Xbox 360 Cable TV

When the Xbox 360 fall dashboard update went live earlier this month, it brought ESPN programming to Xbox Live. Now, according to a Reuters report, Microsoft may be planning to bring more cable channels to the console--so many channels, in fact, that it may become an alternative to standard cable television.

The cable box of the future?

Citing sources close to the matter, Reuters reports that Microsoft is mulling several options, including a new "virtual cable operator," which will offer a range of channels for a monthly fee. The company is also apparently in talks with cable providers themselves to turn the Xbox into a cable box of sorts to allow for "enhanced interactivity" with programming.

Unfortunately, Xbox 360 owners eager to cut the cord with their cable TV providers will have to wait a while, as Reuters' sources say that any such service is at least 12 months away. Currently, television shows from a variety of networks, including NBC and Comedy Central, can be bought individually on Xbox Live's video marketplace. The box can also be used as a second receiver for AT&T's U-verse cable TV service, provided there is already one U-verse DVR in the home.

Kinect at It's Prime

This what Kinect was meant to do.

Mark Wahlberg = Nathan Drake

It looks as if the biggest role in the Uncharted film adaptation has been filled by a fairly big name from Hollywood: Mark Wahlberg. Not only has he confirmed that he'll be in the film, he suggested that director David O. Russell is going after Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro, as well.

In an interview with MTV (video embedded below), Wahlberg said, "David is writing now. David is one of the best writer/directors I've ever worked with and the idea he has is just insane. So hopefully we'll be making that movie this summer."

Asked about the potential interest in Pesci and De Niro, Wahlberg confirmed that's the case, saying, "That's who he wants to write the parts for." Wahlberg said that he himself had spoken to Pesci and that he is supposed to get in touch with De Niro (whom Russell's people had already spoken with). According to Wahlberg, De Niro would play Nathan Drake's father, with Pesci assuming the role of his uncle, neither of which are characters that appeared in either Uncharted game.

Wahlberg mentioned The Fighter, a biographical film about boxer Irish Micky Ward starring Wahlberg and directed by David O. Russell scheduled for release next month. The Uncharted film wouldn't be the first time the two have worked together -- nor would it be the first videogame-to-film adaptation Wahlberg has been in; he played the titular character in Max Payne back in 2008.

He insisted the idea that Russell has in mind for the movie is "so off-the-charts," later adding that "it's not going to be the watered-down version, that's for sure."

Original Article: http://gametab.com/news/3522411/

Illegal Witcher 2

Software pirates may want to think twice before torrenting a copy of The Witcher 2. CD Projekt, the developers behind the upcoming PC role-playing game, have informed Eurogamer of an initiative to seek out and punish those who acquire the Witcher sequel through illegal means.

"We are signing with legal firms and torrent sneaking companies," explained CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwinski. "In quite a few big countries, when people are downloading it illegally they can expect a letter from a legal firm saying, 'Hey, you downloaded it illegally and right now you have to pay a fine.'"

It's an approach not all that dissimilar from the recording industry's anti-piracy measures, though CD Projekt hopes to avoid some of the negative PR associated with the RIAA's tactics. "We don't want to be so harsh," Iwinski said, "but there is a chance that this might happen to some people if they download illegally."

If you're interested in scoring a legal copy of the game, the Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings should be available at retail on May 17 of next year.

CoD: Black Ops Swastika Ban

Xbox Live enforcement faced some heat this weekend over its policy on the use of swastikas as personal logos in Call of Duty: Black Ops. In response to a fan on Twitter, Enforcement manager Stephen Toulouse said the team would ban anyone using the symbol as their Black Ops icon. The backlash reached such a level that Toulouse had to address it on his personal blog.

Calling the symbol's defenders "contrarians," Toulouse says the symbol has been too corrupted by its history to be interpreted in any other way. "Let's be clear: no educated human on the planet looks at the swastika symbol on a video game service... and says, 'oh, that symbol has nothing at all in any way to do with global genocide of an entire race and, even if it did, one should totally and reasonably ignore that because it's a symbol that was stolen or coop-ted from religions.

