Hasta La Gadget!

There’s no denying that Polytron’s Fez is one of the coolest downloadable games of the year, but unfortunately, a small percentage of players can’t actually enjoy the game. Shortly after Fez released on Xbox Live Arcade, Polytron issued a patch that was intended to fix some minor gameplay issues, but ended up creating a whole new mess of problems for a few players. For some, this patch led to corrupted save files, deleting all of the progress affected users had made in the game.

The patch was quickly taken down, but now it’s going back up just the way it was. Polytron says in a recent blog post that it is putting the patch back up on XBLA because it can’t afford to have a new patch go through Microsoft‘s certification process. “We’re bringing the first Fez patch online. It’s the same patch,” Polytron said. “We’re not going to patch the patch. Why not? Because Microsoft would charge us tens of thousands of dollars to re-certify the game.”

Polytron says that the save bug only impacts less than one percent of players, which in Microsoft’s eyes is “good enough.” For the vast majority of Fez players, the patch should be safe, but Polytron apologized to those who are being “screwed” by this decision nonetheless. The developer also seemed to be questioning the decision to make Fez a timed-exclusive on Xbox Live, saying “Had Fez been released on steam instead of XBLA, the game would have been fixed two weeks after release, at no cost to us. And if there was an issue with that patch, we could have fixed that right away too!”

The studio also dispelled the belief that it’s being paid by Microsoft to have Fez be an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive. “We already owe microsoft a LOT of money for the privilege of being on their platform,” Polytron writes. “People often mistakenly believe that we got paid by Microsoft for being exclusive to their platform. Nothing could be further from the truth. WE pay THEM.”

So, if you’re one of the few that has been dealing with Fez‘s save deleting bug, it sounds like you’ll be stuck with it until Microsoft and Polytron can work out some kind of deal, if that ever happens. Polytron later pointed out on its Twitter account that there are only a few more months to go until the XBLA exclusivity deal for Fez is lifted, which presumably means that the game will be available on Steam and other platforms not long after. If that’s the case, you might be better off waiting for these additional releases than you are hoping that Microsoft and Polytron will work things out.

Fez patch not getting fixed because Polytron can’t afford it is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Yesterday, Electronic Arts announced an “exclusive” Battlefield 4 beta for those who pre-order Medal of Honor: Warfighter Limited Edition. Shortly after the announcement, Battlefield 3 community manager Ian Tornay took to Reddit to answer any questions fans may have about the upcoming sequel, and as it turns out, a lot of fans had a problem with the use of the word “exclusive” in EA’s announcement. Tornay has clarified the announcement a bit, saying that purchasing Medal of Honor: Warfighter will not be the only way to gain access to the Battlefield 4 beta.

“There will be other ways to get into the beta aside from MoH Warfighter,” Tornay said. “At this time, however, it is the only way to guarantee entry.”

He also commented on fan concerns that Battlefield 4 was coming too soon after the release of Battlefield 3, saying that he “truly” believes DICE is in an excellent position to offer the next game in the extremely popular franchise. “I truly believe that we’re in one of the best positions to be creating our next title,” he said. “Frostbite 2 has matured, we’ve been gathering fan feedback like crazy, Battlefield 3 continues to expand with features which we can learn from, and we’ve got more data about how people play than ever.”

Finally, there’s no need to worry about support for Battlefield 3 disappearing while DICE begins to ramp up work on Battlefield 4, as Tornay says that the studio is committed to supporting Battlefield 3 in the same way it supported Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Since the Battlefield 4 beta isn’t taking place until Fall 2013 – and keeping in mind very real possibility of the game itself not making it to shelves until 2014 – it sounds like Battlefield 3 will be supported well into next year (and perhaps even beyond).

Battlefield 4 beta not exclusive to MoH: Warfighter after all is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to land a rover on the surface of Mars, you’re in luck. To celebrate NASA’s Curiosity rover upcoming landing on Mars, the agency teamed up with Microsoft to create a game called “Mars Rover Landing”. Available on the Xbox 360, it lets gamers experience what it’s like to land such an important device on the red planet. Gamers make use of the Kinect to steer Curiosity with their bodies.

Gamers will have to enter the planet’s atmosphere, avoid obstacles, release parachutes, perform balancing acts and more. It definitely sounds pretty interesting, and judging from the demonstration video – a whole lot of fun too. However, I don’t see people coming back to the game over and over again just to play the same mission. Fortunately Mars Rover Landing is a free game and is available now from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace and Kinect Central. Do check it out and let us know what you think.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: $99 Xbox 360 with Kinect bundle now available, Microsoft unveils Union Jack themed Xbox 360 bundle,

If you’re the sort of geek who likes video games and space, NASA and has a new, free, video game available for the Xbox 360. The free game is called Mars Rover Landing for Microsoft Xbox Kinect and uses the Kinect accessory for control. The game is to promote the landing of the Curiosity rover.

It’s a tie-in with the 7 minutes of terror landing sequence that Curiosity will go through as it makes its way to the surface of the red planet. The screen shots of the video game remind me a bit of an arcade game I played growing up, but the name of the game escapes me. It was one of those standup arcade cabinets with horrible black and white graphics that has a single large lever on the front that you used to control the altitude of a lander trying to touch down on the surface of the planet.

From what I can tell of the Kinect video game, the goal is to set the Curiosity rover down as close to the center of the landing zone as possible before the tethered lander craft runs out of fuel and crashes. The graphics actually look very good and the game is rated E for everyone. You can download game right now at this link.

[via Wired]

NASA offers free Mars Rover Landing Kinect game for Xbox 360 is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Like pretty much every big game released these days, Need For Speed: Most Wanted is offering bonuses for early adopters, and it’s offering a lot of them. First and foremost, just pre-ordering the game gets you upgraded to the limited edition, which grants players early access to the Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale and the Porsche 911 Carrera S in the game’s multiplayer mode. It also rewards players with double speed points during their first four hours of Most Wanted‘s multiplayer.

Those “limited edition” bonuses are a little on the slim side, but what else can you expect when you’re not paying anything extra? Alas, pre-ordering the game is the only way to get your hands on the limited edition, so don’t walk into GameStop the day after release with the hope of picking up a spare limited edition of Need For Speed: Most Wanted.

Now onto pre-order bonuses, which come in three varieties: the Speed Pack, Strike Pack, and Power Pack. The Speed Pack adds the Caterham Superlight R500 to the game, along with a track tires mod for better handling while you’re outrunning the cops, and a lightweight chassis mod that gives you the speed you’ll need to get away from them in the first place. The Strike Pack features a Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG Black Series along with a powertrain modification and a re-inflating tires mod, which will respectively provide a boost to torque and make countering easier. Last but not least, the Power Pack places a Ford F-150 SVT Raptor in the game, complete with a reinforced chassis modification for soaking up hits and a nitrous dump mod for making those larger-than-normal jumps or laying waste to those in your way with some devastating hits.

Electronic Arts says that these pre-order bonuses are available now through Origin and “select retailers,” but didn’t actually tell us which retailers those are. The usual suspects likely pop up in there – GameStop, Best Buy, Amazon, so forth – so just think of this as something of a surprise. Need for Speed: Most Wanted is out on October 30, 2012 in the US and November 2, 2012 in Europe.

Need For Speed: Most Wanted pre-order bonuses announced is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.