Reality Check - Do we need 4K?

Of course it does matter.... if new technologies for displays were not implemented, we would still be watching those CGA monitors :D

Now the real question is not if it matters or not, because it does matter... the real question is if I am going to jump in right away or not.... and as it happens all the time, at first the price tag is not for everybody.

For starters, I would have to buy a 4k TV or monitor to take advantage or the technology, and that has to go with a computer or console that takes advantage to it... huge investment. Now when replacing or changing my tv, I will make sure it will run the highest resolution possible (within my budget).

I will not jump in right away, but it is great news that it is out there, and for my next tv purchase, I think I will get it.

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MechWarrior Online Review

At this point, MechWarrior Online has been in open beta for so long that you could be forgiven for thinking it came out months ago. To be sure, there was little in the way of new content when the official launch date dropped last week; instead, the well-worn "beta" tag at last slipped away and presented new players with essentially the same game others have been playing for months. What we have here is a combat experience that's exciting and intense for many sessions, but winds down once the tedium of the free-to-play model and repetitive objectives takes over.

To an outsider, MechWarrior Online may appear to be about little more than hopping into bipedal tanks that resemble RoboCop's ED-209 and blasting the hell out of each other. Sure enough, there's that (and developer Piranha Games usually manages to deliver it), but the MechWarrior franchise also has some deep lore that stretches back to its tabletop origins through BattleTech in 1984. Alas, you see only snippets of it here, chiefly revealed through cosmetic skins and baubles you can buy for your ship's dashboard. It's a nice if ultimately meaningless touch, since currently little else matters besides crushing the mech across the field.

Good thing, then, that Piranha got the actual feel of piloting a mech right. Stomping around in a two-legged tank is every bit as unwieldy as it sounds (and that's kind of a good thing), in part because you have to master the act of turning your cab and steering your rig's legs separately. It feels believable, though, as do other elements, such as the staggeringly complex upgrade system that associates a weight and space requirement with even the smallest pieces of equipment. MechWarrior Online thus demands careful consideration of which role you want to play, because outfitting your mech with nothing but heavy cannons leaves you plodding across the field with all the speed of a massive tectonic plate.

It's best to experiment with multiple roles in the testing grounds, such as jumping into lighter mechs with cloaking abilities that can paint targets for other players, but mastering each still comes down to trial and error thanks to MechWarrior Online's laughably inadequate tutorials that cover basic movement and little else. Want to learn how to toggle the various sight modes? You'll have to dig into the official forums or search for YouTube videos. Piranha recently included a third-person view for mechs to ease newcomers into the experience, but cries of possible cheating (by allowing mechs to "peek" around corners with the perspective shift) led to a smart decision to disable the view entirely in 12-versus-12 premade maps. In this way, newcomers can still use the third-person viewing mode to learn the ropes, while focused competitors can still have the purer mech experience they long for.

The climate of each of the eight maps has a pleasantly immersive way of affecting your gameplay. If you're battling through the frigid wastes of Frozen City, for instance, you can blast away with near impunity. Attempt the same trigger-happiness in the molten expanses of Terra Therma, and your mech will overheat, leaving you helpless against the enemies prowling about. These little touches, along with night modes that bump the tension of combat even higher, do a good job of making the maps feel distinct from each other.

That combat is usually good enough to make up for many of MechWarrior Online's stumbles. Mechs lumber along with heavy clangs and the whirring of gears, and the constant threat of running across an entire team encourages sneaking around corners and sniping unwitting opponents. One-on-one fights benefit from unrelenting tension as well, and a player who knows all the quirks of piloting a mech will have a clear advantage over the one who doesn't, no matter how big the size of his or her guns. It helps that the mechs themselves are beautiful in their cold brutality, even if the surrounding landscape doesn't always achieve the same visual intensity. Even so, the sound design does much to make up for it, especially with the satisfying thumps and pulses from the laser cannons. You might occasionally long for some bombastic music to bring drama to battle, but MechWarrior Online doesn't feature a musical soundtrack. This absence, however, does much to capture the gritty, no-hogwash combat vibe Piranha so obviously wants to deliver.

It's a shame that all this attention to detail isn't enough to keep MechWarrior Online from suffering from tedium. Not only does the missing lore lead to a lack of investment in the world, but the two simple combat modes leads to tackling the same tired objectives ad infinitum. Assault amounts to little more than team deathmatch with the admittedly welcome option to also win by storming your opponent's base. In Conquest, on the other hand, you earn victory either by by capturing the resources from five points or by slaughtering all the enemy mechs. Despite the repetition, the model does have its appeal, particularly when you find yourself winning a conquest match alone because the other team was too busy killing mechs instead of capturing points. Alas, that doesn't happen often, due to an imperfect matchmaking system that frequently pits groups of random players against organized teams.

The lack of extra game modes is all the more surprising once you consider MechWarrior Online's free-to-play model. You're encouraged to buy many specialized items with real cash through the ads splattered over the home UI (including some pricey premium mechs), but you can still build a strong mech with so-called C-bills earned from matches if you have a lot of patience. Again, a lot. Long grinds for earning the same items available for cash are the norm with the free-to-play model, but the time commitment is particularly harsh here. And with only two modes to choose from, the grind soon becomes more tedious than fun, possibly leading you to wonder why you're even playing in the first place.

The answer for most players is likely that this is the best iteration of a long-neglected franchise that we've seen in years, and there's always the possibility it could improve. Piranha constantly drops hints regarding features to come, such as "community warfare" that captures some of the faction rivalry of previous games, yet in its current launch existence, MechWarrior Online is hardly more than a solid arena shooter populated with mechs. If the game had made better use of its assets and given us a reason to care about more than the fleeting pleasures of customization and combat, it might be worth enduring the currency grind. As it is, like its strongest mechs, it runs out of power far too fast.

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State of Decay (PC) - Now Playing

It should have difficulty options. Why not just give the option to run the simulation while you're not playing / or not. While I don't like the idea of it playing itself while I'm living, someone else might.

That way if you want perma death. you got it.

I'm looking forward to this on PC. Not a fan of stuttering, so waited. Hope it's modable!

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Red 5 Studios removes PvP from Firefall, eSports staff no longer with company

September 26, 2013 6:57PM PDT

Red 5 Studios has removed the PvP and eSports elements from it's free-to-play MMOFPS Firefall.

Red 5 Studios' CEO, Mark Kern, announced in a letter to the Firefall community earlier this month that the studio would be scrapping the current version of its PvP system in its free-to-play MMOFPS. The PvP system was reportedly only being utilized by 3% of the user base.

Kern penned, "we're going to regroup, rethink, and deliver the best PvP system we can that can be enjoyed by everyone. We don't have a timetable for this, but at some near future point we will shut off the PvP aspect of the game, which we feel does not represent Firefall at its best, and relaunch that part of the game when its ready. "

Kern's letter to the community included a remark on their decision to keep eSports in mind during the development process. He wrote, "We have gone through several iterations, and for some time, pursued the controversial e-Sports route. As many of you know, its not working very well."

