When the New Xbox Experience was released unto the gaming world on November 19th, after watching a short animation of the weird exploding penis thing it politely coerced you into creating a Mii-esque avatar. Unless you popped in a disc to cleverly circumvent your way around it, there is now a virtual you lounging lazily around your dashboard, perhaps even burping various tunes if you are especially talented. While many of you designed something meant to resemble yourself, I thought it would be fun to travel to the opposite end of the spectrum so it’s now officially time for The Fugliest NXE Avatar Contest. The winner will be the proud new owner of a pair of their choice of red or blue Rock Band Illuminated Drum Sticks so hit the jump for prize and contest specifics then get to creating the fugliest avatar ever!

Contest Specifics

• Submit your entry by sending me your exact gamertag (along with the text, “The Fugliest NXE Avatar Contest”) via the contact form after your submission is officially completed. You must keep your submission as your avatar until the contest closes (Friday, December 5th at 11:59 pm PST). That allows me to grab the image directly from Xbox.com to ensure entries are not altered in any way beyond what the Avatar Creation Tool allows.
• Entries for The Fugliest NXE Avatar Contest will be accepted until Friday, December 5th at 11:59 pm PST. As always with my contests, there are no region restrictions.
• The top entries (as determined by a select group of people) will be posted on Saturday for open voting which will commence over the entirety of the weekend (December 6th-7th).
• The submission that receives the highest number of votes will be the winner.
• One entry per gamertag please.

Prize Specifics

Features

• LED-illumination - strike-activated whole body LED illumination will give your friend a dramatic light show
• Comfort grip - the handle area is designed for comfort and for better grip
• Durable construction - the drum stick has larger diameter than regular drum stick and is made of durable transparent polycarbonate material

Gamasutra parent Think Services has announced its flagship European event, Game Developers Conference (GDC) Europe for August 17th-19th 2009, alongside new German consumer games event GamesCom, with former GCDC head Frank Sliwka joining Think Services to run the event.

Think Services also runs game industry events including next March's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco and September's Austin GDC, as well as the recently announced GDC Canada, while also operating Gamasutra.com and Game Developer magazine.

Frank Sliwka, who formerly worked at GC organizer Leipziger Messe, where he was conference director for the GC Developers Conference (GCDC) and national/international advisor, will join the Think Services Game Group as Vice President of European Business Development and Event Director, GDC Europe.

In association with the announcement, Think Services is acquiring the business of Global Games Media (GGM), the Sliwka-headed organization specializing in marketing, business development, and event management for the international game industry.

Sliwka will lead the management of GDC Europe, bringing with him years of game industry conference and event management experience. The event will take place August 17-19, 2009 in Cologne, Germany, alongside the GamesCom event, which recently changed its dates to August 19-23, 2009.

“We are thrilled to present GDC Europe during gamescom,” Kathy Schoback, Executive Vice President, Global Events, Think Services, said. “A world class game developer event belongs at the premier European game industry event. With the support of Koelnmesse, BIU (the German Trade Association of Interactive Entertainment Software), and the City of Cologne, Europe’s most significant games gathering will definitely be a great success, and we couldn’t be more excited to have Frank Sliwka bring his deep experience to helping deliver GDC Europe.”

"We are pleased to welcome the European development community to GDC Europe during gamescom,” noted Oliver P. Kuhrt, Executive Vice President of Koelnmesse GmbH. “The team in charge of GDC Europe, Think Services and Frank Sliwka, are professionals who are renowned for organizing internationally respected developer events and who have deep industry experience, strong networking connections, and know how.”

More information on GDC Europe will be unveiled in the near future via the official GDC Europe website.

Continue reading EVE's Alliance PVP Tournament returns

EVE's Alliance PVP Tournament returns originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We here at That VideoGame Blog aim to bring you game reviews as quickly and succinctly as possible to help you make informed choices as consumers and players of gamers. Unfortunately, the American/UK postal services couldn’t care less, which is why for the last two or so weeks our coveted review copy of Far Cry 2 has been floating around somewhere in the nothingness of space. Well, three weeks, two irate phone calls and one hefty customs charge later here we have it!

“A living thing seeks above all to discharge its strength — life itself is will to power. Nothing else matters.”

Any game that wants to get off on the right foot with me need only do one thing, quote Friedrich Nietzsche. This little gem of 19th century wisdom sets up the world of Far Cry 2. This is world held up by a shoestring, where the line between man and beast is a question of opposable thumbs and nothing more.

