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're eagerly awaiting Halo 3 like a good gamer, you're probably looking for any scrap of new info you can find on the game. Good news: Wired magazine is cordially inviting you to feast. That link will take you to a fascinating article about how Halo 3 was scientifically tuned to rock your face off. Don't miss the color-coded maps that show Bungie when one side of a playing field has an advantage. (And you thought that you were playing the beta for fun!)

There are also pictures of Bungie staffers, a video primer of Halo and, of course, gorgeous screenshots. Unfortunately, after sating your Halo 3 thirst with this new content, you're probably just going to want the game even more. We're sorry. It's a vicious cycle.

[Via X3F]

If you've moseyed on by your local newsstand, or whatever the kids call 'em these days, you may have seen the Master Chief plastered on the cover of Wired magazine. As our more astute readers have probably surmised, the issue contains a lengthy article on Halo 3. Specifically, the article deals with the extensive testing process that Halo 3 has undergone to ensure that the game is as close to perfect as it can be. Believe it or not, Bungie knows that lots of people were unsatisfied with Halo 2 (many Bungie employees weren't satisfied with it). The combat wasn't balanced, there were plenty of glitches, and the story, well, the story wasn't what Bungie wanted it to be. This time though, Bungie has employed an army of testers to make sure that the game is satisfying to everyone from the pros to Halo n00bs to Grandma (well, maybe not Grandma). As noted by the article, the Halo 3 testing process leans more towards science than artistry. Bungie recorded play sessions, recorded players' reactions during those play sessions, had players stop to note their satisfaction every 20 minutes, and much more. The amount of statistics recorded is really staggering, and all of it done to make sure that Halo 3 -- particularly Halo 3's campaign -- is the best damned game it can possibly be.

The article hasn't made it online yet, so you'll have to pick up a copy of Wired if you want the full scoop.

[Image: 360WTF]

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]

Remember, if you meet Bungie's Marty O' Donnell be sure to get him liquored up real nice, good things can only come from it. Wired's own Geekdad did just that a few years back while chatting it up over dinner and got a Halo 3 voice-acting cameo out of the deal. Back then, Marty (sipping the wine) jokingly promised the Geekdad a recording session in Halo 3 and stuck to his word allowing Geekdad to come to Seattle this week to record a few lines for the game. Not only did he get to record for the game, but also got to see (under NDA) Halo 3 in all its glory, drool over the mixing tables, etc. etc. Lucky little Wired Geekdad. Check out video above where Marty explains how the Halo 3 announcement trailer music came to be and be sure to make the jump to read Geekdad's full recap.

Oh, and for the Halo-curious out there, Geekdad posted the list of lines he read for the game. Maybe you can find some Halo 3 storyline snippets in there ... probably not.

You probably wish you had Chris Anderson's life. Not only is the guy the head of Wired Magazine and the author of best-selling book The Long Tail, but he also got a sneak peek at Halo 3 through connections with Bungie Audio Director Marty O'Donnell. Oh yeah, Anderson also got to lend his voice to a few nameless grunts in the game. Jealous much?

Anderson unfortunately can't reveal much new information about the game because of a non-disclosure agreement, but he did say in a blog post that he was particularly impressed with the game's previously-discussed replay function. He was also able to share scans of a couple pages of dialogue from the game, including such scintillating bombshells as "Ooh-rah! Damn right!" and "There! Over there!" Wow! Who says video game script writing sucks?

Most airlines don't allow you to use wireless devices on airplanes. In Japan however, gamers have been able to multiplay to their heart's content while in flight. That's changing now though. Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport has decided to ban wireless gaming from all flights. The reason for the move is because apparently wireless devices can interfere with the airplane's instruments. Maybe this move was done because a small Japanese child controlled a plane with his stylus. That or it's just precautionary (but I do like the touch screen pilot idea).

