Vogel’s www.vogels.com, the leading European market leader in Audio/Video & TV mounting solutions, announced today that the Guinness World Record for non-stop gaming has been broken by six Dutch gamers during a 50 hour gaming marathon that started on Fri, July 16th at 12:55 PM Central European Time (CET), in Dixons, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

The six gamers played Red Dead Redemption non-stop on a Sony PlayStation^®3 (PS3TM)) using the TwistDock docking station to keep their controllers continuously charged. The team of six champion gamers included brothers Edward and Maykel Leest from Boxmeer and Hengelo, Sven de Vries from Lelystad, Renzo Bos from Baarlo, Robbie van Eijkeren from Middelburg and Marcel van Waardenburg from Amsterdam. The world record award was given out by an official Guinness World Records representative who was flown in from London especially for the occasion.

The previous official world record for non-stop gaming was set in September 2009 by Chirantan Patnaik from India with a time of 40 hours and 20 minutes, which was easily trumped by the six Dutch gamers. As the competition progressed, the Dutch gamers’ solidarity grew and they decided to sit and end the competition together. The gamers made the unanimous decision to end the attempt after an impressive 50 hours for a new world record title. In addition to the world record award, the new Guinness World Record winners received a cash prize of EUR 1,000 and six TwistDocks. “The contestants entered as rivals but left as friends,” said Gaz Deaves, official adjudicator of Guinness World Records

We’ve been hearing rumors for a while about Sony bringing more PS2 classics to the PS3 with HD overhauls like they did for the first two God of War games. Turns out it wasn’t hogwash.

First up will be a three-in-one bundle featuring all of the Sly Cooper titles. If there’s any doubt that there will be more HD updates such as this, consider the box art, which features a “Classics HD” logo. This would seem to indicate Sony’s branding of a new line of similar HD updates of over PS2 titles.

To throw more fuel on the fire, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios head honcho Shuhei Yoshida told the folks at IGN that Sony is definitely going to continue releasing more HD updates, but didn’t specify other titles. Based on information from recent Sony surveys making their way across the Net, one would have to assume Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are being considered.

I’d love to plow through both of the aforementioned titles again in glorious HD, especially for trophies. What PS2 games would you folks like to see get an HD makeover?

While I soaked up the sun at Myrtle Beach this week, the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo kicked off in Los Angeles, revealing lots of gaming goodies to the masses. You’re probably well aware of the big ones, but some announcements may have slipped through the cracks. Here’s a brief rundown of the E3 info that you may want—or even need—to know. (more…)

At the end of Microsoft’s E3 conference, a new Xbox 360 design was shown to attendees. The new model will feature built-in wi-fi and a 250GB hard drive. It also seems to be sporting extra vents, which is nice considering the 360′s ability to boil eggs after hours of gaming. Microsoft claims the console is slimmer than the traditional 360 design, but it doesn’t look to be by much.

If you’re interested in purchasing the new design, you won’t have to wait long–they’re en route to retailers as I type this. The new design should be available in a store near you this week. Crazy, eh?

Wanna know more about Rock Band 3 before E3? Worry not, for USA Today has your back.

Looks like the rumored keytar is in there, but can be played like a traditional keyboard if that’s what you prefer. I think that, in my case, I’d go the keytar route for, say, a glam band, then switch to keyboard for someone like Queen. But that’s just me.

Are you folks even interested in another Rock Band? Will a new peripheral be enough to make you shell out another $200 or so for a new hardware bundle?

Oh, by the way: be sure to hit this link to read the full USA Today story and check out a small list of tracks to be included in the game.

You can see the usual Xbox 360 box art banner above. Say goodbye, dear readers, because Microsoft is preparing to replace it. With what? you ask.

Behold! This is the dawn of a new era, of a bold new direction, of oh let’s face it this is kind of lame. But there you have it, folks. If you check out the Amazon pages for Kane and Lynch 2 or Mafia II you can see the new banner in action (although the latter game only shows the new art on the Collector’s Edition for some strange reason). Let us know what you think.

Remedy Entertainment, creators of the recent action/horror hit Alan Wake, just put up a teaser for a forthcoming announcement on their Youtube channel. The teaser, a short live-action clip, features the titular hero in circumstances not unlike those found in the game. Here’s the clip for the curious.

Notice a certain object Alan’s holding in his hand? And who is the woman he’s holding as he fends off the Taken? I guess—well, I hope—we’ll find out next Wednesday. Whatever they’re announcing, Remedy says it won’t be new DLC. Color me intrigued.

Stay tuned, Alan Wake fans.

Remember all of the doofy fun you had with Earthworm Jim back on the ye olde Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo? Have you ever said to yourself: “Man, I’d love to go back and play that again, but I don’t wanna drag out my Genesis/SNES…” Well folks, Xbox Live Arcade has got your back.

Earthworm Jim HD will be heading to XBLA as a timed exclusive later this year, with a PSN release to follow. In addition to a full high-def overhaul, the game will also receive new levels and 4-player co-op shenanigans. If that isn’t enough to excite you, consider this: Keyboard Cat makes an appearance. Seriously.

The dudes over at ScrawFX found what appears to be a teaser for an inFAMOUS 2 reveal due in next month’s issue of Portugal’s version of PlayStation: The Official Magazine. If you follow the link above, you’ll see an image from the original inFAMOUS of protagonist Cole McGrath’s eyes above a message that, when translated, states: “The announcement of a great PlayStation 3 exclusive sequel in the next ROPS.” (ROPS, by the way, is the Portuguese abbreviation for PlayStation: The Official Magazine.)

Call it a leap if you will, but I think it’s pretty obvious what sequel they’re talking about. Why specifically use an obvious image from inFAMOUS if they’re not going to reveal a forthcoming sequel? I don’t think anyone will be surprised to hear of a sequel in the works. In fact, most—including me—will be excited to know they get to step into Cole’s shoes again.

I must say right from the start that the film adaptation of Prince of Persia – The Sands of Time is not the pile of garbage most gamers thought it would be. In fact, it ain’t half bad. Unfortunately, it is one-third bad, give or take a few stupid moments and under-written characters. But that leaves two-thirds of goodness, so all is not lost for gamers hoping for the first decent adaptation of a video game. Friends, we finally have one.

Before I go into what worked for me, I’ll get the bad stuff out of the way. First up is Ben Kingsley’s so-called performance as the film’s villain, Nizam. I say “so-called” because he doesn’t really do anything. Kingsley seems to be sleepwalking through the film, standing on his marks when required, speaking his lines, then exiting stage left at the appropriate time. I guess that’s better than the ridiculous over-acting he’s given the film world over the last decade or so, but I can’t help hoping for more from the man who once won an Oscar for masterfully playing Gandhi. (more…)