Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659).

This Week In Gaming

• xbox live subscription prices to rise begining in Nov.

  According to a post on Major Nelson’s blog, after eight years’ of Xbox Live at the $50 a year price point, the service is finally seeing a price hike. Starting on November 1, a year Gold subscription to Xbox Live will run $59.99, versus the current price of $49.99. One month subscriptions will jump from $7.99 to $9.99, while three month subs will rise from $19.99 to $24.99.

  Other regions will be seeing increases as well. In the UK the price of one month will jump from 4.99 GPB to 5.99 GPB. The price of a month in Canada rises a dollar to $9.99. Finally, a year subscription in Mexico rises from 499 to 599 pesos.| Microsoft is running a special deal right now for North American customers, allowing them to lock in a year at $39.99, $20 less than the new rate. For details, visit the deal website.

  *discussion topic: did Kotik get his way and MS increase prices in line with new CoD release?*

• Dead Rising 2 case zero delayed in Japan
• Yamauchi gran turismo 5 has optional 10gb install

• Microsoft Brings Down the Banhammer On Reach Pirates
• Fallout: New Vegas Has Robot Sex

• Just what could this teaser trailer mean…?
• Digital Chocolate vs. Zynga – Mafia Wars Casual game company Digital Chocolate is suing Farmville creator Zynga for taking the name “Mafia Wars.”
• 18 Year Old Plays DDO to Forget Killing Disabled Girl
• From ME! – Gamestop is selling XBLA codes for specific DLC and DL Games for the exact purchase price (ish).  I got Lara Croft and the Guardian of the Light and Limbo for $14.99 each without any additional tax and without having any extra points lying around unused.

• (gamasutra) http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30148/Nintendos_DSi_DSi_XL_Get_Price_Cuts.php

  Nintendo’s latest iterations of its portable hardware are getting their first price reductions: the camera-equipped, digital download-ready DSi will get a new $149.99 tag, and the upsized, larger-screened DSi XL will be priced at $169.99 — representing $20 knocked off of the price of each.

  The earlier DS Lite will stay at $129.99, the company says. Price reductions in the most recent models are consistent with Nintendo’s past strategy in the evolution of its hardware.

• (gamasutra) http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30174/Atlus_Dissolved_By_Parent_Company_Index_Holdings.php

Rumor Mill

• Expect something very cool at PAX regarding The Old Republic. Unfortunately that’s all I can say.

• Brad Pitt wants to play John Marston in a Red Dead Redemption Movie. And let’s face it, Brad gets what Brad wants.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

• I love KMART Special!
  Kmart leads the way with a double deal on Metroid: Other M. Get a free $20 gaming coupon with purchase AND save $20 instantly on Super Mario Galaxy 2, New Super Mario Brothers, Super Smash Brothers, Metroid Prime Trilogy or Mario Kart when purchased with Metroid: Other M. Also for the Wii, Guilty Party comes with a $10 gaming coupon. Madden NFL 11 and Kane & Lynch 2 are both discounted to $44.90.

  If you prefer to get your Metroid delivered (or just not at Kmart), Amazon and Walmart are offering $20 credits too.

Question Of The Week

What is your favorite NPC and why?

twitter:

• miiiiu: Captain Justin Bartlett! because he arrives on that ship to rescue us from Arthas in Halls of Reflection.
• twyst976: If we are talking video games, it has to be Nordom from Planescape:Torment followed closely by Minsc from Baldurs Gate.
• shamthemeli: sounds lame but my fave is Mrs.Crumplebottom from all of the Sims games. Random purse beatings ftw
• rilgon: Chromie. If you don’t know why, you haven’t been reading my Twitter feed very long.
• ninthbatter: Mordin Solus from ME2. He was the very model of a scientist Salarian.
• mrbryo: Chief Plaguebringer Middleton cause he is family. http://j.mp/ayRm8o
• glassofwater2: I WANT TO KILL THAT ONE DWARF WANNA BE MAGE IN DRAGON AGE ORIGINS OMG HER VOICE IS SO FUCKING ANNOYING. that counts right?

forums:

• Jitterbug: Cortana from the original Halo. In the sequels she became a bit annoying as she was forced into the storyline, but in the first she was great.

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659).

This Week In Gaming

• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/20/this-is-the-full-83-track-rock-band-3-setlist/
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/23/game-developers-choice-online-award-nominees-announced/
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/23/peer-into-these-new-portal-2-screens/
• According to rumors floating around the Internet, the PS3 has finally been hacked
• Andrew Cuomo, New York Attorney General, released a statement saying that GameStop, along with five other companies, will pay millions of dollars in fines after it was discovered that they’ve tricked thousands of customers into paying hidden fees.
• (joystiq) DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue sequel coming to XBLA, PSN in September
  With justice not entirely dispensed, evil still to be vanquished and plenty of downtrodden to be, uh, heroed,the titular DeathSpank returns in DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue. Hothead Games today announced a full-on sequel to this summer’s Diablo homage (parody?) on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network — and it’s almost complete! Thongs of Virtue will be launched on PSN and XBLA on September 21 and 22, respectively.
• (shacknews) Lord of the Rings Online Free-to-Play Launching on Sept. 10
  Turbine’s Lord of the Rings Online will officially go free-to-play on September 10. The move comes after a beta test, which began on June 16
• (gamesindustry.biz) News: Amazon stops selling XBLA titles
  Online retailer Amazon has decided to stop selling Xbox Live Arcade games via its website, ending a partnership which began only 16 months ago in April, 2009.
  Previously, the site had offered redeemable codes for purchase, allowing customers to pay for XBLA titles in national currency rather than with the publisher’s proprietary Microsoft Points.

Rumor Mill

• Expect to hear news about the next DOOM game soon.
• Microsoft is working on making a handheld videogame system that will also be a smart phone. Primary purpose being gaming though.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

• Kmart is giving out $20 gaming coupons with the purchase of Mafia 2 or Red Dead Redemption.

• Best Buy hands over a $25 gift card when you buy two $39.99+ games or accessories.

• TRU has another week of free collectible Halo Reach cards which also double as $10 off coupons for Xbox 360 Halo games.

• Target prices the WiiMote + Motion Plus bundle at $29.99

• FocalPrice.com offers this 6-Piece Mario Kart Toy Set for $7.79 with free shipping. That’s the lowest total price we could find by $15. This 6-piece set includes Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and more.

Question of the Week

(from @spudpuffinz ) : What was your first video game?

• lougagliardi: Castlevania from 1987
• Glassofwater2: not sure, some educational game…
• admon09: super Mario 3 and ultima
• Ninthbatter: The Oregon Trail, and yes all I did was hunt.
• Broadwayblues: my first video game was choplifter or missile command on 2600
• Linedan: Combat and Space Invaders on the Atari 2600. (Feel free to get off my lawn.)
• stoppableforce: Donkey Kong, on the Atari 5200.
• aoirselvar: either pacman or adventure on the atari, awesome graphics
• belghast: Sears and Roebuck Pong
• mrbryo: burgertime on the intellivision
• tinkerpriest: super mario bros for snes
• TwilliK: Either Wolf3D with no enemies, Exile (an RPG) or like Spy Fox (I was like 3-5)

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659).

This week in Gaming

• Bill roper departs Cryptic: http://startrekonline.com/node/2029?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
• Bioshock Infinite: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/12/bioshock-infinite-preview/#continued
• Limbo sells 300k: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/16/limbo-sells-300k-design-philosophy-discussed-by-playdead
• Call of duty Black ops prestige edition: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/12/call-of-duty-black-ops-prestige-edition-comes-with-working-rc-s/#continued
• Source joystiq
  (Compared to last year) July sales surge resulted in a minor 2% drop in Xbox sales while every other console suffered double digit drops. This, as you can see in our lineup below, has earned the Xbox 360 the rare opportunity to best the Nintendo DS as the best-selling piece of video game hardware last month. To put things in perspective, NPD analyst Anita Frazier notes, “It’s the first time since September ’07 (Halo 3 launch) that the 360 was the top-selling hardware platform.”
  • 360: 444K, down 9K (-2%)
  • DS: 398K, down 113K (-22%)
  • Wii: 254K, down 169K (-40%)
  • PS3: 215K, down 90K (-30%)
  • PSP: 84K, down 37K (-31%)

1. 1. NCAA Football 11 – Xbox 360 – EA – 368K
   2. NCAA Football 11 – PS3 – EA – 299K
   3. Crackdown 2 – Xbox 360 – Microsoft – 209K
   4. Super Mario Galaxy 2 – Wii – Nintendo – 193K
   5. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 – DS – WBIE – 142K
   6. Red Dead Redemption – Xbox 360 – Take-Tw
   7. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 – Wii – WBI
   8. Dragon Quest IX– DS – Nintend
   9. New Super Mario Bros. Wii – Wii – Nintendo
   10. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Xbox 360 – Activision

• Capcom to sponsor zombie protest at London House of Parliament
  The Citizens for Undead Rights and Equality (CURE) is joining forces with game publisher Capcom for some slow walks and good times. The undead organization is mustering its forces for a gathering across from the London House of Parliament on August 30 to promote zombie awareness and Capcom will be sponsoring the event.
  A list of CURE’s demands:
  • To permit the marriage of living and the undead
  • To increase the minimum statutory retirement age to beyond death
  • To make cemeteries more comfortable for their inhabitants
  • Attendees will receive a limited edition t-shirt celebrating the event, and the best-dressed zombie will win a game console. “It’s going to be a great day to be undead,” says CURE spokesperson Stacey Forsythe. “Our gathering will be loads of fun, and provide a real talking point in Westminster. We’re hoping that the spectacle will bring smiles to those in the area on Bank Holiday – but also make people think about the undeadly serious issues which face zombies these days.”
  • “This is a brilliant cause, and one which Capcom heartily endorses,” says Capcom’s Leo Tan. “As the leading publisher of zombie-related videogames, we feel very strongly that any hostile treatment they receive in our games is recognised as being entirely fictional – the undead are people too.
  • Members of the undead who are interested in supporting CURE’s cause can visit their official website and email votecure@googlemail.com for more information.
• (joystiq) Subway restaurants offer early access to PlayStation Move in new contest
  Sony and Subway are continuing their bizarre cross-marketing relationship. The newly-announced “Fiery Footlong Frenzy” promotion will award “more than $1 million in retail value” of prizes, at a rate of “one prize per minute.” Up for grabs are PS3 systems, games (including collector’s edition versions of Gran Turismo 5,LittleBigPlanet 2 and Uncharted 2), 3D HDTVs, PSP systems, and an exclusive opportunity to win the PlayStation Move motion controller before it goes on sale. Diners will be able to find codes on specially-marked 32 oz. drink cups, Monterey Jack Sun Chips, and breakfast sandwiches, starting today.
  According to Subway’s Tony Pace, partnering up with the PlayStation Move reflects upon Subway’s image of a healthy lifestyle. “As a brand that values active lifestyles, Subway is pleased to join Playstation in the launch its new active gaming platform and offer our fans this exclusive opportunity,” he said in a press release. Does this mean we’ll be seeing Jared Fogle playing against Kevin Butler in a mascot-powered ad campaign? We hope so!

