You make your way down the hallway in City 17, and push open the door into the bright sunlight reflected off of concrete. A Combine soldier stands before you, so you life your semiautomatic weapon, and as you pull the trigger and fire, the gun recoils in your hand. Another Combine stands across the viaduct, and when he fires at you, you feel the bullet strike you from the left, so you turn, and feel the gun jump in your hand again as you take him out.

That's the ideal experience with Novint's Falcon controller. The controller itself is about an eight inch orb that sits on your table, with a three-inch sphere sitting on the end of three arms coming off of it -- like a Soviet satellite sticking out of the globe. The idea is that you push the little sphere around to move your cursor, and the three arms provide resistance against whatever you bump up against. We got to use the controller at E3, and the verdict is that while it does provide a nice experience, the costs might be a little overwhelming for most players. More after the jump.

Writing about video games can often expose you to those heartbreaking stories of things in development that almost made it, but never appeared. Things like the Phantom game console, Shenmue Online, and the years-in-the-making Duke Nukem Forever.

We spent time with Bethesda's Todd Howard beyond locked doors and found out about some of the dark secrets behind Fallout 3, including the massive real-life Pip-boy that would have had a screen built into it to allow you to interact with the game. Or possibly hold your PSP on your wrist to become a PiPSP-boy. Find out more after the breakage.

The raw, unbridled power of The Rocking is an equal opportunity force that can be tapped by anyone with a strong enough desire to evoke its boundless energies. Unfortunately, physical restrains can often limit a person's personal rocking aptitude, as most instruments are not created with those with disabilities in mind. Take, for instance, the Rock Band drum kit, which has a pedal that cannot be operated by those inflicted with paraplegia and other ailments affecting the lower body.

Fortunately, for every peripheral made unaccessible to those with disabilities, there's an altruistic, MacGuyver-esque modder with a solution. The folks over at Kinetic Communications recently solved the bass drum dilemma with a doorbell receiver and some audio cable, placing the foot pedal substitute directly onto a pair of drumsticks -- and it only cost them around $20. If you're in need for a stick-pedal, they've got simple instructions on how to make your own. Rick Allen would be so very proud.

Nintendo has had its fare share of first-party peripherals. Does anyone remember – or still own, perchance – the Game Boy printer? The Nintendo 64 Pikachu microphone? Our friends and archivists at Nintendo Wii Fanboy have composed a pictorial history of Nintendo's tendency to avoid the standard controller. From the Power Pad to the Balance Board, click here to see it all.

We've already blown the whistle on several new projects that may be announced at Microsoft's Gamer's Day tomorrow, with "Ninja Blade" and "Lips" being the most nebulous of the bunch. We still don't know what the former is, but 8Bit Joystick has shared a couple of thoughts on the latter matter. The site states that "Lips" is, in fact, the codename for a new Xbox peripheral, and speculates that it could be a voice input device (karaoke microphone?) or some method of in-game voice recognition.

For now, we'll go with, "Hmm, intriguing." Let's hope Microsoft drops the balm tomorrow and fills us in on these ... e-lips ...

[Thanks, Jake]

Nyko is now shipping to retailers its Rock Band/Guitar Hero III compatible Front Man wireless guitar for PS3. The third party controller is $60, which is the same price some retailers charge for first party controllers.

The Front Man guitar works up to 25 ft and allegedly gets 80 hours of play time, it also uses a "stomp box" to switch between the two rival rhythm games. It's great that the guitar is compatible with both games unlike the first party controllers, but isn't the whole point of a third party peripheral to be much less expensive than first party? Oh well, we had no complaints about the controller when we got some hands-on time with it at GDC. The Front Man seems like an alternative for those who need another ax quick and a first party controller isn't at the store .

Attention, people who collect obsolete technology -- here's the perfect chance to, um, add some obsolete technology to your collection! While Microsoft recently announced they're no longer producing HD DVD add-on drives for the Xbox 360, they are unloading their remaining supply at a bargain-basement price of $50, as a Microsoft spokesperson told Bloomberg.

Sure enough, online retailers from Circuit City to Best Buy to Buy.com are listing the defunct accessory for 25 percent of it's original price. At that price, the remaining stock could go fast. Then again, with the prospect of more HD-DVD discs looking less than good, maybe $50 is still too expensive to unload.