That announcement, which preceded more announcements, appears to have been made on the heels of a lot of sudden decision making internally. Their tournament partners have not yet taken down their pages for Firefall competition.

The second to last news post on the ESL's Firefall portal says, "Go4Firefall will be taking a little break in September and will be back in October to accommodate the players and teams to catch up with the latest patches and PVP changes and also allow us here to implement some of the many feedback we received to allow a better experience for teams and players that will help grow Firefall PVP."

Turtle Entertainment's Electronics Sports League had been hosting "GO4Firefall" cups since April of this year, paying out €10,000 a month.

Within a week of Kern's letter to the community Red 5 Studios would circulate a press release noting that the studio was "being reorganized prior to the launch of Firefall." The press release would add that the majority of the layoffs, which totaled about 10 percent of its staff, would primarily be from Red 5's video entertainment channel Stage 5 TV.

One of the employees laid off was Morgan Romine, industry veteran and founder of the all girls eSports team the Frag Dolls. She was working as the eSports Director; this is not a position that Red 5 is planning to refill.

Red 5 had previously invited eSports personalities Scott "SirScoots" Smith and Sean "Day[9]" Plott to appear during a streaming marathon last July they called Firefall Fest. Smith and Plott played the game's competitive mode "Jet Ball" and hosted a Q-and-A with one of Red 5's developers.

We reached out to ESL for a comment shortly before publication, but due to the time difference between American and Europe they could not be reached. GameSpot eSports will update this story when they respond.

→ More coverage of ESPORTS on GameSpot.com

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What SteamOS Tells Us About the Rumored Steam Box

What does the SteamOS announcement mean for the long-rumored "Steam Box", and how will a Linux-based operating system impact consumers?

Valve kicked off its trio of announcements this week by unveiling its upcoming SteamOS, the Linux-based operating system targeted at small form factor PCs designed for the living room. The announcement comes as a bit of a surprise and leaves many questions unanswered, but an analysis of Valve's recent past and the technology behind a proposed Linux-based gaming system provides hints as to the future of Steam's presence in the living room.

Valve's current efforts started taking shape when it's simplified, controller optimized Big Picture mode UI entered beta back in September of 2012, and the proposal of a so-called "Steam Box", a console sized PC designed for gaming through Steam, made waves at the Consumer Electronics Show a few months later. With two more announcements to go this week, presumably related to the living room space, there's a chance that such a box will surface, but one question remains: will it come from Valve or third-party manufacturers?

Here's what we know so far: the SteamOS can be licensed and implemented at no cost to hardware manufacturers and users. That alone gives credence to the inevitability of third-party Steam-branded PCs. However, the Steam moniker and logo would presumably fall outside the license tied to the SteamOS, and it's likely that Valve will seek to control its brand through some semblance of quality assurance moving forward, especially so if it hopes to contend with the strength of brands such as PlayStation and Xbox.

Theoretically, working with third parties to maintain a certain level of quality for sanctioned Steam Boxes will take a considerable effort on Valve's part, but it's far more likely it will go this route as opposed to designing and manufacturing its own hardware. At least, a series of events over the past year seem to indicate as much. In the same month it released the Big Picture Mode beta, Valve began looking for new engineers to join its hardware division, specifically to "conceive, design, evaluate, and produce new types of input, output, and platform hardware." It then came to the Consumer Electronics Show with prototypes of Steam-dedicated PCs, thus reigniting rumors of an official Steam Box. Given the growth in the PC gaming space of late, the proposition of an easy-to-use, low-profile gaming PC for the living room caught on easily with an audience hungry for next-gen consoles, months before Sony and Microsoft had made any announcements of their own.

However, fast-forward to February of this year, and the hardware division was effectively disrupted when two of its key staff members were laid off: Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson. Valve is a company with a lot of fluid capital geared toward experimentation, but the same willingness to initiate efforts seems applicable to shaking them up, according to Ellsworth's interview with Develop last July, though Valve later stated that the layoffs weren't an indication that any projects had been cancelled.

Chances are, given the ubiquity of Steam, there will be numerous third party Steam Boxes designed specifically for the new OS in the years to come, but there are still hurdles to overcome if Valve or manufacturers hope to find success in a dedicated gaming box. Chief among those is the Linux environment.

Unlike Windows, Linux is unable to use Microsoft's DirectX graphics API; a framework developers use when creating games. OpenGL is the most popular alternative to DirectX, and it's plenty powerful in its own right, but it's nowhere near as popular. Some games support both OpenGL and DirectX, but only a fraction of the nearly 3,000 games available through Steam. Take one look at Steam's selection of games for Mac OSX (821 games) and Linux (299 games), and the disadvantage of a Linux box becomes clear: users will have access to only a fraction of the Steam library.

On the other hand, given SteamOS's ability to stream games from a secondary Windows PC to a TV, it's likely that steam-friendly boxes will become a new niche in manufacturers' line-ups alongside desktops, laptops and tablets. In the past, managing director and Valve frontman Gabe Newell has been outspoken about device-to-device streaming technology, calling out the Miracast technology by name as a means to deliver Windows-centric Steam content to low-cost TV-connected devices. Given this, it's likely that Steam Boxes will exist in two flavors once the OS gets rolling: low-cost devices that stream games from discrete gaming PCs running Windows, and dedicated Linux gaming PCs from third-party manufacturers.

Users hoping to construct their own SteamOS PCs have another hurdle to contend with beyond the lack of DirectX: Linux driver support. The Linux community and various manufacturers have come a long way toward improving support for the untold number of PC components on the market, but Windows remains king when it comes to providing users with functional drivers. Granted, popular manufacturers such as Nvidia and AMD are keeping up just fine, but it's not unusual for incomplete drivers to plague fresh Linux adopters with exotic hardware. Sometimes the incomplete support affects components within components, such as individual chips on motherboards that can affect everything from audio output to SATA support for hard drives. It's an imperfect environment, and it's likely that users will have to compromise one way or another, by building machines from an approved list of parts, purchasing a sanctioned Steam Box from a third party, or streaming their existing PC content to a connected SteamOS device.

Plenty of people are indeed excited about the prospect of taking their PC game libraries into the living room, and chief among the benefits of doing so is support for the Steam Workshop, Steam's repository for user-created game mods. PC users have held game mods over console-players' heads for as long as the two markets have vied for dominance in the gaming space, and the Steam Box may tip the scales for consumers who are skeptical of the two upcoming next-gen consoles' ability to outpace the growth of PC gaming. Mods provide a means to customize games in exciting and new ways, and in doing so, they enable the community to drastically extend the life of a product by delivering everything from custom characters to complete single-player campaigns, all free of charge.

