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Battlefield Heroes store updated, offers advantage to microtransacting users

It's difficult to explain the current controversy surrounding Battlefield Heroes without talking a whole lot of inside baseball, so we'll keep it simple. Players of the game are up in arms due to a recent update to the title's in-game store. Though EA and DICE had worked up a balance between the game's two forms of currency -- Valor Points, which you unlock from playing, and Battlefunds, which you purchase with real-life money -- this patch heavily depreciates the value of the former while making the latter a near necessity for those who wish to stay competitive in the game.

Items have had their Valor Point costs increased across the board -- what's more, some of these items can no longer be permanently purchased with Valor Points, but can only be taken on a one or three-day test drive. However, these same items have had their Battlefund costs reduced, and allow purchasers to keep them indefinitely.

If the items being purchased were merely cosmetic, we wouldn't think twice about this shift in fungible value -- however, the torch-wielding mob now moving through the Battlefield Heroes forums seem to think that the shooter's developer has forsaken the more frugal members of its community, giving the wealthy playboys among them an unfair advantage.

Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond dated for Jan. 6

D3Publisher's Matt Hazard: Blood Bath & Beyond now has a date with both Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network. It will arrive on January 6 and 7 on Microsoft and Sony's platforms, respectively. Playing on the same camp featured in the original retail Matt Hazard game -- which parodied other games and featured an aging video game star -- Blood Bath & Beyond is a 2D shooter in the same vein as many classics like Contra and Bionic Commando.

Alongside the release date, D3 has also revealed Dexter Dare, Matt Hazard's burnt out sidekick with a sordid history -- including a prolonged "Mana abuse problem" that we're probably supposed to find hilarious. Check out some new screens and Dexter Dare character art in the gallery below.

Ubisoft envisions a future of 3-D movies, games

Older readers out there might think that the 3D gaming revolution began with the advent of consoles like the PlayStation, N64 and the Sega Saturn, but the real 3D gaming revolution is just beginning, according to Ubisoft. 3D gaming doesn't refer to three dimensional graphics anymore; nowadays it means that the game jumps out of the screen and into your eye holes. Beginning with the game adaptation of James Cameron's Avatar, Ubisoft Montreal's Yannis Mallat tells the Financial Post that he sees the company becoming a "360-degree entertainment content provider."

As the wording suggests, Ubisoft's future won't necessarily be restricted to games. Mallat hopes that future game consoles will be able to render photorealistic graphics, enabling Ubisoft to create games and films using the same assets -- similar to what the company did with the Assassin's Creed: Lineage short films.

Of course, enjoying this "360-degree entertainment" will require a special television set. Still, Mallat is firmly behind the technology, saying that it does for images what Dolby did for sound. "No one wants to go back to mono," says Mallat. That's all well and good, but a huge number of gamers have yet to even upgrade to an HDTV at all, let alone one that can take advantage of 3D technology.

[Via VideoGamer]

NPD discovers why people braved the Black Friday crowds

NPD, known in the video game world for its US sales charts, has released its first study of the Black Friday phenomenon. "The Anatomy of Black Friday 2009" is based on a survey of 1,700 shoppers about their Black Friday shopping activities. Why, exactly, did shoppers wake up at ridiculous times and stand out in the cold just for the privilege of being crammed into Best Buy or wherever like sardines? For 35% of Black Friday shoppers, it was a specific item. "I saw an item I wanted advertised on sale" was the top response, followed by "I was just curious to see what was out there."

The top reason for not subjecting themselves to the crowds and queues to buy anything on Black Friday? No, it wasn't "I'm not crazy," it was "no money."

Sony thanks 440,000 customers for giving it money during Black Friday week

Just a few hours after Nintendo, Sony has prepared a Black Friday sales statement of its own. SCEA's Patrick Seybold wrote in a press release: "PlayStation 3 demand was at an all time high with the system selling more than 440,000 units for the week ending 11/29/09." While shy of Wii's numbers, the figure is quite impressive, considering that's more than the number of systems sold in the entire month of October -- the same month that the PS3-exclusive Uncharted 2 came out.

Retailers offered a number of PS3 bundles during the holiday weekend, adding a number of free games and movies to the system's standard $299 price tag. That, coupled with an ad campaign that totally doesn't creep us out, certainly helped Sony's fortunes this year.

