World Of Warcraft 2.4 Goes Live and Download

For all you WoW addicts out there Blizzard has released a new patch for World of Warcraft, bringing this up to v2.4.0. The patch includes a new location called The Sunwell Isle along with new 5-player and 25-player instances, as well as dozens of bug fixes and game-play tweaks.

Download Links:

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New Battlefield: Bad Company Game Play Trailer

EA sends over a brand new trailer for the upcoming FPS game, Battlefield: Bad Company (PS3/X360).

Rock Band For The Wii Coming June 22

Harmonix has announced that the Wii version of their best selling music-based multi-instrument title Rock Band will be released on June 22. The Wii version will come with a total of 63 songs, including five bonus tracks. Rock Band for Wii will be released as a Special Edition bundle including the software, drums, microphone and a wireless guitar. The stand alone instruments and software will also be available at the time of release as well.

Wii Virtual Console releases for March 24, 2008

Nintendo adds new games to the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:

KING’S KNIGHTâ„¢ (NES®, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone - Mild Fantasy Violence, 500 Wii Points): In the kingdom of Izander, the fair Princess Claire has been kidnapped by a foul and insidious dragon, and it is the mission of four brave fighters to save her. Through five thrilling, fast-action stages, our gallant heroes-a knight, a wizard, a monster and a thief-will take on an army of incredible enemies. You must help them reach their goal, as you are now part of the team that will fight to free the princess from her imprisonment. Keep your wits about you, plan your strategy and set off on an exciting adventure.

POWERBALLâ„¢ (Sega Genesis, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone - Mild Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points): Eight different teams representing various nations are vying to become the POWERBALL champions, and you control one of the eight in your quest for the championship. A hybrid of games like rugby and football, POWERBALL is played on a 100-yard field. Try to score by either carrying the ball into your opponent’s end zone or kicking it into your opponent’s net for points. This one- or two-player game offers both exhibition and league play. Jump into a game of POWERBALL and try a brand new sport.

One More Crappy Video Game Movie - Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

Capcom confirmed several cast members for the upcoming live-action film for the Street Fighter franchise.

Michael Clark Duncan (The Island, Sin City, Daredevil, The Green Mile) will be joining the cast as Balrog.
Chris Klein (Election, American Pie) will play Charlie Nash.
Black Eyed Peas’ Taboo will play the role of Vega.
Neal McDonough (The Hitcher, Flags of Our Fathers) will star as Bison.
Smallville’s Kristin Kreuk, will play Chun Li.

While Capcom did not confirm with a little digging and according to IMDB, Andrzej Bartkowiak (Doom, Romeo Must Die) will direct the film, and it is going to be called Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li and is scheduled for a 2009 release.

Top 20 Best Selling PC Games For February 2008

The NPD Group has released the list of the top 20 best selling PC games for the month of February 2008:

1. World Of Warcraft - Blizzard2. Sins Of A Solar Empire - Ironclad Games/Stardock
3. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision
4. The Sims 2 FreeTime - Electronic Arts
5. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Blizzard
6. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell/Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow - UbiSoft
7. 15000 Games - Viva Media
8. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade - Blizzard
9. The Sims 2 Deluxe - Electronic Arts
10. The Sims: Castaway Stories - Electronic Arts
11. Diner Dash - Playfirst Games
12. The Sim City 4 Deluxe - Electronic Arts
13. The Orange Box - Valve/EA
14. The Sims 2 Teen Style Stuff - Electronic Arts
15. Battlefield 2 - Electronic Arts
16. Warcraft III Battle Chest - Blizzard
17. 30000 Games - Viva Media
18. The Sims 2 Bon Voyage - Electronic Arts
19. Sim City 5: Societies - Electronic Arts
20. Crysis - Crysis/EA

When are the Sims going to Die already - Sims 3 Details

Electronic Arts offers up more info on the recently revealed plans for The Sims 3, the next game in the (should go away and die) people sim series. The game will be released sometime in 2009.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) announced today the first details on one of interactive entertainment’s most anticipated games, The Sims™ 3. Featuring a brand new engine that has been in development for nearly three years, The Sims 3 allows you to immerse your unique Sims in an open living neighborhood right outside their door. The initial feature-set unveiled includes the new seamless, open neighborhood, new Create A Sim, new realistic personalities and new unlimited customization. The Sims 3 will launch globally in 2009.

The Sims franchise has long been recognized for its appeal to a universal audience, both male and female, and at any age. Its broad appeal and loyal The Sims community has vaulted the franchise to an impressive 98 million games sold around the world and translated into 22 different languages. Celebrated for its creativity, humor, and community, The Sims franchise has become a global and cultural phenomenon since its inception in 2000.

Now, The Sims 3 is being designed to be the next-generation flagship game from The Sims Label.

“In The Sims 3, Sims can go beyond the boundaries of their home lot, and immerse themselves in an open, living neighborhood, interacting with other Sims using our new deeper personality system,” said Rod Humble, Head of The Sims Studio. “It is this type of open-ended gameplay that inspires endless creative possibilities. In addition the new goals and rewards systems will give players of all kinds from core gamers to storytellers the ability to enjoy long-term gameplay.”

