Joystiq [Xbox]

It's tough to follow the Jesus Shot, EA's viral video for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 and tongue-in-cheek reference to a glitch found in Tiger Woods 08. But, we must say, EA has managed to strike rich, comedic gold again, as the video after the break for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 featuring Rocco Mediate is pretty damn hilarious. Like, grandpa-with-an-open-fly hilarious.

Oh, and some of you may notice something at the end of the clip, to the tune of EA awarding someone with $50,000 for their own viral video. For more details on that, check out the official site.

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Dearest Lorraine,

Microsoft's Major Nelson has brought us another annual status report on enemy movements throughout Xbox Live, and it's not pretty. Conflict has surrounded us, as the enemy, Call of Duty: World at War, has spread like wildfire, becoming the most-played game last week. We tried to flank it with our platoons of Halo 3 and Gears of War 2, but, alas, the enemy had reinforcements in Call of Duty 4. Hope has diminished, and one only needs walk by the injured tent to feel the full force of the enemy's cruelty.

Lorraine, I know not if I will return home. I have managed to live longer than most, but, I feel there's that one bullet out there with my name on it, relentlessly pursuing its new home. Please, take care of my Gamertag when I am gone (I think my Gold subscription ends next month, so look into that), and be sure to earn as many Achievements for me as you can. I suggest you start with Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Yours Truly,
Gus

Here's an interesting one. Ninjabee, creator of some of the better XBLA games out there (Cloning Clyde, A Kingdom for Keflings) recently posted a somewhat cryptic Twitter message. The tweet reads simply, "Here's the big news for the day: Ever wanted to throw a fireball with your Avatar?" The message is followed by a link leading to the image above, with the somewhat less cryptic message, "Soon you'll be able to use your Avatar in ways it hasn't been used before..."

First, the obvious answer to the question is a hearty "yes." We want our Avatars to do a lot of things, including some of the things they aren't allowed to do. Second, just what is this message all about? Dare we hope that Ninjabee is working up some kind of Avatar fighting game, perhaps in the manic style of Super Smash Bros. or possibly, dream of dreams, Power Stone? We've reached out to Ninjabee and will let you know as soon as we hear more.

In the meantime ... speculate.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Telltale's Dave Grossman spoke to the possibility of seeing Tales of Monkey Island on Xbox Live Arcade. Currently slated only for Wii and PC, Tales of Monkey Island could eventually see the light of day on XBLA, according to Grossman. "We didn't so much decide not to put it on Xbox Live Arcade as we decided not to put it on XBLA now," said Grossman, explaining that Telltale has been alternating platforms for each release. Joystiq readers will recall that Strong Bad is on Wii, while Wallace & Gromit is an XBLA title.

Grossman indicates that Tales of Monkey Island may wind up on XBLA, saying, "Yeah, I mean I wouldn't rule it out. We might do that one later on."

Regarding Telltale's overall strategy for future titles and other platforms, Grossman says that Telltale would eventually like to release "on every downloadable channel there is." When that will actually happen revolves around "how and when and can [Telltale] actually afford to do it."

Why can't every developer be Infinity Ward? When asked by Videogamer.com why Modern Warfare 2's co-op was limited to two players, spokesman Robert Bowling said, "Two player seemed to be the magic number for co-op. That's when it stayed really fun and intense without becoming a clusterf**k of things."

Bowling also said that the whole game won't be playable in co-op because the developer is "crafting a very specific experience" and doesn't want to "ruin that by cramming co-op into it." While it's nice to see a company stick to its guns like that, we figure developers who sell a hojillion copies of a game can pretty much write their own menus.

We're having a hard time wrapping our heads around this one, so do us a favor and bear with us while we put our heads down and power through. Microsoft is releasing a wireless microphone this fall meant to be used with "your favorite Xbox 360 music games," a list that includes: Lips, Guitar Hero: Metallica, Rock Band 2, Disney Sing It: High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Lips: Number One Hits, and The Beatles: Rock Band.

We know, we know -- you're asking yourself, "Why would Microsoft release more peripherals? Just to add extra confusion to the Joystiq instrument compatibility matrix?" According to Microsoft, the mics are meant to assist in your living room rockstar efforts, and will retail this fall for an "estimated retail price" of $50. Meanwhile, the promise of Lips mics working in Rock Band 2 has yet to arrive and an asterisk in Microsoft's press release from earlier today indicates that these new mics won't work either without a title update. Does that mean we'll finally see the allowance of Lips' mics in RB2 when these new mics ship in the fall?

