Gamernode: Latest Game and Console News

Yakuza 2 launch trailer

Yakuza was a critical success in the US a few years back, but sold so poorly that the sequel never made it to US shores. Until now. Originally released in 2006, Yakuza 2 finally came to US shores last week. To help remind people that the franchise exists and to get them back into the mood for it, Sega has released this new Yakuza 2 launch trailer.

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Konami buys UEFA Champions League license

Yet another untouchable sports juggernaut has purchased exclusive rights for one of the world's biggest leagues, ensuring that (for several years) they'll now be the only REAL dog show in town.

But it's okay, because this time it wasn't EA, and EA was the one who got the short end of the stick! Hah! Irony!

Today, Konami announced a four year exclusive deal with the UEFA Champions League, one of Europe's greatest soccer (football, whatever) club competitions. Previously held by EA and used in the UEFA series (which was actually a very solid title this year), the UEFA license now belongs exclusively to Pro Evolution Soccer and will debut in the upcoming 2009 iteration.

"The Pro Evolution Soccer series is synonymous with football being played at the highest level, which makes it perfect for h...

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Crysis Warhead comes to Steam (and Crysis tags alo...

Remember Crysis? You know, that one game. It looked good, or something. I can't quite remember what it is, to be honest-I don't think they advertised it enough or talked about it enough in the media.

Anyway, the follow-up to this "Crysis," called Crysis Warhead, is due out sometime this month. (Or, if you want to get technical, Tuesday.) If that interests you at all, it may also interest you to know that the game will be appearing on Steam, and will be available for pre-purchase starting this weekend.

"The millions of gamers logging into Steam every week to play today's best PC games are going to love Crysis Warhead," said Avni Yerli, Managing Director at Crytek. "Crytek Hungary has done a terrific job creating this new experience while optimizing CryEngine 2, and we're looking forward to ...

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Full Guitar Hero: World Tour track list

With the release of Rock Band 2 this weekend (and for some folks last Tuesday) it's time to re-enter Music Game Fever as EA and Activision prepare to compete for your hard-earned dollars this holiday season with Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour.

Boasting a full band for the first time in the franchise, the latest Guitar Hero will try to take a bite out of Rock Band's domination of the band genre for music games. (Is it a genre with two games in it?)

While we already know about the new features, song creation, new instruments, and all the other fun gameplay elements, what we don't know is if the songlist can compete with Rock Band 2. Until now.

Today, the full list of 86 tracks for Guitar Hero: World Tour has been released. Featuring a smattering of genres and decades, people will be...

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Buy Witcher: Enhanced Edition on Impulse, get 10% ...

Months ago, PC gamers groaned when the release of The Witcher: Enhanced Edition was delayed indefinitely. Now that the game is scheduled to release on September 16, CD Projekt is teaming up with Stardock to try and placate some of the fans by offering a 10% discount on the game between now and midnight on September 15 to people who pre-order it on Stardock's new Impulse distribution system.

"We're thrilled to release The Witcher: Enhanced Edition on Impulse," said Adam Kicinski, CEO of CD Projekt RED. "Stardock's values fit well in line with our own; keeping gamers happy is one of our main goals, and The Witcher: Enhanced Edition is the ultimate fan service. We took all of the fan feedback about the original game and used it to improve the game in a huge number of ways. We hope that this al...

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Full Mortal Kombat vs DC roster revealed

Today Midway has revealed the full list of characters for the upcoming Mortal Kombat vs DC game, aptly titled Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe. (Check out Eddie's hands-on here.) While most of the roster has been shown already, this marks the final day in their "reveal a few at a time!" campaign thus giving us the entire roster we get to play through when it finally comes out.

Representing the Mortal Kombat side: Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Sonya, Jax, Shang Tsung, Liu Kang, Raiden, Kitana, Kano, Baraka, Shao Khan.

Representing the DC Universe:  Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Catwoman, The Joker, Shazam, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Deathstroke, Lex Luthor, Darkseid.

While I'm glad to see people like Darkstroke and Shazam for DC, I'm still a little saddened at the lack of Green Arrow. Oh well, maybe he'...

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Ensemble Studios to close after Halo Wars

Microsoft will be shutting down Ensemble Studios following its completion of Halo Wars (early 2009) for the Xbox 360. Largely known for its RTS Age of Empires franchise, the studio was acquired by Microsoft in 2001.

