New 360 Power Brick plug

This isn't really anything really groundbreaking, but I found a post on the Gamefaqs message boards stating that new xbox 360 power brick plugs no longer have the buttons on the side that you have to squeeze to remove from the console. Two other members have confirmed the existence of the new plug, with one stating his console was manufactured in June 2007, and both stated they purchased Elite consoles.

I'm guessing this is merely for cosmetic reasons, and to make it easier to unplug the plug from a 360.

In other 360 news:
Premium Xbox 360 consoles being sold and shipped at amazon.com

Find out how you can possibly get 2 free Xbox Live Arcade games

Halo 3 ending rumor/possible spoiler

Day of reckoning or rejoice?

       October 29, 2007 is the day AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE ZOMBIE NINJA PRO-AM finally come's out. This game brings the characters of the adult swim animated series "Aqua Teen Hungerforce" to the Ps2, Meatwad (the half retarded wad of meat), Master Shake aka Shake (the sadistic milkshake) and Frylock (the genius box of fries who can shoot misc. stuff out of his eyes), and side characters such as Carl, and the mooninites. The main story of this game is as follows, Frylock gains admission to one of the most prestigious country clubs, which makes Shake attempt to impress the club members and the always impressionable Meatwad following him. The game play is a recipe for disaster, it is “action adventure combat golf racing”, which in other words mean you play some holes of golf fight some enemies from the show and driving a golf cart. ATHFZNPA doesn’t feature any zombies or ninjas. Maybe the insertion of the ATHF characters can brighten up this unique style but we won’t know until it comes out.

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/driving/aquateenhungerforcezombieninjaproam/media.html?tag=tabs;videos (link to game play videos)

This game is PS2 exclusive. I would like to close off this preview with a quote from the TV show creators Willis and Matt Maiellaro :
"This golden chalice represents a new age in gaming, the likes of which has never before been seen on this planet. The weak will tremble at the awareness of our full color, hand-made graphics!" "

Is Rock Band really "Rock Band"?

       Many of you people already know with the ever popular Guitar Hero series and recent events splitting up Harmonix and Red Octane a new game has been born. This game is called Rock band. With announcements of being able to play guitar, bass, sing, and play drums, many people have had to change their pants/skirts/shorts and whatnot. And I’m very pleased in what Red Octane and Harmonix has accomplished, turning a whole generation onto rock, metal, classical and guitar playing in general. What worries me is though whether or not this will do anything to get the creative juices flowing in their minds. Sure its fun to play a game like this but if your anything like me playing the same riff on expert over and over again can be tedious. But Rock Band does give you the option to “jam” after you successfully complete a song (this is rumored from what I understand)[ed. From the video's I've seen this is confirmed]. But even this is not a complete jam because jamming comes from the inside maybe this is just me as a fellow musician speaking, but when will there, be if ever some freedom in these types of games? Its also been said that if you can play drums on hard you can pretty much play em in real life. I say this then : buy Rock Band save some money, then go and buy yourself a real instrument and break the chains…. Unless you like being strapped down by corporate America. So go out buy Rock Band or Guitar Hero III(its got Number of the Beast By Iron Maiden) then buy yourself a real instrument so you don’t have to wait another year praying they release your favorite song. hmm which one should i play....? THIS ONE!!! it'll get you laid faster.

Eternal Sonata video

Alright, well there has literally been a 1000% increase in page hits.... though about 99% are for the PS3 firmware v2.00 rumor article. Yesterday I promised a (p)review of the Eternal Sonata demo, well that put on hold until I re-download it (short, but boring story...don't ask). To make up for the lack of (p)review, here's a video clip.

Rock Band priced $199.99.

According to Gametrailers.com, Rock Band will cost $199, and there will be no wireless controllers for the Xbox 360 (their source was an annonymous microsoft employee). However the PS3 and Wii guitar controllers will indeed be wireless.

I personally cannot wait until the November 6th release date, though the $200 price tag is a bit steep, It does include the guitar, drums, microphone, and game. I guess if you break it all down it is reasonable, but well, the price seems like it will scare off a lot of "casual" gamers (by that I mean all those mom's who have no clue about the games they buy for their kids) who will most likely purchase the cheaper Guitar Hero 3 instead. Regardless, both Rock band and Guitar Hero 3 look awesome.

Next week's game releases

I've decided that every Friday, I'll post a list of upcoming games that are being released the within the following week. So without further ado:

Console Game releases for 8/11/07 - 8/17/07

8/13
Metroid - Wii VC

8/14
Madden NFL 08 - 360, wii, Ps3
Billy the Wizard Rocket Broom racing - Wii
Fatal Fury : battle archives vol. 1 - PS2
Metropolismania 2 - PS2
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 - PS2

Handheld Game releases for 8/11/07 - 8/17/07


8/14
Heroes of Mana - DS
Luminous Arc - DS
Madden NFL 08 - DS, PSP
Operation : Vietnam - DS
Rune Factory : A Fantasy Harvest moon - DS
Dungeons And Dragons Tactics - PSP

8/15
ATV/Monster Truck Mayhem - DS

PS3 Update v2.00 info (rumour)

A friend of mine was recently making rounds on various message boards when he found a post with information on the upcoming PS3 v2.00. Since this is coming from a message board, I'm regarding it as a rumor, and I strongly advise you take this with a grain of salt.

