ship. [ Easy Does It.... The slugballs are found by traveling the universe and putting them together by solving puzzles that are matching the colorful shapes to their examples on the left of the screen. The shapes start off rather simple and grow a bit more complex as each level increases. Can You Figure This Out? To make a shape like a sqaure, you just simply point, click, and drag over the slugballs to form the square. If you make a mistake, there is no need to worry about starting the level over. Bit Barons made deleting your shape easy by just pointing, clicking, and dragging the mouse over the colorful shape to make it disappear or if you messed up your puzzle to the point to where you cannot figure it out, you can click the reset button at the bottom left of the screen. Once you finish your puzzle you are taken to a screen where your fuel for your space ship collects and then you go back to the main map for that area where you can click on the next slugball that allows you access to the next level. Oh The Places You'll Go Overall this game flows so well with no major or minor issues that my four year old son fell in love with this game that also has some educational value for the younger games when it comes to making the shapes and naming colors. With the colorful imagery and catchy sound effects Bit Barons scored a home run with their puzzle genre entry, Astroslugs. Anybody and everybody from experienced puzzle gamers to new and/or younger gamers can jump in and thoroughly enjoy their time with Bit Baron's Astroslugs. Click here to view the article

Developed By: Ninja Bee Published by: Microsoft Game Studios Platforms: Xbox Live Arcade Price: 800 MS points Release Date: December 22, 2010 Players: Single player, 1-2 players same console, 1-4 players on XBL Genre: City Building ESRB Rating: E for Everyone The Keflings have returned and this time three kingdoms need your help! Do you have what it takes to rebuild the kingdoms and make a World of Keflings? Find out in Ninja Bee's latest entry into the Kefling series, World of Keflings. Meet The Princess. She likes to talk....ALOT. Set in three different environments in three very different kingdoms, World of Keflings does not disappoint. Ninja Bee which was founded in 2004, tells the story of each kingdom in a World of Keflings through vibrant imagery and easy to follow storylines that not only tell the story of the kingdom, but also individual Keflings that need your help. This can include building buildings or collecting items and putting them in the proper building that they request the items to be placed into. "I am King Kong...here me ROOOOOAR!!!!" Each kingdom in World of Keflings has their own unique environment. The Ice Kingdom is where you start your adventure in a frozen block of ice surrounded by Keflings. You break out of the ice block like you are King Kong and agree to help the Keflings. Soon you find yourself gathering resources and making buildings with the help of builder brothers who can make buildings for you and/or bring you your selected pieces of the building you are constucting. There is a whole family of builder brothers so be prepared to meet every single one of these heavy lifting builders along your journey through each of the colorful kingdoms; The Ice Kingdom, The Forest Kingdom, and The Desert Kingdom. These "builder brothers" are always around to lend a helping hand Each kingdom has essentially the same goal. Turn your tiny starter town into a huge and prosperous kingdom. From the sound of that, you should be getting bored right? Wrong. Each kingdom has enough of "quests" and bickering between Keflings to keep you entertained for hours. You will also have to travel back and forth between kingdoms through "gates" to build new buildings and advance the story along which is divided into chapters. You can have fun with your Keflings like launching them in cannons! Throughout World of Keflings you will never find yourself feeling like you are running "short" of Keflings which was a problem with Kingdom of Keflings. In Kingdom of Keflings, you found yourself wasting your Keflings by needing to have "transporter" Keflings who would transport each resource to the building that you choose. Thankfully Ninja Bee fixed that and now your worker Keflings can transport the materials that they are cutting, chopping, or mining to the building that you want the materials in by picking them up and placing them at the building after you give them their job or else you will end up collecting the piles of resources yourself. This makes managing your Keflings much easier and allows you to not feel like you are always building houses and never have enough of "love" to gain more Keflings like in Kingdom of Keflings. Make sure to show your Keflings plenty of "love" One of the new features in World of Keflings is called, "Country Love". It works similar to regular "love", but country love is specifically for cottages which are bigger than your average house in a World of Keflings. After you build a cottage and put country love into it, instead of the standard two Keflings that come trotting out, you wind up with four Keflings which also aids the management of buildings and worker Keflings. "Should I drink that?" Another new feature that Ninja Bee added into World of Keflings is the "push" feature that allows you to move buildings around without having to beat them down your fists and start from scratch. One thing that "pushing" lacks is proper aiming. You might find yourself building your buildings and not liking where you place them or place two buildings side by side. When trying to push the building up, down, left, or right it often seems to get "confused" and push the wrong building, because your avatar that you play as does not "lock on" to the building. This can get frustrating at times especially as you advance one of your kingdoms and you need to make more room. Ninja Bee has a surprise for you if you purchased their other games! Other new features in World of Keflings includes interacting with your Keflings by using "emotes" which are accessed by the D-Pad, drinking potions made by the witch to level up, leveling up individual worker Keflings by smacking them, and adding special items to your buildings like snowmen, trees, and statues. Also, you now can send your friends on Xbox Live custom items through messages and doing so will net you an achievement! Ninja Bee took the time to do something really special for their fans in World of Keflings. If you purchased any of their other titles available on Xbox Live, you are notified before you start that you have achievements for that game and gain special things in World of Keflings. Another addition is the crossing over between Raskulls and Ilomilo. If you purchased either of these games or both of them you will be able to have the Kefling version of them in your game. With Raskulls and Ilomilo, you can either play as the characters meant for the game or a Kefling. I <3 Ninja Bee Overall, World of Keflings is a major step up from Kingdom of Keflings. Fans of the little Keflings will love the happy go lucky music and prancing Keflings and new players will enjoy the simple tutorial and easy to navigate menu. World of Keflings is one of those rare Xbox Live Arcade titles that is actually worth the price it releases for. Bravo Ninja Bee for making an even more addicting sequel to a game that we all love. *The online multiplayer of World of Keflings was not reviewed. Each online experience is different when playing with friends and other people. Click here to view the article

