Square-Enix posted a message/anagram on their North America website earlier today:

A puzzle for FINAL FANTASY XIII fans!

Solve this anagram to find out what lies ahead: A Henchmen Inventor Tent Unto. Check back Monday for the answer!

Well, there’s no need to wait until Monday, as hintonmj and Squirrel Emperor, two finalfantasy-xiii.net forum users, figured it out in just under an hour. The hidden message unscrambles to read “Announcement Nov Thirteenth”.

Could this be the North America release date we’ve all been waiting for? My cardboard Buster Sword sure hopes so. Stay tuned.

“We haven’t committed to Zelda in 2010″

I must admit, I watched the same video earlier today, however I lost focus around the part where Reggie said that the New Super Mario Bros. would “absolutely” outsell Modern Warfare 2. At that point, I thought my time would be better served doing something more productive like holding my breath and counting to one thousand. This proved to be only marginally true.

As for thinking a new Zelda title would be released in 2010, I’m with Luke in saying that’s just “stupid”. You can’t realistically expect to see a title released next year when it hasn’t even been shown off formally yet. We need time to do things like pace back and forth. Sheesh!

Tired of your unimpressive World of Warcraft pet collection? Would you rather die than be caught in Iron Forge with a run of the mill cat following your every move? Well if you answered yes, Blizzard has just the thing … the World of Warcraft Pet Store!

“Today we’re pleased to introduce the Pet Store for ‘World of Warcraft,’ a new way for players to obtain in-game pets to join them on their adventures in Azeroth … Two brand-new companions are now available for purchase exclusively at the Pet Store in the online Blizzard Store: Lil’ K.T. and the Pandaren Monk.”

Each pet will cost $10, with 50% of proceeds earned on Pandaren Monk sales during 2009 donated to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Here’s your chance to trade in some of that useless real money burning a hole in your pocket and make miniture Kel’Thuzad your bitch!

I haven’t been following Avatar closely, outside of seeing a few movie trailers that didn’t make a lasting impression on me, but today I came across the trailer for the game below (which just so happens to be the most recent one). My first impression of what I saw (considering I didn’t remember much from the big screen counterpart) was sort of a mix between Predator and Jurassic Park. Have a look at it yourself.

I know the creatures in Avatar are a lot more colorful than Jurassic Park, but the sense of mayhem and the setting itself reminded me of what JP felt like after the dinosaurs broke the confines of the electric fence and started owning face.

The Predator comparison kicked in for me the moment I saw the blue figure perched high above the jungle floor on the edge of the cliff. While he didn’t go invisible like the Predator, he was pretty fluid and deadly in his attack on the soldier.

Overall, movie based video games tend to suck in my opinion, but this one looks like it may have the potential to suck a little less. I liked Predator and Jurrassic Park and tend to be a sucker for Sci-Fi, so I’ll most likely see the movie first and gauge how I feel about picking up the game after that. What do you think of the clip, the premise of the Avatar as a game, and movies turned video games in general?

Sega is offering early access to the Bayonetta demo to registered Sega Pass Members. Signing up for the Sega Pass is free and takes about 10 seconds (I did it while posting this).

They have a limit of 40,000 codes and they will be given away on a first come first serve basis. If you aren’t a Sega Pass Member, you can sign up right here.

The holiday season is closing in and that means the corporate figure heads we know and love are loosening their jaws to allow for some serious product pitching.

Direct from the hefty predictions department come two haymakers. The first hails from the lips of Activision CEO, Bobby Kotick, and the second comes from Nintendo’s North American President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime. Have your popcorn ready.

First lets start with Activision. Just how successful does they think Modern Warfare 2 will be? Kotick made the following statement in an interview with Bloomberg.com:

“Modern Warfare’ has the potential to be the biggest entertainment launch and not just of a video game,”

Translation, Kotick thinks Modern Warfare 2 will outsell Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (which grossed $929 million, according to Box Office Mojo). According to Janco Partners Industry Analyst Mike Hickey, Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 4 pulled in $500 million by selling 6 million copies in its first week.

But the corporate boasting fest doesn’t end there! Power up your Nintendo Wii and put on your “I love all things Mario t-shirt” because Reggie is prepared to lay it on thick.

GameTrailers TV host Geoff Keighley asked Reggie in a recent video interview if the new Super Mario Bros. title could outsell Modern Warfare 2 on a single platform. Reggie showed his pearly whites and delivered the following response:

“Absolutely. I say that unequivocally. On one particular platform, I do believe so.”

