Rock just isn’t what it used to be. With Guitar Hero 5 capitalizing on in-game advertising and Rock Band selling out to LEGO just to earn some extra cash from the kiddies, rock has lost touch with its roots, man. Brütal Legend is joining in on the corporate schilling, offering bonuses for gamers who preorder from the Man (GameStop). Gamers will get early access to the Brütal Legend demo, which serves no purpose to gamers who are dead set on buying the game anyway. They’ll also get a bonus in-game guitar.

So much for sticking it to the Man and rebelling against the status quo. Rock used to be about the music, man. Not selling out.

Not even considering the power of past consoles, the computing power of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 show that the current generation of systems still have a lot of time for developers to be able to push them to their limits in terms of realistic physics.

Need For Speed: Shift is giving gamers a taste of what’s still to come in the form of screens for the Nissan Skyline 2000 GTR.

Check out the screens.

This new Batman: Arkham Asylum trailer highlights some of the amazing rogue gallery that Batman will face. The villains included in the trailer are Bane, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Mr. Zsasz, Poison Ivy and of course, the Joker who all fight against Batman in his attempt to free Arkham Asylum from the grips of the worst of his enemies.

With every new video that is released, my own anticipation for this title grow and this newest trailer has made me want to get this game the day it is released.

Who you gonna call?

Okay, that was probably the worst Ghostbusters setup ever. Still, old Ghostbusters fans should be super excited about the Ghostbusters video game. It isn’t quite the third movie that the fans all wanted, but its damned close. All of the original cast is back to do voice overs and the script was written by Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd. If nothing else, the game will be funny to listen too.

I am not sure Ghostbusters is going to be tearing the bulk of gamers away from Prototype, but old fans of the series should definitely look into it. It is being released on every system possible, so you have no excuse. Seriously, stop playing Guitar Hero and Rockband. If you just spent all that time learning to actually play a guitar, you might have actually had a date last weekend.

It is a well known fact that the developers at Valve are not fans of developing for the PlayStation 3 achitecture.  Gabe Newell, the managing director of Valve and god of all things Zombie, has made it very evident that the platform is not developer friendly, further stating that he plans to never plans to make a game for Sony’s flagship console.

Part of the issue lies in the fact that Valve develops using their Source Engine.  Originally developed as a PC game engine, the Source Engine seamlessly made the transition to the very PC friendly, Xbox 360 platform.  As modular as the engine is, they have not been able to bridge the gap between the PC and PlayStation 3’s cell processor.

With all of this out in the open, there are three possible explanations for this posting on EA.com:

1. Gabe Newell has been messing with us for months, and they have been developing the game in secret.
2. EA plans to port Left 4 Dead 2 to the PlayStation 3 after the PC and Xbox 360 versions have been released.
3. This is a PR snafu on the part of EA and nothing more than a clerical mistake.

Time will tell what really comes out of this scenario, but I would love to see the game come to as many platforms as possible.  Well, that is as long as the PlayStation 3 port of L4D2 isn’t nearly as horrible as EA’s abysmal port of the Orange Box.  What do you think is going on here?

Just in case you missed them the first time around, 2K and Bethesda are releasing a pair of modern classics in one package. The original BioShock and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will be made available together for just $40 on Xbox 360 or $30 for PC on July 7.

Sounds like a great deal, but shame on you if you own an Xbox 360 and haven’t already played these titles. We’re talking about 2 of the top 5 highest rated Xbox 360 games. Not to mention a combined 80 game of the year awards from numerous publications.

From a business standpoint, 2K and Bethesda have to know that their masterpieces are so critically acclaimed that a good many traditional gamers have already played both games. I suppose they’re counting on more recent Xbox 360 purchasers to make this a profitable endeavor. Whether this package sells or not, the BioShock/Oblivion bundle is a nice reminder that traditional genres can still produce outstanding experiences.

It seems weird that Infinity Ward would sacrifice the namesake they made famous for the upcoming Modern Warfare 2, omitting the Call of Duty tag in any capacity. Most gamers have probably already accepted the name change anyhow, but MTV Multiplayer got in a quick interview with Robert Bowling, community manager over at Infinity Ward. As he explains it, the reason for the name change is because, “this is just not another one in the Call of Duty franchise. This is a direct sequel to Modern Warfare. This has never happened in Call of Duty before. They’re typically all their own campaigns, totally unrelated to the previous one.”

So there you have it, the first ever direct continuation of a Call of Duty narrative, which makes me psyched because Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare had, in my opinion, the only compelling and memorable story of any Call of Duty. I’m damned excited to see the continuing operations of the SAS.