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| More of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
Unveiled in Leipzig |
| August 27, 2008 at 9:08am |
C&C Executive Producer Chris Corry
previews the women of Red Alert 3 at the Leipzig Convention.
Some lucky players try out C& C: Red Alert 3 in a private room at the Leipzig Games
Convention.
Last Red Wednesday, we told you about Tim Curry, J.K. Simmons and George Takei
being cast in live-action roles for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3.
While we were giving you that exclusive sneak-peek, our friends at
EA Games were revealing even more about the game in Leipzig, Germany
at the Games Convention Developers Conference, boasting the largest
overall gaming convention attendance in the world. Visit our
GameStop Cinema page for an exclusive recap.
While all of these men are fine actors, it's those dangerous women
that C&C is known for, and conference attendees were
shown clips of Ivana Miličević, Jenny McCarthy, Gina Carano and more at the
C&C Stage Presentation.
They also got the scoop on a first for Real-Time Strategy Games —
online co-op play. Not only will you be able to enjoy the rich
single-player story and cinematography of Red Alert 3, but you'll also
be able to go online and experience it with a buddy, or even someone
you're not too crazy about.
With that cat out of the bag, members of the press were whisked
away to a top-secret room for a closer look at the co-op options,
while a select group of C&C Community members were invited to a special War Room for some
hands-on time with Red Alert 3. So that no one would be left out
out, kiosks running the Red Alert 3 Beta were also set up on the main
show floor. Well, no one who managed to score a pass to the
conference and an airline ticket to Germany was left out. We were
almost allowed to go until someone in our accounting
department realized that Leipzig was not that small town in
between Waco and Austin, Texas that makes great kolaches.
If, like us, you were left out in the cold, like a sled dog peeking
in the window of a warm Siberian cabin as his owner dines on steak,
you can take a look at our GameStop Cinema page for a
recap of the Leipzig Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 show, as well as
some scene clips featuring the talented cast. In the meantime, we'll
load up on kolaches and round up some more exclusive news for next
Red Wednesday. |
| Our Weekly "What's Hot" Roundup |
| August 26, 2008 at 9:23am |
Reserve Call of Duty: World at War to
get day-one access to your in-game, not real M1A1 Carbine.
This week, we'd like to clear a few things up
about what you get and what you don't get with a couple of games.
Get access to a computerized representation of an M1A1 Carbine
Assault Rifle: Reserve
Call of Duty: World at War,
and you'll
get day-one access to the M1A1 Carbine Assault Rifle, while supplies
last. We should point out that this is not a real M1A1 Carbine
Assault Rifle, it is a digitized version of an M1A1 Carbine Assault
Rifle that exists only within the context of Call of Duty: World at
War. So don't be disappointed when you don't get a real one. As a
rule of thumb, you can always assume that we will not send you
firearms.
Drive a computerized representation of a Ferrari: Ferrari
Challenge: Trofeo Pirelli begins shipping today for PS3, Wii, PS2
and DS. If you order the PS3 or PS2 versions online or at your local GameStop today, you
may still have time to get the GameStop-Exclusive Ferrari 599.
Again, this is not a real Ferrari 599. It is an in-game, virtual
Ferrari 599. We apologize for any confusion.
Fallout 3 Street Dated: We just received word that
Fallout 3
is now street dated for October 28. While it may appear to
some that we will begin throwing copies of Fallout 3 into the
streets on October 28, it really means that Fallout 3 is eligible
for our Street Date Guarantee. Pre-order Fallout 3 by October 27 at 11am CST with overnight shipping and get guaranteed delivery on the street date of October 28! If your product does not arrive on the street date, we will credit your order for the full shipping amount! Continental United States only. Must have Overnight Service available in your area. Offer void if you are unable to accept a delivery that was attempted. Not responsible for orders delayed due to incorrect address, credit card information, inclement weather or your vault not being on the delivery driver’s GPS.
We hope you find this information enlightening. We'll be back next
week with more of "What's Hot." Well, we are not actually going
anywhere. So we won't literally "be back." But you know what we
mean, right? |
| Win a Limited-Edition PC in the Crysis:
Warhead Sweepstakes |
| August 22, 2008 at 5:26pm |
Psycho says, "If any of you touch my
sophisticated, state-of-the-art gaming system, I'll kill you.".
