Exclusive Star Wars Xbox 360 Revealed at SDCC

As a Star Wars fan, I was uber-excited when I saw a image of an Xbox 360 painted to look like R2D2 and C-3PO online a few days ago. I figured it was a fan mod, but then an announcement appears on my Xbox dashboard and I nearly flipped! This special edition Xbox 360 will be bundled with the upcoming Star Wars Kinect game. In addition to the awesome design, it also includes the first white Kinect unit. The icing on the cake... it makes R2 sounds when powering up and opening the disc tray!

Check out the official announcement video after the jump if you want to see more details like the sounds, a great closeup of the C-3PO controller, and a few clips of the Star Wars Kinect game.

Mortal Kombat!!!

Update (26 Jan 2011): Don't mark your kalendar just yet. Game Informer just announced the release date as April 19. But looking at pre-order sites linked directly from the official Mortal Kombat site shows GameStop with an April 1 release date while Amazon shows it as April 26. So, I suspect it'll be April but what day exactly seems to be up in the air. Of course, my vote is to release it the 18th for a Mortal Monday and be done with it. I'll post once a date is 100% confirmed.

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If anything could make me break my self-imposed scholarly sabbatical from blogging it's Mortal Kombat. It looks like 2011 is going to be the year that this long-suffering franchise returns to the glorious (and gory) form that we'd expect. Back in June of last year, I posted this trailer for what was then tentatively titled Mortal Kombat 9. It seems as if the title is now just Mortal Kombat and reports are saying that it's a reboot of the entire series. I'm not sure if this means it's going back to the Enter the Dragon storyline of the first (one can only hope) but it does look bad-ass! Below are the latest trailer and a new gameplay video. The game is set for a release date of March 2011 on Xbox360 and Playstation 3.

Mortal Kombat 2011 Teaser Trailer:


Mortal Kombat Gameplay Footage:


And for PS3 Owners Only, an exclusive character...


And as if all the gameplay footage isn't enough, Geek Tyrant broke the news this morning that Warner Premiere is creating an online video series based on the short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth that I posted HERE.

Now, they just need to set the official release date to a Mortal Monday so I can count down the days to when I need to stay home and tell everyone to bugger off while I memorize fatalities.

MORTAL KOMBAT!!!!!!!!!

Mortal Kombat 9 Trailer from E3

Today, we get our first glimpse of where Midway is taking the Mortal Kombat franchise and it looks good!

The last Mortal Kombat game (vs DC Universe) was a great game but many fans didn't care for the neutered version of fatalities and finishing moves. It looks like Midway took that same 2.5D approach to the gameplay as MK vs DC but ramped it back up to full-on Mortal Kombat brutality. And it's goooood! Combined with the reimagined movie that may be on the way and this... it looks like Mortal Kombat may be on the comeback trail.

The game is due in March 2011.

Visit the official Mortal Kombat website.

Mortal Kombat Returns with a Vengeance

I just came across this video on Kotaku of what appears to be either a new Mortal Kombat movie or game but, as of now, nobody is sure exactly what it is. Whatever it is, it is made of pure frakkin' awesome!

It features Michael Jai White as Jax, Jerri Ryan as Sonya and some all-out homicidal killers! This is exactly what Mortal Kombat should be when and if it ever returns to the big screen. Anybody have any idea where this video came from?



Read the original story on Kotaku.

Wil Wheaton Does Gaga with Bonus: Felicia Day

This is a video of Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day doing Rock Band to Lady Gaga's Pokerface at this year's Phoenix ComicCon! Need I say more? Enjoy!

Help Resurrect Ecto Cooler

As a kid in the '80s, it was my goal to be a Ghostbuster when I grew up. I rushed home every day after school, tossed my bookback in a pile and rushed to plop my rear on a beanbag to watch The Real Ghostbusters cartoon. After the cartoon was over, I headed to Ghosbusters HQ (a shed in my yard with a hand painted Ghostbusters logo nailed above the door) to hang with friends, stop ghosts and sip Hi-C's Ecto Cooler.

Ecto Cooler was this awesome orange/tangerine drink made by Hi-C with that loveable little spud Slimer on the box. And, best of all to me as a kid, it was green!

Well. Time has moved on. I didn't grow up to be a Ghostbuster. Instead, I'm a father, blogger and geek which I've come to realize is just as cool...except I don't get to lug around an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on my back. Now I want to share those childhood loves with my kids. I have access to my DVDs of the original 2 Ghostbusters films and the original run of the Ghostbusters cartoon. But, sadly, there is no longer a way to get Ecto Cooler. Coca Cola (the makers of Minute Maid and Hi-C) let their license expire some time around 1997 and Slimer was taken off the box. This was a good 6 years after the Ghostbusters cartoon had ended I might add. But Ecto Cooler proved so popular, it was still made sans Slimer until 2001 when the name was changed to Orange Tangergreen. Shortly after this, the green coloring was dropped. Then, in 2006, the name was changed again to Crazy Citrus Cooler. Finally, in 2007, this drink too was discontinued and Ecto Cooler vanished altogether.

