Commander Fury

In an effort to go green — more likely to save some green — Electronic Arts has announced that it is phasing out all in-box, printed manuals from retail copies of all its video games in favor of in-game digital manuals. According to EA, this “will reduce its printed materials in packaged products by 40%”. There was no estimate as to how much money the company will save. Fight Night Champion and Mass Effect 2 for PS3 were the first two titles to participate in this initiative. The digital versions of game manuals will also be published online, and consumers can get access to them in multiple languages by heading over to*http://urgentfury.com/blog/Q3W. Press Release Below: EA LAUNCHES GLOBAL GREEN PACKAGING INITIATIVE EA Transitions to In-Game Digital Manuals and Reduces Overall Printed Materials By 40% REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. –*March 22, 2011 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced a worldwide environmental initiative that will reduce its printed materials in packaged products by 40%. Leading the initiative is a move to eliminate printed game manuals and replace them with easily-accessible digital manuals. The green initiative is being applied to all titles on PC, the PlayStation®3 (PS3) computer entertainment system and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.* The program launched earlier this year with the release of*Fight Night Champion on the PS3 and Xbox 360 and*Mass Effectâ„¢ 2 on PS3 and will continue with all EA titles shipping across the globe. EA’s on-disc manuals will be easily accessible via the main and pause menus. This will allow players to conveniently view instructional information on the fly as they play. Customers can also find EA digital manuals in multiple languages online at:*http://urgentfury.com/blog/Q3W. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

In this episode….we welcome some real heroes to talk about tactical gaming* from the perspective of prior military service members….as we welcome the Off Duty Gamers. Plus, we have an Urgent Fury:In Country SITREP shocker!!! Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

The recent Batman: Arkham City TV spots aired in the USA have given us our first insight into what retailers will offer as pre-order incentives. An ArkhamCity.co.uk member has spotted the two retailers; Best Buy and Gamestop offering exclusive content when pre-ordering Batman: Arkham City on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Best Buy are offering a Batman: Arkham City “combo pack†while Gamestop are promising exclusive access to the “Joker’s carnival challenge mapâ€. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

Duke Nukem Forever is yet to release but fans of the series have got something to get excited about. Duke4.net has posted scans from the Official Xbox Magazine revealing multiplayer modes of the game. Read on. The last game in the Duke Nukem series was more than 10 years ago. It got postponed time to time and there were also some changes at the development end. But, finally (and hopefully) the game will be in stores in the month of May. It will be having 4 multiplayer gameplay modes. Namely, Dukematch, Team Dukematch, Capture the Babe and Hail to the King. At a time, maximum 8 players will be able to join the game, divided in two teams, Red and Blue. In Capture the Babe mode, players will have to capture the babe of the other team. Though, as it goes with girls, if they start giving you trouble or shout for help, just give her to smack to keep her quiet. There will be 10 maps available at launch which includes Dukeberger, Morning Wood, Vegas Casinos, etc. The Dukeberger map have been remade where all the Dukes will be in a miniature avatar running around in the open world. When shrunk by the Shrinker, the mini-Duke can still use weapons, but damage will be limited, only 10% of the normal damage done. Also, there will be jetpacks to use but it’ll be in only some of the maps and will not be included in the single player campaign. The confirmed weapons are pistol, shotgun, ripper chaingun, pipebomb, rpg, shrinker, railgun, freezer,*devastator, tripbomb. Duke will be able to use 2 primary weapons at once along with pipebombs and tripbombs. Players will also be able plant trip bombs on other players or enemies. But if Duke is on steroids, it will enable him to run faster and execute one-hit-kill punches, weapons will be unusable until the steroids effect wear off. Holoduke will be just like it was in Duke 3D, but this time around the player becomes cloaked, allowing for sneak melee kills. Other than the above, killing other players help you gain experience points which can be used for accessorizing Duke and buying new clothes. A simple kill provides normal points, but bonus points will be awarded if there happens to be one time achievement kills like killing someone when using the holoduke or funny kills like killing yourself with the pipebomb by accident. Duke Nukem Forever releases on May 3rd, 2011 for PC, 360 and PS3. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

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...