At Gamescom today, Activision said that the PC version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 would indeed support dedicated servers — something that wasn’t a part of Modern Warfare 2.

The news comes via a story on IGN.

The most recent Call of Duty — the highly played Black Ops — did come with dedicated servers, but these were provided exclusively from Game Servers. The exclusion of dedicated servers from Modern Warfare 2 was controversial for PC gamers, as dedicated servers not only provide less lag but allow PC gamers to be more choosy about rules and players.

PC gamers — does this make Modern Warfare 3 a more attractive option for you?

At Gamescom today, Namco showed us some gameplay from the Xbox 360 version of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, including the game’s interactive intro and multiplayer modes.

Full disclosure: I’ve never played an Ace Combat game. However, I used to enjoy jet fighter sims during their heyday on the Atari ST and later on the PC — I was far better at Immelmann turns than most ten year olds, I can tell you. There’s been a lot of positive buzz surrounding the upcoming Assault Horizon game, so I was looking forward to checking it out a great deal.

First up, Namco showed me the intro to the single player campaign. The team’s very pleased with the “seamless” nature of the cutscenes in the game, and the intro is a good way to demonstrate this concept. Many dialog scenes take place from a first person perspective and allow the player to move the camera, for example, and the majority of the game’s opening credits is taken up with a lengthy turret sequence.

While turret sequences don’t always offer the most interesting gameplay in the world, this particular mission gives the player a good idea of what to expect from the rest of the game — that is, lots of shooting; realistic, sweeping cityscapes; lots of explosions and plenty of suitably epic orchestral music. A sim this ain’t, but anyone who’s been looking to fulfil those Top Gun fantasies for a while now will be right at home here.

Loading breaks are kept to a minimum — though they are there — and the aim of the single player campaign is to be as “seamless” as possible — moving from plot exposition to action in the blink of an eye. Even when the player is watching dialog sequences unfold, they’re able to interact, which should hopefully lead to impatient players investing a little more of their attention in the plot rather than hammering the Start button at the first sign of exposition.

Multiplayer, conversely, strips out all that story nonsense and focuses on the action. Namco showed off the Capital Conquest mode today, which features 16 player, 8 v 8 action. The aim of the game here is to destroy the enemy headquarters, the path to which only opens up when sufficient chaos has been caused to the other team. This means that you’re thrown into plenty of close-range dogfights over famous cities around the world, including Miami, Dubai, Washington and Paris.

Once sufficient opponents have been destroyed, it becomes possible to destroy the enemy headquarters. Filling a special gauge through combat victories allows players to jump into the pilot seat of a large, slow, unwieldy bomber in the hope of dropping the match-winning payload. Fill enough gauges and your entire team could be on a bombing run, leading to pretty much assured destruction for the enemy team.

A bit of interest and variety is added by equippable skills which players can choose prior to each skirmish. These skills can also be shared with people who are flying together, so it’s to players’ advantage to “buddy up” with a wingman or two in order to make an invincible fighting team of flying death from above.

Ace Combat is looking like potentially a lot of fun in both single and multiplayer. You’ll be able to find out for yourself if it lives up to its potential on October 11.

Capcom gave us some hands on time with the upcoming 3DS Resident Evil title at Gamescom earlier today, and explained a little about the TV-inspired episodic structure.

Capcom designed Resident Evil Revelations specifically for the 3DS for several reasons — partly simply because it was there, but also because the company has a good relationship with Nintendo. Developing for Nintendo’s handheld allowed them to maintain that relationship while also applying the knowledge they had acquired throughout the development of the numerous console-based Resident Evil titles.

The demo I had the chance to play today focused on Chris, accompanied by partner character Jessica, and the exploration of a snowy mountainscape. This aptly demonstrated the game’s episodic structure — Capcom’s trying to give it the feel of a TV show, where individual episodes are standalone storylines complete with cliffhangers, but the entire experience spins a coherent narrative. The various episodes take place in diverse locations around the world, not just the “ghost ship” setting that has been previously discussed.

