XBOX dashboard update coming Nov. 1

Tomorrow will be the day in which XBox will receive it's new Kinect compatible dashboard. Along with added features of ESPN3, new voice chat, and fresh new avatars.

Playstation phone prototype leaks to the internet

Corporate synergy has finally culminated within Sony as a rumored project between Sony Ericsson and Sony Computer Entertainment of America to produce a cross platform have not only emerged but have totally been leaked.

Courtesy of Engadget, a picture of a prototype Playstation phone has suddenly appeared and bears an uncanny resemblance to the PSP Go. Reports of SCEA being approached by Ericsson with prospects of producing a video game phone have been around for a while now. Though initial reports said that SCEA declined the offer by Ericsson almost immediately. Recent reports showed that SCEA had changed their mind on the idea and development had begun.

We hear at Game Cop are surprising somewhat excited about this phone. The iPhone has already taken control of the market of mobile gaming, but if there's one company that could overtake them it would be the combined efforts of Ericsson and SCEA. With Sony's experience in gaming and the brand recognition of Sony Ericsson could prove to be a serious competitor for Apple. Though it'll be a hell of an upward battle to say the least. What may make or break this phone will be whether or not it supports apps the same way the iPhone does.

The Playstation phone still has not been announced but I'd say we can expect something in the very near future.

PSP Go price drop - people still don't care.

Sony has just announced that the PSP Go will receive a price drop from $249 to $199. This price is for the North American region where as the United Kingdom will also recieve a price drop to £159.

However, for those who are unaware of the current conversion rate between the Pound and Dollar. Keep in mind that £159 is about equal to $251. Yes that's right, the UK is getting a price reduction to be where the PSP Go's price started at in North America when it first launched.

Which is so tragically funny that I have to feel sorry that our fellow Brits are still paying way too much for things that simply aren't worth it.

It's not like it really matters anyway. People still won't buy it. It's earlier models are still far superior in that they have been cheaper for far longer and have a much wider library for games.

I mean which would you rather have? For $200 you can buy a PSP3000 or a PSP Go.

Both are the same price, but where as the PSP Go is a fully downloadable gaming device, the PSP3000 can not only download all of the same games, but can also play physical media that isn't available on the Playstation Network.

You'd be a fool to go for the PSP Go. Sure, carrying around the physical disks may be cumbersome at points, but that's hardly noteworthy when knowing that there are some games that are impossible to play on the PSP Go.

And not the least of which is that we already know that the PSP2 is hot on the trails. Who is going to want to buy this impotent handheld that's going to be obsolete in another year or so?

Aww Hell!

WoW: Cataclysm will launch both physically and digitally at the same time.

Another big news at Blizzcon was the announcement that the latest expansion for World of Warcraft will be available for download at the same time as the physical retail version. This will be a first for Warcraft as the downloadable versions have always been released shortly after retail versions.

Having a simultaneous release gives customers some more options. As anyone whose seen the documentary Second Skin can attest, that WoW fans want their expansion as soon as possible and waiting for even a single day can be too much for some. So, not only will players be able to purchase the game digitally at the same time as the pyshical copies; they'll actually be able to download it earlier. However, they still will have to wait till the release date for them to actually access the contents of the expansion.

It's pretty exciting when you think about it. If you don't want to wait in a long line in the freezing cold (remember it will be early December at midnight-that's pretty fuckin' cold for most people) then you can sit quietly in your own home and wait comfortably as the clock ticks down.

Personally I'll be having my copy delivered from Amazon because of their great video game deals. And I'll be too tired to play the game at midnight so waiting the next day will be just fine for me. But for everyone else, this will prove to be a great thing. Afterall, who doesn't want to get in the game as quickly as possible so they can quest in zones with thousands of people, breaking the servers, waiting endlessly for mobs to spawn, as well as waiting in queues for hours.

Launch day is always so much fun.;-)

Minecraft Hackers say, "We love the game, that's why we're breaking it."

Minecraft (possibly the biggest game to come right out of nowhere) has been experiencing some stability issues. Players of the content creating game have been having significant slowdowns and have been having a hard time playing the game. The reason for this is an orchestrated DDoS attack.

What is a DDoS attack?

A DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) is an attack meant to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users. How this is done is to have computer bots in the thousands constantly and simultaneously logging into the service thus creating slowdowns.

The reason for this is not known until an anonymous posting appeared on, where else, 4Chan.

