Michael Jackson maybe gone, but he’s not forgotten. One gamer may note of this with there very amazing tribute to  Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, using the characters within the Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic arcade title. The characters in the video are performing “Smooth Criminal”.

During the latest episode of GameTrailers TV, Geoff Keighley and the team at Visceral Games revealed the first ever gameplay trailer for their upcoming title Dante’s Inferno. Now, enough talking about it, it’s time to show.

“The time is right for the world of interactive entertainment to adapt this literary masterpiece, and to re-introduce Dante to an audience that, until now, may have been unfamiliar with the remarkable details of this great work of art,” said Jonathan Knight, executive producer for Dante’s Inferno. “It’s the perfect opportunity to fuse great gameplay with great story.”

Namco Bandai has announced that its secured exclusive North American rights to publish all future Dragon Ball titles “across all major consoles and handhelds” for the next five years, beginning in January 2010.

Along with this, Namco Bandai has secured the right to initially publish three Dragon Ball titles in 2009, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo exclusively for Wii, and Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans exclusively for Nintendo DS.

“We are very excited to have signed this long term agreement with Toei Animation Co., Ltd and FUNimation Entertainment, which grants Namco Bandai Games North American multi-platform rights to the testosterone-driven, action-packed world of Dragon Ball,”said Makoto Iwai, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Namco Bandai Games America Inc..

“This move reunites Namco Bandai Games with the Dragon Ball series in North America which will considerably increase our ability to develop titles that perfectly capture every nuance of what makes the Dragon Ball world exciting to the consumer.”

With the new Inside The Asylum behind the scenes video, Eidos Inc. and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment go deep within the walls of Arkham Asylum to showcase Batman’s most notorious enemies as well as the creators of the Batman: Arkham Asylum videogame.

The all new video features insightful interviews with Game Director Sefton Hill and Lead Narrative Designer Paul Crocker from Rocksteady Studios as well as famed Batman: The Animated Series and Batman: Arkham Asylum writer, Paul Dini.

After months of wondering when we’re going to get a chance to play the game, DICE has announced today that Battlefield 1943 will be available on July 8th on Xbox Live and on July 9th for the PlayStation Network.

“Battlefield 1943 is going to change consumer expectations of what a downloadable game can be. By offering Frostbite’s next generation destruction technology with a full Vehicle Warfare FPS multiplayer experience at a mere 560MB, Battlefield 1943 sets a new standard,” said Gordon Van Dyke, Producer on Battlefield 1943. “Our goal is to blow people away with a fully accessible, retail-calibre game for veteran Battlefield fans and shooter fans alike to enjoy for only $9.99.”

Battlefield 1943 is an all-new download-only action game that brings DICE’s first-class vehicular warfare to gamers.

Advertisement innovation. That’s what Microsoft plans to do by bringing Silverlight to Xbox Live.

Apparently, Microsoft “plans to bring IAB specifications for rich media technologies, including Silverlight, to Xbox Live within the year.” Enabling companies to build advertising campaigns that span four screens: computers, mobile phones, Surface and now televisions.

Silverlight as a technology is similar in intent to Adobe Flash. It is used for advertising as well as other purposes, such as browser-based games and video streaming. The arrival of Silverlight to the Xbox 360 aims to boost campaigns on Xbox Live by turning ads into interactive and interconnected experiences.

Media Post reports:

Silverlight-powered media on Xbox will have the same appearance as ads seen on a Web browser. Think technology that competes with Flash, only supported by 6 million Silverlight developers worldwide who now have the option to tap a variety of Microsoft tools and technologies and develop marketing campaigns for Xbox.

“Today, movie trailers are available in a high-definition (HD) format, but Silverlight will deliver 1080p HD and 5.1 surround sound without discs directly into the Xbox.” Sean Alexander, director at Microsoft’s Advertising Business Group, told MediaPost.

[Microsoft Silverlight For Xbox Live Eases Creative Across Platforms via Media Post]

Grease gets summer loving from 505 Games and Paramount Digital Entertainment with the announcement that 505 Games has secured the global publishing rights for a video game based on the original high school musical. The game will be will oversee and publish for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS.

The Grease video game will allow players to sing and dance alongside Danny, Sandy, The Pink Ladies and the T-Birds. The game will take full advantage of the Nintendo Wii’s motion-sensing controls and microphone, and the DS’s touch screen to create exciting gameplay for casual and family gamers eager to experience Grease in a new medium.

“We are really excited about working with Paramount Digital Entertainment to turn this world famous film into a video game for the very first time. Working with such a well known and much loved brand is a great opportunity and we believe the collaboration further strengthens 505 Games’ entertainment portfolio,” commented Ian Howe, Managing Director 505 Games.

“Paramount Digital Entertainment is pleased to be working with 505 Games to develop Grease,” said John Kavanagh, Senior Vice President of Video Games for Paramount Digital Entertainment. “Grease is the ideal opportunity to reach a broad gaming audience who love to sing, dance and have fun with a party-style game.”

Writer Kyle Ward, also attached to the Kane & Lynch adaptation, is handling the script for Hitman 2. Producers Adrian Askarieh, Daniel Alter and Chuck Gordon will return to work on the project.

The original Hitman movie, released in 2007, starred Deadwood veteran Timothy Olyphant in the role as Agent 45 himself. Despite dismal reviews, the film eventually raked in $99.9 million at the box office.

In an ongoing discussion with Naughty Dog, co-president, Evan Wells stated that fans should expect to sample the games multiplayer once more before Uncharted 2’s historical release – which hasn’t been announced yet.

“Yes, we’re going to have another multiplayer demo before the game hits shelves. The exact timing isn’t finalized yet, but it should be available to an even wider group this time, so if you missed the last one I don’t think you’ll have any problem getting in this one.”

Developed by Naughty Dog, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, the highly-anticipated follow up to Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, will feature up to 10 players in 5-versus-5 competitive gameplay. Cooperative multiplayer modes allow up-to-3 players to progress through a variety of environments by working together to accomplish set objectives.

Using a robust party system, groups of players will remain together in ranked and custom matches while earning currency, which used in combination with currency earned in single player missions, will unlock additional content and upgrades.

Last year, EA release some very interesting new titles; raging from parkour to mutant space creatures. The key to success? Hardly, because EA seems to think that, that was its down fall in 2008.

“I think in the spirit of your question, I think we launched too many new IPs all at once in Q3,” said EA’s Frank Gibeau in an interview with Gamasutra.

“I would have spread them out and found better windows for them. I would have had longer marketing for them. The marketing cycles were fairly short. We didn’t have enough assets to really build the fanbase, build the community, and get that long lead demand built,” he continued.

“So I probably in hindsight would have picked a couple different windows for Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge.”

In the shadow of Gibeau’s statement, yes!!! If their titles had more time to develope a stronger fan base, the sales would have seen a increase, along with, stronger interest. Just look at Valkyria Chronicles.

If you were under the impression that Bungie’s upcoming shooter Halo 3: ODST would be a straight-forward linear shooter, you’re very mistaken, said Bungie to The Seattle Times in a recent interview.

“We’re doing a lot of pretty neat things in terms of mixing it up, introducing some non-linearity, some free exploration,” said Joseph Staten, writer and creative director of ODST.

“This is also a mystery story so there’s a lot more clue-finding and mystery-solving than you would normally find in a game of this kind – nothing that strays too far from the fun ‘Halo‘ experience, but we definitely decided to take a little bit of risk and have some fun with this one,” he continued.

Along with that, Bungie also got a early look at Project Natal, a motion-sensing controller that Microsoft is developing for the Xbox 360. Bungie Studio President Harold Ryan said, when speaking on Project Natal, that ” he absolutely think[s that] ‘Reach‘ could be enabled with it.”

When playing through UFC one of the many things you’ll notice is how well UFC 2009 Undisputed translates one of the most complex hand-on-hand combat sports into a enjoyable experience. The game has three fighting positions that can be executed during a fight: on your feet, the clinch, and your ground game. These positions blend together nicely, and depending on which moves you execute, in whatever position, you can execute a number of different combinations.

However, if I were to give you some advice, I’d say to go through the in-depth tutorial. Firstly, because it’s a requirement; but also because you’ll need it. And don’t try the online mode unless you have gone through at least half of the game’s career mode. This is because UFC 2009 Undisputed isn’t a game in where you just pick it up and start playing. Every fighter within this game has their own unique fighting style – Muay Thai, kickboxing, boxing, Brazillain Jui-Jitsu, wrestling, and Judo. You’ll have to learn each fighter’s style before you take anyone one.

Speaking of fighting, UFC 2009 Undisputed’s in-ring combat really puts an emphasis on realism. The title’s hand-to-hand combat has to be the most detailed part of it. Depending on your distance from your opponent, you can perform different strikes. The same goes for the clinch, but there’s a different aspect to it. In addition, to add the realism, the makers of Undisputed digitally recreated actual referees and corner men to add to the experience. But the real star is the amazing commentary from Joe Rogen and Mike Goldberg – the commentators from the actual events.

UFC 2009 Undisputed gives you the ability to create your own Ultimate Fighter – starting from the bottom, fighting your way to the top. But you’ll have to balance your Ultimate Fighter’s scheduling and training throughout your calender in the career mode, because it can ultimately affect your fights in the future. However, there are three major things that you’ll focus on during your time before a match: strength, speed, and cardio. Along with that, you can spar against AI opponents, gaining points to fill up any of your sixteen fighting style bars, which help customize which position your fighter’s really good at.

