Minecraft madman genius builds all of Planet Earth in-game, Minecraft PC News

Minecraft players, I'm rapidly coming to understand, are a very special kind of mental. Not a bad kind, mind. They're unlikely stab you up in the street because your scarf looked at them funny, and I highly doubt we'll ever see a mass ritual suicide of cultists in the name of block building enterprise. But mental they are all the same. Mad in the face.

You have a game that lets you build anything. What do you make? How about

Source

Portal 2 pushed to the week of April 18, 2011 in 'the shortest delay in Valve's proud tradition of delays', Portal 2 PC News

Valve announced today that Portal 2 will be released the week of April 18, 2011, two months after originally expected (er, most recently expected). In typical Valve fashion, the press release mocked the developer's history of unmet release dates, calling this"the shortest delay in Valve's proud tradition of delays."

Update:

Source

BioShock Infinite being built for 360, PS3 and PC simultaneously, BioShock Infinite PC News

Irrational Games has given its word that no console will be left behind in the development of its forthcoming game, BioShock Infinite.

Allaying fears that the third game in the BioShock series might once again be developed for the 360 and then ported to the PS3, Irrational's technical director Chris Kline took to the studio's forums to explain how BioShock Infinite is instead being built from the ground up for optimal performance on all systems.

“We have no plans to hand off the PS3 version of BioShock Infinite to another studio,” said Kline in response to fan concerns.“In fact, it's not a 'port' at all. We have a much larger team than we did on the original BioShock, so we're doing simultaneous in-house development on the PS3, 360, and PC versions of the game.”

Moreover, Kline explained that Bioshock Infinite's team is in fact using the PS3 as a programming baseline, adding:“We all know that the PS3 is powerful but unique console with its own strengths and challenges. But compared to the PC and the Xbox 360, is challenging too. So instead of declaring a 'lead platform' and porting the game to the others, we've instead changed the game engine so that all platforms look (to a programmer) more like a PS3.”

This is good news for PS3 owners, many of which who enjoyed BioShock 2 immensely but were nonetheless subjected to slightly more framerate and graphical hiccups than their Xbox brethren. 

You can read Kline's original post  for all the technical jargon, or make the comparison's for yourself when BioShock Infinite is released in 2011.

Source

Call of Duty‘box art gets pistols wrong,’says real Black Ops veteran, Call of Duty: Black Ops PC News

Wolfgang Hammersmith is a real Black Ops veteran. When he first set out to write“Beyond Call of Duty: Gunfight! 10 True Stories from Modern Warfare and Black Ops,” a book chronicling his wartime experiences, Hammersmith originally thought his audience would be restricted to military history buffs. It turns out that it’s gamers who are most interested Hammersmith’s real-life experiences. Speaking to Gamasutra, Hammersmith shared his thoughts on Call of Duty series, and also pointed out an interesting error on Call of Duty: Black Ops’ box art.

Above: The 1911A1 model pistols in question

"They just released Call of Duty {Black Ops}, and I looked at the poster - both pistols exhibited on the poster are 1911 A1 model pistols,"explains Hammersmith."One of them has the thumb safety down with the hammer on, which is impossible to do on that gun, which means the pistol is broken. And the other one has got the hammer down with the guy's finger on the trigger, which wouldn't happen either."

Hammersmith also raises concerns about the influence videogames seem to have on new recruits."What happens in studies with soldiers is that when they play video games, they were over-daring, because they were used to having 'more lives',"says Hammersmith.

But Hammersmith’s view of games and gamers is hardly one-sided.“I found the gaming crowd to be highly intelligent, motivated people who were excitable and thoughtful when they asked questions,” says Hammersmith about his experience promoting his book at GameStop stores.

The interview is a great read. You can check it out at Gamasutra.

