id Software president John Carmack has revealed that they have been approached by several publishers to develop an MMO version of the Quake series. An offer that they turned down. Why? Well, you'll have to check the full article to find out.

The famed composer of some tracks for the God of War series is lending his talent to upcoming MMORPG Hellgate: London. Cris Velasco is going to be working with another acclaimed composer, Sascha Dikiciyan (Quake series). This isn't the first time they've been together since they've already did a tandem number on Splinter Cell: Double Agent.

Together, they've now finished the original soundtrack for Flagship Studios' Hellgate: London, which will also come bundled with the Collector's Edition to be released (simultaneously with the regular edition) come October 31.

The soundtrack is said to be a fusion of fantasy and sci-fi, plus a certain twist of modern themes. Audio manager Dave Steinwedel recounts: "The collaborative partnership of Velasco and Dikiciyan is an ideal fit for the world of Hellgate: London. By drawing on their diverse musical influences they have created an outstanding original soundtrack that will stand the test of time."

As we enter October, Halo 3's groundbreaking launch finally passed, and it's time for other big titles to shine. Will you be able to stay on your couch playing Slayer matches when The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is on shelves? Fine, so you can play that during breaks. How about Project Gotham Racing 4 or Enemy Territorry: Quake Wars? Can you resist high-speed racing or topnotch FPS action that don't involve Spartans?

If those games don't ring a bell, this week's got other goodies to float your boat. The famous bandicoot is back in Crash of the Titans for a spin on various platforms, while EA Sports' NBA Live '08 go at it against 2K Sports' NBA 2K8 as both vye for hard court domination. Our favorite superhero Spider-man is also making an appearance on all platforms in Spider-man: Friend or Foe. PC gamers, on the other hand, are getting much love from budget titles to full blown role-playing games.

Project Gotham Racing 4. Two years have passed after the previous installment in the PGR series, and Project Gotham Racing 4 is finally coming with major improvements that Bizarre Creations worked hard for. Apart from a revamped career mode, revised Kudos system, new tracks and iconic vehicles, this entry introduces the dynamic weather system.

• Microsoft Xbox 360 - October 2, 2007
• US$ 59.99
• ESRB E (Everyone)
• Bizarre Creations and Microsoft

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Link's next adventure following the events of Wind Waker, what producer Eiji Aonuma considers as the original Legend of Zelda's remake, is coming to the DS utilizing touch screen controls like we've never seen before. If you haven't been keeping tabs on this title, you're missing out.

• Nintendo DS - October 2, 2007
• US$ 34.99
• ESRB E (Everyone)
• Nintendo

Find the rest after the jump!

Tomorrow may be a big moment on the history of gaming as broadcast giant CBS formally becomes the first network of its class to show a video game tournament as a regular sporting event like other athletic spectacles such as the Masters and March Madness.

"There are an enormous amount of people of all ages who play video games these days, so we’re going to try to see if video games’ popularity can translate into a viable television audience," says CBS Sports Vice-President Rob Correa as he explores the possibility of people looking at this moment as a poignant event after a decade or so.

The tournament concerned is the World Series of Video Games which will be held in Louisville, Kentucky. Edited footage from the event will show highlights of face-offs between players in games such as Fight Night Round 3, Guitar Hero and other non-violent titles. First-person shootouts in Halo and Quake will sadly not make it on air because of the nature of the content.

The idea of the tournament and the coverage by CBS is pegged on the South Korean model which has an entire nation embracing gaming and making it a part of pop culture. A full-time coverage in the manner that ESPN covers sports isn't possible for video games just yet but for now, this is the biggest step game broadcasting can take in the US.

The CBS coverage is also a pilot test of sorts on how game programming in cable TV initiated by G4 and Gameplay HD can work in a bigger scale. The response of viewers will determine future plans on the coverage of electronic gaming as a sport on the network.

