Get ready for more nuts and more bolts action as Rare gears up (pun intended) to release the first major add-on pack for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts: Lord of Game’s (L.O.G.’s) Lost Challenges. Slated for an April 7 release, the add-on will feature 12 new challenges, 7 new multiplayer games and the chance for gamers to add 250 achievement points to their gamerscore. Oh, and I should mention that gamers who complete L.O.G’s challenges will be rewarded with a new version of Klungo’s Arcade Game. All this for what, only 400 MS Points ($5.00)?! Sounds like fun to me. Read more!

Google just released some new ways to jazz up your internet experience. These official themes are added directly by publishers to the iGoogle API. Choose from FF Crystal Chronicles, Zelda, D&D, Mass Effect 2, Mario, and so many others. If you can’t decide which game you want, no problemo! Google has taken care of that with a Game of the day theme… Thank you Google.

[iGoogle]

See that game cover above? I know what you must be thinking…“Is Keanu Reeves staring in a new game?” Thankfully, no, at least not yet. But, please don’t judge this game by the box art. The Conduit is currently being developed exclusively for the Wii by High Voltage Software. Newly released footage looks amazing and really shows the “Quantum3” game engine, which was specifically developed for the Wii to create the same illusory functions as the PS3 and Xbox360 despite hardware limitations.

This futuristic FPS is set to be released sometime in Spring 2009. Since there is still some time before the release there’s no need to get mixed up in the plot, suffice to say it has conspiracies and guns. Watch the newest eye-candy and development videos after the jump!

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Well, at least 856,262 of you to be exact. The 2008 Golden Joystick Awards have been released. Voted in by the general gaming public, the Golden Joystick Awards are the world’s oldest gaming awards ceremony.

Celebrating its 26th year, the ceremony is held in the United Kingdom. Each award category has their own sponsor, the most important part about these awards are that it’s done by us gamers. However, the highlight this year was the introduction of a new category ‘Grand Master Flash’. And the award ceremony was quite a bash.

A full list of the awards and highlights after the jump.

[GoldenJoystick]

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Why this guide, of all times? Because there are other games worth playing apart from Halo 3.

Nine months just fly by so fast. For the gamers, who may have stumbled upon this page by chance, by now you have already “finished The fight” with the Master Chief and tried to pull off an aerial loop 8 out of 10 times on your PS3 Sixaxis controller. For the rest of you, you’re probably bored with Wii Sports and the Greek pantheon-sized library of portable puzzle games and brain trainers on your DSs and PSPs. Regardless, your consoles are gathering the proverbial dust until the next year when the next Final Fantasy, Grand Theft Auto or Metal Gear Solid will come out. Three months of nothing is indeed a long wait.

Fret not, dear wanderers of the world wide web, as I have compiled a list of future must-own titles for all the major consoles the average joe (and the hardcores) would be using in 2007. Yes, the PS2 does count, you next-gen elitist snob. These games will be released in between the month of October up until the Yuletide grasp of December, minus the snow and the occasional fat guy miraculously sliding down chimneys without fear of getting stuck. Not convinced? Here’s a few potential hits to keep you salivating to your mouth’s content:

Mass Effect (Xbox 360)

Release Date: November 28

This hyped-up coming attraction needs no introduction, but just as a refresher: you control a lieutenant in charge of a rag-tag group of humans and aliens as you attempt to save the world from mass planetary genocide from the Geth. With Bioware’s well-known reputation for creating immersive and epic storylines, evident in their take of the Star Wars and Dungeons & Dragons franchise, the space-opera that is Mass Effect boasts a way to change a direction of a conversation with a flick of a thumbstick, meaning you can go from seducing that blue alien hottie, to “kowtowing” her beliefs the next instance. Coupled with life-like graphics and the elements of a tactical first person shooter (FPS) into the combat system, and you will not be disappointed by Bioware’s latest.

Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo Wii)

Release Date: November 12

Even with the recent E3 announcement on Nintendo making their stand on casual games, they still do care for their hardcore audience in a form of Mario’s latest platforming antics. Our plump and proper plumber now jumps across from planets to planets, which could mean a breakthrough from the medium’s norm. Just like his previous games, you have a plethora of powerups at your disposal, ranging from a Bee Suit which makes him float and fly, to the Ice Suit which lets you tread water easily as well as create blocks of frosty platforms ala Bobby Drake from the X-Men movies. I’m guessing everyone who owns a Wii probably had their calendars marked for this “second coming”.

Rock Band (Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii)

Release Date: November 20

Remember Guitar Freaks and the Taiko Drum series that were abundant in the local and international arcades? Well, Rock Band for both PS3 and Xbox 360 is a combination of the tools used in those games, except you also have a bass guitar and a microphone peripheral in the mix. And instead of playing alone, you can grab three of your friends and jam together to legendary tunes like Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” and Radiohead’s “Creep”. No actual guitar, bass, drum or mike skills required; anyone and everyone can join in, because this game can make you unleash your inner rock star.

Jump for more titles you need reminding of.
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For those not in the loop, Penny Arcade is a satirical webcomic poking fun at the games industry dating back in 1998, created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. This venture into comedy, producer-bashing, and all-out weirdness is so big, it spawned three huge gaming conventions, called the Penny Arcade Expo in the last three years. And I had the distinct pleasure of checking out the fourth one, entitled PAX ‘07.

Was it fun? Hell yes! Here are a few pics from the Flickr account of one of Penny Arcade’s confidante named Kiko (all pictures below and above are copyrighted of Kiko unless otherwise stated).
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Drawing a house and a pig says big things about your personality. Or so says Dave from The Communications Group. He made the classic psychological analysis tests of drawing a house or a pig into an online experience that has been used over 1.2 million times.

There’s really no use or real insight gained from this tests. Hell, if the test results were to say you are the mother of god you’d find a way to make it true huh? But still they are fun to take and kill off a couple of minutes off. There must be something to take the blame for all that procrastination after all huh? Click forth to see what I got.

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