In keeping with the tradition, a weekend of power shopping fueled by countless irresistible offers follows the Thanksgiving binge on turkey and football. Even as the economy continues to flounder, the videogames industry has been going strong and publishers are counting on big sales numbers this season. Retailers are doing all they can to help by breaking out freebie filled flyers for the perfect retail storm we call Black Friday. So, whether you choose to brave the brick-and-mortar stores or hit Refresh constantly for some online shopping, we want you to find the best prices to save a little green. By scouring all the advertisements we could find and online sources like Cheap Ass Gamer, we’ve put together a collection of the best deals in hardware and software that you can expect this Friday.

Keep in mind that everything listed here is while supplies last, and for particularly cheap or rare items that’s not going to be very long. Game consoles are arranged by price, so you can find the least expensive deal right at the top of list. We’ll be updating this list regularly throughout the next few days to keep you updated to any new deals we discover. And if you see anything missing please call it out in the comments and we’ll get that included ASAP as well. Happy shopping.

Microsoft Xbox 360

• $199.99 - Arcade Holiday Bundle with 20GB HDD and Wireless Controller (Circuit City)
• $199.99 - Arcade Holiday Bundle with Rock Band 2 (game only) (Dell)
• $199.99 - Arcade Holiday Bundle with Guitar Hero 3 and Wireless Guitar (Wal-Mart)
• $299.99 - 60GB Pro Holiday Bundle with NBA 2K8 and Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground (Best Buy)
• $299.99 - 60GB Pro Holiday Bundle with $30 Gift Card (Circuit City)
• $299.99 - 60GB Pro Holiday Bundle with 12 month XBL Gold (K-Mart)
• $299.99 - 60GB Pro Holiday Bundle with $50 rebate card (Radio Shack)
• $299.99 - 60GB Pro Holiday Bundle with $60 Gift Card (Target)
• $199.99-$399.99 - Any Holiday Bundle with included Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (GameStop)
• $199.99-$399.99 - Any Holiday Bundle with included Wireless Controller (Sears)
• $299.99-$399.99 - Pro or Elite Holiday Bundles with included Guitar Hero 2 (Game Crazy)

Continue reading " Black Friday Videogame Deals Cheat Sheet "

Yahoo News reports that the National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF) has given the videogame industry a positive report card this year and come down hard on parents, in stark contrast to most years prior. The 13th annual report was released today, and the industry almost received straight A’s, with particularly high grades in the ratings system and retail policies. “This year the industry has improved its ratings enforcement and given parents new tools when choosing the right videogame for their child,” said NIMF president David Walsh. Parents of gamers, on the other hand, showed poor performance this year, getting an “Incomplete” grade. The NIMF points out that many parents don’t pay enough attention to the ratings and don’t use the parental control features of game consoles.

As usual, the organization has outlined ten games parents should avoid letting their kids play. This year the games listed are all rated M, so the ESRB agrees:

• Blitz: The League II
• Dead Space
• Fallout 3
• Far Cry 2
• Gears of War 2
• Legendary
• Left 4 Dead
• Resistance 2
• Saints Row 2
• Silent Hill: Homecoming

Instead, the NIMF lists more family-friendly titles as alternatives, including Guitar Hero World Tour, Rock Band 2, Rock Revolution, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, and Shaun White Snowboarding.

The games industry has a strained history with the NIMF. In 2005 it gave the ESRB an “F”, and just last year it sharply criticized the ESRB for staying stagnant as the industry matured. Parental involvement received a “C” grade last year, so it’s the one that dropped most sharply while the industry itself showed vast improvement. Gamers have been advocating more parental responsibility for years, so it’s good to see the NIMF agreeing.

Continue reading " NIMF Blames Parents for Kids’ Access to Violent Games "

With Thanksgiving about to hit, we’ve finally made it out of the crazy release season, and 1UP FM is celebrating by reminding you of games you might want to check out that may have been lost in the rush of big holiday releases. Yeah, more games you should buy and play — we’re cruel, right? Old-school EGM Live hosts Greg Ford, Mike Cruz, and Shane Bettenhausen join us to list off their choices for games that didn’t get the buzz they deserved as the year dragged on and their reasons for why you should give them a second chance. We’re talking about a ton of games here, too — everything from Lock’s Quest to Condemned 2 to The World Ends With You — so get those Christmas lists ready.

But that’s not all! Review junkies Ryan Scott and Justin Haywald stop in for Shelf Life, where Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Chrono Trigger, and The Last Remnant are discussed in detail. Then Tina Sanchez slams the Mailbag down onto the desk and forces us to answer some questions along with Alice Liang.

Download the new show right here or subscribe to our podcast feed via iTunes. And be sure to start playing Beyond Good and Evil so you can follow along with our latest Backlog — we’ll be starting that discussion with next week’s show!

