Dead Rising 2: Case Zero - 200 MS Points

Dead Rising 2: Case West - 400 MS Points

Psycho Skill Pack - 80 MS Points

Soldier Skill Pack - 80 MS Points

The Deal of the Week ends on May 2.

via Major Nelson

"Unfortunately, the circumstances didn't allow us to make a 360 exclusive," stated Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon in a statement to Eurogamer regarding the question that left many wondering why the Xbox 360 did not get an exclusive character like the Playstation 3 version did with one of Sony's most recognizable characters, Kratos from the God of War series.

With the tight lippedness that is going on around NetherRealm Studios many are speculating that NetherRealm wanted to include Master Chief or Marcus Fenix however their contract with Sony regarding the exclusive Kratos has some underlying terms about what the term "exclusive" meant or that Microsoft wants to add an iconic character in the form of DLC for a later release.

"I'm not allowed to talk too much about it, but I can tell you we certainly wanted to do an exclusive for 360, but that's all I can say. It was not a decision we made where we said, oh, let's not do one for the 360," continued Ed Boon about the mystery surrounding an exclusive character.

We will see how much this decision effected the sales of the Xbox 360 version of Mortal Kombat when the numbers roll in.

via Eurogamer

For a limited time only, purchase a Kinect sensor on Amazon and receive 50% off of "select" Kinect titles.  There are a couple of workout gems in the pile of mostly rubbish "select" titles like Your Shape Fitness Evolved and The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout.

The other titles aren't even worth a second glance or a mention.

via Amazon 

Designed by Dream Arcades, this frothy gaming brew beast can hold two five gallon beer kegs and contains a cup holder that is perfectly placed with a tap above for an easy refill.

The at home arcade is mainly designed for gamers who love racing games and the 1080p HD projector arcade itself comes with 150 arcade games.  It also has an integrated high end PC and PS3 connectivity.

The Pro Beer Arcade will cost you $6,000.

via Dream Arcades

via Examiner

A trusted source close to IGN is claiming that Xbox Live will be adding these style of games soon which will "allow publishers and developers to release games through the service for free where users can then purchase additional content, such as weapons, experience points, in-game currency, and perks.".

 While this is just a rumor, what do you guys think?  Are micro-transaction games the future of video games or just another excuse for developers and publishers to make money on those willing to shell out the extra cash?

via IGN

"We weren’t an independent studio making ‘our’ games anymore – we were making games to fill slots. Although we did all believe in them, they were more the products of committees and analysts. The culture we’d worked on for so long gradually eroded just enough so that it wasn’t ‘ours’ anymore",

During the interview Chudley details how it was making games for Activision and that they were just "fill slots".

 "I don’t think the atmosphere differed too much during the years before Activision.  We were always proudly independent. However, when Activision took over, we really felt that they would leave our culture alone, and for a while it was fine, but slowly the feeling did start to change....”

Gareth Wilson, the former Design Manager chimed in and concluded that it was difficult managing a team without someone feeling left out.

"...just the reality of managing so many people. It’s a challenge for any studio these days to make everyone on the team feel like they’re really contributing to a game when there could be well over 100 people on a single game in production.”

An interesting tidbit brought up during the interview was made by Chudley who claimed that they had the opportunity to buy the company back.

"Without going into details, yes, there was [an opportunity], but I personally thought there was far greater potential for the security and well-being of the company if a third party could come in."

Some former staff members of the defunt studio that brought such hits to game shelves such as the Project Gotham Racing series and Geometry Wars announced that they formed a new studio called, "Hogrocket" which will focus on games for the iPhone, iPad, PC, and Mac.

via Edge

All this week Sega has been teasing about "big news" coming to Sonic the Hedgehog's Facebook page.  Fans of Sega's favorite blue chili dog eating hero start tapping your feet, because Sonic is back in a new game coming to the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 later this year.

via Eurogamer

Gears fans anxiously awaiting for the September 20 release of Gears of War 3 might find the following little nugget of information bitter sweet.  Executive producer Rod Fergusson spoke to CVG and said that fans will finally get closure to the Marcus Fenix story, however the universe within Gears will go on.

"We're not blowing up the world so Sera and the Gears universe will live on, but for us we didn't want to betray our customers and community by having a cliff-hanger ending where you're like 'argh I just got duped, now I've gotta wait until the next game.  We wanted to have closure, we wanted people to have some satisfaction that they were along for this ride and they lived through a story.   We're not going to reveal everything because we want some mystique left in our universe, but this is the Marcus Fenix story and people should feel satisfied after playing through that."

