Over Forty New Final Fantasy XIII Screens Just In Time For The Weekend PlayStation Network Plans To Implement Premium Content Subscription-Based Model Microsoft Game Studios Hiring Epic Liason/Producer For Gears of War & Shadow Complex Madden NFL Arcade Game Changers Video Toys“R”Us Goes Game Stop, Geoffrey the Giraffe Now Accepting Used Console Trade-Ins Foreign Pringles Commercial Proves Video Games Are More Fun with Crunch and Nudity

Able Planet’s original intentions were to help those with hearing loss, but they have now decided to enter the mainstream headset world with their sound-enhancing technology. Thus was born the PS500MM headset, designed with PC gaming in mind. The question now is: Is it worth the price? Read more…

KDND-FM, a Sacramento based radio station, held a contest in 2007 that asked willing contestants to drink large amounts of water all while trying to hold back their urge to urinate. Sounds like a blast! What’s the reward for this bladder based torture you ask? A fucking Nintendo Wii!

Jennifer Strange, a mother of three, decided she would take part in this madness for a chance to win the console for her children. The end result for her was second place finish in the contest and an eventual death caused by water intoxication several short hours later.

The Strange family filed a wrongful death suit against the station and was awarded $16 million in damages.

What else can I say that the family surname and the contest concept don’t already? It’s a shame. A shame that adults feel the need to put themselves in harms way to obtain items for their children. That said, I think the thing that angers me the most here has more to do with the roll retailers play in this supply and demand mess. Read more…

Morgan Webb joins the ranks of the raiding elite. The beautiful X-Play co-host sits down with several key members of the Blizzard staff to talk about their hugely successful MMO World of Warcraft as it approaches the five year anniversary benchmark. Read more…

Need for Speed: Shift is somewhat of a return to form for the NFS series. Unlike the last few games that had you open-world cruising the city while running from cops in your nitrous-infused, mostly illegal street racer, Shift is all about real racing on actual tracks and stuff. You know, the kind of racing that doesn’t involve any slutty girlfriends. Read more…

I hate most commercials, but I don’t hate this one, because it’s actually pretty good. I may think that just because it’s Modern Warfare 2, or it may be because it’s actually funny. Not crap-your-pants funny, but chuckle worthy, which is more than I can say about most commercials.

I just got back from my local Best Buy and found out that the store is having a video game deal that can save all of us some cash. If you buy any two Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or Nintendo Wii games (at full price) you get the third game absolutely free (Dane Cook disciples know this is the best kind of free).

So just to recap. Three PS3 games for the price of two. Three 360 games for the price of two. Three Wii games for the price of two. Get off your ass and get into your local Best Buy. Sale ends this Saturday.

I don’t know about you but I was dancing in my seat the entire time I watched this video. Screw Paco, the virtual club dance floor is where it’s at!

Seriously though, this gameplay video proves three things: persistence pays, sex sells, and the team at Quantic Dreams has created a gorgeous PlayStation 3 exclusive.

Last night’s Southpark episode featured Cartman as Rock Band lead singer proving that, like the baby in the E-Trade commercial, he too has been blessed with the gift of golden pipes.

His stunning rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” is backed up by Kenny and Kyle on Rock Band guitar and drums. I must warn you though, this cover is very catchy and may get stuck in your head for a day or two. You’ve been warned. Read more…

Boo! I hope that didn’t completely scare you, what with Halloween coming up and all the ghosts that totally aren’t fictional and monsters that totally exist coming out to haunt us. To celebrate this rather pointless special time of year, Valve have announced that Team Fortress 2 will be having a spooky update weekend.

The update will add five achievements to unlock some new ghostly hats, a new King of the Hill map (Harvest, a Halloween-themed map with a roaming ghost that will scare players stiff) and Pumpkin-bombs. It also seems that dead players will be able to interact in some way with the living. Not sure if this is restricted to this one map, but either way it sounds brilliant. The special runs October 29th-November 3rd.

Update: The game is also super cheap from now until 2:00pm PDT; go buy it!

Nintendo has officially announced a new handheld unit dubbed the DSi LL. The latest version of the popular DS device features a 4.2″ screen (over 90% larger than that of the original), two touch-screen pens (one larger than the other), and a new price tag of $222.

