So, unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months you've heard of the Large Hadron Collider. The experiment that's supposed to help solve the biggest mysteries of how the universe works & how it was formed. Well, a girl by the stage name alpinekat (CERN is in Switzerland) breaks it down in a nice little ditty.

(links go to YouTube's High Quality versions)
-> alpinekat lays it down at CERN's LHC <-



Also, how you're going to die. & Europe, you're goin first; see you on the other side. Maybe it will spit us out in Bizarro World where Sony has the best online & the 360 is hotter than the DS in Japan.

-> Say goodbye <-

Media Molecule is holding a contest to add three designs to the final game. They'll be taking entries from anyone. One from the U.S., one from Europe, & one from Japan will be picked & added to the final game.

Now it doesn't explicitly say this, but I'd imagine that if they received many designs of a similar style they would be more inclined to choose one of them (presumably the best one). So, many Mr. Destructiod designs could lead to a Mr Destructoid SackBoy.

All the rules and how to submit are available at the official announcement site.

The contest will close (ends) on Tuesday, September 30th 2008 at 11:59 PST. So all entries have to be in by then to be considered.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FULL SIZE TEMPLATE Use the official template, one of the rules is to not resize the template.


The one thing I've found that might present a problem is the first Contest Rule. "don’t use existing logos or designs, content or imagery created by someone else. So that means no Spidey or Mr T costumes, you crazy fool!". I assume this rule is in there because they're afraid of being sued if using copyrighted material. (which i assume Mr. Destrucitoid is). Perhaps an official submission from DTOID would pass that rule though since it wouldn't be "imagery created by someone else."

But worse case scenario, they don't use it. Best case, they see it's unique & popular enough to get seriously considered.

Contest Rules

* Your SackBoy costume should be all your own work; don’t use existing logos or designs, content or imagery created by someone else. So that means no Spidey or Mr T costumes, you crazy fool!
* Only one costume design can be submitted per person.
* Do not resize the template – YxZ is just perfect the way it is.
* Only JPEG Format will be accepted for your design submissions.
* No questionable content; by that we mean stuff that’s illegal, gross or otherwise likely to give us nightmares.
* Further contest terms and conditions can be found here.


Once your costume design is ready, just attach it to an email and send it to playstation_community_support@playstation.sony.com , with My SackBoy Costume as the subject line.

Hold on! Don’t send it just yet! Make sure you include the following information in your email too:

* Your full name
* Your date of birth (must be over 13 to be accepted)
* Your PSN Online ID (if you have one)

Some select titles are going on sale (until the end of October). According to Major Nelson's blog Mass Effect, Lost Odyssey, Forza 2, Oblivion, Guitar Hero 3, & Beautiful Katamari DLC will be getting sale prices.



If i didn't already have all the Forza 2 DLC this would be awfully tempting.

also: the last Little Big Planet pre-order bonus has been revealed so my previous entry has been updated to reflect it. This one will also be available in Europe.

In a conversation regarding Gears 1 achievements (360 & PC) unlocking content in Gears 2; Cliff Bleszinski revealed that unlike Gears 1, Gears 2 will not be getting a PC version later.

"Cliff: You can unlock these characters in Gears 2 if you earn the Achievements in Gears 1 through Xbox 360 or PC, provided you are using the same Gamertag.

Does this mean you are planning a Windows version of "Gears of War 2"?

Cliff: Gears of War is a great franchise first and foremost for Xbox 360, and therefore we're focusing on that platform for Gears of War 2. We've decided we're not going to do a PC version this time around."


I'm disappointed & yet relieved at the same time. Disappointed in that I'll never be able to see what it would look like running on a high end PC at some insane resolution.

But relieved in that buying the collectors edition on launch will net me the maximum experience including all updates. (Gears 1 PC had some exclusive content not found on 360)

This make any of you more or less likely to buy Gears of War 2? Or no effect whatsoever?

The final U.S. box art has been released. How does it compare to the U.K.'s box art?
Which box art reigns supreme?

U.S.


U.K.



Also, more pre-order bonuses were revealed

Amazon.com is offering the "LittleBigPlanet Creator" miniguide which will help "Creators" 'Master the 'tools of the trade.'"



GameStop/EB Games/Software Etc./Funcoland/Babbages will offer a DLC version of a Kratos (god of war) SackBoy. (as cool as this seems, i think it sort of defeats the purpose of customizing your own)



GameCrazy has been revealed as the store offering a burlap game sack, to store your copy in. (sweetest one in this guy's opinon)



Circuit City will be offering the LittleBigStickerBook. This is the one for you if you like plastering your gear w/ colorful stickers.



The last & still unrevealed pre-order bonus is the Nariko SackGirl (heavenly sword). I'm just speculating here, but I'm guessing this is going to be either a Best Buy or BlockBuster bonus. Probably Best Buy. (now watch it be Target lol)


edit (9/5/08): It appears my first guess was right, The Nariko SackGirl will be a pre-order bonus from Best Buy



Also, this one will be available in Europe as well as a pre-order bonus from Play.

A sign of things to come? MS has announced that on August 15 the 60GB Xbox 360 will go on sale in the UK for £199.99.

This is the same price as the old 20GB model which is being phased out. Which probably means the 20GB will receive a per store price cut, I'd guesstimate somewhere around £170-180. in between the arcade & new 60GB.

gamesindustry.biz



This could very well be a further indication of the September price cuts leaked by ArsTechnica's notoriously reliable inside source

Early Sept price reduction on X360 hardware:

* Arcade (no hard drive) to $199
* Pro (60GB) to $299
* Elite (120GB) to $399

in addition to a leaked inventory screen by a member of VGCharts


& further proof that 8bitjoystick's more recently rumored schedule to release the 65nm CPU & GPU Jasper in Sept was accurate & on schedule. (as opposed to the slightly earlier August estimate by The Inquirer)

The previous version launched w/ the Halo 3 edition Xbox 360 last year, codenamed Falcon used 65nm CPU & 80nm GPU (reduced from the initial 90nm CPU & GPU).

Speculation has the new Jaspers using a 125-130W power brick. In comparison to Falcon which used a 170W & the original which had a 220W.