The level opened with Chris and Jessica exploring the landscape. Lacking the context of the larger story, it was difficult to determine why they were there, but the individual episode’s plot quickly kicked off as the flight our heroes had arrived on crashed ahead of them. Reaching the location of the crash, there’s a typical Resident Evil “spring-loaded cat” scare scene as a dead body falls out of the cockpit upon investigation. This also introduced Chris’ portable scanning device, which which he can examine objects and dead bodies in a hope of finding items or other information. This is one means through which players can acquire the series’ ubiquitous Files, which help to explain the background of the narrative.

A little further along, and Chris and Jessica found themselves attacked by what appeared to be mutated wolves. In combat, Chris can either fire his weapon from first person (though is rooted to the spot while he does so) or hit the X button to do a quick melee attack. The wolves were quite difficult to hit from the first person view as they moved very quickly — Chris’ aim, conversely and unfortunately, did not. Fortunately, Jessica is no slouch when it comes to dealing with rabid mutant wolves, and she’s quite capable of helping you out in intense combat situations.

Shortly after this sequence, Chris finds himself thrown down a steep hill and hurts his leg. There then follows a sequence where he must defend himself while lying on the floor as Jessica approaches via a more safe route. It’s quite tense, but being forced to fight from a static position rather than feeling obliged to at least attempt to dodge makes things a little easier — and again, Jessica helps from a distance.

The game mechanics clearly draw a lot of influence from Resident Evil 4 and 5 in many ways — the game is set in the time period between 4 and 5. The Resident Evil team is keen to learn from its past experiences — and also Capcom’s corporate culture of sharing information between teams. The various development teams within Capcom have managed to collaborate and share their knowledge to create a good-looking 3DS game.

We’re yet to see a lot of story, the snowy environment in the demo was a bit “samey” and the standard clunky and occasionally infuriating Resident Evil controls were present and correct. But the possibilities offered by the episodic structure and the presence of companion characters throughout much of the game mean that this could prove to be a good narrative-based game for the 3DS that makes few compromises for being on a mobile format.

At Gamescom, Namco was good enough to give us a demonstration of Ridge Racer Unbounded’s impressive city editor functionality and talk about the game’s UGC-filled future.

It was quite refreshing to talk to Namco about Ridge Racer Unbounded. One of the first things they said regarding Ridge Racer Unbounded and how they wanted to extend its replayability was “the audience has already paid to be entertained.” This is a marked shift away from the increasingly DLC-heavy approach that many developers are taking, and a move towards a more community-driven approach giving the game a much longer lifespan.

Chief among the features that will drive (no pun intended) Ridge Racer Unbounded’s future is the addition of the City Creator functionality. During development, the team wanted to experiment with different ways of building tracks that would allow them to create a more expansive range of urban environments in which to set the game. Eventually, they settled on a “template” approach that used prefabricated city blocks, each 250mx250m in surface area, and slotting these together to build the game. Indeed, the whole of the game’s campaign is built using these blocks — but after thinking about the way they worked, their simplicity but flexibility, the decision was made to put them in the hands of the player.

Thus, the City Creator was born. It was designed as a response to players impressed with the myriad possibilities of user generated content but daunted by where to begin using the tools. It’s simple, easy to use and intuitive, but that doesn’t mean it lacks depth. Indeed, Namco claims the rest of the game was built with the same tools — and makes the bold boast that it’s possible for anyone to create a retail-quality track in under one minute.

Having watched it in action, it might not be such a ridiculous boast after all — it really is very simple. Offering the player an 8×8 grid (64 tiles), the editor allows players to choose from a selection of interlocking blocks from 12 different city environments (two of which are currently implemented) and fit them together as they please. City backdrops are then generated in the blank squares, though players are free to insert specific landmarks into the backdrop as they please. Once a track has been completed with a start and finish line, players can choose the lighting for the circuit and set up special rules, such as what type of races the track will play host to and any restrictions on cars.

