Busy Gamer News

Free Stuff Friday - Pick and Win: God of War II LE Art Book + Guide or The Art of Warcraft

2010-03-12T08:05:51Z

With God of War III coming out this week and dominating PS3 gamers, we thought we'd offer a choice. An out-of-print God of War II Limited Edition Guide and Art Book we've been saving for the occasion, or - if you just don't have a PS3 and could care less about the series, wear it proud by playing for The Art of Warcraft.

The choice is yours, but you can only win one.

Don't care for either? Surely you could throw a rock and hit someone who does, so play on their behalf! If you win, they'll be in your debt. Yeah, that rocks too.

To enter (and show how much you love free stuff!):

]]> Simply post a comment on this page. Say whatever is on your mind as long as it's not an ad or profane and DO SAY WHICH BOOK YOUR ARE PLAYING FOR! NO PICK = NO PRIZE. Be sure to read the Sweepstakes Rules to ensure you are eligible to win and don't get disqualified by double-posting or forgetting to provide an e-mail address.

You may also want to white list this domain; we've had several would-be winners lose out because they never responded to their prize notification! If you use TypeKey/TypePad, be sure your e-mail address will be shared. No e-mail address, no prize. (Don't worry, no one else will see it - and we'll only use it to contact you if you win.)

Note that unless you're an authenticated poster who has been active on the site and marked as trusted, your comment will NOT appear immediately. It will go into a queue for me to approve, which I'll do several times a day (except the first weekend, where comments may not be approved until sometime late on Sunday). Do NOT double-post. We'll extend the entry period for this until 5:01 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, March 18 to ensure you have plenty of time to enter and verify your entry was posted.

We also sometimes give away unannounced Instant Win prizes (I just finished a major project milestone and expect to have some free time in the next week!). Here are a few tips since this can happen at any time. Check our Busy Gamer Podcast on Sundays for possible hints about what's coming (soon)! 1) Follow Gamewatcher on Twitter. Before we post the next Free Stuff Bonus - Instant Win, we'll give you a fair warning tweet. 2) Subscribe to our RSS feed and set it to check for updates frequently.

We continue to stock up on cool goodies for Free Stuff Friday - and we will keep doing so as long as there's enough response, even if we continue to lose money on this site. So tell your friends about this! Hey, if we get bigger, so will the prizes that YOU could win!

While you're at it, post comments wherever you see something interesting. Also, if you get a game code you don't need or have some other cool game-related prize you want to donate, we'd be very grateful (we pay for most of this stuff ourselves!).

Xbox Live Marketplace - Scrap Metal, even more Forza 3 cars, BioShock 2 pack, Toad Man's Bizarre Quest and The White Stripes

2010-03-12T05:16:40Z

Good times at Xbox Live Marketplace this week, at least if you're into what's been added for purchase/download (MARCH 12 UPDATE: Rock Band Network additions):

Arcade: Scrap Metal ($15) plus FunTown Mahjong Zen Garden Theme ($2)
BioShock 2 Sinclair Solutions Tester Pack ($5) adds a new rank cap of 50, 20 trials, 2 playable characters and 5 masks
Resident Evil 5 Untold Stories Bundle ($12.50) with Lost in Nightmares and Desperate Escape
Forza Motorsport 3 Jalopnik Car Pack ($5; one sample car is free)
Guitar Hero 5 OK Go Track Pack ($5.50 or $2 each) with ($5.49) "Here It Goes Again," "Do What You Want" and "Get Over It"
Rock Band/Rock Band 2 The White Stripes Pack 2 ($5.50 or $2 each) with "Fell in Love With a Girl," "Seven Nation Army" and "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You’re Told)" and the Roadrunner Records Pack 1 ($8.50 or $2 each) with "Clouds Over California" by DevilDriver, "Constant Motion" by Dream Theater, "My Curse" by Killswitch Engage, "Aesthetics of Hate" by Machine Head and "Sleepwalker" by Megadeth - Note: "Family friendly" tracks also work with Lego Rock Band.
Rock Band Network tracks (Rock Band 2 required to download and play): "Bleeder"by Alchemilla, "Stick Stickly" by Attack Attack!, "Cali Girl" by Ballyhoo!, "Push Push (Lady Lightning" by Bang Camaro, "Mordecai" by Between the Buried and Me, "Push Me" by The Carsitters, "Code Monkey" by Jonathan Coulton, "Moonboy" by Dirty Love Band, "Day to Day" by Eulogies, "Demon Woman" and "The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)" by Flight of the Conchords, "Car Windows" by The Main Drag, "Do You Feel Like Breaking Up?" by Mark Mallman, "Destructive Device" by Mindflow, "Second Best Friend" by The Nebraska Sailing Authority, "Descend Into the Eternal Pits of Possession" by The Project Hate MCMXCIX, "Africa" by Quartered, "Shiny Dark Bar" by James William Roy, "So Says I" by The Shins, "Makeup/Breakup" by Super Gravity, "Roll Over" by Uniform Motion, "Life Unworthy of Life" by Warpath and "Approach the Podium" by Winds of Plague
Lips Commodores Song Pack ($5.50 or $2 each) with "Brick House," "Easy" and "Three Times A Lady"
Games on Demand: Condemned ($20)
Demos: Xbox Live Arcade and Indie games
Indie Games (usually $1-10 each): Ask Angela, Bush Hunt, Cocktails: Shake It Up!, Colony Defense, Convextrix, Drooop!!, Experiment 13, GoonyCru Day One, Jewelry Master Twinkle Light, MagicalCube, Ninja Chop!!, Puzzle Drop: Mountain Set, Space Nuggets, Spot The Difference, Toad Man's Bizarre Quest, Word Duelist and Zombie Armageddon
Game Videos: Alpha Protocol, Bakugan, End of Eternity, Metro 2033 and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Themes: Encleverment Experiment ($3), Super Street Fighter IV Premium ($3) Discount Tires (free), Discovery Life (free) and South Park ($3)
Pictures: Mass Effect 2 ($1), Super Street Fighter IV ($1), Discount Tires (free, enters you in sweepstakes), Discovery Life (free), Recession Proof Gaming (free, enters you in sweepstakes) and South Park ($2)
Avatar Items (usually priced $1-5 each): Toy Soldiers

