Scrabulous, the popular Scrabble-like game, was pulled from Facebook on Tuesday after Hasbro sued Scrabulous' creators.  Now however, with a few tweaks in look and play, it's back on Facebook, with a new moniker: Wordscraper.

What's different about it?  Round tiles instead of square tiles, you can customize the board in terms of where the double and triple words/letters are placed, and you can actually pick different values - all the way up to 5x points.  Don't worry, if you don't want to take the time to figure out where to put each bonus, there's a simple randomize button.

--Osver

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

Mario and Donkey Kong; hammer and finger; matter and anti-matter; some things should just never cross paths seeing as even if you're not exactly sure what will happen, you can bet that it will be bad.

Since I've started working from home some of these things have come perilously close to comingling, but the other morning as I grabbed a cup of coffee and turned on the TV to indulge my secret passion for Meredith Vieira, two of these streams were crossed: Rock Band and morning Infotainment. Yes, Rockband 2 was brought to the masses this week by the well-intentioned, but hopelessly uncool Today Show crew.

Click the image below to see the video if you dare:

You really don't rock. Say it isn't so Meredith!
Painful? Yes, and judging by the quality of play I can only assume that "God Mode" was invoked for the Fab Four's jaunt into Bon Jovi-ville. The good folks at Harmonix are right as rain in posing the question "who doesn't want to be a rockstar?" but it would appear that it's best if some keep that dream to themselves. The PR bandwagon is in motion though, so guess what? That's never gonna happen. So, what could be next, the much hotter and all around more amusing peeps over at Univision's Despierta América throwing down for a little Guitar Hero World Tour for the Spanish-speaking demographic? Or maybe a little battle of the bands between the Today Show and Despierta America cast? I'm always down for guilty pleasures, especially if I don't have to leave the couch, so I'm all for that.

"Rock Me Daytime TV!"

--Hobson's Choice

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

This item is a few weeks old, but worthy of further mention. So, I'm in LA and get a call from my sister letting me know that one of my all-time favorite movies, Blake Edwards The Great Race, is going to be shown on the big screen at the Aero theater in Santa Monica. Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk, Tony Curtis and a very fetching Natalie Wood; hilarious movie. On getting there I notice that the Aero is holding a series of events, one being the Post-Apocalyptic Film Festival sponsored by Bethesda's upcoming Fallout 3 and Geek Monthly Magazine. Geeks and the Apocalypse. Gotta be a match made in heaven right? Unfortunately, I won't be in LA to check out the nuclear blasts from the past that will be on tap the weekend of 8/22, but they will include: Wizards, Last Man on Earth, A Boy & His Dog, Damnation Alley, 12 Monkeys and yes The Omega Man.

An upcoming game sponsoring the screening of old movies that doubtlessly contributed to that game's genre. What a fantastic idea. The only thing I don't like about it is that it's not happening in my town. Come on Bethesda, help me out and make this a regular thing, continuing what you've started in LA in Seattle! Call me naive, but how much could this really cost? It sounds like a bargain from an advertising perspective, big fun for you and me and maybe some freebies. Just imagine what a bill might look like:

Capcom and Dead Rising 2 sponsoring a Zombie Fest including Night of the Living Dead, Shaun of the Dead and Evil Dead II

LucasArts and The Force Unleashed sponsoring a Star Wars film fest

Ubisoft and BIA: Hell's Highway sponsoring a night of WWII blockbusters like The Dirty Dozen, Kelly's Heroes and Force 10 From Navarone

EA and Madden 09 sponsoring a night on the gridiron featuring: Brian's Song, The Longest Yard and The Replacements

Well, maybe the last one, not so much, but you get where I'm going with this. Anyway, kudos to Bethesda for going beyond  the ordinary  to get the news out about Fallout 3.

--Hobson's Choice

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

Truth be told, this news is far from gospel, but according to a posting built around a tip by Ars Technica's mole over in Redmond we may be seeing yet another drop in all the Xbox 360 skus this September. Ah yes, just in time for the upcoming holiday season and all the lovely DLC bits and bytes Xbox LIVE members will be splashed with in the months to come. So, in this case falling a good thing, that is unless you recently bought a console. Here are the projected costs:

• Arcade (no hard drive) to 9
• Pro (60GB) to 9
• Elite (120GB) to 9

I believe that it is still unconfirmed that the 60GB model will be replacing the 20GB model, but since the former is already 9 if the price drop happens it's a done deal. Myself, I'm still downloading and deleting with the somewhat trusty 20GB model. Upgrading to a 120GB hard drive would set me back nearly 0 dollars as I speak, so I could see making a move myself. How about you?

