<![CDATA[Kotaku: patch]]> http://tags.kotaku.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/kotaku.com.png <![CDATA[Kotaku: patch]]> http://kotaku.com/tag/patch http://kotaku.com/tag/patch <![CDATA[The Saboteur is Le Patched, But Will Need un Autre, Soon]]> The Saboteur's PC version had big problems out of the box - something like 9 out of 10 ATI-equipped systems couldn't make it work properly. The remnants of Pandemic have rolled a patch, but be sure to read it carefully.

While the 13.8MB patch should fix the ATI issues, Electronic Arts wants you to accept an EULA before you download it. And then, users with quad core CPUs will need to implement a workaround (described here, see "Known Issues & Current Workaround), otherwise they "will possibly have significant streaming issues." This is funny because the game's specs recommend a 2.8GHz Quad Core CPU.

EA says it's aware of the issue and working on a fix for the next patch update. And "while this will decrease the amount of streaming glitches, it is not a fool-proof fix."

So wait a minute, is the damn thing patched or not?

BETA Patch Report/Support Thread
[EA Forums via VE3D]

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<![CDATA[ARMA II Patch 1.05 Packed With Free DLC]]> Bohemia Interactive's ARMA II is getting patched up later this month, with a free bonus campaign and new warfare mode included as a way of saying thanks for putting up with all of the bugs.

Okay, that's not exactly what the developer is saying, but it's certainly implied. ARMA II, the sequel to ArmA: Armed Assault, released earlier this year with more than a few terrible bugs and glitches. While Bohemia has been releasing patches on a regular basis, I'd say the players still playing are definitely in line for some congratulatory downloadable content.

Patch 1.05 brings that content to players, with a brand new "Eagle Wing" mini-campaign that puts players in control of the new AH-64 Apache attack helicopter on a mission behind enemy lines. The patch also ups the scale of ARMA II's warfare mode with the "When Diplomacy Fails" game type, which allows for 3 sided diplomacy across all factions. Warfare mode is a combination of real-time battles and strategy, letting players fight on the front lines or issue tactical orders as a commander.

"At Bohemia Interactive we make a continuous commitment to support our products. This latest update 1.05 reaffirms our commitment to ARMAII2 and our community at large: it includes the free downloadable content as our way of saying thank you to all those who buy our games and provide us support and feedback from around the globe. We continue to be amazed by the many ways our community is constantly expanding on our game with add-ons, mods and usermade missions. With this level of continued activity surrounding our game it's our pleasure to be able to support it this extensively post-launch." said Marek Spanel, Bohemia´s CEO.

Patch 1.05 will be released later this month. Congratulations, ARMA II diehards. You've earned it.

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<![CDATA[Infinity Ward Says Javelin Cheat Fix 'In the Pipeline' for PS3]]> Modern Warfare 2 update 1.05 has gone out for the PS3, but everyone will have to wait for patch 1.06 to fix the infamous Javelin glitch. Let's hope Sony approves it fast, since they seem reluctant to police the cheaters.

Robert Bowling, the Infinity Ward community manager, tweeted that 1.05 fixed some matchmaking issues. Update 1.06 is "still coming down the pipeline," he says. It'll clean up the Javelin exploit, and also fix areas where players could get stuck in world geometry, such as on the rocks Afghanistan.

My guess is 1.06 will be delivered ASAP but there's no word on when that'll be, specifically.

Robert Bowling on Twitter

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<![CDATA[Latest Madden Patch Pays Tribute to Slain QB]]> The second patch for EA Sports' Madden NFL 10 adds the tribute helmet sticker Tennessee is wearing for Steve McNair, murdered in the offseason by his deranged mistress. Philadelphia defensive coordinator Jim Johnson also gets the memorial treatment.

Those are the cosmetic changes to the game. Many others are included with the next patch, which hits the PS3 as of now and the Xbox 360 sometime soon.

