It has been confirmed that Valve is working on a new Counter Strike game and it will be announced today! The new Counter Strike will be called: Global Offensive.

There will also be new weapons, gernades and modes. The matches are apparently 5v5 and designed for the eSport scene.

Im so looking forward to this game and its about time Valve sorted out a new Counter Strike!

Counter Strike: Global Offensive Will Be Announced By Valve Today! originally appeared on: WireNinja
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World of Warcraft has millions of players worldwide, but this has to be a first. Someone has actually played WOW and leveled up to 85 without killing a single unit. You can see the character sheet here.

How did this happen? With a huge amount of time, exploration, gathering and crafting!

The player, who goes by the name of “Everbloom”, also intended not to complete a single quest over the course of what I’m going to call “the ordeal”, but she was apparently awarded one “accidentally” when she opened a letter from an NPC.

This all took a total of four months, but the player must not have had a life at all for those four months.

Full story on PC Gamer.

World of Warcraft Player Levels to 85 Without Killing a Single Unit originally appeared on: WireNinja
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There are rumours of another MMO to be released in 2012 that will probably just flop like the rest of them. Transformers MMO is set to be released in 2012 by RuneScape developer Jagex.

There arent a lot of details about this new MMO at the moment.

Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard was certainly enthused at the news: “There is a huge appetite for an online Transformers game and we will utilize every bit of our development and publishing expertise to deliver a dynamic and action-packed game that Transformers fans will find irresistible.”

Transformers MMO to be Released in 2012 originally appeared on: WireNinja
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Dustin Browder has revealed that the Heart of the Swarm expansion for Starcraft 2 will have its own ladder for any player upgrading to the expansion.

I find this a little strange, because when all three games for Starcraft 2 have been released there will be three seperate ladders. This all seems a little pointless considering that the first Starcraft 2 ladder will never be used again. I always thought the aim of the ladder is to have the best players in the world playing in one place at a time!

Dustin also stated that there are plans to release a bunch of new maps for the multiplayer experience that will address a lot of issues that fans have raised with the current map pool. These maps, he said, will hopefully be added within the next few weeks.

Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm to Have Separate Ladder originally appeared on: WireNinja
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OnLive Cloud Gaming System Review originally appeared on: WireNinja
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A lot of World of Warcraft players have been been complaining that the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm’s dungeons are too difficult. Blizzard has just released a comment defending the difficulty.

On the Battle.net forums, Blizzard’s Greg Street wrote:

The bottom line is that we want Heroics and raids to be challenging, and that is particularly true now while the content is new and characters are still collecting gear. They’re only going to get easier from here on out. We want players to approach an encounter, especially a Heroic encounter, as a puzzle to be solved. We want groups to communicate and strategize. And by extension, we want you to celebrate when you win instead of it being a foregone conclusion.

On the other hand, we don’t want you to stumble your way to victory. We don’t want you to be able to overwhelm bosses without noticing or caring what they’re doing. We don’t want healers to be able to make up for all of the mistakes on the part of the other players. While at the end of the day, dungeons may just be gussied up loot vending machines, we want you to do more than push a button to get the loot.

Ultimately, we don’t want to give undergeared or unorganized groups a near guaranteed chance of success, because then the content will feel absolutely trivial for players in appropriate gear who communicate, cooperate, and strategize.

Blizzard Comment on World of Warcraft World of Warcraft: Cataclysm’s Dungeons Difficulty originally appeared on: WireNinja
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Football/Soccer what ever you want to call it is huge all over the world, hey even the Americans have some players now. Its a solid and competitive game of fitness, skill and some rumours are going around that there’s even some strategy. The battle of the footy console game is no different and has been waging for a few years now as everybody knows.

A far as I am concerned there is no competition, fifa take’s it for me hands down. The transfer season is fantastic, others teams get involved in it as well as you, the press conferences can be funny, the little personal touches are cool and there are just so many teams and leagues form all over the world. Live mode is awesome and the tournaments work really well,  noting has been missed and for years now I have felt that it’s the perfect simulation of the beautiful game. I’ve never even touched PES, although i’m sure its just as good.

