Left 4 Dead Maps Resurrected in Left 4 Dead 2 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

In a contrasting string of commercials, Pringles stack their chip against bagged brand competitors. The premise is simple — “not every chip gets you to the crunch.”

And as you’ll see in the Silent Hill video game scenario below, when you finally do get to the “crunch”, a strip teasing Lara Croft will be waiting. The “squelching” non-crunch counterpart is, well, not as entertaining. Enjoy. Read more…

Spike TV’s 7th annual Video Game Awards is approaching. With nominees selected in twenty-eight different categories, it’s time for you to put your homer hat on and get to voting.

Can Batman: Arkham Asylum beat out Left 4 Dead 2 and a slew of other big budget sequels for Game of the Year honors? Does Borderlands pack enough FPS firepower to gun down Bioware’s Dragon Age: Origins and lay claim to the throne as Best RPG? Will Jack Black’s vocal talent in Brutal Legend rock voters and assure him a win in the Best Voice category?

You have the power to decide, and with great power comes great responsibility. So, consider your living room couch an extension of the venue. Sit up straight and look presentable — the gaming world will be watching.

Catch the two hour event live on Spike TV, December 12th at 8PM EST to find out who takes home the hardware and get a world first look at Halo: Reach as well as a few other unannounced 2010-2011 releases.

Jon Christensen, Founder of Slash Gamer, and Jim Steyer, Common Sense Media CEO, recently appeared on the FOX morning show “Fox & Friends” to give their stance on the uber violent “terrorist” activities in Modern Warfare 2. The segment was titled “A game that lets you play as a terrorist?” and pitted Jon as the defender of video game content, against Jim, the defender of our precious and highly impressionable children. Read more…

You may remember the South Park clip we posted a few days ago featuring Cartman and the boys performing Lady GaGa’s “Poker Face” with the Rock Band game. Well, thanks to the hard work of die hard South Park fan and YouTube user phr00ta, we can now enjoy a hilarious five minute remix of the song. Read more…

What if an ordinary night with friends turned into a Sims micro managed hell? This is the premise for one of the funniest College Humor skits I have seen in a long time. Check it out. Read more…

It seems that the Chris Farley DirecTV advertisement did more that just piss a bunch of people off – it also inspired the team at LandlineTV to drive the point home with a set of parody advertisements of their own. Why stop at Chris Farley when you can utilize the power of even more dead celebs?

Landline included the following comment with their reveal:

After testing the boundaries with their Chris Farley spot, DirecTV wrangles more famous people from beyond the grave to be in commercials.

Have a look at the parody video below. Read more…

If you can’t wait to see some video of Jake Gyllenhall with his chest and arms exposed in the movie adaptation of Prince of Persia, you can thank the wonderful world of YouTube for the blurry trailer leak below of IGN big money exclusives for the first “officially sanctioned” look. Read more…

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…

We reported a rumor regarding the possibility of third person gameplay in Infinity Ward’s upcoming shooter Modern Warfare 2 less than an hour ago. The main supporting elements at that time consisted of supposed leaked in game video and a screen capture of what appeared to be a game mode selection screen.

In addition to the above, we’d like to now add a promotional email from G4TV’s X-Play to the mix, and ultimately a confirmation from Infinity Ward community manager, Robert Bowling, that seals the deal. Read more…

The “anything you can do I can do better” competition between the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Microsoft Xbox 360 for the title of ”Master Swiss Army Knife Console King Toaster Oven” continues as Sony announced their partnership with Netflix on Monday. Remember when video game consoles didn’t cost 500 dollars and just played video games? I do.

Starting next month, PS3 owners (who are also Netflix subscribers) will be able to instantly stream thousands of movies and TV shows from the Netflix catalog to through their PS3. The only stipulation with the service out of the gate, is that PS3 owners will need to have a free Netflix-provided Blu-ray disc (available from netflix.com/ps3) in their console to utilize said service. This may be something that is eventually phased out by a future firmware update, but that’s purely speculation at this point.

Sure all these “extras” are nice to have, but its getting to the point where console manufacturers are going to need their own “Jimmy Football” and a slew of infomercials to justify the cost and explain the “jack of all trades”  functionality. Geek-gate tested! Geek-gate approved! Hit the jump for the full press release. Read more…

In an age where social networking and word economy reign supreme, it’s hard to find a rumor that didn’t originate or spread through Twitter. Geoff Keighley, host of Spike’s GameTrailers TV, knows this, and recently took to his Twitter to stir the rumor mill regarding a brand new LucasArts IP to be announced on GTTV this weekend.

“LucasArts will announce a brand-new original game on this week’s GTTV – with first footage. More details soon.” tweets Keighley. Keighley, you’re such a tease! Come on, give us more than that. A name, a genre, a platform- I’ll even accept a 32 x 18 screenshot! But until Thursday, when GTTV airs (at 12:30AM) I’ll just pray that you were lying about it being original. I just want a new Grim Fandango, LucasArts.

Violence and video games is a topic almost as old as time itself, and we’re all getting tired of hearing people discuss whether or not violent video games are a stimulant for violence & aggression. While the entire gaming community will probably answer that query with a resounding, unanimous “NO”, many analysts and therapists alike disagree. The comedic, critical duo of Penn & Teller recently tackled this topic in the latest episode of Showtime’s Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, and the outcomes of the so-called “investigation” might surprise you.

The first part of the episode is embedded above, courtesy of Kotaku, and the second & third parts are embedded after the jump. Everyone’s favorite Floridian makes an appearance in the episode, but unfortunately, they made him out to some sort of game-hating misanthrope, rather than the forthright, but misguided man he seemed to be when I heard him speak at SGC last week. While I enjoyed the episode, and thought they made a lot of good points, I could’ve done without the crying kid at the end. Luckily, no one at his age probably watches or even gets Showtime, or the kid would be teased for life.
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A while back there was a rumor making its way around the internet saying that Megan Fox may play Lara Croft in the next Tomb Raider movie, as it was an origin story that called for a younger actress. This rumor finally made its way to Angelina Jolie and she is none too pleased. Read more…

Keeping in line with other game-to-film adaptations, Hitman was pretty bad. It was a clumsy mess and Timothy Olyphant looked really goofy with a shaved head. Nevertheless, it made a killing, so a writer has been hired to pen the sequel. Read more…

Ryan Reynolds, the actor funnyman that most recently played Wade “Deadpool” Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, doesn’t play video games. He thinks they’re a waste of time. Read more…

You know, Dan Landis and I discussed this very same topic in an upublished “From the Throne” debate. Yes, the two of us went back and forth on the topic while I was taking a dump.

I had the brilliant idea to end the debate by typing “flush” but I never took notes and therefore it never materialized. Luckily, G4TV’s Adam Sessler has a camera crew and a slightly more professional outlet to convey his opinions. Enjoy. Read more…

Mountain Dew and popular MMO World of Warcraft team up to offer gamers two new beverages capable of changing skin color, muscle tone, and sexual orientation. Oh, I’m sure they promise to give some sort of energy boost too.

Hit the jump for a lovely demonstration of the beverages in action by a gamer who looks nothing like the lovely ladies in the commercial above. Read more…

A brief but powerful email just hit our inbox. What it lacks in words, it makes up for in saliva inducing premonitions. Tune in tonight at 7pm ET/PT to see the Olivia Munn Playboy cover revealed on G4TV’s Attack of the Show.

As for all you hot and heavy gamer girls, sit tight, I’m sure G4TV will announce the Kevin Pereira Playgirl cover soon enough.

Press release and video after the jump. Read more…

Straight out of E3 today is yet another video for The Beatles: Rock Band, but this time with gameplay. The trailer for the game gives us a good look at some of the visual changes added to The Beatles: Rock Band, namely the psychedelic background visuals, addition of 3-part harmonies, and slight changes to the note boards.

One of the things that kind of irks me about the trailer is the game’s rendition of “Get Back”. It’s a lot different than the one I’m used to, but it still takes place atop the headquarters of Apple Corps. I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually, but I’d much prefer the version with McCartney’s higher-pitched vocals. Oh, and the trailer’s gorgeous too!

If you care, hit the jump for a list of the songs featured in the trailer, in the order you hear them in. I might be wrong, but this is what I got, and I’m pretty sure it’s right. Read more…

There’s really no other way to describe this cinematic, other than to say it’s absolutely fantastic. It’s beautiful. From the style, to the animation, to the music, to the surreal ending, it’s absolutely gorgeous, and it hurts my brain to even think of how much work went into making this on Harmonix’s part. I challenge you all to find a better cinematic than this, because I simply can’t find one.

But enough of me singing it’s praises. Although I knock on Activision for their use of the Guitar Hero franchise, I can’t wait until September 9th, when The Beatles: Rock Band comes out. Although it’s only 45 Beatles songs, as one of the greatest bands ever, I’m sure I’ll have an insane amount of fun with the game. You can look forward to it too, when it hits the PS3, Wii, PS2, and Xbox 360 this September.