The unit will launch with three color options: “WineRed, “DarkBrown” and “NaturalWhite”. United States and Europe availability has been confirmed by Nintendo however no specific release date has been set.

The Nintendo DSi LL splash page on nintendo.co.jp (shown below) displays the unit in a more mature setting atop a wooden table near house plant. My thought is that Nintendo feels the changes made to the DS will allow it to be more marketable to an older demographic. I personally don’t own one yet but I am a sucker for shiney things so who knows.

What do you think? Is the new Nintendo DSi LL worth your money? Sound off in the reader comments section below.

Thanks to /gamer for the tip.

EA has announced a limited edition version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and outside of the box looking different, the limited edition will grant those who purchase it access to six “special gameplay” perks right from the start.

How much more will this run you? Not a cent! EA promises that the limited edition retail price will be the same as the standard edition. The catch is that supplies are apparently “limited” and both versions hit stores on the same date.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a 2010 release scheduled to hit stores in the United States on March 2nd and Europe on the 5th. And remember, cool guys don’t look at explosions. Full press release below. Read more…

Grand Theft Auto IV’s second downloadable episode, titled “The Ballad of Gay Tony”, is available on Xbox LIVE marketplace right now (complete with Sprunk Extreme Base Jumping) and will run you 1600 Microsoft Points (roughly 20 bucks).

If you get your hands on it, let us know what you think in the comments section.

This news won’t matter much if you live in Japan because you’re likely already playing the game, Everyone else will have to wait until early January 2010. Sega announced this morning that their Platinum Games’ title Bayonetta will be hitting store shelves in the United States on January 5th and available in Europe three days later on the 8th.

The news also comes with promise of pre-order exclusives but sadly no specifics were given. However, considering the attention given to sex appeal with this character, I’m going to guess a free Bayonetta blow up doll, a box of tissues, and some KY jelly.

The trailer above … it’s the teaser for Modern Warfare 2 put out by Infinity Ward months ago. Remember it? You should.

So many sites spent weeks trying to analyze the distorted video and muffled audio, and if you remember it, the recently leaked terrorist level that made it’s way around the web shouldn’t come as such a surprise. It’s essentially the teaser trailer that Infinity Ward put out when the game was first announced only this time it’s unscrambled and obviously playable.

As mentioned in a previous post, the level is optional and initiated via an in-game checkpoint. I repeat, you don’t have to play it, but my guess is that nearly everyone who buys the game will.

Spring of 2010. That is the only release information that developer Square-Enix has shared to this point regarding their highly anticipated RPG Final Fantasy XIII release. But that doesn’t stop the analyzers from analyzing every piece of information they come into contact with in the hopes of unearthing specifics.

An ad placed by Los Angeles based ad agency, Liz Paulson Casting, is our latest “exhibit A” if you will. The placement seeks voice talent to read the script below: Read more…

With Netflix coming to PlayStation 3 next month, the rumors are already flying about the service coming to the Nintendo Wii as well. Read more…

Fresh from the rumor department comes a supposed Wii 2 console leak being reported by Maxconsole.net. The leak apparently originates on/from the French gaming site Logic-sunrise.com, however I dug into the site a bit myself with Google Translate and couldn’t find any trace of the information Maxconsole claimed to be getting from them. It could be that it wasn’t posted on the French site itself although that wouldn’t make much sense.

All in all, the rumored “leak” states that Nintendo is working on a Wii sequel with the following: Read more…

Spoiler Warning: Do not read this post if you don’t want to have plot specifics revealed.

Infinity Ward has confirmed that the leaked video game footage from their yet to be released Modern Warfare 2 title is real, and as expected, the airport terrorism acts depicted in the video will be optional. Meaning you don’t have to kill loads of civilians if you don’t want to. Now lets sit back and see how many of you actually do anyway. Read more…

G4TV recently confirmed the existence of avatar awards in Valve’s upcoming Left 4 Dead 2 video game. According to G4TV’s Stephen Johnson, there will be nine avatar awards in all, but only six are known at this point.

Below is a bulleted list of the ones that have been confirmed and some detailed info on what you’ll have to do to get them as well as a video showing them in use.  Read more…

Every week, I research all the best new video game releases to find the one game you need to play and the one you need to stay away from: my Video Game Winners and Losers of the Week. Who will win this week?  Grand Theft Auto, DJ Hero, Forza 3? Click to find out! Read more…