Predator Joins Call Of Duty: Ghosts In New DLC

It was teased a few days ago, but a new trailer for Call of Duty: Ghosts' Devastation DLC confirms it – Predator will indeed be in the game.

Catch Pokemon on Google Maps app for IOS and Android

The Google Maps App for iOS and Android now has a Poke Ball logo beneath its search bar. Clicking on it shows the locations of Pokemon on Google Maps. This is fully functional April Fools' Day prank in the Google Maps App

EA's Origin service will stop selling disc-based games starting April

Battlefield publisher Electronic Art's Origin marketplace will stop selling disc-based games starting April 4, the company announced today on its website. Beginning one week from today, the Origin store will transition to an all-digital marketplace where it will only sell downloads for PC and Mac.

AMAZON'S SET-TOP BOX COULD BE ANNOUNCED NEXT WEEK

Amazon is sending out invites for an event to take place in New York on April 2. According to The Verge, the invite says that it'll give an "update for our video business." It's very possible that whatever Amazon is set to announce next week could be the rumored set-top box with gaming functionality.

Last year, it was rumored that Amazon would develop a Android-powered gaming console for the living room. The latest rumors have it pegged as a set-top box along with a leak revealing a game controller that resembles the OnLive controller with media buttons. It also includes a GameCircle button that resembles Amazon's gaming achievement and cloud save service.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that Amazon is planning an ad-supported streaming service that will deliver TV and music-video programming for free.

It's unclear whether the set-top box is Amazon's gaming device. In any case, interested users should tune into next week's Amazon announcement.

Source Gametrailers

EA's "On The House" promotion starts with Dead Space free on Origin

Electronic Arts today made Visceral Games' 2008 horror-action game Dead Space free to download on Origin as part of its newly launched free game promotion called "On The House."

GameStop offering extra in-store credit to fight off Wal-Mart

GameStop CEO Paul Raines said today that he's not worried about Wal-Mart's entrance into the used-game market, but that might not be the whole story. A source told GamePolitics today that GameStop stores that are geographically close to Wal-Marts are offering an extra 20 percent trade-in credit as a means to fight off the competition and steer consumers toward GameStop.

Halo: Spartan Assault Is Coming To Steam

The top-down shooter that started on the moribund Windows phone platform and Windows 8 in July, went to both Xbox platforms around the holidays, and is finally coming to Valve's digital distribution platform.

Tropico 5 teaser trailer looks very piratey

In this teaser trailer released today it is identical to a favorite Disney pirate movie that we all know and love.

YouTube Video Distributor For PewDiePie And Other Popular Gaming Channels Purchased By Disney

The distributor of popular YouTube gaming personality videos like PewDiePie and TotalBiscuit, among many others, has been purchased by Disney for $500 million.

GameStop aiming to improve your shopping experience

GameStop wants to improve your shopping experience, and to that end, the company today announced a new business unit that aims to discover and implement technology solutions that "better address the needs of today's empowered consumer."

Fez Coming To Sony Systems Today

You've probably heard of Fez by now. In fact, you've probably played Fez by now, unless you exclusively play games on Sony platforms. If you do take that approach, Fez is now available to you, too. It hits the PlayStation Store today for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Vita.

IGN's interview with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson on Green Lantern Movie Rumors

IGN was among the select press outlets invited to chat with actor Dwayne Johnson on Monday at CinemaCon about his new movie Hercules, during which time The Rock was also asked about those nagging rumors of him playing the John Stewart Green Lantern for DC and Warner Bros.

Here's what Johnson had to say about that, returning to Fast & Furious 7 after the death of Paul Walker, and his other future projects.

Minecraft on Oculus Canceled

Mojang's Markus Persson has canceled an Oculus-compatible version of Minecraftfollowing Facebook's acquisition of the VR company.

"We were in talks about maybe bringing a version of Minecraft to Oculus," Persson said. "I just cancelled that deal. Facebook creeps me out."