PlayStation Store - Eye of Judgment: Legends, Mega Man 10, Feeding Frenzy 2, BioShock 2 pack and Dragon Age add-on

2010-03-12T03:53:28Z

Here is what's happening at the PlayStation Store this week:

Mega Man 10 ($10)
Feeding Frenzy 2 Shipwreck Showdown ($10)
MAG uniforms (free)
BioShock 2 Sinclair Solutions Tester Pack ($5) adds a new rank cap of 50, 20 trials, 2 playable characters and 5 masks
Resident Evil 5 Untold Stories Bundle ($12.50) with Lost in Nightmares and Desperate Escape
Dragon Age: Origins Return To Ostagar ($5)
Grid Prestige Pack ($10) with 10 cars and the Mount Panorama Circuit
Guitar Hero 5 OK Go Track Pack ($5.50 or $2 each) with ($5.49) "Here It Goes Again," "Do What You Want" and "Get Over It"
Rock Band/Rock Band 2 The White Stripes Pack 2 ($5.50 or $2 each) with "Fell in Love With a Girl," "Seven Nation Army" and "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You’re Told)" and the Roadrunner Records Pack 1 ($8.50 or $2 each) with "Clouds Over California" by DevilDriver, "Constant Motion" by Dream Theater, "My Curse" by Killswitch Engage, "Aesthetics of Hate" by Machine Head and "Sleepwalker" by Megadeth - Note: "Family friendly" tracks also work with Lego Rock Band.
Demos: Feeding Frenzy 2, Mega Man 10 and MLB '10: The Show
Game Videos: The Eye of Judgment: Legends, Feeding Frenzy 2, FIFA Soccer '10, Gran Turismo 5, ModNation Racers, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes , Super Street Fighter IV and Yakuza 3 plus The Tester Episode 4 and Qore Episode 22 ($3) featuring Final Fantasy XIII, Dead to Rights: Retribution and Lost Planet 2
Themes: Darksiders (free), Feeding Frenzy 2 (free), MLB '10: The Show (free) and Atomic Blast ($1.50)
Wallpaper: Grandia, Section 8 and Topatoi
PSP: The Eye of Judgment: Legends ($30), Rock Band Unplugged Lite ($5 for five songs, more available as DLC)and Rocket Racing ($5)
PSP Game Videos: The Eye of Judgment: Legends,Gran Turismo 5 and The Tester Episode 4
PSP Themes: MLB '10: The Show (free) and Atomic Blast ($1.50)
PlayStation Home Items (usually priced $0.50-7.50 each): Final Fantasy XIII, more Indiana Jones and the Luxury Race Box personal space

The Buzz - Sony unveils PlayStation Move to launch this fall

2010-03-11T19:59:45Z

Sony officially announced what everyone already knew since E3 last year, that it's jumping into the motion controller fray. Now we have a name and details.

The PlayStation Move ("they want to move it, move it"!) will launch this fall. The motion-sensing peripheral works in conjunction with another PlayStation peripheral, the PlayStation Eye Camera, which is already on shelves and possibly in your home. The Move, which resembles – well, let’s say a very special microphone - is likely to usher in a new wave of sports, mini-games and family-friendly fare not unfamiliar to Wii owners.

You will also be able to use another device (that we won’t call a nunchuk) to play more traditional games. In other words, when you want to shoot something, like in SOCOM 4. Both the Move and the not-a-nunchuck (they call it a Subcontroller) include rumble functionality and use a Bluetooth connection to your PS3. One small advantage over the Wii: The two Move wands are not wired to each other.

