The Zone

Starting November 3rd, North American gamers (and fellow parallel importers) will be able to pick up the new PS3 Slim system with a 250GB built-in hard drive for USD349.99 (approximately RM1,178). The functionality and form factor of the 250GB PlayStation 3 Slim remains identical to the previously launched 120GB model, while the larger hard disk capacity offers even more room to store your PSN downloads, videos, music and photos.

Avast, me hearties! Come September 19th, fellow landlubbers and seafarers may point thy browser to Telltale Games' Play Like a Pirate minisite and safely pillage the first chapter to the Tales of Monkey Island game for FREE!

Also, in commemoration with the International Talk Like a Pirate Day, all five chapters of Guybrush Threepwood's new episodic adventure can be yours at a (slightly) reduced price of USD29.95. Remember, the offer is only valid on the swashbuckling day.

Dhani Harrison, son of the late George Harrison appeared on a recent episode of The Tonight Show to talk about The Beatles: Rock Band video game. It wasn't long before host Conan O'Brien himself (and his boys) rock out to the game alongside Harrison.

You can check out the clip here.

Keyboard Cat, the Youtube phenomena turned 4chan meme has now made the jump into the nitty-gritty world of Sam Fisher, as can be seen from the clip above.

How's that for stealth?

Some cheeky denizen of the web has took the pain (or is it pleasure?) to sign up Valve co-founder Gabe Newell in the "Love Your Body" contest hosted by famed lingerie purveyor, Victoria's Secret.

As participants are required to write a little something about how beautiful they feel, Gabe's entry is surprisingly poignant, or you can choose to see it as a wee bit of foreshadowing to the fate of Episode 3.

His entry reads: "I love my body. I don't let anyone get me down about it. If someone says a hurtful comment, I just push it back."

I say we vote for the good man.

Sidhe Interactive, the developer behind the popular PSN block-breaking game Shatter, received a cease-and-desist notification from actor/novelist William Shatner's attorneys for allegedly planning to use his name and likeness in an upcoming Shatter "Shatner" update.

The update was in a reality a joke article posted in a New Zealand game site, which details the non-existent skin update as replacing the blocks in-game with Shatner's Captain Kirk character from Star Trek, along with a remix version of the actor's cover of Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man.

Just when you think it can't get any sillier, both Paramount Studios and Bob Dylan were also notified of the alleged violations. Looks like somebody really doesn't know a joke when they see one.

That's right folks, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the first entry to the highly ambitious StarCraft II trilogy is now pushed back to the "first half of 2010." The RTS extravaganza was originally scheduled for release before the end of the year, though it seems the reason for the delay is mostly related to the upgrading work currently being carried out on Battle.net, Blizzard's proprietary online gaming service.

Of course, by now, hearing a game delay announcement from Blizzard is somewhat akin to seeing the sun rise from the east - it's the rule of nature.

Kids and their tantrums! What would you do if you've learnt that your Level 70 character was killed by the swipe (or signing) of a credit card? 

Video game box art back in the NES and Atari 2600 era may look simple and old school when placed next to the CG and 3D render artwork that dominates today's box art, but their mix of pixel art and clean layout did make for an iconic and memorable design. What happens then if games like Wii Sports, BioShock, and Halo 3 were to be repackaged in the same stylized manner?

Well, wonder no more and hop on straight to The -Minus World for the goods, courtesy of one talented B Miggs. Further recreation of "Atari Modern Classics" can be found here.

Ever wanted to be in Tim Schafer's shoes as he prepare himself to host the GDC Awards? Stuck in the backstage room, players will have to guide Mr. Schafer and embark on an epic quest to locate all 22 jokes (or less) in order to win over the audience at the GDC awards.

Presented in glorious (and pixelated) point-n-click format reminiscent of LucasArt's classic adventure games, players are given 12 verb commands (remember those?) and a large inventory space to aid in their quest for humor. Have fun!

Originally made for the press in conjunction with the launch of Street Fighter IV, Capcom has graciously made a PDF version of the Street Fighter IV Training Manual for download at their Capcom Unity blog here.

Featuring great character illustration plus tips and techniques for each fighter, the Training Manual is also printer-friendly if you prefer to read your own printed copy. A nice little gift for the fans!

Ensuring that workers in office cubicles do not die of boredom whenever there's a lull in their workload, Casual Collective has compiled a bunch of free games which makes multiplayer gaming fun and easy. Requiring no high-end graphics card, large amounts of memory and gaming-grade input devices, all you need to do is to register (for free), build up a network of like-minded people and play!

This is the closest we'll ever get to a Half-Life feature film. The brilliant folks at Purchase Brothers recently made the first chapter to their Half-Life: Escape From City-17 episodic series (we assume it's episodic seeing that Part One is firmly etched on the title, though the little teaser towards the end may just be a red herring) available on their official website and YouTube.

Truly a sight to behold. Amazing work, guys!