Commander Fury

Article and images by: CritiKiL I haven’t pre-ordered anything in awhile. I mostly am able to get a game, console or accessory online, and now they even send the items so that they are in your house either on the release day or before. ‘Exclusive Content’ ~ Yeppers, there really isn’t any of that going on (…for the most part!) because it’s not the stores which give you the content it’s the item’s developers.*Right now the only exclusivity I’ve seen, is the relationship that Microsoft has with XBox Live with COD title games arriving first and other console owners having to wait at least a month later ~ Boooh! Lately Gamestop has been promoting the *’pre-ordering’ of DLC, even using the word ‘exclusive destination’ for the upcoming*“Annihilation” DLC for*Call of Duty: Black Ops. They did it with Halo: Reach’s ‘Noble Map Pack’, offering ‘Free stuff’ ~ a Flaming Mark V Spartan Helmet for your Xbox Live Avatar.**Yay,*free stuff — but that’s beside the point. The point is, GameStop is taking pre-orders on DLC (downloadable content) as Exclusive, but I thought the reason for pre-ordering was to secure a copy in case the store runs out of stock? That’s not the case for DLC. It looks as-if GameStop’s strategy for dealing with a scarcity-free market…is to hope nobody notices the lack of scarcity.*Well I’m sorry to say that this just isn’t true. Let’s make a general comparison to the ‘exclusivity’ of DLC and the proceedures for it’s apparent ‘scarcity’ of availability: To pre-order DLC from Gamestop you’ll have to: 1) Visit the store and pre-order it. 2) Wail until the actual release day (not ‘before’ but on that day!). 3) Recieve a download voucher in your e-mail then enter code and play. Whereas, to get your DLC through XBox Live, all you have to do is: 1) Order it on release day and play! Now I’m not a lazy guy, but for there NOT being any advantages and NO scarcity of availability…I’ll take my chances in ‘ordering the DLC from my sofa’ ~ lmao! In my experience the only things worth pre-ordering are new consoles, since they tend to be in short supply. But DLC? ~ Looks like Gamestop is blowing something up our ___’s. They’re making us start to think that DLC might one day be ‘out of stock’ (Forgive me but this is really funny stuff here ~ lol!) In closing I’d like to say to ‘keep your eyes open to the hype’ and, ‘The whole World’s a Circus, but just don’t be the Clown’. DLC is never scarce in demand that you have to go to Gamestop, to get it. Let us know what you think? Reply to this thread… Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

Most opinions on blogs, about Gamestopâ„¢ aren’t very positive. This made me look into ‘How GameStopâ„¢ started’. It all began, with a small software retailer by the name of Babbage’s. I’m staying totally neutral in this, only researching**how a small beloved game retailer could transform into the biggest/most hated video game retailer around…in under twenty years. History: GameStop™’s roots can be traced all the way back to the year 1984 in Dallas, Texas. Back then GameStopâ„¢ was simply known as Babbage’s. After only ten years of service, Babbage’s was already showing signs of what it would become, merging with various chains in 1994 like Software Etc. The merged company was named NeoStar Retail; even though the two companies were merged they still operated as two separate businesses…guess they believed in the “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it†methodology.*As it*turns out, methodology didn’t hold true for NeoStar. Corporate confusion and bad communication led to NeoStar filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy only two years after the merge. With over 800 retail outlets available, many buyers of the company began to emerge. On one of the last few days of the manager’s conference, the head buyer of the company emerged, head of Barnes & Noble Leonard Riggio. Mr. Riggio, along with a few other investors made an offer that was accepted by the judge, and with that money, a new management team (mostly comprised of previous Software Etc. executives) was put into place to run Babbage’s. It was on November 12, 2004 that GameStopâ„¢ got its name (Mr. Riggio hated the name, ‘NeoStar Retail). That change came with a spinoff company of Barnes & Noble ~ guess what the name of this company?…GameStopâ„¢!*After a few years of having all these individual companies run as separate entities, it was on February 1st, 2006 that the beginning of the merging of operational activities took place. After a few years of combining business practices, the names of Electronics Boutique and Electronics Etc. were removed from stores and replaced with the company’s flagship name: GameStopâ„¢. So that’s how this store got started ~ Now for the ‘good’ part about this company: Complaints: Trade-ins ~ One of the most prevalent complaints against GameStopâ„¢ is its trade in business. Buying games at a very low price and marking them up to near retail prices has not sit well with fellow gamers and even employees. Pre-orders: ~ Almost all media out there does not require a pre-order of any type to acquire a copy first day. How many of you guys had trouble getting Dark Knight the night of the DVD release? Exactly. It’s hard to believe that any big title does not have the factory backing to keep up supply with the demand. ‘Consoles? ~YES! But ‘Games? ~ NO. Gutting Games: ~ Yes. Gamestopâ„¢ is guilty of ‘opening a New Game to use it’s box as a display, but when quantities become low…they grab the self-display and Sell it for Full Price. Full price, on an ‘opened’ game?? Gamestopâ„¢ is a member of the Better Business Bureau. Many of you are Happy with their service and practices and many are not. But the only way to show that you do not agree with a certain company’s business practices is to no longer give them business. GameStopâ„¢ definitely has some glaring business problems, especially on the employee’s side. But to sit around and complain on a message board, blog, or even to the lowly Game Advisor working the register is not going to change anything. Only by taking away your business and supporting their competitors will you start seeing a change in a Company. ‘Again’, I am purely neutral in this article and am only pointing out a “few” facts. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

