GameStop will be opening at 6AM on Black Friday, a good 10 hours before most hardcore gamers normally wake up. The good news is that you can basically just stay up an extra couple hours, make your purchases, and then go home and go to bed.

Here’s a list of the goodies that’ll be on sale. Doorbusters are marked with an asterisk and will be available until 11AM.

Digital Media Cards

SanDisk Memory Stick Pro Duo 2GB (PSP) – $14.99

SanDisk Memory Stick Pro Duo 4GB (PSP) – $19.99

SanDisk Wii/DSi 2GB SD Card (Wii) – $7.49

SanDisk Wii/DSi 4GB SDHC Card (Wii) – $14.99

Video Games

AC/DC Track Pack w/Rock Band Purchase – Free

Assassin’s Creed II (Xbox 360) – $59.99

Bakugan Battle Brawlers (DS) – $29.99

Band Hero (Game Only) (Wii) – $59.99 

Batman Arkham Asylum (PS3) – $39.99 *

Batman Arkham Asylum (Xbox 360) – $39.99 *

Beatles Rockband (Xbox 360) – $49.99

Ben 10 Alien Force (DS) – $9.99

Ben 10 Alien Force (Wii) – $9.99

Borderlands (PS3) – $49.99

Borderlands (Xbox 360) – $49.99

Buy 2 Get 1 Free On All Pre-Owned Games and Accessories – B2G1 Free

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (PS3) – $59.99

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) – $59.99

Call of Duty World at War (PS3) – $39.99 *

Call of Duty World at War (Xbox 360) – $39.99 *

Call of Juarez Bound in Blood (Xbox 360) – $19.99

Chicken Blaster w/Wii Rifle (Wii) – $29.99

Crisis Core – Final Fantasty VII (PSP) – $9.99

Dead Space (Wii) – $19.99 *

Dirt 2 (Xbox 360) – $49.99

Drawn to Life (DS) – $19.99

Drawn to Life (Wii) – $39.99

DS Duo Game Case & Stylus – $4.99

DS Lite Traveler Case – $4.99

Dynasty Warriors 6 (Xbox 360) – $19.99

Fallout 3 (PS3) – $49.99

Fallout 3 (Xbox 360) – $49.99

Family Game Night (Xbox 360) – $39.99

Forza Motorsport 3 (Xbox 360) – $39.99

Fossil Fighters (DS) – $34.99

Game Boy Advance SP Pre-owned System – $29.99

Gears of War (Used) (Xbox 360) – $9.99

God of War II (PS2) – $19.99

God of War II (PS3) – $39.99

Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) – $19.99

Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360) – $19.99

Gran Turismo 3 (Used) (PS2) – $1.99

Gran Turismo 5 (PS3) – $29.99

Gran Turismo (PSP) – $39.99

Guild Wars Trilogy (PC) – $24.99

Guitar Hero 5 (PS3) – $39.99

Guitar Hero 5 (Xbox 360) – $39.99

Guitar Hero Aerosmith (Used) (PS3) – $7.49

Guitar Hero Aerosmith (Used) (Xbox 360) – $7.49

Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock (Used) (PS3) – $4.99

Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock (Used) (Xbox 360) – $4.99

Guitar Hero World Tour (Used) (PS3) – $14.99

Guitar Hero World Tour (Used) (Xbox 360) – $14.99

Halo 3 ODST (Xbox 360) – $39.99

Jewelry Design (DS) – $19.99

Left 4 Dead 2 (PC) – $29.99

Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360) – $39.99

LEGO Rock Band (Xbox 360) w/Free Lego Keychain – $49.99

Little Big Planet (PSP) – $39.99

Littlest Pet Shop Starter Kit (DS) – $14.99

Madden NFL ‘08 (Used) (PS3) – $2.99

Mario and Sonic Olympic Winter Games (Wii) – $49.99

Mario Kart (DS) – $34.99

Mario Kart Super Circuit (Used) (GBA) – $19.99

Mario Kart (Wii) – $49.99

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (DS) – $34.99

Mario Party (DS) – $34.99

Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (PSP) – $19.99

MySims Agents (Wii) – $19.99 *

My Sims Racing (DS) – $29.99

Naruto Shippuden Ninja Destiny 2 (DS) – $19.99

NCAA Football ‘10 (Xbox 360) – $49.99

Need for Speed: Nitro (Wii) – $19.99 *

Need for Speed Shift (Xbox 360) – $39.99

Nerf w/Controller (Wii) – $59.99

Nintendo DSi Limited Edition Brain Age Bundle – $169.99

Nintendo DSi Limited Edition Mario Bundle – $169.99

Nintendo DSi System – $169.99

Nintendo DS Lite Pre-owned System – $59.99

Nintendo DS Original Pre-owned System – $49.99

Nintendo Wii Console – $199.99

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers Sky (DS) – $34.99

Pokemon Platinum Version (DS) – $34.99

Pokemon Ranger (Used) (DS) – $12.99

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (DS) – $34.99

Prototype (PS3) – $29.99

Prototype (Xbox 360) – $29.99

PS2 Console – $99.99

PS2 Pre-owned Console – $39.99

PS2 Slim Pre-owned Console – $49.99

PS3 120GB Console – $299.99

PS3 120GB Holiday Bundle with 3 Games – $299.99 *

PS3 DualShock 3 Wireless Controller – $54.99

PS3 Energizer Controller Charger – $19.99

PSP 3000 Core Pack – $169.99

PSP Assassin’s Creed Bloodline Bundle – $199.99

PSP Go In-Ear Headset – $19.99

PSP Go System – $249.99

PSP Go Traveler Case – $19.99

PSP Original Pre-owned System – $79.99

PSP Road Gear Kit – $9.99

Rainbox Six Vegas (PSP) – $9.99

Rock Band Unplugged (PSP) – $29.99

Scribblenauts (DS) – $29.99

Sims 3 (PC) – $29.99

Sing It w/ Microphone (Wii) – $49.99

Smackdown Vs Raw 2010 (Xbox 360) – $49.99

SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals (Used) (PSP) – $9.99

Spider Man (Xbox 360) – $19.99

Spore Hero Arena (DS) – $29.99

Spore Hero (Wii) – $19.99 *

Style Lab Makeover (DS) – $19.99

Style Savvy (DS) – $34.99

Super Mario Bros. (DS) – $34.99

Super Mario Bros. (Wii) – $49.99

Super Mario Galaxy (Used) (Wii) – $39.99

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash-Up (Wii) – $29.99

Tekken 6 (Xbox 360) – $39.99

The Price is Right (Wii) – $19.99

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3) – $59.99

Various Charm Girls Club Games (Prom, Show, Mall) (DS) – $29.99

Various Littlest Pet Shop Games (DS) – $29.99

Wii Active – $29.99

Wii Energizer Power & Play Station – $19.99

Wii Fit Plus (Game Only) – $19.99

Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board – $99.99

Wii Motion Plus – $24.99

Wii Music (Used) (Wii) – $39.99

Wii Nunchuck – $19.99

Wii Play – $49.99

Wii Play (Used) (Wii) – $9.99

Wii Remote – $39.99

Wii Remote Controller Red – $29.99

Wii Sports Pack – $9.99

Wii Sports Resort – $49.99

Wii Sports Resort w/Free 2nd MotionPlus Controller – $49.99 *

Wii Zapper w/Link’s Crossbow Training – $24.99

Wireless Controller and Charger (Xbox 360) – $69.99

World of Warcraft Battlechest (PC) – $19.99

World of Warcraft (PC) – $4.99

World of Zoo (Wii) – $29.99

Xbox 360 Arcade Console – $199.99

Xbox 360 Elite Holiday Bundle with 3 Games – $299.99 *

Xbox 360 Energizer Controller Charger – $19.99

Xbox Live 3 Month Gold Card – $19.99

Zelda (Used) (DS) – $19.99

GameStop Black Friday Ad [BlackFriday.info]

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The thing is, I would probably ruin you in Counter-Strike or Team Fortress 2. In fact, it seems to me that every time I read about a PC team going up against a console team in the same game, the console team gets manhandled. Why is that? Well, probably because a mouse and keyboard is a better way of controlling a first-person shooter. You know it, I know it, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.

Here’s the thing: the gaming world isn’t governed by players and their preferences. It’s a business, subject to market forces, development pressures, and all that sort of thing. Remember when Halo was going to be a Mac exclusive? That didn’t happen for a reason: because there was more money to be made in launching it with a new console. Was it a better or worse game for it? I don’t know, I’m not a freaking oracle. And that’s not the point of this post anyway.

Look, making a big game is a nightmare. A studio needs to get a return on a huge investment, and where are the sales? In the piracy-ridden, heterogenous PC market, where you have to cater to every possible hardware configuration? No, but the game will probably be at its best on a high-end PC, so you kind of want to hit that anyway. But the main thing is to get a game onto the PS3 and 360 in as playable a form as possible. That way you have a guaranteed base of 40 or 50 million units that will all run it perfectly and work together just the way they’re designed to. Maybe they won’t have a mouse, but so what?

So you get AAA FPS titles like Modern Warfare 2 on a console, where people can play the game just fine against each other and enjoy the full experience — with a dual shock. Is the PC version the “definitive” version of the game? With MW2 I would suggest not, but with others it may be the case (GTA4 for instance). To make a blanket statement on this would be to commit a pretty foolish error. At the same time, don’t take someone to task for saying that Borderlands is better on the PC. I mean, what? It is!

