Expected to go live this Thursday, August 7th is a new multiplayer game mode for Battlefield: Bad Company called Conquest. A game mode that was first seen and made popular back in Battlefield: 1942. In Conquest, players capture and control flags where, once a flag is captured, that team has the ability to spawn soldiers from. Oh, and the Conquest update will be free, so have no Microsoft point worries.

We'll see you on the Conquest battlefield, soldier.

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Jeff Foxworthy fanboys (if there are any) listen up! THQ just announced that Mr. Foxworthy's trivia gameshow Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? (AYSTA5G? for short) will be makings its way to the XBLA. Creepy game graphics aside (seriously, Cameron looks like one of the Children of the Corn) and on paper, AYSTA5G? doesn't sound too bad with features including online and local play and over 6,000 question spread across 21 categories. Yeah, the XBLA rendition of AYSTA5G? looks to be true to the gameshow and how it's played. For good or bad.

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Even with a very adult "Mature" rating, Microsoft has confirmed that Gears of War 2 will include the option to filter out both the game's extreme violence and foul language. A system that's very similar to the original Gears' that filtered out gore, but a bit different.

According to What They Play, they've been informed by Microsoft that the Gears 2 violence filter "turns the blood into sparks," and the language filter in turn "takes out all the swear words." Sparks replacing blood? No manly Gears swearing? Doesn't sound much like Gears to us, but if it makes parents feel comfortable enough to let their eleven year old children experience the Gears universe then we're okay with it. Whoa, whoa ... wait a second ...

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As Microsoft figures out their game plan for how they're going to implement Avatars into the Xbox 360 community beginning this Fall, we're receiving a steady trickle of news surrounding their Avatar decisions. Most recently, Microsoft's Eric Kilgore confirmed with Develop that Avatars will only be allowed to be used in ESRB rated E10+ games which are seen as non-violent, family friendly games. So, we won't be seeing Avatars taking over our Gears or GTAIV worlds which, admittedly, is okily okay with us. Kilgore did say that their E10+ Avatar policy could change in the future depending on how things work out, but again, Microsoft's Avatar game plan has yet to be fully fleshed out.

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A few hours ago, a new Xbox 360 system update was released meaning that anyone signing into Xbox Live will be prompted to give it a download. But don't get too excited, because Major Nelson has informed us that this is NOT the feature rich Fall update we've all been waiting for. Instead, today's system update has code in it to "prepare for future growth of the service" with no new visible changes or features added. Which also means there are no Avatars ... yet.

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Good old Acti just announced brand newish downloadable content for Guitar Hero III that's scheduled to hit the XBLM sometime tomorrow. The new DLC is called the "Interscope Track Pack" which we're labeling as "newish" DLC only because the three tracks were previously made available to those who purchased the Guitar Hero III album. Now, come this Thursday, the three GHIII tracks by Flyleaf, AFI and Marilyn Manson can be purchased for presumably 500 Microsoft points. Presumably, because that's what all the other GHIII track packs sell for and no pricing details have been announced for this latest track pack. Press release after the break, enjoy.

• "Tina" by Flyleaf
  
• "Carcinogen Crush" by AFI
  
• "Putting Holes in Happiness (Nick Zinner Remix)" by Marilyn Manson

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Just so you are aware, Xbox Live Arcade game Braid just released to the XBLA today. And for 1200 Microsoft points, no more, and definitely no less. Featuring a distinct paint-like art style, challenging platformer puzzles, the ability to control time (Blinx style!) and a non-linear storyline, Braid may just be worth the 1200 points and a place in your XBLA library. But you'll never know unless you give it a try. Download the trial, see if Braid floats your metaphorical boat and be open minded. At the very least, you should enjoy bending time.

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Download Now (08/06/2008)

Got some Avatar info on the little guys coming to a 360 near you, M$ to cut the price of the 360 once again, Battlefield gets a new Multiplayer Mode, Geometry Wars 2 and Madden 09 Demos hit the XBL Marketplace, and Fifa gets a date. All this and more on this weeks show. Oh, and not to mention a funny story that will put Rodder in the books when it comes to VideoGame blunders.

