The pool near Hackney Wick Station was to be manned by zombified lifeguards, and feature intestines for lane markers.

Eurogamer reports that Capcom issued the following statement on the matter:

“In light of yesterday’s sad events we’re cancelling our Revelations pool event. Thank you for your understanding.”

The Woolwich attacks saw one man killed, and two arrested near an army barracks, and is being treated by the UK government as a suspected terrorist act.

What do you make of the stunt and Capcom’s decision to cancel it? Let us know below.

In a LinkedIn post, Teneja said of next-gen formats, “These architectures are a generation ahead of the highest end PC on the market. Our benchmarks on just the video and audio performance are 8-10 times superior to the current gen.

“The compute capabilities of these platforms and the data transfer speeds we can now bank on, essentially removes any notion of rationing of systems resources for our game engines.”

Cross-play is also of great interest to the exec, such as tethering third-party devices to next-gen consoles, a feature that was billed heavily at Microsoft’s recent Xbox One reveal.

He continued, “We’ll really start to see more examples of true cross-device play. Sony showed off the ability through their cloud gaming functionality to allow gamers to play high-end console titles on the handheld Vita product.

“The architecture of both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 present more opportunities to take your game from TV to smartphone to PC, with seamless ubiquity and experience gaming at any time, in any way on any device.”

What do you think of the above? Can these machines deliver a generational leap over current, top-of-the-line PC hardware? Let us know below.

Thanks GI.biz.

The pack includes to extra routes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Circuit and a selection of IndyCar liveries including the Dallara IndyCar and Indy 500 Pace Car skins for both the Chevrolet Camaro SS and Corvette Z06 Centennial Edition.

GRID 2 hits PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 across North America from May 28 and across Europe from May 31.

Thanks AGB.

Thanks AGB.

While we’re on the subject of fixes and stuff, there’s no offline mode yet. Sorry folks.

Here are the patch notes in full, as posted on the EA forums:.

Update 4.0 Notes

• New: SimCity Launch Park, an exclusive new park just for our dedicated fans who were early adopters.
• New: Region: Edgewater Bay. Seven city sites in one cluster around a beautiful bay with one great work site.
• New: Your current server will now be shown in the options menu.
• New: More detailed rollover information on buildings telling player’s if their Sims received happiness from a park or from shopping. Previous to this fix, this information was generic.
• Re-Enabled Feature: Global Market prices now dynamically change during gameplay.
• Re-Enabled Feature: Leaderboards will be active on EU West 3, Pacific 1 and Pacific 2 at the release. We will enable them on additional servers throughout the day.
• Re-Enabled Feature: Region filters are now enabled on all SimCity servers. Players will be able to search for open games by Map Name, Sandbox Mode, and Abandoned Cities.
• Rain Clouds: Fixed an issue where some cities would not have rain clouds to replenish their water table. If you had a city with this issue, you will start seeing clouds again within a game day.
• Fire: Improved response time of fire trucks to fires. Improved the time it takes for a fire signal to reach a fire station.
• Mission updates: Tuned Metals HQ and Community College missions. These were appearing too early, making them difficult to complete. They now appear later in a city’s development.
• Solar Farm Great Work: Reduced fire risk at the Solar Farm Great work. Local fire engines were spending too much time at the Solar Farm.
• Messaging: Improved pre-requisite messaging for Trade Port, Casinos, Smelting Factory and Oil Refinery. It should be clearer on how to unlock these buildings.
• Graphics: Fix for flickering low wealth buildings on NVIDIA graphics cards.
• Education: Fix for an issue some cities experienced where commuting students did not return from a neighbor’s city. This was causing a problem where students would disappear from a city in some cases.
• Tuning: Sims will lose a small amount of happiness if they don’t have a place to shop. Cities without places to shop will see complaints and feel the effect of unhappy Sims. This will emphasize the importance of commercial zones.
• Thanks Eurogamer.

The Wall Street Journal broke the story this morning, confirming that Atari will hold auctions over four days in July, in an attempt to curb its losses.

The decision comes despite Atari convening with some 180 potential buyers, only to receive 15 initial offers for its back catalogue. The company found none of the bids to be acceptable, and has now opted to break down the sale by individual IP, as a way of maximising returns on each sale.

