GTA 4: The Ballad of Gay Tony review
The second and final episode of Grand Theft Auto 4, The Ballad of Gay Tony, has been released, and with it, Rockstar closes the curtain for GTA 4 with a bang. The episode is being released exclusive on the Xbox 360, either as a standalone download, or as a part of the “Episodes of Liberty City” retail expansion pack, which also includes the previous episode, The Lost and Damned.
In The Ballad Of Gay Tony, you play as Luis Lopez, a nightclub manager and Tony Prince’s — aka. Gay Tony — business partner. Gay Tony, who’s gay in the most extravagant fashion, owns a few nightclubs and the biggest gay club in town, and when a deal goes bad, he sends you to recover some stolen diamonds — the same diamonds that were mentioned in GTA 4 and Lost and Damned — making you progress through mission by mission, GTA 4 style, on a hunt. More »
Halo 3 ODST motorcycle helmet

What better way to prove your Halo fanboyism than the cruise down the street on a motorcycle wearing an ODST helmet? What may have seemed like a dream to you Halo feins may soon be a realty as what you see above is the X-Lite X-802 concept motorcycle helmet.
Now, the chances of this helmet ever being made available are currently unknown but we’ll keep an eye on it and let you know.
via kotaku
Game Boy inducted into toy Hall of Fame
It’s always an honor when a great athlete gets inducted in a Hall of Fame — earlier this year for instance, Micheal Jordan was inducted into the NBA hall of fame, and now, more importantly to us gamers, Nintendo’s original Game Boy has been inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame, specifically, the Strong National Museum of Play’s Toy Hall of Fame.
The original 8-bit Game Boy was released in 1989, and its subsequent variations, have sold over 120 million units world wide since then, with the best game being Tetris, selling a whopping 33 million copies.
Congratulations, Nintendo!
Nvidia posts $107m profit in Q3
Despite falling behind in both sales and technology to arch rival AMD, Nvidia managed to turn a solid $107 million profit in Q3, on revenues of $903.2 million, mostly fueled by the mobile and laptop sector. Compared to last year, that’s an increase of 16%, and from the previous year by 18%. The company said that it expects revenues in Q4 to be up 2% from previous year.
The company is set to release their brand new graphics card and technology later this year, called Fermi.
Tags: NVIDIA
Early copies of Modern Warfare 2 out in Europe
It appears that some European gamers have already received their copy of Modern Warfare 2, a few days ahead of the official launch, as retailers LoveFilm and The Hut have already shipped them, in in hopes that they wouldn’t get delayed in the postal systems.
They haven’t, in fact they’re early. UK retailer HMV (among others, including GAME) said that they won’t send the game out early, meaning those who pre-ordered will get theirs possible a day later than the release. Modern Warfare 2 will be released world wide on November 10.
Tags: modern warfare 2
Activision Blizzard posts $15m profits in Q3

The newly merged mega-publisher Activision Blizzard just posted their Q3 financial results, where they revealed profits of just $15 million on a whopping $703 million in sales, which as any businessman and wall street analyst will tell, isn’t the best profit margin. The revenue increased almost $100 million compared to the same time last year, but that year, the company lost $108 million. Now $15 million doesn’t seem like a bad thing at all. Activision Blizzard still expects sales to top $4 billion this year.
Tags: activision blizzard
Star Trek Online shipping on February 2

Star Trek Online has finally received a release date: February 2, 2010. The Star Trek based MMO is currently in closed beta to subscribers of Champions Online, and will receive an open beta in the upcoming months. The game allows you to join either the Federation or the Klingons as the commander of your own starship, go on missions and engage in combat with other ships.
Tags: star trek
Namco Bandai posts $66m loss in 1H 2009
Publisher/developer Namco Bandai has posted some rather dim results for the first half of 2009.
The company lost $66 million, while it posted a profit of $14 million during the same period last year, so it’s quite a decline, mostly attributed to lack of decent titles during the period. The company still expects sales to reach $94 million this year, fueled by Tekken 6, of which 2.5 million copies have already been shipped.
Tags: namco bandai
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story review
Mario & Luigi have offered a little diversity (very little, by some accounts) to the never ending Mario based platform games. Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story is the third time Mario and his green dressed bro Luigi play as a team on the DS, this time, the story is weirder than ever, as the arch nemesis Bowser swallows the mushroom kingdom, including Mario, Luigi and all their buddies. Actually, the story is a bit more complicated, but we won’t ruin it for you here.
The gameplay is very similar to the last Mario & Luigi DS game, where you basically control both characters at the same time, with one button for Mario and another for Luigi. This time however, you control Bowser as well, and actually, you’ll spend more time in the game playing as Bowser than Mario & Luigi, which might seem odd at first, but it feel quite natural. Yes, quite natural, controlling the antagonist. More »
Super Street Fighter IV to feature car smashing bonus level

One of the most disappointing things I encountered with Street Fighter IV was the fact that it didn’t feature the beloved car smashing bonus level. Well, with the announcement of Super Street Fighter IV gamers yet again had some car bashing fun to look foward to, if the game was to include it, that is.
Today we have confirmation that the bonus level will infact be included in the new title with the above screen shot showing it off.
Super Street Fighter IV will be out for the Xbox 360 and PS3 on March 23rd, 2010.
via joystiq
Off screen screenshots of Halo: Reach

Up until now, we’ve heard almost nothing about Halo: Reach other than the fact that Halo 3: ODST owners would get access to the game’s multiplayer beta. However, today we bring you screen shots of the game taken from, well, a screen.
They aren’t exactly high quality but they definitely give us a glimpse of what the graphics are to look like in the new title and I must say they definitely look on par with recent titles.
When exactly will Halo: Reach hit store shelves? Your guess is as good as ours.
Of course, I don’t think Bungie would appreciate us hosting the images so you’re going to have to head here to check them out.
Left 4 Dead 2 gets pre-ordered 4x as much as original

It seems that Valve’s soon to be released Left 4 Dead 2 is gearing up for a successful launch as the developers have recently announced some interesting statistics.
In a statement to CVG, Chet Faliszek said that Left 4 Dead 2 was pre-ordered 4 times as many as the original game. He comments further:
“As we get closer to launch we see the reaction to the demo, people’s excitement, the boycott itself and how it’s changed… I think people are just excited now.”
Yes, people are certainly excited, especially with the recent launch of the demo and the game’s quickly approaching November 17th release date.
Modern Warfare 2 delayed on Steam?

If you’re looking to pick up Modern Warfare 2 via Steam on November 10th, you may want to consider altenative options. The game’s Steam listing was updated with a release date of November 13th, 2009 as you can see above.
While there is a chance that this could be an error, there is also a chance that this may be true so you’ll have to be careful which method you use to purchsae the game if you want to get it on release.
As for the rest of us, we’ll still be able to get Modern Warfare 2 on November 10th.
Best Buy announces Modern Warfare 2 midnight release intentions

Modern Warfare 2’s launch is going to be huge, we already know that, but for all of you diehard fans out there we now know of yet another retailer that will be holding a midnight release; Best Buy.
The midnight launch event is nation wide with more than 500 locations participating and will start on November 9th, the day before the game actually hits store shelves.
To check if you local Best Buy is participating, head here.
NCAA Basketball 10 demo hits Xbox Live

Those of you with an Xbox Live Gold membership can now log on and download the NCAA Basketball 10 demo as it was just released today. Alternatively those of you who have a Silver membership will be able to get it on November 12th while PS3 owners will be able to get it on November 19th.
And for those of you who just want the retail game well, that will be out on November 18th.