Siren

One of the most toughest and frustrating bundles of joy to grace your Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, Dark Souls, has been beaten on a speedrun in an amazing one hour and 26 minutes. http://youtu.be/x9ymysN3qQ8 The tough as nails RPG was released less than a month ago and gamer SexyShoiko proved that despite the reputation that this game comes with, the difficulty was no match for their knowledge and skill set. If you think you can beat Dark Souls in a faster time or just want an insane challenge, please know that this RPG may cause many of you to die repeatedly in the game and smash your controller in an anger filled rage. You have been warned. via PSX Extreme

The hackers vs. Sony battle continues as Sony's SVP and Chief Information Officer Philip Reitinger made a short announcement late yesterday evening stating that hackers were once again attempting to compromise Sony's Playstation Network and Entertainment Networks. Sony has temporarily disabled some accounts that may have been affected by the attempted hack. Whether or not you believe that the attacks came from another source other than Sony is up to you to decide, but at least this time Sony is giving their users the heads up instead of waiting for a few weeks to pass like they did during the huge Sony hack that took the Playstation Network and accounts down for weeks.

Last week a pair of quick eyes spied an "Xbox 720" logo in the trailer for the movie based on a 1956 short story, "Real Steel" causing rumors to run rampent on the internet regarding the next Xbox since Microsoft had to plunk down a pretty penny to get that advertisement to appear in the movie. As more news is surfacing regarding Microsoft's new supposed console, many are now wondering the console may already be in development. According to Gamezone, several Microsoft employees LinkedIn profiles changed at the beginning of 2011 to reflect working on a new console and a new entertainment experience. Jeff Faulkner ~ "Xbox Next Gen Creative Designer" since January 2011. "Guides the vision for Xbox's User Experience Design across Social Media, User Experience, Entertainment, Gesture and Voice Input, Information Design and Brand and Visual Design". Jonathan Harris ~ "Senior Creative Director for Xbox". According Gamezone he has been designing the next generation of entertainment since September of 2010. The descriptions for the other employees including Microsoft staff working on Xbox hardware and advertising for the next gen Xbox have also changed. Are the job descriptions, profile changes, and the advertising for the Xbox 720 in a movie set in 2020 just a mere coincidence or is the next generation Xbox on the horizon? via Gamezone and Tom's Guide

Your Keflings are in for an extraterrestrial treat! Ninja Bee, the developers of A World of Keflings have announced that their avatar friendly, village building Xbox Live Arcade hit will be getting DLC in the form of spaceships and UFOs. "It Came From Outer Space" will feature plenty of new items and a kingdom for you to build a village in. "Aliens have crash-landed in the Kefling world and you and the Keflings need to use your mad building skills to get them home," said Mike Nielsen, lead designer on the DLC. "You'll be building giant robots, crazy alien structures, and even robotic Keflings all in the name of repairing their mother ship. There's plenty of new stuff to explore - a new kingdom, new characters, new resources, new buildings... It's pretty substantial." Ninja Bee has yet to give a price or a date of release for this alien-esque DLC.

Square and IO are promising fans of the long running Hitman series a more personal and darker look into the life of their favortie bar coded and bald hitman, Agent 47 all while he is on the run in 2012's release Hitman: Absolution. In the latest teaser trailer, it appears that 47 has the upper hand on the metro PD as they run around yelling like morons while trying to find him. Needless to say, 47 is doing what he does best. http://youtu.be/NTB4tCkjeocvia Gamersheep and

The Battlefield 3 beta has been live for a little over a week and gamers have already found ways to cheat in order to gain the upper hand in battle. DICE has come forward and is threatening to swing the mighty banhammer towards any gamers who are caught using any kind of cheats and/or glitches. "The hammer will fall swiftly and accurately," noted DICE's CM Ian Tornay on the Battlefield 3 forums. According to Gameranx , DICE has disabled cheating protection in multiplayer beta so that they can see and monitor what extremes players will go to just to anger other gamers and rack up those kill counts. So far during my playing of the beta I saw a few gamers glitching out of the map, so here is to hoping that DICE and EA can get this under control or else their hopes of beating Activision's Modern Warfare 3 in the sales department will be like throwing a dummy grenade into a group of enemies who are advancing swiftly on their position. via Gameranx

