Siren

Do you like to play open ended sandbox-styled games like [insert any open-ended game here]? According to DICE's Patrick Bach who is serving as the Executive Producer to Battlefield 3, you are in the minority because sandbox games just plain suck. "In some cases they aren’t, but in most cases sandbox games are hardcore, boring, hard to get into and they are not very popular." You hear that kiddos? If you play GTA, Saint's Row, Red Dead Remption, or even Battlefield 2: Bad Company that DICE worked on that is considered "sandboxish" then you are playing a game that is at the bottom of every gaming barrel. via Edge Online

This Fail of the Day is being brought to you by Konami. Last week, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow DLC Reverie found it's way onto the PSN in North America to the surprise of fans considering that no release date was announced concerning the PS3 version of Reverie. Turns out Konami made an error and the content was never suppose to be released in North America which is why there is now a delay with the European version which should have hit their PSN on March 30. To make matters even more embarrassing, Konami cannot take it down. Producer David Cox stated over Twitter in response to an angry European gamer, "put up there in error and it's too late to take it down. I sympathise it's not the best situation." Cox later said, "....it's a clusterf**k". While it is nice to see a big name in the industry like Konami saying they messed up, it's still embarrassing and full of fail. That is why you Konami, are the Fail of the Day. via Game Informer http://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/31/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-reverie-dlc-released-in-error-o/

Slighty angry gamers can relax a tiny bit when they go to play Kaos Studio's issue plauged shooter, Homefront. Kaos Studios has announced that a patch for Xbox Live has been released to the masses. The patch addresses profile freezing issues and that's about it. For those of you experiencing other issues, Kaos Studios has said that they are hard at work on making other improvements that will be coming out soon. The studio also said that they are working on a "wide range of exciting DLC". via Homefront's Official Website

Fanboys get ready to give your favorite console a hug, because GameStop released their annual report regarding who is coming out on top in console sales in the United States and Europe since December 2010. In the US, Nintendo takes the top two spots with the DS selling 47.3 million and the Wii selling 34.2 million units. The number three spot goes to the Xbox 360 which moved 25.4 million consoles. Rounding out fourth and fifth place is the PSP selling 19 million and the PS3 selling 15.4 million units. On the Europe side of things, Nintendo came out on top again with 46 million DS's and 24.9 million Wii's being sold. PSP takes third place 14.8 million sales, the PS3 sold 14.7 million consoles, and coming in at the fifth spot is the Xbox 360 who sold 13.7 million consoles. Nintendo must be pretty happy today with those reported numbers from the video game retailing giant, GameStop. via Gamasutra

If you have experienced the underrated and very innovative first person shooter meets portal and gravity manipulator then you know that the gameplay from Prey rests heavily on making portals to transport the main character Tommy to and from areas in the game. Human Head Studios has announced that the portals and gravity manipulation will not be making their return in Prey 2. The announcement came from lead designer Chris Reinhart as he spoke to PSM3. "We explored a lot of the ways you could use portals and gravity in combat, and I really wanted to shift away from making it too much of a puzzle game. Portals and gravity were the functions of The Sphere [the mothership in the original game]. And The Sphere’s gone.” Unfortunately for Human Head Studios their decision to remove a core part of the Prey series might not sit so well with fans of the series who are waiting to get their hands on Prey 2 next year and have praised Human Head Studios for taking a step out of the norm. via Beef Jack

Slant Six, the developer behind SOCOM: Confrontation is working on a new game in the survival horror series Resident Evil that is being titled Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City for the 360, PS3, and PC. While no date has been set other than Winter 2011, Slant Six has released a teaser trailer that showcases actual zombies like in early Resident Evil titles and what appears to be the return of a fan favorite. via Playstation Lifestyle

Rockstar released 2 new screenshots over Twitter today proving that the one man vigilante is still in the works. This is the first news that surfaced about the game since it's announcement in 2010. via IGN

