Blizzard clash with Valve over DOTA trademark

Blizzard are appealing against Valve’s use of the DOTA trademark. Kotaku have spotted a NeoGaf post that brings to light the appeal notice put before the US Patent and Trademarks office late last year

Blizzard argue that “by attempting to register the mark DOTA, Valve seeks to appropriate the more than seven years of goodwill that Blizzard has developed in the mark DOTA and in its Warcraft III computer game”

The appeal says that the original DOTA mod was originally “distributed, marketed, and promoted by Blizzard and its fans” and is “built upon the 1 Warcraft III game engine, interface, and gameplay mechanics; that is comprised of Warcraft III characters, items, spells, artwork, textures, and color palates; that can be played only using Warcraft III software and via Blizzard’s online service Battle.net.”

Blizzard are busy developing their own version of DOTA, which aims to make a few changes to the formula. They say that the DOTA name “has come to signify the product of years of time and energy expended by Blizzard and by fans of Warcraft III,” adding that “Valve has no right to the registration it seeks.”

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Next Xbox chipset in production, will release fall 2013

 Multiple reports today have stated that the chipset for the Xbox 360's successor has been in production since the end of last year. The biggest report yet has just hit, with IGN claiming the system will launch in the Fall of 2013.

Earlier reports in the day came from Fudzilla and SemiAccurate, both of whom stated the "Oban" chipset has started production under the watchful eyes of IBM and Global Foundries. IGN has provided further specs, noting the GPU will be based on an upgraded version of AMD's 6000 series. IGN further states that the processors on the next Xbox will be six times as powerful as the Xbox 360's, and 20 percent more powerful than the Wii U. While the reported production of the GPU won't commence until the end of the year, IGN states that development kits will make their way to Xbox partners in August.

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Resident Evil 6 will be coming to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 20, 2012

It has been ten years since the Raccoon City incident and the President of the United States has decided to reveal the truth behind what took place in the belief that it will curb the current resurgence in bioterrorist activity. Due to be by the President's side is his personal friend and Raccoon City survivor, Leon S. Kennedy, but when the venue suffers a bioterrorist attack, Leon is forced to face a President transformed beyond recognition and make his hardest ever decision. At the same time, Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance member Chris Redfield arrives in China, itself under threat of a bioterrorist attack. With no country safe from these attacks and the ensuing outbreaks, the entire world's population is united by a common fear that there is no hope left.

In a first for the franchise, Resident Evil 6 sees series favorites Leon and Chris come together to face this unprecedented threat. They will be joined by new characters, each with their own unique perspective and involvement, in this relentless dramatic horror experience enacted on a global scale.

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3DS Sales Top 4 Million in US

Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7 become the first million-selling 3DS games for Nintendo of America; Zelda: Skyward Sword the latest Wii title to top 1 million sold in US.

The new year is a time for looking ahead, but Nintendo of America isn't quite done reflecting on 2011, as the company today announced a multitude of sales milestones crossed by its products over the holidays.

First and foremost, the company confirmed that sales of the 3DS have surpassed 4 million units in the United States alone. Last month, Nintendo pegged the system's US installed base at 2.37 million, pointing to December sales in excess of 1.2 million for the handheld.

The system endured a sluggish launch but gathered momentum with a significant price cut and a holiday software lineup including the launches of Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7. Those two games have each sold to about a quarter of 3DS owners, as Nintendo also revealed Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 are the first two titles for the system to sell 1 million copies in the US.

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PlayStation Vita Sells 321,000 Units During First Two Days In Japan

The Sony PlayStation Vita has sold 321,407 units in the first two days of sales in Japan, according to market researcher Famitsu.

Sony has pinned a lot of hopes on the Vita, which is the company’s answer not only to the Nintendo 3DS gaming handheld but popular gaming apps on smartphones and tablets as well. Enterbrain, which is the parent of Famitsu, estimates Sony Vita sales will reach 1.4 million in its first week on the market. That’s a respectable number.