But I’m converting.

a quick blast around google will instantly reveal to you that dozens of people are annoyed with title, there’s just so many bug’s. The updates for fifa 10 in Janruary last year crashed your offline mode in dozens of ways, rendering your xbox immune to the game for the remaining 8 months until the next game came out! Some gamers could not progress past four seasons. Substitutes crashed the match in progress. Too much is wrong with the code its seems. Have a quick scan through this Amazon Discussion. The latest title on my xbox at home dies in the “formation” menu and sees my players out on loan re-appear, the whole team turn into  faceless nameless mutes, and the whole squad appear under the position GK at level 350, WITHOUT ANY UPDATES.

Interestingly enough I cannot find too many real, if any consistent or otherwise problems with PES. This is the best i could find. Its gamers discussing how to loose players in a match, which to be honest is just gamers giving each other tips isn’t it?

Discuss.

The video above has been posted by some on-line gamers, pros that got together to make Notso Athletico who, although love the game, are honest about its floors….. Checkout “Ryespurs” dance himself out of the corner at 3.17.

Fifa Vs. PES, I think I’ll Have To Convert… originally appeared on: WireNinja
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Atari have announced they are developing Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale. Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale is an action RPG for 1 to 4 players to take on ‘the evil Rezlus and his Zhentarim in their attempt to invade and conquer the Dalelands’.

The game itself looks very fast paced and combat orientated. Check out the teaser trailer below. Coming in Spring 2011.

Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale Being Released in Spring 2011: Teaser Trailer originally appeared on: WireNinja
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Alliance vs. Horde – Cataclysm (A Whole New World) originally appeared on: WireNinja
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Its been announced that über-massively multiplayer PS3 shooter MAG will be receiving an update.

The patch is due to become available today, and the full list of features, fixtures and tweaks is as follows:

Patch v2.10
December 7, 2010 | 49MB (TPPS), 129 MB (DLS)

Gameplay (General)

• Implemented “Multiqueue” functionality to allow users to queue up for multiple game modes simultaneously
• Added “Multiqueue” XP bonus modifier that increases as more modes are selected
• Increased XP to CP-earned ratio to 1.5 CP for every 1 XP
• Reduced price of Medical Kits to 500 CP from 800 CP
• Teammates can no longer prevent you from repairing vehicles and objectives when in your line of sight
• Shortened cooldown times between leadership FRAGOs to 2 seconds from 10 seconds
• Added “friendly fire” modifier so that allies never receive more than 50% damage when hit by a friendly vehicle
• Improved item-swap speed

Gameplay (Skills)

• Decreased effectiveness of “Marksman Recoil Stability” and “Marksman Steady Aim” skills
• Improved effectiveness of First Aid Kit and Medical Kit skills, “Self Heal Speed” and “Heal Recharge Rate”
• Increased effectiveness of “Improved Smoke Screen Rate” skill

Weapons

• Slightly widened knife-swing arc

Interface

• Enemy vehicles now show damage bar when “attacking” them with a repair kit
• Slight presentational modifications to the “Character B” and “Character C slots”
• Correct text now displays in the Armory when viewing the SVER Hazard helmet

Audio/ Visual

• Acquisition Escort vehicles now have unique models for each faction
• Improved mine-laying animation

Miscellaneous

• Removed “Directives” button from the “Deploy” menu
• Added “Multiqueue” button to the “Deploy” menu and sidebar areas
• Added feature that allows users to take in-game screenshots via XMB Photo menu (1280×720)
• Reduced chances of being randomly dropped from a “Clan Deploy” game
• Fixed an assortment of menu-related lock-ups
• “Clan Deploy” performance updates
• Minor server performance enhancements
• Fixed typo in “Chest Candy” trophy
• Various localization updates

MAG seems to have managed to maintain a loyal community in the face of the multiplayer colossus that is Call of Duty, and continued support like this 11 months after release can only help.

