RSS Feeds
first person shooter
Hands On: Call of Duty World at War
Posted by Seamus Byrne at 1:50 PM on October 3, 2008
First impressions? Epic. We took on two missions from the latest Call of Duty and the settings alone show how far and wide CoD:WaW takes you. The first was a Pacific Theatre battle between the US and Japan, starting in a jungle and moving through Japanese fortifications to take an airfield. The second is near the end of the war, as you play the Russians on the streets of Berlin.
The level designs are both dense and expansive, with a lot going on and rapid response required as you move from zone to zone. The pacing felt good on these two levels, with fresh weapons to pick up and work with so you don't have a chance to feel like you're on cruise control. And I'm pretty sure we pulled some stunts with the very nice flamethrower (that runs on an overheat recharge rather than ammunition) that should not be allowed under the Geneva Convention.
With the level breakdown looking like an exploration of some of the most important campaign efforts across the globe, there is little in the way of a storyline to thread the game together (except the grand sweep of progress in World War II), the file footage introductions to missions and the scale of each mission means this will be a very nice game to play.
Want a chance to get into the Resistance 2 public beta test? MyResistance.net has just launched the website where you can sign up to be a part of the testing of one of the PlayStation 3's most ambitious first-person shooters yet. Simply sign in with your PlayStation Network ID and password, fill out a brief survey, and you'll be entered for a chance to get your hands on the game early. You, and every other PS3 owner on the planet, barring those without internet. I believe a rousing Kotaku community wishing of good luck is in order here. We'll need it. 
Or, at least, shoot her in the throat. As for the other screens, they're a selection of real, in-game shots, so what you see here will be what you see when the game comes out. And what we see here - lazy sunsets as we drift lazily down a river - looks gorgeous. There's a few screens below, with plenty more at the link underneath.
Heads up, kids. According to official word from 2K Games, the PlayStation 3 port of BioShock has "gone gold," with a shiny master disc containing final code of the game probably being transported by aluminium brief case from 2K Marin to the manufacturing plant right now. It's likely handcuffed to a trained courier who has authority to shoot you should you come within ten yards of the golden disc. Seriously, that's how this stuff works.
PlayStation Universe says it has dug up the perk list for Call of Duty: World at Warand it looks legit enough, but without sourcing or confirmation, we're gonna call this rumour, same as other set lists, trophies, achievements and such. If it's on the level, then for everyone who resented Juggernaut and Martyrdom, those are back, so have fun. The full list is on the jump. Call of Duty: World at War drops Nov. 11 in North America, Nov. 12 in Australia, and Nov. 14 in Europe, on the 360, Wii, PS3, PC and DS.
No doubt the more fanatical amongst you have already 
Outspark has launched a closed PC Beta of its free-to-play online FPS Blackshot. The beta is open from September 30th until October 5th and features 4 selectable characters, 7 maps and 17 different weapons.
Tipster Nick F points out that the Bungie teaser for the new whatever the studio is working on just hit Xbox Live. With it comes this succinct, but a bit more to the point description:
Remember: DICE are developing Mirror's Edge now, but once that's done, they'll be back to working on their bread & butter, the Battlefield series. And once they go back, they'll be taking some of Mirror's Edge with them, in the form of the game's sense of "physicality". DICE's Owen O'Brien:
Next year, Medal of Honour turns ten years old. Has it really been that long? Strange to think that the Medal of Honour series has been going on longer than the war that it depicts.
Let's put aside all this 
We can't say we didn't see it coming, but to hear, straight from the mouths of Valve's Doug Lombardi and Gabe Newell, that PlayStation 3 owners are going to get the shit end of the Team Fortress 2 stick still hurts. I *have* that version! I also have the Steam and Xbox 360 versions, but still... ouch.
Resistance 2 offers gamers a suite of experiences, a collection of modes that alone feel almost like stand-alone titles, but together compliment each other in a way that gives the shooter some major staying power.
Hey, look, 
Here's here to kick arse and chew bubblegum, and he's all out of gum! Duke Nukem makes his triumphant return to the gaming scene this week as Duke Nukem 3D this Wednesday for a measly 800 Microsoft points. The game features the tried and true gameplay of the original, along with 8 players co-op and DukeMatch games via Xbox Live, and the ability to save your matches and share them with friends. They've even added some technical improvements to the game in the form of controller vibration, bilinear filtering, motion blur, and Xbox Live Vision Camera support for those of you who want to add hand-motions to your trash talking.
Anyone out there still playing Frontlines: Fuel of War? Yes you, in the back. This post is for you then. THQ would like $10 from you so you can play the game on four all new maps with that other guy who is playing. I hear he's already buying it, so you might as well. Four new maps have shown up on Xbox Live this morning, containing two large-scale maps, Wide Awake and Hindsight, and two smaller-scale maps, Infiltration and Sunder. The pack weighs in at 800 points, but that's a small price to pay to get that other guy to quit whining about knowing all the maps already. 
Eurogamer today hosted another of their LiveText chat sessions, this time around putting Far Cry 2 producer Louis-Pierre Pharand under the spotlight to answer questions about the fiery sequel. During the chat, Pharand spoke a bit about the multiplayer modes included in the game. The standard Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes will be joined by Capture The Diamond, which is like capture with flag only you're tasked with capturing a 
Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway was originally due in 2006. It'll be out next week, in 2008, so there's been a fairly sizeable delay on Gearbox's end. What caused the holdup? According to Gearbox, it was a combination of the multiplatform development and the Unreal Engine 3.0. They bought the engine off the shelf, and having never developed for any PlayStation console, let alone the PS3, soon realised they'd bitten off more than they could chew. Cue the delays. Game director Jeramy Cooke says this was pretty much the only hold-up, however, as the actual game design went smoothly, so don't let your hopes for the game get all limp and lifeless just yet.
Do you want to play Gears of War 2 early? Bad enough to star in a reality show based on the game? Microsoft and Spike TV are looking for a few good men and women to be featured in a real-life televised Gears adventure, with getting your hands on Gears of War 2 a month early at stake.
