GameCyte » Rumor

PS4 Based On Existing Cell Processor?

Sean Hollister — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:06:59 +0000

Japanese tech news site PC Watch is reporting that as a cost-saving measure, Sony “has begun seriously considering” basing the upcoming PlayStation 4 on the same Cell processor that currently powers the PS3.

Though citing no sources in particular, PC Watch claims that Sony is currently soliciting developer reactions to the idea. They speculate that while Sony would like to distance themselves from the Cell in the long run, at present they might do well to make use of their existing investment and expand the technical capabilities of the PS3 only moderately — a la the hardware transition from GameCube to Wii — in order to constrain further expenditure.

In a long technical analysis following the report, PC Watch voices the opinion that the PS4’s performance would not increase significantly from that of the PS3 if this is true. While Moore’s Law and the historical rate at which Sony has shrunk processors size would suggest that the Cell processor could reach as many as 32 cores, PC Watch expects that the cost of redesigning the Cell’s layout — which has apparently remained the same as it has shrunk from 90nm to 65nm, and from 65nm to 45nm — would be prohibitive enough that Sony will stick with around 10 cores for the PS4.

PC Watch also apparently heard that Sony is considering standard JEDEC memory for this iteration, as opposed to the PS3’s expensive XDR. They believe this means that the PS4 will use DDR3.

Hardware geeks: if all this is true, how disappointed will you be? Or, perhaps more importantly, what do you estimate a PS4 like this will cost a few years down the road?

Snap Shots, Tap Tunes With New Nintendo DS?

Sean Hollister — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:18:38 +0000

Japan’s Nikkei newspaper (via NeoGAF) is reporting that a new Nintendo DS — featuring an integrated camera, music player and enhanced wireless connectivity — will be released in Japan before the end of the year. The device is expected to retail at a sub-200,000 yen (sub-$190) price point, and expected to look nothing like Yannis Bolman’s beautiful mockup above.

Though the most current revision of Nikkei’s story only mentions the basic additions above (and omits speculation about the unit’s price), a now-defunct article at Monex.co.jp included extra information; namely, that the device will have larger screens and be able to transfer data of some sort via SD card.

The print version of the story contained one additional piece of noteworthy information. While Nintendo is considering an overseas release for the device, the article reads, they first hope to sell a few hundred thousand units within Japan.

Both the lack of guaranteed worldwide release and the relatively low quota cited by the paper suggest that the new handheld is a revision to the existing DS, rather than some sort of successor.

Game|Life speculates that Nintendo may issue an official confirmation in media briefings later this week.

UPDATE: Nintendo is offering no comment on (and yet, no forthright denial of) these ‘rumors.’ We have downgraded this article’s classification from News to Rumor accordingly.

Michael Pachter: Valve Speculation is “Fruitless”

Jesse Henning — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:22:15 +0000

With a rumor swirling around our fair internet this morning that Google was preparing to buy Valve “any second now,” the speculators at The Inquirer certainly had the games industry in a tizzy. The games media, in turn, did their homework, and Valve’s Doug Lombardi denied such rumors to several sources in no uncertain terms. Lombardi told Shacknews the story was mere “rumor,” called it “a bit of fiction” while speaking to Kotaku, and in a conversation with MTV Multiplayer, called the entire thing nothing less than a “complete fabrication.” With the rumor seemingly put to rest, it seems we’ve all learned a lesson about rampant speculation, and as industry analyst Michael Pachter told GameCyte in a brief comment, perhaps we’ll know better next time.

When asked where the rumor had likely come from, Pachter told GameCyte he had “no idea,” and while Valve certainly had a number of worthwhile assets to acquire, those of us on the outside would need more information before making guesses. “I don’t know what Google hopes to accomplish; if it’s distribution, Steam makes sense. If it’s games, the development studios make sense. Impossible to know without understanding their strategy, and I most definitely don’t understand Google’s strategy.”

As others have pointed out, Lombardi has mentioned before that Valve is open to the possibility of a buyout. As such, though Google may not be in the cards, Valve has worked a few times recently with EA, and we know how EA feels about buyout offers. When asked about the possibility of an EA/Valve deal, however, Pachter cautioned against further speculation. “EA is always a good merger partner, but it would depend on price. If it’s low, more people would be interested, if high, fewer. It’s really fruitless to speculate without knowing the price.”

