On FilmCrunch: The Case of Batman vs. Batman

Nintendo Possibly Readying New DS This Year, with New Features [UPDATED]

Posted by Alex Lifschitz Categories: Hardware, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Rumors

New DSAccording to Japanese business site Nikkei Net, Nintendo may be prepping to release a brand new (not pictured) by the end of this year. Supposedly, the new and improved DS will feature build-in music playback, better wireless performance, and, most interestingly, and onboard camera, all for less that 20,000 yen. There has not been an official press release by Nintendo, so you’ll want to wait and see how this develops, but it means that the new DS may integrate some of these features into new games, a la Final Fantasy: Before Crisis (which had you use your cell phone camera to craft materia). If past indicators hold true, it should arrive just in time for your Christmas shopping blitz, which would be fortunate, since the Wii has been perpetually sold out each holiday season - and I think that we’re all contractually obligated at this point to throw our money at Nintendo with every re-launch of a system.

UPDATE: Looks like we were right on this one, as Nintendo just announced the new Nintendo DSi!

Read More | CNet

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New Xbox Experience coming in November?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Microsoft, Rumors, Xbox 360

New Xbox Experience

Well, this is an odd piece of news. Apparently, one eagle-eyed gamer realized that release details of the dashboard update were staring him right in the face, by way of an advertisement in the current dashboard. As you can see in the image above, in the ad for Rock Band 2, you see the phrase “Check out the New Xbox Experience coming in November!“ Okay, cool, but can we view this as accurate? Microsoft always has the last say on when their dashboard updates hit, but they also have final say on how advertising appears within the Xbox ecosystem. Thoughts?

Read More | Joystiq

Guitar Hero World Tour track list leaked?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Activision, Music, PlayStation 3, Rumors, Wii, Xbox 360

Guitar Hero World TourVery interesting - word on the street is that the Guitar Hero World Tour set list has been leaked onto the interwebs. If the list is to be believed, then World Tour is gonna have 87 tracks (14 of them being bonus tracks, 7 of them being sample songs), along with a few guitar battles that will make you go one-on-one with the likes of Sting and Ted Nugent. Obviously, no confirmation or anything on the validity of the list, but we certainly wouldn’t be disappointed if it turned out to be true. Check the full list after the break.

Click to continue reading Guitar Hero World Tour track list leaked?

Read More | GameFAQs

Expanded Guitar Hero III Track List Found

Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Activision, Music, Rumors

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock PS3 CoverA rumor began circulating yesterday that the full and final track list for Activision‘s Guitar Hero III was available. The problem with the list was that while it seemed credible it lacked several bands who had previously announced their involvement with the game, notably Atreyu and Velvet Revolver.

We followed up with one of the original sources yesterday and he confirmed that the list was accurate but perhaps not 100% complete, which would leave room for additional songs to be announced closer to the release date or perhaps even kept under wraps until the game ships. In any case, the selection is shaping up nicely with a few unexpected inclusions.

Click to continue reading Expanded Guitar Hero III Track List Found

Read More | Aeropause

Rumor: Xbox 360 Core Systems Getting Pushed Off Best Buy Shelves

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, Microsoft, Rumors, Xbox 360

Best Buy removes Xbox 360 core

According to the above, albeit low-quality image sent in to Game | Life, it looks as if Best Buy is ordering that the existing Xbox 360 Core systems be sold off so that its shelf space can be eliminated. Microsoft has yet to comment, but has persistently claimed the Core is an important Xbox 360 SKU. But it looks like Best Buy disagrees, and understandably so – from a retail perspective, it makes much more sense to stock the Premium and Elite SKUs, which have been much more successful thus far.


Rumor: Xbox 360 Price Drop Coming Very Soon; New Pricing Makes Little To No Sense

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Corporate News, Microsoft, Rumors, Xbox 360

Xbox 360 Price Cut

Three different images have made their way onto the Internet promoting an Xbox 360 price drop, showcasing sales circulars from Circuit City, Walmart, and Toys ‘R Us. The Core system drops $20 to $279.99, the Premium drops $50 to $349.99, and the Elite drops $30 to $449.99. Cheaper prices are nice, sure, but as one NeoGAF poster pointed out, the differential between the Core and Premium systems’ prices seem, well, stupid.

When asked what about this makes the Core system (which has long been referred to as the ‘tard pack) even more ‘tarded, Sho_Nuff82 responded, “Core + 512MB memory card = $330, which is now $20 less than a Premium, that’s what.” And he has a point.

With the Wii set in stone for the time being at $249.99, it would have made sense to drop the Core system’s price down to match that. It would have made for all the more compelling of a reason to pick up a Core for the average consumer. What we have instead appears to really be a ‘tard pack.

The only sense that can be made of this is that another price drop is coming later this year, perhaps in November so as to create some buzz before the holiday shopping season.


GamerAndy Live! Episode 86: Chocolate Rain

Posted by Edie Sellers Categories: Activision, Announcements, Corporate News, Culture, E3, Electronic Arts, First Person Shooters, Microsoft, MMORPG, Music, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, PC, PlayStation 3, Politics, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Release Dates, Reviews, Role Playing Games, Rumors, Sony, Sports, Third Person Shooters, Wii, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace, GamerAndy

Finally, now that the dust has settled from E3, we have finally found the time to get our thoughts in order and give you an extra-long episode of GamerAndy Live!

