Gamernode: Latest Game and Console News

3D Realms on track for DNF. Calls E3 "irrelevant"

In more related pre-E3 news, 3D Realms boss, Scott Miller, says that the progress of Duke Nukem Forever is going along smoothly.

DNF has been a highly anticipated game and a joke at the same time. For over a decade, the next in the Duke Nuke franchise has been promised to waiting fans, only to disappoint again and again.

In a year where publishers and developers are steadily retreating from E3, Miller has joined the ranks against going there and stated that he won't be displaying the game at the convention.

He stated, "It's just that we view E3 as irrelevant nowadays. In fact, I wasn't even aware it was coming up."

Ok, but could it also be that 3D Realms has nothing to show? After all, it has been over 10 years since DNF was started, after all.

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Microsoft possibly exploring new avenues for Halo

File this one under the duh category, but Microsoft is still exploring what would potentially be the next Halo game after Halo Wars.

A marketing survey conducted by Microsoft asked participants to rate how likely they would be in buying the next Halo game if it fit one of the descriptions.

The gaming community would be better off without some of the suggestions seeing the light of day while others do offer an predictable choice. The list includes: "A Halo LEGO Game A Halo MMO game A Halo racing game, using vehicles from the Halo universe A more family friendly Halo game A 3rd-person Halo action-adventure game A Halo arcade game A new Halo shooter where you don't play as Master Chief Halo Wars (an RTS game set in the Halo universe) - [This one's definitely out this year] A Halo sq...

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Rumor: Xbox 360 price taking a dive soon

A hot rumor has been floating around about new "evidence" that the Xbox 360 may very well be headed for a price drop.

Some see this as making sense as the E3 convention draws near and Microsoft may take the opportunity to either unveil or announce a new price point or newer model of the less-than-dependable 360.

A forum user on the High-Def Digest forums uploaded a scan of a Kmart weekly ad that supposedly shows the Xbox 360 at a new price of $299. The ad is slated for circulation on July 6, a week before E3. If the rumor and ad are correct, that would mean a $50 price drop of the Xbox 360 20GB model.

So far, the cheapest interation is the Arcade version of the 360 clocking in at $279. We'll have to wait until E3 to see if Microsoft gives us any details on whether we'll have a cheaper Xbox o...

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Amazon starting Nintendo gaming deals

It may be summer but Nintendo and Amazon are in the giving mood. Starting today and proceeding on well into Saturday a plethora of Nintendo mechanise is going to be available for purchase on Amazon at dirtcheap prices.

So far we know SSBB is going for the low price of $25 and from there the deals may keep getting better and better as the day marches on. These are the details Amazon has layed out:

"At 12:01 AM PST the first deal will be the Gold Box Deal of the Day. Its special discounted price will be available all day only on Friday, June 27 (or until we run out.)

Starting at 6:00 AM PST, the second deal will be featured as a Lightning Deal. This special price will be available for the following two hours.

Each of the eight remaining deals will also be Lightnin...

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Daily Q: Do you use custom in-game audio?

Today's Daily Q is brought to you by the file extension .mp3.

I've been listening to a lot of music lately, thanks in part to finally reloading my laptop with my entire mp3 collection (I had a minor setback about a month ago), and also to the discovery of the excellent websites last.fm and pandora.com (thanks Kyle). Now, music is once again flowing constantly through the airwaves of my everyday life.

The recent information regarding the upcoming PlayStation 3 firmware 2.4, in which players can operate the system BGM  and mess around with custom tunes via the in-game XMB, was the final inspiration for today's Q:

Do you make use of custom tracks and background music during your gaming sessions? How often? Are there any games in particular that you always aurally customize?

I don't often make u...

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Microsoft, Intel and other PC firms will avoid E3

E3 is fast approaching and the likes of PC proponents Intel and Microsoft will be conspicuously absent from the festivities because of the heavy emphasis on console games at the event.

Although Microsoft decided to opt out of the E3 event, they held their own PC games show in San Francisco this week in order to cut down the competition for face time at E3.

Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Games for Windows said, "As it has morphed, E3 has fundamentally become a console show. We didn't want to just squeeze out some time at a console show."

Rahul Sood, head of HP's Voodoo PC game division expressed similar feeling about how E3 has changed throughout the years. "E3 used to be the Mecca of gaming. I'm skipping it because it's not what it used to be. Now it's just an event called E3."

Unan...

