CVG is hosting an article about something we all figured wouldn't take too long to come up with. A Wii mod-chip. After only two months, a commercially produced mod-chip, named "Wiinja" has begun to hit websites.

The chip is, of course, a solder-ing type, one that must be installed on the motherboard itself very carefully, at risk of ruining your Wii.

And, of course, said websites will install this chip for you, at the cost of one million dollars.

Now, lets get serious here. Mod chips have two reasons to exist.

One : To play import games

Two : To pirate games.

Now, lets get even more serious here. This mod-chip, only plays current region games. Meaning, no region-free ability.  No imports, nada. So the whole point of this chip is to accommodate reason two. To pirate games. GG

[Source: CVG] 

So anyone who reads this, is probably or once was a World of Warcraft addict. So if you're wondering just how does the Burning Crusade stand up as an expansion to one of the biggest life suckers out there, then you'll want to view this video.

Though I'm not surprised it was given a 9.0, I personally must disagree with it. Sure Blizzard created a good mmorpg, but nothing in the expansion really separates it from what it once was. 

So for all you World of Warcraft addicts out there, click below to see GameTrailers review of the Burning Crusade.

Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone who's played an MMO can tell you that there are things you can buy online to benefit your character in game.  Starting as far back as Diablo II, people have been shelling out their hard earned money to buy something to give them an edge in an online game.

The sale of in-game money and items is probably the birth of microtransactions now that I think about it…

eBay has always had a long standing policy forbidding the sales of unowned intellectual property, however it appears that they may actually be enforcing it now.  Seller's used to make the descriptions for the item misleading, as to thwart the policy.  Well that won't matter anymore!

Being an ex-avid MMO player myself, I can tell you straight up that this won't matter one bit.  While eBay may have been the most popular medium for selling your items, there are many other websites that do the same thing.  If anything is going to change, the game makers that are pissed are going to have to specifically target each individual seller.  Not likely…

It's a step in the right direction, but ultimately it'll have the same effect as me kicking a cat that invaded my property:  One cat may be gone, but many a cat will still live un-punted. 

[Source: 1up] 

We're finally heading into Febuary, what does it bring us? Well some Playstation 2 games, and the PS3 finally gets another (albeit crappy) title.

Playstation 2:

• SnoCross 2: Featuring Blair Morgan
• Rogue Galaxy

Playstation 3:

• Sonic the Hedgehog

Xbox 360:

• Battlestations: Midway
• Fuzion Frenzy 2

PC:

• Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
• Europa Universalis III
• Blitzkrieg 2: Fall of the Reich
• City Life World Edition
• Battlestations: Midway
• GTI Racer
• Monopoly Here and Now

Finally, the weekend. But that means that thanks to Major Nelson we all get to see what the Xbox users are obsessing over this week.

Xbox 360:

• Gears of War
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
• Call of Duty 3
• Crackdown (demo)
• Lost Planet

Live Arcade:

• Heavy Weapon
• Lumines Live
• UNO
• Ms. Pac-Man
• Geometry Wars Evolved

Original Xbox:

• Halo 2
• Madden NFL 07
• Battlefield 2: MC
• Star Wars: Battlefront 2
• Counter-Strike

 Well its nice to see Lumines Live on there finally, and its also nice to see Texas Hold`em off of there!

[Source: Major Nelson] 

Maybe people would understand how bad microtransactions are for the industry if they were given some kind of warning like the one pictured…

A recent analysis by research company, ABI Research, has conclude that console microtransactions alone will account for $833,000,000 dollars in revenue by the year 2011.

Research director guy, go!

"All of the big-three console vendors are working closely with their publisher partners, both internal and third party, to push as much content through digital distribution as possible. In offering original titles and after-market content, publishers will be able grow the average revenue they receive for a single gaming title."

Now written in gamer-vision:

"Publishers are going to be selling you incomplete games so you can buy the rest later."

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to buy some more game money to buy the new costumes I just bought.

[Source: Pro-G via Evil Avatar] 

The Boston Channel is hosting a story about a teenager with cancer who was a target for thieves to steal his stuff. WHILE he was away during a chemo treatment!

From the article,

Jeff's sister, Katie Cota, discovered the crime when she came home from work on Sunday. His new XBox 360 and more than $1,000 worth of games and DVDs were missing from his room.

"I couldn't believe that someone would actually do that after everything that he's been through," Katie said. "They definitely knew that they were gone and that I was working. So, it's someone that we know."Police said that they believe the suspects who broke into the Georgia, Vt., home had been in the home before and knew that Jeff had cancer and was in Boston getting treatment

Luckily, when the news of what had happened got out in the town, a local radio station broadcasted the story, which was quickly swamped with calls pledging donations. One person even bought a new Xbox 360 and gave it to the station to give to Jeff. Pretty spiffy eh?

Oh, and I'm going to hell for the picture.

First class please

[Source: The Boston Channel] 

Those of you hooked on Geometry Wars for the 360 know how impressive having an open dev system for their console can be. Now rumor sparks abound about the prospect of a "Games Channel" for the Wii, where independent developers can use an inexpensive toolkit to produce games that will be available on said channel.

A call by Computer and Video Games to Nintendo revealed the following from a Nin-rep. 

"Nintendo has developed a programming system that will allow small independent developers to make games for Wii download service. We cannot confirm at this time in what format the new content will be delivered, but in the future there will be original games available for download through the Wii Shop."

Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, had stated many times at launch parties and events last year that development tools will become available for independents later this year. This prospect will hopefully allow some addicting and cheap games to be made available through WiiConnect24.

[Source: CVG] 

This seemingly small update to the Nintendo Wii is actually pretty damn cool.

After watching this video, I could actually see myself plopping down in front of my TV and reading the news, simply because the overall experience of the activity is very relaxed.

While the Weather Channel was arguably not so big of a deal, I see this News Channel as actually being a great way to get your daily news.

Anything that keeps my ass in my LoveSac is A-OK with me!

In an aggressive act against those who use third-party tools, cheat, trade gil or buy gil from farmers. SquareEnix has banned over 6,100 accounts from their famed mmorpg Final Fantasy XI.

This is not the first time SquareEnix has stepped up to fight against those who violate the games terms of service, they banned thousands of users over the summer.

[Source: PlayOnline]