At the Digital, Life, Design Conference held in Munich, Electronic Arts announced that they are employing a new business model for some of their online games.  Called “Play 4 Free,” EA will make revenue not by selling subscriptions or selling the games, but through in-game advertising and micro-transactions of premium items.

The first game that will incorporate this business model will be “Battlefield Heroes,” a game developed by Battlefield creators, DICE.  Not much is known about the game at the moment, however we do know that it resembles the popular multiplayer-shooter Team Fortress 2.  According to EA they plan to build the game in such a way so that it ”caters to players of all skill levels…gamers can spend hours building up their characters and conquering the world.”

DICE is aiming to attract both casual gamers and hardcore Battlefield players.  A match-making system will be implemented to ensure that players of similar skill and experience will be able to compete against each other.

The people at both EA and DICE are naturally enthusiastic about the new business model.  There are challenges however to such a model.  According to Ben Cousins a senior producer at DICE: “With the new online model, we will continually add new content to keep the game fresh and keep players engaged, while integrating player feedback in real time.”

The game will be available for download at their official website this summer.

[Source: Gamespot]

Who would have thought those three games would mix?  Apparently they do, and the result is probably what will become one of the most addictive games to come out this year.  Dubbed “Audiosurf,” the game fuses elements from Guitar Hero, Tetris and Wipeout. 

Check this out:

If you don’t like the soundtrack shown above, you can include your own tracks!  Just upload your music file (MP3, iTunes M4A, WMA and OGG) and the game analyzes the music of your track based on its intensity and mood.

Watch out for this game when it comes out next month, maybe this will be the game that will make you hang-up your plastic guitars! 

[Source: Audiosurf Site]

This, dear game-heads, is the transformation of a Nerf gun (and some chainsaw toy) into the Lancer. Well, your follow up question could possibly be, “what the heck is a Lancer, anyway? Mitsubishi, right?”

No.

The Lancer, my pedigreed chums, is THE weapon of choice of Cogs - ummm Cogs are soldiers in Gears of War and Marcus Fenix is the most rocking of all.  Discovered this in Kotaku.

NerfHaven forum poster Forsaken_angel24 has taken his love of All things Nerf and Gears of War to a new level. Using a Nerf rifle and a toy chainsaw from Home Depot, Forsaken_angel24 was able to cobble together a reasonable and realistic looking copy of Gears of War’s most infamous weapon, the Lancer. If you are interested in making one of your own, he gives full instructions in a posting on the NerfHaven forums.

“Hey kid, nice gun.” 

I always wanted to learn to build COOl stuff out of nothing (Lego doesn’t count) and Forsaken_angel24 just made me realize even more that I SUCK.

Being someone who can’t sit still unless he’s fiddling with something, I decided to get myself one of those PicooZ helicopters being flown over people’s heads in the shopping mall near our house.  Although I was a complete noob, I thought I knew enough without reading the manual.  The store attendant can do it, why can’t I?  Once I got it home, I unpacked the tiny helicopter, charged it for a few minutes and proceeded to mash the throttle.

3 things happened: the dog freaked out, my girlfriend freaked out, and I freaked out.  It’s hard to think such a small palm-sized machine made out of foam and plastic can be so terrifying.  To the dog, it must have been like the weirdest creature to spawn from hell, to my girlfriend it was the whirling blades of death, and to me it was my hard-earned money about to disintegrate on the wall.

You see, being a complete newbie, I had no idea how to fly it.  The little thing came zipping around hitting the ceiling and everything else it thought it wanted to bounce to.  I did not know what I was doing.  I did not know what was happening.  I did not know anything!  It all happened in a flash.  It took a while for my brain to register that I had to release the throttle.  I released it and down it came with a soft thud. 

Almost every living thing with a brain fears the unknown.  That’s why kids are afraid of the dark.  In the dark you can not see, if you can not see, you most likely won’t know for sure what’s around you.  Their vivid imagination starts creating its own monsters in place of the void.  The unknown brings uncertainty.  Remember how nervous you got when you first tried to have a conversation with a person you really liked?  The uncertainty of whether or not he/she would talk to you and maybe even what you want to talk about is what is making you nervous.  Old sailors were afraid to sail too far because they feared what may be the edge of the world.

