Hasta La Gadget!

Three years, three games. Skylanders Swap Force — the latest crossplatform entry in the mega-successful Skylanders game franchise — cements Activision’s annual approach to its “toys to life” series. The games merge toy figurines with RFID technology to allow in-game avatar representations of the toys to move from game console to game console, all the while storing unique information about that character. It’s essentially the equivalent of how fighting games work in Japanese arcades, albeit with children’s toys and a relatively simple action game: you level up your character, which is tied to your toy, and it can be used to continue earning experience on a variety of game consoles.

The second iteration brought Giants to the world of Skylanders. This year, Activision’s in-house studio Vicarious Visions (known for working on powerhouses like Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk Pro Skater previously) is taking the series in another direction, keeping original Skylanders, the second game’s Giants, and adding a new twist in swappable characters.

Yes, despite the image above of a half-octopus swashbuckler, this year’s innovation isn’t destructible characters. That sword in his right … hand and the water pistol in his left can be replaced on another swappable character’s bottom half — its motion component — creating an altogether new character. With 16 new characters, that means 256 combinations altogether; an enticing proposition to fans, and a potentially comforting thought to parents hounded by kids for new pieces every week. But it’s not just swappable characters that are new in Swap Force. Activision’s touting this entry as the first Skylanders entry to’ve been built from the ground up in HD. That’s a notable change for the franchise, marking Activision’s focus shifting from Nintendo’s Wii to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as Nintendo’s Wii U. Oh, and there’s jumping. You can jump in this one.

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Software, HD

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Shooter fans who’ve wanted to show their skills (or endure peer judgment) in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 through a live broadcast have usually had to go the YouTube route. That’s fine for many, but some gamers will want to serve their own kind above all — so it’s with some relief that Treyarch is adding built-in streaming to the more game-focused Twitch video service. The new option will send both live audio and video from Black Ops 2 as long as there’s an active Twitch account, as well as share word of exploits through Facebook or Twitter. Anyone committed enough to have a Call of Duty Elite subscription can also get a peek at a player’s stats. Neither Treyarch nor Twitch has said exactly how soon they’ll flick the livestreaming switch, although Wii U owners are once again left high and dry when Twitch support is limited to PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 3 owners.

Update: The company tells us that Twitch should be available as of noon Eastern.

Filed under: Gaming, Internet

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The success of Call of Duty in the west is unquestionable, but over in the east it’s a bit of a different story. That’s particularly true in China, where the games industry is dominated by freemium-type games. Activision, never wanting to let an opportunity go to waste, has changed up the Call of Duty we know and love a bit to make it appeal more to Chinese gamers with today’s release of Call of Duty Online.

Kotaku reports that this is merely an alpha release and that the game’s microtransaction system isn’t in place yet, but the game certainly is much closer to a final launch with today’s alpha roll out. Call of Duty Online is the product of a team up between Activision and Tencent, a company which among other things publishes games in China. Tencent is actually responsible for CrossFire, one of China’s more popular shooters, so it could end up cutting into its own CrossFire audience with the release of Call of Duty Online.

For the moment, Call of Duty Online will remain exclusive to China. It will almost certainly stay that way until long after the game officially launches (and leaves the testing phase behind), but if it turns out to be a success, that could mean big things for Activision and for the series in general. If Call of Duty Online takes off, then Activision will have found another way to monetize the immensely popular series beyond just releasing a new game every year and selling it at $60 per copy.

If that happens, then perhaps Activision will want to test out its Call of Duty Online strategy in other countries. So long as Call of Duty remains the best-selling franchise in the west, it’s doubtful that we’ll see a freemium online version launch in North America. However, if the model ultimately works, then it’s possible we’ll see Activision try the same thing with other, less popular franchises in North America and Europe. We’ll just have to wait and see how this whole thing plays out, but for now, just know that Call of Duty Online has entered alpha and will soon be showing us what one of the biggest franchises in the world can do when it adopts a freemium model.

Call of Duty Online enters alpha testing in China is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We knew since before Black Ops II released that Activision and Treyarch would develops all kinds of DLC for the game, and sure enough, the details for the game’s first DLC offering have leaked out. Like all Call of Duty DLC packs before it, this one is a map pack, and it’s apparently being called “Revolution.” Provided everything about this leak is accurate, players will be in for five new maps total – four for competitive multiplayer, one for zombies mode.

The four maps destined for competitive multiplayer are called Hydro, Grind, Downhill, and Mirage. Since this leak centers entirely around promotional posters that were put up at a GameStop early, we don’t have any additional details on the maps, but it should be relatively easy to derive a few guesses from the names alone. On the other side of the coin, the map being added to zombies mode has been titled Die Rise.

While the fact that Call of Duty players will be getting new maps in Revolution is no surprise, there is a bit of a twist with this DLC pack. Apparently Activision and Treyarch have decided to add a new weapon in Revolution too: the Peacekeeper SMG. This is the first time weapons have been added in Call of Duty DLC, so perhaps the future is bright for those who have been asking Activision for weapon DLC for years? It certainly looks that way.

According to these early promotional materials, Revolution will be coming to Xbox 360 first on January 29. There aren’t any details on when Revolution will release on PC or PS3, so stay tuned for those dates. While information on pricing is also non-existent, expect to pay $15 for the map pack unless you picked up the Black Ops II season pass, in which case you’ll get Revolution at no additional cost.

[via Charlie Intel]

First Black Ops II DLC details leak out is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you think you’re spending a lot of time playing Call of Duty: Black Ops II, you better think again. Okan Kaya, a sales manager at 4Cabling in Australia, claims to have broken the world record for the longest gaming marathon ever, in which he played Black Ops II for 135 hours, 50 minutes straight. The previous record was 120 hours, seven minutes.

The news was announced on 4Cabling’s Facebook account, where they state that Kaya finished the marathon “with a mad career ranking of 29 of 5 million players.” Kaya, a 28-year-old Sydney native, was allowed one 10-minute break every hour by Guinness, and any unused breaks could be accumulated and used at a later time.

This allowed Kaya to fit in some sleep time over the course of the seven days. However, according to Kaya, his record isn’t official just yet. He’s in the process of gathering the evidence for submission to Guinness, but he says that he’s confident that his new world record will be approved without any problems.

Luckily, Kaya is still alive, considering how gaming marathons haven’t gone so well in the past. Back in July, a Taiwanese man died following a 40-hour Diablo III marathon at an internet cafe, and last year, a gamer in the US suffered a pulmonary embolism during a 20-hour gaming session. However, Kaya’s marathon was closely monitored and supervised by a group of volunteers who acted as witnesses and supporters.

[via Yahoo]

Australian man sets world record with 135-hour Black Ops II marathon is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.