EA Humble Origin Bundle Reaches $1M Milestone in 36 Hours, Total Sales Now Surpass $5

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. August 16 - The EA Humble Origin Bundle reached a $1m milestone in sales within 36 hours post launch, reported Gamespot today. The package became available earlier this week, and has by now surpassed $5m.

Gamers can purchase prominent EA titles including Dead Space 3, Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Crysis 2: Maximum Edition, Medal of Honor, and Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box for just $1.

Those who pay above the $4.80, the current average, will receive Battlefield 3 and The Sims 3: Starter Pack.

EA will be giving all proceeds to five charity organizations: Human Rights Campaign, Watsi, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, American Cancer Society, and American Red Cross. Purchasers can select which organizations will receive their contribution.

SOURCE: Humble, Gamespot

Female Soldiers to Make Their Debut in Call of Duty: Ghosts

SANTA MONICA, Calif. August 16 - The reason why female soldiers weren't gunning down their male counterparts in previous Call of Duty's is because of technological issues, Infinity Ward producer Mark Rubin told Kotaku in an interview published on Wednesday. 

"A lot of it was the engine," executive producer Mark Rubin told Kotaku in a new interview. "Our previous engine would not handle that. The way memory worked in the previous engine, it never would have been able to do that."

This is no longer an issue, as advances in technology and equal rights will be bringing female character models along with 20,000 possible cosmetic combinations to upcoming Call of Duty: Ghosts.

"When we got a chance to re-tool the engine completely, that gave us the opportunity to make the change that we could have character customization," Rubin said. "That then gave us the opportunity to do female characters."

Great news... the catch? Men and women models will be the same size. The reason being balance.

"Even on the female characters, we can't make them smaller," Rubin said. "They have to have gear on them that makes them the same size as male players. We need to be fair. It has to be fair from a gameplay standpoint. They might look differently, but they'll fill the same area so that your hit-boxes aren't out of whack."

SOURCE: 

Xbox One Auto Adjusts its Temperature When Overheating

REDMOND, Wa. August 16 - The Xbox One is self-aware, or at least enough to take the appropriate countermeasures when the next-gen console gets too hot, Xbox general manager of console development Leo del Castillo told Gizmodo in an interview published yesterday.

“We can’t prevent misuse of the product," del Castillo explained, "but we can certainly anticipate it." 

"The way we designed the box, we don’t actually intend it to ever have to go to maximum speed under normal environmental conditions. But there is overhead. So we’ll allow the fan to go all the way up to its maximum speed and if that solves the condition without the user having to do anything."

The console will lower its power usage in response if it really feels like things are going critical, though likely at the cost of performance... a worthwhile trade if the preventative course of action saves the $500 console.

"One thing that we have more flexibility with," del Castillo added, "With the architecture of the Xbox One, is that we can dial back the power of the box considerably. We had a little less flexibility with the 360. And so basically, if we couldn’t dissipate the heat, there wasn’t a whole lot of leverage we could pull to keep the heat from being generated, so we had a limited amount of time before it just shut down. Xbox One can actually dial it back to a lower power state, so low in fact that it can in a mode that uses virtually no air flow."

Game of Throne's Tywin Lannister to Play The Witcher 3's Nilfgaardian Emperor

WARSAW, Poland. August 15 - Charles Dance, the man who plays the very tall, very regal, Tywin Lannister in HBO's Game of Thrones will be featured in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, developer CD Projekt RED announced, as reported by IGN.

The Witcher 3 lead writer Marcin Blacha commended Dance stating, "Charles Dance is the perfect candidate to play the mighty Nilfgaardian emperor in our upcoming title. It’s a dream come true for the team here at RED to be able to work with such an accomplished actor and magnetic personality."

Like the chief Lannister, the Emperor's forces have raped and pillaged the North during Nilfgaardian's Invasion.

Released yesterday was a really slick CGI trailer titled "Killing Monsters", blending graphic violence and morality.

