Culture Magazine has found evidence to believe that many pro-gamers use marijuana to enhance their abilities. In a recent interview with Gameplayer, Australian World Cyber Games tournament director Alex Walker stated that he’s “seen a number of players at national tournaments who came in ‘baked’ purely so they could play better”. Interesting stuff, but apparently there’s more than just anecdotal evidence to support beliefs that marijuana boosts gaming performance.

The Groningen Mental Enhancement Department in the Netherlands conducted a one year study testing the effects of gaming and cannabis on the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. The study showed that the marijuana test group had memory retention 43% better than that of the control group. One study is far from concrete proof, but those numbers certainly look impressive. Maybe that’s how people beat Ikaruga.

[Culture Magazine via Game Politics]

Have you played the latest lego adventure? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

What are your thoughts on the latest New Vegas DLC? Do you think it is worth your money? Let us know in the comments!

Battlefield 3 is getting a lot  love on Facebook, with approximately 781,000 likes as of this article’s publication. This is accelerated no doubt by EA and DICE’s  promise to release a full 12 minute gameplay trailer once they reach 1,000,000. You don’t have to wait that long. The trailer is out and Gamer Limit has it for you.

Perhaps EA and DICE were too excited, perhaps they had certain PR deadlines that just needed to be met. In any case, it’s a win for fans and gamers in general. It must be noted that the trailer with commentary is yet to be unlocked. That won’t stop you from enjoying this eye popping video, however. If you have never gotten your hands on any of the games in the Battlefield series, this trailer may motivate you to do so in anticipation of this beauteous game.

Fair warning — not safe for work language is included in this video ahead.

DICE executive producer, David Bach, has lauded the game as truly next gen. In a recent interview with CVG, he says the engine that drives this masterful first person shooter not only pushes the PS3 and 360 to their limits, but can dominate graphically on the next generation of consoles as well. “I think Battlefield 3 will look like a next-generation game and all the technology we’re building, the whole Frostbite 2 system – the animations, audio, everything – is trying to aim for a couple of years in the future, rather than looking at what we have today.”

Is this 12 minute trailer a sneak peak into the future? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

Ubisoft’s press release Tuesday revealed the development of PowerUp Heroes, a game that combines the Kinect and your XBox 360 avatar for “the ultimate super power-infused full-body fighting game”. Turn your avatar into a superhero by having him or her don one of twenty super suits. After you defeat an enemy, you take his or her super suite and powers a la Mega Man; and if you’ve made your avatar a digital version of yourself, like I have, it’s as close as you’re going to get to fulfilling a childhood fantasy.

If you enjoyed Kinect Adventures, then this may be up your alley. Albeit, after watching this trailer, I can only hope I don’t look as silly playing the game as they did acting out their mock teen super hero drama. All lightheartedness aside, this exclusive title can very well serve as a sampling of Microsoft’s vision of a predominantly social gaming future.

In Microsoft’s future, something called the Windows Gaming Experience (WGX), the avatar is one of the main focuses of gaming. Like a strange mantra, Microsoft says, “[m]y avatar is my online identity. It represents my style, attitude, and character.” One can’t help but hear a watered down echo of the U.S. Marine Corp.’s ‘this is my rifle’ line from Full Metal Jacket.

In line with the social experience, PowerUp Heroes lets you take the fight online against other avatars. Now, this is by no means a bad thing. It is just different — pitting cute, smooth skinned, costumed avatars in battle instead of hardened special ops warriors, or elves against orcs.

Ubisoft and Longtail Studios’ new game, which will release sometime in June 2011, doesn’t play into all the aspects of Microsoft’s WGX future, like the microtransaction part as we see in almost all free-to-play (F2P) games online. Rest assured, however, this is as big a part of WGX as much as the avatars are.

Now, you may be wondering where did all this mess about WGX come from. A while back, an internal Microsoft video leaked spelling out where Microsoft is most likely heading in the coming years. Amidst rumors of XBLA F2P and the emergence of PowerUp Heroes, it all seems to be coming to pass.

[source: TNW]

How does Crysis 2 compare to Crytek’s past games? Is the multiplayer worth trying? Check out this review to find out!

The premise is simple: you go to a bar and see a bunch of people playing this cow abduction game on the big screen. They’re using their iPhones, iPads and Androids as controllers, pressing on the screen to abduct, tilting their phones to move. You connect via your mobile device and you’re next in line. Consider it the 2.0 version of putting your quarter up.

