You know the political scene's really heating up if a presidential candidate starts wooing video gamers for votes. Reports have come in that Presidential nominee Barack Obama started an advertising campaign in 18 games, so don't be surprised if you suddenly drive by an Obama ad when you're racing in Burnout: Paradise.

It looks like Lara finally has a daddy to come home to. Warner Bros Home Entertainment recently subscribed up to £15 million (US$ 30 million) new shares in the company and announced a new strategic partnership with the house behind the Tomb Raider series. For more details regarding this, read our full article after the jump.

Fans of Propaganda Games' Turok (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC) based in North America, Canada, and Mexico rejoice! Major Nelson has announced that a demo for the game has finally been launched in the aforementioned regions.

Head on over to the full article for more details.

The Xbox Live downloadable content for Namco Bandai's Beautiful Katamari for the Xbox 360 is now out, with a new Royal Rainbow-themed Dashboard theme available for the following regions: Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan, and the US. The theme costs 150 Microsoft Points and is non-refundable.

New in-game content for the Prince's rolling adventures on the Xbox 360 are also available, in the form of four new missions:

• Milky Way Constellations - Roll up 88 constellations to create the Milky Way
• The Weaver Girl - Roll up a huge ball of yarn and string to create Vega, the Weaver Girl
• Shopping Spree - Make a Space Station but be thrifty about it; sounds like an offshoot of a Katamari mission from one of the previous games where the value of the items collected are taken into account
• High-calorie Katamari - Feed Cetus the Whale, roll up lots of food!

Certainly exciting new content, and Katamari fans will immediately take a liking to these new missions. The catch? The first three missions are available in Asia only, while the last mission, High-calorie Katamari, is a Japan-exclusive. Which means there's no downloadable Katamari action for the rest of the world...well, at least for now.

Of course, they may get released to other regions. More updates as they come!

Heads up, bandicoot loving Xbox 360 owners! A demo for the upcoming video game Crash of the Titans just appeared over at Xbox Live Marketplace. The download is for free and should be available for all Xbox Live regions except Asia and Mexico.

The full retail copy, alongside the Wii, PSP and Nintendo DS, is expected to ship in October 2. Crash of the Titans is actually the 14th entry in the much-loved Crash Bandicoot video game franchise. This iteration focuses on the discovery of an element known as Mojo.

The evil Doctor Neo Cortex is planning to use this substance to create a loyal mutant army out of the inhabitants of Crash's homeland Wumpa Islands. The game will have a total of 20 episodes with each containing multiple mini levels.

The demo is around 530.76 MB and is a good way to prepare for the full copy of Radical Entertainment's Crash of the Titans. Enjoy!



Buy: [Crash of the Titans (Xbox 360)]
Buy: [Crash of the Titans (Nintendo Wii)]
Buy: [Crash of the Titans (PSP)]
Buy: [Crash of the Titans (Nintendo DS]

Did Sierra Gamer's Week '07 get you wet yet? If not, be ready to cream your pants (so to speak) due to their latest installment, Wet (Xbox 360, PS3). Don't let the title give you any ideas, because this game is a solid third-person shooter with a good mix of sword swinging action. Find its first trailer below.

Info on the game is slippery, but we do know that the girl in the bathtub is named Rubi. We see a lot of her crazy moves, which you can find on the first high-budget Asian action film you can think of. Our well endowed babe is a gunslinger who can do fancy kills with a katana.

Wet seems to be set in Mexico, but with a twist of Hong Kong flicks. Prepare to get wet and wild! Here's the video:

It won't take long for 2K Sports to have its All-Pro Football 2K8 soundtrack release kicking off after the game's release, but before they let it loose on the gridiron, they're making sure it makes a stylish entrance, and that's why they called in DJ Z-Trip to do the job.

DJ Z-Trip, one of the more popular names in his field, has come up with some killer mixes to get you riled up and set the mood for hard-hitting, fast-running, in-your-face football action on the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360. He'll be touring to give gamers and music lovers everywhere a taste of what's up in All-Pro Football 2K8.

He'll be joined by pals Aceyalone and Gift of Gab in a tour that covers the US from coast to coast starting in Sacramento and climaxing in New York promoting the game's soundtrack album All Pro. If you want to get in on the shindigs, these are the dates and places to watch out for.

