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Earlier in the day, a vicious rumor began to surface regarding Peter Moore, the head honcho over at X-Box station. It was rumored that Mr. Moore would be resigning his position in order to take over the helm at EA sports. Well, after about 4 hours speculation this nasty rumor has been confirmed -- Peter Moore is leaving Microsoft for the publishing giant known as EA.
Of course, you may be wondering who will be taking over Peter's previous job. That person would be Don Mattrick. Previously he was an outside adviser for Microsoft, and oddly enough before that he was President of EA. Strange isn't it?
We here at RF Generation wish the best for Mr. Moore, and we certainly hope he finds himself at home at EA Sports. Somehow, I think he'll be rather quick to adjust from one monster of a company to another, but certainly we can't wait to see what Peter Moore does in his new job, or if he has any insightful comments he'd like to say about Microsoft's X-Box business.
Source: Kotaku
 E3 2007 has come and gone, and this year was certainly different. One thing that got me was the lack of laser weapons being used to blast other-worldly beings into green bits. Aren't aliens, zombies, and ninjas the stock villains of video gaming? Either way, we can supplement your yearning for malicious contact.
The game of the week is Alien Syndrome. Ricky and Mary run and gun their way to rescue their comrades from aliens. Formerly a Tengen cart, Sega is about to release a sequel of sorts under the same title for Wii and PSP in these coming weeks.
The featured image of the week is the cover art for Alien Hominid. This game started out as a freebie flash game and has since been ported to most home consoles and is currently on the move to download services. Alien Hominid is colourful and fascinating as it is entirely hand drawn. Also, the flash version is available for free play in RF Generation's own online arcade! You can't beat free.
Now for a name that could only come from science fiction, the Amstrad GX4000. Its appearance and name look like they could fly you to Mars, or at least to the nearest filling station. This rarely seen 8-bit console took a swift beating as the Mega Drive launched less than a year later with a 16-bit colour pallet.
When missile defense fails to break the UFO shields, there's only enough time for one thing. Thats right, admire James' collection, this weeks feature. Neatly displayed rows of Mega Drive and SMS boxes with one rare and outstanding shooter proudly displayed in the center. If you're curious as to what the title is, you must see for yourself. Suspenseful.
[img width=350 height=357]http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/fucking_blue_shells.png[/img]
I always hated the blue shells. Stupid #$^% blue shells.
Source: xkcd.com
This week we've heard cliché muggle pun after muggle pun from thousands of clueless TV news anchors around the globe. That can only mean one thing: I'll be sleeping through yet another Harry Potter installment. That's right. The pubescent wizard returned in the fifth franchise film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Sadly, Emma Watson does not show her muggles at any point during the film. That girl can wave my magic wand any time she likes.
The 5th Harry Potter movie will be followed in two weeks by the 7th Harry Potter book, which analysts speculate will place J.K. Rowlings on the Forbes list somewhere between Bill Gates and God. God declined to comment.
As I predicted last week, the PS3 is now $100 cheaper, despite Sony's previous delusional claims to the opposite. Now a few more people on the aforementioned Forbes list will be able to afford one.
Aside from those things, this has been a really slow week for geeks. There hasn't been any huge gaming news, and North America's largest video game convention certainly isn't going on or anything...
Which brings me to E3. Bring back the booth babes. Really. I mean it. Guys who are into this stuff don't get to see beautiful half naked girls anywhere else. You've all seen the charts showing how the number of hours spent playing World of Warcraft is inversely proportional to the amount of sex you have. Please, developers, have pity on your loyal neck-bearded followers. Give them something to remember. Especially since nothing else you're doing seems to be catching anyone's interest.
Seriously, what is up with these games? A new Nights? The main selling point is that you can fly? Is that really the best they could come up with? Really? You could fly in the first Nights and nobody cared. Let me give you perspective: It was the mid nineties. All we had were 2D games. Sega made a game that was in full 3D in which you could fly with 360 degrees of freedom and no one cared then. What marketing genius green-lighted this newest debacle? I hope it was the same people who came up with the 32X.
Speaking of 32X, Nintendo sure is showing off some neat-o stuff. How about this steering wheel? They've literally just made a plastic holder for the Wii-mote. This is almost as dumb as the horizontal stand for the PS2 (I could write a ten page article on that stupidity, but I'll spare you). Peripherals like that are for people who refer to their games as "tapes". As in, "I have nine tapes for my Nintendo Wii."
