As you can see, users wasted no time creating custom characters and cars.  It should be interesting to see what else users come up with as the beta continues and also when the full game is released.

ModNation Racers Beta Spawns Incredibly Customizable Character Creations [Scrawl FX]

It looks like someone at Microsoft didn’t edit things properly.  They just threw the description of the the theme on PS3 on the Xbox 360 marketplace.  Way to go.

XMB comes to XBLM? [Kotaku][Img]

Instead of hanging your old controllers from the tree, you have the option of buying these and using them.  I don’t know if I’ll have a tree this year for Christmas(that is what I celebrate, yes) but if I do, I probably will look into these. Why? Because I’m a nerd.

[Ponoko via Technabob via Gizmodo]

Man, so much time tied up today in meetings and “secret stuff” I didn’t get any time with ME2 at all. =( Still with the coming surprise for next week on the ME2 website, I’m sure fans will forgive me for no update. Did I, Evil Chris Priestly, just drop a hint? Yes. Yes I did.

For now we’ll just have to wait to see what this surprise is. No official date was given, but fans should keep their eyes peeled this week on the Mass Effect 2 website.

[Via Mass Effect 2 Facebook Fan Page]

For those interested the sale begins November 27th at 6am and continues throughout the week, with Doorbuster sales 6am to 11am only. So plan your schedule accordingly, or just do your shopping online.

Xbox 360:

• Xbox 360 Elite Holiday Bundle – $299 (plus Bakugan or COD: Modern Warfare Free) Doorbuster
• Call of Duty: World at War – $39.99 (Save $20) Doorbuster
• Batman: Arkham Asylum – $39.99 (Save $20) Doorbuster
• Buy 2, Get 1 Free on All Pre-owned Games & Accessories (Friday – Sunday)
• Guitar Hero III (pre-owned) – $4.99 (50% off)
• Guitar Hero World Tour (pre-owned) – $14.99 (50% off)
• Guitar Hero Aerosmith (pre-owned) – $7.49 (50% off)
• Gears of War (pre-owned) – $9.99
• Buy any new Xbox 360 Game, Get 50% Off any new Xbox 360 Family Game
• Halo 3 ODST – $39.99
• Forza 3 – $39.99
• The Beatles Rock Band – $49.99 (Save $10)
• Free AC/DC Track Pack w/ any Rock Band Purchase ($59.99 Value)
• Tekken 6 – $39.99 (Friday only)
• Left4Dead 2 – $39.99 (Friday only)
• Guitar Hero 5 – $39.99 (Friday only)
• Need for Speed Shift – $39.99 (Friday only)
• Call of Juarez Bound in Blood – $19.99 (Friday only)
• Prototype – $29.99 (Friday only)
• Dynasty Warriors 6 – $19.99 (Friday only)
• Borderlands – $49.99 (Fri-Sun)
• Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition – $49.99 (Fri-Sun)
• Grand Theft Auto IV – $19.99 (Fri-Sun)
• NCAA Football 10 – $49.99 (Save $10)
• Dirt 2 – $49.99 (Save $10)
• WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2010 – $49.99 (Save $10)
• Spiderman: Web of Shadows – $19.99 (Save $10)

PS3:

• PS3 120GB Holiday Bundle w/ God of War I & II, LittleBigPlanet – $299 Doorbuster
• Call of Duty: World at War – $39.99 (Save $20) Doorbuster
• Batman: Arkham Asylum – $39.99 (Save $20) Doorbuster
• Buy 2, Get 1 Free on All Pre-owned Games & Accessories (Friday – Sunday)
• Guitar Hero III (pre-owned) – $4.99 (50% off)
• Guitar Hero World Tour (pre-owned) – $14.99 (50% off)
• Guitar Hero Aerosmith (pre-owned) – $7.49 (50% off)
• Madden NFL 08 (pre-owned) – $2.99
• Free AC/DC Track Pack w/ any Rock Band Purchase ($59.99 Value)
• Tekken 6 – $39.99 (Friday only)
• Prototype – $29.99 (Save $20)
• Guitar Hero 5 – $39.99 (Save $20)
• Borderlands – $49.99 (Fri-Sun only)
• Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition – $49.99 (Fri-Sun only)
• Grand Theft Auto IV – $19.99 (Fri-Sun only)
• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger – $39.99 (Save $10)

