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World of Warcraft not doing it for you anymore? Tired of six hour-long raids in Molten Core just so you have a snowball’s chance in hell at getting getting that tier 2 armor piece (one of six! Collect ‘em all!)? Age of Conan’s there for you, ready to send all of your troubles careening off of a cliff with but one swift kick of your horse mount. Benny Hill music (sadly) not included.

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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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New Ninja Gaiden II screenshots were released today - but not just a few. No, Microsoft went all out and released more than 40 new screenshots to prepare you for the game’s release on June 3 (June 6 for you European folk).

These screenshots show plenty, from various creatures, enemies and werewolves (and flaming werewolves) to different environment and even boobs. And blood. Lots of blood. If there’s one thing almost all these screenshots have in common, besides featuring Ryu Hayabusa, it’s the extravagant and over-the-top blood spraying and spattering from every slice on every thing that can bleed. It’s surprising some of theses things even have that much blood in them - I would imagine by the time they’d lost as much blood as is seen leaving their bodies, they would be paper-white and entirely lifeless.

But this game obviously isn’t about realism - what would be the fun in that? Extravagant blood and gore has its place, and it seems to fit quite nicely in Ninja Gaiden II.
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The PAL version of Grand Theft Auto IV for Xbox 360 supposedly leaked earlier today, and has shown up on torrent sites across the internet as a 6471 MB (6.32 GB if you don’t like big numbers) file released by iCON. The NFO file warns not to connect to Xbox Live until the game is released to the masses (three full times in ALL CAPS, so you better heed the warning), and even encourages people to buy the game anyway since “R* deserves it.”

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Epic Games’ president, Mike Capps, reiterated what Epic has previously said in an interview with IGN, stating that Epic won’t ever be developing games for the Wii. It’s not about the success of the platform to him, but what can be done on it. When asked whether there would ever be a time when Epic would be forced to give in and create a game for the Wii, Capps said, “no, we go forward, not back. It makes more sense for us to invest in the next-generation tech.”

As for why he believes the Wii has become so popular, he says it’s like a virus that just keeps spreading:

It’s a virus where you buy it and you play it with your friends and they’re like, “Oh my God that’s so cool, I’m gonna go buy it.” So you stop playing it after two months, but they buy it and they stop playing it after two months but they’ve showed it to someone else who then go out and buy it and so on. Everyone I know bought one and nobody turns it on. Obviously there’s a class of people who really love it and enjoy it and are getting into the games but I’m still waiting for that one game that makes me play it.

Some in our forums have shared a similar sentiment regarding games for the Wii (at least this year), but others are very excited about the upcoming games for the system. It seems that in many cases it may just be personal taste.

Capps also talks about everything from Gears of War 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Unreal Tournament III to the comics, paying for weapons, and Wii Fit, so if you want to hear more of what he has to say make sure to read the rest of the interview.

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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.

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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.

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[Note: This was an April Fool's Day post (notice the date), don't start celebrating in the streets just yet]

Jack Thompson, whose rise to fame as a fierce enforcer of ethics in public life was undone by revelations of his own involvement with prostitutes, resigned today, sending waves of both remorse and joy throughout the gaming community.

Mr. Thompson announced he was stepping down at a grim appearance at his Coral Gables, Florida office, less than 48 hours after it emerged that he had been intercepted on a federal wiretap confirming plans to meet a call girl from a high-priced prostitution service in Orlando, leaving the public stunned and angered.
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