Commander Fury

Homefront developer Kaos Studios notes on its forums that it’s currently investigating reports of the game “freezing” on both the PS3 and Xbox 360. The company asks for patience, as it “will need a bit of time” to figure out what the problem is. Of course, if they do figure it out, then comes the console certification process (fun times). THQ and Kaos Studios can’t seem to catch a break during the high-profile Homefront‘s launch week. Despite solid initial sales of 375,000 units of the game, bad review scores have punched THQ’s stock price and yesterday’s pricing “race to the bottom” by Amazon and Walmart didn’t help perception. For its part, THQ issued the following comment on the price drops: Amazon and Wal-Mart.com have raised the prices back up and it was a one day play to gain market share on the biggest title in the industry right now. THQ did not support this in any way, shape, or form. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

Epic has announced all the official details and every possible way to access the Gears Of War 3 multiplayer beta Gears Of War 3’s multiplayer beta launches on 25 April, with owners of the Bulletstorm: Epic Edition getting access to a ‘one-week preview period’ on 18 April. Gamers can also join in by pre-ordering at GAME or GameStation. Running to 15 May, Epic has plenty planned for the four-week run. As well as introducing four maps – Checkout, Thrashball, Trenches and Old Town – there’s plenty of unlockables to be earned including a beta tester medal, Thrashball Cole, a gold-plated retro lancer and a flaming decal for the hammerburst, lancer, sawed-off shotgun and gnasher shotgun (see below for exact details). Epic has also revealed that different modes will become available as the weeks go on. Starting with Team Deathmatch, Capture The Leader And King Of The Hill will be added during the final week of the beta. To ensure it continues with its community-focused ways, the developer has promised special events and playlists too. Don’t expect the beta to start and continue in the same mould throughout its month release. Beta Unlocks: Thrashball Cole: Complete 50 matches to unlock the character and another 10 using it so you can access it in the full game. Gold-Plated Retro Lancer: Complete 90 matches to unlock the weapon and kill 100 people with it so you can access it in the full game. Flaming Hammerburst: Finish one match by 24 April. Flaming Lancer: Finish one match during the week starting 25 April. Flaming Sawed-Off Shotgun: Finish one match during the week starting 2 May. Flaming Gnasher Shotgun: Finish one match during the week starting 9 May. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

Hello! My name is Travis Steiner and I am the Lead Designer for SOCOM 4. Last week I joined a few co-workers and traveled to PAX East in Boston to showcase SOCOM 4 multiplayer to the public. PAX was really the first time we've put SOCOM 4 multiplayer in front of a large number of consumers, and the response we got was absolutely fantastic! Our Team Kevin Schmitt - Lead Multiplayer Designer Cade Myers - Multiplayer Producer Ryan Fedje - Core Gameplay Designer Kristina Cheng – Product Marketing Specialist The Booth Setup The booth was right next to the PAX store, so traffic was very good. There were 16 stations set up in an enclosed area and they were full during the entire show. We strived for 10 minute matches and by the end of each one, a fresh group of 16 were eagerly awaiting outside. Players were a healthy mix of lifelong SOCOM fans, shooter players, and gamers completely new to SOCOM and/or PlayStation. The booth was packed the entire show. The Event I heard there were more than 60,000 people coming through PAX this year; definitely a different crowd than E3! There was no need to hire booth talent to promote the games as the fans were more than happy to dress up for free. I narrowly dodged a spinning star kick from a guy dressed up as Chun Li! The Tournament On Sunday, people started lining up at 10am for the 2pm showdown. We handed out colored wristbands so they didn't have to stay there for half the day. The first 64 to show up were formed into teams of eight. We started with 20 minute Standard Suppression matches for the first two rounds of the tournament, then switched it over to Classic Suppression for the semi-finals and finals. Many of these games were incredibly close! There were numerous comebacks and at least two of the games were decided by a few kills or less; pretty amazing considering the games were 20 minutes long and the scores were into the 150s. For the finale, we took the last remaining group of eight and split them in half for a 4v4 match. The winning group of four were so excited! They were comprised of both a die-hard SOCOM fan and a guy who had not previously played a SOCOM game. Even the losing teams stuck around to watch the finale, get photographs with the team, and have memorabilia signed. A few fans even rescheduled a long train ride home to stick around. In the final minutes of the show, the Zipper crew challenged the winners to a three-round match on Classic Abandoned. To our relief, we actually put up a good fight! We won the first round, then they bounced back and got us on the second one. The final round ended in a draw! That really was the best outcome... good times all around. Tournament winners Code Reid, MrPhizz, SoccerJaga and Jason pose with the team. PAX was totally exhausting, but it was absolutely worth it. Meeting all of the dedicated SOCOM fans was definitely the highlight! We couldn’t be happier with the response we got and now look forward to playing with everyone in the multiplayer beta. If you can't wait until the beta opens up for everyone on April 5th, check out the official SOCOM forums and our Twitter page for code giveaways to get into the ongoing private phase that's happening now! More...

