Freddie Wong is back with another out-of-this-world video.  This time a futuristic version of Rock Band takes centerstage.  Augmented reality meets rhythm gaming!  Me likey a lot.

[Via Gizmodo]

YouTuber BlobVanDam used 3DS Max and Adobe After Effects to recreate the Mushroom Hill Zone level from the classic Sega Genesis game Sonic & Knuckles.  Unfortunately for us this is simply a pre-rendered video; it is not a playable game.  Still, doesn’t it look fantastic?!  Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1,  a 2D side-scroller using pre-rendered 3D character models, is currently being developed by Sonic Team and is the closest we are going to get to something like BlobVanDam’s creation for now.  The game is expected to hit all major consoles later this year.

[Via Joystiq]

This week at PAX 2010 2K Games announced that developer Gearbox Software (makers of Borderlands) is currently developing Duke Nukem Forever.  Let’s begin with some background information for those of you not in the know.  DNF is a game that was originally announced in April of 1997 as the sequel to 1996′s Duke Nukem 3D.  Almost every year since 1997 then-developer 3DRealms teased promotional material from the game promising that a final version was on its way.  3DRealms took so long to come out with actual gameplay that publisher Take-Two Interactive sued them in 2009; since then a settlement has been reached.  And now, 13 years after its originally announcement, DNF is very real thanks to a new development team backing the improved graphics engine.  Publisher 2K Games (a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive) pegs a 2011 release for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PC.

Still don’t believe that Duke is making his long-awaited comeback?  To prove that he is no longer vaperware for the video games industry to make fun (though they likely always will), 2K Games offered 15 minute playable–I said playable–demo at PAX 2010 for those in attendance (17 years of age or older) in addition to a trailer.  Head over to Joystiq to read their account of all things DNF; it includes screenshots from the game.  2k Games even issued a press release to provide further proof that Duke is well and alive.  It’s sitting in full after the break, but here’s an excerpt that briefly details the first-person shooter:

Put on your sunglasses and prepare to step into the boots of Duke Nukem, whose legend has reached epic proportions in the years since his last adventure. The alien hordes are back and only Duke can save the world, again. Pig cops, alien shrink rays and enormous alien bosses won’t stop our hero from accomplishing his one and only goal: to save the world, save the babes and to be a bad-ass while doing it. The King of All Shooters is back with over-the-top weapons, massive aliens and unprecedented levels of interactivity. This game puts pedal to the metal and tongue firmly in cheek, among other places. Shoot hoops, lift weights, read adult magazines, draw crude messages on whiteboards or ogle one of the many beautiful women that populate Duke’s life; that is if you can pull yourself away long enough from kicking ass and taking names. Duke Nukem was and will forever be immortalized in gaming history, and this is his legend.

[Via Joystiq; Engadget]

Fellow rock gods, the Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock setlist is here.  Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Anberlin, Avenged Sevenfold, Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Children Of Bodom, Def Leppard, DragonForce, Foo Fighters, Foreigner, KISS, Megadeth, Muse, R.E.M., Rush, Styx, Third Eye Blind.  And the list goes on and on.  Check out the full 93 track setlist after the break.  With Rock Band 3 and Guitar Hero (this is the sixth major game in the series) packing some amazing tracks, this holiday season promises to be the best one yet for music game lovers.  Guitar Hero: WoR releases September 28 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii.

[Via Joystiq] (Click here for more…)

Today Xbox’s Major Nelson showed off a newly designed Xbox 360 wireless controller.  Right off the bat you will notice the new color scheme.  The controller is now colored matte silver and the ABXY buttons have lost their vibrant colors (green, red, blue, yellow) to match the controller body.  The two analog sticks are slightly more concave now, too.  What you might not notice instantly in the pictures but you certainly will when the controller is in your hands is the brand new D-pad.  For years Xbox gamers have complained about the lack of a raised D-pad, but now this issue can be put to rest.  Microsoft has patented a “transforming D-pad”.  In the standard configuration the D-pad is a disc (that’s what we’re sued to).  With the new controller you can now twist the D-pad to raise the plus sign about a quarter-inch making it a whole lot more usable (especially for gamers who play boxing games where D-pad use is of the utmost importance).

