La cadena de tiendas norteamericana GameStop ha desvelado la que será la llamada Limited Edition de Gears of War 2, que se venderá a un precio de unos 70$. Este pack incluirá un libreto de 48 páginas llamado "Beneath the Surface: An Inside Look at Gears of War 2" que incluirá fichas de los personajes, artworks y comentarios de Cliff Bleszinski (Diseñador Jefe del juego), un DVD extra con el making off, vídeos promocionales y comentarios, un nuevo diseño para un arma que se podrá ver durante el juego online y, todo ello, en una caja metalizada. Por el momento se desconoce si esta Limited Edition llegará a Europa y a qué precio.

The Gamestop website has posted a listing for the Limited Edition of the upcoming Xbox 360 title Gears of War 2.

For $69.99 the Limited Edition will include the game itself plus:

• Collectible SteelBook™ DVD case
• "Beneath the Surface: An Inside Look at Gears of War 2," a 48-page hardbound book including character profiles, exclusive concept art, and foreword by Design Director Cliff Bleszinski
• Bonus DVD including exclusive making-of-the-game video footage, design galleries with audio commentary by Epic Games, and promotional videos including the E3 2008 trailer,
• "Rendezvous."
• An exclusive gold-plated Lancer Assault Rifle available during online play

Look for both the limited edition and the regular version of the game to both be released on November 7th.

[Via Kotaku]

According to some leaked promotional material from video games retailer GameStop, the Xbox 360 Pro will indeed be receiving a price drop to $299.99 on July 13th, a couple of days before E3 kicks off.

The title page on the leaked packet of material says "DO NOT DISPLAY UNTIL SUNDAY 7/13". Oops.

There seems to be enough evidence now to stop considering this a rumor, even though Microsoft hasn't officially announced anything yet.

[Via Gizmodo]

Bueno, en realidad estas fotos tomadas por un empleado de la tienda GameStop no confirman el rumor, pero creo que todos estamos seguros de que Microsoft sí le bajará el precio a la Xbox 360 Premium...

La primera foto indica que no se debe mostrar la rebaja a 299.99 dólares antes del domingo 13 de julio (ups! creo que alguien se adelantó un poco!) y en la segunda podemos ver los letreros que pondrán en la tienda para anunciar el nuevo precio.

Todo parece indicar también que Microsoft está preparando una gran sorpresa para este E3 que comienza el 15 de julio en Los Angeles (un Xbox 360 de 60 gb de disco duro dicen algunos), pues la rebaja al precio de la consola sería una forma de vaciar el stock y poner un nuevo producto en el mercado.

Habrá que esperar una semana más.

Fuente: Kotaku

Hi! Sto scrivendo dal mio lettone (in Italia) e sono le 4.30 del mattino! Uffa il fuso orario si fa già sentire.. Bene, in questi giorni non ho mai scritto sul blog perchè sono stato sempre fuori (in mare, piscina, ecc) e quando tornavo in camera ero così stanco che quasi non facevo a tempo di mettermi il pigiama che già dormivo. Ho un sacco di cose da raccontare! Bene, Miami è la città più bella del mondo!! Ci sono stato 2 giornate, di cui una a Miami Beach. Il primo pomeriggio, dopo aver la passato la mattina in macchina per il viaggio da Orlando, l'ho passato a Ocean Drive, la via più importante di Miami Beach, concludendo mangiando paella buonissima in un ristorante all'aperto. Che caldo e che umido che fa in Florida, ci si scioglie! Il giorno dopo sono partito per le isole Keys, specialmente Key West. A Key West è tutto bellissimo! Palme, mare caraibico, caldo caldo caldo e tanto sole. Una particolarità di quel posto è che è un'isoletta che da una parte è bagnata dall'oceano Atlantico e dall'altra dal Golfo del Messico. Dopo due giorni di mare sono tornato verso Miami per l'ultimo giorno in Florida: la mattina alle Everglades (le famose paludi della Florida) e il pomeriggio in giro per Miami Downtown, Little Havana, ghetti, sobborghi, ecc ecc, specialmente ad un Gamestop trovato su Google Maps, dove sono stato almeno mezz'ora giocando solo al nuovissimo Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. La sera ero triste per la partenza dalla mia amata Florida, ma almeno partivo per New York e non per quei parchi schifosi!!

