Its been some time since Valve and EA announced they’d bring the stunning Half Life 2 to the Xbox 360 & PS3. Its been an even longer time since Valve commited to an episodic sequel instead of a full on development of Half Life 3.

Valve’s updated their Steam service with news that Episode 2 is nearly complete! This is great news because it means they can get it up for download very soon and the wait is almost over. Well thats great news for PC Gamers anyway.

Console folks like myself can rest easy knowing that full focus will soon shift toward completing Episode 2 for consoles, to be released in the “Orange Box” edition with the new online Multiplayer Team Fortress 2 and the gravity physics puzzle game Portal, not to mention the full release of Half Life 2 and Episode 1. Even at the premium price of $59.99 for a next gen game, thats a crazy amount of content!

Hey, thats not all, Game Head went to Valve’s offices recently, and you can watch the full episode below…
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E3, the once great video game Exposition, has been reduced to a shadow of its former self. What was once a never-ending cacophony of lights, sound and swag is now an invitation only press event. While we can still expect industry-shaping keynotes from the big three hardware developers, the show floor is barely recognizable. Industry giants, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, THQ and others have been relegated to a 20’X20′ space.

Quite a contrast to previous E3s where developers battled each other for total show supremacy. After last year’s expo, which was completely dominated by Nintendo and the newly revealed Wii, Sony and Microsoft decided that paying millions or dollars for little or, worse yet, negative press coverage just wasn’t worth the effort. They basically took their ball and went home. The other big companies followed suit and now we have, what I’ve dubbed, Neo-E3, or the E3 Media & Business Summit.

Moved from May to July, and Los Angeles to Santa Monica, the newly redesigned expo is meant to create a smaller, more intimate environment for developers and publishers to talk shop. Neo-E3 is also designed to make it easier for independent developers to roll out their wares to potential publishers, (even though next to no indie devs are on the roster).

Hopefully we can expect more direct feed footage and one on one interviews with the movers and shakers of the industry. The E3 Media & Business Summit will take place from July 11-13th.

What are your thoughts on the redesigned E3 expo?

Criterion and EA have just revealed the title for the Burnout 5, Paradise. The above trailer shows very little, in fact the crashes the series is known and loved for are nonexistant. Wake me when something interesting happens.

Burnout Paradise will be out this winter on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Press Release follows…
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In what may be the most ambitious music game ever conceived, the developers of Guitar Hero have teamed with MTV and mega-publisher Electronic Arts to release Rock Band for PS3 and Xbox 360 this winter. USA Today brings us the story.

Take Guitar Hero II’s guitar/bass co-op play, add in some Karaoke Revolution singing, and keep the beat with a set of drums. Theres been no mention of how the drums will look or operate, but with so many successful music games under their belt, Harmonix should be able to find something that works for casual and hardcore gamers alike.

Game|Life reports from the press event early Monday that there will no longer be cover versions of songs, instead you’ll be treated to the real thing. Latency problems that kept Guitar Hero II from having full online multiplayer have been resolved and Harmonix promises your band can have practice online instead of in your garage. And though not formally announced at this time, a Wii version is inevitable.

Now… is it too much to ask they get The Clash in there?

These days, we don’t hold Electronic Arts with very high regard. They eat up smaller game developers and rehash thier key franchises year after year. Besides thier sports games, Battlefield games, and Def Jam fighters, there isn’t a whole lot to expect from EA. However, during the 16 bit days, they released some fairly awesome stuff, particulary on the Sega Genesis. Who can forget such underrated gems like Desert Strike, Road Rash, and Mutant League Football?

Last fall, EA released this surprising collection of 14 games from their past. Most of these games are based off the SNES and Genesis ports instead of the original PC games (I.E Ultima and Wing Commander), but they still manage to hold up fairly well. The presentation is bare-bones compared to other classic gaming collections, but you can save anywhere mid-game, view tips and hints about each game, and unlock artwork and other features. I’m a huge sucker for classic gaming compilations, this one included. If you own a PSP and want to get a glimpse of what EA was like before pumping out Madden each year, then grab this disc. EA might not have been Capcom, but they still made some solid titles.

In late 2002, EA announced a 3-way partnership with developer Aki and hip hop label Def Jam.  The unlikely union resulted in 2003’s Def Jam Vendetta, a mix of wrestling and hip hop.  Although people were skeptical about the game at first, it became an instant hit when it was released.  However, a few things held it back from true greatness, mainly the lack of a create-a-character feature (something common place in most wrestling games) and the lack of play modes.  Enter Def Jam: FFNY which would rectify both of these situations.

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I innocentedly rented Burnout 3 a couple years ago. I think I read on Penny Arcade that it was fun.

Something inside me changed that day. I became a firm believer in not only crashing cars but also that Xbox Live is awesome. Burnout Revenge was even better, and even though I hated the DS entry, I still looked forward to a next Burnout. The pilot episode of Powet.TV was me gushing for over 20 minutes about Revenge. Don’t look for it, I wisely never posted it. I’m a Burnout fan and when I meet people who are not Burnout fans I can only assume its because they’ve not played the game and therefore are unaware of the awesome they are missing. Or, it’s because they are stupid.

1up has a preview of Burnout 5 on PS3 and Xbox 360. The game promises to use the Revenge feature from the last game and implement it into the multiplayer in a much bigger way and also into the single player. Oh yeah, Burnout is going for an open world this time. I don’t know if I like that, but as long as the races are nuts and the crash courses are deep and I can still use non-racer traffic like ballistics, I’ll be happy. Oh, they’re also bringing back all the goofy cars and trucks from Burnout 3 instead of focusing on just race cars.

Theres very little to show from the game now, but considering how good the previous games looked on PS2, theres little doubt they’ll blow away Motorstorm. And the new physics engine controlling everything (not just your car) definitely should yeild some more interesting crashes. Release date is set for summer, which is just the kind of excuse I need to stay inside when the weather is actually hospitable in Wisconsin.

Oh, and the series will continue on PSP and PS2 since that console still has some life left in it. Burnout: Dominator will be out in March. Dominator is being developed in house by EA and not the series creators Criterion Games, so it’s hard to say if it will offer any innovation or just more tracks. Either way, anyone who didn’t make the next-gen jump will have a pretty good game to play.

Nearly 3 years after the release of the Black Album, Jay-Z has released a new single.
“Show Me What You Got” is a classic banger from producer Just Blaze, and we could expect nothing less. A video for the song has been shot and will appear on MTV monday, and on YouTube within minutes, no doubt.

Jay-Z’s very public retirement has had him taking over Def Jam and even appearing in NBA Live 07, though few believed he would leave rapping behind, as he continued to appear on albums by the likes of Kanye West and Beyonce.

MTV reports Hova’s long rumoured comeback album, Kingdom Come will be released November 23rd.