Music DLC Round-Up — Week Of Jan. 11

Vampire Weekend Track Pack

“Holiday”
“Cousins”
“The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance”

Price: $5.49/440 Microsoft Points/550 Wii Points for pack, or $1.99/160 MSP/200 WP per track

Click through to see new tracks for Rock Band, DJ Hero, SingStar and Lips.

Pack

Alice In Chains Track Pack 02

“Grind”
“Heaven Beside You”
“Last of My Kind”
“We Die Young”
“Your Decision”

Price: $8.49/680 MSP for pack, or $1.99/160 MSP/200 WP per track

No new releases

No new releases

Tracks

Anita Ward – “Ring My Bell”
Death Cab for Cutie – “Soul Meets Body”
Wilson Pickett – “Mustang Sally”

Price: 160 MSP per track

Weekly Wrap-Up: CES Edition

The big news this week is obviously CES, that yearly gathering of the tech tribe that takes place in Vegas. We’ve got a ton of coverage right here at G4TV.com, of course. Check it out.

We also had time last week to bring you all the original web shows you love:

• Sessler’s Soapbox: Adam Sessler looks ahead to 2010.
• The MMO Report:  Morgan Webb takes over the MMO Report from Casey.
• Fresh Ink: Blair gives you the rundown on Sweet Tooth, Resurrection, The Last Days of American Crime, Blackest Night: Suicide Squad, and more.
• Feedback:  The weekly nerd-roundtable discusses the next DS and 3D technology.

And now, the news:

Monday

• Patrick Klepek wants gamers to help him decide which achievement should push his gamerscore from 19,999 to 20,000.
• The most expensive virtual item ever recently sold for $330,000 in the popular MMORPG Entropia Universe.
• Experience The Joys Of Fatherhood In New Off-Screen Heavy Rain Videos
• Microsoft is hinting at letting users pay for content on Xbox Live in real-world dollars, rather than points.
• A musician has confirmed he’s working on the second version of DJ Hero.
• G4’s behind-the-scenes special "G4 Presents: Inside KA by Cirque du Soleil" debuts Jan. 7.
• Sony has opened up the MAG beta to everyone until January 10. Find out how to jump in.
• Check our new releases list to find out what games are hitting your platforms of choice this week.
• There’s an indie game that appeared over Christmas that you really need to play: Every Day The Same Dream.
• EA Canada senior producer Jason DeLong believes that the price for games will come down in the "near future."
• Twin Galaxies has announced that Seinfeld character George Costanza’s fictional Frogger record has been beaten.
• VIDEO: Atlus Revisits Tendency System In Demon’s Souls Walkthrough Video
• Based on the reaction to Uncharted 2, Naughty Dog told us they want to build online features into their future games.
• Microsoft has patented a technology that uses muscle-sensors to control computer interfaces.
• If you don’t quite understand what’s happening in Sega’s insanity-laced Bayonetta, we can’t blame you. Here’s a launch primer to help
• Electronic Arts is reportedly preparing a reboot of the NBA Jam franchise.
• Electronic Arts announced today that it will be shutting down servers for a number of their sports titles next month.
• Electronic Arts will be making an announcement regarding Tiger Woods tomorrow. Will they keep him?
• The finalists for the Independent Games Festival 2010 have been announced.

Tuesday

• Capcom has announced that Nintendo will be in charge of distributing Monster Hunter Tri in Europe and Australia.
• Electronic Arts has decided to stick by Tiger Woods for their upcoming golf games.
• BioWare has announced the first expansion pack for Dragon Age: Origins will be released in March.
• Here’s a surprising one: Mark Hamill, aka Luke Skywalker, has never been asked to be in a Star Wars game.
• VIDEO: Star Trek Online "Exploration" Trailer Shows Off Strange New Worlds
• The LEGO Group has announced that it will be offering hands-on demos and beta sign ups for LEGO Universe at CES 2010.
• The End Times are here, read our Darksiders Launch Primer and be saved!
• VIDEO: The new Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening expansion pack gets a red hot announcement trailer.
• Capcom has announced that it will be releasing a demo for its upcoming sci-fi shooter Dark Void later this week on XBL and PSN.
• VIDEO: Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond "Mood" Trailer is not afraid to show off some new gameplay and live action actors.
• Patrick Klepek’s bizarre 19,999 gamerscore went over the edge today, thanks to Bayonetta.
• With CES 2010 kicking off this week, we predict the three biggest gaming trends coming out of the show.
• ABC has released some symbolic new teaser images for season 6 of Lost.
• Discovery, Sony and IMAX have announced a joint-venture to create the first 24/7 3D television network in the United States.
• Submit a question to possibly be picked as Feedback’s reader question of the week!
• Find out what awaits you in the operating rooms of Trauma Team for Wii in this surgery gameplay trailer.
• Eric Ruth Games’ 8-bit remake of Valve’s Left 4 Dead is now available for download.
• Naughty Dog said they’re not itching for PlayStation 4 just yet — it’s a win for them and consumers.
• VIDEO: Check out the first 15 minutes of Darksiders in this direct-feed, HD video!
• Video: Chris Hardwick and Olivia Munn review the BlackBerry Bold 9700. Find out what rating this new smartphone received.

