In Dead Rising 2: Case 0, players are introduced to the game’s new hero, Chuck Greene and his daughter Katey, who’s been infected with the zombie virus. As Chuck, players need to find doses of the anti-zombifying drug “Zombrex” and a way out of the small town of Still Water which the pair find themselves trapped in. It bears noting right away that Dead Rising 2: Case 0 is not a demo for Dead Rising 2 – none of the scenery or setting of Case 0 will show up in the main game. This is a stand-alone Dead Rising adventure, time limit and all. However, it does give us a taste of what’s to come in the main game.

Players will have the opportunity to find and improvise all kinds of weapons, both laying about as well as built by combining items at various workbenches around town. They’ll also get a chance to try out the game’s improved shooting capabilities – Frank West wasn’t much of a shooter, but Chuck can handle a firearm just fine. It goes a long way toward making guns actually useful for a change.

The game also has several side goals to accomplish, survivors to rescue and even four different endings depending on your performance, according to Capcom.

However, we haven’t seen any of them because the game is also kind of buggy. Frequently we found the game’s sound cutting out at one particular cutscene, and we found ourselves trapped in the end credits and unable to save our final progress, which is part of the draw since the experience you gain in Case 0 can transfer over to Dead Rising 2.

It’s also somewhat disappointing, since Capcom had announced that the game would be a direct link between the two main games in the series, and that we’d even find out a little about the fate of Frank West post-Dead Rising, but we found none of that.

Load times are also ridiculous, it’s one thing to be loading from a DVD, but to be drawing from the hard drive, it seems to be excessive.

We’re hoping that the main game of Dead Rising 2 is a little more solid from a technical standpoint. Gameplay-wise, it’s a blast. It’s everything that was fun about the original Dead Rising and improved.

Also – no Otis. How great is that? Regardless of the issues, Dead Rising 2: Case 0 is a fun zombie-killing theme park.For 400 Microsoft points, you can’t go wrong.

Dead Rising 2: Case 0 is available now on Xbox Live Arcade for 400 Microsoft Points.

According to Major Nelson, the new controller will feature “concave analog sticks” and a “transforming D-pad” – by twisting it 90 degrees, the pad rises up slightly, presumably for better contact with players’ thumbs. Finally, the whole thing comes in matte silver with gray face buttons “for added style.”

Of course, the only way you can buy this controller is if you also buy a Play & Charge Kit, so the whole thing will soak gamers for $64.99 come November 9.

Are you excited? Could you use some extra style in your gaming? Let us know what you think in the comments.

[source] Major Nelson

According to Microsoft’s Major Nelson, Xbox Live will be seeing a price hike this fall. On November 1, a one-year Gold subscription will increase ten dollars to $59.99. A one-month subscription will increase to $9.99, and three-month subscriptions will cost $24.99

This holds true outside of North America as well. In the UK, a one-month sub will increase to 5.99 GBP, and in Canada a month will cost $9.99. Single year subscriptions will increase their cost in Mexico as well, hitting 599 pesos.

Microsoft is holding a special deal right now for North American customers, offering a one year renewal for $39.99. You can check that out at the deal’s website.

Industry analyst EEDAR’s Jesse Divinch was quoted on the news in a statement, calling the new price point “an incredible value.”

“When originally launched in 2002, a Gold subscription cost the same as an AAA video game, $49.99. When taking into account for inflation ($50 in 2002 is roughly $60 in 2010) and the additional services available to Gold subscribers in 2010, such as ESPN, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Last.fm and Video Kinect, a $10 price increase still represents an incredible value to consumers.”

Is sixty bucks for Xbox Live an “incredible value” to you? Some folks think that the original price was on the borderline of too much in the first place. What say you, gentle readers? Let us know in the comments!

[source] Kotaku

Just what WOULD bring Max the Rabbit, Strong Bad, Heavy Weapons Guy and Tycho Brahe together for a single game? Well, we don’t know yet, but we will! On Thursday!

