EL33TONLINE: News archive for September, 2011
The day dawned bright and early for the El33tonline team, after months of planning and preparation it was finally time to reveal Stand 28 to the world, well to South Africa at least.
The queue was building outside the Coca Cola Dome, both with gamers eager to get into the LAN and visitors excitedly awaiting the doors to the venue to open. And open they did, with the LAN filling up quickly with gamers settling into their homes for the weekend and visitors to the event making their way around the show floor.
Don’t be surprised if you’re prompted to install a patch when you first boot up Dark Souls next week. The game was released on September 22nd in Japan, and is already on version 1.03 following user complaints regarding freezing issues and certain NPCs disappearing unexpectedly.
Dark Souls is a PS3 exclusive over there, so it’s possible that these issues don’t pertain to the Xbox 360 build which will be available in the West starting from October 4th.
November is a crazy time of year for video game releases, with heavy-hitters like Uncharted 3 and Skyrim competing for your cash before the holidays have even begun. If you’re a fan of arcade racing titles then Need for Speed: The Run will probably be another November game on your ‘most-wanted’ list, and yesterday EA announced you’ll be able to sample a demo for it as early as the middle of October.
PC gamers who have purchased Ubisoft games in the past will be used to getting the short end of the stick in terms of delayed release dates, with popular titles like Driver: San Francisco and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood launching on PC weeks or months later than their console counterparts.
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations was supposed to buck this trend by launching worldwide on November 15th across all major platforms - PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
PC gamers weren’t too pleased when Rockstar Games gave them the cold shoulder last year by refusing to publish Red Dead Redemption on their platform of choice. Thankfully the publisher isn’t going to make the same mistake twice, as earlier this year they announced their intention to bring the critically acclaimed console title L.A. Noire to PC.
Part One saw us peeking behind the scenes of rAge 2011. We saw a few teaser pics of the EA, Ster Kinekor and Nintendo stands. This time around we’re taking a look at what Megarom, Microsoft and Nu Metro have in store for you.
Remember that rAge kicks off tomorrow at 10am at the Coca Cola Dome. The El33tonline team will be at Stand 28 so come and say hi and maybe walk away with some free stuff!
Drills are buzzing, vacuums vacuuming, the smell of fresh paint and glue lingers upon the air, as the sounds of videogames begin to filter through the cacophony of noise. Boxes are being unpacked, the last touches to stands being made and consoles are being set up. These are the sights and sounds of rAge that would greet you if you happened to stroll into the Cola Cola Dome today.
Of course by tomorrow any signs of the mad hustle and bustle would have disappeared, with extension cables, hardhats and ladders neatly packed away, leaving you to enjoy the wonders that the videogame industry has to offer you.
Here’s a brief glimpse into a few of the stands at rAge, we’ll be bringing you a closer look tomorrow once the stands are finished so stay tuned. You can read Part Two over here.
This week’s Media Create software chart is one of the most exciting we’ve seen this year, with no fewer than eight new titles in the top ten.
What’s particularly interesting is the wide range of genres and consoles represented by these best-selling games. The Xbox 360 gets some much needed attention from the Japanese audience with the release of Gears of War 3 - Microsoft’s heavy-hitter sold 56 113 copies during its opening week, slotting in at number four on the chart.
This week’s Media Create hardware chart sees the 3DS maintain its ascendancy as sales of Nintendo’s mercurial handheld continue to climb. The 3DS now enjoys a healthy lead over its closest rivals, with 70 159 units sold during the last week compared to 39 452 PS3 systems shifted.
The console with the best percentage gain this week is the Xbox 360. Can you guess what made a few extra thousand Japanese consumers flock to purchase Microsoft’s console? One game is responsible for the sales surge and that game is none other than Gears of War 3. It went on sale on September 22nd in Japan and helped boost Xbox 360 numbers to 3 897 units - a 200% increase from last week.
You may have seen news a little earlier about Kalahari’s ludicrous offer to all rAge attendees, promising a free voucher to everyone who visits the South African online retailer’s stand at the show from tomorrow through to Sunday.
Too good to be true? Nope.
El33tonline’s Stand 28 is taking shape and we’re almost ready to go! Our day started early with unpacking all our goodies to decorate our home for the next three days.
Luckily we had Richard and Ivan, along with their trusty ‘G6’ trolley, to help us unload. Our TV is set up and we’ve unpacked our furniture, so things are looking a bit more like what we had envisioned in our heads when we started planning this celebration all those months ago.
This week’s European PlayStation store update is simply massive, with a stack of new downloadable titles to purchase as well as the usual plethora of add-on content for your favourite games.
Highlights this week include the Battlefield 3 Beta which went live just a couple of hours ago. This 1173 MB download should be well worth it as you take on the rest of the world in the Paris-based ‘Operation Metro’ map. This open beta ends on October 10th.
Those of you who subscribe to kalahari.com’s gaming newsletter should already have read about the company’s planned giveaways at this year’s rAge expo.
The online retailer is offering vouchers valued between R75 and R500 to every person who visits their stand (Stand 11) during the event, which runs from September 30th to October 2nd at the Coca Cola Dome in Johannesburg.
Earlier today we journeyed to the Coca Cola Dome to see how preparations were coming along for rAge 2011. As expected it was a hive of activity, with stands being built and nervous energy in abundance.
We snapped a few pictures of the outside for you, as well as some of El33tonline’s Stand 28, which we have teased below (we don’t want to spoil the surprise just yet).
The El33t team drove around in their sleigh this morning, collecting all the prizes we plan on giving out to you guys this weekend. And by lunch time the sleigh was full so you’re in for quite a treat!
Not only did we pick up awesome gaming swag from EA, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Konami and THQ, we also collected the coolest El33tonline swag for our loyal readers too!
Hit the jump if you want to take a sneak peek at what we have in store for you at Stand 28 when rAge kicks off this Friday morning.
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