In other words, we’re all welcome to keep guessing, but it’s not likely to mean anything until we have at least some concrete details… and with Valve’s financials remaining a very private matter, we’re not likely to have them any time soon.

MGS4 Producer Ryan Payton Helming New Halo?

Sean Hollister — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:40:32 +0000

Kotaku and Shacknews are reporting — each through their own anonymous source — that following his August departure from Kojima Productions, Metal Gear Solid 4 producer Ryan Payton has found a new job at Microsoft Game Studios, where he will serve as creative director of the new Halo collaboration with Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson.

Though we aren’t questioning the veracity of these two distinct reports, we do find it interesting that the game would find its creative director only just now. When Peter Jackson first introduced the collaboration at X06, two years ago, he told attending media that the game had already been in development for about a year.

Then again, looking at the bigger picture of Halo hires, it seems Microsoft is staffing up for something tremendous this time round, involving new game engines and perhaps even a new game console. We suppose the concept alone might have needed three years in the think tank.

Two weeks ago, Payton spoke with Kotaku about Japanese developers’ seeming reluctance to work with Western technology, highlighting the Xbox 360 in particular. Asked about his next career move, Payton answered “I’ll go wherever we can make a big massive game.” Was he perhaps foreshadowing this move?

We’ve reached out to Payton and Microsoft Game Studios for confirmation, and hope to hear back soon.

Dead Space Banned in Germany, China, Japan?

Sean Hollister — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:49:24 +0000

Dead Space Banned in Germany, China, Japan?" width="540" height="323" />

Though Dead Space will arrive earlier in the United States than originally anticipated (October 14th for consoles, 20th for PC), other countries may not be receiving the game at all. According to the game’s community managers, Dead Space has been banned in Germany, China and Japan.

On the official Dead Space blog, community manager Ben Swanson wrote:

Unfortunately, we’ve recently found out that Dead Space will be banned in Germany, China and Japan. This is hard for us, especially after we got a chance to meet and hang out with so many amazing German fans and getting some great coverage at the Leipzig Games Convention last month. We’d like to thank the German, Chinese and Japanese communities for their amazing support and enthusiasm and say that we are truly sorry that you will not be able to find Dead Space in your local shop next month.

Swanson provided no indication as to why the game had been banned, and EA representatives could provide neither confirmation nor clarification by time of publication.

Though Germany is the only one of the three countries with a solid track record for banning violent games (despite confusion in 2005, China typically cracks down on titles that reflect poorly on their government, while Japan’s last major ban was GTA3), Eurogamer.de (via VG247) reports that the German version of Dead Space is still undergoing evaluation by the USK rating board.

Perhaps Swanson’s comments are premature in reference to Japan and China as well.

Thanks to Destructoid for the original story.

Entry-Level Xbox Cheaper than Wii? Radio Shack Ad Supports 360 Price Cuts

Sean Hollister — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:06:26 +0000

On the first of the month, Ars Technica’s mole reported that the entire Xbox 360 lineup would undergo substantial price cuts — substantial enough that despite the mole’s earlier spot-on reveal of the 60-gigger, we doubted his words. No longer.

Joystiq reports that a leaked Radio Shack ad (above) prominently displays two of those very same price cuts.

Xbox 360 Arcade = $199

Xbox 360 Elite 120GB = $399

While it’s possible the systems could merely be on sale –after all, Radio Shack said the exact same thing about the 20GB Xbox 360 in late June — we’re optimistic that Microsoft has made a permanent decision after seeing the lack of impact its 60GB announcement had on the market.

Either way, these prices would seem to be good from September 7th through 20th.

One last note: At $200, the Xbox 360 Arcade would indeed be cheaper than the perennially understocked Nintendo Wii — but you won’t find GameCyte giving it our wholehearted recommendation. Just as the true price of the Nintendo Wii experience quickly climbs to that of its high-def competitors when you throw in extra controllers, component cables and the like, so too does the true Xbox 360 experience require significant purchases on top of that $200.

While those without HDTVs can get by with the Arcade’s standard composite cables, the utter lack of dedicated storage had crippled the media-friendly console even before the days of optionally installing games to speed load times. Rumored 60GB Starter Kit notwithstanding, at Microsoft’s current ridiculous price for a decent-sized hard drive, you’d be better off just buying the 60GB Pro console for $100 more.