Little did we know that while we were playing
the award-winning PC game
Crysis
last year, another secret side
mission was taking place on the other side of the island. That's
kind of like finding out that while we were watching LOST
last season, the Skipper and his little buddy Gilligan were on the
other side of the island making cars out of bamboo and coconuts.
The side mission,
Crysis: Warhead,
involves Sergeant "Psycho" Sikes, who must keep a
powerful technology from falling into enemy hands. We're fairly
certain he's the guy from Stripes who says, "If any of you
guys call me Francis, I'll kill you."
As the case is with any PC game, you'll have more fun if your
computer is up to the task. If you'd like to get your hands
on a limited-edition Crysis: Warhead PC, optimized to produce high-quality
performance, then you should enter the
Crysis: Warhead Sweepstakes
for your chance to win one of four of the custom PC's. The official
rules are posted
here.
Someone has to win, and it might as well be
you. In the meantime, if you see Francis, tell him to lighten up. |
| Calling This the "Ninja Blog" Sounds a
Lot Better |
| August 21, 2008 at 5:04pm |
Use your Ninja Mouse to click here to
get to know some of the characters from Ninja Town for DS.
Sure, the action is fun in the strategy
game
Ninja Town
for DS, but it's
the characters that have really grabbed our attention.
The game is chock full of Lava Ninjas, Sniper Ninjas,
Ninja Consultants, Chubby Devils, Dino Slugs and more. We've set up
a small selection of them
here
to give you an idea of what we mean.
We can't decide if it's their look or the fact that they're ninjas
that makes them so cool. They don't just live in a town. They live in
Ninja Town. They don't just bake cookies. They bake Ninja Cookies.
They don't even go to the restroom like us. They
leave Ninja Droppings.
We thought we'd give it a try to spice things up around here. We all drove to our Ninja Jobs
in our Ninja Cars. Then we got our Ninja Coffees, sat at our Ninja
Desks and booted up our Ninja Computers. If a co-worker asked us
something like, "May I borrow your stapler?", we'd respond "No, but
you can use my Ninja Stapler." We had Ninja Mini Taquitos for Ninja
Lunch and washed them down with Ninja Grape Soda. We have to admit, it
turned a typical workday into a nonstop Ninja Adventure. You should
give it a try. Ninja Town ships for your Ninja DS October 28. Place
it on Ninja Reserve here or at your local Ninja GameStop.
|
| Welcome to Red Wednesday, Comrade |
| August 20, 2008 at 9:08am |
Tim Curry, J.K. Simmons and George
Takei (l-r) exemplify the type of talent ideal for Red Alert 3.
To prepare for the upcoming release of
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3,
we are pleased to bring you a new
feature, Red Wednesdays. Each Wednesday
from now until we get tired of it, or until we are dragged off in
the night by KGB agents, whichever comes first, we'll bring you an
exclusive peek into Red Alert 3.
Command & Conquer titles are well known for
incorporating live-action videos into the gameplay. Command
& Conquer: Red Alert 2 featured dozens of live-action actors,
including Kari Wuhrer, who has starred in TV dramas, soap operas and a host of B movies,
and Barry Corbin, whom we'll always remember for issuing the classic
line in the movie War Games, "I'd pi** on a spark plug if I thought it'd do any good!"
The developers at EA Games are pulling out all the stops for Command
& Conquer: Red Alert 3, with
more than 60 minutes of live-action HD footage, featuring the largest,
most recognizable cast in the history of the Command & Conquer
franchise. Recently, we asked the powers that be over at EA Games in Los Angeles
if we could have a part, and after they finished laughing, they
informed us that their selection process is a bit more stringent
than offering a role to anyone who says, "Come on! I really, really,
really want a part!"
As video games continue to gain ground as vehicles of mainstream
entertainment, they attract a larger range of actors, some of whom
are gamers, some of whom have family or friends who are gamers and
some of whom just need a gig so they can restock the wine cellar.
This allows producers of video games to be more and more selective
about the talent they cast.