'Pro plantiff' Erik Estavillo subpoenas Bill Gates in RROD suit

Erik Estavillo -- otherwise referred to as a "professional plantiff" by GamePolitics for his laundry list of legal claims -- has subpoenaed Microsoft's Bill Gates in his suit targeting the company for his run in with the Red Ring of Death. According to court documents filed in a U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the subpoena demands Gates hand over paperwork that reveal the "true and relative number of actual Xbox 360 units that have been fixed by Microsoft over the past 3 years." Estavillo also seeks data pertaining to the number of broken Xbox 360 consoles and the amount of people banned from Xbox Live for "piracy" between November 28, 2008 and 2009.

While Estavillo is looking for answers to questions every journalist has been seeking, his track record of legal battles places him in eccentric territory. Estavillo is also suing Activision Blizzard claiming characters in World of Warcraft walk at an intentionally slow pace in order to bilk customers of more monthly fees. In the claim, he subpoenaed actress Winona Ryder and Depeche Mode member Martin Gore. Estavillo has also filed suit against Sony for being banned from online play, stemming from comments he supposedly made during matches of Resistance: Fall of Man; and Nintendo, for issuing firmware updates that disabled his Homebrew Channel.

Nintendo gives thanks for plenty of holiday week hardware sales

Nintendo announced that over 1.5 million of its various game systems were sold last week. Not last month, last week. Thanks to Black Friday and two new DSi bundles, Nintendo could afford all the trimmings for a resplendent company Thanksgiving. Not that we know whether or not Nintendo had one of those. The point is, Nintendo sold a bunch of stuff and made a lot of money.

According to Nintendo's estimates, more than 550,000 Wii systems were sold last week, and over 1 million DS and DSi systems. The release of two new DSi bundles (along with a few crazy prices) could have had something to do with that last statistic. By selling that many handhelds, Nintendo broke its own sales record for the holiday weekend! Though the company didn't manage to beat last year's 800,000 Wiis sold, which means that, despite still selling a huge number of Wiis, and despite all those DS sales, Nintendo is completely doomed, right?

Mega Man goes to 8-bit Hell in Doom 2 mod

Doom's main character always seemed to be lacking that little extra something. Sure, he had a BFG 9000 and could battle demons with the best of 'em, but did he have a gun arm? How about a body covered by totally sweet blue metal armor? Didn't think so. And that makes all the difference in the Mega Man mod for Doom 2, created by Mike Hill of the UK. "I've been modding for Doom ever since I first got a hold of the PC version ... some may find it hard to believe that the Doom modding scene is still live and kicking after all these years," Hill told Joystiq.

The 22-year-old built the mod (still in alpha) as an homage to "the time when I feel Mega Man was in full fruition: on the NES," harnessing not just 8-bit sprites for characters but for entire levels. Hill's hope is that someday the mod will contain "all the levels and weapons from Mega Man 1–6 (and maybe even 9)," though, as of right now, he's still got a long way to go. "Right now the gameplay is a bit slow paced and unbalanced, and the maps are extremely difficult to navigate ... expect a more stable release some time next year." He promises more levels and more weapons in 2010, but we're hoping the power of Joystiq BioMass™ can spur Hill on to get us more Mega Man deathmatch asap. Go forth and comment, BioMass!

Prince of Persia dialogue writer wins UK Writer's Guild award

The 2008 reboot of the Prince of Persia franchise (which, apparently, is getting shut down) featured some of the most enjoyable snark and pith we've ever heard in a video game. Fortunately, Andy Walsh, the man responsible for the Prince and Elika's sharp-tongued exchanges, was recently recognized for his witty dialogue when he won the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Games Award last night in London.

Normally, this is where we'd drop in a quote from Walsh about how excited he was to receive the award, but it doesn't seem that anyone initiated the optional dialogue with him following the Writers' Guild awards ceremony. Too bad, something tells us we've missed out on the best part.

Brink moved to Fall 2010; watch its S.M.A.R.T. system now

Back at E3, we were briefly shown Brink's S.M.A.R.T. system for navigating around the Bethesda-published FPS' environment. Our play session was mainly focused on the combat and quests of the game at the time. Now, Splash Damage's own Paul Wedgewood has been kind enough to demonstrate how it works in-game, courtesy of the G4 video past the break.