Perhaps we'll see a VR version of Minecraft for Sony's PS4 Project Morpheus VRdevice, or any upcoming Microsoft VR initiative. An existing mod allows players to use Oculus Rift with Minecraft, however.

Source IGN

Facebook buys Oculus Rift company in a massive deal worth an estimated $2 billion

Social network Behemoth Facebook has acquired Oculus Rift developer Oculus VR in a massive deal worth an estimated $2 billion. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the news today on, you guessed it, Facebook. You can read his full note below.

Nvidia Announces 5K-Ready GeForce GTX Titan Z

Oh, you were excited about 4K resolutions? Well, too bad, because Nvidia is already talking about graphics cards that run games in 5K resolution. During a presentation at the GPU Technology Conference, Nvidia announced the new dual-GPU GeForce GTX Titan Z. And yes, it's incredibly expensive.

PlayStation Vita Firmware 3.10 Adds Calendar, Ups App Count

Sony is rolling out the latest firmware for the PlayStation Vita, adding a couple of new features and loosening restrictions on the number of apps you can have on the home screen. You’ll also be able to pass voice messages back and forth to your friends using the handheld.

Double Fine Lending A Publishing Helping Hand So Other Indies Can ‘Stay Indie’

Today’s release of Escape Goat 2 on PC is important to developer MagicalTimeBean, but what you may not know is that Double Fine is part of the celebration. The studio known for Psychonauts and Broken Age is lending a helping hand by helping other indie developers publish their titles.

This guy just raised $38,000 to make a video game about being a bear

If you've ever wondered of what it would be like to be a bear, you're not far from finding out. Developer John Farjay's Kickstarter campaign for Bear Simulator crossed its $29,500 goal last night, meaning the FPB (First-Person Bear) game is going to become an (absurd) reality. Funding currently stands at $38,183 from 1,376 backers.

McDonald's Adding Skylanders Toys To Happy Meals

Skylanders fans should be really happy next time they order a Happy Meal at McDonald's. For thesecond year in a row, the fast food giant will be stocking figures based on Activision's epic game that brings toys to life.

EA taking a Batman Arkham-style approach to its Star Wars games

Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson has said in a new interview that the challenge of working on a beloved IP like Star Wars is making sure you retain the spirit of the series. To that end, the publisher is looking to emulate the approach Warner Bros. took with its Batman Arkham games.

Diablo III In Development For Xbox One and PS4, Release Not Yet Certain

Since Diablo III was announced for PlayStation 4, one question has been on the lips of many a console gamer. Readers have asked us, “what about Xbox One?” many times. The answer seems to be a bit more complicated than we originally realized.

Ubisoft Officially Unveils Assassin's Creed Unity Footage

Earlier this week, a number of details leaked online about a new installment of the Assassin's Creed franchise with the subtitle Unity taking place during the French Revolution. Ubisoft has confirmed the game's existence, and released some teaser footage showing the game in motion.

Efforts To Unearth Rumored Atari E.T. Landfill Move Forward

Two companies, a video game developer and a marketing firm, are working together in an attempt to unearth the fabled cache of E.T. Atari cartridges that are supposedly buried in a New Mexico landfill.

Xbox E3 presentation this year won't feature many execs

Microsoft's E3 presentation this summer should be primarily focused on games, with "very few" Xbox executives taking the stage to talk, studio boss Phil Spencer said on Twitter.

INFAMOUS: SECOND SON'S DAY ONE PATCH ADDS 5 HOURS OF GAMEPLAY

A day one patch for tomorrow's release of Infamous: Second Son for the PlayStation 4 will be available when players get their hands on the game. The patch will include a substantial amount of content that includes an additional 5 hours of gameplay.

Obsidian Announces New Tank MMO Armored Warfare

Obsidian Entertainment, developer of South Park: The Stick of Truth and Fallout: New Vegas, has announced a partnership with My.com, the largest Internet company in Russian-speaking countries, on Armored Warfare.