In the meantime we just have to be satisfied with this teaser trailer for an as-yet untitled Telltale Game.

[source] Gametrailers

Well you’re in luck. According to Eurogamer, Xbox Live’s voice chat communication is due for an upgrade this fall. Xbox Live Studios director Jerry Johnson told reporters at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival this afternoon that the system refresh, timed to coincide with the release of Kinect, will upgrade the codec and audio infastructure to make for clearer chatting between players when online.

“The codec we used when we first launched was a low bit rate codec and we stuck with that,” Johnson said.

“We launched and we said we required broadband. We required a 64k connection, which not many people think of as broadband any longer. But that was the minimum requirement to run the service at the time.

“It’s time for us to move on. Especially if we want to think about broadening – a crackly headset on the top of your head

[source] Eurogamer

Perhaps the first one was more impressive, or perhaps it’s the fact that we’ve seen these kinds of ads for Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST and now Reach, but this one doesn’t quite seem to have the same impact that earlier ones have had. It’s still very, very cool, and it’s just one more bit of kindling to the fire that is the desire for a Halo feature film, but it’s just not as good as previous live Halo ads.

The Deliver Hope campaign will begin airing on all the major broadcast and cable television networks on August 29, including CBS, NBC, Fox, MTV, Spike TV, Comedy Central, SyFy, ESPN, FX, TNT, TBS, the Discovery Channel, G4 and others.

Halo: Reach will be released for the Xbox 360 on September 14.

Shank is, for those who haven’t been following the development of this game, a vicious and heavily stylized side-scrolling brawler for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. Players control Shank, a thoroughly armed and thoroughly angry former gang member who’s out for revenge, and plans on stopping at nothing to get it.

Canadian developers Klei Entertainment have really made Shank a labor of love, it’s a game that longtime hardcore gamers will connect with almost immediately. It shares a lot in common with older titles like Ninja Gaiden – the NES incarnations, not the current generation series – as well as Double Dragon and Battletoads.

Gameplay in Shank is for the most part, very simple. Players simply move Shank on the X and Y axes – there’s no depth to the environments – while they make use of a growing repertoire of weaponry to slaughter everybody on the screen. Momentum is the name of the game, here. Shank is very, very smooth. From running to jumping and climbing, to his various attacks – everything you can do in Shank flows cleanly from one action to the next. In games of this nature, reviewers are prone to language like “bullet ballet,” but in truth the game encourages players to handle the ensuing gore with grace and style. Essentially, players are most successful as long as they are moving. Always be moving, always be killing – that is the key to success in Shank.

While it makes the action in the game a sight to behold, it’s a shame in a way, because one of the first things you notice about this game is the quality of the visuals and they deserve a good long look.

The game’s lead animator, Jeffrey Agala, is best known for the kids’ cartoon series Atomic Betty. Shank is a long way away from Atomic Betty, but the animation is no less impressive. Inspired by early Jack Kirby work as well as more modern influences like The Venture Brothers, Agala worked with Klei to ensure that the game’s visual style didn’t take a backseat to the action.

And it’s not just the quality of the animation, but the setting and the effects add to the overall look as well. The game strives to evoke a kind of 1970s B-movie aesthetic, and it achieves that goal in the setting and the characters, as well as unique effects like the occasional film grain and a flicker around the edges of the screen, much like what you’d see from an old projector. Ultimately everything comes together to create a tightly packaged, well-polished presentation.

Of course, this stylization comes with a price, in that much of the game is pretty clichéd. You have the bar fight and the church shootout and the final showdown with the mysterious crime boss – but at the same time Shank revels in these clichés, clearly acknowledging where it comes from.

Where the game falls a little flat is in the multiplayer, for one, in that it is local only. The pill is made especially bitter since the multiplayer mode is an entirely different campaign, a prequel to the main game which is eminently playable, but less accessible. The music is fitting, but forgettable. And the boss fights, while interesting at first glance, quickly break down into a quick spot of pattern recognition and repetition. It’s also rather short, on Normal you can finish the game in under four hours.

