Microsoft certainly has not impressed gamers with their rules regarding used games for their Xbox One. Electronic Arts COO Peter Moore was at E3 talking to Polygon on the matter. He says that EA has not pushed in any way to implement the restrictions.

The Xbox One allows publishers to block used games and it will only allow gamers to lend a game disc once to someone who’s been on their Live friends list for at least 30 days. Sony on the other hand announced earlier that there won’t be any restrictions, though there could be a few PS4 games with DRM.

According to Moore, “EA did not aggressively lobby for the platform holders to put some gating function in there to allow or disallow used games. I am on record as being a proponent of used games. I like the ecosystem. I like the fact that it’s kept pricing at a good level for eight years. I like the fact that someone can buy a physical game and see some equity in that game. That keeps GameStop vibrant and they are a great launch and marketing partner for us”.

“EA has never had a conversation, and I have been present at all of them, with all of the manufacturers, saying you must put a system in place that allows us to take a piece of the action or even stop it“.

Regarding EA’s Online Pass system which they ditched last month, Moore said that it was a “mistake” and “wasn’t consumer friendly”. The system had a single use code in place which was available with new games. Those who bought a used game had to purchase an online pass.

What do you think of Microsoft’s Xbox One restrictions? Are they really a big deal, or are folks making things seem worse than they really are? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

[Image Source]

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For hardcore gamers there is nothing worse than interruptions while playing a game, be it an urgent call from your office or your big older brother wants to play or, if you are a SimCity gamer, sever issues. But now we have good news for all the SimCity players out there, EA has announced that they have completed the upgrade of the servers.

The original servers have been migrated to faster and higher capacity servers, and they have announced a server status page in case users want to check how a server is doing and have also released a patch.

Server Upgrades: We’ve completed the migration of all our original servers to the new, faster/higher capacity server architecture. We’ll continue to provide ongoing optimizations for our servers.

Server Status Page: Want to check the status of one of our servers? Now you can – the team created a server status page that lives on SimCity.com. You can view it here: http://www.simcity.com/en_US/server-status

Patch 1.5: We’ve deployed a new patch yesterday to address some trade intermittency issues, which should make regional interaction more responsive. We’re going to continue to improve the speed between cities within a region. It should also decrease the chance of losing progress on your city via a rollback. You can view the full patch notes here.

So, are you able to connect to the servers easily now?

[Source]

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Thinking about picking up EA’s new SimCity reboot? You might want to wait a little while longer. While the media and many gamers are praising the title (82 out of 100 on Metacritic), it is currently receiving quite a bit of criticism due to server issues.

SimCity continues the trend that many big PC game studios are moving to: always online DRM. This means that you need to connect to a server in order to get into the city building action. Unfortunately, SimCity is selling way better than EA anticipated and that means that their servers weren’t ready for the load.

Added to the issue is that EA’s cloud features aren’t just about ‘logging in’, in fact many of the tasks within the game as supposedly augmented by their servers in a bigger way than many other “always-on” games like Diablo 3.

Here’s what the SimCity team has to say about the issues that angry customers are encountering so far:

What we are doing is deploying more servers over the coming two days which will alleviate many of the ongoing issues. We are also paying close attention to all the bug reports we are receiving from our fans. We’ve already pushed several updates in the last few days. Our live ops team is working 24/7 to resolve issues and ensure that bug fixes roll into the game as quickly as possible.

Bottom-line is that unless you are willing to put up with server issues, you might want to wait off a few weeks or even a month or two before rushing out and picking this title up. Are we really that surprised? Honestly just about every game that has went with always-on DRM has encountered these kinds of problems.

Diablo 3 was virtually unusable on its first day of launch and continued to be plagued with issues for weeks thereafter. What do you think of this kind of DRM, do you think that the cloud-augmented features are worth it or is this merely just a way for studios to ensure that piracy is at a minimum?

[ source ]

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The launch price will be reportedly between $350 and $450 with the release planned for November 23. Technical details include DirectX11 support, Unreal Engine 4, 2GB of RAM (560MB for OS), Radeon HD 6770 graphics, and some pre-installed software. I imagine that last bit will be similar to some of the “channels” that we have on the current Nintendo Wii.

There are still “multiple versions” of the console with various developers, so the design has not yet been finalized. The touchscreen controller is definitely in there, but the trigger buttons won’t be analog. There’s also word of some inclusion of the Wii Vitality Sensor. The UI on the Wii U will be customizable in some way and, catching up with Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo will be offering some sort of achievements system.

Ubisoft’s planned games include Rayman Legends, The Avengers, Assassin’s Creed 3 (running at 60fps at 1080p), Just Dance 4, and Killer Freaks from Outer Space. EA, Valve and Crytek are all working on Wii U titles. Valve specifically is working on Portal ports and a digital distribution platform.

Chalk this up to rumor for now, but Nintendo should be making some formal announcements at E3 next month.

[Source]

The post Ubisoft Dev Leaks Juicy Wii U Details, Including Price and Date appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

You could say that Electronic Arts (EA) is trying to challenge Steam. You could also say that EA is trying to challenge Apple’s Game Center. The key difference with EA’s Origin game network, though, is that it is designed to work across platforms, including both mobile devices and your PC.

With Origin, you can purchase and download your EA games directly from their store, but it also means that you can challenge your Origin-connected friends to see who gets the highest score in certain games. The social network would also allow you to play these games with your friends in real time, but the kicker is that they don’t have to be on the same platform.

You could be playing Scrabble on your iPhone, while friend A has it on his PC and friend B has it on her Galaxy S. That’s awesome. What’s more, your saved files are stored in the cloud. You can start a game on your iPad while riding the subway, but continue it on your computer when you get home from work.  Whether this would ring true for any free apps you download, or they would have to be specifically developed for the Origin game network.  That would remove many hot titles from the equation.

One of the challenges that EA will have to face is getting this approved by Apple. After all, if you can buy your games directly through Origin, you’re skipping the iTunes App Store and Steve isn’t getting his cut of the profits.

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The trouble with most iPhone games is that they are single-player experiences. The iPad, with its bigger screen, lends itself to multiplayer enjoyment and that’s exactly what you get with Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 HD. That, buckets of blood, and loads of severed limbs.

Quite unlike the iPhone version, the iPad version of the game offers a two-player on the same device mode. You get two complete sets of controls (I’m thinking that JOYSTICK-IT kit could come in handy here) and a nice roster of violent kombatants at your disposal. The graphics look like they leave something to be desired, but this is two-player Mortal Kombat on the go! Multiplayer mode will also work with two devices connected via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

People who are familiar with my gaming background will know that I’m a fighting games geek. While I prefer the Street Fighter franchise, Mortal Kombat holds a special place in my heart too. Who can forget their first experience as Sub-Zero, tearing a guy’s head and spine right out of his freakin’ body?

Get over here! Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 HD for iPad is regularly $4.99 through the App Store, but is on now for just $1.

[iTunes]

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• Battleship
• Clue
• Connect 4
• Command and Conquer Red Alert
• FIFA 10
• Madden NFL 10
• NBA Live 2010
• Need for Speed Shift
• Need for Speed Undercover
• SimCity Deluxe
• The Game of Life
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour
• Trivial Pursuit
• Yahtzee Adventures

[Via Gizmodo]

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