Upcoming EA Sports pro hockey simulator will include throwback game mode to mark SNES/Genesis game's 20th anniversary.

To mark the 20th anniversary of NHL '94, this fall's NHL 14 will include a NHL '94 Anniversary Mode that will bring the look and feel of the SNES/Genesis game to modern consoles.

The NHL '94 Anniversary Mode is built within the NHL 14 game engine and features retro presentation including blue ice, star-shaped player indicators, 16-bit arena powerbars, and throwback music

In addition, the NHL '94 Anniversary Mode does not feature penalties, offsides, or icing calls and includes a "new take on classic goal celebrations."

NHL 14 launches September 10 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

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Riot Games announces League of Legends Season 3 World Championships to be held at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

League of Legends developer Riot Games has announced that the World Championship finals for season 3 of its global eSports tournament will be taking place at the Staples Center, home of the Los Angeles Lakers and Kings. Over 10,000 people are expected to attend the final match in the League of Legends tournament on Friday, October 4.

The University of Southern California's Galen Center will hold the start of the group stages on September 16. The Galen Center hosted the Season 2 grand finals last year, to an audience of 7,000 spectators at the venue and over 8.2m spectators online.

Qualifiers for each of the regions are taking place soon, with the North American and European matches occurring in late August at PAX Prime and Gamescom respectively. Following the qualifiers, 14 teams from Korea, China, Southeast Asia, Europe, North America, and an international wild-card team will fly to Los Angeles to compete in the semi-finals through both a group stage and a two round single-elimination stage for the $2m prize pool.

The world championship prize pool is expected to bring the total sum of League of Legends prize money for Season 3 to over $8m globally, with $1m going to the championship's winning team.

The Season 3 finals are expected to beat the 18 million unique viewer peak of the recent League of Legends All-Star tournament, held in Shanghai in May.

Tickets will be available soon at lolesports.com and through other various ticketing outlets. GameSpot will be covering the event, so be sure to check out the GameSpot eSports hub.

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Third DLC pack for latest Call of Duty coming to new platforms next month; included with Season Pass, $15 otherwise.

Vengeance, the third expansion for Call of Duty: Black Ops II, will launch for PlayStation 3 and PC on August 1, Activision has announced.

The content originally launched on Xbox 360 July 2.

The Vengeance DLC for Black Ops II includes four multiplayer maps--Cove, Rush, Detour, and Uplink--as well as a new Zombies adventure called Buried.

The Uplink multiplayer environment is a reimagining of the original Black Ops' Summit map.

The DLC is included with the $50 Black Ops II Season Pass and will sell for $15 as an individual download.

Vengeance follows expansions Revolution in January and Uprising in April. Four map packs are planned for the game in total.

For more on Vengeance, check out the video below.

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Following iOS release last year, open-world Dreamcast racing game hits Android for $5.

Open-world Dreamcast racing game Crazy Taxi is now available to download for Android devices from the Google Play store for $5, Sega has announced.

The game has been available for iOS devices since October 2012.

The Android version of Crazy Taxi is a remastered version of the 2000 Dreamcast title, complete with original music from punk bands The Offspring and Bad Religion.

Crazy Taxi for Android supports 3, 5, or 10 minute gameplay in Arcade and Original modes, as well as touch and tilt controls. Other features include 16 mini-games and physical controller support.

Crazy Taxi joins a growing catalog of Sega titles available for iOS and Android devices that includes various Sonic the Hedgehog games, as well as Super Monkey Ball and Virtual Tennis games.

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Nintendo releases a minor update for the Wii U, ahead of a more significant update planned to release before the start of October.

Nintendo has released system software 3.1.0 for the Wii U, which offers various updates ahead of a more significant update later this year.

The headlining change is that the Wii U will now "regularly connect to the Internet when the Wii U is powered down to check for available SpotPass data or software and system updates."

Any downloaded software updates will be installed while the Wii U is off, while downloaded system updates will install the next time the console is switched on.

Nintendo also adds that "improvements to overall system stability and other minor adjustments have been made to enhance the user experience," but does not detail the changes.

The Wii U's second major update of 2013, which company president Satoru Iwata first mentioned back in January, will now be released at the end of September or start of October, Nintendo says. The Wii U's first major update, released in April, sped up the loading of system menus.

Wii U owners can manually update the Wii U by connecting it to the Internet and selecting System Update from the System Settings option in the main menu. Nintendo warns that the update may take up to an hour to install on some systems.

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Iconic designer says he doesn't think Metal Gear Solid V can "reach that level," compared to Rockstar's open-world game.

Industry veteran Hideo Kojima has spoken out on Twitter to say he is "depressed" by Grand Theft Auto V, because he does not believe Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain can match it.

In a pair of tweets, he praised Rockstar Games, saying its upcoming open-world action game will raise the bar for developers the world over.

"GTA V" new trailer was awesome! This free control is future of the game, way higher than anywhere, makes me depress as matter fact.(cont..)

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) July 11, 2013

I don't think our "V" can reach that level. Rockstar's team are the best. W/o question they will pull up the possibility of game.

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) July 11, 2013

Like GTAV, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is an open-world game. Kojima's latest is in development for current- and next-generation consoles, while Rockstar's game is coming only to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

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Microsoft says its upcoming next-generation console would be excellent at servicing networking and conferencing needs in the workplace.

