You may have heard by now of the rumors surrounding Microsoft’s new motion device codenamed Natal.  Rumors afoot claim that the device’s final retail name will be unveiled at E3 this June, but reputable sources are already saying that the name will likely be Microsoft Wave (snore).  For some reason Microsoft feels compelled to follow the Wii and Move’s formula and name their new peripheral something incredibly lame.  This is no coincidence.

You see, MCML (motion control marketing law) states that “all motion devices and games that make use of motion control must be single syllable non-creative basic sight words that could easily appear on a second-grade spelling test.”

Naturally, this inspired me to think of some other names for Natal that I think would work equally as well—but I’ll let you use your imagination there.

Why even change the name that we have all grown familiar with over the past few years at all?  Natal sounds fine to me… Oh, it’s to get suckers like me talking about it, isn’t it?

Damn you Microsoft!

And it’s about freeking time.  The game that defined my early-teen years is finally playable on my favorite white console thanks to Xbox Live.  The Xbox version includes an all-new episode with 9-levels called “No Rest for the Living,” enhanced graphics and 4-player co-op.  Here’s hoping it’s as awesome as I remember it!

Game description from Microsoft:

“To save Earth, you must descend into the stygian depths of hell. Battle nastier, deadlier demons and monsters with your trusty Super Shotgun. Survive more mind-blowing explosions and take part in the bloodiest, fiercest, most awesome blastfest ever. Recruit your friends and plow through 9 all-new levels in the new episode, No Rest for the Living! Play solo or multiplayer over Xbox LIVE with up to 4 players. DOOM II for XBLA includes split screen co-op over Xbox LIVE, Game clips, 5.1 Surround Sound, enhanced graphics, and HD display support.”

French gaming magazine “Amusement” posts some pretty interesting stuff on occasion.  These buildings shaped like our favorite consoles are no exception:

Obviously, they’re not real; but they are certainly awesome.  This spread is part of the series entitled, “If I were President” by these guys: 

Photography : Joseph Ford
Artistic director : Mohamed Bareche
3D : Antoine Mairot
Retouching : François Brochenin @ Janvier

I wonder what the Xbox 360 would be like as a giant building.  I’m guessing that it would somewhere incorporate the famous blinking red lights and have cooling issues.

The last two weeks have been a serious drain to my savings account.  This got me thinking.  You see, I have to buy lots of games—my livelihood depends on it.  But for people who don’t make a living from playing games like me (don’t hate); I understand that certain gaming sacrifices must be made.  Games that, maybe you would like to play, sometimes have to get put on the back burner for awhile.  In the past 2-weeks alone, Lost Planet 2, Skate 3, 3-d Dot Game Heroes, Split Second, Alan Wake, Red Dead Redemption and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands have all hit store shelves.  And unless you had $400 extra dollars sitting around you are probably not playing all of these games right now.  Unfortunately, the ones you could not afford this week will most likely end up getting lost in the sea of new releases coming next week.  Super Mario Galaxy 2 for Wii drops in a few days.  And in the next week, Blur, UFC 2010, and ModNation Racers land on shelves.  The wallet punishment never ends!  What’s wrong with developers?  Why are they doing this to us, and themselves?

Besides our own personal gaming sacrifices, what about the developers?  How do you think “Attack of the Movies 3-D,” which also released yesterday, is going to fare?  At least Majesco was smart enough to release at a lower price point, but still, their share of the market for their choice of release dates can’t possibly be very much next to Rockstar’s and Remedy’s hype-machines.  Why would anyone choose to release next to Alan Wake—a game that has been puffed-up for 5-years?  C’mon!  They flood us with all of these titles at $60 apiece and then complain when games are being rented, purchased second-hand and pirated.  Developer reality check:  At $60 a pop in a bad economy, something’s not getting purchased—you have created these alternative markets that are undesirable to you because of your own shortsightedness.

So, what can everybody do?

For developers and publishers, a proactive solution would be to lower the prices of games sooner and with more frequency.  That way, you could compete and take a piece of the very large used game market.  Why is “Alien vs. Predator” still $59.99 in stores?  It was never worth $60!  Instead of it just sitting on shelves preying on uninformed consumers, why wouldn’t you drop the price to $30 and sell twice as many copies to twice as many people willing to take a chance at the lower price-point?  You guys need to react before the video game industry suffers all the way to the levels of the movie and music businesses.

