TERRIFYING American creates real life Gears of War chain saw gun that CHAIN SAWS and SHOOTS

Please allow the internet to introduce one of its closest and craziest friends. A guy posting under the name SOC on this firearms discussion site has created a gun that combines SHOOTING and CHAIN SAWING into one handy device.

And this is no mere plastic toy designed to part late-developing 14-year-old boys from their money - it's real. It shoots. It cuts. It is the Firearm Mounted Anti Zombie Device, AKA the Gears of War Lancer.

There's a video of a man cutting branches off a tree with it here, and one of him running toward and TERMINATING some evil terrorist pumpkins here, should that still image there not be enough to give you nightmares for the next decade.

(Via Tech Digest)

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Save about three seconds a month with the slot-loading Xbox 360 case mod

Some man who no doubt considers himself a "hacker" has decided to see if it's possible to put a slot-loading DVD drive into the case of an Xbox 360.

It was possible. Because he did it. Here's a list of how he did it and what he used, along with a video of it working as proof, as the highest form of proof in the world right now is a video of something on the internet.

He nicked the slot-loader out of an old iMac, then spent a very long time indeed hacking the drive's insides and controller boards to make it work. And it works. Well done, random man off the internet. You're cleverer than most people.

(Via Xbox-Scene)

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VIDEO STORE WATCH: Wayne's World 2 joins Microsoft UK's gallery of the bizarre

We can't help but check the UK Video Store every day now, just to see what horrors are going to appear next among the world's most staggeringly odd catalogue of films.

The most recent curiosity added for your entertainment is Wayne's World 2, which, you'll be very pleased to hear, is available as a 4.3GB HD download for 380 MS Points - about £3.20. Or there's an SD version available for 250 MS Points, if you're not already bored of seeing the film about once a week on Five.

The film is one hour and 34 minutes long. Christopher Walken's in it. That's about all there is to say about it. Today's looking like being one of the slowest slow news days in living memory.

(Via MS UK)

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Hopefully the LAST EVER update about a Gears of War 2 video

The game's out this Friday. Finally. That should stop Cliffy B and his cronies popping up on every corner of the internet pretending that a game about chain-sawing aliens is somehow art or a thing to be proud of being part of the creative process behind its existence.

To celebrate the end of us having to pretend to be excited about Gears of War 2 - which we're clearly not very good at - here's a promotional programme put together by the Sci-Fi Channel about Gears of War 2. I'm not bothering to watch it myself, so I can't even offer you a summary of its contents.

There. That may have been interesting. Or it may not have been. I don't know. I have better things to do with my precious working minutes than watching yet more Americans using the word "badass" without even a shred of irony.

(Via l33t)

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VIDEO STORE WATCH: World's greatest film hits Xbox Live - Planes, Trains & Automobiles OUT NOW

Featuring Steve Martin from his golden 1980s funny period and John Candy from his golden being alive period, Planes, Trains & Automobiles is without doubt the funniest film of all time.

SPOILERS: You know, the bit with the underpants in the sink. And the car rental scene. And the bit where he falls asleep behind the wheel. And when he drives the wrong way. And when it catches on fire. And on the aeroplane. All of it is solid, 100% gold, especially if you switch it off early and avoid the overly-sentimental last 10 minutes.

You have to get it. It's available in 720p HD, for a fee of 380 MS Points and a waiting period of however long it'll take 4.2GB to download on your broadband.

Also vaguely new to download and watch on the UK Video Store is The Running Man, Pretty In Pink, Alive, The Pink Panther Strikes Again and some utterly appalling drivel like Cheech & Chong and Big Top Pee-Wee. Whoever is in charge of film selection at Microsoft HQ needs to have a very high-level meeting with themselves to sort out this bizarre clash of titles.

