Two New Screenshots Revealed For Hitman: Absolution

With the next Hitman game coming to stores this year, new screenshots have emerged showing off the visuals of the game and a barbecue in progress...

Source: GameInformer

The main character, Agent 47, can be seen in a screenshot creeping on a barbecue party, mostly attempting to get by them or to eliminate the group, in which it would be a really bad day for the "party" goers.

Source: GameInformer

Hitman: Absolution is currently in development by IO Interactive and has an unknown release date this year, set publisher will be Square Enix. Absolution will be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

[GameZone]

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A Google "Game", Google "Zerg Rush" Now!

If you're familiar with Starcraft, you will know what a Zerg Rush is. Google has added a little game for you users to enjoy, all though, I am not going to spoil what will happen. If you mind, open up a new tab, and Google "Zerg Rush". Prepare to click rapidly...have fun!

I will make a full post tomorrow, I just wanted to share this awesome feature with you guys and gals.

[IGN]

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Killed

Source: gamechannel.hu

In a company announcement by Ukrainian video game developer, GSC Game World, they have decided to shut down their studios, resulting in the cancellation of the post-apocalyptic shooter sequel S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. The reasons for the shut down is that no agreement was reached between the rights owners of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and the new investors, as you can see from their post on their official facebook page. More posts by the facebook page administrators and GSC Game World employees, Joe Mullin and Oleg Yavorsky, show that the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. team was working on the sequel without pay as they were trying to find new investors, which turned out to be a disappointment.

Problems were first revealed back in December of 2011, as the CEO of the studio, Sergei Grigorovich, reported that he decided to shut down the studio, although, work still continued...

Out with the sad news, as there is good news for you fans. A new studio had been opened by the team members, Vostok Games, in which they are currently working on a free-to-play MMO (massively multiplayer online) first person shooter. The title for this project is called Survarium, as the game will take place somewhere in the near future. The plot is that a "mass-scale ecological" catastrophe has hit Earth, as the reasons for the event is unknown, causing countries to collapse and anarchy to take over. The website for Survarium is quite new, as there isn't any information available besides a short description and a planned release date. Check it out here.

Source: compua.com.ua

Survarium is currently in development as it uses the new Vostok Engine created by Vostok Games. The planned release date for Survarium is somewhere near the end of 2013, and for only the PC.

[Gamespot]

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No More Scion xB, xD Models

Source: scenicreflections

In recent news, Toyota, who is the parent company of the "youth brand" Scion, has decided to kill off the former icons for the brand, the xB and xD. Reasons for killing of the models are that sales were dipping as far back as the introduction to the second generation xB, which was more curvy and bulky than it's predecessor. Also, the miles per gallon for the second generation dipped as the first generation had a solid mpg rating. The xD probably had similar consequences as the xB did since its getting the axe also.

In 2011, sales for the Scion xB were low, as only 17,000 vehicles were sold. Before the dip, when the first generation came out, the xB was churning out over 60,000 sales, pretty amazing if you can ask me. With the big difference in sale numbers over the years, one can say that the first generation xB had everything that a normal everyday driver would want, great fuel economy, low price, as well as the ease of driving without having to grasp the vehicle's handling. Since the second generation came out back in 2007, the simple boxy style was altered as more curves and weight were added, resulting in a much different design. With the decrease of mileage with the second generation, buyers started to look away from the trendsetting vehicle.

With the death of the xB and xD models, two new vehicles have been created. The Scion iQ, which is a very small vehicle, as you can see in my previous post. The Scion FR-S, a sporty coupe that has the handles, which is the sister of the Toyota FT-86 and Subaru BRZ. These two vehicles are in an "experiment" with Scion's new path in the industry. Now is the time to say your last words before the xB and xD die off.

[Autoblog]

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Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Will Be "Slightly" Moddable

Source: http://renderworks.deviantart.com

With the upcoming release of the next Counter Strike, Global Offensive, sources say that there will be a software development kit (SDK) available that is set to be released to the public three months after the actual release of the game itself. Reports say that the SDK will limit users to only modifying and creating maps, and nothing about the weapons, skins, etc.

