Google published its annual "Zeitgeist" report of the most popular searches and topics in 2011 this past week and for the first time ever, a game was included in the top ten fastest rising search terms of the year. Yes, as you've probably already guessed, it was "Gem Keeper." Wait, no, it was "Battlefield 3." EA's big shooter stirred up some interest, apparently, landing it right in between "Casey Anthony" and the "iPhone 5" in biggest gains in search popularity of the year.
When it comes to video games in North America, however, there's another title on top of the heap: "Black Ops" was the most searched-for term in the category, with "Call of Duty" coming soon after that. "Battlefield 3" didn't even make the list in the category numbers, so its overall search volume was actually lower than the Activision series. Don't count "Halo Reach" or "Super Mario" out either -- they show up at the third and fourth spots on the list in the gaming category.
And Google even shows us what 2011 searchers are most interested to play next year: "Diablo 3" and "Mass Effect 3" sit at the bottom of the list already for the most searched-for terms in gaming.
Zynga stock finally roared out of the gate and on to the trading floor yesterday at $10 a share, but investors weren't hugely impressed with the social gaming company. The stock started up a dollar at $11, and then dropped back down two, and then thirty, and then fifty cents during the day, leveling off at $9.50, which Forbes says was thanks mostly to "a stabilizing bid by Zynga's underwriters," which means Zynga's investors stepped in and bought up enough stock to keep the price up.
So what happened? Shortly put, Zynga's stock wasn't really worth what it was priced out at. An initial public offering is designed to be priced a little low, in order to drum up demand for a company's stock from the public (not to mention raise some money). But Zynga went high and, as a result, didn't quite get the graph it wanted today.
They didn't sell the FarmVille, so to speak -- ZNGA will likely be trading fine on Monday (and $9.50 is fine for the highly competitive gaming industry; THQ is sitting down at 75 cents right now). But Zynga's hype phase appears to be over. Now the company needs to prove it can sell more than just cow clickers.
The latest Prototype 2 developer video details, among other things, the game's new hunting system. Essentially, it's an a sonar system that helps protagonist James Heller locate his enemies. Joystiq's biotech branch has developed a similar hunting mutation, but it only works on hot dog stands.
With Platinum Games taking the reins on Metal Gear Rising, what's Kojima Productions up to? KojiPro captain Hideo Kojima took to Twitter to tease the above image writing, "'New title' run by 'Fox Engine.'" It features a refreshing change of pace for the veteran game designer; namely, soldiers and tanks.
Alright, so you're not impressed with what Fox Engine is showing off. Kojima suspected as much, so he followed up with another tweet. "One of the key features about 'Fox Engine,' here's the transparent technique," Kojima wrote. "See-thru underwear." Now you're tasked with the following dilemma: Do you click past the break to see what he's talking about, or do you simply move on, content in the knowledge that you were the stronger person?
Er, not every game ever -- that'd be impossible, you guys. We're talking soundtracks for every game in the fourth Humble Indie Bundle: Gratuitous Space Battles, Cave Story+, Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner, Super Meat Boy, Shank and Nightsky HD.
The soundtracks are free to anyone who pays above the current average for the Bundle and, as usual, to anyone who's already purchased the bundle. You can snag them in mp3 format or, in the case of Super Meat Boy and Nightsky HD, also in FLAC.
You know how they say money can't buy you happiness? Well, if happiness to you is having the best thing possible in a game, then that saying doesn't apply to Need for Speed World.
The Play4Free title added the Koenigsegg CCX "Elite" Edition car pictured above, available to all players for $100. You can grab the flashy whip through the in-game Car Dealer. Your regret will immediately follow, after realizing you've spent a hundred bucks on an imaginary car.
Another year, another 12 days of holiday giveaways! Between now and Christmas Day, we're doing the one thing that makes us feel truly alive: giving. Specifically, we're giving you fine folks some of the swag we've managed to collect in our cluttered home offices. And the good will and merriment doesn't stop here! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for even more chances to win!
So you're pumped about Battlefield 3 ... but you don't actually have it yet. We understand there may not be many of you out there, but if you fit that description, we've got the giveaway for you.
