Author Archives: Justin Kranzl

When hacker George (Geohot) Hotz was served with a temporary restraining order early in the evening of January 11, he had to have a good idea what was coming. So too must the other defendants on the stark legal papers prepared by Sony Computer Entertainment’s legal team – Hector Cantero, Sven Peter and 100 yet-to-be-named persons. One does not thumb their nose at mega-corporations lightly.

After a torrid fortnight, where PlayStation 3’s system security – namely its ability to determine whether code running is legitimate or not – has been laid bare by hacker group fail0verflow, Sony’s finally made its move.

Here, VG247 presents a report breaking down the the implications of the PS3 hack, what’s come already, what’s happening now, and who the real losers are in this complete fiasco.

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Uncharted 2 proved to be something of a lifeline to Sony when the PlayStation 3 console was still finding its feet. A blockbuster hit which managed to snatch limelight (and the lion’s share of accolades) away from the Modern Warfare 2 juggernaut, the title not only was an accomplished demonstration of software engineering, but also told a pretty mean story.

When Naughty Dog unveiled Uncharted 3 at an event in Hollywood a couple of weeks back, we took the opportunity to talk to the game’s cinematic lead (and Naughty Dog’s first hire back in the day), Taylor Kurosaki. The film-trained Kurosaki left Naughty Dog after Crash Bandicoot 2 released to work on music videos and commercials, but returned six-and-a-half years ago, stating “this is where all the cool stuff is happening.”

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Telltale Games has dropped release specifics for Back to the Future: The Game.

PC and Mac platforms will get the game in December, with PS3 and iPad versions to follow.

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Analyst Doug Creutz from Cowen Group has good and bad news for Activision Blizzard.

The good news: Creutz thinks investors don’t need to worry about the music genre anymore.

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Medal of Honor? What’s that?

DICE community manager zh1nt0 has tipped off the PC Bad Company 2 community of incoming fixes to the FPS.

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Salvation? Maybe.

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Fallout: New Vegas may have enjoyed a solid critical reception (with the odd exception) but paying customers soon found plenty of things going awry once the game went on sale.

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If you run into Shaylyn Hamm, Shawn Spetch, Steven Skidmore, Spencer Kern or Rob Laro this week, drinks are on them.

The five pocketed between $USD39,000 to $USD47,000 each in royalty payments after virtual items they created went on sale to the Team Fortress 2 masses.

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Guild Wars 2 is attracting plenty of attention at present.

Developer ArenaNet has put the smack down on one recent piece of information circulating about the game: whether they will release dungeon content post-launch as paid DLC.

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The scale of initial consumer uptake of PlayStation Move will be clearer at the end of the month with Sony promising to reveal more detail during a scheduled earnings report.

Venturebeat reports Sony Computer Entertainment America marketing head Peter Dille hasn’t disclosed figures. Dille claims Sony is flying in replenishment shipments as “many retailers” have sold out of the motion control unit.

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Ace Team, the Santiago, Chile-based developer behind Zeno Clash will one day revisit the popular beat ‘em up. For now they’re all about Rock of Ages, a game which is shaping up to be an imaginative mix that owes a little to everything from Breakout to Tower Defence.

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The EU PlayStation blog has confirmed the latest iteration of Time Crisis, Razing Storm is headed for a Novermber 3 launch in mainland Europe, with the UK and Ireland following suit on November 5.

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The trailer trickle-feed for Rockstar’s Undead Nightmare DLC continues. Today’s footage – complete with ‘scary’ voiceover – shows off zombie-themed multiplayer in the game’s Undead Overrun mode.

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People tearing the wrappers off their copy of Fable 3 next week will also be able to collect some instant virtual swag for the character in-game, gratis.

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Developer DICE is well aware of PC gamers’ fears Battlefield 3 will be “consolized”: designer Alan “Demize99″ Kertz acknowledged the concern in a forum thread on EA’s BF3 messageboard this week.

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Splash Damage boss Paul Wedgwood has told GI that the studio’s philosophy is “triple-A or bust.”

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Bethesda’s hoping to wash the bitter taste of bugs from gamer’s mouths, having rolled out the first of what is likely to be many fixes to the PC version of Fallout: New Vegas.

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Eat Sleep Play’s David Jaffe – currently working on Twisted Metal for the PlayStation 3 is no stranger to controversy or his comments being taken out of context.

So in the wake of Insomniac’s Ted Price’s plea for games press to help mobilise the gaming public against proposed restrictions on sale of certain games – borne as it was by Price being misquoted – you may figure Jaffe would be on board too.

Not so.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops has some heavy expectations on it. Not just from Activision Blizzard, who needs developer Treyarch to keep the money rolling in, but from online gamers looking for a new holiday season multiplayer FPS hit.

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When Capcom brought developer Ninja Theory on board to make the new Devil May Cry, change was to be expected. But when a new-look Dante was revealed at this year’s Tokyo Games Show, plenty of gamers voiced their disapproval.

Capcom executive Christian Svensson has told IGN UK not only was the company expecting a fan backlash, it was part of the plan.

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