This week, Edie and Hawkes chat up all that happened before E3, during E3, and after E3, including:

OUR E3 COVERAGE
- How Edie spotted Slash, missed Ron Jeremy and got groped by China Doll;
- Edie defends why she thinks Nintendo “won” E3 this year;
- Why Hawkes wasn’t as impressed at Killzone 2 as many others;
- Burnout Paradise;
- John Woo’s Stranglehold;
- Fallout 3;
- Hellgate: London;
- Katamari Damarcy;
- PGR4;
- Assassin’s Creed;
- Why Activision will get sued over Guitar Hero III;
- The big scoop we

almost

had;
- Rumor that E for All may not happen

NEWS
- Peter Moore chucks MS job for EA Sports;
- EA Sports: Hockey-less in ‘08;
- Chocolate Rain;
- Bully revamped for release on 360 and Wii;
- Wii Fit
- MGS4 coming to 360?
- Shoutouts and Shoutats;
- Problems for Unreal Engine?
- X07 gone;
- Xbox extended warantees;
- PS3 price drop…er, clearance sale;
- The Jaime Kennedy Embarassment;
- South Park’s WoW episode nominated for Emmy

Enjoy!


E3 2007: Super Smash Bros. Brawl Still Not Confirmed To Have Online

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Action, E3, Fighting, Internet, Nintendo, Rumors, Wii

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

1UP is reporting on the omission of any mention of online gameplay when the subject of Smash Bros. Brawl came up at Nintendo’s press conference earlier this week. Of course, online is a feature that’s probably probably the number one item on every gamer’s wish list when it comes to Super Smash Bros. So it really raises an eyebrow when Nintendo discusses its dedication to online gaming but fails to mention anything about Brawl being online.

It’s suggested in the 1UP story that Nintendo may simply want gamers to focus on the concept of Mario Kart Wii’s online play. And, of course, there is the Tokyo Game Show where Nintendo could make the announcement. Given that this press conference seemed heavily focused on Nintendo’s mentality of expanding the market with casual games, an announcement of Smash Bros. Brawl being online would have drastically diverted attention from that focus.

We’ll keep you up to date on this situation; in the meantime, let’s keep our fingers crossed and all hope that Nintendo knows what it’s doing.

Read More | 1UP

E3 2007: PS3’s Price Officially Drops, Metal Gear Solid 4’s Exclusivity (Once Again) In Question

Posted by Kyle Ulrich Categories: Corporate News, E3, PlayStation 3, Rumors, Sony

PlayStation 3 80GB specsThe once mammoth 60GB PS3 has had its sticker shock peeled, if only partially. At $100 lighter - effective immediately - the urge to grab one is getting harder to resist, and Amazon sales seem to indicate that I’m not the only one who feels that way. Big spenders aren’t being ignored, either—the new new 80 gig PS3 (now with 100% less Emotion Engine, the component that allows hardware to power backwards compatibility) hits store shelves next month at $599, packaged with MotorStorm for free.

Unfortunately, things aren’t as rosy for Sony elsewhere. The often-rumored-to-be-going-multiplatform Metal Gear Solid 4 seems to be doing just that, at least according to Kazumi Kitaue, Konami’s North American and European COO, in an interview with Reuters. Though no specific consoles were named (few choices exist when speculating), the executive questions the impact that the price drop could have, and how the so-far unspectacular sales of the PS3 will hurt their bottom line if they remain exclusive. “With $500, you can buy a personal computer. I don’t expect a substantial impact.“ Amazon begs to differ…

In regards to the yeti that is the Xbox 360 port of MGS4, it remains uncatalogued. For now.

Read More | 1UP

PlayStation 3 $100 Price Drop Confirmed, Sorta

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: PlayStation 3, Rumors

PlayStation 3 As was first reported by Cheap Ass Gamer, it looks like the PlayStation 3 will be seeing a $100 price drop to $499.99 beginning July 12. Initially, it looked like this might simply be a promotion for the week of the 15th, but GameDaily BIZ has confirmed this with a merchandising manager at one of the world’s biggest retailers who wished to remain anonymous.

While the price drop is scheduled across retail to take place on July 12 (which is a Thursday), the first wave of ads won’t be seen until July 15. SCEA declined to comment when contacted, but this was bound to happen at one point or another – and with the PS3 losing more and more ground to both the Xbox 360 and Wii each month, something needed to be done.

Assuming this pans out, this puts quite a bit of pressure on Microsoft; the Xbox 360 Elite is still $479.99 and lacks many of the features the PS3 has, such as a Blu-ray player (the Elite doesn’t even have an HD-DVD player) and built-in Wi-Fi.

Well, I’m certainly glad I haven’t plopped down the $600 just yet. And only about five hours ago I was contemplating gathering the cash to pick one up. This price drop leads me to wonder, though – will the 20GB SKU see a return, meaning that there would be a $399.99 PS3? Or will Sony launch a new SKU with a larger hard drive? We’ll know next week when Sony holds its press conference at E3.

Read More | GameDaily BIZ

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