Michael Pachter, the internet’s favorite gaming soothsayer, turned up on GameTrailer’s Bonus Round once again this week. What did the Wedbush Morgan analyst see in his crystal ball this time around? Not only did he declare that Microsoft has given up on PC gaming, but he also predicted that the price of Xbox Live Gold subscriptions will be going up sometime in the near future.

“It’s a profit deal,” Pachter claimed, responding to a fan question about the dearth of ports from Xbox 360 to PC. “Microsoft wants you to never play a game again on your PC and play everything on your 360,” he went on to suggest, adding, “You give a PC gamer an incentive to buy a 360 if you put something that he really wants only on the 360.”

But why would Microsoft want to lure customers away from one of their own platforms?

“You can’t hook a guy into Xbox Live Gold if he’s playing on PC. So, I mean, that’s the other problem is you really wanna hook every gamer who has a 360, you want them to buy all their games on 360, play everything multiplayer, pay you 50 bucks a year so that in a couple years, it’s 100 bucks a year. And that’s going up — we all know that.”

It might sound crazy to actually raise the price of Xbox Live, especially when neither of Microsoft’s competitors are currently charging for online play. Then again, Microsoft has attempted to add value to Gold memberships for years now by piling on exclusive features like Netflix streaming and, any day now, Facebook integration — perhaps in anticipation of a price hike further down the line?

source: @1up

Here is a more in depth preview of the Last.FM radio station that will be free to all Xbox Live gold members coming this November.

Claptrap throws a Christian Bale on the set of Borderlands. Somebody gets blown up and one of the goons get punted across the planet by a giant elephant.

Modern Warfare 2 will not be without some form of co-op. The game features Spec Ops mode, a mission-based multiplayer experience that supports up to two players via local split-screen or online. Infinity Ward initially had planned to offer co-op throughout the game’s main campaign, but decided the overall experience ultimately suffered because of it.

Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling told VG247 that co-op in the main campaign “really broke the cinematic experience, took the immersion out of it, out of the story and the pacing and everything we’d spent so long crafting.” Bowling also said it “ruined the experience” that Infinity Ward was aiming for, forcing the developer to redirect those efforts into polishing the campaign as an exclusively single-player experience. We’ll all find out if the game is better off for it — some in night-vision goggles — come November 10.

If you like the setting of Eve Online, but don’t find the dense, economics-heavy gameplay scintillating, CCP is making Dust 514 just for you. You can still inhabit the Eve universe, but you’re pretty much just shooting guns at it instead of destroying financial systems.

Unfortunately, while the kind of grim space setting is fairly unique for an MMO (as is just about everything about Eve), it’s kind of … well-heeled in the FPS world. As in, there’s nothing particularly novel about seeing an FPS that takes place in a gritty sci-fi world. That said, this looks like a good … one of those, and the MMO idea and Eve integration still manage to be interesting. And in general, we like the idea of using the same universe to express totally different game concepts — like how WWE Crush Hour spun off from the wrestling games. Bad example.

For players still clamoring to return to the world of MechAssault, Front Mission Evolved may help cater to their needs. While the game’s current state looks pretty rough, the Robot vs. Other Giant Robot action is fun, fast and fulfilling. Front Mission Evolved features a limited array of weaponry, but its quick pace actually had me hooked while it lasted. If the action becomes a little too harsh — and the game did pose a challenge during my brief demo with the Xbox 360 version — tapping the ‘Y’ button slows down time and turns every weapon in your arsenal to an automatic victory cannon.

The sequel to first-person zombie shooter Left 4 Dead will debut a new competitive game option titled Scavenge Mode, developers Valve Software have revealed.

The fourth mode for Left 4 Dead 2 pits up to eight players against each other in a series of round-based challenges.

As Survivors, players must fend off Infected enemies and the clock as they collect gas cans to refuel a generator. Each can scores a point and adds time to the clock.

Players joining the Infected must prevent Survivors from refueling by attacking them or destroying gas cans.

The rounds will work similarly to Versus mode, where players will get the chance to play as both sides each round.

Scavenge is one of four modes available on Left 4 Dead 2, along with Versus, Survival and the main cooperative campaigns. Check out our E3 preview of the game for more details.

The game will release on PC and Xbox 360 November 17. Readers, what do you think of Scavenge Mode?

By Brett Molina

Thew newest trailer for Modern Warfare 2 is truly epic. It brings new meaning to the words “Capitol Wateland.”

“Cain was the first man to strike down another. when the Lord came to him and said what have you done.
Cain could not hide his crime for the voice of his brothers blood cried out from the very ground.”

The world has been the battlefield, everywhere you go the blood of brothers and sons screams out against you. Perhaps you can not yet hear it, because the soil is not your own, but you will.

(Camera rises showing Capitol hill and the Washington Monument in complete destruction)

“….you will.”

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love Earthworm Jim and those who don’t know him yet.

GamerBytes has some details about the remake of worm warrior Earthworm Jim’s first outing. Speaking with Gameloft, the graphically updated title will be based on the Sega Genesis version, but will have “smoother animations” and feature several difficulty levels. The game will also include the bonus “Big Bruty” level that was featured in the Sega CD and PC releases of the original.

Earthworm Jim will blast onto Xbox Live Arcade first, followed by PSN and WiiWare. Gameloft is currently “considering” a PSP Minis version.

TGS 09 showed off interaction with Beautiful Katamari and Project Natal