• Improvements in covering of the flats
• Improved pursuit angles
• CPU takes sacks more often instead of the last second throws while getting hit
• Worked on eliminating various exploits such as with the RB Direct Snap
• Fixing of problems caused by first patch such as black squares for numbers on some helmets
• Addition of Seahawks alternate uniforms
• Tribute sticker for Steve McNair added to Titans helmets
• Tribute sticker for Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson added to Eagles helmets
• Doubled the length of replays
• Increased frequency of auto-replays especially after touchdowns
• Reduced the number of times the chain-gang measurement scene occurs
• Extended time in post-play to allow those scenes to fully play out
• Stats tuned for franchise mode
• Decreased chances of injury for players with high injury ratings
• Included each player's draft info to be viewable in franchise

The 360 patch is coming later. "Unfortunately, during the certification process for the 360, update issues were found that will prevent it's release this week," said Phil Frazier, a senior producer on Madden. "Assuming all goes well with our new submission, the title update for the 360 should be released this time next week."

Second Patch for Madden 10 Now Available (PS3)
[Pasta Padre]

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<![CDATA[Tekken 6 Online Play Less Of A Turkey On Thanksgiving]]> If you've got any strength left to hold a controller after gorging yourself this Thanksgiving, why not hop online to give the eagerly-awaited Tekken 6 lag patch a spin?

Namco Bandai is releasing the free online play patch previously promised this Thursday, which includes various tweaks and adjustments aimed at making Tekken 6 somewhat enjoyable to play online. Fixes include improved input response; the ability to search by location and connection quality when looking for ranked matches; bandwidth optimization between players and spectators; improved signal strength bars; and the ability to cancel a match before it starts if your opponent's improved signal strength bar hasn't improved.

Now that I think about it, Thursday is the perfect day to get a few matches in, as everyone in the U.S. will have their reaction times slowed by copious amounts of brown food. Mmmm, brown food.

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<![CDATA[Valve Rolls Out Patch for Left 4 Dead 2]]> The PC version of Left 4 Dead 2 has been patched. Just fire up Steam and it'll fix and update a slew of issues. Got a bug? Maybe it's covered in this, check the jump for more.

Highlights of the fix include:

• Fixed performance problem when rendering lots of decals, notably when fighting tanks with shotguns
• Fixed rcon response not working on Linux dedicated servers
• Fixed matchmaking problem matching into Advanced and Expert games
• Fix bug that would cause other specials to try to pummel a player a Charger disconnects or reconnects
• Fixed versus mode results panel being cut off in transition stats screen in non-english
• Found games: fixed non-player entries drawing the wrong type of icon in the selected item name label
• Game mode selector on main menu now takes keyboard input

There's more via Steam.

Left 4 Dead 2 Patch Update [Steam via VG247]

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<![CDATA[PC Version of Dragon Age Patched, Explained]]> The PC version of Dragon Age: Origins got a 1.01 patch not 72 hours after release; lead designer Mike Laidlaw jumped onto BioWare's forums to explain its necessity.

First, the changes, according to BioWare:

• Fixed potential corruption of character statistics
• Fixed portrait appearance sliders when importing a character from the downloadable Character Creator
• Fixed import for preset face settings from the downloadable Character Creator
• Made Easy difficulty easier
• Slightly increased attack, defense, and damage scores for all party members at Normal difficulty
• Fixed video issues when running on a very wide screen display, including ATI Eyefinity displays

Hey, who doesn't like easier easy? Anyway, notice of the patch brought out some catcalls about the quality of the game's shipped code. So Laidlaw posted a comment to "pull back the curtain a bit," on game development.

Game development seems like it's extremely up to the moment, but at the end of every game there is a period where you have to enter a lockdown so that final QA runs and certifications can be completed. This process is exhaustive and is the kind of thing that you have to completely re-do if you make any changes.

That said, it's hard not to be proud of your game, and to want it to be perfect, so we try to identify things that might be patch candidates. In Dragon Age's case, we had a unique opportunity to compare balance numbers between console and PC, and in the end we decided to make some tweaks and put them in the pipe for around launch day, while keeping an eye for any extremely bad bugs to include.