He then added the following stipulation to wrap up his response to Geoff:

“Now, you’ve got to give me the entire holiday selling season. Right? So let’s take it all the way through the January NPD data. Yes. I’ll put that stake in the ground.”

Should be an interesting holiday season. What do you think? Will Modern Warfare 2 outsell the latest Harry Potter film and can the New Super Mario Bros. top Modern Warfare 2 on a singular platform level? Share your thoughs in the comment section below.

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? Dragon Age: Origins? Band Hero? Five Minutes to Kill Yourself?

Listen to Video Game Winners and Losers of the Week

I’m about to head out the door to grab some dinner and maybe catch a movie, but before I go, I’d like to know what you all plan on playing this weekend?

I’ll be digging into Uncharted 2 and finally cracking open Batman: Arkham Asylum. You can find me on PSN and XBL under the ID “Darkhieser”. Maybe I’ll see a few of you online.

Our friend Sal over at Scrawl got his hands on some early scans of Shonen Jump (shown above). In addition to showcasing the Chocobo new look and giving us a glimpse at yet another summon, the magazine reveals that Japanese versions of Final Fantasy XIII will come with a beta code for Final Fantasy XIV.

This of course doesn’t mean we will experience the same good fortune here in the states, but I for one will be keeping my fingers crossed. Either way, there will be plenty of leaked internet footage for us to drool over when the time comes.

EA announced today that free trial access to their MMO Warhammer Online will be available to gamers on an unlimited basis. Jeff Hickman, the game’s executive producer, states:

“With the introduction of the endless free trial and streaming client, we are making it easier than ever for a new player to join the WAR,”

“… we are giving players an unlimited amount of time to explore the early parts of the game at their own pace. We are confident that players new and old will find all the enhancements we’ve made to WAR over the past year worthy of their time and commitment.”

Of course, the trial does not grant access to the game’s top-tier content, but considering all the enhancements they claim to have made, it will probably allow for enough quests and grinding to keep you occupied and unbathed long enough to ensure total and absolute seclusion from society.

Valve continues to show their love for the “it only does everything” PlayStation 3 console. The latest show of support comes from a CVG interview with Valve’s writer extraordinaire, Chet Faliszek.

“In hooking up with your friends and the community aspects, I think the Xbox 360 is head and shoulders above the PS3 …  it’s all about playing with your friends.”

Apparently the PS3 isn’t friendly enough for Valve. Chet digs the knife deeper by telling gamers that they shouldn’t not buy Left 4 Dead 2 with the hope that it will eventually come out for the PlayStation 3.

“… it’s not going to [come out for the PS3] … It’s coming out on the PC and 360. It’s going to be exclusive for that.”

I think it’s safe to say that there is no love lost between Sony and Valve. What do you think of Valve’s open dismissal of the Sony next-gen console?

Activision’s highly anticipated Modern Warfare 2 can already be found on a multitude of internet torrent sites (so I’ve been told), but the quick work of Dallas based IPCybercrime (hired by Activision) helped move one cyber-thief out of his spacious gadget filled hacker pad into something a little more “cozy”.

According to Dean Takahashi of VentureBeat, a Craigslist post offering a Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 bundle perked the interest of Activision and prompted them to hire Dallas based IPCybercrime, a private investigation firm specializing in internet crime.

A little Facebook investigating revealed that two men stole a pallet of Modern Warfare bundled 360 units from a video game retailer. After apprehending the store thieves, the focus of the investigation shifted to locating a modder known online as “cdelamo815″ who planned to duplicate the Modern Warfare 2 game.

Again, the search started with Facebook, which ultimately pointed investigators to a console modding site. A little wheeling and dealing landed them 18-year-old Christian Del Amo’s cell phone number. They used that to pin point his residence and turn him over to authorities.

IPCybercrime owner, Rob Holmes, commented on the case:

“It all happened very fast … If these guys get their stuff out, then they can do some major damage to sales and spoil it for everybody. We plug leaks every day, but this was one of the biggest ones of the year.”

In the end this won’t do much to stop the leak of Modern Warfare 2 on torrent sites, as it’s already spreading across the web, but it does serve as an example of just how far an entity will to go to protect their intellectual property. Hell hath no furry like a publisher scorned.

