BF2 News has the story.

The notes fall in line with the preliminary patch notes leaked about a month ago. The patch (due in a couple of days) contains some great changes - it clears up a lot of the little annoying things that make BF2 sometimes frustrating. Best one of this list - a simple nudge with your vehicle won’t teamkill pedistrians anymore. Also, Dice ported the Wake Island BF1942 map ( shipped with the BF1942 demo ) to BF2, and it’s included in the patch.

It’s a shame that they’ve only included one new map - I’m understand the lack of new content generates demand for the Special Ops expansion pack due sometime in November, but could we get just a bit more community support please? The same maps for 1/2 a year!

Anyway, here are the notes:

New Features

• Stats compare - view the extended stats details for any other player in your BFHQ simply by double-clicking on their name on the leader board or using the new search feature!
• Server Favorites and History - find your favorite servers that much easier. No more searching for them through the main server list!
• Nickname Prefix - Add and change your clan tag to your account name at will. No more creating alternate account names to cover the changes in your competitive lifestyle!
• Supply Drop Icons - Supply drops now appear on the main map and within the 3D Map. Find that elusive supply drop much, much quicker!
• Points are now awarded for destroying the commander’s toys. Special Forces players rejoice!
• Server Reserved Slots - Server Operators can now set aside slots for their admins to join a full server at any time!
• Vehicle Passengers - the names of players in a vehicle with you are now displayed when you enter or change seats.
• Countermeasures - a reload bar has been added for vehicle countermeasures. You’ll always now now when you can set off that next flare!

Tweaks

• Point Farming changes - DICE has implemented functionality that makes it significantly harder to point farm on Ranked Servers.
• Mod Support - Mods now work properly with the Dedicated Server! Additionally, the game will automatically switch mods when joining a server that is running a mod you have installed but do not have activated.
• Map tweaks - Spawn menu map and Commander maps now scale based on the size of the level being played (16, 32 or 64 players). Mini-map also scales automatically based on the vehicle type you are using (manual changes to zoom levels are remembered as well).
• Commander scoring - No more TKs from Artillery!
• Vehicle tweaks - No more accidental kills from bumping a friend with your tank (try to avoid hitting him at speed though) and no more struggling uphill in an APC. Also no more improper TK allocation from vehicle explosions.
• Auto Team Balance tweaks - Commanders and Squad Leaders now immune to team switch.
• Anti-Air Missiles - These are now much more effective against fast-movers.

Gamespot has the story.

Don’t dismiss this game as another fantasy RTS. Although Relic’s recent Warhammer: Dawn of War (and expansion) are exceptional RTS titles, they don’t really do too much to break the mold of the standard RTS gameplay. Mark of Chaos aims to do just that.

There’s so much potential in these early rumblings that it’s left me quite a bit excited, so if I ramble then just deal. Unlike Relic’s WH title, Mark of Chaos is set to closely mirror the tabletop Warhammer game that’s swept the nation over the last decade or so. I’ve never played it myself, but I understand it’s more about employing military tactics to engage the enemy with large formations of troops, and it’s not about streaming units out of war factories and sending them off in a line to their death ( as is the RTS norm ). In this way the tabletop game reminds me of a historic battle simulator within a fantasy setting, or a turn based version Rome Total War.

But is’ not fair to claim that Mark of Chaos is a RTW clone in fantasy clothing (or as a dork would nerdily say: ‘garb’ *snort*). The campaign is broken up into two different map ‘views’. One is an overarching strategy view where you’ll monitor your armies’ positions in the larger world, see to your capital city development, and manage all of the territories you control. Ownership of territories sends resources to your capital city, where you can build structures and raise your army. Blacksmiths, archery ranges, that sort. For the most part these structures exist only in your capital city, and not in the individual territories that you own and wage war over.

Then there’s the other map - call it the territory battlemap. Here you zoom in on the view of each individual territory where you’ll play-out the large-scale battles (note that there are also smaller squad battles in the campaign, but that’s not really why we’d play this title, is it?). When you’re not fighting in a territory then you can take some time to position your troop garrison, see how the workers are doing gathering your resources, and also spend resources to purchase and place defensive structures. You can also burn bridges to channel your opponent’s army to the battleground of your choosing. While you’re setting things up in the territory view, the major campaign map continues to roll on; a gameplay mechanic that may seem annoying at first but lends itself beautifully to making multiplayer campaigns a possibility.

In summary - the game hopes to remove the tedium of commanding and protecting your buildings and your peasants as they gather and refine resources (since simply controlling a territory will bring resources to your capital city). There will be an overarching strategic map to position your armies and tactical battlemap where you design defenses and play out battles with troop formations totaling upwards of 1,000 ‘men’. Plus, you’ll be able to ‘paint’ and design your troops look-and-feel by equipping different pieces of armor and weapons just like the real game. And with graphics like these, how could you resist? ( This is the same developer as ‘Armies of Exigo‘, another RTS that has some really fantastic visuals).

The game is set to ship in 2006.

SonyxTeam.com

The SonyXTeam has released the firmware 2.0 downgrader. This was finally created thanks to an exploit found earlier this week in the 2.0 firmware pictureviewer that allowed for our favorite hack.. the Buffer Overflow.

So what does this mean?

It means homebrew apps on the PSP are back, for EVERYONE!

But really it means Sony will have a new Firmware in like.. a week to combat it.

Cmon sony.. just let HOMEBREW LIVE! IT MAKES YOUR HARDWARE BETTER!