Continue reading " 1UP FM Revisits Overlooked Games of 2008 "

“Go play a real instrument,” is the sort of snarky comment that all-too-frequently accompanies any discussion about rhythm games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but if a recent survey by Guitar Center is any indication, many gamers are doing exactly that. In fact, the retailer believes so strongly in the increasing number of faux rockers crossing over to the real deal that they’ve launched A Real Guitar — an e-card website designed to help gamers achieve their real-life musical aspirations.

According to Guitar Center’s findings, 67 percent of rhythm gamers responded that they’re likely to pick up an actual instrument within the next two years. On top of that, 81 percent of players said that Rock Band or Guitar Hero had motivated them to ask their loved ones for a musical instrument as a gift this holiday season. Naturally pleased with this year’s 26.9 percent jump in sales to first-timers, Guitar Center’s executive vice president Norman Hajjar remarked, “This spike of interest in playing actual instruments stemming from a video game is an unprecedented phenomenon,” adding, “Most video games sell fantasy, but Guitar Hero and Rock Band are selling a dream that can be realized. These games plant an achievable goal in the heart of the player and that, in turn, drives our business.”

Dr. Larry Livingston — music director at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California — sees rhythm games as an excellent primer for getting into music:

“These games are a painless and fantastically seductive entr?e to playing music. They engage your mind, body and soul, creating a whole sense of the movement of music. Having tasted the experience, players may want to move from the simulated to the real. Therefore, it’s no surprise that these games have whetted the appetite for the real deal.”

Continue reading " Rock Band and Guitar Hero Turning Gamers into Musicians, Says Guitar Center Survey "

The BBC reports that the vast majority of people who seek treatment for compulsive gaming habits aren’t addicted. The word comes from Keith Bakker, founder of the Smith & Jones Centre in Amsterdam, Europe’s only clinic for treating game addiction. After treating hundreds of compulsive gamers, Bakker has found that only 10% of gamers are truly addicts. “These kids come in showing some kind of symptoms that are similar to other addictions,” he said, “but the more we work with these kids the less I believe we can call this an addiction. What many of these kids need is their parents and school teachers — this is a social problem.” The clinic has started to alter its treatment to hone the social skills of the compulsive gamers, rather than traditional addiction counseling.

Bakker finds that 80% of their patients have been bullied at school and simply feel lonely, and have sought out online game communities as a form of social interaction. The best treatment for these cases is to introduce a social, real-life place that they feel accepted. He suggests that parents are generally the best solution for stemming excessive gaming, by taking away the games if a player is developing compulsive habits. But 87% of online gamers are above the age of 18, and have to make their own choices of how much is too much.

Excessive game-playing isn’t just a matter of relaxing a bit with a game after work. One example from the clinic played Call of Duty 4 for at least 10 hours per day. “Call of Duty was somewhere I felt accepted for the first time in my life,” the anonymous gamer said. “I liked gaming because people couldn’t see me, they accepted me as my online character. I was aware that I played too much but I didn’t know what to do.”

Continue reading " 90% of Compulsive Gamers are Not “Addicts” "

Never one to hold back his words, David Jaffe, God of War director and co-founder of developer Eat, Sleep, Play Inc., uncorked an epic (no pun intended) blog post over this past weekend. For starters he saw God of War 3 last week down in Santa Monica where it’s being developed and in response said:

a- HOLY HOLY HOLY FUCKING HELL!!!!
b- I thought GEARS OF WARS 2 looked about as good as a next-gen game could look….and that game is currently- and will probably remain- my game of the year. And hell, I think I actually get to vote on that kind of stuff in some circles And unless I get blown away by POP or something else I missed, GEARS 2 is the SHIT….this year. Dudes and dudettes, fucking WAIT till you see the amazing graphics…just fucking wait.

So, yeah, evidently God of War 3 looks all right.

But wait, did he just name Gears of War 2 his game of the year over the PS3-exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4? Yes, he did, and in an update to his original post Jaffe explains his position. He says, “LOVE MGS4…have yet to finish it but I LOVE it. I just think as an overall game- for ME- Gears was able to achieve its goals better and thus, the overall game experience- for me- was better.” He does at least tag them both as classics. And who knows, maybe it’s just a case of affinity for the acronym.

Jaffe also snuck in a little update on what’s going on with Eat, Sleep, Play. He says, “We have not gone multiplatform. We are 100% exclusive to Sony and we are proud of and grateful for that affiliation.” Sorry Xbox 360 fans (or as Jaffe calls them, “Xbots”), but it doesn’t look like you’ll be seeing anything from them on Live anytime in the near future. He leaves a glimmer of hope, adding, “Doesn’t mean we will ALWAYS be single platform, but right now we see no reason not to be and are- again- very, very happy with the situation and would love to think Sony will always want us to be exclusive to them.” Don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty definitive from here.

