WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne is debuting as the official game for World Cyber Games 2009. Gamers will battle one-on-one for the world of Azeroth in this real time strategy. WCG has announced the official tournament rules and regulations including changes for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Starcraft: Brood War, TrackMania Nations Forever, and FIFA ‘09. This year’s Grand Final is scheduled for November 11-15, in Chengdu, China.
This year’s full lineup is listed in official press release following the break.

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The videogame industry is rolling out previews of the games that go with this summer’s blockbuster movies. The latest offering is a trailer for the  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen game.

It could just be me, but a think the animation looks like sh*t a little rough compared to the pulse pounding footage from the Terminator Salvation game. I can’t say I’m surprised given the number of fantastic videogames based on movies out there, but I’m still disappointed. Everybody has an opinion and yours is just as valid as mine. Watch the trailer after the break and tell me how you really feel.

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Well it looks like it’s official. Three brand new titles based off the Guitar Hero franchise are heading our way: DJ Hero, Guitar Hero 5, and Band Hero. Activision gives us the straight poop:

“DJ Hero expands Guitar Hero’s signature social gaming to all-new consumers with the addition of diverse music genres including hip-hop, R&B, Motown, electronica and dance”. Of course, what would a virtual DJ be without touting an all-new turntable controller? (Editor’s note: eX not included) “DJ Hero transforms players into DJs who rule the club scene by creating original mixes of popular songs and music from the world’s most exciting artists and DJs”.

Guitar Hero 5 will feature both old and new artists, as well as giving “players an unprecedented level of control over the way they play the game with the ability to drop in and out of songs and change band members, instruments and difficulty levels on the fly.”

Finally, the franchise will be getting its first E10+ rated console game, aptly titled Band Hero. The new title will feature “top-40 hits” geared to “expand the experience to a new genre and appeal to a broad family audience who can play together on the guitar, drums, bass and microphone”. By broadening the spectrum to include the younger crowd, Activision hope to find a medium that brings both novice and expert fans of the game together.

Dan Rosensweig, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Guitar Hero franchise, states “Guitar Hero has made music social again and has become one of the most popular ways to experience music. Today’s fans enjoy a variety of music and are looking for more ways to engage with their favorite songs, artists and fellow fans. These games will let them listen, participate and socialize with music in ways they have never been able to before.”

Gamers, plastic shredders, and wannabe-DJs alike will be able to “wiggy-wiggy-scratch” out on their virtual vinyls this fall. You can also check out a couple of photos of the new turntable controller after the break.

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In anticipation of the upcoming PROTOTYPE launch, Activision is offering three pre-order incentive packages. Each package includes collectors items that are meant to give you a head start in the open world action game where you play Alex Mercer, a shape-shifter who takes “You are what you eat” to a new level.

Gamers can score an action figure of PROTOTYPE’s anti-hero Alex Mercer along with a hint sheet to key you into prime spots throughout New York City. The flip side is a poster for those who aren’t interested in these critical hints. There’s also a limited edition concept art book from developer Radical Entertainment featuring weapons, enemies, and locations as well as illustrations of Mercer’s shape-shifting abilities. The final offering is the PROTOTYPE Comic from Wild Storm. The story lets you step out of Mercer’s persona to view the conflict through the eyes of two of New York City’s finest.

The hard part will be to figure out who to pre-order from to get the item you crave most. PROTOTYPE is due for release June 9, 2009 for the PC, Xbox 360 and the PS3. Follow the break for details on the pre-order offers from Gamestop, Hollywood Gamecrazy, and Amazon.
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Looks like we’re having a celebrity deathmatch in U.S. District Court in Seattle. This Tuesday, Valve filed suit against Activision Blizzard.

Apparently the complaint stems from a 2002 dispute over Sierra licensing Valve games without the consent of Valve. As we all know, Sierra was merged with Activision last year. Earlier this month, on April 6th, an arbitrator awarded Valve $2,391,932.

Valve said this was less compensation than they were seeking, but they agreed to be bound by the arbitration process.

As is usually the case, one of the parties wasn’t pleased. In this case, Activision challenged the award, saying that Valve was overpaid by $424,136 in the past. Valve responded saying that that Activision didn’t properly raise the issue in front of the arbitrator.

Activision reportedly cut Valve a check for $1,967,796 last week. That amount is the total awarded by the arbitrator less the disputed $424,136. Apparently, Activision has said that it would not pay the rest, and that if Valve went to court, Activision would countersue. Valve apparently ignored this warning, and has filed a suit in US District Court in Seattle.

Download the PDF of the complaint.

Thanks, GamePolitics

Activision announced today that a new Nirvana track pack is now available for Guitar Hero: World Tour. This is the second time Nirvana has been featured in a GH:WT track pack.

This track pack will contain the following Nirvana songs:

• “Very Ape” from In Utero
• “Sappy” from the No Alternative compilation
• “Stay Away” from Nevermind

You can grab this track pack from XBox Live for 440 Microsoft Points, or on the PlayStation Store for $5.49. You can also pick and choose the songs as singles for 160 MS Points, 200 Wii Points, or $1.99 on the PlayStation Store.

