There's a little bit of confusion regarding next Tuesday's WiiWare launch in Europe and what games will be available. Although Next-Gen reports that eight titles will be available at launch, Eurogamer found out from Nintendo that eight titles have been announced, but "not all eight titles will be immediately available from the May 20th launch date." Apparently the wording in the press release was a little tricky.

The European pricing for the games also didn't accompany Nintendo's press release. Eurogamer is guessing that the pricing (in Wii Points) will be the same as they are in the US and Japan. We've placed the launch list after the break. We'll update if Nintendo decides to clarify the situation.

Given the nearly unquantifiable level of anticipation building up to the midnight unveiling of Rockstar's opus, it seemed prudent to roll up to the local Broken Arrow, OK Gamestop well in advance of the game's release. All of the preparation went for naught, however, as the store kept its doors open all night as enthusiasts congregated inside, joked in the secret language that only we nerds can appreciate, and not-so-quietly chatted about the game they would very soon be playing.

I don't have much luck with midnight launches. Turns out the midnight launch at the Best Buy in Dedham, Massachusetts, was no exception. Signs that something was wrong were quite evident when I was driving through the parking lot and noticed the considerable lack of vehicles present. Standing outside the store was the manager, Howard, who had some bad news.

The brave souls who soldiered through the vast queue at the Gamestop in downtown Huntington, W. Va. were put through a rigorous gauntlet of trials and tribulations before being rewarded with Rockstar's blockbuster shoot em' up -- including, but not limited to a freak, unseasonal cold front; a somewhat humorous (but unfortunately brief and unphotographed) drive-by water balloon strike; and alarming in-line discussions of bomb recipes and Sedan-mounted automatic weaponry.

However, the most disturbing sight seen at the launch is pictured above -- a tragic crime scene, just a few feet away from the store's registers. These two poor fellows were just mere moments from claiming their respective copies of the much anticipated title, leaving behind a puzzling forensic tableau. Hastily driving from the event with copies of Grand Theft Auto IV in hand, we were left with these pertinent questions:

• What kind of altercation could have lead to this unfortunate double homicide?
• What modifications were made to the pictured Nerf guns that imbued them with lethal force?
• What sort of Crime Scene Investigation squad leaves behind the murder weapons in such a public place?
• Most importantly, why did Gamestop remain open following this horrible act of violence?

VideoGamer reports that EA has slated Rock Band's release on PS3, PS2 and Wii in Europe for August 29. This means the Xbox 360 will have three months of exclusivity on the exorbitantly priced enhanced cost game before it releases on other consoles.

Harmonix's PR states it has not made an official announcement on a European release for any other consoles beyond the Xbox 360. We'll update this story if things change, but for now this release date is still in the rumor territory. Either way, there's still plenty of time for non-Xbox 360 owners to sell a kidney (remember, keep at least one!) to afford the game.

If you've played PC games for any length of time, we're sure you've experienced it: You wait for months for the game to be released, only to spend launch day (week? month?) staring at a frozen cinematic, a crashed-to desktop or (in the old days) the dreaded blue screen of death. 1UP has called up those repressed, heart-breaking memories to rank them in order of their wretchedness.

Some picks are obvious, while a couple may be a surprise. What we're really interested in though is which of your own personal tragedies escaped the list? We're not limiting the question to PC gamers: As we learned over the weekend, even console launches aren't immune from being debacles.

We've known for a while now that Nintendo was planning to bring the Wii to PC-gaming mecca South Korea some time this year, but recent word has it that the system may be hitting the country's shores sooner than later. The Korea Times is reporting that Nintendo and Activision recently registered two Wii games each with Korea's Game Rating Board. The paper speculates this move means Nintendo Korea is looking to launch by Children's Day on May 5, a popular gift-giving holiday in the country. Though there's no official announcement from Nintendo, we can't think of a better holiday to launch for a system known for kid-friendly games like Super Mario Galaxy and Resident Evil 4.

What started with around five people milling around an Urbana-Champaign, IL Gamestop at 6 p.m. became a throng of about 200 clamoring for the midnight launch of Nintendo's newest fighting extravaganza. But don't take our word for it -- check out our video report from the scene last night.

While American Wii owners have to wait until May to enjoy original downloadable Wii Ware games, Japanese Wii owners are gearing up for the March launch of the service with a screenshot-filled promotional web page.

The site's list of 11 games (translated to English below) is conspicuously missing Western -developed titles like Telltale's Frontier's (edit: typo) Lost Winds and Mastiff's Major League Eating, although that last omission might be considered a bonus for Japan. It's not clear which of the listed games will be available for the service's Japanese launch, but you can bet the initial lineup will be better line up than the three games that are currently confirmed for the service's U.S. debut.

Games listed on the Japanese Wii Ware site:

• FFCC: The Young King and the Promised Land
• StarSoldierR
• Word Puzzle Mojipittan Wii
• Pokemon Ranch
• Dr. Mario's Virus Buster
• Marubou Shikaku
• Magnetica
• Bomberman
• Okiraku Ping-Pong Wii
• Angels' Solitaire
• Joysound Wii

[Via NintendoWiiFanboy]

Boy, we didn't expect the crowds in line for the Halo 3 launch at Universal Citywalk in Los Angeles to start screaming like little girls when Zac Efron appeared, but they certainly did. We'll be hearing those shrill screams in our ears for days to come. Unless we pump up the volume on Halo 3 while we get into some fragoffs.