Nintendo’s President and Chief Operationg Officer in North America (better known as Reggie), firmly denied rumors of a Wii HD, telling GameTrailers TV:

“I don’t know how forcefully we can say there is no Wii HD.”

Well Reggie, you could pull the Wii HD out and beat people over the head with it while screaming “IT DOESN’T EXIST! DO YOU HEAR ME!?!” That might do it.

Infinity Ward’s decision to utilize Steamworks exclusively (it will handle updates, saves, achievements, etc) for the PC version of their Modern Warfare 2 title has IGN’s Direct2Drive download service refusing to sell it.

Valve’s Steamworks platform is a direct competitor to IGN’s Direct2Drive service, and considering the fact that you won’t be able to play the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 without installing Steamworks, this really doesn’t come as a huge surprise.

Direct2Drive issued the following statement regarding the matter:

“we believe strongly that when you buy a game from us, you shouldn’t be forced to install and run a 3rd party software client to be able to play the game you purchased.”

The digital distributor is allowing for an Amazon.com link on their site for those that still want to buy the game as well as a $5 off coupon towards the purchase of other Activision titles on their site.

In all honesty, if the company disagrees with the notion of forced 3rd party software why then link to an external means of purchase and offer a discount on other games by that publisher? It seems to me that they feel guilty for causing a perceived inconvenience to their customer base and at the same time don’t want to completely burn a bridge with the publisher. If that’s the case, just suck it up and sell the damn game then.

At least two other competitors in the space (Impulse and GamersGate) have decided that they too will not be selling the Modern Warfare 2 title. If digital distribution is the future, the road there looks like a bumpy one.

What do you think? Does this sort of 3rd party package deal bother you or do you see it as business as usual? Do you even care if the bottom line means a better game play experience on your end?

Thanks Gamasutra

The team at BioWare released a few new Mass Effect 2 screens for us to chew on over the weekend. How nice of them.

Mass Effect 2 Image Gallery – Click Here To View

In a recent Twitter status update, Gears of War mastermind, Cliff Bleszinski, expressed his admiration for the new first person shooter based RPG “Borderlands”.

“Borderlands, I adore you. You’re Diablo for a generation raised on first person shooters. I want a Claptrap statue.”

Interesting analogy. I guess that means Twitter is the same as human interaction for a generation raised on computers.

The 2009 Today’s Gamers Internation Survey tells us something that a lot of us could of guessed: most Americans love playing videogames more than anything else.

According to the survey, 83% of the US citizens polled claimed that playing videogames was their number one past time, over watching the tube and surfing the net.

Europeans play less games, but not by much, as 72% admitted their gaming tendencies.

I just want to burst into the national anthem right now, but I’ll probably just play some videogames.

The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York inducted the Nintendo Game Boy, created by the late Gunpei Yokoi, into the ranks of play time immortal. The “Toy Hall of Fame” is a distinguished and elite honor which includes other childhood favorites such as The Ball and Big Wheel (both inducted this year) as well as LEGOs, Rubik’s Cube, Transformers, Silly Putty, and Dan Landis’s favorite — the Easy-Bake Oven.

Since we are on the topic, I feel the need to issue an impromptu PSA. Don’t race down a paved hill on your Big Wheel and try to stop on a dime while wearing shorts. The skin on your legs will thank you for it.

Seriously though, “The Ball” only just made it in this year!?! That baffles me considering it makes things like football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, and even dodge ball possible. Oh well, congratulations to the Game Boy, Big Wheel, and that ball thing.

Thanks GoNintendo

The wrap up of a recent Square-Enix Financial meeting featured CEO Yoici Wadam assuring smooth development of the Western release, adding that there was a possibility the game could release globally before the end of the fiscal year.

The Japanese fiscal year runs from April 1st to March 31st, so if development continues as smoothly as Wadda anticipates it will, there’s a good chance we may see Final Fantasy XIII in the United States sometime before the end of March. Keep your fingers crossed.

Thanks Siliconera

Short and sweet, the boycott laden announcement of Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 has made it’s way through the shit storm of hate to amass a pre-order amount four times greater than that of the original. Setting aside the hurtful past, Valve’s Chet Faliszek comments on the pre-order numbers telling CVG “I think people are just excited now,”

Aww, I just love stories with a happy ending. Maybe now is a good time for Valve to announce the development of Left 4 Dead 3. Too soon?