Graphically, everything looks sound within the octagon. The 80+ fighters look and fight like their reality-based counterparts, and the frame rate stays solid throughout a match. They developers were even nice enough to add damage calculation to the character models, and, when blood flies from one of these injured spots, it will stay on the floor for the whole match.

I have only a few problems with UFC 2009 Undisputed. Firstly is that flash knockouts happen way too often. Being a man that loves to fight tectonically, when a flash knockout happens out of the blue, it angers me and many players like me. Also, the soundtrack could have a lot more sounds featured throughout, because Undead can only rock for so long. Another thing is, they could have added the fighters walking into the virtual octagon much like they do on the televised events.

Closing Statement:

While it’s easy to say that Undisputed has its problems, there’s no denying that it’s a great fighting game. It’s atmospheric, and the characters feel and sound authentic. It seems that THQ have found themselves a yearly title that can hopefully stand the test of time. If you’re a fan of any fighting game, this is something that you should give a try.

Score: A-

Following events from the film, the game tosses you in into the tattered white tank top of Weapon X in a setting all too familiar from the movie. However, X-Men Origins adds a lot of back story into it. The game centers around the time when Logan was running with his commanding officer Stryker and Sabertooth doing animalistic missions within Africa. But that isn’t all, the title also follows Lugan’s turn from the group for a better life – but we all know how that turns out. So now, he’s on a one man mission of revenge. However, for some reason, the game finds away to pop in and out of these timelines, which sometimes can get a bit tedious.

Luckily, this game isn’t much about story; it’s mostly about hacking ‘n’ slashing your way though waves and waves of enemies. Thanks to some quick reaction, combat provides enough variety in its moves to keep things up to speed and interesting, while the ability to unlock special moves and upgrade them with points earned by experience offers an rewarding sense of progress. But without some of these controls such as the game’s lunges, blocks, rolls, and special moves – handled by shoulder buttons and triggers – the controls feel sufficiently different to most other hack ‘n’ slash titles. And once you get the hang of things, you’ll soon find yourself a pro.

Another thing that’s interesting about X-Men Origins is the new health system they have finally given to Wolverine. Like before there is a heath bar, but you won’t need it because Wolverine has the ability to heal in-game. When bullets fly into Wolverine, the holes appear in his chest and they begin to bleed out. Along this, you can also see the shirt being torn off of Logan back as enemy bullets and explosions hit him.

When playing thought this game, I found that there there hasn’t been much work on the characters within the design department. There are three character types that aren’t bosses, and depending on which mission you are on, there are different character skins you will be able to fight. Don’t get me wrong, there are many special moves and attacks that you can utilise, but you can only do something for so long before you get bored of it. This is want happens with X-Men Origins. Sure, adding new character skins in the mix is a nice aspect, but there’s aren’t that many of them to keep things fresh.

Closing Statement:

There’s only so much you can ask from a movie game, but lucky, X-Men Origins is able to capture them all well. When I was playing though this game I was surprised by all the things they’ve added to give the game replay valve. I played though this game twice: the first to beat it, and the second to find all the extra collectables and ablites. There have been very few movie games that people can consider good, however I’m happy to tell you that X-Men Origins: Wolverine happens to be one of these games.

Score: B+

There’s no hiding it, everyone was affected by the passing of the “King of Pop” Micheal Jackson, but what does Jackson’s record label Sony Corporation have to say on his passing.

Commenting on his passing first, Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman, CEO and President of Sony Corporation: “Michael Jackson was a brilliant troubadour for his generation, a genius whose music reflected the passion and creativity of an era.”

“His artistry and magnetism changed the music landscape forever. We have been profoundly affected by his originality, creativity and amazing body of work. The entire Sony family extends our deepest condolences to his family and to the millions of fans around the world who loved him,” he continued.

Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, CEO, Sony Music Entertainment, said: “Michael Jackson’s unsurpassed artistry and beloved music brought joy to every corner of the world.”

We join today with his millions of fans in expressing our profound sadness and we offer our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. It was a true privilege for all of us in the Sony Music family to work with one of the most talented superstars in the history of music. We will miss him greatly,” Schmidt-Holtz continued.

Martin Bandier, Chairman & CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, said: “Michael was the kind of amazing talent that comes along once in a lifetime. He was an incredible recording artist, an insightful businessman, an unmatched performer, and a true icon. To all of us at Sony/ATV Music Publishing, he was also a trusted and passionate partner, who was very proud of our accomplishments. He will be dearly missed. We wish his children and entire family our deepest condolences.”

The combatants fight for various reasons, but have their sights set on the same goal, to become the next King of Fighters.

“Our development slogan for KOFXII is “KOF Re-Birth” and we’ve aimed to create an entirely new King of Fighters game. To make this a truly unique fighting game, we’ve revolutionized the graphics by creating state of the art visuals – and made no compromises in that process whatsoever,” said Masaaki Kukino, SNK Playmore.

GCO: For those that aren’t up to date with what you have done in the past, can you guys list some of your past works – both within the video gaming industry and on-screen?

Sure, Yuri might be best known for his work in video-games like The Prince of Persia series (as the Prince) in Sands of Time and Two Thrones. He also recently worked on Afro Samurai (Jinno/Kuma) – both the video games and series – opposite Samuel L. Jackson, Lucy Liu and Ron Perlman. He’s been in countless other game titles from .Hack// (Haseo), Saints Row, Persona 3 & 4 to Final Fantasy, as well as anime series Naruto (Sasuke), Gurren Lagaan (Simon) and more. He also does a lot of original animation work, having starred in Legion of Superheroes (Superman & Superman X), Ben Ten: Alien Force (Ben), Wolverine & The X-Men (IceMan) in addition to on-camera jobs. Most recently on TV he had a recurring role on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Christopher Garvin) as well as recurring on The Gilmore Girls (Carl).

And Tara is no stranger to video games, animation and television as well. In video games, some of Tara ’s credits include Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Red Queen), DC vs. MK (Wonder Woman), Persona 3 (Mitsuru) and Soulcalibur (Setsuka). In anime, she’s also on Naruto (Temari), Blue Dragon (Cynthia) and Buso Renkin (Tokiko). Tara also worked on Legion of Superheroes (DreamGirl). On-screen in film and TV she’s appeared in Gilmore Girls (Shelly), Charmed (Muse), recurring on Attack of the Show (Baronness & Spoiler Whore) as well as several indie films: Death’s Door, Time & Tide and Tumbling After, the feature film that we wrote, produced and completed this year under our production company Monkey Kingdom Productions. Clearly we don’t like to sit still…:)

GCO: How did you guys use your experiences with your recent venture “Tumbling After”?

Well, I think simply being in the entertainment industry as long as we have definitely helped us as we worked on Tumbling. It was its own unique process, which I don’t know that anyone could have been totally prepared for given the circumstances. And there were certainly moments when things got hairy, that we had to say, “This is just the way it’s gonna go!” and not take it personally or get bummed out, or we wouldn’t have finished the film at all. Yuri jokes that making Tumbling was our equivalent to going to film school; we had to learn on the spot and make things happen however we could just to get through the day.

We certainly called a few favors from people we know in all areas of the business. At every step of the process. It’s really the way things get done here, we’ve found. First it was calls to see if people could jump in as cast/crew, then it was to see if they could help in post-production. Those friend-favors are invaluable and we owe the caliber of the film in great part to the hard work and efforts of those people…which we couldn’t have accessed without having laid the groundwork in our personal careers up to that point. It’s such a huge undertaking, making a movie, that there’s a lot of trust involved, from start to finish, which is kind of funny, because trust is a major theme in the film.

GCO: When you hear the name “Tumbling After” you hear the ringing of the popular children song “Jack and Jill went up the hill”, was that you inspiration for the name of the movie? If yes, why?

Great! Then it’s working. Although the film is a psychological thriller, we like the eerie feel you get when you juxtapose children’s rhymes with scary ideas and images. Most of those fairy tales are pretty scary when you get right down to it, anyway. The main characters are named Jack and Jill for that reason, so that you are following the ‘tumbling after’ that befalls them. In fact, our tagline for the film is “Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water, Jack fell down and broke his crown and then began the slaughter…”

It’s funny really, since when we started filming we thought we might name the characters Jack and Diane, like the John Cougar Mellencamp song but fate stepped in and we ended up changing Diane to Jill just before shooting. And it all lined up perfectly. We couldn’t have planned it any better, really, since the character of Jack starts the film having just had a mental breakdown (he broke his crown) which sets all the events in motion (slaughter, you ask? Well, you’ll just have to watch and see.). So, yay! We’re glad that those images were conjured when you heard the name. Success!

GCO: Monkey Kingdom Productions. This has to be one of the most unique names I have heard in a long time, how did you guys come up with it? What’s the reason behind the name?

Why thank you! It actually stems from Asian myth and legend, by which we are both intrigued and inspired. In Eastern mythology, there is a Monkey King god. The Monkey King is a trickster god, always playing pranks on the bigger more powerful gods. We liked this image of the clever underdog, especially in the studio-powerful entertainment industry. So, we took that idea and our love of teamwork or a ‘kingdom’ of people, since in this business a successful project is never the work of a single person, and we created Monkey Kingdom Productions. ‘Cause when you’re having fun, its not really working, right? And if we don’t take ourselves too seriously and allow ourselves to play, then we’re just monkey-ing around. As we like to say, “C’mon monkey, let’s make a movie!”

