Diablo 3′s female Monk designs revealed on The Jace Hall Show
In a recent segment on The Jace Hall Show, the typically secretive Blizzard dev team gave the towering host/television producer/Monolith founder a sneak peek at some of the concept art for the female iteration of Diablo 3‘s Monk class. While she doesn’t embody what we normally imagine when we think of devout martial arts experts, she looks supremely badass. You can check out a few screengrabs from the clip on fan site BlizzPlanet, or simply watch the video posted after the jump (the segment starts at the 6:44 mark).
[Via VG247]
Continue reading Diablo 3′s female Monk designs revealed on The Jace Hall Show
Diablo 3′s female Monk designs revealed on The Jace Hall Show originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
ESRB Bad Company 2 summary mentions World War II single-player missions
Will Battlefield: Bad Company 2 be taking a step back to 1943 for awhile? That may be the case according to a rating summary found on the ESRB website. While the summary mentions the expected offerings of the upcoming modern shooter such as references to its four known multiplayer modes, it also points some vital information about the game’s single-player, “In single-player mode, players conduct missions on an unnamed Japanese island during World War II and then move into the modern day through jungles, deserts, and snowy terrain.”
Whether or not these missions are tied to the overall story remains to be confirmed. Regardless, considering the Thompson and M1 Garand are weapons available for online play in Bad Company 2 it would be nice to know that they were included because of the connection between single-player and multiplayer rather than pre-order incentives.
View full post on That VideoGame Blog
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is snowed in
Much like the rest of the nation, Weekly Webcomic Wrapup HQ is currently buried beneath roughly a half-mile of fresh snow. Despite our encasing, we’ve somehow managed to hold onto our internet connection. We know, that doesn’t make a lick of sense — we’re guessing that somewhere out in the arctic wilderness, a router is still powered on, fueled by an unseen, tenacious modem.
We’ve used this inexplicable internet access to bring you our seven favorite webcomics, listed below. Check them out, and vote for your favorite after the jump! If we missed out on any good ones, leave a link in the comments!
BioScrap (2P Start)
Not Sold in Stores (Virtual Shackles)
Lost Concept Art (Of Noobs and Men)
The Future is No Escape (Penny Arcade)
Block Party (Digital Unrest)
Yolk (Brawl in the Family)
Gun to a Knife Fight (Extra Life)
Continue reading Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is snowed in
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is snowed in originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Xbox Engineering Blog explains smaller game installations
When the last Xbox 360 NXE update reduced the footprint of some full game installations, many assumed that Microsoft had simply employed an advanced mom-packs-your-suitcase algorithm. And while that wasn’t the most technically accurate assumption, it didn’t stray too far from the layman’s truth.
“Xbox 360 game disc layouts are optimized for the reading speeds of optical discs drives and attempt to concentrate the game disc data at the fastest read locations on the disc,” Thomas Soemo writes on the Xbox Engineering Blog. “This typically ends up creating gaps at the beginning, end, and in the middle of the disc layout where layer 1 transfers to layer 2.” Soemo, a senior program manager lead at Microsoft, explains that in creating the update, “we went back and examined how much potential space savings we could deliver to customers by removing these gaps that can occur in the middle of the game code in the disc layout.”
Removing the gaps benefited not only game installations, but the size of games obtained via Microsoft’s Games on Demand service, which uses “the same underlying technology.”
Also, your mom uses the same underlying technology.
Xbox Engineering Blog explains smaller game installations originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Dark Void plugged with ‘Survivor Missions’ DLC next week
The Rocketeer raconteurs at Capcom have announced downloadable content for January’s critical crash-and-burn, Dark Void. Dubbed “Survivor Missions,” the pack allows you to “relive key events” from the third-person shooter, modified by increasingly difficult waves of enemies and a points multiplier. Think: Gears of War 2‘s horde mode, only you’re alone and … can turn into a plane?
The DLC should be available on Xbox 360 next week, February 10th, at 400 MS points ($5). It’ll land on PlayStation Network the following day, February 11th, for $4.99 — that’s one cent cheaper than DSiWare’s Dark Void Zero. And if you’re looking for even more ways to spend money on Dark Void, Bear in mind the soundtrack, which launches on February 9th.
Dark Void plugged with ‘Survivor Missions’ DLC next week originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Just Cause 2 demo falling from the sky any day now
In the land of Twitter, Just Cause 2 developer Eidos is a fairly new entrant. Having just, 10(ish) hours ago, joined up via Square Enix Europe community manager Keir Edmonds, the company account has already dropped one bombshell: a Just Cause 2 demo is “on its way.” Though the account merely alludes to “details to follow,” we’d be downright surprised if the demo hit any later than the game’s March 23 release date.
Just to make sure Eidos didn’t want to say anything else, we’ve reached out for more information and we’ll update this post if we hear anything else.
[Via CVG]
Just Cause 2 demo falling from the sky any day now originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Xbox Live service for Xbox 1 games to be discontinued on Apr. 15
[Image: Bungie]
Microsoft is pulling the plug on the Xbox Live services that still cater to the original Xbox. As of April 15th, all Xbox 1 games — including those playable on Xbox 360 or via the Xbox Originals service — will be severed from the online realm. “I want to start by saying this isn’t a decision we made lightly,” Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten said at the start of a letter to Xbox Live members, “but after careful consideration, it is clear that this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox Live community.”
Whitten added that in continuing to “evolve the service,” Microsoft requires changes that are “incompatible” with the previous console’s games. “We will contact the Xbox LIVE members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your LIVE messages and associated e-mail account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities.”
According to Major Nelson’s most recent list of top Xbox 1 Live titles, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and Counter-Strike players will be hardest hit. Well, sure, Halo 2 is still the most widely played game, but at least those guys will have some consolation when they leave the house and discover that two three more Halo games have come out since 2004.
By the way, if you have anything terribly important to say to your clan mates, we suggest you say it now.
Continue reading Xbox Live service for Xbox 1 games to be discontinued on Apr. 15