There's good odds that there will be another patch, as there seem to be a few issues still creeping up (dagger damage, etc) and I would like to see those addressed. Of course, we have to do due diligence and test and QA these things properly, so it's not an instant fix. Just be aware that we are watching these forums and working to try and nail down any issues that are creeping up.

Laidlaw then returned to the forum to say that future patches will likely continue to address game balance. "Mages, however, are awesome," he wrote. "That's not going to change."

Dragon Age Origins Patch v1.01 Released [BioWare Forums]

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<![CDATA[Patch Means Lilith's Power Now 'Works as Intended' in Borderlands]]> I've logged about a zillion hours in Borderlands, none of it as Lilith. But apparently her phase strike "now works as intended" thanks to patches for the PS3 and 360 versions that rolled out today.

Here are the PS3 fixes, from the Gearbox official forums (fora?)

• Load times have been improved
• Lilith's Phase Strike ability now works as intended
• The introductory quests with CL4P-TP should now always progress properly
• Fixed a bug that caused the digger elevator to be unusable after completing the Find Tannis mission
• Weapon mapping to the D-pad should no longer reverse left and right
• Fixed a crash when ejecting the disc during the autosave warning splash screen
• Players in a lobby should no longer experience long loading when starting a game after one player leaves
• A bug which caused players and other things in the world to appear incorrectly on clients in networked games has been fixed
• Fixed a bug in which players gibbed in arena combat disappeared
• Changed how space required for saves is calculated
• Fixed a bug which caused the dollars counter to spin continuously
• Various localization and other text and tooltip corrections

And on the Xbox 360, tell 'em what they've won, Don Pardo:

• Fixed a bug which caused players and other things in the world to appear incorrectly on clients in networked games
• Fixed a bug in which players gibbed in arena combat disappeared
• Fixed a bug which caused the dollars counter to spin continuously
• Fixed a bug that caused the digger elevator to be unusable after completing the Find Tannis mission
• Weapon mapping to the D-pad should no longer reverse left and right
• Various localization and other text and tooltip corrections
• The introductory quests with CL4P-TP should now always progress properly all the time
• Lilith's Phase Strike ability now works as intended
• Load times have been improved

360 Patch 10/30 and PS3 Patch, 10/30 [Gearbox forums, via VG247]

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<![CDATA[Fat Princess Gets Patched, Demoed]]> Patch 1.03 hits the PlayStation Network today for Fat Princess, bringing a new map called New Pork. Also, there's now a demo you can download if you're not convinced of Fat Princess's fatness.

Even better, both of these things are free. So you too can get in on the choke points, silly hats and magic cake madness.

Here's what developer Titan Studios has to say about the patch:

After playing innumerable games, reading the forums and piles of email, and reviewing all the great feedback we received from you, the fans, we have made a variety of tweaks to the gameplay balance and systems to ensure the game stays fair, fresh and as fun as ever.

Here is a full breakdown of all the changes that can be found in the upcoming patch:

New Map

* A brand new awesome city map has been added called New Pork…and it's free!

Game System Tweaks

* The host's ability to kick and ban players has been removed.
* The ability for players to switch teams post-game is now restricted so that sides cannot be unbalanced by more than 2 players.
* A new switching team system has been implemented during matches:

* If there is a deficit of 2 players between teams, the weaker team will drop a team colored ball on the death of a player.
* Picking up the colored ball switches a player's team and rewards them with a 300 point bonus.
* So…get the ball.
* The 10 game average ranking system has been removed.
* A new ranking system has been implemented, which adds rank points for every game based on the player's score.
* Awarded ranking titles will now never go down once earned.
* Online leaderboards have been increased to display all players not just the top 1000.
* All online leaderboards are to be reset shortly after patch 1.03 is released, but all unlocked customizations and trophies will remain unlocked. You will not lose them.

Main Bug Fixes

* The Princess disappearing bug has been fixed.
* The issue with statistics and trophies not saving correctly has been fixed.

