BioWare has announced their MMO, Star War: The Old Republic, will be free-to-play beginning this November. The free-to-play feature will give gamers access to the first 50 levels and all eight playable and character classes. There will be some limitations with the free-to-play model. Gamers who are playing the free-to-play SWTOR model will be able to purchase items they lack with Cartel Coins. A subscription option will still be available for those who want to access higher-level content and unlimited game access. "Players want flexibility and choice. The subscription-only model presented a major barrier for a lot of people who wanted to become part of The Old Republic™ universe," said Matthew Bromberg, GM of BioWare Austin. SWTOR will go one sale this August for about $15, including a one-month free trial. BioWare has reported a steady decline of subscriptions for SWTOR since its release in late 2011. Many have speculated the MMO would eventually become a free-to-play game. Are you surprised by their announcement? -Davius Reid Sources: http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/726499/star-wars-the-old-republic-will-be-free-to-play-this-fall/
Skyrim Patch 1.7 is now available for PC users through Steam. In a post on its official blog, Bethesda confirmed the patch is no longer in beta and said that console manufacturers would get the update this week. The entry reads, "Skyrim’s 1.7 title update is now out of beta and available to all Steam users. Simply load up Skyrim on Steam and you’ll get the update. For those on consoles, the current plan is to submit the update to console manufacturers this week. As soon as it’s available, we’ll let you know." This isn't the only Skyrim news we're expecting this week, with Bethesda's Pete Hines also having suggested that we'll find out when, if at all, PC and PS3 players will get their hands on the Dawnguard expansion DLC. We previously covered what awaits players in Patch 1.7, with PS3 players finally getting Patch 1.6's mounted combat when it arrives. -Davius Reid Sources: http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/31/skyrim-patch-17-arrives-on-steam
Warner Brothers Japan's anime division began streaming teaser footage for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure the Animation, the television anime adaptation of Hirohiko Araki's manga, on Tuesday.
The television anime series will premiere in Japan in October. Shueisha's Ultra Jump magazine will announce the television stations, cast, and more of the latest information about the anime on August 18.
 Los Angeles is now guaranteed to have a contingent of marines, warriors, dungeon crawlers, and assassins every summer for the next three years.
Today, the organizer of the E3 (Electronics Entertainment Expo) Convention has announced that they have signed a contract to keep the event in Los Angeles through 2015. Until today, there had been a nearly year-long dispute that had a chance to take the vaunted convention out of the Southern California area for the first time in 16 years.
 Part of the agreement included assurances that the planned Farmers Football Stadium project on the Los Angeles Convention Center property would not disrupt the E3 Convention going forward. If Los Angeles couldn’t provide such assurances, other cities including New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, and Chicago were offering to host the event. It should be noted that the Farmers Field project is not expected to go forward until an NFL team signs to play at the stadium site, howeverb reports over AEG’s plans to go forward seem to vary nearly month-to-month.
Likely to be weighing on Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s mind was the loss of one of Los Angeles’ bigger money-generating conventions. While the average attendance of E3 is under 50,000 people, the attendees generate an estimated $40 million in spending on hotels, restaurants, temporary employment and other spending.
 One reason for the hesitation to stay in Los Angeles on the part of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the company running the E3 Expo, was that officials were not pleased with the limited number of hotel rooms with guaranteed rates available within the city. Additionally, Los Angeles wanted the convention to be required to work with contractors and workers from a pre-approved list provided by the city. At the last minute, AEG offered the convention to halt any stadium construction during the E3 Convention. Further sweetening the deal was Mayor Villaraigosa stepping in and offering to allow E3 exhibitors to continue using the same contractors they had during the 2012 year. This was important to the ESA as they require companies with specialized skills and knowledge to set up 55 miles of fiber optics for on-site broadband Internet for tens-of-thousands of users. The economic terms of the new contract have been cited as being similar to prior years, including the ESA to pay the convention center $1 million per event, however, that rate can be reduced to $1,000.00 if E3 attendees generate $450,000.00 in transit occupancy tax, which is added to hotel bills. To date, the ESA has not had to pay the higher event payment. According to ESA President Michael Gallagher, “We’re booking every hotel room we can get our hands on. Our members alone can easily fill 40,000 hotel room nights.” FREIGHT Sources: L.A. Times - E3 Convention to Stay in Los Angeles Through 2015Image Source - Knowyourmeme.comImage Source - laist.comImage Source - somofos.com
So far, we’ve had nothing but rumor and speculation to go on if we wanted information on Microsoft’s successor to the Xbox 360, called the Xbox 720 by many (the Internet is clever that way). Now, thanks to leaked pictures of a development kit, we have some real evidence that developers are working on games for Microsoft’s next console. The source of these images, calling himself DaE, posted the pictures on the AssemblerGames forum, where he tried to sell the machine for $10,000, according to IGN. Digital Foundry then checked with other developers working on next-generation games, and they claimed that the images are legitimate. Codenamed Durango, the 64-bit dev kit runs on Intel CPUs, an NVIDIA graphics card, and 8GB of RAM. Digital Foundry noted that dev kits often run on twice as much memory (RAM) as the retail version of the system, “to accommodate debugging tools and other systems.” This would line up the specs with those leaked from a Microsoft document last month. The casing looks like a simple, black PC tower. Of course, the retail version of the console will look completely different. According to DaE, Microsoft sent the latest version of the dev kits in February. DaE also included pictures of the graphical interface that developers can use to access camera rendering tools and data for the Kinect, the motion-tracking camera for the Xbox 360. The leaked document from June stated that Microsoft plans to build a more powerful version of the hardware into the Xbox 720. We reached out to Microsoft, who considered the issue a rumor and declined to comment. -Davius Reid Sources: http://venturebeat.com/2012/07/30/leaked-pictures-of-the-next-xboxs-developmental-kit-codenamed-durango/#s:durango1