Now we fast-forward to the year 2009. It's the 25th anniversary of the original Ghostbusters film. Atari is releasing a much anticipated Ghostbusters video game written by and starring the original writers and cast. There are rumors flying of a Ghostbusters 3 film coming in 2012. What better time to revive Ecto Cooler for a new generation of Ghostbusters fans?

So I have started a grassroots campaign to get my beloved childhood beverage back on the shelves. If you're a fan of Ghostbusters and remember Ecto Cooler or if you're just someone who would like to help this old geek bring back a childhood memory, please click the link below and contact Minute Maid (the branch of Coca Cola, inc. that makes Hi-C) and ask them to bring back Ecto Cooler.

Then Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Fark, e-mail (links for many of these are conveniently supplied in that little button at the bottom of this post) and whatever else you have a link to this page to anyone who might be interested. Spread the word!

Contact Minute Maid here and demand your Ecto Cooler!

Update (05/14/09): While preparing to start a petition to bring back Ecto Cooler, I came across this petition already started. So sign that too while you're at it. Once it gets 10,000 signatures, it'll be sent to Minute Maid.

Slime Your Game System!

Some weeks ago, Amazon announced a special Slimer Edition of the upcoming Ghostbusters video game. It comes with a lot of goodies but the one that stood out for me was the graphics to put on the side of my Xbox360. However, the Slimer Edition is a bit out of my price range. So imagine my joy when I found out that GamerGraffix was going to release a series of game system skins for not only my Xbox360, but also Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii. Not to mention the series of wall graphics available soon. I will definitely be skinning my Xbox360 with the Slimer skin while playing the upcoming Ghostbusters game coming June 16.



Skins are high-quality, graphic designs made of proprietary materials that are easily peeled and readily applied to videogame consoles and other electronic devices using a specially-formulated adhesive. Skins undergo a high-resolution printing and patented doming process to produce sharp and colorful designs that are flexible, washable and have a thickness of 35 Mils. Gamer Graffix's unique adhesive enables consumers to remove the Skin without voiding the manufacturer warranty of gaming consoles or other electronic devices.

Xbox 360 NXE Review

The Xbox 360 has been around for a few years now and has had a good run of it. It beat the Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii to the market by a good year and has been going strong since. (It’s my favorite console thus far…and I’ve had ‘em all!)

With Xbox going so strong and no new console on the horizon, I was rather shocked that Microsoft would offer a complete overhaul of the Xbox 360 firmware for free via the Xbox Live service. This update, released this past November 19^th is called the “New Xbox Experience” (or NXE for all you hipsters with your acronyms) and offers updates on the old system and a handful of new features.

Let’s discuss.

Updated Features

The Dashboard in General
Gone is the blade system Xbox 360 owners have grown to know and love. It’s been replaced with a navigation system that I can only describe as “iPod-like”. This isn’t a bad thing. I love the iTunes 3D album flipping and the new NXE navigation is exactly like that. It’s a little disorienting at first, having grown accustomed to the blades, but I rapidly got the hang of it.

The basic layout is an up/down menu in the top left of the screen listing the main areas of the Xbox. As you scroll through these, the 3D images change accordingly and you use right/left to select whatever it is you’re looking for. The areas available are:

Spotlight: This is what opens whenever you turn on your 360 and is basically a nice little cross section of updates from al the other categories. My only protest to this area is that you can’t select anything other than this to be your default screen upon powering up. I’d much rather just hop to…

My Xbox: This is where you’ll spend more of your time. It allows you to select from your games, XBLA, your profile, media and system settings.

Video Marketplace: This is exactly what it sounds like. You’re able to view videos that are available on XBL (including the amazing and hilarious web series The Guild…which is bloody FREE for download! Go get it!). Sorry got sidetracked. You can also view videos from your HDD and access the new Netflix feature which I’ll discuss below under “new features”.

Game Marketplace: Again, this is what we’ve come to know from XBL. You’re able to browse XBLA games, demos, game videos and the like and download them to your hard drive. Simple enough.

Inside Xbox: Here you’re linked into Microsoft’s shows like Major Nelson’s Minute and such as well as 360 video previews and movie trailers. The nice thing added here is that you can now browse the archive of past showings. Miss that IGN Insider covering getting the easy achievements? Just hit X and you’re able to browse through all the old shows and watch whatever you like. Keen!

Events: This is a link to upcoming XBL events including Game with Fame, Gamerchix and Family Playnights among others. I haven’t used this at all yet. And lastly but definitely note leastly…

Friends: Shows all your XBL friends and their avatars. If they’re online, they’re awake and waving at you. If not, they’re snoozing. Cool enough and easy to find what you’re looking for.

