We’ll be honest with you, there were times when we wanted to destroy our Xbox 360 because of all its problems, we’ve had half a dozen Xbox 360 consoles go broke on us, RROD, disc drive issues, you name it. Now of course, the new and updated Xbox 360 S took care of those issues, but we still remember the old, white box and all its problems.

Photographer Dan Saelinger worked on an issue of Fortune magazine about the demise of console gaming (!), where they blew up a few consoles and controllers. Check out more photos here. Now we’re looking forward to the article.

AMD has released their next generation high end graphics cards, the Radeon HD 6970 and Radeon HD 6950. Both cards support DirectX 11 and are built on the 40nm manufacturing process.

The HD 6970 packs 1536 stream processors clocked at 800 MHz and 2 GB of DDR5 RAM, while the little brother HD 6950 has 1408 stream processors at 800 MHz, and 2 GB of DDR5 memory as well. The HD 6970 and HD 6950 are set to retail at $370 and $300, respectively. If you’re looking for a new graphics card, which will most likely run Crysis 2 on very fine details, you should check out these new cards. AnandTech has a comprehensive review of both cards here.

Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo franchise has been regarded by many as the go-to racing simulator. However, with the release of Gran Turismo 5, many have wondered if the series has fallen from grace only to be surpassed by new comers like Forza and Need for Speed. Regardless of this chatter, Polyphony is pushing forward with their game and have today released a 600MB patch bringing the game to 1.05.

While an official change log has yet to be released, reports suggest that the update brings with tit the ability to turn off the HUD midrace, reduce the grip in wet tracks and turn on mechanical damage in offline practice mode.

Doesn’t sound very exciting but it’s nice to see the game mature even after its launch.

via cvg

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is one of the most popular video game consoles currently on the market with a huge market share and legions of loyal fans. While it’s perfectly capable of running multi platform titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops, the 360 has some hefty exclusives that help secure its success. Halo, obviously, has been known to sell massive amounts with the most recent iteration, Halo: Reach, hitting the market not too long ago.

Gears of War, on the other hand, hasn’t seen a new title since Gears of War 2 back in 2008. Luckily, it has been known for some time now that Epic will go on to release Gears of War 3 and will even have a beta available. However, what we haven’t been able to pin point is when we will be seeing that beta hit and what we will have to do to get down on it.

Well, I’m pleased to tell you that Epic Games own president Mike Capps has come forward to say that he believes the Gears of War 3 beta will most likely be hitting sometime around April of next year.

So folks, with the new year just around the corner that means we won’t be waiting long for Gears 3. Who’s excited?

UPDATE: Scratch that – purchase Bulletstorm: Epic Edition and you’ll be able to snag the beta. Woo!

via gamespot

It’s been a while since we’ve heard about Max Payne 3, which has an all new lead character, or just a bald Payne, and an all new setting in Brazil. There hasn’t been any official updates on the game, and its release date had been pushed several times.

After the game wasn’t mentioned at the recent Take Two conference call, nor was it given a release scheduled, it appeared as if the game was put on hold. But a Take Two rep spoke to Kotaku and said “”We’re still working hard on Max, and we’ll have more news in the coming months.” We sure hope so.

According to a new report, Microsoft is hard at work on a Kinect firmware update which will quadruple the resolution of the built in cameras that track movement. The current resolution is a mere 320×240, and is expected to be upped to 640×480, which will deliver far greater accuracy in tracking movement of Kinect players.

According to Eurogamer, who investigated the hardware, the Kienct processor and image sensor can process 35MB of data per second, but is artificially limited to about half of that, 15MB/s. However, adding four times the pixels could slow things down, so we’ll have to wait and see. Perhaps only a doubling of the resolution will be applied.

Call us old fashioned, but we’ve always preferred a professional creation instead of fan made stuff, which never really lived up to the quality standards we expect here at DB. But it doesn’t mean we’re not interested when we see a fan made Fallout film called Fallout: Nuka Cola.

The movie is in production now and will be released next year. Made by Wayside Creations, it showcases some nifty one-liners and cheap visual effects. Hopefully Bethesda won’t shut the thing down, but something tells us they will. Soon.

The first DLC for Bad Company which offers new entirely content — 4 maps, lots of guns and even more music tracks from the Vietnam campaign. It takes the familiar Bad Company 2 gameplay and brings in an all new setting, with new player models, new buildings and everything that needs to bring a realistic Vietnam FPS gameplay to the players.

Bad Company 2 is already one of the finest multiplayer shooters out there, just short of Battlefield 2 on scale and sheer fun. A a year prior to BF2, DICE released Battlefield Vietnam, and it’s clear that they’ve drawn heavy inspiration from that title into Bad Company 2 Vietnam. From the Vietnam era feel, to the atmopshere and music, the Vietnam DLC adds everything to Bad Company 2 to make it feel different, expanding the universe for those who have grown tired of the regular, modern Bad Company 2 maps. But don’t expect Vietnam to be just a few new maps and weapons — it’s a fully fledged multiplayer expansion, with new sounds, voice overs, weapons, player models, and pretty much everything else sans the game engine and the wonderful destruction it provides. All the maps showcase various aspects of Vietnam, mostly jungles, military bases, tunnels, hills and rice fields. Even if you’re a BC2 veteran, You’ll start at the bottom with no unlocks and will fight your way up, as usual. The new weapons are very realistic and period specific, including an awesome flamethrower which sets everything ablaze around you.

The gameplay and game modes remain the same as in BC2, meaning it’s very effective, fun and engaging. However, we wished there was a few more “new” additions besides the visual stuff like player models. Perhaps a Vietnam specific game mode or something similar, as for $15, the DLC is kinda pushing it with just 4 maps, and might be considered too steep for some. Especially since much of the regular BC2 content has been free and relatively cheap. Overall, Vietnam is a great addition to the avid BC2 fans looking for more, and offers a great new world of Vietnam.

The Good:
Same fun Bad Company 2 style
All new maps, models, weapons etc.
New maps and weapons are fun and engaging

The Bad:
Could use a new, Vietnam-specific game mode
A tad over priced
Some would lack missing single-player

Overall score: 8/10

As expected, Valve has delivered another TF2 update for the holidays, this time, it includes a new game mode called Medieval Mode, which is a melee only mode, alongside a few maps, including DeGroot Keep, a capture map well suited for Medieval Mode.

In addition, the update brings lots of new hats (surprise, surprise) and new weapons, including: The Claidheamohmor, The Back Scratcher, The Boston Basher, The Fists of Steel, The Amputator, The Crusaders Crossbow, The Loch-n-Load, The Brass Beast, The Warriors Spirit, The Candy Cane, The Jag, and a few more. Check out the full update here.

CryTek has released a new trailer of Crysis 2, showing some tense combat in the streets of New York. Best of all, it finally shows the aliens we’ll be up against in Crysis 2, and they look pretty cool.

Crysis 2 will be released on March 25, 2011, on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. A recently concluded multiplayer beta looked promising on the multiplayer side, where up to 32 players will battle it out in the streets of NY.