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THE TANKand8BITPEOPLESare pleased to present the Blip Festival, a four-day celebration of over 30 international artists exploring the untapped potential of low-bit videogame consoles and home computers used as creative tools. Familiar devices are pushed in new directions with startling results — Nintendo Entertainment Systems and Game Boys roaring with futuristic floor-stomping rhythms and fist-waving melody, art-damaged Sega hardware generating fluctuating and abstracted video patterns — and that’s only the beginning....

Flash backwards to February 19th. You were sitting at home, probably crying, and the rest of the world was going along on its merry way. Gabe, one of the dynamic duo behind Penny Arcade was writinga news postabouta recent CNN storyin whichyet anothergroup of kids murderedyet anotherhomeless guy, andyet againblamed gaming. You guys are probably getting as tired of seeing this kind of thing as we are, and everyone kinda shrugged it off asyet anotherincident of parental ineptitude blamed on video games by the media at large....

Does anybody rememberAliens: Colonial Marines? I certainly don’t, but it’s hardly surprising, since the game was canceled by EA in 2002 and never saw the light of day. Now, a whole six years later, the game — very much like the aliens themselves — hasundergone a resurrection. Gearbox (Brothers in Arms) has rescuedColonial Marinesfrom EA’s basement and will be bringing the squad-based shooter to PC and consoles in 2009. It will be published by SEGA....

This list for all the weapons and perks inModern Warfare 3is comprised of everything I saw last night at Call of Duty XP. There’s always the chance that these items can be removed — or new ones introduced — before the game launches this November. But for now, here’s the breakdown of what I got a glance of. New for each weapon is that you’ll be given a proficiency option on top of your attachment options....

Another promise of aMother 3fan translation was dunked in the toilet today, when the mysterious administrator ofNotStarmen.netrevealed that his/her firmly promised February 28th release would not come to pass.For those of you keeping score, this makes the third project to miss a projected release date, which you can’t really hold against a group of avidMotherenthusiasts doing the bulk of the work in their free time. Still, though — disappointment is disappointment, especially for those of us who have waited over a decade for a playable and localized sequel toEarthBound....

After countless fan illustrations of over-sexed gameheroinesand perversive portrayals of beloved gameplumbers, I find myself thoroughly enjoying cartoonist Coelasquid’s work because of her matter-of-fact understanding that sometimes serious games really aren’t all that cereal. Through pieces that shine effortlessly with personality, Coelasquid has an impressive gallery of work which tickles the funny bone in a wide range of nerd humor. If there is one thing to take away from her drawings, it would be her uncanny ability to render some of the most obscure (and frankly overlooked) game character expressions ever conceived....

GameStop stirred the rumor pot recently when it launched aBrinkcontest, at the same timepromotinga September 7 release for the title. But according to the game’s publisher Bethesda Softworks, the Splash Damage first-person shooter still doesn’t have a firm release date, outside of its previously announced Fall 2010 launch window. “Often times retailers will assign a release date for a game that falls within the game’s announced launch window,” a Bethesda representative explained to us today....

In a recent interview, Mistwalker producer Hironobu Sakaguchi has laid down the foundation for the possibility of taking theBlue Dragonseries forward to an online, MMO-like space. The subtle hint: “We’re in talks with Microsoft about development of a sequel,” Sakaguchi told Japanese site Gpara.com. “Specifics aren’t finalised, but there’s a possibility that it will be produced as an online title.” Always in need of wooing the Asian market, an online fantasy Xbox 360-focused MMO viaBlue Dragoncould be quite the success for Microsoft and is surely an idea too sweet to pass up....

PlayedBorderlandsto your heart’s content? Scavenged all the guns and killed all the Skags? Gearbox Software has you covered. Zombie Island is ready to be unlocked in just a matter of days, as the game’s first DLC has been given a release date of November 24 on PS3 and Xbox 360. The Zombie Island of Dr. Nedis set on Jakob’s Cove, where the eponymous Ned has created an army of undead workers....

In aninterview with Shacknews, Stardock’s Brad Wardell gave some great insight into why the company has been fighting so heavily for PC gamers’ rights, which you should read about. But for the sake of this story, however, we are going to look at the man’s thoughts on Games for Windows LIVE. “I intended forElementalto be on Games for Windows LIVE, but then as we got closer, the Xbox group took it over more and more,” he says....

It’s a busy holiday season, but let’s say you find the time and money to buy Deep Silver’s fast-as-balls* off-road racer,nail’d. Well, if you fork over the cash to buy it new, you’ll get downloadable content for free! The game will come packed with a “token” to download a content pack which will include four new tracks, new vehicle paint jobs, a whole set of vehicle parts for both bikes and ATVs, as well as new driver suits....

Now, I know that you may find this difficult to believe, but it seems as if Activision plans to release a third entry in theCall of Duty: Modern Warfareseries. Shocking, right? The latest issue of the UK’s Official PlayStation Magazine has a tease for coming coverage of the title, which would lead me to suspect that we’ll be hearing an official announcement of the game’s development pretty soon. Try to act surprised....

Capcom and Havok have announced that the two companies will be expanding their partnership, with Capcom making the middleware its physics engine of choice for its triple-A titles. The company has already used Havok physics in games likeDead RisingandResident Evil 5, and says this will continue with upcoming titles likeLost Planet 2andResident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. Jun Takeuchi of Capcom says they’ve chosen Havok because its software is “the fastest and most scalable physics engine available,” and goes on to sing the praises of Havok’s support and documentation....