http://xml.ampednews.com/rss/latest_features.xml All the latest features from Amped News. en-us Fri, 09 May 2008 15:30:02 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss support@wiredlabs.net Copyright 2003-2008 WiredLabs, LLC. 120 http://www.ampednews.com/features/326/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/326/ Why is it that so many people seem to slow down or stop playing games altogether once they reach the age of 34? It is well known that only a small portion of active gamers are in the 34 – 60 year old age group, and we’d like to figure out why. One of the most common reasons mentioned among those we asked is the lack of games coming out that interest them: “When I got my first home PC I got hooked on adventure games. Just to make the statement: Gam... Tue, 06 May 2008 09:11:09 -0400 Filippo Dinolfo http://www.ampednews.com/features/323/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/323/ The Minority Report: Episode 1 Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:03:08 -0400 Anthony Perez http://www.ampednews.com/features/322/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/322/ For over a month now, Call of Duty 4 has dominated the Xbox Live charts. Quite surprising considering how powerful most thought Halo 3 would be. To celebrate the all-around success of the game, Infinity Ward and Activision are rolling out a new Variety Map Pack through Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, as well as a new edition of the game. And what better way to show them off to the public than a party? We were on hand for the New York City Gamestop challenge event on March 28. We played, ... Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:08:38 -0400 Alex Quevedo http://www.ampednews.com/features/321/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/321/ In the event that you do not follow politics, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned today—March 12th—after FBI wiretaps revealed Spitzer's involvement in a prostitution ring. Many expected this resignation to come sooner, but the (now) former governor made his quick announcement today. The resignation will take effect March 17th. Why are we, a gaming website, telling you about this? Because of the sex? Well, yes and no. You see, within the past few years, the &ldqu... Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:31:31 -0400 Alex Quevedo http://www.ampednews.com/features/320/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/320/ Today we've got Dylan Fitterer In The Hot Seat.  Dylan is the man behind the excellent game Audiosurf.  He was nice enough to take time out of his packed schedule to answer a few questions for us about a range of topics.  So let's get right to it. Gamer 2.0: Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for us. I guess we’ll start with the obvious one; would you tell us a little about yourself? How long have you been playing games? Did you take ... Sun, 09 Mar 2008 23:42:43 -0400 Filippo Dinolfo http://www.ampednews.com/features/318/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/318/ In a market where gaming is becoming more and more of a casual affair as the age of an average gamer grows older with the once-nascent industry. Mobile gaming on cellular devices, an increasing abundance of flash games, and the Wii’s fantastic success so far are reflective of this trend. As a business, gaming is inching closer and closer to revenues rivaling Hollywood and TV series. Instead of competing, though, these two industries could be working together creating a new prospective cash... Tue, 04 Mar 2008 01:24:13 -0500 Andrew Giese http://www.ampednews.com/features/319/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/319/ The Minority Report Pilot Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:01:27 -0500 Anthony Perez http://www.ampednews.com/features/315/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/315/ Crysis Hardware Performance Guide by Doug Jordan For the majority of PC gamers, Crysis is like a Victoria’s secret model. That is to say, she looks good on paper, but is unattainable in the real world. Thankfully, we understand and are here to help. Crysis has been known to bring even the most powerful PC’s to their knees, but with some smart hardware upgrades or even a few simple tweaks, you can get t... Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:36:43 -0500 Anthony Perez http://www.ampednews.com/features/317/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/317/ digg_url = 'http://digg.com/xbox/Gears_of_War_in_November_2008_and_more_GDC_Announcements_P'; This just in from a tipster who forwarded us a Microsoft press release in Italian prior to ... Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:00:43 -0500 Anthony Perez http://www.ampednews.com/features/316/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/316/ While becoming a franchise is the ultimate goal of any new IP, its developer always has the important task of walking the fine line between staying familiar to its roots and evolving the series’ gameplay. One route has the sequel staying largely the same, with some minor improvements that help it feel a bit more fresh and comforting. That usually only works for so long, so developers must take the other route, which is to take the series in a new direction by reinvigorating the game in all... Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:59:17 -0500 Chris Selogy http://www.ampednews.com/features/314/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/314/ 2007 came, saw, and conquered all expectations anybody had for the gaming industry. With huge blockbuster titles like Halo 3, Ratchet and Clank: Future of Destruction, Crysis, and Super Mario Galaxy covering all platforms, last year was a veritable gamer’s nirvana. But coming off of that high, will 2008 stack up? The question is on everyone’s mind and yet nobody can reach any agreements. What most people can agree on is that profits in 2008 will not match tho... Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:14:58 -0500 Andrew Giese http://www.ampednews.com/features/312/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/312/ Achievement Unlocked. These are two words that many Xbox 360 gamers have become addicted to.  What is it about these Achievements that keep people up at night going after just one more?  Well, part of it is the Gamerscore, a numerical representation of how much of a gamer they are.  Another part if it has to do with a sense of validation for having done something special within the confines of the particular game they happen to be playing. Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:08:56 -0500 Filippo Dinolfo http://www.ampednews.com/features/311/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/311/ The recent Xbox 360 Dashboard Update and PS3 Firmware 2.1 Update have added quite a bit of new media functionality to their respective systems.  They’ve always been able to stream media, such as music, photos, and videos to your TV, but now they’re able to handle more codecs and formats than before.  Almost everyone has some sort of downloaded media on their computer that they might want to view on their big screen TVs.&n... Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:27:45 -0500 Filippo Dinolfo http://www.ampednews.com/features/310/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/310/ With 2007 at an end as one of the best years of gaming in recent memory, we couldn’t wait to declare what games are going to be the biggest games of the upcoming year and see how 2008 stacks up. This is kind of like our version of the All-American awards in collegiate sports. Here are our choices for the most noteworthy games of 2008 in a dozen categories: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:15:03 -0500 Chris Selogy http://www.ampednews.com/features/309/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/309/ by Joshua Schwartzman, Staff Writer 2007 was, in many ways, one of the best years in gaming history. For starters, it gave us month-after-month of blockbuster hits (Bioshock, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Super Mario Galaxy), groundbreaking news, and plenty of interesting stories. For more on the beauty of 2007, check out our latest feature. But while 2007 had its fair share of... Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:37:37 -0500 Joshua Schwartzman http://www.ampednews.com/features/308/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/308/ Over the past couple of weeks Xbox Live has had quite a few issues.  Games have been dropping out, account recoveries are failing, matchmaking isn't stable, downloads from the marketplace stall or give error codes, and of course on some occasions, the service isn't able to connect at all.  Though the service is better now than it has been in the last couple of weeks, it’s still a long way from being as rock solid and snappy as it had ... Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:19:15 -0500 Filippo Dinolfo http://www.ampednews.com/features/306/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/306/ 2007 was surely one of the biggest years in gaming; there’s no doubt about that. Even if you only judge sales figures, we’re looking at what could be $18 billion in takings. But revenue numbers aren’t the only things to take into account when figuring out a year’s worth. 2007 had many major releases, but so did 2001 and 2005. Each of these years had many landmark titles that will be remembered for years to come. 2001 saw the release of some marquee titles for the PS2, the... Wed, 02 Jan 2008 23:56:31 -0500 Amadeo Plaza http://www.ampednews.com/features/307/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/307/ In our never-ending commitment to defy the conventions of videogame publications - evident in the way we designed this site and in the ways we are planning to improve it - we have decided to forgo Game of the Year Awards in favor of an extremely successful feature from last year called the Year in Screenshots. Looking back on last year's edition, we realized that this route, in addition to other retrospective features we'll be publishing about 20... Mon, 31 Dec 2007 19:27:13 -0500 Anthony Perez http://www.ampednews.com/features/304/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/304/ It has come that time of year for us all, readers and writers alike, to sit back with the family and enjoy the greater things in life. It doesn't matter if you don't observe Christmas for religious reasons, as we can all stand to agree that in the twilight of 2007 there lies the greatest opportunity for all of us to grind our lives to a halt, spend time with the family, play some games, and relax. That is what we will be doing here at Gamer 2.0 until 2008 is born. We still have a ... Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:45:40 -0500 Anthony Perez http://www.ampednews.com/features/303/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/303/ Given our recent look at the effects of advertising dollars on journalistic integrity, it seems apropos to lighten the mood with a more cheerful glance at the actual advertisements themselves. Just to clarify something out of the gate, it’s practically unheard of for any publisher, or any company for that matter, to make their own advertisements. They all go to advertising agencies, which is why so many of them exist. Most of them exist in New York City, which is why most p... Fri, 21 Dec 2007 01:47:49 -0500 Amadeo Plaza http://www.ampednews.com/features/302/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/302/ It’s no secret that competition and rivalries are usually good for the video game industry. Not only does it force developers to put all of their efforts into making the best games for their fans, but it also ensures that gamers do have choices. Unfortunately, not every rivalry results in the best situation for the gamers, as sometimes the rivalry instills a need to gain an advantage through any means possible to hurt their competition. With the first round of the fight between former part... Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:17:28 -0500 Chris Selogy http://www.ampednews.com/features/301/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/301/ Here we are the end of 2007 and yet another year of Spike’s Video Game Awards has passed. With so many big titles up for contention this year, there really weren’t any clear winners going into the show. But at the end of it all, it was 2K’s BioShock walking away with the biggest win of the night. Somebody hopefully either learned their lesson last year (or they got their ass fired) with the Sarah Silverman fiasco, but thankfully they kept Samuel L. Jackson to ho... Mon, 10 Dec 2007 08:37:05 -0500 Alex Quevedo http://www.ampednews.com/features/300/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/300/                            View Screenshots   ... Sat, 08 Dec 2007 16:41:07 -0500 Anthony Perez http://www.ampednews.com/features/299/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/299/ Disclaimer: This is not a real game. Just for those who don't get the satire. We recently mysteriously received a review copy of Real Life, an upcoming MMO that has supposedly been in a public beta test for years but slipped by us while we were playing other games. Heavenly Studios is the favored developer/publisher of Real Life (RL), but that is a point of much controversy. Some argue that there is no publisher, while others are stuck in a debate on whether it was Heaven... Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:22:29 -0500 Andrew Giese http://www.ampednews.com/features/296/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/296/ ezGear is a Utah-based company that specializes in creating accessories for an assortment of MP3 players, the PSP, and the Wii. We got our hands on their Wii Sports Pack featuring Baseball Bat, Tennis Racket, and Golf Club attachments for the Wii Remote designed to give a realistic feel to Wii sports games. Even if you’re into gaming accessories, though, ezGear’s product just doesn’t justify its cost. The best thing we can sa... Mon, 03 Dec 2007 00:10:51 -0500 Andrew Giese http://www.ampednews.com/features/298/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/298/ Hey new visitors to Gamer 2.0. If you're having problems registering for Gamer 2.0 in that you aren't receiving your activation e-mail that could be because your e-mail provider may be filtering it into your Spam folder. The activation email is sent by GameFlex. Additionally if you are having problems viewing people's profiles or editing your own that is because the system was created by our former parent company who really messed it up pretty bad. So bear with us... Sun, 02 Dec 2007 01:32:00 -0500 Anthony Perez http://www.ampednews.com/features/297/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/297/ It should come as no surprise that just about every gaming forum on the internet is ablaze right now following the news of GameSpot’s termination of long-time editor, Jeff Gerstmann. This article, however, is not an exposé or look into what really happened at GameSpot this week. Rather, consider this a look at the direction of gaming journalism, advertising, and how this all plays a role in the content you read. Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:33:58 -0500 Amadeo Plaza http://www.ampednews.com/features/295/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/295/ Aside from gaming, we all have other interests. We’re a relatively varied group, with some of us having a love for art, while others are passionate for our sports teams. But one of our common interests is starting to come hand-in-hand with gaming. Of course, we’re talking about film. We’d be damned if we all (that includes you) didn’t enjoy a good movie every so often. But what about games being turned into movies? There seems to be a pretty distinct line drawn in the san... Wed, 28 Nov 2007 08:18:10 -0500 Alex Quevedo http://www.ampednews.com/features/293/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/293/ Not too far back, the staff here at Gamer 2.0 released a feature showcasing what games we were looking forward to the most this holiday season. Now, as most of those games have come out, we decided to create a wish list of downloadable content we would love to see for Guitar Hero III and the upcoming Rock Band. Guitar Hero III just released two content packs for the same price that has been hated upon so much, and Rock Band’s already boasting a steady line up of DLC with unconfirmed prices... Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:56:52 -0500 Alex Quevedo http://www.ampednews.com/features/289/ http://www.ampednews.com/features/289/ Welcome to our second installment of Breaking into the Industry. More so than ever, landing a job with a development studio is an almost impossible task. Not only do you need to be one of the best in your field of expertise, but you need a network of contacts, good communication skills, and a large measure of creativity. On top of that, if you’re of the fairer gender you may be hesitant to try your hand at the craft because the industry has traditionally been dominate... Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:24:44 -0500 Andrew Giese