Saturday, April 19

Comics Of War

Are you an avid comic book reader/video game aficionado? Are you ready to add to your ever growing collection of carefully thumbed through, steam-pressed comics? Well the time to expand is soon, as yet another video game -> comic book crossover draws near.

DC Comics and Epic Games are partnering up to draw us up some totally radical comic books. Word. Press release after the break.

PRESS RELEASE

New York, NY – April 18, 2008 – DC Comics, the largest English-language comic book publisher in the world, in partnership with Epic Games, Inc., announced plans today to publish a comic book series based on the hugely popular action video game franchise Gears of War. The series is slated to debut from DC’s WildStorm publishing imprint in October. More details about the series, including the creative team, will be released at a later date.

The winner of over 30 Game of the Year awards, Gears of War for Xbox 360 and PC features amazing tactical action and multiplayer excitement. The plot thrusts gamers into a deep and harrowing story of humankind’s epic battle for survival against the Locust Horde, a nightmarish race of creatures that surface from the bowels of the planet. Gears of War 2, which continues the story of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad in an epic saga of survival, loss and retribution, is the sequel to the blockbuster game that sold over 4.5 million copies and redefined the third-person tactical action game genre. Gears of War 2 is being developed exclusively for Xbox 360 and will launch this November.

“We are thrilled to be working with DC Comics to further bring to life the Gears of War universe. A lot of our developers are huge comic fans, and have loved the personas and chronicles unique to DC Comics since childhood,” said Dr. Michael Capps, president of Epic Games. “The Gears of War storyline and characters that millions of gamers have come to cherish will be a perfect fit under the WildStorm imprint.”

“Big guns and monsters — what a perfect comic book for WildStorm! We have an opportunity to work closely with Epic to add to the canon of the Gears of War mythos, so you can imagine how excited we all are, said Hank Kanalz, VP – General Manager, WildStorm. “Epic sets the bar very high, in graphics, story, and gameplay — and expect no less from our series, starting with our lead-in arc that fills in the gaps between the first game and the upcoming sequel.”




-Undrallio


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Thursday, April 17

What Does 100,000,000 Mean To You?


Could it be the number of breaths you take in your lifespan? The average times a hummingbird beats it's wings in a year? Number of pencils sharpened daily by elementary school teachers?

Well, it's possible it's all of those things, but in today's post the number 100,000,000 stands for how many Nintendo DS games have been sold in Japan alone.

Normally that's an astounding number, but what's even more amazing is that only 922 DS games have been released over there and 21 of said games were multi-million sellers. The Japanese truly have a love for their DS games apparently.

DS Fanboy wrote up a neat little list that shows the highest selling games in Japan.

1. New Super Mario Bros. (5,174,163)
2. Brain Age 2 (4,835,159)
3. Animal Crossing Wild World (4,693,662)
4. Brain Age (3,771,440)
5. Mario Kart DS (3,042,753)
6. Pokemon Diamond (3,005,505)
7. Pokemon Pearl (2,490,564)
8. English Training DS (2,216,322)
9. Mario Party DS (1,706,506)
10. Big Brain Academy (1,654,285)


Yet again we hear the tired joke....it prints money.





-Undrallio


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Condemned 2: Bloodshot Demo on XBL

Today Sega announced it will be be releasing a playable demo of Condemned 2: Bloodshot on Xbox Live tomorrow at 2am. The demo is pretty much the same as the PSN version, dropping the player in the middle of the first level, where they must battle their way through the back alleys of a city that has gone insane.





-Ryizzel


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Create Your Own Soundtrack for Burnout Paradise

Criterion Games has announced it's next update to come to Burnout Paradise will be Codename: Cogney and will feature even more goodies than the last patch did.

First of all (or thrice of all really) there will be 3 brand new Freeburn Online game modes:

-Online Stunt Run
-Online Road Rage
-Online Marked Man

Anything that makes the online part that much more fun is great, Marked Man would probably be the most fun out of those three. Getting chased (or chasing) around Paradise City by a bunch of road rage driven crazy people would be a total adrenaline rush.

Why don't you take a nice click on "Read More" to see what the other part of this post is like? You know, the part that actually corresponds with the title of the post.


Then there's the latest announcement from the good folks at Criterion. The in-game custom soundtrack via the PS3's XMB.

"Today, we're delighted to announce Burnout Paradise custom soundtracks will be coming to the Playstation 3 as part of our Cagney software update.

