Wii U Will Have Open Multiplayer Network System

According to Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, the company’s upcoming Wii U will offer “a much more flexible system” for online gameplay where publishers and developers are free to choose the network solution they prefer.

“So instead of a situation where a publisher has their own network and wants that to be the predominant platform, and having arguments with platform holders, we’re going to welcome that,” he told Forbes. “We're going to welcome that from the best and the brightest of the third party publishers.”

This means that it would be possible for Wii U players to play with their PC counterparts if the game developer wishes so. Valve is already eyeing Wii U to host some of its upcoming titles, and if this happens it is likely that they would use their Steam platform for multiplayer.

Reggie refused to elaborate on the subject, saying that it would be better if further details were “to come from the publishers than to come from us.”

U.S. Navy Tricked Into Buying 59000 Chinese Counterfeit Microchips

In 2010 the U.S. Navy bought 59,000 microchips for use in a wide range of its military equipment, varying from missile defense systems to gadgets that tell friend from foe. Those chips turned out to be Chinese counterfeits.

Adding insult to injury, in addition to being cheap knockoffs that could malfunction anytime, the chips also contained backdoors that would allow anyone with access to the code to disable the chips.

The counterfeit chips were discovered by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA), who is working now on righting this problem.

The problem of foreign chips has been rising since 2005 as foreign chip foundries started creating chips that rival – and surpass – those of the U.S.’s and American weapons makers didn’t want to limit themselves to American technology only.

News sourced from Megagames.
Related topics located here http://chinhdangvu.blogspot.com/search/label/chinese%20counterfeits

Valve Accidently Makes Source SDK Free

Fortunately for the modding community, Valve decided to run a long with a little mistake which led to the full Source Software Development Kit (SDK) being available for free.

The Source SDK was originally available with the purchase of any Source-based game (such as Half-Life 2 and pOrtal). One of those games is Team Fortress 2 which moved over to the free-to-play-micro transactions-supported model recently.

During that transition, Valve didn’t notice that the Source SDK is available with the game and so they didn’t remove it from the bundle and it became free for all.

Valve decided not to spoil the fortunate accident. “We are in the process of getting it all done. It's a bit messy because we have multiple versions of the SDK, and there are some dependencies we need to shake out,” Team Fortress 2 developer Robin Walker wrote in an email. “But yes, the gist of it is that we're just going to go ahead and make the Source SDK freely available.”

Pitchford: Blade Runner Game Would Have Been The End Of Gearbox

Speaking to the Official PlayStation Magazine, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford revealed that the company put together a list of dream intellectual properties in 2008, and that they managed to get them all except Blade Runner which they deemed unprofitable.

“Blade Runner was on [the list],”he said. “We had it too and we were like, 'No, we can't.' That game would've cost like $40m to make and sold about 600,000 units - and that would have been the end of us.”

“There's no rational business model that would have allowed that to make sense. If we'd made it with a business model that did work, it would not have been the Blade Runner game we all would have wanted.”

Gearbox has already released Duke Nukem Forever to a great financial success despite being disappointing to fans and critics alike. The company has also announced Sega sequel Samba de Amigo and movie tie-in Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Bing Gordon: Online Gamers Need To Generate USD 3 Per Hour

Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers argued that online gamers need to generate $3 of in-game items per hours in order to feel rewarded and entertained.

The firm’s expert Bing Gordon explained that players of online games such as Zynga’s FarmVille need to generate in-game gifts, items and coins in order to sustain the illusion of achievement and progression. Gordon argued that $3 is the sweet spot required to maintain that illusion without making the game too easy.

Bing Gordon received the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' (AIAS) Lifetime Achievement Award in January 2011.

You Can’t Delete Your SaveGame In Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D

For no apparent reason, the ability to delete old save games and start a fresh new game was removed from Capcom’s Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D.

No reason was given by Capcom for the decision, which leaves amble room for speculations that it was done to reduce the appeal of second hand copies of the game.

A lot of developers and publishers are increasingly employing different tactics to decrease second hand game sales. The most popular of those tactics might be the one time codes that are tied to the game’s serial number and can be redeemed once to enable some of the game’s content. The content unlocked by one time codes can usually be unlocked by paying a 10 fee, but there is no way to start a new game in Mercenaries 3D after the first one.

It is worth noting that Mercenaries 3D is an arcade-style shooting game with no campaign, so replaying levels is not a big deal but you won’t be able to reset the unlocks, scores and achievements.

Capcom responded to the allegations by claiming that not being able to start a fresh new game has no effect on the game’s second hand sale value.

“The game's value at second-hand in the UK is not affected by whether or not the game can have its data reset,” it said.“Customers in the UK will not experience a reduced second-hand value should they wish to trade in their purchase.”

Wii U Controller Aims To Attract Hardcore Gamers

Despite its unconventional shape, the new Wii U controller was actually designed to resemble traditional gamepads, hoping to attract core gamers back to Nintendo’s consoles.

The console’s HD capabilities were also meant to attract the same audience, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed.

The – not so surprising – revelation was made during an investors briefing in Japan where Iwata admitted that a lot of hardcore gamers were turned off by the WiiMote.

During the same investors briefing Iwata bragged that he was told by third party Japanese developers that they couldn’t replicate Wii U’s Zelda HD demo visual effects on current gen consoles. The demo was put together in “a relatively short amount of time,” Iwata boasted.