Gamernode: Latest Game and Console News

Best Buy ad shows 360 price drop

Microsoft's Xbox 360 is old enough to stand on its own feet, feed itself, and at this point even have a crush on the young girl next door. So don't you think it's time for a price drop? Even though Microsoft hasn't announced it to the public yet, plans to lower the Xbox 360 base price is expected, some analysts say.

The 20 GB Xbox 360 formerly known as "Pro" looks like its price will be going down by fifty bucks, from $349 to $299 according to a Best Buy employee who used his phone to give us this blurry picture. The ad, photographed off-screen from the Best Buy computer system, is said to run the week of July 13th. That matches up with previous price drop rumors from Kmart and an unnamed "major retailer." Could this just be a one week promotion or is there a whole other SKU involved, in w...

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New Halo game to be unveiled at E3?

Many people are saying that this year's E3 wont be as spectacular as previous ones because for one reason or another many developers and publishers are staying away from the convention this year. One company that we know will make a presence however is Microsoft on the sides of development and publishing. Since late Spring the internet was able to uncover most of the E3 2008 lineup that Microsoft has been planning to show except for two titles that still remain a secret to date.

Speculation has risen that one of these two new games is a new Halo game. Whether this new Halo game is the one Peter Jackson was supposed to be manning, or the rumored 3rd-person prequel is still anyone's guess. According to a rumor on Sarcastic Gamer, the fourth installment is already in development:

"A very good ...

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You want Goldeneye on the Wii? So did this guy

It's pretty clear that members of the gaming community need more Goldeneye in their lives. There has been significant demand for the game to be re-released, be it on Xbox Live, Wii Virtual Console, or even in a Source Engine mod.

Well, one determined Wii owner has managed to get the game running on the Virtual Console's Sin & Punishment emulator, and has posted his accomplishment for all to see. Here it is:

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New PS2 coming to Europe and India this fall

Apparently working its way west, the new model PlayStation 2 that hit Japan last November will be coming to the European and Indian markets by late October of this year. It will precede this year's Diwali festival, which takes place on October 28th, said SCE India manager Atindriya Bose.

The new model will be slightly lighter and slimmer than existing PS2 consoles, and will also do away with the bulky external AC adapter of those models. It will cost 6990 Indian Rupees ($163), which is the same price as the systems that are currently in stores. Pricing has not yet been announced for the European release.

Regarding the Indian gaming market, Bose said, "We feel PS2 has the potential to penetrate further into the Indian and Russian markets. Console gaming is in its nascent stage in India. These...

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Viva Pinata 2 dated and detailed

Microsoft Game Studios and Rare Ltd. have divulged some new information regarding the upcoming sequel, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise. The candy-filled critters will find their way onto European Xbox 360s on September 5th of this year, which likely translates to September 2nd for gamers on this side of the pond.

The game will feature over 30 new species, cooperative play options, and added gameplay modes. Players will also be able to check out the wilderness outside of the confines of the garden this time around. Both an arctic and desert environment will be open for exploration, and the exotic inhabitants of those areas can be lured back to the garden using accommodations from home, such as snow and sand patches.

The first Viva Piñata game was somewhat of a sleeper hit in 2006, and the se...

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Super Mario Sluggers batting video

Namco Bandai and Nintendo's Super Mario Stadium: Family Baseball (Super Mario Sluggers in the US) has been available in Japan for a couple of weeks now, and is scheduled to hit North American shores during the last week of August.

The game promises to bring typical Nintendo mascot action, a la Mario Tennis and Mario Superstar Baseball, to the Wii. It takes a simple, pick-up-and-play approach, and makes use of the console's motion controls for pitching and batting.

The video below shows off exactly how the Wiimote input translates into in-game action behind the plate. It's nothing mind-blowing, but it is the Mushroom Kingdom on a baseball field, and if your home team is anything like mine, you might actually prefer that.                                                                        ...

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H2H: Street Fighter vs. Mortal Kombat

Two combatants enter; only one leaves: this is the credo of Head 2 Head.

GamerNode aims to bring the best match-ups and bitter rivalries in the videogame industry to our readers, who will be tasked with crowning a definitive champion of each contest. We may ask which of two games or companies is superior, or we may ask which of two industry figues would win in a knock-down, drag-out rumble, but whatever the stipulations, the winner is up to you. Comments will be tallied and listed in the next edition of Head 2 Head.

Round 1: Fight!

