Gamertell

Chris Chike has obliterated his own Guitar Hero record. You know, the one they just published in that Guinness Book of World Records for video games? Maybe they’ll release booster packs so you can rip out the offending pages and replace them with fresh greatness.

Chike put down a 100 percent on the punishing “Through the Fire and the Flames” song by speed metal legends DragonForce…

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As if responding to my previous post concerning the price of videogames and the cost of a tank of gas, KansasCity.com has posted an article concerning the energy consumption by videogame consoles…

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Just in time for the 4th of July holiday, Activision has announced that Guitar Hero 3 players can download the Top Gun Anthem song for free. No, it’s not Danger Zone, and it’s not Berlin’s epic Take My Breath Away, but it’s memorable, 80’s flavored and patriotic all the same. The free part certainly doesn’t hurt either.

From the press release:

“The instrumental, guitar-heavy theme was immortalized in the hit film that inspired a generation of young men to awkwardly serenade women at bars, perform perfectly-timed “flipside” high fives and threaten to “buzz the tower.”

Ah, Top Gun, a true bastion of nostalgia. The song can be downloaded via Xbox Live or the PlayStation network beginning July 3, 2008.

Read [Kotaku]

Remember the Klobb? You know, the crappiest, least accurate gun in GoldenEye 007? Well, it’s coming back in Too Human. According to a post at GameLife, the Klobb will be one of the hundreds of weapons and items in the game.

The original GoldenEye gun was named after Nintendo’s Ken Lobb, who’s now Creative Director of Microsoft Game Studios (and working alongside developer Silicone Knights on the current title), so it looks as if the dubious honor has carried over. Let’s hope that they beef up the Klobb’s stats for the new game - remember how hilariously awful it was on the N64? I have so many fond memories of Klobb-infested multiplayer matches from back in the day.

Read [GameLife]

Shocking no one - and exciting a few people - was today’s announcement that Rock Band 2 is on it’s way - and coming quite soon. Harmonix announced that the new game will arrive on the Xbox 360 this September (and other platforms later in the year), and will include a plethora of new songs, new online modes, and full compatibility with all previously downloaded Rock Band tracks.

The press release outlines some of the new features:

“Backwards compatibility with Rock Band downloadable music content. All previously purchased tracks will immediately load into your Rock Band 2 song list. No need to re-purchase or re-download.
The biggest and most diverse soundtrack ever featuring some of rock’s most prolific acts, comprised entirely of master recordings.
Major new and dynamic online modes that will connect the entire Rock Band community in more ways than ever before both locally and globally.
More variety of instrument choices than ever before with new and improved drum and guitar peripherals, enhanced functionality and innovative new designs - all fully compatible with the original Rock Band instruments.”

I’m thrilled that they’re keeping the fans happy by making all the previous dlc compatible, but what about the basic Rock Band setlist - is that included as well? Either way, it’s cool that this is coming so soon - for the 360 at least. I’m willing to bet the other versions (perhaps even a Wii version?) will be available for the Christmas season madness.

Read [IGN]

DFC Intelligence, analysts who make predictions about the health of various markets, has predicted that next year, the gaming market could hit $57 billion in sales across consoles and PC’s. Joystiq reports that DFC has named the Wii the “driving force” of the growth, and predicts that the PS3 and Wii will be on par in terms of annual game sales by 2012 (the previous estimate had the PS3 in the lead).

From the post:

“Still, with the lion’s share of top selling titles for the Wii coming from Nintendo itself, fellow analyst Jeremy Miller adds that “for many third party publishers this means they will have much greater success on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, even if Wii sales continue to be strong.”

Wow - $57 billion - in the current economy? Prediction or not, it looks like this is the industry to be in, on all fronts. I continue to marvel at what was once literally a few guys tinkering in their garages, and now has the power to surpass the movie business.

Read [Joystiq]

This is still technically unconfirmed, but scans showing a retailer ad over at Kotaku are showing a nice little price drop for the 360. According to the ad, the “Pro” model - the SKU that comes with a 20 GB hard drive - will go from $349 to $299. There’s no word on the other models, but it stands to reason that they’ll be getting price cuts as well.

Good news for anyone holding out for a new 360 (or waiting out the red ring fiasco, perhaps), but I think it’s been a long time coming.

Read [Kotaku]

A free Guitar Hero III track is now available through both Xbox Live and the Playstation Store, and World of Warcraft fans should be pleased. Why WOW fans? Because the track is “I am Murloc,” by Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain.

On July 16, 2007, at the 2005 BlizzCon convention, Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain performed “I am Murloc” for fans. It was a heavy-metal style rock song about the World of Warcraft fish people. Now, to celebrate Blizzard Entertainment’s 2008 Worldwide Invitational on June 28-29, 2008, “I am Murloc” has been released for Guitar Hero III. The lyrics are available at the WOWWiki entry for the song (as of 11:34am CST, June 26, 2008).

Click through to watch the 2005 BlizzCon performance of “I am Murlock” on YouTube…

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We all know the game industry has seen tremendous growth in the last year, but some experts are calling the industry “structurally challenged” due to burgeoning development costs. According to GameDaily, Deutsche Bank analyst Jeetil Patel has claimed that the massive investments required for AAA titles are creating a need for publishers to sell 60% more just to break even. From the post:

“This “structurally challenged” environment makes it tougher on publishers and consequently on developers as well. Consolidation is likely to only increase in the years ahead and that means developers will be competing to pitch their projects to a smaller pool of publishers.”

Not good - it looks like our beloved industry is mimicking Hollywood in all the wrong ways. However, Ooe has to wonder how Nintendo and it’s casual revolution factors into all of this.

Read [GameDaily]

Since its launch, Grand Theft Auto IV has shattered all previously held records for sales, and it has become the new king of Xbox Live, but there have been a few bumps in the road that gamers have voiced their concerns about. Thankfully, Rockstar has released the first patch updates for GTA IV’s online game play.

All updates should be automatic the next time you log online, either for the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3.

IGN posted the list of updates:

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