Second Story Gamer

Sony has been having a rough month.  After a few months on top, in the past few weeks all momentum that the PS3 had has switched back to the Xbox 360 after a significant price cut.  Also, the PSP continues to be outsold heavily by the DS so there is no hope there.  What Sony [...]

The Gears of War 2 hype train has left the station as we are only two months from the blockbuster’s release and on board today is Lead Designer of Gears 2, Cliff Bleszinski who gave a very revealing interview with D+ Pad. In this interview he gave some key information about the sequel such as [...]

Late last night, a report was released that stated that Nintendo will be releasing a revision of the DS later this year.  And it’s not just little aesthetic changes (bigger screens, thinner), Nintendo is slapping a whole camera, music player, and increased wireless functionality on the little gaming handheld we’ve come to know and love.
So [...]

(Artists Impression)
A very interesting rumor has been floating around today that suggests that Microsoft will be releasing an Xbox 360 that has gone through a harsh diet or a minor case of anorexia.  Yes, that was my clever way of saying that Microsoft is rumored to be releasing a slim Xbox 360 next year.
According to [...]

Last week, a weekly report from Famitsu showed that the Xbox 360 had beaten all the competition and become the best selling console in Japan, for a week.  While that report was later disputed, not disputed was the fact that the Xbox 360 gave the PS3 a thourough whipping in Japan last week, selling over [...]

The internet has been set on fire as Bungie released a teaser trailer for their new game (or expansion pack) called Keep it Clean.  This game has been teased by Bungie on their website on more than one occasion.  And, in typical fashion for us gamers, the video has already been dissected and analyzed.  First [...]

Microsoft has announced a new ad campaign for the Xbox 360 that looks to be the largest in the short history of the Xbox franchise. Called “Live Your Moment”, it hopes to appeal to the casual market, which the Xbox 360 hasn’t done so hot in. These advertisements will be appearing across the [...]

After being “taken over” by the Superintendent just a few days ago, Bungie has once again lost control of their site to the mysterious man, woman, or artificial intelligence named |||||.  Confused?  Read this.
This time, a post titled “Pardon Our Dust” has come with an image that has the word “Reinitialize” in it.  Also, there [...]

EA has announced that the folks down under (Australians, for those of you not so geographically inclined) will finally be able to rock out with fake guitars and drums on Nov 7.  “Hooray, mate”, right?  One problem: it’s Rock Band 1 that’s being released, not Rock Band 2.
While this might seem like a huge kick [...]

Grand Theft Auto is a series that has spanned many consoles and the new DS GTA title, Chinatown Wars, looks to continue that tradition.  However, questions have come up about why Rockstar still hasn’t developed a Wii GTA.  Even though the console is stereotyped as the “family console”, the game would still sell millions.
In the [...]

Bungie’s website, Bungie.net has been taken over by a cryptic message from “the Superintendent”, AKA “|||||” that seems to be teasing a new Halo game, which adds credence to the rumor that Bungie will be announcing a new Halo game on September 25th.  Completely lost?  Let me explain.
Maybe you missed it, but last July, Bungie.net [...]

Phil Harrison’s departure from Sony earlier this year was met with some confusion.  Why would he leave Sony, where everything is going up now that the PS3 is getting legs, to Atari where everything is falling and buring?  We’ve had different explanations of why he left Sony, but why Atari?  Well, he chose Atari because [...]

At Activision’s Analyst Day Event (where Call of Duty 6 was dated), Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith had a few words to say about Guitar Hero.  Griffith said:
We’ve learned that the consumer still has an insatiable appetite for more.  Consumers have downloaded over 20 million individual songs for the franchise, and they still tell us [...]

The fire that was once the hype of Braid has now become embers, but it isn’t too late for some random guy with a video camera to talk about the game.  Sometimes, that guy has a very smart, valid opinion but was just late buying the game.  And other times, Soulja Boy is that guy.
According [...]

Today, Activision had an “analysts day” conference call where Publishing CEO Mike Griffith confirmed that Infinity Ward is developing Call of Duty 6 and it’s set for a 2009 release.  Then, he said that the title is headed for a 2010 release.
Griffith said, “In 2009, we expect Infinity Ward to deliver another [title of] ground-breaking [...]

Ever since Microsoft botched Bungie’s unveiling of a new game at E3, rumors and speculation have abounded about not only what the game is, but also when it will be announced.  Well here’s another rumor you can add to the second category.
Gamer.tm has apparently gotten information from an “industry insider” that leads them to believe [...]

As the ongoing drama with Take-Two and EA goes on, Take-Two has had one big argument on their side: GTA IV.  They claim that that one game completely makes EA’s $2 billion bid an undervalued estimate of the company.  But is it really?
Grand Theft Auto IV has sold about 8.5 million copies on the Xbox [...]

A few days early this month for some reason (NPD numbers are usually released on the 15th), the NPD Group released their monthly video game numbers.  The numbers are… well, boring.  Not too many surprises this month.  Here’s the rundown:
Hardware:
1. Nintendo DS - 518,000
2. Wii - 453,000
3. PSP - 253,000
4. Xbox 360 - 195,200
5. Playstation [...]

One of the biggest shockers of the year may be LittleBigPlanet.  That’s because although the game has tons of hype now, it was relatively unknown just a year ago.  And of course now that it is a hyped up exclusive, fanboys are standing at two sides of a fine line debating about whether or not [...]

Microsoft has confirmed today the closing of real-time strategy developer, Ensemble Studios, sometime next year.  So far, layoffs have not begun, but the company will be closing by next year.  And this may be bad news for PC gamers.
Why?  Because Microsoft closing down one of the biggest PC developers in the industry, with over 20 [...]

A VGChartz has heard a very, very unlikely rumor from a “black forum”.  He even said that it is probably “complete bullshit”.  So why am I reporting about it?  Because if it’s true, I’ll look smart.  And if it isn’t true, Microsoft should take a lesson from it, because it is actually a very good [...]

Recently, a few gaming sites have picked up a ton of information about Peter Jackson’s unnamed Halo project from some supposedly very good sources.  The sources that are said to be very close to Microsoft have dropped much information related to the project including the fact that the main character is a female Spartan and [...]

It’s not often you hear a company proudly say they will beat one of their competitors, but lose profusely to the other.  However, when your talking about the video game industry, a second place finish for Microsoft would definitely be a success, considering that the Wii is clearly an unstoppable juggernaut.  And, finally, it seems [...]

Microsoft’s long rumored price cut for the Xbox 360 has finally been confirmed.  The Arcade SKU will be available for $199 starting September 5.  Of course this is a great move for Microsoft at the moment; Xbox 360 sales have been very stagnant the past few months.  However, many gamers have already called this a [...]

Everyone has had the Resident Evil experience: you start the game by hating the controls, but then realize that the control scheme is the way it is to keep the game suspenseful.  Well Capcom has just guaranteed you will not have that experience for Resident Evil 5, as they have announced they are creating a [...]

Epic’s Gears of War 2 franchise senior producer Rod Fergusson has been chatting with Gamasutra about the technical capabilities of the Xbox 360 and he revealed some interesting information about the console’s technological potential.  He thinks that Epic is “approaching the upper end” when it comes to the console’s graphical capabilities.  However he added that [...]

At the moment, all of the Xbox 360’s available in the country of Japan are, very unusually, sold out, thanks to Tales of Vesperia fevor.  But Microsoft has promised that shipments of Xbox 360’s will be returning to Japan in a few weeks time except these consoles will be different - they’ll be a helluva [...]