Ever imagine your Xbox 360 and DS joining forces to bring you hours of gaming fun? Well, Rare, the company behind Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, managed to pull it off: interaction between the Xbox 360 and DS is actually possible. The problem is this feature won't go public. Learn more about it after the jump!

Remember when we revealed that the ESRB rated Wits and Wagers? If you've been looking forward to playing the game, then you should know that it will be arriving this week on the Xbox Live Arcade. To find out more about this, head on over to the full article.

Two more titles will become available on the Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday, April 16: the Rocky and Bullwinkle microgame collection and the enhanced version of tank shooter Battlezone. Check out the full article for more info on these games.

The achievements for Ubisoft's upcoming video game: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 on the Xbox 360 (also available on the PlayStation 3 and PC) have finally been revealed. What fan of the series would not take the time to check it out considering the awesome names the developers have chosen for them such as Eye of the Sniper and Bring it on! For more information, head on over to the full article.

Electronic Arts has sent 'round a press release detailing the new feature set in Burnout Paradise (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360). Read on for more information minus the PR-speak.

• True Open World Freedom – The entire city will be available from the outset, giving players the freedom to explore the entirety of Paradise City.
• EasyDrive Online Social Gaming – See your friends online with the EasyDrive Friends List and connect with them instantly without having to wait or exit your game.
  
• Single-player Events – Players can choose from Race, Marked Man, Road Rage, and Stunt by pulling up to the numerous stoplights in the game to initiate the event. Players now have the freedom to start and even end a challenge at their leisure.

Burnout Paradise will also continue the series' fast action and bone-crushing crashes delivered in HD at 60 FPS. Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions will also let players take candid Mugshots of their opponents using the PS3 Eye Toy and Xbox Live Vision, respectively.


Buy: [Burnout Paradise (PS3)]
Buy: [Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360)]

Carcassonne, Sierra Online's take on the popular European board game, will be arriving on the Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday, June 27, at 09:00 GMT. It'll be available worldwide at 800 Microsoft Points a pop.

At its core, Carcassonne is basically an empire-building game. The game starts with an empty landscape and a single square tile. One to four players then take turns selecting from 72 tiles displaying various features of a city including roads, the walls of a castle or fields, competing to get the most points.

Here's a list of Carcassonne's features:

• Special AI settings to challenge any skill level
• Challenge your friends – Up to five players can play over Xbox Live or up to four players can play on the same Xbox 360
• Interact with new and old friends alike over Xbox Live while you play Carcassonne with the Xbox Live Vision camera
• Helpful step-by-step tutorial to teach you the game in minutes
• Skill-based matchmaking for ranked games
• The complete Carcassonne includes 72 tiles and all rule sets
• Carcassonne includes the Rivers II expansion set with 12 additional tiles
• Earn up to 200 Gamerscore and 12 Achievements

   

For this week's Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday, Microsoft decided to finally unleash the insect-infested combat video game Band of Bugs. This title was developed by NinjaBee and was first announced back in January 2007. This game is actually one of the few turn-based tactical strategy games available on XBLA.

Anyway, Band of Bugs is also expected to appeal to casual gamers despite its gameplay because of the rather quirky graphics and images employed by NinjaBee. If you haven't heard about this title before, we listed down some of its more important features below:

• Choose to play through a story-based campaign, stand-alone missions or skirmishes:
• Story-based campaign: Action and adventure in a single-player campaign story. Follow the adventures of young Maal as he leads an elite team of bug warriors to protect the kingdom from evil insect enemies.
• Stand-alone missions: Try your hand at one of these unique single-level scenarios. These short battles include a background story, unique events and custom goals.
• Skirmish: Test your skills on a variety of individual maps, including custom maps designed by the player with the in-game editor. Select a game type (Elimination, Capture, or Escape) and choose to control any party in the battle to demonstrate your superior tactical skill.
• Four unique multiplayer modes for up to 4 players either locally or over Xbox Live including:
• Elimination: The first team to lose all the bugs in one party loses the battle
• Capture: Capture (or defend) a strong point
• Escape: Reach an escape point, or stop the enemy from reaching it
• Mission: A unique scenario with custom story, events, and goals
• Challenge friends to Spider Hunter, a more relaxed game that allows up to 8 people to join and leave on the fly
• Use the game's built-in level editor to design your own custom scenarios for play against others over Xbox Live
  
• Xbox Live Vision camera support in all Xbox Live multiplayer modes
• Mystery leaderboard where players earn points for items they are not told about: Players can check the board and figure out what will help them get to the top of the leaderboard
• Earn up to 200 Gamerscore and 12 Achievements

Again, Band of Bugs will be available this Wednesday, June 20. No pricing has been announced yet as of this writing.

