Here's what went on today in videogames, popular culture and technology. 

• Rock Band 2 has officially been announced.
• Entertainment industry trade publication The Hollywood Reporter is Hollywood reporting that Microsoft will cut the price of the 20GB Pro by $50 to $299 in the coming weeks.
• On July 15th, a slate of songs by seminal, legendary rock band The Who are dropping for Rock Band.
• The next update for the PS3 software will include trophies and XMB changes. Read all about it!
• The average tv viewer has reached a median age of 50 years old.
• Just in case you were sleeping in your cave all weekend, we've got some new screens and artwork from Blizzard's Diablo III.
• Eidos and Funcom are happy to announce that "more than 700,000 gamers have now signed up for an Age of Conan account."
• A super hacker was caught.
• Here's a new batch of combat footage and trailers of Soulcalibur IV courtesy of Namco-Bandai.
• Rhapsody is killing DRM!

Volition and THQ take us into the development of the backstory for Red Faction: Guerilla.  This iteration of the series sees a switch from FPS to third-person shooter and will be out for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 sometime before the end of the year.

Red Faction: Guerrilla - Backstory Video

Blizzard has pleased Diablo and World of Warcraft fans during their recent Worldwide Invitational event, but Starcraft fans may be in for a disappointment. According to Executive VP Rob Pardo, StarCraft 2's campaign mode is 'about third of the way' complete while developers are currently focusing on the cinematics and story.

Also, Pardo noted that Blizzard hopes to show something impressive by the end of the year. You know what's impressive Blizzard? A complete game by this year. But that's just us having no patience.

Blizzard still has to make an official statement on the game's release. However, recent reports stated that some retailers have the game under a December 3rd release. Again, it's just us having no patience...

ShackNews:  StarCraft 2 Not Arriving In 2008?

We here at TheFeed are committed to making sure YOU aren't the last person in the world to see these. Diablo III of course was announced for Mac/PC to great fanfare over the weekend, courtesy of Blizzard... dim the lights and for the few of you left watch them for the first time.

We don't know when this eagerly awaited role-playing game will be released, but it's Blizzard, so the real answer is "When it's ready."

Diablo III Cinematic Teaser Trailer

Hit the jump for Blizzard's video featuring twenty minutes of Diablo III gameplay.

Every month Neal Tiles, G4's President, answers your questions about G4 submitted by you, our community of viewers and readers. Head on over to the Open Source page to submit your burning questions about G4.

Neal is here to answer all of your questions, and to prove to you that he puts his pants on exactly the same way that you do, except that his are better pants, and that he could conceivably hire someone to put them on for him. Ok, bad example. Let's move on.

There are, however, rules for Open Source, so listen up. First and foremost, no flaming. If you're disgruntled, put it nicely, and you'll have a much better shot of having your question answered. So, get that laundry list of questions ready, and let the answering begin.

Also, be sure to check Neal's previous posts to make sure your question hasn't already been answered.

This article in today's Wall Street Journal eerily mirrors some discussions we've been having around our office about Grand Theft Auto and the nature of Art.

The WSJ's Junot Diaz points out that while Grand Theft Auto IV is a great game, it does not (as some critics have said) rise to the level of great Art from other genres. It is not the Godfather. It is not Ragtime.

Junot focuses on the game's plotline, drawing attention to the difference between the story and great stories from other genres. He (rightly) concludes that the game's story is "more an example of our evasions as a culture, more of a fairy tale, more of a story of consolation than a shattering cultural critique or even, dare I say it, great art."  It is pulp. Well-done, compelling pulp, but pulp anyway.

The above image, posted on Max Console, purportedly shows a PlayStation 2 title available for download on the PlayStation 3.

Supposedly, we'll hear more at E3...and you'll hear more if you watch our E3 coverage, live, July 14th through 17th. Check it out.

MaxConsole: Rumor: PS2 titles heading to PSN

Check out the below video: It's GLaGPS--GlaDOS from Portal in GPS form. Passive-aggressive directions are yours to enjoy.

(via Kotaku)

We've got some new screens of Metal Slug 7.  SNK Playmore is making the first in the series that is lacking an arcade counterpart.  The Nintendo DS will be the lucky recipient of this baby and she'll be available state-side later this November.

Click the image below for the Metal Slug 7 screenshot gallery.

Sharing is caring. Sharing $&^#! that's not yours is not.

26-year-old BitTorrent seeder Daniel Dove faces 10 years of jail time after being convicted of copyright infringement last Friday as announced by the US Department of Justice.

According to the DoJ, Dove was the head honcho of a small seeder group called - get ready - the 'Uploaders' who recruited members with high speed connections to seed illegal digital loot. Investigators found 'massive amounts' of software, video games and music that proved enough evidence for a trial. Dove did not plead guilty during the trial, hoping that one of the jury members would somehow recognize him for giving them a copy of Microsoft Office.