IP revealed to be on the block so far include Rollercoaster Tycoon, with a minimum bid of $£3.5 million, Total Annihilation at a minimum bid of $250,000 and Test Drive at a minimum bid of $1.5 million.

We’ll have more updates on the auction and the asking price of other Atari IP as it happens.

Thanks GI.biz.

May 22, 2013 – EVERY DAY on social media I hear it. People stop me on the street just to ask it. “Show me the DEADPOOL videogame marketing!” they demand. “Buzzword the crap outta me!” They want info on retail drivers. They’re all about how I’m incentivizing early adoption. And they freakin’ demand insight on how I’m monetizing my user base.

Well, OKAY. I hear you! Allow me to rest and purchase groceries uninterrupted once more as I establish a new paradigm by unveiling these tantalizing pre-order bonuses for DEADPOOL from the following participating retailers:

Best Buy
· A $5 voucher for ANY Marvel comic book. You could get one from the time I was in the Uncanny X-Force, or one from Daniel Way’s sizzling Deadpool run… And well, yes, I suppose you COULD buy a Marvel comic that DIDN’T star yours truly, but why do that to yourself? – U.S. only (while supplies last).
· An exclusive Deadpool poster for everyone who pre-orders the game from my home country (while supplies last). Vive posters! Vive Quebec! – Canada Only

Steam & GameStop PC Download
· The Merc with a Map Pack DLC! Featuring two new levels – GRT Plaza and Inside the Tower – for Deadpool Challenge Mode and Infinite Mode, as well as two new costumes, the D-Pooly and Uncanny X-Force suits (only available in Infinite Mode). You like maps, don’t you?
· Your very own Deadpool digital wallpaper! Look, if you want to be the only one of your friends without a Deadpool digital wallpaper, that’s fine. I don’t know, I think high school’s hard enough already, but it’s your choice – you gotta be you.

Alright…that’s all the news for today. Deadpool’s gonna go pay a stranger now to pre-order HIS bonus if you know wh—ahh forget it.

DEADPOOL will release in North America on June 25, 2013 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC via Steam.

Yup, that’s a Ferrarri. The post reads, “The Rivalry Begins. Learn More on May 23rd”. That’s today, obviously.

The image follows another picture of a police cruiser posted yesterday. It has a very next-gen vibe about it. See it here.

What do you think this is all about? Is it the rumoured Frostbite 2 racer in development at Ghost, EA’s Gothenburgh studio we reported on a while back, or is Criterion still helming the series? Let us know below.

Thanks AGB.

The Twitter exchange above confirmed what we already knew, but it is the first time Activision or Infinity Ward has acknowledged the game on Sony’s formats openly.

Meanwhile, the game’s debut trailer was shown at Microsoft’s Xbox One event on Tuesday, in which Activision’s Eric Hirchberg confirmed that all of the game’s DLC would be timed-exclusive on the format, as per previous games. It’s out November 5th on current-gen formats.

You can read what was said and see both trailers here.

Thanks IGN.

Ubisoft Montreal isn’t a stranger to open worlds, but the Caribbean environments of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag are going to raise the studio’s bar considerably.

We’re talking a seamless world filled with islands, jungles, temples and towns, all connected by Edward Kenway’s ship the Jackdaw.

It’s a lofty vision that requires some serious technical clout under the hood, but the team is currently giving it their all.

Think back to the studio’s last release Far Cry 3, and the way that organic traits such as the lay of the land can prove inviting.

No one ever tells you to go off the beaten track in search of loot or relics, but some side roads were impossible to resist.

Visual signposting and areas of genuine interest are important in such vast play-spaces, as they remove the need for blatant herding techniques that might as well be giant signs that read, ‘filler content this way’.

Communicating this without actually saying it not only keeps immersion in the world high, but it avoids intrusive hand-holding – something I personally felt Assassin’s Creed 3 was guilty of almost every step of the way.

I recently spoke with Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag creative producer Jean Guesdon about how his team will turn its vast ambition into a reality, and to better understand the art of solid world-building.

