An ironic event recently happened to me involving music, video games, and my age. While working a side holiday job, one of my high school student employees made a comment about the song on the radio. She said, “This song is on Guitar Hero!” Of course, my reaction was, “this song is as old as the original Nintendo!” The good part is she was aware that the title of the song is “Sweet Child O’ Mine”. The bad part is that she couldn’t even tell me that Guns N’ Roses were the writers.

I understand that I am not the oldest or the youngest gamer out there, but I really like to think that there is not such a generation gap for good music. Unfortunately, there are problems with the music industry. The reason I bring all this up is because, ironically, I sat at my computer desk later that day and noticed the new game BURNOUT: Paradise.

The trailer as well as the actual game features the hit “Paradise City” by Guns N’ Roses. Making me realize that the there are people out there that still have good taste in music. This news makes my day by reiterating the fact that if there is any industry that knows good music, it is the gaming industry.

EA announced the soundtrack for the new Burnout: Paradise game. It ranges in hard rock titles and even streams to classical tracks such as Mozart. Get the play list at the website here. Don’t forget to check out the trailer too:

So far, I have just been excited about the soundtrack. This only compliments a finely designed game. This is only from what I have seen second hand. I, like all of you, must wait until January 22nd to get a real glimpse at the action.

FileFront has the very first user-created mod for the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament 3 available for download. Don’t go getting too excited, though; a total conversion this is not. Actually, it’s just a single map called “DM-Shrine,” created by Thomas Browett, a 23-year-old graphic designer from Nottingham, England, and suitable for 2-6 players. FileFront also has detailed instructions on how to download the mod and get your PS3 copy of the game to recognize its existence, which unfortunately isn’t quite as simple as just using the browser to download the file to your console’s hard drive.

The much-hyped mod support for the PS3 version of the game came under fire after Ars Technica revealed that the feature wouldn’t be ready for launch, and once implemented, mods would need to be designed specifically for the PS3 version of the game. To make matters worse, you need to download a mod to your PC hard drive first before transferring it to your PS3 via memory stick.

Technical issues aside, here’s hoping this is the first of many user-created mods to hit the PS3. If there’s one thing we like, it’s seeing gamers going the extra mile to extend the lifespan of their favorite games. Any bets on how many servers will have DM-Shrine in their map rotation by the end of the week?

Thanks to Kotaku for first bringing this story to our attention.

The sequel syndrome continues. Personally, I am getting bored with the same games adding a few more features. Yet, as far as game developing companies are concerned, this is what keeps their profits up. It has been confirmed that Guitar Hero 4, Call of Duty 5, and the 11th Tony Hawk are all in the works.

Obviously, these title games are not anywhere close to their release date, since each game has recently released its predecessor. By the time they come out, these games should have more advanced graphics and other bonus features. Unfortunately, the concepts of the games are surely going to be the very similar. Like the movie industry, original thoughts are lacking. The difference is that a sequel in a video game goes over much better than a movie. However, when is enough, enough?

A year or so from now, I can bet that I will be buying these games and checking them out. The newer technology will cause me to lose interest in the old games for the better quality. Yet, the new games that I will favor are the ones with new ideas. Originality and uniqueness will be first on my list. So, I would like to just send a message to the gaming designers to please give us something different for a change. If you need ideas, I do offer my services as an advisor, and I am sure about 95% of all other gamers would say the same.

Ubisoft has delayed the release of pretentious first-person shooter Haze from early December to the first quarter of 2008, according to Gamasutra. The timed PS3 exclusive, Free Radical-developed shooter should be worth the wait, however, because it’s, like, totally a work of art, man.

All joking aside, Haze hasn’t failed to impress with its gorgeous graphics, superpower-fueled gameplay, and focus on narrative. It features several 16-player competitive multiplayer modes and 4-player online co-op as well, so regardless of your personal poison, Haze has just what the doctor ordered.

This delay comes as a surprise, as Ubisoft just recently announced the game was on schedule to hit its December release date. In order to avoid stiff competition from AAA titles like Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4, however, the publisher has decided to hold the game until it can be loosed in friendlier (but more more dinosaur-infested) times.

The end is nigh. The Xbox 360 actually passed the PS3 in the latest weekly Japanese sale charts, albeit barely:

Xbox360 17,673
PS3 17,434

Chalk it up to Namco’s Ace Combat 6, I guess. Both consoles are still dwarfed by the Wii, the DS, and surprisingly enough, the PSP, however. Microsoft has always fought an uphill battle in Japan; even with eastern-friendly exclusives like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, the 360 hasn’t managed to do any better than “terrible” in the land of the rising sun. Obviously, the PS3 isn’t doing much better in the once Sony-dominated market. What’s next, Call of Duty 4 outselling Halo 3?

Hit the jump for the full (and considerably saner) hardware sales data.

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UbiSoft announced plans to release Rainbow Six Vegas 2 this coming March. For those of you that played the first Vegas game, you are probably very excited. The game had everything a first-person shooter lover would want. Though, newer games have caused the multiplayer match ups to become less satisfying, it only goes to show that it is time to hit the charts with a new and even more impressive game.

