We're putting off Episode 50 to bring you special coverage of all the Gamer's Day information straight from San Francisco. We've even got a man on the scene, our own Chris Grant. He's gotten some quality time with Gears of War 2, Penny Arcade Adventures, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts and a ton of other games and now he's dropping the knowledge directly onto you.
We've also got another entry into the "Now You're A Songwriter" contest, "Too Many Hours" by Ross Hudgins.
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Hosts: Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin McElroy
We love hit web show Will It Blend?, but we're a little worried about this new iteration featuring a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV. All we're saying is that we're going to be heartbroken if a team of moms and politicians re-dub the video to turn it into anti-game violence propaganda. ("Why am I blending GTA? So my kids won't kill people!") But just remember, gang: Tom Dickson would never say that, because he is right and pure and good. So don't be confused.
Also: Of course it blends. What, are you kidding? It. Always. Blends.
You know, it's a funny thing about adjectives in the video game industry. Final Fantasy is never actually final, the company that made Cabela's 4x4 Off-Road Adventure III was called Fun Labs and with its one appearance on GameCube, Eternal Darknessseemed to be anything but. Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack provided some hope however yesterday, while speaking at Microsoft's Spring Showcase.
TVG reports that Dyack said "We don't want to be pigeon-holed [into a genre], we want to be known for strong content...There's a strong chance we'll return to it, but there's no announcements yet." It's not much, but if you've played the game we know that's enough for your day to be officially made. If you haven't -- what are you waiting for?
Can you remember back to November 3? No, young one. Not November 3, 2007. That'd be easy. No, we're talking about Nov. 3, 2006. The nation was tuning in to watch the antics of The Honeymooners, bell-bottoms were all the rage and a young Dwight D. Eisenhower was just gearing up his bid for the presidency. It was a crazy time. But it's also when we first got a release window for Dragon Age, a BioWare RPG that was supposedly due in late 2007 or early 2008. As a quick check of your calendar will tell you, both have come and gone.
But fear not! Speaking at yesterday's EA spring showcase in San Francisco, BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka said that the game is not only still in the works but is "Looking really sweet." Well, we should certainly hope so, Ray. We should certainly hope so.
Some of you may have already received the June 2008 issue of Game Informer in the mail, but, for those who haven't, we thought you might enjoy seeing the first image of the new Guitar Hero IVdrum kit one subscriber scanned. As you can see, the main difference from the Rock Band kit is that the yellow and orange drums have been turned into two wedge-shaped pieces elevated above the others.
Cool as it looks, we still don't have the most important piece of information about the kit: If it will be compatible with Rock Band, or if RB's kit will work with Guitar Hero IV. We like fake instruments as much as the next nerd, but two fake drum kits may just be more than our dens, living rooms and dignity can withstand.
[Update: Just so there's no question, you have to click the picture to see the full image. There is totally a foot pedal.]
What's that you say? You probably could have guessed this yourself without our help? Oh, fine, yeah, you're probably right. But look at the PC with his little mug of broth by the fire. He was freezingout there. Cut him some slack.
We talked before about the late-night media frenzy surrounding Grand Theft Auto IV's release, since it was kind of hard to miss GTA if you watch TV between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. It gave us no small satisfaction to see the game pop up on one of the late-night comedy stalwarts as Niko and Vlad (played by Bill Hader and Fred Armisen) appeared on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update. You can see the clip from last Saturday above.
Now, is it ... funny, per se? Well, our ribs have been more fiercely tickled, that's for sure. But they're trying. Isn't that the important thing?
You got a taste of Too Humanthis morning with those leaked screenshots, but now we've got the mother lode of media straight from Microsoft's Gamer's Day. There are a few screenshots below and we've got the above video showing off co-op action in the game.
Now that we have an official date and so much more information, we're finding it progressively harder to contain our Too Human excitement. What about you?
It looks like help may be on the way for those of you who are still experiencing some freezing problems with Grand Theft Auto IV on PS3. One user on the official PlayStation forums said he received an email from Take-Two stating the issue was "with the launch edition of the PS3 and this game" and that "the game was checked over and passed as 100% compatible with the current version of the PS3."
As for the fix, the alleged Take-Two staffer reportedly wrote that "Sony are aware of this difference and are looking into producing a new firmware just for the earlier version of the PS3." Wow, a whole new firmware update? For one game? We hope the swelled head doesn't affect Niko's balance when he's bludgeoning and murdering hookers.
There's nothing that really makes these new Fable 2 screenshots and concept art from Microsoft's Gamers' Day stand out from others than we've seen, but that doesn't mean they're not a delectable eye treat. We've got 16 new ones and a box shot just below.
Sadly, we didn't get what we were really hoping for from the event: A release date more concrete than the nebulous "Holiday 2008" it's currently saddled with. Ah well, there's always E3.
The end of a decade long journey will finally come on August 19 this year as Too Humanfinally hits store shelves. Well, we mean, probably. It seems pretty concrete, but we're not ruling anything out with Too Human. We won't believe it's actually been released until we're a good two or three hours into playing the final disc.
So, just how many leaks have sprung from the S.S. Microsoft Gamer's Day '08? Well, let's put it this way: A string quartet has started solemnly playing their final song and a person with priority issues has started rearranging the deck chairs. Yesterday it was Banjo Kazooie 3 and Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, now, Shacknews has some new screens from Too Human.
They appear to show some co-op gameplay from Denis Dyack's baby, which we imagine we'll be getting an earful of at the event (alongside a boatload of information about some of the other titles). Our anticipation has slacked a bit, what with all the leakage, but we're still dying to know what "Lips" is. Expect to hear more soon.
We brought you the rumor yesterday of Sega inking a deal to publish titles by ex-Clover staffers' Platinum Games, and a couple of new videos on GameTrailers basically confirm it. We're sorry about the quality (they're shaky-cam videos from a mysterious source), but we think you can get the idea. The first, seen above, is a super-violent Wii game called MadWorld.
After the break, you can find a clip from Devil May Cry creator Hideki Kamiya's Bayonetta. It's a story of a girl with guns on her feet (based on the classic short story by John Steinbeck). Look for higher-quality versions of these clips to rear their heads soon with Sega's Gamer's Day taking place tomorrow.
[Update: It appears that (surprising no one) Sega has had the videos pulled down. Let's hope we get higher quality versions tomorrow.]
Analyst Michael Pachter is sticking to his prediction that Grand Theft Auto IV provided more of a bump to the PS3 than 360 in April, predicting 290,000 in sales for Sony vs. 275,000 for Microsoft's box. It's worth noting though that Pachter also predicted PS3 would top 360 in March, days before the NPD reported an Xbox 360 win.
Now, does any of this mean that either of those systems (or the sales of those systems combined) beat the Wii? No, of course not, don't be ridiculous. Pachter predicts that 600,000 Wiis flew off of shelves in April, likely aided by the release of Mario Kart Wii and the unslakable waggle thirst the general populace seems to have discovered.
Analyst Michael Pachter is sticking to 
