Filed under: Culture, Nintendo Wii, Action

In news of the weird getting weirder, THQ has announced that actors Billy Bob Thornton (Sling Blade) and Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet, lots of stuff where he plays a creepy guy) will voice the two lead characters in its Wii-exclusive Deadly Creatures. Characters who just so happen to be a scorpion and a tarantula.

“The scorpion and tarantula are like two actors meeting up for a gun fight,” Thornton said in a press release. The release makes no mention of whether Mr. Thorton or Mr. Hopper have actually seen the game, but the latter said of it: “Gamers are really going to love Deadly Creatures.” We’ll love it more if you promise not to huff nitrous and call us “mommy,” sir.

Billy Bob Thornton, Dennis Hopper are Deadly Creatures on Wii originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like we might have two new iriver DAPs to get semi-not-really excited about in the very near future, if the leaked photos and specs are to be believed. We know very little about the uber-basic T5 (picture above) beyond the fact that it supports MP3, WMA, and OGG formats and has a built-in USB jack. It’s quite small, weighing just 25.9 grams, and will come in 2GB and 4GB sizes. The T6 is a little bigger, but also an apparently quite basic 4GB player with an added FM tuner. The rumor mill also reports that the T5 will run €50 (about $65) while the T6 will be €60 (about $77), but nothing’s official and we don’t know when they’ll hit us with these bad boys.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

Filed under: Portable Audio

Lackluster line-up of new iriver DAPs leaked originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Online, RPGs, MMO

Hoping to turn midi-chlorians into monetary maneuvers, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello revealed in today’s investor call that BioWare’s upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic will be “a mid-session game, microtransaction-based. You’ll be hearing more about those in the February [conference] call.” According to ShackNews, EA has previously deemed FIFA Online and NBA Street “mid-session” games.

We’re not convinced that it means SW:TOR will be offered sans subscription, so we’ll wait until February rolls around to see how the publisher plans to Force Pull your money.

[Via Massively]

Star Wars: The Old Republic, now with microtransactions originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Action

In an effort to enhance the online experience of Gears of War 2 - not, as you may think, to provide us with an excuse to use the above image again - Epic Games is planning another round of multiplayer fixes for the game. Company veep Mark Rein confirmed that a second patch is incoming via Epic’s official forums.

In response to a blunt “matchmaking needs to be fixed in Gears 2” statement, Rein (bluntly) replied, “It will be improved along with other tweaks and improvements to the game as well.” So there. Oh, and when might we see this patch? We’ll say it for Mark (who didn’t address that detail): “When it’s done.”

[Via X3F]

More Gears of War 2 multiplayer fixes incoming originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Downloads, FPS, Multiplayer, RTS, Full Games

Well that’s interesting timing. Today, just as we posted up our feature on a number of current and upcoming free-to-play FPS titles comes word that one more game has joined its ranks. S2 Games has announced that their multiplayer fantasy FPS-RTS hybrid game Savage 2 has been turned into a free game. That means when you download the client (available here at Big Download) there are no longer any demo restrictions; you can play the full game online and via LAN.

Of course S2 Games isn’t totally giving up on getting some money off of Savage 2. For $9.99 you can upgrade the game to a Premium account which gives you, among other things, more inventory slots than free players, lifetime stats, game replay features and more.

[Via Blue's News]

Savage 2 goes free originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, you and hundreds of thousands of others picked up your Blu-ray copy of The Dark Knight today, huh? We know you haven’t had time to fiddle with the BD-Live extras just yet, but one Joe Lynch from G4 TV has. One of the most intriguing aspects of the flick’s interactive feature set is the fan commentary; put simply, users hook up a USB webcam to their player (PS3 included) and then commentate as the film progresses. From there, you can upload your take(s) to the BD-Live servers for others to enjoy. Granted, we aren’t too sure how you’ll actually find someone bored enough to listen to you jabber on about a film they purchased, but we reckon that’s beside the point. Vid’s waiting after the break.

Continue reading The Dark Knight fan commentary BD-Live feature shown on video

Filed under: Home Entertainment

The Dark Knight fan commentary BD-Live feature shown on video originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Online, RPGs, MMO

Hey, did you hear the one about the giant RPG powerhouse who wanted to put its flagship franchise’s MMO on the PlayStation 3 … but then the Sony representative they were talking to quit? And the company never tried to to resume talks with another rep? Man, that’s funny.

… what’s that you say, 1UP? That’s really what happened to Final Fantasy XI on the PS3? No way, you’re pulling our chain, who told you that? FFXI Hiromichi Tanaka? Man, now it’s even funnier, but in that sad way. We suspect he’s joking, or there’s a lot more to this story. Still, it doesn’t sound like FFXI will be coming to PS3 anytime soon.

For the FFXI players on PC, Xbox 360 and HDD-equipped PS2 versions, keep an eye out for three new expansions, each coming sometime in 2009.

FFXI for PS3 not just fantasy (but no longer reality) originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We spent some time on the phone with NVIDIA today in the wake of last night’s official release of the OpenCL GPU-processing spec, and we learned some interesting things. NVIDIA thinks OpenCL is going to bring a lot more attention to general-purpose GPU computing, and it’s planning on stoking the flames — not only is it accelerating the CUDA release schedule, it’s planning on working with Microsoft on DirectX 11 Compute. Hit the break for some more highlights!

Continue reading NVIDIA dishes about OpenCL

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

NVIDIA dishes about OpenCL originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Joyswag

A few weeks back we attended Insomniac Games’ Resistance 2 open house in Los Angeles, where the developer literally opened its doors and let fans stream in to find out how the game was created. Insomniac showed films, talked gun design, and even fed everyone massive stacks of pizza. Pretty darned costly impressive. Can you imagine opening your doors to hordes of unwashed gamers?

For Day 2 of the Joyswag Holidaze, we’re giving away the Collector’s Edition of Resistance 2, a Resistance 2 development team t-shirt (size large), and a Resistance 2 poster that’s been signed by the entire development team.

To enter the giveaway:

• Leave a comment telling us how you would resist an alien invasion
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec … and Mars — it’s in Canada, right?)
• Limit 1 entry per person per calendar day
  
• This entry period ends at 12:00pm ET on Tuesday, December 16th. We’ll randomly select 1 winner at that time to receive one copy of Resistance 2: Collector’s Edition for PlayStation 3 (ARV: $79.99), one Resistance 2 development team t-shirt (ARV: $10.00), and one Resistance 2 Uncle Sam alien-themed signed poster (ARV: $10.00). Please check your e-mail!
• For a list of complete rules, click here

Is the end of 2008 approaching already? In honor of another year of gaming gone by, Joystiq is hosting five straight days of Joyswag giveaways. Check back every day for new prizes, new chances to win, and the possibility of keeping more money in your own pocket.

Joyswag Holidaze: Resistance 2 game, shirt and signed poster originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Biz

Who knew that microtransations would have a busy news day today? Our sister site Massively reports that Sony Online has launched Station Cash, which allows players of Sony Online’s fantasy MMOs Everquest and Everquest II to purchase in-game items for real money. Massively has a lot more info on how this new system works.

In related news, VentureBeat reports that the downloadable game service GamersGate has launched their own microtransaction service which they are calling Microsuite. The service will allow game developers and publishers put in microtransactions for in-game items which can be bought in the game itself or in the game’s lobby screen. GamersGate expects the first Microsuite enabled games to be released in early 2009.

Microtransactions in the news originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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