Fifa 12 available to download

In The Telegraph

Fifa 12 will be downloadable from 5pm BST on 24th September for all EA Season Ticket holders 6 days before it's release to shops.

EA today announced that customers signed up to their Season Ticket initiative will be able to download Fifa 12 on Xbox Live and PSN as well as taking part in an exclusive EA Sports Football Club Challenge.

The challenge in question sees you thrust into the action, playing as Chelsea 3-1 down to Manchester United in their recent Premier League match. You job is to re-write history and claw back a win for the Londoners. Admittedly not a mouth watering prospect if you happen to be a United supporter. If you do succeed you will be generously rewarded with personal XP, giving you an early points bonus in the Support Your Club rankings. Fifa 12's first Football Club Challenge will only be available until the retail release of the game so get in there fast. Just one warning, Fifa 12 is a big download so it will take approximately 5 hours to download.

Having an EA Season Ticket will also get you free access to Creation Centre for Fifa 12, allowing you to create your own players, teams, leagues and for the first time, career mode. In addition to this, a Season Ticket gets you a 20% discount on all downloadable content for FIFA 12 as well as other EA SPORTS games.

EA Season Tickets cost 2100 Microsoft Points (around £17.13), here's how to get yours:

Step 1: Install the EA SPORTS App, then launch it by selecting “Play Game” from your Game Library.

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Step 2: The EA SPORTS App counts down to the Early Release availability in real-time, starting seven days before retail availability. Note that the exact day and time varies per region.

Step 3: When the countdown timer reaches zero, the menu will update with a “Download” option. You will need to confirm the download from the Xbox 360 Guide.

Step 4: If you have not already purchased an EA SPORTS Season Ticket you will be prompted to purchase before you can download an Early Release game.

Step 5: Once you have started the Early Release download, you can exit the EA SPORTS App without interrupting the download. Just don’t power off your Xbox 360 or disconnect from Xbox LIVE. Be aware that other actions (e.g. attempting to play a different game) might pause the download.

Step 6: Once the Early Release finishes downloading you can launch it from your Game Library.

Step 7: Once an Early Release has been made available for download, the EA SPORTS App menu updates to count down the time remaining before that Early Release becomes unavailable for download.

Football Manager 2012 will be released this October

In The Telegraph

The release date for Football Manager 2012 was confirmed on the game's official blog. Forthcoming posts will detail new content, improvements in the game, as well as demo screens and videos. Nearer the time of the launch, a demo will be made released through the blog, providing eager fans with access to a trial version of the game and the ability to continue straight on from their last saved point once they buy the full version.

Football Manager 2012 will include over 800 new features, imbuing the game with more realism by facilitating greater scope in transfer negotiations, including loyalty bonuses similar to those seen in the Cesc Fabregas deal), an adaptive new interface, improvements in their 3D match animations and a new tool which allows players to vary their conversational tone to add emotion to transactions.

This all means the game itself will require greater tactical skill and attention to detail, so luckily there is also a new stand-alone tutorial feature allowing inexperienced players to get to grips with it. All these new changes and more will be discussed in further detail in forthcoming entries on the Football Manager 2012 blog.

The game is available to pre-order here.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 PC Demo Now Available

In gamefront

We knew that the demo for Pro Evolution soccer was hitting consoles today, and now Konami has released it for the PC as well. As you might expect, we’ve already got it available on our fast, free servers.

The demo contains 10 minute matches with Manchester United, AC Milan, FC Porto, S.S.C Napoli, Santos FC, and C.A. Panaro. If you’re hoping to play it on console, it should be available on PSN today. However, CVG says the 360 version of the demo has been delayed into September.

But none of that matters to you PC gamers, right? You just want to download the demo and get busy playing soccer. Fair enough. Just click the download link below to grab to 1.24 GB demo.

Download now

Splinter Cell 6 to be released in 2012

in n4g

Spy dream come true next year, which apparently comes the next installment of Splinter Cell. (PC, PS3, Splinter Cell 6, Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Toronto, Xbox 360)

Fifa 12

In The Telegraph

Here's how the annual sports game cycle tends to work: A new title is announced, along with its 12,000 improvements or whatever arbitrary number they stick on it, along with a list of buzzword-heavy new features (super real-world tackle machine engine plus or something), then the game comes out, us reviewers call it "the best approximation of [insert sporting event here] ever" and the crowd goes wild.

But as the months pass by, the astute game playing audience starts to notice the cracks. Problems that aren't apparent in the short-term become ever more glaring. That's what happened with FIFA 11 to a certain extent. It was, is and always will be a fabulous football game, but the drawbacks were there. Animation could often be clumsy when two players came together, physical battles felt unnatural and players could easily exploit defending by just holding down a button and watching your player gravitate into a challenge and waltz off with the ball. Career mode wasn't much cop either.

To their eternal credit, however, the FIFA team are a perfectionist bunch, and no-one is more frustrated at these foibles than them. So they listen, refine and do their best to fix the flaws that you notice, and a whole bunch you don't. That's why FIFA should retain its crown as the best approximation of football ever. Oh, shoot, now I've gone and done it..

Sitting down to a final hands-on before the big release, it's immediately apparent that FIFA 12 is the most revamped version of the game in a good few years. EA's assertion that FIFA 12 is "revolution not evolution" might be stretching the point, as it's still a largely familiar kickabout. Just as it should be.

F1 2011: Stephen Hood interview

In The Telegraph

Formula One returns this weekend, with the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa signalling the end of the mid-season break. Sebastien Vettel sits pretty at the top of the driver's championship, though some gamers will fancy a crack at besting him on the latest video game of the sport, F1 2011, released next month. I had a chance to chat to the chief game designer at Codemasters, Stephen Hood, about how the new game will build on the success of last year's excellent iteration, as well as the new co-op mode and introduction of Formula One's new rules

F1 2010 saw something of a renaissance for the F1 video game, why do you think you hit the sweet spot on that game?

