“In light of the post-launch obstacles we've encountered, we have made the decision to move the launch of the real-money auction house beyond the previously estimated May time frame,” Blizzard said on Battle.net.

“As we mentioned in our original announcement, our goal has always been to ensure everyone has the smoothest experience possible when the real-money auction house launches, and we need a bit more time to iron out the existing general stability and gameplay issues before that feature goes live.”

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Few details regarding the Wii U’s specifications and orders from Nintendo to developers not to discuss the console have led to speculation that the machine was underpowered.

However, with a full E3 reveal only about a week away Vigil has insisted that Wii U owners will see visual parity when it comes to multiplatform games.

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The editor enables modders to create their own Total War: Shogun 2 and Fall of the Samurai custom maps for use in multiplayer and versus AI.

The map editor, referred to as TEd, allows modders to alter typography and place hundreds of assets such as trees, buildings, coastal batteries, rivers, choke-points and custom deployment zones says publisher SEGA. Modders can also construct “vast and intricate castles from their component pieces”, continues the announcement.

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The names have been banned by Blizzard, which would be quite an annoyance if your name actually was Christian.

Catholic is also banned, yet Protestant isn’t.

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After a week, 6.3 million were playing, said Blizzard.

Those figures excluded World of Warcraft Annual Pass owners who got a copy for free. If they are counted, the day one total would be 4.7 million gamers playing on May 15.

Also excluded were players logging on in internet gaming rooms in Korea, where on May 22 the game had jumped to the top of the most-played chart and took a 39 per cent share of players.

"We're definitely thrilled that so many people around the world were excited to pick up their copy of Diablo III and jump in the moment it went live," said Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime.

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The number of people who had lost their jobs was not specified, although it is known that all contractors and temporary staff had been let go.

Chafee also confirmed that not every employee had been paid.

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One of the major criticisms levelled at publisher Activision over its multi-million dollar Call of Duty franchise is that it lacks innovation.

Also, water is wet.

Realistically, and from Activision's perspective, there's simply no reason for a known entity such as Call of Duty to continually reinvent itself in the manner of a confused teenager when it's readily apparent exactly what kind of game the majority of subscribers are happy with. Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3 all featured, to an extent, pretty much what was expected of them. This is why they were hugely successful titles.

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"Sadly, we are bidding farewell to some talented, passionate and exceptionally hard-working people who helped make SWTOR a reality," he said.

"Impacting people's lives this way is always very hard, but we're ensuring the affected people are treated with dignity, fairness and respect."

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In a statement published on Capcom Unity, Street Fighter X Tekken developer Tomoaki Ayano has promised a fix for the Rolento knife bug introduced in the last patch. Capcom expects to roll out a patch to fix the glitch by mid June.

Original story:

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Blizzard has released a statement on its Battle.net forums regarding the Diablo III hacking.

The Diablo III developer calls on its experience releasing World of Warcraft expansions when it says that any new release will result in an increase in incidences of accounts being compromised. Blizzard has also outlined three measures players can take to secure their accounts, the Battle.Net authenticator and Battle.Net mobile authenticator, and a recently-added service, Battle.net SMS Protect which sends a unique login code to an account-holder's SMS-enabled phone, can be used to remotely reset passwords, recover an account name or disable a lost Authenticator.

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Those who have pre-ordered the game will receive an elite soldier pack, featuring the Hyperion and Reaper soldier armour kits, a full colour customisation feature for armour sets in the game, and a character from the original XCOM.

The PC-exclusive special edition of Enemy Unknown will feature an art book, fold-out poster, XCOM insignia patch, soundtrack, and more.

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Nazis. History frowns upon them, as well it might – what with the evil, and everything. Nazis were bad, and we all know it. Even if on some logical level we understand that there must have been at least a considerable number of non-Nazis in the German army in WWII, history is written by the winners, stories need villains, and by now we gamers as a collective have surely mown down a thousand times more generic digital Nazis than the Third Reich ever produced, and all without so much as a second thought between us. So while there are a lot of adjectives frequently pulled out to describe the Nazis, “sympathetic” is rarely among them.

Credit then must go to Sniper Elite V2 for almost provoking that second thought. The game's much-publicised selling point is lovingly detailing the grisly fates of those hapless members of the Wehrmacht that stray into our rifle sights. In this aspect at least, it succeeds so well that what happens to these bog-standard faceless, generic Nazi gaming enemies while playing can provoke the same sympathetic wince that one finds oneself deploying when watching particularly horrendous skateboard mishaps on YouTube. Indeed, far from being faceless, it's perfectly clear that these poor blokes are also in full possession of skulls, jawbones, eyeballs, hearts, lungs, kidneys, and testicles, at least until a high-velocity slugs smashes, bursts, perforates, liquifies or disintegrates one or more of them in the game's eye-watering slow-motion bullet cam. And he was just a week from retirement.

