Demos, Betas and Game Testing; OH MY!

Before games come out, gamers like to test out a game so they can know if they are going to make their $60 purchase a worthy or not worthy choice. Back before this generation of gaming, we used to go to game stores to pick up demo discs but now we down load betas or demos directly to our consoles hard-drive.

DICE earlier this month announced a public PC beta for Battlefield: Bad Company 2, but what about the console gamers? Unconfirmed, Game.Co.UK has created a rumor that there will be a demo coming out on February 4th for Xbox Live and Playstation Network. While the game’s original release date was December 31st 2009, the release month is March 2010.

Can this Cinematic Game become Greater than 'Indigo Prophecy'?

Back in 2005, one of the most cinematic games of all-time was released to the Playstation 2, Xbox and PC. This game was Indigo Prophecy, but now the question lairs in possibly legacy:  can this cinematic game attain the mass audience that Indigo Prophecy was unable to achieve on a single platform?

Aimed for an European audience, Heavy Rain will continue the story of the Origami Killer but instead of continue previous character’s stories, Quantic Dream has brought the Origami Killer to new victims. Just announced today via VG247.com, the demo will be released February 11st exclusively to the Playstation Network. While the game is released just two weeks later, this will be perfect timing to give gamers a proper teaser to the title. The game has already recieved a 9/10 review, and a sequel is doubtful.

Quantic Dreams will be relaunching their website a few days before the title is released to the masses. With this being the second title in the ‘Origami Killer’ universe, I have my doubts this will be the last game that you’ll see this infamous and mysterious villian. Until Heavy Rain is released, you can always get your fingers ready by going through the original title.

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(EuroGamer) – A pair of scientists from Huddersfield University have discovered that racing games cause more agitation and aggression in players than shooters.

Rather than using their time to find a cure for cancer or an alternative source of renewable energy, Dr Simon Goodson and Sarah Pearson monitored 30 people as they played three Xbox 360 games – Project Gotham Racing, an unnamed first-person shooter and “a 3D table tennis game”.

Physical changes to the players’ heart rate, breathing and so on were monitored, along with their mental responses such as aggresssion before and after the gaming session.

The scientists found that PGR caused the greatest change in heart rate and brain activity, while the FPS caused the smallest change.

“Previous researchers have made sweeping generalisations about the nature of videogames. This study is one of the first to use one of the latest games consoles that have a much higher level of realism,” said the boffins.

“Surprisingly the results showed that the driving game made participants more agitated and aggressive than the game with graphic violence. Given the high levels of realism in modern games a re-evaluation of the relationship between videogames and violence is needed.”

Goodson and Pearson’s findings will be revealed at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference, which begins today at Brighton’s Holiday Inn. Might pop down.

Check out the conference programme for the full rundown. We’re particularly looking forward to the talk by P. Chassy of the University of Toulouse: “The purpose of the study was to quantify the mistakes that chess players of various levels of expertise make in ecological situations. The quality of 311,722 moves made by 8,000 chess players was assessed.”

Ciji on WCG:Ultimate Gamer, tonight on Sci Fi Channel

When the Reckon Crew first heard about a new reality series on the Sci-Fi channel, there was a collective groan among us as we imagined another Ghost Hunters or a new Who wants to be a Super Hero with a completely mad Stan Lee. Then we heard the title of the new show, Ultimate Gamer, and that peaked our interest. Then Starslay3r told us she was going to be on it. We were hooked.

Admittedly, we tend to worry a bit when we don’t hear from a friend so when Starslay3r disappeared for a month, we thought something might have happened. But coming to find out that one of our Gamettes will be appearing on a show featuring some of the toughest video game competitors out there playing against one another on a reality show, well, we were thrilled for her to say the least. And then the preview clips came out…

Now many of you might think that watching a show about gaming where the competitors pummel one another on Soul Calibur IV might sound dull but if you haven’t heard, that’s not all it’s about. Once the participants compete on, say, Halo 3, they then go out and play paintball against one another. Or if it’s a racing game, they actually get in real cars to see who can maneuver at high speed through an obstacle course. It’s not just about proving who’s the best at a game… It’s about proving you can do it outside of a video game. At the very least, there’s the potential for hilarity when we see the looks on the players’ faces when the “real life” challenges are announced.

When we asked Starslay3r about her experiences on WCG Ultimate Gamer, she had the following to say:

“I’m not really allowed to say much. I can say that it was, the most intense and most awesome gaming experience I’ve ever had. The show definitely put my gaming skills to the ultimate test and if I could do it all over again, I would do it in a heartbeat.”

