Happy halloween

Funny funny happy Halloween everybody

Alex

Wolrd Of Warcraft Almost Makes PUGs Worth It

Blizzard drops details on the new dungeon and raid system for World of Warcraft, which brings with it cross-sever instancing, daily random dungeons, and special rewards for taking part in a pick-up group.

Pick-up groups, or PUGs, are the bane of many an MMO player's existence. Rather than grouping with your guild or folks you know, you group up with random strangers who often turn out to be complete and utter tools, and probably think the same thing about you. PUGs are generally avoided whenever possible, but World of Warcraft's new dungeon and raid system, due out in an upcoming patch, actually rewards players for grouping with random strangers. In fact, the more random additions to your group, the faster you gain rewards, including a Perky Pug non-combat pet.

In order to make PUGs even more attractive, the new system features smarter group matching, which means you should never end up with five shadow priests, which would completely break any instance you entered, along with cross-server instancing, which can pull players from any server in your Battlegroup to go dungeon hopping with you.

Another cool new feature that will seriously cut down on waiting for your PUG members to show up is Instance Teleporting. Much like the PVP battlegrounds in the game, when you join a dungeon using the new system, you will be automatically teleported to the dungeon entrance, where you can then sit AFK for 20 minutes while you get a sandwich.

The new tool will also allow players to select multiple dungeons to take on, or they can take their chances with a random dungeon, with NPC's giving out quests and rewards to those that complete daily random dungeons, which will be taking the place of the current daily heroic dungeon system.

All of this, plus vote kicking, a looking for raid tool, group disenchanting, and a need before greed update are coming our way in the upcoming WoW content patch. It should go great lengths towards making an already easy game that much easier. Huzzah!


Taken from kotaku

Alex

Personal update

Ok from a email i received apparently people want to know more about whats going on with us and our gameing so here is what the blog posts will look like we will still be posting news and whatnot that we find in the video game industry but we will also be telling you more about whats up with us... well me because Edsel never posts.


OK well first This morning on my way to work i picked up Uncharted 2 Among thieves. I can't wait to play it hopefully its awesome and i will wright up a review for everyone.



Next i finally finished the melancholy of haruhi suzumiya. loved it!


Got back into ragnarok online its cool.

I beat star wars the force unleashed... amazeing game short campaign

Just started up Team fortress 2 on the ps3 look me up if you want to play name is Aeredon.

I'm back in WoW and started up a priest last night and loved it.

Now for our podcast news..... On ep 5 we had patti on the show she has agreed to become a regular host of the gamers anon podcast. so look forward to hearing from her on the show as well as the blog.

Well I'm bored with typing so im going to go back to WoW now and level so... um... yeah... bye guys love ya

Alex

Bayonetta Stickers Removed, Posters Uncovered

That was fast! It was announced on Friday that enormous Bayonetta posters covered with fliers would be going up in Tokyo on October 26. That's today.And the fliers have all be peeled off, revealing Bayonetta wrapped in hair and a nation eager to pull off fliers to see what's underneath
taken from kotaku

Alex

i loled

Alex

Made me laugh and i thought i'd share

whats even better is there was 6 mins and 20 seconds left before they moved on to the next item. The remaining time was spent with the salesman standing directly in front of the broken area of the TV. Oh and yes, it did sell out.

Alex

NEW Kingdom Hearts Release date!

PSP role-playing-game Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep has been dated for Japan. The game will be released on January 9 and priced at ¥6,090 (US$67).

Birth By Sleep is an action RPG set ten years before the first Kingdom Hearts game. Be sure to check out our impressions on the game.

Edsel are you ready for this my friend?hahahaha now watch as the same thing happens to this game as it did to yakuza 3 i will laugh soooooo hard.

Alex

Epic Mickey's Animatronic Donald Gives Me The Creeps

Game Informer's keeping a steady stream of Epic Mickey articles coming between its November 2009 reveal issue and its online supplements. This article takes a look at character design and art.