The MPAA has been on this case since 2005 when investigators took over Elitetorrent.com where Dove was one of the administrators. The site was fresh blood for leechers back then, having blockbuster movies available before their release such as Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Two other site admins, Scott McCausland and Grant Stanley, pleaded guilty in 2006 which lead to a five month jail sentence. Oddly, McCausland's probation officer requested him to utilize Windows rather than Linux (zomg government/microsoft conspiracy!).

Dove will be sentenced on September 9, 2008, thus concluding the pirate crusades of the 'Uploaders'.

Ars Technica: BitTorrent seed farmer found guilty, faces 10 years in jail

Did you buy Battlefield: Bad Company? Did you try getting online this weekend? Were you successful? Are you proud of yourself?

EA posted a statement on the official Battlefield: Bad Company website this weekend assuring gamers that they know there are connectivity problems with the online multiplayer aspect of the game, and that they are hard at work on a fix. Two things struck us as interesting about this statement. First of all, it was written in the language of the Bad Company universe, as if it were an order from a superior officer. Hit the jump for the details.

God bless the Canucks. They gave us Mike Myers, Pamela Anderson, and apparently nude gaming. Microsoft recently commissioned a gaming poll in Canada that asked gamers if they had ever played a game in public, at work, in the bathroom, in the bedroom, or in the nude. Makes us wonder what Microsoft is planning.

The statistical breakdown is as follows; Half (50%) of Canadian gamers had not played games in any of the listed locations, while 30% have played at work, 27% in the bedroom, 19% in public, 7% in their bedroom, and 17% of men and 9% of women had button-mashed in the buff. That's 1 in 5 Male Northerners that were fully prepared to teabag you while they were teabagging you. There are some other statistical numbers from the study, but none as titillating. Let the "joystick" jokes commence.

Digital Home Canada: Poll Finds Number of Canadians Playing Video Games Naked

Comedy legend Eddie Murphy recently told Extra that his upcoming movie, Meet Dave, is one of his last.

"Fifty years (old) I'll have been making movies thirty years and I have close to fifty movies and it is like why am I in the movies,’ Murphy commented. “I've done that part now.”

But here’s the real news. He also said that he will be returning to standup comedy!

Yeeeeaaaa!

For all you Azeroth dwellers who missed out on Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational in Paris this year, quickly hearth back to you inns and read some of these updates for the upcoming World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack:

• The new non-instanced battleground, Lake Wintergrasp, will feature destructible environments such as bridges, buildings and towers. Also, this new zone will allow players to mount on vehicles such as the Demolisher for some pwnage on wheels.
• For players bearing a great deal of PvPness, new arena maps will be implemented with the new expansion, ranging environments from Ogrimmar to the new area, Northrend.
• For the purple-fiending raiders, Wrath Of The Lich King will be adding more non-linear elements to dungeons that WoW veterans have been yearning for.

Blizzard still has yet to announce a specific release date for this eagerly awaited title. So for now, people of Azeroth, continue working your way through the Sunwell Plateau until the day finally comes.

Joystiq: WWI08: New WoW arenas, nonlinear dungeons and goodie bags

We've shook hands with Sony's DualShock 3 controller since its North American debut this past April. Now it's time for it to meet Europe. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) announced in a press release that the DualShock 3 will be arriving in Europe this July 2nd.

The device was first announced in last year's Tokyo Game Show, following its debut in Japan on November 11, 2007. SCEE main man David Reeves stated on the press release:

"We are delighted to confirm that DUALSHOCK 3 will be released in SCEE territories in early July. We hope this will add to the intense gaming experience for our fans, as we continue to evolve PS3, its software and its peripherals."

Click the jump to read the rest.

Julius Von Bismarck, a German artist and our first nominee for Name of the Week, has created a camera that puts images into other people's pictures. The 'Image Fulgurator,' as he has named it, is triggered by a nearby camera's flash. In that brief moment when the unsuspecting camera is recording the image, the fulgurator sends out an image of its own through the front of its lens to be recorded along with the flashed image.

Cali Gov. Arnie Schwarzenegger and electric car makers Tesla Motors are holding a press conference today to announce a 4 door, 5 passenger sedan slated for release in 2010. The sedan is said to be as “green” and efficient as the Roadster, which costs about $109,000.

Tesla will manufacture the sedan in California, instead of New Mexico thanks to a $9 million incentive package, making it a partnership with the state of California.

Schwarzenegger once starred in Total Recall, where he lived on Mars and had nightmares that his head blew up (see above photo).

Techcrunch.com: Governator to Help Announce New Tesla Sedan Tomorrow

One word: Awkward!

