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    Give thanks for Bit.Trip Void on November 23

    November 5, 2009 - 11:39am

    Gaijin Games has announced a release date for the third game in its abstract, chiptune-infused Bit.Trip series. Bit.Trip: Void, which involves using the Nunchuk's analog stick to absorb and/or avoid dots based on color, will arrive in North America on November 23. "That's right, the week of Thanksgiving!" the announcement notes. "Total sweetness in the village." Like Beat and Core, it'll cost 600 Wii Points.

    If you like the music from the Bit.Trip games, you'll also be delighted to know that the soundtrack for Bit.Trip: Beat is now available for purchase on iTunes and CDBaby, with releases to follow on pretty much every online and mobile music retailer you've ever heard of, and several you haven't.

    Finally, proving its allegiance to the chiptune community. Gaijin Games announced that it will sponsor this year's Blip Festival in New York City. Classy!Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Joyswag: Wii Fit Plus and a Wii Fit Plus shirt

    November 5, 2009 - 11:15am


    With the major pound-packing holidays bearing down on us at breakneck speed, we thought it prudent to help a few of you shed those unwanted love handles with a free copy of Wii Fit Plus. Are you game? See below for how to enter -- best of luck!

    • Leave a comment telling us whether or not you actively exercise
    • You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)
    • Limit 1 entry per person per day
    • This entry period ends at 11:59AM ET on Wednesday, November 11
    • At that time, we'll randomly select one winner to receive Wii Fit Plus for the Nintendo Wii ($20 ARV) and a Wii Fit Plus workout shirt ($20 ARV)
    • For a list of complete rules, click here

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    USK: Phoenix Wright holding court on Wii

    November 5, 2009 - 10:45am

    A rating on Germany's USK database suggests that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is being planned for Wii. "Objection!!", you may say, thrilled to have the opportunity to work that in. "Didn't Ace Attorney Investigations producer Motohide Eshiro already say that the series would remain on handhelds?"

    While it's true that future Ace Attorney games will probably be on handhelds, the series has already been ported to PC, proving that someone within Capcom -- and not necessarily anyone involved with actually making the Ace Attorney games -- has no issue with porting the existing titles, which is extremely likely to be what is happening here. And this is the same Capcom that said that Resident Evil 4 would be a GameCube exclusive.

    Our guess would be an episodic WiiWare presentation of the first Phoenix Wright. Or a mistake in the rating description.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Possible free Lego Rock Band with $20 Old Navy purchase on Black Friday

    November 5, 2009 - 10:35am

    We're going to approach this scanned Old Navy Black Friday ad with as much skepticism as we can muster, both because there are a lot of variables and because we, personally, are trying to convince ourselves not to join the Black Friday crowds at Old Navy, of all places.

    According to the ad, the retailer will be offering free "Lego Rock Band video games" with purchases of $20 or greater on Friday, November 27. "Your preferred platform may not be available," the ad warns, presumably due to limited overall supply. We're wary that it could be a demo or something like that, but the fact that Old Navy will also be selling Rock Band 2 bundles, and giving away guitar controllers with said bundles, makes this doorbuster deal seem more likely. But it's still crazy to hand out a $50 video game with $20 worth of clothes.

    If you want to check it out for yourself, Old Navy stores will be open at 3AM that day. Have fun!

    [Thanks, Kneon!]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Allow Activision to introduce you to Taylor Swift

    November 5, 2009 - 6:29am


    If you're anything like us, you threw off your Taylor Swift comforter this morning, changed out of those Taylor Swift jammies, and thought to yourself, "Today is one more day to win a chance to meet Taylor Swift." Thankfully, Activision and upcoming family-friendly music game Band Hero are teaming up to make that dream a reality. If you purchase a copy of Band Hero in the month of Novemeber (why, that's this month!), you can enter for a chance for two to meet Taylor Swift. Alright, alright, now calm down. You're panting. It's going to be alright. After you pick up your copy of Band Hero tonight, slowly remove the instruction manual from the inside of the game box and simply enter the code from its back at this website. According to the site, you could supposedly win some other stuff or something, but whatever.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    French mag shoots DS through wall, we all win

    November 5, 2009 - 2:30am


    The simple truth is that we don't care why French magazine Amusement shot small electronic devices through a wall. Oh sure, there are reasons supplied. Specifically, the gallery in question is entitled "Overheating" and depicts several objects being hurled through a wall out of frustration -- including a DS Lite. Yet, once again again, the why really doesn't matter. The end result -- a flying, frozen mass of wood, sheet rock and plastic -- just looks cool.

