Can you feel the emotion yet? No? Yeah, me neither.

Well here’s one I didn’t see coming. News from the gang over at GamingBits, they’ve posted up a video of (I assume) in-game footage of Xbox avatars playing as a band.

Like I said … didn’t see that one coming.

Frankly, while I completely support the integration of avatars in as many things as possible, Guitar Hero? Really? LEGO Rock Band, maybe, but it kind of ruins the last shred of what they call their “artistic style” if you ask me. If they’re going to drop this in, well, why not Miis too? Sure, the Wii only offers a more basic avatar system compared to the 360, but why not? They already look out of place, why not just go the whole hog?

They’ve worked so long making realistic animations for drumming, guitar and vocals, which is something that your average avatar can’t replicate. Watch the video. It looks like the singer is about to take a massive bite out of the microphone, because his mouth has no animation while singing.

Take a look, it’s kind of hypnotic, like a lava-lamp in a car crash.

In related news, Activision finally dropped the full setlist for the upcoming title. If you’re interested, hit the “Read More”, I won’t make a nine mile post to take up the front page. It’s looks like a great selection, definitely a step up from the ecclectic choice of GH: World Tour.

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Floating around the internet like a dismembered necromorph limb the last couple of day is the news that a feature film based on Dead Space could be in works (thanks Variety! When you think bargain film locations, think Australia!).

The film is to be directed by Daniel John Caruso (or “D.J.” to his friends), who also directed such masterpieces as Eagle Eye, Disturbia and episodes of Sammo Hung’s east-meets-west TV series Martial Law.

Given that Hung has probably left the dream of making it big in the western market up to his friend Jackie Chan by this point, there’s no clear trend in who Caruso could have in mind to play the Dead Space characters.

Well being the public minded figures that I am, I’d like to offer just this one suggestion on casting:

Sonny, you've got to make your way to the produce decks

Morgan Freeman as Zach Hammond.

Let’s face it, when you need a voice that can keep you calm while you attempt the most ridiculously difficult and irritating asteroids mini-game, you need Morgan Freeman. No stranger to the alien danger (as demonstrated in Dreamcatcher), and cream of the voice-over crop, Freeman should have no troubles playing an under suspicion senior officer who is more often heard than seen.  He should also be used to seas of black, soul-less eyes given he narrated March Of The Penguins.

And like my good friend Andy always said, you either get busy getting off a zombie infected space ship, or you get busy dying.

The only drawback I can think of is that Morgan don’t come cheap, so hopefully the studio decides to be generous to D.J. despite his previous cinematic “accomplishments”.

I’m open to ideas who could fill the rest of the casting crew, and I’ve got Photoshop all ready if you come up with any good ones!  Check out the movie’s announcement in Variety.

ME2 box art left, Barbarella right (in case you needed reminding)

Mass Effect 2‘s Facebook page has been updated with the first pictures of the box art for the highly anticipated title.

But oh ho, what’s this?  Alongside default Shepard looking stern and sexy at the camera, we have one of his tightly-suited team off to the side aiming a pistol.  Aiming a pistol to the sky.  With an alien looking building behind her.

To my mind (the place that EVERYONE love to visit), it calls to mind the movie poster for Jane Fonda’s erotic space opera Barbarella.  Take a look at the comparison shot.

I know BioWare’s been pioneering for the ability to tastefully add adult content to games, and let’s face it, having Shepard take a mission from the Council to save Dr Durand Durand may just be the right direction to take.

Either way, when a game’s box art reminds you of a scantily clad Jane Fonda, well you know it’s going to sell well.

Take a look at the complete box art!

In other related news, BioWare did a little “clarifying” the other day about the character rollover thing.  Old save files will not retain their skills and stats (although who thought they would) only the alignment decisions and appearance.  This is pretty much what everyone was expecting, but a few power-levellers may have needed a reminder not to crank another fourty hours into ME1 for no reason.

His lack of skills will be worked into the storyline, so no doubt he’ll probably just remember something so amazing that he breaks out in explosive amnesia.  Or you know, Prothean technology will wipe his memories.  Either of these are good.

Weedilie-weedilie-WEEDILIE-weedilie!

Found this little gem in the Target the other day, while making one of those manly “load up on as many pairs of socks and underpants as possible” shopping trips.

Oh those men and their wacky shopping.

Anyhoo, this exceptional slice of brand licencing is brought to you by the fine crew over at Jada, makers of the Nine Inch Marvel Universe Touch Tech (now why the hell does that sound too erotic for a kids toy??). The Guitar Hero: Air Guitar Rocker attaches comfortably over your junk and allows you to kick out the jams on an invisible axe. It includes five licenced tracks (Ace of Spades, Iron Man, More Than a Feeling, You Really Got Me and Smoke on the Water) and a few “freestyle” tracks. The box said you could also get cartridges to add new tracks, although I didn’t notice a bevy of extra cartridges clogging up the desk displays.

So if you’re not content flailing around with your plastic guitar, why not consider flailing around with an imaginary guitar? I hear it’s almost eight times the awesome! Especially because nothing says “get that man into rehab” like constantly flicking a guitar pick past your private parts. It’s more than a feeling (more than a feeling).