MAG Update: Patch 2.1 Available Today originally appeared on: WireNinja
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Gaikai, the game streaming service, has sent out their first round of invites to around 11,000 users. David Perry the CEO of Gaikai announced the news in a blog post that the first 1,000 invites were sent out on Sunday and were followed by a further 10,000 this week.

Gaikai allows users to play games in browsers, with high-end processing taken care of by remote servers throughout the world. Perry says that 15 of Gaikai’s 24 worldwide servers are being used in the open beta testing.

“No issues have been reported that we can’t fix this month, and so we will continue to send out invite blasts in waves of 10,000 until all issues are fixed”, he said.

Gaikai Has Sent First Round of Invites for Their Game Streaming Service originally appeared on: WireNinja
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At the Activision Investment conference it was basically confirmed that Bungie are in fact already making an online game for both PC and consoles. It will be the first PC game Bungie has handled since Oni in 2001, as the release of Halo 1 and 2 were handled by external developers.

It will be interesting to see if Bungie has as much success with an online game as they had with Halo.

Bungie Have Already Started to Make an Online Game for Both PC and Consoles originally appeared on: WireNinja
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A new report has stated that 47.5 million American citizens play massively multiplayer online games. 90 per cent of these are free-to-play. That leaves 12.5 million people in the country paying for their MMO game time.

It also means that roughly one in six Americans plays some sort of MMO, a figure which seems amazingly high!

The report also reveals that 120 million Americans play console games – more than a third of the country’s population.

47.5 Million Americans Play Massively Multiplayer Online Games originally appeared on: WireNinja
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EA 2D are planning on releasing a new game specifically for Facebook. The new game will be launched in February. EA 2D say of the game that their aim is to “change the perception of social network games and attract new players to the Facebook platform by raising the quality bar,” which is something I think a lot of gamers would welcome!

The game will take place in the Free Marches, north of Dragon Age’s setting and the home of Dragon Age 2, which will release shortly after the Facebook game hits our internets.

EA 2D Launching Dragon Age on Facebook: Wants to Improve The Quality of Facebook Games originally appeared on: WireNinja
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Atari are sending their new MMORPG Champions Online free. Yes, the Champions Online MMORPG will be completely free to play and then users will be able to purchases premium content from the in-game store. In game purchasing has been very popular for casual gaming and its slowly making its way across to other gaming areas.

Transitioning a subscription-based MMORPG into a free-to-play “hybrid”, has lead to recent success for Dungeons And Dragons Online and The Lord Of The Rings Online developer Turbine.

Champions Online MMORPG Moves from Subscription to Free to Play Model originally appeared on: WireNinja
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Blizzard has just confirmed that World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will be available in stores and also downloadable from December 7. Thus, customers will be able to download the World of Warcraft expansion before its official release (as in about eight hours before).

Better still, fans will be able to download all the content on the game DVD in advance – but Im sure all the WOW fanboys will break the server once it goes live anyways.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Will Be Downloadable at Launch originally appeared on: WireNinja
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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Cinematic Trailer originally appeared on: WireNinja
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Here at WireNinja we thought that Starcraft 2 was growing so fast that we had to create a custom channel for the game. On the Starcraft 2 channel we are planning on posting the best games from around the world, news, commentary, stategy guides and more.

So head on over to http://wireninja.com/starcraft2 and subscribe!

WireNinja Launches Starcraft 2 Channel originally appeared on: WireNinja
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Panasonic are trying to focus on online gaming and they are entering the market with a new portable gaming console, The Jungle. The Jungle is the first of many devices Panasonic are going to bring to market, I just hope the other devices have better names!

If you want more information on The Jungle head to http://welcometo.thejungle.com.

