GameStop the world's largest video game and entertainment software retailer, today is refuting inaccurate reports that it has made a bid for real estate being sold by the administrator of British retail chain Woolworths. Claims originating from games industry publication MCV hold no merit and are completely inaccurate.
About GameStop
Headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, GameStop is the world's largest video game and entertainment software retailer. The company operates 6,066 retail stores in 17 countries worldwide.
The company also operates two e-commerce sites, GameStop.com and EBgames.com, and publishes Game Informer magazine, a leading multi-platform video game publication. GameStop Corp. sells new and used video game software, hardware and accessories for video game systems from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft.
In addition, the company sells PC entertainment software, related accessories and other merchandise.
Despite getting a supposedly better GTA IV (complete with video editor, bigger multi-player and improved visuals), PC gamers are complaining about graphical issues, crashes and freezes while trying to connect to the Internet.
Rockstar have already suggested a few possible solutions and these have been added to by various sites.
These include:
Defragging your hard drive after installing the game
Signout of Rockstar Social Club online
Instal the latest service pack for Vista or XP
Instal .net Framework 3.5 (and making sure you’ve got 1.1 already on there)
Use Beta drivers for nVIDIA 7900 cards.
ATI card owners aren’t getting any better results!
On GTAForums’ poll on the issue, currently, of 198 people who own Grand Theft Auto IV on PC, 14 per cent can run the game smoothly, for 32 per cent the game runs, but “horribly” and 12 per cent can’t get the game to run at all.
Earlier we reported on a copy of Animal Crossing: Wild World that was shipped to game journalists with a racial epithet programmed in the speech patterns of one of the game's NPCs. Now Nintendo responds.
A copy of DS title Animal Crossing Wild World sent out to media yesterday by Nintendo came loaded with most of the game's secrets unlocked, it also included a nasty surprise. When you come upon Baabara, the town's resident sheep, you're greeted with a racial epithet. The word is used repeatedly in your conversation with the sheep. Here's the official statement on the issue from Nintendo:
"Previously played copies of the 2005 Nintendo DS game Animal Crossing: Wild World were sent to 14 members of the media to demonstrate the ability of players to transfer items to the new Animal Crossing: City Folk for Nintendo Wii. We regret that an offensive phrase was included without our knowledge via a wireless function that allows user-generated catchphrases to spread virally from one game to the next. This version is limited to 14 copies created for media review purposes only and is not available at retailers. We sincerely apologize for the incident and are working with media who received the game cards to return them to Nintendo immediately."
He's stared down many a bandit (and the occasional orangutan), but to my knowledge, Clint Eastwood never faced off against aliens, ghosts and lizard men hurling barrels of dynamite at him. Still, this would have been interesting to watch—and the idea of it makes for a great game for the iPhone or iPod touch.
Welcome to the world of Billy Frontier.
Where the classic westerns left off, Billy Frontier picks up, with players donning their own tin star in order to drive the bad guys out of town. To complete the game, players must complete six levels featuring three events: two shootouts, two duels and two stampedes—each filled with alien baddies, ample gunfire and hopping kangaroo-bovine mutations known as “kanga-cows”).
The graphics and sound make this game and Billy Frontier flexes its muscles with a 3-D engine that shows the player what the iPhone and iPod touch are truly capable of. Tap into one of the game’s target practice levels, and the cavalcade of lovingly rendered kanga-cows, aliens, lizard men, ghosts, bottles, ammo boxes and power-ups that vault into the air as targets will amaze you.
This, combined with a fun, twangy, well-crafted soundtrack, creates a terrific game environment the player can enjoy for a few minutes at a time as well as during longer gaming sessions.
Unfortunately, gameplay within Billy Frontier fluctuates between extremely fun and downright frustrating depending on the situation. During shootout levels, the player taps the screen to indicate where they want to fire at aliens the ducking for cover (and occasionally taking potshots at you). As the gunfight continues, players can shoot barrels and crates to reveal extra ammo, health, and money which must shot again in order to be collected.
Sadly, the game’s targeting system feels disjointed and players may find themselves spending half their ammo trying to pick off an alien or, worse, trying to collect more ammo to continue the level and stay alive. (If you run out of bullets, you die).
The duel levels are challenging but entertaining; players must tap symbols to match displayed sequences while showdown-style cinematics and camera angles lend to the environment). The stampede levels make the most of the handset’s built-in technologies. Here, players must try to outrun a herd of kanga-cows while jumping over rocks, fences, and fallen trees along the way. The use of the accelerometer allows players to accurately tilt the unit to steer Billy down the path while collecting coins and chili peppers to act as speed boosts. Stampedes prove to be a refreshing break from the constant gunplay
Even with its flaws, Billy Frontier raises the bar for graphics and sound found on an iPhone game. It may not be perfect, but it’s off to a great start, worth the £5 standard price. (As this review was posted, the App Store lists Billy Frontier and other Pangea Games at 59p —a definite bargain.) Billy Frontier is perhaps just a few updates away from being truly terrific.