The interesting possibility of a puzzle mode was raised when the possibility of arranging those 64 potential blocks into non-grid configurations came up. Namco was keen to stress it wasn’t confirming or denying anything, but the example of a map with a river running through the middle of it and the player being challenged to create a circuit with the available pieces was certainly raised as a possibility. Namco also didn’t confirm or deny whether advanced editing and customization of individual tiles would be available beyond simply slapping down 64 tiles, but it was again raised as a possibility.

If this all sounds a bit like TrackMania, you’d be right — Ubisoft’s game even includes a puzzle mode with its track editor — though Ridge Racer Unbounded’s circuits are more grounded in reality than its potential rival’s gravity-defying setups. It’s the on-track action that’s chaotic in Namco’s title, with over the top crashes and destructible scenery giving the game a touch of insanity a step beyond taking corners sideways.

Namco’s anticipating integrating the City Creator into the whole Ridge Racer Unbounded experience. The team’s planning to let players unlock additional elements with which to build their tracks throughout the course of the single player career mode, and likewise is building that career mode using the same blocks that will be available to players. The community aspect will be very important to the game, though that hasn’t been implemented as yet.

All in all, Ridge Racer Unbounded is looking very exciting. The potential replayability that the addition of user generated content offers is enormous, and will help give the game a huge lifespan. If Namco does want to go down the DLC route with the game in the future, too, there’s no reason why they can’t offer additional city blocks and environments for download and inclusion into custom tracks, such as what LittleBigPlanet offers with its content packs.

Ridge Racer Unbounded is due out next year for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

On the heels of yesterday’s announcement about open registration for a public beta, Valve today says that they’re looking to get Dota 2 out the door at the end of the year.

A look at some of the champions in Dota 2.

In a story on Joystiq, a Valve rep said that if it didn’t come out this year, Dota 2 would be out early next year.

In the meantime, you can check out Valve’s Dota 2 tournament (The International) from Gamescom and see Dota 2 in action.

It turns out that BioWare’s infamous Mass Effect 3 “Pick Your FemShep” beauty pageant is going into extra rounds, as four remaining version of female Shepard are going up for vote.

UPDATE: From the Escapist:

In the original vote, the blonde FemShep won out over her rivals, but speaking at Gamescom, BioWare marketing director David Silverman said that a number of fans had actually voted for the blonde Femshep because they like the hair style, rather than the hair color. With that in mind, Bioware has unveiled four “new” FemSheps for fans to vote on in an effort to make sure that they get exactly what they want. Joining the original blonde FemShep is a redhead, a brunette, and a FemShep with darker, “dirty” blonde hair.

Original Post: It looks like even though “Blonde” FemShep swept the initial Mass Effect 3 Facebook fan vote, you can now vote on whether she actually stays blonde or not, as BioWare highlighted in a Twitter post this morning.

Four new pictures have been uploaded to the BioWare Facebook page, each with a different styling of the Blonde FemShep template. Contestant #1 is a brunette, Contestant #2 is the original blonde, the third is a dirty-blonde, and FemShep #4 is a redhead. All of them have green eyes, so there’s at least one other trait tying them together beside their $200 haircuts. Currently, the redhead is leading by about 1,000 votes, which is all kinds of interesting.

Head over to BioWare’s new FemShep voting polls to lay down your vote. Remember, the one you choose will get equal placement in Mass Effect 3 ads, promotional materials, and maybe even a commercial or two. Will this be the death of Blonde FemShep?

[Source: Twitter via Cody Winn]

Nintendo’s own price-slashing tactics have paid off in Japan, as the 3D handheld enjoys a period of snapshot sales that haven’t been better since the device’s launch week.

An employee of Bic Camera, the Japanese Best Buy, advertizes the Nintendo 3DS at its new price point. (Image via Bloomberg News)

Price cuts are the trend for the gaming industry’s biggest players, especially right after lagging Q1 sales all around, and Nintendo is finally showing an uptick in Nintendo 3DS sales — in Japan, at least.

Wall Street Journal has the skinny:

The price cut — the 3DS now costs 15,000 yen ($195), down 40% from its previous price tag of 25,000 yen — took effect Aug. 11 in Japan. According to Japanese videogame magazine publisher Enterbrain, 214,821 3DS machines were sold in Japan during the Aug. 8-14 period, the second strongest weekly sales number after the initial launch week in late February.