Such is
the case with C&C Red Alert 3. We were told that the whole process
begins when the executive producers, cinematic team, writers and
marketing team sit down to discuss the characters in the game and
who they would like to see play those parts. They look for actors
who hit upon as many factors as possible, one being the ability to
act on the fly. There is no time for rehearsal, and the actors for
Red Alert 3 needed to be able to get into costume, leap into
character, and act convincingly while reading a teleprompter.
Okay, so at this point, we think we might still be in the running. We can read,
and one of us once played a Nazi guard in a high-school production of
The Sound of Music. But other criteria must be met. The actor
should have some mainstream recognition. People need to be able to
say, "Oh, yeah, I know that guy," when they hear the name or see the
face. So we have a strike against us on that one. We were told it's
also good for an actor to have a bit of "Geek Cred." If the actor is
known for a role in another video game, or a Science Fiction
classic, or a cult movie in which the leading lady's clothes get
torn a bit by an alien, then that adds some credibility for the
typical Command & Conquer fan. We told them that we definitely have
the geekiness factor, but they informed us that it's not the "good"
kind of geeky.
Finally, EA Games looks for actors who are able to have fun with the part
and who are not afraid to make fun of themselves a little bit. Again, we like to have fun,
but others tend to make fun of us more than we make fun of
ourselves. That's why we wouldn't be right for a role in Red Alert
3, but actors like Tim Curry, J.K. Simmons and George Takei are
perfect for it.
Tim Curry has never been one to shy away from quirky roles, ranging from
Ebenezer Scrooge to a transvestite alien. Plus, his mainstream
recognition, his ability to pull off a Russian accent and that evil-looking smirk make him the best suited to play the ambitious Soviet Premiere Cherdenko. J.K. Simmons, perhaps best
known for nailing the part of the hard-nosed publisher J. Jonah Jameson
in
the Spider-Man movies, should have no trouble playing the
all-American, over-the-top American President Howard Ackerman. And
we can think of no one better to play the wise Emperor Yoshiro than
George Takei, who became famous playing Lt. Sulu in Star
Trek, and who remains famous merely by being George Takei.
So there you have it. If you want to land a role in a video game,
you just need to learn how to act, become famous for at least something,
be the "good" kind of geeky and be willing to have fun. Good luck with
all that. Those are the only stars of Red Alert 3 we can let you know about for now.
You may have noticed that the femme fatales that C&C is known for
are conspicuously absent. We promise you'll see them soon in an
upcoming Red Wednesday post, comrade. |
| Our Weekly "What's Hot" Roundup |
| August 19, 2008 at 11:24am |
Sackboy looks quite intimidating in
his Kratos costume. Well, for a sack, he looks intimidating.
The question of what well-dressed Sackboys and Big Daddies will be wearing this fall, or what boxes
well-dressed limited editions of Fable II will be wearing, will be
answered around October 21. But you've
come to the right place for a sneak peek.
GameStop-Exclusive Sackboy Costume: We've been to a couple of
demonstrations of Sony's Little Big Planet,
which allows you
virtually unlimited freedom in building and sharing levels. Whenever
we get a chance to sit down with it, we end up spending most of our
time dressing up our Sackboys, the little burlap-covered characters.
When you reserve Little Big Planet for PS3, releasing October
21, you'll get a GameStop-Exclusive costume of Kratos, the hero of the God of War
titles. Although the costume makes Sackboy look pretty scary, it's
the thought of what's underneath the burlap that really scares us.
Fable II Limited Edition: We recently learned of an October
21 street date for Fable II. We also found out about the contents of
the Fable II Collector's Edition, which will include a bonus DVD,
additional in-game content, five printed Fate cards, a 48-hour Xbox
LIVE Gold Trial Card, and a collectible Hobbe figurine. A Hobbe should
not be confused with Hobbes from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip.
As far as we know, the comic tiger does not prey on travelers or
spirit away children. However, his whereabouts have been
unknown since 1995. You can see
a detailed list of the Collector's Edition contents here.
The Underwater Utopia is Street Dated for PS3: The Xbox 360 hit BioShock
is set to release for PS3 October 21, as well. We haven't
seen any demos to compare it to the Xbox 360 version, but we're pretty
sure you'll feel just as guilty for harvesting ADAM from a Little
Sister. Reserve your copy here.
