100 virtual items: The 100 free virtual items package will be available starting today from the Central Plaza kiosk. This huge package includes popular clothing and furniture items and has been made possible thanks to our 3rd Party partners – including Lockwood Publishing, Heavy Water, Codeglue, Konami, Mass Media, Digital Leisure, LOOT, and Hellfire Games.

Two personal spaces: The Dragon’s Lair and the Mansion Garage – a medieval abode based upon Digital Leisure’s classic game and a luxurious, premium personal space never before released to the PlayStation Home community – will be available to all players today from the Central Plaza kiosk.

Ooblag’s Alien Casino: This is an exclusive game that will be published later this month and will be available via the PlayStation Home Navigator. Enter this interstellar casino and try your hand at Ooblag, a multiplayer game of craps…with a twist. Winners will be rewarded by being transformed into extraterrestrial high rollers while losers will be punished severely by Raaksu, the casino’s ruthless Pit Boss. As an added bonus, players that access the Ooblag Alien Casino space will be rewarded an active item version of the Ooblag game that can be played in their personal spaces.

via the Playstation Blog

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

I’m not even sure what to say about a game that releases free DLC like this one. I’ve already stated this feels like a meh effort on their part, but I’m liking the enthusiasm.

The new DLC will include the following

First, we’re adding three brand new Special Edition Sniper Rifles (Raven’s HM 90 SE, SVER’s SASR M, and Valor’s MK 14 Mod 1 EBR) that include a number of performance adjustments and visual variations to our already-popular long-range weapons. Second, you can expect to get your hands on a collection of new armor types! All three factions can now choose to equip Improved Light Armor in their loadouts for the bargain price of just 400 in-game credits.

So for free, FREE, players of MAG get to run around with this? (MK 14 Mod 1 EBR)

Still doesn’t justify the price of a PS3, but it’s definitely worth the investment for MAG.

Although having snipers better equipped seems like a bad idea, it is. Have fun MAG community. You’re a well taken care of niche.

G4 brings us our first look at City Interactive’s Sniper: Ghost Warrior, a covert sniping FPS set during the fictional military coup of Isla Trueno. As part of an elite sniper team, the player will be tasked with both long range sniping and close quarters combat, as well as infiltration and sabotage.

Most notable about the game is the environmental factors present. Rounds fired will be subjected to both wind and gravity. On top of that, the non-linear gameplay forces the player to determine the best course of action for their particular skillset in order to achieve their goals.

Xbox 360 Games – E3 2010 – Sniper: Ghost Warrior

Sniper: Ghost Warrior is due to ship during Q2 2010 on Xbox 360 and PS3.

In this article, I’ll dive deep into what the Sony Move experience is all about.

At heart, “Move” is Sony’s stab at the Wii causal market. To make things even more interesting, they choose to stab at the Wii market with Nintendo’s own product. Sure, it’s a different color and there are slight differences, but it’s still a Wiimote and Nunchuck, right? Well, yes and no. There are some game changing differences to take into account.

The technology is more advanced than anything Nintendo has pumped out within the last four years. Early reports from GDC indicate that playing a third-person shooter like SOCOM 4 is far more enjoyable than playing a similar title on the Wii.

The Wii uses a sensor bar to detect movement the same way your TV detects if your remote is facing toward it or not. If your pointer strays from the area on the screen, you are greeted with an “Unable to detect Wii remote” message. As a gamer that gets the occasional hand/arm cramp and need to set my Wiimote down while I pop my knuckles, this gets bothersome.

The Move uses an Eyetoy a Playstation Eye camera to detect controller movement. This offers a much broader range of controller connectivity. The PS3 doesn’t lose track of the controller no matter how many times you set it down or someone walks in front of it.

You have to use a Playstation Eye camera on top of your TV. How they expect us to balance a webcam on top of our thin LCD HD-TV’s is beyond me. I guess we can always use what I use for my Wii sensor bar, duct-tape. The camera detects movement via the sensor in the ball.