Developed By: Double Fine Published By: THQ Platforms: XBLA, PSN Players: Single Release Date: October 19, 2010 and October 20, 2010 Price: $15.00 on PSN and 1200 MS Points Version Reviewed: XBLA It's every candly loving fiend's favorite undead holiday, Halloween. As two siblings argue over who is going to lead their night of Trick or Treating, they have no clue what is in store for them, but the monsters that have taken over their once quiet neighborhood are determined to make sure that they find out. Double Fine and THQ take a stab at adventure/role playing with their latest arcade friendly title, Costume Quest. In Costume Quest you will find yourself in the middle of a classic sibling rivalry. It is up to you whether sister Wren or her brother Reynold will take the lead for the night's festivities of Trick or Treating. After deciding between the fighting siblings, the kids put their respective costumes on with you being a blue robot that can eventually skate with later upgrades and your sibling A.I. dresses up as a giant piece of a Halloween candy staple, candy corn. Wren and Reynold both learn that something more sinister is at work in their neighborhood after stopping at a seemingly quiet jack-o-latern decorated house. Unfortunately for your brother or sister, depending on your choice you made at the beginning of the game, this house is anything but quiet. Mistaken for a giant piece of candy corn, the monsters that have invaded your neighborhood kidnap your sibling and it is up to you to get him or her back and stop the monsters from taking over your neighborhood as they search for candy. Reynold or Wren start off in Costume Quest as a robot. When a battle is triggered after running into a monster, your character is transformed into a real version of their costume that has it's own special attack, along with standard attacks. The battles are turn based like many RPG's. This allows you enough time to choose what action you wantyour character to do. After choosing an action, you are faced with a quick time event where you have to tap the right button at the right time in order to block or deliver more damage to your enemy. During battles, you can control up to four characters that each have their own special attacks depending on their costume. After the battles you are given XP and candy for your trick or treat bag. Throughout the beginning of Costume Quest, you will find yourself walking around town finding quests, candy, and costume materials that allow you to upgrade your costume. You gain quests by interacting with the other kids and sometimes bullies in your neighborhood. You can view not only your quests, but your candy, costume patterns, battle stamps, and character's status by accessing your journal that can easily be found by tapping the Y button. As you advance in Costume Quest other areas are unlocked as your search for your kidnapped sibling and of course candy. Overall, Costume Quest is a delightful blend of light hearted and sarcastic humor and unique features such as comic bubbles instead of talking that make this ghoulish entry from Double Fine and THQ a rare treat in the the growing number of lacking and sometimes overpriced Xbox Live Arcade titles. Siren Says: "Costume Quest is a joy to play. I had no problems navigating throughout the game and the menu interface is so easy to use that my four year old could navigate through it. At times I found myself laughing at some of the remarks made by the characters. I throughly enjoyed Costume Quest and I believe that if you like turn based RPG's, Halloween, and can appreciate all types of humor, then this might be the arcade game for you." Click here to view the article

