Laser Sharks

Mountain Dew will release a special edition Halo 3-themed soft drink called Game Fuel on August 13.  The citrus and cherry flavored beverage will  be in stores for twelve weeks.  Both the box and the can willl feature Halo-themed art.  The drink will come in both a 12 oz can and 20 oz bottle.

It is rumored that limited edition Mountain Dew will offer chances to win an RC Warthog, a replica energy sword, and a car.  Other sponsors such as Buger King, Pontiac, and 7-11 will be in on the action as well.

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Pro-G is reporting a rumor that the new WoW expansion pack will be called World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.  The rumor is based on a listing on USK, a German ratings board similar to the ESRB.  USK lists the title as an “add-on” and indicates that it will be shown in the Games Convention in Germany later this month.

Despite no official confirmation, the expansion is rumored to take place in the icy Northrend world.

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Sony has filled patent 20070174531 which details how a controller could be used with a PSP.  The patent details a “wired or wireless” link to connect the controller to the PSP, which suggestd that either the DualShock or Sixaxis controller could be used.  In addition, “the portable processing unit can be configured to provide additional functions, features, or enhanced operation when coupled to the control docking unit.”  Is seems Sony may finally start to be catching up with their scorned mod community.  A patent is no guarantee that the final product will ever be released, but it is at least a step in the right direction for Sony.

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Microsoft executive Andre Vrignaud made some bold predictions about the future of the PS3 this fall.  His main prediction is that Sony will release a new “low-end” SKU with key features such as Wi-Fi and backwards compatability removed.

“The old 60 GB SKU is being cleared out for $499 as quickly as possible - as you might recall, this was the supposed “price cut” that Sony announced. In reality, once supplies are gone in the next couple of months it’ll be gone forever. However, that doesn’t leave Sony in a good place. A single, $599 SKU would be untenable; if they don’t move significant hardware this holiday they’ll basically be dead for this generation.

My prediction is that you’re going to see the creation of a new, low-end SKU this holiday. It’ll likely remove integrated WiFi, memory card reader, and most controversially, all backward compatibility. (Remember, there’s still some back-compat hardware in even the new “software only” back compat SKUs; removing the remaining CPU is a significant cost savings.) You’ll see a new WiFi dongle made available. And finally, this low-end SKU will likely come with a smaller 40 GB hard drive. The low-end price will be set at $399, with the higher-end 80 GB SKU dropping to $499.

So there you go - nothing magic about the current value SKU. It’s just a classic retail technique of clearing the channel for new SKUs. Now we just need to wait a few months for the announcement - it’ll have to be before Thanksgiving, so I’d expect October.”

  

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 According to this article on 360 Gamer, Germany’s USK Board, a group similar to the US’s ESRB, has rated a demo version of Bioshock but not the final game.  The demo has not been cleared for minors.  Bioshock is due to release on August 24, so this could mean that a Bioshock demo will appear on Xbox Live in the next few weeks. 

This is just a rumor and has not been substantiated, but it should be great news for games wanting to get their hands on the highly anticipated game from 2K Games and Irrational.

Below is a screenshot for the last five games rated by Germany’s USK.  It is a  Google-translated German-to-English screenshot of the USK website.  Bioshock is listed as Biosquat.  For the original German site, click here.

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Rumor Alert
Signs seem to point to the long-rumored Wii Duck Hunt being released soon.    First the Wii Zapper was announced at E3.  Second, and probably more important, is Gamestop/EB’s listing of compatible games for the Wii Blaster, a third-party alternative to the Wii Zapper.  Under the “Expanded Information” section of the Wii blaster, Gamestop lists the following:

Perfectly Compatible with:

1. Nintendo Duck Hunt
2. Nintendo Wii Play
3. Destination Chicken Shoot
4. Capcom Resident Evil 4
5. Nintendo Metroid Prime 3
6. UbiSoft Brothers in Arms
7. Sega Ghost Squad
8. Capcom Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicals

The top listed compatible game is Nintendo Duck Hunt.  Although other games on the list have not been released, they have been announced and have an expected release date.  If the Duck Hunt title fits into the timeline of the other releases then it should be released no later than November.  This is good news for any hopeful Nintendo fans looking for an updated Duck Hunt title as well as the classic version of the game.

 Thanks to WiiNintendo.net for the heads up.

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Silicon Knights has decided to sue Epic for misrepresentation involving its licensing of Unreal Engine 3. Considering Too Human was originally slated for the first Playstation, I can’t help but wonder if Silicon Knights knows what it’s doing anymore. Maybe it’s because the game Too Human hasn’t been met with any amazing press lately. Maybe it’s because its release has been pushed back yet again. Maybe it’s because of the game’s so-so graphics. Or maybe Epic really does license a watered-down and incomplete version of its Unreal Engine 3.

The lawsuit is still in its early stages, and none of the accusations have any substantiation, so we’ll just have to sit back and wait to see the outcome. If you’re interested in seeing the full press release go here.

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The Tribble Ad Agency is reporting that Blizzard has entered into talks with a “major movie company.”  Blizzard is rumored to be discussing plans for a movie based on their popular StarCraft franchise.  This is an unconfirmed rumor but it is reported that the movie would release ’somewhere late 2008 or early 2009… if everything goes right.’ 

Stay tuned to Laser Sharks or check out our movie news blogging friend over at Common Review to keep up with the details on a possible StarCraft movie.

Link to Orginal Story

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One of the weak points of the Xbox 360 is the current headset used to communicate over Xbox Live, which Microsoft cleverly calls the Xbox Live Communicator. The adaptor does not connect very well to the controller and as a result will often cause crackling if bumped even slightly. Furthermore, it has a severe problem with shorting out. Although my original launch day console has never given me any problems, I am on my sixth Xbox Live Communicator for the Xbox 360 -four wired, two wireless. My first three wired headset all shorted out despite me being very careful with all of my console accessories. The two wireless ones were ok, but the voice quality was lower overall and they both had a bad problem of randomly dropping the connection. My current communicator has been going strong for about a year and hopefully will continue this in the future. I guess problems with the headset should be expected from a console that has a 33% failure rate.

Microsoft is releasing its new Xbox 360 Chatpad on September 4th with a price of $29.99 (Thanks to Lorenzo from www.commonreview.com for the heads up on this). Quoted from Xbox.com:

Messenger Kit includes the Xbox 360 Wired Headset for the ultimate communication bundle.

The reason that the folks at Microsoft have lovingly included a headset is because the current headset connector does not fit the chatpad.

The single port (same connector as the one coming out of the puck on the original Xbox) will form a snugger connection between the headset and the controller. It is rumored that the new headset will feature in-line volume and mute controls and will replaced the current headset connector. Check back with Laser Sharks for more info on this in the future.

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There have been doubts as to the nature of this post.  The main criticism is that it was a prototype image.  Here are some more pictures:

       

  

Note: Laser Sharks will be temporarily hosted at www.commonreview.com/lasersharks .  The popularity of the site as made this move necessary.  Thanks for your patience during the move.  Hopefully, this will only be until Friday, on which the site will return to www.lasersharks.com.  Thanks to Lorenzo at www.commonreview.com for the temporary hosting.

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