I’m excited. In about a week, I’m headed to Grand Rapids, Michigan to seeDistant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy,a concert symphony event that commemorates the 20th anniversary of theFinal Fantasyseries in song. Conducted by Grammy award-winner Arnie Roth, this concert’s next date is April 14th, and composer Nobuo Uematsu will be there. Fellow game music nerd Colette Bennett and I are fully prepared togeek the f*ck outthere, hoping to calm ourselves in time to shake hands with the guy who wrote the chocobo theme!...

Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West is a western-themed third-person shooter with a multiplayer focus. Earlier this weekend,the first footageof the title hit the Web. This morning, we were greeted with supplementary screenshots of the game in action, as well as a reminder that the title will be shown at Gamescom in Cologne. As you can see from the screens,Lead and Goldhas style, but it’s not off the walls gorgeous....

With all the Ghostbusters excitement back up these days thanks to the release of the game, it was no surprise to us when we started to seeteasersfor possible Ghostbusters costumes inLittleBigPlanet. We’ve also seen some other pictures thatshow off all the characters, but todayPlaystation Blogconfirmed that the characters will be out in the US this week. As usual, you’re able to pick up the individual costumes for $1.99 each or the four costume pack for $5....

Luche Libre AAA: Heroes del Ringlooks like an amazing game. Centered around the traditional form of Mexican professional wrestling, it’s a fascinating look at a cultural phenomenon that seems to be really trying to stay true to its roots. Plus, it’s pretty damn fun. Unfortunately, folks who planned to purchaseLucha Libreon Wii will have to wait a bit longer to get their hands on it as the release for Nintendo’s console has been pushed back into November....

It’s been brought to our attention thatMachinarium, the game thatChad and I really liked while Anthony and Ashley did not, is now available for pre-order on Steam. (Protip: Chad and I are right, and I will capoeira knife fight Anthony into a volcano.) The full game will be available on October 16th for $19.99, but pre-ordering now will get you the game for only $14.99. There’s not much else to say, other than that I think $14....

Harmonix and Mad Catz are now buddying up. The accessory maker is now the principal peripheral partner for their Rock Band music game franchise. First Capcom’sStreet Fighterand nowRock Band? Damn, look at you, Mad Catz! Who would have thought the whole replacing ‘s’ with ‘z’ thing would get you this far? This means Mad Catz can produce and distributeRock Bandcontrollers now, worldwide. Mad Catz CEO Darren Richardson says that this means that they will “take on an even more integral role with theRock Bandfranchise....

It’s that time of the month again, when I plow through the NPD numbers and attempt to make sense of each of the big three’s press releases. Sony’s PlayStation 3 continues to have a good run, though they just barely lost the lead they had over the Xbox 360 for the past two months. The March NPD shows sales of 257,000 PS3s vs 262,000 Xbox 360s. Sony attributes this continued success to strong software sales....

If that fat wad of Christmas cash hasn’t been annihilated by the desire to devour every other seasonal Steam deal, perhaps this afternoon might do the trick. The officialSteam Web pagehas been updated, revealing a fresh set of price-slashed games to pick from for the next 24 hours. Sam & Max Completereceived the biggest mark. Once $59.99, the series is now available for$14.99.Portalis a mere $4.99 along with the originalMass Effect, whileDevil May Cry 4($22....

It’s that time of the year when publishers dress up elaborate marketing images and videos as friendly seasonal gestures, and who are we to resist? Sega has sent along its Christmas video packed full of footage from its 2009 library. WithHouse of the Dead: Overkill,Bayonetta,MadWorld,The Conduit,Sonic and the Black Knight,Total WarandSonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collectionall lined up, the company has quite a robust library of titles on offer next year. I’m looking forward to a number of these myself, not least the stuff coming from Platinum Games....

In what should not come as much of a surprise, Microsoft has reaffirmed its belief that Natal will be useful in everyday, tech-oriented life, not just for playing videogames. Speaking to executives in Columbia this week (talk about an all-time alibi), CEO Steve Ballmer praised the device for its abilities. “The technology actually is very general purpose, and we’ll see come into the rest of our lives pretty soon,” Ballmer said, after mentioning how Natal was, in his mind, “the most exciting product” the company will bring to market this year....

Apparently, Codemasters didn’t have room in its email to give us more than two screens with yesterday’s dev diary, and has provided three more pretty pictures forOverlordfans to gawp at. I don’t really mind, however, because I’ll grab any excuse I can to talk about the evil dictator simulator. The majority of the assets coming out so far revolve around “Nordberg,” a new snow-covered setting where The Overlord begins his adventure as a young “Overlad....

I think the DMR is my new favorite weapon inHalo: Reach. It’s a perfect blend of the Battle Rifle fromHalo 3and the sniper rifle. Oh, and yes, I wrecked the other team in this game of SWAT. I seriously think the other press folks were glad when I finally left the review event as I winning throughout the entire day. Good times! Check out Crazy King, more Juggernaut, Free-for-all, Rockets and Invasion below....

Last week’s rumor was that Microsoft’s new motion-sensing tech, codenamed Natal, would eventually be released with a whole new Microsoft gaming system. It was said that this new system could play new Natal-based games along with backwards Xbox 360 functionality. The analysts aren’t buying it, though. I believe the idea of an upgraded Xbox 360 that plays better looking and performing games is entirely speculative and unlikely at this stage,” Screen Digest’s Harding-Rolls toldEdge....