 

It looks like the World Series of Video Games (WSVG) is moving northward in the upcoming days. Its organizers have just announced that as part of its competitive circuit, the next bout will be taking place at Fan Expo Canada. The WSVG event proper is expected churn out more than US$ 75,000 in cash prizes, and will involve competitions for games like World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), Guitar Hero II (Activision), and Quake 4 (Activision; Xbox 360, PC).

Outside the expected WSVG contests, Fan Expo Canada will host several other events for its expected 50,000-plus visitors: the Canadian National Comic Book Expo, CNAnime, SFX Science Fiction Expo, Festival of Fear Horror Expo and GX-the Canadian National Gaming Expo. Also to be expected at the event will be several noted celebirties: Hayden Christensen ("Star Wars"), Adam West ("Batman"), Hayden Panettiere ("Heroes"), Jonathan Frakes ("Star Trek") and the Red vs. Blue creative team. As WSVG commissioner Matthew Ringel commented regarding the upcoming event:

After we announced an October event at Los Angeles eForAll, we very much wanted to schedule an event in late summer hitting the eastern region of North America. We are delighted that our inaugural event in Canada will be among the biggest on our video game circuit and, indeed, in all competitive gaming this year.

Canada's Fan Expo will be taking place from August 24 to 26 at the Metro Toronto Convention Center.

This week it's another new stretch for the World Series of Video Games tour, as the WSVG 2007 hits Dallas, Texas for another round up for Counter-Strike, World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero II, Call of Duty 2, Gears of War, Quake 4 and Fight Night Round 3 competitive players.

Prizes totalling up to US$ 90,000 will be given away at the event, starting July 5, Thursday up to July 8, Sunday. The highlight of Dallas is the inclusion of Xbox 360 titles Gears of War from Epic Games and Guitar Hero II from Red Octane, so the event might be worth checking out for the Xbox 360 gamer.

And if you can shrug off the US$ 10 admission fee, you might want to pick up a few tips from James ‘2GD’ Harding on dominating with your trusty Quake 4 railgun. Listen carefully, and see tips being put to practice on the grand arena floors.

Cheer for your select team or players and get your face plastered all over CBS Sports news, while demoing some of the industry's latest games and winning some free swag. But first things first: you'd have to figure out how to get to the Gaylord Texan Resort on time.

China's World Series of Video Games event has risen for an early start on Day Two, and managed to put a few photos shy of a hundred in their online gallery this early in the second day. While we await the results of the game brackets and details of the main events that took place, let's take a breather and soak in these life stills for a sec.

Being officially sponsored by Intel, it appears even consumer and business computing solutions giant Dell made a grand showing at the 2007 WSVG in China. They've got keyboards to monitors and even laptops touting the Dell brand all over the competition floor.

And...wait a second. Do you see what we see? It's World of Warcraft! Funny how the laptop keyboard wasn't good enough for the contestant, eh? And look, there's Team Pandemic's Power Trip! If these pictures weren't enough to get you tingly all over, budding pro-gamers in North America might want to know that the WSVG is coming to Dallas soon, with an additional game to their lineup of game brackets.

And because the majority of WSVG patrons have spoken, Gears of War for the Xbox 360 is now an official game event. It will be included into the official Dallas lineup that includes Activision's Call of Duty 2, EA's EA Sports Fight Night Round 3, Activision's Guitar Hero 2, id Software's Quake 4 and Blizzard's World of Warcraft.

Day One

Need to see more? Well then, feel free to click on Full Article below!

Yes folks, in the other side of the world its already May 1 and the first day of the 2007 World Series of Video Games has already kicked off to a huge start - with pretty fanfare and all. The 2007 WSVG in Wuhan, China is a two-day affair to bring together the world's best in Counter-Strike 1.6, Quake 4, World of Warcraft PvP and Warcraft 3: The Reign of Chaos for a chance to win approximately US$ 750,000-worth in prizes.

The U.S. realms' very own Power Trip, sponsored by the veritable Team Pandemic of WCG fame, will be doing battle against Asia's best in World of Warcraft competitive PvP 3v3 Arena series to be held within the two days of heavy gaming battle. We've oriented you on the inventory, the rules and the prizes before. Now you can keep up to date on the news as well, with WSVG's very own Videos on Demand (VODs) providing in-depth coverage of the entire event.