Character Balancing

* The Dark Priest's lock-on range has been reduced.
* The Dark Priest's drain ability has been slightly reduced.
* The Ranger now has larger movement penalty when locked on and charging attacks.
* The Adv. Ranger has a smaller shot dispersion and increased damage per shot.
* The Warrior's attack damage has been increased slightly.
* The Warrior's movement speed has been increased slightly when locked on and charging attacks.
* The Warrior's 360 degree protect when his shield is raised has been increased from 20% to 40%
* Warrior's Lock on range increased to match Ranger to stop class being hit from behind when retreating
* Warriors weapon collision box increased in size to aid with hit detection
* Adv Warrior speed increased slightly when locked on and charging to match his normal movement speed
* Adv Warrior damage increased
* Adv Worker's bomb knockback force removed
* Princess calorie burn decreased slightly in weight state 3 and 4

Control Tweaks

* Two new control schemes have been implemented to allow players to use the R1 button to attack and to free the player's right hand for target switching. This is AWESOME.

Scoring Updates

* New switching team bonus added of 300 points.
* Princess rescue score increased to 300 points.
* Princess rescue assistance bonus increased to 150 points.
* Princess escort bonus increased to 75 points.
* Win game scoring reduced to 150 points.
* Match completion bonus added of 75 points.
* Average Rank bonus award removed for games won under 3 minutes.
* Bonus score for winning games in under 3 minutes removed.

Additional Tweaks

* Candy confetti added as a special effect when blood is turned off. Check this out – it is really cool.
* All loading screens now in color.
* Loading screens now allow players to scroll to next and previous tips during the load.

We look forward to slaughtering you – ahem, seeing you – on the battlefield!

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<![CDATA[A Very Team Fortress 2 Halloween]]> The spirit of Halloween has infected Valve's Team Fortress 2 Team, spawning a Haunted Hallowe'en Special update, complete with new achievements, a ghost-infested new map, exploding pumpkins, and scary hats!

Today through November 2nd, Valve invites the spirits of the dead into Team Fortress 2 in the form of terrifying paper bag hats. The masks are unlocked via five new update-specific achievements, with names like "Candy Coroner" and "Attack O' Lantern," the latter of which might have something to do with the exploding pumpkins added in the update.

The update also brings a new KOTH map called Harvest, through which wanders the restless spirit of Zepheniah Mann. Crossing his path will cause you to freeze with terror, leaving you open to all sorts of deadly Halloween mischief. On top of that, "the mangled corpses of the recently deceased will plague the living… with candy!" I have no idea what that means, and I'm a little scared to find out.

Team Fortress 2 Pumpkin Patch [Team Fortress 2]

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<![CDATA[World Of Warcraft Almost Makes PUGs Worth It]]> Blizzard drops details on the new dungeon and raid system for World of Warcraft, which brings with it cross-sever instancing, daily random dungeons, and special rewards for taking part in a pick-up group.

Pick-up groups, or PUGs, are the bane of many an MMO player's existence. Rather than grouping with your guild or folks you know, you group up with random strangers who often turn out to be complete and utter tools, and probably think the same thing about you. PUGs are generally avoided whenever possible, but World of Warcraft's new dungeon and raid system, due out in an upcoming patch, actually rewards players for grouping with random strangers. In fact, the more random additions to your group, the faster you gain rewards, including a Perky Pug non-combat pet.

In order to make PUGs even more attractive, the new system features smarter group matching, which means you should never end up with five shadow priests, which would completely break any instance you entered, along with cross-server instancing, which can pull players from any server in your Battlegroup to go dungeon hopping with you.

Another cool new feature that will seriously cut down on waiting for your PUG members to show up is Instance Teleporting. Much like the PVP battlegrounds in the game, when you join a dungeon using the new system, you will be automatically teleported to the dungeon entrance, where you can then sit AFK for 20 minutes while you get a sandwich.

The new tool will also allow players to select multiple dungeons to take on, or they can take their chances with a random dungeon, with NPC's giving out quests and rewards to those that complete daily random dungeons, which will be taking the place of the current daily heroic dungeon system.

