Gamernode: Latest Game and Console News

1 million CoD4 map pack sold

Activision just made a whole lot of money. Their popular first-person shooter Call of Duty 4 recently came out with a new map pack--downloadable on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Everyone knew it was going to be a hot commodity, but just how hot was it?

Just over 1 million map packs were sold in just nine days since release. The map pack sold for ten dollars a pop for those of you who play CoD4 on the Xbox 360. That's $10,000,000 bucks straight into the pockets of Activision.

Let's talk about some more numbers. Xbox LIVE members played 30 million sessions and logged over 30 million hours of gameplay! That's 1.9 billion minutes played in the first nine days just on the Xbox 360! It looks like the juggernaut that is CoD4 still has steam in the engine.

For those of you who are PS3 CoD4 players, exp...

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Silent Hill 5 gets a name and a release date

Silent Hill fans have been waiting for a solid addition to the series for almost four years now (five if you are in the "I hated Silent Hill 4" camp). Hopefully, the upcoming Silent Hill 5 will be the game we've all been waiting for, and restore a lot of lost faith in walking mannequins and hissing pocket radios.

Silent Hill: Homecoming is now scheduled for a late September release in Europe, with no official word on a U.S. release date.

The press release also reminds us that this "'next generation'" game will have pretty graphics to look at, along with an all-new soundtrack composed by Akira Yamaoka. What is most exciting, however (at least to anyone who has ever wished they could absorb the story without wrestling with the infamously awkward controls of Silent Hill games of yore), is th...

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Blizzard: No WoW for you, Uwe!

We, as gamers, all know and love the charismatic film director Uwe Boll (ok, maybe by "love" I really mean "can't friggin' stand"). The man has an affinity for making videogame-based movies, but somehow they all come out looking, smelling, sounding, and tasting (tasting? sure, why not?) like crap.

He has slain many-a-franchise with deplorable big screen adaptations, and most recently set his sights on the heroin of the videogame industry, World of Warcraft. Could the biggest thing since the microchip be the the next victim of Boll's evil pen of DOOM?

No. Luckily, Blizzard is familiar with Boll's past work, and pretty much bitch slapped him when he approached them with the idea. Boll describes the exchange:

I got in contact with Paul Sams of Blizzard, and he said, 'We will not sell the mov...

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April 21st Virtual Console releases

Today is the day that dreams come true. Like every other Monday since its release, the Virtual Console library has been augmented with a couple of new games; what makes this update special is that one of those games happens to be River City Ransom - one of the best side-scrolling beat-em-ups in existence.

River City Ransom is the story of Alex and Ryan, a pair of high schoolers who set out to rescue Ryan's girlfriend from the gangs of River City. In addition to their hands and feet, the duo has a variety of weapons at their disposal, from sticks and chains to garbage cans and lead pipes. They can also learn special techniques via books purchased with money dropped by fallen foes. The RPG influence is evident, especially in the unique stat-growth system, but the game is fast-paced and a...

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Shane Kim cornered by Games Radar

Anytime gamers get to pose questions to anyone on the Microsoft staff the Red Ring of Death will inevitably come up.  Games Radar is pretty well known for their 10 questions feature.  They round up someone in the gaming industry and users submit questions, from which Games Radar selects 10.

This time it was Shane Kim on the chopping block.  For those who don't know, Shane Kim is the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Games Studio, aka the software side of the Microsoft's gaming contribution.

The readers of Games Radar didn't hesitate asking him hard hitting questions.  Oh no! "What steps are you taking to ensure that the next iteration of Xbox isn't rushed to market like the Xbox 360 was? Has Microsoft learned anything from the $1 billion write-off?"

Talk about bringing out the big guns.  ...

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Team Fortress 2: Meet the Scout video

Here's the next character profile video for Team Fortress 2, this time focusing on the Scout. I've seen mixed reviews for the video but I personally enjoyed it; it's quick and fast, along with a lot of cuts to match the Scout's furious persona. Also the brief scenes of the struggle with the Heavy was great, boink! If you've forgotten, a big update to TF2 is expected to hit PC this week -- including 36 new achievements for the Medic, a new gameplay mode and the first round of weapon loadouts.

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Microsoft slams PS3's GTA IV install time

A Microsoft press release circulating around the tubes is making fun of the installation procedure that the PS3 version of GTA IV requires.

Specifically, they're mocking the time the installation takes. Here is the full press release. Keep in mind while reading this that GTA IV's PS3 install takes a whole five minutes.

"With the OXM review hitting streets today, and your own preview impressions which are looking great, hopefully you'll all be a bit wiser as to the ins and outs of GTA IV now.

I'm sure you've all seen the chatter from the 1up GTA IV Preview on the PS3 install time....just a few thoughts on what you could do in this time if you were actually playing the 360 version from the moment you insert the disc....