There are a few promising games showing at the convention. The idea of online Mario Kart has potential. Assassin's Creed could be fun.
We'll see as E3 continues. Keep checking back with RFgeneration.com for the latest news.
Who else is pumped about the new Contra for the NDS? I know I am. I watched the gameplay footage earlier this week and when it started I thought I was looking at a port of Super C for a second. When I realized I wasn't, I got really excited. Games like this and Dawn of Sorrow are really tempting me to go out and buy a DS, which would be way better than the hole in my left pants pocket that serves as my current "portable system", if you know what I mean. There need to be a lot more old school games like this out in the current market. I don't know why there aren't. They can't possibly cost much to produce, and hardcore gamers (and scrub posers) eat them up like candy.
Transformers came out this week and, as with any major nerd event, The Evil Leon was on it. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's even more fun than shooting at your neighbor's cat. If you live in Ohio like me, that's A LOT of fun. Also, there is a trailer running before the film for a movie that has no name yet and, according to internet speculation, might involve Cthulhu.....or the Master Chief....or Gears of War....Godzilla...or something. Anyway, the trailer is pretty neat and you can stay and watch Transformers afterward.
The debate blah blah blah Manhunt 2. Blah blah blah blah ESRB. Blah blah "@%&@$%^**!!$*&(*@%*&^&%&@%^," says a representative at Rockstar, adding "!%^&&!%^&**&($^&*^@." We all know this story. Somethingawful had an amazing article about it earlier this week. Personally, I'd like to see what all the fuss is about. I've yet to see any specific content cited as being more offensive than anything in the last Manhunt -from any of the parties involved. Until that news breaks, it's pretty obvious somebody is caving to pressure from watchdog groups. Of course, by "watchdog" I mean "communist" and by "groups" I mean "bastards."
Everyone is talking about the PS3 price drop. Will it happen? Will it not? Well, Sony is denying the Hell out of it. If that means anything, you can be sure the PS3 will be $100 cheaper next month. Now we will only have to pay $500 to play horribly uninspired sports and racing games. I can't wait to get one!
In case you missed the Nintendo montage-filled press conference, allow me to summarize it for you:
1. We're doing very well, as these bar graphs show.
2. The rest of the show won't be relevant to you hardcore gamers, so here's 30 seconds of Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Ghost Squad, Ninja Gaiden DS, Phantom Hourglass, Metroid and Mario Kart for Wii. Oh, and let's make this for casual gamers too by showing off a wheel attachment for Mario Kart and say we're "leveling the playing field" for beginners.
3. We are COMMITTED to online play! We have no more than 5 exciting online games coming! Now let's go on to what really matters!
4. You want minigames?! WE GOT EM RIGHT HERE!
5. Let's lose our minds and announce our new bathroom scale with motion sensors, er wait I mean Wii Fit!
What's sadder is that I am not exaggerating.
 It looks like the rumor is true, PS3 is getting a price cut! PS3 Fanboy has received some reports from around the nation that PS3s have been sold for $499 today. Here's a rundown of the findings from around the country:
1. A reader confirmed to PS3 Fanboy that he was able to buy a PS3 for $499 at a Target in an unspecified location. The site called up the store and they CONFIRMED that the console is listed as $499 in their computer.
2. Two units were sold in an undisclosed Circuit City location for $499.
3. A Rancho Cucamonga, California Target location has the PS3 listed for $499 in their system.
Also, the piece at PS3 Fanboy has been picked up by Digg and one commenter there has stated that he got one from a Target location for $499.
Another article at Kotaku has even more confirmation of a price cut, with Target stores in Bend, Oregon and Beavercreek, Ohio both confirming that the console is $499. However, they also mention that stores in Los Angeles and West Hollywood, CA, Dayton, OH, Orlando, FL, and Littleton, CO have the system for $599. In other words, this price cut is not Target-wide yet, it's just a few renegade stores breaking the rules and implementing the new price before the "official price cut day".
Kotaku commenter SPIKE1856 offers some insight on Target's price change policy:
"I can tell you why some Target stores have the price cut in place and others do not--Target's price change day for the Electronics department is Monday. If a store's price change team gets ahead of pace, they have the ability to start early on the next day's workload. Since Saturday and Sunday are not price change days, this means that Monday's price changes can be activated on Friday, effectively three days early. The price change team at my store, sadly, is definitely not ahead of pace at the moment and so our PS3's are still priced at $599.99."