We'll bring you more gaming fashion news as it surfaces. |
| You'll Never Walk Alone with the
Yggdra Union Soundtrack |
| August 14, 2008 at 5:04pm |
Don't be disappointed when Jim Nabors'
Songs of Inspiration
does not come with your Yggdra game.
We just found out yesterday that you'll get a
GameStop-Exclusive We'll Never Fight Alone soundtrack when you
reserve
Yggdra Union
for PSP. It contains 56 tracks to bring you the full
musical experience of Yggdra Union.
We have to admit we were
a little disappointed at first because we thought it was going to be You'll Never Walk Alone,
from the Jim Nabors Songs of Inspiration album. But we
suppose We'll Never Fight Alone is better because it has 56 tracks,
and the Jim Nabors album only has 12 tracks.
For those who reserve Yggdra Union, the soundtrack will ship with
the game when it releases September 16. Just so we won't be
inundated with angry e-mails on September 17, allow us to reiterate.
You will NOT receive Jim Nabors' You'll Never Walk Alone when you reserve Yggdra Union. You WILL receive the
much-better Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone Soundtrack.
We apologize for any confusion. |
| How to be Perfectly Masculine in Face
Paint and a Cape |
| August 13, 2008 at 4:28pm |
Ultimate Fan Thomas shows his Cowboys'
spirit.
To celebrate the release of
Madden NFL 09
yesterday, we held an Ultimate Football Fan contest at the GameStop
Store Support Center in Grapevine, Texas.
GameStop associates were encouraged to wear the jerseys of their favorite
teams to work, and we gathered in the cafeteria to enjoy free hot
dogs and to determine who was the best-dressed football fanatic.
After all, what's more All-American than processed meat that's still
technically beef and painted faces that, for some reason, are
technically not considered makeup?
After perusing all of the competition the judges decided that
Thomas, from our Inventory Control Department, was worthy of the
title of GameStop Ultimate Fan. The scary thing is, he didn't even
know there was a contest. He just dresses that way from training
camp to Pro Bowl.
When it comes to supporting the home team, normal fashion rules do not apply. You don't have to worry
about wearing white after Labor Day, you just have to worry about
getting the blue just right for that star on your face so that no
one will confuse you with Paul Stanley from KISS. If supporting your
team requires you to dress like you're next in line to battle
Master Blaster in the Thunderdome, then that's fine. If showing your
spirit means you need to carry a doll or wear a wedge of cheese on
your head, then more power to you. Just don't mix an NFL football
jersey with a Major League Baseball cap — that is a
sports-fashion faux pas.
Send a picture of yourself in your football fan gear to editor@gamestop.com, and you just might see your football fashion statement on the blog next week. |
| Our Weekly "What's Hot" Roundup |
| August 12, 2008 at 12:30am |
Virtual or real — which one's your favorite?
To make up for the rather disturbing picture
last week, we've decided to treat you to a nicer one for this week's
roundup of what's hot.
Official Lara Croft Model Named: Alison Carroll, a receptionist at a golf club in Great Britain,
has been named as the official Lara Croft model to help promote
Tomb Raider: Underworld.
She's a real looker, but we're not sure if
anyone can compare to our beloved digital version. As Paul Simon
once said in Kodachrome, "If you took all the girls I knew when I was single,
and brought them all together for one night,
I know they'd never match my sweet imagination.
Everything looks worse in black and white."
After Midnight, We Let it All Hang Out: In case you haven't
heard, or in case you were just rescued from a deserted island or
something, Madden NFL 09
is now available. GameStop stores all over
the country hosted Midnight Launch Events to release copies of the
game at 12:01 a.m. on August 12. If you missed out on the fun, you
can still get a copy online or at your local GameStop.
Weekly Zombie Alert: The question is not "What will you do
if zombies invade your house." The question is "What will you do
when zombies invade your house." At least that's the question
according a guy in our E-Commerce Department, who keeps telling us
that a zombie holocaust is just a matter of time. Get in some
practice with this week's release of Monster Madness: Grave Danger
for PS3. You can fight zombies, killer clowns and even a crazy cat
lady.
You Need it For Your Space Strategerizing: We
just received a free strategy-guide download for
Space Siege, the
science-fiction RPG from Chris Taylor, which began shipping today. You
can download your handy guide for laying siege to space here.