The button layout is much more streamlined than the Wiimote. Instead of twelve buttons, you get seven. A Home (main menu) button, five face buttons, and a trigger on the underside. It makes things smooth and sexy, like a dildo awaiting its first thrusting.

The balls on top of the Move controllers change color depending on in-game situations. It’s all up to the game developers, honestly. The possibilities are somewhat endless. An example would be a racing game where red, green, and yellow symbolize their stop-light counterparts.

Move runs on rechargeable and un-changeable batteries much like its old fashioned controller brethren. The move and the sub-controller (I’ll get into that later) are rechargeable via mini-USB. Since Sony were too cheap to bundle a cable with their console or controllers, don’t expect to get one with the Move. You’ll have to settle for using your digital cameras USB cord.

Above: Not the Move. The controllers are completely wireless.

The sub-controller is their name for Move’s “Nunchuck.” It’s a smaller ball-less version of the Move controller. It has one analog stick, two action buttons, a four-way directional pad, trigger, and Home button.

While you’re pointing at the screen with the Move controller, you can walk and do less waggle-intensive tasks with the sub-controller. Whoever named these controllers needs to be fired, I know.

Unlike the Wii’s Nunchuck, the sub-controller does not have a motion sensor. It’s strictly non-waggle.

But what about the games, you ask? There will be plenty Move-only titles coming out. From chicken hunting to bowling to sword fighting. If you’ve seen it on the Wii, it’ll be on the PS3.

Above: Sony’s Move.

The following list of companies are currently developing for the Playstation Move:

(List copy and pasted via Kotaku)

Now lets look at one of the first announced titles, “Sports Champions.”

In a nutshell, it’s Wii Sports but prettier. Sony is going balls out with their shameless ripping off of Nintendo, I know.

Sports Champions is Wii Sony Sports. Five or so casual sports games that can be played with one or two controllers in hand. That’s right. If you want to duel-wield light-up dildos, you have to buy another.

The games include Golf, Archery, Table Tennis, Frisbee, and Gladiator.

Gladiator is a prettied up version of “hit your enemy with a stick” that was introduced in Wii Sports Resort. You basically swing controller-A as your sword and block with controller-B as your shield. I’m not sure how that would work without an extra Move controller.

Playstation Move will hit stores this fall for $100. It will be bundled with one Move controller and Playstation Eye camera. No controller-only option has been announced for those of us who already purchased a Playstation Eye. As for the sub-controller, Sony are currently treating it as an optional accessory that will be sold separately. It has yet to be priced at the time of this post.

Early this morning, reports came in across various forums and blogs that many, many PS3 systems were suffering a sickness of sorts– the date was being reset to December 31, 1999. You thought Y2K was over with, didn’t you? It only escalated from there, though, as reports came in of trophies being erased, save files being deleted, even so far as older, at-launch consoles bricking. PS3 Slim models seem to be unaffected. This freak technological occurrence has caused Sony to literally tell it’s user base to not turn on their systems, and that a patch would be available in 24 hours.

In the late afternoon, and I noticed this on my own Steam account, Portal got an update. You know how Valve like to be extra cryptic with their game updates? The trend continues! The update brings in the weirdest of the weird– radio chatter, an achievement based off of the radios in the game, hidden morse code, and references to dinosaurs. That wasn’t a typo. Dinosaurs. As of this post, I’ve not seen any progress in terms of deciphering the confusion.

That is, in part, because there is another, much more powerful story at hand. Just before midnight EST, an article was posted on G4TV.com, which you can see here. The offices of Infinity Ward, developers of the massively popular shooter Modern Warfare 2, were surprised with an unannounced bumrush of security personnel. IW studio heads had apparently met with Activision that morning, and the staff hadn’t seen them since.

The mood around the Infinity Ward offices is currently described as “freaked out” and “confused.”

Read more: http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/702911/Security-Appears-Unannounced-At-Infinity-Ward-Studio-Heads-Missing-Staff-Freaked-Out-.html#ixzz0h07p1Mms

In their position, yeah, I’d be a little freaked too. It gets worse, gamerverse. Jason West, one of the head staff at IW, posted this on his Facebook page as a status update:

Jason West is drinking. Also, unemployed.