Sony plans to offer three packages at launch:

Move and PlayStation Eye Camera bundle, priced at $100
Standalone Move (for those who already have the required PlayStation Eye Camera) - price not known
PS3/Move bundle with PS3 console, Move and PlayStation Eye - price not known

Sony has announced there will be about 20 titles available for the Move this year. They did not say what will be available for launch, however. The Move titles in development are:

Motion Fighter
Move Party
The Shoot
Slider
Sports Champions
TV Superstars

In addition, some previously released PS3 games are expected to offer Move support including EyePet, LittleBigPlanet and SOCOM 4. Also, some 36 developers have indicated they will support Move including Activision, Capcom, Disney, EA, Konami, Ubisoft and Warner Bros...

iPhone App Watch - 10 apps that pass the test of time (plus one instant classic!)

2010-03-11T06:14:18Z

I've been reviewing iPhone apps for some time, and one thing I've noticed: There are very few that I actually use on a regular basis or, in the case of games, continue to play months later.

But there are some that persist and get daily or at least weekly use. Here are the apps that have lingered and seem worthy of a place on most people's iPhones (prices may fluctuate):

	Twittelator Pro. I've gone through many Twitter clients. Twinkle was one of the first to introduce a method to see what people nearby were twittering, but its lack of updates and ineffective blocking mechanism allowed it to be overrun by narcissistic, attention-seeking teens whose 20 tweets per hour quickly blotted out any chance at community interaction (at least in Seattle). Echofon has a nice, free client but it's been limiting. I tried Twittelator at actor Nathon Fillion's suggestion (he has solid geek advisors, it seems) and promptly broke my vow to never pay for a Twitter client. It rocks. It features flexible retweets, drafts, image previews, the ability to quickly view most types of content without switching apps, multiple account support and a substantial buffer for those busy Twitter days. This is my most used app ever. Price: $5

	Ping! Twitter is great, but there are times when I quickly need to message GrrlGotGame. We've blocked SMS because we don't need the expense and she was getting SMS spam that we were being charged for. Thankfully, there's an alternative that's both faster and cheaper. Ping! uses the iPhone notification API to quickly send messages to other users that you add to your contact list. No one else can Ping! you. We paid for the full version because we wanted to support the developer, but if you don't care about sharing pictures the free version works just fine. Price: Free ad-supported version, or $1 for ad-free and $2 total to add picture support

	Amazon.com. I have saved so much money using this app (also spent so much money with it)!. Whenever I'm shopping for a game, book, movie or music at a retail shop, I whip out my phone and see if Amazon can beat it. It helps that we use Amazon Prime, which means most purchases arrive in two days (sometimes overnight!) at no added charge, just the annual subscription fee. Last weekend I was eyeing the new Penny Arcade 11 1/2 Anniversary book at Barnes & Noble. I whipped out my phone and received it Monday for about $8-10 less. Price: Free, but who knows how much you'll spend using it!

	FX Photo Studio. If you tweet photos or post them to Facebook, this app lets you rotate, crop, lighten and more without leaving your iPhone. There are lots of features I don't use, and it's no Photoshop, but it's quick and easy to use when I need it. I find myself cleaning up photos at least weekly, and sometimes more often. Price: $1.

	Facebook. I still use Facebook daily and really appreciate the notifications I now get when someone sends me a message or replies to my status update. But I am a little annoyed that they recently stopped supporting my Zynga games. Until a few weeks ago, I could collect Café World and Farmville bonuses from my iPhone, but now it has stopped working. Anyway, this is still a good app - but it could be better. Worth having if you're active on Facebook, and the price is right. Price: Free

	Word Search Puzzle. I actually reviewed this app back more than a year ago, and I'm still playing it. The reason? They've added daily challenges. You can access a new small, medium and large puzzle challenge each day. You're timed from the moment you start, and quitting doesn't pause it. So you need to clear 1-2 minutes for the small ones and up to 15 minutes for the large ones. The first time I got first place in the world, you could hear me whoop in the next neighborhood I bet (too bad it didn't last, I ended up around 50th place by the end of the day). Lots of fun if you like word searches. The only negative is that there aren't any multi-screen puzzles. Price: $1

	Jigsawed. This is a recent acquisition, but thanks to the endlerss supply of images available on Flicker and from my own photo albums, it has endless replay value. The only negatives are that the really small puzzles are too hard to play without a zoom and it could benefit from having a drawer to stash the pieces you aren't working with. Maybe we'll get those in a future update, but as long as you stick with medium-sized puzzles you'll do fine. Price: $2