We've already been told that this Wii exclusive game will be all about Mickey painting in parts of his environment to get through levels (a la Okami, perhaps). But something I hadn't heard until today was that how you problem-solve your way through the game directly affects how your Mickey looks.

"How you decide to play the game should make a difference. You get to determine what kind of hero you are. Everybody solves the problem. Everybody saves the day. Everybody gets to save the world and gets the girl," Warren Spector tells us, in regards to the shifting spectrum of play styles that change the appearance of Mickey throughout the game. "But how you do it, and how you end up looking is up to you. What abilities you have is up to you. Who likes you is up to you. What missions you hear about or not is up to you." Each version of Mickey has a distinct look crafted by the character artists at Mickey, from the crouching and feral scrapper to the stalwart hero.

Each of the Mickeys and all of their movements, though, are drawn directly from classic Mickey inspiration. Get a look at the render videos in Game Informer's piece and see if you can recognize motions from old school Mickey Mouse cartoons, like The Brave Little Taylor

Taken from kotaku

Alex

Windows 7: What Happened to Gaming?

In 2006, then Microsoft Vice President Peter Moore apologized for what he called a dereliction of duty to the company's number one gaming platform: The PC.

Now more than three years after promising, and some say failing, to deliver a PC gaming renaissance with the Vista operating system, Microsoft is set to roll out Windows 7.

But this time there are no apologies or promises. PC gaming, it seems, has taken a back seat.

When Windows 7 goes on sale on Oct. 22, PC gamers will have little reason to run out to buy it, says Matthew Murray, managing editor of ExtremeTech.

"I don't think there's a lot about (Windows 7) that's going to make it that much more compelling to gamers than Vista," Murray said. "It's a bit better using memory, and it's a bit faster in certain areas, but the performance overall isn't really that much different. If you have Vista and you're happy with it, you can probably keep it, at least for now."

To be fair, much of that promised renaissance in 2006 was tied to the Games for Windows initiative, which launched alongside the Windows Vista operating system.

While the two hit at the same time, they're not directly connected.

The biggest idea behind Games for Windows was to make it easier to play games on your PC. This was done by creating a set of criteria that computer games needed to meet to have the Games For Windows label on their box.

Those criteria included compatibility, easy installation and including parental controls. There were also a number of neat ideas tested out, but never fully realized. Most computer games require an installation before playing, but the Tray and Play option was meant to allow gamers to pop a game in their computer and start playing almost immediately, similar to what most console gamers experience now. Unfortunately, only one game, Halo 2 for the PC, currently uses this system.

The most noticeable way in which Vista and Games for Windows crossed over was the operating system's Game Advisor and Games Explorer.

The Game Advisor ranks a person's computer and available games making it easier to tell if a title would play on a PC.

The Games Explorer was meant to collect all the games installed on a computer and display them in one folder. It's here that Window 7 does bring a modicum of improvement for gamers.

One of the biggest issues with Games Explorer was that it often didn't detect games that were purchases through online retailers and providers like Steam.

While Windows 7 still doesn't seem to include Steam in the Game Explorer, it now has the ability to if the company wants to support the service. If a game provider does choose to be listed in the Game Explorer, computer owners will be able to view news from the service and information about the service's games, all inside the window.

Another update to Games Explorer allows you to be notified when a game you own has an update or patch and then install the update from the explorer without having to launch the game.

Finally, Games Explorer will track statistics for the games you play, showing you how many times you've played, how long and your win and loss ratio.

Currently only the included games seem to support this function, but I'm sure more will include it after the operating system officially launches.

Murray says the only improvement he can find in Windows 7 for gamers is in the Games Explorer, but even he doesn't find it that useful.