Currently we’re shopping Tumbling After to several distributors and we are also in production and filming our next feature film, a documentary about the world of comic/cartoon/anime/video game conventions from the perspective of actors who travel there, since we live that firsthand. We are also co-authoring a book on voice-over due out this fall entitled Voice-Over Voice-Actor: What It’s Like Behind the Mic, so keep your eyes out for that. Like we said earlier, we’re always on the move!

I know we’re a gaming blog, but somethings are just beyond the controller. If you’re watching the news, you may already know that the ‘king of pop’ himself, Michael Jackson has passed away. Mr. Jackson was one of music’s most successful and influential artists.

Jackson was taken to UCLA hospital in Los Angeles after a 911 call at 12.21 p.m. local time. When paramedics arrived at his home in Holmby Hills they performed CPR but were unable to revive him. Streets surrounding the hospital were blockaded by police with yellow tape.

Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II. However, the cause of death was not immediately known.

Personally, Michael was one of my favorite artist. I believe that Michael will live on in his music. RIP, Michael Jackson.

The developer of such games as Brothers in Arms and Borderlands, Gearbox recently filed for a quartet of “War Hero” trademarks. However, they have now confirmed to Shacknews that the new franchise is “something down the road.”

Explaining that the trademarks reveal “a bit about our interests in the development of another original intellectual property,” Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford said that “we haven’t even talked to any potential partners” in regards to War Hero.

“So we’re certainly not ready to talk about it publicly at the moment,” he noted.

Pitchford further tells Shacknews that War Hero is not among the three mystery projects currently listed on Gearbox’s “games in development” page.

Pitchford added that the studio is currently “all gaga” over its October-due shooter-RPG Borderlands, with attentions “focused squarely on kicking ass.”

Let’s face it, the guitar used in Guitar Hero doesn’t really support the “mainstream and expanded audience” because not everyone lesions to the music presented with it – Rock, Heavy Metal, or whatever. But, with DJ Hero, Activision hopes that it will be the key to unlocking the “mainstream and expanded audience” with mixes of music genres.

“If you look at what our Guitar Hero franchise has achieved, we now have 15 million households that are active Guitar Hero users and we continue to satisfy them with more experiences and the chance to indulge in more music and gameplay,” said Activision’s CEO and president Mike Griffith via GI.biz.

“But outside of those 15 million household’s, there’s another 300 million that haven’t for one reason or another bought Guitar Hero yet. One of those reasons is we’re not reaching new genres and new music audiences in a way that DJ Hero allows us to accomplish. DJ Hero is going to be expansive to the franchise and be particularly exciting for Europe where that genre of music is arguably more important than it is elsewhere.”

“Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 2 is one of the most anticipated entertainment properties of the year and the Glu team is excited to develop a mobile game for this blockbuster title for fans of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise,” said Jill Braff, senior vice president, global publishing, Glu Mobile.

The mobile title will be available in Q4 2009 and will be published worldwide for carriers and application stores that support Android, Blackberry, BREW, J2ME and Windows Mobile.

Ahh… man!!! Gamers, including me, have picked Christian Bale, who played Batman in The Dark Knight, as their number one man to take on the role of Solid Snake in the film adaptation of Metal Gear Solid. However, that doesn’t seem likely.

The grizzled actor has reported to MTV Multiplayer that he hasn’t been approached about being featured in the film adaptation of the very popular video game.

Bale have you been approached about being featured Metal Gear Solid? “No”. Are you a video game fan? “Yes,” he stated. Okay, what games do you play? “That,” he continued.

Agent was announced at the Sony’s Press Conference during E3 earlier this month, but we only received some “base-line” information about the title. However, in a recent Eurogamer interview, Take-Two CEO Ben Feder spilled the goods on the “spiritual successor” to the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

“It’s a completely different storyline, there is completely different character development. It’s a game about espionage, set in the 1970s. GTA is obviously more about an urban experience, a typically rags to riches experience,” Feder says. ”Very, very different storylines, very different character development. It’s going to be very fresh for gamers.”

Feder then went on the reveal the reason as to why its an exclusive title; he stated that, “it’s important when you’re launching a new franchise to make sure you have the right support.” As you can see, the PlayStation 3 apparently provides such support. I’m not going to continue beyond that point.

Today, the attained parent company of Bethesda Softworks, ZeniMax Media Inc. announced that it has completed the acquisition of id Software, creators of world-renowned games such as DOOM, Quake, Wolfenstein, and the upcoming title, RAGE.

The acquisition by ZeniMax Media joins together two of the most respected videogame developers in the world, combining the FPS expertise of id with acclaimed RPG developer Bethesda Game Studios.

id Software will continue to operate under the direction of its founder, John Carmack. No changes will be made in the operations of id Software as development goes. However, all the principals at id have signed long-term employment contracts, assuring they will continue in their roles developing games.

“This was a unique opportunity to team with a smart, sophisticated publisher like Bethesda Softworks where the interests of the studio and the publisher will be fully aligned in the development and marketing of our titles,” said Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software. “In addition, we will now have financial and business resources to support the future growth of id Software, a huge advantage which will result in more and even better games for our fans.”

“This puts id Software in a wonderful position going forward,” said John Carmack, who will continue to serve in his current role as Technical Director. “We will now be able to grow and extend all of our franchises under one roof, leveraging our capabilities across multiple teams while enabling forward looking research to be done in the service of all of them. We will be bigger and stronger, as we recruit the best talent to help us build the landmark games of the future. As trite as it may be for me to say that I am extremely pleased and excited about this deal, I am.”

We normally pass on the triable “box art” post but, when it’s done this well, we give it the utmost attention. As many already know, we have a far to wait until its Rocktober 13th release, however, in order you give us something to drop our jaws at, Double Fine Productions and Electronic Arts have released the box-art for there upcoming title. Brütal Legend.

Brütal Legend tells the tale of Eddie Riggs, played by Jack Black. The ultimate roadie, Eddie is the first person anyone calls when they need guitars tuned or stages rigged, and has a love for hot rods and a photographic memory for every Heavy Metal album cover, and the lyrics those albums contained.

One night, a stage accident knocks Eddie unconscious, and he awakens in a world that looks very strange yet oddly familiar, a world where every Heavy Metal album cover and lyric Eddie knows has come to life, and where the evil emperor Doviculus and his demon army, The Tainted Coil, have enslaved the last remaining humans.

It’s that time again! You know, when we team up with someone, other then ourselves, to host an awesome contest. Anyway, we hear at GamerCenterOnline have teamed up with Pepsi, Harmonix and MTV for a summer promotion unlike any other.

With the launch of PepsiRockBand.com on June 2nd, Pepsi, Harmonix and MTV started a promotion in where the winner will receive an MTV Video Music Award Moonman for “Best Performance in a Pepsi Rock Band Music Video”.

To participate and to enter for a chance to win, gamers have to submit a video of themselves playing Rock Band on PepsiRockBand.com (using their Yahoo ID).

A big part of the promotion are the codes that can be found under the caps of 20oz and 1L Pepsi bottles – they can be played at PepsiRockBand.com and entered for a chance to win either:

• a Rock Band 2 Special Edition bundle (game software, wireless guitar, wireless drum set & mike) every hour, or
• 1 of 5,000 downloadable tracks every day (ends September 13th).

“MTV’s Rock Band has quickly established a new gaming platform that is extremely popular with music fans and gamers alike,” said Ralph Santana, VP of cola marketing, Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. “We’re partnering with MTV to bring a new exciting twist to the game that will give one lucky band a once-in-a-lifetime experience and a taste of stardom.”

Today, EA Montreal announced the return of the weapon design contest for Army of Two: The 40th day. From June 23, 2009 to July 12 2009, participants can submit their ultimate weapon at the game’s official website for a chance to have it included in a future EA Game.

To enter the contest, gamers will need to submit an image of their weapon and a brief 200-word description. Please click on the game’s official website to view the contest rules. Once gamers submit their designs, the images will be posted to the site for the community to vote on. Starting on July 20, 2009 the top weapons will be reviewed by the development team who will then pick the two best designs.

As it was rumored, Rockstar Games has announced that one of the highest-rated handheld games of all time, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will released for PSP this autumn.

“We’re proud to extend this truly unique handheld Grand Theft Auto experience to PSP and offer a downloadable version of Chinatown Wars for PSP GO,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “Rockstar Leeds has shown incredible talent in creating games that raise the bar in terms of depth and innovation on portables, and with Chinatown Wars we have a rich, fast-paced, and incredibly addictive entry into the series.”

“Rockstar’s work with the GTA series has been an enormous part of the success of PlayStation platforms,” added Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America. “We’re excited to welcome the critically acclaimed Chinatown Wars to the outstanding line-up of great games headed to the PSP platform this fall.”

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars follows the story of Huang Lee, a young Triad who travels to Liberty City after the mysterious death of his father.

Activision’s head of state, Bobby Kotick has been on a recent high, saying that Activision may need to “stop supporting Sony” come 2010 or 2011 because “the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and [that doesn't] make it easy for [them] to support the platform.” But, that hasn’t seem to faze Sony’s solid stature.

“PlayStation has tremendous momentum coming out of E3, and we are seeing positive growth with more than 350 titles slated to hit across all our platforms, including many anticipated games from our publishing partners,” said Playstation spokesman Patrick Seybold when speaking with Kotaku.

“We enjoy healthy business relationships with and greatly value our publishing partners and are working closely with them to deliver the best entertainment experience.”

Now, the statements made by both sides are very understandable, but like Seybold stated, coming out of E3 Sony has a solid line-up excluding Activision’s upcoming titles. Anyway, lets just hope that Activision doesn’t go ahead with their remark.

Question: what about Splinter Cell: Conviction making its on to the PlayStation 3? UbiSoft spoke about that on its forums yesterday.

“Splinter Cell: Conviction is a true Microsoft exclusive title and there are no plans to have Splinter Cell: Conviction on other platforms,” said UbiSoft. ”There are several reasons behind this choice. First of all, Splinter Cell games are historically linked with Microsoft platforms. The first Splinter Cell on the original Xbox was one of the first games to fully exploit the console’s technical possibilities. At that time, Microsoft really believed in the game potential and provided strong support to promote it. So, there is a “link of heart” between the franchise and the platform. Some games are like this (think of Final Fantasy for instance).”

They then went on the give another reason.

“The second reason behind this choice is purely linked to production. Having a single target platform means that we can optimize the game even further, because we only have one type of – console – hardware to support.”

The addicting team squad based role playing game Fat Princess was originally slated for a June release, which happens to be this month. However, sadly, it turns out that, that isn’t going to be happening. But, they haven’t left us hanging in the rain.

Instead, it will be out “at some point [during the] summer” – I know, that does sound like an exact date [/sarcasm]. Along with this, they stated that its release will be a worldwide one.

[Mike Kebby via Euro PS Blog]

Original: Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer spoke about “the role of innovation in changing economic times” at The Executive’s Club of Chicago earlier on today. However, what took the show, the announcement that a new Xbox 360 will be hitting shelves in 2010.

Ballmer stated openly, during a speech on the recession to those in attendance at the Executives Club in Chicago, that a new Xbox 360 will hit the store shelves in 2010.

The device will come fully packed with technology that’s “really, really, close” to actuality. The console, which was described as having a “natural interface,” will have a built in camera with the ability to recognize movement and voice.

Sounds alot like Natal.

[Ballmer announces 2010 Xbox 360 at The Executive Club Chicago via TG Daily]

No this isn’t a April Fools joke, mainly because it’s not April. But, the kind sirs, and madams, over at Microsoft are offering Silver members the chance to upgrade to Gold for one month. Here’s were it gets good, all this for the one time price of $1.

However, being a “limited-time offer”, which it is, when the free months up, you’ll be charged for the rest of the year, but, of course, you can opt out of it.

Max Payne developer Remedy Entertainment has licensed Umbra Software’s rendering optimization middleware for its upcoming title Alan Wake, which was announced all the way back at E3 ‘05 and was recently shown at E3 ‘09.

Umbra Software is the expert in 3D rendering optimization middleware for PC, Xbox360 and PS3. Umbra Software’s flagship product, Umbra, increases rendering performance in 3D games and allows game developers to create rich, complex and highly dynamic game worlds previously impossible.

“Umbra gave a significant boost in rendering performance on the Xbox360, and at the same time made our content creation faster. With Umbra’s culling technology, Remedy’s team can add more details to Alan Wake’s world and concentrate on the cool visuals while minimizing tedious work such as adding portals,” said Remedy Entertainment’s Development Director Markus Mäki.

“It’s been a pleasure working with Remedy on Alan Wake,” said Marko Nurro, Umbra Software’s CEO. “Remedy is one of the most innovative and technically competent studios in the world. Their games just rock, simple as that.”

Meet with some mixed emotions from Modern Warfare fanboys alike, it seems that World at War is a huge success, ranking over 11 Million copies sold since its debut in November of last year.

Just to recap, during its pre-Christmas debut, it sold more than 1.88 million units in its first month on retail shelves. Sales then went on to be very solid with an average of about 1.2 million copies each month.

Something is only “absolutely critical” if it’s needed to help the sales of a game in the gaming intdustry, or if it’s needed to make the experience more entertaining for players online, or off.

However, Activision’s producer for Singularity, Kekoa Lee-Creel, in an interview with Develop, said that the sci-fi oriented FPS is facing a number of challenges.

“The shooter market is saturated, it’s tough to break in right now when there’s a lot of great, well-established franchises,” said Lee-Creel. “We’re definitely on track to release a demo. That’s absolutely critical.”

“It’s so hard to convey how a game feels, but I have confidence that once we can cross that threshold I think we’re good.”

The game, developed by Raven Software, is set for its PS3, Xbox 360 and PC release in 2009

Midway Newcastle may be on the verge of closing its doors, but that hasn’t stopped it from announcing its development on its newest IP, Necessary Force. However, its announcement isn’t a lost cause, the studio hopes that it can end its seek for a buyer with it.

Develop even had the chance of meeting up with studio head Craig Duncan to talk about the game, which after three months of work is playable, and says the team is not giving up just yet.

“The idea of a detective who sets his own rules is the sort of story that’s been around in movies for a while, but we don’t think anyone’s managed to capture the essence of those choices and consequences in games,” said Duncan. “That unprecedented level of open world influence and troubled morality is something we’re really keen to explore.”

“It’s really important that people know that this is a team that wants to stick together – sometimes when you look at buying a studio you can worry that the real talent, the people, will just flee the ship, leaving you with some IP, kit and an empty building; the pieces of the puzzle that aren’t really worth anything,” he added.

“But everyone here as worked together for at least two years, with the original core team still together after about ten years. We’ve been through the ups and downs and all want to stay working together.”

“Despite all that’s been going on, we’ve only had three people leave this year – it just goes to show that everyone wants to stay together, how galvanized they are as a team. They don’t know if they’re going to have a job in a month’s time, but they’re still putting in a huge amount of effort now; staying until nine in the evening working on this – and that’s because they’re all so motivated by the great project we’re working on.”

Recently revealed that its 360’s development began in April, its developer, Square Enix, have stated that the 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII has “no chance” of compromising with the PlayStation 3 version of the title.

When speaking to VideoGamer, XIII producer Yoshinori Kitase had this to say about the compromises between the two versions of Final Fantasy XIII.

“The team is targeting to create an equal experience on both the 360 and the PS3, so there are no limitations. For example, right now we’re working on the PS3 version first, and once we’ve completed that we’ll really know how much game there will be to fit onto the Xbox 360 discs,” said Kitase.

“So we don’t know how many discs it’ll be housed on for 360, but there won’t be a chance that we’ll compromise anything because, oh it didn’t fit in the 360 discs so we’ll have to take it out of the PS3 version, or vice versa.”

Square Enix has revealed some very shocking info about the development of the 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII. However, it seems to be coming along nicely, considering that it has only been in development for two months.

“Up to the trial demo version that was released [in April] in Japan, [FFXIII] was PS3-only in terms of development,” producer Yoshinori Kitase told Giant Bomb. ”The Xbox 360 version is definitely following after the PS3 version, but [we] were finally able to come to a point in the PS3 development where some of the staff could take their hands off and start programming the 360 version.”

Kitase and fellow producer/designer Motomu Toriyama gave an on-stage demonstration of FFXIII for Xbox 360 during Microsoft’s E3 conference. The pair promised a Western release of spring 2010.

FreeStyleGames studio, the developers behind the upcoming DJ Hero title, have been hinting at the possibility all of E3, but the developers over at Neversoft, known for the Guitar Hero series, haven’t put their two cents into the equation, until now.

“We’ve worked with [DJ Hero creator FreeStyleGames], talked to them about the game for a couple of years now, looked at different builds and played it,” GH director Brian Bright told Eurogamer TV. “We would love to integrate in the future.”

However, Bright went on to say that the games release dates did not allow the team to include the option in the latest major Guitar Hero installment.

“Unfortunately for Guitar Hero 5, we ship a few months before they do. [But] we’d love to explore instrument compatibility in the future; we’ll see where it goes.”

Updated: Beside the reports that it was shown on 360, we have learned that it was show on the PC.

Original: The PlayStation 3 has some of the most beautiful games on its system, one of these just happen to be Killzone 2. Now, when this game was announced, back at E3 ‘05, it was one of the most hyped, and most discussed titles because of its visual representation.

Four years later, over 2 million copies sold, Killzone 2 has lived up to its hype, to add, its visuals were dead on to what was shown at E3 ‘05. But, during this years E3, Bethesda Software’s Brink was shown behind closed door and everyone that witness it was blown away by the way it looked. Most importantly, because it was running on 360. Why? Because it had the same graphical quality as Killzone 2.

Anyway, Bethesda Software is a very incredible company with some very unique development tricks up its sleeve. One trick they used to achieve this level of quality, was the way they used their textures.

[Bethesda Software Brings Killzone 2 Quality For Xbox360 With Brink. via HipHopGamerShow]

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is, undoubtedly, one of the best looking games of this generation, however, it seems that the upcoming Metal Gear title Metal Gear Solid: Rising won’t be utilizing the Metal Gear Solid 4 engine.

Instead, its developers Kojima Productions are building a engine that can be used for multiplatform proposes – PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Also, they promise that Metal Gear Solid: Rising will end up looking better than Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which was stated in their latest podcast.