Of course, Valve wouldn't be able to compete with consoles unless it found a way to integrate multiplayer at a system level as well as Microsoft and Sony have, but in today's SteamOS announcement, it also mentioned the inclusion of Game Hubs, which will let players easily join game groups, form clans, and chat in-game. With that final stroke, there isn't much ground that Valve won't have covered when SteamOS goes live in the near future.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of a Steam Box is the proposition of family sharing, a feature that will let people play games owned by other family members and, potentially, a select number of friends. Only one person at a time can use games from a distinct account, but support for account-specific game saves, in the cloud no less, makes family sharing something more than an official means to grant account permissions to numerous devices. Microsoft had a similar plan for the Xbox One, although it was retracted once the company altered its stance on DRM for its future console.

Where exactly Valve is headed is still anyone's guess, though it's likely the two remaining announcements this week, coming this Wednesday and Friday, will shed light on the future of its latest venture. It's certainly an exciting time for players, and perhaps scary for console manufacturers with hard street dates for static hardware looming overhead. If anything, Valve continues to ignite fires in the PC market, and if it has its way, the pillars of console gaming will have no choice but to react in someway to a successful Steam Box should one, or many, bring PC gaming to the living room in the near future.

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New Watch Dogs Gameplay from TGS 2013 Sony Stage Demo

"Did you know that your name is tied to a whole bunch of cold cases?"

In the first CGI trailer, Aiden stormed an underground brothel and left the main pimp to be arrested for human sex trafficking. What Aiden said to this man appears to hold the same type of context, with that CGI trailer in consideration.

Looks more and more like Aiden is going after sex traffickers. I'm going to love this game.

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Top 5 Skyrim Mods of the Week - Diablo Dungeons & Chicken Mounts

No Pete Stef this is a weekly show. Its also meant to humour. There are many mods which greatly improve the game. Some of them without even changing the gameplay at all. For example SkyUI, bug fixes which you can't get on console not to mention there are more confirmed bugs on console version of skyrim. Besides mods, skyrim on PC has uncapped Fps not stuck at 30 or below, and higher resolution textures. Also full HD.

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Diablo III Loot Comparison - PC vs Console

@natalieyan 

It depends on how good you are with PCs.

If you find spending time building PCs fun then you probably will choose to play all of your games on them. They tend to run and look better and are mod-able. 

However, if messing with PCs gives you a headache because you associate them with humdrum activities, then stick to consoles. All you have to do is buy the game, it's guaranteed to work without giving you random nonsense about random stuff. 

On a bad day, PC can really get you looking into some arcane shit, simply to run a simple game.

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GS News Top 5 - Battlefield 4 Beta, Steam Tease, and GTA V Sales

In this episode of GS News, Chris talks about the upcoming Wii Sports HD addition, Andrew Wilson talking about himself as the new EA CEO, Sega buys Atlus parent co, GTA V breaks records and Microsoft exploring "hundreds" of Xbox One TV show ideas.

Posted Sep 18, 2013 | 3:33 | 0 Views

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Our favorite cheat codes in Grand Theft Auto V

September 20, 2013 4:02PM PDT

We have some fun causing mayhem in Los Santos using a few random cheat codes.

Want to cause the same type of mayhem Chris is showing off in the video? Check out the cheats below. Remember, use your controller's D-pad to input in the directional instructions.

Note: Inputs below use the PS3 controller. For the Xbox 360, just substitute the following: X=A, Circle=B, Square=X, Triangle=Y, L1=LB, L2=LT, R1=RB, R2=RT

Cheat	Input
Bang Bang (Explosive Bullets)	RIGHT, SQUARE, X, LEFT, R1, R2, LEFT, RIGHT, RIGHT, L1, L1, L1
Skyfall	L1, L2, R1, R2, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, L1, L2, R1, R2, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT
Slow Motion	TRIANGLE, LEFT, RIGHT, RIGHT, SQUARE, R2, R1
Explosive Melee Attacks	RIGHT, LEFT, X, TRIANGLE, R1, CIRCLE, CIRCLE, CIRCLE, L2
Drunk Mode	TRIANGLE, RIGHT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, SQUARE, CIRCLE, LEFT
Slidey Cars	TRIANGLE, R1, R1, LEFT, R1, L1, R2, L1
Fast Run	TRIANGLE, LEFT, RIGHT, RIGHT, L2, L1, SQUARE
Spawn Rapid	GT R2, L1, CIRCLE, RIGHT, L1, R1, RIGHT, LEFT, CIRCLE, R2

Got more GTA V cheat codes? Tell us in the comments below!

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From Software details new Dark Souls II features

September 18, 2013 6:00PM PDT

By Peter Brown, Eddie Makuch

Director Yui Tanimura outlines key changes to underlying gameplay systems for upcoming current-generation role-playing game.

Dark Souls II will feature a number of key changes to underlying gameplay systems, according to From Software director Yui Tanimura, including revamped rules for player interactions, co-op, and PVP.

Tanimura explained the changes during a recent presentation attended by GameSpot.

Unlike the peer-to-peer lobbies that fuel the original Dark Souls, players will now populate dedicated servers, like the spiritual predecessor, Demon's Souls, thus increasing the number of players that populate a given instance of the game.

In order to encourage player interaction, blood messaging is built into Dark Souls II as a system command, negating the original game's item requirements.

Summoned players--players who join the game of another character--no longer automatically exit a game upon the defeat of a boss. By utilizing different sized White Soapstone items, players gain different amounts of time for co-op play, but this allotment depletes as the summoned player defeats enemies. Players can also now summon two players at once, creating a three-player co-op experience.

When a player's game is invaded, they have the chance to receive backup from fellow covenant members if they belong to the "Way of the Blue" covenant. This will make it harder for stronger players to torment low-level characters, and give players a chance to act as a savior for the weak.

The final changes noted during the presentation pertained to characters with undead status. If a player dies while fighting as an undead character, their HP limits will decrease with each consecutive death. In order to recover from undead status, players now must expend a "Human Effigy" item, rather than an amount of humanity.

Lastly, unlike the original Dark Souls, undead players are susceptible to invaders in the sequel.

Dark Souls II will be released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on March 11, 2014. A release date for the PC version has not been announced. PlayStation 3 owners in North America, Europe, and Australasia can sign up for the beta, which begins on October 12.

For more on Dark Souls II, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

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Dark Souls II release date announced

Open-world role-playing game Dark Souls II will launch on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on March 11 next year in North America, publisher Namco Bandai confirmed. The announcement was made during Namco Bandai's pre-Tokyo Game Show conference today.

A collector's edition was also revealed and will include a soundtrack, artbook, 12 inch figurine, and a cloth map. A release date for PC was not confirmed.

Dark Souls II is the sequel to the critically acclaimed Dark Souls. PlayStation 3 owners in North America, Europe, and Australasia can sign up for the beta, which begins on October 12.

More news from the show can be found at our Tokyo Game Show 2013 hub.