Wednesday

• Nintendo has told a Japanese newspaper a DS successor would most likely have a motion sensor and seems to confirm Zelda Wii in 2010.
• Check out some of the highlights from old school editions of CES — we’re talking 90s!
• Fallout: New Vegas is set to be unveiled in the pages of a magazine next month.
• The British Board of Film Classification has given Quantic Dreams’ Heavy Rain a rating of 15.
• VIDEO: Army of TWO: The 40th Day Multiplayer Modes Trailer
• A new technology debuting at CES 2010 will allow you to stream and play video games through your car.
• A new iPhone app lets you control a flying drone that includes augmented reality support to create real world virtual gaming.
• Harmonix is releasing a major patch for Rock Band 2 on PlayStation 3 later this week.
• G4 President Neal Tiles answers your questions about the network in this month’s edition of ‘Open Source.’
• Mobile games developer Gameloft has announced that its iPhone/iPod Touch games have passed the 10 million download mark.
• The rumored halt in the production of Spider-Man 4 has been officially confirmed.
• Inside sources report that Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain will be released in the UK on Feb. 26.
• District 9 director Neill Blomkamp is interested in working on a District 9 video game.
• Adam sits down on this first week of January to talk about what he’s excited about and what he expects from the industry in 2010.
• Microsoft is expected to announce a retro-themed "Game Room" for Xbox Live at CES 2010.
• A leaked Microsoft video for CES 2010 confirms Project Natal is coming sometime in 2010.
• VIDEO: Gran Turismo 5 Touts Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG In New Trailer
• New Nielsen data reveals that the Xbox 360 is the most used gaming console, in terms of minutes, in the United States.
• Games and movies are concerned with what happens after the apocalypse, but what would you do? Andrew Pfister has a plan.
• Sony’s showing a version of Super Stardust HD in 3D at CES 2010.
• Sony’s announced PlayStation 3 sold more than 3.8 million units worldwide this holiday season.
• Sony will be expanding the PlayStation Network to other Sony devices soon — computers, TVs and more.
• Microsoft’s announced the company has sold more than 39 million Xbox 360s worldwide.
• Alan Wake will receive downloadable episodes after the game launches this year.
• Microsoft has officially confirmed Game Room is coming to Xbox Live, with more than 1,000 games planned.

