Gaming

Three million registered players have been recruited to date for EA’s third person shooter Battlefield Heroes, it was announced today. The internet based game, that is free to download and play, relies on advertising and in-games sales for revenue. Electronic Arts also released a new map for the game, named “Sunset Showdown”, set on a desert island.Read more

From Russia with Love: Copies of Modern Warfare 2 have been recalled in Russia, taken off the shelf, censored, and called in for questioning. It seems there is this little scene at the beginning where certain people get massacred. You have to wonder what would have been the reaction in the US if the scene had been set at say, Chicago O’Hare airport and the dead civilians had been Americans. That probably would have been a little too much PR. No, better to stick with the tried and true stereotype Bad Guys.Read more

Following up on Microsoft’s Xbox Live banning owners of modified consoles, news is making the rounds in the tech press of the emergence of supposed workarounds from the modding community. There seems to be a lot of misinformation. What is known is that the ban, which permanently suspends Xbox Live (XBL) accounts, affects any user who has modified firmware on their DVD drive, and it affects them whether they used that console to play illegal copies of games or not. Read more

Microsoft’s Xbox Live service banned up to 1 million players this week suspected of modifying their consoles to disable DRM protection. The action came the same week as the highly anticipated release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Pirated copies of the game were circulating on known warez sites before the release, leading some to speculate that Infinity Ward, the games publisher, prodded Microsoft to make the move.Read more

Several online retailers have announced they won't be selling the year's biggest launch on their digital distribution systems. Direct2Drive, GamersGate and Impulse all are refusing to sell the PC version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and all for the same reason, namely, the game's PC version relies on the Steamworks client, which is bundled with the game, for multiplayer gaming. Read more

Details of Epic Mickey, the rumored Nintendo Wii game starring Mickey Mouse were announced today. The game is in development by Warren Spectors Disney owned Junction Point Studios. Spector is an unusual choice to head up the project. Although a life-long Disney fan, the game designer was previously known for his work on dark, cutting edge RPGs like Deus Ex, Ultima VI: The False Prophet, System Shock, and Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. From that to Epic Mickey, described as an adventure-platforming game with light role-playing elements, seems a bit of a back step, no? Maybe not.Read more