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Oblivion Expansion Shivering Isles Coming This Spring

Shivering Isles

Bethesda Softworks announced that Elder Scrolls: Shivering Isles, an expansion for Elder Scrolls: Oblivion will be coming to the Xbox 360 and the PC this Spring. The expansion should add more than 30 hours of gameplay to the already expansive title, and will be available through retail channels for the PC, and via Xbox Live for the Xbox 360. Given that the expansion will add a completely new realm to the Elder Scrolls universe, one expects that this expansion will be one of the largest Xbox Live add-ons to date, and possibly one of the most expensive. No mention of the add-on was made for the upcoming Playstation 3 version of the game; this could possibly be included on disc, but this doesn’t seem to be a likely option at this time.

The full press release continues below.

Click to continue reading Oblivion Expansion Shivering Isles Coming This Spring

Read More | Shivering Isles Screenshots

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Playfeed Review: Battlefield 2142 by EA for PC

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A week ago, EA was nice enough to give us a review copy of their latest tactical squad-based FPS, Battlefield 2142. Following in the footsteps of Battlefield 2, 2142 features well-balanced strategic combat with a ton of depth and near-infinite replay value. These are the hallmarks we’ve come to expect from the Battlefield series (as well as its competitors, Counterstrike and Team Fortress among them), but does 2142 have the stuff to rise above the rest? Click the jump for our full review!! 😊

Click to continue reading Playfeed Review: Battlefield 2142 by EA for PC


Burning Crusade Delayed To 2007

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, MMORPG, PC,

Burning Crusade Blizzard today announced that gamers looking forward to playing the World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade expansion this year will now have to wait until 2007 for the anticipated add-on. The company currently intends to ship the expansion pack in January of 2007 to allow a few more weeks of development and beta testing to ensure that the content meets Blizzard’s standards. While the announcement is disappointed to those waiting for the expansion, this is one less item that will be competing for gamer’s play time this holiday, with the Wii and Playstation 3 shipping, as well as several other high profile titles for the Xbox 360 and the PC.

Blizzard’s full media alert continues below.

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Read More | World Of Warcraft Forums

Phantasy Star Universe Open Beta For Xbox 360

Phantasy Star Universe Xbox 360 users with an Xbox Live Gold account will be able to participate in Sega’s upcoming open beta test for Phantasy Star Universe on October 11. Sega’s official Phantasy Star Universe site has the details of the open beta. The test itself will run from October 11th through October 18th, and will let users experience some of the online multiplayer functionality of the game. According to the site, the beta will be available on the Xbox Live Marketplace sometime between October 11th and October 12th.

The Xbox 360 version of Phantasy Star Universe should hit stores on the same date as the PC and Playstation 2 versions, October 24th. Xbox 360 users will have their own servers; while PC and Playstation 2 users will be able to interact with each other online, Xbox 360 users will only be able to see other players with the Xbox 360 version of the game. For the final version of Phantasy Star Universe, Xbox 360 owners with either a Silver or Gold account will be able to play online. Phantasy Star Universe will cost $9.99 per month to play. Hopefully the online beta will help Sega avoid the server meltdowns that plagued the Japanese launch of the Playstation 2 and PC versions.

Read More | Phantasy Star Universe

HP Buys VoodooPC

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, PC,

VoodooPCAccording to a report from Dean Takahashi at Mercury News, Hewlett-Packard will be acquiring high-end gaming PC manufacturer VoodooPC for an undisclosed sum. This move clearly seeks to counter Dell’s recent acquisition of enthusiast-PC maker Alienware, but it looks like the integration for Voodoo will be deeper for HP.

The VoodooPC brand will still live on, but it remains to be seen how much of the core company survives integration. The co-founders, Rahul and Ravi Sood will take high profile positions in the company’s new gaming division in the personal technology group, so hopefully a lot of the esthetic of the company will live on. The Voodoo brand will benefit from access to Hewlett-Packard’s leverage in the supply chain, and HP clearly expects this acquisition to give them credibility in the gaming arena for some of their lower-end offerings.

The acquisitions by both Dell and HP seem to be driven by a couple of factors. First, it recognizes the hard-core PC gaming market as a segment with growth potential, but the focus on gaming also seems to be rooted in the need for both companies to differentiate their PC offerings on things other than price. The commoditization of the PC has made profit margins in the low-end PC market almost unsustainable and embracing the high-end may be one way to get away from cost pressures.

Read More | Mercury News

Sony’s Online Service To Use Xfire?

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, PlayStation 3,

XfireOne of Sony’s goals for the Playstation 3 is to manage online gaming with a unified service on par with Microsoft’s Xbox Live offering. Few details have emerged for the service, other than Sony’s desire to make their online matching component free. 1up has started investigating Sony’s online service, and has uncovered a few interesting details, and they believe that when online gaming comes to the Playstation 3, it will be based around the Xfire gaming service.

First, Viacom announced that a deal has been signed between Sony and Xfire, for a version of the platform for the PS3. According to 1up, neither company has denied the statement. If true, this is basically the smoking gun that would point to this partnership. Further, according to 1up’s report, Sony’s launch title, Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom is now appearing in the PC client’s configuration files. Looking at the capabilities of the Xfire service on the PC, it appears that much of the functionality of Xbox Live is matched by Xfire’s offering, and would make a good launch point for the service. In addition, this could theoretically open the door for PC and Playstation 3 online gaming. Certainly, with the details available, it seems that some form of the Xfire service will be hitting the Playstation 3, but how the service will integrate with Sony’s overall offerings is still unclear.

Update: GameDaily talked with David Karraker at SCEA, and he clarified that the deal was currently limited to Sony Online Entertainment, and not the Playstation 3 platform as a whole.

Read More | 1up

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