Siren

The drama continues to unfold between Activision and former Infinity Ward employees Jason West and Vince Zampella. EA has now entered into this legal equation after an email surfaced that showcases a possible private deal made between EA, West, and Zampella on delaying "The Stimulus Package" map pack for Modern Warfare 2 when Battlefield Bad Company released. The email from EA's Lincoln Hershberger that was sent internally throughout EA read, "A couple months ago, I asked Vince to hold back their map pack until after we launched (he owes me one). Given that they've already made a billion, he was cool with that, obviously Kotick took it as being belligerent." EA's spokeperson Jeff Brown has said that the email "was obviously sarcasm. It's clear from the email this was a joke and they never spoke. We explained this to lawyers at Activision - who apparently don't have much of a sense of humor." West and Zampella's lawyer has dismissed these charges saying, "a desperate attempt ... to find some basis to justify its misconduct and refusal to pay what it owes." Activision who is taking this email seriously has asked for an addition $400 million in "actual and punitive damages" to be added to the lawsuit. via The Escapist

SOCOM fans that are eager to get their hands on SOCOM 4 now have a chance. Specially marked copies of Killzone 3 which releases on February 22, will contain a PSN redeemable code that will allow you access into the SOCOM 4 mulitplayer beta. These redeemable beta codes can be found in the Helghast Edition and standalone copies of the game. The specially marked copies have "Early Access SOCOM 4 Beta" on the box. [caption id=" align="aligncenter" width="396" caption="via Playstation.Blog][/caption] via Playstation Blog

The US trailer for Square Enix's upcoming sequel to FFXIII has been released. If you have yet to beat FFXIII do not watch this trailer, because it contains plenty of spoilers.

[caption id=" align="alignright" width="240" caption="This is the new Gamercard, via Major Nelson.com][/caption] As announced previously on Major Nelson's blog, today is the day that a mandatory dashboard update will roll out. Upon turning on your Xbox 360, you will prompted to download the update which will re-enable the "boot to disc option" on the dashboard. Another update will be coming to Xbox.com on January 20 that will change the way your gamercard looks and included in this update is the removal of "gamerzone". via Major Nelson

As gamers, we are always anxious and eager to hear news regarding new technology in the world of video gaming. THQ on the other hand is not. In an interview with Eurogamer, THQ's Danny Bilson said that new consoles "would be horrible". "It would be horrible, But I think they all know our model's broken anyway. "It still costs us a fortune to make games on this platform. If they're going to up the scale, up the art, up the content, I don't know how to make that and sell it to anybody for under $100 a game. Who wants to do that? It's bad for everybody." We can't really argue that point. Who really wants to pay over $100 for a standard version of a video game in store and then have to shell out more money for DLC that is often put out a month or two after the game releases. Bilson further stated that "Stability of technology allows for the fruition and the growth of creative, "We're not having to invest all of our focus, and, oh my god, how are we going to deal with that new technology? We understand it. We still have guys trying to squeeze it to do cooler stuff, but it puts the weight of the mission under creative, which ultimately should get us more interesting and more creative stuff. "That's the trick. We're not going to get beat by another hardware upgrade like every five years like it was before. There will be little things. It's up to us to compete in graphics and creativity. Sometimes I hope good creativity and style will be able to be more important. It is more important." What do you think Gamercide? Is this a case of looking out for everybody including gamers or do you believe that there are underlying worries about bigger developers such as EA? via Eurogamer

Following up rumors a few weeks ago that Square Enix registered a domain name for FFXIII-2, Square announced today that Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be a direct sequel to FFXIII and the RPG will find it's way to a PS3 and Xbox 360 near you in late 2011. No other details have been made available at this time. via Eurogamer

GameStop who is in the middle of pulling a Pinky and the Brain operation, wants access to your Xbox Live Account in the future through a GameStop ID allowing digital purchases of points and DLC to go directly to your console before you leave the store. Speaking to Ars Technica, GameStop's SVP/GM of Digital, Shawn Freeman spoke about these plans and why they believe it is a good idea. "We... have been a huge seller of those points in the marketplace, "As I understand it, we're neck and neck, or we sell even more, than they sell directly through Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network. Which speaks to our access to gamers who care about playing those games." Freeman further states, "Today you pick the card up off the rack that's associated with that map pack, we ring it up as part of your transaction in the store, and then we give you the code that allows you go home and (access the content)." "Ultimately, we want to reduce even more of that friction, so when you buy that map pack in our store, we're going to be able to associate your Xbox profile with your GameStop profile, and then automatically push that to your download queue." There were no announcements however as to even if and when this change will take place. via Ars Techina