If you’re a Guitar Hero junkie from way back, then I’m sure you’ve looked back at some of the songs from the older games with envious eyes. After all, who wouldn’t like the idea of getting some of those great songs back, and having a whole band to play them? I know I would love to get my hands on tunes like Thunder Kiss ‘65 or Cowboys from Hell.

Well, all of us that share this wish found out a few weeks back that our wish was coming true…sort of…when Activision announced Guitar Hero Greatest Hits. The upcoming game will be a compilation of songs from all the Guitar Hero titles prior to World Tour. I was hoping that this material would be available as DLC, not a separate game. However, this does not mean that I will not be looking forward to getting some time with this game.

Activision has already revealed the tracks from Guitar Hero I & II that will appear in this compilation, and they’re letting you vote to decide what gets revealed next. You can head over to the official GH website and vote on whether you want to see the tracks from GH III or GH Rocks the 80’s revealed next.

If you like, you can also grab the widget to share on your social networking site of choice while you’re there. If you haven’t checked out the trailer yet, you can see it after the break.

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The devoted fanbase of Troika’s Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines have put out a new Unofficial Patch. Patch v 5.9 is hefty with many tweaks to the game as well as unearthed goodies including the uncensored US decapitation cutscene abandoned by now defunct Troika (R.I.P.). A full list of changes in the new VtM Bloodlines Unofficial Patch follows the break.
You can download the Vampire: TM – Bloodlines v5.8 to v5.9 Patch and the Vampire: TM – Bloodlines v1.2 to v5.9 Patch courtesy of FileFront.
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Gamers who play Guitar Hero: World Tour can look forward to an eclectic mix of tracks for the music simulation game come January. A full album from Oasis, a little bit of country (?) and Travis Barker tracks from Blink 182 and +44. Before January though, on December 23 Hinder’s “Use Me”, Nickelback’s “Because of You”, and Rev Theory’s “Light It Up” will be made available.

Come January 8 though, country comes to World Tour in the form of a Country Track Pack featuring Rascal Flatt’s “Me and My Gang”, Brad Paisley’s “Ticks” and Brooks & Dunn’s “Hillbilly Deluxe.” Hmmm… I wonder when we will get some good country like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Jim Reeves, Waylon Jennings, Keith Whitley, etc etc. “New country” is just not “country”. Even some Hank Senior would be cool even though his lyrics can be a bit depressing.

On the other side of the spectrum, Travis Barker is returning to Guitar Hero on January 15 with a three song track pack featuring songs from his stint with Blink 182, “What’s My Age Again”, and “Lycanthrope” from his work with +44. His solo-project Flo Rida will include the track “Low”.

January 22 sill see a track pack featuring Australian band Silverchair’s “Tomorrow”, and Wolfmother’s “Dimension” and The Vines’ “Outtathaway!”.

Finally, Oasis will release their latest album Dig Out Your Soul on January 29. “Bag it Up,” “Waiting for the Rapture” and “The Shock of the Lightning” are already available as a track pack, but now the following songs will be included: “The Turning,” “I’m Outta Time,” “(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady,” “Falling Down,” “To Be Where There’s Life,” “Ain’t Got Nothin,” “The Nature of Reality” and “Soldier On.”

The Oasis Album will be available on Xbox Live for 1520 Microsoft Points ($18.99) and on the PlayStation Store for the PS3 for $18.99. The Track Packs will be released for 440 Microsoft Points ($5.50) and PS3 system for $5.49. The songs on the Oasis Album and in each Track Pack will be released as downloadable singles for Xbox 360 for 160 Microsoft Points ($2.60), PS3 for $1.99 and Wii for 200 Wii Points.

Now Guitar Hero: World Tour players who are also fans of classic rock with a steel guitar flair can get to jamming with the following tunes from one of the most drama filled bands in history. I say that with all honestly and fact too, so don’t yell at me if you like The Eagles and feel like I am dissing your band.

The Eagles Track Pack is going to run you the usual 440 Microsoft Points ($5.50) and includes the songs “One of These Nights”, “Frail Grasp on the Big Picture”, and ‘Life in the Fast Lane”. Like previous track packs before this, you can download each song individually for 160 Microsoft Points ($2.00) but it if you like all three it is best to save the extra dollar and just get the track pack.

Now that we got that out of the way, speaking of The Eagles, who is better: Don Henley or Glenn Frey? Even if you do not like The Eagles, you have to have some sort of preference because they were both also solo artists and have bombarded radio stations for generations. So, if you were being tortured by masochistic kidnappers, and they were to force you to listen to one of the two, which one would you pick? There are no wrong answers, but like with most things on the internet, your preference will be ridiculed by the masses should anyone state their opinion on this.

Personally, I would prefer Don Henley, because Glenn Frey’s “Smuggler’s Blues” and “The Heat is On” drive me around the twist.