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

I’ve already spoken of the pure excitement I have over the forthcoming Half Life Orange Box, but this trailer in particular is quite entertaining. The art style is perfect for a game. While Valve has the best visuals in the industry for rendering regular people, the highly animated look of Team Fortress 2’s players is reaching Pixar levels. Yeah I’m saying it. We’re out of that glass eyed uncanny valley of Spider-Man 3 visuals and squarely into spirited animated movie territory.

Ultimates 2 #13 comes out this week. I’m telling you this, because I can see how you might miss it, or not even be expecting it. If you’ve been buying the series, then – much like me – you’re probably more than a little relieved to be seeing it end. I’m not even looking forward to it. I’m just looking forward to being done with it. So, now for something I am looking forward to…

X-Factor #19
written by Peter David, art by Khoi Pham

Peter David has been toiling along on this title, diligently writing interesting stories and absolutely wonderful character interactions, despite getting shafted with a rotating cast of artists that won’t stop. A recent high point of David’s work on the book includes leader Jamie Madrox (AKA, the Multiple Man) accidently bunked up with both M and Siryn on the same night, after getting drunk and hooking up with one, while a somewhat horny multiple of himself went to bed with the other.

This issue, unfortunately, will likely be a little light on such shenanigans. However, it does seem to be working hard on story points. I will warn you – the stories David tackles deal intimately with the fallout of House of M (“No more mutants”, remember?) and Son of M (Quicksilver can use crystals from the Inhumans to give former mutants their powers back – if you missed it, consider yourself caught up. Oh yeah, and he’s a little crazy now). If you have zero interest in the subject matter, this is still a pretty great book. It’s really well written, and it’s a great example of why a Peter David book is generally a pretty sure bet. And if you do have an interest in the material, then I can’t really imagine why you wouldn’t be reading this book already.

That said, last issue tied up a kind of meandering storyarc where Jamie was out collecting rogue multiples of himself (one had become an agent of SHIELD, one had become an agent of Hydra, one got himself shot to death by a bunch of cops right in front of him, and so on, and so on), so this issue should be kicking right into story material. Don’t be a jerk; jump on now and catch a great book before it’s gone.

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/

IGN’s Matt Casamassina posted a rumor stating Nintendo may cease producing the publication known as Nintendo Power by September, 2007. If the rumor turns out to be founded, it would mark the next step in what looks to be a massive restructuring of Nintendo’s internal teams. Last week Nintendo announced that the bulk of its Advertising and Marketing Departments would be moving to either New York or San Fransisco.

Sources close to IGN state that massive layoffs are currently taking place and that other employees have been told to begin looking for other employment.

“Nintendo Power” has been Nintendo’s official internal publication since 1988, and despite its reputation of being a propaganda instrument, the magazine recently went through a major retooling and became quite level-handed.

Check out the initial report here

I, for one, will be sad to see the mag go the way of the dodo. They offered decent swag from time to time and has remained a staple among the Nintendo faithful for almost 20 years.

Before FPS, RTS, and MMORPGS became the norm, it was adventure games that dominated the PC. These games challenged players to think logically in a way that can’t be surpassed by today’s games. Weather it’s the point/click interface, command prompt, or first person adventure, the games challenged players to think their way out of predicaments rather than simply blow away their enemies. They came in all different flavors from Sam and Max and Leisure Suit Larry, to Myst and Monkey Island. Sierra’s King’s Quest series was one of the great standouts of the genre. With stories penned by Roberta Williams, the series told about the trials and tribulations of the royal family of Daventry.
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Now we all love our console games, but I think it’s time we start showing the PC some cheap gaming love. I’m no computer snob, but PC games have certain perks over their console brethren (i.e. more precise control settings, user-created content) just as console games have their advantages over PC games (i.e. not having to pre-install a game to their hard drive or buy $200+ graphics and sound cards in order to have their copies of Oblivion and Far Cry look halfway decent). Only time I’ve ever featured a PC game on here is when it’s a PC port of a console game. Now that I finally got a computer capable of running games, it’s time to spotlight the other side of gaming, and we’re gonna do just that with this week’s $20 GOTW and Lost Classics.
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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.