Rumor Mill

• Valve is working on a DotA(Defense of the Ancients) game.

• Gearbox Software is looks at acquiring the rights to make a new Duke Nukem game.

• In SWTOR Naboo will be one of the planets. An unfortunately where there’s Naboo there’s Gungans.

Question of the Week

In honor of CoH: Going Rogue. When given a choice between Good/Bad factions which do you choose and why? (thanks to thesyddiegrl for the idea)

Twitter:

• StoppableForce:  I tend towards “bad” factions because the choices on the side of “good” tend to be really boring fantasy races.
• quietambition: I choose whichever side I find more interesting. Good or bad isn’t relevant, although it seems to be “bad” more often lol
• spudpuffinz: Well in Company of Heroes: Going Rogue, I always choose the paragon path, because its usually the way to better bonuses.
• glassofwater2: good normally, but if the good guys are boring, and the bad guys have cookies, then I go bad

Forum:

• Farva: I try going bad, but after my first bad decision I feel so guilty I play extra nice after that. I’m just big baby deep down.
• ColbyTS: I feel you Farva, every time I start Fallout 3 I think to myself this is the time I will blow up Megaton, but when the time comes I bitch out and turn into a blubbering mess…
• Jitterbug: I always play as a good guy first, and then on the second play through I go bad. Except in Mass Effect. For some reason, in that game I just can’t bring myself to go the renegade path. I am always a good guy.

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659).

This Week In Gaming

• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/09/sources-microsoft-waving-kinect-beta-invites-around/
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/09/four-new-species-revealed-for-star-wars-the-old-republic/

• Give to A Good Cause and Land A Voice Acting Role

• 1000 Variables for ME3 Want to know just how many different decisions that you made in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 will determine the storyline and events in Mass Effect 3? How about over 1,000
• Teen’s Video Game Habits Lead Police to Marijuana Stash
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/09/assassins-creed-brotherhood-collectors-edition-comes-with-jac/ Spend $100 for a sweet game, some comics, maps, an artbook, and a creepy as #*(%$()* Harlequin Jack-in-the-box. Thing. This is also known as ‘Nightmare Fuel.’
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/06/sonic-colors-to-maybe-spin-dash-our-hopes-on-november-16/
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/09/nomura-definitely-wants-to-make-a-the-world-ends-with-you-sequ/

• (joystiq) GameStop lists ‘Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition’ for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360
  If you’ve held off on purchasing Dragon Age: Origins until now … keep holding off. GameStop listings have appeared for something called “Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition” on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, supposedly due for release on October 12 for $59.99.
  The listings have no information at all about what’s included in the package — and neither EA nor BioWare have officially announced this thing, though we’ve asked for a comment regardless — so it’s anyone’s guess as to what’s included. If it were truly “Ultimate” it would include the Awakenings expansion and all the DLC. Now that word’s out about this thing’s existence, we expect an announcement soon, at which point we’ll learn the precise level of ultimateness contained within.

• Pokemon Black and White to feature new Pokemon only (until you beat it)
  At long last, Game Freak has discovered exactly why you’ve been so hesitant to jump on the last few generations of Pokémon titles: It’s all those old Pokémon, of course. It’s hard to feel like you’re on a level playing field when you don’t recognize a few of the ‘mons introduced in Pearl or Ruby or Silver — but, according to a blog post from Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda, that won’t be a problem in Pokémon Black and White.
  Going by Andriasang’s translation of the blog, players of the upcoming generation of Pokémon titles will only encounter all-new monsters until they clear the game. The developer hopes this will make the game a fresh experience for veterans and newcomers alike — though Masuda admits that coming up with new monsters has been completely challenging. Well, yeah, we’d assume anything after number 300 would be tough to come up with. Here, we’ll try: Stonedog! He’s a dog! But he’s made of stone.

Rumor Mill

• The Next DLC for Borderlands will be about a rebellious ninja Claptrap who creates an army from spare parts. Enemies are said to include Claptrap versions of various menaces from the game, including Grunts, Midgets, Kamikazes, Rakks, and Turrets.

• With the finical success of Bioware’s Cerberus network, Activision (and several other major game developers) will be following suit by including an online pass with the new version of Call of Duty Black Ops.

• Blizzard and Activision CEOs are butting heads over when World of Warcraft Cataclysm should be released. Blizzard wants it be be released as soon as it’s ready while Activision wants to delay the release until spring of 2011 to compete with SWTOR.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

• Madden NFL Roundup!!!!!

• There’s also a Fallout New Vegas Coaster Set for $5 which comes with a $15 gaming coupon that will be redeemable launch week of Fallout New Vegas.

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659).

This Week In Gaming

• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/02/fable-3-for-windows-not-arriving-day-and-date-with-360-version/
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/02/michael-jackson-the-experience-will-be-playable-at-gamescom/
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/02/walmart-doing-midnight-launches-for-madden-nfl-11/
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/02/nintendoware-weekly-blayzbloo/ Do you want to own the cutest DSIware game out there? How about Blayzbloo? Go ahead. You know you want to.
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/31/vietnamese-government-implements-restrictions-on-online-games/ (via Joystiq) Citing increased real-life criminal activity originating in the online space, the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communication has placed a number of tight restrictions on massively multiplayer titles. These include bans on any and all advertisements for online games, as well as regulations forcing ISPs to shut off service to gaming cafes and retailers after hours.

• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/30/analyst-call-of-duty-online-could-make-100-million-in-its-firs/ DERP DERP Great idea, Bobby! :B
• American McGee’s Alice 2! http://www.ea.com/alice Alice…what…have…you…done?

Rumor Mill

• Disney is looking at acquiring their own development and publishing studio so that they will no longer depend on outside sources.
• We could be seeing the first expansion to starcraft 2 as soon as this christmas.
• Want a chance to play SWTOR, well Bioware will have live server demos at PAX and are rumored to be giving away testing keys.

Question of the Week

If you could have any 2 game characters team up who would they be?

• nevikjames My pairing would have to be Zelda and Alice, my two favorite fictional females
• glassofwater2 mangks and kerrigan to kill all of raynor’s raiders but then kerrigan kills mangks and attacks raynor’s raiders. all planned.
• blackkitty4 The dude from Contra (NES) and Snow from FFXIII. Just to see Contra dude kick Snow’s ass *so* hard. With a spray gun. I suppose that’s not “teaming up,” is it. Hm. Ok, ok, for two that would team up, I’d say GlaDos and Navi. GlaDos likes to talk, and Navi likes to tell people to listen.
• NinthBatter Commander Shepard and Fox McCloud
• stoppableforce Ezio from Assassin’s Creed 2, and Garrett from the Thief series.
• Cadistra I think SSBB and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 have taken care of my favourites…
• dicehateme Kirby and Solid Snake – it’d be like an adult Boy & His Blob.
• Achloryn Battletoads and Double Dragon….. oh wait..

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This Week in Gaming

• codemasters dishes on acquisition expansion:

  Codemasters employees worried about having to pack up their stuff and head for Bangalore should probably relax, as VP of studios Gavin Cheshire denied such plans in a Develop interview. After a recent 50 percent acquisition by Indian company Reliance Big Entertainment, worry apparently spread about the possibility of Codemasters relocating development to its new parent company’s home country. “I can safely say that this is absolutely not the case,” Cheshire said. “There are obviously some ‘strategic’ moves for both partners, but in terms of development at the level we’re at, it’s very much about Reliance investing in our skills and abilities over here in the UK.”

  Let’s hope Reliance is investing lots, as Cheshire spells out a whole mess of titles currently in development at the UK-based publisher’s trio of development studios. “Our Guildford studio is working hard on Bodycount, and we will be looking to take that franchise further and further with the addition of more IP. In Southam it’s full steam ahead with the next iteration in our Flashpoint series, as well as the next Dirtand Grid.”

  Thankfully, with all those games in development, the publisher has a plan — and an upcoming game engine, EGO 2.0 — for helping to manage it all. “We are focused on EGO 2.0 at the moment, which will be coming in with a massive title that we can’t talk about just yet. That will really keep us cutting-edge.” Cutting-edge, you say? Figure skating sim confirmed?! We think so!

• preview star wars the force unleashed 2 at comic con:

  During the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 Comic-Con panel, LucasArts producer Haden Blackman led a gameplay preview for the assembled crowd, showing off some new elements of the sequel which again stars fallen Vader apprentice Starkiller. The demonstration built on last month’s E3 preview, with plenty more scenes of messy Stormtrooper cleanup — it’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.

  As he showed troopers sliced, diced and Forcefully obliterated, Blackman noted that the development team has worked to diversify enemy AI. Player feedback from the first game criticized the different types of enemies for all acting the same, so LucasArts has created separate AI behavior for almost all of the enemies in the sequel. Of course, this also goes for the new enemies, of which Blackman introduced a giant walker equipped with a shield and a Carbonite gun. To defeat the menace, Starkiller must first use his Force power to rip off the shield, and then take on the vulnerable walker while dodging its freeze ray blasts.

  Blackman also showed off the beefed-up Jumptroopers. While they’ve been made into more formidable grunts, they’re now susceptible to Force Lighting, which makes their jet packs go haywire. The crowd was audibly giddy when Blackman demonstrated the effect, with the zapped Jumptrooper flipping around uncontrollably before taking a violent plunge to his death. The new “Jedi Mind Trick” power also proved to be a crowd pleaser, as Starkiller pitted enemies against each other and forced others to run into the nearest cannons and explode.

• Valve Unbans Thousands of MW2 Players
• Street Fighter and Tekken Universes Collide
• Sony Developing Successor to Blu-ray

• (gamesradar) Maxis and EA unveil Darkspore

  Wow… EA just let loose a big ol’ surprise early on in today’s press conference. Following the inevitable Sims 3 expansion, Maxis jolted the audience with a completely unexpected direction for its Spore franchise.

  Darkspore isn’t a direct extension of Spore, as it’s an action-RPG that will take place in its own sci-fi universe. Watching it in motion, it looks like a lovely little Diablo-esque loot hack with a crapload of custimization. Better still, Maxis claims Darkspore will take a couple cues from the Spore character creator (Which for most people, was the most fun thing about Spore, anyway.)

  The press conference emphasized a focus on co-op and customization, as the players toil to build an arsenal of “living weapons” by collecting DNA used to “level up” level up your multiple heroes with atributes. You’ll be able to switch between the numerous characters you create on the fly in order to deal with enemies appropriately.

• (gamesradar) New Mass Effect 2 DLC announced, story to focus on Liara

  A new DLC pack for Mass Effect 2 has just been announced on BioWare’s official Mass Effect site. Titled ‘Lair of the Shadow Broker,’ the new mission pack finds Shepard and Liara joining forces.