Developed by: Lionhead Studios Published by: Microsoft Game Studios Players: 1 player, 2 player cooperative online and offline Platforms: Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows Rated: M Date of Release: October 25 2010 in North America and Australia and on October 29, 2010 in Europe Albion is about to face it's biggest threat yet and it is up to you whether or not Albion can muster up enough force to rise above and defeat it or crumble under it's very own regime and existence. How will you lead the revolution? Will you be the hero that Albion desperately needs and deserves or will you be the tyrant that rules with an iron fist? In Lionhead Studio's latest entry into their highly successful Fable series, Fable III is set 50 years after the events of Fable II. You find yourself as either the prince or princess depending on your gender choice at the beginning of the game, living under the ruling of your tyrant brother King Logan, who has taken over the crown from your father or mother which was the character you played as in Fable II. He has turned the world of Albion and it's surroundings into nothing but wastelands for poverty and crime. The people are outraged and determined to see a change and they look for you to do it as your first major decision on your Road to Rule happens very early in the game. The world of Fable III is based heavily on your decisions and promises that you make to other leaders throughout the game. The decisions not only effect your moral standing with the people of Albion, but also your relationships with others in the world around you and in some cases it is a matter of life or death. Can you order innocents to die for a supposed "crime" and save the love of your life or should your lover die and have the lives of the civilians spared all in the name of doing the right thing? You are the only that can decide their fate as well as the fate of Albion. While the outcome of your hero's story in Fable III is mostly decided by your difficult and sometimes heart wrenching decisions, your hero's abilities, interactions with others, and jobs that can be taken on are dependent on the new leveling up system dubbed, Road to Rule. During your long and strenuous path to become the leader of Albion, Theresa the Blind Seer is back to guide you along the Road to Rule which will supply you with an ample amount of chests that contain leveling up abilities along your way. Much like the Silver Key Chests, each of the chests that you will come across along the Road to Rule will need Seals in order to open. You can earn Seals throughout Fable III by completing quests and some of the seals can be found in certain types of chests that are scattered throughout the world of Albion. When Theresa allows you to pass through one of the many gates that you will come across in the Road to Rule as you gain more followers, you will find chests on either side of you. The expensive chests to the right are for you to level up your ranged, melee, and magic attacks which you can now combine two different types of magic attacks to use against your foes, while the much cheaper chests on the left are for your hero to gain the ability to do several different types of interactions with the civilians in Albion, leveling up your jobs that you can do throughout the game to earn money, different types of packs that allow you to get married and have children, and you will also find different colored clothing/hair dyes in these chests. The chests are just one example of leveling up in the game. Your weapons can also be leveled up and when doing so, their appearance will be altered. The tasks that are involved with leveling up each weapon can be quite tedious so if you set out to do this you have been warned. The leveling up system and combined magic attacks are not the only new thing to be introduced in the Fable series. The health system has completely been revamped. Say goodbye to the health bar and welcome in the red screen that many modern FPS's use. This health system makes fighting enemies much easier, but also takes away from the challenge of battling enemies and being knocked out, because you just simply have to roll out of harm's way for a certain amount of time and your health is replenished. Along with the disappearance of the health bar is the mana bar. Your magic usage is now determined on your leveling up in the Road to Rule and purchasing of magic gauntlets in the chests that enable the use of different spells. Another new thing introduced in Fable III, is The Sanctuary. The Sanctuary, which was your father or mother's depending on your general choice in Fable II, is where you will find your complete inventory, promises made to others, treasury, armory, and