Oh the irony in life. A message board which states that it is powered by the Xbox 360 and Bungie serves as a home to several images featuring what the poster, “Tom Morello”, claims to be leaked Halo: Reach in-game weapon screens.

And now, the page scrolling list of leaked images for your speculative pleasure…

Highlights from the leaked screens and info mentioned on the forum reveal a HUD that Morello says lists out things such as teammate names and player perks like cloak, sprint, and hologram. Sprinting will involve the use of the LB button and cloaking will not only hide you from plain sight but also jam your radar and take you offline in terms of communication with your team on Xbox LIVE. Hologram will create a mirror image of your character forcing your enemy to either guess correctly or live long enough to kill both of you.

Morello claims that the photos were taken from inside of an office at Microsoft Headquarters, adding that his initial reasoning for snapping a few pics was to share the existence of a new “Battle Rifle” with the MLG community.

The biggest question that still remains, in my opinion, is whether or not this game will feature the return of Master Chief as a playable character. As you can see in the image below, it does appear that the hand shown topside up does have similar plated armor to that of Master Chief. Of course it could just be a random Spartan. If that’s the case, you can thank the Bungie writers and their self serving need for varied character development.

Is this shit for real? Your guess is as good as mine. If real though, the logic of “no such thing as bad press” says this leak could serve to a be a good thing for the Bungie squad as it will surely steal a small amount of the spotlight currently beaming heavily on Infinity Ward and their impending Modern Warfare 2 release.

What do you think? Are the screens real? Are you a fan of the Halo franchise? Sound off in the comments section below.

Source: mlgpro.com/forum

If you want your copy of Modern Warfare 2 as soon as possible, and live near one of these participating Best Buy locations in the United States, you can station your ass outside one of them on November 9th as the clock approaches midnight. Full press release below.

Best Buy Stores Nationwide Open at Midnight for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Release

What:

Local fans can be among the first to purchase Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 2, the highly anticipated video game releasing at midnight as part of a series of special events at several Best Buy stores nationwide. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the sequel to the best-selling first-person action game of all time, will be available for purchase beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, November 10 at Best Buy locations nationwide.

Marking the follow up to 2007’s blockbuster Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 continues the gripping and heart-racing action that has come to be the hallmark of the franchise, as players face off against a new threat dedicated to bringing the world to the brink of collapse.

Best Buy Blue Shirts will be ready to help customers get the most out of their gaming experience. Customers can check out the latest in technology home theater technology that allows them to experience the High Definition graphics and surround sound that make the game come to life.

The game is rated “M” (Mature) by the ESRB and is available now for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows® PC. Best Buy will be offering an instant $10 Best Buy gift card for Reward Zone Gamer’s Club members with additional giveaways taking place throughout the events.

Please note: Best Buy sales associates check IDs and do not sell M-Rated video games to people under 17.

When:

Monday, November 9

* 10:30 p.m. — Gaming fans line up for a chance to purchase Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Tuesday, November 10

* 12:01 a.m. — Best Buy opens its doors early for fans to buy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Where:

Best Buy stores nationwide. Visit www.bestbuy.com/modernwarfare2 for locations

Fans of Activision’s Action/RPG Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 will be happy to know that new DLC content is out today on both the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Sony PlayStation 3. The download will unlock five new characters; Magneto, Carnage, Cable, Black Panther and Juggernaut (previously only available with pre-orders). It will also open up a new Civil War storyline with four challenge missions.

The cost of the update will run 800 MS points (about $10) on Xbox LIVE and $9.99 on the PlayStation Network. Full press release available below.

MARVEL: ULTIMATE ALLIANCE 2 DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT NOW AVAILABLE

Fuse Powers with Magneto, Carnage, Psylocke, Cable, Black Panther and Juggernaut in New Missions

Santa Monica, CA – November 5, 2009 – Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced today that the greatest Super Hero™ action/RPG team-up just got a super-powered upgrade with Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 downloadable content, now available until December 31, 2009, for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system. Players can now experience Marvel’s epic Civil War storyline with five all-new playable characters in their arsenal: Carnage, Psylocke and Cable make their Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system debuts in the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance series alongside returning fan-favorites Magneto and Black Panther. The downloadable content also includes four new challenge missions, including all-new boss encounters, dangerous gauntlets and more, all downloadable from Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points and from the PlayStation®Store for $9.99. Also joining the dream team will be Juggernaut, now available for download from Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for 160 Microsoft Points and from the PlayStation®Store for $1.99.