In a rather bold statement by Sony about the successor to their handheld device, the PSP, Sony claims that the PSP2 "is as powerful as the PS3". In a report by MCV, Sony dropped details on the PSP2 as "having HD screen with twin control sticks in the familiar brick form factor" and MCV is claiming that "there is potential for a phone to be included". More details will be coming on January 27, as Sony prepares an announcement about the handheld for GDC. A mini handheld portable version of the PS3 would be great, but claims and facts are two separate things. Let's see what the future holds Sony before jumping to conclusions. via MCV

It appears that the story of the characters from Final Fantasy XIII may not be over. Spotted by superannuation was the registration of domain name for a new website that is being called at the moment, "whois.domaintools.com/finalfantasy13-2game.com". The domain name was registered on January 11 under the alias "Coporation Service Company" which Square Enix has used in the past for websites for other Square Enix titles. Final Fantasy X, the story of Tidus and Yuna was the last Final Fantasy game to get a direct sequel and many fans were hoping that it would remain that way considering that FFX-2 was almost a complete disaster. Here's to hoping that this is not FFXIII-2, but maybe a prequel of sorts telling the in-depth story of how Fang and Vanille came to be. via CVG

They usually say that imitation is one of the best forms of flattery, but in this vomit loving case, I highly doubt it. On a side note, remember that if you preorder Bulletstorm Epic Edition, you will gain access to the Gears of War 3 beta.

Let's face it Pyramid Head loving Silent Hill fans, the last couple of games that released in this much loved series just plain sucked. Hopefully with the new details that are emerging about the newest entry into the survival horror series will be enough to revive Silent Hill. Silent Hill: Downpour is being taken on by a new developer out of the Czech Republic, Vatra Games. According to MTV Mulitplayer, Vatra Games Design Director Brian Gomez, has released new details about Downpour including news on the camera and side quests. Gomez states that the fully adjustable camera from Silent Hill: Homecoming has disappeared, but not entirely. They are incorporating an adjustable camera with a mix of the fixed camera that fans of Silent Hill have been accustomed to when the game released early on. Gomez also includes that there will be side quests and dialog that will have you decide the outcome of the story and Downpour's story who follows Murphy Pendleton who appears to be an escaped convict from the E3 2010 debut trailer that unfortunately for him stumbles upon the town of Silent, will have nothing to do with previous stories in other Silent Hill games, except that Vatra is adding some tie-ins that fans will take notice to. via Neoseeker

60 days is all it took for Kinect to sell more than what Microsoft was hoping for and also topple the competition, Sony's Move. Microsoft was hoping for 5 million Kinect units moved and instead ended up with more than 8 million units sold in the first 60 days since Kinect has been released on November 4, 2010. Move has only sold 4.1 million units since it's release on September 17, 2010. via Fox News Business

In a rather ballsy move, EA has decided to drop Tiger Woods as the cover boy from his own series of video games and has replaced the disgraced golfer's face with a golf hole flag from Augusta National Golf Club. According to Fox News, Tiger Woods not showing any signs of embarrassment of the removal said that he is excited for the game. EA's Peter Moore has also released a statement trying to stop rumors that they are beginning to slowly remove Tiger Woods from the brand, because the sales of Tiger Woods video games have dropped 60% since his cheating scandal broke out in 2009. "If the insinuation is it's a reflection of EA Sports backing away from its relationship that goes back literally 13 years with Tiger, that's not the case whatsoever. You shouldn't read into the fact that Tiger's not featured on the box art of that particular edition, "Tiger is right there on the PS3 version of the game with Move support, which was very good for us and Sony last year. We'll continue that." The PS3 Collector's Edition will retail for $10 more when the game releases March 29, 2011. The Collector's Edition will be the only version to have Tiger Woods face on the cover. via Hollywood Reporter

Just a friendly reminder to those of you who have yet to submit your names for the giveaway, time is ticking down. You have until January 22 which is only 17 days away to get your name into Siren. This includes contestant entries and donations. The prizes we have this year are huge so if you have yet to submit your entry please do so to siren@gamercide.org or send a PM through the forums to Siren. For more information on our Annual Giveaway including how to's and rules, you can join in on the discussion at Gamercide's Forums.