While Marcus Fenix's fate among with the other COG members remains up in the air, according to VG247 there are rumblings of Gears of War Kinect game in the works.

via CVG

Yesterday a hacker who goes by the name of "Predator" claimed that he hacked into the Xbox Live account of Stephen "Stepto" Toulouse who happens to be the head of the Xbox Live Enforcement Policy Team and said that he only wanted to help Microsoft. Toulouse who spoke to Joystiq regarding the incident is telling a far more disturbing story.

"He got an old cell phone [number] of mine, and yeah, he called it occasionally".  Toulouse then played it for Joystiq who said that they could not print the expletive and derogatory filled message because it was not suitable.

Toulouse later said, "I have a six minute one where he and his friend discuss all the different ways they're gonna have sex with my wife."

He also adds that most of the messages he has received are harrassment and that "Predator" is not just trying to "reach out for contact".

"I would say 'reaching out for contact' is an extremely generous phrase.  Most of the stuff that he leaves on there is flat out harassment. It's not contact. He's not trying to help or do anything. He's mostly just insulting me. And I get that from time to time. It's just the nature of my role. The kids sometimes try to go after me -- it's not that big a deal."

Toulouse did mention that his Xbox Live account was not "hacked" as "Predator" claimed and that it was a result of social engineering and that they are investigating the matter, because he believes that what he has been doing is a crime.

"What he did, from a lot of people's point of view, I think, is a crime, and we're going to be investigating that."

via Joystiq

Do you like to play open ended sandbox-styled games like [insert any open-ended game here]?    According to DICE's Patrick Bach who is serving as the Executive Producer to Battlefield 3, you are in the minority because sandbox games just plain suck.

"In some cases they aren’t, but in most cases sandbox games are hardcore, boring, hard to get into and they are not very popular."

You hear that kiddos?  If you play GTA, Saint's Row, Red Dead Remption, or even Battlefield 2: Bad Company that DICE worked on that is considered "sandboxish" then you are playing a game that is at the bottom of every gaming barrel.

via Edge Online

This Fail of the Day is being brought to you by Konami.  Last week, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow DLC Reverie found it's way onto the PSN in North America to the surprise of fans considering that no release date was announced concerning the PS3 version of Reverie.  Turns out Konami made an error and the content was never suppose to be released in North America which is why there is now a delay with the European version which should have hit their PSN on March 30.   To make matters even more embarrassing, Konami cannot take it down.

Producer David Cox stated over Twitter in response to an angry European gamer, "put up there in error and it's too late to take it down. I sympathise it's not the best situation." Cox later said, "....it's a clusterf**k".

While it is nice to see a big name in the industry like Konami saying they messed up, it's still embarrassing and full of fail.  That is why you Konami, are the Fail of the Day.

via Game Informer

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/31/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-reverie-dlc-released-in-error-o/

While no date has been set other than Winter 2011, Slant Six has released a teaser trailer that showcases actual zombies like in early Resident Evil titles and what appears to be the return of a fan favorite.

via Playstation Lifestyle

via IGN

Current Deal of the Week

In Nintendo's world there are two different types of indie developers. The "Garage" developer who has an idea, but little to no experience that apparently according to this little quote are only envisioning themselves of a developer and are not passionate about their "craft" and then there is the full on "Indie" developer who has a lot of experience and worked with bigger developers and publishers and that is who Nintendo wants to work with.  No surprise there Fils-Aime.

"We've been clear that we want to work with independent developers who understand this business, who have experience in this business. These are people who spent time working with larger publishers and larger developers, but had that idea in the back of their head that they needed to bring to life ... and so that's the type of entity that we want to work with. These are talented developers. That's different from the person who envisions themselves as a developer, but actually hasn't necessarily created anything, who doesn't necessarily understand what it takes in this business to create compelling content. That's where we draw the line. I'll tell you, if someone calls us tomorrow who has no experience in the gaming industry, but has a passion and has a great idea, our perspective would be, 'Great, but get some experience. Understand your craft, and then come back to us."

Remember kiddies, in 20 years when you design the next big game, Reggie Fils-Aime called you "talentless".

via Joystiq

The "Attack Creeper" is mostly compiled from cardboard, an RC Car, and the guts being different electronic items ranging from a motion sensor to an Aurduino board that you can purchase pre assembled or you can put it together yourself.

To see more such as pictures of the process and to check out the places where Chris hides his "Attack Creeper" to scare people like the bathroom tub, please check out The New Hobbyist.

1. Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock


2. Call of Duty: Black Ops


3. Wii Fit


4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2


5. Rock Band


6. Wii Play (with Wii Remote)


7. Guitar Hero: World Tour


8. Wii Fit Plus


9. Mario Kart (with wheel)


10. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare