We certainly had some fun with the previous downloadable song selection for Harmonix’s Rock Band (PS3, Xbox 360, PS2), and some love is coming your way with a slew of Master songs in the upcoming Grateful Dead pack. Get ready and crack your knuckles for some action, since these new tunes will definitely be a bunch of tough nuts to crack.

Check out the list of Grateful Dead songs:

• China Cat Sunflower
• Casey Jones
• Sugar Magnolia
• Truckin’
• Franklin’s Tower
• I Need A Miracle

Like the other songs, you can grab each of your favorite tunes for only US 1.99 each, or 160 Microsoft Points. But if you’re a Grateful Dead fan and want to grab all of the songs, then feel free to shell out US 9.99 for the entire pack, or 800 Microsoft Points. These songs will be available over at the PlayStation Store as well.

Buy: [Rock Band Special Edition (Xbox 360)]
Buy: [Rock Band Special Edition (PS3)]

It seems that the massive amount of praise heaped upon 2K Games‘ Bioshock (Xbox 360, PC) has not yet been deemed massive enough, as this year’s Game Audio Awards bestowed the gene-splicing dystopian FPS eight counts of being the most beautifully-sounding game this generation. Count ‘em - eight awards, awarded because Bioshock sounded so damn good. That, dear readers, is hardcore.

And while yours truly personally believes that something like Super Mario Galaxy could get an award or two, BioShock really deserves every award it gets. For not only did it succeed in a genre that’s saturated to the hilt, it gave the entire videogame world a rousing shake as to what storytelling should be. And boy, did it shake.

Here’s the complete list of categories (and winners):

AUDIO OF THE YEAR
BioShock

MUSIC OF THE YEAR
BioShock

SOUND DESIGN OF THE YEAR
BioShock

BEST ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ALBUM
God of War II

BEST INTERACTIVE SCORE
BioShock

BEST HANDHELD AUDIO
Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow

BEST AUDIO OTHER
Jewel Quest II

BEST CINEMATIC/CUT-SCENE AUDIO
BioShock

BEST DIALOGUE
BioShock

BEST ORIGINAL INSTRUMENTAL
“Welcome To Rapture” BioShock

BEST ORIGINAL VOCAL CHORAL
“Main Titles” God of War II

BEST ORIGINAL VOCAL POP
“Still Alive” Portal

BEST USE OF LICENSED MUSIC
BioShock

BEST ARRANGEMENT OF A NON-ORIGINAL SCORE
Simpsons Game

BEST GAME AUDIO ARTICLE, PUBLICATION OR BROADCAST
“The World of Game Composing” Film Music Magazine

MOST INNOVATIVE USE OF AUDIO
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2

BEST USE OF MULTI-CHANNEL SURROUND IN A GAME
Halo 3

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Austin Wintory
Tomas Neumann

STUDENT/APPRENTICE CONTEST WINNERS
Mike “Skitch” Schichiano
Mikkel Eskessen

G.A.N.G. RECOGNITION AWARDS
Russell Brower
Rod Abernathy
Michael “Piano Squall” Gluck

Buy: [Bioshock (PC)]
Buy: [Bioshock (Xbox 360)]

If you’re looking for a prank that makes a lasting impression, you may want to take a cue from this family. Jonathan, a kid who apparently wanted an Xbox 360 for Christmas, was handed his Christmas gift by his parents: an Xbox 360…box. Thinking that the prized console lay waiting inside the packaging, Jonathan opened the Xbox 360 box only to find winter clothing stuffed inside.

Shocked and dejected, the boy was pushed into tears. Several people who watched the video footage of the prank sympathized with Jonathan, and even tech site Engadget offered to give him a console. However, it should be noted that the video description in Youtube somehow hints that he got the Xbox 360 in the end. We’ll never really know for sure, as the confirmation video promised never went up.

Check out the video below to witness this particularly nasty prank.

Independent game developers interested in showing off their quality creations will have their chance to do exactly that in Penny Arcade’s upcoming Expo. Dubbed as The PAX 10, the independent games showcase will be featured in the Penny Arcade Expo dated on August 29 to 31.

Organized with DigiPen Institute of Technology, PAX 10 will accept submissions from game developers by May 7. Games submitted will be checked for approval by a panel consisting of 50 judges, and works that make it into the shortlist will be given a PAX floor kiosk with four exhibitor badges to be used specifically to exhibit the game.

Visitors to the Penny Arcade Expo will be able to vote for their favorite PAX 10 game, with the game garnering the most number of audience votes nabbing the “Audience Choice Award.”

Okay, so the format war’s over, but Xbox Live is still around to provide for your hi-def needs. A bunch of new content is coming this March, with a little something for everybody, starting with a free download of the premiere of “Lewis Black: Root of all Evil” from Comedy Central.

Also for March is a new line-up of comedy shows, including “Robot Chicken: Star Wars” and “Afro Samurai”. Also making a return are the boys of “South Park”. New episodes from the series will be available starting March 10.

There’s also something for the young and the young at heart, with the release of “Nancy Drew: Drew’s Clues”. For those who like their tissue boxes close at hand when watching the tube, new seasons will be arriving for “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Desperate Housewives”.

