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Guitar Hero ‘80s Final Tracks Unveiled
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Activision, Music, PlayStation 2, Release Dates, Rumors, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Marketplace,
The list of songs that will appear in Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the ‘80s has been fully revealed with the announcement of the final eight, making for a total of 30 songs. Overall, the list isn’t terrible; it’s got a mixture of everything, from A Flock of Seagulls to The Vapors to Dio, but it just seems to be lacking any true flavor. It feels like a completely random selection of ‘80s songs, as opposed to, say, a really sweet group of ‘80s songs or one that captures a particular aspect of ‘80s music.. We still don’t have any official word on why Bow Wow Wow’s “I Want Candy” disappeared after being seen in earlier builds of the game.
The game is set for release on PlayStation 2 on July 24 at a full retail price of $49.99. Nothing has been announced, but 360 Guitar Hero II owners might be seeing a downloadable content package (read: lots of microtransactions) later this year containing these songs.
The newly announced songs:
- Anthrax’s “Caught In A Mosh”
- Accept’s “Balls to the Wall”
- Judas Priest’s “Electric Eye”
- Dead Kennedy’s “Police Truck”
- X’s “Los Angeles”
- The Go Gos’ “We Got the Beat”
- The Vapors’ “Turning Japanese”
- Winger’s “Seventeen”
- Limozeen’s “Because, it’s Midnite”
Click to continue reading Guitar Hero ‘80s Final Tracks Unveiled
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WiiWare – Nintendo’s New Downloadable Game Service
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Nintendo, Virtual Console, Wii,
Sure, the Wii already has the Virtual Console, but all we get there are straight ports of classic games. Great for those of us who may have missed games or want to play them again for nostalgia’s sake, and Nintendo & co. can make a ridiculous profit. Xbox Live Arcade, and PlayStation Network, to an extent, on the other hand, are home to original titles and encourage independent developers to create titles for the platforms.
WiiWare is Nintendo’s answer. We don’t have many details yet, but we know the first content for the platform should be appearing in early 2008. Pricing has not yet been announced.
Read More 
| Red Herring via Gear Live
Virtual Console 7/2: A Different Take On Mario
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Nintendo, Retro, Virtual Console, Wii,
You either loved or heated Super Mario 2. With its choice of four characters to play as and plentiful numbers of turnips & co. to be tossed at enemies, it was clearly an acquired taste. If you’ve never had the chance to play it (for shame), you can now do so as it’s available on the Wii’s Virtual Console for 500 Wii Points. Joining Mario 2 are Ecco: The Tides of Time (800 points) and the unfortunately capitalized DRAGON SPIRIT (600 points).
Check out after the break for all the details.
Click to continue reading Virtual Console 7/2: A Different Take On Mario
GamerAndy Live! Episode 84: 100 Percent Less Andy
Posted by Edie Sellers Categories: Corporate News, E3, Electronic Arts, Hot Deals, Microsoft, Mods/Hacks, Nintendo DS, PC, PlayStation 3, Politics, Release Dates, Reviews, Rumors, Square Enix, Survival Horror, Take2, Third Person Shooters, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, GamerAndy,
Yes, 100 percent less Andy this episode, as he’s in L.A. for a CoD4 event. Instead, Edie and Hawkes cover the week’s gaming news and go off on wild tangents. On the plus side, this episode may be Andy-free, but it has 100 percent MORE of Hawkes’ cat.
Topics discussed:
- The unusually large amount of games released this week, including The Darkness and The Bigs.
- Toys ‘R Us is holding a 3-for-2 sale on Nintendo DS games until this Saturday. U Bai Now!
- Microsoft sues Immersion back. If you can’t take it, don’t deal it!
- New York Times reporter plays Manhunt 2 and deems it less violent than R-rated horror movies. Hypocracy much?
- The new Hitman movie trailer… and yes, we blew it. It’s Agent 47. Stoopid internets.
