Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is almost upon us, faithful fans of the franchise. The closed beta test for the MMO has been underway for months now, and it's been fun. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and here we stand at the brink of a open beta, which will lead right into the retail release. EA and Mythic announced the plans for Warhammer's North American public beta today, and yes, you guessed it: it's time to pre-order.

Hitting up "select" retailers, like GameStop, to pre-order your copy of Age of Reckoning, will net you access to the long-awaited beta on September 7th. You will then have unti, September 18th to fiddle around in the game world before your character, your gear, everything is wiped clean and you're forced to start fresh. This time for real. So really, think of this as a pre-release demo more than a beta. On another happy note, for those of us that are currently residing in the North American closed beta, access to the open beta will be automatically granted to your account. Sweet!

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will launch in North America, Europe and Oceania simultaneously on September 18th. Full announcement after the jump.

It's a strange thing, really, this whole Electronic Arts/Take-Two nonsense. I think we'd all almost let it slip into the backs of our minds until today. After several failed attempts at a hostile takeover of the company, EA have effectively pulled out of the race for Take-Two's ownership; even though Take-Two makes it clear that they would fancy being scooped up, had EA put forth the correct amount of money. No longer will we be forced to read that one party has extended their deadlines again and again. For the time being, that is.

EA states that they will be letting their most recent offer for the publisher's stock ($25.74/per) run its course and expire tonight at midnight, Eastern Time. Take-Two state that they would like to give a private management presenatation to EA, detailing the company's progress since GTA IV's release, and how Take-Two's request for a higher bid from EA was and is a legit concern. CEO of EA, John Riccitiello, says that the presentation offer has been "accepted." We'll have to wait and see how that turns out. And basically, that's that. EA's going to nab Take-Two, it will happen, it'll just be a bit longer. Promise.

Full announcement after the jump.

It's been over three years since Alan Wake was announced during 2005's E3. Fans were beginning to think the title had become vaporware with so little information sticking its head up from out of the void. However, Max Payne developer Remedy Entertainment assures us everything is still progressing; they've just had a few speed bumps along the way. Remedy's CFO Mika Reini had this to say about the title on the game's official forums:

We feel we owe you all a small heads up, and our apologies for lack of updates. Yes, we're still here and working hard on getting Alan Wake for you to enjoy. Sure, we've been in development for a long time and if everything had gone perfectly smoothly there probably would be a game out for you guys to play already. But designing a completely new game can be hard, and sometimes you need to take a detour to find the best route forward. We want to entertain you guys in the best possible way and our team is putting in every effort possible in order for that to happen. That is the way Remedy wants to do things. I'm sure you will enjoy Alan Wake when we're done. 

The game, which is currently being developed for PC and Xbox 360, revolves around a horror writer whose fiction is starting to blend with reality. Hopefully Remedy will have more for us in the future. In the meantime, why not watch John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness.

[via GameDaily]

This week marks the Leipzig Game Convention and as such, you may expect some big announcements concerning console prices to happen…or maybe not.  As we reported, Microsoft has decided to not have a press conference at this year’s convention.  Nintendo has also decided to stay out of the race for press conferences, leaving Sony as the only one of the Big 3 to have a press conference at this year’s convention. 

With the rumored upcoming price drop on the Xbox 360 Arcade SKU, you might expect that Sony will return fire by announcing a price drop at Leipzig.  It appears, sadly, that you would be mistaken.   In an interview with Reuters, Sony Computer Entertainment spokesman Nick Caplin had this to say concerning the price drop:

It's not going to happen. If you're coming for that you'll be disappointed.

With the PS3 coming in on top of the 360 for its second month in a row, Sony may simply hold off until the holiday season to announce a price drop.  They may also be waiting to see what Microsoft has up their sleeves.  With the recent announcement of the upgrade to the current 40 GB mode, though, you may need to wait for some time before you see a price drop for the PS3. 

Hear ye, hear ye!  Let it be known that today, this 18th day of August in the year 2008, Michael Shorrock has elevated himself from the status of mere mortal to a near-God.  Officially, he holds the title of Director of Publisher Relations at Sony Computer Entertainment America, but in the eyes of the many fans of rhythm based games, he has now become a man worth worshipping after this little post on the PlayStation Blog.

Over the past several months, Shorrock has been quietly working with Neversoft, Activision, Harmonix, and Konami to bring these four music game juggernauts to the same table and, after much ado, they've all reached an agreement to play nice with one another.  At least, as far as PlayStation 3 music games and accessories are concerned.

Starting with the next releases in Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and Rock Revolution, music accessories from each game will be supported cross-title.  One set of drums works in all three games, as do the guitars, without the need for special adapters.  And when it comes to microphones, the news is even sweeter, with cross-title support for microphones plus the ability to use SingStar microphones in Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2.  Of course, this only applies to the basic functionality for each instrument, so special features won't apply here.

As if that weren't enough, Shorrock also promises that Sony is working on bringing this kind of cross-title support to the existing Rock Band and Guitar Hero titles, which can only serve to make many PS3 owners happy (and many Xbox 360 owners jealous).  

Shorrock plays this off as just being part of his job, but it's pretty obvious that this is just his bid at becoming a deity.  Well played, sir. We'll get right on that statue construction.

Boy, those Gary Busey trailers for Saints Row 2 were pretty darn crazy, weren’t they?  They made you wonder exactly how crazy this man had become and how crazy the game would be.  Then came the release of Grand Theft Auto 4, and you probably realized that this game would have to be truly insane to beat its competition. 

Well, in this newest trailer for Saints Row 2, we have no Uncle Gary, nor do we have any real “insanity”.  Instead we get a bit of the story as it seems the Saints are trying to reclaim what was once theirs.  In this world of drugs, crime and guys in Wiener suits, they attempt overthrow the “Sons of Samedi” in their quest to become the biggest supplier of drugs in Stilwater.  So, don’t think of it as Grand Theft Auto; think of it as Grand Theft Auto’s cousin who has all those medications they need to take hourly.  The game will be released October 14. 

Tired of waiting to get home from a long day at the office to download and relax with the latest XBLA helping? It looks like the future may just be in your favor. Last week at UK's Gamefest in London, Develop reported on some new details on Microsoft's plans for incorporating its Xbox 360 Marketplace into a web based service.

From our understanding, each Marketplace item will have its own unique URL for download.  What does that mean for you and developers? It means each item can be linked virally by anyone. Developers can post a direct link of their games from their website or you could email the link to a friend from work praising an enjoyed previous purchase. All items can also be queued from the website to be automatically downloaded to your Xbox 360 when you next turn it on. There is also speculation that there may be a download manager within the new Xbox Experience that will allow your console to download in a sleep-mode state when you're at the office.

It's expected that XNA Creators Club members will also have the benefit of this new web based service, making the promotion of their games that much easier. This is great news for Xbox 360 owners. Not only will you be able to browse Marketplace items ranging from games, movies and shows, to themes, gamerpics and DLC, its hopeful everything will be in a tight organized package. With so many changes coming to the Xbox brand, it's almost like buying a new console. Cheers to progress.

I’m sure it will come as a surprise to the readers of this website, but it appears that not all gamers are nerdy teenagers…yes, you read that last sentence correctly…I’ll let it sink in.   While you may not realize it, the average age of a gamer is 35 years old.  In a recently released report, IBIS World has shown that the average gamer is not the nerdy teenager living in his parent’s basement, but rather is the average Joe.

The study seems to contradict years of stereotypical views.  The report shows that 38 percent of U.S. gamers are female, and the average purchaser of video games is 39 years old.  The data also shows that 24 percent of game players are over the age of 50.  In this manner, it appears that the video game market has become much broader than in years past.  With the sales numbers of Nintendo products being at the top of the NPD list month after month, it should come as no surprise that the casual crowd is being drawn in. 

This data does appear, however, to be contradictory to previously held beliefs.  What could be driving this push towards video games having mass market appeal?    Senior Analyst of IBIS World, Mr. George Van Horn had this to say on the subject:

The average American gamer has been playing for 12 years, and is now, on average, 35 years of age...(W)hen comparing today's industry climate with that of 20 years ago, there is a marked shift in the sector's target client base. It is apparent that women and many adults are no longer shunning the fun.

Hit the jump for more details...

Episode 90 - Riding Solo

It's a one man show this week, as Parris is riding solo. 

This week, Parris talks about his recent hands-on experience with Mercenaries 2, his thoughts on Bionic Commando Rearmed, what he thinks about the recent Madden 09 release, the latest news from Insomniac Studios, and even more as he covers this week's highlight items.

Do you enjoy our show?  If so, please help us out by taking a few seconds to leave us feedback on iTunes, it'll really help us out. If you'd like to leave us feedback, you can email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and let us know what you think! 

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The MMO game is hard to break into. There’s the one big scary monster that everyone is both afraid of and attempting to at least do as well as, and then there’s everything else. So what makes Warhammer Online different than the rest? I mean, they too have cartoony orcs and dwarves and keeps and a two-sided war and isn’t it just exactly the same?

There’s something that Warhammer Online will have that WoW won’t have: a mature experience.

Let’s go to WAR after the jump

The power of the glow

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Game Nights Show 12

You can let the gang know how you feel by calling 206-666-2041, by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or by leaving a review on iTunes.

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