Thursday

• The voice-actor who portrays Duke Nukem recently suggested that the perennial no-show Duke Nukem Forever might not be dead after all.
• VIDEOS: Super Street Fighter Videos Detail New Content, Adon And Cody Fights
• Peripheral manufacturer Nyko will be introducing a new Wii wand that will feature built-in Motion Plus support and cost just $40.
• Capcom is backing off from earlier statements about their commitment to the Wii.
• According to reports coming out of CES, Microsoft’s motion peripheral will use between 10 and 15 percent of the Xbox 360 CPU.
• Check out Capcom’s lineup for this week’s CES.
• VIDEO: Mass Effect 2 Profiles Icy Miranda And Close-Combat Vanguard Class
• This week on The Links Of TheFeed, we ask if a game can be too difficult, check out some massive retro computers, and more.
• Recent rumors suggest that Activision plans to release a Vietnam-era Call of Duty game in November.
• Patrick Klepek hopes Las Vegas has finally gotten around to fixing their amazing deluxe House of the Dead machine.
• VIDEO: 505 Games’ Backbreaker Shows Off More Virtual Gridiron Action
• Sony has revealed new details, the release date and the cover art for its upcoming baseball title MLB 10: The Show.
• Crafty Xbox 360 users have unlocked a hidden multiplayer mode in the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
• Reply to All is returning, but what good is a mailbag without any questions? Help us help you help us.
• Morgan guest hosts and tells you about LOVE’s beta test, Child’s Play refusing charitable donations, and the new Star Trek Online tra
• VIDEO: Watch the top 5 videos with Chris Hardwick and Olivia Munn from today’s Around the Net.
• Activision has announced that three new DLC packs with be released for Guitar Hero this month.
• THQ has released the first DLC pack for its off-road racing game MX vs. ATV Reflex.
• VIDEO: Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond Goes Live On PSN, Gets Gag Reel
• Tech Review: Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR Camera
• SCREENS: Vital Suits And Troopers Explode In New Lost Planet 2 Screens
• Up until now, Andrew didn’t really care about 3D TV. With all of the buzz coming out of CES, should he, and should you?
• SCREENS/VIDEO: Scrap Metal, Combat Racing Multiplayer Coming To Xbox Live Arcade
• If you want to play one of your own songs in Rock Band, just give music distributor Tunecore $2500, and voila!
• Feedback kicks off 2010 with a look at Sega’s wonderfully insane Bayonetta…but is the praise universal?

Friday

• Sony has announced that the PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain will be released on February 23.
• To keep the price low and to maintain a software focus, Microsoft has decided to remove a chip from Project Natal’s hardware.
• We asked Microsoft to summarize Xbox 360 in 2010. What’d they say? "Transformative."
• G4 is officially live from the floor of CES. Tell us what you want to hear about!
• We attended and competed in the Super Street Fighter IV Fight Club held by Capcom here at CES 2010. A full report awaits your click.
• Patrick Klepek went hands-on with Toy Soldiers for Xbox Live Arcade at CES 2010.
• Current TV’s infoMania takes a fun run with a number of popular exercise games for the Nintendo Wii.
• Head Honcho Adam Sessler issues his first Letter From The Editor for 2010.
• EA has announced that NBA Jam creator Mark Turmell has been appointed as the senior creative director at EA Tiburon.
• VIDEO: Metro 2033 Digs Up More Post-Apocalyptic Storyline Details
• Patrick Klepek discovered potentially the most awkward job for a girl working CES.
• Rumor has it that Infinity Ward will forgo developing Modern Warfare 3 in favor of "something new".
• There was a 3D version of Gears of War 2 on display at CES. What’d we think of it?
• We get our hands-on Splinter Cell: Conviction’s Deniable Ops mode for the first time at CES 2010.
• The developer who helped port N+ to Xbox Live Arcade showed off their new game at CES, Scrap Metal.
• At CES, Sony was showing off a super fancy Gran Turismo 5 setup that (probably) no one will ever own.
• Nyko will be introducing a Wiimote with built-in MotionPlus this March. We get an early hands-on at CES 2010.
• Mad Catz releases details about their upcoming series of Cyborg R.A.T. gaming mice.
• If you’re looking for some new tracks for your favorite music games, then check out this week’s music DLC round-up.
• Blair Butler reviews comics New Guardians, Punisher Max, Stumptown on Fresh Ink Online.
• We take a look at our favorite vampire video games that aren’t Castlevania.
• The Reply to All mailbag makes its triumphant return.
• Game Informer has revealed that it will have a 10-page cover story on Halo: Reach in its February issue.
• See what epic adventures await you in LEGO Universe thanks to new screenshots and the newly released reveal trailer.
• VIDEO: MAG: Public Beta Discussion
• The new ‘Matt Hazard’ game, ‘Matt Hazard: Blood Bath & Beyond,’ is the next game in our review hopper.
• VIDEO: Tour Samsung’s CES 2010 Booth
• VIDEO: Super Street Fighter Fight Club Videos: Watch Seth Killian Take On Justin Wong
• We went hands-on with Mega Man 10 at CES. Guess what? We loved it.
• Mass Effect 2 is one of the playable games here at CES 2010. We take a look at an all new section from the floor.
• Capcom showed a new boss battle in Lost Planet 2 at CES. What’d we think?
• Capcom’s listened to gamer feedback for Monster Hunter Tri. Even if you’ve dismissed the series, here’s why you might want to pay attention.[[
• Fighting fans listen up: we get our hands-on two new MadCatz arcade sticks at CES 2010.
• Patrick Klepek gets Sony to demonstrate their engraving technology by burning his name into wood with a laser.
• Super Street Fighter IV’s second Ultra’s were playable for all returning and announced characters at CES 2010. Aren’t you curious abo

Saturday

• There was a conspicuous looking Wii knockoff at CES 2010 this year. Nintendo might want to look into it.
• Find out where weary CES attendees go for nap time.
• Find out who had the creepiest poster at CES this year.