In what could be one of the either worst or smartest moves in online video game history, all signs are pointing to the fact that within a few months Activision might be introducing a stand alone version of Call of Duty for pay to play online multiplayer use only. According to statements made by analysts Wedbush Securities, they expect this to occur in "first quarter of 2011". "Activision remains a top pick, primarily due to the company's potential to create and monetize a second tier of multiplayer online gaming for its Call of Duty franchise... We expect this to occur during the first quarter of 2011." No official comment has come from Activision's camp, but gamers have expressed outrage and interest in this announcement across the internet including on the boards at SherDog.net. via SherDog

Some eyes spied and took a snapshot of what appears to be a new addition to Microsoft's hands free 360 add on, Kinect. "Avatar Kinect" was displayed backstage on a widescreen at CES 2011 in Las Vegas. What do you think? via Glimpse Dog

Fans of Starz widely successful nudity friendly show, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, rejoice because Spartacus is about to get it's first free video game app on Facebook and a free iPad script app that will let you watch the first episode of Spartacus: Blood and Sand and will also have series content, historical facts, and include cast photos. The Spartacus: Gods of the Arena app for Facebook that allows you to train your very own horde of gladiators will release on January 20, while the iPad script app will release on January 22. via Fox News

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.

Occasionally we read something that is so far out there in the world of all things gaming that we have to take a moment and acknowledge those dumbasses with "The Dumbass Award". Have you ever found yourself playing a game Frogger and thinking, "Gee, I want to play a real life version of Frogger.". If you answered "yes" to that question, then you are just as insane as this guy who failed at playing a real life version of Frogger yesterday. A 23 year old dumbass from South Carolina was struck by a 2010 Lexus after attempting to navigate a four lane highway like the video game Frogger. He stood beside the highway and when traffic was coming he yelled, "Go!" and jumped in front of oncoming traffic. Unfortunately for this dumbass, he never made it past the first level. The young male who is not being identified was talking about playing Frogger with a group of friends prior to him being struck. He is currently in stable condition at a local hospital. Charges are not expected to filed against the driver of the Lexus. via AOL

[caption id=" align="alignleft" width="305" caption="Dynasty Warriors 7 Official Website][/caption] Tweeted earlier in December from Tecmo Koei's Twitter were hints of the next game in the Dynasty Warriors series hitting shelves in March for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Confirmed yesterday from Tecmo Koei's camp is that the game will be releasing on March 22, 2011 in North America and on March 25, 2011 in Europe. Dynasty Warriors 7 will have new features including switch and musou attacks and a new story mode. The weapon system has also been revamped so that any character can now use almost every weapon. via MTV Mulitplayer and Dynasty Warriors 7 Official Website

Xbox Live's countdown to 2011 continues with Deal Day 4. Today you can find Mass Effect 2's Lair of the Shadow Broker, Kasumi: Stolen Memory, and Overlord reduced to 200 MS points each. Also discounted is the Police Office outfit for your avatar at 120 MS points. via Major Nelson

If you are looking to pick up a new game for an all night game lovefest before New Years, Kmart is offering discounts on top games. All offers are valid until January 1, 2011. Epic Mickey (Wii) $39.99 Ravin Rabbids Travel in Time (Wii) $39.99 (reg. $49.99) Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii) $39.99 (reg. $49.99) Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii) $39.99 Michael Jackson: The Experience (Wii) $29.99 (reg. $49.99) Goldeneye (Wii) $29.99 (reg. $49.99) Call of Duty Black Ops (Wii) $29.99 (reg. $49.99) Pacman: 30th Anniversary Edition (Wii) $19.99 Biggest Loser Challenge (Wii) $19.99 Red Dead Undead (360/PS3) $19.99 Call of Duty Black Ops (360/PS3) $49.99 (reg. $59.99) Sly Cooper Collection (PS3) $19.99 Apache Air Assault (360/PS3) $29.99 (reg. $49.99) Splatterhouse (360/PS3) $39.99 NBA Jam (360/PS3) $29.99 Grand Theft Auto IV Complete (360/PS3) $19.99 Save $10 on the following Kinect games: Your Shape Fitness Evolved Sonic Free Riders MotionSports $39.99 (reg. $49.99) Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout $39.99 (reg. $49.99) Fighters Uncaged $39.99 (reg. $49.99) via Kmart