I wasn't sure we'd see big news come out of GamesCom or not, but it definitely seems like the gaming industry is taking the convention seriously. Sony used its presser there to announce the long, long, long-rumored PS3 officially, and you can see an unboxing of the new console above. The short version is that it's sleeker, small, more efficient and will cost $299, starting in September. Good stuff, Sony. I can't believe I'm considering getting a second PS3 now.
If you thought the Halo 3 "cat helmet" edition was excessive, then get ready for the (Call of Duty) Modern Warfare Prestige Edition. The video above details what you'll find in all three versions of Modern Warfare 2, but I'll skip right to the big gun: functional night vision goggles. Yikes. Bad images of gamers and the Paris Hilton sex tape are swirling in my mind.
So how much is the beast gonna cost? Who knows. The "Hardened Edition" is $80. A quick search of night vision goggles shows that they start at about $200. I don't think these goggles will be as full-featured as professional gear, but based on previous crazy releases like the Fallout 3 Pip-Boy Edition, Ghostbusters Slimer Edition and the aforementioned Halo cat helmet, I predict that this sucker clocks in at at $130. We shall see.
Typically, we like to do our own unboxing videos around these parts, but Microsoft's Major Nelson has his hands on the Xbox 360 Resident Evil bundle already and we don't. I'm strangely tempted to spring for this bundle, even though my 360 is (currently) working just fine and I don't really need an new one. But I've been considering a 120 gig hard drive for some time, and of course I do need Resident Evil 5 on day one. Take a look at the video and let us know how your willpower is holding up.
I have the flu, or a cold, or some such bullshit, deep into the phase where you spend all night flipping back and forth because one side of your nose gets too plugged up to bear (and enjoying that blissful 4-second migration of mucus when you can actually breathe), figuring out what over-the-counter cold meds work and which are little more than caffeine pills, and becoming such an expert in your own sputum you now recognize distinct differences in color, texture, and flavor in the same way a mother can distinguish sleeping twins.
So being mostly couchbound, I've been feeling my lack of a working Xbox especially acutely... so I'm at least a little pleased my 360's coffin has finally showed up. Yesterday I was wallowing in a sea of used Kleenex when I heard a knock on the door. "UPS!" the delivery guy called.
I dragged myself up and answered the door. He handed me a light box.
"Did you have an Xbox crap out on you?" he grinned.
"Yeah," I managed, trying my best to not sound all plugged up.
Well it’s finally here after years of work (and nearly as many years of hype): Spore, Will Wright’s latest opus lets you guide a fully customized creature from microbe to intergalactic navigator every step of the way. Today I picked up the $80 “Galactic Edition”, which is a full $30 more than the normal edition – one of the bigger markups among the special editions I’ve stripped so far. It also hails from EA (insert grumbling here), so the package is starting out with strikes against it… but I changed my tune when I really saw what I got for the money.
The Penny Arcade Expo doesn't start until this afternoon, but we've got exclusive behind the scenes shots of the setup now! I hope you enjoy them, ten good men died to bring you these shots.
As promised, I'm back with another "special edition" reveal, this time for Soul Calibur IV. I'm looking ahead at the release schedule and not sure what the next one would be - so if you have any suggestions, pass them along.
Click on through if you want to peer into the guts of this $80 package...
And I found another use for my Wii Fit Board, too!
Welcome to episode two of Unboxing Porn, where I dig into some more-expensive SKU of a new game. It's June 12th, so that makes Metal Gear Solid 4 Limited Edition the lucky title. I'm also very excited to unveil my new Unboxing Porn Minitable, the Wii Fit Balance Board. It works smashingly, you can expect to see it in every future Unboxing Porn post.
I’m not even that big a GTA fan – I’m the sort who does a few missions, loses interest, and then just drives around the city raising hell and seeing how long I can fend off the police – yet there I was last night, in line in front of a local game shop, waiting to get my hands on GTA4. I guess I just like the community aspect – lineup events remind me there’s an actual physical community out there; real people, not just semitransparent swearing poltergeists floating around on Xbox Live and PSN.
And oh what a community we are. Actually, I was surprised by how diverse the turnout was: all ages, all races, and a range of economic classes were represented – the only scarce demographic being, unsurprisingly, females. In the line of 75 or so people, I counted about 8 women – and two of those, interestingly enough, were moms there to purchase the game for their accompanying underage sons.
(By the way, that’s some fucking balls; when I was that age I didn’t even want my mom to pick me up at school. Not only were those kids able to bamboozle mommy into sitting in line with them for a couple hours on a Monday night to buy them an M-rated videogame, but they clearly didn’t give a shit if the whole rest of the line saw it.)
The other girls were wives and girlfriends along for the ride, the one right behind me so insanely stoned out of her mind (I’m sure I got a contact high from just breathing the fumes coming off her stained sweatshirt), she was there a full 20 minutes before the daze lifted a bit and she asked her boyfriend:
“So we’re buying a videogame?”
Genius.
Anyway, I picked up the Special Edition. Yes, the big boy. Yes, the one with the $90 price tag. Save your snide, smart-ass “must be nice” bullshit, because it’s not like I have all the money in the world or anything. In fact given how lukewarm I am on the series it’s probably downright stupid I bought it… but I did, because I have a terrible (and expensive) weakness for collector’s editions of games, DVDs, albums… you name it. It’s a disease. Truth be told, you should pity me1.
So for everyone else with my proclivity but without my means, I took pictures of the whole un-boxing ritual for you to stroke yourself to. Enjoy!