Music DLC Round-Up — Week Of Jan. 4

2010 is starting off quite well for music game fans, as evidenced by this week’s round-up of the newest downloadable content. Guitar Hero 5 users (Xbox 360 and Wii owners for now; PS3 owners have to wait until Jan. 21) looking to get a little bluesy this weekend should checkout the New Blues Masters pack, with tracks from Tyler Bryant, Joe Bonamassa and Scott McKeon. Rock Band-ers can feel the Sir Paul McCartney love with three live tracks from McCarney’s November 2009 concert in New York City. Blink 182 returns with a new track pack, along with new songs from The Psychedelic Furs and The Ramones. And Lips users have their pick of tracks from the likes of Club Nouveau, David Guetta and Kanye West.

New Blues Masters Track Pack

Tyler Bryant - "Who I Am"
Joe Bonamassa  - "Lonesome Road Blues"
Scott McKeon  - "Broken Man"

Price: 440 Microsoft Points, 550 Wii Points for pack, or 160 MSP, 200 WP per track

Click through to see new tracks for Rock Band, The Beatles: Rock Band, DJ Hero, SingStar and Lips.

Packs

Paul McCartney New York City Pack 01

 "Band on the Run (Live)"
 "Jet (Live)"
 "Sing the Changes (Live)"

Blink-182 Pack 02

 "Adam’s Song"
"First Date"
"I Miss You"

Tracks

The Psychedelic Furs - "Love My Way"
The Psychedelic Furs - "Sister Europe"
The Ramones - "Rock ‘n’ Roll High School"

Price: Price: $5.49/440 MSP per pack, or $1.99/160 MSP/200 WP per track

No new releases

No new releases

Club Nouveau - "Lean On Me"
David Guetta feat. Cozi - "Baby When The Light”
Kanye West feat. Chris Martin - "Homecoming"

Price: 160 MSP per track

Daily Wrap-Up 1.07.10

Here’s what went on today in the world of video games, popular culture and technology.

• The voice-actor who portrays Duke Nukem recently suggested that the perennial no-show Duke Nukem Forever might not be dead after all.
• VIDEOS: Super Street Fighter Videos Detail New Content, Adon And Cody Fights
• Peripheral manufacturer Nyko will be introducing a new Wii wand that will feature built-in Motion Plus support and cost just $40.

• Capcom is backing off from earlier statements about their commitment to the Wii.
• According to reports coming out of CES, Microsoft’s motion peripheral will use between 10 and 15 percent of the Xbox 360 CPU.
• Check out Capcom’s lineup for this week’s CES.
• VIDEO: Mass Effect 2 Profiles Icy Miranda And Close-Combat Vanguard Class
• This week on The Links Of TheFeed, we ask if a game can be too difficult, check out some massive retro computers, and more.
• Recent rumors suggest that Activision plans to release a Vietnam-era Call of Duty game in November.
• Patrick Klepek hopes Las Vegas has finally gotten around to fixing their amazing deluxe House of the Dead machine.
• VIDEO: 505 Games’ Backbreaker Shows Off More Virtual Gridiron Action
• Sony has revealed new details, the release date and the cover art for its upcoming baseball title MLB 10: The Show.
• Crafty Xbox 360 users have unlocked a hidden multiplayer mode in the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
• Reply to All is returning, but what good is a mailbag without any questions? Help us help you help us.
• Morgan guest hosts and tells you about LOVE’s beta test, Child’s Play refusing charitable donations, and the new Star Trek Online tra
• VIDEO: Watch the top 5 videos with Chris Hardwick and Olivia Munn from today’s Around the Net.
• Activision has announced that three new DLC packs with be released for Guitar Hero this month.
• THQ has released the first DLC pack for its off-road racing game MX vs. ATV Reflex.
• VIDEO: Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond Goes Live On PSN, Gets Gag Reel
• Tech Review: Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR Camera

Now You Can Air Guitar For Real, Maybe

Every console maker is now jumping on the motion-control bandwagon. First, Nintendo braved the new frontier with its Wii Remote. Then, at last year’s E3, Microsoft announces Project Natal — which aims to do away with any sort of controller at all — and Sony’s controller, which looks like a cross between a Wii Remote and a sex toy (sorry, Sony, but it’s true).