Besides, I don’t think it’s an insult against console gamers or their games to say that a mouse and keyboard is the better control method. It’s like saying a wheel controller with pedals is a better controller for racing games. It just is! It doesn’t mean that everyone sucks without one, or that games that don’t support wheels are garbage. It’s just presenting an ideal. Can there be great FPSes on consoles? Sure! But let’s be honest about it and qualify that by saying that there’s auto-aim, the enemies shoot slower, and they generally have a more horizontally-orientated environment. It just makes it a better game on the console. They switch it up for the PC version, if they make one; if I can get headshots 90% of the time in Gears on PC, versus 10% on console, they better damn sure make it so that doesn’t break the game.

The console versus PC debate, which is what the mouse vs. controller thing is really about, ends up being a kind of silly one. There are fantastic games on both platforms, and some just work better on one or the other. Platformers are best with a specific controller, joystick sensitivity, and button layout. Real-time strategy demands a level of versatility, precision, and resolution that’s only available on PCs. And if we’re honest, so do FPSes in their ideal format. But that’s not always possible; the convenience and standard hardware of consoles often means a better deal for developers, and sometimes a better game for the consumer.

I may never be good at GoldenEye, but I could never say that game sucked. So let’s stop being such prideful bastards about our games and just agree to say “whatever works for you.”

Powered by Intel Core2 Duo processors, a 16:9 HD screen, HDMI and VGA outs are just some of the features. Lenovo also really hit the VoiP market hard with these. You’ve got WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, and some models have 3G built in. The camera resolution is supposed to be better, but we didn’t get any specs for it, so who knows. The integrated microphone now has a dedicated mute button for when you need to cut the audio. These laptops are even EPEAT and Energy Star certified to be green. So you’ll know that you aren’t horribly destroying the planet when you buy one.

The SL series is the lowest of the ThinkPad’s but the new SL410 and SL510 are the only members to be certified under Lenovo’s Enhanced Experience program. I’m not really completely sure what that means. According to the press release, “certified PCs deliver a faster, richer and easier computing experience over identical configuration, non-optimized PCs.” So they have the same hardware, they just run better for some reason? Why not just optimize all of them?

These should hit stores tomorrow, with a starting price of $529.

Questing in Kalimdor, I received word that, yes, the Wii has dropped in price to $199. After I logged out, I got to thinking: how long can this last? Like, the Wii (and the PS3) came out three years ago, and the Xbox 360 came out four years ago. Given how quickly consumer electronics evolve, how long we can expect to play these systems?

We pretty frequently hear rumors of a “Wii 2,” or whatever you want to call it, but that could well be because the Wii is only slightly more powerful than the GameCube, itself eight years old. How long can you expect people to play a GameCube with a fancy controller? (That’s not a knock against the Wii, of course, but it’s been a little while since we saw all those IT PRINTS MONEY articles.) That said, when was the last time you read something alluding to a PS4 or new Xbox? Heck, you can make the argument that the PS3 is just now starting to find its legs, what with the success of the PS3 Slim. Microsoft, for its part, seems to be clinging onto Xbox Live as a place where you’ll find its innovations.

Then you’ve got the fact that both Sony and Microsoft are tacking on motion control to their respective systems, and you get the feeling that neither company is looking to rush into the next generation. Nope, they’re gonna squeeze as much life out of these guys as they can.

And is there anything wrong with that, maximizing the current crop of systems before tossing them aside?

And let’s not forget that a significant number of people are still playing their games on a small, non-HD TV (probably with the TV’s built-in speakers, too), so these people aren’t even taking advantage of the current generation, let alone some crazy Future Techno gigaflops and whatnot.

I don’t know, I guess the point is: how long do you think the Xbox 360 and PS3 will last? You have to assume that Microsoft and Sony are already working on their next systems, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be playing them any time soon! And if we’re looking at another three years with the same systems, does that bother you? To me, the answer is “no,” it wouldn’t bother me to keep playing these systems (never mind that I mostly play WoW these days) for several more years. (Apologies if this seems disjointed, I’m writing this with one foot out the door.)

Head’s up to any of y’all looking to upgrade to Snow Leopard this weekend (that’s my plan, along with installing Windows 7). It’s not exactly a surprise, but some applications may be a little wonky with the new operating system, and this Web site has a list of what’s what.

Apparently World of Warcraft has some minor issues, and you’ll need to upgrade popular FTP application Cyberduck to a new beta to get it to work with 10.6.

There also seems to be some issues with Growl and Google Gears, so best to consult the list before you zap away plain ol’ Leopard forever.

Also, if I may, the Guardian has the best review of Snow Leopard I’ve read thus far, so be sure to read it when you have a few free minutes.

That is all.