If you want to play your own music while in Paradise City, it's now possible via Easydrive without interrupting the game.

This couldn't be simpler...you just hit the Easydrive menu, select Soundtrack and hit Custom.

This brings up the XMB custom soundtracks page, where you can select what you'll play, whether you want to shuffle or repeat and group music."


According to the Criterion website there's only 5 days left before the update, so hurry up Paradise addicts and get your in-game soundtrack properly mixed and painstakingly chosen. It's time to rock. Or rap. Or strum your banjo. Whatever sort of music you're into I suppose.




-Undrallio


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Fallout 3 could be getting DLC

Following the pattern with previous RPGs produced by Bethesda, many are speculating that Fallout 3 will have DLC of some kind. While there has been no official word, Bethesda's marketing head Pete Hines had this to say about DLC:


"Given how successful it was for us on Oblivion, certainly it's a given that we'll look into it and what we'd like to do," he said in regards to extra content for the post-apocalyptic RPG. "But I can't tell you when, I can't tell you what it would be, or what it would look like. Will it be bigger stuff like Knights of the Nine or smaller stuff? We've no idea. We'll let folks know once we get down the road."

Kinda vague, but it seems Bethesda will be doing DLC. Lets just hope it won't turn into another horse armor fiasco.






-Ryizzel


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My Spidey Senses Are Tingling, Another Spider-Man Game Rises


Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows is coming to us from Shaba Games and Treyarch and is set to appear on the PS3, PS2, PSP, 360, DS, PC and the Nintendo Wii. What? No cell phone action? Lame!

The official website tells us this:

"New York City has been invaded and only Spider-Man can save it.

The fate of New York is in your hands...take control..Spider-Man: Web of Shadows gives you an unprecedented level of gameplay choice, including, for the first time, control over the game's direction and outcome. Choose how Spider-Man fights, which powers to upgrade, who in the Marvel Universe to fight with or against, and the fate of New York City itself.

Choose wisely."


Free-roam web-slinging AND a non-linear storyline? Sounds like it'll be one hell of a game if they don't kill the story like they did with Spiderman 3. What's that? You want to know more? Well there's a trailer after the jump you giddy little Spidey-head you.





So, since this game let's us choose who we fight and who we fight with...can I finally tag-team Spidey and Venom against Mary Jane? Even if she needs to be brought back from the dead, I'd love to kick the crap out of Zombie Jane.



-Undrallio


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Iron Man Demo Tomorrow For 360, PS3? Soon...ish

A week or two ago I was watching some of the gameplay footage from the Iron Man game that's coming to the 360 and PS3 with ryizzel and we agreed on one thought. Looks 'effing fun, but how long would the initial awesome-factor last?




Well, tomorrow 360 users will be able to find out just how good (if at all) the game is, while hermits of the Playstation Network will have to wait an undetermined time, all we know is it's coming soon. Let's hope for the best, Iron Man deserves it.





-Undrallio


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Wednesday, April 16

Konami Denies Entry into Beta

For all you unlucky souls that didn't get into Metal Gear Online Beta, *cough*Undrallio*cough*, there is still hope to get in....no wait, never mind!

Last week, a clever user over at the GameTrailers Forums by the name of shhhoff composed a guide on how to navigate Konami's Japanese website in order to get a MGO beta key.

Unfortunately however, Konami has issued an official GTFO to anyone who has used this back-door method.


From: コナミカスタマーサービス
Date: 2008/4/16
Subject: NOTICE: KONAMI ID Deletion/KONAMI ID登録の取り消しのお知らせ
To: SOME DUDE


この度は、KONAMI IDをご利用頂き、誠にありがとうございます。

ご登録いただきましたKONAMI IDに於きまして、虚偽の情報によるご登録が確認されました。

これは、KONAMI ID基本利用規約「2.4 禁止事項」に該当する行為となります為、同規約「2.2 登録者情報(3)」に従い、登録の取り消しを実施いたします。

このメールを受信以降、ご登録いただきましたKONAMI IDをご利用いただく事はできません。

KONAMI ID基本利用規約は「https://id.konami.net/pc/agreement/agreement.jsp」から
ご確認いただけます。

本メールに関するお問い合わせは、KONAMI IDお問い合わせフォーム
「https://id.konami.net/pc/InquiryForm/index.jsp」よりご連絡ください。

なお、「METAL GEAR ONLINE PREMIERE β」参加をご希望される方は、お住まいの地域のベータテストの参加方法をご確認いただき、改めてKONAMI IDを取得の上、ご参加ください。

Thank you for using KONAMI ID.