  “Two years ago, Commander Shepard died and Liara T’Soni fought in a desperate struggle against the Shadow Broker to recover her former Commander. Now that Shepard is back, it’s time to even the score,” says BioWare. No release date for Lair of the Shadow Broker has been announced, but we do have three new screens for you to check out.

Rumor Mill

• Unless they get shot down by the corporate, the new Medal of Honor game will let you play as Al-Qaeda.

• Raven Software is currently in pre development for a Deadpool game.

• Pac-Man the movie, coming to Japan spring 2012.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

1. Just 1 Deal this week- Starcraft II is out this week and the best deal is over at Kmart. They’re throwing in a $20 coupon good towards a future gaming purchase.

Question of the Week

Are you getting SC2 at launch, waiting, or not at all and why?

• TedtheThird: waiting. Don’t have the cash to get it plus #CivV in September.
• Lougagliardi: I’m not getting SC2 at all. I’m not a fan of RTS’
• TheElitists: as soon as the EB games open. This is the MOST anticipated game sequel of all time
• legacyofheroes: getting it @ launch tomorrow bright and early 9am
• quietambition: Not at all. RTS makes me make a fool out myself. I also find it gets really repetitive.
• ninthbatter: I’ll get it tomorrow or later this week, no rush for me to play. I’m not Korean so I could never be a real contender.
• stoppableforce: Not getting it. Don’t like RTSes – not good at them – completely unexcited about Starcraft II. The end.
• thesyddiegrl: Yup! My pre-order has been in for SCII for a few weeks now. I’m not big into Battle.Net tho, will just be playing it for fun.
• tinkerpriest: picking up my copy tomorrow at launch, midnight release would be a nightmare w/work tomorrow
• Rilgon: Getting it as soon as it’s available for digital purchase (12 PM CST).
• ZeroPhoenix: hell ya im sending my old lady to pick it up first thing in the morning while im at work.

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This Week in Gaming

• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/19/pachter-online-multiplayer-games-to-blame-for-game-sales-declin/

  Last month’s NPD figures were rather disappointing, reflecting a 15 percent decline in year-over-year sales. With the exception of Red Dead Redemption and Super Mario Galaxy 2, it appears gamers simply aren’t buying as many games as they used to … and, predictably, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachterhas a theory.

  The problem? Online games. According to Pachter, “the overall decline was due to a very large number of people playing multiplayer online games.” With an estimated 12 million players spending 10 hours a week rampaging through Activision’s shooter, Pachter argues that online games like Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3and Bad Company 2 have “sucked the available time away from what otherwise would be spent playing newly purchased games.”

  While there are many other factors to consider — the still-sluggish economy, the declining sales of key Wii software (a la Wii Play) — Pachter’s point does seem to have some merit. Unfortunately, his publisher-centric solution is unlikely to win him many fans among gamers. The “monetization of multiplayer,” as he describes it, would have publishers figuring out some method to charge gamers to play online. It’s a risky proposition that could bear some terrible consequences, but the current model is, as Pachter puts it, “devastating for publishers and shareholders, who are seeing sales and profits decline.”

• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/19/netflix-streaming-headed-to-canada-this-fall/

  “Finally!” We have to imagine that’s what millions of Canadians are shouting at the top of their lungs this morning, as Netflix announced plans to launch a streaming-only service in America’s northern cousin sometime “this fall.” That said, French Canadians take note: the service will only be launching in English, with a French option to follow “over time.”

  So will the service be accessible through Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii, as it is in the US? According to the announcement, “Canadian Netflix members will be able to instantly watch a broad array of movies and TV episodes right on their TVs via a range of consumer electronics devices capable of streaming from Netflix, as well as watching on PCs and Macs.” A Netflix representative told Joystiq this morning, “We’re not announcing the Netflix ready devices until the service launches, but it’s fair to assume that several popular, brand name devices will be capable of streaming from Netflix to TVs at launch – in addition to the ability to watch instantly on computers — and that we’ll add to the family of devices over time.” While the service doesn’t launch until this fall, interested Canadians can head over to the Netflix Canada website right now and sign up for ongoing, (presumably) more specific notifications about when “streaming instantly” will go live.

• How’s That Slim Xbox 360 Selling?
• Paid Call of Duty? Activision Says No.

• (via joystiq) For those about to rock — well, you should probably just cool your jets, as you’ve still got a little while to wait. A press release from Harmonix has announced that its upcoming, keyboard-infused rhythm title Rock Band 3 will hit North American store shelves on October 26, 2010.

  Accompanying this announcement was the unveiling of the pre-order bonuses being offered by major retailers. Folks who reserve the title at Wal-Mart get a $10 e-Gift card. Those who go with Amazon will unlock an exclusive in-game guitar. Pre-orders who go with GameStop will be able to download three songs for free at launch: “My Own Summer” by The Deftones, “Blue Monday” by New Order and “Burning Down the House” by Talking Heads.

• The NPD Group has their monthly video game sales report for the month of June 2010 up and it’s about what you’d expect — Red Dead Redemption holds the top spot with a slew of Nintendo titles not far behind. Turned out to be a tough month for hardware sales.
• Okami-den vido features babeh gods and new allies! When Okamiden was first revealed, we learned that Chibiterasu would be accompanied by several different companions, each offering their own unique abilities. Until now, though, we’d only ever seen the young warrior Kuninushi. Now, a new video released by SiliconEra shows a young – and cute – crew of new allies, like a mermaid girl with water for hair, and a young fan-wielding girl.  Also, if you played the original Okami, then you’ll recognize some of the gods that come to help you out…
• NIS America has three AWESOME-looking games on the horizon: Another Ar Tonelico, Clandun: This is an RPG (which is basically 3D-Dot Game Heroes in a PSP RPG), and the most hilarious (and difficult one): ZHP: Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman (Zettai Hero Project). ZHP is – and I quote: “an RPG grindfest that you can play over 40 MILLION TIMES.” You can customize…EVERYTHING. It’s crazy.
• Mega Man Universe? Yeah, I dont’ even know.

Rumor Mill

• Call of Duty Black Ops will have a Zombie mode similar to zombie Nazis from Call of Duty: World at War.
• There is currently in development(by EA) a Harry Potter MMO set to be released around 2012.
• Twilight the Videogame alpha testing will start in a few months.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

1. SEGA Genesis Firecore System w/ 20 Pre-Loaded Games for $28 + free shipping
2. Retrogen Sega Genesis Handheld Game Console for $28 + $1 s&h
3. Over at Best Buy, Green Day Rockband, Skate 3, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and Final Fantasy XIII are $39.99 each. Reward Zone members may be able to get an additional $20 off of Final Fantasy XIII with this coupon. They’ve also got a buy 2, get 1 free offer on $9.99 PSP games.
4. Kmart is taking $40 off Transformers: War for Cybertron when you buy an Xbox 360 250 GB console. PS3 owners can pick up ModNation Racers, God of War III, and MLB 10: The Show for $39.99 each.
5. Kinect for Xbox 360 with $30 Walmart gift card, game for $199 + $1 s&h

Question of the Week

What is your drink of choice while gaming?

• mohalen: Fresh H2O with ice, or some kind of fruit punch, or cokewaternice
• Triz: Anything I have ready, basically, which mostly is milk.
• tartdarling: non alcoholic: plain ol’ coke, alcoholic: beer/jager depending on the night.
• nochecazador: Lemonade or Sweet Tea. Root Beer if it’s available.
• mulletsWow: nothing special but some ice cold diet pepsi, or a glass of ice water.
• glassofwater2: Stash Earl Gray tea that has been left out for about 30min to an hour.
• lougagliardi: Tea, Mt. Dew or Pepsi and tons of it.
• GridDragon: merlot
• Achloryn:  Not that you won’t hear this thousands of times, i’m sure, but Mt Dew. Sometimes with a shot of vodka!
• quietambition: Water or beer depending on time of day/week
• deaf_marty: my drink is a Grand Marnier, that is a blend of true cognacs and distilled essence of bitter orange. I are fancy like that.
• bryterside:  I always start a raid with a cold IPA and a glass of water
• kirinkouki: Non alcoholic: water with ice or juice, alcoholic: wine coolers or malt liquor.
• tinkerpriest: sweet tea, juice, or koolaid. (Depends on what we have in the house)

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This week in Gaming

• http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/706172/Call-Of-Duty-Black-Ops-Pre-Orders-Reportedly-Outpacing-Modern-Warfare-2.html
  Treyarch’s traditionally been perceived as the “B” development team for the Call of Duty franchise, but impressive showings for Call of Duty: Black Ops have suggested their latest could be a coming out party of sorts for the studio, a culmination of their work on the series. Besides industry buzz, it seems to be translating to potential sales, as GameSpot reports a Pacific Crest Securities analyst is currently estimating that Black Ops pre-orders are outpacing those for Modern Warfare 2.
  Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson made the claim in a report released to various outlets. Wilson increased his sales estimate for Black Ops’ holiday sales from 10 million to 12 million.
  In the past, the Treyarch-developed Call of Duty games have performed extremely well but failed to achieve a similar blockbuster status to the Infinity Ward-produced installments. Growing evidence suggests that could change with Black Ops, scheduled for a release on November 9.
  Source: GameSpot
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/12/star-trek-online-producer-could-easily-see-the-game-using-turb/
  Star Trek Online’s new executive producer Daniel Stahl recently stated that he “could easily see” a hybrid free-to-play model working for Cryptic’s MMO. Stahl specifically mentions (recent Warner Bros. acquisition) Turbine’s Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online as “interesting plans” worth taking note of. DDO went freemium last year to create a dungeon full of gold for the developer; LotRO will roll the die for the same fate this autumn.
  Stahl expressed that Turbine’s model creates a “robust way to demo the game” and allows those wanting more to pay for a subscription or purchase items á la carte. With Cryptic’s parent-company Atari operating at a loss, ways to beam up revenue would appear logical. It’s unclear if it’s a sign of the future, but Cryptic did conduct a free-to-play away mission back in May.
• Star Wars the Old Republic has entered BETA
• This just in. Bobby Kotick has left Activision and in search of the real Sookie Stackhouse. Either that or new legal documents reveal the inner douche.
• Dragon Age 2 announced by Bioware and EA :
  Dragon Age 2 thrusts players into the role of Hawke, a penniless refugee who rises to power to become the single most important character in the world of Dragon Age. Known to be a survivor of the Blight and the Champion of Kirkwall, the legend around Hawke’s rise to power is shrouded in myth and rumor. Featuring an all-new story spanning 10 years, players will help tell that tale by making tough moral choices, gathering the deadliest of allies, amassing fame and fortune, and sealing their place in history. The way you play will write the story of how the world is changed forever.” The release goes on to detail a new, “more responsive” combat system, improved graphics, and a “dynamic story” that will offer up as-of-yet unseen locations, characters, and chapters in the expansive Dragon Age lore.
• Team Fortress 2 Engineer Update is Live (full teams of engineers play head to head within 10 minutes of release)
  Valve has finally released the long awaited,and incessantly teased, Engineer update forTeam Fortress 2. Included in the update are four new maps: Thunder Mountain, Hightower, Upward and (the “community built”) ColdFront as well as 35 Engineer-based achievements, among a slew of other bonuses.
  Engineer fans will have new weapons and items in their arsenal, including the wrench-replacing “Gunslinger” that allows engineers to build mini-sentries, the sentry-controlling “Wrangler” and the devastating shotgun replacement, the “Frontier Justice.”
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/10/maxis-spore-based-action-rpg-to-be-announced-at-comic-con/ Neat! Apparently going to be announced at the SDCC is the MMO ‘based on the hit game of Spore.’
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/09/rumor-aksys-localizing-999-9-hours-9-persons-9-doors/ This great-looking game has been given the green light for localization! “999 is a graphical text adventure with a sort of Saw-like premise. Nine people are trapped on a cruise ship and somehow wired to explode. A sadistic mastermind requires them to work together (but only in groups of up to five people) in order to open the nine doors that correspond to the nine passengers and escape from the rooms in which they’re held.”

