Daily Wrap-Up 4.18.08
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Friday, April 18, 2008 5:49 PM
Here's what happened today in videogames, technology and popular culture.
- Next week's Rock Band DLC will be the entire Screaming For Vengeance album from Judas Priest!
- The Fallout 3 Collectors Edition was announced this morning. Collectors of open-world, post-apocalyptic videogames are in luck.
- DC Comic and Epic Games are planning to launch a comic book series based on Gears of War.
- Code Monkeys, G4's animated treasure trove of 8-bit hilarity, has been picked up for a second season!
- It looks like the next iteration of oft-disappointing Mortal Kombat series will be Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.
- Yesterday, Take-Two urged its shareholders to refuse EA's buyout offer of $26 per share, but EA isn't backing down.
- We look at the iRiver E100.
- Activision wants you to know that, although the next Guitar Hero game coming out is Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the series is not going in a band-specific-only direction.
- Video rental giant Blockbuster is being sued by a woman in Texas for privacy violations related to its Beacon ads on Facebook.
- We understand everyone is excited about Grand Theft Auto IV, but perhaps you should take a minute to consider its gritty, urban cousin Saints Row 2.
- The MMO Report checks out the new D&D ruleset.
--Read More--
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TAGS: Daily Wrap-Up
Tune in To TheFeed on 420
Posted by Ty Colfax - Friday, April 18, 2008 5:29 PM
Yo Reader,
Be sure you keep your eye to TheFeed on 420. We got some awesome entries cooking up that are 420 themed including "Nugs from the Net," exclusive video features, some countdowns, and some great recipes to help curb that whopping appetite you'll no doubt find yourself overcome by.
Also, be sure to check out our day-long on-air coverage and visit us at our 420 page.
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TAGS: G4
Fresh Ink: Madmen, Powers & More
Posted by Mike D'Alonzo - Friday, April 18, 2008 3:42 PM
You know how it is...another Friday, another chance to sit down with mistress of the ink Blair Butler, who flavors Fresh Ink Online with new and exciting spice this week, as she talks about Powers, Madmen, Wonderlost, and the Eisner-award nominated Infinite Horizon.
In short, it's another slam-bang awesome edition of Fresh Ink Online. Whatcha waitin' for? Go get it!
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TAGS: Fresh Ink
New Screenshots Of Requiem: Bloodymare
Posted by Patrick Roche-Sowa - Friday, April 18, 2008 2:54 PM
If you like shiny, bloody things, you might want to keep your eyes on upcoming horror MMO Requiem: Bloodymare. Sure to be filled with monsters, severed limbs, large weapons made for hacking, and of course...EVIL!!!
Check out the screenshots and get excited. This game will keep you up all night, not just because you can't stop playing, but also because you fear the creature that lives under the stairs. He wants to eat your skin.
Screenshots: Requiem: Bloodymare
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TAGS: PC Gaming, Videogames
RZA Launches Wu Tang Online Chess
Posted by Frank Meyer - Friday, April 18, 2008 2:40 PM
Wu Tang Clan mastermind RZA recently teamed with Chesspark.com to launch Wuchess.com, an online community where chess-lovin’ hip hop fans can compete in live games with other chess players.
The official launch is expected to take place in a few weeks, but fans can pre-register now and join later for an unspecified yearly fee. Members will get exclusive invitations to a bi-annual chess playing event to be held in a to-be-announced location later this year. A portion of the revenue will be donated to charities including the Hip-Hop Chess Federation.
RZA says that the new site is "a chance to have fun and learn as you go."
--Read More--
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TAGS: Internets Culture, Music
Velvet Revolver Hits Web For New Singer
Posted by Frank Meyer - Friday, April 18, 2008 2:32 PM
Recently singerless supergroup Velvet Revolver is creating a website to audition for the open position left by Scott Weiland.
The new site will help Velvet Revolver replace the troubled frontman, who was kicked out on the eve of his reunion with former band Stone Temple Pilots.
"The band is actually talking about actually building a website [and] doing some auditions via that, so that's been something that's developing at this point," Slash explains, adding that it should be up "in the next month or so."
--Read More--
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TAGS: Internets Culture, Music
Wii Games Don't HAVE To Look Bad
Posted by Patrick Roche-Sowa - Friday, April 18, 2008 2:27 PM
Developers High Voltage have recently unveiled their new game, The Conduit for the Wii. In the game you'll play as Agent Ford who is drafted into the seedy government conspiracy after an alien attack befalls Washington D.C. *Yawn*
But that's not the real story. What's big news here is that The Conduit looks amazing, way better than anything we've seen on the Wii by far. High Voltage is now poised to sell their technology, Quantum3, to other companies who wish to push the Wii's hardware to the max. With this game and developer tools, High Voltage is attempting to make a Wii game look as good as an Xbox 360 game. While that may not be possible, you should really take a look at the video over at IGN.com to see for yourself. If their claims pay off, we could end up seeing some amazing looking titles for the little white box that Nintendo built.
Eurogamer: Most Wii Game "Look Like Crap"
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TAGS: Wii
Nintendo Dominates Hardware and Software Sales in the U.S.
Posted by Ty Colfax - Friday, April 18, 2008 2:22 PM
 It appears as though this whole shortage issue is gone for Nintendo. They posted very impressive sales numbers for their hardware and software in March and trounced both Sony and Microsoft in these areas. Let's just put it this way, Nintendo sold 58% of all hardware sales in the US between their DS, Gameboy, and Wii systems.
Not only that, but the sales numbers overall indicate that the supposed recession that the news wants you to be so interested in is not effecting gaming. Growth is good and people are buying and making more games than ever. waht waht?
Pop the break for fancy charts and bad news for M$ fanboys and girls.
--Read More--
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TAGS: Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Sony PSP
'GTA 4' Shipping Now... Countdown to Leak?
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Friday, April 18, 2008 2:12 PM
With the news that Grand Theft Auto IV has "gone gold" and is shipping already, we're wondering: How long until a copy shows up "In the wild?"
Will greedy/clueless store-owners sell copies before the street-date?
Are we going to see early GTA 4's on ebay?
Time will tell, folks, but one thing is for sure: Excitement is at a fever pitch.
Leave your predictions for early release below.
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TAGS: Grand Theft Auto IV, Videogames
'Milliways' Discovered
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Friday, April 18, 2008 1:36 PM
If you're an older gamer cat (or a younger one with a taste for the retro) you no doubt already love Infocom's ground breaking text adventure Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Based on the comical sci-fi novel from Douglas Adams, the game screamed for a sequel that never came... until now, more than 20 years later, when Milliways, the sequel to Hitchhiker's guide, has been located.
Well, it's not exactly a full sequel, it's more of a small fragment of what could have been, and a look into the working of a text adventure company in the late 80s.
Read the saga for yourself! It's pretty interesting.
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TAGS: PC Gaming, Videogames
'Hell's Highway' Gallery
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Friday, April 18, 2008 1:16 PM
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway is a World War II game coming out in August. We have some screens, and are pretty impressed with the approximation of the greatest generation in videogame form.
Check out the gallery.
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TAGS: PlayStation 3, Videogames, Xbox 360
PC 'Mass Effect' Gets Free DLC
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Friday, April 18, 2008 1:09 PM
Mass Effect PC players will be able to download the Bring Down the Sky extra content for the low, low price of free.
That's right, Bioware has decided to part with their expansion gratis. Ninety minutes or so of fresh content starring Batarians.
Not only that, but extra features will be included like hotkey optimization and individual squad commands to increase your tactical-awesomeness.
The content will be available upon release of the game on June 6th.
Oh, you 360 players who bought it will not be getting a refund.
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TAGS: Other People's Misfortune, PC Gaming, Videogames
Political Gang Wars In Second Life
Posted by Patrick Roche-Sowa - Friday, April 18, 2008 12:01 PM
With all the news about the Presidential Primaries and the constant fighting between Senators Clinton and Obama, we sometimes forget there are people involved in this election. People with opinions and votes and lives. And Second Life accounts.
Apparently the political fighting in Second Life has turned into something of a gang war, with rallies, virtual shootings, and retaliation. The in-game back and forth started as simple spamming, but quickly escalated to screaming matches over headsets. What confuses me is this; If someone shoots you in Second Life, do you automatically fall down and die? Or do you have to purchase the "shot in the head" animation from someone?
GamePolitics.com: Obama, Clinton Supporters Battle in Second Life
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TAGS: PC Gaming
YouTube Still Battling Pirates
Posted by Frank Meyer - Friday, April 18, 2008 11:40 AM
Remember last year when Google CEO Eric Schmidt promised an audience of TV and radio broadcasters to roll out a system that would mean the end of piracy at YouTube?
"We are in the process of developing tools which are called 'Claim Your Content,'" Schmidt said at the National Association of Broadcasters 2007 conference. "If people tell us this is a licensed copy, our computers will automatically detect that an illegal copy has been uploaded and then automatically delete it." He promised copyright violation at the site would soon become "a moot issue."
Well, it turns out that when he said moot issue, he really meant a continuing issue.
--Read More--
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TAGS: Internets Culture, Movies, TV
Big Playstation Store Update
Posted by Ty Colfax - Friday, April 18, 2008 11:26 AM
 If you're lookin for a little extra sumpin sumpin for your PS experience, you should check out the Playstation Store Update this week which is friggin' gi-normous. The highlight is definitely Gran Turismo 5 Prologue but there's a good amount of Rock Band songs, some Warhawk, and a Lair Add-on that supposed to help with controlling the damn dragons.
Hit that jump and take the plunge.
--Read More--
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TAGS: PlayStation 3
Chinese Hackers Attacking US?
Posted by Frank Meyer - Friday, April 18, 2008 11:15 AM
 Damn! The Chinese appear to be up our Yankee ass over what they say is Western media’s recent public pro-Tibet coverage.
It seems that a Chinese website called Anti-CNN is calling for street protests in Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom on April 19 (Beijing local time; early evening Friday on the East Coast, or close-of-business on the West), and nationalistic Chinese hackers have issued a call for a distributed denial of service attack against CNN to coincide with the street protests.