PS4 Demand to Outstrip Supply Until the Summer

It looks like Sony will be enjoying a 'Jingle all the Way' scenario until the American summer, as the company continues its struggle to keep up with demand for its latest console.

Microsoft reveals Direct X12, promises major improvements for Xbox One and PC developers

Today during a presentation at the 2014 Game Developers Conference, Microsoft officially announced Direct X12, the latest version of the graphics API. Microsoft is targeting it to launch for developers in holiday 2015.

Assassin's Creed 2014 to be set in Paris on Xbox One and PS4, leaked screenshots suggest

This year's Assassin's Creed will be set in 18th century Paris, leaked images sent to Kotaku suggest.

The Parisien screenshots, obtained from an anonymous source from an early-in-development version of the game, show Notre Dame and the Seine river. The game is dubbed Unity, though it is not clear if this is the actual title or a codename.


Previous rumours have said that this year's Assassin's Creed will take place during the French Revolution and feature a new protagonist named Arno.

The screenshots also show buttons mapped to 'parkour up' and 'parkour down', which is said to be a new feature to be introduced this year.

Reports also suggest that there will be different version of Assassin's Creed this year for both current-gen--Xbox One and PS4--and last-gen machines. If true, it would mean that this year's Assassin's Creed would not be designed as a cross-generational title like last year's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. There's certainly precedent: Ubisoft did a similar thing with Splinter Cell: Double Agent, which launched towards the start of the last generation.

There were no rumblings about the possibility of a Wii U version.

Ubisoft has said that the most commonly-requested settings for a new Assassin's Creed are World War II, feudal Japan, and Ancient Egypt. Ubisoft said in February that Assassin's Creed IV had shipped 10 million copies.

Source gamespot

Flappy Bird Will Return, 'But Not Soon'

It seems Flappy Bird will be coming back, after all. Following the removal of his extremely popular game from the iOS and Google Play App Stores, Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen now says he's prepared to bring it back.

In response to a question about whether or not he was going to put Flappy Bird back up on the App Store, Nguyen answered concisely: "Yes. But not soon."

After taking Flappy Bird offline, Nguyen revealed he wasn't prepared for the fame his creation would bring him. "I think it has become a problem," he said of his game shortly after removing it in February. "It's gone forever."

It now seems that removal will not last forever.

Nguyen's Twitter account was filled with dismay and dreariness leading to his decision to pull the game from the iOS and Google Play stores. "I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down," he tweeted on February 8. "I cannot take this anymore," he added in a different tweet, saying, "It also ruins my simple life. So now I hate it."

Recently, Nguyen's Twitter feed has seen him interacting with his fans in a markedly more cheerful tone. He even went so far as to retweet a mural in Paris depicting his creation before revealing Flappy Bird would return.

It seems as though his attitude has changed from saving users from themselves -- Nguyen was worried about how addictive his game could be -- to one more along the lines of giving the people what they want. What they want, apparently, is more Flappy Bird. After his tweet announcing the game was to be pulled, it was downloaded 10 million times in 24 hours, according to a Rolling Stone interview with Nguyen. It has since been replaced by countless clones, both on mobile devices and computers.

Did you think that you'd heard the last about Flappy Bird forever? Or is Nguyen's turn around unsurprising given the game's reported revenues?

Source IGN

Sony announces PlayStation virtual reality initiative Project Morpheus

BREAKING--Today during an "innovation" presentation at the 2014 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Sony officially announced a a virtual reality initiative, which the company hopes will "push the game industry forward."

Sony president of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida said, "Nothing elevates the level of immersion better than VR."

Sony has been exploring virtual reality technology for more than three years, even enlisting the help of God of War studio Sony Santa Monica to create multiple prototypes, Yoshida said. One prototype even allowed the user to become Kratos.

Early prototypes used Sony's own HMZ head-mounted display in conjunction with PlayStation Move controllers.