In league with this, the WSVG 2007 season is also rocketing off to Dallas, Texas with the 2007 WSVG in Dallas. Registrations are now open for participants who want to show their professional gaming skills at the Gaylord Resort in Dallas on July 8 - 9, 2007. The event will sport six games plus one game that has been voted as the Gamer's Choice at the WSCG polls on their website.

So what are you waiting for? Get that mouse moving and navigate your way to the WSVG official site now. We'll keep tabs on the latest developments and especially on the World of Warcraft PvP bracket. So keep your eyes peeled, readers!

A couple of days ago, we reported that the Wintersday Festival in the Guild Wars universe has been extended until January 11, 2007. Judging from how the players received the extension, it seems that there really was clamor to prolong the activity and not just a marketing hoopla by developer NCSoft as some skeptics always say.

According to the company's official report, players flock continuously to Guild Wars, and to date, have racked up a whopping 20 million hours of gameplay. We're quite crazy about numbers today and we don't know exactly why. But that's 1.2 billion minutes or 72 billion seconds. Can you imagine that?

That's enough blabbering now. Anyway, NCSoft also reported that a side project arose because of the Wintersday extension. In an additional show of holiday spirit and goodwill, Guild Wars players have offered to share their Wintersday gifts with those affected by the recent Taiwan quake. Plans are currently underway for a massive in-game gift donation.

Now that's what we call the real meaning of New Year Wintersday.

We've previously introduced to you guys the London Games Festival, we've told you what it's designed for, what it's about, the goals of the thing, and so on, but now that the event is getting closer, we think that we better start giving you guys some more details regarding the London event. Here's just some of the public events that attendees can look forward to as the First London Games Festival opens its doors to guests by October 2.

October 5 to 7, HMV Games Showcase, 12:00-6:00pm
HMV - Oxford Circus 150 Oxford Street, London Z1D 1DJ
The London Games Festival 2006 kicks off here. This stage of the event will bring together well-known figures from the world of video games throughout the week and the event will feature celebrities (gaming and real world celebrities) competing against each other in a series of high profile tournaments, with the winners crowned the kings of the gaming world.

October 2 to October 7, at HMV main stage, Oxford Street, 7:00-9:30pm
October 3, Lizard's Lair, Visit London 2 More London, Riverside, London SE1 2RR
This event is free but it requires you to pre-register. The Lizard's Lair is open to anyone who has a great idea for a video game and wants the chance to pitch it to the top people in the industry. So if you want to sell your idea to people from Eidos or other such developers, this is the place to be.

October 5, The BAFTA Video Games Awards, 6:30pm-1:00am
The Roundhouse Chalk Farm Road, London, NW1 8EH
The special thing about this event is that this is the first time that the winners of the Video Game Categories will get to sit side by side with the winners of more socially-recognized events. A definite elevation of status in the field of electronic entertainment don't you think?

October 6 to October 8, World Series of Video Games, 10:00am-10:00pm
London Trocadero 7 - 14 Coventry Street, London, W1D 7DH
Free if you've registered, otherwise a fee of £1 will be charged at the door. The event basically features professional gaming tournaments in Counter-Strike 1.6, Quake 4 and Warcraft III: Frozen Throne. Attendees of the event can compete in these tournaments or watch the world's best gamers as they battle for over £40,000 in cash and prizes.

November 25, Video Games Live, 6:00pm-12:00am
Hammersmith Apollo Queen Caroline Street, W6 9QH
The event is all about Video Games Live coming to London to provide stunning orchestral and choir renditions of some of the most memorable and popular tunes in gaming, which highlights how games have embedded itself in our art and culture. Many of the classic tunes from gaming’s past and present are featured, including themes from Sonic, Mario, Zelda, Halo, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy and God of War. With over 50 different games included, it promises to be a musical night you will never forget.