Being the huge Star Wars fan that I am, I’m really looking forward to The Old Republic. I used to play Galaxies back when it first came out, but left shortly after the NGE. I’ve gone back and started playing recently, and after playing WoW for so long, Galaxies just doesn’t stack up. Thankfully we have The Old Republic to satisfy our Star Wars MMO needs. All we have to do is wait. Thankfully Bioware has treated us to a new set of screenshots and concept art for their upcoming title. Feel free to head over to their site and drool over the new art.

Source

I love playing WoW, but after a while that $15 a month adds up. And that’s on top of the money I originally spent on the game, plus the two expansions. Lets face it, MMO’s are expensive. Aside from buying your own arcade cabinet, an MMO is probably the most expensive video game you can buy. Naturally, any help you can get on those monthly fees is always appreciated. So how would you like to never have to pay for a single month of WoW again? Sure, you could just quit playing, but what’s the fun in that? No, what you need to do is win a lifetime pass from Blizzard.

In an effort to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society a Blizzard employee is offering up the chance for some free WoW time. Just head over to the donation page and give the charity at least $25 and leave a comment (“For the Horde” or “For the Alliance”). So exactly what are they giving away? Well, up for grabs are three 1-year subscription cards, and one lifetime pass. That’s right, if you win the grand prize, you’ll never have to pay for your WoW subscription again. Even if you don’t win, you’re still helping out a great cause. So far they’ve managed to raise just over $13,000, which far surpasses the $5,000 goal. You’ve got until January 5th to enter.

Source

Today will certainly be a day long remembered in the gaming community. Today is the day that Duke Nukem Forever was finally announced. What’s that? They didn’t announce a release date? Oh well, at least they released an awesome video chock-full of in-game footage. No? Well then we’ll just have to settle for a screenshot. Oh, that’s not even a screenshot, it’s just pre-rendered models. Nevermind then.

Were Duke Nukem Forever a real game, these are some of the creatures that you might find lurking about. These are supposedly the actual in-game models, though I’m sure it’ll only be a mater of time before they’ll be completely re-designed. After all, it is about time for them to scrap the whole thing and start from scratch on a new engine again. If you’re so inclined, you can download the image as a wallpaper from the 3D Realms site.

Source

This week those of us in the US were finally given access to the super-exclusive Club Nintendo. Of course each region has its own specific set of rewards, so what we see in Japan and Europe might not necessarily be available over here. Still, it’s fun to see what new prizes they get, and to wonder whether or not they will be coming to us any time soon.

The latest addition to the Japanese Club Nintendo are these Mii business cards. Users can trade in 150 coins for a set of 30, which include your name, contact information and of course, your Friend Code. Likely the entire point of these business cards is to make it easier for one to connect with their friends, since rarely does a person readily have their 96-digit Friend Code available. I don’t suspect we’ll actually see these cards at all, since they’re redeemed through the Digicam Print Channel, which also is a Japanese exclusive.

Source

I am a Wii owner, and I’m happy with my console. I think the main reason that I’m happy is because I know exactly what the machine is capable of, and I don’t hold any misconceptions that it has the sort of power and graphics of my 360. However, those in Europe that have seen the recent Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 ads might expect a bit more from their Wii than they should.

Recently EA aired a commercial that shows Tiger Woods swinging a Wiimote while playing his latest game. The entire commercial is centered around the Wii version, and only shows the Wii logo at the end. That’s all good and well except that some eagle-eye viewers noticed that the in-game footage was from the Xbox 360 version, which is obviously better looking than the Wii.

When cornered about the matter, EA stated that there is a disclaimer which states that the game is “available on all formats”. They went on to note that they decided to use Xbox 360 footage because the “Wii footage would not be of broadcast quality”. I love the smell of deception in the morning.

Source

It’s sort of funny how one rather small act can spawn something so great and unexpected. Take for instance an article written back in 2003 by Bill France. He wrote at length about how video games are merely death simulators, and gamers are trained killing machines. Something like this generally gets noticed by the gaming community, and we’ll say a few choice things about the author. However, This particular post had a different effect on a pair of gamers, better known as Gabe and Tycho. These two decided that they would prove how caring and human gamers are by setting up a charity in which gamers from across the globe could bring the joy of games to sick children during the holidays.

The charity has been running since 2003, and growing steadily every year. Gamers contribute to the fund in a variety of ways; from simple monetary donations to hosting contests and raffles. One of the biggest yearly events is the charity dinner put on by the proprietors of Penny Arcade. This event took place just last week and brought in over $200,000. While that may seem like a large number, it brought the grand total of the 2008 Child’s Play drive to just over one million dollars. I don’t care who you are, that’s just impressive.

Source

The NXE brought us Mii’s Avatars, which I haven’t really done a whole lot with to be honest. I spent roughly 5 minutes setting mine up the first day and haven’t touched it since. However, Microsoft has given us a good reason to put a little extra effort into your creation. You can now “Free Your Avatar”, which basically means that you can create an image of your avatar, complete with text and a background to download to your computer. This is a cool way to make a new profile image for Facebook or Myspace.

Of course the real fun comes when you realize that you can put in anyone’s gamertag and make a picture. This means that you can make a pic of your “crew” (if you don’t have any friends, they have generic ones that you can choose from). Of course you’ll have those immature people that will take your pic and add something rather childish just above your avatar.

Read the rest of this entry »

Finally, after years of waiting we in the US finally have access to the exclusive Club Nintendo. I sort of feel like that guy that’s been waiting on the wrong side of the velvet rope, drooling every time I see the door open. Well yesterday Nintendo finally lifted that rope and let me cross the threshold, and you can come inside too.

Granted, the sights aren’t as great as I’d hoped, but they do have some prizes for loyal fans. Mostly just cases and cards for now, but we all know that the good stuff will come eventually. I’ll probably just horde my points in anticipation for one of their extra-special items that they’ve been know for putting up. The site still seems a bit wonky, as just earlier I couldn’t stay logged in for more than a couple of minutes before getting booted again.

Source

I’ve been rocking out a lot on Rock Band 2 over the last three months, and I image that many of you have been doing the same. Unfortunately if your primary console is a PS2 or a Wii, you’ve been stuck with the original Rock Band or a Guitar Hero title to satisfy your inner rocker. Well the wait is almost over, as Harmonix has finally given us a solid release date for those two consoles.

This Thursday, December 18th, you’ll be able to pick up Rock Band 2 for either the Wii or PS2. Wii owners will finally have the opportunity to download new tracks and store them on an SD card. Sorry PS2 owners, but despite the fact that you installed a hard drive for Final Fantasy XI, you’re still not getting any DLC. The peripherals for the PS2 version have already been for sale, so here’s the breakdown of what will be available on Thursday.

• Special Edition Bundle (Wii) – $189.99
• Standalone Software (Wii) – $49.99
• Standalone Drums (Wii) – $89.99
• Standalone Guitar (Wii) – $69.99
• Standalone Software (PS2) – $49.99

Source

I’ve known quite a few people that play World of Warcraft, and I also know several people who have dropped out of college. Interestingly enough, none of the people I know fit into both categories. It seems that this is a rare case, as Federal Communications Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate recently pointed her finger at games like WoW for many college drop-outs.

“You might find it alarming that one of the top reasons for college drop-outs in the U.S. is online gaming addiction - such as World of Warcraft - which is played by 11 million individuals worldwide”

Read the rest of this entry »