The SOCOM franchise is no stranger to intense online competition, the sort of frantic rivalries that bring out plenty of gloating for the victors. Fans know that the series has catered to these sorts of moments with built-in victory dances, and the soldiers of SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs sure do know their way around the dance floor. Available in online competitive matches, SOCOM 4's victory dances are triggered by pressing the Circle button while standing over a fallen enemy. There are more than a dozen dances in the game, including: The Chicken Sure to be a hit with fans of Arrested Development, your soldier makes chicken wings with his arms and waves them up and down, bobs his head forward and backward and digs at the dirt with his foot. The Robot Essentially an over-exaggerated version of what it looks like every time C3PO talks. The Crane Exactly like Daniel-son's finishing move from The Karate Kid, the soldier raises both hands into the air, lifts one knee up slowly and then quickly high kicks with the other leg. With our beta underway, which victory dances will you find? Let others on the official SOCOM forums know what you think! More...

Everyone here at Zipper Interactive is proud to say that today is the first day of the SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs multiplayer beta! As previously announced, our multiplayer beta will be rolling out in four stages with the invite-only private phase beginning today. PlayStation Plus members gain access next week on March 22, while beta codes included with Killzone 3 become active on March 29. Finally, the beta will be available to everyone via the PlayStation Store starting April 5 until its conclusion on April 13. The multiplayer beta includes two maps, Port Authority and Assault & Battery, playable in all four of SOCOM 4's multiplayer modes: * Suppression: The SOCOM take on team deathmatch. * Last Defense: Capture controls points, discover the enemy base and destroy it. * Uplink: Steal enemy data and deliver it to your base. * Bomb Squad: Defend your bomb technician while he disarms enemy explosives. Each of these modes will be playable in both the Standard and Classic play types, and some days will also feature Custom game variants. Standard mode closely mimics the single-player experience, while Classic harkens back to older SOCOM titles with increased movement speeds, round-based play, no player respawns and the lack of health regeneration. Our Custom types mix and match a number of game settings, delivering fresh takes on our core rule sets. The custom game types that we'll be playing are: * Sniper Alley: An 8 vs. 8 version of Classic Suppression with higher damage. Weapons are limited to sniper rifles, shotguns, smoke grenades and poison gas. * Last Defense Run 'n Gun: Faster movement speed and reduced damage are applied to 16 vs. 16 Last Defense with weapons restricted to only shotguns and SMGs. * Scrum: Suppression is given rule tweaks of no respawn, faster movement and higher damage, while sniper rifles, frag grenades, concussion grenades and poison gas are disallowed. * Community Day Classic: A medley featuring Classic versions of all four game types (Suppression, Last Defense, Uplink and Bomb Squad) with increased speed and weapon restrictions placed on ranged explosives. Each game type is played over 11 five-minute rounds. As we're testing specifics elements of the game, we'll be rotating through which modes you'll be able to play each day on a predetermined basis. The schedule for the first week, along with a quick synopsis of what you'll be playing, is as follows: Tuesday (3/15) -- Suppression and Classic Suppression Wednesday (3/16) -- Suppression and Classic Suppression Thursday (3/17) -- Uplink and Classic Uplink Friday (3/18) -- Last Defense and Classic Last Defense Saturday (3/19) -- Bomb Squad and Classic Bomb Squad Sunday (3/20) -- Sniper Alley and Last Defense Run 'n Gun Monday (3/21) -- Scrum and Community Day Classic After you've had a chance to play the beta, we'd love to hear your feedback! Once you've downloaded the beta and played a complete match, you'll then gain access to our private beta forums on SOCOM.com where you can share your stories with other players and leave us your feedback. SOCOM has always been a very player-driven franchise and your opinions are very important to us, so please let us know what you think! For those of you who haven't yet gotten a code to the private portion of the beta and would like to get in sooner than later, we'll be giving away beta codes throughout the beta program via the official SOCOM forums as well as via our Twitter account and Facebook page, so be sure to check those out often. More...