According to Shacknews, the core Ensemble Studios team will form a separate new studio and continue support for Halo Wars and future projects with Microsoft Game Studios. Here's part of Microsoft's statement regarding the studio's closure:

"This was a fiscally-rooted decision that keeps MGS on its growth path. While the decision to dissolve Ensemble was not an easy one, Microsoft is working to place as many Ensemble employees who do not move to the newly formed studio into open positions within Microsoft as possible."

I found Age of Empires III and its two expansion packs to be ve...

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Incoming Left 4 Dead demo, woo-hoo!

I've been keeping a close eye on Left 4 Dead for quite some time; with its fast-paced FPS zombie-shooting gameplay combined with signature level designs by the ol' Valve Software folks will make this title an excellent multiplayer gaming frenzy.

Today, plans for an Xbox 360 and PC demo for Left 4 Dead were announced. The demo will include both single-player and multiplayer co-op gameplay. As for the level featured in the demo, Gabe Newell mentioned that it'll be a very early part in one of the campaigns.

"We will be releasing demos for both the Xbox and for the PC. I don't know what the date is for release on that, though. I think it's going to contain the first part of one of the campaigns. I think it'll probably be Hospital but I'm not sure. That's a decision that Doug Lombardi is making."

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Will you be ready for Google Games?

Forbes magazine, a highly respected business publication, has speculated that Google may be entering the lucrative video game industry.

The editorial stated, "The paths Google could take to develop a bigger presence in the gaming industry are varied. With its financial war chest, the company could easily acquire one or several casual game development houses, using those to deliver in-game advertising via Adscape."

Imagine doing your surfing on Google only to notice that there were free games offered by the search engine. Forbes went on to say:

"For instance, visitors to Pogo.com and RealArcade tend to be women over 35, and they are already used to seeing advertising with their games--sometimes particularly intrusive advertising. If Google were to introduce a more subtle style--similar to the...

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Bioshock designer gets threats over copy protectio...

And you thought the Spore DRM was bad? Ken Levine, designer for Bioshock, revealed that he has received "f**king threats" over the copy protection scheme for the PC version of his game.

Bioshock requires a mandatory internet connection to play the game and is capped at only two installation, and also responded to criticism from gamers about the way he handled the ending of the game.

As far as the DRM issue on Bioshock, Levine was very angry.

"When we had the copy protection issues come out, I was out there talking about the product; I didn't run away from that. And frankly I got some nasty f**king threats."

In regards to the criticism by gamers about the ending of Bioshock, he said, "I think it's important that somebody takes responsibility, and at the end of the day my job as creative dir...

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Western games are better than Japanese ones

In a statement which will make many go "Well, duh!" former Capcom developer and current Game Republic big dog Yoshiki Okamoto has added another to his quickly growing list of controversial developer quotes. (The first being his gem about good developers not liking games in the first place.)

In an interview on the Japanese +D Games, Okamoto is asked about the disparity between Western and Eastern game development these days, and states:

"It's almost too late. During the Famicom (NES) era, Japanese video games comprised 70 percent of all video games. And currently, it's like 15 or 20 percent, isn't it? Now, Western games are more advanced. For games like GTAIV, those guys are spending something like 5 or 10 years to make them. Even if we thought about catching up with them now, they'd still ...

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No unleashing of The Force Unleashed for PC

If you are a PC gamer, have you been looking forward to Star Wars: The Force Unleashed being released on your $1000 rig?

Have you been saving a spot next to Half-Life and Command and Conquer to make way for the box? Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but your favorite gaming medium has been scratched off of the list of systems that The Force Unleashed will be released on.

The news came yesterday from a LucasArts PR representative, not a few hours after rumors began to circulate that the PC was going to house the game.

However, the Lucas rep said "I can tell you definitively that there is no PC version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed planned." The rumor was, interestingly enough, started by the company that made the physics for the game, Pixelux Entertainment.

The game is set to come out...

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FCC slaps Comcast for capping Internet usage

Comcast, an Internet service provider, announced recently that it was going to set a cap limit on home subscribers to 250GB a month starting on September 5.

That's a pretty good amount of downloadable content for most, but if you are a heavy duty gamer and like to download lots of movies and media, that 250GB cap starts to look a little small.

But never fear the FCC is here. The government agency determined that the Comcast policy was "legally inappropriate and its findings were not justified by the record."

The FCC went on to say that the new policies were "discriminatory and arbitrary" and that the Comcast move was to "contravene industry standards and have significantly impeded Internet users' ability to use applications and access content of their choice."

Comcast is fighting the decisi...

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Lord of the Rings Online - Mines of Moria: The Fla...