- Square Enix says on one hand that it’s not releasing any games for PS3 until April 2008 at the very earliest. Then it says, baby, I’m sorry. The PS3 really is the only console it could ever love. Why does watching these two feel like family-night at Ike and Tina Turner’s place.
- A group of psychologists want to label video games as an addictive substance. Someone’s been sucking on the lead popsicles again….
- Larry Flint had hoped to fire the entire staff of Tips and Tricks magazine while they were all at E3. Too bad he fired the freelancers a week early and they told the staff. Don’t you hate when being a nice guy blows a really great evil plan? And isn’t it ironic that the guy who built his empire on other people s*cking c*ocks turns out to the the biggest c*cks*ucker of them all?
- Shadowrun for Vista has been cracked to run on XP. And there was much rejoicing. (yaaay!)
- Lyndon LaRouch, notorious conspiracy theorist and gay hater, and his merry band of crazy geezers are ticked because the final report on the Virginia Tech massacre doesn’t mention video games—despite the fact there’s been no evidence the shooter ever played games. LaRouch figures it’s… wait for it… A CONSPIRACY!!
Ed. Note: Edie apologizes to for mistaking LaRouche as a guy who was notorious for anti-gay legislation. Actually, he is the freak who tried to get anti-gay legislation passed by California voters back in the 1980s that would have quarentined gays to prevent AIDS. I knew he smelled crazy…
- The 100th episode of Red vs. Blue! Gratz, guys!
Off-topic hits include Paris Hilton, porn (again), the iPhone, how to properly prepare for a night of binge drinking, Andy’s impending move, and… did we mention Hawkes’ cat?
If you want to hear it? Go get subscibe on iTunes already… ya slacker.
Xbox Live Arcade 6/27: Carcassonne
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Strategy, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade,
The European board game you’ve probably never heard of has made its way to the Xbox Live Arcade. For 800 Microsoft Points ($10) you can download the virtual version of the strategic board game. Catan was very well received (especially by those GamerAndy folks), so hopefully Carcassonne catches on as well and we’ll see more board games in the future.
Click to continue reading Xbox Live Arcade 6/27: Carcassonne
Read More | Xbox.com
Game Releases For The Week Of 6/25: The Darkness, Pokemon, And Transformers
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Release Dates, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360,
Some big name titles are hitting this week, including the much anticipated The Darkness for both Xbox 360 and PS3. Transformers is bound to be a big seller by virtue of its name and the number of platforms that it’s coming out on. And Pokemon Battle Revolution for Wii is going to sell a scientifically accurate 1,432,345^100, or in other words, a metric crapton.
Read More | Gamasutra
Virtual Console 6/25, 6/18, And 6/11: Okay, We Missed A Few Weeks
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Nintendo, Retro, Virtual Console, Wii,
Things happen, and sometimes we miss things. But, in case you weren’t paying attention, let’s pretend like there are nine new Virtual Console games available today! Wow! Yet somehow the number of good games in there equates to about one per week… for shame, Nintendo. We gave you three weeks to get us the goods, and we only get THREE good games at most? Let’s take a look at the list:
- F-Zero X
- Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
- China Warrior
- Lode Runner
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Golden Axe II
- NES Open Tournament Golf
- World Sports Competition
- Bloody Wolf
Given their prices, there aren’t even three games in their worth their price tags. But at least I can feel like I’m playing a good Sonic game, which is a rarity these days.
Details for all of the games after the break.
Click to continue reading Virtual Console 6/25, 6/18, And 6/11: Okay, We Missed A Few Weeks
Carcassonne Hits XBLA This Wednesday
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Release Dates, Strategy, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade,
Unless you’re from Europe, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of the board game Carcassonne before. I sure haven’t, but after giving it a look – and keeping in mind the success of Catan – it looks like we’re getting another solid XBLA release this week. And finally we get another game that makes use of the Vision camera. It still doesn’t quite feel like it was worth $40, though.
