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Monday, 6th September 2010
Internode Offers "True" Terabyte Plan [trog- 12:53pm] From: AusGamers News [ 21 Comments ]
Internode have just announced they're joining iiNet in offering one terabyte of downloads in their latest round of plans - though they're throwing down the gauntlet by calling it the "first true terabyte broadband plan", by virtue of the fact that it is not separated into peak and off-peak:
Taking a lead from the over-size T-shirt shelf, Internode's 1000 gigabyte (GB) XXL Easy Broadband ADSL2+ service drapes its customers in a true one-terabyte data quota plan, costing $149.95 a month when bundled with NodeLine telephone service.

In a generous overhaul, Internode has doubled the data quota of its popular Easy Broadband plan ($49.95 bundled) from 50 GB to 100 GB per month and introduced 200GB ($69.95 bundled) and 300GB ($89.95 bundled) plans - dubbed respectively S, M and L. For customers with big data appetites, Internode provides the 600GB XL plan for $99.95 (bundled) as well as the true-terabyte XXL plan.
Check out the full announcement for more details about the latest plan changes.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Dedicated Servers Limited to Only One Provider [trog- 11:12am] From: AusGamers News [ 23 Comments ]
And everything seemed to be going so well. Treyarch have confirmed in a post on their forums that the much-touted dedicated servers for Call of Duty: Black Ops will be limited to a single game service provider called GameServers.com:
GameServers.com Exclusive: Confirmed
We have partnered with GameServers.com as the exclusive provider of dedicated servers for Call of Duty: Black Ops. Every dedicated server for this title will be running on top quality hardware and infrastructure with excellent bandwidth. There will be a ton of official servers at launch for everyone to play on for free. If you want to run your own server you will be able to rent one at a great price (which will never go higher than $0.99/slot). They are actively adding new server locations and staffing up to meet global demand. If you don’t see your location you can suggest it here: http://www.gameservers.com/blackops/
Mere words cannot describe what a terrible idea this is for a dedicated server-based game.

The entire reason you would make a game with dedicated servers is to allow as many people as possible to provide servers for your game, all over the world. Their actual announcement post actually admits that they don't have all locations covered - only ten countries are listed in their promotional page. Australia is one of them, though given the fact that most other new, popular titles require almost all of Australia's ISPs/GSPs to run servers to meet demand, I am skeptical that they will have sufficient capacity.

This is, in my humble opinion, a real kick in the crotch for any gamer that has been looking forward to this game. It will massively reduce the number of servers available on launch. It will mean no choice in which GSP community you play on. It will mean no competition in terms of renting your own game servers. It takes the main feature that makes the dedicated server model work so well - server accessibility to anyone, anywhere that can run a server - and strips it from you.

Sony Win First Round of OtherOS Removal Case [trog- 10:48am] From: AusGamers News [ 4 Comments ]
Adelaidian Michael Trebilcock, like a true Australian hero, took Sony to court to try to get $800 back after they crippled his PlayStation 3 by removing the OtherOS feature. Unfortunately he recently announced that he lost the case:
OK, so in the end, it was ruled that I was bound to the EULAs, and not mislead (having read the EULA).

It is of course in my opinion that if an EULA says "We can remove any feature in a future update" (which it doesn't in those words, but just as an example) and a representative says "We won't remove X feature", then the latter statement overrules the EULA in that particular instance relating to that feature.
Basically, the judgment seems to imply that the EULA you agree to when you open your PlayStation 3 is the ultimate decider, and even trumps your rights as a consumer to not have advertised functionality remotely removed or disabled from your product, after you have paid for it and been using it.

We spoke briefly to the very busy Colin Jacobs from Electronic Frontiers Australia AusGamers on the subject:
There's an increasing trend for manufacturers to limit what their users can do with their own hardware, and companies won't hesitate to use the law to prevent people playing with their own property when they can. Consumers should have a right to enjoy their own devices as they see fit including hacking them - many of the current generation of engineers cut their teeth this way. If the move to locked-down devices continues, it will represent a significant erosion in the rights of consumers and will stifle creativity to boot.
We also chatted briefly to Michael via email; you can read our quick Q&A session with him for his take.

PAX Prime 2010: Portal 2 Screenshots [Dan- 08:45am] From: AusGamers News [ 1 Comment ]
Valve were showing off the cooperative play from Portal 2 for the first time at this year's PAX Prime, the Penny-Arcade founded event that wrapped up yesterday in Seattle.

