So this has been a fairly interesting week of news here at Blend Games. We learned that Rockstar is bringing back skydiving in the new GTA IV DLC, The Ballad of Gay Tony, which begs the question if airplanes will accompany the skydiving? There were talks from Bungie that Halo: Reach may not be the last Halo game they make simply because they love Halo so much, and Microsoft further cements the price-cuts for the Xbox 360 into the market place with the 120 GB and 60 GB models. These stories and more at the Blend Games Weekly Recap.
We also have some fresh new trailers up for viewing, including the new Shaun White: World Stage debut trailer, an awesome cinematic for Kingdom Under Fire 2 and the Dawn of War II: Last Stand trailer that will be sure to keep the fanboys rooting into next week.
Sunday
GTA IV The Lost And Damned Is 25% Cheaper. You can now get lost and damned for $5 less.
Review for Wolfenstein. Pete Haas gives Wolfenstein a run-through the critic’s gamut and it doesn’t look good for good ‘ol BJ.
Mount And Blade Warband Trailer Features Massive Battles. The game is looking extremely impressive and Paradox Interactive should be very proud.
StokEd Teaser Trailer For Xbox 360 Tears Up The Slopes. The music in the trailer is probably slightly more interesting than the gameplay and that’s not saying much. Ouch.
Necromantic Pack DLC Coming To Castle Crashers. New DLC coming to one of the best XBLA titles on the market. New content for good games is always welcome.
Bungie Not Fully Giving Up On Halo. This nearly confirms that the franchise could be milked until the boys and girls of Bungie are completely out of work.
Monday
Aliens Vs Predator’s Sales Will Determine Aliens Colonial Marines Release Date. That seems completely bogus yet very appropriate.
More Empire Total War DLC On The Way; Multiplayer Campaign Still In Development. Well, at least the multiplayer is being worked on…better to be in development than not present at all.
Manhunt 2 Coming To PC: Rated Adults-Only. Way to go Rockstar, it looks like the Wii/PS2 port to PC (better graphics and all) has managed to put it in no-players territory.
Trinity Soul Of Zill ‘Oll Gameplay Finally Revealed. A brief look at the rarely talked about Tecmo action-RPG.
Lost Planet 2 May Include Split-Screen Co-Op. A little side-by-side split-screen is always welcome when present.
Tuesday
EGM Re-launching On December 1st. Ziff Media’s print-and-paper magazine isn’t completely dead and gone. Who says resurrections don’t exist?
Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars PSP Release Dates Announced. Rockstar has to make their money back and with the DS being a bust it’s time to hit up GTA on the PSP once more.
Nintendo Patents Wii Football Controller. In addition to the laser gun and rocking horse (and yes the inflatable rocking horse controller is real) Nintendo is also aiming to bring a football controller to the market. You certainly can’t knock the Big ‘N’ for creativity.
Xbox Live Gets WET Demo. Slippery when wet? More like bloody when playing WET.
Modern Warfare 2 Features Dual-Wielding Pistols. John Woo, Infinity Ward salutes you.
Review Madden NFL 10. Ryan Rigney puts on the football gear and walks gamers through the latest game with fair criticism.
Xbox 360 Gets Price Cuts For 120 GB And 60 GB Models More price-cut wars on the way and everyone wins…well, everyone who hasn’t bought a new console yet.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Possible. Everyone wants it and everyone has been talking about it…so it’s now a possibility.
SwitchGames Offers Up SafeTrade Option For Safer Game Trading. Want to bypass GameStop for used games and trades? Want to do it more safely? Just try SwitchGames then.
CrimeCraft Gameplay Media Blowout. This awesome MMO shooter game features create-a-characters, customizable weapons and lots of fragging opportunities.
Gears Of War 2 Game Of The Year Edition Arrives September 1st. Just in case the original game wasn’t enough, it might be necessary to upgrade to the GOTY edition just for the sake of keeping up with the times.
BioWare Still Silent On PS3 Mass Effect. Is it or is it not coming to the PS3? That is the question.
Thursday
Grand Theft Auto IV Gets Sky Diving. And possibly airplanes, too.
Brink Is A Planned Trilogy. The mysterious new game that people know very little about will be a trilogy that people know very little about.
Microsoft Xbox 360 Price Cut Was Coincidence. Microsoft wasn’t trying to compete with Sony? Really? No way.
WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2010 Gameplay Media Blowout. Time to check out everything from the create-a-character to the new training facility, SD vs Raw 2010 is a lot more dynamic than it originally seemed.
Borderlands Multiplayer Deathmatch Is Like Mad Max Thunderdome. It’s also like crazy people fighting in the desert with guns, but it’s all the same when deathmatch is involved.
Aion Open Beta, Pre-Select, Headstart Dates Announced. All the info required to get into the beta for the North American version of Aion.
2029 Online Soundtrack Available For Download. It’s free too, so no need to worry about the word “illegal” racing across one’s mind.
Details on Xbox 360 Facebook/Twitter Set…Or Are They? A look into the details concerning the new Facebook/Twitter functionality of Xbox Live.
Friday
Dawn Of War II Last Stand Mode Announced In Trailer; Coming In October. Players can now take on hordes of baddies in a new mode…it looks like Gears of War 2’s Horde Mode had a bigger impact on the industry than the Clifster originally thought.
Section 8 Gameplay Media Blowout. TimeGate walks gamers through the customization process and the actual gameplay of Section 8.
Guitar Hero 5 Commercial Stars Playboy Playmates, Hugh Hefner. This commercial may not last long but a bunch of pants-less Playboy bunnies will not go unappreciated.
Star Wars: The Old Republic Sith Warrior Class Announced. How can you be a Sith without being a warrior? Well, that’s all been cleared up with the new Bioware announcement.
Champions Online Will Get New Content Every Three Months. If any gamer pays $199.99 for this game then it better get new content every three months.
Kurt Cobain Resurrected In Guitar Hero 5. Bringing back to the dead to bring in the dollars. That’s not a bad plan at all.
Saturday
Splinter Cell: Conviction Vs Uncharted 2: Round – Replay Factors. This comparison measures which game will offer players more for their money and whether either game is worth playing over.
Retailers Respond To Xbox 360 Price Restructuring. Big news regarding the new Xbox 360 bundles coming at you from Electronic Theatre.
Rumor Killers: Starcraft 2 LAN, Pay-to-Play 1 vs 100, Frenadillo For BioShock Movie. Lots of rumor talk from the community over at TheGameReviews.
Top 10 Science Experiments Gone Wrong. One more from the TheGameReviews. this time it’s all about science gone wrong./
Blizzard To Publish World Of Warcraft Magazine. As if being addicted to the most played MMO of all time isn’t enough, Blizzard wants people addicted to their magazine, too…so says GamingFront.
That wraps up this week’s recap starting on August 23rd and ending on August 29th. This also happens to be the week finalizing August, so we leave you with the ever-so-awesome Batman: Arkham Asylum launch trailer. It’s a game worth checking out if you’re into stealth games or action games or beat-e’m-up games. For more gaming news, info, insight, updates and media, be sure to stay tuned in with Blend Games.