Urgent Fury Directors L to R…CIO Shane Bell, CFO Armond Compton, & COO John Ostrow at PAX East 2011. The official attendance count for PAX East 2011 was 69,500. Breaking last year’s attendance of 52,290. Brink TM from Splash Damage &* Bethesda shows off it’s final build of the game before it’s scheduled launch on May 17th, 2011. Don’t worry little buddy….the wait is almost over. SOCOM 4 launches on April 19th, 2011. Zipper Interactive’s Kevin Scmitt (Lead Designer, SOCOM 4) gives his Zipper colleagues a crash course in the mysterious art of Parkour. Urgent Fury covered the PAX East 2011 SOCOM 4 tournament. Where 64 fans got to compete for a very nice trophy. This guy has his sights set on victory. And a shot at SOCOM superstardom. Shane Bell on the PAX East 2011 SOCOM 4 tournament… “it* had all the intensity of classic Urgent Fury tournaments”. The team of 8 shooters who won it all, are scheduled to be featured on a future episode of Urgent Fury’s podcast Urgent Frequency. This is just one of the reasons that Urgent Fury has plans for several “live” tournament events in the coming year. Stay tuned for more on PAX East 2011!!! Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

Australian visitors of YouTube on Friday might have noticed the big video banner splashed across the top of the homepage “BREAKING NEWS: North Korea Attacks”. This was not in fact real world news but a video for the upcoming THQ game Homefront; it still however scared a few people when they saw this, not knowing that it was actually an advertisement. The Homefront video banner which seemed to cause a bit of confusion amongst visitors on YouTube was basically a cut down version of the Backstory trailer that we all saw last year. Hilary Clinton can be seen at the start addressing media with the text “BREAKING NEWS: North Korea Attacks” overlayed onto the video. While the Homefront video banner was labelled as an advertisement, it still didn’t stop people from rushing onto social media sites to either spread news of the attack, or comment on the approval/disapproval of the marketing direction which was a negative stance for the majority of people. “Almost freaked out at the YouTube homepage banner ad for Homefront, thinking it was a real headline on a North Korean attack. Not cool. “HOLY SHIT I thought North Korea ACTUALLY Launched a nuclear ATTACK! FUCK YOU YOUTUBE AND YOUR SHITTING GAMING ADVERTISINGS!” “I find the front page advertisement for “HomeFront” on Youtube to be offensive. I thought North Korea had actually attacked. Misleading.” “not sure if the ‘North Korea Attacks’ Youtube banner ad for #Homefront is the most tasteful use of advertising i’ve ever seen.” Below is the backstory trailer which was partially shown on the YouTube homepage, so if you want to have a look check it out. Homefront is due out tomorrow for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. Here’s also the full Youtube Ad Pic: Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

It’s already been a busy year for shooters, but publisher THQ thinks they found the formula for first-person success in the upcoming — and somewhat controversial — Homefront. Due out March 15 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, the game imagines a fallen America in 2027. Players, as you might expect, will join the resistance and fight their way across the country to win back America’s freedom. Left there, it would be a pretty formulaic shooter — but THQ has amped things up with a politically-charged back story and pulled in screenwriter John Milius, who penned the similarly themed film “Red Dawn” (as well as “Apocalypse Now,” “Clear and Present Danger” and “Conan the Barbarian”), to handle the plot behind the game’s single-player campaign. Playing on some of today’s biggest political fears, the game focuses on the military force that could come from a unified North and South Korea. Following the death of Kim Jong Il, the game supposes his son manages to bring the countries together, creating an unparalleled global force. Meanwhile, the economic crisis in the U.S. has gotten worse. The dollar has collapsed, gas prices are near $20 a gallon and the nation is unable to help defend its allies as the Korean army advances. After crippling the U.S. with an electromagnetic pulse, the Unified Korean Army begins to occupy the country, turning high school stadiums into detention centers and shopping malls into parking lots for armored attack vehicles. Gamers, so far, seem eager to give Homefront a try. THQ says the title is the most preordered game in the company’s history, with 200,000 reservations in the U.S. alone. Analysts predict the game will ship 1.5 million copies in its first month. That’s significantly better outlook than THQ’s other recent efforts, which include de Blob 2 and WWE: All Stars. There are some concerns, though. PlayStation 3 Magazine reports the single-player campaign, which is where THQ has focused the bulk of its marketing efforts, is just five hours long – short by today’s gaming standards. (The magazine still gave the game a 9/10 score, though, noting that “Homefront is relentlessly brutal and constantly puts you in new, unusual and memorable scenarios, varying the pace to keep things interesting.”) THQ has certainly done its part with an ‘interesting’ marketing plan. A truck distributing free tacos around the San Francisco area for the past couple of weeks has been well-received (free tacos, after all), as did a team-up with game streaming service OnLive, which is giving users a free $99 game system when they preorder Homefront through the service. However, a publicity stunt that resulted in 10,000 red balloons landing in the San Francisco Bay backfired, angering environmentalists. Given that this is the first title in what THQ hopes will be a strong franchise (they’re already planning a sequel), no one’s expecting it to pull in sales numbers like Halo or Call of Duty. Still, Wall St. analysts say it seems to have the pieces in place to potentially become a major new player. “THQ doesn’t need it to be a Halo for it to be wildly successful,” says Eric Handler, managing director of MKM Partners. “It’s all relative. That being said, I think it’s got a shot. The buzz seems like this is a differentiated type of game. There are some unique elements [and] all of the buzz seems to be quite good. … Halo didn’t become this big thing overnight. There’s a starting point for each game and as a new IP, I’m pretty optimistic [Homefront] will do quite well.” Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