--Hobson's Choice

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day!...Instead today we'll mosey on back to the end of Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring into Moria, Khazad-dûm, the ancient stronghold of Durin the Deathless. Yes, the geek-fest that is Lord of the Rings Online will soon breath life anew.

Yesterday game developer Turbine, Inc. announced that the first expansion to Shadows of Angmar, LOTRO: The Mines of Moria will be distributed in retail in North America by Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment. The game will come in three flavors:

• The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Complete Edition which will include the original The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar game (Volume I), all content updates released since launch, and The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria
  (Volume II). The Complete Edition will be available at retail stores
  nationwide and offers new players who wish to journey through the most
  complete and authentic recreation of Middle-earth the full,
  award-winning experience.
• The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Collector's Edition
  which will feature the content of the Complete Edition as well as compelling
  digital and physical items for collectors. Limited quantities of the
  Collector's Edition will be available at retail outlets in a unique
  leather-bound book packaging and will include:
• 3 exclusive tokens that can be exchanged for the player's choice of 8 different in-game items
• 22" x 22" premium quality cloth map of the Mines of Moria
• Special gold-plated ring complete with chain and pouch
• Mines of Moria poster
• The Lord of the Rings Online Art and Music Collection with the official Mines of Moria Soundtrack
• A full color Collector's Edition Starter Guide
• The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Digital Expansion as a
  digital upgrade that will allow existing subscribers to The Lord of the
  Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar to continue the ultimate interactive
  adventure into the vast, terrifying and unparalleled world beneath
  Middle-earth.

One of the biggest gripes LOTR fans have with any portrayals outside the books is that so much of what Tolkien created was left on the cutting room floor in the movies. The expansions to LOTRO, and many are planned, will fill these gaps including visits to Rohan, the Dead Marshes and perhaps Isengard and Fangorn in the next expansions dealing with The Two Towers and doubtless later visits to Minas Tirith, Osgiliath and the black gate in the portion reflecting The Return of the King. The geek-fest begins Fall 2008.

Check out the trailer released with this latest announcement below:

--Hobson's Choice

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

Scrabulous, the popular Scrabble-like game, was pulled from Facebook on Tuesday after Hasbro sued Scrabulous' creators.  Now however, with a few tweaks in look and play, it's back on Facebook, with a new moniker: Wordscraper.

What's different about it?  Round tiles instead of square tiles, you can customize the board in terms of where the double and triple words/letters are placed, and you can actually pick different values - all the way up to 5x points.  Don't worry, if you don't want to take the time to figure out where to put each bonus, there's a simple randomize button.

--Osver

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day!...Instead today we'll mosey on back to the end of Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring into Moria, Khazad-dûm, the ancient stronghold of Durin the Deathless. Yes, the geek-fest that is Lord of the Rings Online will soon breath life anew.

Yesterday game developer Turbine, Inc. announced that the first expansion to Shadows of Angmar, LOTRO: The Mines of Moria will be distributed in retail in North America by Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment. The game will come in three flavors:

• The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Complete Edition which will include the original The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar game (Volume I), all content updates released since launch, and The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria
  (Volume II). The Complete Edition will be available at retail stores
  nationwide and offers new players who wish to journey through the most
  complete and authentic recreation of Middle-earth the full,
  award-winning experience.
• The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Collector's Edition
  which will feature the content of the Complete Edition as well as compelling
  digital and physical items for collectors. Limited quantities of the
  Collector's Edition will be available at retail outlets in a unique
  leather-bound book packaging and will include:
• 3 exclusive tokens that can be exchanged for the player's choice of 8 different in-game items
• 22" x 22" premium quality cloth map of the Mines of Moria
• Special gold-plated ring complete with chain and pouch
• Mines of Moria poster
• The Lord of the Rings Online Art and Music Collection with the official Mines of Moria Soundtrack
• A full color Collector's Edition Starter Guide
• The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Digital Expansion as a
  digital upgrade that will allow existing subscribers to The Lord of the
  Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar to continue the ultimate interactive
  adventure into the vast, terrifying and unparalleled world beneath
  Middle-earth.