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Garfield Lasagna World Tour game launches

Blast! Entertainment and Conspiracy Entertainment have just released the game Garfield: Lasagna World Tour. With a game title like that, it just might be worth a look for either Garfield or lasagna fans.

The plot of the game has to do with a television channel organizing a treasure hunt. The winner of the contest gets free lasagna for life! Now that's a prize that a lot of us can appreciate.

According to the press release, you can:

The game is in stores right now and is available for the PlayStation 2.

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Microsoft spreads the PC gaming gospel

Mark Twain once remarked, after seeing his obituary in a newspaper, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." If anything could describe the condition of PC gaming, as some see it, Microsoft certainly would use this quote.

Yesterday, I attended a Games for Windows meeting where Microsoft gave a presentation on the "true" state of PC gaming, opened up a question and answer period, and of course, provided the perfunctory snacks, drinks and finger food that often accompanies these types events.

During the formal part of the event, Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Windows Gaming, gave a presentation, and spoke with the fervor of an absolutely focused man on a mission to make a difference in the world--and in this case, the PC gaming world.

He said Microsoft is totally behind PC g...

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More Crysis Warhead details, teaser trailer

More details for Crysis Warhead have been revealed. According to the next issue of PC Gamer, Crysis Warhead will have to sell well for a possibility of Crysis 2.

New gameplay details revealed that the game will be a "less linear approach and more sandbox type of gameplay, as opposed to the original," and the single player campaign is expected to last between 8-10 hours.

New plot details include "begins when the original game's Nomad character parts ways with Warhead's new hero, Psycho, and follows him all the way until the two are to reunite again on board the aircraft carrier."

Improved enemy AI, new weapons (grenade launcher and double SMG are confirmed), new vehicles, a new team-based multiplayer mode and lower system requirements are also confirmed for Crysis Warhead. In addition, Direct ...

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Halo 3 KIA greater than population of Earth

Yes sports fans, it's true. The total enemies killed in Halo 3 now exceed the total population of Earth.

This little fact was uncovered by a Halo forum member when he noted the tally of kills posted on the official Bungie website and then went on to the government census bureau to get some statistics for comparison.

For you number crunchers out there, Halo 3 KIA amounted to 6,743,784,316. As for the population of our little blue planet, it clocked in at a mere 6,705,451,100 humans.

Of course, some would argue that killing Covenant baddies doesn't really count and only human kills would really be legitimate.

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Ed Boon talks fatalities in Mortal Kombat vs. DC

It looks like the upcoming Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe from Midway will be only semi-fatal. In a recent interview, Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon describes how fatalities will work, and who will be able to use them in the mash-up fighting game.

According to Boon, all of the game's MK characters and all of the DC Supervillians will be capable of performing fatalities on their defeated and helpless opponents. When it comes to DC Superheroes, however, it is more of a toss-up. 

"All of the MK characters and all of the DC villains will have fatalities. The DC heroes who don't kill that often will have brutalities that will function just like fatalities but don't actually kill the opponent."

I guess that makes sense. With a Teen rating and content that Boon claims is already "pushing the T-rat...

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PS3 firmware 2.4 info explosion

According to anonymous sources of the shadow ninja variety, Sony is planning to unveil their newest PlayStation 3 firmware, version 2.4, sometime right around this year's E3 Media and Business Summit.

The major improvements expected to be a part of this update include a "trophy system" to rival Xbox achievements, improved integration of social networking features, and in-game access to items in the PS3 Xross Menu Bar (XMB).

As you can see in the following leaked screenshot of what appears to be the PS3 trophy page, awards will be arranged in a tiered structure, and will consist of bronze, silver, gold, and platinum types. Platinum trophies will only be awarded after a player has collected all other trophies for a particular game. The other tiers are likely to correspond to achievements with ...

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Blizzard teases us with something cold

A new teaser splash page has been put up on the World of Warcraft official site showing players what seems to be a formation of ice crystals covering something behind it. With a new teaser being announced by none other than Blizzard, gamers have been contemplating what it could be. A good portion of the fanbase thinks that a Diablo III will be announced, of which I say not before hell freezes over. But then maybe that page is a teaser of hell freezing over? So much to contemplate indeed.

What we do know is that Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational is being held in Paris this weekend in which we expect new info on World of Warcraft as well as Starcraft II to surface. That's right people, there is no glimmer of hope inside my soul that says anything about a hopeful Diablo III announcement. So wh...

