Although Jack White of The White Stripes has already made a few musical appearances in Rock Band via The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs, he’ll be making a debut with his sister this time around. Three tracks from The White Stripes will debut next week: “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” “Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine,” and “Icky Thump” from their albums across the years. They aren’t the only bands making their debut next week; The Damned featuring “Smash It Up (Part II)” adds to the punk rock tracks in Rock Band. Kasabian with “Club Foot” joins these tracks on the 360, Wii, and PS3.

I guess No Doubt has no issues with Harmonix, because they’re setting their track “Excuse Me Mr.” for the PSP’s Rock Band Unplugged. Next week’s DLC for Rock Band Unplugged also includes “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” by Dropkick Murphys. As always, you can check the Rock Band site for a list of full tracks now currently available for download. [READ MORE]

Sean loves Reggie Fils-Aime and his ramblings. OK, maybe not but he does say some interesting things every now and then. He recently predicted that New Super Mario Bros will outsell Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 on one system. So we have the Infinity Ward title coming out on the 360, PS3, and PC. I can definitely see it outselling the PC and/or the PS3 version. I already talked to a few folks that have canceled their PC order because of all the hoopla that Infinity Ward is doing to that  title on the computer.

The two games really cater to two different sets of gamers though so whether it does outsell MW2 on another platform is irrelevant in my opinion. I think we should all aim for both games to do really, really well so that the industry remains healthy.

Sean, Chuck, and I recently played New Super Mario Bros and it wasn't bad in my experience. You can check out Sean's recap of the event. 

Here's the launch trailer for Modern Warfare 2 that shows off more good looking footage from the game including what looks to be a level set in space (skip to the 1:00 mark to see what I'm talking about).  It's a short bit but does seem to have kind of a weird Moonraker aesthetic to it (that's not a compliment).


I'm still torn on the game as the game defines the word hubris and I still think there's a lot of damage the game could do to the market.  We'll see when the game hits next week.

In celebration of this anniversary, Telltale is offering one of the episodes of Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures for free starting today until November 9th. If you’re a die-hard Wallace & Gromit fan, you can pick up all four episodes for your PC at the discounted price of $20. You’ll also be doing some charitable work in the process, as Telltale is teaming up with Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play to make donations in accordance with how many full sets of Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures they sell.

Today also marks the first time that all four episodes will be available on XBLA, as well as the first day to start making your orders for the Collector’s edition of the DVD. [READ MORE]

• Dragon Age: Origins hits shelves and 30 Seconds to Mars hits Dragon Age
• Last week's top games on Gamefly
• CBS shows are soon to visit your consoles and other gaming devices
• Your Direct2Drive bestselling titles are...
• ijji.com to fly top Alliance of Valiant Arms players to Korea for tournament
• Did Activision mention Band Hero is out today?
• Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment wants to help your RPG life to be less tedious
• Shopping for the Zelda fan in your life?
• Prince of Persia movie trailer released, teases that movie could not suck
• ECS loves....goOoooooOOoOoOoold
• That hat in Team Fortress 2 looks familiar
• Behind the Band Hero commercial featuring Taylor Swift and members of Weezer

These may be just sound bite video clips but they're gosh darn entertaining. I mean I love Taylor Swift but my home boy Jay-Z should have been in this game and not her.
All kidding aside, enjoy these videos that show a glimpse behind the scenes of the latest Band Hero game.

For a look into some of the gameplay aspects and story behind Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, a new developer diary featuring Akitoshi Kawazu gives insight.

He gives a bit of information on who Layle is and what sort of role he and the other Crystal Bearers play in their society. Akitoshi Kawazu also points out the abilities of the Crystal Bearers and in what ways you can use them. You know you have to give a game the time of day when the developer looks as proud as Akitoshi does here.

Last week in Nintendo’s traveling airstream trailer John, Chuck and I had the chance to test-drive a few of the publisher’s holiday products. Up first was arguably their most anticipated 2009 title, New Super Mario Bros Wii, the sequel to 2006’s Mario platformer revival on DS. The three of us teamed up with Janie, Nintendo’s very friendly representative, and stumbled through a handful of levels as Mario, Luigi and a pair of Toads.