→ More coverage of Tokyo Game Show 2013 on GameSpot.com

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GS News - GTA V is out, Gabe likes Linux and Battlefield 4 news

Hi Chris, nice t-shirt, lolol.

About Steam Box, i'm waiting for more information, off course, but i'm really satisfied with my platforms (consoles and PC), i don't know if this new system will appeal for me.

And Deep Silver (or Volition), trying to be funny, again, well, they try. But for me, SR4 it's a disappointment.

Peace.

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League of Legends Season 3 World Championships kick off

The $2,000,000 League of Legends Season 3 World Championships have begun.

Riot Games has kicked off the League of Legends Season 3 World Championships, with 14 of the best teams from North America, Europe, South Korea, China, and Southeast Asia battling for $2,000,000 and the title of best League of Legends team in the world.

The Season 3 finals began with the first day of group matches, where the top two teams from each group advanced to the quarterfinals to meet with the first-place finishers of each region. Teams in the group stage include Team SoloMid and Team Vulcun from the United States, Samsung Galaxy Ozone and SK Telecom T1 from South Korea, Fnatic, Gambit Gaming (Russia), Lemondogs (Sweden), GamingGear (Lithuania) from Europe, OMG from China, and Mineski from the Philippines. Cloud 9 from the United States, Gamania Bears from Taiwan, Najin Sword from South Korea, and Royal Club from China wait the winners in the Quarterfinals.

Games kicked off with TSM taking a quick victory over a GamingGear team who will have a rough road ahead of them these playoffs, and Lemondogs putting up a battle with tournament favorites SKT1.

Things ramped up much quicker for TSM's next match against OMG, a team that is playing outside of China for the first time. OMG AD Carry Guo "San" JunLiang left no question of their tournament inexperience by leading them to two wins over TSM and SKT1. Guo led the day in average gold per game, and second in KDA with 19.

"I never thought we could beat SKT1," midlaner Yu "Cool" JiaJun told GameSpot about their wins. "We've watched all of their previous games and their AP and AD carries are so strong. I think the reason we were able to win against SKT1 was because our Jungler [Yin "LoveLin" Le] played great in the beginning. He was able to get us our advantages."

"We didn't know much about TSM before our game. We didn't put a lot of pressure on ourselves before playing them. We actually have very high expectations for ourselves. I think it's important to have confidence in your own team."

"The biggest thing was that we lost mid," said TSM support Alex "Xpecial" Chu. "Fizz vs. Ahri is supposed to be a winning matchup for [TSM Captain] Reginald, and he lost the lane. Ahri got out of control. Today was a frustrating experience and hopefully we learned a lot from it. We've still got six more games, and if we can win five we have a really good shot of making it out of the group stage."

Chu believes Group A to be a much more difficult group, stating that most analysts have picked SKT1, OMG, and Lemondogs as the best teams in each of their regions--Korea, China, and Europe, respectively.

"I say we'll get out of group stage, and I firmly believe Vulcun can get out and have a really good shot," said Chu. "I'm 100 percent sure if we were in Group B, we would get out."

Group B saw Vulcun with a big win over Fnatic to start things off, and SG Ozone return the favor soon after. SG Ozone closed out the day against Gambit Gaming, which earned the final spot in the European playoffs after a close decider against Evil Geniuses. Gambit used Vulcun's similar lineup in their game against SG Ozone for their own benefit, getting them a crucial win against one of Korea's best teams.

"I think we were not that nervous, we knew what they were going to do," said Gambit Captain Alexey "Alex Ich" Ichetovkin. "They really suffered versus Vulcun, and we were pretty sure we had an edge. We decided to pick our comfort picks, and we knew [what they would pick] because we picked similar to Vulcun."

Ichetovkin says that Gambit has used their preparation against teams like OMG in the days leading into the event.

"We're scrimming a lot against the Chinese teams, against OMG. They brought a lot to our teamplay and game overall. We've changed a bit about our game. We're pretty confident. I think we should be able to win against the other teams. The only team we're not sure against is Fnatic. They're really good against us."

Day two was headlined by a battle between Gambit and Fnatic for the top spots in Group B. Fnatic has not lost a game to Gambit since the Spring Playoff Finals, having lost all the games in the Summer Season. Ichetovkin's worries came true as Fnatic continued their streak to tie up both teams 3-1 on the top of Group B.

Fnatic Top Laner Paul "sOAZ" Boyer believes the picking phase played a key factor in their win.

"Everyone thought went good for us. I think we really out banned and out picked them, and we played good. I think Gambit is the team we know the most in Europe. We know how to play against them. Gambit is really predictable on their picks."

"We expected a bit more from the Koreans. I think they're really strong individual players but their teamplay is not that good compared to what we've seen before."

Hundreds of thousands of viewers tuned in from around the globe to watch the opening day of the championships on live-stream, though no confirmation could be given on peak concurrent viewers or total views. The #Worlds hashtag trended third in the United States above NFL games at certain times, and at one point there was over 25,000 concurrent users on the League of Legends community hub on Reddit.

Reddit General Manager Erik Martin tells GameSpot that the League of Legends subreddit was the most active subreddit on the entire site yesterday. "It was indeed the most active (by pageviews) subreddit for the day," he said.

Riot Games head of eSports Dustin Beck told GameSpot that the developer has been blown away by the event's reception thus far.

"We're just completely floored by the community's reception as we kick off the group stages of the Season 3 World Championship," Beck said. "We can't wait to see which teams make it out of the Group Stages, and we hope fans enjoy the rest of this week's games as much as we're gonna!"

The group stages continue again tonight and every night at 7 p.m. PST through till Saturday, September 21. Watch the event live on GameSpot each night. GameSpot eSports is live on location provided interviews every day of the championships.

→ More coverage of ESPORTS on GameSpot.com

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Community News: Monday 9/16

Happy Monday GameSpot, we've got a lot going on this week!

What to look forward to

GameSpot is coming to SXSW… Maybe!
But we need your help! Games media veterans GameSpot's Ben Howard and Red Robot Labs Inc. John Davison will lead a discussion about the challenges publishers of core, big-budget franchises face as well as what emerging companies in the mobile and indie scene are changing all expectations about the games industry and its future. - please go vote for our panel!

GTAV is coming, are you ready?
Carolyn took part in a bit of an Ask me Anything style Q&A today after our GTAV review was posted. If you missed out don't worry, we'll be having another sit down with Carolyn later this week on GameSpots Reddit page.

GameSpot is on Tumblr!
Just in case you missed it, GameSpot now has a Tumblr account, we be all up in these social medias!

The new site… it's almost here.
Currently the due date for the new site is early October, and baring any major issues we find along the way things should be pretty classy around here. We will be having another one of our Fireside Chats this Wednesday with the ever spiffy Lark Anderson to host. Have questions about the new site? Ask them below.

Community Spotlight

This weeks GameSpot Member Spotlight shines on Stevo_the_gamer a valiant System Wars Mod.

