Gamertell

Capcom has announced that new downloadable content will be released for Resident Evil 5 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 next year (2010). Also, a “Gold Edition” of the full game and downloadable content will be available March 2010.

That DLC includes two new episodes, new costumes and a new game mode called “Mercenaries’ Reunion” featuring eight new playable characters and weapon load outs.

Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition will be $49.99 on both 360 and PS3. The PS3’s additional content will be on the disc and the 360 version will be released with a token to download the content via Xbox Live.

MORE »

There isn’t a day that goes by that doesn’t find someone trying to draw a link between video game violence and real world criminal behavior.

But where it is usually Grand Theft Auto, or some similarly violent game sparking the controversy, this time MMO World of Warcraft has been tied to a school shooting attempt.

The TimesOnline reports that a 13-year-old male student in France apparently planned to shoot his teachers for giving him poor grades.

MORE »

Could the United States’ next General Patton be a 13-year-old currently playing Halo 3:ODST?

That is not as far fetched as it may seem, according to Washington Examiner columnist Peter W. Singer.

Singer notes United States Army officials’ testimony in Congress that video games including America’s Army are more effective than “any other method of contact” at recruiting potential soldiers. A 2008 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Study found that 30 percent of Americans aged 16-24 had a more positive impression of the Army because of that particular game.

MORE »

The Microsoft Xbox 360 has not earned a reputation for reliability. Console manufacturers are always hard to pin down on failure rates, but a survey by CNET UK provides an interesting sampling. A whopping 60 percent of the 1,128 gamers responding to the survey said their Xbox 360 had failed, compared to 16 percent of PS3 owners and 6 percent of Wii owners.

Of course, people whose consoles have failed are often more likely to respond to a survey asking for complaints. But this is not exactly the first we’re hearing of a higher failure rate where the 360 is concerned…

MORE »

The speculation about where the digital versions of Total Nonstop Action wrestling superstars will ply their trade for the next few years has ended in a surprise.

Not known for fighting or wrestling games for that matter, SouthPeak Interactive has purchased the rights to make TNA games.

A financial report revealed SouthPeak got the TNA assets in Midway’s bankruptcy sale and even has a games on the 2010 calendar: TNA iMPACT: Cross the Line for PSP/PSpgo and Nintendo DS.

MORE »

A week after GameStop’s corporate office authorized some of its stores to break street date on Modern Warfare 2, three New Jersey stores have done the same with Assassin’s Creed II and Left 4 Dead II.

The much-anticipated sequels went on sale there November 14, 2009. The actual street date for both games is November 17, 2009, available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and, in the case of Left 4 Dead 2, PC as well.

Clerks sought permission to break street date after an independent store in the Jersey City area did so. The move is apparently only for Jersey City…

MORE »

The release date for Madden NFL Arcade, the five-on-five NBA Jam-style game with wild powerups and a 60-yard field, has been moved up by Electronic Arts.

MORE »

It is a good time to be the always-controversial Activision CEO Bobby Kotick.

According to Games Industry Biz, Kotick exercised stock options on 1.93 million shares allowing him to buy them for $1.03 and sell them for between $11.43 and 11.54 each.

Also making a pretty penny through stock options this week was one of Activision’s directors, Brian Kelly. He exercised options that cost him $5.1 million to acquire and sold for $15.6 million. These moves were made Wednesday (November 11, 2009), a day after the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which made an estimated $310 million in the United States and United Kingdom on its first day.

MORE »

What Activision does in the wake of retailers breaking street date on what may be the biggest game launch of all time will surely impact the future of the “street date” concept.

We play this little game every time a major release comes out. Somebody, or several somebodies, start selling it early by “accident.”

This time, though, GameStop execs believe people were doing it on purpose to get some sales over on the mega retailer. As GameStop’s empire expands, it’s getting harder and harder for companies to take the giant’s knees out from under it legitimately.

MORE »

As a Reuters story notes, there is big business in history for the game industry. One of this year’s most anticipated titles, Assassin’s Creed II, sees the game’s hero interact with a young Leonardo da Vinci and use his design for a flying machine.

The first Assassin’s Creed was set during the Crusades and, of course, there are probably more World War II games on shelves than there were actual battles in the war.

Upcoming game The Saboteur is loosely based on the real life story of Wiliam Grover-Williams,  who worked with the British Special Operations Executive in the hopes of liberating France. Grover-Williams was executed for his undercover work but, in the game, your character lives to help free France from the Nazis.

MORE »