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What Google wants, it largely gets. Need some proof of that? Fret not, as we've got plenty right here. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) just granted the internet behemoth authority to "buy and sell electricity in bulk like any other utility." As of now, it doesn't look like Google is jonesing to take on your local power provider, but rather to open up more avenues for acquiring power for its own good. Company spokeswoman Niki Fenwick noted that this filing was made so Google could have "more flexibility in procuring power for Google's own operations, including our data centers." That quote lines up with what we heard when this initiative was proposed just over a month ago, but considering that it's dabbling in the ISP business (and pretty much anything else it wants to), we wouldn't put it past 'em.

Source:
http://www.engadget.com

We love Assassin’s Creed II. It’s a fantastic game that actually lives up to all the promise its predecessor fell just short of.

Its DRM, however, manages to undo all that good will and then some.

We weren’t entirely sold on Ubisoft’s new “anti-piracy plan” when the publisher ran it by us last month, but little did we know that we were witnessing the birth of DRM so sinister that we’re now petitioning to have the guy that created SecuROM canonized.

Here’s how it works (as discovered by the fine folks at PC Gamer UK): as you’re already aware, the DRM requires an Internet connection to authenticate your game. As you weren’t already aware, it requires that Internet connection at all times. Constantly. The second you lose that connection for whatever reason, even for a second – be it a faulty wireless signal, a clumsy roommate, or a fried server on Ubisoft’s end – your game goes dark, you lose all unsaved progress, and you’re locked out of the game until you resolve your connection issue.

We’re reminded, at this point, of an old Internet saying: DO NOT WANT.

Ubisoft’s also afflicting the DRM upon Settlers 7. We weren’t actually planning on purchasing Settlers 7 in the first place, and – shockingly enough – this hasn’t done anything to change our minds.

Is this a joke, Ubisoft? Because we’re not seeing the punchline. That is, unless you burst out laughing every time hundreds of thousands of pirates cause you to lose millions of dollars.

Source:
http://www.maximumpc.com

Just when we thought we were done with good news for the day, Director of Technology at Sony Santa Monica, Christer Ericson, tweeted that, like Battlefield: Bad Company 2, God of War III reached gold status today.

“God of War 3 has gone gold and is being manufactured!” Ericson said and added an enthusiastic “Wheee!” for good measure.

The game, in other words, is well on its way to hit shelves for its planned March 16th release date.

Source:
http://www.thatvideogameblog.com

Final Fantasy XIII releases in less than three weeks, but people still can't stop pining for Final Fantasy VII, released XIII years ago. But Yoshinori Kitase, answering hypothetically, said a remake by modern standards might take XIV years to make.

Speaking to TechDigest, Kitase, the producer of Final Fantasy XIII (and director of VII) said a remake would be attempted if it were feasible to complete in a year. And that's hardly likely. His complete answer:

If it were possible that we had all the right facilities and the right environment to be able to make and prepare a Final Fantasy VII remake within a year, we'd very much like a go at it! But even Final Fantasy XIII has taken over three and a half years to create. If we were to recreate Final Fantasy VII with the same level of graphical detail as you see in Final Fantasy XIII, we'd imagine that that would take as much as three or four times longer than the three and a half years it has taken to put this Final Fantasy together! So it's looking pretty unrealistic! But if any such situation came about by any remote chance, then yes, we'd do it!

Granted, we're extrapolating his offhand calculation that a remake would take 4 times as long to create as an original on a three-and-a-half-year development cycle. The operative concern here seems to be whether Square Enix could pull it off in a year. And no, that doesn't sound likely.

Source:
http://www.kotaku.com

1UP have recently received some alpha build gameplay footage of Sonic 4 from an anonymous tipster. For those of you left dazed and confused by the 2 seconds of gameplay included in the game's debut trailer, this might clear things up a bit.

The video displays four of the zones to be included into episode 1 by the names of Splash Hill Zone, Lost Labyrinth Zone, Casino Street Zone and Mad Gear Zone. There's also a row of slots that can hold chaos emeralds at the bottom of the stage select screen which could be used for a special stage.

[Update]: In addition to this, the Xbox Live market place recently revealed that Sonic 4 will be developed by Dimps. The studio Dimps previously developed hand-held Sonic games such as Sonic Advance and the Sonic Rush series.

Source:
http://www.screwattack.com