There are no words to describe this act of lunacy, but it made me laugh out loud so I’m sharing with you. I’ll do the same thing when my MacBook Pro decides to kick the bucket. One more video after the jump.

via Giz

When Microsoft first showed off the Xbox 360 on MTV, what, four years ago, that was supposed to be the birth of the Era of HD Gaming. And while you and I may have a 1080p TV (and maybe even an entry level surround sound setup), it turns out, at least according to Epic Games’ Mark Rein, not even half of the people who played Gears of War 2 played it on a HDTV. That’s right, 50 percent of the people who battled the Locusts didn’t do so on an HDTV!

And what are the implications of this? Probably that we’ll be hanging onto this generation of video game consoles for a little while longer than usual. What’s the point of launching a new Xbox when half the people who have one haven’t really seen what it can do? It certainly saves developers money—no having to start over from scratch, trying to figure out the odds and ends of fancy, new (read: complicated) hardware in order to create an engine that “pushes the limits” or whatever.

I could be totally uncreative and end this with the question, “HOW MANY OF YOU PLAY YOUR GAMES ON AN HDTV?”

But I won’t.

Flickr

via Kotaku

I don’t quite see the appeal of Epic and Chair’s upcoming XBLA title Shadow Complex that was announced at E3, but I guess it’s because I think of Gears of War and Unreal Tournament whenever Epic comes up. Nevertheless, August 19th is fast approaching and Epic revealed the achievements today. Hit the jump for the latest gameplay trailer and the 12 achievements for Shadow Complex.

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CrunchGear’s Hipster Awareness Day Contest

While the call of the open E3 show floor left us with nobody in an actual seat at Sony’s two-hour-long press conference, we have eyes and ears everywhere. Everywhere.

Here are some highlights from Sony’s presentation.

Jack Tretton —  President and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment America

• 364 games coming out on PlayStation platforms this year
• “In 2009, if you want to have the ultimate gaming experience, you need a PlayStation.”
• Committed to PlayStation 2 as long as consumers see value in it
• 100 new titles for the PS2 this year
• What consumers really care about: great games
• 35 exclusive PlayStation titles in 2009

Evan Wells — Co-president, Naughty Dog

• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves “sets the new gold standard in limit-pushing”
• Multiplayer beta launches at midnight tonight
• Gameplay demo shown: graphics look great; think Gears of War meets Far Cry.

Andy Bowdoin — Zipper Interactive

• Live 256-player MAG multiplayer first person shooter battle shown — wow, that’s a lot of people. Controlled mayhem.
• Game debuts on PS3 this fall

PlayStation Portable

• Looking to expand into tween market
• Hannah Montana bundle with lilac-colored PSP this July
• Content from Disney and Nickelodeon

Kaz Hirai — President, Networked Products & Services Group; President & CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment

• Officially announces PSP Go
• Two names for the device: The PSP Go, and “The worst-kept secret of E3″
• PSP Go will NOT replace the PSP-3000
• More than 50% smaller and 40% lighter than the original PSP-1000
• Downloads from PlayStation Network via Wi-Fi
• New PC application for PlayStation Store called “Media Go”
• New PSP application called “Sense Me” for building smart music playlists
• PSP developer toolkit price will be reduced by 80%
• All services, features, and functions will work on PSP Go and PSP-3000
• PSP Go for $249 on October 1st in North America and Europe
• Video delivery service now available natively on the PSP — direct downloads, etc.
• New content from Showtime, E!, G4, HDNet, UFC, Magnolia, and more.

Kazunouri Yamauchi — Polyphony Digital

• Announces Gran Tourismo PSP
• Full-scale, runs at 60fps on PSP Go
• 800 cars, 35 tracks, 60 track layout variations
• Not a shrunken-down version of the series
• Ad-hoc multiplayer (up to four nearby players)
• Trade and share cars with other players, cooperative car unlocking
• Video shown: graphics look amazing

Hideo Kojima — Kojima Productions

• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker announced for PSP
• Setting is ten years after MGS 3, in the 1970’s, so it’s a true sequel
• Kojima will be “deeply involved” as will the team of MGS 4, so it’s not a spin-off
• Set in Costa Rica

Jack Tretton

• Resident Evil coming to PSP next year
• Coming to PSP this year: Little Big Planet, Socom, Monster Hunter, Hannah Montana, Harry Potter
• Adding 50 PS1 titles to PlayStation store, Final Fantasy 7 added today
• PlayStation Home has 6.5 million people worldwide, with 85% return users — looking to add more content from partners (EA, Ubisoft, etc.)
• New PS3 exclusive from Rockstar: Agent set in the late 1970’s. Cross the globe, espionage, assassins, etc.

Ubisoft

• Demo for Assassin’s Creed II shown
• Gameplay looks good, similar to the first game
• Set in the Renaissance period, uses Leonardo Da Vinci’s inventions; a flying machine in some parts — kind of like a hang glider, etc.
• Over 30 different weapons in the final game, six additional weapons if you play the game on PSP and connect it to your PS3
• On store shelves by the holidays

Square Enix

• Video of Final Fantasy XIII shown, looks amazing
• Coming in 2010
• Video of Final Fantasy XIV Online shown. PlayStation exclusive in 2010. “A new online epic begins.”