Rumor Mill

• Borderlands 2 is in production and are currently seeking voice actors as the game will be fully voiced this time.
• Nintendo has been made an offer to purchase them. Word is that they are seriously considering it and the person trying to buy them is Sir Richard Branson.

Question of the Week

If given a choice of gender in a game, which do you choose and why?

• lufitoom: I always play a female. I never wanted a penis irl, don’t want one in a game either.
• greyseer: If I have a character concept in mind: whichever gender best honors the concept. Otherwise: male, to match self.
• dechion: Generally male, since I am one. Excepting Draenei which will always be female since I dislike the male model. – it depends on the game and the persona of the character I want to play.
• david_carroll: Depends on the game. If I can make a sleek, roguish male, I’ll probably do that. Otherwise, it’s all chicks.
• tartdarling: female. Playing a guy character just feels awkward to me.
• arcania: Female unless I need a male character for RP plot reasons. I can and will play them. Females are just more natural.
• stoppableforce: Honestly, it’s a coinflip. I’m going with female right now in P3P, though, to check out the storyline (for a review, maybe!).
• rzrstrm: I get cool female ideas,but I often have a hard time playing them. Most of my characters are male.
• glassofwater2: female, cause they tend to look better then the male chars. IE female worgen to worgen in cata.
• __deadpool__: I go with male toon for all except for casters or any class that wears full body robes, cause guys shouldn’t wear dresses.
• valkyrierisen: I play chicks. And I’ve played chicks for so long I keep considering rolling a male but feel odd.
• next_jen: Female, because that’s what I am and I can relate better w/the character when it’s the same sex as me.

Interstellar Marines: Running Man: http://www.interstellarmarines.com/game/running-man/

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This Week in Gaming

• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/26/forget-the-bfg-the-vuvuzela-is-dooms-ultimate-weapon/#continued
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/26/psa-current-xbl-members-can-roll-accounts-into-gold-family-plan/
• No new SSX
• Video Chat on the 3ds
• (joystiq) PS3 firmware 3.40 update adds enhanced Facebook integration, video editing ‘soon’
• (shacknews) Shooter MMO ‘Global Agenda’ Ditches Subscriptions
  While Global Agenda’s previous $12.99 monthly subscription was optional, those who didn’t pay it found their game more than a little restricted. Subscribers gained access to the alliance vs. alliance ‘World Domination’ mode, the auction house, crafting, in-game mail, improved communication and more, not forgetting character levels beyond thirty.
  “Future content updates will be delivered via optional paid expansions,” Hi-Rez explains, to support the game. One such expansion, named ‘Sandstorm,’ is being released for free in two parts this summer to give players a freebie taste of the new way.
• Nintendo 3DS coming out 2011!
• Pax Prime performers! PAX Prime’s “bigger and better” convention hall will play host to big names like 2K Games, Capcom, EA, Microsoft, Nintendo and Ubisoft. The main stage will see a cadre of returning musical acts, including Anamanaguchi, Jonathan Coulton, MC Frontalot, Metroid Metal, The Minibosses, Paul and Storm and The Protomen.
• Just for the heck of it – the extended gameplay trailer for Portal 2. You monster.

Rumor Mill

• The first round of Star Wars the Old Republic testing started this weekend with 200 people given codes to test the starting planets. The starter planet testing will continue until launch and Bioware will continue to give out codes in a similar fashion until everyone that has signed up for testing has had a chance to play.
• Apparently the new Twisted Metal game will only be rated T for teen. They want it to appeal to a broader audience aka are hoping it will push PS3 sales.
• They are currently working on a script for the Assassin’s Creed movie following the plot of the first game. The team that will be making it are the same ones that make the live action mini movie for the second game only this time they’ll have a much larger budget.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

1. Toys R Us has a bunch, including: buy 1, get 1 40% off on all PS3, PS2, and PSP games, buy 1, get 1 50% off on all $19.99 and under games
2. Best Buy, it’s buy any Wii game, get one for 50% off
3. Walmart Video Game Bundles once again!
4. Steam. Steam. Steam. need I say more?
5. goHastings.com offers WET for Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 for $14.99. Apply coupon code “GAMETIME10″ to cut it to $13.50.

Question of the Week

• japoniano: a hara-kiri in a MortalKombat where the character stabs its own eyes
• broadwayblues: Has to be all of the interrogation sequences in Splinter Cell; Conviction. Some of them are brutal! also, Viva Piñata is kinda gruesome too.
• glassofwater2: a zombie eating a corpse in deadspace
• david_carroll: The pitch dark. It’s just full of grues. Or did you have a different meaning of “gruesome” in mind?
• slash2kormus: Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel’s castle for the Atari 2600. 28 years later, the nightmares continue.
• gettingworse: the game update message after you put a game disk into an PS3 that you just bought
• mrbryo: (FEAR) a railgun bullet through a body hanging on the wall, missing limbs with blood drip-age, oh ya…
• talkingship: Easily the golf club beat down in Bioshock.  Close second is the decapitations in Fallout 3.

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

Not much to put in the notes here.. This week was all about E3. You can find all the E3 news all around the internet including RIGHT HERE! Ok.. I’ll include the QotW.. Good enough?

Question of the Week

What was your favorite Announcement/Demo from E3 2010?

• glassofwater/moonblaze: I only heard about the 3DS so that
• samodean: 3DS!
• TedTheThird: SW:TOR cinematic trailer and 4 player dungeon run. The armor progression demo was also very cool.

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This week in Gaming

• Fallout new vegas vaporizing mutants on oct 19 in us oct 22 in uk:

  What more do we need to say? We’ll be heading back into the future ’50s world of Fallout, sculpted byObsidian, on October 19 in the US and October 22 in Europe. In case you hadn’t already seen in therecently released E3 trailer, the Las Vegas … er, New Vegas setting is positively packed to the gills with seedy characters.

  So it’s a lot regular ol’ Vegas then, but with more Geiger counters.

• best buy formally announces gamer magazine :

  Remember when ex-Joystiq writer Kyle Orland spilled the beans on a potential magazine from Best Buy, dubbed @Gamer? Future Publications has formally announced a partnership with the yellow tag retailer to produce @Gamer, which is set to be offered in-store later this month.

  The angle of the mag is both as a provider of editorial content and of “valuable savings” to customers. “@Gamer will cover the best 30-40 games and hardware items available each month in an easy-to-digest format, while offering at least $20 worth of exclusive offers redeemable at Best Buy locations,” the press release states. William O’Neal will handle EIC duties for the mag — a former correspondent for G4′s Attack of the Show — while the aforementioned Andy Eddy will serve as executive editor.

  Now here’s the bad news: @Gamer won’t be free. The new mag will support a subscription plan (10 issues for $19.99) or a $5.99-per-issue cost in-store.

• Dead Rising 2 Showing A Little Leg From The Bunnies
• New Mortal Kombat In Development By Founding Father, Ed Boon

• Sid Meier’s Civilization V will be released in North America on September 21, publisher 2K Games announced, then will invade the rest of the world on September 24.
• (shacknews) Dreamcast Games Coming to PS3, Xbox 360
  • Following numerous rumors and a leaked internal document, SEGA today confirmed that it will be bringing “classic titles from its popular Dreamcast console” to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Arcade downloads.

“Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi will be the first two classics made available,” the company says, “with Sonic leading the pack in Fall 2010 for the 11th anniversary of the launch of the Dreamcast in the United States.” According to the Sega PressVault, both titles are due to arrive in Q3 2010, so between July 1 and September 30, 2010.

• Scott Pilgrim versus the World – E3 World First gameplay! This game really does justice to the comic/manga series. The gameplay is very reminicent of older, 2D side-scroller fighting games, like Streets of Rage – except cute. And awesome. Also reminds me of this little gem…
• The Slim 360! As previously stated, the console refresh will set consumers back $299 and comes packed with a 250GB HDD and built-in Wi-Fi.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes (well, 2)

To devote more time to E3 I only have a few things for you to check out.

1. Make sure to visit Walmart.com for more of those fantastic game bundles that are still available and being updated with new games
2. Cheapassgamer.com has opened its beta CAG Marketplace

Question of the Week

With Father’s day coming up, what suggestions do you have that would be a good gift for a gamer dad?

From Twitter

• starmike: Gift card, extra controller, charge cable, headset, wifi, HD monitor (yea, $$), strat guides, preorders
• twyst976: That is easy, a day of peace and quiet. No interruptions. Geekfest all day.
• glassofwater2: energy drinks… beer, some friends, and party food
• mrbryo: (1) steam wishlist purchase (2) wow content from blizz store/wootloots.com/etc (3) no clothing unless it’s gamer related
• Gnomeaggedon: a) A LAN weekend away