(Via Xbox)

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Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe toned down to avoid M-rating

It's no secret that Midway's in pretty bad financial shape at the moment. They need Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe to sell, and sell well. Perhaps in order to court the slightly younger demographic that having the DC Universe license probably attracts, the game's going to have a T-rating, and it's getting some cuts in order to make release. You may remember a rather nasty little fatality by the Joker in which he uses a revolver to blow his opponent away. The actual shooting bit's now going to happen off screen. It's not the only cut that's been made, with fatalities definitely not as nasty as they used to be.

Normally, it wouldn't be a huge deal. Gore's overused in games, and having a bit less of it around is usually no big loss. But the positively ludicrous levels of violence were a pretty integral part of the Mortal Kombat experience. It was silly, schlocky fun. Still, if the game's got good gameplay, then all is forgiven.

via Kotaku

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Gears of War 2 - the television advertisement

Here's how Gears 2's going to be advertised on the telly. The advert's a whole minute long, so you'll probably only see this full-length version once or twice during an important football match nearer the game's November 7 launch date.

It'll soon be replaced by a 13-second edited version that'll be shown between the hours of 2.30am and 6.30am only on ITV3 and maybe occasionally during the Hollyoaks omnibus.

It looks like they're trying to copy the viral success of the 'Mad World' trailer that helped push the first Gears onto a suspicious world. Yet more proof that there are literally no original material or ideas anywhere in the vicinity of Gears 2.

(Via AceyB)

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Rockstar unleashing special zombie plague in GTA IV for Halloween

Rockstar's been tweaking GTA IV's multiplayer options recently, adding in a "zombie infection" mini game sort of thing to generate column inches and renew GTA excitement in the run up to Halloween.

If you're killed by a zombie you become a zombie. That's pretty much all there is to it and how it works. Players can keep track of what's happening and how many GTA inhabitants are infected via the stat-tracking tool on the Rockstar Social web site.

The interactive map, which you can see on Rockstar's site once you've registered and signed in, shows that 120,701 players in the UK alone are infected with the virus. That's quite a lot of people playing GTA IV online. Portugal only has 391 GTA zombies, in comparison, due to it being warm there and everyone preferring to play outside.

(Via ShackNews)

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New Alan Wake trailer excites people, despite being quite staggeringly dull

It's just a snarling man walking around a house in the dark. It could be taken from any one of several hundred games from the last decade. We're not sure why "the internet" is going so bonkers about this rather tedious turn of events depicted in the first official Alan Wake video-based trailer.

But here it is any way. Ours is not to reason why. Ours is to generate content.

Alan Wake is being developed by Remedy, the Finnish programmers that brought us the Max Payne series. Max Payne wasn't exactly the best game ever, unless you were a fan of kicking over piles of boxes and watching physics, so even on that level all this enthusiasm for Alan Wake doesn't make any sense.

Perhaps it is the chance to play as a man called Alan that is getting everyone so hot?

(Via El33t)

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Latest Fable 2 trailer surprisingly awesome

Trailers that don't show any of the actual game often suck. But it's difficult to dislike this latest effort from Microsoft, highlighting the importance of choice in the Fable universe. It's a simple idea, well thought out and well executed. Now we've just got to hope that the sequel lives up to its lofty ambitions. The first Fable promised us a lot, but failed to deliver compelling moral choices for the player to make. Fingers crossed for the sequel. Molyneux certainly think it went well.

via Xbox360Fanboy

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Soulja Boy could KICK YOUR ARSE at Halo 3, Gears of War and anything else you've got

Soulja Boy, the superb and hilarious gaming rapper we've featured before, has issued some sort of ultimatum, challenging everyone to try and beat him at a wide range of games.

Soulja Boy generously offers to hand out ass-whuppings for free, saying he's more than happy to take gamers on at Gears, Halo 3, GTA IV, Call of Duty 4 and more, even going so far as to blurt out his Gamertag for all-comers to challenge him. Here he is, in what we believe rappers refer to as "full flow".

Superb work. Although a casual glance at his Halo 3 profile on Bungie.net tells us he is perhaps in possession of more mouth than trousers.