Not only that, but his Linkedin profile, which shows current and past occupations, has also been changed to show that Infinity Ward is now a former place of employment. Confirmation of all of this IW hoopla came from MTV Multiplayer’s Patrick Klepek, through one of his tweets.

This is an ugly day, to say the least. To lose use of one’s PS3, especially this soon after Heavy Rain’s release, must surely feel like a knife in the back.

EDIT: Breaking news concerning the IW fiasco! It seems earlier today, Activision cited a human resources investigation into “breaches of contract by two senior employees at Infinity Ward”. Jason West was one of those people, apparently. What I’d truly like to know is the specific details of this. What breach of contract? They made a game that made billions and on schedule, no less.

EDIT 2: Our own Dillon has informed me of this site, where the internet is going psycho over deciphering the Portal updates. It’s surprising how deep and cryptic it gets.

EDIT 3: As of this morning, another Infinity Ward senior staff member, Vince Zampella, has updated his Linkedin profile to show that IW is now a former job.

Sony is now advising that you do not turn on your older PS3 models to avoid further damage.

Yes. You heard right. Y2K has finally struck, ten years later and to a very specific group. Namely, PS3 Phats, whose dates are being reset to December 31, 1999, causing major outages, corrupted trophy information, and even the inability to play offline games throughout the PSN network.  Sony is aware of the issue and is “looking in to it,” the typical response from companies second only to “taking it seriously.”

The woman’s name is Annamay Alexander and she lives in Deltona, Florida. Last month, she drove up to Oklahoma City to have sex with the underage boy after sexting and sending him revealing photos of herself in Playstation Home.

Alexander met the mother and told her about the boy’s intentions to marry her daughter, who is 9-years-old. Yeah, she lied about her child wanting to marry a pre-teen just to get close to the boy. This woman is a winner. Like any good parent, she told Alexander to get the hell away from her family. Alexander refused and the mother later caught her son on the phone with her. That’s when she discovered the text messages and half-naked photos.

The kid then confessed to having a sexual relationship Alexander, and is now claimed to be suicidal.

A couple examples of the messages sent to the boy include: “My body is yours to do whatever you want with,” and “I love you and we are going to get married.”

Once caught, Alexander is looking at charges of statutory rape with a minor and stalking. Not to mention having her daughter taken away. But getting taken away from this women is probably the best thing for her child. Who knows what she has done with her in the past.

Unrelated, but KOCO News makes me want to chant “Team Conan” a few times.

What makes MAG so special? It looks like just another FPS to me.

It’s Battlefield 2 with 256 players. Other than that, MAG adds nothing new to the genre.

256 players on a console? Damn. How’s the lag?

Thus far, I’ve put in over 10 hours of gameplay, leveled my soldier to level 16, played every mode at least 20 times each, and played in some of the most action-packed scenarios the game has to offer. During all that time, I’ve only encountered one game-impairing lag spike. It only lasted 5 seconds, but during that time I was shooting a prone enemy without him taking a scratch. When the lag spike ended, I was dead without knowing how I died.

What kind of gameplay modes are there?

There’s five if you exclude the embarrassingly basic Training Mode. Suppression is 64-player team deathmatch. Sabotage is 64-player king-of-the-hill-style hold the objectives. Acquisition is 128-player “Grand Theft Auto.” It requires you to steal a vehicle from behind enemy lines. And last but not least, is Domination. It’s the highlight of the game. 256-players defending and fighting for control of 8 HQ information terminals.

How many maps?

There’s only one map per gameplay mode. Hopefully there will be free DLC down the road.

How’s the singleplayer?

Heh, there is none. This game is 100% online multiplayer only.

Is there any story? Or is it just point and shoot?

The story is the hilariously generic “We’re in the future and we want oil, mother fuckers.” Other than the welcome text and audio before each match, that’s all the story you get.