Now, Microsoft looks to up the ante even more with their new muscle-control technology. Microsoft recently filed two patents, one that was a general patent on recognizing gestures in June 2008, and another in March 2009 regarding a wearable electromyography (EMG)-based controller.

Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero: January DLC

If you’ve been jonesing to play along to a song performed by a fictional, cartoon heavy metal band, then look no further: Activision has announced a downloadable Dethklok song coming this month to the Guitar Hero line, as part of a metal track pack.

On the opposite extreme, January will see a Vampire Weekend collection released for Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero to coincide with the band’s new album, as well as a three-track Creedence Clearwater Revival set and a collection of songs from “up-and-coming blues masters.” (We assume that these so-called masters are real people and not cartoon characters.)

All tracks packs will be available for $5.49 on PS3, 550 Wii Points, or 440 on Xbox 360. In addition, all songs will be available a la carte for $1.99, 200 Wii Points, or 160. Head past the break for the complete January DLC lineup.

Continue reading Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero: January DLC

Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero: January DLC originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 12:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Deals, Deals, Everywhere You Look

Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb has been passing along several deals Amazon.com has been holding for Xbox 360 products today via his Twitter, and we’ve rounded some of these up to pass along to you.

The biggest savings seem to be on Guitar Hero: World Tour. You can get the Guitar Kit bundle for just $29.84, 57 percent off the $69.99 regular price and it qualifies for Super Saver shipping. No such luck on the Wii or PlayStation 3 versions.

TenYears: The best console games of the decade

It’s almost January 1st, 2010 and we’ve been mulling over our favorites of 2009 – and the previous decade. Here we present another installment in our “Of the Decade” lists.

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Winner: Resident Evil 4 (GameCube, 2004)

This decade saw a lot of “big” games, but how many of those games were any good? How many do you think you’ll even consider replaying in five or 10 years? If there’s one, and only one, game of the decade it has to be Resident Evil 4. The game resurrected a waning franchise, justified your purchase of a GameCube, and was actually fun to play. How rare. The lackluster Resident Evil 5 only reinforced how well made Resident Evil 4 was: perfect controls, probably the best graphics ever to grace the GameCube, and, yes, the best single-player mode of the decade make this the game of the decade. It’s pretty much non-stop fun, which is really all you can ask a video game to do.

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Runners Up

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS2, 2003)

You can almost consider Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to be the same game three times, but Vice City wins because it’s our favorite setting of the series so far. Is it fun to go around and blowing up anything that moves? Yes, but it’s actually more fun to appreciate the time and effort Rockstar put into crafting a pretty enjoyable cast of characters and reasonably OK story for our entertainment. Plus, how many game in the 2000s have completely ripped off the GTA franchise?

Guitar Hero (PS2/PS3/Xbox 360, 2005)

Our original game here was Super Smash Bros. Melee because it was, and I quote, “the ultimate party game.” Upon further reflection, that title actually belongs to Guitar Hero if only because you couldn’t attend a party attended by non-gamers between the game’s release and today without running into people banging on the strumming a plastic guitar. This is especially true if you visited certain gentrified sections of Brooklyn. The game was everywhere, so clearly it must have done something right. Publishers may have since shot themselves in the foot by releasing 800 versions of the game in a two-year window, but you can’t blame the game itself for publishers’ greed. It’s fun, and it represents the peak of the music game genre that, in a very real sense, defined the decade in gaming.

Shadow of the Colossus (PS2, 2005)

This is our arthouse pick, yes, but for all the hullabaloo of “please re-make Final Fantasy VII for the PS3,” we say: no! Instead, re-make Shadow of the Colossus for it pushed the PS2 as far as the little guy could go. The game was like playing art. Rarely has a sense of scale been so raw in as it was here. A terrific soundtrack, a unique setting, and an unmatched sense of “oh man, we’re going on an adventure” means that youre sure to impress your “games as art” buddies .

