Gamertell

At Ubidays 2008 in Paris, Ubisoft released the first teaser trailer for the first sequel to the 2003 cult classic, Beyond Good & Evil. The trailer clearly shows that the game will be sporting some nice, new next-generation graphics. While it is unclear at this point if the trailer was rendered or used the game engine, it was still quite nice.

The teaser video, titled “I the Pig”, showcases BG&E’s two staring characters, Jade and her alien pig friend Pey’J, stranded on…

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Thanks to the miracle of TiVo/DVR, I didn’t even see the return episode of NBC’s series Scrubs until last night. The good part is that I didn’t miss the homage to Space Invaders and someone was nice enough to slap it on YouTube. Click through to check it out…

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The Tribes series of games were only moderately successful, but acquired a cult status with quite a few players still playing games in the online sci-fi shooter game series. Leaked alpha-level game videos hint at the return of Tribes-esque gameplay. The videos were serendipitously discovered by Shacknews.com, as they were available through unprotected website links on GarageGames’ InstantAction.com, a browser-based video game service launching in 2008.

Probably the links to these alpha-level game videos, only meant for internal use, remained unnoticed as InstantAction.com is still under development. An anonymous source, claimed to be close to GarageGames, told Shacknews.com that the videos depicted early work on the title and were meant for internal use.

The new game bearing a stark resemblance with Tribes shouldn’t surprise anyone, for GarageGames was founded by many Dynamix (Tribes’ developer) veterans after the developer was disbanded by its owner Sierra. The new InstantAction online games platform is going to rival Flash-based games, and will allow complete 3D game content to be rendered inside the browser unlike Flash.

Read [Shacknews]

After its fun and obnoxious E3 2007 appearance referred to as EIEIO (Expo for Interactive Entertainment Independent and Original), including an official funeral for the event, Gamecock has hit my radar hard and keeps on coming.

The latest visual assault is in the form of a semi-scandalous video titled “Fury: Life is What Happens While You’re Level Grinding,” promoting its upcoming game Fury.

Click through to view the video and for info on getting in on the beta…

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Electronic Arts announced today its soundtrack for the singing, dancing and music video-creating game Boogie, which will be released for the Wii on August 7, 2007, in North America and August 31, 2007, in Europe. The 38 songs span four decades from “ABC” by the Jackson 5 to recent pop hit “Fergalicious” by Fergie.

Boogie will ship with a microphone and has a suggested retail price of $59.99. The game is rated E10+ by the ESRB and 3+ by PEGI Europe.

Click through to get the full list of songs with the artist who made each song popular…

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AP’s LA bureau reported that Blockbuster announced on Monday (June 18, 2007) it will offer primarily Blu-Ray HD for it’s DVD inventory.

Blockbuster had been renting with both HD DVD and Blue-Ray HD DVDs in select store, with 70% of customers choosing Blu-Ray movies.

Blockbuster is still being cautious, allowing the 250 stores and web site will continue to offer…

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Added to the Playstation Store this week, available for download through the PS3:

MLB 07 Show Turorials (Free) - Three videos. The best-selling baseball franchise is back! This season we’re proud to introduce a slew of new features including: Road To The Show, Adaptive Pitching Intelligence, Online League Play, Real Time Roster Updates and unique Umpire Personalities. MLB 07 The Show.

Ratatouille Trailer (Free) - In Disney/Pixar’s new animated-adventure, “Ratatouille,” a rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family’s wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession

Hod Rod Trailer (Free) - Self-proclaimed stuntman Rod Taylor (Andy Samberg) is preparing for the jump of his life. Rod plans to clear fifteen buses in an attempt to raise money for his abusive stepfather Frank’s life-saving heart operation. He’ll land the jump, get Frank better, and then fight him, hard. Hot Rod in theatres August 3rd.

