CHILD'S PLAY CHARITY COLLECTS OVER ONE MILLION DOLLARS

The final numbers on the Child's Play 2006 charity drive are in, and I'm proud to say that this year gamers all over the world donated over one million dollars in toys, books and cash. That's a huge number when you stop and think about it - more importantly, those donations are going to bring a whole lot of much needed smiles to the faces of kids who really need something to smile about.

For those of you who want exact numbers, and I know you're out there, the final total was $1,024,400. Keep that number in mind the next time you have to hear some story about how gamers are lazy, unmotivated and anti-social so you can just respond "and how much money did you help raise for charity last year?" and then direct them to Child's Play's website. While that's not the point of why you should support Child's Play, it's certainly a nice side-benefit. If you donated this year, give yourself a pat on the back from me - and if you didn't, well... just keep it in mind for next year - I'm sure there was a solid reason for it.

For those looking for a bit more on the wrap up of the 2006 drive, head on over to the Child's Play website and click around for a bit. If you read some of the letters and e-mails they've received, I think you'll see just how much your help is appreciated.

GRIPSHIFT NOW AVAILABLE FOR PLAYSTATION 3

Gripshift, Sony's downloadable cart style racer for the PlayStation 3, is now available for purchase via the online PlayStation store. I took a little time out to try this one tonight, and I've got to say I'm not really that impressed. My first impression of the game is that It feels like just about every other generic cart racer you've ever played. Worse still, it's got some unfinished edges to it - specifically in regards to vehicle explosions and the lack of any real kind of graphic for them. Basically, think "Cart Racer X meets Marble Blast Ultra" and you should have an idea of what to expect. Here are the particulars;

Name: Gripshift
System: PlayStation 3
Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment
Release Date: 1/04/07
Size: 121mb
Resolution: 720p
Players: 1-4
Price: $9.99
Demo: Yes

From the PlayStation.com product description page;

"GripShift features totally enhanced HD graphics, refined gameplay and four player online multiplayer. Choose between six different vehicles in this hybrid stunt-driving, platform-action driving experience. Enjoy either single-player racing action or online multiplayer gameplay with up to three of your friends in head-to-head action. Totally re-mixed for the PLAYSTATION®3 system and available for purchase through the PLAYSTATION®Network, GripShift is a ‘MUST HAVE’ game for your PLAYSTATION 3 digital library.

Key Game Features:

• Original Combination of Genres:Stunt Driving, Platform-Action and Puzzle-Solving genres combine to offer the ultimate driving experience.
• Vibrant 3D Environments in HD:Navigate through roller-coaster style tracks and four themed worlds (Desert, Jungle, Ice and Horror) that come alive with brilliant 3D HD graphics at 720p, stunning lighting and dynamic visual effects.
• All-new Gameplay and Content:Enhanced vehicle handling provides more responsive controls while new game content includes 125+ new and re-mixed levels, 25 race tracks, and an all-new music soundtrack." - PlayStation.com

THE WARBEARS ARE BACK!

Last April, I told you about a fun little web-based graphic adventure game called Warbears. The original game was a humorous, yet oh so frustrating game in which you controlled team of four special ops polar bears who were attempting to thwart a bank robbery in their home city of Bedtime City. Because of just how popular the game became, creator Gionatan Iasio took out a website and stated that a sequel was in the works.

Months passed and the Warbears website went silent, other than the occasional note that work was still progressing on the next game in the series. Well, the wait is finally over and not only has a new Warbears mission been released, but Iasio has also created a community system based on Bedtime City along with some Warbears merchandise. It's an interesting concept, but unless he can churn out Warbears episodes at a faster pace, I'd wonder just how well this venture will turn out for him.

As for the new episode, this time around we get to take the Warbears team on a training mission, that while not as complex as the bank heist adventure can be just as frustrating. It seems the one thing that hasn't been updated is how easy it is to lose and find yourself having to start over from scratch. If there's one thing the Warbears franchise needs, it's a "take back last move" option. On the upside, the new mission keeps the same level of humor and spirit of fun as the first game and adds multiple endings to the mix. If you're a fan of graphic adventure games and you can deal with the frustration of how easy it is to lose the game (and thus have to start over), then you owe it to yourself to give the game a try.

Click here to head over to the new and improved Warbears site, pick a mission and get going.

SAM & MAX EPISODE 2: SITUATION COMEDY NOW AVAILABLE

By the time you're reading this, Situation Comedy, the next installment in Telltale Games episodic Sam & Max series should be available for purchase. Of course, what this also means is that I never managed to put my thoughts down on what I thought of the first episode prior to it's release. I'm going to try and get a full review of both episodes up this weekend.