Aw yes 4chan, if ever there was a reason for the internet to be utterly destroyed it would be because of you.

Anyway, the posting is of someone taking responsibility for the minecraft attacks saying that this attack is a result of disgruntled Minecraft customers who are upset about lack of updates for the $12 game that is currently in Alpha stage.

The full post:

"Minecraft is currently experiencing a stimulation provided by us.

It’s purpose is to send Notch a clear message of how the future of minecraft will turn out unless he gets to work, namely by influencing the amount of sales taking place, due to the attacks.

Start providing your customers with the updates that you promise them.

We have roughly 83,000 bots available, and preserved for this seizure, we could if we wanted to keep this going for weeks, however we have decided to give it a week, and see whether or not your attitude, and commitment will change, we believe it will when money stops rolling in for the time being…

anyhow, no we’re not from roblox, or any other minecraft clone, not to mention none of us have been around 4chan for years, and nor has any real 4channers for that matter, its all newf**s now, and has been for quite a few years.”

Minecraft creator Markus Persson has filed a protection service against these types of attacks and has begun work on a more powerful server.

Frankly if it were me, I'd shut down Minecraft just to spite the whining man-babies, but that's why I'm not a game developer.

This supposed representative claims to not be from 4chan, but the absolute backwards idiocy that surrounds this post can only come from a 4chan user. To call these attacks retarded would be the greatest insult to retarded people, not even they would be so stupid as to get behind this. It would be like me holding the post office hostage because my issue of Gameinformer was late.

We can only hope that Minecraft can continue back to normal despite these ridiculous attacks. And to the supposed attacker, I have only this to say.

Blizzard Unviels last class for Diablo 3

This weekend is Blizzcon weekend and for Blizzard's big announcement, was the announcement of Diablo 3's fifth and last class for players to play. And the class is...

Demon Hunter!

The Demon Hunter's is basically the Hunter from WoW but without a pet. They'll be toting grenades, exploding bolas, throwing knives and a fiery molten arrow.

The Demon Hunter will join the Barbarian, Witch Doctor, Wizard, and Monk to round out the entirety of Diablo 3.

Here's the announcement trailer.

Gerstmann-Gate 2.0 Actively Happening?

According to Dan Hsu (former EGM Columnist and co-founder of Bitmob.com) has gone on twitter saying that websites have had their negative reviews of Fallout: New Vegas taken down due to advertiser pressure. You'd think after Jeff Gerstmann was fired from Gamespot for giving a somewhat negative review of Kane and Lynch, that publishers would avoid getting mixed up in something like that.

BUT.

This shit has been going on all the time, not to the degree of Gerstmann-Gate, sure. But there have been lots of PR nightmares where publishers and developers have had foot-in-mouth moments about negative reviews of games. Though few of them result in reviews getting taken down. It's still a little early so I will be posting more on this supposed scandal.

Fallout: New Vegas DLC coming...to 360. Sorry PS3 owners.

Bethesda Softworks announced shortly before their latest title launched, that the first down-loadable Content for Fallout: New Vegas will be an X Box 360 exclusive. At least for a certain amount of time.

It's no surprise that New Vegas will be supported with DLC as Fallout 3 had 5 separate packs for people to download. What was a surprise was the time in which this was announced. Less than a full day before players could pick their copies up. Seems to me that it would have been convenient if this news was given a little earlier, at least early enough before preorders were already shipping to players.

I bought my copy for the 360 so this news doesn't really affect me. Though, how bad must PS3 owners feel after finding out that their copy had shipped from Amazon, only to find out an hour later that the PS3 version was not the one to get at this time. I know I'd be pissed.

DLC is one of those new things of this generation that have enough weight to prompt decisions from customers. Just look at GTA4, where everyone hated the idea that the game was going multiplatform, but when DLC was announced to be 360 exclusives. Everyone went and got it for the X Box.

It was a poor idea to wait till the launch of New Vegas to tell people some very valuable information about the game. Hopefully, this timed exclusive will be a short as the map packs for Call of Duty and will only be a month or so.

What is Game Cop?

Game Cop is a personal blog about video games that takes an honest and sometimes harsh approach to the video game industry, and all the internal and external politics that surround it. Game Cop does not care about what fanboys or PR people think. We are straight face in everything we do. We don't beat around the bush, we beat through the crap that permeates the forums of great video game sites and the shifty game publisher stunts that undermine the consumer. Stay tuned for future updates on game reviews and articles. As well as our Top Lists for the end of 2010.