So, having attended the Halo 2 launch at the same spot, this launch was incredibly lackluster. There was no music, no local radio DJ pumping up the crowd, no bikini-clad babes handing out samples of Mountain Dew, no one hurling t-shirts into the crowd, and no big countdown and fanfare. The most noise made by the crowd was whenever Master Chief would stroll by, and everyone would go nuts trying to take a photo of him. Then there was the guy handing out free swag for ... The Kingdom. Everyone mobbed the poor guy, thinking it was Halo stuff, but they were bummed when it turned out to be notebooks and pins from the upcoming movie.

Don't see much in the picture above? Don't worry about it because there's nothing to see. Remember how there were those midnight Wal-Mart launches for Halo 3? Well apparently that didn't apply to the Wal-Mart in Walpole, Mass. Quick timeline of the events leading to midnight:

• 11:43PM - Arrive to an almost empty parking lot at Wal-Mart.
• 11:43:30 - Realize there is nothing going on here as I watch a woman cleaning inside.
• 11:44 - Two guys pull up asking what's the deal with the midnight launch? Tell them it looks like it's not happening here.
  
• 11:48 - Call up Ross who's apparently in a really great launch line waiting for his copy. Ask him if he can easily find a 7-Eleven on his internet-enabled phone that has a midnight launch. He can't hear me, but the two guys in the car know of a local store. It'll be a roll of the dice whether they're selling Halo.
  
• 11:50 - Follow the two guys to the nearest 7-Eleven. That's at least where I hoped we were going.
  
• 11:55 - Arrive at the local 7-Eleven and in a very awkward exchange that involves me pointing at the Slurpee machine and asking if they are selling, "The Halo 3." The clerk politely responds and laughs, "No, no, no, no."
• 11:57 - Say goodbye to the two strangers who say they're off to bed. They say they'll just pick it up tomorrow morning.
  
• 12:01AM - Standing in the empty 7-Eleven parking lot and accepting the fact that there won't be the Haloz tonight. Begin the drive home.

So, what's the point of this post? Did you try and get a copy of the game tonight and have no luck? Share your stories below.

So there's this Halo 3 launch thing going on and it's apparently big, so big that firm Goldman Sachs projects it might actually bring Microsoft's Xbox division into "slight profitability." Analysts for the firm say that Microsoft will ship 4.2 million copies of Halo by the end of September. Even if all those were the normal $60 version that's still $252 million. Microsoft's fiscal quarter ends at the end of the week and the game is expected to bring in $170 million by then, meaning the Xbox division will have its first quarter of profitability since the launch of the original Xbox. It's back to black baby -- for now.

The September NPD numbers expected in mid October will be incredibly interesting in terms of the Halo effect. Halo 3 is guaranteed to be the top selling game (only an act of whatever deity you believe in could stop that at this point), but we're more interested to see the Xbox 360 sales figures. Goldman Sachs expects the momentum of the Halo launch to last well into next year. Wait, hold up ... are they saying Microsoft could have two profitable quarters in the Xbox's entertainment and devices division? *faint*

[Via GameDaily]

Jim Cush from N. Babylon, New York, is definitely dressed to impress at the official Halo 3 launch event going on now in New York City at Best Buy. Cush says that the costume cost him "multiple thousands" of dollars and a year "on and off" to create. Asked if he's going to sell it on eBay, he jokingly replies, "I want to be buried in it. They'll dig me up 10,000 years from now and say, 'He must have been king.'"

Cush's friend Tom isn't afraid to give some more details, "It started with the helmet, then one thing led to another and now he's got the armor, flag, plasma grenades and guns." He estimates that the whole thing set his friend back about two to three thousand dollars. Hell, if it gets him on-air with Major Nelson we're sure it'll be worth it. Bungie says they have their own Master Chief showing up soon -- yeah, but it means more when somebody does something like this out of love.

[Special Thanks to Ray A. Hernández]

The time is almost upon us to finish the fight and today Microsoft announced the official details for their plans around the Halo 3 launch. Microsoft is calling it the "Unite to Fight" events. The most prominent thing that everyone can enjoy is from Sept. 25-27 everyone will automatically have Xbox Live Gold membership sponsored by Best Buy -- meaning you can play online with (or against) friends regardless of their Xbox Live membership.

There will be four major Halo 3 launch events in:

• New York City – Best Buy, 529 5th Ave, New York, NY, 10017
• Seattle – Best Buy, 457 120th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98005
• Los Angeles – Gamestop, 1000 Universal Studios Blvd, Universal City, CA 91608
• Miami – Circuit City, 8575 Northwest 13th Terrace, Miami, FL 33126

You can check out more details at X3F. For those who just want their damn copy of the game without all the pomp and circumstance, remember you can just stop by 7-Eleven at midnight for the game and a Slurpee, or the "over 10,000 stores [which] will be open to sell Halo 3 in the biggest entertainment launch in history." Remember, the Halo 3 launch has lofty goals to attain.

[Via X3F]