For those of you who haven't picked up Culture Shock yet and are wondering if the series is worth grabbing, I'll sum up some of my feelings on it like this - I feel that while the writing (and surprisingly the voice acting) of the first episode was dead on, the episodic nature of the game seems to be hurting the gameplay elements of the title. Simply put, because each episode is a small, compartmentalized part of the story, all the puzzles tend to be fairly straight forward and really only involve a few items that are always near at hand. In addition, the number of locations available to the player in Culture Shock was a bit of a letdown as well - it felt more like you were trying to solve a web based puzzle game than playing a full scale graphic adventure game.

I'm hoping that Situation Comedy can reverse that issue and begin moving the game towards puzzles that could begin in one episode but not be solvable until another - or at the very least, will require some long term effort to solve within an individual episode.

For more information on Telltale's Sam & Max series as well as the links required for purchase of the game, check out Telltale's official Sam & Max website at this link.

KOTAKU SHOWS OFF THE XBOX 360 GUITAR HERO II BUNDLE

It was a hectic day as far as gaming news went today, so I'm going to start off with the stuff you may not be seeing on every gaming blog out there and then try to catch up with the more popular news over the weekend.

We're going to start off with some new information on the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II - Kotaku has managed to get a pic of the retail packaging for the Xbox 360 GH2 Game/Guitar bundle, and I've got to say that while it looks pretty sweet, I'd like the design a bit more if it came in black. I'm also a bit concerned about the placement of the start and back buttons - while I haven't had a chance to hold RedOctane's 360 axe, based on that picture they look like they'll be a bit more difficult to access in the middle of a song when compared with the PlayStation 2's standard SG guitar.

Since by now you're dying to see the packaging, I'll shut up and get with the linking - click here to head over to Kotaku and take a look at what to expect when Guitar Hero II hits the 360 in a few months. In answer to the other questions you're about to ask;

1. Yes, it's currently slated to be a wired controller. Microsoft is apparently still sticking with their policy of only allowing first party accessories to be wireless.
2. Yes, the current plan is for additional songs to be made available (for a fee of course) via the Xbox Live Marketplace. My guess is that the first batch of add-ons will see are going to be the tracks from the first Guitar Hero.
3. No, there isn't an official price on the bundle at this time.

MICROSOFT REVEALS THIRD WAY TO GET INTO THE HALO 3 MULTIPLAYER BETA

If you've been following along with the home version of our game, you already know the first two ways to get into the Halo 3 beta, but as of today, Microsoft announced a third way to get a slot in the coveted Halo 3 multiplayer beta test via their in-house employee blog, Gamerscore Blog. Before we get to the new method, we'll cover the first two options - just in case you've been slacking. Here we go;

1. Have signed up at the Halo 3 beta test signup page - This method is no longer an option if you didn't sign up for it back in early December. This method is now closed and those who applied will find out if they've been selected to get the coveted golden ticket sometime in January. See what happens when you don't check gaming news often enough?
2. Specially marked copies of Crackdown for the Xbox 360 will also include access to the Halo 3 beta - I've noticed that with today's official announcement, Gamestop has listed it as a feature on their pre-order copies of the game "for a limited time only" - So even if you signed up via the beta test site, you may just want to check with your local store to see if reserving a copy today will guarantee you a Crackdown "beta test" box. After all, if you applied for the beta via option 1 and get selected, you can always cancel your pre-order.

And now we come to the latest option being offered by Microsoft, though this one is going to require a little more work on your part than the others, but if you missed the signup and don't feel like shelling out $60+ for Crackdown, here's what you need to do - take it away, Microsoft;

"Beginning Thursday, Feb. 1, 2007, at 12:01 a.m. EST, all gamers need to do is participate in at least three hours of “Halo 2” multiplayer sessions, via Xbox Live, before Feb. 3, 2007, at 11:59 p.m. EST and then be among the first 13,333 to register at http://www.halo3.com. The “Rule of Three” program is currently planned for gamers in the 50 United States (includes District of Columbia) age 17 years and older who have access to an Xbox 360 Pro console or an Xbox 360 Core console with hard drive, a valid Xbox Live Gold subscription and the “Halo 2” game. Gamers around the world are encouraged to visit http://www.halo3.com in the coming weeks for more information on the “Rule of Three” program in their region." - Gamerscore Blog

If you're trying to get in via one of the non-assured methods, I wish you the best of luck - and if you want to see the full text of Microsoft's announcement, I wish you'd head over to this link and read it.

