Remember the days of oldschool games, when you just got *the game*; the regular edition as an only option, and none of these fancy frills and extra features or crazy box art and different colors – just the game?

Yeah, that doesn’t happen anymore.

Seems Rockstar announced that Grand Theft Auto 4 will also be getting a gussied-up version of the game as well. GTA: IV Special Edition will come in a safety deposit box-like cover, with a special art book and production art all bundled in, along with a CD sampler of music from the game and a Rockstar keychain. Aaaaand, dun dun dun….a duffle bag. Pre-ordering for the special edition has already commensed, at a retail value of $89.99

Grand Theft Auto 4 releases this October 16th in North America & October 19th in Europe for both PS3 and Xbox 360.

Sony has teamed up with veteran gaming monopoly Konami, and vested its efforts into releasing digital distributions of Konami’s video game music library. Song from Castlevania to Silent Hill, and from Contra to Gradius, will all be digitally released by Sony’s BGM Entertainment.

“Music has been at the foundation of Konami’s games for decades, and now consumers will be able to enjoy these classic tunes on their own”, quotes Konami’s music manager of Digital Entertainment Michael Rajna. Music will be availible for purchase from places such as iTunes and Rhapsody, as well as for mobile-phone download.

Seems like a bit of a stretch to me for Sony and Konami alike, seeing as how most of these VG tunes can be downloaded for free either by fansites or from torrent downloads. I suppose only sales will tell whether or not it’s an actual money-making venture. Konami’s music has been a keynote of it’s games for over two decades, and something like this is only just now being released? Kinda slow on the uptake if you ask me, but that’s just my humble opinion.

Well kids, looks like your anxious waiting and thumb-twiddling has come to an end. Microsoft has confirmed that Halo 3 will be released with a date of September 25th of this coming fall for North America. Europe will have to wait an extra day. Sorry Euros.

This announcement comes mere hours before the official beta release of the game early tomorrow morning. Three editions have also been said to be made – the regular edition for normal price, the Limited Edition for $10 more, and the uber Legendary Edition for the ungodly price of $129.99 – all of which can now be pre-ordered. So save up, all you Master Chief wannabees. Despite the fact you’ll still be waiting a decent chunk of time, this should still prove to be an interesting trip.

Bungie.net: Finish The Fight: September 25

Fangoria Magazine, which is one of America’s top horror news & reviews sites, has apparently launched their own line of comic books. Fangoria Comics as one would imagine, will feature numerous weird and supernatural titles, some of which are based on upcoming underground horror flims done by the likes of Wes Craven and Robert Kurtzman. The website itself will feature a news blog, as well as contest and exclusive swag to be had. Always good, right?

So if you’re into stories and images that look like Todd McFarlane’s surreal dreams, then you might want to check these out. Or, you know, you could always just look at the pretty pictures.

http://www.fangoriacomics.com/

I’m just reporting all sorts of teasers this weekend.

Seems the new teaser site for the upcoming Batman: Dark Knight movie has been thrown up. Of course, it’s not much to look at right now – only the Batman logo in front of a blue and white explosion-esque background. Still, it means that possible teaser trailers could be in the near future as well.

Check out the teaser site HERE.

This weekend’s Square-Enix party in Chiba, Japan revealed some more interesting tidbits and videos about upcoming titles and plans for the future. Did you expect anything less?

Amongst the flurry of closer video presentation and excitable cosplayers, Square-Enix dropped some more information regarding the new Final Fantasy: Dissidia game for the PSP, including playable characters for the title such as Zidane and Kuja from FFIX, Warrior of Light from the original game, and….big surprise….Sephiroth! Or at least, that’s what has lead viewers of the footage believe. Of course, we won’t know until the official confirmation as to whether or not the famous villian would truly be playable.

Some new footage of a new entry to the Kingdom Hearts series was also featured, but was left vague as to whether or not it was related to the KH3 teaser at the end of the second game, or if it is part of a side-story and new game altogether. Word has it confusion probably won’t be cleared up until the Tokyo Game Show in September.

Ah Square-Enix, you are the cock-tease of the gaming world.

Monty Python’s got nothing on this.

In the town of Linz, Austria, a possibly rabid rabbit attacked a 74-year old woman in her back yard while she was hanging up her laundry. The the hysterical hare launched itself at the old woman, and while it didn’t exactly “nibble her bum”, it did manage to bite her foot and caused her to fall, before her husband managed to come out to battle the beast. When police arrived on the scene, they managed to subdue the beast. Unfortunately, no holy hand granades were availible at the time, so the policemen had to improvise by shooting the rodent when it tried to attacked them as well.

No lackies were harmed during the brutal encounter.

You can read the heroic tale HERE.

Like Soul Calibur, but not a big fighting-game buff? Seems there might be an upcoming alternative.

Soul Calibur Legends has been announced by Namco to be released for the Wii, and has been dubbed as an “adventure game” rather than the series usual forte with fighting. The player will travel through the 16th century, and will run into the Soul Calibur crew along their way. Sword-based combat will obviously utilize the Wiimote for the basics of Hack’n Slash. A release date has not, as of yet, been released to the general public, and will be anxiously awaited in the future.

If this type of gameplay seems familiar, it should. A similar type of “adventure combat” was used in fellow fighter series Mortal Kombat’s newest release Armageddeon, where the character ran around in “Konquest Mode” collecting items and fighting enemies, and would occationally enter into into a Combat Mode, where you would then fight your opponent one-on-one like you would in the regular fighting mode. Whether or not Soul Calibur means to do the same or something similar remains to be seen.

This week’s edition of Famitsu has an article on the new addition to the SC series, so check it out.