Another interesting item brought up in this video is Brink's new release date: Fall 2010. Last we heard, it was destined for a Spring 2010 release. Not so anymore!

Continued →

Sonic fans asking for relief

No, not from Sonic games! Earlier this year, the fans at The Sonic Stadium held Sonic Relief 2009, an event through which the forces of Sonic fan art were used for good. The group has announced a second Sonic Relief drive for 2010, promising donations to charity for each work of Sonic fan art submitted.

The group is also asking for fans to use their creativity in another way: by planning their own Sonic-related fundraisers and adding the donations to the main total. This is where your "Watch Me Play Sonic Riders" marathon comes in. "Alternatively," the organizers note, "this system will also allow anyone to just simply make a donation should they wish!" This is where the proceeds from selling your copy of Sonic Riders come in.

It's nice to be reminded that fans can band together for something other than boycotts. The drive will run from January to March.

[Via Sonic City Blognik]

Blizzard: Developing World of Warcraft clones 'not the right move'

Say what you will about MMO market dominator Blizzard Entertainment, but it truly cares about the well-being of its competitors. In a recent interview with gaming magazine PC Zone, Blizzard's Shane Dabiri offered some helpful advice for his fellow MMO developers: "There are a lot of people that try to emulate World of Warcraft - and as flattering as that is our end it's definitely not the right move."

Dabiri posits that the MMORPG-playing community -- particularly those who've already sunk months into WoW -- want "to try something completely new and different" in their online games. This is terrible, terrible news for Snowstorm Interactive, whose fantasy-themed MMO Planet of ConflictMaking is due out next month. Time for some originality, guys. Ooh, we know! A superhero game! No, wait, a space simulator! Better yet, an interactive forum for sexual deviants! Brilliant!

Bioshock 2 coming to Japan, courtesy of D3 Publisher

Good news, Japan! D3 Publisher is localizing Bioshock 2 for you and, this time around, you won't have to wait that long to get your ADAM-soaked hands on it. Andriasang reports D3 Publisher will release the 2K Marin, et al.–developed sequel sometime in early 2010 -- presumably close to the February 9 US release date. We just hope the new Japanese ad campaign dials back the completely frightening a bit.

Rumor: Gaming conventions to convene in Xbox Live

According to a recent survey conducted by market research company VGMarket, Microsoft may be working on an "interactive, online version" of your favorite gaming conventions -- from E3 to ComicCon and everything in between. As noted by a Destructoid reader who took the survey, the online questionnaire presented the aforementioned hypothetical situation, and then went into detail about how such a situation might play out.

"Sign onto Xbox Live and you can enter a virtual version of that convention ... this virtual version contains 20–60 virtual booths sponsored by larger publishers and developers presenting at the real world show," imagined the survey. The possibilities then reached outrageous levels as the idea of downloading "demos and/or betas" directly from the virtual convention floor and playing them that very moment was suggested. However, as VGMarket doesn't list Microsoft among its clients on the company's official website, and a representative could not be reached for comment, the veracity of this survey and its information is still very much in question.

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter getting HD treatment

Hot on the heels of the recently released Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter, Croteam and Devolver Digital have announced that Serious Sam: The Second Encounter will also receive the HD treatment. The serious sequel is slated to arrive on PC and "home console" in early 2010 and, like The First Encounter, it will receive a graphical overhaul to make all the carnage ever so smooth. In addition to the resolution upgrade, Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter will feature a new co-op tournament mode that will "allow teams to compete with one another." Shocking, we know.

In a somewhat stranger turn of events, The Second Encounter will be featured at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, where teams will compete for the Digital Youth Award. The award espouses "the values of creativity, culture, friendship, education and unity" -- none of which we associate with Serious Sam.

Joystiq Features





Featured Galleries

Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond (11/30/09)

Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond (11/30/09)

PlayStation Home Winter Wonderland (PS3)

PlayStation Home Winter Wonderland (PS3)

Transformers Avatar items

Transformers Avatar items

Uncharted 2: Battle of the Doughnuts

Uncharted 2: Battle of the Doughnuts

Shiren the Wanderer (Wii)

Shiren the Wanderer (Wii)

Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition

Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition

Star Wars: Trench Run (iPhone)

Star Wars: Trench Run (iPhone)

No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise (PS3/Xbox 360)

No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise (PS3/Xbox 360)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (WiiWare)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (WiiWare)

 


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