The official game demo will also be available to download from Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for free and allows players to play through the Washington, D.C. mission as either a pro-registration or anti-registration team.

Lace up your contractually obligated $200 dollar sneakers and hit the collegiate hardwood today … assuming you’re an Xbox LIVE gold member. EA Sports has just released a demo of NCAA Basketball 10 to Xbox LIVE gold members. Silver members will be able to try it out on the 12th followed by PlayStation 3 on the 19th.

You shoot. You score. You request a multi-million dollar rookie deal so you can feed your family. Start your transition from college ball to the pros today with NCAA Basketball 10.

Good Old Games, the best place for nostalgia-loving PC gamers, announced the arrival of some brand new old games to their ever-growing catalogue this week; Majesco Entertainment’s Advent Rising and the highly acclaimed Psychonauts. To celebrate, we’re giving 15 Ripten readers the chance to win the game of their choice from GoG.com’s archive of over 160 classic PC games.

All you have to do is register for a free account here at Ripten and post a comment in the comments section below. Let us know which game you’d like from the library of games at GoG.com and a brief explanation why.

It really is that simple, folks! Just remember, you can’t win if you don’t register for an account here at Ripten. We’ll pick the winners on Monday, November 9, so you’ve got plenty of time to think of a game you’d like to add to your collection. All winners will be contacted through the email they used when registering.

I’m not a trained killing machine, but if I was this trailer would definitly make me want to go out and find one terrorist after another and continuously shove each one of them up the others ass (kind of like those little stackable dolls) until there was only one heavily constipated terrorist left. Then I’d break his arm off and beat him into the ground with it. Yup.

Infinity Ward released a fake PSA about grenade spammers (shown here) that closes with an offensive acronym. Fast forward to this weeks edition of Sessler’s Soapbax as Adam Sessler shares his deep thoughts on the subject.

Activision has just released a montage video of sorts, jam packed with bits and pieces of Modern Warfare 2 trailers and footage dating back to it’s initial announcement and teaser.

Though mostly a five minute long rehash of previously seen footage, it seems to also confirm the existence of cinematic version of the terrorist airport level. If true, this’s a great move by Infinity Ward, as it would allow those gamers who choose pass on the opportunity of playing it out first hand a means to still experience the plot element.

See for yourself at the 52 and 1:40 second marks in the trailer below.

What do you think? Does that look like a cinematic version of the level or should I put the pipe down? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

I’m now convinced that EA Sports has my phone tapped. I literally had a conversation on the phone last night talking about how this year’s Madden was vastly improved in so many areas over last years iteration. But that said, there were still things I missed from the last gen version of the series — things like trading cards.

Well here they are … sort of. Cards will contain players, coaches, and jersey options, but special ability or perk cards offering up things like “rocket arm” or “scrambling legs”  don’t look like they made the next-gen transition. You will however be able to collect cards and do something new with them — build a custom team.

Cards will apparently come in different flavor decks (Bronze, Silver, and Gold) with each deck costing a different amount of “points” and each deck containing higher quality players than the previous. Points won’t cost you money (which is refreshing) but will instead be earned via on-field achievements.  It also looks like there will be periodic “weekly deals” offering up discounts on the rare cards.

Collecting players from the same professional or college team will grant special on the field rating boots and different instances of a single player will be able to exist on the same team. So, while you will need to build your team with lower level players at first, with a little dedication and hard work, it won’t be long before your squad resembles the John Madden Ultimate “Brett Favre” Team shown above. Boom!

The Madden 10 “Ultimate Team” feature will be available for free sometime in January via download on Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network. Below are some screen images provided by EA Sports. What do you think of this latest addition to the game?

You might recall that many PC fans of Call of Duty (specifically Modern Warfare) got very upset when Infinity Ward announced that they were not going to support dedicated servers for Modern Warfare 2. As something that is a core part of the PC gaming experience, a petition was signed by many people requesting that the decision be reversed. Although Infinity Ward declined, DICE, the developers of the excellent Battlefield series, soon announced that their next game, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, would definitely have support for dedicated servers.

In thanks for this, a fan of PC gaming has sent the money he would have spent on Modern Warfare 2 to DICE and requested that the money be spent on the features he desires- because he couldn’t send them a cake, he decided this would do. I should mention that I think this is a great way to show your support for a developer, but I’d recommend that you don’t do this unless you’re rich or really, really like dedicated servers.