We're back with another episode of Zipline, the official Zipper Interactive podcast! This week, we're joined by SOCOM 4 producer Tom Rigas. With the SOCOM 4 multiplayer beta right around the corner, Tom chats with us about what you can expect to play, the purpose of the beta and what sort of feedback we'd love to hear from you. Enjoy! Zipline Podcast, Episode 32 18.8MB |20m:34s Subscribe to Zipline on iTunes | Subscribe via RSS You can discuss this episode by clicking this link. More...

With Nearly 17 Million Registered Players on the PC and MAC, Free Realms Will Be the First Family-Friendly Massively Multiplayer Online Game to Hit Any Console SAN DIEGO, CALIF. – March 11, 2011 –Sony Online Entertainment LLC today announced that free-to-play, family-friendly persistent virtual world game, Free Realms® (www.FreeRealms.com), is scheduled for release in North America on March 29 for the PlayStation®3 Computer Entertainment System. “Free Realms continues to break new ground in the gaming industry– it will be the first free-to-play MMO to hit any console, the first family-friendly MMO to hit any console, and the second MMO, after our recent release of DC Universe™ Online, to hit the PlayStation3 to date,†said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. “As the only online games publisher that creates accessible and diverse gameplay experiences for the full spectrum of gamers, we are committed to burgeoning innovation and growing the MMO genre by leaps and bounds, bringing in players of all ages.†Originally launched in 2009 for the PC and 2010 for MAC, Free Realms has a robust and highly engaged community of nearly 17 million registered players on both platforms combined. Recently recognized by Creative Child Magazine with the 2010 Creative Toy Award Seal of Excellence, Free Realms delivers an endless array of exciting gameplay activities, minigames and adventures to entertain a diversity of players. From ninja fighting and playing soccer to battling pirate ships and training exotic pets, in Free Realms players can be and do whatever they want whenever they want! Free Realms offers a fun, social environment to connect with old and new friends while participating in live events, group quests and community activities. Featuring the familiar activities, minigames and adventures found in the PC version with a streamlined user interface, Free Realms for the PlayStation 3 capitalizes on all the interactive features the console has to offer and is easily accessible from the PlayStation®Store. Players can use voice chat to lead their group into battle and socialize at a party, while also earning, comparing and sharing trophies. FEATURES: Love the thrill of combat? Players can be a ninja, warrior or wizard to battle enemies or duel other players. Combat not for you? Go on adventures with pets, mine for gold, cook up a meal or enter a demolition derby!* When players are ready for a different kind of challenge, they can play a wide variety of completely integrated minigames, pick up a quest, decorate their house, construct a maze or explore the terrain on the back of their T-Rex Ride.* Free Realms is theplace to join your friends to discover, explore, compete, create and just have fun! Fun Now, No Waiting: Free Realms is easy to access! Get in the game quickly and easily from the PlayStation®Store, create a character, and adventure in a fully immersive social game world within minutes!* Click on the Game Guide to access the Activity Finder, Events Calendar, 3D and 2D minigames, quests, Match Making and more! Be Whoever You Want: With 15 jobs to get into and more than 30,000 wearable combinations, players can find the perfect profession, or try them all! Jobs include: wizard, blacksmith, medic, archer, warrior, ninja, brawler, chef, miner, demolition derby driver, kart driver, adventurer, postman, soccer star, and fisherman. Fun for Everyone: With so much to do and seeit’s easy for players to find something fun for you! Start by playing minigames like cooking, mining, soccer, Demolition Derby, or Pirate’s Plunder. Players can decorate their player house with a party dance floor, rocket ship or talking tiki head, or create a maze with any number of items and invite friends over to race through it. The action doesn’t stop there; players can participate with the entire community at live event Boss Battles or in holiday quests, attend in-game concerts and learn boom box dance moves. Vibrant, Deep Environment: There are eight distinct, unique and breathtaking environments for players to explore. Areas include the snowcapped mountain villages of Snowhill, the dark and mysterious swamps of Blackspore, and the sunny shores of Seaside. Connect with Friends: Whether one’s meeting up with old friends or finding new ones, Free Realms players can connect, play, quest and adventure together. For group quests and multiplayer battles, players just log in to see what their friends have been up to, select them from your friends list and join them in game. Play Free or Upgrade: At its heart, Free Realms is free-to-play, with more than 800 quests and the ability to take each job through level four. But players who want to break through to the next level can become Members with access to an additional 400 quests and the ability to level all jobs up to 20. Memberships are offered in terms of one month, three months, six months and lifetime, which is valid for the life of the game. Members and free players can also purchase a variety of items and wearables through micro-transactions. Family-Friendly: Recently recognized by Creative Child Magazine with the 2010 Creative Toy Award Seal of Excellence, Free Realms is a fun online experience to share with the entire family. Parental controls on the PC allow for the customization of safety options, include pre-canned and white-list chat, reporting and filters for younger players. For kids who enjoy playing on the PlayStation®3, robust parental controls are innate to the PlayStation®3 Computer Entertainment System. Free Realms is rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and up with content descriptors of Crude Humor and Fantasy Violence. Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB. To play Free Realms, visit: www.FreeRealms.com. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

