We were totally content to simply leave "Lead Tribes designer now working on a new FPS and it also has jetpacks! Commence with the freaking out!" as our whole post. At the last moment, however, we were told that, apparently, people might want more information (though we're not sure what more you'd need). So! Firefall is a "team-based action shooter" featuring "hundreds of players" completing objectives and battling to the death in a "dynamic open world."



The title is free-to-play and relies on an in-game marketplace for profit. We might normally balk at such a monetization system, but we were thoroughly impressed by the game's debut gameplay trailer, not to mention the pedigree behind Firefall. If you're as enticed as we are, you'll be glad to know that Red 5 is accepting applications for the game's beta starting right now.

Continue reading Red 5 Studios reveal Firefall, coming to PC 'near the end of 2011'

Red 5 Studios reveal Firefall, coming to PC 'near the end of 2011' originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Confirming earlier rumors and despite Fox's denials Panasonic representatives told TWICE and CNET we can expect a n exclusive offering of Avatar on the Blu-ray 3D format in "early December." Naturally, the 3D blockbuster is expected to push more than a few to make the jump, but this is nothing but bad news to those with televisions from other manufacturers like Samsung and Sony. There aren't many other details available yet, like if equipment outside of 3DTVs qualifies, or how much it might cost, so for now we'll just let the disappointment of yet another 3D exclusive wash over us.

Panasonic locks up Avatar Blu-ray 3D release for 2010 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2K Games hosted a video livestream of its booth shortly after the re-announcement (or is it un-cancellation?) of Duke Nukem Forever, showing off a few fans getting their first shot at the alien-murdering sim. You can check out a couple of over-the-shoulder gameplay clips from this stream posted just after the jump.



And, yes, it is worth noting that this particular demo begins with Duke Nukem relieving himself, an action you apparently execute by pressing Right Trigger. You're going to feel tempted to press Left Trigger, but for the sweet love of God, you have to resist that urge.

Continue reading Duke Nukem Forever footage: Press Right Trigger to urinate

Duke Nukem Forever footage: Press Right Trigger to urinate originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PlayStation Blog has announced a February 22, 2011 North American release date for Killzone 3, the fourth installment in Guerrilla Games' FPS series (we know, we still find that confusing too). For those of you keeping score, that's almost two years to the day after the release of Killzone 2. We guess the last week of Feburary holds some kind of secret significance to the Amsterdam-based developer.



If you happen to be attending the Penny Arcade Expo at the moment, you can get your hands on the game much, much sooner -- a playable 8-on-8 multiplayer demo is currently set up at Sony's booth on the PAX show floor.

Killzone 3 wrecking Helghast shop on February 22, 2011 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like its time to throw another victim on the pile of DLC which crashes the game upon which it's intended to expand. This time around, it's Crackdown 2's recently released "Toy Box" pack, which is supposed to add the "Keys to the City" mode from the first game, as well as a handful of new weapons and items. According to a number of angry commenters on Xbox.com, the 560 Microsoft Point ($7) download doesn't add this content as much as it ... well, removes everything else.



For reasons unknown, a large number of players report that the game simply freezes up when trying to play after having downloaded the "Toy Box" pack. Some users report that clearing the system's cache and playing offline allows the game to load, but connecting to Live and downloading the game's latest update returns it to its non-functioning state. We've contacted Microsoft to find out what the problem is, and when we can expect a fix. You might want to consider keeping the "Toy Box" firmly closed for the time being.



[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Crackdown 2 players report crashing issues with 'Toy Box' DLC originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's finally, really, actually ... maybe going to happen at this point. The rumors are true: Gearbox Software and 2K Games have taken on the Herculean task of completing and releasing 3D Realms' unfinished Duke Nukem Forever. The project was officially unveiled today at PAX during a livestreamed presentation at the 2K Games booth and announced for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. "It's coming out in 2011," Gearbox president Randy Pitchford said during the presentation. (Of course, we're skeptical about any release date associated with this particular title.)



Gearbox began finishing Duke Nukem Forever in late 2009, according to The Wall Street Journal. "Clearly the game hadn't been finished at 3D Realms but a lot of content had been created," Pitchford told WSJ.



