Crisis averted.

Until now, the war between music game franchises has left frugal gamers with no option but to pick a side and hope for the best. Following Guitar Hero publisher Activision’s press conference, however, Chris Kohler over at Game|Life brings us good news:

At Activision’s E3 press conference Tuesday, Guitar Hero director Brian Bright told the crowd that if they already owned guitar controllers and drum controllers from “previous games” on the Xbox 360, they’d work with Guitar Hero World Tour.

As a person who owns Rock Band and all its peripherals on the 360, this makes it a lot easier to be on both sides of the music game fence. My Rock Band 2 purchase is all but sealed up, but knowing that I can get the full Guitar Hero World Tour experience without crowding my basement with even more peripherals makes it all the more enticing.

Specifics on now the RB drums will work with GH remain to be revealed, but it should be interesting, as the Guitar Hero World Tour drums require one more input than the Rock Band drums currently have. In addition, Bright did not adress PS3 or Wii compatibility. We’ll have to wait and see.

[Image and info via Wired]

Keeping on track with Activision leaks, Intellisponse has revealed brand new (potential) info about Guitar Hero: World Tour.

First up, the guitar. The new guitar will feature a “touch-sensitive neck slide.” This is going to make guitar solos so much better than they originally were. This detail doesn’t seen so hard to believe, as Activision has told the press before that the new guitar will have new controls, but the company did not reveal any detail.

Next up, the setlists. The songs in Guitar Hero: World Tour could amaze me, IF they are indeed true. Bands that could be in the upcoming title include the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Doors, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, KoRn, System of a Down, Ozzy Osbourne, Interpol, Muse, and many more. 1Up brought up a great detail with the Doors being on the list, noting that their drummer, John Densmore, is very against licensing songs for other media, and if this proves to be true, it can make a very significant difference in future Guitar Hero titles.

Finally, the price. $179.99 is the listed price, according to leaked documents from Intellisponse.

And yes, the leaks are STILL coming. If not from me (I’m totally sure I’m going to be covering everything as I have nothing to do this Monday afternoon), then from another writer I push these stories on. And again, take all of these bits with a grain of salt, as they have not yet been confirmed.

According to Far Cry 2’s producer Louis-Pierre Pharand, the single player campaign in the game could last up to 50 hours. While there are games that last that long (and longer), it’s usually role-playing games like Oblivion, not first person shooters like Far Cry 2. I would assume that’s because of the nature of first person shooters; they are usually fast-paced and more frantic, which means everything is a lot more packed and takes more work to create less play time. This is also what many FPS fans expect and enjoy, and a genre that is usually fast-paced could become tedious if stretched over the equivalent of more than two straight days.

However, the wording of Pharand’s claim didn’t seem as confident as many of the other numbers game producers throw around, and instead sounded more like an optimistic guess:

“Just on single alone, gamers can potentially have close to 50 hours of game play”

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Pay very close attention to what I’m about to tell you, because this very blog post could make you famous. Really famous…

Telltale Games developers of Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People are having a weekend contest where users submit tag lines for the fictional game Snake Boxer 5, which plays a significant role in the first episode. The winner’s name will appear somewhere in the episode. Telltale isn’t telling anyone where the name will show up though. It’s a secret!

For more information about the contest and how to enter, check out Telltale’s Contest Blog Post. Be sure to hurry! The contest only lasts until Tuesday, 9 AM Pacific Time. Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People Episode One is planned for release in June 2008 on WiiWare and PC.

[Picture and story via Telltale Games]

Wow, did you guys see all those Locusts on the screen at one point? This game is going to be amazing when it releases in November.

Guess what, guys? There’s going to be a Bioshock movie, and the illustrious director of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies is going to be making it. For some, this is pretty exciting news, but I know a certain ninja that probably feels otherwise. Still, considering how strong Bioshock’s narrative was, I think it should adapt quite nicely to film. Said Verbinski, “I think the whole utopia-gone-wrong story that’s cleverly unveiled to players is just brimming with cinematic potential. Of all the games I’ve played, this is one that I felt has a really strong narrative.” Hopefully they decide to make the ending a bit more riveting than it was in the game, though. Moreover, this is supposedly going to be the biggest game-to-movie deal since the now-defunct Halo deal in 2005. Hopefully Bioshock won’t end up in the trash, though.

[via Variety.com]

Strauss Zelnick, chairman of Take 2 Interactive and Jack Thompson’s arch-nemesis, is a happy man, a very happy man. His company’s flagship title Grand Theft Auto IV has made over $500 million in its first week of sales. Helping this happy fact along is the knowledge that there have been over 6 million units sold to date, with more than half being sold in the first day. According to Mr. Zelnick:

“We knew Grand Theft Auto IV would break new ground in terms of the player’s experience, with its compelling story line, extraordinary gameplay and action that ranges over a broad urban canvas. Now, it has broken sales and rating records as well…Grand Theft Auto IV’s first week performance represents the largest launch in the history of interactive entertainment, and we believe these retail sales levels surpass any movie or music launch to date. We congratulate the entire Rockstar team on creating a must-have experience that takes the legendary Grand Theft Auto franchise to a new level.”

I wonder if EA is now going to come back to Take 2 with a much larger offer than they did a few months ago. If there was any doubt to the Grand Theft Auto series continuing on after this one, let me assure you, a half billion in a week guarantees a sequel. I find it hilarious that at least $50 dollars of that large sum is Jack Thompson’s, don’t you?

