modern warfare 2 controversal leaked footage

Gameplay footage of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (launching on November 10th) has hit the internets and has incited more controversy over the presence of realistic violence in popular video games. You can check out some of the footage here courtesy of Game Trailers. Modern Warfare 2, the follow-up to Infinity Ward's insanely popular first-person shooter fourth installment of the Call of Duty series, apparently opens with a disturbing scene of heavily armed terrorists killing unarmed civilians in a setting that looks suspiciously like Los Angeles' LAX airport. Thanks for that comforting idea right before the start of the holiday travel season! The game's developer defends the scene saying that it establishes the true evil of the Russian terrorist group that the player ultimately must defeat to win the game. A game like this is bound to get some people riled up but this does seem a little... overkill? I mean, every day we wake up to new reports of deadly attacks and terrorist scares - aren't video games where we go to escape that scary reality? I guess some gamers get their kicks taking on the role of our country's military defenders; me personally, I find comfort in fantasy universes, colorful and vivid world depictions, and rolling a giant katamari ball around picking crap up. Then again, that is the beauty of video games - there truly is something out there for every gamer's interests!

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 leaked footage set to ignite controversy

the video game retail price debate

If you pay attention to gaming news you probably read last week when Activision CEO Bobby Kotick made a rather flip remark about wishing he could raise the prices of his company's blockbuster game releases even higher to get more reassurance that a game will make back the money spent on its development. The video game community has understandably reacted pretty negatively to these comments as they come in a time when Activision is already clearly making huge profits. Not to mention that the average American is finding it hard enough to drop $60 on a new game (see used game sales spikes for more proof of this). When Activision's DJ Hero and Tony Hawk: Ride launch they will both cost upwards of $120 as they are released with peripheral controller accessories, and Modern Warfare 2 will set UK players back around $75 USD when it comes out in November. I understand the troubles that game studios have when it comes to making money back - publishers pay for every game copy ever printed, not just the ones that sell - but still, with the rise of digital distribution and the looming juggernaut that is the used games market, now is for sure not the time to be alienating the loyal customer base that buys new products with price gauging.

Analysis: Kotick's 'Raise the Price' Comment and AAA Game Value

Publish Post

johnny cash's guitar hero debut

One of the next big music games due out this year is Guitar Hero 5, which launches in just a few weeks on September 1st, and this latest installment of the Guitar Hero series will feature Johnny Cash an a playable celebrity character! The game will also include Cash's song Ring of Fire as well as Man In Black, which will be an unlockable track to play. There are so many new music games coming out this year that it is tough to keep track of them all.

Guitar Hero 5: Johnny Cash's Video Game Debut

gamestop's july video game sale

As with many other retail industries, video game sales often slump in the summer while people are out, well, doing more important things like lying on a beach, getting drunk at barbecues and skipping out of work to enjoy the weather. Luckily for gamers this means time for big sales going on and GameStop's July Sale has some good offerings this month. In addition to knocking $100 off Guitar Hero band kits, the retailer is listing tons of games for under $20. Some of the big scores (in my opinion anyway) are Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles for the Wii for just $17.99, Spore down to $19.99, and Shaun White Snowboarding on the 360 and PS3 for $19.99 as well.

brutal legend embroiled in legal battle

Brutal Legend is an upcoming game which stars Jack Black in the hero role of Eddie Riggs, a roadie who gets pulled into a mythical Age of Rock (not unlike the scenes from Heavy Metal featured in a South Park episode). Unfortunately for the actor and the game's release, it is now the subject of a bitter legal battle over who actually owns the game between Electronic Arts and Activision, who claims to still own the rights to releasing the game. Fans of the game are even calling for gamers to boycott Guitar Hero due to Activision's actions against Double Fine, who made the game. I've actually heard good/interesting things about Brutal Legend, especially after E3 this year, so it would be a shame to have the title's release launch screwed up by legal issues.

Jack Black Video Game in a Legal Tug of War

e3 shows industry's devotion to hardcore gamers

Many outspoken gamers like to criticize the video game industry and major game developers for pandering in recent years to the growing market for casual games and family-oriented gaming. However, this year's E3 convention told a different story with regards to future game development as many of the revealed projects and titles were shooters and action games aimed at the hardcore gaming contingent. Companies may make a lot on "novice gamer" titles but nothing sells units by number like a well-made online multiplayer shooter, as evidenced by the success of game franchises like Call of Duty, Halo and Killzone. So, fans of "traditional" video gaming need not worry as the games they like are still top priority to many developers.