But the Vita sales have apparently fallen short of the Nintendo 3DS, which sold 371,326 units in its first two days. Also, looking to the past, the previous-generation NIntendo handheld, the Nintendo DSi, sold 170,779 units in its first two days, while the PlayStation Portable sold 166,074 units on its first day and sold out the original shipment of 200,000 by its second day.

Considering early reports of problems Vita buyers have experienced, the Sony Vita may experience a fluctuation in sales during its first week.

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Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Hits $1 Billion Milestone in Just 16 Days!

When it comes to Call of Duty, there’s no mistaking the property’s selling power. It’s more a matter of figuring out how many Brinks trucks Activision is going to be driving away with every year. Even knowing that every Call of Duty for the past few years has continually raised the sales bar ever higher, it comes as a bit of a surprise that Modern Warfare 3 recently set the record for the fastest billion dollars in sales. The previous title-holder, a little indie film you might know as James Cameron’s Avatar, took seventeen days to earn its first billion. That should give you an idea of how ridiculous it is when we tell you that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 only took sixteen days to do the same thing.

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Xenoblade gets US release as GameStop exclusive

Xenoblade, the fantastic Wii RPG from Monolith Soft is finally coming to America on April 3, 2012!  The weird part is that the game will be a GameStop store exclusive title, which is kind of strange since that might hurt its sales.

Xenoblade originally only came out in Japan and later made its way to PAL regions, making American gamers angry enough to start up a huge petition called Operation Rainfall (which got over 10,000 signatures) to get acclaimed Nintendo titles like Xenoblade to come over to the states. As a huge RPG fan myself, I imported the title (damn my impatience!) and I honestly think that it's one of the best RPGs, maybe one of the best games, of this generation. At the time it was a shame that it didn't originally come out in the US, but now we'll all get to play it which is great.

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Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

It is September 1998 and the action centres on the ill-fated Raccoon City and the horrific consequences of the deadly T-virus outbreak, developed at the Umbrella facility. With a cover up required, Umbrella orders an elite team into Raccoon City to destroy all evidence of the outbreak and eliminate any survivors. Meanwhile, the US Government has quarantined the city and dispatched its own team of elite soldiers to determine the source of the mysterious outbreak. You are an Umbrella Security Services soldier (U.S.S.), competing alone or in up to four player co-op in a battle against all the competing forces at play in Raccoon City. Expect the return of original Resident Evil enemies, iconic landmarks such as the Raccoon City Police Department and fan favourite characters, including Leon S. Kennedy, who, as a rookie police officer in Raccoon City, is on your hit list to eliminate.

• Experience the Fear: Set in the terrifying world of Resident Evil
• Three Corner Conflict: Bio-Organic Weapons (B.O.W) and zombies create an unpredictable third force and additional challenge on the battlefield, adding chaos to the shooter game play.
• Campaign Mode - both single player and up to 4 player co-op: You are part of the Umbrella Security Service. Protect the truth behind the T-Virus outbreak by any means necessary.
• Fight Online: Robust and fully featured online multiplayer modes
• Define your Play Style: Gain new abilities and skills unique to your playable character as your experience level increases.
• International Team Development: a high quality, fully loaded, third person co-op / multiplayer shooter developed in collaboration between Capcom Japan development studios and an experienced Western multiplayer specialist studio.  

Platform: PC, PS3, XBOX360
Genre: Action Adventure
Developer: Slant Six Games
Release Date: TBA 2012

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Rockstar Release GTA V Statement

We are very proud to officially announce that Grand Theft Auto V is in full development. Developed by series creator Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto V heads to the city of Los Santos and surrounding hills, countryside and beaches in the largest and most ambitious game Rockstar has yet created.

A bold new direction in open-world freedom, storytelling, mission-based gameplay and online multiplayer, Grand Theft Auto V focuses on the pursuit of the almighty dollar in a re-imagined, present day Southern California.