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Our Take

Devin: I want to throw Final Fantasy XII on here. A lot of people dismissed it because of its cipher of a main character and weird MMO-style combat. But the fact is it was a hugely deep, very interesting, and strikingly beautiful game. I loved it from start to finish, although the final boss was a bit corny.

Matt: You can’t tell me that any of these games above are more fun — I mean LOL, smile-on-your-face, gets-better-as-you-drink fun — than Super Smash Bros. Melee. Yet it probably isn’t the best game from the last 10 years. But it’s still damn fun.

Greg: I’m going to pull a Nicholas here and proclaim that this is all a bunch of nonsense. It’s impossible to claim that any one game of this decade was the most definitive (especially not RE4, dumb dumbs), considering how many games changed the horizon. Guitar Hero and Smash Bros made busting out a video game at a party okay. The Lego Star Wars/Indie/etc. series proved to girlfriends around the world that gaming with your boyfriend can be a fun experience. GTA taught the world to hate linear gameplay. Call Of Duty and Halo taught millions of console gamers the joys and frustrations of well made competitive first-person-shooters whilst simultaneously increasing the average weight of adolescents around the world. WoW brought MMOs into the mainstream. Shadow of the Colossus destroyed our sense of scale, while Katamari Damacy proved that games can be abstract and still sell well. There is no one answer to this question, because the games of this decade were simply too good.

Doug: Wii Sports — hear me out! As most people’s introduction to the Wii, the bundled Wii Sports game serves as the ambassador to a new way of thinking about video games. How many video games from the past ten years will you find people of all generations playing? Nobody’s really playing Halo in nursing homes or senior centers. The simple control scheme and 1:1 movement in Wii Sports made Nintendo’s latest console a hit with people outside the core demographic of gamers, something Sony and Microsoft are still scrambling to replicate.

David Diaz: I think Halo: Combat Evolved should have made this list. It became the benchmark for all console FPS and sparked the beginning of one of the most dominant franchises in console history.

Logitech Wii Wireless Guitar Controller (Accessory) newly tagged "wii game"

The First Decade: The Industry’s Turning Points in the 00s

The 90s marked some truly revolutionary moments for gaming, not the least of which was the leap to 3D games. As the first decade of the 21st century folds, there’s been no shortage of pivotal moments for the gaming industry. Some of them seem fairly evident. Most of them functioned as a smaller spark that led to a bigger explosion. Would Xbox Live be where it is now had Bungie not incorporated so many features into Halo 2? Was the Wii really the sole turning point for casuals to start playing games, or was Brain Age the kick-off? Put on your tinfoil hats, kids. Here are ten turning points of the 2000s:

2000: PlayStation 2 launches in North America.

Why did this event change the course of the gaming industry? In October 2000, the average DVD player cost $300, as much as a PlayStation 2. The PS2 was a console designed as an entertainment machine. It helped Hollywood transition from VHS to DVD by hitting a movie-buying demographic. Not only were standards set for the Xbox, it ultimately came to decide the next wave of console hardware five years later. Backwards compatibility and movie playback were suddenly important features that every console needed (even if you need to hack the Wii to get it to happen).

Ripples you can see today: You can see so many of the Xbox 360’s success in the PlayStation 2: get to market first and secure (timed) exclusive games, faulty hardware be damned. Sony took a similar gamble with the Blu-ray format (is The Dark Knight to Blu-ray what The Matrix was to DVD?). And multimedia integration, from Internet browsers to Netflix, wouldn’t be conceivable without our game consoles providing us with entertainment outside of videogames.

2001: Sega withdraws from the hardware market following the failure of the Dreamcast.

Why did this event change the course of the gaming industry? Sega’s demise in March of 2001 served as a testament to Sony’s power at the time (the PS2 crushed the Dreamcast in Japan well before it even touched US shores) and served as a warning to Microsoft, which was releasing the Xbox a few months later. Would consumers have tolerated a four-way dance between console manufacturers? It seems rather doubtful. Also, Sega’s lucrative exclusive franchises — Sonic, 2K Sports — became ubiquitous, at least, for a few years.

Ripples you can see today: One could argue that pre-Halo 2 Xbox Live resembled the best elements of SegaNet, and that fundamentally, the Xbox modeled itself after many facets of Sega’s machine. After Xbox? Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Sonic vs. Mario in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. A litany of botched attempts to resurrect 16-bit classics for contemporary tastes.

