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Reuters - God did not create the universe and the "Big Bang" was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book.

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Come get some background on Randy Pitchford's back-in-fashion Duke Nukem shirt, seen above:

"I moved to Texas and became a professional game maker to join Alan Blum, he created Duke Nukem 3D," the Gearbox co-founder told us at PAX. "He and Todd Replogle in Southern California, freaking invented this whole damned thing. And I moved out to Texas to join him and George Broussard and Scott Miller, and all the guys on the team, so that I could be part of Duke Nukem 3D. Because I wanted to add to that. I thought it was awesome; it was really fun and I wanted to be part of that team.

"This t-shirt I'm wearing, George gave me this t-shirt in 1996," Pitchford continued, now speaking as part of the team that now hopes to complete Duke Nukem Forever. "And we've been waiting for this game ever since. Guys like Alan didn't want to let the Duke dream die. They've worked their butts off all this time making great stuff."

Pitchford explains the Duke shirt that predates Duke Nukem Forever originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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"Yeah, it surprised us too," Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer design director David Vonderhaar told us at the multiplayer reveal event in Los Angeles earlier this week. What surprised Vonderhaar and the team at Treyarch was the "30 to 40 percent" of Call of Duty players that never venture into mulitplayer, according to Activision research. His goal for Black Ops: To get as many of those people into multiplayer as possible.

With Modern Warfare 2 breaking sales records and its developer, Infinity Ward, in a state of collapse, following the highly publicized departure of the studio's founders and many of its senior staff, all eyes are on Treyarch to pick up the torch and deliver the most robust and polished multiplayer experience the franchise has seen yet.

But how far does Vonderhaar look to find competition? "The benchmark is always the last game that the studio's made, or that Activision's published," he said. "Multiplayer CoD games command three of the four top spots on Xbox Live right now. We're filling stadiums of people every night with players." And that fan base, which is shared across Infinity Ward's two Modern Warfare titles along with Treyarch's zombie-infused World at War multiplayer, hasn't shied away from upgrading annually.

But first, there's a challenge that Vonderhaar notes: A lot of different kinds of gamers buy Call of Duty games and never go online.

Continue reading Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer takes aim at cheaters, looks to recruit more players

Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer takes aim at cheaters, looks to recruit more players originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's finally, really, actually ... maybe going to happen at this point. The rumors are true: Gearbox Software and 2K Games have taken on the Herculean task of completing and releasing 3D Realms' unfinished Duke Nukem Forever. The project was officially unveiled today at PAX during a livestreamed presentation at the 2K Games booth.

Gearbox began finishing Duke Nukem Forever in late 2009, according to The Wall Street Journal.

[Image credit: Kurt Miller]

Duke Nukem Forever being completed by Gearbox originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Are you ready, Steef? Just Add Water is working on a high-definition remake of Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath. The Gravity Crash developer announced the project earlier today, highlighting it as the first in a "long and fruitful relationship" with the original game's developer, Oddworld Inhabitants. "Having a chance to update the great title and release it on PS3 is just a brilliant opportunity, not least for us, but for the fans too," added Just Add Water MD Stewart Gilray.

Set for release during Easter next year, the PlayStation 3 remake of Stranger's Wrath will offer enhanced 720p visuals, more detailed character models, remastered dialogue, PlayStation Move support and "additional bonus material."

Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, which launched on Xbox in 2005, was notable for being, well, a really bizarre first-person shooter. It placed the franchise's environmental missive inside a wild and weird Western aesthetic, and replaced ammunition with ravenous fuzzballs. An EA-developed PS2 port never made it to stores.

Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath remake coming to PS3 in 2011 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Infamous 2 is set to electrify (hopefully, not literally) the PAX crowd with seven demo kiosks on the show floor this weekend. The demos feature Cole's new glorified cattle prod weapon and will be set up at booth #122, where developer Sucker Punch will be giving away a "limited number" of t-shirts (pictured).

The crew from Sucker Punch will also be holding the "Creating Super Powers" panel in the Seattle Sheraton's Pegasus Theater at 6:30PM PT on Saturday. They'll show off the new Kinetic Pulse power and an enemy known as the "Ravager." It's sure to be electric ... boogie woogie woogie.

Infamous 2 at PAX: playable, panel and cool shirt originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to reports coming out of the recent GameStop managers meeting in Texas, Dead Space 2 will be getting a multiplayer component in which players will control either Necromorphs or "soldiers" (presumably not welders, then?). GamerNode claims that the mode will consist of "deathmatch-style combat" and will be just one of several multiplayer game modes when the game launches in early 2011.

Additionally, the source claims that pre-orders of the game at any outlet would net purchasers a free download of Dead Space: Ignition. Alas, if you pre-order it at GameStop, you'll allegedly get another bonus: a rivet gun. EA didn't respond to request for comment by publishing.

Rumor: Dead Space 2 to feature 'Soldiers vs. Necromorphs' multiplayer originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We all saw it coming from down Wiltshire and up the PCH: L.A. Noire has been officially delayed until "the first half of calendar 2011." The announcement was made in Take-Two Interactive's Q3 earnings release. Noire now joins Max Payne 3 as another major delayed game warming the 2011 bench, while Red Dead Redemption, Mafia 2 and Civilization 5 bring in the bucks.

L.A. Noire's delay became apparent after the title made it into some magazine pieces earlier this year with a pre-October release, and then failed to show up at any of the major video game conventions this year.

LA Noire officially delayed to first half of 2011 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Mega Man Universe teaser trailer hinted at all sorts of cross-game franchise madness when it debuted earlier this year, and this first gameplay trailer does little more than stoke our curiosity all the more. The new teaser begins with an introduction from creator Keiji Inafune, and then launches into the character select screen of this prettied up side-scrolling Mega Man title.

After just a minute of Blue Bomber action, a final tease is revealed -- the character select screen pops up again, only this time it features a Megafied version of Street Fighter's Ryu. "No way!!!" indeed! Head past the break for the full clip, courtesy of 1UP.

Continue reading First Mega Man Universe gameplay footage revealed

First Mega Man Universe gameplay footage revealed originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ubisoft sent out a series of three parody movie posters (and Tweeted another), featuring an overlapping group of characters. The publisher didn't explain what these posters related to, only saying "YOU MAY NOT KNOW IT.. BUT EVERYONE CAN MAKE IT BIG IN HOLLYWOOD.. WITH A GLIMPSE OF CRUELTY!" The posters all feature the same fake-name credits, though they all strangely list Robbie Coltrane as one of the stars.

Ubisoft happens to have a Hollywood- and cruelty-themed game in its lineup: the PC/XBLA game Bloody Good Time, about teenage actors competing violently for a movie role. That was supposed to have been released by the end of June, so it's long past bloody time we heard something. The timing of these posters' release suggests we'll see more (and find out if these really do relate to Bloody Good Time) this weekend at PAX. Hopefully, we'll find that the game is funnier than the posters.

Ubisoft's movie parody posters look like a Bloody Good Time originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It feels so weird to be telling you this, but Ubisoft has made an advergame based on Tom Clancy's HAWX 2 and ... it's kinda good! It's a pretty basic shmup with an 8-bit theme, though it's a bit more forgiving than most traditional games in the genre. (Your plane can actually take more than one hit before going down.)

Everything else is pretty much what you'd expect: a rad soundtrack; several weapon types; and an endless supply of enemies to blast into oblivion. Don't believe us? Hit up the link and check it out.

[Thanks, Daniel]

Tom Clancy's HAWX 2: The 8-bit Game has a missile lock on our heart originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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