Motion Contoller

• Working to create a much more realistic experience
• Pulls out what looks like a black Wii-mote with a glowing ball on the end of it
• Glowing ball is tracked by PlayStation Eye, true 1:1 tracking
• If you pick up a virtual tennis racket, you’ll see yourself onscreen, EyeToy-style, holding a tennis racket.
• In a first person shooter, you can actually move around the room and your on-screen character will move where you move in 3D
• Drawing, painting, etc. tracked with sub-millimeter accuracy
• Looks like a souped-up version of the Wii
• Still an engineer’s prototype, launches spring 2010

Little Big Planet

• Costumes coming from Disney — Jack Sparrow, etc.

ModNation Racers

• Kart racing: create and modify cars, characters, and tracks
• “Unlimited number of combinations”
• Gameplay looks like Mario Kart with PS3-level graphics
• Track editor looks pretty simple: drive out the track in front of you using driving controls and then lift terrain, spray dirt, add trees, etc. Sort of like SimCity 3000.

The Last Guardian

• Looks like The Neverending Story set in ancient Greece: a kid rides a giant flying chicken-cat around
• Graphics and animation look stunning — superb lighting and shadows
• Exclusive to PS3

Gran Tourismo 5

• I can’t tell if I’m watching HDTV or a video game, so that’s probably a good sign
• Exclusive to PS3

God of War 3

• Graphics look good, pretty gory. Dude ripped out a minotaur’s intestines. Lots of blood. Stabbed some horned beast in the eye with its own horn after ripping it off its head.

Jack Tretton

• “This will be the biggest year in PlayStation history.”

GM has declared that the Chevrolet Volt is the company’s future, and we can see why after spending a good amount of time behind the wheel of an early test mule. The experience met every expectation we had about the extended-range electric vehicle. It was electric-quick, had instant torque, and was strikingly quiet. The test mule shows great promise that the Volt will be everything GM’s savior should be.

Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman of Global Product Development and an all-around man’s man, along with Frank Weber, the Volt’s chief engineer, chatted with us a bit before we got behind the wheel. It’s clear that these high-up GM suits feel very strongly that the Volt is something special. Many, including myself, have called out GM for largely ignoring consumer diesels and hybrids, but I finally understand their positive outlook after our drive.

The test mule we drove clearly shows that the Volt and Voltec platform has a bright future. Really, besides the lack of engine noise in EV mode and the single speed transmission, consumers shouldn’t notice anything different about driving this car. And that’s the way it should be.

The Volt will be a midsize car just like the Chevy Cruze test mule. The ride and handling wasn’t tuned in this early prototype as it was assembled for propulsion testing, but it still rode fine. The electric motor, however, was spectacular. There weren’t any annoying whines or high pitched squeals that normally accompany an electric motor. The tires were the loudest part of the drive.  

GM is stating that the Volt will get up to 60 mph in around 8.0 seconds and is done by the electric motor only. That would be half a second faster than Mini E, 2 seconds quicker than the 2009 Toyota Prius, and 4 seconds under the Honda Insight. Not too shabby in our book. The lack of a conventional transmission makes it feel very peppy and this car shouldn’t have any problems getting up to speed on the expressway.

Think about driving a golf cart. When you mash the gas pedal, it goes and doesn’t slow down for gears to shift. It’s the same thing in the Volt. The car just goes until it tops out without any jerking action that’s normally caused by the transmission.

The Volt will come with two different driving modes. One is for regular accelerate and coast type driving. The other is basically a one pedal driving mode. In this mode (which I didn’t like by the way), when the gas pedal isn’t pressed down, the brakes are instantly engaged. It felt a lot like driving in a very low gear at high speeds. This mode does have a purpose though.

Driving in this mode maximizes the energy regeneration from the electro-hydraulic brakes and therefore, helps keep the battery charged. This mode isn’t meant for expressway cruising, but more for stop and go traffic where the braking action will likely be performed anyway.

We drove the Volt Mule around GM’s Warren Tech Center for about 25 minutes and didn’t use a drop of gas. The Volt isn’t technically a plug-in hybrid. It shares a new vehicle segment called Extended-Range Electric Vehicle with the Fisker Karma. The car has a 1.4 liter engine on-board, but it isn’t connected to the wheels at all. The engine is there to act as a generator and recharge the batteries if they become depleted.

This engine gives the Volt around the same overall range as a standard car and kicks in when needed. We didn’t get the chance to experience the switch over during our drive but we hear that it should be seamless. Also, the Volt will probably have enough noise dampening that the small 1.4L shouldn’t sound that loud inside.