However, we regret to inform you that your KONAMI ID has been deleted due to the registration of false information. We would like to add that this is in direct breach of the KONAMI ID Basic Terms and Conditions of Use clauses "2.4 Prohibited Conduct" as well as "2.2 Registrant Information".

Your KONAMI ID will be deleted once you have read this mail.

For more details on the Terms and Conditions of use, please refer to the below web address.

https://id.konami.net/pc/agreement/agreement.jsp

Should you have any further inquiries, please contact us from the below page.

https://id.konami.net/pc/InquiryForm/index.jsp

If you wish to take part in the "METAL GEAR ONLINE PREMIERE BETA" test, we would recommend that you obtain a KONAMI ID for the region you live in provided that the public beta test is open to you.

Yours Sincerely

KONAMI ID services

Anyone who has played a beta of an MMO can understand why Konami is acting this way. The last thing they need is 500,000 American players on their Japanese servers lagging everything to hell.



-Ryizzel


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Rock Band For the Wii's Bonus Songs Revealed

A while back I wrote up about how the Wii was going to be getting Rock Band with 5 Wiisclusive bonus songs. The songs have been announced and are as followed:

1.Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger
2. All American Rejects - Dirty Little Secret
3. The Police - Roxanne
4. The Ramones - Rockaway Beach
5. The B52's - Roam

Just for fun I linked all the songs to a video of the songs, so go ahead and have a listen to what the Wii owners will be rocking out to, I'm fairly impressed with the song choices, they're all pretty good.






-Undrallio


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Tuesday, April 15

Eve Online Source code leaked

Piracy is all fun and games in EVE online, that is until someone pirates your source code. Reportedly, EVE's source code has been leaked onto the internet via torrent, though some claim that someone merely just decompiled a copy of the game they bought themselves.

The community manager of EVE Online's forums had this to say about the scandal:


"While the EVE client is distributed by us we do not allow decompiling it. Anyone found distributing or discussing decompiled client code will face an in game ban. This thread only remains to inform everyone of this decision and not post about it again."

It also seems CCP is seeding the torrent themselves, banning any IP address that happens to have a correlating account on their servers.

In lieu of all the other scandals this game has had, this seems pretty damn funny.







-Ryizzel


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Wii Fit Gets A Price


After much speculation over how much Wii Fit was going to be sold for, the price which was ranging between $69.99 and over one hundred bucks has now been settled. The victor is the in-between warrior cost, $89.99.

Basically you're paying almost fourty dollars for that Wii Fit board, but if the game will compel you to get in shape, then it must be worth it. Hit the jump for a bit more about Wii Fit and a special deal.

Wii Fit is the game that everyone (and by everyone I mean ryizzel and I) have been talking about. It's designed as an aerobics game with that nifty little board in the picture that you must do all of your nifty Wii Fit activities on.

Wii Fit will have over 40 yoga, aerobics, strength training, and balance activities to hopefully give gamers what they need, a game that "provides consumers with a fun, easy and affordable way to incorporate exercise into their daily routines.

Turns out though that Miyamoto has no intention of Wii Fit actually making you get into shape. It's main purpose is to get you aware of your body so you can take further steps to better your health. Seriously, check it out.

Not only did we recieve a price, but the previously known release date of May 19th is still the same, but with a special bonus to extremely early preorderers.

"Along with pricing, Nintendo also announced a special deal for New York customers who pre-purchase the game from the Nintendo World Store in Rockefeller Plaza. From April 18-20, the first 1,000 consumers who place a $5 deposit for Wii Fit will receive a limited edition Wii Fit T-shirt featuring the image and reproduced autograph of Mr. Miyamoto."

There ya go New York citizens, you can get a shirt with a fake autograph of Miyamoto himself. Fuggetaboutit.





-Undrallio


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What Does Halo Have To Do With Ninja Gaiden?

First of all, were you happy when you could download the Heroic Map Pack for Halo 3 for free? Would you be even happier if you could get the Legendary Map Pack for free as well? Guess what, you can. That is if you preorder Ninja Gaiden II through Circuit City.

On their website, the preorder page for Ninja Gaiden II to be precise, it says "Preorder today and receive the Halo 3 Legendary Map pack free! Code will be sent via email within a week!"

So if you were going to get Ninja Gaiden II, you might want to preorder from Circuit City and get the Legendary Map Pack for free. Remember, that's an 800 MS point value.

