All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

[Vacant, as seen in Call of Duty 4]
Xbox Live's Major Nelson had Infinity Ward "creative strategist" Robert Bowling on his podcast recently to talk about the upcoming Resurgence Map Pack for Modern Warfare 2. Set to release on June 3 on Xbox Live, the pack will be priced the same as its predecessor, the Stimulus Pack, at 1200 ($15). Resurgence will feature maps old and new, including two Call of Duty 4 maps and three new locations:

• Vacant -- the wide open Russian office complex from CoD4
• Strike -- the urban town surrounded by hotels from CoD4
• Carnival -- an abandoned carnival area with a Ferris wheel, fun house and other attractions
• Trailer Park -- full of "super tight corridors" and featuring a pool ("Mobile Estates," Bowling calls it)
• Fuel -- a "sniper haven" based in and around an oil refinery

Bowling says that the new maps will be tied to specific playlists, just like the Stimulus maps. With the Resurgence collection, however, it's possible that all of the maps will be available in every playlist, as long as "demand is high." And, as with the previous pack, the new maps will be exclusive to Xbox 360 for a short time before coming to PC and PS3.

[Vacant, as seen in Call of Duty 4]
Xbox Live's Major Nelson had Infinity Ward "creative strategist" Robert Bowling on his podcast recently to talk about the upcoming Resurgence Map Pack for Modern Warfare 2. Set to release on June 3 on Xbox Live, the pack will be priced the same as its predecessor, the Stimulus Pack, at 1200 ($15). Resurgence will feature maps old and new, including two Call of Duty 4 maps and three new locations:

• Vacant -- the wide open Russian office complex from CoD4
• Strike -- the urban town surrounded by hotels from CoD4
• Carnival -- an abandoned carnival area with a Ferris wheel, fun house and other attractions
• Trailer Park -- full of "super tight corridors" and featuring a pool ("Mobile Estates," Bowling calls it)
• Fuel -- a "sniper haven" based in and around an oil refinery

Bowling says that the new maps will be tied to specific playlists, just like the Stimulus maps. With the Resurgence collection, however, it's possible that all of the maps will be available in every playlist, as long as "demand is high." And, as with the previous pack, the new maps will be exclusive to Xbox 360 for a short time before coming to PC and PS3.

In his latest Divnich Debrief column at IndustryGamers, EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich has made some predictions for E3 2010. Divnich sees this year's expo as a pivotal one for the industry, noting that new technologies like PlayStation Move, Project Natal and the 3DS must make a big splash. Otherwise, says Divnich, we may see industry funding driven toward sectors like MMOs and social gaming. Divnich sees the expo as an "inflection point" in gaming history, saying, "Either E3 2010 acts as a positive catalyst and boosts industry confidence, or it reinforces the negative notions about the long-term viability of traditional gaming."

Divnich makes a few predictions about the show, notably that Rockstar may reveal Grand Theft Auto 5, though it won't announce any hard street date if it does. Divnich believes, however, that you can expect a new teaser for Agent. Nintendo, meanwhile, will announce the official name of the 3DS and announce plans to launch the device in "at least two regions" this November. He also expects the unit will sell 5 million units by March 2011. Furthermore, Nintendo may finally show off its Vitality Sensor in more detail.

Beyond that, the show will likely revolve around Move, Project Natal and the 3DS. "Whatever the outcome or your own personal opinion, one thing is for certain," says Divnich, "E3 2010 is a must attend event for anyone with any vested interest in the video game space."

#clips Super Mario Galaxy 2 is coming to the Nintendo Wii. Soon, even. Here are a bunch of ads. Better yet, a compendium. More »

#nsfw While some adult game developers would be contend with virtual skit lifting, Teatime is not just some game developer. More »

#ubisoft Prince of Persia. Prince of Persia has a new game coming out. New movie, too. It's set in Persia, Persia has sand. All of which explains this giant Prince of Persia sand castle! More »

Hi Everyone – Time for this week’s video store update.

Looking for something to stimulate your senses this weekend? Dive deep into the last frontier on Earth and join Heroes star Masi-Oka as he explores the high octane action-packed world of the most famous Samurai of all time. Also, check out Deal of the Week for discounts on History Specials Underwater Universe, Samurai, Manson, The People Speak, and After Armageddon.

