Although EA has nearly all the money in the world, even they as a company can't afford to run servers for every game they've ever released. In keeping with that idea, the publisher has unveiled its schedule of games that will soon be taken off of online life support. For the most part, the list consists of a mix of older sports games and games for last gen consoles. However, there are a few games on the list that seem, at least to me, like some people may still want to play (Tiger Woods PGA 09 and Madden NFL 10 for the Wii springs right to mind). Additionally, as EA's licensing deal with Middle-Earth Enterprises has expired, the company has been forced to shut down servers for all of its Lord of the Rings games.

UPDATE: We're not live anymore, but you can still check it out if you happened to miss it.

Join us on our first ever live streaming session for our brand-new audio podcast. Today we're going to be talking about The Walking Dead, True Grit, and MMOs.

For comics shipping 01.05.11 or The Week Birds Fell From The Sky. Every week I’ll check Diamond’s shipping list to see what you absolutely, positively need to spend all your hard earned cash on at the Local Comic Shop.

On Thursday, the city of Las Vegas will throw open its doors and welcome in the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, more commonly referred to as CES. If you've never experienced CES for yourself, just think about what you've seen of E3 or PAX, multiply it by 1,000, and spread it out over several miles of conference center space. Seriously, it is to trade shows what Jupiter is to planets. While it isn't normally a gaming-centric show, this year we'll see more of our favorite pastime than in recent memory. Nintendo has already announced that, after a 16 year absence, they will make their triumphant return to the show floor. However one of the more consistent showings has come from Microsoft. MS's annual keynote speech, normally held the night before the floor is opened up, has consistently allowed that company to show off whichever new technology they're looking to introduce in the coming year. As you can see in the above image, this year MS may well be rolling out a new game, one entitled Avatar Kinect.

Once upon a time, Sony's PlayStation 2 held the lofty position of America's best-selling game platform. With over 41 million consoles sold, it seemed the PS2 held a nearly unreachable position as the be-all and end-all of modern gaming success. But that's why they say "nearly" for things like this. Nintendo announced today that, in the wake of strong holiday sales, their DS has become the new king of the mountain. With the 2010 numbers finally tallied, the total number of DSes in American is over 47 million, surpassing the PS2 by at least 5 million units.

Since its release in late 2009, Angry Birds has consistently been the best-selling game for just about every device it's available for. Whether you're talking about the iTunes App Store or the Anroid Marketplace, people can't seem to get enough of those little fowl busting up the lives of the thieving pigs. Rovio, the game's Finnish developer, promised in November that the game would be ported to each current gen system, and today we got word that the PlayStation will be getting it first. A posting on the PS Blog has announced that Angry Birds will make its debut on the PSN beginning tomorrow when the store updates.

Remember Castle Crashers? You know, the side-scrolling action game with RPG elements that was such a big senstaion when it came to XBLA back in 2008 as part of the first "Summer of Arcade" promotion. It was such a fun co-op game experience that it would seem next to impossible to forget, especially in light of some news that just came from the game's developer, The Behemoth. In a press release sent out this morning, the developer let it be known that on Christmas Day, the game reached a lofty milestone, going over the 2 million download mark. To put that into some perspective, if you took all of those people, put them in one place, and gave them a zip code, it would be the 5th largest city in the United States.

It's the end of the year, and to celebrate we're doing Epic Boobs live. That's right internets, we're bringing you the awesome unfiltered, unedited, and straight from the source. The show kicks off at 11:30 AM (EST), so be sure to keep your eyes glued to this broadcast channel. So join us here, or over on Ustream, to chat and take part in the show.

If you're one of the unfortunate few who can't watch live, don't sweat it. Every moment of this once in a lifetime event will be recorded for posterity, and you'll be able to watch it at your earliest convenience.

Oh, and just because we love you, we're going to be going on for a full half-hour.

No matter how you feel about torrenting, pirating, or generally playing games that you haven't paid for, the fact is that game piracy is a very real thing. Every year, millions of copies of hundreds of games are distributed via torrenting sites, black market stores, and various other outlets. While publishers and developers alike wring their hands and attempt to come up with new methods of DRM to block people from getting something for nothing, tens of millions of dollars are lost to gamers who find ways to get their hands on illicit copies.

