I almost never believe it when people say they bought a system for ____ game. But people do say that, and if you’re trying to get a Wii to play, say,Super Mario Galaxy 2, then you may be interested in this $150 Wii. The good guys atGo Nintendohave hooked us up withthe link at Best Buy’s websitefor a Wii that has been discounted $50. It says the price is $199, but add one to your cart and you’ll find the discount taken off....

Vaporware: We love to hate it, this is true. It’s like the one thing that brings us gamers and techie nerds together in one big happy-time hate fest. So, it is with great pleasure that I bring to you the gaming-related entries in Wired’s latestVaporware Awards. See anything missing you’d like to add? I think you may find one of the gaming entries a bit shocking. 9. Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl Here’s a great idea for a first-person shooter: Chernobyl undergoes a second meltdown, causing all the plants and animals in the surrounding ‘burbs to mutate and start attacking people....

Gamasutra hasa really interesting interviewup withSonicco-creator and former Naughty Dog (currently Namco Bandai) designer Hirokazu Yasuhara, discussing his approach to level design, the “freedom from fear” that motivates a gamer and the differences between Western and Japanese players. He discusses some fascinating design philosophies, focusing on how a gamer is driven primarily by the removal of stress and fear, and how that removal is obtained by Eastern and Western markets:...

While everyone waits for Destructoid’s ultimate list of year-end awards (and honestly the only one that matters), have a look at what G4 put together for X-Play. They just sent us over the winners, so prepare to duke it out with your fellow fanboy. Best Sports Game:* Madden NFL 07(Wii) Best Original Game:* Dead Rising (Xbox 360) Game of the Year:* The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)

Unreal Engine 3-rendered Wookies? Yes, please! LucasArts has announced that it has partnered with Epic Games on a long-term agreement to “develop multiple projects” using Unreal Engine 3. “Unreal Engine 3 is a forward-looking solution that shortens the path between inspiration and execution on a wide variety of gaming platforms,” says LucasArts director of technology Zak Phelps. No games have yet been announced by LucasArts as part of this deal, but I hope we hear something soon....

In a sea of sequels, one of my biggest surprises at E3 2010 was ACE Team’sRock of Ages. Long story short, it’s batsh*t crazy and I desperately want to try it out. Long story long, Timhas a previewof this bizarre take on the increasingly lifeless tower defense genre. I was so caught up in its initial showing that I kind forgot all aboutZeno Clash 2, which ACE Team has mentioned a few times before....

Even though the game has barely hit the streets (at the time of this writing, no stores are open that will actually sell the game to me), there is already new, freeCrackdowncontent available for download. The cleverly titled “Four-Play Pack” contains four new, playable agents. The description is just as naughty and clever as the pack name itself: Before getting busy, download and get into the action with these four new agents....

Atari has launched the official Web site for the upcoming game,Alone in the Dark, and the New York City Tourism Board is going to be pissed. CentralDark.comfocuses on the strange happenings and unexplained phenomenon that takes place in New York City’s jogging hot spot, Central Park (where the dark and scaryAlone in the Darktakes place). The site details the park’s history, detailing incongruous facts from historical documentation, newspapers, and scholars. Apparently, there’s a bit more going on here than “they” would like us to know about … and it’s totally scary....

It looks like America has noticed Thailand having all theGTA-blaming fun recently andwants to remind uswho the true masters of videogame scaremongering are. The latest farce comes out of Fulton County, Georgia, whereGrand Theft Autohas been brought up in a string of car bombings. Three teenagers have been arrested for the bombings, in which Molotov cocktails were used, and charged on 57 counts of felony. The 15-16 year olds, possibly seeing how readily people are willing to accept the excuse, have naturally claimed thatGrand Theft Autois to blame for their crime, stating that they learned “how to do it” from the games....

The first piece of concept art that adorns the pages of “Massive Black: Volume 1” would make you believe it was for some kind of movie. The image has three people in a hot air balloon as one of them is mounted on a chain gun taking down dragon-like creatures. There’s also a polar bear in the balloon wearing body armor and witches flying past the balloon. After checking out the image, I see that this was concept art for an unreleased Activsion project....

This first in a series of prologue videos forDark Soulstells us more about the birth of the game’s world. Granted, there isn’t a lot to talk about quite yet, but I am intrigued to see where these go. You know sh*t’s about to get real when crispy naked dudes start rising from the ashes. If a gun-wielding maniac were to ever forcibly ask me which videogame I wouldnotwant to live in as a citizen — well, first I would call Cobra for help — but then I’d probably go withDark Souls....

The other day we told you that mega-retailerWalmart is testing out selling used gamesin five of their stores. Not to be left behind, Best Buy and Toys R Us are also playing around with the idea. Again. Information has been released that shows that both retailers are testing out used game concepts in a few of their stores now. Between these two and Walmart, game companies have to be throwing their hands up in the air....

Although the fifth and final downloadable content pack forFallout 3has been out for a solid two weeks now, the game will continue to live on as a current discussion point for weeks to come. No, Bethesda isn’t secretly preparing more add-ons — the five pieces of DLC on Xbox 360 and PC still need to make it to the PlayStation 3 version. But that raises the question, why is the studio ending the post-launchFallout 3support when many of us are more than ready to keep paying for new content....