News

Employees at the development studio Budcat Creations aren’t at the office today. Instead, they’re gathered at a bar down the street from their headquarters office in Iowa City drinking and calling friends and family. According to an anonymous source that contacted PC Gamer, that’s because the development studio has been shut down by parent company Activision. Budcat employees were notified about the closure when they were met by security guards and consultants outside their office this morning.  The future of Activision-owned studio Bizarre Creations is also in question… …

Above: Square Enix extends the trial period for FFXIV for a second time so that players can experience the next big update before deciding whether or not they will commit to the MMO

The free trial period for Final Fantasy XIV has been extended for the second time, granting players an additional 30 days of free playtime while Square Enix continues to work on updates for the MMO. The second extension follows a rough launch for Final Fantasy XIV, which received mixed reviews… …

Michael J. Basset, director of the upcoming Silent Hill: Revelations, has revealed the first details about the long-awaited sequel to the 2006 Silent Hill movie… …

Above: Data transferred due to illegal downloads of StarCraft II via BitTorrent clients total 15.77 petabytes

The most popular torrent file for StarCraft II has been downloaded over 2.3 million times via BitTorrent clients. The amount of data transferred due to illegal downloads totals 15.77 petabytes. To put the numbers into perspective, one petabyte (PB) is about 1,024 terabytes (TB) or 1,048,576 gigabytes (GB). That means the total amount of data transferred from pirated versions of StarCraft II accounts for over 16 million gigabytes… …

No one cares about Games For Windows, the brand that Microsoft launched in 2006. The company realized this ages ago and has attempted to make the service relevant ever since… …

It may not have been the real deal, but iOS gamers were given an all-too-brief taste of how the indie PC hit Minecraft would play in mobile form via the short-lived and independently produced clone, Minecrafted… …

Nothing says “OWNED” like a pair of exploding testicles. Includes several wince-worthy replays… …

GFK Chart-Track data has confirmed that the 360 version of CoD: Black Ops outsold the PS3 version in the UK. We’ll take a wild, crazy, totally unjustified guess and say that this is probably also the case in North America. Would that surprise you? OF COURSE IT WOULDN’T. It’s so unsurprising that this article only serves as flame war kindling. There, I said it! …

2K Sports taps Philadelphia Phillies ace to cover next year’s baseball sim, due this spring for 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, PC.

Take-Two Interactive’s Major League Baseball contract isn’t expected to expire until 2012, leaving the publisher in the position of turning its $35 million dollar-losing lemon into lemonade. This year, the publisher will do so with the help of a potential Cy Young Award winner, announcing today that Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay will appear on the cover of MLB 2K11 when the game goes on sale this spring.

2K Sports is calling up Roy Halladay.

For its part, 2K Sports believes Halladay will walk home with this year’s Cy Young Award, beating out other top contenders such as Adam Wainwright, Heath Bell, and CC Sabathia. Having previously picked up the award as a Toronto Blue Jay during the 2003 season, Halladay’s credentials this year include a perfect game and the 2010 Players Choice Award for National League Outstanding Pitcher.

The game is in development at 2K Sports’ Visual Concepts studio, which also handles the publisher’s NBA sim franchise. In August, 2K Sports reportedly cut staff at the studio by 30, in an effort to “properly align its resources with its current and future goals.”

MLB 2K11 will be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PSP, Wii, and PC.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

2K Sports taps Philadelphia Phillies ace to cover next year’s baseball sim, due this spring for 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, PC.

Take-Two Interactive’s Major League Baseball contract isn’t expected to expire until 2012, leaving the publisher in the position of turning its $35 million dollar-losing lemon into lemonade. This year, the publisher will do so with the help of a potential Cy Young Award winner, announcing today that Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay will appear on the cover of MLB 2K11 when the game goes on sale this spring.

2K Sports is calling up Roy Halladay.

For its part, 2K Sports believes Halladay will walk home with this year’s Cy Young Award, beating out other top contenders such as Adam Wainwright, Heath Bell, and CC Sabathia. Having previously picked up the award as a Toronto Blue Jay during the 2003 season, Halladay’s credentials this year include a perfect game and the 2010 Players Choice Award for National League Outstanding Pitcher.

The game is in development at 2K Sports’ Visual Concepts studio, which also handles the publisher’s NBA sim franchise. In August, 2K Sports reportedly cut staff at the studio by 30, in an effort to “properly align its resources with its current and future goals.”

MLB 2K11 will be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PSP, Wii, and PC.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot