BBFC clears Grand Theft Auto 4 for sale

With the banning of Manhunt 2 still fresh in the minds of some gamers, many are worried about how British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) will rate Rockstar North's Grand Theft Auto 4 for both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.

Well, worry no more because the game has been rated and should be making its April 29 release date in the region.

Grand Theft Auto 4 was given an "18" certificate by the BBFC. While it hasn't been confirmed, some have surmised that the recently published Byron Review played a part (considering the BBFC responded to it positively) in the quick rating of the video game.

Regardless of the reason, gamers based in Europe can sleep well knowing that the game will be heading their way with one less potential problem.

Article from: QJ

Grand Theft Auto 4 - Rockstar Social Club for PSN, XBL

We just can't get enough Grand Theft Auto IV updates, can we? Fresh off the release of the fourth trailer, Good Lord, What Are You Doing?, Rockstar Games has revealed Rockstar Social Club, and you better be a part of this when registration starts on April 15. Anyone can sign up with his PlayStation Network ID or Xbox Gamertag.

Rockstar Social Club is a dedicated website which faithfully keeps tabs on all those important statistics for upcoming Rockstar titles. Yes, upcoming, that's why Rockstar must have thought there's no better way to kick off this leaderboard than with Grand Theft Auto IV (Playstation 3, Xbox 360).

Finished the game? Unlocked all secrets? Trust that if it's a GTA 4 milestone, you're in the Rockstar Social Club. Here's a run-down of its complete features:

* LCPD Police Blotter A virtual map and tracker of single-player criminal activity logged in Liberty City from the aggregated data of millions of connected players - showing the most dangerous areas of town, most commonly used weapons and more.

* The Story Gang This special single-player leaderboard recognizes players who complete Niko Bellic's main story arc of Grand Theft Auto IV - The leaderboard ranks players according to the total amount of playing time it's taken to complete the story, as well as a historical rank by who has completed it first. Members of this club will receive special online widgets and merit badges marking all of their in-game accomplishments.

* The 100 Club Watch to see who will be the first to complete 100 of the game. The first ten people to be identified on the Social Club as reaching 100 will be sent an ultra-rare commemorative 'key to the city' to mark their accomplishment. In the future, the 100 Club will then carry a historical leaderboard showing rankings of who has completed 100 of a game in the shortest span of playing hours.

* The Hall of Fame This area will dynamically recognize those singularly elite players who have reached the top of the hill on various statistical leaderboards, and will also contain a personal awards display of special in-game landmarks and successes in Social Club competitions.

* The Liberty City Marathon A ranking of special physical milestones achieved in the game - from the amount of miles walked, driven, or swam - to the number of bullets fired and stunt-jumps jumped. There will be additional special marathon-based competitions in the future from this area as well.
Rockstar Social Club is accessible through both the Playstation Network and Xbox Live.

Article from: QJ

EA buys GTA Forums, False?

You remember that US 3.4 million offer made by Electronic Arts to purchase GTAForums.com? We reported it as a rumor. Our mistake. It was actually a joke. A really early April Fools' joke from the forum's own moderators.

EA has been making waves lately, what with their intentions of taking Take-Two Interactive under its umbrella made crystal clear to the industry. If they purchased the forums, they would take control of one of the most active communities for T2's popular Grand Theft Auto franchise, which is why the joke felt so believable.

Even though purchase of the forums was actually non-existent to begin with, EA's intentions on taking over T2 remains. Who knows, maybe this April Fools' joke inspired some new strategies in them.

Article from: QJ

The Bourne Conspiracy Website Goes Live

As if Matt Damon didn't have enough publicity thanks to the last three films based on the Bourne Trilogy, he returns once again in Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy. What's more, the official website for the game has recently been opened, giving fans another happy dose of Bourne love.

Developed by High Moon Studios and published by Sierra Entertainment, the game expands on the Bourne novel series written by Robert Ludlum. Gamers will get to play the the titular character in the series, Jason Bourne, as he dodges spies and international conspiracies while trying to find out the truth behind his past.

The site expounds on the details of the game's various features such as the close combat system that we've previously covered, as well as its many movie tie-in aspects. While the in-game Jason Bourne only bears a vague resemblance to Matt Damon, the game will still include a lot of other exciting elements which made the series such a gripping title.

You can view the official website of The Bourne Conspiracy by following the Via link found below. The game is set to be released around the third quarter of this year and will be available on both the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3.

Article from: QJ

Rumor: EA buys Grand Theft Auto Forums

Everyone knows that Electronic Arts has been looking into purchasing Take-Two Interactive because of Rockstar Games. Even though the deal didn't push through, it looks like EA is confident that they will be getting their way in the end.

Rumor has it that the company purchased GTAForums.com, one of the largest Grand Theft Auto fansites on the internet, on March 22 for US 3.4 million.