For comics shipping 12.29.10 or The Week It Snowed. Like, A Lot. Every week I’ll check Diamond’s shipping list to see what you absolutely, positively need to spend all your hard earned cash on at the Local Comic Shop.

Now that Gran Turismo 5 has finally hit store shelves, the crown for the King of the Land of Interminable Development sits firmly atop the head of Duke Nukem Forever. This game represents a dream of gamers that dates back over thirteen years, one that has seemed at times to be tantalizingly close to reality, only to have one lawsuit or another stand in the way. Most people had assumed that the game was long dead, only to have it surprisingly show up in September at Gearbox's booth at PAX Prime. While the developer has claimed that it will be released at some point in the coming year, no firm date has been given. However it seems that the game may be here sooner than we had been expecting.

Sony and Naughty Dog have released two new gameplay videos for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.  The videos feature several of Drake’s new moves, plenty of gunplay, and the best looking fire I’ve ever seen in a video game.  Seriously: wow.

On January 19th, Nintendo is hosting an event in New York City that will finally detail for the world the release plans for the much anticipated 3DS handheld console. While you shouldn't expect to hear anything about a firm price point or release date before then, there is at least one retailer that is willing to start taking your money now to secure one when they do become available. Yes ladies and gentlemen, GameStop outlets across the country are now taking pre-orders for the 3DS.

TOP TEN, VOL. 1
Written by ALAN MOORE
Art by GENE HA and ZANDER CANNON

I absolutely cannot get enough of police dramas. Team that genre with super-heroes, along with the writing of Alan Moore, and you’ve got me hooked instantly. Written as if it was a season of a televised police procedural, Top Ten is the story of the newest recruit in a precinct of super-powered cops. Ha and Cannon make sure to stick as many references in each and every panel as possible, and I guarantee you could read this book a hundred times and still find something new hidden away in a corner somewhere. The book, like many of America’s Best Comics, was short-lived, but its brilliance will always keep it at the forefront of recommendations for new readers.

Just when you thought you had caught them all... This morning, Nintendo announced that the first games in the fifth generation of core Pokémon games, Pokémon White and Pokémon Black will be making their North American debuts on March 6, 2011 on the DS. These are the same two titles that became the fastest selling Japanese games to reach the one million sales mark, a feat they accomplished before they were even released back in September.

Today is a special day for it marks our one-year anniversary of our first episode!  To celebrate we're playing Die Hard for Nintendo.

Thanks for watching us all year, and we hope you stick around to check out another year of this nonsense!  Happy Holidays!

For comics shipping 12.22.10 or The Week A Watcher Got His Wings. Every week I’ll check Diamond’s shipping list to see what you absolutely, positively need to spend all your hard earned cash on at the Local Comic Shop.

Back in November, word leaked out that Harmonix, developer of the Rock Band series of games, was being offered for sale by its parent company Viacom. Viacom made the announcement by declaring Harmonix a "discontinued operation", marking a $299 million loss for the media conglomerate. And since nothing can happen in the modern gaming world that doesn't include a lawsuit of some kind, Gamasutra is reporting that a group of former Harmonix shareholders, including founders Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, are suing Viacom. In a claim similar to those made in Infinity Ward's suit against Activision, the group is accusing Viacom of withholding performance-based bonuses for the Rock Band series.

This is a friendly public service announcement from me to remind you that the demo for Visceral's survival horror sequel Dead Space 2 is now available for Xbox Live, and will be added to the PlayStation Network later tonight when the Store updates. That's right ladies and gentlemen, you can finally get your first taste of the world where the sequel is set, the Sprawl, which is purportedly much larger and less linear than the setting of the first game, the USG Ishimura.

Fifteen years ago, Nintendo released Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie to the Japanese market for the Super Famicom. Within a very short amount of time, it became the top-selling game in that region for 1995, in spite of the fact that it cost nearly 12,000¥ ($100 in the US). There had been plans at that time to port the game to the equivalent North American system, the Super Nintendo, but those plans were ultimately abandoned. Then, at the beginning of this year, Japanese gamers were once again given an opportunity to play DQ6, this time on the DS. Once again, the game sold like gangbusters, moving nearly a million units in its first week. Today, Nintendo has announced that North America will finally get a chance to play it, ending a fifteen year drought.