Newsdump

Blue bonus

Every Friday, Next Generation prints upThis Week in Japan, in which intrepid Tokyo explorer Tim Rogers flips through an issue of popular gaming mag Famitsu and otherwise burbles about the fortunes of the Xbox 360 in Japan and other things.Today's postis particularly nice, though, because it has a picture of the incredibly sweet Blue Dragon faceplate Microsoft is packing in with the limited edition of the game in Japan this December.

Real-life neck-snapper

We got a new video in for Splinter Cell: Double Agent. It's another snippet from the bonus materials in the Limited Collector's Edition featuring Woodie secret agent and technical consultant on the Splinter Cell series. Yes, he's called Woodie Mister.

Today's clip(look for "covert ops") is very in-depth and thus extremely creepy, as Mr. Mister talks a bit more about the kinds of things real secret agents do... explicitly: kill people for the government. Good times!

Chiptunes-a-go-go

There's something about the blips and bleeps those old game systems used to make before even the crappiest games got full-on orchestral scores. Enter in theBlip Festival. From November 30 to December 3, this crazed music explosion will feature the top artists working in the classic scene. New compositions, old hardware. Our only complaint is that GamesRadar's favorite classic rocker,6955, isn't included in the lineup. He's probably too busy with hisday job...

Know your games

So, earlier today we got this email from Capcom with a cool little quiz - celebrating the release ofCapcom Classics Collection Vol. 2- in it. But we deleted it. Hey, we're busy. Fortunately, Chris Kohler over atGame|Lifehas salvaged it from Deleted Items and thrown it up on his blog (dude gets paid by the entry.)Head over, take your shot, and win absolutely nothing but the knowledge that you've bought too many Capcom games.

HDExploder

You may have heard ofHDLoader- it's a piece of software that allows you to install PS2 games on the system's hard disk (which came withFinal Fantasy XI) and run them from there, instead of from discs. Big shock: Sony doesn't like people copying games... andas Next Gen reports, aDistrict Judge agreed, awarding the company $9.5 million in damages. TheHDLoader pageis still up... but not for long, we figure. Who can afford hosting when you owe Sony millions?

New screens

Mass Effect (360)
Call of Duty 3 (PS3,Wii,360)
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (PS3,PSP,Wii,360)
L.A. Noire (PS3,360)
EA Replay (PSP)
MechAssault: Phantom War (DS)
NBA 2K7 (360)
Mortal Kombat Armageddon (PS2,Xbox)
Rampage: Total Destruction (Wii)

New videos

Mortal Kombat Fatalities - Six Minutes of Slaughter

Call of Duty 3 (PS3,Wii,360)
Splinter Cell: Double Agent (360)
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (360)
L.A. Noire (PS3,360)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (PS2,PSP,Xbox)
Spectrobes (DS)

October 6, 2006