Earlier today the Wall Street Journal let it be known that Apple Corps Ltd. has struck a deal with Viacom for the use of The Beatles music in the Rock Band series of games. Few details are known at this time as no information on which songs will be made available or how has been released yet. Further information may be made known at today’s press conference (10 AM EST). We’ll keep you updated.

UPDATE: The Beatles won’t be in Rock Band per se. Rather Harmonix will be creating a Beatles game using the Rock Band engine that will support all Rock Band peripherals. Stay tuned to our thread on the subject for updates.

News courtesy Tiktaalik @ Neogaf via Kotaku via WSJ Online

The long-rumored new Nintendo DS was announced at the Nintendo Fall Press Conference last night. As was recently reported by Nikkei Net, the new Nintendo DSi contains both a music player and a camera (two cameras actually). It also features a larger screen, improved web browser, SD Card slot, and access to the Nintendo Store. It does not, however, have a Game Boy Advance slot anymore. So be prepared to download all those GBA cartridges you’ve held on to. We’ve got some more pictures after the jump.
(Thanks to 1up for the info.) [Read the rest of this entry…]

Black is white, up is down, and Jack Thompson is… funny? Mr. Thompson, the notorious anti-game lawyer (well, former lawyer) best known for his crusade against the Grand Theft Auto series, has made a rare appearance outside of the news channels to crack some jokes on the Jace Hall Show. The clip can be seen here and I’ve got to say that, as a politically minded gamer I’m not reall sure what to make of this. It’s akin to seeing George W. Bush play himself in a war parody; humorous, yet deeply unsettling. I laughed though, I think I need to go take a shower.

Thanks to GamePolitics and Baker from NeoGAF for the scoop. So unclean…

Looks like it’s that time of year again.
What’s that you say? Fall?
Wrong.
It’s EA buyout time! Earlier today Electronic Arts Inc. issued a press release stating their plans to purchase VG Holding Corp., owners of both BioWare Corp. & Pandemic Studios. BioWare is, of course, known for both the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the upcoming Mass Effect for the Xbox 360. Pandemic Studios are the brains behind the Destroy All Humans! and Mercenaries series. Yahoo! Finance has all the gory, monetary details here.

Today Marvel unveiled the new Captain America, designed by renowned painter of super grandpas heroes; Alex Ross. While the design shares much with the classic Cap design there are some notable changes such as the black pants, the lack of chainmail, and the gat. Writer Ed Brubaker states that this new Cap isn’t Steve Rogers and indeed all signs point to Cap’s former partner and the Winter Soldier; Bucky Barnes. We’ve got more pictures after the jump.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Well I’ll be, I remember being excited for this back in high school… word came in today from Billboard (via Pitchfork) that former, and now current, Rage Against the Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha has finally completed his solo album, you know… the one he started working on back in 2000 when the rest of the band left to form the not-terrible-but-terribly-disappointing Audioslave? Pitchfork’s Matthew Solarski had this to say:

De la Rocha collaborated with Golden stickman and one-time Mars Volta/Royal Trux drummer Jon Theodore on the LP and recorded some of it at a studio belonging to acousti-surfer-dude Jack Johnson. Zack doesn’t have a title for the record and is still considering his release options, so no word yet when he’ll rally ’round your family with this pocket full of new songs.

It’s also unclear whether post-millennial de la Rocha collaborations with DJ Shadow, ?uestlove, and Trent Reznor will make the LP. Billboard.com, however, quotes a source saying that Zack’s first solo foray sounds like a mix of “Led Zeppelin and Dr. Dre. Some of it has the power you’d expect from him in Rage.” So there’s that.

Hmm… I’ll be remaining cautiously optimistic about the whole thing, but my inner 15-year-old can’t f***ing wait.

CYBERTRON VS CYBERDENE

I understand there’s a “Transformers/Terminator” comic book series on the way. Will it be Dynamite, will it be IDW?

Will it be as bad as “Transformers/Avengers?” No.

Sounds alright to me. Hopefully they’ll get a good writer attached, I nominate Greg Pak.

The Police getting back together? Whatever.
Def Leppard reunion? Meh.
Kiss doing another farewell tour? Double-meh.
But… Zeppelin?
Led Zeppelin?
I’ve got at least one used-but-not-abused (well, slightly abused) kidney ready to sell for tickets if anyone is interested.
It looks like the late John Bonham’s son Jason will be joining the three remaining members of the band; Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones on stage for a one-time concert at London’s O2 arena. This will be the first time the three have played together in almost 20 years. Lord willing, it’ll spark off a full-fledged tour with at least a few shows in the states. BBC News has the full story here.
Now, about that kidney…