Here is the key info:

• “The Jungle” is the name of the handset, but it’s also the brand for a few things it encompasses, including video content creation (they’ve partnered with Machinima.com to make a new weekly show called Online Underground) and working with third party developers.
• If the renders we’re seeing hold true, The Jungle device will be a clamshell, with a display on the top half, and a touchpad, keyboard, and what looks like dual touch-sensitive D-pads (or just comically huge speakers) on the bottom.
• Their focus here is online gaming and “content in the cloud”. The only game we’ve got confirmation for so far: Battlestar Galactica Online. BSG:Online is made by Bigpoint, who generally makes Flash-based online games for the browser. Read into that as you will.
• It might be Android-powered , as suggested by this job posting from PCENT looking for an Embedded Software Engineer for Android. If the Jungle is Android-based, it’ll almost certainly be heavily modified/skinned beyond recognition.(Update: Nope, just heard that it’s not Android-powered. Linux, maybe. Android, no. Bummer!)
• If you take a close look at the ports down at the bottom, it looks like this things got a 3.5mm jack, a micro-USB port, a mini HDMI port and.. other unidentifiable things. Whats that on the far left side there, opposite of what looks like a volume rocker? SD slot?
• Unless our sense-of-scale is totally off, this thing is going to be pretty big. Physically, that is.

The Jungle: Panasonic Introduces Their Handheld Gaming Console originally appeared on: WireNinja
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2K has just released their Mafia II demo on PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, and Steam for PC users.

The PlayStation version of the demo is only currently available to PlayStation Plus subscribers for an exclusive 24-hour period.

Below is a description of the playable demo from Xbox Live:

“Vito has started to make a name for himself on the streets of Empire Bay, someone who can be trusted to get a job done. In this hot-leaded playable demo, you and Joe get one of your first serious assignments, to deal with a chump that isn’t playing ball the way the Mob likes it. Make a Man of yourself in Mafia II.”

Mafia II will be available on PC, 360, and PS3 August 24 in North America and the 27^th in other regions.

Mafia 2 Demo Available on PlayStation Network, Xbox Live and Steam originally appeared on: WireNinja
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If you looks past the incredibly cheesy dialogue this is a pretty epic trailer… It’s a bit late though isn’t it. Take a look…

StarCraft II – Ghosts of the Past Trailer originally appeared on: WireNinja
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Indeed, a large portion of the internet seems to be riled and miffed at the propsect that ‘anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID’ in short, their real-life first and last name.

A blue post informed the forums that;

“The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID — that is, their real-life first and last name — with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. The classic Battle.net forums, including those for Diablo II and Warcraft III, will be moving to a new legacy forum section with the release of the StarCraft II community site and at that time will also transition to using Real ID for posting.

The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players — however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before. With this change, you’ll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well. ”

Why are people angry with this, there are lots of reasons but one of the members of the Wow forum summed it up nicely.

“1. UNIQUE NAMES: Some people (including my husband for one) have very unique names. The linking of a person’s real name if you have a common name is less troublesome because that person would be hard to track with a name alone, but if you have a name that is very uncommon linking it to a public forum is very invasive to that person. It could lead to that person being harrassed or annoyed (I will not overreact and use the word stalked) while trying to interact with their hobby.

People play this game for relaxation on their off time. But, for example, if you had a unique name and applied for a job and the potential employer googled your name and found posts on a gaming forum they may not hire you because they have ill conceved notions about gamers. In this exaple the employer may be working off an unfair stereotype but it still would hinder that person getting a job. And FYI without a job that person wouldn’t be able to have the money to play WoW. Just a thought Blizzard.

2. COMMON NAMES: For those on the other side of the fence having a fairly common name can also lead to harrassment in a different way. You could be mistaken for someone else entirely and that can lead to confusion not only on the forums themselves but also outside of them.

The last thing I need is someone tracking me down via a google search of my fairly common name, getting my WoW info because I asked a question on a forum about a game I paly for fun, and contacting my character in game, or on the forums to yell at me about alamony payments when I dont have a ex-husband.