All of this, plus vote kicking, a looking for raid tool, group disenchanting, and a need before greed update are coming our way in the upcoming WoW content patch. It should go great lengths towards making an already easy game that much easier. Huzzah!

New Dungeon System [World of Warcraft - thanks Joshua!]

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<![CDATA[EA Sports Pushes Out Comprehensive NBA Patch]]> The NBA's opening day tomorrow means also the beginning of NBA Live 10's Dynamic Season, in which real-life results are melded with your own gameplay. It also means a sizeable patch release for the 360 version.

Dynamic DNA, now in its second season, draws on analysis provided by Synergy Sports Technology, and breaks down the trends, tendencies, streaks and performances of players across the entire league. That's be incorporated into your own NBA Live 10 gameplay, both in how these players and teams perform and how the announcing team calls the action.

Just as important, a huge patch has rolled out and is now available for for owners of the Xbox 360 version, and will be available on Thursday for PS3 players. It delivers a multitude of gameplay fixes and enhancements drawn from community feedback during the game's first month on the market.

Most notably, backdown postures have returned with a click of the right thumbstick, returning a more familiar presentation of post play to the game. A lockdown perimeter defense feature also has been added, plus better touch on keeping your defender in front of his man.

The entire list of enhancements and fixes, according to an EA Sports news release, is below.

Enhancements:

• Auto-switch to PG on defense after a made basket
• Enabled rim stuffs. Now when you try to dunk in traffic, there's a chance you'll brick the dunk.
• Tune nets to make them a bit less stiff
• Added more variation to "get back" animations after made shots. Less "skipping" back.
• Disabled the canned scenario steal that happens when you rip the ball from a player who is sizing up. Instead, we allow actual collision with the ball if the defender performs a steal while a ball handler is making a dribble move. Makes for a much more read and react, twitch game on defense.
• Improved Freestyle pass animation selection to prevent guys from bursting into a sprint while passing on the move.
• Backdown button is back. Enabled right thumbstick click to toggle between face up and backdown postures.
• Disabled the turnaround jumpshot that would play if the shooter is facing away from the hoop when outside of 18 feet. So instead of a turnaround three, players will pivot and shoot a regular jumpshot.
• Minor tuning to shot and layup percentages.
• Improved responsiveness and AI's usage of off ball cuts.
• Stop the rebounder from running up court too early after securing a rebound
• Improvements to reception logic, specifically square up catches
• Improve player reaction to loose ball situations
• Left analog passing improvements: Update analog angle metric to consider the receiver's destination so you can lead the receiver with the pass
• Improved the logic of when to play a standing reception vs. a moving reception based on the receiver's momentum and position on the court.
• Added the ability to "lockdown" perimeter ball handlers (by pressing into them) and force them into a protect dribble state.
• Ability to shoot "runners" on demand by driving toward the basket, neutralizing the left analog stick and hitting the Shot Button. Works inside of 18 feet.
• Improvements to user on ball defense. Made it easier to stay in front of the ball without "slipping off" when you move your left stick toward the ball handler.
• Anti-cheese code. Prevent users from being able to take off ball control of players and run them under the hoop for the cheap pass and dunk.
• Inbound flow improvements. Allow the inbounder to move to multiple (closer) locations along the baseline after picking up the ball.
• User control over shot contest vs. block. Tap of the Block button will always yield a contest animation. Regular press will always jump to block.
• Several improvements for end of game AI logic. When the AI is ahead, they'll do a better job at recognizing time and score and use more clock. If they're trailing, they'll accelerate the offense.
• Improve AI logic for pump fake biting. AI defenders will be smarter about defending pumpfakes according to difficulty level. Previously, the higher the level, the more often they'd bite. Also, if user is pump faking multiple times in succession, the AI will stay down.