{Source: Gamasutra}

Source

GOG's library grows with Moto Racer series, Moto Racer 2 PC News

GOG has continued its streak of releasing PC classics with Moto Racer. The 1997 game was a technical marvel in its day, and while the graphics haven't aged particularly well, it's still a fantastic game with a great sense of speed - and a steal at a DRM-free $5.99.

The release comes as part of a deal with Trine publisher Noblis. They promise that Moto Racer 2 and 3 will follow.

Meanwhile, the less memorable Chaser also appeared on the service. The 2003 Slovakian FPS lets players take on the role of a man with amnesia (where have we seen that before?). The game was met with little critical praise upon its initial release, and while we can't say for sure whether age has been kind to it, we're not spending the $5.99 to find out.

Source

Daft Punk confirmed for TRON: Evolution game, TRON: Evolution PC News

We already knew that Daft Punk would be doing the soundtrack for the upcoming TRON: Legacy movie. But today, Disney confirmed that the electronic music duo will also be featured in the TRON: Evolution game. Expect to hear two tracks from the film score,“Derezzed” and“The Grid,” in the game adaptation.

“Daft Punk’s incredible music is a major part of the‘TRON: Legacy’ film and brings audiences into the unique TRON grid.  We didn’t hesitate when the opportunity arose to include some of the‘TRON: Legacy’ music into the video game,” said game director Darren Hedges.

Above: TRON: Evolution will feature two Daft Punk tracks from the film score for TRON: Legacy

Above: A great fan-made tribute video that recaps the original TRON film with Daft Punk song clips. Look how young Jeff Bridges looks!

TRON: Evolution is scheduled to launch on December 7 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, the Nintendo DS, and PSP. The film, TRON: Legacy is scheduled to release on December 17.

Source

MMO player pays over $330K for asteroid space resort, breaks virtual sales records, PC PC News

Entropia Universe player Jon“Neverdie” Jacobs is a high roller. According to fan site EntropiaPlanets, Jacobs has just sold a virtual asteroid space resort, bio domes, a mall, and a stadium to player John Foma Kalun for the princely sum of $335,000 USD. This isn’t the first time Jacobs has made headlines for pricey online transactions. The online entrepreneur originally purchased the asteroid space resort in 2005 for $100,000 USD, which he named“Club NEVERDIE” after his avatar name. It seems like Jacobs’ investment paid off.

Like Second Life, Entropia Universe is a virtual world. Although you can download the game’s client and play for free, it encourages players to convert real world currency into the game’s virtual currency. Project Entropia Dollars (PED) are required for everything but the most basic starter items.

If you think grinding in everyday MMOs is boring and repetitive, you’re lucky that you don’t play Entropia Universe. Instead of‘grinding,’ the game has‘sweating.’ Gathering sweat and collecting fruit and dung are a few of the lowly activities that players can engage in to acquire items that are worth selling to other players for PED.

Here’s the list of free activities from the Wikipedia entry for the game:

- Using the service as a 3-D virtual chat room or exploring the virtual universe.

- Using an in-game process called"Sweating"or"Sweat Gathering"to extract bottles of"Vibrant Sweat,"which can then be sold to other players for PED or changed to items. The 2010.06.03 VU release may introduce 2 new types of"sweat".

- Collecting"fruit","dung", and 6 sorts of precious rare stones which can be sold to other players to raise funds.

- Performing numerous"jobs"for other players– for example, acting as a trader, or buying pre-defined amount of crafting materials at specified rate for crafters.

- Performing several missions (quests) that can be completed without any in-game equipment or money.

- Trickery: cheating, and stealing.

- Finding abandoned items or PED lying on the ground.

- Begging, which is largely frowned upon.

Above:“Gamer Chick,” a song about Entropia Universe from Jon“Neverdie” Jacobs, the former owner of the ultra expensive asteroid

Earlier this year, Entropia Universe developer MindArk AB announced that the game has a cash flow of $2.4 million dollars from player transactions in its 2009 financial report.

{Source: EntropiaPlanets}

Source