If your looking for a good reason to play the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen videogame, listen up. Composers Steve Jablonsky and Bobby Tahouri are collaborating with electronica artists Julien-K on the soundtrack. These musical masters have put the excitement in several familiar movie and videogame soundtracks.

You’ve probably heard Jablonski’s work on both the latest Transformers live action movies. If you haven’t seen them, you may have listened to his hard driving score while beating down the Locust Hordes in Gears of War 2. Tahouri worked on the Iron Man film soundtrack and Julien-K was featured on the 2007 Transformers movie with their track “Technical Difficulties.”

More details on these artists and the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen videogame follow the break.

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Just when gamers thought they had squeezed all the goodness from Gears of War 2, Epic Games targets players on All Fronts. This GW2 collection includes all previously released DLC; the Combustible, Flashback, and Snowblind map packs; and introduces the new Dark Corners map pack.

Dark Corners offers multi-player fans seven fresh battlegrounds to test their mettle. The bundle also includes a chapter cut from the original GW2 taking players back to Locust Hollow with Mutt and Dom. Throw in a poster, a custom Xbox Live theme, and a strategy guide and you’ve got a fairly good buy for your hard earned cash. One last enticement is a preview of “Road to Ruin,” the latest project from the man formerly known as “Cliffy B.” Seriously is there a symbol for that? Whatever you want to call him, Cliff Bleszinski rocks the gaming world.

Look for the Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection to hit retailers July 28th. You can lay out a cool $19.99 for the bundle or purchase just the Dark Corners map pack for 1,600 Microsoft Points on the Xbox Live marketplace.

Details on the new Dark Corners maps follow the break.

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Major Nelson Has confirmed the VGA announcement and Gears of War 2 Combustible Map Packs are up on Xbox LIVE. Availability is set to all XBL zones except Germany and Japan.

These three maps; Flood, Gold Rush, and Fuel Station; are a hefty 800 MS points. The Combustible Map Pack Trailer featuring content highlights is free only as Gold exclusive offer. You can view the trailer below courtesy of FileFront before investing a chunk of change that big. Details on each of the Gears of War 2 Combustible Maps follow the break.

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The NPD numbers are in for November, and as far as console sales go, Gears of War 2 dominated the chart with 1.5 million units sold and Call of Duty: World at War coming in a very close second with 1.4 million in sales (for the Xbox 360 version).

Shockingly enough, Nintendo’s Wii Music came in last in the top 10, and while that in itself does not surprise me, the fact that it is even in the top 10 is what I am curious over. I suppose that the company’s stellar ad campaign was what did it, along with unsuspecting parents rushing out to buy the game on Black Friday because all the stores in their area were out of Rock Band 2 and World Tour. They probably thought that their kids would like it just as well, by they will unfortunately find out the hard way come Christmas morning.

Top Ten Games

1. Gears of War 2 (Epic, Xbox 360) - 1.56 million
2. Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch, Xbox 360) - 1.41 million
3. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) - 796,000
4. Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) - 697,000
5. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii) - 637,000
6. Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch, PS3) - 597,000
7. Guitar Hero World Tour (Vicarious Visions, Wii) - 475,000
8. Left 4 Dead (Valve, Xbox 360) - 410,000
9. Resistance 2 (Insomniac, PS3) - 385,000
10. Wii Music (Nintendo, Wii) - 297,000

(Thanks VG247)

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” Well apparently this guy never did since he strapped a freakin’ chainsaw to the bottom of an assault rifle, effectively making a working Lancer like the ones in Gears of War. In fact, he even went one better, making the “full-auto bayonet” attachable to other guns, including a 12-gauge shotgun. Crazy? Maybe, but if there’s ever a zombie/Locust uprising, I’d want a guy like that with me. Be sure to check out the video below of this contraption wreaking havoc on some unsuspecting pumpkins.

Fans of the Colorado-based band DeVotchKa or just fans of their song “How it Ends” featured in the Gears of War 2 launch trailer can now download the song from iTunes come December 1.

Microsoft UK bigwig Stephen McGill stated that “Due to the incredible success of the game in the UK and the insatiable demand for all things GOW2 from fans of the franchise, we’re thrilled to be able to offer consumers the chance to enjoy the track from the new TV ad campaign “How It Ends” as a bona fide single release”.

North Americans who use iTunes have been able to dowload the song for quite some time now, and considering the fact that the album How it Ends was released back in 2004, it’s safe to say that a resurgence in popularity for the band is happening. Not that DeVotchKa really needs a resurgence, because they are a damn good band and always have been. They are not very mainstream, nor can you really pigeonhole them into any sort of musical genre other than the (in my opinion) generic term of “alternative”, they are a very talented band regardless although not something everyone would like.