Since this game is multiplayer only, do you get a free headset like with Warhawk?

No headset. Just the game.

Is there any customization?

Character customization is very minimal. It’s just pick a faction, head, and voice. But the game does have a pretty deep talent tree. Every time you gain a level, you are awarded a skill point that can be used to get perks such as faster reload speed or the ability to revive downed teammates. Below is the full list of skills as they appear and must be unlocked.

Assault: Assault Rifle Reload Speed Decrease (1p), Foregrip (2p), Reflex Sight (2p), SFCR-LW Assault Rifle (3p), Improved Stability (1p), Bipod (2p), Steady Aim Increase (2p), 4X Optical Sight (2p), SFCR-HW Battle Rifle (5p), Suppressor (2p), Grenade Launcher Reload Speed Decrease (1p).

Personal Defense: Side-Arm Reload Speed Decrease (1p), Side-Arm Swap Speed Decrease (1p), Hollis MP Uzi (3p), Side-Arm Refire Team Decrease (2p), Side-Arm Suppressor (2p), Improved Knife Swipe Speed (2p), Expanded Knife Reach (2p).

Athleticism: Impact Damage Resistance (1p), Improved Shot Detection (1p), Improved Sprint Recovery (1p), More Control While Parachuting (2p), Improved Stealth (2p), Increased Endurance (2p), Chemical Damage Resistance (4p), Increased Health (5p).

Close Quarters: Reload Speed Decrease (2p), KP5 SMG (3p), Improved Stability (2p), Relex Sight (2p), 12 Gauge Pump Shotgun (5p), SMG Suppressor (2p)

Electronics: Acoustic Locator (2p), Explosives Detector (2p), Sensor Jammer (3p), Motion Sensor (5p).

Marksman: 4X Optical Sight (2p), Sniper Rifle Reload Speed Decrease (1p), Foregrip (2p), L96AW Sniper Rifle (3p), Bipod (2p), High Power Scope (2p), Steady Aim Increase (2p), Rollins LRSS Sniper Rifle (5p), Suppressor (2p), Variable Power Scope (2p).

Heavy: Machine Gun Reload Speed Decrease (1p), Bipod (2p), Reflex Sight (2p), Rocket Launcher Reload Speed Decrease (1p), MK 153 Mod 2 SMAWG Rocket Launcher (5p), Foregrip (2p), Improved Stability (3p), MK 43 Mod 1 Machine Gun (5p).

Explosives: Anti-Personnel Mine (2p), Advanced Grenade Throwing Distance (1p), Anti-Tank Mine (2p), Explosive Arm/Disarm Time Decrease (1p), M2 Poison Gas Grenade (3p).

Support: Ability To Heal Teammates (2p), Repair Time Decrease (1p), Ability To Revive Downed Teammates (2p), Improved Healing (3p), Improved Resuscitation (5p).

How many servers are there?

You don’t get the option of selecting the servers you play on. As soon as you click on the gameplay mode you wish to play, you are placed in a queue. It’s unclear how many servers MAG has. Every time I’ve queued, I was at the spawn area in less than 20 seconds.

I read on this website that there’s server maintenance from time to time and during that time you can’t play the game. Is this true?

That’s true. Much like other server-intensive games (World of Warcraft), there’s scheduled and unscheduled downtime. The scheduled downtime is Monday through Friday at 2-4am PST (5-7am EST, 4-6am CST, and 3-5 MST). And the unscheduled downtime is… well… unscheduled and can hit at anytime the servers need it.

Is this game worth $60?

Unless you’re really inching for a massive Battlefield 2-ish experience, no, it’s not. While I loved my time with MAG, I can’t suggest it to the average gamer. You’re paying $60 for just another FPS with no singleplayer and only 5 maps to play on. If you add in the server downtime when you can’t even play your game at all, it makes it really hard to defend MAG’s $60 price tag. Unless you’re a crazy Sony fanboy that has to buy every exclusive, do yourself a favor and wait until a price-drop.