How much money do you spend on video games? Are you one to buy pretty much every single new game that comes out? Well, according to recent studies, you aren’t alone. The study of focus was done by investment firm Piper Jaffray who say that 8% of teen budgets are spent on video games. Also according to the company, those teens make up 35% of all US video game players.

We’re not going to ask you to calculate the percentage of your budget that you spend on video games, but about how much money would you estimate you spend yearly on them? Let us know in the comments.

via cvg

If you’ve played Skate 2 you’ll recognize the game mode featured in the above Skate 3 trailer which is none other than the Hall of Meat. However, Skate 3 will feature a new and improved Hall of Meat allowing players to gain speed while bailing, aim your body and even push off the ground for added hilarity. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Just watch the above trailer.

Skate 3 will be out for the Xbox 360 and PS3 on May 11th of this year.

Splinter Cell is undergoing a drastic rebirth with Conviction, and this is evident all over. For one, the storytelling is pretty good and the action is as awesome as it always has been, or at least, in the early Splinter Cell games. However, when it comes to the sneaking around, infiltrating and so on — you know, what spies and agents like Sam Fisher are supposed to do — Splinter Cell Conviction is a lot easier than previous games. It’s a lot more straight forward, simplified, which might turn off the hard core stealth gamers — actually, it most definitely will. But for the rest, Conviction is a lot more approachable Splinter Cell game.

Once again, you’re playing as Sam Fisher, the ousted agent who’s been through quite a lot over the past few games. And while the stealth part has been simplified, it’s not exactly a run and gun action game — you’ll still be doing a lot of sneaking, peaking around corners, hiding in shadows and so on. What makes Conviction different, is there’s a lot more “head on” action, a lot more shooting and taking out enemies. And there are plenty of ways of taking out enemies and finishing them off. However, some of the gameplay is too scripted and takes away a lot of the challenge, and truth be told, that notion carries out throughout the game, it’s simply not as challenging as the previous Splinter Cell games. You won’t be climbing of rappelling down walls or picking locks or taking out lights, another way the game has been simplified just a bit too much. Even the selection of gadgets is quite limited. And the interrogations in the game are too scripted and are pretty much cut scenes.

Another down turn is that the game is quite short, you can complete it around 5 hours. One of the good aspects though, is the co-op mode, which pits you with a friend throughout an alternative campaign, and it gives the game a lot of replayability. Visually and technically, the game is pretty good, but it’s not as good as it could be, as it was built on the aging Unreal Engine 2. However, the game is quite entertaining and co-op is certainly one of the high points. But as noted before, the biggest downside is the gameplay which has been too simplified and doesn’t offer enough challenge, especially for Splinter Cell fans.

The Good:
Good gameplay
Great co-op
Great story

The Bad:
Too easy
Simplified compared to last games
Visuals appear dated at times
Short campaign

Overall score: 7/10

Here is something that is sure to have competing studios complaining over unfairness — It was just announced that Silicon Knights, the guys that helped Konami with Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, has recieved a $4 million grant from the Canadian government. The studio will apparantly be using this money to hire an additional 65 employees to work on their latest title.

Silicon Knight’s Denis Dyack had the following to say about the new game:

We can only say it’s a next generation title and a high production value game. That’s all we can say.”

via gi.biz

Want your fix while you’re waiting for Sonic 4 to be released? Well, you’re in luck as Sega has just announced that they will be releasing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 onto the iTunes Store for both the iPhone and iPod touch (and I suppose the iPad).

The release date for the title is April 19th and the price is $5.99. Yes, $5.99 for a game you can probably find for like 2 dollars for the PS2 or another older console.

via destructoid

Sure, the PS3 and Xbox 360 and years ahead when it comes to graphical capabilities but the Wii has long been the only one with a motion controller (we’re not even going to mention SIXAXIS). However, now that Project Natal and Playstation Move are just around the corner, the consoles are becoming increasingly alike.

Well, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto hopes to change this with the Wii 2 saying:

“In the next generation of hardware, the challenge is how unique and different a product Nintendo is able to make. Whether that be Wii HD, Wii 2 or an entirely new console, I am not in a position to say at this point.”

I hope they don’t name it the Wii HD, that would be too cliche.

Originally slated by Epic’s Cliffy B as coming “probably on April 5th” 2011, Gears of War 3 has just been dated by Microsoft to officially be coming on April 8th 2011. That’s quite a while away, just about a year, but that time means Epic Games will have the time to make Gears of War 3 the best Gears title to date.

Who is getting it? I know I am.

via kotaku

It seems that Google has just signed former game technology consultant Mark DeLoura as their resident game developer advocate. No, Google isn’t entering the console market (yet) but they do want to ramp up the game’s that will be/are available for their various platforms be it Android, Chrome OS or even their O3D web API.

DeLoura’s job at Google will involve linking potential game developers up with the information and tools they need to succeed.

We wish him the best of luck!

via joystiq

South Korea is largely known as the most connected country on the planet. Unfortunately, will all of technology comes video game addiction, specifically to MMOs. Well, the government is making note of this and will soon introduce a 6 hour period of downtime for 19 of the country’s biggest MMOs. This will hopefully curb the ridiculous addiction some of these Koreans are facing.

Luckily, they will be able to choose which period of downtime they want be it midnight to 6 a.m., 1 to 7 a.m. or 2 to 8 a.m.

It may sound ridiculous, but what else is there left to do?

via kotaku

Well it seems that glitchers have managed to find another exploit in Modern Warfare 2‘s multiplayer. No, you don’t get unlimited noob tube ammo or the ability to run super fast, but you can call in unlimited harriers. That’s right, a new glitch has been found that allows players to call in up to 9 harriers. Just imagine the havoc you could cause will 9 harrieres in the sky.

Let’s hope Infinity Ward is quick with patching this one as by the time they do, players are sure to find another.

Oh by the way, a little bird told us that you can figure out how to do this glitch here.