Although, some good news is that the SDK will come with a number of maps that were in Counter Strike 1.6 but didn't get included in the 1.6 successor, Source. The kit is currently being developed by Mike Durand himself, who is a Valve veteran, so give a big round of applause to Mr. Durand.

In a podcast with Seven Day Cooldown, co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell said that the company successfully integrated both 1.6 and Source into Global Offensive, as he adds, "...unless the beta testers are blowing smoke up our ass."

What disappointed me is that you'll only be able to modify/create maps with the SDK, so no cool weapons mods or any other great mods that could make Counter Strike more epic. Although, I think that Valve will think about it after they release the kit, as I sense that demands for more expanded modding powers will grow. Just take a look at the previous Counter Strike games, thousands of mods were created for the enjoyment of the players, ranging from maps to complete gameplay changes. We'll have to find out later when the SDK gets released.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will be "targeted" for release during the Summer of 2012 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Mac.

p.s.  Will be changing the blog's format, trying to find a new template

[Joystiq]

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New Shooter By Sony?

An unannounced project is currently in development by Sony, as it was revealed through a job listing. Sony's Santa Monica studio is currently hiring as they are finding a Senior Combat Designer to work on their new unannounced project. Click here for the job listing.

Requirements for the job include, "experience working with, developing or designing for a 1st and/or 3rd person shooter genre a plus." Additional requirements include, "experience working with, developing or designing vehicle combat in a game also a plus." Here is a screenshot I took of the full requirements

No announcement has been made yet, as no platforms have been listed on the listing. What do think the next shooter by Sony would be like? A Call of Duty killer? Another contender for the best shooter? A dud?

[IGN]

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The Next Call Of Duty

Source: GameInformer

This just in, Kotaku has obtained an image showing a poster made by Activision that dates, May 2, 2012, which can mean one thing, the next Call of Duty. The origin of this image is that it came from a retail "source", and has spread throughout the web.

Don't get that date messed up with a release date, but with a reveal date instead. As is tradition of Activision, the Call of Duty games have been released during the fall, so we can expect another one coming soon.

Kotaku then contacted Activision to see if they can get input on the image, but Activision declined to comment. Could the next Call of Duty be a Black Ops sequel?

ps. This week has been busy for me, so posting will be at this rate (post, skip a day, post) :(

[GameInformer]

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JAC Heyue SC, Another Clone?

Source: Autoblog

It's known that many knock-offs are made from China, from toys to even vehicles, as one Chinese motor company, JAC Motors, has came up with another (somewhat) slick copy/mashup of a vehicle. During the Beijing Auto Show, JAC revealed another vehicle which has less plagiarized details, but can still be referenced back to other vehicles.

JAC Motor's newest vehicle, the Heyue SC coupe, can remind you of a Lotus front end, if you can see the resemblance. Also, the mirrors on this vehicle can also remind you of the Lamborghini Gallardo, as the rear looks like it came from the Ferrari Enzo, as you can see from the taillights. On the inside, the dashboard can loosely relate to an Audi R8 as the steering wheel could be a copy of Opel. As with the mass use of related parts, the Heyue SC looks great.

Here are some specs:

Engine: 162 HP 2.4L Four Cylinder

Torque: 160 lb/ft

Price: $31,807 (200,000 Yuan)

Pictures anyone?

Source: CarNewsChina

Source: CarNewsChina

Source: CarNewsChina

 Source: CarNewsChina

If you're not familiar with JAC, they are well known to copy other car manufacturer's designs and implement them into their own vehicles. One great example is the Ford F-150, as the only looking change that I can see is the logo on the grill.

The Heyue SC will make its debut on April 23, opinions? I think it looks great, the body design is nice as well as the interior, but what I don't like about this vehicle is the wheels, as they look a bit too small. Also, the mufflers don't attract me.

[Autoblog]

[CarNewsChina]

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Cliff Bleszinski's Opinions On The Next-Gen Consoles

Source: Pressfire

Cliff's face not melted yet

Cliff Bleszinski, who is the design director for Epic Games, stated his opinions about the next generation console at PAX East 2012 with Gamespot. Cliff says he wants visuals to leap far ahead of the current gen consoles, as visual improvement should take a huge part for the next generation.