The protagonist, whose particular face and name you’ll select quite redundantly from a portfolio of available characters before starting, is launched headfirst into this world of competing amoral wills. And as he rolls into the heart of the game world for the first time, the tension is undeniable. However, no sooner are you introduced to the game environment and its competing factions than you are struck down by malaria.

From your bed, and through the lens of your malaria induced fever, you have you first meeting with “The Jackal”, the notorious arms dealer come entrepreneur perpetuating the ongoing conflict by arming both sides – the very man you’re sent here to kill. Helplessly, you look on as he gloats and asserts that he, like all good villains, will never be beaten.

You’ll spend the rest of the game, hiring yourself out to both factions and working your way back to that optimum position.

It is obvious that what Ubisoft wanted to create in Far Cry 2 was a pure wilderness. Untamed, brutal and unforgiving. Yet beautiful and poetic. Furthermore, you’re an alien in this world and it is obvious that it doesn’t want you. Whether the malaria, aggressive militia, labyrinth of the jungle or hot sun bearing down, every part of this environment – from the microscopic through to the cosmic – wants to see the end of you.

In any open world game, where each step of the player cannot be scripted or predicted, there is the challenge of how to make that journey from A to B challenging and interesting. Far Cry 2’s answer to that problem is, inexplicably, to make everybody hate your guts. When traveling from one point on the map to another you can almost guarantee that you’ll bump into an outpost, patrol or just a passerby who happens to want you dead. This is probably the most frustrating element of Far Cry 2, that at any moment, anyone who even catches a glance of the protagonist will open fire, regardless of whether they could have realistically identified him or not. Though as the game progresses, enemies learn to be fearful of the protagonist, this unwarranted anarchy early on completely kills the tension established in the first few minutes.

A further let down lies within the game’s soundtrack. Un-dynamic and un-engaging, the pat of hand drums and other generic clichéd examples of traditional sub-Saharan music. This is a great shame considering the wonderful rhythmic complexity and potential inherent in that style of music. The voice acting, while fit for purpose, is also equally flat and unrealized – with characters meeting their own particular social stereotype and little more.

While each random encounter may feel completely arbitrary the diversity and intensity of combat more than makes up for it. The smallest of impromptu skirmishes can quickly evolve into Armageddon. More often than not however, it is the environment that creates opportunities for entertainment rather than the sluggish and sometimes idiotic AI. That said, the ability of the game to surprise the player whilst still giving them room to riff and improvise is invaluable and provides that for the enterprising player willing to experiment, combat will never get boring.

Far Cry 2 is so much like one of the roughly cut diamonds around which the currency of the game world revolves. Beautifully drawn, from rugged mountain top to river basin, yet periodically scarred by shanty towns and militia outposts, the environment is a sight to behold. The map manages to cram about 1,000,000 square kilometers of real world Africa into about 50 of game territory.

Throughout the game there is this running theme of powerlessness. No matter how deep the protagonist seems to embed themselves in the conflict, he is never able to do anything more than observe, clambering through trying to find his mark. This is worked deeply into the game mechanics, at any moment malaria may overcome you, a gun may jam, fire from a Molotov cocktail may catch the wind and run rings around your position. These random elements are intensely frustrating, and especially so when they break the different between surviving a particular encounter or not. However, they balance the combat and will compel the player to strategize ahead of attacks, make the most of cover, survey exit routs and create contingency plans.

Finding a foothold of power in this wilderness is an ongoing challenge. As the game progresses and the main character obtains better equipment, safe houses and allies he finds his own will to power asserting itself on the environment. The friends made throughout the experience offer another compelling dimension to the game. They will give you missions and often come to yours aid should you have to take one for the team out in the field. On numerous occasions, however, you’ll find their fate in your hands. Whether you do the honorable and spare them or let the brutality of the world get the better of you, you will be instrumental in how the story unfolds.

Far Cry 2 also comes with the obligatory online modes. Aside from a versatile map creator, which will keep the more creative player busy, the online mode features the standard fare of deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag (or in this case, diamonds) etc. Online combat feels somewhat sluggish by comparison to offline combat, however there is an amount of depth to character customisation which should provide at least a few more hours of play beyond the offline experience. The main point to be made about the online mode is that it does feel somewhat redundant when compared to the overwhelming depth of Far Cry 2 proper, which contains enough bang per buck to give anyone their fill.

