Busy Gamer News

If your copy of Rainbow Six: Black Arrow is in a corner getting dusty, clean it off and download the free Bootcamp map from Xbox Live. The map supports up to 16 players and was made with Retrieval and Total Conquest game types in mind...

Want to learn more about your PSP on your PSP? pspOmag is a series of glossy JPEG files you can download and read on your device. Get issues 1 and 2 (with E3 coverage) plus a cheat guide at pspomag.exofocus.com. PSP Complete, another portable zine, is also available at pspcomplete.com but you'll need a RAR extractor like Stuffit Expander... The UMD movie list has topped 150 announced titles, including more music and stand-up comedy. MGM has joined the party with Be Cool, Beauty Shop and Bulletproof Monk, while Buena Vista has ponied up Sin City and an unrated cut of Coyote Ugly. And, in a full-on ironic twist, two IMAX films are coming - that's right, the highest resolution source material reduced to one of the smallest displays...

Sony announced it has shipped 90 million PlayStation 2 systems worldwide, including 36.4 million to North America. They estimate the PS2 will eventually top out at 130 million...

Nintendo of America VP George Harrison revealed that its library of NES, SNES and N64 games - which will be downloadable for play on the next-gen Nintendo Revolution in 2006 - will be entirely free. This gives Nintendo a sudden edge in the console wars, though it's not clear whether access to so many free titles will hurt sales of profit-making new games. Third-parties might still charge for downloadable titles...

Fans of Morrowind and action RPGs are already drooling over The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion for the Xbox 360. The game boasts vastly improved graphics (including a sprawling forest that was "grown" rather than pre-rendered), a combat system that doesn't require you to put down your sword to cast a spell and an improved warp system to minimize unwanted travel by foot. There are nine cities, more than 200 dungeons and 9,000 different objects to win, buy and steal. The game's 1,000-plus non-player characters use a new "radiant AI" system to give them goals and motivations that drive them, so say goodbye to heavily scripted interactions. Watch out, or one might even pick your pocket! There's like 50 hours of recorded dialogue and Patrick Stewart makes an appearance as the King of Tamriel, the land you'll be exploring and defending. Still no word on whether Jeremy Soule will provide a follow-up to his amazing Morrowind score...

It seemed for awhile like Ninja Gaiden Black might be a brand new Ryu-kicks-booty title for the Xbox 360, but the truth is that it's the original Ninja Gaiden for Xbox with both Hurricane Packs (downloadable for free if you have Xbox Live) plus bonus content including new cut scenes and the original arcade version (not just the NES versions). The game will be $30 when it (re)releases in September...

Bungie is trying to start a bidding war for a Halo movie by having copies of the script it commissioned from Alex Garland (The Beach) delivered to major studios by Master Chief - or rather someone dressed in his rather distinctive armor. So far Dreamworks and New Line have passed, but others are considering it despite Bungie's demand for creative control and at least a $75 million budget and $10 million slice of the pie...

World of Warcraft's Battlegrounds player vs. player combat system is now available as part of the v1.5 patch. If you can get through to a server, enjoy...

Nintendo is backtracking on its Revolution-ary news, saying that its full library of NES, SNES and N64 games won't actually be free - though they reserve the right to give away a game or two, say, when you buy a related Revolution title. On the one hand, a certain number of free classic games could sell systems. Give away too much and you're passing up a revenue stream...

As expected, the Battlefield 2 demo premiered on Gamespot, free to members and non-members alike. Retail availability is June 21, but for now you can sample single-player and multiplayer action (including both 16- and 32-player games) - albeit with time limits. Download it at gamespot.com/promos/bf2demo.html...

The Revolution may be televised, just not in high-definition. After coming to the last-generation console war without an online strategy, Nintendo is again taking the low-road with no plans for high-def support. The GameCube originally had progressive scan output for the few games that supported it, but that feature was cut from recent hardware since no one was using it. Maybe that's because you had to special order the part directly from the big N...

More insights into Xbox 360 and PS3 backward compatibility are leaking out. It seems that Xbox games will be supported using a combination of grafted-on software emulation and profiles for each game stored on the 360's hard drive. This certainly jives with Microsoft's earlier announcement that the "top games" would be supported at launch, meaning additional profiles for less popular titles might trickle out in the year that follows - no doubt starting with the games that fans petition for most. Sony is once-again claiming technical superiority, saying its emulation uses both hardware and software for a better, "as close to perfect as possible" gaming experience...

Pissed off about a stuck pixel or two on your still shiny and new PlayStation Portable? PSP-Vault has an apparent fix: a video you can play on your device that flashes colors to unstick LCD pixels, at least some of the time. Heck, it's worth a try. Download the video at psp-vault.com/Article168.psp...

Vin Diesel has signed to play Agent 47 and executive produce Fox's big-screen adaptation based on the Hitman stealth assassin series. In other news, there have been negotiations to make Postal into a film, but the rumors that hack game-to-movie director Uwe Boll (House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark), has signed on are so far overstated. Talk about a match made in heaven, though. For now, we'll need to content ourselves with the knowledge that he's busy desecrating Bloodrayne, Dungeon Siege, Far Cry, Fear Effect and Hunter: The Reckoning...

