On Gear Live: Samsung S95C: The OLED TV You Can’t Afford (to Ignore!)

Latest Gear Live Videos

Half LifeYeah, we had a hard time believing it at first, but someone beat the original Half Life in 45 minutes. The clip is up on Google Video and really has to be seen. From what we can tell, whoever got through the game in the incredibly short amount of time did so legitimately without cheating. Watching the video almost made me want to boot up Half Life and see how quickly I could run through it - but then I realized that I probably wouldn’t stand a chance and that I bluntly don’t have the skills that this guy has, whoever he is. Hey, maybe he works at Valve?


Read More | Google Video


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Xbox 360 backwards CompatibilityAccording to Active Xbox, the backwards compatibility team over at Microsoft is taking a break and won’t be releasing any new BC updates until March. While this news is unfortunate, we recognize that the guys over in Seattle need a break since they worked their butts off to get over 200 games on the BC list for the 360’s launch. We have a feeling we’ll get along just fine without being able to play some old Xbox games since the 360 has a good number of solid games already - and EA’s Fight Night Round 3 will be out in less than a month.


Read More | Active Xbox


EA Price CutsJust recently, EA announced a number of price cuts for recently released games. The Street reports that prices on games ranging from Madden ‘06 to NBA Live ‘06 to Need For Speed: Most Wanted have all be cut $10 or $20. Of course, the price cuts are only for games on current generation consoles, so you’ll still have to pay $60 if you’d like to get an EA game on Xbox 360. Otherwise though, the price cuts are good news - if you’ve been holding off on getting Need For Speed: Most Wanted, or any other EA game, now might be the time to run out and spend that gift card you received for the holidays.

Madden NFL 06, NBA Live 06, FIFA 06, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, and PC versions are all now going for $29.99. Furthermore, Need for Speed Most Wanted is now $39.99 and Medal of Honor: European Assault is a low $19.99.


Read More | The Street


Used Xbox 360 Japan

We knew the 360 hasn’t been doing well in Japan, but we were still surprised to find out that there are already used consoles for sale over there. I honestly laughed a little when I first read details of the news, but in all seriousness, this is very bad news for Microsoft. The company has been working really hard to expand its market share in Japan and honestly, it looks like it needs to do something different, and fast, if it really wants to get more people playing XBoxes over there.


Read More | I Wonder Too via Kotaku


Fatal1tyThis weekend, 60 Minutes on CBS featured an interview with professional gamer Fatal1ty. In case you missed it, the full interview is online over at CBS’s website. In case you haven’t heard of Fatal1ty, he’s a ‘cyber althlete’ who wins tons of money by competeing in tournaments and such. I recall seeing an MTV special on him once and was just floored by how much video games consumed him, along with the amount of time he spent practicing. While his “career” wouldn’t be an ideal one for me, you have to respect him and what he does.


Read More | CBS


The Sims 3Well, after the tremendous successes of The Sims 1 and 2, it’s only expected that EA would release another sequel in the franchise. Details are still very slim on the new game, but according to Kotaku, the game is coming. Hopefully the game will see some big changes so it grabs our attention. Look for more soon hopefully; otherwise, we’ll hope for a blowout at E3.


Read More | Kotaku


Barbie Xbox

Someone on eBay has modded up an original Xbox with Pepto-Bismol colored paint and some pink LEDs and put the atrocity up for sale. Gotta give them props, though - slapping the Barbie logo on it is sure to make this one sell for more than it’s actually worth.


Read More | Lowdown 411 via Kotaku


Xbox Live According to a report at Xboxic, we may be seeing a large update to Xbox Live in the near future. “An inside source at Microsoft” has asserted that changes to the Dashboard, in-game problems, and the addition of web-cam capability will be seen in an upcoming Xbox Live update. Of course this is all a rumor, so we’re not sure what to think. If anything’s certain, we know we’ll see an Xbox Live update sometime, we just don’t know when it’ll be released or what it will feature. In the meantime, we’re left wondering.


Read More | Xboxic


Hideo Kojima PodcastHideo Kojima has to be one of the most cutting-edge game developers of our time. No, we aren’t referring to his development of the amazing graphics, gameplay, story, or sound within the Medal Gear Solid titles. Rather, it’s theblog he created some months ago along with his creation of a brand new podcast, entitled “Hidechan! Radio”!

If you’re looking for some massive details on MGS4, you’re not going to find any around here. Not yet at least. His first podcast features a discussion with the Japanese actor who plays Snake. According to the recording, the dialog for the game will be recorded throughout 2006. Unfortunately, the podcast hasn’t been released quite yet but Gamespot was nice enough to give us first details of the podcast (including the brief recording details.)

Look for more on his podcast soon.


Read More | Gamespot


GamestopOn Wednesday, we reported of rumored trouble at Gamestop that involved descriptions of mechanisms being used to cut costs and raise profits. As it turns out, that initial rumor may be out of line. According to another Gamestop manager, the manager in the original report was incorrect.

Here’s what the second manager has to say.

“I question the opinions of my colleague for several reasons. The first is his statement about ‘protecting profits.’ The fact of the matter is that this company, like many others, does enter a period of profit protection when sales are expected to drop. This early part of the year is traditionally one of the slowest for sales, so the company must make necessary cuts in order balance this out. While it is true that our payroll hours have taken a bit of a dip, I have seen no indication that managers must work extended hours. In fact, our schedules pretty much went back to what they were prior to the holiday season.” 

As we all know, the video game industry sees a bulk of sales leading up to the holiday season and sales tend to drop way off at the beginning of the new year. Naturally, Gamestop executives have come to understand their business’s sales cycle and are in fact attempting to cut costs and raise profits - according to this second manager, the execs are attempting to do so in a proper way.


Read More | Game Daily


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