Veterans day was this past week. In honor of our brave men and women fighting for this country, we have a special $20 GOTW/Lost Classics, centering on games about our military fighting to defend our livelihood. Although one game is more realistic than the other, both of these games are so good, that you will be proud to be an American as you play them. So sit back, enjoy, and remember the sacrifices of our brave men and women, in both the real world and in digital form.

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Election season has passed and we’ve elected a new president. To commemorate this occasion, this week’s $20 GOTW focuses on a contest, which, just like politics can get brutal and leave a lasting effect on its participants. This week’s lost classic represents a bold change in the formula of a well known classic shooter franchise. So head on in and celebrate the end of this historic election season.
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For the life of me, I don’t know why EA decided to call this a Command and Conquer game. It has nothing to do with Tiberium, the conflict between GDI and NOD, Kane, or even the alternate universe of the Red Alert games. Heck, it doesn’t even have C&C’s trademark cheeseball live action FMV cutscenes. It shares more in common with Blizzard RTS games such as Starcraft and Warcraft than any previous C&C game. It’s pretty much as if EA wanted to show off its new Strategy Action Game Engine (SAGE), and couldn’t think of a better name for the game than its classic RTS franchise. This game is more like what would have happened if Blizzard made a Starcraft game and set it in the modern era. HOWEVER (and this is a big however), if you’re a fan of RTS games, then you should not ignore this title. It’s the first C&C (after the FPS Renegade) to be fully 3-d, and it adds several twists to the gameplay to set itself apart from other RTS titles. It might not be a ‘true’ C&C game, but it’s worthy enough to stand alongside the rest of the series.
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WYOU Community TV in Madison, WI is in the middle of a 4 week series of airing local Rock Band gamers playing short sets and pitting them against each other for prizes. I stopped by the studio last week and filed this report for The Daily Page: Stars are born with Virtual Rock Band on WYOU

Read more by Zac Shipley at The Daily Page.

Wii gamers who haven’t added a 360 or PS3 to their console cabinet can rejoice that Rock Band, the best reason to own a next gen console, is making its way to waggle town.
Good News: Its coming June 22 in the US for $169.99 Full press release follows after the jump.
Bad News: No song downloads. And no online play. All the friend codes in the world won’t help you now.
Worse News: Europe still has no release date for any system.
Strong bets are the Wii version is a port of the PS2 release, which also excluded the character customization. Harmonix insist it isn’t an idea they’ve given up on, but they’re hampered by Nintendo’s shortcomings in this arena.
There is only one way to save Rock Band on Wii, and thats to make all the in game characters into Miis. Yes, its no replacement for the online functionality that makes the game the sure hit, but it would at least play well to the Wii Sports audience. Also it wouldn’t hurt to ship the game in stereo sound, unlike Guitar Hero III.

From Kotaku: Harmonix: No DLC for Rock Band Wii…Yet

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A while ago EA announced a partnership with legendary director Steven Spielberg to produce new video games, many of us shuddered to think of the Atari 2600 version of E.T.

What actually happened is a puzzle game for Wii that I can only think to describe as “Combat Jenga.” Looks fun, though I don’t think I can decipher the rules or gameplay from this trailer.

Theres been some problems with the first batch of guitars, drum pedals, and even microphones that come with Rock Band. Luckily, there is now a way to quickly fix them without sending off for a full repair and replace from EA.

Courtesy of Mega64.

As promised, I’m back with part 2 of our special wrestling edition of the $20 Game of the week. In this edition, we’ll take a look at WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008, as well as three other wrestling games that you can find on the cheap. So say your prayers and take your vitamins, because it’s time to walk down the aisle and go one on one with the great one. Remember, to be the man, you gotta beat the man! WOOOOOOO!
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