An anonymous reader writes “It appears Valve has begun another ARG (Alternate Reality Game) similar to the one that led up to the release of the original Portal game. A recent Portal update unlocked a new achievement which has uncovered various hidden images and sounds containing references to the Portal and Half-Life universe. Many believe this to be part of the run-up to the announcement of Portal 2 and/or the next installment of the Half-Life series. A thread on the Steam forums has already reached over 1 million views as people piece together the information. Another thread summarizes the information found so far. Based on clues from the ARG, some are speculating an announcement at the 2010 Game Developers Conference where Valve’s co-founder Gabe Newell is to receive this year’s Pioneer Award.”
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Enter to win a chance to play Bizarre Creations’ latest speedster three months early.
An anonymous reader writes “A quick update on the widespread PlayStation 3 glitch we discussed recently: as of last night (Monday, March 1st) the problem has resolved itself. I powered up my PS3 to find the clock was set to April 29th, 2020, but once I went into the system menu and set the date and time via the internet I got an accurate date. That seems to be the test of whether your PS3 is ‘fixed’ or not; Sony says you should be all set.”
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RogueyWon writes “Kotaku is reporting that Infinity Ward, the development studio behind Modern Warfare 2, has been at the center of strange events recently. Jason West and Vince Zampella, two lead developers, have been fired by parent company Activision for ‘breaches of contract and insubordination.’ Speculation is rife as to the reasons behind this; following Modern Warfare 2’s spectacular sales figures, it seems unlikely that the studio’s performance could be to blame.”
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Killer Orca is one of many to tell us about a new study on the effects of violent video games on kids. The latest meta-study that analyzed research from 130 different reports claims to have “conclusively proven” that violent video games make more aggressive, less caring kids. “The team used meta-analytic procedures — the statistical methods used to analyze and combine results from previous, related literature — to test the effects of violent video game play on the behaviors, thoughts, and feelings of the individuals, ranging from elementary school-aged children to college undergraduates. [...] Anderson says the new study may be his last meta-analysis on violent video games because of its definitive findings.”
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JohnWilliams writes “The Sony PlayStation Network appears to be inaccessible to older (’phat’) PS3 units. Players cannot play games that require a connection, even in single-player, offline mode, e.g. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Also, the system date resets to January 1, 2000. Sony is ‘looking into it.’ Speculation abounds that it is a bug related to 2010 being incorrectly flagged as a leap year. The newer PS3 Slim models seem to be working properly.”
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Check out what’s new on Nintendo Week!
An anonymous reader writes “Activision, after acquiring Vivendi, became the new copyright holder of the classic King’s Quest series of adventure game. They have now issued a cease and desist order to a team which has worked for eight years on a fan-made project initially dubbed a sequel to the last official installment, King’s Quest 8. This stands against the fact that Vivendi granted a non-commercial license to the team, subject to Vivendi’s approval of the game after submission. After the acquisition, key team members had indicated on the game’s forums (now stripped of their original content by order of Activision) that Activision had given the indication that it intended to keep its current fan-game licenses, but was not interested in issuing new ones.”
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