Most gamers are always looking to save some money when feeding their habit, so when I find some cash-saving offers, I make sure to tell you about them. I’m just that kind of person.

Today only, Amazon.com is offering Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII for the PSP for only $25.99 (which is just enough to qualify for free shipping. Yay!) as the Deal of the Day in the Gold Box

Amazon is also offering a free $50 gift card with the purchase of an XBOX 360 console and Grand Theft Auto VI. Details here.

And for you PC gamers out there, you might want to take advantage of today’s item on Woot, the Razer Diamondback 3G Gaming Mouse for $24.99 + $5 shipping, which normally retails for around $39.99.

And finally, Circuit City is offering up some games for $9.99, including Saint’s Row (360), God of War II (PS2), Sonic Rush (DS), Cooking Mama (DS), and Sonic the Hedgehog for both PS3 and 360.

According to Joystiq, Ubisoft was kind enough to announce today that the Beyond Good & Evil sequel, which has apparently been in development for months now but wasn’t officially greenlighted, has… well… officially been greenlighted. There’s no word yet on what platform(s) it’s being developed for or even a tentative release date, but there is a teaser trailer.

And it’s about damned time!

If you’re looking for deals, you might want to head over to the Amazon.com Gold Box today. XBOX 360 deals abound!

The Deal of the Day is Call of Duty 4: Game of the Year Edition for a measly $39.99, and the Lightning Deals look pretty promising. The first this morning is Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Limited Edition for $29.99, and three more will be revealed in the coming hours.

Courtesy of Kotaku… did anyone know that someone has been working on a Metal Gear Solid novel? Surely this info must have been floating out there in cyberspace somewhere, but I just heard about it five minutes ago when I found out the damn thing had been published and is available for purchase (I must be slipping…).

The author, one Raymond Benson, seems to do quite a lot of James Bond novels. Me, I’ve never heard of the guy, and I have to admit, I’m curious. I don’t think I’ve seen a video game-based book since those Super Mario choose your own adventure books I read back in the third grade. Hell, at $10.36 I think I’ll snag a copy and see what’s up.

Metal Gear Solid (Paperback)

I’m a day late this week, but here’s your new releases for the week of May 26. Welcome to Summer.

PS3 and 360

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars | 360 | PS3
An online strategic FPS game, set in the Quake universe. The game features two sides to choose from, each with different technology and abilities and open-ended combat. Fight as a member of the Earth’s Global Defense Force, or as the alien Strogg invaders as you attempt to complete military operations such as construction, defense, capture, and destruction of key facilities.

Lost Planet Extreme Condition: Colonies Edition | 360
This “greatest hits” version of Lost Planet Extreme Condition features three new modes for single player campaigns, as well as six new online modes, and four new multiplayer maps. They’ve also added some new weapons and environments, and the ability to switch from first person to over-the-shoulder perspective. If you missed it the first time around, here’s your second chance.

Wii

Death Jr: Root of Evil
In Death Jr., you can play as either the Grim Reaper’s teenage son, Death Jr., or Jr.’s high school sweetheart, Pandora as they attempt a rescue of Jr.’s father. The game is primarily action/platforming, and has both solo and co-op modes. As cheesy as it sounds, it might be worth a look if only to have some fun with the flaming toilet paper throwers and C4 hamsters.

The Monkey King: The Legend Begins
The Monkey King is an arcade style 2D action title, in which you play as the titular Monkey King as he battles to protect his land and become a god. The title is a remake of an old-school arcade game, retuned for the Wii, and features solo and co-op modes.

Emergency Heroes
A driving title, in which you have the chance to drive some seriously high-tech rescue vehicles as you attempt to complete rescue missions. The game features an open world to explore, two-player co-op mode, and a versus mode.

WiiWare

Dr. Mario Online RX (1000 Wii Points)
A revival of the classic NES puzzle game in which you attempt to destroy viruses by stacking up multi-colored pills. The WiiWare version features four-player online action and the ability to put your Mii in the game, as well as a “Friend Battle Demo” for friends who haven’t bought the game yet.

Family Table Tennis (500 Wii Points)
Your typical Wii ping pong game, with single and versus modes, several mini-games, and cell-shaded graphics.

Nintendo DS

Super Dodgeball Brawlers
I’ll never understand why people think Dodgeball makes a good mini-game, let alone a stand-alone title. Personally, I always dreaded dodgeball day in gym class. But, if dodgeball is your thing, Super Dodgeball Brawlers gives you over 100 special attacks, a choice between gym and playground rules, and multiplayer capabilities.