One of the biggest gripes LOTR fans have with any portrayals outside the books is that so much of what Tolkien created was left on the cutting room floor in the movies. The expansions to LOTRO, and many are planned, will fill these gaps including visits to Rohan, the Dead Marshes and perhaps Isengard and Fangorn in the next expansions dealing with The Two Towers and doubtless later visits to Minas Tirith, Osgiliath and the black gate in the portion reflecting The Return of the King. The geek-fest begins Fall 2008.

Check out the trailer released with this latest announcement below:

--Hobson's Choice

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

Scrabulous, the popular Scrabble-like game, was pulled from Facebook on Tuesday after Hasbro sued Scrabulous' creators.  Now however, with a few tweaks in look and play, it's back on Facebook, with a new moniker: Wordscraper.

What's different about it?  Round tiles instead of square tiles, you can customize the board in terms of where the double and triple words/letters are placed, and you can actually pick different values - all the way up to 5x points.  Don't worry, if you don't want to take the time to figure out where to put each bonus, there's a simple randomize button.

--Osver

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

Mario and Donkey Kong; hammer and finger; matter and anti-matter; some things should just never cross paths seeing as even if you're not exactly sure what will happen, you can bet that it will be bad.

Since I've started working from home some of these things have come perilously close to comingling, but the other morning as I grabbed a cup of coffee and turned on the TV to indulge my secret passion for Meredith Vieira, two of these streams were crossed: Rock Band and morning Infotainment. Yes, Rockband 2 was brought to the masses this week by the well-intentioned, but hopelessly uncool Today Show crew.

Click the image below to see the video if you dare:

You really don't rock. Say it isn't so Meredith!
Painful? Yes, and judging by the quality of play I can only assume that "God Mode" was invoked for the Fab Four's jaunt into Bon Jovi-ville. The good folks at Harmonix are right as rain in posing the question "who doesn't want to be a rockstar?" but it would appear that it's best if some keep that dream to themselves. The PR bandwagon is in motion though, so guess what? That's never gonna happen. So, what could be next, the much hotter and all around more amusing peeps over at Univision's Despierta América throwing down for a little Guitar Hero World Tour for the Spanish-speaking demographic? Or maybe a little battle of the bands between the Today Show and Despierta America cast? I'm always down for guilty pleasures, especially if I don't have to leave the couch, so I'm all for that.

"Rock Me Daytime TV!"

--Hobson's Choice

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

This item is a few weeks old, but worthy of further mention. So, I'm in LA and get a call from my sister letting me know that one of my all-time favorite movies, Blake Edwards The Great Race, is going to be shown on the big screen at the Aero theater in Santa Monica. Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk, Tony Curtis and a very fetching Natalie Wood; hilarious movie. On getting there I notice that the Aero is holding a series of events, one being the Post-Apocalyptic Film Festival sponsored by Bethesda's upcoming Fallout 3 and Geek Monthly Magazine. Geeks and the Apocalypse. Gotta be a match made in heaven right? Unfortunately, I won't be in LA to check out the nuclear blasts from the past that will be on tap the weekend of 8/22, but they will include: Wizards, Last Man on Earth, A Boy & His Dog, Damnation Alley, 12 Monkeys and yes The Omega Man.

An upcoming game sponsoring the screening of old movies that doubtlessly contributed to that game's genre. What a fantastic idea. The only thing I don't like about it is that it's not happening in my town. Come on Bethesda, help me out and make this a regular thing, continuing what you've started in LA in Seattle! Call me naive, but how much could this really cost? It sounds like a bargain from an advertising perspective, big fun for you and me and maybe some freebies. Just imagine what a bill might look like:

Capcom and Dead Rising 2 sponsoring a Zombie Fest including Night of the Living Dead, Shaun of the Dead and Evil Dead II

LucasArts and The Force Unleashed sponsoring a Star Wars film fest

Ubisoft and BIA: Hell's Highway sponsoring a night of WWII blockbusters like The Dirty Dozen, Kelly's Heroes and Force 10 From Navarone

EA and Madden 09 sponsoring a night on the gridiron featuring: Brian's Song, The Longest Yard and The Replacements

Well, maybe the last one, not so much, but you get where I'm going with this. Anyway, kudos to Bethesda for going beyond  the ordinary  to get the news out about Fallout 3.

