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Saturday, July 19, 2008

E3: The best games on show from the BBC


E3 has shut its doors for another 12 months and it is time to reflect on what was shown and which games emerged as best in show.
A few years ago at E3 publishers were able to match their ambitions for specific games by building ever bigger and more elaborate stands.
But now the show is much more reserved and journalists have more of a chance to play games, meet the developers and get a real sense of what titles will impress.

More from the BBC

Top 10 Nintendo Soundtrack Tributes


Over the years, gaming music has come on leaps and bounds since the 8-bit beebs and blobs of old. Since then fans have remixed and preformed their own variations of various Nintendo franchises. This article goes through, what we Nintencast think anyway, what the top 10 Nintendo soundtrack tributes are. Enjoy!

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Bangai-O Spirits Circumvents DS Codes, Blows Minds


I stopped by D3Publisher's hotel suite yesterday to check out some of their stuff. I hadn't heard much about Bangai-O Spirits (remember, Dreamcast fans?) which has been out in Japan since March and is hitting here sometime in the fourth quarter, but that's because I generally don't follow shooters.

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E3 games trailers



Watch some E3 trailers here

Sony PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS top in Japan


Sony's PlayStation Portable and the Nintendo DS have held onto their lead on in Japanese hardware sales, according to figures from Media Create.

The PlayStation Portable sold 56,998 units, out pacing the its rival handheld the Nintendo DS, which sold 48,540 units.

Nintendo's Wii continues to far out sell the other consoles shifting 41,768 units, with the PlayStation 3 trailing behind it at 12,458 units.

Bringing up the rear of hardware sales is the PlayStation 2 at 12,458 units and Microsoft's Xbox 360 selling 3,807 units.

Strategic Command 2 - Patch download


v1.01 patch for SC2 Patton Drives East released! (and updated demo)

Today we are happy to offer the first patch for the Strategic Command 2 expansion, Patton Drives East. This exciting new expansion explores the various what-if's of an alternate outcome to the events of World War 2 including how a war between Stalin's armies and the Allies would play out.

This patch is packed full of new improvements to the main game and editor. It also includes a new Video Acceleration setting to help those with slow map scroll speeds. The patch is 171 Megabytes in size.

The SC2 Patton Drives East Patches page

In addition to the new v1.01 Patch is a newly updated game Demo. The demo is 141 Megabytes in size and reflects the changes and additions that went into the 1.01 upgrade.

The SC2 Patton Drives East Demo page

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Beta Is Starting

Breaking News: Activity on the World of Warcraft beta page, along with reports that the beta downloader is active are the final indicators that Blizzard has begun the beta testing phase of the next upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.

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Operation Flashpoint 2 - Dragon Rising E3 Fact Sheet

DEVELOPER: Codemasters Studios
PUBLISHER: Codemasters
RELEASE DATE: 2009
PLATFORM: Major console platforms & PC
WEB: www.flashpoint2-game.com

Welcome to a new flashpoint: Codemasters reveals the US Marines against the Chinese PLA in a battle for the possession and oil riches of the 220km2 Russian island of Skira.

Taking gamers as close to war as they’ll ever want to get, Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising is the much anticipated return of the genre-defining military conflict simulator. Set to deliver the total combat experience, Operation Flashpoint 2 will challenge players to survive the chaos and rapidly evolving situations of modern warfare in a new contemporary theatre.

Players will experience the intensity, diversity and claustrophobia of a modern conflict from the unique perspectives of an infantry marine, a helicopter pilot, a Special Forces officer or a tank commander, each engaged against the full force of the Chinese PLA on a scale never previously experienced in a military action title. Gameplay simulates an immense conflict between advanced forces and provides unparalleled scope with different military disciplines, vehicles and equipment for players to utilize.

Freedom of Play – Operation Flashpoint 2 will give players the freedom to handle military crisis situations on their initiative. Unscripted missions will task players with real objectives, such as laying down covering fire, covering a friendly unit’s retreat or conducting short-range recon patrol. Armed with cutting edge military hardware, players will need to balance brute force with intelligent use of tactics. Once players have completed the campaign, a Mission Editor enables gamers to create their own single player and multiplayer missions.


The most realistic modern military conflict game – Operation Flashpoint 2 features unparalleled levels of realism and variety of military forces, equipment, weapons and tactics. Fully loaded weapons and individual ammunition types will be simulated with detailed ballistic physics, based upon individually-crafted mechanics. Players will command and control a wide variety of multi-component, multi-weapon vehicles, including tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, APCs, attack and utility helicopters. The character damage system authentically depicts the terrible wounds and injury from modern weapons to communicate the reality of combat.

Platoon-Based Combat - As an epic campaign weaves the narrative, players will fight as infantry soldiers in battle, drive tanks in armored assaults, pilot helicopters in air strikes, and infiltrate the enemy in covert special operations utilizing a wide variety of realistic military weapons from knives and rifles to machine guns, grenade launchers and laser designators for air strikes. In whichever role the player chooses, they will experience the fierce and brutal reality of warfare and the shock and awe of contemporary firepower unleashed on the arresting scale of modern combat.

Redefines the Size of Battle - Immense play areas of more than 135 square miles give players a multitude of tactical decisions on how to best accomplish missions. Densely packed with environment detail and objects, valleys, mountains, coastlines, towns, villages and industrial complexes all combine to deliver a rich and challenging tactical environment. The world is persistent, so that buildings destroyed in one campaign mission will be destroyed in the next.
Stylised Cinematography - Operation Flashpoint 2 will model the environment, objects and people in realistic detail, but its visual styling will embrace documentary techniques. The camera work through cut-scenes will be heavily influenced by television war reports that are often shot under extreme circumstances delivering a unique look with incorrect exposure, severe camera shake and loss of focus.