Oh yeah, Tiger fucking LOVES him some golf!

When it comes down to it, I’ve never really been a big fan of the sports game genre. Probably because I’m not really a giant fan of sports in general. One of the few series that I have always enjoyed over the years are golf sims, probably because while I like playing golf, I’m simultaneously quite awful at playing it. It’s also one of the several games that lends itself well to drunken play. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 continues the great tradition of games I’ll suggest playing while a little tipsy.

First of all, Tiger 10 isn’t the kind of game to play if you’re looking for instant fun and excitement. While some clever-dick down at marketing succeeded in making the cover art read “Feel The Drama”, it’s really not that kind of game. It’s the kind of game to be enjoyed at leisure, with a glass of wine, listening to the soothing waves of the ocean, on an abandoned beach where your lamenting howl as a ball slices off into a water trap won’t disturb anyone.

For such a laid-back game, the real background tension comes from that one occasional stuff up that will ruin an entire eighteen hole round. So while you do play this game with a kind of relaxed attitude around yourself, it’s only a swing, slice and a sandy landing between zen and unbridled rage. Which, when you think about it, is probably a great representation of the real game of golf.

Tiger 10 has several different ways to play. Players can pick their favourite golfer, or make their own, then set off to conquer the PGA tour, overcome various challenges from great games of the past, or just tee up and let loose against a partner of their choice. EA Sports have kind of gone to town on the options in this series, so chances are if you’re any kind of golf fan, you’ll find yourself something to enjoy.

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Well, moreso the Jetsons promised so much, and reality delivered so little.

I read about these devices a while ago, and a prompt from m1k3y reminded me of these…

I’m talking about telekinesis, Kyle!

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Booth on top, site on the bottom

You know what’s neat?  Something In The Sea.  You know what even neater?  2K recreating the entire room from the site at Comic-Con.

Apparently the booth (pictured right) is chock full of the real-life source material for the site, allowing you to sift through Meltzer’s notes, filing cabinet and peruse his book collection.  It even recreate’s the distinctive three-pane window in Meltzer’s door, with blue exterior lights.

So.  Damn.  Cool.  Full points for making something different out of your booth.  All it needs is a Big Sister booth babe to scare everyone away, and it’d be the complete experience!

Thanks Joystiq for posting up this gallery!

The latest updates, back on the actual site have added a great many more support letters for Meltzer on his wall, and you can try your hand at a considerably difficult memory game to unlock a clue box.

You eat their hearts to gain their courage ...

For a convention about comics, there sure are a lot of gaming announcements coming out of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.

This little summary from Newsarama details the Top Cow Multimedia panel, which talks about the future for underworld-meets-Underworld series The Darkness.

While a sequel to the video game has been un-officially acknowledged for a long time now, it was confirmed the sequel is under production at the current time. VG247 recently confirmed however that Starbreeze, the original game’s developer, is not involved with the sequel, so there’s still room for as much rampant speculation as you like on the sequel’s direction. Given that last we saw of Jackie Estacado in the original game was his total consumption by the Darkness, I suppose he could really end up anywhere. As long as Mike Patton is still on board for voice acting the Darkness, well, I’ll be buying it.

On top of that, the panel also confirmed that a feature film was in the works. Again, no solid details, but an acknowledgement that Scott Stuber Productions (who brought us Role Models, The Kingdom and You, Me, and Dupree) is involved somehow. A curious choice, to say the least, but apparently we’ll hear more in the next 6-8 weeks.

Read over the whole panel summary.

An amusing little tale out of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, thanks to Kotaku:

Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi and Masachika Kawata of Resident Evil 4 fame are apparently playing against each other at Blackjack, the idea being that the winner takes the reins on RE6 when it comes into production.

The card game is apparently quite real, although the results might not be, because according to Takeuchi: “it doesn’t appear as though either of us is going to be in charge”.

Still, it’s nice to know that it’s not just poker players who enjoy a good side bet.  Given that Bungie recently revealed that Halo: Reach is going to be their last project in the Halo series, maybe it’s time to call a poker tournament to choose the developer to take over the mega-dollar franchise?  Now there would be an event worth watching!

Play now secretly!

I’m sure everybody has appraised themselves of the ever-spammier ads for the online game Evony, but I received a call from a friend today who was laughing his ass off.  Strolling through the interwebs, he’d found the pinnacle of Evony‘s current advertising campaign (pictured right).  What’s not to love about an online game that just does away with any semblance of decorum in it’s advertising and just drops a big set of boobs on you?  Why even bother mentioning the game anymore?  Hell, why bother even making your own version of a spam ad?

But I’ll admit it, I’m intrigued.  Not by the breasts, there are plenty of places for that on the internet, but by the game that wants to rely on them to attract new players.

So off we go to the Evony site.  Registration is surprisingly easy, which is a little odd when you think about it.  This game doesn’t even have an authentication email.  In a practical sense, this means you can create as many accounts as you like, something that would usually be a little dodgy in a normal MMORPG.  But as you might have already guessed, this game is a little dodgy all over.

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