"We're in the polishing phase now. This is a game where we can not make a promise we can not fulfill," Pitchford added. "We need to get past the shock and awe, and then we can go to all the retailers and first parties and work out a launch plan."



Duke Nukem Forever is a sequel to Duke Nukem 3D and will feature both a single-player campaign and multiplayer. "Aliens come and say they're going to be our friends, and Duke knows this isn't going to work out," Pitchford revealed of the plot. "Duke once again is in the pivotal spot and it's up to him to save the world."



[Image credit: Kurt Miller]

Duke Nukem Forever coming '2011' on Xbox 360, PS3 & PC, courtesy of Gearbox originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A few details about the Move-equipped Ape Escape outing for the PS3 (which was outed for a possible North American release by GameStop) recently surfaced during the Japanese CESA Developers Conference. Ape Escape Fury! Fury! designer Takamitsu Iijima explained the game's goal is to place the player in the shoes of the series' stalwart monkey catcher, resulting in a game of on-rails, first-person net-swinging.



We find it refreshing to play an on-rails shooter without any shooting to speak of, though we'll reserve judgment until we've gotten a chance to incarcerate a few simians ourselves. Provided Ape Escape Fury! Fury! is even the game hinted at by that recent Gamestop listing, of course.

Move-enabled Ape Escape is an on-rails, first-person monkey catcher originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has spoken out again on the troubled launch of his studio's latest game, Elemental: War of Magic. Taking to Stardock's forums, Wardell (aka "Frogboy") said, "I don't think people yet fully realize the completeness of Stardock's fail on Elemental's launch. I'm going to write more about this, but not only did we think v1.05 was ready for everyone, but we felt v1.0 was too. That's the level of disconnect/poor judgment on our part we're talking about."



And while he places the blame on Stardock as a whole, he takes a full paragraph to account for his own mistakes. "EVERY competent software developer knows that the programmer must never be the one deciding whether the program is done. Yet, my love of Elemental broke my self discipline and I began coding on the game itself in vast amounts and lost any sense of objectivity on where the game's state was. I normally only program the AI on our games so I can keep a level of distance from the game itself to determine whether it's 'Ready.' On Elemental, I was in love with the world and the game and lost my impartiality."



He finishes his screed with the promise, "We'll do better," and in a separate post lists off the many changes and additions coming to the game (including free expansions and an intended v1.1 patch in September). Both pieces really are worth reading in full. You can grab them here and here.

Stardock CEO calls Elemental launch 'disastrous,' promises to do better originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Guerrilla Games has been hard at work making the most explosive shooter possible on the PlayStation 3 system. At E3, the development team gave you a glimpse of Killzone 3 in 3D where they walked away with Best Shooter, Best 3D graphics, and Best PS3 game to name a few of the E3 awards received. [...]

"OMG, Duke Nukem is at PAX!" At least, according to an effusive
tweet from Joystiq alum Dustin Burg. In addition, a source at the convention told Joystiq that images of Duke Nukem are visible at the 2K booth, which has yet to open to the public. The Gearbox logo can be seen, but the title of whatever Duke Nukem game is being promoted is currently covered.



However, we might have a clue, thanks to reports coming in from CVG's "US dev sources," who tell the site that the game is actually Duke Nukem Forever, and will be given a "grand demo" at the show. Rumors have been flying recently about Gearbox signing on to complete the game. Also flying: pigs, in an image tweeted by 3D Realms' George Broussard (who joked with 1UP in a January 2006 interview that he expected DNF to be released "when pigs fly")
 . 2K did say it planned "something big" at its booth, and this would certainly qualify.



Update: Gearbox creative director Mikey Neumann tweeted a picture of CEO Randy Pitchford wearing a Duke t-shirt. Seems portentous!



Update 2: A partial image from 2KGames' Twitter account also shows the Duke "radioactive" logo.



Update 3: Well, here's the most concrete evidence you could ever ask for. Pikimal [via Shacknews] posted several images, like the photo stand seen above, of Duke Nukem Forever signs at the 2K booth.