--Hobson's Choice

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

True enough, I may have sounded somewhat anti-PC gaming in my last post, but if there is one game that will get me back into the fold its Diablo III.

I know that there were other RPGs around before I and my friends trod into Tristram astride a trusty T1, looking for a portal scroll to get us down far enough to do battle with the "Butcher" and beyond Diablo himself, but come on. We're taking Diablo here. I'll pretty much do whatever I need to do to jack up my PC enough to get back to that place. If you need a reminded of what the Diablo universe holds and/or want to see what new things Blizzard has in mind take a look at http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/. There is a nice interactive overview of new character classes and a feature written by Cain himself, screens, etc. On the hand, if you need a quick fix just take a look at the latest cinematic trailer. There is also a gameplay trailer at the blizzard site as well.

--Hobson's Choice

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

I'm not an iPhone owner, and even though I know it's not true, it seems to me like everyone else in the world is. I'm not bitter, just a little skeptical, but I digress, uh, kind of...

There has been a little chatter about game development opportunities on the iPhone for a while, but one game that apparently has moved beyond the chatter and is definitely going to make it to the small screen is a title based on Showtime's murderous hit Dexter. I know that pop will continually eat itself and so I shouldn't necessarily throw hissy fits when mediums cross breed, but I can't help it. Maybe it's that all our best minds are occupied with technical nuts and bolts, i.e. making the iPhone work; maybe we are all just too busy consuming media, i.e. lining up to buy the iPhone; or maybe there really may not be any no new ideas to be had. (please forget that I said that last one, or all three is you so choose). I just hate the constant recycling of ideas in popular media.

As for Dexter, I actually love the show and watched the first two seasons religiously. That's why I was a bit nervous when it went on hiatus a good while back, shortly after resurfacing in reruns on CBS. I thought to myself, "Now, what are they up to?" Why would they ruin a fantastic premise by bringing it to network TV? What would happen to the dark humor and of course the blood?? Then again that's probably what fans of Jeff Lindsay's book Darkly Dreaming Dexter thought when it was adapted for TV. That said, it may very well be that my gripe is misplaced. I mean would it have been any different if the Dexter game were to have ended up on one/all of the gaming consoles as was originally thought and like what happened to LOST? Probably not. Regardless, the plans for the iPhone game as laid out by Mark Ecko at Comic-Con are that players will reportedly use gesture controls, text messaging and phone calls to interact within the “Dexter experience" and the game will be played out episodically on the iPhone and iPod Touch. There are no other details that I know of.

So in the end what am I crying about? Maybe nothing. I guess we'll see. I just don't want to see a good piece of work bastardized, unless of course I'm in on it. Surprisingly, in the end the game may be a good thing. I've never been much of an early adopter, but I do know enough of them so that I may be able to try the game out on their new toy. Hmmmm. I feel my skepticism draining away like the life blood of a Miami hoodlum.

--Hobson's Choice

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

You would think that the current war would stick to political and news arenas and out of our beloved video games. We prefer to think about war as something that happened in the Pacific or Atlantic theaters and often carries a title beginning with "COD." Ubisoft, however, has determined to ride the swell that has come from recent events and show us what might happen if we continue down the same track in Tom Clancy's EndWar.

Set in the year 2020, Russia becomes the world's primary supplier of energy and experiences a massive economic boom. Western Europe, without the UK and Ireland, unifies to create the European Federation. Meanwhile, the United States is on the verge of finishing construction on the Freedom Star, a controversial orbital military platform that will upset the balance of world power. Just another day at the office.

The unique aspect of this game is your ability to control it almost entirely with your voice with the hopes of making the RTS genre more accessible for those who have found it just a little too overwhelming in the past. We managed to score a Q and A with Michael de Plater, Creative Director for Tom Clancy's EndWar, from Ubisoft Shanghai and have used this post shamelessly to get you interested in checking it out. See you on the battlefield.

--Tytus

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

Tomorrow Xbox Live's Summer of Arcade sweepstakes kicks off with the release of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved.  Did that pique your interest?  Intrigued by the potential, however slim, of free stuff?  Are you now wondering, "How do I enter and what can I win?"

Here's the summary:  Each week there will be a new game on Xbox Live, and if you play the demo, or the full game, you're entered into the sweepstakes.  Each week five people will be selected to win 4000 Xbox Live points. 