A bit about him: PC gamer first, console gamer second. Video games is one of my major hobbies. Currently studying Criminal Justice; getting a major in that, and will pursue a minor in Sociology and/or Psychology.

Contests

The rumor mill spins as Team Social plots and plans for this weeks contest. While nothing has yet been confirmed, there are whisperings' of a Grand Theft Auto V giveaway in the works. Make sure you're following us on Facebook and Twitter the the latest contest updates!

That's it for today Spotters! Be sure to check back on Wednesday for our next Community News Update!

→ More coverage of COMMUNITY on GameSpot.com

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GS News - GTA V reviews, Battlefield 4 and Mass Effect updates

@NicholasT33 @crix01 Hmm, is proper grammar a good metric for intelligence? Regardless, a good point about a gaming population can stand on it's own merit, regardless of it's source. Though I would confirm it for yourself by viewing the comments section of the review. He's right, lot's of trolls and morons. Also a large number of people saying the only reason to play the game is because it's misogynistic, wtf?

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$2,000,000 League of Legends Season 3 World Championships begin

September 15, 2013 1:28PM PDT

Competition begins, as 14 of the best teams from the world over battle for seven-figure purse.

Today kicks off the League of Legends Season 3 World Championships, where 14 of the best teams from North America, Europe, South Korea, China, and Southeast Asia will compete for $2,000,000 and the title of best League of Legends team in the world.

The Season 3 finals begin with six days of group stage matches, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the Quarterfinals to meet with the first-place finishers of each region. Teams in the group stage include Team SoloMid and Team Vulcun from the United States, Samsung Galaxy Ozone and SK Telecom T1 from South Korea, Fnatic, Gambit Gaming (Russia), Lemondogs (Sweden), GamingGear (Lithuania) from Europe, OMG from China, and Mineski from the Philippines. Cloud 9 from the United States, Gamania Bears from Taiwan, Najin Sword from South Korea, and Royal Club from China await in the Quarterfinals.

Group A begins with North America Season 3 runner-ups Team SoloMid taking on GamingGear who qualified through the wildcard tournament. Group B will start with European Season 3 Champions Fnatic taking on Vulcun.

Professional players whos teams have been eliminated from the playoffs will be analysts for the event, including Counter Logic Gaming's Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng, Evil Geniuses Stephen "Snoopeh" Ellis, and SK Gaming's Carlos "ocelote" Rodríguez Santiago. They will join Riot Games' broadcasters Leigh "Deman" Smith, David "Phreak" Turley, and Joshua "Jatt" Leesman.

Games started at 3 p.m. EST/12 Noon PST and can be watched live on Twitch and YouTube, as well as through the official LoL eSports site.

GameSpot eSports will be providing live coverage and updates every day from the Season 3 Championships.

→ More coverage of ESPORTS on GameSpot.com

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Top Five Skyrim Mods of the Week - ALIENS!

September 14, 2013 12:00PM PDT

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By Johnny Chiodini, Video Producer | Cameron Robinson, Video Producer

This week's Top 5 Skyrim Mods sees Cam, Johnny and the ever brave Kevin VanNord face off against the terrifying Xenomorph Alien Horde!

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Zelda Music Swap by -cC+ Wolfy

aMidianBorn Blades Armor by CaBaL

ALIENS by Dogtown1

HD Armored Circlets by cyanideja

Goat Dynasty: Genesis by Fisto the Sexbot

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Saketume 5pts

Always with the double posts :o

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Battlefield 4 beta starts October 1

An open beta for Battlefield 4 will launch on October 1, Electronic Arts has announced. The beta will be available on that date for all Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC players.

An "Exclusive" Battlefield 4 beta was previously announced for Battlefield 3 Premium owners, those who preordered the Battlefield 4 Digital Deluxe version, and owners of Medal of Honor: Warfighter. It is not clear when this version will be released.

Battlefield 4 launches for current-generation consoles and PC on October 29. For more on the Battlefield 4 beta, check out a FAQ page on the game's website.

EA also has announced Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launch dates for Madden NFL 25, FIFA 14, and Battlefield 4.

These games will be available on November 19 (North America)/November 21 (Europe) for Xbox One and November 12 (North America)/November 29 (Europe) for PlayStation 4.

For more on Battlefield 4, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

→ More coverage of ESPORTS on GameSpot.com

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Torture Chamber - Unfair Mario

@Karjah I bet you play sports better than those fools on TV as well ;)

It's always easier when you're not the one who has to do it.

You have to remember he's on livestream with an office full of people giggling at him and a chatroom full of trolls + he needs to think of what he says and keep an eye on the chat and be entertaining and think of how he looks etc. Then the controls may not be as responsive as you might think.

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Coming of Age with the Press of a Button

Chris Watters analyzes the remarkable bond between narrative and gameplay in Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons blew me away. The heartfelt story of two brothers going on a grand journey moved me, the gorgeous environments and evocative art delighted me, and the clever control scheme and light puzzles intrigued me. These are the familiar elements that many games use to captivate players, but few games use them in harmony as well as Brothers. By designing narrative and gameplay to complement and enhance each other, Brothers conveys emotion in a uniquely poignant way and proves itself a powerful example of the expressive potential of video games.

(Be warned, the following contains major spoilers for Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. If you are merely curious about the game, I suggest you read Mark Walton's eloquent and spoiler-free review. The game only takes about 4 hours to complete and I highly recommend experiencing it for yourself before you read on. It's wonderful.)

This video review is your last chance to get out of here spoiler-free.

Brothers begins laying the groundwork for its best moments in the tragic first scene. The younger brother watches helplessly as his mother drowns in front of him, and soon after, his father falls ill with a mysterious ailment. In order to save him, both brothers embark on a journey to find a mystical tree high in the mountains. When they come upon a river they must swim across, however, the younger brother balks. Still traumatized by his mother's death, he must cling to his older brother's back to make it across.

This dependency goes both ways. The older brother is too large to fit through small gaps that the younger can squeeze through, and big brother can boost his sibling up to ledges that neither would be able to reach alone. Such simple puzzles build on the theme of connectedness. The two brothers are already bound to each other narratively by blood and by the quest to help their father. The environmental design forces them to work together to overcome the obstacles they face, cleaving them to each other through gameplay. And because the left stick and trigger control the elder and the right stick and trigger control the younger, the two are even further bound together on a fundamental mechanical level.

Having to control two characters at once is a curious sensation. The two are physically separate and are controlled separately, yet they must act--you must make them act--in unison. As the brothers are bound to each other through different aspects of the game's design, so too are you connected to them. This is a particularly good example of one of the fundamental strengths of video games: the ability to make you feel connected to characters by putting you in control of them.

Brothers builds on this basic connection by drawing you into the emotional bond between the two boys. The gibberish they speak conveys mood and tone perfectly well, and through their exclamations and their actions you see their personalities emerge. You may be drawn to the elder's politeness or the younger's ebullience, or put off by the younger's impertinence or the elder's rigidity. With strengths of one complementing the flaws of the other, the brothers cover more emotional range than a single character could and make it easy to identify with them.