Check it out at Circuit City.





-Undrallio


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Monday, April 14

The Guitar Hero and the Rock Band Get New Guitars (and Mics)


The Ant Commandos, a leading gaming accessory producer, mainly Guitar Hero trinkets and guitars has announced today that they've got a brand spanking new line-up that will be compatible with both Guitar Hero and Rock Band on the Playstation 2 and Playstation 3. Sorry 360 owners, TAC seems to have forgotten you this time.

Best part of the press release in my opinion? The following statement:

"The new lineup includes the first-ever guitar controllers to offer 4-in-1 compatibility, with all of its new
guitars being 100% compatible with all Guitar Hero and Rock Band games for PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3."

If that means what I think it means, that solves Sony-users' problems involving Guitar Hero 1 and 2 on the PS2 and trying to play them on the PS3. Freaking awesome TAC!

The whole list of accessories includes: The Double Range Guitar ($49.99), The Widow Maker Wireless Bass Guitar ($59.99), The Breakfree Wireless Microphone Dual Pack ($49.99), and a new style of Playstation 2/Playstation 3 Guitar adapter.

Hit the jump for the rather long, but fairly interesting press release.

Experience The Ultimate In Innovation This Spring With The Ant Commandos' New Lineup Of Musical Video Game Controllers

TAC's Upcoming Wireless Products Include the First 4-in-1 Double Range and Widow Maker Bass Guitars, Breakfree Microphone, Universal PS2 to PS3 Adapter and More

April 14, 2008 - Ontario, CA- The Ant Commandos (TAC), a leading provider of innovative wireless video game music peripherals and accessories, announced today its upcoming lineup of products hitting retail this spring. The new lineup includes the first-ever guitar controllers to offer 4-in-1 compatibility, with all of its new
guitars being 100% compatible with all Guitar Hero and Rock Band games for PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3.

The new lineup includes the Double Range Guitar in flame red, electric blue and jet black, the Widow Maker Wireless Bass Guitar, Breakfree Wireless Microphone Dual Pack, BreakFree Wireless Microphone Single Pack (for Rock Band) and a Universal PS2 to PS3 adapter for guitar and game controllers. TAC will also introduce illuminated drumsticks and a new Universal Guitar Controller Bag to help gamers tote their guitar controllers wherever they want to rock out.

"The music genre in the video game industry has grown so much in recent years, we have seen the demand for products that deliver high-quality, high value musical experiences also grow," said Raymond Yow, Director of Marketing at TAC. "All of our Guitar controllers are designed to provide 100% 4-in-1 compatibility, even down to the most minute features, with Guitar Hero 1, 2 and 3 and Rock Band for both the PS2 and PS3 platforms."

After successfully offering the first wireless and then the first 10 button design guitars for the Guitar Hero games, TAC is at it again by introducing the first 4-in-1 guitar that is 100% compatible with all Guitar Hero and Rock Band products on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3.

TAC's new line of guitar controllers and accessories help make the most of any player's musical gameplay experience:

The Double Range Guitar
The first 4-in1 compatible guitar, the Double Range is 100 % compatible with all Guitar Hero and Rock Band products for the PS2 and PS3. The guitar will retail for $49.99 in late April and will be available in flame red, electric blue and jet black. The Double Range Guitar controller allows players to act out their rock star fantasies with its 2.4GHz wireless technology which doesn't require a direct line of infrared sight to the console. Providing gamers the freedom to thrash around up to 30 feet away from the console, players will also appreciate the second set of FeatherTouch fret buttons on its patent pending Xtended Fret Button Array which enables players to jam like their musical idols by jumping to the lower set of fret buttons for world-class solos, and then using the higher set for rhythm parts. The Double Range's lower 5 buttons are 100% compatible with Rock Band's Solo Guitar play and it offers a 5-way switch to support the sound effect feature in Rock Band. In addition, players will love the FreedomClip, a special belt clip that allows for strap-free play.

The Widow Maker Wireless Bass Guitar
The first bass guitar that is 100% compatible with both Guitar Hero and Rock Band, the Widow Maker will retail for $59.99. Compatible with all versions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, the Widow Maker is the most advanced controller on the market, featuring AutoSense wireless technology using 2.4GHz connectivity and offering a larger and longer body design that mimics a real Bass guitar. The Widow Maker features the new BigBoy Strum Bar
which makes for a wider and tighter strumming zone, and players can be ready for fast action with the FeatherTouch Fret Buttons which are undercoated with new rubber cushions, designed to activate at the slightest touch. For special features that every guitar fan will love, the Widow Maker features a special button cluster that has a recessed pause button so players do not accidentally pause during a jam session. With its 4-in-1 compatibility, players can be assured that their investment is a good one, even if they upgrade to another system-because their guitar will work with all PS2 and PS3 versions of the games.