GM claims that the Volt will be able to drive about 40 miles on the lithium-ion batteries alone. That distance, however, is subject slightly to the draw on the electrical system by the heater and A/C unit. We asked the Volt’s head engineer about how much potential distance is lost, and he said only a few miles.

The Volt mule was a blast to drive and we can’t wait to see the final product. The next batch of test mules that merry the Voltec powerplant with the production Volt body and interior are under construction right now and are due in early June. Those prototypes, by the way, are right on schedule according to the original timetable.

If GM maintains the same breakneck development speed, we can see how not only this car, but the Voltec platform in general, can help save the company. There is already work on the next-gen platform and beyond. GM debuted the Cadillac Converj at the 2009 North American International Auto Show which is built on the same goods as the Volt.

Like Frank Weber told us though, GM has put the best of the best on this project and has turned out something incredible in a very short time span. It’s just too bad that the company could not push out other revolutionary vehicles at the same speed.

According to EnterBrain, Sony outsold both the Xbox 360 and Wii in Japan last month thanks to two key titles from Sega and Capcom. Rua Ga Gotoku 3 aka Yakuza and Resident Evil 5 finished first and second in software sales which led to increased overall hardware sales for the PlayStation 3. To be exact – Sony sold 146,948 PS3s compared to 99,335 Wiis and 43,172 Xbox 360s.

Despite what Sony says – this is going to be a make or break year for the console. Not that Sony will fold the business, that’s not what I mean. It’s been out for a little over two years and it’s still lagging behind the Wii and Xbox 360. The marketing for PS3 exclusives just aren’t “in your face” like they are for Xbox 360 titles. Do you remember the marketing blitz for Halo 3 and Gears of War 2?

As fun as the Ratchet and Clank series is, let’s face it, it won’t be boosting sales of the console to number one. inFamous shows promise as well as Fat Princess, but let’s hope they can hold over the PS3 until God of War III launches in Q4. And who knows when Gran Turismo 5, Yakuza 3, or FF XIII will rear their heads.

It looks to be a good year for the console, but the Xbox 360 is looking strong with a bevy of exclusives. The Wii will continue to dominate this year as well.

via Reuters

I probably should have gone to Basel this year. I never go. It always seemed so daunting: Switzerland is a closed country and I don’t have lederhosen and it just never worked. Anyway, Wired has a great round-up of watches including this striking Hamilton with no buttons, just a rotating bezel that starts and resets the chronograph, and this new T-Touch diver called the Sea Touch.

If we can say anything about this year’s crop of watches it’s that these things are getting bigger and uglier every year. I’m honestly expecting a backlash and the companies like Zenith and Concord who threw their entire R&D budget into building pie plates with gears will get nipped.

Then you see something like the Oris Bob Dylan, complete with Harmonica, and you kind of get all warm inside. Am I bad for wanting to pay $2K for this thing?

BODIES AS SHIELDS!!!

I haven’t typed out that phrase in a long while. Chances are you probably already downloaded the Snowblind Map Pack for Gears of War 2 but if you didn’t then this is your reminder. It’s available now for 800 MS points. You can also earn an extra 250 Achievement points. Hit the jump for a Snowblind trailer and further details on the new achievements.

Spanning tunnels, bridges, courtyards and offices, players can sharpen their skills on the four new maps in the Snowblind Add-on: Grindyard, Under Hill, Courtyard and Fuel Depot. All maps are playable on every “Gears of War 2” multiplayer mode, including the highly popular Horde mode:

· Grindyard is a massive industrial complex located in a junk-processing plant from the days of Sera’s industrial excess. The office, now gutted, serves as a perfect place to fortify, but if you’re not careful, you’ll end up trapped inside the office with no hope of escape.

· Under Hill takes players through snowbound tunnels that were once billed as a feat of Seran engineering. Head for high ground on the bridge and you’ll be rewarded with massive firepower, but be prepared to defend your position and try to escape being cornered.

· Courtyard is a wide-open battle royale containing explosive weapons that once formed the heart of Ephyra’s fashionable Civic Center. Lines of sight are far and clear here, and battles tend to focus around the elevated sniper nest. Watch your back and keep a fresh clip.

· Fuel Depot, back by popular demand, Fuel Depot is a “Gears of War 2” remake of the fan-favorite “Gears of War” map, but winter has set in and the depot is now covered in a blanket of snow. Open and unforgiving, it takes a well-coordinated team to cover all the angles here.

Here’s the complete list of achievements, points and descriptions:

· “Rookie Gear” (10 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 5 (Public only).

· “Seasoned Gear” (20 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 15 (Public only).

· “Battle-Tested Gear” (30 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 25 (Public only).

· “Battle-Hardened Gear” (50 points): Reach level 50 and play a match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (Public only).

