Game News: November 21, 2006

Small Arms Embraces Social Gaming on Xbox Live Arcade
   

Networking with friends reaps new rewards with this highly anticipated Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday release. The frantic multiplayer brawling game Small Arms will be available for download on Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 beginning Wednesday, November 22, after 0800 GMT 1:00 a.m. PST.

Burger King Feeds Holiday Gift Frenzy
   Give the gift of games with these three games featuring the King himself. Each are available nationwide for under four bucks with a Value Meal.

See PlayStation Network in action
   New shots of the online PlayStation Store and the PS3 web browser doing its thing inside.
Players can hook the PS3 up to a broadband internet connection download a content to their built-in HD drives and surf the web - and this is what it looks like.



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Gears of War Passes One Million Mark
   As Gears of War emerges throughout the world ahead of the holiday sales rush, the Xbox 360 juggernaut has sold an impressive one million copies world-wide in just its first two weeks of release and become the top game on Xbox Live.

DS touches 7 Million Europeans
   Official figures suggest Nintendo DS is bullying PSP throughout Europe.
This isn't even a fair fight now between DS and PSP. Since launching in March 2005, DS has sold seven million units across Europe alone, with six Nintendo DS games selling over a million each. Expect these figure to treble when Nintendo finally gets round to releasing Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass sometime next year.

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Microsoft talks Gears Of War trilogy
   Lead character Marcus Fenix to be established as "the hero of the Gears of War trilogy".
Gears Of War is awesome (read the review here). Thousands of gamers, including all here at CVG, are hammering it on a daily basis over Xbox Live. So much so that Epic's grizzly shooter has only gone and knocked Halo 2 off from its perch as the most played game on Xbox Live.

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New high-res Halo 3 multiplayer shots
   Five immense shots of Halo 3's multiplayer game unleashed inside.
Here it is, some actual meat on what we can expect Halo 3's multiplayer game to look like (we all know what it'll play it... Halo 2).



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A PS3 or Free Tacos for Life?
   Taco Bell is trying to do a good deed. The first person who agrees to give up their PlayStation 3 to Taco Bell will get the equivalent of tacos for life. Your console (should you choose to donate it) won't go to a Taco Bell manager. Instead, the Bell is giving the PS3 to the Boys & Girls Club. Shou...

PS3 Backwards Compatibility Checklist
   Sony Computer Entertainment has created an official backwards compatibility checklist site for looking up the compatibility status on PlayStation and PlayStation 2 titles. Rather than printing a flat list of 8,000 ...

WiiConnect 24 Update Breaking Systems?
   We have received word from numerous sources that running the initial WiiConnect 24 update on the Wii has had a tendency to cause a recurring error code. Several error codes have been reported so far, but the most prevalent of them are 110213 and 32002. We contacted Nintendo about this issue, and the...

No 'Vegas' On PS3 Until '07
   In announcing 'Rainbow Six: Vegas' had shipped for Xbox 360, Ubisoft also revealed that the PS3 and PSP versions of the first-person shoot had been delayed into 2007. 'Rainbow Six: Vegas' won't...

PSP Updates to 3.00
   Fans of the PlayStation Portable have been waiting patiently for a big system update for some time now -- versions 2.81 and 2.82 were just security updates and nothing else exciting. But the wait for the next big PSP update is finally over, as Sony Computer Entertainment finally released the long-aw...

'Phantasy Star's Universe' Expands
   Sega is releasing eight new 'Phantasy Star Universe' missions in time for the long Thanksgiving weekend. Available on 360, PS2 and PC, the download opens up planet Moatoob for online play. Keep in mind; these missions are already available in the single-player portion of PSU. This is the first time ...

PlayStation Classics Hit PSP
   The Japanese version of Sony's PlayStation Store went quiet following the PS3's 11/11 launch. But things are going to get much more interesting in just a few hours. Sony has announced final details on the first set of games to be made available for download via the Game Archives section of the stor...

'Blue Dragon' Sequel Already Planned
   'Blue Dragon' doesn't hit Japan for another couple of weeks, but there's already talk of a sequel. In the latest issue of Famitsu, producer Hironobu Sakaguchi confirmed plans for a follow up to the big Microsoft-published RPG. Furthermore, while he wouldn't confirm a final platform, Sakaguchi does e...

EA, UCL Collaborate On Game Animation Research
   

The UK branch of major publisher and developer Electronic Arts (EA) and graphics researchers at University College London (UCL) are working in collaboration to research visualisation techniques, showing how industry and academics can collaborate in meaningful ways..

