The rumor mill is chewing on a possible price drop for the PS3 this August to kick off EA’s latest Madden game. Unnamed inside sources have indicated to Industrygamers‘ James Brightman that “industry sources indicate Sony is planning a $100 price cut on the PS3 in mid-August, just prior the launch of Madden (8/18) and the start of the back to school shopping season. This will naturally be a positive for the industry.”

Those of you holding their breath with me at the end of Sony’s E3 2009 presentation only to be disappointed shouldn’t give up on seeing a PS3 price drop this year. At least PSP fans should be getting a price break on games and just more games altogether because of the PSP development kit price break announced at the press conference.

I could be paranoid, but I suspect there may be other reasons Sony is holding firm on the price of its overly expensive gaming console.

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Rock Band for the Wii is closing in on Xbox and PS3 versions as the big Iron Maiden update releases as part of 25 new tracks for the music game. EA is churning out DLC for Rock Band Wii to bring the meager catalog from 290 to the 700 strong tracks available for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

In addition to the twelve new Iron Maiden masters launched in concert with Flight 666, 13 previously released tracks from various artists and bands are premiering on the Wii this week. You’ll find favorites from Disturbed, Blur and the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs with free tracks for Stephen & the Colberts

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EA and Maxis presented Spore Galactic Adventures at E3 2009 this week. This expansion pack for Spore adds space exploration and planet fall challenges to an already diverse game.You no longer have to feel obligated to conquer every planet you run into. You can do a few errands for the indigenous population for fun and profit and be on your way.

Although Spore didn’t sell as well as EA had hoped, mostly due to it’s draconic SecureROM DRM, the life simulator has been wildly popular. The Spore Galactic Adventures E3 Trailer proves that it’s all fun and games even after the flying monkeys arrive. Check out the video after the break for quest examples and glimpses of gameplay.
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I’ve been a fan of the Battlefield series since BF1942 launched way back in 2002. I have to admit to being at least moderately excited about the upcoming release of Battlefield 1943.

Sure, it’s just a downloadable game for consoles, but BF: Bad Company was a blast, and BF1943 is based on the same Frostbite engine. Sure, it’s just a remake of some classic maps for BF 1942, but they were great maps!

Anyway, on the back of this month’s gamesTM magazine (a German games publication) you can find an ad for Battlefield 1943. In that ad, it lists the release date for the game as June 25 on Playstation Network and XBox Live.

Here’s hoping that’s entirely accurate. You can find that ad after the break.

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The next evolution in addictive god game series The Sims 3 is out on shelves today. This version of The Sims combines the best of Sims Online community features with the the 3Cs of the single player PC game; creating, collecting and controlling your Sims. I’ve already picked up my copy to the deafening cheers of my kids. I may not ever get my laptop back after I finish the review.

One of the draws of Sims 3 is the Riverview neighborhood dlc you get as an incentive to register online. Here’s a look at this new town.

Watch Sims 3 Lifetime Wish Trailer and get more details on The Sims 3 from the official press release after the break.
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Nintendo is rolling out its E3 2009 line at noon today. Yes videogames have come up in the world of entertainment, dominating movie and music. Nintendo promises a new leap forward in game control and several new Mario adventures to go with. The Nintendo team is adding more hard core game s to it’s line-up including some developed in house. Keep up with all latest here.
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The Beatles: Rock Band debuted at E3 with a star studded lineup. Surviving band members Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were joined by Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison for the premier. Here’s a look at the E3 2009 The Beatles Rock Band trailer.

EA also revealed a The Beatles: Rock Band Xbox 360 exclusive track, “All You Need is Love”. Proceeds from the DLC go to the Doctors Without Borders charity. “All You Need is Love” will be ready for download on Xbox Live June 9th.

For more details on The Beatles: Rock Band career mode and the new peripheral set styled after the instruments used by the band, see the press release excerpts after the jump. You can also watch the video of the E3 The Beatles: Rock Band Demo and see the new peripherals in action in case you missed the live streaming video coverage of E3 earlier today.
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Grab your chainsaws because Valve wowed gamers this morning with promises of more intense cooperative zombie killing in Left4Dead2. The sequel to the wildly popular FPS adds new survivors and zombie bosses as well as weather effects, but the addition I’m looking forward to is melee combat with improvised weapons. Players will be able to pick up baseball bats, frying pans, and chainsaws of course. Left4Dead2 promises to be a game you can really sink your axe into.

Of course L4D2 is a mature rated game so I’ve put the new video after the jump. Check out the Left4Dead2 E3 teaser trailer after the jump.

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Following the revelations of earlier today with the Microsoft E3 2009 kickoff events Electronic Arts hits the stage in California at 2PM California time (yes that’s an official time zone… California is more important than the rest of the Pacific time zone… just ask them). We’ve included the embed link to G4TVs JustinTV feed for the event.

I’ll attempt to do a liveblog of the event in the same post as well if you’re interested in my insight into the whole thing.

You can see the embed and the liveblog after the jump. Read the full article »

I’ll likely get hung for this post but I’m going to vent a bit anyway. Today during the Microsoft Press Conference at E3 2009 there was a reveal trailer for the next Left4Dead installment. Normally I’d be ecstatic about such an announcement, and initially I was – when I watched the trailer along with the Crackdown 2 teaser – but once the high faded a bit I realized how not OK I am with this whole sequel concept.

Left4Dead is less than a year old. It shipped with a very slight amount of content, only got added value with the later Survivor patch and is only now getting mod support from the community and rather than expand it and give us a more reasonably sized game.. we’re being fed a sequel.

More Zombie killing is a goal I subscribe to religiously. I love Left4Dead, I played the heck out of it for months until the 4 basic scenarios wore dry and even the injection of new content with the recent patch didn’t work to vary or sate that apathy much. The original gang isn’t done, I want more adventures, more maps and scenarios and frankly more value from that initial purchase – just as Valve promised.

The trailer and accompanying press release also worry me because the features they tout for the upcoming continuation don’t seem earthshaking or innovative, or like additions that don’t belong in a patch for the original game. What I’m referring to is the addition of more melee-centric weapons and combat, and an upgraded AI Director. Then there is this statement:

“Featuring new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, Left 4 Dead 2 offers a much larger game than the original with more co-operative campaigns, more Versus campaigns, and maps for Survival mode available at launch.”

Who is responsible for L4D not having a great selection of content, modes or characters?

Well the same people who are now expecting us to shill out full price yet again to support their hype machine. I’m an ardent supporter of Valve over the years but this move really bugs me. We’re still waiting on Half-Life 2 Episode 3 to wrap that story up – 4 years later – and yet they can crank out another money grab in the form of an L4D sequel. Valve doesn’t patch or fix problems with the 360 version of the Orange Box, yet they can produce an entirely new L4D product? Something smells here and while the “freeness” of the Survivor patch is a great move in an industry increasingly based on selling you parts of their completed game after release as a continued revenue stream, I am afraid with the current information in hand I may have to change my position on Valve and its formerly consumer friendly posture.

The new title is scheduled to ship on November 17th for Xbox 360 and PC, just in time for the Christmas rush, and features an apparent Southern US setting and characters including “Inbred Tank” and a multi-ethnic survivor team. I’m sorry but I think I’m going to take a pass here.. until I see something that shows a sequel was needed to the game, and this is not just more than a simple tech upgrade with new maps and re-skinned characters. You can view the full details of the press release after the jump.
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