The World of Warcraft makers has now decided to sue over the registration of the name, claiming that “Valve has no right” over it as “the DotA mark has become firmly associated in the mind of consumers with Blizzard.

This is their official statement:
“In contrast to Blizzard, Applicant Valve Corporation (“Valve”) has never used the mark DOTA in connection with any product or service that currently is available to the public. By attempting to register the mark DOTA, Valve seeks to appropriate the more than seven years of goodwill that Blizzard has developed in the mark DOTA and in its Warcraft III computer game and take for itself a name that has come to signify the product of years of time and energy expended by Blizzard and by fans of Warcraft III. Valve has no right to the registration it seeks. If such registration is issued, it not only will damage Blizzard, but also the legions of Blizzard fans that have worked for years with Blizzard and its products, including by causing consumers to falsely believe that Valve’s products are affiliated, sponsored or endorsed by Blizzard and are related or connected to Warcraft III.”

The case file was submitted on November 16, 2011. You can read it here.

Those who pre-order will score a bunch of ‘extras’, including discounts on games, PS Vita branded goodies and an exclusive PS Vita Avatar. Here’s the complete list:

• A discount on one of the following PS Vita games from PlayStation Store: Little Deviants, Super Stardust Delta, Hustle Kings or Escape Plan.
• Exclusive PS Vita items for PlayStation Home: PS Vita T-shirt, sunglasses, headphones, trainers and bag.
• Exclusive early access to Frobisher Says! for PS Vita.
• An exclusive PS Vita Avatar for PlayStation Network.

The system can be pre-ordered from the retailers below:

United Arab Emirates: Jumbo Electronics at Mall of the Emirates.
Saudi Arabia: Sony World, Jarir, Extra, Tokyo Games, Computer House, Eagles.
Bahrain: Sony Showroom Citi Centre
Kuwait: Al Ghanim Stores
Lebanon: Sony World ABC Ashrafieh
Qatar: Sony Showroom at Villaggio Mall.

As the name suggests, the game is based in the future. However, not a very distant future. The developers of the game stress that they’ve tried to stay as true to reality as possible. The weapons featured in the game are already either being employed by Special Forces at the moment or are in the testing phase to be made available soon. Like most Tom Clancy games, Future Soldier is all about realism and Ubisoft have employed the services of four navy seals who’ve helped make sure the motion capture is as realistic as possible and that the game stays true to reality.

The game is set in different locales ranging from Bolivia to Peshawar. For our first look at the game, we’re going to talk about the map based in Peshawar. It was particularly interesting, as it was an urban setting. The mission starts in the middle of the city and you have a lot of civilians around. In order to mark out your enemies and differentiate them from civilians, you have to use one of the intel gadgets. You can either use a sensor grenade, which will mark out all enemies in it’s radius or use the drone to give you an aerial view of your enemies. Once your enemies are marked, you can use the magnetic view, which is a sort of X-ray mode to reveal enemies hiding behind cover.

Among the many futuristic gadgets at your disposal is optical camouflage. It’s like an invisibility cloak that you can turn on and it works when you’re moving slowly are or stationary.

A range of weapons are also at your disposal and each of them are customizable to your liking. A special “gunsmith” mode is also available for Kinect users who want to customize their weapons Minority Report-style. Those more comfortable with button mashing than waving hands and using cumbersome hand gestures can stick to their controllers while using the “gunsmith” mode.

While there’s loads of futuristic weapons to play with, the real focus of the game is the squad based combat. This is where the realism really kicks in and you get the feel of what being part of a Special Forces team is like. If you’ve played GR:AW, you’ll appreciate how much the squad management has been simplified. At a basic level, killing your enemies usually means identifying them via intel devices, using stealth and camoflauge to get into the right positon, tagging the enemies, so that your squad has them positioned in their line of sight and are ready to take them out on command, and finally initiating the kill sequence. You also have the option to get a team member to take out an opponent directly.