Cow Snatchers was just one of several games demoed at D2S Games’ underground event last week. However, the event wasn’t really meant to demo their games more than it was showcase their platform, which is all about playing games socially without the likes of Facebook. As D2S chief visionary officer Donna Bonifield put it, “it’s all about taking people away from Facebook and into face time.” In fact, this event was more about redefining what a social game is.

Now, Bonifield and company are no newcomers to the game of making games. She alone has been at it for more than 20 years, with much time spent at Brøderbund, where she met chief technology officer Matt Siegel who led graphics conversion for such titles as Myst and Prince of Persia. Together with CEO Beth Rogozinski and designer Antonio Toro, they make up D2S Games, whose mission is to put “big screen fun in the palm of your hands”. Your mobile device is truly central to this endeavor.

Cow Snatcher‘s iPhone interface — elegant, stylized, a possible metaphor female anatomy. It definitely shows that two buttons can make for an complete gaming experience. Above all else, it represents the simplicity D2S is focused on in order to get the widest gaming audience playing. Sure they start in bars, but D2S aims to swing big with their platform. As Bonifield explains, “I see D2S in airports, movie theaters, restaurants, clubs, at home.  All around the world, communities of people playing together socially through games.”

Imagine you’re at McAfee stadium watching the Oakland Athletics sweep the San Francisco Giants. Between innings, instead of the announcer drawing your attention to the big screen to passively watch a silly cartoon train race, he tells you to pull out your iOS devices and Androids to play a quick game. Winner gets free tickets.

After seeing their technology work first hand, this is a definite possibility. D2S is truly making a social experience of gaming, where people interact with other people, rather than a viral slot machine where you harvest meaningless crops, collect valueless coins, only to post on a news feed where it gets swallowed in a steady river of status updates. In the ball game example, instead you’ve connected on a higher level with an entire stadium of people who are present, in the same place with you; and that lucky game developer just had tens of thousands of people playing his or her game in a matter of minutes. Such a beautiful concept this is.

The D2S loading and queuing screens. First you’re anticipating, then you’re connecting, then you’re playing. If I took that as a metaphor for D2S Games, I’d say they’re in the connecting stage. The platform has been developed, the API has opened this week and now it’s time for developers to go to town. Unlike the Facebook platform, developers are not tied down to making spin-off harvesting games or games super similar to the next in fear of losing an audience who doesn’t have the time to learn a completely new IP.

The other games they showed off, trivia game Smart-Ask and tap-racing game Stone Age Derby, were totally different from Cow Snatchers. More than the gameplay itself, the sheer difference in the type of games show that developers are only limited by their imagination with this platform. One can very well develop a core game that uses the iPad as the controller, a game you can very well play on a super huge HD screen. During the underground event, D2S shared one more vision for where the platform can go.

Imagine the D2S MoJoe app as a central hub, what Bonifield called the “jukebox”. Open the jukebox and you find an invite to a secret event. “You receive special secret invite, and passwords and clues along the way, but until an hour before the event you don’t find out where the event will be.  Then when you arrive, check in at the big screen with other players; you can only get in if you compete.” A game leading you to a game leading you to an event that most likely will have another game. Mind = blown.

If you were a hardcore gamer in the nineties, you may remember when just about every venue had an arcade machine. I myself remember many days biking to the 7Eleven on the corner to play Street Fighter II. Most times I got p’wned, but there was something special about playing alongside a real person, talking trash and making friends.

Of course you can still have that experience, but it’s limited to the Tilt at the mall or a 21+ venue like Dave and Buster’s (and I don’t know about you, I’m not at D&B’s mainly to get on the sticks); and all these places are static. You never go anywhere new. You don’t have that personal experience at the neighborhood pizza spot or bowling alley anymore, where anywhere you go, you can get into a fun game and meet new people. D2S changes that, essentially bringing the arcade-everywhere phenomenon back in a big way. Only this time, arcade-everywhere is truly everywhere.

Now here’s your +1. Why no sound fx? It’s because the sound would be coming from your phone.

Killzone 3 just got patched to version 1.07 yesterday. According to the preliminary notes Guerrilla implemented a lot of changes, including the ability to create private custom games. While I haven’t gotten a chance to play with the new patch yet, I can tell you this: Killzone 3 is in dire need of repair.