"Being able to check for updates for all your games in one interface is a nice feature, but since it doesn't install the updates automatically (the way Windows Update itself does), I don't know how useful that's going to be to a lot of people," he said. "And I've never gotten that into using the Games Explorer anyway—I tend to just add icons to the new taskbar, as with everything else. Aside from that, there aren't a ton of game-friendly changes I've come across."

The problem I have with Windows 7, though, isn't its failure to vastly improve the gaming experience, it's Microsoft's failure to take advantage of the attention brought by the launch of a new operating system to once more thrust PC gaming into the spotlight.

The biggest promise the Games for Windows initiative made when it initially was unveiled was that it would be backed by a huge marketing campaign, one similar to the push Microsoft gave the Xbox 360 when it hit.

But that was never fully realized and PC gaming was left to suffer as a second favorite system next to the Xbox 360 and Microsoft's continued marketing blitz for its gaming console.

In the vacuum left by Microsoft game developers, chip manufacturers and PC builders have come together to try and reinvigorate PC gaming though the PC Gaming Alliance. But even this effort seems oddly absent during Window's big week?

If Microsoft want its PC gaming platform to thrive they will need to do more than offer lip service in the future. But with the lasting success of the gaming console and PC gamers' ability to seemingly put up with anything, why should they?

Microsoft declined to comment for this article.

Taken from kotaku

Alex

I apologize in advance, but I’ll be off on a slight tangent the next two articles. With Dissidia: Final Fantasy hitting stores, there’s been a step up in marketing for Square Enix. Today, I’ll be taste testing the new Potions from Suntory.

DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY POTION

A new drink produced by Suntory to promote the release up Square Enix’s upcoming Playstation Portable fighter. Is it just me or has Dissidia received an inordinate amount of hype for a non-RPG Final Fantasy PSP-only title that hasn’t even been given a US release date? Rapture is still but a code-name, and it’s supposed to be their big new MMO.

Ah, well. Let’s talk about the drinks. Those have seen their fair share of hype as well. A recent issue of Famitsu ran this ad:


“A Potion named Chaos.”
“A Potion named Cosmos.”

Although 調和 chou-wa, means peace and harmony, the actual cans themselves are labeled “Chaos” and “Cosmos.” Chaos cans are black, and Cosmos cans are white.

I bought the four cans you saw pictured up at the top. I just picked out a few that I felt had nice artwork. Here are the extreme close-ups, if you want to examine the cans:

↑ Click on the above thumbnails to view the cans ↑

There’s nothing remarkable about the cans besides the artwork. That’s really the selling point, which by the way, is 191 yen a pop. That’s more than you pay for any soda in a 自動販売機 ji-dou-han-bai-ki, or vending machine, and those are abnormally expensive. Square Enix is getting good at milking fanboys. Oh well, if I can spend 20 bucks on a metal Goblin that actually hinders the process of transporting and manipulating keys, I can deal with some marked up sugar water.

Now let’s crack one open and have a taste!

It smells okay. Not sure if I expected any strange funk, but so far so good. I actually poured it out into a little rice bowl so I could show you what it looks like:

Yeah. It looks like soda. Imagine that.

But how does it taste? It basically taste like Sprite. Not as sharp limey as Sprite, but a little smoother with a touch of grapefruit almost. It’s actually not bad at all. After hearing horror stories about the weird FFX potions they sold, this one is a pleasant surprise. However, what wasn’t a pleasant surprise, was discovering Caffeine in the list of ingredients. So not only am I sitting here at 1 am writing an article about nerd soda, but now I’ll have to suffer for it by having this stuff keep me awake all night.

It also contains Royal Jelly, a common ingredient in Japanese sodas.



I always like my drinks with a little secretion in there.

If you would like to see what all the cans look like, here’s a full page layout for the Dissidia mook:


According to the page, the white Cosmos cans are Grapefruit-flavored, and the black Chaos cans are Muscat.

Next time: Lady Shantotto in Dissidia!