SEATTLE – June 28, 2011 – David Jaffe, of Twisted Metal and God of War fame, will kick off three days of demos, speakers, competitions and concerts by some of the biggest names in gaming. The panel discussions at the festival will take attendees through an exploration of the good, the bad and the quirky aspects of gamer culture guided by some of the biggest names in gaming. Fans will also see some of the hottest new games from more than a hundred exhibitors including video game companies like 2K Games, Activision, Bioware, Capcom, NCsoft and Turbine as well as table top/CCG power houses such as Wizards of the Coast and Privateer Press.* Microsoft is hosting Halo Fest – the largest and most expansive live Halo experience anyone has ever seen – at the third floor annex of the Washington State Conference Center. PAX Prime is also bringing back the ever popular nightly concerts.* The full list of acts this year includes some of the hottest acts in the geek culture music scene including: Jonathan Coulton MC Frontalot Metroid Metal Minibosses Paul and Storm Supercommuter (first PAX Prime appearance) The Video Game Orchestra (first PAX Prime appearance) PAX Prime is scheduled at the Seattle Convention Center on August 26 – 28.* Passes are completely sold out. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

Story by Ben Gilbert @ Joystiq.com You already read a mess of information about Uncharted 3′s upcoming multiplayer beta back before E3, but now developer Naughty Dog wants to show it off in a slurry of walkthrough videos (which we’ve dropped after the break). The studio also revealed a variety of details about the beta, breaking down which gametypes and maps will be paired across the beta’s three weeks — it’ll take up approximately 1.7GB of your precious HDD space. Additionally, ND says that the beta will allow for stereoscopic 3D, as well as split-screen co-op (though not both simultaneously, of course). As the beta goes live tomorrow for PlayStation Plus subscribers (that’s still most of us!) and inFamous 2 owners, you may be wondering when you’ll be murdering Drake with … uh … other Drakes — unfortunately, the studio isn’t sure just yet, but suggests keeping an eye on the official Naughty Dog Twitter account for up-to-the-minute info. Studio head Evan Wells also notes on his Twitter feed that the beta “should be on PSN around 2PM PDT tomorrow.” He additionally points out that “Naughty Dog doesn’t control this,” making 2PM PDT somewhat tentative. Check out all the videos here. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

Story by Sam Winstrom @ Kotaku.com Activision puts nostalgia-loving gamers in their sights once again, gathering a nice list of domain names revolving around something called “Goldeneye Reloaded”. This could mean a number of things are in the works: an HD re-release of Goldeneye for the Wii, an HD remake of the classic N64 Goldeneye, or maybe even a turn as an Xbox Live Arcade game or on PSN? Domain registrations are relatively inexpensive ass-covering for a company as large as Activision and have to be taken in stride, but “Reloaded” is pretty specific. [via @Supererogatory] Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

