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Iwata: only 35% of Wiis are online, 20% of DS

Nintendo has never been known for fully embracing online gaming, and the Wii trails a distant third behind the PS3 and Xbox 360 when it comes to playing online — despite being the top selling console. Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata has revealed numbers on online connectivity, saying that 35% of Wii consoles are online and only 20% of Nintendo DS consoles.

Furthermore, Iwata said that those numbers will decline if the company doesn’t “take aggressive action” on the online front — which it of course plans to do. All we can say is; it’s about damn time!

Cliffy B: Borderlands is the Diablo of FPS

Cliff Beszinski, better known as Cliffy B, showed his love for Borderlands by tweeting “Borderlands, I adore you. You’re Diablo for a generation raised on first person shooters. I want a Claptrap.” He’s quite right, Borderlands might just be the Diablo of FPS games, considering that you’ll be spending a lot of time looting and managing your inventory. For more on the game, read our Borderlands review.

Warhammer Online free trial loses limit, capped at level 10

Mythic Entertainment has changed the way the demo works for their MMO RPG Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Instead of limiting players to a 10 day trial, the limit is now gone, where players can play as long as they want, except for one thing: the level limit is set at Level 10.

This is a good idea in theory, as it gives plenty of time for players to explore the world instead of just going XP hunting. We’ll see if it pays off with increased subscriber count.

Star Trek Online shipping on February 2

Star Trek Online has finally received a release date: February 2, 2010. The Star Trek based MMO is currently in closed beta to subscribers of Champions Online, and will receive an open beta in the upcoming months. The game allows you to join either the Federation or the Klingons as the commander of your own starship, go on missions and engage in combat with other ships.

PC version of Modern Warfare 2 to support only 18 players

Well, this seems like the final nail in the coffin for PC gamers who are looking to get some decent multiplayer action on Modern Warfare 2: it seems that the PC version, already stripped of dedicated servers, will have the same multiplayer player count as the console counterparts: 18 players, or 9 vs. 9, developer Infinity Ward revealed.

Clearly another disappointment for the PC crowd, as 64 players have been the standard for most games, from Counter-Strike to Battlefield (even Modern Warfare 1 supported at least 32 players). It’s pretty much conclusive that Modern Warfare 2 PC version will simply be a port of the console editions, and as ports from consoles to PCs go, they’re always inferior.

Serious Sam HD gone gold

Serious Sam HD developer Developer Digital announced via Twitter that Croteam’s Serious Sam high def re-incarnation has gone gold — however, as fate would have it, that particular tweet has since been removed. Another tweet reveals that you’ll be able to pre-order the digital copy of the game next week. We’ll see if that one sticks on Twitter or not.

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.

China bans WoW

The Chinese publisher NetEase, which has been running World of Warcraft in the country, has been ordered by the General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) to stop charging players and to block further signups for the game. GAPP, which recently shut down as many as 200 MMOs, cited “illegal behavior” in WoW, while China’s Ministry of Culture has said the GAPP’s ban was “inappropriate”. Seems like politics will be digging deeper into this issue.

BioShock 2 official website launched

2K Games has officially opened the doors to the BioShock 2 website. The flash-heavy website (which takes its time to load), offers the usual treats in form of screenshots, videos, a forum and a way of pre-ordering the game. BioShock 2 will be out in February next year.

Check it out at www.bioshock2game.com/en/

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.

Xbox Live celebrates Halloween with a banning

Microsoft has announced today that they are setting their sights on Xbox Live members with a modded Xbox 360. And by setting their sights on, I mean they are issuing a massive banning.

A Microsoft spokesperson said the following to IGN:

“We have taken action against a small percentage of consoles that have been modified to play pirated game discs. In line with our commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the more than 20 million members of our Xbox LIVE community, we are suspending these modded consoles from Xbox LIVE.”

So, any of you readers with a modded Xbox 360 notice that you can’t log onto Xbox Live anymore?

Borderlands review

Borderlands has been a highly anticipated title since it was re-announced earlier this year, with an all new look. And the stylish, sell-shaded look might look like the main attraction for this sci-fi shooter, but there’s a lot more to be had in addition to that; lots of action, aliens, and especially, lots of guns.

The story of Borderlands is somewhat weak, but it’s more than made up for by the slick presentation and the four playable main characters, each with their own style and personality. The game takes place on the planet Pandora, where human have flocked to in order to mine and cash in on large mineral deposits. However, the settlers discover that the planet is actually not that wealthy, and instead of minerals, aliens are the real treat. That’s where you come in… More »

Netflix Stream Instantly coming to PS3

The Xbox 360 has had it for just about a year now but it seems that Sony and Netflix have finally inked a deal to bring Stream Instantly to the PS3, too.

Netflix says they will launch the service next month and will be free for subscribers to download and begin streaming some of their 17,000+ movies and TV shows instantly. This is good news for the company as well as us as it brings the service to millions of new potential customers.

We’ll keep you posted as the service’s launch date grows closer.

via yahoo

Capcom pondering whether or not to charge for Monster Hunter 3 online play

If you didn’t know Capcom charges for online Monster Hunter play in Japan, frightening right? What’s even more frightened is Capcom is pondering whether or not to charge for Monster Hunter 3 online play here in the United States.

Don’t get too scared though as virtually every other Capcom title here in the states is free to play online so they will most likely keep with the current business model and do the same with the U.S. release of Monster Hunter 3 .

The game will be out for the Wii in March of next year.

Read (MTV Multiplayer)

Microsoft testing Xbox Live rewards program

Rumors began circulating yesterday that Microsoft was preparing to test an Xbox Live rewards program and today emails have been sent out confirming that fact.

Below a Microsoft spokesperson comments on the program:

“We are always exploring ways to provide the most value for our members and are currently testing a pilot rewards program with a select base of our Xbox LIVE community in the US. We have no further details to share at this time.”

Yup, same deal, they let us know what they are doing but refuse to give us any details on the matter. Kotaku says there will be a sign-up period to test the program out that ends on October 21st.

As always, we’ll keep you posted.