Newsdump

Seriously... what?

We knowcorporate-level trash talking has to be done - Microsoft faces big-time competition - but just saying something doesn't make it true. Blu-ray will help the PS3 have better games; it's a fact. By the same token, though Phil Spencer of Microsoft Game Studios mightpretend that the Nintendo Wii won't offer new types of gaming, he isn't kidding anyone.

Asinine quote of the day: "I don't think the promise of a new input device means a new kind of game." Right, Phil... it didn't work for the DS - tell it to Trauma Center, Kirby: Canvas Curse and Brain Age - so it won't work for the Wii, right? The 360 is great, and we all know it; concentrate on that. Do it with some dignity.

Sony, promote this man

Finally, a Sony executive who can open his mouth without insulting anyone who might want to buy a PS3!Next Gen has coughed up a lengthy interviewwith Sony VP Michael Denny, who's prepared to spill the beans on Sony's online plans next week. The short of it: it only begins with multiplayer. You'll be able to download games and content for your PS3 and PSP online. Microtransactions, where you pay for new game content, are very much a go (witness Gran Turismo HD's potential costs - as our British sister site GamesRadar UK haspointed out.) User-generated content - EyeToy videos? - is also on deck. But be prepared to dish out the same stuff Xbox Live asks of you: money, money, money.

Live within driving distance of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or San Francisco? If not, skip to the next blurb.

Anyone left? Good.

Here's the good news: you might be able to get your hands on Gears of War next week. The bad news is that you have to sit through a screening of the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie to do it. If you register atthe movie's official site, starting tonight, you might just get the chance to go to a special screening of the movie where the game will be playable. SOL on the movie? Keep checking the official Gears of WarMatch Made in Hell sitefor future shindigs as Microsoft leads up to the game's release this November.

To buy: Blue Dragon, Pokemon Diamond

Tim Rogers'This Week in Japanover on our sister site Next Generation is always a good read - and we don't just say that because we suckered the guy into helping us out at TGS without even so much as a bottle oforange Natchanas a reward. No, it's awesome because it gets to the bottom of the Japanese game industry every week. This edition contains new info on Kingdom Hearts II, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children: Complete and Blue Dragon, plus emotional tales of his troubles with buying and playing Pokemon Diamond. Seriously - if you're not reading this every week, you ought to start. We mean it. And we hate everything... except orange Natchan.

Tough to imagine they'll have that many subscribers when it goes pay

Korean online role-playing games... love 'em or ignore 'em, they exist. Too many of them exist, in fact, to pay attention to most of them. This may be why Codemasters is always doing something crazy with ArchLord. This time, it's papered our inboxes with news of the "largest PvP battle ever in an MMO." This will commemorate the end of the game's beta test - and 500,000 more beta keys are being served up just in case you want to join just in time to enter the fray. Head over to the game'sofficial siteto get in on the action... or if you just want more info, slide on over to theofficial forum. We've got to hand it to Codemasters: we're almost interested in this game. That's an accomplishment, surely.

HP gains Voodoo power

In a move that mirrors Dell's recent purchase of Alienware, Powerhouse PC manufacturer HPannounceda deal to acquire VoodooPC today. Despite HP's dominant position on the high-end server market - and the number one biggest seller of notebooks and desktop PCs today - gamers know that bringing a HP computer to a LAN party is like rolling up in your mom's minivan to prom. Undoubtedly, HP hopes that the liquid-cooled, vanity-paneled, boutique shop will inject a little Lamborghini into HP's sorry gamer cred. However, HP is one of the world's largest integrators, and we think that it hasbigger plans in mind for this specialty purchase. We'll just have to wait and see what it comes up with - let's hope it's not moreEnron-style Congressional investigations. Whoops!

New screens

Sonic the Hedgehog (360)
Marvel Ultimate Alliance (360)
BioShock (PC,360 )
The Darkness (PS3,360)
Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania (PC)
Cooking Mama (DS)
Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA (PS2)
Eye of Judgment (PS3)
Heavenly Sword (PS3)
Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)
Ridge Racer 7 (PS3)
Bully (PS2)
The Fast and the Furious (PS2)

New video

Assassin's Creed (PS3,360)
BioShock (PC,360)
Blue Dragon (360)
Call of Duty 3 (PS3,360)
FIFA 07 (360)
Frontlines: Fuel of War (PC,PS3,360)
Lost Odyssey (360)
Kane & Lynch (PC,360 )
Marvel Universe Online (360)
Rainbow Six: Vegas (PS3,360)
Stranglehold (PC,PS3,360)
Pacific Storm (PC)
The Darkness (PS3,360)
Sid Meier's Railroads! (PC)

September 29, 2006