Urgent Fury CFO Armond Compton gets a hands on sample of Zipper Interactive’s SOCOM 4 at PAX East 2011. (Inset) Urgent Fury Media Assistant Will “disfsk3x14″ Pulistar gets some stick time on SOCOM 4 as well. He says…Meow! Stay tuned for continuous updates from the expo. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

For those of you attending PAX East at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Massachusetts this coming weekend, we have great news – you can play SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs! Available to all attendees during the entire three-day weekend, SOCOM 4 will have its own booth (#212, next to the PAX Show Store) that boasts 16 kiosks and four awesome maps that you won’t be able to play anywhere else until our game hits stores on April 19 – including our GameStop-exclusive pre-order incentive map, Abandoned! As an added bonus, anyone who plays SOCOM 4 at PAX East will be given a special beta voucher for SOCOM 4 that guarantees them access to our beta, beginning March 29. So make sure you try the game and don’t forget to grab your voucher on the way out. Practice as much as you can on Friday and Saturday while you’re at it because on Sunday, starting at 2pm, we’re holding an official SOCOM 4 PAX East Tournament to determine the best squad of the show. Once the tournament kicks off, we’ll be allowing the first 64 players that line up (first come, first serve) the chance to unite and try their chance at winning unique PAX East SOCOM 4 Championship trophies. When all is said and done, the winning four-person squad will earn their special reward after multiple rounds of both standard and classic rule sets. Keep watch on our official Twitter and Facebook pages for the latest pictures from the show, and don’t forget to visit our SOCOM.com forums to discuss PAX East and more with your fellow fans. Have fun! PAX East Schedule <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt"> More...

- Turtle Beach Offers Fans First Chance to Purchase New PX5 Headset at PAX East Booth 730, Full Retail Availability on April 3, 2011. Ear Force P11 Stereo Headset for PS3 also available. - PX5 User Portal Launches Today with Preset Manager Software and Over 40 Presets Ready for Download Boston, MA and Elmsford, NY, March 9, 2011– Turtle Beach, the leader in gaming headsets, has announced new chapters in the ongoing story of the incredible PX5 programmable wireless surround sound headset.* The PX5’s retail availability, online user portal, PX5 Preset Manager software and live retail sales at this week’s Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) East in Boston (March 11 – 13, Boston Convention & Exhibit Center, booth # 730) are the culmination of multiple PX5 elements that Turtle Beach has been working on since early this year. Available today for online order via the Turtle Beach website (www.TurtleBeach.com), the new PX5 and P11 headsets will be available in major game and electronics retail stores such as Best Buy (US) and Future Shop (Canada) by April 3, 2011. In addition BestBuy.com and Amazon.com both have pre-order and online sales efforts underway. - Purchase a PX5 at PAX East Those coveting PX5s and headed to PAX East will have an advantage this weekend as Turtle Beach will offer a limited number of PX5s for first purchase in the Turtle Beach Gaming Headset Pro Shop at booth # 730, for $249.95 with a free Turtle Beach t-shirt included ($20.00 value). PAX East attendees can bypass online orders and shipping times, to be the first to get their ears on the next generation of gaming headsets this weekend.* More information on the PX5 can be found here: www.turtlebeach.com/PX5. Attendees will also be among the first to take home the company’s other hot new release, the P11 amplified stereo gaming headset for PS3, which is available now for sale online at the Turtle Beach store and at many top retailers for an MSRP of $59.95. More information on the P11 can be found here: www.turtlebeach.com/P11 . PAX East atendees will enjoy a fun show and many great product demos and bonuses inside the Turtle Beach booth and its Gaming Headset Pro Shop. With the exception of the PX5, all headset models will feature a PAX East special discount of 20% off. Whether to purchase a new headset or just get in on the fun, show-goers should be sure to stop by the Turtle Beach booth. There will be special tournaments and cool activities happening every day. Prizing will range from Turtle Beach t-shirts to our most popular headsets – including the Ear Force PX5. Attendees can try their luck with Turtle Beach’s one armed bandit, with winners walking away with cool swag and surprise gifts, including headsets.* Even if lady luck is not on their side, visitors can have their photos taken with one of the Turtle Beach ladies, for post-show tagging and retrieval via the Turtle Beach Facebook page. - PX5 User Portal Goes Live The Turtle Beach website is now the home of the PX5 User Portal, where registered PX5 owners can access an ever-growing database of downloadable presets for the PX5. In addition, the portal will offer helpful hints, FAQs and host the PX5 Preset Manager software. This proprietary software allows users to connect their headset to their PC and upload/download custom presets directly. In addition, users will be able to create their own presets which they can then upload to the PX5 User Portal to share with the community. Feel free to visit the portal here: www.TurtleBeach.com/Customize - Key features and user benefits of the PX5 Presets Manager: Allows for easy display, organization and management of downloaded and user created presets Microphone frequencies can be adjusted for high/low pitched voice modulation for in-game chat Dynamically control incoming chat, microphone monitor, and game volume. noise gates on the mic, filter out undesired noise to allow for true silence Download new firmware and voice prompts. Restore the headset to factory defaults should one go a bit to far in trying to extend the headsets capabilities The PX5 Preset Manager is a standalone, Windows XP/Vista/7 compatible software product that has no impact upon game software code. All preset files are stored either in the headset or locally on the users’ PC. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