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Major Nelson just sent word that, earlier this morning, two new game demos were lovingly placed on the Xbox Live Marketplace and are now available for download. The new demos include a 1.35GB Central Park horror experience in Alone in the Dark as well as a 1.44GB Wall-E demo. We'll probably give Alone in the Dark a test drive, but we're not sure about Wall-E due to his evil attack on Richard. Our fellow blogger couldn't sleep for weeks because of it.

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Microsoft, Number None Inc. and Jonathan Blow just made the official announcement that the time bending puzzling adventures of Braid will be making its way to the Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday, August 6th. Just as was expected. The most newsworthy news coming from today's press release is the fact that the rumored prices for August's XBLA titles that MS later said were incorrect have turned out to be legit! At least for Braid, because it will cost you 1200 Microsoft points as was rumored weeks ago. Hopefully it is just a coincidence, because an 1800 point Castle Crashers makes us shake in our boots.

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After receiving a not so informative announcement video, then receiving a much more informative gameplay video, NinjaBee has finally lifted the announcement curtains on their latest XBLA project, A Kingdom for Keflings. Including some screenshot love too!

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With the release of Rockstar's Midnight Club: Los Angeles rapidly approaching this October, don't expect to see any demo gracing the Xbox Live Marketplace. Or even split screen multiplayer. According to AddictGaming, a Rockstar rep informed them that neither split screen will be included or a game demo will be releasde for Midnight Club: LA. Something about a demo not being able to fully encapsulate what is the Midnight Club experience ... blah, blah, blah ... sure.

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Adding proof to Ars Technia's report that sometime this September Microsoft will be price cutting all Xbox 360 SKUs, the VGChartz.com crew posted their own insider price cut evidence. VGChartz.com was sent the image above which was taken from a retailer's computer data base showing that, come this September 7th, a $199 Xbox 360 Arcade price point will be in full effect. Delicious!

So, more proof that the first week of September we'll be treated to $199 Arcades, $299 Pros and $399 Elites or just a mean hoax? We say there's a good price cutting chance, but we'll have to practice our patience skills for one more month.

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We were just contacted by our super secret source who forwarded us images that are supposedly from the Fall update's 360 Avatar creator. We're told that the images, all viewable in the gallery below, were pulled from the 360 Avatar creator's interface and showcase the icons that'll be used to customize one's Avatar. Icons and artwork are related to changing an Avatar's clothing, skin color, hair style and even height and weight. Now, we can't be sure if these 360 Avatar creator assets are legit or if they were created by a very skilled Photoshopper, so take this Avatar image extravaganza with a grain of salt. But what say you? Do these images look legit and, if so, do they coupled with the leaked Avatar options make you more or less excited with how Microsoft is presenting Avatars to the gaming masses?

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After weeks of waiting the Cagney update for Burnout Paradise is finally hitting the Xbox 360. Scheduled to go live on Monday, August 4, Cagney adds 3 new online game modes, two additional vehicles, a live news page and calendar, 70 all-new timed multi-part challenges and more. What would you expect to pay for a content upgrade like this? 1000MS points? 800MS Points? 500MS points you say? Nope. Cagney can be yours for the low price of free. Criterion also announced that the next update, which includes motorbikes, will drop next month. Happy driving!

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Fulfilling their promise that they made last week, the Bungie crew has outlined the changes coming to Halo 3 as part of the second title update we'll be seeing release in the near future. And even though there won't be any hugely noticeable changes (a lot of the update's feature have to do with invisible back-end and behind the scenes goodness) we'll be getting a new Halo 3 experience system. Fear not though, your current Halo 3 rank and experience point total will NOT be reset, instead Bungie is adding experience point tracking to each playlist. Then, using experience points and solely experience points, Bungie will award various military ranks per playlist. It's a tad bit confusing, so you may have to jump over to Bungie.net to read all the Halo 3 title update details.