But one swallow does not a summer make, as Nintendo already learned in the spring: Some 371,326 3DS machines were sold in Japan during the launch week, but the numbers sagged steadily after that.

We’ve already talked at length about the Nintendo 3DS price cut, and the stakes that retailers are taking to get the system off shelves during a slow sales period. Whether the 3DS can sustain itself before the PlayStation Vita shows up to crash the party will be interesting. Aside from Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, Star Fox 64 3D, and Sonic Generations on 3DS, the winter release list is still lacking some star power.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

More reports suggest the iPhone 5 will launch in October, with preorders beginning September 30.

[Reprinted from PC World. For more tech and PC news, visit PC World and the Today @ PC World blog.]

This image from inside a purported iPhone 5 production facility was posted on MICGadget.

Backing up a report from TiPB last week, 9 to 5 Mac claims it has independently confirmed Friday, October 7, as the launch date of the iPhone 5. Unlike with the iPad 2, Apple is also rumored to take preorders with the next-generation iPhone at the end of September.

Apple has not said when it will launch the iPhone 5, which is widely expected to arrive this fall along with a final version of iOS 5. This left pundits debating for the past two weeks over the exact day of the iPhone 5 launch, with the general consensus that the new device is bound for release either late September or early October.

Rumors of a September iPhone 5 launch have shifted at the beginning of the month to October, when All Things D’s John Paczkowski quoted “sources with knowledge of the situation” saying that the next-generation iPhone would be an October surprise.

Other sources, namely TiPB and 9 to 5 Mac, have now agreed upon an October launch, too (either October 7 or 14), but say preorders could start either September 29 or 30.

Apple is rumored to be ramping up production of the new iPhone 5, which is widely expected to feature the A5 dual-core processor found inside the iPad 2, and a better camera (possibly 8 megapixels). A photo published by MICGadget claims to have been taken inside an iPhone 5 production facility and allegedly shows the new device featuring an elongated home button to accommodate gestures.

News of the $50 price cut for the 160GB PlayStation 3 has indeed spurred a rash of impulse buyers, as Amazon’s video games section is currently seeing a huge spike in PS3 sales.

Also shooting up the sales charts on Amazon’s ‘Movers & Shakers’ list — the 320GB PlayStation Move Bundle and, rather strangely, the PS3 version of NIER.

It looks like Sony’s $50 price cut for the 160GB PlayStation is going to see a spike in console sales for the company, as plenty of holdouts seem to rapidly be picking up the system at the cheaper $249.99 tag.

Amazon’s “Movers & Shakers” list in their video games section has seen a total upheaval in the wake of Sony’s Gamescom announcement, as 160GB PS3 sales shot up 400% in the last 24 hours. Sony’s recently announced inFamous 2 PS3 bundle is currently at the top of the Amazon chart at #1, seling for $300 — arguably the better deal. Also in the mix is the PS3-exclusive Tomb Raider Trilogy, making a surprise appearance of its own by showing a 24-hour sales increase of 1,157%.

While it’s just a snapshot of immediate interest in the PS3, it remains to be seen how Sony’s console will match up against the Xbox 360 throughout the month, and the rest of the season — perhaps Microsoft will cut prices, too.

[Source: Amazon]

Nintendo confirms a couple Game Boy Virtual Console titles and reveals that Link’s only multiplayer adventure will be available to download later this year.

The only multiplayer Zelda game ever released is coming soon to the Nintendo eShop. Eurogamer reports that 3DS and DSi users will be able to download the game “without charge as part of this year’s ongoing 25th Zelda Anniversary celebrations.”

The story also reveals that the other two Game Boy Virutal Console games I’ve been waiting on (Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins and Metroid II: Return of Samus) will be available before the end of the year. Every day I feel a little less regret that I paid so much for Nintendo’s 3D handheld; getting access to these wonderful retro games on the go almost makes it feel worth it.