He essentially says that visuals need to be, "Face-melting graphics". Bleszinski continued on with:

 "I really want our next-generation consoles to pass what I call the 'Mom Test.' So that if you were to show this console and games to your mom, she would be like, 'Wow, that clearly looks better than your last console.' And it's an essential step that needs to be taken by both Sony and Microsoft."

As with the rumor that future games will require constant internet connection, the design director joined in as he "hopes" that the future generation consoles "require" its players to be connected to the internet at all times. Cliff added to his statement:

 "Always-connected consoles that basically require an Internet connection. So that I can just wake up in the morning and say, 'Oh a new demo has been downloaded on my hard drive, so I can check it out.' As well as considering streaming gaming from the cloud, which would be very nice."

Admiration for motion controls has hit Bleszinski, as rumors say that built-in Kinect could be included in a future Xbox. He weighs in, "The other things I want to see are gesture-based controls," as he says:

 "I think Kinect is quite cool, and I'm a big fan of using Kinect to control movies with Netflix. Maybe it will be built in [to a future generation Xbox], maybe it won't. We'll have to see what actually comes out of that."

Source: Kotaku Australia

Cliff and his smoking hot girlfriend at 2011 Spike VGAs (Face not melted yet)

Do you agree or disagree with some or all of Mr. Bleszinski's comments? I do agree with the graphics and the gesture based controls, but I don't agree with requiring a constant internet connection.

ps: I just went over 1k views, yipee!!

[Gamespot]

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Pre-Order Bonuses For Resident Evil 6

Pre-order bonuses have been revealed for the next upcoming Resident Evil game, as details are revealed in a post at the Capcom Unity Blog. Customers who pre-order the game will receive a Mercenaries mode map if they order from either Best Buy, GameStop, or Amazon. The Mercenaries mode is where players fight off enemies wave by wave in a certain time limit, trying to earn high scores.

Catacombs

Although, each of those retailers will have a special bonus too, as orders from Gamestop will receive The Catacombs map, which features "booby traps ready to ensnare you around every corner."

High Seas Fortress

Orders from Amazon will receive the High Seas Fortress map which takes place on an aircraft carrier, as players will have the ability to explore the ship inside and out.

Rail Yard

Orders from Best Buy will receive the Rail Yard map, where the location is in a subway, as battles can change scenes throughout the subway.

The release date for Resident Evil 6 is October 2nd on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as the PC version will be released at a later date.

[IGN]

[Capcom-Unity]

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"0x10c" First Screenshot

In recent news, Notch's upcoming work, 0x10c, seems to have more complex shapes than the normal cubic shapes that are seen in Minecraft. 0x10c takes place in the far future, in the year 281,474,976,712,644 AD in an alternate reality. The game's history is that the space race hasn't ended and the further advances in space exploration was so great that it expanded greatly.

Humans that were in cryogenic sleep were woken up as the computer that controls sleep cycles had an error, in which the year is, yea...you know...up there. Although, the group of humans finds out that civilization is little to none, just disappeared. Interesting plot, huh?

Notch tweeted a link to the screenshot and says:

source: 0x10c.com

"Flashlights, for spelunking and fixing broken ships!"

I wonder what that means...

Hey guys, my posting this week will be affected by the amount of work I have in school, so I'll be posting less, sorry guys :(

[Joystiq]

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Nissan Enters 24 Hours of Nürburgring With Stock GT-R

In the upcoming 24 hour event at Nürburgring, Nissan has decided to join in on the fun by having a newer stock 2012 Nissan GT-R Club Track Edition compete with other vehicles which unfortunately are tuned as real race cars. The 24 Hours Nürburgring is a GT and touring car endurance race that takes place on the Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany.

The reason for Nissan to enter the stock GT-R is that the development team wanted to test out the durability of this behemoth to the full extent, and a good time to test it is during the upcoming endurance race. Well, only minor modifications have been made to the vehicle, as a tiny bit more downforce was added to the front and the rear spoiler replaced. Also, the tires will be slightly wider and a roll cage will be added including a larger fuel cell to follow race regulations. Apart from the modifications, the suspension, engine, and transmission remain unaltered.

