Quake II Servers

Thousand-strong battles are top priority.

CCP has given a "specialised" EVE Online dev-squad "carte blanche" to tackle in-game lag issues that have the community up in arms.

"CCP has invested significant time and resources throughout EVE's history on increasing the performance of fleet fights. We've always had a team of developers devoted to improving our technology and in recent years we made exponential headway through massive server upgrades and initiatives like 'Stackless IO'," the developer told CVG.

"Currently, unsurprisingly, this effort is our number-one development priority and we have given the specialised team carte blanche in re-attaining 1000 player fleet battles that EVE is famous for.

Capcom profits plunge 90 per cent.

Capcom has revealed that Lost Planet 2 "underperformed its projection substantially", Monster Hunter Tri "grew at a sluggish pace" and Ghost Trick "struggled".

The comments come from a miserable financial report for the three month period ended 30th June. In it, Capcom's net income plummeted by 90.4 per cent to just 213 million yen compared to the same period last year.

Lost Planet 2 sold 1.5 million units globally during those three months, while Super Street Fighter IV sold 1.35 million units ("steady growth") and Monster Hunter Tri sold 690,00 units.

Besides RuneScape, besides Stellar Dawn.

Mark Gerhard has told Eurogamer that Jagex has a third, fantasy MMO in addition to RuneScape and Stellar Dawn.

"We do, we totally do. We're working on it as we speak," he said in an interview published today.

"A lot of what we've done to push the boundary for Stellar Dawn will benefit RuneScape and another MMO we're working on. We've got the advantage in that we share the same MMO tech platform. From there it's really down to the studios to decide how its used."

Nintendo pinpoints 29th.

Nintendo will reveal the date and price of the 3DS in Japan on 29th September 2010.

The Mario maker poinpointed the date to Bloomberg Japan (via GamesIndustry.biz).

Nintendo revealed the 3DS at E3 in June. We were told the dazzling new handheld would be here in 2011.

While Mario Galaxy 2 sells over 4m.

Nintendo lost money during the three months ended 30th June 2010, with worldwide DS sales down 44.7 per cent year on year to 3.15 million, while DS software sales slumped 22.9 per cent to 22.42 million.

The platform holder blamed "fewer new software titles", a lowering of the DS price and hefty foreign exchange losses for the losses.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 provided the only noted silver lining, recording 4.06 million sales worldwide since its May/June release. That helped Wii hardware sales climb by over a third compared to the same period last year.

"You don't have to buy anything else."

A Microsoft UK rep has defended the £129.99 price tag on the Kinect motion sensor for Xbox 360, pointing out that a single unit delivers the complete multiplayer experience.

"The camera tracks six people - with two active gamers - you don't have to buy anything else," group marketing manager Brett Siddons told TechRadar. "I'll let you do the maths, but when you say Nintendo Wii or PlayStation Move you buy this and this, even for a two player game."

"What do you need and what do actually have to spend for a two player game for this device versus that device?" asked Siddons. "You actually find that [Kinect] is very competitively priced."

Hellboy helmer directly involved.

Film director Guillermo del Toro has said that he is on the verge of announcing a deal to make videogames.

Describing himself as a "huge" fan of games, del Toro told MTV that he would work on "games that are going to be technically and narratively very interesting".

It's "a big deal with a big company", apparently, and it's not a licensing arrangement. "It's not a development deal. We're going to do it. We're doing them. And we're going to announce it soon enough."

"A line in the sand" next to Heavy Rain.

LA Noire developer Team Bondi has "defeated the uncanny valley" according to founder Brendan McNamara.

"We wanted to make a detective game," McNamara told the latest issue of OPM, picked up on by ConnectedConsoles.

"And a key part of that is interrogating people. If you're going to see if somebody is lying, you have to be able to look for little poker tells, all that stuff."

Plus: Def Jam Rapstar! SAW II!

Konami is bringing three big-budget blockbusters to the Eurogamer Expo 2010: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Def Jam Rapstar and SAW II: Flesh & Blood. And they'll be playable - all three before their UK release.

Lords of Shadow, made by MercurySteam and overseen by Hideo Kojima, spins Castlevania into a third-person action romp for the first time. Production values are monstrous and there are no quick-time events, just "atmospheric presentation, flashy combat, fluid platforming and smart puzzles". That's what Eurogamer's Ellie Gibson wrote when she saw the game in May.

Def Jam Rapstar is Konami's urban answer to SingStar - and then some. The top hip-hop acts of today have lent their songs to the game for mimicry. But what's really interesting is the community area where wannabe rappers can stuff their video demos in front of Def Jam music producers using the game's built-in tools. "Def Jam Rapstar comes across as the real deal," wrote Matt Martin in Eurogamer's July preview, "and 4mm Games could be about to step up, stand centre stage and set the roof on fire."

New shots show Borderlands-like engine.

PC, PSN and XBLA game Faery: Legends of Avalon has revealed itself.

Published by Focus Home Interactive and made by Spiders, this "unique and original" setting casts you as an elf or fairy that will change entirely (both in appearance and in ability) as quests are completed and monsters killed. There's even a World Tree and a Flying Dutchman Ghost Ship.

Your quest, for which you'll recruit various companions, will be to work out why Avalon - the world - is dying.