The first edition of H2H spotlights the original 2D fighting rivalry between Capcom's classic Street Fighter series and the brutal Mortal Kombat series from Midway Games

Street Fighter II molded the one-on-one competitive fighting template that would be emulated a t...

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Sony pulls 2.40 update for PS3 off servers

Yesterday it was reported all over the internet that firmware version 2.40 was crashing and freezing up PS3s after installation.

Sony has announced that it has pulled the update from its servers and will be keeping the PS3 community in the loop with "further information" as it tries to solve the issues, which Sony states, has only affected a small number of machines.

On the official PlayStation Blog, Patrick Seybold, director of corporate communications at Sony said,

"As has been reported on many gaming blogs and websites, we have temporarily taken Firmware v2.40 offline. We've received a limited number of calls from consumers experiencing an issue with installing the system software update on their PS3.

"While our consumer services department has seen a low volume of calls on this topic, w...

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Firmware update 2.40 reportedly crashes PS3s

The latest firmware update for the PS3, version 2.40, is apparently causing problems for some PlayStation 3 owners. Reports are coming in from the US PlayStation forums that the newest firmware is causing quite a few lock-ups and freezes on the game console.

The problems may be associated with the earliest versions of the PS3--a similar situation that also surfaced with the release of GTA IV where the loading screen remained frozen during installation.

One forum member described what happened after he updated to firmware 2.40. "Well, I downloaded version 2.40 put in metal gear solid 4 and i get a black screen forever..i cant even get demos to start..I got my Ps3 on Launch day..So my warrenty (sp) is out now..Any advice? I can take a vid if anyone wants."

One user said that his PS3 power butto...

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Update: Chrono Trigger coming to the DS

A rumor was circulating the last few hours about a Chrono Trigger port coming out for the Nintendo DS. With Square-Enix's tendency to release older games on Nintendo's handheld, it wasn't a completely unbelievable rumor, but still, any fans of Chrono Trigger knew better than to get their hopes up by getting excited.

Well, get excited. While there's been no official word yet from Square-Enix about a Chrono Trigger DS, a page on Square's official site popped up a short while ago, all but confirming the existence of the project. All that remains to be seen now is whether or not Chrono Trigger DS will feature new or updated features, a la some of the ported Final Fantasy titles. 

In other news, if you've been sitting on a Chrono Trigger SNES cart in hopes the prices continued to rise, you may w...

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Rock Band 2 partial list leaked?

So this bit of news, be it true or rumor, comes from ScoreHero forum-goers who might've accidentally slipped on the information.

Spotted on a preview from X-Play, we now have a list of some songs that could either be new songs for Rock Band 2, or future DLC for the original Rock Band. Either way, the list is pretty damn sweet, lets take a look.

* "Panic Attack" - Dream Theater (or Finger Eleven) * "Chop Suey" - System of a Down * "Give It Away" - Red Hot Chili Peppers * "Everlong" - Foo Fighters * "Kids in America" - Kim Wilde * "Ace of Spades" - Motorhead * "Hello There" - Cheap Trick * "Anyway You Want It" - Journey * "Pinball Wizard" - The Who

Oh man, am I going to have to buy Rock Band 2 now just so I can play Panic Attack? My inner DT feeling says, "YES! Why ...

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GTA IV PC in the works?

At this point, nothing seems to be official, and this information came from an unlikely source, but it is interesting that it "slipped his togue" if you will. Some pranksters decided to contact Rockstar's customer service and ask them about a problem they had when playing GTAIV on their PC. They said:

"The first person driving view is simply amazing and the Nico Bellic character really makes me feel like I'm living the storyline. So much so that I feel bad in finding something to complain about, that being the surround sound. At times the back left speaker cuts out, specially when characters like little Jacob are speaking. Also when I call 911, the automated response starts, but cuts out when I am given emergency options."

Pretty convincing? After a few responses they received the reply: "...

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The "I Hear You" Award - Blizzard Entertainment

Welcome to You Win! This GN feature has been put together to honor not only the best and the brightest in the videogame industry, but also the most useless, incompetent, and just plain foolish.

GN will be looking at industry news, announcements, game releases, retail, politics, marketing, corporate shake-ups, critics, and anything else that could possibly inspire us to create and bestow a brand new (and extra shiny) custom award as often as possible. The frequency of new "winners" is entirely up to how consistently awesome or despicable everyone chooses to be.

The inaugural You Win! award goes to our old friends at Blizzard Entertainment for finally announcing the long-awaited and intensely pined-for Diablo III. The announcement was made this past Saturday at the 2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invi...