Source Gamespot.com

New GoldenEye and Banjo on Xbox One? Rare says they aren't necessarily what you want

"We're not going to go and remake the same game, which I think when people comment is what they say they want."

The story of Rare has almost become a cautionary tale: the studio created some of the most beloved Nintendo titles of the SNES and N64 era, such as Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, GoldenEye 007, and Banjo Kazooie. Dozens of people even maintain, to this very day, that Diddy Kong Racing is superior to Mario Kart 64. This incredible assortment of titles has in many ways plagued the developer for years, with some high profile staff exits and less-than-stellar titles making the studio seem unable to recover its critical and commercial momentum since being acquired by an eager Microsoft back in 2001.

I'll wager you've probably thought about how you'd love Rare to make another GoldenEye, another Donkey Kong Country, another Jet Force Gemini, or another Banjo Kazooie a few times in your life. People certainly ask for these games a lot. "But I'm not sure it's really what they want," continues Craig Duncan.

Duncan has been the head of Rare for a "fun-packed" three years now, with roughly 120-odd full-time staff (and anywhere between 30 and 80 freelancers) currently putting the finishing touches on

Twitch And Gameloft Partner Bring Livestreaming to iOS

Gameloft's Asphalt 8: Airborne for iOS will be the first iOS game with the ability to livestream gameplay to the popular online service.

Asphalt 8 has the ability to embed part of the new Twitch app for iOS into the game itself, letting players stream their gameplay, as well as audio and video of their face, right to their Twitch channel. There is also the ability to archive streams and post to social media. Gameloft will be doing on 24-hour Asphalt 8 streaming even on its Twitch channel during GDC.

Source Gameinfromer.com

Guitar Hero DLC Catalog To Be Shut Down Soon

The final nail in Guitar Hero's coffins: Activision will be taking down all its downloadable song offerings for the series soon.

According to Activision, after March 31 you will not be able to purchase downloadable tracks for any Guitar Hero titles, or tracks for sister games Band Hero or DJ Hero.

Activision has put the Guitar Hero franchise on hiatus, and stopped releasing new DLC for the games in 2011. However, it has not ruled out a possible return for the franchise.

It's important to note that the Guitar Hero servers will remain online, and you will be able to still play the songs you already purchased after the March 31 deadline. Activision will also be putting its DLC catalog on heavy discount from now until the songs are taken down.

Source IGN.com

Kid-Friendly Payment Options Coming To Consoles This Year

As microtransactions permeate more of the gaming industry, parents increasingly have to be concerned with excessive charges showing up on their accounts. Apple and Google have both recently been the target of lawsuits centered on the in-app transaction practice, with Apple settling for $32.5 million.

The free-to-play boom is already hitting consoles, which leaves Microsoft and Sony potentially vulnerable in the same ways. Oink, formerly known as Virtual Piggy, hopes to offer a solution. The company is getting ready to branch into more mature experiences, and is in talks with Wargaming (World of Tanks) and Crytek (Warface).

Oink is also in discussions with a major third-party publisher and console platform holders, and expects to reach agreements with them for rollout later this year. Oink CEO and founder Dr. Jo Webber tells us that the service is set up such that all transactions made are with an adult. This is designed not only to protect the account holder, but also the game companies from chargebacks related to unauthorized purchases.

Webber is confident that at least one of the console platform holders will be signed on by the end of 2014 (though she won't say which), and that the other might be on board by then, also. The third party publisher she mentioned should also begin participating soon.

Source Gameinformer.com

IGN's Exclusive Interview with the Director of Jurassic World

Writer-director Colin Trevorrow is about to head to Hawaii to start work on his second feature film – namely the Jurassic Park sequel Jurassic World.

Before he commences principal photography however, the Safety Not Guaranteed director granted IGN an interview to discuss some of the rumours that have been swirling around the project, and to announce one unexpected but actually pretty logical piece of casting news...