Lord of the Rings Online didn't quite keep up at the pace it launched at, but compared to every other non-WoW MMO it's certainly been the biggest success in recent years. With constant smaller updates and a soon-to-be-released Mines of Moria expansion, LotRO gamers have plenty to do.

Below, you'll find the latest Mines of Moria preview video, titled The Flaming Deep.

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Gamers slam Spore for being "infected" with DRM

Spore's DRM scheme has unleashed the fury of some PC gamers. According to Amazon.com's review section, negative 1-star reviews tally 586 out of a total of 642, at the time of this writing. Amazon has a star product review rating of 1 to 5 stars with 1, being the lowest.

Media publishers will tell you that DRM, or digital rights management, is a non-offensive program to stop illegal copying and piracy. The receiving end of DRM, the users, will argue that it is nothing more than spyware or malware, which invades your computer in order to check what you have on it -- legal or otherwise.

Practically all the one-star reviews for Spore were aimed at the DRM, SecuROM, which only allows a maximum of three installations on PCs.

One user described his reaction about Spore this way:

"I was EXTREMELY exci...

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The best gadget ever: The Pong wristwatch

This gadget has to be at the top of my list of "things I wish I had." The object of desire is a wristwatch. I am not talking about your multi-thousand dollar watches such as Rolex, or the $2.1 million Patek Philippe that someone bought this year.

No, what we're talking about here is even better IMO...a Pong wristwatch that shows the time via an ongoing game of Pong.

Now that's what I call class.

The idea was spawned originally by a large Pong wall clock by futuristic designer Buro Vormkrijger. That's when John Maushammer took the concept a step further and made a Pong wristwatch.

Maushammer made the unique device in his spare time using computer operated fabrication machines, a slew of electronic components to make a prototype of the watch, and finally, a working model. The whole project took...

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September 8th WiiWare/Virtual Console releases

Another Monday, another round of WiiWare and Virtual Console updates.

Whether Nintendo adds one game, ten games, or none at all, GamerNode will be here every Monday with the official details - titles, platforms, ratings, pricing, and even a taste of some corny marketing copy - keeping you up to date with everything from the online Wii scene.

Without further ado, the games:

WiiWareGroovin' Blocks (Empty Clip Studios, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points): A music-based game like no other, Groovin' Blocks adds innovative musical game play to an addictive action/puzzle game foundation. Play to the rhythm of the music to increase your score, and try to hit "Superbeats" to double your multiplier. Go for the high score in each of the 27 stages as you collect stars to unlock 15 level...

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360 120GB HDD heading for another price cut?

Two things that you'll usually hear complaints from in the Xbox 360 community concern the dreaded Red Ring of Death, and the high price of the add-on 120GB hard drive.

There can't be anything done for the RROD blues at the moment, but there is relief for the $180 priced drive.

Amazon is selling the 120 gig drive for only $149. That's still not exactly a bargain when off the shelf drives cost less than a hundred bucks, but a $30 price drop is better than none at all.

Microsoft has stated in the past that the expensive drive was due to proprietary features and software that needed to be loaded.

Since Microsoft has enacted price drops across the board for all of its Xbox 360 line, could another price drop for the 120GB drive be near?

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Peter Moore says he dropped the F-Bomb on Sega

Peter Moore is a real character in the game industry. He tells you what's on his mind, he is a true gamer, and he's been a major force in video games for years. He recently disclosed to Esquire magazine that when he was a top executive at Sega, he said to Yuji Naka, game developer and creator of Sonic, "F**k you."

We leave it to your imagination to fill in the blanks.

The F-Bomb came when Moore was in a boardroom meeting with Naka and other Sega brass. At the time, the Dreamcast was hemorrhaging heavily due to competition from Sony's PlayStation 2. Moore was trying to show the managers that Sega needed some major overhauls to stay alive.

He recounts what happened at the meeting year's back, and related how he formed and video taped the reactions of focus groups to evaluate what they though of...

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Chrome is hot but its EULA is not

In just over a day, Chrome has captured 2.5% of the browser market, at the time of this writing, according to statistics gathered by clicky.com, a web analytics company. Internet Explorer and Firefox, sit comfortably, and safely at 58% and 31% respectively.

While there is no need for the top two browsers to panic, a 2.5% market share in just one day is nothing to sneeze at either. Chrome is steadily creeping up on Safari, the third most used browser on the Internet, and it has already surpassed Opera and old-time users of Netscape.

No doubt, the "instant" success of Chrome has a great deal to do with its distribution strategy. Google is the biggest search engine on the planet and underneath the search page logo are these understated words:

"New! Download Chrome (BETA) - the new browser from ...

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