Once the whole contest has run its course (9/2 is the last day to enter the last game) one winner will get 100,000 Xbox Live points, a Xbox 360 Elite console, and a 12-month Gold subscription card.  Two runner ups will each win 10,000 Xbox Live points and a 12-month Gold subscription card. 

The line up of games, and when you can enter, looks like this:

• Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 (7/30 - 8/5)
• Braid (8/6 - 8/12)
• Bionic Commando Rearmed (8/13 - 8/19)
• Galaga Legions (8/20 - 8/26)
• Castle Crashers (8/27 - 9/2)

Good luck!  If you're lucky enough to win the grand prize, I'd be curious to know how long it takes to redeem/spend all those points.

--Osver

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

Often times when something is repeated often enough people may actually start believing it may be true. Unfortunately for Wild Tangent CEO, Alex St. John, his thoughts on console gaming are not likely to fall in this category. It hasn't been unusual to come across sound bites from St. John claiming that console gaming's dominance in the market is drawing to an end, but according to a blog posting at the Seattle PI's Website St. John seems to think that console gaming will, get this, be dead in little more than 10 years. St. John's comments came as part of his statements today at Casual Connect in Seattle. According to the PI he started off by saying:

'"I am going to make some outrageous claims today. And then I will attempt to substantiate them. Feel free to disagree with me. Just remember, that I am right."'

Later continuing:

'"We are looking at the last generation of consoles right now. I am going to predict to you that the PS3, the Wii and the X-box are the last generation of consoles that you either see or that anybody regards as successful in the market."'

And eventually concluding with:

'"Everything they know how to do is wrong. They start in a well. They think that brand matters. They think that their marketing expertise matters. They think that a pile of art work and a box matters. They have got a bunch of people paid huge salaries with years of expertise who would never dream of firing themselves because they have got the wrong domain expertise. And so Disney, for example, would never have funded the 0 million project to build Club Penguin, but boy they paid 0 million like little b****** to buy it after it hit the market. ... So the weird thing is that the expertise and the skill set to create these games -- they are not really rocket science to make -- it is just an entirely new mentality. The big budgets and the money and all the stuff these companies have that are entrenched are not an advantage, they are an encumbrance."'

I didn't see the actual 2020 date in the quotes noted in the PI blog headline, but knowing St. John's reputation for over the top comments, I'll take the post at face value. So, as for St. John's opinions, well, I know that he had a captive and invested audience, but that room had to filled with puzzled faces and rolling eyes, so I hope that the lights were dimmed. I know casual gaming is huge, but I just can't imagine a world filled with that much Bejeweled and Zuma.

How about you?

--Hobson's Choice

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

True enough, I may have sounded somewhat anti-PC gaming in my last post, but if there is one game that will get me back into the fold its Diablo III.

I know that there were other RPGs around before I and my friends trod into Tristram astride a trusty T1, looking for a portal scroll to get us down far enough to do battle with the "Butcher" and beyond Diablo himself, but come on. We're taking Diablo here. I'll pretty much do whatever I need to do to jack up my PC enough to get back to that place. If you need a reminded of what the Diablo universe holds and/or want to see what new things Blizzard has in mind take a look at http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/. There is a nice interactive overview of new character classes and a feature written by Cain himself, screens, etc. On the hand, if you need a quick fix just take a look at the latest cinematic trailer. There is also a gameplay trailer at the blizzard site as well.

--Hobson's Choice

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

You would think that the current war would stick to political and news arenas and out of our beloved video games. We prefer to think about war as something that happened in the Pacific or Atlantic theaters and often carries a title beginning with "COD." Ubisoft, however, has determined to ride the swell that has come from recent events and show us what might happen if we continue down the same track in Tom Clancy's EndWar.

Set in the year 2020, Russia becomes the world's primary supplier of energy and experiences a massive economic boom. Western Europe, without the UK and Ireland, unifies to create the European Federation. Meanwhile, the United States is on the verge of finishing construction on the Freedom Star, a controversial orbital military platform that will upset the balance of world power. Just another day at the office.

The unique aspect of this game is your ability to control it almost entirely with your voice with the hopes of making the RTS genre more accessible for those who have found it just a little too overwhelming in the past. We managed to score a Q and A with Michael de Plater, Creative Director for Tom Clancy's EndWar, from Ubisoft Shanghai and have used this post shamelessly to get you interested in checking it out. See you on the battlefield.

--Tytus

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>