SOURCE: IGN

Hotline Miami 2 Incites Anger and Criticism With Rape Scene

STOCKHOLM, Sweden. August 15 - The sequel to Hotline Miami, Hotline Miami 2 from Dennaton Games has incited anger and criticism from the video game community, CVG reported today.

In one of the final sequences in the game's preview build, the player inhabited character is encouraged to rape an female character, upon  the words "Finish Her" appear on the screen... Though no actual rape is committed, the scene reveals itself to be a cast of in-game actors in an in-game filming session as the director from the side of the screen yells "Cut, Pig Man, well done, but don't be afraid to be rougher. And you there, blondie - you need to work on your femininity. Act more helpless and scared. You know, more girly."

Naturally, people got mad. Previewer of the game and PC Gamer editor Cara Ellison lamented the truth about how the experience made her feel about sexism in gaming. "This is how they feel when someone points out that games are sexist. ‘This is it,’ I think. ‘I am feeling betrayal. I feel betrayed by something I love. I feel betrayed.’"

Sean Duncan, an assistant professor researching games at Indiana University, wrote on his personal Twitter page: "this game disgusts me".

Editor-in-cheif of Develop and MCV tweeted, "Not surprised one bit that the almost-tasteless Hotline Miami has crossed the line in the sequel".

Even though the female character was not a rape victim, she was still belittled by the fictional director's comments. Granted its context, the director is probably no pleasant character and whether or not the game glorifies sexism is questionable. Hotline Miami is known for its surmountable amount of graphic violence despite its lack of graphical fidelity so perhaps the game is taking an honest stab at women and feminism in general.

SOURCE: CVG, PC Gamer

Creators of StarCraft Universe Seek to Expand Via Kickstarter

ST. LOUIS, Mo. August 15 - The creators of StarCraft II mod and pseudo MMORPG, StarCraft Universe, are looking to expand their pet project to a full-fledged game via crowdfunding.

The studio, titled Upheaval Arts, launched their campaign five days ago and is asking for $80,000. So far Upheaval has managed to raised $27,361 of its goal so far with 26 days remaining for funding.

Blizzard condones the project and the studio is confident that they will run into no legal issues with the original creators of StarCraft. "While Blizzard is not directly affiliated with this project's production, we do communicate with them to submit bug reports and make technical requests," the developer said. "They have given their blessing/permission for us to launch this Kickstarter, and they are supporting our efforts by featuring SCU as an Arcade Highlight."

Upheaval Arts is hoping to ship the first content for the game--an open beta test--in late 2013 or early 2014. To play StarCraft Universe, players just need an internet connection,  a Battle.net account, and a copy of StarCraft II, which can be acquired for free via the game's Starter Edition.

SOURCE: Kickstarter

New Sessions Announced for November's GDC Next from Day[9], NBC Unviversal and Disruptor Beam

LOS ANGELES, Calif. August 15 - New sessions were announced for November's Game Developers Conference Next, including NBC Universal , Disruptor Beam, and SC2 personality Sean "Day[9]" Plott.

GDC Next will be hosted at the Los Angeles Convention Center from November 5-7 later this year. The event will suitably focus on the future of gaming, or what's "next".

On the list for what's on the horizon are story-driven social games (and upcoming mobile) based on popular IPs like Game of Thrones, according to Boston-based studio Disruptor Beam. CEO Jon Radoff and lead designer of the studio's Game of Thrones: Ascent Tim Crosby will discuss how they managed to produce "engaging and steady content with low player acquisition costs for the "high-profile licensed title".

Given the growing popularity of eSports, Day[9] will explain how to design games with spectators in mind. The eSports caster, content producer and notable personality will explain the elements on what makes a game as entertaining to watch as it is to play so that developers can create communities that can stream Esports events.

NBC Universal's director of Universal Games Network Matt Dominianni will examine how Interactive TV second-screen games can change TV content in his talk titled, "2nd Screen Games: innovation from the Broadcast TV Industry?". Included in his discussion will be references to USA Network's Psych: Find the Famous Pineapple and Bravo's Watch What Happens Live: Play Along.

SOURCE: Gamasutra