And so Brothers crafts a deep fellowship. By controlling them both, you develop an instinctual sense for each boy's place in the world. Each spoken phrase or idle gesture speaks volumes to you. You get the sense that no more could these two part ways than your hands could detach and walk away from each other. This easy, unthinking intimacy feels like brotherliness, and only through the harmonious interplay of narrative, level design, and gameplay is Brothers able to achieve such a credible representation of that deep bond.

With the foundation of brotherhood established, Brothers sets its sights on other, darker emotions. Because the brotherly bond is so skillfully woven, it becomes all the more upsetting when it begins to fray. A beguiling new presence captures the elder brother's attention late in the game to the confusion and dismay of the younger. There is a period of uneasiness that puts you on edge, and after a dramatic and tragic encounter, the older brother is gravely wounded. For the first time in the game, the younger sets off on his own, desperate to find the item he hopes will save his brother. As you guide him up a twisting, winding tree, the contorting environment mirrors the disorienting feeling of using only your right hand to play the game that has demanded both for so long. When you emerge from the tree, disorientation turns to shock. The older brother has died.

I was playing the same game, but I was no longer playing the same game. How can you convey the feeling of loss? The death of a beloved character can make you feel sadness and regret, but grief goes deeper. There is an emptiness, a hollowing out, a physical sense of loss that mere narrative often fails to capture. But the sensation of my left hand gripping the controller passively, lying dormant while my right continued to work, that sensation felt to me like loss. The physical balance of my play experience was upset; I was playing the same game, but I was no longer playing the same game. Something had been lost.

When a beloved family member passed away recently, my life took on a similar fractured quality; I was leading the same life, but my life was no longer the same. A loss like that reverberates throughout many aspects of life, and so it seems only natural that to convey this poignant sense of loss, Brothers uses multiple aspects of the game. The narrative informs you of your loss by showing you the lifeless body and the weeping younger brother. But you aren't simply told, not merely shown. You are forced to change the way you interact with the game on a physical level and then, in your hobbled state, you must bury your brother. With each pile of dirt you push onto his corpse, you see him passing from your life and you feel your left arm lying limp by your side, a physical manifestation of virtual death.

The emotional impact of this moment is intense, and only the interactivity of the medium allows it to carry the weight that it does. But this isn't Brothers' last trick. Carried to within shouting distance of his home, the younger brother faces an insurmountable challenge. In order to reach his father and deliver the cure, he must swim across a dark expanse of water. It's not possible. At every watery obstacle prior, you moved the elder brother to the shore, pulled the left trigger to make him dive in, then moved the younger towards him and pulled the right trigger to make him grab on to his brother. Yet even as you remember this simple solution, it dawns on you what you must do.

You pull the left trigger. This is a profoundly odd feeling because your mind has so securely bonded the younger brother to your right hand. It feels wrong. It feels uncomfortable. But sure enough, the left trigger sends him foundering and flailing into the water where he slowly makes his way across to the far shore. In that brave act, the younger brother confronts his fears and forges onward, growing up a bit in the process. This narrative coming of age is underscored by your physical action; by pulling the left trigger, you make the younger assume the role of the elder. Because this act is a subversion of what you've been doing for the whole game, you feel some of the trepidation and unease that accompanies the transition from childhood to adolescence. And amidst this tumult of emotions, there is a note of comfort, an assurance that even when our loved ones pass away, a part of them stays with us.

Brotherhood, grief, maturation. These aren't the themes you might expect to find conveyed honestly and authentically in a video game, and yet Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons does just that. By treating the physical act of using the controller as part of the emotional experience of playing a game, developer Starbreeze Studios leverages the interactivity of the medium to create something special. The potential of video games to probe the human condition is vast indeed, and it's inspiring to play a game that takes on that noble challenge.

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Pikmin 3 US sales reach 115,000 units

Pikmin 3 has sold 115,000 combined physical and digital copies in the United States since launch on August 4, Nintendo announced today, citing data from research firm the NPD Group.

Another August release--Mario & Luigi: Dream Team--sold nearly 190,000 combined physical and digital units, Nintendo added. That game was released on August 11.

Nintendo also called out New Super Luigi U, saying the game has now sold nearly 120,000 copies. It was originally released as downloadable content for New Super Mario Bros. U in June and became available at retail earlier this month.

The 3DS was the top-selling games system for August in the US, beating out the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Nintendo said today that is has now sold more than 6.47 million systems so far in 2013, up more than 30 percent compared to this time last year. Thus far in 2013, nine 3DS games have sold at least 250,000 copies.

Nintendo also provided updated 2013 and lifetime sales figures for various 3DS and Wii U games. Check out the list below.

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon - 863,000 units (2013)
Animal Crossing: New Leaf- 739,000 units (2013)
New Super Mario Bros. 2 - 406,000 units (2013), 1.85 million units (lifetime)
Fire Emblem: Awakening - 390,000 units (2013)
Mario Kart 7 - 352,000 units (2013), 2.84 million units (lifetime)
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - 298,000 units (2013)
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D - 268,000 units (2013)
Super Mario 3D Land - 265,000 units (2013), 2.86 million units (lifetime)
Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins - 264,000 units (2013)

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Shareholder sues Activision Blizzard over $8.2 billion split plan

A shareholder of Activision Blizzard has filed a lawsuit against CEO Bobby Kotick, co-chairman Brian Kelly, and Vivendi SA in an effort to block a stock sale.

According to Bloomberg, shareholder Douglas M Hayes stated in the application that the sale would "unjustly enrich Kelly, Kotick, and the other participants". The lawsuit was filed on September 12 in Delaware's Chancery Court.

In July this year, game publisher Activision Blizzard announced its intention to separate from its parent company Vivendi. The deal was orchestrated by Activision Blizzard's management team and assisted by investors. The intended trade will result in shareholders owning a controlling stake in the business.

Kotick and Kelly were responsible for the purchase of 172 million shares, worth an estimated $2.34 billion. The pair personally contributed $100 million to secure the sale. At present, Vivendi owns 61 percent of Activision Blizzard's stock.

The announcement followed news earlier this year that Vivendi was exploring a "variety of options" to sell a portion of its stake in Activision Blizzard. At the time, a number of potential buyers were named, including Microsoft, Time Warner, Tencent, and Disney.

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AquaPazza: AquaPlus Dream Match Screens

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Bushnell: Nintendo could be on a 'path to irrelevance'

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell has said that he believes Nintendo may be facing a "path to irrelevance" with its current products.

Speaking with the BBC as part of the Campus Party developer event being held in the UK, Bushnell said he thinks the time for single-function gaming devices has passed, and that the device marketplace is simplifying.

"I don't think handheld game-only devices make sense anymore," he told the publication. "Not when you have an iPod or an Android microtablet.