Picture perfect and brutal, Far Cry 2’s take on Africa as a gaming world is, if nothing else, unique. Luckily for the game it is so much more. And while at times the nature of this open world may make the conflicts and challenges faced somewhat contrived, there is more than enough to keep players involved and engaged. Ironically, there is so much that this game can create out of nothing that at times it is hard to not get distracted in the vicious wilderness of Far Cry 2.

+

• The wilderness of Africa is captured beautifully, the gameworld is truly beautiful to look at and explore. Map editor will keep the creative mind busy for quite some time.
• Wide selection of weapons allows for plenty of variety in gunplay (and more coming via DLC)
• Heavily talked about fire element works as advertised

-

• Poor enemy AI (can see you and hit you with insane accuracy through bushes etc)
• Horrible voice acting (you’ll shake your head in utter disbelief most of the time)
• Mostly very repetitive (spend 10 minutes driving, get a mission, spend another 10 minutes driving to mission location, kill 5-10 bad guys, repeat.)

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That s right. We re trying to manage the review scores at the request of Eidos. Just that we re trying to get the Metacritic rating to be high, and the brand manager in the US that s handling all of Tomb Raider has asked that we just manage the scores before the game is out, really, just to ensure that we don t put people off buying the game, basically.

Barrington Harvey is not in the position of telling reviewers what they can and cannot say. We love Tomb Raider and believe it merits a score of at least 8/10, but if someone disagrees that s entirely their prerogative. No problem at all. Seriously: no problem.

Our original NDA stated that in order to receive an advance copy of the game, reviewers agreed not to post reviews ahead of 5:00pm, Wednesday 19th November 2008. Nothing else. No further obligations whatsoever.

• Video: Tomb Raider Underword: Hot Lara-on-Bike action
• Tomb Raider: Underworld Dangerous gameplay video
  

That s right. We re trying to manage the review scores at the request of Eidos. Just that we re trying to get the Metacritic rating to be high, and the brand manager in the US that s handling all of Tomb Raider has asked that we just manage the scores before the game is out, really, just to ensure that we don t put people off buying the game, basically.

Barrington Harvey is not in the position of telling reviewers what they can and cannot say. We love Tomb Raider and believe it merits a score of at least 8/10, but if someone disagrees that s entirely their prerogative. No problem at all. Seriously: no problem.

Our original NDA stated that in order to receive an advance copy of the game, reviewers agreed not to post reviews ahead of 5:00pm, Wednesday 19th November 2008. Nothing else. No further obligations whatsoever.

• Video: Tomb Raider Underword: Hot Lara-on-Bike action
• Tomb Raider: Underworld Dangerous gameplay video
  

That s right. We re trying to manage the review scores at the request of Eidos. Just that we re trying to get the Metacritic rating to be high, and the brand manager in the US that s handling all of Tomb Raider has asked that we just manage the scores before the game is out, really, just to ensure that we don t put people off buying the game, basically.

Barrington Harvey is not in the position of telling reviewers what they can and cannot say. We love Tomb Raider and believe it merits a score of at least 8/10, but if someone disagrees that s entirely their prerogative. No problem at all. Seriously: no problem.

Our original NDA stated that in order to receive an advance copy of the game, reviewers agreed not to post reviews ahead of 5:00pm, Wednesday 19th November 2008. Nothing else. No further obligations whatsoever.

• Video: Tomb Raider Underword: Hot Lara-on-Bike action
• Tomb Raider: Underworld Dangerous gameplay video
  

Before we tell you what today’s contest is, we should probably announce the winner of yesterday’s ’shoop-some-facial-hair-on-Madden contest. Drumroll, please: the funniest image came from...Ballistic! The winner might have been someone else if we were asking for the best ’shoop, but we literally lol’d when we saw Ballistic’s Pai Mei-inspired picture. Great work! Send your information to samit[at]destructoid[dot]com, and we’ll get you your copy of Madden NFL 09 very soon! Congrats!

Now, as for today’s contest, we’re giving away a copy of NBA Live 09 on the Xbox 360. Keeping with the simple theme, we’re just asking for a caption this time -- and again, the funniest one wins. The photo is in the gallery; it shows a pensive Yao Ming sitting on the bench, courtside, and boy, does he have some awful facial hair. Again, we’ll only allow one entry per person; if you submit multiple captions, please pick one to be considered in the giveaway. The contest is open to anyone, anywhere! We’ll be accepting entries through 4 PM EST tomorrow, November 19th.

If you’re wondering what this EA Sports/Gillette contest is all about, check out the details after the jump. And remember to keep voting to pick the winner of our Blitz: The League II PS3 giveaway; voting ends tomorrow night at 11:59 PM EST!