$45 Off Condemned 2: Bloodshot for Xbox 360, Original Price $59.99, Now $14.99

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If you’re in or close enough to Austin (Cedar Park TX), Baltimore (Owings Mills MD), Chicago IL, Cleveland (North Olmstead OH), Dallas (Southlake TX), Detroit (Shelby Township MI), Houston (Tomball TX), Indianapolis IN, Las Vegas (Henderson NV), Los Angeles (Pasadena CA), Memphis TN, Nashville (Murfreesboro TN), New York (North Babylon NY), Philadelphia (Fairless Hills PA), Phoenix (Avendale AZ), Pittsburgh PA, Portland (Hillsboro OR), San Diego CA, San Francisco (Union City CA), San Jose (Antioch CA), Seattle (Redmond WA) or Washington DC (Woodbridge VA) between now and 19 September, you have the chance to try out the new ODST firefight multiplayer mode.  A Halo 3: ODST Transport vehicle has been sent on its way by Bungie, Microsoft and Game Stop, and it will be calling at each city. To see when it stops where, visit Major Nelson, who has all the details.

If you pre-order Halo 3: ODST from Amazon right now, you will get:
- $10 Video Games Credit. “The promotional code will be placed directly into your Amazon.com account within 2 business days after the product ships.”
- a code to play as Sgt. Johnson in the new “firefight” co-op mode. “Codes will be emailed 10 business days after the game releases.”
Plus, according to a post from persian_mafia on slickdeals.net you can get an additional $5 credit by using the coupon code HALOODST at checkout, plus a $5 mp3 Credit. Worth a try, anyway. If you can get all these, you would end up paying only $39.99, saving a third on the ticket price.

There’s a review of upcoming game DJ Hero worth a look from Destructoid. The game comes out on October 27, and there are 2 bundles to choose from: the DJ Hero Bundle standard edition, priced at $119.99 and the DJ Hero Renegade Edition Featuring Jay-Z and Eminem at $199.99. Both come with the turntable controller and everything you need to get started.

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

If you want a chance to play Halo 3: ODST three weeks early, you need to head for MLG Dallas, which is on 28th through 30th this month. All the details are here. Meanwhile, here’s a preview:

Xbox 360 registered more minutes online than PS2 in May, the first time any console has achieved this. Though Microsoft are crowing about it, judging by the graph it’s just a flash in the pan. [Source]

Bungie is looking forward to another celebration this week, as Halo 3 is set to top 10 million sales – a phenomenal number. Sales are still going well – it was number 2 in the sales chart at Amazon last week, though how long this will last once ODST hits the market is anyone’s guess. [Source]

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The week’s Xbox charts puts Rock Band 2 Special Edition in the lead, followed by Halo 3, Call of Duty: World at War, UFC 2009 Undisputed and Gears of War 2 in North America. Halo 3′s position as number 2 selling game seems incredible, unless this figure represents pre-orders of the upcoming Halo 3: ODST.

Japan looks to have a Gears of War 2 fixation this week, with 4 of the 6 top spots filled by various editions, the Limited Edition being top pick. Add them up, and they would surely be at number one, but this honor has been handed to Magna Carta 2, while position 3 is held by Red Faction Guerrilla.

In the UK, the big news at the moment aside from the recession is the Ashes – a cricket match between England and Australia. No surprises, then that Ashes Cricket 09 (not available in the US) is at number 1 in the European chart, followed by Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Grand Theft Auto IV, Fight Night: Round 4
and Red Faction Guerrilla.

A pretty mixed selection there, and it only goes to show that tastes vary widely on different parts of the planet.

[Source]

First spotted by GameStop.com, who passed the evidence on to Kotaku, the Pro Console is no longer being featured as an option on the Arcade packaging. This development was originally predicted by Joystiq’s Ars Technica, who also predicts that there will be some great Xbox 360 Pro deals to help it on its way.

