The gaming industry is looking at its very own battle of the bands later this year as Guitar Hero: World Tour vies for your holiday dollars against Harmonix’s Rock Band 2. For those of you that haven’t traded a paycheck for the original Rock Band already, it’s going to be a tough choice. Hit the jump for info

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Another week, another update to Nintendo’s download service. This update brings us two solid options for spending our hard-earned Wii Points, although you might find that they’re both just a touch overpriced.
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A few days ago, Major Nelson gave us word of a new tool that Xbox owners could use to regain licenses for their downloaded content such as Arcade games and add-ons. The Microsoft DRM has been a point of considerable debate, as users can only use their content on one registered console without being connected to the Internet. This was exacerbated by the fact that the Xbox 360 has a less-than-exemplary hardware reliability and so many users who had to get their consoles replaced (including myself) found the content that we had paid for crippled due to the games not being played on the console with which they were originally downloaded. Until this new DRM management tool was released, Xbox users had no way of transferring their licenses. Have I lost you?

Hit the jump for more details on what is possibly the most inept remedy I’ve ever seen.
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Just a quick post here. As revealed in Thierry Nguyen’s Liveblog, the much-anticipated return to the world of Diablo is finally a reality. Good to hear that Blizzard is now working on a new game for all three of its major platforms–let’s just hope they can get all these titles out in a timely fashion. Then again, it’s never been Blizzard’s style to release any game before it was finished, so I would wager a guess that we won’t be seeing D3 on shelves until sometime in 2010.

Anyway, here’s a quick bullet list of some of the new features:

-Keeps the isometric view of past Diablo games
-Shouldn’t require a high-end machine to run; relies on stylized graphics to look pretty (good call, Blizz)
-Some environments are now destructable
-A new class, Witch Doctor, has the ability to control swarms of locusts, launch fire bombs, and use some sort of mind-control power
-Red orbs drop to heal you instead of potions

In short, this game looks pretty slick. Let’s hope that online play is still on Battle.net and not on a paid server instead! Hit the jump for media, and be sure to give your two cents on the forum!

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The staff has been hard at work preparing to start recording what we like to call “The Mushroom Cloud,” MEGATONik’s new podcast dedicated to serious and not-so-serious discussion on facts that are important to gamers. We’re not talking about the latest sales figures or boring things that people in suits care about. The Mushroom Cloud will go that extra mile to give you the latest gaming news, thoughts, and enough not-safe-for-work jokes to land you in your office’s gender-sensitivity training for the rest of the week. We’re doing this for you, our readers, because we care.

We’re finishing up the details and preparing to record our first episode next week. Prepare yourself for a show that will take your questions and discuss with us live. Expect reviews, live games, and plenty of ridiculous humor that will leave you rofl-ing all over yourself. Nasty, huh?

We’ll be posting show notes and much more for the first episode in the middle of next week. Until then, let us know if you’ve got any ideas for topics, features, or live games. I promise that this podcast will be worth your time, or I’ll post embarrassing pictures of Cortez. You’ll be entertained either way.

Just a quick little post here to make sure everyone knows that there is a very good chance that Sony will be debuting the next installment in the hit action-adventure series, God of War, at E3 this year, according to Eurogamer. And why wouldn’t they? Microsoft has already announced its AAA title, Gears of War 2, for the upcoming holiday season. Sony needs to give its fans something to put on their Christmas lists this year as well. As for me? I need to get my ass in gear and play God of War II…

[Via Kotaku]

EA Redwood, refusing to be content with the idea that a head shot can stop your attacker cold, has released new game play footage demonstrating death by total dismemberment. That’s right; only total dismemberment can keep these aliens at bay. Hit the jump to find out more information and impressions from the footage.
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Speaking at the Paris Game Developers Conference, EA’s David McCarthy revealed that within the next year, EA Sports games will be bundled with peripherals. McCarthy said “I think you’ll see games using that Rock Band peripheral strategy from EA Sports, even within the next 12 months,” so long as the accessibility of a game isn’t compromised. McCarthy did not expand on whether or not the peripherals would reach all three major consoles, or even what specific games they are being developed for.

