Video Games: PC, PSP, PS3, xBox, and Wii Gaming News

About.com gave the Phoenix Suns 10/1 odds of winning the NBA title this year, with a projected record of 47-35 (15-game decline).  Thus the Phoenix Suns’ “Power Ranking” is No. 8 this year.  Unfortunately, they did not do so, falling short in the sixth game of the Western Conference Finals, losing by a mere 9 points to the Mavericks.  Their record is staggering: “Phoenix won 54 games and a second Pacific Division Championship, and came within two wins of the NBA Finals, despite the loss of All-Star forward Amare Stoudemire to knee surgery.” 

I saw them a few years ago at the AWA, when they were playing the LA Lakers.  I got my Suns Tickets at a good price, the seat was quite good, and the whole experience positive.  Even so, they are all the more stunning now.  Quite frankly, I believe that the Suns are at their all-time strongest.  Many of you know that Nash’s head has just been optimized to minimize air-resistance, and with so many positive changes happening daily, it would be a shock if they didn’t win the next NBA title.

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After weeks of anticipation, DotA Allstars version 6.33 (not ai) has been released, a testiment to the committment of WC3:FT custom maps programmers to continuous tweaking and balancing of the game.  I’ve already downloaded it, and hope that it will be as good as its predecessors.  You can download DotA 6.33 HERE.  The changelog is as follows:

6.33 Changelog:
===============
* Added two new items
* Reworked/Improved Bristleback, Avernus and Mercurial
* Many code improvements
* New map preview picture by Artgerm
* Improved the game mode entering system. Modes are now entered on one line like “-apidsh” or “-dm -ar -sc”. You do not need to worry about the order you enter the modes in, the game will handle it or warn you (and give you another chance) if the mode is incorrect/incompatible.

* Renamed shortmode to -easymode(-em)
* Added -samehero (-sh) mode
* Reduced Lycan’s wolves’ model size a bit
* Some -dmar hero respawn optimizations
* Reworked Mekansm a bit. It now has a larger aoe and buff duration but the heal only occurs if you have no previous Mekansm buff on you (so you can’t mass spam it on a team).
* Furion’s Teleportation now creates the same casting effect on the target location.
* Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse total cost is the same, but 800 of the 900 recipe cost is now in Eul’s Scepter of Divinity.
* Last Word will only work if Silencer is not silenced
* If blue isn’t playing, the next available color will be allowed to enter the game mode.
* Restored a more functional -du mode
* Improved Viper’s base damage a bit
* Enchant’s duration when converting creeps is now increased
* Buffed Weaver’s Watcher movespeed
* Fixed some neutral creeps and beastmaster’s summons that had collision size pathing issues.
* Fixed a Timelapse casting delay
* Many tooltip fixes from Henri Langenhoven’s reports
* Improved Witch Doctor’s base damage
* Reduced Primal Roar’s manacost and cooldown
* Improved timing on Macropyre
* Reduced Lich’s attack range from 600 to 500
* Updated TDA gaming rules
* Improved the way Beast Rage works
* -csboardon/off is now -cson/off
* Voljin’s movespeed from 295 to 305
* Buffed Enchantress’ strength gain and movespeed
* Stygian Desolator’s recipe reduced from 1500 to 1400
* Fixed some icons to their proper passive versions

* New Doppelwalk icon (from Blazzu/Spankler)
* Fixed megakill bounty bonus error
* Fixed animal courier buy hotkey conflict
* Fixed an -ap -lm bug that caused the last picker to sometimes not be able to pick from the other tavern
* Fixed a bug with -random and -mm at 59sec
* Toss no longer damages wards
* Butterfly damage from 20 to 25
* Fixed a rare Nightstalker -mm bug
* Chicken autodrops the previous undroppable Black King Bar now
* Fixed a bug with radiance and Spirit Bear
* Fixed Presence of the Dark Lord and Witchcraft icons to the proper passive versions.
* New Leviathan and Avernus hero description by Terrorblaze and TheMantis
* Fixed Charge of Darkness to properly stop the charge effect when the target is purged
* -ar/-tr now properly says “randomed” instead of “chosen”
* Fixed a very old bug with Morphling and illusions
* Fixed a minor issue with -ms after -recreate
* Fixed minor casting bugs with Timewalk, Dual Breath and Wild Axes
* Fixed various hero acquisition ranges
* Fixed a bug in -mm with Terrorblade and alternate forms

Notes:
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Map preview picture by http://artgerm.deviantart.com/

Credit to switch for his new Quill Spray idea, TheMantis for his global Haunt and eva00r for the new Warpath and Spectral Dagger ideas.

Thanks to the beta testers for their long beta tests on this, especially in the code improvements phase of the tests. Extra props to the more active and dedicated testers: arthur5863, ki-hunterkiller, switch, LordDready, heftig, Infrisios, Gorzerk, iNCQRiT, obey325, Boush-Tinker, HarbingeR-2.0-, bagofpoo, demon_kane, FatherGwar, lolimhonoob, B.Nexusx6, LegendsEnd, RRC-Encephelon, staticblender, War-Mage, King_Fear, Ro-Coco, ResetX, hlfazn, unHOLYdoNUTS, RRavenajoraX23K, Warsoft

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Vivendi has announced that new Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon games will be appearing in the publisher’s E3 lineup, joined by some popular entertainment licenses. TimeShift, which was just acquired from Atari, will also be on hand. Here’s the complete list of titles that will be featured at Vivendi’s booth:

• Caesar IV (PC)
• 50 Cent: Bulletproof (PSP)
• Crash Boom Bang! (DS)
• Eragon (DS, GBA, PC, PS2, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360)
• Freestyle Street Basketball (PC)
• Joint Task Force (PC)
• The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning (DS, GBA, GameCube, PS2, Xbox)
• Miami Vice (PSP)
• Scarface: The World Is Yours (PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox, Xbox 360)
• TimeShift (PC, Xbox 360)
• World in Conflict (PC)

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A Sony representative, speaking with Yahoo! Games, has recently confirmed that the PS3 will ship with a 60 GB HDD, with the option to upgrade.  Thus no PS3 will be shipped without a hard drive.  The only real question now is: will there be two bundles with different-sized hard drives available at launch (e.g., a 60 GB bundle vs. a 100 GB bundle), or will the optional hard drive have to be purchased seperately?  Regardless, this hard drive standardization of the PS3 by Sony is a move that is sure to benefit both developers and consumers.

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It’s obvious that video-games sales this year haven’t measured up to those of last year. Why? The NY Times answers: “of the 10 top-selling games of 2005 through November, only 3 were released in 2005. The other 7 all date from 2004 or earlier. In other words: the industry failed to create a single breakout hit this year.” That’s gotta hurt! And to make things worse, “The only games released this year to make the Top 10 list through last month have been the new Madden football game and Gran Turismo 4 for PlayStation 2 and Pokemon Emerald for the Game Boy Advance.”

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