dressing room along with the option to join a co-op room over XBL. To access The Sanctuary, the player must tap the start button and you will be taken there instantly. You can do this even during the middle of combat to make weapon changes if need be. You can also fast travel to towns and quests by using the world map which you will find in the middle of The Sanctuary. While viewing the world map you are also able to buy properties and repair the houses that have fallen apart over time. Leaving a house in disarray means the tenants will not pay rent, so it is important to check on your houses frequently throughout the game or else suffer the consequences of losing money. What else you ask? That's about it. Everything else in Fable III is the same as in Fable II minus the gorgeous and bright graphics. The camera does suffer a tiny bit during single player, but it's not enough to rant or waste your time talking about. Other than that, the world of Albion including gameplay and controls are the exact same as the previous games. The only question left to ask about Fable III is in a world where you control every little thing, will this power corrupt and set you on a path to your demise or will you rise and change the lives of everyone around you for the better? Fable III Tips and Tricks As soon as you are able to buy properties start with the businesses and then buy and rent the houses out later. In Fable III you need a lot of money and this is the best way to get it quickly. Start saving money as soon as you can. Whether this means you spend quite a few hours doing jobs or buying/trading items and selling them, do it. You will thank me in the end. Your dog is your companion in Fable III. Make sure to buy the books in the stores to level him up so he is well equipped to handle the battles and sniff out dig spots and treasures. Interact with the people of Albion frequently. You will gain Seals by doing this. Experiment with the dyes in the dressing room of The Sanctuary. You can now dye just about every little thing on your clothes and include highlights in your hair. You will also get an achievement by doing this as long as everything on you that is dyeable is a different color. After the Final Credits Fable III left me with a rather sour taste in my mouth. Where the game takes a step forward with the introduction of the leveling up system, it takes quite a few steps back when it comes to everything else. The Sanctuary is an utter disaster. I found myself spending most of time using this awful place to travel back and forth between towns and to accept quests. In fact, The Sanctuary fast travel for quests is often confusing and took a very long time to get use to. Not to mention I know know where I am because I don't have an in-game map. Instead I have to travel to The Sanctuary, choose the map, and pinpoint my location in the town I am in, which makes it a hassle when I am looking for properties I don't own and I am trying to figure out which street I need to go down to find them. Not to mention the fact that when I buy a house, the majority of my playing time is not spent exploring Albion, but repairing the stupid houses, because there isn't a "repair all" feature so I have to choose each one individually to repair. What the fudge is that about?! Another thing this game falls flat on is when it comes time for you to take over as leader. Lionhead shame on you for putting this in the game. This is the most boring part of the game and is the reason I refuse to advance the story. I do not want to advance it anymore because of the boring and utterly stupid decisions I have to make every day, in-game, in Fable time. This is a complete waste of my time and maybe instead of either just the "good", "bad", or "meh" choices they could have spiced it up by doing something else or just not had this in the game at all. I chose not to review the online co-op of Fable III, because your experience depends on who you are playing with and that is all I am going to say about that. However I will say that Lionhead did fix the issues with camera in Fable II co-op. In the end, I seriously hope that Lionhead takes the time to work on Fable IV for quite a few years before it comes out. Where is the luscious and bright scenery of Fable II? Why is the game glitchy as far as stopping for 5 seconds and why in the world does the gold trail keep disappearing when I have it picked to glow the brightest so that I can see where I need to go? Lionhead, you seriously dropped the ball on Fable III and for that reason, I feel that the series should have gone in this order: Fable, Fable III, and Fable II and that is never a good thing in the world of gaming. Click here to view the article

