Newsdump

Ready to conquer

Wow, you'd think thatCommand & Conquer was a big deal or something. In addition to the laser-tasticscreenshotsthat landed today, we just got word they pulled out the stops when hiring the talent for the in-game movies C&C is famous for. In addition to giving the nod to Joe Kucan, who returns as Kane, fans can look forward to Battlestar Galactica hotties Tricia Helfer and Grace Park lending their charms to C&C3. Bespin resident #1 Billy Dee Williams and Michael "Sam Fisher" Ironside also join the cast, in addition to former Miss USA, Shauntay Hinton.

All that's left to do now is to unearth aging Skinemax B-lister Kari Wuhrer out from under her mountain of bon-bons, and the Command & Conquer: Surreal Life expansion pack is in the bag.

More in-game ads on the way, thanks to this jackass

Yesterday, we sounded off yesterday on the in-game advertising controversy yesterday in Battlefield 2142, only to be met this morning with this... interview [link]... with IGA Worldwide CEO Justin Townsend via industry-focused news siteGamaSutra. IGA Worldwide is a company solely devoted to bringing advertising to your games, and alarmingly is only one of the three video game ad agencies that have sprung up this year (Double Fusion and Microsoft-owned Massive are the other two.)

We just think it's amazing how quickly a wheelbarrow of money can completely erase your moral fiber. In aMay 31 interviewTownsend stated, "I would never want ruin the gaming experience by putting ads where they're not contextually relevant." But just yesterday he explained, "you are always going have that hardcore vocal minority who don't want in-game ads." Oh yeah? What about the immense migration away from commercial television and the incredible commercial-skipping success of TiVo?

Metalhead

Ever wanted to play a game as the nefarious robotic hench-hog of the Sonic franchise? Today, Sega has announced the Sonic Rivals, the upcoming PSP-tastic iteration of the series, features Metal Sonic as a playable character. It's definitely between you and your PSP if you're excited about the idea of playing a mechanized rodent... but we can understand. He joins Knuckles, Sonic, newcomer Silver and others in the game, which is due out this fall. Check out ournews storyfrom yesterday for a fresh look at the game.

Rockin' with the classics

Lately, we've been running a series ofdeveloper diarieson Thrillville - a game that we think looks cool, but isn't exactly getting a lot of attention. The game places you in the role of a theme park operator... not a new idea, but a fun one, and the execution looks solid from what we've seen so far. Today, LucasArts has announced that the game will offer up a mixture of licensed tunes (KT Tunstall leads the charge) and classic game music. But hardcore game fans will be most stoked that tunes from Grim Fandango, Sam & Max Hit the Road and Escape From Monkey Island are tucked in. Not too bad, and they should sound great blaring out over an amusement park.

New screens

Def Jam: Icon (PS3,360)
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (PC,360)
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusades (PC)
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade (PC)
Sonic Rivals (PSP)
EA Replay (PSP)
Ford Bold Moves Street Racing (Xbox)
Rayman Raving Rabbids (Wii)

New video

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (PS2,Wii)

October 18, 2006