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This week in Gaming

• Dragon Age Anime Due In 2011:Continuing the inexplicable trend of western games being adapted into anime (see also: Halo,Dante’s Inferno), BioWare and anime publisher Funimation have announced a deal to produce an anime movie based on the Dragon Age franchise. Production started last month, with an intended 2011 direct-to-video release. This will be the first release from Funimation’s new Original Entertainment department, started to do exactly this kind of thing: develop new anime based on existing IP. We do wonder about the strict definition of the term “anime,” though: if it’s produced by an American publisher and based on an American (Canadian, actually) game, is it still anime? Luckily, this is one of those distinctions that doesn’t matter at all. Regardless of the name, if you like Dragon Age, you’ll soon get to watch a cartoon about it.
• PBS to air 90 minute Video Games Live performance:If you’ve yet to experience the profound orchestral magic of the Tommy Tallarico-fronted musical outfit Video Games Live, you’ll soon have the opportunity to do so from the safety and comfort of your own home. The group recently announced it will perform a 90-minute special for PBS, which will debut July 31, and then air on various PBS affiliates across the country throughout August. We suggest contacting your local affiliate to find out if the special will come to your neck of the woods. If you’re planning on tuning in, you can check out the trailer posted after the jump to see what you’re in for, or read this press release to see what games the orchestra will be sampling during its performance. We don’t see Gitaroo Man on said list, but we’re hoping that’s just an unfortunate omission on behalf of the copywriter.
• LotR Online goes F2P this fall! In a surprising change of pace, is stopping its pay-to-play subscriber base and going free-to-play, much like Dungeons & Dragons Online.
• Hear ye, all ye Apple fanbois! The new iPhone 4 has been announced! It will come with not only the accelorometer, but a gyroscope as well. Also, it’s hi-res! (Approx, 78% higher resolution than the current iPhone.)
• You just can’t get away… Zynga founder Mark Pincus took the stage to announce a startling (albeit not entirely unexpected) technological development for the virtual agriculture industry: FarmVille is heading to iPhone at the end of June.
• Developers Say 3DS Graphics Rival PS3, Xbox 360
• Using “Call of Duty” to Solicit Naked Photos of Young Boys
• (shacknews) Guitar Hero for iPhone/iPod Touch:
• Extending its Rock Band rivalry to the iPhone and iPod touch, Activision today released Guitar Hero to the iTunes App Store. Developed by Guitar Hero Nintendo DS maker Vicarious Visions, the game is also compatible with, but not optimized for, iPad. Priced at $2.99, the 106MB download includes six tunes, with a number of additional ditties available in the form of $1.99 Song Packs, which include three songs each. Base Songs:
  • Queen – “We Are The Champions”
  • Rise Against – “Savior”
  • The Rolling Stones – “Paint It Black”
  • Vampire Weekend – “Cousins”
  • Weezer – “Say It Ain’t So”
  • The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army”
• (Gamepro) Obsidian nabs Dungeon Siege 3 development under Square Enix
• One of the “secret” Square Enix E3 games isn’t secret anymore. The publisher announced a partnership with developer Obsidian this morning that kicks off with Dungeon Siege 3. Original developer Gas Powered Games isn’t completely out of the picture, though. According to the press release sent out this morning, Gas Powered headman Chris Taylor will serve as an advisor on Dungeon Siege 3′s development phase. It also sounds like Obsidian is maintaining the original action/role-playing gameplay, though they’re promising an “immersive world where every decision the player makes will result in consequences” and a co-op multiplayer mode. Dungeon Siege 3 doesn’t have a release date yet, but we know it’s got an E3 presence. Here’s hoping we have more to tell you next week.

Rumor Mill

• Grand Theft Auto 5 and Killzone 3 will support 3D gaming but will have a in game option to turn the 3D on and off.

• Hulu will be coming to the Xbox 360 with a subscription fee. The fee is to pay for the servers and bandwidth additions that Microsoft had to make for them.

• There will be a playable demo for the new Wii Legend of Zelda game and Link won’t be using a bow in this one. He’ll be using a cross bow. While many of you may not care much about the bow change, guarantied the fanboys are going to sh*t when they hear about this.

Question of the Week

What Video game “scared” you the most?

From Twitter

• Greyseer: System Shock 2, hands down. SHODAN is my favorite (and most feared) villain. No question…
• that_ghoul_ava: the Original Doom & System Shock 2.
• Samodean: I’d have to go with Dead Space. The use of sound and lighting effects was freaking terrifying.
• legacyofheroes: FEAR 2, the demo alone when it came out freaked me out with my 7.1 speakers lol
• Angelya+au: Under a Killing Moon scared the bejesus out of me when I was small
• wowinanhour: alien vs predator. I used to play it in the middle of the night with no lights on and headphones on. the alien scream …
• murlocwrangler: Clive Barker’s Undying, one of the few games that completely rattled me start to finish with it’s atmosphere & game play
• EshandKat: Doom. Not ‘scared’ so much as gave me freaaaaaaaaaky dreams.
• mrbryo: don’t play many scary games but I would say half life 2
• PartTimeDruid: System Shock 2, the only game to REALLY scare me. Those insane mutant dude sounds, man, I tell ya.
• lougagliardi: the original silent hill
• __Deadpool__: btw silent hill creeped me out, especially the movie! left 4 dead was pretty damn freaky also, like a fat guy in spandex…. Eeeeeeew
• LLanion: Daggerfall. Spiders cause paralysis in that, then eat you alive. They make a distinctive noise. I hear the noise, playing at 2AM…
• Krizzlybear: Imagine Babyz. THOSE ARE NOT BABIES. THEY ARE MONSTERS.
• thesyddiegrl: EQ scared me – to this day, I can’t believe I devoted so much time to it! Really taught me a good lesson.
• NinthBatter: Aquaman the game, scared me so much about the future of gaming I didn’t get a playstation 2
• Achloryn: The original silent hill.. Just the way some of those creatures moved was downright disturbing..
• glassofwater2: WoW when I first started.

From Forums

• Fisherman: This will make for good fodder. It was when I was a little kid, I loved the Ninja Turtles but Shredder scared the ever-loving sh*t out of me. So it was TMNT for the NES (which Farva and I are currently playing through for Buried Treasure, listen for our adult-analysis of it in Episode 2), when Shredder came on the TV unexpectedly. I swear, I put that game away for at least a few months after that happened. Almost scared my little kid-brain off gaming altogether.
• Lokela: Mine would have to be The Clock Tower Murders (or something like that) on the PS. You played as this chick who went around trying to solve a mystery. The bad guy was a some dude that went around killing people with giant shears. Any way, I made the mistake of starting it up on a night that I was home alone. Oh yeah, and I had all the lights off in the house. When the bad guy was around, the game would play some creepy music…and the BAM! He jumps out of f-ing nowhere! Lets just say that I changed my pants, turned the game off, and never played it again.
• Jitterbug: The first time a dead dog came leaping through the hallway window in the first Resident Evil game.
• Nipples: The first time I played Silent Hill… I was literally up all night and into the next morning… little did I notice that every one had left me to myself and took off to town to run some errands. I take a quick piss break from the game and notice that it looks eerily creepy this morning, dark/gray overcast and foggy as sh*t outside… After my piss break and a stop for some munchies I noticed that there was no one in the house anymore and that outside the window the fog off the lake rolled in super thick… right when I step outside to see if anyone’s car was there I noticed that there wasn’t a damn car on the entire block of what I could barely see… and that is right when the City of Hammond decided to do their weekly test of the Tornado/Air Raid sirens!!! I nearly crapped myself thinking that the damn game somehow f-ing merged into my world!!!

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This week in Gaming

• Midway Creditors Accept 1 million Payout: To settle the outstanding claims against former owner Sumner Redstone, Bloomberg is reporting that the creditors’ committee of the defunct publisher Midway Games has agreed to a $1 million cash lump sum payout. It was previously reported that prior to the lump sum agreement, unsecured creditors of the parent company would only be able to recover 16.5 percent of what had been owed, while unsecured creditors of subsidiaries would only be eligible to 25 percent. After reportedly liquidating its Chapter 11 plan last week, the new cash agreement represents a more financially beneficial deal for all parties involved. Midway’s death spiral comes to a finale following a tawdry love affair with conspiracy-fueled headlines, including legal battles and multiple companies picking away properties from the company like vultures at a fresh corpse. The bankruptcy court will rule on the settlement agreement on June 23.
• Onlive Pre-registrants get free game and one year subscription: Sometimes, it really does pay to take a leap of faith when it comes to investing in a new piece of technology. For example, OnLive had promised a free three month subscription to the first 25,000 people who pre-registered for the streaming game service. For unknown reasons, that offer has been sweetened — now, this group is being offered a free game download, as well as a free year of OnLive service with no obligation to continue subscribing once said year has passed. If you were one of the 25,000 who jumped on the OnLive wagon early, check your email before June 3 to get in on this super attractive offer.
• Prince of Pretty-Good…for a summer ‘blockbuster.’ While Bruckheimer may have been wishing for Pirates of the Caribbean-style opening numbers, Box Office Mojo reports that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is the third largest box office opening ever for a video game-based film. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Pokemon: The First Movie, currently own the first and second spot respectively in that extremely specific category.
• Limbo is floating onto XBLA only - The gorgeous indie game, Limbo, is only coming on XBLA. Tough luck, considering ratings were found for both the PS3 and PC.
• Who wants a new Final Fantasy? Final Fantasy, the 4 Heros of Light, is coming to the DS Oct. 5. Is it a remake of the first? No idea!
• NPD:(Consumer Market Research Group) Says the most extreme gamers spend WAY to much time playing games.
• According to sources close to Joystiq, Sony is going to reveal a premium version of the PlayStation Network at E3 next month in Los Angeles.
• (livescience) “Video Gamers can Control Dreams, Study Suggests” http://www.livescience.com/culture/video-games-control-dreams-100525.html

Playing video games before bedtime may give people an unusual level of awareness and control in their dreams, LiveScience has learned.

That ability to shape the alternate reality of dream worlds might not match mind-bending Hollywood films such as “The Matrix,” but it could provide an edge when fighting nightmares or even mental trauma.

• (joystiq) Time ranks Virtual Boy, Farmville among top 50 worst inventions We rarely, if ever, write rebuttals to stories posted on the esteemed, list-friendly publication known as Time, but we’ve got more than a few bones to pick with its recently posted “50 Worst Inventions” list. Around every turn, the list seems to get it wrong. For instance: FarmVille? There are 70 million people who’d disagree with that one. And Virtual Boy? The world’s first fully-3D game console/amateur LASIK surgery machine? That’s about as progressive and brilliant as inventions get.

Rumor Mill

• At E3 expect to see a demo of Starwars The Old Republic that incorporates the companion system.
• Nintendo is working on making a handheld version of Super Smash Bros.
• Microsoft has been working on a new version of the Xbox 360 that will have both Blu-ray and Natal built into the system.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

1. At Best Buy, trade in select video games via its Online Trade-In Program and receive a $25 Best Buy Gift Card.
2. Toys R Us has a Buy 1, get 1 50% off all in-stock DS games offer and has Modern Warfare 2 (360) for $29.99.
3. Kmart has Prince of Persia (360/PS3) for $39.99 and Alpha Protocol (360/PS3) for $44.99
4. Walmart continues to offer several video game bundle deals, as listed below. Plus, several of these items qualify for free shipping
5. GameStop takes an extra 20% off many in-stock Nintendo Wii and DS video games of $29.99 or more via coupon     code “GS20″. “For Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo DS games, coupon code “2D15″ cuts an extra 15% off. Plus, many popular titles receive a $10 or $20 GameStop credit for free with purchase.

• Super Mario Galaxy 2 for Wii with $20 credit for $39.99

Question of the Week

A movie is being made of your favorite game, what act(o)r(ess) should be the main char?

