Gadgets and Video Games

Though we put little stock in any date relating to pretty much any Blizzard game (except for “later”,) Blizzard CEO Michael Morhaime just announced in an investor conference call that a beta of StarCraft II will be out this month! The game is currently on track for “mid-2010.” “The beta test will be conducted on a global scale,” he said, specifying that the beta will operate in North America, Europe, Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia. We suggest you zerg rush to the beta and get all the enjoyment you can out of it, because what Blizzard learns from the test will no doubt result in several more years of work on the game. Blizzard: StarCraft II beta due this month originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:40:00 EST

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Blizzard: StarCraft II beta due this month

You could be forgiven for never hearing about Fantasy Earth Zero — in addition to having a cookie cutter RPG moniker (following the role-playing trope/noun/number formula), it’s only available in Japan, though China and Taiwan are currently in a prolonged beta testing period. However, if a recent Square Enix trademark filing is any indication, the free-to-play, microtransaction-supported MMO will be heading stateside at some point in the future. The trademark filing was expectedly scant on details about the game, so we suggest watching the three-year-old debut trailer we’ve posted after the jump. It, too, doesn’t provide many hard-and-fast facts about the MMO but after watching it, we feel like we can safely vouch that, yes, the game does include Fantasy . Possibly in an Earth -like setting

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Square Enix files U.S. trademark for Fantasy Earth Zero

Tags: a-multipack-and, a-single-game, band-com-there, beatles, marketplace, music-downloads, purchases, same, taiwan

Tags: a-single-game, esrb, live, Media, Microsoft, microsoft-points, purchases, Rock, same, taiwan

Activision has reportedly and voluntarily removed Wolfenstein from German store shelves. Turns out that the German localization team charged with removing the thousands of swastikas found in the latest Nazi frag-fest apparently missed one. Germany’s no swastika rule in video games has existed for a long time, and the general guideline on the symbol’s use is that it can only be utilized in a historical or artistic context — yeah, let’s ignore the “games as art” conversation. We’ve followed up with Activision for comment and to find out if the game will be re-released in the region at a later date

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Rumor: Activision pulls Wolfenstein in Germany over swastika use

Content: Wolfenstein Demo Price: Free Availability: Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom and United States Dash Text: [ESRB: M (Mature) BLOOD AND GORE,INTENSE VIOLENCE,LANGUAGE] Unleash the Nazis own dark powers against them as you battle unimaginable evil and unexpected foes. Download the demo.

The following Xbox 360 games are now ready for direct download from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace :

Tags: a-single-game, build, item, live, marketplace, Microsoft, microsoft-points, taiwan

Content: Saints Row Price: 3000 Microsoft Points Availability:

Did you know that at 1.3 billion people, the mainland Chinese population encompasses around 1/6th of the world’s population? It’s true! This might help to explain why Take-Two Interactive announced today not just the launch of NBA 2K Online — an online basketball game for the Asian market — but also the creation of Take-Two Asia, a new satellite office for the BioShock publisher. The game is being co-developed by Take-Two and Chinese game company Tencent Holdings Limited for distribution in China and “other key markets” (notably Taiwan, South Korea and Southeast Asia).

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Take-Two announces push into Asia with NBA 2K Online