Could the price effect be taking effect as you read this? Is it real? Am I dreaming? I don't know, but this whole situation is very intriguing. Tomorrow, I plan on doing some investigative journalism (and buying some DVD-R discs) and seeing if the local stores have the PS3 marked down in their systems.
However, when all is said and done, this is the second worst kept secret of the year, next to the Xbox 360 Elite. I bet Sony is wishing they could be more like Paramount Pictures and the trailer for that new J.J. Abrams movie. Seriously, go to that link, it's incredible.
UPDATE:
I went to the local Target in Mankato, Minnesota, and here's what I saw under the PS3s they had...
Sorry for the crappy camera phone photo, it's all I had at the time.
PS3 is now Four Hundred and Ninety Nine US dollars...
 That's right. RFGen needs your help! Working on being the best video game resource on the planet is serious business around here. The games submissions, information, reviews, scans etc. all come from it's members and staff. We are all instrumental in helping this site grow. As we approach the 30,000 games mark in our database we must remember that there is more to building the database than simply adding games. We need to all work together and fill out the pages for each game and piece of hardware whenever and wherever we can. The feeling of satisfaction and pride in having your 2 cents printed on a game's merits or having your copy of a game showcased as the site's scans or showing off a game with screen-shots can not be underestimated. Nor can the importance of a part number, bar code or a year or any other information you may have.
You've all seen the thank you posts our Site Director makes every month when he tallies up the numbers. Thousands of submissions every month, each one giving a member or a staffer a little bit of pride and immortality in having their name associated with it. Every piece helping someone choose a game, or tell the difference betwen one they already have and one they may buy. Or even re-connect with childhood memories because the screen-shots, overviews or scans help them remember forgotten games of their youth.
So we, the Administrators and Editors of RF Generation urge you to participate in this cause and help this site grow. Whether it's submitting a part number on the spine of a game case after you've played it, writing a review be it short or long after you play/beat a game, or scanning your collection, there are many ways each of you can help.
Also know that you are not alone in this, you can direct any questions you may have to any member of staff and there are FAQ's you can read to help you use the scripts and the guidelines that go with them.
Imagine this: if only 50 members of our near 1300 member community submitted only 3 times a week, be it part number, scan or what have you, that's 600 a month. Three submissions only take what? 10 minutes a week? Can you all give RFGen 10 minutes a week? Imagine what a hundred could do, or a thousand!! I try to spend at least half an hour a week while watching TV or something submitting info with a small pile of games at my side or a handy website with information I can add. It usually ends up being more personally but we all do what we can when we can and that's what counts as long as we participate. 
No worries about overflow of submissions either, your RFGen staff team has over 20 members to make sure all of your submissions are being taken care of and checked for mistakes. We also engage in regular discussion about how to make things easier for you the members, who make this site what it is. We also appreciate any suggestions you may have, feel free to post them in our forums or PM them to any staff member.
Thank you
Keith
[img align=right width=200]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/1000744195468d865d96cd5circuitcityflyer.jpg[/img]
Sony hasn't gotten much love in recent times. The PlayStation 3 seems to be the whipping boy of the media and consumers. The poor thing, and poor Sony. Times haven't looked good for them recently in the gaming sector. However, there is a nasty little rumor out there in the gaming world -- a price drop.
That's right people, Joystiq has posted a nasty rumor regarding a hundred dollar price drop happening for the PS3 on July 12. There's even an alleged flyer showing the price drop! So, the question arises -- is this drop real, or is it a fabrication? I am sure that lots of people are hoping that it is real. The PS3 may have been whipping boy up to now but it doesn't change the fact that there are some nice games coming out for the system.
So is the rumored price drop real, or is it wild speculation? If it is real, would it entice you to buy the PS3, or is more required to get you to spend your hard earned cash? You know you want LittleBigPlanet.
UPDATE: Kotaku is reporting that moles at Best Buy and Target also see a 100 dollar price drop in their inventory systems. This rumor just gets better and better.
 Here's an update of a story David recently posted. Sony's President and COO, Ryoji Chubachi, told Bloomberg that they have no immediate plans to cut the price of the console. Here's the relevant quote from the Bloomberg article...
"'We have no immediate plans as of now' for price cuts, President Ryoji Chubachi said today in an interview in Tokyo. Any change in the console's price 'is a matter' for Sony's game unit, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., he said."