There are a few things that I have learned about Activision from a recent pompous and arrogance filled interview between MCV and Activision's Publishing CEO, Eric Hirshberg. These "things" are not directly about their video games, brand, or even where they see themselves in the next five years. I have learned that Activision has an over inflatuated opinion of themselves and coming from a company who reported a $233 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2010 is never a good thing. I find that statement reeking of wrongs considering that according to Game Developer Magazine for the year of 2010, Nintendo sits at number one for the top overall publisher position, EA is number two, and Activision finds themselves sitting at number three. Also according to Software Top 100, Nintendo once again takes the top spot for "The Top 25 Game Companies" while Activision comes in second. Sure Activision had the best selling game of 2010 with Call of Duty: Black Ops, however when Black Ops released it was nothing but a lag and bug infested multiplayer experience on the PS3 and PC coupled with lax responses from Activision regarding the online issues, fans were left with a sour taste in their mouth. Hardly how a company in the "number one position" should be acting towards dedicated fans of Activision's cash cow, Call of Duty. I seem to remember more than a few interviews done with loose lipped Activision CEO Bobby Kotick where he could not keep his mouth shut about EA like in an interview with Edge Magazine where Kotick said that "great people do not want to work at EA" or how about when Kotick slammed EA's decisions to buy smaller companies and rename them with EA followed by city in the title and further said that EA is struggling? Also did Hirshberg forget that Kotick was very vocal about how EA's marketing campaign to get gamers to buy more games new instead of used games is not in the best interest of gamers? Tough competition every year? Does a Halo game release once a year or how about Gears of War? Is Epic cranking out those games year after year, forcing gamers to buy a new updated version of the game every fall? The answer is no. The only competition that Activision has year after year is themselves, because of the yearly releases of Call of Duty from different developers. One thing that Activision needs to remember is that their success is based on three franchises and one of which they had absolutely nothing to do with and can thank Blizzard for and that is World of Warcraft. The second is Guitar Hero and with the Guitar Hero series in the can that only leaves Call of Duty. There are only so many times that you can release what is essentially the same game yearly just better graphics and changed perk names, add a pay to play mulitplayer experience into the mix, and expect gamers to keep coming back for more and with EA whipping the media into a frenzy over their extremely detailed upcoming FPS, Battlefield 3, it is only a matter of time before fans say "enough". Click here to view the article