—–>

The new controller will be available November 9 and will only be found inside the $64.99 Play & Charge Kit.  Microsoft has not stated if/when the new controller will replace the old model outside of the P&C Kit and whether or not it will ever be bundled in the new 250GB Xbox 360 package.  Look after the break to watch Major Nelson hold up the controller in all its gray glory.

[Via MajorNelson; Engadget]

(Click here for more…)

For the first time since its inception back in 2002, the cost to become an Xbox Live Gold member is about to become a bit steeper.  In the US, Canada, UK & Mexico only the Xbox Live pricing scheme will jump on November 1.  See the chart above to see how the change will affect you.  In the U.S., the yearly subscription will increase from $59.99 to $49.99; the three month sunscription from $19.99 to $24.99; and the one month subscription from $7.99 to $9.99.  Super lame, I know.  Industry analyst Jesse Divnich tries to cushion the news of the price increase: “When originally launched in 2002, a Gold subscription cost the same as an AAA video game, $49.99. When taking into account for inflation ($50 in 2002 is roughly $60 in 2010) and the additional services available to Gold subscribers in 2010, such as ESPN, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Last.fm and Video Kinect, a $10 price increase still represents an incredible value to consumers.”  Alright, I guess that makes sense.  But for those of you who may still be fuming over this news Xbox’s Major Nelson has a special incentive for you.  Microsoft is offering a limited-time savings deal to “lock in” Xbox Live gamers before the price increase becomes effective.  You can upgrade or renew your account today for an additional year for $39.99.  That’s $10 cheaper than the current one year subscription, and $20 cheaper than the new price coming in November.  Head over to the Xbox price lock site to secure an addional year of Live Gold membership at the cheaper before before it’s too late.

[Via MajorNelson; Engadget]

On September 12, Nintendo will drop the prices of their two DSi handhelds by $20.  The DSi will be $149.99 and DSi XL will be $169.99. The DS Lite model will remain at $129.99.  Says Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway: “We know shoppers want to get the maximum value out of every dollar they spend. Our new Nintendo DSi prices make it easier than ever for consumers to access the tremendous variety of games, applications and social tools on the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DSi XL systems.”  The press release announcing the price drop also shared this tremendous stat: According to the NDP Group, “through the end of July, total Nintendo DS family hardware sales are more than 42.3 million in the United States alone.”  Wowzers.  With the DSi lineup at a lower entry price and the 3DS readying for a launch (a release date is expected to be named soon), there really is no stopping the killer incentive to purchase a Nintendo handheld.

[Via Nintendo; Joystiq]

With an October 19 release date lingering just around the corner, Activision deemed it appropriate to unveil the DJ Hero 2 tracklist.  The list includes 105 songs in total, and these will be stratigically mashed together to create 85 unique playable mixes.  Says Dan Neil of FreeStyleGames: “The individual songs that have been mixed into the DJ Hero 2 soundtrack have been viewed online more than 1.5 billion times, which really speaks volumes to both the size and scope of our music.  Working with some of the best DJs in the world, we were able to take this amazing collection of the biggest pop, hip-hop and dance hits, and with some turntable magic, craft the best soundtrack in entertainment.”  The tracklist includes songs from 2Pac, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, A-Trak, B.o.B., Daft Punk, David Guetta, Deadmau5, Eminem, Justice, Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Tiesto, Timbaland, Young Jeezy, and oh-so-much more.  Jump after the break to view the full tracklist.

[Via Activision; Joystiq] (Click here for more…)

In an interview with Famitsu magazine (translated by 1Up), the man behind the external design of every Sony PlayStation console, controller, and other accessories shared the motivation behind many of his design choices.  When referring to the original PlayStation, Teiyu Goto shared that “the console itself was a relatively easy design process, but we went through a great number of stages with the controller.”  During the early stages of design, Sony management insisted that the controller not look and function much differently from the SNES controller (see top right).  “The Super NES was a huge hit at the time, and naturally we wanted SNES gamers to upgrade to our system,” said Goto.  “That’s why the management department didn’t want the controller to be a radical departure — they said it had to be a standard type of design, or gamers wouldn’t accept it.”  Though management was against Goto’s idea of molding a controller with grips at both ends instead of creating a flat, SNES-like design, Goto (with support from then-Sony president Norio Ohga) was given the green light to move forward with his radical new approach.

