Earlier today, Sundance DiGiovanni, the CEO of Major League Gaming tweeted about next year’s circuit regarding Call of Duty. He said, ”This is by no means an official statement but – if you plan on playing a CoD title on the MLG circuit in 2012 I will most likely be on the X.” The post stops at X because this is where Twitter’s 140 character limit kicks in, and besides, he can’t come straight out and hint at the next Xbox, which is what most people are assuming is exactly what DiGiovanni was doing. What do you think he was hinting at? Post your opinions below.

UPDATE: Another possibility is that MLG could be switching from the Playstation 3 as the console of choice for the Call of Duty tournaments. While other sources are reporting rumors which would involve cross-console play, allowing for those on Xbox to play against those on Playstation 3. This would effectively allow more MLG players in on the action as they would be able to play on whatever console they wished.

This limited edition console  includes a customized console with graphics from the game, along with two custom wireless controllers, a 320GB hard drive, a copy of “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” as well as custom sounds when the console is turned on. Here are the .WAV files of they what they sound like: power on/offand disk tray eject.

A one month Xbox LIVE Gold subscription to Xbox LIVE is included, as well as exclusive avatar items that show your Xbox LIVE friends you’re one of the lucky ones to own this coveted console.

The console will launch on November 8, 2011 in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and EMEA for $399 (U.S. ERP), and you can pre-order today at participating retailers.

Besides the console itself, two new limited edition accessories were announced as well, with each releasing on October 11, 2011.

The Xbox 360 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Wireless Headset with Bluetooth provides the ability to chat with friends during multi-player game play or with Bluetooth®-enabled mobile phones, PCs and other devices. Its artwork matches the custom console and includes a charging cradle, ear loop, ear gels, and an Xbox LIVE token for an exclusive download for $69.99 (U.S ERP).

The Xbox 360 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Wireless Controller allows you to show all your friends your passion for the franchise. The controller includes exclusive artwork and a transforming D-pad that can be rotated to adapt to the user’s game play, as well as an Xbox LIVE token for an exclusive download, all for $59.99 (U.S. ERP)

The 2554 AMG Transport Dynamics M12 Force Application Vehicle will be made available in Forza 4′s Autovista feature, which will allow players to interact but not race with it.

Season passes seem to have become abundant with the release of major titles these days. Now it seems like one of the most anticipated titles of the year, Gears of War 3, is going to be taking the same route.

Microsoft unveiled the pricing plan for the Season Pass at 2400 MS points ($30), which will give you a total of 33% savings off individual DLC purchases. The pass will be rolled out along with the game with the first bit of content being released in November. The Pass will give buyers access to the first four DLC packs and will also award them an exclusive Liquid Metal weapon skin pack.

Considering that the price of the individual purchases will amount to 3600 MS points or $45, would you rather wait to see what they’re like or just jump into it with $30?

Gears of War 3 releases on September 20th of this year, exclusively on the Xbox 360.

Peter Hines, VP of PR and Marketing at Bethesda, has revealed via Twitter that the much-anticipated Skyrim will allow players to marry NPCs of the same sex of your character. I don’t know about you, but I’m already drawing up plans to play out my girl-on-girl fantasy.

So what are you thoughts? While this isn’t really a big deal per se, I’d like to think of video games as reflections of the real world. The fact that same-sex relationships is now relatively common in games (to name a few: Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Fable) shows society’s growing acceptance of  people embracing their sexual orientations.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, is set to release in November of this year.

A new and mysterious promotion has been launched for the game Gears of War 3. It is being run by Xbox and Epic Games through an event on Facebook labelled The Walls of Brotherhood which has remained quite cryptic so far and is now left upon the fans to discover the secrets embedded in it.

It all began with the viral Destruction Begins campaign which displayed explosions carving out fantastic Gears related art in blocks of concrete and hinted towards a mysterious event on Aug. 23. Soon after on the 23rd, e-mail newsletters were sent out to fans by Xbox that contained “Classified” information:

Have you ever wondered when are they ever going to bring QBert back to the consoles? I know I have! The newest game from Atlus Games combines Qbert with anime to produce one of the most hyped games of this summer.

Story: You play as Vincent, who has been dating Katherine for so long that he can’t remember.  When she asks him this question he tells her he doesn’t know, and she storms out of the diner that they are in.  A few hours go by and in walks another blonde by the name of Catherine, and she sits in his booth.  There are reports of men mysteriously dying in the area, there is a reporter in the diner that is gathering facts, turns out that its a female doing the killings.  Vincent is forced into making a decision after an unfortunate “accident” with Catherine, does he stay loyal to Katherine or does he cheat on her with Catherine? Who is doing these killings? Why is he having nightmares?

