Hugo Weaving may have landed the role of Megatron in the 2007 Transformers movie, but the video game adaptation will feature Frank Welker. This will be the first time Frank Welker has voiced Megatron in over 20 years, last seen in Transformers The Movie in 1986. According to GameSpot, Welker will be joined by Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime. GameSpot also has an interview with Frank Welker, and one with Peter Cullen.

GameSpot also released 3 new screenshots from the game, shown here. All three feature Bumblebee fighting Decepticons.

Update! The rub with posting stuff like this in the morning is that by the evening all the press-releases are out and I gotta update the post. So, check out the new game site, http://www.transformersgame.com/. Make sure you’ve got your flash up to date and you’ll get more screen shots from the game , the developers’ blog, and, even a poll to name some of the new Transformers that appear in the game. Coolest of all is a new interview with Peter Cullen and Frank Welker. Just click through to the videos section for that. Bonus: watching Welker talk and hearing Fred from Scooby Doo.

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?

Tired of shooting things in real life? Well, now you can trade in your gun and get an Xbox… If you live in Mexico City. Oh, and also, only if it’s a “smaller gun.” If you trade in a “high-caliber weapon like a machine gun” you get a computer instead. No word on if a BB Gun gets you an original Xbox. And hey, maybe they’re actually talking about the original Xbox and not the 360… But I tell you what – I’m not about to run down to Mexico with a bunch of guns to find out for myself. You, however, have that option available to you. (Not really. Please don’t try smuggling guns into Mexico.) So head down to Mexico and make the trade today (seriously, don’t though), and instead of shooting human beings with bullets, you’ll be shooting space aliens and Nazis on your TV!

This has been a long time coming. The countdown clock to the first look at the proper sequel to Grand Theft Auto III has been running at Rockstar’s site for a while, leading up to this final moment.

Check it out. Hopefully it was worth the wait. I don’t know myself yet because I wrote this post a while ago and programed it to appear when the countdown clock reached zero.

The worst kept secret in gaming is now official.

Xbox 360 Elite is black with an HDMI port and 120 GB hard drive standard. It’ll be released April 29th for $479.99. Black extra controllers, battery packs, and charging cables will be available at the same price as the current white accessories. The 120 GB hard drive will be sold seperately for $179 and will include a cable to transfer your saves info from your old drive to your new one.

Gamestop will likely offer you $8 for your old Xbox 360.

Engadget has more info and press photos of the newly black box and controllers.

The unrivaled best game of 2006 may become a motion picture.

Epic Games has auctioned the rights for Gears Of War along with a 21 page treatment by Stuart Beattie (Collateral) to New Line pictures. The studios hope to have a feature film ready for 2009. Lead designer and metrosexual man about town Cliff Bleszinski will serve as executive producer.

Gears Of War‘s actual in game story was somewhat slim, but the slew of pre-release trailers and the massive backstory created to support the supposed trilogy are more than enough to support a feature film. On a somewhat related note, a series of novels are likely to appear to further flesh out the fate of Sera and the Coalition of Governments against the Locust Horde.

Casting is a long way from being discussed, but fans already calling for Lester Speight to reprise his role as Augustus Cole a.k.a. The Cole Train. “Whooo! The Train is home on the rails!”

Via Variety

Kotaku reports on an article in the April issue of Game Informer which has specs and a picture of a new black XBox 360 model. This new model will feature a 120gb hard drive, an HDMI port and HDMI cable for a retail price of 479$, which is 80$ more than the price of the XBox 360 Premium console.

Game Informer has stated this is not an April Fool’s fake story, however it should be pointed out the image they supplied for the article is merely a black debug Xbox 360, used by developers and the press.

Microsoft has not yet made any official statement about the authenticity of this article.

Thanks to forum member Luchador138 for the heads up.

Activision’s Daniel Suarez has a few words with Superhero Hype about their next game, Transformers: The Game.

The game, which will launch on multiple platforms, is supposed to feature 9 playable Transformers and 7 destructable levels over 2 seperate Autobot and Decepticon campaigns. Of note is this comment:

We’re making a game that is for Transformers fans. Since the very beginning, we’ve been very conscious of the heritage of this brand and have worked hard to integrate characters, locations and even subtle acknowledgements to G1 anywhere we can. There are a lot of special surprises, unique elements and bonus features that fans will enjoy.

Considering the unlockable costumes in all of Activision’s Marvel games and the character variations in Traveler’s Tales’ LEGO Star War series, is there any chance we’ll see some alternate looks for the playable characters? I can’t very well expect full 1984 remakes of the whole cast, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Bumblebee’s goofy face returning.

See also: CVG and GameSpot‘s previews.

Thanks Dru!