Bug Fixes:

• Smooth out some of the gameplay by tuning blend times for passes as well as some various fixes for blend pops across the board.
• Exploit fix. Fixed bug in shot calculator that would make stepback jumpshots that crossed the 3pt line have unrealistically high FG%s.
• Fixed sliding and warping during standing rebounds
• Addressed issue where defenders would sometimes watch the ball fall off the rim. Increase the allowable distance for a teammate to come help.
• Player Lock fixed. AI teammates will now make decisions on their own when user is player locked off ball.
• Put the ball handler into protect dribble if the on ball defender attempts to crowd him. Previously, the ball handler would not recognize the defender and just expose the ball.
• "Rocket dunks" fixed. Fixed a bug that was causing dunks to speed up by 30% and added code to have dunks retain the shooter's on-ground velocity, preserving his momentum after takeoff. Also applies to layups.
• Various post play fixes, including the case where two guys would stand next to each other while one of them was posting up.
• Addressed a potential exploit where it would be too easy to pass to cutters for dunks. As part of this fix, we now allow ball collisions on passes when passing into the paint.
• AI Stagnation fixes: Ball handler would sometimes not properly pass to receivers in a play. Also, we allow the ball handler to "improvise" if we detect he's been idling for too long.
• Fixed an issue where sometimes an off ball cut animation wouldn't properly settle into the correct spot.
• Restricted the post up and under move to within 12' of the basket. No more ridiculous up and under heaves from deep.
• Fixed an issue where off ball post players would sometimes quickly go in and out of post battles, significantly cutting down on jitter.
• Fix for big men waiting too long to outlet the ball after rebounding
• Fix for fidgety box outs. They should kick in more reliably now.
• Prevent user passes to teammates who will be out of bounds or to teammates in the backcourt after they've crossed the timeline.
• Improve goaltending calls
• Fixed ball physics for blocked layups/dunks. There was a mirroring issue that was causing the ball to shoot off in the complete opposite direction of its intended path.
• Fixes for animation oscillation on defense (i.e. jittery movement)
• Fixed a bug that would cause certain off ball movement animations to not mirror properly
• Series of small fixes to prevent balls from hitting the floor during rebounds.
• Fix for shooting fouls not properly getting called on collision layups. This will yield more realistic free throw attempts for both the user and CPU.
• Put in a fix to mitigate the excessive turnovers inside the paint, specifically after pulling down an offensive rebound. Gives users a little more time to pass out or attempt a shot when they get in congested areas in the paint.
• Smoother ball handler post up entries. Sometimes guys would "pop" into place.
• Fixed issue where players would sometimes "freeze" in an off ball post battle before receiving a pass.
• Fixed bug where the "check assignment indicator" would draw on one of your own teammates in LIVE RUN games.

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<![CDATA[Madden Patch Adds Hideous Seahawks Uniforms]]> An upcoming patch to EA Sports' Madden NFL 10 will deliver plenty of gameplay tweaks and, most noticeably, the Seattle Seahawks' vomit-colored crossing-guard outfits (pictured), which everyone has been dying to see. Or dying because of seeing them.

No word on when this patch goes live, but when it arrives, the development team has promised defensive tweaks that improve the chances you record a sack (rather than the CPU quarterback throwing the ball away), improving defenders' pursuit angles, and improving the coverage of the flats. Better simmed stats in franchise mode also are coming, as well as other unspecificed uniform and presentation changes. The official blog post on the patch reminds that the list of fixes and updates is not final.

Madden NFL 10 - 2nd title Update Preliminary Details
[Inside EA Sports Blog via Pasta Padre]

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<![CDATA[Patch Lets Left 4 Dead Out of the Closet]]> Steam put out a patch this evening solving a problem in the PC version of Left 4 Dead's Crash Course campaign, whereby rescue closet doors would not open to let survivors out in Versus mode.

The patch was announced around 7:30 p.m. U.S. Eastern time. In addition to the rescue closet glitch, the patch allows users to set the maximum acceptable ping for a dedicated server. A couple of other cosmetic fixes were included.

Left 4 Dead Update Released [Steam News via Blue's News]

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<![CDATA[Rock Band 2 Patch Gets By With a Little Help from The Beatles]]> Improved chord hammer-on/pull off notes, taken from The Beatles: Rock Band's better handling of the feature, have been patched into Rock Band 2 as part of an omnibus update that became available today.