What's also interesting is that Bill Cimino, a spokesman for Circuit City, declined to comment on this issue, and calls to Best Buy and Wal-Mart were not returned. Also, Diasuke Nakata, a Sony spokesman said that Sony does not comment on their price strategy.
Could this be shot down? Will it be a real price cut? What's your take?
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After a long absense I am back, and with my return from Canada I provide you, the wonderful site patrons, outstanding features once again. What's the theme this week oh wonderful Shimra, you may be asking yourself. Well the theme of this week is non-existant. Look forward to my next features update though if you like themes. I'll give you a hint: vampire killer.
Anyway, the featured game this week is Shaq-Fu. Personally, I had a bit of fun playing this game, though I completely acknowledge it is a complete piece of crap. Even though it is terrible, I have to admit the ending of the game was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in any game and I highly recommend completing story mode just to see it.
Moving on the featured hardware is the Game Boy Color Atomic Purple, a model which I have always wanted due to being able to see the circuits. Going with the somewhat lackluster theme of the Game Boy Color the featured image is the Super Game Boy. This thing was fun as hell and it saddens me deeply the one for the Gamecube doesn't have any of the special features the original had. Finally our featured collection is that of enderxv2. He has a really awesome room consisting of multiple movie posters which definately caught my eye.
Well, there you have it. Sorry I did not provide a theme for the week, hell I don't even know if you guys enjoy themed weeks, but next time I assure you that there will be a theme. As always, keep it tuned to channel 3.
On behalf of directors at RF Generation, I'd like to thank everyone who has submitted information or images over the last month. For June, we had a total of 3433 submissions made. Of those submissions, 1408 were image additions and 687 were hardware submissions. We even had 9 regional variation submissions, which goes to show that some people from Europe are reading the site, and we are grateful for their readership.
As with each month there is a top submitter of information and images. This month, that submitter is Belgarath with 745 submissions. Funk_Buddy came in second with 419 submssions, and Tan third with 387 submissions. The next highest submitters over 50 submissions, in order, are Marriott_Guy, sharp, James, briskbc, Fuyukaze, Alabama-Shrimp, Mezmoron, Malygris, NES_Rules, Izret101, Kevincal, Magewout, and Samada. Thank you all for your submissions, we'd be nowhere without them.
Many of these submissions have to be approved by someone. This month, Tan kicked everyone's butt on staff with 761 approvals. Thank you Tan and everyone else on staff for getting those submissions approved.
Lastly, I'd like to thank you all for being such loyal members of our community. Our visits in the last month were the most they've ever been by a long shot, and we are now certainly on pace to have a million visit year. Thank you all for helping this amazing milestone come to fruition, and I do hope that you all continue to keep it tuned to channel three.
Note: This is LAST WEEK'S article! I meant to post this earlier, but I never got around to it. Better late than never I guess.
Another week, another crop of great content for you to download to your next-gen (or wait, would it be current-gen now?) console! What's new this week? Well, let's take a look:
NINTENDO WII VIRTUAL CONSOLE
  
- F-Zero X (Nintendo 64, 1-4 players, Rated E, 1,000 Wii Points)
- China Warrior (TurboGrafx-16, 1 player, Rated E10+ (Violence), 600 Wii Points)
- Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting (Super Nintendo, 1-2 players, Rated T (Violence), 800 Wii Points)
PLAYSTATION STORE
 
Also this week, Sony is offering a free update for Resistance along with a new map pack. The map pack will run you $7.99 for two maps. Welcome to the nickel and diming game, Sony. Hope you enjoy your stay. Oh well, at least PS3 owners don't have to pay for online service.
But before you go downloading all those sweet new things from the Playstation Store, you must download the new 1.82 firmware update which was also released this week. The update adds the ability to play AVC High Profile (H.264/MPEG-4) encoded videos. Why do you have to have that to browse the Playstation Store? I don't know, ask Sony.
XBOX LIVE ARCADE
In a week with so many great downloads, it's hard to pick a top title. However, I'm going to give my Download of the Week award to F-Zero X. F-Zero is a franchise that never fails to deliver fast-paced racing action, and the N64 incarnation is definitely not an exception.
 Before I get started, yes, I did intentionally say wiidiculous in the title. I was Elmer Fudding it.
"They're regular Donald Twumps"
"Did you just say Donald Twump?"
"Uhh yeah man we're Elmer Fudding it..."