You may have heard rumors that the game will play itself for you, and while it’s true that this is the first Nintendo title to include the “Super Guide” feature, it only gives you that option after you’ve failed a level eight times. Old school Mario fans hungry for a challenge need not worry that New Super Wii will hold your hand. Miyamoto’s sadistic platforming style remains pure and from what I’m told, white-knuckle hard toward the end of the game.

The levels we played ranged from easy to challenging, with a decent amount of variety between each. One of the early, green hilly levels featured moving terrain that made timed landings difficult, and thus it was harder to avoid running into enemies. Next we tried a fairly standard sewers level, complete with the obligatory pipes and piranha plants hiding in them. The most challenging level had all four of us riding on a raft through a cavern occasionally punctuated by hard-to-reach platforms, irritating bats and Koopas tossing fireballs down onto us. The hammers were bad enough; I must have missed the memo about those jerks getting fire flowers.

Speaking of which, we could obtain the usual Mario powerups and they functioned just as they did on DS, but Janie told us that we could eventually find a propeller suit and some other new items. The only new ability I saw was Mario’s spin move from Mario Galaxy. All four players can execute it now by shaking their Wii remotes, and I’m a little disappointed that it still feels just a bit floaty and unresponsive. We didn’t see any other new powers or goodies, or even returning New Super items like the giant and micro mushrooms, but seeing as they’ve been adopted into Mario Kart I’m sure they’ll show up. I’m still holding out hope for the Tanooki suit or maybe the Koopa shoe—after all, the Koopalings are finally coming back, maybe we’ll get some Super Mario 3 powerups too.

Yoshi makes a return and he functions almost identically to how he did in Super Mario World on the SNES, right down to the classic sound effects. He can devour enemies and gobble the apples hanging from trees, eventually laying an egg containing a powerup if you feed him enough. We only encountered Yoshi in two of the five levels we played, and considering that you could find him in almost every level of Mario World, his scarcity in New Super is a bit disappointing. Still it’s pretty cool that all four players can be riding different colored Yoshis at once, given you find enough Yoshi eggs.

For the most part New Super Wii played just liked the DS game with a few additions from older Mario games that were missing on DS. It’s the cooperative element that sets it apart from the first game. Having four people running around the screen, snapping up items and jumping on each other gets pretty frenetic and reminded me of Smash Bros. Players can now pick up and toss each other around the stage, which is useful for reaching certain areas but can be disastrous if not aimed and timed properly. Powerup blocks now spawn four items at once but if you’re feeling like a selfish jerk you can snatch all four items and deprive your buddies of a much needed super mushroom. New Super Wii can be played cooperatively or competitively—you can really mess up your friend’s game if you steal items, get in their way or jump on their heads. You can even jack a friend’s Yoshi with a well placed ground pound. Conversely players can work together to complete puzzles or reach places that a single person could never get to. Some of the secret areas can only be unlocked through teamwork.

4 player gameplay definitely gives 2D Mario party appeal. Our session quickly turned goofy—Chuck is a pretty professional guy but he was cutting up a little, although that might have been bemusement at me for using his head as a stepping stone to a fire flower. Still, this goofball atmosphere made it difficult to play a level with any precision, and it seemed like we were all dying far too often. Bunching up causing players to bounce off of each other repeatedly, and spreading out makes it easy to lose track of your character—two problems I’ve often encountered in Smash Bros. I’m sure a two player Mario-Luigi game would be easier, but a coordinated, well-flowing four player match is still sketchy.

Don’t get me wrong, I really liked New Super on Wii, but after playing it my opinion remains the same: I think it’s kind of an odd fit for the Wii. I’d really prefer another DS game with multiplayer, and considering that the Wii build doesn’t support online play I don’t see why they didn’t just do a four player DS title to begin with. I know they’re going for the family fun angle with everyone huddled around the living room TV and playing Mario, but the similarities to Smash Bros just made me want to play that instead. I’m still looking forward to New Super Wii and I’ll be picking it up without a doubt, especially considering my girlfriend has always wanted to get into classic 2D Mario and New Super Wii is a great starting place for newcomers. That said, I really wanted a sequel I could play on the go.