Gamers be prepared to get rid of that nasty and expensive cable bill. Microsoft has announced their entertainment service lineup for the upcoming Xbox Live tv service. Bravo Cinema Now Crackle DailyMotion Epix ESPN HBO Go Hulu Plus iHeart Radio Manga Entertainment MSN with MSNBCNetflix Syfy TMZ The Today Show UFC Verizon FiOS on TV VEVO Xfinity on Demand (Comcast) Youtube No payment plans have been announced yet or any word on if there will be any other channels and/or services added to their entertainment lineup that will be launching in the very, near future. via Xbox.com

It appears that the much rumored Halo movie is back on the front burner of the rumor mill after a french press release claims that Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks are backing the film set to release in 2012. The press release which happens to be for the Forerunner based Halo novel, Halo: Cryptum clearly states, " A film adaptation is set in 2012. It will be conducted jointly by two heavyweights of American cinema: Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks." Does this mean that a Halo movie might release around the same time as Halo 4 in winter 2012? Or is this just simply another rumor that needs to be put to rest until Microsoft steps forward and says, "yes a Halo film is being produced at this very moment"? via Eurogamer

Real Steel staring Hugh Jackman might be getting attention for it's intense and almost futuristic robot fighting action, however a pair of good eyes spied an Xbox 720 logo in the back of the arena where the robot fights take place. Watch the video and you'll see towards the 46 second mark it appears quickly in the background. Could this be Microsoft beginning to advertise for a new console? Sound off on the forums and let us know what you think! http://youtu.be/FaLPWc-Myr0 via Gaming Reloaded

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

Major Nelson has just confirmed that gamers have another reason to be thankful this coming November. Epic is releasing the first DLC pack for their locust shoot em up Gears of War 3, on November 1st. The Horde Command Pack will feature three new maps, three new characters including Big Rig Dizzy, Onyx Guard, and Bernie, two new weapons skins, and new fortification upgrades for both popular game modes, Horde and Beast. The DLC will cost you 800 MS points unless you purchased the $30 Gears Season Pass which will allow you to download it for "free". via Major Nelson

Bethesda has released the names of the actors who are lending their voices to what could be the most anticipated RPG of 2011, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Most notable are the three Academy Awards nominees Christopher Plummer from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Max Von Sydow who starred in The Exorcist and Minority Report, and actress Joan Allen who lent her acting talents to The Contender and The Bourne Ultimatum. Other voices in Skyrim that you may recognize include Michael Hogan from Battlestar Galatica, Vladimir Kulich who appeared in Smokin' Aces, Claudia Christian from Babylon 5, Diane Louise Salinger who stars in Carnivale, actress Renee Victor from Weeds, and George Coe who was once on Saturday Night Live and starred in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Gamers do not have to wait much longer to get their hands on the long awaited Skyrim, because it release on November 11, 2011.

Bethesda's hit or miss RPG Fallout: New Vegas was shown some love with new game add ons Courier's Stash and Gun Runners’ Arsenal that have already released on the Xbox Live Marketplace and will release later today on the Playstation Network and Steam. The 160 MS point or $1.99 on PSN and/or Steam Courier's Stash download will allow players to access items that were previously only available to those fans of the Fallout series that pre ordered New Vegas. These now attainable items include the four DLC packs The Caravan Pack, Classic Pack, Mercenary Pack and Tribal Pack. The other new game add on that is weapon based, Gun Runners' Arsenal, will cost you 320 MS points or $3.99 on the PSN and/or Steam. Upon downloading this content gamers will be able to find more recipes, weapon mods, ammo types, and increased range with all of your unique weapons.

