When opportunity knocks, Capcom acquires. The Japanese Corp just added a new development team and a license to their line-up. K2 is better known as those dudes behind Tenchu Z, the 360 game that ninja fans enjoyed, but not much else. Capcom also acquired the racing MotoGP series, which was also on the 360 last year. Currently, MotoGP is slated to be released this year for all consoles and handhelds.

Capcom Acquires Tenchu Z Dev, MotoGP License[Gamasutra]

Some douchebags lawmakers think that you should be taxed for playing too many video games. Now I’m no fancy politician but that makes about as much sense as putting a tax on breathing.

State Rep. Gail Chasey (D-Bernalillo) has introduced in the legislature a new tax measure, House Bill 583, that would force consumers to pay a 1 percent excise tax on purchases of video games, gaming consoles, and TVs.

1 percent?! Why don’t they just take away my kidneys, those blood suckers!!!

The revenue generated from the game and TV tax would be used to fund a new state educational effort aimed at getting kids out of the house. True to the aim of the measure, introduced in January, the sponsors have even given the bill the creative title, “The Leave No Child Inside Act.”

Here’s a more creative title, Douchebags Do Stupid $#@! Act. New Mexico gamers, it’s your duty to send letters to your rep telling them how bad an idea this is! Today it’s games, but what if tomorrow it’s your anime collection? We gotta stop these guys now, before it’s too late!

New Mexico Considers Video Game Nanny Tax [Heartland.org]

Gears of War was, what I thought, the best game to come out during 2006. (Sorry Twilight Princess) So I was somewhat relieved when they announced a movie for it. So how’s the progress coming on the movie, producer Wyck Godfrey?

We’ve got our script on and a director we’re about to attach. We’ll hopefully make that early next year for the summer of 2010

Sweet! Hopefully by ’script’ he means kick@$$ action scenes. Now if only Halo a certain other video game movie could be making such progress.

Gears of War Movie Update [Comingsoon.net]

As if headaches aren’t annoying enough, the next thing to come out of anything are the influx of posts related to In-Game XrossMediaBar (XMB), the PS3’s main operating system coinage, by small time blogs and rancid obvious chit chat regarding the state of custom soundtracks for the PS3 XMB and Microsoft’s patent on the feature.

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I hate advertisements. They’re misleading, they’re inaccurate and, above all, they suck. But, every once and a while one comes along that just rubs me in such a way that I feel like buying whatever it is they’re selling. Here’s an advertisement for Army of Two on Ebay and it’s so awesome that I feel like buying it, even though I don’t even own the system.

I bought this game this morning, beat it this afternoon.

Im not going to lie to my fellow ebayers and gamers here, the game is pretty much a steaming pile of goat feces. The single player campaign is shallow, the storyline is bland, the dialog sounds like it was written by a dyslexic 4 year old…strung out on Ritalin. Also, it is much too short (5 hours of gameplay, give me a break) and some areas are overly difficult to complete on any difficulty. I would much rather have someone smash both my hands with a jack hammer than play this again.

The online gameplay is convoluted, it has its redeeming qualities and good ideas such as the 1 vs. 1 vs. 1 (terrorists vs. xbox live team vs. xbox live team) aspect of the map layouts. This all, however, goes out the window under any scenario when the person over xbox live you play with is a douche stain.

The only thing that redeems this game is playing coop with a friend and customizing your weapons sans the stupid “pimping” aspect of it.

Honestly, your time is better spent playing World of Warcraft…zing.

What if all advertisements were like this? Then maybe people wouldn’t be so pissed off when they saw them.
Army of Two For Xbox 360 - More like Army of Jew [Ebay pic]

One of the reason why Hideo Kojima doesn’t think games are an art form is that what looks good yesterday, doesn’t look good today. As opposed to art, which can be appreciated for ages. This article takes that same premise and dares ask if video games may someday be irrelevant. One reason is that games we used to play ten years ago, don’t shine as brightly now as they did then. Movies, on the other hand, shine just as brightly now as then, at least assuming you’re not watching something using CGI. I can understand where this dude is coming from, but even now I love to go back and play old school games, like Mario, Sonic, FF6, FF7 and so on. There are some games that hold up better than others. I’m sure that V.R. will eventually make all video games, as we know them, obsolete. So, what do you think? Are games just a fad that’ll die out in 50 or so years? Will something replace it?

Are all video games doomed to irrelevance? [Controller Freak]

The premise is a bit farfetched. Turns out some dude killed another person and then bought a ninja themed video game while the coppers hunted for him. I’m no criminal expert (despite me being black *rim shot*) but if video games taught people how to kill, wouldn’t this guy have to have bought the game BEFORE killing the person? Unless he somehow mastered time magic, I don’t see this one sticking.

Suspect played ninja video game [Daily Yomiuri]

Imagine going into your bio class and, instead of carving up an arcaic frog, you play Trauma Center instead? Awesome right? Well, believe it or not, some doctors actually use games for hand eye coordination. If the money doesn’t allure you to the profession, maybe the excuse to play video games for ‘practice’ will. (Hopefully that’s not the only reason) What next? Will law students be required to play Phoenix Wright? Leaders requiring to play Civilization?

Straight From My Local Surgeon: Games Help On The Operating Table [MTV multiplayerblog]

Sony has listened to our complaints and is finally giving us what we want: the track list to GT5:Prologue. There’s some real goodies here. (And some I’ve never heard form before.) If your favorite track didn’t make the list, I guess you could always wish for Sony to work its magic and allow you to use your own songs. (Track after the jump)

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The only thing I love more than video games is girls. Then again, considering how much time I spend with games vs girls, I think the opposite is true, or is it? Here’s an idea, why not combine the two? No, I’m not talking about tomb raider or dead or alive. I’m talking real girls in video game settings. (Mmm, Angelina Jolie) Well, some girls have taken my dream and turned it into a reality. Check out more of these sweet pics on their site. (I wonder if they’re available.)

Landscape [Antoinette J. Citizen]

Our favorite online comic is getting its own game. Of course, you already knew that. What you didn’t know were the specs for the game, until now that is.

System requirements will call for Mac OS X v10.4 or v10.5, G4/1.0GHz or better (including Intel), ATI Radeon 9500, Nvidia GeForce FX 5200, or GMA 950 or better 3D graphics with at least 64MB VRAM, 512MB RAM, 350MB hard disk drive and available Internet connection for download and one-time authentication.

I’m no PC expert, but I doubt most of you will need to upgrade to run this game. So I think we’re all safe.

Price, specs announced for Penny Arcade game [Macworld]

Parents, if our article on giving you tips on how to deal with kids and video games was a bit too ‘British’ for you, then fret not. Capecod Today, has your back covered. Peter Cohen has a blog that should be a bit more American for your tastes, and it even delves into the subject of Japanese Anime and Manga. (You know Japanese, right? They make that Playstation and wii that you own. Still doesn’t ring a bell? You schooled them in WWII. Ah ha, now you remember.) Best part is that this dude looks to be around your age, so I’m guessing you’ll have a lot in common. Don’t worry, he promises that this ‘keeping up on video games’ stuff is easy.

Rules of engagement for parents for video games, manga [CapeCod Today]