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  • BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition hits January 14

    Before taking to the skies in BioShock Infinite, 2K Games is hoping to allure some gamers back into the depths of the ocean. The company today announced the BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition, due January 14 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America. The bundle will be available in “some” international territories at a later date.

    The $30 Ultimate Rapture Edition includes the 2007 original BioShock, its 2010 sequel BioShock 2, and add-on content for both games. In addition, the bundle features the “Museum of Orphaned Concepts,” which provides a look at concept art and character models that never made it into the BioShock universe.

    Downloadable content included with the Ultimate Rapture Edition is listed below by title.

    BioShock: Plasmids Pack, Challenge Rooms Pack (previously a PlayStation 3 exclusive).

    BioShock 2: Sinclair Solutions Tester, Rapture Metro, The Protector Trials, Minerva’s Den.

    Also included in the Ultimate Rapture Edition is a sticker pack for BioShock Infinite.

  • Walking Dead shooter trailer a fake

    The gameplay trailer for The Walking Dead: Survival Instincts published yesterday was in fact made by a fan and is not a genuine asset from Activision or developer Terminal Reality, though it does use actual in-game footage.

    Activision community manager Dan Amrich explained on his blog that the video was created by a fan using footage from an IGN video preview of the game.

    Amrich apologized for posting the video in the first place and for “being part of the misinformation and the constant problem of unreliable information found on the Internet.”

    The video, originally posted to a YouTube account that has since been deleted, caused a stir upon its release yesterday, with many gamers bemoaning its quality.

    Survival Instincts was announced in July 2012 and is based on AMC’s The Walking Dead TV series. It will be set in rural Georgia and focus on brothers Daryl and Merle Dixon. Players will be able to choose whether to confront the undead head-on or attempt to avoid detection.

    Survival Instincts is currently in development at Terminal Reality. That studio’s previous credits include Atari’s Ghostbusters: The Video Game, as well as Majesco’s BloodRayne and BloodRayne 2. The company’s most recent release was Kinect Star Wars.

    Survival Instincts is scheduled to arrive sometime in 2013 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

  • Billionaire Ken Griffin increases stake in Take-Two

    January 3, 2013 1:27PM PST

    Hedge fund manager’s Citadel Investment Group now reports 5.5 million shares in Grand Theft Auto parent publisher; up from 3 million in October.

    With hype continuing to mount around Grand Theft Auto V, billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group has increased its stake in Take-Two Interactive. According to a December 28 Securities and Exchange Commission document spotted by The Motley Fool, Citadel now owns 5.5 million shares of Take-Two, up from 3 million at the start of October 2012.

    Citadel now owns roughly 6 percent of all Take-Two shares. Trading on NASDAQ for the game publisher closed today up 3.48 percent to $11.88 per share.

    Griffin is not the first high-profile hedge fund manager to be attracted to Take-Two with GTAV on the horizon. Citadel’s deeper investment follows that of fellow billionaire Carl Icahn, who disclosed ownership of 8.7 million Take-Two shares during November 2012.

    GTAV is due out this spring for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and is Rockstar Games’ most ambitious project to date. Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich believes the hotly hyped game could sell 25 million or more copies during its first 12 months.

    For more on GTAV, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage.

  • Minecraft Xbox 360 sells 5 million

    Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition is a big hit. The console version of Mojang’s indie sandbox game reached 5 million in sales on Monday, according to Mojang business developer Daniel Kaplan.

    By comparison, the PC and Mac versions of Minecraft has sold 8.7 million copies as of this writing. The entire franchise–PC/Mac, mobile, and Xbox 360 versions–has accounted for more than 17.5 million in sales to date. More than 453,000 copies of Minecraft franchise games were sold on Christmas Day alone.

    Upon launch on May 9, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition became profitable in just one hour, selling more than 400,000 copies during its first 24 hours on sale, and breaking all previous Xbox Live arcade digital sales records. The game reached 1 million in sales in just five days, and dethroned Call of Duty from the top of the Xbox Live activity chart for one week in October.

    Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition was developed by 4J Studios, the Scotland-based shop that built the Xbox Live Arcade titles Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, and Banjo-Tooie. It retails for $20. For more on the game, check out GameSpot’s review.

  • Tomb Raider multiplayer details

    The first information concerning Tomb Raider’s newly announced multiplayer mode has come to light. Details were published in this month’s issue of Official Xbox Magazine and were summarized by a Tomb Raider forum user.

    First, Tomb Raider will feature the standard Team Deathmatch gametype. This mode pits a squad of Lara Croft’s allies against a group of natives referred to as “scavengers.” Gamers will alternate between sides throughout the course of a best-of-three match.

    Maps will feature lever-based traps that shoot spikes out of walls, climable surfaces, destroyable environments, and a weapon arsenal that includes Lara’s iconic bow and arrow.

    A second gametype is called “Rescue” and has one side (Survivors) collecting med-packs and delivering them to rotating destinations, while the opposite side (Scavengers) attempts to reach a requisite kill count to end the match.

    A third gametype–“Cry for Help”–was teased. This mode will reportedly place emphasis on “discovery and collection,” though no other information is available.

    Overall, players will be able to select from a “deep roster” of characters for Tomb Raider’s multiplayer component. Gamers will be equipped with a primary weapon, a sidearm, grenade-style projectiles, and a climbing axe that doubles as a melee weapon.

    Tomb Raider is due out March 5, 2013 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. For more, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage.

  • EA shutting down online services for 12 games

    Beginning tomorrow, Electronic Arts will shut down online services for a dozen more games, including FIFA 11 and NBA Jam. In a statement to the company’s Services Updates page, EA explained that the decision to retire aging titles is “never easy,” but said doing so allows IT staff to focus on keeping online experiences for newer titles at a level that gamers expect.

