Not only have we recently evolved from riding horses everywhere to driving cars, we actually have a good number of videogame developers in the area, such as id Software, 3D Realms, and Gearbox Software. So when Editor-in-Chief Nick Chester asked me to represent Destructoid at Gearbox Software's "Victory Party" Friday night, I felt it was my duty to represent the southern population of the industry.

The "Victory Party" was held in Dallas, Texas to celebrate the release of Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC) and Samba de Amigo (Wii), both of which come out on September 23. I was told I could bring one guest along, so before the party I picked up fellow Dallas community member Blehman, and we headed over to the Palladium Ballroom where the event was taking place.

It's time to page through the weekly retail adds to uncover a few special Xbox 360 deals. And just in case you forgot, all Xbox 360 consoles have seen a price cut where Arcades are $199, 60GB Pros are $299 and 120GB Elites are $399. If you're going to take advantage of the new price cut, we advise heading over to Circuit City where they'll toss in a free 1600 Microsoft point card with any console purchase. They're also selling GRAW2, Saints Row and Dead Rising for $15 and giving away a free tshirt and $10 gift card with the purchase of Force Unleashed. Sadly, neither Best Buy or Target have any 360 deals worth mentioning. Then again, who needs 'em anyway? Happy spending!

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The Xbox 360 with a 60GB hard disk with sells for $299, down from $349. And the Xbox 360 Elite with a 120 GB hard disk will sell for $399, down from $449.Nintendo's Wii is priced at $249, while Sony's 80GB PlayStation 3 is $399.

Microsoft lowered prices of Xbox 360 just a day after it cut prices by 30 percent for the Xbox in Japan.

As of July 1, Electronic Art’s Nintendo sold 10.9 million units in the United States alone, according to the NPD group.

Sony's PlayStation 3 was the second favorite, with estimates of between 9.5 million and 11.5 million units to be sold both in the United States and Europe by the end of the year.

Sony, however, has sold more than 12.85 million PlayStation 3 units worldwide since its 2006 debut.

The Xbox was in last place in EA's predictions, expected to sell between six and eight million units in the United States this year.

References:

http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61698

In here somewhere - a new mini-competition for the new N+ XBLA pack, custom Bangai-O DS levels from pro designers, new official Amiga emulation packs, Jeff Green's game journalism departure (aw!), geeked-out collector things, and much more.

Things to do:

N+ Level Pack Contesque: Part the Second | metablog
Another gigantic N+ XBLA level update coming, yay. I'm boycotting this competition because there's no level in this pack named after me this time, of course.

IGN: Bangai-O Spirits Elite Design Contest
'D3Publisher tapped select videogame industry luminaries and invited them to craft exclusive game levels using the level editing tools in D3Publisher's latest Nintendo DS system game, Bangai-O Spirits.' Neat idea.

...on pampers, programming & pitching manure: The OTHER consoles.
'I'm not suggesting that everyone run out and write games for the Leapster. I don't think the market's there to sustain that many titles. I do think, however, that we could all benefit from having slightly wider peripheral vision.'

News from the the other side: A PR person posts on Shoe's blog - Quarter To Three Forums
The QT3 folks are razorsharp, and many of them on both sides of the biz, thus this discussion is fascinating.

Hit Self-Destruct: Other Things
On Jeff Green's departure to EA's The Sims franchise - further illustration that consumer game journalism is collapsing as a career (but game writing is more vibrant than ever, oddly enough).

Cloanto Releases Amiga Forever 2008 "RP2"
Good to see from a preservation perspective: 'Cloanto released this week Amiga Forever 2008 "RP2", the latest version of the award-winning Amiga preservation, emulation and support suite for Windows and other platforms, and a first batch of 10 games in the new RP2 format.'

Xbox 360 defects: an inside history of Microsoft’s video game console woes » VentureBeat
Excellent longform Takahashi piece.

Kotaku: Why 7-Eleven Suddenly Loves Gamers
Bizarre, pre-ordering top games at your local convenience store?

YouTube - transparentjinjo's Videos
Some pretty interesting Rare prototypes here, including Sabreman Stampede for Xbox 360.

Sealed Sega Dreamcast dev 50 Blank GDROM HKD-06 - eBay (item 190248866984 end time Sep-08-08 20:08:30 PDT)
For all your, uhh, GD-ROM burning needs.

In an interview with BusinessWeek, Microsoft’s Don Mattick admitted his company has realistic goals in terms of catching Nintendo this round.

Quite simply, that it won’t.

Even Microsoft’s top Xbox boss acknowledges the company is unlikely to catch up to Nintendo. “I’m not at a point where I can say we’re going to beat Nintendo,” says Don Mattrick, senior vice-president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. Indeed, Nintendo is likely to run away with the lead in the current generation of console gaming, leaving Microsoft and Sony to battle for second place. Microsoft’s lead over Sony, coupled with the changes it’s bringing to the console, positions it to secure that spot, Mattrick says: “We will sell more consoles this generation than Sony.”

Faulty hardware aside, Microsoft had a good approach this generation. It hit the market a year early, established a strong games library with blockbuster exclusives and built the industry’s standard for online gaming services. Despite all this, Nintendo has breezed by Microsoft, and the company is losing ground to Sony, which has done as many things wrong this generation as Microsoft has done right.

Nintendo has sold 31 million Wii consoles worldwide. Microsoft follows with slightly more than 20 million 360 sales, and Sony trails with a steadily climbing 15 million PS3 sales, according to VG Chartz.

Developer Blazing Lizard has had Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball cooking for a while, and has cleverly exploited the Internet's memetic fascination with pirates and ninja to ensure that the game would get at least glancing coverage at regular intervals. 

Internet memes can only get a game so far (just look at Jeff Minter,) and now that this Gamecock-published title is available on Xbox Live Arcade, we can judge for ourselves if there is a solid game backing up the pop culture pandering. It's gotten some mileage out of its novelty value, but how is Pirates vs. Ninjas when put through its paces? Is it a bottle of rum or a bottle of piss? Is it a katana, or a Daikatana? Read on to find out, as we review Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball.

Developer Blazing Lizard has had Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball cooking for a while, and has cleverly exploited the Internet's memetic fascination with pirates and ninja to ensure that the game would get at least glancing coverage at regular intervals. 

Internet memes can only get a game so far (just look at Jeff Minter,) and now that this Gamecock-published title is available on Xbox Live Arcade, we can judge for ourselves if there is a solid game backing up the pop culture pandering. It's gotten some mileage out of its novelty value, but how is Pirates vs. Ninjas when put through its paces? Is it a bottle of rum or a bottle of piss? Is it a katana, or a Daikatana? Read on to find out, as we review Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball.

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