Our annual giveaway was held on Saturday, January 29 with some heavy hitting prizes that included prize packs, a Kinect, Netbook, and more that were all donated by our members. In case you missed it, here is the recap courtesy of our member, Kira Onime. For the more colorful version of the recap, visit our forum. 1st - Game of Choice from Sky Winner is : Cody 2nd - 2 1600 MS Point Cards from Elite Effect The winners are......LG and AudaciousKevin! 3rd - Invicta Watch from LG The winner is.....mbkerr! 4th - 12 copies of Osmos via a Steam Gift from Dat. The winners are.... -Sayterra (Captain Concussion's woman) -MadManMike -PipMagnet -LG -Jarlan -UnderxOath -Elite Effect -Akourah -PK -GG -Bacon (gets a Mac copy) -CoyandChris 5th - CoyAndChris Stupdendously Spectacular Steam Superprize ($100 to spend on Steam Games of your choice) The winner is....vectordream! 6th - Art Spieglman's "Maus" from Super Kev. The winner is.....Bogeh! 7th - 8 copies of NyxQuest via a Steam Gift from Dat! The winners are.... -Sedington -AudaciousKevin -vectordream -Irish -Sky -LKM 1349 -Captain Concussion -LG 8th - Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena from Ban! The winner is.....Super Kev! 9th - Pac-Man Championship DX code for the PS3 from Frustrated Fury! The winner is....mbkerr! 10th - 250 GB HDD loaded with 5 movies of your choice from Bacon! The winner is .... Syc! 11th - 1600 MS Point Card from Pogre! The winner is.....Bacon! 12th - 9 different Xbox 360 Games from eminutia! The winners are...... BioShock - PK COD2 - Sky COD3- TC Dark Sector - UnderxOath Oblivion GOTY - vectordream Prey - Pogre Mass Effect - Jarlan Rainbow Six Vegas - Ban 13th - World of Keflings XBLA code from - Assassin! The winner is.....mbkerr! 15th - The Humble Bundle 2 Pack from Dat! The winner is.....CoyandChris! 16th - Brand spankin' new Xbox 360 Kinect The winner is........Stealthy! 17th - Prize is 7 copies of Just Cause 2 (PC) from Dat! The winners are.... -Sky -Elite Effect -Jarlan -UnderxOath -AudaciousKevin -Sed -MadManMike 18th -Gamercide staff pack Alan Wake BioShock 2 Limited Edition Command Conquer: Red Alert 3 Tropico 3 Soul Calibur IV Wet 1600 MS Points Card .AltF4_ToExit 19th - Red Faction Collection for the PC from Dat! The winner is.....PipMagnet! 20th - 4 Blacks Ops Bandannas from LG. The winners are.... -GG -Sed -UnderxOath -CodyHD 21st - It's the Netbook from Rincon and Isa! MadMikeMan 22nd - Dragon Age: Origins with Dragon Age: Awakening from AudaciousKevin! The winner is......Stealthy! 23rd - Killing Floor Bundle from Dat! The winner is....Akourah! 24th - One Month Subscription to XBL from Super Kev! The winner is......Dat! 25th - One Red Dead DLC Code from Bogeh! The winner is......Capt. Concussion! 26th - 48 Hour Trial of XBL from Super Kev! The winner is.....Sayterra (Capt. Concussion's woman) 27th - Prize is Darksiders for the 360 from AudaciousKevin! The winner is.....Elite Effect! 28th - Tomb Raider Legend for the PC via Steam Gift from Dat! The winner is Irish! 29th - Never Winter Nights 2 Platinum Edition (Steam) from LG! The winner is Sky! 30th - Spawn's Stupendous Stuff ***Games*** Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9, and Anthology (PS1) Tales of Monkey Island DVD (PC) Crackdown (360) Just Cause (360) Earth Defense Force 2017 (360) Conflict Denied Ops (360) ***Random Swag*** Duke Nukem 3D Mousepad Splinter Cell thumbdrive Random Xbox Codes (Avatar items, in-game items, etc.) The winner is....Pogre! 31st - Dark Void from AudaciousKevin! The winner is......Super Kev! 32nd - One Year Gold Subscription to XBL from Ban! The winner is.....Sed! 33rd - Plants vs.Zombies that includes Peggle and Zuma from Ban! The winner is......LKM 1349! 34th - PK's Prize Vault! -=[360 games]=- Prototype Fracture Splinter Cell: Double Agent CSI: Hard Evidence Xbox LIVE Compilation (UNO, Pac Man Championship Edition, Boom Boom Rocket and Feeding Frenzy) The Bourne Conspiracy Street Homecourt (UNOPENED) The Club Full Auto Grand Theft Auto IV The Burger King Collection (Sneak King, Big Bumpin' and Pocketbike Racer) -=[Misc gaming swag]=- *Xbox LIVE lanyard (Given to me by Burty, many eons ago. Please treat it well) *Brutal Legend cell phone charm *2 Brutal Legend iron on patches (very biker-y) *Series 1 of Dead Speed collecting cards, in wrapper, never opened. http://www.dead-speed.com/ *A thing from the game, Singularity. I don't know what it is. If you win this, and find out what it is, please tell us. It has a magnet or something, and it's still in the plastic, never opened. I think it lights up, possibly. I dunno. *Gnarly Brutal Legend sticker. It's really high quality and still in its plastic, never opened. *2 retro postcards for Battlefield, sent to me by the CM of EA. Really nicely done. * Issue #1 of the Mirrors Edge comic. The winner is.......TC otherwise known as TownCryer! 35th - Natural Selection 2 from Dat! The winner is......Sed! 36th - a Black Ops code for your avatar from Bogeh! The winner is....eminutia! Click here to view the article

