To deal with frustration among holiday shoppers hunting for its Wii game console, Nintendo Co. and retailer GameStop Corp. are launching a rain check program.
"We expect this to be a great way for consumers who desperately want a Wii to have something to put under the tree," Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said Friday.
The rain checks will be available at the regular Wii system price, $249.99, on Dec. 20 and 21, and will entitle buyers to get the Nintendo console before Jan. 29. Fils-Aime said "many tens of thousands of rain checks" would be available.
GameStop regularly takes deposits on hot software titles before they launch, which means it has the infrastructure to deal with rain check program, Fils-Aime said. The company is working with other retailers, like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Best Buy Co., to push out inventory from the supply chain to shelves as quickly as possible before Christmas, he added.
Lock and load soldier! Its time to take the battle to your living room as the single player demo of Frontlines™: Fuel of War™ goes live on Xbox Live® Market Place.
Players will be thrust into the near future as they battle in an epic struggle over earth’s last oil reserves in this innovative new first person shooter from THQ and KAOS Studios.
Set in the near future, Frontlines™: Fuel of War™ asks the plausible question ‘what would happen if our oil reserves were about to run out?’. As man kind is starved of one of its most important resources two super powers face off over the last reserves in intense futuristic warfare. Starting on the oil fields of central Asia this game takes players across the globe and right into the heart of Moscow itself.
Created in collaboration with a team of military advisors this game features over sixty different weapons and vehicles all based on real world technology being developed by the modern military. Players will be able to take the war to their enemy using everything from guided smart bombs and remote control combat drones to the good old fashioned assault rifle. The unique Frontline mechanic employed in this game ensures that the gameplay is intense and fast-paced at all times as well as giving players the freedom to explore the maps fully.
The Xbox Live® Marketplace demo features the second mission of the single player game where players can experience the open world gameplay and hi-tech weaponry as well as the destructibility of structures throughout the maps. With complete freedom to complete objectives in any order and from any direction players will be able to replay this demo again and again as they discover completely new ways to reach their goal.
The finished game will feature a gripping and immersive single player storyline spanning eight vast missions and an exciting multiplayer mode for up to 32 players featuring a unique role and load-out system allowing players to customize their character to suit any situation.
So what are you waiting for? Download the free Frontlines™: Fuel of War™ demo now from Xbox Live® Marketplace and get right into the action! The full version of Frontlines™: Fuel of War ™ will be available for Xbox 360, Sony PS3 and PC in February 2008.
Allieu Shaw, a 19 y/o Frostburg State University student in Gaithersburg MD, Was arrested after making threats to shoot up the school and detailing how he was going to do it during a Multiplayer match of COD4.
The threats were made orally on Xbox Live while playing a multiplayer game of Call of Duty 4. A player in the same game from Oregon made a call to authorities in Maryland to report the threats.
The Police quickly tracked the account to Shaw at the college and placed him under arrest.
Shaw claims it was only a joke and he had no plans on moving forward with his threats. A search of his dorm room turned up no weapons.
The incident caused a Lock Down or (Lock In) of numerous schools in the Frostburg area till shaws location could be pinpointed.
With the latest shootings its best to take all threats seriously and if error to error on the side of safety.FSU spokeswoman Liz Medcalf said there were 40 police officers patrolling the campus at one point Tuesday.
The university has placed Shaw on interim suspension pending an administrative hearing to be conducted by FSU. In addition Shaw faces a maximum penalty of one year jail time and/or a fine of up to $5,000.
For those online players that like to joke around you better choose your jokes wisely and to those that really do plan on doing something stupid, please by all means blab about it on XBL we would love to hear about it.
Sega is test-marketing a new software tool designed to match character facial expressions with dialogue spoken by voice actors.
According to Nikkei, Magical V Engine dovetails with computer graphics programs to analyze spoken words and match the movements of a character’s mouth, eyebrows and eyes to vowel sounds. It also analyzes the emotional delivery of spoken words in order to detect happiness, anger, surprise and sadness, which can be combined to create complex expressions.
Sega says that the tool is able to complete up to 80 percent of the work involved in animating expressions to match spoken dialogue, and notes that internal testing improved efficiency in this department nearly 100-fold.
An introductory offer will see the software hit the market for 155,400 yen (approximately $1,392) until March, after which it will be priced at 207,900 yen ($1,862).
If you were given the power to pick an Achievement for a game, and you wanted to come up with something that would really anger players in a multiplayer game by those trying to unlock it, what would you come up with?.
Well, forget about it because the makers of the new Turok game (Not yet released) have already thought it up. A teabagging Achievement? No, that has already been done and is actually kind of amusing. No no, Propaganda Games has gone the extra mile to anger its online players by adding a TEAM KILL Achievement! I bet that will make for a very enjoyable game! Not only depending on your team mates to do their part to help defeat the enemy team but now you get the benefit of team mates shooting you in the back on a regular basis, "Woo Hoo! Hey guys I did it, I got my Team Kill Achievement! Good for you buddy!"
The Grab Bag achievement, dubbed the 'Worst Achievement Ever' by the internet, gives you ten points if you ""kill at least 1 creature, 1 enemy, 1 teammate, and yourself in the same round of a public match," encouraging the ultra-infuriating practice of team killing. The developers said since it usualy happens on accident anyways they thought they would add it in as a JOKE! Very funney guys.
The developers are building a patch to disable this achievement ("if" it turns out to be a problem). What are the chances that a MP team kill achievement will NOT be a problem? This author is not taking that bet. They mention the problem of "Achievement Whores" that tend to disrupt online games by being focused on achievements in MP games rather than being a team player. The company is a bit torn on the issue because on one hand it can hurt the online experience for other players but at the same time the MP achievements is what gets and keeps alot of players in a game.
News-Source: CVG Actual Turok Achievement List: TUROK POINTS
Harmonix, MTV Games and EA, released today the fourth song pack for Rock Band.
Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this game song track pack, which includes: "I Fought the Law"--The Clash, "Rockaway Beach"--the Ramones, and "Ever Fallen in Love," which is a cover of a song made famous by Buzzcocks.
A variety of song packs, albums and individual tracks will be available for download on a weekly basis. And that’s just through the end of 2007. Fans can expect more music every week through 2008 with suggested retail pricing varying from $.99 to $2.99 per track (The equivalent of 80 to 240 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360), with the vast majority selling for $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360).
3-Pack for $5.49 or Individual Tracks for $1.99 Each (160 Microsoft Points per track and 440 per pack for Xbox 360)
Punk Pack:
“Rockaway Beach” - Ramones
“I Fought the Law” - The Clash
“Ever Fallen In Love” as made famous by Buzzcocks *
HQ Network: 9,397 | 
Guests: 5451 |
Members: 2
A player in the same game from Oregon made a call to authorities in Maryland to report the threats.
Sega says that the tool is able to complete up to 80 percent of the work involved in animating expressions to match spoken dialogue, and notes that internal testing improved efficiency in this department nearly 100-fold.
3-Pack for $5.49 or Individual Tracks for $1.99 Each (160 Microsoft Points per track and 440 per pack for Xbox 360)
