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If you love reading novels and you are a gamer then today you have double good news in form of new novels for Splinter Cell: Conviction and Gears Of War.

The Gears of War book’s called Jacinto’s Remnant written by Karen Traviss is now out, it will cost you 15$, and continues from the end of the second game.

The Splinter Cell novel’s actually called Conviction, and launches on October 27,  will cost you $10.

Source  VGB

You may be unaware that The Sims 3 is out in June. But that’s OK. You are not EA’s intended audience. Those guys, well, those guys should by now be very aware.

Because it would seem that Electronic Arts have been busy over the past couple of weeks covering what looks like every building in the continental United States with Sims 3 posters.

With most other games EA put out last year contributing to the company losing a ton of money, we’re getting the idea that it’s hoped people will buy lots and lots of copies of Sims 3.

Last year, the Wii made headlines for its trouncing of the PlayStation 3, when Nintendo’s console was outselling its current-gen competition from Sony in Japan. But 2009 has started to work out a little differently.

For the past two months, Sony’s PlayStation 3 has outsold the Wii. It hasn’t outsold it by the impressive margins that Nintendo was doing in Japan, when it was selling six Wiis for every PS3 sold, but Sony’s higher priced platform is currently holding its own. Since the Wii got so much press for its massive sales in 2008, we’d expect that Sony is enjoying its time in the sun.

In February, the PS3 managed to sell approximately 87,000 units, according to Media Create. That’s enough to put it past the Wii, which sold about 76,000 units. In March, however, Sony’s lead grew, with PS3 sales reaching 116,000, Wii sales declining to less than 70,000.

That change can likely be chalked up to the PlayStation 3’s recent lineup in Japan, which include Yakuza 3, Resident Evil 5 and Musou Orochi Z. The Wii, on the other hand, is suffering through a bit of a software slump, surviving on GameCube to Wii remakes and evergreen titles like Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii.

Obviously, those numbers are very different from sales in the U.S., which is a much bigger market. In February, the Wii moved about three times as many PS3s, according to the NPD Group.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete isn’t the only FFVII product that is getting a revised release. Book Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega is, too.

The new edition is dubbed Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition. It includes new FFVII related info from Square Enix, a new interview with Cloud voice actor Takahiro Sakurai and new artwork.

The book will be released April 16 in Japan.

Games have long preferred visual innovation to audio. I mean, they’re called video games, not video and audio games. But that’s not to say game audio doesn’t deserve recognition!

GANG stands for Game Audio Network Guild, a group dedicating themselves to championing the work of music and sound effect teams in the game industry. And it’s work that deserves championing! After all, what would Halo be without its opening score? What would Metal Gear be without the dramatic “discovered” chime? How could I have enjoyed the first Manhunt if I hadn’t had Brian Cox threatening my earhole?

So the GANG awards were held during GDC last week, with prizes handed out for things like best music, best sound design, etc. Fittingly, Dead Space took out the big audio prize of the night, while in an upset Asian PSN title Afrika won best music. Other winners were Grand Theft Auto IV, LittleBigPlanet and, awesomely, Sega maestro Richard Jacques.

Full list of winners below:

Audio Of The Year
Dead Space

Music Of The Year
Afrika

Sound Design Of The Year
Dead Space

Best Cinematic/Cut-Scene Audio (Tie)
World Of Warcraft: Wrath Of The Lich King
Gears Of War 2

Best Use Of Multi-Channel Surround In A Game
Left 4 Dead

Best Original Vocal Song – Choral
“Main Title” – World Of Warcraft: Wrath Of The Lich King

Best Original Vocal Song – Pop
“Still Alive” – Mirror’s Edge

Best Original Instrumental (Tie)
“The Garden” – LittleBigPlanet
“Main Theme” – Afrika

Best Original Soundtrack Album
Video Games Live: Volume One

Best Dialogue
Grand Theft Auto IV

Best Use Of Licensed Music
Rock Band 2

Best Handheld Audio
God Of War: Chains Of Olympus

Best Interactive Score
LittleBigPlanet

Best Game Audio Article, Publication Or Broadcast
“The Complete Guide To Game Audio” 2nd Edition – Aaron Marks

Best Audio – Other
Watchman Motion Comic

Rookie Of The Year
Wataru Hokoyama (Afrika, Resident Evil 5)

Lifetime Achievement Award
Bob Rice

G.A.N.G. Distinguished Service Awards
Richard Jacques
Tom Salta
Stephen Years

G.A.N.G. Recognition Awards
Jim Charne
John Broomhall

Student/Apprentice Competition Winners
Music – Tom Graczkowski
Sound Design – Benoit Babin

Starting today, Capcom’s selling a BSAA North America zippo lighter.

BSAA stands for Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance and was formed by the United States, the United Nations and the Global Pharmaceutical Consortium to deal with severe biohazard threats.

This light is yours for ¥12,390 (US$127). Smoke if you got ‘em.

TiVo and Blockbuster are teaming up to offer Blockbuster on-demand content via TiVo DVR boxes, the companies announced Wednesday. TiVo DVRs will also be available for purchase at Blockbuster stores and online at blockbuster.com. Blockbuster content will be available to purchase or rent on TiVo Series2, Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL DVRs, TiVo said. “Ultimately, our vision is to work with TiVo so that their subscribers can access movies not only through our OnDemand service but also from our stores and through our by-mail service as well,” Jim Keyes, Blockbuster chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “Regardless of a film’s availability – through VOD or on DVD – we want to work with TiVo to provide their subscribers unprecedented access to movie content.”

“When consumers walk into one of the thousands of Blockbuster stores entertainment for the home is on their minds – - it could not be more natural to have them exposed to the world of millions of entertainment possibilities for the home that the TiVo Service provides,” said Tom Rogers, president and CEO of TiVo. The offering is expected to be available in the second half of 2009. Earlier this month, TiVo announced partnerships with SeaChange and Alticast to provide its customers with improved video on-demand (VOD) availability, and to enable smaller multiple system operators (MSOs) not using tru2way to access TiVo content.

Source: PC Magazine