Successful arcade game developer PopCap has announced that Zuma's Revenge will be releasing on the Xbox Live Arcade this coming summer to the tune of 800 Microsoft Points. Zuma's Revenge will come with 20 achievements, new gameplay including no checkpoints and no more game overs, online leaderboards, new modes including Boss Rush and Weekly Challenge, as well as tiki themed avatar awards for your Xbox Live mini me. Not bad for 800 MS Points if you ask me. via PopCap PR Click here to view the article

Member Spotlights are back from days of the old. Keep an eye on your inbox here at Gamercide to see if you are chosen. Click here to view the article

The pinball hitmakers Zen Studios that are behind popular pinball games such as Pinball FX and Pinball FX2 for the Xbox 360 and ZEN Pinball for the Playstation 3 have announced that ZEN Pinball will be coming to the Android smart phone and tablets that have NVIDIA Tegra integrated into their software. ZEN Pinball THD promises to set a "new standard for realistic ball physics and graphical detail in pinball video games employing cutting-edge visuals, challenging tables, true-to-life ball and table physics and combines them with innovative features not found in any other pinball game." "We’re really impressed with the never-before-seen experiences that Tegra brings to mobile devices. ZEN Pinball THD really takes advantage of Tegra’s graphics power for out-of-this-world detail and realism. It looks absolutely stunning. Pinball fans are going to love it.” - Zsolt Kigyossy, Managing Director: Zen Studios There is no set release date for the pinball game, however it will be on hand at the Google I/O Developer Conference in San Fransico on May 10 - 11. via Zen Studios Click here to view the article

The sexy and intriguing mystery/puzzle game Catherine, that is releasing in the United States on the PS3 and 360 July 26 has gotten some new screenshots for you to admire. via Siliconera Click here to view the article

Lobster monsters, UFO's and "cartoony" vehicles? Until more details are made known, this sounds like one Burnout game that might get the pass. via ESRB Click here to view the article

Yesterday Sony blamed the "hacktivist" group Anonymous for the late April attack on the Playstation Network that has their online servers down for weeks and angered their users and sparked a congress wide investigation. Now that the investigation has begun the testimonial stage, can Sony point the finger at themselves after recent findings? Dr. Gene Spafford, a professor at Purdue Universtity and a security expert took to the stand yesterday and made claims that Sony knew that their servers were at risk for months, because of out of date Apache software. "....some news reports indicate that Sony was running software that was badly out of date, and had been warned about that risk.... Nonetheless, the increase in sophistication of attackers, and the growth in data do not totally explain all the incidents. My personal conclusion from reviews of reports in the pressand discussions at professional meetings is that operators of these systems — both in government and the private sector — continue to run outmoded, flawed software, fail to follow some basic good practices of security and privacy, and often have insufficient training or support. The most commonly cited reason for these failings is cost. The cost of providing better security and privacy protection is viewed as overhead that is not recovered in increased revenue, and it is usually one of the first things trimmed in budget cuts. Running outdated software and unpatched operating systems exposes citizens to risks and consequences whose cost a company does not bear. Therefore a company does not have an immediate economic incentive to make the investment needed to prevent breaches." - Dr. Gene Shappord via Committee of Energy and Commerce If this revelation proves to be true, Jeff Fox a Consumer Reports Techonology Editor told The Consumerist that Sony needs to blame Sony. "If Dr. Spafford's assessment is accurate, it's inexcusable that Sony not only ran obsolete software on servers containing confidential data, but also that the company continued to do so after this information was publicly disclosed..." - Jeff Fox, Consumer Reports Technology Editor Sony did not directly respond to the latest allegations, however Sony President Sir Howard Stringer released another apology on behalf of Sony. During the apology Stringer still blamed the hackers for the main reason for the security breach. "I know some believe we should have notified our customers earlier than we did. It’s a fair question. As soon as we discovered the potential scope of the intrusion, we shut down the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services and hired some of the best technical experts in the field to determine what happened. I wish we could have gotten the answers we needed sooner, but forensic analysis is a complex, time-consuming process. Hackers, after all, do their best to cover their tracks, and it took some time for our experts to find those tracks and begin to identify what personal information had — or had not — been taken." - Sir Howard Stringer, Sony President While the hackers may have caused the security intrusion that left millions of users wondering if their credit card and personal information had been comprimised, Sony needs to start thinking about if the recent allegations of known outdated server software can hold up in court and what this means for the future of Sony in the video game industry if it can be proven. via Playstation Blog Click here to view the article

