In one week time the PS3 has more than doubled the Folding@Home combined PC & Mac distributed computing capacity from 281 to 613 teraflops! That’s to say, before March 23 2007, there was no Folding@Home available for PS3. Now a week later nearly 60,000 (58,746 to be exact) PS3 owners have signed up for Folding@Home and 25,340 of them are actively running it at least every 2 days.

With PS3 system version 1.6 or later you can help create simulations to further study of protein folding and related diseases, including Alzheimer’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, and certain forms of cancer. To sign up for Folding@Home, which runs while PS3 consoles are idle, you can select the Folding@Home icon in the Network column in the Xcross Media Bar (the PS3 menu).

To help, your PS3 downloads one so-called Work Unit, the time to complete simulating this Work Unit for the PS3 is short (8 hours), so the deadline time is also correspondingly short (2 days). This is necessary due to the fact that researching future Work Units depend on old ones and so Stanford University need to eventually give the work to someone else to get it completed.

How much does it cost you to help find a cure for cancer? Read more…

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Epic VP and co-founder Mark Rein has announced on their gearsforums that: “The next [free] title update for Gears of War is currently going through the certification process. We’ll have more detail about the update next week but I can tell you that in addition to fixing a whole bunch of glitches, and providing 720p for VGA users running at 1280×1024, it will contain a brand new multiplayer gametype called Annex.

Some folks who got to play it a few weeks ago said they think it is our best multiplayer gametype yet but I’ll leave it for you fans to decide what you think for yourself when it shows up soon on Xbox Live. More details next week.”

The new multiplayer mode Annex is a gametype like Territories, also known as Capture The Flag (CTF).

It’s also good to hear after three months the botched up VGA cable support will be fixed. In the previous Gears update, Epic had forced VGA users to a jagged edges 480p image at 640×480 (4:3), instead of a crisp clean 720p image at 1280×1024 (16:9) that will now be returned again.

Xbox360fanboy thinks the new gametype may coincide with the Gears of War Global Tournament that starts on April 9.

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No Civilization V yet, but 2K Games has announced the second expansion for Sid Meier’s Civilization IV PC & Mac game titled Beyond the Sword.

The expansion pack will be released by the end of July 2007 and focus on the late-game time period after gunpowder. Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword features 16 new leaders, 5 new wonders, and other additions.

Civilization IV’s last expansion, Warlords, focused on combat. Beyond the Sword is designed for the players looking to dominate through other methods. Corporations will allow players to trade resources throughout the world, espionage will be allowed earlier in the game and the race to Alpha Centauri will require more strategy. There will also be advanced starts, allowing players to skip ahead and experience the new content, according to Joystiq.

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Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie today revealed the last two Halo 2 maps – Tombstone and Desolation. They’re remakes of Halo: Combat Evolved’s multiplayer maps Hang ‘Em High and Derelict. The maps will be available as premium downloadable content at a price of $4 for Xbox and Xbox 360 on April 17, 2007. Both of the maps will be available through the Halo 2 in-game content downloader.

Fans of the original Halo have long requested the addition of some of their favorite maps to Halo 2’s multiplayer. When Bungie was asked “why make maps for Halo 2, when Halo 3 is just around the corner?” they answered: “Well, because we love Halo 2 and we love our fans. They’ve continued to play Halo 2 solidly for three years [and over 800 million hours on Xbox Live], in vast numbers, and we owe them it. Not enough to give it away for free, but Max has to buy snacks for his team, after all.” For a full map breakdown go to Bungie.

* Hang ‘Em High map description: Arguably the most popular Halo multiplayer map, it has been reimagined for “Halo 2″ as Tombstone, with all-new graphics, features and a few hidden surprises. Now fans will enjoy the dangerous catwalks and trenches that made this the most requested “Halo” multiplayer map ever, with a modernized “Halo 2″ flavor.

* Desolation map description: A symmetrical, Deathmatch-oriented map and a beautiful remake of the original Derelict. With new graphics and effects and a massive gameplay overhaul, the old favorite is now faster-paced & more balanced than ever for Halo 2 combat.

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In an interview with Official PlayStation Magazine, the PlayStation 3’s visual designer -Teiyu Goto– revealed the story behind the prototype boomerang controller design shown at E3 in May of 2005 that press and gamers complained to no end about, because it looked like Batman’s batarang. Until at the Sony pre-E3 conference in May of 2006, they revealed a redesign that looked exactly like the previous PS2 controller.

To quote Goto-san: “President Kutaragi wanted something different for the controller. Quite frankly, we had set aside the ergonomic aspect in favor of the image it conjured up. We wanted to present an avant-garde model for the show, running a risk of being criticized.”

