Late Night Consoling

Microsoft today announced that Epic Games' upcoming shooter Gears of War (X360) will be present and playable following upcoming advance screenings of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. The events will take place on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 in unspecified AMC Theatres locations in the four cities. To sign up for the event and receive a ticket, head over to the official promotion site. The announcement was quick to note, however, that receipt of a ticket does not guarantee admission, which will apparently be conducted on a first come, first served basis. Presumably, the event will feature multiplayer gaming; Epic has been reluctant to publically show too much of the game's single-player campaign thus far, prefering to keep it under wraps as long as possible. The event is also reminiscent of a Halo 2 multiplayer event conducted at movie theaters across the country almost two years ago, at which players were able to try out a multiplayer version of Bungie's shooter before it hit stores. The event was related to the well known "I Love Bees" alternate reality marketing project.

Speaking to trade publication MCV, Sony Computer Entertainment's Ken Kutaragi had a rather succinct answer to MCV's inquiries as to whether Sony competitors Microsoft and Nintendo may eat into the company's market share. "I don't care," said the PlayStation head. He did, however, speak on Sony's current manufacturing difficulties. "Right now, it is an issue, because we canÂ’t manufacture enough blue laser diodes for our PlayStation 3s," he said. "But we will resolve that."

When asked to confirm any PlayStation 3 launch titles, Sony Computer Entertainment Worlwide Studios head Phil Harrison cited Insomniac's Resistance: Fall of Man and Game Republic's Genji Days of the Blade as "definite launch titles." Specific territories were not named, though it is likely that both Japan and North America will be seeing the games at launch this November.

Vivendi Games has announced its acquisition of developmers Secret Lair Studios and Studio Ch'in. Both Issaquah, Washington-based Secret Lair and Shanghai-based Ch'in are intended to be used largely for Xbox Live Arcade development for Xbox 360. Vivendi is currently staking a claim in the Xbox Live Arcade scene, with games such as The Incredible Machine, Ultra Mini Golf, a Battlestar Galactica adaptation, Megaforce, Red Baron, Assault Heroes, and Carcassonne heading to be published by Vivendi for the service. "Working together, our teams in Los Angeles, Seattle and Shanghai, now form a significant internal development organization focused on creating cutting edge online entertainment with global appeal," Ed Zobrist, president of Vivendi division Sierra Online. "We're excited about the vast creative opportunities presented by platforms like Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade and intend to be a premiere publisher for the popular online service as well as the PC online space."

It was not specified what projects Secret Lair and Studio Ch'in have in the works for Xbox Live Arcade.

Speaking to GameSpot, a RedOctane representative confirmed widespread suspicions that Harmonix's upcoming Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero will not be released until some time in 2007. Apparently, the Xbox 360 game's guitar controller will not be a wireless accessory.

Guitar Hero 2 will be released for PlayStation 2 will be released this November.

IGN reports on a conference call about Brownie Brown's upcoming Magical Starsign (NDS).