Joining the previously released cinematic teaser trailer, we now have some in-engine stills featuring the new characters that will star in the cooperative multiplayer portion of the game - which will also feature it's own set of test chambers and storyline.

Check out the rest of the images right here.




Saturday, 4th September 2010
Duke Nukem Forever - It's Back, Baby [trog- 07:13am] From: AusGamers News [ 65 Comments ]
As rumoured yesterday, 2K have confirmed that they and Gearbox software have been working on finishing up Duke Nukem Forever, and that it will be shipping next year for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3:
“Hail to the king, baby! It's unbelievable, it kicks ass and it's totally going to happen!” said Randy Pitchford, president of Gearbox Software, "Gearbox has enabled die-hard key Duke Nukem franchise builders and skilled veteran game makers to stand together and deliver. All gamers deserve a happy ending and after all of us gamers feeling the full range of emotions about Duke Nukem Forever, I am thrilled to be in a position with the trust, power and means to make it happen. Am I crazy? Balls of steel, baby, balls of steel!”
A single new image accompanies the release, which you can check out here.

No doubt more information will be made available; apparently they are going to have a playable demo available at PAX (which is, I believe, the first time the game has been made playable for the public in all its years of development). There's also an interview with Randy Pitchford from Gearbox where it is mentioned that they're currently in the polishing phase, which indicates that the bulk of the game is finally finished.


Friday, 3rd September 2010
Ubi Wants You to Have a Bloody Good Time on Xbox Live and Steam [Dan- 06:34pm] From: AusGamers News [ 4 Comments ]
Ubisoft have revealed the details of the rumoured Bloody Good Time as a new online delivered title from Outerlight for Xbox Live Arcade and Steam.

Like Outerlight's previous game "The Ship", Bloody Good Time will also be powered by Valve Software's Source Engine, here's the story so far:
Bloody Good Time puts players on a Hollywood set, where they get to choose their thrill. From a spring-break beach house, to a horrifying Vegas hotel, players will discover the merciless world of movie studios where anyone can star in a scary Hollywood blockbuster film. There is an option link up to eight players online in this first-person shooter and to have a multiplayer experience like no other.

In Bloody Good Time, players can be as devious as possible by maiming and killing other competitors in nasty and unexpected ways. Players can use an arsenal of wacky weapons including guns, a frying pan and even an exploding remote-controlled rat to transform the movie set into real mayhem. In addition, players will be able to choose from a variety of stereotypical B-movie characters, such as the bikini beach babe, the creepy clown and the super jock.
Watch the debut cinematic here on AusGamers and check out this game page for the first screenshots and poster art.

Bloody Good Time is due on PC and Xbox 360 some time in the next 3 months (Aus Autumn 2010, U.S. Spring).



Big Reveal Coming from 2K Games... ? [trog- 04:32pm] From: AusGamers News [ 27 Comments ]
So rumours are flying around at the moment about a big reveal coming from 2K Games at PAX Prime, Penny Arcade's big gaming event. There's some speculation that it might be related to this tweet from 3D Realms' George Broussard, a name that you might know because of its association with a little project you probably haven't heard of called Duke Nukem somethingsomething. The post basically just points to this image - a picture of pigs flying, wearing some familiar-looking sunglasses.

Anyway, prepare yourselves. Crash points out in the comments that there will be a live stream of the event at http://www.ustream.tv/2kgameslive.



Megaman Universe Gameplay Trailer Reveals First Details [Dan- 03:38pm] From: AusGamers News [ 2 Comments ]
We weren't exactly sure what to expect after the debut teaser for Megaman Universe, but this debut teaser trailer (currently exclusive to GameSpot :/) provides some clarification.

A brief intro from series creator Inafune-san is following by gameplay featuring "Bad Box Art Megaman" the hideous artists rendition of the character that adorned the cover of the original NES version of the game.

Watch the embed below, for another special reveal at the end.



Extended Gameplay in Shogun 2: Total War Video [Dan- 03:22pm] From: AusGamers News [ 1 Comment ]
Creative Assembly have released what appears to be the first in a series of extended gameplay videos for their upcoming feudal Japan strategy sequel Shogun 2: Total War.

Adopting the "Battle Report" moniker that we've seen in the past from other strategy games such as StarCraft 2 and Red Alert 3, today's clip offers a 6 minute chunk of Shogun 2 multiplayer action, narrated by the developers.