Shank is definitely not for kids. It’s rated M for Mature by the ESRB and by golly they mean it. While some of the combat is stylistically comical and fun, some of Shank’s combos – especially against the bosses – are particularly gruesome and left this review with a little skin crawl. However, it’s a great way to indulge in some senseless hardcore violence the old-fashioned way.

If side-scrollers and brawlers are among your favorites, then Shank is a game you won’t want to pass up. Get it now, play it and love it.

Shank is available now for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

You and your seven closest PSP-owning friends can get in on this action when the game launches “between now and December.”

[source] Joystiq

Microsoft is planning to launch Windows Phone 7 with a bunch of games – as to when that is, it’s pretty nebulous. All we’re getting is “Holiday 2010,” as the exact timing is going to be determined by the phone manufacturers. So whenever these games launch, here’s what you’ll be playing:

ilomilo
This puzzler is pretty similar to several flash games out there, but this one features a bit of co-op action. Essentially you control two different characters, one red and one blue, and guide them around the levels to unite them. Where this game really shines is the art direction, as well as the level design – some levels shape up like the spherical worlds in Super Mario Galaxy, which is neat.

Harvest
It’s a visual feast for the phones the game runs on, designed to really show off what the phones can do. Otherwise, it’s not that notable – Harvest is your standard isometric shooter/action-RPG. It looks cool, but there’s not a lot else going on.

Max & the Magic Marker
It’s a port of the game that’s seen release on Wiiware and PC already, so now it’s coming to Windows Phone 7. It plays pretty similarly to Kirby and the Canvas Curse where you draw platforms for your character to run on.

Rocket Riot
An arena-based shooter using a sort of virtual dual-stick format, you fly around with a jetpack and launch rockets at opponents who are doing the same thing. Straightforward stuff!

Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst
This game actually has very little to do with the Crackdown series, other than its use of Freaks as the baddies involved. It’s a tower defense game, with the interesting twist that it operates on Bing maps – so instead of playing in the setting of the original games, you’re playing using maps of Los Angeles or Detroit or whatever city you like. It could be interesting, though we’re reserving judgment on its visual fidelity right now.

Of course, we could just talk games but it wouldn’t be a complete discussion without touching on Windows Phone 7′s Xbox Live integration. We’re told that setting your Xbox Live account up on a Windows Phone 7 device is as easy as logging on to xbox.com, all you need is a Windows Live ID and password. It works whether your a Silver or Gold subscriber, which is a nice gesture from Microsoft to get more people using the service.

As far as just what Xbox Live on the phone can do for you, at this point it’s still pretty cosmetic. You can’t join voice or video chats with your friends on consoles via your phone, nor can you transport profiles or content from console to console via your phone, although it’s said that none of this functionality is being ruled out for the future. A lot of it is being left up to individual developers. Bluetooth adapters aren’t locked out either, so if a developer wanted to create and make use of that technology they can do so. Phones that have QWERTY keyboards can make use of them as well.

As far as some unique bits of information, when purchasing content via Windows Phone 7, you’ll be able to pay the exact amount in cash or add the price of the content to your monthly bill. Microsoft Points don’t exist here. Also, Windows Phone 7 will support Mac OS “in some way,” though it’s not yet clear what that will be.

Achievements will be capped at 200 Gamerscore per game, much like Xbox Live Arcade games. And to that end, Xbox Live features will only be available to developers who go through Microsoft, similar to XBLA – Indie Games can be placed on the phone for whatever devs want to set the price at, but will lack the Live functionality.

Will gamers jump on the mobile version of Live when it launches this holiday season? We’ll see soon enough! Already hungry for more? Check out our image gallery of even more Windows Phone 7 games being teased for release “in the future!”