One fact of course is that Nissan wants to get ahead of Porsche who also enrolled a stock vehicle, the GT3 RS in the 2010 event. The changes to the GT-R will probably be seen in future productions as Nissan's goal is to break the seven minute lap mark at the world renown race track. 

Of course that the Nissan GT-R is ready for the track, as it was meant to be there. Good luck to Nissan and their race crew!

[Autoblog]

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Gears of War: Exile Is Canceled

This just in, design director of Epic Games, Cliff Bleszinski, announced that the next Gears of War will be canceled without any details. The next title, Gears of War: Exile, has been rumored to be a Kinect game, but little information is known about the game.

Cliff responded to the cancellation by saying, "Let's just bury the hatchet now, Gears of War: Exile was an unannounced game that I can't give any details about that has since been cancelled."

Since there isn't much information about the game, I can't describe anything else, that's it folks.

[Gamespot]

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Original Max Payne Gets iOS And Android Treatment

Max Payne fans, get ready as Rockstar is set to release the original Max Payne for the PC onto the iOS and Android mobile devices in a couple of weeks. Features on the mobile Max Payne include HD Graphics, High-Res Textures, customizable controls and Social Club connectivity. The set release date for Max Payne on the iOS is set for April 12 while the Android version is set to be released on April 26.

The list of supported iOS devices are the iPhone 4S, 4, 3GS, iPod Touch 4, and all the iPads. For Android devices, Rockstar will be revealing the supported devices soon.

Its great that video game companies are porting old games onto the mobile devices, as people would enjoy playing the classics all over again on their devices. Whats next to be ported, San Andreas? Lets just wait and see what the future holds. Until then, lets get to some screenshots:

[GameInformer]

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Scion iQ Marketing Campaign

Okay, I am just shocked and speechless in what I just saw...Scion's latest method for marketing their new little vehicle, the iQ, is a little wacky. These "commercials" come in four types all including doing donuts in a parking lot, but with bikini models, to dudes, to bikers, and finally to cops.

The Scion iQ is best for its small size which makes it easy to park and has a small turn radius. Also, the iQ is not that expensive and is quite fuel efficient as well. Although, doing donuts in this vehicle is not recommended, as you can see in these videos.

What do you think of these, wacky? funny?

Lets get to the vehicle specifications!

2012 Scion iQ

MPG: 36 City / 37 Highway

Starting Price: $15,265

Engine: 1.3L I-4 @ 94 Horsepower

Drivetrain: Front Wheel Drive

Seating Capacity: 4

Car Weight: 2,127 lbs

[Autoblog]

[AOL Autos]

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First Look At Far Cry 3 Multiplayer

First actual gameplay of Far Cry 3's multiplayer has been uploaded to Youtube by website VG24/7. The multiplayer will use a currency called "Team Support Points" in order to activate various perks available in the game mode. Some examples of perks are psyche gas that makes enemy players see everyone as demon silhouettes, to Battle Cry which helps teammates and the person who used it will receive a huge amount of Team Support Points. Here is the first gameplay footage of the multiplayer mode:

When the round ends and prepares for the next one, players are introduced to an optional map tutorial that is comforted by the voice of the main antagonist Vaas. When the round ends, an interactive cut scene starts where the best player of that round on the winning team will be prompted to choose to either free the losing team or to beat them to death.

There are two types of game modes in Far Cry 3's multiplayer, domination and firestorm. Domination is the usual type of having to capture capture points in various areas as firestorm gives a more serious approach. The offensive team will have to light up two points in the enemy camp to signal the air support where to drop the gasoline to start a fire. Although, the defending team can take the win first if they secure the offensive team's radio in which they can't call in air support.

The next installment in the Far Cry series will be released on September 4 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC in the US.

Looks like Call of Duty and Battlefield combined, but looks great.

[Joystiq]

[VG24/7]

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$40 Ultimate Shortcut DLC for Battlefield 3

If you're lazy or don't have time to play to unlock various upgrades that are available for unlock in Battlefield 3, your in luck as Dice released the "Ultimate Shortcut Bundle" on the Xbox Live Marketplace. This DLC will cost 3,200 MS points which is equivalent to $40 giving the player immediate access to every weapon, upgrade, and anything that needs to be unlocked through progression, easy eh?