One lucky winner will get Battlefield 3 on either Xbox 360, PS3 or PC, along with a BF3-themed Razer Onza gamepad for Xbox 360 and a Calibur 11 "vault" for your Xbox 360 Slim. Oh, and some Battlefield 3 wall graphics from Walls360.com. It's enough Battlefield 3 stuff to let your friends know you're serious about the game, and to warn members of the opposite sex that you're not ready for committal. Find rules on entry, and pictures of the swag, after the break.
In Twisted Metal, having a vehicle outfitted with rockets and guns and other destructive things may get you far, but it may not do much against The Brothers Grimm. They drive trucks that are bigger than mansions.
Valve has unwrapped the second-annual Australian Christmas update for Team Fortress 2, bringing with it the kind of cheer that can only come from a pile of heavy-duty, particle-melting weapons and a brand new map to use them in. The update includes two new Dr. Grordbort weapon packs -- The Brainiac Pack for Engineer and The Moonman Pack for Pyro -- and Foundry, a new control-point map with 12 unique achievements.
Valve is also dropping 14 community-created holiday weapons in Nice Crates, and strings of festive weapon lights in Naughty Crates, through Dec. 22. More than 50 items in the Mann Co. store are up to 75 percent off through Jan. 2, and the in-game item-drop rate will be doubled for the first week of the event.
If that doesn't put you in a joyful mood, maybe a child stabbing Santa in the neck will -- read all about it in the new TF2 comic, "A Smissmas Story."
A little known fact about the Padawan training program is that it includes an intense, three-month course on dance. Think about it: dueling with lightsabers is basically dance fighting. Right?
That's why the ESRB rating for Kinect: Star Wars didn't really throw us. The promised "dance tournaments, podracing, and Jedi duels" sound like de rigueur, believe us. We've read extensively on the subject.
Joking aside, there isn't really anything else we can say beyond this: the following is the final excerpt in the ESRB listing for Kinect: Star Wars. "In the dancing mini-game, some female characters perform suggestive moves (e.g., gyrating their hips/buttocks) and wear revealing outfits (partially exposed cleavage/buttocks). The words 'damn' and 'hell' can be heard in the dialogue."
We imagine the "dialogue" in question goes something like this: "What in the damn hell has happened to Star Wars?"
The AFP reports that France's famous Louvre museum will begin replacing its traditional audio guides with 3DS consoles in March of 2012. Nintendo will give the museum 5,000 of its handhelds, which will run special software developed by the company.
The software will allow visitors to locate their position in the (very, very large) museum, as well as offering itineraries and, of course, traditional audio commentaries. The museum told the AFP that the move was made in order to better accommodate today's museum goers, who are more accustomed to interacting with touch screens.
Frankly, we're just hoping we can finally nab Leonardo da Vinci for our Mii Plaza.
You know who we'd like to see featured in the hit television program Dirty Jobs? The guy who's responsible for making this Left 4 Dead Boomer action figure. Just think: Some poor soul at NECA not only had to mold this fully articulated, pustule-covered monster -- they had to paint on his every blemish, scab and scar. There is no amount of money high enough to merit such attention to nastiness.
We won't be able to get our hands on this figure (and others from the zombie-centric hit) until next Spring, but you can be sure that when we do, our hands will be safely enveloped by gloves. Check him out in all his oozing glory after the jump.
Star Wars Galaxies came to a close last night. There can be only one Star Wars MMO on the block, and that's now Star Wars: The Old Republic. That doesn't mean Galaxies didn't go out in style -- we tracked down a pair of end-game videos on YouTube for your viewing pleasure.
Finally, there's also a sappy letter from Star Wars Galaxies' last remaining producer. It's been a crazy eight years, hasn't it? Here's to hoping The Old Republic has as long a run.
[Note: Embedding on the second video has been disabled, so you'll need to click here to watch it.]
It's Game of the Year personal nominees round 3: The X3F memorial edition. That's right, this week Richard assembles the old crew to talk a smattering of smaller, personal favorites from 2011. It's not all about smaller releases, though -- Alexander and Dave also bring some love for the year's bigger titles.
Part 1 (0:56) - GotY personal picks (see full list after the break)
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This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that.