Here is your Xbox Live Marketplace Roundup for the week of March 27. Current Deal of the Week A World of Keflings - 400 MS Points Raskulls - 400 MS Points Worms 2: Armaeddon - 400 MS Points Worms 2: Battle Pack - 200 MS Points Deal of the Week Beginning on April 5th Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam - 600 MS Points Onslaught Mode - 200 MS Points Kit Shortcut Bundle Pack - 600 MS Points Specact Upgrade Bundle - 240 MS Points Battlefield 1943 - 600 MS Points Xbox Live Arcade Islands of Wakfu - 800 MS Points Rush N Attack Ex-Patriot - 800 MS Points Strania - 800 MS Points Coming to the XBLA on April 6th Dishwasher: Vampire Smile - 800 MS Points Add Ons You Don't Know Jack "Jack Pack 2: Best of the Webshow" - 400 MS Points Mass Effect 2: The Arrival - 560 MS Points Coming to Game Add Ons on April 6th Stacking Add On "The Last Hobo King" -400 MS Points Games on Demand Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 - $29.99 Avatar Marketplace LA Noire Red Faction: Armaggedon Coming to Avatar Marketplace on April 7th Section 8: Predjudice Deals Coming on April 1st Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money Add On - 400 MS Points Comic Jumper - 400 MS Points Deadliest Warrior - 200 MS Points Fable 3 Understone Add On - 200 MS Points Coming to Game Demos on April 5th Kinectimals via Major Nelson

In Nintendo's world there are two different types of indie developers. The "Garage" developer who has an idea, but little to no experience that apparently according to this little quote are only envisioning themselves of a developer and are not passionate about their "craft" and then there is the full on "Indie" developer who has a lot of experience and worked with bigger developers and publishers and that is who Nintendo wants to work with. No surprise there Fils-Aime. "We've been clear that we want to work with independent developers who understand this business, who have experience in this business. These are people who spent time working with larger publishers and larger developers, but had that idea in the back of their head that they needed to bring to life ... and so that's the type of entity that we want to work with. These are talented developers. That's different from the person who envisions themselves as a developer, but actually hasn't necessarily created anything, who doesn't necessarily understand what it takes in this business to create compelling content. That's where we draw the line. I'll tell you, if someone calls us tomorrow who has no experience in the gaming industry, but has a passion and has a great idea, our perspective would be, 'Great, but get some experience. Understand your craft, and then come back to us." Remember kiddies, in 20 years when you design the next big game, Reggie Fils-Aime called you "talentless". via Joystiq

Chris from The New Hobbyist decided that he wanted to upgrade his home security and in doing so created the "Attack Creeper". The "Attack Creeper" is mostly compiled from cardboard, an RC Car, and the guts being different electronic items ranging from a motion sensor to an Aurduino board that you can purchase pre assembled or you can put it together yourself. To see more such as pictures of the process and to check out the places where Chris hides his "Attack Creeper" to scare people like the bathroom tub, please check out The New Hobbyist.

Today's Fail of the Day is being brought to you by previous Fail of the Week winner, Fox News. Every now and then Fox News decides to take step out of the daily national and worldwide news and try something different, like writing about video games that are considered "controversial". Take Bulletstorm for example. Fox News claimed that playing Bulletstorm will make you rape women and that the "possibly worst video game ever" is a bad influence on today's youthful fragile minds. What could be more fail-tacular than their ground breaking study on Bulletstorm? According Fox News, Duke Nukem is taking "sexism" to a whole new level in Duke Nukem Forever and that we should "brace ourselves" for the sexist world of Duke. Fox News spoke with Jamia Wilson, the Vice President of Women's Media Center to get her opinion on long running franchise and according to this rocket scientist the Duke series is offensive. "It was offensive then and it's even more offensive now. "These depictions of women are extremely harmful, especially to young women." Fox News then spoke to a spokesman for the ESRB Eliot Mizrachi, about the rating which apparently Fox News did not do enough of research on, because they forgot to mention the "M" rating and instead only mentioned a "E" and "T" rating. Gamers beware, because a big shocker is about be told. Duke Nukem Forever is rated M for Mature! "Our job is to provide consumers with information and guidance that helps them choose games they deem suitable for themselves and their families. This game carries a Mature rating indicating that it’s intended for ages 17 and up, and retailers overwhelmingly enforce their store policies requiring that M-rated games not be sold to a customer under that age without a parent’s consent.” Fox News goes futher to discuss the the "Capture the Babe" mode and says that gamers and women's groups are up in arms about the "reassuring slap" that you give women when they get excited while you are attempting to capture them. Yes, Fox News did include gamers in that sentence, because after all we as gamers do not know what video games are about even though we follow a game that is in development for months and in this case years. "A new videogame that requires you to abduct women and give them a "reassuring slap" if they freak out has gamers and women's rights-groups crying foul. Brace yourself for the awfully sexist world of Duke Nukem Forever." Fox News, you mention that these groups are crying foul about Duke, well guess what? We as gamers are calling foul on you. You only write about video games when they are deemed "controversial" by people like you and then you can't even do that right. You get these opinions from people who have no clue what video games are about, conduct "studies", and instead of causing an uprising or make parents aware about the "evil" world of video games you do the complete opposite and cause games to sell even more, because some people will now just buy the game to see what all the fuss is about. Not to mention your earth shattering information about Duke Nukem Forever could have been taken off the wiki page for the game or is already known thanks to the countless number of news stories in video game magazines. Fox News, because of your repeated lack of knowledge for anything in the video game industry and only focusing on the "bad", you have received the Fail of the Day award. Please stick with your day job of writing about news, not video games. via Fox News

