Mozart is about to breakdance in his grave

So for those of you who didn’t download and play the Rock Band: Green Day demo this past week, apart from showing impeccable taste in games you’ve managed to miss out on something of a teaser from Harmonix.

When players reached the most rewarding part of the demo, exiting, the screen you can see on the left appears after a few adverts.

The four traditional instrument icons are there (including the three mic logo which represented vocal harmonies in The Beatles: Rock Band), and seemed to have gained a new friend in the form of a keyboard logo.  Which you can probably take to mean that you need to find a new friend, and some more space in your lounge room, for a potential new plastic piano peripheral.

In my case, my lounge-room is full, so I’m not exactly sure how I’m feeling about this idea.  For those of you with normal sized houses, however, I’m sure the idea of rocking your own Amadeus is intriguing.

The one thing it has left me wondering is how this will work for the Xbox 360.  If indeed there is a new instrument to add to the collection, where on my (blessedly green) Ring of Light’s four controller ports is it supposed to sign in?  Or are we to assume that the inclusion of a pianist will come at the cost of a bassist?  No such issues for the PS3, who’s controller limit is a yet untouched 7, but this might also mean that the piano logo isn’t meant to be taken literally.

Whatever the case, we’ll have to wait to hear Harmonix’s official word on this one.  In the meantime, here’s the trailer for Activision’s latest installment in the Guitar Hero series: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.

I’ll give Activision this much, at least this is the first GH title they’ve released for 2010, and it looks like they might genuinely be trying to give the game a theme too.  With tracks confirmed from Children of Bodom, Slipknot, Rammstein and everyone’s favourite Dethklok, it seems Warriors of Rock will be trying to recapture the rock/metal-centric attitude of GH3.  I guess we’ve just got to wait until September 20th to find out if that Rock God and Devil bullshit creeps back in.

Oh, and Rock Band: Green Day is due out this week in case you care.  Yeah, I know, me neither.

You probably can’t read about games today without seeing this particular gem.  In lieu of holding a Portal 2 press event at E3 this year, Valve have declared that they will be presenting a ‘surprise’.

The inital wild speculation over potential announcements like Half-Life 2: Episode 3 (or even just Half-Life 3 itself) have only been intensified by the unexpected appearance of a teaser poster on the Steam Facebook group.  Now, we can’t confirm the source on this, but it looks official.  Take a look:

Now, once again, this is pure speculation until we can get confirmation from Valve themselves, so keep your enthusiasm under control!

We’ll let you know as this story unfolds…

Street dates? We don't need no stinking street dates!

According to one of our top reporters, at least one Melbourne inner-city JB Hi-Fi store has broken street date on Red Dead Redemption and is selling them as we speak.

The store in question, in case you’re intending to saddle up and ride there post-haste, is the JB Hi-Fi on LaTrobe St.  While this is the only store we’ve physically confirmed, the retail chain’s website would seem to suggest that every JB around the country should have it available.

In the usual manner, this has also opened the flood-gates for other retailers.  A quick call to my local EB Games confirms that Red Dead is also on sale there, although your chances of price-matching today will probably be slim.  GAME stores have also confirmed that they have broken street date, so you shouldn’t have much trouble grabbing your copy today.

Photographic proof on the way, but consider this rumour confirmed … at least in Victoria!

UPDATE: You can add Big W to the list too.  If you can convince any outlet to price-match, Big W’s price of $82 is probably the best on offer!

Was it too obvious to go for a "Cowboy Near A Windmill" picture?

So I was at a Melbourne EB Games today, returning some unwanted purchases, and got to talking to the store’s manager about upcoming titles.  And of course when I say “got to talking”, I mean I was suffering the usual gauntlet of preorder requests, but I digress.

So Red Dead Redemption comes up, and I mention that I’ll probably be grabbing a copy this week (but not pre-ordering … no, seriously, I’m fine, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of copies, and I have plenty of t-shirts, yep, no problem there).

He then tells me that EB will most likely be breaking street date and selling the game tomorrow, May 20th, one day ahead of the official AU release date.  I’m not sure why he told me, be it my shining personality, trustworthy face or implied gulliblity, but I guess if you’re eagerly anticipating Rockstar’s grand-theft mailcoach (and don’t mind paying an inflated EB price for it) then it’ll be worthwhile checking your local store tomorrow.

