(Posted by: Eric Rees)

The Game Developers Conference is coming this week ladies and gentlemen. And while we may not be having a MW3 announcement that we thought we would, there's sure to be some goodies announced and this one is a good start. 

Valve has come to the conference talking about plans to take over your TV with their juggernaut of a download base, Steam. Steam started out on the PC alone but their download model has exploded in the past few years, causing the growth to Mac and making it the premiere place to download games on the computer, and now they want to have you do that on your TV as well. Is there nowhere that Steam can't go? "Big picture" mode is coming to a TV near you soon with controller friendly options to make playing on your 60 inch TV more awesome.

"Our partners and customers have asked us to make Steam available in more places," said Doug Lombardi. He's the VP of marketing for Valve. "With big picture mode, gaming opportunities for Steam partners and customers become possible via PCs and Macs on any TV of computer display."

Anyone that already plays their PC games on their PC have any qualms about this? Seems like it would be  obsolete if you already have that set up but hoorah for Valve dominance. Now where is my HL2: Episode 3? 

(Posted by: Harrison Milfeld)

If there's two things the Australian government hates, it's the kangaroo population and violent video games. Okay, maybe not that first bit, but the Australian Classification Board (i.e. the country's ESRB) certainly hasn't taken kindly to video games with copious amounts of blood and violence over the years. The latest victim in this debacle has now claimed the Mortal Kombat re-boot, scheduled for release this Spring. 

According to IGN AU, Mortal Kombat has been refused classification by the Australian Classification Board, thus being banned effectively until Warner Bros. Interactive files for an appeal. Warner Bros. Interactive said in a statement that it's "extremely disappointed" that the game will not be available to (and I quote, verbatim) "mature Australian gamers."  Warner Bros. Interactive certainly does care for its audience, even the ones who, sadly, have to deal with censored versions of Left 4 Dead.

For those wondering, Australia's video game classification system lacks an R18+ rating for any video game title, so all titles have a ratings ceiling of MA 15+; so, if the title does not fit into that criteria, it will thereby be banned from the country. IGN AU also added that the decision may soon be overturned in the future, but so far the damage has been done. At the time of the decision, the Australian Classification Board ordered that all preorders to be canceled and all game references be removed from retail stores. From Left 4 Dead to this latest Mortal Kombat re-boot, it goes to show that Australia's government officials seem out-of-touch with today's video game market.

(Posted by: Eric Rees)

(Posted by: Eric Rees)

Can we officially slap a -gate to the end of Sony or Playstation or something and classify this as an all out war? Because this week Sony has been getting slapped around by the hacking community at large.

Last week Sony came out and said something to the effect of "Stop that!" to all the hackers out there who were cracking the PS3, promising their PSN access would be "terminated permanently" if they were caught. Well that didn't go over too well with the haxzorz out there and they've already found a work around.

According to multiple websites, not only have these intrepid hackers found a way to unban themselves, but then can effectively ban any console that they have the ID for. You're hearing it first here ladies and gents, don't give out your console ID anymore. Please.

In response to all this nonsense that Sony can't seem to put a stop too, rumors are floating around that they are creating an "unhackable" PS3. As silly as that sounds, it has a fairly credible backup of sources behind it. First it's said that a big price drop will be coming to the PS3 to wipe out all stock before releasing this new adamantium console. Sources say next the new SKU for the PS3 will include a 300GB harddrive at the price of the old consoles as an incentive to buy the new one. Will it work? That's to be decided later, if this even happens. 

(Posted by: Eric Rees)

Shoe REview. Get it? because it's a review, and in the Shoe View section? 

Much to the anticipation of button mashers and arcade masters around the world, Capcom released the third iteration of their legendary fighting series, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. Long story short, this game doesn’t pull any punches.

This game had some big shoes to fill. Coming on the heels of MvC2, a game that spanned 3 generations of consoles and was one of the most sought after and played fighting games in the past decade, Capcom had to make this sequel a big one and boy did it deliver. MvC2 pioneered the fighting genre as it stands today and seeks to throw in a few crossups with it’s newest iteration of the game.

Hit the break to read the rest of this ass kicking review. 

This week the guys talk a bunch about griefing in BC2, as well as the recent Kevin Butler based scandal.  Also, there's talk of Marvel Vs Capcom, and the Duke Nukem collectible edition.  It's all that over the course of about two hours this week on The Gameshoe Podcast.

(Posted by: Harrison Milfeld)

(Posted by: Eric Rees)

This will be the reaction by most people who were fans of the NFL games before Madden got their hands on the license, EA has just signed new deal that extends their exclusivity of the NFL until 2013. The best part? EA got the deal at a discounted rate this year because of that damn lockout looming. 

For those of you who aren't really into football, let me explain. The NFL owners and the NFL players can't get together and decide on a deal on how much each other gets paid so as of right now there won't be NFL when fall rolls around this year. That means that EA struck a deal and got this license done again for a discounted price, assuming that there might not be any football to watch next year. 

I really hope that an agreement is reached so that we do have football this fall, I'll probably be getting a copy of Madden at that point. As it stands the series needs to come up with some big improvements to try and lure people back to the franchise. I can't tell you how many people I used to have come into Gamestop and complain about 2k not producing football anymore. Good luck people.

(Posted by: Eric Rees)

Justin Wong, one of the best MvC players in the world just blasted his beloved game, and probably pissed off a good portion of the followers at the same time. 

Twitter, the all-knowing service provided us with this prime tweet straight from Wong himself, "MvC3 has to be the easiest and cheapest fighting game that was ever made."

Damn. Them are fighting words if you'll excuse the horrible pun. He did go onto clarify later though, " I like the game a lot, I think it's fun but it's the cheapest game ever made."

This is a professional fighter calling out his own game, kind of a bad deal. I've played the game and will have a review up in a day or so but I do see where he's coming from. The game has been diluted somewhat to where the difference between pro and noob has been blurred if you're not on your A game. Hit the site later this week for a full review on the most anticipated fighting game ever!

(Posted by: Alex Deckard)

Well, it looks like Gearbox will be delivering quite the package.  It appears the much maligned, long awaited Duke Nukem Forever will have a box set special edition.  It features the game, a comic book, a coffee table art book about the games development, a deck of playing cards, some poker chips, postcards, some dice, some sort of decal, a numbered certificate of authenticity, and a goddamn bust of Duke featuring the words "CARPE NUKEM".  What it lacks in knowledge of Latin, it makes up for with it's flashy presentation.  It's $100 dollars well spent for a fan of the franchise.  While Gearbox hasn't officially announced how many they're making, my guess is 2000.  Why?  Click the picture and take a closer look at the certificate.