“We’re redoing the engine from scratch, and it’s going to look amazing,” says podcast host Sean Eyestone. “It’s going to be a big project like Metal Gear Solid 4. The entire team is serious about making it look as good as possible on every platform.”

In an interview published by the Japanese magazine, Dengeki: PlayStation, Hideo Kojima explained why he took the role of game designer on Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, despite his previous claims that he would play a smaller role in the development of Metal Gear games after Metal Gear Solid 4.

“At first, I was just going to create the overall guidelines and concepts for the project, and leave it in the hands my excellent staff. I was going to have a hand in the project as a producer, and make titles other than MGS. But, I set the game in the South American(sic) country of Costa Rica and created a story with themes about nuclear deterrence and the cold war. It looked as if it might be very confusing to young people, because of generational differences. So, in the end I finally said, “I’ll do it.”

The only time Kojima directly referenced the gameplay of MGS: Peace Walker during the interview was when discussing the trailer shown at Sony’s press conference. When pressed about the cardboard box with two Snakes in it, Kojima said, “what we showed is called ‘The Love Box’.”

When discussing Metal Gear Solid: Rising Kojima said that it would not be a traditional Metal Gear game. “It’s a completely different kind of action than what has appeared in the series so far.” He also said, “I’ll be working more deeply on the project then a normal producer.”

The sales reports are in, making it clear that UFC 2009 Undisputed is May’s undisputed champion selling a total of 1,014,000 within May alone.

The title moved in 679,600 copies on the Xbox 360, 334,400 on the PlayStation 3, meaning that it overcame Nintendo’s donating Wii Fit by almost tripling its score putting it in second place. It also pwned EA’s, EA Sports Active putting it in third place.

Hardware

• PlayStation 2 117K
• PlayStation 3 131K
• PSP 100.4K
• Xbox 360 175K
• Wii 289.5K
• Nintendo DS 633.5K

Software

• 01. UFC 2009 Undisputed (Xbox 360) – 679,600
• 02. Wii Fit (Wii) – 352,800
• 03. EA Sports Active (Wii) – 345,800
• 04. UFC 2009 Undisputed (PS3) – 334,400
• 05. inFamous (PS3) – 175,900
• 06. Pokemon Platinum (DS) – 168,900
• 07. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) – 158,300
• 08. Punch-Out!! (Wii) – 156,900
• 09. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Xbox 360) – 120,700
• 10. Wii Play (Wii) – 109,800

In May hardware sales, revenue came in at $302.5 million, a 30 percent decline while software was off 17 percent at $448.9 million. “This is the first month that industry sales have dipped below $1 billion since August 2007,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier said in an email.

“May is typically one of the lowest revenue-generating months in any given year for the industry in general,” she added.

When being asked if EA is planning to merge Burnout and Need For Speed together, Riccitiello told Kotaku NO but he did confrim that the Burnout team at EA’s Criterion Games, led by Alex Ward, were working on the next Need for Speed title.

“Alex is one of the people in the industry I would analogize to the great filmmakers, etc..” Riccitiello said. “He is a true creative visionary. We had a great fight about what the next Need For Speed would be like. Of course, he gets to win because it’s his call. It’s not that I’m without an opinion on it.”

However, that still sounded like a possible merger NFS-Burnout.

“I don’t think you can fold Burnout into Need for Speed, because a lot of people like Burnout,” he said. “We don’t have a plan right now for a separate major launch on Burnout, because the team doing it is working on a revolutionary take on Need for Speed. I don’t know, if Paramount, in addition to owning Star Trek owned Star Wars, which isn’t the way it is, I don’t think you’d merge them.”

“It’s an honor to be named as the cover athlete for NBA LIVE 10,” said Howard. “This year has been a crazy ride and this is a cool way to cap it off. Of course – there is one more thing I’m on the hunt for that would complete it.”

Featuring several innovations to the core gameplay experience and online game modes, NBA LIVE 10 is bringing a renewed focus to the long-running EA Sports basketball franchise. The groundbreaking Dynamic DNA service, driven by Synergy Sports Technology, will make a return in NBA LIVE 10, with significant improvements that will allow players to connect their game to the NBA season like never before.

Ubisoft has confirmed the multiplayer mode for the newest version of Splinter Cell: Conviction that was unveiled at this years E3.

“We’re going to have a multiplayer, but I can’t talk about it anymore than that. It’s part of the things we’re going to announce during the summer,” producer Alexandre Parizeau told Joystiq.

Joystiq then went on to ask about the possibility of their being downloadable content within the game’s future.

“DLC? Yes, it’s always part of our strategies. We always want to keep the content fresh, so as soon as the team is done with the game we can move on and continue expanding the experience,” he added.

Multiplayer historically plays an important role in the Splinter Cell series, but Ubisoft has – until now – been cagey about this next instalment, which is exclusive to Xbox 360.

[Multiplayer confirmed for SC: Conviction via EuroGamer]

“We go for authenticity not realism,” Zampella told Official PlayStation Magazine. “We’re not making a sim, we’re making entertainment. We want it to look real like an action movie.”

Zamplella explains why the futuristic weapons don’t ruin the game’s authenticity. “You see a guy in an action movie, what he does is a little over the top. It makes for a great movie.”

[Modern Warfare 2: Authenticity over realism via CVG]

First announced way back in September of 2007, Gearbox Software has finally settled on a release for Borderlands – and it couldn’t of came at sooner time.

When speaking to Shacknews in a recent interview, developer Gearbox Software revealed that it’s targeting a October release for its post-apocalyptic shooter-RPG Borderlands.

“Borderlands represents an important evolutionary leap in game design and technology,” said Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K. “By utilizing revolutionary new technology to create thousands of unique, randomly generated missions, weapons and situations, Borderlands will raise the bar for next gen action games.”

This game looks better and better every time we talk about it. Crackdown’s 2 product page on Xbox.com has some details not revealed during Microsoft’s E3 Keynote. And these details are juicy.

The sequel is to have four-player co-op and competitive multiplayer for up to 16 people.

The games developer said earlier this week that it “takes multiplayer gaming to unprecedented levels for the ultimate co-op and competitive multiplayer experience”.

In the month of April alone, Valkyria Chronicles sales in North America increased by over 400% from, once again, March.

Half a year after a game is out, being able to say that sales doubled is a fantastic thing – that sales suddenly tripled is even more rare, said SEGA.

The burning hot sales can be attributed to community contests, DLC and the temporary price drop to $30.

Terminator Salvation follows the story of John Connor as he receives a distress call from a resistance member trapped within Skynet territory. But instead of leaving with his team, Connor decides to go on a rescue. Sadly, the game doesn’t produce any insight or unexpected twists into John Connor or the formation of the resistance, which could have been interesting. Instead, you do get the chance to meet up with characters featured in the movie, but, really, who’s that interested in meeting Common’s character?

There really isn’t anything here to call this a game. It feels as if some portions have been painfully edited out. And there isn’t that cinematic punch that’s normally featured with games like this. There’s a scene within the game where an HK (Human Killer Tank) cashes into a building – sounds cool doesn’t it? But, sadly, there’s isn’t that explosive feeling. It just feels bland.

Terminator Salvation gains all of its controls from other games, such as GRIN’s recently released Wanted title. However, its cover system is more like a half-circle-shaped thing, flipped upside, and cut into five different sectors. By hitting one of these sectors, you move into a that selected position. It’s a unique and original way of creating a cover system, and works well when you add it into combat – which, thanks to this system, is very intense.

The visuals are strong, but it’s too bad there isn’t much to look at. Salvation takes place within a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, so everything is destroyed, and the game doesn’t have that beautiful feel to the environments. Everything is washed-out and grey. I don’t know about you, but I like the environments within a game to have a pop to them.

The enemy AI is tough and follows the same logical attack patterns. This isn’t a good thing. When I was playing through this game on the lowest difficulty setting, it sometimes took me over five minutes to take out a squad of “spiders” – these are the enemies that can only be takien out from behind. This isn’t a gameplay problem. It’s an AI problem because they always have an eye on you, even if you’re behind cover. This passes by more easily if you play co-operatively with a friend, but that just makes a short game go by even faster.

Closing Statement:

Salvation seems to be a victim of time. There’s really isn’t anything here to call it a game. So I’ll have to tell you to pass on buying this title – instead, you should head out and rent it for the achievements or trophies because this game isn’t a long-term commitment. This game feels like a $30 title, and a rushed one at that.

Score: C+

During their annual World Wide Developers Conference, Apple announced their newest most powerful iPhone yet, iPhone 3GS.

The S, said the company, stands for Speed, meaning the new phone will load a web page three times faster than its predecessors. Apple calls it “the most powerful, fastest iPhone we’ve ever made.” Also, viewing Excel is faster and loading SimCity is 2.4 faster. And it can also capture video at 30FPS VGA.

It will have hardware support for the OpenGL ES 2.0 standard, and this should make graphics-intensive applications run smoother.

The 3GS can take voice commands, has a more powerful battery, and a starting price of $199 for a version with 16 gigabytes of memory. There’s also an 32 gigabyte version for $299. The phones will begin to go on sale on June 19th, but the 16 gigabytes phone will release on the 17th. However, the existing model iPhone 3G will remain on the market with a reduced price of $99.