Because it was made by Formula One fans! In all seriousness, we really care about the license, we care about the game content, are driven to make a great game for ourselves and the millions of race and F1 fans out there... we can watch a Practice session and see something that’d make for a good feature, something people would understand and get enjoyment from. The only way you can do that is to live and breathe Formula One.

Battlefield 3 Origin preorders get free PC game - Report

In gamespot

Shooter fans who preorder DICE's upcoming modern shooter Battlefield 3 through Electronic Arts' recently launched online store Origin are awarded early access to the game's beta period. However, that's not the only big bonus for reserving the title through EA's virtual marketplace, according to a report.

Preordering Battlefield 3 at Origin yields free games, according to the email.

An email purportedly from EA forwarded to Ars Technica by a reader states that those who preorder Battlefield 3 via Origin can get a free downloadable PC game for doing so. Offered titles include Mass Effect 2, Dead Space 2, and Medal of Honor. According to the email, the offer expires at the end of the month.

Battlefield 3's Origin listing does not mention anything about the free game offer, and as of press time, EA had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment.

As for the game, Battlefield 3 will sport both a single-player campaign and an online component, which can be played with up to 64 players (for the PC version only). Battlefield 3 will support co-op play for its campaign and will let gamers pilot jets, among other vehicles. Additionally, Battlefield 3 will run on DICE's updated Frostbite 2 engine.

For more on the October 25-dated shooter, check out GameSpot's latest hands-on preview of Battlefield 3.

Sword Girls Online Annoucement Trailer

In Gamefront

What the hell? 80s style music, anime girls, swords, cleavage? Is this a secret weapon combining every single nerd fetish ever into a single concept? Strangely no! It’s Sword Girls, an online trading card game that launched in Korea earlier this year and is now being released to the English speaking world. Here, check out this weirdly hi-energy trailer:


If static gameplay and creepily sexy anime women are your thing, they’re giving out beta keys on the official site. If this still doesn’t sate your appetite for anime fetish porn, check out our Catherine coverage.



Download the Sword Girls Online Announcement Trailer.

Gears of War 3 gets a 3D makeover

In techradar


Gears of War 3, an upcoming exclusive on the Xbox 360, has been given a 3D makeover despite the format being described as "niche".

The Xbox 360 isn't known for its 3D capabilities but there have been a number of titles for the console released in 3D – CoD: Black Ops being one – and now another of the console's flagship games is getting the 3D treatment, albeit through some tinkering in the back end.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Rod Fergusson of Epic Games, which created Gears of Wars 3, said about adding 3D: "It felt like something we wanted to have. It was a feature we didn't want to be deficient in. When you look at Gears 1, it was what people used to demo HD at the time.

"It's still fledgling technology. It's still a niche feature. But it was something we could support, so we felt, why not?"

Better 3D incoming

Unlike the PS3, which has been properly equipped by Sony to handle high definition 3D gaming, devs that want to add 3D to games for the Xbox 360 have to use a small workaround.


The 3D signal is crammed into one 720p stream, so it is a little like 2D with added depth. The PS3 on the other hand has two distinct 1280x1470 streams.

This does push the quality down, as Fergusson explained: "[Although the difference] is not huge, It's a little bit jaggier in certain areas. Instead of 720p you're at five something."

Fergusson hinted that the Xbox 360 is to get improved 3D gaming, however, courtesy of the next Xbox Development Kit which will have "more support for 3D or more higher quality for native support for 3D."

Fergusson explained: "We're supporting the current state of the art for Xbox. Moving forward, the Xbox will be able to take it further."

This clarifies rumours back in May that the Xbox 360 was set to get the HDMI 1.4 protocol.

The Gears of War 3 UK release date is 20 September.

Pre order here

Sniper Ghost Warrior

In Nag

Sniping is considered one of the most engaging and enjoyable aspects of the modern first person shooter. If not the dedicated single player set pieces froml blockbuster titles including Call of Duty and Medal of Honor, then the thousands of hours of Youtube “sniper kills” footage stands testament. By that logic surely creating a game which is dedicated to heart-pounding, mile-long headshots seems like a hands down winner for fans of those elements?" (PS3, Sniper: Ghost Warrior)

Battlefield 3, Theme Park iOS games

In GameSpot


In late July, Electronic Arts reported its latest quarterly earnings, saying 20 percent of total revenue came from its digital sector. The publisher will look to grow that business later this year, when it releases Battlefield 3 and Theme Park for iOS devices, according to The Pocket Gamer.


Battlefield 3 is coming to iOS devices, it seems.

The report doesn't offer anything in the way of details concerning either game, but it did note that EA will reportedly talk more about each at Gamescom 2011 next week. An EA representative told GameSpot, "We don't comment on rumors."

Battlefield 3 arriving on iOS devices comes as little surprise, as its predecessor Battlefield: Bad Company 2 graced Apple's mobiles. That version included a single-player component as well as online functionality. As for Theme Park, that game was developed by Peter Molyenux's Bullfrog Productions, published by Electronic Arts, and released in 1994.

God of War Origins videos show opening scenes

In Computerandvidogames.com


the God of War Origins Collection features remastered PS3 versions of the two PSP God of War games, Ghost of Sparta and Chains of Olympus, in HD on one Blu-ray disc.

Check out the first five minutes of each game below, courtesy of IGN:

More God of War Origins Videos

More God of War Origins Videos