Taken from jp button

Alex

ME ME ME ME ME

CLICK HERE


Made this for my girlfriend for her birthday thought it was so funny i thought i'd share it woth all of you. happy thursday fuckers the weekend is almost here!

Alex

funny as shit

Found this and it is funny as hell made my day!

Alex

Black Wii Remote and Nunchuk Price For U.S.

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Black versions of the Wii remote and nunchuk will go on sale on Nov. 16, Nintendo announced this morning.

The new black remote controller will be available with a black Wii MotionPlus add-on for $50. The black nunchuk will sell separately for $20.

"The Wii Remote revolutionized not only how people play games, but also who plays them," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "The new color lets people customize their setup, and the controllers make great stocking stuffers for players of any age."

taken from kotaku

alex

Holy Crap the Possibilities Are Endless!!!

Okay people, I've stumbled across something big to me. For those of you in Australia, you might already know, so don't get on my case about things. No, this post doesn't have anything to do with .Hack//G.U. but rather something awsomely similar. I'm talking about brainwave virtual reality. For those of you who don't understand, pay attention. So there is a product on the market now called the Emotiv Headset. This headset literally reads your brainwaves and interacts with a computer system or game, controlling almost every aspect of the virtual world. Your avatar will pick up your facial expressions, your anger, fear, joy, anything will be transferred to your character and will result in a completely personalized being.
"Why is this important?" you may ask. Well, with this technology, we may be well on our way to a new World, one where we can truly immerse ourselves in a complete other personality. For my fellow RPers out there, it is a chance to live a dream through the use of electronics. Put away the dice and pencils and say hello to your new life. With this technology, combined with others like the 3rd Space Gaming Vest and the Vuzix Eyewear, one can now truly experience a game to the fullest.
Now the price for the Emotiv is around $500, which, as you know, is more expensive than many game consoles. Well, this is because it is tailored to gamers of tomorrow rather than ones of today. It is the most advanced system with the most neural readers on it. However, there is no need to fret if you don't have the dough to purchase this monster, for the Emotiv has competition. The cheapest and probably most fitting choice for today's gamers is known as the N.I.A. or Neural Impulse Actuator. Our friends at OCZ Technology have cooked up something affordable for us that works with many games used today, and at a little over $100 a pop, we may be looking at the next big thing to literal controllers. The last product I researched was NeuroSky's MindSet. This headset, from what I can tell, reads general emotions with only one sensor as opposed to NIA's 3 or Emotiv's dozen or so. They show much in the way of music and interaction, but not as much flexibility. Because of this, I personally say look heavily at the NIA game lovers, but keep your eye out on the Emotiv, for I predict that it will be the revolutionary step in the way of virtual reality. So speaks Wise Edsel.

Edsel

Square Enix On Why Manga Doesn't Sell As Big Overseas

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Final Fantasy maker Square Enix doesn't only make Final Fantasy. The Japanese company also has an anime and manga division, responsible for titles like Saki and Full Metal Alchemist.

When division head Kouji Taguchi was asked why manga sales in the US were still considerably smaller than in Japan, he replied:

The best sellers in the US were Full Metal Alchemist and Naruto, but these only sold a tenth to a twentieth of what they sold in Japan.
I think the main reasons are as follows:
1. Fewer copies are printed and those that are get sold at a much higher price, from $8.99 to $12.99.
2. Children don't get as much money, their allowances are just smaller.
3. The other reason is location. If you live in Tokyo there will be 3 bookshops nearby, which you can easily cycle to. In the US there aren't any, they can only buy on a weekly trip to the mall. Even if anime is highly popular, they just don't visit the stores to buy manga often.

As website Sankaku Complex points out, it's interesting that Taguchi focuses on distribution instead of simply stating that Japanese and Western tastes are different. Taguchi also went on to state that manga publishers are increasingly moving forward to digital distribution.