That's about all of the super-hot gaming news we can handle for now.
We'll bring you more next week. |
| Just as Nostradamus Predicted: Favre
is a Jet |
| August 8, 2008 at 11:54am |
Our EA SPORTS representatives
scrambled to get us this picture of Brett Favre in a Jets uniform.
We know it's not that unusual. Johnny Unitas
ended his career as a San Diego Charger, Joe Namath ended his career
as a Los Angeles Ram, and Joe Montana ended his career as a Kansas
City Chief. But seeing Brett Favre in a New York Jets jersey is just
weird. We sort of expect the sun to fade dark as sackcloth, the
moon to turn blood red and Nostradamus' ambiguously referenced comet
to start appearing.
However, as far as we know, the Earth is till spinning eastward, the
sun is still shining and life goes on. We suppose everything will
settle down once Favre leads the Jets to a glorious 6-10 season.
But we're not quite ready to settle down around here because we're gearing up for
Tuesday's release of Madden NFL 09.
To celebrate, many GameStop
stores are receiving full-demo versions of Madden NFL 09 that you'll
be able to play in the store on Monday. Check your local GameStop
for details. Many GameStop stores are also hosting Midnight Launch
Events to start selling Madden NFL 09 at the stroke of midnight Tuesday, August 12.
Visit our Madden NFL 09
page for a list of stores hosting Midnight Launch Events, screenshots
and videos of the game, a Madden NFL Quiz, a Madden
Timeline and even a guide to hosting your own Girls' Night In Madden party. |
| Win a Trip to a U.S. Tennis Tournament
and Make New Friends |
| August 7, 2008 at 5:25pm |
Pictured is Rafael Nadal hitting a
tennis ball into hyperspace, and an artist's rendering of what
the view from inside the tennis ball might look like.
In the movie Cast Away, Tom Hanks' character
Chuck Noland developed a close personal relationship with a Wilson
volleyball. Maybe you could do the same with a couple of Wilson
tennis racquets if you enter and win the
Smash Court Tennis 3
Sweepstakes. You could win a trip for two to a U.S. Tennis
Tournament, as well as two Wilson tennis racquets with bags.
Unfortunately, it's a trip for two; so you'll have to decide quickly
which racquet is the better conversationalist to determine which one
you want to take with you. Official rules for the sweepstakes are
here.
You should also check out
Smash Court Tennis 3, releasing
August
19 for Xbox 360, which will allow you to go head-to-head with 16
different tennis veteran stars and rising talents, like
Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Rafael Nadal, Martina Hingis,
Andreas Seppi and Nicole Vaidisova. You can take advantage of each
player's unique strengths and weaknesses on painstakingly detailed
courts. You can also experience what it's like to serve a blinding
140-mph ace without tearing your rotator cuff. It seems like a cruel
thing to do to your new friend Wilson the tennis racquet, but he
likes it. That's what he was born for. So reserve your copy of Smash
Court Tennis 3 now, and remember to enter the
sweepstakes before
November 14. |
| In the Future, This Headline Will be Funny |
| August 6, 2008 at 11:30am |
If only Coach had started H. G. Wells
at quarterback in 1982, they would have won state for sure.
H.G. Wells said it best; "Looking at these
stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all the gravities of
terrestrial life. I thought of their unfathomable distance, and the
slow inevitable drift of their movements out of the unknown past
into the unknown future."
We have no idea what that means, but it makes us look smart to quote
H.G. Wells. We also know that he wrote a book about a time machine,
and we thought of him when we heard that the classic time-travel game
Chrono Trigger
was
making a comeback
to DS in December.
This
had
us waxing nostalgic about the good-old days, way back in 1995, when
Chrono Trigger was on Super Nintendo, and when Billy Ray
Cyrus was only known for singing Achy, Breaky Heart. Because
Chrono Trigger on SNES is the best game ever: past, present
or future, the time-traveling
hero in Wells' The Time Machine should have set the dial for 1995, instead of setting
off 800,000 years into the future to a dark and dying Earth. He
surely would have had more fun fighting imps and evil magician warlords
in the digital realm than defending himself from psychotic mole people.
However, the faraway future of the winter 2008 looks promising with
the new version on the way.