But, other than a new ranking system, the next H3 title update looks to be rather stale. So feel free to yawn, yawn, and yawn some more.

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Gather round children and scoot in close, because it's time for another edition of Xbox 360 price cut rumor talk where we inform you about the latest, craziest and somewhat possible 360 price cuts that may or may not happen. And today, friends, we aren't about to let you down.

According to ars technica's Microsoft insider, all Xbox 360 hardware across all console SKUs will be seeing some major price cuts even including the recently introduced 60GB model. Their insider informs us that sometime this September, the Xbox 360 Arcade (no HDD) will drop from $279 all the way down to $199, the new Xbox 360 Pro (60GB HDD) will go from $349 down to $299 and the Xbox 360 Elite (120GB HDD) will fall from $449 down to a more reasonable $399. If true, high fives all around. If false, we become depressed.

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Micro transactions. Love 'em or hate 'em, they're a reality on the Xbox Live Marketplace and later this year, come the release of the 360's feature rich Fall update, they may begin to "infect" our Avatars. Ewww!

In an interview with VentureBeat, Microsoft's corporate vice president John Schappert talked about the possibility of monetizing Avatar customization options saying that pairing Avatars with micro transactions "may be in the future," but now they're focusing on launching "with great customization and a great library of accessories this fall." Money, money, money ... it's always about Avatars, micro transactions and money.

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Courtesy of ModiusX11 from the official Geometry Wars 2 forums, we have a cool in-game Geometry Wars 2 trick for you to try the next time you play the game. At anytime during any of the six GeoWars2 single player modes, simply press the RB + Back buttons at the same time. What does it do? It insta-freezes the action and enables a really nifty (albeit hard to control) detached camera mode that allows you to roam around the Geometry Wars universe in 3D space. This little 3D freezing trick is actually a development tool that was used to help debug the game's graphics and was accidentally left in the final build. Doh! It's pretty useless in context of racking up a high score, but its screenshot and "WOW!" factor applications are nothing to scoff at.

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In a "Status Update!" over at Ska Studios' little corner of webspace, Mr. James Silva finally posted update news regarding the development of XBLA title The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai. In his update, Silva tells us that Dishwasher has a "million, billion bugs" that are in the process of being squashed and that he has locked in Dishwasher to a super solid 60 frames per second. That isn't all, Dishwasher will be native 1280x720 resolution, will include a new (and hellza difficult) ranked story mode and showcase some newly prettified blood staining effects. Jump over to the Ska Studios blog to get your "dishwasheriffic" The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai game update.

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With 60GB Xbox 360s popping up at retailers nationwide, we thought uninformed retailers just weren't playing by the release date rules. This then would mean we'd have a 60GB Xbox pre-sell epidemic on our hands. Oh my! But, we just learned that this isn't the case.

Major Nelson has confirmed with us that Microsoft never set a specific street date for the new 60GB HDD 360 models, telling us that "they'll just appear in the retail channels." So, whenever retailers unload 'em off the trucks, Microsoft is fine with them going directly to store shelves. Sad too, because we wanted to witness the authoritative rule and punishment Microsoft would enact on retailers who weren't playing by the rules. Oh well ...

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Calling all pigskin fans. Available now on the Xbox Live Marketplace is a demo for Madden NFL 09 clocking in at a chunky 1.09GB. The demo features two playable modes, the Madden Test and a single Madden Moment scenario.

If you're a football fan you owe it to yourself to check out the demo. After a quick play through we can easily say Madden hasn't looked this good in years. Also, the special edition comes with a playable version of Madden 93. We'll wait here while you go to preorder it.

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Just like clockwork, this morning EA released a freshly new FaceBreaker demo to the Xbox Live Marketplace. A demo that should scratch your over the top boxing mayhem itch.

This 954MB FaceBreaker demo allows gamers to experience over the top boxing action, including three different boxers, two distinct arenas and, for the Vision camera owners among us, the ability to put you or your enemy's face into the game using EA's Photo Game Face technology. Put some Vasoline on those gashes and get back into the ring, because there are faces to break. Ding, ding!

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