"Publishers such as Shueisha, Kodansha, Shogakukan and Kadokawa are setting up a digital platform on the PSP for distributing manga," said Taguchi. The Square Enix exec doesn't think this will catch on in Japan because prices are low and there are many shops selling manga. However, this form of distribution could very well catch on in the States.

taken from kotaku

Alex

Last Two Left 4 Dead 2 Campaigns Leaked

Somehow a Taiwanese Web site got its hands on all the posters for the Left 4 Dead 2 - and if these are real, that means the names of the final two are known: "Dead Center" and "Hard Rain."

Dead Center - "Prices Aren't the Only Things Getting Slashed" - appears to be a shopping mall setting. Has that ever been done with zombies? Hard Rain - "Come Hell and High Water" - looks to be set in some kind of refinery and the knee deep water suggests what you'll be slogging through in it. The full size posters are after the text.

I've emailed Doug Lombardi to ask if Valve would like to comment. A tipster told us that an L4D2 playtester had seen these and pronounced them accurate. But if Team Fortress 2 has taught us anything, there are plenty of artists out there who love to make up stuff using Valve IP.

Are Dead Center & Hard Rain the Last Two L4D2 Campaigns? [Evil Avatar, thanks Jim and David]

Left 4 Dead 2

Clips

Left 4 Dead 2 Infected Gameplay — This Is How I Spent Last Night

For those of you wondering what I was talking about with generator-camping — that's exactly what's going on in this clip. More »

Valve

Left 4 Dead 2 Gets "Realism" Mode For Hardcore Zombie Killers

For players who find "expert" difficulty too easy in Left 4 Dead, it appears that Valve is upping the challenge for the sequel with "Realism" mode, a game modifier that made an unplanned appearance last night. More »

Taken from kotau

Alex

Sorry For Lateness

Hey ya'll sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been up to alot of things. Numero Uno on that list was seeing the Blink 182 concert as it rolled through Atlanta. Probably the sickest thing I've ever seen. But i digress. So, the thing that I've found most interesting lately is Blizzard releasing a final date for Cataclysm. November of 2010. They have recently said to look for the date to be pushed forward, but no more backing up. To my fellow WoW geeks, we have something to look forward to before the end of the world in 2012 :D. Anyhoo, I'll get to posting more 'cause I know you love hearing from me :). Peace.

Edsel

Looks Like Left 4 Dead 2 Is Coming To Australia

Australia's long nation nightmare of maybe not being able to play Left 4 Dead 2 may soon be over, as the government's media ratings board has apparently issued the zombie shooter a rating of MA-15+.

That would essentially mean an end to the "ban" on Valve's PC and Xbox 360 sequel and translate into "good news" for our Survivor friends down under. No word yet on whether Valve's appeal was successful and/or if the company had to submit the edited version of the game for the Australian release.

We'd like to simply think that Gabe Newell just got down there a little early and put some Aussie's in a headlock. Or that Australian man's man Saxton Hale called in a favor.

Alex

avatar

Ok so my new girlfriend Patti recommended Avatar the last airbender ti me and its great im on episode 5 or 6 (i can't remember) but its good i can't believe i didn't give it a chance before. haha check it out

Alex

holy crap i love finding stuff on kotaku

look at this it is real and its $60 for a six pack I want some please somebody tell me how to find this.

Alex

yes i know we haven't posted all weekend but here is what we have been up to:
1 Alex's Sister's wedding
2 Getting shitfaced after the wedding
3 Alex has a new girlfriend
4 Edsel passed out in his Lexus
5 the hangover from hell
6 Alex sleeping 18 hours

And what i found this morning apparently Spartans love the New Orleans Saints:

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Alex

Yes, Sony Can Use A Garbage Truck To Promote Game

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For upcoming "Hot Shots" PSP mini-game title Minna no Sukkiri (Everyone's Refreshed/Cleansed) as seen on Famitsu.

Taken from kotaku

Wow thats what we need in America! Do it sony do it now!

Alex