If we had a time machine, we'd set it for 1982 and tell Coach to put
in Uncle Rico at quarterback, then we'd go to 1985 to
meet up with up Marty McFly, and then we'd all zoom on up to December 2008 to get our
hands on a copy of Chrono Trigger for DS.
Thankfully, we won't need to generate 1.21 gigawatts of power in
order to get Chrono Trigger, but we will have to wait a few more
months. We like to think of it as real-time time travel. Every day,
we travel another day into the future, and every day we get another
day closer to Chrono Trigger. In the meantime, we'll just
have to settle for reserving a copy
here. |
| Our Weekly Roundup of What's Hot in
the Gaming World |
| August 4, 2008 at 5:30pm |
We're bringing you the latest fashions
in gaming.
Welcome to a new weekly feature in the blog,
in which we'll attempt to round up the latest buzz on new releases,
bonus items or breaking announcements. As the picture on the right
should indicate, this will be a high-class effort, representing our
tireless efforts to help keep you on top of the hottest trends in
the industry.
Let the Games Begin: The opening ceremonies for
the Summer Olympics kick off in Beijing this Friday. You can try
your hand at some actual events with a copy of
Beijing 2008,
available for
Xbox 360,
PS3 and
PC. We even have a PC version
available for download,
if you'd like to get your hands on it right
now. It's a lot easier than traveling to Beijing, which, according
to our sources, is nestled somewhere deep in the Piney Woods of East Texas.
We didn't think it was possible to be too hot, but: We don't
know about you, but it's been so hot lately, that when we walk
outside we immediately start crying, which makes our mascara run and
makes our Chihuahua start howling because it thinks we're releasing
a new single. Take our advice and stay inside until it cools down to
112 or so. Beat the heat by relaxing indoors with an iced Chai Tea,
or is it Tai Chi? We know one's a drink and one's a martial art.
Anyway, get a glass of one of them and take it easy with
Puzzler Collection for DS, a collection of crosswords, sudoku and
more. We like puzzles with less than 20 pieces, preferably with
pictures of unicorns.
Spend some time with the 101st Airborne: If we had a nickel for every time we did that,
we could get some new Prada purses. The popular Brothers in Arms
franchise is finally coming to Wii, with Brothers in Arms: Double
Time. Sergeant Matt Baker and the 101st Airborne paratroopers invade Normandy,
and your Wii, September 23.
Don't get phooled: A phishing scam is making the rounds on Xbox Live. The message reads "M2AF everybody go to loginxbox.tk I just got 1600 MS points Hurry though!! I think it is a limited time offer."
If you're seduced by the lure of phree points and you enter your login information,
the message is replicated to everyone on your friends list. Never
give out your login information, no matter how phabulous it sounds.
And if you have, you should change your password now or sooner.
Well, that wraps it up for now. We have some high-tone Hollywood parties to attend. Check back next week for another update. |
| Join the Fungi and
Enter the Mushroom Men Sweepstakes |
| August 1, 2008 at 5:11pm |
Can you spot the sentient mushroom
here?
If you've ever watched an epic sci-fi adventure movie and thought to
yourself, "Dude, this would be a lot cooler if the actors were
mushrooms," then first, we're a little worried about you and second,
you'll be able to play out that scenario with
Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi
for DS and
Mushroom Men: The
Spore Wars for Wii.
Do you know why the mushroom always gets invited to
parties? Because he's such a fungi.
You can be a fun guy when you enter the
Mushroom Men Sweepstakes
for a chance to win a trip for two on Jam Cruise 7, which will allow
you to see live bands, featuring Les Claypool, as well as
visit Belize and Costa Maya, Mexico. The official rules are here.
The Mushroom Men adventure begins when a comet crashes into Earth,
making mushrooms sentient, or self-aware. We had to look that one up
because we thought being sentient meant that the mushrooms became
aware of their own smells. But that would probably be "scentient," or
something like that. The result opens up a tiny world where everyday,
discarded
objects can become weapons and where normally small, non-threatening
critters
become foul creatures of death with nasty, big, pointy teeth.
Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi ships October 14 for
DS, and Mushroom Men: The
Spore Wars ships November 11 for
Wii. Check 'em out, and make sure you enter the
Mushroom Men Sweepstakes before October 10. |
|