"It's not political correctness, it's fundamental respect," he continues. "If you think the swastika symbol should be re-evaluated by societies all over the Earth, I think that's great. Your Xbox Live profile or in game logo, which doesn't have the context to explain your goal, is not the right place to do that. And by the way, that doesn't just go for the swastika, it applies to many other symbols as well that my team does indeed take action on when we see it."

What is your opinion? Think you should be free to create whatever symbol you want if the option is there?

Original Article: http://www.1up.com/news/

Black Ops Out Dated

Two years have past and three more Call of Duty titles have been released – Treyarch’s World at War, Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 2, and then Treyarch’s Black Ops. Now, the formula they used for the original Modern Warfare game was a definite winner so it made a lot of sense for Treyarch to try and follow in their footsteps. World at War was good game, in a sense, but came nowehere close to being as good as Modern Warfare. Even Infinity Ward couldn’t replicate the epicness of Modern Warfare with a sequel – Modern Warfare 2 seemed like a massive step back for the franchise. Treyarchs new masterpiece, Black Ops, completely out-done everything Modern Warfare had to offer – but was still very much the same.

 Black Ops is to Modern Warfare is what Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is to Assassin’s Creed 2 – a few enhancements and, in Call of Duty’s case, slight improvement in the multi-player mode.

Though Black Ops is a great game and is definitely worthy of it’s critical acclaim I still feel a little let down. There are so many developers out there right now that are taking huge leaps with every release. The industry is being prepared for the next generation and there are some great titles that prove this. The Call of Duty engine is a little out-dated and it’s starting to show. Hopefully Treyarch and Infinity Ward will both be inspired to try a little harder next time.

Original Article: http://www.nextgn.com/2010/11/21/call-of-duty-black-ops-a-little-dated/

Something to keep in mind

According to the new TERMS OF SERVICE AND USER AGREEMENT submitted in November 2010 on the PSN has released some interesting facts that suggest that soon was over how to share games. 

Here are some excerpts from the document we:

• You have to get your password and account details in secret and not share with anyone, to prevent unauthorized use of the PSN online service. If you share your account with someone who uses his mind to break some of the conditions or we (SONY), we believe that your account has been compromised, your account and / or access to the PSN may be suspended or terminated. We are not responsible for any unauthorized use or sharing of your account on the PSN.

Your rights to the service:

• All services through the SONY ONLINE SERVICES, are licensed non-exclusively for your personal, private, noncommercial, which are subject to conditions and any addition to the conditions. Services can be used on a limited basis according to the activated systems associated with your account SONY SONY ONLINE SERVICES.
• All intellectual property rights services belongs to us (SONY) and / or our licensors. All use of or access to such services will be taxable in accordance with these conditions and any additions to these conditions and all applicable laws.
• Unless authorized by us (SONY), you may not: share, sell, transfer, lease or sublicense any service or part service to anyone.

According to subscription services: 

• Subject to availability, you can buy a subscription to the service for a period of time to play online, access to music and any other service or activity. Subscriptions last only until the time fixed in the purchase, for example 7 days, 90 days or one year (known as the subscription period). A one year subscription will last 365 days. The subscription period will vary for different services and will be explained to you before making the purchase of the subscription.
• Only the subscriptions that can be used to purchase the subscription. You may not share your subscription with another account even with the associated account as Master Account or Sub Account.

As you can see now Sony wants to restrict quite what many people now use to purchase downloadable content on the PSN STORE, see how SONY made to effectively make the restrictions of the accounts do not comply with the new terms. 