In addition to all this, Ubisoft gets so much right with Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. Character animations are realistic, levels are well detailed and the explosions can be breath taking. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier releases in May 2012. Watch out for a full review on MEGamers once the game is out.

The mod is called ‘Fall of the Space Core, Vol.1′ and is now available to download from Steam. Here’s what the official description says:

“To celebrate the opening of the Steam Workshop for Skyrim, Valve and Bethesda have teamed up to bring you the Portal 2 Space Core mod, which will let the aggressively space-centric little robot tag along on your adventures in Tamriel.

Also, since Skyrim was the only major release of 2011 without Nolan North in it, you should consider this mod a patch to fix that problem. You can now feel free to include Skyrim in the “Nolan North” section of your video game library, which is to say, your video game library.”

You can’t do much with it, however. It doesn’t hover around you, inform you of imminent dragon attack, or even humor when you are feeling forever alone. You can play football, but that’s probably it.

There is little point in me explaining the back story to the Prototype games in detail – as you can very easily get a good run down of the game on Wikipedia – but for the few of you who need reminding Prototype is an open world game which saw the (anti-) hero, Alex Mercer, become some sort of super being with various abilities – mainly shape shifting, inhuman strength, and my favourite one, the ability to run up walls – which he would use to try and find out…well basically everything about himself; from how he came to have powers to why Blackwatch were doing what they were doing. You also destroy a huge chunk of New York City for shits and giggles.

Now I can’t go into too much detail about Prototype 2 at this point, but thankfully vague statements are what I’m sort of okay at doing every now and again. So here we go -

• If you’ve checked out the trailer for Prototype 2 you should know that instead of playing as Alex Mercer, you now take control of ex-military man, James Heller, who decides that Mercer needs to die for releasing the virus, thus killing Heller’s wife and child. What I found interesting is that the game brings in a twist that means things aren’t as straight forward as just killing Mercer.
• There are a bunch of new weapons that will make things extremely interesting, especially for those among you who enjoyed the Saw movies a tad too much, and like finding interesting ways to kill and maim people. No doubt I could have sat for half a day messing around with the different powers.
• Remember that part in the trailer where Heller basically rips apart a helicopter with this power called ‘tendrils’? Those are the best. While I didn’t work out how to go about deconstructing helicopters with what I can only describe as really meaty spider webs, I did realise that tendrils bring me more pleasure than about 65% of adulterated activities.
• Aesthetically, Prototype 2 is definitely a head above its predecessor with each of the three zones that make up New York City being uniquely created to stand apart from each other. You can easily tell the differences between being in the Green, Yellow, or Red zone, as each zone is different as opposed to being a carbon copy with more infected/soldiers to kill as a way of denoting the area.
• At one point while playing through the game I used the whipfist power, and while my brain wanted me to react and pick up my jaw from the ground, as well as wipe away the pool of drool; my gaze was fixed. The aesthetic qualities of a group of people’s upper bodies simultaneously sliding off of their bottom halves  is quite possibly the most beautifully grotesque thing I’ve ever seen, and subsequently made it incredibly hard to tear my eyes away.
• The open world aspect of the game is just as good, if not better, than the first game. You definitely need to time to explore the zones so you can find the perfect building to dive bomb people from.
• Going back to the storyline of Prototype 2, it has to be said that from my point of view the game seems a bit more straight forward and less likely to alienate players with a character like Mercer, who I found to be incredibly unlikeable. With Heller, players have a character they can sympathise with and root for, and in the end that allows for greater immersion into the game.

That’s about it for now. Expect our full hands-on preview in the coming week.

From the very moment you launch Star Wars: The Old Republic, you’re sucked into this fantastic world that you instantly want to be a part of. You want to believe that you can dual-wield lightsabres or fling debris at your foes. You want to electrocute everyone who dares to challenge you. You want to travel into the deep realms of space and bring justice to alien planets. Everywhere you go, you either feel like a true soldier of the Republic or an instrument of destruction as the Sith Empire. And it’s a feeling truly worth relishing. Right from the opening scene featuring the iconic Star Wars text crawl, you know you’re stepping into sacred territory.