Of course this is purely speculative, maybe he just wanted me to come back and spend more money tomorrow.  Just remember, as the gentleman told me, “don’t tell anyone I told you”.

Oh … wait …

It looks like he put a Light Cycle on his head

BioWare announced today that they’ll be releasing another DLC pack for Mass Effect 2 tomorrow.  The (mostly) new content will be called the “Equaliser Pack”, and includes two new helmets and a set of armour previously only available with a pre-order code.  Here’s the details:

… the Equalizer Pack adds the Capacitor Helmet, Archon Visor, and Inferno Armor to Shepard’s armor locker. The Capacitor Helmet stores power for kinetic barriers, allowing Shepard’s shields to recharge faster. The Archon Visor manages omni-tools and biotic amps, reducing the recharge time of Shepard’s powers. The powered Inferno Armor speeds up Shepard’s movements and increases his tech and biotic power damage, additionally stress analysis software even gives him an edge in negotiations outside of combat.

But what’s really so equalising about this package?

Well remember all that free DLC you enjoyed as part of BioWare’s Cerberus Network?  Well this pack kind of … equals that stuff out.  Yes, that’s right, two new helmets and a set of armour available with pre-order will set you back to the tune of 160 MS Points.  And while I know that’s not actually such a horrendous price as far as downloadable content goes, it does still leave me questioning what the whole point behind EA’s Project 10 Dollar was supposed to be.  At least it’s not another hideous reskin package, I guess.

In the realm of actually interesting Mass Effect 2 news, there are plenty of rumours flying around concerning an upcoming DLC pack set to feature Liara and the mysterious Shadow Broker.  The rumours started in much the same fashion as the Kasumi DLC’s did, savvy PC users tearing their copy of the game apart for clues.

Nestled deep inside the PC files they’ve discovered some unused Liara audio attacted to a file called “BioD_TwrHub_504LiaraDLC.pcc” and obligingly posted the results up as a YouTube video.  Before you press play, please accept this complimentary spolier warning.

The idea would seem to put a new spin on the final issue in the Mass Effect: Redemption comics, which suggested that Liara’s fight against the Shadow Broker would continue in Mass Effect 2.  And as far as ME2‘s plot goes, it would be nice to think they didn’t consider the story completed by the removal of one of the Shadow Brokers administrationally gifted underlings.

So if you’re a little underwhelmed with the news about the Equaliser Pack, there’s always this to look forward to … probably.

For the time being, head on over to the BioWare site for all the existing DLC details…

It’s amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it, and don’t mind poking around inside your savegame.  YouTube user HarroSIN has managed to unlock the final DLC character from Mass Effect 2 for use in the suicide mission towards the end of the game, and has video’d the results for all to see.  Say hello to Kasumi … or her voice at least:

As you can see, it’s unlikely that Kasumi’s player model has been inserted into the game yet (she looks like a run-of-the-mill FemShep), but you can hear plenty of her voice-over work which is obviously just waiting to be activated inside the code.  Here’s HarroSIN’s notes on how this all works:

- She cannot be added to the party. If you attempt to do so, the game will remove her with a warning message but will still allow you to continue.

- After adding her to your squad, the Port Side Observation Deck will become available, although there is nothing currently present besides empty space (the outside of the level map).

- Being a tech expert, she can successfully navigate the pipeline during the suicide run. She can also be used to escort the remaining Normandy crew back to the ship.

- It is possible for her to die during the suicide run if you do not upgrade the Normandy’s armor.

Along with all that, this video also seems to confirm that Kasumi has trouble determining the difference between a military commander and an old Elvis Presley song, but who knows what dark secret in her history caused that.  So at this point, unless someone is very good with their shooping skills, I’d say we can double-dog confirm that Kasumi is our final character.  Now if BioWare would just stop acting so shady about it all!

Check out the original video (UPDATE: or don’t bother, EA has had it removed), and thanks to One Last Continue for the heads up!