TF2 Heavy Achievements Speculation Contest

Jesse Henning — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:22:03 +0000

UPDATE 8/15: Valve has published the full list of the Heavy’s Achievements, and our contest is now closed! Look for our analysis and winner announcement soon!

Valve put up a list, this morning, of the 35 new achievements that will become available in next week’s Heavy Update. The official website lists only the names of the achievements, with each descriptor reading “Coming Soon.” However, when one downloads the pictures for the new achievement icons, the filenames reveal a few interesting hints as to what each new achievement will involve. This may well have been on purpose — Valve’s Erik Johnson told us last month that the team loves to drop little hints and watch the community run wild.

So, join us as we run wild, and analyze the new Heavy Achievements. These are unofficial and, of course, unconfirmed by Valve — pure speculation. Still, we invite your comments and suggestions — and we’re offering a prize, to boot. Read on!

So, here’s the deal: We have no way of knowing how many of our predictions will come true. We’re making educated guesses, of course, but once the achievements are fully revealed, a number of our guesses will inevitably be wrong. You, however, can profit from our incorrectness! Leave a comment with your guess as to how many of the achievements we’ve correctly guessed, and you can win a copy of TF2. We’ll pick up the game through Steam, and gift it to the account of your choice (so if you already have TF2, which you probably do if you’re reading this, you can give your prize to a deserving friend). Comments must (obviously) contain a valid email address, and the prize will go to the reader who guesses the closest, fastest (duplicate answers will go to the first to submit it). Oh, and you can guess in fractions if you think we’re only half-right about an answer — but you have to explain yourself!

Entries will be accepted until such time as any part of the official achievements list is confirmed by Valve. Let the speculation begin…

Achievement: Iron Kurtain
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_damage_taken
Rampant Speculation: Well, those 300 health points are pretty handy for soaking up damage, making the Heavy TF2’s meat shield of choice. We believe this achievement will be granted for soaking up incoming damage from enemy fire, allowing the Heavy to act as an “Iron Kurtain.” We’ll guess that this will have to be enough damage to slaughter the heavy 50 times over: 15,000 damage. Also, we believe this damage has to be from enemy fire; you won’t be able to build your achievement meter through self-inflicted damage, so you can’t stand in front of 50 trains, or leap off 50 cliffs.

Achievement: Spyalectical Materialism
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_uncover_spies
Rampant Speculation: Seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it? I mean, there’s the icon, shining a spotlight on a Spy, and the filename says “uncover spies.” We believe this achievement will be granted for killing several disguised spies. Based on the Pyro Achievement with the same requirement, we’re placing the number at 10.

Achievement: Party Loyalty
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_defend_medic
Rampant Speculation: Get behind me, doctor! Now, it’s one thing to get kills while assisted by/assisting a medic, but here’s the thing — there are some achievements here which have “assist” in their names, while this one explicitly says “defend.” Our guess? This achievement will be granted for stepping into the line of fire for 10 medics who are taking damage from the enemy. DE-FENSE! *clap clap clap*

Achievement: Permanent Revolution
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_kill_while_spunup
Rampant Speculation: Now, this one might be tricky to get: Using the minigun’s alt-fire spin-up technique, we suspect you’re going to have to kill several enemies with the alt-fire still held down, and reach a certain number of kills before you’re allowed to let your gun stop. Even knowing the 200 bullet capacity on the basic minigun, we’re going to put that number at 10 enemies. You may want to stand near a dispenser and/or get a Kritzkrieg to help you out.

Achievement: Division of Labor
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_assist_medic_large
Rampant Speculation: See? “Assist.” It’s right there. This one seemed pretty straightforward at first; buddy up with a Medic and have him assist you on a bunch of kills, right? Ah, but take a look at the icon for this one: That doesn’t look like the medigun profile. No, it looks more like the syringe gun, which means the Medic is taking an offensive role. We are therefore guessing that this achievement will be granted when you assist the Medic on 5 kills in the same life, where he delivers the killing blow. First, do lots of harm.

