
This week was a biggie for holiday game news, with big delays and bigger announcements from games like "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," "Splinter Cell: Conviction" and "Borderlands." Here's a wrap-up of the biggest stories of the week for ya:
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Posted 7/31/09 6:30 pm ET by Russ Frushtick in PC, PS3, Weekly Wrap-up, Xbox 360

This week was a biggie for holiday game news, with big delays and bigger announcements from games like "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," "Splinter Cell: Conviction" and "Borderlands." Here's a wrap-up of the biggest stories of the week for ya:
Posted 7/31/09 2:00 pm ET by Daniel McKleinfeld in Features, Xbox 360

Come August 11th, along with a lot of changes Xbox 360 users will be happy to see, there’ll be one that most will barely notice: changing the name of Xbox Live Community Games to Xbox Live Indie Games. Xbox Live Indie Games has long been the red-headed stepchild of the online service, and there’s some good reason for that---there are serious bugs in the system, including requiring you to be online to play games you’ve already bought. But, worst of all, even with the new ratings system being rolled out, it’s still too hard to separate games you’d like from games that aren’t even worth the free demo.
But Xbox Live Indie Games titles don’t deserve to be ignored completely. It’s a great place for independent developers to try out unusual ideas without a big publisher stomping out anything that smacks of creativity. And even if the game is only a couple hours worth of play, two hours of entertainment for 200 points is a pretty great fun-to-cash ratio! So, every Friday, I’ll be featuring some choice titles from the service. Here's the first:
Posted 7/31/09 1:00 pm ET by Russ Frushtick in PS3, Video, Wii, Xbox 360

When you think about GI Joe, you probably don't think about the impactful orchestral score that plays during all the big battles with lasers. Well, you really should! EA has just released an interesting documentary on the creation of the score for "GI Joe: The Game," in which the composers talk about how best to highlight the emotional gravitas of the Joes.
Posted 7/31/09 12:00 pm ET by Russ Frushtick in Lunchtime Twitter Poll, Xbox 360
Activision announced today that "Guitar Hero 5" will support avatars, which means you'll be able to bring your 360-made character into the game for explicit rocking-out purposes.
As much as people have sort of poo-pooed the whole avatar thing, I see nothing wrong with them. Games that support them make me feel a little more attached, even if they're only used in menus (like "Worms 2: Armageddon"), so their inclusion in "Guitar Hero 5" is a nifty extra. But it seems like avatar-implementation has only scratched the surface. What other games would you guys like to see your avatar in?
Posted 7/31/09 11:15 am ET by Russ Frushtick in Exclusives, PC, Video

Just 'cause you're a movie star and have "rugged good looks" doesn't mean you're not a giant nerd. Take, for example, Brandon Routh. You may remember him as Superman, pictured above. Anyway, he was in attendance at Comic-Con promoting "Dead of Night" and "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" and we had a few moments to speak to him about, well, movie stuff.
But his love of "World of WarCraft" would not be denied. Hell, check out the shirt he's rocking in the video below. It's this one! So, of course, we asked him about it, and he basically talked about his desire to take part in Sam Raimi's movie:
Posted 7/30/09 6:30 pm ET by Russ Frushtick in News, PC, Wii, iPhone

Gotta love developers. Unlike straight-laced PR people, developers are willing to come right out and say what's on their minds. So when folks complained about framerate issues and quality issues with the WiiWare version of "Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal," one of the developers was more than happy to respond in the game's official forums:
Posted 7/30/09 3:45 pm ET by Russ Frushtick in Video, Xbox 360

Something particularly nice about Bungie is that they're not terribly cagey about releasing information as their games near release. For example, this new video documentary (or "ViDoc," as the kids are calling it) reveals a bunch of new info about the game. Info that I sorta knew but was under an embargo until, um, September. I guess that sorta takes some of the wind out of that preview, eh?
Anyway, enjoy the video after the break. I'll be crying here in the corner.
Posted 7/30/09 2:20 pm ET by Russ Frushtick in Exclusives, PC, Video, Wii, Xbox 360

This requires a little explanation, so stick with me: A few weeks back we had the publisher of "Bass Pro Shops: The Strike," Griffin International, in the office to show off the game. The basic gist is that it's an extremely realistic fishing game, right down to the real-world lures, rods, reels and line. It'll also come packed with a fishing rod-shaped controller, which has rumble and force feedback as you're trying to land a big one.
Posted 7/30/09 1:00 pm ET by Russ Frushtick in News, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360

After being hinted at several times over the past few months, the full song list of "Guitar Hero 5" has been revealed, and features 85 tracks ranging from pop to rock to indie. So it probably makes sense to stick all that rock-laden bulk in one place, which is right here, in this blog post. Here you go, the 85 tracks that'll appear in the final version of "Guitar Hero 5."
Posted 7/30/09 12:00 pm ET by Russ Frushtick in Lunchtime Twitter Poll, PS3

Like comics a few years back, it seems like more and more movies are being based on video games these days. Most recently it's "inFamous," the super hero game from Sucker Punch, which is getting the Hollywood treatment. I'll admit, the story wasn't really the main reason I enjoyed that game so much. It was more the controls and the powers that set it apart. So when I hear that the movie's on the way, I'm a little wary. For example, Zeke should probably die a horrible death within in the first two minutes. Here are your guys' thoughts on changes that should be made:
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