 Super Stickman Golf developer Noodlecake Games has officially announced that a sequel, not-so-creatively named Super Stickman Golf 2, is due out later this year. The company promises that the title is going to “blow our pants off.” Based on what we know so far, we’re inclined to agree. The most exciting news is that SSMG 2 will include asynchronous multiplayer, allowing players to out-shoot their friends on their on schedule. A brand-new scenario-based puzzle mode is also in the works. Noodlecake is also promising a bevy of new courses, power-ups, achievements and other accouterments expected in a sequel. If you’re a mobile gamer that hasn’t discovered Super Stickman Golf’s addictive nature for yourself now is a great time to jump in. The original is available for free for a limited time. -Davius Reid Sources: http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/30/first-super-stickman-golf-2-details-revealed
 This year's 35th issue of Kodansha's Young Magazine is announcing on Monday that a new anime series adaptation of Shuuichi Shigeno's Initial D car-racing manga has been green-lit. The format of the new anime series — be it a television anime, original video anime, or another format — and other details have not been revealed. More details will be provided in the combined 36th/37th issue of the magazine on August 6. The story follows Takumi Fujiwara, a high school boy with a natural talent for driving, in his racing pursuits on the public highways. The manga debuted in 1995, and Kodansha published the 45th book volume last month. The manga already inspired several television anime series, a live-action film, several original video anime projects, and a successful game line. Tokyopop published the manga and released part of the anime before ceasing its North American publishing operations. Funimation also licensed and released some of the earlier anime. -Davius Reid Sources: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-07-30/initial-d-manga-gets-new-anime-series
 Last month the first expansion for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim released on June 26 for the Xbox 360. The expansion with a vampire-theme, called Dawnguard, launched on was exclusive for Xbox 360 owners for the first month of release. Now that the month is up we should be looking at getting a release date soon. Pete Hines who is Bethesda's vice president of PR and marketing, said over Twitter today that "nothing has been said/announced about it. We should have info later this week." Which hopefully means we will in fact see a release date for the DLC. I've been eagerly awaiting this content since I switch to playing this game on PC. - Sean ChapmanSource: https://twitter.com/DCDeacon/status/229922115313364993
Last month Konami (Konami's 4K Acquisition Corp ) and Saban (Saban's KidsCo Media Ventures LLC) received the rights to the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime franchise last month. The sale comes after a joint bid by Saban and Konami of the 4Kids' Yu-Gi-Oh! and CW Network-related assets On an interview posted by ICv2 with Konami Digital Entertainment Vice President Card Business Yumi Hoashi, it was revoked that Konami is taking over the the 4kids office in New York and will be creating a new company with some of the 4Kids employees. The new company will be owned by Konami and will handle of the anime’s adaptations, merchandise licensing and distribution. They do plan to continue airing the anime in North America and expanding the audience by finding new channels to rebroadcast the show. Saban's KidsCo affiliate received The CW Network's Saturday Morning block agreement terms in 4Kids' assets sale. Hoashi confirmed that the programming block is still airing Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. EST followed by the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Canada's YTV network also broadcasts the Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal television anime.
 The current Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal toy line will also be ran under Konami, and will be actively looking to promote new licensees. Hoashi noted that 4Kids had been having “problems” in the past year that prevented them from obtaining such licenses.
Konami will also actively solicit new licensees for the Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal toy line. Hoashi noted that 4Kids' "difficulties" in the past year prevented it from soliciting such toy licenses.
4Kids had had to file for bankruptcy last year after TV Tokyo, Nihon Ad Systems, and ADK filed a lawsuit over Yu-Gi-Oh! licensing. The suit reached an "amicable" settlement earlier this year, with ADK and TV Tokyo paying US$8 million to 4Kids.
As the games, and cards are already owned by Konami, I'm sure they will be little to no changes with them.
-Sean Chapman
Source: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/23540.html
 With message boards of fans eager to see the Vocaloid virtual diva back in the United States, a convention has announced that she will be back before the end of 2012. The Pacifiic Media Expo has announced a bombshell in that Hatsune Miku will be performing a concert during their convention. The concert will be presented by Vocalekt Visions, a concert troupe that uses the Vocaloid software to create original compositions. More specifically, Vocalekt Visions has had concerts featuring Miku and the other Vocaloid divas with music written by Tempo-P and NeutrinoP, producers of Vocalekt Visions. The featured performer, Hatsune Miku, is an animated character and mascot of a synthesized singing program, Vocaloid. Her visage became known throughout Japan when she debuted “live” via a 3D projected imaging in August of 2009. Since then, she is now recognized all over the world and has become one of the leading characters in modern animation. The stop at the PMX is part of plans to host concerts featuring Miku and accompanying acts to venues throughout the United States. You can register for the convention at www.pacificmediaexpo.info. When you register for the convention, you will be able to view the concert on a first come first serve basis. As an added bonus, we have added one of the latest songs by NeutrinoP and Tempo-P for your listening pleasure.
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