· Steal your first dozen or so cars and test out the improved vehic...

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Kid vs. Mom. Part II

We reported a story this week regarding a 13 year-old boy who broke the family vacuum cleaner in order to get out of his chores so he could play video games. The mom punished his son by putting his Xbox 360 on eBay for sale.

Some questions arose when the listing on eBay was suddenly delisted as "The seller ended this listing early because the item is no longer available for sale."

People immediately speculated that the mom caved in and returned the Xbox 360 to her errant and disrespectful son. But according to a post on Digg, a person who claims to be the mom in this interesting drama says she pulled the ad because Dyson gave her a free vacuum cleaner.

In the 130th comment allegedly from "The Mom," it says:

"Here is the real story on why the action ended early...I got a free Dyson...so I no l...

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DC Comics and Mortal Kombat to collide

At Midway's Gamer's Day in Vegas, they made an announcement that instantly changed the order of my "Games I Want to Buy Most" list: the next Mortal Kombat will feature DC Comics heroes. So far, the only confirmed characters are Batman and Sub-Zero, but really, do you need any more? A DC vs MK game has always been one of my dream mash-ups, and now it's a reality.

Outside of the inclusion of DC, little is known about the project other than it won't contain the traditional Mortal Kombat fatalities. (DC doesn't want Batman or Superman being torn apart, I suppose; no word on the less-fatal -alities.) Who wouldn't give up fatalties for a chance to have Batman kick Scorpion's ass, though? Even with no real information on the game, I'm going to go ahead and say it's going to be the most badass gam...

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Judas Priest Screaming for Vengeance on Rock Band

Prepare yourself metal fans; Judas Priest's 1982 album "Screaming for Vengeance" will be the first full-length album available as Rock Band downloadable content. Expect the album to hit Xbox Live on April 22nd and the PlayStation Store on April 24th

Fans can download the entire album from Xbox Live for 1200 Microsoft Points ($14.99) or individual songs for 160 Microsoft Points ($1.99) each; pricing for the PlayStation Store weren't revealed. In addition, all ten album tracks will be original master recordings.

Screaming for Vengeance was released in July 1982 and ended up hitting double platinum at the end of its run -- being the band's first album to do so. The album includes the #1 hit "You've Got Another Thing Comin", which was also previously featured in the original Guitar Hero and the ...

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GTA4: The Aussies Strike Back

The Aussies are mad as hell and they won't take it anymore... well at least that's what some gamers feel like. The highly awaited Grand Theft Auto 4 will be hitting Australian shores on April 29. But the big difference between their version and the US version is content. 

In order to pass the Australian media classification system, which does not have a rating of R18+, Rockstar had to tone down a lot of the game in order meet the MA15+ rating so the game could be sold in OzzieLand.

Outraged gamers have retaliated by canceling their pre-orders for GTA4 and will be resorting to purchasing import copies that are cheaper and have its content uncut.

Victorian deputy premier and attorney general Rob Hulls said, "It seems inconsistent that in Australia adults are allowed to view adult-only films, w...

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Castle Crashers take on the mighty sea

I just swung by the Castle Crashers Development Blog of Love, as they call it. Seriously, that's what they are actually calling it. Well it seems our friend Dan Paladin has been up to some more insane creation.

Part one of a three part series "The Kings Boat" went up today on the Behemoth Vimeo. The video is about 5 minutes long and shows the rough image then the refinement and further refinement of the art in the game.

If you look really closely you can see that Dan actually borrows the color of the King's (only a guess) beard and uses it as the color for the foaming water as it breaks on the bow of the ship. Hilarious. Also I loved the re-refinement of the cannon after it was already one, he went back and changed it and made it even better.

Sigh. I sill can't wait for this game to c...

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Pro Tip: Super Metroid

Yes you read the title right. This week is a blast from the past. I received a copy of Super Metroid as a gift a couple of weeks ago and finally got around to popping it into my Super Nintendo Entertainment System. I have never actually finished a Metroid game, and never played Super Metroid until this week.

After switching the controls to something logical, instead of the crazy setup they start you with, I was dropped into a situation that had me, as Samus, returning to the planet Zebus to... do stuff. I think I'm trying to find a baby metroid but like many games from this era, the game is not exactly story driven. Anyway, I'm dropped onto a world and have to go exploring.

Pro Tip: Trust your gut when you explore.

Like the first Metroid before it, Super Metroid has the kind of layout wh...

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The Xbox 360. You love it. You hate it.

There definitely is a love-hate relationship between gamers and Xbox 360. Since the first light of day glanced upon the 360's case, reports have continued to stream in about the ongoing problem of the RRoD (Red Ring of Death). Other problems such as the DVD drive being faulty have also become commonplace.

But in spite of all these problems with the quality control of the unit, gamers still remain enthusiastically loyal to the creaky Xbox 360. The game library continues to astound and delight fans with games such as Mass Effect, Bioshock, Call of Duty 4 and a solid Xbox Live Arcade library.

But let's face it, this is the 21st century where electronics are some of the most reliable products that consumers can buy. Buy a television set and you can expect it to work for at least 10 to 15 years. ...

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Nintendo denies rumors of new DS model

A few days ago, we reported rumors of a new Nintendo DS model being unveiled at this year's E3. Nintendo responded to an inquiry from Japan's Yakan Fuji website pertaining to the comments Hirokaza Hamamura made about a new DS.

"We cannot comment on the specifics of what will be announced at E3, but at the very least there won't be anything like what Mr. Hamamura suggested, so would like to clearly deny this. We're having a hard time understanding what kind of evidence [Mr. Hamamura] had for saying this.", they said.

Nintendo initially said "At the present we can not say anything." which led gamers to believe that Nintendo was just being tight-lipped. Now comes this official confirmation. Granted, Nintendo didn't deny the existence of a new DS. They merely said that one would not be shown at...

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GTA IV bundled with graphical problems

With the new installment of the Grand Theft Auto series, Rockstar Games is bumping up the graphical prowess of GTAIV in order create a one of a kind, realistic perspective in a huge sandbox environment. With such a large persistent world is it surprising that GTAIV is suffering from graphical difficulties?

According to multiple previews, GTAIV contains grainy framerate issues, buildings and cars that popup out of nowhere, and long-distance fade outs.

So when you are being chased by the cops and you need a getaway car, hopefully you won't have to run into the trouble of waiting for a street car to pop up in your view to hijack. Also when you are driving fast in your car through a busy, traffic filled downtown street the framerate tends to dip a bit.

The reasons why these graphical hiccups po...

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Paper Mario coming to the DS in July

The Japanese magazine CoroCoro Comics has confirmed that a Paper Mario title for the DS will hit Japanese retailers this July. A US release will likely happen soon afterwards followed by a UK release. CoroCoro reports that this game will be a port of the original Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64, which was first released in 2001. While the game will be a port, it is very possible (and more than likely) that the game will be updated to take advantage of the DS' touch capabitilities.

I was ecstatic when I heard this news. Paper Mario is quite possibly my most favorite game of all time. To bring it with me wherever I go on my trusty DS would be heaven on earth, and if it has new extras that weren't in the original, then that's even better. I can't wait to hear more information on this title.

I...

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Beta theives get caught by Konami

People love the word beta. Just saying beta excites people. Getting to play something before it's finished (and for free) gets people to do crazy things... like buying Crackdown for example.While last summer the beta discussion was all about the Xbox, this summer we are talking about the PlayStation. More specifically the Metal Gear Online Beta. From what I understand there are three beta's going on, one for Europe, one for Japan and one for America. Apparently, Europeans and the Americans have been registering into the Japanese beta for MGO, denying real life, authentic Japanese people from registering.In an attempt to quell the masses Konami has started removing the people who live outside Japan from the Japanese Metal Gear beta. This statement was issued to all of the people who wer...

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Wii Fit officially priced at $90

Confirming rumors from last month, Nintendo has decided on an official price for their upcoming Wii Fit; the game will debut on May 19th at the price of $89.99. Additionally, consumers who preorder the title from the Nintendo World Store in New York City will receive a Wii Fit T-shirt signed by the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto himself. (Reproduced, of course.)

Obviously people will complain about the price, but are games getting too expensive?  I remember the Super NES and Sega Genesis era when the high-profile games were $80 or sometimes more. I very much remember having to save up $100 to purchase my copy of Chrono Trigger back in the day. Back then, high prices were quite common. Now in this day and age, that's the exception because most games cost thirty to sixty dollars with the rare gam...

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Mass Effect PC system requirements revealed

If you're tallying the number of days left till Mass Effect gets released for PC on May 28th (North America), then you're not alone. In addition to screenshots of the revised UI and mini-game exclusive to the PC edition, BioWare announced the system requirements for the game.

From my point of view, the hardware requirements aren't too steep; if your PC can handle pixel shaders 3.0 (or Unreal Engine 3), then you can handle Mass Effect.

A few follow-up questions were answered by BioWare's Derek French, including that there's no support for Direct X10 or the Xbox 360 controller in the PC edition.

Here are the requirements from Community Manager Jay Watamaniuk:

Minimum System Requirements for Mass Effect on the PC

Operating System: Windows XP or VistaProcessor: 2.4+GHZ Intel or 2.0+GHZ AMDMemory:...

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