According toseveralretailers, it appears that 505 Games is bringing its game Wii-exclusive drumming game, calledWe Rock: Drum Kingin Europe, to North America this year. Re-dubbedRolling Stone: Drum King(that’s themusic magazine, not the band), the title eschews the use of a drum peripheal, instead going a different route — the game will require two Wii Remotes for air drumming. You know, like actual drum sticks, except they’re just Wii Remotes. The game is developed by ARC System Works, and was announced for European release awhile back, with a 30-song track list that included such songs as Saliva’s “Click Click Boom,” Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” and an instrumental version of DJ Shadow’s “Organ Donor....

Who listens to the Howard Stern show for videogame news? Well, probably the same people who are excited for a newLeisure Suit Larrygame. Stern cohort and actor/comedianArtie Lange revealedyesterday that he had recently landed a deal to do some voice work as “Big Al,” a character that will appear in a newLeisure Suit Larrytitle. Larry’s last foray into the videogame world was an awful collection of mini-games and stale sex jokes, that was a far cry from the point-and-click adventures that made the PC game popular in the 80s and early-90s....

GamePro Franceis reporting that Sony may have something up their sleeves in two weeks time. According to the roughly translated article, the announcement is said to be of some significance: To be sure, that translation is a mess, but it does imply that this is an announcement that could send shock waves throughout the industry … or at least jump-start system sales and interest. The GamePro France article reference the rumored PlayStation 3 price drop, but does that constitute the use of the words “big” and “bang”?...

I am not an exclamatory sort of guy. I rarely, if ever, choose toexclaimthings. And even when I do, I usually never go through the trouble of adding an exclamation mark, instead letting the period (and all the cool, dispassionate indifference it represents) do my punctuating for me. It is with a great deal of pleasure, then, that I report that Telltale Games’ episodicSam and Maxgames have been renewed for another season!...

Platinum Games is looking set to have a big year, generating a lot of talk with its two big Sega titles,BayonettaandMadWorld. Understanding that it might just have a shot at some Triple A releases this year, Sega isnot shy aboutbigging these games up. Sega Europe COO & President Mike Hayes has admitted that so-called “casual” games are where the company has been most successful, but suggested that this year will see Sega reap the rewards of appealing to the “core” market....

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s multi component has been getting attention of late for all the wrong reasons. Seedy people with too much time on their hands have dug up numerous ways to abuse the game — from infinite ammo to the XP system. But theMW2crew are aware, and even better, plan to address some of these recent bugs with fixes. At least, according to Robert Bowling they are. In arecent tweet, the community man shot out a list of bugs being squashed: “Update in ‘Test’ now: 1887s Balanced....

Next week, the second full album by The Beatles will be available for download forThe Beatles: Rock Band, Harmonix/MTV Games/Apple Corp. announced today. The Beatles’ 1967 record,Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Bandwill be available for download on November 17 (for Wii and Xbox 360; it hits PlayStation Network on November 19). The album will cost $13.49 (1080 MS Points), or $1.99 (160 MS Points/200 Wii Points). Along with the tracks already onThe Beatles: Rock Banddisc (the album’s title track, “With A Little Help From My Friends,” “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” “Getting Better,” and “Good Morning Good Morning”), the following tracks will complete the record:...

David Sirlin, as part of his massive interview withVideogamer, has been talking about the costs of patches. Talking about how difficult it was to getPuzzle Fighterpatched, and the likelihood ofSuper Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remixgetting its bugs sprayed, Sirlin reveals that patchin’ ain’t easy. “It was very hard to getPuzzle Fighterpatched at all,” Sirlin reveals. “There’s a lot of difficulty in patching console games. First of all you have to pay the console makers for each of these patches and second you have to do QA and bug testing on these patches....

I’m still not sick ofSmash Bros. Brawlhacks, and I’m still annoyed that fans can create all this awesome DLC for the game, but Nintendo can’t (or wont). I know there are probably really good, smart, important reason why that can’t happen, but I don’t know what it is, and therefore, it doesn’t exist. Anyway, this vid is a little long, and the music might drive you insane, but it’s pretty cool to see Little Mac, Toon Link in Majora’s Mask, A Mew Two/Lucario-spawn and a red-furred Wolf have it out....

Historically, Electronic Arts’Madden NFLgames have sold systems, determined the outcome of the console wars, and launched a thousand ships. Sony are hoping it’ll move some units of their handheld this summer, when it ships with another PlayStation Portable bundle, the “Madden NFL 09PSP Entertainment Pack.” The bundle will includeMadden NFL 09; a PlayStation Network voucher to download the overlookedBeatsfrom the PlayStation Store; a 1GB Memory Stick; and the only UMD Video you’ll ever own because you have no choice,NFL: In Just One Play, a football clips showcase hosted by Chad Johnson....

Doing their part to help ensure an adequate supply of programmers on hand to code for PlayStation platforms for the foreseeable future, Sony proudly unveiled their newest tool: the PlayStation-edu program. In essence, it provides Universities and Colleges with the one previously hard to secure item that computer science departments would need to have on hand if they intend on mass producing an army of PlayStation devotees eager to program for the various platforms in Sony’s arsenal — the development kits....

Everything aboutThe Matrix Onlineseemed like a great idea, but since most MMO fans seem content to just playWorld of Warcraftendlessly, it’s hard for other MMOs to make waves.Gamespyreported today that SOE’s Daniel “Walrus” Myers made a community post onThe Matrix Onlineforums announcing that the game will shut down permanently as of July 31st. From that post: It seems not so long ago I was jumping into Mara Central and going toe-to-toe with other devs at E3 2004....

The new PlayStation 3 titleFloweris due out next year, and despite the relative lack of hype, there has been some quiet intrigue for the tranquil looking title. The game is played by tilting the PS3 controller to grow flowers across landscapes. Not your average game, then. So far from the average, in fact, that Sony has seen fit to inventa new genreforFlowerto inhabit. Say hello to Zen gaming. Not quite a puzzle game, not quite a flying game, but a calm and collected experience....