"When it comes to the console market, I think the market is truncating," he said. "Nintendo always had a soft spot for young people--they sort of did the 12-and-under pretty well, and the other guys did the 12-and-over.

"And now I think the other [consoles] are good enough on those things, and the rush to upgrade from the 12-and-under is not nearly as important."

Bushnell is more positive about virtual-reality devices like the Oculus Rift, saying that provided the challenges of display latency and the feeling of motion sickness can be resolved, the device has a good chance to succeed.

"The problem with virtual reality has always been motion sickness," Bushnell said. "If they're able to really get the reality and the image right, with low latency, I think they'll get it. With most motion sickness, you can build up immunity--and I believe that will represent a brand new, really powerful gaming system."

Last month, a Nintendo rep confirmed that the company is still selling its Wii U system at a loss. Two weeks ago, the company revealed that it would be phasing out the basic version of its Wii U hardware, as well as slashing the price of its Wii U system from September 20.

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Top Five Skyrim Mods of the Week - Giant Rabbits vs. Chicken Shout

September 7, 2013 9:00AM PDT

Cam is joined by Danny this week for a show filled with giant rabbits, elemental shields, and a shout that turns any living thing into chickens.

Fursnake 5pts

I was just thinking it's about time somebody made a "Night of the Lepus" mod for Skyrim.

laugm 5pts

Kevin Van Ord took 4 arrows to hit the broad side of a running Giant Rabbit? I am disappointed :P

Whiterun Guard : "You are under arrest!" (comes out as bwak bwak bwak bwak?)

Did you try the chicken shout on a dragon? "Dragon chicken" or "Chicken dragon"?

Keeper_Artemus 5pts

I'm amazed that exploding chickens continue to be so much fun.

Shinra_Tensei4 5pts

where is the guy from animal crossing that always annoys cam?

Amandamarvell 5pts

The elemental and mind shields are quite a bit less awesome when you remember your runescape playing days and recall that that is what they came from

wetblanketparade 5pts

Eventhough I dont even like this game I really enjoy the program.  Its really amazing what people are able to do.

elburnso 5pts

What's with Danny and Pigeons? lol

RIVElR 5pts

No offense to Danny, but not the same without Seb.......

DisturbedFan789 5pts

Best episode ever. Giant rabbits and the ability to turn people into explosive chickens. I haven't seen anything like that since the Morph-O-Ray in Ratchet & Clank.

jessie82 5pts

the game looks so dated now :/

especially at the waterfall view while in mid air

mucking_foron 5pts

shhhhhhh I'm hunting wabbits. be vawy, vawy quiet!

maxrang 5pts

that show is one of the most things that makes skyrim lives since they released the creation kit

Amandamarvell 5pts

@jessie82 That was a mod, and you were never intended to scrutinize things from the sky like a God.

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KickBeat Review

Zen Studios, the mind behind the popular Zen Pinball games, has been keeping secrets from us. For one, apparently it's an industrial electronic dance music fan. It also appears Zen Studios has known the formula for an enthralling rhythm game all along, now demonstrable through KickBeat, its roundhouse kick to the PlayStation library. As a much-needed adrenaline-laced injection to the realm of music gaming, KickBeat harks back to what made the genre flourish in the first place, but gives things a twist. Marilyn Manson and kung fu moves together may sound as appealing as peanut butter and tuna, but give Zen Studios' admirable attempt at branching out a fair shake, and it will surprise you.

You hop into action as Lee, a teenage everyman on a mission to retrieve the Sphere, a radiant ball of energy that embodies the spirit of every song that has been or ever will be created. As he chases after the Sphere, he combines some Matrix-style face-kicking and other dazzling martial arts moves with fancy footwork, all in the name of saving music. It's a hokey, throwaway narrative, but it's so cheesy it manages to fit in well with the vibe KickBeat radiates.

Lee's only job as savior of the music is to deliver swift beatdowns to hundreds of baddies who gather around him in a circular formation and attack in rhythm. That's where you come in. Across several arenas populated by masked wrestlers and colorful ruffians, you continue along a path of righteous butt-kicking, smacking down goons to the tune of Papa Roach's "Last Resort" or Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People."

Each level is tied to a different track, with a varying aesthetic and rapidly increasing difficulty. Lee stays positioned in the center of a group of ne'er-do-wells as they advance in a set pattern. When an enemy is about to land an attack, you must press the corresponding direction on the D-pad or face buttons. KickBeat throws curve-ball enemies at you that attack on the downbeat, in pairs, or exactly in time with the music. If you're tapping along with the rhythm, you'll string together impressive combos and perform admirably. Missing notes entirely carries the hefty price tag of having a portion of Lee's health whittled away. Once the gauge reaches zero, it's game over.

KickBeat has a disarming allure that veils its challenging nature. Even if you're familiar with the song (and you very well may be) the difficulty ramps up quickly, whether you're ready or not. Enemies that constantly stay in motion, the ambiance of a crowded club, and the pulsating beats work together to ensure your concentration is broken as often as possible. At certain points during a stage, Lee pulls off particularly impressive moves, denoted by quick cinematic animations that zoom out from the action to focus on his physical feats. These can throw you off quicker than a Britney tune in the nu metal song roster, so it's prudent to turn off that option in the menu.

Unfortunately, turning off cinematics and ramping up your own focus doesn't always make things any easier. As you progress, you find yourself struggling to keep up, which can be occasionally maddening. Power-ups that can be absorbed via double-tapping the D-pad or face buttons, such as multipliers or additional health, serve to alleviate the pain of crushing defeat only slightly, and there's such a limited track list that playing the same songs over and over again simply to progress can begin to wear thin on the nerves. Frustratingly enough, once you've moved on to higher difficulty levels, you're no longer helped along by directional icons or indicators to help guide you in the right direction, making some levels feel impossible without an excessive amount of practice.

Fortunately, there's something innately compelling about jumping back in, especially once you feel as though you may finally have mastered the current track. If you're up to it, you can complete the game a second time as a female protagonist, with the difficulty dialed up even further. Hardcore fanatics will undoubtedly flock to the add-your-own-music feature after plastering the leaderboards with their own high scores, but newcomers to the genre should prepare themselves for a butt-kicking. If you've already exhausted Amplitude at insane difficulty or your Oni Dance Dance Revolution tracks have become boring, this might be your next vice.

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Xbox One FIFA 14 Bundle coming to Australia

September 4, 2013 7:43PM PDT

Microsoft's Xbox One to launch with FIFA 14 pre-order bundle; console dated for November 22 release in Australia.

Microsoft has confirmed that the Xbox One FIFA 14 pre-order bundle will be available in Australia for the launch of the console on November 22.

Fans who pre-order the Xbox One will receive a free digital version of FIFA 14. The bundle was originally announced at this year's Gamescom for pre-orders in Europe.