This Dumbass of the Day is being brought to you by Bastal, a user on the Bioware's Dragon Age 2 boards who thought he was speaking for "straight males" everywhere when he complained that Dragon Age 2 is geared more to gays, females don't play games like Dragon Age, and to top this asinine rant off, Bioware needs to stick with making straight males happy, because that is their main demographic. Unfortunately for Basalt, David Gaider the Senior Writer for Bioware was around and turned his moment of dumbass-ness into one of the best pieces of verbal beatdown that one has every seen. Let's take a look at what led to this moment when the a know it all gamer gets his diapers changed by Bioware. From the beginning of Basalt's post, you know this is going to end brutal. "I don't think many would argue with the fact that the overwhelming majority of RPG gamers are indeed straight and male. Sure, there are a substantial amount of women who play video games, but they're usually gamers who play games like The Sims, rather than games like Dragon Age. That's not to say there isn't a significant number of women who play Dragon Age and that BioWare should forego the option of playing as a women altogether, but there should have been much more focus in on making sure us male gamers were happy. ..." Then this Einstein goes on to explain the term "Straight Male Gamer". "....the Straight Male Gamer, cannot be just lumped into a single category. Its ridiculous that I even have to use a term like Straight Male Gamer, when in the past I would only have to say fans, but it is as if when the designers were deciding on how to use their limited resources, instead of thinking "We have fans who loved Alistair and we have fans who thought Alistair was annoying. We have fans that thought Morrigan was great and we have fans that thought that she was a ****. And we have fans who liked the combat and we have fans who hated the combat but liked the story. How do we make make all these groups happy?" Instead, it is as if they went "We have straight males, straight females, gays and lesbians. How do we make all these groups happy?" He later goes on to say that there should be a "No Homosexuality" option and ended up contradicting his whole post by adding that only 5% of Dragon Age gamers are "probably" homosexuals and that over 80% of the players are males. By the end of this genius's topic, he calls out David Gaider who had previously spoke on this subject and said that he hopes that "the next game BioWare will get its priorities right or spend more time making the game." Enter David Gaider who put this Dumbass of the Day in his place. "To the OP: doing the same act repeatedly and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. What you hope to achieve by posting the same thread over and over again I can't honestly say. To some of the others on this thread: While an ignorant opinion politely expressed doesn't make it less ignorant, I will say that the behavior of some of you is far worse. Calling someone a "troll" who expressed his thoughts in an intelligent manner and acting like hooligans suggesting if you just throw enough dirt that eventually that person will either go away or the thread will get locked will earn you a ban. No matter the opinion, I think how it's expressed deserves the same in kind. If you can't do that, refrain. To the issue: I've said it before and I'll say it again-- perhaps a bit more eloquently, since it's apparently of dire concern to some. The romances in the game are not for "the straight male gamer". They're for everyone. We have a lot of fans, many of whom are neither straight nor male, and they deserve no less attention. We have good numbers, after all, on the number of people who actually used similar sorts of content in DAO and thus don't need to resort to anecdotal evidence to support our idea that their numbers are not insignificant... and that's ignoring the idea that they don't have just as much right to play the kind of game they wish as anyone else. The "rights" of anyone with regards to a game are murky at best, but anyone who takes that stance must apply it equally to both the minority as well as the majority. The majority has no inherent "right" to get more options than anyone else. More than that, I would question anyone deciding they speak for "the straight male gamer" just as much as someone claiming they speak for "all RPG fans", "all female fans" or even "all gay fans". You don't. If you wish to express your personal desires, then do so. I have no doubt that any opinion expressed on these forums is shared by many others, but since none of them have elected a spokesperson you're better off not trying to be one. If your attempt is to convince BioWare developers, I can tell you that you do in fact make your opinion less convincing by doing so...." To read the rest of the exchange between Basalt and Gaider, head on over to Dragon Age 2's boards. We here at Gamercide would like to thank Basalt for his rather trolling remarks and reminding us all why we have Dumbass of the Day. via Joystiq