    In addition to FIFA 11 and NBA Jam, EA will turn off online services for The Sims 2, NCAA Football 11, and NHL 11 during January.

    The full shutdown schedule is posted below.

    January 3: FIFA Manager 11 (PC)

    January 11: FIFA Soccer 11 (PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360), FIFA Soccer 11 Ultimate Team (PS3, Xbox 360), Madden NFL 11 (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360), Madden NFL 11 Ultimate Team (Xbox 360, PS3), NBA Jam (Xbox 360, PS3), NBA Live 10 (PS3, Xbox 360), NCAA Football 11 (Xbox 360, PS3), NHL 11 (PS3, Xbox 360), NHL Ultimate Team (PS3, Xbox 360)

    January 14: The Sims 2 (PC, Mac, TheSims2.com)

    January 19: Trenches II (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch)

  • FIFA 13 named AbleGamers Game of the Year

    The AbleGamers Foundation today announced that EA Sports’ soccer simulator FIFA 13 is the recipient of the charity’s Accessible Mainstream Game of the Year award. The foundation praised FIFA 13 for how it allows players to control the entire game with only a mouse, among other features.

    AbleGamers editor-in-chief Steve Spohn specifically praised FIFA 13’s remappable keys, customizable color options, high-contrast and “intuitive” menus, visual cues, and “high socializing replayability,” which all helped the soccer sim take home the award.

    “For disabled gamers with Muscular Dystrophy, Cerebral Palsy, Multiple Sclerosis, and even one-handed gamers, the ability to play such a sophisticated sports game with simple controls that can be handled by a trackball or mouse mean gamers who may not have been able to enjoy iconic sporting activities like baseball, football, hockey or soccer can now take part in the fun,” Spohn said.

    The top reason FIFA 13 was awarded the Accessible Mainstream Game of the Year accolade, however, was the game’s AI and PC settings, which allow disabled players to tweak to the game to their needs. Spohn pointed out that FIFA 13 can be slowed down. This, he said, allows gamers with cognitive disorders and motor impairments to set an appropriate rate of speed.

    2K Games’ XCOM: Enemy Unknown was called out as an honorable mention for the top award based on its remappable keys, the ability to play with the keyboard or only the mouse, its subtitles, and colorblind mode. Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Dishonored were also called out as games making strides toward accessibility in 2012.

    Overall, Spohn said 2012 was a “very encouraging year” for game accessibility, with some of the most disability-friendly titles to date releasing during the year. Though the year was generally positive, some games moved backwards, Spohn said, including Forza Horizon. This entry, released in October, removed “many of the most crucial accessibility features” that were present in 2010 award-winner Forza MotorSport 3, Spohn said.

    Last year’s Accessible Mainstream Game of the Year award was given to Star Wars: The Old Republic for incorporating accessibility features like colorblind options, full subtitles, and control options.

    The AbleGamers Foundation is a public charity with a stated mission of promoting accessibility in games with a goal to “ensure that all people, regardless of their disability, can use gaming as a tool to have enriched social experiences with friends, family, and the world at large.” More information is available at the group’s official website.

  • Black Ops II ‘Revolution’ DLC revealed

    The first expansion for Call of Duty: Black Ops II will be titled “Revolution.” That’s according to leaked promotional material for the content, posted at All Games Beta.

    According to the poster, the Revolution downloadable content will include four multiplayer maps (Hydro, Grind, Downhill, and Mirage), as well as a Zombie map called Rise.

    In addition to the new killing spaces, the Revolution DLC will also reportedly add a new weapon called the Peacekeeper sub-machine gun.

    Activision has not announced the Revolution DLC, and a representative was not immediately available to comment.

    If the Revolution DLC is in fact Black Ops II’s first expansion, it will be the first of four planned add-ons for the game. These are included with the $50 Black Ops II DLC season pass. All DLC for Black Ops II will arrive first on Xbox 360, with subsequent releases on other platforms.

  • Fez going multiplatform

    January 2, 2013 7:27AM PST

    Polytron porting downloadable game to “other platforms” in 2013; creator Phil Fish teases the opening of a United States branch.

    Fez will not be an Xbox 360-exclusive forever. Creator Phil Fish announced in a blog post that the puzzle-platform game will be ported to “other platforms” in 2013.

    “Yes, I’ve heard you, dozens of people emailing me everyday [sic] telling me how much of an idiot I am for not porting Fez to everything,” Fish wrote.

    Fish also teased “exciting plans” for the game’s soundtrack, as well as “something about a United States branch.” The developer explained in his blog entry that he vacated his former workspace in Montreal, Canada at the end of the year.

    Fez, which has sold over 100,000 units, is a 2D platformer built entirely using Microsoft’s XNA tools in an 8-bit pixel art style. The game also adds a third dimension and lets players rotate the gameworld around the protagonist, Gomez. For more on the title, check out GameSpot’s review.

  • Tomb Raider gets multiplayer

    December 29, 2012 3:44AM PST

    Crystal Dynamics confirms upcoming Lara Croft reboot will feature a head-to-head mode.

    Next year’s Tomb Raider reboot will not be a single-player-only affair. Crystal Dynamics global brand director Karl Stewart recently revealed via Twitter that the game will in fact ship with a multiplayer mode.

    This was first speculated when United Kingdom retailer GAME listed multiplayer as a major feature for Tomb Raider. The details have since been removed, but it was suggested that players would be able to control Lara’s shipmates or Yamatai scavengers in a variety of modes.

    First details on Tomb Raider’s multiplayer mode will be revealed in Official Xbox Magazine‘s January issue, due to subscribers this week.

    Tomb Raider is due out March 5, 2013 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. For more, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage.