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MiniCooperPacMan

I’ve been thinking about what kind of car I would get if I were to get buy one sometime soon. I’m not going to lie, I’m not huge about any particular vehicle, I really just want something that goes from point ‘A’ to ‘B.’ Although, these pictures that I’m posting might have just changed my mind.

TheCoolHunter released images of these MINI Coopers, which have a Space Invaders and Pac-Man theme design and as of now, the cars are sadly not available. According to the site, this is all part of a project and to be honest, I don’t think these pictures are even real and they are probably just concept art. But it sounds there is a small possibility that someone is working on these designs as we speak, and maybe could happen one day. If so, sign me up!

We should also note, that these pictures are being mistakenly credited towards artist Matt Moore. However, Gamedaily has confirmed that Moore is denying such an involvement and as of now, we don’t know who actually made them.

MiniCooperSpaceInvaders

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PSPGoGod

The new PSP Go isn’t just a smaller, UMDless version with a new design; it actually has a faster processor. According to some FCC documents, which were filed by Sony and uncovered by Sony Insider, the PSP Go’s processor is about 40% faster than its predecessor. The original unit was capable of about 333MHz, while the newest device, which comes out later this year, can reach 480MHz.

PSPGoFcc

What does this all mean? We’re not to sure, actually. They might have just raised the speed to use PSP Go features like accesses to an in-game XMB. However, it could definitely make a difference in-terms of games and maybe one day we could see PSP Go exclusives. Although, if that were the case, don’t expect to see anything anytime soon. In fact, even though the portable system can reach faster speeds, I think Sony will most likely lock it to the current 333MHz, much like they did when the PSP first came out.

If the company feels like they need to sell more PSP Go units, that is when we could most likely see the increase of speeds and exclusives.

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Finally, a Grease Game Announced

grease

Man, 505 Games does everything they can possibly do to make a quick buck, eh? Last year, the company announced they would be developing a Michael Phelps swimming game, right after the athlete had nothing but hoopla surrounding him after he won billion gold medals at the Olympics. The publisher also looks like they are big into using famous brand names and throw a title together in hopes to create a little extra cash. See their ‘Discovery Channel Kids‘ games on the DS.

Today, the Los Angeles based company has announced that they are working with Paramount Digital Entertainment, to bring us a Grease game. Yes, the same 70’s musical that made John Travolta a star, is finally after all these years getting a videogame adaption. What, you’re not excited?

The company has confirmed that Grease will be available for both the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS, which I assume the company hopes they can take advantage of the casual gamer. Everybody knows the casual gamer who owns a Wii, LOVES Grease.

Supposedly, Grease will fully take advantage of the Wiimote and players will be able to sing and dance along their former idols; Danny, Sandy, The Pink Ladies and the T-Birds, yes! I’m assuming 505 Games will be copying what EA did; because it sounds awfully like Boogie for the Wii. And oh, if you are wondering the DS version will be more touched-based, as opposed to using the mic.

So you still are not excited? Maybe the managing director over at 505 Games can change that. “We are really excited about working with Paramount Digital Entertainment to turn this world famous film into a video game for the very first time,” said Ian Howe. “Working with such a well known and much loved brand is a great opportunity and we believe the collaboration further strengthens 505 Games’ entertainment portfolio.”

Okay, maybe he couldn’t.

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It’s well known the original Xbox in Japan was considered a failure. Most like to attribute the system being unsuccessful in the ‘land of the rising sun‘ for a number of reasons. For instance it had a lack of RPGs, it was to big and it was an American system.

I for one would like to mention after watching the video up top, there marketing was terrible. I know Japan is sometimes known for having weird commercials, but the video up top doesn’t make any sense.

Seriously, why would this make me or anyone else want to by an Xbox?

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Probably the scariest disease comes from videogames and thankfully there is a short documentary that shows the just how this disorder effects the lives of so many people. Up top is that very video.

Duke Nukem’s disease is something that Gene has to bravely live with for the rest of his life. The 33 year-old’s motor-skills resembles that of a character from a first-person shooter and the film shows just how he deals with his everyday struggles.

The clip even goes deeper and shows off some other disorders that seems similar to Genes. Hopefully this video will make the Internet rounds and cause awareness.

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capcom1600

A new teaser site from Capcom has appeared on the Internet, suggesting a new videogame is about to be revealed from the publisher. If you head over to the website; a sequence of numbers, which look like they could represent specific years,pop-up on your computer screen. As these ‘dates’ surface,’X’s‘ crosses them our and a new set of number appears.

The sequence starts off with 1560, then 1573, 1583 and ends with 1600. When the 1600 emerges, it’s by far the largest number on the screen and it doesn’t have an ‘X‘ going through it, making everyone believe this is the number which is now important.

What does this all mean? Well, it looks like Capcom is set to announce a brand new Onimusha title. The first game in the series took place in the year 1560, the third happened in 1583, however the second was not told in 1583; instead a year before.

If that isn’t enough proof, the font which underlines the 1600 and crosses-out the other dates and underlines the last one, looks very similar to the Japanese writing found on the logo of the other Onimusha titles.

No word yet when the company expects to unveil even more information. Keep checking back as it develops.

via: 1up

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gameuniconlogo

Living on the west coast, I really have taken for granted the amount of conventions dedicated to videogames. This side of the country represents some of the biggest and well-known expos in the world like: E3, GDC and even PAX. These shows have thousands of attendees each year, and they seem to grow year-in and year-out. However, for me it wasn’t always easy to access a gaming show.

You see, I grew up in the Boston area, where the local government is trying to lure videogames publishers and expand to the Bay State. Just recently, Penny Arcade announced they will be extend their PAX show to two times a year and one of them will be on the east coast, and Boston is the lucky city to host the show. In a way you can say it was the first major confirmation that Boston is trying to be a focal point for the videogame industry.

While PAX is certainly a welcoming sign that New England could bank on a never-ending industry, the show won’t be the first to entice thousands of gamers to visit the Bay State.

A few years ago, the largest Ebay videogame seller opened an independent game store in Framingham, MA; a suburb just west of Boston. The store, called Game Universe, sells everything from retro gaming machines like the original Atari 2600 and goes all the way to this newest generation. While the concept alone is worth visiting, the store’s owners wanted to make sure their customers also had an incredible experience when they came to explored the outlet as well.

They decided to attach six 50″ plasma screens on the walls around the store and even added 5.1 surround sound to some of them. Each display was capable of playing anything, so if you wanted to experience E.T. on the Atari alone before your friends who were supposed to met you but are running late to play a little Gears of War — it could be done.

Word got around fast and customers started to come into the store just to play games. Management thought it would be a great idea to start-up tournaments, in hopes it would lure even more customers. The theory ended up being successful; the owners had to purchase another eight smaller screens because of the high demand of customers entering exclusively for LAN tournament play.

Over the course of three years, the store has earned some great creditability; they even saw players as far as California come to participate in their gaming tournament. They noticed that gaming tournaments were not just some fad and if done right, could actually be held inside a convention. That is exactly what they are planning as I write.

We have spent the last three years building our local reputation for running pro-level tournaments at Game Universe in Framingham, MA,” said James Jewett co-executive director. “We got to the point where we outgrew our venue so we decided take on a larger event.”

Game Universe has just recently revealed a gaming convention called GameUniCon and will take place at the 20,000 square foot Best Western Royal Plaza in Marlborough, MA. Get this, when the convention opens its doors on August 21st, they won’t close until three days later on the 23rd. That’s right, show organizers have confirmed it will be 24-hours long, and never close until the final day.

After the jump, read more about this newly announced convention.

Continue Reading…

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littlebigplanetwalle

If you don’t own a PlayStation 3, but you are on the fence about actually purchasing one, you might want to head down to your local Best Buy right now because they are offering a terrific bundle as we speak.

Right now, the big box retail store is selling an 80GB PlayStation 3, along with WALL-E on Blu-ray; which could be the one of the best Pixar films, and included is maybe the best PS3 game LittleBigPlanet.

Now get this, the price of the bundle is the same as just a system alone — which runs at $399. That is a steal, folks. Basically, if you snag one of these bundles you would be saving about $90, give or take a few bucks.

This is such a good deal that owners of the system should already have in their possession these two things anyway; so you might want to give in to your impulse and buy this package.

WALL-E and LittleBigPlanet are currently receiving a 93 and 95 respectively, on metacritic.

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We have featured some of MlCHAELHlCKOX work on /gamer before. If you are unfamiliar with what he does, he likes to remake pop-culture icons such as Super Mario Bros. with Lego stop-motion animation.

This time, Michael decided to do something similar but used classic arcade titles like Frogger, Pac-Man, Space Invader; among others, and jammed them all into one single youtube video. It ended up being pretty faithful to the original games; mainly because he used the classic sound effects to recreate the nostalgic feel.

Check out the video up top.

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One of the biggest reasons why the Xbox 360 has sold as many systems as it has done over the last few years, is because of the Halo franchise. The series solidified the console as a legit player in the gaming industry, and it all started with the original Halo which was released back in 2001 for the first Xbox. It proved Microsoft didn’t just have to rely on third-party titles and much like Sony and Nintendo, they could come out with exclusives of their own.

Now Microsoft has another idea and they think this could be just as big as their Halo series — if not bigger. During E3, the company showed-off for the first time, Project Natal. Unlike Halo, this concept is not a game, but a controller-free motion censor. While the unit certainly looks cool, many hardcore gamers have their doubts and it probably stems from the lack of presentable games taking advantage of the accessory. However, it now seems like there is a chance Microsoft might be combining their biggest title with Project Natal.

While speaking with the Seattle Times, Bungie Studio President Harold Ryan teased the idea that Halo: Reach, the company’s next Halo game after ODST,’ could support Natal.

I absolutely think ‘Reach’ could be enabled with it,” Ryan said, while asked if if the game could be used with Project Natal.

This could be the perfect storm for Microsoft. As of now, Halo: Reach is expected to be released at the end of 2010. Some are also suggesting that Project Natal will be shipped to stores around the same time. If these dates end up being legit, what better way to promote Natal than saying it will launch with Microsoft’s biggest franchise?

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Even though Media Molecule is a British Based company, that doesn’t mean the studio won’t be celebrating the United States’ Independence Day. According to the official website, the company is going to release a “limited-time costume” for LittleBigPlanet on July 2, which is going to disguise SackGirl like the world famous Statue of Liberty. The best part? It’s free to all owners of LittleBigPlanet.

Again, the free downloadable content is only good for a limited-time, so make sure you turn on your PlayStation 3; boot-up LittleBigPlanet and download the costume on July 2. As of now, MM is not telling us a specific date when plan on pulling the content — or when they plan on charging users.

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Democratic Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, is doing everything he can to lure gaming publishers and/or studios to move from their current locations to the Bay State. His excitement of the possible economic boom because of the videogame industry, is starting to ooze out of him. During a town hall meeting in Arlington, the Governor talked a little bit about Guitar Hero.

“This is not your father’s [Route] 128. You know that [video game] ‘Guitar Hero’? That was invented here. It was built here.”

Gov. Patrick was speaking about Harmonix who developed the first two Guitar Heros, and they are now the creators of the Rock Band series. We should note that Rt. 128 is known as a technology hub of Massachusetts. While Rt. 128 definitely has its companies along the highway like; Raytheon, Sun Microsystems and Raytheon, Harmonix is nowhere near the route.

Harmonix is located in Cambridge, which is right next to the city of Boston and miles away from Rt. 128.

via: wickedlocal

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A couple of days ago, we mentioned that Jimmy Fallon challenged Tiger Woods in a game of golf, but using Tiger’s own game “PGA Tour 10,” for the Wii. It was confirmed by EA that they would be playing and it would be happening tonight on the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon on NBC at 12:35AM.

Because the show is always taped hours before it airs, Woods vs Tiger actually just happened outside the studio in New York City at Times Square. Up top is a picture of the event, which is courtesy of MTV.

According to Russ Frushtick, who writes for the site, attended the challenge and reported that Jimmy Fallon is by far a better golfer than Tiger Woods. Both men played 3-holes. In the last hole Tiger needed a hole-in-one to even have a chance to beat Jimmy. Before he tried, he mentioned to Fallon that he has had 19 career hole-in-ones, but when he tried to get his 20th — he failed.

If you want to check out the event, tune in and watch it tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Of course, you’ll probably have to sit through the show in order to see it. If you don’t want to watch the show — we should have video of the golf-off tomorrow.

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Left: Original, Right: HD-Upgrade

What could easily be one of the most ridiculous first-person shooter of all-time; is heading to Xbox Live Arcade. That’s right, the super awesome classic Serious Sam is heading to XBLA with a HD twist. Officially called Serious Sam: The First Encounter HD, will feature High-Definition visuals which will, according to the press release, “rival retail boxed games and 4 player co-op over Live.”

We are really excited to update our hero and recreate Sam in stunning high definition for Xbox LIVE Arcade players,” said Roman Ribaric, CEO of Croteam, the team behind the famous series. “The fans have lobbied us hard to do this, so we are stoked about bringing Sam back as big, bold and bad as he ever was.”

It will be released sometime this summer and sell for 1200 Microsoft Points and a PC version is coming out and should be available in autumn.

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Video: Resident Evil ‘Clay-Mation’

Youtube user MikeG1679 created this quick clay stop-motion film based off of the first Resident Evil. Sure, the animation isn’t the best, but that’s what gives it is charm and it definitely made me chuckle.

I guess if you haven’t played all the way through the original, you might not ‘get it’ because I don’t think there is another videogame on earth that is as cheesy as Resident Evil.

via

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