And here’s the bombshell.  Goto finally made known the meanings behind the four face buttons that continue to live on in the PlayStation brand:

“Other game companies at the time assigned alphabet letters or colors to the buttons. We wanted something simple to remember, which is why we went with icons or symbols, and I came up with the triangle-circle-X-square combination immediately afterward. I gave each symbol a meaning and a color. The triangle refers to viewpoint; I had it represent one’s head or direction and made it green. Square refers to a piece of paper; I had it represent menus or documents and made it pink. The circle and X represent ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision-making and I made them red and blue respectively. People thought those colors were mixed up, and I had to reinforce to management that that’s what I wanted.”

And now you know.

[Via 1Up; Joystiq]

Lionhead Studios’ Peter Molyneux (creator of Fable) took the stage at TED last month to demo his artifically intelligent phenom Milo.  His presentation has finally been uploaded to the Internetz and is ready for our enjoyment.  The game utilizes Kinect for Xbox 360 to enable the player to interact with Milo and his virtual world with body movements, hand gestures, and speech.  The first tech demo was featured at E3 2009, and since then Milo has grown into a more full-fledged game.  This new 11-minute presentation explains Milo’s backstory (he has recently moved into a new home), his problem (he is having trouble acclimating to his new surroundings), and how the player factors into the game (you are there to befreind Milo and help him find his way in this new chapter of his life).  Molyneux explains that Microsoft’s TellMe database brings Milo out of the depths of standard yes/no responses and into a new era of speech commands in gaming.  The Kinect mic picks up your voice and the Milo software recognizes the intonation of your speech patterns.  It’s pretty wild.  Watch it unfold in the video above.

[Via TED]

After numerous delays, Valve has decided to kick things in to high gear by announcing a firm release date for the sequel to 2007′s critically acclaimed puzzler.  Portal 2 will release on February 9, 2011 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Mac.  Valve has also confirmed that British writer and actor Stephen Merchant (The Office, Ricky Gervais Show) will voice the British robot Wheatley who has been featured in the game’s trailers.  “Meet Wheatley” at the Portal 2 site.

[Via GameInformer]

On Tuesday Sony revealed two new PlayStation 3 SKUs.  The first is a plain jane PS3 with a 160GB hard drive.  It replaces the older SKU and keeps the same price of $299.99.  Buy it today.  The second model is a PS3 + PlayStation Move bundle.  Price at $399.99, it packs a 320GB hard drive and comes packed with one PS Move controller, one PlayStation Eye camera, a copy of Sports Champions, and a game demo disc.  The bundle will hit store shevles September 19, the same date PS Move launches.

[Via PlayStationBlog]

With the launch of Windows Phone 7 just around the corner (Microsoft says Holidays 2010, other sources hint as early as October), it is about time Microsoft further detailed its Xbox Live gaming initiative on the forthcoming mobile platform.  If you own an Xbox 360 and have an Xbox Live account, navigating the Xbox Live gaming hub on a Window Phone 7 device will be a very familiar experience.  The first “tab” within the hub is named Profile and it stores your Xbox Live avatar, gamerscore, and message notifications.  Your avatar can be interacted with by tapping on it, shaking the phone, and spinning the phone in various orientations.  If you select the message notifications icon, you will be brought to the Messages tab where you’ll find a list of text and voice messages left by your Xbox Live friends.  You can send and receive messages on your device in real time just as you would on the console.  There’s also an Achievements tab that shows you all of your collected acheivements, categorized by game, on the phone and console.  You can tap a game title to view the specific achievements awarded within each game to see when you received them; you can then select a specific achievement to see how you received it.  The Friends tab congregates a bunch of your Friends’ avatars; tap anywhere on this screen to bring up your friends list.  You can see who is on and offline, what games your friends are currently playing, view friends’ acheivements, and compare your achievements to a specific friend’s achievement list.  If you click a friends’ gamertag from the list his (or her) avatar will fly on screen and you can view personal information like gamerscore, location, and bio.  It all works exactly in line with what you’re used to on the console; there are no surprises here.