Achievement: Heavy Industry
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_fire_lots
Rampant Speculation: Okay, the objective is obvious: Over the course of your Heavy career, you need to shoot lots and lots and lots of bullets. But, how many bullets are we talking about here? Let’s remember the “Meet the Heavy” video: “She weighs one hundred fifty kilograms and fires two hundred dollar, custom-tooled cartridges at ten thousand rounds per minute. It costs four hundred thousand dollars to fire this weapon… for twelve seconds.” Now, I don’t see any noteworthy achievement taking merely twelve seconds to accomplish, so how about we attach a higher figure to it? Let’s say you use your heavy to pump one million dollars into the economy! Let’s figure that out… 1,000,000 / $200 per round = 5,000 shots. At 200 bullets per load, you’d have to expend 25 full loads of ammo. Nice round number, isn’t it? You’ll get this achievement for firing 5,000 bullets, we say.

Achievement: Red Oktoberfest
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_earn_medic_domination
Rampant Speculation: Well, even Oktoberfest being a clearly German theme, and the word “medic” appearing right there in the filename, this seems fairly obvious. You can get a domination against another player by assisting in their demise, and the bullets are hanging so pleasantly around the health cross there, so this one seems easy — earn a domination for the medic who is healing you. But, to make it a little trickier, we’re going to guess that the two of you have to get all three kills together, as a pair. So, for instance, that medic can’t assist in kills against that player with two other attackers; he has to piggyback on three kills from the same Heavy to earn that heavy the achievement.

Achievement: Communist Mani-Fisto
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_kill_crit_punch
Rampant Speculation: Aha! An achievement based around the new KGB weapon. It’d be simple, of course, to say that this involves earning the 5 seconds of guaranteed critical hits, and then using those critical hits to earn another melee kill… so we will. We don’t think this will require chaining together a certain number of KGB kills in the same critical streak. No, we think this will just involve killing 5 enemies, at any time, using melee hits during the “guaranteed critical” phase. Pow!

Achievement: Show Trial
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_kill_taunt
Rampant Speculation: When you consider that this has happened before, this one seems really simple. Our prediction: In the Heavy Update, the Heavy’s melee taunt (in which he pantomimes a gun and goes “Pow!”) will now be able to deal a high level of damage. In order to earn this achievement, you have to kill someone with it. Bang! You’re Dead! Except you really are. Good luck getting this one legitimately.

Achievement: Redistribution of Health
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_heal_medikits
Rampant Speculation: The Heavy and the Medic are best friends, and a good Heavy knows to save the medikits for his Medic pal, since the Medic can’t heal himself very effectively. But, some Heavies are antisocial, and run into battle without Medics — or, sometimes, a Medic just gets himself killed. It’d be simple enough, of course, to grab a bunch of medikits as a Heavy, but Valve wouldn’t make an achievement that promoted keeping medikits unavailable for the rest of your team, would they? Our guess: You will earn this achievement for picking up 10 medikits when you need them — which is to say, when you’re at 50 health or less.

Achievement: Crime and Punishment
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_kill_flag_carriers
Rampant Speculation: The crime? Stealing your team’s intelligence! The punishment? Painful rapid-fire death. No fancy requirements here: Earn this achievement for killing 10 enemies who are carrying your intelligence.

Achievement: Rationing
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_kill_shotgun
Rampant Speculation: As we’ve established, those minigun bullets are expensive as hell. Best to conserve them by racking up kills with your shotgun – 50 ought to do it. Not in the same life, mind you.

Achievement: Class Struggle
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_kill_medic_pair
Rampant Speculation: It’s always tragic when best friends fight. A Heavy, attacking a Medic? It’s poetic, in its own way — can you deal damage faster than the Medic can heal it? This achievement will be granted for killing a Medic, and the enemy he’s healing, ten times.

Achievement: Vanguard Party
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_first_to_cap
Rampant Speculation: Well, given that the “vanguard” is, by definition, the guys in front of the pack, this one is going to be hard to do, what with the Heavy being such a slow, lumbering behemoth. But, with a cooperative team that’s only too happy to hide behind the meat shield, we believe you will earn this achievement for being the first member of your team to get on an uncontested or fully enemy-controlled capture point (no half-captured points, even if the players who started the capture are long dead by the time you arrive) – and then being there when the point is captured, too. You’ll have to do this three times.

Achievement: Soviet Block
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_block_invuln_heavy
Rampant Speculation: Now, this is a tricky one to pin down. “Block invuln heavy?” An ubercharged Heavy is nigh-unstoppable, unless you’re a Pyro, Soldier, or Demoman who can separate him from his Medic. Well, folks, they don’t call him the Heavy for nothing: You will earn this achievement for physically standing in the way of an ubercharged enemy Heavy, until his ubercharge runs out. We’re going to recommend you go ahead and get ubercharged yourself before trying this.