A letter (shown in the upper right; a copy of which received by IAreGamer) from EA to Tank, the webmaster of GTAforums, reportedly shows the company's interest in purchasing the forums. So far, no word on whether this deal really did push through or not. If it did, though, it looks like EA is pretty confident in their bid to take control of Take-Two Interactive.

We're going to be keeping an eye for any developments on this, so be sure to keep checking back here for more news and updates.

Article from: QJ

Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 Online Multiplayer Problems

Having trouble trying to stay in Rainbow Six Vegas 2's (PS3, Xbox 360 online scene on the PS3's PlayStation Network? Apparently, you're not the only one with connections woes.

Word on the street is that RSV2's players have been experiencing connection issues and severe lag since last week.

No other details are available regarding the cause of this problem, although it seems to be limited to just the game. RSV2's players indicate that the rest of the PSN appears to be running normally.

Ubisoft has yet to comment on the matter, though given the level of concern this issue's generating among the gamers, it's probably just a matter of time. Here's to hoping the devs will be updating with some sort of report (or even a patch) in the near future - we'll let you know when that happens.

Article from: QJ

Available squads to join in SOCOM Confrontation revealed

It has been reported that the May issue of EGM will have a cover story which will reveal in-depth details of the upcoming PSN title, SOCOM Confrontation. Fortunately for us, we will not have to wait until May to get some of the details. 1UP has a little sneak peek for us. They have given a list of all the special forces squads that you will be able to join in the game. 1UP explains: "Joining a special force is now a perk associated with joining a clan... Special forces (and their associated uniforms, gear, and weapons) will only be available to clan members." Of course, the SEALs and SAS are among the available squads to join up with in this installment of SOCOM. Here is the list of all the different options.

Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEALs, United States)
Special Air Service (SAS, United Kingdom)
Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK, Germany)
Unidad de Operaciones Especiales (UOE, Spain)
1er Régiment de Parachutistes d'Infanterie de Marine (1er RPIMa, France)

Unreal Tournament III gets patched

Unreal Tournament 3 players on the Sony PlayStation 3 better get ready to go online because Epic Games has just unleashed the patch for the high-profile shooter. Included in it are plenty of fixes which should set the gameplay experience to optimum levels.

You'll notice in the patch notes that there are more changes for the U.S. version of Unreal Tournament 3 than for its European counterpart. Epic Games explains that this is due to the fact that the later Euro launch allowed them to squeeze in more polishing to the disc itself. In any case, here's the changelog:

U.S. only:
Made compatible with Euro version (both are patched to the same level)
Fixed reversed ping sorting in server browser
Fixed some rare crashes (shutting down, saving with low HD space, AI, etc)
Fixed a client crash while connecting to server while server it switching maps
Minor rewordings of various messages
Fixed mutator mods to not be always loaded, only load mutators when needed
Added mod import verification for inter-mod package name conflicts
Fixed weapon/effect sorting in DM-Gateway snow
Fixed extraneous "Player" entries in campaign scoreboard
Fixed some getting stuck and outside the world bugs
No longer display "Player is on red/blue" messages in campaign
Fixed a Torlan bot pathing bug
Fix for too many custom characters causing texture corruption
Keyboard jump now does Smart Jump
Fix for tilt controlling player sometimes
Removed Warfare Score Limit of 0 in UI
Disabled 3d sound positioning on mission briefing sounds
Fixed exploits with ViewNextPlayer in rare cases
Fixed some HUD positioning bugs
Fixed a Darkwalker AI bug
Fixed some teleporter timing bugs
Fixed low-bandwidth, large player count connectivity

Europe and U.S.:
Mods now on root of memory device, can download easier from PS3 web browser
Fixed VOIP quality issues
Fixed some headset connection issues
Added support for full character mods (heads/premade whole characters)
No longer need to reboot after importing a character mod to see it in menus
DLC no longer acts like a user mod (being listed in MyContent and causing disable mod crash dialog)
Fix for bootup and import slowdown with many mods installed
Add a VOIP icon when VOIP is active (button held down)
Fixes for corrupted the auto-mod-download cache
Fix for flickering auto-download text
Fix for getting stuck in multiplayer menu if you get in before gamespy connects
Fixed a mod problem with switching between mod and shipping maps with clients teleporting randomly
Fixed a mod problem with multiple gametype mods installed, only first one imported would work
Fixed Leviathan deploy icon
Bots now respect players feigning death (depending on bot skill level)
Bots now respect sandstorm "blindness"
Fix for bots picking linkgun mode

Article from: QJ

New features for GTA4

When Rockstar North said that Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360, PS3) will become the "definitive game" of the series, perhaps it was referring to all the neat features the developers planned on cramming into the game. Two of these additions were explained on MTV Multiplayer as they took a look at the new "Days of the Week" and "Slow-Mo Driving" features for GTA 4.