A New York bellissimo, ancora meglio della prima volta che ci sono andato! Un tassista pazzo ci ha portato fino all'hotel, che si trovava vicino a Times Square. Messe giu le valige, era mezzanotte, e sono andato fino in centro a Times Square con tutte le luci accese! SPETTACOLO! Sembrava quasi giorno! Il giorno dopo e anche quello dopo sono stato diciamo tutto il giorno al Nintendo Store di New York. C'era un motivo però.. SI POTEVA PROVARE ROCK BAND A TUTTO SCHERMO, A TUTTO VOLUME, E CON IL PUBBLICO DIETRO CHE TI GUARDAVA! Quante canzoni che ho suonato, gioco stupendo! Sono diventato bravissimo da subito con la batteria, modestamente.. Poi il penultimo giorno, oltre ad aver giocato a Rock Band, sono andato a Trenton per trovare parenti americani (che mi hanno chiesto di andare a vivere lì con loro per qualche mese). Poi basta, l'ultimo giorno sono stato al museo di scienze naturali (o qualcosa di simile) a New York e la sera alle 20 sono ripartito per l'Italia. Finita la vacanza...

Fantastici gli USA! Sicuramente ci ritornerò è stata la vacanza più bella della mia vita (e dire che sono stato in posti come Seichelles, Mauritius, Djerba, e davvero tanti altri)

Ora ci manca solo una classifica delle città più belle:

1. Miami
2. Los Angeles (specialmente Beverly Hills)
3. San Francisco
4. New York
5. Las Vegas

Ho ancora tutte delle foto da mettere su Flickr (tutte quelle dopo Las Vegas), ma lo faccio di sicuro domani o dopodomani.

BABAYY!!

s8: "i miss gamestop, the last one we saw was in los angeles."

me: "what's so special about gamestop?"

s8: "gamestop just makes game buying so much easier."

-John

Deoxys is a Pokemon that you can only obtain through special events. You cannot get one in the actual game, which makes it pretty rare. GameStop is having one of those special events.

From the GameStop Blog:

Unfortunately, I did not know about it last weekend, and this coming weekend we will be traveling. So Unless they have a GameStop in the Atlanta Airport, my daughter and I will have to wait for the next such event.

[Addendum: GameStop has this going on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, not just Saturday and Sunday, so we might get Deoxys yet!]

No more. Since May, as Sears stock has tumbled to $74, another retailer, Urban Outfitters (URBN), has risen to trump Lampert’s investment. Shares of the hot specialty retailer, at $32, are up more than eight-fold since 2003. Gamestop (GME), the fast-growing videogame retailer that FORTUNE recently wrote about, is not far behind. “I guess you’re telling me I need to get moving,” Lampert said when I called him this morning.

Indeed. Lampert, who runs an $11.5 billion hedge fund called ESL Investments, owns 65.6 million shares of Sears Holdings, worth $4.9 billion. He is one of America’s most secretive investors - and to retail-industry veterans, a walking conundrum. While they criticize him for under-investing in Sears and Kmart, he cites the value of pruning until he discovers the right strategy to spend money on. “Only when you find something that leads to better results,” he says, “do you get behind it with a significant amount of capital."

Lampert, 45, has made mistakes, as he readily admits. One error was ramping up inventory last year, while failing to anticipate a drop in consumer spending. Another mistake was buying back 33 million Sears Holdings shares at an average price of $132 between 2004 and 2007. (Ouch.) But Lampert, who made his billions by playing contrarian, refuses to let the rising chorus of critics distract him. “We’re the $50 billion company that people think doesn’t have any customers or relevance,” he says.

Even as Lampert loses customers to Wal-Mart (WMT) and Target (TGT), among other rivals, Sears has lots going for it: plenty of cash, relatively low debt, vast real estate (now is not the time to sell, obviously) and maybe most important, its private-label brands. Kenmore appliances, Craftsman tools, DieHard batteries and Lands’ End, the clothing maker, are leaders in their categories. Since only Sears and Kmart carry them, however, these brands have serious distribution challenges. “We have to increase awareness and make them more accessible,” says Lampert, who operates out of a spare hedge-fund office in Connecticut but nonetheless is a hands-on Sears chairman.

A new strategy for the brands may be coming. In addition to searching for a new CEO (Russell Reynolds is conducting the Sears CEO search - and it’s slow going), Lampert disclosed that he is looking for an executive to oversee the company’s multi-billion bevy of private brands. He needs a brand ace to figure out how to innovate and distribute them more broadly. One option, actually, was debated at Yale professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld’s recent CEO Summit in New York. There, brand experts from India - including a renowned professor and a prominent industrialist - said that Indian investors are eager to expand into retailing globally and would likely be interested in owning, or at least carrying, brands like Craftsman and Kenmore.

“Fascinating,” says Lampert. As for the opportunity, he uttered only that. As you read this, he is probably contemplating the possibilities.

P.S. At the Yale CEO Summit, participants voted on this question: Is Sears fixable? Forty percent said yes. Sixty percent said no. How would you vote?