· “Veteran Gear” (75 points): Reach level 100 and win a match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (Public only).

· “Never Eat Red Snow” (20 points): Complete waves 1 through 10 on all Snowblind Map Pack maps in Horde (any difficulty).

· “Icy Dead People” (25 points): Complete waves 1 through 50 on any Snowblind Map Pack map in Horde (any difficulty).

· “Frigid Body Dynamics” (5 points): Play a multiplayer match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (any mode).

· “The Weather Outside Is Lethal” (15 points): Win a multiplayer match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (any mode).

Apple may, just may, unveil Marble at this year’s WWDC, which may, just may, be in June. Marble is thought to be the code-name for a new user interface that may, just may, debut with Snow Leopard, the next version of Mac OS X.

Unlike Aqua, the name for the user interface that Apple has been phasing out for some time now—Panic’s Unison Usenet reader is a fine example of an Aqua interface—Marble is decidedly darker, and altogether more dull; it looks very “Windows” to me. (That’s pre Fisher Price Windows, mind you.) In fact, to get an idea of what Marble may, just may, look like, open iPhoto 09. The same color scheme and “feel,” to use a meaningless word, can be found there.

If, indeed, Apple hosts WWDC in June as expected, look for Snow Leopard, Mac OS X, 10.6, to be available within two months. So, just in time for back-to-school. Clever.

Maybe I’m in the minority, but I much prefer Aqua, what with its bright colors and shiny buttons, to this invasion of gray Apple has orchestrated. It’s like I’m playing Gears of War every time I use Safari (well, WebKit).

The cases for the S20 and D20 ThinkStations actually look nice enough to sell separately, so keep an eye on Lenovo desktops to see if you can score one. It’s got the usual ports, a display on the side, and carrying handles on both the front and back. That helps a lot in situations where boxes get moved around a lot — mainly businesses and LAN parties. The guts are either a Xeon 5500 or W3500, and for a graphics card you’ve got your choice between NVIDIA Quadro or ATI FirePro cards. Or this Tesla thing I haven’t heard of, which is mainly for math computation. For putting together those math games you guys all love so much.

It’s also super economical in power and noise as well as being really eco-friendly. They use a ton of recycled and post-consumer plastic in the case, although of course the components are still mostly toxic — of course, even the cardboard computer had that problem. Even if it’s not completely effective, it’s always good to see companies making that move towards green.

In any case, they sound like nice machines, and honestly if they’re good enough for Epic, they’re probably good enough for me. They’ll be starting at just over $1000 for the S20 and $1500 for the D20.

As I mentioned before, a few of us are in San Francisco this week for GDC, so expect a few bombs to drop this week in the gaming world, we hope. Atari announced today that Alyssa Milano is playing the love interest of Dr. Venkman in the upcoming Ghostbusters video game. Yeah, crotchety old Bill Murray has a thing for hottie Samantha from Who’s the Boss. Can you blame the guy?

The Snowblind map pack for Gears of War 2 that we mentioned the other week has been dated and it’s dropping on March 31. This includes four new wintery environments: Grindyard, Under Hill, Courtyard and a frozen Fuel Depot.

Bungie’s Mythic Map Pack for Halo 3 is dropping on April 9th with three new maps: Assembly, Orbital and Sandbox. In addition to those two hot games that have sold more than 35 million copies combined comes word of DLC packs Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead. The Pitt for Fallout 3 hits tomorrow and L4D’s Survivor Pack will drop on April 21.

The GOW2 and H3 packs will go for 800 MS points and we’d imagine the same goes for Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead, but no official word on the last two.

Bad news, Resident Evil 5 owners, Capcom has officially delayed the Versus Mode DLC. Yeah, we didn’t know there was an official release date either, but I guess it was slated to launch in Japan on the 26th of this month. However, it looks like it’s coming out on April 9th in Japan. No word on when it will actually be available in the US, though.

And last but not least is Rockstar’s declaration that Max Payne 3 will hit the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in the winter of 09. The story for the third chapter picks up where MP2 left off. Basically, he’s really pissed off and will be killing lots of people.

The facts are all splayed out for Sony, but they just don’t seem to want to listen. Perhaps an ultimatum from its content providers might make the company take another look at dropping the price of the bloated console. Janco Partners Inc. believes Sony will discount the console anywhere from $50 to $100 in the coming weeks. Surprisingly, the real outcry is not from consumers who simply cannot afford the system because Sony could care less what we think, but the publishers who would rather dump more money into development for Nintendo’s cheaper platform.

Don’t get me wrong, fanboys. The PS3 is a capable and powerful machine. That is not in question here, but the whole Blu-ray thing is losing clout with standalone players getting cheaper and cheaper. And Home is a bit of a joke if you ask me. Simply put, the Wii has half the market and it’s not going to stop anytime soon. Thirty two percent of Activision Blizzard’s earnings for 2008 were attributed to Wii titles while PS3 titles made up 19 percent. EA has committed a substantial amount of resources to develop and push out Wii titles to try and make up for the last two years that weren’t so kind to the company. And Peter Moore even says it has a ways to go.