Duke Nukem Forever appearing at 2K's PAX booth [update: pictured!] originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you're in the mood for a game that's about classic-style dungeons and is an RPG, you'll be delighted to hear that NIS America dated the PSP game Cladun: This is an RPG! The game will be available on PSN on September 21.



Cladun allows players to build their own tiny character sprites and take on randomly generated dungeons. It features ad-hoc play, so up to four players can wander around dungeons together (while wandering around together in real life). To see more of Cladun, you can browse around the game's website, which is designed to look and sound like the game. You can also play Cladun-themed picross. After all, if you like dungeon RPGs, you enjoy difficult games.

Cladun: This is a release date! originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IndieCade, the annual festival of independent games, has announced the finalist titles for its 2010 event, taking place from October 8-10 in Culver City, California.

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Albion has entered its industrial age.



Not that I need the helpful, disembodied voice to tell me that in Fable 3's opening, of course. The change is evident in how the once colorful landscape seems to be covered in soot. It's clear from a single glance at the sorrowful, broken eyes of a townsperson worked to the bone.



"The Fable team hasn't changed very much, it's generally the same people and because that's the case, for us, there's a love there for the world, and there's a love there for the characters," design director Josh Atkins tells me. "We can't afford, emotionally, to be complacent."



It's a little ironic that it was the team's commitment to do right by Fable 3, to not play it safe, that forced them to make Albion such an unfortunate place in which to live.

Continue reading Fable 3 preview: a reason to believe

Fable 3 preview: a reason to believe originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fo' rizzle, Snoop Dogg be the Rock Band DLCizzle next week. The track pack has been a long, long ... long time coming, but it's finally here to bust out flows like ... no. Sorry, no. We can't do this.

Continue reading Rock Band Weekly: Snoop Dogg

Rock Band Weekly: Snoop Dogg originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The United States vs. Russia. That's all you need to know. Now, skip to the good part!

Continue reading Vanquish story trailer has a good ending

Vanquish story trailer has a good ending originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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During a presentation at the CESA Developers Conference on Wednesday about the art of animation, Team Ico head Fumito Ueda brought up some shots from Ico as illustrations. Except the images projected don't look exactly like the PS2 game: the aspect ratio is different, the textures are better, and the character models are sharper -- and that's just what can be picked up from looking at pictures of a projector showing the images. NeoGAF's Gribbix and SolidSnakex posted direct comparisons between the CEDEC presentation and the PS2 Ico.



With the persistent rumor of a God of War Collection-style remake of Team Ico's PS2 games, and with TGS around the corner, it's tempting to take these images as evidence. It seems just as likely, however, that Ueda mocked up nice illustrations of iconic scenes for his presentation. In any case, they're lovely and can be seen at GAME Watch.

Team Ico shows off cleaned-up Ico shots at CEDEC originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey everyone, James Stevenson from Insomniac Games here. We’re very excited to see you at PAX this weekend, where we have a couple of panels that we are very excited about. This will be your first opportunity to get a look at the never-before-seen extended demo of Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One: Saturday, 6:30 [...]

PSP bounced back to the top of the Japanese hardware chart during the week ended August 29, according to data from sales tracker Media Create.

Boosted by the launch of the software chart-topping Monster Hunter Diary, which was also released as part of a new PSP hardware bundle, weekly sales of Sony’s portable doubled to 50,000.

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The Federal Court of Australia has issued a permanent injunction ruling that the PS Jailbreak modchip for PS3 can’t be sold or imported into the country.

The ruling follows a temporary injunction enacted last month. Defendants OzModChips, Global Solutions International, Ryan Emmanuel and Ken Tolcher have now been forced to remove the device from sale.

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Is there anything more satisfying than hot, fresh, in-season, locally grown buttered corn-on-the-cob?  You can scratch that itch to your heart’s content this weekend in Millersport, Ohio at the 64th annual Sweet Corn Festival, which is going on right now and will continue through tomorrow evening (Saturday, 9/4/10).  There’s non-stop music and dancing throughout the fest, a midway, and all kinds of contests, from outhouse racing to corn eating competitions.  Those corn-eating contests take place all festival long, with the grand champion finals on Saturday, 9/4 at 6PM.