When Goto was asked about his personal thoughts on the controller and if he liked it, he said: “It was very futuristic visually, but practically speaking you only had to hold it to realize how it compared to the Dual Shock 2. You know there are so many players who are used to the PlayStation controller; it’s like a car steering wheel and it’s not easy to change people’s habits.”

But the design was dropped and the Sony reverted back to the Dual Shock 2 model, which eventually became Sixaxis. “The desire for change was there, but the legacy of the PlayStation was stronger - the slightest change to the controller could annoy players and the risk wasn’t worth taking. Also PS2 and PS3 provide backwards compatibility; the ergonomics should be the same when you play games from the previous generation but without having to bring out the ‘wired’ controllers. It is for these reasons that we reverted to the shape of the classic controller.”

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The cat was out of the bag earlier, but now the first details and screenshots have shown up. NiGHTS 2 (also known as NiGHTS Wii) will be under the direction of Sonic Team’s Takashi Iizuka, who worked on the original NiGHTS for Sega as well as titles like Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog.

As you can see from the first screenshots (click for a bigger view) Nightopia will be revisited with more human characters, enemies and bosses to battle. Along with a plethora of new tricks and freedom of movement thanks to the Wii Remote controller.

There’s also a two-player mode planned for the game along with “some online functions.” Though at this point it seems more likely to be the integration of WiiConnect24 rather than full-on online play, as CVG’s translation from the Portuguese games magazine Maxi Consolas points out.
Read more…

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You might vaguely remember last month we mentioned Activision said they expect to have 60 individual products, not all full games, which would: “aggressively target the Nintendo platforms consistent with our multi-platform strategy and Nintendo’s expected growth. In 2008, we will double our offerings on the DS and the Wii, including Guitar Hero.”

Now Ngamer confirms this, to quote: “Cult rhythm game Guitar Hero is on its way to Wii. It comes with a guitar-shaped controller and plays convincingly enough to make you think you’re making real music. Hopefully we’ll get the actual guitar, and not a pretend remote/nunchuk version.”

So for the time being it seems unsure if it comes with a wired or wireless guitar like the PS2 and Xbox 360 games do or if it’s a plastic shell to fit the Wii remote controller into. Of course the latter would confirm it as a wireless guitar, which kind of is a must nowadays. No doubt the music game will be released later in 2007, so more soon. Via Neurope

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Microsoft Game Studios and Epic Games announced the Gears of War 2007 Global Xbox LIVE Tournament, presented by the World Cyber Games, offering gamers the opportunity to curb-stomp and chainsaw their way to the Grand Final in Prague, Czech Republic.

Registration for the GOW tournament is from March 29 through April 29, while official play begins April 9 and continues through May 6. Winners will be announced in May. More detailed information, including full eligibility requirements, official rules and registration, can be found at Xboxlivetournament.com.

Gears of War players across the globe will have the opportunity to compete in ranked matches on Xbox LIVE for four weeks of leaderboard play. The top 11 finalists in the world with the highest individual scores will receive the grand prize, a trip for two to Prague —the setting that influenced the game’s “Destroyed Beauty” scenic imagery— to compete in the Grand Final in July. The grand prize includes a four-day, three-night trip to Prague with round-trip coach air transportation for the winner and a guest, standard hotel accommodations, basic ground transportation in Prague, and a $200 Visa gift card.

The top four eligible ranked players from each participating country can win: Read more…

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Sony’s PlayStation 3 launch title, Resistance: Fall Of Man, has now sold over a million copies worldwide in just four months and is the best selling PS3 title to date.

VGcharts numbers show that out of the 600,000 new PS3 owners in Europe plus 20,000 new ones in Australia, now 220,000 owners bought a copy of the FPS game. That’s more than one out of three PAL territory PS3 owners who bought Resistance: Fall of Man, or to be exact that’s an attach rate of 35.5%.

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Could the videogame based movie Mortal Kombat 3 still be happening or is it lost in development hell forever? It turns out that much like the next Mortal Kombat 8 game, the third movie will get a fresh start as well.

“The movie is not going to be a prequel, sequel, or in any form be related to the previous 2 movies. Pretty much like Batman Begins, is going to restart the series with new concepts, stories, etc.,” an insider called “Rayden” told Moviehole.

He continued: “Threshold had to wait till around early 2000 for the contract with New Line Cinema to end (Threshold blames New Line for the disappointing [Mortal Kombat 2:] Annihilation, talking about forced release dates, limited budget, no understanding of anything. — The reason it is taking so long is the script, so many parts are involved. The team at Threshold (the ones that holds the right to MK) are constantly writing drafts (along with the director), which they have to send to Midway (makers of the game) so the creator of the game (Ed Boon) adds notes and some input to the draft, then to the studio (rumored to be Lionsgate at this moment).”

Here are some of the director’s comments on the movie:
Read more…

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