2004: Halo 2, World of Warcraft, and Half-Life 2 all launch in the same month.

Why did this event change the course of the gaming industry? These three games came to define the way we played games for years to come. Bungie’s sequel was a shot in the arm for Xbox Live subscriptions and previewed many of the features that would set the standard for Microsoft’s online service on the next machine. Blizzard took a previously niche genre, added some baking soda and boiled it down to a solid, quickly consumable mass. You see where this is going. Despite a rocky launch, Valve’s sequel brought in millions of new Steam users, which gave it the install base for its real strategy: digital distribution of PC games.

Ripples you can see today: A great deal of today’s Xbox Live was established on the shoulders of Halo 2, and Microsoft’s commitment to online gaming has been key to its dominance. As PC games lose physical retail real estate, Steam has become the dominant force in PC game sales. Thanks to the widespread popularity of WoW, MMOs are mainstream fare. Loot and experience points have moved out of role-playing and into other genres. Think about that when you hit Prestige.

2004: EA snatches up the rights to the NFL license.

Why did this event change the course of the gaming industry? On the heels of Sega/Take-Two’s price slash on NFL 2K5, EA’s aggressive takeover of Madden didn’t endear them to legions of nerds who hate sports. Aside from the awkward position it put the publisher in from hardcore gamers, it sparked a pissing contest over the arguably most lucrative game genre for publishers. Sega ultimately withdrew from sports sims altogether and sold its Visual Concepts studio to Take-Two. Take-Two quickly responded to EA by shoring up an exclusive deal with Major League Baseball to secure exclusive third-party rights.

Ripples you can see today: Aside from FIFA, Madden could very well be the reason why EA’s been able to withstand a litany of big duds over the past year. Although exclusive deals hurt gamers on the surface, there have been some less-discussed benefits. Sony regained its footing in first-party sports games with MLB: The Show, which is quietly one of the best exclusives on the PS3, and a continuous top-seller on PS2. Can you find a better sim-centric baseball experience on console? Debatable.

2005: Hackers find a sex mini-game in the PC version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Rockstar Games claims that it’s a user-created mod, which holds water until someone uses a cheat device to unlock the minigame on console versions. Hilary Clinton gets involved and suggests regulating the gaming industry. Congress passes a resolution to find out whether Take-Two (Rockstar’s parent company) intentionally deceived the ESRB in submitting San Andreas for rating.

Why did this event change the course of the gaming industry? Moreso than any disbarred Florida attorney’s lawsuits and Game Politics forum trolling, “Hot Coffee” forced the industry, from retailers to marketers, to police themselves with a stringency never seen prior. In order to prevent government interference in regulating mature content, the ESRB has taken a heavily proactive stance, including an agreement with the software industry to restrict M-rated trailers and demos from consumption by minors. The organization ducked another potential debacle less than a year later, as The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion was re-rated from “T” to “M” following news that users had modified the code to allow nudity.

Ripples you can see today: It’s harder for youth under 17 to buy an M-rated game than to get into an R-rated film or buy a CD with explicit content. Instead, it’s easier for them to convince their asleep-at-the-wheel parents to buy them Modern Warfare 2 and ruin the multiplayer experience for the rest of us.

2006: Nintendo releases Brain Age, which extends handheld gaming beyond a niche audience.

Why did this event change the course of the gaming industry? Some argue that Nintendogs was the pivotal moment for the Nintendo DS. Although Brain Age didn’t have the lasting power of a virtual Chihuahua, it opened up the market beyond Pokémon-playing tweens and grown men who unironically wear Mario t-shirts. The last time a game reached this level of critical mass on a Nintendo handheld was Tetris, which Nintendo bolstered with an ad campaign showing businessmen playing it.

Ripples you can see today: Brain Age marked the advent of lifestyle games on the DS — previously a Japan-only niche — for Western audiences. Now you can buy cookbooks, language software and math tutors for your DS. Wii Fit doesn’t seem so crazy once you consider how much Nintendo has iterated on the idea of everyday life as a metagame for its software.

2006: Activision purchases RedOctane for shy of $100 million.