Alongside gamers and families, Microsoft is now saying the Xbox One would be a perfect device for small businesses.

In a public letter to small business owners, Microsoft director of consumer camp Marques Lyons has said many of the applications and features available to the upcoming next-generation console would be valuable to the networking and conferencing needs of offices.

"In fact, it's entirely justifiable to make the Xbox One a business expense," wrote Lyons. "The Xbox One, priced at $499, is an affordable option for small business owners, as there are many features built into the console that could help it rival even the most modest of video conferencing and networking platforms."

"What is being positioned as an excellent entertainment device can be just as enticing for you and your small business."

"Utilize Skype," continued Lyons, "and the power of group chatting, to have that collaborative exchange with clients and co-workers, no matter where in the world they happen to be."

"Utilize the size of that nice TV screen to see every smile and nod as your next great plan comes together. The Xbox One with Kinect, as a Skype provider, is just as capable as a PC with an attached/included microphone and webcam. The difference here is that Xbox One and Kinect gives you the open space to move, gesture, show examples, and see everyone more clearly."

Lyons also suggested a workplace mix of SkyDrive, Office Web Apps, and Kinect. "The SkyDrive app can let you easily access both photos and videos for viewing. If you're hosting a meeting at your office, don't worry about attaching a PC to the TV or using a projector. Store your videos in SkyDrive and then use the app to open that video. Do you have photos from recent travels or images showing details and diagrams? Open them with SkyDrive, navigate them with Kinect voice or hand gestures, be free from tethering that PC around."

"With SkyDrive via Internet Explorer, you can use it with the Office Web Apps to open that Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint. Use the Kinect voice and hand gestures to navigate to websites. Now you're free of clickers and light pens to use your hands to for more expressive gestures."

Lyons also said a mix of SmartGlass and Wi-Fi Direct would be useful in the workplace, allowing workers to beam presentations onto a large TV screen and control them with a tablet.

Future applications might also be released to assist businesses, added Lyons. "The app story of Xbox One has yet to be written, therefore it is entirely possible to find apps down the road that could be of benefit for you and your business. With the processing power, snap mode, and connection to a large screen, that the Xbox One has, this device is capable of going from the 'break room' to the 'board room'."

The Xbox One will be released this November for $499/€499/£425.

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Mark Cerny says that the upcoming console will set a proper business structure to support indie development.

The lead architect of the PS4, Mark Cerny, said that the numbers of indie developers developing for PlayStation platforms will grow at a fast rate.

According to Mark Cerny, indie development will be a big thing on Sony consoles.

During a Develop Conference interview in Brighton, Cerny said that the PS4 ecosystem was in an ideal position to speed up the trend. "I see it that on PlayStation 4, [indie development] trends are going to accelerate. I think we now finally have the proper business structure to really support indie development. And the PlayStation 4 overall user experience is also set up very well for indie; you can share screenshots and videos of the games and elevate their visibility within the gaming community quite easily," he said.

Besides being the lead architect for the PS4, Cerny was responsible for programming, designing, and producing legacy titles such as Marble Madness, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, and Crash Bandicoot. Sony's next generation console is due to launch before the end of 2013.

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Xbox One prototypes placed in lounge rooms to indicate how they would look in a real-world setting; company trialled more than 200 controller mock-ups.

Microsoft has taken the wraps off some of the design process and prototype looks for its upcoming Xbox One console.

Xbox creative director Carl Ledbetter discussed the journey to the final look and feel of the console as part of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference 2013, as reported by Polygon.

"We wanted to make it simple and elegant, and we wanted it to be crafted and tailored, so it's all about quality," Ledbetter said. "Using those principles, we started to design."

The process involved a team of 30 staff creating initial sketches, which were then turned into physical prototypes. Those models were then put in situ, placed in lounge rooms to give the team an indication of how the devices would look alongside other consumer electronics.

"The design you see here," Ledbetter said, showing the final Xbox One unit, "this is where we start to apply things like gloss and matte finishes. How does the vent pattern look? How does the brand come through the front? How do we make the font look high quality, just like the high-definition televisions in people's living rooms?"

The creative director also revealed that Microsoft created more than 200 prototypes for its new Xbox One controller, with users able to discern minute differences between different configurations. "We found that, when people put these in their hands, [they] could tell the difference between a 10th of a millimetre in size," Ledbetter said.

The Xbox One is scheduled to go on sale this November.

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DLC pack featuring three new single-player missions is out on July 16 in North America; July 17 in all other regions.

Publisher Deep Silver has announced that it will be releasing new DLC for its first-person shooter Metro: Last Light next week for the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.

Become one of three deep dwellers from various Metro factions.

The DLC, dubbed "The Faction Pack", includes three new single-player missions that assign players as different characters from each warring faction of the game. The playable characters are a special detachment sniper from the Red Line, a Reich "Heavy" unit, and a Polis ranger in training.

Players will be checking out previous locations from Metro 2033, using new weapons and combating returning mutant types from the original game. The DLC will be out on July 16 in North America, and July 17 for the rest of the world on Steam, Xbox Live, and PlayStation Network.

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