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Daily Q: Are there genres you avoid at all costs?

Everyone has different tastes. From cars to clothes to food and drink to members of the opposite sex, we all have our likes and dislikes.

When it comes to videogames, we have a wide variety of genres to choose from. Some of them tickle our fancies more than others, and some do absolutely nothing to excite us, but which are the types of games that we absolutely despise? That's today's Q.

What type of game do you avoid at all costs?

I thought about this for a while, and I'm going to have to go with anything that comes to the mobile phone platform. Yeah, I avoid those, even with their phenomenal gameplay and audio/visual presentation.

Yuck. (Can that be my One Word Review?)

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Castlevania fighting game to hit Wii this fall

Attention Wii owners who love Castlevania-I've got some good news, and bad news. The good news is that Iga and Konami announced today that they're beginning work on a new Castlevania title for the Wii. The bad news is that it's a fighting game.

Titled Castlevania Judgment, the game pits several generations of the Belmont clan against characters from the franchise's entire run.

"We wanted to take this addition to the signature Konami franchise in a direction that really sets it apart from the previous Castlevania titles in the series," said Anthony Crouts, Vice President of Marketing for Konami Digital Entertainment. "The Wii Remote and Nunchuk capabilities, along with the iconic characters, make this game the ideal entry point into the fighting game genre. This combination is certain to thr...

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Rumor: Xbox 360 20GB cancelled. 360 60GB in

Recent leaks of store ads indicate that the Xbox 360 Premium model (20GB) is going to have a price cut from $349 to $299. But an insider source says that this is only part of the story.

Apparently, a new 60GB Xbox 360 model is coming and this will mean the end of the Xbox 20GB version.

According to the stealthy communication:

"At E3 Microsoft will make an official announcement that we are dropping the 20GB pro console to $299... As we launch the 60GB SKU throughout July, the 20GB SKU will DISCONTINUE. You will see the new SKU on your 7/1 price list."

If the rumor is true and more storage is available for the Xbox 360, we wonder if this is all that will be different about the new version of the machine. This would be an incredible time, during E3, to release a more dependable iteration of the X...

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December launch of Starcraft II now in doubt

Recent rumors and indications from various retail outlets suggest that Starcraft II is sitting in the wings for a December 3 release for this year. But statements made by executive vice president, Rob Pardo of Blizzard, have cast some doubts recently on the launch date.

At the Worldwide Invitational presentation of Starcraft II, Pardo talked about how far along the game was in the development cycle and said they were "about a third of the way through" the campaign and were focusing on the cinematics and story structure. He said that by year's end, Blizzard would have something dramatic to reveal.

If Starcraft II is indeed only a third of the way along in the development cycle, with only five months left before the rumored release date, will there really be enough time to finish and test the ...

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Megaman 9 announced for WiiWare

Capcom has announced that it is releasing Megaman 9 for WiiWare.

The news comes from leaked scans of the latest issue of Nintendo Power, which shows Megaman 9 coming to WiiWare and previous news from Nintendo.

Megaman 9 will be presented in classic 2D without any upgrades to its graphics or gameplay. So for that genuine old-school goodness, M9 may be just the game for platformer fans.

The Nintendo Power article says Inti Creates, a company comprised of former Capcom employees who worked on previous Megaman games, will be in charge of developing the game.

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June 30th 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:

WiiWare

Magnetica Twist (Nintendo, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone-Comic Mischief, 1,000 Wii Points): The classic puzzle game Magnetica is now available on WiiWare , putting its own unique "twist" on the puzzle-game experience. You're surrounded by marbles, marching slowly but surely down a track. Use a launcher (piloted by a Mii of your choice) to shoot marbles with matching colors and wipe them out before they reach...

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Online survey reveals Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero ...

As many people who partake in Internet money-making sites will know, there's an invitation-only survey site called u.talk.back which sprung up some time ago. Companies and sponsors of the site send surveys to user demographics (after they've invited them to register, of course) to get feedback on things they're working on or planning for the future, and the survey takers are rewarded with gift cards or certificates. Last month, hints of Rock Band 2 started leaking from people partaking in the surveys. This time, the surveys have offered a bit more possible info, as the subject was Rock Band 2 vs Guitar Hero World Tour, and which one the responder would rather purchase.

Thanks to forum member (and survey taker extraordinaire) Dan Xanadu, we have the full text of the survey below. Go ahead an...

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