Why did this event change the course of the gaming industry? Six months after the release of Guitar Hero, Activision snatched up RedOctane and the rights to the Guitar Hero name. Harmonix remained independent until September 2006, when MTV purchases the Boston-based developer. A year later, the music game wars ignited.

Ripples you can see today: Amidst a decade of tumult and reluctant transformation for the music industry, video games have proven to be a lucrative source of exposure for artists.  There have been unforeseen consequences  — witness Warner Music Group’s boycott of music games over royalties or the numerous lawsuits levied at Activision regarding its liberal use of musician likenesses — but the genre has undoubtedly had a profound impact on the music industry. Guitar Hero has made Activision one of the world’s biggest publishers, while some have argued that Rock Band has been a money pit for EA and MTV Games — analysts have said that even with The Beatles: Rock Band’s critical success and public awareness of the product, it will likely struggle to break even.

2006: E3 marks a massive changing of the guard.

Why did this event change the course of the gaming industry? After years of anticipation for the PlayStation 3, Sony reveals a handful of games, a controller sans rumble, features that were arguably vestigial at the time, and a price point that was hard to swallow during better economic times. It was an exercise in how to collapse from grace.

The following morning, Nintendo showed off Wii, shook off the struggles of the GameCube, and pointed to a bright future filled with new ways to play games.

A few hours later, Cliff Blezsinski took the stage to show off a live demonstration of Gears of War at Microsoft’s press conference. It was followed by the announcement of Grand Theft Auto IV and exclusive downloadable content for Xbox 360, as well as the announcements of Fable II and Halo 3.

Also, the Expo itself was so insanely jam-packed and crowded that the ESA tinkered with the formula twice before restoring it to a slightly slimmer state in 2009.

Ripples you can see today: It has taken years for Sony to recover from two hours of awkwardly-lain presentation (and several firmware updates). Microsoft ripped several pages from Sony’s playbook and executed them to a tee, which has been at the root of the company’s success up to present day. Nintendo set the stage for a fantastic year of gaming that catered to both new gamers (Wii Sports) and its core audience (which has sputtered out following Super Mario Galaxy). E3 went through a crazy diet to trim the fat, but now it’s a sleeker, slimmer spectacle filled with the same media buzz.

2008: Apple launches the iPhone App Store, which enables software developers to make applications to sell on the wildly successful iPhone.

Why did this event change the course of the gaming industry? After years of venture capitalists espousing the gospel of mobile gaming amidst a veritable Tower of Babel of handsets and carriers, the ubiquitous appeal of the iPhone provided indie game developers with the opportunity to unleash their games on a wider platform.

Ripples you can see today: Smartphones are taking over as the norm, and with platforms narrowing, Apple and Google-branded operating systems are becoming a legitimate platform for handheld gaming, complete with user-friendly digital distribution. Games that flop on traditional portable platforms could find a new wider audience on iPhone or Google phones. Rockstar Games appears to be making the leap (GTA: Chinatown Wars did lackluster numbers on both DS and PSP); will it be the only publisher?

2008: Activision and Vivendi-Universal/Blizzard merge and become the world’s biggest game publisher overnight. Literally.

Why did this event change the course of the gaming industry? It came on the heels of Activision’s revival as a serious and legitimate threat to EA’s dominance as the top third-party publisher in the world, following a year that delivered Guitar Hero III, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, and Transformers. Laugh at those last three if you want; they filled Bobby Kotick’s coffers handsomely. Blizzard, at this point, had a mammoth share of the PC market with World of Warcraft.

Ripples you can see today: The combination of uncertain economic times and rapid globalization of the industry has led to more mergers, such as Square-Enix and Eidos, which gives the Japanese publisher even more leeway in Western markets. Also, seven music game variants in one calendar year.

Ripples you will see tomorrow: An abundance of plastic instruments piling up in landfills. What will cultural anthropologists think of us hundreds of years from now?

Honorable Mentions

The Three-Year Cycle (2001, 2004, 2007): A glut of AAA titles every three years, thanks to the arduous process of creating huge blockbusters. Funny enough, there’s been a Halo every one of those years (and a Metal Gear Solid in two of them).

Jason Hall’s Metrics Speech (2004): Before the former WB executive’s speech, no one really talked about tying performance bonuses to game scores. Now, metrics rule the way games are made and developers are paid.

The Economic Downturn (2008): Publishers like EA have been battening down the hatches, Midway is an afterthought, and the effects are still being seen.

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