	SpringFling. I mentioned this on the podcast a little while back and it's stuck. The reason? Short gaming sessions, perfect for a little downtime. You use your finger to simulate compressing the spring and making him hop to platforms that are higher up. Some levels scroll, making you have to move quickly. You lose springiness, so every jump counts. Unless you’re awesomesauce, a gaming session only lasts a couple minutes and you can, uh, quit any time. Yeah, good luck with that. Price: $1

	iBlast Moki. A great little time waster. This one reminds me of a lot of one of my favorite games, Eets. Only instead of feeding your character mood-altering treats, you solve puzzles with timed explosions. It's fun with physics! You even create, share and download levels if the main game isn't enough for you. Like they said in Robocop: "I'd buy that for a dollar!" Price: $1, Lite version available

Arachnadoodle. Peggle would have made my list if it weren't for this little gem. It's sort of like Peggle only with a spider who shoots webs, bounces off walls, connects pegs and traps bugs. It's a little hard to explain, but loads of fun. I've beaten it and keep going back for more. I have no idea - in real life, I'm a bit of an arachnophobe. I just wish they'd make more levels for this. I would buy them, day one, no questions asked. And there are very few apps that I buy expansions for.

Price: $1

Tweet Defense. This game hasn't had time to prove itself, but I can already tell I'll be playing it for months and possibly years to come. So we're calling it an "instant classic." Normally I don't care much for the tower defense genre. It took me a few minutes to get the hang of this, and then I realized: It's like solitaire - but with zombies! (Not literally, it just gives me the same "zone out and play for hours" feeling I get from a solid solitaire title.) You generally have a little time to plan your defense between rounds, and up to 20 zombies can slip past before you lose (I presume, since this hasn't actually happened to me yet). The "tweet" part comes in only to provide bonuses based on how active you are on Twitter - maybe that's why I haven’t lost yet! Thanks, tweeps!

Once again, PopCap loses out to a smaller indie game. I probably would have picked Plants vs. Zombies for this slot, which is excellent and certainly worth your attention, but Tweet Defense better suits my need for a little mindless fun. Save anywhere and come back any time to blast, burn and zap zombies. Awesome!

Price: $1 launch price

Busy Gamer Podcast featured on This Week in Podcast

2010-03-10T17:40:35Z

Our little Busy Gamer Podcast received some recognition this week. It's been featured on This Week in Podcast, which is a podcast about... podcasts! Each week, Nick McKinney scours his Google Alerts looking for up-and-coming podcasts, which is how he found us. He spends a lot of time separating the signal from all of the noise, and we're so glad we ended up on the signal side of things!

He features our March 7 show with The Maw review (one of our best!) and includes the whole thing since it's so short (normally he just excerpts podcasts).

He also says some very nice things about Busy Gamer News. For instance, "You will fall in love with the site." Wow, thanks Nick!

You can listen to This Week in Podcast right on his site, or download it from iTunes by searching on "this week in podcast nick" (we're Episode 43) - and while you're there, you might as well give him a rating, right? We're going to see what other little known but excellent podcasts we've been missing...

Stupid Marketing Tricks - Rock Band 3 announced with no details

2010-03-10T04:56:30Z

Harmonix announced Rock Band 3 is coming out. Later this year, in time for the holidays. Oh, and it "will innovate and revolutionize the music genre once again." That's it, that's all we know. We could conjecture what this means (and it's tempting to do so!). But it's better just to wait for a real announcement, the kind with a press release containing dates, pricing, and actual feature details. We're fans of the games they've released so far and even we have to call this one: Fail...

Wii and DS - Final Fantasy II, Dracula, Spanish, Bubonic Builders, Elemental Masters and Battle of Giants: Mutant Insects DS demo

2010-03-08T23:11:42Z

Here are this week's downloads, demos and videos for the Wii and Nintendo DS:

WiiWare: Dracula: Undead Awakening ($10) and Max & the Magic Marker ($10)
Virtual Console: Final Fantasy II for Super NES ($8)
DSiWare: 4 Travellers: Play Spanish ($8), Dracula: Undead Awakening ($5), Elemental Masters ($8) and Flips: The Bubonic Builders ($5)
Rock Band 2 tracks ($2 each; due Tuesday, March 9) "Decent Days & Nights" and "Hounds of Love" by The Futureheads, "Walk Away" by The James Gang, "The Hockey Theme" by Neil Peart, "All of This" and "Tie You Down" by Shaimus and "Fell in Love with a Girl," "Seven Nation Army" and "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)" by The White Stripes - Note: "Family friendly" tracks also work with Lego Rock Band.
DS Demos (via Wii's Nintendo "Marketing" Channel): Battle of Giants: Mutant Insects and the usual array of repeats including Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, Avatar, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Deca Sports DS Cheerleading and Ping Pong, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games Alpine Skiing, The Princess and the Frog, Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing and Women's Murder Club: Games of Passion
Game Videos: Dracula: Undead Awakening, Elemental Masters, The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, Max & the Magic Marker, Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver and Trauma Team

Game Releases - Final Fantasy XIII, Yakuza 3, Resident Evil 5 Gold, Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver, Sam & Max 2 and iPhone freebies

2010-03-08T18:11:40Z

As promised in the Busy Gamer Podcast, here is the complete list of games due for release this week for PC/Mac, portables and consoles (plus some recent releases that slipped out when we weren't looking):

DS: 4 Travellers: Play Spanish (DSiWare), Chocolatier, The Daring Game for Girls, Dracula: Undead Awakening (DSiWare), Dream Chronicles, Elemental Masters (DSiWare), Flips: The Bubonic Builders (DSiWare), Foto Showdown, Let's Play Ballerina, Pokemon HeartGold and Pokemon SoulSilver
iPhone: Chalkboard Stunts, Cocoto Magic Circus, Gundead Defense (free), Mole: Quest for the Terracore Gem, Radio Flare Redux, Ragdoll Blaster 2, Raging Thunder 2, Sparkle, Spirit, Tilt to Live and Volkswagen Think Blue Challenge (free)
Mac: None
PC: Assassin's Creed 2, Horrible Histories: Ruthless Romans, Project Runway, Sam & Max 2: Beyond Time and Space and Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising
PS3: Final Fantasy XIII, Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition and Yakuza 3
PS2: None
PSP: BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
Wii: Calling, The Daring Game for Girls, Dracula: Undead Awakening (WiiWare), Final Fantasy II (Virtual Console), Let's Play Ballerina, Let's Play Garden, Max & the Magic Marker (WiiWare), Sam & Max 2: Beyond Time and Space and Winter Blast: Snow and Ice Games
Xbox 360: Final Fantasy XIII, Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition and Scrap Metal (Arcade)

So, what will you be picking up - or is this week a pass? Any games we missed? Anything slip (as these inevitably do)? Please let us know...

Busy Gamer Podcast #21 - The Maw review, PS3 'A-clock-alypse,' Rock Band Network launch and podcast-only bonus giveaway

2010-03-07T08:01:00Z

This week have an audio tour of The Maw (with a brief cameo by Pikachu Fan!), GrrlGotGame shares her BioShock 2 multiplayer experience and we examine the Sony PlayStation 3 A-clock-alypse and pick apart the Rock Band Network launch for Xbox 360- all in about 12 minutes!

We also have two bonus codes to award but you'll get the details in the podcast.

Our goal is to provide a short (typically 10-15 minutes) summary of news and helpful commentary every Sunday so that you'll have a great jumping off point for your busy gamer week. Here's what we pack into each episode:

The week's game releases
A quick look back at the previous week's releases, news and downloadable content highlights
What we're playing/mini-reviews
Giveaways
Comment of the week

Delivered in a tight package you can easily play through during even the shortest commutes!

Please share your own thoughts and comments about the podcast here and on iTunes!

Download the podcast here or, if you can, please subscribe at iTunes - and please rate us there too!

Free Stuff Friday - Final Fantasy XII Collector's Limited Edition Guide

2010-03-05T08:56:45Z

In honor of Final Fantasy XIII coming out this coming week, we have the lush Final Fantasy XII Collector's Edition Guide if you:

need help getting through the previous game in the series
just want to enjoy the beautiful artwork

This version has one of the nicest covers we've seen on a game guide, so you may just want to display it prominently on your coffee table.

The guide itself will tell you everything you want to know about Ivalice with a full walkthrough of the game and details on weapons, magicks, items, side quests, secrets and more.

To enter (and show how much you love free stuff!):

]]> Simply post a comment on this page. Say whatever is on your mind as long as it's not an ad or profane. Be sure to read the Sweepstakes Rules to ensure you are eligible to win and don't get disqualified by double-posting or forgetting to provide an e-mail address.

You may also want to white list this domain; we've had several would-be winners lose out because they never responded to their prize notification! If you use TypeKey/TypePad, be sure your e-mail address will be shared. No e-mail address, no prize. (Don't worry, no one else will see it - and we'll only use it to contact you if you win.)

Note that unless you're an authenticated poster who has been active on the site and marked as trusted, your comment will NOT appear immediately. It will go into a queue for me to approve, which I'll do several times a day (except the first weekend, where comments may not be approved until sometime late on Sunday). Do NOT double-post. We'll extend the entry period for this until 5:01 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, March 11 to ensure you have plenty of time to enter and verify your entry was posted.

We also sometimes give away unannounced Instant Win prizes (we just had one of these and have more planned!). Here are a few tips since this can happen at any time. Check our Busy Gamer Podcast on Sundays for possible hints about what's coming (soon)! 1) Follow Gamewatcher on Twitter. Before we post the next Free Stuff Bonus - Instant Win, we'll give you a fair warning tweet. 2) Subscribe to our RSS feed and set it to check for updates frequently.

We continue to stock up on cool goodies for Free Stuff Friday - and we will keep doing so as long as there's enough response, even if we continue to lose money on this site. So tell your friends about this! Hey, if we get bigger, so will the prizes that YOU could win!

While you're at it, post comments wherever you see something interesting. Also, if you get a game code you don't need or have some other cool game-related prize you want to donate, we'd be very grateful (we pay for most of this stuff ourselves!).

Xbox Live Marketplace - Toy Soldiers, Halo: Reach beta video, Dante’s Inferno/RE5 add-ons and Just Cause 2/MotoGP demos

2010-03-05T05:48:45Z

Here's what's new at the Xbox Live Marketplace:

Arcade: Toy Soldiers ($15) plus Buku Sudoku Puzzle Pack 13 ($2)
Forza Motorsport 3 Benchmark High Speed Ring ($5), Sidewinder Proving Grounds ($5), Motorsport Legends Car Pack ($5) and VIP Car Pack ($10)
Dante’s Inferno Dark Forest Pack ($5) and Relics Triple Pack ($3)
Resident Evil 5 Desperate Escape ($5) and Costume Pack 2 ($2)
Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce Pack 2 (free)
Dragon Ball: Raging Blast Ultimate Warriors Pack 1 (free)
Guitar Hero 5 Blink-182 Track Pack ($5.50 or $2 each) with "First Date," "All The Small Things" and "Adam’s Song"
Rock Band/Rock Band 2 Disturbed Pack 2 ($5.50 or $2 each) with and tracks ($1 each) "Third Floor Story" and "White Falcon Fuzz" by The Mother Hips and ($2 each) "Panic Switch" and "Sort Of" by Silversun Pickup and "Downfall" by Trust Company plus 105 Rock Band Network tracks for Rock Band 2 only - Note: "Family friendly" tracks also work with Lego Rock Band.
Lips tracks ($2 each) "Mr. Vain" by Culture Beat, "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd and "Hip Hop Hooray" by Naughty by Nature
Games on Demand: Fallout 3
Demos: Just Cause 2 and MotoGP 09/10 plus all Xbox Live Arcade and Indie games
Indie Games (usually $1-10 each): Autumn, Ava the Firefly, Globoid, Last Line Of Defence, Maze Haze, Mega Monster Mania, MotorHeat, Mouse Maze, Pixelkiller, Santa Bomber, Soulcaster and Zatacka 360
Game Videos: Army of Two: The 40th Day, Fallout: New Vegas, Halo: Reach, Iron Man 2, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, Lazy Raiders, Lips: Party Classics, Medal of Honor and Supreme Commander 2
Themes: St. Patrick's Day ($3) and Mazda (free)
Pictures: Mazda (free; some enter you in sweepstakes)
Avatar Items (usually priced $1-5 each): MLB 2K10

PlayStation Store - Dante’s Inferno and Resident Evil 5 add-ons, MotoGP, MLB 2K10 and Just Cause 2 demos plus Beatles song

2010-03-05T05:23:11Z

Here's what landed at the PlayStation Store this week:

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1 and 2 bundle ($15)
Dante’s Inferno Dark Forest Pack ($5) and Relics Triple Pack ($3)
Resident Evil 5 Desperate Escape ($5) and Costume Pack 2 ($2)
Topatoi Pillar Of The Skies ($8)
Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce Quest Pack 1 (free)
Dragon Ball: Raging Blast Ultimate Warriors Pack 1 (free)
MLB 10: The Show 6 Classic Stadiums ($10) and for-pay cheats Franchise Funds Increase and Road to the Show Training Points ($1 each)
Guitar Hero 5 Blink-182 Track Pack ($5.50 or $2 each) with "First Date," "All The Small Things" and "Adam’s Song"
Rock Band/Rock Band 2 Disturbed Pack 2 ($5.50 or $2 each) with and tracks ($1 each) "Third Floor Story" and "White Falcon Fuzz" by The Mother Hips and ($2 each) "Panic Switch" and "Sort Of" by Silversun Pickup and "Downfall" by Trust Company - Note: "Family friendly" tracks also work with Lego Rock Band.
Demos: Just Cause 2, MLB 2K10 and MotoGP 09/10
The Beatles: Rock Band track ($2) "All You Need is Love"
Game Videos: Dante’s Inferno, Fallout: New Vegas, God of War III, Uncharted 2 and Vancouver 2010 plus The Tester Episode 3 and Pulse
Themes: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (free), MLB 10: The Show (free), 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Dynamic ($4), Abstract Premium ($2), Clover Fractals ($1.50), make.believe (free), Nightmare Before Christmas ($1.50) and Vintage Comic Mickey ($1.50)
PSP: Dante’s Inferno ($40), Digi-Tiles ($3), Earthshield ($3), Legend of Kunoichi ($3), Lunar: Silver Star Harmony ($30), MLB 10: The Show ($40), MLB 2K10 ($30), Smashbreak ($3) and Vector TD ($4), plus Buzz! Quiz World Sci-Fi Movies Pack ($3) and LittleBigPlanet PSP Canyons Costumes Pack (free) and Canyons Theme Pack ($3)
PSP Demos: Patchwork Heroes
PSP Game Videos: Dante’s Inferno, Echoshift, God of War III, The Tester Episode 3 and Pulse
PSP Themes: MLB 10: The Show (free), 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit ($1.50), Bad Business 2 ($1.50 each) and Clover Fractals ($1.50)
PlayStation Home Items (usually priced $0.50-7.50 each): More Star Wars and Indiana Jones, the Irem Seaside of Memories public space and seaside mansion and yacht private spaces