Watch it right here on AusGamers.

Shogun 2: Total War is due on PC in 2011.



New Sven Co-Op Mod for Half-Life Released [trog- 10:53am] From: AusGamers News [ 4 Comments ]
After a long wait, a new version of the hugely popular Half-Life modification Sven Co-Op has been released. The new version has a bunch of fixes and a heap of new features, some of which are as follows:
. At least two new maps.
. Client-side prediction for the M16 (it's no longer delayed by lag)
. Switchable fog. Fog can be enabled, disabled, or have its properties changed mid-map, instead of having to be the same throughout the entire map as in earlier versions.
. The trigger_vote entity. This allows maps to give players choices that they can vote on.
. Repairable func_breakables. This allows for breakables that can be repaired using the wrench. Useful for objectives that players need to defend from monsters. Using a trigger_condition to check a breakable's health, mappers could create things like structures which players must build and keep in repair in order for them to perform a function (like manufacturing weapons or allies).
. HUD Info for func_breakables. This allows a breakable's health (and name if it has one) to be shown in the same way as for monsters. This is especially handy for repairable objects -- which show as Friendly -- or brush-based enemies.
. Legacy support features preventing existing maps from being adversely affected by new sound engine changes.
There's an official release party happening on IRC at the moment - see the official site for more details - but you can download the mod now locally from AusGamers. Might be time to dust off Half-Life and give it a bash.

iTunes v10.0 Released [BillyHardball- 10:27am] From: AusGamers News [ 65 Comments ]
Apple have just released the latest major update to their media player, music and movie store interface, and syncing program for iPods and iPhones. iTunes 10.0 includes a few new and updated features like Airplay, which allows you to play iTunes via any Airplay compatible speakers around your home, better syncing for portable devices like iPhone, and updated AppleTV features to coincide with the release of the new Apple TV.

Perhaps the most unexpected and novel feature of iTunes 10.0 is "Ping", which is tagged as being "A social network for music."
Discover new music by going social with Ping. Learn even more about your favourite artists and friends starting with their bios. See what they’ve been up to — even listen to 30-second previews of music they like. Find out when and where artists and bands are on tour and check out photos and videos they’ve posted. With Ping, a community of the world’s most passionate music fans is just a click away.
Learn more about Ping here, read about all the new iTunes features here, and download it by going here. promoted forum item


Thursday, 2nd September 2010
Kinect Australian Release Date Revealed [Steve Farrelly- 02:28pm] From: AusGamers News [ 27 Comments ]
At a Halo: Reach event last night Microsoft unveiled the local release date for Kinect here in Australia, after demonstrating the system working successfully on-stage (which is a change from other live demonstrations elsewhere).

We'll be getting the hands-free controller and user-interface on November 18 and it will come bundled with Kinect Adventures for an SRP of AU$199. Additionally, the system will also be part of a bundled Xbox 360 package that will come with a console, Kinect and Kinect Adventures and will set you back an SRP of AU$449.

Will you be picking one of these up?

Mass Effect Lair of the Shadow Broker Trailer [Dan- 01:46pm] From: AusGamers News [ 4 Comments ]
BioWare have released a trailer for the next downloadable content expansion for Mass Effect 2 - The Lair of the Shadow Broker.
Liara T'Soni is tracking down the mysterious Shadow Broker, and no one is safe. She'll do anything to recover the man the Broker kidnapped... and the Shadow Broker's agents will do anything to stop her. Team up with Liara and chase clues from the luxurious heights of Illium to the Shadow Broker's own secret lair. Adds the Shadow Broker intel center, new research, and five new achievements – and the chance to continue a relationship with Liara.
The extra content we've seen so far for Mass Effect 2 has been some of the strongest in the DLC space, so this is no-doubt one to keep an eye on.

Lair of the Shadow Broker is due on PC and Xbox 360 September 9th 2010 for 800 MS/BioWare points and will presumably be available on PSN when the game hits PlayStation 3 in January 2011.

Watch the trailer here on AusGamers.