Video Game Makers Keep Focus on Core Market

dj hero controller revealed

One of the more highly anticipated music game titles due out this year (there are quite a few) is DJ Hero, which takes gamers off the fake guitar and instead puts a fake turntable in front of them. New photos show the accessory that will let you tap into your inner emcee - a turntable controller with color buttons similar to those on Guitar Hero's guitar controllers. According to a new feature in Game Informer the gameplay of DJ Hero is supposedly a bit like that of GH with falling notes to match, but will also deal with new screen cues to let loose all sorts of funky mixing techniques. Considering that its competition this year within the music genre comes from titles like Lego Rock Band, DJ Hero is shaping up to be a big hit when it comes out.

DJ Hero Controller Revealed

the music genre is getting crowded

It's a fine line that game developers walk when they saturate the market with a certain genre. Lately, it seems like you can't blink without seeing mention of another new music game celebrating some nostalgic band. With Rock Band: Beatles on its way, Rock Band: Unplugged announced for PSP plus Metallica and rumored Van Halen and Pearl Jam editions of Guitar Hero, the music game genre is taking over the shelf space. It remains to be seen whether this flooding of music titles will help boost video game sales or cause consumers to wander off, eyes glazed over, in search of the next big thing. At left - Guitar Hero Pocket.

Will an Overflow of Sequels Dilute the Music Video Game Genre?

gamestop game days sale is on

GameStop's huge annual sale has begun and you can get a few good titles for really good prices if you're looking for some good deals. The highlight of the sale I think is Guitar Hero: Aerosmith for the 360, which is marked down to $9.99 and comes with a free white wired guitar controller. Other steals include the Playstation 2 trilogy packs like the Mortal Kombat Kollection and Resident Evil: the Essentials for $19.99. Check out the full list of Game Days sale titles at GameStop.

world tour is kind of easy

I got around to trying Guitar Hero: World Tour for the first time this week and while I can't speak to the whole band experience as we only rock out with our old-skool white guitars and no additional instruments/mics, I have to say the guitar parts of the songs are ridiculously easy. Crazy easy! I play on hard for the most part and was regularly getting 96+% on songs I had never played before. Could be that they were pop songs I know a little better than "One" by Metallica, but still. The songs seem way targeted at singing and drumming, which sucks if all you like is the guitar. I also tried Rock Band and the songs seem a bit more balanced to all the parts in that one. Also funny how they are exactly the same game.

mtn dew teams up with WoW

Good news, fans of sugary drinks and life-stealing online gaming! Mountain Dew is teaming up with the video game industry again (first time was the Halo 3 launch promotion) with two new “Game Fuel” flavors straight out of World of Warcraft. Soon enough you’ll be able to pick up (for a limited time) Horde Red, a citrus cherry flavor, and Alliance Blue, a wild fruit flavor. The bottles appear to have art straight from the box art of the games on them. I don’t drink the green stuff so I surely will not be drinking these orange and red versions, but I know many gamers love doing the Dew to stay up all night so I’m sure it will be a profitable promotion for them.

Video games and Mountain Dew teaming up again

d'oh - guitar hero metallica cover

In the constantly updating world of the video game industry this is kind of old news but still hilarious: in the first version of the newly released cover of the highly anticipated Guitar Hero: Metallica edition (due out at the end of March), they spelled "Lynyrd Skynyrd" wrong. I mean, there must have been someone whose job it was just to double-check the spelling on all those crazy band names. I'll admit I had to Google it to spell it correctly but still! I don't get paid for this shizz and I never spell things wrong. Dumbasses! It has of course since been changed but served to give everyone a good laugh for a little while.

Oops: "Guitar Hero: Metallica" Cover Art Misspells "Lynyrd Skynyrd"

perfect guitar hero round

I don't claim to be some kind of guitar hero goddess or anything (not like my coworker anyway, who practices on the in-store system during her breaks..) but I have gotten pretty good at GH2 and have been considering making my XBL debut and trying out some matches against people other than my boyfriend and friends. Until then though I will just have to keep inching towards Expert, and it certainly helps when I have perfect rounds like this one!

guitar hero 3 becomes first billion-dollar game

Activision announced last week that over the holiday shopping season, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock became the first single game title to ever reach the billion dollar sales mark on its own. Fun fact: sales of actual musical guitars are up, too! And of course companies are attributing the rising numbers to the popularity of music simulation games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. I have to say I had opportunity to check out the DS version of Guitar Hero recently and it seems pretty cool if not mind-blowingly easy compared to the console versions.

Data from national instrument retailer Guitar Center indicated that sales of real guitars were also up. Griffith said two-thirds of non-musicians exposed to music games plan to start playing a real instrument in the next couple of years, while three-fourths of musicians said they've spent more time with their instruments since picking up a music game.

Activision: Guitar Hero III passes $1.b

WoW players not so in demand

Hah! I knew there was a good reason not to play World of Warcraft. Apparently there are some job recruiters out there who worry that WoW players don't make good employees because they are focused elsewhere and have terrible sleeping habits. Hah again, and, true.

