At a Glance: News Snipits from the World of Gaming

Here are just some gaming related stories floating around on the web from yesterday and today:

• Want to know how to obtain the M1A1 Carbine from Call of Duty: World at War without ranking to level 65? Well fret not, because thanks to a pal of theirs at Treyarch, the folks over at MonsterVine have all the answers (thanks William Saw!).

• According to GamesIndustry.biz, GameStop expects there to be more Wii shortages at Christmas this year. Is that really surprising? Maybe it is time I pulled mine out of the closet and put it up on eBay. With the outrageous prices people are asking for the console, I think if I went $100 less I could make a sale and put it towards finally getting a PS3 (wakes up from her daydream).

• VG247 has posted a link to a video called Immersion that The New York Times has a posted by photographer Robbie Cooper which shows the vacant and sometimes scary looks on kids faces as they play videogames–and most likely ones they should not be playing in the first place from what I could hear. If you watch the video though, you may come away with the impression that a lot of these were staged–especially that one kid who keeps saying “Let me kill you”. Then again, maybe he is just a dork.

• Ubisoft will release downloadable content for Far Cry 2 sometime before the end of the month. “The Fortune’s Pack” will will include multiplayer maps, some new weapons and vehicles. You can expect it to hit the PSN and XBL for around $10.

• In case you haven’t heard, The Killers, Yngwie Malmsteen, Soundgarden, Lamb of God will hit Rock Band on November 25.

• Shacknews has a lovely list of upcoming game releases posted on their site. The list is for releases during the week of November 23-29. Looks like no PS3 titles though, and the only ones worth noting are Sonic Unleashed for the Xbox 360 and Age of Empires: Mythologies for the Nintendo DS. You think I am joking? Then hit the link and see for yourself.

• Looks like Jon Fitch and the UFC have made up despite the hoopla surrounding a contract issue regarding THQ’s upcoming UFC 2009 Undisputed, which is due to be released on the PS3, Xbox 360, and mobile in Spring 2009. Gamasutra reports that things are all hunky dory again, with Fitch back where he belongs.

• Gamepolitics has an interesting editorial on their site which I completely agree with, because the rebuttal they give is true, concise and intelligent as it talks about a article by Nick Michetti titled: How Barack Obama Can Bring the Change the Video Game Industry Needs. Michetti writes: We also need to rein in the used games market and not with DRM. It is fundamentally unfair that developers are being robbed of profits for work that they’ve done. If the ESA will not offer a mandate, then we’ll need the government to do so. Publishers and developers should be entitled to at least half of the price from the sale of every used game.— Ok. I suppose that Ford, and Toyota should also get a profit from the sale of used cars, or Ralph Lauren should get part of the sale from a used sweater of his sold at a second hand shop, and let’s not forget used music stores. What a crock.

• Major Nelson reports that premium themes for NXE have arrived.

• Square Enix has announced three new upcoming “expansion scenarios” for their MMORPG, Final Fantasy XI. All three expansions were created by series veteran Masato Kato. (Destructiod)

To find out more about any of the snipits or games listed above, hit the respective links.