Story by Stephen Totilo @ Kotaku.com The Supreme Court sided with the video game industry today, declaring a victor in the six-year legal match between the industry and the California lawmakers who wanted to make it a crime for anyone in the state to sell extremely violent games to kids. In a 7-2 ruling Justice Antonin Scalia said the law does not comport with the First Amendment. He was joined by Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts, who had seemed sympathetic to California’s concerns last year. Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer, traditionally members of the court’s right and left wings, respectively, joined in dissent. [Read the full decision - PDF link.] This story will be updated throughout the day . The case was The State of California vs. The Entertainment Merchants Association and the Entertainment Software Association. That last party, the ESA, is the gaming industry. The trade group puts on the annual E3 video game showcase, the gaming business’ biggest news event each year. The ESA’s lawyers argued against the state of California’s on Election Day last year, trying to convince the court that video games deserve the same breadth of First Amendment protections as books and movies. The decision, revealed today, was the first time the Supreme Court has weighed in on video games in any fashion. The law in question would have made it a crime to sell ultra-violent video games to minors in the State of California. It had been ruled un-Constitutional by lower courts. “The basic principles of freedom of speech . . . do not vary’ with a new and different communication medium,” Scalia wrote in the Court’s opinion, citing an earlier speech case. Writing for a plurality of justices, Scalia said California’s arguments “would fare better if there were a longstanding tradition in this country of specially restricting children’s access to depictions of violence, but there is none.” He cited numerous examples of violence in literature. “Reading Dante is unquestionably more cultured and intellectually edifying than playing Mortal Kombat. But these cultural and intellectual differences are not constitutional.” Scalia also shot down California’s arguments that video games were different enough from books to require a First Amendment exception. “As Judge Posner has observed, all literature is interactive. ‘[T]he better it is, the more interactive.’” He called California’s scientific evidence that violent video games can hurt kids “not compelling.” He denied a state need for a law, given that, he argued parents may not all agree that their kids need protection from violent video games. He cited studies of the current video game ratings systems and said they have been shown effective enough to work. “Filling the remaining modest gap in concerned-parents’ control can hardly be a compelling state interest.” Justices Roberts and Alito decide with the majority but presented a very different argument. Alito denied the Court’s opinion, as written by Scalia, that found no notable distinction between video games and other forms of entertainment. He expressed alarm about the potential potency of future video games: “If the technological characteristics of the sophisticated games that are likely to be available in the near future are combined with the characteristics of the most violent games already marketed, the result will be games that allow troubled teens to experience in an extraordinarily personal and vivid way what it would be like to carry out unspeakable acts of violence.” Leery as he was about video game content, Alito, with Roberts, said the California law was simply too vague in its descriptions of the type of violence which would make a game sold to minors illegal. Standards against sexual content were more specific and grounded in cultural traditions to prohibit children’s access to such content. The Courts’ two dissenters sided with California for two distinct reasons. Justice Clarence Thomas focused on his researched understanding that the frames of the United States Constitution did not believe children enjoyed the same access to Free Speech as adults. “The history clearly shows a founding generation that believed parents to have complete authority over their minor children and expected parents to direct the development of those children.” As a result, he said, the California law restricting the sale of gams to minors was within Constitutional bounds. Justice Breyer focused on the possible double standard between sex and violence. While the Court has upheld States’ ability to restrict the sale of certain types of sexual content to children, it is saying with its decision that it is okay to give children access to violent games—violent games, he noted, that even the game industry rates in a way to restrict from kids. “What sense does it make to forbid selling to a 13-year-old boy a magazine with an image of a nude woman, while protecting a sale to that 13* year-old of an interactive video game in which he actively, but virtually, binds and gags the woman, then tortures and kills her? What kind of First Amendment would permit the government to protect children by restrict-ing sales of that extremely violent video game only when the woman-bound, gagged, tortured, and killed-is also topless?” The video game industry rejoiced at the decision. “This is a historic and complete win for the First Amendment and the creative freedom of artists and storytellers everywhere,” said Michael Gallagher, head of the Entertainment Software Association. “Today, the Supreme Court affirmed what we have always known – that free speech protections apply every bit as much to video games as they do to other forms of creative expression like books, movies and music.” The California bill’s author, Leland Yee, told reporters today he was very disappointed. The Supreme Court has “decided that it is going to side with corporate America and Wal-Mart against our children,” he said. The debate about video games’ effect on kids has raged since the ’80s and intensified in the ’90s with the creation of Doom and a spate of school shootings. After the turn of the century, states across America, including Illinois and Michigan, attempted to criminalize the sale of violent video games to minors. But each of these laws, usually promoted by Democrats, was found by the lower courts to violate the First Amendment, running afoul of the country’s Constitutional protection for free speech. California’s attempt to criminalize violent games got further than others. The law was written by California assemblyman and child psychologist Leland Yee and signed into law by then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. [Read California's law.] Yee’s law borrowed the language of the Miller Test, a set of criteria established by the Supreme Court in 1973 for determining if forms of speech are obscene and therefore not protected by the First Amendment. Short of establishing a class of obscene video games that would be illegal for any American, Yee’s law would build on the Supreme Court precedent for allowing states to make the sale of certain kinds of pornographic content—adult magazines, for example—illegal when sold to children, while remaining legal if sold to adults. Games violating Yee’s law would be any that: (A) Comes within all of the following descriptions: (i) A reasonable person, considering the game as a whole, would find appeals to a deviant or morbid interest of minors. (ii) It is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the community as to what is suitable for minors. (iii) It causes the game, as a whole, to lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. ( Enables the player to virtually inflict serious injury upon images of human beings or characters with substantially human characteristics in a manner which is especially heinous, cruel, or depraved in that it involves torture or serious physical abuse to the victim. Despite the support of the legislature and then-governor Schwarzenegger, the California law was nevertheless ruled unconstitutional by courts in California. Last year, however, the Supreme Court agreed to hear California’s appeal, the state’s final attempt to get their law through. [Read our cheat sheet about the back-and-forth between California and the gaming industry.] The stakes for the video game medium were high when oral arguments began on the case in the fall of 2010. A court decision in favor of California would separate video games from books, music, movies and all other forms of entertainment for which there is no criminal penalty tied to the selling of extreme non-obscene content to kids. (It is legal, for example, to sell a ticket to an R-rated movie to a child; it simply violates the movie industry’s internal rules). Yee and California’s legal team had argued that the interactive nature of video games necessitated that the medium be treated differently and with a greater awareness of a potential to harm kids. “This is not about Leland Yee trying to prevent any of you game [developers] from developing any more atrocious kinds of games,” Yee told Kotaku last year. “This is a free society. If you have the imagination to do something even more horrible with the technology, then God bless you. That’s part of our freedom of expression here in America, but you just have to figure out when it’s appropriate and when it’s not appropriate. For me, as a child psychologist you ought not be doing it for kids.” On the other hand, Michael Gallagher, speaking on behalf of the gaming industry, said last year, “We’ve successfully argued this case in 12 other courts that these types of laws are unconstitutional and that video games should be treated just like movies, music and other forms of entertainment.” The nine Supreme Court justices did not tip their hands during oral arguments. They fired skeptical questions at both sides, though they failed to fall into the conventional left-right splits. Conservative justice Antonin Scalia grilled California’s lawyer about a slippery slope that would lead to the criminalizing of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, while left-leaning Elana Kagan wondered if a game her clerks played, Mortal Kombat, would run afoul of the law. Conservative chief justice John Roberts rattled off a description of the game Postal and said there’s an American tradition to protect children from content like that, while left-leaning Stephen Breyer wondered why it wasn’t “common sense” for the state to require that parents be the ones buying those games, should a kid wind up with one. [Read key excerpts of those and other colorful exchanges from the oral arguments.] Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