Hey everyone – We’ve got an exciting new feature coming exclusively to PlayStation Plus subscribers. Included in the system software update (v3.60) coming tomorrow to PS3, PlayStation Network’s new online storage for game saves feature gives PlayStation Plus subscribers the capability to back up game save data to the cloud. Online storage for game saves is a great way for PlayStation Plus subscribers to ensure that their data files are secure and also for users who wish to access their files from other PS3 systems. The new online storage feature allows gamers to store up to 150MB of game save data and a maximum of 1000 data files per PSN account. Users also have the ability to back-up “copy-prohibited save data,†and all previously saved data may be restored once per 24 hour period. When the new feature launches, most PS3 titles will be compatible with online storage for game saves, and moving forward, all new titles will have the capability to offer the storage option. As I mentioned before, online storage for game saves functionality is included automatically for PlayStation Plus subscribers with system software update (v3.60), which will be available on March 10, 2011, and users can access their stored data on the XMB at any time. Additionally, users who save their files to the cloud can access their data on any PS3, using their PSN sign-in ID. PlayStation Plus subscribers should turn on the auto-download feature to ensure that the update will begin downloading as soon as it’s available, so you can start backing up your game saves right away. If you aren’t already a PlayStation Plus subscriber, be sure to check out our bi-weekly post highlighting the free games, discounts and exciting exclusives we offer, in addition to the upcoming online storage for game saves feature. Other minor features will also be added via system software update (v3.60). For more information please visit http://urgentfury.com/blog/EhM once the update is live. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

Urgent Fury CIO Shane Bell stops by for a very “loosey goosey” episode of Urgent Frequency. An episode that features the usual Urgent Fury SITREP, a complete PAX East 2011 Preview, a surprise guest, and Charlie Sheen. WINNING! Duh! Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