Finally, new releases to the video store include Daybreakers, Legion, Edge of Darkness, and the Pre-DVD release of the 41 Year Old Virgin Who Knocked up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It. Check out the trailer for Legion below, and then head to the video store.

Have a great weekend!

Top Movies

Avatar Legion Iron Man Tooth Fairy Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Daybreakers Enemy at the Gates We Were Soldiers Sherlock Holmes Edge of Darkness

Top TV Episodes

Family Guy | Season 8 Brian & Stewie 17 The Boondocks | Season 3 It’s a Black President, Huey Freeman 1 Smallville | Season 9 Hostage 20 Supernatural | Season 5 Two Minutes to Midnight 21 Family Guy | Season 8 Quagmire’s Dad 18 Lost | Season 6 The Candidate 14 South Park | Season 14 Crippled Summer 8 The Boondocks | Season 3 Bitches to Rags 2 The Office | Season 6 The Cover-Up 24 Lost | Season 6 Across The Sea 15

#toys What is this, 1876? Who still writes letters? Not me, though that won't stop me looking fondly at these Dragon Age letter openers, which fittingly are tiny replicas of Dragon Age swords. More »

#tellusdammit It may be early, but it's still Friday. And Friday's Friday. Know what that means? It's time for Tell Us Dammit. More »

#screengrab The controls? Too complex. As seen on Toby Toons. More »

#clips Fighting game Street Fighter II is iconic. The opening theme for anime Doraemon is iconic as well. Will they mix? More »

#dudehuge Well, according to Gears of War designer Cliff "Dude Huge" Bleszinski, it is... More »

#toys Master Chief is a big man, but he wasn't always big. He was once a boy, called John! And when John was a boy - no, a baby - then maybe these Halo helmets would have fit him. More »

#kotakumagu Readers of PC Gamer, one of the last bastions of the specialist press for the platform, have been voting on what they think are the best 100 PC games of all time. And the results are in! More »

#nsfw Take one World of Warcraft account. One changed password. And a very, very angry fat man. Hijinks ensue. More »

Remember, I only do one of these posts a day now, and will continuously update this post if/when I come across more HD/max resolution screens/videos.

#clips I may be slightly biased in saying this, as I have British family, but games - or, at least fantasy games - always sound more professional to me when they hire a good, English cast to handle the voice work. More »

It's not like you need any reason to rush out and grab a free download of Portal, Joystiq's 2007 game of the year, which is now also available on the Mac. We're just going to assume you already have downloaded it but are somehow unable to play it right now. As such, you'd probably like to watch a cute video about Portal in order to pass the time until you can play it. It turns out we happen to have one. Enjoy it after the break.

#sega Japanese game maker Sega, perhaps best known for Sonic the Hedgehog and Virtua Fighter, just launched a countdown teaser site for a new game. Possibly, a new Xbox 360 game. More »

I’m thinking someone over at Amazon fell asleep at the switch. I think the picture below indicates why they fell asleep as well!

The video above is narrated by the developer of Mimeoverse: Mimeo and the Kleptopus King, and upcoming iPhone platformer. It’s very clear that this guy knows his stuff, and he’s been studying some of Nintendo’s best Mario work to get his facts straight. If all goes according to plan, and the [...]

We struggle to find anything else to say about the Fallout: New Vegas boxart that's been revealed via the Bethesda Blog. Depicting a single New California Republic Ranger standing alone (you know, the guy from the first trailer?), he wields his pistol, presumably ready for any ne'er-do-wells lurking. Or maybe he's just showing his gun to us? We can't imagine it's very impressive, what with all the sand in the post-apocalyptic desert.

Of course, if the regular edition of the game doesn't do it for you, don't forget there's a collector's edition you can snag for $79.99 on PS3 and Xbox and $69.99 on PC -- or about 7,162 bottle caps.*

*Note: Please don't mail bottle caps to Bethesda.

- Time trial races - Platform challenges: Finish a jump, don’t total your vehicle - Puzzle modes: Need to find the right track pieces to finish - Multiplayer options - Send tracks via Wi-Fi - Stadium, island, desert, snow, rally, coast themes - Environments will change the handling of your vehicle - Ghost data for first/second/third while you race - one-button press to [...]