Jul 23 Harlow’s Nightclub Sacramento, California
Jul 24 The Independent San Francisco, California
Jul 25 Hawthorne Theatre Portland, Oregon
Jul 26 Last Supper Club Seattle, Washington
Jul 28 Suedes Park City, Utah
Jul 29 Fox Theatre Boulder, Colorado
Jul 31 Logan Square Auditorium Chicago, Illinois
Aug 01 Blind Pig Ann Arbor, Michigan
Aug 02 Middle East Cambridge, Massachusetts
Aug 03 Theatre of Living Arts (Filmore) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Aug 04 Sonar Baltimore, Maryland
Aug 05 Highline Ballroom New York, New York
Aug 06 Konkrete Jungle Richmond, Virginia
Aug 08 Higher Ground Burlington, Vermont
Aug 09 Agora Cleveland, Ohio
Aug 12 Shambhala Festival Salmo, British Columbia
Aug 15 House of Blues Los Angeles, California
Aug 16 Rialto Theatre Tucson, Arizona
Aug 18 Elysium Austin, Texas
Aug 19 Granada Theater Dallas, Texas
Aug 21 Sunshine Theatre Albuquerque, New Mexico
Aug 22 Brickhouse Phoenix, Arizona
Aug 23 The Grove Anaheim, California
Aug 25 Southern Comfort Festival San Diego, California


Buy: [All-Pro Football 2K8 (Xbox 360)]

Want some free love from Microsoft? Well, you're just in time because the Xbox Live Marketplace has just been updated with the addition of two new free demos. The two video game titles are Vampire Rain and Tenchu Z and the demo sizes are approximately 844.7MB and 641.8MB respectively.

First off, Vampire Rain was created by Artoon and will be published by AQ Interactive. The title itself is kind of a mix between survival horror, stealth, and shooting. Here, players are tasked to lead a black ops unit and eliminate the deadly Nightwalkers while keeping it secret the whole time.

When you get the demo, you should be treated to two full missions as well as two experience trials. Quite interestingly, it also comes with an Xbox Live multiplayer experience unlike any other where you can experience the power of a Nightwalker first hand. The download is available for members in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand, and Singapore.

Then we have Tenchu Z, the localized version of hit Japanese title Tenchu Senran from From Software. The demo is available in all markets around the globe save for places in Asia. It includes a single player mission and pre-selected ninja accessories from the full game.

Tenchu Z has recently gone gold and will be available in stores this coming June 12.

We figured that there are gamers who are not well-versed on making secondary or tertiary Xbox Live accounts. So, we're pretty much sure that some of you weren't able to download the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End demo released two weeks ago for Australia and the whole of Europe.

Fret not because there are actually a couple of reasons to be feeling fine and dandy like Captain Jack Sparrow himself. First, the full video game title for all platforms has already shipped out to retail stores and you can actually get a copy right about now.

Disney Interactive even made sure there'll be no shortage, releasing a total of 2.8 million copies worldwide.

Here's the more interesting part: if you're still not allured by the beauty of Elizabeth Swann or the antics of Sparrow and haven't purchase the retail version yet, take note that the same demo released for Europe is already available for Xbox Live members in Canada, Mexico, and the rest of North America.

It is still for free and the size is approximately around 972.3 MB. The demo features the first level tutorial for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

With several new games added to the list, World Cyber Games 2007 for the U.S. may prove to be more exciting than ever. The U.S. Open will take place in New York City come June 2 - 3 at the Samsung Experience.

Those who can prove themselves will get automatic berths and top seeds for the WCG USA National Championship in September.  But before that, they'll get US$ 20,000 while players for eight certain games will be flying to Mexico for the WCG Pan-American championships; round trip and hotel accommodations all free of charge. The competitors will come from 10 different countries in North and South America, battling it out from June 22 - 24.

 

During the U.S. Open, both spectators and pro gamers alike are invited. WCG encourages it as an "Open", where everyone can play and stars are born. For gamers in the know, this is the chance for spotlight and professional gaming contracts. If you think you've got the competitive skills for the PC and Xbox 360 games they're offering, it's the perfect time to prove yourself.

The tournament will play in a "double elimination" format during the Open, while the individual finals will happen during the 2nd day. After that, champions from all over the world will fly to the last stop of their road to glory. The WCG Grand Final will be held in Seattle, Washington with more than 70 countries vying for gold.

WCG 2006 had 1.3 million competitors in its roster, while 24 million swarmed Monza, Italy to watch the action live. Don't forget, it might be very difficult to win the championships but it's always more important to have fun.