Weekend Wrapup..

First off, I hope everyone had a Hoppy Easter.. and I promise, that is the last pun I will throw at you. It's Monday, and probably my readership's tolerance for puns is at the weekly ebb.

Let's see..

Nice to see Harmonix is still in the game, as they've secured funding for three new IP's from a capital venture firm. Not much is known about the new IP's, but they are not related to their existing franchises (Rock Band, Dance Central, etcetera). Nice to see the local group still in the game. BTW, Harmonix, would you grant somebody the right to make the classic five button guitars? I'm looking to replace my guitar, and everyone wants an arm and a leg for them.

This is Foz's Total Lack of Surprise: Gamestop recently announced that more then a third of gamers who bought Bioshock Infinite and Gears of War 3 during the midnight release party or the day of release also paid the extra $20 for the Season Pass which allowed players to get access to DLC (and in Gears Of War 3's case, a Pay to Win double XP mode for online multiplayer). With such things growing, I wouldn't be surprise to see it being built in to the game from the start. "Oh, it was $50 last year, and $75 this year, but it comes with the free Season Pass built in to the game cost."

I came across a very interesting article about the history of Uber Entertainment (Creators of Monday Night Combat).. the one part that I found interesting was the fact that Uber had to fight Microsoft tooth and nail to get their game a featured spot on the ever popular Summer of Arcade, how a Microsoft screwup tanked the future of the popular series and the sad state of Microsoft Q&A, taking five plus weeks to approve Monday Night Combat updates. You can read the story at Polygon here.

And finally, from the "Department of Video Game Stupidity".. Machinima has released the first episode of a new series called Player versus Pain, which features people playing video games while being.. harassed let's say in potentially painful ways. The first episode features people playing Mario Kart while getting atomic wedgied. Now that I think of it, that sounds way too much like a lot of video game fanatics lives while growing up.

Oh, and one more thing. Before you believe any news today, check the date. Don't be the April Fool in your group. That, and remember, chocolate cures cancer!