Nintendo Wii

• Wii Sports Resort – $49.99 (Free Xtra Wii MotionPlus) Doorbuster
• Dead Space Extraction – $19.99 Doorbuster
• Need for Speed: Nitro – $19.99 Doorbuster
• MySims Agents – $19.99 Doorbuster
• Spore Hero – $19.99 Doorbuster
• Buy 2, Get 1 Free on All Pre-owned Games & Accessories (Friday – Sunday)
• Super Mario Galaxy (pre-owned) – $39.99 w/ Free Wii Music
• Wii Play (pre-owned) – $9.99
• Free AC/DC Track Pack w/ any Rock Band Purchase ($59.99 Value)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash Up – $29.99 (Save $20)
• The Price is Right – $19.99 (Save $20)
• Chicken Blaster w/ Rifle – $29.99 (Save $10)
• Ben 10 Alien Force – $9.99 (Save $10)
• World of Zoo – $29.99 (Save $10)
• Drawn to Life – $39.99 (Save $10)

Nintendo DS

• Nintendo DS Original Pre-owned System – $49.99 (Reg. $59.99)
• Zelda: Phantom Hourglass – $19.99
• Pokemon Ranger: Shadows Of Almia – $12.99
• Buy 2, Get 1 Free on All Pre-owned Games & Accessories (Friday – Sunday)

Sony PSP

• PSP Original Pre-owned System – $79.99 (Reg. $99.99)
• SOCOM Fireteam Bravo 2 – $9.99
• Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters – $9.99
• Buy 2, Get 1 Free on All Pre-owned Games & Accessories (Friday – Sunday)
• Rainbow Six Vegas – $9.99 (Save $10)
• Monster Hunter 2 – $19.99 (Save $10)
• Crisis Core: Final Fantasy Vii – $9.99 (Save $10)

PC Games

• World of Warcraft – $4.99 (Save $15)
• Warcraft Battlechest – $19.99 (Save $20)
• Guild Wars Trilogy – $24.99 (Save $25)
• Left4Dead 2 – $29.99 (Save $20)
• Sims 3 World Adventures Expansion Pack – $29.99 (Save $10)

Accessories

• Buy 2, Get 1 Free on All Pre-owned Games & Accessories (Friday – Sunday)
• Xbox 360 Energizer Controller Charger – $19.99 (Save $10)
• PS3 Energizer Controller Charger – $19.99 (Save $10)
• Wii Sports Pack – $9.9 (50% off)

Gamestop Black Friday Ad Leaked [GAMERDeals]

Estavillo plans on suing Microsoft for the RROD(red ring of death) his Xbox has received. Estavillo says that being disabled, he can’t afford to pay the “well over $100″ fee to get his system fixed and can’t afford purchasing a new one.  Estavillo feels “that Microsoft should have to bear the burden that is now put on the shoulders of this disabled plaintiff.”  Microsoft is being sued for $75,000 for the “undue stress” Erik has undergone since his 360 bit the dust.

As for Nintendo, he’s pissed off at suing them because a system update blocked his homebrew channel. He used  the channel so he could unlock characters in Mario Kart Wii.  He states that the only way to unlock a single character in Mario Kart Wii is to own Super Mario Galaxy.

Estavillo said, “In essence, Nintendo is forcing customers to buy another game to unlock one character in a different game.” He only wants $5,000 from Nintendo for interfering in his “pursuit of happiness.” He is also seeking an injunction to stop Nintendo from “deleting, blocking or prohibiting the Homebrew Channel and Ocarina applications.”

What a mess huh? Estavillo has said he suffers from obsessive -compulsive disorder along with many other conditions.  Let me tell you, we could tell, someone seems a little obsessed with suing video game companies.

Banned Resistance Gamer Targets MS and NOA in Latest Suits [Game Politics]

Paul Helquist, Design Director for Gearbox, is the man you can thank for the information, saying:

“We think of it about the same size as one of the smaller zones in the main game. It’s probably four to six hours of new gameplay with a lot of new regions, new monsters, that kind of thing. It’s probably about the size of the Arid Badlands [the starting zone] and one or two of the doglegs.”

You can access the content from any of the fast travel stations throughout the game, even if you have not unlocked teleportation yet in the story. The Island also scales the enemies you encounter to your level, allowing anyone to access the content at any time, with the area rescaling if you happen to return. However, the minimum level the enemies can be is level 10, so jumping into the DLC with a fresh level 1 character wouldn’t be your best bet.

Helquist’s official words regarding the scaling of the DLC are as follows:

“As soon as you enter the download content, it detects what level you are and sets the area to about the same level of what you’re at. So whenever you buy the DLC, wherever your character happens to be, you can go into Jakobs Cove and you should be good to go.”

Also expect to be fighting many more enemies at once than in the original areas of the game. With many new enemies, and variations on old enemies, feeling overwhelmed by a zombie horde shouldn’t be a problem in this DLC.