Apparently the developers of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas had an idea for a more explicit encounter with your in-game girlfriends, but the feature was cut no doubt to avoid the dreaded Adult Oriented rating. A mod maker has found some code in the PC version that permits a more hands-on "coffee break" mini-game. Normally, the camera pulls back from the house when you accept your girlfriend's invite for something hot and all you get are some naughty sound effects. The Hot Coffee mod at gtasanandreas.net/news/single.php?id=1469 unlocks nudity and a whole lot more. Needless to say, this link is not safe for work...

In a new twist, Microsoft is offering a Windows Media Player skin for a game that's not even their own: World of Warcraft. This lends at least some credence to the rumor that Blizzard is busy porting their massively multiplayer RPG to run on Xbox 360. For now, get the skin at microsoft.com...

The death of Morpheus should have been a tip-off. Sony has snapped up The Matrix Online and will offer it as part of its All-Access Pass, a one-price fits all approach to online games that includes EverQuest 2, PlanetSide and Star Wars Galaxies. There will be at least some continuity since Sony also hired away much of developer Monolith's Seattle-based staff...

Dust off that copy of Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield. There's a free expansion called Iron Wrath available on Fileplanet.com. You'll get a new seven-mission campaign, six new weapons and more... SWAT 4 players will want to download the three bonus multiplayer maps and SDK in the v1.1 patch at fileshack.com/file.x?fid=7232... If you've been having problems with Close Combat: First to Fight, v1.02 fixes several naughty bugs and adds a dedicated server option. Get it at fileshack.com/file.x?fid=7158... And if you're already bored with Half-Life 2, the Eclipse fantasy conversion at students.guildhall.smu.edu/eclipse should keep you busy for awhile...

The movie based on American McGee's Alice (itself a bloody reinterpretation of Alice in Wonderland) will apparently star TV's Buffy, Sarah Michelle Gellar. The director is Marcus Nispel, known mainly for the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre...

Details on Project Gotham Racing 3 for Xbox 360 are emerging. Known cities include New York and Tokyo (big surprise!), and the 80+ cars will include Dodges, Ferraris and Lamborghinis. For once, the interiors of cars will be fully modeled - complete with working dashboards. Motion-captured crowd members will cheer you on. Kudos will return, but Microsoft is promising more customizable gametypes and the ability to choose any car or city - suggesting (but not quite promising) an end to unlockables. And Gotham TV will permit you to watch other players race and provide news tickers when your friends set new records...

Forza Motorsport fans with two or more Xboxes and TVs can use the hidden multiscreen mode to create a panoramic cockpit, add a spectator monitor or keep an eye behind with a full rear view. On the Options menu, scroll down to Credits and then click the left thumbstick in and down to access Network Cockpit Settings. Find full details on configuring your multiple consoles (each with its own copy of Forza) at community.forzamotorsport.net/pitpass...

Sony has released a firmware update for the PlayStation Portable, but before you download and install it you should know that it's primarily designed to prevent so-called homebrew applications from running. This includes emulated games from the GameBoy Advance, NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, MAME and many others. Learn more about how all this works at psphacker.com...

After an unexpected delay, the second Gamma Pack for Wipeout Pure delivers two new tracks and two new skins. You should also redownload and overwrite the original Gamma Pack, which has been tweaked. Get the files in-game over wireless or via PC from www.wipeoutpure.com...

The new add-on pack for Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 takes gamers out of the traditional theme park milieu and into unchartered territory. The just-released Soaked! expansion lets you build and run a water park complete with water slides, elaborate pools, waterfalls, wave machines, water cannons, aquariums, whale and dolphin shows and more. The keys to your own water park are the original PC version of RT3 plus $30 for the expansion (that's $70 if you don't already have the original)...

Remember how Microsoft used Halo 2 to help them ban modders? Sony is borrowing a page from this playbook with Coded Arms, Dead To Rights: Reckoning and Midnight Club 3. When you run one of these games, you'll be forced to install v1.5 of the PSP firmware, which is designed primarily to block emulators and other homebrew software. The good news? The hackers already have a workaround. But it's only a matter of time before Sony starts forcing newer versions (such as 1.52) that haven't been bypassed...

Microsoft is showing an early preference for HD-DVD with an announcement that it's working to integrate support for the format into Windows and possibly a "future update" to the Xbox 360. This begs the question: Will the 360's hardware be able to read HD-DVD discs, meaning a future software update might unlock this functionality, or is Microsoft already anticipating a possible second wave of hardware for its next-gen console...

If you passed on the Halo 2 bonus maps Sanctuary and Turf when they were for sale, they're now free on Xbox Live. Also, some retailers have broken the sales embargo on the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack (which includes five more new maps), and Bungie says that's fine. No one will be punished for playing these maps before the July 5 street date, though matchmaking won't be enabled until July 11 (after the maps go on sale via Xbox Live). Fans who manage to get an early copy can still practice offline and in custom games with friends on Live. Remember, if you just can't stomach the $20 pricetag, Bungie has promised all maps will be free by the end of summer...