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Like most MMOs,Pirates of the Burning Seais constantly being improved and built upon. The latest improvement comes in the way of one of the most important aspects of any modern MMO – the combat. In the case of the ale-swilling, cutlass-filled world ofPirates, this change in combat revolves around the swashbuckling mechanic. Kevin Maginn, lead designer at the developer Flying Labs, wrote this inhis latest development log: … the animation team has been revising all the swordfighting animations; the UI team has been revising the UI and the particle effects; and the sound team has been iterating all the sounds of avatar combat …...

“I can objectively say that it’s the best game Treyarch’s ever made, period,” claimed Josh Olin, the studio’s community manager, referring toCall of Duty: Black Opsat a recent Activision press event in New York. This was after he showed live gameplay demos of two missions from the campaign of the upcoming Cold War-era first-person shooter, and although I really enjoyed 2004’sSpider-Man 2, I’m inclined to believe him. In the wake of theveritable dissolutionof Infinity Ward — the developer behind the phenomenally successfulModern Warfaregames — Treyarch is in a unique position, poised to usurp the throne of ‘marqueeCall of Dutydeveloper....

AsJimand many others have noted, WiiWare hasn’t exactly taken the world by storm. A few early games likeLostWindsheld immense promise for the service, but since then, quality WiiWare titles have been like diamonds in the rough. High Voltage Software, developer of the highly anticipated upcoming Wii-exclusive FPSThe Conduit, is trying to change that with a slate of WiiWare games due out early in 2009. One of them isEvasive Space, a Wii Remote-controlled title that’s being published by Yuke’s....

What have you heard aboutTransformers: War for Cybertron? That it’s kind of likeGears of War, except that it has Autobots and Decepticons instead of muscle-bound meatheads for main characters? Well, that’s not far from the truth. It is a third-person shooter, and it does feature your favorite walking, talking automobiles in lead roles. Just leaving it at that would be selling High Moon Studios’ work short, though. And they have donea lotof work on this game....

The official twitter account for Penny Arcade Expo hasbroken the news. “I don’t want to alarm anyone, but based on current sales trends, we’re going to sell out of PAX Prime 3-day badges in about … 15 days.” I’m of the opinion that you don’t need to visit the show floor all three days to have a good time. That said, I wanted to toss this message your way, on the chance that you were curious about how quickly these passes were moving....

Further proof that our new overlords, Google, are taking over: Sony Computer Entertainment America has announced today that the next version of their PlayStation Portable firmware (4.00) will add Google search directly into the XrossMediaBar interface. The search engine will be accessible under the XMB’s “Network” category, attached to an new “Internet Search” icon. The search will also recall up to 20 items of input for faster searching. The search results will presumably launch directly in the PSP’s web browser....

I hope you didn’t forget about the Razer Hydra. It’s a motion-control device for PC, which might seem a little unusual at first, but the market is certainly there for this type of controller. Razer and Sixense have announced details for thePortal 2bundle: it’s shipping in June for $139.99. Pre-orders will open in May for the bundle, which includes the crazy-looking base, two controllers, and a copy ofPortal 2. The real draw seems to be the custom levels forPortal 2,as demonstrated here....

I’ve never been entirely sure why, in many conversations I’ve had with gamers, the mention ofAltered Beastis often met with a groan of derision. My admittedly vague memories of playing the game start in a bowling alley, where I was attending either a birthday party or some kind of special summer camp event. Upon first play, I was utterly blown away by it. The graphics were amazing and I don’t think I’d ever seen anything as gory in a game before....

I recently had the opportunity to play through Lionhead Studios’ second expansion forFable II, “See the Future.” It’s a brutally short bit of downloadable content that I don’t necessarily believe delivers the kind of experience as its title implies. I figured I wouldn’t tease you guys too hard before the break. As I mentioned in the review, I’m obligated not to discuss any sort of spoiler content, and I believe that applies to bothFable II’s main storyline and the downloadable content....

After seeing screen after gorgeous screenshot of the fabled Wiiware titleFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, we may finally have a day to mark on our calendars. I say may because the source of this news mentions they were informed by “a Square representative” of the release date and price, but the Square website still says “coming soon” in regards to the game’s release date. If it is true, the game will coincide with the launch of Wiiware itself on May 12th and retail for 1,500 Wii points....

Ummmm… F*CK YES! Someone over atNeoGAFposted an image of a banner at a GameStop convention touting a newEarth Defense Forcegame coming out in 2011. Strangely there was nothing else except the banner at the conference and no consoles were listed on it, so we’re still running this one under the rumor header. However, there is still more proof out there that this is real. Not only do we have a fancy place holder site for the game atedfia....

According toANONYMOUS SOURCES, Sony is set to finally announce the long-rumored “premium” PlayStation Network service at this year’s E3. While online gameplay will still be free, Sony is said to be lining up a number of privileges and benefits for a service that will allegedly cost less than fifty quid a year. A streaming music service in the same vein as Spotify is also alleged to be on the cards, with music that may run in the background while playing games....

Delivered as an obnoxious dialog (still love you, Patrick Garratt!),VG247is reporting word that sources are pointing to Rare working a fitness title that will utilize Project Natal. Unfortunately, that’s about all of the info VG247 has, other than speculation that the title would be revealed at E3. Also, something about the beach and cigarettes. Sotheseare the a-holes who are dumping butts all over the sands of UK beaches… Back on topic, a fitness title that utilized Project Natal (which is slated to launch this fall) seems like a no-brainer, especially considering the success of Nintendo’s ownWii Fit....