By Eli Green
October 26, 2007 - 17:35
Welcome to another edition of Video Game Bits. With the weekend rolling around, we're getting really excited, and it's not just because it's the weekend. It's because there are only two days left until Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock releases this coming Sunday. The game not only features a large list of new songs, but a co-op career mode as well, so friends can play through the entire game together. Here is today's Video Game Bits.
Insight
Sports and NFL Canada announced today that New York Giants NFL Pro
Bowl star, and one of two current NFL sack leaders, Osi Umenyiora
will be making an appearance at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto
on Saturday, November 3
rd
as part of nDEX: Northern Digital Expo. Umenyiora will be at the show
from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm, challenging fans in Electronic Arts'
Madde
n
NFL 08
,
signing autographs and participating in a Q&A session with show
attendees
.
“I’m
excited about seeing what kind of game Toronto’s Madden players
have,” said Umenyiora. “If I see any talent, I’ll certainly be
encouraging them to register for the EA Madden Challenge’s Toronto
stop in November.” Show attendees wishing to take on Umenyiora can
sign up at the show's NFL EA Madden 08 Sports Zone on Saturday.
Sony
Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) celebrated the seven year
anniversary of the Playstation 2 today. Since the console's release
in North America on October 26, 2000 over 120 Playstation 2 units
have sold worldwide (including both original and slim models), making
the console the best-selling gaming platform ever released. SCEA's
continued support for the system also showed the company's commitment
to having a 10 year product life cycle for its consoles. While other
systems have approximately five or six year life cycles, Playstation
2 is still going strong into its seventh year, and has likely reached
the milestone of being the console with the longest product life
cycle to date. With nearly 1,500 titles already available for the
system, likely including original Playstation games, Playstation 2's
game library is already quite large, but the number will continue to
grow, as there are already more than 160 new games planned to release
for the console in North America, before next Spring.
A
team of students from Toronto's George Brown College released a
modification for the
Half-Life
2 Orange Box
today, one Toronto
Half-Life
fans should find very interesting. Titled
City
7: Toronto Conflict
,
the mod throws
Half-Life
's
main character, Gordon Freeman, into a
Half-Life
styled Toronto, after a teleporting accident. Players have to help
Freeman escape the war torn city, and send him back to City 17.
Players will find themselves visiting familiar Toronto sites, like
Mel Lastman Square, St. Michael's Hospital, Dundas Square, the Eaton
Centre and various TTC stations. Whether you're from Toronto or not,
you're bound to find this mod quite interesting. You can find the mod
and complete information about the City 7: Toronto Conflict project
at www.torontoconflict.com.
Racers,
start prepping your engines and marking your calendars. Electronic
Arts announced the release date for
Burnout
Paradise
today. The game is set to release in North America on January 22,
2008 for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
Burnout
Paradise
takes the
Burnout
franchise to a whole new plane, delivering an open world and fresh
online gameplay. Players will find themselves in Paradise City,
a
freshly designed playground filled with the most exciting jumps,
gripping races and unrivaled excitement at every intersection. They
will now be able to have complete freedom to explore and discover the
game's world by their own means. For people who can't wait to try out
Burnout
Paradise
,
EA will be releasing the demo on the PlaystationNetwork and Xbox Live
Marketplace this December.
Burnout
Paradise
is rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and up.
The
Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) announced today that it will
be hosting a $1,000,000
Halo
3
Xbox 360 competition at the Extreme Winter Championships taking place
December 18
th
to 22
nd
at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Dallas, Texas. The competition is
being organized by X Factor Tournament, a new e-sports management
organization with an exclusive partnership with the CPL. The winner
of the competition will receive $250,000 cash, and the rest of the
prizes will be split between at least 64 other competitors. The best
part about the competition though, is that fact that it is open to
gamers worldwide and does not require and pre-qualification or
previous tournament experience, though the latter will likely be
helpful. Registration for the competition opens Tuesday, October
30
th
.
For complete information on the competition and the Extreme Winter
Championships, go to www.thecpl.com/winter.