The Breakfree Wireless Microphone Dual Pack
The Breakfree Wireless Microphone Dual Pack will carry a retail price of $49.99, comes in two colorful designs - flame red or electric blue, and the package includes two wireless microphones, two wireless microphone antennas and one wireless microphone receiver unit. The microphones are compatible with SingStar, Boogie, High School Musical and Karaoke machines. Featuring an AutoSeek 'n' Set RF wireless antenna, gamers can perform like a star up to 45 feet away from the base station without worrying about getting caught in wires and cords. No one will know you're not a professional singer, with the 100 to 10,000 Hz frequency response which delivers a wide spectrum of rich sound. The Breakfree Wireless Microphone conserves energy by turning off if it doesn't receive a signal for more than 10 minutes, and it offers up to 100 hours of extended play on one battery pack.

PlayStation2 to PlayStation3 Adapter
The new PlayStation 2 to PlayStation 3 adapter enables all PlayStation 2 controllers and Guitar Hero and Rock Band Guitars to be utilized on the PlayStation 3 so players do not have to throw away all of the valuable hardware and software they have invested in. Unlike previous adapters from other companies, this adapter is compatible with most of the popular guitar controllers on the market and is engineered to function perfectly with all the features of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games.




-Undrallio


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World of Warcraft achieves one million concurrent connections in China

It seems everyone's favorite MMORPG just got a little more popular. Blizzard's partners in China, The9, has announced that World of Warcraft has achieved one million concurrent connections.

According to the press release, this breaks the record concurrency of the game's original launch in June 2005 and its release in China on September 6, 2007.

...How do you say "noob" in Chinese...

Source





-Ryizzel


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Sunday, April 13

Week 3 of the April Game Releases

We're already over half-way through with April already, soon it will be B&W's 3 month anniversary, and the game developers will celebrate by bringing us tons and tons of awesome, innovative, original games.

In a perfect world at least, but that's then and this is now so let's see what we have for this week in game releases.

Most notable would be Okami finally comes to the Wii, I'll probably be picking that one up myself...then Gran Turismo Prologue finds it's way to American Ps3s assuming nothing changes that. PC gamers get Turok and Rainbow Six Vegas 2, better late than never. Alrighty, let's do this thing! Full release list after the break.

Playstation 3

Gran Turismo Prologue



Nintendo Wii

Summer Sports: Paradise Island
Emergency Mayhem

Okami


PC

Turok
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Final Fantasy XI: Vana'Diel Collection
Jack Keane

Europa Universalis: Rome
Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis

The Sims 2: Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff




Nintendo DS
Rondo Of Swords
Major League Baseball 2K8 Fantasy All Stars
High School Musical 2: Work This Out!
Cory in the House
AMF Bowling Pinbusters!

Teenage Zombies: Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingys!






-Undrallio


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Playstation Store Update Tomorrow

PS3 owners, don't be alarmed when you go to log onto the Playstation Store tomorrow and you find you can't. Believe it or not, this is a good thing.

Sony is finally going to be fixing the Store and making it much more function able (hopefully). The maintenance will start at 8 a.m on the 14th, and end at 11 p.m. on the same day, if all goes right.

A new patch will be available after the fixing has been done, so get your bandwith ready.

The PLAYSTATION®Network will be taken offline for a scheduled maintenance to our network during the following times:

Start: April 14, 2008, beginning at 8:00 a.m., Pacific Time
End: April 14, 2008, ending at 11:00 p.m., Pacific Time


During this time, the new PLAYSTATION®Store upgrade will be taking place. As a result access to the PLAYSTATION Network will be restricted, including:


* No access to the PLAYSTATION®Store


For information regarding the changes to the PLAYSTATION Store, please visit the PlayStation.Blog.

It is not anticipated that this will affect other PLAYSTATION Network services


Once the new PLAYSTATION Store upgrade is complete, a new system software version will be available for download. This new system software must be installed before you may access the PLAYSTATION Network.



[via Playstation Knowledge Center]


-Undrallio


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