The back and forth between games industry Nostradamus Michael Pachter and the developers of the Call of Duty series continued today, as the Pach-Man adjusted previous statements that Acitivision would need to start charging for online play in the mega-series.

“I don’t want to call out any of the blog posts or tweets or statements to IGN as untruthful,” he told GamesIndustry.biz today.

“Rather, I think that they probably are true: Activision won’t require people to play for multiplayer, but I think that they will find a way to offer a premium experience for a fee, whether that takes the form of subscription, pay-as-you-go, microtransactions for virtual goods, tournament fees or some combination.”

This is how you make an industry prediction, folks. You give enough options (some already in existence) so that sheer odds dictate your chance of being right approaches 1:1.

In other news, I’m going to go out on a limb and predict future COD games will feature fully customizable weaponry, multiplayer map editing, persistent environments, guns that shoot bullets or some combination.

*presumably

Paramount isn’t taking the upcoming Top Gun PSN game lightly, if recent press releases are anything to rely on. The aerial combat title took to the air in a special event on the USS Iwo Jima as it was docked for the 23rd annual New York Fleet Week.

Details look good, with the storyline for the game being written by the original movie’s screenwriter, Jack Epps, Jr. So you’ll get more Maverick, Goose, and Iceman action to take to bed or lose forever.

KEY FEATURES:

* Talk to Me Goose: With all-new dialogue and storyline written by the film’s screenwriter, Jack Epps, Jr., players talk trash with Iceman, Merlin, Slider, and the rest of the flyers from the film.
* You’re a Hell of a Pilot. Maybe Too Good: Feel the need for speed! With arcade controls, players defy the laws of gravity as they dodge enemy planes using inverts, dives and spins.
* Too Close for Missiles, I’m Switching to Guns: Players go up against the best as they outmaneuver and shoot down bogeys using short and long range missiles and Vulcan cannons.
* This is the Real Thing. This is What You’ve Been Trained for: Top Gun features three single player and five multiplayer modes.

Top Gun comes to PSN, Mac, and PC this summer….. so any time now, really.

Mention “stereoscopic displays” to your average gamer and their eyes will roll back in their head as they begin to argue how little they want the coming 3D revolution. Recently a couple patents filtered through to the interwebs that show a very different way of looking at stereoscopic technology (ba dum dum).

Sony’s newest stereoscopic patents describe a way to use the technology to screen share a gaming experience with a buddy without cutting your display in half. By displaying each player’s screen in alternating frames synchronized with that player’s individual pair of glasses, each player could stare at the same screen, and see their game and theirs alone.

Check out the patents and marvel at an actual decent reason to wear those ridiculous goggles.

Stereoscopic Screen Sharing Method and Apparatus
3D Shutter Glasses with Mode Switching Based on Orientation to Display Device

via BrokeMyController.com

Zed Entertainment announced today the inking of a new deal that will bring games based on the various Monty Python skits and movies directly to your iPhone. No word yet on the actual content of said games, but my money’s on a Black Knight dismemberment minigame.

Zed will release a cross-category content portfolio based on the comedy Monty Python franchise across all mobile platforms including iPhone. Monty Python recently celebrated its 40th Anniversary and remains an iconic brand with multi-format success across TV, movies and more. The movies Life of Brian and the Holy Grail generated over $300m in DVD sales alone, with both regularly featuring in all-time movie top tens.

The Circus will be flying into town on mobile Q3 2010 with exclusive games, apps, personalization content including video clips from the classic series and movies.

On last week’s podcast, we talked about what it would take to make OnLive a must-have service. One of the suggestions was to go the Netflix/Gamefly route, maybe in conjunction with an existing mega-retailer brand.

Now we get word in The Street’s interview with GameSpot’s CEO Paul Raines that the retailer is studying Netflix’s model for digital distribution.

We are looking at other successful multi-channel stories like Netflix. The technology is clear — what’s not clear is the chronology. We are getting a good picture of how to balance digital and physical content.

As digital distribution continues to chip away at the brick and mortar retail chains it is going to be exciting to see what companies like GameStop do to stay relevant.

Alien Swarm was once a nifty little mod for Unreal Tournament 2004. Apparently Valve thought it was nifty as well, and a couple years ago they gobbled up the development team and put them to work on Left 4 Dead and now Portal 2.

In the meantime, they were also rebuilding Alien Swarm in Source… and now Valve’s releasing it on Monday July 19th for free.

On Monday, July 19th Alien Swarm is going to be released for free via Steam.

In addition to the game, Valve will also release the complete code base for Alien Swarm. This includes updates to the Source engine SDK and full Steamworks integration. If you’ve ever thought about developing a mod on the Source engine with Steamworks, this release provides more insight and examples for using Steamworks in game production.

Please visit www.alienswarm.com for more information.

The gang eventually overcomes their deep-seeded desire to do a podcast about saturday morning cartoons of the 80′s and actually talks about video games! On the topic list: OnLive, Deathspank, Diablo 3, and @Gamer magazine.

Do you love the Legend of Zelda but wish it was a FPS (first person stabber)? If so, this will be an absolute treat for you!

Some intrepid internet-goer has made exactly that… Zelda 2 – The Adventure of Link as a FPS. Check it out at http://3dnes.blogspot.com/

Making the game
This game was incredibly fun to make. I am a fan of the original NES game and love its innovations and clever game design. But as we all know, Zelda games are long and complex. When starting this project I had to choose very carefully what I had time to accomplish if this game was ever to see the light of day. As a result I decided to remake the beginning of the game up to the end of the first boss. This seemed simple enough, but I knew it would be a challenge. This is the result of my learning programming for the first time and a labor of love making this game in 3D.

Mixmoff, Dr. Scares, and Aevan are back on the case! They talk Valkyria Chronicles, God of War 3, Just Cause 2, and… Oblivion?

They also run through a few listener questions and list off their current gaming backlog.