Manufacturer: Pangea Pros: Looks great and has an entertaining soundtrack; fun to play Cons: Targetting system could use a bit of work Min specs: iPhone or iPod touch running 2.x software. Price: £4.99 (UK) Star rating:*** (3 stars)
LucasArts today announced that it has released a new single-player level for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Available now for Xbox 360 owners through Xbox LIVE Marketplace and for PlayStation 3 owners through the PlayStation Network, the level features The “Secret Apprentice” in an entirely new mission set in the Jedi Temple on the planet Coruscant. The Secret Apprentice travels to the Jedi Temple to learn more about his father, and while searching through the rubble of the destroyed building he must confront his inner demons.
Bundled with the single-player level are nine new costumes, which allow gamers to play through the game disguised as several new characters, including:
• Apprentice’s Temple Exploration Gear • Apprentice - Cybernetic Reconstruction • Apprentice’s Sith Training Gear • Mace Windu • Darth Maul • Qui-Gon Jinn • Dark Stalker • Lightsaber Training Droid • Combat Training Droid
In addition, LucasArts also released a new stand-alone costume pack which includes:
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was released on September 16, and has since become a worldwide hit. The game completely re-imagines the scope and scale of the Force and casts players as Darth Vader’s “Secret Apprentice,” unveiling new revelations about the Star Wars galaxy seen through the eyes of this mysterious new character armed with unprecedented powers.
Fantasy action game “Trine” (PlayStation Network and PC) will be released late 2009.
Trine is a fantasy action game where the player can create and use physics-based objects to beat hazardous puzzles and threatening enemies. Set in a world of great castles and strange machinery, three heroes are bound to a mysterious device called the Trine in a quest to save the kingdom from evil…
The gameplay is based on fully interactive physics - each character's different ability helps the player battle an army of un-dead and defeat hazardous contraptions. The player can at any time freely choose whoever is best suited for the upcoming challenge or puzzle: The Wizard is able to summon objects to help solve puzzles and create new ways to overcome obstacles, the Thief uses her agility and dead-on accuracy to swiftly surprise the monsters, and the Warrior unleashes mayhem and physical destruction wherever he goes.
“This is the first game we publish on the PlayStation Network and we are thrilled to work with Frozenbyte on this very exciting game project!” declares Arnaud Blacher, CEO of Nobilis Group.
“Trine is a true testament to Frozenbyte's new strategy focusing on original IP. We can't wait to have the game released on the PlayStation Network and PC,” said Lauri Hyvarinen, CEO of Frozenbyte, and he continued: “Nobilis has been a great partner to us all these years and we look forward to combining our efforts even more closely to make a great game!”
Accelerometer-Guided Surgical Arcade Action Now Available Exclusively in the App Store
Calling all surgical specialists to assist Dr. Awesome, MicroSurgeon M.D. with microscopic missions. Exclusively developed for the iPhone and iPod touch by Escalation Studios and ngmoco, Dr. Awesome, MicroSurgeon M.D. takes up residence in the App Store for the great price of $1.99.
As the world’s most skilled microsurgeon, Dr. Awesome has been called in to eradicate a deadly virus spreading throughout the entire population, including the players’ friends and family saved in contact lists on the iPhone and iPod touch.
Dr. Awesome, MicroSurgeon M.D. (http://drawesome.ngmoco.com) challenges even the steadiest of hands with intense arcade gameplay.
Players perform microsurgery to isolate and eradicate mutagens that have infected their friends, personalized from the user’s iPhone and iPod touch contacts.
With the accelerometer-guided micro scalpel, players must cut and trap the offending viruses, avoid disruptive virus counter attacks and collect various power-ups to succeed in saving their friends.
An in-game autosave feature also saves patients when surgeons are called away from the operating table.
To buy Dr. Awesome, MicroSurgeon M.D. in the iTunes App Store, here
Dr. Awesome, MicroSurgeon M.D. follows the successes of ngmoco’s special effects-laden, touch-screen, arcade game MazeFinger (http://mazefinger.ngmoco.com) and the colorful, touch-and-tilt, block stacking game Topple (http://topple.ngmoco.com) which hit the App Store in October.
Street Fighter IV brings the legendary fighting series back to its roots by taking the beloved fighting moves and techniques of the original Street Fighter II, and infusing them with Capcom's latest advancements in next generation technology to create a truly extraordinary experience that will re-introduce the world to the time-honored art of virtual martial arts.
Everything that made the legendary Street Fighter II a hit in the arcades, living rooms and dormitories across the globe has been brought back in Street Fighter IV. Players will be able to play their favorite classic characters, such as Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Guile, along with new characters, including Crimson Viper, Abel, El Fuerte, and Rufus. Characters and environments are rendered in stylised 3D, while the game is played in the classic Street Fighter 2D perspective with additional 3D camera flourishes. Six-button controls for the game return, with a host of new special moves and features integrated into the gamezplay system. Street Fighter IV brings a brand new fighting game to fans the world over.
Key features
Classic 2D Street Fighter II gameplay infused with new moves, classic characters and all-new characters
3D environments and characters
New special moves that go beyond any Street Fighter fan's wildest imagination, including Focus Attacks, Super Combos, and the revenge-fueled Ultra Combo system.
Amazing locations never seen before in a Street Fighter game
New gameplay elements provide challenges for both newcomers as well as the most seasoned Street Fighter pro.
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