Nemesis

Posted by TJ Consunji // Associate Product Marketing Manager Even though the game has been out in stores for a while, Guerrilla remains committed to keeping Killzone 2 one of the strongest multiplayer experiences for PLAYSTATION 3. This week sees the release of Patch 1.27, which introduces a number of tweaks based on direct feedback from the Killzone community. We sat down with Eric Boltjes, Guerrilla’s Lead Multiplayer Designer, to walk us through the most important changes and the reasons for their implementation. First of all, Eric, can you run us through the highlights of Patch 1.27? Sure! Most importantly, we’ve added functionality to make the process of finding and playing with friends much easier, tweaked the Skirmish Mode to keep it interesting for players with lower-bandwidth network connections, introduced a new ‘High Precision’ option to the controller configuration menu, and improved the overall balance of the game. There’s also a host of smaller changes as well, but I’ll save that for the change log. Let’s start with the first one: finding and playing with friends. How has that been changed? We’ve examined how party systems work and added similar functionality to our game where possible. The ‘Join Friend’ option has been changed so that the player can automatically join a friend’s faction and squad – even if faction balancing is on. In addition, squads and their factions are now persistent over multiple games, so friends can keep playing together continuously. You said the Skirmish Mode been tweaked – can you explain? Well, we’ve decided to unlock all the badges in Skirmish Mode. Considering that the game has been out for a while, and that many players have already reached the rank of General, we believe this is a nice way for players with lower-bandwidth network connections to experience the full range of weapons and abilities available in the Warzone. Control-wise, what exactly does the new ‘High Precision’ option do? When this option is switched on, it makes the analog sticks more responsive to small movements. Turned off, the controls behave exactly as they did before the patch. It’s not a radical overhaul of the control system, so the layout and the ‘weight’ of the controls remain the same. Still, a lot of us here at Guerrilla really enjoy the new High Precision option, so we’ve decided to switch it on by default for new players. Existing Killzone 2 players will have the option turned off by default after patching – we wouldn’t want to force a sudden change to the controls on you! How have you improved the overall balance of the game? For starters, Patch 1.27 allows players to switch factions manually if the factions are unbalanced. If the factions consist of, say, 13 players versus 11 players, a player from the largest faction can manually switch over to make it an even 12 versus 12. Switching in the other direction is not allowed, so players from the smaller team can’t defect to the larger team if the battle doesn’t go their way. Players who switch over retain all their points, but squad affiliations will of course be lost. Furthermore, we’ve removed the temporary invulnerability awarded to players who spawn at a spawn point other than the base camp. The players will still be safe at their own base camp, but custom-placed or mission-based spawn points do not yield temporary invulnerability anymore. This will hopefully give opposing players already at this location a fair chance. Finally, we’ve made a couple of changes to the Badge abilities. The Assault Badge, for instance, was deemed too powerful by many players – so we tweaked down its Armor ability from 100 hit points to 50 hit points. The Tactician Badge’s secondary ability (to request air support from a Sentry Bot) has also been tweaked to make the Sentry Bot more useful. It can aim more accurately now, and its health is a little higher as well. To make it even more useful, we’ve reduced the way automated turrets target them, so they’re not shot down as fast. It should certainly make the Air Support Specialist ribbon easier to obtain! Thank you for your time, Eric! Thank you, and thanks to all the Killzone 2 fans out there! We hope this patch demonstrates our continued support and dedication to Killzone 2. Stay tuned for more downloadable content and more tweaks coming in the near future!

That was one of the previews when I went to see Terminator Salvation. Pretty Cool.

Sorry too late.

Or, maybe they're Mass Effect-ified. But the U.S. Army's concept for a soldier in the year 2030 definitely looks video game-ified - especially with its strength-enhancing exoskeleton and ... combat drugs? Maybe it's Helghast-ified? The "Future Soldier 2030" being planned at the Army's Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass., is the subject of much oohing-and-ahhhing in today's New York Post. The basis of tomorrow's fighter is a "soldier as a system," philosophy that more or less regards soldiers as battlefield assets like tanks or planes. Some of this "system's" features include a HUD inside the helmet; voice commands that unlock a weapon or set it to less-than-lethal force, a powered exoskeleton to increase a soldier's movement endurance and even "neural prosthetics" and "drugs that aid cognitive ability." The Army allows that those enhancements might be "controversial now, but perhaps ubiquitous in 2030." I suppose it's only a natural evolution, the Army's designs somewhat trailing the epochal history of combat games; from flight sims to drone aircraft, FPSes to cyborg soldier.