Additionally the update enables support for wireless microphones and lays down an "audition" feature you may use when the Rock Band Network enters its open beta.

When "Audition Mode" goes live, RBN members will be able to "upload songs from their PCs and audition their songs using our suite of song audition and testing tools," according to the official Rock Band Forums. Currently, Rock Band Network is in closed beta and the game will tell you 'To enter Audition Mode, you must be signed into an Xbox Live enabled gamer profile that is a member of the XNA Creators Club and connected to Xbox Live." Harmonix says the open beta will commence in the coming weeks.

Meantime, gamers will find improvements to the hammer on/pull off tricks in guitar play. The forum says these improvements were brought over from The Beatles: Rock Band, which featured "much more robust handling" of hammer-on and pull-off.

Other upgrades: In the sort menu, you may now arrange songs according to the star rating you've achieved in each of them. Unplayed songs will be grouped accordingly. This helps players chart their progress toward five-starring every song they own.

The game will also support wireless mikes, such as the Lips microphone. Ion Drum Kits now have velocity sensitivity in both drum fills and freestyle mode. And most conveniently, background downloading in the Music Store has been enabled, so you no longer have to wait for the complete download of a purchased song before moving on to another.

As for the PS3, Harmonix' Sean Baptiste explained that patch is being worked on and awaiting its certification process with Sony.

Rock Band 2 Software Update Notes
[Rock Band Forums via Joystiq]

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<![CDATA[Onyxia Is Back And Badder Than Ever]]> World of Warcraft patch 3.2.2 hit the servers this morning with a resounding roar, as the dragon Onyxia is reborn, ready to take level 80 players down several painful pegs.

The latest patch brings the terror back to Azeroth, returning the mighty dragon to her former glory. What was until recently possible for 2-3 people is now a 10-man or 25-man raid encounter, with rewards styled to look like the old rewards, only much more powerful. Those lucky enough may even find themselves with a 310% flying mount styled after the lady herself.

Plenty of other changes come with the latest patch, but nothing quite as exciting. Check out the patch notes and let me know if I am wrong.

World of Warcraft Client Patch 3.2.2 (09-22-2009) [World of Warcraft]

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<![CDATA[World at War Map Pack 3 Releases Next Week for PC]]> Patch 1.6, which includes Map Pack 3 for PC, deploys next week. This time I am going to get his name right and attribute the news to Josh Olin, the Treyarch Community Manager.

Map Pack 3, of course, includes the multiplayer settings Battery, Breach and Revolution, plus the Nazi zombie map Der Riese. Unlike the consoles, however, PC players get this for free.

There are some other exploit fixes and issue correction. Additionally, Olin says Treyarch does "expect a concurrent release of the Mod Tools 1.4 package, Linux dedicated 1.6 bins, and the Steam 1.6 day-of-date with this patch." Full details at the link.

Patch 1.6 Details [Call of Duty Community Forums, via Blue's News]

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<![CDATA[In Case You've Patched Call of Juarez Lately ...]]> Ubisoft's put out word that any patches to Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, made available recently, were "wrongfully released" prior to Ubi's deadline and are not the final version. That will be available "in the coming days."

Word of this passed in an "ALL MEMBERS MUST READ" message on the Ubisoft forums. VE3D, which noticed the message, advises "backing up your save files, uninstalling, then reinstalling in preparation for the 'official patch.' "

ALL MEMBERS MUST READ - Important Patch Information
[forums.ubi.com via VE3D]

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<![CDATA[NCAA 10 Patch Resolves 'Gay' Filtering]]> Probably not the biggest gameplay issue NCAA 10 players are concerned about, but the "gay" filtering foofaraw has been cleared up as part of a massive patch, the second put out for this game in two months.

You might remember, earlier this month, we reported the egg-on-face situation where auto-named rosters from NCAA 10's Teambuilder site, imported into the Xbox 360 version, resulted in players named "Jason XXX" instead of "Jason Gay," This was attributed not to EA Sports code but to Xbox Live filters. Microsoft stood by its filter policy.