Shadow Boxing new Mortal Kombat Trailer [Dan- 01:33pm] From: AusGamers News [ 5 Comments ]
Warner have released a new trailer promoting their upcoming Mortal Kombat revamp, the 3D rendered fighter going back to it's 2D gameplay roots.
The rocking trailer features several classic Mortal Kombat fighters hidden in the shadows preparing for their next vicious attack. Even in the darkness, players will recognize the blue blaze of Raiden’s electricity and the iconic spear attack of Scorpion. You’ll find these kombatants are just as brutal, if not more, under the veil of darkness.
Not sure on the choice of music though, Disturbed may be Grammy winners with 11 million album's sold, but have cheesy nu-metal soundtracks been cool since the late 90s? The track is apparently the single "ANother Way to Die" from the new album Asylum.

Watch it right here on AusGamers.



Fable 3 Interview [trog- 02:19pm] From: AusGamers News [ 0 Comments ]
Our roving reporter Mike Bantick sat down yesterday with Louise Murray, the Fable franchise head at Lionhead Studios, to talk Fable 3. A lot of ground is covered in the interview, including some of the differences between the new title and the previous games in the series, the fact that it won't have any Kinect integration, the reduction in user interface, and changes in weapon handling.
Weapons are also handled a little differently in this release. Instead of hundreds of different weapon types and descriptive loot drops, weapons fall into a small number of broad categories and develop along with the players style, similar to the previous games but not quite;

“It was a case of getting the XP and then spending the XP, and you got better at [different weapon abilities], now it happens automatically, and your weapon morphs as you use it. The more you kill innocents with it, the bloodier the effect will be because it is quite an evil sword. If you’re good and protect, then you get blue shades on it reflecting that you are a good and noble hero; the weapon is as unique as you are...
Read on for the full interview!

StarCraft 2 Cracks 3 Million Sales in One Month [trog- 02:37pm] From: AusGamers News [ 89 Comments ]
Blizzard have confirmed that PC gaming is still alive and strong - at least, if you're a company that is in the habit of making really awesome games that you then support for years and years afterwards: StarCraft 2 has sold over three million units since its release around a month ago.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty was released simultaneously in North America, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on July 27. With day-one sales topping 1 million copies, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty became the bestselling PC game of 2010 within its first 24 hours of availability.

The game went on to sell more than 1.5 million copies in its first 48 hours, setting the record for fastest-selling strategy game of all time, and has won numerous critical accolades, including multiple editor’s choice awards from major gaming publications.
If you aren't one of those three million people, then maybe you should read our review and find out why you probably want to join the crowd.

File Server Maintenance Soon [trog- 09:20am] From: AusGamers News [ 0 Comments ]
Just a quick note to let users know that our file server is going offline (hopefully) temporarily for scheduled maintenance this morning around 10.30am. Expected downtime is short; we've disabled downloads for now to make sure less people are inconvenienced by having their download terminated.

Note: this will not affect our US-based download server (us3cdn.ausgamers.com) so if you are downloading from this server you will have no problems.

Unreal Engine on iPhone 4 [3dee- 09:45am] From: AusGamers News [ 33 Comments ]
This demo's pretty awesome, especially for a limited set of hardware like the iPhone 4 (well, not for a mobile anyway). I've been playing the demo and it runs pretty smooth but chugs a little in dense scenes, but it's still pretty damn impressive.

From PocketGamer:
Following on from its talk at GDC 2010 about the problems of porting its C++ game engine to iPhone, Epic Games has finally announced that Unreal Engine 3 now works on iPhone.

Demonstrating its new Project Sword game, which is being developed by Chair, who made the Shadow Complex XBLA game, the graphics running on an iPhone 4 were amazing.
Epic's tech demo is up on the store. Not much gameplay though. I took some screenshots: promoted forum item



New Apple Products - Updated Touch, Apple TV and Nano [iTOM- 10:06am] From: AusGamers News [ 65 Comments ]
Apple this morning have announced new products during their conference. Engadget have a real-time list happening on their site and the official Apple site of course has all the goodies.

Most notably is the Apple TV. All other products are just improved versions of the last:

- thinner iPod Touch
- new iPod nano (completely touch now)
- iPod shuffle.

All those iPhone 3G holders rejoice - an update to iOS will be coming your way that apparently fixes your performance issues.promoted/edited forum item


Wednesday, 1st September 2010
New Xbox 360 Controllers with Improved D-Pad Revealed [Dan- 02:45pm] From: AusGamers News [ 15 Comments ]
Xbox have confirmed the rumours of a new controller model for the Xbox 360 today with community rep Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb lifting the veil to give us a good look.