STAMPER BROTHERS LEAVE RARE LTD

1UP.com is reporting that Tim and Chris Stamper, founders of Rare Ltd., have left the company effective immediately. While the official word on their departure has all the usual wording about the brothers leaving to pursue other opportunities, there is no actual word on whether they left the company of their own free will or were forced out. Simply put, Rare certainly hasn't performed the way Microsoft hoped it would when they purchased it from Nintendo in 2002 for 377 million dollars.

I don't know about you, but if I were Nintendo, I'd probably be dialing the Stamper's right now to remind them of past successes and offer to help them form a second party development house for the Big N.

For more information on this story, check out the 1UP.com article here. If you're interested in a quick history of Rare Ltd, check out their Wikipedia entry here.

NPD GROUP RELEASES HOLIDAY 2006 U.S. NEXT-GEN CONSOLE SALES FIGURES

According to an article over at GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that the NPD Group have released their preliminary U.S. console sales figures for the period of November 1st through December 25th. Here's what they've reported so far;

• Xbox 360 - Approximately 2 million units sold.
• Nintendo Wii - Approximately 1.8 million units sold.
• Sony PlayStation 3 - Approximately 750,000 units sold.

Naturally, those figures don't tell the whole story due to the later start and shortages of the Wii and PS3, but it does at least give an indication of where the big three came out following the holiday rush. Full details on this past holiday season's sales should be available from NPD later this month.

Check out the GamesIndustry.biz article at this link for more details.

UPDATE: 8:15pm 1/3/07 - Gamespot is reporting that the numbers listed above did not come from the NPD Group, but rather from International Data Corporation (IDC), a completely different market analysis firm. Those of you looking for more details should check out the Gamespot article at this link.

TEKKEN 6 COMING TO PLAYSTATION 3 AND XBOX 360?

Chalk this one up as a rumor for now, but word over at news4gamers.com is that the same source that leaked the news that Virtua Fighter 5 was going multiplatform is now saying that Namco's Tekken 6 is about to do the same.

"According to "sources within IGN" (the same source who said VF5 would come to Xbox 360) Namco is currently working on a Xbox 360 version of Tekken 6, that would appear winter 2007, just short after the PS3-version." - News4Gamers.com

There's not much to back that statement up in the article beyond a link to the full story which takes the reader over to a German language Xbox 360 website. If anyone out there can read German, feel free to let me know exactly what that website says about the whole thing, because losing Tekken 6 would be another massive blow to Sony and the PlayStation 3. You know, the thing that totally staggers my mind is that Sony seems content to just sit and do nothing while, at the very least, gamers perceptions of their chances in this round of consoles drops constantly.

Sure, I know that hard-core gamers don't make up a majority of the final console installed base numbers, but you've got to think that Sony at least sees the need to get those early adopters talking favorably about their systems. A prime example would be the people I work with - none of them are gamers, though many have children who play games. While they may not know much about the PlayStation 3's specs and may still consider the PlayStation name a strong sales motivator, they would also all tell you that the PlayStation 3 is overpriced and beyond one or two exclusives, were they to buy a console right now, they'd probably better off buying an Xbox 360 or Wii right now. Why? because they asked me what I thought about the new consoles since they know I play games religiously and have multiple systems, and I told them.

That is why Sony cannot just sit back and expect the PlayStation name to carry them to victory. Yes, if the children of those co-workers are adamant in the fact they want a PS3 somewhere down the road, they may just get one anyway - but if they were on the fence, word of mouth like that can be a killer. Sony, I'll give you a free "starter" tip - how about making that downloadable version Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection available in the U.S. PlayStation store sooner than the rumored January 18th, so people don't have to go through the stupidity of creating a second account to buy it now from the Hong Kong PlayStation store?

Before I ramble on any longer, let's hit the linkage - click here to head over to News4Gamers.com to check out the original article. Oh, and if you're curious as to how you get the Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Honk Kong download, click here to head over to an article on the process at GamersReports.

VERY SHORT HALO 3 VIDEOS LEAKED

If it weren't for the fact that it's Halo 3, I probably wouldn't even take the time to post these clips as news, but it is, so I will. It appears that some footage of the game - some very short footage of the game - was taken at Bungie's recent closed beta-test/play session held for American troops in Iraq. The videos don't seem to show much other than the opening title screen and a few seconds of a multiplayer game, but that's better than nothing I guess. Check them out below;

For more information on the event and the full sized versions of the above videos, use the following links;

• Bungie Get US Army To Beta Test Halo 3 - Kotaku
• Bungie Sends Halo 3 Beta To US Troops In Iraq - Firing Squad
• Halo 3 Leaked Footage 1 - YouTube
• Halo 3 Leaked Footage 2 - YouTube

Still no video love in the archives, so use the above links.