Where am I going with this?  Well I recently read an article entitled “Xbox is Crack For Kids” at the Times Online and the first thing that popped into my head was this.  The author seems very much afraid of what her children are playing or watching.  According to her:

Once, such kids would be the playground outcasts, but no longer. Mine are. Because, unlike the TV-hating parents, I refuse to buy them portable gaming consoles, Xboxes, GameCubes, PS2s. These are Satan’s Sudoku, crack cocaine of the brain. Even the crappiest cartoon or lamest soap teaches a child about character, plot, drama, humour, life. Playing videogames, children are mentally imprisoned, wired into their evil creators’ brains. And they play them - beepety-beep - on journeys, over family meals, any minute in which they find themselves unamused.

Really, does she know what she is talking about?  Does she know what her children can and can not play?  Can she operate these systems?  Does she know why kids are attracted to video games?  Does she know that there are educational games out there that can prove to be really helpful in her child’s learning?  From all the generalizations in that article, I think not.

I’m not saying video game addiction does not exist.  It does.  However, if parents simply watch what their children are playing, choose their games wisely, and implement a good system to ensure they don’t spend to much time on the consoles or PC’s then there shouldn’t be any harm.  Play what they play.  Play alongside them and bond with them.  Learn, and benefit from it.  Who knows, you might enjoy it.

After a few more days of practice, my little PicooZ is buzzing around gently in my living room, our dog happily chasing it.  My girlfriend is still hesitant but I could get her to hold her hand out and land the little chopper on her hand.  WE are having fun.  Things change when you already know.

Most of the time, people diss first person shooters for its violent content.  America’s Army has been no exception, particularly because it is primarily a tool created by the US Army to find and attract recruits into joining them.  Part of the game involves a sneak peek into what’s involved in training as a soldier, training Paxton Galvanek was able to put into good use.

America’s Army’s training regimen includes class room lectures (yes you get to sit inside a classroom and listen to an instructor) about emergency first aid.  The lectures include lessons on how to stop bleeding, how to treat shock, perform CPR and assess the severity of the person’s medical needs.  After each lecture, you will need to pass a multiple-choice exam before finally being able to play as a medic in-game.  Boring?  Yes.  Informative?  Most definitely!

That training kicked-in when Paxton witnessed an SUV flip several times.  While his wife contacted 911, Galvanek correctly prioritized injuries and began giving first aid by stopping a person’s bleeding through pressure and elevation. 

According to him:

I have received no prior medical training and can honestly say that because of the training and presentations within America’s Army, I was able to help and possibly save the injured men. As I look back on the events of that day, the training that I received in the America’s Army video game keeps coming to mind.

However, I do want to point out to all of the other AA players, or anyone else for that matter that treating a person’s injury without any real medical training has potentially deadly repercussions.  The best thing you can do in this situation is to call your emergency services.  In the US, its 911, for the rest of the world, ask your parents.

[Source: Kotaku]

If you’ve been living under a rock for the past month or so, or maybe you’re just a person who could care less about video games (shame on you!), it’s already a universal fact that Yoda and Darth Vader are going to make a glorious appearance in the next installment of Soul Calibur.

Spawn, Link, Heihachi and now, the cornerstones of the Star Wars universe are now part of the Soul Calibur mythos. Link, I can see the relationship and so is Spawn. Heihachi is a little iffy but he squeaks right through. Yoda and Vader however are a far-fetched at best. However, here’s an explanation as to HOW the two students of The Force are intertwined with the tale of souls and swords as told by Soul Calibur:

Click for a larger image.

Yeah… riiiighhht. 

Yay!

Dear Nintendo,

Please, please, please, please, please, please, release Super Smash Brothers Brawl NOW.

- The World

With the official announcement of the delay of SSBB, fans have been left hanging like a…. hanging thing. People have been drooling for the release of PROBABLY THE MOST ANTICIPATED game of ‘08.

Now, as if rubbing fresh lime on an already gaping wound, scans of the latest issue of Famitsu magazine have been released showing pictures of the game’s characters and their moves, final smashes and of course, their review score.

Wouldn’t you just love to know what the score is, huh?

If you haven’t deduced it already from the title at the top of the page, Super Smash Brothers Brawl received a glittering perfect score. 40/40.

*breathes*

Now, now, you MUST take note that the Famitsu people are very, very, VERRRRRY picky when it comes to choosing games to pin their gold medal on. Here is the list of games that have received the perfect 40 (an odd number when it comes to perfection, honestly).