News about the new under developement title exclusively for the Kinect, Rise of Nightmares has been rather quiet since Sega announced the horror game at the Tokyo Game Show in 2010. Sega can now thank the ESRB for not only letting the plot out of the bag, but also doing so in the "breast" describing way possible. According to the ESRB description of the game, Rise of Nightmare will can contain: "This is a horror-adventure game in which players assume the role of an American tourist who must rescue his wife from a deranged scientist. From a first-person perspective, players use brass knuckles, knives, hatchets, and chainsaws to kill zombie-like creatures and disfigured monsters inside a mansion environment. Combat is highlighted by exaggerated sprays of blood, and damage often results in dismemberment or decapitation—stray body parts sometimes litter the ground. Some sequences and cutscenes depict more intense acts of violence: a man screams loudly as spikes impale his body; a restrained character's hand is chopped off before he is killed; a character (cut in half) crawls away in a pool of blood; a soldier is ripped apart by a monster, causing blood to stain the screen. During the course of the game, some female creatures are depicted in revealing outfits (e.g., 'pasties' that partially cover their breasts); in one sequence, a woman sits on the central character's chest and engages in suggestive dialogue (e.g., 'Oh, how I've thought of this—night after night. How I've missed these lips.'). Dialogue also includes phrases such as 'Best sex of my life.'/'Worst sex of my life,' 'f**k,' and 'sh*t.'" and yes, those asterisks are in the ESRB explanation. Needless to say this won't be a Kinect game that Microsoft can advertise for a wholesome, family friendly experience. Thanks ESRB! via Joystiq

With data using the NPD Group that dates back to 1995, CNBC has made a list of the top ten games of this generation. The list that will probably surprise you left out fan favorite series Halo and GTA and instead includes a couple Guitar Hero's, Wii games,and Call of Duty. Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock Call of Duty: Black Ops Wii Fit Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Rock Band Wii Play (with Wii Remote) Guitar Hero: World Tour Wii Fit Plus Mario Kart (with wheel) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Agree or disagree with the list that is surprisingly missing a few main stream titles? Head on over to the forum to discuss. via CNBC

A small group of members from the now defunct developer Bizarre Creations have joined together to form a new studio, Hogrocket. Peter Collier, Ben Ward, and Stephen Cakebread along with two BAFTA award winning animators formed the studio and are focusing their efforts for the time being to the iPhone/iPad, Mac, and PC. Ben Ward from Hogrocket has announced that their first game is currently under development.

Recently PopCap and The Red Cross teamed up for 48 hours to help raise money for the people of Japan who's lives were changed after the earthquake struck the region on Friday March 11 causing a Tsunami, several aftershocks, and partial nuclear meltdowns. During the 48 hour markdown of all of PopCap games that are available on the Apple App Store, PopCap raised more than $200,000 with 100% of revenue made from the fundraiser being donated to the International Red Cross in hopes of providing aid to those in Japan who desperately need it right now.

Microsoft, one of the titan's in the busniess world has brought down the world's largest spam network, Rustock. Rustock which was formed around 2006, ran from computers running Microsoft Windows and was capable of sending out 25,000 spam messages an hour from an infected PC according to the wiki for the spambot. While working with federal agents, Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit was able to attain some of the machines that were running the virus spreader and were able to work with different countries like China and Netherlands to begin the process of disabling the program that was out of the United States. Microsoft later joined forces with Pfizer, FireEye, and the University of Washington to fully put an end to Rustock and they are now working on cleaning machines that were affected by Rustock's malware. via DownloadSquad (thanks PK)

The rumor mill is running rampant today after an interview between Italy's Xbox 360 Magazine and Silent Hill: Downpour developer Vatra Games' Radek Marek over whether or not the survival horror game that is due to hit shelves sometime in Fall 2011 will have mulitplayer. During the interview that explores the environment and enemies within Silent Hill: Downpour, Italy's Xbox 360 Magazine asked Marek about the possibility of mulitplayer being included in Downpour. The answer the magazine received is interesting, but also a little confusing. "At the moment there will be no multiplayer modes in Silent Hill: Downpour, but Konami are investigating a separate chapter devoted entirely to the Multiplayer. We do not know the details but it should be an XBLA title that most players have to survive in the town of Silent Hill." The concept sounds interesting, but if this turns out to be true why can this feature not be included in the retail version of the game instead of making gamers pay for something else? For now we will chalk this up to rumor until Konami makes an official statement regarding an XBLA mulitplayer version of Silent Hill. via Hell Descent (Translated Interview)