Here is his list in it's entirety:

• 1. v2.00 will have updated drivers for its built-in internet browser, for updated flash player functionality and other stuff related to the browser.

• 2. his beta/final build of v2.00 consisted of 2 different downloads - one containing Home, and one without it. this results in the Home software having it's own section in the XMB. Current Beta version are downloaded from the store and are booted from the game section of the XMB. It was mentioned though, that Home has been accessed this way since v1.54 and not to expect Home to actually be released until after v2.10 or v2.20. Kinks are being worked out involving the Home/XMB menu design/access. His group is mainly ironing out

• 3. Anonymous mentioned that there would be no in-game XMB access yet, although the group that he is currently operating with have actually sent this idea, as well as other ideas, to their dept heads. Aside from known bug issues, he also gets to send his higher-ups thoughts/opinions/ideas to improve software. But he hasn't heard of any response from anyone yet about this feature other than that, so far, it is not in his final build.

• 4. Icons for movies/games can now move while other media types are currently being accessed.

• 5. Security is being worked on. You can password protect individual files on your HDD including movies, photos and pictures by pressing triangle to access the options menu. he did state though that this does not appear to be anywhere finished yet, and not to expect it for the v2.00 update, but cool info none the less.

To protect the innocent, I'm withholding where my friend got this from. However, should the author of the list read this, and would like me to credit you properly, please by all means contact me.

Given the recent influx of views for this article, I would like to remind you that I did not write the list myself, I merely found it and posted it, since it's an interesting read... personally I think it's a 50/50 chance on whether it's true or not... and you know after further review, to ME #2 doesn't really make much sense, I don't know, but releasing a firmware update in two different versions seems, well, like a weird thing for Sony to do.

Halo 3 pr-orders break 1-million mark

According to Gamestop, over 4 million preorders have been made. However, last thursday, Microsoft released a statement claiming that Halo 3 has just sold over 1 million pre-orders, which breaks the record for the most preordered game (after a quick search, I was unable to find which game previously held the record, I'm probably just not looking hard enough though). This sort of makes me wonder: why didn't Peter Moore wait until after Halo 3's release to go to EA? I don't know why, but I'm just getting this thought that would have been the best thing for him, sort of leave with a bang?

Amazon cuts 360 price an extra $20.

I'm sure this has probably made the rounds on other sites already, but since i'm barely hearing the news, I thought I would post this news.

Apparently Amazon is taking an additional $20 off of (what I' m guessing to be premium) 360 consoles. This brings the price down to $329.99, plus free shipping. The official item title is "Xbox 360 Console Includes 20GB Hard Drive". Notice the lack of the word premium, or pro. I agree with the speculation that Amazon is making this move to clear out the stock of current 360's to make room for the upcoming HDMI, 65nm consoles. When you think about it, a premium 360 for 329.99 with FREE shipping, is a good deal.

Click HERE for the deal.

Help me help you!

Something I forgot to mention in my first post: If you come across any rumors or news stories that I haven't written about, please feel free to send them my way, and should I write a post about it, I'll be sure to give you full credit in the article/post for sending me the tip.

Top 20 most downloaded games on Nintendo's Virtual Console for Wii, as of 8/9/07

1. Paper Mario
2. Super Mario Brothers
3. Super Mario Brothers 2
4. Mario Kart 64
5. Super Mario World
6. Super Mario 64
7. Punch Out
8. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
9. The Legend of Zelda
10. Shining Force
11. Star Fox 64
12. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
13. Donkey Kong Country
14. Kirby's Adventure
15. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
16. Street Fighter 2 Turbo
17. Pac-Man
18. Kirby's Dream Course
19. Excitebike
20. Donkey Kong Country 2

(I would like to thank Gametrailers, for originally publishing this list)

It's really not surprising that Mario games are dominating the chart, though I am a bit surprised that Paper Mario has taken the top spot, I thought Super Mario brothers would have been #1 (though it comes in at second). I would also have liked to see how many of each title has been purchased/downloaded. oh well.

I've also decided that my first review...well I guess it's TECHNICALLY a preview.... is going to be of the Eternal Sonata demo, and it should be up... sometime within the next few days.

1st post

Hello, welcome to the Video gaming report, and thank you for reading this. I've always enjoyed reading gaming blogs, so I figured why not start one, this IS free after all. Well, Like most gaming blogs, I do plan to bring the latest industry news, as soon as I hear it. I've got some reviews I' writing right now, so i'll try to get those up...though they are a bit...OLD. I highly doubt this is going to become big or anything, I mean if your already going to other gaming blogs and sites for news, WHY come here? my answer: You must have accidentally stumbled upon it! Now that your here though, please feel free to give me any feedback, good or bad it will be greatly appreciated, I always like to hear the public opinion.

Well, Expect a quick nintendo update soon, the top 20 most downloaded virtual console games are up.

Until then,
Silent Beeker