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This August, Activision is set to publish id Software and Raven Software’sWolfenstein. Last year, Electronic Arts announced that it had reached a publishing deal to publish id Software’s upcoming genre-bender,RAGE. Yesterday, dropping jaws to the ground andthrowing John Romero into a fit, Bethesda Softwork’s parent company, ZeniMax Media,announcedit had acquired id Software. So what does this mean forWolfensteinandRAGE? Well, absolutely nothing. According to Bethesda’s Pete Hines, existing agreements for those two games still stand; Wolfenstein will be published by Activision, and Electronic Arts will publish and market RAGE as planned....

Crysis 2is released on March 22, but if you’ve got a little time and even less scruples, you’re able to play it right now. With almost depressing inevitability, an entire developer build of the gamehas been leaked online, allowing PC gamers early, free access to Crytek’s latest eye-shagger.Killzone 3was also recently leaked. And this is why developers don’t give a sh*t about PC gamers anymore, folks. It’s become increasingly hard to sit back and say that videogame piracy isn’t as bad as people say when stuff like this happens....

At CES next week Asus and PrimeSense will show off their motion-sensing control device. Controller-free action comes to the PC. They’re calling it the WAVI Xtion. Rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it? The focus is a bit different than that of Microsoft’s Kinect. Less game-y. The interface, coming in Q2 2011, will allow for gesture-based control of your PC and media center in your living room. PrimeSense says that “users can browse multimedia content, access the Internet and social networks, and enjoy full body interaction in a more user-friendly and natural living room experience....

Anybody who wants to grind Activision’s nose in its own crap is a friend of mine, even if it has to be Atari. The newGhostbusterspublisher, by way of Infogrames president Phil Harrison, hasexpressed a desireto show Activision what it’s missed with the spurned Terminal Reality game by making it a success. Phil Harrison addressed Activision CEO Bobby Kotick’srather disgusting claimthat his company is only interested in games that could be “exploited” with yearly sequels and millions of dollars in revenue....

Aside from beingplayable at Lollapalooza this year,Singstar Amped’sAustralian track listing has been revealed byGamespot.Ampedis all about rock, but I use that term pretty lightly. It’s more like, “stuff your mother listened to when she was pregnant with you.” There’s a decent selection of 80’s crap, but a massive misgiving on Sony’s part. There is only one David Bowie song available. If I were drunk enough and lived in Melbourne, I believe I would venture to sing Soul Asylum’s “Runaway Train,” or Warrant’s “Cherry Pie....

Did you know that Criterion was working on a sequel to its respected PS2 FPSBlack? So says Stuart Black, the creative director to spiritual successorBodycount. Apparently,Black 2was in development shortly after the original game had been finished, but the game “bit the dust.” “I certainly did some preliminary pre-production work onBlack 2once we finishedBlack, the first three or four months,” reveals Black. “I moved on quite quickly after that. A lot of the guys on the team I’m working with here now carried on with that and did a lot of pre-production for about a year or so onBlack, before that kind of bit the dust....

There is a story currently popping up all over the Internet (sourcing a non-existent news story, supposedly run by Kansas news station, KCTV) about a Kansas teenager who supposedlystrangled his little sisterthanks to influences fromBioShock. Aside from the fact that it’s the most ridiculous story ever conceived, it has been confirmed by our very own Joe Burling (who made a quick and easy call to the KCTV news desk) to becompletely false....

Not all of us are as fortunate as Rob Summa. He has the Wii, he’ll be getting a PS3, he’s in the beta forThe Burning Crusade,and when he’s feeling down, doves fly in his window carrying handkerchiefs and girly magazines. Thankfully, for those of us who aren’t touched by an angel, like Rob, we have the slavish devotion of theWorld Of Warcraftfanbase to bring us things likethis threadover on World Of Raids....

Because that’s what the Wii needed, more games with “party” in the title. Clearly intrigued by the musical-stylings of Yubaba and itsgratisBig Bang Minisoundtrack, the folks atOffworlddecided to makeMySpace friendswith the composers. (They did the soundtrack forHorse Life 2, gaiz!!1!) And look what they found — a listing for one of their upcoming projects,Big Bang Partyfor the Wii. Developer Arkedo hasalready teased a Wii sequel, so it doesn’t come as much a surprise, but it’s a nice confirmation that’s actually happening....

Hate to say this, but Bungie,we already knewwhat the X button did inHalo 3. But, in case you were one of the many non-interestedHaloparties not paying attention, theHalofolks have now clearly defined it for everyone. FromBungie: You guys did see the final revelation of the mysterious X-Button. It’s what’s known (at the moment) asEquipment. The two very plain examples shown in the Vidoc were the Bubble Shield and the “Tripmine.” Both can be used in all manner of strategic and hilarious ways....

The Australian Christian Lobby is using the Oslo massacre to call for a ban on violent videogames in its home country, stating that the behavior of murderous idiotAnders Behring Breivikwas evidence that games are evil, due tosome logic. “The studied indifference of this killer to the suffering he was inflicting, his obvious dehumanizing of his victims and the evil methodical nature of the killings have all the marks of games scenarios,” said Lobby MD Jim Wallace....

Conduit 2developer High Voltage stands accused of attempting to “Amazonbomb” a man’s book in retaliation for a negativeConduit 2review. Michael T. Murdock calledConduit 2“appalling” and trashed the graphics, voice acting and story — even revealing a big spoiler to tear it apart. High Voltage took notice, and art director Matt Corso thought it would be fun if theConduit 2team looked up Murdock’s book,The Dragon Ruby, and provided a little criticism of their own via Amazon’s user review system....

Anyone who has ever been to a convention has seen things that don’t exactly reflect well upon us as aspecies. That makes it all the more impressive when a few dedicated people put time and effort into a costume that just lookscool. Here are a few pics snapped by one of our fabulous readers showcasing some of the better videogame related cosplay from San Diego Comic-Con.