On Friday March 11, many of us awoke from our peaceful slumber to find out that Japan has been changed forever. Since the massive 9.0 earthquake, Tsunami, and aftershocks that rocked the world, heart breaking news has been coming about 30 young children still waiting in a classroom for parents that will never pick them up again, civilians becoming everyday heroes by making rescue attempts, and proof that even dogs can be heroes as well. As money pours in to help those that lost everything, PopCap has come forward and announced that they are partnering with the Red Cross to help raise money. Beginning on Saturday, March 19 all of PopCap's games that are available on the iPad/iPhone are being discounted for 48 hours and 100% of the revenue made during this time will be donated to the Red Cross to help those that so desperately need it right now. If you would like to help Popcap raise money for Japan, please go to PopCap's iPad downloads, PopCap's iPhone downloads, or Apple's App store. iPad downloads are being reduced to $1.99 and iPhone/iPod downloads are at $.99. We as gamers can not only make a difference, but we can be the difference. Help PopCap and the Red Cross aid Japan during this time.

Do you have a little gamer living in your house or know of a child who is interested in working in the gaming industry? If so, then this little piece of news might interest you. From now until May 10, Microsoft will be accepting submissions for the Kodu Cup 2011 that uses Microsoft Kodu Game Lab technology for the PC and allows younger gamers to develop a game fron the ground up and according to Lili Cheng, the General Manager of Microsoft's Future Social Experiences Labs will help promote creativity and self confidence. "Our research has shown that Kodu Game Lab appeals equally to girls and boys and helps promote creativity, self-confidence, critical thinking and technology skills. Kids don't feel like they're programming so much as playing, even though they're creating sophisticated worlds, characters and storylines." The competition is open to younger gamers that are between the ages of 9-17 who will then be placed into one of the two age appropriate categories, 9-12 and 13-17. To download the free software, go to Kodu Labs and choose download. The grand prize winners in each age category will receive $5,000 for themselves and their school and a trip to New York to the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals. via Microsoft Newswire

The disaster that seems to be swirling around THQ's day old release Homefront keeps getting worse. Walmart and Amazon have both already discounted the price of the much hyped first person shooter PS3 and 360 versions to $41.96. For Walmart that includes in store and online purchases. No news on whether this is permanent or just for the time being. via Thrifty Nerd

THQ is dealing with a rather large headache this morning as news surfaces that their shares dropped 21% yesterday as mediocre reviews rolled in regarding their newly released future based game, Homefront. The first person shooter received an average 72 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 version from Metacritic and reviews that are pouring in from websites such as IGN, GameSpot, and Digital Trends are centering around a mediocre score of 7 out of 10 with suggestions that the campaign is too short and the content in Homefront has already been done by other games. Fans are expressing their outrage on Homefront's Forum over players that have already begun using cheats in the mulitplayer and that the 360 and PS3 versions both need patches to fix mulitplayer issues such as freezing and as some are describing as "unplayable" mulitplayer. Kaos's Studios response to the issues was the usual "did not expect it to do this well" reaction that many developers use to try to cover up more pressing issues at hand such as why the mulitplayer part of the game was not "prepared better". "Homefront’s dedicated servers are currently at capacity, and this is causing some matchmaking issues for players attempting to join an online match. The demand for the servers has outstripped our expectations – so although we’re thrilled that Homefront is proving to be so popular, we’re doing all we can to bring more servers online to cope with this demand ASAP. Please bear with us – as more servers come online, you should find you’re able to join matches easily and play Homefront the way it’s meant to be played – with 32 players on dedicated servers." ~ KAOS CHEFS THQ does not seem to be bothered by the reviews that are coming in and believes that the players will speak for the game according to THQ Chief Executive Brian Farrel. "The game seems to resonate with consumers. It's a mass-market title. Let's see what players think." Unfortunately for THQ, it appears Homefront might not have been so much of a "mass market title". via Digital Spy

Nintendo's Game Boy Advance which has seen three different designs since it's release in 2001 is officially on it's way out as Gamestop announces that they will no longer be accepting Game Boy Advance handheld devices or games. According to Joystiq, on April 2 the gaming retail giant will no longer be taking anything that has to do with the 11 year old handheld. Whether or not this will change prices of the handheld remains to be seen as Gamestop's current prices for a Game Boy Advance are ranging from $44.99 to $24.99 and have not adjusted yet. via Joystiq