(Via X3F)

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Another Gears of War 2 video that may be of some interest to you

This one's rubbish because hot hunk of man meat Cliffy B isn't in it, nor is his friend with the ginger beard. All that's in this one is a selection of extra-violent shooting from the first two chapters of the game, featuring men, guns and aliens in about the same ratio as we've come to expect.

Here it is. Knock yourselves out.

Haven't they released video footage of the entire game now? On the plus side, this means you're less likely to feel pressured into paying money for it. Gears 2's out in the UK on November 7, should you not already feel you've seen all it has to give via the medium of embeddable internet video.

(Via Special K)

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Duke Nukem 3D is out on LIVE

Duke Nukem 3D is out on Xbox Live right now. The Xbox Live will feature a time-rewinding replay mode, online co-operative and competitive play, and achievements, for those of you who care about that type of thing. You can download it for 800 Microsoft Points.

Duke Nukem 3D could work really rather well on LIVE. It'll be nice to play a deathmatch mode that doesn't rely on teamwork, or careful tactical precision so much as running around like crazy doing your best blow up anything in sight. It might not be the deepest experience ever, but it's undeniably fun. Now we can get back to speculating whether Duke Nukem Forever will ever, ever get a release.

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A man who calls himself "Soulja Boy" is a big fan of Braid

You wouldn't really expect a youth who calls himself "Soulja Boy" to be won over by the cute platforming charms of XBLA game Braid, but it looks like he is. He is having a whale of a time, and keeps calling out to his female dog in delight!

It just goes to show. Never judge a book by its cover, or a man by the thickness of his gold chains or the angle at which he wears his hat. This is the best video review we have seen in a long time. Press this.

"Ain't no point to the game" seems to be his main conclusion, although he is clearly enjoying himself. You can't buy positive publicity like this. Well done, Soulja. You have, as we believe it is put among your particular age demographic, "taken it to the next level."

(Via BuzzFeed)

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VIDEO STORE WATCH: Bizarre rom-coms continue to flood Xbox Live - "Tin Cup" the latest

Tin Cup? On Xbox Live? We hate to start dazzling you with marketing speak, but we're not sure the twin "demographics" of Xbox Live users and potential Tin Cup watchers match up.

EXHIBIT A: Xbox Live is an online gaming service populated mainly by angry American teenagers, odd racist Northerners and shy youths, who mainly want to tell each other they suck at Halo.

EXHIBIT B: Tin Cup stars Kevin Costner. It is a film for women about a man who falls in love with a woman who comes to him for golf lessons.

They do not add up. We doubt if more than six people will shell out the 250 MS Points required to download and watch a standard-definition-only version of Tin Cup. Even then, it'd be under fierce protest, and only because something substantial has been offered by the wife in return.

How odd. We can only assume someone's got their mum a job in the UK Microsoft office, and she's been left in charge of picking some nice films.

(Via Microsoft)

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Warhammer 40K third person shooter coming to 360?

A new video's been found on YouTube showcasing a new third-person action game based on the Warhammer 40K universe. Given that THQ still holds the exclusive license, it's a far assumption that they'll have a part in making the game. The vid looks pretty legit, showing a third-person action game featuring a burly Space Marine chopping bits off his enemies. There's more of an emphasis on close quarters combat, with plenty of gruesome animations to watch. To be honest, it doesn't look like the most original game, with a gritty futuristic setting already explored in countless shoot 'em ups. Production values are looking OK, with some nice touches here and there, and the close combat idea has some potential. More news as we get it.

via Eurogamer

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Mercenaries 2 trailer shows off stuff blowing up

Mercenaries 2 is out surprisingly soon with the game due to make an appearance on shelves on the 31st of August (or on the 5th of September if you're in the UK). The trailer's looking jolly impressive, with plenty of open environments, some nice snippets of vehicle and lots of really big booms. Open-world games are in a good position to take advantage of the extra processing oomph that next-gen consoles can provide. GTA IV, Crackdown, and Saints Row all did justice to the model. Let's hope Mercenaries 2 does as well.

via Kotaku

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Duke Nukem 3D's replay feature and assorted coolness revealed

The Shacknews people have been very good people. So good that Duke Nukem 3D developer 3D Realms let them have a go on the Xbox Live Arcade version of Duke 3D.