The official word on Carcassonne:
Using strategic tactics and a little luck, one to five players take turns selecting from 72 tiles displaying various features of a city including roads, the walls of a castle or fields. The medieval countryside thrives as players and their opponents place tiles and complete towns, roads, and farms while competing to accumulate the most points.
Game Features
- Special AI settings to challenge any skill level
- Challenge your friends – Up to five players can play over Xbox LIVE or up to four players can play on the same Xbox 360
- Interact with new and old friends alike over Xbox LIVE while you play “Carcassonne” with the Xbox LIVE Vision camera
- Helpful step-by-step tutorial to teach you the game in minutes
- Skill-based matchmaking for ranked games
- The complete “Carcassonne” includes 72 tiles and all rule sets
- “Carcassonne” includes the “Rivers II” expansion set - 12 additional tiles
- Earn up to 200 Gamerscore and 12 Achievements
The game goes live this Wednesday, June 27, for 800 Microsoft Points ($10).
New Grand Theft Auto IV Trailer In Three Days, And New Details
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Action, PlayStation 3, Trailers, Xbox 360,
In three days, the Internet is set to crash once again when the newest (the second of three) GTA IV trailer sees the light of day. Hopefully we’ll be seeing something more action-oriented this time around, as opposed to the first, which was more of a showcase for Liberty City than anything else. The video is titled “Looking for that Special Someone” and a special website is being prepped by Yahoo in order to withstand the insane amount of traffic it will receive once the trailer goes live. Anyone want to place bets on how long it’ll take for the site to crash?
Expect us to pick it apart piece by piece once it goes live, and later in the week Kyle and I will be debating over the excruciating details and nuances the trailer presents us with.
As an added bonus, last week, the Turkish Official Xbox Magazine revealed several tasty nuggets about GTA IV. Everyone loves lists, so I present you a list of GTA goodness:
- There’s a slight vibration with every footstep when you run (sorry PS3 players)
- No more HUD (health and armor indicators are gone), and instead everything is visual – if you have armor, you’ll see the bulletproof vest and it will visually deteriorates
- Flamethrowers and rocket launchers are in the game
- Explosions are larger, and the game features a missions where you cause a chain reaction of car explosions
- Cars don’t explode from crashes or hitting them; you need to actually blow them up
- Niko doesn’t get tired, he just begins running slower over time
- The game is much more time-sensitive. An example that isn’t necessarily in the game was a mission where you need to catch a train by a certain time, and if you don’t, you don’t get to do that mission.
- Gore is more prevalent; bullet wounds show, blood appears as you shoot people, they limp when shot in the leg, hold their arm if it’s shot, and running people over is “disturbing”
- No more eating, working out or having a girlfriend, but skills improve over time
- 100% completion yields secret vehicles and “plenty of goodies”
- The land size is larger than the three cities (sans countryside) from San Andreas
No more girlfriends? Hooray!
Read More | Xbox Live Addicts
The Adults Only Manhunt 2 Saga
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, PlayStation 2, PSP, Survival Horror, Take2, Wii,
Take Two is in what we call a pickle. Manhunt 2, set for release on July 10, has received a preliminary ESRB rating of Adults Only. Initially, this was believed to be a major problem due to the fact that some major retailers – such as Walmart – wouldn’t carry the game. Walmart composes a significant portion of the videogame retail market, making the AO rating a major blow.
Then came word that Nintendo doesn’t allow AO-rated games to appear on its systems. In other words, no Manhunt 2 on Wii, or at least not until the game receives a lower rating.
But as with books, television and movies, different content is meant for different audiences. That’s why the ESRB provides ratings to help consumers understand the content of a game before they purchase it. As stated on Nintendo.com, Nintendo does not allow any AO-rated content on its systems.
How about Sony, who was supposed to see the game land on both the PlayStation 2 and PSP?
Currently it’s SCE’s policy not to allow the playback of AO rated content on our systems.
So where does this leave Take Two and Rockstar? They’re left with a very limited number of options, none of which are particularly attractive.
Click to continue reading The Adults Only Manhunt 2 Saga
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