(source)

Director Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy II, Pan’s Labyrinth) spoke at the Los Angeles Film Festival over the weekend and revealed that a sequel is already being discussed.

"We believe there is a second movie," del Toro said. "If there isn't, there will not be. If we find it, we will shoot it, but by God, if we do not find it, we will not shoot it. I am anxious to shoot the book, and I'm willing and able to dedicate myself to shooting the [second film]."

So del Toro, producer Peter Jackson and MGM/Warner Brothers (i.e. New Line) are indeed tackling J.R.R. Tolkien’s  Rings-inspiring tome Hobbit and plan on stretching it across two flicks as they only have access to “a select amount of Tolkien's prose.” 

Get your network ready for download because everyone's favorite Blue Bomber is loading up with Megaman 9. This latest installment from Capcom's beloved series will be the first game to simultaneously hit the Playstation Network, Xbox Live Arcade and WiiWare... at least, if you believe some scans purported to have leaked from Nintendo Power magazine.

Developed by Inti Creates, who also worked on Megaman ZX and Megaman Zero games, Megaman 9 will be rocking the classic 2D gameplay complete with old-school graphics. Imagine that great feeling you've experienced when you first played Quick Man's stage in Megaman 2 happening all over again...

Megaman 9 is currently under Capcom's E3 showcase and of course, G4 will have all the details for you in our in-depth, almighty E3 2008 coverage coming up. So for now, think of all the new colorful boss names you'll encounter: Aborigine Man, Silk Man, Man Man...

Ars Technica: Megaman 9 To Be The First Game To Hit WiiWare, XBLA, And PSN

If you own a Sony Bravia TV with a Web connection AND you love Will Smith, boy, has Sony Pictures got a deal for you!

In an industry first, Sony Pictures’ new flick Hancock, out this Wednesday and starring the Fresh Prince himself, will be available over the Internet to be directly fed to viewers’ television sets after its theater run...IF they own a Sony Bravia TV that is.

BEFORE it hits DVD!

And if this plan turns out to be a successful one, many other Hollywood films will use a similar media path, insiders say.

Gone are the days of streaming and buying music from multiple partners such as iLike, MTV, Verizon Wireless and Yahoo, says Rhapsody.

GONE!

Yes, digital music retailer Rhapsody have stripped DRM from their catalogs today as part of its joint venture between RealNetworks and MTV Networks.

The recently re-launched Web-based store converted its entire database of five million songs to the unprotected MP3 format, both for music accessible on its client-based application as part of a multi-faceted initiative that the company hopes will make it the primary music provider on the Internet. 

Here's a new batch of combat footage and trailers of Soulcalibur IV courtesy of Namco-Bandai.  Hope this tides you over till July 29th when the game hits store shelves for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Seung Mina vs. Hilde

Dutch police have captured a hacker (not pictured at right) who has stolen around 50,000 credit card numbers and racked up $2 million in damage along his merry purchasing way. He also hacked into Valve's servers and purloined credit card numbers, and also accessed Activisions' computers, stealing Enemy Territory: Quake Wars  while it was still in development.

According to the Dutch Ministry of the Interior, the 20 year old hacker (Madoxx) burned "13 million Euros playing poker online and shopping for notebooks, flat screens and MP3 players" before being caught.

The criminal was collared by a Dutch police unit called Team High Tech Crime, coincidentally, also the name of our company softball team.

MaddoxX is behind bars and will not be stealing any more PC games until they are ready to be stolen.

iafrica.com: Web credit hacker caught
ShackNews: Valve Hacker Caught by Dutch Police

Eidos and Funcom are happy to announce that "more than 700,000 gamers have now signed up for an Age of Conan account."

Age of Conan is still selling well at retail, according to a press release from Funcom, topping many of the PC sales charts around the world.

The announcement comes just as the second month of release kicks off for the MMO, which is a key point in an MMO's potential life. This is the time when the free trial expires for the early adopters and paid accounts become the new measurement for the game's success.

It would appear that Age of Conan is in good position. Morten Larssen, VP of Sales & Marketing at Funcom, stated that "with more than 700,000 accounts created so far we have a fantastic platform to build from, and we will continue to market the game to further drive numbers in the months to come. It also means that Funcom can dedicate significant development resources on evolving the game even further, naturally giving us a great hope for the future of Age of Conan.”

Are you playing Age of Conan? Check out our special Conan episode of The MMO Report and the full press release after the break.

Just in case you were sleeping in your cave all weekend, we've got some new screens and artwork from Blizzard's Diablo III.  Announced at the World Wide Invitational in Paris over the weekend, this baby will make an epic splash to say the least on Mac/PC whenever Blizzard says its good and ready.