“The world of Assassin’s Creed 4 is the most unique and fresh world we’ve ever built,” Guesdon told me. “This brings a lot of challenges in us understanding how to build this new world. We have three major cities and these are relatively easy for us to put together and give them unique flavor. It is our expertise.

“How they all link together with the 50 plus locations was a major challenge because we wanted the seamlessness to be there. It is very important for us that people feel this world is credible and something they want to explore. This need brings tons of technical challenges like loading, draw distances and spawning. We have worked hard to resolve these things.

“There are also player experience challenges. What motivates the player to explore this world? How do we pace the events and the experience on the ocean? How do we tell unique and memorable environmental stories for this massive world? These are questions that we have been working on resolving from the beginning and are excited to see players gauge our answers”.

There’s no hiding the fact that the towns of Havana, Kingston, and Nassau, as well as their neighbouring islands and bodies of water will make for a large environment, but we’ve all played through big open worlds before, and chances are many of you have – at times – found them to be sparse and under-populated.

It’s a dangerous flaw in world design, and it threatens to break your attention. I recently wrote a personal blog about why I felt the GTA series has long-suffered from this same problem, but like all games, it’s a subjective issue. I asked Guesdon how he and his team approached this very real threat.

“You are right that there is a balancing act in creating an open-world,” he replied. “We cannot build a small world, because it would make the player feel restricted, it wouldn’t give the player this sense of freedom that is inherent to the pirate fantasy.

“At the same time, we do have to make sure that the player never has a feeling of emptiness, or boredom. That is why we are implementing a brand-new system called the Horizon system to our game. When you take out your spyglass, no matter where you are at sea, you should always see something beckoning to you on the horizon.

“It could be an ally that needs defending, it could be a brand new island to explore, it could be a whale that you could harpoon. Our world is truly the most varied of any Assassin’s Creed yet, and we want to make it as lively and eventful as possible. The variety of environments and the unpredictability of events will, together, make it a world that you want to explore”.

These dynamic ‘Horizon’ events recall patrol spawning from Far Cry 3, where just as things seem to be quietening down, a jeep full of armed mercenaries would roll over the hill, forcing you to either scraper or stand your ground and fight. If the same rings true in Black Flag, it could make for many tense encounters at sea.

Of course, building the actual world is one thing, but you can’t create a historical backdrop without properly researching the real stories behind it, and as ever, Ubisoft Montreal’s dedication to the source material is as laser-focused as ever. I asked Guesdon about how far the team has gone in its research.

“Whenever we tackle a new era in an Assassin’s Creed game, we always strive to tell a story about the era rather than the setting,” he explained. “So for this game, it’s not only a game about piracy, but rather a game about life in the early 18th century Caribbean, that happens to focus on piracy because that was an important part of life at this particular time and in this particular place”.

“So, you will get to see how different Empires were struggling to keep control of the most important trade route in the West. You will see how slavery was an important issue in some of the colonies. Of course, you will see how privateers and sailors, discarded by their empires after the signing of the treaty of Utrecht, decided to fight back and take for themselves the riches that were right before them.
In light of this, it is definitely fair to say that it is a morally ambiguous setting”.

Speaking of morally ambiguous, Ubisoft has made no secret of Edward Kenway being something of a naughty bastard, so I asked Guesdon to give us some deeper insight into the man beneath the hood, and to explain just how closely he matches real pirates of the era.

“When researching the era, we found that the typical pirates seen in pop culture don’t match with the personalities of the true pirates that lived during the Golden Age of Piracy,” Guesdon explained. “Edward definitely matches the historical reality of these real pirates. He is a criminal with a very flexible moral code that matches most pirates of his day – a decent man with a penchant for extreme naughtiness.

“He is completely the opposite of the “good” pirates that we see in most media representations of piracy. With regards to his involvement with Blackbeard, Edward is very involved in his history. He is part of the Pirate ‘gang’, so to speak, and lives through the same events that they live through. The specifics will have to wait for another day, but yes, Edward will definitely get some quality time with most of the famous pirates of the era, including dear old Blackbeard”.

