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Over on the Xbox Live Marketplace, a new prop has appeared in the Avatar Store. You are now able to purchase an RC replica of the Mako craft used to cart Commander Shepherd and crew around the surface of alien worlds in Mass Effect for a measly 240 Microsoft SpaceBucks.

I think it’s been pretty well-established that buying items for your Avatar is a moronic use of your money, but I’m sure these things will sell just fine. Perhaps not as well as the Warthog RC car prop, but there’s no shortage of idiots in the world and there’s no doubt that at least a few of them are Mass Effect fans.

If I should ever wind up in a situation where I’m forced to choose between buying the avatar item or driving the Mako in Mass Effect, I’m probably going to have to take the prop. Call me crazy, but the vehicle physics really drove me up the wall in the first game and I’m really hoping it’s been improved for the sequel.

No need to stand while playing Super Street Fighter IV. According to SFIV producer Yoshinori Ono, the title will be a couch-constricted affair. That is to say, of course, that the title won’t be gracing arcades — Japanese or otherwise.

Ono broke the bad news in an interview with Games Reactor. “So, unfortunately, I’m sorry to say to arcade fans out there: there won’t be an arcade version of this. I think a lot of people were kind of requesting an arcade update,” he said. “I know that, in some parts of the world, it doesn’t really matter if there’s an arcade version or not.”

“But certainly in Japan and the rest of Asia and some parts of the Oceania, there’s still a lot of people playing in arcades. So, I’m sorry to disappoint them but this time it’s going to be an Xbox 360- and Playstation 3-only affair,” Ono continued.

More than a few people not affiliated with Putt-Putt Mini-Golf aren’t accepting what Ono-san revealed. These spirited folks, the members of Shoryuken message board, may end up tossing together an official petition. At least, that’s what this thread seems to indicate.

As a dude that hasn’t played a game in an arcade since Revolution X, the fact that SSFIV won’t be at arcades isn’t much of a bummer. But how do you guys feel about it?

[via Kotaku]

The latest issue of Famitsu, by way of IGN, has some nice new info on Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition in regards to the bonus mission for Jill and Chris. The new mission is set three years before the events of RE 5 as they’re searching for Ozwell E. Spencer. You saw a few flashbacks to this scenario in RE 5, specifically when Jill was trying to remember who she was.

The play experience will be the same as RE 5, except replace Sheva with Jill in this section. It’s set to be about two hours long and should provide more horror than what RE 5 offered too. You will be able to play this flashback story with a friend in co-op and you’ll actually be able to play co-op between the original version of the game too. 

Finally, producer Jun Takeuchi told Famitsu that this bonus mission will be coming for the Xbox 360 as well, but it’s not clear whether this will be DLC or a disc. We should be hearing more details soon.

[via Capcom-Unity]

I’m very much looking forward to Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. Readers will know that I have fond memories of the book upon which it is based, and so it is with much delight that I spread the word of the game’s nifty preorder bonus — a copy of that very same book.

Preorders will come with a reissued copy of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. For those unfamiliar with Fighting Fantasy, it’s basically a dungeon crawler nerd’s version of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. Instead of merely choosing where to go, players will have HP, stats, and will need to roll dice to engage in combat. They’re pretty bloody good books, and the very first one in the series will be owned by any who places an order for the game.

The offer is limited, so if you think for some reason there might be a rush for this, you better go place an order quickly. Now I need to stomp and kick and whine and hope that the publishers will just send me one. GIMMEH!

In addition to that news, we have some new gameplay videos as well. Check those out by hitting that link.

AUSTIN, Texas – Sept. 29, 2009 – Aspyr Media and GameStop have teamed on an exclusive GameStop pre-order item for Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain for Nintendo DS™. Savvy gamers who reserve Fighting Fantasy will receive a copy of the re-released book that goes by the same name. The first in the hit series, this will be the only way to get the book in the U.S. With this special pre-order, North American gamers will experience the original Fighting Fantasy on both paper and Nintendo DS. Pre-orders can be made online at www.gamestop.com or in-store.

Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a first-person RPG experience that draws directly from the pages of the original book. Customize your character from the start and work your way through the dreaded Firetop Mountain keep. Staying true to the original print version, you’ll be offered questions in the course of your quest that will ultimately affect the outcome of your adventure – it’s up to you which path you take every step of the way. There’s danger around every corner, with a multitude of enemies, traps and treasure! How will you decide to navigate this maze of tunnels to reach the treasure of Zagor, the Warlock of Firetop Mountain?

Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain ships this Oct., so make sure to get out there and pre-order today! This is a limited time offering, and once the books are gone – they’re gone for good!

A few months after announcing the open beta, Mythic Entertainment has revealed the release date for the Macintosh version of Warhammer: Age of Reckoning.

This special version of the MMO hits this October 28th as a digital download. New people with Macintosh in their heart will be able to buy the title via GameTree for 20 bones. Existing users — with existing accounts — will be able to download the client for free and use it as much as they see fit.

As mentioned in the official release, newcomers who purchase the Macintosh client will receive 30 days of the MMO for zero bones. That’s free, people.

Still in open beta, Macintosh users can check this thing out before they buy. More importantly, a ten-day free trial is still being offered for those who make a new account and download the client. No reason to not try this if you’re interested.

The Guardian recently spoke with Stan Lee about his involvement with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 — which, honestly isn’t very interesting in and of itself — but once the conversation became about videogames in general, the comic legend shared his refreshing outlook on the industry.

"If I were young now and I wanted to do stories, I would very much want to get into the videogame business because it’s the most exciting. Videogames and movies are the most exciting forms of entertainment," Lee says.

"But a videogame in a way is more imaginative, it has more variety. In a movie you stick to the plotline, in a videogame you go in a million different directions," he explains. "I have no idea how they’re able to do that. It’s like a miracle."

What a neat concept to think about, if I do say so myself. Now the question is, what company would he work for? I wonder which game studio is the most in line with the way Marvel Comics operates.

[Image: Alan Light]

This week on Podtoid: butts, butts, butts!

Perhaps not. But Podtoid 118 is a thing that is still happening without fearless leader and agenda-setter-person, Anthony Burch. On tonight’s episode, I will be accompanied by producer Adam Dork and the normal Podtoid crew — Sports Sarkar, Aaron Linde, Topher Cantler and Jim Sterling.

We’ll talk about things about things that are relevant to other things that have something to do with a thing that is a thing or a thing that could be a thing if a thing made it a thing. Also, we’ll need your questions, so ask stuff in the comments. Feel free to suggest something interesting you want us to talk about as well. While the news has been slow the last few days, TGS ‘09 was off the hook. Suggest, suggest, suggest!

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Whenever I play Rock Band, I always use my 360 Guitar Hero 2 controller. Reasons include a functional strum bar, a solid design, and consistent functionality. That’s a nice thing about the Rock Band/Guitar Hero divide, for as long as they undercut each other, those mics, drums and guitars are going to work together, by and large.

Well, I had a chance to speak with the Creative Director of DJ Hero, FreeStyleGames’s Jamie Jackson, and I asked him about his game’s proprietary controller. DJ Hero plays very unique, after all. Would his turntable be able to work with other games in the future, much like Guitar Hero/Rock Band?

"No," he says, after a short pause. "DJ Hero is DJ Hero. If someone needed to use our controller, then they would basically have to rip our game off." 

Of course, to be fair, the two DJ games currently announced, DJ Hero and Scratch: The Ultimate DJ, are very different products, with very little shared between the two. It would be nice to not have to buy a whole new slew of peripherals, however, which has the potential to limit sales for both games.