Ridge Racer 7 Add-on Content (Events and Decals are Free, Background Music is $99 each or all 21 songs for $14.99) - Drift around corners at speeds over 160 mph taking the lead as Ridge Racer 7 brings gamers a driving experience unlike any other. With full support of the Playstation Network, Ridge Racer fans have an entirely new world to explore and drift through.

(Descriptions from Sony’s press release).

Site [Playstation Store]

University of Illinois researchers recently studied the impact of video game magazine’s depictions of overly muscular male characters on the drive for muscularity among preadolescent boys. According to the News Bureau of the University of Illinois, the study consisted of two rounds of testing conducted one year apart with researchers administered questionnaires to groups of two to five boys, separated by visual barriers who were then asked to report the genres of magazines they read each week. “The boys’ drive for muscularity was gauged using a child-appropriate version of a standard “drive for muscularity” scale. Drive for muscularity was defined as desire for muscle mass.”

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Added to the Playstation Store this week, available for download through the PS3:

Joust ($4.99) - The arcade legend makes way to the PS3 via the Playstation Store. available for only $4.99, this button mashing classic will have you hopping, flapping and bouncing off other flying ostriches (or whatever giant foul they might be).

Three free downloads, including:

Gran Turismo HD Concept v1.2 free downloadable driving game with HD graphics. This is an update of previous download with a new Drift Trial mode.

A game trailer for Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, an adventure game coming for the PS3. Release date was not listed - likely late 2007 - but the game will be developed by Naughty Dog. The trailer is available in both SD (standard definition) and 720p HD.

A game trailer for racing game Championship Sprint. The trailer is available in SD and 720p and 1080p HD. The game’s release date is not listed - late 2007 - but it will naturally be available for PS3. It’s being released by SOE (Sony Online Entertainment) and Midway.

Site [Playstation Store]

Just when you thought it was safe to make the switch from Sony to Microsoft, it’s happening all over again. Complaints are spawning around the net that the latest version of the Xbox 360, the Elite, is failing in similar fashion to its predecessor. Videos are being uploaded to YouTube, disenchanted gamers are preparing Gates hate mail, and worst of all, loyal customers are once again shipping off their 360’s to the Microsoft repair center.

I’ll admit, when Red Octane’s patch for Guitar Hero II allegedly caused the red rings of death to make a return appearance with newer 360 units, I gave Microsoft the benefit of the doubt. I reasoned on the side of generosity that the failing units were either sleeper systems that had the red ring issue lying dormant and only coincidentally woke up while the users happened to be playing Guitar Hero II, or (even more generously) I accredited the latest failures to a faulty patch from Red Octane.

Was my judgment compromised by delusion? I can feel the flames of argument beginning to crop up once again. This latest turn of events, rumored or not, is going to heat up the console wars all over again. And honestly, who’s to say that Microsoft actually has any viable defense this time. First we dealt with scratched discs, and the legendary red rings of death upon release. Then, units that had already been fixed once began falling victim to the GH2 patch problems. Now, if history repeats itself, Elite owners will be walking on eggshells – praying to the gaming gods – that they will emerge from this latest batch of problems unscathed.

Yet, in the interest of fairness, I remain optimistic – even if through naivety. A YouTube video posted at Sponge attempts to validate the claims of one frustrated Elite owner. However, there is little irrefutable evidence presented in the video. A disc is inserted, and loud noises can be heard as the 360 attempts to read the disc. Then the camera pans right to show the TV screen which reads “unplayable disc”. There is no red ring appearance, and we do not see the disc after the 360 has given the error message. In fact, we never even see the written side of the disc before it is inserted. Irrefutable evidence, to me, would require a before and after presentation of the disc itself, or at the least, visual evidence that the 360 has failed. The video on Sponge, as is, could be nothing more than a bad (or scratched) disc.

As for the other complaints beginning to filter into forums, everyone knows that when systems work properly, people in general don’t rush online to post shiny-happy “mine works just fine” comments. Naturally, the highest volume of reports about any product will be negative. This does not mean that I am denying a problem could exist, only that it may be too early to cry foul.

Video [Sponge]