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Three more Battlefield games in production

EA has been experimenting with the notion of downloadable content regarding the Battlefield series as of late. Players voiced their opinions loudly against weapons purchasing DLC for the latest installment in the series, Battlefield: Bad Company. On the flipside, Battlefield Heroes will be free for everyone to play and will be supported by in-game ad revenue. It appears however that there are indeed more Battlefield games being made at the moment.

According to reports from the GDC even in Paris, EA's DICE studio executive producer Ben Cousins said that they're currently at work on five games in the series in total, including Heroes and Bad Company. The team is also at work on three other games based on the series, including a traditional core game aimed at consoles, and a new collaboration ...

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Fear and hatred: A cross-platform experience?

I recently played Atlus's Summon Night: Twin Age for the Nintendo DS, and while it was neither breathtaking nor abysmal, it did manage to ignite a tiny flame inside the dark, cavernous recesses of my mind. It got me thinking about themes common to videogames, movies, literature, and the real world; specifically "tension between races, propagated by fear and manifested in hatred."

Even if we were all some freaky, multi-armed Spore creations, it'd be impossible to count the number of videogames that address this theme on some level. According to my calculations, nearly every RPG since the dawn of time has been an interracial affair, and if not, there have at least been multiple tribes, nations, or townships involved. Without even branching into other genres, instances of interracial tensions ...

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Rick Moranis missing from Ghostbusters game

Looks like the Ghostbusters game will have all of the original film stars back to do the voiceovers with the exception of Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis.

As to why Rick Moranis is missing from the game, Ben Borth of Sierra said,

"He made so much money off of Honey I Shrunk The Kids that he retired. He just doesn't want to work anymore."

But in an interview with USA Today in October 2005, Moranis gives his reasons for leaving the entertainment industry.

"I pulled out of making movies in about '96 or '97. I'm a single parent (Moranis' wife died in 1991 of liver cancer), and I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the traveling involved in making movies. So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I f...

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Cliffy B says no upgradable weapons in Gears 2

Gears of War fans have dreamed about making their Lancer rifle and other weapons better. Wouldn't it be great to be able to upgrade with better ammo or a more powerful chainsaw? With the coming of Gears of War 2, some of us hoped that upgrades for the weapons would be possible.

But those dreams have been fragged by Cliff Bleszinksi, lead developer for Gears, as he stated flatly that this would not be happening in Gears 2.

Cliffy B said, "We're not really that kind of game. We're not going to allow you to bling out your gun. The Lancer's a Lancer, Gus is Gus, and Marcus is Marcus. Those are the identities we're sticking with."

Then he switched gears, so to speak, to say a few words about how Gears of War 2 is shaping up.

"Just the other day I was driving in this icy level with a tank and power-...

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Dead Space has "strategic dismemberment," grav gun...

This new gameplay clip of EA's Dead Space explains just how we can expect to combat the Necromorph invasion aboard the Ishimura when the game is released later this year. According to the narrator, "the only real way to take these creatures out is to completely tear them apart, rip them to shreds, and make sure you finish the job." It looks and sounds great. What's more is that the game will include a "telekenisis gun" that will allow you to use your enemies body parts against them, a la Half-Life 2's gravity gun. It honestly looks like a complete rip of the concept, but I am in no way complaining. Check it out:

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Daily Q: How much do you spend on games?

So how much do you spend on games? We're all gamers so one thing we have in common is the immediate compliance of forking cash over for a spiffy new videogame.

GameStrata conducted a survey of North American video gamers and found that on average, the amount spent on games and hardware is $765 a year, which is a total cost of up to more than $30,500 spent from ages 18-48 -- those years being the "peak gaming years."

The results also noted that the Xbox 360 is "the preferred console for the consumption of digital content." 40% of all respondents said they play 6-10 hours online per week.

Barry Dorf, COO of GameStrata, said, "The overwhelming majority of gamers are spending their time online with friends, building their reputation and online personas. Video games are becoming so much more than ...

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It would have been a shame if BioShock failed for ...

Chris Kline, the lead designer on the game BioShock (perhaps you've heard of it), recently spoke in Paris at a game developers conference.  During his talk he told everyone that BioShock should have been a magnificent failure but wasn't. "It did fail a lot, over the course of time. A series of big mistakes and corrections and slipped ship dates, but all of these helped make it a good game."

What failures cropped up, you ask? Everything from the original concept being a remake of System Shock 2 to missed ship dates to their initial idea that the world should interact with itself and not the player.

And what did all those failures get you? Dozens of Game of the Year awards. "Some people think that constantly messing up, and pushing dates isn't a good way to make a game, but as far as I'm conc...

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