There is a counter-theory that playing WOW - specifically, leading an active guild, which can involve some tricky management of people and time - makes for great employment experience, but the recruiter was having none of it.

"I mentioned that some people have written about MMOG leadership experience as a career positive or a way to learn project management skills, and he shook his head. He has been specifically asked to avoid WOW players," the poster said.

Employers Screening World of Warcraft Players?

movin' on up to hard!

We've been rocking out a lot lately (also known as playing Guitar Hero) and have just started transitioning from Medium to Hard. Some of those songs are, to use scientific terminology, redonkulously hard. Some day I will conquer Carry On Wayward Son but until then I've been doing okay. Like many others before me I even made a video of myself doing Possum Kingdom. Of course I had to pick one of the 5+ minute songs and I'm still far from competent but I am doing much better in Hard than I would have guessed. Expert is still far, far off in the distance, for now anyway.

nazi zombies!

My favorite buzzword these days. Nazi zombies! Actually though it is totally awesome how zombies are errrvrywhere when it comes to video games these days. Call of Duty: World at War of course features the infamous Nazi zombies while other titles like Dead Space, Dead Rising and Left 4 Dead (more creatively titled games to follow in 2009) have brought the drooling and infectious monsters to the spotlight this year. Survival horror is a truly wonderful shooter genre and has given rise to some amazing games over the years so I'm glad that it remains a strong driver of new games for developers. Also, Hollywood? Make these games into awesome movies, srsly.

IGN: Left 4 Dead vs. Nazi Zombies

i'm such a hypocrite

All right, I have railed like crazy against the rhythm-music games out there but am now eating my words in a tasty, tasty breakfast of rocking out with Guitar Hero II. I picked up the game used plus two of the white wired guitars released with that title and amazingly was able to use credit from four trade-ins (plus various discounts) to completely cover the purchase. I admit it, it's way more fun that I thought it would be and I need to remember that the lame kid playing at Best Buy with the sound off is not necessarily showing the product in its true glory. I started out using Pandora but think I'm gonna switch to Casey Lynch permanently (see pic for her hotness) and want to mention that I love all the awesome girl characters. Smart not to make them all anime-style bodacious hotties. I've gotten pretty awesome at easy in the last few days and plan on switching up to medium although I've sucked hard at the ones I've tried so far. Thankfully I have unlocked Carry On Wayward Son, the song that pretty much made me want to try the game out. Sadly I don't get to play Livin' on a Prayer (which I get to listen to customers playing all. damn. day on the in-store consoles) but am looking forward to rocking harder as the level goes up.

WoWers rejoice

Because World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is now available in stores! Although the true fans out there totally got it at a midnight release and have been playing for 8 1/2 hours already, so hats off to you guys, and don't forget to shower at some point today. Of course, any WoWer worth their mined gold or whatever picked up the Collector's Edition, which includes:

• World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King on DVD-ROM
  
• The Art of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, a 208-page art book
  
• An exclusive in-game pet. It's a baby frost wyrm called Frosty.
  
• Over an hour of developer interviews, the WotLK intro cinematic with director's commentary, and more on a DVD
  
• An official soundtrack CD with 21 tracks from the game as well as bonus tracks
  
• A mouse pad with a map featuring a map of Northrend
  
• Two World of Warcraft Trading Card Game March of the Legion starter decks, as well as two exclusive cards only in the collector's edition

Okay, a baby frost wyrm named Frosty does sound kind of adorable. So to all the WoWers calling in sick today to dive headfirst into Wrath of the Lich King, enjoy your day in front of your monitor's warm glowing warming glow. I envy your new game enjoyment!

call of duty 5: world at war out today

The latest installment of the Call of Duty series hits shelves today for PS3 and Xbox 360 (a PS2 version will be released later this month) and will definitely be a hot seller this holiday season. My store actually got to sell our copies early yesterday as soon as they arrived so I saw firsthand the steady traffic of pickups and an equally large group of walkins hoping to get a non-reserved copy. Anyway, this is the first Call of Duty title to include a co-op play mode and also is the first CoD to enter the as-of-yet unexplored realm of the Pacific theater of WWII (one of my expert subjects in school, yeah history major!) as well as the Soviet struggle against the Nazis in the later years of the war. As usual, IGN has an excellent profile of this game up already and hopefully will have some detailed reviews live before long.

Call of Duty: World at War throws out the rulebook of war to transform WWII combat through a new enemy, new tactics and an uncensored experience of the climatic battles that gripped a generation. As U.S. Marines and Russian soldiers, players will employ new features like cooperative gameplay, and weapons such as the flamethrower in the most chaotic and cinematically intense experience to date.

IGN: Call of Duty: World at War