Just how the two work together remains to be seen, but we’ll know more as we approach the games release on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Wii U from October 29 in the States, and November 1 across Europe. For now, what do you think of Black Flag’s world? Does it sound inviting? Let us know below.

The novel in question is ‘The Second Jungle Book’, and it came with a note from Activision that reads, “The story continues with the debut of the first CG trailer for Destiny. Look out for the live trailer later today…”

There was also a Destiny bookmark with the date June 10, which is the day of both the Sony and Microsoft pre-E3 shows, and the mark was places at a chapter entitled ‘The Laws of the Jungle’.

They’re quite long so you can just skip to the photos at the end. The laws read:

“Now this is the Law of the Jungle —
as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper,
but the Wolf that shall break it must die.

Now these are the Laws of the Jungle,
and many and mighty are they;
But the head and the hoof of the Law
and the haunch and the hump is — Obey!”

We’ll know more once the trailer drops today.

The game’s developers put the failure down to lack of U.S. backing, even though the the campaign was one of the top funded U.K. Kickstarter titles. The Realm reached £94,527 of its £195,000 funding goal, with 3,384 backers. Courtesy of Polygon.

Atomhawk Design and Lantern Interactive, the developers of the game, now plan to return later in the year with a U.S. Kickstarter account in another attempt at funding the game.

A mailing list has been setup and Facebook page is available for anyone wanting to keep track of any movements.

The trailer starts with a young officer after the war who is being interrogated about a book he wrote which chronicles the experiences on him and his men but also contains the damaging truth of what he saw. He and his men fought and were victorious in the five month Battle of Stalingrad and were able to advanced on the German lines and push them back. This all came at a high cost though, war and death make ordinary soldiers in animals.

The trailer can be viewed at Polygon. Company of Heroes 2 is out on Windows PC on June 25.

Courtesy of Gamasutra, Oculus announced the news on its blog, with the following comments:

“Steve’s leading research and development on some of the toughest VR challenges including sensor fusion, magnetic drift correction, and kinematic modeling.”

“Tom’s last two decades found him working at some of the industry’s most innovative companies including Valve, Intel, and RAD Game Tools. Tom just recently left Valve, where he was working on Team Fortress 2 in VR with Joe Ludwig and Michael Abrash.”

Tom Forsyth also had this to say, “The Rift is a great bit of kit and combines a bunch of different technology together in a very clever package. It was amazing working with it on Team Fortress 2 and seeing the extra immersion people felt inside a game they already knew so well. I’m really looking forward to helping other developers work with this tech as we go towards a consumer version.”

Steve LaValle has created a development blog for those wanting to follow his work at Oculus.

Valve let go of 25 employees back in February, two of which were able to take their work with them to form Technical Illusions where they continue building their vision of an Augmented Reality headset.

University chair and associate professor of psychology Dr. Christopher J. Ferguson lead the study which suggest genetics is a high contributing factor of criminal behaviour. Genetic variance factored into violent bahaviour for 58% of women and 20% of men according to data collected from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

“We basically find that genetics and some social issues combine to predict later adult arrests,” Dr. Ferguson said. “Despite ongoing concerns about media influences, media exposure does not seem to function as a risk factor for adult criminality.”

“Genetics alone don’t seem to trigger criminal behavior, but in combination with harsh upbringing, you can see negative outcomes,” he wrote. “In our sample, experiencing maternal warmth seemed to reduce the impact of genetics on adult criminality.

“People may object morally to some of the content that exists in the media, but the question is whether the media can predict criminal behavior. The answer seems to be no,” he added.

Behaviour is determined by a combination of factors and not necessarily one factor, according to Ferguson. The environment a child is brought up in among family and peers and socioeconomic status also factor into the possibility of criminal behaviour in the future, according to the study.

Thanks to Polygon for the story. The full study from the Texas A&M International University is available here.

The characters come together on September 5 in Japan and around the same time for western countries, courtesy of Joystiq. The games will be available both at retail and on digital platforms.

The message, according to Gematsu, reads, “As of April 1st we’ve reached our 10th anniversary! We hope you’ll continue supporting us going forward as well!”

“Well, last time on this site we said “we are thinking about various things.” Now, we are working on a lovely (and a tad heartwarming) site.”