For the past week or so, my personal experience with Killzone 3′s multiplayer has been nothing short of atrocious. In all 3 game types–Guerrilla Warfare, Operations, and Warzone–I’ve been put into empty matches by myself, into 1v1 matches, and into matches that are horribly unbalanced, including one time where it was 6v2.

Apparently I’m not the only one and this has been going since at least March. There are multiple threads on the official Killzone forums with people complaining about the broken matchmaking system. So far I haven’t been able to find an official Guerrilla response to these claims.

Some of the explanations I’ve heard for all the empty matches include: nobody’s playing the game anymore (or at least nowhere near the numbers of a couple of months ago when it first came out) and that the attacks against Sony by Anonymous are responsible. I don’t really buy that last one, but who knows it could be real.

Guerrilla also says they’re going to release the second half of the 1.07 patch in the near future, but they don’t have a firm date yet. Again according to their notes, they want to implement more features related to being able to create custom matches.

I don’t care about having more options. I just want to be able to play the game. Guerrilla needs to take notice. With Killzone 3 suffering from all these issues, I’ve been lured back into the Call of Duty: Black Ops fray. That game’s not perfect either, but at least I’m able to get into matches consistently.

Not your typical fanboys, Ahruon and Orkimedes are the brain trust behind a lovely game called Card Saga Wars. What makes this game (and thus these two individuals) so special is that it lets you pit characters like Master Chief and Samus against one another in card art style battle. The concept of crossover battles is nothing original, but, judging by the gameplay videos that have surfaced thus far, they have gone through great pains to make things just right.

Of course you want to see more. Why would I even ask that question?

Ahruon and Orkimedes have put M.U.G.E.N., a freeware 2D fighting game program, under the hood of this downloadable title. It’s a monster of a game, as they’ve been fine tuning this vehicle of awesome since 2007. With every year that passes, Card Saga Wars just keeps looking better and better. Something of appeal to purveyors of fighting games, controls will be a hybrid of Street Fighter and Super Smash Bros., with combinations, a dedicated button for specials, etc. Expect support characters as well, something they’re calling “Green Cards”.

The lineup isn’t set in stone, but the list so far is nothing short of epic.

Playable Characters

• Crono (Chrono Trigger)
• Mai Shiranui (Fatal Fury)
• Chun-Li (Street Fighter)
• X (Mega Man)
• Cloud (Final Fantasy)
• Kos-Mos (Xenosaga)
• Master Chief (Halo)
• Ivy (Soul Calibur)
• Soma Cruz (Castlevania)
• Nina Windia (Breath of Fire)
• Etna (Disgaea)
• Sonic
• Bowser (Super Mario Bros.)
• Samus (Metroid)
• Link (Zelda)
• Lenneth (Valkyrie Profile)
• Valkyrie (Valkyrie no Densetsu)
• Reiji Arisu (Namco X Capcom)
• Yugo (Bloody Roar)
• Donkey Kong
• Lion (Tales of Destiny)

Green Cards

• Geno (Super Mario RPG)
• Olaf (Lost Vikings)
• Kevin (Seiken Densetsu)
• Lemmings
• Duke Nukem
• Rei (Breath of Fire)
• Rabbids (Rayman Raving Rabbids)
• Frog (Chrono Trigger)
• Marle (Chrono Trigger)
• Lucca (Chrono Trigger)
• Robo (Chrono Trigger)
• Ayla (Chrono Trigger)
• Altair (Assassins Creed)
• Alex Rovias (Eternal Darkness)
• Frank West (Dead Rising)
• Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)
• Selan (Lufia)
• Diddy Kong (Donkey Kong)
• Eggman (Sonic)
• Nova (Starcraft)
• Simon Belmont (Castlevania)

(This list was cobbled together from their website, as well as various gameplay videos.)

There is no release date at the moment, although we’re clenching our teeth and wringing our hands in anticipation. Keep your eyes out for the beta as well. If you want more, I encourage you to visit their website. It’s in Spanish and I won’t be providing translations this time around. Thank God for Google Translate, right?

Now, people have been buzzing about the Master Chief vs. Samus video most recently. While that one is awesome, that’s not my favorite.