Interestingly, among the slew of fixes in the second patch was this one: "Certain TeamBuilder teams were incorrectly being blocked by the profanity filter and showing up as XXXX, this has been corrected." This extends to the rosters, as I just tested it out myself. In fact, if you want to put "Gay" anywhere in your team name, go right ahead.

I've emailed EA Sports to ask if there was any sort of exception granted for the last name of a sports roster. I've emailed Microsoft to ask if this is a shift in policy. If there's any response, this post will be updated.

For most however, this patch will be noteworthy for 31 fixes and tweaks, ranging from the quality of uploaded video highlights to a number of AI fixes - in running backs, wide receivers, receiver routes, lead blocking, etc. The full list follows.

• Player Lock in Online Games will now move the camera behind the locked player (like Offline games)
• Greatly increased the quality of uploaded videos
• Fixed an issue with penalties on a change of possession in Overtime
• Fixed an issue where you would sometimes lose control of your player going offsides in no huddle situations
• Tuned holding chances on Field Goals and Extra Points
• Fixed a couple pass coverage issues with Wild Cat plays
• Tuned the chuck success chances to favor more neutral results. Wins and Losses are extreme and should occur less for both the offense and defense
• AI Tackle slider is now more effective
• Lead Blocking tweaks to fix some cases of pulling lineman ignoring defenders
• Fixed a few rare cases that would cause players in pursuit to run away from the ball carrier
• Tuned the CPU ball carrier to make some smarter choices
• Fixed a bug where the CPU would high step at inappropriate times
• Tuned player switching logic to give a more appropriate player
• Fixed an issue with Punts being spotted incorrectly when the punt went out of bounds
• Corrected an issue where pressing in man coverage would cause the CPU to throw the ball too early
• If the receiver caught a pass during a slip, rarely would he be ruled down after the catch (even if he got up before making the catch). This has been fixed.
• Fixed a bug where sometimes the clock would continue to run after hold on an extra point
• Forward pitches are now correctly tracked as passing and receiving yards for the players involved
• Receivers will now try and release to the appropriate side of the defender based on their route
• Fixed some problems that were causing defensive players to not always get back in time during hurry up plays
• Reduced the effect of the Run Block Slider on special teams plays
• Tuned how effective the slant route for running backs out of the backfield was
• Tuned how far away diving sacks will start from
• Fixed an online grieve with pausing the game
• Fixed a bug where using a TeamBuilder team as the away team would cause the team colors to be incorrect
• Fixed an issue where some Dynasty teams were only able to offer 15 scholarships. You will not have to restart your dynasty for this to take effect, the fix is for offline and online dynasties.
• Certain TeamBuilder teams were incorrectly being blocked by the profanity filter and showing up as XXXX, this has been corrected
• Fixed and issue where Punt was not the default selection on 4th down and punting distance
• Off-centered single digit jersey numbers are now centered correctly
• Fixed a crash in Custom Stadium Sounds when the list of files was too long
• TeamBuilder teams with & in the name can now be searched properly
• Fixed an issue where the "Online Dynasty Servers are Down" pop-up was showing up incorrectly

This patch is kind of a pity. On one hand, it means a better game. On the other - 32 fixes, on top of the earlier online roster issues - mean the consumer code that went out day one was less than acceptable,

NCAA Football 10 Patch #2 Details [Pasta Padre]

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<![CDATA[Treyarch Confirms Map Pack 3 for PC CoDWaW]]> In the Treyarch official forums, Josh Olin, the community manager, confirms that Map Pack 3 for Call of Duty: World at War is coming to the PC, and a patch is also in the works.

This is what he had to say:

As with the previous two Map Packs, Map Pack 3 will indeed be coming to the PC – the team is hard at work on it and I'll let you know when it's in test.

As such, there will be a Patch 1.6 as well, which will address some additional game issues. When I have details on what else will be included in the patch I will be sure to post them.

We appreciate your patience as always, and look forward to its release as much as you do!

Map Pack 3 & Patch 1.6 Details [Call of Duty: World at War Forums, via VG247]

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