                                                                                 - Rockstar Games

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10 Unreleased Video Game Consoles

 

Sega Neptune [1994]

In the mid-1990s, Sega's product line suffered an extreme case of multiple personality disorder. By 1995, the company supported eight incompatible gaming platforms: Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, 32X CD, Game Gear, Pico, Saturn, and in some markets, Master System. They also sold the CDX (a combined Sega Genesis and a Sega CD unit in a semi-portable package) and the Nomad (a fully handheld Genesis console). Then, on top of all that, there was the proposed Sega Neptune. Sega designed the Neptune as a way to simplify its product line by combining a Genesis and the 32X add-on into one unit. But as you can see by the list above, Sega definitely did not need another game product to support. Around this time, a rare modicum of sanity hit the company, and the word came down from its Japanese HQ to focus only on its new flagship console, the Sega Saturn (1994). As a result, the Neptune (phew) never made it to market. 

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Games that pushed their Hardwares to the limit

It has been 12 years since the the Sega Dreamcast officially started the 128-bit generation
of gaming. Looking at the past generation, the following games have been confirmed as to maximized or pushed their respective consoles to the very limits of its performance:

Sega Saturn - Virtua Fighter 2, Panzer Dragoon Zwei, Dead or Alive Playstation -  Tekken 3, Ace Combat 3, R4 Ridge Racer Type4, Final Fantasy 8 & 9, Gran Turismo 2, Resident Evil 3, Madden NFL 2000/2001, Metal Gear Solid, Vagrant Story, Ape Escape, Wipeout 3, NBA Live 2001 Nintendo64 - Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask


As of this writing, i don't have much of a list in regards to games on Saturn and N64.Playstation's list was confirmed by Sony themselves (they always use a system analyzer to read the hardware performance based on games) but there are so much more.

Funny thing here is that Virtua Fighter 2, which is a 1995 release, pushed the Saturn to it's limit EARLY in the console's life. The Saturn was released in Japan in 1994 if I'm not mistaken and just a year later, it's limit have been reached.

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Requiem for a Dream

 

 

It pretty much felt like Christmas when I finally got my Sega Dreamcast some years ago, right at the start of the millenium.So what if I wasn't the first kid on the block to get the little white box that could? And so the frigging what if I got my DC a good 2 years after it was launched in Japan, a year after it made its US debut and a year before Sega announced its eventual demise?

I've had other consoles before and after it but let me just say for the record that the DC remains as the best gaming rig I ever laid in my eyes and hands on.To quote that acid-tounged film producer in The Godfather."And I've had them all!"

Well,maybe not all.What made The DC so special was not so much that it can do many things that even the current next-gen consoles can do like play mini-games or call plays on it's unique and still unequaled Visual Memory Unit (VMU) or surf the Net with its built-in 56K modem.What really made the DC stand out was not any of its extras.In the end, it was still the games that mattered. And from 1998 to 2002, the DC produced what is arguably the best ratio of good to bad games in its wonderful library of more than 200 titles.

Even though certain developers (i.e EA) shield away from it, the console offered something for everyone. Fighters (i.e the original Soul Calibur), racers (Daytona USA), first person shooters(Unreal Tournament), light gun titles (Unreal Tournament), platformers (Sonic Adventures), sports (NBA 2K), RPGs (Phantasy Star Online) and many more name it,the DC had it.  Most of them looked great,too. Thanks to the hardware's anti-aliasing capability, many DC games still stack up well compared to the PS2 releases.

Of course, most of us knew why the DC party had to end and how the floundering Sega went the way of Atari and eventually ended up as software publisher of games for other platforms. The DC continued to have a life of its own, though.For a limited time, Sega continued to manufacture a new DC units due to strong clamor and some new games were even made for it for the japanese market. An unauthorized portable DC called the Treamcast was also available on the net for a while.

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