While plowing through the last few sections of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword several weeks ago, I realized that I didn't want it to end. Not because I wanted to keep playing -- the action-adventure game had already stolen more than 40 hours of my life -- but because I wanted to continue waving my arm up and down to kill things. I was completely enthralled by the game's motion controls.
And I used to hate motion controls.
You see, Nintendo's latest Zelda uses the Wii controller's MotionPlus accessory to recognize the precise movements of your arm. Slash horizontally, and hero Link will do the same. Slash vertically, and Link's sword will follow suit. Slash diagonally? Well, you can probably guess.
As a cranky longtime gamer with a crippling fear of change, I spent a long time thinking that this sounded terrible. Waggling my controller in games like Super Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess felt more like inconvenience than innovation. Would Skyward Sword really feel all that different?
Yes. Yes it would. It felt phenomenal. And it made me start asking another question.
Can't make it out to the Sundance film festival to check out the world premiere of the crowdsource-funded documentary Indie Game: The Movie? There's no need to worry, assuming you can score passes to SXSW instead; the film will have a showing at the SXSW ScreenBurn Arcade (March 9 - 11) and SXSW Film (March 9 - 17) next year (clap, clap, clap, clap) deep in the heart of Austin, Texas.
The conference will also host a panel presented by IG:TM creators James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot, along with Phil Fish, the creator of Fez, one of the titular indie games. The whole thing is so full-circular, we might just faint.
Ubisoft may want THQ to stop poaching its employees, but the Quebec Court of Appeal for the District of Montreal doesn't seem to mind. THQ issued a statement this afternoon declaring that the court "unanimously" ruled in its favor, allowing the company to hire Ubisoft employees who were "to THQ's knowledge bound by a non-compete provision."
After THQ hired away ex-Assassin's Creed project lead Patrice Désilets to head up a "new IP" at its Montreal-based studio, VP of Core Games Danny Bilson told us he planned on bringing more folks over from Ubisoft's nearby studio. This, among other things, initially precipitated an injunction, and eventually a messy court battle. As it turns out, though, Quebec's Court of Appeal sided with THQ on the grounds that the company "was not bound by any non-competition restrictions, and was therefore free to solicit any Ubisoft employee," so long as THQ didn't engage in "unfair competition." So much for that non-compete clause, eh?
You already kinda sorta knew about Cobalt, Mojang's first game launch as a publisher, but did you know that it'd be totally out today in Alpha form? Oh, yeah, okay, you already kinda knew that too. Well now it's official and has a price (€9.95/$13), but beyond that, we've also got a whole mess of info about today's launch. For one, the game will only be available on Windows PC initially, with OS X and Linux support arriving in "Beta." Moreover, there is no "single-player" version of Cobalt, only multiplayer and co-op modes -- according to Mojang, "hot seat" multiplayer is available on the PC and it's "theoretically limited by the number of USB controllers you manage to forcefully plug in to your poor computer." We're gonna go ahead and suggest no more than four, just to be safe.
The game's Alpha also comes with a level editor, which Mojang hopes players will use to "create everything from single maps to whole campaigns from scratch." That isn't to say that the dev team at Oxeye Game Studio are sitting on their hands and waiting for the user-generated content to populate their game, however -- the announcement promises that the team "will continue adding their own maps and game modes to the game as well as continue work on the main campaign."
Like with Minecraft before it, purchasing Cobalt in Alpha (or "pre-ordering" the final build, if you will) nets you access to all future builds of the game, barring the possibility of console or mobile ports. While there is no timeframe for the completed game's launch, the devs set a handful of milestones for themselves, such as the main campaign not showing up until after the game goes "Gold" (read: finished). In the meantime, we'll be sure to let you know when people start creating incredible homages to things they love within Cobalt, as with Minecraft before it.
Much like the stalwart scientist behind the informative BlendTec "Will it Blend" video series, the I am Alive trailer above has a number of helpful, healthful tips for you to follow if you want to survive in a ruined city. The truly vital one? "This is ruined city dust. Don't breathe this!"
Google Zeitgeist puts Battlefield 3 in top ten rising searches, Black Ops tops gaming chart
17.12.2011 14:30 
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