Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:43:54 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/ Glide Underground Backend en-us http://glideunderground.com/images/logo.gif http://glideunderground.com/ http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3867 Let this please, please be the end of "you must have a net connection to play a single player game" DRM: Ubisoft locked legitimate purchasers of the new Assassin's Creed title out of the product when the authentication servers went down. Meanwhile, the DRM-From-Hell has already been thwarted. Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:43:54 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3866 Activision announces they're doing like this to the Call of Duty series: a number of new Call of Duty franchise titles being pushed into production. Meanwhile, they're getting sued. Jason West and Vince Zampella, recently fired from Infinity Ward by Activision right after the launch of Call of Duty; Modern Warfare 2 (not to be confused with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, though naming fatigue is usually a sign of a series getting the "exploit" treatment mentioned in the PA strip above), now say that Activision's claims of "insubordination" and "breach of fiduciary duty" were in fact a pretext to kick them off before the inevitable oversaturation attempt. Ars says it best: It means that Activision Blizzard hasn't learned anything from the Guitar Hero franchise. The rhythm game genre is in flames, mostly due to oversaturation. Activision seems to want to crank out as many Call of Duty games as possible as quickly as possible, while the name still carries weight. Infinity Ward was a developer built on quality and attention to detail; it's not surprising there is friction between the two groups. Activision Blizzard makes its money from a few large franchises, sprinkled with the modest success of other titles. If Guitar Hero can't be brought back to its previous highs and Call of Duty becomes mired in legal action or low-quality sequels, the company will have burned through two of the three series that enable its success. After that, we can only hope Blizzard isn't the next on the list for profit-maximization.Let's not forget what they did to the Tony Hawk series and O2 Sports line... I fear a reality check is needed somewhere. Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:25:22 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3865 Yes. In 25 hours, Ubisoft's new "you must be online to play this single-player game" DRM was rendered useless. So much for that. Either it gets worse, or they give up. I believe the former to be more likely. Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:28:23 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3864 XSeed is shipping out their newest PSP RPG - Lunar: Silver Star Harmony. Torrance, Calif., (March 2, 2010) - XSEED Games is pleased to announce today that Lunar: Silver Star Harmony has started shipping to retailers across North America. The standard edition of Lunar: Silver Star Harmony will be available for a suggested retail price of $29.99, while the Limited Edition version, which includes a CD soundtrack and a set of 13 exclusive "bromide" collector cards highlighting the girls of Lunar, will be available for a suggested retail price of $39.99 from Amazon.com, EB Games, GameStop, Game Crazy, and other fine retailers. A digital download version of the game will also be available on the PlayStation® Store for a retail price of $29.99 starting March 4th. An entirely revamped iteration of the classic RPG, Lunar: Silver Star Story, Lunar: Silver Star Harmony was developed by Game Arts and will launch exclusively on the PSP® (PlayStation® Portable) system. Following the epic journey of a young boy whose adventures to become the Dragonmaster eventually set him on a path to save the world of Lunar, this classic RPG masterpiece has been reborn with all new graphics, added gameplay features, and a re-mastered soundtrack. This re-imagined entry welcomes a new audience to the unforgettable series, with added story elements sure to intrigue returning fans. Lunar: Silver Star Harmony is rated "T" for Teen by the ESRB. Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:07:54 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3863 Thankfully not another DBZ title, Namco's anouncing their upcoming title Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom: Santa Clara, Calif., (March 2, 2010) – Leading video games developer and publisher NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., today announced Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom™, a riveting action-adventure game for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system. Featuring an engaging storyline of enduring friendship, the game takes players through a seamless world where an agile protagonist and a powerful AI- controlled monster must forge an alliance to battle enemies, solve puzzles and conquer challenges. Developed by Game Republic, Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom is scheduled to be released throughout North America this summer. In Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, a once thriving society is suddenly engulfed by a dark force that nearly eradicates all of its inhabitants. Many tried to reclaim their fallen homeland but were annihilated by strange warriors who rose from the darkness. A hundred years later, a cunning young outsider is drawn to this forsaken kingdom where he encounters and befriends Majin, a mysterious monster-like being with incredible strength. Now in an effort to restore the empire, the two set out to uncover Majin’s forgotten past and the secrets that lie within the ancient land. Wrapped in an emotional journey of courage and respect, Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom takes players on a majestic adventure as a cunning individual who must rely on his agility to triumph over increasing obstacles. What he lacks in might, his AI-controlled companion makes up for with his towering size and brawn. Majin can assess the current gameplay conditions and act accordingly or follow commands with the press of a button. As players progress through the game's lush environments, Majin will continue to grow and acquire additional abilities that will provide access to previously obstructed areas. Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom redefines co-op AI gameplay by delivering an accessible experience that offers the perfect mix of stealth, action, platform navigation and combat that is designed to keep the journey gripping and immersive. Though each character has their own objective, teamwork is essential for survival as the hero and Majin must fight in tandem to persevere over any challenge that lies in their path. This complementary relationship will only continue to deepen and evolve as the story unfolds. Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:07:40 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3862 So yes... Bioshock 2. That's been the main focus for the past week or so. Is it as good as the original? Well, sort of. Different, to be sure. The linear structure, being unable to re-visit finished levels? Hurts to miss items from time to time, especially storyline diaries, but in context of the story, it makes sense. Once it is finished, more will follow. For now, I am happy with the purchase. Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:43:52 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3861 It was as if millions of geeks suddenly cried out... but don't worry. Youtube put the original "Rickroll" video back up after a few hours. Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:38:14 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3860 Simply awesome. And all with off-the-shelf Thinkgeek components. Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:14:57 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3859 Yes, completely random. Enjoy the comparisons. See which ones you disagree with. Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3858 Some video game weapons are unrealistic. Some are actually downright sane (in a steampunk-ish sort of way). Games Radar looks at some that have real-life analogues. Take lasers for instance: However, technology has been coming on leaps and bounds in recent years, and the US military is working with Boeing to create a truck-based anti-air laser and an apparently terrifyingly precise gunship mounted sniping laser weighing around 40,000 lbs. The former is scheduled for battle-strength demonstration in around two years time and the latter was successfully tested this very month. In a real-life deathmatch: You’d do pretty well as long as you didn’t mind circle-strafing really slowly in a 35-ton truck. Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:18:35 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3857 Apple are apparently attacking iPhone hackers and jailbreakers and banning accounts from the App Store: Sherif Hashim who recently found an exploit for the latest version of the iPhone OS has apparently been banned for security reasons by Apple. The picture you see there is what he sees when he tries to enter the iTunes App Store. Bummer.Who knows what comes next? Remember, with Apple, Big Brother is always watching... Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:53:48 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3856 Vancouver had a little problem with their "green" ice resurfacers and had to go back to a good old-fashioned Zamboni. Oh I wanna drive the Zamboni.... It's the second straight day there have been issues here treating the ice between sessions --- yesterday it was the women's 3,000. Problems with that Zamboni left only one available for today, and then that one that began to have problems. The Zamboni left some piles of slush in the turn near where I am sitting --- which is also the front straightaway. So much for the "green model." Back to old reliable. Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:26:32 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3855 There's a new Russian botnet that's actively trying to co-opt the Zeus botnet: With its "Kill Zeus" option, Spy Eye is the most aggressive crimeware, however. The software can also steal data as it is transferred back to a Zeus command-and-control server, said Kevin Stevens, a researcher with SecureWorks. "This author knows that Zeus has a pretty good market, and he's looking to cut in," he said. Turf wars are nothing new to cybercriminals. Two years ago a malicious program called Storm Worm began attacking servers controlled by a rival known as Srizbi. And a few years before that, the authors of the Netsky worm programmed their software to remove rival programs Bagle and MyDoom. So, yes. Check your system and keep your virus scanning package up to date, and practice some safe computing and common sense. Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:51:28 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3854 Microsoft is going to kill the original Xbox Live service completely on April 15th. Yep. On April 15th a whole slew of games will go dark, including Halo 2. On April 15 we will discontinue the Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox v1 games playable on Xbox 360 and Xbox Originals. I want to start by saying this isn’t a decision we made lightly, but after careful consideration, it is clear this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox LIVE community.They don't say what the benefit is, meaning that there really probably isn't one beyond their being able to shut down or repurpose a number of servers. No word on whether the old DLC packs will die as well (such as the Halo 2 map packs), but they likely will. Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:03:14 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3853 Say what now? An Internet Drivers' License? Meanwhile, Dick Brass has an op-ed in the Times about Microsoft's troubles in innovating, caused by (what he sees as) a corporate culture where groups sabotage projects that compete with them. Interesting reading... Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:44:06 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3852 "War. War never changes." This is an absolutely wonderful teaser trailer, even if I weren't already sold on the game merely on the strength of Fallout 3. Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:21:17 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3851 Over at TBM, an article detailing how CrispyGamer died. The new idea of journalists as unrelenting marketers on Twitter and Facebook is apparent to anyone who has friends who are writers. While Teti had the temerity to say no to the board’s offer, writers who are also video-game consultants would likely fall over themselves to have the big bucks Teti turned down. Except their work can’t be trusted. The ultimate question, at least for the world of video-game journalism, is: Does honest editorial quality matter any more? Certainly for the most interesting video-game site on the Web, it no longer does.Unfortunately, this has become the unspoken rule for game reviews. Can you trust the content of big sites? Probably not. If they had early access, they're reviewing on the promise that certain bugs will be fixed (word to the wise: they almost never are). If they had special access, they will feel pressured to give a positive review or else not get access in the future. If their company also sells ads, they'll get pressure from the ad side. Calling a mediocre game a mediocre game, when your ad revenue depends on selling the intended blockbusters, is hard to do. It's hard to do in the best of times, when you're going against the hype. I'm saddened for the loss of Crispy, because they were what I was hoping would be a model for the industry: a bigger name that could reflect the ethics the gaming community hopes for. Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:02:26 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3850 There's an article over at Savygamer (a UK site) asking a few game designers what they think about DRM: TIGA’s research shows that the majority of video games developers (60%) see piracy as a problem for their business and most also see this as a constant or increasing problem for their business going forward (90%). However most developers view the actual threat of piracy to their business survival as low (60%) with only 20% ranking the threat as medium and only 10% considering the threat to be high (10% had no view).It's heartening to see that they're starting to see "piracy" as little risk to their business, but the solutions they're coming up with (up to and including Ubisoft's ridiculous "be online or you can't play" setup) have just been bad news. Wed, 03 Feb 2010 07:45:15 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3849 Vertigo. Massive, massive, massive amounts of vertigo. Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:27:42 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3848 Y'know, I can't think of this as anything other than business suicide. Really. Single-player games that freeze if you lose your internet connection? No way. The price we pay for not requiring the CD in the drive, and for being able to install a game we’ve legally bought on as many machines as we want, is to be permanently online when playing Ubi games. It will authenticate itself online each time you load it, and then save remotely every time you save. This is, to stress, a game perhaps bought in a shop. So from now on, beginning with Settlers 7, potentially all Ubi PC games will require you to check in with them to let them know you’ve started playing their game, and then tell them every time you save, send them all the data in doing so, and then say bye-bye when you’re done playing for that day.The price Ubi will pay, is nobody in their right mind will buy their games anymore. Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:33:15 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3847 Cartoon Network has hired Weird Al. Hopefully this is the start of them getting away from the abysmal, awful stuff they've been running the past few years. Without going into too much detail, the good folks at Cartoon Network decided that they liked me and wanted me to provide some content for them – series, features, animation, live-action… they were open to anything. So after a couple years (yes, really) of the lawyers going back and forth, we finalized a deal – now all I have to do is start making stuff! The first thing I’m on track to do for them is, in fact, a live-action feature film.Go Al! Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:08:30 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3846 The Playstation3 may have been opened wide for iPhone-type "unlocking": I have read/write access to the entire system memory, and HV level access to the processor. In other words, I have hacked the PS3. The rest is just software. And reversing. I have a lot of reversing ahead of me, as I now have dumps of LV0 and LV1. I've also dumped the NAND without removing it or a modchip.Potential upside? Perhaps a real, fully functioning Linux kernel that can run even on the newest PS3's that lack even the PS3's older, crippled "other OS" option. Potential downside? Less-legal applications. Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:23:25 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3845 This time, it's to clone the might Auroch. Yeah. Cattle of Unusual Size. What's next? Possibly Rodents of Unusual Size? The interesting trick is, it's not (this time) direct cloning. Rather, they're taking "related" animals, and attempting to crossbreed them in order to re-create something very similar to the extinct beast: Breeds of large cattle which most closely resemble Bos primigenius, such as Highland cattle and the white Maremma breed from Italy, are being bred with each other in a technique known as "back-breeding". At the same time, scientists say they have for the first time created a map of the auroch's genome, so that they know precisely what type of animal they are trying to replicate. "We were able to analyse auroch DNA from preserved bone material and create a rough map of its genome that should allow us to breed animals nearly identical to aurochs," said team leader Donato Matassino, head of the Consortium for Experimental Biotechnology in Benevento, in the southern Campania region. "We've already made our first round of crosses between three breeds native to Britain, Spain and Italy. Now we just have to wait and see how the calves turn out." Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:44:53 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3844 I don't know about you, but this is actually pretty awesome. This seems like a harmless tube. In fact, it was harmless: Israeli farmers used the first version to scare birds from crop fields. Then, somebody converted it into a crowd dispersion mechanism. And then, they discovered it could kill.I could easily see these set up instead of minefields, some day. Set 'em off when enemies are far enough away and keep them from coming further. Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:49:39 -0600 http://glideunderground.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3843 Slate carries an intriguing slideshow on old, derelict buildings; some are old houses, other old churches, a few old factories, and even a restaurant building. Got any like this in your hometown? I remember quite a few back where I grew up. A number of them may be eerily similar to sights you'll see in Fallout 3 as well. Ruins constantly change. City workers seal windows and doorways and sometimes try to cover up dereliction by painting fake windows and doors on the seals. Scavengers steal carvings, statues, metal pipes, wires, and even bricks and stones. Arsonists often destroy buildings entirely, leaving behind a vacant lot and not even a memory of what stood there before. Abandoned and derelict buildings quickly become hosts to vegetation on their roofs and in their walls. The rain and wind accelerate their descent into ruin. Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:51:40 -0600