A survey sent to Kotaku and other companies/websites hints at what the Star Wars Kinect game might include after being revealed last year at E3. Two hidden modes not mentioned at E3 but could be in the final game appear to be a Pod Racing mode and a mode where you control a monster.

It also appears there will be a fighting mode locally involving Jedi vs Jedi matches although no info if the mode will be available online or if the other modes have online play as well.

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets...tar_wars_5.jpg
http://kotaku.com/#!5794546/rumor-ki...th-lightsabers

I wanna hold a lightsaber ffs.

Homefront campaign was dumb. Multiplayer is neat. Battlefieldesque. Might play more this weekend. Short sentences.

Buy one of those toy lightsabers and hold it while you play.

I did once.

Without the Kinect or anything. It was badass, though.

Well using it to play the Star Wars game is about as close as you'll get to actually being in Star Wars.

If it was badass without Kinect, surely it'll be better if you play the game while holding the lightsabre and have your swings kill Darth Vader or whoever.

Still not totally sold on Kinect in regard to certain game types. Like... that Star Wars fake gameplay thing from way back... Just seemed strange to me.

The only thing two things I'm concerned about with Kinect is that it could end up never getting the "hardcore" games it would be cool to use it for and the issue of controlling your character.

Here's a crazy idea. What if they had a controller nub ring? You put it on your middle finger of whichever hand you prefer and then use your thumb to slide the nub (think, the 3DS control nub) around.
It solves the control issue, you can still do punching motions etc. Best of both worlds.

Shigeru Miyamoto has no desire to reveal anything about the upcoming next Nintendo console after being barraged with interviews once leaks of the new console were revealed.

His current goal is to finish the current work on this year's Wii games and 3DS games. As of now his top priority is to finish Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword for the Wii and the new Mario game for the 3DS. Any hidden projects would be revealed at E3 like last year with Kirby's Epic Yarn.

He did however tell people to remain patient since information will be coming soon.

http://kotaku.com/#!5794686/mario-cr...-to-talk-wii-2
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A recent Gamestop internal memo states that Gamestop stores will be discounting selling new Nintendo DS Lites while cleaning out its current stock of DS Lites. Also found in the memo was the removal of all display units and advertising boxes for the Lite from stores.

Gamestop is still DS Lites for about $129.99 with trade-in value being around $25-$50 per system.

Online survery from EA hints at a possible subscription plan for EA online games, demos, and other goodies similar in style to other subscription based services.

EA's plan is to mimic Xbox Live Gold and Steam in service by giving away early access to demos for EA paid members, early downloading of games similar to Steam's pre-loading, and discounts for being paid members like PS+ does.

It also appears their progressive career saves in EA Sports games could become a paid feature instead of being a free incentive for people to keep buying EA sports games.

As of now, EA has tested this idea with their Tiger Woods PGA game by making the DLC add up to almost the cost of the game while being packed with extras to almost make its own full version.

Other companies such as Activision have in previous years hinted at making their own separate subscription service for their games but as of now it has only been done on a few MMO games that require their own servers.

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets...ssurveysub.png
http://kotaku.com/#!5794984/paid-sub...-sports-titles

I wish nobody would buy another game from EA Sports ever again.

Why? I mean for all the reasons to hate on EA Sports, the optional subscription seems like the smallest reason.

I was being semi-sarcastic. I really don't play their games as is. Ever since they got the exclusive NFL license Madden has been more or less a glorified roster update.

Who has the best hockey games? I used to love NHL98 or whatever. I think that was the last one I played. And I think the latest one is on the 360 marketplace.

EA has the better hockey games, by a wide margin.

Think they'll ever make another TNA game?

Portal 2 might be the last game Valve does that shows importance to single player after recent news of the studio considering switching the focus of their game development from solo to co-op and multiplayer focused games.

This wouldn't be a new experience for Valve since their last few games have relied on a co-op or multiplayer experience for gameplay such as the Left 4 Dead series and Team Fortress 2.

Valve would also be joining other developers who have switched their previously solo-focused series into multiplayer series as is the case with Bioshock, Uncharted, Dead Space, and Resident Evil.

As well as catering to the current preference of the gaming industry and gamers who want multiplayer or co-op in every game even if it isn't needed (ex. Dead Space 2).

This decision isn't expected to impact Half-Life 2 Episode 3 due to the series being a solo-campaign series but Valve could pull a Capcom and make Alyx Vance a playable character and make the game heavy in co-op gameplay similar to Resident Evil 5 with Sheva.

http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/pics/va...6_expanded.jpg
http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/8...-player-games/

Yeah that's a brilliant idea remove single player from everything :|

Or do they mean that all future games will allow you to play the campaign mode multiplayer if you wish. (Like Fable III or Perfect Dark or Halo, or Gears), cause that's alright as long as I'm not saddled with a shitty AI controlled partner if I'm playing alone (if I'm playing alone I don't want a partner forced on me just for the sake of a multiplayer option)

But if we are talking about a future where all games require 2+ people, then that's just stupid

Alyson Court is such a hot milf.

I think they're talking about main campaigns being multiplayer optional. Like in RE5 where you had a dumb bint of a sidekick in single-player mode (except Valve will probably get it right).