Click the image below for the Diablo III Screenshot/Artwork Gallery

The average tv viewer has reached a median age of 50 years old. This, by the way, is bad news for anyone under 30 as networks are going to stop caring about you.

The Baby Boomer generation is finally making one of its last impacts on our culture. They're turning everything 'old.' Check out the Variety article for a complete rundown of the statistics on who is watching what of the major and smaller cable networks and start to look forward to more shows about angels and angry doctors.

The next upgrade to the PlayStation 3 OS is going to be killer. Changes in the Xross Media Bar and Trophy support are nearly here. Here's what you can expect on Wednesday:

XrossMediaBar Changes: The XMB will now be able to be acessed in-game, meaning that you'll be able to hit the PS3 button in the middle of a game, and access messaging, view friends' online status and profiles without interrupting the flow of gameplay.  Depending on the game, XMB access will either automatically pause the game or it will continue to run in the background.

You'll also be able to access your music in-game. Once a music file is played, users can access a control panel via the XMB that enables them to pause, stop, or repeat the track; go to a different track; or shuffle.

Google-powered Internet search functionality on the XMB, allowing users to input search terms and be directed to a search results page without having to first open the PS3 Internet browser. PSP(R)(PlayStation(R)Portable) system recently added similar Internet search functionality through a firmware update

Trophies: PS3 users can earn virtual trophies, which will be viewable on the XMB's Game category under a new Trophy Collection icon, and will also be touted through individual profiles. Gamers will be "ranked on a Level-basis depending on the bronze, silver, gold, and platinum trophies they earn across all games. They will also be able to see how much progress they have made toward the next Level, as well as compare their Trophies to friends. "

During a Japanese autograph tour Metal Gear Solid creator, Hideo Kojima, spoke about the number of players that have tried the online version of the stealth action franchise.

According to Hideo, "domestically, the one-day peak time is 11pm with 12,000 players playing online simultaneously. Worldwide, we've seen about 100,000 connect [to MGO]."

Domestically, of course, means Japan and 12,000 is a decent number for a Japanese online game.

Famitsu also confirmed that Metal Gear Online will be released as a standalone product in Japan on July 17th for $17.

Kotaku: Metal Gear Online Stand Alone Confirm, Access Numbers Announced

Sadly, the weekend is over. Let us welcome you back with a laugh. It’s the best way to start the week after all.

Read on to get the direct links for the Around the Net videos from Attack of the Show:

Yahoo has the scoop on some choice upcoming downloadable content for Rock Band. On July 15th, a slate of songs by seminal, legendary rock band The Who are dropping. It's not the entirety of Who's Next (the master tracks for that album are missing) but it is the next best thing: Twelve tracks are coming, all master tracks, that range from "My Generation" to "Who Are You" and that means hours(?) of impossible drum parts and Pete Townsend style guitar windmills.

So if you're playing Rock Band on the PS3 or 360 you'll be able to download away on July 15th. (Sorry Wii and PS2 users; you'll have to content yourself with the song packs coming out on the 15th that have no Who material.) PS The tracks will be available for $1.99 individually or $19.99 together. The special release coincides with the upcoming "VH1 Rock Honors" ceremony commemorating The Who.

Yahoo: 'Rock Band 2' to include new online modes, songs

While we reported on the rumor that an Xbox price-cut was coming last week, this morning, it looks almost certain: Entertainment industry trade publication The Hollywood Reporter is Hollywood reporting that Microsoft will cut the price of the 20GB Pro by $50 to $299 in the coming weeks.

The HR's source (a "major retailer, which requested anonymity") said the price slashination will happen before E3 on July 14th.

Hollywood Reporter: Microsoft slashing price of Xbox 360 model

Maybe this isn't shocking, but it is awesome: Rock Band 2 has officially been announced. The music game will be out on the Xbox 360 this September, with "other platforms" coming later in the year.

The game features only master recordings, although no list has been announced, but all your Rock Band downloadables will work with the sequel, so right out of the box you'll be able to play the hundreds of songs that are already out for Rock Band.

As for new stuff, Activision is playing it close to the vest, saying only that "Major new and dynamic online modes that will connect the entire Rock Band community in more ways than ever before both locally and globally" and "More variety of instrument choices than ever before with new and improved drum and guitar peripherals, enhanced functionality and innovative new designs - all fully compatible with the original Rock Band instruments."

So does that mean more kinds of instruments? It remains to be seen. Further RB 2 details are under wraps until E3, but you can expect improvements to online functionality and a more "party friendly" set-up.  Speaking of E3, G4 is your insider guide to the games convention. We'll be broadcasting live for days to bring you the inside scoop beginning July 14th, so if you want to be the first to hear about Rock Band 2, you know where to tune. Check out our page for details.