3. GENDER: As a female this one bothers me a lot. Not only do I not want to be petitioned by random people for cyberlovin while I am playing a game, but more importantly I do not want to be a target offline. Most males my not understand the fear women have in today’s world about this but it is a real and genuine threat that does, sadly, happen. Women are stalked, hurt, even killed every day and we are taught from a young age to be careful and cautious when dealing with the unknown (aka strangers and the internet). It is a terrible reality about our society and I wish it wasn’t so but fact is it happens.

I have been occasionaly harrassed while in game for cyberlovin (can not use the real words they use due to being banned on the forums if I do) and I have reported it when it does and Blizzard has never done a thing about it (repeat violations in some cases and their toons are still in the game with no reprocussions). I can’t imagine what would happen if more of these perverts knew I was an actual girl. I shudder the think about it.

4. MINORS: Similar to the gender issue. There are minors that play this game and giving out their information to the general public is a bad idea. Even people who are ‘adults’ aka 18, 19, 20 can still be very impressionable and giving out their real names to the world wide web can only lead to trouble.

5. IDENTITY THIEFT: I know you can’t steal a persons ID with ONLY their name but hainvg someone’s full name is a great place to start.

6. WoW CRAZIES: Most people who paly this game are what would be classified as ‘casuals’. But some people take this game way to seriously. I have been shocked and even fealful of a few of the players I have come across and giving them the ability to track me down and potentally harm me because I beat them in a duel frightens me.

7. INTERNET CRAZIES: Even worse these are the stalkers and child molesters that pray on people on the internet. I dont want then to have access to my full name!

8. SPAMMERS: Giving the internet as a whole your information can lead to spamming and flooding of your e-mail.facebook, exc even more then it is already. Gold sellers are going to have a hayday with this one.

If your name was Jerry Sienfled and you had a wow forum post I bet you ever single variation of your name at most popular e-mail hosters is going to be flooded with fake Blizzard emails. JerrySiefeld@hotmail, @gmail, @yahoo, exc. and now the gold sellers and hackers will have a way to customize those fake mails to your real name! Dear Jerry, We at Blizzard are please to announce you are in the beta! Please visit our fakelink to get your account hacked.

9. SAFETY OF BLIZZARD: Just like giving out a real name to fellow players is a bad idea, giving out the names of all your forum moderators is just as bad or worse! Your poilcy now is to have your phone representatives only use their first names for thier own safety (remember I recorded the conversation) and now you are going to change that! You could have an employee tracked down this way and come to serious harm. Not safe or smart.

So what can you do instead of using a person’s full name? How aobut only being allowed to post on one toon? You have to pick a toon and that is that. Or using a set handle? Set up Real ID with this and I would use it in game as well.

And for all the people who say the forums are optional I will remind you that I pay the same subscripion fee that you do and so limiting what I can do with it doesn’t seem like the most fair solution. I feel I should be able to use the forums to get information and to share ideas. I agree the trolls are a pain but there has to be a better more secure way then this.

-Quira”

There has been almost immediate opposition to this idea and I have to wonder whether or not Bl’activision will take notice or not. Time will tell.

The World of Warcraft Community forced to use their Real names when posting in Forums originally appeared on: WireNinja
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Playstation Plus Screens originally appeared on: WireNinja
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The Apple iPad’s browser doesn’t support Flash, but Gaikai will now allow you to play World of Warcraft directly on your iPad.

The entire thing would be far more credible if we had a video, but it poses some interesting questions: could it be used for playing graphically intensive games on the iPad?

How To Play World of Warcraft on Your iPad originally appeared on: WireNinja
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Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Boston Globe reports that the purchase price was as high as $160 million, based on future earn-outs. That’s not likely to produce much of a return for investors, who put about $88 million into the company since 1994.

While the Lord of the Rings Online was a hit, it was a game that garnered an audience of hundreds of thousands of players who paid a monthly subscription fee to participate in a persistent online world. That’s a relatively small audience, considering Peter Jackson’s films and the books by J.R.R. Tolkien epic books have been enjoyed by more than 100 million fans.

Warner Bros. Acquires Lord of the Rings Online Developer originally appeared on: WireNinja
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