Concept art for the Hammerhead tank, as found in the Collectors Edition art book

The crew over at BioWare have been all a’Twitter this week, with the release and almost universal acclaim for the new Mass Effect 2.  Well a little while ago, they’ve also announced that a second DLC pack will be making it’s way to the game in the next couple of weeks.  And the best part of all?  Just like the Zaeed Massani content, it’s completely free for those already signed up to the Cerberus Network.  Nice to see that there’s still a developer out there who doesn’t mind adding the word ‘free’ to their DLC, BioWare.

As to the upcoming package’s content, there is all manner of speculation over the internet.  Eight out of ten Salarian science teams agree that this pack will be adding the M57 Hammerhead Hovertank, which was originally designed to replace the literally-all-terrain vehicle Mako from Mass Effect 1.  If so, then this means that we might actually get some planetary exploration back, instead of long, drawn-out scanning for minerals.  Quickly, launch moar probes while you still can!

Other rumours point to the 12th recruitable member of Shepard’s team, who is discoverable using a little debugging with the PC version.  The last member, known only by her placeholder name and image “Kasumi”, is a thief of some variety and is definitely probably not a crossover character from Dead or Alive: Paradise.  To my mind the tank seems more likely at this point, as we haven’t even heard BioWare discuss the last crew member, but there’s still an empty slot on the selection screen and a spare room in my Normandy, so they might surprise us yet.

I guess we’ll find out in the next couple of weeks.  For those with Twitter accounts, it’s no doubt worthwhile following the BioWare feed.  Gameplay developer Christina Norman is usually also quite free in her insider info.  Those wanting our opinion on Mass Effect 2, hold tight for the time being, as Stu is currently mopping the drool off his floor before writing his review.

Twitter is currently aflame with guesses flying back and forth on LucasArt’s announcement of an even bigger announcement, due this Monday (which is today, for us Australians). Although at first it was insisted that no hints would be dropped, something about getting inundated with hundreds of @ messages seems to have opened up information a little, to the point of:

Okay, we will do hints. It is awesome news for our old school fans. (anything more direct might get me in trouble)

-@LucasArtsGames, via Twitter

So, given that we also know the announcement isn’t anything to do with any new series, we’re obviously looking at an updated version of a classic LucasArts game. For my money I’d love something new for Day Of The Tentacle, but realistically it could be anything from Full Throttle: Special Edition to episodic Indiana Jones games. Anyway, we shouldn’t have to wait long to find out what the fuss is about, but kudos to LucasArts for using Twitter to ignite such a speculation-storm.

View their Twitter feed to sift through the hints and guesses. Apparently several people are dengerously close to guessing correctly, so see what you make of it.

UPDATE AN HOUR LATER: Apparently we’ll know in 12 hours, but someone on Twitter has guessed the announcement “dead on”.  Not surprising really with the quantity of guesses.  I’m hoping it’s this one: “RT @mhaley A Kingdom of the Crystal Skull game built entirely in SCUMM, but without the infamous refrigerator scene“.  Could we get the jungle vine scene cut while we’re at it?

I can only assume this one came about by either chance Googling or a misprinted article, but according to a recent marriage announcement in the New York Times, Lionhead’s Fable 3 could already be in the early stages of production.

Mr. Atkins, 34, is the lead game designer for Fable III, a video game series produced by Lionhead Studios in Guildford, England. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

-New York Times, 26th of June

If it’s true, then it’s the most amusing place I’ve seen a rumour come out of in a little while. Given that I still haven’t played Fable 2 however (residual bad feelings over the first), the news hasn’t really excited me much. Maybe it’s time to give it a chance, I’m sure hundreds of copies are probably clogging up pre-owned shelves at the moment.

Given that Molyneux has stated in the past that they have plans for Fable 3, 4 and 5, it’s probably safe to say that this isn’t just rumour, but as no-one has made an official announcement yet, we’ll stick this one as “highly probable”.  An even better rumour would be that players take the role of 11 year old Milo in Fable 3, and you battle enemies for PR domination … but I just made that up.  To the hashtags!

Anyhoo, read the announcement for yourself. And don’t forget to congratulate the happy couple!