Microsoft Research has developed a "High Capacity Color Barcode," a little square of colored static that can hold up to twice the amount stored in a traditional UPC black-and-white barcode. And by the end of the year, the BBC reports, they will appear on DVDs and your very own Xbox 360 games.

But why, you may ask?

A lot of reasons. Here's a clue: "Microsoft has said consumers could interact with the new barcodes, using webcams and mobile phones with cameras." Xbox Live Vision Camera, anyone? "Information such as a website address or an e-mail address could be stored... and once scanned by a [camera], the consumer could be taken to a promotional page, a website offering downloads, or extra content."

Talk about being rewarded for owning a Live Vision Camera.

There's also an added security feature. A nanoparticle can be embedded in the new barcode, which can only be lit up by a specific frequency of light and detected by a digital reader. It can be developed as an anti-counterfeiting device to counter piracy. Er... could you imagine a gaming future where the instructions tell you to hold your game disc up to the camera to see if it's legit?

IGN has a sneak peek at the new features in the coming Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 being worked on by EA Tiburon, and it's taking the idea of the online golfing community further by taking inspiration from Rainbow Six Vegas, user-created content, and your weekend friendly game of golf with buddies... that can turn hypercompetitive.

Let's see. First new feature of note is Game Face. No more sliders here. With the Xbox Live Vision camera (demoed by IGN) and the Eye Toy HD, you can do a Vegas and recreate your mug on your virtual golfer. And EA's made sure you can't get "Ass Face" as a result. They tried and failed. So much for kissing Ass.

Next up is GamerNet. Call it a nod to Phil Harrison's Game 3.0 and Microsoft's vision for Xbox Live. You can play your best game of golf, record that and upload it to GamerNet, and throw down the gloves at other golfers out there: "See if you can top this one!" Call it EA's own Achievements: players earn GamerNet Points for successfully beating the challenges set by other players.

GamerNet Points are also used in Leaderboard rankings. Prepare for American Idol Golfer (or Whose Shot Was That Anyway?). GamerNet also allows players play each other, although not simultaneously: you can record your round of 18 holes for a friend to download - and that friend can play alongside your recording while you're offline.

EA envisions "themes" or "channels" of GamerNet challenges: Single Hole Challenge, Nine Hole Challenge, 18-Hole Challenge, Grip it and Rip it (long drive), and Freestyle trick shots. Yes, IGN says Freestyle includes those weird ricochet shots and creative shots that hit the audience. We repeat: creative shots that hit the audience. Ow.

Other tweaks EA's tossing into 08 include weather factoring into your game, as well as a player confidence mechanic that affects how well you make your shots. Not included are ninjas.

You have to ask what Alex Ward of Criterion Games really meant when he tells CVG: "How you use the controller is key, how you play the game online, how you use the HD Eye Toy and the 360 Vision Camera online is really important." So when he says that the camera accessories for the PS3 and Xbox 360 are "important" (but hopefully still optional, just in case), what does he mean?

Those working on both Microsoft and Sony cameras have been integrating motion-capture control technologies into them (and we thought this 3D mo-cap gaming feature would be useful for a High School Musical-themed Dance Dance Revolution game...). Now, mug shots of the oncoming traffic is the most obvious use for cameras in a Burnout online mulltiplayer, as is video chat, but if mo-cap gesture control is successfully integrated into the game, what are the other uses of such a camera with in a game that's essentially a controlled car crash?

• Gesture control could be used in place of or complimentary with the controller, at least as an option?
• You could probably change your point of view (POV) like in Test Drive Unlimited by slightly turning your head left or right, thus allowing you to see more of the competition?
• The cars will ALSO include modeled characters in them whose reactions (from taunting to panic) will be based on your facial reactions?
• Or perhaps, as part of some grand conspiracy to improve driving safety in the streets, every time you pull off a billion-dollar-damage crash, the Live Vision Camera/Eye Toy HD will snap your mug and email it directly to the DMV and State Highway Patrol, where your face will end up plastered in a Wall of (Potential) Driving Shame?
• Of course we're kidding on this one, lighten up.