Harmonix's Rock Band store is mostly full of unnecessary merchandise, but there are a few things that might help in protecting your $170 "music platform." As the drum set taking up a square meter of real estate in the living room grows into an eyesore, the one handy thing the store has is the Rock Band drum bag.

The $50 drum bag is an easy storage solution when "company" comes over. Nobody likes the first question out of a new visitor during the holidays when they see the drum kit to be, "What the hell is that thing?!" There are also guitar and drum stick sleeves, plus new drum sticks and stickers in the store that are neat, but the drum bag does feel like an obvious solution to something that will be an issue in time. Disassembling the kit and putting it into a Bloomingdales Big Brown Bag just seems wrong. But if someone finds other DIY storage solutions we're all ears.

Games Radar has put together a little piece comparing the difficulty of Guitar Hero to Rock Band. Their basic conclusion is that "Guitar Hero III hard = Guitar Hero II expert" and "Rock Band Expert = Guitar Hero II hard." They say that Guitar Hero is tough to jump into and Rock Band may be too easy at the medium level for seasoned vets.

Having had significant time with Rock Band on a visit to Harmonix on Tuesday, we can say that when comparing the guitar portion of the game, Rock Band on hard feels close to Guitar Hero II on medium -- except you do have to deal with that pesky orange button, so in essence it feels the same. That doesn't mean that there isn't a challenge in there for the average player, it's just a point of reference for jumping in. Now that's just the guitar, we're not even talking about the beasts of drumming and singing, nor the extreme joy the social interaction of the game provides.

MTV's Multiplayer blog has posted answers to frequently asked questions regarding the corporate fustercluck (MTV/EA/Harmonix) published rhythm game Rock Band. We could bother to put the question and the answer, but if y'all can't figure out what the original question was you can hit up Multiplayer:

• No other hardware combinations have been announced yet beyond the standard (guitar, drum, mic) bundle. And yes, the bass guitar is just a second guitar controller which you probably have lying around ...
• ... because Harmonix will keep an "open platform philosophy" and games will be compatible with third-party controllers "that conform to the various platform controller standards."
• If you're short on guitars but want to play head to head, the online play will be both cooperative and competitive.
• The Xbox 360 gee-tar will come with a USB hub (remember the guitar in the bundle is wired).
• A Wii version has not been announced ... yet.

Now, we don't have insta-access to Rock Band like MTV's Multiplayer blog, but we can try to get some questions answered too -- we're scrappy like that. So if you have some lingering Rock Band questions (and there are plenty good ones still left), leave 'em in the comments and we'll try to get some answers. And automatic name calling to the people who ask questions already answered by bullet points above.

It's official folks, Rock Band will be $170 for Xbox 360 and PS3 and release Nov. 23. A Friday ... wait, Black Friday? Yes, more on that in a second. The PS2 version will release Dec. 10 for $160. Our spidey sense started tingling that something was up when we received info that Amazon was listing Rock Band for $169 -- a $30 reduction from the $199 they've had listed for months. Turns out that they received the official price today. The bundle includes the game (reg. $60, $50 on PS2), the guitar (reg. $60, but wired on Xbox 360, wireless is separate and $80), the wired drums (reg. $80), and wired microphone (reg. $30).

Now the big question: What were the powers that be thinking with November 23rd? Nov. 23rd is Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, the high holy "oh my gawd we're going to get trampled when the stores open" day of the year. Can you imagine what it's going to be like trying to pick up your game at retail on that day? Don't know about the rest of you, but if there were ever a time to get your game by mail -- this would be that time!

[Thanks to all those that sent info in]

In the latest OXM Podcast, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos confirms that the Xbox 360 guitars for Rock Band are wired in the bundles. There will be wired and wireless versions available for the Xbox 360, but once again, the retail bundles will come with a wired guitar. The PS3 guitars are all wireless. The Xbox 360 bundle will also come with a USB hub for all the peripherals to plug into. On both the Xbox 360 and PS3 version the microphone and drum kit will be wired. Rigopulos says, "The cost of wireless technology on the Microsoft side is higher and to be able to offer those bundles at a price point that would be reasonable for consumers it was necessary ... on the 360 side we are also bundling a hub."

