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• COD4 reclaims place as most played Live title

  by Sam Atkins August 21st 2008 12:04 PM CDT2 Comments

  Wanna know what the 'in' thing to play right now on Live is? Yes, Call of Duty 4 has took back the title from the only competition its ever had, Halo 3. The two FPS's continue the fight for online supremacy, with no new competitors coming into the fray, not even GTA IV in the last few months.
  
  There seems to be no stopping either of these year old games on Live, not even the huge success of Soul Calibur IV has had the power to stop people from collecting that tiny bit more XP. We'll probably have to wait until COD: World at War for a real threat, but until then, we'll just have to wait until Halo 3 fans claw their way back onto the top once more.
• Games Industry set to become EU's RIAA Nightmare

  by Kevin Prince August 21st 2008 5:09 AM CDT1 Comments

  By now almost every American college student (myself included) has received one of those nice letters from the RIAA informing them they have stolen music at some point in there lives, and while the UK music industry seems to be taking a more laid back approach only targeting the large scale pirates. However it seems the European games industry has decided to take a page for the RIAA's book and started targeting people with legal action.
  
  MCV UK is reporting that five game companies have written to 25,000 people suspected of illegal downloading, demanding £300 to avoid further legal action. The companies have said they are prepared to take upto 500 of these to court if they refuse to pay.  In a bizarre twist Matt Phillips, director of communications at the BPI, told Music Week ‘that working with ISPs to educate consumers is a more effective way of combating illegal downloading’ rather than charging and fining those who file share.
  
  The news of these infringement notices follows on from the first court ordered payout for an individual’s game piracy last week against Isabela Barwinska, an unemployed mother of two, to the tune of £16,000 for illegally downloading Dream Pinball 3D by Topware Interactive's
  
  
• GC-Germany 2008: GTAIV DLC still coming this autumn

  by Chris Holmes August 20th 2008 4:50 PM CDT0 Comments

  
  The GTAIV downloadable episodes were today reconfirmed to be coming out this autumn by Microsoft, despite constant rumours to the contrary. Hidden at the very bottom of a rather plain old boring press release the company made today, it simply states "In autumn there will be news from Liberty City; the first episodes of GTA IV will be available for download exclusively on Xbox LIVE, underlining Xbox 360’s leadership role in the field of digital entertainment." Not much else is known about the GTAIV episodes yet, with the ever-reclusive Rockstar keeping their lips sealed.
• GC: Fallout 3 coming October 28th

  by Steve Wysowski August 20th 2008 2:14 PM CDT0 Comments

  
  The official release date of my (and many others') most highly anticipated title of the year has finally been revealed. Fallout 3 will be touching American soil on October 28th. Bethesda announced at GC that the game will be made available on store shelves and online in North America on October 28, 2008 and in Europe on October 31, 2008 for the 360 as well as the PS3 and PC.
  
  “We are very excited to let gamers get their hands on Fallout 3, the latest chapter in this beloved and highly acclaimed franchise,” said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. “To meet the huge demand for this title by our fans worldwide, we are planning one of the biggest launches of any game released this year.”
  
  You're excited and so is everybody else, mate. Fallout 3 is one game I simply can't wait for any longer; and it's late October release date is a bit disheartening. Well, at least there is more time to perfect it.
  
• Japan completely sells out of 360s

  by Chris Holmes August 20th 2008 1:08 PM CDT2 Comments

  In what can only be described as one of the bizarrest events of the summer, Japan has entirely sold out of Xbox 360s. Apparently there is not a single one left on store shelves in the country, thanks to Tales of Vesperia and retailers clearing out the existing units to make way for the new 60GB Premiums.
  
  This suits Microsoft rather well, who get some good publicity over in other territories and help to drum up demand for the machine in Japan, where it has been suffering the most. Today, they released a statement on the Japanese version of Xbox.com, stating that new shipments of the console will be hitting stores over in the Far East next month.
  
• GC-Germany 2008: Endwar Hands-On

  by Chris Holmes August 20th 2008 10:49 AM CDT3 Comments

  
  Tom Clancy's Endwar (voice controlled RTS from Ubisoft) is playable on the show floor at the Leipzig Games Convention this year, and I got my hands and voice all over it to see how it's shaping up before it's mid-October release. Following a very successful Xbox Live Beta last month, the game is really starting to come together, with a campaign mode that is integrated with it's online features, creating a MMORTS-esque based effect. In this mode, you chose a faction and fight for them across the world in various battles with other human players.
  
  I played both 1v1 and 2v2 conflicts across airfields and other such key structures in each region, and was pleasantly surprised. The voice recognition system actually works most of the time, allowing me to order my groups of infantry, tanks, helicopters, etc. to wherever I needed them to go. However, it didn't like some of my cockney pronunciation, with the game persistently insisting I said "ten" when I actually said "two".
  
  Regardless, I found that I could control it normally like any other RTS on the 360, with the right stick controlling the camera, the left stick moving the cursor, the A button selecting units, and everything else having a logical effect on the game. If Ubisoft Shanghai can iron out the voice pitfalls, get the Xbox Live features just right and perhaps release a demo for unconvinced punters, they'll have a good hit on their hands.
  
• Galaga Legions comes to Live Arcade

  by Chris Holmes August 20th 2008 9:13 AM CDT0 Comments

  Galaga Legions arrived on the Xbox Live Arcade today for 800 Microsoft Points as part of Microsoft's Summer of Arcade initiative. If you're not sure what Galaga Legions is all about, it's essentially a reinvigoration of Namco's classic top-down shooter called Galaga, funnily enough.
  
  The modern trend with these re-releases these days is to have some flashy new graphics and update the gameplay, and Legions is no exception, following the Pac-Man Championship Edition template.
  
  It has been a very good month for the service, ushering in Geometry Wars 2, Braid, Bionic Command: Rearmed, and Fable II Pub Games so far, with Castle Crashers due to hit next week.
  
• GC-Germany 2008 EA Press Conference

  by Kevin Prince August 20th 2008 4:54 AM CDT0 Comments

  
  
  Electronics Arts kicked off the first morning of GC2008. Olaf Coenen gave us a quick intro saying the conference was just about the games without any of the usual accompanying statistics (This is much appreciated at 9am). Peter Moore, having brushed past me moments before, then came on the stage to talk about his first year as head of EA Sports, and how it’s his aim to reinvigorate the brand.
  
• GC-Germany 2008 Press Conference Update

  by Kevin Prince August 20th 2008 4:11 AM CDT0 Comments

  Apologies to those expecting live blogs from Konami and Ubisoft. We were unable conver Konami due to an overun with the EA conference. We were also unable to cover Ubisoft and Activision as the presentations appear to be exclusively in German with no translation available.
  
• Good Morning from the Messe

  by Kevin Prince August 20th 2008 1:44 AM CDT0 Comments

  
  
  Just a quick blog post from inside the press room and the Leipzig Messe, below is a quick overview of what we expect to see today in terms of press conferences. (All times are CET).
  
  • 9am Electronic Arts
  • 10am Konami
  • 11am Ubisoft
  • 2pm  Activision
  • 5pm Sony Computer Entertainment (I know where an XBOX publication but humor me)
  
  
  

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