Here's the vid from tonight: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid22881388001?bctid=24161628001

Images of a supposed 80GB PS3 + inFamous bundle have been circulating the video game blogosphere for the past few weeks. Sony has been hesitant to comment on the package, but a recent online retail listing cleared up the confusion -- the bundle is real, and coming to Amazon UK on May 29. Those interested in simultaneously acquiring the shockingly good superhero title and the system on which it runs can grab both for £279.99.

Funny Shit man!! LOL!! ;D

Can I just buy the episode of Qore or do I have to subscribe for it? Sorry yearly subscribers only.

Yea, and you get a fancy signed poster with your pre-order! While supplies last. I just preordered yesterday and they were out of them.

Qore subscribers get it too. I got mine. ;D

;D Good, now what's his name?

Here's a hint, this is his gun:

Here's a few screenshots of the 2 new maps.

Target's got them too. I got mine at Walmart though. ;D

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/05/15/watch-8-minutes-of-the-next-world-at-war-dlc-right-now/

Socom.com Able to check out your trophies among other things. ;D

Promises 'world premiere' May 24. TNT has been teasing the "world premiere" of Modern Warfare 2 on May 24th during the Eastern Conference. It looks like the footage might be culled solely from cutscenes, but the clip seems to be promising us some snowmobile vehicle action, underwater levels, and a shellfire sequence that hearkens back to the AC-130 gunship level in the first game. Check out the video, and if you're interested in Modern Warfare 2, or the NBA, then tune in during the Eastern Conference finals in two weeks. That Siberian setting is looking particularly cool at the start of the summer. http://www.joystiq.com/2009/05/10/modern-warfare-2-teaser-video-shows-off-first-game-footage-prom/

Gotta wait till June. I tried mine and it doesn't work yet. Cool thanks! So I take it you got an error message also? Yep.

Gotta wait till June. I tried mine and it doesn't work yet.

Here's another way to get into the upcoming Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta. If you're on the fence about inFamous and don't want to pick it up, all you have the option of becoming a Qore subscriber. New and existing subscribers will receive an e-mail voucher granting access to the multiplayer trial on June 3rd. However, you must subscribe by May 15th to receive the invitation. Episode 12 of Sony's e-magazine features previews of Ghostbusters and Batman: Arkham Asylum. In addition, the episode will also include a bonus inFamous theme that "evolves over time." Check out a preview after the break. http://playstation.joystiq.com/2009/05/06/qore-subscribers-get-access-to-uncharted-2-multiplayer-beta/

Remember VidZone? You probably don't, seeing as we haven't heard anything about the music video service for the PS3 since it was announced at the Leipzig Game Convention last year. It's not dead, though. The service is ready to go live this summer in the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Australia. VidZone will be a completely free, though ad-supported, way of watching music videos on demand. It will allow you to create playlists of streaming videos either from your PS3 itself or from your PSP via remote play. The service will feature "thousands of music videos and live concert videos, as well as behind the scenes, interviews and making of footage." There's no word on how often the service will be updated, but we would hope that more content is added on a fairly regular basis. VidZone is Europe and Australia exclusive, with seemingly no plans to bring it to the US. >

LOS ANGELES - Dom DeLuise, the portly actor-comedian whose affable nature made him a popular character actor for decades with movie and TV audiences as well as directors and fellow actors, has died. He was 75. DeLuise died Monday night, son Michael DeLuise told KTLA-TV and radio station KNX on Tuesday. The comedian died in his sleep after a long illness. Calls to his agent were not immediately returned. The actor, who loved to cook and eat almost as much as he enjoyed acting, also carved out a formidable second career later in life as a chef of fine cuisine. He authored two cookbooks and would appear often on morning TV shows to whip up his favorite recipes. As an actor, he was incredibly prolific, appearing in scores of movies and TV shows, in Broadway plays and voicing characters for numerous cartoon shows. Writer-director-actor Mel Brooks particularly admired DeLuise's talent for offbeat comedy and cast him in several of his films, including "The Twelve Chairs," "Blazing Saddles," "Silent Movie," "History of the World Part I" and "Robin Hood: Men in Tights." DeLuise was also the voice of Pizza the Hutt in Brooks' "Star Wars" parody, "Spaceballs." The actor also appeared frequently in films opposite his friend Burt Reynolds. Among them, "The End," "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," 'Smokey and the Bandit II," "The Cannonball Run" and "Cannonball Run II." http://omg.yahoo.com/news/dom-deluise-actor-comedian-and-chef-dies/22136?nc

;D

Here's a few I had saved on my computer.

Has anyone downloaded the patch yet?