Battlefield 3's open mulitplayer beta is certainly showing off the gorgeous and crisp graphics that can easily rival Call of Duty or surpass the coveted series. Gamers who bought Medal of Honor: Tier 1 edition or pre ordered Battlefield 3 through EA's service Origin, received a 48 hour preview of the beta set to open on September 29th. via Video Games Zone (Translated)

On October 5, 2011 Sony will be making a new announcement to gamers everywhere. This announcement comes following a short teaser trailer that appeared on the interwebs late lastnight. The trailer follows two soldiers who appear to have parachuted down into some dark lonely woods. When they emerge into the open, an old stone house is sitting in front of them. Upon entering they are greeted by a sultry female and a dog to their right lying on the floor. They place some coins into the tray that shows other items and proceed to slow mo walk through the door in front of them after the female gives them a slight nod showing permission to enter. http://youtu.be/azhSfPS7o7Y What kind of announcement do you think Sony is planning? Could it be game related or some other kind of new service that Sony might be offering to their users hence the soldiers paying and walking through a new door? via Gamersheep

The continuing trend of developers offering gamers a "discount" on downloadable content if they buy some form of a season pass appears to have struck the folks over at Turn 10. Turn 10 announced that Forza Motorsport 4 is getting it's own $29.99 season pass that will allow gamers to get a 30% discount on six expansion packs that are set to launch between November 2011 and April 2012. Forza Motorsport 4 races onto store shelves for the Xbox 360 on October 11th here in the states, October 13th in Australia, October 14th in Europe, and October 20th in Japan. http://youtu.be/k7UUEMWYgck via Joystiq

Naughty Dog gave Microsoft a tiny pat on the back and inadvertently bitch slapped Sony all at one time during a recent interview regarding Sony's exclusive series Uncharted with UK gaming magazine, Play. "....Sony kept pushing for a more realistic game in all respects. The market had changed a lot by then. The demographic was older and gritty shooters were really dominating. Sony wanted very much to get into that market share, it pushed all of its developers in this direction. So the big push from Sony, not just at Naughty Dog but at all of Sony's development companies at the time, was to craft games for PlayStation 3 that were much more realistic. The pressure from Xbox's success with gritty shooters was a very real force on our direction at that time. We had a lot of internal grumbling about the realist bent. More of the old dogs were from the Crash and Jak era and preferred that more whimsical style. But alas, that was a losing battle."" ~ Don Poole, former Environment Modeller at Naughty Dog I would like to know where Uncharted is realistic considering the ending of Drake's Fortune. If Sony wants to create an original realistic shooter they need to leave the monsters at the door. via Now Gamer

EA has announced that NHL 12 has broke the series record for highest number of sales in it's first week of being on store shelves. The standout hockey title generated $27 million retail sales worldwide in it's first week and so far gamers have shown their appreciation for the game by logging in more than 6.9 million online games during that coveted first week. The fan response to NHL 12 has been incredible, and we’re delighted to expand the franchise to Facebook next month,” said Andrew Wilson, Executive Vice President, EA SPORTS. “NHL 12 is our most exciting hockey game ever, with more than 300 gameplay improvements and the ability to play with some of the NHL’s greatest legends." http://youtu.be/jJ8xlfytLaw No details on what the expansion over to Facebook will be like at this time, but hopefully EA will not fall into the "like me for exclusive content" category that some of our beloved titles have fallen under. *Cough* Gears of War 3's Griffin*Cough*