If you want to download whole document: legaldoc.dl.playstation.net/ps3-eula/psn/e/e_tosua_en.html 
And for those wondering, is it possible that Sony can ban my PSN account, easy answer, in the same new Sony EULA document makes clear: 

Using Sony Online Services: 

• Every time you enter the online sevice SONY, we (SONY) collect information automatically without having to notify you by example:

1. Your Online ID
2. Your IP address and MAC address of your device (the unique numbers that identify the network and the device you are using) as well as the date and time you entered

75% of British Men Prefer Video Games Over Sex

1 in 3 British men would prefer to play video games than sleep with their partner, with 72% claiming they'd shun their missus for the night to play a new release.

From a study of 1130 British men, of those in relationships, 32% that said they would prefer to play video games gave reasons ranging from their "partner being hard to please" to the prospect being "not as much fun" as gaming.

Further cementing the sad truth about video game addiction in the British male, 41% said if they were given £50, they'd spend it on a video game.

The research was carried out by Playstation 3 site, www.PS3pricecompare.co.uk

Naked Kinect

Will kinect work naked and still show everything?

Game Reviews - E3 2011

Donkey Kong Returns, Very Nice

Okay, who is not excited about this piece of awesome.

Game Porn???

Enjoy these findings of pornos based on video games.

Super Mario 3 PIMPED!!!!

Super Mario 3 made with the super mario bros game for the nintendo DS. A little hacking here and some editing there and you have a full game.

Console sales to Date

Global sales of each major console to date:

PlayStation 2: 120,000,000
PlayStation: 102,000,000
Wii: 74,000,000
NES: 63,000,000
SNES: 49,000,000
PlayStation 3: 42,000,000
Xbox 360: 41,000,000
N64: 33,000,000
Megadrive: 34,000,000
Xbox: 24,000,000
GameCube: 22,000,000
Atari 2600: 14,000,000
DreamCast: 11,000,000
PC Engine: 10,000,000
Sega Saturn: 8,700,000
3DO: 2,000,000
PONG: 10,000

Vanquish

Thoughts on the new vanquish game coming out?
Looks like it could be an interesting game over all and has a lot of game mechanics comparable to Prince of Persia.

Kinect = Big Brother

If you accept the agreement for Microsoft's new Kinect system they can record the audio and video anytime they want. 
[Read Below]


If you accept the agreement, you “expressly authorize and consent to us accessing or disclosing information about you, including the content of your communications, in order to: (a) comply with the law or respond to lawful requests or legal process; (b) protect the rights or property of Microsoft, our partners, or our customers, including the enforcement of our agreements or policies governing your use of the Service; or (c) act on a good faith belief that such access or disclosure is necessary to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, customers, or the public.
”

“You should not expect any level of privacy concerning your use of the live communication features (for example, voice chat, video and communications in live-hosted gameplay sessions) offered through the Service.” They obviously won’t – and can’t – monitor every single system at the same time, but they say that they have the right to do so “to the maximum extent permitted by law.”

Microsoft also “reserves the right at all times to disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, or to edit, refuse to post or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, in Microsoft’s sole discretion.” Break the law in front of your Kinect system? You could be up against the law.

Trick 'r Treat

Last night was Halloween and considering I'm too old to go out I decided a movie night was in order.

The movie of choice was trick r' treat that someone was streaming online, and I have to say I was fairly impressed with the movie overall. The movie was based off a comic book and it follows through four different horror stories in this one town which are all connected in a way.

The first story revolves around the principle of local school and he poisons a child, drags him inside and carves out his head like a jack-o-lantern. The second story is about a virgin girl who is dressed like little red riding hood and her sister is trying to seemingly hook her up with a guy at a party in the woods. The third story is about some kids who go to pay their respects to the dead and play a prank on one of the other kids in which turns against them when the dead actually come back to life. The final story is about what looks like a child is appearing around town at each murder scene and is basically the entity of Halloween and torturing those who have done wrong in the past. The little child looks like sackboy from Little Big Planet.

I would suggest a rental at least but I'm going out to buy the blu-ray because I think it has a lot of rewatch value.