Story by David Hinkle @ Joystiq.com Splash Damage has announced on its blog that Brink‘s “Agents of Change” DLC pack, which includes two maps, five new player abilities, two outfits and two weapon attachments, is expected to arrive in early July. In addition to the launch window, Splash Damage also revealed the DLC will be free for its first two weeks of availability — be sure to check out our previous post highlighting what’s on offer. Following the DLC is a new title update, which Splash Damage says will be “highlighted by online optimizations, AI enhancements, and weapon balance tweaks” based on player feedback. No other details were provided, though we did nab some screenshots of Agents of Change in action. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

Story by Ben Gilbert @ Joystiq.com Bodycount may have missed its intended “early 2011″ release window, but it seems that Codemasters wasn’t far off. Today the publisher announced an August launch for the title and gave us a new peek into the game’s ‘splosion-packed action. As you’ll see in the clip after the break, Bodycount is clearly about employing a variety of weapons as often as possible, all the while chasing an elusive enemy known as “The Target.” (Seriously.) Apparently you’ll be extending the pile of bodies across Africa, Asia and “mysterious bases” (okay, stop it) in said search, but the folks at Codies won’t speak up until an upcoming community Q&A. You can participate in that over at the US PlayStation Blog. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

Story by Stephany Nunneley @ VG247.com DICE has confirmed to PSM3 in the latest edition of the magazine, that there will be 10 maps for co-op players. While co-op being included in the game is not news in and of itself, the fact that executive producer Patrick Bach told PSM3 that the dedicated co-op mode includes 10 maps, is indeed news. That’s about all the new goodies the magazine got out of the producer, but since co-op details have been detailed a bit now, hopefully more information will be let of the bag soon. BF3 is set for an October release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

Story by Call of Duty Community.com Treyarch once again didn’t disappoint us and as expect, they released the trailer for the Annihilation zombie map, Shangri-La. Treyarch usually does something out of the ordinary for their zombie trailers and by using The Tokens’ “The Lion Sleeps Tonight†song they did just that. I got to say, it gives a weird vibe to the zombie trailer. The description Treyarch gives to this video is: “Zombies are back in “Annihilation“, as players unearth the mysteries of “Shangri-La,†a legendary shrine lost in an exotic jungle, where new undead species lurk within a treacherous labyrinth of underground caverns. Navigate through deadly traps and solve the dark secrets buried within the shifting walls of this zombie infested temple.†The Annihilation map pack is set to release on June 28 and will be available on Xbox 360 first. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

Story by Victor Zuylen @ Playstation Blog Earlier this week we released the third DLC pack for Killzone 3, “From The Ashes,†as well as a DLC bundle containing all three DLC packs. Of course there’s only one way to celebrate this momentous occasion — organize a Triple XP Weekend! You read that right – from Friday, June 24 at 9:00AM Pacific Time, until Monday, June 27 at 9:00AM, all XP earned in Killzone 3’s multiplayer matches will be tripled. So whether you’re exploring new DLC maps or just re-acquainting yourself with the stock maps, you’ll rank up faster than ever! Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

Story by Stephany Nunneley @ VG247.com Several sources close to Develop have told the site Microsoft is planning to bring free-to-play gaming to Xbox 360. According to the sources, Microsoft is discussing possible free-to-play deals with developers, with the business model offering either in-game items or premium upgrades using Microsoft Points. Microsoft has yet to respond to the sources’ claims. Last week, Valve released free-to-play games on Steam, and announced this morning Team Fortress 2 had gone free-to-play as well. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