Microsoft went all out on Avatar interaction and customization on the phone.  In the Profile tab you can select a button to enter the Avatar Closet.  Here you can customize your avatar with clothes, hats, and all kinds of gear.  You can use your finger to spin the avatar around to view its new style from various angles.  What you do with your avatar on the phone is reflected on the console, and vice versa.  At launch time, only free items will be available to download in the Avatar Closet.  However if you purchase a new look on the console, that will be reflected on the phone.  In addtion to customizing your avatar you can make them utilize Avatar Gadgets.  These are simple productivity tools that feature your avatar on-screen.  They include a flashlight, ruler, level, and coin toss.  Sure this is all a bit gimmicky, but it looks fun!

Now let’s talk about what’s most important here: the games.  Microsoft has announced the first wave of Windows Phone 7 games, and they include a list of over 60 titles from Microsoft Game Studios and popular third party developers like Gameloft, THQ, and Namco Bandai.  Microsoft promises that new titles will be added to the collection on a weekly basis once the platform is officially up and running.  Of the limited number of games previewed, it was  Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst (from MGS) that really impressed.  The tower defense game will use Bing Maps to present a bunch of baddies marching down real streets in your neighborhood.  You can use pinch-to-zoom, screen rotation, and finger tracking to guide the game.  Gameloft will bring Splinter Cell: Conviction, Let’s Golf 2, Earthworm Jim, Assassin’s Creed, and The Oregon Trail; Glu Mobile is working on Guitar Hero 5; Konami’s got Frogger and Castlevania; and Microsoft Game Studios will lead the way with Halo: Waypoint and The Harvest.  The launch lineup is exciting to say the least.

A couple side notes concerning the games.  (1) The full multiplayer experience you’ve come to know and love on the console will not be playable on phones at launch.  Only turn-based multiplayer games like Uno will be available to play over the Internet with friends.  (2) Every game will have a try-before-you-buy demo.  If you download a demo and decide you want to purchase a game, you’re only one click away from unlocking the game’s license to play to your hearts content.  (3) All WP7 Xbox Live games have a 200 gamerscore.  And remember, if you unlock an achievement on the phone this will be reflected on your gamerscore on the phone and the console.

Fellow gamers, Xbox Live on a mobile phone is coming soon.  Friends, messaging, achievements, avatars, exciting first and third party games.  Microsoft has all the ingredients to make Windows Phone 7 not only a competing but dominant force in mobile gaming.  Execution is key here.  If Microsoft can really pull off the Xbox Live experience on their new mobile platform with heavy developer support, an evolution of the mobile gaming landscape is on its way.  Apple be afraid, very afraid.

Look after the break for the full PR, which includes the list of launch titles, and an intro video.

[Via Xbox; Engadget; Gizmodo] (Click here for more…)

Three years after the release of the original BioShock developer Irrational Games is back with a brand new game called BioShock Infinite.  Infinite (set in the year 1912) serves as a sequel to the 2007 critically acclaimed horror first-person shooter (which was set in the 1960s).  It takes the player out of the underwater city of Rapture and into a fantastical city-in-the-sky named Columbia.  You play as Booker DeWitt and your assignment is to find an abducted women Elizabeth and then work with her to escape Columbia.  As you can see in the trailer, the Big Daddies look, erm, a bit primitive.  (Update: It’s been confirmed that the machine with big hands is not a Big Daddy..then what the heck is it!?)  Lead designer Ken Levine explains that although Infinite is an extension of the BioShock franchise, the game clearly sets itself apart from the previous BioShock games; the environment is not the only difference.  Though he does not go into much detail about the gameplay specifics, you should head over to Joystiq to read (or watch) an informative interview with Levine.  BioShock Infinite plans to release sometime in 2012.  And I…can’t…wait.