After winning scores of awards, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is considered by many to be the best game to come out in 2009. While it’s initially great news, it only puts incredible pressure on Naughty Dog to somehow surpass their previous work. How are they holding up? Surprising everyone with an announcement late last year, fans have been scraping at any information for the next installment of Nathan Drake and his partners in crime. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception will take place all over the world and focus on the desert, be playable in stereoscopic 3D, follow the tracks of Lawrence of Arabia, and…that’s about it. Not many other concrete details have been given out at this point, leaving every scraping for news at every opportunity. Fortunately for us, in a closed-door, invitation-only room at the PlayStation Lounge in San Francisco, that time had come. While Naughty Dog has previously talked about the revamped melee combat, expertly crafted and dynamic environments, and film-quality motion capture technology, this particular event was designed to show two things. First, bits and pieces of the story are finally being flushed out. Enter Katherine Marlowe. British noblewoman looking to reclaim, what she believes, what is rightfully hers. But why would she be going after Drake, and what is her previous relationship with Sully? The first bits of their relationship has been divulged, only to be put together more and more over the coming year. As you can see in the video Marlowe has a certain affinity for Drake’s ring, which fans of the original Uncharted will recognize from the beginning of the first game. The man who originally had it, Sir Francis Drake, was once in the employ of the aristocratic Marlowe family. According to Katherine’s ill-formed logic, Sir Francis had stolen something from the family, be it the ring, money, information, or some other form of value, and the woman is now only to reclaimed what was rightfully hers in the first place. Wonderful change of pace for the game to introduce a woman, not only an aged one, as the main antagonist for the game. No longer will the enemy be other treasure seekers or deranged warmongers, but the upper-crust of the highest society. It adds more character to her, as well as her subordinates. While the underlings still have military experience, they are now highly trained professionals working for a beautiful sum. Ex special forces soldiers motivated by money, as opposed to some misguided ideal to only be betrayed by their commanding officer. After this trailer, one can only wonder who else will be added to such a growing cast of characters? But that wasn’t the only things shown off at this special meeting. Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells was on the*premises*to so how his team’s work. An extended version of the Chateau demo was shown, similar to the Jimmy Fallon footage shown live on his show, except from before the fire started, and in 3D. While there were several 3D skeptics in the room, all hesitant about one of their favorite franchises being tacked on with a gimmick, even stalwart opponents were wowed by the technology. Some of the best uses of 3D in gaming don’t necessarily pop out, but create a sense of depth and perspective within the game world. The demo started with Drake and Sully meandering around the home, sneaking around the guards. Uncharted has had the unique problem of making the game worlds a little too beautiful, making some of the platforming difficult. The 3D now aids in gauging such tasks, making maneuvering much more manageable. Also during the actual fire, the environment seems to come alive with 3D turned on. The smoldering embers from across the entire stage were surprisingly beautiful, being placed either in front of Drake and the action, or off in the distance. Uncharted 3 has the unfortunate predicament of having the highest expectations of any game to come out in recent history. As long as Naughty Dog keeps the same level of*discipline*that created their last two games, Drake’s Deception is surely going to be a hit. Multiplayer wasn’t shown at this event, but they may be saving that just for E3 later this year. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

Discover how to gain experience on the Crysis 2 battlefield to gain perks, unlock skill assessments and collect dog tags. Take advantage of the Nanosuit and its abilities to blow away the competition! The multiplayer demo is already out for the PC and Xbox 360. PlayStation 3 owners get it on March 15, EA confirmed today. The full retail game ships one week later, so play it quickly! Crytek also confirmed in a statement today that, as previously rumoured, Crysis 2 won’t include EA’s Online Pass system. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

Alright, it’s time to do a little pre-audition prep work: Let’s see your best look of complete, abject despair. Good, good! Now, slump your shoulders and shuffle across the room, in a manner that just says, “Hey, my whole city just got destroyed by unswervingly violent alien aggressors.” That’s perfect! You might just have a chance to win Sony and Insomniac’s “Get In The Game With Resistance 3” contest — the winner of which will be cast as a survivor in the upcoming, Chimeric shooter. All you have to do is send in an image of you in “the middle of a Resistance-style battle,” or looking as survivor-y as possible, which we assume involves looking very, very dirty and sad. If your submission is picked, you’ll get a private tour of Insomniac Games, where your face will be scanned and stuck onto an in-game character. Quick, show us “I just watched my grandparents get eaten!” Oh, man. That’s remarkable. Seriously, you’re a shoe-in. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

Outside of our gameplay features, one of the most asked questions we get about SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs these days is, “what kind of trophies can we earn?†Well, ask no more! Listed below are all of the visible trophies you can earn along with the number of hidden trophies you can earn per category. Enjoy the directory, and don’t forget to check back with us again later this week for even more SOCOM 4 information including upcoming beta details and the revelation of our previously-secret multiplayer game mode! Bronze Elite Ops – Complete a Story Campaign mission on Elite Difficulty N00b – Complete a Competitive Multiplayer game Good Game – Complete a Competitive Multiplayer game of every gametype Combined Assault – Complete a Custom Campaign mission in Co-op Extra Credit – Complete a Custom Campaign mission in Single-player Government Spending – Call in a total of 10 airstrikes during your career Death From Above – Eliminate 5 enemies with a single airstrike Repo Man – Destroy a total of 50 vehicles during your career Unseen Strike – Stealth kill a total of 10 enemies in a single mission Grenadier – Eliminate a total of 25 enemies with explosives during your career Crowd Control – Eliminate 3 enemies with a single explosive Century Slayer – Eliminate a total of 100 enemies during your career Melon Hunter – Eliminate a total of 100 enemies with a headshot during your career Hat Trick – Eliminate 3 enemies in a row with headshots Vorpal – Eliminate a total of 25 enemies with melee attacks during your career Combat Medic – Execute a total of 25 teammate revives during your career Armed to the Teeth – Unlock all weapons for use in Campaign Mode I Call Her Vera – Master a weapon in any mode Oracle – Collect an Intel item in a Story Campaign mission Hidden Trophies(15) Silver Covert Ops – As Forty-Five, successfully maintain stealth in a Story Campaign mission Over Achiever – Complete a Custom Campaign mission on every map in either Single-player or Co-op Millennial Slayer – Eliminate a total of 1000 enemies during your career Expert Tactician – Complete a Story Campaign mission using only your teammates to eliminate enemies Information Warfare – Collect all Intel in the Story Campaign Hidden Trophy(1) Gold Best of the Best – Complete the Story Campaign on Elite Difficulty Above and Beyond – Complete a total of 100 objectives during your career Shiny! – Master a weapon of each class in any mode The Elite 45th – As Forty-Five, stealth kill a total of 45 enemies in the Story Campaign Platinum All is Said, All is Done – Obtain all Bronze, Silver, and Gold Trophies in SOCOM More...