New Seamless, Open Neighborhood—Explore the Neighborhood Freely.

See the sights with your Sims! The new seamless neighborhood architecture allows your Sims to roam freely around the neighborhood and visit their loved one and friends—or foes. Discovering other Sims homes and families, traveling around to new locations like City Hall or the local park will create a whole new way of life for your Sims. Storytelling options will multiply as your Sims stroll downtown to meet new acquaintances, head across town for lunch, spy on their neighbors and bump into the boss when they least expect it.

New Create A Sim—Create Any Sim You Can Imagine.

In addition to the open, living neighborhood, the all-new Create-a-Sim interface will feature easy-to-use design tools that allow you to make truly detailed Sims that are more realistic than ever. Create-a-Sim gives you the incredible freedom to customize just about any Sim you can imagine. From thin to full-figured to muscular—everything in between and even the extreme! In addition to determining your Sims body shape and size, you will also be able to fine-tune every feature on their faces, customize their hair style and select their skin tone, all from a vast selection of options. With so many choices to choose from, it is fun to create more realistic characters that look like you, someone you want to look like, or even a famous personality.

New Realistic Personalities—Every Sim Is A Unique Person, With A Distinct Personality

With the innovative and proprietary Realistic Personality System in The Sims 3, you can attribute each character with five distinct personality traits, helping shape your Sims behavior and how they interact with others and their surroundings. This new system will empower you to create extremely complex and diverse in-game personalities. Will you create the nosy, inappropriate, kleptomaniac grandmother who loves to meddle in other people’s business? Or the commitment-phobic, hot-headed punk rocker whose rude nature and childish disposition keeps him from scoring a date? In The Sims 3, Sims will go beyond the basic set of day-to-day needs to be distinct individuals with multifaceted personalities, who can focus both on short-term opportunities and long-term goals. With a wide selection of personality traits to mix and match, more than 700 million combinations of Sims await. You never know who’ll meet in The Sims 3!

St. Patrick’s day and Games Shipping this Week

Happy St. Patrick’s day! Here are the games expected to ship this week to a store near you:
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2: Head back to Sin City with this tactical shooter sequel from UbiSoft for the Xbox 360 and PS3 (The PC game has been pushed back to April some time)

Sega Superstars Tennis: The characters in the Segaverse play some tennis in this sports game for the Xbox 360, PS3, PS3, Wii, and DS
Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds: Sony release this latest game in the arcade golf series for the PS3
Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends: Koei releases their latest hack-and-slash action game for the PS2.
Singstar 90’s: Sony releases this latest game in their PS2 karaoke game series
Worms: A Space Oddity: Team 17 and THQ release this latest game in the long running turn based strategy series for the Wii.
Pro Evolution Soccer 2008: Konami’s soccer game ships for the Wii platform this week.
Condemned 2: Bloodshot: Delayed for a week, Monolith and Sega’s melee based action-horror game ships for the PS3 platform this week.
Metal Gear Solid: Essential Collection: Konami re-releases the last three Metal Gear Solid games in a new collection for the PS2.

Xbox360 and Blu-Ray? Not any time soon!

The talk around the net over the last few weeks since the HD-DVD death was that the Xbox 360 was possibly going too support Blu-Ray in the future. That rumor has now been officially shot down by Microsoft. Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for the console, came right out and told Reuters:

“Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience.” He followed it up by saying that they’re the only console “offering digital distribution of entertainment content.”

Since the discontinuation of the HD-DVD player add-on, it looks like Xbox Live Marketplace is now the only option for Xbox users looking for HD entertainment. Thats just want I want to do with my cash and time. So I run out and buy a bigger hard drive for my 360. Then pay for a movie download then spend 2 - 12 hours downloading it just to watch it ONLY on my Xbox 360. hmmmm NOT!

One more Gaming league Down the Tubes - The CPL has closed

Citing financial concerns the Cyberathlete Professional League has ceased operations and cancelled all future events, eleven years after being first launched:

Effective immediately, the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) will cease operations. Therefore, all CPL events currently scheduled for 2008 are hereby canceled.The CPL was launched in June 1997 with the pioneering mission of promoting and sanctioning video game competitions as a professional sport. For ten years the CPL events experienced increased growth - commencing with a small LAN event in Dallas, Texas, and culminating in world-class competitions across five continents.

However, the current fragmentation of the sport, a crowded field of competing leagues, and the current economic climate have prompted the CPL to suspend its pro-tournament operations. The CPL regrets that this news will disappoint those that were planning on attending the summer and winter events this year.

Many thanks to all of the sponsors and partners that helped CPL establish the groundwork for professional video game competitions. Their vision and pioneering spirit should always be remembered.

The CPL was in the process of developing Severity with Tom Mustaine’s Escalation Studios, and had planned to release it on all major formats. Severity was designed from the ground-up as a pro-gaming title and was to be used for many of the CPL’s major tournaments - with the CPL out of business it is quite possible that Severity’ll be canned, though we are attempting to contact Escalation to confirm its fate.