“As soon as preparations are in order, the counter will start moving. Please wait a little longer. ROCK’N ROLL!”

A Far Cry HD listing for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 has surfaced on the Brazil’s rating board site. No announcement had been made by Ubisoft, but with the success the franchise is having, it could be on the cards.

Players are able to request a respec by emailing the CCP support teamwith any key information. This option is available from now through to May 31st, thanks to Ten Ton Hammer.

Starting Thursday the 23rd of May at 4pm CET / 10am EST, these boss monsters will be attacking settled areas while others roam around and must be tracked down. Everyone, no matter what their power, can join the battle against these monsters. If the monsters are defeated players will be rewarded handsomely.

On top of the in-game battle the celebrations will also see member accounts for Age of Conan: Unchained greatly improved. Experience points can be doubled for one hour each day when killing monsters with the Blessing of Asura item, which all characters on member accounts will now receive.

One Alternative Advancement point is also earned for each level gained to be spent at level 80 for abilities. Furthermore Members will triple the amount of Bonus Points they receive each month to spend in the Item Shop.

There are more gifts players will receive during the celebrations, including Access Passes to Khitai, the great land of the east introduced in the Rise of the Godslayer expansion.

Check out the Age of Conan page for more details.

Courtesy of Ten Ton Hammer, the update introduces new iconic characters, cosmetic armor enchanted with the Glamer spell as well as new skill tomes, classes, combat and items.

DDO servers are currently offline with the downtime is expected to last until at least 11:00AM ET. Check out the full update notes here. To preorder Shadowfell Conspiracy go here.

Courtesy of Gematsu, who have have the full transcribe of the Q&A session. When asked questions about the ability to play used games, the price of the console and whether a headset would come bundled with the console, Nelson’s responded that these details would either be revealed at E3 or later in the year. He announced that the focus at E3 will be “Games. Games. GAMES ” also saying “I think (hardcore gamers) will be happy after E3.”

Avoiding too much detail, he touches on the possibility of using one game for multiple accounts, an issue with a lot of confusion surrounding it. “As I noted earlier we’re still working on some of the policies… but our goal is that it would work like it works today on Xbox 360.”

There is no question that the Xbox One will not be back compatible though. “Xbox One hardware is not compatible with Xbox 360 games. We designed Xbox One to play an entirely new generation of games. Games are architected to take full advantage of the state of the art processors and infinite power of the cloud.”

When questioned why gamers should buy the Xbox One, Nelson points to the caliber of games that will be available and the power of Xbox LIVE. “Today’s gamers want access to great games… the Xbox One will have great games powered by Xbox LIVE. We’ve worked hard to create the ultimate all-in-one console. BTW: We have a LOT more gaming news to share at E3 ”

On the topic of what separates this console from PlayStation 4, he answered, ‘Well, Xbox LIVE for one. We’re very proud of the service that we’ve built. 48 million people agree with us. That is just one of the things. Now, I have not had a chance to spend time with the console, so we’ll have to wait until their final product launches before I can really comment.”

He adds that Xbox LIVE will allow processing to happen in the cloud and result in richer gaming experiences. This is also attractive for game developers on top of the power of the console and the Kinect and SmartGlass capabilities.

Nelson was happy to talk up the controller, although still not giving away any specific details, with another nod to E3. “The new controller is awesome I have spent a lot of time with it. If you like the Xbox 360 controller, you’ll LOVE this controller. We have made over 40 improvements in the new design. Regarding the Start and Back buttons, they’ll perform similar functions but right now we don’t have final names for them yet. The controller takes 2 AA batteries. More details at E3.”

In response to the “always connected” to the internet concern, he was straight forward in his answer. “No. It does not have to be always connected but it does require an internet connection.”

For those concerned about their 360 achievements and Gamescore, fear not. “Your achievements and Gamerscore will carry over to Xbox One,” was Nelson’s response when questioned about it.

Courtesy of Gematsu, the domain names registered are XboxFitness.info, XboxFitness.biz, Kinect1.org and KinectOne.info.

With Microsoft having announced 15 exclusive games for Xbox One in its first year, we can’t help but wonder if one of them will be Xbox Fitness. Perhaps E3 will tell.