PlayStation and Major League Gaming are giving you two chances to show everyone what you’ve got in SOCOM 4 — and win big in the process. MLG Boot Camp Boot Camp gives anyone who registers and completes a match the chance to win awesome prizes regardless of skill. Registration is open now, and Boot Camp ladder play is currently running through July 13th. Registering your 6-man team on MLG’s Gamebattles.com and playing at least one match will put you in the running for both Boot Camp prizing and the Official $20,000 Ladder Tournament. If you’re a lone soldier, check out the MLG forums where you can team up with other players of your skill level. Boot Camp prizing includes: * Two-hour gaming sessions with the Zipper Interactive dev team * ASUS professional gaming monitors * Full Astro A40 Systems (SOCOM 4 Customized) * MLG Gunnars Official SOCOM 4 $20k Online Ladder Those of you with a competitive streak should use this time wisely because every battle counts towards your team’s position on the leaderboard and your chance to win money. The top teams will qualify for the finals and a share of the $20,000 prize pool. We’re looking for the best SOCOM 4 teams to step up, so we’re putting cold hard cash on the line. Here’s the prize breakdown: * 1st Place Team: $8,000 * 2nd: $4,000 * 3rd: $3,000 * 4th: $2,000 * 5th: $1,000 * 6th: $1,000 * 7th: $500 * 8th: $500 See below for your deployment schedule, soldiers! Be sure to check back often on Gamebattles.com and SOCOM.com for regular tournament updates. And don’t forget to catch up on PlayStation giveaways and events by following us at @HeyPlayStation. Good luck to you all! SOCOM 4 Boot Camp Schedule: 6/24/2011: Registration begins 6/24/2011: Ladder play begins 7/13/2011: Ladder play ends (9:00PM EST) SOCOM 4 $20,000 Ladder Tournament Schedule: 6/24/2011: Registration begins 6/24/2011: Ladder play begins 8/27/2011: Registration closes 8/28/2011: Ladder play ends 9/9/2011: Double elimination bracket tournament begins More...

Story by Brenna Hillier @ VG247.com To help celebrate its 20th birthday, Bungie is giving out totally sweetblue flaming helmets. To score your own totally sweet blue flaming helmet, you’ll need to register on Bungie.net or through the Bungie iOS app, according to Joystiq. You’ve got until bungie Day – July 7 – to grab one, along with a commemorative name plate. Not convinced? Maybe you need to see them in action. Check out the trailer below, produced through a collaboration between Bungie and Red vs Blue. The Legendary Edition of Halo: Reach also included a flaming helmet, but it wasn’t a totally sweet blue one, previously restricted to Bungie staff only. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

You may have noticed a handful of new competitive multiplayer queues that we’ve just added to SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs. Dubbed “SEAL Team UpLink†and “SEAL Team Defenseâ€, each of these queues appear in both the Custom and Clan Challenge lists and were designed specifically by Major League Gaming for an upcoming competition. We’ll have specific details on MLG’s tournament very soon, but the queues are open and running as of now so go get in some practice as there will be cash up for grabs! More...

Story by Brenna Hillier @ VG247.com Somehow when Gears of Wars 3 More...

Story by Brenna Hillier @ VG247.com Sony has announced via the The US PS Blog that a new PlayStation 3 firmware update is inbound. Due “soonâ€, firmware 3.66 will improve network services and increase stability when gaming. No mention was made of this update being optional, although it was described as “minorâ€. No further specifics have been given. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

Story by Nemesis Activision posted a new Call of Duty: Black Ops DLC trailer. This time it’s for the Annihilation Map Pack. It happens to be the third map pack for a Call of Duty game, which is strange, because usually they are “Two and Through” when it comes to DLC. It will look familiar to some of you, probably because it’s starts off with* the “Hamburger Guy” and The Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter” song playing throughout. There are of course 5 maps in this pack, Hangar 18, Drive-In, Silo, and Hazard are the 4 multiplayer maps and another Zombie map called Shangri-La. The Call of Duty: Black Ops Annihilation DLC will be launching on Xbox Live on June 28th, with other platforms to follow after. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

Gamspot does an Interiew regarding ‘Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception’ w/Richard Lemarchand, who is the ‘Co-Lead Game Designer for this game over at Naughty Dog (PlayStation 3). He joined Naughty Dog as a Fan initially and loved how they always came together on a project with new ideas and getting to completion in a progressive manner. Watch the Video Interview at the bottom of this page, and to get the documented interview and read more about this Epic Game, just click these two links: >> 1) Gamespot’s Interview: *http://tiny.ly/jlwQ 2) Naughty Dog’s Website: http://naughtydog.com * Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