However, congrats to them on their newest success, and hooray for UK iTunes customers and gamers finally being able to digitally download the tune.

(Thanks Gaming Angels)

Seeing is believing and this video review of Gears of War 2 will make one out of you. Video host Katharine Fletcher illustrates her take on the follow up to the original Gears of War with gameplay footage.

‘VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM’ is the noise my Lancer makes.
‘BOOM’ is the noise my grenades make.
‘OMFG! DIE LOCUST SCUM! WE’RE BEING FLANKED! WHERE’S THE BLOODY AMMO? COVER ME! GRENADE! ARGGGHHH! HELL YEAH!!’ is the noise my mouth makes.
These are all happy noises. I like this game.

via ChannelFlip

BringIt is setting up a service with a secure site where gamers can compete for cash online 24/7. Any game platform with Internet connectivity can get in on the action.

“BringIt is going to transform the videogame landscape by allowing individuals to compete online for bragging rights and real money through skill-based gaming,” said BringIt CEO and founder Woody Levin. “Gamers have shown great interest and support for competitive gaming, so we are pleased to offer BringIt as a player-driven service that quickly connects gamers, allowing them to play legally for cash while getting a more intense competitive rush.”

Some of the titles in the service during the beta period are Madden NFL 2009, Gears of War 2, FIFA 2009, Halo 3, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock, Rock Band 2, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart. BringIt will accept PayPal and major credit cards for bets between $1 and $100,000. Read more about the terms and conditions from the press release after the break.

I should think that mixing videogames and betting will seriously up the danger factor for gamers with addictive personalities. It should also make BringIt a lot of money.
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World of Warcraft players certainly don’t mind that 7-Eleven has been dabbling in the field of selling videogames. Thanks to the apparent disregard for street dates, WoW players were able to secure early copies (albeit not early access) of Wrath of the Lich King. The retail chain has announced that its recent sales of games like WoW, Halo, and Madden isn’t a temporary holiday cash-in — they’re planning on permanently adding videogames to their inventory (via Joystiq).

“This is not just a holiday promotion for us,” explained 7-Eleven category manager for gaming and electronics, “but a brand new product line-up that will be available year-round. We may not be a total entertainment destination … yet, but we’re hoping to expand our selection beyond the high-dollar, hot-selling games to include options for all budgets, like value-priced video games as well as DVD movies. For consumers wanting convenient one-stop shopping for at-home entertainment along with groceries and gas or who just want to avoid big-store shopping inconveniences, their local 7-Eleven store is open and ready.”

In addition to Wrath of the Lich King, 7-Eleven is planning on selling the Guitar Hero World Tour band kit, Fallout 3, Quantum of Solace, Gears of War 2, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009, and Call of Duty: World at War. They’ll also begin selling subscription cards for around 20 games and services ranging from Xbox Live to City of Heroes to Runescape.

Picking up a game at 7-Eleven seems to be more of a convenience rather than an alternative, at least at this point. Unless you’ve got one closer to home than any other retailer, will gamers really opt to go there instead of GameStop, Best Buy, or Walmart? But if they decided to throw in a free Slurpee with the purchase of any full-priced game, that might just give them the edge that makes it the premiere destination for picking up big-name games. It would for me, at least.

It looks as though U.K. fans are just as crazy about the Call of Duty franchise as those in the U.S. because according to the All Formats charts from Chart Track, the week one sales of Call of Duty: World at War are higher than sales for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare when it debuted. Outselling CoD4 by more than 2 to 1, World at War is expected to be the most popular game during the Holiday Shopping Extravaganza across the pond.

If you look at the rest of the chart, you will notice that games published by Activision Blizzard dominate the chart by having 25 percent of all sales for the one publisher. Of course, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is on the chart as well, taking spot number two while Guitar Hero: World Tour coming in at number six (full kits for this game were just released recently released).

Last week’s number one best-selling game was Epic’s Xbox 360 exclusive Gears of War 2, which dropped 64 percent and down to position number four.

To give you an idea what our British brethren are playing, here are the top selling games for week ending November 15:

1. Call of Duty: World at War
2. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
3. Football Manager 2009
4. Gears of War 2
5. FIFA 09
6. Guitar Hero: World Tour
7. Professor Layton and the Curious Village
8. Mario Kart Wii
9. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009
10. WWE Smackdown Vs RAW 2009

Thanks: GamesIndustry.biz