And no, there is no official price yet. It's starting to look like the $20 difference between the Xbox 360 wired and wireless guitar we reported after receiving an internal Game Crazy memo is holding up. So, that's that, the Xbox 360 bundle of Rock Band has a wired guitar and you'll get a little hub to plug everything in. Now comes the question if Microsoft will loosen their grip on the cost of licensing the proprietary wireless tech if the PS3 version of Rock Band sells stronger (comparatively given its lower install base) due to its wireless advantage. In the end, we don't blame Harmonix/EA/MTV for this wired issue -- although it was shady of them to hide it this long -- we're more upset that the consumer is going to get an inferior product due to an obnoxious licensing issue. It's deja vu all over again.

[Thanks sm0ke]

If you've been looking to get your hands on Rock Band, here's your best chance before it launches on ... actually we still have no idea on an official release date. The 24-city tour will start in Vegas on Sept. 9, the weekend of the MTV Video Music Awards. The full list of tour stops can be found after the break.

Big trucks, like the one seen above, will travel the country and allow people to play on a "full stage with lights and sound systems." That's much better than what you'll have in your living room. Further, "any rockers ... who play on the Rock Band tour bus stage will be captured on tape for consideration by MTV casting directors." Two bands will get picked and be flown to NYC to perform on TRL. The winning group will get to open for a "surprise super group" at the Rock Band launch concert. We don't fear the Reaper, but we do have concerns of what MTV will do to those people. We can only imagine this equation: Next + Dismissed + Parental Control + Super Sweet 16 + Rock Band = ???

According to Red Octane COO Charles Huang "multiple territories ... will not see Rock Band this Christmas." Now remember, Red Octane makes Guitar Hero and is the competitor to the Harmonix developed, EA published, Rock Band. Huang believes Australia and New Zealand are out this year and expects those territories to pay $275 Australian for the game and peripherals. Speaking with Gamespot AU, he says possible release delays can be attributed to peripheral manufacturing output and that this could reach beyond the Asia-Pacific region. Huang says, "I'm not singling out Australia -- probably it will be multiple territories that will not see Rock Band this Christmas is my guess." EA Australia won't confirm the information, but GameSpot UK was told by their EA rep, "We don't think [Rock Band] will be released in Q4."

EA confirmed with Joystiq that Rock Band is still coming to the US in 2007. Although there is still no announced release date, no confirmed peripheral price, and we've heard hardly a peep about the game from the corporate side since the good buzz generated by E3. And we know we were working with "prototype" peripherals that hadn't gone into mass production at E3. We've asked for comment from EA about what's going on with the game and its peripherals. We'll update as soon as we hear back.

Update: EA got back to us and said that "everything is on track to launch the game on time" in the US. They'd also like to clarify that no European or Australian ship dates were ever announced and "at this point everything else is pure speculation." They won't answer specific questions regarding US peripheral supplies, we asked if they can guarantee at least a guitar for every copy of the game, but they do say that they're "working as hard as [they] can to produce as many copies of the game as quickly as [they] can." And finally, in terms of a release date, "We're almost there! Rock Band will ship this holiday in North America for the PS3 and Xbox 360."

We've been working on getting answers to what's going on with Rock Band's peripheral pricing for a long time. There are still no "official" prices to be found, but there is one anomaly regarding the wireless Xbox 360 guitar that is really starting to kick up questions. This $20 difference in the prices between the Xbox 360 wired and wireless guitar, which Joystiq first reported on back in May, has come back around in a sneaky way with the Rock Band bundles. Both Amazon and GameStop currently sell the Rock Band bundle for $199, with one key difference: The PS3 version comes with a wireless guitar and the Xbox 360 version is wired.

So, for gamers looking to avoid the currently marked $20 difference between the PS3 ($59.99) and Xbox 360 ($79.99) wireless guitar prices, the bundle is apparently not the answer. We also spoke with Red Octane yesterday, following up on questions we had at E3 about the price point of their Xbox 360 wireless guitar. Given Red Octane's already dramatic history on this wireless issue with Microsoft, we wanted to know if licensing issues and cost to the consumer had been worked out for this guitar and Guitar Hero III's release. They couldn't officially answer at this time, but the GH III bundles are currently identically priced on GameStop's website.

"Officially" none of this information means anything at this point. Although consumers should be made aware that the Rock Band bundles they're currently purchasing on GameStop and Amazon for the Xbox 360 are officially marked as wired, while the PS3 version is marked as wireless.

[Thanks Zachary]