While the game has always had a night and day cycle, it never really mattered what day of the week you tried to steal cars, beat up old ladies, or shoot up the cops. However, in the latest iteration to the series, some missions have time sensitive triggers which can only be completed on certain days or even have access to them.

It wasn't mentioned whether there were other factors to the new "calendar" feature fit into the game, but it definitely adds a new dimension to the series. As for the other new feature, the developers have decided to take a page off the Burnout series and added a bullet time option while cruising around in your favorite vehicle. Again, it wasn't thoroughly explained whether this will become an essential part of gameplay, but at least you're sure to be able to get those picture perfect screenshots you've always wanted through this feature.

It seems like Rockstar decided to go with the more stylish and cinematic route when it decided to create GTA 4. How this will affect gameplay and how the fans will react to it has yet to be seen though. Rest assured we'll be keeping an eye out for more updates to this upcoming game before its slated release date next month.

Article from: QJ

Microsoft predicts 'hollow victory' for PS3 in Feb/Mar

Every company has to put some spin on the monthly NPD numbers. But this month, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg is taking a preemptive strike. NPD numbers will come out later this today, and already Microsoft is trash-talking the PS3. "Our expectation is that because of our shortages at retail during February, we will sell less than PS3," he told Next Gen. "That's not a surprise to us. I don't know what Sony's reaction will be to that, but it will definitely be a bit of a hollow victory. The competition sure didn't show up [in February]."

However, it looks like MS is also conceding March figures as well, saying that their so-called supply issues will be rectified in April. "By April, we will be in a very healthy inventory situation," he told Reuters. This is a crucial month for both console manufacturers, as the release of Grand Theft Auto IV will certainly stir up the charts. Will Xbox 360's exclusive DLC make an impact on console sales?

Greenberg then further puts the PS3 in doubt, and its use of Blu-ray. "I can tell you that we're not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray disc association regarding integrating Blu-ray to the Xbox 360 experience," Greenberg says. "And we don't know what will happen to Blu-ray. Is it the next DVD, or the next UMD? Your guess is as good as ours ... we don't expect [Blu-ray's win] to give a boost to PS3 sales, and we don't expect it to impact our sales. Frankly, we think it's the games that sell the consoles."

Article from: PS3 Fanboy

PSN video download service nearing completion?

Hot on the heels of the rumored redesign of Sony's PlayStation Store comes more rumblings about the addition of a video download service to the online store.

According to Kotaku, sources who attended the retailer and publisher-focused Destination PlayStation conference held last week confirmed that Sony showed of part of the video store during the event.

The company has yet to comment on any specifics such as launch dates, content, and pricing. Kotaku further reports that North America may be getting the service first, and that, not unexpectedly, the only offerings shown were those owned by Sony Pictures.

If Sony did show off the video downloading service during the event, however, it could mean that it's getting pretty close to completion. Let's all just keep our fingers crossed. We'll be sure to bring you more news as soon as details surface.

Article from: QJ

Blu-ray headed to Dell and Apple laptops

It seems that the move the industry has taken to use Blu-ray as the new high-definition format is finally picking up steam. Numerous reports are floating to the shore of Bloglandia in neat little bottles that speak of Blu-ray drives getting placed in Apple and Dell laptops starting later this year. The issue is battery life -- apparently watching a Blu-ray movie on laptops absolutely drains the battery. Assuming it's not plugged in. We feel like we've heard these rumors a long time ago, but they died off inexplicably. Perhaps Blu-ray being declared the "winner" turned old rumors into truth?

Article from: PS3 Fanboy

GameStop to get new white PS3 model

A few days ago, it was reported that Circuit City will no longer be receiving the 40 GB PlayStation 3 unit bundled with Spider-Man 3. The report goes on to say that they will also be receiving a new console with a different model number.

Kaizer_911, an EBGames/GameStop manager, informs us that they will also no longer be receiving the PS3 and Spider-Man 3 bundle. Instead, they will receive new 40 GB models that may or may not have a new model number. He goes on to speculate that:

Normally if there is a color change my company would make two skus, but as of right now we only have one sku in the system. It has changed from 40GB PS3 w/ SpiderMan Bundle to 40GB PS3 Sony.

But the part that gets me is the part where they say the model number may change. Makes me wonder is it going to be white only? Or just a heads up the bundle has a different model number from the non-bundle.

So that's it, folks. We're expecting to see a new SKU with a different model number but with the same 40GB hard drive. It gives more room for the possibility that we might indeed be seeing the white PS3 model being stacked on shelves.

Kaizer_911 gave us the heads-up on a number of developments that proved true before, so we have no reason to doubt his word on this. We'll keep you posted on developments, so check back for updates!

Article from: QJ