That’s right, BioWare has finally finished their sci-fi opus Mass Effect, and it looks as though they’re hankering for some Chinese. It’s really no surprise they would go back to Jade Empire with a sequel, it was a major critical success [IGN.com]. The game was, however, less successful in it’s actual sales, nowhere near the numbers Mass Effect has been getting. Hopefully, after the success of Mass Effect, BioWare will be able to pull in a larger crowd of gamers for it’s ancient dynasty action/rpg.

Source: [Mercury News A+E Interactive]

Boom!

Halo 3 Professional Gamer Skyllus vBi has been the victim of Xbox Live Identity Theft. He’s a member of the professional gaming group Team vBi. After posting this crazy suicide video from Halo 3, he was given a rare Halo 3 Recon Armor, which only Bungie employees and some elite Halo community members have. Not long after getting the special armor Skyllus has reportedly had his Xbox Live account hacked, and or stolen, three times since late October.

Whoever stole the account has got to be brain dead. Not only is it a real “go-to-jail” offense, but it has to be pretty easy to spot someone running around in a match with a flaming head. If you or anyone you know has seen this man, please report it to your local authorities, or Microsoft.

P.S. I wonder if the carpet matches the drapes, eh? Am I right? Nevermind.

Source: [Joystiq]

Boom!

It’s confirmed, as if anyone didn’t think it would happen, we’re getting a sequel to one of the most successful launch titles on Nintendo’s Wii. The announcement was spotted, scanned, and posted by Nintencast.com. The original article was in the Official Nintendo Magazine. No screenshots yet, however, the basics are all confirmed, ie. Red Steel 2 will include better controls, better AI, better graphics and the feature everyone wanted in the first game; Online! Sweet

Now all they have to do is look at what some great FPS games on the Wii have done since launch and copy/improve upon them. Let’s see, Metroid Prime: Corruption did a pretty great job. Then their’s also Medal of Honor: Heroes 2. Just add in some 1-to-1 ratio swordplay and boom, the game is ten times better.

Once they’ve improved the controls, all they need to work on are the graphics. Ah, graphics. As you may recall, the original Red Steel was done using a hybridized Wii version of the Unreal Engine 2.5. If you also remember, a story back a little while back about a developer purchasing the right to develop a Wii version of the newest Unreal Engine 3. Now we get the official announcement from Ubisoft about Red Steel 2. Coincidence? I’m not sure. How about you?

Boom!

Let’s see, what can’t Microsoft get to work right? Well, there’s the Xbox 360’s and their red ring on death. Window’s Vista is the biggest disappointment of the year [PC World]. Internet Explorer continues to suck, as does the Zune. We can officially add Xbox Live to that crap list. Seems they can’t keep it working.

Epic Fail indeed. I’m not the only one that, for a second week in a row has experience problems playing games on Xbox Live, let alone getting online at all with Live. I thought we’re paying for a service for a reason, right? I mean, it would be one thing if it was a free service and it went down a time or two, whatever. But anyone who plays games online with Xbox Live is paying for the service to work.

Here’s what Microsoft can do to fix the problem. First, they could start with fixing the problem, that is giving us the service we pay for. They could also, oh, I don’t know, give us free stuff. Maybe a few thousand MS points, an Arcade game or two, of our choosing. A free year of Xbox Live. Anything more than the official response of “We’re working night and day”, blah, blah, blah.

Here are some other reports on the issue: Engadget 1, Engadget 2, Engadget 3, Engadget 4, Engadget 5, Joystiq, Major Nelson

Let us know what you think. Have you had any problems this past weekend or the last with Xbox Live? Comment Below.

Boom!

The first in game video hit for the upcoming Street Fighter game.Game looks pretty solid. You know for just seeing Ryu and Ken fight for a bit. This game has been getting all kind of press and looks like it will continue until it is released. We’ll keep you up to date.

Digg the song. Or is it Digg this song? Whatever it is it’s not bad. Performed by Kina Grannis. This isn’t the first song she’s done. Just the most internet related. Check out some of Kina’s other songs on her YouTube page here.

So, the story doesn’t end here. She’s looking to make it to the Super Bowl. In a contest from Doritos. You play it. We air it.

It’s only 3 days until the voting ends (December 31^st)! We are down to the top 10 bands. The winner will have their music video played during the super bowl AND a record deal with Interscope Records. So who should you vote for? Well, duh. The half Japanese(?) hot chick! Am I right? Kina Grannis is her name, being hot is her game. Really, she’s actually pretty talented. A guitar player and singer and did I say she was cute? She grew up in Mission Viejo, CA and recently moved to Austin, TX. Which by the way is only the best city EVER? So go already and check her out. Vote for her at www.crashthesuperbowl.com.

Well 2007 is almost gone. There were some really good movies, Transformers, there were some really bad movies, Spider Man 3. But while 2007 waves goodbye 2008 waves hello and brings with it fresh crop of movies. Check out this list from Moviefone, with their most anticipated movies of 2008.

There are some definite stand outs for the upcoming year. The first big one looks to be J.J Abrams Cloverfield. The recent trailers have made me more interested in this one. He also has his version of Star Trek coming out later. Of course the new Rambo is on the list. There is mention of the new Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and Narnia movie. It looks like comic books will be strong this year with (my most highly anticipated movie) The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and Hellboy 2.

What are you most looking forward to in the coming year? Let us know.

Wouldn’t life without DRM be grand? The folks at Warner Music and Amazon.com are going to start offering DRM free tracks. It took a while but finally Warner was convinced to start offering their music DRM free on Amazon. Looks like iTunes might have a bit of competition.

While there is still no word on Sony BMG going DRM free with anybody, this is a pretty big force that they will have to reckon with. If Sony gets on board with the DRM free craze it could be curtains for the CD. I personally am a fan of Cd’s. I like have the jewel cases and the booklets. That said I haven’t listened to a CD in years. It gets ripped onto my PC and then put on my iPod right away for the first listen. Granted the end of Cd’s is far off, this might be a sign of the times.

“All they have to do is call, I would love to see that happen. That would be fun.” That’s what Nicolas Cage had to say when asked about a Ghost Rider sequel. As a person who actually set through that dreadful movie I implore you Nic “DON’T MAKE ANOTHER!!!”. Of course Nicolas hasn’t made the best choices for movies in the recent years so this is not really a surprise.

After the success of National Treasure 2 it looks like Mr. Cage wants to make more sequels. I guess it wouldn’t be to hard to make a better movie, the bar is set pretty low. Cage said “If I think there’s room to grow with the character and if you can make it better than the original, absolutely.”

The good news for this story? There are no actual plans for a second GR movie, so we don’t have to be to frightened yet.

First thing’s first. If you’ve already hacked your iPhone/iPod Touch, this might be for you. If you’re planning on hacking said product, this might be for you. If you still care about old Playstation games, and aren’t concerned of the questionable legality of the whole thing, it might be for you. That said, this thing is pretty freaking sweet!

The emulation software is currently only in beta and has to be installed manually, meaning no AppTap quick easy install. That may come with time, more like the NES emulator. If you want to download it you can get it from ZodTTD. They say you should be able to play most games. Of course, you will have to find the games on your own. Crap, I mean make the roms from games you already own. Right?

Boom!