IGN: Writing and directing a Jurassic Park movie is a pretty big step-up from Safety Not Guaranteed in terms of scope and scale. What’s been the biggest challenge thus far?

Colin Trevorrow: Getting the script right was the tough part. There are a hundred different ways to tell any story, finding the right one takes persistence. Jurassic Park movies don’t fit into a specific genre. They’re sci-fi adventures that also have to be funny, emotional and scary as hell. That takes a lot of construction, but it can’t feel designed. The characters have to be

Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes Completed in 10 Minutes

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes has received plenty of criticism for its length, and one player has likely just set the record for shortest completion time of the game.

According to their report, Eurogamer YouTube Editor Ian Higton skipped all the side missions and cutscenes to complete Ground Zeroes in just 10 minutes. With that said, Higton had played the game several times and knew exactly what to do, so don't expect to be able to do this on your first go.

Still, as noted in our review, Ground Zeroes can be completed in about two hours


story via ign.com

New RollerCoaster Tycoon revealed, coming to mobiles and PC

Atari announced today that the classic amusement park simulation franchise RollerCoaster Tycoon is coming back this spring for mobiles and PC.

The mobile version is appropriately titled RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile and it's coming to iOS devices this spring (there's no word on an Android version). It includes 20 pre-designed coasters and a "bevy" of new attractions and features, Atari said.

RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile lets you create and share your parks and includes Facebook and Game Center support. You'll also be able to visit your friends' parks and exchange roller coaster blueprints, too. The game will sell for $3 at launch.

As for the PC version of RollerCoaster Tycoon, Atari said on Twitter that a "PC experience" is currently in development and will launch this year. Unfortunately, that's all we have to go on right now.

The most recent entry in the core RollerCoaster Tycoon series was 2004's RollerCoaster Tycoon 3.

story via gamespot.com

Amazon's console could stream "top-tier" PC games at 30fps

Amazon's rumored console could stream full PC titles, sources speaking with TechCrunch said today. Such functionality would conceivably allow the system to compete directly with Xbox and PlayStation consoles, as well as PC download hubs like Origin and Steam.

Games available for streaming are described as "top-tier," though specific titles were not mentioned. They will be streamed, according to the report, using Amazon's services and will run at 30fps. Amazon already has an extensive network of high-capacity servers across the country, which are currently used to power its various digital content and cloud-based initiatives.

The site's sources also said Amazon's rumored console will have a form factor similar to

Wal-Mart taking on GameStop, will soon accept video game trade-ins

Watch out, GameStop, you have a new competitor in the used game market. Wal-Mart announced today that it will begin accepting video game software trade-ins at 3,100 stores nationwide on March 26.

During a conference call attended by GameSpot, Wal-Mart merchandising chief Duncan Mac Naughton said Wal-Mart is hoping to "shake up" the secondhand market and steal some marketshare away from competitors like GameStop.

There are 880 million video games sitting in homes today, Mac Naughton said. And according to a cited NPD report, 80 percent of these games, or more than 700

Electronic Arts in the running for "Worst Company in America"

Electronic Arts is yet again in the running for the title of "Worst Company in America" from the recently launched poll arranged by consumer affairs blog The Consumerist. EA was named "Worst Company in America" in 2012 and then again in 2013.

In the first round of this year's poll, EA is up against Time Warner Cable. The only other game-related company featured in the poll is Xbox maker Microsoft. However, EA is the only company on the list whose businesses operations are focused exclusively on gaming.

Companies featured in the poll were based on reader nominations. The Consumerist did not say what behavior warranted EA's nomination to the list, but there was significant controversy surrounding the release of Battlefield 4 in October over its widespread technical troubles.

Voting for this year's Worst Company in America begins tomorrow, March 19. The winner will take home the "Golden Poo" trophy. We've reached out to EA regarding their nomination to the poll and will update this story with anything we hear back.

via Gamespot