Several new movies will also be coming this March. They’ll be available in both SD and HD. Here’s a sampling of what you can expect:

• Tyler Perry s Why Did I Get Married (Lionsgate)
• Bull Durham (MGM)
• Rain Man (MGM)
• Into the Wild (Paramount, Oscar nominated, Best Supporting Actor)
• Things We Lost in the Fire (Paramount)
• Gone Baby Gone (Walt Disney Studios, Oscar nominated, Best Supporting Actress)
• Becoming Jane (Walt Disney Studios)
• August Rush (WB)
• March of Penguins (WB)
• Training Day (WB)
• Unforgiven (WB)

Nope, this isn’t Nariko’s (from Heavenly Sword) younger and blonder sister. The girl featured in the image above is Ayumi, the tenacious heroine of the upcoming third-person action game X-Blades.

The game will feature anime-style cut scenes along with a special combination of cinematic animation and relentless high-speed gameplay. Enter Ayumi, with her pistol blades, acrobatic ability and magic spells as she takes on demonic hordes and spectacular landscapes in this latest hack and slash game developed by SouthPeak Games.

James Seaman, Managing Director at TopWare Interactive, explains that the character designs and the gameplay for X-Blades takes its roots from the anime genre. According to Seaman, it promises to be a “killer title that gamers and animation fans won’t be able to put down”.

X-Blades is scheduled for release late this year and will be available for the PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii. Keep yourselves posted to this space for more updates regarding this game. In the meantime, check out the rest of the screenshots we have of Ayumi in action below.

It looks like Electronic Arts will have to rethink the offer it forwarded to Take-Two Interactive on a possible company buyout. Take-Two rejected the US 2 billion offer from EA and mentioned that there still are other companies interesting in buying it.

While there have been no formal offers so far, Take-Two mentioned that EA has undervalued its offer in buying out the company and they it did not factor in the recent turnaround efforts Take-Two has been pushing lately.

A filing Take-Two issued with the Securities and Exchange Commission last Thursday stated that it “has not engaged in any substantive discussions with any party (including EA) with respect to a business combination”.

The company refused to comment to shareholders any more past this statement regarding any possible merger discussions unless it is legally required to do so. Take-Two explained that it is still willing to open discussions with EA, but not until April 30, when Grand Theft Auto IV (for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) finally hits store shelves.

It’s been a year since we heard of new developments for Replay Studios‘ upcoming stealth action game, Sabotage. Now we find out it’s got itself a more svelte name: Velvet Assassin.

The Velvet Assassin is inspired by the true story of British Agent Violette Szabo (although the character in the game is named Violette Summer, which sounds a little perky for an assassin).

The game is set during World War II. As Violette, you will infiltrate enemy lines to bring down the Third Reich. To top it off, Violette will have to do this without support from her government. Talk about a girl power game.

It seems that the game not only gained itself a new title, but also new platforms. Replay Studios has also announced that Velvet Assassin will be released on next-gen consoles, presumably on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

The game is set to be released this fall. In the meantime, you can watch this new behind the scenes video of the game:

The Nintendo DS, which has more or less always been on top of the charts in Japan, seems to have lost some of its charm for February. Could it be that it’s really slipping or is it just that the other platforms are taking some of the limelight?

For the first two weeks of February, the DS slipped down to third place, behind the Wii and the PSP. On the third week, it gained some of its momentum back, and reached second place. However, for the last week of February, it slipped back to third place.

As we draw farther away from the winter holidays, sales across all platforms are slipping. However, the DS’s slip in sales in relation to the other platforms may be a point of concern in the future. Here are the numbers in Japan for the week ending on February 28th:

• Wii: 63,504
• PSP: 53,373
• DS Lite: 50,151
• PS3: 14,060
• PS2: 9,634
• Xbox 360: 2,001

Fans of the first Gears of War (Microsoft Xbox 360, PC) title who are expecting bigger and badder monsters in the upcoming sequel look like they’re going to get their wish. In an interview conducted by IGN, John DiMaggio, the voice talent behind the Delta Squad’s die-hard Marcus Fenix, discussed some of the cool sights gamers can expect to see in Epic Games‘ Gears of War 2.

It was obvious that DiMaggio was just as excited helping bring Gears of War 2 to life as the hordes of fans waiting for the game. Aside from reprising his role as Marcus Fenix, he will also be lending his voice for Franklin, the leader of the Stranded.

To give you an idea of how enthusiastic DiMaggio was on the project, here’s an excerpt from the interview:

It’s badass. In fact, I saw some of the stuff yesterday! Which level was it? It was, well listen, there’s bigger beasts in this game. Bigger beasts. Remember the scene with the Brumak, when the Brumak comes out and we’re like ‘Brumak! Roll! Get outta there!’ and it’s coming after them and they don’t have a fight with him? Well, they fight him now.

Judging from the image above of the Brumak chasing Fenix, we can’t wait and see how Gears of War 2 plays out. Since it’s still going to be a while before the game will be released, we’ll make sure to keep an eye out for more tidbits from this highly anticipated sequel.