The two aspects of Scribblenauts that get the most attention are its absolutely irresistible concept, and the robust lexicon that backs it up. But one underappreciated aspect of the game is the art. Not only is there artwork for those myriad items in the database, 5th Cell's Edison Yan has developed an eye-catching style for the game that highlights, rather than hiding, the jointed nature of the sprites. On top of that, he's given the main character a rather quirky, memorable look.Yan created this image in celebration of the vaunted "Post 217" of a NeoGAF Scribblenauts thread, in which poster "Feep" regales the forum with a tale of bringing a dinosaur through a time machine to fight robot zombies. As a result of this searingly awesome chain of events, "Post 217" has become a sort of shorthand for the infinite possibilities in Scribblenauts. As a gift to the NeoGAF community, Creative Director Jeremiah Slaczka had Yan whip this up. It's now available on IGN in wallpaper form, and we predict that it'll be on your desktop in about ten seconds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The big, green gooey eggs containing Sega's long in development Aliens: Colonial Marines and Aliens RPG are going to hatch -- just not soon. When we asked why the games were absent from this year's E3, Sega replied, "Aliens vs. Predator will be the first to ship out of our triplet of Aliens titles; hence it was shown at this year's E3. We'll have more news to share about the other two games in the near future so stay tuned." Rumors of both titles being jettisoned out an airlock have been swirling since earlier this year.In addition, Gearbox Software prez Randy Pitchford has confirmed to Kotaku that Colonial Marines lives on in now-gen console and handheld form on DS. Pitchford told the site that Gearbox is not developing the portable title, lending more credence to purported footage of a WayForward-developed Colonial Marines that leapt out of the darkness last month. We've put word into Obsidian, developers of Aliens RPG, for confirmation of that title's status.Permalink | Email this | Comments

Last year, Nintendo and McDonald's introduced the "Nintendo Spot" service, through which special downloadable content and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection access was made available at a few Tokyo-area McDonalds locations. This week, Nintendo and McDonalds announced that they will offer the service nationwide, with new exclusive content. Train stations on Tokyo's Tsukuba Express line will also have the service, with different exclusive content.The Mac de DS service allows users to access DSiWare, to play online using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, and to download special demos and other content. Current material includes a Pokemon stamp rally in which you unlock coupons for McDonalds products by visiting stores and "collecting" Pokemon. There are also quiz games and downloadable comics.We'd say this kind of commercial cross-promotion is despicable, but, really, this has to be designed more with Nintendo's context-sensitive DS download initiative than with marketing -- because neither Mickey D's nor Nintendo really needs to do anything to become more popular. [Via Famitsu]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Rock Band track packs have been rather unexciting for the many of us that have internet access (read: you). The previous packs compiled already-available DLC onto a single disc at a slightly discounted price making it attractive exclusively to those that -- for one reason or another -- can't buy songs from the in-game music store.Looks like things will change for the upcoming country music Track Pack. Available July 21st on every platform, the Track Pack will offer exclusive songs that are new for the Rock Band franchise. In fact, 13 songs will be brand new, making the Track Pack a much more exciting purchase for country music-lovin' Rock Band aficionados.The $29.99 disc will feature 21 songs from the Dixie Chicks, Keith Urban, Kenny Rogers, Shania Twain, Willie Nelson and more. You can read the entire track listing after the break.

Continue reading Rock Band: Country Track Pack debuts 13 new songs for franchise

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