Obscure TV references aside and bad jokes still at my disposal, here's a look at some of the most "wiidiculous" Wii accessories on the market. We've got everything from tennis rackets, to forks, to a frying pan.
Let's start off with some of the more "normal" accessories, Wii Sports attachments. These attachments are available almost everywhere that sells video games, probably to capitalize on the success of Wii Sports and the Wii in general. These accessories typically come in a pack that includes attachments for every Wii Sports game except boxing and bowling. An example would be this one found at GameStop. That's right! For the price of Ocarina of Time on the Virtual Console (not including tax and that pre-order we'll try and sell you), you can have your very own set of plastic attachments that...kind of make Wii Sports a little more realistic, to a certain extent. I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather take my money and buy something worthwhile instead of some cheap plastic that does nothing to enhance the gameplay or the feeling. Maybe I would consider it if it was a tennis racket that I could use in real life that happens to double as a Wii controller, but even then, probably not. However, these accessories are just the tip of the iceberg in Wii stupidity.
In the paragraph before the last one, I mentioned that these Wii Sports packs don't include attachments for boxing and bowling? Well, that sure as heck don't mean they aren't being made! Behold: THE WII SPORTS BOXING GLOVE! How does it work? Well, what you do, according to the site that sells them, is you slip the Wii Remote into the right glove with the IR sensor pointed towards the TV set, then you plug in the Nunchuk and put it in the left glove. In theory this one seems pretty cool, and sure as heck would enhance the experience more than any of the other Wii Sports accessories, however you would have to take the Wii Remote out of its pouch on the right glove in between rounds so that the remote can see the sensor bar. Kind of pointless if you have to remove it every two minutes. Remember, I have not used this product, so I'm only making guesses.
When playing Zelda, have you ever wished you can swing around a real sword and shield instead of pressing buttons or waving your Wii Remote? Well now you can, with the Wii combat pack (not a real sword, it's all foam). According to the seller, this set also works with Red Steel, but Red Steel is mainly an FPS with some sword combat. Shouldn't it be a gun attachment for that game? As far as I know Scott Monroe (The game's main character. Remember? Of course you don't because that game was totally unmemorable.) is not Squall Leonhart, and thus does not have a gunblade.
Now, it's time for the absolutely bizarre ones. The attachments so bizarre and moronic that you just wonder what kind of drugs they were taking when they thought of the idea.
 First: The billiards attachment! This one is potentially deadly! You could totally put an eye out if you aren't careful with that thing. You think Wii Remotes flying through TVs are bad, just wait until they pierce someone with a deadly billiards attachment! Plus it's also silly because how are you going to use it? It will feel awkward if you're shooting it in the air with nowhere to rest your hand on.
You think you've seen crazy? HA! Nothing compares to the final one I'm going to feature: the Cooking Mama attachment set! Yup! It's a kitchen of Wii attachments in a box. What comes with it you ask? Well, let me tell you what you get! You get the frying pan, knife, spatula, and fork, all for the low low price of $17 plus shipping and handling! Why is this the worst Wii attachment set yet? Simple! You have to switch them often in Cooking Mama! It would be a hassle having to fiddle around with all of those and changing them every time you have a different cooking task to perform. However, unlike the other attachments I've featured, these actually have some real world function, as the seller demonstrates on their website.
What do all these attachments teach us? Being an absurdly popular console leads to absurd things from outside companies trying to make a quick buck capitalizing on your creation. So, please, everyone here, don't buy silly Wii attachments and give these companies your money. Save up and buy some games! Just like my man ChadWarden (EXTREMELY NSFW!), Tony's all about the gamez.
In a recent interview with GameDaily BIZ, the head of Insomniac Games stepped up to the plate and defended Sony, who has published all of the independent studio's games.
"I think the PS3 has become the whipping boy for the press, quite honestly. I think everyone just wants to fill it full of arrows because Sony's had some pretty amazing success over the years. And it's easy to overlook that it's been, I think, the fastest selling PlayStation console. I think it's human nature to want to take down the guy on top, and Sony has definitely gotten its share of... mud [laughs] ... but it's unfortunate."
I'm not sure if it's the fastest selling PlayStation console ever, but if not, it's definitely the second fastest selling.
He also went on to mention Ratchet and Clank Future, which is the studio's next PS3 title, slated for release this fall. Ted states that this game is the largest and most complex game they've ever made.
The full interview will be posted on GameDaily soon.
Source: http://biz.gamedaily.com/...ndustry/feature/?id=16680
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