Gameplay: The stages are 3-D maps made up of blocks that you can push and pull into place so you can make it to the exit at the top of the level. You are allowed to go up down forward and back, but the motions are a little limited because you have no jump button.  The blocks drop from the bottom up so you have to be quick about finishing.  You are allowed to shimmy from the ledges as you pull the blocks towards you. You can also shove the bricks away from the screen to get them to drop a section down.  Each level is scored by how fast you are and how much money you pick up while you are comboing through the level by jumping.  Based upon how well you do you can earn 3 different medals, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. If you get a gold medal on the higher difficulty, you unlock a floor to the Tower of Babel.  Between stages, you have an interactive cutscene in the diner and in between parts of levels, you are in Sheep Purgatory, a place where all the sheep in your nightmare complain about not being able to get out.  They act as save points as well as stores.  There is a confessional where you decide the fate of Vincent. The stages are simple yet complex.  There are several ways to do each level, but very few to optimize your points. There are different types of blocks such as: permanent (wont move), regular, weak (break easily), heavy (moves but very slowly), and traps (instant death if you stand too long)You have variable lives to make it through the level, and you can pick up pillows to add another life.  There are different powers ups that will add a brick, change a special brick into a regular one, and one is just a checkpoint.  You can push up to 5 blocks, but only pull one.  To signify that the end of the level is near, church bells will chime.  There are 8 nights, or stages, each stage except for the first one consists of 2 regular levels and a boss level.  In the diner, they have an arcade game called Rapunzel, which is the same types of puzzles as the regular game.

Graphics/Sounds: Vincent’s dreams are messed up!  He wears boxers with hearts on them and carries around a pillow as he is vaulting up to new heights.  He also has sheep horns.  Every person in the  nightmares, except for the bosses and Vincent, are sheep.  The game is really linear, each level looking like the last The people have an anime look to them, since it is a game made in the Orient.  The soundtrack includes nothing but classical music: Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, and Chopin’s Funeral March, and Rossini’s William Tell Overture.  Most of the pieces in it are somber, eerie songs.

Overall: The game is quite a challenge. The story is pretty good. The replay value is dependent on if you can handle the difficulty. Overall I would say its worth taking a look at.

Pros:

• Story
• Soundtrack

Cons:

• Linear levels
• Difficulty

Score: 8.5/10

Score: 8 out of 10

A review sample of this DDR pad was givin to the reviewer for reviewing purposes.

December 12th, 2009 will mark the 4-month “anniversary” of the release of Trials HD onto Xbox Live Arcade. As of this writing, the Trials leaderboard has registered 541,848 unique Gamertags. With few exceptions, Trials HD continues to dominate the #1 spot on Major Nelson’s weekly XBLA sales chart.

When I first heard about Trials HD in the Summer of Arcade lineup announcement, I payed little attention. In fact, I was skeptical. A 2.5D motorcycle game, sans racing? In these past four months, no single game (retail or otherwise) has dominated my play time like Trials.

At first, I was content with Gold Medals. Then I discovered the Global Ranking board.  I wondered how the top scores could be so high. Everything became clear when I unlocked the Platinum Medal goals. This is where my Trials journey truly began.

As I banged my head against the seemingly impossible Extreme courses, I started returning to more forgiving tracks. While fighting for Platinum times here, I would occasionally flirt with the Extreme courses, or turn to the community for new custom tracks.

I began to check my Global Rank with each new Platinum Medal. Slowly I crept up the ranks. I was on top of the world. With 275,000+ registered gamertags, I was sitting at 17th on the leaderboards. But behind the scenes, things were falling apart…

LOL

I had hit a plateau in my skill. Almost half of the Skill Games were shutting me out, and I just couldn’t shave any more faults in the final three Tournaments. I began my fall, each day losing ground to the ever growing pool of competition. I decided to take a break…to relax, chill out, and to look over there.

I turned solely to custom tracks for a couple weeks, and then decided to concentrate on Goin’ Up and Inferno II (the two hardest Extreme Courses). After finally eeking out Platinum on these two beastly tracks, I checked my ranking and proclaimed, “Mortimer! We’re back!”

I had jumped from around 160th back down to 98th! With renewed enthusiasm, I assaulted the remaining Skill Games one by one. Target hunter, Flip Hunter, and Hill Climb were the last hold outs, but even these pillars would fall. I was back down to 55th, with 496,000+ riders on the board.

And so the Tournaments became the final frontier.  The chase for Platinum on the final three Tournaments is harsh. I was able to improve my score by two faults on “World Championship”,  jumping to 48th on the leaderboards.  It was a bit of an emotional moment.

I have since slipped to a Global Ranking of 58th, despite achieving Platinum in the “Underground Cup” and shaving two more faults in the “Ultimate Endurance” Tournament.

Truly, there is no rest for the wicked!

This only becomes more true with the announcement of the Trials HD “Big Pack”, which Redlynx teased the other day with this trailer (no release date or DLC details yet):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoTyp5Oh7aQ

Playing Trials HD has renewed my interest in time trials games, which was previously sparked by Mirror’s Edge.   What are some of your favorite time trial games?  I look forward to your comments.

What a difference a year makes…  Xbox Live Community Games launched on November 19th, 2008, populated with many titles from Microsoft’s first two Dream.Build.Play competitions (2007,2008).  Launching with amazing games like CarneyVale Showtime and Weapon of Choice, quality titles quickly became lost in a sea of mediocrity.

The Community Games channel was overwhelmed with more clones than Star Wars, from Pong, to Breakout, Asteroids, and beyond.  Not to mention all the “me-too” apps.  Sadly, controller massage apps are one of the great success stories of this grand experiment.

Things have greatly improved since Microsoft introduced the rating system over the summer.  Microsoft implemented a bit of a reboot, changing the name and pricing scheme of Community Games.  Quality titles are seeing dramatically improved sales through increased exposure.

While I despise the onslaught of shovel-ware, I love Xbox LIVE Indie Games.  It is one of my favorite features of the Xbox 360 platform.  Each year, Microsoft’s Dream.Build.Play competition shows more and more of the potential of XNA and Xbox LIVE Indie Games.

Have you tried any Indie Games?  What are your favorites?