GameStop Staffer I to GameStop Staffer II:

If you're gonna throw up, go in the back room.

Usually only hyped games get Limited Editions, but now Gears of War 2 is getting one. What's the deal? (end sarcasm)

I imagine tons of hardcore Gears fans will want to pick this LE up. It's actually cheaper than most expanded packages, retailing at $69.99, only ten bucks more than the normal version. Bonus items included in this edition are:

• -Collectible SteelBook DVD case
• -"Beneath the Surface: An Inside Look at Gears of War 2," a 48-page hardbound book including character profiles, exclusive concept art, and foreward by Design Director Cliff Bleszinski
• -Bonus DVD including exclusive making-of-the-game video footage, design galleries with audio commentary by Epic Games, and promotional videos including the E3 2008 trailer, "Rendezvous."
• -An exclusive gold-plated Lancer Assault Rifle avaliable during online play

http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=71929

 (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

~Lux1200 President~

Se volete posso provare a scomparire, magari qualche taglia dopo mi entra.
Jinsettari del mio ca**o.

E così, dichiaro guerra a tutte le marche e VIVA, sempre e soltanto, H&M (heicienem). Dove non soltato trovo i jeans che mi entrano, ma prendo anche taglie troppo fighe. E VIVA, sempre viva, anche Playlife (dove sono riuscita a comprare una XS) e la Benetton (dove ho trovato una S).

E poi si chiedono perchè le ragazze diventano anoressiche.
BASTARDI.

La seconda cosa più bella è andare in città per comprare la Nintendo DS.
Entri al MediaWorld:

- scusa, avete la Nintendo DS?
- no guardi, è finita ieri.

Va beh dai era una dipendente.

Entri al GameStop, pieno di scatole vuote della Nintendo:

- scusa, vorrei una Nintendo DS.
- [scocciata, la puttana]: è finitaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Spero ti chiudano il negozio per aprirci un ristorante cinese, dove io andrò a mangiare alla facciazza tua.
Brutta-zitella-che-se-non-trombi-non-è-colpa-mia-e-nemmeno-se-hai-sbagliato-lavoro.

Ormai compro per inerzia.
Manca qualcosa. Ma ancora non so cosa.
C'è chi parla di figli. Ma -vade retro satana- per ora sono l'ultimo dei miei pensieri.
C'è chi dice che son fissata.
Bha. Tutti hanno sempre le soluzioni giuste per gli altri.

Secondo me, quello che mi manca, è quella leggerezza che si ha da teenagers.
Quella leggerezza di far succedere le cose e basta.

Ogni tanto penso che bisognerebbe lasciar andare tutto come deve andare, lasciar succedere le cose, seguire l'onda del proprio destino e stare a vedere dove ti porta.

(Mi piaci così - F. Gungui)

Are you ready to save some more money? GameStop is offering 25% off any used PS3 games you can find in their stores. The coupon will be valid from now until the 17th. This blogger is going to be picking up some used games that will be trophy-enabled. For your reference, these are the retail games that are definitely going to be patched:

• Burnout Paradise ($26.24 with coupon)
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune ($37.50 with coupon)
• Warhawk ($22.49 with coupon)

This rumor has been a popular one over the last couple of weeks, with popular game blogs devoting multiple articles a day to what news could be found on this story. The rumor, originally stemming from a local advert from K-Mart, blew up into an all but confirmed wave of confirmations via a Target ad similar to K-Mart's, confirmation from a "major local retailer" via The Hollywood Reporter that the price drop was indeed coming but a day before E3, the same day as Microsoft's press conference, and most recently a leaked, internal GameStop document detailing the price drop and how the over 5000 GameStop's should handle it.

Due to the simply overwhleming and legitimate looking evidence that has flooded in the internet over the last week, I'm calling this one confirmed, expect an E3 announcement detailing this next Monday.

Gamestop announced that a Limited Edition will be accompanying the "normal" versions of Soul Calibur IV on July 29, but obviously, the supplies are for a limited time only. The PS3 will be receiving a darker themed version, whereas the 360 will receive a light themed one. The only difference in the two is the color of a t-shirt; the PS3's is black, and the 360's white. In addition to the t-shirt, the Limited Edition comes with an art book, a tournament bracket card, and obviously, the game disc. This all comes packed into a nice metal case, in which you can store: cookies, sheets of loose-leaf paper, grass seed, or anything else that will fit in a metal case. Sould Calibur fans, you might want to start pre-ordering as soon as possible, because you can only get this special, glowing edition while supplies last. As an added bonus, you'll receive a Soul Calibur key chain when you pre-order. Happy gaming, and may the force be with you.

via GameStop

Need I say more?

Till the next time, I love you.