Zen Studios has just annouced that their hit pinball series Zen Pinball, is going 3D! Zen Pinball 3D for the Nintendo 3DS will feature local multiplayer, online leaderboards and table rankings, several view points, and table completion specific rewards. "Releasing Zen Pinball on a Nintendo platform marks an amazing milestone for Zen Studios. We are really excited for Nintendo fans to experience one of our greatest passions – the timeless game of pinball! Playing pinball in 3D is killer, it’s like the game has been totally reinvented, and a whole new world opens up right before your eyes.” stated Mel Kirk, Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations for Zen Studios. Throughout playing Zen Pinball 3D gamers can work towards humilating their opponents and gaining bragging rights by achieving a higher Pro Score which accumulates through all of your high scores across all of the available four tables. Aslo available will be a Team Score that will not only track your scores, but also track your friend's scores for one huge grand total. Think you can become a pinball wizard? Find out when Zen Pinball 3D releases in the Nintendo eShop later this year.

The gorgeous and crisp upcoming FPS from EA and DICE, Battlefield 3 might be getting a beta very soon despite the fact that it's launch is about a month away. The eyes over at MP1st have picked up on three hints from DICE concerning a beta announcement at the beginning of this week. The first hint was found at the italian Battlefield website where DICE teased that fans should "follow" them, that there is a "long awaited" announcement coming tomorrow. That was then followed up by a tweet from Daniel Matros of DICE that stated, "this week is going to be off the hook BF3," and later on David Goldfarb agreed stating "gonna be a great week. BF3." http://youtu.be/8pNOxynC1Dc While a beta announcement would be exciting, because I have been waiting to get my hands on this since it was announced, however isn't it a little late in the game to release a beta when your game is scheduled to launch October 25th of this year? via MP1st Just confirmed via a press release, the Battlefield 3 beta will go live on September 29th for the PC, 360, and PS3. Fans who pre ordered a limited edition of Medal of Honor will have access to the beta beginning on September 27.

Miss playing the awesomeness that is a Burnout game? Criterion may have found a way to fill that metal crushing void in your life. Available today on the Playstation Network for $9.99 and tomorrow on the Xbox Live Arcade for 800 MS points is Burnout CRASH!. This accident happy arcade-esqe game features hits from the 80's 18 crash junctions, and 6 different play modes including Burnout fan favorite, Crash Mode. CRASH! features Kinect support allowing you to use your body to create a spectacular crash that will send debris flying everywhere. If that does not get engines revved up, then maybe the Kinect 14 player turn based multyplayer will. Rage on! http://youtu.be/yj2G4cdKThU

The gorgeous and crisp upcoming FPS from EA and DICE, Battlefield 3 might be getting a beta very soon despite the fact that it's launch is about a month away. The eyes over at MP1st have picked up on three hints from DICE concerning a beta announcement at the beginning of this week. The first hint was found at the italian Battlefield website where DICE teased that fans should "follow" them, that there is a "long awaited" announcement coming tomorrow. That was then followed up by a tweet from Daniel Matros of DICE that stated, "this week is going to be off the hook BF3," and later on David Goldfarb agreed stating "gonna be a great week. BF3." http://youtu.be/8pNOxynC1Dc While a beta announcement would be exciting, because I have been waiting to get my hands on this since it was announced, however isn't it a little late in the game to release a beta when your game is scheduled to launch October 25th of this year? via MP1st

Gamers have succeded where scientists have failed. It's been over a decade since scientists have set out to break down a protein called protease that allows AIDS to multiply. Three weeks ago scientists reached out to the University of Washington's program "Foldit" which takes science figures and turns them into competitive games. It took the student gamers a little over three weeks to build models of the protease protein and scientists have hopes of being able to use their computer models to aid them in developing new HIV drugs. See media gaming haters, we can put our powers to good use. via Fox News

Is Sony branching out from the Eye Toy and trying something Kinect like? According to a report on E-mpire, Sony is not just thinking about developing a new camera, they are already in the process of filing for a patent. The detailed description for the new infrared motion sensing device included drawing plans for motion controlled devices similar to the Wii. The devices included a pistol and bat like controller. Also shown was the Playstation Dual-Shock controller that appeared to have LED lights on the top in between the four trigger buttons. via E-mpire and USPO