When I actually meant immediate access, I meant everything from the vehicle upgrades, weapons and gadgets, to all the co-op weapons being available to you without breaking a sweat. To add to this DLC, EA themselves broken this DLC into smaller seperate DLCs if you only want certain unlocks. They include the Kit Shortcut Bundle which has all class unlocks for only 2,000 MS points equivalent to $25, the Co-op Weapons Shortcut for only 400 MS points equivalent to $5, as well as the Vehicle Shortcut Bundle for 1,440 MS points equivalent to $18. To add to this list, they include individual class unlocks for only 560 MS points equivalent to $7 each, as both the Ground Vehicle and Air Vehicle Shortcuts cost 800 MS points equivalent to $10 each.

If you have the money and the laziness, your best choice is to buy either or some or the Ultimate DLC(s) to suit your needs when you start playing Battlefield 3. Now this is what I call cashing in by Dice and EA! 

Heres a little rundown on the various DLCs:

Ultimate Shortcut Bundle:     3,200 MS Points || $40

Kit Shortcut Bundle:             2,000 MS Points || $25

Vehicle Shortcut Bundle:      1,440 MS Points || $18

Ground Vehicle Shortcut:        800 MS Points || $10
Air Vehicle Shortcut:               800 MS Points || $10
Individual Class Unlocks:        560 MS Points || $7  Each
Co-op Weapons Shortcut:      400 MS Points || $5

I would definitely rather earn my unlocks through work than just buying them wasting money, although, its your decision if you want to buy em. So Dice and EA just want to milk more money out of us, whats next, charging us for updates??

[Gamespot]

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Super Meat Boy on iOS

In a recent blog post by Team Meat, who are the developers of the platform game, Super Meat Boy, they have announced the development of a completely revamped Super Meat Boy for the Apple iOS. There isn't any planned release date yet as the Team just started working on this project. The game will be called "Super Meat Boy: The Game" and the blog author, Edmund, tells us some important things we should expect:

What the game is:

- A feature length touch controlled platformer SPECIFICALLY designed for Touch devices.

What the game isn't:

- a shitty port of an existing game with non tactile buttons spread all over the screen blocking the players view and making for frustrating controls.

- the Super Meat Boy you're used to, there are aspects of Super Meat Boy in there, obviously, but this is a brand new game with new art, new sound, everything.

Not a lot of details were released, but we should expect more updates in the future, if you want to follow up on Team Meat's progress, check out their blog here.

Super Meat Boy is currently available for the Xbox 360, PC, Mac, and Linux systems. The game is about a cute yet manly cube-shaped piece of meat character who attempts to rescue his girlfriend, Bandage Girl, from Dr. Fetus (Yup...). Super Meat Boy contains at least 300 levels to keep you occupied for a very long time, as you try to reach the end by dodging, climbing, and jumping past deadly obstacles. So iOS users will be amazed once they get their hands on this great game, it won't be an identical port from the other systems, but something new.

Check out some gameplay footage while your at it

Looks simple at first, but gets much more difficult as you progress through the game.

[GameInformer]

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Fiat 500X Coming Next Year

For those in the United States, you've probably seen these little cars on the streets. Ah yes, the Fiat 500, which looks cute and stylish. Although, there has been reports that the Fiat 500 series will now be expanded to a wide range of models to choose from starting next year with the 500X. With the past launch of both the Abarth and Cabriolet in the United States, Fiat still wants to expand their line. During the Geneva Motor Show, Fiat also released info on the Fiat 500L, which is a crossover made from the 500, but, the 500X will be a larger crossover than the 500L. 

The Fiat 500X will be wider but will be in the limits of Fiat's architecture of a small car. Reports haven't confirmed if the 500X will be sold in the United States, but there will be other alternatives in the future to come. There hasn't been any media releases of the 500X yet, but here are some 500L goodies.

I hope she is included with the car

No specifications available to post, sorry guys. 

[Autoblog]

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