After drooling over the gorgeous opening cinematic, you get to choose your faction and one of nine races. You then choose one of four classes to play as – each class has an appropriate choice depending on which faction you’ve selected. After a few mostly cosmetic changes to your character, you’re ready to begin your adventure. My first character was a Jedi Knight, so I began my training on Tython in the ways of the Jedi. The world is beautiful, inhabited by fierce and tame creatures as well as the now feared Flesh Raiders who are attacking the natives as well as Jedi trainees. If you’ve played any recent MMO, the controls and interface will be very familiar. Even if you’re new to the MMO genre, the game gently gives you tips about how to play the game, and Bioware themselves have started releasing in-depth video guides for new players to follow. Once you’ve become familiar with the controls, you can pick up your first few quests on your path to being a seasoned player.

One thing I will remark about the quests in SWTOR is that they never feel monotonous or forced. Even though your initial quests will be of the fetch variety, it never feels this way, unlike other MMOs. A bonus is that as you’re progressing through on quest, you may inadvertently trigger a side quest that you can complete for extra XP. Every quest you is taken on through a conversation with an NPC, and it’s great that you actually get to have a conversation with characters rather than just hitting “Accept” on a quest. The hundreds of hours of dialogue recorded for this game really makes a difference, and the conversation wheel gives you a number of choices that can turn a conversation around at any time. In addition to providing a more engaging experience to the game, conversations with NPCs can also shift your alignment with the Force, so it’s worthwhile keeping a track on what you’re saying to people.

I have never been a ‘fan’ of anything – not of a person, not of a book, not of a movie, and not of a video game. Except Half Life. Or Valve. I have read about the company with utmost fascination; for instance its hierarchy-less employee system baffles me to how they actually function. Its passion and dedication for perfection has inspired me many a times. And Valve loves and cares about its fans, something that automatically gets props from me. I could write a love letter.

And I thought I could be a part of this ‘protest’. It doesn’t involve me rallying on the streets, shouting slogans, or looking like a super-nerd wearing T-shirts (or hats!). It was still ludicrous – not so much for what it meant to do, trying to coax a company to admit work on a project by playing one of their others. But I would be just alone; it wasn’t a multiplayer gathering after all. I could be romantic and say that I didn’t feel alone, but I won’t (I totally didn’t).

When I booted up my game, here’s what I thought was happening: thousands of players were now logging into their systems, booting up Half Life 2, and increasing the number of concurrent players for the game on Steam. This is going to be it, the day of reckoning, when Valve truly understands how dedicated and loyal its fans are.

What did happen was, in my opinion, a symbolic failure. Only 13,216 players partook in the event, a lowly number that did not even propel the game to the top 10.

Does Valve have something to worry about?

Are fans tired of waiting? Is interest from the franchise waning as new and fresh IPs make themselves available, in far, far quicker doses? Games like Bioshock: Infinite, The Last of Us, Heavy Rain, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect, The Witcher, are proving to not only be great games but also great storytellers. Why should one care about a game whose developer is frustratingly silent on it? Who has not even cared to even admit that they are working on it?

Because, honestly, that’s all Valve has to do. Admit. The community has come to a point where it’s latching at any piece of news, even though there is nothing to it. During the VGA 2011 award speech by Portal’s Wheatley, fans decoded a bunch of numbers running on the background to predict an announcement at E3 2012. Valve quickly debunked the theory, and that’s slightly crooked on our part if you think about it.

It’s a bit stupid to go on about a game like this. But Half Life holds significant value in the history of video games. It’s no longer a ‘property’ that can be done and away with. Valve doesn’t really have to force themselves to release it tomorrow. But do say – is it being worked or not? That is all we have been demanding for almost a decade now.

Is it me, or does 'SEN' sound sinister?

The change is touted as a means to “establishing a global comprehensive network platform of services across games, movies, music and more, all accessible from one convenient account.”

