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• Master Chief in Fable 2

  by Gus Lanzetta August 8th 2008 1:13 PM CDT1 Comments

  Just a small piece of interesting news. Looks like the Master Chief will be appearing in Fable 2, or at least his armour will be anyway. Though it's not identical, the developers have tweaked the design to fit in with the Fable 2 style and I admit it actually looks pretty cool. I don't find it cool because it's supposed to be MJOLNIR armour, but the design just looks good in its own right, except the fat ass buckle on his chest. The armour will be bundled with the collectors edition of the game, shame it's not as cool as the golden Lancer that Gears of War 2 is giving away.
  
• Gears Lancer replica revealed; Cats worldwide devastated

  by August 8th 2008 6:06 AM CDT0 Comments

  Amazon just released a batch of pics showing of their exclusive $139.99 replica lancer, and what do you know: it's full-sized. The lancer comes with a "free" standard copy of Gears, but for an extra ten bucks you can upgrade to the limited edition.
  
  Something tells me that since this is sold through Amazon you won't be eventually buying it for half of it's price like that cat-sized premium replica from that other popular shooter. Sign me up. Nothing says "disturbed youth" quite like a bloody chainsaw gun on your sidetable.
  
• EA: 'Madden Cover Won't Change'

  by Jereme Puik August 7th 2008 5:55 PM CDT0 Comments

  If any of you have clued into ESPN at all the past couple of weeks there has been a lot of drama going about betwen Quarterback Brett Farve and the Packers organization and whether or not he'll play. We'll as of this morning, Farve was traded to the New York Jets and Chad Pennington was released by the team only hours later. Big mistake or golden opportunity? We'll leave that for you to decide.
  
  Right now, however, we are here to discuss craziness and what will happen to the cover of this years Madden 09 title. MTV Multiplayer decided to find out what the deal was in this direction. Apparently EA Sports will not re-issue packaging for the game. What will they do though? Read more to find out...
  
  
• Godfather 2 Is Totally Not Like GTA

  by Gus Lanzetta August 7th 2008 5:30 PM CDT0 Comments

  Xbox World 360 magazine's has a story about the upcoming sequel to the 2005 The Godfather videogame and, apparently the game can be defined as "Scarface meets Total War".
  
  The new gameplay style will be a mix of RPG, RTS and board game elements, but still have the sandbox structure. The focus will be more on bullying store owners, managers and other contacts than on the driving aspect. Also, the game will feature six character classes: bruiser, domolitions expert, arsonist, medic, safe cracker and engineer. Each one of them will have different backstories and personalities that will play into the game.
  
  The RTS influence is really at its most noticeable when you access "Don's View", a mode where you can redistribute the mob's resources around the city, plan more criminal activities and see where your rivals are located. The regular third person mode will also be very different from the one on the original game, including a free aiming camera similar to third person shooters. The board game influence is felt while handling perks and stakes in shops you protect, handling all of the benefits that come from each type of mission.
  
  Not much was said about the game's story, except that it will take place in the 60s in Miami, Havana and New York.
  
• Warner Music wants more of a cut

  by Beau King August 7th 2008 4:20 PM CDT0 Comments

  The music industry has a pretty solid history of whiners. Normally the whining is limited to deeply emotional lyrics and squeaky pitches. Every so often, like in the early 2000's with a little known band called Metallica, a singer or producer will step up claiming lost profits and detrimented effects. Now the sobs can be heard all the way up the corporate ladder.
  
  Recently Warner Music Exec Edgar Bronfman has stood up to show that he and his company won't take the abuse any longer. Developers like Harmonix and Activision will need to pay even more for those licensed songs they acquire. Having consumers pay $5 or $10 dollars for a song pack that normally collects dust in a local music shop bargain bin is astronimically low in his eyes. Commenting on their cut, he says "The amount being paid to the music industry ... is far too small."
  
  It's a sad day when companies fume over consumers choosing to interact with and use the music they want, how they want instead of droning out to the same pop trash over and over again. They should rather try to develop the music rhythm genre and profit from that expanding business over making the fans pay for flashier cribs and houses in Boca. Cry more newb.
  
  
• Mass Effect May Get New DLC

  by Gus Lanzetta August 7th 2008 2:24 PM CDT0 Comments

  In a recent interview with MTV's Multiplayer Blog, BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk said that more DLC for Mass Effect may be on the way.
  
  He said that they are "also looking at some other post-release content. We’re working away. And added that "BioWare’s pretty busy these days." When questioned about the date of this new content, Zeschuk said only that "We’re talking about [new DLC]. You know how we are. We’re always very circumspect until we can go “Aha! There it is!” With everything we build now, we want to have this long-term relationship with the customer and always have something for them to try. So we’re definitely looking at that for Mass Effect.” Zeshuk was also quick to remind us that Mass Effect was planned as a trilogy and that "there’s some stuff happening.
• Ozzy World Touring With Guitar Hero

  by Gus Lanzetta August 7th 2008 1:39 PM CDT0 Comments

  G4TV.com posted earlier that Ozzy Osbourne will be in Guitar Hero: World Tour as a character and the two of his songs, "Mr. Crowley" and "Crazy Train", will be playable.
  
  Mr. Osbourne commented on the motion capture process by saying "I had to put on this black suit with all these little ping-pong ball-like things all over me." It's not the first time he has said that, but the first time it actually made sense to anyone. Context: here to help you make sense of weird statements.
• Ben Heck Looks The 60GB Beast In The Eyes (and Guts)

  by Gus Lanzetta August 7th 2008 1:15 PM CDT0 Comments

  Ben Heckendorn, hardware modder extraordinaire, opened up the new Xbox 360 Pro model and took a look into its entrails. And guess what? There only minor changes.
  
  I guess you noticed there is a 60GB hard drive in there, there is even a vere subtle sticker on the front of the box. Also, the some of the memory chips changed positions a bit, but the biggest change we could see was the adition of the 65nm processor, which reduces the energy consuption and therefore reduces the production of heat as well.
  
  
  
  
  Look, even the ac adapter's output has changed, previous models' output was 206 watts.
  
  Source
  
• Conquest mode launched for Bad Company

  by Chris Holmes August 7th 2008 11:49 AM CDT0 Comments

  The old favourite conquest mode for Battlefield: Bad Company has finally been released on the Xbox Live Marketplace today for free, bringing the total number of modes in the multiplayer-dependent series to two. The download is a surprisingly light 80MB, and should be a fun little distraction for Battlefield fans who might be a bit bored with the current mode, Gold Rush.
  
  We're proud of EA, letting DICE release a free mode must've been an awkward decision for the company but it could bring players back to the game and might swing potential new buyers during this fairly quiet period for games.
  
• Fable II release date announced, Pub Games coming next week

  by Chris Holmes August 7th 2008 11:22 AM CDT0 Comments

  Lionhead Studios today confirmed some release dates for Fable II. In the US, the game will launch on October 21st, and in the UK, it will be released on the 24th. This part of the year is going to be severely punishing on our wallets, what with Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise, Banjo Kazooie, and Gears of War 2 amongst Microsoft's other first party offerings also being released around the same time.
  
  Also mentioned today was a Limited Collector's Edition, that obscene collection of tat in the picture accompanying this post. It includes a making of documentary, a little figurine of an enemy Hobbe, five printed fate cards and surprisingly some exclusive in-game content. Hopefully the game itself will also be included amongst that collection of weird things.
  
  Lastly, they unveiled that Fable II: Pub Games will be released next week on August 13th for 800 marketplace points, but will also be given away for free by some retailers as a pre-order bonus.
  

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