The Xbox One version of FIFA 14 will include console-exclusive access to footballers Pelé, Patrick Vieira, Freddie Ljungberg, Ruud Gullit, and Gary Lineker.

The Xbox One Day One Edition console is currently sold out in Australia. A Microsoft spokesperson was unable to confirm whether Australia will be receiving the additional allocation of consoles brought out in the United States. Similarly, local the availability of the Forza Motosport 5 bundle announced for the United Kingdom is also unconfirmed.

The Xbox One will be released in Australia on November 22 with a recommended retail price of A$599. Microsoft has confirmed 23 games will be available for the Xbox One at launch, including exclusive titles Dead Rising 3, Zoo Tycoon, Ryse: Son of Rome, and Killer Instinct.

→ More coverage of AUSTRALIA on GameSpot.com

By Zorine Te, Community Manager

Zorine is the Community Manager at GameSpot Australia. She enjoys competitive gaming, eating and winning. Is prone to gamer rage.

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Cloud 9 takes League of Legends Season 3 North American Playoffs

September 2, 2013 4:55PM PDT

Cloud 9 beats Dignitas and Team SoloMid in finals; Cloud 9 heading into World Championships as number one seed.

Professional League of Legends team Cloud 9 continued its dominance from the League of Legends Season 3 North American Summer Season into this weekend's Playoffs at PAX, going undefeated to win $50,000 and the number one NA seed heading into the World Championships.

Cloud 9 swept both Dignitas in the semi-finals, and Team SoloMid (TSM) in the finals; both teams they have never lost to this season. Cloud 9 is a combined 13-0 in map wins over both teams for the Summer Season and playoffs combined, and 30-3 against all teams in the league.

"We practice with each other a lot, we know what each other's picks are," Cloud 9 AD Carry Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi told GameSpot about their finals against TSM. "The first game was probably the closest…but the rest of them were a lot more one-sided. We just played our game."

The win here advances Cloud 9 to the quarter-final stage at the World Championship with Korea's Najin Sword B, Taiwan's Gamania Bears, and the winners of the Chinese Championship. These four teams will wait it out as 10 teams face off in the group stages, divided into two groups of five, with the top two teams in group advancing to the quarter-finals.

"I think it'll be good for us," Scuderi said about their advantage going into the world championships. "The pressure will make us play better, honestly."

TSM and Vulcun will join Cloud 9 as the North American representatives, as TSM was able to get past internal struggles to capture victories over longtime rivals Counter Logic Gaming in the opening match, and Vulcun in the semi-finals. Vulcun won a deciding match against Dignitas for the last spot. Counter Logic Gaming and Curse failed to make it to the world championships.

"We knew without a doubt we'd make it to worlds," said Vulcun's Benny "SychoSid" Hung. "Dignitas definitely didn't make it easy."

Tickets for the League of Legends World Championships Finals, held at the Los Angeles Staples Center in October, sold out in less than an hour after first being released. A second batch was sold out within minutes this weekend.

"Last year we sold out for the Galen Center in two weeks" said Riot Games eSports Manager Nick Allen. "People just really want to go to the World Championship…lots of eSports fans from all over the world. We have to keep growing bigger and better. The Staples Center, while big, can't hold as many fans as we have all around the world. We need to get a bigger space so we can handle that."

The group stages for the World Championships will begin on September 15 at a studio location, with the semi-finals held at the Galen Center, and the finals at Staples Center on October 4. The live broadcast can be watched on GameSpot during the event, and GameSpot eSports will be providing onsite coverage for the entirety of the playoffs.

→ More coverage of ESPORTS on GameSpot.com

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GS News - PS4 voice recognition, IllumiRoom and Inafune

hmm hmmm hmm bad pun: "oh man there's a man on my mega screen, man"

hmm hmm No this does not change my view of the xbone. I'm still not interested.

eeerhmm megaman.. never was interested in thet IP. 

hmmmmmm yeah I got nothing.

I hope you keep doing the news when Jess is gone, Danny.

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Mega Man creator launches Kickstarter for Mighty No. 9

[UPDATE] Funding for Mighty No. 9 has reached over $620,000 from more than 10,000 backers fewer than 24 hours since the project went live. The campaign has until October 1 to reach its funding target of $900,000.

The original story is below.

Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune has launched a Kickstarter campaign for a classic-inspired side-scrolling action game to be developed by an "all-star team of Mega Man devs."

The game is called Mighty No. 9 and developer Comcept is seeking $900,000 for the project. At press time, more than 1,300 backers have contributed over $96,000 to the project.

According to its Kickstarter page, Mighty No. 9 "takes the best aspects of the 8- and 16-bit era classics you know and love, and transforms them with modern tech, fresh mechanics, and fan input into something fresh and amazing."

In Mighty No. 9, gamers play as Beck, the ninth in a line of "powerful" robots and the only one not infected by a "mysterious computer virus" that caused the robots to go berserk.

Players will run, jump, shoot, and transform their way through six stages (more if stretch goals are reached). Mighty No. 9 is currently in development for PC with gamepad support. The game will launch on Steam, as well as DRM-free digital distribution stores.

If stretch goals are reached, Mighty No. 9 will also be released on Mac, Linux, and home consoles. The game is aiming to be released in spring 2015.

→ More coverage of PAX 2013 on GameSpot.com

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BioWare releases more Dragon Age: Inquisition concept art

BioWare has released numerous new pieces of concept art for Dragon Age: Inquisition, the developer's upcoming role-playing game.

The images, from lead concept artist Matt Rhodes, were originally shown during this weekend's Dragon Age: Inquisition panel at PAX Prime in Seattle, Washington.

The newly released concept art shows off the game's recently confirmed Qunari playable race, as well as various scenes of humor and struggle alike. More images are available on Rhodes' website.

Dragon Age: Inquisition runs on the Frostbite 3 engine, the technology also behind upcoming games Battlefield 4 and Need for Speed: Rivals.

The role-playing game was recently delayed one year. It is now due out in fall 2014 for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC.

For more on Dragon Age: Inquisition, check out GameSpot's recent preview.

→ More coverage of PAX 2013 on GameSpot.com

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Playstation 4 supports voice recognition

August 31, 2013 7:31PM PDT

Sony confirms PlayStation Camera allows for voice recognition; more details to be shared ahead of November launch.

The PlayStation 4 will support voice commands, a Sony representative has confirmed.

"Sony Computer Entertainment can confirm that PlayStation Camera allows for voice recognition and we will look forward to sharing more details in the lead up to the launch of PlayStation 4 on November 29 [in Europe]," a Sony spokesperson told Polygon.

The confirmation comes shortly after an Amazon listing for the PlayStation Camera stated that it would allow features including "navigational voice commands."

Competitor Microsoft will offer voice command support for the Xbox One via Kinect.

The PS4 launches November 15 in North America, November 29 in Europe, and in 32 countries in all by the end of the year.

→ More coverage of PS4 on GameSpot.com

By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.

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