It's not a major overhaul but gamers that like to use the D-pad arrows when available might be interested to see the new screw mechanism that aims to make D-Pad movement control more accurate and responsive.
The engineers have come up with an ingenious solution with a d-pad that can go from a plus to a disc with the twist of the wrist.
It also does away with the Red/Green/Blue/Yellow buttons for the first time, opting for a greyscale pallette. For a closer look at the new D-Pad in action, check out the video on Major Nelson's blog.

The controller is due to hit U.S. shelves (only with a new Play & Charge kit) on November 9th 2010. Hyrb mentions that a European release is expected in Feburary 2011, so Australia will likely see them around then also.

Dead State: A Zombie Survival RPG [infi- 01:12pm] From: AusGamers News [ 16 Comments ]
Okay, so you like Fallout 3? And you liked Left 4 Dead? Well then enjoy the best of both worlds in Dead State, a zombie survival RPG. From Destructiod:
The Zombie Apocalypse is the new World War II, and has been for a while now when it comes to games. But most, if not all zombie games to date have mostly focused on just killing them in droves. Few have actually thought about surviving in a world full of shambling undead. Until Dead State, that is.

Developed by DoubleBear, among whose members were once of Obsidian Entertainment and Troika Games (the Arcanum people), Dead State takes survival beyond just getting to the chopper/boat/car and concentrates on the big picture. Set in the fictional Texas town of Splendid, the player manages a local shelter while going out to find food and supplies, gather townsfolk, and even make allies (or enemies) out of other groups of survivors.
More information is available on the developer's site at http://www.deadstate.doublebearproductions.com/about/. promoted/edited forum item

Brink Dev Diary Video 4 Talks Art Direction [Dan- 11:54am] From: AusGamers News [ 4 Comments ]
Bethesda have sent along the next video in their developer diary series for the hotly anticipated first person shooter Brink. In today's clip the Splash Damage crew including Art Director Olivier Leonardi and (Aussie) Lead Environment Artist Aaron Hoffman discuss a topic that has seen some pretty polarised responses from the community - the game's part realstic, part cartoonish art direction.

Watch the latest video right here on AusGamers.



File Downloads Offline [trog- 11:43am] From: AusGamers News [ 1 Comment ]
A theoretically small change we were making to our files downloads server has gone slightly awry which has meant file downloads have been offline for a while this morning. We're in the process of reverting the change and hope to have them back online again soon.

If you've been trying to download files it's possible you would have received an error; apologies for the inconvenience. Some files will still work but if you have problems, please stay tuned for updates!

Update: Aaaand we're back.

TenTon Hammer Launch World of Warcraft Website and Addon [NoLogic- 11:01am] From: AusGamers News [ 13 Comments ]
Gearscore has been a love hate issue for most WoW players, some argue that a high GS doesn't accurately reflect a players real skill level (I subscribe to this side of the arguement).

This article over at Gamasutra has a quote by John Hoskin, Creative Director at TenTon...
An enormous concern for World of Warcraft players is that they are excluded from much of the fun simply because a number generated by a gear scoring add-on is too low," said John Hoskin, Creative Director of Ten Ton Hammer. "Most players would agree that skill and attitude is more important than being a few digits higher on a virtual gear scoreboard. We allow players to not only see the gear level, but the skill level, raiding experience and more of any player. What’s even more exciting is that players can see where they rank against everyone else who plays World of Warcraft, regardless of what server they play on."
Visit playerscore for more information at http://www.tentonhammer.com/playerscore.

This, if it takes off could make it a lot easier for players with low GS gear to get a look in for PUG's and also fill in roles for established guilds on their runs into the higher level instances. promoted forum item


Tuesday, 31st August 2010
Behind the Scenes Trailer Shows off more GoldenEye 007 Wii [Dan- 03:11pm] From: AusGamers News [ 10 Comments ]
Activision have sent along a new trailer for the upcoming GoldenEye 007, the long-awaited re-imagining of the acclaimed Nintendo 64 title. Today's clip goes behind the scenes with developer commentary describing how they are "taking things further to expand what's possible" while re-conceiving this much-loved title.

The trailer includes some gameplay that hasn't been publicly shown before and boasts that the game will "blow away anything you've ever seen first person shooter wise on the Wii".

Big words, but as you can read about in AusGamers E3 hands-on preview, first impressions are looking pretty good.

Watch the new trailer right here on AusGamers.

GoldenEye 007 is due exclusively for Wii and DS in November 2010.



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