The in-game XMB has been a jumbled, slow-loading mess since it’s launch. It needs to load faster (no more spinning circles), and have fewer useless icons (photos, videos, etc) for more efficiency. There was a voting-poll post made in the Playstation Blog a little over a year ago about this but has yet to be fixed. Article and images by: CritiKiL One poster even offered: “Anything that can’t be executed or viewed while playing a game should simply not be displayed on the in-game XMB. For example, if a game does not support custom soundtrack (playing your own music), don’t even show the music icon. Since you can’t play movies and games at the same time, hide that too, and so on.” I recently posted my frustrations with this system in the Urgent Fury Forum and was pleased and shocked at the same time. Pleased, that others were experiencing the same problems, and Shocked because, ‘if all of us have been having the same problem for more than a year now…Why Hasn’t it been fixed?’ And this is not just a Regional issue, it’s happening to my friends and associates in Europe as well as other parts of the world. Just google ‘XMB Slow’ and you’ll see how many people have been complaining, with NO update to fix it. Leave your comments… Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

Story by Stephany Nunneley @ VG247.com E3 B-roll footage of Twisted Metal has been released and it shows Sweet Tooth heading into battle against a giant battle mech fro the Doll faction, known as the Iron Maiden. The battle itself is just teased, a bit, but you get the idea of what the insane clown fella will be up against. Twisted Metal is slated for an October release, and may end up with DLC when all is said and done. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

By Ben Gilbert @ Joystiq.com It seems almost inappropriate to call the Batman: Arkham City version of Robin by his traditional title, “The Boy Wonder.” This somber, ultra-tough Tim Drake comes with a set of “unique gadgets and special moves” in Arkham City — provided you pre-order the game from Best Buy. We doubt his current demeanor allows for a ton of one-liners in his Challenge Room-only appearance later this year, but those looking to make him look a bit brighter will be able to don a bonus red suit. The Best Buy-exclusive “Robin Pack” also adds two maps (“Black Mask Hideout” and “Freight Train Escape”) for your beat-down pleasure. Warner Bros. has told Shacknews that the “Robin Pack” will become available as DLC sometime after the release of Arkham City. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

Story by Stephany Nunneley @ VG247.com Warner Bros. and NetherRealm Studios announced today that Skarlet is now available for download on PSN and XBL for Mortal Kombat. The first of four new downloadable combatants, Skarlet comes with her own move set and two fatalities. Skarlet is available on PSN and XBL for £3.19/400 MSP or as a part of the Mortal Kombat Season Pass which also available starting today on Xbox 360. Also available today is a free compatibility pack featuring two classic skins, inspired Cyrax and Sektor. Watch the trailer below, courtesy of . Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...

Video games and alcohol go together like Men and Women, Water and Boats, Console and Controller (I could go on and on, but you get the point ~ lol!). But Gaming and Booze? *~ That’s what the new hype is about according to one blog. If any of you have heard of *’The Drunken Moogle’ founded in 2009 by college student Mitch Hutts, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. ‘The Drunken Moogle’, is full of anything that has to do with alcohol and video games. This Blog contains articles from drunken gaming rampages, to*Halo shot glasses to recipes for the coolest gaming related drinks. If you can think of a combination…’The Drunken Moogle’ probably either has it or will let you post your recipe for it. Their latest drink concoction is the Nukem, or*Duke Nukem Forever Cocktail. So guess what? I tried it last night with a mixture of Black Ops Escalation DLC, and it was a heck of a morning getting up but last night was one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time! So if you’re planning on playing and drinking a Nukem, I suggest that you call in to your job the night before. The recipe is below for those who might also want to try it, and remember to ‘Drink and Game Wisely’ Nukem (Duke Nukem Forever Cocktail) Ingredients: 1 glass Mello Yellow 1 shot vodka 1 splash spiced rum 1 splash moonshine (or any other high proof liquor) Directions: Mix the first three ingredients and pour into a glass.* Float your moonshine on top (we used moonshine because it’s the closest thing to, you know, nuclear waste or gasoline.* You can buy “moonshine†from most liquor stores, but any high proof alcohol will do).* Nuke that ‘splody barrel and ignite the moonshine.* Enjoy the flames, then extinguish and serve. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) More...