Shortcut Menu
The last bit of navigation update is the simple shortcut menu accessible by hitting the Xbox button on your controller. This one harkens back to the previous blade design. You just flip left and right to find whatever you’re looking for. You’re able to access games, profiles, themes, active downloads, friends, parties…you name it. Best of all, it can be done while playing a game! Simple and effective.

Themes
Yes. You can use your old themes on the new NXE. However, all the cool themes you had with multiple images are all but useless since you’ll only see one image most of the time. The extra images are only seen in certain instances where you are looking at video marketplace or settings and the like. Yeah. Kinda lame but the new premium themes are sweet…check out the info below under “new features”.

Alright…now onward to the…

New Features

Avatars
This is the one everyone was waiting for and talking about. Sure. It’s a total and blatant rip-off of Nintendo’s Miis from the Wii console but amped up full on Xbox style. As opposed to the Wii, you’re able to customize your Xbox avatar to a crazy degree. You can change not only the look of the character all the way down to what kind of mole you may have on your face (which I wouldn’t suggest advertising to the world) but you have a full wardrobe at your fingertips. There’s enough here to get everyone started no matter your style.

My first thought was that it would be easy to get updates to the wardrobe via XBL Marketplace and I was certain that Microsoft would have us trade XBL points for them. I was proven wrong thus far when a new “winter” wardrobe update was released last week for free.

My only suggestion here would be game specific t-shirts and/or costumes. How cool would it be to have a H.E.V. suit from Half Life 2? One can wish.

Parties
This is a cool feature accessible from either the “friends” tab or the Xbox shortcut menu that allows you to link up with your friends and hop from game together without any slowdown or to simply chat when you’re not playing the same game. I haven’t used this much yet since my multi-player experience is usually limited to playing Uno on XBLA.

Premium Themes
As mentioned above, these new “premium” themes are actually really cool and will, in time, replace the traditional “wallpaper” type themes were used to. These themes change more than just the background. This is most noticed on the “friends” tab. Normally, you’d see your friends avatars standing next to a pile of Xbox regalia. However, install a premium theme, and all changes. For example, the “Castle Crashers” theme now has your friends standing next to game graphics like trees, barns and the like. Very cool effect.

Netflix
The Video Marketplace has added the ability to view Netflix films via your Xbox (assuming you’re a Netflix subscriber of course). This is a cool feature but not one I’ve used yet since I haven’t used Netflix in over a year. I may review this feature in full on a later date but for now, the gist is that all those films you were able to watch instantly on your PC are now available to watch right on your television. See? Cool if you have Netflix. No more waiting on discs or paying XBL points to rent a movie! Huzzah!

Full Game Installs
This feature allows you to install games directly to your HDD. I thought it was an awesome idea until I realized that you still had to have the original game disc in the drive for it to work. (Which makes sense as it would be a game-pirate paradise otherwise.) The objective is to reduce load times with games. I installed Elder Scrolls IV and didn’t notice that much of a difference. There are a few seconds differences here and there but not worth wasting HDD space for. This isn’t something that I’ll probably ever use.

That’s it folks! The New Xbox Experience in a nutshell!

Final Thoughts
Yes. The NXE rips off both Apple and Nintendo. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. It makes for a unique experience that I am very pleased with and one that I’m glad I didn’t have to wait for the next gen Xbox to hit to get. It’s functional, elegant and simple and a huge step above the previous Xbox OS. In the end, it’s well worth getting and, if you’re planning on using XBL, it’s not an option anyway. You have to get it to connect. So…I’m off to play.

See you online!

New Ghostbusters the Video Game Trailer!

Alright!

Ghostbusters the Video Game finally has an official release date of June 2009!

...and the new trailer is up! OMG! This look so amazing!



I want this so bad that I am currently working feverishly in the lab and searching e-Bay for a DeLorean. Dr. Brown, if you read this, Twitter me!

Mario Kart Love Song

If you have a geek girl in your life, play this for her. It'll melt her heart. I promise. Frickin' brilliant!



Having a sweet 'stache wouldn't hurt either.

Ghostbusters Picked Up by Atari

I just read that Ghostbusters: The Video Game that was due out last October and delayed because of an Activision buyout was picked up by gaming giant Atari for distribution.

The new rumor is that the game will come out sometime during the summer of 2009 with the 25th anniversary of the original film.

The footage that's floating around online of the game looks amazing and I, for one, can't wait to do some bustin'!

For those unfamiliar with the game, the gist is this. It's based on a story written by original writers Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis. The voices of the original Ghostbusters cast have returned to voice the game. It's essentially Ghostbusters 3 as the story takes place after the second film.

Here's a cool gameplay video for your viewing enjoyment...