I'm not sure what's gotten into the water over at Infinity Ward but my enthusiasm for Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 2 has been dying a slow death over the last few weeks.  First we had Infinity Ward killing off dedicated servers for the PC side of the house which I could label as IW trying to own the process a bit more and to make a little extra advertising coin off of PC gamers.  That's certainly their right despite stripping PC gamers of their ability to host and configure their own servers (which is a fairly big deal for that demographic).  I was probably going to buy the Xbox 360 version of the game so this doesn't impact me too much.  The downside is that the door is now open for more PC developers to do the same which would have severe repercussions in the PC gaming community over the next few years

Then came word that the game would allow you to play as a terrorist as part of one of the levels.  You can skip the level if you want
to but the fact that Infinity Ward has the hubris to allow gamers to play the role of terrorists opens the game and the industry up to an enormous amount of criticism.  While I didn't lose anyone close to me during 9/11 (although I know people who did) I did have to live with terrorism on a daily basis while I lived in Germany in the early 1980's.  The windows in my father's office were damaged by a bomb so I'm probably a little more sensitive than others about the topic.  I do see how Infinity Ward is pushing the narrative envelope but this feels like one of those psychology experiments of the 1970's gone wrong.  When this hits the mainstream press no one will hear how you can skip the level and no one will hear how you are playing a secret agent trying to protect their cover.  All people are going to hear is "You play as a terrorist and you get to kill civilians without repercussion in Modern Warfare 2".

Infinity Ward then tops this off by killing team voice chat and releasing a mildly inappropriate video which makes me wonder what exactly is going on at IW HQ.  I don't doubt that the game will sell well and will receive a ton of accolades but I do wonder if Modern Warfare 2 is going to end up harming the industry through the controversial content and if the game's approach to PC gamers will end up harming them in the long run.  Time will tell but I'm a bit worried.

There are already 93 mixes available to DJ Hero, but Activision is adding to the pack with some DLC offering a mix of 50 Cent featuring Mary J. Blige with Queen, and a Gorillaz vs. Public Enemy track, “Can’t Truss It.” Check the videos for what the music will play like. I like the Gorillaz vs. Public Enemy track.


These two extra tracks should tide you over until November 24th, when you will get access to the David Guetta Mix Pack. David Guetta’s tracks are remixes of some popular R&B songs, and he’s generally known to produce music of the hip-hop mixed with house nature. I’m not his biggest fan, and I definitely think there are better DJs out there, but I bet there are plenty of others who are excited for his music to be featured in DJ Hero.


[READ MORE]

Activision is doing a lot to support their Hero franchise next month. Here's the slew of updates you'll be getting in November:

Starting November 5th, you'll be able to import 61 tracks from Band Hero into Guitar Hero 5, and 69 tracks from Guitar Hero 5 into Band Hero (around $5 and $6, respectively).

Marking the 20th anniversary of his debut album, Lenny Kravitz will release a three-pack on November 12th containing "Lady," "Let Love Rule," and "Fly Away."

The KISS track pack, out November 19th, features "Lick It Up," "I Was Made for Loving You," and "Modern Day Delilah" (the first single off their new album). 

The Kravitz and Kiss track packs will cost 440 MS Points/$5.49/600 Wii Points each. Single songs from these packs will cost 160 MS Points/$1.99/200 Wii Points.

On November 24th, Activision is doing you a solid by releasing a free track pack. The six-pack of songs features Neversoft employees.  "Lemon Frosting" by Bunny Knutson, "RockNRola" by Nancy Fullforce, "From the Blue/Point of No Return/T.T.R.T.S." by An Endless Sporadic, "Love Holds it Down" by Dom Liberati, "You Really Like Me" by Davidicus, and "Guilty Pleasures" by Tony Solis. The free track pack will only be available on 360 and PS3.

Cry not, Wii owners. Looks like there will finally be some "Justice for All" now that you're going to have access to more Metallica tracks (thanks for your pity laughter). Formerly only available on the PS3 and 360, the following songs will be available as single downloads for 200 Wii Points each: "All Nightmare Long", "That Was Just Your Life", "The Day That Never Comes", "The Judas Kiss", "The End of the Line", "The Unforgiven III", "Suicide & Redemption J.H.", and"Suicide & Redemption K.H."
  [READ MORE]

The folks at Faceplate addict are auctioning off a pretty kick ass Mirror's Edge faceplate on Ebay with 100% of the proceeds going to Child Play.  The faceplate has been signed by developers of the game and could make a cool gift for the Mirror's Edge fan in your life.  The bidding is only at $60.99 which seems kind of cheap for something this cool plus it's for charity.