Even though we have to wait until next year’s E3 to see the next Zelda Wii project in action, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto showed a select group of people at E3 the concept art for the newest Zelda Wii game, which is currently in production. And thanks to the guys over at Kotaku, here it is:

[Show as slideshow]

This game is sounding better and better each time. Ben Feder, president of Rockstar parent Take-Two Interactive, believes that Agent could achieve the same level of success as their Grand Theft Auto series, given its development is being overseen by Rockstar North founders Sam and Dan Houser.

“We think this has the potential to be yet another great Rockstar North franchise title….It’s the Houser Brothers and Rockstar North. It’s the A team working on an AAA title. I think the subject matter, the characters, the story, the environment, the background–all the elements are there. It’s such a rich environment to play in.”

When speaking with GameSpot on the Electronic Entertainment Expo show floor, Feder explained the decision to develop the game solely for Sony’s console.

“The trade-offs a publisher will typically make is, if you’re platform-agnostic, you get a larger installed base,” he said. “You’re platform exclusive when you get the right kind of support from first parties.”

Take-Two believes Sony will offer the same kind of support which made Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – all initially PlayStation 2 exclusives – three of the top 10 selling games of all time.

At this phase in the cycle, when you’re trying to launch a new franchise, exclusivity can really help you launch the franchise. It can give you the kind of platform that you need to start exclusive, start in the right kind of way with the right kind of partner. Exclusivity does work,” Founder continued.

“I have a lot of confidence in Sony. I have a lot of confidence in their ability to lead the market, as they always have,” declared Feder. “Their console is a terrific platform to be developing for, and Agent is a great testament as to our belief in what that platform can do, and what they can do with us as part of a partnership.”

According to Joystiq, when questioning about Shadow Complex’s pricing, Epic Games programmer Rob McLaughlin commented saying that it would likely not see price point below $20. Joystiq “grilled hm for more info” , but didn’t accomodate them.

Don Mustard along with Cliff Bleszinski, lead game designer on the Gears of War titles, are currently busy working on Epic Game’s first arcade title Shadow Complex – announced earlier at Microsoft’s E3 keynote.

According to a report made by the Associated Press, the lawsuit, filed in Santa Monica on Wednesday, claims that Double Fine failed to deliver the game on time to Activision. The suit also claims that Double Fine then offered the completed game to EA to release.

In addition, the lawsuit claims Activision paid Double Fine about $15 million to develop Brutal Legend, but the studio failed to meet the deadline last year. And that Double Fine then said it would need another nine months and $7 million to complete the game.

Activision and Double Fine negotiated to try to keep the game on track, but no agreement was ever reached, according to the court filing. Activision contends it never relinquished its rights to the game and that Double Fine improperly transferred Brutal Legend to EA.

“Hey, if Activision liked it, then they should have put a ring on it,” Double Fine President Tim Schafer said. “Oh great, now Beyonce is going to sue me too.”

The lawsuit states that Activision has suffered “irreparable harm” and will lose not only the game, but also the ability to sell downloadable content based on Brutal Legend if the release isn’t stopped.

[Activision sues to stop Jack Black game via Associated Press]

Previously creative director of Guildford-based Lionhead Studios, Molyneux will now also oversee the creative direction of fellow UK Microsoft studio Rare, as well as other European external projects.

Peter Molyneux actually assumed this new role back in March.

He has over 20 years of experience with games Populous, Syndicate, Theme Park, Dungeon Keeper, Black & White and Fable to his name.

You would’ve thought an announcement of a new Halo game would be huge news, but the reaction’s been a bit muted because many wanted to know what kind of game was it.

Now, Microsoft can at least confirm that the upcoming Halo: Reach is indeed what we wanted it to be.

Microsoft’s John Schappert has confirmed to Joystiq that “Of course, it’s an FPS”, when asked if Halo: Reach was a FPS.

[Halo: Reach is an FPS via Joystiq]

At the Konami E3 press conference, Hideo Kojima announced in front of the video game press core that Kojima Productions as well as at Spanish studio Mercury Steam are busy working on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, which then confrims reports that happened earier this year.

Kojima says they want to “keep the franchise fresh”. Along with that, he also stated that Lord of Shadow should be out sometime within 2010 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

However, we have received news that Kratos wasn’t playable at the demoing of the game. But, 1UP did manage to gain a pic of Kratos within the character select screen.

The developer behind such games as Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt, Rockstar North has announced its work, during the Sony keynote via Sony’s Jack Tretton, on upcoming PlayStation 3 exclusive “Agent“.

Agent takes players on a paranoid journey into the world of counter-intelligence, espionage and political assassinations during the height of the Cold War at the end of the 1970s.

“We have always enjoyed making action games, and with Agent we are making what we believe will be the ultimate action game,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games.

“Agent is a game we have wanted to make for a long time. The team in Edinburgh is doing an amazing job combining intense action, atmosphere and story in a great period setting to create something that feels quite unique. We cannot wait for people to experience this game.”

During the Sony Keynote in Los Angeles, Jack Tretton of Sony confirmed the development of Final Fantasy XIV: Online, which he revealed will be coming “exclusively” to the PlayStation 3 from the developers over at Square Enix.

Along with that, he also revealed that the game will be releasing in 2010.

If you didn’t know, Square Enix is still developing Final Fantasy XIII - also when at the event.

Metal Gear Solid: Rising explains Raiden on the Kojima site, but what about Big Boss? During the Sony Press Conference, Hideo Kojima took the stage to announced his newest project for the PSP Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

The game is said to take place ten years after the events in Metal Gear Solid 3. Kojima emphasised that he and the MGS4 team were deeply involved in the game. Also, that it’s not a spin-off or sidestory. They also said that they’ll be using all the features of the PSP. The games to release in 2010.

“With Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Kojima Productions has once again pushed the limits of the PSP system, creating a beautiful sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3,” said Martin Schneider, European Marketing Director for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH. “Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker lets players take the action and excitement of a console game to the PSP, and is a stunning addition to MGS Lore.”

It seems that Nintendo has teamed up with the developers over at Team Ninja to produce the upcoming Metroid title, Metroid: Other M – otherwise know as Project M.

With the game Nintendo plans to ”reveal a Metroid game unlike any you’ve experienced before.”

The title is a third person title, much like the original Metroid, and its said to release in 2010.

Nintendo really didn’t forget about us this time. During the finally minutes of the Nintendo Press Conference, Nintendo announced the sequel the the hit 3D Mario title, Super Mario Galaxy 2 coming exclusively to the Wii.

From the trailer, you can tell that Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the same deal as its predecessor. Also, it looks like the graphics have gone through some improvement. The game is said to release in 2010.

Note: Updated with press information via http://www.wiinintendo.net/.

Finally. During the Nintendo keynote, Nintendo announced that it’s busy working on a new Super Mario Bros. title, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, coming exclusive to the Wii.

In the game players can jump on each other, shoot each other with fireballs and other attacks. Item boxes generally produce one item per character. Killed players reappear in bubbles and players can free them, or leave them stuck for a while. One of the new powerups is the Propeller Suit, a jump suit that has a helmet with a propeller. Shaking the Wii-remote will let players fly in the air.

When a player goes into a warp pipe the game forces the other players to follow in, where they fight over the coins in the secret room.

At the end of the level, as soon as one player grabs the flag pole, the other players have about three seconds to grab it for bonus points. The points are tallied up and the players are ranked.

According to Cammie from Nintendo, the game will release Holiday 2009.

During the Microsoft keynote, Epic Games revealed their upcoming title Shadow Complex, which is the developers first arcade title, coming exclusive to Xbox Live arcade.

The game combines the best of old-school side-scroller design with modern, cutting-edge gameplay and incredible high-definition graphics. Collect power-ups, discover new abilities and evolve your character into a force of destruction as you explore an original story set in the world of Orson Scott Card’s best-selling novel, Empire.

Assassin’s Creed 2

EZIO, A NEW ASSASSIN FOR A NEW ERA – Ezio Auditore da Firenze is a young Italian noble who will learn the ways of the assassins after his family was betrayed and he looks to seek vengeance. He is a lady’s man, a free soul with panache yet has a very human side to his personality. Through him, you become a master assassin.

RENAISSANCE ITALY – Italy in the 15th century was less a country and more a collection of city-states where families with political and economic strength began to take leadership roles in cities like Florence and Venice. This journey through some of the most beautiful cities in the world takes place in a time in history where culture and art were born alongside some of the most auspicious stories of corruption, greed and murder.

A NEW-FOUND FREEDOM – You will be able to perform missions when you want and how you want in this open-ended world that brings back free-running and adds elements such as swimming and even flying to the adventure. The variety in gameplay adds another layer for you to truly play through the game any way you choose.

DYNAMIC CROWD – Discover a living, breathing world where every character is an opportunity for the player. Blending in with the crowd is easier, working with in-game characters provide ample rewards but can also lead to surprising consequences.

BECOME A MASTER ASSASSIN – Perfect your skills to become a master assassin where you brandish new weapons, learn to disarm enemies then use their weapons against them and assassinate enemies using both hidden blades.

During the EA Press Conference, Peter Moore revealed that EA has plans to release EA Sports MMA, which is a Mix Martial Arts title coming to the system hear you (360 and PS3).

“With Fight Night Round 4 set to deliver a knockout with industry-leading visuals and genre-defining gameplay later this month, I couldn’t be more excited to announce the expansion of our combat sports strategy with EA Sports MMA coming in 2010,” said EA Sports President Peter Moore.