GamesIndustry spoke to a number of indie developers to gauge their reaction to the reveal. While the general consensus was one of disappointment, few are optimistic and find solace in the power of the console and the amount of integration made possible. Overall, many are anticipating what has been held back for E3.

Andy Schatz of Pocketwatch Games (Monaco), points out the clear focus on set-top box capabilities, “It’s impossible for me to respond to the Xbox presentation from the perspective of a game developer: it wasn’t about games, it was about a set-top box. Any speculation about the technology would probably be unwise. That said, with all the focus on the marketplace and no attention paid to the structure or openness of the marketplace, it does seem like they are trying to compete on the same axes as Apple and Google rather than Steam. Again, purely speculation drawn from their apparent priorities, and I’m sure we’ll learn more at E3!”

“As an indie developer, there was nothing in this presentation that would lure me into making a game for this console. The PS4 is much more tempting and so is the Wii U. From where I’m standing, it looks like iOS, Android and Steam stay the most interesting platforms for independent games for at least one more console generation. OUYA needs to prove itself before I can comment on it, but hiring Kellee Santiago gives them a lot of indie credibility,” says Martin Pichlmair of Broken Rules (Chasing Aurora).

While some were pleased with the integration of living room uses, Massimo Guarini of Ovosonico believes it’s heading in the wrong direction for the industry. “Our industry cannot evolve if we get obsessively stuck with the living room domination mantra and the teenage hardware wars. Our medium evolution can happen only through new content, new subjects we deal with, human emotions we resonate with. As a result of the ongoing ubiquitous multi-tech, multi-tasking collective hysteria, what worries me the most is that Microsoft might genuinely believe in the way it positioned the Xbox One.”

“Nobody sane should want, let alone need, to play a game while watching a movie, while chatting on Skype, all while waving his hands. Where is the content? I mean, besides the dog?”

“Design-wise, at least we’re lucky today’s kids don’t even know what a VHS player is.”

When asked more specifically about AAA games such to Gears of War and whether Microsoft’s focus is on the lower-end, from a first party perspective, he responded, “We’re talking about console games, but there could be some franchises that also end up with a PC game, when I think about more connected experiences across those platforms, it’s things that show up within that family of devices where we’ve got Xbox Live, like Windows Phone and Windows 8,” and “not what you might consider a more traditional desktop PC game.”

Therefor, the content we will see on PC may not be what we expect. Courtesy of Shacknews.

The game is an overhaul of f The Scourge Project: Episodes 1 & 2, originally released for PC in April 2010. It also comes with new features and enhancements based on community feedback, including new and “re-vamped gameplay, a stronger and more prominent story narrative, smarter AI, more gratifying gunplay, powerful new XP Perks, a much more detailed and vibrant world.”

Scourge: Outbreak Key Features:

• Up to 4-Player Co-op Campaign with 6+ hours of gameplay
• 4 Playable Characters, each with different weapon handling stats and a distinct combination of Special Abilities
• Unique character-specific flashbacks that reveal critical past events, and shed a new light on the game’s story
• XP system to track your experience and unlock powerful gameplay rewards in Campaign AND Multiplayer
• Squad AI for groups with less than 4 Players
• Quick-Order-System (QOS) for rapid deployment of squad-members
• 9 Weapons, plus multiple variants of each to suit your style of play
• Up to 8 Players in Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture-The-Flag multiplayer Versus modes in 5 action-packed maps
• Leaderboards for competing with friends and other Players around the world
• Challenging Achievements to unlock

A teaser trailer is below.

Scourge: Outbreak will be available on Xbox Live July 3 worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points.

The deal between the two companies would allow Xbox One users to watch football games and by 2014, tablets as well.

The $400 million figure was tossed out by a person familiar with the agreement, noting that the financial details have not been made public as of yet.

NFL on Xbox One will allow users to watch the games, chat with friends during using Skype, view stats, and get real-time highlights. The NFL option will also update Fantasy Football leagues with players and team stats in real-time on the TV.

Microsoft’s SmartGlass app will also bring the NFL on Xbox to user’s mobile devices.

An NFL football lover’s dream.