Their video shows the replay mode in operation, which records every second of every match, if you want it to, along with plenty of action from the finest shooter of the mid-90s. They also have some details about the all-new online multiplayer options, something that the PC original never had due to the internet only being invented by Microsoft in 2002.

We're actually excited about getting this one, as long as it's not going for a ludicrous 1200 Points. Duke Nukem 3D is, as we've previously reported, finished and ready to go on XBLA. All we need now is for MS to cough up a release date.

An email saying VERY SOON is all we require to enter a state of religious rapture.

(Via The Shack)

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Duran Duran bringing MILD SUGGESTIVE THEMES to Rock Band

The downloadable business area of Rock Band has taken a turn for the 1980s, with tracks from American cult-poppers Devo and British stadium stars Duran Duran appearing for purchase, subsequent download and eventual playing via the music game's store.

Duran Duran are contributing two new tracks to the party game scene - Rio and Girls on Film. We can only hope that these are mere tasters for the eventual - and triumphant - arrival of Wild Boys and The Reflex. A View to a Kill would also be most welcome, thanks.

Devo weren't very famous over here in the UK, so their two songs - Through Being Cool and Girl U Want - mean nothing to me.

(Via The MN)

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Viva Pinata spoofs Halo 'Museum' ad

Viva Pinata's Halo 3 spoof continues with this latest vid lampooning the famous "Museum" ad. It's a good idea for a campaign, selling the game's lighter tone nicely. Still, I think Rare runs the risk of overplaying the joke, unless they can come up with a really original take on Halo 3's mammoth ad campaign. Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise is currently listed for release on the 5th of September.

via Kotaku

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Latest Bionic Commando trailer showcases swinging action

This trailer for the upcoming fully 3D remake of Bionic Commando showcases for the first time the new take on the series' signature swinging mechanic. It's already looking nice, with a pleasing sense of speed evident in the character's swings through the scenery. The trailer suggests that we'll be using the arm to do more than swinging, with a showcase of plenty of combat moves that used bits of torn off scenery to thwack opponents out of the way. We've seen a lot of rather lacklustre 3D remakes of old series, but Bionic Commando at least looks like it's got a few good ideas.

via Xbox360 Fanboy

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A video of Mega Man 9's intentional badness

Yeah, looks rubbish. Like some crappy old NES game from 1986. But remember, the makers are doing that on purpose. For atmosphere and style reasons. To make it look all... interesting.

It works. This has already been mentally pigeon-holed as a must buy. How can you not love his stupid jumping face?

It would also appear Mega Man 9 is going to be one of the hardest games in the history of mankind, judging by the list of Achievements. And some of those jumps look technically impossible.

Boys can sit over there reading Dr Seuss books and getting crumbs on the floor. Men can play Mega Man 9.

(Via Game Trailers)

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VIDEO: How the installing games onto hard drive thing actually works

You know how installing games onto hard dive used to be the worst thing ever but has recently become the best thing ever since Microsoft said it was going to start doing it? Well, here's a look at how the system works on Xbox 360. Seems nice. Quick and painless. Easy. Straightforward.

This video of the Xbox 360 HD installation process is apparently "leaked" so don't blame me if it stops playing in half an hour.

The hard drive-installing option will appear as part of the mammoth Autumn dash reworking, whenever that arrives.

