Omigodomigomigodomigod! *ahem*…So, anybody a Mass Effect fan? I mean, I dabble. Played through it once or twice…then 18 more times. Oh lordy, I’ve got the sickness!

Before you get too excited, the Halo movie produced by Peter Jackson is still dead in the water. This concept art, however, is from a draft of a movie based on The Fall of Reach, a prequel novel written by Eric Neylund. The movie script was written by Stuart Beetle, whose credits include Collateral and two of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Everything is still very much in the preliminary stages, but at least some progress is being made.

So, what do you think? Could a Halo movie be a Star Wars style epic or would it be more of a Doom-style disappointment?

[Halo: Fall of Reach Concept Art - LationReview.com]

Castle Crashers, the newest XBLA game from The Behemoth finally has a release date for their eagerly-awaited co-op action game. August 27 is the day you can pay a few spacebucks for this adorable little adventure. Woohoo!

Microsoft has also given release dates for titles such as Bionic Commando: ReArmed and Geometry Wars: RE 2, which you can find after the jump.
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Wouldn’t ya know it? As I was writing this, Nathan managed to post the entire tracklist, but… uh… enjoy the first part of the article anyway.

With the start of E3 today, Harmonix has revealed the entire setlist for Rock Band 2 as well as a few other awesome details to secure at least 60 of my hard-earned dollars. THere will be 75 regular tracks as well as 9 bonus tracks, all of which will be master recordings. In addition RB2 will feature two debuts: AC/DC will make its first appearance in a video game and in even bigger news, a track from Guns N’ Roses (possibly) long-awaited Chinese Democracy will be a part of the setlist.

Rock Band 2 will also sport a number of other cool amenities. in addition to all DLC being cross-compatible, owners of the first iteration of the series will be able to copy those songs onto their console’s hard drive for use in Rock Band 2, saving the hassle of switching discs. In addition, despite the 84 tracks, MTV wanted to include over 100, so they will be releasing at least 20 master tracks for free via download.

If you really want to know, personal highlights from the tracklist include Journey’s “Any Way You Want It”, Beck’s “E-Pro”, Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer”, and The Who’s “Pinball Wizard”.

Low points include Panic at the Disco’s “Anything they have ever written”.

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.

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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Time to break from the Microsoft leaks to reveal some of Activision’s probable plans.

The Spider-Man game franchise has always been a favorite of mine, despite almost every other game being a total failure. Activision is making damn sure that they will release another good Spider-Man game, as their Intellisponse leak features a whopping 14 different potential Spider-Man game concepts. The concepts include making use of the Wii Balance Board and the Wii’s motion controls.

After the jump, you can view all 14 concepts with comments provided by Michael McWhertor of Kotaku.

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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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A new trailer for Guitar Hero: On Tour is out, and I have to say that it just plain sucks.

It’s not very well done and it just keeps on going, so it ends up being embarrassing for everyone involved.

I know this isn’t meant to be a serious trailer, but I don’t think it was supposed to be this bad either. They are trying to sell a game, after all. They could have went with the easiest option and just put some almost naked chicks in there somewhere, or they could have followed the Guitar Hero: World Tour approach and just showed people rocking out with a list of features, both of which would have ended up a lot better than some guy picking his DS and some dumbass singing about all the features. Especially when you have the kind of features that Guitar Hero: On Tour has.

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BioShock seems to be the go-to video game for storytelling comparisons these days, and according to Carlos Ferro, Gears of War 2’s story will be even more emotionally impacting than BioShock’s. Ferro does the voice for Dominic Santiago in Gears 2, and speaking to The Official Xbox Magazine he said that Gears 2’s storytelling goes “beyond” BioShock’s.

“It’s going to be more emotionally effecting than BioShock,” he says, “a lot happens.”

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