    And anyway, it's not like all of us haven't felt like hurling a console through the wall every now and then. Now we just have a handy visual reference.

    [Via GameSetWatch. All images: Romain Laurent]

    Continue reading French mag shoots DS through wall, we all win

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    Viacom: The Beatles: Rock Band sales strong, overall RB growth slow

    November 4, 2009 - 9:29pm


    Even though John, Paul, George and Ringo have been rocking the disc tray of your favorite console with The Beatles: Rock Band, its expectation-exceeding sales haven't helped boost overall Rock Band sales. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman told USA Today the "economics of our Rock Band franchise are improving, though not as quickly as we'd like." There's still hope that Rock Band could at least break even or show a small profit, though Viacom CFO Tom Dooley said that will depend entirely on the franchise's performance this holiday season.Despite tanking sales, the music genre still remains one of the best in the industry and The Beatles: Rock Band shows us that the right approach could still determine financial success in the space. Its September debut was very fortuitous and it even managed to best Guitar Hero 5 in the US -- which not only came with a free game, but is also one of the most recognizable brands to the mainstream. Source - USA Today Source - Viacom earnings reportPermalink | Email this | Comments

    2009 THQ year-to-date sales up 22 percent over 2008

    November 4, 2009 - 8:01pm


    THQ has released its financial results for the second quarter of its fiscal 2010, which ended September 30, 2009, and things are mostly looking up. The company lost money this quarter compared to the same period last year, posting non-GAAP net sales of $100.38 million, down from $151.62 million during Q2 of its fiscal 2009. However sales are up for the entire year, with THQ posting net sales of $334.28 million for its fiscal 2010 thus far, up from $272.69 million last year, a 22 percent increase.

    THQ blamed the second quarter dip on a lack of new titles, though it hopes to have a good holiday season thanks to a "strong mass-market line-up" including WWE Smackdown vs RAW 2010 and MX vs ATV Reflex. The company was also sure to mention its triumph in the JAKKS Pacific lawsuit, which resulted in a much lower payment to the longtime WWE series developer (though the scuffle is still haunting the publisher).

    Finally, THQ promised to prevail in its march to profitability by the end of fiscal 2010. Though the company expects its Q3 2010 to be 5-10 percent lower than the same period last year, it predicts Q4 sales will exceed those of last year. A reasonable hope, given that all of THQ's major releases drop in its fiscal Q4, including Darksiders, Metro 2033 and the Dawn of War 2 expansion, Chaos Rising.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Prototype Wii game found in developer portfolio

    November 4, 2009 - 7:40pm

    The website for Eric Testroete, who recently made the rounds for his "big head mode" Halloween costume, shows work-in-progress screens of an unannounced Wii war game he animated for MLB Superstars developer Deep Fried Entertainment. The game uses an almost top-down, zoomed-out perspective, and appears to put the player (or players) in control of jeeps equipped with machine guns. As Kotaku notes, it looks rather like Konami's Jackal, prompting the site to speculate that it's a ReBirth made for Konami, like the recent Castlevania, Contra, and Gradius games. If true, it would be the first ReBirth title not to be developed by M2 in Japan. Of course, the American side of Konami is also working on refreshes of old Konami franchises in the form of Rocket Knight, so there is precedent. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Epic Mickey is the strong, silent type (of cartoon mouse)

    November 4, 2009 - 6:20pm

    When Mickey Mouse makes his triumphant return to the world stage in Disney Epic Mickey, he'll do so without his trademark squeaky voice. The mouse will still speak in the game, but all speech will be rendered as text bubbles. And it's not a technical limitation, but an artistic one.

    "I made the creative decision that characters wouldn't talk in the Cartoon Wasteland," Warren Spector explained to The Cut Scene. "It was entirely a creative decision because [he begins speaking in a high-pitched Mickey voice] As soon as I start doing this, I've lost most of my potential audience. [resumes natural voice] If I'm trying to re-introduce this character to an audience, there are certain connotations with that voice that I'm going to have a hard time overcoming." When he does speak in a future game, he'll probably be an affable Everyman voiced by Nolan North (our guess).

    Oswald, Spector said, won't need much consideration, due not only to his relative unfamiliarity to modern audiences, but also due to the properties of the character itself. "If you watch the existing cartoons," Spector said, "he's such a special character. In many ways, he's a funnier, more cartoon-y, more modern guy than Mickey is." Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments