Don Coyner, lead designer and marketing man for the original Xbox and the Xbox 360, will not be in charge of the new Xbox design team, Cnet reports. Coyner will be replaced with Emma Williams, who helped launch the recent Xbox Live interface revamp, one of Cnet's sources says.
Coyner joined Microsoft from Nintendo in 1995, and became marketing director for the original Xbox in 1999. Coyner designed the user experience and branding for the Xbox 360, and his most recent title at Microsoft is General Manager of Design. Williams joined Microsoft in 2003 and is currently General Manager of Xbox Experiences, leading last week's Xbox Live interface update that introduced more social, content-specific hubs to the 360.
With the next Xbox rumored for release in 2013, the Live update could be a massive trial period for features to include in the new model, or it could be a secret government study monitoring the effects of cloud storage on adolescent violence. Could be.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning isn't just about retreading fantasy tropes in an action-RPG setting for the trillionth time, as the latest trailer demonstrates. It's also about stabbing dudes. And setting traps. And shooting fireballs. You know, important stuff.
Joe Danger may be new to the Xbox, but that won't stop him from giving Xbox Live users a Christmas present this year. Starting next week on December 21, players can download the Santa DLC for Joe Danger: Special Edition, which adds Chris Kringle himself and a Christmas QuadBike.
The DLC will be free, only available through December 25.
Double Fine has revealed its matryoshka-infused adventure, Stacking, will soon come to PC. The news came from Double Fine's Tim Schafer and Lee Petty during X-Play's Best of 2011 award show. Stacking took home the title of 2011's best downloadable game, with Schafer and Petty revealing the PC port in a rather unique way, which you can see in the video after the break (skip to 1:00).
No other details were revealed, save to say that the PC version will be available "soon."
If Nathan Drake's Golden Abyss adventure and the future racers of Wipeout 2048 just don't do it for you, perhaps Square Enix's "Pikmin from Hell" can. Army Corps of Hell has just been announced as coming to the Vita on launch day, February 22, for both North America and Europe.
Alongside the announcement comes a volley of new screens, which we've dropped into a gallery for you just below. If you've ever wondered how a few dozen cartoonish imps look as they're about to face off against a giant demon, here's your chance! (Spoiler: it's pretty adorable.)
While Bethesda scrambles to control unforeseen events born from thousands of characters, objects and dragons interacting with each other in the sprawling land of Skyrim, Nintendo addresses a game-breaking error that occurs if you complete one of three quests in the wrong order ... and then talk to a guy twice.
"If you are experiencing this situation, we are able to repair your saved data," Nintendo writes on its support page for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. If you couldn't avoid triggering the bug (here's how), you can now send in your save file to be repaired. The company also intends to release "a program that will repair save data for those who have their Wii connected to the Internet." That sounds almost like a patch, filtered for technical terminology, but Nintendo only refers to it as a "program." (Aside: The mythical Wii game patch does exist in some cases!)
We'll let you know as soon as we hear more about this restorative download. If, in the meantime, you feel paranoid about Link's bugs, you can keep up to two duplicates of your save file -- just select "copy" from the main menu every now and then.
Modern Warfare 3 players are in for a few treats today. First off, Activision's blockbuster has been updated with multiplayer playlist tweaks and an entirely new mode. Dubbed "Drop Zone," the latter tasks players with capturing and holding a ... drop zone. The team with the most players in the zone will receive a care package every fifteen seconds. The twist: Earning care packages is the only way to achieve pointstreaks. Drop Zone marks the first entry in the new Community Playlists section, which will play host to "popular or unique private match modes" created by users themselves.
The second playlist change is the addition of Hardcore Headquarters Ricochet to the Hardcore playlist. Furthermore, all Hardcore modes will now feature ricochet, meaning that all friendly fire will be reflected back to the attacker. In other words: Shooting a teammate is basically shooting yourself.
Finally, Infinity Ward community guru Robert Bowling has tweeted that a title update will be available today to address "Host Disadvantage" / "Lag Compensation."
Rock Band will add seven Jimi Hendrix tracks to the Music Store next week, with two legacy songs receiving pro guitar and pro bass upgrades. The DLC includes several of Hendrix's most famous tracks, but everyone should be sure to take a trip "All Along the Watchtower."
PixelJunk Monsters Online, the first entry in the PixelJunk franchise not to appear on PlayStation devices, is now in open beta on Facebook. Announced over the summer, PixelJunk Monsters Online is based on the PSN tower defense game, which has sold over 500,000 units. Now you can play it while waiting for TPS reports to collate.
PJO features the tower defense gameplay of the original along with a world map, and sees players defending their lands from waves of monsters. The objective is to collect gold and gems to expand territory and defend more tiles -- of course, your friends will be doing the same. That's when the fighting starts, followed by nasty Facebook messages, and eventually it culminates in a peace accord over buffalo wings at T.G.I. Fridays.
Though we remain disappointed in the dearth of proper 3DS ambassador games -- perhaps one where you solve a gruesome series of murders at an embassy -- Nintendo has at least completed its rewards program for early adopters of the system. The ten free Gameboy Advance games are now available to everyone who connected to the Nintendo eShop before August 12th.
Your portable rewards include: Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare Inc. Mega Microgames, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Wario Land 4, Kirby The Amazing Mirror, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, and F-Zero: Maximum Velocity.