Here’s a great idea from New PC Gadgets: an Xbox 360 Console Security Kit to keep your baby safe from harm. Priced at $29.95 you can see all the details and order it here. [Source]

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

There’s this market analyst called Michael Pachter who works for Wedbush Morgan Securities. Apparently this position gives him the insight to be able to predict the future for the game console market 6 years ahead.

Leaving aside that this guy’s expertise is probably more relevant to stock than gaming, it’s worth remembering that the recent disaster called the Credit Crunch significantly failed to be predicted by any of these so-called experts. So when he says that by 2015, the Xbox 360 will have fallen to third place behind the PS3 and the Wii, we can maybe take what he says with a big pinch of salt. [Source]

His analysis is based on the fact that the PS3 comes with BluRay, while the Xbox is currently stuck with an inferior technology. Since Sony owns the rights to license BluRay, and MS is its arch-rival on the console front, this might seem like a nobrainer. But there’s a gamechanger in the wings, and it has nothing to do with movies…

Project Natal’s developer kit for Microsoft’s camera driven full body motion controller is already out with game manufacturers (according to a piece in the UK’s Daily Mirror). It’s not due for release until the end of next year, but a new motion controlling “wand” for the PS3 is due out early next year – even though very few developer kits have been made available, which seems pretty strange.

Halo Reach is also due out at the end of next year, and Harold Ryan of Bungie says it “could” be enabled for Natal. Given that MS has made most of its money so far from the Halo franchise, it wouldn’t be surprising if this was the plan, or at least part of it. [Source]

And finally… If you’re a Worms fan, you’ll be pleased to know that the xbox live title Worms 2 is now available, and according to Team Xbox it’s worth playing. They give it 8.8, which is pretty good.

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

Xbox Live silver members get 3 days free trial (with no prizes ) on the 1 vs 100 beta. It runs from today, Friday 26th through Sunday 29th June. [Source]

If your copy of Fight Night: Round 4 is freezing on the opening screen, try deleting any demo files you saved on your hard disk previously. If that doesn’t work, head over to the . [Source]

Garou: Mark of the Wolves, available on Xbox Live for “absolute steal at 800 Microsoft points or $10″ gets a good review at 8 bit Joystick.

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

The new Jasper boards are being shipped with more ram and disk space. No news on how to tell them apart, full story here.

Left4Dead 2 has caved in to pressure to replace the chewed off fingers on their original box art after lots of protests from the pc brigade. As you can see, Amazon’s image of the box doesn’t even show this, but has blacked out the pic altogether. If you want to see what it looks like now, Joystiq’s got a picture.

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

Some industry people are predicting that motion control (including the Wii’s motion controller as well as this new development from MS) will take half the market, so it’s in Microsoft’s interests to make a success of this, and release it on time and with as few bugs as possible. This would be a first. Microsoft’s projects have a history of being late, buggy and often overpriced as well.

If you’re thinking of buying Damnation, this review may change your mind. Just Cause 2 by contrast gets a rave review at With Leather (wtf?). It comes out on 30 September. See the video below for a demo. Looks like fun. Wonder if it will work with the new full body control?

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

Modern Warfare 2, the sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has lost part of its title, as pointed out by Destructoid. Due out on November 10, it seems that the level of what Destructoid calls “grenade spam” has improved some – at least, no grenades were seen in the demo, but “increase according to the difficulty level”. [Source]

The new Games on Demand has been cursed with a name you can’t really abbreviate, but I doubt it will have any appreciable effect on its popularity. Microsoft just released a video showing how it works, and it seems impressive (see below). [Source]

Backing up your game disks is more than just a good idea, as a single scratch can stop your favorite game working for good – and having to pay out twice for the same game is no joke. Play safe, and back up your game as soon as you get it home, then play from the backup, and put the genuine disk away safe from harm. This is perfectly legal, so long as you only do it for your own use, and don’t go making multiple copies and selling them all over the net. Easy Backup Wizard is currently on special offer, so get your copy now, for less than the cost of most games. You’ll never lose a game to scratches again!