Achievement: Pushkin the Kart
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_payload_cap_grind
Rampant Speculation: FORWARD GLORIOUS CART! No surprises here — help push the cart during games of Payload, and contribute to 100 point captures with it. It is a grind, after all.

Achievement: Stalin the Kart
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_block_cart
Rampant Speculation: Exactly the opposite of the last one. While playing defense on games of Payload, spend a grand total of five minutes (300 seconds) standing near the cart, thus preventing it from advancing. This might not seem like a long time, but you’ll have to be actively preventing the cart from moving, which means you’ll only rack up time when there’s an enemy player attempting to push it forward.

Achievement: Marxman
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_kill_midair_minigun
Rampant Speculation: Pesky flying enemies! This doesn’t actually seem so difficult, really; it should be a simple matter to unleash the minigun’s torrent of slaughter upon airborne enemies. Unless, of course, you hit some of your really high-flying foes. We’re going to guess that this achievement is earned by killing 25 rocket-jumping Soldiers, and killing 25 bomb-jumping Demomen. Banzai!

Achievement: Supreme Soviet
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_receive_uber_grind
Rampant Speculation: Another achievement based on doing what Heavies do best, and doing a lot of it. There’s a catch, though; the filename suggests that this achievement is unlocked by receiving ubercharges, but doesn’t that seem fairly passive? I mean, if you had a cooperative Medic, you could get this achievement without even leaving the spawn point. Makes it seem like more of a Medic achievement than a Heavy one, no? So, here’s our guess: Earn this achievement by receiving 100 ubercharges, during which you kill at least one enemy character or building.

Achievement: Gorky Parked
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_defend_control_point
Rampant Speculation: Nothing simpler in the world. Prevent the enemy from jumping onto Red/Blue base by killing folks who dare to tread on your control points. The trick to it, however, is that you have to “park” yourself on a particular control point, and defend the hell out of it. We’re guessing you’ll earn this achievement for defending the same control point 10 times in one life.

Achievement: Factory Worker
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_stand_near_dispenser
Rampant Speculation: Need a dispenser here! Need a dispenser here! Need a dispenser here! Need a dispenser here! Need a dispenser here! Need a dispenser here! Need a dispenser here! Need to get this achievement by firing continuously while being resupplied by a dispenser for 25 kills here! Not all in the same life here!

Achievement: Purge
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_kill_capping_enemies
Rampant Speculation: Similar to “Gorky Parked,” except the control point doesn’t have to be yours, so it doesn’t have to count as “defense.” All you need to do is kill enemies who are capturing a control point. You will kill 100 cowards for that.

Achievement: Soviet Union
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_assist_heavy_grind
Rampant Speculation: We make GOOD TEAM! Grind this achievement by grinding your enemies into hamburger with your fellow Heavies. When two Heavies are both shooting an enemy, it’s fairly random who will get credited with the kill, and who will score the assist, so you’ll earn a point towards this achievement in either event. On the other hand, to make up for it, you’ll have to do this 150 times.

Achievement: Lenin a Hand
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_revenge_assist
Rampant Speculation: When you’re a Heavy, everyone is smaller and weaker than you, so it’s up to you to make sure they don’t get bullied. We believe you will earn this honorable achievement by assisting in 10 revenge kills against enemies who are dominating your fellow players. You can also earn a point towards this by killing a nemesis while the dominated player assists you.

Achievement: 0wn the Means of Production
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_clear_stickybombs
Rampant Speculation: We’re going to go out on a limb on this one. The Heavy has always been able to clear away sticky bombs with his gun like everyone else, but it’s one thing to move the bombs away, and quite another to “0wn” them. Plus, the icon totally shows the bomb being broken. Our hypothesis: In the new update, the Heavy will get a weapon capable of destroying sticky bombs (and potentially other things), and he will earn this achievement by destroying 100 such sticky bombs.

Achievement: Five Second Plan
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_teleport_fast_kill
Rampant Speculation: This one is going to be fun, if we’re right. We initially thought this would involve popping out of a teleporter and then killing an enemy within five seconds, but in order for a Heavy to get anywhere close enough to kill an enemy in five seconds, you’d be too dependent on a really good engineer. The teleporter would have to be right next to the enemy, yet far enough away that they wouldn’t instantly destroy it. So, here’s our guess, instead: Get set up near a teleporter, but don’t destroy it. Instead, wait for an enemy to use it, and then blast the hell out of them the instant they pop out. You’ll earn a point every time you kill someone within five seconds of their appearance from a teleporter, and you’ll get this achievement for scoring said points on five unfortunate schlubs. How’d that plan work out for ya, dummy?

Achievement: Krazy Ivan
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_kill_underwater
Rampant Speculation: Rack up a bunch of kills underwater — simple, right? Disagreement! There’s two factors at work here: If you look at the icon, you’ll note that the submarine periscope is clearly facing the back. Also, the Crazy Ivan is an actual submarine maneuver from the Cold War, which was used specifically to spot enemy subs approaching from behind the vessel. We therefore believe you will earn this achievement for killing 10 enemies, underwater, who are coming at you from behind.

Achievement: Photostroika
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_freezecam_taunt
Rampant Speculation: This achievement will the same as it is for the Medic and Pyro: Provide your fallen foes with each of your three taunts during their post-death freezecam shots.

Achievement: Rasputin
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_take_multi_damage
Rampant Speculation: Rasputin, of course, was famously killed through just about every method available at the time. The man wouldn’t stay down. One has to imagine he had 300 health. Get ready to be in pain, folks, and bring your favorite medic, because in order to get this achievement, you will need to be hurt by every single class in the game in one life, and live through it. Long enough to get the achievement, anyway. Then you can die.

Achievement: Konspicuous Konsumption
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_eat_sandwiches
Rampant Speculation: Okay — this is the one that started it all. There’s no way around it; the filename clearly says “eat sandwiches.” Eat sandwiches! That’s so far removed from any other TF2 terminology that it can only be taken at its literal meaning. So here’s our guess: The new gameplay mode which Valve alluded to is going to involve food, including sandwiches. We don’t know how, or why, or what their function or purpose will be, but by God, there will be sandwiches. And you will get this achievement for eating 50 of them. Mark our words.

Achievement: Icing on the Cake
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_kill_dominated
Rampant Speculation: Well, as long as we’ve gone ahead and suggested that there’s going to be a food-centric gameplay mode, we may as well stick to our guns (so to speak). Our even farther-reaching hypothesis: Eating food in this new gameplay mode will be a central objective, but like capture points and carts, eating the food will be time-consuming, and will leave you fairly vulnerable while doing it. To get this achievement, kill someone who is trying to eat your food, and in doing so, earn a domination over that player.

Achievement: Don’t Touch Sandvich
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_kill_scouts
Rampant Speculation: Let’s face it: The Scout is a dick. He is a smart-mouthed little jerk who runs around scattergunning everything, his dialogue is all “tough guy” talk, and as evidenced in the Meet the Scout video, he likes to beat up the Heavy and steal his sandwich. Not this time, comrade. Once more going back to the “food gameplay” suggestion, we believe you will earn this achievement by reversing the Scout video and killing 20 Scouts who are trying to eat your sandwiches.

Achievement: Crock Block
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_survive_crocket
Rampant Speculation: Believe me, we were just as tempted as you to guess that you’d get this achievement for surviving against a Sniper in a coonskin cap. But, no, this one seems fairly obvious — “crocket” in this instance is “crit rocket,” and you will be awarded this achievement for withstanding five of them over the course of your illustrious career.

Achievement: Borscht Belt
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_kill_heavies_gloves
Rampant Speculation: How can you play Team Fortress 2 with boxing gloves on? Using the new KGB melee weapon, go toe-to-toe with other Heavies that are also using the boxing gloves, and duke it out. Win the championship achievement by scoring ten “knockouts” against glove-wielding Heavies.

Achievement: Kollectivization
Suspiciously Revealing Filename: tf_heavy_assist_grind
Rampant Speculation: The motherlode — the ultimate Heavy grind. Spin up that minigun, and don’t stop shooting until everyone else is dead. You will need to score fully 1,000 assists in order to earn this coveted achievement.

Well, that’s all of them. We welcome your comments if you’ve got your own ideas as to what these mean.

Enter your contest guesses soon, before Valve reveals what they really are and ends the contest. May the heaviest man win!