1. The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time

2. Soul Calibur

3. Vagrant Story

4. Zelda: Wind Waker

5. Nintendogs

6. Final Fantasy XII

Man, that’s a tough nut to crack. Notice, that half of the games on that list are from Ninty. Coincidence? Hahah! Nevertheless, it doesn’t lessen our itch to play the game. NOT. A. BIT.

We want it NOW!

Source: Gaming Today

Technorati tags: super, smash, brothers, brawl, ssbb, nintendo, wii, announcement, delay, release, famitsu, magazine, japan

The title says it all and it doesn’t look promising.  In an interview in Newsweek, Bungie writing director Joseph Staten revealed how the Master Chief will be integrated into the story.  According to him:

In the film, the other characters begin to comment on Master Chief’s anonymity, like “Who is he?” and “What’s his story?” He becomes a really wonderful source of mystery, a sort of anonymous problem solver. So we definitely worked on that. In the final version of the script the Master Chief was certainly absolutely critical to the film, but there were other characters around him which carried most of it, that did most of the emotional heavy lifting. The Master Chief was there in support of their story.

Really, the Master Chief has contributed much to the success of Halo.  He’s the hero afterall.  Halo without the Master Chief is like eating pancakes without syrup, an ice cream cone without the ice cream, or Super Mario Bros without Mario.  It can turn out well, but it just seems… half-baked.

It’s understandable really.  How can you make a faceless, mute, emotionless character carry a film’s story?  It really is a conundrum for the writers.  Is it possible to make him the main character and still end up with a good film?  Maybe, but it will be difficult.  Most likely, it would end up boring as hell.  It would probably be more entertaining to watch Tenspeed wash his hair.

So what would I expect this film to turn out to be?  Probably just another action film which involves some sort of marine platoon out to fight aliens.  The Master Chief will probably be coming in and out much like the Cyborg Ninja from the Metal Gear games; a background character that does things in the background.  How cliche can you get?

 [Source: Newsweek]

After a much needed sabbattical, I, your humble bad-boy of video-game blogging (I kid, of course), I AM BACK! Yes! Woohoo! The next round is on me!

Anyway, with the Journalist of White-Haired Descent taking a hiatus, it’s my turn to spread a little lovin’ in Sumodownloadin’.

Just the thought of me being back in SD makes me giddier than a schoolgirl watching a Channing Tatum movie.

You might ask “Mr. Tenspeed, whatever have you been doing when you were gone?” Well, dear and concerned reader, I’ve played a lion’s share during the twilight months of ‘07. I must admit, ‘07 was a whirlwind of top-notch, groin-grabbingly good games. Just when you thought that one game would be the top-dog of the year, another would sneak right in and moisten even more the appetites of already spoiled gamers.

“God of War 2! *splashes blood*”

“Oh Bioshock was awesome. That’s definitely game of the year!”

“Oh, look Halo 3 is out! We have a new winner!”

“Guitar Hero 3, baby!”

“Call of Duty 4! It is love!”

“Gears of War for the PC! GG”

“World in Conflict. YAY!…. *jaded sigh*”

“Nothing like rocking out to Rock Band!”

“SUPER MARIO GALAXY!”

The point is, ‘07 was an awesome year for games but don’t think for a second that ‘08 was up to snuff. With a whole plethora of “4’s” coming out - GTA 4, DMC 4, and MGS 4 - us gamers will be neck deep in gaming glory; not to mention a whole squidload of other good games just dying to burst out of game developers’ cages. Thou shant worry, Sumodownload will be in the frontlines and we promise to deliver blazing opinions, hot news and MAYBE juciy behind-the-scenes stuff.

MAYBE.

Hahaha! Moving on, I promise to live up to the legacy of White-Haired Journalist for he is awesome. Fret not, he’ll be back.

2008 is going to be awesome for gamers. Of course, it’ll come with its fair share of scandals and issues. Stay tuned.

Just kidding. XD

Hello everyone! it’s White-haired Journalist, the head writer of Sumodownload.

For one month, I would be focusing on a new project so I may not be able to write that much on the site. Although I would be contributing every now and then, for the time being, the site would be led by Pooch and Tenspeed.

I hope you continue to support our site, no matter how small our readership may be for now. We started out small and we’re having a steady number of readership over the last month. With that, I thank you for your continuous support, and hope that you’d continue to support us.

We’d always be proud to give you the freshest gaming news out there. Cheers!