[Via Wired]

If you're unfamiliar with the Wired 40, don't panic, it's nothing more than a "list of the 40 most wired companies in the world." The inclusion of Nintendo comes as such a surprise since the company is the only new entrant in the list, which has long been dominated by the likes of Google and Apple. In the list of the top 40, the Wii debuts with a very impressive slot of sixth place. As you can see above, it's the fun control scheme that won them over, as well as the incredible sales numbers, not the graphics.

[Via Joystiq]

In his attempts to solve the enigma buried within the story of Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Wired's Clive Thompson gets caught up in another mystery entirely. Is Hotel Dusk a game or a novel? While the general consensus is that the DS adventure is somewhat of a novel game (see what we did there?), the copious amounts of text, glacial pacing and rigorous story lead Thompson to believe that the distinction between Hotel Dusk and an "average airport novel" is less than clear.

Interestingly, he suggests that interactive elements like branching dialogue are the prime culprits in not only seperating the game from a novel, but preventing it from telling a story on par with the best of books. The piece concludes that games like Hotel Dusk and Phoenix Wright represent compromises between the interactive nature of games and the unresponsive presentation of books -- terms like "novel" and "interactive" don't quite capture the experience the games try to convey.

It's a good read, but we'd be remiss not to append our own conclusion: Hotel Dusk is a choose-your-own-adventure novel!

Seems Wired has a jones for the forthcoming Cooking Mama, as they hail it as this year's best game at the recent Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas. The cooking sim, with its Iron Chef-inspired multiplayer mode is, according to the Wired staff, a great example of innovative Wiimote application -- something that isn't always there when it comes to these early third party titles. They've not been the only ones to praise the title recently, but tagging on a 'best of show' in games is a step further head for the Majesco-published game.

The January issue of Wired magazine includes a few short columns about writers trying to improve their abilities; Joshua Green's story about improving his brain functions relies on Nintendo's Brain Age game, a better diet, and more sleep. His non-scientific study left him with a brain age improvement from 44 to 34 after four weeks of work.

Now that Brain Age has been out for a while, do you think it has sharpened your mind? Anecdotally, we like the game, but we think it just makes us better at Brain Age.

Nintendo including wireless capabilities seemed like a boon for many ... similar add-ons for other systems can cost upwards of a hundred dollars. Still, for those not quite on the send-information-zipping-on-airwaves bandwagon, the lack of an ethernet port on the system meant either buying a router or one of Nintendo's silly USB dongles. Even if wireless is available, many users prefer the stability of a wired network anyway, and those USB ports on the back of the Wii have as of yet been unused. Until...

Through some sort of electronic melding procedure, an unofficial ethernet-to-USB adapter (KINAMAX USB 2.0 to RJ45 Fast Ethernet 10/100 Base-T Network Adapter, found for sale at NewEgg here for $20) seems to send all the necessary 1's and 0's to the Wii. Why this adapter works and others not, we have no idea. Still, it's best not to look a gift horse in the mouth; if you wanted a wired connection, you've got one. Check after the break for a video demonstration.

Author Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game) told Wired that he's fed up with the state of gaming and not optimistic about the future. Card notes that today's gameplay is repetitive and the storytelling is minimal at best. The problem, Card says, is the publishers who don't understand the medium and are prone to financing / pushing safe bets, essentially leaving the developers pigeonholed.

Let's sympathize with the publisher's position first. They largely hold a fiduciary stance, which means they act in the financial interest of the company. The goal of a business is to make money, after all, and unfortunately the safest bets are generally the same gameplay mechanics known for decades with prettier graphics and more particle effects.

Assuming developers have the ability to innovate in the industry (as Card implies), is it the responsibility of publishers to advance the medium through risk-taking -- say, one art house game for every 2-3 mindless shooters, annual sports iterations, or licensed action romp? With game development costing in the tens of millions of dollars and more, and shelf space limited in brick-and-mortar stores, innovation is a hard pill to swallow for profit-seeking corporations. The hope, perhaps, lies in digital distribution or even simply online purchasing. At that point, however, the responsibility lies with the consumer to use his or her wallet and make a stance for innovation.

[Thanks, trumaine]