Regardless of the game, I think we can all agree that this console generation’s obsession with peripherals is getting a little out of hand. Whatever happened to picking up just a disc whenever we wanted a new game? Now I have to get an entirely new controller. The recently announced Guitar Hero 4 is supposed to have drums as well, and I sure as hell don’t need two drum sets.

This leads me into a greater argument about sports games as a whole. I feel that if you really want to play a sport, then go out and play it! There is some rationality to using a standard controller and playing online, but if someone is already swinging a virtual bat, that’s just one step away from actually playing baseball. Some may argue that music games such as Rock Band should follow the same guidelines, but learning the basics of an instrument is definitely more time-consuming than learning the basics of a sport. If you’ve ever had gym class, you should know how to play basketball.

Hey, EA, why not get to work on a new SSX instead?

[Via Gamesindustry.biz]

Valve has finally provided a release date for Left 4 Dead as well as shared some interesting information about the AI systems at work in their upcoming zombie-shooter title.

In an interview with Left 4 Dead project lead Mike Booth, Booth discusses the game’s “AI Director.” The AI Director monitors what each player is doing and makes sure that there are plenty of high and low points in the action to prevent an unstoppable army of zombies. The game will also procedurally place zombies to help create the high and low points of action rather than randomly or manually placing the zombies on the map. There are a few points in the video where this feature becomes evident when a zombie rushes up behind the player to cause pain and suffering.

Turtle Rock has also released a series of videos showing the game play in action and highlighting some seriously hectic moments in game play. I’ve embedded all of the videos below after the jump.

I don’t know how you guys feel about this game, but I’m ready for some zombie killing fun. How do you guys feel about this game, and will you guys be joining me on release date? I can’t fight zombie hoards alone.

Left 4 Dead will be released November 4th for the Xbox 360 and PC platforms. Turtle Rock hasn’t revealed any PS3 details as of yet.

[via GameTrailers]

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Another Monday means that Nintendo’s added new games to their online store. This week America gets a grand total of 3 new games to wreak havoc on your Wii’s internal memory. What will YOU be spending your hard-earned Wii Points on? Find out after the jump!
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[Note: This review may reveal a few plot points in the Indiana Jones franchise. If you would prefer not to have any part of the story spoiled, I would recommend not reading this review. Also, you should be ashamed for not having seen the films.]

Legos are awesome. If there is one toy that defined my childhood, it would be Legos. That’s why I was immediately attracted to Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. It seems like a perfect equation: Legos + Indiana Jones = Adorable fun. Obviously released to coincide with the newest theatrical sequel in the George Lucas franchise, is the blocky version of the trilogy awesome or did I choose… poorly?
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Being the huge fans of the Guitar Hero series that most of us here at MEGATONik are, we’ve managed to stumble, and I do mean stumble, across the complete track listing for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. I was pretty leary about picking this edition up because I thought it would be nothing but songs done by Aerosmith, but I’m glad to report that only about 63% of the 41 songs listed below are.
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In the video above, John McCain talks about his experiences with war throughout his life. Listen carefully to the music in the background. That orchestrated piece is from Medal of Honor: European Assult, and the use of the song by McCain has irritated composer Christopher Lennertz.
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Let me begin this review of one of this past week’s new Xbox Live Arcade releases with a quick disclaimer. Sea Life Safari, developed by WildTangent Game Studios, is less of a game and more of an experience. The game pits you as an underseas photographer bent on shooting animals with film instead of bullets to provide research material for a crotchety old professor, who then rates your photographs based on different criteria. These three major criteria are as follows: whether or not the animal is in the middle of the picture, the relative size of the animal in the picture (I guess he doesn’t like negative space) and whether or not the animal is doing its special movement, which can be elicited by heaving a glowstick or flare at the animal by hitting the B button. The professor then ranks these pictures on a basis of zero to three stars (three being the best) which are then needed to move on to the next level. This type of system seems natural for the type of game that it is, and the professor’s continual dissidence with you will have you hunting for three star photos for quite a while.

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By now I’m sure that nearly all of you reading this are aware of my love/hate relationship with Halo 3. Yes, I play it daily and love and hate every minute of it. This video, made to reflect the Bud Light “Real Men of Genius” ads, absolutely nails some of the major flaws that can be found in the game.

What the f***? The BR’s broken.