http://whatsinthebox.nl/ So what is it? New Half Life? Portal? New IP? Very interesting. Some folks have uncovered some very interesting things about this website as of late. Digging through the code, seems its a website for Valve. There have been users all over the net deciphering this since early this morning. Seems that when you mouse over the circle there is some Hex code, also in the source code is a website http://babel-research.eu/ which has some very interesting Black Mesa, Aperture Science, and the Hanso Foundation Logos. Read More...

Finally we get the word on the release date for Banjo Tooie on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The bear and birds second adventure will be out next week on Wednesday the 29th for probably the same amount as the original Banjo Kazooie, 1200 Microsoft Points ($15)The game will allow you to swop any of the hidden eggs you found in Banjo Kazooie at Heggy's Hen for brand new moves that were not on the original N64 version. Here's a little video that came out a couple days before Easter that shows you a preview of the stop n swop and where to find any of the eggs in case you missed them.    Also a list of all the achievements can be read here if you're interested. Read More...

Today Valve released downloadable content on both the PC and the Xbox 360.  Called the Survival Pack, the DLC provides new campaign maps for the Versus Mode and an entirely new gameplay option, Survival Mode.  Also included are various patches and fixes to improve the overall gameplay by covering up the glitches and bugs found in the game post-release.  In Versus Mode, teams of players take turns being the survivors trying to escape and the special infected bent on stopping them.  The addition of new campaigns has been widely sought by the community at large. Read More...

In a dispute which has been raging on for the past couple of days, Activision Blizzard Inc. was ordered by a California court to turn over it's game code and custom turntables for it's new DJ game "DJ hero" back to Genius Studios. Genius Studios was working on a game known only as Scratch: the Ultimate DJ, and was working with California 7 studios to finish the product. Genius and Activision Blizzard Inc, were in discussions about creating a new title but things got sticky and fell through. So what does the Video game Giant do? Read More...

Sorry it’s been a couple of weeks, folks, but once again, I’m bringing Nintendo’s weekly DLC into the spotlight.  This week, the big N drops two titles into the DSi Shop, one into Wii Ware and one into the Virtual Console.  Everyone has good weeks and bad weeks and Nintendo is different with this week’s lineup. The “Telephone” clone is impressive in that the title can support up to 21 people online, but 500 points seems a bit pricey for a slightly improved version of Picto-chat.  The Master of Illusion Express: Shuffle Games title is a great idea, for a demo. Read More...

Guitar Hero: Smash Hits Let me ask you a question, am I the only one that isn't a fan of greatest hits albums from bands? Compilations of songs that I already own but the band thinks that they are the best of their collection and need to make another CD of just these songs. Making the need to shell out more cash to pick up songs a new disk that I already paid good hard cash for. How does this make sense in a world? Really? Read More...

From GameIndustry.Biz:Amazon.com has become the first retailer to begin selling Xbox Live Arcade content, previously only available through Microsoft's official website or the Xbox 360 Marketplace.The beta service offers US customers Xbox Live Arcade game codes, Microsoft Points and subscription cards"PC gamers have enjoyed the convenience of digital downloads on Amazon.com for some time. Now Amazon. Read More...

It was announced today that Sam&Max Surfin' The Highway has been nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album - Reprint by The Eisner Award Committee. The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards is a prize that gives recognition for creative achievements within the comic industry. The winners are announced each year at the annual San Diego Comic-con.Sam & Max Surfin' The Highway is the complete collection of Steve Purcell's work of the Freelance Police duo. It was originally published in 1995, and is being reprinted for the 20th Anniversary of Sam & Max. Read More...

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 For some reason Marvel would rather slowly tease us all with a slow release of playable characters for the next ultimate alliance game. Very slowly it would seem. Almost one a month from the count that I have seen. At least outside of the original outburst of characters that were assumed to carry over from the first game. But with around 24 playable characters, going at one a month won't be anywhere on time for their Autumn release schedule. Unless they plan to hammer us at E3 with a bunch of the others. Read More...

    So how would you like to play a game that speaks only French? Imagine seeing “Qu’est-ce que tu fais ici, vous stupid idiot!” (What the hell are you doing here you stupid idiot, and you thought reading this you wouldn’t learn anything) Well in Quebec you can. You heard that right, according to the Toronto Star, as of April 1st (and no this is not April fool joke…) Quebec passed a law to prohibit sales of new English-only video in Quebec if a French version is available. Because of this law retailers and gamers will have to wait for new releases to come to Quebec due to developers having to spend extra time to make the games French only. “I’m afraid it’s going to cost me my business” said Ronnie Rondeau, co-owner of Game Buzz around Montreal, “If it really was going to make a difference, I’d be for it, but only a small number of people want to play in French. Read More...

Overview Of OnLive If you have been paying attention to anything that has come out of this year's GDC, or at least following the Total Meltdown Podcast, you most likely heard some bit on the new service called OnLive that is being worked on. Some say it is the future of digital downloading, and others are skeptical about this new system that has been proposed. Which of course is why I went out to ask a few things from the people behind this service to get a few answers and information to give out. For those of you who have no clue what OnLive is, here is a an overview of it and in simpler terms for everyone. Read More...

Top 10 Reasons To Get [Prototype] If for some reason you didn't want to even give Radical Entertainment's game Prototype a good college try, no clue why one wouldn't really, then here is a list of the top ten reasons for you to consider. Or at least look at and think, holy hells why did I even not think to give it a play through. But in any instance, it may well change you mind or get you a little more excited for this game come this June. Oh, some of the reasons by the way, Projectile Dysfunction, Brutal Devastator Attacks, Jacking Military Vehicles, and Consume and Become Anyone. Read More...

R.U.S.E. Exclusive Trailer (via gamespot) I don’t care if they are trying to present what the game’s premise is. What I want.. is a tabletop game that actually plays LIKE THIS. In any event, it is an upcoming RTS video game developed by Eugen Systems and published by Ubisoft (scheduled to be released in 2009 for the 360, PS3, and PC.  It's a strategy game involving the players to use decoys to trick their enemies into traps.The release from the community site says, "R. Read More...

Videos Leaked From GDC 2009 While the Game Developers Conference that just took place in San Francisco just last week isn't the largest place for crazy game announcements and substantial news, at least it wasn't my impression, there are always a few little things that get shown off or spoken about while there. A lot of it is also "off the record" type stuff that gets shown and brought up. Or even simpler, a please do not record and show off anything you see in this conference or booth. Read More...

Well it seems Utah is not as conservative after all. Utah Governor Jon Huntsman (r) has vetoes video games and movie retail restriction bill. To those who don’t know about it, it’s the bill (that was originally written by Jack Thompson and legislator Mike Morle) that would enforce strict penalties on retailers who sells M-Rated games and Rated R movies to “buyers subject to an age restriction or recommendation.”   Utah Governor Jon Huntsman (r) wrote a letter to House Speaker David Clark and Utah Senate President Michael Waddoups about why he vetoed the video game bill: (from Sainless: http://saintless.com/2009/03/25/gov-vetoed-hb-353/)“Dear Speaker Clark and President Waddoups: After careful consideration and study, I have decided to veto HB 353, TRUTH IN ADVERTISING ACT AMENDMENTS, and have transmitted it to the Lieutenant Governor for filing. Read More...