Fortunately, nothing much is needed from the user’s end – except signing a new Terms of Service. PS3 and Vita will soon require an update, formally making the change on the systems themselves. All of the account information, including IDs, addresses and passwords will stay as-is.

Sony is currently sending out emails informing PSN users of the change. If you haven’t received yours, here’s what it will say:

On February 8, 2012, your “PlayStation®Network account” will be renamed a “Sony Entertainment Network account” or a “SEN account” in conjunction with Sony Computer Entertainment’s PlayStation®3 system software and PlayStation®Vita system software updates. (Note, this change will not be applied to the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system at this time.)

Sincerely,
The Sony Entertainment Network Team

PSN – lay peaceful, good friend.

Soulcalibur V takes place 17 years after Soulcalibur IV and revolves around Sophitia’s children: Patroklos and Pyrrha. The main story mode follows the siblings as they venture around the world in search for answers regarding their past as well as a method to stop the evil doings of the series main antagonist Nightmare. While this is the first time that Soulcalibur has had a full-fledged story mode instead of the usual quest mode it still leaves much to be desired. The story is nothing impressive and the mode is extremely short spanning only 20 episodes which in total will require 1-2 hours to complete. The Arcade mode is just what you expect from a fighting game. Surprisingly however the mode lacks any story bits for the characters you choose to fight with. This leaves a lot of characters without proper introductions or endings that usually provide background information on the character’s history or motives within the game. There is also the quick battle mode which has you fighting a series of opponents until you lose. As a whole the single-player modes in the game are quite lacking when compared to other popular fighting games currently in the market and are definitely the disappointing portion of Soulcalibur V.

Now that the story is out of the way, let’s talk about what really matters in a fighting game: the gameplay mechanics and character roaster. Namco did an outstanding job with the fighting system of Soulcalibur V by improving its accessibility to new players while still retaining the great deal of depth that the franchise is known for. Most Soulcalibur fans will be familiar with the system in this iteration while still having a lot of new features to delve into. It gets rid of critical finishes from previous games and instead introduces the “critical gauge” that acts as a meter which can be utilized to do devastating special attacks. Soulcalibur V involves mechanics from both 3D fighting games as well as 2D fighting games which really makes for a fantastic hybrid.

As for the character roaster, it involves a mix of both new and old faces. Lots of the new characters act as sort of successors to previous characters in the Soulcalibur series such as Patrokols resembling Sophitia. While there is a great diversity in the playstyles of most characters there are a few characters that are very similar to one another. For example, it’s weird that the game decided to go with 3 characters that essentially mimic other characters each time you play with them which seems like a rushed decision to do. The majority of the cast however does impress as they play very differently and uniquely from one another.

Soulcalibur V also brings in an updated version of the creation mode found in previous games. This mode allows you to edit characters in game appearances to a great deal of detail. It also allows for the creation of your very own character to play with both online and offline. The creation mode has a great deal of options to mess with and boasts one of the best editing and creating systems in a fighting game yet.

Online in the game felt pretty solid from what I experienced. Playing with people close to your location is non-problematic as the game masks lag well. You can choose to play in both Ranked and Player matches as well as being able to create your own lobbies to invite your friends. Soulcalibur V also has the ability to save, play, and share replays of the matches you played as well as the ability to watch other people’s replays. The online mode holds its ground very well and is probably where you will be spending the majority of your time with Soulcalibur V.

What Soulcalibur lacks in Single player content, it makes up for it by having solid gameplay mechanics, fantastic visuals, and fairly good roaster of characters. The game felt like a great mix of 3D fighters with some mechanics popularized by 2D games. If you are looking for deep gorgeous looking fighting game to pick up then look no further as Soulcalibur V is definitely one of the best fighting games to experience out there.

When will it release in the UAE? (Aboody Isaac)
The UAE release date for the PS Vita is February 22nd, with the Wi-fi and 3G editions being available. For full pricing information, click here, and for launch details outside of the UAE click here.

Where can I pre-order a PS Vita ? (Mohamed Shahin)
If you are in Dubai, pre-orders are currently being taken for PS Vita at Jumbo Electronics and at Geekay Games. Their pre-order campaign should also be available in branches in other parts of the UAE, but it’s worth just calling them first to check.