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

UK gamers will be interested to hear rumors that SkyPlayer is soon to be available on Xbox – which means they can watch TV stations previously only available via satellite, including sport and pay-per-view. It’s not definite, so costs aren’t known, but if the rumors are true, it may be bad news for Sky Satellite. Source

Microsoft is happily trumpeting total sales of Xbox 360 to date have reached 30 million (and 20 million XBL users), after a 28% jump in sales last year. Seems like the strategy of extending warranties for RROD paid off big time. Source

There’s a video review for Terminator Salvation here. He gives it a rating of 6.3:

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

What’s most interesting about this is that apparently “Many of these technologies are plausible, or in development” – read the full story for more details, but I’m sure it’s a dream for many generals to have equipment like this.

Australia is to be offered a new Gears of War 2 bundlle, containing the console (in plain white, but they can always add a GOW 2 Red Skin to match the box), plus both Gears of War and Gears of War 2, but seemingly not the All Fronts Collection addon. Priced at AU$449, it’s due to hit the stores on June 4. Source

Capcom and Infinity Ward both released figures published today. Capcom’s Resident Evil 5 has hit 5 million sales (4.4 in the first month), and they say they only expect to sell another half million over the next year because “games with a hardcore, existing audience such as Resident Evil 5 sell well in their first few months” and then drop off. Source

Call of Duty 4‘s figures are much more impressive, reaching 13 million unique users, according to an interview on XBL. Source

On the subject of COD4, take a look at this vid and take note. I guess a few people will try and ape this technique, as it seems to work ok:

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

If you’d like a chance to win a copy of Terminator: Salvation
head on over to Gizmodo now and answer the question: What’s the best way to terminate a Terminator? in 25 words or less.

In reviews, Raiden Fighters Aces – a classic game, no, wait… three classic games ported to the Xbox 360 (only) gets a decent review from Team Xbox, and Bionic Commando, another classic which has been revamped for the Xbox is tagged as “a worthy purchase” by Den of Geek, both of which are listed In Stock at Amazon, though the BC review gives a release date of 22 May.

Microsoft have announced a new “Games of the Year” Elite bundle which comes with Halo 3 and Fable 2 and is available while stocks last at Amazon and other vendors. Xbox 360 Elite Halo 3 Fable 2 Bundle

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

Gears of War 2 has broken the 5 million sales barrier, and MS used the occasion to announce the release of a collection of all the DLC so far released, called Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection, including Allfathers Garden, Memorial, Sanctuary, War Machine, Highway, Way Station and Nowhere, for $19.99. [Source]

Joystiq revealed that Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, originally announced for Summer 2009, is to be delayed until around September, but no definite date as yet.

For those who like that sort of thing, there’s an interesting interview with Reuben Langdon, the man behind the moves in games like Resident Evil 5, Devil May Cry 4 and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, amongst others, published today on GameZone.

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

A review of the upcoming Assassin’s Creed 2 in Game Informer magazine and spilled online by Zapages on NeoGaf reveals the usual new weapons, new abilities including swimming, flying and disarming – and using the opponent’s lost weapon against him, new enemy types and 16 distinct mission types, none of which are easy dropping or pickpocketing missions. AC2 is meant to “address concerns people had with AC1″ the biggest of which was lack of variety. There’s no news as to when it comes out. Source

The Beatles come to Rock Band on September 9 to form The Beatles: Rock Band Limited Edition Premium Bundle, priced at a hefty $249.99 Рthough you can get the software only for $59.99. For your extra $190 you get a H̦fner Bass controller, Ludwig-branded Rock Band drums with classic pearl finish, a metal kick pedal and a vintage replica drumhead ; plus a microphone with stand and, additional special content. Source

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

Amazon has run out of Fable II Limited Edition, but at the time of writing, there are 14 available from the marketplace from $40 – which is less than the standard version.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena comes out tomorrow, 7th April. It’s the sequel to Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, which itself is a fps with a few interesting twists.

Ninja Blade is also due out tomorrow. Amazon have a pre-order offer – you get a token for some free dlc. You only have a few hours, so go and order it now, if you’re interested.