From Twitter

• Anexxia: if they have Arthas in the #WoW movie they should have Julian Sands play him
• Spazmoose: No matter the game/movie; Christopher Walken
• glassofwater2: why should I answer this? no video game movies are good…
• Ninthbatter: Philip Seymour Hoffman as Pacman
• LLanion: Chrono Trigger w/ William Moseley as Crono, Emily Browning as Lucca, and… I dunno, Blake Lively as Marle? Not sure about her
• JusticeJuice: Danny Devito as megaman.
• Brigwyn: Pfft! Easy! @MillaJovovich as Sylvanas, @AdrianneCurry as Tyrande Whisperwind, @micheleboyd as Jaina Proudmore! (wow, obviously)

From Forums

• Jitterbug: Matthew Fox as Sam Shephard (although I played as a badass green eyed red haired chick.)

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This Week in Gaming

• (joystiq) Fox Finds Director For Hitman 2 Movie
• (joystiq) GameStop Launches Powerup Beta System
• (Joystiq) Your greatest fear is now at your local 7-11! Zynga has extended it’s merciless empire into the corner store franchise, linking ‘YoVille’ and ‘Farmville’ to such things as ice cream, donuts, and other assorted goodies.
• (Joystiq) Time for some more ‘games for girls!’ Majesco has announced a baby-sitting simulator starring everyone’s favourite Mama. It’s due this holiday, and supposedly comes with a baby periphiral that will show up in…WiiWaa?
• (Joystiq) EQ thinks it’s people! Everquest is now offering mounts for $25. Sound familiar?
• (Joystiq) OBJECTION! …To Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney being on the iPhone next week for $5! Actually…don’t object to that!
• Another Week with Assasins Creed 3 news. Looks like Beta talk is abounding and it coming with MULTIPLAYER.
• Legendary Pictures have aquired the movie rights to the most anticipated release this century. Baby Maker Extreme Episode 1 is set for release in 2015, sadly some people will be more excited for that lie than than truth, it all boils down to one phrase. MASS EFFECT MOVIE.
• shacknews: Halo: Reach Release Date Revealed

Following the conclusion of the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta, developer Bungie and publisher Microsoft have announced that the shooter will hit on September 14, 2010.

More specifically, the game will begin rolling out at retailers worldwide on September 14, with its Japanese release following the next day a.k.a. September 15, 2010.

• Google Celebrates Pac-Man’s 30th with Style

• (gamepro) Fable 3 to have $80 Limited Collector’s Edition with extra DLC, playing cards, and a coinLike Microsoft is wont to do with its major releases, the upcoming PC/Xbox 360 RPG Fable 3 will have a special edition that packs additional downloadable and physical content for a higher price.

  

  Earlier today, Microsoft announced plans for a Limited Collector’s Edition for the Xbox 360 version of Fable III, the next chapter of Peter Molyneux’s role-playing game series due this holiday season. While the game will include a standard edition for $60, the Limited Edition (shown above) will retail for $80, and include the following content:

  A new quest in which the player must search haunted forests for a the legendary sword, Wolfsbane.
  A new location rife with treasures and designed to cater to starting an in-game family.
  Playing cards branded with every typle of character in Fable 3.
  A “Guild Seal Coin” featuring a good and evil side to aid players in making moral decisions.
  An exclusive boxer dog breed.
  An exclusive outfit for your male or female protagonist.

  The PC version will apparently only come in the standard flavor, but will cost a little less, retailing for $50 on disc or via digital download. Which version, if any, do you think you’ll end up getting?

Rumor Mill

“After creating the perfect woman with my best friend by using nothing more than a dial-up modem and a copy of playboy, I was informed that:”

• Burger King is planning on releasing some Xbox 360 games specifically for project Natal.
• The next Fight Night game is planning on incorporating project Natal.
• The main characters of the next Pokemon game will be older than the previous games in the series(around 16 compared to 11).
• In Starwars the Old Republic, the Smuggler will be able to choose between being straight dps and a dps/healer for their advanced class. Bioware wants the healers to be able to do more than just sit there and spam the 1 key over and over.

Question of the Week

What are you favorite game genres (top 3)?

From Twitter

• crazyville: RPG, SRPG, FPS…..acronyms all the waya baby…WOO!
• broadwayblues: FPS military, Survival Horror, flight simulators
• glassofwater2: fantasy, science fiction, RTS
• Kenichan: RPG, Simulators, Action.
• Kikirowr: Dating Sim/Visual Novel, MMOs, RPGs
• Achloryn: Hard to say.. RPG, RTS and maybe Thriller? (RE series, L4D, etc). No particular order.
• Zideshow: Fun. Fun. Awesome.
• GamerGaz: RPG (inc MMORPG), FPS, RTS. I love how they’re all TLAs
• Gettingworse: top 3 genre; rpg > strategy > sports sim. Can’t play fps so I’m missing out on tons of good games

From Forums

• Jitterbug: 1. FPS, 2. RPG, 3. Action
• Farva: First Person Shooters, RPG’s (especially hybrids Fallout 3, Borderlands, etc…), Sandbox Games,
• Lokela: Racing, Fighting, Action
• Fisherman:1. RPG (Western-developed), 2. Shooters (FPS or TPS), 3. Sports

Other Links From the Show

Killing Floor (on steam)

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This Week In Gaming

• (shacknews) Torchlight Sells 500,000; Developer Bought by Perfect World
  

  Runic Games’ indie action RPG Torchlight has sold 500,000 copies at retail and digitally on the PC. It was also recently released for the Mac along with the release of the Mac version of Steam.

  Additionally, China-based MMO publisher and developer Perfect World has justannounced (via Joystiq) that it has acquired a majority stake in Runic Games for around $8.4 million. Runic is currently working on an MMORPG version of Torchlight, which is slated to be a free-to-play game likely supported by micro-transactions. This is a popular business model in China and should be a successful partnership for both parties.

• Like creepy jesters? Like Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (or the idea of it?) Then why not head down to your nearest Gamestop and preorder Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, and you’ll get the horrific-looking Harlequin character. Freaked out!
• Survey SAYS! A survey held by NDP (a market research company), has held a survey about the top couple of MMOS.
  We’ll start with a quick overview of the participants. Males comprised 68% and females 32%. While MMO gaming is still mostly male, female gamers are no longer a revolutionary new concept in the MMO world. Women currently make up about a third of the gaming population, a figure similar to last year’s survey. The largest age group was in the 25-34 range, and the majority of those surveyed played 20+ hours a week. DDO has knocked out Guild Wars’ #3 spot, showing that free-to-play subscriptions are becoming increasingly more popular. Naturally, WoW was the chart-topper.
• Namco-Bandai signs a user-agreement to make Power Rangers games!
• Bethesda announced yesterday via an e-mailed press release that Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas will be released in a standard edition and an uber-post nuclear warfare awesomeness Collector’s Edition.
• According to a source close to Raven Software, the company has been pulled off of development of a new James Bond game in order to work on maps for Call of Duty: Black Ops
• If you have recently installed Steam Mac and had bought some games on Steam PC that are available on Steam Mac, then you should be able to play those games on the Mac.
• (joystiq)Pachter: April’s low game sales ‘baffling’
  The April NPD sales figures for the US were bad. How bad? Let’s try: The April NPD figures were as if millions of analysts “cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced” bad. Speaking with IndustryGamers, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter says his group found the results “baffling.” He notes that sales were the lowest since May of 2007, “when this generation was barely underway,” and it was the weakest April since 2005. Pachter also stated, “The sequential decline of 54% is the greatest in the 11 years that we have been tracking monthly data (except for December-January declines), dwarfing the previous record of 42% set in March-April 2002.”
  At a loss to explain exactly why April 2010 was so bad, Pachter feels it was just a “fluke.” He explained, “We do not believe that core gamers suddenly shifted allegiance to Facebook or iPhone games in April, nor do we believe that Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 online play increased dramatically during April.”
  With May’s lineup including several major titles across multiple consoles, the analyst feels the month could show “dramatic growth.” If not, well, let’s just hope for the best right now. Flukes happen.

Rumor Mill

“After eating a hallucinogenic mushroom and trying to ride a dinosaur that ate turtles, I was told that:”

• The guys over at Bioware are saying that “If we don’t blow your mind at E3 this year then your mind simply can’t be blown.” And they have said that Starwars The Old Republic will not be released in the 2011 fiscal year. It will be released at the end of the 2010 fiscal year(which is from Dec ember 2010 to May 2011).
• Little Big planet 2 will allow for the creation of not only plat forming games but racing, RPG, and even adorable shooter games.
• Bethesda has applied to the LA convention center for the use of pyrotechnics. Something about Elder Scrolls V.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

1. Red Dead Redemtion- Toys R Us: $25 gift card Tuesday only 10am-2pm, Reward members only
2. Save $15 on a year of Xbox Live.
   12 Month Xbox 360 Live $34.99 at Newegg
3. Valve offers downloads of Portal for Windows or Mac for free via its Steam service.  Deal ends May 24.
4. Walmart Video Game Bundles: Three PS3 games-
   • Choose from games like Resistance, Rachet and Clank, Uncharted, Little Big Planet and more.
5. For ATI video card users, Valve offers downloads of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast for Windows and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch for Windows for free via its Steam service when you create a new Steam account.
   • Of note, NVIDIA video card users can get both of the above games plus Portal: First Slice for Windows and Peggle Extreme for Windows for free.

Question of the Week

Favorite piece of gaming merchandise you’ve seen/own?

• From Twitter
  
  • BlackLab: I love my Mass Effect N7 hoodie, but my favorite was an Ocarina of Time pocket watch from a Nintendo Power catalog years ago
  • Anatielle: My Kingdom Hearts 2 poster. <3
  • Ndiayne: I have a super princess peach shirt from our nintendo rep that I got while working at gamestop. Cute AND super comfy.
  • Saithir: is the resident evil 4 chainsaw controller a merchandise? Then that. If not, hm, guess the Fallout 3 lunchbox. Maybe.
  • Eadams2010: Seen: replica guns from video games!
  • Kenichan: Playstation’s Pocketstation, where you could upload Street Fighter Alpha 2 and FF8 save data into it.
  • Nibuca: Nostromo N52 (TE). Made of EPIC and WIN!
  • StoppableForce: It’s ridiculously outdated but I love my FFXI Vana’diel Clock. I mostly use it to time laundry these days.
  • Gnomaggedon: Nostromo N52 (TE). Made of EPIC and WIN!
  • NinthBatter: probably has to be Valve’s Half Life head-crab hats

NOW WITH AVATARS!

Ok, maybe no avatars…. This week Polygamerous takes it to the EXTREME! We welcome Daniel Sterger, the author/designer/developer of Baby Maker Extreme, as our special guest. We talk all about the indie gaming scene, how to get involved and we try to name Baby Maker Extreme 2.. I don’t think he is going to use our suggestions though.. We’ve also got the normal gamut of news, new releases, rumors and, of course your mail! Listen.. If you dare!

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR
call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

You can find our guest over at http://www.stegersaurus.com/ ! Also, the game Baby Maker Extreme is available NOW on Xbox Live Indie Games!