Hey, China…back off!
--Read More--
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TAGS: Internets Culture
The MMO Report: Friday, April 18th
Posted by Patrick Roche-Sowa - Friday, April 18, 2008 11:14 AM
Since we spent this week's episode schooling you on your roots, we decided to make sure you still had your weekly dose of MMO news. I mean come on, what would you do without us?
Realtime Worlds confirms their open-world MMO A.P.B. will be released in 2009. Why do I have a feeling no one will want to play as a cop?
Chunks Ahoy discovered a way to alter how food will effect you in World of Warcraft. I knew it was only a matter of time before the Tauren women resorted to bulimia.
Jumpgate: Evolution is trying to get your attention in the very first fifteen minutes of the game. Unless that means non-stop decapitations and running naked strippers, I'm not interested.
World of Warcraft China announced they reached a milestone of one million players logged on at one time. As it turns out, one million Chinese CAN be wrong.
GameSpot partners with Funcom to allow their members to compete in a PvP weekend on the Age of Conan beta servers. You already missed the registration date, so go hit your little brother with a battle axe all day instead.
Chronicles of Spellborn has been pushed back to a release window of Fall 2008. But they gave you some pretty screenshots to make up for it, so quit bitching.
Don't say we never gave you nothin'. Now go watch the D&D special again.
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TAGS: PC Gaming, The MMO Report
The MMO Report: 4th Edition D&D Special
Posted by Patrick Roche-Sowa - Friday, April 18, 2008 11:12 AM
This week, we have a very special treat for you, our dedicated fans. Casey is something of a Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast, as you may have seen in his review of the 4th Edition ruleset he got to play a while back. Well this week we take you even deeper into the dark, lightless cave for an in-depth look at the 4th Edition, as well as the new online component, D&D Insider.
Why is this such a big deal? Well first of all, if you play MMOs then you must have history, if not at least appreciation for Dungeons and Dragons. None of the games we play today would exist without the meager beginings of pencil and paper and 20 sided die. Second, we got some exclusives in this interview. Not only are we the first media outlet to get confirmation of the first 8 classes in the new 4th Edition, but we also squeezed out a few classes that will be in the Second Player's Handbook that's releasing next year. Oh yeah, we're just that good. You won't find this in-depth coverage anywhere else.
But don't worry, we still got you covered on MMO news. Check out the stories we would have talked about this week right here.
So clear off the kitchen table, pull your chainmail out of the closet, and unsheath your +20 broadsword. This is...
a very special MMO Report.
Subscribe to G4's The MMO Report Podcast by clicking
your preferred service:
   
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TAGS: The MMO Report
'Saints Row 2' Weapons and Vehicles Video
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Friday, April 18, 2008 11:02 AM
We understand everyone is excited about Grand Theft Auto IV, but perhaps you should take a minute to consider its gritty, urban cousin, the Digimon to its Pokemon, the Johnny Five to its E.T: Saints Row 2.
It looks really fun, features defibrillator paddles as a weapon, and comes out on the 360 and PS3 on August 1st.
Enjoy these weapons and vehicles:
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TAGS: PlayStation 3, Videogames, Xbox 360
Blockbuster Gets Faced
Posted by Frank Meyer - Friday, April 18, 2008 10:52 AM
Video rental giant Blockbuster is being sued by a woman in Texas for privacy violations related to its Beacon ads on Facebook.
The plaintiff is seeking class-action status, claiming that the the way Blockbuster uses the names and images of Facebook members without permission in ads is a violation of her privacy rights. It could also be a violation of the Videotape Privacy Protection Act, which prohibits video stores from sharing customer rental information without written consent.
But the real question here is when will I return my copy of AVPR: Aliens vs Predator – Requiem?
(…and the answer is NEVER! It sucked so bad I torched it…)
Techcrunch.com: First Facebook Beacon Lawsuit Hits Blockbuster
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TAGS: Internets Culture, Movies
'Guitar Hero' Won't Switch To Band-Only Format
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Friday, April 18, 2008 10:24 AM
Activision wants you to know that, although the next Guitar Hero game coming out is Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the series is not going in a band-specific-only direction.
“It’s its own path,” producer Aaron Habibipour told MTV. Band-specific “GH” games and full “GH” sequels can be developed at the same time.
Also, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will be easier than Guitar Hero III.
“We went back and re-tuned the game so it was back to where people felt it needed to be,” producer Aaron Habibipour said. That doesn’t mean the game has been dramatically altered — “medium is not the old easy” — but the developers listened to “GH III” players who felt like the game might have had too many brick walls for casual fans.
MTV.com: Activision: ‘Guitar Hero: Aerosmith’ Does Not Signal Shift To Single-Band Approach For Franchise
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TAGS: PlayStation 3, Videogames, Wii
Tech Review: iRiver E100
Posted by Eugene Morton - Friday, April 18, 2008 10:22 AM
Everyone seems to have an iPod of some sort, but they’re not the only personal media players on the market. For example, there’s the iRiver E100. It might just be the right mobile media device for you, but there’s only one way to find out, watch our review. Also, keep your eyes peeled every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for more reviews of the latest and greatest tech.
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