To download the games, sign into the eShop, visit the "Settings" page and pull up your download history. Your 3DS will be under the impression that you've already downloaded them, but just go with it and start re-downloading.
Step right up, step right up! Waiting for that next patch of corn to grow in Farmville? Just hanging around for your friend to make his next move in Mafia Wars? Then you need to make the most of your time, my friend, with the most splendiferous stock offering this year: ZYNGA!
Or, "ZNGA," as it will be known today on the Nasdaq Stock Market, trading for the low-low (but on the higher end of expected) price of $10. Yes, $10! And because Zynga is feeling so generous about its stock price, you won't even have to wait 10 minutes or pay any extra credits to purchasing more than one at a time.
Forget all those negative feelings you may have heard about the company. Ignore the claims of a "sketchy" business model. Today's the day to get in on the ground floor and ride that bubble into the sun!
Blizzard Entertainment has been steadily updating the Battle.net online multiplayer service recently, presumably in anticipation of Diablo 3's release next year. Last week, the company introduced what it's calling the Battle.net Balance, a currency total stored on its servers that players can use to pay for Blizzard items -- from a World of Warcraft subscription to in-game items and plushies in the company store. This is where funds not translated directly into cash will go from the real money auction house in Diablo 3, whenever it arrives.
Today, Blizzard introduced the BattleTag system, which is a specific public username that will identify players publicly on Battle.net services (similar to Xbox Live's Gamertag name). This is likely the compromise Blizzard came up with over its controversial Real ID service, which was originally meant to utilize real player names.
BattleTags are not unique, but players will have a number in their public profiles that will let you identify just which "touchFuzzygetDizzy" you're talking to. BattleTags will appear first in the Diablo 3 beta, and get used in all of Blizzard's games and services sometime after that.
The latest batch of DLC for Tropico 4 has been released. Available for PC and via Xbox Live, the "Plantador" DLC sees El Presidente trying his or her hand at agricultural dominance, adding a new agriculture-boosting character trait, the plantation building, several new decorations and, perhaps best of all, a sombrero. The DLC also contains a new "Research" mission that "challenges players to become a captain of their island's industry."
The Plantador DLC is available now on PC or Xbox 360 for $5.
When we first heard about a film adaptation of the Just Cause franchise, we relegated it to the same part of our head where we store the Leonardo DiCaprio/Nolan Bushnell biopic: A fine idea with no shot of happening. Now it seems to be getting a bit more real with a subtitle -- "Scorpion Rising" -- and a rewrite by comics' Bryan Edward Hill, the man behind Broken Trinity: Pandora's Box (a Witchblade mini-series) and Dolph Lungren picture The Mechanik.
Perhaps more interesting is The Hollywood Reporter's assertion that a third Just Cause game is also in the works, something that's already been alluded to by developer Snowblind. Could that be the secret identity of previously announced Project Mamba, an Avalanche project due in ... 2014? Oh, we can't be that far off, can we?
Telltale has announced a holiday sale for many of its iOS games. Several titles, including Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, Puzzle Agent, Tales of Monkey Island and more have been marked down to a measly $2.99. Because nothing says Christmas like ignoring your loved ones while fiddling with an iPhone or iPad.
See the complete list of discounted titles after the break. The sale runs until January 2.
You know the classic scene in A Christmas Story when Flick gets his tongue frozen to a flagpole? Sure, we all do. But many (including some top film historians) are unaware that Flick performs the stunt on the promise that he'll be rewarded with entry into the PC Blacklight Retribution closed beta. It's true!
You remember when the Grinch stole all the gifts from Whoville? New research shows that the only one he was really trying to nab was a Blacklight Retribution beta invite, the rest were just a smokescreen.
Oh, and had he not arrived so late as to not be included in the Christian Bible, you'd know that the fourth king from the East brought unto the baby Jesus ... OK, so we're making this one up, but you get the idea.
Here's the great news: You PC owners don't have to steal from a village of diminutive pure-hearts or lick anything to start playing the Blacklight Retribution beta. Just claim your code and redeem it here!
The Little Big Bunch, a Humble Indie Bundle-esque collection of games from UK-based developers, is available right this hot second. The collection includes Explodemon, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, Frozen Synapse, Serious Sam Double D and New Star Soccer 5 -- all five of which are yours at a price point of your choosing.
Much like the Humble series, shoppers can choose which portion of their donation goes to the developers, and what part goes to GamesAid, which then gives the funds to a number of charitable organizations. It's a great cause supporting great games, which we think is just great.
The future of business in Syndicate is violent. Everyone comes to work dressed up in armor, keeping arsenals under their desk like ladies in cubicles keep sneakers under theirs. A workman's comp case must be resolved in the classic and genteel style of dueling pistols.
What do you do when you have a lot of disposable income and you really like racing games? You construct an ostentatious five-monitor setup and go nuts, of course! At least, that's what Chad Smith did and, thankfully for all of us, he strapped a camera to his head and filmed it all in action.
The game he's playing is a free-to-play online racer called iRacing. Personally, our favorite part of his video victory lap above is the gloves. Nothing says dedication like a pair of serious racing gloves.
The latest Final Fantasy XIII-2 trailer unleashes the power of Pokemon, showing how players can capture monsters for use in future battles. In thinking about it, we could have given this post the headline "When Chocobos attack!" for massive traffic.
Report: New lead designer, brander working on next Xbox
16.12.2011 20:20 
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