A publicity stunt intended to advertise upcoming shooter Homefront ended up backfiring this week when 10,000 red balloons, released by publisher THQ into the San Francisco skies, wound up in the waters of the Bay itself, angering local environmentalists. Scheduled for release on March 15, Homefront takes place in 2027, and sees a belligerent and heavily armed North Korean army invades the mainland of the United States. The balloons were released in a mock protest against the game’s fictional North Korean regime, and coincided with this week’s Game Developers Conference taking place in downtown San Francisco. But what goes up, must come down — and thanks to San Francisco’s notoriously dreary weather, it didn’t take long for the thousands of balloons, weighed down by windy, rainy conditions, to wind up touching down in the Bay. Pictures of balloon-covered waters flooded the Internet, and local residents took to Facebook to express their outrage. The balloons carried the name of retailer Gamestop, but in a statement the retailer denied responsibility, saying it had no prior knowledge of the stunt and pointing the finger at publisher THQ instead. And THQ? In a statement, the publisher’s vice-president of corporate communications, Julia MacMedan assured concerned San Franciscans that the balloons wouldn’t be troubling them for long. “The balloons that were released are completely biodegradable,” she told Cnet. “They start the process of biodegrading as soon as they’re blown up with the helium. There should not be any environmental concerns.” Regardless, the publisher has hired a clean-up crew to deal with the mess. Local environmentalists weren’t impressed, pointing out that, biodegradable or not, the latex balloons could still pose a threat to wildlife while they undergo the decomposition process — and Cnet further observes the culprits could face prosecution under anti-littering laws. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

We’re close now to the release of SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy Seals, and to keep the excitement up, developer Zipper Interactive has finally revealed its final multiplayer mode: Bomb Squad. At this year’s Game Developers Conference here in San Francisco, we got the chance to go hands-on for a few rounds of this explosive new mode. In Bomb Squad there are two teams: those who have the bombs and those who want to diffuse them. If you’re the team with the bombs, then it’s your job to keep all three of them primed and ready to blow. However, if you’re the opposing team, then you have to deactivate these explosives before the timer runs out. To do this, one lucky member of the bomb diffusion team will be chosen to play as the bomb technician. Decked out in the bulky explosive ordnance disposal suit, the bomb technician is the only character who can diffuse the bombs. He is also a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, armed with the only automatic shotgun in the game, as well as a handheld grenade launcher. During our time with Bomb Squad we weren’t lucky enough to land the coveted position of bomb technician. However, we were still on the bomb diffusion team, so it was our duty to protect the explosives specialist at all costs. In practice, this mode didn’t feel much different from a typical Deathmatch mode. When the bomb technician isn’t busy diffusing a bomb, which leaves him both out in the open and highly vulnerable, he is powerful enough to take care of himself. We just went about killing enemies as usual until he would call out for us to cover him while he performed his duty. Otherwise, all we had to do was hunt down enemy troops and drop them before they dropped us. At the start of a round it felt like the bomb diffusion team had a definite advantage. The enemy forces would split up in an effort to cover all three of their bomb sites while our team focused its efforts on a single target. And while we quickly disabled the first two bombs, the tables turned when we got down to the final one. Now the enemy knew exactly where we were going to strike. What followed was a frenzy of bullets and death as our two sides crashed and broke against each other over the longest three-minute countdown of our lives. And just like in our previous cooperative session, the action was fast and frantic. Granted, we weren’t playing on the game’s more punishing Classic setting, where some of the modern perks, such as regenerating health and respawning, are removed. Whatever your preference, you can find SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs on the PlayStation on April 19. Thanks to the guys at Gamespot.com for this look into the newly announced multiplayer mode Bomb Squad. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...