PlayStation Portable Gets an Update (PC World)
   PC World - Sony is releasing a software update that allows PSP to work with PlayStation 3, adds new features.

<html><head><title>Link swings wonderfully into action on Nintendo Wii
(USATODAY.com)
</title></head><body><p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/videogames/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20061121/tc_usatoday/linkswingswonderfullyintoactiononnintendowii">Link swings wonderfully into action on Nintendo Wii
(USATODAY.com)
</a><br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;USATODAY.com - There's a reason "Legend" accompanies the title. Nintendo's favorite hero, Link, kicks off the Wii launch with Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, another heroic adventure that cements the franchise as one of gaming's best.<hr></p></body></html>

CORRECTED: Gamestop posts profit, shares fall (Reuters)
   Reuters - (Corrects first and third paragraphs to show third-quarter profit was in line with average forecast and not below the average forecast)

Nintendo's Gaming Weapon: Wiimote (NewsFactor)
   NewsFactor - On Sunday, Nintendo released the much-awaited Wii, the firm's latest entry in the hot and ever-expanding gaming market. The Wii debuted to sell-out crowds in New York, Los Angeles, and dozens of points in between, with some buyers waiting in line for days for a chance to grab one of the first units. Minor violence was also reported.

Sony: Consoles can aid medical research (AP)
   

AP - The new PlayStation 3 isn't all about entertainment. That's the message Sony Corp. is trying to convey in announcing that the new game consoles — as powerful as supercomputers — can help Stanford University researchers analyze complex human protein structures and perhaps find cures for cancer, Alzheimer's and other ailments.

Companies pursue game console supremacy (AP)
   

AP - The game-console war is officially under way with the sold-out launches of Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii, but there are still a lot of battles to fight — and dragons to slay.

Counter-Strike dev Left 4 Dead
   Co-op multiplayer action game powered by Valve's Source tech announced. UPDATED WITH NEW DETAILS.
Turtle Rock Studios, the developer that works on Counter-Strike: Source, is creating a new game called Left 4 Dead.

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Small Arms embracing Live Arcade tomorrow
   Power Stone-style experience ready to launch into action.
All being well, Gastronaut's Xbox Live Arcade game Small Arms will be available via the service on November 22 for 800 Microsoft Points.

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Railroad Tycoon released for free
   Download Sid Meier's 1990s game.
2K Games has released Sid Meier's original railroad sim Railroad Tycoon for free - and yes, it's the full game that's available.

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PS3 "just isn't that great" says New York Times
   System is "surprisingly clunky" and doesn't provide "many basic functions" gamers now expect...
"Howard Stringer, you have a problem. Your company's new video game system just isn't that great," opens the New York Times' review of Sony's New hardware.

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WARNING: WiiConnect 24 kills Wiis
   Units rendered useless by Nintendo's first online update.
The joys of having a Wii on launch has come to a sudden, disturbing end for a few gamers in the US, who've reported an online update fed to their console through the WiiConnect 24 service has killed their new console.

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Halo 2 no longer most played game on Live
   Finally... people give something else a try. Gears Of War knocks Bungie's shooter for six.
We were beginning to think that Halo 2 would be the most played game on Xbox Live until Halo 3 launches sometime next year.

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Kutaragi "dragged his feet"
   Microsoft became more aggressive in securing third-party exclusives while Sony went all quiet.
If Sony and Ken Kutaragi hadn't been wrapped up in finalising business terms for independent publishers on PS3, Sony's next-gen system would have a lot more third-party exclusives according to a Newsweek blog.

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Barnyard Wii screens
   Featuring four-player mini games, bike racing a an animal pub.
Barnyard is a quirky adventure game based on the film from Nickelodion, in which players take control of a new cow in town, and must complete various challenges and mini games as they develop relationships with the other animals.



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The Witcher fuels our fantasy
   Blood-spurting melee combat and environments revealed in new screenshots from the RPG.
We'd like to invite you to pass mince pies over Geralt, legendary monster slayer, master swordfighter with supernatural abilities and reflexes and star of CD Projekt's PC role-playing game The Witcher. Presented here in new screenshots is the big G engaging in combat and separating foes from their life blood. We've also got some environment shots for you to take a look at.



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Look in awe at Americans purchasing Wiis
   Look at them - all wearing white Wii hats, loving the fact that they're the first people in the world to take home their own Wii. It's okay to be enraged with jealousy.
These photos are of the Toys R Us midnight opening in Times Square, New York, where thousands turned up to grab a Wii, check out the playable consoles on display, or just soak up the gaming atmosphere.



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