News Flash - Rock Band Network launches as Xbox 360 exclusive with Jonathan Coulton, MC Frontalot, Stroke 9 and The Main Drag

2010-03-05T01:52:27Z

The long-awaited Rock Band Network - which offers downloadable tracks for Rock Band 2 that are authored by third parties and then peer-reviewed - launched today with about 105 songs. The service is Xbox 360 only, at least for now, though the best tracks are expected to be offered to PlayStation 3 and Wii owners via the usual weekly Rock Band Store releases some time after they've cleared 30 days of Xbox 360 exclusivity.

At this time, you have to launch Rock Band 2 and accept a patch to the game to access the Rock Band Network store, where songs are typically $1-2 each.

The separate Rock Band Store app did not offer anything but the usual weekly releases, though we expect it will be patched eventually to support RBN. Also, the original Rock Band and Lego Rock Band do not support either downloading RBN tracks or playing any that you have purchased (which is a real shame, because our 7-year-old, Pikachu Fan, would love to drum on Creepy Doll as part of his Lego Rock Band campaign!).

Note that there are free demos for each song in addition to audio previews. We found the RBN store cumbersome to browse, but if you view by decade you'll find the majority of songs in the '00s.

Hit the jump for the very long list of launch tracks:

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"Battles and Brotherhood" by 3 Inches of Blood

"Top Back" by Alias Unknown

"He Sleeps in a Grove" and "River of Tuoni" by Amberian Dawn

"Race The Hourglass" by Audio Fiction

"Sick" by Bif Naked

"Tongue Twister Typo" by Blackmarket

"Still There" by Bojibian

"Trippolette" by Andrew Buch

"We Are the Best" by C&O

"Tadpole Search and Rescue" by Chaunce DeLeon and The Fountain of Choof

"The Complexity of Light" by Children of Nova

"Give" by The Cold Goodnight

"If Not Now When" by Color Theory

"Creepy Doll," "Ikea" and "The Future Soon" by Jonathan Coulton

"Talk About" by Dear and the Headlights

"Day of Mourning" by Despised Icon

"Moonboy" by The Dirty Love Band

"The Heist" by DnA's Evolution

"If Trucks Drank Beer" by Error 404 feat. CJ Watson

"You Got That" by The Everybody

"Angel Lust," "Horses in Heaven," "Running for the Razors" and "Sestri Levante" by Fake Shark-Real Zombie!

"Liverpool Judies" by The Fisticuffs

"Burn it Down" by Five Finger Death Punch

"Drunken Lullabies (Live)" and "Requiem for a Dying Song" by Flogging Molly

"Watch It All Go Down" by Foreword

"Far Away from Heaven" by Free Spirit

"End Quote," "It's Not You, It's Everyone" and "Red Sky At Morn" by Full-Source

"Icarus' Song" by Furly

"Inside Out" and "Turn Yourself Around" by Nick Gallant

"Arigato" by Gandhi

"In Memories" and "Signs" by Giant Target

"Hyperbole" and "Sleep On" by Glass Hammer

"Can I Stay" by Stephanie Hatfield and Hot Mess

"Parhelia" by Heaven Ablaze

"Fortune" and "Mississippi Kite" by Kristin Hersh

"Sequestered in Memphis" by The Hold Steady

"It's Good" by The Humans

"Mechanical Love" by In This Moment

"California" by The Kimberly Trip

"A Drug Against War" and "Juke Joint Jezebel" by KMFDM

"Survive" by Lacuna Coil

"Rip'er" by Lead the Dead

"No Direction" by Longwave

"Cease and Desist," "Don't Let Me Down (Slowly)," "Dove Nets," "Homosuperior," "How We'd Look On Paper," "Love During Wartime," "Megatron," "Talk Them Down," "Teeth, Face, Outerspace," "Tricky Girl" and "What's Your Favorite Dinosaur?" by The Main Drag

"Whatever Is Wrong With You" by Marillion

"Persistence of Vision" by Matter in the Medium

"Goth Girls" by MC Frontalot

"Fade Away" by Of Last Resort

"Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" by Of Montreal

"Nancy Drew" by Pink Flag

"Buried Cold" by Rose of Jericho

"Paper Valentines" by James William Roy

"Lemon Juice," "The Buddy Disease" and "You're My Everything" by Scratching The Itch

"Lady in a Blue Dress" by Senses Fail

"Australia" by The Shins

"Crushed Beyond Dust" by Skeletonwitch

"Stand for Something" by Skindred

"Children of December" and "Even Rats" by The Slip

"Grumpytown" and "VP of Booty Reports" by Speck

"Limousine" by Stars of Boulevard

"Backyard Buildyard" by Steve and Lindley Band

"Kick Some Ass '09" an "Little Black Backpack '09" by Stroke 9

"Disengage" by Suicide Silence

"Sissyfuss" by Surprise Me Mr. Davis

"Not My Fault" and "Superhero!" by Ultra Saturday

"For the Love of God (Live)," "Get the Hell Out of Here" and "The Attitude Song" by Steve Vai

"Fight Back" by Ron Wasserman

"Liquid Smog (StompBox Remix)" by WaveGroup Feat. Becca Neun

"Another California Song" and "Ox" by Zack Wilson

"Rx" by Wounded Soul

"Lilith in Libra" and "No Heroes" by You Shriek

Busy Gamer Review - The Maw

2010-03-03T16:29:15Z

Too busy to devote 12+ hours a day to your gaming habit? Here's a review that's sensitive to your needs: Short and focused on just the things that a busy gamer like you really needs to know.

Reviewed On: Xbox 360. Also available for PC via Steam, Greenhouse and Direct2Drive.

In a Nutshell: The titular Maw is a giant purple blob with a big, hungry mouth (get it?) and the brain of a dog. A sweet, stupid, really hungry dog. The game's opening scenes imply - but do not show - Maw in a laboratory, presumably about to get sliced and diced. He escapes with his buddy Frank, an adorable yet slightly creepy bug-like alien dude. That would be you.

Frank slaps a collar on Maw and off they go trotting around the globe in search of... well, I'm really not sure, but I assume it's to avoid Maw vivisection. As you journey, Maw eats everything in sight, allowing him to grow and eat even larger things. This isn't a Katamari knock-off, though. Maw gains special powers by eating certain wildlife. These vary by level, but include fire eyes (you heard me!), rhino-nose and flying.

The Maw is all about puzzles, starting with how you acquire those powers. Many delicacies require some preparation before Maw can chow down. If you feed him something prematurely, he'll spit it out faster than you can say Tom Colichio. But once Maw has the power du level, watch out.

Learning Curve: Mastering the moves is very easy. Nothing requires more than one button push, and most similar tasks are assigned to the same button. There are a few platformer moments that consist primarily of Frank jumping from one spot to another. Platforms are always spaced mercifully close together, meaning players don't have to spend long periods of time mastering the jump moves.

The more difficult aspect, for me, anyway, was keeping track of Maw's powers. It seemed like new wildlife appeared every level, requiring me to figure out a new process (how do I catch/cook/whatever it) and then determining what Maw could do after he ate the crispy critter. Some creatures/powers re-appeared late in the game, by which time I had forgotten what to do.

Certain puzzles were also insanely hard to me. That said our 7-year-old, Pikachu Fan, was able to guide me through them without breaking a sweat.

The Save Game: Very tough for busy gamers - the game only saves at the end of a level. No interim saves.

Family Factor: Subjective. The game is rated E for everyone and is mostly harmless. Some creatures, including Maw himself, might be scary to very small children. Also, note that there are guns (turrets and spaceships) used against Frank/Maw throughout the game. If Frank or Maw get hit, they just fall back and see stars - no blood, no deaths. Your heros never die, but copious authority figures (presumably security guys) do go down - and are promptly eaten by Maw. Some creatures are bonked on the head/see stars.

Buy or Skip? This one is not available for rent (though there is a free trial on Xbox Live Marketplace), so it comes down to buy or skip. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, although it is incredibly short. I beat it in two Saturday sessions totaling about 6 hours. I can easily see playing through it again to try to beat my best time and pick up a few achievements I missed the first go round. It's also a perennial Pikachu Fan favorite, so it will be in rotation for some time to come for that reason. There are three bonus levels (so called "deleted scenes") available for purchase if it leaves you wanting more, but they total $3.75 which is 37% of the total $10 game cost. So far, we've passed on them.

Overall, the game is a solid "buy" for anyone looking for an inexpensive puzzle game you can play with your kids.

On a Personal Note: Our 7-year-old discovered The Maw last year, and immediately started mimicking Frank's call (Maw? MAAA-AWWW!), even adapting it to call one of our cats, Mal. (Listen to our next Sunday podcast for an audio sample!)

I had no idea TwistedPixel was selling stuffed Maw dolls at PAX '09 until a friend mentioned it on Twitter. I went on a frenzied search for their booth, only to find out they had just sold the last one a short time before. They were planning to get some overnighted from Austin, however.

Long story short, the FedEx shipment did not come through - but TwistedPixel ultimately did. We gave them cash (with somewhat overestimated shipping) and a business card, and the following Monday received e-mail saying Maw was on his way.

He now resides in Pikachu Fan's room, where he scares the wits out of our cats.

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