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Microsoft Game Studios corporate VP Phil Spencer echoed his concerns with 3D gaming to CNN. He believes the company is about the here and now, and thinks “people just don’t really have TVs in their house right now that are going to do 3D in a way that’s going to work.” “As a corporate mandate, I don’t need to sell you a new TV,” he continues. “A bunch of people sitting around the living room wearing $150 glasses — I’m just not sure that’s kind of mainstream today....

Those who have playedLeft 4 Dead 2‘s “Dark Carnival” campaign will likely know of The Midnight Riders. They are a fictional rock band that Ellis seems to be rather fond of, and the campaign’s finale involves the Survivors fighting on a stage set up for a Riders concert. It’s an incredible moment, and we’ve just discovereda brand new Web siteall about the band! All that’s been revealed so far is a picture of the band with the word “Coming Soon” written underneath....

Finally, the beacon of hope for the Nintendo hardcore speaks. In an interview withThe TelegraphthatGamePropicked up on, Shigeru Miyamoto touched on his affinity of more traditional games likeZeldaandMario. He also even brought up the fact that the Wii remote may be insufficient when it comes to slightly more complicated games. Making traditional games is what I am best at, because games of that nature take upwards of two or three years to make, we always have to keep the teams working on those projects....

Microsoft has been taking a page from theJosef Mengele Bumper Book of Researchand is nowracially profiling its customers. The Xbox 360 manufacturer claims that Hispanic people are “more concerned than the general population” with home entertainment products this holiday season. According to MS’ new Lebensunwertes Leben Division, 89% of Hispanics versus 64% of what Microsoft refers to as “real people” want a gift that “brings the family together.” Microsoft speculates that that this is because Hispanic families are rife with debt, deceit and abuse....

We’ve been seeing very vaguepicturesof Sony’s PS3 safari titleAfrikafor some time now, but they’ve never really bothered to explain the game in detail. And then, all of the sudden, they suddenly drop a Japanese release date on us. Sony Computer Entertainment and National Geographic team up to bringAfrikato the PS3 in Japan on August 28th. Players become a photographer/explorer, a member of an animal ecology research team who travels by foot, car, and air balloon to snap shots of the animals of Africa....

Activision has released some new screens for Treyarch’s upcoming first-person shooter,Call of Duty: World at War. The screens highlight two new gameplay areas not previously seen by the public, both of which I had a chance to see in a first-look demo last month at Treyarch’s studio. Both show off two unique styles of gameplay inWorld at War, one of which is a more “on rails” experience, the other a more typical sniper-heavy first-person shooter moment....

When I first saw the videos forGardening Mama, I was more or less convinced I was going to pass on it. While I have enjoyed theCooking Mamatitles, the gameplay offered is such light fare that I alwasy find myself getting bored with it after a few hours and never picking up the game again, and I suspectGardening Mamawould have the same effect on me. It’s what Nick Chester would call a toilet game — good to play on the can, but not quite engaging enough to play the rest of the time....

No, Sega’s Dreamcast is not coming back. It’s gone for good, as far as Sega is concerned. But there’s a lingering fondness in gamers’ hearts for the little white box. That’s why retro game stores still stock Dreamcast games and accessories…and if you’re lucky, working systems. Forget the used crap, though.ThinkGeek has new Dreamcast systems, in the box, ready for the $99 of yours that you probably can’t afford to be spending but will anyway....

There was a lot of buzz about Nintendo’sweird new foot/exercise peripheralduring this year’s E3, but we haven’t heard much about Wii Fit since then. Now,Famitsu’s Express Bloggives us a Japanese release date and price, straight from the Fall 2007 Nintendo Conference in Japan. Just in time for the Holidays, Japan gets the Wii Fit bundle (game and board controller included) on December 1st, for the price of 8,800 yen (just over $75)....

If anew trademarkis to be seen at face value, Nintendo has taken the misunderstood notion of casual gaming to its natural conclusion and is working on software that allows you to do absolutelynothingin the name of fun.WiiRelaxexists as just a name right now, but I think we all know Nintendo well enough to know that it is likely to be a genuine thing. As far as I could speculate,WiiRelaxwould basically include a cushion peripheral that you stick the Wiimote in, then you lay on the cushion and have a little sleep....

It’s not a matter of “if” but “when” — there’s a newCall of Dutygame coming out this year, make no mistake about it. According to a teaser in the latest issue ofOfficial PlayStation MagazineUK, we’ll find out more next month, prior to E3. The magazine teases an exclusive reveal of the title in its next issue, which is said to hit newsstands on May 17. Outside of the fact that the game will feature at least one grenade, that’s all of the information we have right now....

I’ve only had about three chances to playPataponat industry events over the past few months, and all three of those times I’ve found myself totally entranced by the game. I think my fascination has something to do with the foul mouths of the Patapon tribe. They insult everything, insult each other, and even insult their god — which would be you, the player. The latest instance of entrancement was at CES 2008; I came upon a PSP with thePatapondemo running sometime in the afternoon, and the next thing I knew the convention center was closing down....

PAX 2007 was a veritable maelstrom of partying, gaming, schmoozing, pavement pounding, murder scene investigating, and sexual assault. The Destructoid crew represented at PAX in full force by booking the crooks that have been cooking the books, high fiving, swapping saliva, and inevitably, sharing blood test results. Considering all this, it’s amazing that I found the time to devote an entire hour to a single game. I had several enjoyable play experiences at PAX, but only one title compelled me to return to its booth each day of the conference, hungry to get a comprehensive review....