For consumers, I would recommend doing exactly what you’re doing.  Keep renting and trading games.  You should do it while you can—just wait until the publisher’s war on the used game market really ramps-up—but that’s an issue for another time.  Be a smart consumer.  Buy used.  Save even more money by buying from Ebay and Craigslist.  Also, stop buying so much DLC (DLC is a gateway, it only encourages them).  Eventually the publishers will get the message that we don’t have unlimited resources like they do and lower prices.

Before I ramble on-and-on while up here on my soapbox—the point is that something needs to be done.  Games are still too expensive.  And besides your Call Of Duty’s and Halo’s, even developers have to be missing out on sales because of the weekly saturation.  What do you think?

Infinity Ward announced today that the second round of multiplayer maps is coming to your Xbox 360 on June 3rd (sorry PS3 and PC owners, you’ll have to wait a little longer... again).  Dubbed the “Resurgence Pack,” Xbox Live users will be able to download the pack-of-five-maps which will include a trio of brand new maps and two old favorites from the first Modern Warfare.  Returning faves include Vacant and Strike; and the three brand new maps, Fuel, Trailer Park and Carnival will supposedly offer something for everybody.  Trailer Park is a CQC playground, Fuel is a sniper’s paradise and Carnival has clowns and a Ferris wheel.

In celebration of the new Resurgence Pack, IW will also be hosting two Double XP weekends on Friday, May 28^th and again on Friday, June 4^th.

The Resurgence Pack will cost $15.  If you have also purchased the Stimulus Pack (and who hasn’t) you have now spent over $90 on Modern Warfare 2.  Congratulations!

Good morning, Freeks!  We’re guessing that by now you have checked your email to find our announcement of our sweet, new colors.  If you haven’t, go check it now.  We’ll wait.

Pretty cool, huh?  You totally want some of those Stealth FPS Freeks, don’t you?

At KontrolFreek we listen to our customers—if you say “jump,” we say “we’re too lazy for that; how about we make different colored FPS Freeks instead?”  And that’s exactly what we did!

Allow us to give you a rundown of what we’ve done.

First of all, the Classic White FPS Freeks and Speed Freeks are still available.  They’re the time-tested original.  They won’t be going away any time soon.  You’ll want these if the standard white Xbox 360 controller is your weapon of choice.

People who prefer PS3’s DualShock 3 or the black Xbox 360 controller will likely want to accessorize them with one of our new black combinations.

If faster lap times in racing games are what you’re after, you’ll need the Midnight Black Speek Freeks.

If shooters are more your thing, you can choose either Stealth (black) on Stealth or Gunmetal (gray) on Stealth for your FPS Freeks—your call—either way, you’ll be fragging in style!

In addition to these exciting new color options, we’ve also thrown together some money-saving Gamer’s Packs for you hardcore players.  You can now get your choice of three killer combinations.  You can order the Classic Speed Freeks and Classic FPS Freeks bundle, the Midnight Speed Freeks and Gunmetal on Stealth FPS Freeks bundle, or the Midnight Speed Freeks with Stealth on Stealth FPS Freeks bundle.  These Gamer’s Packs are for the gamer who needs precision no matter what they’re playing and want to look good doing it.

Oh yeah, and if you’re the kind of person who likes sweet deals, we’ve set-up a coupon code for you that will give you 10% off any purchase through the end of May.  So, don’t wait!  Go buy some already!  And stop by our forums to discuss our new colors and drop us some suggestions in our “New Product Ideas” forum.  We’re obviously listening.

Coupon Code:  KFMAYROCKS10

If you follow my blog (and I know you do), then you already know that I like free stuff.  So, any time I find a cool, free game like Space Paranoids, I like to share it with others.  Some people call me a Good Samaritan.  Some call me a hero.  Others don’t call me at all (mom, if you’re reading this, please call—I’m sorry I gave Mrs. Kittybottom “catnip”).

If Space Paranoids sounds familiar, you may have heard of it from Comic-Con last year or, possibly from the ‘80s (yes, the 1980s).  You see, Space Paranoids was the game created by Jeff Bridges in the movie Tron.  If you have never seen Tron, that’s okay.  Disney will make sure that you know all about it by the time Tron Legacy hits theaters later this year with more viral marketing like this.

Anyway, Space Paranoids is finally out and available for all-the-world to play.  The tank combat and vector graphics is a sweet bit of nostalgia for those of us who are either tech-savvy or old enough to remember.  There are 15-levels that increase in difficulty and supposedly a number of hidden goodies scattered throughout the mazes (though I can’t seem to find any).

Visit www.spaceparanoidsonline.com to play for free right now!