[Via Joystiq]

At this year’s QuakeCon in Dallas, Texas id Software co-founder John Carmack revealed that he’s bringing Rage (a first-person shooter that wowed critics at E3) to the iPhone.  With the announcement came a very brief tech demo for those in attendence.  Get this: the game will run at 60 frames-per-second!  All of the lighting, texture, and detail look phenomenal.  This game is basically gonna blow away the App Store games competition.  What started as an experiment on the Nintendo Wii quickly became an app for the iOS platform, according to Carmack.  About two years ago Carmack stated that the iPhone is ”more powerful than a Nintendo DS and PSP combined” and today he is backing that up with this impressive tech demo (it’s embedded above).  He says that the demo was running off an iPhone 4 and that the game will run fine on the iPhone 3G and feel best on the iPad (thanks to the larger display).  He promises that Rage for iOS will be released this year, before the game drops on major consoles sometime in 2011.  It’s about time these games-on-the-go got beefier, more graphically intense, and exciting, wouldn’t you say?

[Via Joystiq]

Hey all you GoldenEye 007 junkies!  Ready for your long-awaited fix when the next-gen GoldenEye releases for Wii this holiday season?  Well I’ve got some good news that’ll make your holiday shopping bag a tad bit heavier.  The new GoldenEye game will be released alongside a golden gun-inspired Wii Classic Controller Pro.  Though the Classic Controller Pro is not required for gameplay, it’ll add that extra bit of old school nostalgia to make the experience all the better thanks to a familiar control scheme.  The controller will ship this fall bundled with a “Classic Edition” of the game for $69.99.  It has not been announced if it will be available separately.

[Via Joystiq]

Peep this glorious couch inspired by the classic video game Space Invaders.  Designer Igor Chak has outdone himself with this latest creation.  The couch is all leather, features two glass surfaces, and is lined with memory foamed.  The black-on-white color scheme and the wild shapes and spaces are excellent design choices if you ask me.  I wish this were a real couch and not a mere concept…because I would have already ordered one by now.  Check out more images in the gallery below.

[Via IgorChak; Kotaku]

Sit back, relax, and let the nostalgia sink in.

[Via Gizmodo]

After a three year absence Linkin Park is back.  Their fourth studio album A Thousand Suns drops on September 14.  The first single off the album is called “The Catalyst”.  The band decided to take a non-traditional route in promoting the track in collaboration with the upcoming video game Medal of Honor.  The video, directed by Linkin Park’s Joe Hahn, mashes together live and gameplay combat footage; the result is pretty stellar.

[Via EW-MusicMix]

Since its inception way back in 2005 YouTube limited video upload length to 10 minutes.  After reviewing their most requested features, YouTube has decided to increase that limit by 50 percent to 15 minutes.  Up to this point only revenue-sharing “parterns” have been allowed to upload video longer than 10 minutes, but now good ‘ol regular users can get in on the fun.  I’m not so sure if I need to witness an extra 5 minutes of “double rainbow all the way” (OK, maybe I do), but this increase will definitely help out those users who upload lengthy tutorials; now you might notice a smaller amount of videos being broken up in “parts” thanks to the increase time limit.  Take heed: “If you’re uploading a video that was previously rejected for being too long, you’ll have to go into “My Videos” and delete it before attempting to upload it again.”

In other YouTube news… do you remember the super simple but classic and highly addicting game called Snake?  It was preloaded onto many early Nokia dumbphones back in the day.  It’s the one where you take the form of a snake and your goal is to collect small food pellets the pop up in different areas on the screen; every time you eat a pellet the snake grows longer.  You lose when you tie yourself up and make the snake’s head run into a part of its body or run into the edges of the screen.  Anyway…YouTube has incorporated the game into all of its videos as an easter egg.  While you’re waiting for a video to start streaming (or if it gets stuck buffering) start mashing the left arrow key on your keyboard to turn the video loading circle icon into a snake; play with the directional keys.  If you want to give it a try but have fast Internet speeds, trying loading an intensive HD 1080p or better yet a 4K resolution video.  Happy trails.