The Godfather II comes out on the same date as the others, finally.

Amazon is offering $9 off the price, if you pre-order all three games (Dark Athena, Ninja Blade and GodfatherII) together. Again, this is only available for the next few hours.

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

Red Faction: Guerrilla is due out on June 9 (the demo comes out on April 23), and features in an interview between Destructoid’s Nick Chester and Volition’s Luke Schneider, below, in which they discuss the joy of destruction and similar topics:

Source

There’s an April Fool also connected with RF:G about a new Ostrich Hammer weapon… Source

Fans of the MMO genre will be happy to hear that the Lord of the Rings MMO may be heading for Xbox Live – but neither Microsoft nor Turbine seem willing to confirm or deny when, or if, that may be… Source

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

Just in case you haven’t seen it already, here’s the song that’s going the rounds, with Halo footage to go along with it. The song “Halo (All I Play-Oh)” is by Jude Kelley and Dan Amrich based on an original by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and the video is by Usethefork. Source

The Pitt, dlc for Fallout 3, gets a thumbs up from Adam Larck, who seems well impressed with the new weapon, the Auto-Axe.

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

Microsoft saw sales of the Xbox 360 rising by 27% in February to hit 391,000 sales, well behind the Wii and DS at 753k and 588k respectively. Only 2 Xbox games featured in the top 10 games sold, Street Fighter IV at number 2 with 446k sales and Call of Duty: World at War at number 7 with sales of 193k units. [Source]

Activision may get a few extra sales of COD: World at War as a result of the activities of a petition from the Animal Rights club at Academy of Notre Dame in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts against the shooting of dogs in the game. [Source]

Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, originally developed by Sierra is now being published by Codebusters for release April 1. Billed as having content not suitable for children, the story is about a porn star who is trying to break into the mainstream. There are a couple of short interview-type videos with Carmen Electra and Jay Mohr-Kip, two of the voices, on Destructoid’s page.

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

The bad thing about my dreams: they end.

By no means am I a professional athlete. Yet almost every night, I watch myself on TV draining three pointers, hitting towering home runs, and throwing sky scraping touchdown passes with the best in the game.

I realize all my sports dreams are make believe. I live for life’s little pleasures.

The tiny light at the end of my tunnel is thanks to today’s digital technology. I can become a professional athlete by creating myself in a video game.

I’m not the only person to do it, or to have ever done it.

Joffrey Lupul is a winger for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. In addition, he is also a featured athlete in EA Sports’ NHL 2004.

“I used to create my own player and try to make it look as much like me as possible,” said Lupul in an interview with John Gaudiosi of ESPN Gamer. “I guess now I won’t have to do that.”

Sports video games have been evolving since “Pong,” a tennis-like game where two players use long bars to defend their end of the screen from what vaguely resembles a ball. It debuted on the Atari game system in 1976. In 2003, the top-selling game of the year was EA Sports’ Madden NFL 2004, which sold over 1.3 million copies in its first week.

Unlike me, many athletes today do not need to create a digital image of themselves to be featured in a game. Today’s popular sports video games have the characteristics of all active players. Professionally licensed games even have players’ accurate height, weight, and hometown. The best games even feature individual trademarks of certain players, like Vince Carter’s classic double-handed sky point after a furious dunk, or Ichiro’s bailout first step as he swings at an inside pitch.

“When I was a little kid, everybody could do the same dunks and lay-ups,” said Jay Williams in an interview with Patrick Hruby of ESPN Gamer. Williams, formerly an NBA point guard, plays video games daily as a diversion from the rigors of rehabilitating his left leg following a 2003 motorcycle accident. “I remember last year, the game version of me was doing the same hand gestures I do.”

The NCAA prohibits endorsement by its amateur athletes, but that doesn’t mean collegiate athletes are less fortunate. All the player attributes are there, only the names are deleted to protect the unpaid.

Jason Colson is a 6’1”, 215 pound, sophomore tailback who proudly wears No. 24 at West Virginia University (WVU). In EA Sports’ NCAA Football 2005, his name has been changed to “HB #24,” but the height, weight, and class rank are all the same. When No. 24 steps into the backfield, the game player knows they are about to hand off to Mr. Colson.