This Week in Gaming

• (joystiq) One quarter of humble indie bundle downloads were pirated
• (yahoo news) Obama bemoans ‘diversions’ of Xbox & iPod era
• Assassin’s Creed 2, Dragon Age: Origins win up at the great white north!
• Epic Mickey to be supported by trans-media
• Puzzle Agent looks awesome!
• A leaked GameStop placeholder touting the ability to pre-order Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood was sent in to Kotaku today and was later confirmed by Ubisoft to be authentic.
  • On a cryptic new website Ubisoft has teased the next installment in the Assassin’s Creed series, displaying 5 weapons and after solving a puzzle you get to see the 6th new weapon the switchblade, and downloadable wallpaper
• It looks like you’ll be dropping that joystick soon Project Natal Launching Worldwide In Oct 2010
• http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/215127/littlebigplanet-2-announced-coming-to-ps3-this-winter/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+GameProNews+(GamePro.com+Daily+News)
  Little Big Planet 2 – Announced
• (gamepro) Civilization V will require users to install Steam2K Games and Valve recently announced that Civilization V would be integrated with many of Valve’s Steamworks features, but a source at 2K was able to confirm today that all versions of the game, retail included, will require the user to install Steam.

  Yesterday, 2K Games and Valve touted the fact that Civilization 5 would take advantage of many of Steamworks’ features, including achievements, and easier access to DLC and matchmaking. What was not made implicitly clear, and what GamePro was able to confirm via a 2K representative, is that the game will require an installation of Steam for all customers, including those who purchase the title at retail.

  Steam is hoping to make the downloadable version a much more attractive option, as the announcement also includes news of the Civilization V Digital Deluxe Edition, which includes an extra civilization, a video feature, and the game’s soundtrack. Additionally, customers who reserve the either the standard or Digital Deluxe Edition will receive a free map pack for the game. In the meantime, Steam is running a 75% off sale on all versions of Civilization III and IV. For more information about the Civilization V Steam extras, click on the source link below.

Rumor Mill

• In Batman Arkham Asylum 2 expect to see the Joker and Scarecrow return as well as Catwoman, Two-Face and the Penguin introduced.
  
• While Bungie has signed with Activision and Microsoft with retain the right to the Halo franchise, Microsoft will still be funding Bungie to make more Halo games. Although Bungie will be split into the new IP team and the Halo team. And there is a project to begin development after the release of Halo Reach called Elite. Apparently it will follow the Elites as they battle the Brutes after the events of Halo 3.
  
• Bioware is currently making content that will either be delivered as an expansion of episodic DLC for Mass Effect 2 that will help lead up to Mass Effect 3.

Question of the Week

Do you have game nights with friends? if so what games do you play?

From Twitter

• twyst976: Munchkin, Set, Fluxx, Guillotine, Cranium, Formula1. After #PAXEast I want to play the 6 player Revolution! when it come out.
• Ninthbatter: occasionally we’ll have a LAN party but most of the time it’s just us playing with whoever is online
• ctrlaltdeviant: I have 4-player Borderlands nights with my husband & two close friends a couple times a week over Xbox Live. Great times.
• mrbryo: LAN Party once a month. Usually the first Saturday.
• greyseer: Used to. Had two alternating weekly games running between the two cities I lived: D20 fantasy, and a D6 system sci- fi game.
• marty: sometimes i have some friends from work over to play halo, but telemarketers can be piss poor losers so we don’t do it often

From Forums

• Jitterbug: Besides the normal gamer nights? Um, not really anymore. We used to have D&D and Magic nights way back in the day, before the kids came.

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR
call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This Week in Gaming

• Sony offers Extended Warranty
• Gamecrazy officially shuttered in the us
• Who wants some sexy action figures based off of popular Valve characters? I know I do! The first one will be the Heavy (TF2), with possible inclusions from Left 4 Dead 2 and Half-Life 2. Hawt!
• Aching for another version of Puzzle Quest that cheats worse than your little brother? Puzzle Quest: Mage Trainer is the newest addition that made its debut on Facebook.
• Cuuuuute!!! Ilomilo, the adorable game which is a mix between Echochrome and Little Big Planet, is coming to XBLA in the near future.
• STEAM Coming to the MAC May 12th!
• The next chapter of Call of Duty has now been announced. Call of Duty: Imagine Killing People….. err Black ops
• (MTV Multiplayer) ‘StarCraft 2′ Release Date Confirmed

“StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty” will be hitting stores on July 27, 2010.

• (Slashdot:Games) Sony Sued Over PS3 ‘Other OS’ RemovalStoobalou writes “A Californian Playstation 3 user has filed the first class action lawsuit against Sony over removal of the ‘Install Other OS’ function from the Playstation 3. The action seeks to redress Sony’s ‘intentional disablement of the valuable functionalities originally advertised as available with the Sony Playstation 3 video game console.’ The suit claims that the disablement breaches the sales contract between Sony and its customers and constitutes ‘an unfair and deceptive business practice perpetrated on millions of unsuspecting customers.’”

Rumor Mill

“In about 15 minutes I have to Narfle The Garthok, but before I do I think you would like to know that:”

• Uncharted 3 will be avouched at E3 this year.
• In Star Wars the Old republic the mounts will range from speeders to tauntauns to whatever that chicken-lizard thing was that Obi-wan rode in episode 3.
• And for all those fans of the Firefly series, Joss Whedon is in talks with Bioware to create a Firefly RPG shooter similar to Mass Effect.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

1. Dell Home offers the TRENDnet 802.11n Wireless-N Broadband Router, model no. TEW-652BRP, for $24 with free shipping.
2. Walmart offers the Curtis 11″ Portable Widescreen LCD Television, model no. LCD1105A, for $59 with free shipping
3. Today only, 6th Avenue Electronics offers the 2-lb. Visual Land ARM 248MHz 7″ Widescreen Netbook in White, model no. VL760-4GB-WHT, for $98 plus $3.95 for shipping.
4. Amazon.com dropped its price on Star Trek on Blu-ray to $9.99. Shipping adds $2.98, or get free shipping on orders over $25
5. Red Dead Redemption with $20 Amazon gift card.

Question of the Week

What is your favorite non-mmo game to play online?

From Twitter

• Llanion – Altitude, a non-massive but definitely online multiplayer 2d plane shooter.
• Wowdominia – Favorite non-MMOs are Fish Wrangler, Cafe World, Petville, and Treasure Isle.
• Runycat -  At the moment? Borderlands.
• GettingWorse – QoTW, at this moment, it’s super street fighter 4. Give me more ranked points!!!!!
• Ndiayne – hmm, I guess technically LoRD is a sort of mmo. Hmmm… zuma
• NinthBatter – probably still Halo for me, easy to pick up and there’s always a game (although left 4 dead is a close 2nd)
• Quietambition – Team Fortress 2!!!
• etni – WebRisk! Still in Beta, only a few playing, but it’s tons of fun! http://www.iohelix.net/webrisk/
• tig – hands down Day of Defeat:Source on steam

From Forums

• Achloryn – I would have to say Diablo 2 or Command and Conquer were some of my favorites. I don’t know that I could pick between them (even though I was horrible at playing against others).
  As a side note: I think it was Mike mentioned Axis and Allies as his favorite board game on last week’s podcast… Is it even possible to FINISH that game? I loved playing it when I was a kid, but I swear it took even longer to complete than Risk did.
• Jitterbug – Do console games count? If so, I’d say Call of Duty Modern Warfare (the original, not the 2nd.)

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR
call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This week in Gaming

• (Joystiq) More Infinity Ward staffers leave to join respawn: The siphon that delivers Infinity Ward expatriates to Vince Zampella and Jason West’s new companyRespawn Entertainment appears to have been primed. Two more have joined the new studio: senior software engineer Chris Lambert and designer Brent McLeod are new hires at the new EA Partners-funded studio, according to their LinkedIn profiles.
  In addition to those two, three more have left Infinity Ward. Lead character artist Joel Emslie announced his departure on Facebook, along with artists Ryan Lastimosa and Brad Allen. Either these three have yet to join Respawn — or they have yet to get over to LinkedIn to announce that they’ve joined Respawn.
• (1up) Gambling Service Accepts Bets on Super Street Fighter IV Match : Paddy Power, Ireland’s top destination for online gambling, has announced that it will allow betting on an upcoming Super Street Fighter IV match. This marks the first time the bookmaking site has offered odds on the outcome of a videogame event.According to a report by CVG, Capcom’s European headquarters is set to host a championship fight between Ryan Hart and Femi Adeboye, two of the region’s best players. The bout will be streamed live on Paddy Power’s website this Thursday, April 29 at 7:00 p.m. (around 11:00 a.m. PST). The site is accepting bets on everything from the winner of the match to the duration of the shortest round.”Videogames are as much a legitimate sport as any other,” explained Paddy Power’s head of communications — wait for it — Paddy Power. “We wanted to offer sports fans and games players the ultimate thrill by offering the chance to win big on the outcome of a Super Street Fighter IV competition. If it proves popular, we’ll open further books on other videogame competitions.”Legitimate sport or no, you’ll find the Super Street Fighter IV tournament in the “novelty betting” section of Paddy Power’s website — right alongside odds on which volcano will erupt next and which country will make first contact with aliens.

• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/20/okamiden-in-north-america-in-2011-ghost-trick-sengoku-basara/ – Okamiden, the sequel to the sleeper hit Okami, has its DS date announced!
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/19/splatterhouse-trailer-borders-on-tasteful/ – A great video of gameplay footage from Splatterhouse by Namco-Bandai looks AWESOME.
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/20/square-enix-releases-chaos-rings-on-iphone-discounts-other-ipho/ – “Square Enix’s impressive-looking iPhone RPG, Chaos Rings, is now available from the App Store. If you’d like to try it, you’ll have to pay the iPhone equivalent of the Square Enix Tax, as the publisher has priced the Media Vision-developed RPG at $12.99. Chaos Rings is the story of four couples (each in its own storyline) summoned to fight to the death in a tournament for some mysterious reason. “
• Fallout MMO, named V13 is now back on schedule after Bethesda drops Injunction appeal against Interplay
• Twinkle Toes Batman: The musical Vol 3 Episode 2, coming to a theatre near you. From the people who brought you Mama Mia! now introduce you to BATMAN: LIVE
  • Also Batman: Arkum asylum 2 has been pushed back to q1 of 2011
• (MTV Multiplayer) Blizzard bans 320,000 Accounts
  “We’ve recently banned over 320,000 ‘Warcraft III’ and ‘Diablo II’ accounts that were found to be violating the Battle.net Terms of Use,” a representative posted on the Battle.net forums. “If this is a first offense, the CD key associated with the banned account will be suspended for 30 days, while repeat offenders will see their keys banned permanently. All account ban decisions are final.”
• (Kotaku) LOTRO Turns 3! Big savings!Turbine will be celebrating the third anniversary of Lord of the Rings Online from now through June 30, with special subscription rates for players who’d like to hang in Middle Earth a bit longer. Between now and the end of the event, players can purchase up to a year of game time at $9.99 a month, a substantial savings over the game’s normal $14.99 a month fee.There’ll be in-game celebrations as well, with monsters dropping items that can be exchanged for special commemorative items, and everyone who logs in scoring a Writ of Virtue, a special item that gives players 20% off the normal prices at bards throughout the game.Oh!!! And well, they have been bought by Warner Brothers.. for about $160 Million (supposedly) [turbine also runs DDO]Get LOTRO for $10 http://deals.woot.com/deals/go/105daddd-d660-4005-9c0f-6bc1ec093c05 ) .. Might be still working. YMMV.

Rumor Mill

“After placing first in the soylent green eating competition, I was informed that…”

• In the Halo Reach there is a Needler type battle riffle. And expect Cortana, the Arbiter, Sergeant Johnson, and Buck from ODST to have appearances.
• In Star Wars the Old Republic there will be space combat although it was be secondary to the main game and never required for progression.
• And it is also rumored that the techsite Gizmodo has been banned from attending E3 on request from Apple, Microsoft, and Sony.

(5-4) Deals in (5-4) Minutes

1. Kmart again offers the refurbished Magnavox Blu-ray Disc Player, model no. NB500MG9, for $149.99. Add it to your cart and it falls to $49.99. Get your total above $50 and get free shipping.

Question of the Week

Getting a little away from Computer/Console games… What is you favorite Board/Card game?

From Twitter

• Tigorasou: RISK! Friggin’ love that game!
• Stoppableforce: Dominion! And I still play a lot of D&D too.
• Syrana: Ooh… hard to pick… I’ma say Othello, Spades, and Uno Wild Tiles. Oh and Scattergories ‘n Apples 2 Apples…& Balderdash!
• Deyndor: “sorry!” was always a classic.
• Nymuera: hands down, Risk.
• QuietAmbition: Always been a big fan of Clue! Battleship will also always hold a place in my heart lol
• Brigwyn: My favorite board game is backgammon! Card game? Does strip poker count?
• WoWKlirix: My favorite is Nightmare. Old board game that had a VHS tape to play along with!
• Rilgon: Board game? Risk. Card game? Magic: the Gathering.
• domg26: don’t have a fav card game but fav board game is RISK
• rzrstrm: Settler of Catan w/ Cities & Knights expansion all the way, baby! And of course D&D, though I NEVER get to play.
• mightychubbs: RISK
• mrbryo: Texas Hold’m
• epicdolls: My favorite board game was always Clue!
• morynne: Ninja Burger!

From Forums

• Kariz: I really can’t decide on a favorite board game. Maybe Risk, but it just takes so damn long. For card game I’d go with Knives. (It’s like spoons but people bleed a lot more often)
• Jitterbug: Favorite Board Game = Settlers of Cattan
  Favorite Card Game = Magic
• Cam-Dog: Board- Spinner
  Card- Texas Hold ‘Um
• blackcat0158: Board: Jack the Ripper
  Card: Overpower (Imagine Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh/Magic with Marvel superheroes)
• C.P.: Cranium is the tits for a board game
  and I’m a poker man myself
• Achloryn: Board games – I don’t really play them much anymore, but my favorite when i was growing up was ALWAYS Clue. The fact that there was an awesome movie associated with the game made it just that much more… well.. AWESOME.
  Card games – I tried to get into Magic: The Gathering and such when I was younger, but it was never really my thing. I’m a poker guy, plain and simple.
• Abrahamm Lincoln: Board = Warhammer 40k – But in board games – Settlers of Catan
  Card – Magic
• daCooksta: Does CivIV count as a board game?
• nsanehunter: Well since you said Board /Card game and left out table top games I’m going to say the card game Rook the game is played by dealing out the entire deck and placing the “Rook” in the center of the table. Each card in the deck is assigned a point value. Players and teams bid to see how many points they think they will accumulate by the end of the hand. Win tricks to pick up cards and rack up the points. Just be sure to bid wisely–not making your bid can give your opponent a big advantage. The game ends when a certain amount of points have been accumulated. But if you had said Table top game I would have said BEER PONG!!!!!
• Choopy: I like Parcheesi
  And magic was lots of fun.
• Farva: Board Game: Would have to be checkers.
  Card Game: Texas Hold’em

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR
call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

Doghouse Systems can be found on Twitter at Doghousesystems and on Facebook.

This Week in Gaming

• (joystiq) Mass Effect 2 files suggest Liara Tsoni DLC
• (IGN) Now you get a chance to Weeze the JuuuuUice and buy a slightly scratched disc. 7eleven will start selling used games.
• The creator of Bayonetta is interested in making a new anime porno….. NOPE he wants to take on StarFox!!
• (gamasutra) NPD: Industry Sales Up 6% As PS3 Software Shines With God Of War III
• (shacknews) Ubisoft Doing Away with Printed Manuals
  Under the guise of new “environmental initiative,” publisher Ubisoft today announced that it will begin replacing the traditional printed paper instruction manuals included in its PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 releases with digital in-game manuals later this year

Rumor Mill

• “After feeding Steve Martin to Audrey II, I was informed that:”
  There isn’t a lot happening in the gaming world unfortunately. Bioware will be showing 3 different games at E3 this year and expect a EA announcement at the San Diego ComiCon. There is also some buzz in the air that the next 50 cent game will be announced soon… Also Star Wars Battlefront 3 is in pre-production… And get ready for Half-Life 3 to be announced with a target release date for next summer. So, you know, nothing special.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

1. Walmart offers select Call of Duty video games for $18.54,
2. GameStop takes 15% off any new Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or Wii titles via coupon code “15NEW”. Plus, coupon code “10AUTO” takes an extra 10% off.orders of $65 or more qualify for free shipping. Games like Fable 2 and L4D for 15 bucks and some change.
3. Direct2Drive takes up to 83% off select game downloads for Windows as part of its Spring Sale. Knights of the Old Republic for $5, Grand Theft Auto IV for $7.50
4. UncleVic is still having his huge touch me like a schoolboy refurb extravaganza.
5. Western Digital Outlet again offers a selection of its Western Digital 320GB My Passport Essential Portable 2.5″ USB 2.0 External Hard Drives for $59.99 with $2.99 for shipping

Question of the Week

Does the ability to use/create user content/modifications in a game effect your purchase decision?

From Twitter

• LadyJess: I wouldn’t have thought so…but now, yes. After playing Vanilla DA through about 10 times, the user created items, content, and other mods has re-added replayability. The only catch to that, at least with Bioware and DA has been they know they can release a product with bugs, and lacking some things a player would want…because the modders will fix/add what they left out.
• glassofwater2/moonblaze: sure it would be nice to have that stuff, it might be cool to play player maps, but it is just an add bonus.
• slowwolf: Sometimes. Customization is good, but creating the whole thing? A bit much.
• greyseer: Yes. A good set of flexible design and mod tools means not only can I tell my own stories, but experience those of others, too
• craazyville:  I think that it adds to 1. the depth of the game and 2 the replayability of the game. I still play LBP long after I beat it
• stoppableforce: I think it’s a neat addition, but I can’t say I’ve ever used content creation tools to their fullest, except in WarioWare DIY.
• quietambition: Not at all. A game should be able to stand up on its own without it, unless the whole point is to create content and share it
• mrbryo: Yes, mods extend your purchase as long as they don’t suck. A good example is the original half life and battlefield 1942.

From Forums

• Farva: If a game has character customization (Mass Effect, MW2 multiplayer, Fallout3, etc) then I become very interested due to the replayability. If it’s a game that offers map or world editing (Racing games, Little Big Planet) then it doesn’t interest me at all.
• Jitterbug: I love User Created stuff (Little Big Planet sucked tho – not because of the user created stuff, but because it was a s***ty game.) Games that have little or no customizability lose my interest after a single play through – usually.
• Choopy: I say it does make a difference. I love my UI on WOW. It makes it feel more homey. Also I think the early versions of the sims having user created items really set the game aprt and contributed to it’s longevity
• Cam-Dog: For a game like LBP and ModNation Racers it really matters I wouldn’t have bought LBP if it was only the story mode, just like I wouldn’t buy MNR if it was only stock

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR
call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This week in Gaming

• Millions-of-Warhammer-Fees-Leave-Many-In-Debt: Earlier this week, many Warhammer Online players awoke to see multiple fees in their bank accounts from EA’s billing system. With upwards of 22 fees in some cases, some people are really taking this latest hit hard, with the charges totalling up to $500; which is more than many can afford. In one rare case, the fees even totalled up to $2000 dollars. This latest bug has come at a tough price to the already struggling game.
• Gears of War 3 for April 2011: (ign)
  UK, April 9, 2010 – Microsoft has inadvertently revealed Gears of War 3 , with an announcement for the game fleetingly appearing on the Xbox 360 dashboard today.
  The announcement, since deleted, confirmed the game for an April 2011 release.
  An official announcement was believed to be coming through Cliff Bleszinski’s appearance on The Jimmy Fallon show, which has now been delayed to Monday.
  Rumoured gameplay details emerged yesterday, revealing that the final part of the trilogy that began in 2006 would feature a refined cover system and underwater elements.
  IGN has contacted Microsoft for further confirmation – expect to hear more on the game in the coming weeks.
• Activision says Modern Warfare 3 was held hostage: A countersuit was filed last week in which Activision paints former Infinity ward CEO’s as MW3 terrorists hell bent on drop a dirty bomb on the gaming industry… ok maybe it wasnt that bad, but dont tell Activision I said so….
• Crackdown 2 received a ‘Mature’ rating from the ESRB: The United States video game board dropped the M hammer today for crackdown, who knew killing people on live TV wold be rated mature.
• (joystiq) Game Center is basically Xbox Live for your iPhone

At its iPhone OS 4 event Apple unveiled Game Center, which he said will make “gaming even better on the iPhone.” With matchmaking, game invites, leaderboards and achievements, this is pretty much a carbon copy of Xbox Live, but on your phone (Windows Phone 7, beat to the punch!). This is a “dev preview for OS 4,” which will be available today for you devs out there. Everyone else, you’ve gotta wait until “summer.”

• http://current.com/participate/vc2/92368016_mmo-future-shock.htm

  New short film series by Gamers Film called MMO Future Shock (3 films/6 minutes each) that focuses on trends in the MMO gaming industry. It’s already been picked up by mens magazine Maxim for their gaming section on their site. Everything is professionally shot and edited and features interviews with insiders like 38 Studios Curt Schilling, Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan, Gamersfirst’s Joshua Hong and many more.

• A new Disgaea game for the PSP – Disgaea Infinite! (via Joystiq) http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/30/disgaea-infinite-visual-novel-for-psp-releases-this-may/
• Dun dun dun! Look out, Poke-fanatics! Nintendo has announced the release of Pokemon Black and White for the DS! (joystiq) http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/10/first-pokemon-black-and-white-images-revealed-in-color/ Now in 3D!

Rumor Mill

“After throwing up for witnessing Lea Thompson having sex with Howard the Duck, I was slipped some handy information.”