WCG: Ultimate Gamer contestants & hosts

Make sure to tune in to the premiere of “WCG Ultimate Gamer” with the Reckon Crew tonight, Tuesday March 10th, at 9PM Central to see how Gamette and all around kicker of butt Starslay3r fares in her battle to be crowned the Ultimate Gamer. You can also pay her a visit at www.starslay3r.com. Tell her the Reckon Crew sent you…  That way she knows who to blame.

Gritskrieg – End of Line






See more of Ciji in her Gamette Gallery and also on the Sci-Fi Channel’s WCG:Ultimate Gamer site.

Halo: Uprising #3 Cover by Marvel

For those Halo fans out there, we here at Busy Gamer are getting the buzz that plenty of things are coming in the future for the first person shooter sci-fi series.

Halo franchise development director has announced two new Halo comic series for 2009 (in addition to The Halo: Uprising #4 coming out March 18, which closes the gaps on activities between Halo 2 and Halo 3). Marvel has stated that two new working titles are ‘Halo: Hell Jumpers’ about the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and ‘Halo: Spartan Black’, tales of a team of Spartans.

The ODST comic arriving this summer will be stories of the Shock Trooper Team who are known for their “Navy Seal” type skills, according to O’connor. These ass whoopers will be the focus of the next Halo game “Halo 3: ODST” (a first person shooter taking place just after Halo 2 and before Halo 3).

O’Connor says:

“(this game) is significantly more than an add-on. It’s a lot of game. You play the game through the point of view of an ODST. They are dropped into combat from orbit. They have a rivalry with the Spartans that is well known to the fans of the fiction. We finally let you into their boots as it were. …It’s kind of a detective story in a way. But it is much more action-packed than that.”

O’Connor also added penetrating words regarding our favorite main character, “I doubt we have seen the last of Master Chief.”

So as if your Halo wish list was not full already, it ought to be full as hell by now.

[Source]

-Crutchboy out

Yeah this is a 'Nerf Baton', trust me!

The findings could have implications going forward for game designers, who may decide not to put as many resources into ratcheting up the gore factor, the authors suggest.

Researchers at the University of Rochester and the think-tank and consultancy company Immersyve, based in Orlando, Fla., reached their conclusions after conducting two surveys of 2,670 frequent game players and four experiments involving more than 300 undergraduates.

Lead author Andrew Przybylski, a graduate student in social psychology, said they began the project after noting the popularity of games like “World of Warcraft,” “Halo 3″ and “Team Fortress 2,” which have a “good deal of violent content.”

“So we wanted to know if the violent content by itself was motivating because these games also do offer compelling challenges and stories,” he said from Rochester, N.Y.

“We found that, on average, violent content didn’t add to motivation for play.”

In fact, he said the games are popular because they offer players meaningful opportunities to interact and work together, or to feel effective and exercise choice.

“The reason why children gravitate to something like ‘Halo,’ ‘Halo 3′ or ‘World of Warcraft’ or ‘Team Fortress’ isn’t necessarily because they want to get at the blood or the acts of violence,” said Przybylski.

“What they’re really chasing is having their psychological needs met. Cranking up the violence knob doesn’t automatically make a game automatically more fun.”

The work was published Friday in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
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(PC World) – Halo 3 addiction doesn’t explain or excuse Daniel Petric’s shooting both his parents, says an Ohio judge. More specifically, video game addiction, which was never medically established during the trial, did not make Petric any less responsible for murdering his mother and wounding his father, according to the judge.

Petric is the teenager who shot both his parents after they took his copy of Halo 3 away in September 2007. Petric (16 at the time) snuck out of the house through his bedroom window to buy the Xbox 360 game Halo 3 after his father forbade him to. He was caught returning home, the game was taken from him, and placed in a lockbox in his parents’ closet that also housed a 9mm handgun.

A month later, Petric secured entry to the lockbox, took the game as well as the gun, and — after asking his parents to “close [their] eyes” because he had “a surprise for [them],” shot them both, killing his mother and wounding his father. As his father lay wounded, Petric tried to slip the gun into his father’s hand. He fled the scene after his sister and her husband arrived, taking the game with him.

Petric’s lawyers insisted that the boy’s age and “video game addiction” made him less responsible, the insinuation being that Halo 3, a sci-fi shooter in which players battle hostile aliens, exerted an inexorable grip on Petric’s ability to restrain himself from committing the incredibly heinous acts.

Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge’s response? That’s not a defense, and furthermore, there’s evidence Petric “plotted the crime for weeks.”