Is a PS Vita game bound to a PS Vita? Can I re-sell a PS Vita game? (Salue Salute)
To the best of our knowledge, games are not bound to the Vita, only the memory cards are. So you will be able to sell your game cards or borrow a game card to play from a friend. The only thing to pay attention to is that if you want to earn Trophies from the game, you will have to delete any game data that is saved on the game card itself – you will be prompted if you want to do this if the Vita detects save data on your game card that does not belong to your profile.

This handheld is non-UMD right? So it’s going be more like download games only? But I would like to know more about the game card. Are they having cards instead of UMD’s? (Kammie Dante)
The PS Vita will allow you to download games from the Playstation Store, and will also allow you to play games from the PS Vita game cards. The cards effectively replace the UMD discs that were used in the PSP.

Can Vita be integrated in games for PS3? I mean to be used as a controller for PS3? (various)
There are a few things you can do with a Vita and PS3. On games like Wipeout, you can use the Crossplay feature to play games against each other on the PS Vita and PS3. You can also connect the PS Vita to the PS3 system to copy or backup applications and multimedia such as photos, music, and videos. You cannot use the Vita as an additional controller or integrated it into any PS3 games. You can however use the Remote Play feature on the PS Vita to remotely connect to and control your PS3, as you could do on the PSP.

Can you play videos on PS Vita? (various)
During our test we were able to copy videos to the PS Vita, but they had to be of mp4 / .H364 format. Playback also only supports up to 720p, so any video content in high definition that you’ve downloaded on your PS3 from the Playstation Store won’t work on the Vita.

About the “3G”, will providers like Zain, VIVA or STC, Etisalat etc provide us with 3G for our PS VITA? Or are we going to stay with Wifi only? (Reaper Ex)
Playstation have partnered with Vodafone to provide 3G content for the PS Vita, however we aren’t sure if this extends to Middle East countries where Vodafone operates. In the UAE there have been no announced partnerships with local ISPs du and Etisalat, however you will be able to use a regular SIM card with an active data package in the Vita. The Vita is also not SIM-locked, so any SIM card can be used.

How are the graphics? Can it beat tablets? (@Saadie)
The graphics on the Vita are certainly very impressive for such a device. It handles graphics very well and most games look very smooth and glitch-free. While the screen size might not be as large as most tablets, its OLED screen offers a more than adequate gaming experience, and even web browsing is quite comfortable.

Is there a Metal Gear game on the PS Vita? (Al Kim)
Metal Gear Solid HD collection will be coming to the PS Vita, but no release date has been announced yet.

How good is it compared to the PS3? (Akash Ladkani)
It’s hard to do a direct comparison between the two as they are different pieces of hardware. The PS Vita is capable of near-PS3 graphics in games like Uncharted, and many others.

I heard that it can be use as a smart phone? How true is that? (Frank San)
Completely false. The SIM card you insert is for data services only, and there’s nothing on the Vita that will allow you to make or receive phone calls or send messages etc. Skype will be made available through the Playstation Store (its availability in the Middle East is unknown), however apart from Skype there is no other way to turn your PS Vita into a smart phone.

If you get the device from japan do we need a transformer to charge it? (Sulaiman Al-jaber)
Yes, as the voltage in Japan is 100 volts, so you would need to buy a power adapter that would be able to convert this into a compatible charge. One thing worth noting is that for Vitas sold in Japan, the X and O buttons are reversed, as X in Japanese games is to cancel an option, and O is to accept.

How does the PSN accounts work with the memory cards? (Omar Nassralla Ali)
You can only have one Playstation account associated to one memory card. So if you want to have multiple players sharing one PS Vita, they all need to have their own memor card.

Main questions, is it any good? And worth buying ? How are the graphics Speed ? Touch? (Charitha Rukshan)
Questions best answered by our in-depth Vita review!

Does it play PS3 titles too? 
Er, no.