Epic is waiting on certification for Title Update 4, the latest major update to Gears of War 2, but that didn't stop Rod Fergusson from hitting the forums and dropping some info. First of all, Public Horde matches will now have the ability to restart on a failed wave, instead of having to go all the way back to square one. Then there's the addition of experience to Horde mode (which we knew about), which Rod says will break down as follows:

• 50 points per completed Casual wave.
• 75 points per completed Normal wave.
• 100 points per completed Hardcore wave.
• 125 points per completed Insane wave.

Epic is also adding Achievements for the new Dark Corners DLC and updating the game with 325 more points of delicious Gamerscore. Head past the break for the full list.

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The winners of the annual Best of E3 Game Critics Awards have been announced, with Uncharted 2 taking home the gold as "Best of Show." Not only that, but the game was also awarded "Best Console Game" and "Best Action/Adventure Game," taking the lead with three wins. Check out the trailer above (yes, again) for a good indication of why Uncharted 2 was handed the grand prize.

Meanwhile, Scribblenauts also got the recognition it deserved, coming in second with two awards for "Best Original Game" and "Best Handheld Game." No other games received multiple awards, though Valve recaptured the "Best Online Multiplayer" award with Left 4 Dead 2 a year after its predecessor did the same in 2008. While EA's Brütal Legend is nowhere to be seen in the list of winners, EA did take home more wins than any other publisher (three, if you're curious). And while the PS3-exclusive Uncharted 2 took top honors, from a console perspective the Xbox 360 edged out the PS3 by a single win, at eight versus seven.

Check out the full list of winners after the break and, for more granular stats, check out the breakdowns at the Game Critics Awards website.

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Alright, so your money's as good as in Namco's pockets already, what with the HORI Tekken 6 Wireless Fight Stick Bundle and the GameStop-only Cardboard Tube Samurai character. You've already made that decision. Glancing over your checking account statement every month, from now until the game's released, your brain will automatically deduct the $149.99 (+ applicable state sales tax).

So the real question is: How long will you have to keep this mental math up for? Namco sends word that the Xbox 360 and PS3 releases of Tekken 6 will be tekken up retail space October 27 in North America, "with the Europe, Japan and Asia release to follow shortly thereafter." As for that PSP version, it'll be available "this fall" but we can't offer you anything more definitive than that. 127 days and counting ...

Fallout 3 fans, it's time to get aboard the Duchess Gambit and visit the the beautiful seaside town of Point Lookout. Take long walks on the beach, absorb invigorating rays of sunshine and sip cocktails poolside. Yes, it's just another gorgeous day in the Wasteland, when you download the latest expansion to the post-nuclear apocalyptic epic for 800 ($10).

Who are we kidding? Point Lookout is a freak show. There are going to be creepy quest lines, nasty swamps and likely some inbreeding, based on the images we've seen.

[Add Point Lookout to your queue]

With an HD remix of The Secret of Monkey Island and a full-on episodic assault in Tales of Monkey Island on the way, many might find themselves wondering what all of the fuss is about. Those individuals have likely been stomping around the Earth for no more than 12 years or so, and thankfully GameSetWatch has come to the rescue with an incredibly lengthy retrospective (like, 5,000 words long) on the series.

We must warn you that the piece is filled with various spoilers, so if you've never played any of these games before, don't say we didn't warn you. But, for the rest of us, it's a great primer for the bounty of content ahead.

Gamasutra has published a very lengthy interview with EA Sports guru Peter Moore, in which he discusses the current plans of the label and the strategies behind sports game development and publishing. Perhaps most interesting are Moore's thoughts on the new motion control technology revealed by Sony and Microsoft during E3. Moore speaks about the possibilities of the new motion controllers, saying they will impact EA Sports "very positively."

Moore says that the company is already making plans to bring its "licensed product" and its "fitness product" to these new interfaces. Specifically, Moore imagines how a game like Fight Night or the upcoming EA Sports MMA would work with them, saying, "if it were in a first-person mode it would be very very cool." Agreed. He calls the new motion controllers a "huge opportunity."

Other topics in the interview range from the possibilities for smaller, regional titles (like cricket), the future of the Madden series and how EA plans to keep EA Sports Active ... um ... active in consumers' minds. Incidentally, this is the same interview in which Moore stated that Metacritic scores aren't necessarily relevant to the sales of Wii titles.

In addition to this week's Rock Band Weekly featuring Maroon 5 and artists from the Warped Tour, those pranksters at Harmonix snuck in some Pearl Jam tracks. The three tracks were bundled with the re-release of Pearl Jam's Ten album earlier this year.

Pearl Jam Ten Bonus Pack (440 / $5.50)

• "Brother" (160 / $2)
• "Alive (Live: Drop in the Park)" (160 / $2)
• "State of Love and Trust (Live: Drop in the Park)" (160 / $2)

These master recording will be available tomorrow and Thursday on Xbox 360 and PS3, respectively.