RBS Vegas had an amazing AI engine for being two years old now. As a gamer that tends to beat games well before they are due back at the video store, I can honestly say that Rainbow Six Vegas gave me a run for my money when set to the realistic difficulty. Obviously, the game had its points that became frustrating because of glitches, but compared to the other games released at the same time period, there is no doubt that it deserved the awards it received.

Now, when we look at newer Tom Clancy games, such as Ghost Recon 2, one can only wait with excitement to see how they make the new Vegas 2 better than the rest. Based on comments from the president of UbiSoft, it is apparent that the developers aim to make this new game innovative with supreme new graphics and action. Expect this game to raise the bar for First-Person Shooter games.

Those who plunked down the cash for the PlayStation 3 port of Call of Duty 4 expecting some hot soldier-on-soldier action online are probably slightly perturbed right now. Matchmaking is worse than Halo 3 at peak hours.

Over on their forums, community relations manager known as “fourtwozero” has calmed the masses by letting everyone know how miserable their server team is going to be for a while. They’ve already been forced to slog through the weekend, and now are about to plow through nighttime hours as well to fix the problem.

If you’re impatient, you could always grab the 360 version which seems to running just fine. Fanboys, there’s the fuel you’ve been searching for.

The original post is here, though you’ll need to be registered to see any of it. They’re picky like that.

Like its predecessor, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is about to gain some extra content come mid-November. While the first GRAW was hindered by high priced added content (and Ubi Soft failed to mention any pricing on this new material), five new single player missions and nine multi-player maps seem like a solid start.

The set is due for both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. 360 fans can look forward to an additional run of 125 achievement points.

Apparently, one misfire is enough to get your studio canned by EA. After releasing the stellar Fight Night Round 3 in early 2006 and with an obvious follow up soon to come, Def Jam Vendetta was apparently a large enough failure to shut EA Chicago down.

EA’s reasoning is as follows:

… each team is responsible for staying on a reasonable path to profitability… Unfortunately, EA Chicago hasn’t been able to meet that standard.

Fight Night is a Platinum Hit on the 360, and will surely end up in the Greatest Hits line on the PS3 at some point. How badly did Def Jam do exactly? The studio also had a Marvel fighting game coming down the line, which will be shuffled over to a different EA developer, along with Fight Night.

These two videos are what the Internet was invented for. This may not have too much to do about multiplayer gaming but I could not resist posting both of these. First up is a video that was hot last week about a guy who is has 3 PS3’s. The following video is a follow up to the first uber geek who actually has 4 PS3’s. Does anyone know how many times they say PS 3?

What could possibly follow up a video of this caliber? Checkout below for something even worse…

Enjoy!

Bonus Link: Wired.com writes about an astrophysicist using a cluster of eight (8!!!) PS3s to crunch the mind-blowing numbers involved in modeling gravitational waves. From Wired: “Apparently Dr. Gaurav Khanna is employing his so-called ‘gravity grid’ of PS3s to help measure these theoretical gravity waves — ripples in space-time that travel at the speed of light…” Check out the full article here, and brace yourself for awesome on a cosmological scale.

Remember when retailers breaking Mortal Kombat’s “Mortal Monday” release date was big news? These days, it seems like a major game release doesn’t go by without someone breaking the street date. Case in point: according to Gameeater, an unnamed video game store in Westminster, Colorado has (and by now, “had”) four copies of the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty 4 available for purchase. Meanwhile, user adams828 has posted screenshots from his Playstation 3 copy of the first-person shooter over at the AVS Forum.

When a retailer breaks a release date, they are forced to pay fines to the game’s distributor, if they get caught, of course. These fines are usually extremely high, as the distributor charges the retailer for each copy sold before the official release date. For example, when Target broke the Nintendo DS Lite release date, Nintendo fined them $10,000 per unit sold early, according to unofficial sources. Despite the detrimental effects on some poor retailer’s pocket books, however, many stores often respond to a broken release date by breaking the date themselves, not wanting to lose potential game sales to the competition. So, start calling local stores to see if they’re selling their copies of Call of Duty 4 yet. At the very worst, all they can say is no.

Dylan Jobe, game director of Warhawk, has opened the floodgates on new information concerning upcoming Warhawk patches at Playstation.Blog. Patch 1.1 and 1.2 will hit at the end of October and mid-December, respectively, and include a host of bug fixes, server stability improvements, and new map layouts. Most importantly, with these new patches Sony is letting the Arbiters loose on the community. Judge Dredd-like super moderators, these Arbiters “protect the community and preserve the legitimacy of the worldwide leader boards” with the power to issue warnings and permanent bans. They will join games and play alongside other players, and their PSN names will remain a closely guarded secret.

It’s nice to see a developer taking such a strong stance against online cheaters. Dylan admits cheaters and stat padders are a minority in the Warhawk community, but he doesn’t want to see a few bad apples ruining the whole bunch. MMOs have used Game Masters for years, moderating player behavior and punishing players that degrade the experience for others. Seeing this same sort of tactic applied to an online shooter is a step in the right direction, and hopefully something we’ll see more of from other developers in the future.