Heritage Village will be open to the public during the festival; this ongoing preservation project is a collection of local landmarks that have been moved to the park by the Lions Club, and is normally only open for tour groups.  The festival will also feature a country craft show and antique tractors.  Headline performers include David Frizzell and Darrell Worley.  Before Darrell Worley’s performance tomorrow night, the 2010 Sweetcorn Sweetheart and Court will be introduced.  Admission to the festival is free; parking is $10.  All food and game booths are run by non-profits.

Though a European trailer for No Heroes Allowed, the third game in the What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord!? series, was released during Gamescom, news of a North American release remained up in the air (instead of buried in a hastily-dug dungeon, where it belonged). SCEA has revealed plans to release the game, but did not offer up a date for the God of Destruction's resurrection.



No Heroes Allowed offers 100 daily dungeon design challenges, along with a new cooperative play mode that stars Badman and his daughter, Badmella. In the new addition, two players collaborate to dig a deadly, devious and dangerous dungeon.

Holy localization, Badman! It's No Heroes Allowed for PSP originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The problem with the future is that it's always 3 to 5 years away. Nevertheless, what you're looking at is what Philips and Dimenco, a small company of ex-Philips engineers, say will be coming to the consumer television market as early as 2013 -- earlier if you're in the professional advertising business or just want to view your family photos on a small 3D photo frame. Just remember that Philips has been showing off variations of the glasses-free technology behind this prototype lenticular lens television for years, so we're not getting our hopes up. Nevertheless, Dimenco assured us that the path to the consumer market for its 3D display is clear.



So how did it look? Well, it was ok, we guess. It doesn't have that in-your-face pop of the current generation of 3D televisions that require 3D glasses. The effect is more subtle (or maybe the content was). Our biggest problem was with the sharpness of the display. Although the 56-inch prototype CCFL LCD was 4k (that's 4 times the resolution of your Full HD TV) the image we saw was coarse in appearance due to the lenticular lens required to refract the left and right images for each eye. Having said that, the lenticular lens technology used is certainly better suited for non-stationary viewing. While the border around objects on the screen tended to shift quickly and blur (see the video after the break) when looking at the panel frombetween any of its 15 viewing angles (spread across a 120-degree arc), at least it didn't exhibit those horrible dark vertical bands seen when changing your angle even slightly while viewing 3D panels based on the parallax barrier method of glasses-less 3D. Still, it was hard to find the viewing sweet spot and honestly, given the option to sit in front of this display and a 4k panel "limited" to 2D, we'd have to opt for the latter. Get back to us in 3 to 5 and see if we feel the same.

Continue reading Philips Dimenco glasses-less 3D TV of the future, hopefully our future

Philips Dimenco glasses-less 3D TV of the future, hopefully our future originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Army and Air Force Exchange Services have requested that upcoming shooter Medal Of Honor be pulled from sale at retail stores operating on United States military installations worldwide.

The move was made after it came to light that Medal Of Honor’s multiplayer mode will allow players to assume the role of Taliban soldiers fighting against US ones.

The retail outlets affected include 49 GameStop stores located on military bases in the US.

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Yeah, we spied a few of LG's new 31-inch, 2.9mm thick displays the other day, but we hadn't seen the standard TV-like configurations -- which don't mean too much, because this is still a prototype, but they're a comfort all the same. We also managed to peep a 3D setup with the screens, which used polarized glasses and was surprisingly sharp. We promised ourselves it would just be a quick look, and that we had important things to do today, and that we really don't need a new TV all that much... but three hours later we found ourselves still planted in the same spot, a small trickle of drool dripping all over our camera gear. When we finally managed to snap out of it, we clicked a few stills and grabbed a video of one of the screens spinning before running out of the LG booth with our eyes shut tight and desire still raging in our heart.

Continue reading LG's 31-inch OLED spin-slices its way into our cold LCD hearts

LG's 31-inch OLED spin-slices its way into our cold LCD hearts originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spartan Army! Disappointed that you couldn’t make it to God of War Live? Unable to attend the PAX PlayStation.Blog Beyond meetup in Seattle yesterday? No worries! We’ve got you covered on the God of War: Ghost of Sparta Demo. We know our Spartan Army members are true die-hard God of War fans, so it only [...]