Think Left 4 Dead, except with more story and coherence to the main campaign.

I don't want every game to be shackled with some AI partner when I'm not playing co-op (which is almost always because I don't like playing co-op lol). If they do this it needs to be done mostly Fable III/Perfect Dark Style/Halo (where you can play co-op but your partner is some aforementioned side kick or sister :p), obvious exceptions would be games with well crafted sidekicks/partners but they shouldn't pigeonhole themselves into just making games with well crafted sidekicks.

In other words it would suck if all future Valve games have a sidekick character that is always there whether you are playing alone or not.

Most likely it means something similar to Portal 2's co-op being the main preference over Portal's solo or like a Resident Evil 5/Left 4 Dead where the 2nd player is either AI controlled or human controlled. No more games like Half-Life 1 and 2 where it is only a single player game.

Portal 2 was designed with the preference on single player and then Valve added co-op ability without having to sacrifice the single player unlike the Halo series or other shooters where multiplayer was the preference during development (Halo 3 was about 5-10 people working on solo and 300+ working on multiplayer).

Nintendo is giving away a free downloadable game for 3DS owners in the upcoming May firmware update for the handheld.

The goal by Nintendo is to get more users online than previous efforts with the DS and later the Wii by giving away more free incentives as part of the plan.

The game will be ExciteBike from the NES but with an added bonus of being redone to show off the 3D effects for NES games and potentially for Virtual Console/Virtual Boy games.

http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/199681-excite.jpg
http://www.destructoid.com/free-3d-e...e-199681.phtml

Playstation S1 & S2 Revealed:

Meet two new pieces of hardware by Sony; the S1 and S2. These tablets will play PS1 games as well as mobile style games (apps) presumably exclusive to the portable console. It's odd that Sony is entering this market, as their previous actions made me think they had no interest or respect for it, but here we are. They do look sexy, but tablets aren't my flavor.

S1:

http://betacache.gawkerassets.com/as...lery_s1_01.jpg
http://betacache.gawkerassets.com/as...lery_s1_02.jpg
http://betacache.gawkerassets.com/as...lery_s1_04.jpg

S2:

http://betacache.gawkerassets.com/as...lery_s2_01.jpg
http://betacache.gawkerassets.com/as...lery_s2_05.jpg
http://betacache.gawkerassets.com/as...lery_s2_03.jpg

ok

No.

Possible SoulCalibur 5 announcement coming.

SoulCalibur5 director Daisuke also mentioned announcing something in May.

And why not.

The first game sucked. NetherRealm will not wanna try their hand at it after a strong return to form with Mortal Kombat. TNA will have to find another publisher.

You asked for thoughts and there ya go. I don't know what else to say.

What have Netherealm got to do with it? Southpeak picked up the license when Midway shut.

Unless they've got the team behind Big Bang Mini on it, I doubt Southpeak will be capable of producing a TNA game that won't suck as much as everyone thinks it probably will.

They already developed and released the PSP version of TNA iMPACT in June last year.

To their credit, it was exactly the same as the original just with the PSP's dodgy loading times.

I had a look through their catalog of games and Big Bang Mini is the only one I'd actually call a good game. Everything else is either crap or meh at best.

Microsoft sent out mass warnings of a potential mass Phishing attack using CoD Modern Warfare 2 as the starting point.

Microsoft has put all of its web services and Xbox servers on alert with Matchmaking being the only service as of now given the"Service Alert" tag. Microsoft can only confirm the scheme is being done with Modern Warfare 2 but will not confirm if other games are being affected by the potential attack.

This news comes within the day of another report of Microsoft preparing a massive banning or counter-attack by unbanning all Xbox 360 consoles. Microsoft is trying to both find out where the source of the Phishing attack is coming from and to prevent any chance of Xbox Live coming under attack if the PSN hacking spreads to other places.

JTagged consoles are exempted from the unbanning as they are still given "auto-bans" when connected to Xbox Live.

http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/pics/xb...9_expanded.png
http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/8...ssages-in-mw2/

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More bad news for Sony concerning its PSN hacking attack and downtime as a few data-security firms have put as the early estimates of the attack, Sony's responses, and PSN downtime to a worst-case scenario of $23-$24 billion dollars once everything is done. The real value is expected to be much lower but could still reach a couple of billion of dollars lost.

Based on 2010 averages for data theft attacks, each PSN account has been valued as costing Sony $318. Sony also claims about 70 million accounts on PSN but only 1/3 to 50 million could be considered unique accounts.

Info and a trailer for the upcoming Need for Speed game was leaked today with EA probably playing a role in the leak. Going along with some details is the potential box art and a trailer meant to debut at E3.

The game will be called Need for Speed: The Run and gameplay-wise appears to be a return to a story-based campaign with less emphasis on sandbox style and more traditional course racing. Also leaked are the usual modes Need for Speed is known for such as single races and cop chase modes.

The game is rumored for a November 18 release date but EA hasn't confirmed the dates nor what systems the game will be on.

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0...erun_super.jpg
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/need-f...believed/3102/

Strange, the story-based NfS games were often received poorly - Hot Pursuit and Shift 2 were well received.

No idea what's going on with the franchise direction at EA.

Most Wanted was good.