Continue reading " David Jaffe Sees God of War 3, Spouts Expletives "

It’s been an especially litigious weekend for rhythm game developer Harmonix, who are currently at the center of a class action lawsuit over faulty drum pedals included with the first Rock Band. Brought to court by a Kansas resident by the name of Monte Morgan, the plaintiff accuses the drum kit’s manufacturers of purposely shipped last year’s game with flimsy pedals in order to encourage upgrades to Rock Band 2’s improved drum kit.

A spokesperson from the Cambridge-based developer finally responded to these claims in an email to 1UP this afternoon. Understandably, they are less than pleased with the Morgan’s allegations:

“Harmonix and MTV Games are dedicated to consumers having an outstanding experience with our products. When used as directed, our drum pedals are designed to provide years of enjoyment. In addition, at the launch of Rock Band we offered consumers an extended opportunity return defective or broken hardware for any reason whatsoever — no questions asked. This litigation is opportunistic and baseless.”

We’ve used the old kits around the office “as directed” and still ran into a few problems here and there. Either way, we have to give props to Harmonix and MTV for extending the warranty as long as they did. They certainly could’ve just pocketed drummers’ money and charged full price for repairs instead of doing it for free for almost a year after release. We’ll let the courts decide if that’s deliberately cheating consumers, as Morgan alleges, but the safe bet is on “Nope.”

Continue reading " Harmonix Responds to Rock Band Drum Pedal Lawsuit "

GENEVA, Switzerland (Wire News Service) - Fears concerning the potential of the Large Hadron Collider to end the Earth — once dismissed as naive — were nearly made manifest earlier this month, when a crowbar-wielding hero was forced to repel an alien invasion brought through a temporal vortex that was accidentally opened by the mammoth doomsday machine.

Okay, that didn’t actually happen. But in the picture above (and the ones below), we can see the next best thing. You may recall that back in September, an anonymous CERN researcher working on the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator gained a small amount of Internet infamy when it was pointed out that he bared a striking resemblance to Half-Life hero Gordon Freeman. Since there was some concern at the time about the potential of the Large Hadron Collider to explode the world, the bloggers at Reddit took the necessary precautions by sending this researcher a few safety tools: a crowbar, a headcrab hat, and a Half-Life strategy guide. Not only did he receive this survival package, but it seems he put it to fantastic use.

As you can see, the folks at CERN took the opportunity to hold a small photo shoot with their newly received goodies, acting out the Half-Life fantasies we all prayed wouldn’t become reality (via Shacknews). You can see a few more photos in the full gallery, and there are even some videos you can download.

Continue reading " ‘Real Gordon Freeman’ Saves CERN from Headcrab Invasion "

Midway has been having a great deal of financial troubles recently, and now it seems it’s catching up with them. GameSpot reports that the struggling developer has been served a delisting notice by the New York Stock Exchange, due to failing to reach an average closing price of $1 per share for the last 30 days of trading.

Now, in order to avoid “further delisting actions” (presumably, actually being delisted), Midway must raise their shares within the next six months. Midway responded by saying it “plans to notify the NYSE that it will seek to cure the deficiency.” (”Cure the deficiency” — now there’s some euphemistic language).

For Midway, much now depends on how well Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is received, as it’s their only big holiday game this year other than Blitz: The League 2. The developer said it also hopes to recover some losses through continued sales of older titles like TNA Impact!, Mortal Kombat Kollection, and the Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament 3.

Continue reading " Midway Served Delisting Notice by NYSE "

Guitar Hero World Tour 'Cythbot'

If there is one certainty in life, it’s this: Anything humans can do, a robot can be built to do it better. Now humanity takes another dangerous step closer to obsolescence, as Cyth Systems has built what they call the “Cythbot,” a robot that can automatically play Guitar Hero — and play it well.

In the video above, you can see a tech demo of Cythbot making its way through Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality” on Expert difficulty, a song that’s not exactly a breeze. Behold as Cythbot makes (gulp) mincemeat out of it.

As Wired reports (via Joystiq), the robot works by bringing together various components to tackle the different challenges of playing Guitar Hero. A camera hooked up to a “Configurable Signal Conditioning Enclosure (CA-1000)” views and analyzes the notes streaming down the screen, using the light intensity of the pixels rather than differentiating the notes by color. This system then interprets notes and sends signals to pneumatic “fingers” hovering over the guitar controller, which is held in place in an aluminum box frame. These signals tell the fingers when to activate, compressing onto the fret buttons and flicking the strum bar.

Continue reading " Robot Tackles Guitar Hero Song on Expert, Succeeds "