It's 1945, Berlin is under siege, and even the Third Reich knows it's defeated. With the end of the war in Europe mere days away, America is thinking about post-war matters, and the Russians make them mighty nervous. Therefore when the OSS learns that several of the scientific minds behind Germany's advanced V2 rocket weapon are making arrangements to defect to the Soviets, they send the game's gravel-voiced protagonist Karl Fairburne to the ruined German capital to put a stop to it and ensure that the “Reds” won't get a head start in the inevitable post-war arms race.

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The game, a re-imagining of 80s classic Carrier Command, contains a unique combination of first- and third-person action alongside strategy elements such as instructing units, managing resources and customising equipment.

In command of an armed vehicle carrier, players will traverse the seas to engage in free-roaming combat and establish a strategic network of island bases for mining, manufacturing and defense, according to Bohemia Interactive.

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The EA Sports development team based in Burnaby, Vancouver have their own full-sized football field.

Their studio floor is replete with banners, pendants and all manner of shirts and associated football paraphernalia. This, then, is clearly a team who take the game extremely seriously indeed.

So as each development cycle in the long-running FIFA series draws to an end, their only thought is towards the next iteration. Which aspects to improve, which to shelve, and which exciting new gameplay additions can be introduced to an audience measured in the millions.

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Although it covered the studio’s first repayment, the USD $1.125 million (NZD $1.48m) cheque barely made a dent in the USD $49m (NZD $64.7m) loan 38 Studios received from the taxpayer-funded Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation.

Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee, who was elected after the loan was made, stated that the state was changing tax break legislation so such a deal could not be made in the future.

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Twenty years have passed since the Prime Evils were defeated and banished from the world of Sanctuary. Now, you must return to where it all began – the town of Tristram – and investigate rumours of a fallen star, for this is the first sign of evil’s rebirth, and an omen that the End Times have begun.

To celebrate the highly anticipated launch of Diablo III, Gameplanet has teamed up with Blizzard Entertainment and Steelseries to bring you the ultimate Diablo III competition. This prize pool is worth over $1,300 and includes a ton of Diablo III Steelseries gear, plus an extremely rare Collector's Edition of Diablo III!

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First-person shooters may be thick on the ground these days, but few require the level of co-operation that Ubisoft is hoping to inject into the genre with the imminent release of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.

A recent play test through two of the game’s co-op modes — campaign and guerrilla — suggested that the game may distinguish itself not only with the teamwork and communication required to play successfully, but also with quieter moments, something other shooters generally pay lip service to, at best.

Campaign mode may see all four soldiers outfitted for a particular specialty, with sniping, machine-gunning, and close-combat load-outs all available. Equipment too is dispersed amongst the team, with one member carrying a UAV drone whilst others lug grenades about. Flexibility is key to advancing in the game, so it pays to have all bases covered.

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"Despite very aggressive projections, our preparations for the launch of the game did not go far enough," said Blizzard via Diablo III's Battle.net forum.

As well as hampering players’ ability to get into the game, server problems have now delayed the launch of the game’s auction house.

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“We’re much more in sync with the console makers than any other developer is,” said the Epic founder.

“That means we can give detailed recommendations with a complete understanding of what is going to be commercially possible.”

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"The whole trade economy of Diablo II was a really interesting element of the game, but the game didn't support it hardly at all. And so we looked at that and said that's a real failing, and something we need to fix," he said.

He also acknowledged that provided the service was useful, he had no problem with Blizzard taking a slice of each sale total.

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The list, which includes 48 cars, five bikes, 10 helicopters, one plane, 25 boats and nine trains, contains many familiar names, as well as some tantalising new additions.

Rockstar is known to share engine technology across projects, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the list is legitimate.

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New artificial intelligence will give players the ability to create, curve, or alter runs, possibly pulling defenders out of position to open passing channels for teammates.

Complete Dribbling will enable players to face their opponent and use precise dribble touches. Players will change direction quicker than before, are more explosive accelerating with the ball, and are more effective shielding defenders for longer stretches.

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Insomniacs and strategy junkies be warned, life isn’t going to get any easier this June, when Firaxis lets loose the dogs of war with its long-awaited expansion to Civilization V.

Though the preview code provided was only a taste of things to come, it’s clear from just a few hours play that Civilization V: Gods and Kings promises to be more than just a new bell or whistle on its parent title two years later. With 27 new units, 13 new buildings, nine new wonders, and nine new civilisations to play around with, the question will not simply be where to find time, but how to physically brew and bottle it.

In any case, it’s time to start chanting those Hail Marys, because religion is set to return to Civilization with a vengeance. Faith can now be harvested like any other resource, and the benefits it provides are evident with the introduction of features such as pantheons.

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