Sony who had previously apologized to users for the Playstation Network and Sony Online Entertainment security breach is now playing the blame game and has turned their attention once again to the infamous "hacktivist" group, Anonymous. Yesterday, Sony called out Anonymous and said that they are to blame for the reason that the security breach happened, because Son'y defenses were down while dealing with previous attacks from Anonymous. Anonymous fired back at Sony in a press release for Congress stating that they had nothing to do with the credit card theft. The security breach that has launched an investigation by the FBI and angered not only users, but members of government, has left the PSN down for weeks and Sony is trying to get service back up and running for it's users by the end of the month. via Games Beat Click here to view the article

In a rather ballsy and "superior" word filled message, EA CEO John Riccitiello told investors that Battlefield 3 will dominate Call of Duty when the game releases later this year. "We know we have a big competitor but head-to-head with Call of Duty in Q3, we have the superior game engine, a superior development studio, and a flat out superior game. Our goal is to significantly gain share in the huge FPS category and to put the other team on defense" - John Riccitiello, EA CEO via Eurogamer Click here to view the article

The mystery deepens as EA continues to taunt Assassin's Creed fans by releasing small images on Assassin's Creed official Facebook page that flash symbols, numbers, and show what appears to Altair. The latest reveal which appeared yesterday shows fans an assassin that appears to look like Altair. When the image starts to turn fuzzy glimpes of a double headed eagle carrying a sword and shield appear making some wonder in the comment section of the Facebook page if this game will feature two assassins instead of just one. The first two reveals have also led gamers to question if the game will be set in Istanbul, why Ezio's birthday appears in the second reveal, and if the image of the assassin really is Altair. Ubisoft is remaining mum about the details and if the indicator on the Facebook page that shows a 7% unlock is right, it might be awhile before we find out if any of these guesses are correct. via Assassin's Creed Facebook Page Click here to view the article

Microsoft has added a Military State billing address that now allows soldiers and their families in the Armed Forces of America, Armed Forces of Europe, and Armed Forces Pacific to play on Xbox Live . via Major Nelson Click here to view the article

No you did not read that headline wrong. In case you missed it at the end of April, there is free (YES FREE) DLC for WWE All Stars for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The "Compatibility Pack 1" includes the Honkey Tonk Man. via Marketplace Click here to view the article

Nintendo is dropping the price of the Wii to $149.99 as of May 15th. The black or white colored console will now come bundled with Mario Kart Wii and the Wii wheel accessory instead of Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. The Wii wheel accessory can purchased seperately for $9.99. Also announced is the "Nintendo Selects" lineup of games that include Animal Crossing: City Folks, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and Mario Super Sluggers. These games will be priced at $19.99 and will feature a red cover with a gold seal in the upper left corner. via Nintendo Press Release Click here to view the article

After the new Assassin Creed reveal many were left trying to figure out the quick flashes and somewhat blurred image that appeared to be Altair's blade from the original Assassin's Creed. Ubisoft has released yet another fuzzy reveal that has further complicated the minds of many, however thanks to one quick thinking Turkish website, the locale for the new Assassin's Creed game may have been figured out. Oyungezer analyzed the flashing photos down to the numbers and images in the background and discovered that one image appears to be the historic Hagia Sofia, another image that flashes briefly across the screen highly resembles the Ottoman Tughra which the official seal for an Ottoman Sultan, and if you watch closely you'll see the numbers "24061459" which Oyungezer believes is suppose to represent the birthday of Ezio which is June 24, 1459. What do you think Gamercide? Is Oyungezer on the right track to figuring out these sneek peek reveal trailers that has left everyone puzzled? via Joystiq Click here to view the article