Just a quick word before I had home - Shacknews says that they’re hosting the Call of Duty 2 demo on Fileshack.com starting at 5:00pm Eastern . That’s like, now, and stuff, but the demo isn’t up yet.

I’m sure it will be momentarily. Enjoy!

—–
Edit: The demo is up. On Fileshack, and also on Fileplanet (incase you have a subscription you want to take advantage of).

Ultimate Spiderman has been in development by Treyarch for a while, ever since I heard about this game there has been hope in my heart that this game (based on one of my favorite Spiderman story arch’s) did not fall into the pit of “suck” as most comic book based videogames do.
In Ultimate Spiderman you play as a young Peter Parker, and his friend Eddie Brock. One day Peter and Eddie stumble upon the life long work of their fathers, a cure for cancer known as the “Venom Suite”. I will not spoil any of the stories, but in this game because of the “discovery” you get to play as both Spidey and Venom!

Game play in Ultimate Spiderman has a sort of GTA style to it. There is a main story in this game but you only get to participate in “Chapters” when you complete goals.
These goals consist of Races, Beat em Up’s and Rescue Missions. The nice thing about these goals is because the game is an open environment you find yourself completing missions on your own and usually stay ahead of the “requirements”.
Each Story mission is a blast! consisting of different goals and objectives but always ending in a BOSS FIGHT! This is the bread and butter of Ultimate Spiderman. If you like good boss fights against super villains (and those who fall into shades of grey) you will love this game. Each Boss is unique and has to be brought down in a different manner. You can not just run at them and kick and punch, you have to think. There is even a bit of depth when you play as Venom (who is the tank of the two)

The controls in Ultimate Spiderman are very solid, Spiderman and Venom have different abilities but they keep the same general control scheme.
Unfortunately there is a downside to Ultimate Spiderman, and it’s a big one….The Camera.
The Camera in this game can sometimes cause death and moments of frustration. This is most noticeable in “Chase Missions” These missions have you following a super villain through NYC and trying to keep on their tail is sometimes made more difficult when the camera decided your facing right when you wanted to go left!
If you can put up with not finishing some missions on the very first try it’s a blemish you can get over.
The graphics in Ultimate Spiderman are just amazing! Every Character has a sense of depth and weight I have never seen before, Spiderman and Venom feel/play so differently from each other and a lot has to do with the way the move and the shear weight difference. Everything in this world is cell shaded, and looks great. The environment is quite large consisting of Manhattan, and Queens NYC. There is pop in from time to time for buildings but it’s never bad.
I highly recommend this game to anyone who is looking for some Fun this fall! If you ever wanted to be thrown into a game that has good story, solid controls, jaw dropping art, epic boss battles (throwing cars in times squares is FUN), and a laundry list of Marvel Characters to interact with this is a game for you.
Take it easy Monkeys.

ArsTehcnica has the skinny.

The Vibes coming out of Nintendo for the last year or so have hinted that the Revolution would be only a small performance upgrade to the Gamecube (the console’s key is the new controller, not raw horsepower). Well, if you were to believe these rumored specs recently leaked from a Factor 5 (Rouge Squadron) software developer, then Nintendo Corp is the Bill Belchick/Sun Tzu of gaming.

The specs place the Revolution on the same playing field as the PS3 and the Xbox360 when it comes to performance. This, obviously, would rock (if true).

However - the rumor addresses nothing about the Revolutions lack of HDTV support. Nintendo still hasn’t given us the yay or nay on this, though they’ve hinted it’s looking more ‘nay than yay. Boo Urns.

To sum up: Bad.

The interface is ugly, and even worse it’s confusing. Players move too quickly, and the running animations fall flat. The new Space Battle features are entirely unimpressive. The ships handle like crap, the HUD/Targeting Reticle is awful, there’s little sense of speed or acceleration, and there’s definitely no sense of mass. It feels more like I’m pushing around a graphics model rather than I’m flying a Tie Fighter. How is it that Pandemic can’t get Star Wars space battles right some 13 years after the simplistic games of XWing and Tie Fighter were so succesful on 20 MHz x486 machines?

Ugh. Thumbs down. The game isn’t AWFUL but it surely isn’t worth 50 bucks. If you’re craving an online shooter then get Battlefield 2.

Fileplanet subscribers can try out Pandemic Entertaintment’s beta for Star Wars Battlefront 2 (although file planet subscriptions are expensive they definitely do have some benefits). Battlefront 1 was essentially a Battlefield (as in 1942/Battlefield2 online shooter) clone set in the Star Wars universe. I didn’t play the first title myself, but from what I hear it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be.

Now, a year later, Battlefront 2 is coming out. The fact that the sequel comes so soon leads me to believe that Pandemic is simply going back to the original game and fixing what was wrong. I’m expecting mostly new polish this time around, but there are few new features — mainly the new mulitplayer space-based battles. Two capital ships duke it out while players have to get on boarding craft, Xwings, Tie Fighters, etc to attack and board the enemy’s capital ship, and take it down from the inside out. Sounds damn interesting.

If you’re looking for something new to do tonight then this is it. My impressions will follow tomorrow.

(from Boing Boing)
http://gameman.loungespot.com/play/index.html

In case you come across a really bored giant…

That, my friends is a 3 foot tall Gameboy, cartriges included. And one very crazy art project.

Who’s with me?

Urban Dead is a fantastic and superbly original MMOG that was created a few months ago by Kevan Davis, and which currently has around 85,000 registered players. To put it simply: it is a text-based zombie survival game that runs in any browser.

At jay is games: Urban Dead