I described this trailer in the news mashup. It’s much better if you see it yourself. THQ and Volition Inc.’s April fools joke came one day early, which is smart when you think about it. Catch ‘em when they least expect it. Cheers to Saints Row: The Third.

The last news mash-up came like a real bad hangover right after new years. This one is somewhat of a hangover, if you’re the type to drink on a Wednesday (on which I pass no judgment; I’ve been there). Let’s begin, shall we?

Level One: Wake Up And It’s Terrible

Something close to  a hurling feeling you may feel when you find out that Capcom has canceled Mega Man Universe. That means no fan-made levels, no wacky original U.S. boxart costume, no Ryu of Street Fighter fame. The company is rather vague about the issue, only citing the title has been cut due to “various circumstances”.

This is truly disappointing news to wake up to. More disappointing than the news that Square Enix had canceled Gun Loco earlier this month. Here’s hoping that these cancellations don’t start an axing trend (Guitar Hero pun not intended).

Level Two:The Sun Can’t Hide The Legal Notice On Your Door

Now, add legal woes to this hangover cocktail. Bad blood had been stirring between Ubisoft and THQ ever since last year when Patrice Désilets, Ubisoft’s former creative director, suddenly packed up  and headed over to THQ’s new Montreal studios. The French site, Rue Frontenac, broke a story close to industrial espionage when it revealed that THQ had swooped up several other Ubisoft leads soon after, all from the same Assassin’s Creed team.  THQ’s Danny Bilson then bragged about it to Joystiq in January.

In short order, Ubisoft filed for two injunctions with the Superior Court of Québec, later confirmed by Gameinformer. In legalese, an injunction is a court order for an individual/company to do or stop doing a specified thing. The injunction is meant to stop the Ubisoft manager poaching in THQ’s case.  So reads the Ubisoft’s official statement:

Ubisoft has filed a request before the Superior Court of Québec for injunction orders against THQ Inc. in order to have them comply with the non-solicit clause included in Ubisoft Montreal’s employee work contracts. The Superior Court of Québec has granted the injunctions to the satisfaction of Ubisoft. This procedure aims to protect Ubisoft Montreal in a breach of contract situation, and to defend the long-term financial and creative health of the studio.

Level Three: A Little Water In This Drought

Maybe all you need is a shot to quell the pain. A nutshot. That’s what you get when you watch the latest Saints Row: The Third trailer. In fact, that’s all you get, preceeded and followed by a lengthy disclaimer and the standard company logos.

Twitter was lit ablaze with anticipation of this trailer and, once it finally reared its head, you only get a split second of in-game footage. Call it a prank. Call it hype. I laughed when I saw it. However, that made my headache hurt even more.

Dragon Age 2 is building up quite a bit of lore both on and off the consoles (or PC if you’re so inclined). Here’s the story as it stands:  a gamer named Bastal posted a thread on Bioware’s SocialNetwork entitled Bioware Neglected Their Main Demographic: The Straight Male Gamer. He claims DA2 neglected its core audience by making homosexual romance just as prevalent as heterosexual romance, an unjust ratio in his view.

This prompted Bioware’s senior writer, David Gaider, to tactfully respond in defense of the non-straight male gamer, straight females and homosexuals a.k.a. everyone else. He stated that romance is there for all, and no gaming audience should be neglected whether they’re the base or the minority. Instead of getting + 1′s for inclusion and cultural sensibility, however, he got a gay gamer appalled and petitioning for his being fired. Are either of these reactions justified?

The gay gamer, only identified as Oakland in his petition, says,

[a]s a homosexual playing Dragon Age 2, I’ve witnessed the worst stereotype homosexual characters in this game. If you refused to make your moves on a gay character then you are received rivalry points for not wanting to be gay for the character.

This is completely wrong, homosexuals do not approach people and force them to kiss us, the person that wrote this game should be fired for stereotyping homosexuals in such a disrespectful way, as well as creating the worst writing in characters, plot and everything else in DA2.

Obviously this person as well as Bastal react extremely to a game mechanic that, no doubt, was meant to provide more depth into this widely popular RPG. While I let the gaming world decide if either side makes a point, I’ve decided to flex my bard skills in celebration of this Dragon Age drama:

Oh noble Bastal, keeper of the old ways

thought Dragon Age 2 shouldn’t be played by the gays.

Ser Gaider struck this hater

with a wise word or two

only to get stung by merry Oakland, who hates Gaider too.