I decided to make these two topics into one post, so the site doesn’t end up with a flooded page of Grand Theft Auto IV news, which I’m sure will happen this week no matter what.

Anyway, Xbox 360 Achievements has posted a list of all 50 achievements in GTA IV for the Xbox 360. You can view the list, but be warned, as some of them may or may not contain spoilers.

Kotaku has also posted some new details up about Grand Theft Auto IV, revealing the awesome track listing that’s included on the soundtrack of the special edition game. You can view the godly listing (Nas and Busta Rhymes, ftw) after the jump.

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Kotaku is reporting this morning that Gametrailers TV will be receiving exclusive gameplay footage of the hugely anticipated Gears of War 2 on May 9. Strangely enough, the gameplay video will be debuting at 1 a.m. on GT TV.

When reached for comment, Epic designer Cliffy B said:

Gears of War 2 is awesome. Buy Gears of War 2.

Alright, fine, Cliffy B didn’t say that. But we all know that it will be awesome and will all no doubt buy the game on release.

With all the attention on Grand Theft Auto IV right now, it’s easy to forget that there are other games with identical similar premises. But the developers of Saints Row 2 have not forgotten, and they’ve just released some new screenshots as well as artwork that details some of the weapons you will have at your disposal to destroy everyone and everything you want (make sure to read the descriptions). Fortunately, while there may not be many screenshots, they are extremely high resolution (except for one) so every detail and point can be scrutinized and examined nice and close. I’ve also included two old screenshots, because their beautiful resolution is enough to merit their inclusion with the new ones.

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Sources close to Take Two as well as several industry analysts expect Grand Theft Auto IV to make $400 million in its first week, selling 6 million copies when it releases April 29, according to Variety.

If these predictions are correct it will be the biggest one week video game launch ever, surpassing Halo 3’s $300 million in the first week. GTA IV might even beat movie records, with the the highest being $404 million worldwide, made by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End in the first six days. If GTA IV’s launch does end up being the biggest entertainment launch of all time, at least we’ll know that gamers have better taste than movie goers when it comes to breaking records.

However, Halo 3 was an Xbox 360 exclusive, while GTA IV is on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, so it does have a significantly larger base of customers to draw money from. Still, $400 million is an impressive figure, and and at $60 a piece it works out to be over 6.67 million copies (even higher than the previously mentioned prediction). By my informal estimates, that works out to be amassiveshitload of virtual hookers killed per day and an even higher number of virtual cars stolen. While I don’t have industry analysts or important anonymous sources to back this up, I’m going to go ahead and say that GTA IV will break all records for crimes committed in-game in a week, and probably the record for amount of cumulative enjoyment from one game crammed into a single week too.

I’m happy to announce that MEGATONik is NOT dead, and that we’re just all being lazy. I’m also excited to announce that we will be a part of the brand new Xbox 360 Community Scavenger Hunt that will begin on April 21, 2008, 12PM EST.

This is a chance for you to win stuff, so I suggest you hit the jump for the full press release to fill yourself in on this exciting news.

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Traveler’s Tales announced earlier today that their upcoming LEGO® Batman™: The Video Game had underwent some changes. There were rumors flying around that the game was proving too expensive to produce with all the advanced graphics and gameplay, and it was on the verge of being canceled if something wasn’t done. Fortunately for Batman fans everywhere, a solution has been found - the LEGO® aspect of the game has been replaced by Best-Lock®. No word on wether this will affect the scheduled release date of September 2008, but Traveler’s Tales seems optimistic that the changes are for the best.

“We basically get to use all the same assets and game mechanics we had,” said designer Jonathan Smith in a press release, “but the licensing of the Best-Lock® brand is so much cheaper than LEGO®.” He explains that they “just need to go in and replace a few words here and there to reflect the brand change.”

“We saved a lot of money,” he said in an interview, “and I don’t think anyone’s really going to care…they both look about the same and they’ve both got those cute little faces.”

No word on wether a similar approach will be taken to save money on other LEGO® video games, but some have speculated that an announcement about LEGO® Indiana Jones™ is coming and the LEGO® Star Wars™ games may be re-released under the Best-Lock® name at bargain prices.

I’ve got my hands on some HUGE news that you won’t see anywhere else (embargo expires next week). Konami is developing a Metal Gear Solid 2 spinoff, exclusively for the 360.

Pliskin’s Story will focus on what Pliskin (Snake) and Otacon did while you were running around the plant playing as Raiden during MGS2. Konami also told us that it will feature the gameplay changes implemented in MGS3: Subsistence, including the 3D camera.

Rumor is that Microsoft, after a final, last ditch attempt to secure MGS4 on the 360, came to terms with Konami (large sums of money were involved) and got them to switch development of this game (which was previously planned to be one of the final titles for the PS2), over to the 360.

The expected release date is November ‘08, and it will feature drop-in, drop-out co-op with player 2 providing support as Otacon over Xbox Live.

When I saw the teaser trailer for the Oneechanbara movie, I immediately knew it had potential, since putting boobs, violence, and zombies together in one epic movie seemed like the best idea since putting boobs, violence, and machines together. While the premise is almost flawless, my excitement was only based on a brief, unrevealing teaser and speculation. Now a longer trailer (embedded above) has been released, and it’s definitely looking awesome. It has all the scantily clad cowgirls and over the top, campy, bloody, violence I was hoping for and the combination of boobs, violence, and zombies should make for some good old fashioned mindless entertainment.