Sony’s SVP of marketing for SCEA Peter Dille had this to say about price cuts.

Sony has no immediate plan to reduce prices, said Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment America in Foster City, California.

“Everybody in the development community would love for the PS3 to be free, so they could just sell razor blades,” Dille said in an interview. Sony is concerned with profitability, as well as the installed base, he said.

On the flip side, publishers can’t just ignore the platform because it hurts their bottom line altogether. Epic’s Mark Rein doesn’t think there will be a substantial shift in spending from one platform to another. The costs and titles are shared equally between the PS3 and Xbox 360 and making money from the PS3 is dependent on making a good game. He goes on to say that a successful PS3 title can easily be ported to the PC and Xbox 360.

But the fact of the matter is that when you drop the price of any console, sales increase the following month(s). When Sony dropped the price back in October of 2007, sales doubled the next month. The numbers speak for themselves. We know Sony loses money on every console sold, but MS does, too. But look at the install base for the Xbox 360 and the exclusive titles. Little Big Planet is basically the premier title and while it’s fun, it just won’t drive console sales like Halo or Gears of War did for Microsoft. While we haven’t reviewed Killzone 2 it looks like that game should help Sony out based on stellar reviews for it. Sony is dragging behind and they need to make some drastic moves this year. Hopefully something good comes out of E3 for the Sony camp.

via Bloomberg

There aren’t as many hot updates today as there were yesterday, but quality certainly trumps quantity in my book.

Earlier today there was a slew of unsubstantiated details trickling out from the 2K forums about BioShock 2. No need to get into that stuff since it wasn’t true, but if you’re really interested then check here. The real scoop is that you’ll be playing as the very first Big Daddy and liberating Little Sister from other Big Daddies. So, that’s the real deal and you can also pick up the current issue of Game Informer for other details. Oh, there’s one Big Sister and that’s the only thing true from the earlier rumor.

My favorite game of 2008, Gears of War 2, is getting a new map pack, and Title Update 3, which includes an experience-based ranking system amongst other goodies. TU3 drops on March 24 with Snowblind Map Pack dropping a week later on March 31.

Here’s what’s new in TU3:

* New experience-based ranking system: The new system gives you 100 levels of player experience, gained through scoring in Public matches. The game still uses TrueSkill to set up the most competitive matches possible, but skill ranks are now hidden. Players who quit matches early see their experience docked as a penalty.
* Public Match autobalancing: Bots now automatically join a Public Match to fill any slots left vacant by players who quit early or disconnect.
* Improvements: You get region preference for matchmaking, improved standby detection, playlist optimization, plus nine new achievements—six of which require the Snowblind Map Pack—worth a total of 250 points.
* Exploit fixes: Title Update 3 eliminates the ability to mantle greater distances by swapping weapons during cover slide and to melee attack through walls while holding an enemy weapon, plus adding many more fixes.
* General fixes: These include more reliable chainsaw interruption detection, improved headshot detection for certain character model heads, improved flag AI in Submission games, plus other fixes.
* Balancing: Title Update 3 makes changes to Subway weapon spawns for greater balance, reductions to smoke-grenade stun duration, an increase to the forward angle that triggers chainsaw duels, and several other balance revisions.

Snowblind Map Pack includes the following:

* Grind Yard, a massive industrial complex with low bunkers and high sniping positions.
* Under Hill, which takes players through snowbound tunnels and beyond.
* Courtyard, a wide-open battle royale.
* The popular Gears 1 map Fuel Depot, back with a blast of winter courtesy of Mother Nature, aka Epic Games.

Gamestop has the WB’s Batman: Arkham Asylum up for pre-order and the Collector’s Edition, which goes for an astonishing $100, includes a 12-inch Batarang! The site has been updated and contents have been taken down, but the batarang is the biggest news. The game hits stores on June 9th.

And last up is the trailer for Capcom’s Resident Evil: The Dark Chronicles that debuted last night in LA at the RE5 launch party.

What are you guys and gals playing this weekend? I’ll be playing some MLB 2K9, Grand Theft Auto IV (The Lost and Damned FTW!), EndWar and maybe FIFA 09. I think Dave is playing Halo Wars. Doug is probably cursing at Tiger. Greg is M.I.A. I have no idea what Devin is playing, but he rocks a PC and we don’t like PC gamers. JK. Matt is more than likely playing Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II since he just got a new PC laptop to test out and Nicholas and John are in Austin for SXSW, which means they’re playing Rock Band. No clue what Shaila, Scott or Serkan are playing, though. Apparently, we’re not in the cool kids group so we’re not playing Resident Evil 5.