Fab 5 Soccer
And here we have yet another soccer title (because apparently there aren’t already enough of them this year…). This one offers the standard options of playing as famous players, building your dream team, and also makes use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection.

PSP

World Championship Cards
A collection of card games for the PSP, World Championship Cards offers 30 games to choose from, including Bridge, Gin Rummy, Solitaire, Cribbage, Hearts, Spades and more. The game also has online play and supports up to 8 players.

Developed by tri-Ace and published by Square-Enix, Infinite Undiscovery for the XBOX 360 is officially scheduled for a worldwide release on September 2, 2008.

The game promises a whole new take on the action-RPG genre, in that it’s chief gameplay element is that the world evolves in real time with every choice and discovery the player makes. This, and Square-Enix’s other up-coming 360 title, The Last Remnant, are the whole reason I even wanted a 360 in the first place (well… those two, and Dead Rising…), so I’m very excited to finally know when I’m going to be getting my hands on it.

With the announcement of the release date also comes a new trailer for the game:

Now’s your chance to pre-order the next installments of the Guitar Hero franchise… Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, available June 29, and Guitar Hero: On Tour, the portable version of the game for Nintendo DS, available June 22.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is available for the PS3, 360, Wii, and PS2, and can be purchased as a stand alone game, or bundled with a wireless guitar.

Guitar Hero: On Tour comes bundled with the Guitar Grip add-on for the DS, and features 4 different game-play modes.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (Bundle) - PS3 | 360 | Wii | PS2

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (Stand Alone) - PS3 | 360 | Wii | PS2

Guitar Hero: On Tour - Nintendo DS

Everyone get you butts over to Amazon! They’re having another video game deal day in the Gold Box.

Sadly, I didn’t get there in time to grab me the first deal of the day (a Dance Dance Revolution bundle for Wii for the low, low price of $49.99), but there are more deals to come through out the day. It looks like they’re going to be rhythm and/or singing titles, based on the descriptions of the Coming Soon mystery offers.

Also, if you’re still holding out on buying Guitar Hero III, the bundle (available for all consoles) is the Deal of the Day, and can be had for a mere $59.99 (or $49.99, if you prefer the PS2 version).

Amazon Gold Box

The list of attendees/exhinitors for this years E3 Media and Business Summit (the sadly scaled back new version of the former Electronic Entertainment Expo), has hit the net. Even though it’s invite-only, and things aren’t exactly as flashy as they once were, I’m looking forward to the new info that will inevitably come out of the show. The following exhibitors will be present:
Read the rest of this entry »

Why is it that when people who don’t play video games try to understand people who do, they inevitably try to come up with some profound theory as to gamers’ love of games? I’ve heard a lot of strange ones, some not so strange ones, and some that may even be plausible to an extent, but the fact of the matter is there’s really no single reason why we like games.

Speaking from a female perspective, one of my favorite theories put for by a non-gaming classmate of mine, back, I think, in my first year at U of I, was that I played games to meet guys. Now I’m sure there are some gals out there who have, in fact, feigned interest in games in order to catch the attention of a member of the opposite sex, and maybe even came to enjoy them because of it… but I’m not one of them.

First off, it was a pretty asinine thing to say to me in particular because I’m almost exclusively a solo gamer, and when I do play multiplayer it’s usually either online or with my friends (the majority of whom are female, anyway). Second, I’ll talk about games with anyone who will listen, be they male or female… I don’t particularly care, as long as they want to hear about how awesome the latest Final Fantasy is. And finally, I’ve been into games much longer than I’ve been into guys (at age 8, guys are still pretty icky, after all).

But guys get it just as bad, I think… This morning, I read this article in the Daily Illini about how video games are a replacement for sex. Obvious gender-biases in the article aside (members of the female sex DO play video games, even if you do not, Miss Brott), I think the author was way off the mark, or at the very least, far too generalized.

And then of course there are the zealots out there who insist that gamers are an inherently violent bunch, playing their murder simulators to get their jollies. I won’t mention names here, since certain people like this tend to Google themselves obsessively and just love to see their names pop up on even tiny insignificant blogs like mine, but I’m sure most of you can guess.

In the end, I don’t believe there’s any one reason gamers like their games. I know I certainly don’t have just one supreme reason, and I would be shocked if any gamer out there can honestly say that they do.