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.

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