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Miami police arrests Modern Warfare 2 pirate

It seems that Activision can’t get enough PR for the release of Modern Warfare 2, as the game is now in the spotlight after 18 year old Christian Del Amo was arrested by Miami Police for trying to sell pirated versions of the game.

This comes after Activision had hired an online investigation firm to look into suspicious posts on Craigslist advertising Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 bundles for sale. With the age of high-speed internet, where anyone can download the pirated version, why would you even try and sell the pirated version on a burned disc? That kind of “business” seems so 1999.

NCsoft reports profits of $40 million in Q3

Korean publisher NCsoft announced in their latest financial results that the company made revenues of $142 million in the third quarter, with profits of $40 million.

This is an increase of a staggering 835% compared to last year, mainly fueled by MMO Aion — one of the few big MMO releases this yea — which was pre-ordered over 400,000 times, the publisher revealed, and proudly added that sales numbers top 500,000 copies in North America, and 470,000 copies in Europe.

Activision Blizzard posts $15m profits in Q3

The newly merged mega-publisher Activision Blizzard just posted their Q3 financial results, where they revealed profits of just $15 million on a whopping $703 million in sales, which as any businessman and wall street analyst will tell, isn’t the best profit margin. The revenue increased almost $100 million compared to the same time last year, but that year, the company lost $108 million. Now $15 million doesn’t seem like a bad thing at all. Activision Blizzard still expects sales to top $4 billion this year.

Polyphony Digital spent $60 million on Gran Turismo 5

Have you been wondering why it’s been 5 years since a Gran Turismo hit the scene? Well, according to Polyphony Digital that’s exactly how long it’s taking to develop Gran Turismo 5, not to mention the fact that it cost about $60 million.

News comes to us from Gran Turismo 5 developer Kazunori Yamauhci who was questioned how much money it cost to develop the highly anticipated title. After answering the question he let us know that the title required that much money and this much time to “get it right”.

So, it looks like we will be seeing a very very polished game when GT5 makes its way onto store shelves sometime next year.

via joystiq

Pre-order L4D 2, get a hat in TF2

File this under the “cheap-pre-order-tactics”; Valve is doing as much as they can to attract as many pre-orders of Left 4 Dead 2 as possible, this time, they’ll throw in a hat for your in Team Fortress 2. Players who already pre-ordered L4D 2 will get the hat unlocked as well, and can show it off, cartoon-style, in TF2.

Thor and Captain America games slated for 2011

After unveiling the games Thor and Captain America, SEGA has now announced that both games are slated for a 2011 release. The games are based on the anticipated moves which are set to be released in 2011, and the games will be released alongside, with Thor in May 2011 and Captain America in July 2011.

A chance to meet Uwe Boll

Uwe Boll, the infamous German filmmaker with smash hits, sorry, flops such as Alone in The Dark and Bloodrayne, will be available for photographs and signing in Van Nuys, California for two hours on Nov. 7, at the Spudic Movie Empire, where his film “Postal” will have a few screenings.

Doom cover artist passes away at 73

Don Ivan Punchatz, the artist behind one of the most recognizable game covers in history, passed away yesterday at the age of 73.

Punchatz created cover art for numerous publications in his life, from books to games, to magazines like National Geographic and Newsweek, but for gamers, he was known for that iconic cover of that iconic game; Doom.

Uncharted 2 gets Halloween update

Developer Naughty Dog has patched Uncharted 2, fixing a number of issues ranging from display issues to multiplayer connectivity issues (you can read the full change log here). The developer has also announced a “first ever Double Cash Weekend,” which started at 11:00 AM PST today, and continues until 11:00 AM PST on November 2, and will give double cash (just like double XP in COD 4), to players during the time. Players can then spend the money on upgrades etc.

Nintendo announces DSi XL

Nintendo has gone ahead and confirmed various rumors of a new DSi with larger screens, by officially revealing the DSi XL, which the console will be called in Europe. The new console will have 4″ screens instead of the regular 3.25″, and the whole system will be substantially larger (as you can see above) and will even include a full sized stylus. So far the console has only been announced for Japan (as the DSi LL) and Europe (as the DSi XL), but we expect a North American announcement to come shortly.

BioShock 2 Capture The Sister trailer

Borderlands launch trailer

Gearbox has released the launch trailer for Borderlands to… Well, to celebrate the launch of the game! Enjoy the stylish video, we’ll have our Borderlands review up in the upcoming days.

Dead Space and Dirt on Xbox 360 Games on Demand

Xbox 360s Xbox Live Games On Demand just got expanded with Dirt and Dead Space. Dirt was released two years ago, while the sequel, Dirt 2 was released only a few months ago (read our Dirt 2 review). While Dirt will retail for $30, Dead Space, the horror game released last year, will retail for only $20, a great deal which definitely rivals the price if should you buy it used on eBay or at GameStop.

Netflix requires disc in PS3 in order to play

The recent announcement of Netflix for the PS3 was well received among console owners, however, news has come out that might put a slight damper on the party — at least for a while.

Netflix revealed that the “Netflix blu-ray” disc that will ship free to PS3 owners, will have to be in the console during streaming of movies. Not just when you install the software, but every time you stream movies via the service. Netflix noted that the disc will only have to be used until they offer a downloadable service similar to the Xbox 360, which should come later this year.

Xbox 360 sales reach 34 million

At the recent sales and earnings announcements, Microsoft revealed that their Xbox division almost doubled the profits compared to last year. While overall Q3 profit declines 18 percent to $3.57 billion, the Entertainment and Devices profit jumped from $159 million to $312 million. Likewise, both game sales and Xbox Live revenue increased considerably as well, compared to last year.

Microsoft also revealed that the installed base for the Xbox 360 was now at 34 million worldwide. In comparison, the Wii has an installed base of almost 55 million, while the PS3 base is at 24 million.