[Via YouTubeBlog; Engadget, here & here]

Check out Mike Benson’s “Gnarcade”, a world where classic video game characters and obstacles interact with pro athletes.  Pacman, Frogger, and baddies from Super Mario make memorable appearences.  But it’s the Portal effect at 2:21 that gets me every time.  Beats are provided by Ground Up.  Enjoy!  (I say “again” in the post title in reference to the awesome NYC pixel takeover.)

We finally have a release date and price to marry.  Kinect for Xbox 360, the advanced motion-tracking camera that aims to get games off the couch and into the game (so to speak), will release on November 4 for $149.99.  That’s a bit steeper than most had anticipated, but watchagonnado?  Now let’s talk bundles.  When you buy Kinect standalone for $149.99, the action/adventure game Kinect Adventures! comes packaged inside.  Speaking of Kinect titles, Microsoft says that all first-party Kinect-supported games will run $49.99 a pop (that’s ten bucks less than “standard” retail games).  In doing this Microsoft hopes to make this pricing standard for Kinect games, but they will leave third-party Kinect games up to the discretion of the developers.  Only Dance Central, the exercise disguised as a dancing game from MTV Games and Harmonix, has followed suit with a $49.99 price tag so far.  Kinect will also be bundled with a brand new Xbox 360 console.  This new SKU is similar to the new 250GB Xbox 360 announced at E3; it’s still “whisper quiet” and comes packed with a WiFi N-adapter.  What it lacks is the large HDD and shiny aesthetics.  The cheaper SKU will feature 4GB of internal flash memory and a black matte finish (as opposed to the 250GB Xbox’s glossy finish).  The new console will come with an empty HDD bay, leaving the option open for Microsoft to ship to market a HDD for expandable storage.  The new 4GB Xbox 360 will cost $199.99 and release on August 3.  The Kinect + Kinect Adventures! w/ 4GB Xbox 360 bundle will go for $299 and release alongside the Kinect standalone sensor on November 4.

Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg shared the reasoning behind the bundle pricing scheme: “We’re currently a full $100 less than the PS Move bundle which is $400, which is a single player experience. Obviously if you add a second player to that they get well over $500 pretty quickly.”  He also says that by setting the Kinect w/ console bundle price at $299 (fifty bucks cheaper than buying everything separately), this will help draw in new potential gamers and expand the market.  Look after the break for the full PR.

[Via IGN; Engadget]

(Click here for more…)

Are you ready to rock!?  Well don’t get too excited since we’re still a few months away from the next iteration of Rock Band.  MTV Games and Harmonix announced that RB3 hits stores October 26.  The game will ship for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and DS.  Pricing details were previously reported.  Besides the all-important release date, a bunch of enticing preorder options were detailed, too.  If you preorder the game at Walmart you will get a $10 eGift card.  Those who shop early at Amazon will receive access to an exclusive in-game guitar plus $10 off a future videogame purchase (the latter offer applies only to Xbox 360 & PS3 RB3 preorders).  And last there’s the GameStop special: three free downloadable songs (“My Own Summer” by The Deftones, “Blue Monday” by New Order, and “Burning Down the House” by Talking Heads).  I don’t have to tell you which option is best to choose.  Look after the break for the official PR.

[Via Joystiq] (Click here for more…)

Six Dutch gamers just broke the Guinness World Record for longest period of time playing a video game.  They played Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption on PlayStation 3 for fifty hours straight.  They shattered the previous record of forty hours and twenty minutes.  They each used the TwistDock to keep their controllers fully charged for the duration of the outing.  When they first entered a video games store in the Netherlands, the six gamers were competitors and wanted to see who could game the longest.  It wasn’t long until the crazy bunch decided to set the world record together.  50 straight hours of gaming awarded them €1,000 (about $1,300), Twistdock accessories, and the greatest prize of all–recognition from the people at Guinness World Records.  I was to end this post by saying ”Game On”, but I think the most appropirate end tag is Dream On, am I right?

Look after the break for a shot of the winners.  The kid in the middle is totally giving his best celebratory yawn.

[Via Joystiq; NYTimesBlog] (Click here for more…)