“As a youngster, I never pictured myself being in a video game,” said Colson. “It’s cool playing as yourself.”

Today’s younger athletes have grown up in the video game generation. All of them have memories of playing games as kids and teens. Many still play.

“One of my favorite game players growing up was Terrell Davis in the Madden games,” remembers Kay-Jay Harris, another WVU tailback you can find in NCAA Football ’05, starring as “HB #1.” “[Davis] never looked like he was running that fast, yet no one could catch him. Our running styles are similar.”

Most athletes play video games the way most gamers play: as entertainment, for fun. In WVU’s football player lounge, a PlayStation2 (PS2) is plugged in next to the team TV. Several players take the games they play on the screen as serious as the games they play on the field.

Ray Lewis, whose spastic pre-game dances and primal, near death-causing hits on the field make him one of the most intimidating players in the NFL, is also known to be one of the most competitive video game players in the league. Lewis hates to lose at anything he does. Thanks to his competitiveness on the field and in front of the screen, Lewis became the first defensive player to be chosen as cover man for the 2005 installment of EA’s Madden NFL series in August.

Video game popularity with athletes has soared because of the free time they have in the off-season.

“[Games are] relaxing. It’s pure entertainment. This is the way you kill four, five hours,” Lewis said in an interview with Matt Wong of ESPN Gamer. “You have your boys over, you have your kids over, and you have a big tournament. We might have three TVs going.”

“I played [EA Sports’] MVP Baseball 2004 all summer long, and Rasheed Marshall and I played MarioKart on [Ninetendo] Gamecube for a week straight,” said Harris. “I could play games like that all day, 10 straight.”

Games are clearly the best cure for the off-season blues, but many athletes see the benefits video games have as recruiting tools.

“Video games can be a positive influence for younger kids, who might not have started skating yet,” said Minnesota Wild center Pierre-Marc Bouchard, in an interview with Gaudiosi. “If you get into the realism of the video games, kids might try street hockey and eventually graduate to the rink.”

The National Hockey League has been entrenched in a lockout since Sept. 16. With no end in sight, holding the interest of young fans will be crucial to its future. While it seems possible that the entire 2004-2005 season could be cancelled, fans can still find excitement by turning on their PS2 or Xbox.

“It’s tough to replicate the battles along the boards in video games,” said Eric Staal in an interview with Gaudiosi. Staal plays center for the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. “But if kids don’t know anything about hockey, [video games] are fun to play because it’s up and down action and scoring goals.”

Microsoft’s Xbox, PS2, and GameCube allow sports to be played year round. Fans can get their fix at any time of the year with a simple flip switch. Indeed, they are simulated, but the World Series can go on in the dead of winter, and hockey games can hit the ice in the scorch of summer.

For athletes, video games can help them stay entertained, or distracted, when they aren’t on the field.

For future athletes, gaming consoles provide the ultimate first step to falling in love with a sport.

Video games allow all who play to live outside themselves. Armchair quarterbacks become heroes. On the field quarterbacks get the opportunity to dominate their most hated rivals. Everyone can live out dreams in cyber world they never could on the field.

Jonathan is a starving, struggling writer who aspires to work in public relations when he graduates from West Virginia University (http://www.wvu.edu). He is a marketing intern with Advanced Internet (http://www.advancedtele.com) and a stringer for John Raby of the Associated Press
[Source]

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.

Joystiq are runnin a comp to win a Limited Edition Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 bundle. The Xbox 360 bundle includes: the red console with 120 GB hard drive, a red wireless controller, the Resident Evil 5 game (standard edition), and download codes for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (XBLA) and the Resident Evil NXE Theme.

One entry per person. You must be a resident of the US or Canada.

You must get your entry in before 3:59 pm ET on Thursday, March 12.

Here’s the link for the competition again: Joystiq

©2010 Gaming and Collectibles News. All Rights Reserved.