“Fans have been begging EA Sports to get into the cage, and EA Sports MMA will put them in control of the sport’s unique combat experience while finally, in an immersive interactive experience, capturing the raw intensity that has made mixed martial arts one of the fastest growing sports in the world. We’re ready for the fight.”

Following the recent showcase during the Microsoft keynote, we have just received latest screens for UbiSoft’s upcoming title Splinter Cell: Conviction. As you can see, the game has really “gone back to the drawing borad” changing its perceptive from what it once was.

Coming exclusively to Xbox 360 this fall, unleash the ferocious skills of renegade agent Sam Fisher and uncover a deadly terrorist plot in “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction.” Completely reinvented and revolutionized, “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction” ushers in a new breed of action gameplay leaving players fully immersed in the life of the world’s most dangerous spy.

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As expected by so many of us, during the Microsoft Keynote today in Los Angeles, Bungie revealed its development on the latest Halo title, Halo: Reach.

Thanks to the very short teaser trailer that was shown during the keynote, Halo: Reach is due for release in Fall 2010. Along with the reveal, it was said that if you buy the Halo 3 expansion, Halo: ODST, you’ll get an invite to the Reach MP beta.

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In case you missed the pure amazement that was the Microsoft keynote, Gametrailers has just posted the Crackdown 2 debut trailer that was shown during the conference this morning. There isn’t anything new about the trailer because, once again, its the same trailer from this morning.

Coming exclusively to Xbox 360 in 2010, Crackdown 2 will take multiplayer2 gaming to unprecedented levels for the ultimate cooperative and competitive multiplayer experience, providing you and your friends with the complete freedom to explore, destroy and play as you return to restore justice and peace to Pacific City — by any means necessary.

“What game has 360 owners always wanted to play on their 360?” At the Microsoft E3 Press Conference, Hideo Kojima announced “Metal Gear Solid: Rising” for the Xbox 360 – but we’re not sure that it’s an exclusive yet because they only said “in developement”.

However, instead of featuring Solid Snake, the game will star Raiden.

“The Metal Gear Solid series is one of the most highly acclaimed video game franchises of all time,” said Anthony Crouts, Vice President of Marketing for Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. “With Metal Gear Solid: Rising, the Xbox 360 community will finally get a chance to enjoy the action and excitement that this popular franchise is known to offer.”

Coming exclusively to Xbox 360 in 2010, Crackdown 2 will take multiplayer2 gaming to unprecedented levels for the ultimate cooperative and competitive multiplayer experience, providing you and your friends with the complete freedom to explore, destroy and play as you return to restore justice and peace to Pacific City — by any means necessary.

Holy cow… This maybe a bit too soon, but has Microsoft just debuted a Left 4 Dead 2 trailer during its E3 Press Conference. There wasn’t much details given at the conference about the game, but according to end the trailer the game will be releasing on November 17th of this year. The game is set to release exclusively for Xbox 360 and PC.

“Yes we will have something new to announce at E3,” said Rein, before apologising that he couldn’t say anything more until the event. “And I’m looking forward to seeing the show back to its former glory.”

The developer is currently finishing up work on the Gears of War 2 expansion Dark Corners, which set to release worldwide on 28th of July.

Holy Molly! Crysis, the beloved and beauty PC game from German developer Crytek Frankfurt, will be getting a sequel and, get this, its an Xbox 360 and a PS3 game also. Crysis 2 is the second entry in the planned Crysis triology and will be published by EA.

“The development of Crysis 2 marks a major stepping stone for our studio,” said Cevat Yerli, CEO and President of Crytek. “This is not only the next game in the Crysis franchise, it’s the first title we are developing for consoles and the first title being built on CryENGINE 3.”

Key Features:

• An Epic Adaptation of a Classic – Based on part one of Dante Alighieri’s classic poem “The Divine Comedy,” Dante’s Inferno is a 3rd person action adventure game that takes Dante on an epic journey through Hell as he seeks to rescue the soul of his beloved Beatrice.

• The Nine Circles of Hell – Just like the poem, players will descend through Dante’s unique nine circles of Hell: limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery. Each circle features distinct environments, enemies and story elements befitting the sins committed by their inhabitants.

• Control the Beasts of Hell – Dante’s Inferno features large scale beasts and bosses, some of which Dante will be able to fully tame, utilizing them to throw back Hell’s wrath to its minions.

• Fast, Addictive, Responsive Combat – Dante fights through the nine circles armed with Death’s Scythe and Beatrice’s Holy Cross, with magic powers and a deep, customizable upgrade system helping the player take full advantage of a fast and fluid gameplay experience that will never run at lower than 60 frames per second.

• Bring Hell With You Wherever You Go – Dante’s Inferno gives PSP owners the same level of fast, responsive gameplay through all nine detailed and unique circles of hell the team is aiming to achieve on the consoles.

• Visceral Games Stamp of Approval - From the award-winning studio that created the critically-acclaimed Dead Space, Dante’s Inferno will receive the same relentless focus on quality and polish Visceral Games has become known for.

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“Just practiced my part for Microsoft’s E3 keynote tomorrow (introducing #thride),” said Hawk. “First time I’ve ever had to wear make-up for a rehearsal.”

Well, it looks like someone on the Xbox Team is going to be humiliated during the MS keynote, much like what happened at the Nintendo Keynote last year – but not you Tony, we’ll be fine.

Tony Hawk: Ride features a wireless skateboard controller designed in conjunction with the game to offer a dynamic gaming experience built from the ground up. Using a combination of accelerometers and motion sensors, the intuitive controller allows players to physically control the action by performing various movements and gestures on the board that directly translate into amazing tricks in the game.

New Moon (also known as The Twilight Saga: New Moon) is an upcoming romantic-fantasy film scheduled for release on November 20, 2009. It’s based on the novel of the same name written by Stephenie Meyer and is the sequel to 2008’s Twilight, which is based on Meyer’s previous novel.

“No. Like I say, we’re just focusing on being Batman,” said Paul Crocker. “We could have spent less time on that, and more time on adding stuff in, but really the game is successful because you feel like you’re Batman.”

In Batman: Arkham Asylum, developed by Rocksteady Studios, the player assumes the role of Batman as he delivers The Joker to Arkham Asylum. There, the imprisoned super-villains have set a trap and an immersive combat gaming experience unfolds. With an original script penned by Emmy Award-winning Batman writer Paul Dini, the game brings the universe of DC Comics’ detective to life with stunning graphics.

In an accidental leak discovered by some tipster, unprotected files on its Ubisoft site reveal the newest version Splinter Cell: Conviction, which show what “going back to the drawing board” has done for the title. The video doesn’t feature game play, but what it is, is ten seconds of greatness.

Along with the video, it was also spotted by Gamekyo on the E3 show floor a banner showing the new Sam Fisher.

[Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell : Conviction video from E3 2009 via Gamekyo]

Dragon Age: Origins was originally supposed to be released earlier this year but EA decided to delay the game to this fall so that BioWare could have the console versions come out at the same time as the the PC version.

Batman: Arkham Asylum exposes players to a unique, dark and atmospheric adventure that takes them to the depths of Arkham Asylum – Gotham’s psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. Gamers will move in the shadows, instigate fear amongst their enemies and confront The Joker and Gotham City’s most notorious villains who have taken over the asylum.

You know what’s amazing? A one hundred percent hand drawn proof video game (you know like alcohol?) such as King of Fighters XII and the way its online features work.

King of Fighters XII’s online play is run through a lobby system. Two players will fight it out while up to six other players wait in line for their turn. While they’re waiting, they can chat via voice or text. Depending on the lobby’s settings, the winner or loser of the match will continue playing. You can also randomize the match-ups if you wish.

Including: Winner Stays: Winner fights the next opponent in line; Loser Stays: Loser stays and gets to fight the next opponent in line; Sparring – The players that are to fight are randomized after each match.

The game also features a online ranking system and leaderboard system, which grades each player’s performances and keeps track of their best Time Attack times. Along with a public leaderboard. Due out this July for Xbox360 and PlayStation3, KOFXII offers exclusive online features for each system;

PS3: Exclusive Clan Mode that allows players to create clans, recruit clan members, blacklist players and compete against other clans. Xbox 360: Exclusive Truskill online ranking lets players record, replay and share matches.

Whatever you do, don’t get your hopes up. Yes, this the next Def Jam, but, sadly, it’s not fighting game. It’s a casual Hip Hop Karaoke game, go figure. Anyway, the game is being developed by new company called 4mm Games –  made up of former Rockstar execs/talent - via a partnership with Def Jam Interactive and it’s entitled Def Jam Rapstar.

4mm Games and Def Jam Interactive have a great story to share in terms of their unique partnership and more importantly their vision for Def Jam Rapstar to foster an interactive environment that speaks to the popular urban and hip hop communities which span a wide range of demographics. Wait, that’s casual talk!

The partnership and upcoming portfolio of titles, starting with Def Jam Rapstar, stems from both companies desire to create authentic, and culturally relevant urban-rooted entertainment across multiple genres/platforms. More info will be revealed at this years E3.

“This year at E3, we have an incredible slate of games for the Nintendo Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac and mobile devices,” said EA’s CEO John Riccitiello. “Our creative teams are developing some of the most innovative experiences on any platform. We couldn’t be more proud of the games we’re presenting this year.”

Featured at E3 will be:
Army of Two: The 40th Day
Battlefield 1943
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Brutal Legend
Dante’s Inferno
Dead Space Extraction
Dragon Age: Origins
EA Sports Active
EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis
FIFA 10
Fight Night Round 4
G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Madden NFL 10
Mass Effect 2
MySims Agents
NCAA Football 10
NHL 10
Need for Speed NITRO
Need for Speed SHIFT
Spore Hero
Spore Hero Arena
The Saboteur
The Sims 3
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

However, in an update on his Twitter account, Wentworth Miller had this to say, “Prison Break may be ending, but I’ve got things in the works. Hint…one word: Bioshock.”

Miller could have meant that he’ll now have time to play Bioshock, but, somehow, I doubt that. Or maybe Miller has a voice part in the upcoming Bioshock sequel, Bioshock 2?

But, then again, since its announcement in August, Hollywood has eyeing a big screen adaptation of this popular first-person shooter. So, it could mean that he has scored a roll in the big screen adaptation of Bioshock, but for now it still a rumor, we’ll keep you posted.

[Rumor: Wentworth Miller in Bioshock Movie? via /Film]

It seems that things are a bit clearer now. After teasing us with letters we can’t even make sensible words out of, the Kojima “NEXT” project teaser site update has finally revealed some more information about his upcoming game.

Anyway, the lighting and rain return, but this time with the letters “R” and “P” flash on the screen – along with the other letters from before. However, the teaser site reveals another hint. A picture of what looks like Big Boss – I’m not going to beat around the bush here, it is.

If you didn’t know, Big Boss was Solid Snake’s commanding officer in the original Metal Gear, however, it’s later revealed that Snake is his son-slash-clone.

In contrast to the seedy biker gang expansion that is The Lost and Damned, The Ballad of Gay Tony is said to focus on the glitzy “high-end night life” of Liberty City. The exclusive 360 episode will put players in the role of Luis Lopez, as his part-time hoodlum duties are supplemented by full-time work for nightclub impresario Tony “Gay Tony” Prince.

“Liberty City is the most vibrant game world we’ve created yet. The episodic structure has allowed us to interweave stories, gameplay and atmosphere in a whole new way,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games.

“The team at Rockstar North have yet again surpassed themselves, and made something that is both epic and very innovative. This episode’s focus on high-end night life contrasts with the biker gangs portrayed in The Lost and Damned, whilst giving us a lot of new gameplay possibilities.”

The DLC will release for Microsoft’s console this fall for $19.99, or 1600 MS points, and will require players to have a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV and an Xbox Live membership in order to download it.

Advertisement: Mountain Dew is teaming up with the people over at World of Warcraft to produce two new favors for the second version of Game Fuel. Anyway, by clicking here you can win gaming gear for your PC via their promotion site.

Anyway, Armada of the Damned takes place before the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and brands players will the ability to make on moral decisions, build their characters, vessels – of course – with the add zombie Pirate fighting.

“We want to make sure our game creates a sense a freedom in how you decide to live your pirate life,” said Alex Peters in an interview with IGN.

“We are trying to make experiences in the Caribbean similar to those featured in the movies so you can expect to see some supernatural elements mixed in with realism.”

When continuing, the game’s director also said that the game’s action takes place on both land and sea, while players interact with the nation powers who inhabit the Caribbean. These such encounters change your loyalties and choices over the course of the game.

“Big Surf is the culmination of everything we learned creating Paradise City, and we want it to bring you a truly spectacular new experience – the highlight of a year of incredible premium content. Burnout already delivers incredible value for money – literally hundreds of hours of gameplay with your original disk or PSN purchase, plus more with the free Cagney Pack and free Burnout Paradise Bikes,” - Criterion Games.

“Burnout Paradise is a complete reinvention of the series, built from the ground up for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360,” said Alex Ward, director of game design at Criterion Games when announcing the game. “To create truly next-generation gameplay, we needed to create a truly next-generation game, from top to bottom.”

“We are still enjoying strong demand, very strong demand, that is,” Abe said on Thursday. “In the single month of April, sales came to as many as 570,000 units.” Capcom posted an 11 percent jump in operating profit in the year ended March 31 as it enjoyed strong sales of Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV.

For the current financial year to March 2010, it forecast a 6 percent rise in operating profit to a record 15.5 billion yen ($164 million). Abe said the company aims to drive its overseas sales by offering titles that appeal to the expanding U.S. and European markets but has no plans of pursuing acquisitions.

In addition, Dew and World of Warcraft have created an interactive microsite where they’re giving away swag and free trial memberships to World of Warcraft. You can check it out here: http://www.mountaindewgamefuel.com/

“Everyone on the team is laser focused on making the most gripping experience we’ve ever created,” said Infinity Ward’s CEO, Vince Zampella when the title was announced. “No detail is too small and every finishing touch imaginable is underway to make Modern Warfare 2 our best ever. We can’t wait for our fans around the world to play starting November 10th.”

Advertisement: Mountain Dew is teaming up with the people over at World of Warcraft to produce two new favors for the second version of Game Fuel. Anyway, by clicking here you can win gaming gear for your PC via their promotion site.

Original: Well, if you need someone to voice the president in Fallout 3, who would better to get than the former ex-president of these United States?

“Celebrity acquisition applies not just to celebrity actors but to sports figures, politicians – we’ve made offers to Bill Clinton for video games and gotten great responses with attorneys who have said, ‘The former president will not participate in one of your video game products, thank you very much’,” says Lev Chapelsky, the general manager of Hollywood-based Blindlight.

“We appreciated that frankness and candor – you don’t get that kind of candor from Creative Artists Agency, frankly. If the answers no, they don’t return your call for six months.”

Chapelsky wanted to snag Clinton for the very obvious role of the president in Fallout 3. “Wouldn’t that have been brilliant? You get to that point in game,” he adds, “and you hear that voice in the ether coming from off-camera and you’re like, ‘I know that guy!’”

[Bill Clinton Was Asked To Voice Fallout 3 via Kotaku]

Just in time for Summer Vacation, Rock Band Unplugged gives you the ability to take the show on the road. Start a band and tour for fame and fortune while you learn to master lead and bass guitar, drums and vocals as a one man band. The multi-track game design takes the look, functionality and customization options of the Rock Band games and combines them with enhanced options built specifically for the abilities of the PSP. You’ll be able to control all four instruments at once by hitting the colored gems in time with the musical tracks just as you’ve done on other Rock Band games, but now you’ll have the added challenge of switching between instruments on the fly in an attempt to keep those note streaks going.

Rock Band Unplugged’s soundtrack features 41 songs on-disc and an additional 10 songs will be available for download following the game’s launch. You won’t have to worry about listening to lousy covers, either – all the music in Rock Band Unplugged will be master recordings and span all genres of rock from punk and metal to alternative and classic. And then you have Rock Band Unplugged’s in-game Rock Band Music Store which can be used to purchase downloadable content on the first game to enable the PSP’s in-game commerce capabilities.

The lack of mini-guitars and drum accessories can either been seen as a cursing or a blessing. Either you’re completely upset that you won’t be able to pound the skins in the back of your mom’s mini-van on the way to grandma’s house or you fully appreciate not looking like a complete tool in front of the guy next to you on the plane, but one thing’s for sure – at least you won’t be forced to sing in public. Vocals are handled like any other instrument – tap the buttons in time to the colored gems. Every one around you should be happier knowing this.

The Left, Up, Triangle, and Circle buttons on your PSP will handle hitting the notes while the shoulder buttons jump you from track to track as you attempt to keep the show going. The better you do on a certain track determines how much of a buffer you get between each track as you try to keep them from failing out. It looks like this game is going to be quite challenging.

The bright colors seem to make the game easy to see despite the smaller screen and the graphics look right about what you’d expect, though not any worse than a PlayStation 2 game. Hopefully the sound quality will be good enough a pair of headphones without too much lost to compression – if any.

If you’re not completely sick of Rock Band/Guitar Hero style games and desperately need something to do in the car – when you’re NOT DRIVING, of course – this looks like it could really scratch that itch. On the other hand, if half the fun of a music game is the feeling of playing an instrument, I don’t think this is going to cut it for you. In fact, I’d say that plastic guitars and drum kits are more than half the fun, but that’s just me. Also, where’s the multiplayer? If you like the idea of going solo while you’re on the go, again, maybe this is aimed right at you. We’ll see what the game is like once it drops – which isn’t too far away.

Anyway, lets get back on topic. This is the newest trailer for the long awaited video game Heavy Rain and it features two characters from within the universe; a cop, and Mad Jack, the villain from this clip.

As promised by Geoff Keighley, in this weeks episode of the much anticipated GameTrailers TV, it featured a teaser for Infinity Wards upcoming title Modern Warfare 2, the sequel to ’07’s Call of Duty 4. However, once again, the teaser doesn’t fill your gut because during the Easter Conference Final on May 24 we’d be able to witness the “World Premier” of the title.

“Batman: Arkham Asylum offers players the chance to battle Gotham’s worst villains with Batman’s physical and psychological strength in a graphically distinct and story-driven game,” said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment when the game was announced. “We look forward to working with Eidos on expanding DC Comics’ world-renowned character Batman in the game space with a noticeably different feature set in an incredibly dark interactive environment.”