“Zombie Island Of Doctor Ned” releases November 24th, 2009 on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Gearbox Dishes on ‘Borderlands’ DLC [MTV Multiplayer]

Although, he did announce that there will be subscriptions for premium content and services.  Hirai said,

SCE will further increase sales by offering users new entertainment through the combination of hardware, software, peripheral and PlayStation Network, Especially in the online area, we are studying the possibility of introducing a subscription model, offering premium content and services, in addition to the current free services

Well, this must be a sigh of relief for all those who thought they would soon have to pay for the PSN online services.

The way it is worded makes it sound like there could possibly be a subscription similar to Xbox live on its way to PSN. As of right now, there really is not much information, so it would be best not to speculate as to what the “subscription” could be for.

The slide below is from the conference(click to enlarge).  As soon as more information on this is made available we will update you.

What do you think it could possibly be?  Do you think that Sony is going to start to charge users for online services?

Sony Media/Investor Conference [Sony via SF Examiner]

The latest big news in videogames now is putting Facebook and Twitter on consoles, and now you can visit Facebook from your PS3, and find out what your friends are up to, if you’re too lazy to look away from the TV screen and look to your phone or laptop or out the Window for smoke signals.

As if to remind us that they got there first, Microsoft has sent us this press release:

Now Play and Enjoy Social Networking with Xbox 360

* Xbox 360 Continues to deliver the Leading Games and Entertainment Experiences
* Connect to Facebook and Twitter with your Xbox 360
* Great value addition for 20 million users on Xbox Live
* Tweet and Update your status while playing your favourite game
* Compare your Xbox LIVE and Facebook friends’ lists to see which of your friends are on LIVE

For people who are addicted to Social networking and can’t seem to get enough of it, here is breaking news! Microsoft now gives its ardent Xbox 360 fans an opportunity to go Live and enjoy social networking along with games right on the gaming console! This next wave of Social Networking will be available on Xbox LIVE from the 17th November, 2009, and transform the Xbox LIVE into the most entertaining connected experience ever!

Jaspreet Bindra, Regional Director, Entertainment and Devices Division, Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. shared the excitement around the launch by saying “Since the time of the launch of Xbox 360 and XBOX Live, we have always heard our customers and continuously worked to enhance their interactive entertainment experience. The addition of Facebook and Twitter brings an altogether different level of excitement and action for 20 million Xbox LIVE users across the globe. Only on Xbox 360 can you find the best in movies, music, games and now social networking tailor-made to suit your needs and demands.”

Keeping up with its promise of providing the best in entertainment, Xbox 360 will now become your complete source of social entertainment experience by enabling you to enjoy a lot more! So, here’s what you can do:

Facebook- Update your status to share what movie, game or entertainment you’re enjoying, connect with friends and view their Facebook stream, status updates and photos on the big screen – all seamlessly integrated and custom-built for Xbox 360. You can even compare your Xbox LIVE and Facebook friends’ lists to see which of your friends are on LIVE.

Twitter– Stay in the know by discovering, posting and replying to Tweets right on you’re Xbox 360. You can even view friend profiles, trends and conversations, or search to see who’s tweeting about your favorite game.

With these updates, Xbox 360 is bound to become the one-stop shop for everything. You can now connect with your friend’s online, show them your cool new victory in that favourite game that you play and proudly upload those pictures on your Facebook profile. All this and much more while you are still busy fighting the devils in the game. Sounds exciting? It sure is the best.

So, what are you waiting for? Make sure that you are right in front of your Xbox 360 on the 17th of November. Go LIVE and experience Social Networking like never before. Upload the picture of the cool new car you buy while playing Forza Motorsport 3 on your Facebook profile and make sure that your most recent tweet does talk about your victory on Halo 3: ODST.

There’s tons more to experience with Gold subscription as well. Play the latest game titles like “Halo 3: ODST” and “Forza Motorsport 3″ online multiplayer, participate in “1 vs. 100,” host an Xbox LIVE Party or even video chat with friends. All of these Gold-only features will be available all weekend long for anyone to try.

Personally, I don’t care. Integration of both those services with cellphones is already fantastic. And a videogame controller is not conducive to typing out messages, even just a couple of sentences at a time. Just about the only use for this entire mess is the integration of in-game achievements with publishing a status on Facebook, and other similar automated updates, to help you annoy people even more thoroughly, because clearly, Farmville and Mafia Wars weren’t enough. Sony’s Trophies are already confirmed to work like this, so I’m officially prepping the hide button on Facebook.