MTV Multiplayer › Holidays

Even though I dragged my Xbox 360, PS3, DS and PSP (and iPhone?) through airport security, every system remained stowed away during my nearly two-week visit home. I had every intention of playing through a few games, but it never occurred. Weirder still, this happens to me every year. The only game I played was "Rolando" on my iPhone. Read more...

Patrick, Tracey and I are gone for the rest of the year, but we won't let the Multiplayer blog lie dormant.

Between now and New Year's Day, look for daily posts from me looking back on every game I found worth playing on each system. (I started today with the Wii).

And starting next week, check out a special series from Patrick about the personal gaming Achievements he unlocked.

What you won't find are our Game of the Year picks. We need more time with 2008's games before we declare what we think were the best.

Happy holidays, everyone!

[Photo Credit: Tomb Raider Chronicles]

If you don't want to cause a scene in airport security this week, take that game console out of your backpack.

While heading to Chicago yesterday for the holidays, I learned this the hard way: airports consider game consoles to be laptops.

Laptops have to be removed separately from carry-on bags and scanned independently.

Me? Because I couldn't pick just one, I brought both an Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (and a laptop!) through security, and had no idea this rule existed. Fortunately, the security guys were pretty nice about it, though the lady operating the scanning machine shot a nasty look before announcing the rule to the line behind me.

Oops. Don't make the same mistake I did!

[Photo Credit: Transportation Security Administration]

Activision said there's no holiday music coming to "Guitar Hero: World Tour" but maybe there's a reason for that.

It's already there!

Official content may not be in the cards, but gamers have taken it upon themselves to produce holiday rock with "Guitar Hero"'s music creator.

Here's what "Guitar Hero" players have to offer you:

Read more...

'Tis the season, so you might be planning or attending a holiday party sometime soon.

In fact, I'm trying to plan my own holiday party right now. And with several drum kits and guitars in my living room, there's no doubt my friends will want to bust them out.

But I wanted the party to fit the theme of the season. And while "Rock Band" now boasts over 500 tunes in its library, I didn't find any that are holiday-related. "Guitar Hero: World Tour" doesn't seem to have any either. There was a rock version of "We Three Kings" by Steve Ouimette that was released for free last December for "Guitar Hero III" but I don't have that, nor do I want it for just one instrument.

While the band games currently offer nothing, the karaoke ones do. Sony announced last week that "SingStar" would get a holiday DLC pack. For $6.99, you can get classic Christmas tunes sung by contemporary artists such as Toni Braxton, Babyface, Paul McCartney, Celine Dion and Shakin' Stevens.

Not to be outdone, Microsoft's new "Lips" singing game gave us holiday DLC in the form of "Blue Christmas" by Elvis Presley, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" by Andy Williams and "The Dreidel Song" by Sister Hazel.

So karaoke-wise, there are a few offerings but I have a feeling party-goers will gravitate towards the band games. As Patrick mentioned recently, why would you just sing and not involve other people in the room?

Does not releasing rockin', band-friendly renditions of holiday tunes seem like a missed opportunity for these titles?

[Photo Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images]

Related Post:
'Lips' May Be The Best Karaoke Game Ever, But Is That Enough Anymore?