Gadgets and Video Games

Doug Lombardi has told Joystiq that a multiplayer demo for Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 is planned for both the Xbox 360 and PC. According to Valve’s PR guru, users who pre-order the upcoming zombie survival title at “participating retailers or [via] Steam” will gain “advanced access to the demo,” which will eventually land on both platforms for all users prior to the game’s November 17 launch. Speaking with OXM at a recent London preview event, Lombardi discussed the strength of Left 4 Dead ’s “word of mouth,” which has presumably fueled the need for a demo to the sequel

Go here to read the rest:
Valve: Left 4 Dead 2 multiplayer demo on its way

( click to Afrika Bambaataa-size ) The retailer pricing of DJ Hero found recently — $120 bucks! — has some folks wondering why Activision may have upped the price for its usual game-plus-peripheral combo. The company has offered an explanation answer to Eurogamer , saying, “We believe that DJ Hero will provide tremendous value for our consumers by delivering an all-new interactive music experience with over 100 individual songs that are highlighted in over 80 unique mixes, a wide variety of …” … Sorry, we nodded off there for a minute. Between the $250 for The Beatles: Rock Band and another $120 for Tony Hawk: Ride , we’re up late a lot, worrying about affording all these plastic game controllers — and a bigger house to put them all in

View post:
Activision explains DJ Hero pricing, says game offers ‘tremendous value’

Europeans will be paying through the nose — but pay they will, if past Hero franchise figures are anything to go by — for the next rhythm game from Activision. ShopTo has told Eurogamer that DJ Hero will retail for a ridiculous

British-based retailer HMV is happy to report it has made over

If PSP Go is considered a ” ripoff ” in America, what do our friends in the UK call it, where it may retail for more than double the cost of the current PSP? The official UK price has yet to be revealed, but the leading national retailer Game is taking pre-orders at a ” guide price ” of

According to Gamestop’s Sterne Agee analyst, Arvind Bhatia, retailers have nothing to fear from digital distribution — not for the next five years, anyhow. Speaking to Industrygamers , Bhatia disclosed that Gamestop management has been conducting thorough studies on the capabilities of digital downloads and its potential adoption for several years now and that the findings are still in favor of brick-and-mortar establishments. Bhatia predicts that a market for downloadable titles won’t put serious pressure on retailers until 2014, which he proclaims will be a time when “25% of the population” will have easy access to download technology and when price and storage capacity won’t be such a concern. Although Gamestop’s study might sound like it’s trying to combat digital distribution, Bhatia states it’s not about competition but more on adaptation and learning how to profit from the changing distribution channels

See original here: 
Gamestop: Digital distribution not a threat for another five years

View high-resolution: PS3 or Xbox 360 If you haven’t spent all your money buying Street Fighter IV controllers , Namco Bandai has a new arcade stick for you to invest in. The official Tekken 6 Wireless Fight Stick Bundle bundles the upcoming game with an art book and a wireless stick made by HORI. The set will be available at various nationwide retailers, and will cost $150 for either the PS3 or Xbox 360 version. In addition to revealing the official arcade stick for the game, Namco Bandai also released 33 new screenshots of the game, showcasing some of the new characters featured in Tekken 6 . Our favorite character

See more here:
Tekken 6 wireless sticks revealed, priced

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is starting to believe that there isn’t enough incentive to release games on the PlayStation 3 or PSP. Proving how confident he is that fanboys don’t have his email address, he told The Times , “I’m getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don’t make it easy for me to support the platform.

View post:
Kotick questions continued Activision support of Sony platforms

So here’s the news: Pre-ordering Halo 3: ODST at participating retailers will net you a token to unlock Sergeant Johnson as a playable character in the new Firefight mode . We greet this news with mixed feelings.

Here is the original: 
Pre-order ODST, unlock Sgt. Avery Johnson

Pegging the release date of DJ Hero as October 27, GameStop is listing the game with a $120 price tag across all consoles — turntable peripheral in-tow. While we are, at very best, suspicious of any release dates or price tags attached to retailer listings, both GameStop and Amazon have details on not just DJ Hero , but also Guitar Hero 5 , Band Hero and, strangely, Modern Warfare 2 (in Collector’s Edition form , priced at $80). Those with a keen eye and a nose for all things ” exploitable ” will note that these titles all come from mega-publisher Activision, making us wonder if the company has simply released the information to retail before anyone else. Considering the price for Tony Hawk Ride (and its living room-destroying peripheral of $120), a precedent for unproven peripheral pricing has certainly been set

Original post:
Retailers list DJ Hero for $120, handful of other Activision titles detailed