(Via VG247)

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Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe gameplay video looking quite good

Ok, we have been a bit skeptical about the new Mortal Komat/DC mashup but it is just possible that our fears are unfounded. Just because all other Mortal Kombat games have been a bit style over substance and all other DC superhero games have been a bit mutton dressed as lamb, it might just be a case of two meh tastes that taste yay together.

Certainly, if this video is anything to go by, Midway have put some real thought into the gameplay. Combos (or is that Kombos?) look to be much more controllable (Kontr- oh forget it) and despite being a 2D game at heart, battles roam around large 3D areas as characters get hurled through walls and fall off ledges, walloping each other as the ground hurtles upwards.

via Fanboy

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Afro Samurai trailer has samurais, afros.

Namco have let slip a new teaser trailer for their forthcoming Afro Samurai beat em up. It appears to be a fairly standard 3D brawler, albeit a fairly good looking one.

All the main cast from the Anime are present and correct - That's Ron 'Hellboy' Perlman, Kelly 'attractive lady' Hu and Samuel 'L.' Jackson, in case you are unfamiliar.

Actually, I am unfamiliar. I think it must be on one of the high-numbered channels that I can never be bothered going up to, so I can't comment on how well it conveys the feel of the cartoon. Anyone know if it is any good?

via Fanboy

Animated Dead Space prequel trailer is surprisingly impressive

This trailer to the animated prequel to upcoming survival horror game Dead Space is looking surprisingly good. Good production values, as well as a nice glimpse of what the full game will offer. Say what you like about EA when it comes to games design, the company's not one to underpromote its IPs. The game's due out this Halloween and will hopefully bolster the currently rather regrettable 360 horror library (Condemned notwithstanding).

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Comedy Horror films coming to Xbox LIVE

As part of its "Bringing Comic-con Home" coverage, a set of horror comedy shorts are due to go up on Live. Produced by Microsoft and Safran Digital Group, they'll all be free for download or streaming this Autumn, and will feature pieces of work from James Wan of 'Saw' fame, as well as David Slade (30 Days of Night, Hard Candy) and Marcus Nispel (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) among others. Full details on the jump.

It'll be interesting to see how what direction Microsoft's going to go with video content on Xbox Live. Providing movie rentals must be a solid earner, and the Redmond Giant's no doubt testing the waters with this original content. If it goes down well, then expect to see more Microsoft produced video on Xbox Live.

Creepy Dead Space lullaby trailer

When it comes to plugging a horror movie or survival horror game, nothing quite evokes an aura of unnerving 'orribleness like some jitteringly edited footage of unspeakable horror, counterpointed by a child's nursery rhyme. All ironical, like.

With this new trailer for sci-fi terror fest Dead Space, EA has made a fairly decent fist of things as the camera slowly pans through a corpse-strewn spacecraft as some woman sings "Twinkle twinkle, little star", intercut with scratchy wipes to snatches of in-game creature-on-hapless-spaceman action.

They missed a trick with the singer, though. Everyone knows that lullabys rendered in unsettling children's voices are 500% more fear inducing than breathy lady vocals, no matter how medicated she sounds. Schoolboy error - hope they pull their socks up for the actual game.

Still, this was still creepy enough to be banned by the US ESRB ratings board. Enjoy.

via Slice of SciFi

Motion controller is really real - video

From now on we should probably just run a regular daily column in which we alternate between "Yes, the Xbox Motion Controller is real" and "No, it is a lie".

It seems that the whole "Microsoft deny xbox WiiMote" thing was muddied by the fact that it is Motus, rather than MS who are bringing one out (or not).

Kotaku have a few videos of the 'Darwin' controller mentioned yesterday - and it doesn't look half bad. Ok, it will probably turn out to be a flash in the pan and people will make silly design decisions based around it just like they did with the WiiMote, but at least it won't be compulsory.

Here is a clip of two people using Darwin's innovative 'break it in half and share with a mate' technology to play co-op Lego Star Wars.

via Kotaku

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Gears of War 2 video footage, loads of

I'm probably supposed to say this is "awesome" and "staggering" even though, as far as I can tell, it's the same sort of super-dumb, one-dimensional shooting nonsense that bored the hell out of me for the few hours I bothered with the last one.