Heavy Update: Achievement Conditions and Gameplay Revealed?

Jesse Henning — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:28:36 +0000

Valve’s Heavy Update site has revealed the first new unlockable weapon for Team Fortress 2’s big, cuddly Heavy Weapons Guy: The “Killing Gloves of Boxing,” a new melee weapon which will please pugilism patrons everywhere. That’d be pretty awesome by itself, but if you look carefully at the accompanying image pack that’s included with the new site, Valve has dropped quite a few hints as to what’s in store for TF2 players in the next update…

First, the weapon: When wearing the KGB, killing an enemy will grant the heavy five seconds of guaranteed crits, which can (A) be chained together for further KGB kills and longer crit times, and (B) be used with the Heavy’s other weapons, if you’re fast enough.

Valve has also unveiled the 35 new Heavy-specific achievements, though not the conditions it will take to get them. The list alone is worth reading, just for the awesome names. My favorites are “Redistribution of Health,” “Pushkin the Kart,” “Stalin the Kart,” and “Lenin a Hand.” What’re yours?

Of course, it seems we’ll have to wait for Valve to tell us how to earn these new achievements — or will we? Valve has also provided a collection of high-resolution images of all the new achievement icons, and they happen to have the most interesting filenames! For example, “Show Trial,” an icon featuring the Heavy’s melee taunt, happens to be named “tf_heavy_kill_taunt.” “Crock Block,” featuring a Heavy’s hand and a rocket launcher, is named “tf_heavy_survive_crocket.” And, tantalizingly, “Konspicuous Konsumption” is named “tf_heavy_eat_sandwiches.”

I happen to believe, therefore, that there are about to be sandwiches in TF2. Maybe the new gameplay mode is about sandwiches! I have no idea how this would be implemented, but I don’t see how a game about ultraviolence and sandwiches can be anything other than ridiculously awesome. Whole wheat and extra carnage, please.

Stay tuned for further updates!

Holy Crap, Xbox 120GB Elite + Games for $300 UPDATED

Jesse Henning — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:06:02 +0000

Now, see, that’s a deal! A GameCyte tipster just let us know that Dell has decided to sell the 120GB “Elite” Xbox 360, plus two games, plus two faceplates, for $300, the current price of the 20GB console. Honestly, if you’re in the market for a 360 at this point, I cannot see a downside to this purchase, unless you hate Dell or something. I could take or leave Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but as pack-in games go, Forza is a nice one.

Dell has got to be hugely overstocked, or something, because anywhere else, this is a bundle that would run you probably $500. The Elite console alone costs $450, and here Dell is selling it for $300, even cheaper than the expected cost after the rumored upcoming price drop. And they’re throwing in a pair of games.

This deal allegedly is only good through tonight, so get clicking!

UPDATE: The deal appears to be over, and while some lucky souls may have scored the $300 Xbox, several NeoGAF posters are reporting that their orders were retroactively bumped to $449 after they placed the order. Not cool, caveat emptor.

Vader vs. Yoda — The Video Proof?

Sean Hollister — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:47:04 +0000

The games industry has finally realized what hardcore gamers have always wanted — quality lightsaber dueling. And with Tuesday’s release of Soulcalibur IV, it is Namco Bandai that is first fulfilling that wish. Xbox 360 owners can now pit Yoda against Darth Vader’s not-so-Secret Apprentice, while PS3 players are able to settle domestic diabolical debates between that Apprentice and his own notorious master. But Yoda vs. Vader? Ne’er the twain shall meet, we thought, and we paid little attention to rumors that the platform exclusives would appear as future DLC… until today.

While it was easy enough to dismiss the above GamersReports.com image as a fake (at least until Namco Bandai revealed their hand by asking the website to take it down) it’s much, much harder to put together video as convincing as what you see below, courtesy of MaxConsole.net:

We don’t know when, where or even if Namco Bandai will choose to sell Vader and Yoda as DLC, but it certainly looks like they’re ready and waiting to be unlocked.

Meanwhile, there’s plenty of other Soulcalibur IV DLC to go around. Starting today, Xbox 360 and PS3 owners can grab new equipment for Astaroth, Nightmare, Sophitia, Voldo and Yoshimitsu for $1.49, and download battle stage music from the original 1999 Soulcalibur for 99 cents a track or $15 for the the whole album.

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