But if you like this kind of thing, here's some more of this kind of thing. In a video, for easy consumption.

There you go. That was some of that. Excuse my lack of enthusiasm, but low-grade sci-fi for idiots is something I got bored of about 15 years ago. I'd rather stare blankly at the marketplace dashboard or switch resolutions between 1080i to 720p for a couple of hours than touch any more Gears.

Anyone else want in on my Gears of War 2 pre-launch backlash?

(Via Team Xbox)

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Meet the Sniper- how game trailers should be done

You see- this is how game trailers should be done. No dressing up the game in FMV to make it look unrealistically better. No sad cliches. Just a really funny trailer that captures the black humour of the game, showcases some in-game moments nicely and uses the in-game assets really well. Absolute brilliance.

The game's pretty good too.

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New Sonic Unleashed footage - dare we dream?

Dare we? Dare we fantasise about this one, this game, this latest Sonic product finally being the return to form we have been waiting for? Could it be? has Sonic Team actually blended 2D play with 3D graphics like we've been bloody telling it to do for about 12 years?

Could it be? Could this be the legendary New Sonic Game That Doesn't Suck that has been foretold many times before? Or it just another false alarm?

Looks nice. Fast. Simple. The problem is, it's easy to make 3D games look great when the person doing the playing is a professional or one of the developers and has practised the levels for many hours. Imagine playing the above, only getting stuck on some scenery every seven seconds. Then dying. Not so nice, eh?

We will, however, permit ourselves to become mildly excited about the prospect of Sonic unleashed. Just for ten minutes or so. Then we'll go back to saying it'll "probably suck" on various internet forums.

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Prince of Persia trailer looks quite good

Ubisoft have released a trailer for the new Prince of Persia game (which might be called PoP:Prodigy, or might not).

It's pretty good looking, although clearly not gameplay footage. The trail does give us a look at your new best friend - Elika - who seems to be a dab hand at the old sparkly magic, as well as a one-on-one duel of the kind said to be the focus of combat in the game.

The game is due out for 'Holiday 2008'. For me, this will be a week in Cornwall, around September. When will it come out for you, and where?

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ADVERT BREAK: Ninja Gaiden II's Japanese commercial

You know how over here we always moan that GAME adverts never actually show any of the GAME? Things are a little bit different in Japan.

The Japanese Ninja Gaiden II advert doesn't just show a little bit of the game, it pretty much packs in the ENTIRE game, its plot and all of the action scenes into one staggeringly intense fifteen seconds of ultimate action. If this doesn't get you going, you're dead inside and out.

Fantastic. Trade in your GTA IVs - the new best game ever has arrived. NGII's out here on June 6th. That's eight days away. Sadly, it would appear that no retailers are organising midnight openings, despite the fact that it's obviously the Game of the Year.

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Prince of Persia to feature 'revolutionary' new AI assistant

Ubisoft producer Ben Mattes revealed some interesting tidbits about the new Prince of Persia series reboot.

We had already heard about the cel-shading and the focus on proper duelling but were a bit concerned that the game would be dropping the time-wrangling abilities that were put to such good use in Sands of Time and Two Thrones.

Fear not, says Mattes, the timey-wimey may be out the window, but Ubisoft are replacing it with a new feature that will surpass it.

Elika is a new sidekick character that Ubisoft assure us will be the last word in AI-driven helpers. As well as fulfilling a plot niche for a sidekick-cum-love-interest, Elika will be able to assist the player in every aspect of gameplay and not simply get under your curly-slippered feet like so many other AI bots.

"Not only is she making the game better, she's definitely not making the game worse" said Mattes.

There is no gameplay footage available yet, but this short video clip shows the art behind the character.

So far all we can offer is two words - eighties hair.

via 1Up